With my recent move, I have been biking to work four out of five days a week. As such, the S2000 was only driven twice in a month, but still incurred a $450 insurance/loan payment... That's pretty expensive for as much use as it was getting. The solution? Sell it. I've been back and forth on this a million times before and thought I'd really regret getting rid of it, but I've had no remorse whatsoever yet. Sure, road trips won't be as sexy any longer, but heck, for the amount I'm saving I can rent something sweet every time I want to and STILL be on top (financially).
Anyway, the car was great to me. I would have had no qualms with selling it to a friend and was even trying to talk Caitlin in to it... For more technical info on my ownership, visit my "Project Thread".
On the bright side, Honda remade the white on black/red in 2007. Although the seats are a bit funkier, if I have remorse I can always just pick up a newer one that doesn't have all the nags of an early model car.
I took a few final pics, but the weather had been atrocious that week and the car was awful looking just two days after I washed it. While waiting at the bank, I managed to pick a lot of crap off and snap the following one. Goodbye, S2000.
She opened for him at the Birchmere (my second time there, a great experience this time logistically and musically), which was rather surprising because I had never heard of him. Anyway, the night was one of the best nights of music I've ever experienced.
Her I was turned on to her music thanks to Ms. Caitlin and have since downloaded pretty much all of her songs, but I had never actually seen her. She really doesn't look like you'd picture her by her voice... I don't really know how to explain it, but that's all I've got.
Her performance... was phenomenal. Wow... The description that came to mind was "elegantly tough." Her voice has the beauty of an angel, but a minute later she'll show the toughness of a bull. She also had a great sense of humor... I just wish she had some happier songs; everything she sings seems to be dark.
I would have liked to have heard a few more songs, but it was a weeknight and Landon still had to play, so I'll just have to attend another one of her concerts, which should be pretty frequent since she actually hails from Arlingon.
Him Pleasantly surprising. Sort of like a more unplugged David Gray. He REALLY needed a haircut, but he's on tour... they're likely hard to come by.
Unfortunately I don't have more to say about him because I was bothered.... by a phenomenon that occurs at EVERY concert. That fat girl in the front row who sings every f'ing song, looks at her friends for approval every other line, acts like she's being healed by the Lord himself. Damnit! You know the girl I'm talking about.
My first race of the season (and supposedly my baseline, but the silly course was a bit long so it didn't help much)!
Anyway, I ran around 20:04 (fumbled my watch and results aren't posted yet) for 5th overall and 1st in my age group (yay for a trophy!). Based on the recent times of the people who finished around me (guy who outkicked me at the line won last year in a similar time, but runs from 19:10-19:40 elsewhere and a 19:39 just last month), my time is equaivalent to a 19:40 or so, which was my goal so I'm pleased.
The course itself was an out and back on the Custis Trail from the school. I actually don't know if the course was long or just grueling, as it was pretty much 100% hills. I think I have a bit more power than most (the only benefit of weighing more than them) so I was able to win up the hills. Pacewise I went out in 6:14, but then who knows what happened. 10:00 at the turnaround... Don't think I slowed that much... 6:15 pace and nearly 7:00 pace (for that half mile) are quite different and I'm fairly certain I would have noticed. As I mentioned, I was outkicked at the line to finish in 5th place; I was 7th at the turnaround, passed three people, and then was repassed by one of them... That's the sign of a well-run race. Hurray for having a good running brain!
Not sure if I'll run this one again; my body took a real pounding from the combination of asphalt and hills... Only thing worse would have been concrete.
All in all, a well-run race. Timing was done "the old fashioned way" so results are taking a bit longer than I'd like, but that's about par for smaller local races.
My next scheduled race is a 5k on June 10th, but I'll likely sneak another in before then just so I can get a slightly better baseline. If I finish around 19:40, I'll be very much pleased with my progress in the slow offseason and recent month or so of hard running I've done.
Note: Caitlin also raced and finished well ahead of her goal. I think the women's competition was a bit tougher so she didn't win any awards, but she finished in 22:42. Factor in the difficulty of the course and she was flying!
Note #2: For the 2nd race in a row, not only have I won my age group, but I've also won a raffle prize. I walked away with a $50 gift certificate to Pacers.
Tuned in to some ESPN Classic while enjoying my eggs, toast, and OJ before my ride in to work this morning. On, was a game between the 76ers and Celtics in which they said the 76ers prevailed in the series, breaking the Celtics string of championships so I'm guessing it was 1967.
Anyway, my claim is that Wilt Chamberlain would get dominated if he played today. I'm not saying he wasn't great for his time, because duh, he was, but if you watch the play of everyone in that age it was awful; their dribbling skills were so poor, their defensive skills bad, they couldn't jump, and they didn't run very fast... I felt as if I was watching high school basketball... Heck, even worse... some of the stuff I saw looked house-league. Chamberlain freaking shot his foul shots granny-style! And he missed well more than half of them (that season)! That's not to say that some of the guys were not great team-players or shooters, but that's really all that struck me as decent or even close to on par with modern basketball.
So what made these guys better than the average joe? I'm guessing size. They were all taller than him. I firmly believe that anyone who was tall back in those days made a good basketball player since ability (there wasn't any!) played such a little part. Unlike today, when we've got folks like Gheorge Muresan scattered about.
So that's my frustration for the morning. I had never seen video of a game from that era... I'm wholly unimpressed. If you haven't seen any, go out of your way to catch some.
On the other hand, comparing the players of those days to those of today might be like comparing the computers of those days to those of today. Saying they were bad would be ignorant... because we had to start somewhere.
Since I've gotten back in to mountain biking, I've been following the local boards on a close-to daily basis. I recently saw a post from a guy who wanted to team up for 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey, a 12-hour mountain bike race down in Quantico, VA. Intrigued, I contacted him, we settled everything up, then after a few days of talking he shared his name... and I know him! I've had lunch with him a dozen or so times and we meet at the track regularly. Goofy small world... Here I was worried I'd have to deal with meeting new people on top of riding/maintaining my bike for an entire day, but instead we're already well-acquainted. Sweet.
Annnd since one of my goals for the year (#1 isn't going to happen, #2 is in progress, #3 is in progress, #4 is happening in less than a month, #5 needs to be planned, #6 needs to be planned, and the 100-mile bike ride [not on my yearly list, but on my life list] will be cake) is to run a marathon, I just signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon with a target time of 3:30 (8 minute mile pace). I will likely go faster than that, but a) running an uberfast marathon is not my goal this year, b) I just want to finish, and c) this is just going to be a secondary benefit of my hard 5k training; I'll be in great shape at this time, but not training specifically for a marathon. So next year will be fast marathon year in which I'll hopefully qualify for Boston so I can cross another item off my Life List.
Tidbit: Since I got serious on April 1st, I've run 75 miles (3 miles less than my highest ever) and biked 47 (highest ever by 5 miles AND I did all that in only half the month). I've also settled my weight down to the lowest point since I've been keeping track (3 years). Hurrah! Time to shave the head again...
I had heard of this a while back and assumed my purchase would somehow slip through the cracks. After all, rebates, for which I put in significant effort often fall through the cracks... why would a business willingly give me money for doing nothing?
Anyway, my gift card arrived yesterday. I no longer own the HD-DVD player as I foresaw its demise well before the rest of the world, but to summarize:
Purchased XBOX 360 HD-DVD player for $160 (had a deal when combined with another accesory)
I profit $70 by owning and using an item for a couple of months. That type of investment return is unheard of. Now I'm off to squander that money away on something I don't need! I'm thinking Mario Kart DS. Thanks, Best Buy! And here I thought you were evil...
Posted below is the letter I submitted via their website. Surprisingly, I received a response within the hour. We'll see how things go...
My Letter They say the third time is the charm, but your Arlington restaurant has proven otherwise.
I recently moved just down the street from this location and was very excited that Outback, a place I have given my business for years now at various locations, was within walking distance from my home. I have now dined there three times, and have concluded that there is something fundamentally wrong with everything about the restaurant.
Dining experience #1 I ordered curbside pick-up. Fifteen minutes after ordering, I walked over only to sit waiting in the pick-up room for another ten minutes for someone to enter and give us our food, which was sitting on the counter waiting for us to pay. Upon arriving at home, we found that the food was cold (note: it is no more than a 3-minute walk to my home), and two of the steaks (all three were ordered medium) had no signs of pink inside and were as enjoyable as eating charcoal.
Dining experience #2 was again curbside pick-up and again we had to wait far too long in the pick-up room for someone to arrive. We ordered two burgers, which were good, but incredibly soggy. Many restaurants have limited pickup menus because they can't guarantee the quality of certain items; I'd suggest you all do the same.
Dining experience #3 was actually made in the restaurant since we had given up on your curbside service. After too long a wait for our waitress to arrive, we ordered a couple of beers, an appetizer, and three meals. After coming back with our waters, the waitress tells us that it will be just a second with the beers. After the appetizer is complete and the food is just minutes away, we have to remind her again about our beers. They arrived maybe 20 seconds before our main course. Once again, 2/3 of the meals were poorly done.
My girlfriend's pork chop was actually missing the sauce that it was supposed to come with. After five minutes, we were able to hail down the waitress and get that remedied, but by then her food was cold.
My meal, the grill medley, contained some spinach that was not edible; it was as if it had been soaked in the ocean for several days before cooking... I wanted to spit it out as the saltiness was unbearable, but didn't want to make a scene. The meal also came with a small steak, which I ordered medium, but which arrived more than well-done.
The third meal in this third experience was also a bit cold, but satisfactory.
To summarize, we've had three experiences which have all been far below par and bounds worse than any I've ever had at an Outback. Poor staff, poor kitchen, and I can only assume that stems from poor management.
Sincerely, Me
The Response Mr. Me,
My name is J.L. and I am the Managing Partner of the Outback Steakhouse in Arlington. I would like to apologize for the bad experiences you have had and would like to speak with you personally and make sure these things are corrected immeadiately. Is it possible for you to foreward me a phone number? If you would rather not, I certainly understand and I will be sending you some tuckaways to come back in to the restaurant on us to have a great dining experience. Thank you for your email.
J.L. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld
I declined to speaking with him via the phone, but offered to answer any questions he had via e-mail. Have not heard back from him yet... I'll post another review in a month or so when I feel like venturing over there again, but for now, stay far, far away from Outback Arlington.
Woke up at 8, threw on jeans, long sleeves, boots and packed my gloves. I was off to help do trail work with MORE on a portion of the Fairfax Cross County Trail, a multi-use trail that extends all the way from the Potomac to I-95. I haven't frequented the trail much as of late, but I did use it quite a bit back in the day when I worked at the bike shop. I was turned on to doing some trail work as I went to Wakefield Park last week, overheard that the group had done some extensive work recently, loved the new trails, and felt like contributing. Even if my contribution was minimal, I'd surely meet some folks. After three hours of working in the woods, we successfully completed three bypasses (high trail that will drain well when the low trail is wet) and one complete reroute of a trail that had washed away. All in all, a good experience... The few thank-yous we received from walkers, runners, and bikers made it well worth the effort so assuming I don't end up with too much poison ivy, I'll be doing it again.
Following the trailwork, I shot over to the parents' place to visit them, the dog, and Katie. Nothing too worthy of note aside from Katie now having a tooth and she can sit up (not to mention spit up... argh!).
From parents' to my house where I pulled some weeds, got antsy (despite nearly falling asleep on the front porch), went for an 11-mile bike ride, did some sit-ups, built a dresser (an Ikea item that takes two people two hours? Unheard of), and here I am now. Closing in on midnight and I'm finally catching my breath. This needs to stop.
It took me about 2 months worth of lunches here at work, but I finally completed Zeitgeist, an award winning conspiracy theory video (viewable online at that link).
It's nice to get a fresh perspective on things, and some of the ideas brought up on this really are eye-opening, but when presented information like this, one needs to perform due diligence by verifying facts. Some of it, I couldn't explain via web research... The whole 9/11 thing is the most interesting in my opinion: the fact that a handful of the listed hijackers are still alive, the fact that none of the listed hijackers were on the passenger manifests, the fact that build 7 fell in a way that no other building has ever fallen (from fire, a perfect collapse), the fact that thermite was found in building basements, the fact that beams were found cleanly cut, the fact that despite nothing recognizable being found from the Pentagon or PA planes they managed to find a single passport (of one of the reported hijackers), the fact that the 9/11 commission was done the way it was done.
On the other hand, two of the items that I did review, were lacking credibility. The North American Union seems to be a complete farce, and one of the narrators of the entire movie, whose ideas we're expected to take seriously because they highlight his name when he's talking, Jordan Maxwell, seems to be a complete kook with a checkered past.
Anyway, I'd say the movie is worth a watch, but don't buy in too much until you've done your research. I especially liked the focus on religion and how silly/fiction is really is. Oh, and did you know the Federal Reserve Bank is a private bank? It's owned by individuals... Individuals who want to make money... At the same time, it has complete control over our economy... Really, really weird stuff.
