Sunday, December 31, 2006

Fitness goals....


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

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Change jobs...

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 the project.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Learn to play a musical instrument...

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.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Backpacking the Pinhoti....

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.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Riding to Paris...

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.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Writing a book...

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 I had someone to talk too but in another, I really have nothing to say. I read a quote from Rocky Balboa tonight:

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very rough, mean place, and no matter how tough you think you are, it'll always bring you to your knees and keep you there, permanently, if you let it. You or nobody ain't never gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.

I would add that life brings you to your knees, then kills you. There is no escape. Also, none of that is personal or intended in the sense that we are made to suffer by some sadistic monster. We are just participants in life where it truly is "dog eat dog". Every other organism is simply trying to preserve its own life even at the expense of our own.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Possible Resolutions...


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

Blessed aloneness

  I t is very common to feel a strong, even urgent, need for solitude and to turn inward after a cardiac arrest . Surviving such a life-alt...