Friday On My Mind

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 12.5% BF

The VMB meeting was last night, a the Windsor Hotel. Meeting started at 7:00 PM, pre-meeting meeting for racers at 6:30, but I got there at 6:00 for some dinner. Hung out with Doug, Rich B, and a few other early arrivals.

The meeting itself: was good. John E (one o the Salisbury trail dudes) ran the meeting rather than prez Joe T, since he wanted to see about imposing "Robert's Rules" on the proceedings and also act as an umpire rather than someone with their own agenda. Lots of stuff to cover, plenty of debate, things got tedious at times and cantankerous at others, but most of the meeting agenda was worked through. Very fruitful meeting.

Reading: nothing, gotta find a new book.

Listening: nothing, I gotta get some new music.

Tonight: Firkin Friday at Which Brew, cask-conditioned ale, but no music. Maybe go to Porters, or Bluetone instead? Actually, it's also laundry night.

March Madness

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 11.5% BF

No exercise this morning, no meeting last night: got a call from Doug, we were supposed to grab some dinner before the VMB meeting, but he discovered (via Greg H) that the meeting was actually scheduled for today, caught me just before I left the house. So OK, tonight is Take #2.

Linux/BSD/Solaris Voyager: So instead, I surfed. Mostly I surfed that is, then I ssh'ed to my account at SDF (a BSD system) and fiddled with various settings, then telnetted over to the epix.net machines (they run Solaris), fiddled with stuff there. (Funny how epix doesn't have ssh & I have to use telnet, but then they refuse any connection that isn't coming from their dialup connection, maybe that's "secure.") Mostly just bash & configuration experiments; if I were playing music it would have been called "noodling." (I use Linux at home, and hit the other major flavors of Unix in one night, but since I use bash -- with a similar configuration -- on all three, they all act pretty much the same.) From there, I decided to change the way Emacs looked on the home computer, played around, noticed it was 1:00 AM, went to bed.

Pre-Cambrian: Strange dream this morning, just before I got up (technically, it was after I got up for the first time), all I can remember was beach imagery, and the words "phylum" and "radial symmetry."

A change in the weather: Went out to my car at lunch. Very windy -- it would be "good kite weather" if it weren't bitterly cold... Still, there's something you can feel in the air, despite the cold & even with all the snow on the ground: spring is on its way.

Idleness

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 15.5% BF

Got home yesterday, there must have been a power outage: clocks were blinking and the computer was turned off -- after being up for 93 days straight. Dang! Got that up again, surfed and read for a while, then went out to Which Brew for dinner after finishing Chancellorsville 1863; the usual crowd was there though I arrived a little late. Salad, bowl of chili, some Troeggs cask-conditioned ale, tasty.

Today's probably the last day without exercise, I'm feeling pretty good again and starting to want to do stuff (a good sign). Tonight is the VMB meeting and I want to go (haven't been to one in over a year), so nothing until tomorrow. Maybe a morning run?

Snow!!

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 12.5% BF

A big nor'easter, aye matey, dumped about 8" of snow last night. Snow emergency in Easton/Wilson, tough parking but the streets were in great shape this morning.

Go Tell It On The Mountain

Morning weigh-in: 175#, 4.5% BF (WTF?)

Not likely weigh-in numbers: didn't eat yesterday except Taco Bell around 7:00, still affected by medications, especially GI situation with antibiotics. Scale says one thing, mirror tells a different story, hopefully my downtime weight loss doesn't include too much muscle. Meantime, dehydration sometimes lowers body fat analysis numbers, must drink more fluids...

I got a haircut on Saturday, usual place at the Palmer Park Mall; the receptionist said it'd be an hour wait so I wandered around, found myself in the bookstore. I remembered a book I'd heard about, asked for it, and yes they had it in stock so now it's mine -- I basically did nothing but read it for the rest of the weekend. Holy living fsck...

By the way, the book is Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell (here's a better review).

It's basically a set of six linked stories: a diary of an 1850's South Seas journey jumps to the letters of a British ne'er-do-well and composer in 1930's Belgium, then to 1970's California for a battle between a reporter and a nuclear power company, modern Britain, a nightmare futuristic "corpocracy" in Korea, and the center of the book, a post-apocalyptic Hawaii maybe a thousand or so years into the future. Each section, except the Hawaiian one, got only halfway into its story before jumping to the next; then after the Hawaiian story completes, the book runs backward through the sections, completing each story and finishing, back on Hawaii, with the South Seas journal. So what's the book about? Well, each story is about enslavement and the struggle to escape it, each in a different but thematically linked way.

The whole thing was sort of like climbing up and down a mountain, and at the "top" of the book the iron-age protagonist climbs Mauna Loa, with a woman from the last outpost of advanced civilization. (There are several other places and times where a man and a woman ascend to find some revelation, which may or may not be correctly understood.) But climbing down is always very different than going up, and a bit of an anticlimax, and that's the way the book was -- it was probably deliberate too, for reasons I won't mention because it'll give away some of the surprise. I'll just say though, that each section is written the way it's supposed to be, and it was a page-turner all the way to the end...

Codeine

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 6.5% BF

Totally out of it, tired & groggy, not my usual quick-witted self the past few days. It may just be the germs beating me up, but I looked at the cough medicine and -- surprise! -- it contains codeine. So actually, I may still be coughing at night, I'm just too doped up to realize it...

My friend Brian is a 7th grade teacher, and he told me the other day about a girl they had to send to the hospital, after she claimed she ate a whole bottle of some pills. They didn't really believe her but could take no chances; and it turned out to be a false alarm. Brian said he was trying to get her to 'fess up, told her how not-fun it would be to get her stomach pumped.

That reminded me of the story about when my brother Kevin and I were toddlers, and we (him, mostly) ate a bottle of "batman pills," otherwise know as aspirin. The story as told to Brian was mostly about how he had to get his stomach pumped, because he was too stubborn to drink the ipecac or let the nurse make him gag with a tongue depressor, but I'm thinking now about this cough syrup , how purple it is and how grapey good it tastes, wouldn't you want something this potentially dangerous to taste at least a little bit nasty?

Don, you're turning into a prude.

Bronchitis! Woo Hoo!

Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 177#, 11.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Wednesday) 177.5#, 8.5% BF (say what?)

Woke up around 1:00 AM Tuesday, couldn't stop coughing, coughing so hard I'd gag, etc, lasted until around 6:00. I skipped work, slept all day and went to the doctor at 5:30. Bronchitis: antibiotics, cough supressant, decongestant. I also asked for and got a new prescription for Astelin spray -- normally I get this when I got to the doctor but it's always "no refills," and I would like to be on it permanently, it's the best stuff I've found yet for my nose. Looked online, saw no long term side-effects (was worried that this might be why I could only get it occasionally), asked the doctor and he said "no problem, here you go."

After that I went to the "Salisbury Trailbuilding Summit" in Bethlehem. Met Doug & Eric for dinner at Tulum, then walked over to the Wildflower Cafe to meet everyone else. (Nice place, really crunchy coffeeshop in Southside Bethlehem, right around the corner from 3rd Street Chicken & Ribs.) The meeting was pretty fruitful, I think we all came away with a consensus of what needs to be done, what we'd like to do first, what we'd like to see in the way of trails, etc. Things look good for Salisbury... We also talked a little bit about Jim Thorpe, possibly doing some work up there in the near future, fix the ice-storm damage.

Tonight is another early bedtime.

I Just Wanna Get There Faster

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 15% BF

Yesterday was a holiday and a snowstorm, so even though I saw a number of stupid accidents the drive to/from work was OK. Today, however, was a real pain, lots of people on the road, and a majority of them were idiots. Not sure if it was Jersey thing, or maybe only something my brother Kevin used to say, but he called them Dickey Moe's, as in "Dickey Moe, the Left Lane Dick." Commuter traffic, high-stress ballet and if someone doesn't know what they're doing it screws everything up -- many of those out this morning. The way home was via Harmony Township and Merril Creek, so I didn't have to deal with all those bozos. (It doesn't take much much to screw up a country road either, but I lucked out tonight.)

Listening: I dug out my old Smashing Pumpkins CD, Gish, and have been listening to it in the car. I used to listen to this a lot in the basement at my old apartment, while doing laundry and working on the bike; the first two songs, "I Am One" and "Siva," were what I'd use to psych myself for races. I still think "I Am One" would make a great start to a bike video.

Reading: The Fellowship of the Ring, a guilty pleasure.

Thinking about: Today is the 62nd anniversary, or so Wikipedia reminds me, of the execution of Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst, leaders in the White Rose Society. They were a group of idealistic German intellectuals, young veterans and college students, dedicated to nonviolent resistance to the Nazis, busted for un-American activities and guillotined on this date in 1943.

Doing: Laundry. I may go down to Which Brew tonight for dinner, something I haven't done in a while, at least not on a Tuesday.

One last thing: Happy 1st Birthday to my neice Olivia.

Monday Lunchtime Catch-Up

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 14% BF

Well, got the car back, on Saturday morning; Doug gave me a ride over. (I blew off the gym since I've been fighting a cold, and the workout would have been right in the middle of the prime car-getting window of opportunity.) Doug & Lori went to look at some Subarus while they were there, but ended up buying a Toyota from Krause later in the day. I think that they were a bit put off by their experiences with the Subaru dealers, and seeing me go through my repair woes may have been the last straw, and they went with what's essentially been "their brand" all along.

Friday night was therefore my last night on foot. I went down to Which Brew, where Three Monks were playing (with a fourth monk on sax/flute), and it was owner K-Jo's 40th birthday party. Good times, and the place was packed: lotsa K-Jo relatives, big fan base for the band. I didn't know too many people though (hung out mainly with Stu), and it was very crowded so I left "early" at midnight. Stu and Kathy went to see Sarah Ayers at the Bluetone, which I probably would have enjoyed but I wasn't up for anymore fun, I was tired and that cough/cold thing was still plagueing me.

So that was Friday night. Saturday was spent getting the car, then playing catch-up with all the chores/errands that needed a car: drycleaning, groceries, etc; Saturday night was back to Which Brew to see the Insidious Rays play acoustic. Once again the place was packed, popular band, this time it seemed to be a very "Bethlehem" crowd, not surprising since they are a Bethlehem band... saw a few people I recognized from the Green Cafe, the Funhouse etc. Again, went home early.

Sunday was a very pleasant ride at South Mountain, me and Doug and Rich B. I felt I was riding the technical stuff a little better than last weekend, and though I was coughing a lot whenever we stopped, I never had any respiratory distress while riding, even on the worst "lungbuster" climbs. Went home, did laundry and took a nap, which essentially morphed into an early bedtime, slept through the snowstorm. Today I got up early, hopped in the car and drove in. lotsa crashes everywhere but my trusty (I hope) Outback made it through...

Stupid Car People

Morning weigh-in: 176#, 13% BF

Car still not done, they're still waiting for the cable. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Faulkner Subaru, but you suck. Reminds me of that Frank Zappa song "Flakes."

Rode home yesterday into a steady west wind, felt unusually tired and pissy right from the start -- realized I was bonking, or at least some kind of mini-bonk, so I stopped in Bloomsbury and got a few slices of pizza, felt much better. I got home at 7:00, so even with the wind and the dinner stop, I made good time -- I hammered up Washington Street. I'm worn out though, maybe bad nutritional discipline, or maybe just too much this early in the season, but I was totally whooped when I got home, not up for any more cycle commuting this week. When I saw that today would start at around 13 degrees and be windy I called a friend and bummed a ride. I then had some rice, chick peas & tahini, and was in bed by 9:00. This morning was great, I "slept in" all the way to 6:30 before getting up.

Tonight is K-Jo's 40th birthday party at Which Brew. Should be good, I need a weekend right about now.

One last thing: Funny juxtaposition in the Morning call today, Vioxx maker Merck says it'll be back on the market soon, on the same page as a story about the new law limiting class-action suits. Someone over there has a sense of humor...

The West Wind Hates Me

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 13.5% BF

Rode in to work again today, car still not done. Every day it's the same: weather report is A-OK in the morning or the evening before, I ride in to work and get a call that "the parts are still not in yet" -- they're waiting for a hood latch cable, shouldn't a car dealership just have these in stock all the time? -- and then the weather forecast goes south. Yesterday was supposed to be partly cloudy, but then a storm front blew through (luckily it cleared up before I left for home); today it was supposed to be sunny but now they're calling for snow flurries... Snow, even rain I can deal with, but in each case the new weather forecast also brought a 10-15 mph west wind, in other words a nice headwind for the ride home. Blech! However, every one of my bike commutes is the direct caloric equivalent of a half pound of fat (3 hours at 600 calories/hour), and I'm sure that my metabolism, with a kickstart every 12 hours or so, is burning even more. So it's an evil wind but it's blowing at least some good.

Last night: the Chain Gang meeting was good, and very productive. We had it at Which Brew, where the food and beer were great as always, but it seemed that they were a little overwhelmed by the number of people there on a usually quiet Wednesday night. By the way, Greg H came to the meeting and joined the club.

Been Thinking About Jan Cremer

No morning weigh-in: forgot.

Rode in to work again today, a little colder than yesterday but very pleasant -- I expected the cold & dressed accordingly, of course. Last night I was so tired, I basically had dinner and went to bed, but tonight is the Chain Gang meeting, and we're holding it at Which Brew, so not only do I have to step lively to get home (meeting is at 7:00), I have to be lively for a good while afterwards. My car should be done today, I'm expecting the "your car isready" call as we speak, so I can probably "sleep in" until 6:00 AM or even 7:00 tomorrow...

Not reading: Somewhere in my apartment is a paperback, Jan Cremer Writes Again, second book by the artist Jan Cremer. I found the book in the dirt, walking home from the Englishtown Auction in maybe 1980, started reading it aloud to my friends & decided to keep it. Basically "a Dutch 'Easy Rider' out of Henry Miller," as the back cover says, it's a fairly dirty adventure story of our hero Jan, motorcycling through North Africa & Ibiza, and trying to make a life as an artist in Holland. Until a few years ago I didn't even know that the real artist Jan Cremer even existed. If I find it, I'll probably read it again.

Dawn Lap

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 178.5#, 12.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 180#, 11% BF

Bicycled to work today. Had to get up at 5:00 AM to do it, but it was very pleasant. I got to watch the sun come up as I rode in. Tonight I should get my car back, so it'll be back to slothville.

Six Degrees of Bereavement: they buried that boy yesterday. Seems that everywhere I go, someone is talking about it: their son played ball with him, or he was a schoolmate of someone's kid, cousin, friend...

Reading: Liar's Poker, by Michael Lewis. Great book, and I've always wondered whatever became of the author. Also reading Chancellorsville 1863: The Souls of the Brave, by Ernest B. Furgurson. This is probably one of the best books on the Civil War I've seen, and the only book that actually makes sense of the Battle of Chancellorsville. Both of these are re-reads.

Mr Pinata

Pretty good weekend:

Friday night I walked down to Which Brew, hung out with Stu & Kathy, then other regulars as the evening progressed. Guy was playing solo guitar & singing, went by the name of "Just Plain Don"... Cheesesteak chili, some milk stout, then I went across the street where some other solo singer/guitarist was playing. It was OK too, but I left early.

Saturday was my friend Pete's surprise 50th birthday party, held at Blue Mountain Vineyards. Very cool, I guess that kind of panache comes with being older & wiser... plenty of food, wine (of course), which got into the usual "what are are you a wine snob" kind of thing. Like cat people vs dog people, I land on the beer side of that fence -- besides, beer-bloat makes for good "checks and balances;" I don't know how to drink wine, have to be very careful not to guzzle it and get trashed. Very tasty stuff though, I found a merlot I liked and stuck with it, except when my buddy Dick S, who's not a wine snob but made a living importing and writing about wine, would recommend something. The party itself (quite apart from the wine) was very good. Pete's in the Chain Gang and also in the Wheelmen so there were a lot of bikers around, people I sort of know, got a chance to catch up.

Sunday (aka today) I went on a bike ride. I rode down the towpath with Brian; he turned around at Sand Island but I crossed the river and climbed up to South Mountain, where I rode with Doug, Eric, and Joe & Cindy. We did a shakedown ride for Cindy's new bike, which Joe got her for Valentine's Day. Great ride, but I put in 34 offroad miles by the time I got home... usually the towpath doesn't really count as "offroad," but today, especially in the afternoon when it thawed, it was a soft, energy-sucking mess. Took a nap, walked down to Porters for dinner, and when I'm done here it's early bedtime for me.

Only This Much Fun Please

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 12% BF

Car went in the shop last night: oil change & lube, a few minor repairs, & to see if/why it's leaking/burning oil. I didn't arrange for a ride to work today, figuring on maybe bike-commuting on the Iguana. My plan was to use the bike to get home from the dealer, do that as a sort of shakedown cruise for the commute. Things looked pretty grim in terms of time though (I have to leave the house by 6:00 AM, thus wake at 5:00, thus as early bedtime as possible when I bike to work), so I called a friend, left a message to beg for ride. Since I got no answer, I followed through on the rest of the plan, got the bike ready and packed my panniers for the morning, then left for the dealership a little after 10:00 PM.

Weather forecasts were for possible light flurries, but lots of wind overnight & into today -- & they weren't kidding about the wind! Strong enough to have the flags all stick straight out, but it was fairly steady & always from the North. My ride went north for only a mile or so, then cut east, paralleling US22 on back roads all the way to Easton, so I lucked out -- I hate riding into the wind, and this breeze was pretty strong. I was worried about my situation at first, but partway home a little voice said "admit it: you're enjoying this!" I was home by 11:30.

My friend had called me back, leaving a message that he'd be glad to give me a ride -- woo hoo! Another bullet dodged, though except for the early wakeup, I probably would have enjoyed the morning ride too.

A Death In The Family

Morning weigh-in: 179.5#, 13.5% BF

Good workout last night at Brian's: me Brian and Greg on the trainers; sprints, intervals, amazing how hot and sweaty you can get in a cold basement... After that it was laundry night, and I went to Which Brew for dinner while the stuff dried -- but they were closed. I had a backup plan though, & walked over to Porter's for a cheeseseak and a Lancaster IPA.

One of the things I don't like about Porter's is the fact that their bar is small, it doesn't take many people to fill it. If you show up to eat alone, sitting at a table for four in a mostly-empty room can be pretty lame -- especially when there's a lively crowd scene at the bar (not ten feet away). So anyway, I ate pretty quickly (good cheesesteak), then got up and found a few people I knew. My garrulous friend Scott was there, told me what had happened across the street.

Which Brew is very much a family establishment: K-Jo has her sisters as occasional waitresses, her cousin Maura is one of the main bartenders, and Maura's sister sometimes helps out; also, her parents are fairly regular patrons. Others work there of course, but this sets the general tone. Apparently, a cousin, a young guy I never met but who sometimes helps out on Saturdays, was having some kind of leg surgery and there were complications... from what Scott told me -- he was over there -- they got a phone call at WB that he'd passed away, maybe about 8:30 or so, and everyone was so upset (& also had to deal with family emergency) that they closed early. Tragic. I gathered from what Scott told me that the guy was hardly more than a teenager. It'll probably be pretty grim over there for a while.

Breakfast

Breakfast
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 14% BF

This is a shot of my breakfast at Coffee Works, our first stop on the Chili Ride. Right now it's the most popular of my photos on Flickr.

I decided to skip the gym yesterday, instead went for a hike at Merrill Creek, and then I uploaded my Chili Fest photos. After that I blew off laundry & shopping to play some more with the computer.

Ran this morning, riding the trainer with Brian & Greg tonight.

New Leaf, Slowly Turning

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 12.5% BF

I skipped the spin class last night, instead took the singlespeed down the towpath/bike path. Only an hour ride (, then went to Mug Club Night at Which Brew, had dinner with Brian. I was home & in bed by 10:00; morning was a pretty easy wake-up at 6:30 for a change. If this keeps up I'll be able to start running again... Tonight is the gym, followed by laundry. I usually hit WB while the laundry dries, but I think I'll do a little food shopping instead. Meantime, the house is still clean.

You Shall Know Us By Our Stained Shirts

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 15% BF

I spent the weekend sort of battling a cold, still on the edge of it & I don't know which way the tipping point is going to go... stayed in Friday night, blew off the gym on Saturday -- spent the day w/ housework, even though it was beautiful outside. Living room, kitchen & bathroom are pretty much up to code now, and the enforced rest did me a world of good.

Between the sinus situation and the medicine I was taking for it, I didn't have much of an appetite. I don't even remember eating dinner Friday night (probably just went straight to bed), and breakfast was all I ate on Saturday, until I suddenly got very hungry about 10:00, decided to go out after all. I went to Which Brew, grabbed a cheesesteak and a Lancaster Milk Stout. I checked out the band (Illinois Slim) talked to Stu and Cathy, & saw Ed there as well, but didn't make it "a night out," went home to bed pretty quickly.

All this sets the stage for...

The Superbowl of Chili: yesterday was Superbowl Sunday, which meant it was also the 10th Annual "Superbowl of Chili" at Pearly Baker's Ale House. I've been to all of them since the beginning. How it works is, the back dining room at Pearly Baker's is emptied of the regular tables, and long tables are set up against all the walls; about 30 different local restaurants and pubs (some caterers as well) bring their chilis. There is a panel of judges for the main competition, and also a "people's choice" award. A five-dollar donation to charity gets you in, and you get to sample all the chili -- tiny little samples, but after 30 of them you're stuffed -- and vote on your favorites. It's a mob scene; outside of Heritage Day it's the biggest deal in Easton every year.

My/our participation has evolved into something of a ritual: some outdoor activity beforehand, then the Chili Contest, head next door to Mother's (much lesscrowded) to regroup, then a walk up the street to Porters to end the day. This year we started from my place and did an MTB-on-road ride, dropped downtown to Coffee Works for breakfast, rode around near the library and Easton Cemetery, then took the (snowy and difficult) trail along the Bushkill to 13th Street and back home. "We" in this case was myself, Brian, Eric and Doug & Lori -- Lori also volunteered to be designated driver, after she saw us in action last year... The ride was very good, up until we hit the snow, then it was difficult but doable (barely). We spent a little more time than we should have with this phase of the day, and arrived waaaay late to Pearly Baker's: usually we get there around 11:00, an hour before the start, and get a spot on line inside the bar. This time things had already started by the time we got there, and we were waiting down the block; warm weather was a lucky break but it was quite a while before we got to eat any chili. The bar was crowded, and inside "the chili room" was total chaos as usual, lots of people & great chili -- bumping into people, juggling a cup of beer, pencil and score sheet, Doug and I got matching chili stains on our shirts but we managed to get most of it in our mouths. Saw a few familiar faces, but not as many as I expected, no Pete H or Dick S... of course, we didn't spend much time in Pearly B's after the chili, so maybe I just didn't see them. Mother's, Porters, home, early bedtime & I missed the Superbowl for the umpteenth time in a row...

Channeling Susan Sontag

Morning weigh-in: 183#, 11.5% BF

In one of the eulogies for Susan Sontag I read of her habit of going tirelessly from museum to gallery opening to concert etc; last night I sort of emulated her, in a little more lightweight way of course, except for actual weight. I started with the Laurie Anderson show at Zoellner, very good. I was surprised when I saw a friend from Which Brew there, then another -- and another! Some, but not all, were wearing black... Meantime, I was there "with" Eric & Kris, but we arrived separately, sat apart, and we only talked for a bit before/after the show, no retiring to anywhere for post-concert activity.

After the show I went back to Easton, got there in time to got to Which Brew where I expected some up-and-coming local musician -- nothing, and the place was practically empty. I broke down and ordered chili cheese fries, which may explain those weigh-in numbers... The few people in there were going over to Porters, because Maria from Duende was hosting a folkie-type amateur night. I went over too, and it was cool for a bit, but I got there just as Alex (also from Duende) finished a set, and the next few guys weren't my cup of tea. School night, getting close to midnight, went home.

There've been some colds moving through the office, now I think I may have caught one. Maybe sit back this weekend with a copy of Illness as Metaphor -- hope my emulation stays lightweight.