Strawberry City

Bike Miles today: 0

Felt quite tired after yesterday so I took the day off. I needed to drive to work anyway so it’s all good. This stupid bug just won’t go away. It’s 7 central now and I feel like I could close my eyes and fall asleep instantly.

One of the grocery stores here in town is having a big grand opening sale for it’s new store in town. The store is so new they haven’t even listed it on their webpage. Anyway, they had a 4 lb box of strawberries on sale for $4.88. For this time of year that is a crazy good price on strawberries. $1/lb during peak time is a normal price, just in case you didn’t know that.

Since we first found out about this sale on Sat morning we have eaten 12 lbs of strawberries.

We like strawberries.

FGLB

Back in the saddle

Bike Miles Today: 9

I got back on the bike today for the commute. It’s nice to be back on the bike. I’m still not feeling very energetic, but it’s a start.

I don’t have anything else to write about today. Sorry.

FGLB

Nice Sunny Saturday

Bike Miles today: 0

It’s a great day for a bike ride but it’s not in the cards today. I’m watching the kids and by the time my wife gets home from work it will be dark and cold again. Thought about taking them with me, but I think at 30 degrees it’s too cold for 2 little boys. She starts a new job in a few weeks so no more weekends at work, and I’ll be able to be selfish and get some rides in again.

Make sure to check out Bicycles and Icicles today. Nice story about an autistic boy in NY.

Thought I would share this picture with everyone. It’s one of those things that gets passed around at work, but I saved this one.

FGLB

The plague rises again

Bike Miles today: 0

I’ve been feeling bad again the last few days and I went back to the Dr yesterday afternoon. She said my stuff was coming back. She gave me some horse pills to take 4 times a day. They’re so big I can barely swallow them. She said if I’m not better in a month they’ll take me out back and put me down.

I think she was kidding.

The worse thing? The song on the radio while I was driving to my appointment was “Don’t fear the reaper.”

FGLB

Raging with envy

Bike Miles today: 0

Weather has been pretty nice but for some reason I can’t get motivated to get on the bike. I’ve had a major case of the blahs all week. I did play basketball today and since the old guy wasn’t there I did pretty good. I’m not feeling the blahs as much so maybe I just needed to get out and move around.

A buddy of mine got a new Cannondale R500. I swear I’m not jealous. Really, I’m not. Actually if I was going to get a bike I’m not sure what I would get. While I would love to get a Surly those have to be built up from the frame which takes more money than I could really justify. (I’m not handy enough to do the build up myself. Or smart enough really) I prefer the more laid back geometry of a touring bike (not to mention the reliability) so choosing a super light road bike with the super narrow tires isn’t my kind of thing. I’m too heavy for a bike like that anyway. I don’t think the tires would hold up with me aboard. I’ve thought about going single speed but I need some bailout gears. I can do the majority of my riding in one gear, but what happens when I’m out somewhere that I’m not familiar with and I don’t have the legs to make it up the hill? I guess I would walk? That doesn’t sound fun. And I would prefer a steel frame to aluminum. Just because I would, OK? So what to get someday? (if ever) I don’t know. I’ve heard good things about this Jamis bike. Maybe I should go with a long haul trucker and build it up cheaply and upgrade over time? It’s tough to know what to do. I could go with a Specialized Sequoia. It is supposed to have a more upright riding style. But it’s aluminum.

My current bike is a mountain bike that I’ve got some road tires on. Maybe I’ll just throw the knobbies back on and ride that on some trails this summer. I haven’t really ever ridden it off road. It’s kind of strange to say that, but I haven’t. I’ve come across some trails here in town so perhaps I’ll start riding those. The problem with that is then I have to commute to work on knobbie tires. That isn’t much fun.

Spring is around the corner, I think. Just thinking about that is getting rid of my blahs.

FGLB

Fat Guy Movie Reviews

Bike Miles today: 0

You need to check out Up in Alaska today to read up on Jill’s adventure race over the weekend.

I decided to do a movie review today as I watched a few movies this weekend.

Just Like Heaven–This is a movie with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo. Definitely a “chick flick” but I enjoyed it. My wife did too. Having Napoleon Dynamite in the movie definately gave it some pop. He does not suck. It was definitely funny and not too mushy although the ending was mostly transparent. But it was still enjoyable. I would recommend renting it sometime, but not unless you will be watching it with a girl.

Waiting—Ryan Reynolds leads the cast on this mostly crappy movie. I expected it to be funny in a Van Wilder/Harold and Kumar mold, but it wasn’t. There are some definite funny parts, but the movie mostly drags. It’s kind of like a Mallrats/Clerks wannabe on the whole ‘I’m trying to analyze my life and what the hell am I going to do with it’ idea, and trying to be a gross out comedy too. Doesn’t really make sense or flow together very well. The cast is pretty decent but some of the stuff they try to make funny really isn’t. There are some small hidden things that you really have to pay attention to see, and they are quite funny. Frankly, when you’re watching a comedy it should be funny the first time and if you watch it again you should pick up the little things that are funny. The sports guy from Anchorman is in this and basically plays the same character. The DVD extras sucked too. Worse then the movie. For a comedy the extras were just horrible. No funny outtakes. I actually quit the extras because they sucked so much. That never happens for me.

Elizabethtown—Orlando Bloom and Kirstin Dunst lead this cast. It is a surprisingly strong cast, in appearance. I didn’t really have a lot of hope for this movie from the beginning. And I wasn’t let down. It was an OK flick but certainly didn’t set any kind of great standard for movies. Mostly about a son dealing with his dad’s death and dealing with extended family he hardly knows around the funeral. This kind of mirrored my life as I’ve dealt with this twice this year for family deaths (not my dad), so I had some personal connection with the movie on that level, but it seemed to drag on. The last 45 minutes are really when the movie picked up steam and got strong. (Mostly because I’ve always wanted to do a cross country road trip which he embarks on going home from the funeral) I still can’t figure out if I think Bloom and Dunst were the right pair or not. Ruffalo and Witherspoon above were very believable in their roles, but for some reason I didn’t get the same feeling with this group. Even a surprise appearance by Jessica Biel couldn’t save this one.

Sin City–Are you ready for this? Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Josh Hartnett, Michael Madsen, Benecio Del Toro, Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen, Elijah Woods and tons of others. Super strong cast. Tons of testosterone. This was the movie of the weekend. Mostly because I like this kind of movie. Dark, objectionable, violent, twists and turns, bad people as the movie hero. Wow. Great. This movie is based on some graphic comic books by Frank Miller. The movie reads like three comic books but they all fall together and interact with each other. Tarantino was involved so it was similar to Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill but yet more dark and imposing. Great filming in mostly black and white. You have to watch this movie. But only if you don’t mind some serious violence. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. And I’m actually wishing I had seen this on the big screen. Two thumbs up.

According to IMDB a Sin City 2 and Sin City 3 are in the works. Oh boy.

Heard about this website so I thought I would share it with you all.

FGLB

Thank you, I’ll be here all week.

Bike Miles Today: 0

But in my defense we did have a bit of a snow and ice storm today. And I’m still getting over this cold thing. And I don’t have a trainer so I can’t ride inside. But I am starting to feel human again which is good.

Since I have to come up with things to post and I haven’t been riding my bike I thought I would post some fun stuff for you, rather than post a bunch of political rants like I normally do. I’m sure you’ll appreciate it.

My brother sent this list of oddities/questions to me. I thought I would share:
How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?
Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
How is it that we put a man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
Why do people pay to go up tall buildings, and then put money in binoculars to look at things on ground?
Why do toasters always have a setting that burns toast to a horrible crisp, that no decent human being would ever eat?
If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?
If the professor can make a radio out of a coconut, why can’t he fix a hole in a boat?
If Wyle E Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME stuff, why didn’t he just buy dinner?
Why do the Alphabet Song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?
Why did you just try singing the two songs above?
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dogs face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

You can also check out some of these interesting sites.
http://chucknorrisfacts.com/
http://www.awfulplasticsurgery.com/
http://www.stupidvideos.com/

For my money, the funniest commercials on TV today are the CareerBuilder ads with the monkeys. Not only are they filled with monkeys, but the monkeys are wearing suits (monkey suits!!). They also portray Corporate Life in a very off beat funny way that is sadly, quite accurate. Not to mention, they threw in some jackasses. To quote my friend “Monkey’s are comedy gold.” Sweet!

See the ads here.

Check out this link to send someone a monk-e-mail.

I read this joke today from Steve Martin on The Huffington Post about Cheney:
“Vice President Dick Cheney, while hunting wild geese in the Rose Garden, accidentally shot President Bush twice, once in the heart and once in the head. ‘I didn’t really shoot the President twice,’ said Cheney. ‘The second time I shot him, I was president.’ ”

FGLB

Whip it, whip it good.

Bike Miles Today: Don’t even ask

My closest friend disclosed to me today that he watches the Bachelor. I’m not sure where to go with this information. If he had told me he had just noticed that he had grown a third leg I don’t think I could be more shocked. That show is so trashy (although filled with nice eye candy) I can’t even believe it is still on TV.

I’m willing to be a little nice about this because he was only watching the show because his live in girlfriend wanted to watch the show. (Sure) But I’m not sure I can still excuse it. I know he has high speed internet. He could be doing that. Or he could leave the house. Or read a magazine. (books are out of the question for him) Or take a nap. I think we’ve finally reached the point in our relationship that I can call him whipped. And it feels ggggoooooodddddd. Ever since I’ve known him I’ve been the whipped one in the relationship. I’ve been involved with my lovely wife since before he and I started running around so I’ve always been the butt of the whipped jokes. It feels nice to be on level playing field finally.

Not that there is anything wrong with being whipped. If you’re a guy and you’re in a relationship you’re whipped. There is no way around it. If you say you aren’t whipped you are lying. All guys are whipped. It’s a fact of life. But, if you didn’t allow yourself to be whipped you would be the creepy 50 year old guy at the bar ooggling the girls who are in their 20s. I don’t know about you, but even if I have to give up some of my freedom, I wouldn’t want to be that guy. Ugg. The picture scares me even.

That is what relationships are all about. Giving of yourself to others. Opening yourself to another person. What people typically call “whipped” is really just giving of yourself in a relationship and compromising. Besides, if you do (or ever do) have kids the whipped you feel with a spouse is nothing compared to what you’ll feel when that happens.

Happy Valentine’s Day.
FGLB

Made in China

Bike Miles today: 0

Still cold today. Tomorrow it is supposed to warm up, but then go back down to lows in the low single digits. You tough people in Alaska can keep riding, but not me. Since I haven’t been riding my bike lately I have to develop new topics to interest my wide swatch of readership (I appreciate both of you reading this) so I’m going to talk about the US trade deficit.

It was recently announced that the US trade deficit ballooned to over $725BILLION last year. Wow, that’s a big number. You’ve probably seen the news stories about how shocking this is to people and how horrible these other countries are for not buying more of our goods back. Is it really that bad?

While I’m not a huge fan of outsourcing and globalization, it is our fault as consumers that it has happened in the first place. It’s simple really. Business is trying to maximize profits. That’s what a business does (if in a non-regulated industry without a meddling government) So, they outsource to other countries to lower their costs, and thus can lower their sales price and perhaps make more sales. In turn, retailers sell more cheaply to consumers who are crazy happy that their hair dryer is now $8 instead of $12. Even though people are “outraged” about outsourcing and such you don’t see them stopping their shopping at the local MegaMart. And they don’t stop demanding cheap goods. The same person who lost their job at a Levi’s plant when it moved out of America is down at the Gap buying clothes made in Sri Lanka. If they were so concerned about American jobs wouldn’t they be shopping somewhere that emphasizes that it saves American jobs? No, because they need to buy the cool clothes from the hot retailer.

Frankly, the most important thing to people in America when they shop is price. They would rather buy a $10 widget that lasts for a year than to spend $15 for something that will last 2 years. As prices go up for an item then we are more likely to pay for quality (notice the huge sales gains by Toyota and Honda for cars) but we don’t care on the cheaper items. And the cheaper items are where things are being outsourced. Look at the things around you. All of your electronics are foreign. So are your clothes. Shoes, what about all the knick knack crap that you buy at the MegaMart? It’s all from somewhere else. But a lot of the cars we buy are made in America, even if the nameplate isn’t GM or Ford (and they make a lot of their cars in Mexico and Canada which are still foreign you know). Our current access to cheap oil helps fuel this outsourcing orgy, and when our oil is depleted we won’t be able to ship things from across the world these jobs will come back. But unfortunately the skill sets to do a lot of these jobs won’t be here. That is concerning to me.

My point is, as upset as we all might be (or not be) about outsourcing; we as consumers have forced it upon ourselves. Big business is simply doing what they are required to do by shareholders, which is provide the lowest cost product to their customer that they can, while maximizing their profits. It hasn’t helped at all that we have allowed big box retailers to destroy our cities and towns and thus we have all been forced to shop at a smaller group of retail outlets that source their products based strictly on cost. This is one instance where the consumer hasn’t been right.

FGLB

Sometimes the intenet sucks

Bike Miles today: 0

I still feel like crap. Still sick. I’m hoping that I’ll get out tomorrow morning for a ride. Pending that it doesn’t snow.

Know why the internet sucks? And more specifically e-mail. I haven’t checked my nice fancy Yahoo account for 2 days. I received 1224 spam e-mails in that time period.

I’ve had this e-mail account for less than a month.

Email rules.

FGLB