Screws In My Coffee

I have not been keeping track of how many miles I run each week. Last night I ran 7 miles in 71 minutes and gained 600 (do not know what it means) in elevation. I had not used a treadmill for running or walking until about a month ago, but it has become one of my favorite workout routine in 24 Hour Fitness. I started running after a 20 year hiatus at the beginning of this year. I started training for a 5K event where I work and now I am running regularly in the gym and sometimes around Town Lake in Austin. I love running on the treadmill listening to music on my iPod.

Well I rode 75 miles in 4.5 hours in 108 degree heat. I did not get to do the full 100 miles because Hells Gate closed at 11:15 AM and I arrived at 11:30 AM. The event coordinators closed it earlier than the scheduled time of 12:30 because of the rising temperature in the area. I averaged 17.9 miles per hour for the first 50 miles. I enjoyed doing the ride even though I was a little disappointed about not being able to ride the full 102 miles. Next year I will make an extra effort to get closer to the starting line with the official pack of riders that are riding the 100 mile course. I rode fast enough to finish the 100 miles but I just got a late start waiting 45 minutes to actually get riding after the official starting cannon blast. I will post more pictures when they are available. My ODO is 1777 so I rode 150 miles during week 35

My ODO is 1627 at the start of this week. I rode 133 miles in week 33. I am riding in the Hotter Than Hell 100 on August 26, 2006 which is this Saturday so I am taking it easy this week and not riding any intense hills. I do not want to injure myself before the big ride. The temperature that I was riding in during week 33 (last week) was 100+ degrees. Everyday last week was between 100 and 104 degrees except for Saturday which was 97 degrees. I'm pretty sure that I'm in good condition for the 100 mile ride in Wichita Falls Texas. I have been riding every day to work and back and some riding on weekends. I have also been working out at least twice a week and sometimes three times a week at 24 Hour Fitness . So for my morning ride the weather at 7 am is 72 degrees 84% humidity with an expected high of 101 degrees and 34% humidity at 4 PM. The hills are calling my name.

I got a disturbing phone call from my neighbor that owns the property behind the Lone Worm Ranch in Fayatte County. He told me that there was water running down Wormley Lane and it was reaching the Waxsman property to the south on the ranch. I told him to turn off the pump. So today Sylvia and I went out to the ranch to see what was up. What We found is that the pond was full. What we discovered is that there was a leak at the valve right next to the culvert that fills the pond. I dug up the area around the leak and found the place where the pipe was seperated. Once I had the valve expose I cleaned it and re-glued it. I tested the joint and then re-buried the valve. Once the leak was repaired the water that ran through the bubblers on each tree had more water pressure. There is new growth on the trees that happened after the fish emulsion and compost tea application. the trees are doing better. The August heat has parched the land here in central Texas. Today it was 105 degrees but th...

This is my continuing transformation of my self portrait. The original image was taken in my bathroom with my Canon 10D. I am trasforming the image into an expression of what I feel like and think inside. So why do I see myself as a purple colored person? Well purple is one of my favorite colors along with yellow. If you look at pictures of my bike you can see how nice they look togather. Purple is also the color of the skin of my comic characters the Zulu Aqua Mareens. I also like purple because it is at the end of the visible spectrum of light that we can see with the naked eye. If you look at a color spectrum chart you will see what I am talking about. Purple is next to Ultra Violet waves and they are short so we can not see them. My characters, the Zulu Aqua Mareens change from visible light to invisible light as they travel through space.

Well it took some weekend solitude and focus to finally get my old Movable Type web log entries moved over th the new Word Press blog. For those Googling a solution to a lost MT password here is what I did. I created a new MT installation and copied the password for Melody in the default install into my install using WebMin's MySQL module. I run my own server so I had total control of the process. Funny that I can run a Linux box but I can not keep track of my Blog password.

Well I have gone completely psycho with my Wacom UD 12-12 tablet. I was inspired by watching JT in a meeting draw with his tablet on his Mac using Painter. I thought to myself that I have not fired up my Wacom tablet in years. So this is what I created. Oh yeah it is another version og a digital image that I took of myself a few days ago. What better way to experiment with my Wacom UD 12-12 tablet than to use Adobe PhotoShop and wack an image of yourself. When you distort an image of yourself you can offend no one but yourself. I do not think I could have done this to an image of myself a few years ago. I did not have a very good self image of myself and my self esteem was running low. Now days I am feeling a lot better and have a clear vision of who I am and where I want to go and what I want to create. When I was at the beach this weekend I saw some surfers attempting to ride the now where waves at a blown out beach on the Gulf of Mexico. I was remembering my days back in S...

I designed this card using an image that I took with my Canon 10D. I crafted the card using Adobe PhotoShop, Illustrator and InDesign. I had a lot of fun with the card. I exported it as a JPG file to use on my Blog site. I made the card for my children, Kalia and Zak. I am considering doing a series of cards and using this image as a base.

I went to Port Aransas this weekend and all I got was this dumb picture.

I am starting the week with my ODO at 1494. I rode 113 miles during week 32. Riding up Red Bud Terrace is getting easier.

I am starting the week with my ODO at 1381. I rode 179 miles during week 31. I rode 61 miles on Saturday 8/5 from Mt. Gainer Inn to Wemberly, Texas and back. I got lost as it was a 41 mile ride. I broke my streak of not driving my car to work and drove to work on Friday 8/4. I wanted to be in good shape for the ride that I did on Saturday with the Austin Cycling Association

I have mentioned in my writing about sweating when I cycle. I use the Gutr Sweatband. I truly love this product and could not ride my bike more than a few minutes without it in the Austin summer weather.

Well, I finally decided to get Sylvia, my girlfriend to take pictures of me on my bike. I have been bike commuting to work for about 5 weeks this summmer. I average 20-30 miles a day and about 100-150 miles a week. I am preparing for a 100-mile ride at the end of August in Wichita Falls Texas called the Hotter 'n Hell 100 . When I first got to Texas I could not ride 20 miles during the summer heat, but now I can do it just fine. I did have to make some adaptations to my paradigm for cycling in Oregon to cycling here in Austin. I added two water bottles to my bike. I put sports drink powder in them. I use them to hydrate in addition to using my water bladder on my back I had to give up on cloth headbands to prevent sweat from getting in my eyes. I purchased a gutter guard, which is a plastic headband with a gutter that allows the sweat to drip down the side of your face and not into your eyes. I have gotten use to really sweating when I ride. I use to hate head...