By the way, I've revamped the right-hand navigation bar on this site and added a page with a little bit of info 'bout myself. So if you want to meet the man behind the legend, now's your chance. You'll get the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge.

You won't see another post from me until at least next week; I'm off tomorrow morning to Santa Barbara for a buddy's wedding. I've known Scotty since Jr. High, with one brief and forgotten meeting in 2nd grade, so we've been buddies for a damn long time.

Here's to a long and happy married life for you, Scotty.

Tonight a bunch of the S-T.n folks are gathering at a sushi place down in the International District. I'm looking forward to the food, but am a bit apprehensive about the quality of the roads down there; nasty pavement full of potholes, and too damn many cars.

Ah well. Another learning experience for Req. And with spider rolls as a reward, I'm in. After dinner it's off to the house of another S-T.n'er to watch the video of the Mt St Helens ride - maybe I'll finally get to see whether I bother to move my upper body properly in a corner.

I guess Jen caught one of the myriad strains of cold that run rampant through every elementary school in the world, and brought it on home to yours truly. I am currently a seething hotbed of bacteria from my throat up to the tippy-tops of my sinuses. It is very sad for me. Hopefully it will be a weak and easily-defeated cold, but I've already missed one day of work...to say nothing of the distinct lack of riding.

Lots of good, healing thoughts my way, if you'd be so kind.

Sigh. Still sick, actually, though now I've entered the annoying stage rather than the unable to move stage. Mostly better, at least. I spent all of last week off the bike, which was probably for the best - if the coughin' didn't do me in, the Sudafed surely would have.

The last few days have been amazingly foggy here in Seattle, which is extremely unusual. Visibility is a pretty consistant "short" and it lends a new challenge to riding in the city. Actually, to be honest, it's a lot less of a challenge than the usual rain 'round here; at least your visor is clear. It's odd, though, to see vehicles just appear out of the fog. Headlights really don't penetrate it well at all, and my ghetto fog lights don't seem to do much either...

In other news, I've acquired a pair of Dual Star heated grips for Zoë. This weekend's project, when I'm not feasting at one of the several Thanksgiving parties Jen has arranged.

Took the cage to work today. The roads would probably have been fine, but there was an inch of snow on the ground up in my 'hood, and I'm still a beginner. An ice-driven spill would hurt me, hurt Zoë, and likely preclude more good riding in the future. So I spent an hour last night driving my car around in circles, trying to get the dead-flat battery to hold a charge, and this morning wedged myself into the horrible Seattle-bound traffic that oppresses all who cannot use the HOV lane. I really missed zooming past all the crawling cages; it took me a good hour to get to the UW.

On the plus side, it was warm. I'm still a bit less cold-tolerant than usual, after the last two weeks' illness. Hopefully the snow will fade - it always does, in this town - and I can be back on the bike tomorrow.

It was pretty dry and cloudy this morning, but luckily I checked the weather report before heading to work. 70% chance of snow, heavier in the afternoon/evening, and temps right around freezing. I decided not to take the chance, and got back in my Volvo for the commute into the city. Good thing, too. By noon it was snowing all over the city. I ended up leaving work early in order to get home before it got too amazingly bad, and by the time I got home, it looked like this:

I'm so very happy I wasn't on the bike today. In other news, this was my lil' puppy's first experience with snow. I think he enjoyed it greatly.

We'll see what happens overnight. If this much snow turns to ice on the ground, there's no way I'm making it into work tomorrow...

I am engaged to be married, as of last night.

Actually a bit of an odd story: I had bought a ring, wrapped it in a small box in a bigger box in a bigger box, and put it in the pile of xmas presents. Slated to be opened on Sunday, of course, when I planned to ask Jen to marry me.

Last night my girlfriend took me out to a very swanky dinner (Le Gourmand in Seattle) and beat me to the punch. She'd bought a ring too, apparently. I got a fair number of amused looks from the staff and other diners; when Jen mentioned to the waitress that we were engaged, she asked to see the ring (looking at Jen, of course), and I sheepishly raised my hand to show it. (There should be a "blushing" smilie for this.)

So we got back home, and I mentioned that after such a great dinner, she should open one of my presents, and tossed her the ring box...

Not the way I'd anticipated this working out, but it was suitably ironic and weird. A good fit for us, I think.

Hate to do it, but there were another seven comments advertising impotence meds posted today - I'm disabling commenting completely. This makes me sad, but not as sad as having to constantly be deleting this crap.

Spammers: I suggest you die in a fire.

The rest of you: feel free to keep reading, I have only the greatest love and respect for ya.

If'n you're not an S-T.n'er, this won't mean anything to you. But if you are, check me out: I'm completely awesome.

Represent, foo'.