James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

I accepted the roof estimate to have ours replaced. Nothing in life is cheap. Painted more of the front rails today. Ok, in the grand scheme of things, repainting is pretty cheap. I also mowed a small part of the lawn which is cheaper yet. I guess I should be happy not everything costs an arm & a leg.

Allison O randomly dropped by the house to say hi this morning. That was nice but I had 10 minutes between calls to talk.

Literally went to CR to shovel shit in the afternoon. Hope to never do that again. By the end I was drenched and totally exhausted. Goddamn that was tiring,

Went on a late road ride at 6:30, which meant we were ending the ride in the dark, Even though it was hot today, it was really mild out. Days are shorter but the temps are so much more enjoyable right now. Even the hot days are reasonable at night.

Monthly JORBA call tonight. Not too much to talk about. Mostly the festival stuffs.

Also talked to Kirt who rode CR earlier. Said it was riding a lot better than he expected. Lots of work to do yet but overall coming along.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...the kids were off school. Oddly, it was no big deal. I guess I cannot state strongly enough how healthy it has been for the kids to go back to school. I understand that we as humans did not really evolve with the concept of kids being in school all day. But as I sit here in my air conditioned house, writing a blog post on the internet, drinking a non-alcoholic beer while having just showered, I think we are past the whole "caveman & sticks" thing. Anyway, it was no big deal, and the kids were more or less self-sufficient most of the day.

I got kind of frustrated at this offshore resource who was supposed to start today. Either she is a blithering idiot or is working more than 1 position while pretending to be dedicated to our client work. Either way, I quit for 90 minutes to paint more of the porch then mow the lawn & weed wack around the areas I mowed. Once again it is preposterously long.

We did not ride today.

We did go to the library and renewed our library cards. I downloaded the library app and now I can start using that for audiobooks, which is the first step in getting ride of Audible. I like this in theory but as I no longer travel like I used to, I do not have enough time to listen to what I have. I need to buy 6 books then cancel. If anyone knows a great 6 book series that is worth saving forever, let me know. Alternately, if you know of just 1, that works too. I am trying to figure out what books might be good to have for a while and I am drawing a blank. For the most part, I will never listen to an audiobook a second time.

We lifted weights tonight, D and myself. She seemed to enjoy it but I think she may have a different opinion once the sore starts to settle in.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I did nothing of note. I had only 1 meeting today, so I assumed I would have loads of free time. Well in the end, I barely finished my day by 4:00, at which point I spent some time mowing the lawn. I am giving the yard a full service this round, which is a mow, weed whack, lots of sticks have fallen in the last few weeks, and various tools being cleaned up. I am also taking the time to clean up the bike park, which unfortunately has really fallen into disrepair. We have not done anything to it in quite some time. Zac spends most of his time with his friends now, so we've kind of dialed back that work.

We have the kids this weekend, but the older 2 are out at the high school football game right now. We dropped them off, took the dog for a walk, then went home for ice cream.

Witness the sad state of the dirt pile right now.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I woke up tired, and sore. These days when I spend a lot of time outside really add up from a cumulative allergy standpoint, and I wake up like a zombie sometimes. The kids going back to school - and me being the early riser - has also compounded the sleepy week. We had planned on riding CR with Iggy at 9, but we were slow on the uptake and knew it was going to be a force to make that.

We did get there, and managed to run into Iggy & Coyote like 3 times. The trails are in this weird state of "better than expected" but "worse than normal" with the exception of the work that has been done, such as the ball field trails or the guardrail climb, which are both in the best shape ever. The Shithole is even rideable though the pitch up to Gilbride is garbage. The orange up from Gilbride also needs work. As I said to Kirt, it's hard to ride here and not constantly see this & that which needs to be fixed. We also saw Cafe Dave who really has never earned that name, as he has never given me a coffee nor have I seen him even drinking one. The gorge on red defies words, quite frankly. You need to see it to believe it. The blue gorge will be full of rocks before another week is out and we'll see how that plays out over time.

Came home and looked at the long list of things I wanted to do this weekend, which numbers 11, and started to stress about all the things that I will not get done by Monday morning. So I mowed 2 of the sectors of the lawn, maybe this is 6 & 7, I forget. I think I have 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8 done now. I also weed whacked which is a lot in this area as it includes the garden, all the bike wood work, and the jumps. Just 3 more small spots to do but still, something not crossed off the list.

Went to see Simon play soccer and he hit the edge of heat stroke today. Rough day for him and the team. The other team was better but they were only winning 1-0 when Simon was taken out because he was getting dizzy. The other team immediately beat the defender who replaced Simon and scored. They then moved the other good defender to striker, and quickly 3-0. The goalie had 2 great saves otherwise it would have been 5-0. Win some, lose some.

Home to paint the porch, then install the new fork on Simon's jalopy. I am not sure how long this thing is going to last. There are new noises every week and now the shifting is already screwy, which I'll see if I can fix later. But I did cross 1 thing off the list. So only 10 more to go, and it's after 8:00 already.

In theory I could chip away at some more but I have to go pick up 5 teenagers at the mall at 9:00.

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jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Went to see Simon play soccer and he hit the edge of heat stroke today. Rough day for him and the team. The other team was better but they were only winning 1-0 when Simon was taken out because he was getting dizzy.


Come on MTB dad. Give that kid some skratch labs and a gel and he’ll be good to go!
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I started the day with a nice road ride early in the day. This time of year is just fabulous to wake up and be outside. Just splendid.

Then I ruined that splendid morning by driving to a Jets game. The first 34 miles were fine, then the last 2 miles took almost 1:45 in total. I cannot begin to express how poorly they have engineered the car situation here. I am absolutely sure a dozen 3-eyed mentally retarded rabbits could do a better job with traffic control. It gets worse every year. And after today's mess on the field I am not sure my step-father wants to do this anymore. For the first time in all the years we have been going to sports events, he wanted to leave early. This has never happened, ever. With about 12 minutes left in the 4th, he gave up. I think his spirit is broken.

We got home at 4:35 which then gave me a chance to finish mowing the lawn & weed whacking everything. So this weekend I got 2 things done on my list of 11 things.

We all had dinner & dessert together, then my parents drove back to PA and I took Julia to Target for some clothes shopping. Not too long ago, going to Target at 8pm would have been totally out of the question as my day was over by then. Now, I pretty much just take whatever chance I get to cross off the easy things when I can.

Sunday night and I am now trying to mentally prepare for the week ahead. But I am having a hard time caring much at this specific moment so I'll figure out tomorrow when that day gets here. I think I'll have another n/a beer now and read a book.

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Gene

The Dancing Machine
Today

...I started the day with a nice road ride early in the day. This time of year is just fabulous to wake up and be outside. Just splendid.

Then I ruined that splendid morning by driving to a Jets game. The first 34 miles were fine, then the last 2 miles took almost 1:45 in total. I cannot begin to express how poorly they have engineered the car situation here. I am absolutely sure a dozen 3-eyed mentally retarded rabbits could do a better job with traffic control. It gets worse every year. And after today's mess on the field I am not sure my step-father wants to do this anymore. For the first time in all the years we have been going to sports events, he wanted to leave early. This has never happened, ever. With about 12 minutes left in the 4th, he gave up. I think his spirit is broken.

We got home at 4:35 which then gave me a chance to finish mowing the lawn & weed whacking everything. So this weekend I got 2 things done on my list of 11 things.

We all had dinner & dessert together, then my parents drove back to PA and I took Julia to Target for some clothes shopping. Not too long ago, going to Target at 8pm would have been totally out of the question as my day was over by then. Now, I pretty much just take whatever chance I get to cross off the easy things when I can.

Sunday night and I am now trying to mentally prepare for the week ahead. But I am having a hard time caring much at this specific moment so I'll figure out tomorrow when that day gets here. I think I'll have another n/a beer now and read a book.

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As a never ending optimist Jets fan I understand your situation, but while my heart believed we had an undefeated season my brain said otherwise…

What I’m thankful for in this Jets blowout:
1) Solid defense
2) Better running game
3) Actual OL blocking until the end
 

Cafe Dave

Well-Known Member
Today
We also saw Cafe Dave who really has never earned that name, as he has never given me a coffee nor have I seen him even drinking one. The gorge on red defies words, quite frankly. You need to see it to believe it. The blue gorge will be full of rocks before another week is out and we'll see how that plays out over time.
Yes - I think I'm more of a Keurig Dave lately, but I will assure that one day we will be sipping on the finest Box o Joe Dunkin Donuts has to offer at some future group/TM event :thumbsup: .....I have spoken......
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I come to you totally and complete exhausted after a day that was more or less like any other day. But it is now just after 9:30 and I am ready to close my eyes for the day. To be fair, I guess it started bright & early, 6:15 or so when I had to get up to bring Zac to school. Well, I guess I could make him take the bus but I'm just that kind of dad, or step-dad in this case. I know they prefer it and it's like 2 miles away. Plus then it gets me out of the house and I can run errands, like today when I went to the hardware store after I dropped him off.

Put new road cleats on D's shoes. Sanded more of the porch today as I move forward with this project. Just trying to chip away a little at a time. I did this right before my 2:00 workshop/demo, which I was stressing about a bit. This project with this client is being run by this sort of, well, I guess the professional term is, "cock sucker." No matter what, he treats everyone like they are an ignorant asshole. These are the fun people to deal with. At the end of the workshop he seemed happy, but it's hard to tell because he acted like a cock sucker the whole time.

Went for a late afternoon road ride and it was just marvelous outside. Goddamn what a great day. And then later, Instagram shows me 2 different ski resorts telling me that it's almost time. Look, it's been nice & cool for like 2 days. I think you need to dial back the snow rhetoric and let us enjoy the fall. I mean technically it's still summer.

After some taxi driving I spent more time outside because there's always something to do out there but also because it's awesome out. Cleaned up the stuff in the street, took out the garbage and smashed up an old faux wood hutch and put it in several cans, then weed whacked the driveway and doused it with RoundUp. I think JManic was supposed to give me some napalm last time we saw them but we both forgot. Oh, I also smacked the wooden wall a few times to see if the hornets are still there. Yup, they are. Emptied the end of 1 can of spray in there until then stopped moving. I picked up another can today, which I should use again tomorrow after we see how many survivors there are.

It's not the weekend yet, which kind of stinks.

I went to look on my phone to see what pictures I took today, and this is all I had, which is from 3:49pm. No idea what this is.

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Santapez

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
My thoughts on your post:

-Gay people took Queer back, but gave up Cock Sucker.
-I'm not saying you shouldn't drive the kids to school, but there is a weird old man part of me that thinks about how in 9th grade I had to walk 2 miles to school because the town didn't have busses if you were that close.
-We hung around different crowds as children if you don't know how to make homemade napalm.
-It's the weekend somewhere. Hmm, I think I got this phrase wrong.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I have nothing of note to add, other than Happy Last Day of Summer. It was a fine day to be outside, much of which I spent inside. I did some porch work again - both sanding and painting. But most of my outside time was our road ride at the end of the work day. We talked about riding CR or Nassau. But we never made it out. We both need to work more tonight so it's a time-saving decision. We only have so much of it. Now we are spending the end of the day chipping away at some of the needed things and watching Why Women Kill, Season 2. We also walked the dog, outside, of course.

Today was just, well just another day at the proverbial box factory.

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Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
we are slowly consuming WWKs2
Almost done with clickbait

It was a stellar day.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...was a true Hump Day. Work was totally nutty and then mid-afternoon, there were 7 teenagers in the house. I decided that was stupid, so I went for a bike ride. When I got back there were no teenagers, no wife, no youngest child, no dog. It was total and complete silence. So I took a shower and then the world turned into a taxi adventure. Drive to Starbucks to get the teenagers, come back home to get all their bags (they all took the bus here), drive them to the high school to see the varsity soccer game, back home to make sure Simon is fed & changed, over to the park where Simon has soccer practice, back home to eat quickly, back to the soccer field to walk Bear, then wait for Simon, bring him & the dog to the HS to get the kids again, and back home.

So here we are, truly a hump to get over. This is a Wednesday.

CR TM set for this weekend, where I am looking forward to putting in some time making stuff more-better.

JORBA Q3 newsletter will be out tomorrow.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...we finally got the Q3 newsletter out the door. This was rushed, admittedly. But we really wanted to get this done today before the festival this weekend. We had a bunch of contributors but I would be remiss if I did not give props to Elana, who is a new member of the JORBA crew, as well as Joy. Joy will defer all credit here but I have been working with her on MTBNJ and JORBA stuff for years now and she is a total rock star. The bike community is lucky to have them both helping the face of the community.

Simon and I tried to go to CR with Bear but the skies opened up and it was torrential out there, We drove back home then I lifted weights instead. I am still working out my routine but total weight lifted today was 16,860 pounds. That sounds impressive so I will leave it there. I am sure someone else will come along and say their total today was 88,000 pounds. The app I use tells me total pounds lifted. I guess this is motivation.

For the first time in a week the older kids were home for dinner, basically because we told them they had to be home for dinner. We also made them play cards with the family which they moped about a little at first, but then came around. I was killing it until the last few rounds, then I totally blew up.

After a quick walk of the dog I put together the envelopes for the free memberships/gift certificates that the 31/31 donations went towards. I have been avoiding this and I finally got around to it today. Now I have a stack of envelopes on the kitchen table ready to go out.

Facebook memory from 1 year ago. Believe it or not, before we had to deconstruct this, and after it was built up a tad more, it was ridden successfully at least 2 times. By "successfully" I mean my oldest step-son did not die.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

…we did a lunch road ride in which D’s right shifter paddle broke clean off.

…I took Bear to the dog park in the afternoon where he made a new best friend that he probably forgot about as soon as he got in the car.

…we went to see Zac’s team win a hard-fought game against North Hunterdon to move to 4-0 on the season.

…we went to Morristown to have sushi at Laku Sushi which was quite tasty.

…we ran into Steve & Joy while walking to the MPAC.

…we went to see Brian Regan at the MPAC which was D’s Mother’s Day gift.

Now we are home.

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rottin'

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

…we did a lunch road ride in which D’s right shifter paddle broke clean off.

…I took Bear to the dog park in the afternoon where he made a new best friend that he probably forgot about as soon as he got in the car.

…we went to see Zac’s team win a hard-fought game against North Hunterdon to move to 4-0 on the season.

…we went to Morristown to have sushi at Laku Sushi which was quite tasty.

…we ran into Steve & Joy while walking to the MPAC.

…we went to see Brian Regan at the MPAC which was D’s Mother’s Day gift.

Now we are home.

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Man he's funny...we have seen him 3 times, but a long time ago, like when he first hit in the early 2000's (circa "The big yellow one is the sun" routine). We still listen to that concert and he truly makes Steph laugh-cry lol How is his current material?
 
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