Cub scout geocaching

Smoke What? (non 420 related)

Pat even practices his smack talk.  For the record, he smoked every one for the next 13 hours.  I guess he is a man of his word.

A test

att msging unlimited + twitpic + kevin (not a twit) + samsung impression

Hugin

Stitching photos together on a Mac isn't as easy as you'd think.  iPhoto and Aperture do not support the ability to create panoramas from multiple photos.  Hugin (freeware) does a decent job, however.  I found a set of pics I took while dining in Seattle's Space Needle a few years ago and gave it a go.

Green

Not satisfied with Santa and the Easter Bunny, our house is also plagued by Leprechauns that turn everything green. Even if you close your eyes, green milk still tastes weird.

Grime. We call it toothpaste.

It doesn't taste good either.

Ben's 'tude. This vid shows it.

Someday, some one will have to get a pic of me and my one-handed cycling/video technique, I guess.

Mike

Critical Mass in Columbia? :)

Nah...we're just out riding with Luke!

Powder Sledding

A little bit of snow on the back deck stairway makes a nice sledding ramp...

and the runoff area works out pretty well too - as long as you miss the fish pond.

Powder Day

Kicked the cold (finally) and was rewarded with 2.5 hours of early morning powder. After the sun came up, Chris pulled out some liquid breakfast for us. :)

Yum. By the time we headed back, new snow had already filled in our tracks. +1

Mike

Aluminum Cog = Bad

Those lips on the teeth - no, they're not suppose to be there. That's about 8 months of on-the-trail, do-it-yourself extrusion. We'll use stainless for now on.

Cleaning Up for Good

I finally got the boys to finish cleaning out their rooms (for now, anyway). They had some left over Pokemon cards (300+), and I had my eye on the trash can. My 7 year-old suggested that we eBay them instead. He didn't want to help count them, so I told him he would not share in the profit. To my surprise, he immediately quipped that his intent was not to keep the money, but donate it. I can't argue with that... 30 minutes later - with the help of both boys - the cards were counted and organized as you see here.

In 7 days time (the length of the auction), AFC will have a bit more cash, and my boys will know a bit more about what things are worth. Pretty cool.

[Update - $40 was raised for AFC + the house is a bit cleaner!]

Relativism

So some of my friends think I ride my bike a lot. As this chart demonstrates, however, I ride little compared to some of my friends - as far as road-miles are concerned. (I'm the grey line.) None of us, however, ride as much as elite or pro riders. Yet the gap between each successive rider category is large. I can't keep up with folks 'one step' above my level in most cases. Yet folks 'one step' below me feel like I'm too fast.

So as a cyclist, I really can't relate to some one like Lance Armstrong any more than a non-cyclist.

Almost 70. (Farenheit)

The thermometer read about 70F today, so the kids went on a mandatory bike ride with me. :) Ben's inner descender is finally emerging. He made it up BB today as well (2+ mile climb). For that feat, he earned his very own AFC jersey. [update - Each kid has received a prize for their first successful climb; I asked Ben what he wanted, and he asked for the AFC jersey... Good thing I had already bought him one!]

2 thermoses of hot chocolate and a few snacks can easily entice my kids into a 2 hour ride. Of course, I probably should have fed them a real lunch.

Mike

ps - I raised his seat for the trip back home!

Two Wheels

We finally got some good weather, so Luke could try out his new wheels.  I think it's cool that he lets his dad ride with him.  My kids are starting to think dad isn't so cool these days.

Ouch

This just proves that riding your bike inside is wrong.

Christmas is here.

I'm thankful for the creativity and dedication of Chris Brown that went into building this special bike for a very cool young man that I know. I'm thankful for my friends at AdventuresForTheCure for their support (and patience!) on this project. I'm thankful for local bike shops that really do want to share the simple joy of a bike ride. I'm especially thankful for Luke. I can't wait to ride along with you and you Dad!

Mike

Blueberries + Pancakes

Yum.

Mike

What is Belgian Toothpaste?

www.belgiantoothpaste.com

Quilts for GSO

A local paper ran an article this week about an orphanage our church has been working with for a couple years.  The relationship has meant a lot to our family.  The kids happily accepted a mini-sized Christmas last year when they knew they would be helping other children.  The GSO leadership and the children are constantly in our thoughts and prayers.

This week, the orphanage's founder, Dr. Mbinda, visited us at our home.  Our friends from AFC joined us for the evening as well.  You would think that a conversation centered around tackling herculean socioeconomic issues would be dry if not downright depressing.  Quite to the contrary, we had a great time discussing the various ways we can make a difference in the world.

Mike