Since my last post I've been to KY for the annual TOSRV ride and friend-visiting ritual, and may have good job news.
KY Visit
My KY visit went without a hitch, except that it cost me a fortune to send my bike for the TOSRV ride. This was due to the fact that I couldn't manage to get the pedals off either of my bikes, which is a pre-requisite to packing a bike for shipping. Of course, I've never had a problem with this before, and the only reason I can come up with is that I'm the guy that had installed the pedals every year before. Both bikes had pedals installed by a dealer this year, and I couldn't get either set off - go figure. So, I had to take the bike to the shop to have them take a stab at it (successfully). This made me a day late shipping the bike, and thus I had to pay $150 rather than $50 for shipping. Nice.
Anyway, once in KY everything went smoothly. Steve and I got in a good ride in the countryside on Thursday, and headed up to Columbus on Friday. Rich didn't join us in Columbus this year, since he couldn't get both weekend days off. The plan was that he'd meet us in Portsmouth on Saturday night, and do the return ride to Columbus with us. Anyway, we got a hotel very near the start of the ride this year, which was great. What wasn't so great is that the somewhat-fancy pasta place we ate at for dinner charged me $16 for my custom-ordered pasta with olive oil and garlic (which I could swear contained neither). They had meat-oriented pasta dishes on the menu for less. Whatever.
TOSRV day one (Saturday) went smoothly. We did have to fight a cross/headwind most of the day, but it wasn't too terrible. We managed an average of 18.2 for the 100-mile trip down to Portsmouth. Not too bad considering the headwind and lack of involvement in any big pacelines.
Saturday night was great. Richard drove up with his wife (and my old friend) Pashia, and another old friend of mine, Dana. We were also joined by Bob, who's been doing the ride since the early days, and now does the half-TOSRV. We went to our favorite dinner place, the "Pizza Pub" and pigged out.
Sleeping arrangements at TOSRV are always the floor (usually in the gym) of any number of local schools. This year was no different. We always try to set up outside the actual gym, since that's Snore Central and to be avoided at all cost. Of course, our group always creates a Snore Satellite wherever we set up, but that's beside the point.
I had the best night of sleep I've ever experienced at a TOSRV. This, despite the fact that the lights never went out in our little corner of the school. This year, I only woke up every two hours, and got at least 6 hours of sleep total. This was a godsend.
TOSRV day two went swimmingly - almost literally. All was well until about 13 miles outside of Columbus, when the skies opened. We were soaked within 5 minutes. The downpour didn't last all that long, but it was pretty intense, and the rain was stinging. I guess this was our punishment for having cross/tailwinds all day. We registered a 19.3mph average for the day.
Most of the day Monday was spent with my Mom - after all, Sunday was Mother's Day. We caught up a bit, looked at pictures, etc. Then she put me to good use moving furniture. She's got so much stuff that moving furniture is like playing one of those tile games where you slide the pieces around to get them into order: "lessee, in order to get that there, we gotta move that over there, then this here, etc., etc.". Monday night I was treated to another cook-out by Rich and Pashia (this is a yearly event). All my friends were there, except Tony who called to say his mouth wouldn't shut, and did we think that was a problem? We agreed that it had never been a problem for him before.
Lousville Visits
This year I made it up to L'ville, where most of my good college buds live. I headed up early Tuesday morning to catch breakfast with Arch, whom I hadn't seen in about 10 years. He's the owner of his own business (which he's now planning to sell). He's the most flexible, daring dude I know when it comes to life changes. He'll take on stuff I wouldn't even consider, like moving to a place where he's got no job, has bought a house he's never seen in person, with a new baby in tow, etc. Anyway, it was great catching up with him.
After breakfast with Arch, I had scheduled lunch with Darrell, the owner of the record store I worked at when I was in college (Recordsmith, in Richmond, KY). It had been at least 15 years since I'd seen him. I had some time to kill, so I dropped into Guitar Emporium on Bardstown Road and played a few nice instruments. I also dropped into the Better Days music store where I picked up a used copy of Pat Metheny and John Scofield's CD I Can See Your House From Here. Finally, lunchtime arrived and I met up with Darrell. We'd agreed to meet at Lynne's Paradise Cafe on Barrett. This is a funky place that's truly one of a kind. Oh yeah, the food was great, too.
Darrell and I caught up over lunch, and then went geocaching. This is Darrell's latest obsession. As a matter of fact, Darrell was the #1 geocacher in the world at one time, and was sought out by royalty and heads of state the world over. Well, at least the part about being #1 is true. This was my first foray into geocaching, and I was intrigued enough that I'm now seriously considering buying a GPS. I figure I can combine cycling with geocaching somehow, someway. Visit the geocaching site to learn more about it.
While in L'ville I was kindly hosted by my ex-college-floormate Henry and his wife Lisa. Their 6-year-old daughter Paige graciously gave up her room for me. Her only concern was that I had a beard, and also that I might drool on her pillow. Drooling, beaded dudes are clearly not in her future. Her parents assured her that I'd be using sheets other than her own, and so she shouldn't worry (too much).
Wednesday I flew home. Home sweet home.
Job Situation
When I left for vacation I was gig-less. My project at BEA had ended (well, I'd rolled off of it, anyway), and there were no real prospects. Lo and behold, on my return, I find that BEA wants to hire me in as a full-time employee. This is a cool development, even though I'd like to remain in consulting work. We worked out a very nice compensation package, and I'm just waiting for a formal offer at this point.
