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Saturday, after my early ride, I took the train down to Arlington, VA to watch the pro’s race at the Clarendon Cup. It was a hot day for racing, but race they did for 100k, passing fans lined all along the 1k loop a hundred times. It was a race full of domestic pro’s, including Hilton Clarke, Scott Zwizanski, Ukranian National Champ Volodymyr Starchyk, Rahsaan Bahati (Clarke’s teammate a few short weeks ago) and Chuck Hutcheson, the local hero. A group of 6 lapped the field, despite a loosely organized chase by the teams not represented in the break. In the end, Hutcheson (who missed out on the break) tried to lap the field and catch up with the front six, and Zwizanski’s (who was one of the 6 who succeeded) Kelly-Benefit team tried to break away in the final laps, but Hilton Clarke’s new teammates on UnitedHealthcare would not let anything go, and Clarke took the win with a solid sprint. It was a good race to watch, and has me looking forward to the Capital Criterium in early July, the next big race in the area.

Fly V Australia

Rahsaan Bahati gives it a go

Kenda unsure of what to do

Hilton Clarke in an early break (3rd from right)

I have made this Poached Eggs over Rice recipe from 101cookbooks several times. It is the recipe that introduced me to poached eggs, and now I love them. Tonight I tried a variation on it, with chicken and a red potato instead of the egg. It worked perfectly.

Ingredients
(serves 1-2)

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 small onion
• 1 clove garlic
• Salt
• Red pepper flakes
• 1-1/2 leaves swiss chard
• 1 small red potato
• 1 chicken breast
• 1/2 cup (dry) brown or wild rice (cooked)

Directions

1. Warm 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a skillet. Cut the chicken breast into 3/4″ squares. Cook until done, set aside.
2. Warm 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a skillet. Cut potato into 1/2″ squares. Chop onion. Add both to the skillet, cook until onions about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add salt, red pepper flakes, and chard to skillet. Cook, stirring, until your desired doneness.
4. Add chicken breast and rice, stirring occasionally, until everything is hot.

Serves 1

I spent this afternoon at a little get-together of Northwestern alums and admitted students. We were at a local alums (very nice) house in suburban Virginia, hanging outside for several hours by the pool, chatting up the -many- merits of Northwestern. I enjoyed talking to the potential students. Most of them were either committed (having done early decision or recently sent in their acceptance) or “99.9%” sure, and just procrastinating the final commitment. It’s nice to reminisce about my time in Evanston with people who are genuinely interested in what I thought of it, and what my favorite parts were.

Wednesday I’m going to a reception for McCormick’s centennial celebration at Newseum. It will be a more formal affair, with better catering. But no prospective students. Potentially more awkward. Maybe I’ll find my groove and get into a rockin’ conversation with some other young alums. Or tell Clara-stories with her work-study boss, who will be there. Or schmooze with Dean Ottino, who may recognize me. Who knows, but hopefully it will be a good time like today.

Way back in September of 2009 I joined Quirky, because the idea sounded really cool. Someone comes up with an idea, and a community of users designs a product based on the idea. The folks at Quirky HQ organize and facilitate the process, and bring the final product into production once enough people commit to buy it. Well, today I received the first product I helped out on, Cordies. It’s a heavy rubber spiral you sit on your desk, and cables fit in between the grooves. This is what got me excited about Quirky; I saw someone post this idea for a project, and thought, yeah, when I pick my laptop up, my power and usb cables end up who knows where. Plus, it would be pretty simple to design something to solve this. So design we did. This is the end product:

Cordies

It works well. Cables fit easy, and slide in and out quickly. It’s not something you have to think about, but it’s there when you need it. It has a slightly textured, weighted rubber feel to it. You can make it longer by disconnected one of the loops on the side and adding more in between. It was worth it to me, because cable management was one of those little things that has bugged me for awhile, but most people probably would not pay $13 for it.

A nice little perk is that they list everyone who contributed to the product, from the guy with the initial idea, to whoever designed the logo, to a long list of random little people with only 0.02% influence.

Quirky Contributors

It took a little while from design to shipping, but I’m glad I have it, and it’s motivating to continue giving Quirky a shot, despite some recent troubles they have had.

Tuesday AM I woke up at 6:00 and got a work out in at Hain’s Point with Matt. It was a good workout, really a combination of being out of shape, a little wind, and hard work. We did one warm up lap around the loop,  then did 4 intervals around it, working hard from the gate at the entrance to the golf course, around the peninsula, until the next gate. Both of which were open, fortunately. It was about 7 minutes on, 4 minutes off, if I had to guess. Each lap we did went a little faster. It was exhausting, but I felt like I accomplished something.

Then Matt reminded me we had to go back up the hill on 15th st to get to Mount Pleasant, and the satisfaction got replaced with dread.

In other news, apparently the golf course opened up again. But I probably won’t make it out there for awhile, now that we are in the thick of cycling season.

I bailed on the Sunday morning Coppi ride. It was about 30 when the ride was supposed to leave, warming up to 47 in the afternoon; I opted for warmer weather and wet, rather than icy, roads.

Instead, I went down to the Dupont Circle Farmer’s Market, the only winter market that I am aware of in the area. Perhaps for that reason, it was an impressive one. It went down a block or two one street, then came back up a long winding driveway. The amount of stalls far surpassed the other local markets I’ve been to, Mount Pleasant and U Street. I only had a little cash, so I passed on the meat. While expensive, I’m sure it was all fantastic. Chicken, pork, veal, beef. I was almost tempted to spend $20 on a whole chicken. There were plenty of fresh eggs, assorted breads and cheeses, a ton of apples, and even quite a few vegetables. Carrots, lettuce, onions, sweet potatoes, radishes, you name it. I was impressed. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I was lacking in cash, with only a $50 and $11 in small bills. And who asks a small independent farmer to break a $50. I came home with a head of lettuce, a red onion, a sack of potatoes, and a head of garlic. I used the lettuce in the best sandwich I’ve had in awhile.

I would encourage anyone to take advantage of their local farmer’s market. The vegetables and apple’s cost about the same (sometimes less) than what you can find at the grocery store, and are in a league of their own as far as taste goes.

Due to the immense quantities of snow dumped on DC the past few days, I had Monday and Tuesday off of work, and it’s looking like Wednesday too. It’s a good thing, because with the trains not running and the roads and trails covered in snow, I’m not getting to work via public transportation or bike. It’s getting a little tiresome though. Three day weekends are great, but there is only so much work I can do at home. I definitely have a case of cabin fever, despite spending a lot of time out hiking in the snow. Here’s hoping the current snow storm isn’t as bad as they are predicting, and I can get back to work on Thursday. I need a new hobby, or I’m just going to deal with the snow and walk to work (not an easy task at 8 miles, and likely through a couple/three feet of snow at points)