Sir Grump Munch

March 06, 2005

February

Spent the first week or two after our return from India just getting caught up on stuff at work, scrambling to get the photos sorted out, cleaned up and posted online (hours and hours of work, especially the color-correction and captioning), then I sent 140 or so off to print at Shutterfly (nice quality, I'll do them there from now on instead of Walgreen's shitty instant printing machine which is on cheap paper and yellows quickly) and compiled the printed matter into a little scrapbook. So now we have records of the trip for our non-computer-savvy family members too, which I'm sure they'll appreciate more than looking at the little LCD on my digital camera.

I had to scramble at work to put together some tradeshow booths, so that (and setting up/attending tradeshows) was the first half of February for me. It was great to meet a bunch of our Stella dealers and scooterists from around the country, but Indianapolis was a bit tiring, and you can only see so many stupid choppers, ugly sunglasses, bad polo shirts, goatees, and chrome bits before it really wears you down, but the plethora of T&A squeezed into spandex, paraded around, and posed-for with photos sort of made up for it. While I feel bad for those girls, I did enjoy the display and can only hope that they were paid well and traveled to Indianapolis rather than having to live there, because it's a pretty dull and miserable-looking city.

Since the tradeshows I've been working more on getting the Scooterworks website finished and tested so that we can launch it in the next couple of weeks. Cleaned up a bunch of old images, adding a bunch of new ones, etc. Can't wait until it's finished, it's been a LONG time coming and an embarrassment for me since I started working there (though it was sort of out of my hands for a long time, and still isn't something I can completely control or change). I'll link to it when it's ready.

Vanessa gave me an idea last week and I've spent 8 or 10 hours these last few nights making it happen: the beginnings of a Vegan Chicago Restaurant Guide, complete with my own reviews, recommendations and food photos. It doesn't aim to be an end-all resource or THE source for Chicago vegan info, just a more in-depth and visual reference to compliment the information that's already out there (and that helped me get to know the city when I first moved here), like VegChicago.com, Vegan in Chicago, VeganStreet, the VeganRepresent Forums, etc. I hope locals and visitors will enjoy it and support these great restaurants by helping them see and decide what they'd like to try. I'll be continuing to add to it as time goes on and I've covered more of the menus of some other worthy places, like Amitabul, Karyn's, Green Zebra, any number of restaurants on Devon St., etc.

Went for an awesome scooter ride today to the western and northwestern suburbs and countryside with Patrick and Ron, the temperature was 60 degrees and it was the nicest day we've had in many months. Rode over 100 miles on the orange Second Chance Tour Stella, after my scooter had not only an cracked Sito Plus exhaust (it did last nearly 2 years!) but some kind of gearbox oil leaking all over the back tire (not good!). I'm planning on doing some long rides this summer, and plan to ride to the Cincinnati rally a month from now, possibly on the orange Stella. Should be about an 8-11 hour ride depending on the variables, it'll be the longest I've ever done and I'm looking forward to it.

Posted by pj at March 6, 2005 11:15 PM