Let's Talk About Flesh

Mia and Cici
Originally uploaded by Julie Cotton.

Morning weigh-in: 183#, 13% BF

Well, I signed up for the Perimeter Ride again, and it's getting closer so I better start toughening myself up... The ride's around 500-600 miles over a week, pretty tough but the physical aspects are really the least grueling: many of the riders are there because they lost someone and are seeking closure. There are the cathartic conversations at lunchtime, and the dinners where local survivors (or the parents of very sick children) thank you for what you're doing; "heartbreaking" doesn't even begin to cover it, but what always strikes me is the fierceness of the love these people have, you can feel it baking off them like a heat sometimes. (By the way, I found this particular photo in this flickr photo pool.)

For more heartwrenching, check out this post by Majikthise.

Perl Diving: I was supposed to do a ride last night when I got home, but I sat down at the computer and didn't get up until I realized it was after midnight. I restarted my web server, then started messing around with CGI and dynamic content, and then drifted into messing with perl's CGI module. Oh well, another training day shot, and it looks like rain for the weekend...

"How can flesh tumble and flow so, and never be any less beautiful?" -- Thomas Pynchon

By The Numbers

Morning weigh-in: 185.5#, 13% BF

Why yes, I did go out last night, and I had a good time based on the weigh-in, figures don't lie...

Met Doug & Lori for dinner at Which Brew after yoga (and some errands/shopping), had the pizza special (chicken, spinach) plus a cup of that African chickpea soup; jambalaya for Lori, chicken sandwich for Doug. Good conversation, nothing too intense or memorable... I guess the place cleared out between the time they arrived -- they got stuck at a tiny table -- and my own arrival, because it looked pretty quiet in there.

Reading: Still on Against the Day, getting close to finishing, and I started The Dharma Bums.

Oh, And Speaking Of Porn: I was shown two cameraphone pictures this past week, one explicit gay porn and the other bestiality. I also received received an email -- twice, from two different people -- with photos, apparently from a tattoo contest, of "Tattooed Granny," graphically proving that she was tattooed everywhere below the neck. The common thread? They all came from women. And they call us pigs...

UPDATED: For clarity.

Spooky Ookey Ookey

Morning weigh-in: 184#, 10.5% BF

So anyway, Boltzmann Brains... I guess the idea of sentient beings, arising out of minor random fluctuations in the disorder of the universe, reminded me of the "noncorpora" in David Mitchell's Ghostwritten, one of which is a being able to inhabit human minds like a parasite, moving from one host to another as it tries to figure out the mystery of what it is and where it came from, the other being a product of military "quantum cognition" computer research, which took its job of protecting the Earth a little too seriously, escaped its bonds and now calls a late-night New York City DJ to explain its actions. A total tour de force (like Mitchell's later Cloud Atlas), this book was spooky; reading it gave me goosebumps. Mucho recommendo, and that's all I have to say about that...

Yoga last night, yoga tonight, tuna & wilted greens for dinner each time.

Pattern Recognition

At the end of every yoga class is a part called "Savasana," which means "corpse pose." It's basically like a cool-down: you lie very still on your back, relaxing and just breathing; mentally you're supposed to stay alert (I've a heard a few people start snoring) but not think about anything, just letting go of any thoughts that come. Sometimes the instructor will lead the class in a "guided awareness" thing, where you focus your awareness on different parts of your body, or do imaging exercises (ie "think of yourself walking down a beach").

Anyway, in Saturday's morning class the instructor did a guided awareness in Savasana, and had us imagine being on a beach (among other things), but all that would come for me was the beach in William Gibson's Neuromancer, the virtual-reality construct of an artificial intelligence. For some reason this again reminded me of KIDDofSpeed, this time her stuff about the diggings near Kiev, probably because of parallels with Gibson's more recent Pattern Recognition.

Anyway, that's what's on my mind as I eat lunch today. Maybe tomorrow I'll talk about Boltzmann Brains, "quantum cognition" and David Mitchell's Ghostwritten.

Satyagraha

No weigh-ins, it's the weekend!

This is a photo of my brother Kevin and his children (Kevin Jr, Olivia and newborn Caroline Eileen), taken at the hospital when Caroline was born, probably by my mom. I think that's the first time they saw their baby sister.

Nothing much to say, just hanging out waiting for the snow and rain to start falling. I may go up for a hike at Lehigh before the storm, or before it gets too bad. Meantime, I got up late (had a late night), have been lallygagging all morning -- Doug called around 11:00 and induced me to turn on the computer, where I've been procrastinating ever since... I was thinking of doing a road ride this morning -- if I'd gotten up early enough to be confident about beating the snow-- but I did a brick workout again yesterday (yoga, gym, road ride) and think an easy day is warranted for today.

The Roar Of A Predator So Absolute

Morning weigh-in: 183.5#, 11.5% BF (Woo Hoo!)
(I'll take the win, but I suspect that this was really just the work of a really big poo.)

Chain Gang meeting last night, at Joey T's place. Talked to his wife for a bit beforehand & met his kids: a different context, and he actually makes more sense when seen as a family man. The more I know him, the more I like the guy. The meeting itself: very productive, a little bit long-winded but we got a lot of things done, or at least scheduled to be done. Then it was back to the bike-porn, eating and gabbing...

Busted! Driving home from work Tuesday, someone honked their horn and I saw Megan waving as she drove by -- she caught me in the middle of "car dancing" to some cool tune. How embarrassing -- caught being dorky, by a hottie! Life is so unfair...

Still Reading: Yep, Against the Day, which is reminding me not so much of Vineland anymore, but Gravity's Rainbow. Still dealing with the aftermath of the Tunguska Event.

Tonight is a late night here at work, then the gym, followed by leftovers: I have tuna & wilted greens, and two more days of chili to get through.

UPDATE: A little something to honor Sophie Scholl, guillotined on this date in 1943:

Nothing is so unworthy of a civilised nation as allowing itself to be
governed without opposition by an irresponsible clique that has yielded to base
instinct. It is certain that today every honest German is ashamed of his
government. Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will
befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and
the most horrible of crimes — crimes that infinitely outdistance every human
measure — reach the light of day? -- White Rose Pamphlet #1

Tunguska

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 184.5#, 11% BF
Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 185.5#, 11% BF

Fat Tuesday: One more "last hurrah," went out last night after yoga, while the laundry dried. Had a Troegs Nugget Nectar, which is made from Simcoe hops (among others), a hot topic lately among the bike crowd. I'd gone out to see if I could find some Weyerbacher Simcoe IPA, was unsuccessful but this was a good substitute. Dinner itself was a potato and chickpea soup, with nachos.

I sat next to a woman who was there with Judy, and whose son was working his first day in the kitchen, and struck up a conversation. Turns out she bikes, commutes, and is active in the Coalition for Appropriate Transportation; she also knows CAT people Joey T, Damion and Rob, and Scott S from work -- small world, or small Lehigh Valley cycling activist world... Interesting woman, she also brews her own beer, and makes mead as well.

A Screaming Comes Across The Sky: I'm up to the part in Against the Day where one of the (hundreds of) main characters is in Siberia, and arrives at the right place just in time for the Tunguska Event. There are a couple of references to Tchernobyl, "the star called Wormwood in the Book of Revelations," which reminded me of the girl who motorcycles through the Chernobyl disaster area. I was so disappointed to find out that that site was a fake.

How's That Workin' For Ya?

Morning weigh-in: 185#, 12% BF -- D'oh!

Not much to say, just popped in to record the weight.

Reading: Against the Day is in the kitchen, while that history of Medieval civilization is in the bathroom. On the way in to work this morning, I was thinking about possible similarities between the relationship of the Emperor to the Germanic kingdoms on the one hand, and Buddhism and shamanistic Asian tribes on the other. Maybe I'll experiment with different bathroom reading, see what the Rorschach test brings up next.

Thick As A Brick

The theme for this weekend was probably exercise...

Friday night I did a towpath ride. The paved "bike path" parts were actually plowed, and the snow was hard enough that, except for maybe a half inch of powder, you rode on top of it. The going was slow though, and I did a shortened ride but still took almost two hours. Called my friend Joe with a trail conditions update, made plans to meet him for a ride Saturday, then went to bed.

Saturday I got up early and went to yoga. Big breakthrough for me, I did a sort of armstand/headstand. Seems stupid, but I was pretty proud of myself, even if the instructor helped me (a lot). After that was breakfast at the coffee shop, where I got out just in time, gulping down the last of my coffee and skedaddling when that "Trans-Mongolian Vacation" dude came in.

Next stop was the gym, good workout and fun times with Dawn -- our workouts are really gab-fests with some weightlifting thrown in. This officially made it a multi-workout day, what the triathlon people call a "brick workout," but just to make sure I seized the day I had another workout coming...

Home, a lunch of chili, and then I went up to Jacobsburg where I rode with my friend Joe G for two or three hours. The conditions there were awesome, except a few heavy-use areas, and one section where an ATV got on the trail. Pretty fast and hard ride, and I was parched and starving so I stopped at Which Brew for dinner on the way home. Very different crowd in there that early (say 6:00-6:30), very odd to be a stranger among a bunch of people who all know each other, in a place where you consider yourself a regular. Nice people though, at least the ones I got to talk to, but I got out of Dodge as quickly as I could and was in bed by 10:00, slept the sleep of the dead.

"And your wise men don't know how it feels,
To be thick, as a brick."

Sunday, today, I went with Doug and Lori up to Jim Thorpe. We brought snowshoes and XC skis, but conditions were best for skiing so that's what we did, over three hours worth: we were bushed when we were done. Funny thing, we ran into a friend on the trail, Kathy from the PPRAC ride. She invited us back to their weekend house (next to the trail) but by the time we finished and stopped in, they'd already gone home. Not so funny were the chafing issues Lori had with her socks -- yeeouch, her feet looked scary painful when we got back, needed bandages on some pretty good blisters. Bandages, then sandwiches in town, and it was time to head home. You can find the photos on my flickr page.

Soylent Spring, Roborotica

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 13% BF

Doop de doo, just wandering around the internets... Uh-oh, I wonder what the implications of something like this might be? Meantime, Mimi Smartypants won't link to the trainwreck she found, but I think she's talking about this guy. Freaky maybe, but to another dude not quite as deer-in-the-headlights fascinating as she finds him, I've heard it all and even lived some of it, though it does seem that his world view -- and libido -- were programmed by Maxim or something...

Anyway, last night was the VMB meeting at the Windsor House. Very businesslike, got a lotta stuff done, so in other words it was kind of tedious (interesting, just long), but all that business stuff is now out of the way. (Rich B is now Prez & Doug is VP.) Dinner was a couple pierogi and a few beers at the meeting, washed down with a bowl of cereal when I got home. Tonight will be a crock pot of chili, which I prepped last night; I think it'll be a bit hotter than other batches I've made, we'll see. (I washed my hands after making it, but rubbed my eye in my sleep, thought I was gonna die.)

I don't know how I'll get there, since all the roads in PA are clusterfscked right now, but I was thinking of going XC skiing this weekend, maybe up near Williamsport.

UPDATE: This is what I wrote on this date last year, and this is what I wrote two years ago, and this is what I wrote three years ago.

Snow Clause

Morning weigh-in: 184#, 13% BF

We got out early yesterday, so I rode in the daylight. I was only out for about an hour (maybe 5 miles tops), since the roads were still pretty bad. Got home, did some yoga -- I bought a handy book to help with the learning curve -- and had some tortellini & salad for dinner.

After that I went out for a bit, walked down to Porters. The place was pretty much empty because of the storm, or maybe because I got there so early: the (non-existent) dinner crowd would have been thinning out by then, but the evening crowd, which did show up just as I was leaving, had not yet arrived.

Tonight is the Valley Mountain Bikers meeting.

Generic, Day 2

Morning weigh-in: 183.5#, 13# BF

The storm is not so bad (the roads, especially I-78, were maybe a little worse than I expected), but there is hardly anyone at work today. Sheesh...

Svaroopa Yoga last night, only three of us in the class plus the teacher, and I think all the other classes there (Kundalini, belly dancing) might have been canceled because the place was empty. I was going to do a ride, but the temperature dropped below 10 degrees so I bagged it. Finished the Bavarian Pork Chops.

Tonight will be a ride of some kind, and dinner beforehand may be either tempeh stir-fry, or tortellini and a salad, or maybe tuna & wilted greens. Choices, choices... Once the crock pot's cleaned I will be mixing up some chili for the weekend, but that will probably be tomorrow night's task.

Generic Day

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 13.5% BF

Just checking in, recording my weight. Did yoga last night, feeling good again about the Monday night (beginner) class since it hit on a lot of stuff I didn't know. After yoga was dinner, leftover Bavarian pork chops and a salad, then I read & played on the computer until bedtime. Tonight will be similar: yoga, then dinner, but then I'll do a singlespeed "standing sprints" workout; hopefully it'll be snowy and fun out, rather than rainy and crappy. That is all.

The Lantern Bearers

Morning weigh-in: 185#, 13% BF

Happy Birthday, Charles Darwin! I think it's time once again for one of my all-time favorite quotes, from the birthday boy himself:

It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants
of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting
about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these
elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent upon
each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around
us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction;
Inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the
indirect and direct action of the conditions of life and from use and disuse: a
Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a
consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the
Extinction of less-improved forms.

Anyway: Stayed in Friday night, ate healthy -- and was 186# on Saturday morning. But I went to yoga and had a good time, had breakfast at Coffee Exchange, then went to the gym and had more fun, ran some errands and had lunch at the Quadrant, more chores (prepped Bavarian Pork chops in the crock pot for Sunday), and finally went out to WB. Reasonably early night, but even that left me feeling guilty.

Enough with the wake-up calls: Rode Sunday at Sals, pretty fast crew and soon enough I was blowing up. Lungs were torched & chest ached, head felt like it was ready to explode; on every uphill I was composing my last words in case I didn't make it... Cardio is pretty much gone, but that's next on the training agenda anyway. It was good to see I was able to ride technical stuff OK, which I think had something to do with the recent strength workouts for the legs. Amazing though, how programmed in it is: I ride at my own pace and I'm fine, then I see someone going fast and I chase, like a dog after a stick (or maybe like a salivating dog hearing a bell), and I go too fast and end up toasted.

Dinner was the porkchops w/ sauerkraut; it turned out perfect this time and the house smelled awesome when I got home. More of that tonight and maybe tomorrow, then I'll probably make chili for the weekend.

Reading: Still into Against the Day, which seems to be changing its focus. It's funny how he seems to be summing up so many of his other novels, tying up loose ends... At the Quadrant the other day I happened to see an old book, "Adventure Boys and the Lake of Pearls" or whatever, the genre that was the basis for much of the first part of AtD. For some reason it reminded me of the old essay "The Lantern Bearers."

"And anyone who's ever played a part,

They wouldn't turn around and hate it."

-- Lou Reed

Wrong Way, Harry

Morning weigh-in: 185#, 15% BF (WTF?)

So I went to the gym last night, ate a healthy dinner, and I gained a pound... Meantime, I'm rethinking my New Year's Resolutions, especially #3 because it's been a slightly less-than-satisfactory experiment.

Riding tonight, towpath.

Harder Than It Looks

Morning weigh-in: 184#, 9% BF

I was pretty stoked the other night that I didn't skimp on the riding, but got out even if just for a set of sprints. Last night was another story... I was supposed to do a towpath ride before going over to Art's house, but blew it off in favor of web browsing. I made amends, sort of, by walking to his house, and luckily they were already out of beer -- though not snacks, oh well. I paid my respects, hung out & BS'ed for a bit, caught some "South Park" and headed home. The clocks there all seemed to be ahead by an hour, so I was surprised that when I did get home, it was only 11:00.

Anyway, tonight is the gym, and then some more sprints. I like them, short & sweet and it's nice the way they sneak up on you, build to exhaustion.

In Memoriam

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 15% BF

The wake for Art & Andrew's dad was last night. Nice enough, as these things go: lotsa people there and a nice (as these things go) "vigil" service. After that I went home and did a quickie "singlespeed standing sprints" workout on the streets downtown, then met those guys at WB -- I know I'm trying to avoid going out, but I was sort of obligated in this case; tonight is a final get-together (after the funeral, which I'm not doing) and then I should be free to desocialize for a bit. And I have been watching the caloric input while out...

Dinner last night was tuna & wilted greens over fettuccine, tonight is leftover tuna & wilted greens, followed by a towpath ride and the visit to Art's. It's been pretty cold out, on the very cusp of not riding for me (low teens), but the weather should moderate next week.

Quaternions! Quaternions!

Morning weigh-in: 185#, 15% BF (still carrying some o' that weekend chili)

...say it like "Absolom! Absolom!"

Trapped, vol 1: Someone I know -- acquaintance, definitely not a friend -- went on an extended vacation through Eurasia, essentially for the whole month of January. No itinerary, just a flight into St Petersburg and flight out of Beijing, with the intention of get to Moscow and taking the Trans-Mongolian Express across Siberia to Ulan Bator, then on into China. Interesting, no? Well, I ran into him at the coffee shop on Saturday, and he told me a lot about his trip, and it was in fact interesting but he started to dwell, loudly and at length, on his sexual experiences (or what he thought might have been sexual experiences, the guy is as weird as his reputation) along the way. This is in a place run by two high school girls, with a fairly respectable clientele -- no one who really needed to hear any of that -- and I couldn't shut him up, or even escape. Someone else actually said something to him -- to us -- about his conversation. I was so mortified...

Chilibowl Sunday: The Superbowl of Chili was a bit of a disappointment. The chili event itself was great, but before and after didn't quite work out the way I wanted: no one wanted to do the pre-ride (granted it was cold, but that's not why), then things seemed to end a little early. That's what happens when you try to institutionalize a one-shot funtime I guess. Next year I'm just going to go with the flow. On the bright side, I was way more lucid by the end of the day.

Trapped, vol 2: My plan has been to buckle down after last weekend, diet- and alcohol-wise, so I've been treating the past few as "last hurrah" weekends: out a little later than usual, getting involved in the everybody-buying-each-other-drinks scene, etc. Well Imbolc Weekend is now behind us and it's time to prepare for Spring, but last night was the Mug Club dinner, and I'm eating & minding my own business when the bartender puts a shot in front of me, "here, from Scott." Well, Tullamore Dew and it's the Code of the West (not to mention conspicuous consumption/leisure) in there, so I had to do it, but gave bartender Tara the "ixnay on the ots-shay" high sign, scrammed outta there a little early...

Before dinner last night I went to yoga; tonight I'm skipping yoga, going to the wake for Art & Andrew's dad. Curran-Finnegan Funeral Home, right around the block from me.

Reading: Still deep into Against the Day, which is getting more interesting again. We're now hanging in Belgium, a few years before WWI, with a bunch of refugees from "the Quaternion Wars" and ghosts from the real war just ahead.

Waiting For A Call

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 11% BF

Got a new phone last night, the same model as the last one. All the data on the old one (ie phone numbers) are lost though -- no SIM chips for Verizon phones -- so I'm stuck rebuilding my contact list.

Meanwhile, bad news comes in threes: I found out at work today that my friends Art & Andrew from Easton, their father passed away, and also Glenn here at work, his father passed away as well.

UPDATED: For clarity.

Light A Candle, For Saint Brigid

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 183#, 13% BF
Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 183.5#, 11% BF
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 184#, 10% BF

Well, today is Imbolc, at least according to some.

RIP: Molly Ivins. That's really too bad, she was cool.

It's been a rest week, which is what I had on the schedule: no workouts except yoga since Sunday; the schedule will probably be changing radically next week, since it's the start of the next phase of training -- still reasonably low intensity, but much higher volume especially on the bike. Meantime, I've been reigning in, or at least trying to reign in, my nutritional habits, probably an especially good idea for the week I avoid burning calories. I'm doing pretty well too, so far. (I'll live with a bit of backsliding this weekend, when I hit the Superbowl of Chili.) Lotsa cooking at home, pork tenderloin, tuna, rice & veggies, tempeh stir-fry...

What a Revoltin' Development: With all my "no workout" free time at night lately, I've been doing a lot of chores/errands at home during the week. One chore I did yesterday was laundry, where I managed to launder my phone. I'm not sure if it'll dry out and return to functionality, or if I'll have to get a new one. Don't expect any calls for a bit...

Closer to Seasonable

Morning weigh-in: 183#, 14% BF

(NOTE: Started this on Monday, finished it on Thursday.)

Friday night's towpath ride was a miserable failure; I felt so tired that I aborted it after only four miles and took the bike path back. I was hurting from Thursday's leg workout I think, but I noticed a lack of pep at the gym as well even though I was lifting the same weights. Well, this week is slated as a rest week, so I guess this week just came early. Got home, went out on foot to catch Post Junction at Which Brew, then took all day off Saturday: no yoga, no gym, didn't even leave the house until evening.

Got a call from Brian; he wanted to get dinner, and also wanted to "punch his clock" at Porters's where he's working on a mug -- you earn your mug there by drinking 60 different beers(over a period of time) in various styles, sort of like Beer College -- so that's where we went.

Sunday I again blew off most things, but eventually hooked up with Joe G and Gary for a quick (no kidding!) afternoon lop around Jacobsburg. Pleasant, burning some energy and blowing out the cobwebs, ground was still frozen over there and a light snow was falling.

Solaris, Brother Ray

Well, I wouldn't call it a wasted day exactly, but I spent the entire day inside, playing with the computer and working my way through all the Achewood archives. There's some good stuff in there, and I still have plenty more to go. I can definitely identify with each of the two main dudes, Ray and Roast Beef, though I think I might be more like Roast Beef than Ray...

Funny though, how talking with the computer is really talking to no one. (I don't mean reading web pages etc, I'm talking about getting the computer to do things, interacting with the computer itself.) There's a computer system Solaris, but there's also a movie -- two, actually -- called Solaris, based on a book of the same name by Stanislaw Lem. In the book/movie, there's a space station orbiting the sentient planet Solaris, which seems to become haunted by the ghosts of the astronauts' fantasies, guilty fears (long-dead wife) etc. The planet had become aware of the researchers, and was in turn experimenting with and trying to communicate with them. I don't know where I'm going with this, but the moral is that extraterrestrials will be so, uh, "alien" to us, that attempted communication with them will be futile, and not worth the trouble; we're better off sticking with people.

Well It Felt Like I Was Losing It

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 185#, 9% BF
Morning weigh-in (Friday): 184#, 12% BF

Pants felt loose today when walking in to work; it was pretty gratifying at first, as I thought I was maybe a little trimmer & fitter, but then I realized I forgot my belt... It hasn't shown up in the weigh-in numbers, and frankly it hasn't shown up in the mirror either, but I feel like the weight is starting to come off -- or maybe it is about to, hopefully, maybe, please...

Anyway: Rode the towpath Wednesday night, and this time I wasn't accosted by anyone or anything, not even my imagination, though I did manage to flush two cars parked at different boat launch or access points -- probably teenagers, a little weed or romance in what they thought was a secluded place. Time wasn't especially fast, maybe 1:45 but the trail was soft and there was a headwind going out. Whatever, I still have to get my speed on: guys did a Jacobsburg singlespeed ride the same night, and reports were that it was at a blistering pace. Uh-oh, I'm not the only one on a double-secret training regimen.

After that was Which Brew for dinner, which maybe explains the elevated weight on Thursday morning. Last night was the gym, followed by pork tenderloin with sauerkraut & rice, at home. Kickass meal, but I now have a metric assload of leftover pork to eat before it goes bad.

Tonight is another towpath ride, followed by another trip to Which Brew to see Post Junction; tomorrow hopefully I'll get up in time to do the early yoga class before hitting the gym.

Reading: Still on Against the Day, somewhere around page 400 -- took some time off to read a few other books in between. It's been reminding me of John Dos Passos's USA trilogy; it has the same time frame and concerns, if not same style & structure.

Mud Season Is Back

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 13% BF

Yoga last night, then made dinner at home: tuna & wilted greens over pasta. I never did get around to that ride, but I did finally put that new rear tire on the singlespeed. I had a fairly new one on there already, hardly any wear at all but the sidewall had a tear -- doh!! On the plus side, it seems like the new Velociraptors are becoming easier to get onto the Sun rims.

Tonight will be the towpath (or possibly a road ride if the ground is mushy), then maybe leftovers. Meantime, I have one frozen pork tenderloin in the freezer and one thawing in the fridge, and some pork chops plus many other dinner items to be worked through, also sitting in the freezer. Must start cooking again...

The Persistence Of Pattern

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 11.5% BF

"Sitting by my window,

Watching the snow

Fall." -- Laurie Anderson

I've been contemplating a late night ride tonight, especially if any of this falling snow sticks. Bust out the singlespeed, and just do a sprint workout. Easton, west of say 6th Street (and once you're up away from the rivers), is like a huge shallow bowl, or maybe a halfpipe: as Northampton rises heading west into Wilson Boro, the side roads to the North and South themselves rise up from Northampton. So what I do is ride back and forth on the side streets, sprinting up away from Northampton, then moving over one block and dropping back down. Traffic lights and stop signs kill my momentum as I cross Northampton again, and then I sprint up the other side of town. I can do that for hours with out getting bored, and that view of nighttime Easton is the one I like best, the one most like my dream-Easton.

The shape isn't perfectly like this of course, and as you get toward 15th Street the North side actually drops down to the valley that holds Bushkill Creek. I sometimes wonder what made the bowl though -- was there a river or creek that shaped it? I don't think that's what it is, but I am used to thinking in terms of downhill and water, sitting as I am on the shelf above the Lehigh and Delaware (and "Bushkill") Valleys. What always amazes me is that the rivers didn't find the valleys to flow through, they were there first, and cut through the mountains (which once were as high as the Himalayas) as they were forced upward. Rock to me seems so persistent, and the course of the river seems ephemeral in comparison, but the simple rules and multiple interactions of moving water give rise to deeper patterns that -- though you can never step into the same river twice -- will be here when everything else is gone. And as above, so below.

Monday, Monday

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 13.5# BF

Supposedly, today is the most depressing day of the year. Some confluence of weather, incoming Christmas bills and generic Monday-ness I guess. Personally, I feel great...

(Disclaimer: My bills are paid up, Mondays are fine by me, and I love this weather -- I suspect that people who don't are only half alive. So there!)

RIP Papa Denny Doherty. He didn't die on a Monday.

It's All Good. No, Really.

Weekend has come and gone...

Friday night was sort of a blowout for me: I went to Which Brew, then to Porters with my friend Kirk. Didn't drink all that much but I was out until 2:00 AM. Needless to say, there was no Saturday yoga.

Saturday: Gym, some chores (got that GRASS to compile, but not to run yet), then met Brian back at Which Brew rfor some dinner. Pleasant surprise, Joe T and his wife were having dinner so I stopped by and said hello. Meantime, Brian got into big conversations with Stu & Cathy before leaving. They (Stu & Cathy) were also leaving at the same time, so I did as well. Early night, though I got home and played with the computer some more before bed.

Today was an early morning group ride at Sals, then lunch in Bethlehem (somewhat new place, where Green Cafe used to be) and back to Sals for some trailwork. We completed one new section of trail, which looked like it would be hard but there were many hands & it went quickly. I took off after that -- I was mucho tired -- but some stuck around and finished another section.

(I couldn't get over, when we were riding, how nice the Sals trails are turning out. There's a bike saying, said usually when something goes wrong, or a ride is unusually tough, or grueling, or disappointing in some way: what you say is "It's all good." I just thought to myself at one point that it really is all good over there. I couldn't say it though, or people would think something was wrong.)

In Other News: I'm an uncle again. No stats, but Caroline Kelly was born early this morning to my brother Kevin and his wife; this is their third and -- Amy swears -- last child. I got the news from my mom who's down there (with my dad) to help out.

Survived Another Week

Morning weigh-in: 184#, 9% BF

Now all I have to do is survive the weekend...

Gym last night after working late, then went to Which Brew for dinner -- had hot wings, some Appalachian "Purist" ale and a Mad Elf. I was going to go across the street (ie Porters, to check out open-mic night), but decided against it, which was a good thing. Home, bed by 12:30 or so.

Tonight is a towpath ride, very likely followed by more nitelife, and tomorrow is yoga and more gym.

Linux Voyager, Off the Map: I am now in the process of getting myself some mapping software, which may mean re-installing my system since it's now woefully behind the times. I downloaded GRASS GIS as a start, but couldn't get it to compile yet, looks like some dependent files are still missing. Oh well, my new winter projects...

This Hankerchief Has Been Around The World Nine Times

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 13.5% BF

Stayed in Tuesday after yoga, got an enormous amount of stuff (by my standards) done: I'd gone shopping on the way home from work, then after yoga I cooked dinner (tuna & wilted greens over pasta), and while that was cooking I downloaded and compiled a bunch of software as well as uploading a bunch of photos. New Year's resolutions are starting to kick in...

Last night (after working late) I finished the leftover tuna/pasta, then rode the towpath. I managed to spook myself at one point (scary out there at night sometimes), rode like I was being chased by demons and eventually blew up, so by riding fast I ended up taking longer to complete the ride... Got home, a bowl of cereal and bed.

My New Year's Resolutions:

1. Lose weight. Don't eat out so much, and eat right more often.
2. Ride more, return to an acceptable level of fitness.
3. Don't be so stand-offish. Engage people more, and be a little more connected to them.
4. Use your time more effectively. Stop procrastinating, and be cleaner & more organized.

I have a feeling #1 and #3 will conflict, as well as #2 and #4.

Holy Handkerchief, Batman! I usually throw my junk mail away, but I got something yesterday that was so bizarre I had to open it. It was from some weirdo church in Kansas or Oklahoma, "loaning" me a special handkerchief -- it was paper, and looked like just some fancy stationary -- that if I wrote my name on it and sent it back, all sorts of good luck would come my way, praise Jesus. The name of the church was something like "St Matthew's 56-Year-Old Church," which made me wonder what the name was when it was founded. Very much like a chain letter, but that handkerchief part sounded so weird, and so familiar...

Rainy Time

Joe Peeks Out From The Cave
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Not much going on, but I did just post some pictures on flickr from last weekend. I went geocaching -- something I once was into but sort of lost interest in -- with some friends who are way more into it than I ever was. We found a bunch of caches hidden at a park called Sourlands Preserve in New Jersey (near Belle Mead I'd guess), not a bad way to salvage a rainy Sunday, as Joe said.

Anyway, enjoy! By the way, I now have over a thousand photos posted on flickr.

Beguiled At Last

Morning weigh-in: 185.5#, 10% BF

Back On The Linux Voyage: I am back on the guile kick again, and, looking at this tutorial and realizing what was wrong with it (it's old, basically, and the examples no longer work), I fooled around with updating the example and got it to work. Pretty neat, but I'm not sure what that gets me now.

I did that last night. I was going to ride the towpath (after working to 6:30, home by 7:00 and out the door around 7:30) but forgot to charge my lights. Oh well, I really needed the time to do chores, maybe I'll go for a run in a little bit after I fool with the computer -- holy cow it's midnight! Thank goodness for microwave mac & cheese.

Inner Voices

Despite All The Amputations #1
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 186.5#, 11.5% BF

What Once Was Sacred Ground:I posted more photos, this time from my ride at Round Valley last Sunday. I'm closing in on 1000 photos on flickr, so I may may start padding my photo posting just a bit...

Songs From The Heart, Or At Least The Lungs: A lot of times when I ride I get a song in my head, and it's almost always been the same one lately: a sort of stately andante-paced thing, french horns and other non-brassy brass parts, kind of repetitive but with the melody or progression carried by the inner voices. I realized the other day that this song was actually in tune with my breathing on climbs. I wish I could get this out on paper, or make it happen in the real world.

And Speaking Of "Inner Voices:" Monday night was yoga class, and the class was packed. Lot of newcomers, maybe a bit of a New Year's resolution crowd, but also some workshop will be practicing in this class as well. (Different teacher too, one who takes a more physically strenuous approach.) Anyway, among these new people were two friends, girls who bartend at Which Brew, who thank goodness were not near me in class -- someone passed wind in class towards the end, and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing, especially knowing that they were stifling themselves on the other side of the room... Hey, I guess gas happens -- it happened to me my first class, and the toughest thing I ever did was go to the second class -- and you can be mature about it, but not on "no laughing in church" day. I saw them later at Mug Club Night, and there was much juvenile snickering.

Wot No Pictures?

Morning weigh-in: 185.5#, 12% BF

Not much to say since last night, just thought I'd record the weigh-in. Tonight is yoga, then Mug Club Night at Which Brew.

Thistle

Holiday Dinner: Group Photo
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

So, last night was the annual Chain Gang Holiday Party, with group photo as seen to the right. Great fun, we had it at Everybody's Cafe in Stroudsburg like last year, but started the night at Rich & Linda's for some hors d'oeuvres & cocktails. Highlight of the night was the gift exchange, since it involved the complication known as "stealing"...

Anyway, after that we went to Siamsa, the Irish pub up the street. First time I'd been there, and it was a bit of a let-down, since I'd heard good things about it. (Instead of being what I expected and would have liked, it was, in Doug's words, "like a bad Friends episode.") One Guinness and I grabbed a ride back to my car at Rich's. Early night actually, I was home by midnight.

Listening: Some words I never thought I'd hear on the radio: "and now for some Jacobite music." It was on Thistle, NPR's Gaelic-music show, and they were featuring some Scottish fiddler and music publisher from the early 1800's. He didn't publish any such tunes -- they were probably forbidden -- but the DJ played a few to give a sense of perspective. No offense, but it sounded pretty much like all the other stuff to me.

I heard that on the way to Round Valley, which is where I rode today. (Stay tuned for pictures.) I'm feeling a little stronger over there, but it's still an uphill battle to get back the fitness I once had, that made riding there more than just a hard-ass slog. I did feel good though that there was another group of riders out there, who started after I did but got ahead of me by taking the easier (and shorter) jeep roads, that I overtook and passed on the Tree Trimmer Bypass. Sorry dudes, maybe I ain't still got it, but that's home turf, don't ya know...

I Love A Short Week

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 11% BF

This week went pretty fast, work especially was a blur...

Rode last night with my friend/neighbor Mike B; we did the towpath down to Bethlehem, where we attended the VMB meeting at CAT headquarters. Fruitful meeting, mostly brainstorming on the coming year's agenda. After that was the ride home, then pretty much straight to bed.

Tonight I'm working late, then running before going to Which Brew for roast pork & sauerkraut, with cask-conditioned Old Heathen.

But Enough About Me

Yes Virginia, Don Rides
Originally uploaded by tahl007.

My friend Brian took a photo of me at the Mahlon ride. Do I look a little like I should be worried about my Lucky Charms?

In the time of leprechauns,
A wizard, noble, sprang!

So wassap? Nuttin', honey.

(I cannot tell a lie, I stole those lines from alicublog, who got them here.)

All Is Quiet, On New Year's Day

Puddle: Self Portrait With Flash
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Welcome to 2007! I have a feeling it's going to be a good year...

Went out last night to a friend's house in Jersey, to help send 2006 on its way, then I went walking today up at the Water Gap, to welcome the new year. Posted photos of same at flickr.

Year-End Wrap-up

Posing For Photos
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

I'm back. Actually I haven't really been away, just playing too much to have anything to say here. I've been off for over a week for the holiday (going back Tuesday), and living as if it were a week of Saturdays: get up, browse the web, go to the coffee shop, ride through the afternoon, then either Porters or Which Brew for dinner & music. Not a bad life, but it's ending after tomorrow.

Meantime, I have some new photos up on Flickr. Enjoy!

In terms of a year-end wrap-up, I really have nothing to add to what I've been saying all along -- so Happy New Year!

A Silent Night

Happy Christmas, war is over.

See you in a few days.

"Whose father, whose son will I be killing tomorrow?"
-- from "Christmas in the Trenches"

A Day In The Light

Under The Christmas Tree
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

My plan was to participate in the "Day In The Life Of: Dec 22" Flickr photo pool (post photos from that particular day; the theme being light), but my shots didn't come out too well, and my best "light theme" one, on the right, was taken a minute too late to qualify... Oh well, it was a good day and good evening, and I have about two dozen other photos posted. Enjoy!

The Light Upon The Water

Originally uploaded by otarako.

Merry Christmas! Isn't that a cool photo? -- flickr tossed it up as one of the "most interesting photos in the last seven days." I agree!

Meantime, I just thought I'd mention that Against The Day is just getting weirder and weirder...

I did that road ride today, went up along the Delaware ,north on 611, then (eventually) back along Bushkill Drive. Very nice, the water in creek and river had that "really cold water" look, even though the temperature was pretty moderate.

Vacation!

I'm at home right now, waiting to go pick up my car from its oil change. Yesterday I slept in, then ran -- in daylight! -- and rode the towpath (ditto daylight) before going out to do some Christmas shopping. Today is more shopping when the car is ready, to be followed by a trip to the gym. Tonight, third night in a row, is Which Brew. Ahhhh, life is good...

Meantime, I'm playing with the computer.

Sadly, No! A site you should read every day, otherwise you'll miss gems like this, and this. Speaking of "whoops," check this out. I spend a lot of time biting my tongue, to keep from saying "told you so" to a lot of people, but some people I feel deserve at least that much, and a hearty "now that you've done your part to wreck this country and kill thousands, maybe you should STFU now -- and if you weren't such a shit you'd have already hung yourself in shame." But I'm not bitter.

Sun's out, think I'll go for a road ride.

Flickr Catch-Up

Doug Down The Hill
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 183.5#, 11.5% BF

I posted my Mahlon shots over at my flickr page. That's a photo of Doug riding down a fairly steep section -- some good riding, but I also like the color juxtapositions, especially that rock on the left.

Anyway, last night at yoga I almost did a headstand -- I was so excited, like a little kid. Not the greatest challenge in the world I know, but there are things going on there, that it never occured to me to be able to attempt, that I know someday I'll be doing. I think that's at least part of why I like it, there are totally new challenges, like the "adventure-bike" days.

Dinner was GoLean Crunch.

Naptime Redux

Morning weigh-in: 183#, 12% BF

Started this a little too diary-like, and it ran over, finished it on Tuesday...

On Friday I picked up a new rear tire at Bike King for the Turner. By the way, I'm going back to the WTB tires, Velociraptor 2.1 in the rear and Motoraptor 2.3 (if I can get it) for the front. (For now the Kinetics is still on the front; it's still too new to think about replacing.) I'm already happy with my decision.

I was too tired physically to want to ride, so I went to Which Brew for an abbreviated Friday night, even though I stayed longer than I expected.

Saturday was yoga, then errands and breakfast, then the gym, then some Christmas shopping and more errands, worked on bike aqnd -- suffice to say I was running around from about 7:00 AM until 7:00 PM. Saturday night was Fred & Lara's party, and since I was up the street from Joe G I stopped by his Xmas shindig as well. Looonnggggg day...

Sunday was a group ride at Mahlon Dickerson, about a dozen people in all. I felt really good and was riding well (for me, for this time of year) so was happy. Lunch/dinner afterwards was at the Thirsty Moose, then it was home and I slept straight through, from about 5:30 PM until morning.

Semi-Rest

Morning weigh-in: 185.5#, 9% BF

WEnt to the gym last night, then to the Which Brew "re-gifting party." I ended up with a bottle of wine, which I'll be bringing to Fred & Lara's party tomorrow night. Early night despite everything, but I skipped running this morning -- I was too tired, figure I needed the sleep...

Hitting the towpath tonight, then tomorrow is a busy day.

The Healthy Stuff

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, I forget the BF

Last night didn't work out quite as planned: I rode the towpath with Doug & Eric, but we didn't actually finish (late start, slow pace) until almost 11:00, then went out to get some food, ended up at Shruty's after exhausting all other possibilities -- I didn't get home until almost 1:00 AM. Needless to say, I didn't bother getting up early to run this morning. Chili, cheesesteak, two pints o' Guiness and skip the exercise...

By the way, new photos at Flickr.

Echoes? Reflections?

Morning weigh-in: 184#, 10.5% BF

Still nibbling away at Against The Day, up to maybe page 85-90 or so. Just went through some stuff involving the Michelson-Morley experiment, bar-room cabals of aether-enthusiasts growing despondent, waxing philosophical, & speculating on double refraction and alternate identities/realities, as rumors of the experiment's results start seeping out of the lab... Next was stuff about a traveling photographer ("alchemist") and his young daughter, who ends up getting a job in Cripple Creek, where we run into labor agitator and dynamite junkie Webb Traverse blowing up a railroad bridge on the Fourth of July -- that's where I closed the book the other night.

"Echoes" brings to mind "resonances," as in "harkening back to the mystic chords of memory etc," but maybe the more sterile but light-oriented "reflections" will have to do... there is a lot here that I'm picking up: Speculations on the Luminiferous Aether like those on the Soniferous Aether in Gravity's Rainbow and that whole 19th-century vectors-vs-quaternions thing, the father and daughter with missing mother mirrors Zoyd and Prairie in Vineland (ditto the Traverse family thing), and now shades of The Monkey-Wrench Gang.

Anyway, it's tomorrow and I didn't finish this post, so what-EVAH...

There Are No Ghosts, Only Monsters

Morning weigh-in: 182.5#, 13.5% BF

I was going to say something about Pinochet's death the other day, but better writers beat me to it: here's a little something from Sadly, No!, and here's where Steve Gilliard weighs in (he got that here, also very good -- but notice the trolls in the comments). It's really too bad I don't believe in Hell, now's a time I could use it -- I wonder what Isabel Allende is thinking right now?

Anyway, yoga last night, running this morning, dinner (and breakfast) in between was the last of the GoLean Crunch (aka Crack-In-The-Box, my favorite but extremely gassy cereal) that I bought the other day.

Naptime!

Morning weigh-in: 185#, 10.5% BF

Tough weekend...

Friday night I went to the Long Valley Pub to meet some friends for a holiday dinner. Good place: pretty decent brewpub beers and excellent food, and much closer to where I work than I realized -- I arrived early because of that, and got to check out the bar. The people I met there for dinner were my new friends Joe and Dawn, with a number of their Piccatinny Arsenal co-workers and similar folks, all people they ride with, maybe a dozen all told. (I'd met most of them from Allamuchy this year: Chris, Lenny, Tony and Beth all raced.) Dinner was a Philly cheesesteak wrap, washed down with some of the local Porter, appetizers were some hot wings and calamari -- the only calamari I've ever liked. Conversation was good but a bit confused, I talked mostly with Beth (sitting next to me) and pick up bits and pieces of stuff from further down the table. Big group, lotsa stuff going on.

I left there about 9:00 and was home by 10:00; I was tempted to go to Which Brew for a nightcap but decided to go to bed instead.

Saturday is supposed to be my "selfish day," when I get most of my chores done, but it seems to be turning into an exercise day. I started off with an early morning yoga class, then went to the Coffee Exchange for breakfast before going to the gym.

I've been taking a lot of beginner yoga classes (naturally), but felt that the time was right to start moving up, which is where Saturday comes in: the class is listed as "mixed level," as in intermediate, "previous experience strongly recommended." The last time I took a Saturday class it seemed to be run at a higher level (and pace) than I expected, and though I felt like I was OK and not totally lost there, I was left wondering if there wasn't some level between the beginner levels and this class -- and this Saturday's class fit that bill exactly.

Anyway: yoga, coffee, gym, then I went to take those pictures of the Christopher Columbus statue. They didn't turn out as nicely as I would have liked, but I will post them anyway. Shopping, lunch at the Quadrant, then home and it was time for a nap.

I got up, went out but my Saturday night was pretty abbreviated: corned beef & cabbage dinner at Which Brew, caught one set of the band and I was home by 10:30, to finish my nap...

Sunday was another early morning, and another workout chasing Bob and friends around Allamuchy. I caravanned down with John C after meeting him for breakfast, and the ride (two rides: a "fast group" comprising me, Bob, John, Joe C, Joe G, Cindy, a Brit named Alex and Steve F, and a "slow group" of the people I saw Friday night). About four and a half hours of hard riding, cool but dry and very pleasant, and we were back at the cars. I was whooped once again. Home, another nap, and then I caught the first half of the Cowboys game while eating a steak sandwich w/ Magic Hat #9 at Porters, before going back to bed.

Comedy Gold

Morning weigh-in: 183#, 11% BF

A lot of people are piling onto this lame Christopher Hitchens article, including Amanda Marcotte and Steve Gilliard (check their comments for more goodness), so other than "what they said," all I really have to add is that here in reality, of my three funniest friends, two are women.

A Change in the Weather: Got up this morning and, though it's usually quiet at 6:00 AM, it seemed especially silent outside and my first instinct was to look out through the blinds. Snow! Not much, maybe a quarter inch accumulation, but it was enough to turn even the grass white. My run was freezing, it was ten degrees and windy out there.

Winter Harvest: This time of year has always been pretty tough around here (work), with the physical stress of the first cold weather combined with the emotional stress of the holidays; one or two of my co-workers passes away every year around this time. It's not always by surprise, in the sense of someone healthy getting hit by a bus or something, but even if the person was not in the best of health it's never really expected. This morning I came in heard that Gene C passed away last night. He was older and had once been very overweight, but he'd manage to lose quite a bit over the last year or so. Still, he had heart problems, and he'd recently had some procedure done, so maybe it was getting worse -- he was here working yesterday though. Nice guy, easy-going and very savvy, influential here and trusted by our customers. Very sad.

Bike. Beans. Bed.

Morning weigh-in: 182.5#, 13% BF

Worked late last night, got home & did some chores & then went for a towpath ride at about 8:45. Real easy pace on the singlespeed, got home around 10:45 and microwaved a can of black beans for dinner, then went to bed.

Got up this morning, ran, and now I'm back at work -- lunch is a turkey sub from the place up the street, the other half slated for dinner since I'll be here late again -- hitting the gym on the way home. Time flies...

Now I'm Somebody

If you go to this webpage about Christopher Columbus monuments, you can find this page about the statue in Easton. Picture look familiar? That's because I took it! Used with my permission of course... the guy found it on Flickr & asked me if he could use it. Of course I said yes, and will be getting him some better shots if I can. Stay tuned...

Awww, Meatloaf Again?

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 11% BF

(Comments should now be working OK...)

Did chores and went to yoga last night, then did more stuff at home, then had dinner at Which Brew -- this time I was right, they did have meatloaf, with mashed potatoes and corn. Meatloaf sandwich, actually, and while I'm not usually a big fan of meatloaf this was really good. Washed it down with a Brooklyn Chocolate Stout.

No run this morning: tonight is a towpath ride. It's gonna be cold.

I don't usually talk about much more than myself, and usually make a point to avoid politics but that's not true of all bloggers -- here's one person's fiery explanation of why she blogs. Go read it! A-and here is a little something else that's interesting, in the same vein but a little more shameful.

What child is this? I saw a review about The Road the other day, that the little boy represents a sort of Christ figure. Hmmm, I can see it...

"Our hearts were singing,

It felt like Christmas time"

Wot, No Meatloaf?

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 12.5% BF

So last night I went to yoga, then came home & wrote the rant that was my last post, then went down to Which Brew for Mug Club night (where I apparently missed Brian by a few minutes), and continued my rant there...

For some reason, I thought that they had a meatloaf special, but it was just an unsubstantiated rumor so I had a cheeseburger instead, plus a Weyerbacher Winter Ale.

Got up this morning & ran; tonight is more yoga.

Snow Squall

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 13% BF

First snowfall for the season this morning, a squall that blew through around 10:00 AM. No accumulation, just wind and flurries for about fifteen minutes and it's been pretty clear ever since.

Had a pretty good weekend, with one exception...

Skipped the towpath ride Friday night (that's not the exception), rain and especially lightning gave me the excuse for an unscheduled rest day. Went to Which Brew, caught Post Junction but I left early and was in bed by say 11:00.

Saturday I got up early and went to 8:00 AM "mixed level" ("some previous experience strongly recommended") yoga class, which was a quantum leap up, in pace and intensity, from the beginner classes I'd been taking. I knew what to do (for the most part -- I skipped the headstands), or could fake it by watching my neighbors, but this class was way more of a workout than any I'd done yet. It felt great, actually, and the experiment was such a success that I'll probably be incorporating this class into my Saturday routine.

After that was breakfast at the coffee shop, then the gym, where I felt I did well despite the earlier workout, then chores and a nap. I met friends for dinner at Cactus Blue (awesome time) then went to Which Brew. Awesome time there too, and Joe G showed up and we were actually having a pretty good time -- until he decided to pick a fight with another friend. Shit mist sprayed over the whole evening, nice move wacko.

Saw him the next morning at the Sunday trailwork session at Sals (he was hiking with his dog, not there to help of course) and was all like "whatever." Yeah, "whatever" back at ya, thank God I don't have to deal with him on a regular basis anymore, or be the one who has to apologize for him...

Good solid day of trail maintenance though, we got a lot done, then went for a nice ride (hard, and I was dogging it), and I went home to another nap.

Thine Alabaster Resonances

Morning weigh-in: 182.5#, 13.5% BF

Been easing my way into Against the Day; last night I got up to about page 46. I'm completely absorbed, but the going is slow because there's so much going on and I don't want to miss anything... I read parts that seem to be echoes of Mason & Dixon, and Vineland and Gravity's Rainbow (Wikipedia's front page had an article about The Crystal Palace the other day); other things remind me of my own dreams, especially my dream-Easton landscapes; and last night there was an appearance by Archduke Franz Ferdinand, visiting the Chicago Worlds Fair -- shades of V and "Under the Rose" as bodyguards try to prevent his murder -- and looking to "hunt" Hungarian stockyard workers. (I remember visiting Franz Ferdinand's residence at Konopiste, and seeing the thousands of deer antlers and boar tusks mounted on little plaques, like Little League trophies of appreciation, covering every wall. Live by the sword, die by the sword...) It's like he's talking directly to me.

Anyway: worked late last night, then went to the gym, where things are going really well by the way, then home & some reading before an early bedtime. Tonight will be another towpath ride on the singlespeed, then off to catch Post Junction playing at Which Brew.

Bird. Dog.

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 12.5% BF

Rode last night, did the towpath on the singlespeed. I met up with Joe G and Bob R (Rob likewise ss'ing it) and Joe's dog Riley. They'd started from Sand Island, got to Riverside Park and turned around there, and I caught up with them just past the Bethlehem Boat Club. They were moving rather slowly (in fact they were stopped when I found them) because of the dog -- dogs are much faster than bikes on real singletrack, but the towpath puts them at a relative disadvantage and you have to take it easy on them. But, that's the kind of ride I was looking to do...

Like I said, when I ran into them they were stopped and giving Riley a breather, and we sat in the dark for a while, BS'ing and watching the river. While we were there a crane (or maybe a heron, one of those kind of birds) landed by the riverbank, on a downed tree trunk over the water. It was situated very dramatically, standing on one leg in silhouette against the light of the river, framed by the dark woods all around, and we stood watching until it noticed us and flew away. Pretty cool.

We took off from there, had a few more wildlife incidents (deer in the canal) and when we got to Sand Island we hung out and watched an enormous flock of crows fly around from tree to tree. Also very cool. I left them there, interacting with more deer on the way back (they were a little less shy now that the dog was gone), and hit the hay almost as soon as I got home.

This morning I got up early and ran, and tonight is the gym.

Back For More Abuse (In Three Parts)

Me again. It looks like just I'll have to get used to this new ugly look for my blog...

Went to yoga last night, pleasant surprise when I saw Art there. I also saw Megan, who took the same class, but I didn't recognize her until she got right up in my face (I don't wear glasses in class). As usual, after it was over I was pretty glad I went, though I had reservations beforehand because of nose/ear/stuffiness issues.

After that I went home, changed, and went to Which Brew for dinner.

UPDATE: Fiddling with the new Blogger setup, I think I found a look I can live with for now, and now I just need to get comments up & running again and I should be golden.

Just Testing The Waters

Posing Outside The Pillbox
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

I switched to Blogger Beta today, which trashed my layout (without the graphics it looks horrible), but may allow me to post photos directly from flickr again. We'll see in about a minute...

By the way, this is a shot from the Black Friday ride. We stopped to explore the old pillboxes and I got a shot of Dawn and Joe.

I / I See Light / Without Anger

Morning weigh-in: 183.5#, 13% BF

Into the beginning of Against the Day, and I'm already pretty absorbed... (I may have to re-read Vineland, maybe re-evaluate/rehabilitate its status in the Pynchon pantheon; there are rhetorical and thematic, and also character, continuities between these two which all of a sudden make Vineland look a lot better.) Anyway, a central motif in Against the Day will apparently be light: light and dark, electricity and electromagnetism, I'm liking it already.

Strawberry Salton Seas Forever

Morning weigh-in: 185#, 9% BF

Fucking charming. I just finished reading this, and now I read this.

Meantime, I saw that "Borat" movie Saturday night. Too funny, I thought I was going to die I was laughing so hard... Hard gym workout in the morning, and I was feeling tired and still a little sick so I went home (straight to bed after the movie. Sunday I/we took advantage of the nice weather, and rode up in Tamaqua.

"Oh, boy!" cried Darby Suckling...

What to do? I got home from the Thanksgiving visit, planning to go out tonight and found my Amazon order -- it's not one, but two books, which I now realize I should never buy more than one book at a time, to avoid trying to read them together... Anyway, I'm about 35 pages into The Road and it's already broken my heart, and I'm a page into Against the Day, which is where I got the quote for this post's title.

Good Thanksgiving visit: Mom & Dad, Uncle Pat, Chris & Tara & not-so-young Christopher, and Tara's parents, a full table for the turkey dinner. A little birthday cake for Uncle Pat afterwards, and I was as stuffed as that bird... Stayed up into the wee hours & watched "Jaws" with my parents.

Today was a singlespeed ride at Huber Woods and Hartshorne Parks (near Red Bank, NJ, ie near where I grew up), where I was joined by my friends, new club members Joe and Dawn. They're from up near Allamuchy, but have been wanting to check these trails out. Happy to oblige, and it was nice to ride there with someone for a change, almost like showing the place off.

I think I will go out.

Woodland Hijinks

Sals Trailwork: Rich and Spanky
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

By the way, we did trailwork at Sals on Sunday. Pretty big crew: besides me there was Doug, Dave, Bob R, Bernie, Spanky, Joey V, and Greg & Judy. We were basically prepping a new trail, which didn't need much more than rake-and-ride (a little benchcutting here & there), and got a good chunk of the trail done.

Towards the end of it we saw a bunch of ATV'ers riding illegally in the area, and someone got ticked off enought to call the police. As we were waiting for something to happen (two of us went to meet the cops at a nearby parking lot), the ATV's basically rode right up to us, ruining the trail as they went -- we accosted them as they were bushwacking, before they got to our new stuff, and Joe managed to keep the situation defused but we basically made them back out and leave, and also found out where they parked their trailers. Well, we relayed this info to the guys hanging with the cops, who dispatched a squad car and busted these dudes just as they fgot back to their cars. Some were from Jersey (like they told us they all were) but a few were locals. It should have been a $300 fine each, but they all got off with a warning.

Ack Ack A Dack

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 11.5% BF

Got a call the other day from my high school friend Mike B, telling that another HS friend, Steve Spodak, was in the hospital. Congestive heart failure, difficulty breathing, diabetes -- if you saw Steve or know him, you really wouldn't be surprised: he's always been pretty heavy, and sort of out of control with the food/drink issues (among many other things).

Apparently, he was hanging with yet another old friend (Bob N, who is now, amazingly, a radiologist), and Bob happened to notice the breathing & made him get it checked out, which is what landed Steve in the hospital. I talked to Mike after he visited; it sounds like Steve is kind of in denial about his health problems, since he was trying to get someone to bring him a cheeseburger from the cafeteria, or at least a Coke from the vending machine. Hmmm, sounds so familiar...

Got a Spodak on my back,
It's a Spodak attack!

Reading: Just finished rereading Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 and Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Just in time too, since I got an email from Amazon, saying they just shipped Pynchon's new (woo-hoo!) Against the Day and McCarthy's new The Road. They should both be here by the weekend.

Now It Can Be Told

After The Party
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

I stayed home from work yesterday, stayed in most of today too, waiting for the Verizon repairman. (I've had no landline -- no incoming calls, no dialtone on my regular phone -- for a little more than a week.) I made an appointment for the repairman to come out, earliest possible day was Friday and I'd have to be home when he showed up, sometime between 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM. I waited until 4:00 before calling to ask what the story was, and found out they'd cancelled the visit because they ran some kind of test an surmised that the line was OK... Um, thanks for letting me sit around all day waiting, and no it still doesn't work.

They apologized, said someone would be here today -- I insisted it had to be after 2:00, I wasn't sitting around all day again -- and today I got a call at 1:30 saying their workload was too big and they'd have to come another day. I almost bit the woman's head off, let her know just how I felt about that, and sure enough a repairman was here at 4:00. Wires in the house are fine, wires to the house are fine, but at the interface box outside, all the wires have been cut -- not ripped or broken, professionally de-installed.

Turns out, my neighbor had switched to RCN phone service (I found this out later), and RCN sent out some assclown to make the change, which he apparently did by cutting all the connections, then re-connecting my neighbor's line, leaving me disconnected. All's well that ends well, and I thanked the Verizon repairman for helping out, but am now preparing to let RCN know exactly what kind of dipshits I now know them to be.

Long story, short pier: I didn't have internet access at home for a week, now it's back and I have my latest pictures, from both the chili ride and the McSorley's bus trip, posted on Flickr.

Take A Deep Breath, Feels Like You're Choking

Morning weigh-in: 185.5#, 12.5% BF

Chores, yoga, then tuna & wilted greens aglio e olio over fettucine. I can't stop eating that stuff when I make it.

No run this morning, I'm taking it as a rest day (it's also the Chain Gang meeting). Tomorrow is the gym, Friday is the towpath, Saturday is the gym and maybe yoga beforehand (early, but it's a "mixed" rather than "beginner" class), and Sunday will be another ride.

Good news and bad news: I've been using the neti pot regularly, and sinuses finally opened up yesterday morning, so I've been happy that they now can drain -- but of course I'm not all that happy with that whole draining experience. Terrible time breathing in yoga last night, took some antihistamine/decongestant/antitussive before bed. Mmmmm, codeine... shiny purple candy-like syrup...

Gutterball Knock You Out

Morning weigh-in: 184#, 11.5% BF

Fighting my way out of one rut and into another...

Dinner last night was great; that bean and tomato stew turned out to be totally awesome, and very filling. I had a little before yoga then a full plate when I got home. Good thing I like it, because I have a lot left over.

Anyway, pre-dinner then yoga: pretty nice once again, and it was good because it felt like a real workout -- I also felt like I "got it" with a few poses, but of course that didn't last... Saw Violetta there as well, nice surprise, also Lara from Which Brew, who takes the bellydancing class after my class.

Went to bed early (head cold, uh-oh looks like sinus), got up and ran again this morning. Again, just a mile, and did it at a 14-minute pace again, but that's where I'm supposed to be right now.

A Missive From The Land Of Boring

No morning weigh-in...

So this weekend: Friday night was an easy singlespeed ride on the towpath, mostly just sit & spin, then some yoga to loosen up and dinner at Which Brew. Ginger-carrot soup, nachos, Weyerbacher Winter Ale. Saturday: hard workout at the gym, followed by a nap; nitelife was Which Brew again, where I ran into Doug & Lori (they were there Friday too), Eric & Kris, and their friends whose names escape me... I ate an enormous amount of food, I was starving.

Sunday was my "re-dedication" ride: a nice easy road ride, but it was supposed to rain and I was going to ride in the rain, like signing my name in blood or something, to push home to myself that I'm serious about training -- and this time, I mean it! (Once upon a time, about ten years ago or so, it wouldn't have even been an issue. Sigh.) It never actually rained while I was riding, but I'm not sure if that was a bad thing or a good thing.

I got home, did some chores, and then did something I swore I'd never do: I went grocery shopping on a Sunday afternoon. I needed to buy food (by dinnertime) if I was going to be eating at home like I wanted, so off I went to the supermarket. It wasn't too bad, though the supermarket was way crowded, like bumper-to bumper with the shopping carts. Bought a bunch of meat & veggies etc, actually just enough for the meals I have planned for the week, then came home & cooked tempeh-veggie stir-fry for dinner.

The Big News: I went to the PPRAC '07 kickoff meeting last night, and signed up for next year's Perimeter Ride, so yes I'm doing it again this summer and I'll be going a-begging for cash pretty soon. You have been warned...

Ran this morning, one mile at very slow (14 minute) pace, then made tonight's crock-pot dinner: tomato-bean stew. One from the recipe book, we'll see how it works out.

"P" Is For "Prostaglandin"

Mornign weigh-in: 186#, 12% BF

I think that's the name of the chemical, maybe a hormone, that muscles produce when they're rebuilding themselves. It helps to absorb or assimilate protein or something, but it's also the stuff that makes muscles ache the day after they've been exercised -- it keeps you from abusing them again until they're fully rested & restored. I think I've got some in my legs right now, great workout last night...

(By the way, that's why you shouldn't take Advil for muscle aches if you're working out: it blocks the prostaglandin, so the muscles don't hurt but they also don't regenerate, and you've wasted your workout effort.)

After that I went to Which Brew, but had dinner ( the last of the chili) at home beforehand. Tonight will probably be similar to yesterday, except there's an easy ride on the agenda.

November Sun

Morning Weigh-in: 184.5#, 12.5% BF

I noticed this the other day: that thin white November daylight is back. (I was going to mention it then, but then it became cloudy & rainy for a few days.) The light won't really turn golden again except maybe at dawn or dusk, until around New Years, and before that the rivers have to turn gray-green first. Silverlight express, time for some road rides?

Worked late last night, then got a call last night on the way home: my friend Greg's car had broken down, he was at the car dealer and needed a ride from there to his house. Happy to do it -- picking him up was on my way home, his wife was out of town & couldn't rescue him, and he & she were the ones who regularly took me shopping when my ankle wouldn't let me drive -- but that meant skipping the gym. No problemo, I had a backup plan...

Instead of the gym, I went for a run, then did some yoga to recover & loosen back up. I haven't tried to run since about July (when I had some bad experiences, leg wasn't fully ready), so I took it real easy, just did a mile and it took me 14 minutes to do it. I felt pretty good, though there were twinges in the ankle -- mostly on the tibia side, and mostly the little "balance muscles," so no worries, I hope. I was a little surprised by the yoga though, how much of a difference I could see (and especially feel) last night.

Tonight is the gym, followed by (maybe) a weeknight out. I can always blame laundry...

A Bunch Of Crows Perched On A Dead Deer In The Rain

Morning weigh-in: 184#, 11.5% BF

...That's what I saw on the way in to work this morning. It was off the side of the road and looked like a new kill; the crows weren't feeding so much as just standing around yelling at each other, and the hide still looked intact. I doubt if that's their usual food, maybe they lack the ability to tear open a deer carcass on their own.

Anyway, that's your image for the day. For other images take a look at this. My friend Joe was on the Chili Ride and has quite a bit of GPS/mapping savvy, and he made a map of that ride with links to photos. (Look on the map for camera icons & click them -- they're more visible in the aerial photo than in the topo. Since most photos were taken at one of two spots, they all overlap on the map, so he included thumbnail links under the map as well.) I have about 40 shots of my own, both the Chili Ride and also the McSorley's trip, which I'll upload probably tonight.

So, how was the weekend, anyway? Um, good, good... I was up to 186 pounds on Monday morning...

The Chili Ride was great, maybe 20 people total in two groups. I was in the "fast group" with host Kevin, "Stevesquatch," Rich B and Joe, among others. I was near the back for most of the ride, especially at the beginning, but was holding my own by the end so I was happy. Later, at the party, my chili didn't win but I was still happy: beer and a bonfire, chili and desserts, life is good.

The trip to McSorley's was likewise awesome. We got on the bus at 10:30 or so, w/ bagels, Irish coffee & mimosas on the trip in; spent several hours at McSorley's before going to some Chinese restaurant (the only downer on the trip -- I'm not big on Chinese food) in Chinatown. A quick stop for cannoli's and espresso, and home by about 10:00. A great day, even if it wasn't the healthiest.

Monday was ashtanga yoga, then Which Brew for Mug Club night, and last night was voting followed by svaroopa yoga, and tonight is the gym.

It Wasn't Raining When Noah Built The Ark

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 185#, 13.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Friday): 183.5#, 14.5% BF

Good workout in the gym yesterday, not spectacular but very satisfying; I felt like I really hit my target areas (uh, basically everything) hard, and I am starting to see improvement as well. I busted out my good old Cyclist's Training Bible the other day -- that's where this post's title comes from, an inspirational quote to start the chapter on periodization -- and I see that I am doing all the right things right now, to be on track for next summer. All except having fun -- I don't think you're supposed to do that while training, but I'm going on a fun ride tomorrow, too bad.

Home, where more laundry waited to be dried, so out to Which Brew for dinner but kept it reasonable: beer is usually my worst culprit for weight gain, but I only had one mug last night, and balanced it with a salad. Quiet night in there even if it was the Day of the Dead, just a few people at the bar, mostly bartenders on their night off. Nice people, but their conversation was much younger, and more female, than I could relate to (movies I've heard of but didn't bother to see, Madonna vs Debbie Gibson vs Paula Abdul etc), so I just hung out and ate with my mouth shut, so to speak.

Tonight is the towpath, then I have to make chili for tomorrow: it's Beth's 11th Annual Chili Ride and Cook-Off, and I am gunning for at least an honorable mention. Sunday is the bus trip to McSorley's.

Fifty Bucks, Fifty Minutes

Morning weigh-in: 185#, 13% BF

Trick-or-Treat went from 6:00 to 8:00 last night, but I ran out of candy ($50 worth, and discounted, so I got even more for my money) before 7:00. Total madhouse, I never saw that many kids. It looked like a parade going by.

Laundry for the Trick-or-Treat time, Which Brew while it dried: chili and a Rogue Dead Guy for dinner. Many there were in costume again. Talk was of the big bus trip this Sunday, to McSorley's in NYC -- and of course I'm going, signed up and paid last week. The evening's TMI award went to Theresa for her graphic description of menopause, with Gary, glassy-eyed and green-about-the-gills, serving as her conversational foil. Good times...

Haunted Nazi Hayride

Morning weigh-in: 183#, 13% BF

Good night at yoga last night. I won't be at the Svaroopa class tonight -- Trick or Treat, $50 in candy might last me the two hours -- so I did the beginner Ashtanga class. For the first time it felt like an actual workout, actually got warm & sweaty at times, and I also felt like I "got it" on a lot of poses and movements, finally understood at least what I'm supposed to be doing in them. Getting there, making progress...

Listening: On the ride home from work I was jamming to WPRB, which seemed to be on fire. One song (maybe called "Dirty Wing?") caught my ear: throwaway song but the refrain was catchy:

I hear you got another stigmata,
I hear you got another stig-maaaa-taaa...

"I hate Illinois Nazis:" For some reason this reminded me of riding in to work a few weeks ago, and getting behind some farm vehicle, a hay wagon with swastika bumper stickers. Behind it at a red light, before my morning coffee, it took me a minute for the fact of a swastika bumper sticker to penetrate my consciousness -- huh? WTF but sure enough, it said "New Jersey Nazi," and he had another one that said "I Believe In Private Property -- What do you believe in?"

Note to self: no fender-benders, no confrontations, this guy had the vibe that says "armed lunatic," but I couldn't help musing, "well, what do I believe in?" Oh, I don't know, maybe the essential evil of Nazism? O-or the stupidity of espousing propertarianism and a political philosophy with "socialism" in its name? (OK, in practice they're not that far apart. By the way, I'm wondering: are NJ farmers subsidized?)

Anyway, when the blacks and Jews come from Trenton for his daughters, er, taxes, they'll find him with "a rifle in one hand, the Bible in the other and a copy of the Constitution in his back pocket," so don't blame him when the world goes to hell in a handbasket.

OK, rant over, but that reminded me of the asshole dad from Night of the Living Dead, which is today's featured article on Wikipedia. Hmmm, wonder why... Ruithidh an taigeis fhein le bruthaich -- oooh, fun size!

A Big Breezy Day

Which Witch?
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Pretty fun weekend, highlight being the big Halloween party at Which Brew (photo is of Lori P with WB owner Kelly-Jo). I went as a pirate; Doug went as "me." Not going to mention who else was there since, well, who wasn't? Awesome night...

Today was emergency trail maintenance at Sals, lucky break that daylight savings ended but it was stll hard to get up this morning. We had to build "choke points" on the trails to keep out ATV's, which means piling up rocks and logs to block the trail, leaving only enough room for a bike to be able to get through. The piles have to be pretty big or the ATV's can get over them, and they have to be made of fairly heavy rocks and logs or they'll get moved -- that translates into some fairly hard work. We brought bikes for afterward but no one rode, we were whooped.

Incredibly windy day, kind of scary watching the trees whip around, which got worse when Eric decided to cut down a few dead ones...

Spitting In A Wishing Well

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 9% BF

Not much posting lately; Blogger's been acting up again...

Listening: The Pixies, Last Splash. Joni Mitchell, Song to a Seagull.

Reading: Big If, The Big U, and Neuromancer.

Exercising: None, unless you count Yoga on Tuesday.

Voyaging: I've been playing with that guile some more, decided to upgrade to the latest version. Got the compressed file from the ftp site & unpacked it, found that it needed later versions of other packages ("big number" library, libtool) that what I had. Got those, unpacked & installed them, then installed the new guile. A few glitches here & there (always with the voyage of discovery), but now it's up & running. The tutorial I'm following is now outdated though...

Doing: Not much. I've been in a funk lately, low energy levels, which hit rock bottom last night: I worked late, my brain was fried and (when I went out) I just didn't feel like putting out the mental effort of dealing with like, social interaction, even though I wanted to be around other people... Real problem is, I'm burning the candle at both ends: work, extra work, go home and play with the computer, and usually there's a ride in there somewhere or a trip to the gym, then I head downtown to check out the local music scene. If there's time afterward, I go shopping. Maybe "too much" is a more accurate answer? Even more accurate would be "vapor-lock," as each thing blocks al the others.