James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

[Norm]

Spring Break: Day 6

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 I don't get the job I was interviewing for
Day 6...

I sleep until 8 this morning. It's rare that I sleep this late, so I must be pretty tired. Remainder of the morning is the same as usual. I'm going to spare the espresso picture today because I have plenty of other pictures. More on that later. The above is from the front yard.

We drop the boys off and get gas on the way back. The world is strange now, in many ways. Is that because we aren't used to it? When this is over (uh huh) are we going to think it's odd to go into the grocery store and not wear a mask? The below image is also from the front of the house.

We had planned to go to Wildcat today, but after further assessment we decided to skip and go to Dickerson Mine. Yes, it's still open. I will assume that the vast majority of people who read this specific blog know that. No, I'm not going to say that it's not open when it is. I don't really think we should be hiding anything from one another. If you've been there, you probably know it's a small park and if you live more than 45 minutes from it, you likely won't trek that far to ride it. I really enjoy the park, and today I enjoyed it more than usual. I don't know why, I just did. I really don't think we're going to see this glut of people showing up to ride here . Maybe once, or even twice. But before long people will get tired of it, and it will go back to normal.

Today wasn't very crowded, actually. There were 2 pretty angry guys in the lot where we parked yelling about a group of 13 people riding together. I understand why this might irritate you. But I don't think it does anyone good to pretend the park is yours, or that you're the moral authority. We did end up seeing part of this group, and I was disappointed to know one of the guys in it. I don't know how you can justify being part of this, but it is what it is. I don't think this group of guys will be the reason the park shuts down. Nor do I think that people reading my blog will be why it shuts down.

Here is what I think. We should all enjoy the resources available as much as we can, until we can't anymore. If the town shuts it down, so be it. I understand that, and will respect it. Again, I don't think anything good will come of it but with a baker's dozen riding together, I can see how that could trigger something down the line if the wrong person were to see it.

This is one of the log rides I've been scraping off. Zac likes to practice on this.

When we get home I clean the dungeon up while D works. I now have time to do some things I never got around to doing when we moved in. You know, like 6-7 years ago now? I'm sure many of us are in the same boat. I find 4 N95 masks while down there. So that's a good thing, I suppose.

@seanrunnette told me that I should try to use my camera every day and take some pictures. This was in response to my telling him I'm running out of things to do to occupy my time (things that don't have to do with THIS thing going on). It's a fair suggestion. So I walked around the yard and took some random pictures. Below is the end of the log ride, an I-beam that the boys found in the brush next to the house. This is incredibly dangerous but Zac has only made it here once and he actually rolled it. Who am I to judge?

Or it's a troll slide. Your pick.

I cook dinner and then we get on our weekly team Zoom call. In all, I think we had 17 team members plus 3 spouses. This is pretty much what we see every week. It's nice to get together on these as I think it helps us deal with this a little bit better.

Then we go food shopping. At the end of the day, it turns out that @pooriggy is actually a woman named Mary. Who knew?

Nothing adverse happened today. It was, in all, a pretty fine day. Now I'm going to go eat some ice cream because ice cream.

 

[jmanic]

From here on out, I’m going to imagine myself as a peasant hiding from Tragdor, rather than just a person hiding from the Corona.

 

[jmanic]

Now I'm going to go eat some ice cream because ice cream.

And I don’t want to be the one to say the mayor has no mask, but that ain’t ice cream.

 

[jklett]

And I don’t want to be the one to say the mayor has no mask, but that ain’t ice cream.

But you can scoop it and put it in a cone...

 

[Norm]

Spring Break: Day 7

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 I don't get the job I was interviewing for
Day 6 nothing negative happened
Day 7...

And thus begins the last day of spring break, 2020. This will be, in some ways, both the most and least memorable spring break in history. From a global perspective, who could forget it? From a personal one, at least I rode my mountain bike 6 times in 8 days, at 6 different parks no less. Given the cards we were dealt this week, that's not so bad. But you know, for the kids, maybe this wasn't a homerun. Or even a single.

Simon's old bike, waiting on the porch for @jShort to come pick it up.

We Facetime my parents on the drive up north. Happy Easter! I think it's important to keep the visual meetings going through this whole thing, especially with the at-risk generation. I know my parents wish we could get together today. But it is what it is, and it's just better for all of us to be safe. What happens in 3 months from now is another question.

Our destination today is Stewart State Forest, one of the places that's still legal to ride bikes. For now. There's still plenty of time to switch gears. So yeah, it's a trek but you can get a full day at Stewart so it's worth it. The parking lot was busy but it wasn't much worse than a normal weekend of ncie weather. There were more hikers than usual. But the number of cars was maybe on the slightly high side. Nothing crazy.

We did a version of the 20 mile loop that might become the race loop, but as we discussed today, what are the chances of that happening? Even if we go back to a less locked down state, is NY state going to allow gatherings of any size for the remainder of the year? Best case, it looks like we have a vaccine in 6 months and even then, how long will it take to propagate to enough people? So in reality, this race is highly unlikely in 2020. I see no scenario where it happens.

On that note, we started kicking around a virtual race idea today, and I think it's something I want to pursue. In a few weeks, once we have a better idea of what the steady-state looks like, we'll try to move forward with that. As they say in the TV industry, stay tuned.

Stopping for lunch today on the far side of Beaver Pond.

In all we did 21 miles in just under 2.5. Good ride, good day. Happy Easter!

When we got home I paid homage to @seanrunnette (yes I'm going to keep tagging you) and took some pictures around the place. I really wanted to bring the camera up to Stewart and take some of those metal structures around the corner from the park, but I really didn't want to leave the nice camera in the car while we rode. Below is a bridge I built for the boys last week.

Then I read both the Saturday & Sunday Times and tried my best not to nap, even though I wanted to nap. Because napping is awesome. Some bike art in the well structure we built last year.

At 6:00 we did a Zoom call with D's family which was us, plus her folks, her sister's family, her brother & his husband, and the boys for part of it. Lasted about an hour and we really just shot the shit and talked about random things that all of us talk about now. I think our newest relevant topic of conversation is how we're going to spend the summer. Right now I think we're taking the approach that when 1 door closes another opens. Unless you live in an outhouse, in which case you're screwed.

Below is probably my signature dish, kung pao chicken. This is the meal I make the best, but as it has peanuts in it, we generally don't make it at home due to Simon's allergies. It's pretty easy, but it took me some time to nail down what I consider the best version of this recipe. You will notice the authentic Szechuan peppercorns in the image below. You will also note that we do not put celery in this dish, which is a crime against humanity.

If you ask nicely I will make this dish for you. Once you're allowed to come over.

​

And that, my friends, is the conclusion of our spring break, 2020. Maybe nothing to write home about. But then again, I did write about it each and every day.

 

[rottin']

I lived in an outhouse once in the Adirondacks, and there wasn't even a door, but it was only for a few minutes...then someone tried to invade, so I ceded the space to the next occupant. Wasn't all that bad really. Oh, and the KPC looks really good. Glad you posted everyday, I made my homage to your pictures in some other thread tonight of some of my flowers...

 

[pooriggy]

In for kung Fu chicken.

 

[jmanic]

Naps are fucking awesome.
Holy crap.
Just ask my pup.
He’s always up for a party, or a nap- whatever.

 

[ekuhn]

@Mitch looking like a salty fisherman. Feel like anything that he said it was lead by, "Arg, Back in my day..."

@Norm You didn't get the job? What's your average span of employment? Didn't you just start the current one? Maybe I don't get how your work world works.

 

[Norm]

Commence Sanity Plan 1.0 - Week 1, Monday (1.1.Mon)

First day back at work, which is a moving target for most of us these days. Hey @rottin' I did notice the pics, and thanks for the hummus. Homage. Whatever. Even if I'm not on spring break, my morning is the same. The jar on the left is 1 of any number of preserves that D's mom has given us over the years. We've slowly been going through these 1-by-1. We're using this Home Action Directive (tm) to scrape various calories from the depths of the cupboards.

As I mentioned yesterday, I need to come up with a sanity plan if I'm going to mentally survive the job in this climate. I've come up with the following 7 things that I want/need to do every day in order to retain balance and stay sane.

1. Ride bike
2. Be/go outside aside from riding
3. Spend some time on my house/inside project
4. Write/blog
5. Spend time reading
6. The @seanrunnette Social Distraction picture taking project
7. Whatever work requirements are needed

My current project is to slowly clean up & rearrange the laundry room, which sounds dumber than it is. The laundry room is our laundry and bike clothes and freezer and bike overflow and a-bunch-of-extra-junk-goes-here room. I had a stack of various things that needed to go out to the dungeon which is why I some time in the dungeon this weekend organizing, so I could take things from here and properly put them there. Taking a stack out of 1 room and putting it another just kicks the can down the road.

Everything else on the list is reasonably self-explanatory. I've found that I've been reading more in the last few weeks and it's been enjoyable. I'll discuss work more below, after this puzzle.

To @ekuhn yeah, I did just start this job at the beginning of August. So not "just" but it's been reasonably recent. I jumped in with my old boss in this Silicon Valley startup and for any number of reasons, it's not working out the way I need it to. I don't mean it's not working out for me. Quite the opposite, actually. And that's part of the problem. I end up having to get on 6-12 meetings a day to cover things for people who do not, cannot, or will not do their own jobs. While this is a problem in and of itself, it's not anything you don't see in any number of other places. I mean it is what it is.

More importantly, I don't believe the company will amount to anything, so I feel I'm wasting away here. I'm not advancing any useful skill set currently. But the real straw (stack of bricks) is that they lied about 2 fairly important things. The first being the bonus structure, which is problematic, obviously. The second being they promised to hire 5 people to work these projects and they haven't done so, and now they refuse to do so. Between all of these things, the writing is on the wall here.

That said, it sure is a shit time to be looking for a new job. Sort of like it was a bad time to be a rotting branch on the tree out front today.

This afternoon I did the Bologna race with Sean and it was a stupid idea. It's a 5 mile course, 3 flat and 2 uphill. The hill climb is terribly hard. I got totally shelled and came in 34th. I joined the B race which is brutally hard. But if I put my time in the Cs, I would have been 3rd, 9 seconds off the win which I'm sure I would have been able to muster up had I been closer to the front. So I suppose I'm in the right place, pack fodder in the Bs.

Showered up and went to Costco where I may have happened to buy a 4.5 pound bag of chocolate chips. These are trying times. These things happen. This may be why I hate hills. But I probably love chocolate more than I hate hills. So it goes.

 

[Carson]

I always wondered what it would be like to have a junk room...

 

[Norm]

Sanity Plan - Week 1, Tuesday (1.1.Tue)

So far so good, so far so gouda. I've made it to Tuesday sane. Today wasn't an especially exciting day. It's Tuesday, after all.

@Carson mentioned the junk room, and the laundry room is most definitely not the junk room. We have a room in the basement that's a true junk room. That's on the list of things to do one day. It's #LAST on the list. That's sort of the Arthur Kill Landfill of where things go that we don't know what to do with. I shall refer to it as the Staten Island Room going forward. I like the ring of it.

I peel the apple before I cook it in the morning oatmeal. Bananas go in last, after it's done cooking.

One door closes, another opens. Got a call today from the guy that kicked off this whole job search process a while ago, then had the first intro call with someone else who I'd be working with in this company. Should have another call tomorrow, but like all of this stuff, it's early. Apparently they've not frozen hiring right now but until anyone makes a move in this climate, I'm not sure I believe it. We'll see where this goes, though I'll stay cautiously optimistic. Smaller org then the previous one I talked to. The guy I spoke with today has 22 LinkedIn connections in common with me so we run in the same circles.

Time will tell. In the end, all we are is dust in the wind. Or on the floor. I don't know what the yellow thing is, but I'm pretty sure it's not corn.

It was nice out today, but by the time I got on the bike, it was getting later & cooler and I decided to crank for 2 hours and watch TV. I'm on Westworld season 3 which is better than 2, but still suffers from the same is-this-real-or-not symptom that season 2 had. After the ride I went for a walk with D on our usual 2 mile loop. Then shower & dinner and finishing up Good Omens tonight.

Started Seveneves on audiobook. I have to say it starts with a bang. Literally. The moon blows up 2-3 sentences in. Gotta say that's a pretty awesome way to start a book.

Eggs on top of salad for dinner.

1100 days without a drink today. If you're having one now while reading this, pour a little out for me.

 

[JimN]

If you're having one now while reading this, pour a little out for me.

I poured a little out for you, but I poured it into my mouth, so it doesn't really count.

 

[mattybfat]

In my world 1100 days are celebrated.
Most normals wouldnt understand

I have heard some great stories of gutter cardboardbox dwellers find there way out and put together 35 years without a drink. Become responsible productive humans. The sad is it kills many more humans then are saved.

 

[The Kalmyk]

2y 8mo no alcohol for me.

The pleasant nights nor the unpleasant mornings were moving me forward.

 

[jackx]

Good stuff, Norm.

Congrats on your 1,100 chip! I am sure that was not easy.

I imagine that giving up quality coffee and/or tea would likewise be very challenging, but fortunately there's likely no reason for that.

 

[jShort]

Started Seveneves on audiobook. I have to say it starts with a bang.

looking forward to your book report on this one. That was the first neal stephenson book I listened to.

 

[Norm]

Sanity Plan - Week 1, Wednesday (1.1.Wed)

1100 hasn't really been a big deal. Once I decided I was done, that was it. I've said before that one day I may decide to go the other way. If I do, then so be it. It's probably true that giving up coffee would be much harder. That said, I see no reason to add alcohol back into my life, but it's a long road so who knows.

I want to get some pictures of birds in the next few days, and I tried today. But, I just don't have the patience for that right now. I broke out the bigger lens but that didn't fix the patience problem, and I just went on with my day. I finally put the suet in the cage and the woodpeckers started coming out of the...wood...work to get some. The hardest of all to see is the pileated woodpecker, which is the coolest of them all.

The dungeon progresses and I'm giving away stuff that I simply do not need. There's so much crap in there. Yes, technically this is a laundry room cleanup but at the end of the day so much stuff in the basement needs to land in the dungeon. Anything I can toss in a box and send someone makes my life cleaner and hopefully someone else's better.

This also gives me a distraction from work between the meetings as well as a chance to listen to Seveneves which does not disappoint thus far.

Had the 2nd interview today and it went very well. Again, I was told that they're financially stable and he also thinks I would be a good fit. But I have to talk to 2-3 more people before anything happens, and you know how the economy is going, so not getting too excited yet. I will remain cautiously optimistic. Like my coworker said, anything to be optimistic about right now regarding work is a good thing.

I currently work with what might be the most useless coworker ever. From here on out I shall call him The Big B. The Big B lives outside of Detroit. This should surprise absolutely nobody.

Right before the interview I gave the boys my vision of the backyard flow from top to bottom, and how we could carve out 4 or 5 distinct runs with minimal effort. They both really liked the idea and when I went back outside an hour later, they had cleaned up some of the rough edges and we completed the first full run. For sure, it needs some grooming but I think by the end of this coming weekend we may have 4 full/unique runs in the backyard. We added a jump today which needs work but rolls right into a berm that should be a really solid progression once we fine tune it.

@seanrunnette and I did a podcast tonight. We've reverted to talking mostly about nothing, and what to watch on TV. I also took pictures on & off today, which you probably noticed if you've gotten this far. I credit and/or blame Sean for that. We're also penciled in to race again tomorrow, which should be a shit show. We're doing Crit City again, this time in the Bs.

 

[Norm]

Sanity Plan - Week 1, Thursday (1.1.Thu)

Exactly 14 years ago today, at Overlook hospital, Easter Sunday, my daughter Julia was born. A lot has happened in that time, to say the least. Some of you have been with these blogs that whole time. Kind of hard to believe her being born really kicked off the training & racing. My first real training blog was in 2007, the year after she was born. Having a kid actually makes you far more efficient with your time. There is no longer a "later" to get shit done.

I hope those of you who have been reading all this time, probably just about only @ChrisG at this point, have enjoyed the ride. I would like to think there's a lot more to come. But for now, I'm not even allowed out of the house. Still, the sun will continue to rise.

Time was tight today, so I did a Crit City race with @seanrunnette at 11:00. We jumped in with the Bs and once again I forgot to reset my weight back. D had done a ride last night, so I was more than a little surprised when I easily made the selection, but it struck me shortly after why that was the case. I decided to stick with it and would pull out towards the end of the race. But Zwift has a new feature which flags those above the stated w/kg after some time, and I got the hammer dropped in the form of a triangle with an exclamation point inside. I also realized that a large percentage of people were in this same boat.

At that point I pulled up and dialed back a bit. I still kept going but didn't put everything into the rest of the race. Funny enough, after all was said and done Zwift told me I have a new FTP, 294 up from 287. I think maybe it's time for a spin down. I was supposed to do that last week.

Some presents for the birthday girl, and a cantaloupe.

The flow trails are coming along. Today I fixed some of the bench cut the boys did around the septic field yesterday, and I moved a berm to the right about a foot that serves as the exit to one of the stump jumps. We really dug it out and tried to form this better to lead into a stretch where we hope to put a jump then eventually a double. That's probably going to be a bit of work so that might be a bit later. We also carved out the start of 2 berms that edge the far end of the property and lead you into Chip, the huge tree stump that we've been carving out. That dumps you into the Septic Bench.

Julia writes down her dinner order.

The guy from yesterday got back to me late this afternoon and wants me to have conversations with 5 more people. Wow, that really is a lot, but it's a pretty small, tight company and I guess they take personality fit seriously there. That's fine with me, as I had some heart-to-heart words with my boss today (he asked) and told him what I really think about The Big B. So in theory, that source of stress should be a bit better in the next few weeks, which I need for the Sanity Plan.

Still, 5 is a lot, because that would be 7 total. I guess that means the first 2 went well, much like the eating of this sushi went well at dinner.

We went to the ramen place on 22 and the guy said they had 120 takeout orders yesterday, which is pretty awesome. We usually eat out for birthdays but for both Julia & Zac we have had to order in. The place is pretty good - not the best ramen I've ever had but pretty good, best in the area that I can find. We typically don't eat out but we do want to help make sure the places we do like don't go under.

D made this dessert for Julia. As of this writing, we haven't had it yet. I can pretty much guarantee it's going to be good. It smelled amazing.

 

[ChrisG]

I hope those of you who have been reading all this time, probably just about only @ChrisG at this point, have enjoyed the ride. I would like to think there's a lot more to come.

I'm quite sure I've read every word of your blog posts on this site. And yes, I've been glad to do it.

My recollection of our online "relationship" goes back to the NJ forum on MTBR, and the little crew we had there, which eventually took up residence on this site.

Good stuff.