Business Name Fail

I always thought you contracted hjerpes from unclean women. Now I know where to buy it!

Christmas fun for everyone!

Turkey Day Ride - Tire Fail Included Free!

Franz and I decided to hit up North Loop on Thanksgiving morning in order to burn off some energy before sitting in a house full of kids for the rest of the day.

Since my tubeless tires had been sitting in the garage holding air for almost 2 weeks, I felt quite confident in them. That was my first mistake. Not bringing a tube or pump was my second mistake. Sometimes I don't know why I bother...

Who didn't see this coming: roughly 8 minutes into the ride, I went over a log and felt my rim hit it. Yep, my rear tire was flat. Upon closer inspection, there was sealant all over the sidewalls where it had leaked out from the bead. My guess is that I trashed the bead when I rode it on the rim when we were at Monticello.

Like I said, I had no tube, so we quickly loaded up the bikes and zipped back to my house. After a lightening-fast 10 minute tire change, we were back in business.

The rest of the ride was awesome. I haven't been to North Loop since they added some new trails and bridges. Everything was super-sweet, especially the expert section. I even rode the teeter-totter without incident! I only went over the bars once!

The ride would have been a lot more peaceful if I hadn't brought Bandit. Most of you probably don't have much experience with terriers, but they yip-yip-yip when they're chasing something. In this case, squirrels. That whole area is chock-full of squirrels. Bandit love squirrels. Like, I could make a movie about him and call it "The Passion of the Terrier" and it would just be images of squirrels. Fucking loves 'em.

Anyway, every 2 minutes or so he would spot another squirrel and yip-yip-yip after it. Then he'd realize that he'd lost contact with his people, and yip-yip-yip back to us. Kind of annoying.

Fortunately, my tubeless front setup held up for the entire ride, though I didn't notice much difference in the ride quality over having a tube.

The rest of the day was consumed by eating and napping. Two of my favorite things in the world.

Howing ShitPoo

I mentioned previously that there were oodles of dogs at my grandma's farm last weekend. One of them, Asha, was a Shih-Tzu/Poodle cross. Indeed, a ShitPoo. Anyway, the story was told that whenever my aunt would talk in a high-pitched voice, Asha would unleash the most horrid howling sound ever heard.

In this video, the awful sounds at the beginning are attempts to get Asha to howl. Yes, this is really what my family gatherings are like.

What an precious little dog, huh?

Yes, I know the video is sideways. I don't quite have that feature figured out on my phone yet.

Rock Out With Your...Oh, Nevermind

I haven't played in about 2 years, so at this point he's about as good as I am.

Android Review

When I decided I needed a new phone, I knew I was going to ditch the Blackberry in favor of something sexier. I'd been lusting after an iPhone for quite a while now, but couldn't bring myself to switch to AT&T.

I opted for T-Mobile's latest Android offering, the Motorola Cliq. I'm going to try to keep this review about the OS and not the phone itself, since I think Motorola has fucked this phone up big-time (more on that later).

Synchronization with Google is one of the key features of the Android system, and it is executed flawlessly. I was able to export all my contacts from my Blackberry into GMail and they're instantly available on my phone. Google Search, Maps, Places, and Tracks complete the package. Many features allow voice-searching, which is convenient.

The app store, while nice, has a long way to go to catch up with Apple. There just aren't that many super-great apps out there. Yet. I suspect that will change as Android phones gain wider market share.

I like the widgets, and I like that I can write my own apps for it (thought I have yet to do so).

I will say that Android itself is one of the coolest tech advancements I've seen in the last year. In theory, it allows phone manufacturers to focus on bring bad-ass hardware to the market, without having to worry about writing software for it.

Many Android owners ridicule the iPhone for being "too locked down". Well, guess what? To some extent, that's not always a bad thing. There are currently 3 versions of Android on the market right now, and many manufacturers don't have a clear path for getting them upgraded. This can cause many issues for developers, who generally aim to target the latest version. When we have 6 or 7 versions of Android available, many won't be able to run the apps that they download. Since the developer of the OS has no say in how or when it is implemented, it seems to me that this could cause issues.

Yes, it should be a simple upgrade. But it isn't always. Why? I'm glad you asked.

On my phone, Motorola has built a "MotoBlur" skin on top of the Android platform. They essentially hacked Android to add some worthless features that I can't imagine many people are using, and it basically cripples the phone. It's a brand-spankin'-new phone, and it's running Android 1.5, the first release, with Motorola saying they have no clear plans to upgrade. This is a major fuck-up.

The fact that Motorola released the Verizon Droid with Android 2.0 at the same time as the Cliq is rather mind-boggling.

Most developers have openly stated that they are no longer supporting version 1.5. Hell, even the G1, which was released a year ago, is running 1.6!

The phone itself is also not particularly well-made. It looks nice and feels substantial (read: heavy), but the face is a bit wiggly and some of the buttons are kind of chintzy.

So, while I love the phone, I don't love the prospect of it being completely outdated in the next 6 months.

I'm hesitant to root the phone, because that would void my warranty. But I also don't want to get left behind. If I don't have an update by January 1st, I'm gonna root it.

Admittedly, this probably won't be a very big deal for most people, but I'm not most people. I'm very particular in wanting the brand new gadgets that I pay several hundred dollars for remain relevant beyond the first month of ownership.

So, in summary: Android good, Motorola needs to get their shit together.

Sold!

Out with the old, in with the new. I sent my Cane Creek track wheels on down the road to make way for new, bad ass sponsor equipment.

I've also got a sweet set of brand new Cane Creek carbon road wheels for sale if anyone's interested. Hit me up.

Humpy

It was like 'Planet of the Dogs' at my grandma's house this weekend.  There were 8 of them at her house, as all my relatives converged on her farm for my grandpa's funeral.

The little dog, Barney, was obsessed with humping the lab, Draggin (yes, I spelled that right). All day, every day. When he wasn't humping Draggin, he was standing near Draggin, air-humping.  Even when Draggin was running at full speed, Barney was trying to hump him. It was insane, though I admire his persistence.

For his part, Draggin paid no attention to it. None at all. He must be really secure in his sexuality.

Sue The T-Rex

I'd never been to the Stearns History Museum before, and probably won't go again, but they happened to have the "A T-Rex Name Sue" exhibit. The kids had watched Jurassic Park for the first time a couple weeks ago, so they thought it was really bitchin' (my words, not theirs).

I was surprised just how tiny Sue's arms are...she looks like a computer programmer!