The AC is back in action. After Jess tried a list of common troubleshooting at lunch it appeared our AC was down for the count. Actually we thought it was more the furnace blower fan that was out. So we got home from work and talked about what we should do. Finally I decided to try some fuses but nothing worked. We took the thing apart. We found an LED light that blinks in a numeric morse code. We found that our error code was code 24, which is a short in the secondary electrical wiring. Crap. What does that mean? Jess went upstairs and found a sheet of what to do if you get a 24. Of course you needed to be electrically competent to do the stuff. Finally we look at the scheme and I see something called a 3amp fuse which was under this box. We look and finally found it, take it out…blown! $2.39 for 5 fuses at Ace later, we were back in business. I didn’t realize the whole system had 5 different fuses of 4 different types. Stupid hidden fuse. So when your electronics don’t work, take them apart and check the fuse!

One the first Gun Show sprint, lost the final by about 2 feet. Missed volleyball due to rain so instead worked on the AC and cleaning the house and eating fresh corn on the cob!

Snakes on a Plane? Still not sure if Jess was serious about going or not…but

J.Bro said I shouldn’t go, we have opposite views on movies, thus I should go. And Larkin pointed out there is some Snakes on a Sudoku so I don’t want to be a poser when I buy that book. But in my defense, Snakes on a Plane is not a “Mark Movie” like some seem to think. I am not a big horror movie fan and I detest snakes in general. Accepted is more my speed.

Uh yes, this is Mrs. Yokel from William Clinton Middle School…and your kid is too fat! I love it!

But be warned, in true Arkansas fashion: “Nearly 80,000 Arkansas students were not tested. Some were pregnant, some parents or students declined, and some were absent the day of the test.”

Summertime Blues…

It’s nice out, and I love it! Thank god! Yesterday morning I got my MTB ready and came to work. I swam at lunch and it went pretty well. After work I brought my MTB and stuff over to Jerry’s house for him to bring to Blackhawk…I was running out there. The run went really well. Wasn’t sure on the distance, I estimated 9-12 miles (ended up being 9.6.) Tons of hills though so it was hard. It was also warm. Ran out of water about 5 miles in but after about 8 Jerry pulled up and gave me some more water. It was much needed. It was a good but tough run. I think I ran about 10 minute miles. I felt decent when I got to Blackhawk. I did about a 2 mile warm up on the MTB and then the TT started. I started 2nd to last. Pretty soon I was last. I did pass one person at one point and felt good. Then it all started to fall apart and I lost my desire and she passed back. OK, so she is a rock star and has even chances of beating me every day out there so I wasn't worried. I was going to only do one lap. But when I got to the lap point I just kept going. Big mistake. Around a steep corner my right calf locked up and I fell over (of course into one of those Velcro like plants.) I got up, massaged it out and tried to go. But on the brutally steep climb I couldn’t make it up. My legs didn’t want to walk either. Guh. I rode back down, put it in my 22X28 and spun back up the hill. 1-1/2 laps isn’t too bad. The course was brutally fun and I hope it is remembered for next year.

Jerry gave me a lift home. I see the windows open when I get home and was curious. We try to run the AC and keep the windows shut because of our bad allergies. I see Jess in shorts coming outside, another bad sign. AC is busted. Did I mention we’ve lived in our house for 1 year and 4 days? And we had a home warranty included for the first year of our house that expired on Sunday? Freakin’ figures. Jess has some ideas to fix it today at lunch and I’ll call some people if that doesn’t work and maybe take some stuff apart tonight. Guh! On the plus side the weather was pleasant last night. It’s weird though, our basement was 10-15 degrees colder than the upstairs.

So that’s where we are at this morning.

Back to the grind on Tuesday. After taking Monday off (mowing the lawn, dog park, grocery shopping) it was time to get going on Tuesday. Ran a 10k at lunch. Speed was high and I felt great. My body seems to be fully adapted at running in heat which is a good thing. After work I got talked into riding at Devil’s Head. Should’ve known better. Arrive, 3 people total, I am the token non-elite. It showed. First climb, they talk and mess around, I huff it. Get dropped in the singletrack. Get waited for a couple times while we do a lap. Then it was every man for himself (namely they ride together and I ride alone.) Trail was in crap shape, overgrown in places, leaves covering all singletrack to the point where you couldn’t see where the trail went. Tons of sticks. Not having a great time. Front flat. Change it but only had one CO2, air pressure low. Still not having much fun, head down to parking lot right before the Elites start a 4th lap (I did two.) Ride the DH course down, cut sidewall in rear, game over. Walk down, lay in parking lot. Cars at Devil’s Lake with their wives. Temps drop, no one around. Finally Ryan comes down saying Jerry broke his wheel at the farthest point from the parking lot. No cell coverage and low battery. Ryan takes phone to top of hill, call completed. I find 3 apples and practice juggling. Elites appear, cars appear, game over. Culvers Buffalo Tenders and Brownie Sundae were the ticket. Rode just over an hour, trip took over 5…just like a WORS race.

Wednesday- Easy swim, long run and some causal mountain biking.

So lets say you have a fiancée that wants to see a movie this Friday. You are normally someone who likes almost every movie and can easily stomach any sort of chick flick she would want to see. But something is different about this movie, it isn’t a chick flick. It is made for 16-22 year old boys. Cool, I am less than 10 years removed from that. Accepted opens Friday, could be funny. No? What? It’s a horror movie? Well I could probably do that… Wait. The movie is about snakes? I hate snakes. Snakes on a plane? What do you tell her?

More food!!! Here is the exclusive video, enjoy!

Bored, more food fun here! Be warned, it is tough and they are kind of anal about answers. I couldn't get a perfect score! :(

And you can never get enough Burger Time! It's a true classic!!!

You like? Let me know what you think!!!

The weekend went really well!

Friday we didn’t do much of anything. We took it easy, took the dogs to the bark park and didn’t do much of anything.

Saturday was the Belleville Road Race. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I figured I could handle it. I even figured Jess could handle it as well. We went down and signed up and got ready for the 9:30 start. This race had a .3 mile rolling start, it was almost unbearable, 8mph? We hit the highway and it was on. I looked around and didn’t think the competition was too tough so what do I do? I take a flyer from the start. I developed probably a 200m lead and held it for the first three miles. It was a good warm-up, I had a tail wind and I kept the HR at 170. When we got to Frenchtown I was caught. We worked the first lap and it appeared there were maybe 10 or so strong riders and about 40 riders hanging on. I attacked right before the first hill and held it for over a mile again hoping someone would try to bridge me on the hill. Nope. Eased up and got caught and decided that no one was going to do anything. So I just sat somewhere in the top 5 wheels the rest of the race. On the 2nd lap we dropped maybe 10 people on the climb. I spent the last 4 miles getting into and holding position. With ¾ of a mile to go I was between two Brazen Dropouts when the one behind me attacked. I grabbed the wheel and the other BD was behind me. The guy was about to die with about a ½ mile to go but I talked him into pulling “Your teammate is on my wheel, keep pulling” but he died about 100 meters before the last corner and two guys darted to the left and beat me to the corner. I passed one of them but the other was too strong and I missed the win by about a bike length. Regardless I was very happy as my sprint seemed pretty good and the strategy was perfect. I ride out to the 1 mile point to watch Jess finish. I see 3 other girls go by in two separate groups and then there was Jess hammering into the wind. She finished 4th overall. I got the gold in my age group (the winner was in my age group but if you won the overall you didn’t get the age group award.) Jess got 2nd her in age group and was excited about her first ever road race. She might even race again. Honestly though this race was one of the most fun times I’ve ever had on the bike!

Went to New Glarus quick for lunch and then came home, watched some Nascar and chilled. I watched some random movie and then to the Bark Park and then we went to Dean’s to play some games. Got in a game of Blockus, and then Cranium and then a marathon game of Scategories. A good time.

Sunday was a record for me, I woke up at 8:10am. I haven’t slept that late for almost two years! Thus we were behind schedule for going to Devil’s Lake but it didn’t matter. We got there at 10 and it wasn’t too busy! We got everything ready (Jess’ kayak) and we were off for a swim. I estimated the distance across to be 1.3 miles. On the way over it was against the wind. It took me 47 minutes to swim the 1.21 miles to the south shore. On the way back we had a tail wind. It took me 38 minutes to swim the 1.13 miles back (we took a more narrow approach back.) So I swam roughly the Ironman swim in under an hour and a half so I was excited. I did the crawl the whole way back, no breaks or anything. Thanks for Kayaking while I swam Jess!!! Got done and we did a brick, the Devil’s Lake Tri bike course. It is brutal, you idle for about a half mile and then climb over 300 feet in the next .8 miles. A couple rollers than you climb tower road. On the way back though you fly down Tower and than Neumann. Hit 46.8mph into the wind. Get this, I was still turning over my crankset at that speed. We rolled the rest of it for about 15 miles total. Oh yeah and like 1250 feet of climbing. After that we hit Subway for lunch, then to the Baraboo zoo, then to Parfrey’s Glen for a hike. That place is beautiful! Got in the car, we were both tired. Drove home, cleaned up, went to the Great Dane with Jess’ parents, came home, read the paper and then watched Entourage. Weekend over…