Hodge Podge

I know I haven’t posted for several days, but I’ve been busy with a lot of other stuff. I would say that I won’t let it happen again, but I probably will.
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On the cycling front, I went out yesterday afternoon to Melton Hill Park to help John B. and Steve scout out the courses for KnoxieCross races #3 and #4 (Feb. 10th and 24th). Both will be at Melton Hill Park this year, where we only had one race last year. The markings from last year’s course are still very visible. Not that we marred the park last year or anything. We actually used existing paths that had been mowed into the fields. I think the park is used for a lot of cross-country racing/training by area high schools.

Steve hadn’t seen the previous course, so I described it to him a bit and we looked at part of it while waiting for John to arrive. We also looked at another area I thought might be good for adding something onto the course, but I’ve since decided that it wouldn’t work very well. Right after John showed up I took a lap with Steve around the old course to show him the exact layout. We decided to make a couple of minor changes, including running the course backward.

We then scouted out a totally new course in an area of the park we hadn’t ever looked at (and in fact didn’t realize just how big it was). I think we’ve fleshed out a good draft for a very challenging course. Steve rode around it a good bit, but I’d flatted my front tire after riding only five miles on the old course. But I think I will go out there on Tuesday or Wednesday and go for a jog around the new course layout, just to get a better feel for it. It should be a great course.
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Other goings on this weekend included, of course, watching the Super Bowl with MG on the couch. I made up a batch of my semi-famous guacamole, which ended up becoming our dinner (we ate so much of that and chips that we weren’t really hungry enough to make chili at half-time as we’d planned).

Saturday was MG’s Vet School 15 year reunion. There were only about ten or so of her classmates there (out of fifty or so), but I knew them all (MG and I got married while she was still in school, so I was at a lot of class functions). I think everyone still had fun, especially talking about the folks who didn’t show (including two who live in town and have no good excuse – though they’ll likely make up something).

Anyway, that catches me up, I guess, except for…
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Trivia Answers from 1/25/07

1. What is the mythological significance of ‘Mjolnir’? Mjolnir was the name of Thor's (Norse god of ... lot's of stuff) hammer, with which he summoned forth thunder and lightning and smote his enemies and yada yada yada...

2. What does ‘Testarossa’ mean (hint: it’s Italian)? 'Testa' = 'head', and 'rossa' = 'red'. Put them together and you've got a redhead. So what's the story on the Ferrari Testarossa? Open the engine bay and you will see red-painted cylinder heads. But first you've got to find one and talk the owner into popping the hood open for you.

3. Mars has two moons. Tell me the name of either one. They are Phobos and Deimos after the sons of Ares in Greek mythology. Ares's Roman counterpart is Mars, so it's interesting that the planet is named from one mythology and the moons from another.

4. In the 1998 movie “Shakespeare In Love”, who played the part of the Queen of England? M. No, seriously, it's Dame Judi Dench, perhaps better known to many Americans as James Bond's boss. The Brits know she has a long and storied career as a superb actress.

5. Most of us using computers these days are familiar with USB ports, but what does USB stand for? Universal Serial Bus. I'd explain what that really means, but it would get long and technical pretty fast.