James Dyson sucks the best.

I couldn't help but take an extra long lunch today to finish reading the last chapters of James Dyson: Against the Odds. Simply brilliant! Quite an enjoyable biography, mainly focusing on Dyson's never ending struggles from start to present as an inventor/entrepreneur. All working up to the culmination of his famous and successful Dual Cyclone vacuum cleaner. And then some.

It read for me like a self-help book, giving life-experience anecdotes followed by lessons learned, all of which were insightful and perhaps arguable. And oh, such poetic verse--wish we could all speak as eloquently as James Dyson--with flavorfilled descriptive paragraphs typical of a well-educated Englishman. And how could it not be? After all, it's British lit.

Cheerio!

Snowboarding 2007

Finally! Today, I got a chance to surf the white stuff for the first time this winter season! It's my second year of snowboarding and I'm still liking it a lot. Granted, I'd still say I'm a newbie at this thing. I spent my entire first two runs constantly falling on my butt, chest and face before I felt sort of at ease. I think I need at least 10 or more trips to Mountain Creek before the newbie feeling subsides. With the winter weather arriving severely late, I'd say I should go twice a week to MC before spring to feel like my season pass was worth the splurge.

Go snow!

TH & Etoile de Bessages

Good o'l Tyler Hamilton, in his "comeback" career, raced in his first stage yesterday. He finished 66th in the first stage of the Etoile de Bessages race, 11 secs behind the winner. A day before he rode in the GP La Marseillaise and finished in the main pack. So far so good.

Outside posted a snippet of Tyler's recent magazine interview regarding his return to cycling.

His Tinkoff team sure has a busy 2007 race season ahead. The Tinkoff team member Q&A profiles also are a bit interesting (although the site seems rather slow). A couple of entertaining answers:

Do you have other sports people in your family\ what are the sports they practise?
Vasil Kiryienka: Oh, sure thing! My wife is a World champion in the sport of embracing! ,-))

Your favorite pastime \ hobby
Alexander Serov: Nothing special, just spending time with my girlfriend.

1st Workout of 2007

Just a brief but eventful note.

My first workout of 2007 officially began today. Wuup wuup wuup! Yes I know, it's late. But what with the job thing and the foot thing filling my worries, I was just so out of sync. However, now that the former and latter are doing much better, I can finally settle into a daily routine.

So anyway, it's just a small start -- 30 deliberate minutes on the bike trainer -- as I'm still a little wary of my foot, but a start nonetheless . That journey of a thousand miles is now one step shorter... among a thousand other journeys, mind you.

***
Personal Notes:
2/6/2006: bike trainer @ 30 minutes; gear ratio 42 x 21?; 80-85 rpm; RPE (6-20) = 11 (light)
Notes: Bent over riding position felt a bit awkward; palms hurt a little bit from the weight bearing; quads, feet and legs felt great afterward. --- 2/7/2007: no soreness in the legs or anywhere still; a good sign that my body still feels adapted to cycling

Treating myself for a job well gotten

This is not a flog, so let me just provide aliases.

It's my handy dandy Molarola L6. The latest in design innovation "that can keep up with trends and manage your busy lifestyle." Yup, I'd been caught in the hype. "It can dice, slice, brew your coffee, mop the floors and wipe your sh*t-filled ass. How can you do without one?!"

But seriously folks, Melinda and I upped our service from one to two cells since we just can't keep our vocal cords off each other when we're both out of the house, and especially now that I'm employed. Oooh, how romantic ;-).

Anyway, I'm a bit obsessed with the phone features; there just are soooo many! And I suddenly feel like I'm crossing over into old fogie territory since all I really wanted was something simple with a keypad that can make and take calls. That's it. But the two phones we rec'd were free with a 2 year agreement. And since you can't get any cheaper than gratis, we took the plunge and signed our indentured contract.

Let's see, what else. Oh, the best part is keeping the phone in my shirt pocket. More easy to answer than fishing it out of my pants, and having it ring while on vibrate mode is quite exhilarating against my nipples. Ummm, yeah. Now if you'll excuse me, my tits are convulsing. It's probably Melinda checking in. Coming, dear.

Oh the sweet little pleasures of life.

ps: Go Bears!