Cruftbox: My Box of Cruft

Michele and I have been watching the Tour de France and started to wonder who exactly the sponsors are and what they do. I mean, we had no idea what Cofidis or Quick Step are or why they sponsor cycling teams.
I did a little research about the teams and who the major sponsors are:
2009 Tour de France Teams & Sponsors

AG2R-LaMondiale– French team sponsored by Ag2r Group, a French retirement fund, and LaMondiale, a French insurance firm
Agritubel – French team sponsored by Agritubel, a French maker of metal tubing for livestock on farms
Astana – Kazak team, sponsored by the Astana Group, a group of Astana government run companies
Bbox Bouygues Télécom – French team, sponsored by Bouygues Télécom, a French mobile phone company
Caisse d’Epargne – Spanish team, sponsored by Caisse d’Epargne, a French bank
Cervélo Test Team – Swiss Team, sponsored by Cervélo, a Canadian maker of bicycle frames
Cofidis – French team, sponsored by Cofidis, a French consumer lending company
Euskaltel-Euskadi – Basque Spanish team, sponsored by Euskaltel, a Basque telecom company
Française des Jeux – French team, sponsored by Française des Jeux, the French National Lottery
Garmin-Slipstream – American team, sponsored by Garmin, an American maker of global positioning devices
Lampre – Italian team, sponsored by Lampre Group, an Italian maker of pre-coated steel
Liquigas – Italian team, sponsored by Liquigas, an Italian provider of liquified gas products
Quick Step – Belgian team, sponsored by Quick Step, a maker of laminate flooring
Rabobank – Dutch team, sponsored by Rabobank, a Dutch bank
Silence-Lotto – Belgian team, sponsored by Lotto, the Dutch National Lottery, and Omega Pharma, a Belgian pharmaceutical company
Skil-Shimano – Dutch team, sponsored by Skil, a German make of power tools, and Shimano, a Japanese maker of bicycle components
Team Columbia-HTC – American team, sponsored by Columbia Sportswear, an American maker of sportwear, and HTC, a Taiwanese maker of mobile phones
Team Katusha – Russian team, sponsored by Russian Global Cycling Project, a foundation funded by Gazprom,
Itera and Rostechnologii
Team Milram – German team, sponsored by Milram, a German maker of cheese and dairy products
Team Saxo Bank – Danish team, sponsored by Saxo Bank, a Danish investment bank

Cheese makers, steel manufacturers, laminate flooring, and agricultural tubing? Who would have thought they are key parts of the sport of cycling?

Yesterday was a fun day for me, I did my first half-century (50 mile) bike ride. I started cycling in January and now in June I was able to ride 50 miles pretty easily. The ride was the LA River Ride sponsored by the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC).

Because I’m an old school blogger, I detailed out my prep with a photo. If you click the picture through to Flickr, you can see detailed notes on each item.

On the ride, I made a short video in the spirit of Coach Steve.

LA River Ride 2009 from Michael Pusateri on Vimeo.

Lastly, per Squidly’s request, here is the Runkeeper map of the ride with all the details…

And speaking of weekends, last weekend Michele and I celebrated our 15th anniversary with a trip to Paso Robles. We had a great time with the highlight of a 30 mile bike ride between wineries and tastings! Here is our hotel room.

My Hotel Room in Paso Robles from Michael Pusateri on Vimeo.

Great silk-screened ties at Cyberoptix. I must have Radio.
The latest Team Fortress 2 update now allows you to use bottles of piss as a weapon. Jarate ftw.
Hybrid Cutlery – I want a Knork, a Spife, and Splayd. (via Kottke)
I helped kill 6 ships in Eve last night, including a Typhoon battleship.
I can lead a nation with a microphone…

My Hotel Room in Gilroy, California from Michael Pusateri on Vimeo.

Many things advertised on TV are terrible. They don’t as fun as they seem, or they don’t work as well as you see, or sometimes they are simply rip offs.
Not so for the ‘Ove’ Glove. The ‘Ove’ Glove is all that and a bag of chips.

Above you see me pulling out my patented Dad’s Easy Lasagna from the oven.
The ‘Ove’ Glove is an oven mitt, but not just any ordinary oven mitt. This one works fantastically well. The advertising says it’s made with Nomex and kelvar. I don’t know if it’s true, but it definitely insulates your hands from serious heat. We’ve sued a pair over the last several months and that have dealt with everything we’ve tried.

Since it’s a true glove and not a mitten or pot holder, you can get a good grip on things. The blue silicon rubber also helps with a good grip on hot things.
In a day of bad products and worse advertising, the ‘Ove’ Glove actually is worth the money. It gets the Cruft Manor seal of approval.

Brief sentence that states an opinion that is diametrically opposed to the writer’s previous views.
Acknowledgment that the writer had held opposing views in the past, but now has truly, honestly changed their ways.
More lying about the writer’s new views on the a topic in an attempt to confuse the reader and convince them of a dramatic change of heart. Simple rationale based on the writing of others, using phases and terminology that have been previously mocked by the writer.
Impassioned speech regarding the new passion surrounding the previously rejected belief, going on at length to just how much the reader has been transformed into their thinking.

Image that goes further to illustrate the joke, attempted to cement it in reality.
Summary of previous explanations and final attempt to truly fool the reader into believe that the post on April 1st is true and note a joke.

Yesterday was my first long bike ride. In the end, much longer then I had planned on.
I rode in the Tour de Sewer, a local ride down in Bell Gardens run by the Lions Club. There were 15, 30, and 62 mile routes. I chose the 30 mile. I had never ridden more than 12 miles before and was nervous about the distance.
The map below shows what I rode.

You’ll see at the bottom of the map, a part where I rode down to Lakewood. Yes, I missed a turn and kept going South for several miles. I finally had to stop and look at where I was on the phone and then angrily back-track to the turn. 7 extra miles than I had planned on.
Things I learned on my first long ride:

• Riding with a group is easier than riding solo.
• I need to get pedals and shoes to clip in, regular pedals are bad for long rides.
• A ham sandwich at the rest stop is a delicious treat, even after sitting in my back pocket for 20 miles.
• Going up a ‘moderate’ hill climb had me sucking wind by the top.
• Some people love to chat while riding, like non-stop chatting.
• I like long rides.

I feel pretty good today. My muscles aren’t sore at all. My left knee hurts a bit, probably from not being clipped into pedals. Today I did a short 6 mile round trip to the bike store in my sexy new Captain America jersey that Michele bought me and felt good.
Consider me sold on road biking as my new hobby.

Besides trying to get Foursquare badges and going to sessions, I’ve been having fun in Austin.
#sxstarwars
I got involved to ‘act’ in a live reenactment of the run on the Death Star in Star wars via Twitter. That link should take you to the start and allow you to read forwards (Newer) to see how it played out.

Jay Bushman organized the whole thing. He even built a wiki to show us actors what to do. Within an hour, the #sxstarwars tag went from nothing to the #3 trending search topic on Twitter Search. Seeing everyone join in was great fun! Here are some photos of us during the event.
Always Be Charging
I’m honored that the guys at SxSWBaby liked my phrase ABC – Always Be Charging and even built an alwaysbecharging.com site.
Causing Trouble
Those that know me, know I can get passionate about things. Here’s me causing trouble in the LA Tech Scene discussion.
Hotel Room
And for the sake of tradition:

My Hotel Room in Austin, Texas from Michael Pusateri on Vimeo.

Last night I took a break from the SxSW parties which tend to involve standing in crowds, drinking beer in the cold, and being aggravated about connectivity to mobile phones.
I went to go see Jonathan Coulton play a show at Antone’s I had heard his music before, but never been to a live show. I walked down to the joint and waited in line to buy a ticket. The show was general admission, but with seating, so I was relieved to find I wouldn’t have to stand all evening. I had fun chatting with people in line and with a nice Austin couple sitting behind me.
The show started pretty promptly and Paul and Storm came out. I had never even heard of them before and was blown away. Their stuff was great. The music was part of it, but the banter with the tech saavy geek crowd was hilarious. I highly recommend their show. During the break after their set, I bought the pack of their CDs.
Jonathan Coulton, or JoCo as he is known to fans, took the stage and was fantastic. Not as into the funny banter with the crowd, he has a more rock presence or charisma. Great song choices, swinging from tech anthems to more introspective songs. He definitely drove the crowd the way he wanted rather than bending to their will. I really liked the show. My favorite moment was his cover of They Might Be Giants – Birdhouse in your Soul. JoCo’s version is much more soulful, touching on the need of those that watch over others to feel love in return. He did this not by changing the lyrics, but with his musicianship and voice. I found it remarkable.
So, go see JoCo and Paul & Storm if you get the chance. You won’t regret it.