Hausfrau Agonistes

Morning weigh-in: 183#, 10% BF
Blood Pressure: 129/84, 54 BPM

Listening: Gang of Four's Return the Gift, which is a re-recorded set (done maybe last year) of their hits from the eighties. Been mostly digging "Natural's Not In It" and "What We Want's Not What We Get."

Also Listening: I went out last night after a satisfying "benchmark ride" (no digital input or recording equipment, but my time was about 1:28), had dinner at Which Brew, then I went over to Porters for some of the Open Mic Night. Saw a great, but unfortunately anonymous duo: not the best singing going on, but the guitarist was unbelievable. Sure which I caught their name.

Baseball, You Bet!

Morning weigh-in: 182.5, 11.5% BF
Blood Pressure: 126/81, 56 BPM

Reading: Don DeLillo's Underworld. I'm re-reading it, or rather, making a second attempt at finishing it. I can't believe I put it down the first time, it's totally awesome -- but I'm at the begining, maybe it'll bog down and I'll get bored somewhere in the middle this time too.

It Ain't Allamuchy If It Don't Rain

Morning weigh-in: 183#, 10.5% BF
Blood Pressure: 133/75, 51 BPM

Well, I'm back, and only a lttle bit the worse for wear... Good weekend though, and a good race. I did rather well (considering what I wanted to get out of it) with four laps: I felt that I could have easily done more if the plan was to be competitive, but I only rode when it seemed like it would be fun. Thus, no laps in the rain, and I also avoided night laps because there were rumors of rain coming -- and it did come, but very late & then all day Sunday. I did all my riding before dark on Saturday. But the experiment was a success, I felt like I could ride and compete again, and was actually jonesing for more at the end, almost regretting my vows of caution and non-competitiveness. The funny thing was, I felt very strong on the Friday pre-ride and the first few laps; riding (fast) seemed almost effortless until that final lap. A lot like the other day on my benchmark ride, sure hope this a breakthrough and not just peaking...

One good fall at the start of my third lap, where I apparently hit an invisible rock and went sprawling. Knocked my knees up & wrenched the left one a bit, got a nice handlebar-shaped bruise on my upper inner thigh, and was walking like an old man for the rest of the weekend -- the ankle got swollen after a while too, and the other ankle was also bothering me, but I think that was from walking on uneven terranin in sandals all weekend -- but I managed another 20 post-crash miles just the same.

Long Day's Journey Into The Long Weekend

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 12.5#
Blood Pressure: 129/79, 65 BPM

I guess it was a bit of a triumph for my willpower, since I didn't order dinner while I was there -- and I was hungry -- but I went to Which Brew last night to get my weekly fix. (Tonight I have to pack and get ready for the weekend, and by tomorrow I'll be camping.) Timing is everything: there's a great band playing this weekend, and also a "Voodoo Luau Party." Doh!

Anyway, had a good conversation with Darrin, drifting from topic to topic (pork tenderloin recipes, Chinese buffets, Johnny Depp and Baron Samedi), also found out why it was so quiet in there: they'd had a bit of a blowout the night before for Alison the waitress, who will no longer be working Tuesdays. Once again, timing is everything.

Also had a good, if somewhat disturbing, conversation with another friend: it seems a friend-turned-flame-turned-abusive-relationship is trying to get back into her life, and through rumor and innuendo has successfully poisoned her current relationship. (Meanwhile, she feels like the focus of all her town's vicious gossip.) There's not much I could do except be sympathetic, but I at least said my peace about staying clear of that dude -- the classic "red flags" are there for eventual violence. My problems (right now) seem trivial compared; I'd like to be able to help, or at least give good advice, but I felt totally out of my depth. Nod sympathetically, hope for the best...

Tonight I don't know what I'll have for dinner, but I will be prepping the bikes and then the camping gear, then going food shopping (which was supposed to happen last night but didn't), then packing -- it'll be a long night.

UPDATE 8/28: I removed identifying info about the "troubling conversation" friend.

Benchmark, Va-Va-Voom

Did my "short northern benchmark" ride after work, (611 to Mud Run to 191 to Bushkill) -- and did it in 1:27, or nine minutes faster than the last time, which also was my personal best this year. Not bad! Guess I'm ready for Allamuchy.

SS BSD: Also, today I figured out how to use the programs I compile & link over at the Super Dimensional Fortress -- actually, I discovered my mistake and fixed it, which made for a short and sweet (but very dorky) voyage of discovery...

And yes, the pork tenderloin is all gone.

What Mythical Man-Month?

Morning weigh-in: 181.5#, 11.5% BF
Blood Pressure: 129/77, 51 BPM

I'll try not to rant, but as a result of some people trying to rush things and putting the cart before the horse, I was stuck here until 9:00 last night trying to get something done. What makes it worse is that yesterday was beautiful, and I was planning to leave "early" -- ie on time -- to take advantage of it. My friend Joe, who does similar work as me only freelance, emailed me to say "don't miss this opportunity," which is probably what jinxed me...

Meantime, it was pork tenderloin day three of four. That and another salad, sauerkraut, and the last of the corn on the cob. After dinner I totally crashed: played with the 'puter, checked email etc & went to bed. It felt like I just got home but it was already midnight. (Tonight will be the last night of pork.)

Tonight I'm going out riding, screw anyone who tries to say different. I told myself when I was down that I'd never again miss a riding opportunity, and I'd be an asshole about it if I had to -- I guess the time has come to stop welching on that.

By the way and speaking of Joe, I ran into the other Joe G (vegan Joe), while riding at Sals last Friday. He was riding Rob R's 1x1 (Rob was on his 29"er) because his own bike was in Canada. Apparently he's been spending a lot of time up there, Montreal area or whatever, after helping a friend relocate. Hmmmm... I wonder who's watching the strawberries?

Everything Dies, Baby

Morning weigh-in: 181.5#, 12.5% BF
Blood Pressure: 138/80, 50 BPM

Yoga last night (once again, felt amazingly good afterward), then I got home and had more pork tenderloin (w/ salad & more corn on the cob). I felt kind of agitated around bedtime, up instead of sleepy, so I took the singlespeed out & cruised around Easton for an hour or two. No lights, no helmet, no gears or suspension -- just tee shirt & gym shorts, sandals and a "simple" bicycle. First time I took that bike out since February. I was a little nervous about climbing back uphill from downtown, but I felt surprisingly strong, and my climbing cadence felt vigorous, dancelike, I was almost aggressive dancing up those hills.

Reading: Still dipping into the Edward Abbey reader occasionally, but I picked up a book on yoga last night before class, and spent some time looking it over after I got home. I've been having trouble coming up to speed on a few things (mainly nomenclature, but also multiple-posture sequences), thought I'd supplement class with a little home study. The book itself, several hundred rather forbidding pages of small-type print and lotsa black & white photos, covers everything I've ever seen or heard of within the first 50 pages, which also include the forward, preface, introduction...

Linux Voyager, New Boat: I got a friend (Mary M's husband Paul, who runs a computer repair/consulting company, and who occasionally helps me with my own computer needs) to burn me a copy of the latest Ubuntu distribution, as well as the latest Fedora Core distro. I'll be checking these out, then picking & installing one of them -- after Allamuchy!

Sals 101: Speaking of Mary, check out this flyer that Doug made me -- I'll be leading a Genesis group ride at Salisbury on Labor Day.

UPDATE: Forgot to mention the reason for today's post's title -- I broke my wooden spoon last night, my longest-lived and most useful kitchen implement. Dang! Now I'll have to go carve a new one out of a bigger spoon.

Zombie Dancer

Monday morning fly-by: weight about 182, bp still slightly high... Sals/towpath on Friday, followed by too much Which Brew & Porters, Saturday gym/errands, then more Which Brew but not as much as last night, Sunday rode the Allamuchy race course, helped with pre-race prep.

Yep, racing Allamuchy next weekend, solo; my team name is "Gimpy's Revenge." Time to get back to the weird world of the crazy-tired solo racers, walking and standing around in the woods like zombies...

Still busy at work. No OT tonight though, hitting the yoga class instead, then starting my camping gear & clothes preparations for the weekend.

Last night's dinner was awesome, by the way: I had to cook some pork tenderloins before they went bad, so I had that with some corn on the cob a friend grew & gave me, plus some sauerkraut. Will probably be having the same tonight, ditto tomorrow etc until it's all gone.

Strekefuss

So where have I been... uh, nowhere! Or rather, right here, but with nothing to say.

I've been riding a lot offroad: did a few towpath/Sals day-into-night extravaganzas, also hit Musikfest once or twice (including once by bike, a "beer lap" on one of my big rides). Yoga, gym, no Which Brew because they're on vacation, still managed to gain weight though my friends say it's probably muscle...

My ankle is doing really well; last visit to the surgeon was Wednesday and he basically said "You're done here, have a nice life." OK, I will! Most of my flexibility is back too, except for my toes of all things, which I notice at yoga. Must stetch my feet.

Yesterday was a kick-ass ride at Jim Thorpe, dinner was potatoes & chickpeas in a lemon-tahini curry sauce over barley. Tonight is Mug Club night at Which Brew.

Heavy Tortellini

Morning weigh-in: 181.5#, 13.5% BF
Blood Pressure: 134/75, 45 BPM

Wow that's a low resting heartrate, I can almost hear my blood hammering through my veins, Sploosh! Sploosh! Sploosh! Little disappointed about that weight though. I had a bag o'salad, and meat tortellinis for dinner, guess the tortellinis were heavier than I realized.

Anyway, hit yoga last night, a really good (ie easy) class, I felt much better than last Tuesday when I thought I was going to die. No problems with the ear/vertigo, but I'd been taking Astelin for a few days to see if I could clear things up -- maybe that's what's causing the higher BP?

Tonight will be the gym, followed by more salad (gotta get rid of it before it rots) & maybe those pork tenderloins.

Meantime: today is the final showdown, Joementum vs Nedrenaline.

Where Ya Been, People Been Askin About Ya

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 12% BF
Blood Pressure: 144/83, 59 BPM

Whoa, that's a a major spike...

The weekend:

Friday was the "Wiener Derby," Janna & Eric's ride/picnic from the Velodrome. The ride, basically following the "Derby Ride" course, started at 6:00 sharp, and I just made it. I rode with one of the slower groups, then hooked up with Eric R and we cruised at a bit quicker pace for the last 10 miles or so. Hot dogs & summer salads in the Velodrome lot afterwards, almost like we were tailgating since there were races going on. My friends Heath & Hans were inside watching the Madison Cup race, so I went in and said hi, then they came outside & hung out afterward.

Heath told me that he and Margarita, married this time last year, are now separated. Things got a little awkward after that...

Saturday had a lot of running around: started by picking up drycleaning, then got a carwash -- Wilson Band fundraiser, swore I'd never let them touch my car again, but hey it's for a good cause, and this time they did a great job -- then the gym, Sears for some hardware, organic food shopping, and a visit to Doug & Lori. At home: got the new dryer going, washed & dried (woo hoo!) a few loads of laundry while I worked on the bike, and then went out to Which Brew for dinner. They were trying to get ready for vacation -- they're closed this week -- and giving away desserts etc. I got a huge chunk of chocolate cake -- schweet! Very rich though, and I was stuffed full of the dinner I ate and the beer they were pushing (cask of Autumn Fest had to be finished that night), and the cannoli that had already been foisted upon me... I got some help from the bartenders and my friend Kirk, who I think saved the last of it for his girlfriend.

A good night, saw Mike and Carol & their friend (whose name escapes me), and had good conversations with Kirk and and Arnie (it was his birthday) and also with Lee, who don't know well but he had some very interesting things to say. Even so, I left kind of early, I felt like a beach ball with arms & legs sticking out.

Sunday started with a ride at Sals. Me, Brian, Pete H, Eric R, Scott S, and a guy named Ron, who we saw wandering around in the baseball field; he couldn't find the good trails so we hooked him up. The only person missing was my friend Tom H, who was the reason for the ride, I was going to show him around. He actually called around 11:30 (ride started at 10:00), to see what was up. Oh well, not riding today... The ride itself was very good, and though I wasn't the fastest there I felt pretty strong. Lots of other people in the woods, saw three other groups of riders, including some Wildlands Conservancy guys planning an adventure race.

Home, nap, shower and back to Bethlehem for a little bit of Musikfest. I met Joe & Cindy there, had some pork tacos and a pulled-pork sandwich (one animal species, two vendors) for dinner, had a few Brew Works beers and caught a zydeco band, as well as a set of the Red Elvises. Saw Andrew (from Porters) there with a few friends, but I was out of there pretty early: stopped for more food shopping on the way home, and was still home before dark. Ice cream and a little more Edward Abbey on the porch, and I was in bed by 10:00. Woke up exhausted.

Reading: Besides the Edward Abbey reader, I've been checking out The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman, which Doug loaned me. So far it's sort of like a Carlos Castenada Lite.

Listening: Doug also loaned me a CD he'd been pushing for a while, a band called Wolfmother. I've been listening to it in the car ever since. Kind of super-derivative metalloid rock, but there are a few songs that I really like.

Wow, What A Dinner

Morning weigh-in: 183#, 10.5% BF
Blood Pressure: 134/75, 61 BPM

Looks like it was dinner that spanked me last night, gained four pounds in a day... nachos and a slice of cake, accompanied by two beers and two drinks. Hung out with Kirk, talked with a few others, but it was pretty loud there, at least until the place started filling up. Anyway, a good night, maybe not worth the price I paid but good nonetheless.

Appalachia

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 12.5% BF
Blood Pressure: 120/71, 75 BPM

Rocking fast towpath ride last night, not quite as fast as I'd like but I figure at least some of the lost time was due to the more difficult trail conditions. I rode it in 1:42, with an average heartrate of 159 BPM and a 179 BPM max HR; total calories burned were 2023. I spent most of my time (1:07) in Zone 4, and another 21 minutes in Zone 5, so I think my heart is back in the groove, no longer having overtraining/fatigue issues. Morning heartrate was pretty high today though, which may be a sign that I need a rest day...

Reading: The Serpents Of Paradise, an Edward Abbey reader. Again, just browsing, but there are some good stories in there. I liked his description of a visit to the Smokies, and his talk about the blue haze found all throughout the Appalachians -- that haze can be seen in the hills across from our office right now. Deep blue overtones in the shadows, like some of the sky got tangled in the trees... cue "Starship Trooper"...

Tonight I'm giving Lori P a ride home, think I'll use that to wangle a visit to see how Doug's doing. I may take a rest day today, or possibly go to the gym, not sure yet. Dinner tonight will be at Which Brew: Dave Cahill's record release party is tonight, and since they'll be closed all next week for Musikfest, I better go get my fix now.

The Bugs Of August

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 12% BF
Blood Pressure: 123/75, 68 BPM

Wow! Yoga spanked me last night. No doubt it was partly due to the heat (I was pouring sweat), and I think part of it was that the standards were higher than usual last night -- there were only two others in the class, and they weren't really beginners -- but I also had positional vertigo problems partway through, and that really makes yoga impossible. I may have to put it aside for a while if the ear/balance problem is really about to manifest. (I wonder what gives? My nose & sinuses have been pretty good for months, but then again I've been on antibiotics for months...) Be that as it may, I notice that the classes have not been getting easier. Looks like the same old dynamic: I'll have to do my homework, put in a whole lot more effort than I have been, to reap the rewards.

Got home, actually felt kind of sick so dinner was a bowl of cereal and I went to bed by 8:30.

(Just thought I'd mention that I have been getting some rewards from the yoga already: I seem to have a better feel for my body, especially breathing and posture, and I've had to adjust my rear-view mirror in the car since I'm sitting taller & straighter. After Sunday's ride though, I had to move the mirror back lower, since I was pretty beat down & slumping again.)

Slept with all the windows open and two fans on me, awoke to the sound of cicadas in the trees. We're into the second half of summer, summer in earnest...

Tonight is a towpath ride, and I may include a dip in the river, followed by more dirty rice or maybe that tuna.

Reading: Been browsing through Bacon's Essays, just read "Of Seditions" this morning. It made me late for work, it was so good.

Crush Groove

Morning weigh-in: 181.5#, 12.5% BF
Blood Pressure: 123/73, 57 BPM

Dang! I guess it was just "suppression weight" that I'd lost, but I'm still not too happy to see that bounce back up... Anyway, went to the gym last night; dinner afterward was dirty rice, with a salad and some feta- & garlic-stuffed olives. Tonight is yoga, then maybe tuna w/ wilted greens. That is all.

The Weekend In Review

Morning weigh-in: 179.5#, 14% BF (UPDATE: Fixed weight.)
Forgot blood pressure, oops.

I took Friday as a rest day, worked a little late & then went to Which Brew for dinner. Saw a bunch of friends, sampled some Magic Hat brews but got no schwag -- WTF?? -- and snickered insecurely with the rest of the guys, while the gals all had their sex-toy party (like a tupperware party, I think) behind closed doors in the other room. I was out of there by midnight, Saturday would be busy.

Saturday morning was yoga, followed by a haircut, then I went over my friend Joe's house to pick up his old dryer which I bought (actually, it wasn't me "picking it up" so much as him delivering it, since we used his pickup to get it to my place). Still have a few installation/wiring issues to deal with, but I now have a full set of laundry equipment again. Later I met Joe & his wife for dinner at the WB.

Sunday was a Jim Thorpe ride, the singletrack on Broad Mountain, again with Joe & Cindy. I felt much better on this ride than I have been feeling recently, which was a really nice change, but it was brutally hot out in the sun, and there were several long sunny climbs...

Today I'm working late, then hitting the gym. Dinner will probably be Louisiana dirty rice, or maybe "potatoes & chickpeas in a lemon-tahini curry," if I have all the ingredients.

Hazy Days of Thermidor

Morning weigh-in: 179.5#, 12% BF
Blood pressure: 122/70, 61 BPM

Gym last night, followed by dinner at Which Brew. I kept myself under control, had a cheeseburger & two beers, turned down the dessert & left hungry, but I'm down by another pound today... Pleasant evening, several friends were there, it was actually crowded when I got there (say, 9:30), but things cleared out pretty quickly.

Tonight is another road ride -- if the weather cooperates, otherwise it's a rest day -- followed by a trip back to WB: it's "meet the brewer night," and the brewer is Magic Hat!

Tomorrow is probably either the gym again, or yoga, I haven't decided. Also, it's time for a haircut, and I'm getting a new (new to me, anyway) dryer.

Winding Up, Winding Down

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 12.5% BF
Blood pressure: 133/75, 57 BPM

I notice that when my pulse is low, the systolic pressure is higher -- as if my heart is just squirting all the blood around in one big push...

Uh-oh: Looks like Floyd's in a bit of trouble, one of his preliminary doping tests came back positive. It was from Stage 17 too, the amazing "comeback stage." I'm hoping it was a false positive -- I hear he's allowed to be on cortisone for his hip, and he tested positive for steroids -- but if he's busted, oh well.

My ride last night wasn't nearly as dramatic (or drug-enhanced), but I did cut six minutes off my previous benchmark time. I did my "northern benchmark, short version" ride: up 611, over on Mud Run, back along Rt 191 & Bushkill Drive. Time was 1:30, and I was kind of holding back a little... Hills didn't feel so bad, either. I spent most of my time (after the warmup) in HR zones 3 & 4, with the bulk of the remainder in zone 2. My HR maxxed out at 173 BPM, and my average was 150; total calories burned was about 1600.

Dinner was broccoli-and-cheese couscous, plus black beans & garlic. Another excellent post-ride meal (totally nailed the glycogen window too), even though it was driven mainly by my recurring failure to go food shopping.

Tonight is the gym, followed by, um, food shopping.

A Quick Fly-By

Morning weigh-in: 182.5#, 12% BF (taco hell)
Blood pressure: um, I forget... nothing bad though

Gave that dude John a ride home last night, no traffic craziness this time (thank goodness), then went to yoga, then did laundry. An easy night...

Things Come Together

Morning weigh-in: 181.5#, 12% BF
Blood pressure: 124/75

Got a call from Doug last night: he was home from the hospital and he sounded a lot better already, though his dog sounded like it was having a meltdown in the background. We got onto the subject of hospital food, and the observation that a lot of people don't seem to be connected to their lives (lack of empathy with others, lack of appreciation of nature, indifference to the quality of the food they eat). I told him I associate all that with libertarianism and the fifties.

Meantime, or rather, before that call, I did a towpath ride. It was so nice out -- and nice evenings seem to be so rare right now -- that I decided to take today's yoga class (chance of showers) instead of yesterday's, and do today's gym workout on Wednesday rather than ride (possible thunderstorms), to make the most of the good weather. I noticed, early in the ride, that my heart rate wouldn't go very high no matter how hard I seemed to be pushing; this is a sure sign of overtraining so I backed off the pace & just took it mellow. Ride time was 1:47, not all that bad for active rest. I can't figure out the "overtraining" thing though, I'd swear that I'm not getting out riding all that much; my only guess it that I need to get in more base work before trying the harder offroad rides -- that, and I'm carrying more weight than I should up those MTB hills...

Dinner was New Orleans style rice & beans, with tuna. In other words, I have to go food shopping, but it was actually a very good meal, tasty & super-nutritious bike-wise. Just what the doctor ordered. I ate on the porch, and had a nice conversation with my neighbor.

Reading: Steven Runciman's Byzantine Civilization. By the way and speaking of the Byzantines, today is the anniversary of Constantine the Great being proclaimed emperor by his troops in 306, and of Michael VIII Palaeologus recapturing Constantinople and re-establishing the empire (in 1261). Wikipedia rawks.

Things Fall Apart

Morning weigh-in: 181.5#, 11.5% BF
Blood pressure: 138/84 (forgot to take meds Sunday)

My friend Doug's in the hospital: he had an abscess "in a very uncomfortable area," sudden high fever and emergency surgery on Friday, I.V. antibiotics, dressings and packing and an unpleasant weekend at Easton Hospital (I am so glad I was at Muhlenberg for my surgery). I talked to his wife on Friday night -- he was still in recovery, but things went well -- then visited Saturday evening. Needless to say, he was not a happy camper, but I hope & expect he'll be getting back to his old self soon, probably as soon as he's out of that place.

So anyway, Friday night I went out to WB (surprise), made it an early night, then Saturday was trailwork at Allamuchy, followed by a disconcerting ride (I was very tired and riding like shit), followed by the visit, then another night at WB and also Porters, and not very early this time, then another disappointing ride at Sals, followed by a disappointing hike on the AT at Wind Gap. Hmmmm....

Fast Week

Morning weigh-in: 183#, 12% BF
No blood pressure measurement.

Well, in terms of antibiotics at least, I am now officially drug-free: last Ceflex dose was yesterday. Now I just have to wait and see: if the infection comes back over the next few months (or years, or ever) the hardware in my ankle will have to be removed, otherwise not.

Did a towpath ride when I got home yesterday -- since yesterday's weather forecast for today called for thunderstorms (and with Dawn in Aspen I have no trainer appointment), I switched my gym and ride days. 'Twas a very pleasant ride, warm & sunny and great trail conditions. The towpath was in somewhat better shape than the last time I saw it, but it was still pretty beat up from the flooding, so it was pretty interesting riding. I pulled what I thought was a pretty hot lap, but my time was 1:42 -- not bad, but certainly not "hot lap" territory for the towpath when it's back to "straight, smooth and flat" conditions.

Got home, showered, and blew off the Bavarian Pork in favor of a trip to Which Brew. I was so hungry I ate an entire white pizza. Tonight is the gym, then tomorrow is trail maintenance at Allamuchy; if Sunday's nice I may do a towpath/Sals extravaganza.

Oh, Those Alps!

Morning weigh-in: 181.5, 9.5% BF
Blood pressure: 134/78

Well, looks like Floyd un-cracked himself overnight, and everyone else cracked today... He's not quite back on top but at least he's within striking distance.

Meantime, Chain Gang meeting last night at the Workman's. Cool vibe, tacos & salad for dinner, got to hear Karen's new recordings -- she's a damn good singer, does her own arrangements on her Mac, and it's virtually professional quality. Meeting was quick, then we got down to watching the Tour...

Tonight is the gym, maybe a bike ride beforehand if things work out. Dinner will be the last of the Bavarian Pork.

Ka-BOOM!

Morning weigh-in: 180.5, 11.5% BF
Blood pressure: 124/78, 59 BPM

Looks like it was a tumultuous day in the Alps today, Floyd cracked big-time...

Gave a friend a ride home last night, same guy who was with me for the "wrong way granny" incident... On the way home this time, we drove through the absolute worst storm I've ever experienced -- ever -- while driving. Blinding rain, high winds, hail, it pretty much shut the highway down for a few minutes...

It passed through pretty quickly, but left a lot of evidence of its violence: leaves & tree branches were all over the roads. When I got home, I saw a bunch of neighbors standing in the street, near one of the big old trees on the block. I walked over and they said that the tree had been hit by lightning, which traveled down from the top to the bottom, cracked the trunk and blew the bark off, and shattered some of the concrete sidewalk. (That tree will probably be removed by the town, it's now pretty dangerous.) Meanwhile, so much hail was on the ground -- some pieces big as ice cubes -- that it looked like snow. Power was on in the house, but you could tell it had been knocked out: the computer was off, and all the clocks were blinking.

Dinner was more Bavarian Pork Chops, then I went to the gym, but it was closed because the power was out. The rest of the night was spent on the porch, reading High Fidelity.

Hot Hot Hot

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 14% BF
Blood pressure: 120/76, 65 BPM

That Bavarian Pork was OK last night, but not great, mainly because the meat, while soft enough, actually came out a little dry & stringy. Maybe I should fry the meat for a few seconds, to seal in the juices, before putting it in the crock pot; that's what I do for the chili and it seems to work. Meantime, the apples really didn't change anything one way or the other, maybe next time I'll add more. The house smelled pretty good when I got home, but I couldn't eat right away...

Before dinner I took that yoga class. Different instructor, different routines and agenda, I think I like the Saturday class better but it was still pretty good -- mostly it was just a little tougher, and run at a more advanced level. (I also had a surprisingly positive experience with the mental aspects of the exercises in the Saturday class, and there was less of that kind of thing last night.) I think I'm starting to get the hang of some of the routines though, their names, nuances of position and movement, etc. I was pouring sweat in the middle of the tough parts.

Back home, dinner on the porch while finishing William Gibson's Pattern Recognition, and watching the rabbits run around the lawn. Monday night was watching some sparrow/finch-like birds eat grass seed at my feet, last night was rabbits playing, tonight's visitor will be -- what?

I Think I'm Back To Normal

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 12% BF
Blood Pressure: 125/74

Friday night was Which Brew after a road ride. The ride was my old "northern benchmark," the standard or shorter version: up Rt 611 to Mud Run, then back along Rt 191 & Sullivan Trail to Bushkill. I didn't feel particularly strong or fast, but my final time was 1:36, which is actually not bad. WB wasn't so good though; I had some kind of heartburn or irritation going on, had only one beer, doggy-bagged my dinner and went home. Too bad, because there were a lot of cool people I would have liked to hang with...

Saturday morning was an Allamuchy ride. I carpooled down with Doug, stopping for breakfast at key City Diner which was better than I would have expected. In the woods: I felt strong for the first hour or so of riding, but then faded fast. At about the seven mile mark, I took a shortcut back to the trailhead for a total of 10 miles -- actually, that's the furthest I've ridden so far on "real trails."

Doug & Rich stopped by my place later in the day (after they finished the rest of the ride, and got some lunch) and we went to Which Brew for an after-ride beer and some of K-Jo's signature abuse...

Saturday night, back to WB, I think mainly to prove a point.

Sunday was a ride at Jacobsburg, followed by chores (laundry, shopping). For dinner I made tuna scampi w/ wilted greens, followed it with a dessert of strawberries, blueberries & grapes -- I'm all about the modular fruit -- and prepared Bavarian Pork Chops in the crock pot for tonight. I added some sliced apples and a little beer to the recipe this time, we'll see how it comes out. Between work and dinner though, will be "active rest" with a yoga class.

Detox Mansion

Morning weigh-in: 184#, 12% BF
Blood pressures have been good...

Went to the gym last night, good workout but I skipped the run: my ankle looks/feels worst the evening after a run, I still get some swelling so I figure I'm still not ready fro that kind of stress. Dinner was salad (ie a bowl of "spring mix" w/ dressing), plus a bunch of summer-salad stuff (corn salad, stuffed grape leaves etc) that I picked up at the supermarket.

Listening: I heard Warren Zevon's "Detox Mansion" yesterday on the radio. Haven't heard it in years, and didn't even like it back then, but for some reason it really reached me yesterday.

Reading: Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose. It's a good story and the book is very informative, but the format is starting to wear on me.

Tonight is a road ride, followed by a trip to Which Brew. Tomorrow morning is an offroad group ride at Allamuchy.

Infrastructure attack! Fierce thunderstorm Wednesday night fried my modem, I'll probably get a replacement this weekend.

OMG It's Thursday!

No stats. Overslept, forgot, whatever.

Went to a wake last night in Fogelsville, fellow mountain biker Larry Reimert. Met D&L for dinner afterward; they were at another wake in Easton.

Meanwhile: Floyd Landis has the Yellow Jersey, and Valerie Plame is suing Cheney/libby/Rove.

Wow, Monday Already!

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 12% BF
Morning blood pressure: 120/78

Not much posting here, very busy lately -- also, the weigh-ins were a little discouraging...

So what's up? Well, on the Linux front I've been playing with C, learning how to deal with libraries; my specific goal was to figure out the GNU "readline" library function, which I think I've accomplished. On the family front, I was at a picnic at my parents' house on Saturday, my brothers and their families, plus many family members, like cousins and their kids etc, as well as some old friends from the neighborhood. On the bike, there's been a few rides, including a road ride (15 miles but it killed me), a towpath ride (lotsa damage from the floods, but it was rideable), and a ride yesterday at Sals (with Joe G and a few others, this time starting from that new lot). On the friends front I went with Brian to Mary M's Heritage Day party last night, though Easton canceled the fireworks.

Yogi vs Boo-Boo: One other thing I've been up to is, I decided to take up yoga. I went down to Easton Yoga on Saturday morning, signed up for some classes and took one that day. I was a little worried about my foot, and was ready to skip the beginner class and take "restorative yoga" (for injured/disabled people) later in the week, but I did just fine in the regular class. I figure this'll help with both flexibility and blood pressure, as well as getting my friend Bill ("you gotta take a yoga class!") off my back...

Meantime, I have about 25 photos that are ready to be posted, and I have another 100 still in the camera. I may post the 25 tonight, but I'll also be taking a yoga class (or hitting the gym) and then going to Which Brew for the Mug Club dinner, so we'll see.

Wow, Hump Day Already!

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 11% BF

Let's see, in chronological order...

Friday I did a partial road ride with Doug, but my new tire was defective and we had to abort the ride when I discovered the problem after only about 2-3 miles. It was just as well, since huge rainclouds came out of nowhere, and it poured just after we got back to my place.

After that came a trip to Newark Airport: my brother and his family were visiting from Florida, and my parents needed a second car to help with transportation. Late night, the flight didn't get in until after 11:00 and we got back to my parents' house around 2:00 AM.

Saturday my plan was to ride at Huber/Hartshorne in the early morning, but I didn't get moving until around 10:00 and hit the trails around noon. Got back, visited with bro and his wife & kids, took a nap and hit the road around 4:00 or so. Tired.

Dinner that night was at Porters, with Doug & Lori and Brian.

Sunday was the annual ride/picnic. I did the shorter (40 mile) "girl ride" option, thought there were quite a few guys on this particular ride -- the longer ride looked like it would be a death march, 80-90 miles, lotsa hills, and not everyone wanted to be a part of that torture-fest. I was tired enough after 40; those guys looked like they were destroyed when the finally got to the picnic. Some swimming to cool down, plenty of summer salads, hot dogs and burgers and brews, then fireworks when it got dark enough.

Monday I got up, rode at Sals but I was exhausted, the trails were sketchy from the moisture (slippery rocks & roots everywhere), and I bagged it after only half the ride. Went home, napped & did laundry for the rest of the day. Back to Porters for an evening out while the laundry dried, but it was still an early night.

Yesterday was a sort of reprise of Monday: I rode at Sals with Mary from Genesis (did much better this time), also Kris K who met us in the woods, then went home and napped for a good chunk of the hot part of the day. I threw my sleep cycle out of whack though, was wide awake from midnight to about 2:00 AM, didn't drift off until close to morning...

Just thought I'd get the bare bones down before I forget. Meantime, I put a few more photos on Flickr, shots from another walk along the Lehigh back in May. Slowly digging out from my backlog...

Digital Dump #1

Lots of things to talk about, but first I want to record some blood pressures:

Blood Pressure (Saturday 7/01): 120/78, 60 BPM @ 8:58 AM
Blood Pressure (Monday 7/03): 124/76, 65 BPM @ 7:27 AM
Blood Pressure (Tuesday 7/04): 134/80, 63 BPM @ 7:06 AM

More later...

Road Trip, Cow Eyes

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 10.5% BF
Blood pressure: oops, forgot, will post in an update
UPDATE: 118/76, 63 BPM @ 6:00 AM

Gym yesterday, almost expected it to be closed since it's near the river but they were OK -- and despite the busy-all-day phone and the road block with state troopers on the only road to the place, they had a reasonable crowd. I ran two miles outside in 23:36, then did about 15 minutes easy spin on a stationary bike before lifting. Tonight will be a road ride; hard to believe but it'll be the first time on the road bike this year.

Meantime... The BP medication I'm on (toprol, of I got the spelling correct this time) is a "beta blocker," which apparently means it sort of blocks part of the "fight or flight" response mechanisms. Once I read that, I started thinking "whoa, I do feel more placid lately," and imagine that I can feel it in the set of my face, a feeling I've been calling "cow eyes." I look in the mirror, same old Don. I wonder if the doc has anything to help reduce suggestibility...

Kitchen Disaster, Part Deux

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 12.5% BF
Blood Pressure: 115/78, 69 BPM @ 6:04 AM

Decided to get a snack last night, opened the fridge and saw what looked like a stalactite hanging down, passing through al the shelves from top to bottom. What the...??

Well, it was milk. The fridge decided to get really cold again, or maybe the blower was working overtime, but a full half-gallon bottle of milk -- a glass bottle -- had frozen solid. I guess the expanding ice forced liquid milk out the top, where it froze as it dripped down. I broke off all the stalactite pieces, put the milk bottle in the sink to defrost, noticed that the glass was broken, cracked by the expanding ice... Cleaned the fridge, more food thrown out, and in the morning cleaned the sink as well. I guess I lost the deposit on that bottle...

At Home I Feel Like A (Disaster) Tourist

Quick update:
Blood Pressure (Tuesday): 135/81, 41 BPM @ 6:04 AM
Blood Pressure (Wednesday): 127/78, 59 BPM @ 8:57 AM

Traffic was heavy on 22, but the bridge was open, the only slowdown there was from rubbernecking, they weren't even collecting tolls & you could roll right through.

I figured that the towpath was under water tonight, so I blew off a "training ride" and went downtown to look at the Delaware. I ran into my neighbor & riding friend Mike, also saw about half of Easton oogling the flood -- we joked that it would be a good place for a hot-dog cart, and in fact the "sidewalk cafe" restaurants, some of which were actually within 50 yards of being flooded out or cut off, were doing land-office business... Welcome to Easton, the Disaster Tourism Capital of the Lehigh Valley! You feeling lucky?

Nice Day For A Disaster

"The yellow sun is shining in the afternoon..." -- The Raconteurs

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 180.5#, 13.5%
Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 179.5, 10.5%
(I'll post blood pressures in an update, since I can't remember them right now.)

Well, let's see, the sun's finally out but the water is still rising; Delaware will not crest until noon tomorrow, not sure about the Lehigh. Northampton County is under a state of emergency, along with 45 other PA counties. The "free bridge" across the Delaware has been closed since yesterday, and I think it's probably underwater by now; I suspect that the US-22 toll bridge may be closed at some point as well. Lots of small-stream flooding (besides the big rivers waaaay over their banks), roads closed, schools open for refugees as there are now non-mandatory evacuations along the river -- some guys went home early, since their areas (downstream of a dam) had mandatory evacuations and they had to be packed & gone by 8:00 PM.

In other news, I went to the surgeon today, and he basically gave me a clean bill of health: he said that, though there was still a depression, the incision was essentially closed, and I can get the foot wet (ie bathe normally) and resume other normal activities. I wonder if that includes riding down the towpath to look at the flooding and accidentally falling in?

Wrong-Way Redux

So I'm going home tonight, and I just got on US22 from I-78, I'm maybe a half mile down the road when -- HOLY SHIT!! -- a car is coming the wrong way down the highway, in the left lane -- in other words, my lane. Crazy things happening in front of me, cars swerving out of the way and all of a sudden I'm alone in the lane, staring at a pair of oncoming headlights. Lotsa swerving, beeping from the lane next to me, sorry buddy but I'd rather hit you than be in a head-on at highway speed... Luckily, there was a lot of congestion and things were moving relatively slowly, everyone visible to me managed to avoid a collision, though I have no idea what happened behind me. All I saw were those headlights coming at me, but I'd given a friend a ride home -- co-worker, religious guy, I don't normally use today's vocabulary in front of him -- and he said it looked like one very confused old lady at the wheel.

That couldn't have been good for the ol' blood pressure...

(By the way, that's the third time in two weeks that I saw someone driving the wrong way. I live in a neighborhood with a lot of one-way streets; mistakes happen occasionally and it's no big deal but this time was a little more serious.)

Reading: Never Mind the Pollacks, again. And once again, literally laugh-out-loud funny.

Apple vs Apoplexy

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 11.5% BF
Morning blood pressure: 124/86, 63 BPM @ 6:05 AM (ie before meds)

The thing about the apple is that, whenever I do eat one, it satisfies my hunger, but when I'm hungry for a snack, apples are never what I want. This is like riding sometimes: the times when you need a ride the most (for the sake of your sanity) are you are the least motivated to get out there.

Wineberry and Wild Grape

Blood pressure: 124/73 (6/24, 9:05 PM)
Blood pressure: 138/84 (Today 8:32 AM)
Blood pressure: 129/71 (Today 3:38 PM)

Yes, I got a new toy...

Ran Thursday at the gym, 2 miles in 24:43, forgot the HRM so there's no other data. My trainer saw me running, said I ran with a limp and should hold off for a few more days -- I think I agree, the foot's not really ready for those stresses yet, at least not too frequently. After the workout I went out to Which Brew for dinner, sigh.

Friday night I managed to get in a towpath ride after work, also managed to avoid all the raindrops. My ride time was 1:37:25, average heart rate was 156 BPM while max was 176, and I supposedly burned 1910 calories. Went to Which Brew (sigh again), still had beer but dinner was lighter fare.

Saturday I did trail maintenance at Allamuchy, with Bob & Karen, Dr. Jim, Kris W and a few others. Got some work done on one of the newer trails, a bypass for an old, steep (and eroded) road. Saturday night was Which Brew again; I'd sigh again but I'm glad I went: it was a good night, hanging with Stu & Kathy plus some others.

Today I got up to lead a group ride at Sals, only no one showed a the meeting point, and when I got to Sals there was only John E (on foot, with an umbrella) and Kris K who decided not to ride. We talked trails for a while, then Kris left, and I was about to bail as well, when a bunch of younger (twentysomething) dudes came along, down the trail to the lower lot... They didn't really know where the were going, so I rode with them for a bit. Good guys, but not too experienced, they had a bit of trouble on the hills and with the slick, rooty/rocky surface. Fun though, and if they hadn't come along I would have gone home semi-clean... The rest of the day was errands, laundry, and naptime -- I seem to be running a sleep deficit, what with all those late party-nights.

Two conversations: on Thursday I ran into my friend Art at WB. He's a bit on the stocky side, always has been, but apparently he decided to do something about it and was trying a certain diet. He was near the end of the first nine day regimen, which was essentially like a purification: lotsa fruit/veggies & not much else. He said he'd had some trouble cheating -- we were in a bar, after all -- but had positive results so far even so. (He also took up cycling, which I of course consider a good move.) I got a little agitated though, when he started talking about his blood pressure problem, which until that point I hadn't known about. He told me how he monitors it regularly at home with one of those automatic sphygmomanometers. That's the first conversation, which planted a seed... On Saturday at the post-Allamuchy lunch stop, someone grabbed some junk food, someone else said "why not? You ride a lot, you can afford it," and Kris W responded with "yeah, that's how riding masks problems -- until you're 50 and go for a checkup, and they tell you your blood has become #3 crude." On the way home I bought my own sphygmomanometer.

A third conversation: I was shopping in Nature's way today, chatting with my friend Vi who works there, and I was "hungry but not hungry;" she recommended a bunch of good snacks (most of which I shot down because of nuts), then said "why don't you grab one of these apples?" So I did -- that & some hummos & chips, and some dried apricots. Light dinner tonight, mainly that stuff & some leftovers, after a fourth conversation made me decide not to go to dinner at Porters.

Back to the ride: there are all these plants near the roads at Sals, called wineberries, which in a few weeks they will be covered with delicious raspberry-like fruit, but they're not there yet. Instead of the wineberries, I snacked on twigs from the wild grapes which are also everywhere down there. You sometimes see little old ladies collecting these things for salads up on the towpath; the little v-shaped tendrils (or whatever they might be called, the things that grab onto other plants etc to support the vine) are very tender, with a pleasant, astringent "grapey" taste. Now that's healthy eating.

You're Going The Wrong Way!

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 179#, 12% BF
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 181#, 12% BF

Uh oh...

Actually, hit Which Brew for dinner (famished, ate an entire pizza) on Tuesday night (which completely negated the gym workout I did just before that), and last night was burgers & birthday cake at the Chain Gang meeting. Reasons, not excuses, yadda yadda -- oh well, I must get on it.

UPDATE: Tuesday's run stats...
Dist: 2 mi
Time: 23:22
Avg/Max HR: 146/156 BPM
Work: 428 calories

Word Crash

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 12% BF

Ran out of things to say...

Worked late yesterday, got home, cereal for dinner, worked on bike between the raindrops, spent a few minutes with the 'puter and it was time for bed. Tonight is another semi-late night, then I'm hitting the gym; tomorrow is the Chain Gang meeting.

Mountain Bike Weekend

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 12% BF

Rode yesterday at Jim Thorpe, with John C and Brian. We did a pretty mellow ride on some easy doubletrack (the Broad Mountain Loop), almost exactly two hours riding. The stats: time was 1:59:49.9, average HR was 158 BPM while max was 182, and 2362 total calories were burned. I'll check the distance tonight. This was the traditional date for Mountain Bike weekend; since last year was the 20th and final MBW, and the event has usually had terrible luck with the weather, it was kind of ironic that the weekend was beautiful. Hot though. Today is a rest day.

Shout-out to my dad: Happy Father's day!

UPDATE: The ride was 13 miles long. And in related news... I called Bike King to order a special shock pump so I could make adjustments on my new fork, and was told that I got an adapter for my old pump when I bought the fork -- just look in the box. The fork is now officially mine, because it's been fiddled with.

And Time Is All We've Lost

No morning weigh-in -- it's the weekend!

Got home last night, hit the towpath for a fairly hot lap. Sand Island and back, about 22 miles in 1:45. I've done it faster (a lot faster), but that pace is really not bad. I got to try my new heart rate monitor: once on the towpath I kept my heart rate at about 160-165 BPM, just about what I assumed my anaerobic threshold would be. My average for the whole ride was 159 BPM, and my max was 180 -- all standard stuff, as I remember. The HRM says I burned about 2100 calories, but that seems a little high.

I was going pretty fast on the way out, but on the way back I was fatigued; I had to keep dropping the pace to maintain the heart rate I wanted. As I remember, this is also typical for me.

Got home, washed up and went out to Which Brew. Saw Stu & Kathy, also ran into Heath & Hans and a few of their friends (singer in last night's band is a buddy of theirs). Dinner was a Cuban sandwich, washed down with two Weyerbacher Hefeweizens. A good night, but I was home by 12:30.

Breakfast this morning was at Coffee Works, then I went to the gym.

And I ran: A two mile jog before my workout -- took me 26 minutes, but I did it. Quick stats: 146 average heart rate, 156 maximum, 481 calories burned (again, that seems about double what I'd expect). The workout itself was also good; I'm not far from where I left off and I didn't feel overwhelmed. I'm feeling a lot happier right now than I did, say, a week ago.

Tonight I'll probably be meeting Doug & Lori for some burritos at Tulum, then catching some of that film festival. They went yesterday, saw some animations, but Doug had mixed reviews. Eastern European "art film" cartoons -- who knows what you might see?

Ding, Dong, The PICC Is Gone!

And I got no strings in me! Oh, hi-ho, the dairy-o...

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 178.5, 12.5%
Morning weigh-in (Friday): 179#, 4% (wha...?)

The Ancef I.V. ended yesterday, but there were some more coordination SNAFU's and the PICC line didn't get pulled until this morning. The visiting nurse made what was hopefully the last visit, did some paperwork, checked my vitals, and then pulled what looked like an extremely long, bloody piece of linguine out of my arm. Slightly weird feeling as it came out, but no pain; it was a pretty smooth simple procedure. I am now pretty much cleared for all activities.

Since the Rifampin also ended yesterday, one other activity I am now cleared for is drinking. Woo Hoo! You'll never guess where I went last night for dinner... actually, Brian called me up and we met down there; turns out it was his birthday so I bought him dinner (turnabout is fair play), and K-Jo gave him a piece of cake with a candle in it, and yes we sang "Happy Birthday."

Gadget Watch: My blood pressure was normal last Tuesday, and I expected that it was because of the dropping stress levels but I'd also had a little of the Topherol (is that the right name?) in me at the time. Today I delayed my dose, and the Topherol-free BP was 137/80. Not bad, but not the greatest -- I still took the pill. As part of my quest for returning health & fitness, I got a new heart rate monitor watch; now I think I'll also get a cheapo blood pressure thingie. Digital self-obsession, you thought the "morning weigh-in" was bad...

I also picked up my bike yesterday, got the new front fork. I'll be trying it out tonight on the towpath, and doing a mellow ride at Jim Thorpe on Sunday. Tomorrow I'm back at the gym as part of my "Selfish Day," and tomorrow night I'll probably check out some of the Film Festival in Bethlehem. Tonight is Which Brew again: my friend Hans is in town, and will probably be there with his brother.

Soylent Green

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 12.5% BF

Quote of the Day: "I have so many things you haven't got."

-- The Raconteurs, "Intimate Secretary"

SNAFU at the doctor yesterday: I was there at the correct time per my appointment, but my appointment was incorrect; the doctor was not in. Apparently, some receptionist working there had made enough of these mistakes that they fired her -- or that's what they told me as they apologized. (We do the same thing here at work: whatever goes wrong, it was the fault of the last guy to leave.) Anyway, my appointment was rescheduled for this morning. I go in, doc likes what he sees but he cleans out the incision and applies some silver nitrate, to cauterize the hole and aid "granulation," which I think means scar formation, wound closure or something like that. He declined to remove the PICC line, but it should come out tomorrow afternoon.

Meanwhile, today's quote: I remember seeing something once about the 50's-era slang term "to signify." The context was someone explaining the term to another guy (I think they were on a bus), using the following example: a guy in jail tells a fellow inmate "I get out in three days;" what he really signified was "ha ha you're still stuck here."

I did the same thing recently with an uninsured friend, talking about my operations and saying my co-pay was around $16 for each (actually it was way more) -- all of a sudden I realized that she could easily take my statement as semi-bragging about the insurance I had that she didn't. Sometimes I worry too much, but I made a point of not mentioning my own situation when talking to that other girl in the quadrant Saturday.

Anyway, dinner last night was spinach & lentil burritos, closer to the book version of "soylent green," but still...

Score One For The Good Guys

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 11% BF

Quote of the Day: "In this land, right now, some are insane, and they're in charge."

-- Gang of Four, "To Hell With Poverty"

The visiting nurse came this morning, and took my temperature and blood pressure, things they do sometimes but not every time. My temp was 97.5, and my blood pressure was ... wait for it ... 124/80. No idea if that was because of the topherol I took a few hours earlier, but I haven't had a reading like that in a long time. Maybe I was a little less stressed, because this may be the last nurse visit, and I may get the PICC line out as early as today.

Reading: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. It's sort of like the old saying about Voltaire: the battles he fought (against organized religion) seem quaint to us, mainly because he won those battles so thoroughly. Reading along, I just keep getting the urge to say "well, duh, no kidding;" it's hard to realize the kind of world she lived in, where her assertions were considered crazy rather than truisms. It's a little scary to think that there are currently forces in this country, allied with and used as props by those in power, who are trying to roll back both of those victories.

Last Non-Riding Weekend Update

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 10.5% BF

Lotta things happened this weekend... Well, except Friday night, when I stayed in.

Saturday I got up early, got my oil changed at Revelation Motors -- the mechanics also straightened out my dented car door -- then had breakfast at Coffee Works and did a few errands (Nature's Way, etc). Hit Barnes & Noble, got a book for my Dad's birthday, also got one for myself (Silent Spring) as well as the new Raconteurs CD, and a Gang of Four CD -- I thought it was a sort of "greatest hits" compilation, but was really the band getting back together in 2005 to do what were essentially covers of their early stuff. Some was good, a few were even better than the originals, but most were inferior to the early stuff.

I had no shoes and cursed my luck: I needed to get coffee beans, so I stopped in at the Quadrant and got some lunch while I was there. A woman came in for lunch, a pretty, youngish-thirty-something alterna-girl, probably a local because she chatted with the owner while eating. She was bummed because she's currently unemployed (and uninsured) and had some recent medical problems. I told her about Taylor, who was in a similar big-medical-bill fix, and who was advised by a doctor friend to negotiate the bills down to something he could pay -- basically I gave her that same advice in the form of a story. We got to talking, and it turns out that she'd been in a nasty motorcycle accident when she was 20, and now the plates/pins/rods in her back are interfering with her spine. We commiserated about antibiotics, painkillers, not being able to drink (alcohol, but she can't have coffee either), and when we got around to my PICC line she said "nothing phases me anymore, they keep giving me catheters."

I walked out of there thinking "this foot stuff isn't so bad -- and thank God I have insurance."

Saturday Night was my dad's birthday. Me, parents, my brother Chris, and his wife & son. It was pretty nice, BBQ burgers & steak plus birthday cake; we ate inside because it was kind of chilly out. My nephew went swimming -- water looked freezing -- played with his scooter & showed me some trick moves, but I think he was bored; there was no one his age to hang with.

At Home I Feel Like A Tourist: I stayed overnight at my parents' house, and went home Sunday morning. Hit Cosmic Cup for coffee & a muffin, then went downtown to catch the Blues Festival. It was pretty neat and the day was beautiful, but things were low key (atmosphere was more like "family fun, face painting at Manalapan Day" than anything really bluesey) so I took a walk down by the river and took some photos.

After that I went to Jacobsburg and walked around there for a bit, found a nice clearing and "took some sun" (ie napped) for a while before heading home. The rest of the day/evening was spent playing with the computer.

Playing A New Game

A game that's new to me anyway, and they call it the Friday Random Ten: you shuffle your player and post the first ten that come up. I now have (almost) enough music to make it a meaningfully random sample, so I thought I'd play...

Here's Mine:
1. Gary Numan - "Cars"
2. Frankie Goes To Hollywood - "Relax"
3. Beat Happening - "Crashing Through"
4. Modest Mouse - "Dirty Fingernails"
5. Bad Brains - "Sailin' On"
6. The Yardbirds - "Choker"
7. The Cramps - "Faster Pussycat"
8. Green Day - "Life During War"
9. Bauhaus - "Bela Lugosi's Dead"
10. Will Carroll - "Some Lunch"

...and a bonus cut for street cred:
11. Johnny Cash - "Cry! Cry! Cry!"

Busy day tomorrow, many errands (starting with an 8:00 AM oil change) before heading down to Englishtown for Dad's birthday, so I thought I'd stay in tonight. I planned ahead; this was at least partly the motivation for going out last night. Got home from work, cleaned the bike so it's presentable when it gets the new fork, and have been playing with the computer ever since, mostly downloading music. No idea what the list above reveals about my relation to cool, nothing good I'm sure...

Six Days And Counting

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 11% BF

After yesterday's photo data-dump, I went out to Which Brew for dinner. I was a little surprised, the place was crowded and I almost couldn't get a seat. I ended up sitting between Carl (who has been a little scarce since he gave up drinking -- we had matching glasses of ginger ale) and some glibertarian traveling-software-salesman type. Perry was there, also Michele, Katrina, and Jeff & Tracy, distributed here & there along the bar, but I took the last empty seat and immediately started chowing down so I didn't really get to say hello to those further away. Carl was cool, interesting as always, but the other guy, while interesting in some ways, was a bit of an annoyance...

Dinner was a "mini-me" salad (fresh mozzarella, tomatoes & roasted peppers over mesclin-type greens, w/ balsamic vinaigrette), and a bowl of chili. I've been ravenous lately, but I've only had an appetite for cereal -- Kashi Cinnamon Harvest is the new crack, bowl after bowl with blueberries -- so it was good to get out and eat some real food.

Deja vu, I'm counting down the days until I can ride again. I should be PICC-free by Thursday night, thus back on the bike next Friday unless I decide to do a night ride... I just bought a new fork, Marzocchi Marathon XC, super-sweet and I got a good deal; I'm having Bike King install it this weekend.

More Updates

Went to the infectious disease doctor today, got the word that the PICC line is coming out next Thursday. Meantime, the fasting blood sugar levels were OK (high 60's last week, low 80's this week, normal is around 100), so I'll breathe a little easier about pre-diabetes, though I should still lose weight. I am now on a third antibiotic, yes up to three a day, which will drop back down to two when the PICC line stops. One bummer: He wasn't happy with how slow the incision is healing. Well, I see the surgeon on Tuesday, he'll probably have a pronouncement of some kind...

Meantime, I just posted 28 more photos into flickr.

Not Even A Drop In The Bucket

I just uploaded a dozen photos on flickr, miscellaneous shots taken in mid May. I still have about 120 photos to go through, choose the keepers & post them, but that's not happening tonight.

Colonized! No More Bread For Me

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 11% BF

Not much to say here today, dum de dum, let's see:

Nurse came yesterday for PICC line maintenance, she looked at the rash on my arm (armpit, really) and pronounced it a yeast infection, no doubt caused by antibiotic-induced imbalances in my skin's microbe ecology. I see the infectious disease guy tomorrow, and he should be able to give me a cream to clear it up. Sounds disgusting ("mmmmm... rich yeasty armpit goodness...") but I was still glad it wasn't what I suspected: last week's PICC line cleaning had been pretty aggressive, and I thought that maybe the internal part of the line, getting yanked and bounced around in its vein, managed to irritate or damage something. Good thing it's only another set of alien microbes eating me...

Walked yesterday at Merrill Creek. Did what has pretty much become my typical hike: clockwise from the lot, out to the middle of the second dam, stand on the rickety stairway, then turn around and come back. There were more cars than usual in the lot, and I saw a few people out on the walk, plus a few rabbits & deer.

AJAX: Excelsior! I signed up yesterday for the beta test of Google's new web-based spreadsheet, which, like their gmail and calendar services, is based on AJAX -- the wave of the future? We'll see... I gave it a try today; it seems pretty good so far, though there was definitely a touch of latency involved.

Too Close To Home

Tonight is the first Mug Club Night of the year -- the Mug Club year cycles around the anniversary of Which Brew's opening in late May. Mug Club night was originally on Mondays (when WB is usually closed) , because the local police union, or PBA or whatever, had been meeting there, first Monday of the month, for years and the deal was that they could continue to do so when the place changed hands. I'm not sure what triggered it -- I can guess, but I'm not saying -- but about a year ago Mug Club Night was moved to Wednesdays.

Now it's back to Monday, and it's interesting that I read this today, in light of various recent events...

Anyway, The Weekend

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 11.5% BF

Boy, this weekend was like being shot out of a cannon...

Friday night I went to bed early, like 9:00, because I was getting up Saturday at 2:30 AM, to be on the road by 3:30 AM for a 4:30 arrival at Deer Park, where I would be helping my friends run the 12 O'Muchy 12-hour race. Which is exactly what I did, except I also had to get up at midnignt for my scheduled IV infusion.

I got to the Deer Park just about 4:45, and things started to really happen about 5:30. Long, long day... Brian raced (solo, kicked butt); Rich, Doug & Lori, and I helped the W2 people (ie Bob & Karen and Kris & Karin) with check-in and scoring; and it poured for a good portion of the day -- the race went from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, but many racers, especially solos, stopped early due to mechanical failures, and I left around 4:00 because I was worried about my ankle.

Got home, IV infusion, went to bed, got up at midnight for another infusion, then slept through until morning.

Sunday morning was internet playtime, plus a few errands. I ate breakfast at Coffee Works, but that odd guy Charley was working so I didn't really linger. In the afternoon I helped Eric & Kris with some PPRAC fundraising at Wal-Mart. Brian was also there, so I congratulated him on his awesome race.

Got home, did more computer play, plus laundry, Taco Hell dinner in between more errands, back to the 'puter, last infusion, bedtime. I was whooped, even though it seemed that the majority of my weekend time was spent sleeping.

One of the things I was playing with was gcc's FORTRAN compiler. I wrote a small program, which seemed to compile & link OK but generated a whole bunch of arcane runtime errors -- which was fine by me, I'd forgotten how much of a dog FORTRAN is, and that just gave me the incentive to walk away without getting any fleas...

Found It!

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 11% BF

Ever go to sleep with the radio on, and wake up to hear some totally amazing song? I'm sure I've heard plenty of songs this way, but in my life there were three songs, first heard in the middle of the night like that, that really stood out. The first was Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid," the second was "In the Congo" by the Bongos, and the third was this crazy song, sounded like some heavy-metal parody of the Batman theme, and they were singing things like "Birdbrain rules the world! Birdbrain wrote Das Capital, Wealth of Nations..." I was still half asleep when the DJ said it was Allen Ginsberg singing -- wow, no way, what a crazy dream...

Anyway, I googled it the other day, found that it actually was a song, written by Allen Ginsberg and sung by him circa 1980, with the Colorado punk band The Gluons playing backup. I actually found a few albums for sale, mostly box sets etc, but no downloadable MP3's. I can't listen to it -- yet -- but at least I know it exists.

Valley Of The Cramps

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 11.5% BF

Walked last night at the usual place, this time getting to the end of the second dam (the one with the incredible "mountains & valleys" view) before turning around. I didn't expect to see too much wildlife, because a couple was walking their two dogs. Total a$$holes, in my opinion: they were ill tempered because of the heat and taking it out on their dogs, which were obviously never trained to "heel" and were doing what dogs do, sniffing the ground and tugging on the leashes, then getting yanked back and screamed at. I caught up to them and left them behind at the first dam; as I passed them I was polite to their faces, but I think they turned around because they heard me call them "fscking freaks" under my breath...

Anyway, once I was rid of them, good old Mr. Friendly saw: a turtle laying eggs, a very tame deer as it approached me, and something big and loud running away in the woods. Very pleasant walk, actually, and I think I walked almost four miles total.

Got home, ate dinner (leftover chili plus a few clementines), then played with the computer until bedtime. Since I have a dialup connection, it normally takes a prohibitive amount of time to download a much of music, but last night I ended up grabbing five songs without even realizing it, since I was otherwise occupied with C-language experiments (I learned how to create and use "shared object" libraries). Three hours went by like three minutes...

What I downloaded was a song from Mogwai, two early Johnny Cash tunes, and (continuing my 80's fetish) two songs by The Cramps. I forgot about them, and maybe the rest of the world has too, but they still rock.

A Random Walk Through That Other World

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 10% BF

What I've been doing lately to occupy my time (besides walking around in the woods and downtown) is, of course, playing with the computer, and what I've been doing on the computer lately (instead of buckling down and getting my high-speed internet connection running) is fiddling with math programs.

(I had a conversation with a friend's brother-in-law on Thanksgiving, where he asked me about Linux and wondered how I could possibly handle real world stuff like Microsoft Office documents, specifically Excel files. I told him I had two very good spreadsheets on my machine, and both were capable of reading Excel files, thank you very much. He countered with something like "well what about if it uses [some MS-specific technology], like what if has embedded video?" Well, top that, mister!

I was a guest -- and it was obviously a contest, not a conversation -- so I let him win; I was too polite to mention that embedded video in a spreadsheet was a digression from what spreadsheets are actually used for, and in fact, the mere presence of embedded video is a sign that the spreadsheet probably came from some marketing guy, is therefore worse than useless and can safely be ignored. Meantime, what if you wanted to do real math? A spreadsheet isn't even near able to do the job, but what could I say? The guy probably doesn't even know "real math," and in fact probably drinks Budweiser... )

Where was I? Oh, yes... So anyway, I've been playing with octave and Gnuplot again, mostly finger exercises to see if I can get them to do different things, solving differential equations that I pull out of my ass, plotting pretty cardioids in polar coordinates, generating different types of random numbers and plotting them to see which look most like the stock market -- this last one is pretty cool, I remember things from old "Mathematical Games" articles on "random walks," and now thirty years later I try them out for myself.

One thing octave can't handle right now is optimization, at least not until I install some library routines. In the meantime, I still have those genetic algorithms. They're written in C, so you'll never guess what else I've been messing with...

Bambi Mocks My Stupid Camera-Phone

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 10.5% BF

Listening: Will Carrol, "Some Lunch."
Next Song: Duende, "Overboard (live)."

Karen W told a story last night, about when she was riding with her dog Shelby the other day, and the dog flushed a doe (with fawn) hiding in the woods, separating the fawn from its mother and chasing it down. Nothing happened to the fawn except it was separated from its mom, but Karen was worried & felt bad. I'm sure it happens all the time, they separate to avoid predators & then regroup.

I saw this firsthand tonight on my Merril Creek walk, when I flushed a doe with two fawns: one fawn took off with the doe, but the other fawn ran in the opposite direction. When I first heard them I thought "aha, bear!" and took out my phone, then realizing what was happening I stood quietly and allowed the fawn to come back. It got almost within touching distance, then spooked just as I took the picture. Doh!

I started hearing thunder so I cut the walk short, maybe 2.5 miles. On the drive out another doe crossed the road in front of me, followed by another fawn; I got a good look at this one as well, as it struggled to get up the roadside embankment. Then, not a hundred yards away, two more deer were on the side of the road; both were full grown but one was missing its front left leg. I drove out of there pretty slowly after that, which was lucky because a few more deer jumped out at me on the way home.

More Listening: Gary Numan, "Cars."
Recessional: Bad Brains, "Sail On."

Greg also told a story: he and Judy raced their new sailboat on Saturday, and won!

Evening Recap

Listening: Iggy & the Stooges, "Search and Destroy."

Back from Greg & Judy's BBQ: Greg & Judy, me, Eric and Kris, Eric & Janna, Bob & Karen, and Brian. Mellow evening w/ burgers & salads & some socializing...

Before that, the afternoon: got my laundry done, and while it was drying I walked around downtown. It was like a ghost town, hardly any was about. People were probably trying to avoid the heat but I really didn't think it was too bad. (Granted, I don't have AC at home, so I get used to the heat, and get no escape by retreating inside anyway.) Anyway, among other things I took a tour of the Museum of PEZ dispensers. I wouldn't travel to see it, but if you're standing on Bank Street and have four bucks to blow, it's pretty neat.

Of course I took pictures, and so now I have a backlog of about 120 photos to go through, cull the duds and put the winners up on Flickr. Sooner or later.

Now it's Bauhaus, "Bela Lugosi's Dead," and with that I'm outta here.

New Gadget Alert

Happy Memorial Day! Here and here are some appropriate links.

Well, I actually did get out of the house yesterday, but not until about 4:00. What happened was, I decided to check out eMusic, ended up getting a trial membership, then browsing and downloading a bunch of songs. First song I got was Fugazi's "Waiting Room" -- I can see myself becoming a pain in the ass over this, listening to it had me up on my feet, pumping my fist and punching the air... Some Bad Brains, Beat Happening, a few other things (yes, Neko Case is good), then I had to deal with my monkey 4:00 antibiotic infusion...

Anyway, got out and did a 2 hour hike along the Lehigh. Like Saturday I parked at the new public boat launch, but this time walked east along the riverside singletrack; I turned around at the Chain Dam. Plenty o'pictures both days, I'll probably post the good ones in a day or two.

Speaking of pictures: That graph of my blog is now my second most viewed image on Flickr and moving up fast, probably because it's part of a currently popular set of images -- can you say "buzz tag?" Oh well, that's show biz... I also noticed, and this started a few days ago, that my cast photo has been getting a lot of hits, as well as the Halloween shot Judy M as bare-midriff Jeannie, and those "girls gone wild" photos. Come for the ankle, stay for the hotties...

I'm out of here (really!) in a few minutes; as soon as my laundry is done I'm taking it out to the laundromat for drying, and will walk around downtown while it tumbles. I've got chili bubbling in the crockpot for a bit of Memorial Day potluck at Greg & Judy's, but that's later, hope it stays nice.

By the way: the new gadget isn't mine yet, nor do I even know exactly what I want yet, but I think I'll be getting an MP3 player soon, or maybe an iPod. Some research is required, stay tuned (sorry, couldn't help it).

Drive a stake into the river, cap it with a bone...

Fun With Graphs: The Final Chapter

don-flickr-graph
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

After this I'm going outside, I swear... This one is a graph of my flickr account. Flickr has a whole bunch more of these graphs, which you can see here -- but don't click it if things that look like pollen make you sneeze!

You can find a link to the java applet, and an explanation for what's going on, here.

Son Of A Fun With Graphs

blog-graph
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Another one, this time it's a graph of my blog.

Fun With Graphs

website-graph
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Found this via Pharyngula: a java applet that generates graphical reperesentations of websites based on their structure, or something. So, here I am on a beautiful Sunday, Memorial Day Weekend no less, futzing around with the computer.

The Ghost of Hugh Thompson

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 10.5% BF

The doctors must be getting sick of me: surgeon doesn't want to see me for three weeks, and yesterday the infectious disease guy said "Don't come in next week, come back in two weeks." Good news is no longer news, I guess, it's just what normal looks like... Yesterday was day 21 of 42 for the antibiotic regimen, by the way --I am now more than halfway done.

Here's an interesting look at the emerging Haditha scandal, and reaction it.

Parting shot: Another photo from Wednesday's walk. I spent most of the time with my cameraphone in my hand, on the off-chance that some random bear would pop out of the woods for a photo.

We Gazed Upon The Chimes Of Freedom Flashing

Morning weigh-in: 176#, 9.5% BF

Walked yesterday at Merril Creek again, maybe three miles total this time; saw more deer & rabbits but no bear. (No coyotes either, which I have also seen there.) I walked out to the halfway point on the second dam, which is higher and way more scenic than the first -- it crosses what probably was the ravine cut by the original outlet creek. Anyway, three miles, an hour walk, which gives me seven miles (and three hours walking) so far for the week.

Today I don't stay late, I have an appointment at 3:00 with the infectious disease specialist. I may walk around the block or something tonight.

Joe Hill, Tom Joad: I heard Bruce Springsteen singing "Chimes of Freedom" today on the way in, sounded like a live version but I don't know.

Starship Trooper, Astral Redux

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 10.5% BF

It's a little cloudy now, but it was another beautiful morning: sunny, deep blue skies, cool but not too cool. This time of year I like looking up through the new canopy to the late-spring/early-summer sky, it reminds me of Yes's "Starship Trooper," and of other spring/summer days spent in the woods... Needless to say, I'll be walking again after work.

Paging Doctor Arrowsmith: Here's a cool post about bacteriophage. (Via the most recent Tangled Bank.)

Sister Bluebird

Morning weigh-in: 177#, I forgot the body fat

Went in to work a little late today: visiting nurse at 7:30 AM (blood tests, PICC line maintenance takes about an hour), followed by an 11:00 appointment with the surgeon. He looked the incision over and seemed to think it looked OK, and then the nurse took the stitches out. Right now it has a bunch of strips across it, maybe like butterfly bandages. I now have the OK, at least as far as the ankle is concerned, to walk and to do mellow workouts on the stationary bike. (Still can't get dirty/sweaty/wet or do anything strenuous with my upper body, because the PICC line is still there.) Anyway, got all that in in the morning, and got to work by noon.

I've been walking a bit lately, trying to get the legs (and the rest of the body) ready to start getting back in shape. I walked a few miles Saturday (at Allamuchy), then a mile Sunday in my neighborhood, and yesterday I stopped at Merril Creek on the way home, walked maybe a mile, mile and a half. I will be doing the same over there tonight. I might try running a bit, maybe 50 yards or so at a time, slow pace.

UPDATE: Went there after work, walked for an hour, did ~2.5 miles according to the markers along the trail (no running). Ran into a couple who said they saw a bear, but I didn't see anything except deer & rabbits.

Home Connection Is Back Up

Just a quick update, since I really wasn't planning to try fixing the computer tonight, and I'm definitely not supposed to be playing with it now that it's back online -- I am out of food, and have a ton of other things to do tonight... But I did get my dialup connection back up and running. (It was not so much a matter of fixing it so much as "un-breaking" the stuff I was messing with yesterday. But it's back up, and I learned a few interesting things along the way, like "don't press the history-eraser button."

Getting Back To A More Active Weekend

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 8.5% BF

Friday night was the Mug Club "investor's thank you" party. A little different from what I expected, just a few tables in the back, somewhat quiet even though it was very nice. I really didn't stick around the main group too long, they were basically having a wine-tasting thing and that's hard to manage without actually tasting any wine... I mingled, got some dinner on my own in the main bar, hung out with the regulars. Several other investors were drifting in and out of the party as well, and we would drop back into the dining room to grab some of the free munchies, BS for a bit, drift back to the bar & BS there, pleasant social evening.

Saturday I was going to help with the Allamuchy trailwork organized by my friend Bob. I got to the meeting place but I was a little late, figured I must have just missed them so I went walking into the woods to catch up. I thought I knew where they were going to be doing the work, but I never did actually find them... It was a nice (long) hike though, and I got a few good photos.

Saturday night was the annual Mug Club "mug retirement party," so it was back to Which Brew. The place was packed, and many partiers had followed the directions & arrived in costume -- you were supposed to dress as your favorite superhero/arch-villain -- so things were very festive. I have to wonder though, was Bettie Page a superhero? Or an arch-villain? Either way, that girl had the best costume there... Anyway, another good night (despite not being able to drink, in a room full of free beer -- good beer too, dang), and the band was the Roamin' Gabriels.

Sunday was spent reading and playing with the computer. I wasn't too nice at first, but the sun came out later in the day and I went for a walk on my one-mile jogging route. Two days of hiking and my calf actually felt tight...

Stormy Seas for the S.S. Linux: I started messing around with my Ethernet card again, among other things, and now I managed to screw up my internet connection. Those pictures I took, don't expect them on Flickr for another few days yet...

Ankle Update: Not much to say really, except that things are coming along. I had a lot of discomfort during and after the hike on Saturday, my boots seem to rub the newly-reshaped parts of my ankle, and it was kind of raw. No damage or problems by the incision though, which is good. It's killing me not to wear boots (I'm constantly in running shoes), I feel like an invalid without them.

The tendons/ligaments are coming along nicely though, and I now walk without much of a limp at all, but I find that I sort of "bop along," bouncing with each step, to compensate for and hide what's left of the limp. This too shall pass...

Sensitivity

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 12% BF

More Good News from the Medical Front: The infectious disease doctor says my blood tests are looking good. So things are moving along.

While I was there, I asked the doctor if what I had was in fact MRSA, the "superbug." He said no, I have MSSA (methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus) or ordinary Staph, so luck broke my way in at least that instance. Strangely enough, there was a big breakthrough the other day, the discovery of an MRSA-killing antibiotic. Looks like I won't be volunteering for any clinical trials...

Bad News on the Kitchen Front: I'm not sure if it was because my crock pot runs too hot on the higher setting (must get meat thermometer & find out), or if it was just because I forgot to add water, but the Bavarian Pot Roast got kind of dried out -- I even have burned stuff in the bottom of the pot. It still tasted good though, which is good because I have a lot left. I toss in a lot of extra stuff that's not in the original recipe (celery & carrots, potatoes etc), and the potatoes were golden-yellow inside, so I think they sucked up all the moisture from the sauerkraut.

After dinner I just hung out at home, played with the computer. Tonight is the Which Brew "thank you " party for investors, and tomorrow is the regular Mug Club annual party. I'm going to both of course, but -- sigh...

Dream Date

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 11.5% BF

Interesting dream last night: I was hanging out at a sort of cliff or escarpment, and I ran into this really cute girl. We got to talking, and I just happened to sing part of "Change the Locks" as sung by Lucinda Williams, and she said "Wow, I have two tickets to see Lucinda Williams, do you want to go?" Then the alarm went off, oh well -- but you know what I'll be humming in public places today...

The song that's really stuck in my head is from E-Rock's Christmas CD:

Guy: A monkey and a donkey,
Girl: Ya-Ya, poo-poo, tat-tat.
Guy: A donkey and a monkey,
Girl: What do you think of that?
Guy: They had a silly argument,
Girl: Ya-Ya, poo-poo, tat-tat.
Guy: Which one could run the speedier,
Girl: What do you think of that?

Over and over and over and over. You down with OCD, yeah you know me...

Chain Gang meeting last night at Which Brew. Pretty good dinner party, and a good if very abbreviated meeting. It was a little easier, in that context, to not drink than it was there the other night. Then again, I stuck around for only a minute afterward, to talk to my friends Jeff & Tracy, who just got married.

Today is an appointment with the infectious disease doctor; this is the second visit, of about six total if all goes well. I have the crock pot cooking away at home for afterward.

Good News On The Foot Front

Went to the doctor (surgeon) yesterday, he was very pleased by what he saw, though he didn't take the stitches out. Hopefully that'll be next Tuesday.

Meantime, never did cook the crock pot stuff. I prepared it last night, and the pot is sitting in the fridge ready to go but that'll be tomorrow -- tonight is the Chain Gang meeting, which will be at Which Brew.

Perl Diving: I tweaked that program some more, finally got it to where it works for erroneous cases as well. Right now it's a "demo," but I may revamp it for real-world use. Nice finger exercise...

A Little Experiment

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 9.5% BF

So dinner last night was pizza, which, in conjunction with the Quadrant's Cuban sandwich, managed to get my weight back up a few pounds. Tonight is the rest of the pizza of course, and I have some pork chops defrosting in the fridge, for Bavarian Crock Pot Pork Chops goodness tomorrow night. Wednesday night is the Chain Gang meeting at Which Brew, but the rest of the week will be crock pot leftovers.

I put together an "IV infrastructure" for work, so I wouldn't have to go home early just to get my antibiotic infusion. Basically, I got a soft-pack cooler, and put everything I need in there; actual meds go into an insulated bag inside the cooler, along with a cold pack (that's how they are shipped to me). I just took them out, time to let them warm up, things look like they're working according to plan, we'll see.

What happened to Fitzmas? I guess it was just wishful thinking...

An Early Weekend Update

Thought I'd better cover my ass here, since tomorrow may be a busy day, both for me and for the internet: there are persistent rumors that Rove got indicted last Friday. I'm not holding my breath, but if it happens or, did happen, I'm sure I, as well as many others, will have something to say... Furthermore, some analysts are saying that Fitzgerald's real target is Cheney, and he now has him in his sights -- it could be an interesting week. (I see that there's still little mention of the CIA-"Hookergate" connection, though that may also start to unravel pretty soon too. Like I said, could be an interesting week.)

So, I went out yesterday, some chores & errands but not as many as I would have liked to accomplish; instead I managed a "triple play" -- where I go to all three of the bona-fide cafes in Easton, something I haven't done in years. (It's been years since there were three bona fide cafes in Easton.) I went to Coffee Works for breakfast, then hit the Quadrant to buy coffee beans (really only "half a play" there), and later in the day I went to the Cosmic Cup on College Hill, first time there though it's been open more than a year.

Pretty nice place, more like a Starbucks setup (the color scheme is red though), or those coffee shops you see in bike stores, than the other places, especially the counter design -- it's definitely more espresso-oriented than the other two. While I was there, a jazz combo came in and started playing, and their first song was "All Blues." I'd been listening to Miles's Kind of Blue a lot lately, so it was kind of a neat synchronicity -- though I have a feeling these guys might have been playing that particular song because it was easy...

Went home, did some stuff, then went out to Which Brew for dinner. Kind of beat, not drinking is lame in a setting like that -- even hanging out with my friends wasn't all that fun. I ate, then went home even before the band started playing.

Linux Voyager, Perl Diving in Pleasant Waters: I overheard a conversation the other day at work, some people trying to write (rather, re-write) a program to do some specialized text manipulation. They sounded like they were killing themselves, trying to re-invent regular expressions in Visual Basic or whatever. It got me thinking "this would be a perfect job for perl," so last night I broke out my Learning Perl book -- I'd forgotten everything I ever knew -- and started experimenting. I was up half the night, then got right back into it this morning, but I have a working demo, a simple program that will do what they're trying to accomplish. Some bug fixes, and it's there.

Today I had lunch at the Quadrant, to make up for yesterday.