Tough time to be a Cleveland fan

WARNING: This post contains mostly information of a non-cycling nature. I do actually follow a few other sports. Reader discretion is advised.

Baseball, basketball, and football. I've rooted for every Cleveland representative in these respective sports. Admittedly, I'm not the biggest NBA fan, but I watched nearly all of the Cavaliers games this last post-season. It was exciting despite their not making the finals. For as long as I can remember, I've been a Browns fan. Even through all of the heartbreak of the late 80's. Seeing the team leave and then return. The last couple of years we still got to see and/or listen to games while living in Idaho. Despite their record, the Browns were at least in the game and/or winning a lot of the time. We had many 'Cardiac Kids' moments during the last few years that kept it exciting.

The Indians, on the other hand, I have only really come to be a fan of during the last 9 years. Prior to that, I was a long-time Cincinnati Reds fan. I can't tell you how many times I fell asleep with the radio tuned to Reds games and Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall calling the game. Remember the Reds in the early 90's? There was a lot to be excited about then.

Well, the Indians did give us something to cheer about a couple of years ago after a long hiatus. Anybody who follows the Indians knows how this season has gone. Some can be blamed on injuries. I don't need to say anymore than has already been said about the bullpen. Even though the team is below .500, there are (now, maybe were) some bright spots in the lineup. Again, anybody who follows the Indians knows who these are:

-Grady Sizemore
-Travis Hafner
-Victor Martinez
-Shin-Soo Choo
-Ben Francisco
-Cliff Lee
-Ryan Garko

This week started off horribly with the Ryan Garko trade for a friggin' Class-A pitching 'prospect'. I know the Indians need starting pitching, but come on, Class-A? Why didn't they just pick up some little leaguer? Just when the the Indians were actually winning some games, they decided to get rid of a solid first baseman that can actually hit the ball.

Then, today, they trade Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco to the Phillies for THREE (actually four) MORE MINOR LEAGUERS. Oh wait... I mean 'prospects'. Cliff Lee is, by far, the best starter the Indians have (had) this year. Remember, pitching is the Indians' weak suit this year. Guess that means we should give up our best pitcher right when we need him most. Sounds logical, right?!? On top of that, Francisco has one hell of an arm in the outfield to go along with a decent batting average and a base stealing threat. Sure, he's no Carl Crawford or Jacob Ellsbury in the SB department but Francisco and Choo at least make opposing pitchers pay attention. The Phillies didn't even have to give up any of their good pitching 'prospects' to get Lee either. The Indians got another stupid Class-A pitcher in the deal.

To make matters worse, there is even talk that Victor Martinez is on the block as well. I'm sure the catcher from the Phillies deal is going to be just as good... He's played a whopping 7 games this season.

Perhaps the most telling thing about both deals is that the Indians have basically traded starters for minor league players. What does this say about the Indians' minor league organization? Is there currently not enough good talent in the minor leagues that can help in the future? Aren't the minor league teams supposed to 'develop' these 'prospects' into actual major-league players for the future? These guys they just picked up had better be damned good because, otherwise, Cleveland got screwed. Philadelphia didn't have to give up their most precious pitching talent they were willing to deal for Roy Halladay.

It almost goes without saying that the Cleveland Indians management has given up on winning in the 2009 season. Who cares they won 12 out of their last 14 games? Cliff Lee wouldn't have made an impact on the 2010 season, right? Sure, he's eligible for free agency after next season and might not be here in 2011. Why not get one more solid year out of him as a STARTER and actually DEVELOP some other pitchers in the meantime?

Perhaps I'm just a bit cynical and tired of 'rebuilding'. At least the Browns have acquired some players to try and win. I don't think I'm going to watch any more Indians games this year. I can't root for a team that makes it obvious they don't care about winning.

July 26th Update

Not really a whole lot going on in this neck of the woods. We're continuing to make preparations for our fishing trip to northern Ontario in a few weeks. Hooks are sharpened. A few reels still need some new line. We've picked a few new lures that are guaranteed to hook the big ones... The more I prepare, the more excited I get about heading up there. The thrill of hooking a big northern pike along with simply being in a pretty unspoiled place can make it hard to want to come back. Henry David Thoreau put it best:

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."

While I probably won't use too many rubber worms up north, I've been using them a lot lately for largemouth bass with pretty good success. Combined with the braided line that Marty recommended, I've caught quite a few largemouth bass in the last week. I'm typically a big fan of topwater, but the warmer water seems to have them a little deeper. The braided line has helped me feel a lot more strikes (I still missed quite a few fish) and rubber worms with an orange tail seem to be what's been working best. I was a little surprised to catch a crappie on a rubber worm yesterday morning. There's a first time for everything.

In a previous post, I mentioned that Lorena had made a strawberry/black raspberry tart that was particularly awesome since strawberries and black raspberries were in season at the time. I finally got ahold of the pictures of that tart.



It tasted every bit as good as it looks. Blackberries are what's in season now. Perhaps we'll have enough to sell at the Navarre Farmer's Market next Friday. They've already made there way into our pancakes and certainly make battling the thorns while picking worth it.

Wow. For not a lot going on I sure was able to write a lot...

Curiously Electric

WARNING: Geekiness follows. Proceed at your own risk.



In the last post, I mentioned that I was going to build a MintyBoost USB charger to take on our Canada fishing trip. Even though it will charge our iPods, my primary concern is keeping our cameras charged while we're out in the boonies. After all, we have to be able to provide photographic evidence of our fishing prowess when we reel in the big ones...

Well, yesterday evening I set about the task of soldering up the circuit from the kit I purchased from Adafruit Industries. It took me probably 30 minutes to do all of the soldering and was the first time I'd ever soldered components to a circuit board. Let's just say that it wasn't as daunting as I feared. It helps to use small diameter solder. After everything was soldered, I popped in a couple of AA batteries and checked the output voltage on the USB jack. A perfect 5V! The circuit was working properly and I was pretty ecstatic.

Next, I cut a slot in the side of the Altoids tin for the USB port. The circuit board and battery holder are mounted inside the tin using double-sided foam tape that was provided in the kit. This is especially important for keeping the pins protruding through the bottom of the circuit board from contacting the tin and shorting out the circuit.



Now came the real test. Would it charge the camera? Before plugging in the camera, I turned it on to see how much of a charge it already had. There was about 1/3 of the camera battery left before charging. I plugged in the USB cable and, sure enough, the indicator light on the camera came on just like it does when I plug the camera into my laptop. There are 3 lights on the camera that sequentially flash and then remain lit as the battery progressively charges. Apparently, the camera battery was a little under 1/3 of a charge because the first light flashed for about 5 minutes before holding solid. After that, the second light started flashing and I was really happy because it seemed to be working just like it should. The AA batteries certainly got warm in the process, but I wasn't surprised since the charging current of the camera is effectively right at the max current the batteries can deliver.



At this point, I opted to leave it alone for a while to see if it would fully charge the camera. In the interim, I rode up to meet Lorena as she was riding home from work. Having been gone for a little over an hour, I checked on the charging progress when we got home. I expected to see 3 fully solid lights, but the second light was still flashing. Hmmm. If the MintyBoost was going to fully charge the camera, it should have done it by then. The AA batteries weren't warm anymore either. I assumed they were dead. Time to honor the troubleshooting process.

The first thing I did was unplug the camera and check the output voltage on the USB jack. It was still at about 5V. Hmmm. I guess the batteries aren't dead after all and the circuit isn't burnt up. I then turned the camera on to look at the battery indicator and it showed a full charge. Well, that's odd. Apparently, there are some quirks with using the MintyBoost to charge our Kodak camera as it pertains to their external charge indicator lights. I'm not an electrical engineer so I'm not even going to guess at what the issue is. I do know that some other devices have quirks as well.

If you're interested in building your own MintyBoost, the instructions and documentation on their website are fantastic. For ~$20 and a little time, you have a great little pocket-sized USB charger that works for a lot of devices in a pinch. The only drawback is that I'm not sure what the TSA people at the airport would think about it in your carry-on. Home-built electronics would probably raise a few eyebrows.

A whole lot for a Tuesday

A lot of times when I'm out on my bike I'm reminded of why I enjoy riding so much. Sometimes, it's a great view from atop a ridge on a road I've never ridden before. Sometimes it's when I'm on my mountain bike and I'm able to ride through something that would probably be difficult to walk. These things and many more moments of bummer life avoidance that I can't remember were part of rides of the last two days.

Monday, I took my cross bike out because I wasn't sure exactly how many gravel roads I was going to encounter on the myriad rural roads I planned to hit to the west. On the gravel sections I did encounter, it seemed as though the majority of traffic was of the horse-drawn persuasion. That's fine by me and, on the gravel, it was almost smoother to try to ride in the buggy tracks. There is a pretty decent climb up to Alabama Ave. that affords a nice view.



Tuesday, we headed out to Vulture's Knob for a few fast laps. We were joined by Cary, Keith, Heath, Nick, and Chris and therefore had employees of three different bike shops representin'. The Knob is totally fun again. I'd have had more pictures along the trail, but I was too busy chasing Cary to pull out the camera. In addition to being faster than us, Cary also wins the award for the most awesome vehicle for getting there. If you haven't seen pictures of his beast, check them out here.




Wednesday, weather permitting, we'll likely head out to Orrville for the weekly thrashing. Next Tuesday, also weather permitting, we'll probably be riding mountain bikes at West Branch.

Changing gears... (pun totally intended)... Lorena and I are big fans of the band Cake. Every once in a while I poke around the 'News' section of their website and check out the various links they post. Via one of the links they posted, I came across this video that I thought was actually very well done considering I don't really like hip-hop.



If that doesn't float your boat, I received a new toy in the mail today that is the 'Minty Boost' kit for turning your old Altoids tins into a battery-powered USB charger. I have to solder it all together and then I'll be able to use it to charge our digital camera when we're in northern Ontario fishing in about a month. A little geekiness never hurt anybody though a USB charger likely will not help in the event of a sinking boat. Well, unless you can charge your bilge pump via USB...



If you don't like YouTube or electronics, well, you're probably not reading this. But, if you are reading this and want something else to read, I suggest the book 'Sick Puppy' by Carl Hiaasen. Just finished it yesterday and it was quite enjoyable from start to finish. Lots of nice plot twists and definitely not for kids.

How's that for a little brain-dump? Now, go ride your bike.

What are the odds?

A few weeks ago the pedal threads stripped in the non-drive crank arm on my single speed mountain bike. I figured I'd just order a new crank arm until Marty suggested I just have a helicoil insert put in it to replace the threads. Having used helicoil inserts before, I thought it might work though I was a little concerned about durability considering the crank arm is made of aluminum and, after all, it is going on a mountain bike that is used for actual mountain biking.

The other day I went up to the bike shop to have them either install a helicoil or order a new crank arm. Much to my surprise, they had a used one in their parts bin that was an exact match except it's a Bontrager instead of a Truvativ. Maybe a black, 175mm, ISIS, left side crank arm is more common than I realize. I was just glad to walk out of there with exactly what I needed for less than the cost of having to order a new one. Even funnier, Heath had one among his spare parts as well.

With the singlespeed back in working order, I decided to ride it instead of my Gunnar for two laps at West Branch State Park on Tuesday. I felt like I was learning to ride a mountain bike all over again. We typically ride the trail counter-clockwise to have the rocks first. Being used to having much lower gears to pedal over most of those rocks, I got myself stuck numerous times because I didn't have enough torque to get over them. What I learned from the first lap is that I needed to simply carry more speed to compensate. The second lap went a lot better as a result.

Last night, we were back at West Branch again and I opted for the Gunnar and more gears. It's amazing how much of a difference there is. Maybe the single speed isn't set up quite as close to my Gunnar as I thought it was. I just felt so much more comfortable and only had to dab a couple of times in the rocks. The doubts I was beginning to have about my technical riding skills while riding the single speed were quelled by last night's ride. I was definitely a much happier camper.

Afterword, the group headed to The Zephyr for beers on the patio and burritos from Taco Tontos. As Lorena will tell you, Taco Tontos is one of my absolute favorite places to eat and July's burrito-of-the-month is called the Sting-Rae. It is ridiculously good and you should eat one. Don't get me wrong, Ray's Place has great burgers and an awesome beer selection for post-ride recovery. I've just never been disappointed by Taco Tontos... except that they're closed on Sundays. C'est la vie.

If you're going to be near Navarre on Friday, July 10th, and need black raspberries, we picked quite a load of them today and will have them for sale at the farmer's market at the Navarre YMCA. The market runs from 8AM to Noon.