Sort of wanted the snowstorm

Oh we are going to have a bad storm. Oh it will be 37 by the time we go home today. Oh it... Nah, it was in the 50's right up til time to go home. It's cold now but not that dancing after you walked through a spider web cold.

Terri did make it up to Mt Magazine for her board meeting with no problems at all. I'm bummed that I didn't get to go up there to train but couldn't do it with wet roads. She called a bit ago and said it snowed for about an hour up there.

Since I had a car and no schedule I worked out at the fitness center after work. Knocked out my core training then did the 30 minute sprint program on the spin bike. It was strange working out after work. I know everyone that does at lunch but I didn't know any of these people tonight.

Big news! I dropped 4 lbs over the Thanksgiving holiday! That just tickled me Fast Girl pink!

Tomorrows Friday! Yipeeee! Hey, there's rumor of a new local Sunday afternoon ride that seems to have the club hopped up. In one word... he-yells...big he-yells! I take the cam Sunday and gets some shots. Stay tuned!

Oh man... run for the bread and milk! Storms a comin'

IN THE CENTRAL THIRD OF THE STATE...GENERALLY ALONG AND WEST OFTHE INTERSTATE 30 CORRIDOR...PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO TRANSITIONTO A MIX OF RAIN AND SLEET DURING THE EVENING HOURS...CHANGING TOALL SNOW AROUND OR AFTER MIDNIGHT.

This has probably just set off a mad fight at the food store. Hey at least the film at 6 will be good tv! HA!

It's gonna change, and we're gonna whine!

It' gonna change and we're gonna whine! The weather that is. After an awesome spring like Thanksgiving the forcast calls for winter to arrive this week with highs in the low 40's and low's in the 20. Bummer. I was getting used to this! We've had the windows cracked letting in a little fresh air each day.

I got to ride a lot on Saturday and got a couple hours in this afternoon. I wore just shorts and a jersey. Isn't global warming a wonderful thing sometimes? The BDB was only packed at the top and it was real packed because a barge was about to comethrough the lock and dam. Sort of the same draw as kids and bulldozers.

I pushed real this afternoon. Real hard. I needed to sweat and I needed sore muscles at the end. I needed to burn those chocolate no-bake cookies my daughter made and I have been sneaking every now and then. I love those cookies and I was telling myself they are good for me because they have peanut butter and oatmeal which I need for riding engery. The choclate was just an added bonus. Anway, I think this could have been one of my fastest rides of he year. Of course poking through the crowd on the bridge slowed me down going over but coming back to the north side I hammered it up the ramp. I had tunes blasting (Fred Bear by Ted Nugent) so I was moving. I took it easy at the top due to the barge still coming through then there was a wide open spot so I opened it up. I came off the ramp at 25 mph and a few moments later I saw 30. Of course that didn't last but seconds! HA! I don't know, I just hit my groove today and it was feelin' alright!

I also hit a good gear combination today while working on Ft Roots climbs. I'm not sure why but it just clicked and I was climbing comfortably at 10mph. Then some dip stick stole my thinder by passing me like I was sitting still. I jumped to the attack but couldn't catch the guy. No idea who he was but he was really a mountain goat!

Some of my buds went to train on Mt Nebo today. Or as it's know to some "Mt. Knee-blow". Sounds like a great ride with homemade pizza at the end.

I am supposed to go to Mt Magazine on Thursday for Terri's board meeting and I was going to train on the mountain but with the temps being low 40's here, something tells me to highest point in the state will be too cold! I might be staying home and working on the kitchen.

Hope you all have had a great Thanksgiving!

Twas the day after Thanksgiving...

Twas the day after Thanksgiving and all through the town, the hogs got their tail kicked and all was with frown.
Yeah yeah yeah.... I was glad I was at home with other things to do. I watched here and there but had a list too long to stop and enjoy TV for the 2nd time today. I got hooked on a movie this morning. I kept telling myself to get up and get busy or go ride but I did neither. But I did get plenty of exercise today though. It's annual bring all the Chritmas stuff down from the attic day. Man, this stuff grows every year. I hit my head 2x on the beams in the attic and said words my mm would have grounded me for. It also seemed that everything was dusty. I coughed until I could taste that coppery blood taste. I also got several walls painted today so it's been a good house day.

Once during the day the wind was blowing and it looked like a leaf storm. Of course Terri had just cleared off our deck. Sort of reminds me of when I clean the yard. It always seems a wind wind will come and blow them across the yard again.

Oh well, tomorrow is just Saturday so I'll go get a good ride in. Hey, it's going to be sunny and 70 ...again. Not exactly puts you in the mood for Christmas stuff but if it were me, it might be sunny and 70 everyday.

Thanksgiving 2006

A shot of our beautiful cool, crisp Thankgiving morning. This is on the river front and yes, it really is a submarine.

A beautiful fall morning to enjoy! I woke early, had a little breakfast and out the door for my ride by 8. The temp was posted as 44 but a few minutes later the temp flashing at the bank downby the river was already 50. Up 6 degrees in 30 minutes. Uh-oh, if this continues, I'll be over heated soon. I made the ride with no problems and was really surprsied how many folks were out biking, running and walking this morning. The funny part was that on my way back in I saw several neighbors pulling out the boxes of Christmas lights.

I looked back at my ride journal from last year and in Dec I only rode 99 miles and only rides. I had a bad cold and couldn't remember it until Terri reminded me of how sick I was at the Trans-Sin concert last year. Oh yeah, I DO remember that. Another interesting journal entry was that my comment on 11/25/05 says "This is the first really cool day of riding." I didn't remember it being that warm all last fall.

OK, enough bike stuff. Thanksgiving... what are you thankful for? As I get older I seem to be more thankful for the more simple things.

Like this, for example, I'm thankful on Saturday nights when I go to bed and we've washed the sheets and they smell like Downy.

I'm thankful when I walk out of m front door and look across the valley.

I'm thankful I can turn on the water and get a glass full.

I'm thankful for the colorful fall leaves we've had.

I'm thankful my neighbors down the bought the property next door to us.

I'm thankful all the babies popping out all over my family are all healthy.

I'm thankful my kids aren't the ones popping out the babies! HA!

I'm thankful my kids and wife are healthy.

I'm thankful that I only have to drive 30 minutes to get "home" and that all my sisters and parents will all be there.

I'm thankful for my extended family. You know the one's in the hot pink jerseys!

I'm just plain ole thankful today!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

WooHoo -- 4 day weekend!

3 day work week done and complete even with it's reports and drama. I had 3 calls today and 2 of them were non-work.

I had 2 Fast Girl Slow Guys memebers come by my office. Jenn S with an awesome awesome idea for my River 2 River ride in May. When she told me, I thought to myself, this is going to be great! I'll let you in on it later. This afternoon Yale came by and even brought me a Starbucks Frap! Gawd, I love that guy! HA! He was cutting up with our receptionist Karen when I walked in.

By 3 I was stir crazy and luckly Terri called and we hit the road home. Lots of traffic for that time of the day. Bumper to bumper creeping traffic! I was given a hall pass to go ride my bike but this traffic was cutting into my time.

I finally got out there about 4:15 or so and as I was suiting up I spotted JBar and Jo go by. I finally caught up with them at the BDB but only because they stopped. We chatted a moment then JBar headed back down the north side and Jo and I went over the bridge. We rode a little over there and on the way back I could see a car coming from behind but it never seemed to go around then I noticed a bike. Cool, it's was Paul C. I hadn't gotten to talk to him in a while. He actually took a call on his cell while riding with no hands. I think that might be my new years resoultion... get Paul to teach my to ride like that.

Both Jo and Paul talked about not getting to ride much these days. Seems like when the time changed it sort of blew big hawker on everyone's riding. We all hit it, slipped on it and laid our bikes down. They had both parked on the LR side and I came back over the BDB and rode on the "warm" side. Man, when the sun goes behind that hill on the LR side it's just plain cold! When I got back to NLR the sun had kept the pavement of the path warm so it was a lot nicer. I rode down to Alltel Arena and back to Burns where my car was. I had to use my light on the north side and I knew I would come upon a deer or skunk but saw neither. When I stopped at the car it seemed like 7 but it was ONLY 5:58. I hate the short daylight of winter. Serious!

The weather in the upcoming weekend is "10". Cool mornings and warm afternoons 67/69/69 and sunny! Sounds like lots of different rides will be going on and I hope to get on a couple. I plan to get up in he morning and ride down to the river and back. Nothing major but some good base miles.

Weight: 180
Miles: 22.4
Temp: 55
Wind: What wind? Even the river looked like glass.
Beautiful sunset

Happy birthday Terri!!!

11/21 is Terri's birthday! Happy happy birthday... I love you!

When Monday is Wednesday

Don't you love it when you go to work and Monday and it's already Wednesday?! Nothing better than a 3 day work week. The act is I've very glad it's a short week because I've had a huge report due for int eh morning and have spent way more time than probably needed but I wanted to be sure I covered every angle. We'll know in the morning.

So on to funner things! I spent all of yesterday afternoon on the bike! 3 hours of non-stop riding. Ok, I did stop at the top of River Mtn but it was for less than 30 seconds because my vest zipper was stuck. I climbed the triple bypass, rode the park a 2 times, up and down the north side 2 times, around the soccer fields 2 times. The whole weekend riding was just plain good.

After logging in my ride and my food I got happy faces and then said I could eat 3K calories and still hold present weight. Well boy howdy!

Today I've eaten and not exercised. Bummer...

Thanksgiving idea... HA!

This is just to funny not to post! Came from a friends email...

NEW TURKEY RECIPE

You should try this!

Sure to bring smiles from your guests!

Here is a new way to prepare your Thanksgiving.

1. Cut out aluminum foil in desired shapes.

2. Arrange the turkey in the roasting pan, position the foil carefully. (see attached)

3. Roast according to your own recipe and serve.

4. Watch your guests' faces...

Super Saturday!

The golf driving range along North Hills Blvd. Still flooded after the midweek rains.

Look real close at the water and what do you see???

Yep, at 100 yards out there were geese hanging out. There was actually a guy hitting balls out there and the birds just sat there guarding their turf. The golfer heard me laughing and just gave a big shoulder shrug. Hey want can you do?

Small craft boats are generally not this close to to the dam but this morning I actually saw four fishing really close. Notice how the water is churning.


From one of the overlook areas on the BDB.


Looking over at my side of the river.

The view from the shelter area on the northside.

Color didn't come out too good on this photo but the hills are still really pretty with their million dollar homes starting to be visible again.

What a morning! I woke feeling go and ready to ride. I was really planning to get down to the river by 8 and ride the Carve ride out to the farmlands but I saw the morning news/weather and forgot about Holiday House going on at Alltel Arena. No parking at the river today was my thought. So I suited up and got to wear my new bike shoe covers for the first time. Oh man, awesome! Made a big difference. Robb told me when I bought them last week that they will make me look like I have on fireman's boots but they are warm and he was right on both counts.

I started from the house and buzzed down North Hills Blvd and was really feeling great! Even the big hill before McCain Blvd (the street the malls are on) was fine. I climbed in the big ring, yes, the lowest of the big ring but still. More cars than usual for 8 on Saturday morning. They must be going to one of those door buster sales they show on TV. HA! I hate to go to the malls.

I got down by the river and sure enough all the crazy ladies in their Tahoes and vans were beginning the showdown for the parking spots. I wondered if they were using this event as parking training for the real big event next Friday? You know the day after Thanksgiving parking choas! Anyway, I made it through and there was actually parking available down at the river front.

Heading down the river trail and the runners were out this morning. Probably feeling the same couped up feeling that I was having not being able to get out and play due to the rain. It was great to be out in the cool crisp fall air enjoying the sunshine in my face! Made it down to the big bridge, over and on out to I-430 parking area and made my way back.

Ok, funny story about the ladies and their parking... There is an area right in front of Alltel that is not really I parking area but I guess they opened it for vendors to unload and no security was watching. It's not a drive through! It's a dead end with no way to turn around. Ok, so there are all the ladies following each other into that driveway thinking they are about to get the prime parking spot (and for free). Have you ever seen Animal House where they led the band into the alley? Maybe it was Farris Bueller, I can't remember but it was blind leads the blind. They lead the band into an alley that's dead end and they all just run int each other. That's what I watched happen. They didn't all run into each other but they all got grid locked in. It was a hoot! I laughed and laughed as I rode by THEN.... Darwin award goes to this fine female citizen... a lady in a new Suburban is locked into the middle of this group and decides she will back up. This is happening right in front of me! The SUV has a trailer hitch and it's a new SUV, very nice looking! She starts going backwards and there is a van right behind her and cars behind it. The trailer hitch hits the van and lodges into the plastic. Looks like those dogs that get stuck. I laughed and the lady in the van is really upset and the lady in the SUV is acting like it's the van ladies fault. You know what I did? Rode right on down the road! Then I laughed and laughed and laughed!

It was nice to get back to the house because I have a list of chores 5 miles long. Once I get up, I can't sit back down for a long time.

By the way, Terri join My Food Diary dot com too. It's been really nice to have a partner to watch the diet and encourage each other. We both blew it last night. I really really blew it. We had seen a new Itlian food place in Jacksonville as we were driving to the teen hayride a few weeks ago and said we'd come back sometime and wat there. It's call Roma's and it's the bomb! We had a nice starter that was different olives, basil and other vegs. I could have made that a meal. It was awesome. Then the entre as gril chicken, eggplant and pasta. I new I would burn off the pasta on my ride this morning so I didn't worry much. I ate about half and I don't think Terri even ate half of hers. It was some grilled chicken, mushrooms and white sauce. But then there is one thing Itilian that I just don't pass up and that's Tiramisu! I do anything for that stuff and it was the real homemade version! I thought I dead and went to heaven. Then I logged it in later. Someone kick my tail please!!!! No kick really really hard! It was a whopping 1400 calories! It sent my food dairy off the scale.

Ok, time to head outsoors and get those leaves up before the neighborhood committe comes to call. HA!

Have a great weekend!

Weight: 180

Bike ride: 120 minutes

Cal burn: 2410

Temp 40

Wind: light

Cloudless sky

It's Friday!

Days like this make me excited! It's almot the weekend, then a s-h-o-r-t work week then a l-o-n-g weekend then for me it will be another short week and long weekend. Terri has a board meeting at the lodge on top of Mt Magazine the week after Thanksgiving so I'll go up on Thursday and return on Friday. Yes, bike buds, you guessed it, I'll ride up Magazine. Terri is going to drop me off somewhere before the mountain and I'll ride up. She'll be in meetings all afternon so maybe if the weather is nice I'll ride down and up again. We'll see.

http://www.mountainstateparks.com/magazine/

Midweek part 2

I went to my nutrition class and of course as these things go, I was the only male. We had the usual talk about portion size, blah blah blah. But she (Andrea Goodwin) did say some stuff that I wasn't thinking about. We have a cafe here at the hospital but for some strange reason I don't think of it as eating out. She was talking about how she drove through Mickey D's and got breakfast the oteher morning and was talking about that it cost her 5 bucks and tons of cals. She then told us to think of a few places we liked to eat out at and if you eat out (especially fast food) and add up the number of times you went and the cost. She was trying to get us to see that eating fast food is not only bad but robs your budget as well. Suggest was to only eat out 3x a week. Bring your food to work and only eat what you brought. Lots of talk about the holidays. She asked me what my wealness was and I said chocolate. She then asked how I planned my eating so I could eat chocolate. I told her I didn't and the class laughed. I don't plan to eat chocolate. If it's presented to me, I'll eat it. now, i have to watch that.

But the real reason for writing this blog is to tell you about a website I found. I'm going to be watching my calories. Ok, I'm going to "track" my calories and so I Googled "Calorie Counter" and came across this website called My Food Diary dot com ( www.myfooddiary.com ). I've looked at several weight loss web sites but I really like this one! I cost 9 bucks a month but I can graph, set goals for all sorts of areas, shows my excerises. Just a cool deal. I checked the forums since I'm a forum snob and found a thread called "Girls have Cooties". I laughed and clicked on it and found it really was a thread of guys, mostly 30-50 professionals, discussing their goals and such. One of the guys is a programmer and set up their own website for challeneges. It was nice. New challenege starts soon so I thought I may jump on.

Midweek

The storms seem to keeping coming through this morning. When I went to bed last night it was storming, and I woke up a coupke of times due to lightening flashes. I flipped on the tube to see video of cars in the water. We got some rain last night! They just listed about a dozen streets that are temp closed or have "flooding concerns".

Anyway, I'm glad it's Wednesday and already loooking forward to the weekend ahead. This orning I'm seeing a nutritionist. Sounds big but it's really just a part of the holiday weight challange through the fitness center at the hospital. I have no idea what it will entail. But as I promised I would be open about this so at the end of each blog I'll list my weight and training stuff. I've read some other blogs with folks training or working on a weight loss plan an it's inspirational to see the numbers.

Yesterday I did fair on my eating. Lite breakfast and yogurt/fruit/granola for lunch, one Hersey kiss (coffee flavored!). Dinner was grilled chicken quesadia's (sp?) and then we watched Cars and Sean was here and asked if we wanted ice cream. I wanted to say no but when I heared the work "Half Baked" I was done in! So I had some. But I have to admit, and this is no patting on the back, but at least I didn't do what I did Monday night! I'll just say I was a bottomless pit. Sometimes it seems that I do good all day but after I eat dinner I don't seem full and I junk food it. It was so bad Monday night that Em just shoke her head at me. Now that's sad! The next thing I know when I eat like that is that I have wasted an evening where I could be doing something useful.

Jen stopped by my office to drop a check yesterday and was asking about my training and the River 2 River ride. She has it all planned out and I hope I can talk her into being a big part of this! Her excitment is contagious. She was telling me how the pro races do it with the folks they come ahead of the race and get the crowd all excited. Cool idea! It would be neat to have someone ahead of the ride to get folks to be out there to hoot and hollar as we ride through.

Well, time to wake the girls and get this day going.

Weight: 180.1
Breakfast: Instant breakfast and Nature Valley grandola bar, glass of water.

Ya gotta love Sundays!

Little Rock skyline from Ft Roots drive

Don't know who it is but thought it would make a cool photo.

The gates of Ft Roots drive

My shadow yelled "On your left" and then tried to pass me!

This is some smoke stack along the way. I always try to figure out what it is.

Ya gotta love Sundays! I wake up and it's daylight actually! I normally wake about 5:30 to 6 no matter what day it is. But it gives me time to plan out the day ahead and enjoy the quite of the early morning. Flipped through the paper then had to wake the girl up. Uh oh, Emmy's sick with a nasty sore throat.

After church we got home to find Em in the same place we left her. She must be sick! We all had soup from he crock pot and then Terri had to go to a business deal until about 10 tonight. Emily was feeling a tad better.

I put the bike in the car and heading down to the river. I rode solo at first and climbed Ft Roots and as I was going down I saw someone climbing up. I didn't realize it for a moment but it was Matthew! Yep, fully recovered and eating the hill like it was flat with tail wind. A few feet behind him was another guy. OK this guy has on a bright orange helmet and those are limited around here. The guy is little, I say howdy as I'm heading downa dn they're heading up. Hold on! That little guy was Yale! Holy smoke! 2nd man up the climb and climbing fast. Then I saw the rest of the group. It was the ABC club ride. I got down to the last switch back and then climbed Ft Roots again. I met up with them at the top of the hill. It was reallt good to see everyone again. And yes, Yale is really skinny! What an inspiration! He has always been a good climber but man, you take some pounds off and he is giving the mountain goats a run for their money!

I rode with the group to Burns Park and we make a loop. We climbed by the golf course then turned and everyone had a little spunk going on. As we get close to the BMX track there is a shift and Yale jumps to the front then I open it up and go only to be shamed by the mountian goats who really put me in my place. I knew that hillwas around the curve but I thought if I could ge up there then I could have a head start. Yea, right! Ha! We circle around and over the interstate and back by the tennis courts. I'm hanging with Chris Shaw and Ian. I'm "allowed" to sta with them until we ride back to Cook's. I've mentioned my secret goal, you know, to keep up with Shaw Dawg. He and Ian were in winter mode because it was 18-20 mph most of the time.

We regrouped with folks at Cooks and then I rode over the big bridge with Chris, Jen, and Ian. Then of course we needed to climb River Mtn. Just as we were about to start the climb, Jen says, "Well, it's time to get dropped." We watch Chris and Ian eating up the hill. I look down and see myself going 6mph. I'm happy. Just get to the top. I will say this, there is a BIG difference riding with music vs. not. I ride much better up that hill with tunes blaring.

After we dropped back down we said our good bys. Ian heading home to eat peanut butter and jely and Chris and Jen were talking cheese dip. Both sounded good! I still had some more miles to put in so I head back over the bridge and ride in the sun on the north side. The LR side is under a hill and it's COLD over there! Getting over the bridge was little riding my bike through that famous dog show. I've never seen that many dogs on the bridge! The leaves are at their peak and I wanted to shoot some photos so I head back up Ft Roots.

Once again, a great afternoon to ride! It was great to see everyone again!

Tomorrow is the weigh in for the fitness center's Holiday Weight Challenage. I'm using this as the re-start of my weight drop. We had a choice when we sign up to maintane your weight or another box with the words LOSE. I marked lose. Lose weight over the holidays. Am I nuts? HA! I'll go public with the weight and even post if I'm losing or gaining.

Saturday morning ride

The underside of an abandoned train bridge.

I had just finished my 32 mile ride and it was a beautiful crisp fall morning

Shot of Riverfront Park from across the river

Just nice shot of the Little Rock skyline with fall colors.

Got up this morning and enjoyed a leisure breakfast of pancakes and a juice glass of chocolate milk and played with Sadie for a bit. About 8 I was geared up and ready for my morning ride. I flipped on the tube to check the weather. I knew it was chilly since I had let Sadie out earlier. Brrr, it's 44 outside with the wind blowing down from the north. I drove down to the river instead of riding the bike down there (I know, I'm whimmy). It seems when the cold weather hits it takes 30 minutes to suit up and make sure you have everything. The little things like Chapstick can make or break a ride some days. The group from J&P Bike Shop are rolling in as they are finishing up. They are wrapped up tight. Looks like a blizzard about to hit. I pretty much layer almost as much. Base layer, jersey, wind jacket, shorts, tights, 2 pairs of socks, cap, helmet, full fingered gloves. See what I mean?! HA!

I push off from the riverboat parking lot and the wind comes in bursts. I'd be riding along doing fine then swoosh and the bike shakes. The wind was coming straight down the river and at times there was no shelter from it. You had to just put your head down and plow through. It wasn't real hard but I'll say this much, there were small white caps on the river.

As I went over the long wooden bridge into Burn's Park the Cannondale demo truck was unloading. Lots of mountain bikes which you could take out and ride. It was still about 30 minutes before the scheduled time for them to be there but it appeared they were ready to go. On my way back later they had a nice crowd. Sorry, no photo's since I forgot to take my camera on the ride.

As I got over the Big Bridge, which was cross wind madness, I looped under and headed out to I-430. Once I got there I was feeling good so I climber River Mtn. Even though it was windy I felt I had a good climb and turned around at the top and zipped down. Back during the summer I was having some weird sort of wobble when I would go down hills once I hit about 25 mph the bike just didn't feel solid. I had that happen going down so I slowed down. The strange thing was that I had no problem coming down Ft Roots a bit later. I let it go wide open until just before the first switchback.

After I came down off of River Mtn Road I had wonderful tail wind pushing me and riding 25, 26 mph was so easy. I sort of felt for the folks that were riding into the wind then. I had be there and done that.

There was a photographer out there and a few minutes later another rider and I were cruising along and he said that it was the Rails to Trails folks! Wow! Maybe the bike path will be in their publication and website. After a few minutes of riding together I turned and headed to do a couple loops of Burns Park. It was strange not seeing soccer going on.

All in all it was a great morning to be out riding!

Thought you might enjoy a little fall color from the top of the hill where we live. The valley was really pretty this year but right now there is a cold front coming through bringing winds and rain so I suspect in the morning we'll wake to some bare trees. It has been a colorful fall.

speaking of the cold front, it has already come through Fayetteville and NW Arkansas and the sports reporters are all decked out in hats, coats and gloves. It's funny because 3 hours south where we are it's shorts and t-shirts for the moment. Speaking of Fayetteville, tomorrow has been called "Code Red". I'm not a big football fan but the Hawgs have done good this year and tomorrow seems to be turning into fever pitched excitement. Ark vs TN tomorrow night.

With deer season starting tomorrow at daybreak and the Hawg game. It's sportsman heaven.


I finally got to get out and ride last night. I met up with Brandon about 5 and we rode the north side, over the bridge and out to I-430 and back for a nice 20 miler. Yes, we saw a skunk but I think the things are so used to runners and bikes on the path that unless you pester them they go on about their business.

It was really nice to be out and it made me really miss having a car where I could get afterwork rides in. The funny thing last night was that we did our ride and got back and loaded bikes and talked for a little bit and when I got in the car it was only 6:40!!! It seemed like 9pm. Weird feeling. It was in the 60's while we were riding but I suspect that's close it the last of the 70's for high period.

I'm looking forward to the weekend to get a little more of the kitchen redo done. I'll be priming and painting some. I'm also going to get out and ride some. There is a ride on Sunday that I'd really like to do. I did most of it bak during the summer but it was the ride I didn't finish and got sort of sick on. It's one of those, go back and get 'er done sort of feelings. There are 3 hills, big big hills but the weather is so different this Sunday than it was last time. Since I've not been riding much, I would be dropped like a rock right out of the gate.

Tomorrow I will get out and ride some. The weather is calling for 58 degrees with wind NW at 8-18 mph. Ugh! I broke one of the arm zippers on my riding jacket and hopes Terri can figure out how to fix it before tomorrow. If not I might just see if she will just sew the arm on and leave it as a jacket. But then I'd have to buy a new riding vest for that days when it's not so cold. Humm, buying new bike gear? i like the sound of that!

I have been thinking alot about River 2 River, the fundraiser I'm planning for May 24, 2007. It's a one day 311 mile ride from Ft Smith to Memphis for the hospital. A couple of folks have said they want to be in on it! I couldn't be happier! Some will do the whole trip, some will ride a century (100 miles) of it and some will jut come out and ride a bit. All are welcomed! Everything is still in the early planning stages.

This afternoon I sent an email to a friend and personally one of the, in my opinion, best riders around. I asked him if he would consider being my coach. I hoped he would have time to just help me form a plan, maybe give me a push and I would be honored. Nope, I get back to my office after a meeting to find the "You have mail" icon. I check the list and there is a response. As silly as this may sound, it was sort of like finding out if you got picked for a team. The email was great and a long one. It was motivating and down to earth. It was exactly the sort of email I would hope a coach would write. It had words like diet, spreadsheets, base miles . I offered to pay coach but he wouldn't hear of it. Wha?! Friends, my new coach for the River 2 River ride is Mark Rogers. From the bottom of my heart, "Thanks Coach!"

You shouldn't be able to hear... at all!

Sunday before last I rode a nice Sunday afternoon ride. The weather was great and I was enjoying myself. What I didn't do was remember to take the vent plug out of my hearing aid ear mold in order for the heat and sweat to escape. That's a recipe for ear infection heaven. Sure enough, I got one. No big deal really, just leave the aid out when I can and drops at night and it's clear in a couple of days. This time there is something not quite right. I thought it was my hearing aid so I called Mary to ask if she would look at it. that's the nice thing about working at the hospital. I have quick access to an Audiology dept. Mary takes my aid and puts it in a machine I've never seen before. Looks like a little gray doll house with no windows. It's actually mini sound proof booth for measuring hearing aid output. I love technology! Ok, the aid is working fine. She puts me in the testing room and we run a hearing test then she leaves the room. Seems like I sat there for a long long time then she came back in and it was bad news. Really bad news! I saw what she was about to tell me which I knew already. My hearing dropped. Actually it sort of jumped off the cliff. It's almost completly gone. My stomach was in knots and I could taste bile in my throat. No now, please not now I thought to myself. Mary went through the drill as a medical person sometimes has to. She told me that that was why it took so long for her to come back to the room. She was the one that was going to have to tell me that I was a hairline away from deaf. With my hearing aid in and turned all the way up I could still hear fairly well for this to me happening. She was asking me about if i had been sick and i told her about the ear infection but that it was gone. No draining at all. Then she looked at me a moment and said, hang on, let me try a pressure test. She did the test which it nothing more than an ear plug and sound waves bouncing off my eardrum. It was a flat line. She did it again and once more, a flat line. Flatlines are bad right? Not this time! It's great! She said I awas going to be fine and that I had a lot of fluid behind my ear drum and that was what was cause the sound blockage. Big smiles in the room! I was told to pop my ears 3 times per hour and the fluid will slowing drain over the next couple of days. So I've be popping all afternoon. In fact I need to pop right now! HA!

I have thought about this a few times thoughout the afternon. What am I going to do when my hearing finally drops? Who will tell me? Where will I be? Just a bunch of what if's. but then I tell myself over and over... no what if's allowed.

I've gotten addicted to the Biggest Loser show and tonight had a new twist! The guy from Arkansa has returned! Man has lost something like 79 lbs! Come on Arkie! Come then again it has it's chop it it and edit it all different and make it "good backstabbing I hate your guts" reality TV. Too bad for that. I like the show without the drama effects.

Speaking of biggest loser we start our finess center Holiday Challenage. You have the choice of maintaining your weight throught the holidays or dropping a few lbs. I marked "Lose". Lose during a holiday? Are you insane? Well, yes, I've been told I was! HA! If I can not eat after 6 which has not been going so great lately and going to the gym, which I've not done ALL week. I could make all sorts of excuses but I won't. I have to do the weigh in next week so do I blow it off til next week then go after it and lose the weight or do I do the right thing and get my tail back to the gym tomorrow? It's going to be 81 degrees here tomorrow and a bike ride sounds so nice. Maybe I can talk Terri into riding home with Eva and I can use the car to to get a ride in down on the river. I really miss having my own car a lot right no but the money we are saving by not having another car payment, insurance and gas is great.

So did you vote? I did! Some of my candidates wona d some lost. I was more concerned about my Sherwood officals than the Arkansas officials. I was really tired of the ads. Got to be a bit much this time and you know it was double on '08.

Well, make it count!
Geo.

A 4 day weekend, on the floor and a good buzz!

How's that for a thought provoking title? A 4 day weekend, on the floor and a good buzz! Sounds like a wild weekend huh? Well, I'll break it down for ya... Yes, I was off Friday and Monday so there's your 4 days weekend. Yes, I was on the floor a lot this weekend because I was putting in out new kitchen floor. Looks pretty good if I say so myself. No, this isn't my house but it's the tile. When I get the kitchen finished I'll put some of those before and after photos out there. I forgot how much I enjoyed doing big home projects.

And the next part of the title: a good buzz. I was trying to grow my hair back out and got tired of combing it so I got a buzz today. I mean a real scap showing buzz. Hey it was a rainy Monday morning and I haven't been on my bike in days and days so I was bored. Sad to have 4 days off and the schedule never allowed me to go ride.

The FL Ironman was this weekend in Panama City and I knew a few of the guys and 2 girls and all did good! I honestly am blown away by atheletes that can swim 2.4 miles in the Gulf, ride a hundred miles with 80 of it being into the headwind and then run a marathon (26 miles). Man oh man. These guys rock! Congrats friends!

I did get to run down to Benton and visit the folks. Both seemed tired but doing good. I also got to see a couple of my sisters while I was there and we were laughing and talking about last Thanksgiving and the funny game was played and then no one could remember the name of it. I found out it was called "Loaded Questions". If you need a fuuny party game, pick it up. My mom almost sent me to my room for some of the answers I would come up with.

Hey lots of good stuff as far as entertainment coming to town... Blue Man group, Jeremain Taylor fight, Tran-Siberian Christmas show, and a few others.

By the way, after I got my haircut today one of my favorite eat joints is next door, Blue Coast Burrito! I picked up a sack of fish tacos and a big ole Baja tea! I could drink a gallon of that stuff! It's some sort of tea and orange juice. I loaded up on the salsa bar with the roasted tomato and also the pineapple salsa's. Color me Happy Camper!

I just found out on of our guys is heading over to Iraq. Jason, man, take care bro and get your tail back here soon. I'm hoping that it works out whre I can go to the POP ride next Sunday and get to ride with him again before he heads over.

Well, enough stuff for the night..... Geo out!

Fast week

Sitting here waiting for Terri to get off from work. I'm off Friday and Monday and can't wait. I'm supposed to start working in the kitchen and ripping out the floor and putting in our new tile. I've seen so many different ways to do it that we can't decide which way would look best. There's the normal laying the tile, then there is the angled way, then there are the ones that are different sizes, then I saw some that were staggered like bricks. I'm going to borrow a saw from a friend so I don't have to buy one of those.

Also we are getting the carpet cleaned then we are having the speed bumps stretched out. I was really glad to hear the carpet stretcher guy tell Terri that after we get it restretched we'll never have to worry about it again. Why didn't they tell me this 5 years ago when we bought the carpet?

I've got to get those pansies planted too.

By the way, I found out that one of our guys is in Iraq now. You've heard me talk about Rob Carr. He was one of the guys I had the honor of riding with when John Van Pay did the fearless ride across the state in a day last October. Rob is on of those guys that is really easy to get to know. You know, one of those "knows no strangers" sort of guy. He'll be back home this spring.

It's sort of weird because Paul, who rode is moving to Atlanta, Rob is over in Iraq. I guess that just drives home the point that life goes on.

More later...