Office Procedures Concerning Storm and Office Closings ...

As we watch the progress of the storm, the following are the firm's guidelines based upon the hurricane's intensity:

Hurricane Category #1
No excuse for being late. Leave earlier to give extra time to avoid fallen trees and limbs.

Hurricane Category #2
Due to the horizontal rain, you may wear jeans.

Hurricane Category #3
Whereas most of the area will be flooded we suggest you avoid wearing open toe sandals when coming to work. Canoes will be provided to get to the building safely without getting wet.

Hurricane Category #4
More than likely there will be no electricity. Given that, we will have manual typewriters available to all staff members. Please take extra caution and wear water-proof make-up if Category 4 or above.

Hurricane Category #5
Velcro will be provided to keep you attached to your chairs when the windows blow out. For those that survive, we will have chocolate cake at 3:00 pm in the kitchen.

This is just too priceless

I'm very excited! I got the first upgrades done on my bike in a series of planned upgrades. This is all in prep for ditching my car to commute to work on my bike. [Check out Jude's blog: DitchYourCarNow That's where I got the inspiration from.] Anywho, I grabbed a few pics this weekend after I was done tweaking the brakes, repairing some rubber covers, and installing the new bike computer I got for my birthday. There are a few other things I had done to the bike but those were done at a local Schwinn shop as there are no Klein dealers in the States as of current (though rumors have it there will be next year possibly. . . huge hooray for that!)

Here's a shot of the sexy bike. I felt I needed to do the bike justice with a real shot instead of a pic stolen of the web that looks a wee bit crumby. This is the Klein Attitude. The paint job is hand done. It's a fade from blue to purple. I fell in love with the bike at first site. And then once you pick up this bike and see just how light weight it is, you're sold on it.
One of the first changes/repairs I had done was swapping out the old trigger shifters for grip shifters. This was brought on originally because the trigger shifters needed to be rebuilt or replaced as they had seen better days. I actually prefer the grip shifters as that's what I had on my previous DiamondBack bike. So, since I had to replace/rebuild the shifters I figured it was as good a time as ever. These are SRAM Attacks. I had been having trouble with the original grips coming off so it turned out well that I needed new grips to work with the grip shifters.
Since I was having work done on the shifters and there was already a question of whether or not I'd have to get some cabling added, I figured it would be a great time to swap out the original handlebar riser to a new adjustable angle riser. This is a great investment. I got the shop to raise my seat and in doing so, realized I needed to have the ability to adjust the handlebar height as well. This new riser by UND will allow me a lot of free play. The ride is much more comfy now with the handlebar height agreeing with the seat height.
Here's a (not-so-) lovely shot of the new cycle computer. I have no idea what was going on with my camera. But, it's the picture I have so . . . This computer is by Cateye. I'm not really efficient with it yet, but it is gonna be fun and feed my addiction to numbers and patterns.
And here's what feeds the cycle computer so it can calculate your distance and all that jazz. Along the fork, I installed the wireless relay system. Then on one of the spokes, you attach a magnet. The two devices have to pass closely to each other so the relay can sense the magnet.
Hopefully it won't be too long before I can do the next in the series of upgrades to the bike. I'll try and keep ya posted.

Organic Beer

Last evening while shopping at Whole Foods, I got a wild hair and decided to try an organic beer. I've not ever had an organic before, or not one that I recall. Pinkus Organic Hefe-Weizen is the beer I chose. This beer is from Munster, Germany. It seemed a bit like Blue Moon without the citrus flavor. I thought it was rather mild and didn't have a bad after taste. The beer was not as full or thick as Blue Moon. And I'm not trying to say that these beers should be identical. I am doing a comparison based on some of the beers I've tried.

I was expecting this beer to be completely weird. Maybe the USDA Organic label at the top was screaming "HIPPEE" to me. So I wasn't sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised and would definitely buy this beer again for a light mid afternoon brew.
There are plenty of blogs out there that will help define more indepth what it means to be a USDA Organic certified beer and all the rigorous guidelines Organic Breweries must follow. Do a google search on Pinkus beer and you'll get a really good start of information to point you towards all the answers on organic beer.

I Love Americans!

Aww, don't you just love Americans?

Model 3.0

Well, I've been model 3.0 for all of 6 days now. How am I feeling? Surprisingly, I think model 3.0 is better than model 2.0. Liesl is right. 30 is better. So what do I plan to do with my first year in the 30's? I would like to say I have high aspirations of being something grandiose, but I'll just settle for getting the rest of the debt paid in full, and building a nice little nest egg for Jess and me. Then we can look at options for when we're both models 4.0. I guess it actually is a major feat to be able to pay off any and all debt, live within your means, and save for an earlier retirement. If I could ever figure out how to not work for the man, I would do it.

Happy 30th - YA YA YA YA YA

We arrived here Friday around dinner time. This is Johnny G's in Dallas. It is awesome!
I did not realize there was a surprise celebration planned. Johnny's is a usual stop for us when we go to Dallas because it is just that cool. So I didn't think anything different of this time. When the lights started to flicker, I secretly thought to myself, "John, did you forget to pay the light bill???" Ha ha ha ha ha!

Once the lights stopped flickering, a cake emerged from the kitchen, and folks started singing Happy Birthday to me. On a scale of 1 to 10 on the coolness of a cake, this has got to be a 100. It has every element of everything I like. 1. Hello Kitty; 2. Motorcycle; 3. Hello Kitty's YA YA YA YA YA; 4. Pink; 5. Designed by the coolest sis-in-law in the world; 6. Bandanna; 7. Sunglasses; 8. Total Surprise!

This is some extreme precision and extreme concentration. This is 1/2 a sheet cake, 1/2 chocolate, 1/2 vanilla. It was super yummy. We shared with at least 1/2 the restaurant. Folks around us were reminiscent of the days when they were 30 and how mortified they would have been to have the world singing Happy Birthday to them at 30. I thought it was all fantastic. It was a total surprise! And the shots that kept getting sent to me made me very happy :-) *arm up in the Hello Kitty attack* YA YA YA YA YA! Remember, folks up in Dallas have got to check out Johnny G's.

Next I'll post the pic from Six Flags.