Hey Hey Sparky Everyman

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 4.5% BF (dehydration?)

 

"The best part of the emergence of blogs is when you can match up John Updike with Roy Edroso and they play to a tie. Both brilliant." -- Tbogg

 

I guess I wasn't the only one to notice, Alicublog does rock... I checked out that John Updike thing by the way, a review of the new Charles Schulz biography. That was brilliant, and now I might have to get that book.

 

The Money Pit: Anyway, wrenching last night, put on the new handlebar and also new tires. The WeirWolfs just don't look as aggressive as my (apparently now defunct) all-time favorites, the MotoRaptors, but some friends swear by them. We'll see tonight on the shakedown cruise, and tomorrow at Allamuchy, and so on, and so on. (Actually, I think they sent me the wrong ones -- the downhill rather than race version.) Well, if I don't like it I'll just get another one... Meantime, I think I'm going to need a new front derailleur real soon.

 

Oedipus With a Twist: Hit Which Brew for dinner last night while the laundry dried, hanging for a bit with the bartender and her (relatively new) boyfriend, who has a young, say toddler age, son; I'm guessing he has partial custody from the general drift of the conversation. At one point she said something along the lines of "he hates me." Well, I would run with with "just feels threatened," but that still must be a tough situation.

 

Tonight is Philly Funk Authority, tomorrow is the Allamuchy birthday ride, and tomorrow night is the Brew Ha Ha -- and I cannot find the beer I want to bring.

Ima Think Out Loud Here

Morning weigh-in: 165.5#, 10% BF

 

Yoga last night, felt kind of inept, not quite the "be here now" that I would have liked. Oh well, always start with where you are and move forward... Dinner afterward was pasta & tuna with wilted greens. Haven't made that in a while. Tasty, I made it super-extra-garlicky, and I have enough left over for dinner Friday, which may or may not be a good thing:

 

My friend Karen (better half of "Bob & Karen") is a singer, mostly studio work and wedding bands. I've heard some session tapes, and one time on vacation she banged out some tunes on an old honky-tonk piano (at the only saloon in Downieville, California: locals were tipping her with gold nuggets), but in the fourteen years I've known her I have never seen her perform for real. That will change Saturday, because she's singing with the Philadelphia Funk Authority at the Stanhope House, and a bunch of us are going to check it out. I'll be crashing at Joe & Dawn's new place, which is nearby and also right up the road from Tranquility Farm, because we're doing a 40th birthday ride out of Tranquility for Joe on Saturday morning. (My bike parts arrived yesterday, and I'm blowing off the gym to slap them on tonight.)

 

I can usually get away with a bit of garlic on the breath -- with a little help from gum, or hoppy beer, or whatever -- at Which Brew, since garlic is pretty popular there, and I'm normally not the only offender by a long shot. Friday night's crew will be a bit on the conservative side though, not quite white-bread-and-mayo, but close enough that my food choices will make it harder to blend in.

 

Saturday night I'm going to Kathleen & Lisa's "Brew-Ha-Ha" beer tasting. I'll be bringing the Weyerbacher Winter Ale if I can get it, otherwise it'll be Autumn Fest. Probably stop at WB tonight, grab dinner and pick up a six pack of whichever one they have. My routine is gone: I am back into the rocks, water will flow disturbed for a few days or a few weeks more.

Errata Stigmata, Yadda Yadda

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 7.5% BF

 

Car: Finally it was finished, and I picked it up around 1:00; I was at work by 2:00. Worked late to make up for some of it.

 

Bodywork: Hit the gym on the way home, did my long workout. Cruised through it, like a hot knife through butter, even added some stuff.

 

Loose Ends: Took care of laundry, and stopped in at Which Brew for dinner. I was under the impression that I might have left without paying on Saturday, thought I'd better take care of that ASAP. Felt some trepidation, didn't know what kind of reception I'd get, but everything was cool, probably would have been cool regardless but in fact I had paid -- good! I can still walk in there with my head held high... I think I'll be cutting back on the nightlife anyway though, since it doesn't fit in with my other plans, and I've had my party.

 

Pass The Popcorn, part 2547: We-heh-hell, another one bites the dust... I saw something once that compared "the closet" with "the patriarchy," the same self-loathing, denial, the same enforcement of its norms even by its victims. Granted, the only gay people I know -- that I know are gay -- are of necessity out of the closet, but they seem like nice, grounded, ordinary people, maybe even a little boring at times. (Also granted, I know them as people, not as some bizarre Other.) These guys however -- the current Republican Freakshow crowd --  seem driven and tormented by personal demons, too bad we all have to suffer along with them.

 

Roy On The Arts: Yet another great post. It's funny, speaking of "new cartoon paradigms," I first heard about Achewood from Alicublog.

 

Parting Shot: One from the Doghouse.

 

Tonight is yoga, though that means I'll be missing Trick Or Treat. Oh well.

Downtime

Morning weigh-in: 165.5#, 11% BF

At home right now, just got back from my 2nd trip to the garage (they're just around the block from me). I thought I'd be able to pick my car up first thing this morning, but nothing seems to be happening...

Got A Car I Got, Car Trouble

Morning weigh-in: 169#, 9.5% BF (whoops! good weekend I guess)

Rode the Giant in to work today; the car is in the shop. I'm guessing that the battery got run down a little bit, since apparently I didn't shut the door totally when I got home Saturday night -- the door is a bit tricky since the car got hit last year. I saw the door somewhat ajar on Sunday morning, and then the car wouldn't start, so I figured that the interior light must have been on and drained the battery. I walked downtown for breakfast -- my original plan, except for the "walk" part -- and on the way I stopped in at the garage, asked the guy to give me a jump, and then decided I wanted an oil change, also new belts and hoses, and my wish list kind of snowballed from there. They picked up the car in the afternoon, and I figure I'll be car-free for a few days.

Bike Trouble: The commuting actually fits in with my current agenda, I can call this the start of "Phase 1." It was supposed to start Friday night but...

There's a saying, "I've forgotten more about [area of expertise] than you'll ever know;" it seems that I'm in that boat right now with cycling. It was raining Friday but hey no problem, I've got the gear so I went to do the towpath. It was coming down pretty hard, and my glasses were wet and all fogged up... anyway, the towpath is wide, and flat, and easy to stay on even with limited visibility, but every so often they have anti-vehicle poles to keep cars off, and I rode right into one, at speed. Didn't flinch, never even saw it until -- WHAM!

I was rattled but stayed upright, and I thought I was none the worse for wear until I noticed that I'd broken my handlebar. I finished out a very abbreviated ride after that, but was still suffering from visibility issues the whole rest of the way. I used to have a whole set of infrastructure for dealing with this, anti-fog products etc, but don't have any right now, and went out unprepared and not even thinking about the issue. I guess there will be many moments like that in the next few weeks, where I realize once again why I used to roll this way and not that.

After that was dinner at Which Brew, then over to Porters where I discovered that the nuts still all roll towards me -- I swear, they must smell that I'm an easy victim or something. Some woman buttonholed me at the bar, and over the music (Post Junction, or why I wanted to be there in the first place) I learned that:

1. Her dog can kill me!

2. Her husband is hooked on crack, that's why they live in Easton now.

3. None of my friends would rescue me.

I left right after that, didn't feel like waiting around for the UFO-abduction stories to start...

Saturday was the gym, then the Which Brew Halloween Party, which was lovely -- I think it was their best party ever. By the way, you can see my pictures here . Sunday was the car, and breakfast, and then I just worked on the bikes, and played with the computer (uploading pictures, buying bike parts) until bedtime. And now it's Monday!

UPDATE: Edited for clarity.

Another Late Night

No morning weigh-in: overslept, forgot, dammit don't get complacent...

 

Good upper-body workout last night at the gym. Didn't do legs, and hit the core and upper body with non-standard exercises; weights were high but not ridiculous. I felt good. (Before the gym I did some Halloween shopping, looking in vain for some necessary accessories for my costume -- I'm not getting a good feeling about this.)

 

After that I hit Which Brew for dinner, where I got into a few really good conversations. I was talking bikes with Gary early on, and then it turns out that the girl sitting next to him knows Lars Tribus -- small world, though he does live somewhere in NJ, like near Holland Twp or something.

 

Later in the evening some of us let our geek flags fly: talking with two guys (Ed's roommate Mike, and a buddy of his wearing a GNU teeshirt), turns out they do network stuff for Lafayette College, working on some major project, and they are big into Open Source. Some dude on the other side of the room joined in, and poor Ed got stuck in the middle...

 

The girls were cool, letting us hang out & BS for a while after last call while they cleaned up. Since last call there is 11:00, it was once again a late-but-not-too-late evening, at least not until I got home. Some thought struck me, and I wanted to look up something or other... computer, internet, Google, Wikipedia, saw a whole bunch of other shiny things to go ADD over and completely forgot what I was originally looking for. Ended up at like 1:45 AM reading the Anabasis online.

 

 

 

 

Cowquaculture! I Want A Cowquarium!

Morning weigh-in: 164.5#, 11% BF

 

Good news, bad news? I'm liking those weights, but the body fat percentages? ...eh, not so much. I suspect that my body fat was reading a "false low" of around 11%-12% when I was heavier, because my scale reads body fat based on electrical impedance through the legs, where there was very little fat. That number shouldn't change as the fat disappears from areas, like my gut, that don't have any impact on the measurement -- at least, that's what I hope is happening. The (somewhat disquieting) alternative explanation is that I'm losing muscle as well as fat, while the percentage remains the same; I find that hard to believe though, since my strength is actually up.

 

W101, NFA (Phase Zero) Mission Accomplished: Either way, I have reached my "number" goal -- I'm below 165 pounds. (My real-world goal is to get rid of all the chub, and the mirror tells me that I have a little more work to do.) I guess it's time to talk about why I decided to lose the weight...

 

Next year I'll be doing the Wilderness 101 again, and I'm involved with a challenge with my friend Greg M (among others), that he calls "No Fucking Around." You can treat the W101 as a lark for extremely tough people, or as a survival contest for the weekend warriors, but what he wants is for us to take it seriously as a race, and do whatever you have to, to get the best time there that you can. For me that means some serious training, but before that I have to prepare myself to even begin that real training. Hence the weight loss -- this is a good time of year for it too, since the dieting is not very bike-friendly, but cycling should not be a big priority at this point in the training year anyway. Next up will be the introduction of cardio and base work into the mix, of low intensity but gradually increasing volume, a phase that will probably last for several months.

 

My actual goal is to break 10 hours in the race. I absolutely know I can do this, but I also know it won't happen by not caring.

 

Teh Funny: This Sadly, No! post got this comment, which brought about this comment in reply, which made me spit coffee on my computer screen.

 

Anyway, kick-ass yoga class last night, followed by the second half of a turkey sub that I bought for lunch. Tonight is the gym, followed by laundry and dinner at Which Brew.

Blast From The Past

Morning weigh-in: 165.5#, 10.5% BF

 

Listening to college radio on the way in this morning, the DJ played some early Blues Traveler in honor of their 20th anniversary or something; the song he played featured the guy who would eventually become the lead sing for the Spin Doctors. He dedicated the song to "everyone who used to hang out at The Wetlands." I was never a real fan of either band -- actually, I hated the Spin Doctors -- but I did see them once or twice at The Wetlands. At least, I think I did. Those were the days...

 

Ho Hum, What Else: Went to the gym last night, really good workout -- my legs are stronger right now (at the beginning of leg weightlifting season) than they've ever been. Dinner was black beans.

 

Got a flu shot today. Tonight is yoga, then I'm making tuna & wilted greens.

Watch The World Die

Morning weigh-in: 167#, 9.5% BF

 

It was strange on Sunday how warm and pleasant it was. We were joking about global warming as we rode, but it was obvious that the insects were all discombobulated, and then we started talking about colony collapse disorder... It really wasn't that unusually warm, but it did seem like we were in the middle of a swan song, one last kiss before the end. It's probably just winter approaching, but I could think of  worse ways to live out the end of the world than watching it from the woods.

 

Speaking of woods and the world's end, here are some dispatches from the current apocalypse. Good luck, Tbogg.

 

Last night was "active rest:" beginner yoga; it was a nice class with a pretty big turnout. I hit Porters afterward, for dinner and Monday Night Football. Not exactly the most exciting I ever saw, but I stuck around until the end anyway. Saw Eamon and Kateryna (best guesses on spelling) towards the end; they bought me a drink, so I bought them drinks, and then I absconded -- they're bartenders, night owls, I couldn't let things get too late on a school night...

 

Went home right after the game, late but reasonable -- then I blew it by posting my R.B. Winter photos on flickr, playing with computer until 1:30 or so. Enjoy the photos, morning wake-up was easy but I'm hurting now.

 

Tonight is the gym, then probably an early bedtime.

 

 

Swim Out Past The Breakers

Morning weigh-in: 165.5#, 11% BF

 

 

Damn fine weekend. Beautiful weather, sort of "Indian Summer's Indian Summer," as a certain author might say...

 

Friday I took a rest day, worked on the bikes instead of riding them, then went and did that Haunted Historic Tour of downtown Easton. It was pretty neat, and I got a few photos (already posted, you know what to do). I ran into a bunch of friends, including D&L, Spanky, and E-Rock, as well as Heath & Hans, all peeps you don't see over there much these days. Lotsa good conversation, then I drifted over to Porters to catch Brujos playing. Got and posted some pics over there too.

 

One thing I found out on that tour is that Easton Library was built on a graveyard. They relocated most of the graves to other cemeteries, but the bodies they couldn't identify they re-interred in an unmarked mass grave -- supposedly it's visible as a depression in the street behind the library. Since I'd parked downtown, on the (very late) walk back to my car I decided to try and find the grave... I have photos of that too, but they're just blurry, underexposed shots of asphalt so I didn't post them. Luckily I didn't get arrested, or jumped.

 

I had the best intentions to go to the early morning yoga class on Saturday, but did not actually wake up until a half hour after the class started. Oh well, coffee shop for breakfast, then I went to the gym. Chores, errands -- later in the afternoon I got in a ride at Sals with Larry, a friend from Porters. Nice ride, kind of mellow but I don't think it was what I led him to expect when I sold him on the ride. Dinner was Which Brew with a Japanese bossa nova band, and more BS'ing with whoever happened to sit next to me.

 

Sunday was Teh Awesome. I met Doug, Eric, Rich and Bob in Tannersville for breakfast, then we made the trek out to RB Winter. Beautiful weather, bright blue sky and an unseasonable 70 degrees, it was a perfect day for a ride, especially since the foliage up there was just about peaking. The ride itself was the usual "Cowbell Hollow / Top Mountain Trail" epic, maybe 29 miles total on a mix of jeep roads and super-rocky, technical singletrack. I think some people were hurting by the end, but I felt great, and really we all rode well. Long day: I got home about 13 hours after I left the house in the morning.

 

Tonight is "active rest" with the beginner yoga class, then I might post pics from the ride.

Skyfishing

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 11.5% BF

 

Check out these photos and video of atmospheric waves. Cast your fishing line like a kite up into the sky, sit and stare at the slow wave...

 

Hit the gym last night, light, upper body only, and nonstandard exercises to boot -- a change is as good as a rest, or so they say. After that was laundry, and dinner at Which Brew. Quiet night there, almost empty except for maybe a few bartenders' boyfriends. Cool culturati, had some interesting conversations on music (bands I didn't know) and comics as the girls closed up. They all went over to Porters after that, but that change in the gym wasn't quite rest enough and I needed my sleep.

 

Still Screaming After All These Years: Still reading Gravity's Rainbow. It still kicks ass, even after umpteen re-reads. I also happened to look at the cover of Ghostwritten the other day, and couldn't help but notice the similarity to the cover of Against the Day, that doubling of the writing.

 

Tonight is the towpath, then maybe I'll check out the scarecrow festival.

Winding Down My Administration

Morning weigh-in: 168#, 10.5% BF

 

Good meeting last night, probably one of the last with me as Prez -- elections next meeting, I've done two my terms, and now it's someone else's turn in the barrel...

 

Got there a little early, even after dealing with Rt 31 traffic, stopping in at Bike King and picking up a new helmet (paid $20 for low-end, slightly unstylish, 2007-year clearance model; it's slightly less fancy, but the level of head protection is exactly the same as for a new, $150 helmet -- I win!), and also picking up some ice cream sandwiches on the way. So I arrived at Chez Bob & Karen at the same time as Bob, and got to hang with B&K and their dogs for about an hour until the others showed up.

 

Dinner was baked ziti -- I was starving, and it was good -- with salad, Italian bread and honey butter, and some desserts which I skipped but I did have two ice cream sandwiches... meeting afterward, which, like I said, was pretty good. B&K, Doug, Eric, Eric, Greg, Joe & Cindy, Rich & Linda, Brian, Joe and Dawn, and even Bryan K who showed up on his motorcycle. Lotsa gossip and good conversation before, amongst after the club biz. I would have liked to stick around, but the dogs were bothering me, so I left almost immediately after we finished.

 

Tonight is the gym, then laundry while I check out the Frost Hollow Rounders at Which Brew. I'll be getting back onto the bike probably this weekend.

This Old Factory

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 9.5% BF

 

We-he-hell, looks like it's SadlyNo!'s turn to whack a fish in the barrel out of the ballpark...

 

The cold has abated, and I may have been more stuffy than I realized, for longer than I realized, since my sense of smell now suddenly seems pretty acute -- I noticed it on the drive home last night. Of course, that's not such a great thing when your drive home is on a NJ interstate: all sorts of chemical smells, from Ortho-agribiz pesticides and fertilizers (corporate suburbia lawncare, I suppose) to diesel fumes and burning clutches, to ozone -- WTF? Also smelled good old excrement from the more traditionally fertilized farmlands...

 

Drycleaning last night, then I hit the gym. A good solid workout, and I felt much better than I did on Saturday. I was pretty tired, so after the gym came bedtime. Tonight is the Chain Gang meeting, and I may spin around town on the singlespeed for a bit afterward. 

 

 

Sketches From A Life

Morning weigh-in: 167.5#, 11.5% BF

 

Looks like Doghouse Riley hit another one out of the ballpark... though granted, the more apt simile there would be "like shooting fish in a barrel." Strangely enough, I read  George Kennan's memoirs, gave it to my dad as a Christmas gift once.

 

Speaking of Dad: Hey Dad, how about them Giants, eh?

 

Speaking of Giants: Caught the game, or at least the first thee quarters at Porters last night after yoga -- I'd finished dinner by the end of the third, and I sort of knew which way things were trending and lost interest...

 

Tonight is the gym.

Echinacea Daze Are Here Again

Morning weigh-in: 167.5#, 11.5% BF

 

Yesterday was pretty much a rest day, then later in the afternoon I took a walk at Dunnfield Creek. It was a little too late to go all the way to Sunfish Pond, so I just walked up the hill for an hour, then at the one-hour mark I turned around and came back down. I took some photos of the creek, some of which I may post in the next few days if they came out OK. Tonight is yoga, then I'll have dinner at Porters & catch the game.

 

Sicko: Sometimes in the dead of winter you might miss the warmer weather, conveniently forgetting about the bugs and humidity until summer is a reality again.... part of what's going on with me healthwise may be similar: my body does not like being too skinny, and my disease resistance drops with my weight. I remember being strong and fit, and really fast on the bike when I was 150 pounds, but I forgot about the twice-monthly sinus infections.

 

There is another possibility though, and I think Dawn nailed this one on Saturday. We haven't worked together since I went big with the legs, and on Saturday she's watching me lift, and cough, and blow my nose, and she started asking questions about how many times I do this exact workout per week. Bottom line is, she thinks I'm overdoing it, and told me that if I'm hitting the gym three times a week, then for one of those days I should skip the legs and go light, with alternate exercises, for the upper body. In other words, I was overtraining -- two symptoms of which are rapid weight loss and frequent colds.

 

Kind of a chicken-and-egg thing: back in the day my low weight may not have been the cause of my low resistance, but the low weight and low resistance may both have been caused by the hardcore training I was into. Well whatever, I'm doing now what I did  back then -- echinacea.

 

Femme Fatality: On this date in 1917, Mata Hari was executed by firing squad.

 

 

Hey Hey Paula

Morning weigh-in: 167#, 12% BF

Ran into someone last night I hadn't seen in a while: Paula, who used to date Joe. (She's also my doctor's granddaughter.) Saw her in Which Brew at the bar, yelled out "Hey Paula!" and watched her look around trying to figure out who called her name; she saw me looking but didn't recognize me until I put my hand over the bottom of my face, covering my beard...

"Oh my God, it's Don Kelly!"

She came over and said hi, we got to talking. Married now for a year and a half, she and her husband just relocated back to the Lehigh Valley from Philly. She asked about Joe; I said I'd been camping with him recently (the BASH) but we really no longer hang out. She agreed he could be difficult, talked about the end of their relationship and how he was two-timing her. Even now, I didn't have the heart to tell her she was "the other woman" the whole time... Always liked her, even though I thought she was way too young for Joe (also too good for him), glad to hear she's happy and doing well, though she looked a little strained.

Colonized: One thing I told Paula was that I might be visiting her grandfather soon; I have a pretty bad headcold right now, bordering on sinus infection. I was supposed to be riding the Covered Bridges Ride with a bunch of friends today, but decided to play it smart and get some rest. I just got up, and the ride is probably half over... I'll probably get some breakfast downtown, then go for a short hike maybe at Wind Gap or the Water Gap, catch at least some of the foliage -- it's a beautiful day out.

It Could Be Worse: I was thinking about Steve Gilliard this morning, and decided to see how his legacy was doing, and there I found this heartrending post. That artwork is what caught my eye, but it really took me once I read the story. I'll be keeping that one in mind come Thanksgiving.

Legion Of Decency, Death By Misadventure: Holy Roller preacher, Falwell protege found dead in his home, no foul play was suspected. The Smoking Gun has an excerpt from the autopsy report (don't click unless you're an adult). Another one bites the dust, I guess... My theory? They're all pervs.

Whappo

Morning weigh-in: 166.5#, 13% BF

 

Not much to say. Gym last night, and I really hit it hard; I was exhausted when I got home. Surprised and gratified with how the weights are increasing, especially the legs. Dinner was a plate of black beans.

 

Tonight I'm riding the towpath, probably on the singlespeed. I'd like to hit Which Brew for dinner, and I also wanted to see the Skulldiggers (at WB) and then maybe Post Junction at Pearly Baker's, but as of now I'm planning to meet Doug & Lori, and Eric & Kris, somewhere in Bethlehem for E-Rock's birthday. Hmmmm, Funhouse? I don't want the evening to be a late one though, since I want to do that early morning yoga class. Hooting with the owls vs soaring with the eagles, we'll see how it all works out.

Leaving The Rapids Behind

Morning weigh-in: 168#, 10.5% BF

 

Yoga, laundry & Which Brew last night; tonight is the gym, then bike maintenance. Life is flowing pretty smoothly once again, last of the recent interruptions to my perfect schedule are behind me -- for now.

This Very Wednesday, I Will Fly Towards Grace

Morning weigh-in: 168#, 11% BF

 

Well it looks like I managed to slow down the weight loss all right, careful what you wish for... Worked late last night, then hit the gym, did a full leg workout for the first time since the winter. I felt good, and strong, and the weights were almost my maximum from last off-season so I'm coming in at the top of my game.

 

Saw Violetta there, taking yoga or bellydancing or maybe that hip-hop jazzercise they have. She was in  a hurry but seemed healthy & in good spirits, good for her.

 

Dinner was a turkey sub from Steve's, then I blew off everything else and played with the computer, just like surfing, nothing too demanding. Tonight is yoga, then maybe some more laundry and some Which Brew.

 

Reading: Yeah, it's time for the tome... picked up Gravity's Rainbow again, probably haven't re-read it in more than a year -- but I still have it memorized.

 

"A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now.

It is too late. The evacuation proceeds, but it's all theatre..."

 

[whole bunch of other stuff here]

 

"Follow the bouncing ball:

 

There is a Hand to turn the time,

Though thy Glass today be run,

'Till the Light that hath brought the Towers low,

Find the last poor Pret'rite one...

'Till the Riders sleep by ev'ry road,

All through our crippl'd Zone,

With a face on ev'ry mountainside,

And a Soul in ev'ry stone...

 

Now everybody --"

 

A Souvenir I Left Behind

Hidden somewhere in the attic of my parents' old house (and I mean well-hidden), there is a jar like this, with an octopus pickled in formaldehyde. Maybe someday the new owners will find it.

(Image cribbed from LolCthulhu, which, like all things Lovecraftian, gets old pretty quickly but I like it.)