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alanna is back in the US of A! her and simon have been back for about 6 weeks now, in their new place in “upstate” new york. they and their baby boy have been settling in. i hope i get a chance to visit them soon …

here’s her update:

I am terribly sorry I have been so slack in keeping you updated. I cannot believe we have been in the US for six weeks now. We moved into our place just two and half weeks ago and things are coming along. The place is much larger than what we had before, so there is a lot to buy to fill it up. We’re having fun, but it is also quite hectic. I figure it will slow down just as I return to work in another week and a half.

alessandro is growing like a weed … she sent some pics. here’s one:

ever wonder what your prefect motorcycle is? well, wonder no longer. take this quick quiz and all your questions will be answered. here’s how i ended up …

Yamaha FJR1300
You scored 5 moxie, 10 zeal, and -2 pomp!

You have the characteristics of a master street rider. On the way to work, your love for riding sometimes leads you to take the long way. The 50-miles-of-back-roads long way. You live for the perfect road, and plan vacations around riding.
You need a bike that can handle your addiction to the twisties as well as comfortably carry two on a weekend trip through the mountains. Your bike is the FJR1300. Can I borrow it someday?

The Motorcycle Personality Test written by iocaine on Ok Cupid

btw, if you put all your faith in a quick quiz i can’t help you.

danny boy and i headed out for a quiet, reflective, kickass, backroad-scratching spirited ride yesterday, through NJ, PA and NY. it was just the two of us as everyone else’s day was full of honey-do’s, weddings, and family stuff. man, you guys missed out on some good roads.

a bit of a late start as i hate getting up before 0600, and we took some superslab (280 > 80) to get out to the good roads … dan was presiding over a rework of last week’s ride. he had tried to iron out some kinks, and for the most part it worked, although route 15 was a large series of *suck*. it’s okay, routing an exact science ain’t. we got through the suck and got to the good stuff pretty quickly.

we started stretching a bit with routes 206 and 209 in NJ, then we headed into PA via the delaware water gap (rt 6). made a right turn onto “Highway 1005″ (whose name i don’t recall), from 6, in milford. this was where the fun truly began. the roads tightened up and the traffic was avoiding the backroads like the plague. at last!

lackawaxen road was one of the best of the day … i quickly lost site of dan, for a few reasons. 1, i wanted to practice my own sight lines as i’m slower when leading than i am when following. so it was a good exercise, working on maintaining speed through corners without a rider as indicator as what was up ahead. 2, i’m still getting back in form from a winter with only a few rides. 3, dan has finally become a Fast Old Guy (FOG). he’s lightning-quick these days. attaboy!

no PA ride would be complete without route 590. seriously fun sets of twisties and sweepers and more turns, just for fun. go on, try not to have fun on this road, i dare ya. back on 6 for a rest, then up hwy 191 from honesdale PA (we’re very close to the NY border here), where i see a harleysville national bank and am reminded of where i grew up. a left onto 371 at rileyville, then bam! we’re back in NY state. jog north on 97 for a spell and a rest in calicoon, NY.

lunch was in a teeny bordertown with too many lawyers, and a heat index of a zillion. the luncheonette was air conditioned, the food was good, and the entertainment (high school kids regaling each other with stories of eating snot, etc) was in full force.

recharged and back on the route: we shot down 17b towards falls mills; this section of the route was part of last year’s empire state aids ride. god, i love familiar territory. we hopped from there onto rt 52 … the 17b + 52 combo was delicious. open sight lines, some great elevation changes, no traffic … so when i pull up to dan he asks me if i want to run it again. he||s yes! we do it backwards, then forwards again; the third time i can keep him in sight most of the time, mental exercises be d@mned. =D

we transitioned to CR55 in fallsburg, which showed promise, then back onto 52 in ellenville. this was where all the wacky drivers started coming out. a DHL van first tried to run dan off the road when he passed, then he tried it with me, too … buddy, i’m sorry your penis is so small that you want to kill someone when they pass you on a moto. sucks to be you. the viffers made short work of him. add that to an explorer enjoying 40 mph in a 55, at least three sedans turning out right in front of dan with out looking (and I thought they were called see-dan’s for a reason!), and our disgust at cagers just grew and grew.

still, 52 kept us on our toes, and 109 was no slouch either. we looped around to CR-7 and into ulsterville, and down into rockville. oh yeah, almost forgot — the skies opened UP on us somewhere in there. we stopped for shelter at a pizzeria named atom’s, in pine bush ny. it was back on 52. we checked out some cute puppies — i mean we taunted some very mean mongel beast dogs! — had some sodas, and waited for clear skies. we kept it cool on the pace for a bit while the roads dried.

a few miles of slab on route 17 for a rest, and then we pulled off at monroe, onto CR-91. nothing too special, but not too bad. very pretty by mombasha lake. somewhere in there we had to keep it to 25 on a nice road, as a county LEO was pacing us, no doubt enjoying the forced march. we played nice tho. we had some scenic views to keep us happy.

we were almost done … some fun on long meadow road, then CR-72, and then back onto 87 for the trek home. slabbed it variously to the GWB, then we played dodge ‘em down the west side, through the tunnel, and through the surcafe streets of the slope. i turned off to head home, giving dan a beep and a wave.

thanks for a great day bruddah!

things have really been cooking for miss esquire. let’s see, what’s new with her? she got a new-to-her car — a 1999 toyota rav4. it’s a sweet ride. perfect for the cross-country trip that she and i are planning to do, to bring her and janey the cat to her new home — pepperdine. yep, she’s starting bizschool in august. and in sunny southern cali no less. i can’t wait to start visiting.

and oh yeah, last weekend she did a half-ironman. no, really. she kicked butt, with a time of just over 7 hours, which is really amazing since she was recovering from strep! she’s a superstar, i tell ya! the race was called the mooseman. i’ve posted some pics up at kodak easyshare … check them out, and be sure to congratulate her!

special thanks to kat, once again, for providing the funny …

learn the ways of the farm! go watch the store wars trailer — where cuke skywalker battles it out with darth tater. special appearances by obi wan cannoli and chewbroccoli. =D

scratch this sees the return of three of its players fleetwood, lowrider, and tink from lands far and wide include 3 cities, 2 coasts, and 2 continents. today, there was no forfeit. for week 2, we have a treat – each team member writing a match summary. the suspense from gcue, the boxing metaphor from lowrider, the analytical incisiveness from dr. pain, the toolkit of literary devices from tink, and the freestyle flow of fleetwood.

following storyline by gcue
in the first match, fleetwood (4) matched wits with brian (4). game 1 was a back-and-forth affair … fleetwood comes in with the nice safety and on his next shot makes lovely long cut on the ten ball to run to the eight ball, but missed … and brian takes advantage to take the first game. in game 2, fleetwood makes a nice long combo, and both both trade safeties. fleetwood’s second safety leaves an opening and brian takes advantage to yank the second game. game 3 – both players traded shots … brian hits on the garbage but snookers himself. after 6 straight safeties, brian bided his time to drop 8-ball, which proceeded to scratch upon. fleetwood gets a new lease on life. in game 4, jacob jumps out of the gates knocking five balls off the break and works his way down to the 8-ball and misses the bank. brian runs his balls off the table for a tough cut to knock it home. sometimes a 3-1 match does not tell the true story of a game … and this is one of those games that was more fiercely competitive as the score would indicate. scratch this is in the hole 0-1.

following storyline by lowrider
g-cue stepped into the ring to return the favor and was countered by anna de cinco (she’s a five). after building her confidence by letting her win the break lag, g-cue took control of the match after she missed on the break by sinking a ball of each color leaving anna in the dark as to his intention. g sank a nice long shot along with the cue ball, thus still keeping anna in the dark as to his game-plan. anna fell victim to g’s secret plot by making a couple of shots and then missing. g sank an improbable cut shot in the corner. back and forth they went, dancing like prize fighters around the ring. note that no actual hitting took place since g wouldn’t hit a girl. the offensive sparring gave way to a defensive rope-a-dope. g went for the knockout and after some questionable coaching was able to land the final blows to take round, er game, one with a side hook off the opponent’s ball (yes, she’s still a girl). in round two, g took what looked like a solid swing only to have the cue ball take a right turn on the way to the object ball. undaunted, g again started his ‘float like a butterfly’ defense to set himself up to ’sting like a bee’. he raised several whelps on his opponent before putting her away in round 2 with a beautiful run. he continued the punishment with a three ball break in round 3. an early lead on the scorecard gave way to a push and shove match. a bad break cue ball scratch left anna an opportunity to strike and she pounced like a tiger to take round 3. round 4 saw two boxing stalwarts striking blow after blow. g-cue went for a tough bank to seal the deal and narrowly missed to the oohs and ahs of both camps. another ooh-ah shot followed before giving up a scratch shot to anna de cinco. anna made a tough run and bank shot to even up the match. the crowd was rowdy in game 5 as our corner discussed aki’s past lives and auras (she has 14!). g-cue had her on the ropes until she landed some decisive body shots. she tried for a jab in the corner and g-cue responded with a round house to same corner to set himself up for the knockout blow in game 5. g-cue took a four ball lead in round 6 before anna mounted her comeback. she made a valiant try to take the match, but it was our own g-cue that made the tough cut and sealed the victory. match 1 – 1.

follow storyline by dr. pain
round 3, lowrider (4) vs michael riley (4). riley won the lag and sunk the 8 ball and catapulted the cue ball across the table all in one shot, a convincing victory to lowrider, it was over before he had a glance. round 2 begins with lowrider scratching in corner and riley went on some cross table run with some seemingly impossible shots ended with a nice safety that caught lee behind some cluster. he broke the pack, sunk one of the ball in the cluster only to give a ball in hand for some unknown reason in the next shot. a nice follow with left english gain him pole position on the 8 and lowrider made no mistake from there, 2-0. round 3, nice spread on the break by lowrider. he proceeded to sink 4 balls before turning over an open table to riley. lowrider was unable to capitalize on a riley’s mistake after calling a timeout that saw him flirting with options only to see it gone awry. patience grown thin as riley mounted failed pocket/safety challenges, and lowrider benefited with a smooth run out of 2 balls, 3-0 and game over.

following storyline by tink
dr. pain strolls towards the ring and the palpitating silence of the crowd is indicative of the anticipation of this long awaited match. his patient, brian (6), is looking a little pale and i don’t think the good doctor is going to abide by the hippocratic oath. the doctor starts strong while the peanut gallery discusses the bible. a double into the corner and the ‘ol one two with another nice draw shot wins the game. no drop on the break, but the dr. isn’t afraid, no, in fact he seems more determined than ever to send this patient to the morgue. while the doctor may look light, his presence in this heavyweight match is being duly felt by brian. in a shocking turn of events, the doctor made a misdiagnosis and missed his last punch giving brian a breath of life. the patient makes a miraculous recovery to take the game. worried about his insurance premiums and a potentially devastating malpractice suit, the doctor begins this next game with some tender bedside manner. brian seemed to have taken out a living will and is fighting the doctor’s treatment with all the gusto he can manage. clearing the table for the doctor to perform his famous ball-ectomy, brain wins when the overworked doc was fooled by the shady cushions. determined not waste the years spent in medical school, the doctor entered the fourth game with the same kind of determination that got him the doctor title in the first place. after a questionable hygiene issue, the doctor’s shot in the second was determined to be “clean” by attending doctor g-cue. the game was as over as quickly as it started with the doctor prescribing more comfort than pain. the fifth game begins and using his cue stick as his scalpel, the doctor begins the incisions into brain. overcoming the moody cushions, the doctor puts a few down. after a poison-ivy level scratch by brain, the doctor knocks another ball down and plays a safety. the patient begins to lapse in and out of consciousness and looks to be slowly succumbing to the pain that is the doctor. the hemorrhaging patient fumbles the next game by sinking the eight ball in the first inning tying up the match 3-3. dressed in his surgical blues, the doctor closely examines the table. the negative prognosis by the third year medical students was quickly countered by the doctor on his first attempt for the eight ball. brain, incorporating homeopathic remedies in his treatment plan, surprises the doctor with a win. depressed by the lack of cute and easy surgical nurses, the doctor realizes that if he is going to euthanize this patient, he is going to have to do it on his own. in the eighth and final round, brian is revealed to be the kind of patient that is addicted to surgery without anesthesia … and still takes the last match and the game 5-3.

following storyline by fleetwood
the rubber-match, the grand finale, to complete the afternoon of symmetry of rankings against rankings … lisa (2) against tink (2). lisa worked the early lead with a ball down the break but left a cluttered cupboard for tink to clean up. clean she did not on the first shot and lisa was left to leverage what was lingering. tink appeared to acquiesce appropriately as ambitious she is, but again the atmosphere was not as assiduous as expected and the table was allocated for further assault by lisa. back and forth was the beckoning for both the beauties and the background was blistering with ole blue eyes (frank sinatra) as before (new york, new york pumping out the speakers). sure to seek success lisa selected stripes to slide slowly into the side pocket and slide they did as she ran the table down to just the thirteen ball and leaving tink with a table littered with solids. tink rose to the occasion and sank many solids but in the end left lisa with an opportunity to shut the door on the game. this she did and we moved to the second with lisa up one to none. off the break we found tink down by a ball. the ladies listened listlessly to kid rock and the game again went back and forth for a few turns while we wondered what we welcomed when wandering to midtown. lisa now with three balls down took control of the second game and took a coach that slowed down the action bit while she debated the break of a friendly collection of balls. after lisa missed the well coached next shot, tink just about leveled the field by sinking her next two. she again made another shot and almost ended the match with a stray eight ball in the corner. luck was a lady though and the eight stayed put. the game went delicately back and for the for a bit with each lady sinking a ball here and there and the stage was set for the showdown that would determine the outcome of this second game. after eating a cookie, as she waited for lisa’s final coach and subsequent next shot miss, tink was left with ball in hand. this proved to be quite difficult as she was pinned into a corner with just one object ball and the eight remaining for both ladies. with a defensive shot of her own, tink left lisa with difficult run down the table which she missed and the rest was up to our tink. the eight a sitting duck she just had to show the two the way down the rail into the corner, which she did and followed with a soft touch, forcing the eight ball into the corner. great job by tink and we are onto the third and final game to determine the whole shebang. this final match started out quiet but tink did run a couple stripes off the table after lisa didn’t sink anything on the break. a few innings later we are down to three ball left apiece. tink laid down a couple and took a coach to see about the last one and the eight. after a close miss, lisa was left with another chance which came up short. once again the ladies went back and forth as we found ourselves in the ninth inning. tink then knocked down her final stripe and was down to the eight ball. a tough shot that was blocked by the opponent’s four ball she channeled lowrider and sank the most difficult shot of the night (editor’s note – an 8-ball kiss off lisa’s 4-ball that was blocking the hole)!!! we win, we win!!!! good job tink pulling through the match for the whole team!

scratch this wins 3-2 in symmetrical, diametrical, diabolical, philosophical, and tropical match.