Regression Weekend Report

Well, as I said earlier, it was a good weekend in terms of night life, though somewhat in the opposite direction to where I want the rest of my life to be going. (I think I am in "get as much Which Brew as you can before it's gone" mode.) Nothing spectacular, just the usual "Which Brew followed by Porters" scene, but it was way fun.

 

Treacherous ice-walk down to Which Brew Friday, where I saw my friend Gary, back from a 6 week vacation on Mexico's Baja Peninsula. I later ended up in a cool conversation with yet another cutie over at Porters (oh man if I were 20 years younger) which caused me to stay up a little later than I expected...

 

I overslept the next morning and missed Saturday morning yoga, but I made it to the gym, then went snowshoeing along the Lehigh in the afternoon. That was beautiful; I took the singletrack on the water's edge from Riverside Park to about where Bad Andy's house is, maybe 4 miles total out and back, and every step was a wonderland. I took pictures (stay tuned), but as always they don't do it justice.

 

Saturday night was "Goth Night with Wrong" at Which Brew, and I was there on foot again. I spend far too much time breathing fresh air and being cheerful to make a very convincing goth, so I just went as myself. Sat between Jason and Dave, yakked with Jason about art & literature, then we all absconded one by one to Porters and ended up sitting together again; I yakked with Dave about girls for the rest of the night. (Disquieting news about a mutual friend who was in a car crash: she wasn't hurt but her car was totaled. A lot of the "bar scene" girls I know are younger, and they are all making a life for themselves on their own terms -- very cool, and more than I can say for myself at that age -- but many of them seem just one or two steps ahead of disaster. Living on the edge, it doesn't take much -- a hospital stay, the loss of a car -- to push you over.)

 

Got up Sunday and did a road ride around town on the mountain bike, just fooling around. Alleyways, stairs, a few pieces of the towpath, I was out for about an hour or so. After that came a trailwork day over at Sals, cutting out a lot of downed trees from the ice storm, plus some miscellaneous brush cutting. Huge crew, maybe fifteen people in all, so we split into 3 or 4 crews to deal with the rather widely-dispersed trouble spots. Lunch/dinner was at JP McGrady's in Bethlehem. Again, huge crowd. Went home, and treated myself to an early bedtime.

 

Tonight I will probably go skiing.

 

 

Well Whadda Ya Know, Another Milestone

Bandages
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Morning weigh-in: 167.5#, 11% BF (not bad, considering)

This is my second most popular photo on flickr, according to number of views. It's been sitting at 399 views for about a week, but just got two more hits and is now over 400. (My most popular photo is at 542, and #3 is down around 200 views.)

Good weekend. More on that some other time, plus more photos -- sorry, winter walk & trail maintenance shots. You know, the photos I like, as opposed to the people's choices: my broken flesh & Which Brew hotties...

By the way, I got up early and ran this morning; it felt really good -- I think I might do that more often. Anyway, that's the reason for the early morning post, and now I'm off to work.

A Pitiless Beauty

Morning weigh-in: 167#, 7.5% BF

 

"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction." -- Rachel Carson

 

Say what you will, I love snow. La belle dame sans merci, white goddess... full moon (hunger moon, popping trees moon) last night, lunar eclipse the night before. Spring is coming; today is its fuel.

 

Which Brew last night, and it was a full house; looks like everyone got that same email.  At one point I looked over, and sitting next to me were Margarita, Perry & a friend of his, and Michele -- all teachers, and all anticipating a three day weekend. (Looks like their plan came together.) I hit Porters on the way home, but skipped out pretty quick, stayed just long enough to start my next mug. Nice conversation with off-duty waitress Courtney, who used to live in Boulder, and had some interesting if not-very-positive observations about Colorado and its residents.

 

Living Large: I made it in to work, but it's pretty quiet here today. Big breakfast (I was starving), then there was a meeting that got canceled but they couldn't cancel the lunch in time, so everyone in the department who made it in today got a free sandwich. It's also our Health Awareness Program's weekly "Free Fruit Friday," so I just hit the cafeteria for my free fruit -- today it was dried dates, which remind me of dried cicadas but I ate them anyway.

 

One Last One From Rachel Carson: "We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less traveled by— offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth."

 

 

Officialities

Oops, no morning weigh-in! It probably would not have been good though, since I had a big, big dinner.

 

Lonely Little Onion In A Petunia Patch: Got in a spinning class right after work yesterday, down at Everybody's. I haven't taken a spin class in maybe two years but it was like I'd never missed a beat: the instructor was Kim H, and while the music was contemporary the workout was very familiar, very "Kim." One thing is different though, I don't think spinning might be much of a "guy thing" anymore, as I was the only dude in the class.

 

One other difference was how much stronger I felt, and how much easier the class was than it used to be. Time usually used to drag in there, and my ass would be dragging too by the end, but last night things really seemed to breeze right along. (Running on the treadmill the other day, I noticed a similar thing: I ran just over a mile, and cruised it at a speed of 8.5 mph, two mph higher than my usual "cruising speed," and one mph faster than what's usually a hard pace. It may just be a mini-peak, but I think my cardio fitness may be coming along a little better than I realized.)

 

Point Of Parliamentary Procedure: After that was the Chain Gang meeting, at D&L's house -- that's where I ate too much. Fatoush and other middle eastern salads, chicken kabobs in pitas, gummi worms for dessert, and of course beer... The meeting itself was a bit spirited; I think most people went there expecting -- and planning to participate in -- a confrontation. (Two meetings ago we proposed a membership requirement, that members had to participate in one ride or event, one meeting, and one trailwork session every year to remain a member. That seemed to have struck a nerve with a lot of members, and at the January meeting it passed -- unanimously, with one abstention -- over the strong objection of one member. That member recently stated his intention to get the new rule overturned at last night's meeting.) Basically the new rule still stands, no one's opinion really changed on either side, but there definitely was a lot of back and forth, a lot of clearing of the air, maybe a few bruised egos... We're all friends, and hopefully we all still are, but that doesn't mean we'll always agree -- and since this is our passion, our disagreements will also tend to be passionate.

 

It's Official:  Got home, checked my mail, and found a message from Which Brew owner Kelly Jo. There have been rumors, but this made it official: their landlord did not renew the lease, so Which Brew will have to relocate -- and they do not yet have any prospective new locations. I expect at least a temporary closure, probably for the summer if not forever. That totally sucks.

Sudden Drought

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 7.5% BF (wha?)

 

Not much to say: tasty "Bavarian pork chops" for dinner last night, then the gym, then groceries; tonight is a spinning class followed by the Chain Gang meeting at D&L's. Really just stopping in here to record the weights, but I'll probably have more to say tonight or tomorrow.

The Wall Of Lies Between You And Horror

Morning weigh-in: 168#, 10% BF

 

"Weissman's cruelty was no less resourceful than Pökler's own engineering skill, the gift of Daedalus that allowed him to put as much labyrinth as required between himself and the inconveniences of caring. They had sold him convenience, so much of it, all on credit, and now They were collecting." -- Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow

 

"I ate all the rest, and now I gotta eat you." -- Monster Magnet, "Space Lord"

 

Gravity's Rainbow was supposed to be immoral, amoral, sprawling and pointless or whatever, but that's not true: it has a point and a moral, and that passage is the exact moral center of the book. I thought about that quote yesterday, both quotes actually, while watching that Humane Society video, and also when I saw this story about WikiLeaks being shut down.

 

Anyway, beans and salad for dinner last night after yoga, must have been some heavy beans though. Tonight is the gym, and I've got a crock pot full of pork chops & sauerkraut cooking away for afterward. By the way, I've got a call in to the travel agent, tour promoter or whatever, the Tuscany trip dates are in November, I've got the time available and I have decided to go.

Flickr Find: A Long And Winding Road

Totarder 3
Originally uploaded by tanera.

I don't know where this is -- Scotland? -- but I would love to throw myself down that sucker on the road bike. Beautiful photo, awesome scenery.

Groundhog Day!

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 10.5% BF (been there, done that)

 

Does She Still Hang On The Western Wall? I may be going to Italy this Fall, a group trip to Florence/Tuscany: Porter's Pub usually does a trip or two every year to Europe, and they were talking it up the last few days. (So far it's just word of mouth, and the trip is almost booked up.) I've never been on any of their trips but this one looks too good to pass up. I better get my act together, I'll need to update my passport etc, make the commitment for real before the trip fills up, maybe learn a little Italian or something. Tuscany is supposed to be awesome, and Rome is only three hours away by train but the big selling point for me will be Florence and the Uffizzi, where among other things I hope to be able to see a certain painting... Vhiesshu, Venezuela, Vesuvius, Venus on the Half Shell... I'll also be looking into some bicycling day tours.

 

Chew On This: A friend sent me this video and petition about the recent beef recall. You should go there and sign the petition, but if you watch the video be ready to be outraged.

 

Tonight is the gym, tomorrow may be yoga. Or vice versa.

Your Weekend Wrap-Up

Oh, You're Still Dreaming of Orgone? Friday night was the traditional ride with Larry. Getting ready in front of his house, I saw a car with the license "ORGANON" parked on the street. That's some fine crazy you got there... The ride itself was pretty cool, a little tougher than last week (snow, ice) but still OK. Friday night was Which Brew, of course. Nick's band played: really good, and the singer was very Tom Waits.

Saturday was back to my selfish day: yoga, gym, errands, plus an oil change where they spilled a bit of oil I guess on the engine, so my car right now smells like it's burning oil. (Thanks guys.) Night time was back to WB, for the anti-Valentine's party. I hear they rocked till the wee hours, but I was home relatively early.

New Boots and Panties: Rode today with Joe G, who was down visiting from his new home in the Poconos. Pretty good ride. I got out a bit beforehand, rode around and hit some local bike stores, and also bought new gloves and booties, which I used on the ride.

Laundry tonight, and Porters for dinner while it dried -- saw Larry & Kelly-Jo, and earned my 2nd mug there tonight. My day is now done, see you tomorrow, when I will probably not go skiing. Stupid weather...

ARNOLD We Have Ice Forming On The Wings

Morning weigh-in: 155#, 10.5% BF

 

Return of the Rorqual Maru: Haven't been reading much lately, but I was thinking again about another of my childhood sci-fi faves, The Godwhale, probably the best book I read as a child. In some ways a very spooky story, it was basically about the death of the seas -- the destruction of all nonhuman life, except for the robot farms that feed the worldwide Hive of genetically modified super/sub-human "nebishes" -- and the gradual return of life, as seen through the eyes of an ancient robot harvesting ship and her allies (the small, savage bands of unmodified humans, and a few rebel nebishes). One more book that made me see things the way I do now.

 

Anyway, yoga last night, a really good vinyasa class with my old svaroopa teacher Debbie (she complimented me on my improvements, but then asked me why she hasn't seen me in her classes, sigh), then home, laundry, and out to the supermarket; dinner was pasta & tuna with wilted greens.

 

Saw another multi-vehicle accident on the way in this morning, same spot: the westbound portion of US22 at Cemetery Curve seems to be the buzz place for crashes this week. One new feature in my car is a thermometer, and I noticed this morning that the temperature was hovering right around freezing, not the best time to be speeding into those partially-flooded S-turns...

 

Tonight is the towpath, then I'll probably eat out. Tomorrow is yoga, the gym and maybe a road ride in the afternoon.

Stringer, Alien

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 8% BF (hmmmm, a little bit o' suppression?)

 

The meeting last night was pretty good, big turnout and a lot of ideas got thrown around, mostly about trail maintenance/advocacy. Apparently Blue Mountain may want to put in some downhill biking infrastructure, and also some XC trails -- essentially build their way to a 4-season business model over the next few years, and the VMB may have some sort of role to play. That could be big, and as long as they don't ruin my quiet Monday nights skiing up there (or my summer rides over the mountain on those quiet mountain roads), I'm cool. Meantime, there was some talk about trail situations at Ralph Stover, coordinating with the rock climbers and the park. That also sounds good, but it's a little out of our jurisdiction, and I worry that we'd be spreading ourselves too thin. Hopefully, the guys down there will be able to organize themselves to handle this.

 

Meanwhile, the venue: Wegman's was an alright place for the meeting, plenty of room even for the large turnout. I grabbed some dinner from the "Asian Wokkery" buffet or whatever, a couple of dumplings and some veggie lo mein. Pretty weird to walk downstairs and be back in a supermarket, though I'd been through that plenty of times before, back in the Howard Dean Meetup days.  If the VMB had meetings there on a regular basis I don't think anybody would object, despite the lack of alcohol.

 

Dyson, I still dream of Vhiesshu: Been thinking about a book I used to have, sci-fi, called The World Is Round. I wonder whatever happened to it -- I probably sold it years ago. I've been seeing connections with Pynchon's V, especially "She Hangs On The Western Wall."

 

Hit the gym last night. Tonight I'll probably go to yoga (if I can make the early start), otherwise I'll do a singlespeed hill-sprint workout around town. Dinner: pork tenderloin?

Guilt And Its Expiation

Morning weigh-in: 168.5#, 9.5% BF

 

Pretty good party last night, or rather "dinner," since it was a bit early in the evening and things revolved mainly around the food. Things actually were a bit subdued, but it was a school night after all, and there were a few no-shows due to the lousy weather conditions. (Speaking of which, the Pennsylvania I once knew is gone: once upon a time even the little old ladies would be barrelling through a foot of snow at 65 mph with now problem, but the driving, at least on the rush hour trip to Allentown, was as bad -- alternately chickenshit and hyper-competitive -- as it would be in NJ. The return trip, with worse road/weather conditions, was actually easier: there were fewer cars on the road overall, but the impriovement was mainly because the commuters were all home, and all the timid/stupid drivers were busy staying off the roads -- the average driver quality was much higher.)

 

Anyway, the dinner: we took Linda completely by surprise. She suspected nothing, and in fact had been ragging on Rich because he'd done nothing special for her birthday, and we got to do the whole "Surprise!" thing when she walked into the room. Priceless! The dinner itself was very nice, awesome group appetizers (prosciutto & mozzarella, et cetera), and I had the chicken piccata. Some days I just love capers. By the way, I do remember Carmine's, one of those quaint little hole-in-the-wall BYO places in Allentown that I used to occasionally visit back in the day.

 

Cake, coffee, and the night ended fairly early after that. I was home before 10:00. I took some photos, and posted them last night before bed; you know what to do.

 

I was not happy with what I saw on the scale this morning, especially since I'll be going out again tonight for the VMB meeting (an upstairs meeting room at Wegman's, we'll see how it works out). I'm going to hit the gym on my way home.

God's Eye

Morning weigh-in: 167.5#, 9.5% BF

 

Interesting visual on the way in to work this morning: left of the sun was a sort of smooth pearllite cloudiness, like "here comes the snow" clouds, while to the right was a bunch of cirrus clouds, except that the cirrus stuff formed a sort of asymmetric fractal spiral, centered on the sun and spilling off to the right. Very neat, glad I saw it, left me feeling very mellow & peaceful.

 

Monday Night Ski Dork Club: Anyway, I got my winter look back. Dinner last night was a can o'beans and a bag o'salad, then I went up to Blue Mountain. I got there at 7:00, and got in 13 runs total. It was freezing out -- 11 degrees at the top of the hill -- and the place was a ghost town, but I kept bumping into this dude from Philly on the lifts, so we hooked up and skied together the rest of the night. Pretty cool guy, younger, some kind of microbiologist and originally from Hong Kong; he was better and quicker than me, especially on the steeper slopes, and I was kind of pushing just a bit past my comfort zone trying to keep up. Pretty neat, we hit just about every open trail including the terrain park -- he knew a couple of shortcuts to the quad lift. (Neither of us tried any of the jumps though.) We spent a lot of time on Racer's Edge and the Challenger, then we hit Main Street for my last run. Last I him saw he was working his way over to the other side of the mountain, since he parked at the top of the hill (not sure why anyone does that) and had to use the lifts to get back to his car.

 

I guess great minds think alike, since that's the second Monday night where I ran into "my people" there, and like the Pottsville guys the other time, and myself, this dude said he's a Monday night regular.

 

Loose Ends: Finishing off Mr. Leonard Pierce's visit to CPAC, here are Chapters Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, and the exciting conclusion, Chapter Thirteen. Brought to you by Sadly, No! where I go every day for better health -- and so should you!

 

Tonight is a surprise 50th birthday party for a friend's girlfriend, at Carmine's in Allentown. Never been there that I remember. I may make it an early evening because of the bad weather supposedly coming our way.

Thinking Out Loud

Some vacation ideas:

 

Moab UT: April (1 week, already booked)

Asheville NC: April (4 day weekend, already booked)

Laughlintown PA: May (Memorial Day Weekend, planned)

Big Bear WV: June (3 days, 24 Hour race)

Elk River WV: June (planning stages)

Northeast Kingdom VT: July (planning stages)

State College PA: July (2 days, Wilderness 101)

Allamuchy NJ: (3 days, 24 Hour race)

Rattling Creek PA: September (RCST Bash)

 

Man I am so jonesing for a ride right now.

 

Spending Money Like A Drunken Sailor

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 10.5% BF

 

On Saturday at least it felt like I was hemorrhaging funds... and between yoga, the gym, the massage and finally a haircut, it was more like a "spa day," and in fact more selfish ("self-ish?") than the usual selfish day, which is really just all about the chores. Yoga's free (or rather, already paid for), ditto the gym (except for personal trainer fees -- Dawn's a friend, but I pay her to hang out with me on Saturdays), the haircut was reasonable and I had a coupon for the massage, but it sure seemed like I was burning through cash...

 

To recap: Friday was Which Brew after a towpath ride with Larry -- for some reason we really cruised, a painlessly fast pace, pretty gratifying. (I saw him later at the WB, where Heath & Hans, and also Taylor were hanging, and they swamped him with bike talk/advice when he mentioned the ride.) The Skulldiggers were playing, and I had a mesclin/apple salad with pork tenderloin medallions. I was hanging with Heath & Hans, and I was going to follow those guys to Porters but my better judgement got a hold of me -- found out later that the band I wanted to see there Saturday night actually played Friday. Oh well, you can't be everywhere.

 

Daytime Saturday you know about; Saturday evening was dinner at WB again, but an early night, just food and socializing for a bit. That massage actually wore me out, and I was home in bed by 10:30.

 

I woke up Sunday feeling sore like I'd been racing, or maybe playing football or something, more fallout from that massage. I decided to sort of take it easy, and rode South Mountain Park (aka Lehigh) via the towpath. Breakfast at the Quadrant on the way out, prevailing westerlies on the towpath, late lunch in Bethlehem, at the revamped Blue Sky while the snow squall blew through, and a nice tail wind for the ride home. After that came laundry, where I discovered all the money I thought I'd spent, stuffed into various pockets... Dinner was Porters, where I am now about three beers away from my new mug.

 

Tonight I'm hitting the slopes. I have a free pass.

Deep In The Heart Of The American Milk Solids Council

Morning weigh-in: 169#, 10.5% BF (zoinks!)

 

Well the first day of CPAC has come and gone, and our new gonzo journalist champion has chapters three, four, five, six and seven posted. With a little editing this would actually make a great book, or at least a good (long) article in say Rolling Stone or something. I wonder how long he can keep up the charade?

 

Meantime, that SPCA charity last night was very nice, though the special cask-conditioned "Hair of the Dog" raspberry stout only lasted until about 6:30. Hot wings, cheesesteak, fries and a few other beers -- the beer quality at Bethlehem Brew Works has improved tremendously, even in the past year or so -- and of course no workout, sigh...

 

Tonight is the towpath, followed by (maybe) an early night at Which Brew, though my plan is to eat at home, pasta & tuna & wilted greens. Tomorrow is a brick workout (yoga, gym), and I have a massage scheduled for later in the day -- I have a discount coupon for one at Easton Yoga. There is a guest lecturer talking about Sanskrit immediately afterward, so I may stick around, but I need a haircut too, and if I stay for the lecture I don't think I can make Eskandalo! by closing time. (Their talents may be somewhat wasted on my head, but two cuts there and I refuse to go anywhere else -- besides, that's one of the coolest daytime spaces in the valley.)

 

So full day tomorrow, trying to keep Sunday open for whatever, depending on the weather.

 

 

It Is Inevitable. It Has Already Begun.

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 11% BF

 

ZOMG he's really doing it: One of the Sadnogons has been has been promising that he'd be crashing this year's Conservative Political Action Conference. Well he's there now; here and here are his first two dispatches. That's a ballsy move, and some seriously high-caliber writing. Oh, and speaking of Asia...

 

Happy New Year! The year of the rat, Wal-Mart's birth sign.

 

Greetings From The Stealth Apocalypse: Not much skiing going on lately, and the riding has been less than optimal too, but maybe they'll both change by the weekend. Just took a lunchtime walk, and it feels like spring already. I'd say greenup is still about a month away though, if it happens at all.

 

I knew it was coming: Work here is busy by the way, as always when the rest of the economy is tanking. We need more people, and the same is true throughout the industry -- I just got headhunted by a former co-worker. I told him I was totally not interested, and if things didn't work out here (after 20 years) I'd be getting out of the industry anyway. That got rid of him for now, but I think this'll start happening with more frequency.

 

Yoga last night, very good class, then salad with homemade honey-mustard dressing, and black beans with Ray's Rad Chilies. Tonight is the charity drinking-bout.

Flickr Find: Ain't She Sweet?

I am the sea
Originally uploaded by daneli.

Pretty girl, neat photo, there's even a poem! Sometimes it really pays to just click "explore" on flickr.

Wednesday Internet Tour

Morning weigh-in: 168#, 11% BF

 

This is what ugly looks like. So sad, a textbook case of a sociopath and his victim. Meanwhile: so long Sexy Sadie, and happy anniversary Indiana legislature -- a-and we'll never let you live it down... Speaking of dumbass anniversaries, here's a look back for Colin Powell Day.

 

Ooohhhh, creepy! Maybe I won't get that pedicure after all...

 

Gym last night, hit it pretty hard. Finished off that pot roast too, but you knew that. Tonight is yoga. I'll probably make pasta & tuna w/ wilted greens on Friday, so tonight's dinner will just be like black beans and a salad or something  -- tomorrow is that SPCA benefit at Bethlehem Brew Works, gotta start starving now to compensate.

Chick Tract Nation

Sorry I couldn't help it, but here ya go. (Via Pharyngula.)

Tuesday Morning Coming Down

Chili Ride: After Breakfast
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Morning weigh-in: 169#, 10.5% BF

Excellent night at Which Brew last night: cheeseburger, some company, and a good mug of beer or two. Quiet night, and an early one (laundry) but fun, which is good because now I'll be buckling down, trying to deal with that weight. Ended on a high note but I have had my party, as the saying goes -- I've gone out, in some form or other, the past five days, and it shows. Oh well, Candlemas is the time for re-dedications...

Tonight is the gym, then the last of that pot roast, photos of which I've posted by the way, along with a few others. Enjoy!

Imbolc: A Fistful of Chili...

Morning weigh-in: 168.5#, 9.5% BF (...and a belly full of beer, and now the scale tells the sorry tale)
 

Rode Friday night: cold, rainy, bad visibility, got a flat. Bagged it, went out & saw friends at Porters.

 

Saturday was yoga/gym/errands, then Which Brew before checking out a new place downtown (Club Beyond) where a friend was playing. I dug the show but I don't think I really liked the venue's atmosphere -- the place is brand new, built and decorated to be a crowded dance club, and it was almost empty. Fill it with people though, and it might make a great place to see a band. Time will tell.

 

Sunday was the Superbowl of Chili at Pearly Bakers. Thirteenth annual I think, and I've been to every one. Good times, good times... Ended up at Porters (again) with Brian, where we were forced to retreat from the bar to a table, to avoid some dude who'd had his share of celebratory beverages, and who was very adamant about the Giants winning the Superbowl, and the Beach Boys being the Best Band Ever. Well he nailed one out of two...

 

The guy left (he may have been asked to), then Brian took off so I went up to the bar, and had a good conversation about SCUBA diving and souvenir-hunting with Bob D, Easton fireman and biking friend from way back. (He goes down to North Carolina, some river where you can find stuff in the silt at the bottom: old bottles & other such like, arrowheads, giant prehistoric shark's teeth. Pretty cool.) Saw part of the game, but it was a long day so I hailed a cab and took the rest on faith -- woke up this morning and it looks like the Giants Won The Superbowl! A-and it's snowing on Christmas...

 

Tonight is yoga, then the Mug Club dinner.

To The Stilled Earth Speak: I Flow

Morning weigh-in: 167.5#, 10% BF

 

Smackdown: When the S/N! guys are being funny they are really good, but when they drop the humor and get serious -- or, God forbid, angry -- they truly become the best on the net. Go read this -- it's long, but read it all. (Meantime, surge this, and this. Motherfuckers.) I remember arguing with some boob -- actually, he was almost a caricature: right-wing talk show host, named (not ranked) Colonel, lives in a golf course condo development, 35 years old but looks fifty -- and he actually quoted that "We're Winning!" line. He also told me he couldn't serve in the military, because his role was as a cheerleader. I told him he was the ugliest cheerleader I ever saw, before he got swamped by a whole bunch of other peeps giving him a piece of their minds...

 

Quiet Society: Went out after dinner last night, felt like seeing some familiar faces so I went to Which Brew. The place was packed, but except for bartender Kateryna (and one passing acquaintance, but she was reading) there was no one there I knew. Eventually the place cleared out, Perry came in and Christina closed her book, and the three (four) of us had a decent bull session. (Perry grew up in Long Branch, and actually was/is friends with my HS music teacher. I already knew that, but it also turns out that Christina grew up in South Brunswick. Small world.) Busy is good and all that, but I really do prefer the quieter nights.

 

Reading: Anyway, while I was alone in the crowd I began mulling over Male Fantasies, my latest chew-toy. Maybe it's because I don't know all that much about the more esoteric Freudian arcana, and maybe it's because the book is a translation from German -- I've had my "WTF? moments" before, reading translations from the original German -- but I'm starting to think the guy's arguments are a bit of a stretch. It kind of reminds me of those Jack Chick tracts, "Where will You Spend Eternity?" and such like. Pure craziness, but the stories aren't word salad, they do have a narrative, until... some point or other in the tract, some dialog maybe, is footnoted, so you look down at the footnote and find a Bible quote to give the point some authority -- and the quote is a total non sequitur, no connection I can find to the point being made.

 

That's what I keep getting in Male Fantasies: the arguments are closely reasoned and reasonably persuasive, but the examples of proto-Fascist & Freikorps literature the author uses to illustrate and develop them don't quite seem to fit his narrative. The examples are full of stilted prose (see "translations" above), and are devoid of earthiness, and of all but the most cartoonish sexuality: it's more like they just remind me of things like ERB's Tarzan books, or Lord of the Rings -- wait, what?

 

Anyhoo, gym last night; dinner was more of that pot roast before I went out. Tonight I'm picking up some bike rack doo-dads (installing that'll be tomorrow's project), then hitting the towpath. I have a feeling I'll be alone out there. Sunday is the Superbowl, and the Superbowl of Chili.

Pornographies of Flight

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 8.5% BF

 

Best. Pot roast. Ever. Just saying... Had it with a salad and a Stegmeier Porter, the turnips and alterna-roots really worked out well and the meat (a better cut than I usually use) was melt-in-your-mouth good. I only wish it were colder or rainy/snowy last night, this was the ultimate winter meal. I'll probably get the chance to eat this under more adverse conditions, since there's a winter front coming through tomorrow night, and I have plenty left over: I cooked a 3 pound chunk of beef, so I basically have another week's worth of meat, maybe more. Next time, I'll probably go with a smaller piece and use more veggies, to try for a more balanced ratio -- right now it looks like I'll have plenty of meat left over when I run out of everything else.

 

Nothing much to say otherwise. Picked up my old bike rack last night, from the guy I sold the car to. Hit yoga, had dinner, read some Gravity's Rainbow -- I'm up to the Franz Pokler part, the moral center of the book, and maybe my life -- and played with the computer some, but went to bed at a reasonable hour. Overslept, but not by much... tonight is the gym, and I think you know what I'm having for dinner.

Scagnetti On Scagnetti

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 9.5% BF

 

How you gonna kick it? Gym last night. I didn't go light but I did skip the legs, and I did a few other non-standard things, in the hope that a change would be as good as a rest. I hit Taco Hell (kept to the lesser evils there), then bought a bunch of food. I have a pot roast cooking for tonight, with a few experimental features: instead of potatoes I went with turnips and celery root (I think that's what it was). Carrots, onions, leeks, gonna kick it root crop...

 

Still tired, still with the crazy dreams. Tonight is yoga, then dinner, chores, and an early bedtime -- my biggest current problem, other than not having an actual rest day in the mix, is my recent habit of firing up the computer "just for a few minutes" at the end of the evening. Well the internets can wait a day or two, and so can the Leslie matrices; I want to get the house cleaned up a bit for the weekend, and after that it's straight to bed, tonight and tomorrow night too.

 

I saw something about Mary Steenbergen last night, which reminded me of What's Eating Gilbert Grape? and from there, that got me thinking about good old Juliette Lewis. (She was totally the "it girl" of the early nineties, and was a major tool in the recuperation of the Lollapalooza icons, but I digress...) I must have been dreaming about Natural Born Killers (1994, co-starring Juliette Lewis), because when I woke up this morning the phrase "Scagnetti on Scagnetti" was going through my head.

 

Beer Muscle Weekend: I first saw Natural Born Killers in maybe 1996 or so, on cable while on a skiing weekend with my neighbor "Crazy Joe" McK and his co-workers. (Big corporate animal-testing facility sponsored a bus trip to Whiteface, Joe & his buds were the employees that tended the animals, cleaned the cages etc. Joe sometimes would bring home rats to keep as pets, and set them free in the backyard, where they no doubt got beat up by the city rats, and eventually eaten.) I remember those guys gossiping about one dude who couldn't make the trip: he tried to steal a monkey by sticking it under his shirt, the thing tore him apart and he got caught/hospitalized. Thinking about it now, they remind me of the prison guards in Maus. Several were good skiiers (like Joe), but I remember they spent most of their time drinking, even on the slopes.

 

Avalon, heteronormative mystical mondegreen: Been listening to the Chemical Brothers lately, mainly because I found the CD lying around... One song I've always liked, but a closer listen changed everything -- I thought the refrain was:

 

Avalon! Avalon!

Blah de blah da blah da, yada dada da da...

 

(The actual lyrics can be found here.) I thought that literally for years, and it was part of why liked the song... I guess I can't really call the new lyrics "heteronormative" though, it sounds like a girl singing.

The Fever

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 10% BF

 

Hit Blue Mountain last night, no idea how many runs but I got in a lot of skiing before they threw me out. Word on the slopes was that Main Street and similar trails on the right were "a sheet of ice, totally scraped off," so I just stayed by the quad lift: Paradise, Lazy Mile & the lower section of Challenger, and eventually Razor's Edge where I spent most of the night.  It was warmer than last week, maybe just below freezing but the conditions were surprisingly good, at least where I was hanging out. Pretty empty by weekend standards (no lift lines), but the nicer weather did bring more people out than last Monday. I ended up skiing a couple of runs with two guys from Pottstown, and kept bumping into them at the lift. It was another beautiful night, and there was Sirius again; one of the dudes pointed it out, as well as a bunch of other stars, we were birds of a feather so I told them my "Dog Star joke" story. Just three dorks chuckling on the side of a mountain...

 

I got home around 11:00, had some black beans for dinner and went to bed. I must have worked it harder than I realized, because I had all sorts of crazy fever-dreams, like you get when work-damaged muscles leak protein into your bloodstream. Scrambled eggs for breakfast, gotta replace that protein.

 

That Old Time Religion: Today in 904, Sergius III became Pope, initiating what became known as the pornocracy. I guess I'd still go to church, if they still had strippers.

 

Fever: My friend Greg from Englishtown -- the only guy I know who married and divorced the same woman three times -- worked for his dad, and for all I know still does. His dad made Teflon products for such as the aerospace industry, buying bulk Teflon in pellet form, running it through screw pumps, extruders etc, and machining the bar stock into finished product. Part of the job was keeping the hoppers filled above the screw pumps, and every so often someone working up there would get a whiff of the melting plastic fumes. This caused a malady they called "the fever," and it was pretty nasty: sweating, dizziness, nausea; the end result was that they'd get the rest of the day off, and the next day too. Just a part of their life, and no permanent harm that I could see, but... hmmm.

 

Tonight is the gym, probably alterna-workout but definitely skipping the legs, then it's food-shopping night. Not sure what dinner will be tonight, but I want to have a pot roast cooking Wednesday.

 

One last thing: What he said.

A Quick Tour Of Teh Internets

Morning weigh-in: 167.5#, 9.5% BF

 

Oh my goodness, they're talking -- openly! -- about the Shock Doctrine right there on the Op-Ed page! (Via Daily Kos, where I also saw this. Such an innoocent time, seems so far away now. My how time does fly...) Meantime, the Liberal Fascism smackdown continues apace, but the SadNo!-gons step back for the big picture, and it ain't pretty. OK, that's enough of that, I feel stupider already. (My two cents: I think the entire concept is the dumbed-down version, of a deliberate misunderstanding of good old Eric Hoffer.)

 

Juno: here there be spoilers. As per usual, Roy does the best movie reviews. I think I may actually see this movie, even if I now know a bit about how it ends.

 

Meatspace: Got the laundry done last night, with obligatory Porters visit (too late for food, so dinner was Taco Hell) while the stuff dried. Odd conversation, if that's the word, with some guy who spoke earnest and rapid-fire Spanish to me, while I nodded and smiled, and said "No compendre," and "Yo no habla espanol," whenever it seemed like my turn to say something. (I don't think he understood me.) Anyway, I'm a little closer to my new mug. The laundry's done, the decks are cleared, and I can hit the slopes with no worries tonight. It won't be as cold as last Monday, but that's not really a good thing.

 

 

 

 

 

Viva La Viva La Viva La Viva La

Whelp, I'm going back to Moab, first week in April; we just booked our flights about an hour ago. Me, Brian, Rich and new father John C, whose wife is sending him off to get him out from underfoot... We don't see John much anymore, and probably shouldn't expect to: he no longer lives outside New Hope, they moved back to Maryland and he's also back among the employed. Anyway, he lives near Patapsco now, and so we promised him a road trip or two this summer -- and in the meantime we have Moab. I better be careful for the next few weeks...

Anyway, good weekend, starting with Friday night's towpath ride. I was by myself, I had no takers on my offer but that also meant I could go my pace and distance. My time wasn't great but it was acceptable, and I felt good at least. After that was Which Brew, where some girl (the jewelry maker) asked me my age, then feigned shock and claimed she would have guessed "thirty-two, tops." My new best friend! Screw the ride, that's what really made me feel good. (One of the bartenders threw a reality check later, by saying I should totally hang out with her dad, but still.)

Saturday was early morning yoga, with a pleasant surprise: Eric & Kris used that gift card I got them and joined me. Bonus: they liked the class. We hit the Coffee Exchange afterwards too, so I guess they got a real taste of my Saturday routine. Kris might be joining me for this Wednesday's class.

Gym, errands, nap, then back to WB to catch Tavern Tan, with friend and fellow PPRAC'ster Dave drumming. Needless to say there were a bunch of PPRAC dudes there, including Heath & Hans, Keith & his cyclocross girlfriend, and Taylor & his wife. (I tried to talk them into joining us for today's ride, but they were doing something on the road, maiden voyage for Heath's new rig.) Good crowd, but I took off a bit early.

Today was an awesome ride at French Creek. Me, Rich, Doug, Joe & Cindy, Pete and Eric B, we did about 20 miles, maybe a little more. We were all riding really well (surprising for January), and conditions were primo. The place was packed too, lots of other people biking, and also hiking, playing frisbee golf, ice fishing... The ride was basically an all-day affair: we started with breakfast at a bagel place near Doug, and ended with an early dinner in Bally. No action shots, but I did take a few photos at some rest breaks. I'll post them tonight.

Now I'm just kicking back, playing on the computer and doing chores while the laundry cooks. Tomorrow I'll probably go skiing.

Can't Tell The Players Without A Program

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 8.5% BF (dehydration?)

 

Alterna-workout nite at the gym, then I hit Which Brew for dinner and some bluegrass. I was physically very hungry but had no appetite (a very weird feeling), and I eventually ordered fish & chips, which I don't often have but they did hit the spot last night.

 

By way of background: Saw friend and blog-reader Mike at the WB, who made the tactical error of asking me about some of the obsessions that he read about here, and got stuck listening to my 200-word-a-minute rants for the next hour or so as I emptied my head into his ear... So sorry about that Mike, and here's a quick Wikipedia tour of what I was babbling about, starting with the Lotka-Volterra predator-prey and interspecies competition equations, moving on through the logistical function, carrying capacity and Hubbert's Peak, and finishing with good old Belisarius. You down with OCD? Yeah you know me...

 

Meantime, the other obsession: Hitting the towpath tonight, maybe with Larry, maybe also with Mike B. Tomorrow morning is yoga so I want to make it an early night.

Cyprian Latewood

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 9.5% BF

 

Been thinking about Against the Day lately, may pick it up again soon, give it a second read. Not much else to say: worked late, then went to yoga last night, 7-layer burritos for dinner. Read, read, computer (posted a few more pics from Sunday), bedtime. Tonight is the gym, then probably Which Brew for Bluegrass Night.

 

By the way, today in 1984 the first Macs went on sale. I had one, and I still have that computer (with upgrades that made it essentially a "Mac Plus") in one of my closets. Eight friggin megahertz, 128K RAM, no hard drive, the thing was awesome.

Democracy Inaction

Morning weigh-in: 167.5#, 7.5% BF

 

Well, that was like shooting fish in a barrel, except that the fish didn't actually show up: The Salisbury Twp meeting last night was "a preliminary meeting for public input" about the planned development of, of... what was the name of that park again? Apparently the park in its entirety will be called Lehigh Mountain Park, though a certain portion is now known as Walking Purchase Park, or Riverside Park, or something... Lots of mountain bikers were there, as well as many many residents and a few other interested parties, like a guy who does bird inventories along the river, peeps like that. The project manager, a landscape architect from some engineering firm seemed like a pretty good guy (everyone seemed pretty nice), and things went rather well.

 

The meeting started with an overview of the geological, ecological, and historical/archaeological features of the park, then some presentation of current recreational activities, and then the architect talked about what he thinks should be done to move things forward. (His main proposal: make the park more "park-like," with identifiable boundaries, plus parking areas and information kiosks, picnic and camping and yes, ATV areas.) Finally, there was the public input part.

 

Apparently, the rumor that ATV's would be allowed at the park had spread, because all of the public commenters, especially residents, were there to denounce it. All were vehemently opposed, and strongly voiced their opinions that enforcement of existing laws against ATV use (as well as against littering/dumping, vandalism, and drug use) needed to be a top priority.  I think that the architect was taken aback a bit, and said that his (initial and preliminary) proposal, to allow some ATV use at the park, was based on a survey of current use (like they would decriminalize the trash dumping and crack use, based on a survey of current park use). No one had anything good to say about the ATV's, no advocates showed up to defend themselves -- not surprising really, considering that it would basically be an admission of criminal activity -- and I think that a message was received and duly noted. We'll see where it goes from here.

 

A couple of the VMB'ers hit the Bethlehem Brew Works afterward for dinner. Doug, Spanky, Joe G, Lucas, E-Rock, Jim D, it was a pretty big crew. I was starving, had a cheese steak, slipping is crash's law but tonight it's back to yoga and the routine (hopefully).

 

Rest In Peace: Heath Ledger, cut down in his prime, as was skier Billy Poole. The good die young.

Deep Blue Mountain

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 7.5% BF

 

Ran some errands last night, then hit the slopes at Blue Mountain. I go there around 7:15, and got in nine solid runs in just about two hours -- the place was practically empty (except for some racers, terrain park kids, and other hardcore idiots), no lift lines whatsoever. Bitterly cold, low teens, but the sky was beautiful: clear and starry, and an amazing deep blue, with the almost-full moon coming over the mountain. It's been 15 years since I first saw them like that, but there were Orion and Sirius directly in front of me, right where I left them, whenever I took the older lifts.

 

An OLD SKOOL ski lift conversation:

DONNY DON (pointing): Look, the Dog Star!

DONNY DON (different voice): Are you Sirius? (chuckle chuckle chuckle snort...)

CRAZY JOE MCK: What the hell are you talking about?

(Yeah I slay me, and I've been slaying me for a long long time.)

 

Anyway, I was planning to stay until they closed at 10:00, but then remembered that I had no clean clothes -- and no dirty ones either, since my clothes had been washed but not dried -- so I left a little early and did an emergency laundry run. Porters while the clothes dried, punching my mug club card (I have less than 20 beers to go now, to get my new mug). I saw K-Jo there, as well as Kateryna & Eamon, and also Cliff; I sort of kept to myself, just passing through but it was nice to see them. Sports on the TV, bartender Scott was still on a high from Sunday's game.

 

Not sure what I'll be doing for dinner, but I'll be down in Allentown tonight for the Salisbury Township meeting, heading there straight from work. Looks like a battle royale is building over illegal ATV/quad use at Walking Purchase Park, and this meeting might be the opening salvo. Aside from that, I think I'll lay low for a few days: I've got a bit of windburn on the exposed parts of my face right now, and it's making me look like a purplish raccoon.

 

Reading: Male Fantasies is now the bathroom reader, and Matrix Population Models has been moved to the kitchen.

 

Listening: I'm back on a Jason and the Scorchers kick. Don't know why.

 

 

How 'Bout Them Giants, Eh?

Morning weigh-in: 167#, 9.5% BF

 

Friday I was in a foul mood (long story, won't be going there right now), went out to have a bit of an "angry party" for myself, though to be honest I had a pretty good time of it despite myself. Which Brew for dinner after my towpath ride, and when I got to WB I found that Greg & Judy had dinner at Porters across the street, and slipped their waitress Courtney -- who told them where she'd be going after work -- a few bucks to buy me a beer... It was the talk of the bar for a bit ("Somebody bought you a beer who wasn't even here!"), then things settled down and we all enjoyed the sounds of DJ Kaos (aka Art), and I knew he would but he did play "Apache," so all was right with the world.

 

After dinner I went across the street (G & J were long gone) where Eamon bought me a beer -- I didn't exactly drink for free that night but I came close -- and I paid a few back but I owe favors all over the place now -- and so much for being angry and ornery... Post Junction were playing, and they had a few guest singers (people from Stomp who played at the State theater earlier), so their set wasn't the same-old-same-old they'd been stuck in; they're a good band and I'd hate to become tired of them.

 

Saturday: gym, chores errands yadda yadda, out to WB for dinner again, and to catch the Todd Wolfe project. They were good, but it was an early night for me.

 

Sunday was a great ride: I hit Sals with Doug, E-Rock and E-Baum, then we went out on foot to document some quad/ATV damage down by the river. I took over 100 photos all told on Sunday, and will post maybe a third of the least boring ones so stay tuned. (Actually, I already put a few up last night.)

 

Dinner was at Porters, where I caught a very exciting football game. I guess it was the cold and the frozen ball and stiff fingers, but there was a lot more drama going on than I was ready for, almost like a college game -- then I missed the winning FG because I was talking to someone. Whatever, I'll take the win, and meantime: gadzooks, the Giants are in the Superbowl! I wasn't planning to see the game; because of the "Superbowl of Chili" I haven't seen the actual Superbowl in many years and that was my plan for this year too. I guess I'll think of something.

 

Tonight is the last of my chili, then I'll probably go skiing.

What Color Is Infrared?

the creek
Originally uploaded by Razumichin.

Another one I didn't take (and another one of my favorites), but this is more like what I was seeing along that creek.

Spun Sugar at Sunset

Spun Sugar at Sunset - Orten Effect, Jan 17
Originally uploaded by CaptPiper.

I wish I took this picture but I didn't, sigh... this is one of my favorites on flickr. It's not an HDR photo, and it's not quite the same thing going on as what I saw by that creek, but I like the colors and it seemed close enough. I'll keep looking for the photo I was thinking of.

Pearl Pink And Mercury Vapor

Morning weigh-in: 165.5#, 10.5% BF

 

Snowing on the way home, sort of near dusk, I caught a glimpse of that creek that runs along Ravine Rd. The creek was sort of silvery, framed by black trees, covered with gray sky and shrouded in snowy fog, but sky and creek had that slight pinkish tinge that snowfall-gray sometimes gets. Very neat, reminded me of some HDR photos I'd seen. I noticed that the sky was pretty cool in Phillipsburg/Easton too, more pink with a pearly vibe, but also a bit of yellow from the city streetlights.

 

Anyway, hit the gym on the way home from work, then had leftovers. I went out to Which Brew around 9:00, just to get out of the house and see some faces. I was worried that it would be empty because of the storm -- the parking lot was deserted -- and it was quiet but not empty; I had some pretty nice conversations with Perry and his colleague plus a few others. I noticed at one point that everyone around me were schoolteachers -- hmmmm, wishful thinking? Sorry fellas, storm's over, back to work...

 

The WB girls were listening to some alright stuff, but I had a hankering for Patti Smith so when I left I cranked "Gloria" for the ride home. Almost done with A Book of Dreams, by the way. Kind of creepy and sad at the end.

Chili Today, Hot Tamale Baby

Morning weigh-in: 167.5#, 10% BF

 

Good meeting last night, first one of the new regime, held at Brian's house with 6 crock pots of chili. We had an impromptu judging after the meeting, and once again Linda's chili beat mine. I do like Linda, but not on Chili Night... (I took third, so I would still have lost even if she hadn't brought one.) Of course, she keeps winning with her same recipe, and I keep losing with my same one -- so who's got the lesson to learn here, hmmmm?

 

Gym tonight, working off some of that excess chili, then I'm finishing off the last of the pasta & tuna. Things are getting cold again; there will be some offroad riding this weekend, as well as some skiing.

All's Right With My Boring World

Morning weigh-in: 167#, 9.5% BF

 

Gym last night, then dinner (leftovers: pasta w/ tuna & wilted greens, and some tomato & bean stew), reading & 'puter, food shopping, then I prepared my "midnight chili" -- so named because that's when I finished prepping it -- and crashed. Today I set the crock pot to cooking before I left for work; it should be ready for tonight's Chain Gang meeting (where I'm no longer Preznit, but I am the new secretary), and of course the house should smell chililicious when I get home... Not much else is going on with me. Been downloading some more music, and doing a lot of reading (duh). I may do singlespeed sprints after the meeting tonight, or maybe just some yoga before bed.

 

This is news? My old neighbor might not agree, but I could have told you this.

 

Reading: Wilhelm Reich made his name in Europe, back in the 1920's-1930's or so, with his psychoanalytic approach to political/cultural studies, so I guess it's not surprising to see his name pop up in Male Fantasies -- granted, it's mostly because the author disagrees with him. Still, it's kind of a weird synchronicity as I read A Book of Dreams, where author Peter Reich (Wilhelm's son) is currently watching old home movies with some European documentary makers, about 10 years after his father's death. The matrix population modeling continues apace, but so far there's no connections to the other things I'm reading.

Kinda-Sorta Dodged A Bullet

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 9.5% BF

 

After my Sunday brain fart, I've been waiting for that "bad news of my own making" trifecta to kick in, and last night the second screwup struck: I went out shopping and when I got to the store I reached for my wallet (thought it was on the passenger seat) but couldn't find it. I tore the car apart -- nothing. Went home, checked my work pants -- nothing. Nothing on the floor, maybe it fell under the bed -- nothing, nothing on the bureau where I empty my pockets, back out to the car for more nothing...Nope, it's gone, with my driver license, plus all my debit and credit cards and I've got like two bucks in my pocket.

 

Luckily the car had a full tank, but that was the last place I saw my wallet, getting gas on the way in to work yesterday. (Fat chance for recovery if the gas station is where I lost it.) Checked the car again, got to work & checked the parking lot to see if I dropped it there, nope. I pretty much resigned myself to replacing the contents, cards etc, and trying to cash a check at the bank (with no ID) to get through the week; I was going to go home at lunchtime to get the process started. One last look in the car before pulling out and -- found it! It was jammed way into the passenger seat's hinge, black fabric wallet against a black fabric interior, but this time I saw it. Sheesh.

 

So I've lost a little time: the meat I should have bought last night, should have been marinading today, for me to make chili tonight/tomorrow. OK, no marinade, but we're back on track. Now I'm just waiting for that third shoe to drop...

 

Anyway, yoga last night, with pasta & tuna for dinner. Tonight is the gym, followed by leftovers and chili prep. I'm back into the matrix population models.

 

Duck Duck Goose

Morning weigh-in: 167#, 10.5% BF

 

So two out of  three days seized ain't bad I guess, but I really did drop the ball yesterday...

 

Friday night was a great ride, followed by a fun night at Which Brew, as noted previously.

 

Saturday was the gym, then errands which included a haircut, so I hit Eskandalo! once again. (Kind of an impulse thing: they recommend calling for an appointment, but I just walked in and sat down to my haircut. I was pretty lucky, the owner said there was a three-hour wait earlier in the day.) Thus cleaned up, I went home & put on a collared shirt, then went back to Bethlehem for some margaritas at Spanky's house -- cocktail party! Greg & Laurie, Doug & Lori, me, Trevor & Christine (who I'd been calling Amy for some reason but we got that straightened out), and Rich & Linda. We hung there for a bit, then trooped over to Cactus Blue for authentic Mexican cuisine. BYO, but Spanky & Rich are professionals, and we washed our dinners down with more margaritas, or Dos Equis if that was your preference.

 

Meanwhile, back at Eskandalo, which has connections to the Which Brew bartender scene, I was told that bartender Andrea's boyfriend was having a birthday celebration while his band played at the Funhouse that night -- be there or be square, or something like that. So, after dinner a bunch of us went there to check out that scene too, even if we proved ourselves lame and old (Steve complained about turning 32, and got no sympathy from us), by leaving before the end of the night. I crashed at Doug & Lori's.

 

That was a pretty good blowout, and I guess I could be excused for slacking on Sunday but I felt good and wanted to ride. I had to run some unexpected errands (old-car-related stuff that didn't work out anyway), and that put me later than I'd want, but I finally got out to Lehigh at 2:00, only to discover that I'd forgotten my Camelbak. I guess I could have done some ride without food/water/emergency tools, but I also had no place where I felt safe putting my car keys. Oh well, put the bike back in the car, go home... Surprisingly nice day too, I was expecting rain or snow. Say it with me now -- D'OH!

 

Went home, read a little from A Book of Dreams, and played with the computer while doing laundry. (Been fiddling with video lately. Last week I managed to break my movie player, and last night I managed to fix it. Life goes on.) Sunday Dinner was at Porters, as is now traditional. Luckily, the Giants had salvaged the weekend -- that happened before I got there, but it was still nice to see the game highlights.

 

Yoga tonight, then it's time for chili prep -- the Chain Gang meeting is Wednesday, and it's a chili contest.

Deus Ex Machina

There was a video I saw once or twice on MTV, way way back in the day. Don't remember the band or the music, but there were a lot of late winter / early spring night scenes, people standing around in the leafless and dripping woods, breath visible but you could tell it was more from damp than cold -- lots of cuts to animals (possums, mice, that kind of thing) scuttling around. The impression I got was the secret life of the woods, moles and roots, trees storing up water and preparing for the energy-burst of spring. A "sap is rising" kind of thing.

Apollo: sun god, and god of prophecy, once god of a mouse-cult... I was riding Friday night on the road, and the air was damp but not too cold; ride was actually a bit hairy on the winter-damaged roads especially downhills, and cars seemed to be a little more confrontational than usual (both of those facts may have been related to poor lighting decisions on my part), but all that made me feel totally pumped for some reason. Hill ride, slow hard climbs, and on two different hills I saw a field mouse scuttling along the side of the road. The January thaw will probably be over soon, winter has barely even started but I can feel spring building.

Listening: Right now it's "Bullrushes" by the Bongos, but just a second ago it was Galaxie 500, "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste." One of my favorite songs, total shoegazer anthem, now I'm pumped again and will be riding offroad this afternoon.

It was a good weekend by the way, more on that later.

I Have Achieved EMPTINESS

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 10% BF

 

Whelp, stayed in last night. I was a bit tired and it was already close to 11:00 when I would've left the house; that's closing time at Which Brew, at least on "school nights." Porters would have been my only choice, and then I remembered that Thursday is "open mic night," which used to be really good but is now something I try to avoid...

 

My friend Larry is sick, so he won't be joining me on the towpath tonight. Since I'd be solo I was thinking of maybe hitting the road instead, but I expect that with the rain and traffic and all, the woods will probably be safer so towpath it shall be.

I Still Dream Of Orgone

Reading: Just finished Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail, and picked up where I left off in A Book of Dreams. That is some quality crazy going on in that situation...

Meanwhile, here is something for you to read: is this guy every woman? Um, hope not, but he, and the peeps he meets, cover almost all the riders I know, and our moods and reasons for riding. There was no biking involved with our scene, but I remember we had a frog pond too as kids, a-and -- well, here and here are two more good stories, let them be a warning to you...

Just finished cleaning the bike, prepping it for tomorrow. Dinner was bean stew, workout was alterna-gym. I'm feeling cooped up; I may run out for a bit down to WB, or more likely Porters to see some faces.

Say Something Once, Why Say It Again?

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 10.5% BF

 

Like I said, last night's bean & tomato stew was tasty (which is good because I have a ton of the stuff left over), but I expected it to be a little more forgiving on the weigh-in front. Good yoga class last night, the teacher called it "fairly easy" but my own personal ass was suitably kicked ... she said she'll have a hard class on Saturday -- gulp! Tonight is alterna-gym nite, and I may make some pasta & tuna for dinner.

 

Short & sweet: no dreams, no incidents, vignettes to speak of so I'm outta here.

 

mba rara m'eroto ondyoze ... mbe mu munine m'oruroto ayo u n'omuinyo

Bouncing from room to room reading different books: read in Male Fantasies about someone or other's role suppressing the Herero uprising of 1920 or so, hit the parts in Gravity's Rainbow where the "Enzian the Herero vs. his Russian half-brother Tchitcherine" subplot starts to unfold... go into the kitchen where I'm eating that stew (which was lovely, except that the lentils were a bit al dente), and I read in Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail about a thunderstorm haunted by ghost horses, which made the hair on my neck stand up...

"Horses, horses, horses, horses
Coming in in all directions
White shining silver studs with their nose in flames,
He saw horses, horses, horses, horses,
Horses, horses, horses, horses...
Do you know how to pony?
Like bony maroney,
Do you know how to twist?
Well it goes like this, it goes like this..."

-- Patti Smith, "Land"

Discipline

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 9% BF

 

I've been futzing around with the gas mileage on my car: The new car does the MPG calculation in real time based on fuel consumption and speed, and there's an LED that shows your current (instantaneous) as well as average MPG. I've been trying to adjust my driving to keep that gas mileage as high as possible, and I'm finding that I have a lot of bad habits I need to break. It's tough too, retraining yourself and constantly thinking about it, watching that gas meter -- in town it's a losing battle, but I've done pretty well on rural stuff, and have been taking the highway to work lately since that's best of all, even if the interstate is a boring and depressing way to travel.

 

I had to drop off drycleaning last night on the way to the gym, and had to hit a cash machine before that, and I was running late so of course there was an idiot in front of me. Tradesman's van, ladders on top, looked like he was realizing that he might not make it under the low clearance, then decided to go anyway -- this was all while I was driving by the bank, so there was no pressure behind him to make him go forward yet.

 

Well, he overshoots the telling machine, gets out of the van to do his transactions, which take forever, hmmm, looks like he's having a little bit of trouble... He gets back in the van and pulls forward, and the ladders catch on the slightly lower exit clearance. I'm honking away, the ladders are making an infernal racket scraping on the stucco roof and each other, and the guy stops, then pulls forward, hesitates again, and then pulls all the way out, knocking the ladders off the van. Then he parks.

 

I park too (the guy behind me had already backed out and left), and go to the ATM while the van dude starts fooling with his ladders, and I find that the guy actually left his card in the machine. I call over to him and hand him his card while he runs off a string of obscenities -- I notice alcohol on his breath, though he doesn't look drunk or wobbly or anything. I finished my business and got out of there while he was still messing with his broken ladders.

 

Drycleaning, then the gym for the standard workout including legs. Pretty good workout, weights were high but not record-breaking (except quad extension), and I felt strong throughout. Grabbed some Taco Hell for dinner, then went out food shopping, picked up ingredients for that tomato and bean stew.

 

Got home and busted out the crock pot again, as well as the food processor for the first time. (Verdict: it's good, but I can tell that practice makes perfect.) Got everything prepared, cleaned up the kitchen and hit the sack around midnight.

 

I've been dreaming a lot more lately, or at least, remembering them more, mostly disjointed stuff, bits and pieces are all I bring back. Last night I dreamed of cycling though, something I don't remember ever doing before. I was on the road bike, in Southside Bethlehem (only it was a dream-Bethlehem, like the surreal Easton of my dreams), heading sort of west and looking for "Broad Street," which I thought I'd overshot -- I was in a rougher neighborhood, sort of like a cross between Allentown and the Easton's abandoned train station -- but then I found it, and ran into a group of other riders. We were cruising along, fooling around on roads that reminded me of Bike New York, jumping curbs etc... last thing before waking up, I was hanging at the Bethlehem Bike Co-Op, changing a tire.

 

Tonight is yoga, then that stew for dinner.

It Is Not A Tumor!

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 10.5% BF (well, that's a relief, I guess)

 

Yoga last night, with another new (to me) teacher -- I think at this point I've taken classes from all but one of the people who teach regularly at Easton Yoga. All but one of the yoga yoga classes that is; I'm not counting things like belly dancing etc... Good class, once again a very different perspective on familiar things; it's amazing how personal yoga can actually be.

 

After that was good old Which Brew for Mug Club Night. Brian was a no-show: he forgot it was coming up, and was doing his speed skating thing. There was the usual W-Brew crew though, pleasant evening as always, even if I did sneak out a little early.

 

Tonight is the gym. (Meantime, I really have to start finding out how to incorporate more riding without losing the other things I've been doing.)

 

 

The Mystery Explained

Morning weigh-in: 164#, 10.5% BF

 

...One mystery at least: I don't know what's going on with the sudden weight loss (not that I'm complaining or anything), but I can say that my lousy towpath experience the other night was because the towpath is just one long, energy-sucking mud pit right now. Total mush, I was able to see exactly what was going on in the daylight yesterday. Sals was a little better, more like a leafy slime coating on the rocks, kind of slippery but that's about it. I'll probably stay out of the woods until it either dries up or freezes again: it wasn't the most ecologically correct thing to do, and my bike, "rode hard and put away wet," now needs some serious TLC.

 

Kind of nice though, I ran into a bunch of younger dudes riding, then we all ran into Joe C and Doug (who knew the guys I hooked up with) going the other way, then I dropped the youngsters on the hills (heh heh), but decided to take the road back to the Dodson lot, where I met Joe and Doug again, and finagled a ride home from Joe. (Saw others out there, and also got a call from Heath that he was chasing me up the Spanky, but I was already done and at Dodson.) Pretty solid ride actually, and I felt great.

 

Some unusual events on the towpath: the river rescue guys were out, rescue truck, SCUBA gear and boats at the Freemansburg locktender's house. Looks like someone fell in the river but I saw nothing about it in the news yet.

 

Home, cleaned up, laundry, and I had some spare time so I took the "Hot Fudge Sundae" yoga class downtown, purely on impulse. This class is a mix of vinyasas with restorative poses, new stuff to me, and the teacher was new to me too, so it was a very interesting experience; I'm pretty happy I went. I also saw Katie (of "Dan & Katie," don't know their last name but they're friends with Greg & Judy) in class, and heard about their baby's first Christmas.

 

Going home from yoga, there was a guy who ran out of gas near my parked car. I gave him a ride to the nearest gas station, stuck around to give him a ride back even though I originally said I couldn't -- then noticed that he was now begging for the gas money. I told him I wasn't waiting around any more, and took off.

 

Dinner was a ribeye sandwich at Porters (making that weight loss even more mysterious) while the laundry dried. I saw Kelly-Jo and Larry down there for a bit, but they just popped in for a few minutes, grabbed some take-out & left. Tonight is more yoga for me, "active rest"in the beginner's class, followed by Mug Club Night at Which Brew, and then I'll be making another crock pot -- this time it'll be bean and tomato stew  -- for the rest of this week's dinners.

Sunday Rejuvenation?

Morning weigh-in: 167#, 10% BF

Considering that I did nothing yesterday, then rather heroically finished that pot roast, a-and then went out and ate a white pizza, with the requisite beers, at Which Brew -- also Porters to catch KEF, after the band at the WB drove me out by playing Journey covers, but I digress -- those weigh-in numbers are kind of low. Something must have been up, fatigue or whatever. Hopefully the one rest day I got was enough.

I'm about to find out: riding down to Sals via the towpath in a few minutes.

New Year's Photos

Appalachian Trail
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Just posted the photos from my hike on New Year's Day, as well as a few from the last Sals trailwork day of 2007. Go check 'em out, yo.

An Army Of Lovers Can Be Beaten

So here I am, finishing off another pot roast, with a little bit of Ray's Rad Chilies to help it go down...

Read any good books lately? Like I said, I have Gravity's Rainbow as my bathroom reader, on top of five other new books I'm working my way through. Thus it was bound to come to pass that I get one more book today in the mail: Male Fantasies -- it's not what you think, but rather a psychological analysis of Freikorps literature (published stuff, cartoons, letters, diaries, etc) -- from my Amazon wishlist. Thanks and Merry Christmas, Kevin & Amy!

That one's going in the kitchen but for now it's on the counter, to be read while I stand -- the place of honor (i.e. on the table) still goes to Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail, which is almost done. The mathematical biology books are in the bedroom next to the computer, and the other Christmas gifts are in the living room.

(By the way, the title of this post is a quote from Gravity's Rainbow, a slogan that appears as graffiti in the reveries of one Leni Pökler, after she leaves her rocket-scientist husband and seeks refuge among her revolutionary comrades, in Inflation-era Germany. I thought it was appropriate -- like this -- given the nature of my new acquisition.)

Last night's towpath ride was a bit slow and difficult (sort of like the one on New Year's Eve), so today I blew off all exercise and in fact slept in until almost 11:00. I plan to stay in tonight and read (natch) unless Brian calls me back -- we had tentative plans to go skiing tonight, but I have not heard from him.

UPDATE: He just called, we're not going. Besides, it's raining.

UPDATE #2: Check this out. That "code pink" ad is basically straight out of my new book...

More Goodbyes

Rest in peace, Andy.

Curufinwë

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 9.5% BF

 

One thing I really like about the higher metabolism and lower body fat, is that I no longer feel cold the same way -- I'm back to just leaving a coat in the car for emergencies (and of course dressing appropriately when playing outside, but that's usually less clothes than you think anyway), feeling invigorated by the wind rather than chilled to the bone...

 

Huck 08! So the Iowa caucuses have come and gone. I'd feel OK voting for any of the big three Dem candidates, so I'm not as interested in Obama's win as in Huckabee's, and the turmoil it's causing in the Republican establishment. Meantime, here's another view with an interesting, if sad, look at his base .

 

Lifted last night, alterna-workout, then there was the crock-pot-and-reading fest, as already documented -- I am also working through that Matrix Population Models book, by the way. Tonight is the towpath, then Firkin Friday (cask-conditioned Raspberry Imperial Stout) at Which Brew. The group trip to Amsterdam should be back by now, so Larry P should have some good stories to tell.

The Whip, Sangraal, And The Lake Of Piety

At one of the Christmas parties last week, two guys gave the hostess a gag gift (consisting of a negligee and a riding crop), then told the following story: they were out, with kids in strollers, to get her some gift, and they were at a loss for gift ideas so one called his wife at work. She replied that she was busy and "just get her something slutty."

So, off they went to an adult novelty store at the mall, where one guy -- big, heavyset, large beard and shaved head -- waited outside with the strollers while the other went inside. He asked the clerk for something slinky in a certain size, "for a friend," and she kept looking dubiously at the big dude outside with the strollers, and trying to steer him toward the larger outfits...

There was much juvenile snickering of an adult nature, and later the talk turned to merkins. Now, I knew what a "merkin" was (you'll have to look it up yourself) from Gravity's Rainbow, but not everyone there was as well-read, so the discussion got interesting once again -- but I now believe I'm also the only one in that crowd to see Dr Strangelove. Anyway, just for laughs I looked up "merkin" in Wikipedia the other day, and found this quote from Lolita:

"Although I told myself I was looking merely for a soothing presence, a glorified pot-au-feu, an animated merkin, what really attracted me to Valeria was the imitation she gave of a little girl."

So then I had to look up "pot-au-feu," and found -- that's what I've been eating for dinner these past few weeks! What I had for dinner tonight. Small world.

Anyway, the reading material at the dinner table is Rat Scabies And The Holy Grail, where our intrepid adventurers have just arrived home from a second trip to Rennes-le-Château. Not sure what they ate, but they are discussing the very real possibility that the whole set of Grail-shaped mysteries centered on the town could just be one very elaborate hoax, albeit one so large and complicated as to be a paranoid wonder in and of itself -- like, oh I don't know, maybe the Trystero...

That's what's in the kitchen; Gravity's Rainbow is my current bathroom reader. I happen to be doing some bathroom reading, not even going to bother explaining what's going on but all of a sudden there's a passage about the Grail. And the circle gets tighter...

Introvert Day?! Nobody Told Me...

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 10.5% BF

 

Well that explains my relief! Been there, done that.

 

Anyway, very good yoga class last night, followed by leftover pasta & tuna and some computer fun. Tonight is the gym, then some more pot roast plus laundry. I'll be skiing again this weekend, probably Saturday or Sunday night, so this cold snap is my friend -- but it would have been nice if the cold weather hit last week: they'll be blowing snow all night, and morning conditions will be primo. Things should still be good in the evening though.

Back To Work

Morning weigh-in: 167.5#, 9% BF

 

Not much to say, I think I covered everything with the last few posts... Back here at work after two weeks off, and I fell right back into the groove without missing a beat -- but I'm working on a new and different project, so the groove is a bit amorphous, and it's easier to define whatever I'm in right now as "the groove."

 

Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf? The geese here have figured out that those coyote statues are fake, and have now taken over the lawn and lake out front.

I, Proteus

Well, here it is, 2008.

Rode last night down to Sand Island, but the island was closed off (probably for First Night, and for all I know that's where the fireworks were being launched too), so I couldn't really get into town without some backtracking. I wasn't interested in hanging around anyway -- it was kind of cold out, maybe 20 degrees -- so I just turned around. Hard slog, working the whole way out and back, and my time was about two hours. I was on my front porch at exactly midnight, when everyone came out their doors with noisemakers and fireworks.

Decided to go out after all, so I cleaned up and walked to Porters, where I hung with Mike, an ex-Genesis employee from way back. They had an unusual show going on: two DJ's, and apparently it was a record release party for them too. Pretty nice, and I did get a "real" New Year's after all.

Played with the computer this morning, then went for a hike at the Water Gap, on the AT starting from behind the Deer Head Inn. I got a bunch of pictures, so stay tuned. This afternoon was Judy's New Year's get-together. Nice people, most of whom I only know from other parties she's had but I did see Ann, Lee and Pete, so I felt at home. Older crowd, my age to about mid-50's I'd guess, more socially confident and the stories are better than the usual scene... Got my "good luck" pork and sauerkraut (a local "PA Dutch" tradition), plus lotsa cake and munchies... at home, dinner tonight was that pot roast, plus a salad.

Cha-cha-cha-changes: Was looking at my New Year's resolutions from last year. I'd have to say that #3 was a bit of a mixed bag, but all in all I think they were good ideas, and now that I'm finally seeing some results on #1 & #2 I think I'll just keep them all for this year as well -- with the added intention, of doing whatever it takes to take it all to the next level. I'm purposely leaving that a little loosely defined, we'll see where it goes...