Not much of a tropical storm

It looks like the threatened tropical storm won't do much damage. This is good, because I don't have the physical wherewithal to put up our hurricane shutters. We have the old "slat" kind, and we only have enough to cover 2 of our 20 windows. I guess we could have sprung for some nice roll-down shutters, but we got a pool and a yip dog instead. Now that we have a pool, I can threaten to throw the outdoor patio furniture into the pool as a hurricane precaution. Bryan Norcross says you aren't supposed to do this, but at least now I have the opportunity.

Jake had a good week. He didn't miss school last week (although he missed it yesterday). Jen was busy on a bunch of errands, but nothing that merits blog notation. I puttered about at work and did my morning bike rides. I would have blogged sooner, but there wasn't much going on.

One weekend disappointment. We took Jake and a friend to Tropical Chinese for dim sum, and he hated it. Very disappointing, because that takes it out of our arsenal for easy weekend food.

On the other hand, I'm always happy to blog about my battles with the stereo. The pre-amp section on the new/old McIntosh amp is dying, so now I'm using my old Pioneer receiver as a preamp. That means there's even more stuff hooked up, and more stuff lights up at night. Cool. I had to order some cables so I could string up a second turntable for mono playback. The McIntosh has a "mono" switch and two turntable hookups, but my modern (1990) Pioneer receiver has neither.

I have decided to skip/defer the two fall 70.3 Ironman events to which I had registered. I'm just not there yet. I'm switching my December Palm Beach Marathon entry from a full-marathon to a half-marathon, and even that is tenuous. On the other hand, I get stronger every day on the bike. I'm not recovered, but I still get mad if I'm not in the lead group. I started working with my trainer yesterday, and it hurt like heck. It's a necessary evil, at least until I get symmetrical.

New music pick of the week - Doobie Brothers, World Gone Crazy (2010). It just came out. It sounds like it's from 1975, in a good way. More Tom Johnston vocals, less Michael McDonald blue-eyed soul.

Old music pick of the week - David Oistrakh, Violin Concertos by Prokofiev, Leclair, Locatell (1955). Mono only, never released on cd (and never released in stereo). Excellent playing; works well in mono. I am always amused by the fact that the spelling of many Russian composers and performers has changed from the 1950's albums until today. Prokofieff?? Prokofief? Prokofyev?

Excellent Weekend

My mood improves when I do some quality cycling. I’d say quality exercise, but I haven’t done anything but cycle.

Yesterday I proved to myself that I can win a sprint if everybody else does something silly. Our Saturday bike store group ride was coming up to the final end sprint (against a headwind). I was second in line up front – I figured I’d lead out the group. I had one person home up hard on my left, and another come up hard on my right. I sprinted a bit and ended up behind two guys who were sprinting side-by-side (rather than single file). They completely blocked the wind for me, and I just waited until they tired and blew right between them for the win. I don’t have my old horsepower back (I can barely hit 31-32 mph), but I ain’t stupid. Here's a video of the ride (final sprint at the 11:05 mark):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3HeGqUyibM&feature=player_embedded

Today I went for a hot and windy 75 mile ride with my friends on my 40 pound fixie. Fun, but I’m pooped.

Jake had play dates all weekend, and had a great time. Jen and I had a date night at the Marlins game. Unfortunately, it was “cow bell night”, so it was deafening all night.

My elbow and bicep are still really stiff and swollen from my Wednesday workout. Hopefully it resolves soon. The ribs haven’t been bad, and the shoulder is down to about 8 Advils a day.

Starting the Advil early

I went to the orthopedist yesterday, and he said I could resume working with my trainer.  I’m supposed to concentrate on stretching rather than weights, and I’m supposed to let pain be my guide. The docs says that I don’t need to do the deep massage stuff that caused me to quit going to physical therapy.

I went to the gym for a workout circuit attempt.  I did some machine-based lifting and some of my old core sit-up-ish exercises.  It turns out I don’t have any core strength, and not much strength anywhere else.  I guess I’ll also add some lower body workouts to the previous pre-injury routine.  I didn’t previously do lower body stuff, because I didn’t need to. Now I do. I start back with my trainer on Tuesday, and it’s gonna hurt.

It was a busy week at work, and Jake’s tummy’s been on and off, so not much home news to report.  I did fly to Key West on Tuesday.  I flew out on the last day before they opened the Sky Train at the Miami Airport American Airlines terminal.  The walk from security to the Key West gate is 1.25 miles on a hard concrete non-carpeted floor.  Ouch.  

No running this week.  A little biking.  I hope to get some miles in this weekend.  It’s clear that I won’t be physically ready to do my half-Ironman duathlon events in November.  My running isn’t improving quickly enough, and I am not physically capable of bending into the triathlon bike position.  My ego won’t let me do the event on a regular road bike, because that gives up 2+ mph due to wind resistance.

At night I have been crashing in the den and listening to music while Jake goes to sleep.  I downloaded the new Weezer, Linkin Road and Heart albums, and so far the Heart album is the best of the lot.  It’s much less power-ballad poppy than their 1990’s work, which is good.  I made some cassette tapes of the albums if anybody wants them.  I could burn them to cd, but I choose not to.  I’ve also been catching up with some classical and jazz backlog.  I’m not crazy about the latest Esperanza Spalding album.  It gets a lot of hype as a jazz/soul release with some classical overtones, but it’s a little too shoe-gaze for me.   So far so good on the new main speakers, but I don’t get to listen to them much because they aren’t conducive to Jake bedtime and he spends every waking minute in the main room with the TV on in the background.

My party weekend

Jen’s in NYC, and Jake and I are hanging out this weekend and doing guy stuff. Foodwise, that means a lot of Chinese buffet.

Homewise, that means a lot of hanging out in pajamas. I’ve been fiddling around the house, doing externally-appearing non-productive things. One day I replaced all the blown bulbs in the ceiling lights. That took me two hours, and shows no apparent lighting gains.

My big shipment of cables came in from Monoprice.com. I re-wired the main stereo with new thicker high-quality RCA (i.e, red and white plugs) cables. This seems to have decreased the strange interference/hiss that I was getting from the amp on the phono stage setting. None of that audiophile cable cult stuff -- my replacement RCA cables cost $3.50 a pair, but feel much more substantial than the thinner ones that come with the equipment. I may order some Blue Jean Cables speaker cables next. I bought some speakers on eBay, and will pick them up tomorrow. A pair of Celestion A2 floorstanding speakers - $2000 in 1997, now $175.00 on eBay. In my mind, it was cheaper than buying floor stands for my existing 1997 speakers.

I also put together a wall rack in the garage which holds 4 bikes. Glamorous stuff.

On Thursday I bought a six pack of hard apple cider, based on an expected leisurely and fancy poolside weekend. I still have all six. On the other hand, teh chocolate chip cookies I baked (straight out of the Toll House package) are gone.

I took Jake out for disc golf this afternoon with Remy and his Dad Jon. It was 94+ degrees, and Jake didn’t enjoy it that much. I enjoyed it, even though Jon kicked my butt.

Since I don’t have any coverage for Jake, I didn’t get to bike or exercise this weekend. I was really stiff and limpy on Friday, but a little better today.

With Jen gone, the dog has to suck up to me, and he is gamely attempting to do so.

Music of the Moment - Mahler's 7th Symphony, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (Noseda). I'm listening to the cover disc for the September issue of BBC Music Magazine. Since Jake has claimed the living room, I'm listening and typing in the guest room with the small speakers. It's not conducive to large scale orchestral works. That said, it's a fairly intricate and varied work. It's kind of like a singles collection more than an integrated work, but that facilitates listening to it in pieces. It's the opposite of Symphony Fantastique (or Dark Side of the Moon), where you strap into the chair like a Maxell commercial for an interactive listen.

Bachelor, but home

This weekend is a little different than last weekend. Jen is going with her friends to NYC for the weekend, including a hair styling with a “celebrity” hair stylist. Jen’s gone from Thursday through Sunday.

Jake and I will be together again, but this time we’ll be home. That means fewer trips to the ice cream parlor/candy store, because we don’t have the same high quality shop that they had in Covington, GA.

I presume Jake will have a lot of play dates this weekend.  I can’t do my normal 6am bike rides, but I’ll see if I can put together some late morning rides.  I only rode once in the past 10 days, due to a combination of being out of town and incessant morning rains.

I’m pretty stiff, but I can’t tell if that’s due to bone pain or from sleeping funny.  The knee scabs are completely gone, so the only really visible items are the disjointed clavicle and the stiffness on the left side.   

Jake is really enjoying school.  He’s a little disappointed that his sports endurance is not as strong as the other kids.  I let him know that I didn’t get endurance until I was 37.

I’ve got the main stereo fully hooked up, so I can veg out all weekend. I finally got the equalizer hooked up, which helped shove another component into the system. I need Jake out of the house to really enjoy the tunes, because he has 30+ Nanny episodes on the DVR, and I end up having to listen to a mixture of my tunes with a Fran Drescher background in the adjoining room.  If anybody needs anything taped (to reel to reel, cassette, cd, or mp3),  just let me know.

Music of the Moment

1. Assorted Gary Burton albums.  I bought a bunch of Gary Burton albums from 1969 to 1987.  You can hear the range of styles, from early fusion (Throb and the Gary Burton/Keith Jarrett album, both of which I snagged for a buck) to later groups with Pat Metheny and Eberhard Weber.  It all sounds good, but the later stuff sounds better but isn’t quite as spirited. I’m told the 1990’s stuff is excellent, but I haven’t gotten there yet.

2. Chet Atkins, Teenville (Mono1st pressing, 1960).  Another great sounding early Chet Atkins album.  $1.00 on eBay!  

3. Still working through the Living Stereo classical box set.

Labor Day Weekend

We had plans to take Jake to visit his cousins Dory and Mia (and Jen’s brother Frank and his wife Jamie) in Atlanta over the Labor Day weekend.  Jen got really sick, so I ended up going alone with Jake.  Jen got better at home, and was able to drag herself to a massage and a round of chick TV.

Jake had an excellent time with his cousins.  Pics are at

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=1255468761&k=Z41Y4X63S6TFWAE1W1Z4S5PQ2VKCZ34F&oid=1401093318581

We went to the Fernwood science museum in Atlanta, went to Melting Pot for dinner, and the big trip was to Medieval Times.  Jake loved it.  He also loved the food, which was a fairly tasty baked 1/2 chicken.  You are supposed to eat the meal with your hands, but Aunt Jamie knew to bring plastic cutlery.

We visited the local ice cream/candy shop each day, and we ate a bunch of sugar.  I didn’t do much exercise, so I have a lot of biking to do this week. I went walking/jogging with Frank one morning. It’s a very hilly area, and my butt and back have hurt all weekend.  I don’t know if that is from the climbing, sitting on a pair of coach seat flights or from sleeping with Jake in a 7 year old’s bed.   Jake says he’s sore from sleeping in a room with a Nick Jonas poster on the wall.

Jake and Mia also had an athletic workout.  They worked out a rig where they would go down the slide, and put a plastic sled at the bottom so they could then launch off the slide and down the hill over the grass.  They did it for an hour, and we never had to make a trip to the emergency room.

State of the Vintage Art

Jen came home yesterday, and I told her to close her eyes and come into the guest room to listen to something.  That something was Hole’s “Live Through This”, blasting on my new (for me) Akai 4000ds Reel to Reel tape deck.  I don’t know why I needed it; I just know that I did.  (She said its sounds good, but she could tell it was a tape).  State of the art for 1975.  I’ve had to order used blank tapes on eBay.  New blank tapes sell for $16.00, so I sprung for old used ones for $1.50 each.

We went to the Tears For Fears concert at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts last night.  They’ve aged well, and are impressive live.  On the other hand, the facility has terrible acoustics, and is ill-suited for rock concerts.

Jake went to a new GI doctor, and is experimenting with a no-dairy diet.  So far so good.  He had a good day at school today.  Now that he’s improving, Jen is sick with a cold.  It’s our family balance.

I’ve had a crazy week of work, and I’ve been too busy to go to physical therapy.  Actually, I just haven’t wanted to go to PT.  I haven’t biked in two days due to rain.  I have the usual soreness and pains, but the knee scab is almost gone.  Unfortunately, it seems to get more sensitive as it gets smaller.