Tuesday, June 17, 2008

So... I got demoted.

We've been going through a reorganization within IT in our firm for the last year. One of the director's pulled me into her office on Friday to inform me that the realignment has been a long and arduous process, she knows things are tense on the floor what with some people being laid off the day before, etc... "With the re-alignment, they only gave us a certain number of slots at [my level] and we're being held to that very rigidly..." At this point I have a pretty good idea of where she's going. "... and unfortunately, other people were considered to be better suited for that level. You'll be moved down a level, but there will be no salary impact."

Color me pissed.

Not losing any pay takes a little of the sting out, but it still REALLY sucks. I've worked my ass off around here and keep managing to get reviews that paint me above average, but not good enough to rate an annual bonus. Last year, the reviewer noted that I had "spiked" into 'exceptional', but I didn't live there. This year I tried to do even more and take on more side projects and I get demoted. WTF??

I'm viewing this as a catalyst; not to work even harder, but to work even harder at getting my ass out of tech support and into another IT group in the firm where my efforts will be more appreciated. My goal is to be out of the help desk by Christmas.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Road construction and Ragnar

Well, looks like I'll be commuting by car for a few weeks. DOT is improving a major intersection along my route and the lane shift has made it too dangerous for me to ride through there. Unfortunately, the location of this section makes it impossible to go around without adding another 8 miles or so to my ride, so I'm screwed. It really sucks, what with gas prices being what they are now and having to deal with traffic on a regular basis again. I also haven't had a chance to try out the new bike rack at work either; it's kind of a bummer, especially since the property management company responded so quickly to my request to replace it. Hopefully, they can get whatever it is they're doing that forced them to shift the lanes completed pretty quickly and I can get back out on the bike again.

On the up-side; I'm getting some responses from people in my office to my post seeking runners to create a corporate team for the Ragnar Relay. I've only had 2 other people commit to it, but I've heard from a lot of people that are interested. The guy that somehow roped me into being the team captain says that it was a "slow burn" when he brought the race up to his running club. It started slow, but then took off; I'm hoping I'll see similar results here. The whole event looks like a lot of fun and I really want to be able to use the captain role in my annual appraisal next year. These kind of "extra-curricular" things always look good to the higher ups.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

I don't get it

What is it with people that drive these gigantor SUVs, but slow down almost to a stop to go over a speed bump?? I was pulling into the garage this morning and got stuck behind someone in a Suburban who was taking the speed bumps at 5 mph. Seriously? If they're afraid to take it over a speed bump, why the hell did they buy the monstrosity? Are they compensating for big shortcomings elsewhere or do they enjoy taking out a home equity loan just to fill their gas tank? It boggles my mind.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

I think I may have screwed up...

I made a posting on our company forum looking for 11 other runners to help me form a team for this:

http://www.ragnarfl.com/

"This 191 mile adventure-fest will push you and 11 pals from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. Starting in Clearwater and finishing in Daytona Beach this relay offers runners a unique opportunity to run across the state of Florida as it passes through the shoreline towns of Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs, New Port Richey, and the horse country of the Ocala National Forest. The race (and your stamina) wraps up within earshot of the roaring engines of the Daytona 500 and the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean."

Within about 5 minutes, I get an instant message from the guy that coordinates our entries for the the Gasparilla Distance Classic every year and also sends out the informal running newsletter for the office. He was going to include it in the message he was going to send out on Friday and wanted to know if I wanted to be a team captain. At some point, I foolishly agreed to this. So, not only am I going to participate in a race that will see me running a relay across the state, I'm a team captain. Which means that I can't back out if I come to my senses at some point. Oh well; it looks to be quite the adventure and the team captain part will look good on my annual self appraisal next year. It will be a pretty good example of "team building".

Friday, May 30, 2008

Japanese man finds woman living in his closet - Yahoo! News UK

TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese man puzzled by food mysteriously disappearing from his refrigerator got a shock when he found out a woman had been living in his home for months without permission, police said Friday.


WTF??? How do you not notice something like this? What is it about Japan, why are they always the source of all the really weird stories?

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

WTH?? Wear a scarf and you support terrorism??

Mainstreaming Terrorism to Sell Donuts - from www.littlegreenfootballs.com

"I didn’t believe this story when people first started emailing about it; but sure enough, it’s true. Dunkin Donuts, the venerable old fried dough seller, is the latest American firm to casually promote the symbol of Palestinian terrorism and the
intifada, the kaffiyeh, via Rachael Ray"

Someone please tell me this is satire. People can't really be this stupid, can they?

Thursday, May 22, 2008

I am an Instrument of Change

The bike rack in the garage in our office park is falling apart. It's one of those old school racks; looks almost like a parade barricade with an extra bar along the bottom to hold your front wheel. The vertical bars in between which you put the wheel are rusting at the welds and some of them have broken (or been broken) loose. To secure the bike, you actually have to loop your chain/cable around the horizontal bar at the top. Otherwise, someone could just remove the vertical bar and make off with your ride. If they were really ambitious, they could just take the whole rack; it's no longer secured to the ground. I leaned against it the other day and almost knocked it over, bikes and all.

We have a message board at work, so I posted a facilities request alerting them of the problem. They forwarded that request to the property management group and on Wednesday, they're going to be replacing the rack. Maybe I should petition them to name the new rack after me... like a new wing at a hospital or something.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Apparently, I'm a "circus freak"

So, I'm riding to work yesterday morning. On the down-side of a bridge, I'm cruising at about 30ish. Coming at me (the wrong way on my side of the road, but up on the sidewalk) is another guy on a bike; looks like one of the DUI Brigade. You know the guys; they've been popped for DUI too many times, have lost their license and now their only mode of transportation is some beat-up, too small for them, 20 year old K-Mart bike. As I pass him, I hear him shout something, but couldn't really catch it over the wind rushing by. I was about 20 or so feet past him when it filtered through. I'm still not 100% sure, but I think he said something about me being a circus freak. I'm way more confused than upset about it, because I wasn't even wearing anything outlandish. I had on a plain, black pair of cycling shorts, plain white Nashbar jersey, my backpack and black Specialized shoes. Oh well, WTF ever. If that's what makes you feel a little better about your sorry lot in life, you go pal.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Another F@%#ING Flat!

Three gd flats in three consecutive rides. It's enough to make you chew your own foot off. I'm so sick of this, that I'm seriously thinking about hanging up the whole bike commuting thing right now. Any savings I'm realizing in gas are being negated by the costs of tires and tubes. In the past two weeks, I've bought two tires and three tubes. I replaced the original cheap, crappy tires that came on the bike with a set of Continental Ultras; the rear tire didn't even last a day before I flatted. I was a little over half-way back to the car when I ran over two shards of glass so small, I couldn't even see them to avoid them. I didn't even really need to boot the tire, but I threw a couple of patches on the inside of the tire just to be sure. The front tire (so far) has held up like a champ, it's the rear that's been giving me fits the past week. Perhaps my ass is just too fat for any but the strongest tires they make. A set of Gatorskins would probably alleviate my problems, but I'm sure they're spendy. I saw in my email when I got home that Performance Bike is having a sale through the weekend. I'll have to check it out; maybe they'll have something I can afford.

Any advice from anyone who happens to be reading this will certainly be appreciated.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

More Lessons Learned

Every day is a learning experience.
  • Quick release skewers are waaaay better than a solid axle and hex nuts
  • If you have a solid axle and hex nuts, make sure that your multi-tool has a wrench that fits the nuts
  • CO2 pumps are apparently not air-tight; if the canister seal is broken and you leave the pump in your seat bag, when you go down at lunch to patch your tube, the canister will be empty
  • Coworkers who offer to give you a ride to your car after work = AWESOME

Monday, May 12, 2008

A Couple of Solid Bike Commuting Weeks...

..under the belt and aside from a few mechanical mishaps here and there (with which Dave and the guys at AJ's Bikes and Boards were able to assist me), everything seems to be going quite well.

Some lessons learned:
  • Have spare tires on hand, not just spare tubes
  • If you have a CO2 pump, you should also have a few spare CO2 canisters
  • A mini patch kit is a good idea even if you carry a spare tube
  • Make sure the tension on you pedals isn't too high, because the screws that come with your cleats are surprisingly easy to strip out
I'm not sure if it's just me or if traffic has actually been noticeably lighter the last few weeks. I paid $3.59/gal on Friday and by this morning, it had jumped to $3.65. That's the likely reason for fewer cars on the road, and I don't see it slowing down anytime soon. At the same time, I have noticed a few more people on bikes in the morning. With the industrial areas I ride through, you always see the blue collar guys that either can't afford a car or lost their license, but I'm seeing more of those guys plus a few more people who actually know the rules of the road and are riding bikes that don't look held together with duct tape and chewing gum. I've even seen one or two more bikes at the bike rack here at work. That seems to be inconsistent though.

It may not be for long though. I've been getting lots of questions from coworkers as well as from people I don't even know, about my commute, how I clean up, how I manage to not reek, etc... It's pretty cool. One of my manager's bosses even told me I was his hero. That was pretty cool. Now, if only I could find an angle to work that into a raise...

May is National Bike Month.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Our trip to Disney

So, as I posted previously, we took Jack on his first visit to Disney World a few weeks ago.

He LOVED it.

We started out at Disney MGM Studios on Tuesday; the overall reaction from everyone was, 'meh'. It was mostly virtual 3D/4D attractions that, for the most part, we could take or leave. The hit of the day was the "live" Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show. It's one of Jack's favorites on TV and his eyes were as big as silver dollars throughout the whole thing. In it, they do a story with little snippets from shows on Disney's Playhouse; MM Clubhouse, Handy Manny, My Friends Tigger and Pooh, etc... It was interactive and they needed lots of 'help' from the audience. He was talking about it for days. At one point you have to help Tigger and Pooh get a kite out of a tree by blowing real hard and he kept saying "kite, tree" and then acted like he was blowing it out of the tree.

The next day was the Magic Kingdom and after being primed the day before, he was raring to go. We got to the park before Beth's family, so we were waiting around Main Street and saw Pluto posing for pics and giving autographs (who knew dogs can write?). He wasn't too sure about it at first, but within seconds, he was hugging Pluto and honking his nose. After that, he got excited every time we saw the characters. A couple of pics:


































Jack's not really into rides yet, so we did stuff like It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. Ever since the mansion, he's developed a tiny "mua ha ha" laugh. It's awesome! We also checked out the Country Bear Jamboree and Tom Sawyer's Island in Frontierland. The jamboree hasn't been updated in quite a while and it's funny how un-pc it is as far as it's portrayal of 'country folk'. Jack had a blast running all over tome Sawyer's island and around that same time, we also had a prime spot for viewing the family parade as it went by. A couple of the characters waved right at Jack as they went by and he ate that up. One of the floats had nothing but villains on it and Beth was making raspberries and thumbing her nose at them; Cruella Deville saw that and thumbed her nose right back. Unfortunately, Beth had the camera at the time and I wasn't able to get a pic. We took Jack on the train ride around the perimeter of the park as well. He loves trains and thought that was awfully cool too. We hit most of the other must see things in the park and then used the park hopper (the ONLY time we used it BTW) to check out Epcot briefly and see the fireworks show. We also checked out these guys in the Canadian pavilion of the World Showcase. They were pretty cool!.All in all, a full day for anybody, but a jam-packed one for a little guy:














He's not looking for something he dropped there, he's fast asleep.

The next day was a full day at Epcot. I'd forgotten just how cool it was. Jack seemed a little bored with most of it, but Beth and I had a blast. Soarin' is probably one of the coolest, non-roller coaster rides I've ever been on. Will definitely be doing that one again the next time we go. There's a lot that we didn't see there because we didn't spend a full day. It was our last day at Disney and we didn't' want to get home too late. We made a bit more leisurely lap around the World Showcase and tried to get a little food from each pavilion. After that, we made our way back out to the parking lot and made the 1.5 hour trek back to the house.

I was a bit apprehensive leading up to the trip, but wound up having a lot of fun. It was crowded, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be and the Fast Pass is probably the best invention in recent history. We didn't spend much time at all just standing in line. Although, I completely forgot about looking for hidden Mickeys until the last day, and that would have been a good way to pass the waiting time. We started planning our next trip before we even left park property on the last day.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Back again.

OK. We're going to give this another shot. Again. I use 'we' in the royal sense, because I doubt seriously anyone is actually reading this (aside from Beth). It's become apparent from my last few posts that this has become less about my running and cycling and more about my everyday life. So, the title has changed even though the URL remains the same. Just in case there is anyone out there that a.) actually reads this, and 2.) has it bookmarked. Plus, I don't want to have to edit my signature files on the various forums where I've included a link to here.

So, what's been happening? A lot of the same ol', same ol'. We went to Disney World a few weeks ago with Beth's family. It was Jack's first visit and he LOVED it. (will follow up in a separate post) Work has been, well.. work. Nothing really changes there. I DO need to start working on some certs and taking some management classes to make it easier to transfer/find a new employer so we can make the move to CO after Spud graduates. I've also started bike commuting to work. Halfway, anyway. It's a 30 mile trip one way, so I drive to a mid-point and then ride my bike the rest of the way in. The original plan was to do it everyday except for our 2 busy days a month, but it's working out to about 3-4 days a week. I'm saving money that would normally be going in the pockets of the oil companies, reducing my contribution to pollution and dropping some weight to boot. to make sure that the money actually gets saved, I continue to fill up weekly, but I subtract the number of gallons it takes to fill the tank from the number of gallons it used to take to fill after a week and multiply that by the price. Then we just set that difference aside.

Not much else to add at teh moment, but again, I hope to keep this updated much more regularly going forward.