Shut up Jessica Simpson

Jessica Simpson ordered to rest voice

So all it takes is a doctor to shut her up. I like this quote from the story:

"She can talk, she can croak out a few sentences. She sounds a little off, but, you know, she can't sing."

Debt Reduction

Christine and I just cut our debt in half today. We sold one of these:


*breathes sigh of relief*

Wheels

My favorite bike shop loaned me some $2500 Bontrager XXX Lite carbon wheels. What were they thinking. *grin*




For the weight weenies (John), they're 1350g, which is about 400g lighter than my current Race Lite's. Next I'm hoping to try the Rolf Vigors which are still light (1470g), but a little more aero.

Of course, it's a rainy weekend, which makes for poor wheel testing conditions.

While that may look like a pretty boring picture, take a close look. Those are puddles forming in my yard from rain. It never rains hard or long enough for puddles to form around here. I was amazed.

The contract

After several months on the market, Christine's condo finally has a contract! I suppose it could still fall through, so keep your fingers crossed. It looks like we're even going to be a be able to close before our wedding if everything goes well. That means we won't have to pay 2 mortgages next month. Oh hell yeah!

Ahhh....oxygen

I finally made it back to retail sales. My life goal. :)

Over the weekend, I was working at a retail store to help answer customer questions and sell them on our stellar products. Working retail and playing salesman is not my favorite thing to do, but it was interesting to see what customers are looking for. Not to mention, I scored a trip home (Toledo, Ohio) on the company's bill to do it.

While in Toledo, I was able to borrow a bike from a high school and ride in a bike race on Thursday. Oxygen is good. :) Since it's a small weekly race, all categories of riders start together. That means I, as a cat 4, was racing with cat 3's and 2's. In other words, my goal was to try and hang on with the leaders as long as possible, and then get in with the first chase group when I got dropped.

It was a 28 mile race on an 'L' shaped 7 mile course with 6 corners. I started the race at the front with my friend, Phil, and shuffled through the pack for the rest of the race. Sometimes on the front. More time on the back. The corners is where I really suffered because I'm not very aggressive around corners in a big group, and even less aggressive on an unfamiliar bike.

As we neared the finish, I could tell that I wasn't going to have to legs to really contend the sprint, so I drifted to the back to stay out of trouble. Bunch sprints are scary. I ended up finishing with the lead pack, which is a great result for me, considering I was racing people that were well above my skill level. Phil led a blistering pace for the last mile and his brother was able to sprint it out for the win.


Phil and I hanging out before the race.


Joe and Phil

I'm an adult

I have reached a level of maturity that I thought I'd never see:
I have now successfully made it through a whole tube of lip balm instead of losing it halfway through its life. I'm going to have to balance this maturity by calling someone a poopie-head.