Friday, June 26, 2009

These Things Come In Threes

RIP Michael Jackson: I was never much of a fan (though I did watch the cartoon as a kid), and I would have been just fine if I never heard "Billie Jean" or "Thriller" ever again but they're all over the airwaves... Here is the best elegy so far. So sad in so many ways.
 
RIP Farrah Fawcett: I didn't have the poster, but I think my brother Chris did -- I was always more of a Kate Jackson fan myself, but she turned out to be a really good actress after the Charlie's Angels days. She wasn't as young as Michael Jackson but this is still a bummer.
 
Shine On, Diamond Steve: A high school friend passed away on Tuesday. I still don't know much about the circumstances, but Steve had had health problems recently, maybe diabetes or something, and he was a guy who wasn't likely to walk away from his appetites... Best guitarist that I've ever known personally.
 

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

A Most Pleasant Interlude

Morning weigh-in: 174.5#, 11% BF
 
Anne and I were planning to ride the towpath yesterday, when we got a call from Doug: he was wondering what we were doing because he wanted to ride as well. Long story short, he came over and we rode down to Riverside Park in Easton. Sometimes fast, sometimes mellow but it was a really nice social ride. The path is amazingly green right now too, very pretty.
 
Tonight I'm riding Fiddler's Elbow before the gym, then meeting Anne and the post-knitting crowd (ie her friends Deb and Donna) at Brew Works. Still didn't post those turtle pictures...

Monday, June 22, 2009

The Itch

Morning weigh-in: 176.5, 13% BF
 
Interesting weekend, not much riding...
 
We hit Porters on Thursday night, and saw The Doug Hawke Experience as well as a boatload of the crowds old (Arnie, Rathi, Dave, Bob, Doug & Lori), and new (Judy, Donna).
 
Friday I got in a short ride, maybe 15 miles (and still feeling the effects of the previous weekend) in between chores, then we took off for NJ for Lara's birthday BBQ -- yet more of the old WB crowd, and also some of the yoga/bellydance crowd. Good times, and once again there was an impromptu magic show.
 
Saturday was to be Greg's long road ride, but I took a look at the radar and decided against it. I went to Anne's yoga class instead, then we hung out at Wired for a big chunk of the afternoon. (I got some more done on that MTO program, and finally wrote a makefile for it.) After that we caught a movie (Last Call) at the film festival. Dinner was at the Tally Ho with Donna & Joe, and then we all met Doug & Lori at the Brew Works.
 
Sunday was kind of mellow, but then the sun came out and we took a walk along the canal. I took a bunch of pictures, mostly of turtles (including one huge snapper); I'll probably post them in a day or two, so stay tuned. Dinner was at the Brew works.
 
I was pretty tired yesterday despite not doing much, mainly because I took a bunch of benadryl. Skin problems, eczema sort of simmering along for a month or so, and it really exploded while camping last weekend -- poison ivy? -- then got worse over the past week.
 
Meanwhile: We hadn't seen Anne's friend Deb in a few days, then Saturday afternoon she reappeared on the scene, telling a tale of an insect bite, hives and incipient anaphylactic shock, and driving herself to the hospital -- she did the wrong thing there, but she did one thing right: she said she took benadryl, and a little lightbulb went off over my head... I spent all day yesteerday feeling doped up and lethargic, but the skin is doing much better now.
 
Tonight will hopefully be a towpath ride on the singlespeed, and tomorrow I think I'll bring the road bike to work, and ride before hitting the gym.