Spring Break '08 - Part 2

Good Afternoon....Hump Day...Sunny - mid 80's - Tropical type breezes. Tori's Poolside again and I'm checking mail and surfin. You may be wondering why I'm web surfing rather than say in the pool? Well I have a head cold and this made the flight (s) down here (2 hr lay over in ATL there and back) the second worse flight of my life. No problems going up but when go to descend each time my ears will not 'pop' to allow the pressure to release and I go temp deaf to the point where I feel as if I'm wearing ear muffs or am underwater. And both times this gave me a really really painful headache. It feels as if the fluids in my brain are being swished around so this now makes me extremely nervous for the ride home. I don't want to get water in my ears plain and simple. I may get over this soon though...well see.

So this poor Sea Turtle took the bait of a fisherman that was fishing off of Naples Pier last night. We get there and walk all the way to the end and there is a couple of people kinda together looking down at the water....I was someone got something cool....and then we look over and there was the HUGE turtle w/ a fishing line going down his throat. After the shock came the sadness then came anger...the young fisherman looked worried and confused and then did basically the only thing he could do....started walking and pulling the turtle with him to the shore...which was very very far away. I was lets go..I didn't want to see the thing die of exhaustion. We walked back to the car to grab the camera and noticed out parking ticket...tori tried to bs her way out of it but it didn't work....by the time we got back to the pier the fisherman was at the break and Tori got some pics. These are taken from up above....the fisherman is up next to us and the guy touching the turtle was a surfer....the fisherman tossed down a pain of pliers and then another surfer/fisherman/blond dude cut the line at the mouth...I don't believe he could get the hook out but this seemed to work and then the surfer gently pushed the sea turtle back into the waves where he disappeared rather quickly into the water. I tell ya you couldn't make this up if you tried. Very exciting and emotional. Very pleased to see the thing make it back out....will hope he makes it. Biggest turtle I've ever seen in my life. Crazy.This was before dinner last night....we at outside on 5th ave and I had Sushi....Ahi tuna again....I'm a fan. And I really like sushi....I'm getting hungry. Tori had a beef/artichoke over noodles meal that was really good too.

This morn we did a walk/jog down by the beach area...on the road thou...I didn't want to jog on the beach...felt good but I'm a little tired now and hungry. A little more web then, eat and relax...we're going on a boat tour dinner cruise thing tonight I think.

Cya

Spring Break '08 - Part 1

What seemed to be a Really Loooong Post

by

Me

Good Afternoon to who ever reads this. I'm in Naples Florida sitting at a vacant covered bar type area in between two pools, a lap pool and a nice resort style lounge pool. In the adjoined screened in lapper pool is an elderly lady who I believe to be walking laps rather than swimming but whatever way you wanna do laps is cool w/ me. In the unscreened lounge pool I can over here two tan grey hair gentleman discussing something, there's some kids splashing around in the shallow section and in the far off distance is Tori laying butt up catching some rays watching her "Sex In the City" dvd's on the portable. I'm chillin in the shade enjoying the nice breeze that goes thru listening to the tunes above and the birds chipping.....it's all pretty nice right now.

I made a couple last minute choices before leaving the house on Sunday morning that I'm very pleased with. One was grabbing the laptop computer and NetGear wireless card. They have a wireless system here at the clubhouse so I'm able to do this, which made me feel pretty cool as I figured it out all by my lonesome...impressed i am. Ya see I can find my way around a computer like the ave guy but once you get past the norm you lose me. Kinda like a car. I know how to drive one and I know the main components but would I really try to flush and fill the fluids or try to bleed the brakes by myself.....I don't think so, maybe w/ someone who's done it before holding my hand for the first round but not right off the bat going blind. This is how I feel w/ my computer. I know how to "drive" it but I really don't know all the in's and out's. I didn't know if the wireless card works w/ any system or had to go thru the receiver at home. Like a garage door opener is what I thought. My garage door opener won't open your garage....well then why should my wireless card catch your signal???? Who know's? Not me. Who cares...I'm curious but hey....if it works I'm game. So I'm on the Internet. Glad I brought the computer to check email and look up local destinations and maps...which leads me to my number two last min grab....the Skateboard.

I googled Naples a couple of weeks ago and during my search I looked to see if they had any skateparks....why you ask? When we went to LV for Sema we stayed the wkend following to hook up w/ Tori's old buddy and her husband. I asked him to show me around and I noticed there were skateparks all over LV, making me wish I had mine w/ me and because I do skate the park in town from time to time and when I'm cleaning out the garage I will goof off on the board for 5 minutes or so before I put it back. It turned out they do have a couple of skateparks down here and thanks to the best thing man has created so far next to the bicycle and skateboard, the Internet, I was able to search further finding pics and vid's on the parks here. During these searches I learned that the Edge Skatepark is half concrete and half normal wood/metal ramps. I thought to myself "yessss", I finally get the chance to ride a concrete park. You see ever since I can remember I have seen pics in mags like Thrasher, Transworld, BMX Action, BMX Plus and movies such as; Rad, Curb Dogs, Cleamin the Cube, Thrashin, P&P's Search for Animal Chin and so on I've always wanted to ride/skate concrete parks! I hear stories on how we used to have a really cool concrete park behind BigWheel roller rink and so on. This is all fine and dandy but I wanted to experience it for myself. This was my chance....but then reality set in and I thought when am I going to get to go down there and spend a couple of hours, what if they have pad and helmet rules, will I need to go out and spend a chunk of change just to to this? Do I really want to carry my board on the plane, etc...you get the picture. So I said forget it and was planning on leaving it at home. I didn't pack my skateshoes or any shorts that I could trash. I was fine w/ it and just called it getting old and boring. But then it happened.


I was all packed up and ready to go....waiting for Tori (of course beauty takes time) to finish up and her Dad to pick us up to give us the ride to GMIA. I sat in my leather chair, grabbed the remote and turned the TV on to keep my occupied. The channel that I was watching Sat nite before I turned it off was FuelTV....and when I turned it on I watched about the last 20 minutes of the movie that was dedicated to Shane Cross, a skater that lived life to the fullest and passed away and the too young age of 21. This video and the end made me think...Life is way to short to do another "shoulda - woulda - coulda" moment. I HATE it when people, including myself, say "You should have....." Screw you I think. So in this moment I said that's it....I'm doing it. I ran to the garage and grabbed my board.....ran upstairs to my closet and grabbed my Vans and some of my less than perfect cargo shorts.....and am I happy I did. Shane Cross.....thank you. If you want to see a cool movie...google his name and either TiVo it on Fuel or else go out and buy the DVD.

So here's some shots of the skatpark.

Deep tight pool above and Very Fun Snake run and Bowls below

I did manage catch a fairly nasty cold right before we came and had the 2nd worse flight of my life coming down here and feel like absolute dog shit when I snapped this pic and was very irritated by the humidity and that is why I have the funky look on my face but I was way too pumped to let that stop me from my mission of fun.

Our POS Chevy "No Power anything and no f*'n Key Fob" Caveman era Caviler....but the AC is really good. I had to inflate all the tires as they were all....let me repeat myself.....ALL the tires were at 20-25 psi and were supposed to be at 44! Every corner I was making noises...this and I had to replace a 20A fuse to make the lighter outlet work for our GPS unit...this is all small potatoes in the greater scheme of things I know but when you pay someone for provide an auto for you, I would have expected all of these minor things to have been taken care of....but that's just me....and I digress. She now rolls solid and our lady friend is telling us "Left turn in 2 miles on ______ Drive"....so it's all good. You know what else is funny with the car? A new 65K dollar Corvette pulled up along side us almost the same color! I was "oh yeah" what up dude! Like we were riding the same thing and he just looked away.....Lots of cool cars down here....Lambo's, Ferrari's, Porsches's, Bentley's, Mercedes, Lexus, Vet's, Caddy's, Bimmer's, Jag's you name it.

These Lambo's were outside of the Tommy Bahama's Restaurant last night...I had the Ahi Tuna....ummmm...and the wasabi was really good. I went back to the skatepark today for an hour or so but my legs started shaking and I thought I might pass out so I "stopped while I was ahead" of a crash or bail. I still have Tri training to keep in mind and don't need any road rash or sore ankles, knees, wrists or elbows.

Ok that's enough for now....more to come.....cya

Blah

Is how I feel right now but am starting to get in the swing of things a bit more as I wake up.
Leaving Sunday morning to Florida....To Do list:
Friday...work, call plumber, meet tiler after work, load Triumph engine in Jp and drive 30 miles to see (and hope) they have a case for cheap, Start some packing, make adjustment to framed wall, secure lower garage.
Sat...Swim Session from 7-9 am, meet Mechanic Dave at 11, no SMBRide bummer, hopefully he takes on the engine rebuild and can solve the Avant dilemma, laundry, pack, computer, camera,clean and gas up Jp, organize
Sun....off to Airport Early and officially on vacation til late Friday
Next Sat.....doing the SMBRide, Tri Training bike maintenance at 1, haircut at 2:30
I'll try to blog if I bring computer or else just do it when I get back

Commuting

Perfect time to ride to work as Tori's wagon is giving us grief. Wouldn't start for some reason yesterday....she was lucky the Jp was in the garage. So I hadn't planned on riding in today due to the tri training running session tonight but did anyways. My goal was to put on lots of miles this year and this is a way to do it...plus there is all the other obvious benefits of commuting.
Yesterday I participated in my first WNBRide...and the weather was the best it's been yet this year. The temp gauge on my bike computer read 77 when we left the lot and 66 about 2 hours (+\-) later when I got home, just beautiful out. After work yesterday I rode home trying not to burn up too much energy. Got home and made a sammy, watched a little Oprah and then realized it was already 4:40. Knowing the group leaves at 5 I grabbed my water bottles, 2 tubes/co2's and jumped on the bike. Rode the 5 or so miles to the meeting spot w/ only minutes to spare. We took off South against the wind. I wasn't sure how long I could hold out but I hung on the whole way....it was too nice to turn off. So yesterdays total was like 56 miles. Oh yeah-and I was the only one to get a flat....again! Back tire this time....ERRRR.
This morning's ride info: ESE med wind/ 7.8 miles/27.5min/17mph ave/500 cals burned give 'r take

Hump Day

Rode in to work yesterday and today...today I took long way in because I had to stop at other building to pick up a part that I need to finish a project at work today.

The numbers are 9.1 miles/30.5 min/17.9mph ave/567 calories burned about .75 mi longer than norm. The majority of the ride seemed up hill for some reason. South winds bringing in warmer temps means a harder ride home...plus I have to take a diff route due to heavier traffic.

Tonight I'm going to participate in my first Wednesday Night Bike Ride (WNBRide). This is a faster ride and if you get dropped the group doesn't wait like Sat Morn's. Will have to try to conserve some energy on the way home or else just drop myself half way or something...Looking forward to it.

Motorcycle mishap is going to cost me at least 600 bucks to fix. May have been a blessing in disguise as if something would've went wrong while cruising could have resulted in a accident or something. This engine will now be completely rebuilt and should make selling it, if I choose to, easier. But I may like it too much to do that...have to wait and see.

Bathroom is coming along...Rosie's been MIA for last two days...will call today...just have to get drain in shower prepped for tiler. Have to call Neighbor Dave to hopefully schedule something for next week as this would work out really good. If all does go that smooth it'll be 50% complete.

Only time will tell.

Tri Training is progressing as well...had lifting and swimming on Monday...we swam for an hour w/ only little couple second breaks here and there...ass whooping big time...felt good. Tomorrow is Running Session and lifting.

Vacation News Coming...stay tuned.

Saturday update

Today went on the SMBRide....double flatted (I had two flat tires w/in minutes of each other), first one I'm guessing was from a pothole and the second one came from the tire bead creeping off the rim causing the tube to explode....thanks to all the guys for helping to the guys who watched. I hate slowing the group, not to mention twice! Pastor Jim and I cut out early since we both have other things to do today...he has to coach his daughter's soccer game today at 2 and I need to get my bathroom ready for shower drain/pan (finish framing) I bought two tubes and CO2 canisters as I will donate one to the next victim.

Go to http://www.triumphbobber.blogspot.com/ for an update on this beauty...

This is how far we got yesterday....I'm going to contine in about 5 minutes....just thought I'd try to update whoever out there is following along. C YA

Cashed

Last night during lifting I started running out of steam. Knowing that swimming was not going to be easy I hit the machines but only had a $5. The only machine that took 5's was the milk machine.....so I grabbed a chocolate milk and a bag on peanuts to try and bring me back for a while energy wise...and it seemed to work.

So we had swimming for an hour on Monday after a 2 hour session on Saturday. Holy Crap. I'm cashed. I'm not completely beat but I'm feeling it today. No lifting or cardio tonight (well maybe a bike ride across town and back if it's not too windy).

I plan to start framing a bit...hopefully all goes super smooth and I get a bunch done. Rosie was over last night running new PEX line in place of the old ones...I had my neighbor Dave stop by to meet him and discuss how to tackle the shower drain, looks like we're all on the same page now. Rosie is a worker - tonight he's going by Dave USA's to help him on his project...wow. That's what I'll do maybe...ride over to Dave's....maybe.

Weekend Review

It's almost 9 pm on a Sunday. Normally I'd prally be in bed watching something dozing off...well tonight I'm trying to hold off a while and stay up later to help me not get up so early. Why you ask? Well I have swimming class tomorrow at 6 so I'll start lifting at like 4:30, which means I shouldn't try to get to work earlier than like 7:30 or so...normal people and the old me would think no prob or that that time may sound really early, but when I go to bed at 9 I tend to get up at like 5 and just go to work at like 6 or 6:30. Just trying to adjust my timing for training, that's all. Anyways...I thought I'd post so pics of the lower bathroom remodel with an update of where we stand and a weekend review.
Friday night Rosie was gonna stop after he picked up his boat but since he was picking it up from so far out of town and being a Friday we both thought lets wait til morning to deal w/ the plumbin. Tori and I went out to dinner which felt like it's been a while. Good food and good people made the dinning experience very pleasurable. Home early as I had swimming early the next morning.
Saturday Morning Rise and Shine and the crack of dawn...actually earlier cause I kept thinking that I didn't want to be late to the swim training class which was at NHS from 7-9 am. Stopped at work on the way in and made it there w/ 5 min to spare. About 50-65 percent of the class showed up....some were late....I won't name names for B's sake but it was all good.
We went over all techniques for the first hour then did laps for the last hour. Eric and I were 2 of the last 4 in the pool w/ the coaches....Go Us!


After that came home to meet w/ Rosie about some of the plumbing things that I'll need done. The room looked like this when he came over. He sized it up after hearing me for a couple of min and said that since I'm this far I should remove the rest to replace the old stuff w/ new...common sense says why. I agree'd and he left. I then proceeded to get motivated after lunch and commenced demo. During demo Tori decided to take a bath and I found out that the upstairs bathtub, that I installed 1.5 years ago has a nice new crack. Great. Came to accept that I'd patch til lower was done and remove the upper later, but after googling and talking w/ the pro he said that there are pros that can take care of this issue. Thank God. So here's how the room looked when he left on Saturday.

Couple of hours and a shit load of dust later the old 2 layers and 1" thick drywall was gone. We had our last couples bowling league Sat night....beers were tasting might good after this loooong day.

Here's how things look now.........................................The pocket door frame kit is leaning against the wall...I was eyeballin where it was to go and how it was gonna look. I you look close you can see the new pvc drain line for the upstairs tube...the ol CI shit was nasty and the pipe was about 1/2 way shut from 45 years of shower yum yums going down the drain....yeah...pretty gross.

Here's another shot...new p trap drain line and a temp PEX line so I can continue framing....which I didn't do yet...I think Tuesday I'll finally throw up some boards.
Mess and Dust everywhere...Tori's pet peeve bout remodeling...she keeps asking if I'm done yet?!
Helpers...notice Mr. Sneaky coming thru the plastic....they'll be happy when it's all done too.
And this guy's been helping here too....for Rent. No one gets a free ride round dee's parts that's for sure...His name is Simon and we're dog sitting cause his family couldn't take him to Naples, FL....they don't like wiener dogs down there I guess.
No SMBRide this wkend but the forecast is calling for some pretty sweet sunshine to come our way this week and I may skip out on Spinnin' Class on Wednesday to do my first Wednesday night fast group ride....if you get dropped you're on your own...sounds fun.

There...that burnt up a half an hour and was quite productive.

Rosie's coming back tomorrow and I have swimming and weights...

Cya

Nothing but Projects

Is life one project after another? Your born, learn how to crawl, walk, poop in a bowl, pee standing up (dudes mostly), not to touch hot stoves or drink anything from below the kitchen sink, read, rite, and count. Tie shoelaces, ride a bike, throw a ball, spell your name, etc. Then there's the whole education thing...seems like a really big one that takes years.

Why do I bring this up? Well, I'm having one of those moments where everything feels like a project.

My quest to get my poundage down has been a project, not easy, but fruitful in many ways and is still working.

Triathlon training last night was cool - had spinning class, lifted weights before hand.

Bathroom Remodel is in full swing, need to call plumber today to get him there before this weekend.

My Jeep needs a little love.

My Triumph has parts coming...I've brought it up from the lower garage and it sits in front of the Jeep in the main garage and looks pretty cool...can not wait til that project is ride able.

The Stang sits collecting dust. That's hard to think about.

On the bright side I did have a couple of projects at work this week so I've actually had a pretty "normal" time here, the air is still thick w/ apprehension but I can honestly say this week is better than last.

I test rode a Gary Fisher 29er last night at LBS...pretty cool, debating. Need new mountain bike and still want to get a cyclo-cross bike this summer to be ready for this fall cause if I do I'm going to try racing in the novice class.

The thought of racing again make me feels really good.

So I guess life is one big project w/ thousands of little ones everyday if you want to look at it that way. I'm a rambler.

Cya

Twofer

So I went home, chowed some grub, and layed down on the LR floor for about 30 min w/ Shermann and Simon, a wiener dog w/ sittin fer. Well let me tell ya, I really didn't feel like getting back up, driving 10 miles, especially to go jump in a pool and do laps...but I did. And I was very pleased that I did. And to top it all off, I felt really good when I was walking out of the school....all stretched out from swimming, a bit exhausted, and the feeling of actually doing something rather than how it could have went.
I'm a bit exhausted mentally and physically again right now but I think I'm gonna try and pull myself together and stop at SHS to either just jog for a 1/2 hour or maybe, if I get myself really going, do a lifting routine. We'll have to see how we feel after the warm up.
Work atmosphere is still very very strange/uneasy.

Catching up?

I've been eating WW SmartOnes for lunch lately rather than the same ol same ol sammies for a couple reasons...1. they are faster than making a sammy in the morn, grab a box and go 2. they are inexpensive like 2-3 bucks per 3. they offer verity 4. they taste good...normally. Why do I bring this up? Well I just had the worst lunch in a really long time. I nuked the Lasagna package and chowed it. The edges got over nuked and the pasta was rubbery...like 2 bites were tasty, the rest just went down (not the charred edges) cause I'm unusually hungry this morn. I'm not sure if the wkend is catching up w/ me...the ride and the remodeling...but I'm feeling very tired and sore. Tor is a bit sick too so I'm now wondering if all of this is working against me. I'm not lifting tonight. I'm going to go home, rest and then hit the pool fresh. I think if I was to lift and then swim like last week I may accidentally drown.

Weekend Review

Friday - rode to bank to make sure bike was ready for Sat Morn ride...don't wanna be the one w/ mech issues
Sat - Sun's out and temps up - first Sat Road bike ride. Big group. New bike felt really good and I could tell that the carbon/steel has taken away some of the "roughness" from the road. Overall really happy w/ the LeMond and actually had some compliments. Cool. 3 hours - 52 miles total w/ an Ave spd of 17. Stayed in the front pack as long as possible....was happy I did not hold up the pack like last year...endurance is waaayy better and dressed almost perfectly for weather. Oh it's soo nice when a ride goes well.
Sat aft met w/ tile guy and plumber.
Sun Home Depot early...bought pocket door frame, frameless shower door kit, order pocket door, storage bins, lots-o 2x4's and some other misc. Took everything home and weather was so nice and I had a lot of big items that I had to organize the garage a little...nothing major, just gathering up winter crap that can go in storage soon until next year.
Was going to start framing but the upstairs shower drain is in my way....so I'll have to take care of that tomorrow night and frame it out next weekend as the forecast is calling for a pretty shitty Saturday...bummer.
Tonight is Swimming - Round 2,After lifting.

Sun

Looks like the Sun is supposed to show it's face today and tomorrow w/ temps breaking 50 both days. Have to jump on the bike and/or take a jog outside...I haven't ran outside, ever really, except for about 20 min last year at the high school and that was really rough.

Last night was our running session. There was a track meet going on so we were unable to use the gym and they found out they needed a permit to use the outside track so we went over the basic fundamentals of running...what muscles do what, what our cadence should be, what part of the foot to use, how we should swing our arms....just lots of good info. Our coach Tom has done quite a few Tri's and I believe an Ironman or two? I forget...but he knows what he's talking about which is cool. I lifted before class yesterday w/ the new program...nice to finally mix up my lifting. I've read you should do this every 3 months so I'm close to target. This is recommended cause your body can figure out what your doing and if you do the same stuff over and over you'll begin to see less and less results. So switching it up is good. The only thing I think that would be an improvement to the lifting routine would be to go from muscle group to muscle group to keep the HR up and to minimize the "sitting around & waiting" thing that happens when you work the same group in one session. Anyways it's all good.

Half day of work today, pto...have to return to the home project this weekend.

Mission Accomplished! 175 lbs!

Yeah right...Aprils fools day suckers.
Weighed in at work at 209 this morn.
Last night was workout 1 and first swimming round. Wow. Swimming is difficult. Used the diving board a couple of times after class...haven't been on one for a loooong time...was really fun.
Lungs were working to max capacity....need to find more room in there.
Tonight is workout 2, meeting neighbor Dave at house to discuss cement shower base and tile job.
I'm considering doing the tiling myself to gain experience...w/ the watchful eye of a pro of course, can't screw around w/ water.
Tomorrow we have our first Spinning class...should be cool.
Thursday is running...might not be so fun...I think it may hurt the worse of all of them to be honest...a little nervous for the knee and shin...will have to be cautious of all.