Didn't mean to leave for such a long time after the "big news". I wouldn't call it big news, unless you live under my roof. We're moving, I'd say it's pretty official at this point. There are still some things that could go belly up and call the whole deal off, but it is getting more likely we'll finish and be moving over the Christmas holiday break.
As if Christmas isn't stressful enough. It's not really the holiday that is stressful, I mean it is a little bit, but it's more being holed up with my wild ones for two weeks straight. I love them, but as any parent knows, a little bit goes a long ways when the kids are sugared up and over stimulated by all the toys. It can make for some interesting parental decisions.
Now if we couple that with a move, that oughta make for some big blowups. We'll make it through, and hopefully be glad we did it a few weeks into January.
My training has been going "ok". I went to Nashville and destroyed any semblance of a low-carb diet, and I'm struggling to fully get back on the plan. I'm doing better, but having the Fatty Trinity of T-Day, my birthday, and Xmas is going to try and bring me down. Plus I'm sure we'll be boozing it up to cope with all the packing and moving. I'll be excited to get back on the bike, as I haven't spun a bit since the Berryman trip.
Time keeps ploughing on by, and we're trying to watch as many movies as we can in the movie theater before we have to relinquish that. I think we'll all miss it quite a bit, but I am 99% sure we aren't going to build another one. I'll have to see how good of a cinematic environment I can build with an open floor plan. I guess it'll be a challenge, but we're a few years off of that. Mama says we gotta decorate the new house, so I can't get any more guitars or bikes next year. I guess that means I'll actually have to practice with the guitars I have, and ride my old bikes into the ground. Either that or get a second job for fun money.
Anyway, I'm rambling at this point since I don't have anything else earth shattering, which is fine with me. This move thing is more than enough.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Keeping on
That was a longer break than expected. Life has just been fairly busy, and seems to get busier as we approach the holidays.
So my MTB trip to Berryman was a hoot. It was great to reacquaint with some old friends and make some new ones as well. My legs were terrible throughout the trip though, as I just didn't have enough miles on them, in particular MTB miles. I didn't realize how different the muscle groups were. The good news is, the rest of me did well. Core strength and upper body strength were great and never got that tired. My heart rate was pretty low as well, so it was easy to see that my cycling muscles weren't where they needed to be. The trails were in ripping good shape, and it was a lot of fun. It surprised me how much of the trail I remembered, especially given that it's been probably around 18 years since I last rode the Berryman Trail.
My tent decided to leak during a mild rain the first night, so I pitched it in the trash on the way out of camp. It served it's purpose, but it was a cheap walmart tent we had to buy in a pinch. Now I need another small tent. We have a huge tent, and that's good for the family and/or when it's hot. But when it's cold, you want a small tent so you don't have to warm up so much air space with your body heat/respiration.
Working out has been going pretty well. I'm making some good strides in the strength department, although going from weak to average isn't really inspirational. All in good time I suppose. I'm down to about 193 pounds, and 16.9% body fat as of last Monday. I haven't ate that great the last day or two, so I'm not expecting any sort of fat droppage this week.
One of my least favorite workouts are Single-leg RDLs. I had to look up what that meant...Romanian Dead Lifts. They aren't that hard, but my hamstrings are on fire for 3-4 days after doing them. I guess I need to do them more. I hate them so much.
I'm afraid I haven't been riding at all, which stinks, especially as winter is fast approaching. I need to get back on it!
There's some other news in our lives, but we'll see what happens with that. I won't say more until things are more concrete.
No, we're not pregnant. Jeesh.
So my MTB trip to Berryman was a hoot. It was great to reacquaint with some old friends and make some new ones as well. My legs were terrible throughout the trip though, as I just didn't have enough miles on them, in particular MTB miles. I didn't realize how different the muscle groups were. The good news is, the rest of me did well. Core strength and upper body strength were great and never got that tired. My heart rate was pretty low as well, so it was easy to see that my cycling muscles weren't where they needed to be. The trails were in ripping good shape, and it was a lot of fun. It surprised me how much of the trail I remembered, especially given that it's been probably around 18 years since I last rode the Berryman Trail.
My tent decided to leak during a mild rain the first night, so I pitched it in the trash on the way out of camp. It served it's purpose, but it was a cheap walmart tent we had to buy in a pinch. Now I need another small tent. We have a huge tent, and that's good for the family and/or when it's hot. But when it's cold, you want a small tent so you don't have to warm up so much air space with your body heat/respiration.
Working out has been going pretty well. I'm making some good strides in the strength department, although going from weak to average isn't really inspirational. All in good time I suppose. I'm down to about 193 pounds, and 16.9% body fat as of last Monday. I haven't ate that great the last day or two, so I'm not expecting any sort of fat droppage this week.
One of my least favorite workouts are Single-leg RDLs. I had to look up what that meant...Romanian Dead Lifts. They aren't that hard, but my hamstrings are on fire for 3-4 days after doing them. I guess I need to do them more. I hate them so much.
I'm afraid I haven't been riding at all, which stinks, especially as winter is fast approaching. I need to get back on it!
There's some other news in our lives, but we'll see what happens with that. I won't say more until things are more concrete.
No, we're not pregnant. Jeesh.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Fat Bomb
That's what I'm trying to make right now for fuel while I'm riding. Here's the recipe: http://www.grassfedgirl.com/coconut-and-cinnamon-keto-fat-bombs-low-carb-paleo-dairy-free-gluten-free-sugar-free
It sure smells good, if nothing else. I still have a good bit to pack, and I'm a little wound up about it. I feel like everything is so important. It's not like I can run around the corner to Target and get more batteries on this trip.
I met with Matt (my trainer) today, and I've lost another 0.9% body fat, bringing me down to 17.8% I think. I've lost 2.75 inches off my waist and put on 3 pounds of muscle since I've started. Melting some fat off is pretty cool, but putting muscle on is even cooler, especially given how little I've been lifting (2x a week). I probably will start stalling out a bit once I get to around 15% body fat, then we'll have to change some things around. So far, so good!
I better get to bed so I can get up early (yuck) and finish packing, get the boys to school, and hit the road. Talk at you all in a few days.
It sure smells good, if nothing else. I still have a good bit to pack, and I'm a little wound up about it. I feel like everything is so important. It's not like I can run around the corner to Target and get more batteries on this trip.
I met with Matt (my trainer) today, and I've lost another 0.9% body fat, bringing me down to 17.8% I think. I've lost 2.75 inches off my waist and put on 3 pounds of muscle since I've started. Melting some fat off is pretty cool, but putting muscle on is even cooler, especially given how little I've been lifting (2x a week). I probably will start stalling out a bit once I get to around 15% body fat, then we'll have to change some things around. So far, so good!
I better get to bed so I can get up early (yuck) and finish packing, get the boys to school, and hit the road. Talk at you all in a few days.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Ramble on
198.8. That's what the scale said. I'm pretty excited (as excited as I get), but know I'm still roughly half way to my goal.
Tomorrow is my nutritional counseling. I ate a freaking panini tonight, so that isn't very good for the low-carb thing. I bet dollars to donuts my love-handles will measure high because of that. Mmmm...donuts.
Really what I'm interested it is getting my measurements right before and right after I go mountain biking in the Ozarks this weekend. I bet I'll easily blow 10k calories this weekend riding, so that should be interesting to see what happens. Nutrition is going to be a challenge because I can't just keep shoving powerbars and gu-shots down my pie-hole. We'll see what my trainer has to say about that tomorrow. He's big on coconut oil for energy, but I'm not sure how I'm going to roll around sipping coconut oil every 30 minutes. I can't imagine what that will do to my GI, besides encourage further weight loss.
That's it for now. Maybe I'll post up before the trip, but we all know me, so probably not. I'll have a massive post after I get back though.
Ride on.
Tomorrow is my nutritional counseling. I ate a freaking panini tonight, so that isn't very good for the low-carb thing. I bet dollars to donuts my love-handles will measure high because of that. Mmmm...donuts.
Really what I'm interested it is getting my measurements right before and right after I go mountain biking in the Ozarks this weekend. I bet I'll easily blow 10k calories this weekend riding, so that should be interesting to see what happens. Nutrition is going to be a challenge because I can't just keep shoving powerbars and gu-shots down my pie-hole. We'll see what my trainer has to say about that tomorrow. He's big on coconut oil for energy, but I'm not sure how I'm going to roll around sipping coconut oil every 30 minutes. I can't imagine what that will do to my GI, besides encourage further weight loss.
That's it for now. Maybe I'll post up before the trip, but we all know me, so probably not. I'll have a massive post after I get back though.
Ride on.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
late September already?
Time is flying by. May and September tend to be overwhelming in our house with the end and beginning of the school year, plus sports are going crazy too. I think we have a few more weeks of crazy, then a few weeks off, then the holidays are here. It's easy to groan about how busy one can be, but that is what life should be like in some regards. The busy stuff is life. It's the choices we make, and we can either embrace and enjoy or not. It's easier to embrace and enjoy though when you have a free day every now and then.
AB had a hard soccer practice yesterday afternoon, then an hour off, then a baseball game. He played hard at the game, but you could tell he was dragging a bit. I had to wake him up today, which never happens. We didn't get home last night until 10:30 because he had to eat a 2nd dinner.
Workouts have been going pretty well. We fried my hamstrings on Saturday, and while they are a lot better today, they still are a bit sore. I'm going out for a lunch ride to get some miles in before I go camping/riding next weekend at Berryman. I'm pretty excited for that, even though it will probably destroy me since I haven't ridden on a trail all year. I'll love it though, that place always brings back the memories.
I'm down to 18.7% body fat, so I've lost about 6.5% so far. I'd like to get down to 10%, and maybe do some more races next year. We'll see. Racing isn't very conducive to our nearly over-committed household, but I'd love to do some MTB racing and maybe go back to the Tour of Lawrence again. That was a fun crit and a great environment for the spectators. I'm not looking forward to renewing my USAC license though since I'm not a big believer in that organization, but that's a different story for another time.
That's it for now.
AB had a hard soccer practice yesterday afternoon, then an hour off, then a baseball game. He played hard at the game, but you could tell he was dragging a bit. I had to wake him up today, which never happens. We didn't get home last night until 10:30 because he had to eat a 2nd dinner.
Workouts have been going pretty well. We fried my hamstrings on Saturday, and while they are a lot better today, they still are a bit sore. I'm going out for a lunch ride to get some miles in before I go camping/riding next weekend at Berryman. I'm pretty excited for that, even though it will probably destroy me since I haven't ridden on a trail all year. I'll love it though, that place always brings back the memories.
I'm down to 18.7% body fat, so I've lost about 6.5% so far. I'd like to get down to 10%, and maybe do some more races next year. We'll see. Racing isn't very conducive to our nearly over-committed household, but I'd love to do some MTB racing and maybe go back to the Tour of Lawrence again. That was a fun crit and a great environment for the spectators. I'm not looking forward to renewing my USAC license though since I'm not a big believer in that organization, but that's a different story for another time.
That's it for now.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Politics, barely better than brussel sprouts.
With the debate occurring recently, I thought I'd take my voting quiz again. Here's how it turned out:
And I thought I was more Republican than Democrat. It's all those environmental issues that skew me towards the Dems, I tell ya! It sure isn't a minimum wage of $15 an hour.
Ok, enough of that political crap. The country isn't going to get better with any of those yahoos in the oval office. I think the best days of this country are behind us, honestly. It'll be a long, slow fade before anyone says the US is completely defunct, but it sure seems like we're heading that way quicker than we are heading towards a renaissance. I guess it's natural to have a gov't to have a limited lifecycle, but it's tough to swallow when we have it beaten in our young heads that this is the greatest country in the world. History is written by the victors, I suppose.
All we can do is try to help each other out and remember that we are ALL on this rock floating through space. We have more commonalities than differences. We all want to be happy. Even Republicans.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Soccer, more training and a birthday too!
AB had a soccer tournament this weekend up in Des Moines, so the family enjoyed Iowa for a few days. By enjoyed, I mean breathed air. Not much enjoyment up there. The tourney went good, his team squashed the first 3 teams they played, but then luck would have it, they had to play AB's old team and lost a tough match. AB still had a lot of fun, and so it's a win.
Kieran turned 7 on Saturday, and being the trooper he is, still managed to have a blast even enduring multiple soccer games. His "big" present tonight is his own hamster, so we'll have to head up to the hamster farm and pick out a good one. He got a really cool shirt too, I'll have to get the pics from Penny and post them up.
Training and eating are going well, despite having to eat out all weekend. I lost another 0.9% body fat with no lean mass reduction, which is awesome. Just gotta keep on keeping on. And eating protein.
That's it for now. Enjoy the weather!
Kieran turned 7 on Saturday, and being the trooper he is, still managed to have a blast even enduring multiple soccer games. His "big" present tonight is his own hamster, so we'll have to head up to the hamster farm and pick out a good one. He got a really cool shirt too, I'll have to get the pics from Penny and post them up.
Training and eating are going well, despite having to eat out all weekend. I lost another 0.9% body fat with no lean mass reduction, which is awesome. Just gotta keep on keeping on. And eating protein.
That's it for now. Enjoy the weather!
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Training update
I just entered week 4 for my training. High protein, low carbs are the name of the game for now. I'm enjoying learning a lot about how my body does (not) process carbs, and how we are going to re-train it to be more efficient.
I started at 23.7% body fat, and am currently down to 20%. By my math, I've lost 10.5 pounds of body fat, which is almost one and a quarter gallon milk jugs full of adipose tissue. Gross. Penny wasn't pleased at that analogy either, but it's certainly encouraging!
I can see a lot of muscle developing on my upper body, but there is a long way to go. I'd like to get close to 10% body fat and see how things are going then. I should weigh around 177 pounds at that point, plus whatever additional muscle I put on.
I'm excited, and I have to remind myself this is a marathon, not a sprint, and to not get upset if the progress slows down too much. It still is fun, and I can't wait to see the scales hit 1xx before too long, hopefully next week!
That's it for now, life is busy and the sports are going full swing now!
I started at 23.7% body fat, and am currently down to 20%. By my math, I've lost 10.5 pounds of body fat, which is almost one and a quarter gallon milk jugs full of adipose tissue. Gross. Penny wasn't pleased at that analogy either, but it's certainly encouraging!
I can see a lot of muscle developing on my upper body, but there is a long way to go. I'd like to get close to 10% body fat and see how things are going then. I should weigh around 177 pounds at that point, plus whatever additional muscle I put on.
I'm excited, and I have to remind myself this is a marathon, not a sprint, and to not get upset if the progress slows down too much. It still is fun, and I can't wait to see the scales hit 1xx before too long, hopefully next week!
That's it for now, life is busy and the sports are going full swing now!
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Look at this guy!
Tooth #1 is audios! Thanks to Mrs. Clark down the street (our resident Kindergarten teacher/tooth yanker), Kieran has now lost his first tooth. Pretty cool!
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Hope you weren't holding your breath
I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted. There's been a lot going on, and I hate to put it all down at once. Plus the lasagna is in the oven warming up, and it'll be burnt to a crisp by then.
So we went to North Carolina with my in-law's and my MIL's extended family. That was a lot of fun, but we didn't see any sharks though. That would have been pretty exciting. I bet there was one within 100' of me though. I could write a whole blog about that trip, but we gotta keep moving here, plus I don't remember all the details. Neuroplasticity is down these days.
I started working out (again) but this time I double whammied it by laying off alcohol and sweets. Since July 13th when we got back, I've lost 7.8 pounds. That puts me at 206.8 today. Not bad! Another 3 or 4 weeks and I hopefully will be under two bills. I've been running and riding mostly, not tons, but enough to keep my legs guessing. I rode really hard last night at the Spin Pizza ride, and did way better than I did last time out. I still wasn't quite in the lead group, but I don't think I'm far off. Hitting the lights certainly exacerbates the fact you're 10 seconds behind. I'm still way slower than I used to be, but it's getting better. I'll probably be in shape for cross season, but I don't have much interest in doing that. Maybe I should though.
Back when I was racing, I moved up to a Cat 3 racer, which is usually where most people fall. Most people should only be a cat 4 for a maximum of 10 races, and I did that and was doing ok. So if I went back now, I'd have to race as a 3. You can't go back to beginner level even if you put on 30 pounds and haven't hopped a barrier in half a decade. So even if I get back into race shape physically, my mind isn't quite there. Plus I don't think my old team wants me wearing 4 year old kits. ;-)
I began the process of using a physical trainer. I say that because we haven't really started, but I probably will in the next couple of weeks. He's good with nutrition and hormones as well, and I like that multi-faceted approach. Based upon my fat distribution, he said I am most likely carb intolerant, which means carbs go straight to fat. That wasn't entirely surprising, but it was entirely depressing. I gotta dodge bread bread from here on out, which really puts a damper on my sandwich consumption.
I got my blood work done as well, and it looks nearly perfect, which is good. He said my vitamin D is low, and my monocytes are elevated which could be due to what I'm eating. We haven't had a lot of discussion time, but I think that the more I know about how my body processes what I intake, the better off I'll be. When I raced, I really didn't change my diet. If I start eating healthy and am in good riding shape, I wonder...
The boys are going back to school in like a week. I'll be glad to get them out of the house when I'm working, but it is fun to be able to start a wrestling match after a rough conference call. Boys will be boys. K has grown his hair out, and it looks terrific. Much better than when I used to shave it. AB is even trying to style his hair now. So much for saving $$ by shaving their heads, but I'd rather them look good and be happy (not that they were miserable).
AB has also been playing Destiny on the xbox like crazy. It's led to some heated exchanges between him and the parents when it came time to unplug. I guess he's just like me, which I apologize for that! Destiny has been making me stay up late as well. If AB would let me play during the day, then I wouldn't need to stay up so late. Mmmhmm.
I got an iPhone, and I mostly like it. The actual phone part is terrible compared to an Android, but most of the other experience is pretty good. I'm not sure if I'll get another iPhone though when it comes to it. I do like the fingerprint scanner on the phone. That's pretty sweet.
That's it for now. I'm starving, and I gotta check the lasagna.
So we went to North Carolina with my in-law's and my MIL's extended family. That was a lot of fun, but we didn't see any sharks though. That would have been pretty exciting. I bet there was one within 100' of me though. I could write a whole blog about that trip, but we gotta keep moving here, plus I don't remember all the details. Neuroplasticity is down these days.
I started working out (again) but this time I double whammied it by laying off alcohol and sweets. Since July 13th when we got back, I've lost 7.8 pounds. That puts me at 206.8 today. Not bad! Another 3 or 4 weeks and I hopefully will be under two bills. I've been running and riding mostly, not tons, but enough to keep my legs guessing. I rode really hard last night at the Spin Pizza ride, and did way better than I did last time out. I still wasn't quite in the lead group, but I don't think I'm far off. Hitting the lights certainly exacerbates the fact you're 10 seconds behind. I'm still way slower than I used to be, but it's getting better. I'll probably be in shape for cross season, but I don't have much interest in doing that. Maybe I should though.
Back when I was racing, I moved up to a Cat 3 racer, which is usually where most people fall. Most people should only be a cat 4 for a maximum of 10 races, and I did that and was doing ok. So if I went back now, I'd have to race as a 3. You can't go back to beginner level even if you put on 30 pounds and haven't hopped a barrier in half a decade. So even if I get back into race shape physically, my mind isn't quite there. Plus I don't think my old team wants me wearing 4 year old kits. ;-)
I began the process of using a physical trainer. I say that because we haven't really started, but I probably will in the next couple of weeks. He's good with nutrition and hormones as well, and I like that multi-faceted approach. Based upon my fat distribution, he said I am most likely carb intolerant, which means carbs go straight to fat. That wasn't entirely surprising, but it was entirely depressing. I gotta dodge bread bread from here on out, which really puts a damper on my sandwich consumption.
I got my blood work done as well, and it looks nearly perfect, which is good. He said my vitamin D is low, and my monocytes are elevated which could be due to what I'm eating. We haven't had a lot of discussion time, but I think that the more I know about how my body processes what I intake, the better off I'll be. When I raced, I really didn't change my diet. If I start eating healthy and am in good riding shape, I wonder...
The boys are going back to school in like a week. I'll be glad to get them out of the house when I'm working, but it is fun to be able to start a wrestling match after a rough conference call. Boys will be boys. K has grown his hair out, and it looks terrific. Much better than when I used to shave it. AB is even trying to style his hair now. So much for saving $$ by shaving their heads, but I'd rather them look good and be happy (not that they were miserable).
AB has also been playing Destiny on the xbox like crazy. It's led to some heated exchanges between him and the parents when it came time to unplug. I guess he's just like me, which I apologize for that! Destiny has been making me stay up late as well. If AB would let me play during the day, then I wouldn't need to stay up so late. Mmmhmm.
I got an iPhone, and I mostly like it. The actual phone part is terrible compared to an Android, but most of the other experience is pretty good. I'm not sure if I'll get another iPhone though when it comes to it. I do like the fingerprint scanner on the phone. That's pretty sweet.
That's it for now. I'm starving, and I gotta check the lasagna.
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Glenda Taylor
I'm going to try and remember the post I came up with 8 miles ago on my ride.
On June 7th, Glenda Taylor, an art professor from Washburn was killed while preparing for the KS State Championship Time Trial. I never met her, but I bet our paths crossed at some point during my racing days. I'd like to think I smiled at her if our eyes met, everything I've read about her tells me that she had a good aura. She was selfless, often taking younger female racers under her wing. Lots of the people I'm friends with from my racing days were shell shocked to hear of her passing.
Far too often I come across a news story about a racer getting hit and killed. Steve Tilford (who has an excellent blog), has hypothesized that there are just more people these days. More cyclists and more drivers. Cyclists sometimes ride like jerks, and sometimes drivers drive like jerks too. I hope I haven't been a jerk with either activity, but it happens.
Actually now I remember an incident a long time ago when I was leaving UMKC, and the weather was snowy. I think I was trying to pull out onto Rockhill in my car when a commuter was coming down the hill on the sidewalk. I had inadvertently pulled out in his way so I could see the traffic, but obviously caused a bit of panic for him. He flipped me off and went on his way. I wasn't totally in the wrong, but the thought running through my head was that "hey, I'm one of you". I wasn't some asshole driver, but I guess that time I was.
I was totally paying attention in that moment, but still about took this poor dude out. I could have hurt him bad, but I'm not sure if I could have done anything better. On the other hand, Glenda was killed by someone who may have been distracted. He was charged with 2nd degree murder, among other things. Some of my cycling friends feel a bit vindicated with the severity of that charge. Often cyclists are killed and the driver gets a plead down to a misdemeanor or involuntary manslaughter. I can appreciate the fact that some feel vindicated. On the other hand, it's not easy for the driver either. Maybe he was checking his texts, or messing with the stereo, or spacing out. But now he is going to jail, maybe for a long time. Think of the ripple effect of his poor choice of not being focused whilst driving. 5 seconds of distraction.
Cars are getting away from the driving experience and being more about being entertained. Taking the driver out of the equation. I think that is a terrible mistake, but probably necessary to get us to the point where people no longer drive cars. Until cars can drive themselves, and safely, this kind of thing is going to continue to happen. Especially with Facebook, Twitter, etc and the connectedness of things. Social media is going to be the death of humanity. Connecting through a computer is disconnecting us spiritually. And I don't mean God type spirituality, I'm talking about the bonds of humanity.
The bonds of humanity are what will keep us on this rock. Selflessness, which is the highest form of existence, doesn't come from us burying our noses in our phones and iPads. I see drivers driving around on 70 degree days with their windows up and a/c presumably on. We cushion ourselves from living. We let other people climb mountains on "reality" TV while we sit on the couch and numb our minds and souls. I think I've said it before, but no one is going to give a crap at the end of your days if you watched 50,000 hours of TV. People that will be missed are those who seek out life, who reach out to people and touch their souls. The more we separate ourselves from living this life, the more we subscribe to the "me vs. them". There isn't a "them". It's an "us".
We all are on this rock together. We all want to be happy, to live our lives with some control over the outcome. What is better, an individual looking out for themselves or that same individual living for everyone else and everyone else living for each other?
Regardless of your spiritual belief, most major religions recognize that Jesus was a human in perfect form. He embodied selflessness, and tried to teach others that the path to salvation is by forgetting yourself. Whether you are a Christian or Jew or Muslim or an Atheist, I think if we tried to live a little more selflessly, the world would seem a little more livable.
Sorry for the rambling post, but I had a lot on my mind. Now get off your device and do something.
On June 7th, Glenda Taylor, an art professor from Washburn was killed while preparing for the KS State Championship Time Trial. I never met her, but I bet our paths crossed at some point during my racing days. I'd like to think I smiled at her if our eyes met, everything I've read about her tells me that she had a good aura. She was selfless, often taking younger female racers under her wing. Lots of the people I'm friends with from my racing days were shell shocked to hear of her passing.
Far too often I come across a news story about a racer getting hit and killed. Steve Tilford (who has an excellent blog), has hypothesized that there are just more people these days. More cyclists and more drivers. Cyclists sometimes ride like jerks, and sometimes drivers drive like jerks too. I hope I haven't been a jerk with either activity, but it happens.
Actually now I remember an incident a long time ago when I was leaving UMKC, and the weather was snowy. I think I was trying to pull out onto Rockhill in my car when a commuter was coming down the hill on the sidewalk. I had inadvertently pulled out in his way so I could see the traffic, but obviously caused a bit of panic for him. He flipped me off and went on his way. I wasn't totally in the wrong, but the thought running through my head was that "hey, I'm one of you". I wasn't some asshole driver, but I guess that time I was.
I was totally paying attention in that moment, but still about took this poor dude out. I could have hurt him bad, but I'm not sure if I could have done anything better. On the other hand, Glenda was killed by someone who may have been distracted. He was charged with 2nd degree murder, among other things. Some of my cycling friends feel a bit vindicated with the severity of that charge. Often cyclists are killed and the driver gets a plead down to a misdemeanor or involuntary manslaughter. I can appreciate the fact that some feel vindicated. On the other hand, it's not easy for the driver either. Maybe he was checking his texts, or messing with the stereo, or spacing out. But now he is going to jail, maybe for a long time. Think of the ripple effect of his poor choice of not being focused whilst driving. 5 seconds of distraction.
Cars are getting away from the driving experience and being more about being entertained. Taking the driver out of the equation. I think that is a terrible mistake, but probably necessary to get us to the point where people no longer drive cars. Until cars can drive themselves, and safely, this kind of thing is going to continue to happen. Especially with Facebook, Twitter, etc and the connectedness of things. Social media is going to be the death of humanity. Connecting through a computer is disconnecting us spiritually. And I don't mean God type spirituality, I'm talking about the bonds of humanity.
The bonds of humanity are what will keep us on this rock. Selflessness, which is the highest form of existence, doesn't come from us burying our noses in our phones and iPads. I see drivers driving around on 70 degree days with their windows up and a/c presumably on. We cushion ourselves from living. We let other people climb mountains on "reality" TV while we sit on the couch and numb our minds and souls. I think I've said it before, but no one is going to give a crap at the end of your days if you watched 50,000 hours of TV. People that will be missed are those who seek out life, who reach out to people and touch their souls. The more we separate ourselves from living this life, the more we subscribe to the "me vs. them". There isn't a "them". It's an "us".
We all are on this rock together. We all want to be happy, to live our lives with some control over the outcome. What is better, an individual looking out for themselves or that same individual living for everyone else and everyone else living for each other?
Regardless of your spiritual belief, most major religions recognize that Jesus was a human in perfect form. He embodied selflessness, and tried to teach others that the path to salvation is by forgetting yourself. Whether you are a Christian or Jew or Muslim or an Atheist, I think if we tried to live a little more selflessly, the world would seem a little more livable.
Sorry for the rambling post, but I had a lot on my mind. Now get off your device and do something.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
And now it's hot.
I knew that would happen. We get all that rain, and it's nice and cool, and then BAM, it's 90 and humid. I don't feel smug/proud/informed about predicting that. I'd much rather be wrong.
My workout schedule has been pathetic. I got swamped at work for a couple of weeks, and then have had a tough time jumping back on the horse. I'd love to blame the weather, but I just haven't been feeling it. This is why I should be keeping track of this stuff and blogging about it. I guess that gives me an outlet.
I did get to go for a ride last weekend, and thought I was going to die. Not really die, but I had to pull over a few times to cool off in the shade because it was so flipping hot. My heart rate hit 195bpm, which is pretty high for an old gipper like me. I don't know what a gipper is, but I think it sounds ok to my coffee starved brain. I rode crazy slow, but I sure wasn't going to push it, especially since my new route these days has a bit of climbing on it (about 1100 ft over 19 miles).
I think I may try and ride to work tomorrow. That really gets my metabolism up, and I could use some of that. I did weigh in at 208.4 today, which is good, but I was hoping to be quite a bit lower by now. I suppose the inactivity had something to do with that?
AB had soccer tryouts last week, and they went pretty well. We decided to go with a new club this year, which was kind of tough, but I think it'll work out better in the end. We'll miss some of the new friends/families we got to know last year, but I have a feeling we'll see them this Fall.
AB has been rocking it at baseball too. He's been playing spectacularly at catcher, throwing all kinds of poor fools out trying to steal. I think he really enjoys that and we all love watching him do it. He also had a great night pitching a few days ago. He pitched 3 innings, faced 11 batters, and had 7 K's, no BBs, and no earned runs. He also had a nice snag on a line drive hit to him at 3rd to end the game. Despite being so good at baseball and soccer, he still says basketball is his favorite sport. I guess it's a lot more fun to practice basketball. I dunno. That kid is a tough one to figure out.
K has been having lots of fun this summer too. He's made some good friends and continues to really grow up. We're trying to catch him up on his academics this summer too, as he wasn't able to get as much out of Kindergarten since we were dealing with his spirited-ness so much last year. I will say his teacher was amazing, and even met with us this summer so that K could meet her dog out at SMP. K earned that "treat" over the last week of school by staying out of the dreaded "reds" on his behavior chart. When he puts his mind to it, he really can accomplish some great things. He certainly makes me proud.
Well, I think I've run the gamut on this post. Weather, riding, sports, kids. Until next time.
My workout schedule has been pathetic. I got swamped at work for a couple of weeks, and then have had a tough time jumping back on the horse. I'd love to blame the weather, but I just haven't been feeling it. This is why I should be keeping track of this stuff and blogging about it. I guess that gives me an outlet.
I did get to go for a ride last weekend, and thought I was going to die. Not really die, but I had to pull over a few times to cool off in the shade because it was so flipping hot. My heart rate hit 195bpm, which is pretty high for an old gipper like me. I don't know what a gipper is, but I think it sounds ok to my coffee starved brain. I rode crazy slow, but I sure wasn't going to push it, especially since my new route these days has a bit of climbing on it (about 1100 ft over 19 miles).
I think I may try and ride to work tomorrow. That really gets my metabolism up, and I could use some of that. I did weigh in at 208.4 today, which is good, but I was hoping to be quite a bit lower by now. I suppose the inactivity had something to do with that?
AB had soccer tryouts last week, and they went pretty well. We decided to go with a new club this year, which was kind of tough, but I think it'll work out better in the end. We'll miss some of the new friends/families we got to know last year, but I have a feeling we'll see them this Fall.
AB has been rocking it at baseball too. He's been playing spectacularly at catcher, throwing all kinds of poor fools out trying to steal. I think he really enjoys that and we all love watching him do it. He also had a great night pitching a few days ago. He pitched 3 innings, faced 11 batters, and had 7 K's, no BBs, and no earned runs. He also had a nice snag on a line drive hit to him at 3rd to end the game. Despite being so good at baseball and soccer, he still says basketball is his favorite sport. I guess it's a lot more fun to practice basketball. I dunno. That kid is a tough one to figure out.
K has been having lots of fun this summer too. He's made some good friends and continues to really grow up. We're trying to catch him up on his academics this summer too, as he wasn't able to get as much out of Kindergarten since we were dealing with his spirited-ness so much last year. I will say his teacher was amazing, and even met with us this summer so that K could meet her dog out at SMP. K earned that "treat" over the last week of school by staying out of the dreaded "reds" on his behavior chart. When he puts his mind to it, he really can accomplish some great things. He certainly makes me proud.
Well, I think I've run the gamut on this post. Weather, riding, sports, kids. Until next time.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Erratic post behavior
Last Wednesday I weighed in at 210.0 on the dot. I wasn't super happy, but at least it was down and not up. Tonight is breakfast for dinner since Penny is out of town, and hopefully I'll be mindful and not mow down too much since tomorrow is weigh-in-Wednesday.
I've been terrible about working out. Either it's been raining, I've been lazy, or I've been busy. I ran yesterday for a short stint, and wanted to run again today but work has me by the sensitive bits right now. It'll be over soon. I keep telling myself that.
I thought since I didn't really have any super important stuff to say I'd post up a quote I'm rather fond of. It is from Teddy Roosevelt, and it is a brief quote out of a speech he delivered in Paris, France, just over 115 years ago. The entire speech is here (PDF). What strikes me about reading through the speech is how far the quality of our speech has fallen. I cannot not possibly fathom a President using such beautiful verbiage today. I guess the speech writer's are trying to cater to the lowest common denominator these days. Seems to be an American trend...anyway before I get started on that, here's the quote. I hope you enjoy it.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
I've been terrible about working out. Either it's been raining, I've been lazy, or I've been busy. I ran yesterday for a short stint, and wanted to run again today but work has me by the sensitive bits right now. It'll be over soon. I keep telling myself that.
I thought since I didn't really have any super important stuff to say I'd post up a quote I'm rather fond of. It is from Teddy Roosevelt, and it is a brief quote out of a speech he delivered in Paris, France, just over 115 years ago. The entire speech is here (PDF). What strikes me about reading through the speech is how far the quality of our speech has fallen. I cannot not possibly fathom a President using such beautiful verbiage today. I guess the speech writer's are trying to cater to the lowest common denominator these days. Seems to be an American trend...anyway before I get started on that, here's the quote. I hope you enjoy it.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Actually, if I look at that closer, that's one helluva run-on sentence. For shame!
Friday, May 1, 2015
Kieran pics
I had a few pics of the big cheese in my life from when we went to the Museum of Natural History at Prairiefire, and also from his kindergarten musical. I thought I'd share them out to the family...
Time flitting by
Weigh-in Wednesday revealed a 210.2 to me. That's pretty good. It's not massive, but it's a trend, and I like weight-loss trends.
I haven't been very good about working out this week. My legs have been pretty sore for some reason, but I'll get some mileage in this weekend. I had a nice lunch ride on Tuesday, and decided to do my hill climbing route for some stupid reason. Within the first 10 minutes of the ride I was tasting the blood from burst capillaries in my lungs. I guess competitive cycling does give you the ability to push pretty hard, sometimes I forget how far off back I fell off the wagon.
Ah well, I'm still young-ish enough. At least I feel that way. I wonder why that is. I'm not *that* active, but I still love running around with the kids like I'm 16. Probably a little slower and jigglier than 16, but you get the idea. Maybe I just refuse to get old.
I hope to die "with my boots on" and with a completely broken-down, worn out body. That might be optimistic, but I think it's something to shoot for.
That's it for now. I gotta get back to the real world for a bit.
I haven't been very good about working out this week. My legs have been pretty sore for some reason, but I'll get some mileage in this weekend. I had a nice lunch ride on Tuesday, and decided to do my hill climbing route for some stupid reason. Within the first 10 minutes of the ride I was tasting the blood from burst capillaries in my lungs. I guess competitive cycling does give you the ability to push pretty hard, sometimes I forget how far off back I fell off the wagon.
Ah well, I'm still young-ish enough. At least I feel that way. I wonder why that is. I'm not *that* active, but I still love running around with the kids like I'm 16. Probably a little slower and jigglier than 16, but you get the idea. Maybe I just refuse to get old.
I hope to die "with my boots on" and with a completely broken-down, worn out body. That might be optimistic, but I think it's something to shoot for.
That's it for now. I gotta get back to the real world for a bit.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Run like a couch potato
I've been running a bit lately. My cycling mileage has been atrocious, but at least it hasn't been zero. So in the meantime I've been running. I was going out the other night while it was nearly dark, and one of the neighbor kids harassed me asking me why I'm going out for a run in the dark. I responded "so people can't see me walk."
Running is an acquired taste. I've grown to like it to some degree, but it always seems that once I start getting in to the groove I fall off the wagon. There's probably some weird psychology at play there.
Anyway (sip coffee), I've been trying to run every other night, and haven't been going very far but when I do run, I get after it. I've been rulking about 2 miles, with about 60% of that walking, 40% running. I'm transitioning that over to 100% running, but it's slow. I bet it'll pick up in a week or two once I get those little muscles back in shape that always hurt so bad after the first few runs.
Good news is that I was at 211.8 today, and that's with 2 cups of coffee. Let's see if next week bears the same trend.
I'm going to try and get out for a lunch ride today, although my lunch route has been broke due to road construction a ways down Mission road. 6 months! There will probably be delays, so it'll finish up just in time for winter. I don't even want to think about winter rides right now. I'm not happy as it is with the temp only hitting upper 50's today.
Not much else going on in life. AB had a game out at Swope (my first experience) and that was a nice place, although I remember reading that one of council people swindled the money from sewer improvements to build that place. Sure Swope will be a revenue generator, but you gotta take care of your tax base, which isn't all the JoCo teams that play there.
K has been having some great days at school, and he earned a trip to the ice cream store with his Kindergarten teacher. That's pretty cool. I don't remember by Kindergarten teacher, except that I farted when my parents and I had our initial meeting with her. Must have been quite a fart for me to remember it 32 years later.
Running is an acquired taste. I've grown to like it to some degree, but it always seems that once I start getting in to the groove I fall off the wagon. There's probably some weird psychology at play there.
Anyway (sip coffee), I've been trying to run every other night, and haven't been going very far but when I do run, I get after it. I've been rulking about 2 miles, with about 60% of that walking, 40% running. I'm transitioning that over to 100% running, but it's slow. I bet it'll pick up in a week or two once I get those little muscles back in shape that always hurt so bad after the first few runs.
Good news is that I was at 211.8 today, and that's with 2 cups of coffee. Let's see if next week bears the same trend.
I'm going to try and get out for a lunch ride today, although my lunch route has been broke due to road construction a ways down Mission road. 6 months! There will probably be delays, so it'll finish up just in time for winter. I don't even want to think about winter rides right now. I'm not happy as it is with the temp only hitting upper 50's today.
Not much else going on in life. AB had a game out at Swope (my first experience) and that was a nice place, although I remember reading that one of council people swindled the money from sewer improvements to build that place. Sure Swope will be a revenue generator, but you gotta take care of your tax base, which isn't all the JoCo teams that play there.
K has been having some great days at school, and he earned a trip to the ice cream store with his Kindergarten teacher. That's pretty cool. I don't remember by Kindergarten teacher, except that I farted when my parents and I had our initial meeting with her. Must have been quite a fart for me to remember it 32 years later.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Tulsa Cup
I figure I should make a post about the kids from time to time, I know that's what gets me the hit count on the site.
Actually not, but I took some pics from this weekend and wanted to post them up.
Short story short, AB had a soccer/futbol tourney in Tulsa, and his team took home the championship. It was pretty cool to go out of town and go to town on the in town teams. Yea, you might have to read that twice, but it's worth it.
They outscored their opponents 25-1 in 4 games, even though I believe it was their first time playing 8v8. Go soccer! These are generally bad pics, but lesson learned don't bring the point and shoot to athletic events. A DSLR with manual zoom is WAY better.
Actually not, but I took some pics from this weekend and wanted to post them up.
Short story short, AB had a soccer/futbol tourney in Tulsa, and his team took home the championship. It was pretty cool to go out of town and go to town on the in town teams. Yea, you might have to read that twice, but it's worth it.
They outscored their opponents 25-1 in 4 games, even though I believe it was their first time playing 8v8. Go soccer! These are generally bad pics, but lesson learned don't bring the point and shoot to athletic events. A DSLR with manual zoom is WAY better.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Getting on about it
Forgive me if this is an odd post, but it's 6am and my words aren't super strong yet.
213.4 lbs. I don't like seeing that look up at me from the scale, but it is what it is. Your body is a reflection of your lifestyle. In a perfect world, I'd be closer to 180, like when I was racing. I still had some gut to lose back then, but I was a good bit healthier. My face was certainly skinnier, although I think I look better with fat face.
Of course, after I lost all that weight, I had to get a new suit. I fortunately don't wear suits very often, so I tried putting it back on after regaining the weight. Yeeeouch. My neck was about 1.5" thicker, and my waist was about 3" bigger too. The waist didn't surprise me that much, but who knew a neck would get that much fattier? Crazy.
I'm going to break this weight-losing effort up, and try and report back my week's activities, as well as what my weigh-in is on Thursday mornings. My "goal" is to be down to 205 by Memorial weekend. After that, I'll set a new goal and go from there.
As for what I did this week, I ran-ish about 2.5 miles on Sunday night, and rode about 20 miles yesterday. I need to set a real schedule, but I'm thinking 3 core workouts a week, 2 rides, 2 runs, and some amount of strength training as well. I'll post up my workout schedule later.
I'm not really big (har-har) on sharing all this, but I think if I start being more accountable to my botnet-readers (I doubt there's any humans out there), I'm more likely to see it through.
I really need to cut back on using parentheticals as well.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
I forgot how to spell my domain name
Sure...that's why I haven't posted in so long. It actually hasn't seemed that long, but life is hauling arse on by.
This blog pops up in my head a lot, but I usually either get distracted or remember I don't have anything that great to post about. My distraction rate is pretty high these days, so I'm not guaranteeing any sort of blog quality nor coherence.
You can't see that, but I was just IM'ing a friend and totally forgot what I was going to say here.
Dangit.
Penny is out of town right now, so I'm manning the fort. The boys are on early release today, so I get to have them at home at 2pm, plus the cleaning ladies are here in a bit so I had to pick up the house. One of the great ironies of life...cleaning the house before the cleaners arrive.
Even with all the practices it isn't too bad, at least I'm not hyperventilating. I'm prone to do that, kind of like my boys when you change the schedule at the last minute. It's funny all the bad traits your kids exhibit and then you realize you have them yourself. I thought I had a refined view of nature vs nuture, but that's been nearly thrown out the window. Nature runs wild in my house.
I just turned my music back on and now forgot what else I was going to say. Good thing I studies ADHD in college. Apparently all those test subjects infected me.
Work is going moderately terrible, as I can't seem to get anything done without people getting in my way. I like to play nice, but I'm about to kick some people down the stairs. Kind of like President Frank Underwood when he's smoking the cigar with the Russian President.
This blog pops up in my head a lot, but I usually either get distracted or remember I don't have anything that great to post about. My distraction rate is pretty high these days, so I'm not guaranteeing any sort of blog quality nor coherence.
You can't see that, but I was just IM'ing a friend and totally forgot what I was going to say here.
Dangit.
Penny is out of town right now, so I'm manning the fort. The boys are on early release today, so I get to have them at home at 2pm, plus the cleaning ladies are here in a bit so I had to pick up the house. One of the great ironies of life...cleaning the house before the cleaners arrive.
Even with all the practices it isn't too bad, at least I'm not hyperventilating. I'm prone to do that, kind of like my boys when you change the schedule at the last minute. It's funny all the bad traits your kids exhibit and then you realize you have them yourself. I thought I had a refined view of nature vs nuture, but that's been nearly thrown out the window. Nature runs wild in my house.
I just turned my music back on and now forgot what else I was going to say. Good thing I studies ADHD in college. Apparently all those test subjects infected me.
Work is going moderately terrible, as I can't seem to get anything done without people getting in my way. I like to play nice, but I'm about to kick some people down the stairs. Kind of like President Frank Underwood when he's smoking the cigar with the Russian President.
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