A Mema Weekend

Every now and then, no matter how busy you are, you gotta make some time for family.  I have been really bad about that the last few years, which is really sad since the majority of my family lives but a mere two hour drive from here.  I've been making it a point lately to try to get down to Wilmington more often, at least a weekend every other month, to see the rest of the crew.  This gives me an excuse to get out of Raleigh every now and then and absorb the slower pace of Coastal North Carolina and just take a break.

This most recent trip took place over the weekend.  Since Lindsey has been swamped and working over the weekends, it seemed like now would be as good a time as any to sneak away for a weekend.  Friday afternoon, after a long day of pretending like I was actually working, I jumped into the car and aimed it southeast.  The next two hours were spent pushing 90mph and watching for cops.  Arrival in Wilmington was earlier than expected.

The weekend went by pretty fast.  I spent a lot of time with Mom and Mema, along with a few of Mom's billion brothers and sisters, a few of my trillion cousins, and even had some time with my niece.  The majority of Saturday was spent doing one of my favorite things - hanging out in bike shops.  Mom is in the market for a beach cruiser.  We visited a few shops, and ultimately she decided on a pretty sweet Felt Bixby that rides like a Lincoln Town Car.  That's right, I tested it out.  She decided on a white one, with white grips, and a white seat (so pro).  Here's a little video of her testing it out:

You'll note that she can even detect an incorrect seat height (it must run in the family).

On Sunday, we discovered (the hard way) that the bike was not made to fit in the back of a 2012 Honda Accord.  Yikes!  Not that it would have helped, but I didn't have my trunk rack with me, so unfortunately we had to leave the bike at the shop until a pickup truck could be obtained.  No worries, we still had lots to do to keep us busy.  My nearly twelve year old niece came over to hang for a bit.  Curious on how to keep a twelve year old entertained on a rainy Sunday afternoon?  Well, the Vine App works wonders.  I never knew so much story could be told in such a short period of time...

Comedy...

Horror...

The possibilities are limitless!  I can't take all of the credit for the above adventures, I had a great cast and crew working on both projects.

So after the final scene, it was back to Raleigh, where a fiancee, way too many pets, and three pounds of chicken fajitas were waiting for me (and after not riding a single mile over the weekend!).

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I’m writing this whilst celebrating St. Patrick’s day.  My Ireland Rugby Union t-shirt is on (though at approximately 10 years old, it is so faded and thin that you can barely make out the word “Ireland” but you can still see the shamrock, and well, it’s green, so it counts.  I’m also having a Guinness, so there (I’m assuming everyone in Ireland is currently doing the same).  It’s a good way to end what has been a really long and busy weekend, that unfortunately, did not include a ride.  Let’s recap, shall we?

Of course, as per tradition, Lindsey and her sister were able to play hookey from work Thursday and Friday to go to the ACC Tournament in Greensboro.  Since her sister lives in Richmond, that means that she was able to grace us with her presence as a guest in our home.  And by “grace us with her presence” I mean she actually stormed the front door in an all-out blitzkrieg, destroyed our defenses (literally, she broke our front door, but more on that later) and planted her flag and claimed our castle in the name of Heather.  Henceforth, Lindsey and I were enslaved to a very high maintenance sibling.  She actually arrived on Wednesday afternoon while we were at work, bearing a gift of a bottle of Chianti (which she opened and ingested half of before I got home a little after 6pm).  Lindsey worked late that evening.  She said it was to make sure she finished up a few projects before being out on Thursday and Friday, but I think we all know what was really up.

Wednesday and Thursday evening came and went without a hitch.  I didn’t work out any either day.  Why?  Well, since I usually wake up at 5am to get a workout in, the last time I did that with Lindsey’s sister staying with us, she complained that my alarm woke her up...and she complained a lot, so it’s just best to preserve the peace sometimes.  Since they watched 8 games in a span of two days coupled with a total of three hours (minimum) of commute each day, they were exhausted when they got home each night, and I was already in bed.  Luckily work has not been too busy for me right now, and on Friday (as tradition in North Carolina) we knocked-off of work early and headed to a local sports bar to watch the NC State game (I’m not going to summarize the game for you, I’m not ESPN) and then I headed home and watched the rest of the night’s games from the comfort of my couch.

Saturday started the rough patch.  I was startled awake when Lindsey’s sister announced that she had broken our doorknob on her way out to meet an old friend for breakfast (good morning Jason!)  I spent a little time trying to get it temporarily patched, long enough to make a quick trip to Lowe’s and get a new knob.  Long story short, it was pretty jacked and I had commitments.  Goodbye planned workout for Saturday morning (not even a short ride on the trainer).

Since Lindsey and her sister were going to be at the Tournament all day, I was elected to be the Kingdom’s representative to attend a birthday party.  For a set of twins.  That were turning one.  Actually, I had a lot of fun.  Our friends Brian and Rikki had twins, well, about a year ago (give or take a day) and they had a Dr. Seuss themed party.  It was good to catch up with some of my friends that were there as well as their families.  I’ve known them for years, all the way back when I lived in Wilmington.  The party went longer than expected, and I had a doorknob to replace at home, but everything was done by the time the women returned from the game that evening.  When they got home, the sister was in a grouchy mood (shocker!!!!), so Lindsey and I ducked out for a late dinner at (unfortunately) O’Charley’s...because it sounded Irish.  There we received slightly less than mediocre meals, and experienced slightly less than mediocre service.  Just a few more hours and this weekend was over...

Saturday evening, I managed to actually wake up and watch a little of the Formula 1 Australian GP and an ungodly hour of the night.  My predictions on a final podium were not correct as I expected a bit more out of Vettel, but I digress.  Back to sleep I went, because (as per our long-standing tradition) Lindsey’s sister gives me her ACC Tournament ticket for the final because she always has to be back in Richmond early.  She left while I was in the shower that morning, and we noticed she left her drip Mr. Coffee machine that she brought with her (don’t get me started on that, apparently our French press and espresso are not good enough to match the warm, soothing aroma of Foldgers drowned in half & half) and took Lindsey’s favorite fleece jacket with her.  Cause, you know, fair trade.  Lindsey placed a call to tell her she left her coffee pot and that her fleece was missing.  Heather’s response...”I’ll mail the fleece and I left the coffee pot there on purpose so it will be there when I come to visit.”  Let’s focus on the last half of that sentence...”I LEFT THE COFFEE POT THERE ON PURPOSE SO IT WILL BE THERE WHEN I COME TO VISIT.”  Guess she’s planning on coming a lot.  Meanwhile, I have placed the dirty coffee pot in a grocery bag and placed it on a shelf in the garage.  And no, by “shelf” I do not mean “garbage.”  

Once all of that was behind us, we headed west to Greensboro, met up with my brother and niece, who came up from Columbia to watch the Carolina/Miami ACC Tournament Final (if you want details, check ESPN).  I followed Milan-San Remo on Twitter the entire way there, and another of my predictions ended up sour, but only slightly this time.  Honestly, you can’t bet against Sagan in a race like that and second place is nothing to be ashamed of.  Had a good time at the game, sorry the Heels couldn’t pull it out in the end, but it’s always exciting to go.  Had a late lunch with my bro before leaving Greensboro.  Now, here I am, back where I started from in my Ireland Rugby Union shirt and a now empty pint of Guinness.  Guess it’s time for one more.  

Have a good night everyone, and well, I leave you with a video of Conan O’Brien visiting the Guinness Brewery....

Confession...

I have a confession to make.  I’ve always wanted a blog.  Not just any blog, but a BLOG!  

I don’t know why it was something that I wanted to so bad, I’ve never been much of a writer, at least not in long form, rather my short attention span was always better suited for a short tweet.  Still, nearly 5,000 tweets later, I still can’t help but think I will never be awesome(r) until I can truly say I’m a blogger.

Now, I suppose another confession is in order, this is my second stab at blogging.  I started one back in, I believe, 2007?  It didn’t last long, and the only people that consistently read it was an ex-girlfriend and some lady I didn’t know that kept emailing me to ask how to improve her 10 mile time trial.  Seriously, she must have emailed me 20 times.  Obviously that blog went nowhere fast (it probably went nowhere at a slightly faster pace that than lady’s 10 mile time trial), so here we go again.

I haven’t quite figured out what my blog is going to be about just yet.  You can bet it’s probably going to have a lot to do with cycling, probably a lot to do with Formula 1, and probably a lot to do with whatever pops into my head throughout the day.  I’ll rant, I’ll joke, I’ll confuse, but it’s all in good fun.

I look forward to becoming BFFs with each of my readers.  And yes, I’m using “BFF” ironically.