Super Rookie’s World

We took the ferry to Bainbridge Island on Thursday. The trip on the water was pretty rad as you get to see all of the skyline and Mount Rainier from a distance. The total length of the ride is about 35minutes and the cabin is quite spacious with comfortable chairs. It seems that commuting by ferry every morning and evening could be a relatively easy task.

The island of Bainbridge is relatively boring. Lots of cars and a mix of shops that would make my mom very happy. It was just like Stillwater, except with a way cooler bicycle shop. In fact, the shop on Bainbridge is called “Classic Cycles” and it is a Pinarello dealer and they had a full line of the bikes. There was also a bicycle “museum” attached to the shop with a ton of old fashioned track bikes that would have made the Little Guy drool. The people were nice and the retired folks on the island have a real hidden gem of a shop out their front door.

The ferry trip back to the mainland is way more exciting as the skyline is completely visible. The $6.75 for a round trip ticket is a lot cheaper than the boat cruises in the harbour. It is the poormans boat trip and is highly recommended.

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After downing a bunch of beer we took the bus north to the neighborhood of Ballard to take in the Salmon Ladders. I won’t give the full explanation of what these things are, but if you have kids take them to the ladders sometime and you will see a bunch of this:

and this:

It was a ton of fun.

Today we did the Pike Place Market and tonight we are taking in a Seattle Mariners vs. Manchester United New York Yankees game at the new Safeco Field. We are pretty damn excited for that. Our last night in Seattle will be a blast and before we know it we will be back in the cities at school and work all over again.

*Time stamping a blog post is awesome.

Long time readers of this blog know that I have been a Manchester City fan for sometime. Although I have never been blessed with taking in a live game at Maine Road or the new City of Manchester Stadium I have followed the team for a number of years. I became a City fan when a few of my buddies in high school discovered Manchester United.

Since Manchester United is, and always has been, the New York Yankees of the Premier League it was a “maverick” decision on my part to accept City as “my” team. It all became official when neighbors of mine went to England in ‘98 and I asked them to bring back a City jersey for myself. When I got the jersey I was in heaven, and I still sport it on special occasions.

Over the past few days Manchester City got new owners. They were previously owned by the former dictator Prime-Minister of Thailand. That guy was willing to spend some money and fronted for some big name players, but his bankroll is miniscule compared to the new owners:

Yep, that is the Royal Family of Abu Dhabi. They are worth a few trillion dollars and they are a tiny bit jealous of their rival Royal Family of Dubai to the North. Turns out, they want to show the world what Abu Dhabi can do. They have come out swinging and just signed Robinho outbidding Chelsea at the final moment of the transfer window. The country of England is abuzz as there is a new power-player in the Premier League and Manchester United is shaking in their boots.

The frontman for the Royal Family of Abu Dhabi recently stated, “Money will not be a barrier. We plan to make Manchester City the best football team in the world. We will do whatever it takes to do so.” Some may remember how Chelsea was on the way out until it was saved by the crazy Russian. Chelsea is now one of the big four. Well, make that big five as Manchester City plans to take the league crown within the next three years.

We all follow the City
over land and sea and stretford
we all follow the city
on to victory

On Tuesday we met up with Sarah’s aunt and uncle for a drive down to Mt. Rainier:

(Photo stolen from google)

It was quite the site. We were able to take the Sunrise road about half way up the foothills surrounding the mountain. It was impressive and beautiful all at the same time. If you are ever in Seattle it is worth the trip. The mountain is about an hours drive and it is surrounded by a National Park. Being about to see the mountain and the surrounding Cascades (including Mt. Adams and Baker) was made easier by an extremely clear day.

On Wednesday morning to we took in some of the tourist sites in Downtown Seattle. First, we went to the new library and were amazed at its awesomeness:

This building is 100x better than the  Minneapolis library designed by Pelli. The coolest part about this library is the fact that it is actually open every day of the week.

Seattle is an awfully hilly city. It also has a huge downtown. While we were walking to the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum, which looks like this:

We ran into this guy:

He sang us a song and before we knew it we were on this:

We finally got off and we were off to the weird looking building that has a ton of Jimi Hendrix/Kurt Cobain/Heart/Paul Revere and the Raiders memorabilia. The museums were cool, but Sarah thinks that Paul Allen is an uber-dork that just wanted to feel cool for showcasing all of his Science Fiction artifacts. Seriously, how can you not be cool if you built this huge structure dedicated to guitars and cool gadgets from Star Trek, Blade Runner and THEM!

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Tonight dinner on top of the Space Needle (not to be confused with the Space Tower at the State Fair).

On Labor Day Sarah and I tooled around the great city of Seattle. We took the bus to the University of Washington campus (affectionately known as U-Dub) and walked around trying to find a breakfast joint. Since it was Labor Day a lot of places were closed and the absence of students (school starts in a few weeks) meant that it was a ghost town. We finally found a nice place (complete with Vegan pancakes for all the fans back home) and enjoyed breakfast.

We then met up with my old neighbor/friend Josh and he showed us some really cool neighborhoods on multiple hillsides and we then headed back down to the hotel. At nighttime we decided to head out towards some of the pubs in town and after a little jaunt we headed back to the hotel bar. The hotel bar is a bourbon/scotch/whiskey joint with all types of fancy drinks.

I decided to be a tough guy and try some bourbon. The idea was for me to act like I knew what I was talking about and act like a true professional. Sarah wasn’t impressed and when I took my first sip of Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon 10year I quickly turned blue. It was quite possibly the worst tasting liquid I have ever placed in my mouth. Yet, since I spent $9 on it Sarah made me finish it…bourbon is the devil’s piss.

This is a picture of Tyler giving me a call after winning the National Championships. He wanted to thank me for, “believing him” for the past four years. I told him congratulations, but I had to get back to the honeymoon because Seattle is fricken amazing. I told him to give my bests to Haven and Tugboat (R.I.P.) he started to cry. I asked him why. He said, “I miss my twin brother. I never really knew him, but I want to dedicate this victory to him.”

The train was fantastic.

The first day in Seattle was great.

Today we are going exploring.

Tomorrow Mt. Rainer.

Sarah and I depart on our honeymoon to Seattle at 11pm tonight. We decided to take the Empire Builder out west. I just went down to the Amtrak station to check in and amazingly I wasn’t the only one at the station. Turns out that the train has been super popular over the past 9months with the train running at near “88% capacity 6 of the 7 days a week.” The old timer behind the counter said, “You know sonny, I am really shocked as well.”

I asked him who the conductor was for the 34hour train trip.

He said, “Casey Jones.”

We will be back in a week from tomorrow.

Man, I was hoping T-Paw would get the nod so then they could impeach Molnau.

T-Paw has to be really pissed right now, or he is gunning for a cabinet position. I still can’t believe McCain went for someone with less experience than anyone else out there. Have fun spinning this one Republicans! This lady going up against Biden is a laughing matter. It is going to be so bad that Biden will look like a jerk for destroying her in the debates, experience, and no how.

McCain just entered his campaign into the crapper.

T-Paw maybe could have gotten you Minnesota.

Doubtful, but possible.

Palin will get you 3 electoral votes in Alaska.

Have fun with that.

Sarah and I had a grand ol’ time at the State Fair.

When we got into the fairgrounds we didn’t know what to expect for the weather so we decided to check in with my old buddy Keith Marlor. Although M.A. Roscoe wasn’t around it was nice to talk with Keith about stuff. He liked my bag and was impressed with my general knowledge of slipstreams:

After getting the okay to play from Keith we decided to head towards the Fine Arts Building on Machinery Hill.

We saw this painting of Eric on the back wall and it took us a while to place where we knew the subject from. I recognized the Geek t-shirt and it hit me:

Eric was a good guy that I worked with downtown for a few years. He used to race on the velodrome in an old World Championship jersey. One of my favorite memories of Eric was when he partnered with Big Dave in a Madison race.

Upon the completion of a mini State Fair sponsored scavenger hunt we were rewarded with our very own Fine Art Detective ribbons:

Sarah was way stoked with the ribbon. After this picture she got a really, really, really mean look in her face. Some would say that she gave the “evil eye” of the century. I didn’t know why she was doing this. She grabbed my hand and said, “Get the camera ready. I want you to take a picture.” Here is that picture:

I was a little shocked by her insistence to take a photograph with Mrs. Minnesota, but my guess is that Sarah will now be entering the competition next year.

A few hours had passed by this point and we still hadn’t seen any of the things on our list. So, we decided to go to some of those goofy little exhibits you see in random buildings. The first one we saw in the “Home Improvement” building was this one:

I think that they should rename the building, “Home Awesomeness.”

We went to the energy building and saw this sign:

Jake and Chedda were both working at the actual location. Sarah and I were both amazed at all of the bicycling literature that was available at the fair. It was pretty damn cool, but not as cool as this:

Yep, that is Sarah getting her photo taken with the Gedney Pickle Man.

At this point the parade was getting ready to start and we still had failed to see any of our scavenger list items. We thought for sure that we would be able to locate all of them.

Turns out, that sitting at the fair is when you get to see all types of great things.
Metallica Shirt (two minutes after sitting down):

Huge Tye-Dye Shirt (five minutes after taking a seat):

Kid On A Leash (Shortly after the parade):

After the parade I thought it would be a ton of fun to make out in the Ye Olde Mill. Sarah was obviously really excited to sit in a small boat that goes through a really dark tunnel while floating on windshield washer fluid.

Look at the natural smile in this photograph:

After I kissed Sarah once on the cheek we decided to head to the Midway. The Midway can be really hit or miss, and since it was earlier in the day we really didn’t have the opportunity to see it in all of its awesomeness, but we did see this guy:

I have a huge infatuation with people that win these giant stuffed toys on the midway. I am sure they are really proud when the first knock over the 5 milk jugs with a softball, but how happy are they 20min later when they are lugging around a giant pink monkey? Seriously, it is like going to a Halloween party dressed up as a Milk Carton. It is a really good idea at first. Until you left alone in the corner, knocking over lamps and trying to drink through a straw, while everyone else is sitting down making out with Sexy Catwoman, Sexy Cowgirl or Sexy Nurse.

We were leaving the midway to hit up the Grandstand when we saw this little guy:

Whoever invented this kid/leash contraption is a genius. Do you believe that I used to have a leash? Sure, my leash was an actual dog leash clipped to my pants when I was 4yo, but it did the trick. Kids have it easy now a days. Take a look at the photograph above. That leash is ergonomic!

The Grandstand is the greatest place at the fair. I always love going there to see all types of things that I can only by during the fair (or on TV at 4am on Fox Soccer Channel). Last year I took a bunch of photographs and I encourage you all to take a look. At last years fair there was one gentleman at the Grandstand that really stuck out from the rest:

(Circa 2007)

There is so much awesomeness in this photograph. While the salesman is awesome I really like the dude in the yellow shirt. No only do you see the back of him you can also see him in the mirror looking at the convenience of the Super Shammy Mop System!

Inside the Grandstand this year we stumbled upon a coincidence that will be forever remembered as one of the greatest of all times. Check it out:

Not only is it the second Tye-Dye shirt, it is also Super Shammy Mop Dude! Notice the amount of people totally intrigued by his product. Sarah and I almost bought one, but than I realized that there was a little kid wearing a Detroit Red Wings jersey and I don’t like Red Wings fans.

Wow, what an awesome day at the State Fair.

We didn’t get to see all of the things that we wanted. I was hoping for a Tasmanian Devil Tattoo, and Sarah was a bit disappointed that we didn’t see Birkenstocks with giant tube socks, but there is always next year!

Mpls finest have already brought their A-game prior to the convention. This is just the start of what is going to turn out to be a long and miserable week in the history of the Twin Cities. I am thrilled that I will be out of town on the honeymoon so I can get really far away from the problems that are about to occur. Oh well. I wish best of luck to all the people stuck in the middle and to the residents of both cities that will more than likely have to pay for the damages caused by both sides.

In addition to the good times yesterday we have this tidbit from Minnposts Daily Glean:

Different arrests, police misbehavior?: The Strib’s Terry Collins notes three people were arrested during a “surprise sit-in” at Minneapolis HUD headquarters to protest a canceled meeting. KSTP complains that its photojournalist on the scene “was ordered by police not to videotape the demonstration, and pushed into an elevator.” MPR’s Tim Nelson offers a report from a third “former journalist” photographer who was searched, handcuffed and eventually released. The crime? Taking photos of a police van.

It will only get worse. Who remembers the critical mass “riot” from last year in which a person was charged with inciting a riot? When the cops got on the stand they nearly perjured themselves because of the available video footage from a few camera phones at the incident. The suspect was found not guilty…could that have been a test run with the MPD on full camera alert now?
Can someone tell me why it is a good idea to host conventions?

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We went to the Gnarls Barkley show last night.

It was crazy!

I have been trying to upload our photos from the State Fair, but have run into some difficulties with my server.

Perhaps it is time to quit this thing.

I bet Rivers or Homme knows how to fix this thing, but I could really care less at this point.

The pictures are bad ass and hopefully a solution will be discovered soon enough.

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Sarah and I are headed to Gnarls Barkley tonight and then to Seattle via the Choo-Choo Train on Friday. We will be gone when the Republican/Hippie infestation comes to town next week. I expect the city to still be here when we return.

Now to fix this dumb internet problem.

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Rivers is on the case and has me thinking the problem has to do with my future Alma-Mata. We will see if they ever get an Alumni donation!

Sarah and I are off to the fair.

Like last year we have a list of items that we need to see in order to make it a successful day.

The official 2008 list that we came up with in less than 5 minutes:

• Kid on a leash


• Teenager in a Metalica shirt


• Tasmanian Devil tattoo (preferably with Taz playing a sport)


• Big man (at least 6’3” tall and 225lbs) in a tie-dye t-shirt


• Birkenstocks with socks pulled up to knees while wearing shorts


• Amazing fashion


• Girl walking around with giant stuffed prize that boyfriend won for her on the midway—thus forcing her to carry it around the fair all day.

I met up with The Proprietor, (dis) and Little Guy at 11am on Saturday. We piled into the American made beauty of The Proprietor and headed up towards Stearns County. Our race was supposed to start at 1:30pm and it didn’t roll off until 2:30. There is nothing better than standing around a Stearns County parking lot with spandex on. Come to think of it, I have spent a lot of my summer in Stearns County and I think I am done with that.

The State Road course is a lot of fun, but it isn’t much fun when you ride 2 laps by yourself after getting dropped. Oh well, at least I finished the damn thing. Perhaps the best part of the STATE ROAD RACE was the fact that all the corner marshalls provided by the Stearns County Sheriffs left before the start of the final lap. Even the field had to navigate some of the corners all solo-like. Oh well.

For most of the two laps I was able to see the field so that was comforting. I even got to pass some of the others that dropped off the back. I didn’t know if these racers were Cat3s or Cat4s since the mixed field had all types of indexed numbers. It was quite confusing and really lame. In fact, if I am going to pay $30 for the State Road Race and be in a mixed category of racing so a specialized field such as Masters 35+ 3/4 can have their own race I expect to have numbers that are properly indexed per category. My field had numbers 5xx, 6xx and 7xx. Try figuring that one out.

Over the two long laps by myself I determined the following things:

• I am not a very good road racer.


• Racing in Stearns County every other week gets old fast.


• There are much better ways to spend 9hrs of a Saturday in August than in a car and at a race.


• Headwinds blow.


• Skibby provides valuable moral support.

$30 down the drain and the 2008 road/crit season is over.

Joy.