Boo Cups!

We had an office Halloween lunch which we have for most major holidays of the year. This was the first one we have had in a while as there was a little bit of a backlash from having too many lunch parties. So, this time around I made a dessert called Boo Cups, which is a chocolate pudding mix with whipping cream and oreo cookies in a, well, in a cup! They were really tasty and super easy to make. Thanks people at Kraft for making life so easy and fun!

Here is the link in case you want to make them yourselves:

http://www.kraftfoods.com/main.aspx?s=recipe&m=recipe/knet_recipe_display&recipe_id=54236

Interesting Blog...

As most of my vast minion of readers probably don't know is that my "partner in crime" at work, Adam, has left the cozy quarters of the Regional Cancer Registry for greener pastures. He has decided to go into the Insurance Claims field with his brother and mother who have been doing it for a number of years already. So, as you can imagine, any claims people in the USA are probably going to be working consistently for the next couple of years in the south with all the hurricanes.

So, after being gone for about 10 days I have received my first email from Adam telling tails of destruction, how cities are ghost towns, and of the dank smell all around. As well, he has pointed me in the direction of his brothers blog, http://hurricanedan.blog.com/, which details the destruction of the storms and the life of a Claims Adjuster dealing with residents of the south. His blog is really interesting with all the pictures, but the best part, IMHO and I'm geeky like that, is the link he posted today with the GPS coordinates of his RV to show where he is at any given time. Very cool!

I've asked Adam to start up a blog and I'm hoping he does because he would provide interesting coverage of the situation down there. If he does, I'll post the link.

Happy Pumpkin Day!

In the Spirit of the Season

A little Halloween fun. Behold the Pumpkin Computer!

2006 Tour de France Announced

And that wasn't even the bigest news of the day. It seems that during the presentation, a video presentation of last years Tour was shown. It upset a number of people, namely the folks at Discovery, due to the snubbing of Lance Armstrong. The 10 minute long video recap of last years race main featured French coaches, riders, and fans. Three shots of Armstrong were also included.

I began to wonder why this might have happened, taking only two seconds to realize why. The French can't win their own race and haven't in 20 years. Sour Grapes! Anyway, I'll leave you with some links of good articles to read on the subject along with a quote from Johan Brunyeel.

Links first:
http://pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=3562 : From PEZcyclingnews.com
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2005/oct05/oct28news : From CyclingNews.com
http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/presentation/us/index.html : From Tour de France website


Now onto Johan!

Bruyneel continued. "When I think back on all that, it's been the same scenario for them for years. A French rider hasn't won the Tour in 20 years. Why? Simple, they haven't been good enough. And then you see the final ProTour standings and notice there were four Americans in the top 10 (Armstrong, 5th; Levi Leipheimer, 7th; Bobby Julich, 9th; George Hincapie, 10th) and for the French, they had four riders in the top 100 (David Moncoutie, 30th; Anthony Geslin, 62nd; Christophe Moreau, 79th; Laurent Brochard, 84th). That's the facts. It's nothing more than that. I realize it's frustrating for them."

LiveStrong Bracelet Breaks...

It was bound to happen and it did on Wednesday! My first LiveStrong bracelet finally broke after 15 months of continuous usage. Not bad for a $1. I've started a new iteration of LiveStrong bracelet testing and will let you all know when the next one fails.

The VCR Machine Can Live On...

Here is something handy to do with that old VCR since they are quickly going by the wayside.

http://news.com.com/2300-1041_3-5913876-1.html

Off to see the surgeon.

Update to Going Under Knife Post

I was mistaken thinking that tomorrow, Wednesday 26, I would be going under the knife. I'm just going in to review my options with the surgeon before going under the knife shortly there after, I presume. I'll keep you all posted.

Pickem Football: Week 7

It was another fine week for my team "what the hell!" as for the second week in a row, I was the leagues highest scorer with 89 of 105 point. I knew it would be tough to recreate the magic I had last week when I scored 99 of 105, but 89 was a fair try. Fair enough to help me put more points into my nearest competitor, "Da bears Da bears Someday?" now giving me a 26 point buffer, with the next competitor 40 point further back.

I have to give props to the Raider's as their win helped my cause as well as they needed to get a W under the belt. Let's cross our fingers for a few more before the season ends.

Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005

useit.com: Jakob Nielsen's Website has published a list of his Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005. I've read it and realize that I make some of these mistakes. Looks like I'll have to take that into consideration when working on the template to my blog, since a blog is just an easy to update webpage.

Also of interest from Jakob is his page on Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes, which is a little more useful to myself and anyone out there in the blogosphere. I don't fall so short when comparing my site to this list, but in providing you with the previous two links I have just broken rule #4.

Rule #4 is a little silly as anyone with a brain realizes that when you mouse over the hypertext link, the address is displayed at the bottom left in the status bar unless programatically altered using JavaScript.

Now wasn't this a helpful post?

Pro-Pickem Dominance

I'd like to continue with a post I created a week or two ago about how I was finally back in first place in the Pro-Pickem league by saying, I'm still in first place and putting some distance between myself and my competitors.

If you click on the picture to the right of this text you will see that I've got 16 point on the nearest competitor and 33 point on my buddy, Ben. This is a great victory for me as Ben is way more knowledgeable about football than I.

To further gloat, I'm up 34 points on my Dad! Woot Woot!!

I'm Going Under the Knife

I finally got a call back from my doctor about the MRI I had about two weeks ago. He said that my knee is deteriorating but that he believes the surgeon can remedy the problem by grinding away some of the meniscus. Deteriorating wasn't the word I was hoping to hear but the fact that it can be fixed is good.

So, I'm scheduled to go under the knife, or really in this case under the scope, on Wednesday 26th at 2:30. So far I'm at ease about the procedure since it's one which is done often. As well, it's only an outpatient procedure and the surgeon's office is about a block from work and about a mile from home. My primary doctor says that many people walk out of the procedure without the aide of crutches, which makes me feel the rehab is quick. I'm still thinking that I'll use crutches and allow for a few days of rest so that it heals as quickly as possible. Then it's back on the bike and in the gym to get ready for next year's early season centuries.

Italian Doping Trial Potentially Snags Discovery Rider

San Remo prosecutors investigating the doping scandal of the Giro d'Italia 2001, where police forces found banned substances in many riders' hotel rooms, have concluded the hearing of the cases on Wednesday. The chief prosecutor has asked for a six month jail term for Dario Frigo, who during the 2001 Giro was placed 2nd on the general classification before being forced to quit because of the police raids.

The Discovery rider, Pavel Padrnos, who was riding for Saeco at the time could face two months imprisonment a fine of 2000 Euros.

The verdict of the Giro d'Italia 2001 allegations is expected on October 27.

Damaging Information For Cycling...

True or not, all this talk of the doping potentially occurring in the sport of cycling is damaging. Damaging for riders, teams, team management and doctors, and sponsors alike.

Now, with articles published earlier today, the damage continues and seems to be getting worse. But, with things getting bad, it also means that something is going to have to be done to remedy the problem and all this news will hopefully make that happen more quickly.

At the same time I hope this is resolved, I realize, that like any other illegal activity, it's a game of cops and robbers. The cops find a way to stop the current methods and the robbers devise new methods, with the cops always a step behind and few of the robbers being brought to justice. As well, it's difficult to believe even though many people speak out about the doping, since they are point the finger at our heroes.

So, with that said here are the articles I speak of:

Former US Postal doctor reaffirms Armstrong doping claims
Ruling body sets up independent Armstrong probe

The juicy part is about midway through the second article where the former US Postal doctor explains the doping method used currently.

The MRI Experience

Last night I went in for my MRI at North Valley MRI & CT where I found the staff and facility to be very nice. I had never had an MRI before so I was pretty surprised at the size of the machine. It took up the better portion of a large room and was very loud. The scan of my knee took about 15 or so minutes, the last 5 minutes of which I was asleep.

It had been a long day, arriving at work at 5:30 AM and then staying through until 5:30 PM for an open house we had for our new office. So, by the time I got to the MRI place, I was about sleep walking anyways. So, it's not surprising I fell asleep even though the noise made by the MRI machine was compared to a jack hammer.

Now the scan needs to be read by a radiologist and then the report forwarded to my physician before I find out the results. The assistant at the MRI place said that usually takes about 36 to 48 hours, so I'm figuring I'll hear something either Friday or Monday.

Pro Pickem Gloating

It's taken four long weeks, but finally I have found my spot at the top of the league. There are only 10 players in the the Sierra Nevada League, but still, bragging rights are important, especially when your team is 1-3. But, they best 1-3 team out there!

So, click the pic to the right to get the lowdown, I'm the team called "What the hell!", and you'll see why I'm gloating!

MRI and I

It's been a couple of week now that my left knee has been hurting. I can't pinpoint what exactly I did to it, but whatever it was, it's been done. So, after a couple weeks of denial and continued pain while cycling, I finally went to the doctor on Friday of last week.

The doctor seemed to think it was a torn meniscus and that an MRI would give the definitive answers to our questions. I'm scheduled to go in for the MRI on Wednesday at 6 PM and assume we'll have some idea by weeks end.

I'm thinking that the MRI will find something wrong as the pain wasn't going away. But since I went to the doctor and he told me to take it easy, I haven't been doing anything that might irritate it and it's actually feeling pretty good. But alas, there must be something going on in there to cause the pain.

Best case would be nothing but a strain. Beyond that, a torn meniscus wouldn't be too bad either. From what the doctor tells me, it's an outpatient procedure and most people walk out without the aid of crutches. Best part is the recovery is less than 4 weeks at maximum. This I can deal with. Worse case would be ligament problems. I wouldn't be surprised if they found a tear as I've had two incidents with that knee.

So, I'll keep you all informed as to the diagnosis, potential treatment, and rehabilitation.