Why cyclists shave their legs.

Once someone finds out I'm in the cycling industry or that I ride more miles than most people, they will invariably ask, "Do you shave your legs?". Usually this person now has some sort of wry smirk on their face. I think it's a smirk either to prove to me I'm not a cyclist if I say "no", or to delight in the oddity if I say "yes".

Either way I respond, they always follow up the first question with a second, "(For God's sake) Why?". I've explained a bunch of times, but I defer to someone more qualified for this post.

A night on the town.

Recently, I almost had a "BuckHead" night, but closer to home. It was a small group of folks (or accomplices), including tDope, Bets, Jor, Hyde, and Rye. We started off nicely with some happy hour cocktails at a local Belgian pub, walked to dinner, sampled a handful of local bars and then topped it all off with fresh mini-donuts at Sil's and one more bar, just to take it way over the top. Oy.

The local establishment list goes like this - Cafe Brucke, Beans&Barley (dinner), Vitucci's, Paddy's, Eastsider, Sil's (donuts), and Y-Not (x3). We didn't see anyone dance with a barstool or fall down on their friend, but there was a dufus-in-low-pants altercation that almost resulted in me defending a woman's honor with my fists - luckily, that didn't fully escalate (esp lucky if you've seen my fists).

Again, pics might be the best illustrative tool for the job:


This is NOT a joke - waitress at B&B with her very own WI tattoo. Why not green and gold though?! Perhaps not a true Packer fan.


Drink it in!!! Literally, you'll be drinking at Vitucci's when you see it live. And if you can't quite see it, the small caption reads "wanna brat?"... aww, how romantic.


This is a reverse-mullet couch. "How?", you ask. Well, it's got the party in the front, on the couch. And...

... the business in the back. I'm not sure if you've seen one of these before, but it's a real-life motorized couch. They guy relaxing on it drove it to the bar. Street legal - probably in WI, yes.


Finally, a lovely painting of William Shatner, aka Captain Kirk. How could an evening in WI be complete without some Shatner impressions?

Results, Poll #22, Broken Bones.

I don't know about you, but I always had a small part of me wishing I could have a cast as a kid. You know, people would ask you what happened (and it would have been an epic story, no doubt), you'd get to wear a big (heavy) cast, and people would fill it with signatures and get-well wishes.

Well, if you didn't know, I (finally) broke a bone at my first job out of college, on a work event. It was a good crash, interesting story about the aftermath, and then it had to be re-broken to set it properly about a week later. The two different casts were quite heavy and cumbersome (and did not take signatures), so that lost its luster quickly. All the hype was probably just that, hype, but then again, I'm glad I've broken one just the same. It adds something to the palette of injuries I've had... but hopefully my total stays at one (knock on wood).

Here's what t.c readers responded:
> 2 people (15%) chose 1 broken bone - myself and I think a brother.
> 0 people (uh, 0%) chose all the other positive choices - no t.c reader has broken over 1 bone. This is a good thing and maybe those that have learn our lesson. I'm also not sure what I was thinking by putting "8+" as a choice. I don't think anyone in the Knievil family reads this blog.
> 2 people (15%) chose they haven't broke any, but kind of always wanted to break one - I'm going to guess these are both males, but I could be wrong. I also know the feeling, but having done it, I'm not sure I'd encourage this choice (esp if you're over 25 or so).
> 9 people (69%), the overwhelming majority, chose they haven't broken any bones, and they'd like to keep it that way - I agree.

Thanks for voting this week, new poll up.

Bacon.

Yeah, a whole post for bacon. Many of you may have probably seen this, but no matter - you'll still laugh again. Gaffigan did 4 min on bacon... you should watch it all.

Results, Poll #21, Games of the XXIX Olympiad.

Well, for the 4 of you that were caught unaware, the Olympics *are* back this year. They're going to be held in a country called China, in a city called Beijing. This is a big deal b/c China is a communist country, and the Olympics usually shy away from controversy. But not this year, this year it will be all contro - from pollution to human rights. It should be very interesting... and they'll be a bunch of those interesting sports-human-interest stories too, no doubt.

So what did the t.c readership have to say about tuning in?

> 2 people (14%) said they'd watch every minute - wow, do you need a summer job?
> 6 people (42%) said they'd probably watch some of it - I mean, how can you not?!
> 1 person (7%) said yes, but only if the smog lifts enough to see it - and don't forget to recycle!
> 1 person (7%) said they'd catch some if they have to - wow, don't strain yourself.
> 4 people (28%) said they basically had no clue it was going on this summer - now either the t.c audience is pulling my leg, or many of you need to get over your angorophobia, pick up a newspaper, jump online (wait, if you saw my poll...?), turn on the TV. I don't understand this response. Perhaps I worded it poorly.

It only proves that just when you think you understand humanity, people will always surprise you.

If the devil was made into a snack cake.

I generally consider myself to be fairly iron-stomached. That is, I can eat almost anything (within reason... and without reason) and not be too badly affected. I've eaten lots of things "on a dare", many of which you're aware of (and if you're not, I prob shouldn't rehash it... ooh, corned beef hash). The ping-pong ball-sized hunk of wasabi was still probably one of the worst, but I won't be doing that again anytime soon. Unless it's for $6, cash.

Having said all that, is it any wonder that I ignored the friendly warning of "Don't eat them all, they'll hurt your stomach"? I'd had my eye on the Cakester for some time, being of fan of novel foods. So when I got to my local Walgreen's register for the 2nd time in as many weeks and they were *still* 3 for $2, I had to buy. How could I not? Mind you, this is 3 packs, each pack containing 3 small cakes. I got 2 Oreo and one newer Nilla variety.

I know what you're thinking - "Gosh, those sound *good*, mk!" Don't believe it.


These are the devil of snack cakes.

After having 2 little Oreo cakes and 1 little Nilla cake mid-morning the other day, I could not help but feel recharged by the massive amounts of sugar surging through my veins. So much so, that I had trouble concentrating (more than normal) and I think I even started to sweat in strange places. After that subsided, the stomach pains began. It was like I had eaten moldy cheese, wrapped in bad mexican food, covered by wasabi. I didn't feel right again until I had a commercial-sized peppermint tea from Whole Foods late in the day. Peppermint calms the stomach naturally, you know?

I probably shouldn't have had three in rapid succession, or on a relatively empty stomach... but it's still no excuse for so much bad stuff in such a small & pretty package (aimed squarely at kids?). If you get nothing out of this post, heed this warning - stay away from the Cakesters!

[ final note: 3 cakes have 370 calories and 17g of fat - wowza!]

Rain rain, go away?

As you may have heard, WI was hit with some large rain totals over the last 5-7 days. In fact, we're about .83" from the all time June total for rain, with most of the month left AND an expected 2-3" in the next 2-3 days.

I think it's going to get more interesting around these parts, before it gets better. Oh, and as someone being interviewed on WGN said last night, it all runs down to IL eventually.

The famous Tommy Bartlett Show just lost all of the water from the lake it performs on, Lake Delton. This video is one of the homes on the lake, being washed away. Of course, the show will go on, just not the watersking (or, waterskiing?) part.