Hi people. How are you doing? I am fine, been doing some training lately to get my butt back into better shape. I took the MTB out for a nice 20+ mile ride after Turkeyday and it felt awesome. My toes were a little cold but I can look past that. I took the East River Bottoms route and then went up to the Big Rivers Trail to get me home.

I can't believe how many people were out riding, walking, running, playing with their dogs that day. More were out than any day I have been down there in the summer. After the first 6 miles I rounded a corner and came out of the trees into a clearing field. The Sun hit my face and all was right on this ride. About 14 miles in I found some mud on the trail, not enough to wreck anything but just enough for the cold spray to hit my face and shower the bike. I didn't care. It was probably the last mud of the season and that is sad.

Last night I was curious if I can still run at all and I wanted to get an off the bike workout in. I have done a few 5k's in the past but haven't run since the Jingle something last year. So I threw on the Under Armour stuff, running shoes a light cap and gloves and took off to see if I could run for 20 mins. Yep. 30? Yep. 35? Yep. I stopped at 38:11 because I did a loop and was home. I went over the 3.1 miles I wanted to do so I was pretty happy with that.

Well that is really all that is new so bye.

Stats for the Month of November via Fitness Journal
Cycling Trainer: 431.00 Miles
Cycling Mountain Biking: 20.71 Miles
Running: 3.32 Miles
Walking: 11.00 Miles of Fredo walks.

November Total: 466.03 Miles

-pete

Looking for our wish lists? Here ya go:

Pete:
Performance Bike
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk <--- Shit you can't get in the US. :)

Anne:
Amazon.com

Soo...I walk out to my car this AM, everything is normal, I get in the car and start heading to work. I get about 40 feet and see something underneath my drivers side wiper blade. So I put the brake on, hop out quick and grab it. It is a one dollar bill.

I have no idea why there is a $1.00 bill under my wiper blade. I have no idea who put it there. It was cold so it had been there for at least a little while. If you put it there I would really like to know why, this kinda shit will bug me for a month. :
Otherwise, thanks for the buck.

-pete


UPDATE: I just found out that a co-worker of mine put it on my windshield in the work parking lot the night before. I don't know how it lasted in my parking lot overnight. Either way, thanks for the $1 Dennis!

So I pull in to work today around 9:10AM. Since they are ripping up a parking lot here that leaves about 500 parking spaces less then there was a few days ago. So that means you have to park way the hell in the back of the building. Well I was used to this because I have many times parked back there before they opened a new lot here. I know where to park.

So I pull into the back lot where it is setup for 2nd shift people in the front and has about 60 spots in the back past a sign for 1st shift parking. I head into the lot instead of the gravel lot that I bottom out on where everyone else was going. There were 5 other cars parked there. The side of the lot would look like this.

BACK |____>________________________________|> FRONT

The > would be a signs and the | would be the ends of the lot.

I park my car in my old spot back there and start heading into the building. I get about 150 yards from my car and I get, "EXCUSE ME, HEY!, YOU BLEW RIGHT PAST ME!"

I says, "What?"

He says, "You need to move your car."

So I say, "Why?"

Mr. Security Guard Traffic Director says, "That is 2nd shift only parkin'"

I say, "No, look at the sign, it says 2nd shift is in the front, there are 2 other signs with arrows pointing towards the front that say 2nd shift parking but past that is 1st shift."

He says, "Are you 2nd shift?"

I say, "What the hell does that have to do with it? It is first shift parking back there, go look a the sign."

He tells me to move my car or else I am going to get a ticket. I have never had a ticket here but I have heard it is just a slip of paper that my manager gets a copy of. I proceed to ask him why I would get a ticket if I am a 1st shift employee parked in a 1st shift spot. He tells me that he doesn't have time to argue with me and I tell him I have all day for it.

So I walk back to my car and drive up to talk to him a little more(at this point I was planning to turn around anyway after talking to him and parking it back in the same spot.

I ask him why I have to move my car?

He says, "It is 2nd shift parking only."

I say, "No, go look at the sign."

It goes back and forth like this for about 2 minutes and then another security guard pulls up. I ask him, 2nd shift parking is only up to those signs right?

He says, "Yep, sure is, from these signs up here until those signs back there."

At this point the guy I was arguing with turned white, no small feat for a black American. The guy who drove up was explaining that the south side of the lot past those signs are for 1st shift and past the signs up to where they were standing was for 2nd shift.

I thank the guy and turn my car around and park it in the same exact spot. Get out and walk in, watching to see if the guy would even look at me. Not a glance. ;)

I am still a little torqued up about it but I am sure glad I was right. :)

So I have been using an awesome website called Fitness Journal to track weight loss, blood pressure, food intake, and daily exercise. It works awesome. You should try it if you are active or want to be more active. There are forums on the website where people interact with each other on weight loss goals and other fitness questions. It is really cool to see all these people interacting and sharing their goals.

There is a tour of Fitness Journal at fitnessjournal.com/tour.html. Take a look though it, it can track pretty much anything you do. Smoke and want to quit? Fitness Journal can help you there.

They have a cool Friends option where you can share parts of your fitness journal with other people, it can help keep you motivated even though you are not working out with them.

Are you a dorky runner who wants to track their shoes? You can do that too.

If you want to try it out send me an email or leave a comment and I can give you a free 30 day trial. It is worth trying this out, the charts and graphs will keep you motivated more than anything else. Become a friend on there and we can race across the US, Canada, or Australia. ;)

My Fitness Journal Map:




What's that? You are saying I am just doing this to try to get you to join? Nope, it is a great site and I just want to let people know about it. Give it a try. I have been using it for a month now and love it. See ya on there.

-pete

Background:
I have been looking for a comfortable pair of shoes for work and just traveling around. Being the somewhat eco-friendly person I am I figured I would try something that was a little more environmentally friendly. I went with the Simple Green Toe Loaf. Simple is a company that is owned by the same people who own Teva(nice!) and Ugg(wtf.), Deckers Outdoor. Even though they are the sister company to the Ugg-lys, I still gave them a shot.

First Impression:
They shipped quickly and I tracked them to my cube. Packaged in a small cardboard box with the shoe box inside it arrived in great shape. In the box were the shoes, some tissue paper, and a small sheet of paper letting me know Inspector A4 looked over my shoes. I pulled the shoes out and they had a cardboard toe piece to keep the shoe formed correctly. I pulled that out, took off my RacerLows and slipped one on, then the other. Very nice. My feet are happy so far.

They are super flexible with a great heal cup to hold your foot in place. No sloshing around in this shoe. The feel when walking is different than any other shoe I have owned except maybe a broom ball shoe. Since the soles aren't made of hard plastic and rubber they tend to sway when walking, but not in an uncomfortable way. I guess the only way I can really describe it is to tell you it is like walking around with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on your feet. I wouldn't wanna play hoops in these, your ankles will thank you.

My feet are generally pretty warm so having the jute uppers on these keep my feet pretty cool and the natural fibers allow my feet to breath. The removable foot bed is very thick and provides ample cushion to make these one of the most comfortable pairs of shoes I own.

Some concerns I have are how these are going to handle the winter here in MN. Will they hold up the the harsh conditions of Minnesota? Are my feet going to be really cold and wet? We will see.

After 9 Days:
Pros:
-Very comfortable
-Great service from Simple
-Easy on, Easy off
-Breathable

Cons:
-Stitching on the bottom are starting to wear(but the stitching looks purely ornamental)
-Price, $85 may be a little too much for these shoes, if they could hit the $60 range I think they would be about right.

Price: $85.00 USD
Shipping: Free
1-10: 8.5

Link:

Conclusion:
Give 'em a try if you are in the market for new shoes, Simple makes a few different Green Toe products in both boys and girls. Let me know what you think of yours.

-pete

Get out and vote for your favorite DFL candidate today! See ya at the polls!

Day 4 in my quest to provide you political information. Study this over the weekend to make an educated choice.

Links:
vote411.org - Voting Information for the State of MN
Candidate Information - See all you need to know about the candidates
Polling Place Locater - Find out where to vote.

Other Links:
Vote Smart - See how your elected officials voted
Fact Check - They full of shit?
Strib Election Guide
Pioneer Press Voters Guide

Now get out and vote Tuesday!

-pete

Day 3 in my never ending quest to provide you with slightly biased political information I today give you this:

U.S. Senate


Overview for Amy Klobuchar:
Grew up in: Plymouth, MN
Current Position: County Attorney, Hennepin
For: Leveling the playing field
Against: Crime
Website: http://www.amyklobuchar.com/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Klobuchar

Overview for Mark Kennedy:
Grew up in: Benson, MN
Current Position: Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, 6th District
For: 97% Bush
Against: Abortions
Website: http://www.markkennedy06.com/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Kennedy

Some of you have asked why I don't include 3rd party candidates, well this is easy, they are not likely to win. So there. Since these two have too much crap on their websites to weed through I give you the vote based on superficial crap.

Looks more like a man: Klobuchar
Better haircut: Kennedy
Best mudslinging ads: Kennedy
Probably does not have a slight case of Autism: Klobuchar
Better looking lawn sign: Tie
Better looking family: Kennedy
Likes to bike: Klobuchar
Younger: Klobuchar
Better wikipedia entry: Tie
Better blog: Klobuchar
Goofier shirts: Kennedy

Kennedy: 4
Klobuchar: 5
Tie: 2

I have Klobuchar winning this one but it looks to be a close race...

Hope this helps your decision,
Pete

Day 2 in my never ending quest to provide you with slightly biased political information I today give you this:

Governor of Minnesota


Overview for Mike Hatch:
Grew up in: Duluth, MN
Current Position: Attorney General
For: Middle Class
Against: Big Corporations
Website: hatch2006.org
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Hatch

Overview for Tim Pawlenty:
Grew up in South St. Paul, MN
Current Position: Governor
For: Lower Taxes
Against: Taxes
Website: timpawlenty.com
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Pawlenty

Since I can't find much on their websites that seems really interesting about their positions on stuff here is my analysis of their websites.

Better Looking Website: Pawlenty
Website has an annoying PDF to download: Tie
Picture Gallery: Tie
Cute Puppies in Picture Gallery: Hatch
Hot Daughters in Picture Gallery: Hatch
Scrolling text that sucks: Tie
Online Poll: Pawlenty
Website has a blog: Pawlenty
Using YouTube: Pawlenty
Better looking Lt. Governor: Hatch
Speeches on the site: Hatch

Pawlenty: 4
Hatch: 4
Tie: 3

This is going to be a close race...

Hope this helps your decision,
Pete