I Just Can't Quit Yew

Sounds like some sicko tree fetish movie title...

So...I've been playing a bit of Warcrack.....I bought Oblivion, but it just didn't play the same. Neither did Diablo II. And I can't get Freelancer to find any servers for multiplayer, even when I run a server on my laptop.

And, I think the break has given me a good rest from the grind. I really do enjoy sending PuddyTat out there to claw some faces while I pew pew away.

So, I have picked up my Tauren hunter, Daxenos, and leveled him up to 14 now. Also, Robin from Fuzzy Soup rolled a Troll Priest to play along a new alt, Oldmandax, an Orc hunter.

Oldmandax is going to be my Engineer/Inscriptionist on this server (Suramar), and Daxenos is my Herbalist/Alchemist. I think that covers it for profs with Daxea, Daxynn, Daxen, and Rysteranch all having the other profs, so I shouldn't need another alt.

I don't plan on raiding ever again. I won't totally rule it out, but I just don't want to take the time and commitment to maintain a toon that's capable of raiding; well, and the actual time for raiding as well.

And, who knows what I'll do once I get back home and have my free time filled up with life stuff. I may play for an hour here and there, or stop alltogether; I'm really not thinking that far ahead.

The Coca-Cola 340.5

It was supposed to be the Coke 600, but after postponing it yesterday to today, and then having the rain show up off and on all day, I think the NASCAR officials just threw in the towel.

So, David Reutimann won his very first Sprint Cup race and won Michael Waltrip Racing's very first Sprint Cup race. Go Reuti!

I ended up sleeping in my Murano on Sunday night so I wouldn't have to drive back and forth from Cary again. Suffice to say, I'm sore. Why didn't someone tell me that I ain't 24 any more???

Oh, and no riding today as I just got back into my hotel room at 10 pm, but I do have a weight for you!

Weight: 202.4 lbs

Day Ouch

Ouch Ride:
35.54 Miles
3:20:38 hours
Temp: 75-80 F
I went way farther than I originally planned. I took a wrong turn and instead of back tracking, I just continued on until it was evident that I'd have to back track. Doh!

On the plus side, besides getting in a crapload of miles, the day was pleasant, Umstead State park has wonderful bike trails, and I saw a deer!

I made sure to ice my legs and then took a hot bath, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to move tomorrow.

Speaking of which, Sunday is definitely going to be a no-ride day 'cause I'm headed out to the Coke 600. If you're watching the race, I'll be the one in the red #9 hat and a white shirt. I'll wave...

Miles for the Week: 63.16
Weight: 204.2 lbs

Yay for Mornings!

Morning Ride:(!!!!!)
9.43 Miles
49:53 minutes
Temp: 61 F
It was a little overcast and partly sunny this morning, but it was nice to get out before class. I iced my legs well last night and then took a steaming hot bath to help them recover. It did the trick cause I was able to complete my ride this morning without a lot of muscle soreness.

Day...uh, what day is it? 12 or 19

Something like that. Anyways, I biked on over to Xios in Apex for dinner. Mmmmm....Greek food!

I called ahead to ask if bike attire was appropriate for the dining room, and Hannah said that it was ok. Unfortunately for her, she didn't know that a fat, gray haired old geezer was going to show up in bike shorts. I think I heard her puking her guts out in the kitchen....

Anyways, the food was EXCELLENT, and my server was on top of everything! Kudos, Josh! He even wrapped up my leftovers so they wouldn't explode in my backpack on the ride home. BONUS!!

Afterwork Ride:
8.74 Miles
43.37 minutes
Temp: 76 F

Weight: 204.8 lbs (wow, that's quite a bit of muscle I've built, eh? Right...muscle....)

No Ride

I rested today and hope to be back at riding again tomorrow. My goal is to go on long rides on Sat and Mon, so I'm taking it easy.

Weight: 203.2 lbs

Poor Me

Yesterday, I had a pity party.....


.....and no one showed up.....

I didn't blog.

I didn't ride.

I didn't weight.

I just sat around my hotel room and felt sorry for myself.

And nobody was around to take part in my little party.....boo hoo....

But today, I kicked myself in the tush, grabbed my lapels and said, "Hey good lookin'! Why are you so down in the dumpy whumpy? You've got style! You've got dash! You have hairy armpits! So, get on out there AND GIVE ME 9.45 MILES, SCUMBAG!!!!!"

So, I did.

Afterwork Ride:
9.45 Miles
46:35 minutes
Temp: 71 F
I went a little different route than my usual morning ride; I stayed on the streets and kinda just cruised. It felt nice to shake off my doldrums and forget for a minute about being away from my family.

In other news, I finished 1984; what a depressing book. I can't wait for the government Thought (read political correctness) Police find me, and I'm taken away to Room 101 for re-education. I'm sure they're monitoring me as I write.

Weight: 202.4 lbs

And Away

I'm back in N.C. again. I have two more weeks of MRI school, and then I get to go home again.

I'll be trying to pack in more miles than last week, but will probably limit myself to one ride a day for the time being. On Saturday and Monday, though, I'm planning longer rides.

And why not Sunday? Well, I'll be headed down to Charlotte for the Coke 600 NASCAR race. Yippee!!!

Home

Ahhhh...Home!

Yeah, I know it's only for the weekend, but, MAN, it's good to be back home.

We went to see the new Star Trek movie, and I was really impressed with it. Lots of action, special effects, and great acting! Yes, great, acting.

I was particularly impressed with the guy who played McCoy, as the actor had the character down pat! The expressions, the mannerisms, and of course, the obligatory, "I'm a doctor, not a physicist!" Very nice.

I also liked the fact that the Star Trek universe as we know it will not be altered by this prequel in any way by future movies with this crew. I won't spoil how the script does it, but I will say that future Star Trek movies in this iteration have a wide open future.

On another note, mai puppa is gettin' soooooo big!!! She was happy to have daddy come home, so much that she peed all over the floor. Now that's a welcome home!

Super Secret Siemen's Photos, part II

One of my classmates got a little bit too close to some vital information while mucking around in the console. Ole Nessie here zapped him. I think I remember signing some sort of waiver exonerating Siemens from any liability in the event of "death by laser shooting out of a mutant dinosaur's eyes". Or something to that effect...

Super secret Siemen's Photos

As promised, here is one of the pics that I took last week while at the Siemen's Medical training facility.

Now, this is a picture that I took while inside the MultiModality work station, so I'm thinking it's some sort of virus or bug protection program. I didn't hang around to find out....

Day 11

Afterwork Ride:
9.33 Miles
46:21 minutes
Temp: 73 F
It was sunny and comfortable today. I really didn't want to get out and ride, though. I chalk it up to laziness. But, I did get out and ride, and I'm glad I did. I did my usual morning loop and found myself dodging a lot of walkers and runners.

This will probably be my last ride for the week as tomorrow after work, I catch a plane for Indy! YAY! I get to see my wife!! I can't wait!

Miles for the Week: 35.5 Miles
Weight: 201.8 lbs

Day 10

Morning Ride:
9.34 Miles
50:03 minutes
55 F
It was clear and cool this morning. I was wishing for some full fingered gloves and an ear band, but I didn't have either. I'll be sure to pack them when I get home this weekend just in case I face another morning that's below 60 degrees F.

On another note, Teurion and Vaderangel are in town! Yay! Teurion has a C-arm school in the same building that I'm in, and VA made the trip down with him. It's good to be able to hang with those two...I was getting pretty lonely.

Yes, please cry for me....

Weight: 203.0 lbs

Day 9

Took today off from riding. Yeah, wimped out....

I guess I started off too quick and started getting some swelling in my calves. I had a massage last night, and the masseuse suggested that I rest at least a day and ice my legs. I was only going to ice my calves and get back to it today, but my legs begged for a respite, and I relented.

But, I'll be back at it tomorrow, so don't get too comfy...

Weight: 202.0 lbs

Day 8

Morning Ride:
9.32 Miles
51:10 minutes
Temp: 65 F
It was overcast again this morning, which was good because I got a pretty good sunburn on Saturday. I'll wait until this afternoon to make the call for a second ride.

Today, I start MRI training; last week was learning the operating system that Siemens uses for all of their imaging modalities. I have some pics that I secretly took while no one was looking, but I have to make time to write out the context so you know what you're looking at.

Weight: 202.6 lbs

Day 7

Afternoon Ride:
7.51 Miles
41:00 minutes
Temp: 75 F
It was sunny again today. I almost wimped out, but my legs were actually feeling Ok, so I went for a short one.

The plan for this week is:
Mon: Morning Ride
Tue: Morning & Afterwork Rides
Wed: Morning Ride
Thu: Morning & Afterwork Rides
Fri: Morning Ride and GO HOME FOR THE WEEKEND!!! YEEEEEEHAAAAAAW!
So, I'll probably take Sat and Sun off as far as riding goes; I might get back early enough on Sunday to take a short one.

With the low miles week coming up, I might just gut it out and do two-a-day's the entire week and just rest on the weekend. To meet my goal, I had to average 125 miles/week, and as you can see, I didn't make it last week and probably won't make it this week. And, while my last day of riding here will be the 29th, I could sneak in a ride on the 31st in Indiana if I'm short of miles.

Weight: 202.6 lbs (the morning would be better because I lose about 2 lbs overnight, but I need to keep it consistent.)

Day 6

Today's Ride:
25.05 Miles
2:38:27 hours
Temp: 86 F
It was sunny, sunny, sunny today! This was the ride that I was saving up for, and the weather couldn't have been better! The humidity was comfortable, the temp was (a bit on the warm side) comfortable, and my legs were feelin' great!

I biked from my hotel out to Crabtree lake and the mountain bike trails in that park. My destination ended up being 11 miles from the start, so I knew that I'd better take it easy if I was to have any energy for the trails. Oh, and then I had to peddle my butt home.

Needless to say, I made it home, so I must have done OK managing my legs. I made two pit stops on the way back.

The first one was for a Frappuccino from Starbucks. I took my time drinking it, so that was about a 20-30 minute stop.

The second one, I decided to grab some lunch at Chili's, so that was probably a 30-40 minute stop. I didn't bother to time either of them.

Then there was the stop between those two stops that I figured I'd better pick up some sunscreen. 20 miles without sunscreen......and I decide to protect myself for the last 5. Brilliant! I guess I didn't want to totally fry myself. The truth is...I forgot to pick some up on the way out to Crabtree and when I finally remembered, I was way past any stores that would carry such a thing.

And one more thing. I got the old bike up to 34 mph. Yes, it was going down a long hill and yes, I was peddling to beat the band! Thankfully, I didn't crash.

Weight: 203.4 lbs
Miles for the Week: 91.35

Day 5

Morning Ride:
9.32 Miles
51:24 minutes
Temp: 63 F
It was clear and humid this morning. There was a lot more foot traffic that I had to dodge around the lake; must have something to do with being Friday. I won't be riding this afternoon as I mentioned yesterday. This morning's ride didn't really feel like I only rode once yesterday, so the legs were a bit sore. I probably didn't eat enough carbs to replenish my stores.

But that will change tonight! CARBOLOADING time!!! I'll be headed out to Carrabba's to chow down on some pasta. Yummy.

EDIT: Well, I decided to make my own seafood pasta, so I picked up a boatload of mussels and chowed down.

Weight: 203.6 lbs

Day 4

Morning Ride:
9.30 Miles
52:21 minutes
Temp: 67 F
It was overcast again with a little rain here and there. I was feeling the effects of the two rides yesterday and will take the afternoon off. I'm still debating whether or not to double up again tomorrow as I'm planning on doing quite a bit on Saturday. I'll probably take tomorrow afternoon off as well just so I'm plenty rested for a big ride on the weekend.

Weight: 202.8 lbs

Day 3

Morning Ride:
9.32 Miles
49:59 minutes
Temp: 63 F
It was overcast and misty this morning; the kind of weather that makes you feel ALIVE! Anyways, I refined my morning route a bit, so it's looking like I'll be doing a little over nine miles. If I can remember the route, that is....

Afterwork Ride:
12.24 Miles
1:04:56 hours
Temp: 74 F
It was still overcast, but not as gloomy as this morning. I purposed on this outing to do my infamous "Ride and Dine" ride. Ok, it's not infamous, but it is descriptive! After about 45 minutes of wandering (exploring!!! you need to put exploring, it makes us look adventurous!), I stopped at a Mexican place for dinner. I lingered a bit too long and had to make my way home in the near dark...uh, dusky dusk?.....starlit....nvm. I made it back in one piece, thanks for asking.

I'll weigh myself just before bed, that way I can purge....my wife is always telling me I'm full of crap.

Total Miles for the day: 21.56 Miles
Weight: 203.2 lbs

Day 2

Morning Ride:
8.80 Miles
51:06 minutes
Temp: 61 F
It was overcast and misty. When I went over 18 mph or so, I could feel the coolness in my ears. I think I found a nice morning ride route, so I expect to get in 8.8 miles every morning, M-F.

No afterwork ride today. My legs were feeling a bit twitchy, and I really don't want to start too fast and injure myself. I ain't twenty, ya know.

I'll be back on it tomorrow morning for my 8.8 mile ride and then see how the afternoon goes as far as getting in a second ride.

In other news, I've been walking to my class (it's uphill both ways...really, it is! There's a valley in between the hotel and the training facility) and have been consistently taking the stairs. I think those two things have not helped in the tired legs department.

Weight: 203.6 lbs (which way am I supposed to be going??)

Day 1

I'll be updating these posts throughout the day and won't be using the EDIT indicator. I also have neglected to pick up a scale; that's on the agenda for today. I'll post a weight as soon as I get one. Oh, and I'll be weighing in the buff, so NO LOOKING!!

Morning Ride:
6.71 Miles
39:43 minutes
Temp: 70's...idk...
Sunrise was beautiful over the lake I found to ride around, and North Carolina has HILLS!! Indiana has, what, two...maybe three...colors for their topographical map? It's nice to see hills again, even if my legs don't appreciate them...heh heh.

Afterwork Ride:
10.61 Miles
1:02:34 hours
Temp: 77
Overcast, but not too muggy. I went exploring from the hotel. I was aiming to hit Apex High School to check out the tennis courts. I found the school, but the courts had been replaced by modular classrooms. Hmm... So, I made my way back to the lake I found this morning (Pine Lake) and then biked through a pretty nice neighborhood. I didn't mean to bike as long as I did, but I followed some bike trail signs and ended up back tracking some to get to familiar territory.

Total miles for the day: 17.32
Total miles to go for the month: 482.68
Weight for the day: 201.6 lbs

Diary of a Loser

One of the things I'm hoping to make happen while I'm in Cary is to leave 20-25 lbs. of myself there. Yes, radical, fat-tectomy did enter my mind, but as I work in a hospital, I'd really rather not be a patient in one. I know what goes on there....

Anyway, my previously stated goal of biking 500 miles in the month of May is primarily for the purpose of losing weight. It does, however, have the added benefits of getting me back in shape (one other than a pear) and giving me something to do rather than veg in front of the T.V.

So, with all of that said, I am going to be chronicling my miles and my weight loss here in this blog. Yay on me, boring for you.

Uncertainty and certainly!

This is my last day at my regular work for the next four weeks, so I'm not sure how the blogging thing is going to go while I'm in North Carolina at MRI school. I'm hoping that I'll keep it up because...

...I'm really hoping to bike and log 500 miles for the month of May! Yay, go Rusty! Woot woot.

...are we there yet?

Supposedly, Cary is a bike friendly city, and from the aerial photos I've looked at, it seems to have bike paths along most of the major streets. I've also found some mountain biking trails that are within biking distance from my hotel, so that's a plus also.

In other news, I picked up my Coca-Cola 600 ticket for the May 24th NASCAR race in Charlotte. Woot, woot! If you're goin' to the race, drop me a comment and maybe, just maybe, I'll let you buy me a deep fried tenderloin, a huge lemonade, some BBQ, an elephant ear, and a funnel cake.

Oh, and some cotten candy too!

I'll be driving out on Sunday, so if you see a black Murano pulled over by the cops, wave!