November 29, 2008:  Back again and just like always it's been what seems like forever since I've done an update.  My standard excuse is that we've been busy and it applies now more than ever.  I've been working a bunch of hours and am about to begin a huge upgrade project at work that will keep me there a lot more hours.  The weather has continued to be abnormally warm and fairly dry so we've been doing quite a bit of mountain biking.  We both rode with the shop crew again last Sunday and John and I rode our second Wednesday night in a row.  We picked up a few more pieces of clothing that make the colder weather a lot more tolerable and we're hoping the weather holds for a few more weeks.  Lisa has been working this whole long weekend so I've been home hanging with the pooch and working on the bikes a little.  I always thought that fenders looked pretty silly on mountain bikes but now that we've been doing a bunch of riding in the heart of the wet season they are starting to make more sense.  We put one on the back of Lisa's bike and I found one for the back of mine but we haven't figure anything out for the front yet.  The Lefty is great but it makes fitting a fender quite tricky.  I have one that should work but I am waiting on a couple small parts to mount it to the fork, it's hard to believe that nobody makes a fender that is a direct fit without all this messing around.  The weather is supposed to hold through Monday so I'm hoping to meet the crew at Black Diamond again bright and early tomorrow morning for a few hours of riding.  Other than that, not much is new.  Lisa should be on her way home in a few minutes, so I'll let you all go for now, have a great week! 

November 19, 2008:  Hello again, hope you are all enjoying your Fall, we certainly are.  I think a lot of people our here would agree that we have had the nicest weather that we've had in the last few years.  Not all that much is new around here, Lisa worked a bunch of extra hours last week to help move the pharmacy from one corner of the store to another so they can renovate the old area and turn it into the flagship store they all keep hearing about.  My Texas trip went ok, my co-worker's laptop died on the way there and we ran into a few problems with the work we were doing but overall it was a successful trip.  Lisa was off this last weekend so we got to take Stella to class, catch up on a bunch of errands and even start searching for stuff to renovate the upstairs guest bathroom.  We ended up finding a screaming deal on a vanity that we really liked so we picked that up, even though we probably won't tackle that project until later this winter or even until the spring.  I think we're going to slowly accumulate the pieces and then pull the trigger when everything is rounded up and ready to go, much like we did for the half bath downstairs last year.  We stopped by the bike shop to pick up some tires to replace the "california" tires that came on Lisa's Rush and after hanging out for a bit ended up getting invited to join them on the Sunday morning shop ride out in a town called Black Diamond about 25 miles away.  We met them at 9am so that was a little tough and quite chilly but as soon as the fog burned off it was a beautiful Fall day and the riding was incredible.  The group totalled about 10 with mostly guys but a few women as well.  Lisa did really well and said that the tires did feel quite a bit better.  That was a good thing because I had a heck of a time getting those things mounted :)  The Prophet ran really well and felt great with its new tires.  It was jealous of the Rush so I got it some too, plus the tubeless tires that I had on it never really held the pressure they were supposed to.  The group was awesome and it included the owner of the shop, his wife, an employee and a bunch of other customers.  We're going to try to start joining them more often on the weekend and even the Wednesday night rides as well.  In fact my friend John and I are going to meet them for the night ride tonight.  He doesn't have lights yet and is reluctant to spend the money on them until he gives night riding a try, luckily the shop will let you borrow one for your first few rides to see if it's something you like, pretty cool deal really.  Stella has been pretty good, tons of energy and not as many trips to the park to burn it off, mostly because it's dark by the time I get home from work.  We play a lot in the house so that burns off a bit of it but she's still ready to burst at the seams most of the time.  We decided she was ready to have a proper bed in the crate she stays in during the day, turns out that wasn't entirely the case as you can see in the picture.  She will be attending another show at the beginning of December, we won't be able to make it so she'll be going solo with Isabela, hopefully she behaves herself and maybe even comes home with a ribbon or two!.  Not much else is new out here.  December is looking like it will be a heck of a month for me at work, lots of long days and nights to complete a large upgrade project we have planned for our biggest market.  Lisa will be working a few extra shifts here and there to cover vacations and the like.  I'm out for now then, enjoy the rest of the week! 

November 9, 2008:  Hey again, sorry as always about the gap in posts, same old story I guess.  I spent the rest of last week home trying to kick that cold and it was mostly cleared up by the time Halloween came along.  Alice arrived from NYC on Wednesday and was able to help me get everything finished up in time for the party Friday night.  The party went well, lots of people came and everyone had a great time.  We realized people just don't party like they did at our parties back in the day.  Our best guess is that we're all getting older and just can't party like rockstars anymore, or at least can't handle the hangover from it.  Lots of people wore costumes this year, we had a Sarah Palin, Rosie the Riveter, Napoleon Dynamite, and even a Waldo.  Lisa and Alice got to hang out the rest of the weekend while I tried to recover from my cold in time to go back to work on Monday.  They spent most of the time in Seattle, Ballard, and Freemont checking out a few cool shops and places to eat.  They were even able to find a few things to send back east to our Niece Elle's shower this weekend.  I basically slept the entire time but ended up almost back to normal by Monday morning.  The week was crazy at work mostly due to the fact that I didn't work most of the week before.  I would say that I'm mostly caught up now and even though I'm still coughing a bit I'm pretty much better.  The weather has been very wet, we got over five inches of rain on Wednesday alone.  After lusting one since they were released I finally broke down and got an iPhone the other day and I have to say, so far it's the best piece of technology I've ever owned.  Lisa doesn't want one because she thinks their two big, she likes tiny little phones better.  She currently uses her Palm at work for some drug software she can't live without but if you keep up with handheld tech Palm as a company doesn't seem to have much of a future.  Her subscription to the software is about due and we'd hate to buy the rather expensive software update for a device that can't be replaced.  The good news is that they are about to release it for the iPhone and iPod Touch, which is the same minus the phone part.  The iPhone interface is sooooo much easier to use an than a Palm and if she can use the Touch then she can keep the tiny phone she uses now, for once a company makes smart decisions :)   We had a last minute project come up at work and the new guy and I are flying to Dallas this coming Tuesday afternoon, working all day and night Wednesday, and flying home Thursday afternoon.  It's going to be a brutal trip but we already have plans to get a couple of nice steak dinners, what else is there to do in Texas right?  Lisa is working this weekend so I'm just hanging out at the house with the dog and getting some chores done.  I raked the front and back yards yesterday and cleaned up the last of the Halloween stuff.  Today I've just been doing nothing but the weather looks ok so I might take the Vespa out for a ride, we'll see how it goes, have a great week.