Glam Life

Woke up yesterday in a Hampton Inn. Second of three days on the road.

Ate instant oatmeal and an egg-like yellow oval thing for breakfast.

Worked all day. Lunch was a out of a vending machine eaten in 15 minutes at 2:30.

Drove the 2.5 hours in a Ford Escape from Richmond to Dulles Airport to drop off a car. Took a cab back to another hotel. Now 7:30 pm.

Worked for a couple more hours.

Consulting. A Glamorous life.

Wait Until Next Year

Typically that phrase is used to describe my beloved Cubs. And once again it will apply.

However this year it also refers to the North Shore Century. I have entered this 100 mile ride the past three years, completing it the past two. It has become a part of my legend, to the extent you can apply that word to my life. Riding 100 miles and SCUBA diving are the two things I do that not everyone can or will do.

It is next Sunday and will go on in 2009 without me. If you have followed this blog for the past couple of years you may have noticed that except for my fall at the beginning of July, I have not said much about riding. Over the past three years it has been a source of pride and joy. Not this year.

This year the words agony and frustration provide a more accurate description. True, I did little last winter to stay in any kind of physical condition and I am sure that was a contributing factor. And yet once the riding season began in April I followed the same pattern that has been successful in prior years. This year has been a struggle.

Instead of 50 miles becoming my base ride with the occasional 60 or 70 mile jaunt, I can barely complete 40-45 miles. My legs which have always been my strength feel dead. Each week I kept hoping that this next ride will be the breakthrough ride. But it never came.

As I have began to share my thought about not riding this year I inevitably got the same two comments. First, “why do you think it is harder this year?”. Second, “Why not try to do the 100 mile, you can always stop and have someone pick you up?”.

To the first my unsaid thought is always, I am not a doctor or physical therapist. I have no friggin’ clue why this is happening. If I had to guess, maybe the fall took a greater toll than I realized. I know that I have not been stretching enough. Maybe being tight has kept my legs from growing stronger. But really I do not know.

The second question just makes me feel worse about giving up than I already do — which is really badly. Do people not think that I have considered trying? Last year I did not think I had it in me but with some encouragement I tried and succeeded. Last year I was cruising through 50. Different story. Believe me if I thought I had a 50/50 shot I would go for it.

I am dedicating myself to next year with the idea that I will go for the Apple Cider Century. That ride has some rolling hills and is a tougher 100 that the NSC. I am starting now, will stay in shape over the winter and attack the road in 2010 like never before– or at least like 2 years ago when I was in the best riding shape of my life.

Stay tuned. I am not giving up, just taking a hiatus. A one year only hiatus.

Changing Of The Seasons

Today is the unofficial last day of summer.

Tomorrow we take our only child to college.

The day after tomorrow will be the first day my wife and I spend as husband and wife without our son living with us.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

What Would You Do With $150

If you received $150 unexpectedly, how would you spend the money. For most of the people I know this is not a life changing amount of money but I could purchase something fun.

A night on the town? That gadget that you have wanted but was too expensive except now you have a $150 “discount”? Clothes? Shoes? Charity?

Whatever the answer, this is what I gave up yesterday. Instead of getting something unexpected,  I had to spend $200 on something that I could have bought for $50 just 32 hours earlier. Why? Because I did not take the 30 seconds to check the deadline on my car’s extended warranty. At $150 for 30 seconds of effort that comes to $18,000 an hour!

BTW, the $150 was the loss at the end of the story. The repair would have cost an extra $800 if not for the willingness of the car dealership to work out a deal with a long time customer.  (I have been trying to do the math on the hourly rate at $800 per 30 seconds but my computer exploded right after it started crying virtual tears.)

As I have been preparing for my son to leave for his freshman year of college I have been trying to cram in as many life lessons as possible. You know, getting him to understand how to conduct a good life and how to live in the real world– living with your parents is not the real world. Included in the lessons have been that some small things are big and keep track of important dates. I guess that even at 50+ I have my own life lessons to learn.

Nice

Quick story about a moment someone was particularly nice.

UA Flight 357 from Chicago to Dallas. plan was packed, every seat taken. You could tell that the flight attendants were a bit flustered even before the plane took off.

After we took off they came down the aisle with drinks and were pushing the pay-for-meals. The woman squeezed into the middle seat next to me asked for one and pulled out cash. Remember that the airlines need every shekel they can get. In a rude tone, the flight attendant tone told this young woman that they do not take cash.

The young lady politely apologized and pulled out a credit card. It didn’t work on the high tech device that has replaced the hand to hand exchange of cash. Still in good spirits she pulled out another. And yet another. All the while she was smiling and cheerful. And Nice. Finally the hi-tech gadget the flight attendant was using to take payment worked. She handed the young lady her receipt and then headed down the aisle.

As the flight attendant walked away, the nice, young lady made a sarcastic comment about how she got a receipt but no  meal. She followed that with a snide remark about how bitchy the flight attendant had been. Wait. Wait. No that wasn’t HER . That is what I was thinking. This woman was NICE.

She politely asked for the meal she had just paid for and giggled.

It was a small moment but a memorable one. It could have gotten nasty. Instead it was a smile.

I Got The Biggest Bag

“It helps to have known your doctor since he was 10.”

That was my response at the cardiologist office to the small, white haired woman behind the counter. She had just handed to me a bag of filled with drug samples. It is not unusual for doctors to give these samples to patients in order to have them try new medications or, in my case to carry me through until my new prescription comes in the mail.

I was responding to her comment, “you got the biggest bag.”

On my way out the door I heard her repeat several times. “That is so nice. That is so nice.”

It is nice to have a friend for so many years…and he’s a doctor.  And he even remembers my birthday.

Coffee: What A Difference A Year Makes

I doubt that the Age of Indulgence is truly over. Despite all the media coverage on how even the upper middle class is economizing, I suspect that the AOI is just on holiday.

And yet, a year does make a difference. I periodically stop at a Starbucks in an affluent northern suburb of Chicago on my way to the office. What draws me is that on occasion I have run into people I know. I can get my coffee fix at work for less but the opportunity to see friends is too hard to resist.

A year ago the lines were always long no matter what time I arrived. Staff would be rushing around trying to fill the orders and not make the tony clientele wait. Now they are lucky if the number of customers exceeds that of the staff.

I was further reminded of the change in attitudes when I ran across an article on the Internet about the most expensive coffee maker in the world which at the time of the article had just been installed in a coffee shop in San Francisco. I do not remember how I came across the article but when i first saw it I thought it was recent and intended to write about the exceptions to the austerity mindset.

But this article in the NY Times about the $20,000 Japanese Siphon Bar  was written in January, 2008 when we all still were 401(k) millionaires and credit was easy.  An article on Gizmodo describes the process, “Each “pot” consists of two globes. Water vapor evaporates from the bottom globe into the higher globe to meet the grounds. The coffee is then stirred with a bamboo paddle, removed from the heat and siphoned back to the lower globe (minus grounds).”

I wonder how many cups of coffee are being served from the $20,000 coffee maker. Probably as many as are made from the $100 per pound beans from Indonesia called Kopi Luwak, a coffee that is only roasted after it’s been eaten and excreted by a palm civet (a small cat-like creature).

Sounds yummy.

Siphon Bar

Ginger Spam Salad

 With the Internet, you never know what will come your way. I have a GMail account. It has small ads at the top of the Inbox. Normally I do not even notice them. A small price to pay for a free service.

But it is hard not to notice the words ginger, spam and salad when laid out one next to the other. As if they were always intended to be together… in that order.

I do not know about you but I do not ever remember eating Spam. It has been around forever. Heck, it was lampooned over 30 years ago by Monty Python. I guess there is something to be said for longevity. Do I guess someone eats the stuff. I just did not know that people get creative with Spam.

But here it is. Enjoy Ginger Spam Salad. Recipe here. If any of you make it, and eat it, let me know what you think. We can even start a new feature at 48Facets, “Spam Recipe Tuesday” if this takes off.

Who Cares

About…

Bo the First Family’s Portuguese water dog

Oprah’s first Tweet

Mayor Daley proclaiming Thursday to be Talk Shakespeare Day

Anything in the lives of Britney, Lindsay, Miley or Paris (not even worth a link)

Former Governor Blago  being on some reality show in Costa Rica– or anything else in his life

I am sure there must be more things but…who cares.

Expectations

Sunday morning I spent chastising, maybe even yelling at, my 18 year old son because once again he put his academics after having fun; not that he agreed. Because he is not meeting the expectations I set for him he gets much criticism and little praise.

Sunday afternoon I spent with my 42 year old autistic sister. I read books to and with her. As she sounded out about 2/3 of the words of a Dr. Seuss book I praised her constantly. I was so surprised and happy for her–she was just happy.

Maybe praise and happy are better.