gadget envy

I have two new toys. Well, they are both new to me, but one is brand spanking new to the world.

I am listening to my 80 GB iPod Classic playing through my receiver and surround sound speakers, which has replaced the 300 CD jukebox. I think it sounds fine, despite most CD's being ripped at whatever the default is. The volume has to be cranked up quite a bit compared to the CD player and I don't have a remote to skip to the next track, but now I can make playlists and I was running out of room in the jukebox. And I have a fair amount of stuff in MP3 format only now.

I am also the proud owner of a Garmin Forerunner 405. Now I too can meticulously track my workouts and post the intimate details of my heart rate to the internets. I eschewed fancy gadgets for a long time. Why sometimes I don't even wear a watch when I go for a run! The horror!

I have a had a very simple HRM for a few years that I wore occasionally but it was basically limited to telling you what your HR was. And then I tried to change the battery myself several months ago and ended up with extra parts, though it still ran.

But no more! Now I can share with you this: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/193432
This particular workout stirred up some kind of allergy that caused my eyelids to puff up and put my Friday night plans into temporary jeopardy. Weird. But I recovered.

I can't wait to chart a bike ride with it and I should probably get the bike mount so I don't have to wear it. Because I really sweat under that thing. While the 405 is considerably smaller than previous models, it's still large, especially on my scrawny little wrist. But it does resemble a regular watch.

I am a little sad that it did not even make a cursory effort at estimating my calorie expenditure for an indoor workout. OK, well not that sad because I don't care that much. And anyway, the machine claimed I burned nearly 500, which I think is dubious at best. I'm curious to see how it estimates that for cycling.

So I have finally joined the 21st century as far as working out and listening to music. What's next??

bike week 2008

the goal: ride to work at least twice during bike week 2008 since after all I won a bike last year and I never did ride it to work again last year. Though I rode it around town alot.

However the weather was just too nice NOT to ride a third time, which netted me a sweet 105 miles for the week. Granted I'd like to be able to do that in one day, but jeebus, not on that bike and that's a different kind of riding anyway.

So for your entertainment and my self-indulgence after swilling $2 coors lights for the last few hours, I have a photoessay of my ride home from work, May 16, 2008. And I haven't quite mastered the Blogger integration of photos. I don't get why every time I add a picture, it just plops it up at the top. Um, that's not where I want it, but don't worry, I'll cut and paste. Nor did I resize my pics, so they're big if you click 'em.

I never thought it would be possible to bike to my job, not so much the distance as the impracticality of finding a decent route through Johnson County. But I have a really excellent route. It only sucks for a very short time, right around I-35. There are some really good hills, but also long stretches of relatively flat road where you can really cruise.

Brookside - Lenexa

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

So my starting point, a totally boring, beige, corporate office park in Lenexa, Kansas. However, we have a bike rack. Granted it's not attached to anything ...



Yeah, nice rack, baby.






After a very short stretch on Lackman, I cut through a parking lot and into 'Sar-Ko-Par' Park, which has a little pond where people appear to fish. Last year I rode through some fishing line actually. I'm not sure why they have these bikes in the pond, but I think they are sorta cool.







Sadly you cannot imbibe in cereal malt beverages in any Johnson County park.











I emerge from the park on 87th Street and I do a bad thing there. I ride on the sidewalk. It's only for a few blocks but I feel very guilty about it. But 87th is ugly and it's only a couple blocks to a stoplight and then another block past the light to the entry point to some trails that go for several miles through the beige 'burbs of Lenexa and allow me to avoid riding on Lackman, which is very, very busy and very, very hilly. I don't shy away from hills but the traffic on Lackman is scary. But to get down the trail, we must ride down stairs .... Which I might do on my mountain bike and without 15 pounds of crap on my back end.

The trails are nice, full of strollers and dogs and kids, which really slow you down but it's a nice warm up on the way home and a nice rest on the way in.



You get to ride by what must be the biggest tree in Lenexa.









The trail runs along a stream (part of Mill Creek?) for at least 20 blocks.


















And you can see some 'Johnson County taupe.'








So there was a news conference this week about making KC a 'platinum' bike city by some point in the future. I would say we have a long ways to go. Apparently, Shawnee, KS, has achieved bronze status. I'm not sure what this means but they do have bike route signs along Midland and 67th. And the road is nice and wide and mostly free of potholes, tire-eating grates and other crapola.





The best I-35 crossing has to be 67th. It's a lot less busy than 75th or, god forbid, Shawnee Mission Parkway. However it can still be a little dicey depending on what time you hit it.









After this not so fun stretch under I-35 and a quick 4 block run on Antioch, we enter the 'home stretch' on 71st. At this point, the route flattens out and the street is wide and not very busy. Metcalf is the only crappy crossing, because they have put these goofy medians in the road that make it a little narrower, which can suck when you're leading a line of cars through the light.

And today, I witnessed the best laugh of bike week. There is a stop sign on 71st for Santa Fe. There are usually a few cars there, so you have to actually stop, instead of the slow-down-rolling-stop-i-don't-want-to-unclip on a bike that you can usually do. So tonight I see a car with a bike strapped to a rack on the trunk and I figure he'll let me roll through since he's a cyclist. Well, whatever, the dude stares at me like he's going to go through but does hold up finally. I make sure to stand up and pedal so he can see my totally hot spandex-ed ass. &&&.

So he turns onto 71st, acclerates his super-cool Toyota Camry stereo blasting "No parking on the dance floor...." Guess his wife doesn't let him listen to that when she's in the car. And nice aerobars doofus. Bet I can dust your ass up a hill ...


My route goes through my favorite 'burb, Prairie Village. If I absolutely, positively HAD to live in a suburb, it would be Prairie Village, hands down, no questions asked. It has mature trees, some interesting architectural styles (ranch, Cape Code, modern-esque) and character. I hear gay people even live there.





And I like this garden art.









Finally, after forever or an hour and 15 minutes, we are safely back in Missouri and our Brookside 'hood and have racked up nearly 35 miles for the day.










And, believe it or not, this is what I crave most after a long ride .....

@ the card store ....

I always like to go to the Hallmark store to look for cards - birthday, mother's day, father's day, etc. Sure I could get one at the grocery store but the selection is better and I must feel some kind of loyalty as a former Hallmarker. And I always care enough to send the very best.

So I was perusing the Mother's Day cards today. Wow, does Hallmark know how to capitalize on every little niche or what.

You've got your standard "to Mom" and "to Mother" cards. Then you've got all the permutations of whom the card is from: son, daughter, the two of us, all of us, the dog, the baby, etc.

But my favorites seemed to be targeting unique slices of motherhood.
- "To Mom - I know I was a difficult child" Is this the one you send from prison?
- To Birth Mother.
- To Aging Mother. I saw nothing on this card that really distinguished it for old ladies, by the way.
- For your first mother's day. See, it is best to be the oldest ...

On the power of not thinking

Honestly, where does it get you?

Unless it's about:
A - a particularly vexing problem at your place of employment whereupon your solution will bring you looks of awe and admiration
B - how best to teach consonant blends and other fun adventures in phonics
C - where on earth to look for shoes next (I'm told there's a Steve Madden store at Oak Park, though that involves a mall - gag)

observations for a tuesday morning ...

I have just discovered two of the most awesome covers of 70's-era songs:
Barry White doing Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are"
Feist's fab cover of the BeeGee's "Inside and Out"

I never liked the Billy Joel song, but how could you not love Barry White doing it.

I heard the BeeGee's version back in the day when I believe that I *won* the "Spirits Having Flown" LP from a radio station.

late-afternoon observations

I blog, and I use that term loosely, about beer a lot.

Well, not really about beer. Not a thoughtful review on how blue my mountain was or the suggestion by the Hooper's waitress Monday night to avoid the beer that tasted like a "hoppy Budweiser" and have their other seasonal which was quite tasty though I can't remember the name.

Not even commentary on how really PBR is quite acceptable. Particularly for $1.25.

Nor how I used to not dig the lemon in a Boulevard Wheat, because I've never liked to adulterate my beer with weird stuff like fruit. But it's really good that way and more importantly, everyone else does it.

Mostly I just make random statements on how I wish I had a beer.

No wonder I can't shake a couple pounds to get back to my fighting weight.

Bracketology and why Canada is nicer than the US

Somehow I have soared to third place in our office pool. If KU takes care of business with Davidson and the 'Horns knock off Memphis, I should be sitting pretty. Funny, because I was in a race for the bottom before the Sweet 16 games started.

I also did a bracket for the women's tournament and put myself in the "Fans of Colorado" and the ESPN women's basketball commentators groups. I'm holding my own with the commentators but I'm not even on the first page with the CU fans. Women's tournament has fewer upsets though, so you're pretty safe going with the seeds. No Davidson to trash your bracket here.

Finally, last night I watched my last DVRed episode of "Bathroom Divas." This Canadian show searched the country for six people to send to an opera 'boot camp' where they received intense training for several weeks. Each week, one was voted off. The winner performed with the Vancouver Symphony ( I think the first season winner got the Toronto Symphony).

I just happened across this little gem one night and sought out the series to record. So far, there have been two seasons. Granted, you might have to be more than a little interested in opera to really enjoy the show. I found a couple other blog entries about it. One compared it to "American Idol" but without the mean-spiritedness. I don't know because I've never watched Idol. But I'm sure it's true. It is also a lot smarter than anything on American TV. Of course, it showed on the Bravo channel in Canada and on Ovation here, which are not exactly for the lowest common denominator.

gray early spring day but silver bullets in plastic bottles

well.

My planned evening at the roller derby did not happen so I was temporarily adrift. I jacked around and did nothing until I went to the gym after noon, since I decided I was too big a pussy to ride in the cold wind. Even though other people are doing it. Tomorrow.

However, I saw that "Body of War" was showing at the Tivoli, weekends only. I was happy because I thought I'd missed it when it opened here. Great movie. Documentary by a KC man who enlisted after 9-11 and ended up in Iraq, where he was shot and paralyzed from the chest down. Much about penile dysfunctions, which elicited many gasps from the men in the audience. Among other things that will stick with me, he said when you see someone in a wheelchair, you think 'there's a guy in a wheelchair' and you don't think about what is going on inside. Like all the stuff inside that just doesn't work any more. Like you can't cough because your stomach muscles don't function well enough. It was interspersed with alot of idiocy from W and also a roll call of the Senate vote to authorize war, or whatever the hell they authorized.

I was pleased to see that 7-11 had CL in 16 oz. bottles. I don't think I've ever seen those in a store before. That means I can toss in the recycling bin which gets picked up and not the one I have to lug somewhere. Though I really have to wonder if any of it really gets recycled.

Fighting the last war

I will offer a short break from my usual inane comments concerning my workouts, meals and DUI field tests. There is a saying that generals are always fighting the last war. I'm sure my many readers are smart enough to figure out what that means.

However, I use it as a metaphor for relationships. It seems I often end up fighting the last war. Whatever deficiencies the previous partner had, I find them in abundance in the next one. Or I go looking for it. So am I destined to bounce back and forth between complete polar opposites? Remain celibate until 50?

OK, enough of that deep thought. Makes my pretty little head hurt.

It's Spring.

My bizarre upper-abdominal Naproxen-induced pain has mostly ceased.

I'm going to get my mountain bike tuned up, in case we have 7 days without rain.

I made salmon for the first time ever. And it was edible. This makes me happy.