You can check out the whole set, but here are some of the highlights:

I’d really like to make a 5 minute video that shows off our nicer pictures and videos, but I don’t know what software is best for the job. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Fortunately, I was wearing a helmet.

I think the bat wasn’t.

There were bees.

Wesabe’s support team introduced me to XL2QIF, an excel macro that converts CSV files (or any excel spreadsheet) to QIF format. Once you open the CSV containing your transaction list in excel¹, select the interesting fields in your statement:

Then open up the XL2QIF window:

Next, check the fields you’ve selected in the order in which they appear. (i.e. I choose Date first, Memo second, Debit third, and Credit last). I check “Separate Debit/Credit”, since my bank statements have separate columns for debits and credits. These options will all be saved the next time you run XL2QIF. Choose an output file and click convert to save your transactions to a QIF file.

Now you can upload your QIF file to Wesabe. You’ll be asked for your account’s current balance, because we’re not using one of the more advanced file formats. Wesabe should now show new untagged or unedited transactions in your bank account:

Once you’ve used Wesabe for a little while, it should start automatically tagging your transactions. I edit my new transactions and rename them to something meaningful:

Together with your cash account, you should now be able to track almost all of your spending with Wesabe.  Be sure to mark your cash withdrawals as transfers so you don’t double-count your spent cash.

¹ European CSV (Comma Separated Value) files are separated with semicolons, not commas. My current workaround for this is to rename the CSV file to a txt file, open the txt file in excel, and then change the delimiter to semicolon in the Text Import Wizard.

Lifting our bikes may have slowed us down a little (not actually a weekend photo):

I never figured out how this guy mounted his bike:

The bike polo was definitely a good way to end the day.

To start a new cash account, click “Add an Account” on the left side of the site, and then find the tiny “Create a Cash Account” link on the right. Once you’ve chosen an account name and currency, click Create to finish making your new account. (Click on an image to see an enlarged version)

I start by writing down all my cash expenses. Since I have a horrible memory, I usually jot down the details in my cell phone (26/3 – 1.30 – food @ VHS) within a few seconds of the money leaving my hands. I sign in to Wesabe a couple of times per week to update my spending. If you have a twitter account and text message to burn, you can also tweet your spending directly to Wesabe and save yourself some time.

When you want to update your cash spending, click on your cash account and enter your transaction data:

Picking good tags for your transactions allows you to look back later and easily analyze your expenses. Normal tags are applied to every transaction from a merchant (all of my amazon.de transactions are tagged “shopping”), and one time tags can be used to add more detail (textbooks, lunch, birthday, etc).

When you save the transaction, it appears in your account activity:

If you’re tracking your cash account’s balance, you can refresh the page to update your balance:

If you guys are interested in reading more, I’ll show you how to manage your bank account on Wesabe in another post. Your bank account (or credit card) probably provides a more useful picture of your spending, and Wesabe only gets better when you feed it more crunchable numbers.

Hell, I even wrote a blog post to create LIMITLESS SHAME if I don’t sign up for a bank account by the end of the month. Now, I don’t have to read those webpages, but I’ll sure feel pretty dumb if I don’t.

Last week I submitted an application for a DKB account after reading the last of the poorly-translated pdf’s, and gave myself a pat on the back for meeting my deadline of March 31st. For bonus points, my roommate delivered the mail with an hour left in the day:

3.8% interest is a definite improvement over < 0.5%, and the free Visa card is a nice touch.

Isn’t shame awesome?

This is why it’s critical to invest in a few good pairs of bike shorts. They let your friends breathe, and keep friendly friction to an absolute minimum. If the internet is to be believed, quality shorts are one of a cyclist’s most important pieces of gear.

That’s not all the internet has to say about the matter. I’ve been doing a lot of questionable googling recently, and apparently it’s very important to let your friends have an intimate, trusting relationship with your shorts. No barriers, no judgement, and most importantly, no underwear.

I’m not the jealous type, so that’s fine with me. I know that my friends need room to breathe. But like a protective mother, I’m worried about my friends. A speed dating session in a sports-store changing room seems like a great place to meet interesting shorts, but what about safety? Those sports store shorts get around. I don’t like thinking about how many other men have pulled this very pair of shorts over their sweaty, hairy friends.

I guess meeting new shorts always comes with risks. I just have to let my friends run free, and live life on the wild side.

I have no idea of how to properly plan a bike trip, but my gut is telling me that if I want to pedal a weighted bike for 10 straight days, I’m already behind in my non-existant training schedule. My legs enthusiastically agree. The internet tells me that my ass should be screaming in terror, but it’s currently passed out, beaten and bruised, from the first day of real biking in months.

To prove (or disprove) the motivating power of public humiliation, I’m going to let the entire internet judge my training. I’ll log my workouts in a public google spreadsheet. You can use it for drinking games, you can forward it to all of your friends (you’ll have good luck if you send it to at least five people!), or you can just feel sorry for how badly I’ll embarass myself when I fail. Or maybe, just maybe, you could even give me some advice. Who knows, maybe I’ll even listen.

Oh, and to make it interesting, my bike is in Canada.

Until May.