The Aldrich Avenue Weekly

"Find yourself a girl and settle down, Live a simple life in a quiet town" I dunno if any of you know what that is from, but its from the band The Raconteurs. Its a great album and I suggest everyone go pick it up. Good stuff, and that line pretty much sums up what I’ve been searching for. Well, finding the girl part anyways. I went to Chipotle today to get some grub, and this women behind me in line was yakking on her cell phone while ordering. Now usually this doesn’t bother me when this happens, but this was an exception. She preceded to talk to her friend or whatever, AND tell this lady to make the burrito how she wanted it done. Down to having the small pieces of chicken, and not the large ones. I could see the frustration on the employee’s face. It was annoying, I wanted to tell that moron to get off her fucking phone!! It held up the whole line behind her too. People should have the common decency to get off your phone while having some sort of a transaction. I get it at work a lot, and it just pisses the hell outta me.  Ok, down to business. Some of you may or may not know that I’ve been given an opportunity to transfer to Madison WI, for work. The opportunity was given to me about 2 weeks ago. Maybe 3. I went to Madtown last week for a couple days to check out the lay of the land, see the two stores service area’s I would be managing, and met the guys out there. It was a good yet short trip, but ultimately helped my with my final decision. I went back and forth on this for quite some time. On one side, why leave? I like where I’m working now. My current place of residency is quite nice and really has that "I’m home" feeling. My family and friends are all here in the cities. I’m thinking about going to school for journalism. On the other side however, it is a promotion. It would be more responsibility and let myself prove I can take on the challenge. It would be a pay raise. I would get to work with my old manager Dan. I’d get to live right by campus and State street downtown Madtown. You can see my dilemma. So, after a lot of going back and forth on this, I have decided that I will be staying in the Twin Cities. Some people might say "Andy, you pussy, its only a 4 hour drive and its a PROMOTION". Yes, I understand that. It comes down to adding my reasons to stay are quite more then my reasons to go. There was a lot at stake then just re-locating for a job. I love my job, but I love a lot of other things in my life that are here in the cities. So thats that. Bad Andy’s staying in town. Now I can get back to focusing on training for the 24 Hours of Afton once again. Speaking of which, I spent a good hour and a half in the saddle today. It felt good. Later on this week, I’ll be doing a ton of skiing thanks to the recent dumping of snow we got. Thats all for now, time to get to those wretched taxes. Cheers!!!!

Quote of the Week - "Pain is a big fat creature riding on your back. The farther you pedal, the heavier he feels. The harder you push, the tighter he squeezes
              your chest. The steeper the climb, the deeper he digs his jagged, sharp claws into your muscles."
   -  Cyclist Scott Martin

Man oh man, I’d give anything to feel that good right now. This whole week I’ve been sick. Its been this nagging head cold that keeps playing games with me. On and off, back and forth. Last night I thought I was over it and treated myself to a glass of rum, a beer, and even rolled up a heater. Bad idea I guess, because I’ve had a terrible headache all day. I left work early tonight because I could not function anymore. Lets hope it doesn’t screw over my busy weekend ahead. On my next post, I will have let you people know what I decided with that "very big decision" I have to make in the next few days. Lets just say, its a biggie. Anyhoo, in relation to my recent thoughts on the subject, religion and faith has been something on my mind a lot lately. I was raised a Catholic and still remain that. However I hardly follow anything it stands for, but I hope to change that over time. I respect anyone who has faith in whatever religion, but I have to stop at Scientology. This has got to be the dumbest smart idea anyone has ever come up with. Only smart because so many people follow it. Has anyone ever read up on this religion. Its a joke. I mean, there are so many different faith’s in the world that all have legitimate backgrounds, but not this one. Its ludacris. I can’t follow a religion that was founded by some guy back in the 50’s. Tone scale(characterization of human mood and behavior)?  The ARC triangle(three components that make up "successful livingness")?  The god  Xenu? Come on. Garbage. Take some time one day and read up on it. It will be a good laugh. I hear comedian and local minnesooootan Al Franken is running for Senate in 2008. Good to hear. Only in Minnesota. So far I like his style. 1. He’s a comedian so you know he’s going to be open minded. 2. He’s not afraid to criticize himself, and 3. "Gosh darnit, people like him". Should be and interesting voting year in 2008. I think the fact that I have started working out again on a regular basis, might be the root of my state of being sick. It throws your body for a loop when you start up on that stuff after a long break. Lets hope it doesn’t last too long. We brewed up a Scotch Ale last weekend, and plan on brewing a German Alt this weekend. The "brewery" is in full swing at the house. Not too long from now we’ll be doing All Grain brewing. Speaking of beer, check out a fellow co-worker of mine who started a podcast about beer beer talk   Its not a bad deal so far. Its in its early stages, but check it out. Not bad. With that I’m off to make some tea, a grilled cheese sandwich, and hopefully getting rid of this cold. Word.

weekly quote - “reject the government’s cruel and cynical interpretation.” Al Franken

Those of you who do not know this man, its a picture of Sheldon Brown holding a wheel of the coveted "POWer wheels" lacing technique. I put it up 1, because I LOVE this picture, but also because I finally laced, tensioned, and trued my very first wheel without assistance a little over a week ago. It really is sad it took me this long but here we are. Soon I will have a duplicate of this picture only of me in it. His site is pretty fucking cool too. If you are a bike guru like myself check it out sheldon brown  So I recently read about a First Lt. in the Army that is refusing to go to Iraq. Correct me if I’m wrong, but shouldn’t you know when you sign up for the Army, Navy, etc. you just might end up going into real battle? At least, thats what I heard.  His court-martial started today and now this schmuck might end up in jail for 4 years. Now I don’t know if he joined the Army before the war began, but had he joined after it began I have no sympathy for him. He claims "my participation would make me party to war crimes". I’m sorry buddy, but you signed an oath, and I believe you should follow through with that. This cold spell has put a damper on my skiing. I don’t mind cold weather, that is when I can just walk around and hang out, but skiing in weather like this is not my first choice. Hopefully by the end of the week I’ll be back out on the trail. I’ve been on a BIG Beatles kick lately. I finally borrowed all of my mom’s albums the other day to burn them all. I say its about time. I grew up listening to 4 things. Classical music, James Taylor, Paul Simon, and The Beatles. My mom is a Beatles NUT. I wish I had gotten into them earlier in my lifetime. Better late then never eh? And with I think I’ll leave you with that.

weekly quote - "
Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly. Into the light of the dark black night" -The Beatles