Jen picked out a Specialized Tarmac Expert in the Team Gerolsteiner colors at Mike’s Bikes. I had them upgrade the wheels to Easton Ascent IIs. Checking the weight of the wheels, she’s saving almost a pound of weight over the Ksyrium Equipes.

I wanted her to have a nice bike since she’s riding on the road more now, and she wants to do triathlons again next year. I think Jen tried out almost 10 different bikes. She also liked the Cannondale Synapse, but it just doesn’t have the visual schwing of the Tarmac (Alhough the Synapse is carbon fiber, it still has the fat tube look of Cannondale’s aluminum bikes that neither of us like. Both of us love the curved top tube of the Tarmac, and the other shaped regions of the frame.), and she felt the most comfortable on the Tarmac. Now, If she beats me on the climbs, I can say it’s her bike, not my lazy ass.

Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a ride in this week since her parents are visiting from Tuesday to Saturday.

I tried to play the Imperial Guard again last night. It takes so long to level up to the powerful armored vehicles with the Imperial Guard, that by the time you’ve produced the first flamethrower or artillery tanks, the opposition has very powerful infantry to overrun both your defenses and vehicles. I was playing Hard level against Chaos, so maybe I should try Easy level first with my first forays into Imperial Guary. For now, I’m going to give up on the skirmish and just play the campaign. My daughter gets so distraught when my troops and defenses are getting overrun.

Played over two hours of skirmish with the Imperial Guard forces against the Chaos forces in the Winter Assault add-on to Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War, and the Imperial Guard just gets shredded too easily. Even with powerups, they’re still just fodder for the opposing forces. Maybe I just have to make a lot more of them in the beginning.

The Grip of Gas – Why you’ll pay through the nose to keep driving. By Austan Goolsbee

Great article on why the price of gas will have to be $5 for 5 years to make any difference. People are locked in to using gas and there aren’t any alternatives. It would take at least 5 years for most people to move closer to work, buy a more efficient car, get a car pool together, etc. I’m just very fortunate that I live only 3 miles from work in an area with a mild climate so that I can bike to work. This saves on car costs, eliminates rush hour aggravation, and helps keep me in shape.

A Forbes columnist had a similar article about how the sunk cost of a vehicle is so much larger than the the variable costs of gasoline – even with the price increases we’ve seen recently.

It appears the GOP is turning to David Dreier as Delay’s replacement. I don’t know why, but I’m giggling right now. I wonder how this will affect the Christian conservative support for the GOP.

LA Weekly article on David Dreier for those who can’t stomache Larry Flynt.

CNN.com – DeLay indicted, steps down as majority leader – Sep 28, 2005

I’ve never liked Tom Delay. The man exudes slime with his look and actions. I told his office to stop calling me when they wanted to invite me to some small business owner get together.

USATODAY.com – Appeals mount on nickname use

When I was in college, I saw both the Utes and the Seminoles play. It actually used to be the Stanford Indians, but now they’re the Stanford Cardinal (the color, not the bird), and the mascot has to be the goofiest one in the NCAA – the Stanford Tree. Stanford just went PC before everyone else:

Stanford Mascot