Wrong Way, Harry

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

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

Riding tonight, towpath.

Harder Than It Looks

Morning weigh-in: 184#, 9% BF

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

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

In Memoriam

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 15% BF

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

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

Quaternions! Quaternions!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Waiting For A Call

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 11% BF

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

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

UPDATED: For clarity.

Light A Candle, For Saint Brigid

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

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

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

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

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

Closer to Seasonable

Morning weigh-in: 183#, 14% BF

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

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

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

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

Solaris, Brother Ray

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

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

Well It Felt Like I Was Losing It

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mud Season Is Back

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 13% BF

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

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

The Persistence Of Pattern

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 11.5% BF

"Sitting by my window,

Watching the snow

Fall." -- Laurie Anderson

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

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

Monday, Monday

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 13.5# BF

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

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

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

It's All Good. No, Really.

Weekend has come and gone...

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

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

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

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

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

Survived Another Week

Morning weigh-in: 184#, 9% BF

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

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

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

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

This Hankerchief Has Been Around The World Nine Times

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 13.5% BF

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

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

My New Year's Resolutions:

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

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

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

Rainy Time

Joe Peeks Out From The Cave
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

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

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

Beguiled At Last

Morning weigh-in: 185.5#, 10% BF

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

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

Inner Voices

Despite All The Amputations #1
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

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

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

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

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

Wot No Pictures?

Morning weigh-in: 185.5#, 12% BF

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

Thistle

Holiday Dinner: Group Photo
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

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

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

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

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