T1 Drops it like it's hot.

After replacing my broken plastic cages

with some sturdier metal pieces that had

accommodation for double-izers should I

ever be feeling saucy, I decided since I will

be riding the T1 the majority of the time, I

should equip it with some of my nicer bits.

First stage: Handlebars. I replaced the stock

Bontrager cockpit (stem and bars) for the

one off of my Raleigh. The extra steer tube

length looks a little funny, but one can imagine

the finished product.

Comments:

I took it for a small shred around the block and

I am completely pleased with the result. The flipped

Thompson stem and Nitto B-123AA bars feel

amazing and the difference in drop is radical. I

can feel my body pushing way harder when I am

on the drops and it is still respectably comfortable

when I keep my hands toward the stem. Also, there

is a slight weight drop over the factory cockpit.

Grocery Shopping.

I did a weeks worth of grocery shopping with a Chrome

bag and a brakeless track bike.

Things to Note:

To avoid squished bread, I tied the bread to my bag.

I had no room for the poptarts, so I wedged them into my

strap. The poptarts were unharmed.

I had to wedge the Dr.Pepper between my forearms.

The bag boy laughed at me when I told him I didn't need

any bags, as I had brought my own. Then he actually came

outside to watch me ride away with everything attached

to my body in some way/shape/form.

Lichtman eats it.

Thought I would throw up this video of Jason

trying to wake board perpendicular to the flow

of water.

Hilarity Ensues.

Wakeboarding.

After a few terrifyingly successful boat-nuts

(exactly what you think they are), we decided

to get down to wake boarding business. We all

took turns spotting/driving/waking, with the

exception of me, as I did not bring proper waking

attire.

I snapped a few pics while neglecting my spotter

duties so that I could show the internet what I did.

Wisconsin.

Lake Monona:Capitol Building.

Jason invited Josh and I out on to his boat and while I am

still new here, any opportunity that will keep me from extended

periods of time alone in my apartment is taken. Plus boats

are decent. You get cool views of isthmus based cities that

you would not ordinarily get.

And I am all about that.

Birthday Gifts.

Aside from a rockin' good time during my weekend back in

Michigan, I also received a smattering of rad presents:

Pictured:

-Sheet Cookie

-Half of my parents Vinyl Collection

Not Pictured:

-Snoopy Bobblehead

-iPad (64gb Wifi)

-Panini Maker

-Guess Shirt

Pretty nice haul, if you ask me.

STI Love.

Cars of a Feather.

Park next to each other.

Discovery World.

On Friday, the team went to MKE to check out Discovery

World, an interactive science museum located right on

Lake Michigan.

We checked out all they had to offer, including behind

the scenes happenings and their summer camp prototyping

rooms.

It might not have been as big as COSI, but that point is

moot because COSI closed down 6 years ago.

I am beginning to really like Milwaukee.

R.I.P. Playoff Beard.

The Red Wings didn't have the best showing this year.

My dirtstache reflects this.

Birthday Party Bus.

Headed back to Michigan for the weekend after my birthday

to hang out with family and celebrate Derek's birthday. Saturday

Derek and his friends went and got a party bus which caught

on fire and and ate up 3 hours of our evening. Eventually they

sent a 300c Limo with a glass roof(!).

Red Wings lost and that kinda put my night into a tailspin, but

3am National Coney Island brought it back with a vengeance.

Aftermath: Part Deux.

Jason "amended" my warning while

I was in the bathroom.

As you can see I was cited for "use

of fireworks, prohibited" as well as

"being an idiot" and "butt sex(!)".

I will cherish this forever.

Aftermath.

I let some of my friends in to my apartment

for a hot minute. So, they decided to update

my grocery list.

It's awesome, because I was totally running

low on your mom.

Sun Prairie 911.

So, apparently, lighting off fireworks that make noise is

an illegal thing to do in Wisconsin. Shortly after walking

away from our display, the 5-0 rolled up on our group and

asked if we had been lighting off any fireworks.

Stacey and Jason said that we were completely innocent

and that we had just crossed paths with some unsavory

characters walking west. Then Stacey asked which way

west was. After the cop said he watched us light them off

from his desk (as I said, we lit them off in front of the

police station), we admitted guilt. They asked who would

be taking full responsibility, we huddled up and talked

about it until the officer said it would only be a warning.

As soon as we found out that there would be no ramifications,

I admitted to purchasing the fireworks and would thusly

jump on this hand grenade.

The officers were really cool. While one was writing my

warning, the other dispatched Stacey and Jason to clean

up the fireworks. We talked about his night and how he

had to break up a stabbing earlier.

As I got my ticket, I asked the gentlemen if I could take

pictures of the tickets and put them on the internet. They

chuckled and unison and departed with a, "It's your warning,

do whatever the hell you want with it!".

Good dudes.

Amateur Fireworks Display.

9:30 rolled around and where I come

from 9:30 on Cinco de Mayo is time

set aside to recognize the achievements

of the Mexican people by lighting off

cheap fireworks on Main Street.

If you look closely, you will see the Sun

Prairie Municipal Building/ Police

Station directly behind the Fiery Frog.

They liked that.

Not Certain.

Don't really know who took this picture, but it accurately

sums up how the night went.

Birthday Pie Face.

This post is pretty self explanatory.

Dude pie'd me in the face. I have video of it, but it is a

little jittery/out of focus.

La Tolteca: Cinco de Mayo/Birthday Throwdown

Yesterday marked my 23rd Birthday, Cinco de Mayo and

a wednesday. You take those three things and mix in a

little small town america and what you have is the perfect

storm.

A group of new friends and a few people I didn't really know

yet came out to Sun Prairie to have dinner with me and

celebrate to the rich Mexican culture.

What no one could possible have anticipated was the

promotion of "Free Margaritas and Draught Mexican

Beer" which got out of hand relatively quickly.

The icing (alcohol) on the cake (evening of drinking) was

when the waiter came back to the table after we paid our

bill and donated a bottle of tequila and 10 glasses.

Stacey started feeding the fireworks shots.

Huevos Rancheros.

Market Street Diner.

Brunchtown, U.S.A.

427 cubic inches.

This guy was hanging out on

main street today.

I noticed women becoming

pregnant as they drove by.

Haunted Ivy House.

This morning Stacey and I got a tour of

this old home by the man who has owned

the house since 1938.

I did not feel comfortable taking his picture

as he was graciously telling us about the

amazing history of the building, but rest

assured, he was awesome looking.

Ornamentation.

Yep.

Beloit, WI.

Road Dawg: Family Restaurant.

After making out like bandits with our free fireworks,

Staceofbase and I decided to try some of Beloit's local

fare. We headed over to Road Dawg (for obvious reasons).

My spicy chicken sandwich was decent and the Cookies 'n'

Cream malt was definitely "blog worthy".

Other cool things about Road Dawg:

-Peg games at the table to occupy patrons.

-High School prom sitting 30 feet away.

Road Trip/Fire Works.

Staceinvaders and I decided that this weekend would be a

hollow expanse of potential if we didn't drive to Beloit

Wisconsin to buy fireworks.

So, that's exactly what we did.

Bonus Points:

The cashier was pretty visually high and so when he couldn't

get our initial "Fiery Frog" to ring up, he brought over another

one to use its barcode, but then he put both in our bag.

The last picture is the aftermath of us lighting off the free Fiery

Frog last night. The eyes and mouth strobe color as sparks fly out

of the top of the head.

$40 never bought me so many fireworks.

Homes.

(H)uron.

(O)ntario.

(M)ichigan.

(E)rie.

(S)uperior.

Thanks, Cate.

Little sister birthday presents certainly have a way of making

your Saturday morning brighter.

Full Moon.

Lake Monona.

No Tripod. (sorry).

Los Campesinos.

Last thursday I checked out the Majestic Theater with Kim

and Stacey from work. We rode in on a fleet of Treks (and

a Fisher, technically), like badasses and had a really swell

time.

Notables:

I stood next to the woofer for 2 songs and have yet to

experience any trouble hearing since the concert. Decent.

American Apparel shirt guitarist crowd surfed while soloing

and did remarkably well at both things.

Singer ran around and stood on things.