Reviving the old dead blog

For some reason, I love to relive my rides after the fact.  So, I've decided to revive my old blog that I haven't done anything with for several years for that purpose.  I've already posted the hilarity that was my attempt at a full-speed lap of Nockamixon

Quote of the day...

Truer words have never been spoken:

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." -- Bertrand Russell

By that logic, though, I must be a GENIUS!!

Them's some weird shoes...

Over there on the right you'll see my latest pair of shoes, the beyond bizarre Vibram "Five Fingers" shoes. As you might have guessed, they're not called Five Fingers because I stole them -- as in "Five Finger Discount" -- but because each toe has its own little pocket, making these more like gloves for feet.

The "VFF" is designed to be as close as possible to walking barefoot... and that's why I decided to purchase such a goofy shoe. I've always loved walking barefoot, and would often take off my shoes and carry them just so I could walk around barefoot. On a hot summer day, I looked forward to getting home and taking off my shoes and socks so I could experience what I called "Happy Feet". Well, it turns out that there's actually some medical reasoning to walking barefoot beyond "it feels good".

The big problem with walking barefoot everywhere is it's typically viewed as "wrong". (Although, I have to say, having worn these around for a day, you'll get less stares walking just plain barefoot than you will in these arrest-me-red freak shoes) Then, there's also the problem of walking over very hot or sharp/irregular surfaces. So, that's where the shoes come in.

So, today, after buying them, I put several miles on them. They're interesting... they fit very close but not tight, so in that they are in very comfortable. The problem is, they feel like shoes, so I actually walk more like I have normal shoes on than I do when I walk barefoot, and that means more on my heels... so my heels hurt a little at the end of the day.

Still, they are very, very light, and work pretty well.

Update - I got a chance to do some very limited trail running with these shoes, and they were incredible! They protected my feet from the rocks and sticks on the trail, but since they were so light, I felt exceptionally light on my feet. (no, not light in my loafers!) I didn't go far (wasn't the time) but they worked really well and I hope to give that a try again.

Also, Grace has bought a pair (and not surprisingly, they look really cute on her, as opposed to absolutely goofy on me) and uses them often when she trains her clients.

I still go barefoot around the house most of the time, and in retrospect wish I'd bought a less obvious color scheme (like the all black "KSO") but they are a good shoe. I've even used them for working on the house, including standing on a slanted roof while we repainted the outside walls.

Excellent Margarita recipe

While we were out in Mexico, we wanted Margaritas, and not the type that come pre-mixed. We wanted some authentic Margaritas. I did some research and found many recipes, all of which were different. Many agreed on the 3:2:1 ratios, but even those disagreed as to which ingredient was in what spot. Many recipes call for Cointreau specifically, but we discovered that in Mexico, tequila might be in every corner store, but good luck finding even a basic Triple Sec. We ultimately found a basic cheap orange liqueur, and used that.

Considering there are really only four ingredients in a Margarita, I just don't understand the need for a premix. It might be the resistance to having to squeeze all those limes, but honestly, that's not that hard if you get the right tool. We have a lemon juicer that we got from Bed Bath & Beyond, but can be gotten from many places, such as Amazon or Williams Sonoma. With that handy tool, you just cut the lime in half, put it in face down, and squeeze. Quick and simple.

Anyhow, let's get to the ingredients:

1 part Triple Sec/Orange Liqueur
3/4 part Tequila
3/4 part Lime juice
1/4 part simple syrup

Mix it all up and serve on the rocks, or blend the ice and have it frozen.

Comments on the ingredients:

The triple sec can be Cointreau but we haven't tried that yet, and since the results seem to be fine with just a plain triple sec, which is cheaper, that's what we've been using.

The tequila should be white, but if you happen to have a gold on hand, it'll work. The color of the finished margarita won't be quite as nice but it still tasted good.

Simple syrup is just a 1:1 water to sugar mix, and the only need for the water is to dissolve the sugar.

Enjoy, but be careful! They're pretty strong!

New general purpose blog

Originally, I had created a blog for updates on our house project. I never did update it as much as I wanted, and when I started using Google mail, it became even more difficult to update. Turns out blogspot is affiliated with google, and to log into my old blog, I had to log out of gmail, log into blogspot, then log back into gmail. Not terribly difficult, but just difficult enough to give me yet another excuse not to update the house blog.

So, I decided to just create a new one that's associated with my gmail account. It'll just be easier, and maybe just maybe I'll update it more.

I looked into transferring the blog over to this account, but there's no easy way to do that. I might try to copy over individual posts.

I've thought about expanding the blog, to include stuff other than house updates, like bike stuff. We'll see how that goes.

Thanks for reading...