The Workermonkey

Sunday, April 29, 2007

No nor'easter can stop this train 

# posted by ron @ 4/29/2007 10:09:00 PM

The freezing cold and pouring rain conclusion to the Bethel Spring Series. (4/15/07)

#1 GC Overall (I got to keep the jersey)

6 comments

Those old guys behind you look tired.

JK, sweet dude. You look intense.

By  Brancibeer, at Monday, April 30, 2007 12:19:00 AM  

damn, nice work rpl!

By  josh, at Monday, April 30, 2007 11:07:00 AM  

Kickin' ass even before the new wheels. I hope your job is a clear 40 hr/wk or less with no OT so you can concentrate on becoming a pro cyclist except that your too old. Oh well, beat up the other amateurs and I hope we don't get a chance to ride together again.

By  Damon, at Monday, April 30, 2007 12:15:00 PM  

I dont know Damon, aren't pro cyclists in their 30's? I hear your muscles dont hit their peak endurance levels until then. Something with lactic acid tolerance blah blah. RPL?

By  Brancibeer, at Monday, April 30, 2007 1:24:00 PM  

Yeah pro cyclists are older, but they started in their teens so they get known and get sponsors and I guess gain experience and work their way up in the team. I didn't know about endurance but that makes sense because the best pro cyclists are older than other pro athletes. That is probably more important than experience, I don't think you need many years to learn it all (especially not an MSME,) so yeah, who is the new leader of Discovery?

By  Damon, at Monday, April 30, 2007 4:12:00 PM  

I think I've got a chance to ride for a pro-am team if I'm a cat 2 next summer and I do well.

As far as pro goes... Damon's right, I pretty much missed the boat.

They funny thing about cycling is that your body takes time to adjust to it. Experience and seat time play a huge role in the higher level races.

For example any decent, in shape amateur can go rip apart a beginner race. Its not too hard to ride incredibly hard 1 day a week. But to ride at a high level consecutive days, weekend after weekend takes a lot of training and it can't be rushed. I think mid 30's is when men come into their prime as far as lactic acid threshold also, this is why young guns can't mess with the Ironman fellows. Its the tortoise and hare story all over again except the tortoise has a mean pace.

By  ron, at Monday, April 30, 2007 9:28:00 PM  

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Thursday, April 26, 2007

Country Market Proves Tough Target For `Ninja' Attack 

# posted by DJ Booze Piñata @ 4/26/2007 08:49:00 AM

Market Proves Tough Target For `Ninja' AttackApril 26, 2007 By PENELOPE OVERTON, Courant Staff Writer

For three Simsbury High School students, The Country Market in Higganum proved tougher to crack than Fort Knox. Their target, state police say, was the store's office. Once inside, they expected to find enough cash to buy a computer. They were familiar with the terrain, since one of them used to work at the store and his mother still does.
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Plan A, in which one of them hid inside a sealed cardboard box that was carried, Trojan Horse-like, inside the store by the other two, failed when the would-be burglar burst from the box before the store was empty.Plan B, four days later, was less subtle: A masked, ninja-wearing, machete- and-baseball-bat waving frontal assault. That didn't work either.There won't be a Plan C. On Wednesday, state police charged 18-year-old Alessandro Acosta, a champion swimmer, with attempted robbery, attempted larceny, burglary and weapons charges, as well as tampering with evidence, threatening and other charges.Police expect to make two other arrests soon, said Sgt. Salvatore Calvo. In an arrest warrant for Acosta, police identify Robert Long Jr. and Konrad Bosselman, both Simsbury High School seniors, as Acosta's partners in the April 13 burglary and Long as Acosta's partner in the April 17 attempted robbery.According to the arrest warrant, Long used to work at The Country Market, and his mother, Margaret, still does. Police said Long, Bosselman and Acosta decided to rob the Tylerville shop so Long could buy a computer.On the first attempt, Bosselman climbed into a cardboard box that Acosta and Long sealed with duct tape and carried into the store before closing time, police said. Bosselman was supposed to cut his way out of the box with a knife after closing time and steal money from the office.But Bosselman told investigators that he got hot inside the cramped, unventilated box and cut his way out too soon, according to the warrant. He grabbed the box and ran when spotted by a worker, police said. The worker saw Bosselman drive off in a car registered to Acosta's mother.Four days later, Acosta and Long returned to Higganum to try again, this time dressed like ninjas and armed with a baseball bat and a 23-inch-long machete that belonged to Long's father, police said. Long told police he wore an executioner's robe over the ninja outfit, police said.Shop owner Sheryl Nosal told police the robbers barged in around 7:30 p.m., after the shop had closed, waving the machete and bat at her and her 15-year-old daughter, who were standing behind the deli counter, and demanded money, police said.Nosal told officers she screamed, "Get out!" and then she and her daughter dashed into the office. One of the robbers tried to bust the door down, Nosal said, but she blocked the door while dialing 911. At the same time, her husband, Robert, also dialed 911 from another part of the store.Nosal believes the robbers ran when they heard her dial 911, but not before she recognized the voice of one of the masked men as belonging to Long, who had worked at the shop for almost two years, according to the warrant. His mother has worked there 10 years.Police said Long and Acosta admitted they threw the bat and a stolen license plate out the car window after the attempted robbery, and that Long ripped up the gown and tossed it out as well, according to the warrant. They returned the machete to Long's home, the warrant says.Acosta and Long told police Bosselman allegedly did not participate in the second robbery attempt because he was doing community service in Old Saybrook that day as part of his probation for a previous offense. Information was not available about the nature of that crime.Acosta appeared in Superior Court in Middletown Wednesday. Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed reduced Acosta's bail to $50,000. Acosta posted bail and was released. He is due in court again on May 9. Last year, as a junior, Acosta swam on a team that won the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays for Class L schools at the state championship meet in New Haven. He was a runner-up in both the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard butterfly.Coach Peter Milliken said Wednesday that he was shocked by Acosta's arrest. He said that Acosta decided not to swim with the team this year because he had joined a year-round team in hopes that it would improve his opportunity to get into a good college."He was a very dedicated athlete, always paying attention to what we were doing and very focused," Milliken said. "He always took care of business in a very legitimate manner. This just doesn't sound like the student I coached."Long and Bosselman have both made the honor roll at Simsbury High.In postings on MySpace.com, a social networking website, Long calls himself a "dork" and says, "some people think I'm crazy because I what I do in the halls at Simsbury High School but im really not that crazy. I have alot of trust issues." Long said he wants to meet "anyother misunderstood people who don't have a reason 2B that way." Long's MySpace.com page features an anime video clip about ninjas accompanied by the Sifl & Olly song, "Ninja of the Night."

5 comments

Sorry about the formatting. This is probably something that Matt and I brainstormed during some point when we worked there but didn't follow up on. Plan A, that is. Plan B is preposterous.

By  DJ Booze Piñata, at Thursday, April 26, 2007 8:53:00 AM  

wow, what a bunch of douchebags. they pretty much seem like wastes of space:

long
bosselman
acosta


even some of the shit they write to each other on there is fucked up. society won't miss them if they go to jail.

By  josh, at Thursday, April 26, 2007 10:59:00 AM  

Ah the stupid youth. Fucktards.

By  Brancibeer, at Thursday, April 26, 2007 9:30:00 PM  

Josh, serious dedication to look up myspace profiles.... or serious lack of something better to do. Either way I'm sorry to say that your work is lost on me, as soon I clicked a link and realized what it was, I didn't read it.

these idiots should have studied more ninja. Ninja's have patience.

By  ron, at Friday, April 27, 2007 11:38:00 PM  

let's call it serious procrastination. once again, it's exam time around these parts. and if all goes well, it'll be the last one.

By  josh, at Saturday, April 28, 2007 11:24:00 AM  

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Friday, April 20, 2007

Happy 420 Everyone 

# posted by Brancibeer @ 4/20/2007 02:30:00 PM

Smoke um if ya got em!

1 comments

See the stuff I put in the last post that Shawn's parents have available. The couch is gone, the wicker stuff isn't typical cheap crap, it's good wood/wicker and free. So that stuff plus 2 hutches, coffee table and side table. Basically a full full living room except the couch. Call Shawn's mobile if you want it, or if you don't have the number, I think a bunch of us including me have it.

By  Damon, at Tuesday, April 24, 2007 1:15:00 PM  

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Thursday, April 19, 2007

....jobs 

# posted by ron @ 4/19/2007 10:24:00 PM

Well my new job is going quite well. Its new, exciting and it will be as challenging as I want it to be. Its also great to be in development. Making the next-gen product is where its at. For those who haven't heard, I work at Trumpf in laser development. Its located in Farmington and it has alot more potential and opportunity than my previous job.

That being said about my job. It is still a job (thanks brancy). I don't know exactly what it is but it kinda sucks working every day. For me its still the drive that sucks the life out of me. I hate it. Plus for someone like me with an obsessive habit, it leaves me with little time for activities besides work and riding. I've been racing Saturdays & Sundays for over a month now and riding almost everyday after work.

I took a ride today up into the burlington/ unionville / colinsville area of CT, I like it. I may be looking for a condo or something up there.

Opinions on the V-tech shooting? Want mine? well here ya go. Yes its tragic but this drama has been played out time and time again. I heard yesterday that 170+ Iraqis were killed in a suicide bomb. 170, now that's a tragety too, but where is that news? BORING.

In other news, I've won the Bethel 2007 spring series. I'm leading the plainville spring series which will conclude this weekend. Training and racing is going very well. I've got 4 wins and 8 top 10 finishes this season. I just hope that I don't burn out before the season ends. My stretch goal is to be a cat 2 by October. (5 - beginner, 1- nearly pro)

Damon what did you get for a bike? Here is a pic my million dollar roller. Its still worth less than my car but I'm working on it.

8 comments

wow, awesome job with the races. can you make me a shark with a laser beam?

By  josh, at Friday, April 20, 2007 11:02:00 AM  

Playing with lasers is fun!

And Ron, I dont know how else to say this to you. I've expressed this over phone, email, and in person. Perhaps i should create a Dear Colleague Letter and have all of our friends and associates sign on. Perhaps GW Bush needs to create an executive order in your name. Perhaps i need to visit home and slap some sense into you. But YOU NEED TO MOVE OUT OF YOUR PARENTS HOUSE. This is bordering on absurdity man. You've got the job, money, and reasons. Can i get an eh men by brothers?

By  Brancibeer, at Friday, April 20, 2007 12:27:00 PM  

About the VA thing- i mostly agree with you. Reality is that this shit happens everyday in some part of the world. I hate how the media uses it to capitalize. It is tragic though, really sucks for all those students.

By  Brancibeer, at Friday, April 20, 2007 4:03:00 PM  

Congrats and nice bike, your car must be worth too much. Notice a big difference with the new wheels? I ended up with an '05 (new; it was kinda lost for a year) OCR Elite, which is worth much more than my car that is getting offers around $400, while the bike went for a discounted $1300. It's a bit portly at 19.5 lbs and has only 9 gears in back, but 3 in front and I'm really not sure I want to race at all, so I think it's very suitable for me.

Living at home is no problem, he'll probably be able to buy his next place with cash! With a mortgage you pay more than double the price, and with rent you well, get nothing in the end. Ron, when you do move, get a place 30 miles away and hammer to and from work.

Shawn told me his parents redid their living room so if anyone wants some wicker style furniture, it's up for grabs: table w/ 4 chairs, bar w/ 2 chairs, and couch (being tossed this weekend)

Oh and my 8 days in the hospital study were like summer camp and I made some good friends, it was overall a lot of fun and highly recommended.

By  Damon, at Friday, April 20, 2007 9:37:00 PM  

The wheels are much stiffer than any traditional rim I've ridden. i notice the weight more that the aero advantages but they must be there. They are so light its silly.

Good choice on the OCR. You can totally race that beast. Its usually about the engine, not the vehicle that gets results.

I'm gonna move much closer than 30 miles. I'd rather ride 5 miles home and chose my longer rides than be forced to ride the same long work route daily. I put in a good 45 miles post work today. I got up into Torrington and New Hartford. The roads are great out in the northwest hills. Huge shoulders and some nice rolling terrain w/ some extended climbs.

By  ron, at Tuesday, April 24, 2007 11:45:00 PM  

Yeah I'm sure that rotating weight reduction has a big impact. And moving closer so you can commute on a beater, then ride you nice bike anywhere from home is a good plan. There are a lot of cyclists up in the NW corner, and it did seem like a great place to ride when I worked there (though I don't think I was a roadie yet.) That also brings in a lot of motorcycles.

No racing in the immediate future as I'm finding without the year round weight lifting (and lower age) of when I was in college, hills aren't nearly the fun they used to be. My first ride was 30 miles at 14.3 mph in high wind, today I went with a friend who is way stronger and we did 28 miles at 15.9 mph, though he had done 18.? mph Monday and clearly was having a rest day riding with me. What kind of speeds do you ride?

By  Damon, at Wednesday, April 25, 2007 2:11:00 PM  

dude at your athletic weight, with a little training, you could be a monster climber. I'm serious.

aah 15.9mph.... I'll just say my 45 miles the other day was at 19,8mph. thats pretty hard it was a LT & tempo day. endurance days are around 17.

By  ron, at Friday, April 27, 2007 10:40:00 PM  

Damn, no wonder you win races, that is flying, especially for riding alone. My friend did say I climb fast and I know I'm built for it, although he dropped me on a climb.

By  Damon, at Saturday, April 28, 2007 9:44:00 PM  

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Monday, April 16, 2007

I think Monday's make me sick 

# posted by Brancibeer @ 4/16/2007 02:57:00 PM

Really. I might be allergic.

4 comments

pussy

By  ron, at Monday, April 16, 2007 9:55:00 PM  

hey, how's johnny weed doin? anyone talked to him lately?

By  josh, at Tuesday, April 17, 2007 11:26:00 AM  

I was wrong. I think its the flu.

By  Brancibeer, at Tuesday, April 17, 2007 2:40:00 PM  

ah man, that blows. I'd prescribe a half gallon of OJ a day until you feel better.

John is doing well, saw him saturday night.

By  ron, at Tuesday, April 17, 2007 6:08:00 PM  

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Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Sooo....Matts got this job now..... 

# posted by Brancibeer @ 4/10/2007 02:13:00 PM

But how long will he keep it!? That's right ladies and gents, it's time for yet another round of everyones favorite game, "When will Matt get fired??". This post will serve as record. I'll start the pool off with my guess:

Hungerforce deliberates the previous time it took...was it about a years time for both jobs? Hmmm...this one is with a larger company...and considering the HK football connections....i'm going to say.... 11 months. March 13th 2008 is my guess.

5 comments

November 17, 2011. Also, my medical study started, and I've been in the hospital for about 24 hours and drank some bacteria this morning. So far it's been fairly fun.

By  Damon, at Tuesday, April 10, 2007 5:08:00 PM  

i bet i can do two years here in the blink of an eye

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Tuesday, April 10, 2007 7:26:00 PM  

Yes yes, thats the spirit Matt. Even better, i bet you could be running that place in two years. Don't let them hold you back young man!

By  Brancibeer, at Wednesday, April 11, 2007 1:15:00 PM  

January 27, 2009.

Imus got shitcanned, wow! Thinking about it, im glad.

And again, am i just stupid or do i need to get invited to post on this new age blog?

By  wyldshaman, at Thursday, April 12, 2007 5:42:00 PM  

Have you upgraded your account?

By  Brancibeer, at Thursday, April 12, 2007 10:42:00 PM  

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Thursday, April 05, 2007

So... i've got this job now.... 

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 4/05/2007 05:53:00 PM

apparently i haven't told many people yet but i got a job. I'm working in suffield at a place called Teleflex Fluid Systems. they make teflon and braided hose for fuel lines in cars and like a million other applications. its a big place and its the job i interviewed for with ryan leahy. hes my direct boss now. its kind of cool but he's really like super professional now so its a little like talking to a robot at times. My title is Manufacturing Engineer, but i have no clue what i'll be doing yet. I started on Monday and i haven't done shit yet. the first day was mostly paperwork and meeting people. second day was more meeting people and just wondering around. yesterday, my goal for the day was to spend the whole day in the shop and just do something. i guess to learn the process and stuff. i spent 8 hours wondering around the shop and talking ot people. i was bored stiff after 4 hours. i learned the process pretty well, its not hard. today i actually spent more time in the shop and tried to focus on a few little things but i again didn't do shit. it'll pick up as i figure stuff out but who knows. i haven't done enough yet to say wether this is going ot be a good job or a fun job or if its just going to suck. i have no clue. its in suffield, north of hartford, so traffic sucks, but not in the morning, it only takes 30mins in the morning but 45-50 in the afternoon. i'll probably move closer since i am only month to month now but i havne't gotten that far yet. i'm going to try t o get a new car first since the commute is going to shred my little piece of shit breeze.

anyone got a suggestion?

10 comments

A bicycle, and in distant second, a diesel. For awhile recently diesel went down while gas went up and now in New England the average distance is only $0.08, which would more than be made up by it's higher energy content and more efficient engines. Plus you can switch over to biodiesel when dynodiesel gets too expensive. A Golf TDI perhaps, it'd be my choice.

By  Damon, at Friday, April 06, 2007 7:53:00 AM  

Move to the Vernon area. You, me and Big Mike can form a bowling team. And think of the LAN parties we could have. That would be sweet. I need a drinking/smoking buddy. Big Mike is great, don't get me wrong. But if I have to listen to one more story about college, I might hang myself. It would be much better (and more fun) to have another head around. Don't poo poo this idea right away. If you move up here, maybe more will come. We can start running in local elections, buying up local businesses. We would be like our own little mafia.

By  Anonymous, at Friday, April 06, 2007 3:51:00 PM  

get a giant SUV that runs on the blood of baby deer and endangered water fowl. first, you'll own the road. people wont fuck with you. second, show the environment who's boss. i'm sick of hearing all this shit about global warming only to have it snow here yesterday and be freezing all week. it's april. winter's gone. the environment just needs to get over it.

By  josh, at Friday, April 06, 2007 4:12:00 PM  

The Nissan Altima is nice, and i looked at an 07 stick shift the other day for $18K, but its a new design and Nissan has had some dependablity issues lately.

I think the new Camry is hot and how can you go wrong with a Toyota?

I love my Mazda and they have only improved it with the Mazda3, its a fun slick stick, but not safe.

And Hyundai now makes great vehicles!

By  wyldshaman, at Friday, April 06, 2007 8:31:00 PM  

Don't waste your time with anything other than a Toyota or Honda (Suburu, Nissan ok). I love my camry. Or how about a brand new 07 Breeze?? Lifes a breeze in the plymouth breeze....

Ah yes car shopping. Its the best way to get dicked without ever coming close to one. Sons of a bitches...

By  Brancibeer, at Friday, April 06, 2007 11:27:00 PM  

Hey... can someone invite me or whatever so i can post?

I think Honda's are overpriced and not that nice looking.

Suburu's get crappy gas mileage due to their all-wheel driveness.

Basically decide what class you want, then check out some of the brands we just metioned, even the Ford Fusion is worth a look, if your thinking mid-sized sedans.

By  wyldshaman, at Saturday, April 07, 2007 9:53:00 AM  

you dont have to get dicked over, just know how to negotiate with them. i got mine for $3000 less than the kelley blue book value. use the breeze as a trade-in (it's really just a matter of semantics at many places), and start low. leverage yourself with other cars you've looked at with other dealers. but you know the drill.

i personally dont have the whole love for toyota as most do, seeing as my corolla died at 99k mi and only 7 years old. sure, it might be 1 car, but hey, it's my experience. i dont like hondas either. but that is my personal preference. as you know, the rest of my family is a honda family, and my dad swears by them. my mom now drives a subaru forrester, and seems to like that a lot too. i think ron got a legacy, so i'd ask him about that too. i love the escape, but it's probably not what you're looking for (and mazda makes an identical sister car called the tribute). although you might be able to afford a hybrid, which you might like. anyway, i'm done rambling here. good luck with the search buddy.

By  josh, at Saturday, April 07, 2007 12:03:00 PM  

While it's hard to ignore your own experience, is what happened with your one car more indicative of the brand than statistics on all of their cars? Honda and Toyota abuse everyone in reliability. Subaru is close, and domestic cars suck. That was the trend a couple of years ago, but still Matt you could sell the car and get a bike and have quite a bit of cash left over for beer and other recreation. Not to mention the major monthly savings on gas, insurance, and maintenance, as well as the health benefits. I saw a study that said if all Americans traded their cars for bikes it would hurt the environment because people would live so much longer it would more than counteract the energy savings.

By  Damon, at Sunday, April 08, 2007 10:37:00 AM  

i understand, and even stated, that it was just my sole experience. but i also think he might want to rethink the bike idea, what with those new england winters, which now apparently extend into april.

matt, if you want to go green just get a hybrid or something.

By  josh, at Sunday, April 08, 2007 11:08:00 AM  

wow, all great responses. spunkmeyer, fuck you man. you've been working basically across the road for years now and haven't even bothered to stop in after work, even while i was smoking and drinking all day. a bowling team might be doable though.

damon, i'm not going ot move close enough to ride a bike, its like one mile from the airport, i don't want to live anywhere near the airport. i my be one of the few people who moves to a city only to work outside of it. hartford could be kind of cool.

no SUV's, i'm basically looking at a small to midsized sedan. civics and accords are great, wouldn't mind a civic but i just don't like the last two model years very much. accords are kind of over priced when compared to other cars in its class but they are better built. my parents bought an 06 camry and its is very nice, my dad is actually driving an 07 camry for work now and its really the same thing. i actually test drove a chevy malibu the other day because its a little cheaper, has a good warenty (5 years 100,000mi) and its got a v6 with ABS. not a bad little car and it gets good milage for a V6. i looked at altimas last year and i thought they were kind of expensive. hyundai actually has a great warrenty and makes some ok cars fo rhte prices, they are trying to build back a reputation so they are making nice stuff a little cheaper. i loooked at a fusion, not bad, its basicaly the 500 but smaller and i was told they are going ot be calling the 500 a taurus next year. buts thats really the type of car i'm looking at, i've dashed my 330i dreams and moved into the land of reality.

i'd like a hybrid but they are a little expensive right now for the good ones. all those SUV hybrids are stupid, its really just the regenerative braking and like simple stuff they should have done years ago. not a true hybrid.

anyway, thats my story.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Monday, April 09, 2007 6:09:00 PM  

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