Lunch and Why Cats Hate Baths...

So I have a problem, well three...

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

My real problem is I Love food. No, thats not quite right either I LOVE FOOD! I know what you might be saying, "yea, yea, yea, we all love food" Allow me to explain.

LOVE IT! All of it! Love it like a crack addict with Trumps visa card LOVE IT. Hence the problem, I love it, there for I tend to eat to much of it, and well lets just say that I don't love cloths shopping as a result.

Soooooooo, as a part of my ever on going fight with weight loss, and well my ongoing love of GEEK type items. I have purchased a new lunch box, with the goal of eating better, home made, lunches.

This was done with three things in mind:
1) Buying lunch every day is, as my British friend would say, Bloody Expensive!
2) Home made lunch is cheaper, and I can control all aspects of the lunch, from portions to nutritional balance.
3) The more and more I read about the current state of industrial agriculture, USDA policy, and in no small part the over all health of this nation, I'm becoming a convert to the believe that you truly "Are what you eat" or better put "You are what you eat, eats"

So what did I get that will help with all of this you ask?

Its a Benito Box, well sort of.

I give you MR. Benito...

The Delimia: I was looking for a way to take multiple, small portions of healthier foods to work for lunch. I also wanted to feel satisfied after lunch, so that I would not be walking around the office looking for a slow or crippled programmer that might qualify as "Easy Pray"

I located the Mr. Benito on Amazon and after reading up on some of the reviews placed the order. Today is the Day 1 lunch.

The idea behind this item is this, their are 4 individual compartments inside a vacuum sealed thermos. You pack in what ever it is you would like to have for lunch, Hot or cold, and when it comes time to eat lunch they should still be hot or cold.

Wonderful idea with some planning, so here is the thing. This item is based on the Japaneses lunch. IE the Benito. So NO microwave at work. I'm perfectly OK with that, since the microwave at my office looks like a petri dish a week after Steven Tyler spit in it inside, I will not use it.

It also wins points for a nicely appointed caring case with an internal "Pouch" that will hold chopsticks, silverware, and ever the SPORK it comes with (I love that part)

How it all stacks up. As you can see from the picture, each of the containers have their own lid. The top two are Tupperware style, snap on. I will say this about them, they are air tight, I have to burp them a bit after getting the lid on or the air pressure in side will pop them back off.

The next container down, has a gasket-ed screw on lid with a pressure release valve in it. This one is for you Hot/Cold lunch item. Think soup, hot protein that sort of thing.

The last container is also the largest, has an insulated lid. In the Japaneses style lunch this is for rice. It can be used for anything dry-ish. The real determination for this one is nothing with a runny sauce, or liquid that can escape the lid. So rice, pasta, salad ect.

Today's Meal...

So what was on tap for the first run of Mr. Benito (ever time I say I get the song Mr Robato stuck in my head)

From Left to right:
1) Home made cole-slaw with two pickles
2) Raw - Carrots, Cucumbers and Radish (BuRP)
3) 5 oz Med-Rare Beef chunks salt pepper and a touch of oil
4) 2 cups Couscous with sauteed Mushrooms, Carrots and Celery

Total Caloric intake - Aprox: 650 cals.

I have to admit that when I was packing up this morning, I was really worried that I would still be hungry after lunch. I AM STUFFED! for the next outing I will be definitively cutting the portion sizes of the Protein and Carbs back some to find that happy balance.

Mom Hooked me up...

My mother also hooked me up this year for Christmas, along with some really snazzy camera and editing gear, she got me a soup Thermos. I love soup this time of year, heck I love soup any time of year.

This little guy, holds about 10 oz of soup, if you prime it before loading hot soup in, its sill HOT when you take it out for lunch. Very, Very pleased.



My Mother-in-Law also hooked me up...

Breakfast for me, most days is yogurt, some fruit, and a cup of coffee. Typically I buy Stoneyfield Organic Yogurt. $0.79 to $1.05 per container for a meal, killer. Taste.. well, its what 95% of Americans call yogurt. Its sweet, tastes like fruit and is rather, forgettable.

I give you my answer, The Euro Cuisine YM100 (oh yes). Its a in home yogurt incubator.

Seems devilishly simple: Dairy + Culture + Heat + Time = Yogurt

I was really expecting something tricky here, it just seems that making yogurt should be complicated. When ever I think about fermenting milk with live bacteria in it, it just sounds like something that, if screwed up should make you move your laptop stand into the bathroom so you can get some work done.

But its not, it is actually so freaking simple you are left feeling a little disconnected from the process at the end.

Here are the steps:
1) Heat Dairy: I brought 48oz of 1% Organic milk to 180 deg F
2) Cool Dairy: I placed the sauce pan in a sink of cold water till the temp was 113 deg F
3) Add live Culture: Add 1 packet of live culture, whisk to combine
4) Fill Cups: ummmm, well, I filled the little glass cups, what else can I say
5) Power up, Set Timer, cover and walk away: Put the cups in the incubator with out their lids, cover with the incubator lid, set the trimmer to 7.5 hours and don't touch for 7.5 hours.

After the 7.5 hours were over, I pulled them out, put the lids on and placed them in the fridge. After about 2 hours to allow them to cool, I took one out and tasted it.

HOLY CRAP! is that what yogurt should taste like?!? Its good, no sweetner, no fruit, no nothing. Just good!

I will admit that I put 1 TBS of Honey on top of the yogurt when loading up my bags in the AM just to add a bit of flavor, but its still not overly sweet. You can still taste the yogurt, it has this wonderful bitter/sweet flavor where you can really taste and appreciate both the yogurt and the honey as well as their flavor together. I did a side by side comparison to Stonyfield today, it was like drinking a really good home or Micro brew next to a Coors Light. With the commercial yogurt I could not taste the yogurt at all, all you got was the flavoring.


When the Chinese Attack...

There is nothing scarier or more sinister then 30 Dungeons and Dragons/Star Trek Convention police coming full speed at you on their Segways?

Don't the guns look a little small? I mean if you're going to demoralize your SWAT team by forcing them to ride Segways, couldn't you at least outfit them with something that does not look like its going to fire a paint ball out the end of it.

They make me feel bad...

Ever wash a cat? Or as I call it, "Water Tested my chain mail" If you have you have probably seen something like this. I can still remember my first time.

"Insert Dream Sequence Music"

Me - Honey, the cat smells a little funny, I'm going to give it a bath.
Soon to be wife (Aka Honey) - Ahhhhhhhh, ok, have fun with that.
Me - Here kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty!
Kitty - What do you want? Have you feed me or cleaned my pop, if the answer is no, go try again.
Honey - ahhh, just curious, do you have everything ready to wash the cat
Me - Yea, I got the cat shampoo, and a towel
Honey - You might want to consider (I have to admit, that after 7 years together I have learned that any sentence that starts with "You might want to consider" is my wife's way of saying "What you about to do it stupid, and unless you do what comes next, its either going to heart, be expensive, make you look like an idiot, or some/all of the above) You might want to consider taking everything out of the shower/tub area and laying down a few extra towels. Also a change of clothing might be a good idea. Do you have any long gloves?
Me - Its just a cat, I out weight it by 900%.
Honey - Ok (also worth note, the tone of this OK is really important as I will learn)
Me - I grab the cat, and head for the bathroom.
Cat - "Hi, where we going? Why are you carrying me, you know I can walk? what the... why are we going in there... we never go in there together..... wait a minute... is that PET SHAMPOO!!! ABORT, ABORT!!!! CODE RED!!!!!! CODE BLACK!!!, CODE KIBBLE!!!DIVE, DIVE, DIVE!!! AHOOOOGAAH!!!"

Side Note - This is about the time when I placed the cat in the tub and turned on the water. Time slowed at this point. Cat pulled off one of the greatest feats of feline athletics I have ever witness and felt all at the same time. She extended every claw she has, exploded in about 3 different directions, proceeded to run up my arm, over my shoulder and down my back and out the bathroom door that I, did not think to close. I will also like to mention that the cat did not get wet, but somehow I am now soaking wet every place the cat touched me, along with a very interesting track mark pattern of blood droplets forming every place a paw made contact.

Me - After performing triage on my wounds, I walked out of the bathroom looking like Frankenstein's monster after a bender. My goal, find the cat.

Me - Post removing everything from my closet and extracted the cat, and returned her to the bathtub.
Cat - "I'm going to kill you in your sleep!"
Me - I proceed to make the cat wet by splashing it with my hand, cause I did not plan ahead for a method of doing this. Well apparently, cats hate this.
Cat - While moving in ever direction at the same time, proceeds to pull down ever soap bottle, razor, washing sponge, shower curtain, plunger and toilet brush it can get its claws on.
Me - My hand slips from the cat - opps!
Cat - FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cat is out of the tub, and doing low level laps around bathroom looking for a way out, all the while shacking and rubbing making everything with in a 5 1/2 foot vertical and horizontal radius of it soapy and wet.
Me - After putting a move on the cat that would make Jimmy Supper Fly Snukka envious I manage to wrestle it back into the tub for the rinse cycle.
Me - Rather then splashing the cat with water, I drained the tub, filled it half full with clean, luke warm water and proceeded to gently dunk the cats body under the water repetitively. Yea, they hate this ever more. Never mind that I was taking special care to keep the cats head out of the water during this process.
Cat - Performing what I believe is the last ditch effort of a panicking creature, proceeds to apply a Death Grip on tub filler.
ME - Wow, cat fir sure holds on to soap, using a full cup of soap might have been to much.
Cat - "Your a dead man!"
Me - "Honey, can you please bring me a pitcher from the kitchen, I need to get all this soap out?"
Cat - "Ohhhhh, I see, yea, your death will be slow"
Honey - ahh ok (see its that tone again, its the OK of knowing better then what I'm about to try, don't get me wrong, its a very loving OK)
Me - After playing a rather painful game of catch the wet cat, I managed to wash, rinse and dry-ish the cat. At this point I was ready to let the animal free into the house when...
Honey - "Oh, you cant just let them go, they will get cold with all that wet fur." My loving Soon to be wife, picks that cat up wrapped up in a dry and I think warmed up in the oven towel. All the while she is speaking kind sotthing words to the anamila. The cat is eating this up, purring, and being all lovie.

Then it looks at me... ICE

Me - After my wife and cat left the room, I survayed the damage. Damm... It looks like a wet fur bomb went off in here.
1) Where in the hell did all the fur come from?
2) When did the cat have time to dunk the tolet paper into the tub and then put it back on to the roll?
3) Did it leave anything standing?
4) I did not release that cat fir would hold that much water, right up to the point the cat jumps from the tube, then it seems to just sheet right of them.
5) WOW, I am really bleeding! I mean really, it looks like I picked a fight with a weedwacker

Honey - Wife leaves the bathroom caring lovie cat in her gentle arms for the sofa
Me - 45 min latter I join Wife and Cat on the sofa after cleaning the bath room and putting everything back in its place. I also downed a glass of OJ, cause I hear that its good for you after giveing blood.

AWTF...

Whats the spell???

AWTF

I know what you are all thinking, well we know what WTF stands for, what does the A represent. Well Shami fans, its not what you think.

Earlier this week I was sitting in a meeting and needed to make a note that the person currently sharing the depth of their mental processes was "Off the Plantation" if you understand my meaning. So like any good middle manager would, I pulled out my trusty blackberry and went a-hunting (Yes, if your from PA, you can use the term a-hunting this time of year)

After a very short search, I came up with AWTF aka. Away With The Fairies. Seems it a health care term used on charts to show the mental state of a patient. Yep, worked for this guy just as well.

See, a Fairie ->

For some reason, and its a very, very strange reason, I feel like I know this guy from somewhere, ice cream maybe.

Also, is that a red handkerchief as a groin cloth! No, wrong, never. Bad idea, never, ever, ever make a fairy pouch from a red handkerchief.


The Hobit Hole...

Most readers of this blog know that I am a fan of alternative housing, and we have talked about a few of them over the year, but this one is freaking cool.

"Why don't you go back to the hole you crawled out of, If you had a house like this, the answer would be "Hell Yea""
e
Read More -> Click Here <-


Duct (Not DUCK!) Tap WTF?.?

WOW, really all I can come up with is WOW! And not the good, WOW, you cured cancer kind of WOW. Its more like the, well you live in your grandmothers basement kind of WOW!

So tell me again why we are all not wearing these? Oh I know, Dork alarm! I can prove it:

1) The SMEGAL Yea I'm Cool Poster...
2) CSI NewYork on the TV, everyone knows that Miami is the cool one...
3) The plastic Dorm style organizer, when you are not in a dorm...
4) Grandmother's little, itty, bity lamp, awwwwwww how cute...
5) Is that a, NOOOOOO, really, yep its a dinosaur switch plate cover, see I told you this was not a dorm...

Back, Bad, and Sad!!!

Welcome Shami fans...

So its been a while, a long while, a real long while, but there has been a reason.

Allow me to enplane, no that will take to long, allow me to sum up:

1) New job
2) Promotion at new job
3) I'm now "In charge" of people
4) New job happens at three offices
5) I need to drive back and forth from each
6) No riding for the time being
7) The seventh reason....

So while the seventh reason is being address, I will not be ridding until spring, maybe. I need to figure out a route that allows for simple park and ride as well as extending my route after I get back in the saddle. SOOOOOO Hopefully this fall/winter there will be more riding to work boy, but for a little while at least I am bound to the car.

So back to the posts.

New Tech...

Three new tech items have come into my life, They are:

Verizon BlackBerry Tour 9600...

Or as I like to refer to her, "My Precious"

Oh how I love thee, let me count the ways:
1) All four email accounts in one place
2) SMS and MMS via the same interface
4) One calendar to rule them all
5) Password Keeper!
6) Mobile Facebook
7) Its not touch screen

Very much love this device, keeps me happy in touch with those I need to stay in touch with, while at the same time keeping me organized.

The Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000...

So wrap your head around this, its a full sized keyboard with separate 10 key num pad that connects to your laptop via bluetooth. It thinner then my blackberry, about the thickness of a pencil and its slightly ergonomic.

Pros:
1) Love typing on it, large keys, nice home row indicator, good key replay, satisfying key click
2) Ergo is a nice touch
3) Supper thin, its only a bit thicker the the AAA's that run it (two each)
4) Easy to link
5) Nice power, sync and battery lock switches
6) Good over all feel
7) Fits into my laptop bag with ease
8) Num pad works independently from keyboard, so you can take your 10 pad with you when traveling if you are so inclined, and I am always so inclined.

Con:
1) Hard on batteries if you forget to turn the keyboard off at the end of the day, the num pad gets around this with a auto sleep function that after a certain time of non-use will put it to sleep. It wakes up very nicely in about 5 seconds after typing a number.
2) Good thing that its easy to sync up, until bluetooth get a bit more bullet prof, you will be doing it about once day for the keyboard.

With all of that said, I like it a lot, work well, nice to use and easy on the wrist, truly portable.

Microsoft Arc Mouse...

Ok, i have made it clear in the past that I have no love for the big blue MS, or really any software they have developed short of a few very, very select game titles. But, I cant beat their peripherals with a stick, well I'm sure you could but then they would not work would they? Now I'm sure that one of the reasons I like them so much is that the non-OS developers make sure their stuff at least works with the swill the OS developers put out. This brings us to the ARC mouse.

Pros:
1) Sexy design
2) Receiver is attached to the bottom of the mouse by a rare earth magnet when not in use
3) Closing the "Flipper" turns off the mouse
4) battery life 1 year +

Cons:
1) Its just a touch small
2) Side button is to far forward
3) Receiver sticks out just a BIT to far. Logitech still has the winner when it comes to this.

Again, I would buy it again, I have gotten used to it and it sit beside my track ball all the time for wrist relief and any time I need accurate point and click that the trackball cant provide.

Oregon Scientific's Solar Weather Station...

While growing up, if I wanted to know what the weather was, I stuck my arm out the window, now there are lots of things that can do it for you, but until now they all sucked up power. Well not any more, for about one hundred bucks you can have a weather, humidity, inside, outside temp, clock, and more display that runs all on solar power.

Read More>>>Click Here<<<




Pet of the day...

I'm somewhat sure I know what happened here, and since this is turning into a day of lists:
1) Own the following
Pool, Cat, Beer
2) Combine

While I am not 100% sure, but I would be willing to bet a donuts, and I love, LOVE donuts, that this cat is going to FU%$ someone up, when its gets out of the pool.


Why Helmets done suck...

"Ring Announcer" - "And in this corner weighing in a 155lbs, BMX boy, and not entering the ring, our raining champing of gravity, the big blue her self, weighing in at over 6 septiliion kilograms, the EARTH!!!!!!!!."

"Intergalactic Crowd" - Goes wild!!!!!

"Intergalactic Fight Announcer Neal" (aka -The iFAN) - "Well Bob this is going to be one hell of a match up today."

"Intergalactic Color Man Bob" - "Yea Neal, BMX boy has a real fighting chance of being the one to finally take down the Earth, I mean with a mass to speed ration just under that of a flea's butt hair compaired to the Earth, this should feel just like a fly hitting a dodge dart on the free way. All that will be left to take care of in the end is the mess."

"Intergalactic Fight Announcer Neal" - "Ok Bob, well here we go, BMX boy is ready, and hes off, down the ramp he is going, Wow Bob, It looks like he is really trying hard today. He building up quite the head of steam coming down that hill for his first jump. On this first one he will be attempting to comlete four rotations in the air, before Earth can do something about it. What do you think is going through his head right now Bob."

"Intergalactic Color Man Bob" - "Well Neal, I don't know whats going through his head right now, but I know what will be going throw his head in a few moments."

"Intergalactic Fight Announcer Neal" - "There he goes Bob, hes off the ramp, 1, 2, 3 rotations, going for number 4.... He... Could... Go... All... The...."

"Intergalactic Color Man Bob" - "NOPE! Earths got him, she has latched on to him tighter then a hungry new born to Dolly Parton, and the best part, she is grabbing him by his face by one of her biggest and baddest laws.. Gravity!"

"Intergalactic Crowd" - Goes, ohhhhhhhhhhh

In the fight ring there is a tumultuous CRASH..........

"Intergalactic Fight Announcer Neal" - "Oh man, Bob, I wonder if BMX boy is going to be OK, that was a nasty fall, Earth grabbed him right out the air, pulled him down at 9.8 meters per second squared and landed him right on his FACE!"

"Intergalactic Color Man Bob" - "Well Neal, i guess that's why there are so many power wheal chair manufactures out there, Hehe, I would not worrier to much about BMX boy, and hey look on the bright side, at least he did not get a dent in that nice helmet that he thought would make him look like a dork, wonder how hes going to feel in the Hover Round Chair"


Sgt. Pezzers Epic FAIL!!!

I don't know how or even why, but I am willing to bet that somewhere on that truck there is written the max weight it can carry. This guy did not read that sign, I like that he is sitting there on a brick, nice touch.

New Bike Bling...

A Year...

Well its been a year, a year of contract, a year of work, a year of paycheck, a year of ridding to work.

What I have learned in a year.

1) Never, ever, try to tie your shoes while sitting on a bike, and putting the offending foot up on the back of a park bench. This would be a sound idea, if, and only if you un-clip your off side foot. This is a sure fire way to fall over.

2) Some bugs taste, well not so bad when eaten on a bike.

3) Some other bugs, taste really, really, bad.

4) Riding while it is snowing can be quite fun, ridding while there is ice on the road is quite "sporty"

5) You can never have to many of the following in your bike bag:
-A spare, spare tire
-Patches
-Either an extra CO2, or a hand pump
-Spare change of clothing, or at the very least, extra underwear
-Snacks

6) Ridding past motorist that are stuck in traffic on a beautiful day is about as good as my work day gets.

7) Beer after any bike ride, is always a good beverage.

8) Never under any circumstance ride thought a section of bike path with goose poop on it with your mouth closed.

9) Notes on squirrels:
-They can run at about 15mph over short distances.
-They do not react well under pressure, always expect them to dart, scamper, or otherwise move in some squirrel like way towards you at that last critical moment before you pass them.
-Squirrels teach all rabbits on the proper technique for dismounting a cyclist, its just rabbits get more practice. (See darting/scampering note above)
-Ground hogs are HUDE up close, and have lots of teeth, but they move nothing like squirrels.

10) Although I will admit that A&D ointment and Toothpaste both come in the same type of squeeze tube, one should always, always confirm which one is applied to ones toothbrush BEFORE putting said toothbrush in ones mouth and giving it a good healthy scrub around the mouth. (For anyone wondering what A&D ointment tastes like, it tastes EXACTLY like it smells. As a public service announcement, if you ever find your self the position of having A&D ointment in your mouth, it takes no less then three cups of coffee, a banana and a brownie to remove that baby bottoms like flavor.)

New Bike Bling...

So after a year of ridding I have killed some hardware, so last night by the grace of my loving mother I got a new paid of shoes, cleats and helmet.

Shoes...

I give you the Shimano SH-MT32, the replacement of the Shimano SH-MT31. Seems that it is policy at the Shimano corporation to replace ever bike shoe ever year with a new and better version. I will also note that the new and better version costs about $20 extra. Today was day one with the new shoes, and all I have to say is WOW. New shoes, It is hard to believe that amount of break in that happens to a pair of shoes over the course of the year. By comparison to my old pair, this new pair is like peddling with a 2x4 tied to my foot, very stiff, very nice, and very not broken in. So far I am still very happy. I need to go back to the shop tonight, they were nice enough to put my cleats on the bottom for me last night, but they ran them on with the long screws. This morning I could feel the screws biting into the bottom of my foot like a little stainless steel vampire.

Helmet...

A new brain bucket was also in order, and luckily enough the same helmet I have had for the past year, is still available. What can I say, it has kept my head in for a hole year, lets try for one more shall we. Just a plane jane Giro Atlas II in black. In my option a helmet should only come in two three colors, Black, Black and Red, and Black and Yellow.

Needfull things...

Let me preference this with confirming something my Friends and family already know.

I'm forget full.

I don't really know why, its not that I try to forget things, its just that things, important things at that get forgotten.

Today, it was drawers, and not the ones that you keep your socks in....

I feel so,, well free.

Been a while...

So it has been a while since my last post to the Shami, there are excuses but lets just get to the Shami news shall we?

Beer fest 2009...

If you are a lover of all things hoppy and bitter. And a fan of the Shami, then you know of our love of all things Beer. I have thought about giving up beer on exactly two occasions, both of them were Saturday morning, and both were a silly idea.

If you also live with in driving distance of Harrisburg, PA you probably also know of the Harrisburg Brew fest. The brew fest is held every year in downtown Harrisburg to help raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It is a wonderful day of drinks, food and live food. Tickets are still on sale.

http://www.troegs.com/brewfest/general.asp

Rosie...
Rosie, the friendly sometimes slightly crazy robot maid from the jetsons is now in my house in the form of a roomba 535. I have to admit, I have been shy of this technology, if like me you were a child of the 70's and 80's when the robot craze really took root, you know that all robots will:
1) Not work like advertised
2) Go crazy and kill you
3) Require a 'B" movie level action start to fight the bad villain and ultimately destroy the contently fragile transmitter controlling all the robots of the world from a single handheld array.
4) After mentioned array is destroyed, all the robots of the world will go back to normal operation, like nothing has happened. Except (roll credits)

Now with all of that said, Last week a roomba 535 was deliverd to our door by brown goodies van (UPS) via the good folks at www.woot.com.

After unpacking and playing the demo, lots of fun. We let "Rosie" charge up and then set her about her rounds, to the amazement of both humans and all cats in the house. On a particularly interesting note, I believe that Ozzy, our not so little tabby cat is in love with "Rosie" following her every where she goes in the house.

And to my ultimate amazement, this thing does a FANTASTIC job. It is really amazing the amount of crap it can get out of your carpet. There is a lint filter like thing, that after a full run looks like the lint trap in my dryer after doing a load of towls. While in the past I have cooed over robots, I always went back to the four laws of robotics as mentioned above and never bought one. I am truly happy with the addition, and would highly recommend it.

I want a new job, one that does what it should...

One that will not end to soon,
One that pay the bills real gooooood.
I want a new job,
One I don't want to quit,
One I can bike to,
and one I can drive to, to.

One that woult leave me nervous, wondering what to do.
One that makes me feel like I feel when I have MONEY!

Ok, so that maybe not what Huey Lewis had in mind when he released that wonder of the 80's but never the less. This week I got a new job!

Its a farther ride then what I'm accustomed to, doing for the most part the same work as I do now, its in my field and its full time. Oh did I mention I don't have to pay to park on days when there is snow, ice, or lighting coming from the sky?

Well that is about all for now, sorry no pet pictures, or why helmets don't suck for a while. I need to build the library of images back up a bit.

Hey I'm a squid...

Estelle Getty in the movie Mannequin.

"I don't care if Johnathan runs around the store at night naked with a rubber glove on his head yelling HEY I'M A SQUID"

Well that is at least how I felt this morning, a bit of rain, a lot of slop coming off the road. Oh well its better then driving.

Friday...
Well we had an extremely busy weekend. Due to hours cut backs at work I got Friday off........ There are times I really hate being a contractor. So to celebrate my new found Friday freedom I went shooting with my good buddy, Jason L. or as you all know him. Sgt Pezzer. I have happy to report I out shoot a ex-marine again. (for now) I am sure that at some pint this will pass, right around the time He can hit the slow rabbit.

Saturday...
Melissa (Wife) and I went back down to the Warrington Sporting Clays again, she got an assignment to shoot (camera) a wedding party that was shooting a 50 round on the course before the groom had to run off to get married. We should have pictures up soon on here and at

http://www.melissamcclainphotography.com/

If you would like to see the pictures please message me and I will send you the gallery password.

We then stopped in a Java Junction for lunch, the Turkey and chipolitie panini was excellent. This will be the second time I got something from there that was good. If you are ever in the Wellsville PA area and would like to shoot a nice round of sporting clays or a good lunch I would highly recommend both.

Warrington Sporting Clays.
http://www.warringtonsportingclays.com/

Java Junction, Warrington PA.
http://javajunction.us/

After the photo shoot, and me getting to shoot 25 on the wobbler and 25 on the 5 stand, we went down to Melissa grandparents and had a snack with them. Melissa's grandfather was nice enough to jump some pigeons from the barn, and I am happy to report that all my wing shooting practice is paying off. :)

From the Grandparents house we headed over to Hershey to take some recon photos of founders hall, We are photographing a wedding over there in a few weeks and wanted to get a idea of the campus and where some good shoots could come from.

Sunday...
Sunday was busy as well, got to sleep in and suggle a bit with the wife, always a good time. We went up to my moms house and meet up with her for lunch, and then home for lots of cleaning and photo editing.

Ended Sunday with a very nice fish dinner with my wife.

Monday...
I need a day off from the weekend.

Cold wet ride into work, and trying to make some things right.

We are meeting with our Realtor this evening to look at some houses. Very excited about a few of these, lets hope for some luck.

Tires...
I'm having a hell of a time finding tires that don't die. It seems that no matter what smooth tread MT bike tire I get after about 5-6 weeks of riding the side walls start cutting. I have checked my rims and there is no sharp edges that could be causing it. I'm starting to get discouraged.






Green Tech...
EVO Beta is a wonderful site if you want to learn about green alternatives to everyday items. They are currently running a nice piece on solar pannels. If you would like to read up a bit and find out if its a option for your home. Please check out this site.
http://www.evo.com/content/2827/solar_basics_-_how_much_does_a_home_solar_system_cost

Pet of the Day...

Its a double trouble pet day here at the Shami.

Today's pet #1 of the day comes to us from the Myers family. Jestine Myers is an extremely close friend of mine from High School. Seems that her and her family went yard saleing this weekend and came home with a new puppy.



Our second pet is the new member of the Lopez family (Sgt. Pezzer).

Ahh, new puppys, what is it with spring and getting a dog?


Why Helmets Don't Suck...

I know, we have run it before, but its one of my favorites.







Sgt. Pezzers Epic Fail...

Dump Truck Rule #1 - Put the DUMP part of your truck down when done with it.

This clip is safe for work.

Suffering... Late..

Rain + Waking up late = Pain

This is the equation I came up with today, I feel its about as accurate as 2+2=5 for extremely large values of 2.

I rolled out of bed today a bit late, well lets put that into perspective. My alarm goes off at 6:30am, I tend to get a few min of extreme anger at it before I have to move my very warm and lovie cat and go off to do thous things that have to be done first thing in the morning.

Typically I'm at my new parking spot at about 7:15 for a 35 - 45 min ride with an average of 11 to 12 mph over 7.8 miles

Today I got to my parking spot at 8:06, oh yea taking late to a hole new definition. Now luckily enough I work in an office where my being late does not really matter, but still, I DON'T LIKE IT.

So off I go with wild abandement and legs of fire... or should I say legs on fire. When I say I pushed it, I had the hammer down the hole way.

7.8 miles, in 28 minnuets.

Doing the math, and checking the cycle computer: 16.7 MPH average.

Wow the ride home tonight is going to S U C K!

Oh yea did I mention the weather.

I'm in Harrisburg, the little speck in the middle of the map.

Come on weekend...

What a week...

Well the week is almost over. Whewwww!

My legs are tired, and my butt is sore in about the saddle regions but over all it was a good week.

Number for today:

GPS.
Moving Time: 35:40
Moving Avg: 13.2
Stopped: 4:27
Max speed: 30.5
Trip: 7.83
Total Ascent: 136 Feet
Total Descent: 248 Feet

Cycle Comp.
Time: 35:17
Avg: 13.2
Max: 31.0
Trip: 7.8

By the end of today I will have ridden 66.98 miles this week. I can definitely feel that I'm putting in more miles as well as much more elevation change.

New Tires...

My new tires arrived last night, god I love my Amazon Prime account. All the fun of shopping online, no shipping costs and 2 day shipping.

After I got back to the house last night I enjoyed a very nice Troegs, Nugget Nector and sat out on my front porch and put the new tires on.


The tires I went with are the Avenir Streetster Tires 26 x 2.0. They are smooth with a extremely low rolling resistance. They were a monumental pain in the but to get on. But from what I have learned by reading online reviews the side walls are slow to cut from "hefty" riders. Seeing that has been a problem in the past I'm hoping that this will help to elevate the problem. They also have a Kevlar belt running under the tread to help elevate flats. All this for $19.00 each.

www.mtbr.com has no review for the product yet, guess I'm a trend setter.

Green Geek item of the day...

Allow me to start off by saying I want one of these. It is the NatureMill in Home Composter. I know what your thinking "Ewwww but the smell" well forget that, this thing is smell free. They range in price from $250 to $400. They also have a pet waist version.





Pet of the Day...

Now this is a problem I fully understand. Its amazing how little bed space you can end up with when you have pets in the house.





Why Helmets Don't Suck...

Kudo points on not only landing on his butt, but also getting the hand up for the "I'm OK wave" which is different from the "I need medical assistance" and the "That heart so much I don't know my own name" waves.






Sgt. Pezzer's Epic Fail...

Today's Sgt. Pezzer's Epic fail is a link to this video.

Click here to watch-Safe for work.

Please not that he receives extra points for falling on his skate board at the end. Classic.