Pike Place Pigs

Among the strange sights near the Pike Place market in Seattle was this storefront full of nothing but giant pig sculptures. I'm not sure what the deal is, maybe it's a porcine armada getting ready to rise up against the baconistas.

Snow

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 15" of snow between Saturday and Sunday. I had a 3 hour Zone 2 training ride scheduled, but I think 4 hours of shoveling was good enough reason to skip the trainer. My octogenarian neighbor saved my ass by brining his snowblower across the street and clearing some of the driveway for me. He is about as good of a neighbor as you could ever hope for. I'll have to get a picture of the cupholder he built for inside the "bubble" of his snowblower. Sweet!

Today the power was out when I went home for lunch. Good times. Hopefully that isn't a long-term deal or it's gonna be a bit chilly at the Van Ert estate.

HDTV

This also helps make the indoor riding sessions less painful. 60" Sony SXRD 1080p Rear Projection HDTV. Maybe by next winter I'll have a CompuTrainer hooked up to this bad boy. Or at least a PS3. All I can say is analog tv is for suckas. When Fox Soccer Channel and GolTV go HD I may never leave the house. And watching the Tour this July? I'll be able to see the needle marks on the cheaters arms...

Trainer -vs- Outside

Trainer wins.
2 hours and 35 minutes of pedalling and going nowhere. Watched the Manchester United/Tottenham match, which killed about 2 hours of the ride. This is a recovery week with a fitness test on Saturday, so no indoor death marches until next week.

Sea to Sky Highway

http://www.leanbackvids.com/videoblog/action-sports/road-to-whistler/
Came across this video of the drive from Vancouver to Whistler. Cool way to use Google Earth. Wish he would have gotten more footage of the Sea to Sky Highway. That is one of the coolest drives I have ever done, and sadly I have only some crappy shots taken from inside a moving car to show for it.

Why do I live here again?

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN HAS ISSUED
A WIND CHILL ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING
TO 12 PM CST MONDAY.

A PROLONGED PERIOD OF SUB-ZERO TEMPERATURES...COUPLED WITH BRISK
NORTHWEST WINDS...WILL CAUSE DANGEROUS WIND CHILL CONDITIONS
THROUGH MONDAY MORNING. THE MOST HAZARDOUS WIND CHILLS ARE
EXPECTED DURING THE LATE EVENING THROUGH EARLY MORNING TIME
PERIODS. WIND CHILLS FROM MINUS 25 TO NEARLY MINUS 40 DEGREES ARE
EXPECTED ACROSS MUCH OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA AND
WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS
WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS. THIS WILL RESULT IN
FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.
IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS...MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT AND
GLOVES. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...BE SURE YOUR CAR IS EQUIPPED WITH A
WINTER SAFETY KIT IN CASE OF EMERGENCY.