Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig - But First, Lots of CRASHING!

So our adventure into manhood has come to an end - Sarah and Amy got home a little after one o'clock from their Amazing Alaskan Adventure.  They had an amazing time and I'm sure Amy will post photos on facebook and on the blog she started.  I have to say I'm a little jealous of their trip but my time with the boys was also truly magical.  These past two weeks have been a great time to bond with the boys - including our very last bonding session which happened today, but more on that in a moment.

The other amazing homecoming that occurred today was THE RETURN OF BLACK BETTY!!!!!!!!  I picked her up from Adams Cyclery just this morning!!!!!   Yes, she is back and like the the Bionic Woman:

or if you are more of the "old school" fan;

She is STRONGER, FASTER, AND BETTER THAN SHE EVER WAS!!!!!!  Of course, as a rider I'm not sure I am after five weeks of inactivity but I'm hoping to remedy that soon!

You see, BLACK BETTY may still have the same old frame, derailleurs, seatpost,brakes, pedals and stem but everything else is NEW AND IMPROVED!!!!  I don't have photos loaded up yet since I just picked her up but there will be photos, oh yes there will!  For now, join me in using your imagination to picture the Scattante XRL compactr frame with full Ultegra componentry including the newly upgraded TEN speed shifters!  She has a new Bontrager Race X Lite wheelset (and tires), a new Bontrager Impulse saddle, a new Shimano Compact Crankset (to make climbing easier), new Bontrager Blade handlebars and I can't wait to see how she rolls!!!!!!!  Like the Bionic Woman I expect her to be more amazing than ever.

But as I said we had one more day of male bonding to do and our cruise director scheduled us to go to the Riverhead Raceway  to do the manly thing of watching cars race around a circle.  I think she's trying to insinuate something about my Southern roots;

Anyway, knowing that the gates opened at 3:00, the boys and I got there at about 2:30 so we could get good seats.  William of course immediately started in with "I'm bored" but then the cars started coming out for their test runs and the boys were in heaven.  It was louder than you can imagine and we tried the ear plugs but the boys hated them because they kept falling out.  We watched every single category (except the skid plate and demolition derby - more on that later) warm up and then the boys went out to the bouncy castle they had set up.  We ate some overpriced (but incredibly copious portions) fried foods and then finally settled in for the races.  The theme for the evening was "I Love America" and the schedule was as follows;

Legends, Chargers, Modifieds, Figure 8's, Skid Plate Race, Fireworks, followed up by a 4 Cylinder Demolition Derby!

The first races were the "Legends" series which are basically 3/4 size versions of the 1930's and 40's roadsters but they have 1600 cc motorcycle engines in them. 

 The boys had a great time watching them.  What I didn't realize was how many crashes usually occur. It takes forever to finish the race because after each crash they have to clear the track, put down sand to absorb the fluids leaked out of the car, sweep it up with a mini street sweeper/zamboni and then restart the race.  Fifteen laps took forever.  The boys would get bored during the cleanup but then go nuts when the race would restart.

Then the Chargers took over and I was amazed that these guys could do what they do.  If the straightaways were 150 I would be surprised and then there would be a sharp left turn and then another straightaway - IN A FULL SIZED RACE STOCK CAR!!!!! 

 Its amazing that the accidents we saw weren't more serious!  But again, the boys had the best time when the crashes happened.   We then watched the modifieds and the figure 8's (which are basically the chargers doing a figure 8) which got very exciting the few times that they almost crashed.  One got clipped and of course the crowd went wild but the driver managed to pull through.  Now I know what it must have been like to watch the gladiators.

We then moved on to what they call "specialty races" (as if watching people speeding around in a figure 8 is not special enough) which were the "skid plate" races and the demolition derby.

Skid plates are basically front wheel drive cars with special metal skids placed under the rear wheels so they have no traction.  By the time they got to this event it was dark and there were sparks flying everywhere - it was sooooooo cool.  Of course there were some bumps and spin outs as they had no rear wheel control or traction which made it even more cool.  You can see a picture of one of the winners here;

And yes, some of them were that young.  We took a photo with one of the drivers before the race (during warmups) and as soon as I get it unloaded I'll show it to you.

We then had a fireworks exhibition which was made incredibly cooler because they went off almost directly over our heads.  We were only 100 yards (maybe less) away from where they were going off and they detonated not too far overhead (we were in Riverhead after all) so it was loud and so awesome!!!!!

Then the big event that the boys were waiting for - now you have to realize by this time it was almost 10:00 at night and I had told them if the derby didn't start by then we'd have to leave.  At 9:57 the first car rolled out so we stayed.  Talking about gladiators!  There was one car that was so squashed in that it was amazing that it kept rolling and yet roll it did.  It finally crapped out but not before becoming the crowd favorite.  Here are some shots of some of the derby;

   

  

Of course, what the boys really wanted to do was come back the next week when they are going to have a demolition derby with 13 FULL SIZE SCHOOL BUSES!!!!!!  Now what red blooded American school boy (or teacher for that matter) could not get all excited about that prospect???

But sadly we have other plans.  So I loaded up the boys and we headed back to our clean(ish) home to await the arrival of momma and Sarah.  Well, that was the plan anyway.  James threw up on the ride home (a bit too much fried food, bouncy castle and second hand smoke I think) and I carried the boys up to their rooms.   But this morning when they got up they got to snuggle with momma and that was the best present of all.  Its good to have them back safe and sound - now if I could only figure out when to ride that bike, hmmm.

Stay well, and I'll see you on the road real soon!

I've Been Changed, Again

Today was the last day of camp at Sunrise Day Camp.  It truly was an exhausting and yet rejuvenating experience for me this summer.  Not only was I struggling to take all of my classes and do my internship I found myself working harder than I have ever worked at a summer camp - and I have to say I truly enjoyed it.

As a teacher I know in my heart of hearts that I have made a difference in some of my students' lives.  Sometimes its evident as while they are still in school or when they graduate but most often its not until years later that I discover something I did made an impact on them that caused them to follow a certain path, a path they had never contemplated until they took class with me.

This summer I was able to see in a very brief time that I had made an impact on some of the campers lives.  They may never remember my name and as I get older I may not remember theirs but I'll remember their faces and the looks on those faces as they accomplished new things this summer.  Its not every day an educator gets that kind of immediate feedback.  Its one of the things that I love (and miss) about being a performer - the applause, the immediate knowledge that what you did was appreciated.

This summer at sunrise I didn't get that kind of accolades but the hugs I got from some of the kids as they left from the last roundup at the hub said it all - they appreciated what I did and I felt the same towards them.  No, they're not my ACT kids, but some of them came awful close.

I saw many kids this summer who struggled under incredible loads of baggage brought about because of this disease and the effects it had on their families.  For some of the kids, they were the ones fighting the disease.  For some of the kids, they were witnesses to the effects it had on their own siblings.  Either way, it takes an emotional and psychic toll on these kids.  For the most part they bear it well and do their best to make sense of a maddened world in which this disease still ravages families.  But because of their time at Sunrise working with all of those selfless councilors and my fellow specialists they were able to just be kids for a while and forget about dealing with the disease and just have fun playing, having fun and learning new skills.

Watching thier bravery made me realize that no matter how tiring or exhausting my life may be or how overwhelmed I get by life, its nothing campared to these brave kids.  They have become my heroes, they are my examples of how to embrace life.  And as a result, I have been changed again, I hope for good.

	wicked Soundtrack - Wicked The Musical - For Good .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Take care of yourselves, stay well and with any luck I will see you soon on the road!

The Lap of Luxury

So, this weekend we had the second in our installation of Organized Manhood as Amy had made reservations for us at the Long Island Hilton in Melville, NY.  We drove to the Hilton after first dropping off the parts I had bought for Betty at Adam's Cyclery;

I had upgraded my bike by the amount the insurance company gave me to replace the original parts and then finding better parts for the same price online.  Some of it was e-bay and some of it was various online stores but I managed to upgrade from a 9-speed drive train to a 10-speed and I ordered a compact crankset for the front.  Now I just have to wait for Darren to call and tell me that Betty is back and that I can pick her up!

But I digress.  After dropping off the parts , we then headed off to the Long Island Hilton to spend 24 hours in the lap of luxury - okay at least be able to eat, sleep and play without worrying about cleaning up after ourselves.  This was the site that greeted us as we planned to live it up (at least in the boys' minds);

We then proceeded to our room;

Where I discovered something disturbing about James - the organizational gene is apparently genetic and James has it.  As soon as we got into the room James decided we had to unpack and pronounced, "I love unpacking in the hotel room."  A phrase that I have heard my wife utter on many occasions!  Brrrrrrrr.

We then headed out to the pool.  Unfortunately, as we are in the midst of a cold spell here on Long Island (I think it was about 75 degrees and a little breezy) it was too cold to stay outside so we headed indoors to the "heated" pool;

And its here that I discovered that my sons are definitely aquatic animals!  I would be underestimating the time if I said we spent four hours in the pool.  Between the pool and the hot tub (which James fell in love with) we were there from about 2 in the afternoon until about 6 p.m.  We then headed upstairs to get changed for dinner.

We had a nice relaxing GUYS meal where we ate lots of red meat (okay burgers) and the boys had sundaes before we headed upstairs to play games on the television (as they had no family friendly movies the boys cared to see).  We finally fell asleep about 11:00 (shhhhhh, don't tell Amy).

In the morning the boys were excited about the most amazing thing the hotel has to offer - ROOM SERVICE!  They were besides themselves with the facts that they could order food that would be delivered to our room and we could eat in our pajamas.  Now, our room overlooked the courtyard restaurant and I could see the all you can eat breakfast buffet down below which I tried to entice the boys to try - unfortunately the novelty of rooms service won out.

After another two hour session in the pool we finally packed up and headed home where we lounged around like true men (shhhhh, don't tell Amy) and had fun just chilling in the crib.  Ahhhh, manhood!

Stay well, it won't be too much longer till Betty's on the road!

Triskaidekaphobia? Not Any More!

Okay, so when many of us think of Friday the Thirteenth we think of the wonderful fellow featured above.  To those of us who remember seeing the original movie, we remember walking home on dark nights and fearing that we would see the above picture coming out of the trees at us.  For others, Friday the Thirteenth might conjure to the mind the following;

And I have to say I used to be one that sort of dreaded Friday the Thirteenth.  Not that anything bad has every really happened to me (oops, no scratch that, I was hit for the very first time while riding my bicycle on a Friday the Thirteenth, it was the day of the prom in 2005 and I couldn't dance because I had a bruised hip bone) so I didn't really have a reason.

Well, as of this year I have reasons to celebrate the holdiay ala the Kool and the Gang version;

	Kool and The Gang - Celebration .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Because we have (trumpet fanfare please) finally gotten word from the insurance company that they are going to accept liability for my bicycle!  They are going to cover the bicycle repairs 100%, 90% of the shorts, and 80% of the shoes for a total of $1667.65!!!!!!!!  Here's how it went down;

On Wednesday I finally was fed up with not hearing anything from Chubb insurance so I called again.  I didn't get a response from the agent so I asked for a supervisor and explained that I had a sister that worked for the insurance industry and I knew it should not be taking this long.  He promised to look into it.  By today I still hadn't hear anything so I called again first thing this morning and the insurance agent informed me that she had made the determination on Wednesday (the day I had called, hmmmm) that they were going to assume liability of the accident and that I should have been already contacted by the property damage adjuster (so many adjusters for one accident!).  About an hour later I got the phone call that they would cover the amounts listed below!

Woohooooo!  Tomorrow I am going to take the bike to Adams Cyclery to have them do the work!  Hopefully, Black Betty will be ready to roll again! and once again I can groove to the tune of;

	Ram Jam - Black Betty .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

So, Triskaidekaphobia?  Not anymore!

Stay well, and it won't be too much longer and I'll see you on the road!

Organized Manhood

So Amy and Sarah left on their Amazing Alaskan Adventure and has left the boys and I to our own devices, sort of.  I'm sure on their return she'll be posting oodles (and honestly, is there a mathematic equation to determine how much is in an oodle - sort of how much is in a bushel or a peck) of pictures and videos of their adventure.  Now, granted she leaves on this vacation with a great deal of excitement tempered by trepidation.  You see, when she started talking about this (and before she broke the news to Sarah that our lovely daughter would be accompanying her on this journey) the kids and I began planning our two weeks of "manhood" - The Adventure of Being Men.   Of course that has since changed since Sarah is now going on the trip.  But of course Amy is still nervous.  I'm sure she expects to see something like the following on her return;

With us rooting around somewhere in the middle of this trying to find more pizza. 

So, before her departure, Amy reverted to her old super-hero identity - Virgo Woman

or as she was won't to be known in her younger days (particularly the Seven Brides days), "Julie the Cruise Director";

In other words, we have Organized Manhood - an oxymoron if ever I heard one.  So we have lots of planned activities for the two weeks she's gone just so we don't fester watching tv and eating pizza off the floor.

On Friday night we did something that James has been wanting to do for months - we sang "The Rainbow Connection" at the open mic night.  The boys were adorable, they sang together so well.  I of course was intimidated by all the amazing talent around me - its what I get for being a closet musician.  However, I find I do better when I'm with others since I can focus on them and less about how much I suck.

Saturday kicked off the the first of our "Manly Weekends" by going to the Baiting Hollow Scout Camp weekend ( Baiting Hollow Scout Camp Site).  Our pack had gone about a month previously but it was on a weekend that was going to be incredibly hot and thunderstorms were predicted so we elected to postpone it until this weekend instead and it was a good thing we did.  I just wish someone would have told us that meals were included and that we couldn't park anywhere near the actual place where we would pitch our tents.  As a result I bought food, a small barbecue grill, charcoal, ice and packed the entire car with more stuff than we ever would need.  Our poor Subaru was completely overpacked for three people on an overnight.  Of course in all the packing - I NEGLECTED TO PACK THE CAMERA!!!!!!  Sooooo, I picked up a disposable at the campsite and as soon as I get those developed I'll add them here.  However, I don't know when that will be.

Suffice it to say, we had a great time.  We rode paddle boats, we hiked, the boys got to shoot bb guns (they got they marksman badges), archery (again, their archery badge), and we went to a great cermony at night.  Then of course, I found out that the batteries in all my flashlights were low because someone had been playing with them (hmmm, wonder who) and so we stumbled back to our campsite.  After a great bonfire with s'mores and little cocktail weinies roasted on a stick (yum!), we play the boys favorite card game (UNO!) and fell asleep.

The next morning we had breakfast and the boys started the day by climbing this;

James made it all the way to the top (by the way that is 40 foot of tower) and William made it about 30 feet.  The last 10 feet the hand holds were just too far out of his reach.  We then went to the archery and bb gun ranges again, hiked some more and loaded all our stuff in our car for the ride home.

On Sunday we attended the birthday party for one of the boys in their cub scout den and it was at one of their favorite places - Larkfield Lanes!  What a great way to start our first weekend of Manhood!

Well, we have more coming up.  I won't be riding for a while since I can't really do it while the boys are at home alone.  But the biggest reason is - MY BIKE STILL ISN'T FIXED!  I KEEP CALLING BUT I GET NO RESPONSE.  If I don't hear anything by Wednesday I'm calling a supervisor but until then I'll be patient.  Till then, its being manly that is our calling!

Stay well and I hope to see you on the road someday!

Musings From a Benched Rider (I'm Mad as Heck and I Don't Want to Take it Anymore)

Back in 1976 things were bad.  Granted, I was only thirteen and although we were celebrating the bicentennial of the United States, we were facing inflation, a depression, oil crisis, a president had just stepped down to avoid being impeached, and there was disco!

C'mon, Let's Do the Bump and Hustle - Disco Construction (1976)

Now, it wasn't all bad but you have to admit, its a good thing that the polyester leisure suit died a suitable "natural" death.  Another thing that happened was that my father got stationed to Ansbach, Germany.

View Larger Map

Yet something else happened that year that was a standout in cinematic history.  The movie Network was directed by Sidney Lumet and starred Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch (as Harold Beale), Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty, Kathy Cronkite (daughter of Walter), Conchata Ferrell (you may know her as Bertha on "Two and a Half Men") and a score of others.  However, it gave us the battle cry "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"  But to get the full effect, you need to see this scene;


To understand where this scene fits you have to watch the entire movie (its good, really) but it seems like we're in a position now where we need another Howard Beale to step forward these days, at least I know I do.

You see, I'm extremely frustrated right now.  Normally I ride between 3,000 and 5,000 miles a year on my bike, much of it commuting.  But a lot of my riding is done either raising money for cancer charities, particularly Sunrise Day Camp (http://www.sunrisedaycamp.org/).  However, that effort has been curtailed as of July 11, 2010. 

For those of you who have followed my blog (and I beg you to pass it on to others, I need a readership!) you know that I was in the middle of a great Century ride with the Huntington Bicycle Club's Gold Coast Ride.  I was minutes away from finishing a fifty mile ride in three hours and that would put me on a pace to finish the hundred miles in six hours.  However, about a mile and a half from the rest stop as I was riding past a line of parked cars a woman opened her car door right in front of me (yes, I was "doored") resulting in a lot of injuries, most notably this one (WARNING - ITS A BIT GRAPHIC - IF YOU WANT TO SKIP IT, SCROLL DOWN NOW);

Ouch!

That was taken three days after the accident when I had to change the bandage.  Now its been three weeks and the stitches are out (although there were some complications which I won't go into here) and its healind well, although I will have a killer scar and a I guess a good story.

My frustration is borne from the handling I have been receiving from Chubb Insurance company.  Its been three weeks now and they still haven't told me if I can get my bike fixed.  Its been sitting at Adams Cyclery (http://www.adamscyclery.com/) and Chuck and Darren have been great.  They looked at it top to bottom and front to back and they told me what needed to be replaced.  Yes, there were things that were scratched up but we agreed that those were just cosmetic and I would only seek to replace the components that were really damaged, like the shifters;


and my shoes;

I loved these shoes - now they're trashed!

All in all, between the damage to the bike ($1400) and to my clothing ($400) there is at least $1800 worth of damage.  And yet despite the fact that I gave them all the information they asked for (police report, name and telephone number of a witness, itemized estimate from Adams), the insurance company is still having a difficulty establishing the distribution of blame.  In other words, they are still trying to determine how much of the accident was my fault and how much was their clients.  Now if there are any of you out there that are reading this and work for an insurance company or know someone who does, can you help me out here?  Is this standard operating procedure?  Is there something I should be doing?  Should I move on to getting a lawyer?  Honestly, I just want to get back on my bicycle and ride but its awfully hard to do that when its hanging from a hook at Adams Cyclery.

I've only been riding once since the accident and that was with the kids on my mountain bike - I like it and all but its a bit too heavy to do a 50 mile charity ride up hill.  So as the days go by I'm getting more and more in the frame of mind of Howard Beale - I'm getting mad as hell and I don't want to take it any more.  I've been benched way too long.  My body and mind are ready to ride but Black Betty is still in the shop.  So my faithful readers, e-mail me and let me know what you think I ought to do.  If you have insurance company connections, pass this on to them and ask them to contact me, I sure would like to have an idea of how to get back on the road.

Stay well and I HOPE to see you on the road soon!