Anthony D. Morrow
ADM
http://www.imadm.com/
Cerritos, CA 90703
USA

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Today's Loathing: Verizon.com and Wal-Mart
Thursday, 28 April 2005
No bike cleaning took place today. The Felt remains hanging in the garage rafters hoping I'll come to its rescue. I promise, I'll do it tomorrow.

I managed to waste away most of today paying bills, balancing the budget, and working on some desing projects. One of the goals I set out on mid-2004 was to try and get my records as paperless as possible. This means keeping electronic copies of stuff (bills, statements, insurance records, etc.) or scanning that which isn't available electronically in the first place, and not keeping paper. Most companies are really good about offering online access and providing the option to access and download or print account info. I usually grab the records online and then save them on my hard drive, and then eventually to CDs or DVDs.

I loathe Verizon.com today because for the past 7 days, at least, I've been trying to get my home and office phone statements online and I keep getting an error message when I click on the "View Bill" link. I've tried several computers and browsers, Mac and PC, and I still get the "Error Code: 0500". Normally I'd bring such an error to the attention of the provider, but it wasn't more than a few weeks ago I was experiencing another problem with Verizon.com online statement access and never got appropriate response. I used their "Contact Us" feedback for to inform them of the problem I was experiencing. In spite of my very detailed problem description, some lame person, barely above the intelligence of an auto-response agent, replied to ask me for more information, most of which was already in my initial communication and the remainder of which was hardly pertinent to solving the problem. I responded to the e-mail, which must have fallen into e-mail limbo, because I never heard back from the person or anyone at Verizon.com again, and the problem didn't get fixed. Perhaps killing all of my access to "View Bill" is how they responded. Hah! Maybe the joke's on me. For this, I loathe you, Verizon.com.

Now on to loathe of the day #2: Wal-Mart. I try to avoid going to or shopping Wal-Mart. I always feel like I need a shower after visiting one and I often feel like a Mensa member walking into at remedial English class. I'm no Einstein but I'm certain I'm jeopordizing my IQ everytime I walk in. Anyhow, I had to do some household shopping today and everything went fine and dandy at my first stop, Albertsons. Much to my surprise, they had 5 out of 6 sale items in stock and they all rung up correctly at the register. I know I shouldn't reward a store for almost meeting my expectations, but usually it's worse, so, snaps for Albertsons! *snap* *snap*. Stop two was Wal-Mart. Even though I avoid it, sometimes it's hard since it's close by and it's easy to get a wide variety of things there and they are well priced. I don't have to go to the hardware store and the craft store and the drug store and the supermarket, I can just go to one building: Wal-Mart. But there's a trade-off. The place is usually a mess. The lines are usually long (but not today, thankfully). And, the "service" is non-existant. I was doing fine there up until I checked out. I only waited in line behind one person, and it was fairly quick, so I was starting to feel guilty about always being down on Wal-Mart. My guilt was spared when the clerk had a problem with one of the coupons I was using (*snaps* for me, coupon-savvy shopper!). Among other things, I purchased a bottle of body lotion and presented a $1 off coupon. The clerk scanned the coupon but then said he couldn't accept it because it wasn't for the right product. I looked at the item, read the coupon, and said, "yes it is." He showed me the printout from the register that said the item didn't match. I said, I realize the computer doesn't think so, but clearly the coupon is intended for use with the item. This is where I think the people at Wal-Mart are lobotomized. He repeated his "doesn't match" phrase and scanned the coupon two more times and handed me two more of the same "doesn't match" printouts. I implored him to use independent judgement and thought to override the clearly wrong computer and process the coupon. No doing. He stared at me, blankly, confused, and probably scared, like a lost puppy. I decided to spare him further trauma, as well as the time of the person behind me, by saying I give up and that I didn't want the item. What good are "Everyday Low Prices" if the toll is your sanity? Wal-Mart, I loathe thee.

Time for bed. G'night. -adm

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Clean Bikes: Two Down, One To Go. It Pays To Train
Wednesday, 27 April 2005
I continued my bike cleaning frenzy by rolling the R6 out of the garage, into the driveway, and onto the rear stand for a good scrubbing. I'm embarrassed to admit the last time I rode her was mid-February in the rain. She's been parked in the garage since, mud cake and all. There have been several times when I wanted to ride but I ended up deciding against because I knew I needed to clean and re-lube the chain. I ended up doing neither until today.

I wasn't just stalling from cleaning the Felt, I really did want to ride the motorcycle today and I figured it would be a better way to get to the bike shop quickly. I intended to pick up a new seatpost for my Trek for this weekend's Devil's Punchbowl Road Race. Unfortunately, the shop didn't have in stock what I wanted. But on the motorcycle, it's never a wasted trip. I sure missed being able to do 140 MPH on the freeway. Life is a lot more interesting at that speed.

I finally went on a ride this afternoon, leaving the house some time around 5:30 PM. I was struggling with motivation all day. I think I might be overtrained. I headed for the hills: Colima, Turnbull, Fullerton Road, East, West, Hacienda, and all that jazz. It ended up being a good ride for the climbing training, but also because I found $20 along the way. I had just come over Colima and was heading to the east side of Turnbull. I had my head down 'cause I was suffering and I passed what looked like paper money on the ground. At first I was going to keep going because I wasn't sure and I was trying to make it a quick trip, but then I thought, what if it is money. I made a u-turn and picked up what was now clearly some U.S. currency. I unfolded it and there was Mr. Jackson staring at me. Sweet! I love being paid to train, even if it worked out to just $8 an hour (2.5 hour ride).

It's late. I'm tired. G'night.

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Dentist Appointment, no cavities! Yesssssss!
Tuesday, 26 April 2005
Unemployment - day 70. I still search for my next job and hope that maybe the right one will find me. It's so nice not to feel like I have to take the next thing that pops up. If you're not already doing it, I highly recommend saving up a war chest of funds for such an occasion. Not having to worry about paying the bills (at least for a few months) makes being unemployed that much easier.

I meant to get to washing my Felt bike today but managed to find enough other things to do to blow it off. I spent most of the morning working on job leads and stuff online, and updating a few of the website I manage, like the CBR site and the Velo Allegro site. I was reading through a cycling publication that reminded me May is National Bike Month and I posted stuff about it, and Bike to Work Week/Day, on the VA site.

Most people aren't into competitive cycling but almost everybody knows how to ride a bike. I sure wish more people would take it up as a serious, alternate form of transportation. With gas being so flippin' expensive, I figure people would be looking everywhere to find a cheaper way. I make every effort to ride my bike for errands, like going to Blockbuster, to the market, to the post office, whatever. The point is, it's exercise, it's cheap, and sometimes it's even faster. Now, go dust off your beach cruiser and go for a spin.

I was supposed to go on a ride with a Velocity teammate before El Do today but I had a dentist appointment that was interfering with the schedule. We called off the ride and I ended up going to Performance before my appointment to load up on some needed goods. I ran it close, but I managed to make it on time to my appointment

My dentist, Dr. Paranal, is a cool dude. I've been going to him for about 10 years. He cycles, too, though he's more a mountain biker than roadie. He was telling me how he's been doing triathlons and finds it really hard to do the swim parts. I agree, swimming is hard. I think it's because I always sink. Anyhow, my regular cleaning and check-up were good. No cavities and a gold star for my brushing and flossing. Yesssss!

I got home with enough time to do my pre-El Do ride after all, but I wasn't feeling it and decided to take a nap on the couch. I fell asleep to the History Channel. An hour later, I got up to get ready for El Do.

El Do seemed calm today. It felt a little slower than usual. I'm hoping it's just my awesome fitness. There weren't any crashes in our group and it was pretty safe throughout. I ended up finishing 10th (unofficially). I probably could have done better in the sprint but unlike a lot of the people out there, I recognize it's just a training race and I'm not willing to risk life and limb to do better. I got my workout and I was done.

As usual, I stopped by mom and dad's on the way home. Mom always has food available and I didn't turn it down this time. It's great having my parents live so close. It's good to see them regularly. My mom said I just missed my brother, who was there earlier. There's no place like home. And then I rode home.

I got to my other home (a.k.a. my house) just in time to watch American Idol with Jule. We're addicted to the show. I'm pulling for Bo at this point, but Constantine or Kerry would be all right, too. I like Scott Savol but I don't think he's gonna make it 'cause he just doesn't have the look. I would like to see Vonzel go, and while he's my namesake, sometimes I think Anthony is the weakest performer. What's funny is we watch all the time and rarely vote. We didn't vote tonight and I don't feel the least bit guilty. In the end, TV is still a spectator sport for me.

Once Idol was done, we settled down to watch Napoleon Dynamite. I'll admit I didn't find it hysterical, but I did love the quirkiness and Napoleon's ever stupid t-shirt wardrobe and so many of the other things. Jule fell asleep and said it was slow, and I agree, but I think the movie isn't just about watching the movie, it's about looking at all the details in the movie. Normally I hate to work that hard to enjoy a movie, but this one was worth it. And Pedro rules. I think I'll hit up Hot Topic later this week to pick up some Napoleon Dynamite clothing of my own.

Morrow, OUT!

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My Blog, Day 2: Washing Bicycles, Killing Time
Monday, 25 April 2005
I used to dread Mondays for going back to work, but now they're one of my favorite days. I make Mondays my rest days, meaning, no cycling or other exercise, and plenty of time to catch up on other tasks. Unfortunately, one of the tasks I had to do today was wash my bicycles.

I love riding my bikes, but washing them just plain sucks. I often ride them until they're filthy, and even then, I usually only wash them to drop the dirt weight or to avoid having any of the parts fail. I never look forward to washing my bikes because it takes a lot of time and effort to do right, and despite not enjoying it, I always want to do it right.

I procrastinated all day. First I worked on catching up on weekend e-mail. Then, I spent some time surfing looking for jobs and sent my resume out to a few places. I even opened a new savings account with EmigrantDirect.com (where I'll earn 3.25% APY). I did this despite already having two ING Direct savings accounts where I earn 3.00% APY. I figure I could use the extra 0.25%. ING is definitely the more well-known of the two, but they both offer about the same thing; savings accounts managed online and with great interest rates. Compare the rates to your usual bank rates and you'll see these guys give you far more for your money. I've already closed two "regular bank" savings accounts (BofA is one of them) and moved the funds to ING. Now, I'm closing the other and moving some of the money to EmigrantDirect.com. Do me this favor: if you decide to open an ING account, let me send you a referral e-mail. You'll get $25 for opening an account and I'll get $10. The only catch is you open the account and earn a better saving account interest rate than you're getting almost anywhere else!

Anyhow, I kept procrastinating. I balanced my checkbook and updated my finances in Quicken. I worked on a few design projects I have outstanding. I read a few BusinessWeek magazines I was behind on. I read the newspaper. I even laid down on the couch to catch the beginning of "Die Hard" and then ended up taking an hour-long nap. Okay, it was planned.

Finally, after I could make no more excuses or delays, I broke out the bucket and suds, a few old socks to use as rags, and the garden hose, and proceeded to clean up my Trek 5200 on the driveway. This isn't the bike I crashed yesterday: that was the Felt F1. I opted to clean and detail the Trek first because it was easily the dirtiest. When I hung it up after my ride on Saturday, I noticed a dead bee stuck to the bottom bracket, under the shifter cable. Poor dude was probably just flying around collecting his share of the beehive nectar, when all of a sudden, WHAM, some darn, really fast, really attractive cyclist smacked him upside the noggin' with his bike. No matter the bees fate, his deathly presence on my bike made me realize it was time to clean the Trek up.

The thing that's so hard about cleaning bicycles is the care you have to take not to blast all the grease out of important parts, and all the nooks and crannies you have to get into to really make it clean. And it's not just about getting it looking clean, it's really about cleaning parts like the derailleurs and chain and cogs and chainrings to be sure the gunk is off and parts move smoothly and freely. And after they're clean, you've gotta lube them all and check everything to be sure it works right. Wash, dry, lube, adjust, test, adjust, done.

An hour and a half later, I had a very nice and clean and working bike. I consumed all the daylight I had cleaning the Trek, so the Felt will have to wait until tomorrow. But it felt good to have one down and in great shape. The part I love most about cleaning my bikes is the way they look and work once I've put all the effort in. It's almost like having a new bike all over again.

Jule got home just as I was wrapping up my cleaning for the day. I took a test ride to Blockbuster to return "Finding Neverland" and I picked up "Napoleon Dynamite." We didn't watch it tonight, but I've heard from plenty of people it's a good movie so we'll get to watching it in a day or two. Instead of watching the DVD, we caught up on our TV watching. We watched the last episode of "The Apprentice" we recorded last week and then went to live TV for "The Bachelor" just after. Is it just me, or do they all suck, both all the Apprentices and all the Bachelor girls?

I forgot to mention yesterday that my gloves didn't make it out of the crash too good. They saved my palms by sacrificing themselves to the grass. I noticed they were a bit torn; probably still good for a few more races, but calling out for retirement. I also woke up with the slightly sore neck I anticipated, and a sore shoulder, and I noticed a distinct red band around the left side of my head representing the lower edge of my helmet, where it must have pressed hard into my melon from the impact.

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Anthony Starts A Blog, Survives Another Race
Sunday, 24 April 2005
We've all heard of the saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." I have a new one. "When life gives you bicycle crash, aim for the grassy knoll."

It was another fine day here in sunny SoCal, only, it didn't start so sunny. Rain clouds crept in overnight and laid a drenching on the land, rather loudly at times, through the morning. I can't say what time it actually stopped because I chose to sleep in until 10AM.

That's rather strange for those of you that know me. I'm usually up early readying for another bike ride. But today is Sunday, and on the seventh day, he races (at least during the season). I had a long night on Saturday watching our niece and nephew, so I rewarded myself and Julienne with extra sleep because my race wouldn't start until 1:45PM.

After we'd finally gotten out of bed and ready, we went to breakfast at Jack's. I've found I race well when I can devour a nice Jack's breakfast ahead of time. And if I don't race well, at least I've eaten well. It's tasty and a bargain: I had hash browns, bacon, egg whites scrambled, english muffins, and coffee. We got out of there for about $12 for the both of us.

Even after three cups of coffee, I was able to get right back into bed when we got home to catch another hour of sleep. I had the luxury of time since I decided I wouldn't ride out to the race like I planned because of the wet ground and potential for more rain. Instead, I figured I'd just load up the car and drive out, saving me about one hour and 15 minutes, but probably costing me $10 in gas. ($2.50 a gallon! Oh my!)

Today's race was the Pro/1/2 category of the "Ride It Like You Stole It" Criterium by CBR. By the time I'd gotten there, the sun was breaking through the clouds and the ground started drying up quickly. The blowing wind helped. As usual, I was running a bit late and scrambled to get my bike and stuff ready. I was on time to the line for the start but failed to get a good warm up.

Of course, since I wasn't warmed up, the race started out fast. Someone must have known. Seasilver and RPM kept attacking, and once in a while La Grange would put a man up too. After about 5 laps I felt much more comfortable and assumed my role of having to be on top of everything since I only had one other teammate in the race.

Many attacks, broken breakaways, and an overall gentle race later, our 75 minutes of racing were up and we headed into the last lap. I found myself a little further back than I wanted so I pressed the pedals and started my progress up the outside of the pack. Around turn two I joined a train of riders making a fast move up on the outside and looking to swamp the Seasilver leadout. It was looking fantastic and I was excited about being able to move along the outside with such speed. We edged into turn three and I was already counting on my top ten finish.

But then, someone to our right lost it.

I heard it was a clipped pedal but it may have been his tire just popped. Whatever the cause, some dude hit the floor in the apex of the right-hand corner and swept out everyone to his left and behind him. That's where I come in. I was far enough away not to be cut under immediately, but there were bodies and bikes flying at me from my right and ahead-right. My only line was into the far curb and my only choice was what I was going to hit when I crashed.

I yanked on the brakes and rubbed out as much speed as I could (turn three is preceded by a downhill and being the last lap, I'm guessing we were already doing about 35 MPH). I quickly, if not instinctively, focused on my landing site and bail-out maneuver and aimed for the lush mound of grass beyond the curb. With the precision of a trapeze artist, I flung myself from the bike just as we came into contact with the curb. I missed the metal post thingy that would have hurt a ton to hit, tucked and rolled, and came to a stop on my back.

I laid still for a moment, waiting for the signs of pain that quickly come after a crash. My head rung a bit because I hit it (yes, I was wearing a helmet) as I rolled from my left shoulder. My neck also felt a bit sore, as did my shoulder. But that was it. I turned over to my stomach to get a better feel. Then I stood up and checked my other functions. I was amazed to find I survived with almost no signs of crashing.

My skinsuit had grass stains and grass on the left shoulder and sleeve. My helmet had a smudge of grass and dirt on the left side. My left leg, along the left calf, was ever-so-slightly scraped. And it wasn't until later at the car that I found I had a half-dollar sized bruise on my left shoulder. But that was it!

How about the bike? Well, as has been my past luck, whenever I make it okay the bike usually takes a beating. But in this case, the bike almost came out as well as me. I haven't checked everything, but on-site inspection revealed a turned-in right brake/shifter lever and a slightly untrue rear wheel. Oh, and a rear tire with a flat spot from skidding.

So, only days after I became re-insured through Jule's work's medical, I came very close to testing how good the new coverage is. Thankfully, the only thing I'll be testing are my mechanical skills tomorrow as I check to make sure the bike really is okay and fix the shifter.

In other news today:

  • I've found sugar-free chocolate pudding, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries to be a fantastic dessert.
  • We watched the movie "Finding Neverland" on DVD and I think it's awesome. It even made me cry (I'm really a softie, y'know).
  • I started this blog. I figured it was about time. I always have something to say and now I can do it, and people can read at their leisure. I hope you've enjoyed.

-ADM

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