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.

No More Mr. (Mashed) Potato Head

The easy to prepare and super-healthy sweet potato.

I may resemble ol' Mr. P., but I'll no longer horde the serving bowl of the heavy white stuff. Really. I've switched from the white Russett to the orange Garnet. The sweet potato falls within my lazy but healthy guidelines.

I do looooove to eat but, no love for cooking. My oven is more storage space than anything else. Fortunately, someone else steps up to produce the occassional blueberry pie.

The "how to" is basic stuff, but I'll stretch it into a blog post.
Quick prep -> Just chop 'er up.
















Easy - > Move circular slices from the cutting board to the steamer or tupperware. Beware, orange coloring may bleed out and tinge the steamer.



Healthy -> beaucoup vitamins and minerals and the carbs are healthy. Loaded with antioxidants and all that.
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=64#summary


The orange flesh will eventually brown when exposed. Prevent this by storing the unused slices in a small tuperware container fillled with water and keep in the 'frig. Yeeesh, that sounds rather Martha Stewart-ish, eh?

I typically run the steamer every night for ~20-25mins.

• Carrots sticks go into the bin first
  
• then a few broccoli florets
• maybe some green beans
  
• some red and green pepper pieces
• perhaps some frozen peas and/or spinach and/or asparagus and/or brussel sprouts
  
• topped off with a number of sweet potato slices

If the asparagus, peas or spinach are fresh I'll wait to throw them in when there is about 10mins of steamer time remaining.

Rinse plate and steamer. Done. Minimal clean up is key.

Gas: $2.07 on 11-30-05.

Thanksgiving '05

Some lively Italian wine.

The holiday went pretty well here in the DC area. The weather was not bad, the company was excellent, and the food was great, times two.

B flew in earlier in the week and she and Mom produced tea ring and pies for the holiday. Blueberry and pumpkin. Homemade crust and everything. Berries from Burdick's of course.


The Chantilly crew was in good form on Thursday.
Mark served up a moist and tastey turkey using a brining process. Pretty brave to go with a new move on game day.
I'll give Carol credit for everything else, including some real cranberries that I loaded up on twice.

E & M held up well with the boring old folks.

Phoenix and Aspen even seemed particularly chipper with happy little bursts of indoor barks.

Meanwhile, I managed to screw up just about every pic I snapped.

Friday was cold but clear. Bridget, Dad and I got in a run along the Potomac on the C&O Canal tow path. Aunt Pat and cousin Mary Pat were up from Florida and staying in VA. They stopped by that afternoon with cousin Jimmy's daughter Ashley and went out yarn shoppping with Bridget and Mom.

Friday evening Mom, Dad, B and I went out for some mediteranean food and then out to hear the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore Hall in Bethesda. The first symphony was by a Spanish composer. Featured a violinist. The second was Tchaikovsky's first symphony (got that?). I was surprised at how much I liked all of it. Of course, I know nothing about such music.

Saturday was Thanksgiving in Gaithersburg. Dad pulled off another good year... turkey, oyster stuffing, cole slaw, asparagus and more. And, another pair of pies by Bridget & Mom.

Zippy contribution from me, but I did perch near the kitchen and take a lot of pics, and by sheer volume managed to get a few that show recognizeable objects.

An "artsy" sense of the flurry of activity...


Keep it up with the pics blogger boy, I'm first for the food...
Hey, it's a plumpkin, till it cools...


Gas: $2.13 before the holiday.

November 7 2005

Not much to report. A relatively uneventful week. A bit of an indian summer, upper 60's and no rain.

As far as the fun stuff goes, no new injuries, a little running for the first time in weeks and quite a bit of swimming.

And... re the pic, just some timely odds and ends. I may do this a few times a week, just throw up an item of the day pic or something witha few related words.

The pic reflects the arrival of basketball season and my current favorite snack. The Washington Wizards are off to a 3-0 start, with wins over three teams that have yet to beat anyone, a combined 0-9.

The Maryland Terrapins will start the season ranked in the top 20 nationally and pretty well stocked with experience and talent.

Fig Newmans - good stuff. Healthy? Yes... but maybe not so much if you can't stop with just 10 or 15. If they ever start selling supersized containers I'm in trouble.

Gas: $2.37 for the cheap stuff this weekend.

An October Wrap

So, yes, back at this blog thing.

I can't claim the cool factor of kayaking, or (nor?) that of heading off into the wilds of WVA every so often, a la cool kid no. 6. I'll work on that. Getting a blog post up once a week would pass for an exciting achievement in my world. Gotta have pics to spice it up, so I've taken a few lately.



On to the new material...
Starting with the intro/teaser. Since the last episode...

The cat lover has carried on her duties sans solids, including dog walking and 10K as the marathon sherpa-spouse.
Her young man/in-house chef ran 26.2, I say 26.2 MILES, all in one shot. Again.
The left coaster recently kicked off her weekend morning by crawling through mud and running through water, all of it somehow uphill for 6 miles.

Me? I've caught up on TV time and achieved personal bests in both latenight carb consumption and rapid weight gain. That, my friends, is synchronicty. Sink...row...nissittee. It's hard work discovering the inner couch 'tater, but I am well on my way.

Picking up roughly at the end of September...

I headed down to RFK stadium on the first weekend in October, where I met M&D on a gorgeous sunny day, high 70's.



The Nat's were out of the running but could impact the playoffs by beating the Phillies in the final game of the season.



I arrived early and broke out the camera. A deep throng of fans gathered around the home dugout and another swarmed the home bullpen and outfield as the players went through warm ups. The season opening baseball is back in DC! glow was still burning. Folks looking around trying to somehow take in an entire season with their eyes, absorb it all, and goofily admiring the presence of one another. As in - hey, look at us, we've got a team and that team has us, an honest to goodness loyal following! Floating through the isles relishing completion of a full season, including some time at the top of the division. A .500 season and no playoffs was just fine, enough for a bit of a we-are-faaaam-illeee vibe. (Where is Willie Stargell these days? Parker? Tekulve?)

There were quite a few Phillies fans in attendance, and they were a loud presence, reacting to the play on the field and the out of town scoreboard. The Nationals lost. The Astros won, knocking Philly out of the playoffs. Not much joy for anyone. Nevertheless, the final out was followed by a prolonged standing O from all the Nats fans, appreciative of an unexpectedly exciting and competitive season.


Baseball has sucked me back in. I'll be following things through the off season.

Despite being less active than usual, I've got a new round of injurries that hit me early this month. It's apparently the year of injurries and humility for me, or something. Hip/glute and knee stuff has limited me to minimal biking, no running. But, lots of swimming. As I write, the weeks off have helped and it feels like I will be running again in the next week or two, and back on the bike regularly as well. My stomach is playing nice, to the tune of 7-8 lbs added in the last few weeks. So, I've got that going for me, which is nice... right.

Mom had some tooth work done and has been getting by on yogurt and other mushy stuff. Hasn't stopped her from sticking with her walking routine, which now includes a young dog from the 'hood. Didn't seem to slow her down as we covered 7miles on foot at the Marine Corps Marathon.

B continues to stay active and seems to be enjoying it. She recently took on a "Muddy Buddy" event. She and a teamate ran, biked, scaled walls, crossed through water, crawled through mud and generally had a blast over an uphill and literally bruising course of about 6 miles and 90minutes. Those crazy Cali folks.

The big recent event was the annual Marine Corps Marathon.

Walking around for a few hours taking in the Marathon Saturday (10-30) was a welcome chance to actually spend time on my feet moving around and to hang with Mom and watch Dad take on another 26.2mile day. Sunshine and temps into the high 60's made for easy spectating. I managed to avoid injury and hopefully so has Dad.

The "people's marathon" (no prize money) is a huge race. 30,000 strong. Marines in abundance, wearing their camo uni's they kept the course clear, gear secure, runners hydrated, etc.

Mom and I connected at the Lincoln Memorial just after the 8:15 start.






Lots of runners to watch, and some other interesting sights and sounds as well.







Chickens apparently can run. Miles the Bear got paid not to run.


Note: It is strongly suspected that the chicken, or at least the chicken outfit, did not cover the entire 26.2.



Dad went off in the first wave, wearing his phone and a small waist pack with some fluids and calories. Some hamstring tweaks nagged him over the weeks leading up the race day, so expectations were nil. No attempt at a personal best marathon time. With the forced taper in effect, it was very much a take it on the fly kind of day. The brains v ego war was won before the gun. Take what the day gives, and come out injury free, that was the goal.

He checked in via phone now and then. We spied him a few times.

First, just after the 10 mile mark, and then at about 14.5 still smiling and moving at a pleasing pace.
And finally, after he finished a loooong 25th mile on consistent up grade and hit the brutal hill at mile 26 as he headed for the finish (he's in there somewhere).

Even without pushing for a time goal he covered the distance in about 4hrs 32min.


I'm hoping the whole family will be 100% when we get together in Gatheirsburg for turkey and maybe a 5 miler in a few weeks.

I believe I heard Mark get a question in at Fitzgerald on Fri. as I listened to the Libby indictment press conference. Ol' Fitz would have none of it, refusing to clarify some of the vague language in his opening statement.

Paid $2.44 for gas today.

C.

I'm Back - The Quickie Life Update Entry

Start the clock. I'm shooting for a worthwhile entry in under 10 mins.

Here we go...

For the second time this summer I was knocked to the canvas for a couple weeks with a stomach condition. This time around was not quite the knock out blow that landed in late June and left me 10-12 lbs lighter in the end. Just a standing 8 count and I am now back in action, no lighter. Had the pleasure of a scope down the old gullet to get a professional eyeball on the situation. Serious stuff is pretty well ruled out. I am gradually venturing from eating completely bland stuff into not so bland. Taking appropriate meds for awhile as the works heal.

Cheap gas went up fro $2.35 to $2.69 before Katrina, then shot up to $3.33 locally in Greenbelt and now is dropping. Currently at $3.19.

I missed blueberry season and the felling of the apple tree. I am, however, enjoying some of this years berries thanks to Martha's picking efforts and the Mom & Dad express delivery. BIG thank you Martha!

I am a few pages into Brad Lockwood's book on the Case family knife dynasty. I'm liking it. Should I be surprised? Thanks Martha (again) for the signed copy.




Caught a Nationals game at RFK Stadium last weekend with Mom & Dad.

It was a big game with playoff implications, and they lost thanks to one bad inning by their ace pitcher Hernandez and some play by the Atlanata Braves, including a reach-over-the-fence-and-snag-a-home-run catch.


But it was a great day to be at the park. Low 80's, low humidity, sunny. Good seats in the shade. Very comfortable. RFK is spiffed up just enough to be a pleasant sight from the stands.
(And, NO! the Nats are not quite out of it yet, darn it!)



While I was out of commission Bridget has started running and walking. She is persevering cautiously, learning to accomodate and smartly manage her way through the minefiled of aches and pains that come with never having done this stuff. And she is progressing nicely. And, she is making all kinds of home improvements as well. Inspiring.

Dad continues with a busy work schedule and absolutely epic running. Mom is just as busy and has added a local pooch as an ocassional walking companion for her daily cruise in the neighborhood. They have also leapfrogged me technologywise, with a nice laptop at home ona wireless sytem.

I see the youngest of six is logging some impressive bike miles. Especially as they are on a mtn bike and off road. That off road stuff is too much for a roadie like me. An hour off pavement is easily as tough as 2 on it.

I'm out of the loop and way behind on all of the many other local family events. Even more clueless than usual I suppose I should add.

Meanwhile, I'm just happy to happy to have the energy to throw a wimpy post up on this blog site.

And... 29mins later, I'm done.

Birthday at Devereaux

The party was a little late, but it came off just fine. I played my crucial role: staying as far away from any actual contribution as possible.

According to the experts, the corn was not quite up to the five-star standard, but the salad, vine-ripened tomatoes, salmon, and the short cake with peaches (and ice cream for some) more than made up for it.

Some pics....










Let's see if I can add a few more...

First, a few of the goodies.


Here is the Chad Codero look, sort of.


Trying out "The Stick."


And, the obligatory cat photo. Cat-in-a-box.

New Fixie Set Up, or, Pimping my Ride

Memorializing a few changes to the fixed gear bike. If you thought I could not climb any higher on the "who cares!" scale, you've seriously underestimated me...


This bike is my fun wheels, where I attempt to put forth my own personal (and of course tasteful) style statement matched with the "essence de bike" factor that is inherent in the fixed gear ride. My best shot at marrying form and function in the cycling context, with a bit of a message if you look for it, maybe.

What brought his on? Well, because it's mykind of fun, and, it's looking like I may actually be able to ride this puppy again before halloween. Confidence in my legs is returning, slowly. So, I pulled out parts accumulated months ago.

This go 'round of pimping includes:

Throwing on some old school Dia Comp brake levers I picked up some time ago ($6 ebay). Brown to match the seat



Also chopped an additional inch or so off the bar ends, which were too curved for my liking. The trick here was to leave enough curve in order to mount the levers so as to have a nice range of pull on the brake levers - so the brakes would actually work, rather than finding that pulling on the levers would have them run into the handle bar before they had pulled the cable enough to move the brake pads against the wheel rim. Got that?

And, of course, the final flair: some new tan/brown bar tape to match the seat (well, sort of). Spied the tape at the LBS when I went by to grab some new brake cables. My first sighting of tape in that color, did not think it existed.

It called out to me in eee's and oooh's, reeling me in with its rolling Tuscan tone. The ride is a Cinelli frame, likwise the stem and bars (what's left of them). And, yes, this fine cork tape is Cinelli as well, and thus essential.





I suppose the hardcore purist cycling set would comment:
"You, Siiiiiir," they might derisively comment, "are a fixie poseur of the highest order.
Hand brakes? Egads, man. Bring that fine fixer to a halt as was meant to be, in appropriate old school fashion - reverse leg power."

"And," they might add, "the reverse levers may look cool, but they can be spears in the right (wrong) circumstances."


Yeah, yeah, yeah. I actually prefer to keep my knees connected to the rest of me, not watch them blow over the handlebars as I try to stop at the bottom of a hill. I will give myself the brake option, twice over - front and rear.

Perhaps I'll slip some neoprene on the lever, uh, make that "spear" tips. Got anything in black, or maybe Cinelli brown?