or the slight alteration that was included;

Or this image that Cary sent, which is safe for work, because he lifted it from The New Yorker;

That's the holiday spirit.
..Well, that and trampling folks at Walmart.

I'm also thankful for this image (also apparently at Walmart) that Nat sent, as well as the site from which it was taken.

Yep, I love it when folk give me stuff...

We hope everybody had a restful few days away from the salt mines. I snuck back into the warehouse for a little while on Friday, just because I'm a stand up guy, but other than that, I was like a shadow.
Lots of eating, lots of bike riding, lots of sleeping, and a hell of a lot of SpongeBob.
I used to not care for him that much, but have since seen the error of my ways.

Anyway, at one point over the mini-vacation, a bunch of peeps from every direction converged on a single location, with the express purtpose to try out the freshly rained on dirt.
It was loamy, and tacky, and sticky, and all of the other prime adjectives one might use when describing the ultimate in trail riding conditions, but not before we attempted to get in some quality pre-ride stretching, which Complayna just wont allow;

Despite the interruption, we continued on with our ride in a formation so tight, that the Blue Angels would have been green with envy;

As a matter of fact, due to the symmetry of the group, I repeatedly half-way expected everyone to break out in a Partridge Family tune.

I also got an email from Brady;

"I went to Boston for the holiday to visit my sister and her bf. Apparently New England has these things called 'Blue Laws' (not to be confused with the notoriously uncomfortable 'blue balls'), one of which makes it illegal for grocery stores to be open on major holidays, such as Thanksgiving. Long story short, we had leftovers for dinner, but not before trekking all over the city trying to find a store that was open. On the journey, I found this in the subway and I thought you would like to know about it:

I was kind of disappointed that there were no rainbows in conjunction with the image, I'm sure that of all organizations the Museum of Science would be able to make that happen.

Brady"

Well, now that you mention it, I've got your rainbow right here. As it turns out a rainbow isn't actually light refracting through water particles, but in reality is the result of a nefarious government conspiracy, as proven by the crazy lady and her video camera;

Anyway, alot of good stuff went down on this end over the weekend.
I even got the opportunity to trim out our office a little bit more;

Anybody is welcome to come and test your mettle, you just gotta bring your own ride. I've got a top secret hop-up kit in mine, and I'm not about to share.

However, arguably the highlight of the weekend was making it up to San Francisco for the Pilarcitos cross race, in which I was determined to apply everything I've learned these last six months or so about just how serious cross racing is.
As a matter of fact, this event took it to a whole new level, as one 18th place sad sack A racer exclaimed to me in an effeminate shriek, as he was attempting to pass in an entirely impassable area "You're supposed to move! You're ruining the race for everybody!" Four feet later the trail opened up and he moved around me as I reminded him that this was a bicycle race, and if he wanted to have an aneurysm while recreating, he should take up R.C. car racing.

Really, the only one present at the event who ever is worth a damn is Loudass;

Anyway, tightassed regional mid-pack contenders not withstanding, the race was a blast. I had a horrid start, but kept it together through the bitter end, where I was just in time to celebrate the B-tards efforts by sharing some money and beer with them.
In light of the fact that I still haven't received any photographic evidence from my team of photographers, I have to use this old chestnut of Brad at the same race, two years ago.

Sunday looked mostly like this, but there was less orange, and instead of Brad getting it, Young Hightower was the proud recipient of most of the beer.
A young hipster girl all of about 22 got some off-spray from a can I threw at Loudass's chest, and she stormed away muttering something about 'macho bullshit'.
She stole my heart, that one did.

Anyway, as the sun set, we wound down at Kathleen's house amidst her collection of steeds;

It was a good day, and much like Ice Cube, I didn't even have to use my A.K.

I'd also like to mention that ifin you wanna take a peak at way more photos of Sunday's race, I'll go ahead and present to you Skott Pawz Flickr page.

Then finally, here's one more item of great importance that we give thanks for the oppritunity to have given something to.
See? It's all come full circle, and only on about 45 minutes of sleep.

For the sake of getting this posted now and not wasting any more time, I'm going to wrap it up and bid you all a very happy Monday.