P-lip

Chris Cross

2009-07-21T11:18:00.003-05:00

Officially offical, mark your calendars: December 6th. Meeting point and race details coming along shortly. Plan on 45mins + 4 laps. 1/2 mile lead out & home stretch. Beers and such afterwords at the farm.

Back in Action

2009-07-14T10:53:00.003-05:00

I'm back...I guess. I'll be using this as the go-to for all information for Chris Cross, a cylcocross race I'm organizing for December 6.

Next week monday I meet with the Dodge County Parks commission. The head guy, Bill, didn't think there'd be any problems with a race in Astico park, but wanted to get everyone's input.

So mark you calendars and think about racing or volunteering.

Find something new

2009-02-18T10:38:00.001-06:00

Go here:
Corgimo

or here:
Collars

from now on.

The promised radness actually happened

2008-09-24T11:14:00.002-05:00

The Capital Brewing ones are printed on organic hemp.

It's going to get real rad around here...

2008-08-20T11:05:00.002-05:00

In about one month, a new collar will be unvieled. We've got a slew of ever-changing patterns, cuteness and very nice collars. Megs has started printing her own artwork on organic hemp and organic denim fabrics, and soon, (towards the end of September) we'll show off our new design - our partnership with Capital Brewing!!!! Limited edition, Captial Brewing dog collars. They're going to be as rad as it gets! Hand printed Cap. beer logos on organic denim fabric. I'm not sure how many we'll do, I'm not even sure what the price works out to. We'll keep y'all posted.

Keep on Truckin'

2008-08-01T14:00:00.003-05:00

This weekend is 24-9, all my fit and unfit friends are going to race, eat, drink and achieve collective exhaustion. I went in '07 and in '06. I'm really sad to be missing out. I really like cycling, but co-managing a business with my wife has taken all each of has. Our "free" time is spent sewing collars, taking orders, shipping product, returning emails and attempting to turn a profit. Both of us have sacrificed our social lives, all of it, the friends we have left are probably there by proxy more than anything. Neither of us ever thought starting a business would be so all-consuming. We knew we were going to work hard, very hard, but not that we would run ourselves ragged for months on end.

We now have 6 stores in the Madison area, one in Milwaukee and one in Chicago. We also have 2 humane societies and several breed rescues we donate too. Success is imminent! I want to believe that this is how all business have to start out, even our favorite ones, like Exxon Mobil, they're killing the competition in terms of profit.

In 2007, Exxon Mobil made $1300 per second; for the entire 12 month span. They continue to break profit records. Making an American-owned company record profit of over $11 billion just in the second quarter. This at a time when our economy seems to be slowly disintegrating.

Meanwhile, we have neighbors who walk their 3 pigs everyday.

wow

2008-06-24T13:05:00.001-05:00

Riding = yes
vacation = was good
Collars = going great!
Internets = I'm tired of it.

xoxo
Phil

WTF was that?!

2008-05-30T12:48:00.003-05:00

Here's what my 4 dogs and I saw:

4 legs, dark brown, running from a field across the street about 100 feet in front of us. It moved like a cat, had a big bushy tail, and was maybe about 30# or so.

Breed Standards

2008-05-20T12:20:00.004-05:00

I stumbled upon this picture of a very unlucky Chinese Crested.

Normally, I'm not one for small mostly hairless dogs. Dogs should have fur in my book, a nice fairly even coat, I also like a bit more sturdy bone structure. So I guess, if a Crested was for me, I'd have a powderpuff that was beefed up somehow.

The only ones I know are owned by a good breeder, she's got...4 or 5 or 100, it's hard to remember, all those little barking dogs and her big ornery law-dog son waving his long arms around in a fruitless effort to shoo them away.

There's another woman I know who shows/breeds them. Her Cresteds are terrible rat-like little creatures with little socialization, even training and not much of a dog's life. They live in kennels about 22 hours a day. When they're let out the dogs are left to scrap it out anytime one of her bitches is in heat. She's smart enough to seperate the dogs and bitches, but...damn...get some horny little dogs together with a good looking bitch in heat and all hell breaks loose. It was a terribly stressful place. I'm glad to be freed from her and her dogs.

This little girl is more my style...

It's our little girl, Ci ci. She's doing really well, loves to be outside and is getting ready to do some toy breed agility. She's a little over weight at 7.6lbs, but I'd put her up against most other "family pet" dogs out there. She gets 6 miles a day of walking and eats high protein food, she can jump a fence that's over 2.5ft high. About the only thing she doesn't do well is swim.

Locally famous...sort of

2008-05-16T09:32:00.002-05:00

I managed to finally do it. I made cookies last night. Not just any chocolate chip cookies, though. I used my dad's recipe. Not too many people outside of our family have it. I used to believe they couldn't be made up to par unless I was in his kitchen, with his watchful eye overseeing everything. Last night I made the cookies in my kitchen, without my dad, and I'd say they turned out exactly like his. Most of the recipe is written down, there's a few little things that aren't. I successfully remembered them and.....TADA!!!!! COOKIES!!!!! I'm especially proud because my brother has attempted and failed to make the cookies, he's a great cook & baker. He's made all kinds of stuff, from Bread Puddings, quick breads, donuts, prime rib, crepes, pretty much everything, and yet he can't make dad's cookies in his own kitchen.

I had a lot going against me, first dad uses a nice electric mixer, I mixed by hand. His recipe makes 60-80 cookies, I only made about 30. He uses really nice non-stick cooking sheets, I bought mine at a garage sale for $0.05 each. He has an electric oven with a digital thermometer. I have a gas oven with an innacurate dial thermometer.

As you can see in the picture, they look perfect, and as I can taste, I recreated them perfectly. Maybe I'll make another batch and bring 'em to Wheels on Willy Sunday.

Good Idea

2008-05-08T10:43:00.001-05:00

I have no idea who this is, but he's got the right idea!

More guns = more safety

2008-04-24T11:08:00.002-05:00

The following article is copied from thegunsource.com, an online gun dealer in Green Bay, WI.

GREEN BAY – A regrettable tie to two mass murders on college campuses is spurring a firearms dealer to forgo profit for the sake of preventing future loss of life.

Eric Thompson’s company, TGSCOM Inc., sold Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui a Walther P22 through the Web site www.thegunsource.com. Steven Kazmierczak, who killed five people at Northern Illinois University (NIU) on February 14th, received two 9mm Glock magazines and a holster he ordered from the TGSCOM Inc. Web site www.topglock.com.

Ever since the NIU shootings, Thompson has been using his unfortunate coincidence to press for changes that will make it easier for law-abiding citizens to carry a gun to protect themselves, the people they love and their neighbors.

Today, Thompson is backing up his words with actions. For the next two weeks, Thompson will not take any profit on firearms sales from any of his over 100 Web sites. Instead, Thompson will offer guns to customers for the same cost he pays for them.

“I hope and pray I will never again be in a position where I am asked questions about selling items used in a crime,” said Thompson. “The next news story I want to be involved in is how I sold a firearm to someone who helped stop a mass murderer. By forgoing a profit, I hope to help give law-abiding citizens the tools to prevent tragedy.”

By logging onto www.gunsatcost.com, law-abiding citizens will have the chance to purchase a firearm to protect themselves and their loved ones. Customers will have over 5,400 different kinds of firearms from which to choose.

Since learning of the unfortunate and random twist of events that made Thompson’s company a part of both the NIU and Virginia Tech shootings, Thompson has said he has “a special responsibility to work to prevent future tragedies.”

Thompson has since launched a Web site, www.gundebate.com, to help spur a dialogue in search of solutions to stop future mass shootings and also to act as a clearing house for public safety ideas.

Thompson also announced that he plans to visit Blacksburg, Virginia on Thursday, April 24 to speak at a Virginia Tech Students for Concealed Carry on Campus event. Thompson will use the speech to highlight his support for giving law-abiding citizens the right to protect themselves from criminals.

Thompson recently partnered with Students for Concealed Carry on Campus to provide hundreds of holsters donated by his customers and gun manufacturers to nearly 30 colleges and universities for students to participate in the second-annual “empty-holster protest.” The purpose of the protest is to object to state laws and university policies that forbid law-abiding citizens from carrying concealed weapons on campuses.

I heard this article on NPR this morning and was completely shocked at the logic. Both of the killers purchased the guns as "law abiding citizens." I guess, I mean, if you're in the market for a gun, and agree with this man's politics and rationale...well...there's no better time to protect yourself.

Spring

2008-04-22T10:21:00.003-05:00

I think Spring is finally here, nice temps, rain off and on. It's not too bad. Megs and I have been getting some work done. We purchased all our seeds for the garden. It's going to be huge. We still need to get a couple of starter plants - Tomatos and maybe something else...I can't remember what. Here's what we've got: Peas, beans, carrots, green onion, broccholi, garlic chives, zucchini, bell peppers, anaheim peppers, raddish, iceberg head lettuce, royal red lettuce, corn catnip, dill, cilantro, basil, rosemary, oregano, and garlic.

We also put some time in pruning our grapevine, it was pretty out of control, and the fence needs some work.

Tough one

2008-04-11T13:43:00.002-05:00

I'm stuck in a tough spot. Helping my friends at the H8TR and having a lot of fun, or doing what's best for our business and financial well-being. I've been making these decisions for quite some time now, since July or so. Putting everything else in front of what I want. I thought this race was my chance to have guilt-free fun...it's turned out that is not the case.

Everybody hurts

2008-04-03T09:35:00.000-05:00

oh, that kinda hurts

2008-03-26T17:23:00.002-05:00

I've been squeezing in miles whenever I can - ZERO of them have included saddle time. I'm hoping that foot fitness - walking and running - will transfer (at least a little) to cycling fitness in time for the H8TR. I'm a little stiff today, I put on 6 miles hiking/walking (3 in the morning, 3 in the evening with the dogs) both of hikes I lugged my 60lbs camping pack along. I also ran 3 miles during my lunch. My legs are unhappy today, it's a nice burn, though. This morning I put on another 3 miles with the pack and the dogs. I skipped the lunch run in favor of making today an "easy" day.

So yeah, I think everything is going to work out pretty good.

Weight report: I've lost 2# (probably dehydration) so I'm under 190# now. I'd like to get under 180# for H8TR and be down to 170# or less for 24-9. I'm still up in the air for what I'll be signing up for, I'm leaning towards a 12hr solo. If I can walk/run 9 miles a day, what's 12hrs on a bike? I can coast on a bike.

No means NO!!

2008-03-25T16:41:00.002-05:00

I said GO AWAY, IT IS TIME FOR SPRING, BIRDS ARE HERE, RIVERS ARE FLOODED AND THE TULIPS ARE STARTING TO COME UP. GO AWAY!!!

Thursday
Colder. Periods of snow. Snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches. Highs in the mid 30s. Northeast winds 5 to 15 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Chance of snow 80 percent.

Forcast from the always reliable Weather Underground

Officially, the Madison area has recieved 100.4 inches of snow this season. Looks like a little more won't hurt too bad. I wasn't really interested in starting my garden until July anyways.

not spring yet

2008-03-22T07:41:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was the second day of spring, 12 inches of snow fell in roughly 14 hours time.

The new VW rabbit did pretty well considering those fancy boy wheels and low profile tires.
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That ol' familiar ache

2008-03-20T09:01:00.003-05:00

I've not had time to ride, between stupid drives to work and walking dogs, my bikes are getting dusty. The H8TR100 is coming up, lots of the folks have been stacking on miles, not me. I best hope is to keep that bastard attorney in my sights. Anyway, I've been lugging a 60lbs pack with me on the dog hikes. Today we went a bit longer - about 3 miles. My legs hurt, and I'm sure they'll be a lot worse for the H8TR bloodbath.

Stone Cold Killer

2008-03-15T10:36:00.002-05:00

Well...sort of. As I've mentioned before, our dog Lucy has killed a few little varmits...and a couple of Raccoons, too. Returning home after our walk the other day, Lucy and the 3 other dogs took off, barking and charging. It turns out that there was a possum eating our trash, the dogs were circling it, barking and growling and taking turns lunging at it. The possum was playing dead. I rounded up the dogs and got them inside, I went back outside to see that damn possum back at it - eating our trash!!! I tried to shoo it away, but it wasn't having any of that. So I went back in and told Megs, "honey, there's a possum out there eating our trash, so watch out." She said, "you have a gun, kill it." I figured, she's right, so loaded up the old .22 and marched out there, that little bastard was still eating away, I tried once again to shoo it away, then shot it. I cleaned up the trash bag he got into, put him in with his trash and took him in to the dump.

Real gangsta-ass niggas don't talk much
All ya hear is the black from the gun blast

H8TR!

2008-03-14T08:58:00.002-05:00

The plan as of right now

2008-03-04T13:08:00.002-06:00

Last year, I wanted to break into some endurance cycling, this year is no different, my schedule plan is a little more realistic this year. We'll see how it goes.
April 12, H8TR100
April 25-27, support for the one and only djonn at TransIowa
May 24, 12 hours of Kewaskum, 3hrs solo, part of the WEMS series
July 12, 12 hours of Blue Mounds 6hrs solo, more WEMS action
August 2-3, 24-9 12hrs solo, the big race of my season.

Of course, all this has to pass the committe (Megs) and my fitness has to come way up.

I'm down to one race bike. Megs and I have been in some financial hardship, the bikes had to go. I have a wonderful Gary Fisher prototype that djonn's loaning me. I also have my XO1 cross bike...but that's on it's way to market. Boo hoo. Megs sold her Bob Jackson.

Word for now.

Hurts me so.

2008-02-09T15:05:00.000-06:00

Grandpa died a week ago. He had a nice funeral and a military burial. If you've never been to a military burial, it's emotionally difficult, more so than any funeral I've been to. First the preacher speaks and gives him his final dues...ashes to ashes and dust to dust, then a lone trumpter plays Taps followed by a 21 gun salute, then in silence a flag is folded and presented to Grandma. The shells have been collected and each grandchild got one. My family and I are moving on and recovering.

Onto the most popular topic in Wisconsin, the WEATHER! We've had a metric-fuck-ton of snow this year, something like 72 inches. It's snowing again and tomorrow we'll dip below -10 again. Bundle up with a loved one and some brandy and have a nice weekend.

Email from mom

2008-01-24T09:32:00.000-06:00

Just a quick update--Grandpa is scheduled to go home tomorrow. They were trying to make it happen today, but couldn't get ahold of the Walworth County agencies yesterday (due to holiday) to make the arrangements. He will be transported by ambulance, which is good, because they'll be able to carry him in the house. John will be there with Grandma to take care of things on that end. He will have hospice care at home. I'm not sure what services that includes, we'll wait and see.

Mom

Grandpa's been in the hospital since New Year's. He's been battling cancer for over 10 years now. The cancer is winning.

It was kind of like that....

2008-01-18T09:40:00.000-06:00

Foot and Mouth, yeah, kind of like that. Megs and I have been going gang-busters on the Collar biz. We've got 4 retailers now in the Madison area, we're going to Milwaukee on Monday to meet with 7 prospective others. We sold our iMac, we purchased an HP Laptop, the dv9750us one to be exact. It is life-changing, The screen resolution and video card capabilities far exceed that of our $2200 iMac. It's capable. Purely from a financial standpoint, getting a Mac is stew-pud. The HP we purchased has a wireless card with a 5 mile range. Previously, we had been "stealing" internets access with our cell phones. It was only dial-up speed, and was EXTREMELY difficult to efficently manage our business, or even check emails for that matter. For us, the HP simply mades more sense. Someday, when we're not out living in the sticks, I'm sure we'll have a new iMac, however, until then...we'll be completely smitten with our HP.

In other news:
Rosie is having her first period,
Charlie has a skin disease - no big deal, just daily baths for 2 weeks
Lucy fell through the ice - she's OK
I fell through the ice, only up to my cheast, it was very cold.

I have not ridden a bicycle in over 30 days, it's really depressing.