Entries from February 2007 ↓

[tag]Concussion[/tag] checklist:
Slurred speech? Check.
Trouble focusing my vision? Check.
Problems walking? Check
Pupils dilated? NOPE!!

Wooo that means I don’t have to rush to the [tag]hospital[/tag]. But my head does still hurt a bit.

Last night at work one of my co-workers wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing and tossed a large counter top over his shoulder. I had the luck of being behind him at the time picking something up off the floor. So I got caught in the back of the head with the previously mentioned flying counter top. Once my vision cleared up, I looked up to see my co-worker looking absolutely appalled at what happened. I took a moment to make sure he understood I was ok then I stumbled off to the restroom to make sure I didn’t have a concussion. I did, but it isn’t the worse one I have ever had. I did have to go home early though.

Oh well just goes to show that [tag]stupid[/tag] [tag]hurts[/tag]

My [tag]work[/tag] assignment today carried me down to [tag]Dothan[/tag], [tag]Alabama[/tag]. The last time I had been there was in december during the “Tour De Stupidity.” After we were done with our work in Dothan and headed back to the warehouse, we followed part of the route I took north to [tag]Montgomery[/tag]. For a moment it seemed like time in the truck cab sighed, and then swallowed me whole.

I watched the shoulder of the road get smaller and rougher. And a since of pride swelled up in me. The part of U.S. [tag]231[/tag] we were on was the mentally toughest day of my bicycle trip. Fighting fast traffic without a real shoulder and coping with my own near exhaustion has left me very close to the point of breaking. That was the day I spent an hour in lying in the grass staring at the sky till I was able to convince myself to get back on my [tag]bike[/tag] and fight for a few more miles.

I still feel like I know that bit of road almost intimately. It was like hugging an old girlfriend, and remembering how she liked to be touched. I was reminded how I fought with that road for a few miles at a time, and how it fought back to make me quit. After seeing the condition of the road it doesn’t even seem realistic that I made it home at all. I wonder if my [tag]determination[/tag] was really that blind at the time. Could I do it again if i had to?

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Then we passed the big metal chicken and I realized my legs hurt. Turned out I had been subconsciously flexing them and unflexing them the way I do when I pedal, for about the last 40 miles. Did a single stretch of road leave that big of mark on me?

You may be just a little bit hungry if you have ever purchased a frozen [tag]burrito[/tag], and then proceeded to eat it without unthawing it first. My face still tingles just a little from that stunt.

During my [tag]commute[/tag] home from work recently I pedaled past a [tag]spinning[/tag] class going on in the window of a gym and there was a load of people inside spinning feverishly away on the stationary [tag]bicycles[/tag]. Something just strikes me as being inherently wrong with driving a car to go ride a stationary [tag]bicycle[/tag]. I just don’t have the patience to go no where fast I think. But there here in this window there was easily 30-40 people sweating, pedaling, and staring at me stare at them. All of us probably thinking, “now thats just silly.” Even with all those people in that class I almost never see people actually outside riding their bicycles. I know about the [tag]Birmingham[/tag] Bicycle club, but they are a little to organized for me. Plus they ride almost exclusively outside of Birmingham (which just seems like false advertising.)

Maybe there are only a few people here who prefer blue jeans to [tag]lycra[/tag]. I know there have to be at least a few other really laid back bicyclist types in Birmingham. Unfortunately most of the people I meet are either guys with milk crates strapped their squeaky [tag]bikes[/tag] who more often than not reek of alcohol when we stop to talk. Or elite racers riding $2000 plus dollar bikes that are just dripping with carbon fiber who are more concerned with their split times than chatting it up at a light. (before I get another angry email. There are exceptions to both categories. Every now and then I find a drunk racer)
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But it is fun to sneak up on the racer types wearing jeans and having them sneer at me before I try to outrun them. In [tag]Orlando[/tag] I managed to drop a few. the looks were priceless.

Earlier this week while riding around in the work truck with one of my team mates, he points out the window and says, “did you see that girl?” My response was. “Yeah, her seat is too low, but I wonder what kinda shifters she is using.” It took a bit before he would talk to me again.

This picture came from a party about a week before I left to go to Europe last year

yes I really am covered in cooking oil
and yes it was fun

and yes i won that match

“That thing weighs 24,000 pounds, don’t let it fall on you now.” Said the manager of the [tag]plant[/tag] I was visiting. I couldn’t help but thinking my life takes me interesting places sometimes. A few days ago my job had me performing an install at a Paper [tag]recycling[/tag] mill so I got to take a quick [tag]tour[/tag] once we were done. I got to see huge rolls of paper the size of small cars being prepared for shipping. From there they are sent out to become milk cartons and paper cups.

Unfortunately I was unable to run in the Be & K 5k [tag]run[/tag] this weekend. Because I was called in on an emergency project at work that several other people didn’t even bother to show up for. It is kinda funny, I have managed to take 3 days off of work and still managed to pull a 40 hour week in the space of 3 days.

And lastly I got kicked out fo a [tag]Subway[/tag] [tag]restaurant[/tag] this morning.I walked in the front door and two people were standing in the lobby talking and no one was behind the counter. So I turned to the girl standing closest to me and ask her if they were serving food. The other girl pipes in asking me to read the door. It was 7am and honestly I just wanted a yes or no answer. I tell her I read the door but there is no one behind the counter and they were both standing there with their hands in their pockets. She asked me why would I say something like that. And I pointed out it looked un porfessional, and she asked me to leave.

So much for service with a smile

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Today is my first day back at work after getting a half week [tag]vacation[/tag], and my team mates are already wanting me to go back home. Apparently most of my team has managed to clock in about 60 hours already this week, and we may be working the weekend. So seeing me come into work today daisy fresh irritated more than a few people. They also have been giving me grief for chuckling to myself every few minutes while working. I spent most of the week showing Sarah my [tag]Birmingham[/tag].[thumb:462:c] She has never been here before and was interested to see why I was so proud of the city. Plus she is going to be [tag]traveling[/tag] with me this summer to Italy, so we needed a chance to see if we could tolerate each other for a few days before attempting to travel together for a month solid . [thumb:456:c][thumb:457:c]

I had an awesome time showing her around town. We got a chance to visit a lot of my favorites places that I haven’t had an chance to visit in ages. She enjoyed the Birmingham [tag]Museum[/tag] of [tag]Art[/tag] and the place I go for coffee. We managed to crash an organ recital at the [tag]Alabama[/tag] [tag]Theater,[/tag] we were the youngest people there in a sea of gray hair and silver hair. [thumb:458:c]She got to see some of the other Museums and art installations around town. She also got to meet a surprising number of my friends since i needed them to bail me out since my car kept dying on me for various reasons.[thumb:460:c] I also ran into my mother who I haven’t seen in over a year while we were exiting a store.

Considering how much fun we had and silliness we got into, I really can’t wait till May and Italy get here.

And of course in an epic show of stupidity, never flirt with a girl at a funeral. There is always the chance that she was the last person to have dated the person whose funeral you are attending, Hmmm can you say inappropriate.

Next time I am in [tag]New York[/tag] I really want to check this place out. A [tag]Ninja[/tag] themed [tag]restaurant[/tag].

Here is a clip from an interview with the owner.

Seems like it would be a blast.