Month: September 2004

I’ve decided that my bike ride on Tuesdays and Thursdays is getting easier. That’s the first real sign that I’m actually doing something when I go to work out and ride. I’ve upped the weight on a lot of the Nautilus machines, but not substantially (except when I realized I was doing way too little on them the first week), but the ride home is much more of an indicator to me. The first few times I had to really push myself to get home, especially the ride up Bell (relatively steep, long incline). Now I can usually do it with just a little heavy breathing by the time I get to the top. When I start to get near the house, I used to coast as much as possible and nearly collapse against the garage door exhausted. Now I start finding newer, longer detours home so I can add an extra quarter or half mile. Even yesterday, when I got to one of my standard detour turns, I decided I just wanted to get home. But then when I came to one of the other detours, I took it and still added on another quarter mile.

When I got home, instead of collapsing on the floor, heaving and trying to drink some watered down powerade, I was industrious enough to go out and put up the new hammock. Yes, I said new hammock. The last one was eaten, we assume by squirrels. Why do we assume that? Because they hate us and eat everything we own.

I want to game. I haven’t played in a game in over a month and I’m starting to get the shakes. I ran my Spycraft game the other day, and while it was fun, and I loved running it (even if it was kind of chaotic and self-destructive at times), I haven’t had the chance to play anything since, shit, I don’t know when. I’m starting to need my fix again. Nick! Steve! Derek! Somebody! Help!

I haven’t been playing as much City of Heroes as I’d like either. I’ve noticed that it’s harder and harder to catch people on; well, except Tennessee Slim (et al). As a result of none of my higher level friends being on, I’ve been playing my lowbies a lot more lately. Kher Minu is turning out to be a really fun character. And I pulled Mick Mannock out of the closet and dusted him off so I could level him to 8 last night. Much fun was had. Crap, now I’ve talked about it enough that I’m wanting to play again. I wonder what Mick Mannock and Texas Ranger would work like together. Two blasters, dealing lots of damage, but with no blockers. Should be interesting.

Oh well, time to do some work.

Yay! My backpack website is back!

http://www.outdoorproducts.com/

Well, Classroom Orientation numero uno is done and I only have two more today.

Unfortunately one is at 6:00 tonight so I won’t be able to go to the rec center this afternoon. I feel like I need it though, my back is a bit achy and I need the movement of the torso rotation machine. I never realized how good the workouts would feel after I’d gotten into them though. I mean it’s still really easy to skip, I’m not like uber dedicated to that way of life yet, but I feel better for going and I feel a sense of accomplishment when I’m done. I find that I stand taller and straighter now than I did before, even though I can see any physical changes. I’ve been going for, I think, almost two months now, but I’ve lost track. I need to make a note as to when I started so I can keep track, but for the most part I’ve gone pretty regularly. there was the week that it was closed and I actually took 14 days off (mostly because of days I normally wouldn’t go bookending the days the rec center was closed). For the most part though, I’ve been pretty consistent. The same is true of my cycling, even though I’m really only riding about 4.5 miles, two days a week, it’s still refreshing and a positive experience…

oops, gotta go.

Last night I rode home with my new hydration backpack for the first time. I could actually fit all my clothes, shoes and crap I carry with me every day in it, and it holds 2 liters of water. It wasn’t uncomfortable at all (not that I expected it to be, but it was more weight than I’ve carried while riding before) and was actually quite comfortable. Like any new bag though, I have to learn where everything goes. The only thing that bugged me even a little, was that the water bag (or bladder as it’s called) sweats a little since I put ice in it. That made some of the things I put in the larger compartment a little damp, but not so much that it was bad by any means. I went online to see if there were any accessories for the pack, but the web site seems to be suspiciously missing. I hope I didn’t get a really good deal on it because the company has gone out of business, not that I wouldn’t be able to replace the bladder and tube with any other hydration system since it’s not exceptionally custom to the backpack itself. Now if the backpack has problems, well, then I’m kinda screwed.

Anyway, the rec center was HELLA crowded yesterday. I’m hoping it’s still just all the people who just realized they have this free membership, but will realize next week, they don’t really want to work out. I saw a bunch of people kind of messing around, trying to figure out what everything was. I’m really counting on those being the people that realize that it’s called “working out” for a reason. Amazingly enough, I still got in and out in a pretty short amount of time. The ride home was fantastic. It was about 89° yesterday so it wasn’t the least bit sweltering and the breeze was really cool the whole time. I got to the last turn on my ride and turned the wrong way. Probably added about .25 to .5 miles to the trip. Drove by a faculty member’s house to see if I coudl catch him out in the yard. Wanted to talk to him about some stuff, but he wasn’t around. I got to talk to him this morning though, about his computer and his trip last week.

Last night we watched some TV and I got on City of Heroes. Played around with Furious Badger a bit, hadn’t played him in a while. He’s getting much stronger, but still pretty vulerable if things turn down the wrong road. Ran around with Tennessee Slim for a bit and when we finished a couple of missions, he logged off and I switched over to Mick Mannock, my fire blaster. I need to get him up to 14th so he can upgrade his hover to fly. Hover is just too damn slow, and after playing Furious Badger with his Fitness and his Soooooooooooper Leap, all modes of transportation are impatiently slow.

I’m looking forward to playing some more tonight, but after this loooong day, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to pry myself off the couch.