Manic Mondays?

I'm not the most computer literate person on the planet But I'm trying. Also I'm trying something different tonight too. so bear with me. I'm cutting and pasting to post my blog update.

Q

Hey the cut and paste worked! woooohoooo!

Manic Mondays?

Ok today is Monday the 6th of October and I'm working on my blog in a slightly different way.

Since its mondayevening the web connections start to move glacially slow, I figure work up the blog on word pad then cut and past to the blog when it is more convienent to do so. There always more than one way to accomplish a unimportant nonspecific task.

Been sort of busy these past few days. Drinking like a fish partying and carrying on like a jeuvenile delinquent might of been what I'd prefer to do; but that wasn't on the table. Mismanaging my time loosing track of events and things how ever were what occured. Still I did find time to perform my current routines of training for the Marine Corps Marathon, washing clothes and becoming more disorganized by the day and practicing with my bagpipes.

Now for my Andy Rooney impersonation;
Peeves everybodys got em, some people voice em, some people over react to them. My current peeve is catalogs. Oh I do like getting mail and opening the mail box is like opening a surprise package or box of chocolates if you're Forest Gump. and catalogs can be fun to peruse but enough is enough. Afterall I'm not in the monetary bracket to purchase supposedly higher end items as you might find in 'Touch of Class' from Huntingburg, Indianna. Interesting name Huntingburg, I wonder if they were hunting for a town or an iceberg, but I digress. Oh the catlog is nicely done, maybe a little too confusing to look through but I can assure you I don't need to, nor can I afford to purchase home furnishings, curio cabinets,and home decor at this time. Nice items but the cost is greater than my thift shop spending allowances.

Have you ever purchased a gift item for a friend through a catalog and then start recieving more and more of them for similar but different articles? I know I have. But really do I need a continuing supply of catalogs from Lane Byant, Bedford Fair or Anthony Richards? After all those three i named are for woman's clothing and I don't think I'm built for foundation garments of the fairer gender. It might tend to get a little tight where I'd prefer to have some room.

Well maybe this looming economic crisis will be good news that way and they'll no longer be able to afford sending me material to roll into logs for the fire place. That way i'll reduce my green house gas emissions, they'll reduce logging and the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can be assorbed by the tress that will be able to grow.

And no, I'm not a writer for Andy Rooney. Although my desk may be as deeply burried in paper goods as his.

Ok so the weekend has come and gone its now a new work week for many people but not for me. I'm retired. Oh thats right I'm still training to run in a marathon and solicitng donations for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in addition to being a wannabe no talent bagpiper.

On Saturday morning I awoke dark and early, yes, autumn is upon us and winter is preparing an entrance. It was not a comfortable morning for a run but run I did. Only this time I went in a different direction. South and East instead of North and West. I started maybe an hour before sun rise by going South on Old State Road in Highland Falls to Fort Montgomery, the Bear Mountain bridge and across to Anthony's Nose in Westchester County where I reversed my route and returned home. Not an overly quick run as it was in the upper 30's, OK 39 degrees farenheit, when I left home and i dressed for cooler temperatures. Still I maintained a consistant pace and completed the 7 &1/2 miles door to door in one hour and 20 minutes.
As I said i was dressed for cooler weather and the effects showed as I had sweated through the windbreaker I wore as an outer shell and my running tights were covered in condensation.

Still afterwards I did find time to take care of the mundane actions that keep us with an appearance of civilised life. Followed in the afternoon with a trip to Bear Mountain State Park for the yearly Octoberfest. Woooohooooo! beer! As the afternoon was spectacular the park was full and near if not over capacity for parking. Ok i pay the parking fee of six dollars for the motorcycle, same price as a car although the motorcycle will take only 1/4 the space of a car if I park correctly. Since the State Park charges me full price for a car I can only return the favor and take a full space for a car. Seems fair to me. Well supposedly the front lot is full, OK off to the back lot I go, pay my entrance fee and go in. Now I'm not crazy about parking on the dark side of the moon in relationship to where I want to be and I also don't ride motorcycles on pedestrian paths; I will however push it along a pedestrian path to where I'd rather park. And yes there was a open parking space very near the festival itself and it was not a hadicapped spot either. I took a plum parking space. Score one for a little bit of work.

Well after securing the motorcuycle so it can't be pushed too readily. Heavy cable through the wheels and locked onto the bike itself with an even heavier lock, I totter off to the Ersatz October Festival. The beer of choice this year/week is Spaten and I order two 1 litre stiens of the Octoberfest beer. Alrighty. the equivelant of a six pack of beer, German music and some of my Christmas shopping done too! Oh yeah life is good. Only the beer line is over twenty minutes long. So how does a certifiable nut case like my self make light of a long beer line? I announce serving numbers loudly as everyone waits. NOW SERVING 32, 654. Wait a few minutes and repeat the NOW SERVING with a rediculously higher number and so on till I get to the beer servers. Yeah they must of loved the attitiude, Still I got to grab some good beer watch some Germanic dancers and drink some decent beer all at the same time.

Sunday: Rain, Cool, Wet, Rain. Now I can't think of anyone who actually enjoys exercising in the rain. let alone running in it. I know I don't still i wait for it to taper off and out i go on a 3 & 1/3 mile run. Again dress with the windbreaker, reflective sash, carrying a orange signal cone on my flashlight. Hey its early & dark the roads are wet and some drivers are still bleary eyed from the night before. If i can be seen chances are they'll try to avoid hitting me as they probably don't want to have their insureance premiums increase after they've had their car towed to the body shop for repairs. So off I go into the very damp Sunday Morning for a reasonably uneventful run. Funny but my running shoes stayed dryer than the rest of me.

later Sunday morning I get out to met with a couple of guys for a group motorcycle ride. But I'm running a little behind schedule and miss them. Not a complete bummer, as serendipity has been working for me alot over the course of these last few weeks. One of the people involved with the Motorcycle safety Foundation is delivering training bikes to the storage site and i swing by to say hello. Well he needs to get in contact with another instructor but has lost his phone number. Not a problem, I get the person's business card and drop it at the residence of the person we both sought to met with. Then later on I sent an e-mail to confirm he'd gotten the message. So life was good that way.

Sunday Afternoon, the sun is out and the weather is looking up, OK time to go out on the motorcycle again. This time i ride up to Perkins Observatory atop Bear Mountain. The roads are drying nicely and not just Motorists and Motorcyclists but Hikers &Bicyclists are all enjoying the weather and scenery. Still there are a few bicyclist who like to ride side by side going up the hill, not generally a safe practice but common. Still as I've got some cars behind me I slow down and let them know theres traffic comming on them. They get back into tandem formation and it a good thing as there seemed to be an increase in trafic going both ways on the road after i passed them. Still after driving a chase vehicle for quite a few Bicyclists the previous weekend and also occasionally riding a bicycle myself, I do like to try to have a safe space around the less protected road users.

At the top of the large hill/small mountain which is Bear Mountain the area is packed with sight seers, hikers picnicers,automobiles and motorcyclists. Also I got to see a few exotic motorcycles there and was surpised to see a sports announcer I know as well also enjoying the fine autumn day. Its a strong ride to the top of Bear Mountain and he rode up on a Road Bike. A continuous grade, fairly steady wrapping up and around the mountain. Combine that with an exhilarating down hill ride and for a bicyclist it has to be quite the adrenaline rush. Actually it is I've done it on my mountain bike/road bike hybrid. Also ridden down 9W from Crows Nest to West Point and topped over 45MPH but thats another story.

Still as the day ended it was a easy ride home and a quiet night.

Monday the 6th of October, hey today! played slugboy this morning till about 11:00 AM when I decided to add some cross training to my running. So off to the Gym I go after inflating the tires on my bicyle to 95 PSI. An easy 4&1/4 mile ride to the gym, secure the bike go inside check in and secure my dry clothes for when I get done. Ah start with some minor stretching and I yeah I'm insane, certifiably nutz, i get on the treadmill. Actually the treadmill can be a harder work out for me than running outdoors as I can have it work me at a faster pace than I normally go. So what do i do set it for manual ramp the incline up to a 5% grade and starting speed at 6MPH, OK 5minutes and ramp up the speed to 6&1/2 MPH. Alright I'm sweating now at 15 minutes I bring the incline down to 0 and speed it up to 7&1/2 MPH Watchout Big guy booking and slinging sweat At 20minutes I'm up to 8MPH. whats that smell? Oh its just me. Well I do back the overall speed down a little and clear 5 kilometers in 26 minutes and change. nut my best race times but on what would of been a more grueling course than any I've run upon. with the cool down at the end I cover 3&7/10th miles in 35 minutes.

OK nice warm up whats next Oh yeah the rowing machines. Refill my water bottle first, just incase I get thristy. nearly emptied the entire 16 ounce contents on my indoor run. Go to the rowers turn on my MP3 player and start pulling away. Well 20 minutes and 3&1/2 kilometers later, Lake Quinn has formed under the rowing machine. No not little splashes of sweat, I'm talking a puddle two feet wide and three feet long. Whats even worse is the rowing machines are in the middle of a forest of exercise machines well removed from any proximity to the janitors closet where the mops are stored. OK so now that I'm done and wiped the machine down its off to the janitor's closet for a mop to wipe and spead my mess around. OK iget most of it up but evaporation will need to finish the rest.

Well that covers my activities on the machines put on some dry clothes and bicycle home for a late lunch. Ok lunch is actually breakfast and I'm in the mood for RaisunBran with banannas. only I don't care to slice up a bannana. Hey I've got a blender. So into the blender goes one whole bananna and milk. Mix thoroughly and add to the cereal wait a little bit as your interruppted by a phone call and return to Raisun Bran Bannana Pudding! Oh Boy, its not as bad as it sounds and easy to eat too.

OK today had a hard work out so a short nap followed by a trip down to River Courts on West Point to the North Side for some bagpipe practice. Well after about 30 to 45 minutes I call it quits and head home. Which brings me to an easy dinner and working on this excuse for a blog. So in a little bit I'll try accessing the web see if the connection has speeded up with all the kiddies getting done getting an education and doing homework via Wikidemia methodology. Wikipedia.org interesting but not always accurate or factual as the Encyclopedia Britannica or Old Oxford Unabridge Dictionary.

Well cheers and prosit Alles, Have a safe and enjoyable week and I'll catch up later on as tommorrow I may make a day of it in Westchester County after bagpipe practice as I've an event to attend in south WhitePlains nearly in Harrison NY at 6:00PM (aka 18:00 hours). at the Luekemia and Lymphoma Society.

Q