[NOTE: Usually I read over my post at least once before I post it in order to clean it up ... it's late and I need to go to bed.  Pardon my typos; I'll clean up around here first thing in the morning!]

Since I'm waiting for the new episode of krumbinesBRAIN to encode and upload, I figured I'd hit you with a new blog and a general update on what my day was like.

Obviously, I started the day with call to action--a committment to productivity and overcoming my recent bout of laziness.  It's a quarter after eleven (in the evening) as I write this, and I'd have to say that I did a pretty good job.

Currently, one of our cats (Lucy--you met her in a prior episode of krumbinesBRAIN) is pretending that the shoelaces on my discarded shoes are evil, wiley beasts that must be subdued at all costs.  I mention this only because usually, at this hour, she's busy subduing the evil, wiley beast that is her tail.

While she sits on my lap.  When she isn't watching whatever it is I'm working on the computer screen.

An odd animal, to be sure, but I like her.

But back to my story: after work I took the girl to dinner at what has become my new favorite place for a steak dinner.  Longhorn Steakhouse has, by far, the most flavor-packed meals I have ever had the pleasure of dining on ... literally, every bite bursts with mouth-watering flavor that stirs the beast in belly even now, not all that long after being so well-fed in first place.

Yes, I enjoy a good meal.  Who doesn't?  If it's steak, than doubly so.

After dinner, we wound up at Wal-Mart.  (I know!!!  I had to enter the damn place with "mounting trepidation".  I got some odd looks.)  It was here that I followed through with my quest for a bicycle.

You all gave excellent suggestions and recommendations (the most important, in my opinion, being that I should get the red bike because red bikes are naturally faster) but ultimately I decided to just say screw it all and follow my very happy gut (remember, I had just come from dinner at Longhorn!)

I found myself carefully examing both ends of the price spectrum ... both the most expensive bike that I mentioned in the earlier blog (the high-end Schwinn) to the low-end Huffy--I couldn't justify the bikes in the middle-price range because I either wanted to stay cheap, lest I use the bike three times and then leave it to collect dust, or go all out and not have a care or want for anything greater in a bicycle.

After trying out about five or six different cycles, I eventually narrowed it down to a black Schwinn for a respectably small amount of money.  This bike is the epitome of basic and I found that appealing.  It's a cruiser bike, so it has the raised handlebars and it lacks handbrakes (in favor of a disc brake) and multiple gears.

Like I said: basic.

About twenty minutes after I got home (it was trash night) I took it out for its maiden voyage.  This was the first time I had ridden a bicycle in literally years.  Oddly enough, despite the small amount of trepidation, it was just like riding a bike.

... get it?

Not only was it fun, but it took me back to when I was much younger and I had simple bikes that were acquired from thrift stores or wherever else I could find them (such as people's curbside trash).  And on top of the simple thrill of riding a bike and having the wind rush past your ears, it was damn good exercise.  Yay, me!

On my brief ride (it was one lap throughout the community, about fifteen minutes of fast-paced riding) I came across two coyotes, a large-ass snake (I don't know what kind it was--it was brown and yellow with patterns on its back), and lots of airborne bugs which are like mini missiles when you riding a bike as fast as you can.

It was wicked fun.

Continuing with the theme of productivity (or is it just activity?) I got to work on finishing KB04.  This turned out to be a much bigger clip show than any of the prior episodes.  One surprise, both for me and for you, is that I included a little teaser trailer for Apocablog that I made a few months ago ... it was actually a test to see how capable a netbook was for editing video.  It's not the most brilliant teaser trailer, but I think you'll enjoy it.

Finally, the biggest hurdle in this personal call to action is giving up that precious sleep of mine.  It's 11:45 now and my video is almost done uploading.  Usually, I like to go to bed at around ten--I get up at a quarter to seven for work--and of course, I'm the epitome of a sleep whore.

And I would be more than happy to live my life in that pattern.

But more important than nine or ten hours of sleep, is this sense of accomplishment.  And the problem is that there's just not enough time in the day to work for a living, have a personal life, and labor tirelessly for your creative art.

What helps, I find, is a healthy amount of caffeine, a little bit of regular exercise to keep your energy levels up, and a butt-load of determination.

That was my day.  How was yours?

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