Rachel's tonsils

Rachel will be getting her tonsil out in a couple of weeks. She is a little nervous about it. Fortunately it will be an outpatient procedure so she won't have to spend the next at the hospital.

InBev offer

As you may or may not know, InBev has officially made an offer for Anheuser-Busch. My personal prediction is that the board will reluctantly accept the offer to keep the shareholders happy. Even if they reject it, InBev could attempt a hostile takeover.

What does this mean to me? Well, InBev will be looking to cut costs and the apparently currently outsource their IT. This means that means there is a very distinct possibility that I will lose my job after the takeover (if it happens).

I'm not going to passively wait to see what is going to happen. I've already started looking for another job. By starting early I hope to be able to be more selective about what I take rather than being desperate later. Of course, maybe I won't need to find another job. Nothing is certain right now.

Tuesday Night Ride

I went on my first group ride since the accident: the Maplewood Bicycle Tuesday night ride. I wasn't the first one up the hill on Southwest Ave. and I wasn't able to hang with the fast riders. But I wasn't with the slowest riders either. I also had a great time. I finished with a 16.1 mph average speed which isn't too bad for a city ride.

I bought the bike

On Saturday I rode to The Alpine Shop and took the Salsa Caseroll for a test ride. I liked how it felt so I bought it. I had them put the pedals and rack from my old bike on it. I rode it to work on Monday. I may go on the Maplewood Tuesday night ride tonight but I'm not sure that I can keep up.

Still bike shopping

I've been trying to decide what my next bike should be. I have figured out that a custom built titanium frame is out of my price range. I explained what I was looking for in an email to Mary Kay at Maplewood Bicycle:

As you know I've been trying to decide what kind of bike to buy to replace the Pilot that was destroyed in the accident. I've been try to decide what the perfect bike for me is. I think that I've come to conclusion that there is no one bike that meets all my needs, but maybe a combination of two bikes can do it. I think that I need a "sturdy" bike and a go-fast bike.

The sturdy bike would have a rack, fenders, and low gearing. It would be used for commuting, bad weather brevets, and rides that require lots of stuff (like the crazy ms 150 ride I did last year). When I bought the Pilot last year I thought that the hybrid could fill this role. Unfortunately, after riding a road bike, the hybrid wasn't fun to ride anymore. I was think a touring bike like the Trek 520 for this role.

The go-fast bike wouldn't need any of these features. I wouldn't worry about clearance for fenders or where to mount a rack. I would use it for Tuesday and Saturday rides, centuries, and fair weather brevets. In a pinch I could wear a backpack and use it for commuting. This would be a "normal" road bike.

Since then Mary Kay and Tim Ray have been giving me various options. A few days ago Tim called me and he said he had a few options for bikes. The one he thought was best was a Salsa Casseroll. The only problem is that Maplewood doesn't carry Salsa bikes. Tim referred me to another bike shop that does.

I really appreciate Tim referring me to a competitor just to help me get the right bike. Either that, or I'm so annoying that he wanted to get rid of me.

Fun with the kids

Helen took a mini vacation to visit a friend in Florida. I took some time off work to take care of the kids while she was gone. We had fun but it is a lot of work to take care of two kids for 5 days straight without a break.

We signed up for a season pass at the Maplewood pool and went swimming. We grilled bratwurst and corn and s'mores. We had a lemonade stand. We played Super Paper Mario on the Wii. We watched movies and ate popcorn. I do feel a little guilty about the amount of junk food that we ate.