This weekend's theme is: spicy foods!

Morning weigh-in (Saturday): 178.5#, 13.5% body fat

I just made a spicy tempeh stir-fry, crushed red peppers plus two habaneros to help the fire take effect. Note to self: wash hands repeatedly before rubbing eyes! Tasty, but hot. Last night I had a "chutney pizza" at Which Brew, where Indian food was being prepared by a couple of regulars acting as "guest chefs." That was also good but spicy, in that spicy-Indian-food way (well duh). And of course, tomorrow is the Superbowl of Chili...

Listening to the Electronica charts over at SoundClick, but soon I'll be heading down to the ol' WB for to hear Spirit Island.

Morning weigh-in (Friday): 177#, 13.5% body fat

Wake up, run, work, eat, bike, Which Brew (Doug & Lori, Eric & Kris, Brian, Joe), goodnight.

"All Right Then, We Are Two Nations"

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 178#, 14.5% body fat
Morning weigh-in (Thursday):179#, 14.5% body fat

I saw a reference to John Dos Passos the other day, a quote from The Big Money in this article about the DeCSS Haiku (the author un-anonymized himself), and have been thinking about him ever since. Funny, I recognized the quote; I have that page bookmarked with photos I took from a power plant, of coal barges on the Monongahela River. Couple of my friends got long diatribes about the structure of the USA trilogy, characters, themes, literary techniques, won't repeat it here -- you're welcome!

But here's some quotes from the stream of consciousness chapter "The Camera Eye (51)." It starts like this:

at the head of the valley in the dark of the hills on the broken floor of a lurchedover cabin a man halfsits halflies propped up by an old woman two wrinkled girls that might be young chunks of coal flare in the hearth flicker in his face white and sagging as dough blacken the cavedin mouth the taut throat the belly swelled enormous with the wound he got working on the minetipple

and ends thus:

the law stares across the desk out of angry eyes his face reddens in splotches like a gobbler's neck with the strut of the power of submachineguns sawedoffshotguns teargas and vomitgas the power that can feed you or leave you to starve
sits easy at his desk his back is covered he feels strong behind him he feels the proscecutingattorney the judge an owner himself the political boss the minesuperintendent the board of directors the president of the utility the manipulator of the holdingcompany
he lifts his hand towards the telephone
the deputies crowd in the door
we have only words against

...the next chapter is called "Power Superpower;" it's a satirical biography of Edison's assistant Samuel Insull.

A New Toy

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 14% body fat

Cold again this morning, but the running is coming along -- tomorrow will be tougher, we'll see how 6"-10" of snow affects things.

My new toy: I got a 21" monitor today for $25, and the deal included an Intergraph computer, keyboard, and power strip, all (supposedly) in good working order. No OS/applications, HD is supposed to be wiped clean. If it snows hard enough tonight to keep me home tomorrow I'll look at it then; I've been surfing since I got home and there's no more time tonight.

By the way, WLVR is great.

UPDATE: Note that this is a late night entry for Tuesday, rather than early Wednesday...

Pynchon, Pynchon, Pynchon

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 15.5% body fat

Looks like tomorrow will be my first real running test: it'll probably be drizzling in the morning, we'll see how things work out in those circumstances. This mornig it was snowing, but not much -- still very cold though, single digits before the sun comes up.

Pretty good day yesterday, by the way: brunch was excellent at the Green Cafe, though the place was as chilly as ever. The hike was good as well, though we got such a late start -- we being myself, Joe, Cos, and Daaaaave -- that we didn't bother to go all the way to the Pinnacle, just up "the initial" and down "the Missy," these names being what we called the first climb (of many) and the final downhill (named in honor of downhill racer Missy Giove), way back in 1995 & 1996, when the Chain Gang did hill training there on Wednesday nights. I can't believe that I still know the place as well as I do, after that many years...

Anyway, Joe had rented "Once Upon A Time in Mexico," which is a great move but the third in a trilogy. Turns out Cos has not only cable (unlike either Joe or myself), but a copy of "El Mariachi," the first one, on VCR. So, I grabbed a few of those holiday brews still lying around, plus a little hummos & pita, and they cooked a dinner, and we caught "The Simpsons," where Thomas Pynchon played himself with a paper bag over his head. Now that I've seen him, I'd know him anywhere... Then came "El Mariachi." Just as stylized as "Once Upon A Time in Mexico," though with poorer production values, and in Spanish with English subtitles. It was like watching folklore being invented, or maybe folk motifs being turned into a movie.

By the way, Joe seems to think he's in a battle for my soul, or at least my stomach. I borrowed a vegan book from him a week or two ago, he's all hyped up about my healthier eating habits, and he took great offense to a recent disparaging remark by Brian about my dieting... yesterday was vegan brunch, vegan dinner, I even brought over organic vegan snacks and organic beer... I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd had a turkey sandwich before coming over.

That was yesterday. Today was work, then spinning (this was my fourth consecutive Monday, I'm so proud), now a little pre-snowstorm shopping, and then to bed. Yo, later.

Morning weigh-in:180.0#, 15.5% body fat

Didn't got to the movie last night: Route 33, the main road north, was closed (don't know why) and alternates would have taken me too long. So, I phoned in my regrets and went to Which Brew (well duh!), to see A Pair of Armadillos (aka the Aardvarks). The original Armadillos were a good bar band that broke up a while ago, and this duo is a remnant of the original; I at least partly expected a trio, since this dude Jason, a friend of my old next door neighbor Joe McK, had been playing drums with them but I guess not. I also expected Joe G to show up at 8:00, but it turns out he fell asleep and never made it out...

Breakfast eaten, laundry and dishwasher scrubbing away, and I'm heading to Bethlehem. Meeting Joe & Cos at the Green Cafe for a little brunch, then heading up to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary for a hike.