Monday and Tuesday I worked from home and Tuesday was my exciting birthday celebration.  We started off with dinner at Another Monkey Thai.  They don’t answer their phone ever and the only way to get reservations that stick is through open table but it’s a good restaurant and I liked it a lot and would recommend them regardless of how disorganized they are.  From there we headed off to Designing Women Live!  Which is drag queens reenacting Designing Women episodes verbatim.  It was hilarious but fell shy of awesome.  The Suzanne and Charlene characters were hilarious but the Julia and Mary Jo’s weren’t as funny and it really showed.  Still, I liked it a lot and will happily go back.  Apparently they’re doing Rosanne next.  Wednesday I came down into Market mid day and then I hung out with Mr. Chris after work and then headed home Mission to 2nd to Market to 17th to Ord and home for dinner.  I’ve been working from home today.

Here are some awesome pics of the best thing I got for my birthday this year.  Mr. Chris and David got me this amazing Hello Kitty soap dispenser that will have an honored place in my bathroom until my dying day.  It’s so cute!  I love it long time:

I started cooking for my birthday party on Sunday.  We have pickled shrimp!

Bike Mileage:

Today 7.0 Week to date 7.0 Month to date 117.5 Year to date 5,376.4 To Goal 2,623.6 Over (Under) plan 203.8 YTD Mileage vs Last Year 1,013.0 Rolling Year 6,457.0 Since Inception 10/1/07 39,303.3

Saturday we went out to lunch with Daniel which was pretty awesome.  We went to Parallel 37 in the Ritz Carlton and it was lots of fun.  Daniel’s missing my birthday stuff because of Burning Man (Boo!) and he wanted to see us before our birthdays.  Delighted!  After, we headed to Costco where we bought a seemingly huge quantity of meat for our new freezer.  Mr. Poe was lickin’ his chops….

Sunday we ran a CAT2 reunion ride out of Sports Basement.  I’d been looking forward to it all month and it’s was lots of fun although I’d hoped we’d get a few more riders.  Here’s Alvin, Jenn and Buz ready for action:

Jenn’s got a new dog!  They’re calling her Maya and she’s sweeter than a cake made out of pie:

Lee’s a new TRL and lead the safety speech:

We headed over the Golden Gate Bridge and I got some pics of the crazy fog when we got into Sausalito:

We headed into Tiburon and then around Paradise Loop.  Then we headed over Camino Alto and then into Mill Valley for lunch at Cafe Del Soul.  Here are some happy people after their lunch:

I headed home and got cleaned up.  We had dinner and I went to bed early.  Fun day!

Bike Mileage:

Today 56.6 Week to date 94.3 Month to date 110.5 Year to date 5,369.4 To Goal 2,630.6 Over (Under) plan 262.6 YTD Mileage vs Last Year 1,053.7 Rolling Year 6,475.1 Since Inception 10/1/07 39,296.3

Tuesday I came into work down Market around lunchtime and then headed home 2nd to Howard to 11th to Folsom to 18th to Diamond to 17th to Ord and home.  Mr. Poe was in the office that day and I didn’t want to leave the girls too long so I worked from home the rest of the afternoon. 

Wednesday I worked from home and kept and eye on everybody.  Mr. Chris and David came and got the girls on that night  It’s great to have the house a little emptier but I’m gonna miss them as will Rufus and, surprisingly, Mimi.  Ashley Jr. on the other hand was delighted to see them go and has been strutting around the house like the ruler that he is.  All hail the Archpoodle of Poodlebury!

I’ve been uploading a lot of my personal photographs to facebook thinking that if they house burned down I’d still have them.  Here’s a couple of things I came across.  This is me finishing the Big Ride Across America in 2003.  Those things across my legs are tan lines.  Discuss:

I somehow have lost all of my pics from my cross country trip in 2006 that weren’t on this blog so all I had were those.  This is me at the finish near Savannah:

Thursday I came into work  Market to Laguna to McAllister to Polk to Pacific to Powell to Clay to Sansome.  I headed home for lunch and then after work I went and visited with Mr. Chris.   Tonisha was delighted to see me but Sofi was suspicious.  She definitely considered our house a downgrade from Mr. Chris’s and is still nonplussed.  I’ll win her over again just you wait and see.  I rode home Folsom to Main to Howard to 11th to Folsom to 17th to Ord and home for dinner.  I watched some Scooby after dinner and then I went to bed early.  At last.

Monday I had to go into the office all day so Mr. Poe was tasked with taking care of our slightly demanding houseguests.  And he wasn’t happy about it.  Here are the ladies:

I came into work Market to Laguna to McAllister to Polk to Pacific to Powell to Jackson to Columbus to Clay to Sansome.  I headed home for lunch and noted we’d had a special delivery.  Our friend John gave us a commercial freezer which we’ve parked in the laundry/bike room.  I’m looking forward to buying huge quantities of things at Costco.  Here’s Mr. Poe showing off his freshly tidied laundry room:

Here’s the freezer:

And the view inside.  It’s going to be very, very handy come the holidays:

I headed home after work 2nd to Howard to 11th to Folsom to 18th to Eureka to 17th to Ord.  We had dinner and Mr. Poe headed to bed down in the guest room with Mimi because I can’t take the sofa bed in the living room another night.  Everything was going well until about 9:30 when the power went out.  I got ready for bed by candlelight and then watched a movie on my phone. 

Bike Mileage:

Today 16.1 Week to date 16.1 Month to date 32.3 Year to date 5,291.2 To Goal 2,708.8 Over (Under) plan 315.9 YTD Mileage vs Last Year 975.5 Rolling Year 6,396.9 Since Inception 10/1/07 39,218.1

Sunday morning I played with the new saucepan I’d gotten at Macy the day before.  I made a classic brown sauce and it happily simmered away for three hours and was much less fuss than the last time I’d made it and the end result looked better as well.  That sauce doesn’t get used by itself so much but it’s the base for other things — sauce robert, sauce diablo, and sauce madame poe which is kind of a french version of wow wow sauce.

Sauce Madame Poe

1 medium onion, chopped
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup white wine
1 cup Sauce Brune #1 from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking
2 tablespoons mustard
1/4 cup cream
3 tablespoons butter or 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Fresh pepper

Cook the onion in the butter until translucent.  Add the wine and cook it down until it’s reduced to about 1/4 cup liquid.  Add the brown sauce and stir it in and then add the mustard and stir that in.  Add the cream and let it simmer and thicken.  Just before serving, add the butter or cheese and some pepper if you’d like.  Mr. Poe likes this on meatloaf and I’ve seen him use it as a pasta sauce and enjoy that very much.  Bon Appetit!

After lunch we ran errands.  We dropped crap we don’t need off at community thrift and then took cooking oil to be recycled to Rainbow grocery.  Then we headed over to REI to pick up my bikes.  My cannondale was getting a tune up and they had my commuter as well.  The commuter needed a little more loving on the drive train.  The old parts are considerably more difficult to tune and maintain and my hat is off to them for doing such a great job.  And look at the fantastic job they did on the Cannondale–  I can’t believe how great it looks.  They do such great work at REI and I highly recommend them.  Check it out:

We headed home and got ready for dinner.  Mr. Poe had pasta and meatloaf with the above mentioned sauce and enjoyed it quite a bit.  Then he went to bed early for some reason.

Saturday I had training ride leader training for the 2013 Lifecycle.  I’m honestly not sure how many more Lifecycles I’ve got in me because I’ve been doing it for so many years and between the fundraising, the ride, and all the training rides I lead it’s such a commitment and I just don’t know how many more years of this I’ve got in me.  Last year, when I asked my friend John Hershey if he was riding he told me that he’d ‘retired from the Lifecycle’ and I definitely see myself doing that.  I’m signed on for this year which will be my 9th ride and I can’t imagine not doing it 2014 because that would be my 10th but after that I wonder. 

It was great fun seeing everybody at training.  David was helping out with it:

Robert and Buz:

I headed home after and had lunch and then Mr. Poe and I went to Union Square and to go to Macy.  We needed a few things for the kitchen.  We got new saute pans and I’ve finally gotten a sauce pan big enough to handle those complex french sauces I’ve been working on lately.  I’ve been making them in the le creuset but it’s way too wide and the sauces reduce too quickly and things really want to stick.  We’re also the proud owner of a garlic press.  We’ve used costco minced garlic forever but it just doesn’t taste the same as fresh and I want to move away from that.  After, we headed home for dinner.  Bon appetit!

I’ve been working from home this week to make sure that we keep a handle on all the dogs we’ve got.  Everybody’s getting along pretty well and we haven’t had too many problems.  Here’s some domestic bliss I captured on Thursday morning:

The problem is sweet little Ashley Jr. who doesn’t like Tonisha AT ALL and has been wearing a stink face for over a week now:

Wednesday I had a meeting so I came into the office down Market and then home the same way at the end of the day.  Thursday I headed down to REI to drop off my Cannondale because I want some of the expert loving that they lavished on my commuter bike.  Mike’s still has the service contract on that bike but I’ve broken up with Mike’s Bikes in San Francisco.  The Sausalito shop is an amazing shop and if I lived in Marin I’d get all my work done there and never look back.  But the San Francisco shop has a very different attitude and I’m just not going to put up with douchey behavior from their service staff after what I plunked down for that fucking bike.  And I know that it shouldn’t matter but it does.  The shop at REI is staffed by reasonable people who give you reasonable time frames and do very good work.  I’ve never seen such a thorough cleaning than the one that they gave to my commuter bike and I would heavily recommend their gold package to anybody who’s got a bike that needs a lot of maintenance.  It’s $200 for members– which is a lot– but in my mind it’s a very good value given the amount of detail work that they did.  I can’t wait to see how well they’re gonna have my Cannondale running.  I took some before photos and I’ll post the before and after when it’s done. 

I walked home from REI and got a few pics on my way.  This pretty building is at Harrison and 10th.  Love it:

This is the old Armoury at 14th and Mission that is now the home of Kink.com.  They seem to be taking really good care of the building and have put in all new windows on the Mission St face.  Good for them:

This awesome mural is at Valencia at Caledonia:

Me:

I headed home and got some work done and then waited for Mr. Poe to get back from the movies.  I made him dinner.  I made him ham slices on savory french toast with Sauce Robert.  Sauce Robert is made from a brown sauce base to which onions sauteed in wine, mustard and butter are added.  Mr. Poe liked it quite a bit!  I watched some TV and went to bed. 

Bike Mileage:

Today 2.7 Week to date 9.7 Month to date 9.7 Year to date 5,268.6 To Goal 2,731.4 Over (Under) plan 380.9 YTD Mileage vs Last Year 952.9 Rolling Year 6,374.3 Since Inception 10/1/07 39,195.5

I’ve been sticking around the house because of Sofi and Tonisha.  But Sunday I headed to REI to pick up my commuter bike that they’ve been working on.  They did a fantastic job and my bike has never looked so good.  I think they’re an incredible value and can’t recommend them enough.  Evidence:

Look how clean this shit is:

We got home and poor little Ashley Jr is totally over all this excitement.  Just look at him:

We had dinner and considered going to bed early.

We got up early on Wednesday morning.  First thing I did was take pictures of Ashley Jr’s hot new outfit.  Athena gave us this amazing poodle outfit that she got for him Thailand and Ashley Jr. looked amazing in it:

Mr. Chris and David dropped off Sofi and Tonisha mid morning.  We’re gonna be dogsitting for a couple of weeks.  The girls weren’t delighted by all of this but they coped.  Here they are on the front porch:

It’s gonna be a crazy couple of weeks!

Tuesday we woke up and had a nasty breakfast at the hotel and then walked around a bit.  I’m not sure what this building is on States Street but it’s superfantastic:

The gorgeous Wisconsin State Capital:

Scenic Lake Mendota.  I hear that it freezes so solid in the winter that people drive on it for ice fishing.  Can’t you just drink at home???:

The University of Wisconsin is superfantastic.  Unbelievably so:

The glamorous student union:

Hello gorgeous:

We got the car and headed to Milwaukee.  We had some time so we went downtown to look around.  This is the incredibly awesome museum.  You can read more about it here.  It’s unbelievable:

We started to head for the airport and we got on the freeway and it was a total disaster.  There had been an accident and the freeway was closed.  It took a half an hour to get to the next exit and they were making everybody exit and we agreed it would be a better idea to head to the airport on city streets.  Which was incredibly stressful but we made it in plenty of time but Mr. Poe had already begun the process of freaking out and I knew in my heart that I’d never escape his crazy.  I kept reminding him how much time we had the whole way to the airport and then again while we waited to drop off our luggage and then again while waiting in the security line.  In the security line I got the cryptic warning ‘I haven’t had anything to drink in six hours and I don’t feel well’.  So when we got through I knew I had to get him something to drink right away even though I knew it wasn’t going to end well.  He compounded my fears by telling me ‘I’m concerned that anything you get is going to upset my stomach’.  So I got him water.  Which he took a few sips of and then told me ‘I don’t really like the taste of water and never drink it’.  Water.  He doesn’t drink water.  Fucking water.  Just so we’re clear and so I don’t get a lot of hate from the water lobby, this was all about him being upset about all the freeway drama and, since he was unable to blame it on me directly he waited until he could find something that could potentially be my fault.  Welcome to marriage.  I was actually surprised it took him that long.  Here he is posing with the much maligned beverage:

It was MD-90′s all the way to SFO.  Here’s our ride to Minneapolis:

The sad looking Milwaukee terminal:

We got on our flight and we headed off for Minneapolis:

Minneapolis airport is awesome.  It’s big, comfortable and they have this new law where you’re able to buy beer and wine and the magazine stores and carry it around in plastic glasses.  It’s genius.  The airport is like the French Quarter in New Orleans except without that urine smell.  We had dinner at TGIFriday’s which on a normal day I’d mock, but they had a couple of vegan entrees and seemed to have restaurant prices at the airport.  We both ate a vast quantity of food and I drank a bunch of wine and we left for under $60 which would be a couple of pieces of nasty pizza and sodas at other airports.  Here are some pics of the airport:

This is a children’s book.  That isn’t about queens from Berlin:

Our flight was a little delayed and had two gate changes.  But sooner or later were were on the corrrect flight headed for SFO:

We queued up and took off:

We saw this huge fire as we headed into California:

We had an unusual approach.  We came in through the north bay and then turned around for landing after the San Mateo Bridge.  I’d never come in for a landing like that before.   Our luggage came out right away and we hopped into a cab and headed home.  The dogs were more than a little excited to see us and then we went to bed.  It had been a very long day.