Taste Test Committee Approved

Amy says that the prizes some lucky riders will get at Rocktoberfest this Sunday have been approved by the "Morvant Beverage Quality Control Taste Test Committee." She designed the label practically overnight. This could become a tradition!

Even though we don't start the Wednesday ride until 6:40 a.m., it was pretty dark this morning because of the clouds. At one point on the way out I pulled off the front and when I dropped back I went "Woah!" as The Mountain Bike Guy made a scary wobble in the middle of the paceline. Big Richard was riding cautiously behind him, and behind him was a gap. Behind the gap was Jeff, and as I dropped back past him he looked over and said he wasn't about to get any closer! I commented to him that the thing that scared me most about the Mountain Bike Guy were those grabby mountain bike brakes and the fact that his fingers were always on the levers. It couldn't have been more than two minutes later when we came up on some people and had to slow down suddenly. Mountain Bike Guy locked up the rear wheel a couple of times in the process, at which point Big Richard hastily backed away too. The rest of the ride was fairly smooth, even though we were being kind of extra-careful not to get too close.

When I got to work today the security guard smiled, opened the door and said "go on in, everything's open!" Apparently the email I sent yesterday had some effect, as the door to the bike room was now unlocked. Granted, that meant that it was open all the time, but at least the security guard didn't have to walk back and forth to open the door for everyone. Sounds like the meeting with FEMA went pretty well this morning, and so we're hoping things will speed up a little bit. The problem is only partially FEMA's. You see, all this funding has to go through the State. Putting FEMA and the State of Louisiana both in the loop pretty much explains why it's now 13 months after Katrina and the university has thus far received quite little from FEMA. This is a case of bureaucracy squared. Anyway, we're hopeful. Meanwhile, the LRA is allocating $200 million from the CDBG for Entergy, which is about a third of what they were asking for. I'm guessing my energy bills will be going up next year!

Just as I was leaving work this evening The Daughter called to say that it was starting to snow up in Iowa City. This is rather early for snow, even if it is just a little dusting. It will be down to 25F up there tonight. We're even getting a little piece of the cold front, which means it will dip down into the low 60s tonight, although the high will still be around 80. I'll be heading up to Colorado Springs on Friday, sans bike. I really have no idea what the plan is for these meetings, so it should be interesting. It won't be getting below the low 40s over there, so that's nice. Maybe I should pack shoes, pedals, helmet and stuff just in case there's a bike I can borrow?