Eric's World

Fortune

2010-04-29T09:50:00.000-06:00

Received this cookie a couple days after I got back from Moab. Hmmm... time for another trip already?

Bike Junkyard

2010-04-28T09:13:00.002-06:00

Finally cleared out the BIG pile of bikes, parts and madmax mutants that had been accumulating behind the house. Don't worry, I couldn't bring myself to check everything and did manage to hang onto a couple of the gems. :)

Parking Lot?

2010-04-27T10:03:00.000-06:00

OK... What's going on here? Only one entrance/exit and it chained. It's also land locked with the only access being from another open parking lot.

World's First 100% Compostable Chip Bag

2010-04-26T17:37:00.000-06:00

Has anybody else tried a bag of these chips yet? I'm pretty sure they are also the world's loudest chip bag. It nuts really... You literally cannot hear somebody talking right next to you if they've got a hand in there.

MAP (Maximum Aerobic Power)

2010-04-25T22:26:00.003-06:00

Decided it was time to do a MAP test this year since I'm finally riding consistently again, but the question is... did I "cheat" by not keeping the ramp rate consistent right until the failure point? Notice I inadvertently spiked the power up in the last 30 seconds when the going got really tough. Last time I did this test was March of '09 and I scored 408... this time 414. Is the 414 inflated or legit though?

(yeah I broke the "always post from my phone" rule on this one)

High Def

2010-04-25T22:18:00.000-06:00

We're now up with the times thanks to the new dish our little guy installed. Good stuff.

2009 Christmas Lights (burned out)

2009-12-06T23:21:00.001-07:00

Here's the sign we stuck outside this year. The lights are so weak they don't even need a photo.

How low can you go?

2009-12-06T23:20:00.001-07:00

Seriously, this thing was prob close to an inch or less from dragging.

Thanksgiving Day

2009-12-06T23:08:00.000-07:00

This was pretty much our agenda for the day thanks to Makenna. Good times.

Wheel bumpers?

2009-11-10T10:51:00.001-07:00

What are these things? Saw them installed on both front wheels of an Acura TSX this morn. Rear wheels were normal.

Yeah, that looks about right...

2009-10-27T09:29:00.000-06:00

Microsoft rocks!

CrankBrothers cleats

2009-10-22T16:37:00.005-06:00

Am I the only one who wears out a set of cleats in just 6 months? Seems like they should last longer. I installed these before our Moab trip this spring and they're a goner now. These are actually the upgraded "premium" cleats too which are made from tougher brass. I do know that these last a lot longer than the standard ones they provide though, something like 1month vs 6months from my experience.

The pedals are still hard to beat... just keep spare cleats in your toolbox for the inevitable replacement when your shoes start slopping around and popping out at inconvenient times!

Facebook Account Unavailable

2009-10-22T13:15:00.003-06:00

Well this is no fun... Can't log in from a computer, blackberry or mobile web. Other accounts I've tried work fine though... what's up? Cool part is I can't get to the company facebook account either since it's linked to mine. Hope they take care of it sooner than later since it's already been 6hrs of broken. :)

Account Unavailable

Your account is temporarily unavailable due to site maintenance. It should be available again within a few hours. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Carving Pumpkins

2009-10-20T11:40:00.000-06:00

Power tools are a must.

Our new rides

2009-10-17T19:56:00.000-06:00

I think Jamie and I should each get one of these.

Giant Nest

2009-10-14T22:51:00.000-06:00

So we found this thing hanging out in our front yard. The question is what the heck is it though. BIL suggested bald face hornets. The hole into that thing could house a small bird though... A bit scary what might be inside, especially since it's so big.

Eagle Island Cyclocross Races

2009-10-04T15:11:00.000-06:00

Great racing this weekend opened up the season in the valley. I had my mechanic thoroughly go over my ride before departure and I'm sure it helped.

VeloNews

2009-10-02T09:19:00.000-06:00

So I've got 5yrs of velonews here... Think its time to trash em or are they worth keeping for some great reason I can't think of?

Cyclocross Time!

2009-10-02T08:09:00.000-06:00

I've been riding the 'cross bike for a couple weeks and just noticed my chainring from last season while prepping things to race on Sat... Whoops, guess I better start paying attention.

Team Reel

2009-10-01T20:26:00.000-06:00

Couple shots from a great club ride we had a few weeks ago.

The Riding Mower / Burner

2009-08-30T23:44:00.003-06:00

Ok, riddle me this. For some reason our mower creates these spots if you stop moving for very long. Two of those spot I completely stopped the engine and restarted... The other I just stopped moving for a few seconds to let the deep grass catch up. What the heck is causing this. There are no obvious leaking fluids... But I haven't actually crawled up under the thing yet either. There are no puddles where it sits parked all week. I'm not sure if its always done it or not, but I always forget until a few days after I mow when the "stop spots" show up. A few more days of watering and they blend their way back in. What the weird? I'm going to do some more tests next mow job if I remember and track down the exact position the dead is created under.

Here's the mower we're talkin 'bout.

Crop Dusted

2009-08-20T19:35:00.000-06:00

Cool sight out on a ride the other evening. Cool until I had to ride thru the cloud of poison anyway...

Dog Walkers

2009-08-19T10:24:00.000-06:00

The best flier that has ever been left on our door.

Bottles

2009-08-18T13:21:00.000-06:00

For some reason every bottle is always dirty when I head out for a ride. Here's the line of them after gathering from around the house and garage... whoops.

Double Rainbow

2009-08-17T12:36:00.001-06:00

Perfect double rainbow spotted on drive down from McCall a few weeks back.

Check out this great post about how rainbows work too.

Disc Brakes

2009-08-15T16:36:00.000-06:00

Wow... Now that's a big brake rotor.

Cambridge, ID

2009-08-10T21:32:00.000-06:00

Camp for the night on Ride Idaho.

Ears!

2009-07-09T17:07:00.000-06:00

He came out of the fam room just repeating "ears" today. Turns out only one earring would stay put and he needed help stuffing his other ear was the prob...

El Tiburon

2009-06-29T17:12:00.000-06:00

This one's for Bean.

Hmmm.....

2009-06-03T14:12:00.000-06:00

So should compressing a Parallels disk image take 4 days? I don't have a good feeling about this... Better not lose my data!

Sprinkler Repairs

2009-05-31T09:13:00.000-06:00

All fixed dad!

The Goonies

2009-05-24T18:54:00.000-06:00

We searched out Goonies Mecca today in Astoria. Found their house, Data's house, the museum and the jail. Jackpot.

Tillamook

2009-05-23T22:16:00.000-06:00

Cheese and planes...

Haystack Rock

2009-05-23T21:39:00.000-06:00

Took a nice walk out to Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach. The sun even came out in full force by the time we made it out there.

Cycling the Oregon Coast

2009-05-22T19:24:00.000-06:00

Had a great ride down hwy 101. Very pretty but I did get a bit wet.

Seaside Beach

2009-05-21T18:21:00.000-06:00

Taking a stroll on the beach...

Secret Park

2009-05-21T14:26:00.000-06:00

I've been to this park twice and am always the only one there. Perfect place for a picnic!

Salmon on the Barby

2009-05-21T11:43:00.000-06:00

It's all about the cedar planks. Only way we've BBQ'd this week and boy is it good.

Astoria Bridge

2009-05-21T10:31:00.000-06:00

Eating a great lunch at the Bridgewater Bistro.

Share the Road

2009-05-20T17:26:00.000-06:00

Idaho needs one of these plates.

Old St. Francis Catholic School

2009-05-16T20:00:00.000-06:00

Rub-a-dub-dub... What a sweet tub.

Pinewood Derby Champ

2009-05-14T21:29:00.001-06:00

#32 was on fire tonight. Beating down all the other old-men in the races after the Cubs Scouts went home. Pretty sure it was mostly the giant flame decal.

Mom

2009-05-10T19:24:00.000-06:00

Happy Mother's Day!

Cinco de Moustashe

2009-05-05T11:39:00.000-06:00

Happy Cinco de Mustache!

New Team Kits

2009-04-22T20:06:00.000-06:00

The club clothing order has arrived. Now to just get it sorted and handed out!

Poor Skip

2009-04-14T21:28:00.000-06:00

Skip had a cancerous mast cell tumor removed from his left flank today. Poor guy...he's hurting in a bad way. We've tried to give him all his favorite treats and he just stares back without even moving. Hopefully the tests at least come back that the cancer was removed, but we won't know until next week. Get better Skip!

No more robomower...

2009-04-14T06:45:00.001-06:00

The robot has officially been replaced thanks to craigslist.

Sand Box Fun

2009-04-13T22:14:00.000-06:00

Reece and James built a new sandbox today and Ammon helped break it in for them.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T22:10:00.000-06:00

Check out the fancy dress and tie Jamie whipped up for Sunday.

Little Freezeout Road

2009-04-04T16:30:00.000-06:00

Saw this out on my ride today and had to stop for a picture.

Locked and loaded

2009-03-28T10:50:00.001-06:00

This is what a trailer full of 30 expensive bikes looks like... Quite the sight really. Homeward bound!

Moab Retreat House

2009-03-28T10:47:00.000-06:00

This place rocks... See you next year!

Broken parts

2009-03-23T13:31:00.000-06:00

First trail today... Slickrock. First break as well... And its a good one! He also shredded the cassette.

Protection

2009-03-21T12:11:00.003-06:00

Picked up some light pads for the mountain bike trip to Moab this year and look who saw me trying them on. Seem to fit him pretty well too... He cruised the house for quite a while showing them off. We may need a little bike soon!

Turbo Training

2009-03-21T12:07:00.000-06:00

With it just barely starting to warm up more I've been trying to but some time in on the bike, just inside. Ammon decided to put in a session of his own the other night too.

Great day for a ride

2009-02-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

Perfect spring time riding today. Great turnout with 11 club members in attendance. We rode across town and did a dump loop up into Hidden Springs and across Cartwright. Mixed it up a little with a couple sprints and attacks even. I've got a long way to go but didn't feel horrible considering it's only Feb. Great ride!

Winter Biking

2009-02-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

Hit the trails early this morn so we could get back home for the big V day. Awesome ride that couldn't have been much more fun. Waking up at 5:30 is horrible but def was worth it today.

Wild Dog

2009-02-13T15:03:00.001-07:00

So when I see the neighbor's dog completely shredding their trampoline fences from my window, is it something I'm obligated to do something about? That thing had netting going all the way around and up to the tops of those polls this morning... now, not so much.

Ski Pass

2009-01-28T10:29:00.001-07:00

Man... McCall's got it all. Look what we found in the paper this morning. Permission from God? It doesn't get better then that.

Make a Wish

2009-01-17T10:27:00.001-07:00

Here's to wishin' she could just dive into the tiramisu cake reese made a little quicker.

Happy Birthday Hunny!

2009-01-16T15:45:00.004-07:00

I attempted to whip up some sushi for Jamie's big day and it probably could even fool some people into thinking I knew what I was doing. Good stuff! We're going to have to do this more often now. Yum.

Rock Band

2009-01-14T15:57:00.000-07:00

We may just have a rock star on our hands.

A Christmas Story

2009-01-13T09:19:00.000-07:00

Reminds me of Ralphie's little brother. Ammon couldn't really move either.

The lights

2009-01-13T09:18:00.000-07:00

These are the kinds of things we find in the box or on the door over the holidays. Oh and the total Foodbank donation ended up at $641.91 and 275lbs of food. Awesome!

Brundage

2009-01-12T19:09:00.001-07:00

Up on the hill after New Years. Conditions were great. Sun was out but temps nice and cold. Snow was still fluffy from the prior storm. Ahh...

We Are the Champions

2008-12-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

The results are in.

The Cupboards

2008-12-27T11:42:00.001-07:00

Ammon has discovered a jackpot of fun only hidden by a small door. The water bottles in there are the ONLY thing he wants to play with now and he remembers exactly how to get them as soon as I bring him downstairs. Looks like I've got to round up some of those dreaded locks now. For some reason I thought we could get by without them.

Snow Ride

2008-12-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

Broke out the trusty steeds yesterday and hit the trails. A bit of some slip and slide action, but tons of fun. Especially the fast downhill sections where we could blast through the big wind drifts with the extra speed and momentum.

Foodbank Dough

2008-12-19T23:31:00.000-07:00

Check out the pile of cash we've pulled in for the Idaho Foodbank so far. It's mostly ones so it looks like an impressive pile in there. Still, it's up to $324.18 as of tonight. Not bad for just sticking a lock box on the porch.

Back to the Future

2008-12-11T14:56:00.004-07:00

What the? Saw this on my way in for lunch.

Test one two...

2008-12-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

This is just a test of my new phone's blagging ability. Sweet sunset from our front yard the other night though. :)

Christmas Lights

2008-12-09T00:11:00.000-07:00

My neighbor added a single string of lights to his house last night. Nice! Ya he's pointing towards my house. :)

Gross

2008-12-08T15:03:00.001-07:00

Jamie got home from work just in time to put Ammon down the other night. I lucked out. (This is her trying to wipe the smile off her face and be sad.)

Snowbird

2008-11-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

chillin at the pool.

Happy Birthday Makenna!

2008-11-26T19:10:00.001-07:00

Check out that fancy tinkerbell cake.

The Star

2008-11-14T08:56:00.001-07:00

Here's the start of the six foot tall star I'm working on for the roof. Also if anybody has a wild hair and wants to help put up some Christmas lights, come over tomorrow anytime. Hopefully I can get the bulk done in one marathon day. We'll see. :-)

Birthday Cards

2008-11-11T13:31:00.001-07:00

Abby & Makenna made me 71 "birthday cards" last week. Thanks!

Winter's coming!

2008-10-29T18:29:00.000-06:00

Thanks for the birthday pres Hauers! Exactly what he needed.

Giant Forklift

2008-10-25T16:21:00.001-06:00

Oh how I love driving heavy machinery. My job on Monday was to unload a full truck of equipment on pallets into one of our theaters. Luckly I didn't even damage anything. I was pretty worried about that railing as the clearance was really tight. :)

The Stick

2008-10-24T19:14:00.000-06:00

Ammon was fired up about the stick he found in our sliding window on Sunday. He carried it around nearly all day, even while he ate. It was whipping around bashing into all sorts of things, including his head once in a while. This went on until I hid it during his nap anyway... I'm a mean dad.

Goodbye Sweet RoboMower - RL1000

2008-10-23T20:01:00.003-06:00

Well, the time has finally come to bid farewell to our friend, since more problems have developed. The mower would start on it's usual edge trim but then detour out into the yard and slow down only to start SMOKING from the underside. After what seems like me trying nearly everything... the RoboMower just refuses to work consistently. So it's time to go. One of the biggest selling points that pushed me over the edge to buy the robot lawn mower in the first place was that I could get it from Costco. With Costco's great return policy, we felt we had the extra insurance in hand to purchase such a unusual item.

So I packed up all the parts and pieces, cleaned everything up pretty, and took it back into the store. It did take some convincing, and I eventually had to speak with the manager of the store as well, but they took it back. I explained all the trouble over the years, the broken parts, the 3 sets of replacement batteries and the recent smoke. I told him how my lawn looked like crap and how I'd been paying the neighbor boy to mow in the robot's stead, etc. He had all sorts of rapid-fire questions, which I'm assuming my responses helped pacify since they slowed and finally halted. In the end he seemed to understand, and actually admitted that he owned one himself too, but it wasn't hooked up yet at his new home! I told him he was going to love it, while it was working anyway.

So now the question is what sort of mower should we buy as a replacement? I'll prob save the cash until spring when the lawn starts to grow again anyway... Costco rocks.

Costco's return policy: We guarantee your satisfaction on every product we sell with a full refund. (Which is always in cash for some reason too.)

Cyclocross at Sandy Point

2008-10-11T21:43:00.000-06:00

Jamie's first 'cross race was a flying success. 2nd place!

Macs just work?

2008-10-10T11:39:00.001-06:00

I'm pretty sure this is the apple equivalant to window's BSOD. First time I've seen it and hope it's not a sign of more to come.

New Cyclocross Bike

2008-10-05T22:17:00.001-06:00

Added one more bike to the garage, but at least this one is Jamie's.

Ultimate vending machine.

2008-09-20T13:22:00.000-06:00

Man, we must live in a cave in Idaho. You can buy ipods and psps right out of vending machines in Texas.

Those people

2008-09-20T13:17:00.000-06:00

Here's what we've become.

Our garden

2008-09-20T13:12:00.001-06:00

Mutant carrots from our yard. Yum

The wash

2008-09-06T23:17:00.001-06:00

Helping Nana with the laundry.

Hiking with your eyes closed.

2008-09-04T13:57:00.000-06:00

This does take skill. Don't try at home.

New speed record.

2008-09-04T13:56:00.000-06:00

Hit my new top speed of 58.4 on Ride Idaho a few weeks ago. My bike actually felt surprisingly stable even with some small wind gusts. Fun stuff.

Hiking

2008-09-04T13:55:00.000-06:00

Found a new hiking partner to help me get ready to climb Mt. Borah next week.

Twilight Criterium

2008-09-04T13:51:00.002-06:00

So it turns out that 8th place actually wins money as look what showed up in the mail. Score!

Dinner Time

2008-09-03T19:24:00.000-06:00

Here's our auto floor sweeper standing guard. He's almost as good as a roomba.

1980 Yamaha XJ650 Maxim

2008-09-02T12:36:00.003-06:00

Added one more "bike" to the quiver. Still deciding if the tassels and sissy bar will stay though.

New Boots

2008-08-04T09:54:00.000-06:00

I've been needing some new boots for a while and finally decided it was time. Narrowed my choices down for days but still couldn't quite decide. REI only had one choice in my size, so I ordered them all and will just take the others back. So far the Asolo 520 is winning the try outs.

Anniversary Picnic

2008-07-29T18:45:00.003-06:00

Took the cruisers out and had a great date by the pond thanks to the awesome dinner Jamie had hiding in the basket.

Thanks for nine magnificent years Hunny.

Boise Twilight Criterium

2008-07-21T12:42:00.001-06:00

Managed to pull off an eighth place this year thanks to some help from Matt. I think next year the podium has our name on it!

What a mess!

2008-07-20T22:02:00.001-06:00

He used to eat so well. Now he's figured out he can grab the food before it gets into his mouth if he's quick.

Fresh Chip Seal

2008-07-12T23:01:00.001-06:00

They dumped a bunch of tar and rocks in front the house last week. Yuck

The Electra Navy

2008-07-12T22:54:00.001-06:00

Jamie's in the Navy now.