Thursday Afternoon Quarterbacking

So the rain, coming down all week, may have just stopped, too bad for the ducks but I'll take it... I was going to race Michaux on Sunday, but since I didn't know of anyone going, among those I'd normally hang out with -- and also because of the rain -- I just blew it off. I didn't ride Saturday though it was nice enough (pre-race rest, just in case I went) and I haven't done any riding since either.

 

What have I been up to? Well, Saturday was a domestic interlude, as Anne and I got around to fixing her fence; Sunday we got up late and walked over to Blue Sky for breakfast, and then spent most of the day just goofing around, like on the computer and such. Monday night was yoga, Tuesday was the gym followed by dinner at Brew Works, and last night was yoga again, followed again by Brew Works as we had an impromptu birthday celebration for a friend. Despite the activity, I have been avoiding the scale...

 

Back On The Boat: Some more Linux voyaging this week, as I played with the computer itself, rather than using the computer to play with other things...

 

Ubuntu inherited a neat "package manager" from debian called apt, and it really makes installing or upgrading software a breeze. Software that's available through the package manager is presented as packages, which I think are just lists of what needs to be installed to get the software to work -- this includes other software (also represented as packages) that the original software depends on. The package manager then does all the heavy lifting, including resolving all these dependencies and finding the software where it's stored on the internet, and installs the software. This can be done from the command line, but there's also a graphical user interface, which has the advantage of showing all available packages. (It also checks daily for software updates.)

 

But a lot of the software isn't really associated with Ubuntu/Debian, and apt-style packaging might be an afterthought for the developer, who may just be a hobbyist like myself. Usually, someone eventually makes a package for the software, but the inevitable result is that the latest version available through the package manager lags the actual latest version. OK fine, usually the latest packaged version is good enough, but what if it isn't?

 

That's the boat I found myself in the other day: my GPS unit uses a relatively new file format for its output, and while there are websites that let me convert the files from that format to others (like Google Earth's format, which I use a lot), the main GPS conversion program was only recently updated to handle the new format. This latest version came out in maybe October, and there is as yet no updated package available for my system.

 

The solution was to just do it the old-fashioned way, downloading a compressed file containing the program source code, then running ./configure and make to install it. This always was the most satisfying way to install stuff, it always felt like I was really getting my hands dirty under the hood and I poo-poohed the package managers even as I used them. Until... partway through the install process, the compiler barfed a bunch of error messages and the process ground to a halt. I Googled the errors, found I had unresolved dependencies (which I then resolved using apt-get), and on the second try everything went fine. Thus I was hoist on the petard of why apt beat make...

 

Rough Week: Tuesday was a bad day at work, we had a major round of layoffs. It was a deep cut too, about 14% (say 50 of 350) at my office was let go. I'm still here and I think I'm safe for now, but if there are other rounds I'd probably be vulnerable. (Cutting any deeper wouldn't leave a viable company, but that's not any insurance.) Lot of my friends are gone, it's been lonely and depressing all week.

 

A Voyage Of My Own: I first got the laptop so I could play with programming, specifically that material packaging program I was fooling with, but with all the other things going on in the real world (yoga, biking, date nights), as well as competing computer projects, and diversions -- Facebook, anyone? -- this was pushed to the back burner, which is a pity because it's not a big task: what I've dragged out for six months (and counting) could have been finished with just a few hours of concentrated effort.

 

I have not given it those hours of concentration, but watching gpsbabel compile the other day sort of gave me the bug again. I rewrote a big chunk of the program into more modular form, getting the new version of the test program to work just like the original, and the other day I finally wrote the meat of the packing algorithm. I'll probably finish it over the next week or so, but now it's probably a moot point: I don't think I'll need it at work, and I sure don't feel like giving to them as a parting gift. Pity, but I'm having my fun.

 

Tonight is the gym, then it's an early night at home despite having off tomorrow. I'll probably get in a good road ride (rain or shine, dammit!) plus a bit of towpath tomorrow, and Saturday is the big Raystown Lake Grand Opening. Sunday is probably more riding, plus Mother's Day festivities.

Today In History

Morning weigh-in: 174#, 10.5% BF

 

Whelp, today is the first anniversary of the last day of Which Brew. (Synchronicitously enough, I saw Carrie, one of the original WB waitresses, out on the town the other night at Brew Works.) So much water under the bridge, it seems like more than just a year has gone by...

 

Last night was a fairly good road ride, the shorter version of my Freemansburg-Williams-Wassergas loop. Twenty three miles, approximately 1:30 ride time, 1500 calories, sweated like a pig but it wasn't as bad as Monday night. Dinner was "pasta pomodoro with chicken" at Brew Works, where I caught up with Anne and a few friends.

 

Tonight my plan was to go to yoga, but if it stays nice enough I may blow that off to do another road ride. Dinner? Not sure yet.

 

Sproing-oing-oing!

Wow, you go away for a weekend, and spring has surely sprung, like an unwatched pot boiling over. Greenup was just starting around here when we left, and there was a noticeable lag in the season as we went north, and on the way home it was likewise noticeably greener heading south, but I was over at Sals today after work, and it's practically midsummer over there. Hot like midsummer too, low nineties.

Northampton, Mass

So here I am in Northampton, just back from a nice road ride (44 miles round trip plus a brewpub lunch) to Greenfield, the next town north of here... Yesterday was 25 miles on a nearby bike path, basically to Amherst & back, followed by dinner at a local brewpub, and breakfast was at a coffee shop. A guy could learn to like this...

We're up here visiting Anne's son Ben at college, saw him last night at the pub with a bunch of his friends. (In other words,this is just a quick min- vacation, checking to see whether or not he's been eating right.) We'll hook up with him again tonight or tomorrow, and head home in the afternoon.

These rides were a godsend, since otherwise this whole week was a wash: time commitments after work, bad weather, if it weren't for yesterday and today the week would have been a disaster mileage-wise, rather than middling-OK. (Granted, the weather's great at home as well as here, and even if we stayed home I probably would have been riding anyway, but still...)

Also this weekend: today is the big outdoor chili cook-off on Southside. I got home Thursday night and found the house in complete chaos, as Anne & Debbie made a huge vat of chili from a bunch of invasive plants they'd foraged that afternoon. Josh & Kim also came over and a good time was had by all as we made a huge mess. Good times! Debbie and Josh served it at his store today, and I hear it was a big hit, there are no leftovers. I hope they saved us some!

We're going out in a bit to do some people watching. Northampton -- home of Smith College (Emmi's alma mater) and with a bunch of other schools nearby -- is a neat town with a very crunchy Northeast vibe.

Et Tu, Aubade?

Morning weigh-in: 173#, 10.5% BF

 

Wow, it's really like Groundhog Day now: here I am again, and the weight and the weather are still the same.

 

Not much to say. I got in a good ride yesterday, 19 miles, though my average speed (approx 14 mph) was a little below par because it was a fairly hilly ride. (Dinner was leftovers at home, and bedtime was on the early side -- I've been trying to get my ass up a little earlier in the morning.) Tonight I'm riding offroad at South Mountain, then we're going to Porters -- I thought that BC Bluezin' was playing tonight and we made plans accordingly, which included telling a lot of other people about it. (Singer Bev is part of the old Hack's Diner crowd, a good friend of Anne, Judy & Deb from way back.) Oh well, I'm sure we'll still go, and whoever's playing will be great, but I may have some 'splainin' to do...

 

By the way, Pynchon has a new novel coming out in August. I already have it on back order.

Groundhog Day, Get Off My Lawn!

Morning weigh-in: 173#, 10.5% BF

Hi it's me. Just popping my head in for a moment... I don't think I've ever gone more than a week without posting, except maybe when I was on vacation or something, but I've just been very busy lately.

 

So, what have I been up to? Well, for a few weeks I was riding like it was going out of style, then it did sort of go out of style: I was supposed to be getting in about 120 miles per week over the two weeks prior to this one, and probably got in only half that. Bad timing, rain/snow (snow!), and sunny days when I had other commitments, etc. Oh well. This week's a rest week, but I'll be getting out today and tomorrow, and probably Saturday, and Sunday too.

 

Meantime, I've been well (despite, or maybe because of, the anti-Lyme antibiotics), though I can't say the same for Anne -- she's fine now, but she was hit hard by a nasty bug several weeks ago. Fever, chills, muscle aches, multiple doctor visits and prescriptions, but now she's much better. And now there are two jars of antibiotics on the kitchen counter...

 

What have I been up to? My birthday was last week, and we went out for a bit Friday night, and Sunday was Easter with Anne's family, and in between was yoga and the gym and Porter's And Brew Works, and a lot of time on the weekends at Wired (a coffee shop on Main Street, and just as much a Peyton Place as any of our other hangouts), chatting over coffee and playing with the computer.

 

I finally got the hang of that GRASS software, imported my Sals GPS data as well as topo maps, property boundary maps, and some aerial photos, and had the program "georectify" them into one big database. I've been trying to make sure our trails don't cross the park boundaries, but between the uncertainties in the maps and the GPS data, and the tendency of our trails to encroach on the property line-- a design flaw IMHO, and for more than just trespassing reasons -- I really can't say for certain that we haven't crossed that line.

 

Well, tonight is a road ride, and tomorrow I'm riding the other Bethlehem trail system. It's supposed to be beautiful through Sunday night.

Uh Sih, Sih, Sih, Sih, A-Sisyphus, Hey!

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 174#, 10.5% BF

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 174.5#, 8.5% BF

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 172.5#, 11% BF

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 174.5#, 11% BF

Morning weigh-in (Friday): 176.5#, 10.5% BF

 

So I was going to hit the gym on Monday, and I even brought my bike for a road-ride warmup; instead I took off work early and went to the doctor for that tick bite -- I am now on amoxicillin "just in case," and got an ointment for the bite area's rash. That sort of took the wind out of my sails, so when I got home I just blew off everything physical.

 

Tuesday night was going a Sals ride, but the world conspired to prevent me (worked late, hit traffic, bike routes were under construction, etc) and it almost worked -- almost! I took the lights but I cut the ride short, only riding about 10 miles and needing the light mostly for  the ride home. Trails were in great shape and I had a blast, even saw a few friends out there, but I didn't want to provoke the bike gods any more than they already were. (Strangely enough, that's the same neck of woods where I hiked and got the ticks the other day; Tuesday on the bike was back to my usual experience: nada. Note to self, never stop riding...)

 

Wednesday was yoga (and rainy so I couldn't ride there), yesterday was beautiful but it was a gym day. It's rainy today, and I already canceled the group towpath ride but I will try to sneak something in tonight.

 

I need a leg up -- last week is gone, this week has been a wash, I start over soon with another week's 120 mile quota, and I'm already behind on my miles... Effort equals results, if I'm lucky, and July is getting closer by the day. The weekend is supposed to be nice, maybe I'll do a bit of catch-up.

Repent, Harlequin!

Tick Tock Man: So I took Langston for a walk at Sals yesterday, and though I never really worried about ticks before (like, it's been a non-issue while riding), we've been finding ticks on him fairly regularly lately, so we gave him the once-over with the brush when I got back. (It didn't help that he'd been in every sticker bush and mud puddle up there: he was a mess of mud, burrs; I wouldn't have been surprised to find he had leeches.) We found a few deer ticks on him brushing him off, then we found two on my clothes. I went up to shower and found three more on my body, including one somewhat attached and one really attached -- that's the spot where I have a mosquito-bite-like welt today. If my summer really sucks, with PICC line and swollen joints, yesterday is the day I'll be thinking most about.

We went out to Donna's spring party after that, great time but I had to leave early because of her cats. When we got home we checked Langston again, and found twenty four more of the little buggers -- and one more today.

Anyway, Donna's party... Like I said, great time. I was surprised at how many peeps I knew there, even one or two of her work friends I already knew. Lots of good food, Dogfish Head beers... and speaking of peeps, that's what we brought, along with some cheese and bread that we picked up at the Allentown Farmer's Market. My first trip there, and the place really is a trip -- many many diverse types of characters, at one point I said to Anne that if you went there to actually people watch, your head would explode.

The Man With The Plan: This week was the first of the "build weeks" in my training plan. I was supposed to ride 120 miles and burn 7000 calories, those were my goals, and -- well, I made it. Eighty eight hundred calories, and 121miles, and as of tomorrow it's gone, I have to do it again next week. Wilderness 101 is coming, I am way ahead of where I was last year but the clock is ticking.

Wazzap?

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 174.5#, 11% BF

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 174.5#, 10% BF

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 174.5#, 11% BF

 

Wow that's quite a variation, Steady Eddie... I'd like to be below 170# by the end of next week, but I don't think it's going to happen.

 

Ride/Eat: I've started Build Week 1 on the bike, riding Sals on Monday night and the towpath last night. I would have been better off reversing that order; I was still a little tired on Monday from my "rest week" rides (several hot laps at Sals, and a leisurely, medium-longish road ride with Anne on Sunday). Tonight is yoga followed by a trip to Porters, since we can't swing the Thursday night trip this week.

 

Computer: I've been playing with the computer a lot lately, but I'm not doing much other than browsing. One exception: I've been saving GPS data from my rides, and using it with Google Maps to map the at Sals. (You can find a preliminary version here.) I am missing a few trails (including some unofficial ones required for the sake of completeness), and I need to get a better handle on official trail names, but we're getting there.

 

Listen: Continuing my old-timey retrospective, I downloaded a bunch of songs by The Fall, and also a Heather Nova album (don't ask).

 

Anyway, that's what's up.

On This First Day Of Spring

I have a bunch of half-written, diary style blog posts that I think I'll abandon, as they're losing relevance by the day. Just a quick note, I'm out of here in a few minutes...

 

Rest In Peace, Deanna. My friend Vito's wife passed away the other day, after a long illness -- she had lung cancer, which she beat but it got into her brain, she fought that (chemo, radiation, surgery), she had a stroke, and finally the game was up. She moved back home a week or so ago and was getting hospice care, and went into a coma just before last weekend. (Her obituary is here.) She was one of the nicest people I've ever had the privilege and pleasure to know, and while there's an Italian a saying, "so good he's good for nothing," she was good in a way that was very effective, she literally was a force for good in this world.

 

I'm leaving work early today to go to the wake, and tomorrow is the funeral. I especially feel bad for Vito -- he's a strong person, but that was at least partly because she was there to cover his back all those years. This isn't going to be easy.

 

Suitable

Morning weigh-in: 173.5#, 13% BF

 

So much for a hard ride: I went out last night but didn't feel like hammering, and since it had to be short I really didn't know what to do so I just rode around West Bethlehem. I hit Doug's house but no one was home, then I went over to Spanky's, where he and Tony D were ripping apart his kitchen -- worried that they might give me something to do, I got out of there as quickly as I could... Tooled around a little more, 8 miles, 45 minutes, done by 7:00 and out the door for the Men's Warehouse.

 

Anne was at a writer's group meeting (listening to and discussing one guy's story of being in the Ukrainian underground as a boy -- wow!), which was nearby, and she met me there. Long story short: the salesgirl and the tailor eyed me up and quickly produced what I wanted, and soon I was the proud possessor of two suits, two pairs of slacks, some ties, socks, and two dress shirts -- it was "buy one get one free night" or something -- paid for just minutes before the store closed. (I pick up the suits next week.) Now that's how shopping is supposed to work!

 

Dinner was leftover Indian food, plus a chicken cheddar & apple sandwich, and one of the Brown Ales we made a few weeks ago.

 

And Another Thing: As a followup to yesterday's post, I thought I'd note this in passing. I remember plenty of guys like this when I first moved to the Lehigh Valley, talk of sovereignty and the Constitution as code for white supremism... A lot of  things going to be crawling out of the woodwork, now that treason is the new patriotism again.

 

Beware Of the Ham Bushes!

Morning weigh-in: 174.5#, 10% BF

 

Oy: This was funny, especially in light of where I found it.

 

Fellow Traveler: In mostly-unrelated news, here's an article about a Windows user who tried Ubuntu, and here's a follow-up. While I would agree that "things are different in Linux" (if someone actually said that), different design philosophies, emphases & priorities etc, I use Ubuntu on the laptop and I think usability is down at a no-brainer level of easy, even -- especially -- when it comes to installing software.

 

Tonight will be a short, hard road ride, maybe hill repeats.

 

 

You Down with EDT?

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 175#, 12% BF

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 173.5#, 12% BF

 

My weekend?

 

Saturday: The tribute to the Talking Heads, a total blowout at Pearly Bakers.

Sunday: Janna's PPRAC charity spinning class, then the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

 

Rode the towpath last night, left after 6:00 and didn't need lights until long after my turnaround -- sweet! It's still pretty muddy down by Freemansburg, so I took the road from there on the return. Twenty five miles in 1:50, burned about 1650 calories... Tonight is the gym, and tomorrow in lieu of yoga I'll be doing a short, hard road ride, maybe hill intervals, before doing some clothes shopping.

 

RIP Waldemar Kulikowski, my old boss, who passed away in California over the weekend.

 

Congratulations James and Susie, on your new arrival! Sierra Rae, 6 pounds, 7 ounces, and 19" long, born 3/9/2009 at 11:08 AM.

 

 

All My GUY Friends Are Party Poopers

So it's Saturday, and I'm sitting at Wired with Anne. Second coffee shop of the day... Rode the towpath last night, then did the First Friday thing in South Bethlehem (me Anne, Deb, Donna, Scott and Joe); we ended up at the Tally Ho but the karaoke drove us out, and our feet took us naturally to Brew Works -- which was packed -- for the end of the night.

Strange thing: I ran into a lot of acquaintances, and friends, and people I knew, but -- except for Joe and Scott, who are really Deb's friends, and Deb's a friend I borrowed from Anne anyway -- I did not see one male friend of mine out last night. Walk into a gallery and there's a friend's wife, step into the Ho and there's an old Which Brew bud bartending, and over at the Steelgaarden we bumped into a biker friend and her whole posse. Dudes! You're dropping the ball, missing opportunities and generally making us all look bad...

Anyway, good ride last night, but very muddy: after the ride I had to strip in the foyer, quarantine my clothes and clean the floor after my shower; I spent part of the afternoon scraping off the dried grit & mud off the bike, but all is back to normal now. Yoga this morning, spinning tomorrow, and tonight will be a trip to Pearly Bakers to see that Talking Heads tribute -- apparently this is the ultimate buzz thing to do in Easton this weekend.

TGIF

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 11% BF

 

New Shoes: I stopped in at Curt's Cyclery last night and bought a pair of Shimano SH-M182's. Went home, put on the cleats (panic attacks as things seemed not to be compatible, but all was well) and -- waah-LAA! -- I am back in business. I'll be trying them tonight, either on the towpath if I hear from my usual riding partner, or maybe Sals.

 

Tough week, I am glad it's (almost) over. Tonight and tomorrow night are the last nights for the Grand Re-Opening Dollar Drafts at the Brew Works, and since tomorrow night will be Pearly Baker's for that Talking Heads tribute show, I think we'll be hitting the BW tonight. Tomorrow is yoga and the gym, Sunday (if they have any openings) will be Janna's charity spinning class at Everybody's; if we can't make that we may try to do that Genesis Bakery Ride.

 

 

Today In History

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 11% BF

 

Happy 45th Birthday to my brother Kevin! Today is also the anniversary of the Boston Massacre, and the third anniversary of my ankle incident.

 

Not sure what's going on, but my skin is all itchy lately, I'm getting nosebleeds (at least at work), I'm tired all the time and have had to skip several workouts this week, and that sudden jump in weight, wow. The first two I could ascribe to low humidity coming in with this cold snap, but I'm not sure about the  others -- except, I've been using cortisone again, hmmmm...

 

Weekend Recap: Anne and I got in a good ride with Doug on Saturday, mellow and fun despite the cold & wind, then Sunday (when we were supposed to go for a long Genesis-sponsored road ride, but blew it off because of the impending weather -- and it got canceled too, probably for the same reason) we went for an afternoon hike at Sals, probably got in a good 8 miles total while I did some more mapping. Saturday night was Porters, and Sunday night was Brew Works.

 

We hardly got anything from Monday's snowstorm, but there was enough on the ground to do some XC skiing on the towpath.

 

Spin Crash: Tuesday night is when it all fell apart. I went into the basement to do the interval workout I'd postponed from Monday, but after warming up I hit the gas and nothing happened: my heart rate would not rise into the workout zone, so I bagged the first interval, then I was so tired I couldn't even just sit and spin -- I bagged the whole thing, did a cooldown and was off the bike within 20 minutes of starting.

 

Last night was also a wash, but maybe not so bad: I blew off yoga to do a Sals ride, but first had to fuss with my bike shoes (I need to install new cleats and tried to get the old ones off last night, but the bolts are basically welded in place). After an hour of messing around I gave up, then decided I really didn't want to ride at all, even with the old cleats. I spent the rest of the night re-installing Google Earth and playing with some Sals maps.

 

Tonight is the gym, unless I locate some new bike shoes to go purchase.

 

 

Applebutter Headwinds, That's Not Fair!

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 173.5#, 10% BF
Morning weigh-in (Friday): 175#, 11% BF

So I got up this morning, drew up a nice route on Google Maps, then downloaded and converted it to GPX and put it on my Garmin. Worked like a charm, the thing beeped whenever I had to make a turn (though I think it was in "offroad" mode, since it didn't really care about road turns per se, but just noted major changes in direction), all the way until got to where the road was closed -- it had nothing to say fort a while, until I got back to the original route again, but by then I was done.

My route was basically a modified Hellertown loop, only I added Millheim Road and Wassergass Road, and my plan was to got through Freemansburg on River Road, but Lower Saucon was the closed road and I took Applebutter back to Hellertown. Applebutter is a fun downhill in ordinary circumstances, like four miles of just rolling along, but today it was windy, and -- just my luck -- that was where the wind was in my face. I still could roll with almost no effort, but it wasn't the fast or exciting rollercoaster ride I was hoping for. In terms of training, this was a hilly ride and I was working the legs a bit, but my plan was to keep the heart rate kind of lower and more aerobic for the climbs, and, except for one maximum-effort wall on Millheim, I think I hit my sweet spot.

Here's A Little Thing That Is Sure To Please You: I guess I'm on a kick, I downloaded a bunch of other songs Wednesday night, only one I remember right now being Alex Chilton's "Bangkok."

That was after yoga, and after a fairly light (grilled cheese & salad) dinner -- the pork & sauerkraut wasn't quite ready. Since last night was burgers at the newly re-opened Brew Works -- note weight, and that despite a brutal gym workout -- and tonight is a visit to the Mauch Chunk Rod and Gun Club -- stay tuned for a full report, if I live -- we'll probably be eating it (the pork) as an early dinner tonight.

Spotlight On The Mountains Of Madness

Morning weigh-in: 174#, 10% BF

 

Crow Clock Running Faster: I'm usually not ready to get up when the alarm clock goes off, so I just sort of lay there for a while, trying to wake up, and don't actually get up until I hear all the crows flying off to wherever they go for the day -- maybe they're commuters too? -- from their evening roosts by the river. Unfortunately for my wakeup, they time their commute by the sunrise, which means that I've been getting up earlier and earlier each day.

 

I'm Not Gonna Go There: Looks like they shined some radar down through the Antarctic ice, and found the Mountains of Madness. Yikes!

 

Last night was the gym, followed by leftover chicken, and tonight is yoga. I believe Anne has plans to cook pork & sauerkraut tonight.

 

 

I Often Dream Of Trains

Morning weigh-in: 174#, 11% BF

 

Listening: I downloaded a bunch of songs from eMusic last night, including two from Robyn Hitchcock ("I Often Dream Of Trains" and "The Man With The Lightbulb head"), and a whopping 18 by the Dead Kennedys. I also picked up Bikini Kill's "Rebel Girl" and a few others. Much nerdly rocking out by the light of the laptop last night, I must say.

 

Training: Last night was also interval night on the trainer, and (strange as it may sound) I had a lot of fun -- I was playing with the HRM, and the time just flew by. I felt pretty good too, but I was crushed by the time I was done, all rubbery and nauseous. Tonight is plyometrics at the gym.

 

Speaking Of The Man With The Lightbulb Head: Check out this deep-sea fish.

 

Drinking: A friend was singing over in Southside, but I couldn't make it in time, so I just met Anne over at the Steelgaarden, the club-like "martini bar" downstairs at the Brew Works. I had a beer while I was there, but I wasn't hungry at all, which was good because there was no food. The upstairs part of the Brew Works is closed right now, but will re-open sometime this week with their new kitchen, and not a minute to soon as far as I'm concerned -- the fire was more than two months ago, and I am jonesing for a burger, maybe some wings...

Back In The Saddle

Morning weigh-in: 176.5#, 10.5% BF

 

Rest week ends today, with basement intervals on tonight's agenda -- tomorrow is the gym, more plyometrics. (This week the bike volume is low, just tonight and the weekend's rides, but starting next week the crosstraining will be phased out, at least partially. It's really starting like the end of winter out there.)

 

I don't have much to say otherwise, not much has happened since my last post.

 

Some Music: We met Sally and Joe at Porter's for dinner Saturday night, but we all left when the band (southern rockers, complete with Confederate flag and "this is not a racist symbol, you should learn your history" spiel) was so bad we left. We all went down to Pearly Baker's for the reggae stylings of the Trouble City All-Stars, a major improvement in terms of both taste and general musicianship.

 

Anne and I went up to Jim Thorpe on Sunday morning and tried to ride the Broad Mountain Loop. It was beautiful out, with a light snow falling, but the trail (under the 3" or so of new snow) was all ice and we bailed after only a few miles.

 

Some More Music: We went out to the Tally Ho to see what looked like a local supergroup (really, stars from every Bethlehem band) playing a night of Talking Heads covers. Very fun, and apparently that's where the old Which Brew girls hang out, at least on Sunday: local hipsters take the place over when the frat boys are out of town, and I'd guess that half their boyfriends were in the band. There was a neat vibe despite the smoke, like Jabberwocky on Sunday nights, when the disco was shut down and Joe and I would go to play pool. Good to see some of the old faces too -- I haven't seen Andrea since WB closed in May. Her hair was alternately long/pink and buzzcut/leopard-print, but other than that she hasn't changed a bit...

 

Except for us (and Lee, and also Kelly-Jo), the scene was mostly younger and leaned toward the bartender crowd, as in "we always stay up late, and besides we all have off tomorrow," so Anne and I left long before the show was over, but they'll be playing Pearly's and the Funhouse in March, and I think they'll be worth catching.

 

Sign Sez "Westinghouse," Wight?

I'm back. Never really went away, but the posting has been light because -- sorry, life has been busy and full...

 

Last week was the end of "Base 2 training," and I am now finishing up the rest week, and going a bit stir-crazy too, all grouchy from not exercising. Not sure what base 3 training is going to look like on the bike, but I should be pushing for strength and speed, so I'm thinking I'll add hills and sprints. In the gym I'll be switching to plyometrics, at least for the legs; I did some Thursday, learning the technique, and it really spanked me...

 

Quick Look At Last Weekend: I had off Friday, and rode over at Sals, then the evening's ride was on the towpath with Anne; we met Larry for a bit of the return trip as well. (Total ride time on the towpath was 3 hours because of all the mud., we were whooped by the end.) We ended up at Rippers for burgers -- even before the ride ended I was so hungry and tired, that was all I wanted in this world. Saturday was mostly chores and errands, since I overslept for yoga and was too tired for the gym. We crashed early Saturday night too, but hit Brew works for a bit first. (There was a "Zombie Anti-Valentine Party" at Wired, and Andrew had his wine tasting party Saturday night, but we missed them both. Oh well.)  Sunday -- after a road ride to Emmaus for coffee at South Mountain Cycles -- was bottling of the beer we made a few weeks ago. Anne's niece & her husband came down, and we got down to business, then had dinner at Mama Nina's and Belgian beers at the Steelgaarden. Awesome weekend! I have pic posted of the bottling, by the way.

This has been a rest week on the bike, and like I said I've been busy at work, so last night after my ride -- even with a "rest week" I had to ride Sals yesterday, and got most if it done before dark -- we stayed in. Anne baked cookies, and we just kicked back and read.

Woman opens her refrigerator and finds a hobo lounging inside. She yells "What are you doing in my fridge?!"
Hobo sez "This is a Westinghouse, right?"
"Well, yeah..."
"So I'm just westing!"

Try the veal.

Mud Season Is Upon Us

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 176#, 12% BF

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 173#, 11.5% BF

 

Happy Darwin Day! Today marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth. You know it's coming, so here it is:

 

"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. Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved." -- Charles Darwin, concluding paragraph to The Origin of Species

 

That's probably one of my all-time favorite scientific quotes. Remember the great man today, and don't forget to do something spectacularly stupid, in his honor...

 

Anyway, I tried to do a towpath ride last night, but the path was so soft (and wet, even submerged in places) that it was just not worth it. I got as far as Freemansburg before bailing and taking the road back. It was unseasonably warm and pleasant so the ride wasn't a total waste but I should have just taken the road bike, thaw means mud. (I wanted to use the GPS though, and since I have no way to mount it on the road bike -- I lost the spare bracket that came with the unit -- I went out on the Turner. Oh well, I'll be getting a new bracket soon I'm sure.) Windy, warm, it sure seems like March arrived early today.

 

I'll Take "Logistical Equations" For $100, Alex: Speaking of Darwin, here's an interesting look at that "25 Random Things About Me" craze on Facebook, as seen from an epidemiological standpoint.

 

Tuesday was a hard, full-body gym workout, but it seemed like I just breezed right through it. Very gratifying, my weights (here at the end of the "strength" portion of my weight-room training) are as high as they've ever been. Unfortunately, I went out to Brew Works for dinner afterward -- which was really cool, hanging with Anne and her friends Deb and Donna, but it sort of negated my in-the gym gains, or rather losses... I made up the difference by forgetting to eat dinner last night, not the brightest move either.

 

More Birthday Greats: Today is also the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the NAACP. Watching our new President giving a speech at the Ford Theater today really shows that we've come pretty far, though for sure it's not as far as we like to think.

 

Tonight is the gym again, then Porters for Jazz Night. I have off tomorrow.

 

 

Heart-Healthy Nightmares

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 174.5#, 12% BF

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

 

David Rees Is A National Treasure: Check out my new favorite comic -- at least until Achewood comes back up to speed -- from the guy who brought us Get Your War On. Also, this.

 

So anyway, I hit the trainer last night for some basement intervals, 5 at 3 minutes with 2 minutes rest in between, for a 45 minute workout including warmup and cooldown -- Garmin sez I burned 563 calories. It also had a few nasty things to say about my heart fitness right now: maybe it's because I'm older (it's been years since I did this kind of workout, or worked out with a HRM), or maybe my heart was tired from other activities, but my HR would not go anywhere near the target I had set for myself -- I was shooting for a 180-185 bpm range for the hard parts, and was lucky to get 165-170. Oh well, I have my sights on Tipperary at least, but no one played the Rocky Theme for me last night... Dinner was pork and sauerkraut at home.

 

Movie Watch: Anne and I saw The Wackness on Saturday afternoon (before we went to see Raymond The Amish Comic). I'm not sure everyone will like it, but I thought it was good, lotsa Nineties references, and Ben Kingsley as a doped-up psychiatrist was worth the price of admission even if we did see it at home.

 

Movie Watch 2: Electric Boogaloo We also saw Gran Torino on Sunday afternoon, with Perry, Didi and her friend Sarah, downtown at the Boyd. If you've ever heard the cliche "I laughed, I cried," about a movie, well for this one it's true. Totally awesome, highly recommended.

 

Tonight is the gym, and tomorrow will be a road ride in lieu of yoga -- hey it'll be almost 60 degrees out! Meantime, here's a part of Friday night's ride.

Short And Sweet

Morning weigh-in: 173.5#, 11% BF

 

Rode Sals last night, or rather hit a part of it as part of a short road/offroad ride: I did a loop from Anne's house over to the hospital, then up to Dodson on the road and down to the Reeb trailhead via the Yellow and Red Trails. (Total distance was 4.84 miles, which I did in 40:44 for a 7.1 mpg average. Avg/Max heart rate was 146/172, and total elevation gain was 748 feet, most of that coming from the climb up to Dodson. Thank you Garmin! Note: I have the data for this and another ride online, where you  can play it back and watch the dot on the map go around and around while monitoring my speed, heart rate etc... I'll make some of these publicly visible, but not the ones -- like this latest -- that have personally identifying geographic info. So stay tuned!) Trails are still snowy, but not too bad.

 

After the ride Anne and I went to Porters to hang out with Judy, and Erica and Toby. It was the first of the new Thursday Night Jazz thingies, and last night's band leader was someone Judy knows.

 

Now He Belongs To The Zombies: Rest in peace, Lux Interior. I saw that yesterday, and have been surprised by the number of people who had memorial comments -- I thought The Cramps were pretty obscure. The variety of types of people who were remembering him was surprising as well, though some I know were fans from way back... Speaking of which, I need a haircut, think I'll get one tomorrow.

 

Stepford State Update: What a bunch of tools!

 

Tonight I may do another one of those Sals quickies, then it's back to Porters for Sally's birthday. Tomorrow is yoga/gym, then we're seeing Raymond The Amish Comic in Doylestown.

 

 

Nerdvana

Morning weigh-in: 173.5#, 11.5% BF

 

Breakfast yesterday was small, and so was dinner, but I had a huge turkey (and cheese! and mayo!) sub for lunch -- a-and so much for suppression, yoga last night was pretty tough but there's no sign of it in those numbers.

 

Reading: I'm getting towards the end of Everything and More by David Foster Wallace, one of my Christmas presents. It's basically a history of how mathematics has come to grips with the idea of infinity, and believe it or not, it's actually a real page-turner, a real pleasure to read, especially if you're a fan of DFW's conversational, idiosyncratic style. Next up is a book about the Golden Ratio, which should be interesting but probably isn't as well-written as EaM.

 

Navigating: I plugged the GPS into the laptop last night, and it turns out that accessing the data is a piece of cake, the whole thing just appears as an external drive. The data is organized pretty logically in files and folders, and it turns out to be fairly easy to extract to various mapping/training software & websites. This may not be true about moving stuff the other way, like installing new maps or software updates onto the Garmin, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it -- for now it does what I want, and more.

 

(Looking up from the laptop last night, where I was watching animated graphics  of my location, elevation, speed and heart rate from a recent ride, I saw myself surrounded by little electronic gadgets (camera, GPS), wireless mice, and books about numbers, and realized I had achieved... nerdvana...)

 

The only problem with re-animating my nerdly-ass avatar (aside from the obvious ones) is that I was always a bit absent-minded. Today I walked out of the house without my gym stuff, so scratch that. I think I'll be doing a short MTB ride, maybe something at Sals, a Dodson-to-Reeb downhill through the snow. After that is Porters, to check out the new Thursday Night Jazz.

Bela Lugosi's Dead

Morning weigh-in: 171.5, 12.5% BF

 

Some exercise suppression going there, but probably not a lot. I think that's mostly "no dining out for a few days," and "the chili is all gone, if you know what I mean..."

 

White Nose Fever Comes Home To Roost: It looks like that bat-killing epidemic has finally reached Pennsylvania. 

 

Took the Turner out last night. I was supposed to do a Hellertown hill ride but the roads were just too scary/slippery, I didn't trust the cars I'd run into so I just tooled around the neighborhood, rode down to the towpath and around sand Island, then around in circles through West Bethlehem, mostly just testing out my new toy, which seemed pretty cool -- now I just have to figure out how to get the data out and into a mapping/training program...

 

Bloodbath: We had layoffs here yesterday, including a few in my department. I think I'm safe for now, but it was not a fun day.

 

Tonight is yoga, and tomorrow is the gym. I noticed last night that my heart rate refused to go very high, which is understandable given Monday's intervals -- I need a cardio rest day or two.

 

 

Fire In The Belly

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 174.5%, 12% BF

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 173.5#, 9.5% BF

 

Well, winter is half over, and the days are getting lighter, and I am so behind on my training it's not funny.

 

Weekend Recap:

 

Friday I had off, so I planned to use the day to run some errands -- which really meant that I hiked around Sals with Langston, then drifted over to Wired to get in some quality time with the laptop. Anne was at the library, doing research on local history for her next project, and eventually joined me there, and then Deb came by and we absconded to the Brew Works, where we decided that hamburgers at Rippers was a good idea... I was basically done by 9:00.

 

Saturday started with yoga, then it was back to Bethlehem for a busy day -- we were brewing beer with Anne's niece Lori & her husband Chris. This is a slow process, heat water, cool water, wait for grains to steep, boil stuff etc, lots of downtime (snacktime, BS'ing about music time) between tasks but it took most of the day. When things were finally done and we could leave the beer to ferment, we went over to the Tally Ho. Perry's birthday, we saw a bunch of the old Which Brew crowd -- it really hasn't been that long but it feels like forever since there was a Which Brew and a Which Brew scene -- and caught up with all the news and gossip. I'm happy to say most seem to be doing well and seem happy.

 

We didn't stay long, we were going to see Steve Forbert in Jim Thorpe. Awesome show, just him on stage with guitar and harmonica. I didn't know too much of his newer stuff, maybe a few songs were semi-familiar from Anne's iPod, but he did play "Romeo's Tune" at the end of the night. He also played a song about middle age, which I thought was going to be all like "huh huh, huh huh -- lumbago!" but instead was an extremely heavy look at, well, my life...

 

Sunday was the annual Superbowl of Chili at Pearly Baker's. Me and Anne, Brian, Eric, and we also saw Dick S and his wife, among many others. Seventeen chili entries, then we escaped the crowds by going to Mothers and eventually Porters. Anne drove home, and I napped through the Superbowl, then got up and read a book about infinity.

 

Gadget Alert! I just got a new toy, a Garmin Edge 705 combination GPS and heart rate monitor. I haven't really messed with it much yet, it came last night and I only played a little while it was charging. It looks really sweet so far, but it looks like I'm in for another voyage of discovery too, since the device needs supporting software, and that software don't run on Linux... (The GPS shows up as an external drive and I think I can get to the data, so I'm halfway there.)

Corvus

Morning weigh-in: (Monday): 173#, 10% BF

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

Morning weigh-in: (Thursday): 173#, 12% BF
Morning weigh-in: (Saturday): 173#, 12% BF

 

There are a lot of crows in Bethlehem, and they all seem to live on the south side of the river, just west of the Hill-to-Hill Bridge. Riding at Sals in the late afternoon can be positively spooky, as they return by the noisy, cawing thousands from wherever they spend the day, and you can see them from West Bethlehem just after dawn, fanning across the sky from a single point on the horizon, like winged monkeys from the Wicked Witch's castle. Pretty spectacular, actually, and it happens every day.

 

Unfortunately, all this has attracted a bunch of crow hunters -- I didn't even know there was such a thing -- who set up loudspeakers by the river, playing crow "crowd scene noises" as decoys, and blow them out of the sky by the hundreds. Tinny canned crow laughter and bird parts raining down from the sky...

 

Godspeed You, Black Emperor

Morning weigh-in: 174#, 9% BF

 

As I was driving to the gym last night I heard something I couldn't believe: the DJ said words like "Next up, 'Storm' by Godspeed You Black Emperor." That's a long (fifteen minutes at least, but song ends/beginnings are hard to define with these guys), slow and repetitive instrumental -- probably one of my favorite songs, but not exactly radio material, even if it was WPRB. The song is very sad and haunting, but builds in a really beautiful way. I remember listening to it on the way to Slatyfork, driving over the VA/WV border (basically a mountain pass) on US33, it was was like Doc Melhorn driving to Heaven... I pulled into the gym parking lot, and hung out for about 10 minutes listening to the song.

 

The gym workout was pretty easy: light weights, medium reps; I'm calling this a rest week as I've recalibrated the remainder of my training to fit better with my real-life schedule. After that it was over to Porters for dinner with Anne, and also Judy and Donna. Burger, coupla beers, some wings, the results you can see up top.

 

Tonight is a towpath ride, and then we're meeting Josh and Kim at Brew Works.

And So This Is Thursday

Morning weigh-in: 173#, 8.5% BF

 

What He Said: As they say, go read the whole thing. It's not quite Steve Gilliard quality (wow I miss him, and wish he could have seen the inauguration), but that is one good rant.

 

Back To The Voyage: I downloaded the "R" statistical program the other day, and have been playing around with some of the tutorials. Like octave, it's a very impressive tool, scary powerful even in the baby examples I tried. (I wanted to use this to look at some of the things in Matrix Methods in Population Biology, but the examples given there show results without giving raw data -- but I am sure I can eventually find, say, fish size/age/fertility/mortality data, somewhere on The Google...)

 

Back To The Future: I'm recalibrating my training schedule. I think this week should be a rest week (too many extracurricular activities, such as last night's Chain Gang meeting), and I'll just shift the periods over by one week.

 

Anyway, the meeting last night was pretty fruitful; among other things we decided to:

 

1. continue existing as a club, and

2. open membership again.

 

(We also thought it would be a good idea to shift our focus more towards North Jersey, specifically the Allamuchy area, but that wasn't an official decision, or even an easily-definable one.) Dinner was chili, a bunch of different recipes, with cake and ice cream dessert.

 

Tonight is the gym, followed by a trip to Porters for dinner.

 

Well It's A New Day

Morning weigh-in: 173.5#, 9.5% BF

 

Not sure how that happened, dinner was a little sparse...

 

We went out last night, to an "Inauguration Ball" at Fred & Lara's: cocktail party, Hawaiian and Kenyan dishes, and there were lots of people in formal dress (up to and including tuxedos). One tuxedo'ed gentleman was a professional magician, who happened to have his props in his car, and so we were treated to an informal "midnight magic" show. We left just after the show, got home just before one. A bit tough for a school night, but there you have it...

I did another 20 minutes on the trainer last night, and tonight is a rest night as it's also the first Chain Gang meeting for 2009.

Some Catching Up

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 171#, 11.5% BF

Morning weigh-in (Friday): 171.5#, 11.5% BF

Morning weigh-in (Saturday): 172.5#, 9.5% BF

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 172#, 10.5% BF

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 172#, 10% BF

 

We-he-hell! It's the end of an era, and hopefully the beginning of a better one! I've waited a long time for this day, and it's all happening in real time as I write this.

 

What else is new? Well, the training is not going so well, lots of obstacles like weather, but I finally bit the bullet and set up my indoor trainer. Meantime:

 

Last Tuesday we went for a towpath ride. Me, Anne, and a bunch of VMB people, starting at Sand Island. We got to Riverside Park in Easton, turned around, and when we got to the new boat launch -- wham! -- Anne took a spill on some ice, and sprained her ankle (but that's not what it looked like originally). I managed to get in touch with Eric R, and he came down and got us, then took us to St Luke's Hospital, and then picked up a pizza for us. Hanging out in the emergency room, eating pizza... The X-rays showed nothing broken, it was just a sprain, so we got the usual advice and prescriptions (and crutches), and were home by midnight.

 

Anne was not doing well by the next morning, lots of discomfort and pain, and so she finally broke down and took some ibuprofen. That and some R.I.C.E. and she was feeling a lot better by the afternoon, and has improved steadily ever since.

 

Wednesday I took the morning off to make sure things were OK, then went to yoga after work. Thursday was the gym, followed by some dinner at the Apollo (Anne's belated office Christmas party), and Friday I had off but it was too cold to ride, so I took Langston for a hike at Sals. He hadn't been getting his walks lately and was getting antsy, but he basically slept all day Friday and Saturday...

 

 

Sunday we went to Blue Sky for breakfast, then I took Langston on a bike ride at Sals with Rich and his dog, and Joe and one of his wolf-dogs, and a bunch of other people, while Anne hiked the trails over there. Langston was a bit leery of the wolf-dog (me too), but got on well with Sadie and seemed to enjoy the trails. He slept like a log again Sunday night, too.

 

On the trainer last night, and again tonight while she's at a meeting, then we're going to an inauguration party.

 

By the way, there's some new photos up at flickr.

 

Snow Riders

Morning weigh-in: 172.5#, 9.5% BF

 

Went out last night on the towpath, but I started late (8:00, an hour after my  planned "late start" at 7:00) and wanted to be done by 9:00, so I only went to Freemansburg before turning around -- the snow made for very slow going. After that I met Anne and her friend Lois at Brew Works; Lois was leaving, so we moved up the bar and chatted with the bartender while I grabbed some dinner.

 

Ick Regis: Anne's friend Joyce just wrote a novel, and I was checking it out on Amazon when I came across this blog post. Pretty awesome, and it kind of reminded me of the ending to Kim.

 

Tonight, hopefully, is a group ride on the towpath, like the one last week.

 

Getting My Monday Morning Quarter Back

Morning Weigh-in: 172#, 10% BF

 

Hopefully they (the official morning weigh-ins) will be more frequent in the future. I am not officially a Bedlamite, but I do send a lot of my time over at Anne's now, so I moved most of my toys -- except the computer, but I do have the laptop there -- over to her place, and that pile of toys includes the Official Morning Weigh-in And OCD Scale. Poor Anne!

 

The first week of training is done by the way, and I'm now into Week 2 of "Base Period 1:" the same low-intensity rides as the first week, only more of them, while strength training continues in the gym. Week 1 worked out pretty well, except that I was very tired Saturday morning,(after my Friday evening Towpath ride), and blew off my scheduled yoga and gym sessions.

 

A quick FYI digression: I have three Base Periods scheduled, and three Build Periods after that, each period lasting three weeks and followed by a less intense "rest week," and that should take me into July, when I transition into race mode.

 

So how did I spend my Saturday? Anne and I walked downtown in the snow, got a load of ingredients, and then spent the rest of the day brewing beer. Home brewing is not a very laborious process but it takes a while, and there's a lot lots of downtime while water heats up or cools down, grains steep etc, so, "brewing" really meant we spent the day reading, playing with the computer and watching movies (The Matrix, The Big Lebowski) while the snow fell. We didn't actually finish until about 1:30 AM, but there is now a giant, 5-gallon jug of Porter fermenting in her living room.

 

Sunday was supposed to be a fun group ride, mixed road and offroad around south Bethlehem, but the snowstorm nixed that, and we -- Anne and I, Doug & Lori, and Eric & Kris -- went XC skiing instead, up in Jim Thorpe. We went along the old Switchback Railroad from Mauch Chunk Lake Park to Summit Hill and back; it took us about 2 hours, maybe a little longer. Beautiful day, and great conditions except some places where the ski tracks had been stepped on by hikers and snowshoers -- that's actually illegal in NY state, and I wish that were true here too. Great day though, lots of fun even though I forgot my poles.

 

Dinner was at the Hotel Switzerland, or whatever it's currently called, and I studiously avoided watching the game to avoid jinxing it, but apparently my superstitious mojo wasn't enough, and the Giants lost. A sad day...

 

Tonight is a towpath ride, and tomorrow is a group training ride on the towpath.

 

 

Rest In Peace, Sweetness

At Megan's Party
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

We went to Porter's last night to catch the open-mic show, since some people we know were going to be doing comedy routines routines (it was decent, definitely better than the usual music, and kind of fun to see them learning the ropes), and as we walked in I saw the the board outside said "Rest in Peace, Sweetness." Well, shit.

Sweetness was until recently a regular at Porter's, and you could see him there almost any evening. He told some good stories about his life, but I know almost nothing about him -- not even his name -- except that he had the same birthday as me. He was very good friends with many other regulars and the bartenders too. I hadn't seen him in a while, so I asked recently, and someone told me he had "health issues," which by the way they said it, it sounded like cancer.

Needless to say, things were pretty glum in there last night, especially among the bartenders and regular patrons.

So Far So Good

Partway through my first week of training, and things look good so far...

 

A Humorous Incident: The first ride of the Chain Gang's 2001 trip to Downieville started with a 17-mile climb. The group is working away, just chugging along up that hill... Joe C and I are riding together, and we looked at each other and said something like "this ain't so bad!" Just then, we turned a corner and saw a sign: "Mile Marker #1." So far so good, but we hadn't even started yet, really. (Actually it wasn't too bad, and the 17-mile downhill on the other side made it all worthwhile.)

 

Anyway, I did yoga Monday, rode the towpath Tuesday, did more yoga Wednesday, hit the gym last night, and tonight is another towpath ride; tomorrow is yoga and the gym again, and Sunday is a "wintry mix" fun ride. Mostly cross-training right now, but my plan is to ramp up the cycling volume next week and the week after, to complete my first "base period." (Following a "rest week," my next period will pretty much duplicate this first one, but with somewhat more intense rides and pace.) We shall see -- Tipperary is still a long way off.

 

I do have a secret weapon this year: Google Calendar. I've planned out all my training periods (if not all individual training activities -- yet) up to the W101 as tasks/events on the calendar, and have been keeping logs of my training sessions (OK, session) so far as comments. My big problem last year was that I started training way too late, and this year I think I have that licked -- I'd better, since the very next day after the W101, we head out to start the PPRAC ride.

 

Yep, I'm doing that too. You have been warned.

 

It's Like I Never Left

Well, I'm back at work, starting yesterday after about three weeks off. Pretty ordinary back-to-work days so far, mostly what I expected.

 

Movie Review: We saw Milk Sunday night, at the 19th Street Theater with Doug & Lori. It was very well done, and the acting was awesome (especially Sean Penn), but it sure wasn't a feel-good movie. (And once again, I managed to see a real downer at the 19th St Theater.) Still, it comes with my recommendation.

 

Trail Review: Things might be a little different after tonight's "wintry mix," but I think the trails at Sals have never been more fun than they've been in the past week. I rode there multiple times including New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, once or twice before that, and also on Sunday when local pros Jay Dejesus and Rob Lichtenwalner held a skills seminar there. Bonus: Anne checked out the seminar as well! She rode there in maybe September, on what must have been her third time on a mountain bike, and was not sure she liked or was confident on those trails. But this -- along with her new, more properly-sized handlebar -- was exactly what the doctor ordered: plenty of people, of all ability levels including her own (she was mid-pack), learning what works and what doesn't in a "just for fun" environment.

 

Last night was yoga, and tonight is a towpath ride, in fact my first training ride of the year, Workout Number One in Week One of my first "base" training period. My goal: once again, I am aiming at a sub-ten-hour finish at the Wilderness 101. If I start now and keep to the plan I've come up with, I should hopefully see some major improvements this year.

 

(By the way, the positional vertigo is back.)

 

 

 

 

 

Just A Few Quick Blogging Moments

Anne's doing the crossword puzzle, Ben's eating breakfast, and Emmi and I are both tapping away on our laptops... Anne and I are going down to Jackson soon for a belated Christmas visit with my parents, but I have a few minutes before we have to get ready.

Plenty of stuff has happened since my last post, but not much that could be called unexpected. I rode Sals on New Year's Eve, an afternoon ride and my last one for 2008, then we had a small dinner party: the crew here, plus Judy and Erica & Toby; we made pizza and had a lot of laughs. After they took off we went to Brew Works (where we were not quite dressed like all the "Black Party with DJ and Champagne" attendees), met Donna and her BF, then when Emmi came by we headed downtown, and saw the annual Dropping of the Peep. Happy New Year! By the way, it was freezing and extremely windy.

Yesterday I did another ride at Sals, my first for 2009, and hooked up with Rich and a friend of his, a downhill guy named Kevin. Still really cold, but the wind had died down, and the trail conditions were awesome, the best they'd been in months. Dinner was the traditional PA Dutch New Year's Day dinner (pork and sauerkraut). I was feeling a little ratty lung-wise, so I crashed for a bit, then we went out but Downtown Bethlehem was closed, dead, and deserted... We stopped into the only place open, the Hotel Bethlehem, and had a quiet beer before calling it an evening.

Retrospective 1.9

Earth Say Cleanup At Sals
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

In between Moab and North Carolina was Earth Day, when Doug organized a trash cleanup at Walking Purchase Park (aka "Sals"), which is unfortunately a prime spot for illegal dumpers. This photo was from the start of the day; by the end of the day we were considerably less fresh but we'd pulled two full dumpsters of trash, and about 100 tires out of the woods.

Nice Day!

Right now I'm sitting in the Dimmick Library in downtown Jim Thorpe. Anne and I came up here this morning and did a hike up Glen Onoko, then grabbed lunch and came over here -- she's doing research for her latest writing project, and I'm goofing off on Teh Internets...

More Recent Events

Just hanging out right now, waiting for the vet to open...

Went out last night to Anne's brother's house in Belle Mead for her family's Christmas gathering. I was the new guy there, though I did know a few of her relatives from Thanksgiving: plenty of brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews, cousins playing Guitar Hero in the basement etc, it was a pretty cool evening. Diner was Thai meatballs plus lots of other stuff, and dessert was cake and cookies. Coffee, Pictionary, a gift exchange, much fun but by about 8:00 we all were pretty glassy-eyed (though the kids were still all going strong), and things started to break up. We hit Brew Works for a nightcap after getting back to Bethlehem.

This morning we heard some rustling, like the dog was messing with something. Anne got up and I heard all sorts of commotion: Langston had found a giant Hershey's Kiss and ate it, about 10 oz of milk chocolate -- not enough to kill him but he probably had poisoned himself, and he sure looked very pleased with himself too, which only made the whole thing even more exasperating...

Some Googling of "dog" and "chocolate," a talk with the emergency vet, and a tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting (which didn't work), and now we're just waiting to take him to the regular vet, who actually has hours on Sunday. Not sure what the story will be: symptoms of chocolate poisoning include over-excitability, but he's sleeping under the table right now...

Retrospective #2: North Carolina

Relaxing
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

This was from the second road trip of the year, down to Western North Carolina (just below Asheville), with a bunch of the VMB trailwork regulars in late April. Me, Doug & Eric, Rich, Bob, Dave and Greg, a rented house down the street from the National Forest, and lotsa beer. Good times!

Retrospective #1: Moab

Jackson Hole: Rich, Brian And Don
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Looking back at 2008... This was from my first vacation this year, Moab and Fruita with Rich (left), Brian (middle) and John C who took the picture. It seems like years ago now, but it was only 8 months (and 10 pounds) in the past.

Christmas Eve

A Christmas Scene
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Well here it is -- at last, or already? -- Christmas Eve. I'm sitting here at Wired, fooling with the laptop and enjoying some coffee. All, or almost all, of my shopping is done, there is snow on the ground though it's currently raining, and we're just easing into the day after Anne's holiday party last night.

Said party was a total blast: a few of my friends, a few of hers, some friends of her son and daughter, Corsendonk and Delerium Tremens and Weyerbacher (and homemade ginger ale and hard cider), and acres and acres of food... The theme was "Fabulous Shoes," but the real theme was probably "comfort food:" I made chili, Anne made chicken and mac & cheese, and Emmi & Ben made sushi and bread, and everyone brought all sorts of stuff. The party itself, aside from the food, was awesome, lotsa good times.

There have been other parties as well: the photo is from the Chain Gang Christmas Party, held at Joe & Dawn's and also awesome. I forgot how much fun my friends can be...

Anyway, now we're just hanging out. It's just past Bottom Dead Center for the year, and we're going to check out a holiday/solstice pageant tonight, Quaker kids singing followed by a potluck dinner.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Snow, Right Here In Christmas City!

Monocacy Creek
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

That's a shot I took today, while walking from Anne's house over to Main Street to meet her at Wired Cafe. The Monocacy (and the original Moravian settlement, aka the "Colonial Industrial Area") divides her neighborhood from that part of town. It was a beautiful snowy day, so I brought the camera along...

Later, I walked over to Southside for an Eskandalo haircut, but the snow had turned to rain and that wasn't so beautiful. Still, the ground is now white and it definitely that "Christmas In Merrie Olde England" look that Bethlehem can get.

Time Flies

Anne and I were walking the other day and for some reason Mike Kucher came up, some story or other, and I was trying to figure out how long it was since he'd passed away. Well here's the old blog to the rescue, because I wrote about it back when it happened, or rather just afterward. Hard to believe, but it's been 5 years. (More about Mike here and here.)

I mentioned Mike's "Cancer-Free For 5 Years" party in that December 2003 post, saying it was two years earlier; that would make the party seven years ago, or the summer of 2001 -- the same summer we (the Chain Gang) went to Downieville, which seems like a long time ago, but nowhere near as long ago as that party...

That party was at Danny M's house, and was probably the last time I saw him and his family, whom I hadn't seen for probably five years before that -- they had four kids including a teenager, and before that I remember her mostly as an infant... I wonder how they're doing now, he was a seriously loyal GM engineer for as long as I've kept in touch.

An Amusing Incident At A Long-Ago Party: At Danny's party for Mike, some totally unfamiliar young woman walks up and, pointing her very pregnant belly at me, says "Hi! Remember me?" Gaaaa!

Turns out it was Steve S's younger sister (name escapes me once again, though I remember older sister Elena), married for a year or two, and expecting their first child, and looking very different from the last time I saw her.

By the way, this is what I wrote around this time in 2004, ditto 2005, and 2006, and 2007. A retrospective, haven't done one of those in a while.

Well It's A Start

The winter's tale
Originally uploaded by ChickadeeD (Carole).

We got a little more snow last night, nothing to speak of though -- the grass is white but that's about it. I posted a picture of the falling snow, but this photo isn't it, just something interesting I saw...

Christmas Vacation!

Well, I'm done with work for the rest of this year, not going back until January 5th. Sweet1 I don't really have any plans, maybe ride Sals on the singlespeed tomorrow morning then play on the computer, set the pattern for the rest of the week... Anne's working, so I don't feel like, say, making travel plans anyway

The Turner is in the bike shop, getting the front brakes worked on, I've got octave up and running (and playing nicely with emacs & gnuplot) and my next task -- upgrading the home computer -- is on schedule. Things are pretty mellow right now, and except for Christmas shopping, I really have nothing to do...

Tokamak A-Knock You Out, Jackalope Knock You Out

Morning weigh-in: 174#, 10% BF

 

Imagine: RIP John Lennon, killed on this date in 1980.

 

Amazingly beautiful sunrise on the way in this morning, all pink solar towers and such, and the undersides of the clouds -- the sky mostly had a roof of cloud, except just over where the sun was coming up -- were lit up with orange and pink. The show did not last long though, when the sun got as high as the clouds the day went gray. But it was good while it lasted.

 

Oh Noes! This is the kind of reporting that hits you right in the, ah...

 

Medical Taylorism: Sure it will save lives, but how will it be received?

 

Yesterday was mostly hanging out and playing with the computer (though I also managed to replace the rear brake pads on the Turner and also find I need new parts for the front brakes): I managed to find and install qCAD, which looks enough like AutoCAD to make it worth trying out I hope, and I also installed Gnuplot and a few other things that make octave work better. Tonight is yoga.

 

 

 

 

 

Drama!

Did a lot of chores and errands yesterday, including some house cleanup and some clothes buying, but that wasn't the dramatic part of the day...

We were down on Main Street at Wired Cafe yesterday afternoon when we noticed sirens and commotion outside. A few minutes later a wave of people came into the (already crowded) cafe, with the news that the Bethlehem Brew Works, where they'd been eating, was on fire and they had all just been evacuated. Anne bumped into a friend, one of the bartenders; she said that it was a kitchen fire, and that no one was hurt or anything, probably just smoke damage. The jinx has struck again, one of our favorite places will probably be closed for a while, hopefully they (and the other businesses in their building) won't be out of commission for too long.

Our plan was to go from Wired to Easton, to meet up with Sally & Joe, and with Judy, who were all at the various art openings going on. We went to the Colonial for dinner, but first we had to get from Bethlehem to Easton in the first real snowfall of the year: lots of slipping and sliding, crashes; we couldn't take US22 because of some huge accident so it was all back roads but we made it.

Dinner at the Colonial was filling but that's about it, supposedly they're under new ownership but the menu (and recipes, and limited beer selection) are the same -- a decidedly mediocre experience thought the place is nice enough.

We got one more blast of drama though, when a domestic dispute erupted at a nearby table: father, mother, adult daughter, the father started dropping some f-bombs, trying (and failing) to keep himself under control; he then vowed to kick some guy's ass and stormed out. Uncomfortable silence, then the mother/daughter left. We saw them through the window saying goodbye; after the daughter walked off the father, still in "berate" mode, came from nowhere to join the mother and they walked off in another direction, tension between them visible from 50 yards away.

After dinner we went to the bar downstairs, where we met Judy and Ed and a bunch of Easton's art people, and Joe & Sally came down from dinner at Porters. There was a band, but the band was about the same level of quality as everything else there and we left.

Anne houseguests last night, as her sister and brother-in-law were trapped in Bethlehem by the snow -- they sell stuff at Christkindlemarkt but live in Tamaqua and couldn't make it home.

So that was a very full Saturday!

The Good Old Days

picture41
Originally uploaded by which_brew.

Believe it or not, this is me. That was my costume for the 2003 Halloween party at Which Brew, my personal best effort and not a bad job if I do say so myself, even if Doug did the makeup for me...

I saw some of the old Which Brew crew last night, Kirk had a party and quite a few people I know showed up -- we travel in at least two of the same circles (roughly, pubs/nightlife and yoga/bike/organic), so there were several groups of people that I knew there.

Linux Voyager: Leaving A Landmark

I have the day off, so I'm sitting in the Caffeine Cafe typing away... Actually, I'm now at Anne's house, got my car inspected in Bethlehem and just picked it up.

One of the reasons I got the laptop was so I could have a computer of my own when I was over here, instead of always using hers. Then I got this, with Ubuntu installed like a good little ideologue, and I found I couldn't connect to her wireless network, and in fact couldn't connect to any encrypted network. D'oh!

Luckily, there were plenty of open wireless access points, and I spent time researching the problem -- it turns out that "WEP Passphrase" is not supported by the Network Manager applet, because passphrases are not supported by the underlying program (iwconfig).

For various coffeehouses the password is their phone number, so instead of putting that into the default "WEP Passphrase" dialogue box -- and why does Network Manager even have such a dialog box, if the option is unsupported? -- I put that into the hex key option dialog box and it worked fine. Tried it at Anne's and it worked there too. Voila!

I ran into a lot of information about wireless driver issues etc, which seemed to be problems from a few months/years ago, and which didn't really help me. I thought I'd write this in case someone has a similar problem (really, just a misunderstanding on my part how this stuff works), this might come up in a google search and save them some time.

Anyway: I hit the gym last night, then then went to Porter's to meet Anne and Judy; I also saw Lou and some other people from the McSorley's trip, and also Mike (the Lafayette network guy from Which Brew), who earned his first mug last night. Tonight is a towpath ride, followed by a "reggae party" at Kirk's house. Tomorrow is the yoga/coffee/gym-and-maybe-bike thing.

Do You See What I See?

Just kicking back, eating some turkey soup...

 

Really interesting skies the last few days: this morning was an incredible sunset while driving in (and also a rainbow), while yesterday's drive home was just after sunset -- with a perfectly clear, beautiful evening sky, with crescent Moon, Venus, and Jupiter all prominently on display -- this has been the early-evening show all week, but last night was especially good. It's raining now, but the weekend, which starts tonight, should be fine.

 

(Almost) All Caught Up: I still have to give them titles, but I uploaded my photos from the Thanksgiving Day ride, which means I am now caught up on all my recent photos. Go check them out!

 

Tonight is the gym, and I am back to full workouts after going easy for a few weeks. Last night was a monster yoga class, followed by a hamburger at the Brew Works.

Family Folklore

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 174#, 11% BF

 

A Thanksgiving Interlude: We were at Anne's mom's house for Thanksgiving, and over dessert conversation one of her teenage nephews was admonished by his mother, who thought he was about to say a bad word -- she wouldn't say what bad word was about to be uttered, so we tried to guess, using hints:

 

Guesser #1: Hmmmm... Starts with "B?"

Guesser #2: Hmmmm... And rhymes with "witch?"

 

Then five-year-old Brian, who was learning about rhymes in kindergarten, put two and two together and announced into a lull in the conversation: "Bitch!"

 

He had no idea what it meant or even if it was a word, it was just a lucky guess...

 

The room exploded variously into either laughter or consternation, upsetting Brian, and he ran from the room -- he was fine again in a minute, and will no doubt be repeating his discovery today on the playground, but I'm also sure he'll be hearing about this Thanksgiving well into middle age.

 

"The Itch:" We visited my parents Sunday, and somehow the conversation came around to the unusual nicknames endemic to my dad's childhood. (He, as the younger brother of "Shorty," was cursed with the moniker "Little Shorty.") My dad ran off a few names ("Ole Salty" Murphy, etc), and then brought up Teddy Bentbelly, the long-suffering usher at the ancient, and decidedly downscale, local movie theater in his old neighborhood -- it had a real name, but the local kids called it "The Itch" because it was so dirty that if you leaned your head back onto the chair you'd get lice or scabies or something. I remember hearing stories about "The Itch" when I was a kid... my dad told one Sunday about the ticket lady, who also doubled as a sort of babysitter for the youngest kids: instead of taking them to the bathroom, she would pass a sort of chamber pot along the aisle for all the kids to use.

 

A Quote From My Hero: "Invention is the mother of necessity." -- Thorstein Veblen, courtesy of Google's Quote of the Day.

 

Yesterday was yoga, then dinner at Anne's followed by more playing with the laptop, my new toy, er, I mean, necessity. Still fiddling with the "WEP Passphrase" issue, but I also uploaded the rest of our New England vacation photos. Check them out, yo.

 

Tonight is the gym, followed by a trip to Porter's.

 

 

Little Willy Won't Go Home!

Morning weigh-in (Saturday, unofficial): 172.5#, 10.5% BF

Lotsa stuff to talk about, but I don't really have the time... Thanksgiving in Jim Thorpe with Anne's family, then Friday we went back to see more of her family visiting (she has a big family), preceded by a ride on Pisgah Mountain to get the appetite running again. Yesterday was yoga/errands/coffee shop/gym, then Porter's for dinner, a big chunk of the old "supper club" crew. Today we're just hanging out waiting for some baking to be done; we're leaving to visit the folks in a little while.

Listening: While we're waiting, we're listening to a mix some grade school friend of Anne's gave her at a reunion -- we just heard "Little Willy!" I remember playing that in the backyard with my brothers -- us as a band, not the radio or anything, and long before we actually learned to play instruments -- when we were kids. (Thinking about the backyard and being kids kinds of reminds me of this.) We were talking about those kinds of songs back then, and I mentioned Bruce Lee, and "The Night Chicago Died," and the way the 5th-grade girls would all do "The Locomotion" at lunchtime, like a total spontaneous dance craze.

Hansel & Gretel, Bloody Mary, "Hark the herald angels sing/ Mrs. Simpson's pinched our King," children's folklore tapping into some more primal, tribal self... I think I'll start a rumor that the kid in H.R. Pufnstuff is Jack White's dad.

Meantime, many photos got uploaded recently. Enjoy!