Jittery Joe’s and $3 to MS – Great Christmas Present.

Jittery Joe’s Coffee offers a great deal where people can buy a can of gourmet coffee and $3 can go to the National Mulitple Sclerosis Society. How sweet is that? Not only that, this is a year long deal.

The link to send to people to purchase the coffee is listed below.

http://www.tinyurl.com/ipcycling

A Coupon Code for a $5 discount on anyone’s first purchase of Bike MS Blend Coffee. Can be used only once per person, Minimum order must be $26 (2 cans or more). At check out they’ll use the Coupon Code: FirstOrder

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Cyclocrunk Race #2

I raced my first cyclocross race of the season after being of the bike for about 2-3 week. Minor case of tendonitis. Cyclocrunk Cyclocross race took place at night which was a first for me. The event is kinda every man, woman, and child have at it. All ages and categories started at the same time. 70+ started. The course was good, but I wish there was a little more pavement. I got lapped by the winner twice, he was rolling. Of course the good part about that is that my last lap was his last lap.

More photos can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyclocrunk/5099377097/in/set-72157625080213841/

Eat Johnny Brusco’s Pizza for MS

Eat Johnny Brusco’s Pizza for MS

Johnny Brusco’s Pizza will be donating 10% of their sales all day Sunday October 24th at both of their locations to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Take the family out, eat some great pizza, and 10% spent on food goes to MS. Perfect for after your ride or after church or just to watch a game and eat some Pizza.

The locations are:

1014 N Germantown Parkway – (901) 755-0706

255 New Byhalia Road – (901) 861-6300

http://www.johnnyspizza.com/home.php

Can’t swing by, make a donation to the IP Cycling Team.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/TNSBikeEvents?pg=team&fr_id=13684&team_id=182898

10% of Road ID sales for the National Mulitple Sclerosis Society.

10% of sales from Road ID purchases will go to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Get one for the kids, husband, wife, or friend for the holidays. Get a replacement or upgrade your old stinky one for a new fresh one.

For the 10% for MS to work, you must use the referrer link below.

http://www.roadid.com/?referrer=6777

Donate Now!

Help me reach my goal!!

For those that do not know, I have been back on the bike after being off of it for 6 plus year.  I am riding with the IP Cycling team and raising money for MS.  My goal is $2000, which I met and past last year.  This year, I am not doing so hot. 

My goal is $2000 and I have over $1300 to go.  Help me reach my goal and donate anything you can. Dontate at the link below.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/TNSBikeEvents?px=1619146&pg=personal&fr_id=13684

Busy, Busy, Busy….

So where have I been besides by blog for the last 2 years.  Well, I am back on the bike, still at IP, and have been on facebook.

2009 Bowlin on the River Bowl-A-Thon

This year I volunteered to take part in the 2009 Bowlin’ on the River Bowl-A-Thon to benefit Junior Achievement of Memphis and the Mid-South.

Please donate as little or as much as you can. Any little bit helps.

If I can raise over $1000 dollars I will dress up as The Jesus from the “Big Lebowski”.

Click Here to Donate!!

Snowball fight..

Ok, so maybe there wasn’t enough snow to really have a snowball fight or even build a snowman, but it did sknow here in Memphis, TN.  It was the usual Memphis snow.  It snowed and then pretty much melted bt the end of the day.  I really wish we would get about a foot of snow.

More photos of the Memphis snow at Flickr.

Not as bad as a dirty diaper in a parking lot…

…but it is something that I have noticed almost every night between 6 and 8 pm since I have lived in my neighborhood.   I am all for people having a cold one after work, but not while they are driving.  Some moron has been drinking his his Coors Light Tall Boy after work on his way home.  Even worse is that they have been leaving the can and its little brown bag at the intersection of my street.

I have been tempted to sit out there and see who is doing it and calling the cops to sit out there and bust him.  Is it too much trouble to just take the empty can home and put in in the trash or recycle it?  Wonder if that would stop them.

Cold Water

For the past year, it seemed that the hot water was not as hot as it was when I purchased the house. I put off calling as plumber as it would cost $50 just for them to walk in the door, plus another $100 for labor and probably over $50 for any parts.  A new water heater would cost over $300 plus about $150 in labor. 

Well, the cold weather and the less than 5 minute shower got old. So I did a little research at Lowe's and the Home Depot on water heaters and how to repair them.  Most problems with electric water heaters is that either the heating element goes out or the thermostat dies.   The Home Depot had a kit with 2 heating elements and 2 thermostats for $31. 

So, I figured I would give it a shot.  I purchased the kit and followed the directions.  Overall I would say it was pretty simple.  Just have to be very careful or you will get spayed like I did.  Followed the direction, but the heater didn't empty completely.

I changed the elements first and then tested it.  That did not do it, so I changed the lower thermostat and it worked. I can now take an hour shower if I really wanted to.  Below is a shot of the old heating element and in case you didn't know new ones are chrome..  More photos can be found at Flickr.

Snow today, gone tomorrow or sooner

This morning I woke up and got ready for work. Shortly after I got my trash ready for garbage pick up. I opened my garage door to find a Blizzard.

With the site of snow my hopes for over a few inches started to circle my mind. It would be nice, but as most know it would never happen. It snowed until 9:30 am and for the most part has melted completely.

Just once, it would be nice to have it snow and stick for a few days. I guess I can keep dreaming.

Wireless is great, but…..

I want to start off by saying wireless internet is great, but is still needs some improvement. I have had wireless internet ever since it was available to the general public.  I have actually gone through 4 different wireless routers.  They always seem to work great if you are close to the router, but once you are on the other side of the house there seems to be some lag. There is sometimes a little lag if you have some major appliances between you and the wireless router.

The above is pretty much the reason I decided to run CAT5 cables through out the house.  It is faster than the wireless, especially when I have my work and personal computer running at the same time. I actually ran CAT5e cables to the below rooms.

• 1 connection in the Master Bedroom
• 1 connection in Bedroom 1
• 1 connection in Bedroom 2
• 1 connection in Bedroom 3
• 2 connections in the living room
• 1 connection in the garage

I opted for the connection in the garage in case I wanted to work on something and needed some visuals for directions.  I still need a little work as I need to purchase an ethernet switch since I still only have my 4 port router. I am thinking about purchasing a 16 port in case I plan on adding the adding connections in the kitchen, outside, and by each TV.  The additions should not be a problem since I still have a good amount of CAT5e cable to use. 

Below is a tiny view of what it looks like by my office desk. As you can see, I still have 4 available ports.

My World in Miniature

Today I ran a cross a web page where you upload your photo and it makes it look like a miniature model. I tried this with a photo from Krakow and thought it looked pretty good.

Go to Tilt Shift Maker to convert your own photo into a miniature. Let me know how it goes. here is a photo I did of the Cloth Hall in the Main Square in Krakow, Poland.

Original photo can be found at : Flickr

Anyone want Pizza?

Normally when you see a pizza delivery car it is normally some beat up car. Times must be tough, because I saw Dominoe’s Pizza Delivery guy driving a BMW. Not sure which model. Can anyone tell?

Sealed off Door.

For those that know, I have been wanting to drywall my garage for some time now. I actually purchased sheet rock back in July and have been storing it in my garage.

Last week I finally put some of it up and it made a huge difference.  I also sealed off and insulated a door.  Now all I have left to do it cover one wall and seal the seams with drywall mud.

I am guessing that the office used to be a storage room as it has it has a door leading to the garage. I also sealed that off completely.

Once it is done, I can finally paint the garage and put up all my cabinets.

Lot of Leaves

For those that have seen my house they know that it is surrounded by lots and lots of trees. It seems that last year was not as bad as this year. Of course, I had more help raking the leaves last year and it was not as cold.

It seems I had twice as many leaves this year and it rained like crazy. My electric blower wasn’t going to do the trick, so I went out and purchase a gas blower. The gas blower made a huge difference. It had tons more power than the electric blowers.

Thanks to my trees and my neighbors trees, I was able to fill over 70 bags with leaves.

Oranges and I am not talking about OJ.

Every year my parents get a nice Christmas present from a friend.  They have actually been getting the same gift for over 6 years.  And the truth is, we all look forward to them.  By them, I am referring to Cushman’s Honeybell Oranges.  These oranges have got to be the juiciest oranges I have ever had.  They are so juicy, that they even arrive with bibs.   Bad part is that the Honeybells are only available between January and February.

My parents got some this past week and I got to enjoy a few.  If you want to give them a try order a box or 2 from Cushman’s Honeybell Oranges.

Office Prank

Sarah, one of my co-workers, was on vacation for 2 weeks so we figured we would give her a surprise.

Felica got here a little early and was able to record her reaction.

Of course, the main reason for the wrapping job was due to my desk being decorated with Hanna Montana stuff. All because I purchased boxes of raisins that had Hanna Montana on the box.  I just wanted raisins.

This was done after hours and during lunch. For those that think we have too much time on our hands.

We also worked on it as a team. Perfect team building exercise in case you want to do the same.

More pics can be found at Flickr.com.

Link to the reaction will be posted later.

$.77 for Gas

Last night a swung by Schnucks  to fill my tank. I pulled up to the pump and saw that gas per gallon was $1.49/Gallon. I had been using a Schnucks card when I buy groceries, but had not used it at the pump yet. I don’t really know all the details on how the gas card works.

Well, as it was pumping, the cost of gas was going up, but is was very slow. At first I thought that the pump was messed up. When it was all said and done, I paid $.049/Gallon and filled that entire tank for a  measly $.77/Tank. I saved almost $23 using my Schnucks card. This is 100 times better than the offer Kroger  is offering right now.

I will, for sure, be learning all the details on how the Schnucks card works to save even more cash on gas.

Air Tulio

This weekend was a very busy weekend.  This is the time of year when it is perfect to re-seed your yard.  I re-seeded my parents yard yesterday and my yard today.

Yesterday, my dad sent me to Lowe’s and Home Depot to pick up some Fescue Grass Seeds, Fertilizer, and an Aerator.  I picked up the Fescue and Fertilizer at Lowe’s then dropped them off at my parents.  I then picked up my brothers F150 and headed to Home Depot to rent the aerotor for 24 hours. 

I started on my parents house around 5pm yesterday.  The aerator worked similar to a tiller, but instead of tearing up al lthe soil it poked 2-3 inch deep holes.  Overall it took me about 2 hours.   I then re-seeded it and them fertilized it.   My arms and legs were sore since the machine weighed about 200+ lbs. So I figured I would load it up, take it home and get some rest and start in the AM at my house.

This morning the soreness was gone.  It took me a little longer to aerate my yard since it is bigger than my parents yard.  When I started on my yard I actually noticed a lever and wanted to see what it would do.  Well, that made it move 10 times faster and I was able to go over the yard twice with almost 1/2 the effort.

My next big rental is going to be a stump remover as long as I can get it into my back yard. I will have to measure the gate before I even think about renting it.

Bicycle Camper for 1

A co-worker sent this to me today and I wondered why something like this never caught on.  With today’s materials you could probably make a very light weight one with carbon fiber and titanium.  Throw is a solar powered mini flat screen TV/DVD with satellite.  There is no mention of the kid that created it, but I am guessing that his name is Chet based on the name on the side of the trailer.

This was found at http://blog.modernmechanix.com

Guitar Hero

Someone please explain the big deal about “Guitar Hero”  and other similar games.  It seem people spend tons of time learning to get better at the game and even compete.  With all the time they spend doing this cold they not spend it learning how to play an actual instrument?  When will the battling gaming systems find a way to have their systems actually work with real instruments.

Pumpkin Time

It has been decades since I carved a pumpkin. So while at the grocery store last night I picked up a pumpkin and one of those pumpkin carving kits.  What I really wanted to do was find a stencil of Handy Manny and carve a pumpkin for my nephew.  No luck after searching all over the Internet and even trying to create my own using photoshop.  So I opted not to waste the pumpkin.

I used a regular kit and carved a pumpkin today.  It took a while just ot get the image on the pumpkin.  It was lots harder than I thought it was going to be.  I guess I should have stuck with a traditional pumpkin. 

Below is a shot of the before and after. 

New Rental Friend

I have been using Netflix since they started.  I have now found a new company that is even better and cheaper.  The company that I am referring to is REDBOX. They are located outside almost every Walgreens.  Movies cost a $1 per day. 

Go to REDBOX and sign up.  Just for signing up you get a coupon for a free rental.  The best part is that you can reserve movies in advance and then pick it up.  Of course, it only works for movies the machine has in stock.  It would be nice to be able to reserve movies for when the become available.

Baby Squirrel

About 2 weeks ago, the dogs started going nuts and barking around the tree in the yard.  Stacy stopped them and just in the nick of time.  The dogs were about to catch this baby squirrel that must have fallen out of the tree.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I hate squirrels.  The reason I hate them so much is that they destroy your house.  Of course,  I did not want any harm for this little squirrel so before letting the dogs out I would always check to see if the coast was clear. 

After a few days of keeping watch of the baby squirrel and keeping the dogs away, Stacy and I noticed another animal to keep an eye open for.   While watching TV we noticed this big white thing flash by the window.  We looked out the window and saw this huge hawk that landed on the deck railing not even 3 feet from the window.  My camera was in the car so I missed that great photo opportunity.  It flew away, so we went out and notice the baby squirrel right under where the hawk was perched. Luckily, it survived.  I moved it under the deck so it would be safe. 

It has been days, and we have not seen the baby squirrel.  Either it is still hiding under the deck or something else.

Favorite T-Shirt

Here is a shot of one of my favorite t-shirts. I got this in Krakow, Poland and reminds me of the vehicle I would see daily while walking everywhere.  The vehicle I am referring to is the Fiat Polska. I wish I would have taken the opportunity to actually rent one for a day and drive it around.

Monkey Boy

This past week Stacy and I were at Old Navy just looking around when I noticed this costume that I thought would be perfect for Nico.  Reason being we usually call Nico, “Monkey Butt” or call his feet “Monkey Feet”. So I called my sister to make sure that she had not purchased a costume for him yet. 

Her response, “Does it look like a baby costume?”

My response ” Anything for a 2 year old is probably going to look like a baby costume.”

More Photos at Flickr.com

Inkan Corn Nuts

On my parents recent trip to Peru, they picked up the Peruvian version of Corn Nuts.  The corn is made from Peruvian Giant Corn.  They also have a few Roasted Plantains.  If you want to give them a try follow the below link.

Inka Crops

Commissioned Art

For the past 2 years, I have been trying to get my parents to find me a specific type of painting from Peru. I bought my brother a smaller version of what I was looking for the last time I went to Peru and used that as a guide.  On my parents most recent trip I was able to get the painting.  Of course, this was with the help of my aunt that found a painter that would do a custom job.    Check out the photo below.  Now all I have to do is get them all 3 framed.