General Jackassery

Really annoyed the last two days. We don’t seem to know how to make small sacrifice’s in this country. Think about it, if everyone would drive slower and make an effort to reduce the mileage they drive by planning their trips a little better we could probably reduce the demand for gasoline by 10% easy! It wouldn’t take that much if I drive 70 instead of 85 I get a 4% increase in gas mileage, so all I have to do is reduce the number of miles I drive by 6%. A 10% reduction in demand would equate to a much larger reduction in cost.

So, yesterday I’m on my way home from the gym and I decided to drive by Sam’s on the way home, just to see what all the hub-ub is about. People are freaking out because they might have to pay more for gas. So what do they do? The rush to the gas station and increase the demand for gasoline 10 times, thereby driving the cost of gasoline up and CREATING the price hike that they were so afraid of. Whatever floats your boat. Me, the Camry staid in the garage today. I’m tired of complaining about the price of gas and I’m tired of hearing people complain about the price of gas. I’m riding my bike. I figure I can ride the bike to work and that will save me 125 miles/week of gas and give me 125 miles/week of additional training. It’s a win/win situation.

I’ve also come up with the newest cycling advocacy program. T-shirts that say, “I’m saving you money! Ask me how!” I figure that by riding my bike, I’m reducing the demand for gas, decreased demand means decreased prices. I’m keeping my car off the road which reduces the wear and tear on the road leading to less need for maintanence and less tax money spent on road repair. I’m getting in better shape which leads to improved health, fewer doctor visits and fewer medical bills in general. I’m reducing traffic on the road, while people may have to slow down to pass me, I take up much less space on the road on my bike than I do in my car. You can fit six bikes in the space of one car. This reduces the need for huge parking lots and increased overhead for companies which reduces the cost of goods. Removing cars from the road makes more room for truck transportation, fewer traffic jams and in general would speed up shipping times, reducing shipping costs and reducing prices. Reducing gasoline consumption would decrease the trade deficit, increasing the value of the dollar and making it cheaper to travel to foreign countries. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point, it may not equate to a measurable amount that I save you, but I AM saving you money and you could save me money by riding your bike! Even if it was just one day per week it would be a vast improvement!

I’ve done a lot of things in my life, but I’ve never done a triathlon. Yesterday, I competed in my first ever mini-triathlon. The Rocketman Triathlon at Redstone Arsenal. I decided that I would do it less than a month ago. It was one of this, “just do it!” kind of things and I figured that I would never do one if I didn’t sign up for one now.

I really had fun, despite the pain! I had very low expectations for what I would do. My only two goals were 1) Finish and 2) not be dead last. My third goal was to finish in less than two hours. Now for anyone who is an athlete, taking two hours to swin a half a mile, bike 13 miles and run 3.2 miles doesn’t sound like that difficult a feat. Put all of those together back to back and add 85+ heat and very little shade on the course and you have a tough little race. Even more so if you’ve never done one of these and barely trained for this one.

So, I’m happy to say that I more than accomplished both goals and I’ll be doing another one of these as soon as I get the opportunity. What was my time?

0.5 Mile Swim: 20:05 Swim Rank 14/17
13 Mile Bike: 43:35 Bike Rank 10/17
3.2 Mile Run: 37:37 Run Rank 13/17 (The run really killed me.)

Total time elapsed 1:41:17

Overall I was ranked 203 out of about 241 competitors.

The bike time included the transition area times to change from swim attire to cycling, and cycling to running. I think I could have easily cut 2 to 3 minutes off of that time. I think with some training I can cut up to five minutes off of my swim time. And I think with training I could cut atleast 5 minutes off the run. So, if I was able to cut a total of 13 minutes off of my time I would have ranked5th of 17 overall instead of 13th of 17 in my Clydesdale division. Overall that would have moved me up into the 150’s probably. My goal next year is to finish in under 1:20:00 total time. So the goals will be 15:00 Swim, 38:00 Bike, 27:00 Run. I’ll let you know what happens this time next year!

I got back in from a ride about an hour ago and I’m still trying to cool off. This with my fan sitting on my desk, aimed at my head and on full blast!

So I just checked the weather channel and the heat index is 104 degrees here in lovely Huntsville, Alabama. I sincerely feel sorry for anyone that lives where it’s even hotter. Fortunately the weather peeps are calling for a cool down and by this weekend the highs should be back in the 80’s. Much more bearable.

Anyway, the riding is going well. I met Sarah at the Aldridge Creek Greenway on Saturday morning and we rode down it and back. That’s 10 miles total for Sarah. I know you’re thinking it’s wierd for me to say that I met Sarah there, but that’s because I rode and she drove. I left an hour before her and rode the 26 miles to the trail head. So 36 miles for me is now the longest ride of the year.

I’m looking forward to getting back in better shape because the local cycling club has several group rides ever week that I would enjoy. I’m just not quite there yet. Their average speeds are much faster than what I can do right now.

Other than that, life is pretty much the same as always.

So that’s my update for today.

Later.

So I’m sitting downstairs in the cafeteria watching the Tour de France on OLN when I get this call from Sarah. She’s wanting to know what time the shuttle launch is supposed to be and if I had set it up to TIVO. I told her that I wasn’t sure and that I hadn’t set it up to TIVO. However, I was going to ride my bike at lunch so I could just run out to the house and set it up to record. 26+ hard miles later I had ridden out to the house, set-up the TIVO and ridden back to work. When I got out of the shower and came upstairs I found out they had scrubbed the launch.

On a much brighter note the NHL will have a season. They have finally reached an agreement in principal!

For those of you who don’t know, in my last post I refered to the RHOLMFw/FH getting engaged to his RH woman. RHOLMFw/FH is Anthony. He is the Red Headed Oppie looking MF with Facial Hair and he’s now engaged to his Red Headed Woman Heather. So Congratulations to the two of them.

Life has been pretty interesting. As those who have read Sarah’s Blog know, her parents are going through a rough time with each of them going through two major surgeries in the last month or so. Her mother has recovered nicely from her surgery and would have improved dramatically had it not been for the stress of Sarah’s Dad having to have a major surgery of his own. Unfortunately what he anticipated being a minor hernia repair turned into a much more serious ordeal when the Doctors discovered a very large cyst growing on one of his kidneys. Needless to say he’s not a happy camper right now and I’m sure that Mr. Yeldell would appreciate your thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery. Sarah’s parents are very good people and they don’t deserve to have to go through this. Life has it’s ups and downs and this is definitely a down for them right now.

I’ve been back on my bike pretty regularly lately, atleast three days a week once I got over my sinus infection. I did nearly 20 miles of rolling terrain yesterday with a pretty stiff wind. I’m not in as bad shape as I thought I would be, but I have a long way to go to get back to where I was two years ago.

I couple of things have been really hitting me hard lately. I look at our national debt and I think it’s indicative of the way we as Americans live daily, way beyond our means and we’re always struggling to keep our head above water. It’s the same with how we eat and live. Our bodies are like a bank, everytime time you eat a fast food meal or drink a coke it’s like taking a loan out or buying something with a credit card. In order to pay that debt off every month you have to excercise like an animal. Unfortunately just like our finances most of us don’t pay back the full amount on the loan we’ve taken from our bodies and we carry more and more of a balance each month until we struggle just to pay the interest.

I keep thinking about what I’m going to look like when I’m 40 and I have a 10 year old kid who wants to play catch or ride bikes and I’m scared to death that I won’t be able to keep up. So the time is truly now. I don’t want to be the average american that’s 10 lbs overweigth and $9000 in debt. I don’t want to be a part of 30% of Americans that are obese. I don’t want to live outside my means anymore.

I don’t believe that one person can change the world, but I believe one person can change theirself and that can have a huge impact on the world around them.

So I ask those who read this blog to keep Sarah, her dad, and her mother in their prayers, and I ask you to do the same for me.

I heard yesterday that congrats are in order. One Mr. RHOLMFw/FH is engaged to his RH woman! Congrats! Oppie!

I don’t really know if anyone reads anything on this site anymore. I’m sure it doesn’t help that I haven’t posted anything in quite a while.

I guess the bottom line is that I just haven’t felt like writting anything in a long time. Sometimes it seems pointless to have a website.

So, needless to say, generaljackassery.com is in a transitionary phase right now. I think the next use for it will be more as a photoblog. Sarah and I have been thinking about posting a picture a day or something like that. Whatever I fancy.

For those that are interested, I’m back on the bike. I’ve ridden 5 times in the last two weeks now and despite having been off the bike for a long time I feel pretty good. My problem is that now that life is good I don’t have the drive to suffer like I did two years ago. I have to find another reason to push myself. For now, I’m taking it easy and enjoying my time on the bike. I do have some goals still. I plan to do Centuries in September, October and November. Then next summer I’m going to shoot for one century/month starting in March.

Anyway, hope all you out there in internet land are doing well. There should be some new pics up soon.

To my Dad: I could never repay you for the wonderful gifts you’ve given Sarah and I during our wedding. Many people don’t realize the it was my father who took care of the Rehearsal dinner before our wedding. While I love my new parents-in-law, and they deserve many thanks for working so hard to make sure the Sarah and I had an absolutely beautiful wedding and reception , I noticed that many people were thanking them for the wonderful dinner we all ate and the wonderful time we all had during the rehearsal dinner.

I wanted to take this opportunity to tell my Dad and Melissa how much Sarah and I appreciate all the work that they did in planning and putting on the rehearsal dinner. I know the cost was high and I know that you’re both incredibly busy, so to do this for us was absolutely incredible. We had a wonderful time and I can’t even begin to express my gratitude in words, and I’ve thought a lot about it. All I can do is say that we both Thank You from the bottoms of our hearts!

THANK YOU!

I also wanted to take this opportunity to let everyone know that our honeymoon was indeed not free! While Sarah and I love each other very much and we would have been happy with a very simple honeymoon, it was not what we truly wanted! Both of us wanted to go to the beach, we wanted to stay somewhere where we would be able to lay on the beach and not be pestered by kids running around all day, buy people trying to sell us stuff, etc. We wanted to be at a place where we would have opportunities to try new things or to be lazy and not do anything. We wanted to go to a place that neither of us had been to. I could go on and on about all the things that we wanted in our honeymoon, the fact of the matter is that Sarah and I could not have had the perfect honeymoon. Then my Dad comes along and he and his friend manage to put together a honeymoon that had EVERYTHING that we wanted! He GAVE us the perfect honeymoon! Sarah and I got everything we wanted, we got to be lazy, we got to try new things, we got to lay on the beach and almost never be bothered by someone trying to sell us something. We got a vacation that will be extremely difficult for us to repeat and it was not only the perfect vacation, but it came at the perfect time.

Again, I could never begin to repay my Dad for what he gave Sarah and I. He never complained about what we wanted and what we were asking for. In fact he pushed us to tell him what we really wanted.

For all of this Sarah and I are truly, truly greatful.

We actually talked about how blessed we have been to be surrounded by such wonderful people. I love both of my parents with all of my heart, they are both wonderful people and I can’t imagine my life without them.

So, from the bottom of my heart I will say to my Dad that I love you very very very much. I could have asked for a more wonderful father, you we an integral part of making our wedding perfect and we both thank you!

Hello Again World! Long time no post! I don’t have a lot of time or desire to post right now. I’m sitting in a hotel room in Colorado Springs, on my way to Pueblo today and then home tomorrow. I’ve been on the road a lot lately and unlike many of my last post I have two and possibly a third design coming down the pipe. Well there is one already at 35% and I’m meeting with the Contracting Officer today to get approval to get started on the second. The third is still a possibility at some time in the near future.

Anyway, I’ll be home this weekend and the I beleive I’m supposed to be on the road to Storm King State Park next Monday. That’s close to West Point, New York. Don’t know for sure if I’m still going, this trip has been on and off for a month or more now. Hopefully we can go and get it done. I don’t really have time to be gone for another week, but I’d like this trip off my plate and out of the way.

May is going to be a really busy month! I guess it will be the most memorable in my life and I’m starting to look forward to it.

Okay, that’s all for now. Just wanted to take the opportunity to post.

Todder, Out!

I own you, bugs! You bugs is my bitches!

Bug, whatchu laughin’ at? You got some candy in yo’ pocket! Drop and give me twenty-five pushups!

Okay.

That took fucking long enough.