tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53872242012-02-13T12:39:36.981-05:00"The Daily Spew" is just a place where I can leave news for friends and family. It's probably boring even for them; your mileage may vary but you *have* been warned...Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.comBlogger14541100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-55234546970847388462012-02-13T12:39:00.001-05:002012-02-13T12:39:37.026-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 186.5#   I've been looking for better cycling training software for a while now, but I've been finding that most of what's out there is either a bit "meh," or unavailable on Linux, or both (usually both), and the web-based stuff seems just as lame -- I've tried a few of the free-on-a-trial-basis ones, and none have impressed me enough to want to upgrade to the paid version.  

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-58250663807553177322012-02-12T19:21:00.004-05:002012-02-12T19:25:40.878-05:00

So it's been about two weeks of training, two weeks of about twenty eight. I am already seeing results -- and of course I am already deviating from what I should be doing... I'm mostly following Joe Friel's The Cyclist's Training Bible, and that means that right now I am doing a whole lot of "base riding:" lots and lots of easy rides (difficulty measured in terms of heart rate), and one day a

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-75684054657217965732012-01-26T12:30:00.001-05:002012-01-26T12:30:07.993-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 186#   Wassap...   Reading: I'm working through a shit-ton of books right now, mostly Christmas presents. Ta-Nehisi Coates's The Beautiful Struggle and James Wolcott's Lucking Out, two memoirs from Baltimore ex-pats -- Wolcott looking back at his twentysomething years in late-Seventies NYC, when was writing about movies, punk, porn and ballet for the Village Voice, while Coates

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-54591102143359667652012-01-19T12:04:00.001-05:002012-01-19T12:04:56.318-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 188#   (Ha! You probably weren't expecting that! Too bad the scale is out of whack, or needs batteries or whatever, or I'd have a percent body fat for you too. I'm on it...)   My breathing has been OK-but-not-great for about a year now (starting about when I got the other allergy problem -- eczema -- under control, how convenient), with breathing problems worsening with the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-80674167389997334842012-01-16T16:04:00.001-05:002012-01-16T16:04:15.570-05:00

I updated my laptop's operating system the weekend before last, something that needed to be done and that I'd been dreading for months. The process took a while -- two hours of downloading stuff, plus another hour or so of computation -- but the process was mostly automatic, and happened while I was out riding, and the result was a surprisingly smooth transition to the new distribution.   (I use

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-35199599317323736882011-12-30T20:13:00.002-05:002011-12-30T20:13:50.413-05:00

Wow, with this post I actually break 60 for the year! Anne is off, with Emmi and her boyfriend, to their family's Christmas get-together, and I am here at home, fighting a cold which is slowly getting into my sinuses and chest. I think that the worst is past -- I always think that, as it gets worse and worse until I get antibiotics -- but this time I think it's true. I'll be going to bed in a

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-33259153794523111732011-12-27T15:03:00.001-05:002011-12-27T16:21:33.212-05:00

Continuing my vacation, recent developments: We did the Ride Of Respect last Thursday night, the memorial/tribute ride for Patrick Ytsma, a local rider and bike advocate -- known to be a stickler for legal and safe cycling -- who was run down by some old lady on the New Street Bridge.  (It was a sad and chilling thing to hear first the rumors, then the hard news of the accident as it made its

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-36082987755436998612011-12-22T13:10:00.000-05:002011-12-22T13:10:58.353-05:00

This has been my worst year for blogging: over the years my output has gradually dropped from a high of just over 250 posts a year (in the mid-aughts) to somewhere around a hundred a year, and this year's precipitous drop means I'll probably finish this year with less than sixty posts. Why is that? I've been very busy this year at work, which left me no time -- I used to post by email during my

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-43018104286809195772011-11-11T11:51:00.001-05:002011-11-11T11:51:32.838-05:00

Happy Nigel Tufnel Day! A-and a big birthday shout-out to my main squeeze too -- Happy Birthday, baby!   Nothing much to report since yesterday's rant. Got home, did some P90X -- which has become much more enjoyable after we switched the sound off, but we're still lapsing rather fashionably: we do it about 4 days a week instead of six, and are constantly falling behind schedule. Afterward we hit 

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-59836222075114624292011-11-10T13:19:00.001-05:002011-11-10T13:19:40.994-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 188#, 13.5% BF   Happy Anniversary, Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald! (The event itself, not the song, which surprised me, years after its release, by being about a contemporary event -- I always assumed the song's story was made up, or old folklore. I do think the song is awesome, but today is not the anniverary of the song.)   Meanwhile, back in Happy Valley: This is just crazy

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-17131143859457071272011-11-04T18:35:00.000-04:002011-11-04T18:35:48.107-04:00

The oven is still not quite finished yet, it still needs insulation and a roof, but today was the day we fired it for real. I'm getting good at splitting wood with the axe, and Anne is now a veteran firestarter, and we got the thing up and roaring in no time: first a small "starter" fire in the morning, then a bigger one, the first real one, this afternoon. Apart from one mishap -- the chimney

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-78506712709370056032011-10-19T15:57:00.000-04:002011-10-19T15:57:31.674-04:00

Well that went pretty quickly, I didn't realize it had been a full month since my last post. Work has been insanely busy lately, and I've found myself with little time or inclination to write anything here: all my resurces have been used up. Not much worth noting has gone down either, not that that has ever stopped me before, when I'm in the mood to write, or had the strength. Right now I'm on

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-72602554867446924922011-09-19T12:38:00.001-04:002011-09-19T12:38:51.711-04:00

Morning weigh-in: 188#, 14% BF   It's been really nice the past few days, more September-like than September's really been so far: sunny, cool verging on brisk (we've been waking to chilly mornings); my favorite season is just around the corner...   My Mom's birthday was yesterday and we visited for a little celebration dinner, and we decided to make a day of it:   Our first stop on the way down

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-712076122448819482011-09-08T11:50:00.001-04:002011-09-08T11:50:47.112-04:00

My computer play has been pretty desultory lately: I keep sitting down in front of my laptop, wanting to do something "computerey" and creative, and I can think of nothing I want to do, and I just end up surfing. But, finally driven by rainy-weekend boredom, I decided to take a look at that GRAMPS genealogical software, and sat down Sunday morning to figure out my family tree.   I'm totally

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-47503763252741849692011-09-04T11:54:00.001-04:002011-09-04T11:54:13.158-04:00

I'm looking to set up a wireless music connection to the stereo at home, a bridge receiver, or media bridge, I think it would be called. Something that connects wirelessly to the home network, and has audio output for the stereo, so we can stream music wirelessly from our computers -- my Ubuntu machine as well as Anne's Mac, plus Emmi's or Ben's, or any visitor's, laptop. Sounds simple, right? (

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-12533996520982268932011-09-01T12:24:00.001-04:002011-09-01T12:24:45.704-04:00

Ah yes, woke up this morning and it was the start of a beautiful September day, blue-sky sunny and cool, and while I was in the basement I even heard the furnace come on...   Speaking of basements, we had a bit of water in our basement but came through otherwise unscathed from Hurricane Irene. Saturday was weirdly warm and occasionally rainy -- which was fine by me, since Rob's funeral was in the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-8965925031320291072011-08-25T11:54:00.001-04:002011-08-25T11:54:02.321-04:00

Morning weigh-in: 185.5#, 15% BF   I met Anne and Donna last night at Nockamixon, me coming from work and them from Bethlehem, and we had an awesome time riding the trails. Anne loves it there, and this was Donna's first time and she really liked it too -- she said it was one of the nicest places she's ridden so far, fun and challenging without being impossible. High praise indeed! It didn't hurt

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-38218457762333863802011-08-24T12:27:00.001-04:002011-08-24T12:27:30.667-04:00

So there I was at work yesterday when the room started shaking -- actually, more a gentle swaying, probably the building's reaction is what I felt -- and the guy across from me and I look at each other and say in unison: "Earthquake?"   And that's just what it was, the Great Virginia Quake of 2011, 5.9 on the Richter Scale or whatever it is they're calling it these days, felt, according to the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-10733253952921607872011-08-23T12:33:00.001-04:002011-08-23T12:33:53.382-04:00

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 189#, 12.5% BF Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 185#, 13.5% BF   Ouch! That was the result of a fun and rather "nutritionally dense" weekend...   Friday night was another "Heels on Wheels" ride, which was pretty awesome: Anne and myself, Emmi (who drove up from Knoxville and hopped right on a bike), Ben & Jaime, Donna, Erin & Rick, and Brian & Maris, and we were joined

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-23979426115419121042011-08-18T12:20:00.001-04:002011-08-18T12:20:32.019-04:00

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 189#, 13.5% BF Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 187#, 13.5% BF   So Tuesday night was a pretty decent run along the towpath, maybe 2.7 miles plus a walk back up the hill (that was my reward), 3.5 miles in 39 minutes; I'll be back in running shape, and shapely enough to fit in my kilt, in time for the Halloween 5k. It totally caused me to overheat though, I didn't feel

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-11212021385892753372011-08-16T13:02:00.001-04:002011-08-16T13:02:48.979-04:00

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 187.5#, 15% BF...but never hard enough to wash away the sorrow. Goodbye Rob, I don't know if I'll ever be fully able to understand or accept what happened; all I know is I'm going to miss you. The party's over: Musikfest ended Sunday night (we didn't go), and the summer is winding down. Time to start looking at those admittedly scary morning numbers once again... I'll

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-6703496574241217152011-08-14T13:26:00.001-04:002011-08-14T16:35:56.094-04:00

Another post, another rainy Sunday... We were down at Musikfest yesterday and stayed, despite the rain, until the evening shows rolled around. (We visited Brew Works, bumped into Joe and Cindy, Eric and Kris, and Doug and Lori, and promised to meet them at Volksplatz later -- they were getting dinner.) Down to Volksplatz where we'd been hiding from the rain earlier, and where we now caught up

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-34739331666888227782011-08-09T12:39:00.001-04:002011-08-09T12:39:49.075-04:00

It wasn't all that nice -- the Sunday weather, that is -- so Anne and I skipped the Jim Thorpe riding and just went up to her mom's for a visit. When we got home we crashed for a bit, then went out and did our first real "Musikfest evening." (Friday's "Heels on Wheels" pub crawl didn't count in my book, since we mostly avoided the fairways and musical venues, and on Saturday all we did was buy

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-37011332037552201592011-08-06T17:39:00.000-04:002011-08-06T17:39:20.113-04:00

Here I am at Re-Wired Cafe on Main Street, ground zero for Musikfest on a rather wet Saturday. (Here we are actually, since I'm here with Anne.) The place is a mob scene, mostly Fest peeps avoiding the rain -- the streets are not empty but they sure are emptier than usual, and a lot emptier than they were a few minutes ago -- and the baristas are like dervishes trying to keep up. Last night was

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-64643480800969508592011-08-04T11:57:00.001-04:002011-08-04T11:57:14.448-04:00

My Motorola Droid is defunct, and I now have a Samsung Transform courtesy of CREDO, my new phone company.   It wasn't a software issue. No amount of removing or reinstalling apps helped, and no factory reset -- despite the advice of the guy at the Verizon store, who said that that was what he did -- was going to fix it. I remember doing the factory reset and the phone came back on with the 

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-27332835215990535332011-08-02T12:37:00.001-04:002011-08-02T12:37:07.401-04:00

Not sure what happened, why there was such a big blogging lapse on my part. I looked the other day though, and I hadn't posted a thing for almost the entire month of July, that caught me by surprise. What could have caused this, what have I been up to? Last thing I remember Doc, I started to swerve...   Reading: I just finished China Mieville's The Scar, the second in his Bas Lag trilogy, but

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-70306972443986760962011-07-30T19:31:00.000-04:002011-07-30T19:31:51.363-04:00

RIP: my Turner 02, bought in 2000 and ridden hard ever since; it bit the dust two weeks ago while I was on vacation. (I was riding with friends in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, climbing the Moose Alley trail so we could turn around and descend,  and suddenly it sounded like a stick in the spokes --- but it wasn't a stick it was the frame leaning on and rubbing against my knobbies.) Snapped the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-24709648328968984272011-06-28T11:47:00.001-04:002011-06-28T11:47:15.094-04:00

Morning weigh-in: 185.5#, 12% BF   I got home yesterday and thought twice about doing a ride, so I stayed in -- I sometimes say that there's two kinds of discipline: one that sends you out to ride in the rain, and the other that keeps you home resting on a nice day; I'm not sure what kind of discipline issue that was... Anne had been out on a long road ride, and arrived home about the same time I

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-58525882367445861512011-06-27T12:40:00.001-04:002011-06-27T12:40:37.629-04:00

Morning weigh-in: 185#, 12% BF   Item: The Los Alamos National Laboratory is closed today as wildfies sweep the area.   Item: Floodwaters broke through the protective dam around Nebraska's Fort Calhoun nuclear plant, luckily in shutdown mode for repairs.   Anyway... short weekend, at least it seemed that way. Friday night was pretty quiet, and we got up early on Saturday to get moving on the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-28512145142274508332011-06-24T12:09:00.001-04:002011-06-24T12:09:45.694-04:00

Tuesday night was the big night -- the opening night for Black and Blue, aka "Which Brew II," Kelly-Jo's, and Larry's, new bar and restaurant. We'd heard rumors that they would be open soon, then heard last week that it would be "next week," and finally I got a few phone calls, from people who'd heard that Tuesday was the day... so off we went to Easton last night, to the old Blue Tone (on Walnut

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-18731248579326810032011-06-20T10:03:00.000-04:002011-06-20T10:03:40.694-04:00

Monday morning, and we'll be getting ready to take off from our hotel soon, but for now I'm just killing a little time, in the lobby with a cup of coffee... We're up here for the wedding of Pam's daughter Sarah; Pam is a good friend of Anne's and we spent a lot of time with Pam and Sarah a few summers ago before Sarah moved up here. She and her husband both went to Cornell, and I think a lot of

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-19019637453816937402011-06-16T12:42:00.001-04:002011-06-16T12:42:58.560-04:00

Wow, fast week, some more from the sporadic diary:   Rode Monday night at Sals. The last few times I was out the bike felt a little funny, but Monday I adjusted my rebound damping and -- voilà! -- everything seems fine again, awesome in fact. A the top of the entrance climb (I ride from home and come in at Reeb) I came face-to-face with a young deer, most likely a doe, running along the red trail

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-30604084529044151832011-06-14T12:51:00.001-04:002011-06-14T12:51:12.619-04:00

A quick recap, but just of last weekend: Friday night was the June Heels on Wheels ride and pub crawl -- much fun was had in Bethlehem! Saturday we got up bright and early (uggh) and drove down to Baltimore for Liz's wedding, Liz being Anne's niece: that night we went to the rehearsal dinner (party) in Baltimore's Little Italy, and Sunday was the wedding itself, and a short reception, on board a

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-72637945423606359962011-05-26T12:04:00.001-04:002011-05-26T12:04:24.128-04:00

Took my phone apart the other night (OK, took the battery out and left it open), then I cleaned the screen yesterday, and when I put it back together it worked, no problem. No trip to Verizon last night, and one less thing to deal with, though I will be keeping my eye on the old boy...   No lawn mowing last night either: Anne and I did a nice 26 mile ride north of town instead, going out 

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-31879819061560350002011-05-25T11:49:00.001-04:002011-05-25T11:49:28.509-04:00

Well, it looks like I will be getting a new phone tonight.   My droid seemed fine yesterday at work, though admittedly it doesn't get much use until my commute home, when it does double duty as my MP3 player, and that was when the odd behavior started: songs would jump around unexpectedly, or my preferences (shuffle, repeat etc) would suddenly change. The problem went away when I shut off the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-41059982128615143352011-05-24T12:40:00.001-04:002011-05-24T12:40:59.191-04:00

Smackdown of the Odious #1: Randall Munroe takes on Ben Stein.   Smackdown of the Odious #2: Savage Love vs The Guy Who Can't Get Laid. (The comments are good too.)   Smackdown of the Odious #3: And it's Doghouse Riley with the winning run!   So last night Anne asked me what wisdom I would impart to someone just starting out in adult life. She had a list of things that she thought were important

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-47623317378321327512011-05-22T10:24:00.001-04:002011-05-22T10:29:34.214-04:00

Well, here I am again, in the Haymarket Café in Northampton MA, on a Sunday morning. I remember the my first time here, up visiting with Anne, an early "relationship challenge" -- I'd ordered this laptop but it hadn't arrived yet, so it must have been the Fall of 2008 (I hadn't yet committed to move in because I required a computer at my place, wherever that place might be), and I was using her

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-10098950393404053722011-05-12T12:25:00.000-04:002011-05-13T16:36:25.870-04:00

Yet another fly-by. I've been super busy again -- or super busy still, I can't even remember anymore... Some highlights:   A trip to Wyoming for work, that was the end of last week. Tuesday I'm asked to go, and Wednesday I'm on the plane to Salt lake City. Work Thursday, and I'm home by Friday evening, in time for the "Heels On Wheels" ride and pub crawl. Needless to say, Saturday morning was

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-91907061388417456442011-04-26T14:40:00.001-04:002011-04-26T14:40:05.832-04:00

RIP Poly Styrene, you totally rocked. I think I know what I'll be downloading tonight, my original -- vinyl, when that's all there was? or maybe it was a cassette? -- whatever it was, it's long since worn out and disappeared. Anyway, towpath ride last night with Anne, followed by burgers & beer with Anne. Tonight is the VMB meeting.

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-53735463936480913852011-04-25T12:42:00.001-04:002011-04-25T12:42:40.486-04:00

"Men have an extraordinary, and perhaps fortunate, ability to tune out of their consciousness the most awesome future possibilities. The Roman farmer, ploughing the slopes of Vesuvius, gave no thought to the mountain smoking overhead. Half the twentieth century lived with the  Hydrogen Bomb -- half the twenty-first with the Golgotha virus." -- Arthur C. Clarke, The Fountains of Paradise   So

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-6094288142007980812011-04-21T12:05:00.001-04:002011-04-21T12:05:42.761-04:00

Morning weigh-in: 184#, 13% BF (remember these?)   Sun came after work yesterday, so I blew off yoga and went for a short ride at Jacobsburg instead, with Anne and Donna. It was a bit wet/muddy in places, and the horse poop issue continues unabated, but we had fun. We passed Brew Works on the way home and saw cars with bikes on them, the post-ride libations of some fellow bike club members, but

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-38737102657036404112011-04-20T12:27:00.001-04:002011-04-20T12:27:26.963-04:00

I met Anne and company for dinner last night, good times including the ubiquitous "Bittersweet Symphony" -- we hear it at least once every time we go to the Brew Works, and we're there quite a bit...   Partway through the evening Anne got a call: some guys were up from DC to buy her and Ben's Pedi-Cabs, so we went over to the parking garage where she keeps the bikes, and we did the deal. She'd

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-81771743128039517852011-04-19T19:02:00.000-04:002011-04-19T19:02:49.571-04:00

Whelp, I guess I didn't have as much downtime as I thought I would... super-busy at work the past few weeks, and lotsa running around afterward left me no time for blogging -- this was probably my longest dry spell ever. What's been going on? Well I went to Missouri for work about a month ago, then I went to Washington, DC for my birthday weekend; I've been trying to get in some riding in the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-666189410664247022011-03-29T13:10:00.001-04:002011-03-29T13:14:30.355-04:00

I'm back, again. Where have I been? Well last weekend we went down to Rehoboth Beach to hang out at Dogfish Head's brewpub -- insanely good beer, acceptable pub fare, verdict: worth the trip -- but the real answer is "nowhere in particular, right here," though I have been busy. The world is getting ready for spring, despite the recent crazy weather here (rain, snow). I did some trail

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-81041224259333706382011-03-16T12:53:00.000-04:002011-03-16T12:58:19.567-04:00

An evening of running around last night, starting directly after work: over to Whitehall to pick up some altered clothes, Tulum for a take-out burrito, up to Lehigh for the VMB meeting -- I am now the new club secretary -- and ending at Two Brew Tuesday with Anne and (some of) the ladies. A chunk of the VMB crew came in for dinner too, so we all grabbed one of the big round tables. We got home

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-55827878536754404252011-03-14T12:21:00.001-04:002011-03-14T12:21:54.819-04:00

Chuckle! Snort... Happy Pi Day! Stupid engineering jokes, can't get enough of them...   Yesterday was a bit of a low energy day for me, sitting in front of the computer watching the world end (and in case you want to do something for the people in Japan, here's a good roundup of charities). I finally got my act together later in the afternoon -- we got up at 11:00, so there really wasn't that

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-71942105335328410252011-03-13T13:52:00.001-04:002011-03-13T13:55:33.129-04:00

...and I have a new work wardrobe! At least part of one: I bought a bunch of new shirts and and slacks at the local Men's Wearhouse. Shirts came home with me, and the pants will be ready for a Tuesday pick-up. I also need to pick up a few new pairs of corduroys, which are my go-to choice for casual work trousers. I tried hitting the Army-Navy Store, but they had nothing like that; my next foray

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-53593870514083370512011-03-10T12:39:00.001-05:002011-03-10T12:39:05.449-05:00

Like way back when, my pre-yoga days... I took a yoga class last night, and I knew I would be out of shape, but I was surprised at how stiff I had become: really stiff, can't-touch-your-toes stiff -- one more wake-up call. The workout felt good though; I think it's what I need right now. (One thing I didn't need was the mirror on the wall, showing me how big my gut had become -- back in the fall

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-18925923661944884282011-03-08T12:36:00.001-05:002011-03-08T12:36:13.974-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 16.5% BF   I suspect that I'm fully hydrated for a change, since that body fat number looks about right -- that is, it's not what I want, but at least the BF is accurate.   In case anyone was wondering: Kraftwerk Thanksgiving. I'm gonna miss Achewood, if I don't already...   Map Fun: One thing I've wanted to do with my Garmin is put a map of the Sals trail system on it,

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-41681979099684914212011-03-07T12:41:00.001-05:002011-03-07T12:41:29.242-05:00

There will be no morning weigh-in today: too many pierogis were consumed yesterday for any mens sana in corpus sano step-on-scale soul searching this AM...   We had a good time though. Anne and a few ladies from her knitting crowd decided they needed something to get through the last of the winter, and that something was -- pierogis! A five course meal, with pierogis in every recipe: Deb brought

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-52584677237889854342011-02-23T12:24:00.000-05:002011-02-23T12:28:43.734-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 15% BF   Weights are still high, but since I dropped a half pound after Two Brew And Tacos Tuesday, I thought I'd take the win and record it here.   Busy night last night, lots of running around: straight to the gym from work (where I added legs for the first time in a while), then walked over to Eskandalo for a haircut (calling my niece for a birthday greeting on the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-81125014078941745492011-02-22T12:53:00.001-05:002011-02-22T12:53:14.777-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 185#, 15% BF   Happy Birthday to my God-daughter, my beautiful niece Olivia!   Much done, nothing said for a week... The weekend before last was probably our last hurrah on the skis, with trips to Jim Thorpe (icy but OK conditions) and the Poconos (nice snow); on Sunday and Tuesday we ran outside. Thursday I did an indoor trainer class at Cutter's Bike Shop, then Friday I got

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-38095557345392654902011-02-10T12:19:00.001-05:002011-02-10T12:19:04.335-05:00

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 184.5#, 15% BF Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 185.5#, 14% BF Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 183.5#, 14% BF   OK, so I didn't hit the trainer Monday night... what I did do, besides laundry and similar activities (I actually got a lot done, things I'd blown off over the weekend) was upload a bunch of photos from the Superbowl of Chili. Check them out, I took pictures of a

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-39880460593634307972011-02-07T13:56:00.000-05:002011-02-07T14:01:25.329-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 14% BF   Great time at the Superbowl of Chili yesterday (more here), with Eric, Doug and Lori, and Anne, and Brian there in spirit; unfortunately the weather's been so bad lately we canceled any pre-chili workout -- yesterday was probably nice enough for a short road ride, but the decision had been made during Saturday's freezing rain storm -- and the guilt showed on the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-77890753289930400962011-02-05T14:48:00.002-05:002011-02-05T14:49:33.475-05:00

Well, that's two winter storms in a row: we get a bit of snow but mostly what falls is rain, or even freezing rain. We got slammed Tuesday night and into Wednesday with ice, and we woke up to rain and near-freezing temperatures -- and in the words of long-time reader Greg (in the context of MTB racing), "I'd rather it be 25 and snowing than 35 and raining." Amen to that! Tomorrow is the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-54810732493317710772011-01-30T12:24:00.000-05:002011-01-30T12:24:36.355-05:00

Good weekend, and now I'm doing some post-breakfast blogging from the basement of the Haymarket Cafe.  Anne's browsing at the local bookstore, and Doug and Lori just left, maybe to do some window shopping in town but essentially heading home.  We were all so beat from the previous two days of skiing that even snowshoeing sounded too strenuous and we're done. Irony #1: We were going to take my

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-11397980338959699222011-01-26T12:19:00.000-05:002011-01-26T12:22:30.355-05:00

Hit the gym last night, then went home and scanned a bunch more photos, so stay tuned for another 30 or so to be posted to Flickr tonight. (By the way, I've been getting a real kick out of using my laptop like a toy lately, playing tunes and scanning photos and checking Facebook every few minutes, it seemed like a different world from how I usually play with the machine.) Last night was also Two

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-5845609296818781832011-01-24T15:00:00.001-05:002011-01-24T15:00:03.983-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 12% BF (OK, whatever)   A quiet weekend without Anne: I stayed in Friday night: I was planning to see Trouble City All Stars at the Funhouse, but several hours of scanning photos and an hour of tempo on the trainer, along with the prospect of walking around in the bitter cold just to stand in a smoky room, totally put me out of the mood. Decision: early bedtime.  

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-61613031293306195192011-01-21T14:00:00.001-05:002011-01-21T14:00:26.764-05:00

I'm not going anywhere near a scale for a few days, but wow that was one tasty meal list night!  We (me, Anne, Deb, Donna, and Emily) did the Black Forest Deli's 5-course Russian dinner, something they do every Thursday night.  Things started with a bunch of appetizers -- mostly things like chicken salad, beet salad, little servings of potatoes, fried liver, smoked trout, and the like -- then

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-53063842978223836872011-01-20T12:20:00.000-05:002011-01-20T12:21:01.508-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 182.5#, 12.5% BF   Ate at home last night, then hit the gym for an upper body workout, then went home and ate dinner again, before meeting Anne at BW. And that's how you do it! Tonight we're hitting the Black Forest Deli for a traditional Russian multi-course dinner. It'll be good, but I don't think those numbers will improve. Tomorrow night, and possibly Saturday morning, will

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-77397586429812140202011-01-19T12:04:00.000-05:002011-01-19T12:05:11.565-05:00

I finally found my winter computer project, and it's taken over my life: I have started the process of scanning all my old photos and putting them on Flickr.  So far I have my old Prague trip photos uploaded, and I just finished photos through June 1992, a total of over a hundred photos uploaded.  That, on top of the 115 photos I uploaded from my phone, means that there has been a lot of activity

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-73089385500447283502011-01-11T13:17:00.001-05:002011-01-11T13:17:22.700-05:00

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 182#, 14.5% BF Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 181#, 12% BF   I was less than motivated to hit the trail last night, so I busted out the trainer and did a 45 minute tempo workout in the basement -- cranking the pedals and cranking the tunes, I was still bored out of my mind. But: thirty solid minutes at my aerobic threshold, and that part felt pretty good. Tonight it'll be

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-71074975634612387822011-01-09T10:52:00.001-05:002011-01-09T10:52:22.868-05:00

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 180.0#, 13.5% BFMorning weigh-in (Sunday): 178#, 14.5% BF   One more towpath half-ride, followed by one beer at Brew Works, equals one half pound of weight loss... I hit the towpath again Wednesday night, this time remembering to wear booties over my shoes -- I swear this'll be the year I get winter shoes -- and taking a hit of Proventil before heading out. I'm not

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-13331016859006766052011-01-05T15:50:00.001-05:002011-01-05T15:50:55.019-05:00

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 176.5#, 13% BF Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 180.5#, 13.5% BF   Skip a lunch, go for a ride, and I was almost halfway to my goal! Too bad it was mostly suppression weight, but it is good to see the numbers drop even if they do bounce back. Damn you, Two-Brew Tuesday!   I got in a short towpath ride on the Monday night: maybe 13.5 miles, out and back to the Bethlehem

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-8798580702850288372011-01-03T11:59:00.001-05:002011-01-03T11:59:26.067-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 14% BF   Back at work, and things are going smoothly. I saw the sun rise on the way in this morning (with a beautiful solar tower shooting up from behind the trees), for the first time in... it felt like quite a while, but I'm guessing it's only been two weeks. It really wasn't quite the difficult morning I expected it to be, though I did forget my money and my wallet

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-48319299022044577522011-01-02T18:18:00.000-05:002011-01-02T18:18:30.119-05:00

These aren't necessarily resolutions, but... Lose Weight: I am currently 180 pounds, and I want to be 170 pounds by April. I think that's pretty doable, so it's on the list. My real goal is low 160's by June, but first things first. Train and Race: I've already put together a training regimen, or at least the bare bones of one  (I have plenty of time to flesh things out), but I do want to get

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-75705374672839193292010-12-29T12:30:00.000-05:002010-12-29T12:30:54.815-05:00

My little vacation is starting to wind down, and I'm starting to see myself back at work soon, which might not be the greatest thing but I'm starting to be ready. Some Christmas Loot: I got a new compass, some GPS bike mounts and an ANT wireless receiver that attaches to an ipod (from my uncle), a sweater and a few knick-knacks from my mom, new panniers from Anne, and the rest of my presents

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-49691692708409163842010-12-21T13:44:00.001-05:002010-12-21T13:46:07.916-05:00

Well, here I am, listening to "Safe as Milk" in memory of Captain Beefheart, waiting for my leftover pizza to warm up. We (me, Anne & Emmi) hit Kula Yoga in Nazareth last night, to take a class taught by our friend Scott. Really cool, and I think we all found it fairly strenuous -- I'm not sure what Emmi's situation is, but Anne and I are somewhat experienced yoga practitioners who have, er, not

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-8572906728570385112010-12-16T12:21:00.001-05:002010-12-16T12:21:18.079-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 14.5% BF   Speaking of Neutral Milk Hotel, I once did see a bunch of two-headed boys in jars, in some low-rent museum in Russia. (I sang along with "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" on the way into work this morning.) I'm feeling much better, thank youvery much; I had a good night's sleep last night, and I think the meds, especially the antibiotics, are doing their job.

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-65113579587297111802010-12-15T12:05:00.001-05:002010-12-15T12:05:37.779-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 15.5% BF   Well, it's an ill wind that doesn't at least knock a few pounds off the scale...   I am officially sick, took off yesterday and went to the doctor. She gave me antibiotics, an asthma inhaler (sigh, but I do need it) and a couple of homeopathic remedies and food supplements -- ie some pills that make me stink of garlic -- as well as some advice for relieving the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-69444823221921596142010-12-13T12:56:00.000-05:002010-12-13T12:58:55.169-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 14.5% BF   I have a pretty decent head cold, with sinus and chest issues, probably the first one for this year. (Anne has been fighting a similar cold, but it seems to have lodged in her ears, which is its own brand of not-fun.) Daytime is reasonably OK -- except I have no wind, and no physical energy -- and every day I think I've turned the corner, but every night it's

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-53393541662285298072010-12-10T17:15:00.001-05:002010-12-10T17:15:36.234-05:00

Had the day off, blowing through some vacation time, use-it-or-lose-it mode before the end of the year. Unfortunately I spent the day sick: am right on the cusp of coming down with a cold, that was what all that asthma etc really was, the start of whatever it was that came to a head yesterday. Tons of Emergen-C with vitamin D, and Mucinex-D, and I should be ok in a couple of days but in the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-81361485063415353212010-12-06T13:05:00.001-05:002010-12-06T13:05:40.358-05:00

Morning weigh-in: 182.5#, 14% BF   So it's been another week between posts; it seems my logorrhea well has run dry...   Things here are back to normal: Thanksgiving is over, Ben and Emmi (and their friends) are back at school, and we didn't really have all that much planned for this past weekend. (Anne had a few things on her plate but I got to waste the time as stupidly as I could figure how -- 

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-86658100799268987632010-11-25T19:00:00.003-05:002010-11-25T19:20:59.324-05:00

Yes it's that time of year again: "It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-75207001404637807782010-11-14T09:34:00.000-05:002010-11-14T09:34:32.688-05:00

Well, here I am at Kripalu, and I may be the only person in history to have gained weight here... One thing I was worried about is whether there would be food here for me, but it turns out that the food is awesome, and there's plenty that I can eat. All very healthy stuff too, it reminded me of eating at home -- except, for some reason, I've never had steamed veggies at breakfast before, not even

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-4962656787134672412010-11-10T12:35:00.001-05:002010-11-10T12:35:28.374-05:00

I was just wondering what other people think is the best album released this year.   I'd pretty much agree with anyone who gives top honors to Arcade Fire's The Suburbs, as I think it's the best that I've I heard so far (based strictly on the merits), but my vote goes to Titus Andronicus's The Monitor, for its more personal resonances -- the Civil War, New Jersey, moving to Boston and moving back

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-84740620029636122632010-11-07T16:06:00.002-05:002010-11-07T16:09:36.952-05:00

The crows didn't bring it with them I'm sure, but it all did come back at the same time: my skin is raw and itchy again, and to top it off my ankle started to hurt the other day... I suspect that both are related to flying around (sitting in cramped quarters for hours), and clambering around inside boilers (and being exposed to whatever is in there, like itchy insulation etc), which is what the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-17440543596010603922010-11-02T09:51:00.002-04:002010-11-02T11:34:29.549-04:00

Morning weigh-in: 181.5#, 13.5% BF Writing this in Lehigh Valley International Airport... Went out riding the towpath last night with Anne. A mellow ride, and we were going to keep it relatively short because the weather was so cold -- 40 degrees, maybe a bit less, in a few months we'll be out in shorts if it gets up to 40 but we were freezing at first -- but as we got into the groove and

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-9054373994354109072010-10-29T12:05:00.001-04:002010-10-29T12:05:51.863-04:00

Good time at the gym last night, I did a full body workout including legs. I didn't feel particularly strong or energetic, but still I fairly flew through the workout. The lower reps & higher weights are starting to pay off, and my strength seems to be coming back, though my fitness (despite the running) is still in the middle of its annual Fall meltdown. (Time to set up the trainer in the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-44233752547044546392010-10-28T12:49:00.001-04:002010-10-28T12:49:05.603-04:00

Today marks -- for me -- the official return of the crows to Bethlehem. They flock by the millions along the Lehigh, from about now through maybe January. I've been expecting them, and I'd heard from Deb and Anne that they were already back, and I even saw a few crows flying around yesterday, but it was on my drive in this morning that I saw (and heard) them in full force for the first time this

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-38415616005712603492010-10-26T12:49:00.001-04:002010-10-26T12:49:08.290-04:00

Morning weigh-in: 181.5#, 13.5% BF   Well, I was going to go to yoga last night, but the weather looked like it would hold out and I decided to do a towpath ride, and so that rain the blew in around 6:00 last  night was basically my fault. No ride, oh well, instead I did a little more reading (Gibson's new Zero History -- verdict so far: meh), downloaded a bunch of old J. Geils Band, and uploaded

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-9774336288942286412010-10-25T13:12:00.001-04:002010-10-25T13:12:43.865-04:00

It was another good, but another hectic, weekend...   I had off on Friday, so Anne and I hit the Allentown Farmer's Market (which is sort of like a PA Dutch version of the original Englishtown auction building, the one that burned down years ago, and the place is always good for people watching), then we used the rest of the day to brew beer -- that is to say, she brewed beer and I occasionally

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-8544892990529158102010-10-21T12:48:00.001-04:002010-10-21T12:48:50.749-04:00

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 14.5% BF   A month or so ago I'd have been shocked by those numbers, but now (even though I really don't have anything else to say) I'm happy enough that I had to get them on record, before the coming weekend weight gain...   What's up? Blessed are the people whose annals are tiresome... Earlier in the week I decided to get a kilt (a friend was helping to sell them at

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-62946547414438131602010-10-18T13:08:00.005-04:002010-10-18T22:04:36.645-04:00

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 14.5% BF OK, a little catch-up... We went up to Northampton the weekend before last to visit Ben. We watched him run the Hartford Marathon on Saturday morning, and hung out Friday and (especially) Saturday nights with him and his friends, and Sunday morning -- after a nice run, our only real exercise for the weekend -- was coffee shop and bookstore time, split between

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-62015376992496915122010-10-07T12:28:00.001-04:002010-10-07T12:28:19.718-04:00

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 179.5#, 13.5% BF Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 180.5#, 13.5% BF   Good yoga class yesterday, and a bit tougher than I've become used to -- I did a "mixed level" class at The Yoga Loft, which had an emphasis, last night at least, on standing poses and preparation for headstands, and I was sweating and breathing hard before it was over. I think that for now, and despite

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-44061274106108603602010-10-05T12:22:00.001-04:002010-10-05T12:22:55.128-04:00

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 15% BF   Rough night at yoga last night: I was tired and a little headachey, but I went anyway, and the headache just got worse and worse. Meanwhile, I started getting leg cramps in a lot of the positions... Shavasana couldn't come soon enough, and I think I might have fallen asleep -- complete with snoring -- before the end.   The whole ride home I was debating whether

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-51128983410227738882010-09-28T12:26:00.001-04:002010-09-28T12:26:47.776-04:00

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 181#, 14.5% BF Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 180#, 14.5% BF   Oh well, back at work, second day back since the vacation. It was an awesome time though: a little more than a week away, five rides and a hike, plus the usual sightseeing, nightlife etc. I took a boatload of photos, and all the keepers (133 pictures by my count) are now uploaded, so go check them out!   (I

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-61852232994379418892010-09-22T17:20:00.000-04:002010-09-22T17:20:47.081-04:00

We rode (most of the way) up to Hurrah Pass on Monday, then yesterday Anne and I rode up from town and did the Slickrock Trail, and in the afternoon hiked out to Delicate Arch in the national park. Today was supposed to be an on-and-off rainy day, so while the rest of the crew decided to take their chances, we took the day off. Reading, going into town for breakfast and some shopping/sightseeing,

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-48918613302403075822010-09-19T21:41:00.000-04:002010-09-19T21:41:43.062-04:00

Whew! Tough day, between the sun, and heat, and sand, and climbing, and the altitude (only 4600 feet, but still something us sea-level types could really feel). We rode the Sovereign Trail, a new section to the west of the main part of the trail system. I'm not sure if recent (hot and dry) conditions made things sandy, or if this area is normally like that but it was definitely sandy. Tough

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-79674049220673773822010-09-19T09:23:00.000-04:002010-09-19T09:23:57.974-04:00

Well, here we are in beautiful Moab, Utah, sitting around the upstairs porch and drinking coffee, waiting for the day to start. The trip here was fairly uneventful, even if it made for a long day: up at 3:00 AM, we flew out of Newark and arrived in Salt Lake City around 10:00 local time, and followed that with a nice looooong drive -- maybe 4 hours but it felt like forever. Settled in at the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-19706875920557806302010-09-14T13:07:00.000-04:002010-09-14T13:08:01.353-04:00

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 14% BF (not so good...)   Here's something I can't say every day: I did a nice run this morning with Anne. Not far, maybe 2.5 miles but it felt really good, especially since the last time I did a real run (ie not counting that Hash thing) was back in April.   One friend, on the local bike club forum, has a signature file that reads "every day you don't ride is another day

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-3687532239601199242010-09-10T16:48:00.001-04:002010-09-10T16:49:24.641-04:00

I've been using GRASS for about two years now, mostly playing around with maps of Sals.  I have the trail network mapped out pretty well at this point, and recently figured out how to use GPX files of trail networks in my Garmin, having them them show up on the map like any other road, so naturally I wanted to do that with my Sals map on GRASS... In the past I have been able to get the GRASS

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-83905072024465541882010-09-08T12:11:00.001-04:002010-09-08T12:11:38.438-04:00

Well, Labor Day is behind us, though due to the vagaries of our "every other Friday off" system this is actually a three-day week for me, it's not quite the end of vacation season... The weekend was spent with the usual biking hijinks (Big Pocono on Friday, Jacobsburg on Saturday, and a circumnavigation of South Mountain on the road bikes on Sunday), plus a few picnics and other end-of-summer

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-19269127941334785802010-08-31T12:19:00.001-04:002010-08-31T12:19:55.415-04:00

The local kids, not me... seems weird, they're all going back a lot earlier these days, not just locally and not just college kids. "Better them than me," I say, as I sit in my office...   It was a great weekend for biking: Thursday night at Jacobsburg, Friday on the American Standard in Jim Thorpe, Saturday at Jordan, and Sunday, which was supposed to be a long-ish road ride, but we got to

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-47882636054799545882010-08-25T12:55:00.031-04:002010-08-25T20:41:31.018-04:00

Woo, what a ride! Jon is an old friend, the younger brother of my riding buddy Joe. He's been a professional racer for years, just an awesome rider, and now that he's a mountain bike coach I decided to get some lessons. (I want to get out of the "comfort zone" I built for myself over the last few years, and was especially looking for help with cornering, which has always been a problem -- maybe

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-1687075145030797042010-08-24T17:04:00.001-04:002010-08-24T17:04:43.897-04:00

Pretty good weekend, though a little on the low-energy side...   I took off Friday, and we went to Barnegat Light to visit my brother at the beach house he rented -- photos on Flickr -- then Saturday was a sort of "slacker day" for me -- no doubt a necessity after all the sunburn and playing in the ocean -- while Anne tackled some heavy-duty gardening. (We were supposed do the Hash Run, but

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-72191854237512946672010-08-19T12:15:00.001-04:002010-08-19T12:15:32.062-04:00

Morning weigh-in: 174.5#, 13% BF   Got home last night and hopped on the singlespeed -- the Turner had a surprise flat -- and rode like a madman down the towpath. Anne was about an hour ahead of me, riding with Deb and Donna and Amy, and when I got to the boat launch I got a message that they were just a little ahead, and heading to Porter's for dinner... I caught up with them at Porter's, where

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-15417930238351863142010-08-18T13:05:00.001-04:002010-08-18T13:05:52.038-04:00

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 13% BF   Rode last night over at Sals, a solid ride broken up by the VMB meeting at the lower lot, and followed by a visit to Brew Works to meet the post-knitting ladies. Good news on the heart rate front too: my max HR is back in the mid 170's, a sign that I am no longer fatigued. Now, if only I were not slow...   A Sad Synchronicity: I remember reading "Pafko at the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-32304253847973815082010-08-17T12:29:00.001-04:002010-08-17T12:29:43.963-04:00

Morning weigh-in: 176#, 15% BF   Some of the Bands I Saw: Start Making Sense (3 times) Zen For Primates Trouble City All Stars (2 times) Brother JT3 Los Straitjackets (2 times) Insidious Rays The Red Elvises Philly Funk Authority Eric Steckel The Great White Caps (These include visits to some peripheral venues...)   Food I Ate, Beer I Drank: Surprisingly little, unless you count visits to the

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5387224.post-47007648347644283912010-08-07T10:56:00.000-04:002010-08-07T10:56:07.079-04:00

Forgot to note yesterday the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, which got me drifting along Pynchonesque paths... Hiroshima, spared most war damage, saved for a more terrible fate, mba-kayere, "I am passed over," Enzian's mantra as he wonders if he'd been spared in the Herero genocide, or if he's similarly being held in reserve. Is This The SS Linux? Not really, but I have been playing

Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515157728766096992noreply@blogger.com0