Life

The Tale So Far…

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So I left Tuesday at noon-ish, in order to avoid the worst of the shit in/around Chicago. Things were fine through the first 240 or so miles of Wisconsin, and then just west of Madison, the weather went to shit. There was a lot of blowing snow, but not so much that the roads were unpassable. In fact, the pavement was generally pretty dry. The closer I got to Chicago, however, the worse it got. All in all, the trip to Chitown took about nine hours.

I arrived at Dave and Kristin’s around 9:30pm, unloaded my stuff and we hung out and talked and had some wine and such. Always good to hang out with them and chat. I woke up the next morning way earlier than them — they’re both full-time students (she’s a Ph.D. candidate, he’s in the MBA program at Kellogg), and looked out the window and said, “Aw, hell, that doesn’t look too bad.”

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What I’ve Learned in 2010

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This post is a log of everything I’ve learned in 2010 — I’m starting it on January 5th and will be appending it as the year progresses. It will automatically post at 11:59pm on December 31st.

So, here’s what I’ve learned, in order:

• Getting enough fiber in your diet is important. I won’t go into the ugly details. You’ll have to trust me on this one.

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List of Crappy Shit That’s Happened in My Life, To Date

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So with my birthday coming up tomorrow, I have been thinking a lot about my life. I decided to start putting it into context and used Wikipedia to put together a list of all the bad stuff that’s happened since my life began. Next year, I’ll do the list of all the good things that have happened since the same date. Sound like a plan?

1972:
• the Christmas bombing of Hanoi

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White Trash Dip

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For those that discussed it with me last night. 2 pounds Velveeta 1 pound ground beef 1 pound ground spicy Italian sausage 1 tbsp. crushed red pepper 1 tbsp. oregano Drop velveeta in crock pot and let it begin to melt. Brown both beef and sausage (together or seperately), drain off about half the fat. … Read more

Finding Purpose

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I recently had an epiphany surrounding my pursuit of framebuilding. The mentality I’m taking into it is that of “side job/hobby that brings in income” — for now. Should it grow to the point where I can be self-sufficient, I will have to take a good, hard look at my career, and what the potential … Read more

Recipe: Piroshki

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This recipe has been in my family since the 70’s. My dad got a copy of it from his Russian instructor when he was at DLI (Defense Languages Institute). It was Americanized by his instructor, so it’s not true Russian piroshki. But it’s still tasty, and great comfort food. Ingredients: – 2 pie crusts (get … Read more

Tsnownami Humor

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Driving in this morning in the winter storm we’re in the middle of, I was on Highway 36 headed east to work. In the right lane is someone in a silver Subaru, crawling along at 30 miles per hour, when 50 is easily attainable. I swear. I curse. I might have given the other driver … Read more

Introducing: Calvin

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Part III in the introduction to our armada of cats. Calvin was not a planned adoption. When I met the little guy, I had only vaguely thought about getting Scout a friend, as Mooch had very little interest in Scout’s psychotic brand of play. So in November of 2007, I was at a Petsmart in … Read more

Introducing: Scout

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I’m not normally the type to talk about my cats super-extensively on here. My posts about Mooch’s euthanization this last summer don’t count — that was a pretty tough time and she was (and still is) family. But, being hard-up for topics other than cycling stuff, I decided I’d go through and write a short … Read more