Okay, I've saved the best for last for what I got for Christmas. My favourite gift this year was from @lork, who I ride the train with. Given our recent loss of Fuzzy, she thought this was the perfect gift for me, and it is! It's now on the glass display shelves in my office. To make it even better, it's filled with Hershey's Kisses. Chocolate is always the perfect gift. She was off this past week, so I haven't had a chance to give her her gift, which pales in comparison, but that I think she'll get a kick out of.

The lower picture is of an advent calendar that my other half's aunt and uncle sent us. The card that was with it inside the box said not to wait to open it, but you had to open it to get that instruction. I should explain that both of them have PhDs. The calendar is filled with Harry London chocolates, which I hadn't had before, but are simply delectable!

And that pretty much sums up the Christmas haul.

Still working on the jeans, but here's some of my other Christmas spoils.
Let me explain this in chronological order. Back in October, @dreapuff noted that she got a bonus, got the biggest paycheck of her life, and did a little shopping. Well, about the same time, the same thing happened to me. I'm guessing the bonus was a bit bigger -- it was certainly the biggest bonus I've ever gotten, but it wasn't outrageous. Just a good show of appreciation for all the crazy hours I'd been working and how much I'd gotten done, which made me feel really great because I've just taken to having a job well done be its own reward, but to have it be actually recognized by more than a pat on the back was great. Since I've started riding my bike for fun, I wanted to get a road bike, but I didn't know what to get because I knew what I wanted, but I couldn't afford anything close to it. Suddenly with my bonus, I went hunting on Craigslist and found the beauty you see in the middle picture there: Specialized Tarmac Comp -- pure carbon frame, mostly Ultegra components, with wonderful Easton wheels, for a price I could afford with my bonus, so I got it. A couple weeks later, my other bike got totaled (see my earlier posting on that), so I've been commuting on this ever since.

Today being New Years Eve, I was actually able to escape work early, so I used the opportunity to bike from work about half the way home to catch my train in Pleasanton. I've done that a couple times before, both times taking Niles Canyon, which is scenic, but the traffic is heavy and the road narrow in places. Most other cyclists who have gone from the South Bay to Pleasanton recommend Calaveras, so I finally tried that today. This was my route:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Moffett+Blvd,+Mountain+View,+CA+94043+(NASA+Ames+Exploration+Center)&daddr=37.494473,-121.832886+to:Pleasanton+Station&hl=en&geocode=FW_ROgIdg225-CmDGiQ2W7ePgDEraVxPUvPlWg%3B%3BFWGfPgIdqjm8-CE3vKtyVtfMPw&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=11&via=1&dirflg=w&sll=37.529876,-121.969528&sspn=0.342511,0.727158&ie=UTF8&t=p&ll=37.543216,-121.861038&spn=0.342451,0.727158&z=11
The clime was excruciating, especially with my backpack. I had to hop off a few times. On the way up, I saw this picturesque site on the bottom photo. Finally I made it to the summit (pretty much at the South end of the zig-zag) and it was rolling hills from there. The scenery was gorgeous! The pic at the top shows the valley I was riding alongside.

Which brings me to what I was actually wearing. For Christmas, my in-laws got me the black radiator bib tights from Performance Bike, along with a gift card. They also gave me pair of radiator tights without the bib, so I returned those and used the gift card to buy the long sleeve jersey you see here, along with the nice warm wool socks I'm wearing, some warm gloves (which I wasn't wearing because they're too warm), a blinky headlight to use in addition to my bright headlamp (to get the attention of drivers), and a better (brighter) blinky taillamp. I'm also wearing my new helmet that I replaced the one that got busted up by the car with, Oakley M-frame sunglases, and Sidi Dragon shoes. The outfit is really warm, so I was sweating up the climb, thinking I really picked the wrong thing to wear, but once I got past the summit, the sun started getting occluded by the clouds and it cooled off, so I was really comfortable on my way down. Once I actually got stopped, I started to get cold.

Anyway, it was a really beautiful commute, and I'll probably be doing it again, especially as the days get longer.

Happy New Years everyone!

This is the followup on my jeans dilemma. If you haven't read Part I (the post immediately before this one on this Blogazine), you should do so first. Based on all the great feedback there, I bring you the same jeans with sneakers and three dark shirts:

1. The first is a plain, black, well fitted shirt. The picture here shows off the flaring effect as seen from the side as the legs hit the foot.
2. The second is a less-fitted, longer, perhaps more appropriate shirt to go with the jeans. Miss Fuufie insisted on getting in on the WIW action.
3. The third is a 2XL shirt that I'm just swimming in -- that's a modern 2XL, not a 2XL from 15 years ago which would be called an XL today. It was a gift from a friend who knew I would appreciate the humor in the Gaslamp Strip Club, which is a Steakhouse in San Diego (look at the full-sized pic to get the joke).

Additional thoughts?
Thanks everyone!

Okay Kaboodle Friends, I need some help. I'll get to more details of Christmas in the near future. Right now my concern is these jeans, which my honey got me from Buckle. I'm jazzed to find something in my size other than plain ole Levi's, but they're in a boot cut, and I'm not sure how well that suits me. I'm wearing my brown Ecco's, which is a typical boot for me. Sure, I have a pair of cowboy boots, but I couldn't tell you the last time I pulled them on. When I was a kid, we would have called these bell bottoms and laughed at anyone wearing them. They're also a fairly low rise, so with a shirt like the one I'm wearing from J Crew (one of my faves), my shorts are showing when I sit down.

I haven't taken the tags off yet, because I'm not sure I'm going to keep them. What do you think?

Last night we said good-bye to Fuzzbucket after one final short battle with his UT disorder. This post will be short --well, shorter than it could be -- because it's hard to write anything without balling some more. My wife adopted him and his brother before we met, and they took an immediate liking to me when I met them. Over time Fuzzy became my kitty: where his brother would curl up with mommy, Fuzzy curled up with daddy.

Fuzzy knew that black will always be the new black. He probably preferred curling up with me because of all the black I wear (yes, historically I've been fairly boring in what I wear). Today I'm wearing our favourite shirt: my CodeWarrior shirt, which is the same one I'm wearing on the homepage of my website -- just much older and worn now.

Fuzzy's nickname was Houdini, because he could get into or out of anything: unlock and open doors, the hamster cage, turn on faucets, you name it. He liked to open doors and then sit there next to it until you came in and then look up at you like, "Just wanted to let you know I can, anytime." He managed to do this because he had opposable thumbs: they aren't just for primates anymore! I'm serious, he could take his thumb and wrap it into his other digits to pick something up.

Besides his parents, Fuzzy is survived by his brother and littermate Furrball, and his sister Fuufbrain. We rescued Fuffy nine years ago when Fuzzy got really sick and we thought we were going to loose him, since Furry has never been alone -- in fact, my wife had to adopt both because they couldn't stand to be separated when they were at the shelter together. For almost her entire life, Fuufie has been evil kitty. In fact, she's the only feline at the vet with a red file, meaning handle only under sedation. She got upgraded from the red label ("handle with extreme caution" -- this is what most guard/police dogs have) not after sending two vets and five vet techs to the ER for stitches, but when she got loose at the vet, cornered a rottweiler and made it cry. She has never wanted love -- at least not from anyone other than Furry, which is the reason we got her. After we got home last night and now this morning she's been uncharacteristically loving, like she has suddenly realized that her purpose in life has come.

I don't think words can express how much I'll miss Fuzzy. He was my baby. I haven't felt this much grief since loosing my kitty just before leaving for college. I find a little consolation in the fact that he was an old man, had a full, rich, and well loved life. He wasn't the most sociable cat, but once he got to know you, you had a friend for life.

PS: Boy -- my posts have been depressing lately -- sorry about that! I promise to post something much more fun soon!

Okay, I've started playing catch up on my Kabacklog, but something happened last night that I had to share with everyone. As regular readers of this blogazine or viewers of my lists, comments, etc are probably aware of by now, I commute by bike, about 20 miles round-trip every day (plus another 120 miles by train). Well, on the last leg of my commute last night, riding from the train station home, I was cruising along just a couple blocks from my house and this guy made a left turn right into me!

There was a moment that I saw him start to turn and thought, "I hope he sees me," and the next moment I thought, "nope, he doesn't and a collision is unavoidable. How do I want to do this?"

My life did not flash in front of my eyes, I just concentrated on minimizing damage to my body. To that end, there was something of a conscious decision to go over his car instead of under it. The front of my bike went right into his front bumper and snapped my new fork (less than a year old) in half (first picture). I kept going across his hood and my helmet went right into his windshield (second picture). I made an effort to not tense up, because that just compounds injuries. I rolled off and collected my wits: yes, I was still alive. No severe pain. Still feel all my extremities. No bones sticking out. Was able to sit up -- not paralyzed. Able to stand... just some bad road (hood) rash that still hurts like the dickens.

The guy that hit me was just 18 -- said to the nice officer who came to fill out the report that he didn't even see me there (which, with my headlight, means he wasn't even looking at the road). I think he was more shaken than I was, given that seemingly out of nowhere he had this bicyclist flop off of his windshield. He probably thought he killed me at first.

Given all the riding I do, getting hit by a car kind of seems like an inevitability, so I'm glad I ended up as well as I did. My bike, of course, is another matter, and my new road bike isn't ready to go yet (posting on that in the near future). I'm on my way home to take the remains into the bike shop to get a repair estimate, assuming it's not a total loss.

In any case, the key point is that I'm bruised, but not broken. That's something to give Thanks for.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!