Brian Ulmer’s Web Site

Just one day left!

Until the World Beard and Mustache Championships. This treat only comes once every two years. Don’t forget to check out the 2007 winners and pick your favorite underdog to root for this year.

Get Your Free Wieners!

Thanks Oscar Mayer. Click the wiener to get yours…

Weekend roundup

This weekend kicked off seeing Meiko on Friday evening at Jammin Java. It was an excellent show and she apparently just broke up with her boyfriend. Meiko, I’m available.

Saturday morning, I headed down to Richmond to an afternoon cookout/reunion with a bunch of friends I grew up with and rarely get to see. As it seems is the trend, many of them have kids now. After a few hours it was off to party two of the day at my parents’ house to celebrate the birthday of a family friend. Then, it was back to hanging out with the 30-somethings for the rest of the evening.

Today, I did some biking in Richmond on some of the roads that I spent way to much time riding while I was in high school. I snapped a couple pics for those out there who shared the joys of West Creek with me. It really hasn’t changed in the last 15 years. There’s maybe one new building and some kind of soccer complex that you can’t see from the road. The asphalt is all rough and sun-bleached now. That’s everything of note. I did not see the Gillies but I did encounter more road kill in one afternoon than I see in Arlington in a year of riding. The tally: 2 possums, 3 squirrels, 1 raccoon, 1 turtle.

The ride was followed by a mid-afternoon mother’s day lunch and a drive back to DC in bumper-to-bumper I-95 traffic that was in no way caused by traffic entering the highway or any kind of construction or accidents of any kind. I can’t explain it. The world has gone mad.

White Castle swine flu special!

Remember, if cooked properly, eating pork is perfectly safe. No need to deny yourself…

Obama and Biden have lunch at Ray’s Hell Burger in Arlington

This apparently happened today. Ray’s Hell Burger is a little burger joint in a strip shopping center in Rosslyn, VA. They have some of the best burgers around here. It’s a pretty tiny self-service type place and usually very crowded. There’s room for maybe 30-40 people to sit and eat and usually another 30 people standing around in every inch of extra space waiting for their orders. Must have been nuts to be sitting there with grease running down your chin and have Obama walk in.

Biking NYC in the rain!

I returned this evening from the Five Boro Bike Tour in New York. I departed Arlington yesterday afternoon with 4 friends in a rental mini van loaded down with bikes for our hotel in Lincoln Harbor, NJ. We made it up with little traffic and headed into the city to meet up with some other friends and get dinner. The rail transit options proved to be a little more confusing than the good old DC Metro but after a little stumbling, we made it into the West Village. After fueling up for the ride with Thai food, beer, and gelato, we made the return trip with ease. 4 hours of sleep and I was awake at 5 AM to get ready to head out.  

The forecast was looking pretty ominous but so had Saturday’s and it had barely rained at all. Optimism remained as I headed out to the van into 60 degree, dry air and wondered if the long sleeves were overkill. We packed up and headed off to Staten Island, where the ride concludes for a convenient get away. As we neared our destination, the first few rain drops appeared on the windshield.

The area of Staten Island we drove through looked like it had been evacuated 30 years ago. Post-apocalyptic came to mind. The van shuddered past the only sign of recent civilization, a shiny new Dunkin Donuts. As we unpacked in the ferry parking lot in a very light rain, I decided to keep the extra layers on. We rode off from the parking lot to board the Staten Island Ferry which would take us to lower Manhattan where the official start of the ride was located. As we waited to board, the rain began to come down at a steady rate.

After the boat ride, we made our way to a sea of cyclists waiting to be released onto the course. 30,000 people do this ride, so it takes a long time to get started.  After 20 minutes or so, we decided to bail on the first two miles and ride around to the west and cut over to rejoin the official course just south of Central Park. On the way up 42nd street, we stopped at a deli for some breakfast.  The sense of urgency to get riding was immense.  ;)

Once back on the closed course with the other 29,994 participants, we headed north through Central Park. At this point the rain had eased to an intermittent sprinkle. One had to be careful not to follow a rider too closely as they plowed through scattered patches of soggy horse manure. There was lots of stopping and starting as the course bottlenecked or people not used to riding in groups created traffic jams.

The Bronx was our next destination and went by fairly uneventfully. By the time we got to Queens, the rain had returned with a vengeance and was coming down pretty steady again. We stopped at a “rest stop” at about the 18 mile mark where we joined one of 30+ lines for porta-potties.  The rain’s intensity increased. We followed the smell of food and purchased some medium-rare, charcoal smoke flavored hamburgers. We passed a 40 foot long table covered in unopened gallon jugs of water as the water refill staff working the station pleaded for us accept a top off.  No one wanted anything to do with water.

The next step was Brooklyn. Large puddles were numerous and unavoidable. The already spastic riders were all over the place, swerving, stopping suddenly on mild inclines and wrecking each other from time to time. I had long since stopped using my CamelBak as the constant all-natural trickle down my face was unavoidable.

As we approached the Brooklyn Bridge, we were presented with the option of the normal course or the “Brooklyn Bridge Short Cut”.  Shorter please!  We’re all shivering at this point and the slow pace and stopping wasn’t allowing for warming up. We rode across the Brooklyn Bridge, which was really cool to do. Only one near head-on collision as two geniuses heading against the flow of traffic came around a blind corner created by a giant pillar in the middle of the bridge. Once back in Manhattan, we fought some traffic back to the ferry and headed back across the river and to the car as quickly as possible.

Dry clothes, coffee, and donuts (at the nice new Dunkin) got the circulation started again and we journeyed back, through the land of tolls, to DC. Despite the abysmal weather conditions, the trip as a whole was fun, except for 3/4 of the biking part. This is the second distance biking event I’ve done in the last year in cold rain.  I don’t think there will be a third. I absolutely love cycling, but next time this happens, I see no need to be hardcore. Bailing is an option. If it rains, I’m sleeping in!

I took lots of pictures until my camera ingested water.  It still works but there’s water behind the screen. Hoping it will evaporate out of there.  I guess I shouldn’t have thrown away that silica gel collection when I made good on the ‘stop hoarding stuff you’ll never used’ resolution.  Click here for the pictures…

I got a SteriPEN today!

I know you’re excited too. Maybe I should drink some water out of puddles tonight and test it out?