Little help from my friends?

So today at work, the fluorescent light in the bathroom is flickering like mad.  I thought to myself, more than once, this is like peeing in a disco.  And a couple repeats the word disco dredged up memories of "Me Lost Me Cookie at the Disco", which I sadly discovered in my early 20s.  I had a friend in my college/no-college period who loved it to death and introduced me to it.  I'm pretty sure it was included on a super-Boss mix tape made for my infamous "Help me, I'm naked!" 23rd birthday party.

 

So, here's where I need the help.

1.  Who was this friend who introduced me to Sesame Street disco?

2.  What other songs were on the super-Boss mix tape?  In addition to the aformentioned disco song, I believe it also had Copacabana and Electric Avenue on it.  Super. Boss.

3.  Bonus question:  Who made the super-Boss mix tape?

 

Put your Thinking Toques on!

Got Lucky

Me on the Broadway bridge, Mississippi in the background.

Wife and I ran the Get Lucky 7k event yesterday. Or more accurately, we participated. She's had a rough 6 weeks or so with illness and whatnot. And me, I'm just slow. It was nice for me to have her hobbled, since that meant I could keep up with her. Though she did manage to beat me in the official timed results by one second. It was a nice event, well planned and an enjoyable route. We started at Mill Ruins park, ran on the River Road to the Broadway St. bridge and then came back on the other side of the river via St. Anthony Main to finish on the Stone Arch Bridge. I was extremely tempted to stop at the Astor Cafe for an egg and cheese sandwich, but pressed on.

After the race we made our way over to the new Kieran's location in Block E and braved the crowds for our free pint of Finnegan's. The Block E location was nice, and we actually enjoyed 3 Finnegan's between us, thanks to a non-beer drinking runner who gave us her free beer coupon. Then, thanks to the wife's ingenuity, we discovered there was an unadvertised buffet in the back room. After scarfing some more yummy carbs we hopped the train back home.

I spent the remainder of the day horizontal on the the couch in front of Final 5 hockey. It was an enjoyable day, even though The Sioux goons took the Broadmoor.

Studs off

Over the weekend I pulled the Kuwahara off the bike hooks in the garage and knocked the dust off of it.  Pumped up the tires, replaced the saddle I'd robbed earlier this winter, and gave it a quick once over.  Thanks to a super craigslist deal I picked up another B17 this winter, so now I can have Brooks on the Kuwahara and the winter commuter.  Hopefully this will reduce the amount of saddle swapping I do. 

 

Out of curiousity I checked my records to see when I have stopped riding the studded tire bike in past years.  I've been using Google Documents to track my bike mileage since 2006.  In 2006 I transposed some of my mileage from the spiral bound notebook I'd been using, but I didn't have a bike associated with those miles.  So 2007 is the first year I can accurately say when I stopped riding the studded commuter. 

 

2007 - Last ride was on March 9

2008 - Last ride was on April 1

2009 - Last ride was on March 11

 

So it's not my imagination, it's getting to be about that time.  I rode the studded bike today just to get the lay of the land, but after the warm weekend and the fact that it never dropped below freezing last night, the Kuwahara could be getting the nod sooner rather than later.  Of course, we've got hockey tourney blizzards coming up, so I won't pack the studs too far away.

March Madness

It's been above freezing here in MN nearly every day for the last two weeks. Maybe longer, I haven't kept official records. The snow and ice are melting and people are losing their heads. Lots of chatter about removing the studded tires. Brother Yam said it best, "There's the whole month of March ahead, capiche? A little sunlight, a little thawing and you lose your head? Keep your sh*t together! It ain't over yet, not by a damn sight."

Personally, I have a winter bike that has studs on it year round. Once the weather warms, I just stop riding it. But I admit, these warm days have me pondering taking another ride to work. There's three or four trouble spots on my commute that still (in my opinion) require studs, but most of my route is down to bare pavement. So I ponder, is it worth it to stop and walk those few spots, and ride stud-free the remaining portion? It's kind of like boots and a heavy winter jacket. Once you stop wearing them, it's hard to go back even if conditions warrant it again.

I only rode to work one day this past week, but I picked a good day for it. Tuesday on the way home from work I ran into The Clown Prince of Mpls Cycling and the Mrs. coming out of Freewheel on the Greenway. Stopped and chatted for a minute. They were out marking the one year anniversary of Ray's early release from the service of the City of Richfield by pumping some money into the local bike shop economy. It's good knowing he's out there, taking her easy for all us sinners.