Biggest news from the weekend? I don't have a place for my Mac mini anymore. Tracy took over the second bedroom since she gets to work from home now. I set up her work computer on Sunday, and finally got her VPN'd in later that day, and today was her first day from home. I'm so jealous. So that means no more commutes to Indiana for her, which is awesome. Less money spent on gas. Awesome. All good things. And it's about time. So besides that, we also managed to make a wood planter for the deck. We went out to the Argaos on Saturday, borrowed their RAV4 to pick up wood from Home Depot, borrowed their miter saw to cut the wood, and brought it all back in to the city, and I assembled it on Sunday afternoon. And despite all the work, it comes out cheaper than buying one at a store. So we'll be building more, and maybe some additional stuff like benches, bike storage racks. Other than that, nothing too exciting. Oh, got some 2XU Calf Guards calf compression sleeves. They are great, and make my legs feel brand new. Not sure if they'll help with playing or running, but they feel great now. Also finally downgraded our cable TV service to save some money. We really didn't need 3 premium channels. Going for a free injury screen at Fleet Feet tonight. I wonder if they'll have any idea what's going on with my right foot.

So Tracy went to the free injury screening at Fleet Feet last night and signed me up as well, since my right foot has been acting up lately. And apparently I did do something 5 years ago at Potlatch and other things have been compensating. But I have limited flexibility on pronation in my right foot. Maybe scar tissue. I wonder if I should finally go to sports doc to get a prescription for some physical therapy to get it taken care of. Something to file away. Also finally picked up proper sized fenders for the Trek 7000 and got those installed along with the new rack and baskets. So now I have 2 fully functional commuter and utility bikes. I actually rode the mtb in this morning, and it was nice, with the big bouncy tires providing a really comfortable ride. I was just annoyed with the inability to shift at stop signs and lights and worry about my pant leg getting grease and chain marks on it. I wonder if I need new gearing on it cause I was maxed out on the way in. CUSL - Competitive starts tomorrow night, so that should be fun, and tiring, because I'm planning on biking there and back. Went to Adobo Grill for dinner last night, since it's right next to Fleet Feet. I get to make dinner since Tracy is working tonight, but she'll just be in the other room, but working, which is odd. It will be especially odd when she's working this weekend.

So played CUSL-Competitive for the first time in 5 years. Long time. Biked down to Washington Park. Had a pretty bad game. Lots of drops. Apparently I can't catch the low ones anymore. Nor can I jump at all. Yet I still bait on defense. And poach a lot. A lot. But I'm alright on dump D still. Which is cool. But I think the 7 mile ride down took what little legs I had away. And the return 12 mile ride wiped me out. Not sure how many times I'm going to do that ride. Especially when I realized while dealing with the headwind on the way home that I can just use the car on Wednesdays, since Tracy doesn't need it anymore. Last night made Middle Eastern Chicken Pot and Butter-Nut Couscous for dinner, another 30 Minute Meal that took an hour, and I didn't get started until 8:45 so we didn't eat until 10ish. I also made a couple strawberry rhubarb pies. Tracy said they're too tart, and I think they're perfect.

Strained my right hamstring at Men's League tonight. I guess I need to warm up. And the 20+ miles of biking yesterday with another ultimate game probably didn't help either. I'm icing now. Figures. I don't remember straining a hamstring ever in my previous ultimate career. So, there's a first time for everything. But Men's League is over, and I'm vacation next week, so I'll get some time off to heal up, hopefully. Ugh. I really am getting older. Took the bike ride home pretty easy, didn't hurt too much, but I'll ease up on the biking as well, at least tomorrow, maybe next week too. Rode the Trek 7000 again today. Got chain grease all over my right pant leg when I tried downshifting at a light. I do need to clean the drivetrain completely, maybe this weekend. And maybe putting the fenders back on the Sprint. Oh, and making a stand for the big monitor so we can watch movies on the deck. Gotta find something to do while Tracy's working.

Yup, iPhone 3G S announced at WWDC 2009. Yes, Tracy and I will be getting them. I think. Tracy for sure, and I'm actually waffling a little. I can't help but think this is an interim model, and maybe 6 months maybe a new one, with the matte back and front facing camera and maybe 802.11n might come out. So not sure if I want to gamble and hold for a bit. Otherwise, nothing too gotta have for me, in terms of announcements. Weekend was interesting, since Tracy was working at home all weekend. Couldn't bug her too much. I did buy some more wood and a miter saw on Sunday, and the first piece of woodworking? A 4" footstool for Tracy. Also want to make another planter, a box for the monitor/speakers to make it easy to watch movies on the roof, some additional smaller planters, a storage shelving unit in the garage nook to hold the saw and bike stuff. So got lots of plans. And lots of wood. And my first real power tool. It's awesome. My parents came in on Saturday, cleaned out more of the old home, and we had dinner at Jin Ju, then some shopping at Uni-Mart. Sunday Tracy's parents came in, along with Mike and Amy and cousin Gene and Scott were in town, so had dinner at our place and watched the NBA game. Leaving Thursday for a week in North Carolina for Ella's baptism.

Yup, iPhone 3G Ss preordered as upgrades from AT&T Wireless, once for Tracy, one for me. In order to get permission to upgrade mine, I'm on a severely constrained budget until September. Granted, I should be on a severely constrained budget anyway, because I don't need a whole lot more than I already have. So should show up Friday, June 19. Hopefully. And Tracy and I will have matching iPhones. And I'm guessing she's going to get a lot of use out of the Find My iPhone. It'll come in handy, that's for sure. I guess my old iPhone will become an iPod touch, or maybe pass it along. Leftovers for dinner last night. Got a haircut tonight. Almost done with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Not sure what to read next. Maybe Cryptonomicon, or Diamond Age, or maybe the Bourne Series, or maybe Rainbow Six. Of course, this is just for vacation, since I'll be back to bike commuting.

I'm a little jealous watching bikers on their way to work. Definitely miss that. But will be up and about soon enough. Did I mention that I figured out how to bend the rear seat stays to cut and mount fenders on the Sprint? Had to use a vise for metal bending, but it should come in handy for future endeavors. Also, since it's summer, Tracy and I really aren't watching any TV, at least, there's nothing on the DVR piling up, that we have to watch. And if we do watch, it's stuff that's live, with commercials, and the inability to fast forward through them, or with channel surfing. I've been partial to just flipping between movies using the Apple TV. No commercials there. I finished up the last Harry Potter, again, today. So start to finish, 47 days total, to read the series. There were about 2 weeks of biking which meant reading only during lunch, and 5 weeks of the El, which added commuting to the reading time. It's still a really good series, and quite touching, just like the last time I read them all, which was about a year ago. I'll have to go through the movies next. Tracy made her eggplant parmigiana for dinner, I finished off the strawberry tart I whipped together over the weekend. Gotta pack up tonight, flying out tomorrow. I think I'll be bringing the laptop along, but not sure yet.

Flew back in last night from RDU. Always wish my schedule was flexible enough to take up the bribes on overbooked flights, $300 voucher and hotel stay to get bumped to the morning flight. Oh well. Came home exactly how we left, except a bit warmer, via 152 and Blue Line. For more details about the trip, see Ella's Baptism Visit (June 11-18, 2009). It was nice and relaxing, with I think, a surprising amount of shopping. We of course, overpacked I think. Also, my sandals (Keen Venice H2) smelled really badly, so I soaked them in Simple Green and cleaned the feet with it and rubbing alcohol. Better, but not sure if it just covered up the smell. Wait and see. Ella's cute as a button, fun to play with. It was good to hang out with the Argaos and the Tongs. Also, have couple more Mac people in the family, which is always good to see. Got some great southern food, probably ate too much. Went climbing for I think the first time ever, which I like, but am not very good at, endurance wise. Also liked having dogs (Nala and Buck) to play with. Used Tumblr to keep track, not Daytum, so I've got some back loading to do. Looking forward, maybe some woodworking, bike work, setting up new iPhone 3G Ss, out to Woodstock on Father's Day.

Took a while, but got Tracy's and my iPhone 3G Ss up and running. Heard about the activation issues, so waited until about 10pm Friday night, but then still had issues, and looking around online, found an automated AT&T number to call to accept terms and conditions, which then worked for activating my phone, around 3am Saturday morning, but I had to talk to someone at AT&T Wireless to get Tracy's iPhone working, which needed the data plan and the SIM and IMEI added to her account, and even then it wasn't activated, I got transferred to an Apple rep who finally had me do a restore which then worked and finally Tracy's phone activated at like 10am Saturday morning. Awesome. Phones themselves are great, and Tracy cleaned up her contacts, using MobileMe Windows control panel so she could enter them using Windows Contacts program. Calendars were easy using the Google ActiveSync setup. For me, as an upgrade, it's just faster. And location services are more accurate. That's about it. Went out for dinner Friday night during a lull in the storms, got some dirt on Saturday for planting, went out to Woodstock for Father's Day party on Sunday. Oh, did I mention I'm a little sick? Not sure the heat, high humidity outside and the cooler temps from A/C inside and lack of sleep are helping me get better at all.

Went for the south Olympic Day Fun Run yesterday, from Buckingham Fountain up to North Ave Beach. Got a free t-shirt. They had a stage with bands and music, and some Olympians pimping out Chicago for 2016. They also had a few games set up, like 5v5 beach soccer, some kayaks, basketball, badminton, and apparently archery somewhere, but we didn't see it. Tracy came down from the north, so we just met up there. Ended up at Bricks Chicago for dinner, which was pretty good. Then took the bus home. Used the CamelBak Classic Russell got me for Muddy Buddy last year. It's really useful for carrying wallet, iPhone, keys and stuff while running. And it keeps me hydrated. Monday night I worked on getting more music onto my new iPhone 3G S. Oh, and I'm still using the space, until all references to the space are gone. Drove in to work today so I can drive to Washington Park for CUSL-Competitive. The 24 miles biking, 12 of it after playing, is a little much, and I'll try it again, but maybe when it's not so hot out.

Well, the 3 mile fun run on Tuesday, first in a couple weeks, followed up with some ultimate on Wednesday night, well, I'm pretty sore and tired. Might be a little much, but it's needed, since Muddy Buddy is a short 5 weeks away. So not only do I probably need to get up to 5 miles or so, I should also start looking at some hills, mainly, that one on Montrose near the lake. With the heat and my declining physical skills, ultimate is definitely on my Murtaugh list. Something I'm too old for, but I end up doing anyway. Don't think I'll be attempting a comeback. I've been gone too long. Driving makes it easier, yet I wish I biked. Even though it's so long, it's still a fairly nice ride. Maybe next week? Speaking of bikes, I need to figure out how to put the bike rack on the Volvo to bring out Tracy's bike this weekend.

Helped pull off a surprise birthday party for my Mom. Dad, Al and especially Joy and Mary Lou and Carmi did all the work putting it together. It was awesome. Except for Tracy and I having to drive 2 hours in traffic to get there on Friday night. Besides that, we probably could have been a little more organized, including the guest list, but we did as best we could, on relatively short notice. Aside from that, the other big news from the weekend was Tracy doing and completing her first Triathlon, the sprint distance at the Bigfoot Triathlon up in Lake Geneva. I'm so impressed she pulled it off. I wouldn't have made the decision, did all the training (by herself), and ran the race on an extremely windy day (15-20mph). Seriously awesome. She's got another, Harbor Lights Triathlon up in Waukegan on July 19. And I get to be a tri-husband again, and at yesterday's event, it made me happy that I wasn't the only one. I did update her Facebook status as she competed, and tried to take photos and videos as best I could. Got to hang out with the family for a bit, since Al and Nicole were around. Scouted out the course on Saturday and realized that we should head up to Lake Geneva for a day or weekend and not to swim, bike and run in a competition. And a couple other things I've figured out: how the bike rack attaches to the trunk of the car, so we can now take our bikes out to places that have hills for a ride; and that I need to set an alarm if I want to get up with enough time to prep for bike commuting.

Back to exercising. Back to riding. Went for a run when I got home last night, jogged up to Montrose and did some runs up that little hill there. It's better than nothing. After that I worked on the bikes a little bit, to get them back up and running, pumped tires, tweaked the drive train on the Sprint so no more grinding or skipping, but now creaking again, so I'll have to grease it up a bit again. If it's not one thing, it's another. I still have to clean out the drive train on the mtb. Rode in this morning, nice and cool, even to the point where I might use pants on the ride home, or maybe arm sleeves. Changed the Airport Expresses back to using a switch instead of all connecting wirelessly. Hoping the new 7.4.2 firmware update on the extending 802.11n Express will help prevent drop outs. Wonder if a Powerline network would make it work better. Here's hoping. Forgot to mention that my brother lost a bunch of weight, and looks almost too skinny. And for the first time in our lives, I weigh more than he does. I'm longer the little brother.