i'm feeling just Mactastic

Do you think Apple would pay me for the slogan "I'm feeling just Mactastic?"

Probably not. Chances are that they've already thought of a marketing slogan along that line and discarded it because it sounds horribly tacky. But I still think its a cool term for loving your Apple product.

That said, for the hell of it, and because I had a doc's appt. this afternoon (I'm fine, do not worry sportsfans), I brought my MacBook Pro to work so that I could go by REI afterwards and see if the Northface 15" laptop sleeve would be a good solution for lugging it around (and keeping the power cord and external USB HD in it). Even though the 13" sleeve would be a better fit, its not available right now (I think the Incase sleeves sold at the Apple store are complete shit - the Northface stuff is waterproof and actually fairly decently made), so I thought I'd give the 15 a whirl. I really like the material, but the sleeve/bag is a bit on the small side so I think I'll pass for now.

Anyway, one of my co-workers got his new 64 GB iPad this weekend and brought it in as well (we had not planned to bring our stuff, it wasn't like a pink shirt day or anything like that) and we had fun playing with it - he's got the 3G service and was bitching about how slow it is compared to his Comcast internet at home.  But he wanted to be able to surf the Net anywhere, not have to deal with our work filters (which, for the moment, aren't that bad but do filter out stuff that's not stupid or hazardous) and have something that's very portable. He now wants a MacBook Pro after seeing mine though.

I did decide to go to the Tour of California yesterday, for those of you that haunt my FB page, I've now put up an album of pictures. In rough chrono order, you see 'regular' cyclists riding the downtown finish loop a couple of hours before the race finish, some shots of the souvenir/tourist expo. I was able to station myself right at the 300 meter mark in the finish chute.

Kind of interesting how weird and possessive people will get about space at a free event that they're not paying for; I had gone near the 200m mark and a high maintenance 20something girl said "Hey, these spots are taken." Um, her friends - probably male, and since she was cute and well dressed, more than likely all trying (and unsuccessfully) to get into her pants, had gotten bored, taken off, and left their sweatshirts on the sidewalk. I'm starting to get old enough now that I really am not in a mood anymore to take bullshit from morons like this girl, but rather than fight about space when there really wasn't any way you can see how the finish is going to turn out any better from 200 vs. 300 meters without a really good set of binoculars, I just snorted and said "Its a good thing this isn't a football game with open seating, because if I had some of my buds with me, we'd toss the sweatshirts and you would be sitting somewhere else."

Some guys that were standing next to her but that I don't think were actually with her just burst out laughing. I leaned on the barricade fencing for a minute, and then found what turned out to be a much better spot with fairly pleasant company. Perhaps a little too pleasant, because a 40something woman with a HUGE wedding ring started, well, flirting with me... with her husband apparently standing off on the sidewalk somewhere (or maybe he was a friend of hers, WTH knows).

At one point, she said "You know, this is going to sound really weird, but you look at *lot* like George Stephanopoulos." Hmmm. I've been told several times I look like Michael J. Fox, but this is the first time I've been compared to George LOL. It was flattering, but I made sure several times during our conversations to mention "the GF" but I guess that doesn't slow some people down.

I am, coincidentally, part Greek on Mom's side, and I do tan easily and I'm darkening up already even though I'm barely in the sun at all. But I figured the Irishman in me was doing a fine job of stamping the Greek out. Apparently not. But it was funny because she was standing a little too close in that way that says "I'm more than casually interested in you." Weird world.

I had walked part of the way down and stopped at the J Street Taqueria at 39th fully intending to walk the remaining 2 1/2 miles, but the GF called when I was finishing Taco # 2, and offered to drive over from the house and drop me off near the expo (she had been dog/house-sitting the night before in Fair Oaks - long story, but one of her boss' dogs, a nearly year old wirehair pointer, had torn a ligament in her right rear leg and had surgery... so they've been keeping the dog doped up and were away for the night in Napa (its really tough to have a free hotel to go to I guess), and Mr. Dog couldn't go up there with her because Emma and he like to play rough, and even on drugs she'll play too hard. Anyway, she was finished, back, and I got a ride (still ended up walking almost 5 miles as she picked me up afterwards when I walked about 2+ back - its 5 miles to downtown from the house).

The expo was pretty decent; I hit the Amgen merch tent and bought my ToC KOM (King of the Mountains for you non-cycling sportsfans) 2010 jersey, a regular t-shirt and souvenir cowbells for my kids. I thought I was done pissing money away, but then I walked by the Jelly Belly team tent and they had the Jelly Belly racing jerseys out, and I mean, even though they regularly get blown out the back of major races like this, you *have* to have a Jelly Belly team jersey - especially when they're cheaper than what you would regularly pay at the Jelly Belly Outlet store.

I only have three team jerseys (technically 2 separate teams)  - 2 Steel City Endurance team jerseys (run by my friend Doc Shazam who lives in Pittsburgh) - its a amateur/semi-professional racing team based in the Pittsburgh area, and I had no 'real' pro stuff - I'm not that wild about pro team jerseys, after dabbling briefly in tris, dus and trying a cycling crit or two, racing on a bike is not for me; I'm too timid, and I'm not one to ride on the American River trail looking like some wannabe, but Jelly Belly is so FUN to wear (and eat, and look at). I don't feel wonky about wearing Steel City because it IS an amateur team that persons of all ability levels can join, but pro is a little different. But you know what, if someone doesn't like the jersey I'm wearing when I'm out riding, I guess they can kiss my big fat ass.

Anyway, watching the finish was cool; they circled the Capitol 3x after initially riding in. I think the coolest part was watching the camera helicopter circle downtown, you half expected SWAT team guys to rapple out of the 'copter or be rappelling out of the palm trees that are planted around the Capitol. The Radio Shack team kind of did an interesting thing after the finish; the loop while racing was counter clockwise but they rode back to their trailer clockwise. People were going nuts when Levi Leipheimer rode by.

I'm hoping that next year they'll reconsider doing a prologue like they did last year as a short ITT, because when they race in in this manner, you actually get to see the riders for all of 15 seconds or so as they rush by, even if its a three-peat, that's only about 1 minute of riders max. When they do an ITT of all the riders in the race, it can stretch out for two hours, and you get to cheer each rider on, and that's really cool.

I just hope they find a new sponsor for the Tour of California in 2012 - Amgen is sponsoring next year, but there's no deal after that - so it doesn't fold like the Tour of Georgia did. Its amazing to me - corps like Ford will dump millions into a three day golf tournament but won't sponsor a bike race (or a bike team - it doesn't cost as much as you think to field a team for a year) especially given that cycling is a huge sport outside the US, particularly in Europe. Hmmm... I was mentioning to my coworker when we were comparing toys this morning that Apple would be an extremely logical sponsor for the ToC because its a California company and the crowd that generally shows up to watch cycling is affluent, well-educated and has the $$$$ to piss away on toys. Anyone for a FB group Apple should sponsor the Tour of California...?

And oh... Band in a Box came today. Woo Hoo!