Spiderman 3

OK, so I went to the movie at 10am last Sunday (May 6, 2007). It was really pretty good ... the theater was only about 25% full (of course the people that chose to bring their 2 1/2 year old to the movie also chose to sit right in front of me ... fortunately it was easy to find another seat!).

I liked this movie a lot (of course, it's Spiderman) ... but it has more of a "slow" dark side combined with a tremendous amount of action so it keeps you guessing and wondering about events from the prior movies (especially about when Pete's uncle was killed in the first movie). Anyone raised on Marvel comic book heroes will really like this ... and it seems there will soon be another Fantastic Four movie out (according to the previews) ... so I'll probably go see that (or else rent the video).

Overall, though, it's still more fun to go to the movies with somebody rather than going alone ... well, if that changes one of these days, I'll be sure to update it here (like there's more than about 2 people in the world that read this ... ha-ha!).

Had a good workout yesterday (5/7/07) as I made it around in just over 51 minutes (averaging about 16.5 mph). I know that's probably not too fast for those "road bike" guys ... but it's OK for me ... especially given that it was still a bit windy out. That's 12 straight days of bike workouts now ... which might just be a record for me (so ... every day is a new record!).

Took rides on the motorcycle yesterday and today as it was just gorgeous out here in Cedar Rapids. In fact, I was out singing and just did one song (Lost In The Fifties Tonight) before I bugged out to zip around on the bike for awhile before dark.

Well, E (pronounced "A"), the manager at Pei's China Bistro here on the NE side of Cedar Rapids had his last day there last Saturday (May 5) and will be taking management training for 8 weeks as he starts working at Lowe's here in Cedar Rapids. Good fellow ... I'm gonna miss him, but he has my number(s) if he wants to play some golf. Odds are that he'll be transferred out of Cedar Rapids after his training is complete. He's OK with that as his family has quite a bit of allergy problems with ragweed, etc., here in Iowa and another place (Arizona, California maybe) would suit them better from that perspective.

Take care and keep on smilin' ...

Ken

Cadence Counter ... Latest

The cadence counter on my latest (Specialized, Elite) cyclo-computer still misses a count (at a rate of about 2-3 per minute). Not a big deal but still annoying. I've entered an issue at the Specialized website and have been back to the dealer swapping pickup sensors and computers to see if something works. Well, nothing does. My best guess is that they probably have a bad batch of reed switches in the cadence pickups. So Friday I went back in to my Local Bike Shop (Northtowne Cyclery here in Cedar Rapids) and they contacted Specialized. To the company's credit they admitted that the unit was fairly new and that probably not many people actually mounted the cadence counter (it is wired but the speed sensor pickup is wireless and very quick to get going ... so probably most people stop there). Therefore, they said, it is possible that there is a problem but this is the first they've heard of it. So, on the theory that a bad batch of parts went out to some customers, they've got a new unit on its way to me, for which I give them credit. Now if they could only get the wind to die down around here a little ;-) ...

Then yesterday (5/5/07) I went out to the garage to get the bike out for a ride and the rear tire was flat! I quickly mounted the bike on the repair stand, pumped some air in the tire and spun it with my ear up close to see if I could quickly pick up the leak. No joy there and a quick visual examination revealed nothing. Then I thought "well, what if I put on my glasses? Maybe I could see something then." <-- doh. So I did and, about 1/2 way around the wheel I say a *very* tiny little mark on the tire. Sure enough a bit of saliva revealed a slow leak. I removed the wheel and dug out what must be the tiniest piece of glass that could possibly cause a tire leak. Anyway, knowing I had some spare tubes I was not too worried about getting on with my ride. Then I realized that the new wheels are drilled for Presta valves and my (old) spare tubes are Schraeder's (which are wider in diameter). Not wanting to drill out the rims, I decided to make a run to the bike shop to get new tubes and some Armadillo tires (from Specialized). Reviews on the Armadillo indicate that they definitely prevent punctures but there is concern that the sidewalls fray much quicker than should be expected (concern is a blowout at 40mph downhill). But I think I'll give them a try. In the meantime I'll review other options for the next set of tires. It's just a pain to have to repair flats and I don't want to go there very often.

Finally, I notice that the local theaters have morning showings of Spiderman 3 (including 10am today, Sunday). Now that's something I've never done before and, although I don't really like going to movies alone (but what's a guy to do if it's not out on DVD yet and there's no gal even on the horizon for a date?), I think I might go today, just in the spirit of adventure. Hopefully most folks (especially kids) will be in church or something and the theater won't be too crowded.

Keep smilin'

Workouts Progressing ...

The new bike is working just great. The only problem I've had is that the cadence counter actually seems to miss a count or two every 30 seconds or so. So what it looks like is I'm seeing 80 RPM for pedal speed and all the sudden it goes to 38 or 40 and then back to 80. The computer is a Specialized Turbo Elite model and it's mystifying how this can happen. My experience with cadence counters is that they work or they don't (binary operation) and there's no in-between. Anyway, I've send in a question to Specialized on this and if anyone out there reads this and has had a similar problem, please write a comment or email me (see my profile).

Anyway, the TriCross Sport bike has a nice 50/11 upper gear and it's very nice for downhill runs. I've brought my time for my normal workout ride down to 52 minutes and will probably start working up to double the distance over the next few weeks. This bike is much lighter than my old one *and* I may have a buyer for the old bike (although I really care most that it goes to someone who will use it well and treat it right ... even if I give it away). Other than that, all I can say is that I'm (still) getting older ... so that's a plus!

Keep smilin' ...

New Bicycle

Yes, I did buy a new bicycle today. Wanted a little more speed on the road but still do a lot of trail riding so I got a Cyclocross bike ... a Specialized Tri-Cross Sport. It's quite a bit of difference from my Giant cross bike but the gearing is much better for the road (50/11 instead of 43/13) and I expect to be able to do about 10 mph faster on downgrades. This is the bike I will need to have if I ever ride RAGBRAI (probably not this year, btw, but maybe in the next year or two). The other thing I need to do is finish upgrading the photos on my site to Fusion 10's flash format (which should be pretty neat when I get it done) and add some pic's to it (for instance, I need to put some motorcycle and bicycle pictures out there).

Looks like Larry Nelson (not the professional golfer, but somewhat taller) and I will be playing in a 2-person best shot on May 20 ... should be fun. Otherwise, just dancing and singing and taking life as it comes at me.

Smile ... and the whole world smiles with you ...

... later.

Aching Legs Today

Well, it has been quite awhile since I've written here. Anyway, I've started on my spring bicycle workout sessions (earlier this year than I have been for quite awhile) and I've logged just over 200 miles already. But I think I need to work on my pedal crank again (had it overhauled last July) as it seems to have excessive play.

But my legs are aching tonight because I've generally been riding my standard 14.25 mile route ... until today! It was about 75 degrees out and so nice that I decided it would be a good day to ride up to Center Point (round trip=27 miles). Unfortunately, the trail there was pretty muddy in several places (and chewed up by people riding horses on it as well ... what's with that?) and I don't think I carbo loaded quite enough as I was really getting worn out on the way back. Didn't quite hit the wall but I didn't really have any gas left in the tank with about 5 miles to go. Well, I'll stay on the hard surface for awhile longer and up my pace a little so that I'll be better prepared next time.

And I do plan to ride to Waterloo and back this summer (104 miles) ... so I've been reading a book called "Bicycling Fuel" by Richard Rafoth. It's got very good nutrition/training tips for bicyclists and I can tell that I need to get much more serious about water and carb consumption before working on any century type rides. And, although I'm not sure yet that I'd consider it "fun", I may yet take on RAGBRAI (the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) one of these years. A good friend of mine from the past tried to get me to do that several times ... I should've listened to her, I think. Anyway, I may want to say "I've done that" someday and it's something that needs to be a little sooner rather than later, I think (age keeps on coming, I'm told!) ... so we'll see.

Keep smilin' everyone!

March Madness-We Have A Winner

Well, will miracles never cease! I have to share with everyone that I won the Pei's Restaurant NCAA bracket pool for 2007. This is a very rare feat for me. As I shared with my boys recently, the last pool I entered (in 2004) resulted in a $5 award for finishing dead last.

Kudos to Florida! On the down side, of course, is that my son Ryan chose Ohio State to win the finals ... but, as I said earlier, one of us was bound to win something since we had both teams covered. And this time it happens to be me.

On a historical note, several schools have won back-to-back NCAA basketball titles (led by UCLA with 7 in a row back in the 70's or so) but Florida is the first team where the same team (i.e. same lineup/players) won two years in a row. Also interesting is that Florida's football team shellacked Ohio State last fall to win the BCS (and national) championship. I think it's very unlikely that this combination will occur again ... ever. In fact, it's probably much more likely that I'll win an NCAA pool again next year (and so you know how rare this is!).

Well, I might run an online pool next year for Pei's (if they want me to) as I don't like the paper/pencil setup they use. Plus there's so much more data available to look at with the online stuff.

Gotta go ... smile everyone!

Ken

March Madness ... Still

Well, my son Ryan is actually feeling pretty good right now as he had Ohio State picked to win the finals of the NCAA basketball tourney on Monday. Georgetown lost to Ohio State this afternoon (3/31/07). The interesting thing now is that Ryan has Ohio State winning and I have Florida winning (and both are in the finals Monday night). I'll do pretty well (I'll be in the money) if Florida actually wins. We'll see what happens but keep your fingers crossed everyone! And if I lose, Ryan wins so the Therkelsen clan is guaranteed a "win-win" situation.

In other news, I've been slowly converting my old LP's to digital. Picked up a neat little turntable that has a lineout output so I don't have to run a phono output through an amplifier. Then I use CoolEdit 2000 to create clean tracks, LAME (via RazorLame) to convert to MP3 and then Tag&Rename to edit the MP3 data fields (artist, title, track, genre, etc.). It takes me about 2 hours per record but I only have to do it once. Of course, the resulting tracks are not anything like what I get from CD's but it's good to have them saved and I actually kinda like the sounds from the turntable. So it's all good.

Went dancing at Walford for awhile last night and then went out singing at Shellsburg (the bar is Open Throttle) where some old friends of mine do a karaoke show on occasion.

I guess I'd say I'm more of a homebody type than anything else but I try to get out to see friends and fellow singers if it gets too boring around the house (otherwise I might have to clean, vacuum, etc., much more often than what I prefer ).

Some interesting weather springing up today as we had tornado warnings northwest of here and there's a slight possibility of some snow next Wednesday (4/4/07) ... . Well, golf league starts on Tuesday so that snow stuff better stay out of the way! ... ummm ... yeah, right.

Take care and remember to smile at someone you absolutely do not know today ...

Ken