James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Spring Break: Day 2

How do you take an already half-ass spring break and make it worse? By closing all the parks, of course!

The day starts like every day, which I described yesterday. I make breakfast, clean up the kitchen, eat my oatmeal while I read the same book I was reading yesterday. With my allergies right now, I feel I'm hungover when I wake up most days. Shaking off the cobwebs takes a little time every morning.

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My day is supposed to be defined by a Ringwood ride at TOS. Due to a certain governor action, we aren't able to park there. So we meet at Ryerson school and ride from there. I'm with 2 people but I will spare their names for the record of public shaming. Suffice it to say that I was more often 60 feet from them as we rode today. I think I did well, I just have a lot of stress in this body since Friday and even on my best day, I'm not cat 1 material anymore. By the end of the ride I was cooked but goddamn this park is legit.

I've said this elsewhere and I'm speaking these words like dust in the wind, but I think closing the parks is a visible effort to make the governor look good and nothing more. So long as we have airports running, hospitals basically throwing out their normal hygienic standards, in addition to scores and scores of "essential" workers basically propagating the virus, this isn't going to go away as quickly as we would like. Parks are about 63rd on the list of places the virus might spread. Everyone reading this knows this is true. But there's little we can do about it at this stage. So belaboring it is of little value. Plus, enough has been said about it already.

When I get home I sit on the front porch and have an espresso. D went to CR when she heard the news to get one last ride in. I then blew 2 hours on the board which in hindsight, was a waste of time. But I'll be damned if it wasn't a beautiful day out.

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Then I laid on the couch because it seemed like the right thing to do. Before long it was time to make dinner which we ended up eating while watching episode 6 (of 8) of ZeroZeroZero, which I'm pretty much not sure is worth it anymore. Actually, it's bordering on pretty stupid now.

Then I went to Acme. With a mask.

Then I did an episode of Ask Norm Tuesday with @The Governor of Slacktown which was good.
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
You got tired and I was leaving you on the downhills by the end...but you were cleaning everything on warm puppy and the yellow trail and those are not easy....For someone who rides rocks like what? once a month? You did awesome.
 

Robin

Well-Known Member
We lost our spring break. Instead now we have 4 day weeks and 3 day weekend. Rationale was to keep kids on task with routine. I'm ok with it but I also don't have kids and where am I going to go?!
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
We lost our spring break. Instead now we have 4 day weeks and 3 day weekend. Rationale was to keep kids on task with routine. I'm ok with it but I also don't have kids and where am I going to go?!

should this be in the ANT thread :D

that is interesting - 4Q HS classes are all going to be P/F here in somerville. Assignments and Q&A session, then testing.
the school distributes chromebooks to everyone - so they can push the s/w in that they need.
we are on spring break this week - he stayed up until 6am, hooping it up in different tournaments. getting back on track is going to hurt.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Spring Break: Day 3

Day 1 we don't go on spring break. Day 2 we lost the parks. What will day 3 bring? Read below.

The day starts like the previous 2.

This morning I have no plans. My intention on this spring break - version 2 where we don't go to the Dominican Republic - was to ride the mountain bike every day. Since I started Sunday at the Commons, I bumped it out to 8. Well with the parks going down in a hail of Murphy's Law Bullets, that plan seems to have gone to shit.

So I fix the toilet seat in the 1st floor bathroom.

I then decide to mow the lawn. I should clarify this. Much like the journey of a 1000 miles begins with the first step, the mowing of the lawn begins with the first blade of grass. And much like, let's say, after 20 miles, you stop for the day, I mow the grass until I don't feel like doing it anymore. So this morning I pick up where I left off. Yesterday saw the running over of some animal bones but an inspection of the mower this morning shows no adverse effects to the blade, so I fire it back up and it seems fine. I mow more of the lawn until the next thing happens.

The transformer across the street from the neighbor's house blows up. I'm facing in that general direction so I see the flash when it happens. And so on day 3, we lose power.

I go in the house, call JCPL, and make oatmeal.

I then respond to @Santapez where I devise a plan to address the Coronavirus situation with the help of whiz-kid math genius @jmanic and the understanding that the old people are all going to get naturally selected. This is sort of what every government on the planet is doing right now, save for 1. So we might as well state it for what it is. "Sorry old people, stay inside and hope it works out." Of course, Sweden has done nothing extreme like this, and they're not falling apart. But nobody wants to talk about that because it would invalidate our choices here. It's sort of like making a tire selection and doing everything you can to defend it even in the face of all opposing evidence.

Since Murphy's Law does not apply to the WMAs, I went to Wildcat with 25 other people and we rode together, making sure we were no more than 6 feet apart at any time. At all trail intersections we huddled closely, giving bro hugs and kissing each other on the cheeks like the French. When we were done, we all laid down and did barrel rolls over each other because it seemed like the fun thing to do.

After the ride I went to pick up the kids from the other parents. They're here until Friday then we have a free weekend.

I went home and finished mowing the lawn. I didn't do the front because it appears to be suffering from male pattern baldness. So this job is done for now.

Then I took a nap because I am old and naps are awesome.

Finally, I made dinner while D did a Zwift ride with her Pharma group. After she was done we ate dinner, then I had a cup of tea on the porch while the sun set. It was a beautiful evening and splendid day to be outside.
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Spring Break: Day 3

Day 1 we don't go on spring break. Day 2 we lost the parks. What will day 3 bring? Read below.

The day starts like the previous 2.

This morning I have no plans. My intention on this spring break - version 2 where we don't go to the Dominican Republic - was to ride the mountain bike every day. Since I started Sunday at the Commons, I bumped it out to 8. Well with the parks going down in a hail of Murphy's Law Bullets, that plan seems to have gone to shit.

So I fix the toilet seat in the 1st floor bathroom.

I then decide to mow the lawn. I should clarify this. Much like the journey of a 1000 miles begins with the first step, the mowing of the lawn begins with the first blade of grass. And much like, let's say, after 20 miles, you stop for the day, I mow the grass until I don't feel like doing it anymore. So this morning I pick up where I left off. Yesterday saw the running over of some animal bones but an inspection of the mower this morning shows no adverse effects to the blade, so I fire it back up and it seems fine. I mow more of the lawn until the next thing happens.

The transformer across the street from the neighbor's house blows up. I'm facing in that general direction so I see the flash when it happens. And so on day 3, we lose power.

I go in the house, call JCPL, and make oatmeal.

I then respond to @Santapez where I devise a plan to address the Coronavirus situation with the help of whiz-kid math genius @jmanic and the understanding that the old people are all going to get naturally selected. This is sort of what every government on the planet is doing right now, save for 1. So we might as well state it for what it is. "Sorry old people, stay inside and hope it works out." Of course, Sweden has done nothing extreme like this, and they're not falling apart. But nobody wants to talk about that because it would invalidate our choices here. It's sort of like making a tire selection and doing everything you can to defend it even in the face of all opposing evidence.

Since Murphy's Law does not apply to the WMAs, I went to Wildcat with 25 other people and we rode together, making sure we were no more than 6 feet apart at any time. At all trail intersections we huddled closely, giving bro hugs and kissing each other on the cheeks like the French. When we were done, we all laid down and did barrel rolls over each other because it seemed like the fun thing to do.

After the ride I went to pick up the kids from the other parents. They're here until Friday then we have a free weekend.

I went home and finished mowing the lawn. I didn't do the front because it appears to be suffering from male pattern baldness. So this job is done for now.

Then I took a nap because I am old and naps are awesome.

Finally, I made dinner while D did a Zwift ride with her Pharma group. After she was done we ate dinner, then I had a cup of tea on the porch while the sun set. It was a beautiful evening and splendid day to be outside.
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Day 4, Rain
Day 5, WMA's closed
 

JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Day 5, WMA's closed

I think we're probably good til Monday/Tuesday, but this weekend is gonna be a shit show. I also suspect they will close to hiking/biking, but stay open for hunting/fishing.
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
I think we're probably good til Monday/Tuesday, but this weekend is gonna be a shit show. I also suspect they will close to hiking/biking, but stay open for hunting/fishing.
Yeah, who knows, it is certainly a loophole the suits didn’t think about.

I agree with you on the hunting and fishing, those user groups have much deeper pockets then mtb’er.
 

w_b

Well-Known Member
There is verbage in the state code that you can ride your bike to access the hunting and fishing in the NJ WMAs. I have now put my collapsable rod in my Mule. Ride on.
 

Carson

Sport Bacon
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Prior to fixing the toilet seat, were you just hovering? Or was it designated a pee-only toilet?
 

JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
There is verbage in the state code that you can ride your bike to access the hunting and fishing in the NJ WMAs. I have now put my collapsable rod in my Mule. Ride on.

Yeah, so technically we are not allowed to ride in WMA's during hunting season except for Sundays. As you mentioned, it says, "The use of mountain bicycles engaged in legal hunting and fishing activities and Division sponsored events will be permitted on a year round basis." I've said before that if they ever enforced us not riding during hunting season, that I would just buy a collapsable rod and get a fishing permit. They can't prove I'm not on my way to the pond to do some legal fishing.
 

w_b

Well-Known Member
Yeah, so technically we are not allowed to ride in WMA's during hunting season except for Sundays. As you mentioned, it says, "The use of mountain bicycles engaged in legal hunting and fishing activities and Division sponsored events will be permitted on a year round basis." I've said before that if they ever enforced us not riding during hunting season, that I would just buy a collapsable rod and get a fishing permit. They can't prove I'm not on my way to the pond to do some legal fishing.
Exactly. And there’s a certain WMA with access to salt water, so don’t even need a fission license. Just don’t forget your saltwater registry ID .
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Spring Break: Day 4

Day 1 we don't go on spring break
Day 2 we lost the parks
Day 3 power outage
Day 4...

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Day 4 starts like all the others. This morning I text with @seanrunnette a bit and we don't necessarily agree on some of the things going on now, but I'll give him a pass because of the altitude thing. One thing that came out of the conversation is that this might be the strongest evidence that we're living in a simulation yet. The creator of the game is testing his sim with a new challenge. He wants to see how poorly we reply. I'm thinking we are about to be terminated.

I then come up with a 2nd approach for @Santapez on how we can tackle this virus if I were the king of Siam. It is now based on the supposition that we 100% will get a vaccine, which both @rick81721 and @Dominique think will happen. Not being my strength, I have no opinion on this matter so I will take them at their word. However, I do not post this on the thread because I am tired of it all. Maybe tomorrow.

Instead I lay on the couch and read my book, pictured above, for the first half of the morning. Honestly this is more productive.

@Carson asked about the toilet seat. 1 of the 2 bolts in the back had come loose, so it was hardly a major problem. I finally got around to tightening it up properly. This is really only an issue for men, sitting down. Do i need to draw this picture any further? Say no.

I then make oatmeal.

I round out the morning by doing a bench cut on the side of the property furthest from the set of trails that we've got built currently. This trail will extend out then to the left to hook up with the terminus of a few different trails on the other corner of the yard. This was the hardest part as it was really rough in here and there were a lot of bushes and rocks. The rest should be a bit easier than this.

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We eat a late lunch, which I follow with a recovery spin on the trainer while it rains outside. On a recommendation from @UtahJoe I watch Operation Odessa, which is pretty solid.

I shower up and shave, then actually put on pants and a polo shirt, because part of me needs to live some portion of my life out of sweatpants. This came from a conversation that @Kirt and I had last night.

Late afternoon we are back out on the trails, where I put Simon to work carving out Chip, which is the name of the huge tree stump that we're making rideable. Here he is carving out a notch to be able to more smoothly go over it. This is where the trail I cut earlier will connect up to. That's a lot of work so it may take some time. Chip is almost done though.

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Then dinner, and the couch. While it did rain today I don't think we would have done much more than we did. It was a pretty lazy day and after all the riding the past 5 days, it was good to take an easier day. So ok, sure, it rained and we didn't do much outside.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Spring Break: Day 5

Day 1 we don't go on spring break
Day 2 we lost the parks
Day 3 power outage
Day 4 ok, it rains a bit
Day 5...

Morning is the same. Oatmeal, read, and so on.

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Ok, I'm not one of these people that believes in crystals, or thinks shoes are dumb, and so on. As such, this isn't really a thought process I had this morning so much as another extension on this simulation theory, which I don't actually believe. Imagine that Mother Nature was really a sentient entity. And this virus was created to force people to dial back, and use less, spend less energy, create less waste. And imagine at the end of the year all the scientists are like, "Holy shit, we paused global warming this year and if we keep doing this, we'll save the whales." Or whatever. I had this thought after I saw the link about the fish recovering.

Even if it were true people would hit 2021 and say, "IDGAF we now need to burn double the fossil fuel in 2021 because we were so low last year."

Anyway, then there was bacon on the table and I was like, hells yes.

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After the bacon I finally put the rebuilt shock on D's bike, and even though it was a bit of a pain to get on there, I did it. And it seems to be fine. We'll see how it works out in the field, which we'll get to try tomorrow or Sunday.

We play a game of Rummikub then I take a phone call from a company I've been interviewing with. Unfortunately, even though the interviews have been going well, they decided this week to freeze hiring across the org. That leaves me in a pause state, with the idea that once this passes, we can resume the process. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how long that will take, and I fear the worst. My current job security is as fine as it can be, but I want to move on. I simply don't think this place will amount to anything, and most of my coworkers are horrible. So anyway, this a real downer, and casts a pall on the remainder of the day. While I know it's a responsible move, that doesn't mean I want to hear it. I'm going to need to come up with a survival strategy going forward to mentally survive, because some aspects of it have become intolerable. So yeah, this really sucks out loud and is far worse than rain.

We have lunch then I show the kids Trogdor, which is 1 of the best videos ever made.



Before dinner I do not 1, but 2 Zwift races. I guess feel like I have to punish myself. I did Bs for both, and the results are nothing to write home about. We'd planned on riding DM today, but I'm not sure we as a collective really need to flock to the few remaining parks that are open and overwhelm them.

So, a positive thing. Today is the 3 year anniversary of my stopping drinking. I don't know what that means anymore, but it's something I have on the calendar. So 3 years and 1 day ago I had my last drink(s), in Chicago. At this point it's not something I even think about. I'm a happier person now, and for sure healthier. I wish it were easier to be lighter than I am but as it turns out, I gave up alcohol and just ate more chocolate. In the grand scheme of things, that's probably a good trade-off. I have mentioned before the positives it gives me, so I won't belabor that again.

And so while Good Friday maybe wasn't that good, it was good enough.
 
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