Tag: commute

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Vital Statistics

Today Tina and I celebrated losing 20 lbs. each by having sushi for lunch. It’s been remarkably easy on the South Beach plan. Tina tells me everything I can and can’t eat which makes it even easier. I wouldn’t be able to do this well without her.

On Saturday I rented a power washer and spent the rest of the weekend cleaning the deck and all of our concrete. After 8 hours on Saturday and 6 hours on Sunday, my whole body is complaining today but especially my back. It doesn’t feel like I “pulled” anything, though, so I’m sure it will be OK in a few days.

My mom is getting here on Wednesday and we’re having a big (for us) birthday party for my 40th birthday on Saturday. You are invited!

Bike odometer: n/a (drove today)
Current reading: I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Coverville, MC Front-A-Lot, MC Chris, It’s The Jump Off
Recent viewing: Dead Zone, Countdown, An Evening with the Dixie Chicks, Sportscenter, The Simpsons, The Alternative, The Daily Show, National Pie Championship
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Recycled styrofoam, power washed the deck and concrete, emailed birthday invitations
Imperative To Do: Clean CPAP stuff, bank, refinish deck, hair cut, service van, new rear fender for bike, mow lawn, follow-up phone calls for birthday
Cool Video: Four-year-old drumming prodigy

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Vital Statistics

Apple introduced new iPods, a new version of iTunes and added movies to the iTunes Music Store yesterday. The new version of iTunes has a really cool feature that lets you browse through your music like you would browse through your albums back in the day. I really, really like it. The new iPods have better games including Zuma! Man, if I got one of those I would never read again.

Bike odometer: 147 miles
Current reading: I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Coverville, Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses by Slipnot, De-Loused In The Comatorium by The Mars Volta, Spillane by John Zorn
Recent viewing: U.S. Open Men’s Final, Colts at Giants, Dead Zone
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Bought new bike seat, labels for my sister’s CDs
Imperative To Do: Bank, refinish deck, hair cut, service van, new rear fender for bike
Cool Link: Ultimate Lego Chaingun

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Vital Statistics

I think I got better sleep last night, but I still woke up many times either because the mask was leaking or my mouth had opened. After blogging this weekend, I went back to Wikipedia to see if there was any information about my problem. At the end of the CPAP article, there were a number of links that I tried including one for CPAP Talk, an online forum for CPAP users. I found an article by a guy who had the same problem as I have (mouth opening during REMs) that solved it by taping his mouth shut. I’m going to continue as I have for a couple of more weeks, but if I keep waking up because of my big mouth, I’m going to give my doctor a call and ask him his opinion about taping it shut. Sounds pretty simple!

Five years ago today I drove my little truck to work instead of biking or riding the Max. I think I forgot the faceplate for my stereo because I didn’t listen to the radio on the way there. Usually, I would listen to NPR if it was early enough, or Mark & Brian if it was later. When I got to work, Tina called me and told me to go to CNN.com. That’s how I found out about the attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon. We turned on the satellite receiver attached to our projector at work, but we had let the subscription lapse. So I wasn’t subjected to the media coverage until I got home that night. I remember driving to work for days after watching the taller buildings expecting a plane to fly into them. I remember how happy I felt when I heard a plane fly over our house again after the airport was silent for a week. Little did we know then that it would be used as justification for the biggest mistake this country has ever undertaken.

Bike odometer: 137 miles
Current reading: The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell by John Crawford, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks, John Prine
Recent viewing: Bad Santa, U.S. Open Men’s Final
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Paid bills
Imperative To Do: Labels for my sister’s CDs, test drive new bike seats, bank, refinish deck, hair cut, service van
Cool Link: HowStuffWorks: A great site with easy explanations, diagrams and animations to show how stuff works. Examples: How Car Engines Work, How Blogs Work, How File Compression Works, How do stringrays kill?

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Vital Statistics

On Monday, we celebrated the holiday with a day trip into the Columbia River Gorge via the scenic Columbia River Highway. In the morning, we played 10 holes of disc golf at Dabney State Park, fulfilling a promise I made to Graham way back in July. We skipped the final 8 holes to play in the Sandy River for a few minutes before continuing on to Crown Point and then Bridal Veil Falls.

At Bridal Veil, we had a delicious picnic lunch before embarking on the 2/3-mile hike from the parking lot to the falls. Halfway down the steep, gravel-covered switchback trail, Tina fell flat on her ass and declined to continue, preferring to wait on a nearby bench for the boys and I to return. Yesterday, the doctor told her she had sprained her back and her ankle. We’ll know if she broke bones in her hand when the x-rays come back.

We endured stop-and-go traffic on Interstate 84 on the way home but that barely diminished the great day I had driving the new Scion around the twists and turns of the winding CRH. I really love driving a stick shift. Except in stop-and-go traffic. Fortunately, the range of second gear on the Scion is pretty wide so it wasn’t that bad. The source of the traffic jam turned out to be a car that had rolled off the back of a truck.

Yesterday morning, I dragged myself out of bed so I could be fitted with a CPAP machine, nasal mask and chin restraint. I was also instructed on the care and maintenance of the equipment, which is much more elaborate than I had suspected. Last night was my first night using the CPAP and it went pretty well. I think my mouth opened at about 4:00 am (Tina reported the time), but I awoke without my alarm feeling quite rested after 8 hours of sleep. I’ll let you know how future nights go.

Today was the first day of school for our boys. They were both excited and happy to return to it. Thomas is in fifth grade and Graham is in a second/third grade split class. This is Thomas’ last year at Margaret Scott. Graham’s teacher this year is one Thomas had in second grade.

Bike odometer: 118 miles
Current reading: The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell by John Crawford, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Spillane by John Zorn, Coverville
Recent viewing: Thief, Sportscenter, Pee Wee’s Playhouse
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Cleared blackberry patch on the blind side of the house (with Graham’s help)
Imperative To Do: Install network in Graham’s room, labels for my sister’s CDs, test drive new bike seats, bank
Cool Video: When Spam Attacks by my friend, Rob Marquardt

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Vital Statistics

I sold my truck on Thursday night. Tina has a friend, Robert, who has a nephew who wanted to fix it up and resell it. When he showed the conversation went like this:

He: How much are you asking?
Me: Fifty bucks.
He: Will you take forty?
Me: (rolling eyes and laughing) Yes.

I hadn’t been in the truck for quite some time so I was surprised how familiar it smelled when I sat in it the last time to start it (with a jump from the van). I suppose I’ll miss it but our last few years together were rocky. It’s probably better we go our separate ways.

According to MPG, an auto tracking program I’ve used for most of the time I had the truck, my total vehicle cost (including gas) was around $7500. I purchased it in the fall of 1995, when Tina was pregnant with Thomas. I drove it about 80,000 miles in the twelve years since. It ran better on “Plus”. It leaked a little oil and the transmission would get cranky when it was low on fluid. I bought a case of each just for the truck. The cab was always messy but it was perfectly functional and had everything I needed for truck use: tie-downs, rope, chains. It had a pretty cool cassette deck with an iPod jack that Tina got me one year at Costco. I pulled it out before selling it, but I don’t know what I’ll do with it. I had to slide the seat all the way back when I drove. The seat back wouldn’t fold forward when the seat was all the way back though. The truck came with a locking gas cap. Someone broke the key once and I had to replace it. Eventually, I replaced it again with a non-locking cap because it was such a pain in the ass to explain to the station attendants here how it worked. Nobody stole my gas after that. I’ve driven that truck to four different jobs over the years and hauled many loads of yard debris and junk. I guess I will miss it.

Bike odometer: 111 miles
Current reading: The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell by John Crawford, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Spillane by John Zorn, Grace by Jeff Buckley, One Hot Minute by Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Decemberists
Recent viewing: 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, Late Night with David Letterman
Recent playing: Zuma, poker
Recently accomplished: Sold truck, recycling, grocery shopping, sprayed the driveway weeds
Imperative To Do: Install network in Graham’s room, labels for my sister’s CDs, fix Newton server, kill and pull weeds
Cool Video: Colbert and Stewart at the Emmy Awards (“Good evening, godless Sodomites”)

 

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Vital Statistics

I rode all the way to work this morning – all 14 miles. It’s the first time in over a year and I felt pretty good. Well, except for my sore butt.

Bike odometer: 108 miles
Current reading: The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell by John Crawford, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: DrugMusic, John Prine, Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks, Stadium Arcadium by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Running On Empty by Jackson Browne
Recent viewing: FIBA Quarterfinals, The 4400, The Colbert Report
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Finally reached beta on one project at work and GM on the other, paid bills
Imperative To Do: Install network in Graham’s room, sell truck, labels for my sister’s CDs, fix Newton server, kill and pull weeds
Cool Link: Keith Olbermann Responds To Rumsfeld (click on one of the video links to watch)

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Vital Statistics

My friend, Don Fitzgerald, helped me construct a bench on Saturday to reinforce the sagging rail on my deck. The bench turned out great and now the rail is rock-solid. Don was proud that we only had 4 scraps of wood left when we were done.

I’ve got some pictures from the sleep clinic that I’m sorting through. I’ll have those up some time this week.

Bike odometer: 82 miles
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: NPR Story of the Day, Science Friday
Recent viewing: Brainiac, 2006 World Series of Poker, Monk, FIBA Championships, Emmy Awards
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Finished Zuma, built a bench on our deck, deck maintenance, cleaned up the work bench in the garage, cleaned and lubed bike, paid bills, helped Thomas design a Lego steering mechanism
Imperative To Do: Install network in Graham’s room, labels for my sister’s CDs, pay bills, fix Newton server, kill and pull weeds, design a better steering mechanism
Cool Link: Why not impeachment? by Bill Maher

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Vital Statistics

This morning I was nearly a victim of the “right hook” (explanation here). A burgundy pickup passed me as I ented an intersection and then turned directly in front of me, passing within a foot of my front wheel. The violation was so blatant that I got mad enough to turn around and attempt to catch up with the vehicle in question. Unfortunately, he/she had a two block head start on me and disappeared around a corner. I cruised the street for a few blocks but they were long gone.

Tonight I spend the night at Portland Adventist where I will be fitted with a CPAP device. I’m bringing my camera this time and hope to get some good pictures of me all wired up.

Bike odometer: 74 miles
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: DrugMusic
Recent viewing: The Daily Show, 30 Days, Sportscenter
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Zuma Level 12-6
Imperative To Do: Install network in Graham’s room, labels for my sister’s CDs, pay bills, fix Newton server, kill and pull weeds
Cool video: Naked basketball

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Vital Statistics

Saturday morning I awoke to extremely sore calf muscles. Evidently, all the hiking/walking we did at Adventure Cove the day before took its toll. I did some yardwork, but mostly rested the whole live-long day. I did more of the same yesterday, but my calves are still sore this morning. And I discovered that I actively use those muscles when I’m biking. Now would be a good time to have a second car!

Bike odometer: 64 miles
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks, Science Friday
Recent viewing: The Daily Show, PGA Championship, 30 Days, South Park, The Dead Zone
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Mowed, trimmed and edged the lawn, trimmed some hedges, instructed Thomas on lawn watering, setup my new Airport Express, grocery shopping
Imperative To Do: Install network in Graham’s room, labels for my sister’s CDs, pay bills, fix Newton server, buy pooper scooper, kill and pull weeds
Cool video: Monster dunk

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Vital Statistics

We joined Thomas at Adventure Cove on the Oregon coast this afternoon and helped him lug his bags to the van. After that we dined and watched their last “campfire”, which is sort of their nightly show. Thomas had a great time all week. We’re all pretty tired from all the up-and-down hill walking in the camp. Thomas and Graham both fell asleep on the way home after they polished off their Blizzards. Tomorrow their Grandma Jan arrives and they are plenty excited about that, too. Isn’t it great to be a kid?

Since there have been a few comments about our decision to buy the Scion, I thought I might tell you the specific criteria that we developed and how the xB fits them:

  • Gas mileage: We spend $50 to fill up our Caravan now. That hurts. We definitely wanted something that gets better mileage and the xB fits the bill: 30 mpg in the city and 33 on the highway. That’s the rating for the manual transmission, but I’m sure my granny driving will get even better mileage.
  • Cargo capacity: We need room to fit Thomas’ cello and possibly a bass if he decides to switch later. While the xB does not have nearly the cargo capacity that our Caravan has, its 60/40 fold down rear seats make enough room to fit the instrument.
  • Reliability: The last couple of years have been a real drag on us for auto repairs. We wanted something reliable and with a good warranty. The Kia 10-year warranty is pretty incredible, but we think the Scion warranty will probably be good enough: 3 years bumper-to-bumper with 5 years on the drive train. In addition, if we want to purchase an extended warranty, it only costs about $800.
  • Price: Although Tina convinced me to check 6 Online Communities About New Electric Vans For Sale You Should Join and with info I decided that a new car was what we needed, I still was pretty unwilling to go into new car pricing territory. We set our price range at $15-17k and the xB was easily the least expensive of any other car we were considering: $14,570 MSRP with standard options.

In summary, the xB tested nearly perfectly for our criteria. What I hadn’t counted on was how much I would love driving it. Even though it’s got a tiny little motorcyle engine in it, it’s got tremendous get-up-and-go. The interior is totally Spartan but that also appeals to me because I hate having to pay for interior amenities. The amount of interior space is also pretty incredible, especially the amount of leg room in front and back.

If you’re really interested, you can go to the Scion xB showroom to get all the details, but here’s a few of the standard options that we appreciate:

  • Air conditioning
  • Power windows
  • Power locks
  • AM/FM/CD player
  • Auxiliary audio input jack on the console (iPod pluggable – nobody else had this)
  • Bucket seats similar to the ones in our van including the height at which you sit
  • Extra cargo space under the floor in the rear
  • Anti-lock brakes
  • Driver and passenger air bags
  • Shoulder belts for all five passengers

As you can probably tell, we couldn’t be happier. Tina wants one in Salsa Red (I don’t care about color) and we’re told one arrived in the Port of Portland. We’re calling tomorrow morning to reserve it. We’ll see how long it takes to get it.

Finally, lest it sound like I actually did anything aside from nodding my head occasionally, I have to give all the credit to Tina for finding this car. Not only did she find a great car for a great price, she resolved the conflict between us about what exactly we should do for our next car purchase. What a great wife she is.

Bike odometer: 59 miles
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Rufus Wainright by Rufus Wainright, Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses by Slipnot, Abraxas by Santana, Stadium Arcadium by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Humpy’s Soul Show
Recent viewing: The Daily Show
Recent playing: Zuma
Recently accomplished: Got the boy back
Imperative To Do: Setup Airport Express, install network in Graham’s room, labels for my sister’s CDs
Cool link: zunafish: Trade the stuff you’re done with for the stuff you want