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The last 3 items on my list are simply fitness goals. I had quite a bit of success this past year with my fitness goal. I exceeded my expectations by quite a bit. Now I am in the perpetual state of maintaining my gains. That really should be goal enough. I don't always feel my best and wonder if I could tweak my eating to get more from nutrition. I feel like perhaps I am not getting enough vitamins or minerals. I really need to strengthen my core if I am to do a backpacking trip this spring. It also wouldn't hurt to build up some chest and arms to match my wiry legs. I prefer to build strength than size. Size just ruins the fit of my clothes. I have been thinking about Karate lately. It isn't that I want to get back in there beating up or being beaten up, I am thinking about the stretching exercise. But the

I may have to change jobs as a matter of fact. The change I was thinking of was a little more global. I considered pursuing the degree in Psychology. That would produce a sweeping change. The change that is becoming apparent will simply be to leave Coosa Valley. Right now we will be adding the employee prescriptions to our daily stuff. Then we will add the hospice things to the everyday routine. It might as well be retail. I will see how things go... 2 years ago today I wrote: "So today after 2 days suffering from a virus, I began. I ate sensibly at lunch. I also hiked quickly to the top of my training hill. That is about a 2 hour round trip. I will have to continue to make good food choices to accomplish the weight loss I need to have." Today I was riding the mountain bike up at Oak Mountain State Park. I believe I have come a long way. I can ride petty strongly. My weight is stable at 190 lbs. I only need improve my endurance and gain some upper body strength to complete th...

This is a noble cause but I doubt I'd have the time to devote to it. Time is a premium right now. There are things coming which will affect that time more over the next months and days. I don't need to add anything for stress. Keeping life simple is the best I can hope for. I am really missing my bike rides. I don't know if Bev and I will get back to them soon enough.

I might be able to do this in some way. I have to plan a little. It would be nice to have a little company but I don't know if I can convince anyone to tag along. Kirk seems pretty removed from all of this. His last comment was about having knee problems. I could do a series of overnights until I get it done. Perhaps I should get my scooter carrier added to the truck so I can leave it at one end and scooter back to the truck. Hiking and backpacking is such lonely business. But then so is everything else. 12/30/06: I found out this morning that Perry Clark and a group are planning on starting to hike the Appalachian Trail in April. This is fortuitous.

I don't think this would be a very interesting goal after thinking about it. I am not motivated by numbers. Lots of folks ride 99 miles and just have to do another mile so they can say they have ridden a century but not me. A better goal might be to see if I can get in a ride every day rather than keeping up with how far I am riding. I don't really see myself getting worked up over time trials either. I just don't care how long it takes. If I am to improve my strength and endurance, I simply must put in more quality riding. I'll have to balance that against my day to day life, obligations, work, kids, grand-kids, home....everything. I also have to avoid overdoing it and breaking my strength down rather than building myself up. I think I am doing enough right now but could improve the quality of the time. That might actually be a better goal. But when riding tandem, I have to stay within Bev's limits.

I think I might have an idea. Who knows how you go about writing a book so I suppose I'll just begin the process and see where it goes. The working title will be "If Only". I will write about a second chance. Immortality seems like a boring droll condition to me. That is a notion I will explore in the book. There is also the notion that we are not the selves that lived out past even though we remember it as such. But writing may be a big sacrifice of time for me. Right now my time is dominated by everyone else and my possessions. I don't know how I will find the time. Thank goodness I feel better today. There remains a little of the tiredness and sickness but it is manageable. I would really like to get up tomorrow and ride the bike a little while but it would be difficult to get out in the cold morning. I also have David's bed in the back of the truck. I need to take Nikki's TV over along with the other Christmas goodies. Maybe Thursday. In some sense I wish ...

Write a book Ride 4,489 miles (distance from Sylacauga to Paris) Backpack the Pinhoti (invite Kentucky group) Learn to play guitar Change jobs Get muscular (to match slimmer body) Resume Karate studies/Tai Chi Stretching

The big day has come. Sara and Bev have gone up to Cullman, Nikki and Chris are with his folks, Maw-Maw is visiting with Uncle Jean and Jan, and I have come to work. I started feeling pretty puny just before lunch. I was so tired feeling I had to lie down for a while. After an hour's nap, I still feel pretty low. The rain came in last night and it is a wet breezy day, not very good for riding. Santa Claus was good to all of us this year. He brought me an iPod. Now I have all my music on it. I have it here and am listening to it. I think the best thing will be having the audio books that it can play. Bev got us a speaker pack that will work for riding the tandem. David had a pretty good Christmas. He was glad to get the red airplane. He got a lot! More than he can play with. We were happy to see him flying the red airplane with one hand and driving the big John Deere tractor with the other. Good times. It is seriously time for thinking about resolutions. It is kinda hard to think a...

This Christmas week sure has been a hectic one. It isn't any one particular, but rather a host of small issues. After a wonderful warm week, it has turned of cool and rainy. That means cycling has to take a back seat. I really miss the exercise. The days are counting down till Spring now. With the coming of Winter, days will begin to get longer. Soon it will warm up and daylight will lengthen until we can begin he evening rides again.

Christmas will be here for me once I finish this shift. I am off the next 7 days with Christmas eve one week from tonight. I have done all my shopping except for one little thing. The thing that is on my mind now is my resolutions. We are just a short time from year's end. I am considering what is a worthy resolution. There have been many other things that I have resolved and not accomplished. As I begin this year, I look back to January 10th when I started watching my calories and now I am at the goal I set for myself then. I have gained a lot of stamina for bike riding. I think the best use for my energy would be an emotional benefit. Something to improve my sense of being. Or perhaps I need another kind of goal like hiking all or part of the Pinhoti. I might like to improve my fitness in other areas. I could learn something new. Perhaps I should resume something I once liked but have gotten away from. I just don't know. In this coming year we have already planned some trip...

Yesterday, Sara and Bev were shopping when I got back from my hike. I took the Grandog out to do its business. The little gal was barking her head off. It doesn't understand being left behind. I think it needs more time in the kennel and she will settle down. Good thing Maw maw wasn't there. I went riding this morning. The day started cold and foggy. It wasn't easy to get out of the truck and get rolling. But Eric and Chris came. It made it easier to go when you have company. I have gotten tired of doing everything alone. Paul has been busy lately with things so he hasn't ridden much. Eric has been sick. I haven't seen or heard from Denis or Perry in a long time. Billy is working his shop a lot since this is Christmas. He had a lot of folks in there today. Maybe he made some sales. I am super pleased with the changes to my bike. That thing really rides good now. Those downhills that once were scary are nothing now. You can roll as fast as the bike will carry you. ...

For everyone dreaming of a white Christmas, the present weather isn't very reassuring. I remember a Holiday season where we had record highs followed by record lows. We almost had snow. Just missed! I used to dream and pray for a white Christmas. Not anymore. I prefer these warm days where I can ride my bike. I rode 26 miles today. It was a little too cool at first but I warmed from the climbing. I need to get busy doing a lot of climbing so I can handle the Blue Ridge Mountains next fall. I also want to tackle the Cheaha Challenge. I think Bev and I can handle 40-50 miles of it. If not we can volunteer to hand out water and cookies. It is only 129 more days to the Florida Bike Safari. Our friends the Saturdays are likely to attend. I think they might find it to be a "life changing event" just like I did. I haven't found many folks to ride with lately. It isn't as much fun when you ride alone. Riding alone is very much like riding the exercise bike. Spinning class...

It was an interesting week. Almost everyone was sick. Better to have it now than to deal with sick children during Christmas. David spent the night with us. Watching him sleep this morning just after daylight was so heartwarming. Little children resting in a warm comfortable place without a care in the world. That is heaven! We got him up and off to school then took all the family out to lunch. The afternoon was so mild. I wished I could be off to go bike riding. Maybe there will be a chance to get out and hike or do something in the morning. The weather is supposed to turn rainy. Even a day with temperatures in the 50's is like a heat wave after those low to mid teens we had last week. Billy hit a few snags with the build of my bike. The derailleur didn't work and neither did the suggested replacement. We had to go with one installed over the crank arm. Maybe by tomorrow he will have it running again. I sure would like to go ride it Wednesday morning. Right now it looks like W...

I have been doing my Christmas shopping online today. I have a few things that I want to get my folks. Monday I need to get settled on the bookcase I plan to built the boy. I also need to make something for Max. I think maybe a wooden toy of some description might do the trick. I didn't see any projects at Hobby Lobby. They don't have the things that were there when they started. I also need to send the Howard's something. I sent a book last time. This year perhaps something tasty. It ain't like we need more stuff to eat. I need to get it all sorted out and ordered by Monday if I hope to have any of it here in time. I think I'll be done early this year.

"And the devil will drag you under With a soul so heavy you'd never float. Sit down...Sit down....Sit down you're rockin' the boat." It is tragic when your cherished beliefs are dashed. Don't think it can't happen to you. We all carry some pet delusion with us at all times. And I think if we really saw ourselves for what we are, we'd be too depressed to function. My studies have taken me to the realm of the Cosmos. It is daunting to come to realize how big it all is. I've been lost in the awe of a clear starry night since I was a boy. But that view of the night sky is made up of stars which are, at most, about 250 light years away. Even then, the stars that are visible are mostly very luminous large stars that are many times brighter and larger than our sun. When you take it to the limit, we find our observed universe is something on the order of 30 to 60 billion light years across. In all that there are 100 billion x 100 billion stars. We ARE tin...