CatSpit :: Salivation for the masses.

You'll never believe this...

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:08:00 +0000

Somehow the boys have got me roped into my very first American Football Fantasy league this year. Stop laughing. Yes, the boy from Manchester is jumping into the pit of fire with all the stat-obsessed-manically-knowledgeable freaks that I call my friends. It's pretty stupid how much trivia these guys know and it's hard enough to get a word in edgeways when the numbers are flying.

I fully expect that I'll have to rely on my boy Crumpler to destroy everyone in his path and carry the team to victory. I just need to find a way to start him 8 times in different positions. Heck, he should be kicking as well. Stop laughing. He's going to be awesome.

My roster - I said STOP LAUGHING.

Environmental Defense Fund

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:24:00 +0000

Just think about it. That's all I would ask of you.

Potpourri

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:03:00 +0000

Long weekend is now behind us, but we managed to enjoy it immensely with spurts of productivity intermittently combined with relaxing activities.

Top of the list was getting a bunch of 'todo' jobs done around the house including swanky new ceiling fan and light for the bedroom. Though the install took a while it was less fiddly than I had feared after several previous adventures in ceiling lights. I should remember that when I need to turn off the circuit breakers for DIY projects it means I won't have any light and hence beginning at 6pm may not be the best idea. The install looks great though and should shave some of monstrous electricity bill.

We also pootled around various lakes enjoying the sunshine, breeze and generally being outside. The fishing was ok, the photography was great, and I didnt burn myself for once which I can only classify as a result.

Jay came over and took the R1 for a ride to see how it would deal with 2-up riding as he wants something a bit more powerful and comfortable than his current R6. I think the jury's still out for him and I can understand that. If I wanted a long distance country cruiser for 2-up I think I'd be looking more at a Hyabusa or any of the latest sport cruiser crossover bikes which seemed to be more inline with what he wants. I'm still hopeful the bikes glamour appeal will win him over though :) Got a few other people lined up who are interested even before I bother putting the bike online. So if you're interested in buying a pimped out R1 before it hits the interwebs, let me know.

My CSS/HTML skills are slowly improving - I feel like I'm beginning to get to a point where I can see various possible solutions to a problem and choose the right one based on the project's circumstances. This is a far cry from when I began any project by having to refer to at least 5 books to refresh my memory of just what this cascading stuff is all about again.

Reason

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:07:00 +0000

What are you afraid of?

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:48:00 +0000

Some very apropos lyrics posted for my own damn benefit.

What are you afraid of?
All the years fade away.
What are you made of?
From the ties that hold us down.
What are you fighting for?
To feel them all.
What are you dying for?
To be free.
Who tonight will change your life?
To jump on a plane and land a thousand miles away,
Just to see what we came to be.

Pandora ftw

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:12:00 +0000

I love Pandora, please don't kill it with excessive charges from the RIAA. I love it not least because of fantastic musical transitions such as the below on my Goth/Death/Null/Void/Kill/Kill/Core station.

Killswitch Engage > Trivium > Sisters of Mercy > Lamb of God > Depeche Mode > The Cure > Duran Duran

Yeah you read that right. It's awesome. I ... excuse me a second..
Her name is Rioooo and she daaances on the saaaaand!!...!

Apparently it features 'a subtle use of vocal harmony, major key tonality, prominent bass riffs, a prominent saxophone part'. Oh Pandora, you're too much! I love you!

West Indian Girl

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:26:00 +0000

I've been in love with the band West Indian Girl ever since Kim played them to me a few years back while we were relaxing together. Since then wig have been on heavy rotation at work, home, and on the more contemplative rides. Like old friends by now, them and me. Tight.

Not least because they seem like a crew of just all round great human beings. Why?

I've been looking forward to the new album for a while now and so decided to order a couple of other items from their site while I was at it along with a remix album and their first album. Nothing unusual there.

What is very unusual, however, (as well as startling and refreshing), is to get a phone call from the band's bassist Fran last night to thank me for my purchase. Unfortunately (damn my houses' cell phone reception!) I wasn't there to take the call and he left me a message to say how he was sorry that the remix album was sold out. Instead if I could wait for a bit, he told me that they had a double remix album coming out and he would slip that in instead for the same price. He finished by thanking us again for our support in a laid back sincere tone.

Seriously, that's fantastic. I've never had the 'personal touch' as a fan member before and I think that's just a very cool thing indeed. Maybe I'm too jaded and used to thinking of my rock idols as firmly inserted up their own arse. I am from England after all, home of the most pretentious icons in the world.

If you like your music a little bit different, a little bit more real, a little bit more ethereal, and a little bit more thoughtful then I can't recommend them enough. Think summer days' evening sitting on the beach with your closest friends. Think tapestry of ocean waves in the background. Think balmy carefree nights that go on forever.

So thanks, Fran. That was a cool moment.

Yours, surprised and delighted.
/Fan for life.

You can check them out on their site or Amazon or Itunes or..

Few more days..

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:25:00 +0000

As I feared, contacting Cannondale through REI today we found out they are not making the 2008 Capo any more :( BUT the 2009 is out and ready to take orders sometime next week after Labour Day! Hooray! What's a few more days?

In other news I mangled my hands over the weekend cleaning concrete steps to appease the Nazi Homeowners' Over the Top Association. Then I managed to stain the road by kicking over a fair sized can of Rustoleum. I suppose they're going to ticket me for that next.

Winner!

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:14:00 +0000

The complete bike is the winner. This is following the logic that the price differential between Cannondale frameset alone and the complete bike is not that much. I can have the bike sooner (assuming they are still making the 2008 model) and ride it sooner. I can still spend time over the winter replacing bits that fall off or break as the basic components are, well, er, basic. I can take my time and upgrade / make it mine over time.

Now that the decision is made pray tell me, dear reader, where the devil can I find a 2008 56cm Cannondale Capo in black? I bet I've noodled this for so long I'm going to have to wait for the 2009 *ulp*.

...grr

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:57:00 +0000

So when the day rolls around that the guy I need to speak to will be at REI, I find myself dreaming again of building a bike from the ground up and how satisfying that would be. I am proclaiming today the end of procrastination and at 4pm I will make A Decision. I will stick by My Decision.

Too good

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:08:00 +0000

[If you're not English, you probably won't get this]

Kim, oh wife of mine, you support Liverpool, you've asked in the past what Scousers look like and I have sometimes struggled to answer. Well, according to a recent photo taken from a game at Liverpool, I may struggle no more! This is for you.

Gragh. Or: Kfrask!

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:57:00 +0000

Last night after literally about 9 months of plotting, tinkering or otherwise completely overanalysing the new bike purchase I made myself go to REI to order the Cannondale Capo. REI because they are close and an authorised Cannondale dealer, The Cannondale Capo because it's just a really good bike (with a really bad name).

While it's a bit pricey for a single speed at around $850, unlike the other bikes I've been looking at it makes me frisky. When you're going to be spending hundreds, nay, thousands of hours perching your nether regions on a bike you want it to make you feel special. This one does, full stop.

I scoot out from work and go sprinting off to the store waving my credit cards in the air, cash falling out from my pockets, literally oozing easy sale from every pore for some store manager and.. Sorry pal, computers are all down today, we can't order it.

GAH! While I knew there's no way they would have an off-the-rack single speed for any Tom, Dick, or Harry to buy and promptly kill themselves on, I did think that Ye Olde Telephone could have been used as a backup to call Ye Establishmente Cannondale and make Ye Damne Ordere.

I know, I know. I've been pootling around for almost a year now with no committment, what's another couple of days? I can be patient. I- aqRE!@H(^*^&Q6#Rkx!@3x!@#xl341!!

Quelque chose pour les autres

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:17:00 +0000

I came to the conclusion the other day that while I scorn most blogs (including my own) as rubbish, that I still greatly enjoy reading the daily updates, feelings and nonsense that most of my friends write. I seem to enjoy them more when they are about nothing in particular, just the daily grind. I like getting a handle on what they are up to, how they are doing, and so forth even though this may be nothing.

Assuming that others feel the same way I hereby commit to more twittery-style updates and, er, -gulp-, feelings on this blog. Ok, I couldn't say that last sentence with a straight face. Feelings are for suckers.

I'm still looking at that lump of cheese and fat down below.

Wendy's aint stupid, no ma'am

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:26:00 +0000

It should be bloody illegal to festoon popular internet hangouts with such juicy tasty morsels. Especially after I've just cycled to work, am settling in with my morning coffee and protein bar.

But just look at it. Look at it's f2.8 shallow depth of field inviting juicyness. I do love a Baconator. It's even fun to say. But while I could easily prattle at great length I just wanted to say that Pandora isn't playing fair. Just as I'm about to pretend I have long hair again and rock out in my office before anyone else gets into work, I'm distracted by bacon. It wouldn't be the first time.

High resolution gratuitous BaconImmolator in your face! I can hear Dallas softly weeping from here. Hark! Can you?

Have I mentioned...

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:24:00 +0000

.. that macro lenses are sick?

I have? Just checking. This is one of my favourites from Kim so far. You should see the 14mb RAW - this scratchy jpg doesn't really do it justice.

315

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:36:00 +0000

315 is the Target for Bench for December. I've been trying it the last couple of weeks and I feel like I'm getting closer but still 5-10lbs of effort off. It's such a nice round number it's something I have to do. I must do. I will do.

Begin strategic plan of attack for Benchal Global Domination... now!

Dallas I don't want to hear how many reps of it you can do.

Where's my walking stick, son?

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:04:00 +0000

After years of poking fun at everyone else for complaining, my useless aging eyes are beginning to have issues reading my own blog. I sense a redesign in the offing.

How about a nice high contrast black?

Summer

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:58:00 +0000

...and I thought it had been a hot sticky nasty summer so far...

Next week is projected to be between 95 and 100 all week long with a relative humidity so high you'd be drier in the deepest oceanic trench. Hooray for DC swampland.

Think it's time to put the bike back in the garage and do some morning cardio at the gym instead. I'm all for cycling in whatever, but it's probably a good idea to avoid death on the way home if at all possible. My English blood doesn't deal very well and I tend to get an intense pressue for hours afterwards in my head after cycling in such heat. It's probably my immense brain trying to escape out of my eyes.

Kim keeps telling me to cycle slowly and enjoy the ride instead.
#!Err53 Core.5425 Syntax: does not compute. No such property.

Toast

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:12:00 +0000

Macro lens is ridiculous. Hey, look I took a picture.

Whiskerz

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:28:00 +0000

Lake Royal continues to produce.. 4 catfish each of over 24 inches today, along with a whole mess of bluegill and other dinks. Much fun! I really need to get myself a scale so I can start weighing these buggers. Of course, that's probably the kiss of death isn't it?..

Go clickie below for your fill of whiskerzzz!

From Fishing Lake ...

Le Tour

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:50:00 +0000

This year I have the Vs. channel so I get anywhere between 3-6 hours of coverage of Le Tour every day. The route chosen this year definitely ranks up there as one of the most picturesque and also the most physically demanding I have ever seen. I cannot convey to you in words how much these riders are absolute beasts. They are so far above and beyond the level of even the serious club rider that it's ridiculous.

Take yesterday's stage for example from Cuneo to Jausiers in the Alps. Just in case the first mountain wasn't enough, they finish on the Col de la Bonette, the highest pass in Europe at over 2800 metres. When you watch these crazy bastards go up the mountains, take a note of what gear they are spinning in, and how long they spin it for. Yesterday the final stages of the Col looked like gutwrenching, agonising pain until you notice they are still going up at about 15 mph on a 10% gradient after climbing solidly for the past 90 minutes. Then you realise that agonising pain doesn't even cut it and that if the laws of nature were to be obeyed these people should have been pronounced clinically dead 20 minutes ago.

Un. real. Un. bloody. real. Yes, scandals. Yes, EPO doping. Yes disgraced certain riders and teams. But come on this shit is for real. I don't know any other sport which day after day brutalises the human body in such a fashion. At least, I was trying to think of one and couldn't..

Pandora

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:07:00 +0000

I love how Pandora categorises most of my song choices for station seeds. Take, for example a typical example from my 'Depressed Rock Star' station.. The descriptions are hilarious.

I don't know what extensive vamping is but I am quite certain that I need more of it in my life.

Fwoor get a load of her eh

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:17:00 +0000

Frankenbike's about to die.

There's only so much you can do to keep a 10 year old bike in perfect running order without spending too much on fresh new parts, especially when you tinker with them as much as I do. Initially I solved the problem by simplifying, and kept taking bits off the bike :)

Converting to a single speed before the abysmal derailleurs exploded was the best thing I did both for the bike's lifespan and for sheer fun of riding. It's a hoot - more on single gear in another post.

I grow increasingly concerned (or at least, my subconscious keeps trying to make me so) that the crank set and bottom bracket are about to explode. Replacing these with even half decent new components is probably a couple of hundred dollars. That's not great when compared to the cost of a completely new bike for which you get a lot more.

Applying Smith logic, may as well get a new bike.
Plus, I could get a new bike!

Being the ever-vigilant researcher, I had already picked out the 20 or 30 favourite bikes to choose from. All I had to do was narrow it down to a list of 10, and then subject that list to an extremely vigorous points awarding procedure followed by a triple review process and a lengthy debate before closing arguments.

Which is to say, I'm having a hard time deciding.

Cost is a major factor - I don't want to cry if I fall off the bike and break a component. Which I do. Frequently. I'm a freaking liability. Also, the bike will be a commuter and needs to be able to take some shit.

Current list in order of preference:

Pearson Touche (gunmetal): Gorgeous bike by UK bike builder. Budget buster, plus import tax = sigh.

Cannondale Capo (black): Feel like this bike would fly. Bit expensive, but yummy.

Trek T1: Pretty ruthless track bike that would destroy the roads, and yet get destroyed in turn. Who cares about comfort when you're averaging 25mph? Swoosh!

KHS Flite 100: Great price for a solid looking bike. Somehow feels like the Diet Coke of singlespeeding though.

Specialized Langster: Like the build but WTF London scheme? Whoark.

Surly Steamroller: It is what it is. Nothing moving in my nether regions when I think of this bike.

We want the funk

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:24:00 +0000

You can smell it when you can smell it. It's in every cyclist's cupboard.

There's simply no way to cycle over 5 miles in this DC summer without ending up smelling like something which just crawled out of the local brackish pond replete with rotting vegetation.

While I'm fortunate enough to have a gym across the road from work such that I can shower after cycling in, there remains the question of what to do with the funk. I place all my clothes in a plastic bag, seal it, and lock it in a drawer until the cycle ride home (ew) but after a couple of months of cycling 100m+ per week my office retains a certain, how you say, odeur.

While this is brilliant for minimising time people want to spend in my office during meetings, I'm wondering if there may be a better way to control the Empire of Bacteria in my lower office drawer. As a secondary brain teaser, I'm wondering if there's a way to dry my stuff out without paralysing the entire office space with Eau du Smythe.

Answers on a postcard please!

Macro City

noreply@blogger.com (CatSpit) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:29:00 +0000

Kim's beginning to get jiggy with the new camera