We got a cat. He’s three months old. He’s playful, but very cuddly too. We haven’t figured out a name yet. I like “Steve” but Teresa says that’s weird since she has an uncle named Steve. I suggested Leroy, and we both like it, but not sure about it. I kinda like using people names for pets, just cause.

Any ideas?

His name is Tobias. Tobias Shu-Shu Bullard. Shu-shu was the name the Humane Society gave him, and Noah can say it, so there you go. I should mention, he’s super patient with Noah. Noah has managed to be pretty gentle for the most part, and even when he’s not Tobias still hangs around so Noah can pet him.

Filed under: cats, photography by tonybullard
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You may notice things look slightly different than they did last time you looked at them. The design is pretty much the same, but the big change is the content area. I’ve stretched the measly 375 pixel area into 490 pixels. What does this mean to you? Less scrolling, and bigger, better pictures of Noah. Oh yeah, can you feel the excitement? I can too. Or maybe that’s just the taco I had for lunch.

Either way, what used to be this:

Is now this:

Look at that…you can count the tears. It’s tonybullard.com…IN HIGH DEFINITION!

Filed under: blog, photography by tonybullard
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Teresa might be brushing her teeth too hard.

Filed under: photography by tonybullard
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So tonight I had my first wreck. Well, I mean, there was the other one, but this is the first real “traffic accident.”

Here’s the situation:
I’m traveling down Old Alabama, doing about 16mph or so. I notice a white sedan start to pull out of the Mt. Pisgah parking lot. I hit my brakes, start to skid, and proceed to inform him of his mistake using the words, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, dude, whoa.” I turn to the right, to try and turn out of his path, and I end up laying my bike down on it’s side, much like the first wreck, only this time I’m half way under it, rather than surfing on it.

I come up running, not feeling any pain, but feeling kinda dumb realizing I have to chase down my water bottle as it rolls down the hill. I catcht it, proceeded back up the hill and see the guy come out of his car. He asks if I’m OK, I say yes. He never takes his cell phone off his ear. I make sure to look at my bike before he takes off. I spin the front wheel to see if it’s bent, back wheel, everything looks OK. But then again, this is a dark parking lot, not a well lit bike shop. We part ways, I tell him to keep his eye out and drive safe.

I get on the road, and within half a block I can tell things are wrong. I can feel the rear wheel wobbling under my saddle, and I can’t seem to shift to my highest gear. When I get home, I see that my rear wheel is in fact way out of whack. My brand new brake levers are scuffed up, and my brand-new right pedal looks like it got in a fight with a cheese grater.

So here is the lesson I’ve learned folks. ALWAYS call the cops. I should have gotten that guys info, and he should be paying for the repairs. I was so concerned with not having some bike vs. car fight that I let the guy go despite the fact that it was all clearly his fault. Instead I’m going to have to hang Rose up until I can save up money to get her fixed. It was her third day out. The good die young they say.

Filed under: rambling by tonybullard
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The best part about this growing series of pictures is that one day I can make a collage of Noah’s facial injuries and we can watch him grow up through it. Some sort of injury nostalgia.

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Tree brought Noah by work today and we all had lunch. Afterward we were walking through the parking lot, one of us on each side of Noah, holding is hand and occasionally lifting him into the air. At one point Tree says, “Don’t step on a crack or you’ll break your mom’s back.”

“Oh…that applies to me now.”

Filed under: family, photography by tonybullard
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They inherit your traits. Good and bad.

When I was young, I would chew the neckline of my shirts. I did it so much that some of my shirts became v-necks. I can remember sucking on them for hours. And once I had done it, the cold wet shirt against my chest was horrible, so keeping it in my mouth was the solution. Vicious cycle and all that.

I pray he doesn’t pick up this trait. It makes passing on his old clothes so much more challenging, and I hate to see my parents’ “I hope your kids end up just like you” curse coming true.

Filed under: family by tonybullard
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If you look back, you probably won’t see much of a difference. From the picture, all that appears to have happened is the bottle cage has been taken off, and the bars have been wrapped. But I assure you, much work has been done.

I stripped her down and cleaned every part. Put her back together and ran all new brake and shifter lines. I replaced the brake levers. Rebuilt the headset (steering bearings) and the bottom bracket (pedal bearings). And I took of the bottle cage and wrapped the handlebars.

She successfully made it through my commute on Friday. 6.5 miles to work, on a beautiful morning, 6.5 miles back, in the rain. Now she’s all dirty again…sigh. So her maiden voyage was a success.

She’s not done though. I’m still not happy with the crankset (pedals and gears). It’s not the right size for the bike, so for now I can only use the center gear up front, which means Rose is only a 5 speed right now. I’d like to replace it with an appropriate sized/styled crankset that will give me ten speeds. I can get up hills fine, but I can’t keep pedaling when I go fast…my legs just fly around all spastic like.

I like her a lot. She’s tons of fun to ride. My mountain bike feels huge in comparison. Rose feels like just enough steel and wheels to get you moving through town, and I really like the simplicity of that. Since I like her so much, I plan on keeping her. This means, sometime in the future, she will be painted. I had looked around for ideas, but I think I’m going to stick to a simple flat red. I may recreate the chevron accents just to keep her heritage, but other than that, I think I like the simple red.

Now I have to mope through the weekends waiting for the weekdays to arrive so I can ride her again. Ho Hum.

Filed under: cycling by tonybullard
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