Cali Trip Review (part 3)

Along the coastal highway just south of Encinitas.
Lots of surfers here.

Fri. 3-24
Another beautiful day.

Load up and ride south. B has the p.m. off and we decide she will meet me at a well known triathlon leaning bike shop in Encintas. Nytro is run by Steve Larsen. Raised in the Davis, CA area, he's a Tour de France finisher. He rode on Lance's early TdF teams I believe. He went off road and chalked up national (and world?) mtn bike champ for a few years. Recently, he's had some success racing Ironman triathlons, winning his first ever such race - Ironman Lake Placid (2002?). He is about my age, still races for fun, qualifies for the world champs in Hawaii annually. Steve was not at the shop when I got there, but I did meet another tri pro.

After 12-15miles working my way to toward the water, I picked up the Pacific Coast Hwy and chased the wind south. Not long before I picked up a closed road and paved path through San Onofre. What a bike friendly place this is.




Then back on the Coastal Hwy and through Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base. Shortly after 9-11-01 they closed it to bikers but have recently reopened it, allowing bikers to avoid some high traffic areas or even a few miles on I-5. I showed ID and passed muster at the gate and followed the cycling route signs through the base. About 40mins later, exit the grounds and picked up the coastal hwy again.

This is North of Encinitas. Did not see that guy in green coming.
Closer to Encinitas and SD = more riders.

Downtown Encinitas.

B got to Nytro about 10mins before me, not bad coordination. It's a small town, or at least seemed so where we were. The shop is right on the coastal hwy, amidst some small shops. Starbucks, subway and more shops across the street. I changed in the spacious bathroom of the smallest 'bucks I've ever seen. Then we ventured across the street to Nytro before hitting Subway and checking out the local beach where we saw surfers but no waves.

I should have had food before shopping at Nytro.
Indulge an extension of my extended digression here...

The ride down was a fun and not very tough 60miles, and even well stocked with calories on board for the ride, I was a tad short on brain juice immed after the ride. Not a lot, but enough to give me an excuse for totally choking and locking up mentally when my fave pro triathlete walked into Nytro. I managed to shove the camera in B's hand and manufactured an introduction and photo opp with Normann Stadler.

Normann Stadler, 2004 Ironman World Champ
(hint - he's the tan one)
The San Diego area is a training mecca for triathletes and cyclists, so is Boulder, CO.
Normann is German, as is the 2005 World Champ, Faris Al Sultan.

Imagine you're an avid amateur B&W photographer visiting a photo art gallery or museum on a weekday, pretty much empty. You're doing the art thing and you turn a corner and come face to face with Ansel Adams. You'd be just a bit startled, wouldn't you?

I was speechless, but was doing my best to stick both feet in my mouth.

Rather than offer to buy him lunch with B and I, or bring up some nifty tri topic, I opted to avoid swallowing my feet whole and beat a pretty quick retreat, heart pounding faster than it had at any time on the ride down. Perhaps it was better that I did not veer into the ugly american tourist persona. I could have at least asked him what local rides he favored. I suppose I'll take playing the brain dead stupid American over ugly annoying tourist. Hmmmm, fine line there...

A bit of background to beef up my Normann story.

I've rooted for Normann for quite a few years, admiring his aggressive racing style. Tri is largely about going it on your own as a racer. Drafting behind another racer during the bike portion is prohibited, grounds for DQ. Riding behind another rider allows one to stay with that rider at about 30% less effort. Huge. (Hence, drafting is a big part of draft-legal racing such the Tour de France.)

So, I like the non-drafting aspect of tri. Win it by yourself, not by sucking someone else's wheel and exploiting their effort. Own your speed I like to say.

Normann's style builds on this. He is a world class cyclist and an excellent runner. Among the elite pros I suppose he is an average swimmer. Most of the pros come out of the water and ride conservatively, finding the leaders and then just hanging around at a moderate (for them) pace. The "race" then occurs at some point during the subsequent marathon.

Rather than ride behind someone just out of the illegal draft zone, Normann surges ahead, typically getting off the bike and heading into the run leg with a gap of 10-20mins on everyone else. Perhaps he feels he must do this to win, that others will out run him otherwise.

His approach forces other racers to decide whether to try to match his pace on the bike - if they think can - but risks shredding his legs or burning more cals than he can replace such that he blows up somewhere on the 26.2mi marathon course and loses the lead. In 2004 his gutsy ways finally paid off, he had a huge win in the annual world championship race in Hawaii. Not one but two flat tires knocked Normann out of the '05 champs race.

The latest issue of Triathlete Mag asks Normann and some other pros what is his favorite bike workout. His answer: “My main workout every week during the season is a 112-mile ride. During the ride thee is no talking, just hard riding. The average is about 22-23mph on a not-easy course. It’s like the group ride in San Diego every Wdnesday. I only stop for quickly for a drink, and that’s it. The main reason I am good on the bie is that I love pushing hard and feeling the pain (and seing other guys suffering)!”

Go Normann in '06!

Sat. 3-25
B scored some great comp tix to a 12:30 NBA game in LA - The Los Angeles Clippers v the Washington Wizards. I was a lonely Wizards fan. Not a bad drive up, about 75mins, good traffic. Game was downtown at the Staples Center, where the Lakers also play. The Wiz put forth one of their worst efforts all year. Lopsided Clippers victory.

Seats were dead center court, row one. Only the radio and TV guys were closer to the action.

Traffic after the game was ugly. Immigration bill protesters marched in LA earlier and had messed up driving in the city. The freeway was no better once we got on it. I made out well, nodding off while B drove.

I got in some more riding over the weekend and even finished with the assembly of the IKEA TV cabinet as well as assisting B with disassembling her dinner table and assembling a new one.


B had her 5K Sun. (see prior blog below for that story). I found the steepest hill yet, complete with switchbacks - Modjeska Canyon - on Sunday & Monday, then flew out Tue. Met at Dulles by Mom (Thanks!).

Cali Trip Review (part 2 of 3)

More on my trip out to CA.

Remember:
Rule 1 - Pics, if you don't have 'em it didn't happen.
Rule 2 - Have pics will blog. And, I have oodles of pics, narrowed to a handful here.

Wed. 3-22
The evening was a trip up to The Pond (arena) in Anaheim, 30-40mins, to see the Anaheim Ducks skate against the Colorado Avalanche. Excellent seats not far from mid-ice, and only about 12 rows up. The game went into overtime. In OT the teams take a man off the ice to go to 4-on-4, which opens up the ice for more scoring chances. With the OT winding down and a shoot out coming up, the Ducks scored to take the win.


Thur. 3-23
Met up with a group of riders from Felt Bicycles. Felt HQ is in Lake Forest, a few miles from B's place and 1 block from the gym where she had me swimming for free all week. They invited me for a tour and then to join in on their lunch hour ride.

Pre ride, tour wrapped up, getting tips for my ride toward San Diego the next day.

I saw some of their cutting edge stuff for the '07 & '08. Pics were limited to the warehouse area, away from proprietary, top secret design prototypes and all that. I'm not enough of a bike tech geek/engineer to have known where to aim my corporate spy cam.

Post ride.
Hurry up and take the pic so we can get out of the sweaty gear!

Word is the big boys (fast dudes) could not escape for the noon ride. These fellas were plenty strong tho. I think they took it easy on me. I never got dropped or left behind.

The weather was great, B was working, so I went out for another 2+ hrs of riding. Went to the north end of Santiago Canyon and back through some scenic neighborhoods, stumbled on Irvine Regional Park which contains some kind of zoo, an equestrian area and a train station.

Looking North from the Santiago Cyn Rd.
Santa Anna Mtns faintly in the distance.

Random neighborhood peak, and Irvine Regional Park.

I also stopped by another triathlete online connection later in the p.m. The owner of Ladera Cyclery, Jeff, gifted me with enough nutrition for my ride south the following day: 2 water bottles, some healthy vegan peanut/choc snack cookies (excellent!), and some sport drink mix and gel (E-Fuel). His shop is just a few miles down the main drag B lives on, "Antonio."

Note - the main intersection near B's: Antonio & Banderas. Easy to remember.

Battle of the Blossom Blogs

Blossoms in bloom. East Potomac Park, 7a.m.
Sunday 4-2-06.

Say that title 5 times fast.
We'll see who gets the Blossom blog up first. I've got the heathen slacker's advantage of no major committments this afternoon.

Dad & I ran the Cherry Blossom 10 miler this morning, with Mom there for support, cheering, pic duty, etc.

Gorgeous day. Perfect weather. 50-60F, sunny, light wind. The woman winner set a wordl record for outdoor 10 miles.

I rode my bike to the metro and metro'd down close to the start area. Was early so I stopped for a few pics out on the closed road area of East Potomac Park (above).

Locked the bike up and dropped gear at Mont Cnty Road Runners Club tent. Met Mom there, missed Dad as he had already reported to the start line for his primo invite coral (as in "the OK coral") spot near the front.

I was further back among the 10,000 runners lined up at the start. I must have slipped by him in the crowded miles early on, as I spied him later during the race just after the turn around near mile 7. Moving right along.

My right achilles/calf has been an issue with me since February. I had a great January & February, but then only got in 4-6 runs in all of March. Having paid for this race, I went out to just make it a training run, a very crowded, large group training run. Go eays, and be prepared to pull out at any point. It was a bit bothersome the first 4 miles, but wasn't getting worse, so I just kept running comfortably and it loosened up for the last 5 miles.

No trouble finding Mom after and regrouping. She finally did not have to suffer through a 35F windy, cloudy/rainy race day.


Back through the Park on my ride back to the metro. Could not resist another pic or two.

East Potomac Park, ~10:30a.m.
Blossoms looking fluffier?

Sis breaks 30!

"So, what do you think of the whole 5K thing?"
"Uh, am I supposed to feel like I'm gonna throw up?"

Prerace entertainment.
These kids were pumping out the classic rock.

Sunday March 26.
I played sherpa for B at her first road race, a 5K run in Newport, CA.

Nice weather, warmed to ~60F by end of the race.

Met B's run group coach and some of her run group there to do the race. I got some pics but totally blew the key one - catching her during the race. I was strategically positioned ~150yds before the finish. She was just moving too fast and I choked, juggling the camera under pressure.

29:19. Well under the designated optimistic target of breaking 30mins.

Anyway, I can sorta make up for my poor shutterbuggin somewhat by sheer volume. Here are some pre and post race shots.

Walking around pre:

Yep.
Could anyone love a cat this much?
I couldn't think of a witty caption,
so there's my standard dogs-are-better-than-cats jab.

Soon to be unpinned as the move was made to cooler clothes.

Post race:

B and her evil ("hills!")coach.

How is it she looks better than me even after her all out 5K?
(uh, she's good lookin', I'm not and it really shows here)

After the race it was off to Brueger's (?) bagel shop/cafe for B's celebratory snack - her fave indulgence of ham, egg and cheese bagel. Hope I got that right. Should've got a pic, eh B?

We managed to catch some of the B-ball during the week, including parts of the GMU and G'town games.

Go Mason!

Checking in from Southern Orange Cnty (long)

View from Santiago Canyon Road

Northwest of Rancho Santa Margarita

Looking South toward Laguna Beach from just off the PCH

Great cycling, luxury accomodations, B. rules and I'm going to assemble a cabinet.

Now, the long, travel diary version of the trip so far...

Landed late Sat. night at a small airport, Long Beach. B was waiting. Short wait for the bags. All in good shape.

30mins to B's incredibly clean abode. I've since imposed all kinds of disorder and messiness.
In bed by 3a.m. ET.

Sun. we slept in a bit and watched bits and pieces of the LA Mary which was broadcast live start to finish. Pretty cool. The women had a head start (16mins?) and held onto the lead, got some extra prize $ I imagine. A "nasty" day according to the locals - 50's and cloudy.

Then it was out and about to stock the frig, and similar errands. Stopped by her gym to nab a free pass for me while I am here. I hit the pool for 25mins and B found a treadmill. Not an easy endeavor, a few dozen mills but they seem consistently full. Picked up a map, stopped by a bike shop and started to plan some riding in the area.

B has a cough thing she's fighting, and I was wiped out, from travel I guess. Early bed Sun. night.
Mon. I dropped B at work. She's letting me drive the LandRover. Can you believe that? Nice ride. Plenty of room.

I went directly to the gym (which is nearby) for 30mins in the pool. After lunch it was off on the bike for a little over 50miles, windy, but periods of sun, ~55F. Big fat bike lanes galore out here. If that wasn't enough, lots of super wide paved paths that parallel the roads but go under cross streets and intersections - no stoplights or cars.

Flatted 2miles into the ride. First flat in quite a while. Oh well, I was due. No prob, pulled out the spare tube. Ffffft. $#!*^%! One spare tube, dead. Walking back to the car, bike on shoulder, tire-less wheel in one hand, a good samaritan drove me the last mile. I knew where the bike shop was, not far. Hop in the Rover and 60mins later, new tube in and back on the road.

Map in jersey pocket, I pedalled my way down to the Pacific Coast Hwy via a mix of path and bike lanes. Got on the PCH at Laguna Beach and rode N to Newport Beach then back inland and home. Stopped for a pic of the coast at Vista point, just before Newport. Looking south, north, and at the vantage point, then one more further north on PCH before it hits Newport.

No shortage of hills anywhere. Quite a few long hills, some steep hills and some that were both. No such terrain can be found less than an hr or two drive from the DC beltway. Hence, something I've never done. Shendandoah (Skyline Drive) or maybe WVa. rides are on my list, someday, or weekend.

So, I was looking forward to the chance for some real hills out here, dare I say mountains. They're here for the me, I plan to keep hitting 'em, soak it up while I have the chance.

The evening excitement was moving B's stove to it's proper position, a good 2 inches closer to the wall, and, at her instruction standing far away and watching as B lit her gas fireplace for the first time. I was to call 911 if things went kabloouey. Bed early again.

If Mon. was hills, Tue. brought something closer to mtns. Another morning swim, an attempt at some house cleaning by way of dishes, garbage and such. OK, yeah, I'm begging for points here. I fear painting will not happen and I'm trying to offset that now! Altho, I suspect it's a project of such magnitude (the whole house almost) that B may not be quite revved up for it just now herself.

The ride today (upper 50's, breezy, but near zero clouds) was Live Oak Canyon to Santiago Canyon, then turn around and do the roller coaster backwards. These canyons lie along the west side of the Santa Anna Mtns.

Great stuff! And turns out it's not more than 5 or 6 miles from B's front door to where the nice low traffic, winding, scenic, heart thumping, leg burning hills kick in. One minute it's nice modern strip malls (as they go), and then suddenly when you turn into Live Oak Canyon it's zero development save for some discreet driveway entrances leading no doubt to pricey hillside homes.

Live Oak Canyon Rd starts off with some nice twisting shady stretches with a canopy of low hanging trees over the road. Georgeous. I actually considered stopping for pics but feared I'd never get going again as it was all uphill at that point.

Then Santiago Canyon opened up more with higher climbs to less forested terrain, winds were more significant as were the ups and downs. I stopped at the top of one climb where there was a view and snapped more pics. I turned around at the top of another climb. Savored a banana and clif bar as I looked down on Yorba Linda then headed back.

Picked B up from work and got the tour of the Y&R bldg. A pretty snazzy set up. 2 floors. The whole bldg. 200+ employees. Lots of cubes but not the typical cube farm - no Office Space (I speak of the movie, not having watched the TV series) set this. Met B's close co-workers Becky and Ashley. Seemed like cool gals. Attractive, fit, on the ball, like B, of course.

Went by Ikea and picked up a nice dark wood TV cabinet piece. I can't paint, but I can try to assemble this puppy (not ass-emble, I hope) over the remaining 6 days. If I don't do the job, and do it well, B may kick my butt across the county lne. And she's wearing just the boots, er slippers, to do it.

The early over/under on cabinet completion time is 4 days. Hmmmm. We picked up some Indian food on the way home from Ikea.

Zooey (has this become the official spelling? I haven't examined her collar tag yet.) seems not bothered by me. She is, perhaps, more amusing than E&H of Devereaux fame, in kind of a spectator sport way. She's got a little 180 hop that is just goofy, and she goes nuts for no apparent reason just often enough that I keep an eye out for it. She can really zoom around. Pure gray blur. Pretty talkative too. No way will B get away with walking in the door and then disappearing in the bathroom, not without some real meow complaining at the bathroom door.

Looking ahead- B works Wed. but the night will be a trip to Anaheim for a hocky game. Becky and her husband Dan will be along. Former triathletes, they're already cool in my book of course. Guess what? I may spend Wed. exercising and putting together a cabinet.

B is looking at a half day Thur. Not sure how we'll fill the p.m. yet.

Fri. plan is for me to ride down to San Diego along the coast in the a.m. B will sleep in or not, and drive down to meet me before we hit the Museums in Balboa. That's the plan.
Maybe LA one day.

Rocking onward

Shatterbelt - get on over there by clicking here and check it out. You can see a slick video as well as listen to some of their songs.

Yeah, I'm a CSPAN-listening, never-been-to-myspace-dot-com geezer, but fwiw, I am very impressed.

How did they get some of those overhead road shots for the video? Pretty polished tunes too.

Far from earth shattering, but def more than standard training aches and pains. Just hours after dropping a race entry in the mail some calf/achilles issues cropped up on my evening run. Not good. Time to stay off the road. No run or bike for now. Ouch. Will switch gears to a swim focus I guess.*

That is part of the beauty of tri. Rarely will injury bar exercise all together. So the exercise that gives my day structure almost never has to disappear entirely.

Blame it on endurance sports:

• wildlife sightings of all kinds - red fox, bald eagles and what I can only call vultures being the most noteable three
• combo of cold and wind resulting in losing a contact lense while on the bike, 3-4 times in the last year. I now carry eye drops and extra lense.
  

* I need to save energy for the big birthday wingding this weekend anyway.

Shhhhhhh.... Quiet Optimism

Bad news abounds, it seems. But, amidst the Iraq events, bird flu pandemic predictions, teetering economy, a downward spiraling season for the mighty MD Terrapins... there are small gleaming gems to light the way. Personal flotation devices. I suppose we all have them. Ready for the grabbing in those fleeting moments of sinking sensations. Such as... with Spring Training hope is eternal, even for the Nats. Boswell says so.

Getting a bit deep there. Back to earth, and the latest news in suburban Maryland.

Great Valentine steak and sides at Devereaux last weekend. So cold and windy Dad even cooked inside, no grill action. Received a very hip b-day scarf from B, she knitted it herself. She reports that Zough-eee the cat likes to bolt out the door.
Slyly plotting an escape here....


Caught Mark on CSPAN radio as I drove home. Very cool. The youngest of six was clearly the sage of the crew. Really called out the home office editors re the WVa mine reporting mess.

I've got all the Memmott writiers on google alert, but must admit I'm a default Washington Postie. David Ignatius is my current fave columnist. He likes to swing a heavy hammers and, imo, often ctaches the head of the nail. Like this on the Dubai company port terminal management dust up. Or this re the NSA warrantless surveillance.

I have not contracted Olympic fever. Has anyone? I could be watching right now, but I'm rambling on at the keyboard instead. The fever is not exactly going around. I did overhear two elderly gals at the post office talking about the drama and pressure on the athletes, staying up late or recording what they liked. Score two for NBC.

Good stuff on the family blogs. OH goes to Cali; more and more pics via Olean; impressive stuff in Chantilly, from music making and cat walk walking to flag manuevers and college considerations.

Blame it on endurance sports entry:

• Dollar Store gloves - perfect for cool-cold weather running... and nose-wiping, sweat soaking abuse, 'cause hey, they're only a buck.
• Emery boards - keep the toes and feet happy, another one of thenlittle things that becomes oh so important.
  

I'm starting to feel optimistic re my health and fitness. Have gone so far as to put together a list of possible races for the year, below. knocking on wood, bracing for the chill and shudder as the spectre of the jinx blows through. I've registered for a grand total of one, the 10miler in April.

I'm straying waaaay off the reservation. Winging it, compared to most of my fellow age group competition peers. This is a heretical departure from standard operating procedure for runners, cyclists, triathletes snd the like. SOP dictates that by the end of December one lay out a detailed training plan for the upcoming year. Start by identifying the "A" races for the year and then design months of structured training aimed at "peaking" for each A race. Folks can get seriously micro about this. I've tried. Life has a way of intervening, bumping the best laid plans off course.

I have nooooo intention of doing all of the races on my list. Just a loose list from which I'll choose 6-8 max, probably ones I can drive to day of, that also don't fill up before I register - and many may already be closed.

Half of the races I enter will just be "cool" or "big" training days - catered and supported by virtue of the race amenities. The others will be real race targets, a bit of a training taper and such.

First up, possibly a last minute entry for the March 5th race, as a big training day. It's cheap, won't fill up, and is so local I can ride my bike to the start if I wish. I'll actually try to hit the April 2nd 10miler rested and ready to go for a PR.

March 5 – B&A Trail Half Marathon (Baltimore & Annapolis) annapolisstriders.com
March 12 – St. Pat’s 10K
April 2 – Cherry Blossom 10 Miler
April 8 - Brandywine Valley Duathlon, Del City, DE (5k/17.4mi/5k) piranha-sports.com
April 9 – Bethesda YMCA Du (run 2.5mi- bike 10mi- run 2.5mi) cantriathlon.org

April 22 - Lake Anna Half Ironman distance Tri (aka "70.3" tri for the 70.3 total miles covered in such races)
May 6-7 – Wintergreen Ascent TT (time trial), VA - bike up the mountain one rider at a time in one min intervals, wintergreenresort.com
May 7 - National Age Group Duathlon Championship, Mason, Ohio
May 7 - New Jersey Devilman Half IM Tri, Cumberland Cnty, NJ piranha-sports.com
May 21 – Ford Disney 70.3, Orlando (qualifier for 70.3 champs)
June 26 - WVa Mountaineer Half IM Tri, Morgantown, hilly bike, riverside run MountaineerTri.com
July 8 - Diamond in Rough Olympic distance Tri, Northeast, MD piranha-sports.com
July 9 – Blackwater Duathlon (R 8K, B 30K, R 5K), Cambridge, MD tricolumbia.org
Aug 6 – Pittsburgh Oly distance tri- *Reg’l Club Champ (winning club sends crew to Vegas for nat’l champs)
Aug 13 - Lums Pond Tri or Du (du: R2mi/B19.5mi/R3.1mi), Lums Pond, DE piranha-sports.com
Aug 20 – Timberman Half (qualifier for 70.3 champs)
Aug 26 – Northeast MD Oly Tri, cgiracing.com
Sept 3 – Shenandoah Mtn 100mile bike “race" featuring 12-14K feet of uphill pedalling
Sept 10 - Del. Diamondman Half IM Tri., Lums Pond, DE piranha-sports.com
Sept. 16 – Odyssey Half IM Tri, Lake Anna, VA oarevents.com
*Sept. 17 – DC Tri, Oly distance* - "The Nation's Triathlon" permits pending, will be first ever triathlon in District of Columbia tricolumbia.org
Sept 24 – Mont. Cnty Half Marathon, Rockville, MD
Sept 30 – Chesapeake Man IM Tri., Cambridge, MD tricolumbia.org
Oct 8 - Cape Henlopen Tri.& Du (R3.1mi- B15.3mi- R3.1mi) piranha-sports.com
Oct 8 – Army 10 miler, No. VA
Nov. 11, 2006 - World Half IM Tri champs, Clearwater, Fla. Must qualify for entry slots via prior race.

Gas down (!) to $2.19 at one spot, $2.29 across town, the town being Greenbelt.

Virtual crayola

Experimenting with spicing this thing up a bit colorwise.
It's dangerously easy to alter the blog color scheme.

The I95 corridor snow has been well reported. About 12inches in my area. I lifted not one shovel full, the community crew beat me to my 20yds of sidewalk.

Thanks Mom, for that nifty pic from 1970. I've been looking for a pic for my blog profile and it will do nicely. That is indeed one killer lid warming my not-so-fuzzy young melon. Pretty sweet get up all together.
So. You started me on my hat habbit, eh?


Let's really drive that age thing home with a quick and snarky look back at 1970.

• IBM introduces the floppy disk.
  
• The Beatles break up.
  
• Bar codes introduced for retail and industrial use in England.
• Wimbledon: Margaret Court d. B.J. King (14-12 11-9); John Newcombe d. K. Rosewall (5-7 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-1)
  

And, more in the vein of self-indulgent lists...

Blame it on endurance sport:

• seeing sunrise over the DC mall
• making note of portajohns spied when driving locally
• biking in weather cold enough to freeze both of my water bottles before I've had a second sip
• getting my legs painfully worked over by an attractive, black belt holding, massage therapist named Robyn
• learning the art of donning mayo (okay, chamois creme) filled spandex cycling shorts without having the stuff end up all over my legs
• observing the following multitasking wonder while on the road: woman on roller blades (shorts, sleeveless tee, no helmet/pads) moving at a good clip downhill on a neighborhood artery street, left arm fully extended grasping the handle of an apparently occupied Hummer-sized baby stroller, right hand holding a lighter and she's trying to light a "100" sized (er, supersized) cigarette as she cruises along. Yes, I'm holding back on the redneck/darwin at work line of jokes.

Worn out phrases: thrown under the bus operational details Hummer-sized

Recent memorable quote:
"It is during our most challenging and uncertain moments that our Nation's commitment to due process is most severely tested; and it is in those times that we must preserve our commitment at home to the principles for which we fight abroad." Justice Sandra Day O'Connor for the majority, Hamdi et al. v. Rumsfeld, et al.

One more in the Cat Column

Back at it. Not much to report with me - that is my overarching theme, btw. As ever present as my favorite blog crutches: lots of these ( ), and these ..., and probably too many of these , .
The punctuation police could fill their quota in one quick drive-by here.

So, I will fill space via two other angles of attack. Hopefully (comma) in an amusing, interesting fashion, keeping it short enough so you'll at least check back every few weeks.

My two-pronged approach:
1. Update re someone not me; and
2. Steal content ideas from other blogs and adapt them to my liking, throwing those other bloggers zero credit for the inspiration.

1. Update re B - Just too easy right now B!
Recently had a birthday.
Has lots of hot gal pals.
And... (drum roooolllllllllll, buiiiiiiiiiiilllldinnnnng to a crescendo) ... just adopted a svelte young cat!
My sister has thereby - by her own admission - gone over the edge.

Zooey

Mine was a family of dog folks, or so I thought. I'm afraid to do the math. Denial is better than admitting dog folks are in the minority.

Don;t misunderstand. Animals are great. Each deserves kindness. But dogs are clearly better. Truly, best. Would you ever come across the following quote with regard to cats? "I someday hope to be as a good a person as my dog thinks I already am."

Well, I suppose the next best thing to an exclusively dog loyal person is a cat person. You're still my favorite sister B.

2. The Intellectual Property theft (it's not really plagiarism, technically, right?)

It's actually a common fail safe: The List.

Should be right up my alley. I'm nothing if not a list person (avoiding eye contact with the post-its surrounding my pc). I'll stick to my comfort zone, maybe stretch it.

Things I would not have done if I had not "gotten into" endurance sports.

If I can't stretch this into multiple entries... well, pathetic is the word. I'll do my best, for better or worse, to keep it spicy, avoid lots of the boring, predictable and relatively meaningless run Xmiles in Xmins kind of items.

1. Purchase and continue to wear elastic shoe laces in my running shoes. The footwear equivalent of taped together spaz eyeglasses. Function over form my friends.

2. Voluntarily (actually paid for the privilege) taking a 35min swim in sub 65F water. The air temp was sub 55F. It was raining. Did I mention I paid to do this? I even planned to hop directly on my bike and knock a good 15-20degrees off that 55F with the natural wind chill that cycling endows. What doesn't kill you... Well, it may make you stronger, provided you get through the hypothermia, which I did. I then packed my bike in my car, cranked the heat, drove home and alternately whined and bragged about it for at least a month.

3. Slather the visual and feel-quivalent of mayonaisse all over the inside of spandex shorts, slip into the shorts and get on the bike. Repeat.
(side note - People really eat this mayo stuff don't they? I don't now how either tastes, but I'll eat chamois creme before mayo.)

Makes shaving my legs with a Braun electric seem pretty tame all of a sudden.

Gas is now $2.44 for the cheap stuff, rising fast from $2.33.
35F and dry here today. Calling for more of the same this wek. Maybe winter has really arrived now that we are in mid-Feb. She's welcome for six weeks, tops.

D.C. Winter on Hold

The holidays are behind us and IT is here. Well, it's at least on the front porch and about to come in. Without knocking. Always rude and never welcome. Winter in D.C. just stinks. (Quite timely that the political plate is piled high with meat to gnaw on while stuck indoors.)

It's gray, it's wet, it's windy.
It's ugly and makes you want to stay in bed.
Darkness falls by 4:30p and it all just gets in your head.

When a respite presents itself, it's best to pause the whining and revel in the good fortune, soak it up and recharge. The sun broke out, sort of, and the temps climbed near 50F this afternoon and at the last minute I rolled out to snag a quick bike ride.


Very much a smell-the-roses ride on my regular route through a few federal plots in the vicinity.

One split second of excitement tho, courtesy of a squirrel on speed. I was the only traffic of any kind, but he just HAD to get to the other side of the road RIGHT #!%$* NOW!

This psychotic little wonder came out of nowhere. Moving like he was on fire, he covered a good 20yards of open ground on my right in a blurry gray flash. Not one of the typical dart-stop-dart-do-a-180 maneuvers they love to pull. This tweeker was committed, nothing but a straight shot all out was gonna cut it. I had barely moved for the brakes and he had somehow slipped under my front wheel by some invisible margin and was gone down the hill on the other side. I was awed, and, obviously inspired.

Anyway, I brought the camera with me...

Twists and turns leaving the nearby wildlife refuge.

Returning home through the USDA Ag Research Center
Damn. The sun is diving fast.
Not enough light to see the cows and geese scattered in the fields.

Gas is now up to $2.35 for the cheap stuff.

Holiday Week

This pic does not do justice to the monster manger.

Well. Made it through another year. Woohoo!

A very nice holiday week to finish out 2005.

• Soooo nice to have Bridget around for a few days, even if she is all about getting lights, lights and more lights on the tree. Sheeesh. I kid, I kid... really.
  
• Great food, and darn healthy overall. My foray into Yorkshire territory was balanced by completely additive free dishes like sweet potatoes, squash, asparagus, and spinach.
• Mom and Dad at the helm keeeping things humming like a well oiled machine as they juggled the usual Christmas activities with caring for every pet in the neighborhood. Many sweet animals abandoned for the holidays, not that I picked up any of the slack.

We got out to see The Family Stone. Not a bad flick. Holiday fare of the slightly deep thinking variety, served up with a solid dose of flawed family dynamics (the family on the screen, not the family in the seats, er, yeah) with a dash of tear jerker seasoning.

I managed a few pics from Christmas day, and one of my first crack at using the food processor from Bridget. The green stuff is a blend of chick peas and spinach with a little salt, garlic, turmeric and muchi curry spice thrown in. Call it Holiday Hummus I suppose.

I'm also throwing in a pic of the humble Christmas (or would it be "Holiday") Tree propped up by the City of Greenbelt. It's a Charlie Brown tree for sure. Not a single light Bridget! This rather blue collar and heavily liberal 'burb has it's spending priorities in order, or maybe just a limited tax base. In any event, campaign money directed here by any party is wasted.

Health, contentment and prosperity to all in '06.