But after a tough day of sitting on our butts, professional athletes really need to refuel, so here’s a smorgasbord of tasty lunch meets, tortillas, carrots, cookies, salsa, and more. Yum.

 Oh, and in other news, today is my birthday. I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence or because I’m awesome, but I’m the featured Rider of the Day on Velonew’s beta site today. Yeeaaahhh, chances are good it’s on account of being awesome.

…sucks dirt, that is. And various other pieces of sand, hair, grime, and home dander.

Yup, I got me a brand spankin’ new vacuum cleaner thanks to the fine people at Bissell! Truly, she’s a thing of beauty with unparalleled sucking power, a sleek comfortable ergonimical handle, a very stylish light blue color scheme accented with shades of gray, plus much more.

What really blows me away is how it compares to the previous Bissell that I found and adopted from my Grandmother’s house and took with me to Asheville. That previous model - probably about a decade old - got the job done just fine, but pales in comparison to the current Healthy Home Vacuum. Basically, it looks like they took the previous model, gave it a gym membership, and told it to get massive. It also has characteristics that make it look like the Terminator - kind of muscular and robotic looking. For in-home safety reasons, it obviously runs on electricity… but can you tell it really wants to be a diesel.

Here they are head to head:

 The new one’s on the right. It’s easy to pick out between the two, being that it’s taller, wider, has smoother lines, and some wicked features, like the TurboBrush, Multi-Cyclonic System, a Telescoping Crevice Tool, and the Microban Anti-Microbial Protection. Sweet!

 Check out the rims on this beast. They’re sixes, yo! Makes the older model’s threes look just plain sad. I definitely like the wheels a lot, but I might take it to the shop and put some spinners on for extra bling.

 No comparison shot of both vacuums here, but that’s a 15 inch wide sucking path. Really gives you a sense of power. I’ve never driven a bulldozer, but I imagine it’s the same sort of feeling.

It arrived the day after I’d used the older model to clean the apartment. I could hardly contain my excitement and had to immediately take the new one out for a whirl. What’s crazy is that I took an already clean apartment, and was still able to yank two inches of dirt out of the rug. No lie.

Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Select Start.

Recognize that? The chances are good that if you’re in your mid-twenties  -  and particularly but not exclusively if you’re male  -  seeing that series of words and letters causes some sparks in your brain to start firing up and suddenly BAM! Nintendo Entertainment System’s Contra: 30 lives!

It’s science. That is, if you readily recognize that code, the good researchers at the Onion have uncovered the reason for such an earth shattering news: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/half_of_26_year_olds_memories

I’m not surprised by this fun fact, though. In a last minute grab session at home in New Hampshire before moving to Asheville, I hesitantly brought my original Nintendo. I was most certainly excited to have it, but hesitant because this piece of 1989 high-tech machinery has remained untouched for about a decade, sitting dormant in a bag in my bedroom closet. While other newer, more colorful and realistic video game systems came and went - Sega, Nintendo 64, the Gamecube, and Sony’s Dreamcast to name a few - the NES faithfully remained in my closet knowing full well that there would soon be a time when it would once again rise like cream in milk to the top of the electric gaming heap.

The best news of this story is that it took a mere ONE attempt to make the Nintendo work! I didn’t even need to whip out my strategic and secret moves of jiggling and blowing on the game that “always” worked back in the day. Nope, first try baby!

My collection of games is pretty solid: Mario’s 1,2, and 3, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Blades of Steel, Rampage, Contra (obviously), Excitebike is somewhere lost at home in NH, and Double Dragon. Good times.

Welcome Buddy!

After an excellent Christmas holiday at home, I drove all day Sunday from New Hampshire to North Carolina. 17 hours of moving time and a hair under 1000 miles. It just made sense to travel that day and avoid later traffic congestion after the New Year. That worked out swimmingly, because it snowed 8 inches in NH the night after I left. Then they got pounded by lots more snow the next day, whereas it was a balmy 60 degrees in NC upon my arrival.

I proceded to drive into town today, which is entertaining. Southerners’ driving skills are flushed right down the toilet once there’s even the slightest bit of snow on the ground. We received between a trace to one inch, but people drive as though the snow’s a foot deep with zero visibility. I equate it to what happens when people walk on ice. There are two basic approaches: