Summer Turning Ponderously In The Sky

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 178#, 10.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Friday): 177#, 12.5% BF

Well, here it is: the Fourth of July weekend is upon us, half the summer is now past...

Rode J'burg on the singlespeed last night, starting with Brian, and Doug & Lori on the tandem, then we lost brian, then it was just me, then I ran into Lee, Marvin (Lee Marvin! Ha Ha! get it?), and Keith, who of course were hammering along. Also saw Rich B, back from Canada and riding with his girlfriend's son Romaine. We all (w/ exception of Rich & Romaine) ended up hanging at the lot, then D&L and I went to Brian's for some pizza and to try out his new picnic table. Greg M stopped by, rode over on his motorcycle.

Tonight, if the weather holds, I'll be doing a Towpath/Sals ride, otherwise it's a gym night, then off to Which Brew -- word is, the new Mug Club mugs have finally arrived...

Listening: Yes's Close to the Edge, Stan Ridgeway's greatest hits CD (both solo work & w/ Wall of Voodoo), Songs That Made This Country Great.

It Didn't Feel Like A Hot Lap

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 10.5% BF

Rode the towpath last night, had a 15.1 mph average over maybe 22-23 miles, 1:28 total time. Not bad! I was drenched in sweat afterward, literally standing and dripping for about a half hour in the backyard. Shower, some phone calls, laundry, and then I hit Which Brew for dinner: no lime-chili wings, but I had the sesame-ginger ones and a cold avocado-cucumber soup, plus an Allagash white. A number of people were there, but none were my "typical Tuesday night crowd," no reason to stay so I left a bit early (relatively speaking).

By the way, yesterday was the retirement luncheon for my boss's boss, the guy I've worked for since I got here -- and my fifteen year anniversary just passed. Things will sure be different around here.

Re-reading: William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. It's really a rehash of several of his other books -- and some day I'd like to sit the author down and explain how stupid the phrase "long-chain monomers" makes him look -- but definitelly a compelling read.

Down at Ragged Rock

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 11.5% BF

"Ragged Rock" is what Chabon calls the end of the world (or "worlds," as in all the different planes of existence) in Summerland; it's a play on the old Norse legend of Ragnarok (aka "gotterdammerung" or "doom of the gods") the final battle at the end of the world, which makes sense, since a good chunk of the backstory & infrastructure in Summerlands is based on a mix of Norse and Native American legends: Coyote (the trickster, Loki of Outgard, Satan) is trying to kill the tree that holds up the four worlds...

But this got me thinking about another meaning for Ragnarok, or rather, another reference to it. I once read a sci-fi story, involving gangs, an intelligence-enhanced gorilla (whose intelligence the govt destroys, as a feasability study on how to defeat the gangs) and a computer system, reminiscent of ENIAC (or maybe Vonnegot's EPICAC), called RAGNAROK. Good story, sure wish I could track it down but can find no reference anywhere.

A short trip on the SS Linux: I spent a fun evening playing with this program last night, didn't even know I had it on my machine. Kind of clunky I thought, but amazingly powerful, and wicked fast even on the 3D stuff. So, what does cos(x*y)*exp(x**2+y**2) look like?

Summerland

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 12.5% BF

Friday night I rode the towpath, but was too tired to do Sals so it was just a trip out to Sand Island and back. I ran into Greg H running at Sand Island, talked for a bit, then ran into Joe G on his 'cross bike, stopped and talked to him too, so there was a big chunk of non-ride time in there, but I was out for two hours on a ninety-minute ride, not good, not good...

I went to Which Brew for dinner, saw Theresa there, first time in quite a while. She still had a bit of throatiness when she talked but was mostly better (she'd had mono, & it did a number on her voice). I decided to see what was up at Porters, ran into Terry Briggs who bought me a beer, so I bought him one, yadda yadda. Never really talked to him before, interesting character -- he owns the building that Which Brew is in, had his own bar there for exactly 10 years.

I got home late but not too late, then blew it by opening up Michael Chabon's Summerland: I read half of it before I quit for the night.

Saturday was the usual "selfish day:" coffee shop, then gym, then errands. Saturday night was Eric & Kris's party, where the Insidious Rays played. Very nice, lots of people were there that I didn't really expect to see. The band was awesome, better in fact than they usually seem in their usual haunts, and these guys are really good.

Sunday I went to help out at the monthly Allamuchy trail maintenance, which was followed by a very strenuous ride (the pace wasn't bad, or wouldn't have been under ordinary circumstances, but it was ridiculously hot and I had nothing). Back home, turkey sub for dinner, then sat on the porch and finished Summerland. Still can't figure out if it's an adult book (not porn, but written for grownups) written to seem like a children's book, or a children's book written to seem like an adult book written to seem like a children's book...