Chilling out

Okay, call it a midlife crisis. Call it having far too much time on my hands, cos I have a 4-day weekend. Call it whatever you will, but for the first time in six years, yours truly is no longer blonde. Opinions welcome, just keep in mind that if I don't like it, I'll just change it back.

Kudos to Melissa at Lather Salon in Boulder. Not only did she take my last-minute request for a colour, she spent THREE BLOODY HOURS getting it just right. She's a perfectionist, which is why I frequent this salon.

I've been living in the midst of an Office Space episode for the past 2 months. Our company is going thru a merger. And due to that, every damn last one of us has been milling around the orifice, wringing our hands, worrying whether we'll have a job at the end of it, and generally being a giNORmous bag o' downers.

Enough already! Today and tomorrow, I took the last possible opportunity to take my remaining 2 personal days off work.

So, am I actually getting anything done? Nope, nothing constructive... obviously if the single notable outcome of the day was a colour change. Well I rode the singlespeed, ate some pad thai and chatted on IM with a few folks.

Now I'm sitting here in front of the computer, finishing up some backlogged blogging, chilling with some Leo Kottke. Vaseline Machine Gun is the current track; oooh yeah, 12-string bliss. Look it up, download the MP3, you'll dig it, trust me. Dad and Mom used to listen to Leo, John Hartford, John Fahey and Simon and Garfunkel, among others, back when I was a tiny gromit. When I'm feeling particularly mellow, I dispense with The Killers, Depeche Mode, Staind and Slipknot and slide over to a blast from the past with my cradle music.

Tuesday night I did a little painting of the town with an awesome dude from down Denvah way. He's a cyclist, working full time, going to school full time, so I'm frankly honored that he chooses to share what limited spare time he has with my boring arse. Tuesday night was the most fun I've had in quite a while. We noshed on some greasy pub food, tried to shoot some stick, threw back some fine Belgian brewskies and... uh, I kinda forget some of the details after that, but the night just flew past. I got CARDED, twice even. I shot a few pictures, none of which turned out cos I a) don't have a tripod and b) had one too many beers. I'll upload the one that looked cool tho. Then I loaded my silly butt back on the drunk bus home to Boulder. Strangely enough, I felt ultra chipper next morning and wasn't even late for work.

I'm going to break down and get a DSLR camera soon, I think. I love my little point-n-shoot Olympus Stylus 500. For shooting fast action and daylight, it's great, and for taking with me on rides, it's incomparable. However, I've hit a few limitations with the full-auto features that have me jonesing for more flexibility and control.


Check out these 2 beautiful bicycles. I've been playing a bit in Photoshop, attempting to learn some skills. It's not a true sepiatone pic, it's a duotone with a twist, but I'm getting closer.

The roadie is Ernesto, my Dream Plus. This bike has been my trusted racing steed for the past 2 seasons. The 'crossie is George, my Dream Cross, also a late 2002 model. Ernesto wears Record 10, and George is decked out in more 'cross appropriate Centaur 10. I'm a Campagnolo snob, what can I say.


I typically don't do this, but I'm going to upload someone else's picture, just because I think it's so amazing. It looks like some CG illustration from a high-tech space flick or an illustration from some sci-fi graphic novel, but it's an actual photographic capture of a 'fireball' meteor, taken during The Taurids shower a few days ago by Japanese space / astronomy photographer Hiroyuki Iida. There are 2 geeky sites I go to on a regular basis to check this sort of action. The best is www.spaceweather.com, but you can also find some amazing stuff on http://science.nasa.gov/headlines.

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow brings more Shenanigans, along with a FAC with the colleagues at Dave N Buster's. Should be a hoot!. I'm going to get a kick out of their faces when I walk in as a dark brunette.

Cheers,

LFR