TSO wasn't what I expected and holiday bike riding safety

So the wife and I ventured out to see TSO last night.
You know, Trans Siberian Orchestra... the instrumental guitar jamming Christmas music show.  Well, I wish the advertisements didn't play just the cool songs and let you know you might get sleepy during the solo low-keyed songs.  It's like those movies that show the great previews in commercials only to watch the movie and they showed the best parts in the commercials for the movie.  They have 3 good radio songs that rock out and include a cool laser and light shows (that coincidentally might not be good for people that are prone to seizures brought on by flashing lights).  The rest was a gentleman performing a "narration" of a story between performances and while great performances, they were less the energizing solos.

That mixed in with the fact they started 40 minutes late due to technical problems... and our generous baby sitter needed to go to work the next day so we had to leave before it was over.  It wasn't what we expected and actually a let down of sorts.  Sad.  Has anyone else been to TSO?


If you have small kids, you know the Christmas tree needs protection...
But, when your wife works weekends and your son gets up at 6am when you were planning to ride your trainer before the kids got up, you have to improvise.  Remember using or seeing the playpen fence around the tree to protect it from the kids?  Well, when you jam in a trainer ride at nap time, the last thing you want to do is stop mid-workout.  What to do?  Borrow the pen to protect the kids from moving parts so they can play and you can finish your ride.  Or, is it protecting your bike from your kids?  You be the judge...

Sure West comes to a neighborhood near us...
And mangles the pavers at my gate to my backyard.  I try not to obsess about my yard, but I also try to keep it green and alive.  Two big dogs and 2 kids present a challenge to keep your yard from becoming a mud ball.  Grass is my only defense.  So, it was rather frustrating when Sure West comes in and decided to bring their auger into my yard to drill cable in the ground.  The couple ton auger mangles my pavers and left gouges and a mud pit in my yard where they sparingly threw some seed on to cover.

I know it's in the name of progress, but if you want people to buy your service, better treat them right when you tear up their yard to bring the service to them.  Just saying...

Sadly this post looks like a complaining fest, but better posts to come this week.  Life isn't all roses, but I did have a nice 10 mile run Sunday and more about that later this week.