End O'March

Few thoughts on the last day of March...
Bathroom Demo continued all weekend, basically completing early Sunday and late Sunday turned into brain storming that then turned into design and drawing. Most Measurements were taken and ideas were happening. Pics and more info later.
Bowled OK on Sat night - was sore about two hours after.
Tonight is first night of Tri-Training; kicking off w/ swimming...oh fun. Bike has been tuned. Bike specific pump has been purchased. Got a little bit o shit for not buying my bike at shop but they understand so I bought the pump. Was needed anyways...sick of pluggin in the 33 gal compressor for a couple of bike tires.
Work atmosphere seems scattered, unorganized and dysfunctional. Hope it comes back around soon. Weighs heavy on my mind during the day and into the night leaving me unmotivated and semi frustrated. Must remain positive. Strikes and Layoffs don't help, nor does the current economy or the weather for that matter. Must stay focused and positive.
Pics soon of bath. Official "first of the month" monthly weigh in tomorrow...been slacking a bit now that I'm working on the house rather than lifting, biking or running...must stay focused....I'm crossing my fingers for progress...otherwise it's regress or ungress?
Last thing...ever seen the Seinfeld episode where Elaine's office has birthday parties all the time and she calls in the next day to avoid more cake and birthday party's. And the following day she comes back to work to find a cake celebration for her return? Well that's how it's been around here....seems like every other week is a party for a member that got fired or is leaving....

Bright Lites Big City

Got a little excited over seeing our city on CL...

http://geo.craigslist.org/iso/us/wi

Not there anymore...hmmmm, was I seeing things????

Well no wonder...

My neck is stiff and my back is sore...I moved 1300 pounds of material over the weekend. That's what the scale at the pay dump said. Had our orientation last night for the tri training...seems like a really good group of people and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. We start on Monday w/ a swim, Tuesday is Spin and Thursday in Run & Yoga. I'll be making an appt w/ my chiro today to get an adjustment. Need to also order up some goggles asap.

Rockin Robin

Just remembered that I saw my first Robin of the year...this means warmer weather is en route.


And Shermann wishes you a good day as well

Bathroom Remodel Phase 1 - Demo

{Investigation(drywall removed) Bathroom Before - Vanity/Toilet and Shower (across from)}

Quick background on remodel as to the why - besides being 44 years young the carpet and wall on the outside of the shower was getting wet. Called insurance to have them investigate...they really couldn't figure it out so they said we're on our own (they paid to have a plumber & contractor over) and I figure the shower was leaking somewhere cause it is on the other side of the shower. It can not really be proved cause it's like a seepage thing and after a week of showering down here the carpet is damp. So we're redoing it, that's the why. Here's how it started...
Thursday night watched some Wis. Bball on TV...had a bunch of beers
Friday...Day 1 bathroom remodel, covered carpet, went to store to buy needed goods, removed vanity, shower door and other misc wall nick n steve nacks

Saturday - No bike ride, instead it was remove snow and proceed w/ demo - Big F*ckin Hammer Day, basically just knocked out the tiled shower which was job...very heavy shit.

After all this work we watched "into the wild" after hearing about it from several diff folks...awesome movie w/ an even better soundtrack..may have to make the investment for the Jeep. One of these days I have to snag Tori's unused nano and unload her tunes and add my own. It's collecting dust somewhere in this place.

Sunday - more of the same...was yawning this morn when I woke up and pulled something in my neck bad...popped some pills, started slowly by getting the "radio flyer" trailer up to load all the heavy bags into so I can stop at the city pay dump tomorrow. Then proceeded w/ the madness. Got a good amount accomplished...not as far as I wanted but close. Had Easter ham at the in laws.

Tomorrow is work, dump and Orientation at NHS for the Triathlon training...we actually start next week Monday and I'm really excited about it at the moment. My fricken neck better be all good to go by then...it's feeling good now after having a bag of frozen veggies on it for 30 mins. Still stiff thou

This is about how it all went down for Good Fri/Easter Weekend...A little more demo to go and then will be on to framing...I'll try my best to keep the blog up to date if poss...cya and Happy Easter

Nate

First Day of Spring

A sign that better days are ahead...first "ride 2 work" of '08. Last min decision and really disorganized but the extra 15-20 minutes to gather all the gear and strap on was worth it. Chain is rusty and trusty from all the winter rides and the shifting wasn't the best but we made it in about 1/2 an hour like usual. Chilly start...coulda used the face mask for the first 1/2 til I warmed up some. Good start and look forward to ride home. We expecting a little snow tonight but it'll melt quickly and hopefully the temps rise and keep melting the snow.

Home remodeling on the lower bath starts tomorrow...Home Depot tonight to gather some items...then we'll have to rearrange and mask off the house. I'll post some pics of the before this weekend. Sat Morn Bfast Ride this weekend...most likely will skip the bfast but I'm riding for sure! Go Sun Go. (bad pics...timed...bad but pics all the same)

Cabin Fever or Winter Blues?

Whatever it is...I feel crappy and depressed today. Sore back...stiff neck - bad hair, bad clothes.
I did get some new running shoes last night and tried them out...they work very very well - Ran 2.5 miles w/ plenty left in me. They seemed to minimize my shin to tolerable. I like most others can not wait til this wet shitty weather is otta here. Road Bike, Motorcycle, Joggin, Commuting, etc...looking forward to it. And I think I need a break from work. The last couple of projects have been kinda lame or they're hurry up and wait type of deals...plus another person gave their two weeks today....Feels like we're running on fumes.
Wish list:
- Vacation
- New Mtn bike
- New Cross bike
- New Bmx Bike
- New skateboard
- New Bike gear
- New clothes
- Lose more wt
- Get some sort of spam blocker at work!
- Get motorcycle done and either enjoy or eefffn sell it
- Have my house update itself....
ERRRRRRRR

First ride for the new gal

Yesterday late afternoon turned out to be really nice weather wise...sun w/ a WSW wind and temps in the mid to upper forty's. Stopped by the LBS to get new bike computer since I let the new owner of the Giant have it. Speaking of the OCR...here is a pic...she did me well for my first serious years of road riding...a bit small now that I've done some mile on a 57cm LeMond...but worked great (and could bunny hop pretty high, curbs were a breeze, not that that should matter). I did have to do some serious upgrades but for the 2-3K miles over 2 years I feel I got every cent back out of it.

So the LeMond (or Lemonade as tori would say) first ride was great. A few bugs to work out (hopefully not a new cassette but I'm thinking so) but overall GREAT! I'm very impressed (as one should be going from an entry level sport to mid to top level race) w/ the ride, feel, everything. Ended up w/ 20.9 miles in 1 hr and 19 min. The Trek computer worked great.
It's gonna be a great year.

Mistress Juanita

Yesterday I picked up my new girl friend.

http://picasaweb.google.com/biglakecity/MistressJuanita

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Happy Bday to me!
31

Fitness Assessment - then & now

Last night I had my reassessment and this is how things turned out...

Date: 11-26-07 / 03-05-08
Weight: 223.8 / 208.6 (shoes on 4 both, shorts & T)
Body Fat %: 23.8 / 18.3
Chest: 44 / 40.5
Waist: 38.5 / 37
Abdomen: 40 / 37
Hips: 45 / 42.5
Blood Pressure: 120/90 - 144/86
(after exercising both times)

So after 14.5 weeks I've made some good improvements I feel especially considering the time of year. I hope to improve the 1 lb/week once I start riding more and commuting. I'm really glad I did get assessed around the beginning to have comparable and for motivation to let myself know that it's working. Some say to take a pic of yourself but I couldn't bring myself to do that, but this is just as good to me for now.

Ups and Downs

I'm gonna do this the quick way just to post something cause it's been a while...

• In my world bad news seems to come on Sunday's...My friend Matt "Hooter" Hutton, age 26, died on Saturday Feb 23rd. Got the call on Sunday morning of course.
• Monday Feb 25th - I talked B into a Triathlon Meeting...we're signed up for the Elkhart Lake Tri training
• Tuesday Feb 26th - Came home to a sewage back up in my lower shower...Rosie to the Rescue
• Wednesday Feb 27th - Hooter's Funeral - I don't like funerals at all, never did - used to avoid them at all costs
• Thursday the 28th - Cardio
• Friday the 29th - the Prez of our Co. was let go, we're officially out of bankruptcy, good cardio session, helped out for a fund raiser a little bit, went to bar for a couple of hrs took cab home
• Sat the First of March - Milwaukee
• Sunday the Second - Lifted weights and ran on treadmill
• Today, Monday the 3rd...Weigh in Day...didn't make goal of 209...bummed a little....work scale is teetering back and forth on 212 and 211...I'll say 211 just cause.
• Spell check is working again...coolio hoolio