Snow Dog

Ready for a neighborhood cruise in the snow in her new boots. She hates when I put them on, but as soon as we get outside she's in a full-on sprint.

Snow lovers: You're Welcome!

Snowiest December in 50 years. Why should you thank me, you ask?

1. I sold all of my xc ski gear.
2. I have not bought my snowblower yet.
3. I have no snowboard trips lined up.
4. I had to drive 650 miles last weekend (12-14 inches of snow on Sunday alone).

So, snow lovers, bow to my weather-changing powers. Note to those in need of rain: send me a postcard and I will show up to your area and set up my tent. It will start pouring before I get the rain fly attached, or your money back.

Good Neighbors

Minnesota and Wisconsin got rocked by a blizzard this weekend. We were out of town, and when we got home yesterday we arrived to a snow-free driveway. Our neighbor Jim is the greatest. The guy is in his 80's and he cleared our driveway. Also the only guy I know with a custom built fairing for his snowblower, complete with a coffee holder. Awesome.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family.

Eagle

Unfortunately I couldn't take a photo as I was driving, but a huge bald eagle was flying above me on my way home for lunch. My office is in a house on Long Lake in the northern Twin Cities metro. The eagles fly above the lake where Rice Creek empties out, looking for fish. In the winter, deer walk across the lake on the ice and come up to my office window. I don't miss working downtown at all.


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Family Guy

FPA-I know you're a fan of the show. I can set you up with some of these if you want once I get final approval from Fox and we have some in stock. (2 more designs on my design blog, not sure which 2 will make final cut).

Google Images

So yesterday I linked a photo of Evel Knievel that I found on Google Images. Brad tells me that's not the image that appeared on the post. It looked correct on my system, and I didn't see the image he described, but if any of you did, sorry about that. Post has been deleted. Last time I post a photo using a URL link.

St Louis

This was the first time I've been to St. Louis since the mid-1980's. The cab ride from the airport was depressing. This is a hardcore looking town, which was confirmed when I read in the paper yesterday that it was America's most dangerous city in 2006 (bumped down to number 2 this year by Detroit). The baseball stadium looks pretty cool though. You can see right onto the field from the street as you drive by. Hotel was pretty nice, with this view from the lobby of Busch Stadium and the Gateway Arch.

I told you not to call me here...

A few hotels I've stayed at you had to nail down the furniture to keep the roaches from moving it. Then there's the other side of the coin. When you've got a toilet phone, you know you're in a good hotel.

Famous Dog

My phone camera really sucks, so I apologize for the picture quality. I'm in St. Louis for the Anheuser-Busch licensing summit. We went to the Clydesdale stable for a group photo when this little guy came up and said hi to me. You may have seen him on tv, riding in the horse-drawn beer wagon in those commercials they run during the holidays. Pretty friendly dog.

Went to Beer School this afternoon. Perhaps the most important thing I learned is that AB is more than Bud Light. I had unlimited Stella Artois after class and during dinner. Also learned that Amber Bock pairs well with chocolate cake. Made it through the first leg of the post-dinner pub crawl, but after getting 2 hours of sleep last night and my travel delays this morning, I was too tired to soldier on. My room at the Westin is too nice to ignore, so I'm hanging here and hitting the hay early. Tomorrow I get a VIP tour of the AB design archives. Over 150 years of advertising and marketing design at my disposal for product design. Sweet. I've only been here half a day, but man do they take care of you here.

NWA MSP WTF

Got up at 5:00am, hauled ass to the airport only to find my 7:20 flight is delayed at least 2 hours for "unscheduled maintenance". At least I'm not stuck on the plane on the tarmac like we were in January in Seattle. We sat on the plane for close to 2 hours before being allowed to go back to the gate. When I was a kid I thought air travel was glamorous. Turns out it's worse than riding the bus.

Google Earth Flight Simulator

Where am I?

For a free app, this is pretty kick ass. Google Earth Flight Simulator. It's an Easter Egg hidden in the latest version of Google Earth. To access it for the first time on your Mac, open Google Earth (make sure you have latest version) and then hit option+apple+a or shift+apple+a (can't remember 100% which it is right now). You have your choice of an F-16 or a single-engine prop. You have a list of airports to choose from, or, before entering the flight simulator, select an area in Google Earth and when you enter the flight sim you will be flying over that position. Cities with 3D buildings are cool to fly over (Manhattan is pretty cool). Controls are pretty touchy and I have yet to land without crashing, but it's pretty fun. Update: Actually, I've managed to land 3 times in a row now without crashing. Not really sure it was on the runway or not, but hey, I didn't crash. It helps to place some push pins that mark the runways on the Google Earth map before entering the simulator mode. It makes finding the airport much easier, especially without any radio or GPS navigation aids. You can also use the line tool to create a glide path.

Grumpy's CX

B race start, Grumpy's CX at the Velodrome.

Velodrome CX

Birchwood/Crossniacs in action at the Velodrome CX on Sunday. We brought Zoe and Owen with. It was Owen's first race. He slept through it all, and I didn't get any pictures of him. Bad dad. Anyway, Guy kicked ass, crushing the holeshot and leading the entire race to take first. Andy was in 3rd the whole race until the mud bog attacked, knocking him down to a still very respectable 6th place. Not sure how Eric(?) did in the C race, but he looked like he was having fun. One of these days I will get some sleep and have time to ride again.

Crazy Dog

Sometimes she looks completely psycho, but anyone who has ever met her knows otherwise. Goofball.

Workout

Sleep Intervals: On a couch or chair, curl up into a ball and drift off. While asleep, wake up to the crying of your baby every 2-3 minutes. Do 6-10 of these starting a new one every 3-5 minutes after warming up. Heart rate will vary from resting rate to Zone 4. Cool down by watching Italian soccer highlights, stretch.

Things change when you have a baby. I haven't ridden for 3 weeks. I'm gonna try to run and ride a bit next week. Sleep would be great too.

Autumn

First hard-freeze of the year overnight. The leaves are dropping so fast it sounds like it's raining.
It's time for a new camera. The batteries last about 10 minutes and then die. Managed a couple of shots before the shutdown.

Week 1

Jen wants to take his picture with the gorilla to see how much he grows. So, here's the first one, at 1 week old.
Zoe is really into Owen. She can't see into the bassinet but her nose comes right to the edge. Anytime Owen makes a sound, Zoe goes over to check him out, then she comes to get me to let me know he's doing something. She's snuck in a few face licks when Owen's been on my lap. She's a good big sister.

Home!

We finally got to bring Owen home last night. If felt so good to not have to go back to the hospital today (especially not having to walk through the cloud of cigarette smoke to get in the main entrance). I will miss the nurses who took great care of us, but not the chairs I had to sleep on. Thanks to the doctors, too, but we all know the nurses do the gruntwork.

Oct 21st

Sunday has been a good day for Owen. His IV was removed last night and he's been eating better. Jen was discharged yesterday but we spent the night at the hospital so we could feed him and hang out. The doctor didn't do rounds until after Jen was initially sent home, so we don't know when Owen can come home, but we should have a better idea later this afternoon/early evening after the doctor is by.

Zoe is going crazy, wondering why we haven't been home and why I keep coming and going. She got to smell a baby blanket yesterday and was pretty excited. I'm sure they will be best friends.

Owen

Saturday was a little better for Owen. He's been feeding better and a little more alert. We are staying at the hospital tonight to do feedings. I'll update tomorrow after we have a chance to talk with the pediatrician.

Friday's Owen Report

Little guy is still a sleep machine. He did wake up this morning and tried eating for 10 minutes. Then around 11:30 he was a little more active and ate for about 20 minutes, so that was encouraging. His glucose levels are now in the 80's and his breathing is better so they took off the pulse oxymeter. Still has the IV and is on the monitor, but he's improving. Jen's being discharged tomorrow, but we will still be at the hospital quite a bit until we can bring Owen home (which will probably not be for a few more days).

Thanks for the phone calls, emails and visits. Jen will try to catch up on emails in the next few days. I will try to post some more photos tonight, depending on what time I get home and how tired I am.

Baby update

Things are still about the same with Owen: sleeping constantly and still not eating. He did try a bit, but promptly fell back asleep. Hopefully he'll wake up a bit tomorrow. Mom's okay. Pretty sore from the surgery and pretty tired, but gradually getting back to normal. She says thanks to everyone who has commented or emailed.

Owen

Can you tell I'm smiling behind the surgical mask?
Owen's been sleeping most of the day. He had a rough start, so it's not surprising he's tired. I know Jen and I are. He's got an IV hooked up to his head (which looks way worse than it is) to make sure his blood sugar levels are correct.

Owen Harold Van Ert

30+ hours of labor, 2-1/2 hours of pushing with no luck, so Jen had a c-section. Found out the umbilical cord was wrapped around him several times and kept him from coming out the natural way. Everyone's a bit tired. Jen and Owen are doing well now, recovering.

8 pounds, 1 ounce
20" long

Still Waiting...

The stork appears to be in a holding pattern. Today is the due-date, and so far no signs of delivery. We have an appointment tomorrow and will schedule a day to induce if necessary. So, he's coming out one way or the other in the next few days. Stay tuned...

No Baby Yet

Still no action on the delivery front. Today the doctor said if he's not here by Tuesday it's time to induce. Monday is the due date, so we're still on schedule, but Jen wouldn't mind getting the pregnancy part over with asap.

Groß in Deutschland

Apparently I got some work published in a German book on logo design. I'm trying to get a copy of it to see what they selected (should be nice and spendy between the Euro conversion and shipping). They said they are also interested in one of my websites for an upcoming book in 2008. Prosit!

http://www.zeixs.de/logo.html

Nursery Update

After enduring another IKEA adventure (love the furniture, checkout line not-so-much) I got the replacement part for the crib and put it together. Picked up some mobiles, rugs and a couple of toys. We've got a rocking chair to put in here and an awesome ceiling lamp I need to install, then all we need is the baby. As with everything I do around the house, Zoe supervised.

Nursery Update

No more races + rain + impending due date + coffee = progress. I got the nursery painted, trim and baseboard in and the changing table put together. I'm going to replace the window trim and someday refinish the ugly floor. Crib has a gacked headboard, so I gotta make a trip to the big blue box (Ikea) to get a replacement. Gonna pick up some cool stuff for the room while there.

Photos

Two of Dana's photos from Saturday. Gotta say, I think she should be the official series photographer. Her shots are great and she moves around the course to get different perspectives. Dana's shots really capture the spirit of the events and she posts monster resolution, non-watermarked files for FREE! Go Dana!
Check them out here.

MNSCS#10, Jail Trail

Season finale in St. Cloud. It was a weird race for me, as I really didn't have much to race for points-wise, and I pretty much just came to ride.

Race starts and I get my best jump off the line of the year. I was where I wanted to be towards the end of the prologue, but soon realized it didn't matter as there was a waiting line to go into the singletrack. We came back through the start/finish to start the first lap, and Jamison was right behind me. My goal was to pace him into the singletrack and let him get around me. He went by and I let off the gas a bit to recover.

I was riding much better than I had the week before when we came to preride, but it didn't matter as several singlespeeders and a few others wouldn't yield the trail. Pretty much the rest of my race consisted of being stuck behind someone in the singletrack, working like a dog to pass them in the doubletrack only to get stuck behind the next guy. I'd have paid an extra $32 for one big, nasty climb just to have a place to drop some people. Flat and twisty is not my thing.

Last lap I'm still feeling pretty good, but in the expert section a guy goes down right in front of me and jams me up. 5 guys go around us and I'm screwed. (Not blaming the dude, it's a super tight corner with a handlebar width to fit through, I didn't make it the first time through either.) I fly as fast as I can through the final loop and try to finish strong. I can hear someone right on me so I gun it. I took a corner way too hot but somehow pulled it back before nailing a tree, and got a "Nice save!" from the guy behind me. I was able to hold him off at the finish, but it really didn't matter. 15th place. 8 places separated by 30 seconds (traffic jams killed me). Jamison had a nice race, I think he got 6th.

So, I think I'll end up 5th overall for the second year in a row. Congrats to Brian and Jason for killing us all year and to Kevin for coming on strong at the end. Despite just missing out on my goal of top 3, it was a fun year. Looking forward to 2008.

Shanghaied

Top design is mine (view of 2 one-liter boots + insert), bottom is a recently-discovered Chinese knock-off in a 2-liter size. Nice.

Theo Wirth

Rode Theo Wirth yesterday for the first time. It's definitely a single-speeder's course. No climbing and nothing really technical (at least on the "A" loop, I didn't hit the "B" loop). There's a rock section (photo above from MORC) and a few other little rocks and log piles, but it's mostly tight, twisty singletrack. It's fast and pretty fun. If I lived closer I'd probably ride it more, but if I'm going to drive somewhere to ride (which I have to do no matter what) I think I'd probably go to Leb, Battle Creek or Elk River instead. If you need a place to go crank out laps and work on cornering (my main reason for checking it out, based on Jamison's advice), or don't have time to drive to one of the "destination" trails in the Metro, Wirth is good place to get a quick ride in. MORC did a nice job, as usual.

B to the ONK

Rode from Woodbury, through Afton to Prescott, back to Battle Creek and Woodbury. 50 miles. Felt great climbing the Coulee, then started feeling bad. From Prescott the rest of the way back I was in major crisis mode. I just had no energy whatsoever. I could spin and for some reason I could still pace on the climbs but I had no acceleration or tempo. I felt decent at Lebanon Hills on Saturday (other than bouncing off the rocks), so who knows. It turned into a death march for me. I inhaled a Clif Bar and bottle of Endurox in about 30 seconds once I got back to the car, so I'm going to chalk it up to not eating enough. Two chicken mole enchilladas, beans, mountain of ice cream and liters of water later, I feel better. We'll see how this week's rides progress.

Bees

Racing is hard enough without being attacked by bees. Left ankle is so swollen I can't bend it. Right one is gaining on it. Lot's of people got stung, some of us multiple times. I've got several. They must like the taste of Accelerade and PowerGel. Ray Nickles got nailed. Check out the Mickey Mouse hand here.

MNSCS#9, Laddie's Loppet

Most technical course in the series, hands down. Top and bottom photos are from the infamous "Lakeside Drops". It doesn't look like much from a photo, but it's about a 12-15 foot drop that goes straight down to the edge of the lake and takes a 90 degree left. If you manage to not go over the bars before the bottom, you've still got to make that turn or you go into the drink. Naturally, it's the number one spectator spot on the course. The vultures are out in full-force, waiting for the endo. Personally, I think this is the easiest drop on the whole course. It gets a whole lot scarier back in the woods, with steep, twisty drops between trees and over roots and rocks. Fortunately I made it through the paparazzi both laps. I didn't fare so well on some of the other sections. I went sailing over the bars once but managed to grab a tree to keep from killing myself. I spun out on a couple of technical climbs and I got off and ran 2 incredibly technical drops on the backside of the course both laps. There are no style points, so I'd rather run instead of crash.

It's a tough course, did I mention that? Guys were flying, falling and flailing everywhere. I finally got into as much of a groove as I could and got a gap. The lead group was gone, but I didn't have anyone right on my ass, so I could relax a bit on tactics and focus more on riding. It seemed to help as my second lap was much better. I cleared pretty much everything I tried to ride and knew where I was better off doing some cyclocross. I had some issues with my pedals, which cost me some time but at this point the podium was gone anyway. Somebody must have kicked up a beehive, because I got stung at least three times on both legs. Feeling the burn had a whole new meaning. It actually woke me up a bit. I let one guy pass since I knew I'd hold him up but other than that, I held my ground. I was able to finish strong and somehow wound up 5th.

Not bad considering how poorly I felt and rode the day before. I was 90% sure I was going to drive back home on Saturday, I just wasn't feeling it. I got maybe an hour or two of very interrupted sleep in the tent on Saturday night. To make matters worse, there was a power outage in the buildings and the Xcel Energy trucks were out digging and working in the campground at 4:00am. The only reason I even lined up was because I had already paid for it. My plan was to stay upright on Lap 1 and see if I had anything in the tank for Lap 2. Adrenaline is a powerful drug. One race to go, and since Kevin won today, I'm now in 4th. If Ryan shows up at St. Cloud, I'm pretty much looking at 5th for the season. Oh well.

Kudos to the Richards family and Maplelag Resort for the best event of the season. The course is masochistic, but the hospitality is unbeatable. Getting a call-up to the starting line was pretty sweet, too. Thanks to Skinnyski.com for the photos. That otb shot is an instant classic. Glad it wasn't me getting posterized.

When it rains...

Snapping a rear derailleur last week wasn't enough, so I had to smack a tree and tweak an XTR brake lever at Elk River on Sunday as well. Luckily, Curly was able to bend it back into functionality again, so I didn't have to shell out for a new one. If you're looking for good mechanics, go to Now Bikes in Arden Hills and ask for Mike or Curly.

Mini Man Utd kit

My wife rules! Baby's gonna be rockin' the full-on Manchester United kit. Real deal, direct from the UK. Awesome.

24 Hours of Afton

No race for me, gotta focus on the MNSCS. Got a few pics tonight of the first 2 laps. Curly, busting out the wheelie. Brian from Peace Coffee is drilling it on lap one. Clayton and Matt are rockin' it solo (and giving me crap for not doing the same). Jeremy near the end of lap one. Gnome base camp. I wish I was racing, but I'm happy to be sleeping in my own bed tonight. More photos and updates tomorrow.