Dinnerless

As though I was a child again, being scolded for wrong doings of some sort I was off to bed last night with a growling, hollow stomach and unsatisfied appetite. This of course was no fault of anyone but myself, and in reality I cant recall a time in my childhood where I was sent to bed without dinner. Hell I love having my dinner, my mom use to make some crazy good food and even when we had nothing in the house she managed to take a bunch of things that made absolutely no sense being in the same pot together and would turn it into something awesome.

I never really was able to pick up on that skill, thankfully Cicely has it naturally so at times while odd, we have some meals that are one shot, one time, only meals based on what she can mix together in the time that we have with the supplies on hand.

Last night it was not necessarily due to a lack of food in the refrigerator, empty cabinets or something frozen without enough time to thaw. It was more along the lines of pure exhaustion I think. Cicely has been going at it all week between getting ready for her up coming fashion shows and summer events as well as being a mom and a wife, then still finding time for herself in between.

I made the assumption that she was going to whip something up for dinner as she always does for us, she assumed that I was not that hungry (and I was very hungry to be honest) but that I would either be more vocal about it and ask what we are eating tonight, what I can make us, do we have to go get something or whatever. Instead I manage to fall asleep sitting up on the couch, laptop on my lap and stomach empty. Only to wake up at nearly 1:00 AM to head off to bed for the night.

Surprisingly I am not as hungry this morning as I would have expected to be. I do plan to have a breakfast bowl of egg whites and turkey sausage which will help fill in some of the empty space. But otherwise I feel just fine. I hope she does as well because this is not a one-sided thing. She has to have food, energy and related as well to be all of those things previously mentioned - a designer, mom, wife, game designer and so on.

Anyway, that is my reason behind the title "dinnerless" today. It seemed appropriate because more times than not we always have something great for dinner and filling along with a nice desert of some sort - Drumstick chocolate dipped ice cream cone, sherbet and related. Always nice to look forward to after a hard day, a good dinner and while watching one of our shows on Netflix.

Climbed That Dam Hill, And MADE IT AGAIN!

Another reason I was so hungry and tired is that when I got home last night I got changed into my bike clothes and headed out for my uphill practice ride once again. It was cold, windy and more windy as the ride went on. Plus there were sprinklers on all along the path, usually getting the bike lanes nice and wet or misting me with water as I passed by, only making me colder along the way.

I am happy to report that I did once again make it up the hill and was rewarded with the long downhill run, usually the area I pause to relax my legs and glutes for a few while I drink some water, only peddling enough to keep momentum and my cadence up to par. Then I shift into a hard gear and dive head on into the downhill sections of the ride.

I did once again have a little bit of issue with my Garmin Edge 1000, only because I was trying out the 3D maps and was not sure exactly where to turn at times because it did not give me the exact street name, rather showed me where to be turning with a 3D road. There was a yellow lined road as well which to me is confusing because 2 times I was not sure which to follow until I finally put 2 and 2 together and it made sense to me.

The other problem is that the dam thing cycles between pages, showing all of the various data - which is awesome, but at the same time if I am coming up to a turn it needs to really swap back immediately, warn me of the upcoming directional change and then proceed cycling the pages of maps, elevation and so on. Otherwise I have to either remember what it last showed or worse, take my hand off the bars and swipe the display back to the map page. All the while this is taking my focus off of the ride and more importantly the road I need to be paying 100% attention to.

I will get it all sorted out of course. I just need the time to read through the manual. I have been meaning to for several days but things just keep getting in the way. At night I want to ride vs. sit on the couch and read the manual although that is then me sacrificing the "perfect ride" when I do head out. Last night was not bad, I only missed 2 turns and just slightly. Was able to turn back around and get back on course in a matter of a minute or less so that was good. Something I will continue to work on and it will slowly but surely improve.

When on longer rides it will be more of a non-issue of course because there will only be a handful of turns most likely. When I am in neighborhoods its much different and much more difficult because to get a long ride that has variation I need to make several turns throughout the loop. Most times as few as 5 or 6, but more commonly I have to do upwards of 10 or more. Again, no fault of the device entirely, rather something I have to work on as well.

All things aside, I still had a blast last night riding. I was able to conquer the hill for the second day in a row - it was more difficult last night though with the wind pounding me, but I managed to get up it. I did not break any speed records but that was not my goal either. All-in-all a nice ride and a great way to end the long Thursday at work.

The important part is that I not only finished the ride as I had hoped to, but I was able to get it recorded this time and can now look through the data whenever I choose, analysis it and so on to try and improve my riding. The only cool thing is that my cadence was in a much better zone than I would have anticipated. My only comment would be that when coasting down a big hill the device yells at you that your cadence is way under where it should be - it should really recognize that you are probably heading down a big hill or something vs. yelling at you.

To fix this I could simply set the cadence minimum value to something small or even zero so it does not yell at me, then I would still know if I were climbing at a good click. More things to test out and more rides to take place - all part of the fun and excitement.

What's Up With The Weather?

So as I mentioned above, it was really cold last night. I guess I better clarify, it was really cold for the end of June, start of July. I am not use to it being overcast, clouds rolling in over the mountains and a cold wind blowing even at 7 or 8 at night during the summer. Last night this was exactly what the weather was like and the temperature was only in the low 60's. Add the cold wind to that equation and then the misting of sprinklers as I rode and it was dam cold. I guess that must be related to all of the global warming that the hippies are always complaining about <smirk>.

Trust me, I do understand that there are issues with warming and I will avoid going on a rant about either side of that discussion. I see the documentaries where the polar bears are unable to find the big chunks of ice that they require to be on to survive. I know that they swim anywhere from a few miles all the way up to 100 miles in the ocean to migrate and find these chunks of ice and that they are getting harder and harder to find. Same with the rain forests and so on. I get it and I want it to be protected and left alone but adding a "like" on Facebook or sending out some spam mail that you are supposed to forward on will never change these things so get over that idea. In the meantime I am going to get off this topic before I do what I said I would not, and soapbox.

Announcements

So far work has been totally "business as usual" with regards to the policy changes and announcements that came out this week. I am happy that is the case but also wonder if people are thinking that it's just another negative or if it's not a big deal because it does not affect them so who really cares. Either way, good to see that it has not been blown out of proportion by anyone and that employees are keeping their heads down, having fun and making great games.

Fuzzy Kid

Last night, or yesterday Oggy must have eaten something that did not agree with him 100% as it went through his system today / last night while he slept. He ran out of the house, via his doggy door, a hundred miles an hour this morning while I was making my coffee. I looked out only to see him puking up some bright orange stuff and not looking as though he was feeling so hot.

After a couple sessions of this, he was back inside - got some scratching from me and soft belly rubs as well as me telling him what a "good boy" he is. I mean how many dogs will run outside and puke in the grass? I don't know the answer to that but I know that he will do it every time unless for some reason it completely catches him by surprise.

Such a good boy and I am happy he is felling better. How do I know he is? Because he chowed down his breakfast and has been watching me eat mine this morning so he could have some bites of egg whites - which he will get btw. Such an awesome fuzzy kid, I feel so lucky to have him in our lives!

Good Enough For Government Work

OK I think that will do it for today's entry. It's Friday which means the day can only go one of 2 ways. Super crazy busy fast or slow and annoying to the point I am watching the clock all day waiting for it to be over and done. Thankfully I have a pretty good idea that it will be the first of the 2 only less on the crazy side, more on the planning for the craziness of next week side. All good though and I will be happy to get into the weekend and enjoy some time at home, going for a nice long ride if I can get my ass out of bed, and so on.

I hope that the week has been good to you and that you are also on your Friday, looking forward to a couple days of doing whatever you want to do. Until tomorrow, have a good one!

Photo: My new Fox Racing road bike shorts. I have a cool jersey as well that goes with it but not a photo on hand. I had to take a photo because the seller sent me the wrong style. I will probably just keep them and get the other style as well from them. I only hope that they are not counterfeit designs since they are from a shop over in China. If so, I plan to no longer buy them again.