712.1.

Rain, significant amount. Good thing I bought that new jacket, but guess I really need rainpants too. 44'F this morning, quite the fluctuations this week! This is good, though, we need the precipitation.

No critters out at all, as far as I could tell. But I had my head down most of the way.

704.6.

Brrrr! Frost on the ground, fog in the air (33'F currently), and I wore the no-finger gloves because I feel stupid wearing black wooly winter gloves in the afternoon with a short-sleeved shirt. Headline: "Fashion Victim Loses Fingers."

Visibility down to about 100 ft on one stretch of Skillman (why I bought lights). Very pretty, actually, where the sun is hitting the long frosted grass.

No hawks, no lambs, not much looking around at all. Just pedal it to work and the warm shower!

"Lonely Are the Brave" last night on vid. 1962, B&W. Kirk Douglas, Carroll O'Connor, Walter Matthau, many others. From an Edward Abbey book, and Abbey had a bit part in the film somewhere but I couldn't spot him (probably he didn't have his trademark beard). Adapted for screen, I presume, by Dalton Trumbo - he shares a writing credit, but I kinda doubt he actually sat in the same room with Abbey for more than a few minutes at any given time. Really, really dark, this movie, but you hear Abbey's "voice" throughout, therefore very enjoyable in spite of darkness. It's up there -- on a scale of one to ten, let's say 8 or 9.

700.9!

(Passed 600 on 2/6, so I'm doing a little more than 100 a month - though last week I only rode one day.)

Kickin' ass on the ride home. Old familiar-looking red-shouldered hawk on the wires by Bailey Ave...

Nissan XTerra that previously looked pretty cool, now doesn't look so great, per Consumer Reports...

But equivalent vehicles are all quite a bit more expensive. May look at Subarus, though my ex-boss had a "Forester," and I can't stomach driving one too no matter HOW good it might be. Anyway, I'm meanwhile moving a step forward on the loan process.

Good productive work day - though a lot of the work we did may turn out convincing us to go another way, that does happen sometimes.

Family all okay in Seattle...

697.1.

Ho hum, another beautiful winter day in Sonoma County. Already in the 50s at 6:30 or so.

Sun rising as I rode in. Stayed in 3-8 (highest gear) all the way to the bottom of the Fair Ave. hill, but frankly not feeling as peppy as I did monday and tuesday.

Lambs again, both on Skillman and Bailey. The ones on Bailey were backlit by the rising sun, and I stopped and almost got out the camera, but of course they all started heading for the back of the yard as soon as I stopped.

"Jesus' Son" last night. A funny, sad, weird, wonderful, movie. Go see it.

Then, "When Animals Attack," on regular cable. Same old footage, and really, kind of annoying, again, how people consider their lives somehow worth more than that of a wild creature. I would consider it an honor to be thought foodworthy by a cougar (and isn't it natural selection at work, when some dummie gets attacked by a bear because they sleep in the open smelling like food?). It was heartbreaking to see those stupid rangers holding the dead cougar up after they'd shot it because it attacked a little kid (who was not paying attention [and whose PARENTS were not paying attention], and was running and looking to the cougar very much like prey - what do you expect a lion to do? Introduce itself and shake his hand?). It's simply wrong. Let's see. How many cougars left in the world? How many dumb children and parents?

Then we're off on a little riff with the cats: "When Animals Cuddle."

"As the unsuspecting couple watches TV, the wild ferocious Siamese are stalking them, waiting for a lap to appear..."

(If you liked the Siamese, check out bentmetal sometime.)

Hoping to start being busy here, one of these days....

692.9? (It's usually 6 miles on the King Road route.)

Phenomenally lovely day (high 74'F), after all the rain and snow. We're expecting more rain on the weekend, but this weather should hold for this week's commuting.

Approved for a car loan. Now gotta figure out what car to get, and where.

Recommended reading: Car Buying Tips

Even if I do everything else stupidly from here on out, I believe the above site probably saved me 6% on the loan APR.

Anyway. Again, staying in higher gears up the hills, and don't know if this is a result of something physical or just a mindset adjustment. It's nice, though. Makes me think I'm semi-healthy.

686.9.

Chilly. I think the pheasant is related to the roadrunner...

Very small lambs along Skillman, just where the road is higher than the land to the south, so I was looking down on two ewes and three lambs huddled beside a barn.

Well, not only is the ride getting easier, but also shorter! Odometer read 683.3 when I left this morning, so only 3.6 miles today, evidently, .3 miles down from the usual 3.9. Allow for rounding, better turns here and there, and (perhaps) fewer stops?

More prospective landlords looking at the house(s) today. Sigh. I do wish THIS thing would now be over, one way or the other; the uncertainty is worse than any possible outcome.

"Born Today" has some pretty good ones today. Since about the past year, some of the quotes surprise even me - I don't always remember the ones I added more than a year ago, or, y'know, I added them with a chuckle six months back and immediately forgot 'em. I continue to work on these pages on weekends, though I've slacked off a bit lately, pushing for some undefined encyclopedic quality. Hav eadded many more cross references like those for presidents, prime ministers, and first ladies, and the links between wives and husbands like under Joanne Woodward and Liz Taylor today. And there's this continuing cogitation about how I can make it bigger, more unbelievable as a piece of work. Gee y'know, of musician, artist, writer, and quotemonger, I'd really prefer to be remembered after I'm dead as one of the first three... Be this as it may, the database is closing on 10,000 records - at that point, I might consider trying to shop a book around.

Wonder if, somehow, someday, that site will provide some kind of windfall for me. It seems to gain steadily in hits; generally has been creeping up towards (and past) three hundred main-page hits (and 15,000+ total hits) per week. (In spite of the annoying fact that typical visits always show Lolo Ferrari (3/4, 3/5) as one the most popular hits.) People who like "Born Today" seem to like it "repeatedly" - they come back; with some, I've had brief e-versations.

Guess I have work to do; at any rate, I have a latte to buy & drink while I wait for work to appear...

683.2.

Took a little extra bit from Skillman through the "secret" Vinafera road, through the elementary school, and then over Two Rock.

(I know, non-local people reading this will have no clue what I'm talking about... really gotta get a local map up here somewhere.)

Maybe my imagination, but the grinding uphill yesterday at Putnam Park seems to have had some effect on my climbing ability. I powered over the little hill on Fair Ave in the highest gear, and then over Two Rock without the usual stops... so maybe I am getting some lasting benefit here in spite of the smoking.

But I saw a guy on a road bike (in full stretch-pant cycloid gear) going west on Bodega as I was going east towards the school, and I saw him again on Eucalyptus. He HAD to have stopped somewhere, or else I totally kicked his ass speed-wise, including a significant uphill where he had mostly downhill. Of course he stopped somewhere, but it made me feel really, really good about my cycling to date - so, thank you, cycloid-dude, whoever you are!

We were told today at work that the project on which we've been working is changing completely. Basically instead of just doing stages 1 and 2, we're jumping straight to 3 or 4. And there were admonitions that we'd need to work long hours and weekends for the next three to six months, and that "slackers" would be let go. None of this really bothers me, except: I've only been REALLY busy at this job about five days in the last nine months -- compared to my last job, this job is a BREEZE. I've been busier and liking it in the past couple of months, and I really do like to be busy - even like the 12-hour days of crunch time - but pardon my skepticism when they imply that I'll be busier than I've ever been in my 25 years of working! Anyway, there are significant rewards for star performers, and oddly, "other opportunities" for "glory hogs." I've never (never) hogged another's glory, but I have on occasion felt compelled to raise consciousness about my own accomplishments.

Anyway, as I come to understand the full scope of the project, maybe I'll have more respect for it, but as it stands, I don't see this being a WordStar 5, or the 1991 Payroll season, or any number of other REALLY high-stress times in my working life. If it is such a time, I welcome it! I'm not drinking, I'm in as good physical shape than probably the last ten years, and I'm basically content and happy with my life, except for occasional boredom at work (and this damned housing and vehicle situation). There is no better time for this to happen.

677.1.

Road Rash Rides Again!

I finally attempted some off-road riding yesterday, spending about an hour on the single-track trails at Putnam park. Very discouraging, that all of this road riding hasn't really prepared me much for riding on those trails. Of course, it was muddy, and of course I had to ride up a mile-long paved-but-steep path (and get bitten by some bastard's uncontrolled dog) just to get to the dirt trails. Of course, I hadn't ridden the bike even on the road since Tuesday. Of course, excuses are a dime a dozen. But still, I was getting winded WAY too quickly, practically at the first intimation of an uphill track.

Well, it's something else to work up to, and I have a vague idea that I'll start riding there every Sunday.

No cheap online loan for a car. After reading a certain set of articles on the web (I'll post the URL later), I will NOT finance a car thru a dealer, and probably won't even buy a car from a dealer. I'll probably go to the dealers, though, to test-drive. We looked at the Nissan XTerra saturday - a cute little 4-wheeler with some attractive features. Have read good and bad things about it (and Nissan service) since. It's not really comparable to the 2WD Dodge Ram/Dakota trucks towards which I was gravitating earlier, a different beast entirely (and maybe as much as $5k more - but vehix.com* compares it to the Durango, which is as much as 10k more than the straight Dakota on which it's based).

* Note: vehix.com is probably funded by the automakers; i.e., a promotional site (why they can afford to advertise on TV). They don't really provide much useful info about the vehicles. It's mostly the stuff you can read on the sticker at the dealer.

Resolved to ride more than I drive and, as much as possible, continue with the daily riding to work. Somewhat happier now with the car, having gotten used to driving it again (and having taken a couple of drives around the west county). Saturday, we saw a couple of kites (which we may have seen before but hadn't identified); one hovering almost motionless, hunting, over a field for about five minutes - we both cheered when it finally dove to the grass and appeared to come up with a kill; and the usual assortment of other raptors. The mustard is blooming impressively now in big fields here and there. I will amend my usual story about why it's called "The Golden State," because I think it's these giant swatches of mustard, not the more sparse poppies, that early explorers probably saw.

Also Saturday, we talked with a potential caterer for our wedding reception. $2500 and an appointment in Sonoma (almost an hour of driving), courteous and friendly enough, but not only do they have nothing to sample, they have the temerity to mention that our party (75 people) is "small." While it may be true, that's not something you EVER mention in a service-oriented business. It certainly should have no bearing on the level of service you provide -- it's still the most important wedding reception WE will ever do, and they need to take a class with Tom Peters (or whoever that customer-satisfaction motivational-speaker guy is). This being my first experience with wedding-reception caterers, maybe it's the norm. But I don't like that, and I don't like that they're situated this far away (though granted, Marin County caterers may be significantly more expensive). Once we have at least one other caterer to compare them to, maybe I'll think differently.

Sunday was one big sky show. Menacing black clouds; here and there a sudden shower of big fat raindrops; rainbows; "golden" evening light, setting the mustard blossoms afire. But no more kite aerobatics.

Friday's quarterly meeting was pretty much as expected. 90 minutes of travel each way. Powerless, pointless, ENDless -- PowerPoint.