Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Ice Skating


We met up with three other families at the Seattle Center ice rink for an outing. Neither Audrey or Charlotte have ever been. Charlotte considered it for about five seconds before deciding not to try. "I might fall down!" Audrey was game, though, especially with the walker-type devices they have for little kids.

I skated with Audrey for a while, mostly trying to convince her to avoid swimming upstream in the crowd. Then Carol took over and I got to shoot some video. Audrey skated for nearly an hour.

We went across the way to the Center House food court for lunch, where we happened upon a huge holiday model train layout and the entrance of a youth pipe and drum band. After that we visited the Children's Museum downstairs where the girls had a blast for another couple of hours.

Oh, by the way, yesterday was Charlotte's first day leaving the house in underwear. She managed to tell Carol two of the four times that she had to go before doing so. Carol had come prepared with three changes of pants. Charlotte has been getting close to being toilet trained. Carol had a goal of getting there during my Christmas break (by New Years), but Charlotte had some kind of intestinal bug for more than a week that presented a setback. Now we're back on track. We're looking forward to celebrating our last diaper fairly soon.

Christmas Video

I shot a bunch of video on Christmas morning. Here are highlights of the girls' reactions and comments.


Click on image for video

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Puppy Bot



Click on image for video

With the break from school and work I have some time for playing. Last night I decided to build a new robot for the girls. I didn't have enough time to figure out something from scratch. Fortunately there is nxtprograms.com, which contains dozens of "plans" for robots that can be built with the Lego Mindstorms NXT kit. I decided on a puppy, since that is Charlotte's favorite thing in the world (well, next to baby dolls at the moment).

The puppy walks forward for two seconds or until he detects and obstacle. Then he looks left and right. If he hears a sound during that time, he'll turn the direction he's looking. If he doesn't hear anything he'll move forward again.

As you can see from the video, Puppy Bot was a hit.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Merry Christmas


We had a great Christmas around the Methot homestead.

Due to the bad weather, our friends Scott and Susana couldn't get a taxi to the airport, so they called me midday Christmas Eve and asked if I could drive them in their Subaru Outback (all wheel drive). We were just relaxing around home so I was glad to do it. It had the side benefit of allowing me to do some last minute shopping, since we were otherwise still housebound with our alley almost impassable.

Carol and I were up late Christmas Eve getting the stage all set for Santa. Then we all had a good night's sleep. Charlotte woke up at 6, but I was able to put her back in her bed and I crawled in the big bed in her room and all was quiet again. Although I couldn't sleep because I was excited for the girls' Christmas. Audrey woke up at 7 and then the house came to life.

The girls got some physically large items this year: a play house to share and a doll house each. Santa had shrouded them all in blankets in case the girls woke up in the middle of the night. Carol distracted the girls downstairs while I went up and uncovered everything and got ready to take photos. Then we had the reveal.

Both girls loved everything. Carol and I got to sit and devour Carol's Christmas morning cinnamon rolls and read the paper for an hour while they played peacefully with the new toys. Later we all went downstairs and watched Wall-E. Carol and Audrey saw it in the theater but I had never seen it. It's a sweet, delightful, funny movie if you haven't seen it.

Then it was time to go to Aunt Tricia's for the feast. Frank's mother Carmen and her husband Henry were also there. Tricia is a fantastic cook and as usual everything was delicious.

Temperatures are increasing and the snow began to melt a little Christmas Eve, a little more yesterday and still more today. By Sunday everything should be back to normal for Seattle in December: 45 degrees and raining.

We're really looking forward to having mobility again. However, I must say we've had a pretty good time being housebound. Audrey and Charlotte have really enjoyed having me around full time, and it's mutual. Charlotte gives me spontaneous hugs a couple of times every day. It's going to be hard for all of us when I go back to work, but I have nine more days to not think about that.

Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Still Snowbound


Yesterday we had our third snowstorm in a week, which actually had two waves. It was supposed to stop snowing late morning and then have scattered snow showers in the afternoon. But after stopping briefly in late morning, it snowed steadily from noon until after 4:00. We got about 5 additional inches. We probably received about 10" in the last storm combination.

Seattle is not used to this much snow or this sustained, so it pretty much comes to a halt. The traffic cameras around town show that not many people are on the roads. I shoveled the entrance to our garage and the high center spot in the alley in front of the garage and took a little test run to see if we could get out. I got stuck twice: once getting from the alley to the street and again getting back into the garage. I guess the answer is "no". The temp is just above freezing and we are getting a little melting, so maybe tomorrow we'll be able to use the car again. Carol and I both are getting cabin fever.

We don't have snow tires or chains because we rarely need them. Although it might make sense to get some since we'll definitely use them in Boston.

The snow was pretty light and powdery as it was falling. Audrey wanted to build a snow man but it wasn't possible with that snow. But with the bit of warming today the snow moistened and we built a big snow man in the back yard. The girls loved it.

My sister Elizabeth was scheduled to fly to California this afternoon to visit our parents. Yesterday Alaska Airlines canceled all flights because after a week of freezing weather they had run out of de-icing solution. Apparently they obtained more because today some flights are getting out. There are many people stranded at the airport who were supposed to just make a connection - three days ago. Hopefully Aunt Betsy is in the air right now.

This weather is forcing me to take a real vacation. I had big plans to accomplish a bunch of projects around the house, almost all of which were outdoors (build a fence, install the last gutters on the garage, etc.). I can't do any of that, so I just have to relax and play with the girls and read. It's nice!

This morning my grades for Fall semester were finally posted: two A's. So now I have five A's and one B for a 3.83 GPA. I wish I would have worked a little harder in that B class. Straight A's would be cool. Three courses left to go.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Snowbound


We're having quite unusual winter weather in Seattle at the moment. We typically get snow maybe once or twice a winter, and it usually melts quickly afterward. But we've had two snowstorms in the past five days and expect another tomorrow.

Last weekend it snowed a couple of inches. Our part of Seattle (West Seattle) got it worse than the rest of the city, and it apparently started with some frozen rain because there was a sheet of ice under the snow. It took until Tuesday for the ice to melt off the sidewalk. No one prepares for that here (e.g. by keeping ice melter on hand) and none of the hardware stores have any in stock.

Wednesday we were supposed to get more snow. Seattle ended up in a snow shadow of the Olympic Mountains all day while all of the surrounding areas were getting snow. But at 4:00am Thursday it started to snow and it snowed almost continuously until 3:00pm. Once again, West Seattle got more than the rest of the city (we got 8" on our patio) but the whole city got blanketed. We are also having an unusual cold snap where we aren't getting above freezing so the snow and ice are sticking around a lot longer than usual. We aren't expected to get any melting before the next snow storm hits tomorrow afternoon.

So we've been essentially housebound. Most people are just staying home - there is very little traffic even on the main streets. But plenty of people are out walking around.

We live on a bus route that loops around the north end of West Seattle. Today to get out of the house we hopped on it and rode to the nearby business district (called the Alaska Junction - where Alaska St. crosses the other main street, California Ave.). We visited the pet store and the toy store and then went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch.

Audrey was fascinated by the chopsticks. She experimented until she was actually picking up noodles with them and getting them into her mouth. No style points, but still I was impressed.

Coincidentally, Audrey and Charlotte have been getting along exceptionally well the last few days. Excellent timing since we're housebound.

I'm hoping it stops snowing, melts and dries out after the storm this weekend. I was hoping to get in a couple of bike rides during my vacation.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Destination: Boston

As you can tell from the title, we've come to decision: we're moving to Boston.

This is one of the hardest decisions we've ever had to make. There were so many factors to consider. In the end, moving seems like the most financially and professionally sound option even though it has big family costs. Carol and I both talked about it a lot with our parents and siblings. We think we have a plan where the girls will still get to see a fair bit of their grandparents, aunts and uncles. And we're viewing it as an adventure.

We'll probably move in late May or early June. I have a long list of projects to complete in the house to get it ready to sell. I'm on vacation for the rest of the year so I was hoping to do a lot those tasks during the break, but our current series of snowstorms and cold spell are making that impossible.

Most of the readers of this blog are in Seattle. We will miss you all! But by the magic of the Internets we should be able to keep in touch. For example, this blog will continue and will relay our explorations of Boston.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Catching Up, Again!

Once again it has been more than a month since my last post. We have had several fun outings, and Charlotte had a birthday.








Album | Slideshow
Charlotte Turns
Three


Album | Slideshow
Thanksgiving
at Tricia and Frank's


Album | Slideshow
November/December
Photos

Not chronologically first in this series of photos, but most important in terms of milestones: Charlotte turned 3 on November 27th. That happened to be Thanksgiving. We had a small celebration in the morning with cupcakes and presents before driving to Tricia and Frank's house for Thanksgiving dinner. The thing Charlotte wanted most of all (she told us several times a day for a month) was a baby doll with eyes that opened and closed and a crib and a high chair for it. Oh, and a Belle dress (Belle is the "princess" in the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast). She got both and was very pleased. Until February 2nd we have a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old.

Charlotte is gaining a lot of motor and verbal skills lately. She expresses more and more complex thoughts all the time. And she mimics her big sister in terms of climbing, although Audrey has always been at the far end of the fearlessness scale. Charlotte has a more normal respect for potential consequences of gravity.

My parents spent Thanksgiving at their winter home in California this year, but us three kids gathered at Tricia and Frank's house in Puyallup for the traditional feast. Tricia always prepares a wonderful meal. Frank followed a recent family tradition and baked oysters with the "holy trinity": butter, garlic and parsley. Frank and Carol enjoy them the most but I usually eat a few. After dinner we celebrated Charlotte's birthday a little more with special mini-pumpkin pies just for the girls.

A different weekend made another trip to the Museum of Flight. It is a fantastic place to visit on a wet or cold day because it has lots of room to run around inside and plenty to see and explore. The girls love the kids area. They also enjoy going on the real airplanes, now reached via a new bridge. They have a Concorde and the old 707 version of Air Force One that you can tour. Very cool.

Britt and Ken joined us for a weekend walk down to Alki Beach. It was a chilly day, but we had a pleasant walk and even played on the beach for little while. Then we all went to have hot chocolate and treats at the Alki Bakery. The hike back up the hill to our house was leisurely and Audrey and Ian had a great time together. It was a very enjoyable morning.

Lately when I get the camera out Audrey has been asking to take some pictures. She does a very good job of holding onto the camera carefully and she even frames the photos pretty well. We might get them a kids digital camera for Christmas. I'm sure they'd have a blast with it.

This morning we awoke to a couple of inches of snow on the ground. It was apparently close to freezing when it fell, because the roads and sidewalks are covered with ice. Fortunately it has warmed just enough to loosen the ice so I was able to chip and shovel it off of our walks, but we aren't attempting to drive anywhere today. Nor is anyone else, the normally moderately busy street in front of our house is very quiet. The girls have been out to play a couple of times but they get cold quickly. It's not warming up enough to completely thaw the roads, so we'll see how it works out getting to work tomorrow. I definitely won't be riding my bike.

Merck has a use-it-or-lose it vacation policy; there is no carryover from one year to the next. That means the place gets pretty deserted in the second half of December. In my case, I have enough vacation left that my last day of work will be this Tuesday the 17th. 19 days off will be very nice.

The break from work will be especially nice since I also have a break from school. I took two courses Fall semester (Machine Learning/Data Mining; and Biomedical Databases). Fortunately the database course covered a lot of material I already knew, making the homework easier than usual. I have three courses left to complete my Masters degree. I'll take two courses Spring semester and the final course in Summer semester. I should complete my degree in August. That will have been a little more than two years altogether. I'm looking forward to being done and having my time back for all the projects on my list.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A Fork in the Road

Back on October 21 I got some big news at work. Merck is closing the Rosetta Inpharmatics site by the end of 2009 as part of a global reorganization. There was a week of shock and confusion, after which we knew that of the 300 people at Rosetta 50 (including myself) would be offered transfers to the Merck Research Labs facility in Boston.

Carol and I were really depressed at first. I often comment on this blog about how content we have been. We love so much about our life in Seattle. And we loved my job situation, which is fulfilling but doesn't demand extra time so I get plenty of time with my family.

Our first reaction to a Boston relocation was "Hell No!" But we've kept an open mind and talked to our families about it and Carol and I have played a lot of "what if" games. We took a trip to Boston last week for four days to check it out. We had researched real estate online and were able to confirm that neighborhoods we identified as affordable for us are indeed places we could envision living. We've talked to our parents about the logistics of the girls seeing their grandparents as much as possible and it seems like that could work.

If I don't accept the transfer, I will be laid off sometime in 2009 with a fairly generous severance package. The actual date I'd be laid off is completely unknown, which makes it very difficult to either look for a job immediately (and give up the severance) or predict what the job market might look like when I do get laid off. The relocation package is very generous. It would be very hard for us to find a way to lose money on the move. The company will even buy our house if we can't sell it in 60 days.

We have until December 15 to decide whether to accept the transfer offer. There are so many things to consider. Here are a few:

Pros:
  • The "bird in the hand" aspect. This is not a cost-cutting move on Merck's part – it is an effort to streamline drug research and put my group closer to the scientists we support. They will spend a small fortune to relocate us to Boston and I doubt they would invest that amount only to lay me off within the next 12-18 months. The job market in Seattle is already bad and getting worse. If I were to find a new job here, I'd be the newest employee and first to go if the economy continues to worsen.
  • I actually like my job. I've been in the software business for 25 years now. I've burned out a few times. The last few job changes I was happy to find a job I could tolerate, but in this job I came across work I actually love. That is completely because of the science I am surrounded by at work. I have to work 20 more years, and it sure would be nice to do that in a job and field that stimulates me. I'm looking around, but I think I'm very unlikely to find a similar job in Seattle.
  • The group I am part of is essentially being promoted en masse. We thought we'd be safe in the reorganization because we are a core part of the strategy. It turns out that's exactly why they want to move us to a central research location. Our group will grow substantially after the move and there is huge opportunity for me to take on more responsibility.
  • I'm approaching the end of my Masters degree in Bioinformatics (expected next August). Staying in this group gives me a transition path toward contributing more from a scientific point of view than a software one. Other companies aren't going to hire me for that new skill set because I don't have any real experience in it yet.
  • The adventure of living in a different place. Carol and I have had a dream of living in a European city for a couple of years sometime while the girls are growing up. This isn't quite Europe but has the same effect of exposing them to a slightly different culture and environment.
  • Along those lines, Boston is very convenient to the rest of the East Coast. We can easily take vacations to Maine and eastern Canada (Montreal, for example), New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. etc.

Cons:
  • Family. All of our girls' grandparents, aunts, and uncles are here in Seattle. We love the fact that our kids get to see their extended family frequently.
  • Carol's support network. Carol has a good network of friends here that help her keep her sanity being a stay-at-home mom.
  • Our house. We love it, and we love the garage and studio we built and the back yard we finally assembled this year.
  • Seattle! All of you who live here know what we mean. It's such a wonderful place to live.
  • All of our friends, of course.
  • Even though I think a job in Boston would be secure for a while, no job is secure in the long term any more. We could end up going through another transition in a year or two – and considering moving back to Seattle at our expense.

As you can see, most of the pros have to do with me and my job and the cons involve ripping up some pretty deep roots in Seattle. Is it worth it to do that for a job? In our parents' generation that was routine and unquestioned. These days it seems like a strange thing to even consider. But considering it we are. It occupies our thoughts most of the time, including many midnight hours when we wake up and can't go back to sleep because we're turning it over in our minds. It's one of those very big decisions one has to make in life.

Wish us luck!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Catching Up

It's been more than a month. Lots has happened! Time to catch up with photos and stories.








Album | Slideshow


Album | Slideshow


Album | Slideshow

October was very pleasant in Seattle. It was dry and relatively warm for the season.

In the middle of October I took a few days off work and we had a long weekend in Richland visiting Carol's parents. That's always relaxing. Audrey and Charlotte had a great time at the playgrounds and in the back yard. Of course, we all enjoyed getting to hang out with Mary and Dennis.

I scheduled the trip to be after my two midterm exams. Unfortunately they both got moved to that weekend. So I spent three of the four days studying and sitting at the library taking exams. At least I did well. After the two courses I'm taking this semester, I only have three courses left. I expect to finish my Masters Degree (in Engineering, specializing in Bioinformatics) at the end of summer semester 2009.

Halloween was a lot of fun. Both girls were dressed as princesses. Charlotte was Sleeping Beauty and Audrey was Ariel in her wedding dress (generously loaned to her by her friend Harper).

Last year Charlotte was still a little too young to appreciate it. Halloween night last year was also quite cold, so Audrey and I went out but only to about seven or eight houses before she wanted to come home. This year it was pretty warm and pleasant out. Both girls had a blast. I did both sides of our block and the next block with them, then Carol drove them to two of her friends' neighborhoods and they trick or treated a little there too. Of course they now have big bags of candy. It takes a while to work through it when we only let them have two pieces a day! Carol and I are helping it to disappear, too.

The next day our friends Scott and Heidi, who have 3-year-old Logan and 6-month-old twin girls Fina and Emma, invited us to join them for a hike. Having been very active in the mountains before we had kids, we're a little embarrassed to say that we have done very little hiking since we had them. But we went along and had a great time. Our kids are old enough now to walk most of the way by themselves, which makes it a lot more fun for us. We both vowed to get out hiking more.

I got spoiled on my bike commute with the dry October. November began with the time change and the arrival of the Fall rains. So all this week I got to ride home in the dark and rain. Don't worry, I have flashing lights and reflectors galore. And as I remind you every year, if you're concerned for my safety you can honor that concern by respecting the safety of every cyclist you encounter.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Pumpkin Hurl & Corn Maze


Yesterday we had a delightful family outing to a couple of Fall-related events.

First we attended the Pumpkin Hurl. Teams build trebuchets (medieval catapults) and use them to fling pumpkins up to 1/3 mile. The event was previously held in Skagit County but the machines outgrew the location and were threatening to launch the pumpkins off the property. This year they moved to a dairy farm in Snohomish with a range longer than 1/2 mile.

The machines were cool. The largest was a traditional design named "TreBarbaric" that is 78' tall. We got there a couple of hours after the start so we only saw it fire twice. The first time it flung the pumpkin over the crowd and the event village, but it flung the thing so damn far that it didn't matter. It traveled well past the village *and* the parking lot beyond. The second throw we saw was in the range but the pumpkin traveled so fast it was difficult to track it.

There were also several less gargantuan machines of more modern design. "Gourdinator" was built by loggers and used V8 engine blocks for weight - a play on the nickname for trebuchets: engines of war.

I shot some video of the event that you can see on YouTube.





Next we drove a few miles away to the corn maze at Bob's Corn. We'd never been to a corn maze before. There are several associated with the same festival as the Hurl. The mother of the owner was manning the maze entrance and warned us that young kids can have trouble with patience, but we decided to go for it. The girls had a great time. It took us about 35 minutes to get through the first half. We decided to quit while we were ahead and rode the hay cart back to the main farm. There, the girls got to ride tricycles and bikes around a little track. We confirmed that the bike we have for Audrey at home is too big for her, because on a smaller bike she jumped right on and went nuts. Audrey and I raced a bunch of laps and had a blast.

The weather was blustery all day. We got lucky since it only rained when we were in the car. I expected to be home mid-afternoon but we didn't get home until 6. It was a very successful and fun family day. We'll definitely go back to both events next year.

Friday Night Pizza (Sep '08)


Friday I sneaked out of work a little early and we performed our ritual of pizza at Pegasus followed by a walk on the seawall and beach at Alki. It was drizzly and misty out, but the temperature was in the high 60s and it was comfortable out. The girls took their shoes off to walk in the wet sand and splash in the puddles. We were going straight home, five minutes away, so we didn't care if they got wet and a little cold. We had the beach pretty much to ourselves.

On these evenings at the beach Carol and I always look at each other and express our appreciation for each other and the life we have.

Carol's 40th Birthday


Carol attained the Big Four-Oh in mid-September. I was not completely mentally present after my crash and didn't think about a big celebration until her birthday was getting really close, but she had her own ideas for a party anyway. We wanted to have a garden party as a first celebration in our new back yard.

Carol invited her entire family to dinner on Saturday evening. Of course, it poured rain. But we had a very pleasant gathering. Carol's niece and nephews are getting old enough that we can all sit around the table and talk and we really enjoyed their company, as well as that of Carol's brothers and parents of course. Audrey and Charlotte love having their cousins over.

The main gift Carol wanted from me was a garden consultation from a local nursery. The gardener came over for 90 minutes Saturday morning and Carol got a lot of the kind of information she needed: how to organize the garden and which types of plants would go in which areas. Looks like we'll have some huckleberries and blueberries as well as vegetables.

We didn't get our vegetable planters built until mid-July but Carol and the girls threw in some seeds for fun. We got a couple of heads of lettuce, some miniature carrots and now we have three or four small zucchinis.

On Friday night of Carol's birthday weekend my parents took the girls overnight and we had a real date. We had a nice dinner and a movie and, the best part of all, no one waking us up in the morning.

Back to School


We enjoyed a splendid Indian Summer in Seattle this year. The latter half of September was warm and sunny. Audrey and Charlotte love the new lawn and play together in it. Audrey loves to tumble. She has determined that the lawn is 7 somersaults long.

Beginning of Fall brought the annual spider invasion both in the house and outside. It seems to have subsided now, but for two weeks there was a spider everywhere we looked. Audrey would ask us to clear the swing set every day but the next day the whole collection of webs would be back. We also had one spider who took up "permanent" residence on the outside of our kitchen sink window. Carol got to watch him/her devour more than one large insect. S/he disappeared when we had a pane in the window repaired.

Audrey goes to preschool for half day four days a week this year and Charlotte goes two days (at the same time as Audrey). Carol works one day in each class, has one afternoon alone with Charlotte and one morning all to herself. Audrey's class has 12 boys and 8 girls. Carol reports that the energy level can get pretty crazy.

I'm 95% recovered from my bike crash. Still occasional pain in my chest after exertion but for the most part I'm fine. I've ridden my bike to work every day for the past two weeks. It was a shame to fall so quickly from my peak condition of the year, but I'm slowly building it back.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Getting Back on the Horse

It's been almost 5 weeks since the big crash and I continue to slowly improve. I started getting itchy to get back on my bike, mainly because riding the bus was getting tedious. Biking to work takes 25-30 minutes each way. Riding the bus takes an hour including the walking on each end.

Seattle is enjoying its typical Indian Summer. We often have beautiful weather for at least the first three weeks of the month before the rainy season (which lasts until July) begins. Sometimes the nice weather lasts into October.

Anyway, today is a gorgeous day and I felt pretty decent so I got out my bike and rode to work. It worked out great. Not much pain, just lots of paranoia. My friend and neighbor Jason gave me an escort.

Unfortunately, my good bike was terminally damaged in the crash. So it's back to my steel Lemond until I can afford to buy a new frame. May the Kestrel rest in peace - it was a great bike.

It's nice to be back in the saddle. Don't worry, I'm taking it easy.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

'End of Summer' Vacation


Carol and the girls spent the week before Labor Day in Richland with Carol's parents. As usual, the girls had a fantastic time.

There is a small playground within walking distance of Dennis and Mary's house and a large playground a short drive away. Both are on the river bank. The smaller playground has a small sand beach as well and the girls spent a fair bit of time in the water. Carol was so relaxed she didn't even bring a camera with her but she used her camera phone to get one good shot of Audrey lounging on the boat.

Speaking of the boat, the girls went out on it for the first time. They've always been afraid of the noise. But Carol worked on them psychologically for a few days and eventually they both agreed to go. Carol had purchased life jackets that had cartoon characters on them - that was part of the attraction of the boat was they got to wear their cool new life jackets.

They ended up crossing the Columbia from the launch near home, to a beach that is usually empty. The girls got to swim more there. Audrey got to play with the boat controls a little too, with Grandpa's supervision.

The girls never want to leave Grandma and Grandpa's "river house". Audrey kept asking if they were going to still be there the next day.

Our friends and neighbors Jason and Pam had invited us to spend Labor Day weekend with them at Pam's family cabin at Loon Lake near Spokane. On Saturday I rode over with them while Carol drove up from Richland to meet us at the cabin. I was really missing my family and looking forward to seeing them after being home alone all week.

The Allen family cabin was built right after World War II so it's more than 60 years old. It's a classic lake cabin. It has three bedrooms and two comfy living rooms, plus a decent kitchen. It has a great beach and dock. They are currently building a shed/bunkhouse. Jason roofed it while we were there.

Jason and Pam's son Alexander just turned six and he and Audrey get along well. They had fun playing together all three days, and Charlotte joined in some of the time. There are bunk beds in the kids' bedroom. Our girls both love bunk beds.

The weather was cooler than normal - around 70 for a high each day. The water temperature was probably in the 60s or low 70s. Audrey really wanted to go swimming regardless and showed us all what a fish she is. She swam twice every day. She'd stay in until she was mildly hypothermic. Then she'd get out and I'd wrap her up in a big towel and hold her on my lap and rub her limbs until she stopped shivering. She liked the sound of her teeth chattering. Alexander joined her a few times. So did Jason a couple of times while he was practicing swimming in his triathlon wetsuit. He said he was cold even with the suit.

I was happy to indulge Audrey's desire to swim even though everyone thought she was crazy. I hated cold water when I was a kid (well, I still do!) and I love the fact that she doesn't seem to even notice it. When entering the water she wasn't at all ginger - she just plowed right in every time.

We stayed until Tuesday morning and then hit the road about 9:30 am. Carol and I decided to return to Seattle via Highway 2 over Stevens Pass instead of the faster route via Interstate 90. Stevens Pass is a lot more scenic. We stopped in Leavenworth for lunch and had a good break from the car. Plus ice cream. Then the final 2 1/2 hour push for home.

We all had a fantastic time, but it was nice to get back home. It was a wonderful way to spend the symbolic end of Summer. Thanks to Jason, Pam and Alexander for their hospitality.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Bike Crash Follow-up

It's been eleven days since my bike crash. I figured I'd write an update on my experience since then.

The ER doctor was right that the worst was yet to come. My crash was on Thursday. Friday the pain started coming on, but Saturday and Sunday were the worst.

I couldn't recline at all. I spent the first three nights sleeping sitting straight up in a chair with pillows supporting me as much as possible. It wasn't quite as bad as it sounds and I did actually sleep, but it got old really fast.

The very worst part was sneezing. I sneezed exactly once each day (I remember!). The first time I did it with Audrey in the room it terrified her. There was Dad writhing in pain and unable to breathe. I think those sneezes might have been the absolute most painful thing I have ever felt.

By Monday morning I was feeling a little better and getting slightly more mobile. Sunday night I was able to sleep on my back until about 3am (then back to the chair) and that helped. I was dying to lie down.

I went to work Tuesday through Friday but I was on narcotic pain meds and was completely unproductive. In retrospect, I should have just called in sick all week.

I had a couple of little setbacks. Some days I would gain some range of motion in my arms (i.e. I could use them without too much pain) and that would lead me to do too much. I'd pay for that the next day with more pain.

I went to work today and actually did some work. Went to my doctor at the end of the day for a follow-up to make sure I'm not developing pneumonia - seems like I'm in the clear there. Today I sneezed twice - it's still really painful, but I recover in a minute or so now rather then 5 minutes. Audrey is used to it, too. This morning I sneezed while she was sitting next to me and she barely noticed the writhing.

The girls have been very sweet. They tell me every day that I must be getting better because my owies are smaller. Audrey tells me all the time that she's sorry I fell off my bike and got hurt. She forgot a couple of times and accidentally pulled my arm during the worst of it and then felt really bad. I've told her that I really look forward to being able to pick her up again.

I can now lie on my right side (the injury is on my left side) and on my stomach (for a while) and even on my back if I arrange the pillows to raise my shoulders a little.

I had taken two weeks off the bike after RAMROD on July 31. I had only ridden to work one day before the day of my crash (August 14). I can't see getting back on a bike for at least another week and probably longer. That means about 5-6 weeks of essentially no riding. That's the most contiguous time I've had off my bike in at least 10 years; perhaps as many as 13 years (I started mountain biking seriously in 1995). I'm going to lose a hell of a lot of fitness. C'est la vie. At least so far I've only gained 4 pounds.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Hitting the Pavement


I had a little accident on my morning commute today. Don't click on the photo album links if you're squeamish.

Since I'll have to tell all my cycling friends about it anyway, I figured I'll just tell the story in a blog post.

On the uphill side of the low-level Spokane St. bridge (3 miles from home) I overtook my coworker Diane on her bike. I slowed and chatted with her to the crest of the bridge, where she told me to go ahead. So I sped up on the downhill side of the bridge. The bridge has a good separated bike path that cyclists use. The bike path then takes a circuitous route that was obviously not designed by someone who had ever ridden a bike since it goes way out of the way to circle under the bridge and then make several right angle turns to cross a couple of branches of an industrial road. Instead, fast riders ride straight at the intersection of the bottom of the bridge, sideways across a wheelchair curb cut and then continuing east on Spokane St. My buddy Jason and I do this every day on our commutes.

I may have been going a little faster today because it was gorgeous out and there were no vehicles around. Regardless, I somehow hit the transition from the sidewalk to the street wrong and lickity split I was going down. I remember tumbling and trying to just go with it. Then I remember what felt like endless pavement going by my eyes really fast. It felt like I would never stop sliding. I was probably going between 25 and 30mph when I crashed.

Obviously the sliding eventually stopped. I was pretty dazed and had the wind knocked out of me. But my first instinct was to get out of the middle of the intersection. I grabbed my bike and dragged it and myself over to the weedy area on the corner. It took a while before I could breathe and even then deep breaths caused stabbing pain.

My coworker Diane was not far behind me when I crashed and she witnessed the whole thing. She reports that I did a couple of "cartwheels". I suspect my front wheel dug into something and I went over the bars. She stopped, very concerned. I told her she should probably call an ambulance. I suspected I had a fairly serious chest injury - maybe broken ribs. My breathing was constricted by pain in the area of my lower rear left lung.

The fire department showed up quickly. The station is just at the west end of the bridge. They checked me out and put some simple dressings on the more obvious wounds. By then I figured I didn't need an ambulance. Diane and the fire crew waited while Carol arranged for the neighbors to watch the girls and came to take me to the hospital. That probably took about 25-30 minutes from the accident.

The ride in the car was kinda painful. Bumps gave me stabbing pains in the back of my lung. But we got to the ER at Swedish Hospital soon enough. I had great care from the ER doc and a technician and nurse. They took chest and elbow X-rays and a urine sample to make sure I didn't have kidney injury. The Tech (Brett, a cyclist who is riding RSVP - Ride Seattle to Vancouver and Party - tomorrow and was disconcerted by having two injured cyclists in the ER at the same time) did a great job cleaning out the deep laceration in my left elbow - it had bits of road embedded in it. They numbed it so I only felt tugging while he was doing it and no pain. Then the doc examined it again and decided not to suture it because it will need to be able to drain freely.

The X-rays showed no broken bones in my chest or elbow. And no kidney injury either.

The crash happened about 8:45. I got home from the ER at 12:40. Lots of waiting in the ER, as usual. Got to listen to a couple of patients with mental problems ranting about various things in adjacent treatment bays. Had a National Geographic that kept me occupied. Plus I used my camera phone to get some photos of the damage before it was treated. I didn't get the scoop on the other injured cyclist I saw walk into the lobby just as I was going back for treatment.

By the time I left the hospital the chest pain was getting worse. We dropped off the painkiller prescriptions at the pharmacy drive-through. It hurts to lie down, so Carol wrestled the glider from the living room downstairs to where the TV is. That's pretty comfortable for me. Carol will have to go back to pick up the prescriptions, but I had some big ibuprofens left over from when I got my dental implant so I took one of those. That made a big difference within about 20 minutes. The doctor tells me the pain is going to be a lot worse tonight and tomorrow and then start to improve, but at the moment I'm having a little pain holiday.

The firemen took my bike back to their station since we didn't have an easy way to carry it without the bike rack on the car. We have to go retrieve it later. I'll have to have it checked out thoroughly by a shop for damage. All I remember is the handlebars are cocked sideways and there is a scrape in the bar tape near the left brake hood.

By the way, I may have been the cause of my own accident. For years, there has been a "temporary" traffic sign post in a 55-gallon drum full of dirt that was positioned very close to the wheelchair ramp I was crossing when I crashed. It was annoying because one had to slow down to avoid it before riding off the sidewalk, and sometimes people would throw road debris in it (like pieces of lumber) that would stick out over the bike path. There hasn't been a sign on the post for ages - just an empty post in a barrel. A month or so ago I stopped on the way home and moved the barrel off into the weeds on the other side of the path. That cleared the way for a faster approach to the sidewalk/street transition. Perhaps I reaped what I sowed today. I'll be taking that transition with a lot more caution in the future. Unfortunately, it sounds like I'm going to be off my bike for a week or two. The doc says this chest injury can take a month or more to feel normal.

At the hospital, Carol noticed some black spots on my fingers. They were little embedded particles of asphalt (the place I crashed was repaved about two months ago). Inspired by having just seen Iron Man, I guess, Carol asked if any superheros were associated with asphalt. We decided I would be Asphalt Man. My superpower is my rough skin - I rub the villains vigorously and give them road rash.

I've been riding a road bike seriously for 10 years now, and commuting year-around for two and a half years. This is only my third spill (one was caused by a car). That doesn't seem like too bad of an average to me.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Birch Bay Vacation


My parents have had time share vacation memberships for years. Last year we shared a week at Lake Chelan with them, where we go with the girls for the first half of the week, then they come and take the girls for the rest of the week and Carol and I can have a little break. This year they reserved a unit in a brand new facility at Birch Bay on the Washington coast very close to the Canadian border.

Carol and I and the girls drove up Thursday morning. The weather was great on Thursday and Friday. We had fun walking on the beach. Audrey kept asking to go to a playground, so we asked around and were referred to the Million Smiles Playground in nearby Lynden. We headed over there and were well rewarded. The playground was built in 2007 and is the best playground I have ever seen. The girls thought so, too.

Charlotte loves any playground that has "baby swings". She'll swing on a regular swing, but she prefers the security of the "bucket" seat.

The playground had a lot more for Audrey. It had monkey bars and rings that were the perfect height for her - when she was hanging her feet were only a few inches off the ground. That made all the difference and Audrey mastered several new skills at the park. She went hand over hand on both the monkey bars and the rings for the first time. She was very proud and would ask anyone she encountered to watch her perform her new tricks. She also went down a fireman's pole for the first time and loved it.

Her favorite part was a high tower with a sort of clubhouse on the top (with crooked windows). Inside the tower was a long spiral tube slide. And to get to the slide there are winding narrow steps inside the tower that are maze-like. The slide is pitch black most of the way. Audrey loved it. She must have gone up that tower and down that slide at least a hundred times in our three visits to the playground.

We also had a good time at Birch Bay State Park about a mile from our condo. There were a couple of large driftwood trees with root systems that the girls had a blast climbing on.

On Sunday afternoon my parents arrived and we were all there that night. Carol and I had an adventurous night with Charlotte being a little sick and both girls being disoriented when they woke up in the night and came across musical beds (my parents were in what had been Carol and my room, we were on the sofa bed). We didn't get much sleep but we had to laugh about the ridiculousness of it all.

Monday Carol and I packed up and left the girls with their grandparents. Aunt Betsy (my sister Elizabeth) was also going to join them Monday night. Carol and I headed for Vancouver, BC for the day. We hadn't been there in years, and we are friends with a couple who moved there from Seattle a few years ago so we wanted to visit them. We had a nice day sightseeing and then met Matt at his coffee shop for a couple of hours. The border crossing was uncomplicated and quick both directions which was a bonus. Before border security was increased one used to be able to drive into Canada and back with no hassle at all, but these days there is almost always a long wait at least coming back. We were lucky. And we had very little traffic all the way back to Seattle, where we stayed up until 2:00 AM watching the Olympics.

I had one more day of vacation scheduled today. I worked in the back yard preparing for the alley fence. Carol got a bunch of work done for the pre-school. It was so easy getting projects done when it was just us! Then at 4:00 we went to see Iron Man at the local cheap second-run movie house we can walk to from home. And now more Olympics. A very nice last day of a very enjoyable vacation. Back to work tomorrow, so I'd better not stay up until 2:00 AM tonight.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

August Already?


I know it's a cliche, but how the hell did it get to be mid-August already? Time just flies by these days. Someone once told me that time seems to pass faster as you get older because a year is a smaller percentage of one's life each year. Sounds like a good theory.

Oh well, at least we're having fun. The girls have been enjoying their new swing set and lawn. Audrey is the somersault queen, and Charlotte likes to run in the grass.

Some of the photos in this album were taken at the bike races at the Marymoor Park velodrome. We and several cycling friends met there on a Friday night for a picnic dinner. It was pretty fun. The kids watched the races for about 1 minute but enjoyed running around on the grass slopes on the back side of the banked turns.

While I was riding RAMROD, Carol brought the girls to Mt. Rainier and tried to find me as a surprise. That didn't happen, but she had a great time showing the girls the National Park and especially Cougar Rock campground where Carol had much childhood fun.

Audrey recently learned how to climb the metal whale tail at Whale Tail Park near our house. She saw some bigger kids doing it and figured it out. She's very proud. Charlotte has been doing some climbing of her own on the tots climbing wall at the same park.

Oh, Carol also had a little vacation. She flew to Fort Collins to visit her best friend Kim. The trip was planned around The Police and Elvis Costello concert at Red Rocks, which they both enjoyed greatly. I had lots of support from my parents and sisters caring for the girls so it was a lot easier than I expected being home "alone" with the girls. Carol definitely deserved the break. I ended up taking one days off and spending the whole day with the girls which increased my already huge respect for the difficulty of Carol's job. The girls did great, too, but they were ready for Mom to come home.

Friday, August 1, 2008

RAMROD 2008

Today was the 2008 edition of RAMROD: Ride Around Mt. Rainier in One Day. This is my third time riding RAMROD, having also ridden it in 2003 and 2005.

I wasn't sure how RAMROD would feel this year. I've gotten in plenty of miles by completing my now standard spring and early summer long rides (Inland Empire Century, 7 Hills of Kirkland, Flying Wheels, Tour de Blast and of course STP) plus a pretty good smattering of club rides. One thing I didn't do this year, however, was any special hill training. RAMROD has two huge climbs of 18 miles and 10 miles that supply the majority of the 10,000' of climbing along the entire 154-mile route. I had no idea how those climbs were going to feel, but I was expecting them to be a struggle.

We left Enumclaw at 6:33 AM with a group of 10. Most were Eastgate Cycling Club riders plus a few friends. The Eastgate riders were among the strongest climbers in the club. We had a very nice paceline going for the first 32 miles to Eatonville. I rode ahead since there is a small climb out of Eatonville and I knew I'd get dropped. That plan worked well since the group caught me exactly at the top of the climb. We then got together again for the ride into Elbe and on toward Ashford just before entering Mt. Rainier National Park.

The section between Elbe and the park entrance is 14 miles long and slightly uphill the entire way. We were doing a hell of a pace, with the stronger riders pulling at 21-22mph. I was starting to have trouble hanging on even in the draft, and the section ends at the base of the biggest climb of the ride. I had no interest in arriving at the base of the climb exhausted, so about 6 miles from the end I said goodbye to the group and left the paceline. I knew all along I'd get dropped like a rock when we got to the big climbs, so my goal was to stay with the group until the park entrance. I essentially made it to that goal.

A couple of miles before the food stop at the park entrance I came across club member Gary, who had come to the same “too fast” conclusion a few miles later than I had.

We got to the food stop at mile 59 right as the rest of our group was leaving. The stop wasn't very well organized this year and had a huge line. The main gang decided to skip it. Not me. I was hungry and couldn't afford to bypass a main feeding stop, especially with a 2-hour climb about to begin.

Once fed Gary and I took off together for the park. Now was the true test. It's pretty easy for the first few miles to Longmire. Then it starts to kick up. Surprisingly, I felt pretty good. The slope is not too steep, about 5 or 6%. I was able to get into a very steady rhythm and climbed at 9-11mph for the entire climb. Gary was locked in right next to me, and we had a great conversation which made the climb go faster. Before we knew it the two hours had passed and we were at the top. The climb was a little shorter this year than normal because of construction at Paradise – the route turned off a few miles below Paradise on the Ohanapecosh Road.

Ah, now the first big descent, about 10 miles of sweet downhill with some nice sweeping corners. It can also be dangerous because areas of sun and shade can hide obstacles like rocks that have fallen off the roadside cliffs. But we didn't encounter any of those this year and were soon at the next food stop at mile 88.

After a 4-mile climb up Backbone Ridge there's another big descent down Stevens Canyon to the Ohanapecosh park gate. Then a left turn onto Highway 123 and the dreaded 10-mile climb to Cayuse Pass. It's dreaded because you've already ridden 100 miles by the time you get to the base of it. Also you get there in mid-afternoon so it can be bloody hot, and the climb is the steepest of the route at 8% or so. It feels endless. And monotonous. At least this year the monotony was broken up by sections of gravel roadway. The road washed out in a huge storm in 2006 that did major damage to the park. The highway was closed for months afterward and they are still repairing it. But like the Paradise climb, Cayuse felt a lot easier then the previous times I've ridden RAMROD. Slower though because of the steeper grade – we did about 7-8mph most of the way.

From the summit of Cayuse Pass at 4694' it's a fun 8-mile descent. The road used to be poor, but it has been repaved since last time I rode it and was fantastic today. 36-38 mph all the way down. And at the bottom is the turnoff to the last food stop at mile 118. The hardest work was over! At the food stop we caught up with Brian, another Eastgate rider and decided to team up for the remainder of the ride.

Even though the climbing was all done, there were still 35 miles to go before we were done. And the legendary headwind was present the whole way. We were all tired and we were stiff after the food stop. I thought we might go fairly slowly. But Brian immediately cranked it up to 23mph. It's slightly downhill the whole way back to Enumclaw, but with the headwind it can still be work. But the three of us had a wonderful paceline going and we made pretty quick work of the 35 miles. Only 1.5 hours. Toward the end the route goes down a sweet technical descent through a forest for a couple of miles and then spills out into farmland for the last 4 miles or so. We were all pretty done, but we managed to hook onto a tandem and drafted them the rest of the way to the finish.

Even this morning I wasn't sure if I would complete the ride. But it turned out I felt far more comfortable on the whole ride than I have before. This is the first time I've done RAMROD since I started bike commuting to work regularly (in December 2005). It's also the first time since discovering the benefit of lots of early-season miles. And I also did some serious carbo loading both Tuesday and Wednesday nights with huge plates of spaghetti. One or more of those factors contributed to a much easier ride. I still can't say I “enjoyed” RAMROD, but I survived it so much better than before that I'm quite satisfied. And like after STP, I feel pretty normal tonight other than leg fatigue when I walk down stairs.

IN 2003 with a motley crew and a lot of waiting, we had 13:30 elapsed time and roughly 9:30 rolling time.

In 2005 I rode it (solo) in 12:45 elapsed time and 9:45 riding time for a 15.8mph average speed.

This year I had an elapsed time of 10:30, riding time of 8:45 and average riding speed of 17.02mph.

13:30, 12:45, 10:30. There's a trend! If I keep riding RAMROD eventually it won't take me any time at all!

By the way: those faster riders in my club? They did the Paradise climb at 12-14mph and finished the whole ride with an elapsed time of 9:00. I'm very glad I didn't try to keep up with that.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

The Grass is Greener on Our Side of the Fence


I thought I posted about this last week - it's the most exciting news we've had all summer! We have grass!

As I mentioned previously, we hired landscapers to do the last stage of the back yard: leveling, putting in topsoil and installing sod. They did that on on July 10 and did a great job. We've been watering religiously and staying off the grass to let the roots get established. Another week and we should be able to enjoy it.

The girls have been very patient. They've been able to lie on the grass a little. Soon they'll be able to play on it all they want.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Favorite Charlotte Quotations

As I've mentioned before Charlotte took her time deciding to talk but now that she has she has a lot to say. I thought I'd report some of her/our favorite utterances.

Charlotte is quite the homebody. If we're gone from the house for very long, she'll start saying "I want to go home," eventually with "Now!" appended. Once we're on the way home and we tell her so, she'll say "It's taking a long time".

Sometimes we can't understand her and she gets very frustrated. When she says she wants to go to the playground, it sounds to both Carol and me like she's saying "ping pong." We don't get a very positive response when we try to confirm, "you want to play ping pong?"

Tonight when I got home from work Carol was busy making dinner and Charlotte was trying to tell Carol something about her doll. I asked Charlotte if she could tell me about her doll. She sort of scowled at me, wagged her finger and said quite clearly, "I'm not talking to you Daddy, I'm talking to Mommy." Alright then.

Unrelated to Charlotte's speech but fun nonetheless: tonight Carol had a preschool meeting so I did the bedtime ritual for both girls (usually Carol and I trade off girls each night). After their bath they were eating bananas and a danceable Macy Gray song came on and both girls started moving to it. I started dancing for them, and soon we had a conga line going around the kitchen island with them following me. I'd wiggle my butt or do funny dancing walks and they would imitate me and giggle hysterically. We had to play the song twice we were having so much fun. That's the kind of moment I try to burn into my memory.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

STP: Seattle to Portland 2008

Yesterday was STP 2008. This was my fourth year in a row completing the 200-mile ride in one day with friends from the Eastgate Cycling Club.

I didn't bring a camera this year, so there are no photos.

We have been under 10 hours riding time the last two years for an average speed over 20mph, but we have tended to take long breaks and had an elapsed time last year of almost 14 hours. This year I suggested a goal of 12 hours elapsed time; then the rest of the gang upped the ante and decide to aim for 11 hours.

We left Seattle at about 5:40 AM with 10 riders. We didn't start at the official start. It's too chaotic and all of us live toward Portland from the start. Three of us started from our homes in Seattle proper and the rest met on Mercer Island and started from there. We met about 5 miles into the official route (which is 8 miles from my house, so I'd get an extra 3 miles for the day).

We skipped the first rest stop at the 24 miles point and steamed onward. Our first stop was at the second official food stop in Spanaway at 53 miles. We set ourselves a limit of 10 minutes, and I think we were back on the road in 15. We got a little race going with our neighboring Lakemont club on Highway 507 between Spanaway and Roy, but we finally got that sorted out.

Between Rainier and Tenino the course follows a bike path for about 14 miles. In this section I unintentionally got ahead of the group, but hooked up with Ernie, a member who wasn't riding the club group. We in turn hooked up with an anonymous rider from the Habitat for Humanity group. Ernie and the other guy were big and strong and I felt like the weakling of the bunch. Ernie and Mr. Habitat was doing long pulls at 24-25mph, but when I came to the front into a moderate headwind I could barely hold 22, and not for very long. I should have been eating but I knew there was a food stop coming up at Tenino so I didn't. I had forgotten how low that section is. But I survived.

In Tenino at mile 86 I hooked back up with the group and we stayed pretty much together into the halfway point at Centralia. I had ridden 103 miles in 4:51, breaking the record for the fastest century I have ever done. I stuffed down a peanut butter sandwich, a bunch of fruit, a bunch of fluid and we were on our way again. I think we were there about 20 minutes.

I was still feeling pretty good. I had some moments when my legs felt tired, but then before I knew it I'd be pulling strongly. The second biggest hill of the course, at Napavine at 110 miles, felt pretty easy.

At the Winlock mini-stop (an "unofficial" stop presented by local community organizations to to raise money) I held with tradition and ate a hot dog (well, half) and downed a Pepsi. I also soaked my head in the cold water faucet. Temps were getting up there - they would reach 93 by afternoon.

From there it was a mad dash to the Lexington Park food stop at mile 144. We again tried to get in and out quickly. I think we may have been there 15 minutes.

Like the Napavine hill, the Lewis and Clark bridge from Washington into Oregon over the Columbia River didn't feel as difficult as it has in the past. Our group had it's only flat tire of the day a couple of miles before the bridge and I took the opportunity to eat and drink.

The next section is the least favorite of a few of us: from the bridge at mile 150 to the last food stop at mile 174. It's boring highway that follows the Columbia River but with no view, and it has some rollers that start to get painful with 160 miles in your legs. Our fastest five guys rode off into the distance. Four of us switched into survival mode and made a nice little constant-rotation paceline and kept up 21-22mph. When I suggested that we stop at an upcoming convenience store even though it was only 5 miles to the food stop, I found unanimous agreement. It was getting really hot and we were starting to hurt.

At the convenience store I drank an entire liter of Coke and ate a bunch of cashews. I didn't intend to drink the whole thing and was amazed that I did. I also filled a water bottle with ice and Coke and it was heaven on the road. And while were there we collected Brian who had been riding just behind us.

Then we powered on to the last stop. The fast five had already left. We took a brief break and then managed to get back on our bikes for the final push.

At about mile 190 I was mentally done. Toward the end I always start staring at my odometer and it seems to take forever. It's kind of strange, because my body, while tired, still feels fine. No cramps or serious pain or breathing problems, etc. Just mental fatigue.

But before you know it we're doing the last little steep 1-block climb entering Portland proper, the crossing the river and then we're in the cheering gauntlet at the finish. We came in at just about exactly 5:00pm. I did 207 miles in 9:59 for an average riding speed of 20.7mph and elasped time of 11:15 from our meeting place. Very satisfying.

I felt fine coming across the line, but after a few minutes lying on the grass I felt horrible. No specific symptom, just fairly serious overall discomfort. It was probably a touch of heatstroke, although, my pulse was 65 and strong. I didn't even feel good enough to get in some fluids, which is probably what I needed most. But I sat on a bench for 5 minutes and then laid down for 5 more and started to feel better. Carol was there and we finally got up and headed to our hotel across the street. As soon as I walked into the air conditioned lobby I felt much better.

We usually have a group dinner but this year people kind of scattered to the winds. Carol and I went and chilled (literally) for a while and then had our traditional post-ride meal at Red Robin. That Royal burger, with bacon and a fried egg on it, really hit the spot, along with the big chocolate milkshake. Then it was back to the room for a Law & Order marathon until I passed out around 10:00.

My only real post-ride physical problem was sore feet. I think my cycling shoes are about worn out. But I always have foot cramps after really long rides. While watching TV, though, I drank two liters of electrolyte drink plus more plain water. I think that did me a world of good. My feet stopped cramping and I slept well and didn't wake up thirsty in the night. And this morning I felt quite good. I remember last year I felt uncomfortable in the car on the 3-hour drive back to Seattle, but today I felt pretty much normal. The foot pain was all gone by midday and this evening I can't even tell I did STP yesterday. Oh, except for the saddle sores. I've give those a break from bike commuting and take the bus to work for the next few days.

At about mile 155 or so I was talking to a fellow rider and he commented that I looked relaxed. It made me realize that I was much more relaxed this year. I remember the first time I did this ride I was tense the entire ride wondering if I could keep up. But now I know I can keep up, and I know how to manage my energy intake and output for 200 miles. That was a nice development.

Next up: RAMROD in three weeks. Only 154 miles, but 10,000 feet of climbing.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Eastgate Cycling Club



Album | Slideshow

Photos courtesy of Laura Spencer

Back in October I wrote about a gift we gave to Scott "Scottie" Sensenbrenner, the leader of the club I ride with on Saturdays. I mentioned that although Scottie has been leading this informal group for 20 years the group had never chosen a name or been able to decide on team jerseys.

Scottie took the bull by the horns this Spring and picked a name and came up with a jersey and shorts design. The Eastgate Cycling Club sprang into existence! About 32 people ordered clothing out of the 65 or so who are on the club mailing list.

It's great to be able to identify club members while out on the road. Although I got used to identifying individuals by their regular clothing - now I have to actually remember faces or bikes (I'm horrible at recognizing people).

Someday we'll have a club web site, too. Then we'll really be official.

Looks like we have a pretty good (and fast!) contingent for Seattle-to-Portland on July 12. I'm going to be hanging on for dear life for 200 miles.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Seeing Myself in My Kids

I was a bit of a hellion when I was a boy. When my mother sees Audrey displaying hyperactive traits, she jokes that I got what I deserved. But seriously, one of the fascinating parts of parenting is seeing parts of yourself in your children.

I have always had a weird habit: I like to interleave textiles between my fingers. Usually it's a blanket when I'm lying in bed or on the sofa. I'll do it compulsively and often subconsciously. It can be annoying to a companion, because I have to keep finding new cool sections of the blanket. When you have the right blanket and you interleave it between your fingers, you get a minute or so of a pleasant cool sensation.

The best blankets for this purpose have a high cotton content because it seems to feel cooler on the skin than other fabrics. My grandmother had a green blanket that was perfect (and besides, it had that "grandma's house" smell). My parents also had a white blanket with blue flowers that worked great. At some point I came into possession of that white blanket and I had it until a few years ago when it finally became so threadbare and torn I had to throw it away.

Audrey has exactly the same habit. She started it very young with the terry cloth tail of "Vegas", her lovey/transitional object that she's gone to sleep with almost every night since she was about three months old. But she also does it with blankets.

She also likes a cool pillow (that's probably pretty common). If she's having trouble getting to sleep sometimes I sit with her to calm her down. We'll get to where I think she's asleep, but then she'll bolt up, grab her pillow and turn it over before flopping back down. She wants the cool side. A few times lately, as a treat, Carol and I have put Vegas in the freezer an hour before bed time. When we hand the cooled Vegas to Audrey in bed she beams at us with joy.

Charlotte also inherited a little of my restlessness. When she gets in bed, she has to flop around from position to position for at least a half an hour or so. She just can't find a position to her liking. I often do the same thing when trying to get to sleep. Although I have it down to a routine these days: position #1 is spooning with Carol (but I overheat in about two minutes); position #2 is rolled over on my other side; and position #3 is on my stomach with a pillow lengthwise under half my body from shoulder to hip. That usually does it for me. Hopefully, Charlotte will figure out her own routine soon enough.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Sprinkler Fun


Until about two weeks ago, temperatures in Seattle have been below normal for all of 2008. Being a native I don't really notice or care but the immigrants have been whining and whining.

Regardless, summer arrived with a bang last week. Saturday it was in the high 80's and Sunday in the 90's. This week it's cooler than that but still very pleasant summer weather.

Sunday we dealt with the heat by sticking close to home and letting the kids spend a lot of time in the kiddie pool. We had to put it on the front yard since the back yard is all dirt right now (until July 9th when we get instant grass!). The street in front of our house can get a little busy, but on video it sounds like surf!

This evening it was too late to put out the pool but the girls needed to cool off. So we put the sprinkler out and they had a great time.





I figured out why the swing set video I posted last week is so crappy. I just switched from Google Video to YouTube and the YouTube default is to format video for "mobile". Selecting a better output format makes all the difference. Enjoy.

If you don't see an embedded player above, click here to see the movie.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

The Puzzle Studio

I thought I built a studio for Carol so she could do art projects. But it turns out it's also useful for other relaxing pursuits.




Carol loves jigsaw puzzles. The other night, she decided the studio was the perfect place for it. She can have peace and quiet except for her favorite music playing, and she can leave a partially completed puzzle there and it does not get molested by children.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Conversations With a 4-year-old - Part 1

Remember Ken Jennings, the guy who won 74 rounds on Jeopardy!? I've been reading his blog for a couple of years now and always enjoy it. He happens to have kids the same age as ours. One of the occasional features on his blog is "Conversations with a 4-year-old". I'm blatantly stealing the concept (and the title!).

Last night Audrey wanted me to read her first bedtime story on a stuffed animal/chair that is in the shape of a giraffe. After the story, she showed me that she could stick her fingers in the giraffe's nostrils. I asked if she was picking the giraffe's nose. She said, "No, he's just a stuffed animal. He's filled with stuffing."

I asked, "What are you filled with?"

She assumed that sheesh-what-a-dumb-question tone and said, "Meat!"

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Swing Set Fun

Here's a video of the girls enjoying their new swing set for the first time. The video quality is pretty poor but the audio is good and you can here Audrey and Charlotte's excellent commentary.



If you can't see the embedded video player, you can view the video here.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Back Yard: Phase 3


We're making great progress on the back yard. Tuesday I decided to take Wednesday off so I could be home to receive the cedar chips for under the swing set/play structure.

If I'm going to use up a vacation day, I better make it worth it. So I put in another marathon 13-hour day and got a huge amount done.

I had started cutting the lumber for the swing set on Sunday morning before heading off to Father's Day activities with my parents and sisters. Monday and Tuesday after work I spent several hours assembling the structure with a little help from my next door neighbor Jeff.

Wednesday the first order of business was to finish the swing set before the cedar chips arrived. The chips were supposed to arrive between noon and 5 and I completed the assembly right at noon.

The delivery arrived at 1:30. 13 yards of cedar chips makes for a very large pile! I could have spent a little more and had it blown in, putting the chips exactly where I wanted them. But there wasn't a blower truck available until the weekend. So it was me and a wheelbarrow. At least the chips are a lot lighter then the dirt I've been shoveling throughout the project.

It took me about 1 1/2 hours to distribute the chip and even them out. I had run out of landscape fabric in the corner of the play area so I couldn't spread the whole pile. But I installed the swings. Carol and the girls were in Richland visiting Carol's parents (and having a wonderful time) since Friday but were expected home about 5:00. I wanted the swings to be ready for the girls when the arrived.

Once I got all that done, at about 3:00, I went to Home Depot and rented a rototiller to till the areas where we'll install sod: about 1300 square feet. My first discovery? Rototilling is damn hard work. After a while, though, I figured out some better adjustments for handle height and "tail" depth and how to stop fighting the machine. But I was still quite exhausted when I completed the task after 5 hours (8:30pm).

Meanwhile, the family arrived home at about 5:30. The girls were very excited about their new play area. They both spent a long time on the swings. Audrey just recently learned how to pump herself on a swing, and she perfected it while in Richland. So she hopped on and took off on her own, immediately swinging as high as her swing will go. Charlotte wants a "baby swing", but she was happy to use the regular swing today and complained whenever either Carol or I wasn't pushing her.

Eventually Carol coaxed Charlotte into the house, but Audrey stayed out on the swing set for more than an hour. She kept trying out all the parts: the swing, the platform (Audrey calls it "the balcony"), the cargo net. As soon as we spread the rest of the pile of chips I can install the slide, which is the part Audrey is most excited about.

So it was a very long day of work, but I made huge progress. Just a couple of hours of leveling and raking and we'll be ready for sod! Once the sod is in I'm taking a few weeks off from landscaping.

P.S. This morning after breakfast the girls decided they wanted to go out and swing. It was about 60 degrees out - not too bad. Audrey got her self all bundled up with hat and scarf and I got Charlotte in a fleece. After a little while of pushing Charlotte I came in the house for breakfast and they had fun by themselves. Audrey even pushed Charlotte for a little while.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Scared Bot version 1.0


For a couple of years I've had the Lego Mindstorms NXT robot kit on my wish list. With gifts received for my recent birthday, I had enough funds to finally buy the thing.

I wanted it for my own tinkering projects. But lately I've also wanted it as an aspect of raising "geeklets". I'm going to do everything I can to expose my two girls to science, technology, math and engineering-related material. I don't want them to grow up with our society's stereotype that girls "aren't good at that."

They will make up their own minds whether those are fields they want to explore further, but my job is to make the opportunity available to them. I got this tinkering proclivity from my own engineer father, who loves to take things apart to see if he can fix them himself and who approaches every project with an "I can figure that out" attitude.

Another reason is that Audrey has repeatedly expressed a fear of robots. We're not sure where it came from. I've explained to her that robots are just machines that can only do what we tell them to do. Now I can demonstrate that to her.

I figured an appropriate first project was to make a robot that was afraid of Audrey! Thus the first project is named Scared Bot. It cruises around happily, until it "sees" something less than 10 inches in front of itself (via its ultrasonic sensor). When that happens, it jumps back in surprise. Here's a little movie.

As you can see, it was a big hit with Audrey.

I plan to post videos of all the robots we make together in the future.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Back Yard: Phase 2


We're making good progress on the back yard. Last week we finally decided what material we would use for the garden planter and the play area retaining walls. We would have loved to use real stacked stone, but that turned out to be way out of our budget. We considered the modern equivalent of railroad ties, but for about the same cost we decided to go with concrete blocks made to look sort of like stone. I ordered the stone Tuesday and the four pallets were delivered on schedule on Friday. The delivery guy was kind enough to place them right where we wanted them, even though it meant four trips around the block on his forklift.

I started to feel like I was getting a cold Thursday night and had a cough starting on Friday. But I ignored it and got to work Saturday morning. My dad was kind enough to come over and lend me his wall-building experience. I had dug trenches and filled them with crushed rock as a footing, but I wasn't sure how to do the final prep to make sure the wall came out level and straight. Dad was a big help. He and I got the first couple of course of the garden wall laid and Dad was able to take off. I finished that wall about 3:00.

That was just about the time Carol was able to come and help, since Charlotte was down for a nap. I was starting to feel lousy, but she was excited to continue, so we kept working and finished the second wall about 7:00.

It was great to have the walls complete, but a full day of manual labor was apparently not the ideal treatment for my oncoming virus. I showered and collapsed on the sofa.

I didn't get off the sofa, essentially, until Tuesday. I had some kind of flu or very bad cold. The worst chest congestion I can ever remember having with labored breathing and a serious rattle and wheeze. Plus a crushing headache for most of Sunday. It sucked.

But we're getting closer. The next task is to distribute as much of the new dirt pile back into the planter and play area as we can. Then figure out how to get rid of the rest of it. After that we can rototill the area that will be grass and start raking and leveling it. Then we can install sod and the major work will be done. Still hoping to get there in the next few weeks.

Friday Night Pizza - May '08


Our favorite pizza placed moved a few doors down the block to a larger space. It's now in a space where many restaurants have failed, but Pegasus has a loyal following, so hopefully the jinx won't apply to them. We've been there twice now since the move and we can report that the pizza is still just as delicious.

These Friday evenings are some of Carol and my favorite times. The kids enjoy the food and behave themselves well (actually, they pretty much always behave well). And we all enjoy the walks along the seawall and beach afterward. These are always among the times Carol and I look at each other and express our appreciation of the life we have: wonderful girls, a comfortable home, loving families. Life is good.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Back Yard: Phase 1


When we built the garage two years ago, the schedule got very tight and I was grading and preparing the base for the garage the day before the concrete was poured. I had no time to figure out how to get rid of the dirt I removed for the garage foundation and slab. So I had to pile the dirt in the section of the yard between the house and the garage and the dirt pile (approximately 14 yards - about 20'x10'x4') has been sitting there ever since. Audrey and Charlotte have enjoyed it greatly, but it was a major obstacle between us and a "finished" back yard.

This week the stars finally aligned and Frank and Tricia were able to bring up Frank's tractor with front loader and grading blade. I prepared by demolishing the concrete terraces on the patio (probably built 50 years ago, and very ugly) and moving various stuff that would be in Frank's way.

Another piece that fell into place was that Frank learned that one can rent a "small" dumptruck without a commercial driver's license. I called United Rentals and we were in business.

So Tuesday morning I loaded about two yards of broken concrete by hand and took it to a local concrete recycling facility (they grind it up and use it again as aggregate). Then Frank arrived and the real dirt moving started. It's fairly difficult to find people who want fill dirt in the city of Seattle. Many people want to get rid of dirt. But I found one guy on the other end of town who would take two loads (the truck holds 5 yards). That barely put a dent in the pile and the dirt generated by grading the yard, so I scrambled and found another guy very near our house who took two more loads. Yet another load was all sod, which I had to pay to dispose of at a topsoil company (they compost it and mix it into topsoil).

After all that (and at 8:30pm) we still had a pretty good pile to get rid of. We loaded up the truck and Frank's dump trailer and headed to their house in Puyallup where we dumped the material in their horse pasture. Frank will spread it around later. I got home at 10:20pm, but we had made huge progress. None of us can believe that we removed approximately 35 yards of material.

Carol and I had no plans for this weekend so we dedicated the whole weekend (and the next several weekends) to trying to get the back yard done in one big push. We've been thinking about this project for two years, so we have pretty clear ideas what we want to do.

Yesterday wasn't the most auspicious day to begin. We've had colder than average weather for all of 2008 except for two weeks in February, but suddenly Friday and Saturday we had a heat wave. Saturday it was 90 degrees. Our thermometer, which is in a spot that gets heated by the house, read 108 in the afternoon. But we toiled away digging out the weeds and sod along the edges of the yard where Frank couldn't reach with his scoop. After two fulls days of work we achieved our initial goal: getting rid of everything green except the lilac bush and the birch tree (everything else was weeds or overgrown grass).

Today we staked out the flower beds along the house and garage and the raised beds for vegetables in the north part of the yard (former home of the dirt pile). We still need to stake out the play area, which will get a bunch of bark for a soft landing zone. We will install a play structure with at least swings, plus a playhouse, in that area. The main part of the yard will get new sod. Finally, a fence to close off the back yard from the alley will allow Carol to let the kids play in the yard without worrying about the occasional speeding driver in the alley.

I think if we keep at it (and we don't run out of money) we might be able to finish by mid-June. Stay tuned for updates.