James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

The thing about eating 9 fruits and vegetables every day is that you are quite literally full of shit all the time.

@Carson this isn't an especially accurate characterization of how things might play out. I mean is this a 100% theoretical question? Because I can't really answer this as-stated. If I have to just pick one or the other, I have to pick the first. I'll take the over.

Some things that play into that:

1. I just don't miss alcohol anymore. It fucks up my thinking, makes me feel like shit, makes me sleep like shit, makes the next morning feel like ass and I am far less efficient in both mind and body. If I never have a drink again I don't think that's a bad thing at all.
2. I feel pretty damn good most of the time. I just have so much more energy when I eat well and exercise right. I don't want to feel worse and live fewer years just so I can fall asleep with a cheeseburger in my hand. Hands.
3. Exercise makes me feel good. When I stop, I feel less good. I also use exercise as a way to see places (Vermont, etc).
4. Ok fuck this 2 cups of coffee a day shit.

At this point I define much of my enjoyment in life in doing things. The better I feel, the more I can do. The longer I live, the more shit I can do. If this is a purely philosophical argument then you should remove good food, and make me eat salad every day. And take all coffee products away.

Our country has an unhealthy attachment to alcohol. I think a lot of people agree with this but on top of that I think our country has an unhealthy addiction to not doing things. What I mean is this. We seem to take pride in having things done FOR us, but not actually DOING them. So we've set this bar where having things done for us is considered a win of sorts. I don't know if this is such a good thing.

On another note, and contrary to the feeling-good-every-day thing, I've been carrying this sore throat for a few days and today was another one of those days. I wasn't sure what to do on the bike because I'm wondering if I'm still a little sick or if I'm starting to exercise too little and feeling the lull from that. I decided to play it by ear. Did a moderate Zwift ride and hit 1 hill in the London world, the longest one in the Surrey Hills, Keith Hill. Previous best was 16:02. I decided to hit this one hard and this would be my workout on the day. I did not feel amazing, again, but I utterly destroyed this one at 14:19 today. That's 1:43 better than my previous best. So feeling good or not, this is obvious improvement.

Hitler died on MITHC today.

Felt better the rest of the day, which tells me the overall feeling was due to the lull coming on. I'm trying to use this week to setup for next week. This means I will do some sort of race on Friday. I do still have a minor sore throat.

Met Julia at the BAC to support her first practice with the new team and the new center. She was nervously excited but she ended up doing fine. They don't let the parents into the pool during practice which I kinda like. Parents these days are a bit too much so I kinda like the segregation between the team and the parents. This is actually a team, btw. Not sure if I mentioned that or not. Talked to her after and she said it went well. But then she always says that. This is going to be an adjustment going from 0 to 4 practices of 90 minutes a week. This will entail swim meets on weekends next year. So that's another thing to add to the calendar.
 
I could and should have put more thought into the A and B choices, but I threw the coffee in there to at least make you think about it a little. Clearly, medical equipment up your ass didn't factor into your decision-making process at all. That says something, too.

"You can shove shit up my ass, just let me drink some coffee first."
 
@Carson - I guess when it comes down to it, if sticking a probe up my ass 1 day a year keeps things flowing out of it properly the other 364 days, I suppose I can live with that. Having said that, I have not yet reached the mandatory age for alien probes so I may change my tune when that day arrives. But from the sounds of it, more of the stress comes from not eating for like 18 hours leading up to this sadistic test.

I literally had 8.5 hours of phone calls today.

London Louisville Calling

Here is how the run-up to Louisville will go:

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The hard work is less than normal. Just make sure the engine is still operating with some ability to produce power.

Yesterday was London: 1 effort on a 15 minute hill, new PR.
Today was London: I tried 2 different hills, both of them shorter than yesterday:
* Fox Hill. Previous best 7:57, today 7:25
* Box Hill. Previous best 9:01, today 8:41

The next 2 days I will take it easy then do a mock race on Friday. Then next week I will repeat and make any adjustments based on how I feel Friday.

I finished up the backup bike today so I hope to get out with that tomorrow or Thursday to make sure it works. I don't expect to show up in Kentucky and do any real damage, but I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn't try to line up things as best I could. That means following the outline above plus a couple of functional bikes and trying to eat well and sleep as much as I can and riding the course the day before. Line up as much as you can, then show up on race day and let the fitness pieces fall where they may.

Then fly back to New Jersey, embark on another 14 days of travel where I get some much-needed rest, then start to outline how I will lay out the first 3 months of 2019.
 
I took a break, things have been busy.

I have a bit of a Life Cocktail right now which goes like this:

1. Trying to ramp down the work I need to offload to the PS org
2. Trying to ramp up the work I'll be doing in PdM org
3. We have been doing 6 hours of KT sessions with the Engineering team the last few weeks
4. I'll be away after tomorrow through the end of the year in some fashion, every day
5. Oh and also. I was on a SINGLE EIGHT HOUR CONFERENCE CALL last week

On all accounts, the sausage casing is starting to get a little full, so it's been hard to sit down at night to write. I've been writing more requirements and docs for the various teams. This really means that at the end of each day, it's harder for me to come up with the mojo to produce more. I've been trying to find time to do that in the past week but somehow I run out of steam. I don't have a lot of energy today, but since today is the first day of the last week of the 2018 race season, I should say something.

Like hi to Mitch. Hi @Mitch.

I did a ride today. I did a single effort on the Volcano Climb. I'm not sure how I feel right now, but probably mostly ok - not great/not terrible. My previous best was 9:54 and today I hit 9:07. Ride after ride, the previous PRs are falling by a wide margin. So, I think my fitness is in decent shape coming into this week. I did that race last week, the one on Friday. I felt like total and complete dogshit that day. I have probably been a little sick, and that was a bad day for The Feels. Still, I won the race, which is a testament to some form on the bike. Form and stupidity. My last 3 Zwift races in the C class have been 1st-2nd-1st. I think that has to be the end of the C class for me. After the new year I'll probably need to cat up to the Bs. I have not been auto-upgraded by the Borg. But I suppose it's time.

Some of you may remember that last week I was supposed to have gone to Seattle. I pushed that out and it got rescheduled for next week. Well, the next wave came around and then I was asked to go Austin last week. So yeah, no, not doing that. My boss covered that one. Then on Tuesday one of the Client Success guys asked if I could go to Minnesota for the day on Thursday. That was also a no. That turned into the 8 hour conference call which is probably a lot better than flying to Minnesota for a day. And so, despite the universe trying to make me travel even more this month, I did everything I could to get out of it. Instead, I went to Newark and hung out with @jmanic. I'll talk about that another time.

Shit. I just realized that they asked me to go to Cleveland tomorrow. I texted my boss and he is on his way there now. Ouch. So yeah, not doing that one either.

Ok so it's Monday. I'm going to try to cobble together something every day between now and December 31st. After today, I have something on my calendar for every single day between now and the end of the year. We'll end the year with a meal in a house not our own. That will tip me over the edge in terms of days spent sleeping in a bed not my own. I will sleep in my own bed 15 times this month, and in someone else's 16. But I am sure we will eat some good food along the way.

On that note, I present to you last night's beet salad, which is something we served on Saturday night when we had friends over for dinner.

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Pomegranates- nice touch. Any idea on how your times on the zwift climbs compare to your competition at nationals; I think that would be a pretty good barometer on how you will do at the race. Good Luck!
 
Event of the Day: Julia's Winter Concert

Somewhere along the line in the last month I realized my daughter may or may not have figured out this blog exists. When she's here, we sit on her bed at night and she reads, while I either write, work, or read with her. One day, a while ago she says, casually, "Are you writing your blog for the site?" It was that day I realized the kids really aren't kids anymore. I need to start thinking about my audience a bit more when I write this stuff. The way she said it may have been a passive comment of no meaning. Or it may have been that she knows about this blog and sometimes reads it. More than likely, she isn't interested in this stuff. But I've made that mistake before so I wanted to err on the side of caution. From that point on, I assumed that there was some non-zero chance she could be reading. I imagine one day she'll find it. Then she'll assume it's rubbish and never read again.

What I didn't account for was my mom. Apparently, she's been reading this blog on & off over the years as well. Turns out that I gave her the link to the site some time ago, though I have no memory of this. And it may be the case that I called my parents boring on one occasion. Or two. Again, my memory fails me. And also, and this is something I don't remember and I have a hard time believing because I don't feel this way, I may have referred to them as rednecks. I don't see how that's possible, being as I don't really see them as rednecks so it would be a stretch for me to say that. In any event, I wasn't really expecting to find out that my mom was reading.

Well apparently she has been. So she sent me a note last week telling me that she was a little, well, let's say unhappy about some things I wrote. I told her I was sorry, about everything, and we are good now. They came down to see Julia tonight.

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My parents have been nothing short of amazingly supportive and I'll leave it at that. Sometimes, people get the impression that I literally write EVERYTHING that I think on this blog. I assure you that is not the case. I leave out every 6th thought.

Here is another rule that I think people should abide by. This goes for anyone reading this, regardless if I know you read or not. If I say something, and it can be taken in 1 of 2 ways:

A. One interpretation makes you feel sad and lonely
B. One interpretation doesn't

I meant B.

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rule 1 of the internet - everything you write is permanent.
rule 2, if you mention someone, it will get to them
rule 3, profit

i've been telling my kid this for years. so what does he do?
i'm not going to tell you, cause rule 1 and 2!
but it was a breach of both of them, and it wasn't about his family......

ps. hi Joe's Mom!
 
Wait. You mean the cat is eventually going to find out that I've called him an a$$hole on the internet?!

He's really a loveable fluff ball of loveable goodness (with only intermittent a$$hole tendencies)
 
fidodie said:
rule 1 of the internet - everything you write is permanent.
rule 2, if you mention someone, it will get to them
rule 3, profit

i've been telling my kid this for years. so what does he do?
i'm not going to tell you, cause rule 1 and 2!
but it was a breach of both of them, and it wasn't about his family......

ps. hi Joe's Mom!
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I try not to post pictures of my daughter on SNS for such reasons.
I get crap for it but I think I am respecting her privacy.
 
Norm said:
A. One interpretation makes you feel sad and lonely
B. One interpretation doesn't
Click to expand...

Funny that you say this, a wise person told me recently there are 2 important things when dealing with people.

1. Don't take things personally.
2. Don't assume the worst.

Adolescent age kids have a tough time with this, it's a tough age. In a sense they need to be protected. There bodies and emotions are maturing and need time to sort things out. They think they are mature but when they get older they realize they where not.

Thank God they didn't have the internet when I was a teen, my Johnson would be all over it, like Freddy Mercury's face. What's with that guy, his band was basically Foreigner with a gay lead singer. Bohemian Rhapsody is like Stairway to Heaven or Freebird, anyone who says that's their favorite song is a dolt.

Honestly I don't recall you saying anything negative about your parents. I don't know your mom but the portrait I have of her in my head is a sweet loving mom and you appreciate your stepdad more now that you are yourself a stepdad.

I find I can't goof on my mom, she doesn't see the humor in it, like guys in a break room. The strongest love there is, is that of a mother's love for her kids. My wife makes my 23 yr old breakfast, lunch and dinner, he doesn't even have to ask. I get fed, sometimes.
 
Event of the Day: Drive to Louisville

It's not every day you wake up at 5am and get in the car to drive 700+ miles to Kentucky. Come to think of it, this has only ever happened once in my lifetime. That just so happens to be today. Here we are, as I sit here in the passenger seat, cruising down route 71 between Columbus and Cincinnati, 2 towns that I have no particular reason to visit for much of anything. If you pressed me, I would choose the latter, probably for 3 reasons. The first being WKRP. The second being that I've never been to Cincinnati. The third being that I have been to Dayton (outside Columbus) and it wasn't anything to write home about. Bonus reason: I'll go with the Bengals. Not sure if that is a plus or minus. Once we eventually drove through Cincinnati that would be yet another reason. It just looks cooler and more unique than Columbus.

This is a billboard we just passed: "If you died today where would you spend eternity?" File this under: Things That Keep Me Up At Night. This is Ohio. But before Ohio, the geography of reality may have been a bit confused.

IMG_6852.jpg

Whatever.

In all we did the 700 mile drive in almost exactly 11 hours. That turns out to be 64 mph which is pretty good for 2 gas stops and 1 pee break. There was very little traffic to speak of, which makes sense, because at the end of the day, most people are probably driving out of Ohio, not into it. Plus, who lives here? Once we hit Cincinnati and crossed the river into Kentucky, the landscape changed a bit and it made me think that mountain biking here is probably decent. Having said that, I have never heard of any destination mountain bike parks in the state.

Grabbed some Thai food for dinner and then some ice cream around the corner. All of this was in a 2 block radius of where we landed for the day. In all we were back at the house by 6:30+ which was great as it allowed us some solid downtime to sit and make sure the couches did not float away. Both of us are more on the exhausted side of things right now so this was a much-needed break.

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I like these bridges.

Eventually @MissJR and @Santapez showed up. I'm too tired to keep writing. Going to hit submit and call it a day soon.
 
Norm said:
Event of the Day: Drive to Louisville

It's not every day you wake up at 5am and get in the car to drive 700+ miles to Kentucky. Come to think of it, this has only ever happened once in my lifetime. That just so happens to be today. Here we are, as I sit here in the passenger seat, cruising down route 71 between Columbus and Cincinnati, 2 towns that I have no particular reason to visit for much of anything. If you pressed me, I would choose the latter, probably for 3 reasons. The first being WKRP. The second being that I've never been to Cincinnati. The third being that I have been to Dayton (outside Columbus) and it wasn't anything to write home about. Bonus reason: I'll go with the Bengals. Not sure if that is a plus or minus. Once we eventually drove through Cincinnati that would be yet another reason. It just looks cooler and more unique than Columbus.

This is a billboard we just passed: "If you died today where would you spend eternity?" File this under: Things That Keep Me Up At Night. This is Ohio. But before Ohio, the geography of reality may have been a bit confused.


Whatever.

In all we did the 700 mile drive in almost exactly 11 hours. That turns out to be 64 mph which is pretty good for 2 gas stops and 1 pee break. There was very little traffic to speak of, which makes sense, because at the end of the day, most people are probably driving out of Ohio, not into it. Plus, who lives here? Once we hit Cincinnati and crossed the river into Kentucky, the landscape changed a bit and it made me think that mountain biking here is probably decent. Having said that, I have never heard of any destination mountain bike parks in the state.

Grabbed some Thai food for dinner and then some ice cream around the corner. All of this was in a 2 block radius of where we landed for the day. In all we were back at the house by 6:30+ which was great as it allowed us some solid downtime to sit and make sure the couches did not float away. Both of us are more on the exhausted side of things right now so this was a much-needed break.


I like these bridges.

Eventually @MissJR and @Santapez showed up. I'm too tired to keep writing. Going to hit submit and call it a day soon.
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That bike Park in the cave is a Louisville “destination”. I did not go when I was there as the logistics were crappy. The road riding is pretty good round there though. So cool little hills a few miles from where you are.
 
stb222 said:
That bike Park in the cave is a Louisville “destination”. I did not go when I was there as the logistics were crappy. The road riding is pretty good round there though. So cool little hills a few miles from where you are.
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The mega cavern is apparently closed for the season. :(

Edit: the bike park part is closed.
 
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pooriggy said:
. My wife makes my 23 yr old breakfast, lunch and dinner, he doesn't even have to ask. I get fed, sometimes.
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When it comes down to it...you're just some guy she met somewhere and humped at some point....the boys are made from her (and you), but they are her flesh and blood, you are not . BTW, how ya feeling? Missed Ya tonight
 
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