One is the loneliest number…

that you’ll ever know, “Feels like the first time…”, “The longest journey begins with a single step!”, “All good things must come to an end”, “That is a tasty burger!”

Those were all potential subjects for this blog entry.  You see, after calling the streak a “non-issue” in my life any more, I put the streak to rest on Saturday.  Sarah was out of town, my mom was here, the kids were crazy, we had tons of fun but when that was all over, it was raining and 44 degrees outside.   The basement was cold and dark and outside was cold dark and wet.  I just said WTF… and you know what, I was okay with it!  I then, on a semi-calculated “risk” type thing, took sunday off too.  Again, Sarah out of town, mom… we went to the Circus and little-bit (Max) was feisty all day.  You know what, it’s all okay!  It actually renewed my interest in riding today and I rode at lunch.  It was warm, sunny, mildly breezy and fun.  My head still feels a “spot warm” from the ride!  Good stuff.  My only regret is that I did it for52 days, but I didn’t do a “full month”.  I missed January by 1 day, and only 22 days in February.  Oh well, maybe next time.

Now, for the semi good news.  I was feeling frisky today so I turned the screws a bit and really got myself moving.  Not so fast so I scared myself or anything, but fast enough that I felt like maybe I will be able to go fast this season.  That will be fun.  Then again, at this point in life I am oddly obsessed with getting a mountain bike.   I can’t explain it, but a couple of my co-workers have a spare one they want me to ride with them.  Might be fun.

OH… and while I am rambling, we are doing a biggest loser at work.  11 pounds this week!  Now, I did stack the deck a bit, but I had cheeseburgers, bbq and mexican this weekend, so I am pleased.  I was really quite shocked when I saw the number.  Overall, I am really 2 pounds ligher, I think.. we will see tomorrow morning.  Regardless, I worked out, lost weight, ate healthy… it’s a good day.

Fifty

Did you know that today is the 51st day of the year?  I know this for 2 reasons.  One, I am some what obsessive about random date trivia.  Silly, I know, but hey… it’s what I do.  The other reason I know that is on the 2nd of January I set off on this crazy workout thing.  I wanted to keep it going for a while.  I didn’t know when I would stop and at this point I am really not sure when I will… that is not important to me.  I have proven to myself that I can stick to a plan/program of intentional exercise regardless of what life throws at me.  Some of those days were less than enthusiastic.  My heart rate might not have been in my “optimal aerobic zone”, but at the same time, I did some crazy stuff like tearing it up at the Dick Lane Velodrome tonight.  I was able to hold wheels I wasn’t able to 6 weeks ago, so that is cool!

I think I will seal The Streak page.  Counting, paying attention and all that has added pressure to my life an ultimately made me unhappy on a few occasions.   Only about three times did I just work out to keep my streak alive.  That’s 47 times I actually wanted to work out.  I want to tomorrow.  Will I on Friday?  I do not know.  I hope so.  It’s kind of like what I learned in AA.  One day at a time.  One day at a time, I have stayed sober for over 20 years.  Now, I don’t know that this streak will last 20 years, but I hope the lifestyle change does.  I am starting to feel/see the positive things in my life!  That’s awesome!

As we move into Spring, I look forward to getting on my bike more.  There are lots of places I need to ride around here.  I don’t even have any good “loops” that I like a lot.  Sarah is itching to ride w/me on Tuesdays, so that will be fun too.  Day 51 will be a new chapter.  I look forward to it!

The game is ON!

So today at work we are starting a biggest loser competition.  I kind of think it sort of sucks because I have already lost like 17 pounds, so I lose the initial big bonus weight loss.  Well, to some degree.  Through careful and deliberate hydration and “careful planning”, I think I gained ate least to 8 pounds between 6:00 am and when I weighed in just a few minutes ago  (the exact number is hard to speculate, as I weighed in this morning without clothes, the second time with clothes).  I can honestly tell you that my eyes feel like they are floating.  I haven’t been to the men’s room just yet, but any time now I feel as if I will be starting to.  I will definitely get my 30 minutes of exercise in today… I will get it in walking back and forth to the men’s room!

Good riding and good times….

So I got in my good ride on friday, that was fun.  Friday night, Derek and I went to this place called Sparkles.  It’s a roller skating rink that had a special thing for Derek’s school.  Roller skating, laser tag… good stuff!  Neat laser tag set up!  Lots of smoke (fake smoke) and fun!

Saturday, I went on one of the most bizarre loops I could make up.  I don’t know if I like it or disliked it, but it was different.  Saturday night, Sarah and I went to the Bajama Mama Cafe or something like that.  I am really drawing a blank,  but they had some SERIOUSLY good seafood pie-aye-ah (cant remember the restaurant and you want me to remember that spelling?)  We saw Fool Gold, a delightful blend of chick flick and ass-kicking-explosions to entertain any couple.  Sunday, I ran a 5k at the gym in PR time, it hurt…

Today, I had a rare day off.  I am not used to them.  Heck, I didn’t even realize I had this one… well, I went riding this morning, met Sarah for coffee, that was good.  The ride home was SUPER WINDY, but I just did my best imitation of a belgian and drove it home like a bus.  When I got home, I met our new neighbors, they seemed nice enough.  Now, time to get a few things done and off to Derek’s soccer practice.  Good times… Good times…

I love it when a plan comes together!

When I decided to lose my truck, I came up with a plan.  Small car, better gas, rack to safely carry my bike… easy on, easy off… both wheels stay on.  Okay, all good.  I like this.  That was nearly 2 months ago.  Today I was able to execute my plan.  I packed up my stuff, put my bike on my Thule Rack, went to work and at lunch, suited up and got ready… off I went!  It was a good ride.  I rode from work, through this little park to “Columns Drive”.  It’s a semi-lame road as it’s the ONLY road in the country with a 4 foot wide shoulder and a LAW that says you cant ride 2 abreast on the shoulder.  Lame… but I was riding by myself so I didn’t have to worry so much about this law.   I did 3 “laps” of Columns, then went back.  Nothing terribly exciting, but it was RIDING on the ROAD again!  I enjoyed that.

Sarah got me the COOLEST picture book for Valentines day!  It’s all pictures of our trip to san fran.  Ultimately, we have tons of photos and thats cool, but man… having a little book is neat!  Thanks, babe!  I love it!

My new tags!

When I moved to Georgia, I thought it would be cool to get bike tags for my car. An organization called “Georgia Bikes” got these tags set up and I thought it was a cool idea. Well, when we registered out cars they didn’t have any. I was sad… but whatever, no reason to be overly bunched. Well, today I got tags for my ‘poor man’s mini’. Guess what they had in stock? Aww yeah! The plate looks just like this one, but instead of 000 Sample, it has an RD and 4 numbers. I think there may be only 10,000 of them? I don’t know. I have mine and for that I am happy! It’s like I told my co-worker, it’s a way to say “I am a cyclist” without slapping a bumper sticker on you vehicle. (As if my Thule bike rack wasn’t enough!)

A better day

There were other things that were “not good” yesterday. Sarah had sinus surgery. I wasn’t sure if she would want me to say anything in a blog format, so I left that out. Being far away and hoping your wife is okay suck… but I knew she would make it through! In addition she had WONDERFUL help for the procedure. From everything she said about her doctor, he was the right guy. In addition, her mother was in town for the procedure. If she wasn’t we would have had to re-schedule as I had my training in San Fran. Well, I am VERY happy to report that outside of feeling like she was “hit by a truck”, Sarah is doing very good. Her recovery is going well. She got a call from the doctors saying she could irrigate her sinuses with salt water and that pretty much made her day. Being all drugged up and sore is not fun, but she is making it through. Lots of sleep seems to be helping her a lot too.

While Sarah recovers, I have tried to play with the boys a lot. Sarah cant bend over, so I am on diaper duty. Got some laundry done, watched a movie w/Sarah (and Max for a bit). Spanky got her bath today, hmph… I guess that’s about all.

Oh… since I know my father-in-law is the a “loyal reader” of my blog, I wanna give him a shout out! He made the best Man-sagna (lasagna made by a man) I have ever had! We had it for dinner last night and I guess I kind of assumed Gray had made it. Well, truth be told… J-dawg can straight up make some Man-sagna! Seriously…. we had it for lunch today, it’s the gift that keeps on giving!

OH… yeah, and Sarah got me some cool Mickey pajamas for our anniversary! I have Mickey Mouse House pants! Stylin….

The hardest day

Today had to be one of the hardest days I have had in a long time.  It started @ 3:00 am in Redwood City, California.  I got up and gathered my stuff to head home.  I get out to the parking lot and my HHR has a dead battery.  Great… it’s 3:30 in the morning, I have a 6:00 flight, my battery is dead… Thankfully a very nice lady gave me a jump start.  It wasn’t as easy as that, but we got it done.  Dropping a car off and getting out of town in San Francisco sucks.  It’s the worst airport I have ever left from.  Seriously, it’s a shit hole.  A while later, I lost my boarding passes, got into a fight with the united baggage people and generally continued my bad morning.  My first flight wasn’t bad, but the second one sucked.  A man, bigger than me, sat next to me and moved most of the flight.  He wouldn’t sit still.  It was ridiculous.  Finally, I get back, gather up my stuff, find my car and get going… thats when the day got better.  It was not that bad, I dont suppose, but the day seemed to last forever.  After dinner, we had some ice cream which was nice.  I had no motivation to run or work out.  Sarah reminded me that I could simply take the dog for a 30 minute walk.  That’s what I did.  It wasn’t a hard walk, but it was 30 minutes.  I’d love to tell you that I feel much better and all that but basically, I feel quite tired.  I think I am going to go to bed.

I did get my Thule rack installed.  Works pretty good.  I still have some adjustments to make, but for now, it’s working good!  It is really good to be home.  Really good… My bed will feel excellent!  I am sure of that!

Stereotypes

From San Francisco…

Some people get upset when you talk about stereotypes.  Some people say it’s mean.  I don’t know.  A lot of them are there for a reason.  One example is asian people like taking pictures.  They do.  I have seen it.  I have captured it on … well… “film”.  Yesterday I saw something that I can only laugh at.  The photo on the left shows an Asian woman taking a photo of herself.   I have done it.  I have done it numerous times, but I have never had my own stick to do it with!  I mean, this is some serious hardware!

Having said THAT… if you check out the album associated with this photos… I captured several other random photographer shots.  Call me evil, call me what you will.  Say I’m old fashion say I’m over the hill…. ack!  I just broke into a “Blong” – blog song… (I just made that word up! )  I just think it’s kind of funny.

Workouts are going well!  1 month straight!  Odd statistic… I think I have run more times … IN CALIFORNIA … this year, than I have ridden a bicycle.  This is a statistic I hope to reverse VERY quickly!