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As part of gearing up for doing the STP, a 202 mile race from Seattle to Portland that I’m going to do one day, I went to Cycle U for a bike fitting (I ride a Specialized Allez Elite Triple).

Lang was my fitter and he spent an hour and a half with me measuring this and that.

When it was all said and done this is what he did:

Moved cleats back 1.0 cm and saddle back 1.4 cm, dropped handle bar 2.0 cm for slightly more aggressive position. Cleat and saddle changes should give more power and efficiency while handlebar change should give more speed. Also added 2 shims to left show and 1 shim to right shoe to correct knee alignment.

Turns out my seat height was good. Wondering if I had the best seat, he said my stock Specialized seat was actually pretty good.

We also weighed my bike and it clocked in at 20 lbs 14 oz with saddle bag but without water bottles.

I’m looking forward to trying out the new fit on Wednesday morning before work assuming the rain lets up :).

My other recent bike expenditures have been:

• Cateye V2c computer w/wireless cadence and mileage
• Cycleops Fluid 2 trainer – got a brand new one half price on Craigslist!
• Second carbon water bottle cage
• Pearl Izumi arm warmers
• Performance knee warmers

I’d like to pick up a pair of gloves but I can’t figure out what a good pair would be. Also, my cycling glasses are all banged up and I could use a new pair of those too. One thing at a time though…

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Since my quick video of a Olive 8 condo unit was so popular I impulse bought a Flip Video MinoHD from Amazon. I ordered it Wednesday night and got it Thursday for only $3.99 shipping. Gotta love Amazon Prime.

I took it up to Steven’s Pass this past weekend but my videography skills were clearly lacking:

My first impressions are that the video is high quality when video on a computer and the interface is dead simple. However, the USB connector seems a little flimsy (it doesn’t use a cord, instead the USB connector hides in the device and then pops out when needed).

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Curious about how to design better web forms I bought Web Form Design by Luke Wroblewski from the publisher, Rosenfeld, because the book then would come with a PDF for the same cost as buying it from Amazon. I ordered the book almost a month ago and it still hasn’t arrived (it’s been chilling in Federal Way since August 26th.) They shipped it media mail which I guess is code for cheap as hell but may never arrive.

As someone who is an Amazon Prime customer and used to two-day shipping waiting almost a month for something to arrive is ABSURD.

I will never not order from Amazon again.

Update: Rosenfeld is re-sending the book.

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Saturday I bought Rob’s 1993 Land Cruiser and depleted his stock of LandCruisers down to 2. Fortunately the Bank Of Rob has not discontinued their liar loan sub prime products and I was able to use creative financing to get the deal done. Thanks Rob!

Anyone want to buy a beat up about to fall apart Neon that is currently lost in Wedgewood? :)

Saturday night we supported local hockey by watching the T-Birds win 6-4 and then supported the arts and Shunpike by drinking at LoFi:

Sunday with lots of help from Ming I took my boat of the water:

We had fun figuring out how to get the tow hitch installed, breaking and entering into a boat launch and getting lost in Bothell/Kirkland.

Anyone want to buy a 1998 MasterCraft Maristar?

A note on SUV ownership: I worry about owning a gas guzzling SUV and plan to assuage my guilt by first of all not driving it to work. Fortunately I live close enough that I can bike to work in five minutes, walk in twenty minutes or catch a bus that stops a block away. Secondly, I plan to buy some carbon offsets for the few miles I will put on the vehicle driving to the ski hill.

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I live beside a Ferrari and Maserati dealership; this is the view out my window:

So when Jeff mentioned that he had a voucher for free Omaha steaks if he test drove a Maserati we decided to have a small morale event. This week the two of us took an hour off work and took one of their new Quattroporte Automatic’s for a ride (this dealer gets 35 a year.) It was very Entourage with Jeff driving and me riding shotgun. Sadly the pre-defined route was through a school zone so I don’t think we ever got above second. However we did find out some trivia:

• The waiting list for a Ferrari here is 3-4 years
• You can’t test drive any of their Ferrari’s. But you can trade it in if you don’t like it
• There is an underground storage facility but it is very top secret. Apparently it houses A LOT of Ferraris for rich people whose garages are full
• Ferrari’s don’t really depreciate
• But you can get into an older one for $90k
• Jeff says all their prices are inflated but that makes sense in case they get a lotto winner walking in
• They’re considering opening a Bellevue location
• Most of their inventory is on Craigslist

How much longer until that IPO? Apparently with a 3-4 year waiting list we should reserve ours now. Turns out you don’t need to pay a deposit until four months before it ships.

The funny thing is that we took the bus back to the office. Ah, to dream.

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• Wood LED Clock – Maybe this is the designer alarm clock to go in my new condo
• ‘The Big One’ Is a Big Problem for Old Seattle Houses
• The Windows Shutdown crapfest – This is so true and totally happened in Media Center.
• Net nightclub entrepreneurs – Just wait…
• Second Life’s First Millionaire – I keep meaning to check this out, but who has time for video games?

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Nice.

Available at DormGear.

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One of these days I’ll get a new alarm clock… Perhaps this one, ON-OFF:

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Friday night I bought a used 56″ Specialized Allez Elite Triple (model year unknown) via Craigslist. It’s got an aluminum frame, carbon fork & seatpost and Shimano 105 components. I’m looking forward to ripping around Seattle on it this summer!

Now I just need to pick up some SPD pedals for it and I’m set (I’m baffled that there are two SPD systems, one for mountain bikes and one for road bikes. So in the interest of minimizing the number of shoes I have I’m just going to go with SPD for both my bikes, instead of SPD for my MTB and SPD-SL for my roadbike).

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Jenn-Air: Jenn-Air® 30″ Gas Downdraft Cooktop

Do you have a favorite indoor grill?

Update: I’ve learned that these indoor grills have larger than normal venting requirements potentially making it difficult to put in a renovated space or in a new development that was designed to support them.

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