Enough
Day 3056
Not that this is a resolution or anything, but I have got myself the new version of FitDay and am hopping back on the get my ass back to fit wagon. I’ve used the new job(s) and my arm injury as excuses to get lazy. I need to cut that shit out.
Cindy is also doing her own tracking program and is being more diligent about exercise. We’ll see how honest she is about logging what she consumes. Somehow I think she still believes the afternoon/evening toddies are calorie free.
It’ll be interesting when I get back down under the Clydesdale biking category (<200lb). I’m curious as to where she’ll be. I’m taking bets, if anyone dares. My own goal? <190 by Aug 15 (our 32nd anniversary) Considering Tour de Cure again this year, but it is difficult to train for a 100 miler as early as June in these parts. Can’t really comfortably ride outside till April, and spinning just isn’t the same. Makes me slightly jealous of all my southern compadres!
Oh!! I’m now comfortable up to 20 reps of 10 lb curls. I’m going to get myself a 12 lb dumbell and work to get to 20 reps of that. Then? I can start tossing a 12 lb bowling ball. Possibly overhand. But I’m thinking maybe the 12th or 13th of January to start working on the bowling again. Might even go hit the golf dome and hit a bucket of balls with some short irons. All good for the fitness regimen too!
Rapture +2 (ok, 3 now)
Day 2465
Geeze, don’t know whether to be disappointed or not. I’m still here, apparently so are you and about 7 billion other folks and their pets. Either God, Yahweh, Bhudda, Allah, your higher power or whoever the heck it is decided we are all unworthy (possible I suppose) or that Fruitcake Camping misinterpreted a bunch of quotes he was taking completely out of context.
I’m a little relieved too. Jill’s due date for grandkid #1 has been calculated (with a little more accuracy than Rev. Camping’s prognostications) as 11/11/11. Had Camping been correct, (suuuuuurrrrre) we’d never get to see the little bugger. As it is, we can all go on with our lives, just as we’d planned all along.
The other reason I know I’m not in heaven? That damn master bath isn’t done. I do have all the drains but one installed, have the vent put in finally (only needed one day free of rain!!), got the supply lines run to the shower & toilet and am working on the tub & dual vanity supplies. Ought to be a blast – have to solder joints that’ll be above the ceiling of the first floor and below the subflooring of the second floor. It’s a nice dark, dusty place. If you slip, you earn a free trip to the kitchen – through the ceiling. Doubt that would hurt much at all . . .
I actually got out and rode Saturday morning too. Wedged in 28 miles in 97 minutes. Not incredibly fast, but at least it was a ride. Maybe I can get in 40 this weekend, and 60 or 70 the first weekend of June. While doing the Tour, there are 2 points where I can choose to shorten the route without going ff course. The first spot would cut the 100 miler down to about 65. The second cut would only knock off 20 (of the more scenic) miles. Depends on legs & weather.
Got in a ride to work this morning too. Gotta love those tail winds – this was my fastest trip of the year. On 4 separate occasions this morning I’d pull up to a stop light just as the dang thing turned green. Of course I’d braked to a near stop losing tons of momentum, only to have to crank it back up again. Had I made all those the lights (like I did Saturday morning) I might have shaved another minute off my time.
The downside of having a tail wind in the morning is that it’s a head wind in the evening. The other downside? There’s a greater than 60% chance of thundershowers this afternoon. At least my bike will get washed. Tonight’s big decision? Do I bike from work to spin or from work to home? I may head to spin, but if it rains and I get soaked I’ll just detour home. And? My right knee is getting cranky. Ever since Friday it’s felt tight – like it’s too full inside. Doesn’t hurt to bend it, hurts to kneel on it and hurts more to put a load on it. Oddly enough, biking doesn’t seem to hurt it. Walking is odd in that it takes me a couple strides to warm up. Heaven forbid if I have to put any lateral load on it, like make a quick turn. Then it gets all tweaky.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!
As it turns out, the ride to the Y was dry but windy. Was a little tight on time, but got to sit & pedal idly on the spin bike before class started. Never did stop sweating. Rain held off through class and let me get home dry too. Except for the sweat.
Bushed, rambling pointlessly. Ought to get to bed. Helluva good idea.
Seen on the web recently. Up until recently, it really seemed appropriate.
INSTALLING SPRING…
■■■■■■■■□□□□□□□□□□□□□□ 44% DONE. Install delayed…please wait.
Installation failed. Please try again. 404 error. Season not found. Season “Spring” cannot be located. The season you are looking for might have been removed, had its named changed, or is temporarily unavailable.
Please try again…
Mouth? Meet Foot.
Day 2459
Oh what a night. Someone around here recently wrote about sticking ones foot in ones mouth. I managed to pull off a gem Monday night that still has me shaking my head.
I was in spin class, sweating & grinding to what the instructor, Lori, generously calls music. I have my own internal gripes about her music selections. They include Lady Gagger, Pink Eye, Split Green Peas, Ludicrous, Snoopy Dog just to name a few. Thing is, Lori is 40-something, the vast majority of her class is 45+ (shut up) and she’s somehow thinking that the above artists are going to appeal to her demographic. I guess some feedback has trickled back to her because she’s added a few new to her tunes to the mix that don’t suck quite as hard. (One is horrible. A version of Janis Joplin’s “take a Little Piece” that had been remixed for a step aerobics class. I’m going to go to iTunes and buy her the real version and ask her to permanently erase that other abomination)
Here are some of my other grievances with her:
A – Her pedaling cadence never matches the song that’s playing.
B – She doesn’t actually DO the resistance changes she tells us to do and sometimes gets lost.
C – She uses a “4 zone” resistance system. 1 = no resistance. 2 = flat road 3 – medium or large hill (an improper reference itself – even a BIG hill can have a mild incline – it’s the incline angle that determines load) (Sorry for geeking out there) and 4 = all the resistance you can tolerate. She loves to bounce back and forth between 3 & 4 or 2 & 4.
D – She uses the term “full turn” but I’m not really sure how she’s defining that (see “B”)
E – She does standing sprints all the time. On a real bike? No one I know stays out of the saddle for very long on a sprint.
F – She does way too many out of the saddle exercises compared to out of the saddle time on a real bike.
G – We do this exercise called ‘Drills’. Pedal left leg only, pedal both, pedal right leg only, pedal both. Most instructors have us increase resistance after a full cycle. Keeps the left/right balance in tune. Lori increases basically at every comma, which produces an imbalance in leg conditioning. The right leg always operates at a higher load.
H – Her taste in music sucks.
And I still go every Monday evening. Why? Because the $^*&@#*< rain around here never $^*&@#*< stops and I can’t ride outside!
Still, Lori is a sweet gal, she means well and if I close my ears I can modify everything else she says so that it’s more like what the other instructors are doing. She even says “Do what you can, modify to suit your needs.” With that disclaimer A thru G pretty much go away.
Last night seemed particularly bad though. Might have been me. And keep in mind we’ve had cold, rainy weather something like 10 of the last 14 days. At the end of class we were doing our cool down and Lori was reminding us about future classes, etc. and she said “and next week Summer will be here” to which I loudly replied “Promise?”. Of course, 3.8 milliseconds after the words flew out of my mouth I realized she was referring not to the season, but to Summer, one of the substitute instructors that we all LOVE and would like to see get a permanent class. (Summer also plays a ton of music out of my wheelhouse, but she stays on rhythm and her tunes don’t suck out loud. They’re just new to me.)
When I heard a giggle or two from the class (3.9 milliseconds after the words left my mouth) I tried to back pedal and make it clear that I was referring to “Summer, the season” as opposed to the craptastic weather we’ve endured this spring. I also went up to Lori after class and apologized privately, but I think she hates me now. I may have to go to her Saturday morning class to try and kiss & make up. (No – not really kiss her. She’s not my type.) I was going to ride my 50 mile Batavia loop, but I might just have to incorporate the Y into it somehow.
Shit.
Found Them!
Day 2438
Oh, the simple things in life can leave quite a hole when we don’t have them.
All day Monday I made do without my glasses. I looked (almost) EVERYWHERE, twice, Monday morning trying to find them. After making myself 20 minutes late for work (what are they going to do, fire me? Oh wait, they did!) I decided to suck it up and deal with it.
Day time driving is fine. I have a little trouble reading street signs, but after al these years, I know the way to work. True, we’ve only been in this particular building for 7 or 8 years, but we used to have an apartment on the side street at the traffic light the next block up the street from where I turn off for work. That was nearly 30 years ago, but they don’t shift the roads around too much in these parts.
Anyhow. I can drive. I can keep my computer screen at a good focal distance. If I have to read something, I probably have a soft copy available (data sheets for *&%* USB hubs, CB reports, etc.) I have trouble reading fine print hard copy and working with circuit boards. Check this out (Letting my inner geek out):
Source of migraines
This is one of my boards. That’s the end of a Bic pen in there for reference. The hole in the end of the pen? One eigth of an inch. 0.125 inches. That part that’s circled? It’s an 0603 sized part. 1/16 of an inch long and I might have to get a test lead on a contact on either end – without contacting a neighboring part. Oh – and the camera focus? That’s slightly better than I can see at a reasonable distance.
For a better perspective, I’ll give the board the finger:
Monster finger attacks circuit board!
But I DO have a nice 10x lens to use for personal zooming in. It only costs me the use of a hand to see. But with those parts? I need it glasses or not.
Oh yeah – what was my point? Glasses. Didn’t have them yesterday. Had myself convinced that Cindy picked them up in the morning, so I soldiered on without them. Got home last night after spin (another subject in and of itself) and went through the whole (almost) house again and still found nothing. Its amazing how what you’re looking for doesn’t magically appear someplace after the third or fourth time you’ve looked there.
Cindy got back from her meeting. No glasses. I even asked nice, blaming myself first. Still, no luck. Tried reading a book I’ve been working on (“Against All Things Ending” book 3 in “The Third Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever”, overall book 9 of the 10 book series) (sorry, you have to read the first 8 to make ANY sense of the ninth, but I do recommend the series if you like Lord of the Ring style fantasy). Without my glasses or longer arms, I only got through 3 or 4 pages before the struggle got annoying.
Miraculously, around 11pm I had an inspiration. Sunday afternoon I got on the desktop PC downstairs so I could print out some stuff. I ALWAYS take off my glasses when working at the PC (like now even). Checked the basement and sure enough, there were my glasses, sitting right on the desk next to the monitor. At least I can see today.
Spin last night. Lori’s class. Horrible music (Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, a whole bunch of other shit I don’t even know) with a couple tunes thrown in for the over 45 white crowd (75% of the class). But thi particular CD had an abomination of a Janis Joplin tune ( Piece of My Heart – remixed for an aerobics class. Just a travesty!) and some old Kinks tune that might have been the best thing on the CD. And then there’s Lori’s whole teaching method. She cheats. She has no idea what really loading up the resistance is. Make me wonder if she’s ever ridden a bike outside up a real hill. The rate she pedals when she’s telling us to increase our resistance to simulate a “large hill”? No freaking way anybody pedals up hill like that. She also has some sort of fear of sitting in the saddle.
I go only for the workout. I listen to the horrible music, set the resistance where I like and ad lib where I need to. Standing sprint? Nope. I’ll sit & sprint. Back & forth, back & forth between hi & lo resistance 4 times a song? Nope. I’ll crank it up & leave it there.
Last night was tough though. For all the folks doing the Y-athalon we simulated the biking portion of the event. 15 solid minutes of seated grinding at a moderately high resistance about 15 minutes into the class. That worked up a good solid sweat and was more like real live outdoor riding than anything Lori has done in class. With a whole lot of climbing type riding afterwards, my glutes were feeling it Tuesday. I should probably do a better job of stretching them afterwards. Getting old is not for the weak.
It’s late Tuesday night now. Cindy’s streak of being into her cups when I get home from my Al Anon meeting is intact. It’s scary how reliably she takes advantage of a couple hours of “her” time. It’s a classic example of alcoholism. But she has it “under control”. Right. I have only one course of action. Every time she wants to have any interaction and I’m aware that she’s been drinking, I MUST reply with something like “I would rather not do that with someone that’s been drinking”. If I keep up with stating my decision & reason, maybe it’ll get through. It’s all I have – my decision to associate with people of my choosing – in this case, the sober ones. If Cindy can’t get herself in that large, non-exclusive group, it’s her loss.
Someone remind me of that Saturday afternoon, mmkay? Odds are I’ll spend the day working on the bathroom project. By 6 I’ll be ready to knock off for the day, but she’ll be 3 hours or more into her medication. Maybe I should just lose my cool and go off on her. Hmmmm.
Post Mortem
Day 2427
Please excuse the gruesome title. I’m only referring to a brief description of the Pittsburgh job interview after-party.
I thought the interview went well. I had prepared a few notes for myself on things to avoid (sarcasm, one-liners, filers like ‘uh’, ‘ah’, ‘umm’), questions I wanted to ask and answers to questions I thought the interviewer might ask. I am happy to say I was surprised by nothing, thught I built up a good rapport with the interviewer (but that may be in HIS skill set too).
The job is to repair and maintain radiation oncology equipment at 19 different sites in and around Pittsburgh (henceforth and forever more known as Pbrg). Initially the job would start out on day shift while the newbie goes through OJT and formal training in the manufacturer’s class room. (A week in Vegas to learn all about Varian detectors!! I just have to avoid showing up on an episode of CSI!! Training on FUJI generators? A week in California? Such a shame!)
One good thing was that UPMC realizes that they’d have to train anyone they hired – this is a VERY specialized job. The better part is that I already have a pretty thorough understanding of a lot of the equipment. I don’t know it to the point where I could repair it, yet, but I have a leg up on much of the competition.
The interviewer left me with the impression that I was a strong contender to be invited down to Pbrg for a secondary interview and some site visits.
The job title is Radiology Engineer, but the minimum education requirements were only an AAS degree. It just so happens that my AAS is in Biomedical Engineering and I have 20+ years experience with X-ray film processors (Lotsa A/C power to deal with) medical laser printers and film-less scanners & detectors. While UPMC does not use much, if any, gear from my present employer (I silently did NOT shed a tear over that) I’m hoping that my background is extensive enough to sway the decision my way.
And? They offer relocation assistance. Even if they just paid for the movers, that would be a huge help.
I’m a little regretful that this Pbrg job was the first to show any real potential. I kind of wish that some spots here in Rottenchester would have popped up first so I’d at least have a basis for comparison. Because frankly? Besides being extremely excited by the possibility of starting a new career in a new city, I’m also scared shitless. I know NOBODY in Pbrg. Well, except the interviewer and good ol’ Mom-on-Roof (who is over due for a “WTF you doing girl?” email) and she’s not even “in” Pbrg.
That’s all the awfulizing (tm – Roxie) I’m going to do on that subject. Interview went well, prospects look good, moving is a scary thought.
What didn’t go well yesterday? Rode the ol’ bike in to work. Felt slow & sluggish. Rode to the 5:15 spin class at the Y. Took a new route that carved nearly a half mile off the ride and it use much more scenic roads. Spin class went well enough. Ended up sitting next to a guy that, well, we’re sort of nodding acquaintances, having seen each other in spin many times. It was good to sit next to a guy that was at a similar fitness level. We seemed to be fairly well matched and managed to push each other a bit. I think. Maybe he was just being nice and let me think I could keep up with him. Then there was the ride home. Funny how you never notice a tail wind but you’re ALWAYS aware of a head wind.
The last thing in the not going well department would be Cindy’s condition during and after the interview. She kept quiet and out of the way during the interview itself, (in the hot tub), but had been drinking before, during and after. She was asking questions, trying to ascertain how the interview went. Unfortunately, she was (more than) drunk enough that she really only asked the same 3 questions over and over, maybe hoping that I’d change my answer. When I started responding “asked & answered, next question” she finally gave up.
After getting in 20+ miles of biking and another hour of spinning, my legs are appropriately whipped today. What’s on tap for tomorrow? My niece is moving in to her new-to-her house. We have to be at her place outside of Buffalo at 9am for the moving festivities. There’s a 90% chance of an all day soaker in the rain category. I can’t wait. I need to find all the clean tarps & plastic sheeting I can tonight.
Oh – “we” would be the moving crew. It includes her dad (lefty) and both NY based uncles (basically our bowling team), our spouses and hopefully what ever young, strong beefy male friends Lizzie can dig up. This is the ONE TIME I hope she has tons of male friends. Any other time, I might have to kick their collective asses.
Time to go rest up!
I can Tell I’m Starting a Project
Day 2409
Yeah, I know, crazy a it sounds I’m re-doing our mater bath. Even with the job status in limbo, we’re going to tackle this. We have half the materials, we have the other half of the money. If we manage to stay, it’ll be a killer bath. If we have to sell, it’ll be a fantastic selling point.
Anyhow. Got the old 4th bedroom stripped, got the old master bath stripped, except for the toilet. No water supply though, so no peeing in the toilet. It’s only there because the trap blocks the sewer gases. I will have to yank it at some point, but for now, it stays. (Actually, with a 5 gallon bucket of water, I could get 3 flushes out of it. Hmmmm . . .)
Like I was saying, I can tell renovation season is upon us. Two days of actual work and my hands are already beat up. Stabbed my left thumb with a flooring nail as I was carrying a load of old oak slats down stairs. I think I managed to keep most of the blood on the slats as I headed for the bathroom and the band aids. Didn’t hurt much at all, but boy, did it bleed! I have this gouge in my right pinky finger, right on the outside of the first knuckle. No clue how I earned that one. It did hurt though, but only when I caught the flap of skin that was dangling loose from the cut. So I got rid of the flap. Feels much better now. I also have a gouge taken out of my right thumb, but that’s more like a tiny chunk of road rash. Don’t think it even bled any (but I’d better go check the carpets just in case.)
Of course, by Sunday night my knees were sore from kneeling on hard wood floors all day, and my back was sore from bending over ripping up the hard wood floors I wasn’t busy kneeling on. But then things got better.
Last week, we smoked a small pork loin for dinner on Sunday. (A “small” loin starts out around 3 pounds. I cut ‘em down some from the butchers whole loin offering.) Because there was going to be gobs of space left in the smoker, I also got a roaster chicken ready to go the night before. So we had the smoked loin for dinner and I stripped down the chicken and put it in the freezer, figuring I’d make a gumbo with it later on.
Last night was later on. After I was done bleeding for the day, I washed up and commenced on slicing & dicing the veggies. Got my roux done, steamed/sautéed the veggies and some chorizo (sssshhhhh, that’s all I had for smoked sauage) and got the stock added back in. Let that stuff get happy for a couple of hours.
Oh! I did have Andouille sausage, but it was fresh style, not smoked & pre cooked. Got that stuff chunked up and added it to the stock & roux so it could get happy too.
Then I grabbed an Irish Stout and hit the hot tub. Amazing what soaking in the tub will do for you. Muscle aches? Gone. Sore knees? History. Cuts & scrapes? Still a pain. Can’t have everything I guess. But boy, did I feel better.
Got back inside, added my chunked up smoked chicken to the simmering stock and checked on the rice. Then, just in time for Amazing Race everything was ready to go. Smoked Chicken & sausage Gumbo, a big assed tossed salad (to fill up on, so as not to go all bat shit with the gumbo) and a slice or two of sundried tomato & parmesan bread.
The fresh sausage made a huge difference in the gumbo. It’s a radically different taste from the Johnsonville Andouille we get around here. I loved gumbo before, even with the smoked/pre-cooked sausage, but the fresh stuff adds a whole ‘nother layer of flavor. And the smoked chicken? Almost as good as the smoked turkey. Got to add more cayenne this time too because there weren’t any people eating it that thought something like a jalapeno was ‘too hot!!’. Sissies.
Anyhow. Good Gumbo and a dip in the tub is quite enough to cure what ails you. For an hour or two. Then you realize that Monday morning is still coming. Or actually already went by. Now I have to think about getting to spin class. Funny – the hot tub did NOTHING to make my glutes & hammies feel any better.
Oh My Aching Lungs!
Day 2364
Boy, that flu stuff can really suck the energy out of a guy. Dragged my butt (and the rest of me) back to spin class Wednessday night for the first time in a week. I was really hoping to just avoid horking my spleen out on the floor once we got going. I was really afraid that my first full, deep breath was going to trigger a coughing fit. As it turns out, it didn’t. But I did notice that the ol’ lung capacity wasn’t quite up to snuff yet. It’ll come, just have to keep beating on them till they shape up.
The instructor did have a really good idea Wednesday night though. Partway through the class we do a heart rate heck. Everybody slows down, we kind of pedal at “park riding speed” and do a pulse count for 10 seconds. There’s a chart on the wall where we can look up our age & determine where we are work out wise – 50% max heart rate, 60%, 85% – what ever. For the record, I’m typically pegged at 80% or more. I just don’t know how to go slow I guess.
Anyhow. Cheri suggested that maybe we could lie a bit and say our 10 second pulse count was our age. Anybody over 30 was more than willing to play along. Problem was we never figured out a way to make it stick.
Couple of week ago, at this same point in class, another instructor (Maria) made the mistake of saying “If you’re over 30 you might want to think about easing up on the resistance a bit.” I sort of blurted out “Hey, I’m over 50! I ought to REALLY cut back, huh?” and the gal on the bike next to me, yet ANOTHER instructor, just taking the class for the work, had a good laugh (and hopefully learned something about good spinning music. Hers is, well, not exactly to my liking. Black Eyed Peas? Yuck. For spin? Yuckerer.) (Tangent much?).
Spending to much time fretting abut Cindy’s drinking, or not drinking, trying to decide if the non-social aspects of it are bad enough to call her on it. Rather than spin my wheels and get no where, I think I’ll just let it be. I’ll know when it’s bad – been there, remember the feel of the place. No fretting involved, just need to react when the threshold is hit.
Speaking of hit – I hit a few pins last night. Well more than a few actually. For the second week in a row, I was the high roller on our team. That’s a first. It’s a bit unfortunate too. The net leg of that “In-League” tournament I’m in is next week – that’s when I need to bowl out of my mind. Last night was a tad early. For the record I ended up with 246, 230, 195 for a 671. In the tournament that would be a +81 – probably enough to make it to the next round. Hope last night was just a warmer upper for next week!
Thinking of doing back to back spin classes tomorrow. The Tour de Cure ride is coming up in June, now isn’t too early to start ramping up the training. Probably ought to toss in some running for cross training too. It’s great for adding base endurance –just what you need for grinding out a 100 mile ride.
Speaking of grind – I’d better get to it.
It’s Making Me Hungry!
Day 2342
I subscribe to RSS feeds from Simply Recipes because I enjoy many of the recipes posted and also like that there are often stories included with the recipe that describe the how the author came across the recipe, or how she or her friends prepare it.
That being said, I think this one:
Feijoada, Brazilian Black Bean Stew is dinner one day this weekend. I think. If I get buy in from the boss.
It’s not unlike a Jambalaya with the exception of the beans, and true to the dish’s origin, I pan on modifying it before I even get started. See – I have a bag of smoked pulled pork shoulder in the freezer that’s dying to get eaten. Or is it that I’m dying to eat it? Trivial little detail.
So I’ll be substituting my pulled pork (that just sounds wrong) for the recipes pork shoulder and smoked ham hock. In addition, I’ll probably use Andouille for the smoked sausage, and I might throw in Italian sausage for the fresh, although fresh bratwurst would be interesting too. Maybe next time.
Oh, instead of water, I might try veggie or chicken stock, just to add a little background body. Water can just be kinda flat sometimes. (Do I watch too many cooking shows? Nah . . .)
The other adjustment I may make is size. This recipe feeds 10 – 12 people. I could cut it in half, have it for dinner Sunday and still have 3 or 4 lunches for the week. Win – win, right?
I mentioned that today is bowling day right? I get ridiculously excited about bowling. Actually, I get ridiculously excited about ANY participatory sporting event I’m participating in. (in which I am participating? Damn grammar rules!)
Last night’s spin class was exceptionally good too. At home afterward I was noticing the particularly rubbery feeling of my leg muscles – to me, a sign of a rousing work out.
Also in the health department, for the first time in eons we have a scale at home. During my big weight reduction run several year ago I made use of the scale at the Y. Now, since my weight has crept up a little farther than I am happy with, I broke down and got a scale for home use. It’s an addicting little thing. I’m having fun weighing myself before & after I pee. Great entertainment. Seriously – I will be settling down to a weighing schedule & regimen. Same time, same condition, once a week for sure, no more than twice a week. With all the experimenting I’ve been doing this past week, I’m finding that there is lots of noise in taking readings too often. So I’m thinking Saturday morning, post pee, and Wednesday morning, same condition.
One last thing before I finish lunch. Would someone remind me to skip my evening orange Sunday night? I need to get blood work done and it must be on a 12+ hour fast. Any other evening before the labs are open we eat dinner too dang late. I need to behave on a Sunday night, for once. (And yeah, I have a thing for oranges as a late night snack. Beats the hell out of a PB & honey on rye.) (Well, not really, but it IS better for you)
We’re Honoring Who?
Day 2272
To those of you who have served our country in the Armed Fores, thank you. It’s an honor to be associated with such a fine bunch of people.
Time for my yearly rant.
{rant}
Know who has today off? School kids, teachers, government employees, bank employees and a few other assorted groups.
Know who’s working today? Lots & lots of veterans, unless they’re in one of the above mentioned groups of people.
So tell me again how it is that giving school kids, teachers & government & bank employees the day off is honoring those who have served our country?
I can get a free car wash today, IF I can prove my veterans status. That means I have to go home and dig up my DD214 (discharge papers), then stop by one of two car washes that are providing the service. Yeah, I’m all over that.
Want to really honor the vets? Give THEM the day off and make everybody else go to work. School kids too. They get enough full & half days for superintendent workshops & parent teacher conferences; they don’t need MORE time out of class.
If we can’t arrange to give veterans the day off, then eliminate the day off for those who haven’t earned it. Take a minute at 11:00 to reflect on the significance of the day, (Armistice Day) and get on with our lives.
{/rant}
Well, THAT didn’t make me feel any better at all. At least it’s bowling night tonight. Maybe I’ll throw 11 strikes in a row. That wouldn’t suck. 12 would be better, but I’d be thrilled with 11. I just can’t imaging ME throwing that many strikes consecutively. My knees get all rubbery after 5 or 6 and it gets increasingly difficult to maintain speed, balance, arm swing – you know, all those things you need to bowl well. In theory, al you have to do is think about THIS shot. Just throw THIS ball as well as you can. But the knowledge of what happened on the previous shots (hopefully a boat load of strikes) rather poisons the whole “stay in the moment” process.
Know what else? Day light savings is done. It’s actually light out around 6:45 in these parts. Plus, it’s supposed to warm up a bit over the next few days. As a matter of fact, Friday nights low temp is supposed to be only 40. (We’ll take that around here). That means that if I get off my duff and fix my bikes rear tire, I just might be able to ride to spin class Saturday morning. Granted, it’ll be only 40, but if you pedal hard enough you can generate enough heat to stay warm. As long as it isn’t windy.
If I do ride to class Saturday, it’ll still leave me about 60 miles short of my 1000 mile goal for this year. With deer season opening next week and winter ready to start any minute now (except for this weekend), I’m having trouble seeing where I’m going to wedge in 60 more miles. Have to make next years goal 1500 miles I suppose.
Off to the zoo. Have to work up version #6 of the latest P.I.T.A. project, only to risk having it all blown away at a 4pm managers meeting. Oh, joy.
Day 2213
This will be a quick hitter. Got home from work. Got the flat tube from last week replaced on my road bike. Rode to spin class, sweated buckets there and rode home.
Tangent #1 – When it’s in the 60′s and you’re cruising along in a sopping wet t-shirt at near 20 mph, you have a PERFECT example of evaporative cooling. Wow.
So I got home in one piece. In spite of the early evaporative cooling, my skin was leaking sweat profusely. Got in the house, peeled off my bike shoes, t-shirt & socks. Grabbed a mug of ice water and headed for the back porch.
It was starting to get dark and our porch is pretty well sheltered, so I didn’t think twice about peeling off my biking shorts (tangent #2 – what an improvement!) right out there on the porch so I could get my swim suit on. I was intent on heading for the hot tub for a nice soak & a little water massage. Except I apparently offended mother nature. As I was pulling up my swim suit, I noticed a deer bounding away from the porch towards the woods that borders the neighbors yard. Before the doe disappeared into the woods, she turned back and glanced one last time towards the porch.
Geeze. Sorry. I’ll get changed inside from now on, OK?
Day 2200 Meet Me on Monday Meme (posted on Tardy Tuesday)
First up is:
1. What is your favorite kind of potato chip?
For potato chips I prefer Rrrrruffles, or any rrrrrridged chip. Baked is best.
2. Do you make your bed everyday?
No. The only two people that really see the bed are the two people sleeping in it. I have better things to do with those two minutes. Plus – I generally get out of bed first. Can’t make it when someone is still in it
3. How often do you go to the hair salon?
I’ll amend this to include barbershops and/or places that might cut a guys hair. I average 10 – 12 weeks between visits.
4. What do you dip your French fries in?
Usually ketchup. Arby’s Horsey sauce is good, and so is A1.
5 Do you shop with coupons?
Generally, no. Why use a coupon for 25 cents off some national brand of something when buying the store brand of the same item beats the coupon price of the national brand?
The people watching at the garage sale really fell off Friday afternoon. Saturday I was otherwise occupied while Cindy manned the garage, so I didn’t get in any good gawking.
I DID get to utter this phrase though –
Goodness Gracious Great . . .
Blue Heron?
It seems our pond attracted an unwanted visitor Saturday afternoon. I chased it off once in the middle of the afternoon. It was reluctant to leave, only moving off 50 or so feet at a time. I had to be a little persistent in order to induce it to finally take wing.
Later, in the early evening it came back. This time it tried to ignore me and allowed me to get pretty close. When it did finally take off, I thought it had gone for good.
Right at twilight, it returned AGAIN. I was having camera battery issues or I’d post a picture of the thing to give you a sense of how big they are. Any way, on its third visit it caught me munching on an apple. A nice, very throw-able apple. So I chucked the apple at it. Considering the trajectory of said apple, I think what scared the heron off was the machine gun like snap, crackle & pop of every tendon & ligament in my right arm. At least it didn’t fall off.
Fast forward to Sunday morning. Made a quick dash to the store to pick up some of the necessaries for Zach’s belated birthday dinner (smoked ribs, mac salad, grilled sweet corn, corn bread & rhubarb pie for dessert). When we got home, our neighbors son was pointing into our back yard, asking us if we got a new pet. Apparently, that heron wanted to make one last try at getting a meal out of our pond. I chased it off again, but this time it seemed much less reluctant to leave. Once we got settled from our shopping excursion, I got my camera out and left it on the back porch, just in case. But as luck would have it, the heron never came back.
On to Tardy Tuesday –
Cindy has been kind of closed off ever since spin class Monday night. She gets like this at times and I’m never sure what the trigger is. There was this gal that plopped down next to me at spin class. Same gal that parked next to me last week. That time, she asked tons of questions (how do you know what a ‘level 5’ is? How much is a ‘turn’ of the red knob? ) and I noticed she kept glancing over to see what I was doing so she could follow suit. I guess that’s how one learns to do a spin class.
This week she wasn’t so chatty, but I noticed Cindy clam up once she got on her bike. For the record, she’s our age (+/- a few) wears a lone band on her left ring finger and is really attractive. Plus last night her outfit left clear indicators of how cool she thought the room was. Maybe Cindy thought I was noticing her thermometers a little too much.
Tonight (Tuesday) we get to have our first couples session in about a month. Maybe we can get this cleared up then. Maybe we can also address why it is that I’ve managed to make all these accommodations to improve the relationship, but I sense a certain lack of willingness to change on Cindy’s part. That lack of willingness being demonstrated by Cindy’s needing to use a door frame to hold herself steady Friday evening when Zach stopped by on his way home from work. She didn’t participate much in the conversation Z & I had, because she couldn’t e-n-u-n-c-i-a-t-e at all. Saturday night she’d been drinking again but wasn’t near as bad. At least she didn’t make Jill bust out with our new code word – “wunnerful”.
So, once again, I feel the need to hijack our couples counseling session to ‘share how I feel’ about certain things. At least then there’s a referee there that I hope I can depend on to call bullshit on Cindy’s denial.
I loathe doing it this way. It always seems that things come to a head within a month or so of a planned trip. That makes me think that Cindy subconsciously uses these planned trips as blackmail tools. “Be nice to me and ignore my drunkenness or I’ll pull the plug on the trip”. Not coincidentally, we have a trip to Charleston, SC planned for October.
Even having any concerns at all about her alcohol abuse makes me feel like a hypocrite. How can I agree to visit a distillery, two breweries and a brew pub on our trip to Maine, then complain about how much Cindy drinks? It’s true that she asked me to be less of a Nazi about her drinking. It’s true that I don’t buy any of the booze she consumes at home. I DO buy beer, but it’s mostly for myself. Cindy has some from time to time, but I don’t make a stink about it. I was asked not to.
So by doing as she’s asked and not being a booze Nazi, I feel I’ve tacitly sanctioned her drinking. She thinks she’s controlling it (uhhh – remember Step One?), and all I see is a slow, steady regression back to how it was a few years ago.
I ended my affair. I asked that Cindy end her drinking. She now drinks 3 – 4 nights a week, with one or two of those nights resulting in her getting drunk enough to totally turn me off. So since she’s violated the request I made, does that mean I now get to screw around with other women once or twice a week?
I know that the answer to that is no. I must maintain the high road through all of this. But I HAVE to do a better job of declaring and defending my boundaries. Good lord, I’ve been saying that for two years now.
All that to think about and I have two of these:
to prepare for this week.
That’s a tavern in Bar Harbor. It’s several blocks in from shore and looked to be inhabited by locals. Never really saw a building to enter – just a set of steps leading up to what looked like someone’s backyard deck. Didn’t go in and check it out because it just didn’t seem right. But I do like the sign.
Gah. I really don’t need the distractions.
What’s News?
?Day 2158
Can someone explain to me why crap like Lindsay Lohan’s situation, Mel Gibson’s latest drunken rant, aaaaallllll those people that are famous for being famous people and most of the casts of the “reality” TV world are considered news worthy?
If that kind of crap has to be thrust upon us daily by the news industry, maybe “the industry” has gotten a little too bloated. Maybe they should cut back their staff and concentrate on news of the non-titillating-but-stuff-we-really-need-to-know variety.
Of course I suppose the rationale behind it all is that they are only producing what people want to see. So what’s the Nielsen’s rating for some schmuck show like E! versus the rating for CNN of the local news in the same time slot? It’s a sign that there’s just too much bandwidth to fill when drivel like E! or OMG or TMZ has to be offered up to fill a time slot.
Yes, I know I don’t have to watch it. I don’t. But it does come up in my on screen programming guide. I am paying for the bandwidth it takes up, whether I watch it or not. What I’d really like is some sort of a la carte channel selection where I only pay for the stuff I want to watch regularly (Discovery, ESPN, ABC NBC CBS, etc) or at least have on hand (CNN, MSNBC for example).
The dozen or so religion channels I get? Why? Be gone!
However many shopping channels? Why waste the bandwidth?
Lets go to a survival of the fittest mode. Pay for what you want to watch. Don’t pay for and don’t suffer what you don’t want. If channels don’t get enough subscribers to survive, buh-bye! – unless the 3 people that watch some lame channel want to fully subsidize it’s continued existence.
Ok. Rant over. Or, in other words, I haven’t got much else to bitch and or whine about. Except these tidbits:
Got my FIL’s 2008 taxes straightened out, I think. Now I just have to provide the IRS with a solid reason why a dementia suffering gentleman in his mid-70’s didn’t sign his electronically submitted return. I think a brief letter, along with copies of the POA, Death Certificate and Letters Testamentary (proof of executorship) ought to settle that. Then I get to tackle 2009 & 2010 taxes. Be still my heart!
Didn’t ride my bike to work Monday OR Tuesday. Monday was understandable as I had my laptop in tow. Tuesday was unforgiveable. Monday’s original weather forecast for Tuesday called for greater than 60% chance of thundershowers from 9am right through sunset. Hah! Tuesday’s forecast for Tuesday? Effin gorgeous! Screw ‘em. I’m riding my bike for the rest of the week no matter how lousy the forecast is. I need to pile up miles before the Battenkill ride. I’d like to get in 100 this week and another 100 next week.
Had a substitute instructor at spin class last night. The regular Monday night instructor (Lori) is on vacation. (Thank God!) So we got Summer instead. Summer kicks some serious ass. She’s been doing some classes for another instructor for the summer and has gained an excellent reputation. Now more people are asking for her to sub when they need one.
What makes a good instructor? Appropriate music. It dooesn’t even have to be musi everyone likes (does that even exist?), but the tempo of a song should match the tempo of the exercise you’re trying to do. For example: you can’t do sprints to a love ballad. Long, slow, powerful hill climbs shouldn’t have anything by The Miami Sound Machine accompany them. Rap, no matter how good (does that even exist?) should never, ever be used. ESPECIALLY at a YMCA. There are two instructors that don’t get this, and they both happen to teach on Monday. Lori is one and Bill is the other. Lori seems to favor the music that maybe her teenage daughters like. Bill just seems clueless about music. Neither of them can match a songs tempo to an exercise. Criminal!
The other important thing for an instructor is to actually DO the exercises. Some instructors don’t actually increase the resistance on their flywheels when they tell you to. Consequently, after asking you to crank up the resistance about 5 or 6 turns they’ll tell you to sprint when in fact it’s all you can do to keep the pedals moving. Oops. If they were DOING the exercise, they’d know where the hell they were. Or we were.
This one is a personal peeve. NO STANDING SPRINTS. I flat out refuse to do them. When riding a real bike, out in the open air and traffic, the only time I stand to ride is when climbing steep, long hills or 6 to 8 pedal strokes after starting out at an intersection. When I’m really going fast? I’m sitting. So all of Lori’s light resistance standing sprints I miss. I’ll sit & sprint no problem. But I won’t stand for standing sprints. (Hah – God I kill me!)
It does help if you don’t pick sucky music too. Anything by Lady Gaga (Gagster)? Skip it. Rusted Root? Good stuff. Snoop Dog? Down boy. Heart, Pat Benatar, Lynyrd Skynyrd? All good choices. Dolly Parton? Some of her stuff works well. Again, it’ up to the instructor to match the exercise to the tempo of the song. Hell, I only knew two of the songs Summer played last night, but her class was excellent. Anytime I can wring the sweat out of my shirt, it was a good class. (sorry for the image, but that girl is good at keeping you going)
Aaaannnyhow. That was a lot for having nothing to say, eh? Better get myself back to work.
The Third Thousand Days
Day 2001
I’m still all jazzed from bowling Thursday. Forced to take a break to attend Erics graduation this coming Thursday. Hope that it gives the callous on my thumb time to absorb 3 or 4 quarts of moisturizer. It’s all cracked & nasty looking. I’m afraid it’s going to split open and start oozing. That’s going to make gripping a ball awful difficult. (Minds – get ‘em out of the gutter!)
I don’t know what’s gotten into the spin instructors this week but every one of them was really emphasizing the climbs. Another killer comes about 45 minutes into the class. The instructor will say “Last working song, then we’ll cool down!”, and you hear the opening strains of “Freebird” wafting through the speakers. That’s ALWAYS a climbing tune, and it seems to never actually end.
One thing I finally learned this week too – once you’re past 10 minutes into the class and you have to get up to grind through some heavy resistance, it’s best if you spread your towel across the handle bars and make sure the area over the flywheel is covered. If sweat drips on the flywheel, it lubes it at first, but it also cleans the dust off the resistance pad so it grips really, really well after one revolution. One time I had a nice stream of sweat drip right on the wheel and it almost brought me to a stop it changed the friction so radically. Proving once again that I am a slave to my environment, I’m finally catching on to that little trick with draping my towel.
Got a phone call from the nursing facility this afternoon. Bob’s not doing well. Didn’t eat at all today. We went in to see him and see first hand what the nurses were trying to describe. What we saw was not good. Bob hadn’t been out of bed all day, content to sleep. We were there for an hour and a half, he woke briefly 3 or 4 times. Without his glasses I think he doesn’t have a chance to recognize anybody, but it didn’t matter. It appears he’s had another stroke. No speaking in the last 24 hours, won’t or can’t get out of bed, won’t eat or drink. When his eyes ARE open, the right lid is droopy and both eyes are rather empty.
It’s kind of good that Cindy has this week off work. She prepared too. There’s a bottle of vodka stashed in the room formerly known as the family room. She got it before the call from the nursing home, so I’m guessing she was stocked up for her week off. Now with her dad doing poorly, that bottle may really challenge her resolve.
Ahhhh well . . .
Out of the Closet
Day 1982
I’ll declare it now. Saints fan. Always kinda liked them and after visiting the city last summer? How can I not root for them? Who Dat, indeed!
After spin class tonight, and after I shower, while I’m all buck nekkid (try not to let that image ruin your day) and ambling back to the lockers to dress, I shall stop by the official YMCA ‘Lying Bastard Scale” (hereafter known as the LBS) and actually take a measurement of the earth’s effects on my body’s mass. In other words, I’ll weigh myself. I will endeavor to consume my normal quart or so of water during class. No point in dehydrating myself to squeak out a pound or two. I will however, eschew the use of a towel to cover my manly bits. Those towels are really heavy after you dry yourself off!
Bottom line is I don’t like how my pants & shirts are fitting. After all that work to drop weight after quitting smoking, I’d hate to gain it all back. True enough, I’ve gained some back – hence the uncomfy fitting of the clothes.
Sources of this creeping waistland are few. My work out efforts are no where near what they were two & three years ago. Six hour-and-a-half sessions a week at the gym has trickled down to 3 or 4 spin classes a week. That’s down right paltry. Eating? Eating has been just as bad. I think we finally gave up and tossed the last of the Christmas noshes out. That’ll help. Might be time to resurrect the old food diary too.
Tempus Fugit . . .
Interesting spin class tonight. Usually, we go hard for a bit then back off , cycling our heart rates from down low (110-ish) to a pretty high (150-ish) and back again. Tonight though, we seemed to get our rates up high but never came all the way back down. We really seemed to hang in the mid range. Oddly enough, it didn’t suck too bad keeping that pace and pushing it a bit extra with the resistance. Might be getting my legs back!
Did the weigh in thing. Ugh. ‘nuff said. #^@$ LBS.
Weather report. 54 degrees on my way into work this morning. 34 degrees coming home from the gym. All the snow we had has melted except for the larger piles. But now? Snow expected for the next 7 days. Not constant! But as is more typical for this area, we’ll see some accumulations every day for the foreseeable future. There ARE two more months of winter still coming. I’d really like to get some more miles in on those snow shoes too.
Unsettling afternoon Sunday too. Makes me want to push harder on some of those points I made last time. Dammit.
3000 Words
Day 1928
If a picture is worth 1000 words, you’re gonna get 3000+. Words, not pictures. First, a view from my tree stand.
Brief sunny interlude while hunting Thanksgiving morning. Where my head is? Saw a turkey there Saturday. Lucky for her their season is closed.
Next – I just learned that the British first brewed porter beer. That lovely, toasty, hoppy, chocolatey beer. For that, I love them. I think the next picture shows why they need good beer:
Damn Brits REALLY have some cuisine challenges!
I really think the sub-title is a more appropriate name. Spotted dick sounds like an STD.
If I send this to Florida, will it melt?
Found this in Vermont, NOT at Ben & Jerry's
What a marketing idea for cotton. Saw this in “The Christmas Shop” in Burlington. Or Shelburne. One of them.
Had a good counseling session Tuesday. We each discovered that we are guilty of committing the same acts we claim to really dislike in each other. We just take different paths to get to the same spot. We both have things to work on, but I think it was a little more of an eye opener for Cindy. Especially when Janine agreed with both of us.
Actually got my butt in to a couple spin classes this week. Holy Crap am I out of shape! I’m afraid I’ll have to supplement with elliptical and/or treadmill work to help build base endurance back to where I’d like it. Great winter project.
Bowling tomorrow. I’m a little apprehensive. I was working on a circuit board yesterday, trying to scrape off some solder mask with an exacto knife. (A normal task at work) Unfortunately, my grip on the knife was a little unorthodox and I was putting considerable pressure on the side of the blade with my thumb. At one point, I kinda slipped towards the edge and put a nice little crease in my thumb. It didn’t bleed too bad, didn’t have to resort to a band-aid even. Garlic juice doesn’t feel too good in it though. My only real concern is that the forces involved in bowling might tear the cut open. THAT would suck. Blood in the thumb hole would make it extremely slippery. Not a good thing. Been on a tear lately too, and I really didn’t want to take that break over Thanksgiving. Just have to wait and see.
Take care folks.
ugh
Day 1671 (?) and then some
So I started this entry on Friday. Didn’t finish it then. Tried to get a little more in Saturday, failed and didn’t finish it then. Sunday I didn’t even try. Now here it is Monday afternoon and I’m sitting in our rather unglorious lobby here at work waiting for the UPS guy. I had naively declared the true value of a package I am sending and now must wait for a confirmation signature from the driver. Otherwise, if something bad DOES happen to this thing, the company (and ME quite likely) will be out $50,000.
So, back to Friday:
Bowling last night was a challenge. A horrible, terrible, difficult challenge. Glad it wasn’t the last week of the season. I would not have liked ending the season on such a poor performance. Spent the whole night thinking too much instead of just paring everything down to a few key ideas. The REAL problem is I first need to throw/release the ball consistently. Armswing angle, hand position, shoulder positioning, balance – all that crap. Then, once the basic shot is correct silly details like targets can be addressed.
Skipped spin class this morning. I was up in plenty of time, I just couldn’t muster up the gumption to get my ass (and the rest of me) out of bed. Sorta sets the whole day off on the wrong foot. I might even believe that the radios I’ve been trying to calibrate today are aware of my lack of exercise this morning and are punishing me for my transgression. Bastards.
Now back to today:
Yeah, Friday sucked. Managed to get 4 radios to calibrate out of 10 or so boards I ran. Miserable. But the boss man was out, so I felt no burning desire to stay and torture myself further trying to get more done. Besides, what few boards I did get done had already shipped and there were no further shipments to go out that day. So I went home and spent the evening watching the NCAA’s. Go Syracuse!!
Saturday. Did spin class to make up for skipping Saturday. Got home and decided that it was finally time to get rid of last fall’s leaves, still laying in, oohhhh, about 7 different piles, strewn all over the yard. 15 minutes into my raking frenzy, I broke a rake handle. That was pretty sweet. Luckily, the rake was a virgin. Just bought it. So I picked up all three pieces AND the twin rake I’d picked up at the same time and headed off to Homer Despot to get something a little sturdier. Got back right around lunch time. By dinner time I had finished raking and hauling 99.9% of the leaves in the back yard.
We border on a nice little patch of woods which makes a lovely receptacle for leaves (especially the oak leaves which originated there ANYHOW!). The shortest trip I had to make to these woods was about 150 feet. Uphill. Each trip got progressively longer until finally, after 15 or 16 trips and a 300 foot one-way drag, there were no more leaves. The weight of each load was quite variable. The tops of each pile was light & dry so I could fill my 9×12 tarp and tow it with ease. The bottom of each pile was wet, slimy, packed dense and heavy. I had to be careful to not load up more than I could reasonably tow solo. There was only one time I thought it might actually pull me backwards down the slope, but some of those nasty hill climbing sessions in spin class paid off and I managed to just grunt it up the hill. My quads complained a bit later, but the dirty deed got done.
For a reward, Cindy and I headed to the Dinosaur Barbeque and enjoyed some of the best grub in the city. Even saw a lovely young thing with a tattoo on her chestal area, (No, not THAT low) that was somewhat visible in the open vee of her button down blouse. This place kinda encourages their staff to be, different, I suppose, so she was allowed to keep the artwork on display. The tat (and her chestal region) was no match for THIS:
http://awfultattoos.blogspot.com/2009/02/bikes-part-2.html
found by Q (http://hookedonquack.blogspot.com/) (Q? What are you doing looking at that kind of stuff anyhow?) but I gotta admit, I really don’t find it offensive at all. I just wonder – what if the bike could be moved so the wheel hubs could be located a little more strategically? (Ouch!! comes to mind for one thing!). Also, at the Dinosaur? Locally microbrewed Vanilla Porter. Deeelish! They weren’t shy with the vanilla either. Can’t really have more than one or two, but man, they are good.
Enough titillation. (Couldn’t resist). Sunday was a lovely, quiet day. Cindy went shopping with my SIL and got herself a dress for Zach’s wedding. Now she’s on the hunt for all the accessories. Shoes (in a 5.5), handbag, necklace, lord knows what else. Went to Sam’s Sunday too, had a few items to stock up on. Noticed they had pork butts for $1.18 a pound! I ended up getting 4 of them. Can you say “pulled pork sammies”?!?!
Also went to our local grocer to stock up. On the way home, as we were starting back up after sitting at a red light, we passed by a local cop who for all intents & purposes looked to be heading back to base at the end of his shift (we were ¼ mile from the station and he was headed the right way) I got about ¼ – ½ mile up the road, following another car doing right around the speed limit (miracles!!) when I heard an unmistakable siren behind me. I looked up and sure enough, I was getting pulled over. I pulled over, shut the van off and started rolling down my window when I noticed the cop making a beeline for Cindy’s side of the van. I also noticed (finally) Cindy trying to slip her seatbelt on! Uh-oh. New York is a mandatory seat-belt wearing state for all front seat passengers, period.
Long story a wee bit shorter, I got pulled over, the cop NEVER asked for my license, never even came to my side of the van. Cindy ended up getting a ticket for not wearing her seat belt. I didn’t get a second look! (That’s ok with me, really) Cindy was chatting up a county sheriff at work today (he does DARE or SADD or something like that at the school) and he said she could expect to have to pay $150 to settle that ticket. It also counts as a traffic violation and might result in points on her license (even though she wasn’t driving?) There’s a state surcharge too – at least another $35. Sweet. Our own little stimulus package for the town & state. The sad irony of it all is that while Barney Fife was writing up Cindy’s ticket, I spotted two other cars where the DRIVER was sans seat belt. We get pinged for a freakin passenger going beltless. The other ironic bit? As a general rule, we are very good about wearing our seat belts. This was probably the first time in years one of us was not belted in. Typical lousy timing.
Guess I ought to post & run. Need to think about a second job to go pay for this ticket & wedding dress & geisha girl to rub down my thighs (I wish).
Dreaming
- Day 1654
I was sorta dreaming this morning, looking at some extended weather forecasts for our area. I was hoping to learn when I might be able to consider riding my bike in to work again. It would appear that unless I choose to also purchase full length leggings, shoe covers, gloves and a facemask that will fit under my helmet (good luck there!), I won’t be commuting in March.
Average highs will be in the mid to upper 40’s by the end of the month, but morning lows still average below freezing. Add in 10 – 30 mph windchills and unless I’m bundled up in one of those cocoon sleeping bags I run the risk of freezing solid before I even get to the canal trail. That’s less than 2 miles, down hill & down wind usually. Not to mention that when I looked this morning, the canal trail was still snow covered. Seeing as much of it is really shaded, the snow won’t be melting any time soon. I might also mention that it was 10 this morning. 10 Farenheit. No time for bikes.
I ran into an interesting little factoid I ran into while dreaming about riding outside again. On March 22, the record high and low temperatures are 84 degrees apart. There are plenty of days (300 or so?) where we don’t even see 84 degrees period. That just seems like a big spread.
Someone commented or emailed something asking about the cover tunes Gary the Sadistic Bastard uses in his spin classes. In truth, I can not even begin to name the cover artists, and even the original artists I’m unsure of in many cases. Especially with some of the older blues standards. Who knows who the hell wrote any of those anyhow?
In Gary’s rather eclectic mix you’ll find an old blues tune done by an Irish band from NYC, an Irish folk song done by a reggae band from NYC, but originally from Jamaica, Hotel California done completely in Spanish – no doubt by a NYC band, then he’ll go off on weird stuff like when Mick Fleetwood was doing all that African drum stuff. Like I said, an eclectic mix. The worst one, if only because once you hear it you can not get it out of your head, is a version of “Achy Breaky Heart” also done in Spanish. It’s evil incarnate. Oh – I forgot about the Joaquin Phoenix/Reese Witherspoon rendition of a Johnny/June Cash number taken from the movie. THAT one is pretty good, especially considering I’m not much of a country music fan.
What I thought I’d do is ask Gary for a sampler CD with what artist info he can provide. He may try to weasel me into going to a spin class at the downtown Y sometime, but if that’s the only price I have to pay to get a copy, I’m in.
Should I get a copy and should anyone want a copy of their very own, we can arrange some sort of hostage exchange. AND – if I ever make one, I’ll also throw in a copy of what I’d like a spin class to be choreographed around. I can only promise one thing – there won’t be love ballads on it. Maybe one lullaby though – I kinda have a soft spot for Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”. What do you mean that’s not a lullaby? It’s a song about going to sleep, isn’t it? It is, so it qualifies. I also have this weird attraction for a number by Puddle of Mud – “She f***in hates me”. It appeals to the 12 year old in me I guess.
Ok – back from the regular Al Anon meeting now. Oddly – Cindy took in a meeting herself tonight. I think. At least I’m believing that’s where she was off too. She doesn’t normally do Tuesday’s. Didn’t normally do Thursday’s or Saturday’s either. Now she just goes. No advance warning, no explanation, just out the door. I mean, we DO have to co-exist, a little advance warning as to her plans isn’t asking too much, is it? I didn’t think so.
Gotta get off to bed, spin class comes early. I missed my dose of pedaling with Patty last week, can’t miss 2 in a row. Can’t be late either – might not get a bike.
Oh – so when might I realistically start biking in to work? Looks like mid April at the earliest. Still a risk of below freezing temps in the morning, and sunrise times slide bac a bunch because of daylight savings. (Notice that it doesn’t SAVE any daylight – it just shifts it, right?) Anyhow, 6 weeks to ride. Oh boy.
It’s a Wrap
Day 1646
What a non-eventful weekend. Just what a body needs every now & again. The list of things accomplished is not too bad, the toll on the ol’ body wasn’t too bad either.
So lessee – things actually done. After less than three cups of coffee Saturday, the driveway got a blow job. Somehow, 4 – 6 inches of light fluffy stuff found it’s way to the ground in our area. Eric was at work, Cindy was at a meeting or shopping. I popped the van out into the street and gave the driveway a good once over. By the end of the day there was even a little bit of bare driveway showing.
Molding around the fireplace? Done. What a difference it made too. I should get a picture, huh?
Also getting very, very close to finally finishing the doorway from the living room into the kitchen. I forget the reason it got put on hold (family room, pond, porch?), but it’ll be painted by next weekend. The trim molding for that same doorway is also ready to go, just needs a final trim and installation.
Since the living room/kitchen doorway is nearly finished, it was deemed safe to put up the shades in the living room. Cindy didn’t want the shades up if there was a threat of drywall dust hanging in the air (the threat, well, AND the dust). Since that threat is diminished, the shades are up. Killer job. I milked it for over an hour!
Sunday. Another lazy day. Did wall clean up & another very, very light coat of mud in the morning. Went and picked up some shades for the laundry room, then swung by to see The Bob. This is the first I’ve seen him since he moved to his new digs. Sad to say he really isn’t much changed from when I last saw him in the hospital. He has his own clothes on, sort of, but that’s really the only improvement.
When we got there we found him out in the lounge/sunroom, snoozing. Anymore, he dresses in sweats (pants & shirt – so much easier to deal with) and he apparently tried to put shoes on too. We found him with one of those gripper style hospital socks on his right foot and a right shoe on his left foot. It hurt MY foot just to look at it. After a good 10 minutes of that, I just had to change it for him. No idea where the real left shoe went. We searched his room and all the common areas. No sign of it. But in looking around, I noticed that the use of shoes was very optional. Most folks were wearing only those grippy socks. It’s not like they were going anywhere, so why bother?
Besides being in a permanent mental fog, one other thing I noticed about Bob – his left hand was quite swollen. No bruising like he’d hit anything (too much CSI), just all puffy, and there was a hazy whitish overcast to it, like layers of dried skin. This morning it occurred to me – could it be a sign of a clot in a vein in his arm? Cindy’s leg puffed up like a balloon when she had those clots behind her knee. The other thing I was thinking was maybe spider bite, but without looking closer I couldn’t really see any bite marks. We’ll have a meeting with the staff there this week to review his two week evaluation.
It’s evening now. Typed up a good chunk of the above drivel while I was sitting at home waiting for the appliance repair dude to show up. Seems the right front burner on our stove has gotten a little reluctant to light. I was just a bit surprised when the service guy showed up. He’d been a visitor to the Tuesday evening Al Anon group. Really nice guy, did a very thorough job on the stove. Best part is it works again.
The other thing I did while waiting for him was call the county Commissioner of Jurors. Bob got a jury summons. For the moment, he’s excused, but the county would prefer that I have the nursing home fax them a letter. On their letter head, WITH a doctors signature – and she knew who the chief resident at the place was!! Another thing to cover at his two week evaluation.
Spin class this morning – Poor Bill only had 8 of us in attendance. I keep waiting for some feedback forms to fill out. A little constructive criticism would help the guy. I think that he is perhaps too much a slave to the clock or counting a specific number of reps. Most (all) of the other instructors choreograph their routines TO the music. Rather than play their favorite tunes, they pick tunes with different tempos. Some tunes even change tempo from beginning to end or chorus to refrain. But the astute instructor will tailor the exercise to the song. The only rule is that if a particular piece is Blues, it MUST be a hill climbing song. Hill climbing requires one to really feel the pain and nothing does that better than the Blues.
Anyhow. Bill. It’s like he has a specific list of things to do and the music just sort of plays in the background. Too much out of the seat work and no where near enough sprinting. He needs more variation in music tempo and please, please, PLEASE – get rid of the Euro-techno-pop. Typical American music follows a pattern – 3 refrains, 3 choruses (chorusi?) And that last chorus can go on, and on and on. But they’re still predictable. That Euro-techno-pop? It all sounds the same, plus – no lyrics. One has NO IDEA just where in the song one is. Confusing.
Speaking of varying tempo in a tune – anyone know of a 5 – 8 minute version of Bolero? Might be interesting to try and design a spin routine to that.
Ugh. Getting punchy. Better get to sleep. Night night.
