Lately

Last week we had to break in Jessica's new car, and decided that a trip to visit the Berger's would be perfect! So we packed up and headed west to visit the gang, especially looking forward to seeing the quickly growing Nate!

Nate should be as tall as me within another year, I figure, even at only 11 months old right now. We also found out that he loves to play peek-a-boo around the corner.

Over and over again...

It was a pretty chill weekend for us. We mostly just spent time hanging out with Berger's, doing some shopping and getting to bum around Glenwood Springs for a bit. I did see an awesome jacket that I'm hoping Jessica will get me for my birthday;

I think we tired out the rest of the family during our visit... Cooper is always ready for a nap;

With Daisy not far behind;

Definitely a diva;

Sunday came and we had to leave earlier than we wanted to, simply so we could beat the ski traffic. Jessica loves her new car;

And we had clear skies the whole way home, especially going through the always scenic Glenwood Canyon.


Since we've been back it's pretty much been non-stop preparation for the tadpole growing in Jessica's belly!

It was a foggy and snowy evening for the Elk the other day, but they didn't seem to mind one bit.

They must have known it was going to clear up and be a quiet and beautiful morning the following day. Even Kodoma seemed content in his frosty field.

Man in the Moon

Did you catch the launch of the space shuttle last week? Mostly, I really liked this video I came across, definitely sweet. Man, I really would love to get down to Florida for one of the final launches, before the program gets scrapped.

I also came across this amazing ground photo of the International Space Station, including the docked ATV-2 and the Space Shuttle Discovery! Pretty amazing stuff, but unfortantely, no information on the equipment used to capture the photo.

On the same topic, there is an AWESOME chance for viewing the ISS next week. If you're on the front range, on Tuesday 3/8/11, at 6:52pm you will be able to see the ISS, traveling from 16 degrees above NW through 19 degrees above East, South-East, with a max elevation of 63 degrees which will be pretty good. The best part is that the Discovery should undock about a day before, so it will be following almost the exact same path, less than a minute behind, and should also be visible to the naked eye. I caught an almost identical pass a couple years ago, though with a better elevation, and it was so very cool. Fingers crossed for clear skies!

Kinda space-age related... I built another pair of purty wheels last night. How about a 42mm deep, aero wheelset that weighs less than 930g. for the pair!?

This set was built up using the AX-Lightness rims, Sapim CX-Ray spokes, Tune Mig 45 front hub and really crazy Tune Mag 150 rear hub.

Takes some careful work to lace the spokes on these bad boys, since it involves removing and reinstalling incredibly light aluminum endcaps and carbon fiber axles so that the straight-pull spokes can be installed.

The AX-Lightness rims are so very expensive. But at least I can say, they've been incredibly consistent in all the wheelsets I've built with them, much more so than any other carbon rim I've used, and they are incredibly well finished. Beautiful.

About 1.5lbs. lighter than the carbon wheels I I currently have... but I could definitely stand to take 1.5lbs. off my belly at this point anyway.