the bounceback

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 9.5% BF

I set up a yahoo photo page here for my public photos. Still not sure how big I should make them: I want the best possible quality & yahoo's storage space is "unlimited," but bandwidth, on dialup at home, is not. Also, uploading to yahoo is a big pain unless I find a way to automate the process.

My current strategy should be, to set up galleries of "good enough for the web" image files at SDF, then put the bigger image files at yahoo, where they also have photo ordering features -- like, who doesn't at this point?

Felt tired, somewhat under the weather again last night -- possible food allergy from lunch? Worked late, got home & took a nap, then ate a falafel wrap and some Taco Hell & played with 'puter. I felt much better after eating the greasy bad food...

UPDATE: Thought I'd mention what I'm reading: One Man's Meat by E. B. White (Charlottes's Web, The Elements of Style -- that E. B. White). Wry and clever urban writer relocates to a Maine coastal farm in the late 1930's, writes essays about his experiences that are later collected in book form. I wouldn't call it great because it wasn't meant to be "great" (its tone is casual & informal) but it is thoughtful, clear, vivid, compelling... in a word, well, great.

post-Indie Day

Morning weigh-in (Mon): 172.5#, 10% BF
Morning weigh-in (Tue): 172.5#, 13% BF

So, the holiday weekend...

Friday night: blew off riding to play with the computer. I put some of my recent digital photos onto the hard drive, then experimented with some command-line image manipulation utilities, mainly pnmscale. I'd like to keep my photos in the big (~800K) format, but make smaller copies for posting on the web; I'm also trying to find formats other than JPEG, that I can use for interim storage (ie, between bouts of "image manipulation") that don't cause a loss of image quality...

In other news, I set up a Yahoo group account for my family (mainly to get them to join Yahoo so we can share photos better), we'll see how that works out. And one final geek-out: I sent the $36 one-time fee to the Super Dimension Fortress via PayPal, now I have a full account on their machine w/ 300MB storage and access to the full set of UNIX commands. First thing I did was change my shell to bash.

Late-nite dinner at Which Brew, which was quiet.

Saturday I had breakfast at the coffee shop, then went to the gym; I saw Dawn for the first time in about a month -- she just got back from her honeymoon, with many stories including her own lost luggage tale. I spent most of the rest of the day cleaning the house: took a bunch of garbage bags full of old clothes to the charity dropoff, threw out a pile of old boxes, and cashed in all my loose change lying around. The place still looks like a disaster area -- worse than when I started, actually -- but progress was definitely made.

Dinner was Which Brew, again.

Sunday was the July 4th road ride and barbecue. The ride was about 70 miles, hilly, and hot -- a beautiful ride! About fifteen people did the long ride, the usual suspects plus John C, Tiasha, and Chris from the Bulldogs; a few others did shorter rides. We met back at Joe's mom's house, big BBQ, pool party, major fireworks... Theresa came later with Connor, & that was pretty cool because there were a bunch of kids he played with.

Monday: I sort of slacked, but dropped my bike box off at Doug's for his use on their upcoming trip to Vail. We grabbed lunch in Bethlehem at that Mexican place on Main Street, then hit a CD store. I got an Echo & the Bunnymen re-release and the soundtrack to O Brother where Art Thou? Not sure what Doug got but it was good.

I became kind of energetic later in the day: cleaned/lubed the Turner, then rode down the Delaware towpath -- something I hadn't done in years -- to just past Riegelsville and back, maybe 30-35 miles total. On the way back, I stopped at the Raubsville Tavern (you ride right past the outdoor bar) and got a margarita and a Lynchburg Lemonade -- wow!

After the ride I stopped off at T's and watched The Big Lebowski.

duh, part 2

Morning weigh-in: 176#, 12% BF

Recommendo: Saw Fahrenheit 9/11 last night. Incredible movie. Vintage Moore: viciously partisan (of course), manipulative (somewhat), maybe misleading (time will tell -- but I'd heard most of his revelations years ago, and most of them seem pretty true), but much better than his usual stuff. Very powerful, funny at times but in the end really sad.

Anyway, I was supposed to go riding at Round Valley tonight, but I'm working late, didn't bring bike and will instead hit the towpath. There's a reception for "Taming the Bicycle" tonight at the Banana Factory, and I think I'll head down to see it.

The Tour starts tomorrow.

these 4-day weeks are pretty nice

Morning weigh-in: 174#, 12% BF

Rode last night from Eric's house: me, Doug, Greg, Eric, Janna's Eric, and Joe & Cindy. He lives in the "hilly zone" south of the Bethlehem-Allentown border, and the ride definitely had its share of ups and downs... very difficult I thought; though I felt like I was riding OK I felt a little tired & out-of-sorts (poor sleep, stomach problems). Something nasty has been going around, fever/chills, sweats, fatigue & muscle aches. It got Doug & Joe, and reportedly Greg H as well; Doug's mom has something similar right now but also with upset stomach!! -- watch the paranoia...

duh

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 14% BF

A little dull today, not much to say... got my luggage back -- made them deliver it to the office, worked a little late but not too, rode last nite on the towpath (brought lights, used them for the last little bit), and met T and her neighbors/friends at the Riverside, a place with a deck overlooking the Delaware River.

Back From Florida

Morning weigh-in: 176#, 13.5% BF

Not a bad trip, though I'm still missing my luggage (nice move US Airways). I guess I should be thankful it happened on the return trip though...

I flew down Friday, after a bit of an impromptu party Thursday night at Which Brew with T (we went for dinner after riding the towpath)and a couple of others (Ed, Murph, Margerita). I had the next day off, but I still had to pack and my flight was 6:50 AM -- ouch! The flight was pretty uneventful, ABE to Ft Myers w/ connection in Pittsburg, then car rental & the hour or so drive to Marco.

Saturday was downtime, so I worked on my sunburn, then went out to dinner with all involved in the Christening. Baptism on Sunday, followed by barbecue at Kevin's, and I flew home yesterday. Plenty of photos, maybe I'll post a few here.

I stopped at Doug & Lori's on the way home, ended up in plans by Eric to see Fahrenheit 911 but it was sold out so we went to Tulum for dinner. Real food, real beer...

week's winding down already?

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 175#, 11% BF
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 175#, 11% BF

Last night was the Chain Gang Time Trial, on an approximately 14.5 mile long, hilly loop from the C's house. Joe & Cindy, Greg, Doug, Eric and myself, and Judy kept the time. I did it in 42.09, for an average of 20.6 mph -- not too shabby, except that I came in 2nd to last...

After that I went to Which Brew. It was Rachel's husband Bill's 50th birthday party -- Rachel was the first bartender at Weyerbacher: pretty girl, super-smart. I met T down there, and I finally wheedled out of her that she was fairly expert at UNIX printing, especially using nroff. I knew there was something I liked about her!

When I got home I signed up for a free account at the Super Dimension Fortress, a public-access UNIX system.

This is probably my last post for a few days, as I'm going to Florida tomorrow morning for my niece's baptism. See you next week!

they call it stormy monday, but tuesday's just as bad

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 11% BF

Rode last night at the 'burg with Brian and Curt. Curt (owner of Curt's Cyclery)was on his Surly singlespeed, similar to the one I plan to buy soon from him; Brian was back on his usual bike after getting his rear hub replaced, and I ... forgot my Camelback. I actually rode pretty good without the extra weight, but I felt naked without it and of course had nothing to drink. Luckily, it was pleasant and cool out, and I grabbed something afterward at the first convenience store I passed on the way home. I'll probably hit the gym tonight, avoid the rainy world outside.

Meantime, books: now that Mason & Dixon is out of the way I can continue in earnest with The Education of Henry Adams, and pick up One Man's Meat where I left off.

Love and Mortality

Just finished Mason & Dixon. Wow. That has probably the most bittersweet ending of any book I know. Gravity's Rainbow is still Pynchon's most brilliant and involved book, but M&D, despite the rollicking, complicated fun along the way, is deeper and sadder and far more beautiful. G'night.

Back From Camping

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 12% BF

Wednesday Night was the Chain Gang meeting. It seems so long ago now...

Thursday: was spent running around, getting ready for camping, then my neighbor's wake (pretty rough: his wife, even though sedated, lost it at one point), then I swung by Theresa's to check out her new car, a Volkswagen diesel station wagon, then "dinner" and drinks at Which Brew -- gotta love vacation!

Friday: I got up to the campsite in Jim Thorpe about noon, met John C and his friends/co-workers Bruce and Mark, set up camp and hit the trails by about 3:00. We rode Psycho Betty's Revenge and Bob's Option, which is only maybe a 6-7 mile loop but fairly technical, then cooled off in the lake. We biked downtown for dinner (and we also grabbed a few beers with Rich B, Greg H and his friend Mike at the Hotel Switzerland) and returned via the Switchback Trail in the dark. I went to bed, but those guys stayed up a little later...

Saturday: We drove to Tamaqua, the new local hotspot, to ride the trails near Bungalow Park. No other Gangsters showed up, but somehow I became "leader" for a pretty big group after Greg H told everyone I knew the trails there... we did the racecourse, then stopped for lunch when we found ourselves back at the park -- and suddenly our picnic tables had at least 40 people hanging out, friends of friends, a "six degrees of we camped with you last year" sort of thing going on. Our plan after lunch was to try and find the big field, a reclaimed stripmine that covered half the mountain, and the trails beyond it on the powerline ridge. Lots of backing and filling, and we finally discovered the powerline but not the trails I wanted; instead, we rode a cool downhill to Tuscarora Lake Park, found a trail around the lake and took a fun road descent back to Tamaqua. A shout-out to the Jersey Action Riders, especially Barb, Mary, Andrea and What's-Her-Name, who kept the ride fun and on course.

We ate in-camp Saturday night, then Mark and Bruce took off for home. John and I paid a nominal visit to the VMB campsite after dinner, but we were both tired and crashed early.

Sunday: John left in the morning, and I packed my stuff up but went for a ride with Rich B, Beth McG, and Joe G (yup); we did the Switchback to Summit Hill, then the Ridge Trail and other singlerack on Pisgah Mtn. When we got back I hopped in the lake, grabbed a burger and hit the road for home.

Dinner was an entire pepperoni pizza, with Gatorade and some Czech beer and Mason & Dixon, followed by an early bedtime.

Happy Bloomsday!

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 172.5#, 12.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 174#, 10% BF

Not just any Bloomsday either... 100 years ago today was the day, in fictional Dubliner Leopold Bloom's life, that James Joyce immortalized in Ulysses. Bloomsday is now a holiday in Dublin, and in this centennial year it's an even bigger celebration than usual. So go out and lift a Guinness for old James & Leopold, or (if you're brave) maybe a Bushmills or a Jameson's -- it'll be easier than reading the book!

Got my plane tix for Florida last night, then had dinner with T since I'll be gone camping this weekend, and tonight is the Chain Gang meeting; tomorrow and Friday I'm on vacation. This weekend is Mountain Bike Weekend in Jim Thorpe, but my original plans to go up Thursday afternoon have been changed: my neighbor Ted died last Friday of injuries he got in a truck accident. The wake is tomorrow evening, so I'll probably get ready for camping in the morning, then go to the viewing, and then head up to JT on Friday morning.

an interesting (and busy) weekend

Morning weigh-in: 174.5#, 12.5% BF

Friday: Towpath ride, then ...what? Chores or something, I already forget, but I ended up at Which Brew (of course) for dinner. Hung out with T, some others.

Saturday: A beautiful day. In the morning was the Aloha Ride, a 50-miler through areas north of Hackettstown/Blairstown, the hilly back roads near Walpack Center (ie in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area). This was just a great ride.

The afternoon was at the 15DollarLime fundraiser for MoveOn.org, then came naptime, then later some pizza and "The Great Escape" at T's.

Sunday: The morning was spent looking at a new park where bikers have permission to build, maintain, and ride on a trail system. A bunch of us did a walkdown of the park, terrain, inventory of existing trails, etc... In the afternoon I went on a ride with Theresa, got her bike in working order and we rode the bike paths from Hugh More Park to the Chain Dam.

UPDATE: Rode Jacobsburg tonight after work, then came home and read these words in Mason & Dixon:

On June 14th, they stand atop the Allegheny Divide.

Sweet! By the way, The Education of Henry Adams is better than I remember it (though I do remember it as only bogging down near the end, and I'm at the beginning right now) -- every page, every paragraph, has its gem.

Friday (Thank God It's)

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 12.5% BF

Not much to say. All quiet on the Linux front (NVIDIA servers were cranky last nite so I didn't download the new driver software), stopped by T's to exchange her bent wheel with a loaner from me, and her bike (a Wal-Mart Mongoose) has 24" wheels -- WTF? Riding the towpath tonight, maybe WB (again) for dinner, maybe not.

It's official: I just mailed my entry for the Wilderness 101. Gulp!

Day of the Locust, a Day of Song

Morning weigh-in: 174.5%, 12.5% BF

The heat must have finally got them going: yesterday and today the cicadas were extremely loud near work.

Rode yesterday on my own, did the Hellertown loop but started late so I skipped the Morvale Road "Hill Climb of Death" -- the ride was hilly enough even without it. Funny though, and I can't say whether I'd attribute it to my new gearing or some newfound climbing strength, but this ride doesn't seem so hellishly tough anymore.

Got home, did more laundry including my Camelback, went to laundromat to dry it and had a late dinner at Which Brew -- busted! Theresa was there: I didn't tell her I was going & she didn't tell me, like that commercial where the couple breaks their date (each claiming sickness or something), and then they accidentally meet at a nightclub... To be perfectly honest, I think the "interpersonal compatibility index" between us isn't all that high.
Oh well.

On the Linux front: still messing with NVIDIA & the new kernel, still unsuccessful.

Linux Voyager: win some, lose some

Morning weigh-in: 174.5#, 7% BF (WTF?)

Went to that Democratic meetup last night, but it was kind of lame, everyone seemed tired.

Came home, did more laundry and recompiled the kernel -- this time I got all the bugs out of my procedure; the installation was actually easy once you know how to do it right. Should have read the HOWTO before starting...

Unfortunately, something went wrong with the next step, video card installation. I thought I totally lost everything for a minute, but reconfigured X to think I had just a generic monitor, and I was back in business, sort of. Now I have sound, but the 3D graphics accelerator has vanished -- no GL, thus no cool games for a while.

Tonight I may run through the process one more time, make a new kernel but modularize it a lot more than I did, then try again with the Nvidia driver install. I'm supposed to do an offroad group ride from Eric's, but it looks like it's becoming a big production ("bring lights," BBQ afterward) and I have things to do, like drying my clothes (otherwise I'll literally have nothing to wear tomorrow), food shopping, and fiddling with the 'puter. I think I'll just do the "benchmark ride" on my own after work.

PS Happy Birthday Dad!!

Transit of Venus

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 11.5% BF

Got up this morning to watch the Transit of Venus, but my "light from pinhole in one paper plate shines onto the other paper plate" method of viewing left a lot to be desired. (I'll get another chance in eight years, so I have time to find a more effective viewing method.) There are some great shots here, though. This is especially interesting to me right now, since I'm in the middle of Mason & Dixon, whose main events are bracketed by the celebrated Transits of 1761 & 1769.

Ride: I rode at the burg last night. Myself, Rich B, Greg P and Kathy S (who was hurting, suffering from allergies/asthma worse even than mine, and in the throes of a medication change). We took it pretty slow, and I skipped out at 7:45. A nice ride, but the place was a little muddy. Actually, a lot muddy. Ran into Rob L and his wife Sarah, both wearing Campbell's Soup jerseys. Rob broke his collarbone racing a few weeks ago, and was riding one-handed -- the animal!

Dinner: was Mug Club Night at Which Brew. I met Brian there, also Theresa. Brian was a little miffed when I told him about T, wouldn't come over to meet her. She also seemed a little distant or preoccupied...

Computer: I think I have it (Nvidia vs my system upgrade) figured out, but I haven't done anything about it yet. I must recompile the kernel once more anyway, I may do that tonight when I get home, before running back out.

Tonight: I'll be going to the Democratic Meetup at Wegmans.

Linux Voyager (part umpteen)

Morning weigh-in: 174#, 11.5% BF

Saturday night I had dinner with T at Which Brew, then went home and studied the situation with the new kernel. My strategy: delete the image I made already, recompile with new configuration (specifically: I neglected to allow for RAM disks last time), use something called mkinitrd, and set up LILO read the image file thus created. (I really think I ought to take a look at this. When all else fails, read the directions.) I got the kernel recompiled, modules done etc, then Sunday morning I installed the new modules and ran mkinitrd, but I was also going for a century ride so I had to put it aside for a while...

The ride: we started from Greg's house around 10:00 AM, and Greg (uncharacteristically) opted for a less structured ride. Myself, Greg, Joe C, Doug, Brian, Bob W and his friend Chris from the Bulldogs. It was a pretty decent ride, lots of fun and at a pretty fast pace even if it ddn't feel that way most of the time. Brian dropped out before we did Blue Mountain, and Doug & I left a little after that (we ended up with 82 miles), while the crew continued, looping around back roads in the Slate Belt to get up to their 100-mile quota. We had a little lunch/dinner afterward at Gregs, burgers etc.

When I got home, I tried my new kernel, but it failed to start the X server (I think I have to deal with Nvidia 3rd-party modules), and I was too tired to do anything about it...

Rainy Day

no morning weigh in, ahhhh...

Rode the towpath yesterday, ran into Joe and Cindy, riding with Talley their dog. I totally did not expect them, but they say they ride there almost weekly now; I guess this is a good substitute for Cindy's "real singletrack" fix until her neck situation is resolved. We met at the Bethlehem Boat Club boat launch, and I turned around & rode with them to the baseball field, then back towards Bethlehem on the singletrack, parts of which I never rode on before last night, though I have jogged the entire thing. We got to Freemansburg before I decided I'd better head home.

During the ride I had a later Mozilla version downloading (v1.7, release candidate whatever); when I got back the connection was broken but the (13 MB) download had already completed, luckily. I then re-connected and started downloading the latest 2.4 kernel (2.4.26, another 30 MB), showered and went over to T's for a bite to eat, a few Sierra Nevada Pale Ales and some Raiders of the Lost Ark on her new TV. I got home around 12:30 and found that the kernel download was fine as well...

When I got up this morning I blew off the gym, instead installing the new Mozilla (it went just fine, though some of my favorite themes are now obsolete), and the new kernel (it went not-so-fine). Make xconfig, make dep, make bzImage, make modules, make modules_install, yadda yadda, put new image in boot directory, upgraded lilo.conf, rebooted and -- got a kernel panic. More fiddling with lilo didn't help, so I may start over from source.

here comes the weekend

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 10.5% BF

Looks like tomorrow will be a washout, which means our plan to ride Blue Marsh on Sunday may have to be modified -- the place gets pretty soggy, and we planned to do two laps, or fifty miles. Greg M suggested a road century instead, hmmmm...

Meantime, there's tonight on the towpath, then probably WB for dinner (unless that 15DollarLime.org thing is happening tonight) -- then maybe over to Porter's Pub to see Duende? I'll have to give T a call, see what she's up to.

Worked late yesterday, then stopped at Merrill Creek on the way home and hiked for about an hour. More people than usual there, I didn't have the place to myself this time but it was still nice.

the Cheese Grate ride

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 10.5% BF

The "Wednesday Night Roadie Geek" ride last night was a little rough: we were caught in thunderstorms (which of course started when we did), taking shelter on the side of the local vo-tech during the worst of it and then riding in the rain for about a half hour. (Not really that bad, actually, once the body started cranking out the watts.) After that the weather cleared up, though the roads were wet. There were several "open grate" metal bridges which were scary slippery -- and on the last and biggest one, Greg M took a spill at speed. Knocked the wind out of himself, got bounced around and scraped up but was able to finish the ride. A little BBQ and beer at Brian's and everything was OK.

Not much time for reading or the computer lately. I get in a page or two each in Henry Adams and Mason & Dixon, at breakfast, just before bed etc. Read half of One Man's Meat at a sitting, will let that sit for a while, at least until after M&D.

wednesday, wednesday (unfinished weekend thoughts)

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 177#, 11% BF
Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 176.5#, 10.5% BF

When I saw my trainer Dawn on Saturday, I gave her the wedding presents I bought: two Camelbacks. She and her fiancee were leaving to get married in Florida the next day, then honeymooning in St. Lucia or somewhere like that -- not the regular hotel/casino/restaurant part of the island, but some eco-resort section, nestled in the mountains that I expect she'll make her new husband climb...

She was also talking about her sister, who is a bear-control officer for New Jersey. They have a more work than ever, and a smaller budget (and staff) to do it with so they're relying on volunteers; Dawn does this occasionally, and has shown me photos of her holding bear cubs etc. I asked her to put in a good word for me, see if I'd be allowed to help one day and she said sure, though it means taking a vacation day to do it. All right!

I got an email on Monday from my Mom, saying my grandmother was not feeling too well. Her eyesight is not too good anymore, and her hearing is getting worse, and she feels cut off from the world, especially her family, who live all over. I thought it would be a good idea to write her a letter, including photos, telling her about my latest vacation. Turned out it's 16 pages, so I haven't sent it yet until I get postage figured out, but it was pretty easy to make so I think I might write a few more, maybe take pictures so I have something to send her.

Anyway, last night I went to Which Brew for Ed's birthday. Ed is reasonably regular at the WB (also a Virtual Pubster), and a good friend of T, who called me to meet her there. I worked late, then hiked at Merrill Creek on the way home to check on my friends the cicadas, and only got the message at maybe 9:00. Things were winding down by the time I arrived, but it was still pretty nice. I was starving, so I had dinner there, sure didn't bother to play "catch up" with the revelers.

Memento Mori

Morning weigh-in: 174#, 10% BF

Memorial Day, 2004. Um... rode a hard ride at Allamuchy yesterday, then had a little BBQ at the Workmans. Saturday was close to the usual "selfish day" except I hit the Quadrant. I went in to get a half pound of coffee, then I got a cup to go, then I ordered food and sat down with my cup, then I saw two books to buy...Picked up the autobiographical The Education of Henry Adams, and One Man's Meat by E.B. White.

Today will be low key if at all possible. Maybe a little food shopping, house cleaning; there are thunderstorms supposedly on the way.

TGI Long Weekend

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 14% BF

Saw T again last nite, feel a lot better for it. I stopped by her house Tuesday & hung out for a while, but felt ...stupid... last night I grabbed dinner at Which Brew, where I met her & we really "clicked" again. It didn't hurt that she was in possession of anti-Bush propaganda that she made & printed (nice job, too) -- she just reads Michael Savage because she thinks he's funny. Phew! Also saw that guy Rathi there, with his wife whose name I always forget, plus some others. Dinner itself was an appetizer of "tuna bites" (very rare pieces of seasoned tuna steak), and a bowl of chili. Their chili has less cumin in it lately, which I miss but the beans are a whole lot better.

Since I worked late (until 7:00) I went home past Merrill Creek Reservoir and stopped in for a quick hike. (I did the same thing on Tuesday.) The cicadas are a little behind schedule there, compared to the woods near work: no song, mostly just nymphs crawling around. The woods are full of them, it sounds like rain as they crawl through the leaves. I guess they can't see too well, and head for any tall tree-like thing to climb and pupate (or whatever). If I got close to some and stood still, they would take me for a tree; I got one or two to climb onto my boots, before looking around and realizing I was the center of a slowly converging circle of creepy crawlies... The deer there are pretty tame too, just placidly watching as you walk by, literally within yards of them.

Tonight I'll be hitting the towpath, then uh, back to WB where Duende will be playing.

Flying Bike Alert

Morning weigh-in: 174.5#, 11.5% BF

Wow! Fast ride last night. The usual Wednesday night crew (Doug, Brian, Joe C, Eric, Greg M, Greg P, Pete H and yours truly), only we rode from Doug's house. He had a seriously hilly route figured out: through Lehigh & up South Mountain, then on roads near my "Hellertown ride" route. Since I forgot my Camelback (I usually wear it, full of tools/food/parts/clothes, plus 100 oz water, even on the road) I was traveling light, and was extremely competitive even with the fastest riders, especially on the uphills. The weather was a little cool, and we were all really pushing, so things moved very fast. I still can't believe how fast we were going, and how good I felt doing it.

Afterwards was a cold-cut supper at Doug's, also good times. Lori told us she did her usual ride with Judy & Donna at the 'burg, and (as usual) saw the VMB crowd -- she said they saw Joe & Dave on the ride...

On the bedstand: I'm rereading Mason & Dixon, and enjoying it even more than usual. I can't believe my friends (those who tried it) didn't like it.

flying pig alert

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 12.5% BF
(looks like I've re-inflated from the long ride)

Finished Uzumaki last night: it was OK but not spectacular, really just a collection of weird (well OK, stupid, for the most part) horror stories set in a remote Japanese village, all of which involve spirals.

Dinner: lemon-poppy baked tofu, sauerkraut, & rice. Kickass!

Hell just froze over, since I seem to be dating someone, or I'm on the verge of a relationship, or... something... She has four cats, a dog, and a copy of Savage Nation though, so I'm not too sanguine about long-term prospects but I like her and (much more important) I think she likes me...

Tonight is a road ride, this time from Doug's but once again it promises to be a suffer-fest.

nothing to see here, move along

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 12.5% BF

A good ride last night at Jacobsburg, nice and easy. Scattered thunderstorms were blowing through the area, so there was hardly anyone there, and of the Chain Gang only Brian, Rich B and myself. We chanced a ride anyway though, and lucked out with perfect weather even if the trails were wet in places (probably from the night before). Later on I grabbed dinner at Porters while laundry dried. Excellent food: blackened tuna w/ pineapple-orange salsa, plus string beans in an orange glaze, & rice. Tonight is a "rest nite," working late.

Just finished Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, which was really good but dragged right at the end, and am now reading Uzumaki, a "graphic novel" about a small town possessed by the idea of the spiral. So far it's neither good nor bad, just wierd.

So Tired...

Morning weigh-in: 173#, 12.5% BF

...but it's a good kind of hurt!

Rode yesterday with Doug, we did a metric century on the mountain bikes: from my house to Coffee Works downtown for breakfast, then to Jacobsburg (via Bushkill Creek trail and a few roads), where we rode with a few friends who happened to also be there; from there we took the road, past Nazareth Speedway, down to South Mountain Park at Lehigh, before heading back to Easton via the towpath. A total of 63 miles: 15 at the 'burg, 6 at Lehigh, maybe 12 offroad on the towpath, and the remainder on paved surfaces of one kind or another. It was a hot day, and a long hard ride, and we were spent by the end of it.

Doug & Lori invited me over for a casual post-ride dinner, but Eric & Kris had an impromptu BBQ so we cleaned up, hit Wegmans for some supplies and met Lori over there. The usual suspects: Greg & Judy and Janna & Eric, as well as myself, the Riglers & the Pinkertons. Very pleasant. Lori's birthday is Tuesday, so we had a little cake.

Some catching up:

Friday was also a tough ride: a road loop from Jacobsburg, maybe 2 hours long and brutally fast. Very big crowd too, "slow" & "fast" rides both had about 10 people each. After that they all went ot Cannons while I went to the Which Brew Party.

Saturday I mostly slept, except for going in to work for a few hours, and a little 'puter play -- my Tux Racer skillz have really gone south, ditto SameGnome -- but my bills are done, & I now have one of my fave vacation shots as background and it's beautiful.

The Days Drag But The Weeks Fly By

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 12.5% BF

Well here it is Friday again... a quick recap: Tuesday I worked extra late, then had dinner at Which Brew... Wednesday was the Chain Gang meeting... yesterday I rode the towpath, where I met Doug. We then ran into Judy M & her friend, who were hanging out at Sand Island after leading that "First Strides" women's running clinic. Judy was showing her vacation pics from the Islands, which was way cool -- I'd told Greg I'd go crazy on a trip like that, but it looked really fun in the pictures -- but that broke my time budget and I really had to haul ass to get back to Easton before dark. Dinner was a bowl of chili at Which Brew, and a snifter of Legacy Euphoria.

Tonight I'll be meeting a bunch of people at Jacobsburg, for a road ride with Janna. She's moving to Hawaii soon (poor thing), and I think this is the start of the farewell. They're all going to Cannon's for dinner, then to see some band (the Joes?), but tonight is the Mugger's Ball at -- you guessed it -- Which Brew. Mug Club & investors only, closed to the public, should be good.

I think I'm detecting a pattern to my life.

Heading for an Inevitable Crash

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 11.5% BF

I'm running out of things to say again, so I think things'll quiet down here (again) for a while...

Rode last night at the 'Burg with Curt, and Greg & Judy. Luckily everyone was agreeable to the idea of "easy, social ride" -- I was hurting! -- but then G&J just got back from a sailing vacation, and Curt was on a singlespeed and also on his second ride of the year, or so he claimed.

I'll have to remember this, dinner was excellent, and really quick/easy: lemon-poppy baked tofu (pre-baked of course!), rice, and saurkraut, and a salad. I grated some ginger onto canned peaches, and sprinkled it with cinnamon & sage, then put it in the fridge to save for dessert but forgot about it. Oh well, it'll be there tonight.

Ran this morning, but just got in one mile before peristalsis reared its ugly head and I cut things short ... went in to work an hour early, will probably stay 2 hours late. Sigh.

UPDATE: This is my 100th post.

Not very manic, but just another Monday

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 14% BF

The weekend: Friday was dinner at Which Brew ("Meet the Brewer Night" with Legacy Brewing), Saturday was drycleaning/coffeeshop/run/gym/work, then bike prep and finally Which Brew again for dinner; I wasn't feeling up to snuff, so I split early.

Yesterday we (me, Doug, Brian, Rich B, Joe C, and Bob) went up to Fell Mountain (aka Merli-Sarnoski Park) outside Carbondale. That place is just awesome, and even though we all agreed it really isn't that far away (no worse than French Creek or Blue Marsh), I'm kind of glad it's too far to get regular visits: it's a small park, and I don't want to see it become boring from overuse. Hard technical riding too, it's good to have some recovery between trips...

I'm not sure who can make it tonight, but I'm going to Jacobsburg for the Monday night "recovery ride," hopefully it'll live up to its name and be easy.

ummmm...

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 12.5% BF

Not much to say.

Yesterday I worked until 7:00, then went home & played with the computer (first non-thunderstorm day this week); dinner was tuna & wilted greens over fettucine after 10:00 PM. Today I came in at 7:00 AM, tomorrow I'll be working a half day. I could say "CHA-CHING!" but in reality it's just starting to piss me off...

Tonight I'll be riding the towpath, then probably hitting the WB or best offer if anything else turns up. Tomorrow some friends and I may get together for dinner somewhere in Hackettstown.

A Mighty Road

Morning weigh-in: 175.0#, 14.5% BF

I left work "early" (ie at the proper time) yesterday, and finally hooked up with the Wednesday night road ride crew (Joe & Cindy C, Brian, Doug, and Scott S) despite threatening thunderstorms. They start/finish at Joe & Cindy's house, and wind all around the backroads just south of Blue Mountain (Jacobsburg to Point Phillip, rolling terrain). Many of these guys spent the winter hammering this ride on their fixed-gear bikes, and use it as a hard training ride; they also sprint to township line signs for points, and push each other pretty hard generally.

Needless to say, it was a fast ride. We did about 33 miles or so in about two hours; Doug & Brian both got average speeds of 17.3 MPH, which for this course was fast. I held my own, though I didn't bother even trying to win the sprints (just grabbed the last wheel & held on until things slowed down again), but by the end I was totally used up -- I felt like death for about a half hour after we finished.

J & C had an impromptu barbeque after the ride, dogs, burgers, beans, beer and chips.

No running this morning, and tonight I'll be working late.

A Busy Evening

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 14% BF

I went to the Democratic Meetup last night, but first I worked late, then swung by the ATM & the drycleaner, then grabbed a mini-dinner at Wegmans Cafe (where the meetup was held). I only got to eat part of it before the meeting, & finished the rest afterward before doing my grocery shopping. Wegmans is an amazing place.

The meetup was OK, if nothing spectacular. It was equal parts boring (when people vented on various issues, or engaged in Bush-bashing), unnerving (when they started soliciting for volunteers for the phone banks or whatever), and interesting when party officials or candidates' aides spoke about various things. There were a few flakeballs there too: one independent looking for Democratic support for his state senate run (so OK, be a Democrat), and one independent who was actually running for President.

When I left for work yesterday morning, I put some laundry on, and when I got home from the meeting I did another load, then took them both to the laundromat to dry (I still haven't fixed my dryer). I stopped by Which Brew while the clothes were drying, but it was pretty quiet.

(One of the couples at the Meetup are also Which Brew regulars; the husband was actually a "guest chef" there one Friday night. They are hosting a fund-raiser party for MoveOn.org, I think I'll probably go.)

I left WB, retreived my laundry, and then hit Taco Hell on the way home, oh well. No running this morning, but tonight is a group road ride.

and now for a Tuesday fly-by...

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 15% BF

Rode last night at Jacobsburg, supposedly a "recovery ride" (in other words, slow pace, active rest), but it quickly degenerated into the usual "pissing contest" speedfest. Of course, the usual suspects were involved: myself, Brian H, Bryan K, Doug, Rich Butz, and Joe C on a single-speed. We were flying, but only had about 14 miles total because we stopped so much. (By contrast, Brian and I rode up there a few weeks ago, with less available time and a much more sedate pace, and we managed the same distance. "Fast & steady" beats everything, but "slow and steady" beats everything else, especially "sprint-rest-sprint-rest.")

Ran two miles this morning, took 23 minutes to do it. Sunday's ride hurt me last night -- it was supposed to be easy!! -- and the two conspired against me this morning. After the run and my morning constitutional, I weighed myself again and got 173.5#. It's not an official weight, but -- woo hoo!

UPDATE: I checked the results for that 5K, and gained 26 seconds for an official finish of 25:32. Not bad!

Tonight I'm working late, then going to the Democratic Meetup in Bethlehem, see what's up with that.

Monday Morning Fly-By

Morning Weigh-in: 179.0#, 14.0% BF (bleagh)

The weekend, hmmmm...

Went to Which Brew for dinner on Friday night, then drifted across the street to Porters Pub. Very punkish drum/bass duo, "Sudden Death," actually very good. Two beers there, plus two beers earlier, and in the morning I'd be running...

Saturday morning was kind of tough, but I only ran a 2 mile warmup then hit the gym. After that I went in to work, for a half day of OT, then got home to find an invite to a BBQ at Brian's, w/ the Pinkertons & Claasens, and a screening of "The Triplets of Belleville" DVD that Brian just bought.

Sunday I was moving slow, ate a huge brunch at the Quadrant, then worked on the bike & went riding at Round Valley Reservoir. I haven't been there in over a year -- more like two years, & this after averaging more than one visit a week for probably the preceding seven years. It was as fun (and stinking hard) as I remembered/expected, but I'd forgotten how beautiful Round Valley is. The best trails are still closed, while the bald eagles nest along the lake; they should be open by August.

Sunday night I ate at Porters (yeah I guess I do like the place after all), another huge meal followed immediately by a trip to Taco Bell. Sigh.

Books: the gifts that really do keep giving

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 14% BF

Reading Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything (which is mainly about the history of scientific discovery), and just got to a section about leaded/unleaded gasoline, CFC's and the age of the Earth. Bill Bryson rules.

Rode Tuesday at J'burg, fast fun ride where I met Rick Hauser riding w/ some friends of his, including Curt Miller's son Matt. Friggin fast kid... Last night was 2.5 hours OT, ditto tonite. I may run tomorrow morning, and will ride the towpath tomorrow nite.

What A Difference a Day Makes

Morning Weigh-in (Tuesday): 178#, 14% body fat
Morning Weigh-in (Wednesday): 175#, 13.5% body fat

I can live it, or blog about it, but not both

Busy weekend, but now I'm a little tired so this'll just be a quick recap:

Friday night I rode the towpath (duh).

Saturday I ran my first 5K race. My goal was 25 minutes, but I got 25:58. I was still happy: it was a hilly course and I was satisfied with my effort. Saturday evening was a picnic at Mike and Carole's place, a couple I know from Which Brew who live in my neighborhood. Nice people, good time.

Today was the NYC 5-Boro Bike Tour. Up at 3:00 AM, on the road with Brian H by 4:00 to catch the first ferry into Manhattan, and then 42 miles of riding through the city with 30,000 people.

I might write more about this stuff some other time, but for now I just want to crash.

Here Comes The Weekend

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 178#, 14% body fat
Morning weigh-in (Friday): 178#, 13% body fat

The weather has been beautiful the last few days. Wednesday night was a road ride, and last night I went running along the Lehigh; I also cleaned/lubed the mountain bike, still dirty from last Sunday's Michaux race. I got up early this morning, but didn't run: did an hour of overtime instead. Tonight I'm riding the towpath, tomorrow is that running race (also Mike & Carole's party), and Sunday is Bike New York. Looks like the 'puter work is getting saved for a rainy day...

Tonight is also Beltane (aka Walpurgisnacht), so I may drop by Which Brew to see what's cooking -- probably something Mexican, in honor of Cinco de Mayo.

My Linux Voyage: Heading for Rough Water

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 14% body fat

Worked overtime (2 hrs) last night because it was supposed to rain -- it didn't -- then went to gym but was too tired to get in a good workout. Instead, I went home and decided to actually pay attention and figure out my sound problem. And of course, I found out, and it's fairly simple: there is a sound card on the motherboard, and there are kernel driver modules for it but they (& the kernel) are too old, incompatible with the new hardware. So, I have to upgrade my kernel. No big deal I suppose, it's just a bit of a pain, and more than a little scary if I screw up.

I've been trying to get up at 5:00 lately, but no dice. I remember trying to adjust to 6:00 and running, but this may be just too hard. This morning I also felt extra-tired, calves/achilles tendons felt tight so I didn't run. Got an email from Greg saying I probably made a mistake going for that confidence builder yesterday. Oh well.

I'll probably do a road ride tonight, then work on the mountain bike.

Uh-oh

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 8% body fat

Ran this morning, my normal route (approx two miles) for time. Last time I did this I got 16:44, which was good but not a fast enough pace to break 25 minutes in a 5k. Today I tried harder, and ended up with 17:15, not quite the progress I was hoping for... Judging by my body fat, I think I'm dehydrated, and I'm still feeling the effects of Michaux, so I don't think I really have grounds for worry yet -- except that this is it, tomorrow and Thursday are easy runs and the race is Saturday, so this morning was the last chance for a confidence boost.

The Dave situation continues, building towards its climax. Doug called me last night, said he talked to Bob who eventually said the same thing as most other club members: "I don't want him in my home." Doug will now talk to Joe C, and the two of them will have to talk Dave out of being a member. Despite the fact that I don't like being around the guy, I didn't want to have any rejection be this hurtful to him. A little more graceful method might have been found, but that's all water under the bridge.

But that leaves Joe G. I still think this was a hostile (or rather, militant) act on his part, but I also think that it was a lot like Tim S from Englishtown. That guy used to bring up uncomfortable subjects all the time: if there was something you didn't want mentioned in front of a particular person, and that person showed up, you could be sure Tim would ask you about that thing. Coincidence? Maybe he could claim that, the first 1000 times it happened, but I think it was more like he enjoyed getting his covert digs in, fomenting trouble between people, and watching them squirm... Anyway, I think Joe (strangely enough, he, like Tim, was "the different one" in a large Catholic family) might have done the same thing here, deliberately foisting Dave on a bunch of people who don't like having him around -- but here's the cruel part: he may also be doing this to mess with Dave.

Weekend Update

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 13% body fat.

Friday Night: I worked on the bike, then continued reading Maus; I didn't go out. I've been screening my calls to avoid Joe; got a few rings (no message, and I don't have caller ID) on the house phone, then one on the cell that was from him. (Didn't return the calls & haven't heard back from him since.) I did get a call from Doug though, where he said he found out from Cindy, that Dave has joined the Chain Gang...

Saturday: I went to my nephew's 1st Communion luncheon (didn't go to the church ceremony). The luncheon was held at the same place as my brother's wedding reception. Kind of low key, but pretty cool. One interesting thing: my dad mentioned that we were right up the block from where he and my mom met, in 1960 I think, when he and his friends rented a bungalow on the Jersey shore, and my mom and her friends happened to rent the bungalow next door... Just before I left we walked up the block to take a look. My mom's bungalow was gone, but I got a photo of them in front of the one my dad rented.

Saturday Night: More bike work & reading (finished Maus, picked up Persepolis), then I went out for a bite & some company, ended up at Which Brew (surprise) where I had an extremely pleasant and interesting conversation with Virtual Pubbsters Mike and Carole -- mostly Carole, she's the talker of the two. They recently moved into a fixer-upper a few blocks from me, so they've been pretty busy lately.

Sunday: I raced at Michaux. Conditions were tough (a cold rain started just before the race) but I actually had a great time. I was the only one of my friends to go, though Chain Gang junior member Matt Miler was there (he took first in Junior Expert), and I saw Dona (3rd place Expert Women) and Rob Lichtenwalner (1st place, extra-long "monster course" race). My time was 3:00:45, which was good for me but nowhere near podium speed for the Sport Vet class. Still, a fun day.

Early to bed last night, no run this morning.

Tonight: Busy, Busy, Busy

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 11.5% body fat

It was rainy last night, so I blew off riding & worked a little late, then played with the computer. Two miles running this morning, easy pace.

Computer: I started playing with Perl again, turning the little program, that I copied from Learning Perl, into a more useful tool. The program basically takes a bunch of files and renames them -- say, all the "*.new" files into "original_filename.old". This isn't too hard; the code snippet they provide uses regular expressions and string substitution on the filenames. Their example is hardcoded though, so you have to rewrite it for every new use; what I did was set it up to take the "old" and "new" patterns, and the files to change, from the invocation arguments. My next step I think is to add some switches to control behavior (more or less verbose output, confirm filename changes or not, copy rather than rename), plus more effective error handling.

In other news, I think I just need to get some kernel modules and I'll be able to get sound again. I still can't get the mouse wheel to work, messing constantly with XF86Config but no dice. Maybe I'll just buy a new mouse; the mouse I have is some cheap Chinese no-name brand, and that may be the cause of the problem.

Tonight I have to burn two CDs: one of my vacation photos for the parents, and one of my Mike photos for Joann. I will probably stop by her house & drop it off tomorrow. It'll be nice to see her, but I'm still not looking forward to this visit.

Bike: rear tire had a slow leak so I replaced the tube last night, which is when I noticed that the brake pads are pretty worn & need replacing. That plus generic Michaux prepping is tonight.

Not A Happy Camper

Morning weigh-in: 179.5#, 12.5% body fat (doh!)

Looks like my buddy Joe "jumped the shark" last night, bringing Creepy Dave to the meeting.

Dave is a wierd-looking guy with a reputation as a stalker, and he has said things to me -- and other people I know -- that creeped me/us out, basically involving what he'd like to do to some of our (married, female) friends. He also has a habit of finding out what you're doing and inviting himself, or showing up various places (mostly Bethlehem) and insinuating himself into whatever's going on, and he's expressed an interest in joining the Chain Gang... He also smells. I avoid him, and if I see him somewhere I'm pretty evasive about any future plans (also, I do not talk about any women I know, & especially don't mention their names, in his presence).

But Joe seems to think he's an OK guy, hangs out with him and, if Joe knows what I'm doing, may bring him along or even tell him so ol' Dave can show up on his own. Joe knows how I feel about Dave, and how others feel about him (the nickname "Creepy Guy" didn't come from me). I have to think at this point that bringing Dave along last night was, consciously or unconsciously, a hostile act on Joe's part. Looks like the best way to keep Creepy Guy out of the picture is to avoid Joe, and all of a sudden I don't seem to have a problem with that.

Except... last night was also the night where we distributed hard copies of our membership roster, which is more like a phone tree. (As an aside, we don't have membership info -- phone numbers, home & email addresses etc -- on the web, because several [female] members have expressed strong opinions on privacy issues.) Last thing I saw last nite, I could have sworn Dave had a copy of one of our membership rosters in his hands...

Other than that, the meeting was really cool: we had dinner, a few beers, looked at pictures from the trip, & just had a lot of fun though the meeting itself wasn't all that productive.

In other news: ran this morning, 2 miles slow pace.

Moving Forward While Backsliding

Morning weigh-in: 174.5#, 11% body fat (woo hoo!)

I felt like I was on fire last night at the 'burg, riding really well and fast, though I was with Brian and he doesn't ever really open the throttle (he lost quite a bit of weight lately, but he's still a big guy, and he doesn't get competitive on "pleasure rides"), so it's hard to make a judgement. Still, we rode almost every trail there, 14 miles in just under 1:30. Bike needs a little TLC: a few creaks & squeaks have developed and the bushings on the rear shock need to be replaced. I think I'll also get that brake lever replaced soon.

Some old faces: we ran into ex-Chain Gang member Dave Jones (in a team jersey!), riding with Rick Hauser last night. We exchanged pleasantries, then went our separate ways. They both looked like they're doing pretty good, though Dave said he's just getting over a bad sprained ankle (screwing around while coaching boy's wrestling).

As for backsliding: when I got home, I burned a CD of my Moab photos, then did a whole lot of other fooling around (backslide #1: didn't eat dinner during the "glycogen window") before realizing it was getting late (backslide #2) and I had to take my wet laundry to the laundromat -- dryer is still not fixed. So at 10:30 I head out, then decide to check out Which Brew (backslide #3) while the dryers did their thing. Before picking up my laundry I stopped and ordered a pizza, ate half of that for dinner (backslide #4), while staying up late reading (backslide #5). I was a little afraid to get on the scale this morning...

Between the late bedtime, the speedy ride and yesterday's run, I was feeling pretty tired this morning, so I only ran a mile, at an easy pace. It was drizzling, but still pretty pleasant. Right now it's beautiful out; my plan was to stay a little later here tonight, then go to the Chain Gang meeting (at Which Brew), but I think now I might do a quick road ride after work.

Finished Uncle Sam, now reading Maus: My Father Bleeds History and Persepolis. I have a feeling Maus is going to mess with my head.

Time's Running Out

Morning weigh-in: 175.5#, 14% body fat

Ran "for time" this morning: 16:44 for a little over 2 miles (I think). Not bad for my somewhat hilly route, but I still have to get the speed up -- and I was pretty spent afterward, overheated too. Two weeks to go until the race...

Tonight is Jacobsburg, probably with Brian, maybe others; for me it's a dry run (equipment-wise, anyway) for Michaux this weekend.

Back to Reality

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 9.5% body fat

Nothing much to report. Skipped running this morning (way too tired, got up early but body really needed a recovery day), picked up & built bike this afternoon. I'll hit Jacobsburg tomorrow after work.

Got home tonight and found a pleasant surprise: a package from Mom & Dad, full of Amazon wishlist goodies for my birthday. The new Bill Bryson book, plus a whole bunch of comics er, graphic novels... Maus, Persepolis, a whole bunch of others I wanted. Thanks Mom & Dad! Already finished one, no big words to slow me down...

Nice Ride!

I usually weigh myself at the same time every day, and under the same circumstances: immediately after getting up, no clothes, before eating, using the bathroom or exercising. This "official" weight should have most day-to-day variations at least partly nullified, but the downside is that if I forget to do it (like this morning), any weight measurement I take will not be "official."

Last night I went out to dinner, stayed out a little late (and I think you know what I mean), and woke up this morning tired, headache-ey and running late for a ride. Breakfast was a Clif bar and some water, then I was off to ride with the Cycle Funattic crew down to "The Baker" in Milford (coffee & muffin break, thank God) and back. These guys are hard, fast road riders, and the pace was blistering for almost all of the 35-40 mile ride -- the roads we took were very suitable for fast smooth flying. It was a great ride, and I felt pretty strong after I warmed up (major feeling of "this day is wonderful" while eating a blueberry-cheese croissant in the sunny MIlford street, sitting on the stoop at the Ship Inn, feeding the ducks in the stream), but it was a hard ride.

When I got home I did some reading in the bathroom (and I think you know what I mean) then got ready for a shower. Just for laughs I got on the scale: 173.5#. Like I said, not official weight, probably dehydrated and in a different part of my food input/output cycle, but so what? For one brief shining moment I was under 175#!! WOO-HOO!!

Just an observation: I did notice on the ride, that all these guys and gals have their roadie technique and interpersonal riding skills down pat -- unlike me, and I stuck out like a (possibly dangerous) sore thumb in the tight pacelines...

Nicer Days for a Ride

Morning weigh-in (Friday) 176.5#, 14% body fat
Morning weigh-in (Saturday) 175.5#, 13% body fat

Went and saw Laurie Anderson last night at Lafayette's Williams Center for the Arts, not a performance but a lecture about what she's been doing lately (artist in residence at NASA, etc) and thinking about. Very interesting! I went with Doug & Lori, and Eric & Kris (we all had to sit separately though), and we all agreed we were mesmerized. Afterwards was dinner at Which Brew.

The last few days have been gorgeous. No run Thursday, but I got in a good ride after work, and ran & biked (benchmark, 1:25 time: not bad) yesterday. Off to the coffee shop, then the gym right now.

UPDATE: I am once again a legally licensed driver.

Nice Day for a Ride

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 12.5% body fat

No running this morning: I was up pretty late last night. I'll probably do a road ride tonight, it looks beautiful outside.

Taxes are done, car is fixed, and computer media problems are pretty much solved, but now I must deal with: sound card, driver's license, bills coming due again, laundry piling up (& clean stash is dwindling), and of course the house is a disaster. Also, my mountain bike is somewhere between Springdale UT and Bethlehem PA, but I still don't have the tracking number. Much has been done, but much still remains to be done.

By the way, I didn't mention this yesterday but on the way home last night I saw: a bunch of buzzards eating roadkill deer in a cornfield (a leftover from the fall -- yuck!), a tom turkey, a bunch of Canada geese and a herd of deer. Tonight I hope to spot some snipe, a gryphon and maybe a hippogator...

Good News and Bad News

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 11.5% body fat (that's the bad news)

The good news is, there's no real problem with my smartcard USB connection. It just takes a few seconds for the hardware to reset itself & detect the reinserted memory chip, and then mounting is fine. Still have to solve the CD-RW situation though.

Ran two miles this morning, no riding planned for tonight. I'll probably go to the gym & spin tomorrow, and do a Hellertown hill ride on Friday if the weather is nice.

My weight problem, as always, comes down to diet. I think that careful dieting was the key to my weight loss earlier in the year, and diet backsliding is why, no matter how much I exercise, I'm not losing weight now -- my body is not so much strong or enduring, as it is efficient, and any physical stress I give it hardly distracts from its main goal of lipo-loading... So, I'm back on the food wagon as of today -- after last night's Which Brew dinner stop, to see Joe & show him my trip photos.

Anyway, back to work...

PS Tonight I finish my taxes -- rather, H&R Block will finish them.

UPDATE: Good news: looks like I got the CD-RW to work, though it's still not "drag & drop" the way I'd like -- & maybe never will be? Taxes are done, too. Next piece of bad news: just realized my driver's license expired on the 10th -- smooth move, Don! Oh well, deal with it.

Situation Normal: back to the obsession(s)

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 10.5% body fat (dehydration?)

Took yesterday off (mainly because of sleep cycle issues) but ran 2 miles this morning, easy pace. Soon I'll have to start kicking in the harder, speed-building workouts. The week off was nice, but my legs were tired this morning.

I was kind of glad to see my weight wasn't too high; I was a little worried that despite the riding, the excess (actually, "excessive" would be the more correct word) calorie intake during vacation would put me way up. (We were joking that we should have another contest: "Lose the Flab from Moab.")

Was up late again last night, working on the computer. I want to burn some CD's, and found that my system only recognizes the CD-RW as read-only. I must recompile the kernel to add a special IDE-SCSI module, then reconfigure LILO to recognize the CD as a SCSI device, and then tweak /etc/fstab. Meantime, I find that if you mount & unmount the USB memory chip, remove the chip & replace it, any further attempts to remount will fail. (However, I did find that adding the Windows partition to /etc/fstab allows non-root write access.) Looks like my Linux "voyage of discovery" continues...

A Visit to the Sarcophagus

Check out this article.

I'm Baaaaaack!

Back from vacation, that is. Great time in Moab and other locations throughout southern Utah -- Red Canyon (near Bryce Canyon) and Springdale (near Zion National Park) to be more specific. Great riding, OK weather, plenty o'good times but now it's over. More on this, plus maybe pictures, later in the week. Also, I celebrated my birthday out West: I'm now 41 years old. In a few more years I'll be an adult...

Been a Long Time Since I Did the Stroll

I'm back. Wasn't really planning on disappearing, but you know how the time does fly... Weight: has been pretty stable at about 177# for most of this time, but it looks like it's starting to creep up; percent body fat is all over the map.

In the news:

Running is coming along OK, and I've been doing longer and faster runs on Saturday. When I run for time, my pace is on target for my sub-25-minute 5K. Next week is a rest week for running.

Biking is also coming along. I finally got my road bike refurbished, totally new Campagnolo component group including wheels. My mountain bike is in the care of UPS, on the way out to Utah (I hope).

Mike Bellush is now a married man (again). His wedding was last Saturday. Traditional Jewish wedding, really nice reception, saw the whole McVay clan there.

I would have thought I posted something here, but looking back I guess I didn't: I'm an uncle, my brother & his wife are the proud parents of Olivia Grace Kelly.

New Toy Alert: I got a digital camera, a Sony P-72 for my Utah vacation.

Vacation: I'll be gone out West, Moab and other Utah destinations, all of next week. Me, Brian, Joe & Cindy, Doug, Eric, and Bob. Should be way cool, stay tuned for stories & pictures...

back

Morning weigh-in (Sunday): 179# 12.5%
Morning weigh-in (Monday): 175.5# 10.5%
Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 177.5# 12%

Forgot to check Saturday, forgot what weight was Friday. Oh well.

Interesting times lately: Thursday nite was crazy at Which Brew, like someone put flirt juice in the beer or something, the ladies were actually kind of ahh... aggressive, not that I'm complaining... Friday, Joe said he was "scared to go back," but I went & caught the band "Warm Apple Cider" (friends of bartender Carrie, not bad but I've heard better). Talking to some girl, thought it would be a reprise of the previous nite (she actually asked me if I came there often) but not this time.

Saturday was the Wind Gap Science fair, which I (among others) judged. It meant getting up a little early (and dealing with a tractor trailer lying on its side, blocking the road into Wind Gap, making me & everyone else late), but way fun. I worked with Charles, a High School aquabiology teacher, and Lauren, a microbiologist for a vitamin maker, and we judged the 7th Grade and 1st Grade exhibits. Some were pretty lame (I'm talking about the 7th graders) but some were very good. The younger kids were cute and much more fun, though you couldn't expect much in the way of "experimental science" from them; Al & Colette's son John was among the 1st Graders & had something about a tractor pull. (Al & Colette were both there as well; she was with John & Al was judging the Egg Drop contest.) Interesting day, or rather, morning. In the afternoon I went down to the Lehigh and ran for an hour, easy pace, and the evening was dinner with friends -- while we were at the bar waiting for our table, the bartender kept us entertained with amazing card & magic tricks.

Sunday was spent riding in Jim Thorpe, a good day of riding I must say, but I guess you had to be there...

Monday was the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour. Awesome, but more about it some other time.

This brings me up to date here, signing off.

a screeching halt

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday) 178#, ??? body fat
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 177#, ??? body fat

Hitting a brick wall here, nothing to say, even forgot the weight statistics...

backsliding

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 175.5#, 14% body fat
Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 179#, 13.5% body fat

Nothing much to say, blew off spinning last nite (had to do some car registration stuff) then ate a ton of bar food at Which Brew. Very tired this morning, so I blew off running in favor of extra sleep. Weight wasn't too forgiving, so I also had a sausage egg & cheese sandwich at work...

Just heard a young jazz pianist nemed Vijay Iyer, bought both his albums online. You heard it here first folks, this guy is the one they'll be talking and writing books about in a hundred years or so, destined (unless I jinx him) for greatness.

Flake Central

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 13% body fat

I woke up tired, so blew off both the MTB ride (actually, blew that off last nite) then blew off the road ride, since it sounded like it would be fast & hard (I was right: I just talked to Doug, and he said it was fast & hard). I went to the Quadrant for some coffee and a corn muffin, then decided to ride to the Green Cafe for brunch, called Joe but he already had something else planned.

That freaky (and not in a good way) girl Wendy was there running the show, and then Dave came in to put the finishing touches on the buzzkill ambiance... jeez, wonder how he knew I'd be there? I think the ol' GC has lost its magic for me.

so, what's new?

Morning weigh-in (Friday): 170#, 11.5% body fat
Morning weigh-in (Saturday): 170#, 14% body fat

Ran today with Dawn, a 4 mile route with "hill sprints," and we timed it: 36:57, not great but not too bad. I passed the 3 mile mark at 27 minutes, which was encouraging. This was followed by a gym workout, where we worked in crunches for the first time since my last vertigo experience, back when I went on that winter camping trip.

The rest of the day was uneventful, and now I'm going out to see/hear "Spirit Island" at Which Brew, then maybe "Sarah's Rhythm Recipe" at the Bluetone Cafe.

What about Friday? Run, work, ride (Russ & wife, Mike Arnold, Dona Long, coupla other guys I didn't know; no Doug, Lori or Brian), WB w/ Joe, then fairly early bedtime.

traveling twice the speed of sound

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 180.5#, 10.5% body fat
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 177.0#, 11.5% body fat

Apparently beer and Taco Bell are very heavy... went out for a quick one Tuesday night, had two Hoegardens, then stopped at Taco Bell on the way home. Stepped on scale yesterday morning -- GAAAH! Looks like the pig passed throught the python though...

Been staying up a little too late the past few days, consequently feeling tired. I think I'll be getting to bed earlier tonight.

Laissez le Bon Temps Rouler!

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 11.5% body fat

"Active rest" day, ran in the morning but no evening workout. A little surfing, checking the emails, then because it's Mardi Gras tonight, I think I might go out after I get the laundry & dishes & other schtuff done.

I'm back, with news

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 12.5# body fat

Actually lost weight while on vacation -- BONUS!

Back from Stowe/Burlington, where ski & snowshoe conditions were excellent, so the "party animal" activities were cancelled -- or at least, very very subdued -- due to outdoor-activity fatigue... BTW, it was just Joe Gallagher and myself this trip, Doug bailed. To make a long story short: we had fun, but that was the expected outcome, not news. Stay tuned for more stories later in the week.

The real (& very good) news is that I'm an uncle again; my brother's wife had a baby daughter last night. More on that too, but also later in the week. It's late, I was too tired to run this morning after the long drive and late (post-midnight) homecoming, and I still have to unpack the car. I felt tired today, but I lifted after work, & felt unexpectedly good in spin class tonight.

Even so, g'night.

Just A Song Before I Go

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 176.5%, 12.5% body fat
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 177.5#, 11.0% body fat

Yesterday was the Chain Gang meeting, and I was too tired to post when I got home. Got up this morning, too tired to run so blew it off. Work, spin, dinner and now I'm getting ready to head out of town for the weekend. Joe G and I are going to Burlington VT for the Mardi Gras festival, and also to do a little snowshoeing and XC skiing. We're leaving at 4:00 AM Friday, about 5 hours from now. Weather should get warm and rainy just as we arrive, so the real plan is to get drunk and toss beads to the chickalitas...

Active Rest

Morning weigh-in: 176#, 11.5% body fat

Exercise: ran this morning but nothing else, ditto for tomorrow, which is the next Chain Gang meeting and our official weigh-in.

Computer: things are running really well (I love it so far), but still no sound. I may need to get a sound card, or something.

Next up: this weekend is the Magic Hat Mardi Gras in Burlington. But first, chores & food shopping. Adios, my friend...

Galvanic Spectacle

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 12.5% body fat

Run, work, gym, spin, computer (XF86Config, Tux Racer, still no sound), now bed.

Been thinking about the "Superbowl boob incident." Wrong on so many levels, yadda yadda... the thing that gets me is the way the puppet show is becoming more strident, as the buttons they push have become desensitized. Transmarginal phase, extinction beyond the zero -- like shocking a dead frog's legs to make them still twitch, but needing bigger and bigger jolts as time goes by and the last life force drains out, how long will the dogs still drool for the bell after you stop feeding them? What's really funny is the way a TV can grab my attention now (after about 5 years of being TV-free) when I walk into the room where it's on, my resistance is waaaay down...

A New Toy

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 14% body fat

Rode this morning, did the Williams Twp ride (Gaffney Hill RD, Buttermilk Rd, Kichline & Hexkopf & Raubsville Roads, then Morgan Hill Rd back). A hard ride, but it's only 17 miles and should take me about 1:30, and it took me 2 hours today. It's still officially winter...

After the ride I went in to Brooklyn to see my grandmother, whose 89th birthday was Wednesday. Brought a cake, stayed for about two hours.

When I got home, I called my friend Paul, who got me some new computer stuff: new motherboard, Athlon 2.4 GHz CPU and 512 MB RAM, and a video card. It's like a new computer, the best out there currently, for only $360 -- you can't beat that! Of course, everything worked over his house, but now I'm having trouble here. Something to play with, but right now I have to go to bed.

BTW: crashed last night, didn't see the Kites or even go out at all. I just ran out of energy some time after dinner, went with the flow.

Saturday Blogging

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 13.5% body fat

Greg and Judy went to Which Brew last night, with their friends Dan & Katie. Kind of a surprise I guess (but of course not really) for all of us to run into each other; we had dinner at our table & they had theirs in the other room, but when we were done we (that is, Doug & Lori, Joe, Brian & myself) went to say hi & bye. I was tired and my plan was to head out for an early bedtime (I was the one pushing for the evening to end), but when the others left I ended up joining their table for another several hours of conversation & goofy bar tricks...

This morning was Coffee Works for breakfast, then another run/weights workout with Dawn, followed by laundry, drycleaning, household chores, an oil change and a haircut. Next up is a trip to Bethlehem to see the Kites at the Funhouse.

This just in: I signed up to judge an elementary school science fair. More later....

Friday Blogging

Morning weigh-in 177.5#, 11.5% body fat

Last post was written Thursday night, but phone was screwed up so I only got to post it tonight. Tonight was riding with Doug on the towpath, followed by Which Brew (well duh), dinner with Doug; we were joined by Lori, then Joe, then Brian. Surprise: Greg & Judy came in, with their friends Dan & Katie. After dinner, everyone I was with originally left, so I joined D&J and D&K. I just got in, I'm tired, now it's bedtime, goodnight.

Thursday Blogging

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 179#, 11.5% body fat
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 177.5#, 13% body fat

Probably have enough weight, body fat & exercise info in here to do some decent data mining, but that's another day and another project.

I rode the towpath yesterday; it's getting very rideable again. There was some snow ("ice" might be a better term, thought the resorts would call it "packed powder"), which had decent traction and was hard enough to support me, but the dirt was spongy and soaked & had that "springtime soft" feeling. It took me two hours to ride to Bethlehem (I turned around just before the Stefko Boulevard bridge) & back.

Joe called me afterward (& after dinner), said he had some photos from the New Years Day hike, so I met him at Which Brew about 10:00. When I pulled in I saw something moving among the garbage cans down the block: it was a woman, very large and dropsically fat, who was doing an "I've fallen and can't get up." I ran over to see if she was OK, and she sort of said yes, but it was obvious she was extremely drunk, like too drunk to avoid dying of exposure in the gutter, so I called the police from WB. They came about 5 minutes later, and I pointed her out to them. A few minutes after that, we saw an ambulance go by, figure it was her. I hope she was too messed up to remember me, because even though I did her a major favor she might not see it that way...

Work & spinning today, dinner, laundry, a little light blogging, then it'll be bedtime.

Just passsing through

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 13.5% body fat

Ran this morning, no run tomorrow but I may ride since it looks to be pretty nice... nothing much else to say.

Thick as a Brick

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 14.5% body fat

My tri-geek friends sometimes refer to it as a "brick" workout, where you do more than one workout in succession: bike then run, swim then whatever, etc. I used to joke that it was called "brick" because you felt like a ton of them fell on you when you did one... Well, today was a morning run, then weights and spinning. None were radical workouts, but I did the last two back-to-back, and now I feel great, maybe a little tired but it's a good tired...

Just made the best dinner I ever cooked: that pasta with wilted greens, but I also added some tuna in olive oil. Like I said, the best thing I ever ate. I have some apricots with sage and cinnamon and fresh grated ginger waiting in the fridge. Dieting makes me think about food, thinking about food makes me hungry, which makes me eat which makes me gain weight which makes me dietwhichmakesmethinkaboutfood...

My friend Doug emailed me today, a friend of his passed away. Cancer. He was pretty bummed out, & reading his email I knew exactly what he was going through. Well, time heals or so they say, but I'm still waiting.

Redemption Song (happy belated birthday, Bob)

Morning weigh-in: 179.5#, 14.5% body fat

Last night's shows were great. The first one was at Which Brew, where I caught a set of "Sarah's Rhythm Recipe," a bluesy rock band featuring jazz/blues singer Sarah Ayers. Stu and Cathy were there, and I'm starting to suspect that they've taken me under their wing, the project being to set me up with one of her friends... I had one beer and -- well, not escaped, exactly, because the girl was nice, but I did have to get to Bethlehem.

It was at the Funhouse that I saw "the Fellas," a group of college kids playing a sort of jam-band jazz: guitar/bass/drums, with sax and trumpet. They played all original instrumentals, all very danceable (more like dancing for Phish or the Dead, rather than say ska or the Specials), and there were a lot of cuties dancing. I met Joe down there, then after a while I saw Doug, then a little later I saw Eric and Kris come in. I also saw Cos's brother Jake & his girlfriend, Creepy Dave, and a few others, so there were actually more people there that I knew than back at WB. Anyway, the band was awesome, but I skipped the last set to get a somewhat early start on Sunday.

Today was pretty much the first group ride of the year. Joe & Cindy, Brian, Curt's son Matt, and Rob Goody left from Curt's house and did a 23 mile road ride. Joe & Matt were on fixed gear road bikes, Brian was on his old touring bike, and Cindy and I were on mountain bikes (unlike Cindy, I was riding slick tires though), but Rob was riding his full-suspension mountain bike, with studded tires -- can you say rolling resistance? Big heavy bike, thing rides like a pig on the road and with studded tires to boot, and he was at the front the whole time. Monster of the day award.

I wasn't fully up to snuff but I felt OK, rode at my own pace. It was very windy out, and it seemed that every climb ended with a "wind-swept hilltop" -- headwinds both ways, of course. With the upright MTB position, I felt like one big sail trying to push through the air, but the mountain bike came in handy when we hit ice or other winter road hazards... long story short, it was a good ride, though a bit on the hard side, then afterwards we went to Jack Creek for a quick dinner.

Pattern Recognition: I happened to see in the paper this article about a "cool hunter," someone who goes around the world looking for trendy new cool stuff to mass market. That was Cayce Pollard's job in William Gibson's Pattern Recognition, so it seemed pretty neat at first, in that postmodern hipster economy way, but it really wasn't all that cool of course, just a little more of the Great Rock And Roll Swindle... the guy was French, and I thought "where are the Situationists when you need them?" A little pie in the face could come in handy right now...

Anyway, that brought me to thinking about Bob Marley, whose birthday was Friday. Who he was, what he stood for, and fought and sang for, and how they're using him now to sell good times and time shares in Jamaica, mon. Well, after this kind of rehabilitation, maybe someday there will come true redemption. I hope so.

The Spew: keeping you up-to-date since 2003

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

I went swimming last night, which turned out to be a lot of fun. It was Doug and myself, as guests of Greg H at the Bethlehem YMCA. The setup there is pretty nice, not too big on weights or cardio machines that I could see, but they have several racquetball courts, hot tub & sauna, etc, and of course a pool. The water was chlorinated, but not too strongly.

I forgot how much of a workout swimming can be! We each did our own thing, swimming laps in the same lane -- a woman sharing our lane but "driving on the left side of the road" if you know what I mean, fled to the (empty) next lane over, after bumping heads with Greg... He was doing some specific workout, two double laps (ie 100 yards) hard, then a quick break before doing another two, over and over, while I did a bunch of laps in a crawl, then a "resting" double lap on my back, then a few more crawl, then a double lap of breast stroke, etc; Doug just did laps and worked on his form. Plenty of rest & BS breaks, the time flew by: we were there for an hour, finishing at 9:30. I'm sure I did more than a half mile -- 18 double laps -- but less than a mile. Greg did considerably more, Doug about the same as me. Afterward, we each went our separate ways -- I was meeting Joe G at Which Brew.

Before swimming I made that "pasta & wilted greens" dish, which was awesome but leaves you with a very strong garlic aura... the poolwater & subsequent shower burned it off, but after a while at WB I started to smell chlorine, then garlic again, so I called it an early night before I offended too many people. (Also, I've been thinking about the Superbowl, and am not too happy with some of the decisions I made -- don't ask -- so I think that'll be it for blowouts for a while.) Anyway, while I was there I had an Old Heathen Imperial Stout, and some black bean hummus (again with the garlic), and that seemed to whet my appetite because when I left I didn't go straight home, but to Taco Bell and got a shitload of all the wrong things... Damn you, Taco Bell!

Today I ran with Dawn, my trainer. I've been working with her for years, mainly weights which she's good at but it's not her thing; I think she's been waiting for me to break down and ask her for running advice for more than a year now! Anyway, she's helping me get ready for that 5k, pretty serious about it too, more than I am so I better get my act together...

In other news: soon I will be a godfather to my as-yet-unborn niece, but first my sister-in-law has to survive her pregnancy. She and my brother are the ones who got married in October; now they have a baby on the way, but apparently she's having a rough time, serious health issues, and she just went into the hospital. Her doctor was thinking of inducing labor early, say March 1, but is now talking (worst-case scenario) of possibly a C-section as soon as the baby can survive outside the womb... I talked to them last night on the phone: Amy's in a bit of pain but she seems to be holding up OK, and I joked with her to keep it in perspective: someday the baby will be thirteen and giving her lip! Anyway, that was my connection with the adult world for this week. (My next task: are conditions still OK for XC skiing, or should I do a road ride with Joe C and crew tomorrow instead?)

The view from the office (lunchtime, sucka!)

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 13% body fat

Got up and ran this morning, not so bad out that early, but when I drove to work it was getting nasty: cold rain while de-icing the car, somewhat slippery road conditions. I took 173 after I heard a traffic report of an accident on Jugtown Mountain.

Words to live by: "I'd rather have 25 degrees and snowing than 40 degrees and raining." -- Greg, in the 40 degree rain, before the Michaux race several years ago. I think he's absolutely right, and I think I'll take an invite to go swimming with Doug at Lehigh rather than ride. (On the other hand: "there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices," and that college poolwater did a number on my skin & sinuses at Lafayette years ago. Ahhh, just go swimming, ya wuss.)

What A Difference A Day Makes

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 14.5% body fat

Got up this morning and ran, despite being up late last night. (Well, midnight, late for nowadays.) I felt pretty good, and took a minute off my time: ran my 15 minute route in 14 minutes. If I can get the pace up consistently, I'll add some distance to keep the time at 15 minutes, at least for a few weeks -- I eventually want to go up to 20-30 minutes at least one or two mornings a week. That's a little into the future though.

Work: eh. Interesting day, I guess, cool projects and also John Jackson's 50th birthday. He wasn't happy when he heard that people knew about it, and was even less happy when they threw the "surprise party" ... I wasn't too happy myself, after I ate a slice of that cake. I normally try to only eat fruit, like bananas etc for snacks at work, but had a corn muffin every day this week -- and now this! The horror, the horror...

I may have been the sugar rush from the icing, or yesterday's rest day, but tonight's spin class was pretty awesome. Hard & fast, but I felt good and my heart rate was up there, between 80%-90% of max for almost half the class.

Some computer "housekeeping," a little bike work (brakes, again) then it's bedtime for me. I'll probably run tomorrow morning, but biking may be out of the question: there's a possibility of significant ice on the roads. That, and the cold rain coming down, ought to keep me inside. Yesterday's ride: shoulda, woulda, coulda...

doldrums

Morning weigh-in:179#, 12.5% body fat

Bored. Going to go for a ride maybe, do some MTB-on-road, maybe the Hellertown loop. Nothing else to say.

UPDATE: No ride. Instead, I stayed up late, cleaning out and reorganizing my Mozilla bookmarks.

Superbowl of Chili: Now it Can Be Told

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

Listening to WLVR. Apparently the Lehigh kids are still on vacation, so their station still rocks.

The Chili Contest: yes it rocked too. We (me, Eric, Doug & Lori, Brian, and Joe & Cos) started with a hike at Merrill Creek, where we later ran into Lee Sindet, and Karen Fox & her boyfriend Brian -- we were supposed to meet them but had parked in different lots, oh well. It was a good start to the day though, and hiking was the right choice, the trails were ruined for XC and except in one or two places the snowshoes were unnecessary. About an hour and a half of walking around and playing in the snow, and we went back to the cars, changed, and headed for Easton.

We got downtown about 11:30, and there already a lot of people there on line, but we lined up inside, where we were warm and could order beers. (Not long after we got there the line went out the door -- this is a half hour after the pub opened, and at least an hour and a half before the start of the contest -- so we lucked out.) Time flew as we hung out and people-watched, and it didn't seem too long before we were inside sampling the chili.

(A quick note: the contest is among local pubs and restaurants, judged by a panel of "experts" like local reporters & firemen or such like, and the grand prize is a top-of the-line stereo system. There is also a "People's Choice" award that people like us get to vote on. The whole thing is for charity and $5 gets you in. Beer is full price, but the chili & water are free...)

This year there were a lot more contestants than last year. Personally, I think Pearly Bakers really dropped the ball or something last year: no advance work, no advertising etc, and it showed... luckily, plenty of people showed up, and despite last year's disappointment they showed up again this year... There were probably thirty contestants, maybe a few more, and they were all good, like there was nothing there (among those I could eat: some had nuts or mushrooms) that wasn't excellent, it really was hard to pick a favorite but I liked entries from Porters and the Savory Grille best. This is probably the biggest deal in Easton, with the possible exception of Heritage Day. I saw Kelly-Jo and crew from Which Brew, and the Green Cafe crowd pushing their wares, and a ton of people out there consuming...

We ate our samples, then voted and left (I forgot to mention we hooked up with Dick Saul there), to escape the crowds and to let others get a chance. We went next door to Mothers, then up the street to Porters, then the day started catching up to all of us, so we headed home. I was asleep before the kickoff...

Checking In Before The Crash

Morning weigh-in (Sunday): 180.5#, 14% body fat
Morning weigh-in (Monday): 179#, 14.5% body fat

Going to bed in about 5 minutes but thought I'd just stop here to say that the Chili Contest was a smashing success. More on this maybe tomorrow, but right now I'm freaking exhausted and need my beauty sleep.

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.