riding with dogs: me and my new little f-bomb dropping friend

Busy times lately has keep me off the computer hence the lack of blogging. It's not that I haven't had much to talk about just no time to say it. Melinda and I have been in full project mode, you know same as always at the first of the summer, new cellar door, redesigning a few of the gardens, planting a few new plants & flowers and some repainting. In our spare time we've been out in the woods so blogging has taken a bit of a backseat, sorry. I think we're almost done for now and we should be focusing more of our attention to all things outdoors.

I recently joined the rest of the world in technology & bought a smart phone, you know one of those fancy phones that does everything but cook dinner for you. My old phone was on the skids and when I went in to get a replacement the deal to upgrade was too good to pass up. I've been putting off this upgrade for a while due to the really expensive cost that comes along with a smart phone but I finally figured out a way to get it close enough to my original bill to pull the trigger. While it did take some work to get the hang of using these things I will say I can see the benefit in having them. I can quit worrying about how much time I spend wasting away in front of the computer screen when I really should be outside doing something active. Think about it, today more and more people stay inside and experience the outdoors via their computer or TV. With the smart phone you can get the best of both worlds by taking your virtual world outdoors with you. I will admit it's still not ideal but I think it's better than nothing. I do feel nervous about taking my phone on the trail with me. Being such an expensive gadget I'm worried ruining it riding around with it stuffed in my jersey pocket. My last phone survived for two years that way with no problems but as expensive as this new phone would be if I had to replace it I feel nervous about it. So now I make sure I've always got a small ziplock bag to carry it in with my helmet and gloves. Ahh the wonders of cheap locking plastic bags. As cool as this phone is I will say I've had a few rough spots with it. The other day I was in line to get a haircut and I was texting Melinda when I must have accidentally hit the wrong button and my internet radio kick on at full volume. Needless to say the song that came on wasn't anything that should be played in public. The station, "Classic Hip Hop", the song, "Straight Outta Compton" by N.W.A. If your not familiar with N.W.A. there were "F-bombs" being dropped in the Hairstyles beauty salon like nobody's business. Luckily the place was not crowded but the ladies who worked there definitely got an earful. Conveniently I panicked and couldn't seem to make it stop for what seemed like hours.

My little "F-bomb" dropping machine is the new Droid. I really like the I-phone but I also like to actually make phone calls when I want to without having to be right next to AT&T's only 2 cell phone towers in TN. I know the I-phone is much cooler but what good is a phone that can't get a signal?

Speaking of upgrades a couple of month's ago we decided it was time to upgrade Melinda's wheelset on her mountain bike. We did a bit of research online and she decided to go with a set of Mavic SLR's. Of course we bought her wheelset through our trusty LBS instead of buying online but we did have to wait. Mavic evidently was a bit behind on production and we were told it would be mid July before we got them in but surprisingly they showed up last week. Our good buddy Alan was kind enough to save us a trip to the bike shop and met us halfway at the local short track.

photo cred. Scooby Snacks

I got those bad boys mounted up the very next day with a new set of tubeless tires. Now all the mountain bikes here at Riding With Dogs are fully tubeless.