Going back to the iPhone

iPhone 5 has a bigger screen, as I'm sure you probably know. My tired old eyes can't handle the 3.5" screen of the old model, but the new one looks good. Not having to sync with my PC is another reason I'm going back. REALLY got used to it with the Evo 4G. I still think Android is a better looking OS, but lately the bugs have been driving me nuts.

Battery life is gonna be better with the new model as well. Right now I get between 3 and 6 hours per charge and carry 4 spare batteries. I'll buy an external power source for the iPhone, but it should last close to a day.

Only thing that worries me is the glass. You never see cracked Androids. Mine has almost no scratches. I hate putting a clunky, fat cover on such a finely crafted device.

OH! The awful movie I was trying to think of was Cosmopolis. Bad. Really bad. I don't see why it got such great reviews. It was different, sure, but I honestly came really close to falling asleep a few times.

One of these days I'll also play some poker again. Just been busy trying to enjoy what's left of the nice weather. Heading out Sunday morning with Fish on a 40 mile bike ride.

Tomorrow, I get to cook 100 steaks at a steak fry. Fun fun fun.

Upcoming movie

Cloud Atlas looks really good. Best picture good. Watch the extended trailer. I'm gonna have to pick up the book as soon as I finish this one.

I've also recently discovered the Stella Culinary School podcast. Free videos on basic cooking skills and techniques. I'm brushing up on stuff I know and learning all sorts of new stuff. Pressed fingerling potatoes coming soon! I still want to open a small pasta house someday. Basically anything with noodles...stirfry, lo mein, beef tips with egg noodles, spaghetti and meatballs, linguini and clam sauce, you name it. Or, maybe just Italian, who knows. I'd do base sauces from scratch, a couple of noodle soups (my minestrone is the absolute best), cold summer pasta salads, and maybe 2 different house salads.

Great weekend

Kickball league party on Friday, biked down through Black River Reservation on Saturday afternoon to Ray's grandson's 1st b-day party. Lots of old friends there. Saw an interesting movie Sat night...The Imposter. Actually a documentary disguised as a movie, but really good nonetheless. Oh, and we stopped by the Lorain Greek festival before the movie to get a gyro.

Browns game Sunday. I would rather not talk about it.

Went to see Mike Birbiglia's Sleepwalk With Me last night at the Cedar Lee, another good movie. His standup act is really good too. Had dinner at Indian Delight near 65th/Detroit. We also went to the Cedar Lee last weekend to see a movie I can't even remember the name of. It was that bad.

Speaking of standup, I've been tossing some material together and I'm seriously thinking about doing 5 minutes at an open mike night. Aaron Pearl has been doing it for a couple months now, at it looks like fun. I should probably ready the book Successful Stand Up Comedy again. I read it about 15 years ago.

Poker update

Chopped for first with Tom Gross at TK's team tourney a few weeks ago. Dohar made it to town for the return of the Crazian Invasion. Got lucky on one hand vs. TK where I had top-top against his set. I hit running cards for the flush. Oops. Can't win without getting lucky. I played very well otherwise.

Played some cash at Hip's last week. Failed miserably.

bike

Put a new tire on the Fuji today. I'm starting to like this bike. I still plan to pimp out the hybrid over the winter. Gonna add a carbon fork, seat post, maybe handlebars, and some new grips.

We are planning a trip to PA in a few weeks, gonna bike some of the Great Allegheny Passage. Looks awesome http://www.atatrail.org/ We are also going to tour Fallingwater while in the neighborhood.

Caprice and I also did a 20 mile ride with a new group of people, most of which seemed pretty cool. They do a lot of biking and we're gonna join them on some more rides.

Weekend fun

Watched the Browns game Friday after lying around all day in severe pain. I'd been out of meds for my hernia for a few days due to a miscommunication between the doc and pharmacy. I took the day off work.

Went kayaking on the Black River Saturday and had a blast. I'm already looking for a good CL deal on a used model. Those things move along pretty good and they are a great workout.

Fair and demo derby SUNDAY evening. Ate gyros. Drank lemonade.

Great Craigslist find!

Couldn't pass this up, pretty sweet bike. Needs some minor adjustments but for $200 it's a steal.

I think it retailed for almost $1000 a few years ago. Came with a bike computer too. I was going to just sell it for a nice profit, but It's quite a bit more comfy than the Giant Defy I got last year. Think I'll hang onto it for a while.

Camping with the boys...in the rain

Camping in the rain SUCKS. Started raining early evening on Saturday and poured all night until around 6 AM Sunday. My tent leaked. I couldn't sleep. Not much fun.

Went to Virginia's Beach in PA again. Same site, nice and far away from all the other sites.

Got there early on Friday to set up. It was raining then, but barely rained most of the evening. Didn't get bugged by a single mosquito which was strange. Ate well and drank too much.

Saturday all we did was eat, drink, and play cornhole. Phil and Krueger were the ringers this year. Those guys started drinking as soon as they awoke. I cracked my first beer around 6PM. Was too windy to go to the beach although we took a walk down and there were people swimming in the churned up sludge. We had open fire fajitas for lunch a la Phil and I chef'd up whiskey peppercorn steaks and monster sized baked potatoes for dinner. Everything turned out great. Got raided by skunks and racoons late Saturday night as usual.

Kickball

We're still losing a lot of kickball games, but the last couple games have been a lot of fun. We got clobbered the one game but the opposing team was cool. We had several chances to with the last game but it got away from us 8-6. Still a blast to play. Some people take it a bit too seriously and there have been a couple of actual fights. Come on people, it's kickball!

Enjoy a pic from crazy wig night.

Almost forgot...

I played in the Amvets' old timers vs. young folks softball game a couple weekends ago. Lots of fun. Some of those old bastards still play pretty well. I hit the ball decently and played 3rd base and left field. saw a lot of action and actually did a great job fielding the ball.

One of the old timers brought out a walker and wheelchair for laughs.

I rode my bike up to the park, they seemed more impressed with that than anything else.

My new blog

Pure pickle devotion http://mypicklejournal.blogspot.com/

Pedal to the Point ride

81 miles on Saturday! Didn't do day 2, we had some other stuff going on. Day 1 was PLENTY. Temps were in the mid-90's after noon. Caprice had to give up at the lunch break, she's been fighting some back problems for a while now. I rode with Larry Fish the rest of the ride, we had a good time. Laughed our asses off. Met a guy that used to be his boss 30 years ago, he was great. He had to bow out of the ride at around 60 miles with some leg problems.

I started getting elbow pain about halfway in, don't know why. Took some ibuprofen and it seemed to take care of it. Holy smokes was it hot. Pretty much an exact copy of my first year, only we did 3 more miles this year because of the new start point at Brunswick HS. Had some problems with traffic (both car and bike) at the new location, but once we got moving, there were some great downhills the first 6-8 miles.

So anyway it was another great ride. I did pretty well considering my longest ride this summer was only 27 miles. I am carved out of wood. My new(er) bike did great, it's so much more efficient and smooth than the Trek. Although, now I'm already thinking about a higher-end hybrid with some carbon components, or maybe adding some upgrades to this one. We'll see.

2nd pic is Phil Keoghan from The Amazing Race.

Poker news: Lost 2 buy-ins Wed night last week. First one, flopped nut straight with J-10, got it all in with the bottom end of it (5-6) and the guy catches running clubs for the 6-high straight. Lost the second buy-in after flopping a set of K's and the guy calls me down with a gutshot and nails it. Well played sir. Went down after dinner at the Kilt with Rao and Prowest, and even JC stopped in but didn't play. A few others from the group were there as well.


Maps:
First leg

Second leg

Horseshoe win...again!

Up $304 last night after 2.5 hours. Played well. Made 1 really good play on a $100 pot, I'll post the details after I write it up on the CPMG board.

Update!

Hot summer temps rage on! I love it.

Did the 2nd annual CPMG campout last weekend. Great time. Got a bit too loud for the neighbors (we had 14 people over 4 campsites, all in a row) but managed to not get booted out.

Had to tow my mom and her friend from the canoe. They got tubes and would have taken more than twice as long to finish the 7 miles. Got a little tired at the end, but had a lot of fun. Grayday was hilarious the entire trip. I made jambalaya over the open fire which turned out great. Played some $.25 poker, I think I lost about $8 over the weekend. OUCH. Lol, that's OK, I made up for it this past Sunday at the Horseshoe, finished up an even $200. 8-2 down there now!

Got the big 163-mile MS-150 Pedal to the Point coming up the first weekend in Aug. Looks like we are gonna skip day 2 due to some other obligations, and the fact that they changed the route. I think 80 miles on day 1 is PLENTY. Especially if it's hot. I'm glad we upgraded our bikes since last year. I got such a good deal on my Rapid I couldn't pass it up, and it's so much smoother than the Trek, although the Trek looked better. The Giant also fits better, and I get almost 2MPH better performance out of it.

Made whiskey peppercorn steaks this week. WOW were they good! Deglazed the pan with Makers Mark, beef broth, worcestershire, and cream. I've been trying a low carb diet the last couple weeks. Meh...no big results yet, though I'm down almost 5 lbs. I've been eating tons of veggies and keeping the meat to a minimum, but splurge a bit a couple times a week. Hence the steaks. Had fresh green beans and huge salad to go with them.

The other pics: JC celebrated his 50th b-day last week, and the other is the view from Lakewood Park during an urban assault bike this past weekend.

Vacation report

Played kickball, tried to go fishing, did some swimming at my apartment complex, took the dogs for a beach adventure, got together with friends, went to a private beach party, started a new low-carb diet, lost a little money at the casino in poker and blackjack, went on a couple bike rides, saw 2 movies: Savages and Moonrise Kingdom. Both were good, but I'd have to say Moonrise Kingdom was a bit better.

...more to come!