it is late
i am tired
finally the headache from that bottle of red wine is gone
did not feel like I could go to sleep with that pounding and throbbing
the pounding and throbbing has stopped
now I am ready to start this blog entry when I should be going to sleep...
one way to return a wool cycling jersey that did not fit
which gets gwadzilla a tour of the dirt rag facilitities
today I woke to a vacation-esque agenda
an agenda that is not far off from last year's wednesday before thanksgiving agenda
this morning after I finally rolled out of bed I drank my morning coffee
with the coffee ingested I rallied the boys to finish getting dressed
trying to accelerate their motion by dangling the Children's Museum in front of them
it helped... sort of
young boys get easily distracted
before our trip downtown we had a trip to "the mall"
usually when I say the mall I am referring to a trip past the white house to the monuments and museums
but in this case my notion of the mall is that standard american meaning of the mall
we went to the mall to pick up some family posed portraits
I played with the boys while the women picked the final prints
these pictures do not really appeal to my tastes... but I am a team player and smile along with the event
the boys rode the mini-christmas train
then climbed on coin operated games without the use of coins
the buck seventy five for the two minute mini- train ride was enough
especially since it only lasted for 20 seconds
they each rode for forty seconds... there was a four tickets for five bucks deal
I am not going to do the math on the per ride cost
finally the ladies came out of the family portrait studies
my boys got mobbed by their cousins
which delayed our departure for downtown for another thirty minutes as the kids had to play
even if the kids were all going to the same downtown destination
they were concerned with playing in "the now"
finally we made it downtown
the children's museum is fantastic
we spent most of the morning in the crafts section making paper, painting stuff, and making silk screens
then after a bag lunch we attacked the rest of the building
once the kids were soaked from the water exhibit we headed for home
before heading out the door I picked up the white pages and tracked down dirt rag
well... the white pages left me empty so I used the magic of the Internet and the assistance of the staff
then called the Dirt Rag offices to confirm that they could handle an inperson return
and
that there would be someone in the offices
the drive was short
there drive was longer than it should have been due to rush hour clustering on the roads that were under serious repair
it was an interesting drive
as I had thought that the Dirt Rag offices were in a more urban stretch of town
there was some apprehension and fear that I was heading to their mailing address and not the office address as my approach was not well planned and lacked solid confirmation
grant was asleep
dean was complaining
and well... the wife was putting up with the "errand"
dean wanted nothing to do with my "errand"
dean wanted to be heading to his cousin's house
eventually the addresses counted up from the 900 block to the 3400 block
what I had thought would be an urban office turned out to be what looked like a house that may house a mess of college students
or maybe a bunch of hippies
it was not just the massive peace sign
the house has a "comfortable" vibe
feeling a tad awkward I left the family in the car when I knocked on the door
through the window I could see some computer monitors which put me at ease that I was in fact at a residence that was the Dirt Rag office
without any shock the door was opened and I was welcomed in by Brad
I told brad my situation with my undersized jersey
immediately brad took action
brad may have been briefed on my phone call
to my pleasure the exchange went without hitch
in fact
had I returned the jersey via mail I would have only gone from XL to double X
while the triple X was really what I needed
with the correct shirt in hand the tour continued
there were all sorts of bikes and a make shift bike shop
there were all sorts of cool rigs
bikes that had been reviewed in dirt rag
bikes that I had seen reviewed in dirt rag
before we left the basement for the main floor my older son joined the tour
brad had no issue in the rapidly growing tour group
on the back patio there was an official advertising meeting
so I did not get to meet the big wigs or the chairmen of the board
but... I got to walk through the trenches and shake hands with a few of the folks that make things happen
it was all really cool
not just because of the wool jersey exchange or the handful of swag
but because I got a window into the world that is dirt rag
the airstream for the Dirt Rag World Tour was in the lot
and the trails out the back were within view as well
once back in the car there was a short drive back to the inlaws
the traffic did not make it easier
but everyone was pretty pleasant keeping their complaints to themselves
the boys were entertained with a handful of stickers each
while the wife was fine with me doing something purly for me on this trip
it was good chatting with brad
putting a face to the name and a voice to the words
we caught up and learned that we have some mutual friends and talked about various races that we had both attended
thanks brad
thanks for the tour, the return, and the swag
next time be ready
next time I am showing up with a bike
dirt rag magazine
the children's museum
want to proof read this...
want to edit this
but
I also want to go to sleep
and yes
that is Missle Command
and yes
I RULE AT MISSLE COMMAND!
had Maurice been available I would have challenged him to a game