So, 26th post for 2012 and it's already May. That's why I numbered posts this year, to see just how bad I am at updating this thing. Biking to work has been good. Fun even. Last week though got caught in the rain 3 days in a row on the way home. Not bad, just annoying after a while. Today ran out for some Crisp, there and back in about 30 minutes, including ordering and waiting for the food. Super easy to just pop it on the cetma rack. I love that thing. I mounted a couple Planet Bike Blaze 1W headlights to it, so now I'm rocking duals, although I won't really need them until the fall. Besides biking, had a 2nd birthday party for Lucy. Best present for her has been the fruit cutting and the cookware set from Auntie Amy. Kind of sad but good is that she hasn't been playing with her iPad as much. Now that I put Netflix on it, recently it's a way to watch Thomas the Train Engine. Yay! Yay? She's trying to count now too, but skipping the unimportant numbers like 4-7. And she likes playing hide and seek, except you can't hide too well, and she just runs away and comes back when it's her turn to hide. Gonna miss her since Tracy and I are going to Mexico for our anniversary with the Cases for their anniversary, all sans kids. So Lucy's spending the rest of the week out in Woodstock with Grandma and Grandpa. Looks like FaceTime works, so hopefully we'll get some 21st century parenting in. Picked up a pair of Native Nano2 sunglasses from Moosejaw. Hopefully I won't lose these for at least 3 years.

A real vacation. Just got back from a real vacation. Days spent on the beach or by the pool. One afternoon went kayaking in the lagoon. Otherwise, perfect. Made it through 5 books. Forgot to mention I got a Kindle 4 before leaving, since I needed something for beach/pool reading, and I just went with the cheapest version. And it's awesome. Except for the whole special format and converting of epubs, it's great. Light, pretty easy to use, and now a couple days back I'd almost rather use it than the iPhone 4S or iPad. Crazy. But totally came in handy. Kinda carried it around everything. Had a man purse anyway with camera. Resort only had Wi-Fi in the lobby, but it was free. So very sporadic email checking. That was quite nice. Never VPN/RDP'd for work. That was cool. Didn't try FaceTime either, timing didn't work out well. Lucy had too much fun with Grandma and Grampa anyway. Dad sent me photos of her working in the yard, almost made us want to come back sooner. Great to see Lisa and Ryan too. Only problem, Tracy got sick (as in Cold or Flu), and I picked it up too. So strange to have a cough, but I guess a good vacation since there was so much lounging about. Travel was fine. Didn't do that much drinking. Food was ok. But still, reading all day, the occasional dip in the ocean and pool? Awesome. Nice to be back though. Really good to see Lucy. I missed her.

So, there's this The 2012 NATO Summit thing going on this weekend. Work was nice enough to let people work from home and close the office Friday, Monday and Tuesday. So far we haven't seen anything, well, I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary at all. As far as I can tell, nothing's different, on the west side just outside the Loop. Biking's been easy. Had some back creaking from the bottom bracket again, had to take it out and grease it up again. But fairly quite now. Think I need my wheels trued though. Had 1 loose spoke, which probably means bad things. Hanging the bike from the ceiling probably doesn't help matters much either. Lucy's good, seems to be talking more. A few phrases here and there. Took a bath in the big tub last night. I think she liked it. Tracy also took her to check out her new daycare, and I guess she liked it, enough that she didn't want to leave after her visit. Hopefully that's good, since she starts in less than 2 weeks. Scary. After my 5 book binge last week, trying to start Blueprints of the Afterlife, but I can't seem to get into it. Maybe I need to be on the beach. But with a backlog of TV to watch, just haven't been reading in the evenings, and with biking, no reading on the commute. Just got to make the time.

So the The 2012 NATO Summit came and went. I never actually saw a single protest. And I rode in and worked in the office on Friday, Monday and today. Monday was the absolute quietest, like working the day after Thanksgiving or Christmas. It was quite nice. Friday was pretty quiet, and today it's pretty much back to normal. Saturday after Green City Market which was packed, went up to the Chicago Kids and Kites 2012 festival up on Montrose by the lake. That was really cool. Didn't get a kite, because I think I still have one somewhere, but I don't think Lucy minded. She was just playing in the grass, eating a ketchup sandwich for lunch (her choice). If I don't still have it, we'll get one, and maybe we'll fly it off the roof, if she likes it. Then she proceeded to have a 3.5 hour nap. Sunday we were out all day in the car, supply shopping, and happily ended up at Knupper Nursery & Landscape. Happily because they had a sand table, and Lucy got to play while Tracy when shopping for plants. So that was something fun she got to do, besides hang out in an infant car seat at Babies R' Us (again, her choice).

Kinda hoping for the Sprint to break down. Making an awful creaking/grinding noise from the bottom bracket area again. Don't want to take it apart to grease up again, but might have to. But even if it did break down, not sure what I'll want to replace it with. I like the idea of city bikes, but I do get tempted by true road bikes. I like alternative technologies, like a belt drive. I like internal hubs. But there's something about going back to the simplicity of derailleurs and chains. Don't think I could ever go to a single/fixed. I like gears too much. Definitely have to be able to take front/back racks. Probably lean towards a city/commuter and then get a real bike someday if/when we move to the suburbs, or at least someplace with space for more bikes. In the meantime, I'll keep chugging along. Finally getting a cup holder for the bikes too, and another handlebar for the Xtracycle. Forgot to mention one of the best things about coming in to work on the Monday of the The 2012 NATO Summit: AT&T data service that actually worked. Back to biking though. I'm feeling better, and while I haven't lost any weight yet, I think I look better. So that's something.

Bike the Drive 2012 went well on Sunday. Hot though. Nice cruising on the Xtracycle. Will try and post some photos, but got a nice one of Lucy and I both tucking on a downhill. Which is awesome. Only went from Addison down to Grant Park to pick up our t-shirts, then down to 31st or so before heading back up. Had an early lunch at the Clock Tower Cafe, which was alright. Mike, Amy, and Caden dropped by later to play in the kiddie pool on the roof. Then on Monday we met up at the Fullerton Beach in the morning. That was fun. Saturday after hitting up the market as usual, where we also saw Amy and Caden. After Lucy's nap we went up to Babies R Us since we ran out of wipes, and then hit up a Home Depot for wood and a nail gun to build a planter for Tracy. Ends up the Home Depot is right next to H Mart. So Tracy got her macapuno ube Magnolia ice cream and green tea popsicles, while I got my read bean popsicles and mais queso (sweet corn and cheese) ice cream. Awesome. Much too hot this weekend to put the planter together, but great for the ice cream and popsicles. Finally watched The Green Lantern. Eh. Hard to watch when you've got your finger on the volume buttons, constantly adjusting so as not to wake the sleeping kid. Almost tempted not to bike in today, as I'm feeling a little tired from all the biking, but did anyway.