Pages

Friday, February 29, 2008

cartoons in the morning

the boys got up early this morning and i found them watching playhouse disney. they were quiet as mice. maybe mickey was on.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

man, oh man

this kid is even crabby when he's sleeping. he crashed into our room last night. he knows how to open closed doors, and he always swings them open really hard, bashing the door onto the stops. normally, it's at 1:30-2:00 in the a.m. it's quite a wake up call. last night, though, we were still awake at 11pm and he crabbed and shuffled over to me, so i picked him up. he crabbed and pointed at mommy on the bed, so i laid him down there and he crabbed himself into an almost sleep. he crabbed more until i went downstairs to get him some milk....and then he kept mrs k and i up most of the night....good thing i had intervals to do this morning. love doing those on 2-3 hours of sleep.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

spring MUST be out there somewhere

the weathermen (and women, for the pc among you) say that the next couple of days will not be as bad as the last month has been. i'm hoping they're right. my seasonal depression is pegged right now. that little burst of sunshine this afternoon really put a spring in my step, though, and the promise of more is getting my attention.

my indoor workout tonight was a hard one. i think i'll be feeling it tomorrow when i do another hard workout...which i'll probably feel friday. maybe i'll just take some aspirin right now as sort of a preemptive strike.

mrs k is starting to think like a cyclist now. she's been checking out the race schedules and emailing the girls to see if she can get some teamwork for hillsboro. no sense in doing anything small, right? just jump in with both feet!

i wouldn't have expected anything less, to be honest. i don't guess she can be truly happy unless she is doing too much. why let anything like the half-marathon training get in your way of doing bike races? just do both!

oh, to be in 90 degree weather, on a dusty trail, sweating, thirsty, squinting through the bright sun, hoping for a breeze...that's what i'm talking about!

Orbea Occam

the simple answer is the best solution...all things being equal, of course. the orbea occam.

it has more travel than a cross country racing bike should have. 115mm in the rear with a travel adjust talas in the front (100/120/140) sounds much more like a marathon bike, but i'm not really worried about that. it still came in under 25 pounds with real tires and real parts, nothing to leave me stranded on the side of the trail.

and i really do love me some travel!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

bike crisis solved, start to season iffy

i've figured out my off-road racing bike for this season, although i'm pretty sure my season won't start this weekend.

it's no surprise that i don't like cold, wet, or muddy conditions. primarily, i ride and race because it's fun, and i don't find those conditions fun. so with the month or so of crappy weather, it is highly doubtful in my mind that it could be anything but a slop fest. the five days of the freeze/thaw cycle that will ensue between now and then is not going to make a great course out of the muck, regardless of the amount of vigor and excitement that the race promoter will be pumping.

i've been an outstanding critic concerning the early start to the race seasons that we seem to push here in the st. louis area. there is so much good weather late in the fall, yet the road racing really comes to a halt after the gateway cup, and the mountain bike races usually end mid october...no wonder everyone is chomping at the bit to start racing in march when it's still winter and wintery. the cross races are proof to me that we stop racing other disciplines too soon...cross has thrived the last few years, and has enjoyed 4 to 5 weeks of fantastic weather most of those years as it moves into the late fall.

no one really listens to me, and i'm sure plenty of people don't care one way or another if it's cold or warm or wet or dry. that's understandable. but i've stopped feeling bad about it; no more guilt, no more worry, no pressure from those that say "you gotta race!" i've raced enough races in my life to know what gets my motor running, gets the juices flowing, gets my heart racing...and it's not what's being offered up this coming sunday.

dirty rental cars

a couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law backed into the freestyle with her minivan. i've been reluctant to even say anything about it because i know how it is when you make a mistake with your car, and there is nothing to gain by making someone feel bad about it. even though her husband jim has been pushing me to make the most of this situation, i still don't believe in rubbing any salt in the wounds. the beautiful mrs k backed into her brother's car in the same driveway last year...it wasn't pretty. let's just blame the tight driveway and leave it at that.

so a dented door and fender meant that the freestyle once again had to go under the knife. you may recall last years trip to the body shop when a wayward man bashed the rear bumper whilst we were on our way to the movies. it seems the freestyle's body is a magnet for trouble. anyway, we dropped the star crossed minivan surrogate off at the body shop and went to enterprise to pick up a compact sedan to use during the rebuilding.

enterprise, although they may pick you up, doesn't clean up. as in clean up their cars. my rental was the stylish 2007 pontiac g6 four door gt. i've always liked the lines of the car; smooth, flowing, with tidy dimensions. after driving a couple of them, though, the gm of old comes through with fisher price interiors and turned me off. so, i wasn't expecting too much out of the silver rental. but, i got more than i expected. trash. dirt. the stench of cigarettes. no washer fluid. service engine soon light ablaze. only 28,000 miles, and it's kind of beat.

well, at least it doesn't cost much.

it is fun to drive, i think. it's got the 221hp 3.5 in it, so it gets out of the way quick. and it handles pretty good, although it has a healthy amount of torque steer. actually, i like driving it. i wouldn't want to live with it forever, but it's easy to overlook the cheap interior once underway.

now, if enterprise could just take care of their cars a little.....

Sunday, February 24, 2008

a different kind of racing

i had decided wednesday or thursday that i really wasn't motivated to race in the cold and wet of columbia, but i left myself a little wiggle room just in case i changed my mind. my mind was made up for me on friday when i got ill again. very feverish, very weak, a little sick to my stomach...what, the flu again?? i hoped into bed for 12 hours or so friday night and i was much better on saturday.

but the beautiful mrs k had caught the bug (not the flu, the race bug) and questioned whether or not she could do the race. i was a little surprised, but i just said let's go, i'll be the director sportif and she could be the team.

so after olivia got to the house to be the little monster's foreman for the day, deanna and i hightailed it to the store to get her bike. i swapped on my rol wheels with durable tires (which turned out to be THE ticket today) and took her expensive, ultralight r-sys wheels off. no sense in getting those wheels wet when the rols can, well, roll along for a quarter of the money.

i put the freestyle into hyperdrive and hit columbia about 11:30. i dropped deanna off at the door for registration (she's a USCF woman now!) and i wedged the beast into a parking space so close to karl stover that he and i could swap grey poupon quite easily. i got the diva ready (deanna's bike, not deanna), gave it a test ride, set up the trainer, and pinned on the numbers.

mrs k was quite nervous. i told her i know the feeling, and have known it for 29 years. she said she was sick to her stomach with nervousness, and i told her i was so sick for my first race that i couldn't eat for a day. there were THIRTY FIVE (yes, 35) cat 4 women. wow. that rocked. i gave mrs k a good luck kiss and off she went.

i drove backward on the course to the halfway point. i was pretty wigged out by the whole thing, hoping she wouldn't get hurt or crash. she had her phone with her, and i had mine out on the dash just in case. as i was waiting, our friendly neighborhood trek rep flatted right in front of where i was parked. i told him to get in and get warm and play director sportif with me. we cheered all the people on and when the girls came along, we cheered harder. deanna was doing great, having dropped the back 2/3's of the field after getting dropped by the first 8 or 9 girls. she was pulling along the juniors and a couple of old guys. it was pretty funny to watch her grunt on the front while this big, 6-4 guy sat behind her.

this situation lasted until the outer road, where she grouped with more women and it seemed like she would take it to them on the hills. she had already given me an earful about being cold (i suggested the days clothing, my bad) so it didn't surprise me when she fell back a little. chattin and i hung out the window and heckled her to go faster, stopping short of given her professional assistance from the motor vehicle. i jammed back to the finish area to watch her cross the line in fine form. she was cold and pretty crabby, but she finished 16th out of the 35 women. not bad at all for a first race! i told her that it would have helped had she not ran the 8 miles the day before...silly runners, this is a bikers world!

great day, makes me think of my first road race at froze toes, 18 years ago! (not as cold, and believe it or not, about half the riders that she had!) i'm very proud of her.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

buy my stuff!!

sram xo, fsa cranks, hutchinson tires...

right HERE!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

what a character


i put in both of these photos because i couldn't decide which one was more cute. the little bit of chocolate on the corners of his mouth are the only giveaway as to what he has in his mouth. i was trying to get him to smile so you could see all the chocolate on his teeth. it seems he has been quite the junk food junky today, only wanting to eat cookies and granola bars. he did eat a little bit of pasta and broccoli tonight for dinner.

THF Realty Orbea Orca

well, really it's my bike, but it looks a lot like what the THF bikes will look like. only mine is white and the majority of the riders will be riding the orange/copper color. i think dan and pete have white ones, too. i like the white, but the other color is really cool.
i put red on my bike. not because i'm too good for force, but because i wanted to try it. it sure is light. since the whole world is under a 1/2" of ice today, i was able to spend a little time perfecting the position of the shifters on the bars and cut the cables more to fit. did i mention it was light??

the 789

my brother in law sent these photos to me of a "789". it's a corvette c6 chassis that has been cooked up into a melding of the vintage 57-58-59 chevrolet two doors. i'm not wild about the color choice. in all black or some kind of 'rod red, this car would be stunning.
i have a place in my heart for classic styling coupled with modern technology. old cars are cool to look at but drive like panel vans. this is a way to have your cake and eat it too, although at $40,000 on top of you $40,000+ corvette donor car, that's one expensive cake.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

good dinner, another old friend returns!

although i had to wait quite a while to eat dinner tonight, it was good. i had to do a rather tough trainer workout, and i didn't want the food to revisit me, so i had to wait until afterward.

but mrs k did me right and had it still warm on the stove. that woman can bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan, i tell you! it was chicken, broccoli, and wild rice. normally, i would have skipped the chicken and ate more brownies later, but she did something extra special and it was goooooood. i'm just bored of chicken. hey, even manna became pretty boring after wandering the desert for a while, didn't it? well, mrs k knows i'm not a huge chicken fan, so she always does something special with it.

peanut butter fans rejoice! peter pan peanut butter, which has slowly made it back to the market after the recall last year, has finally reintroduced the honey roasted crunchy stuff. ohhhhhhh yeah. me and my mom used to sit and eat peanut butter from the jar with spoons when i was younger. she used to joke that as long as there was pb, she needed no other food. hanna will say every once in a while that she doesn't really like pb. i have to cover her mouth, so that my mom won't hear those words from above. i mean, what grand daughter of hers could say such a thing??

rosco approves of the shoes

the beautiful mrs k bought some brand new running shoes from ghisallo running. they are the bomb. rosco wholeheartedly agrees, and as you can see, he cannot contain his enthusiasm. as for the jammies he's laying on? he seems to be partial to the ones with footies.

dog baths

everyone had to get into the act of bathing the dogs. here, eli is directing the older kids on where to add soap and when to rinse.
hanna is so sweet. she felt sorry for rocky because he really doesn't like baths. he weighs more than she does.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

old friends

an old friend of mine paid me a visit at the store yesterday. kirk was a good friend of my good friend doug. doug used to tell me all kind of wacko stories about he and kirk, so i was friends with kirk via the transitive properties of friendship. i knew kirk before i ever met him!

just like all of us old dudes, he now has kids and lives more vicariously through his childrens' riding than he does his own. that's just the way things work, i guess. maybe we'll get to take on a mtn bike ride when the weather gets warm, and maybe we'll get doug to come along with us.

and i'm happy to say i've been getting reaquainted with another dear friend of mine, chris. he and the mrs are living the life in the mountains of colorado. somehow, he's talked himself into doing a brutal off-road race in july that no sane person has any business doing. i get excited talking about it, though there is no way in hell i'd sign up for something like that....it sounds like there will be sleeping outdoors involved and that's....just...wrong. chris is going to make it to st.louis in the spring and we'll build him up a mtn bike for the exploit, and after that he's getting married....which may actually be a bigger deal than that crazy race.

Monday, February 18, 2008

buy some duraace/ultegra on ebay

i have some shimano goodness on auction at ebay.

BUY IT HERE!

c'mon, you know you want it!

Spin Spin Spin

Monday morning is spin time during these cold months at Ghisallo. The crowd isn't large, but it is sweaty. Today, Shawn and Kevin joined us instead of braving the freak snow storm that blew through. Both had the second largest sweat puddles when we finished. The sweat puddle prize goes to the instructor.

It's the shoes, man, the SHOES!!!

The Sidi Ergo 2 shoes are hot. There's just no other way to explain it. Our man Devlin just had to have a pair, and these are his. But, along with every great pair of shoes comes great responsibility. Truly, one cannot wear hotness like this at the back of the pack. One cannot wear them while getting dropped on a group ride. So, what do you say, Devlin?

....he's probably busy training.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

frosty 5 mile

the beautiful mrs k busted out on saturday morning and ran the frosty 5 mile run at ghisallo running in ucity. there were over 300 people there, not bad at all for a first time event.

of course, being the competitive woman she is, she went out with the fast runners. and slowed down a bit. then a bit more. then finally to her own pace. i know the feeling. she had a good run, though, and was greeted sunday morning with an old friend...sore muscles.

the word on the streets is that she will RACE froze toes.

the search is on

i'm taking my time this go around. i'm doing my research. the next mtn bike i buy will be the bomb...at least for me. i'm tired of the revolving door of bikes. i don't get any better by switching bikes, and just because it's easy to do doesn't make it okey dokey.

it won't surprise anyone to know that i love trailbikes...and hardtails. i'm always left a little dry by the short travel racing bikes, even though i'm a xc rider by nature. i'd rather have a hardtail. i just have more fun, have more confidence, and i feel that i go faster when i have the bike working with me, i.e., more suspension....or just front suspension.

we'll see. i have my ideas....

Friday, February 15, 2008

mrs k's vacation


the beautiful mrs k has been on vacation this week. it's strange not having her at work. it hasn't been really busy, so we've gotten on with out her, but i miss her.


and wouldn't you know it, we've had to call her a lot. she told me she still feels like she's working because she's been in contact with almost everyone at the store during her "vacation". and of course, she had to drive all the way out to work today to do payroll. she brought eli and tyson with her.


tyson has the place figured out. he just grabs a bike and starts cruising the store for chicks. eli grabs my hand and pulls me around the store. the enormous brownie that mrs k bought me for valentine's day was still there, and eli spotted it.


"cake!" he said. ok, ok, i gave the little garbage disposal some cake.


"cake!" ok, have another bite.


"cake! cake! cake!" well i knew this was going to go badly. i checked on deanna to see if she had finished the checks. "cake! cake!" i certainly wasn't going to get any work done, what with having to feed the sta-puft marshmallow man. he was enjoying the brownie so much that i couldn't stop laughing at him. i'd have to take him to the drinking fountain every few minutes to wash down the chocolately goodness, then back to asking for cake he'd go.


finally, mrs k resumed her vacation and took tyson the chick-cruising bike rider and the sta-puft marshmallow man with her. and i got back to work, minus a lot of my brownie.

15.71 pounds

even though i have chased marty's weight weenie ways several times with the mountain bike, i have rarely bothered to work on my road bikes weight. usually, they end up right around 17 lbs. and that's light enough. my ill-fated litespeed was in the 16's, but a couple of rides on it were enough to help me figure out why it was light and i sold it.

the orca got the sram red treatment today. the thf team that i am so lucky to be a part of has a deal with sram to use their groups. i took advantage of that by diving into the catalogs and coming up with a mostly-red group. the exception was the cranks. they are hard to come by, and rival cranks are not. the rival's are also stiff, and, wouldn't you know it, cheap. it took a while to get the bike built, not being too familiar with some of the sram details. but it shifted right on the first try, and it felt pretty light.

and even though i chose the heaviest sram crank, once i put the orca together with the rol volant wheels....wow...15.71 pounds.

say again?

yes. i have a sub 16 pound bike. fully built. i have aluminum bars and stem and seatpost. no other carbon except the shifters. that says something about how light some of this stuff is getting. the orca frame is stiff, too, even by my dilusional standards. and the volants are the BOTTOM of the rol line. if i really tried (and i won't), i could get this thing into the 14's. that might make marty jealous...

i'm psyched!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

this came in the mail yesterday

i've been using a power tap for about 9 months now, and i'm hooked. since i wasn't sure at first whether or not i would use it, or even like it, i opted for the cheapest version, the pro. it's a little heavier, but only a 100 grams, and it is a typical wired computer. i even bought a matching front carbon power tap hub, so i could have a matched wheelset. they turned out reasonably light, too, considering the rear hub weight, partially because the front wheel turned out so light.

i have been threatening to get a wireless version, which is also lighter, since the first month or so of owning the pro. especially after a couple of my customers have ordered them. very, very slick units. i finally ordered one for myself. the driving force behind it was needing a 24 hole version to lace into my team ROL wheelset. and, of course, being black was the icing on the cake.

hot, hot, hot! i can't wait. yes, i'm a parts geek. i do be lovin' me some bike parts.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

and by the way...

...i'm going to be the emcee at the trivia night. i may bust out with my chris tucker impersonation! ok, maybe not.

but i intend to have as much fun with it as possible, so if you plan on going, scribble down some fun stuff for me to blurt out...you know, a little dirt on your mother in law or maybe a story that could throw off the competitors at the next table.

trivia?


i went to my first trivia night a few years ago with the beautiful mrs k and her family. i had never been to one, and i have to admit it sounded pretty much like bingo or like a card night for senior citizens. i ended up having quite a bit of fun, despite being smashed by some very bright people in the crowd. it's amazing what kind of questions come up, and how badly you answer them sometimes. just as amazing is actually answering some questions correctly. i've been to a few of them now, and the tables i have been at have actually managed to win a few rounds. i answer a mean 80's question, for sure.


mrs k and olivia have been working hard to get our own trivia night going at the store. it benefits the corky miller aspiring athlete fund and it will be more fun than bingo or canasta.
you never know what you know until you have to answer questions about it.

Monday, February 11, 2008

my way of thinking

for the past couple of years, i've been writing in this blog and having a lot of fun, and making fun of my self and my family and our good and bad times. rarely do i bring up controversial subjects, such as politics. i don't feel that this is the place for it, and there are plenty of places for people to read about that stuff, written by people who consider themselves experts on those subjects.

why would i bring this up? because i do worry a lot about our world. i worry about the economy, terrorism, the war, clean air, clean air scams, religious radicals, apathy, poverty, child abuse, spousal abuse, our wasteful society, intolerant people, thoughtless people, unhealthy lifestyles, gun control or lack of it, our broken political process, rich versus poor, job outsourcing, the global economy and what it means, immigration, health care...the list goes on and on. and like most of you, i have views on most of the things i worry about.

some of my stances are liberal, and some of my stances are conservative. i have never in my life taken a side because it goes along with "liberal" or "conservative" idealogy. i try to learn about things that worry me, and take a side based on what has been presented. in the absence of full truth, one can only go on what information can be gathered. sometimes, i can't take a side. other times, i have to take a side based on my feelings, which i'll admit can be dead wrong.

which brings me to my point....

it is very hard for me to identify with the presidential candidates. it is very hard for me to identify with the political parties. hell, if i do try to identify with a particular issue, the world would have me stand on one side of a line or another and label me as a liberal or a conservative with no hope of being saved by the other party!

what if i support some type of gun control? i'm labeled as a socialist liberal who wants to take away peoples rights.

what if i'm a christian? the i MUST be a conservative.

...and if i'm a liberal then i MUST hate God.

what if i support upholding the immigration laws to secure our borders? then i'm a right wing conservative who is probably a closet racist.

what if i support our soldiers? i'm a war mongering conservative.

what if i'm against the war? i'm a hippy who just wants to lay down and let the terrorists take us apart.

hold on...what if i support our soldiers but am against the war?? i must be an idiot.

what if i supported the first gulf war and afganistan, but am against the current iraq war? i must be a flip-flopper.

i don't know about you, but i hate being painted into a corner. life is not black and white. it's grey. there are two sides to every story, and i think it's worthwhile to learn about both rather than blindly follow some stark, hardline ideology. i start cringing when i turn on the radio and listen to both ends of the political spectrum tear into the other. and each side is convinced that the other is leading us down the path of doom.

the kaiser calmed me down the other day during one of my rants by reminding me that, no matter who is elected this coming fall, the world will not come to an end.

i worry a lot. i sure hope he's right.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

c-c-c-cold sunday

saturday, the wind blew and the ground was damp, but it was warm enough for me to go off-roading and for the beautiful mrs k to go on her long run. sunday, not so much. it was 20 degrees or so after church, so our only choice was to hit the trainers together. it's nice because i get awful bored in the basement by myself. deanna was draggin' at first, being tired from her run yesterday. but she perked up to do some speedwork with me while we watched freestyle skiing on tv, then switched to the 2000 tour video. mrs k was close to losing her lunch in the first half of the workout, but kept it under control til the end. she's a trooper.
i crept around the pillar in the livingroom with the camera to catch a shot of eli, who was supposed to be going to sleep on mrs k's lap. instead, he caught me, and before the flash went off, he was already saying "cheeeeeeeeeeese!" it looks more like deanna is going to sleep than eli, eh?

fish tacos are good


the kaiser and i have been threatening to go out and eat mexican with the wives for quite some time. we did just that saturday night.

the beautiful mrs k called a sitter and the kaiser and cindy met us at our humble abode. down to soulard we drove, to our new favorite mexican place, chavas. the wait was longer than usual because the place was packed, but we gabbed a while to pass the time. once we sat down, gobbled some chips and salsa, and ordered drinks, it was go-time for food.

i'm a creature of habit. i usually stick with something i really like. usually, it's the tacos, or even the enchilladas. but the soze's ordered fish tacos. i haven't indulged in the fish taco since back in the flaco's tacos days. i busted out with the fish tacos too and i've never been happier. wow, they were good.

since all of us were old and sane...well, maybe mrs k can't be called old, but she is pretty sane most of the time...we didn't drink the night away or party till the break of dawn. we just talked a little more to politely digest the meal and called it a night. i mean, what more can you do when your stomach is THAT full??

riding at the 'wood

i have been busting to go off roading for a while now. saturday morning, i loaded up the homegrown and took to the hills.

i knew the ground wasn't going to be dry. i was a bit surprised that it was as dry as it was. i climbed ranger station, took the roller coaster clockwise, then came back up grotpeter and back down ranger station. i did that loop three times, then went all the way down grotpeter downhill and climbed back up for good measure. i ran into a few slick/wet spots that totalled about 100 yards while on the roller coaster. i coasted slowly through those sections, both to minimize splatter and my own impact, and it ended up pretty nice. my bike wasn't trashed and i got a good workout.

the park was surprisingly dead. there was only one or two other cyclists there. probably just as well. lots of the park was soaked.

now i have the off-road bug even worse.

are you cold, buddy?

wow. that's some deep undercover action. i wanted to get under the covers with him and take a nap, too.

Friday, February 08, 2008

the Tata----

----proof positive that cheaper is not better.

i predict:
1) no stars in crash testing
2) a number of tv and movie celebrities will be desperate to be seen in one
3) a resurection of yugo nostalgia

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

this still makes me laugh out loud


forgot one

stefano's evo
---------------
my thf teammate has an evo. his is no ordinary evo, if there is such a thing. dan sent me a dyno sheet graphing the power that his beast is making. over 400hp to the wheels! that's a lotta power, baby. i bet it runs like a scalded cat!

got my license today!

i finally have a racing license.

i signed up last year at the webster crit for a new uscf/norba license and it never came. i emailed usacycling and got an answer....sort of.

the mail said that my copy wasn't signed or something lame like that. i told them to mail it back and i'd sign it. no dice.

so when i went to sign up again (online this time!) it said i was suspended. yeah, right. i called and the lady said "oh, try now, you should be fine...."

egads. it shouldn't be that hard to get set up, should it?

anyway, i'm glad i'm all legal like, and my license actually has my correct team! rock on!

Need some Wheels for your MTB?

BUY THESE i built them all by myself!

4 cylinders? well...

my friend ryan stopped by the store today and we talked a bit about his breathing issues and some related cycling stuff. we both decided that airways issues pretty much suck. we both agreed that neither of us would ever be able to keep up with some of our local cycling downhill legends. and he told me i should get with the program and start featuring some 4 cylinder turbo cars instead of my usual pantera's and assorted v8 favorites.

say what?? why, that would be....crazy. i mean, there are tons of blogs and websites out there that feature the best in import whacko mania. i feel that i'm doing a service to those of us that still think the rumble of an outdated, overweight machines is music to the ears.

that's not to say i don't like a lot of cars. on the contrary, i like most cars. as a matter of fact, if my old habits didn't get in the way, there are a few four cylinder turbo cars that would be on my list of fun things to own.

volvo turbo wagons. especially a T5 R. a good enthusiast following, stout construction, and i could even fit the whole family. this doesn't fit perfectly into the mold, because volvo has inline 5 cylinders with turbo's, but whose counting?
of course, what enthusiast would be worth his salt without the subaru? specifically, the sti? talk about a tuners dream. styling is subjective, but i still like it, and it can take what you dish out.

i'm a closet vw fan. the gti has been a favorite of mine since the 80's when it was a rabbit with cool stuff. probably the only cars on earth that have as much of a fan following as mustangs are the civic and this car....and this one comes with a turbo. tons of aftermarket. original build quality makes me a bit wary, but as a project fun car, it's a good one.


and no turbo 4 list would be complete without the neon. normally, i wretch at the thought of a neon. but the chrysler folks thought enough about the srt4 to say that it was an srt4, not a neon. good enough for me. this car goes from rucous 4 cylinder ripper to absolute tuner car madness with just a short list of modifications.
i'm no one trick v8 pony.



Sunday, February 03, 2008

sorry, patriots.....

you lose. congratulations to the new york giants.

hanna's birthday extravaganza

even though i couldn't participate with my black plague, the kids had a great time on hanna's birthday weekend. here is a snowman they built early on saturday. they used my m&m's for the eyes and mouth. hey, are those my gloves, too??
later, the beautiful mrs k took hanna and tyson and friend paige on a shopping spree. note diva-esque personna.

the obligitory sour face ordeal. deanna thinks it's so funny to have the kids eat lemons and laugh at the faces they make. yeah, it's cruel. tyson's face gets so scrunched up it almost disappears.



paige looks like she may hurl. the sour face might not be her best event.

hanna goes big and hits a high note on the sour face competition.




they pile back into the car after picking up eli from kevin and katie's. this is not the way i ask them to board the SS Freestyle.





once home, i get myself out of bed in time for the candle blowing out thing. the crew made this cake earlier in the day. it's carrot cake, by hanna's request. eli looks like he is going to blow something, too....






hanna shoved her face in the cake. it was the strangest thing i've ever seen her do. she just plopped her face right into the cake. at least the icing was good.







Friday, February 01, 2008

Pantera du jour

this interesting blue pantera is a '73. very simple body, lacking wings and flared fenders.
a bit modern on the wheel choice, i think, but you gotta love the wide-track rear anyway. and the rear view of a pantera is second to none.

black rubber bumper seems out of place. or maybe not. since it's expected on most early pantera's, i don't mind it.



side shot. almost as good as the rear view. but not quite.


in living color

fox was just a fledgling network in 1990 when "in living color" came on. the best thing about fox in those days was it's penchant for daring new shows...like the simpsons. and my favorite, in living color. the wayans brothers, jamie fox, jim carey, tommy davidson, pretty much my favorite comedians.
jamie fox had my favorite character of the whole show, wanda. wanda was a devastatingly ugly tramp who was convinced everyone loved her and her power over men was toxic. it was, but not in the way she thought.

tommy davidson was her usual victim. i think she pulled a gas can out in this scene so that tommy couldn't escape her with the "i need to get gas" excuse.


i checked out the net a little and came up with the killer video of an entire sketch with jim carey playing dracula. take the time to watch all of it. after all, wanda got chew!