Memorial Day at Metro Beach

I have needed to get out riding for a few weeks now, but never seem to find the time when it isn't raining. There is so much work to do around the yard I always end up doing that instead of getting in shape (though one could argue that yard work does get oneself in shape).

Thankfully my brother Mike came to the rescue on Memorial day and dragged me out of the house to hit the trails. Since we haven't ridden this year we kept to the paved kind, easier in theory but not always in practice.

We decided to park a ways out and ride into Metro Park and back, however Mike didn't remember where he parked the previous time he rode in. We ended up parking several miles further out than we had planned to, adding about 3 miles of uphill and into-the-wind riding to our trip (and an easier 3 miles on the way back). But there are worse things that can happen, the picture above is the line to the admission booth of the park.

That line extends about 3 miles back down 16 mile road, not to mention the side roads lined with people waiting to turn into the line. In the hour that it took us ride from the back of the line all the way to the furthest most point in the park and back to entrance to the park, the cars that were at the very back of the line when we started were only just then getting within site of the entrance booth.

And the park was PACKED, not the place to go on a holiday. Glad we were just there for some exercise.

"V" Returns to TV

I didn't think that anyone would ever try to resurrect V after the less than stellar first TV series. Not that I didn't enjoy watching it as a kid, but it didn't measure up to the mini series it was based off of. It is no surprise that it was canceled after just one season.

The new trailer looks fairly decent, it seems that ABC isn't going to short end the budget this time. From what I can tell this is a "start from the beginning" remake, so we won't get to see the resolution of the cliffhanger at the end of the original TV series only season right away. If they take the same direction that is, and of course assuming that it survives long enough.

I'm hoping it can fill the Sci-fi void in my viewing habits left by the cancellation of the Terminator series. (Not too happy at Fox about that one)

Bella the Beagle

Last summer when our cat Jack died we talked about getting a new pet when we were ready. Six months later we had decided on getting a dog, and everyone wanted a puppy.

We started looking into it in earnest about 6 weeks ago, and after a few bad experiences with pet rescue agencies we decided to simply buy a puppy.

Bella is currently about 4 weeks old and in another 4 weeks we can bring her home. She is a Beagle, so training will be a long process, but otherwise we expect her to be a perfect fit for our family.

The backyard has been prepared to resist most escape attempts, and we have a cage and dog beds ready inside. Now we need to teach Austin to keep his toys put away, though a few of those lost to puppy teeth may prove to be the best learning method.

The Super Burrito

That giant mound of cheese covered burrito to the left is known as the "Super Burrito" at Pancho Villa's. If you manage to eat the whole thing, it's free!

I love food, even more so when it's free. But the menu doesn't have any pictures so I had no idea of the true size of what they were going to place in front of me.

I had expected a 5 pound burrito or so, some monstrosity that would be difficult to finish and would keep their coffers full. I didn't expect that they would go to such Herculean lengths as to make an abomination that is nearly impossible to keep on the cafeteria tray on which it is served.

This approximately 10 pound beast of a burrito finished my family meals simply by arriving at the table, they declared themselves full even before I took a bite. I am happy to say that I ate about 1/4 of this before deciding that I wasn't going to finish it so there was no point in making myself sick trying.

For $14.99, I think it was still a good deal. I get leftovers for a week!

Dream Job

I need to find a way to be notified of these kind of job postings on a more timely basis. I don't want to find out about them after they have created the short list, or even worse after applications cease being accepted.

It seems that there really is a "best job in the world", at least if you like being paid a lot to babysit a Villa on a tropical island and blog about the experience for six months.

There were approximately 34,000 applicants for caretaker of Hamilton Island in Queensland Australia, and unfortunately I was not one of them. They have now whittled down the list to 16 finalists who hail from all over the globe. While I missed this round the position is only for six months, so maybe I can try again next year.

While the job is real, this is in essence a marketing campaign for the island. I can only hope that more tourist locations follow suit, I'll start prepping my application now just in case.