Codeine

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 6.5% BF

Totally out of it, tired & groggy, not my usual quick-witted self the past few days. It may just be the germs beating me up, but I looked at the cough medicine and -- surprise! -- it contains codeine. So actually, I may still be coughing at night, I'm just too doped up to realize it...

My friend Brian is a 7th grade teacher, and he told me the other day about a girl they had to send to the hospital, after she claimed she ate a whole bottle of some pills. They didn't really believe her but could take no chances; and it turned out to be a false alarm. Brian said he was trying to get her to 'fess up, told her how not-fun it would be to get her stomach pumped.

That reminded me of the story about when my brother Kevin and I were toddlers, and we (him, mostly) ate a bottle of "batman pills," otherwise know as aspirin. The story as told to Brian was mostly about how he had to get his stomach pumped, because he was too stubborn to drink the ipecac or let the nurse make him gag with a tongue depressor, but I'm thinking now about this cough syrup , how purple it is and how grapey good it tastes, wouldn't you want something this potentially dangerous to taste at least a little bit nasty?

Don, you're turning into a prude.

Bronchitis! Woo Hoo!

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 177#, 11.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Wednesday) 177.5#, 8.5% BF (say what?)

Woke up around 1:00 AM Tuesday, couldn't stop coughing, coughing so hard I'd gag, etc, lasted until around 6:00. I skipped work, slept all day and went to the doctor at 5:30. Bronchitis: antibiotics, cough supressant, decongestant. I also asked for and got a new prescription for Astelin spray -- normally I get this when I got to the doctor but it's always "no refills," and I would like to be on it permanently, it's the best stuff I've found yet for my nose. Looked online, saw no long term side-effects (was worried that this might be why I could only get it occasionally), asked the doctor and he said "no problem, here you go."

After that I went to the "Salisbury Trailbuilding Summit" in Bethlehem. Met Doug & Eric for dinner at Tulum, then walked over to the Wildflower Cafe to meet everyone else. (Nice place, really crunchy coffeeshop in Southside Bethlehem, right around the corner from 3rd Street Chicken & Ribs.) The meeting was pretty fruitful, I think we all came away with a consensus of what needs to be done, what we'd like to do first, what we'd like to see in the way of trails, etc. Things look good for Salisbury... We also talked a little bit about Jim Thorpe, possibly doing some work up there in the near future, fix the ice-storm damage.

Tonight is another early bedtime.

I Just Wanna Get There Faster

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 15% BF

Yesterday was a holiday and a snowstorm, so even though I saw a number of stupid accidents the drive to/from work was OK. Today, however, was a real pain, lots of people on the road, and a majority of them were idiots. Not sure if it was Jersey thing, or maybe only something my brother Kevin used to say, but he called them Dickey Moe's, as in "Dickey Moe, the Left Lane Dick." Commuter traffic, high-stress ballet and if someone doesn't know what they're doing it screws everything up -- many of those out this morning. The way home was via Harmony Township and Merril Creek, so I didn't have to deal with all those bozos. (It doesn't take much much to screw up a country road either, but I lucked out tonight.)

Listening: I dug out my old Smashing Pumpkins CD, Gish, and have been listening to it in the car. I used to listen to this a lot in the basement at my old apartment, while doing laundry and working on the bike; the first two songs, "I Am One" and "Siva," were what I'd use to psych myself for races. I still think "I Am One" would make a great start to a bike video.

Reading: The Fellowship of the Ring, a guilty pleasure.

Thinking about: Today is the 62nd anniversary, or so Wikipedia reminds me, of the execution of Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst, leaders in the White Rose Society. They were a group of idealistic German intellectuals, young veterans and college students, dedicated to nonviolent resistance to the Nazis, busted for un-American activities and guillotined on this date in 1943.

Doing: Laundry. I may go down to Which Brew tonight for dinner, something I haven't done in a while, at least not on a Tuesday.

One last thing: Happy 1st Birthday to my neice Olivia.

Monday Lunchtime Catch-Up

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 14% BF

Well, got the car back, on Saturday morning; Doug gave me a ride over. (I blew off the gym since I've been fighting a cold, and the workout would have been right in the middle of the prime car-getting window of opportunity.) Doug & Lori went to look at some Subarus while they were there, but ended up buying a Toyota from Krause later in the day. I think that they were a bit put off by their experiences with the Subaru dealers, and seeing me go through my repair woes may have been the last straw, and they went with what's essentially been "their brand" all along.

Friday night was therefore my last night on foot. I went down to Which Brew, where Three Monks were playing (with a fourth monk on sax/flute), and it was owner K-Jo's 40th birthday party. Good times, and the place was packed: lotsa K-Jo relatives, big fan base for the band. I didn't know too many people though (hung out mainly with Stu), and it was very crowded so I left "early" at midnight. Stu and Kathy went to see Sarah Ayers at the Bluetone, which I probably would have enjoyed but I wasn't up for anymore fun, I was tired and that cough/cold thing was still plagueing me.

So that was Friday night. Saturday was spent getting the car, then playing catch-up with all the chores/errands that needed a car: drycleaning, groceries, etc; Saturday night was back to Which Brew to see the Insidious Rays play acoustic. Once again the place was packed, popular band, this time it seemed to be a very "Bethlehem" crowd, not surprising since they are a Bethlehem band... saw a few people I recognized from the Green Cafe, the Funhouse etc. Again, went home early.

Sunday was a very pleasant ride at South Mountain, me and Doug and Rich B. I felt I was riding the technical stuff a little better than last weekend, and though I was coughing a lot whenever we stopped, I never had any respiratory distress while riding, even on the worst "lungbuster" climbs. Went home, did laundry and took a nap, which essentially morphed into an early bedtime, slept through the snowstorm. Today I got up early, hopped in the car and drove in. lotsa crashes everywhere but my trusty (I hope) Outback made it through...