Cold

It's currently 18 degrees and snowing. Again.

I'd like to get out and ride but I'm not sure it's going to happen.

So far this year, I've commuted to work one day, Friday, Jan 2. Total miles 8.43. I called out today so I could get some things done around the house (insulating windows, for reasons mentioned above.) I spent the weekend helping a friend install cork flooring in two rooms of his house. It looks good, better, probably, than the cork I installed here at my house even. (with experience comes perfection...)

I'm printing the labels for my Scottish Ale, which should be drinkable some time in June. They recommend six months in the bottle, I'm going to wait this time. I know from my last Scottish Ale that they do indeed get better with age. I bottled on January 1st. Four days down...



On the beer front, the Edward Abbey Ale is delicious. I'm very happy with it, and I've had good comments from friends so far as well. It's nice to have one turn out after the coffee stout disaster.

Well, I'm rambling and it's getting close to time for the first pass with the ol' snow shovel. But first, I think I'll cut labels. What a fun life I lead.

Oh -

I forgot. Happy New Year!

2009 - resolved

I'm hesitant to list any resolutions for 2009. In 2007, I hit all of my resolutions, which, if I remember correctly was to ride four centuries (I turned 40 that year) and something else that I'm not remembering right now but I'm pretty sure I did.

In 2008, I failed miserably.

1. I was going to win a Larry Schwartz award from the UMCA by riding a century a month.
FAIL.
2. I was going to ride the Desperado Dual. Sorta Fail. I did ride, but bailed halfway through.

So, for 2009, the following:

1. Finsh the Desperado Dual.

2. Track my real milage for the year (I've managed the last two years to either lose or break my computer on my bike, causing me to loose track.) So, tonight, I'm resetting the odometer to zero.

3. Raise my goal (currently $3,000) for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and ride in the Livestrong Chalenge in Austin in October.

4. Ride over 3,500 miles (which, while it sounds like a lot, isn't. I can ride 2,200 miles a year just by commuting to work.)

There may be more to come.

2009 - the plan, so far

I'm probably going to regret doing this because last year I did and then I miserably failed at attaining my goal and now everyone who reads this (me) knows it. But, since part of the joy of cycling is suffering and humiliation is a form of suffering, I'm doing it again. For 2009, here are my plans, so far:

28 February, 2009: Zion Spring Century, St. George, Utah (100 miles)

28 March, 2009: Tour de St. George Spring Century (100 miles)

Some time between 27 March and 17 April, go up to Yellowstone again and ride from West Yellowstone (West Gate entrance) to Gardiner, Montana (North Gate entrance) and back with the guys.

2 May, 2009: Ghost Town Century, Tooele, Utah (100 miles)

27 June, 2009 - Harmon's MS-150 (100 miles)
28 June, 2009 - Harmon's MS-150 (75 miles)

24 - 25 October, 2009 - Livestrong Challenge, Austin, Texas (100 miles) Which, by the way, if you haven't donated yet, you can here. Or here. Or here.

Planned, but not yet scheduled rides:

Desperado Dual, Panguitch, Utah (200 miles)

Salt Lake Century, Salt Lake City, Utah (107 miles)

ULCER, Utah Lake (111 miles)

And, hopefully either RAGBRAI or Seattle to Portland...if I'm lucky.

All of this, of course, dependent on me getting off of my lazy ass and back on the bike, which I've not really ridden since September. Partially because of this, and this but now also because of this:

That's the view out the window to my left as I write this.

Cancer sucks

Seriously. I just found out about yet another instance of cancer in my immediate circle. A friend's wife had a tumor removed a week or so ago. They needed to do a biopsy to determine if the cancer has spread to her lymph nodes. He just let me know that they got the test back and it has. I have no idea at this point what it means or how bad it is, I'm not sure that they do either. All I know is I'm tired of stories like this. If you haven't already, donate to my LAF fundraiser. Hell, donate to anyone's. I don't care. Just help us raise money to do the research that's necessary to make these stories a thing of the past.

Imagine, it's the middle or end of the 21st centrury, your grandkids are reading their history books about the plauges of cancers that used to devistate families. And they read about the simple cure and all of the research and development that went into finding it...and you tell them that you helped, it was just a small way...just a few dollars really, and you didn't receive any awards or recognition or anything but that it was okay becasue you knew that every dime raised was a dime that would help find a cure and they did find one, and you did help and that's all that matters. That they will never have to worry about cancer, that's all that matters.

This is decidedly NOT fun

Just got back from the dentist. Second visit in as many weeks. This time for two fillings. They decided it was a great idea to numb my entire left side of my face, nostril, bottom eyelid, cheek. Everything.

Everything, that is, except the area directly where they were doing their work on the second tooth.

In fairness, it didn't hurt as bad as it would have without the numbing, I assume.

This sucks, I feel like I got kicked in the head and it hasn't even worn off yet.

Why do I think this is really going to hurt a lot in a few hours?

So, four fillings on the right side on the 8th, two on the left on the 17th, with the added bonus of yesterdays little foot post extraction thrown in for fun. And it's only Wednesday.

Well, that was unexpected.

I wrote the other day about the pain I started having in my foot.

Turns out it wasn't in my head after all (I'd sort of convinced myself that it was.) I called last week for an appointment with Dr. Clark, who did my surgery, and even after a little whining about how painful it was, the earliest I got in was this afternoon. I expected him to tell me that it was normal. That the nerves were just healing or something and the pain I felt was to be expected. Instead, he told me what I secretly feared...the pin that he'd put in my foot to hold the bone together was coming out.

Better still, he thought we should cut on in now and pull it out, since it would only get worse. And since I could think of nothing more exciting to do with a Tuesday afternoon than to lay back, have someone numb by foot, cut into it and take a pair of pliers and pull a pin out of a bone, I said, why not. Thirty minutes, and to be honest, a little nausea, queasiness and dizziness (I've become such a freakin' wimp!) later...the pin's out, I'm stitched back up and I now (again) can't wash my foot for five days... yippee.

And I suppose, when the anesthesia wears off, I'll be happy about it, assuming it doesn't hurt like I'm imagining it will.

I'm off to make enchiladas. Comfort food.

Tomorrow, the dentist...

Snow

Robyn's out of town this weekend. The only thing about that I like is that I was planning on getting out and doing some road training on the bike. So, what happens?

Saturday: Low: 19 High: 33 Chance of snow 80%
Sunday: Low: 17 High: 30 Chance of snow 60%

If I didn't know better, I'd think I was supposed to go skiing. Well, if it's not too bad, maybe I'll hit the road anyway.

I sent out my first mass e-mail to family and friends regarding the LAF fundraising. So far, no response...nope, just checked again, nothing. Maybe I should have begged more.

Pain

Since I wrote last Saturday about not having any pain in my foot when I rode, and I truly didn't, I've had at least three episodes where I've taken a step and had such excruciating pain shoot through the top of my foot, seemingly along the line of the scar (thought I'm pretty sure it's not the scar itself) that I double over. I really don't think that it was riding, though I suppose that putting that kind of pressure on the ball of my foot may have contributed. I first noticed when I put the wrong shoes on. Not the wrong shoes as in not my shoes, but since the surgery, there are a few pairs of shoes that I just cannot wear. They either have a seam or the tongue lays right across the scar and it hurts or they've got a weird toe box (most likely stretched out from before the surgery) and aren't comfortable to walk in. Well, I was getting dressed for a party and put on a pair of black shoes that just killed my foot. So, they're going in the "do not wear" pile, no big deal. Problem is that since then, even in my shoes that I've been wearing a lot since the surgery, I still am getting the same shooting pain. It's not constant, and it's not even predictable. I've had it once while sitting in the car not putting any pressure on my foot at all. Weird. If it happens again today, I'll call the doctor and see if it's something to worry about. Otherwise, I suppose I should just HTFU I guess. Damn foot.

In LAF news, I've now raised $25 of my goal. Yippee! (Of course, I donated it myself, but hey, it's a start...)

Comments

Hey, I just noticed that I've had a couple of comments to some of my post! Two, to be exact.

Back in January, I wrote a post about supporting Barack Obama, or rather my conflicted feelings about not supporting him, called White Man's Burden. Someone named Britany cared so deeply for my feelings that she wrote that it was "great info to know." That's fabulous! Until I realized that she was probably writing up an insurance plan for me to cover my angst caused medical condition or something.

And then in October, when I wrote my post about my first week post-operation on my foot, I go another comment, this one from some guy who tried to scare the bejebus out of me because of the pain pump that they'd used on my foot. Too bad it wasn't my shoulder, I could got a piece of the action from the class action lawsuit!

Wow! People like me! They really like me!