Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Today was better than expected. The weather was miserable... snow, hail and lots of rain, but that stuff just doesn`t bother me that much any more.
Because it`s Remembrance Day all of the government offices were closed for the day. The government is by far the largest customer of the company that I work for so we were in for a pretty quiet day. A bunch of guys took the day off, but I worked in hopes of playing a bunch of bike polo. The plan was that there would be bike polo going on all day to help keep us busy. Apparently some polo did take place, but when I had time in the morning it wasn`t happening and I was just barely busy enough in the afternoon that I didn`t have time to get over and play.
As it turns out though, I was pretty lucky with the calls I got. I had 31, but I was only expecting around 10. I lucked out and picked up 13 packages all at once. I arrived at a pickup just as she was adding a whole bunch of calls. I called the dispatch and told him I was taking all of them and waited around until all 13 were ready. This obviously made up a big chunk of my calls for the day. I think that because of this I probably had more calls than anyone else. Bonus.
Oh, for those that don`t know. Bike polo is like horse polo, but we don`t have horses. We have bikes. Our mallets are home-made from broken golf clubs and ski poles. They each have a piece of PVC tube at the bottom (perpendicular to the shaft). We use street hockey balls and play in fenced in tennis courts. The game is 3 on 3. You can`t touch the ground while playing and if you do, you`re out of play until you ride a three-sixty at which point you are allowed to play the ball once again. It tends to be fairly aggressive and there are lots collisions and such. It`s good fun and I recommend that you play it.
Because it`s Remembrance Day all of the government offices were closed for the day. The government is by far the largest customer of the company that I work for so we were in for a pretty quiet day. A bunch of guys took the day off, but I worked in hopes of playing a bunch of bike polo. The plan was that there would be bike polo going on all day to help keep us busy. Apparently some polo did take place, but when I had time in the morning it wasn`t happening and I was just barely busy enough in the afternoon that I didn`t have time to get over and play.
As it turns out though, I was pretty lucky with the calls I got. I had 31, but I was only expecting around 10. I lucked out and picked up 13 packages all at once. I arrived at a pickup just as she was adding a whole bunch of calls. I called the dispatch and told him I was taking all of them and waited around until all 13 were ready. This obviously made up a big chunk of my calls for the day. I think that because of this I probably had more calls than anyone else. Bonus.
Oh, for those that don`t know. Bike polo is like horse polo, but we don`t have horses. We have bikes. Our mallets are home-made from broken golf clubs and ski poles. They each have a piece of PVC tube at the bottom (perpendicular to the shaft). We use street hockey balls and play in fenced in tennis courts. The game is 3 on 3. You can`t touch the ground while playing and if you do, you`re out of play until you ride a three-sixty at which point you are allowed to play the ball once again. It tends to be fairly aggressive and there are lots collisions and such. It`s good fun and I recommend that you play it.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Well, holy crap. I finished early which was nice surprise considering how many riders were "off sick" today.
I think "ice pellets" and "freezing rain" sum it up pretty well. The hail was SuperCrappy (tm). It hurts the face, but really hurts the eyes. I'm sure that it's pretty easy to believe that having sharp little cold things whipped into your eyes continuously (or otherwise) is an unpleasant experience. Glasses might have helped. Well, they certainly would have helped with the cold things, but may have been overly detrimental to visibility. Not many riders were wearing them today, so...
Thanks to the freezing rain I couldn't really change gears from 10am onwards. Luckily I was stuck in a pretty reasonable gear, so it wasn't that big of a deal. My breaks held up surprisingly well. Each time I got on the bike I had to give them a little workout to clear the rims, but having done so they performed pretty much the same as any other rainy day.
My bike is totally covered in ice and looks pretty cool. If my camera weren't in Japan right now, (you'd better be taking some good photos, Eli) then I'd get some pictures of it.
I have to say though, that other than some very frozen, numb feet and a scrape on my knee from falling on the sidewalk, that I came away from the day pretty well. I seriously need to get some booties. These plastic bags just aren't cutting it anymore.
It's supposed to be 15 degrees tomorrow. People kept telling me that today...
I think "ice pellets" and "freezing rain" sum it up pretty well. The hail was SuperCrappy (tm). It hurts the face, but really hurts the eyes. I'm sure that it's pretty easy to believe that having sharp little cold things whipped into your eyes continuously (or otherwise) is an unpleasant experience. Glasses might have helped. Well, they certainly would have helped with the cold things, but may have been overly detrimental to visibility. Not many riders were wearing them today, so...
Thanks to the freezing rain I couldn't really change gears from 10am onwards. Luckily I was stuck in a pretty reasonable gear, so it wasn't that big of a deal. My breaks held up surprisingly well. Each time I got on the bike I had to give them a little workout to clear the rims, but having done so they performed pretty much the same as any other rainy day.
My bike is totally covered in ice and looks pretty cool. If my camera weren't in Japan right now, (you'd better be taking some good photos, Eli) then I'd get some pictures of it.
I have to say though, that other than some very frozen, numb feet and a scrape on my knee from falling on the sidewalk, that I came away from the day pretty well. I seriously need to get some booties. These plastic bags just aren't cutting it anymore.
It's supposed to be 15 degrees tomorrow. People kept telling me that today...
It's snowing. The forecast, however, speaks of "ice pellets" and "freezing rain". Should be an interesting day...
