Mashed Potatoes

I don't have much to say today but I have to post up that I wasn't even able to crack the 180s this week which means I have to say the 2 week binge cost me 5 pounds. That's a lot of extra calories on the surface. Going with 3500 calories a pound, by 5, gives you 17,500 extra calories. Divide that by 14 and you come up with 1,250 per day. That may seem like a lot but it adds up fast, especially when you mix an all-you-can-eat cruise with the Thanksgiving holiday. Beer and wine alone probably add up to 500 a day for those 2 weeks if not more. Not totally on the wagon just yet now but mostly at this point. Need to get back into the 180s over the next month and stay there if I want to have any chance at seeing 179 in 2008.

Not much going on right now, other than the fact it's Friday which is always nice unless you work weekends. Was on the bike for an hour this morning and then have the time trial tomorrow. Then I'll come home and pound out some leaves and burn up some of the excess wood around the yard. By "pound out" of course I mean that I'll be fucking leaf piles of course. I'm hoping to at least knock out the front yard tomorrow. It's small but it's also the furthest away from the back, where the leaves ultimately go.

I think my routine change will be a weekly train pass to Penn Station next week. It's a good change from the Hoboken line for a week. Ideally it's the better solution but it's much less reliable. But I'll gamble for a week. Right now I'm doing NYC in the AM and Hoboken on the way home. My life is so exciting it hurts.

This is pretty boring. I have nothing to say other than I didn't make 189 let alone 188. After that I'm just rambling. Rutgers lost last night. I went to bed just before the half with the score 28-10, Rutgers was up. I said to Nat, "I think they're going to lose this game." She says, "Really?!" I explained Louisville scored far too easily to get to 10 and it would come back to bite them in the ass. Sure enough, 30 seconds after I turned off the TV it was apparently 28-18 and the collapse was on. As usual, sticking your dick in the mashed potatoes is more productive than watching this team some days.

ARP

This week has been pretty ordinary for the most part. After one day Jake's prediction of 188 looked decent but this morning I'm only 190 so I think 189 may be more on than 188 but you never really know. It probably also depends what I eat today. Sorry Jake I was trying to fulfill all that confidence you have in me. I'm still optimistic though. And fat. But at noon my lunch is already gone so a soup may be in order. Soup to poop.

Work is slowly beating down my enthusiasm leftover from vacation such that I'm falling back into the "routine" I was in before I left. I think that routine has a lot of escapism built into it which means spending more time on the message boards than is probably good for me. I get home now and feel the desire to check both boards where Monday I could care less. I also feel more tired right now but that may have something to do with the extra riding. I feel better today, yesterday was a more sleepy.

It now being Thursday I'm mentally set on the weekend now. Saturday I have the time trial at Lewis Morris then I get to go home and start raking leaves. That's my project for the weekend, the yard. Sunday my parents are going to come down and we'll go out to dim sum then go back to the house and take on the leaves. We're borrowing the neighbor's push-blower so that should help but the reality is that they're wet now so some will need to be slopped up and dumped out back.

Somewhere in all that I'll try to ride and not eat too much. No promises though.

ChrisG

"Holy shit that was good. Thanks for some needed laughs. -ChrisG"

That day seems so far removed from today even though it was only 2 weeks ago now. It feels like at least a month. Why is it that life seems to throw so much at you that your brain fills up and forgets so much, so fast? It's not a bad thing just a little crazy at times. Kinda like Seal sang. I mean the artist not the animal, though we're all animals. ARP ARP ARP!!!

Is life crazy or do we just interpret it that way?

Poster

I have some feedback to catch up with for sure.

Jake

"i will guess 188. after your body realizes that you're done hurting it, it will go back to functioning normally. if that fails, just grab a steak knife and lop a few lbs outta yer arse. that's my plan."

Good guess, I like it. Very aggressive. After 1 day it looks pretty good as this morning I was 191. Hit the trainer this morning so if we're lucky maybe 190 already tomorrow. Friday or Saturday's weight will be the number I compare against 185 to see how much I gained on my 2 week binge.

This morning was the 5th day on the bike in a row, first time I've hit 5 straight in a while. Nothing amazing just trying to burn calories and keep a tempo pace to help raise my threshold power and lay a good base for now. I may shoot for a 6th day tomorrow but I can feel the need for sleep creeping in.

This is a poster on the train:

70% of all inmates are functionally illiterate. He is getting out soon. Wouldn't you rather he could read?

The subtitle is this:

Illiteracy is a leading cause of crime.

I agree with the underlying message, that uneducated people is not a good thing. I also agree that inmates should be educated in an attempt to correct some of what society has fallen short in providing in the first place. But I have an issue with the way this message is sent. Through fear.

The idea that you should be afraid of uneducated criminals being released is disappointing. I understand PR wars are now fought through the media and by advertising gross mis-statements and by using scare tactics. But it doesn't make it right. I have a problem when someone presents an opinion then tries to browbeat others into agreeing with that opinion. I believe you should put forth an idea, present its strengths and weaknesses, and let people decide for themselves.

I doubt I would be good at politics for this reason. I would present an idea straight up, choosing not to couch it in hyperbole to suggest you're ignorant, deficient, or sexually delinquent if you don't agree. And if the majority of the people thought it was a bad idea, I would say OK, your choice. But we expect our leaders to ignore what we think because it's much more convenient to have a strong opinion then back away from it by saying that it's not your job to know about these things and that politicians should be ignoring you. It gives the Lazy Complainer an easy out by allowing you to vociferously state your claim then later to exhaust how badly other people are doing at making decisions.

I've gone off track. I agree that we should educate everyone, including prisoners. But I don't think you should be trying to attain that end by using fear tactics. As soon as the next Educated Prisoner gets out of jail and kills someone, your frail House of Cards falls apart and you need to start from the ground again. Then you'll need a new poster campaign.

36

I turned 36 this past weekend, on Thanksgiving day. Every 6 years or so my birthday lands on turkey day with a few occasions where it's 7 years apart due to leap year. I don't feel old. I feel whatever, 36 is just some number at this point. There was a time when 36 looked ancient. But now I'm healthier than ever so my current age is just a number.

We went out to my parents on Thursday where my mom made food for 15 though there were only 4 of us plus Julia. My step-father and I also decided that the water pump on the "good" car is shot which is fun for money spending hilarity. On the way home Julia fell asleep and when she woke up she discovered the moon was up and her obsession began. 4 days later and she's still pointing up at the ceiling chanting, "moon...moon...moon..."

I got a great birthday present at 5:00 am Thursday when Julia rolled over and cuddled up to me in bed and slept with me for an hour. This is a child that hates being touched when she sleeps and here she is cuddling in bed. 2 nights later she slept with me the whole night. Last night she wanted nothing to do with me but when I got up and walked out of the bedroom I heard her screaming, "DAAAADYYYY!!!"

On Friday we dropped the car off and learned that it is indeed the water pump. Thankfully Julia is old enough to handle car rides now so we went back to Richie in Union and he informed us it was going to be really expensive, "like 4 or 5 hundred," he says. I laugh, as the dealer would have pressed us for a grand without question.

On Saturday I led a ride out at Round Valley with 14 people, 2 who dropped right away with a mechanical and 3 who knew the place and kept their own pace, which left 9 of us. At the end of the main trail 2 turned off and I took the 7 of us up and over into Cushetunk where 3 people turned back because the terrain was pretty rough. So as usually, my group ride skills suck as 14 turned into 4. We caught them on the rebound and took the fire road back. I can say without question that the end of the season drop in saddle time added to my 2 week vacation binge has shot the shit out of my fitness. The monster climb I cleaned 3 weeks ago took me out 3 times. And the rollers on the end trail got me twice. So that's 6 clip-outs where 3 weeks ago I had 1. Sad.

So I capped that off by going to Terren and Cheryl's and eating like a pig and drinking beer. Fuck it. When in Rome, eat and drink, I think is the expression?

Yesterday was mostly domestic stuff which found us as Toys R Us late in the day which just makes me depressed. I see something I want to get her then I battle internally and think I should just get it but what if she doesn't like it and blah blah blah. It's a depressing internal debate. I don't know why.

I was supposed to ride to my parents on Thursday but I didn't want to send my wife out with a sick little girl so I scratched it. Too bad, it was a great day. We saw 66 on the thermometer at one point. Nuts. I did a road ride Friday, Round Valley Saturday, and hit the trainer yesterday because my cold weather clothes were in a bag and fermenting, so highly not wearable. This morning I hit the trainer again as my season starts to gain some long, slow momentum into '08. Back to hitting the bike before work and it's a bit of a shock on a Monday morning off a 4 day weekend.

I am also a big fat slut right now. 193 this morning which is a false high but still a gross number. Feel free to make your guesses to what that number will be Friday morning. I'll go with 189, and be happy if that comes to pass.

Fat, drunk, and stupid really is no way to go through life.