Should Know Better, But . . .
2006-10-30, 9:30 a.m.

Day 796 I Oughta Know Better

Been trying to finish this for 4 or 5 days now. Just going to hang it out there like it�s done, then go play catch up in a new(er) one.

.
Oooooeeeee!! Bit of frost on the old pumpkin this morning. Had to scrape the windows before heading out for the morning sweat. Learned that I need a better scraper. The one I have only seems to scrape the outer half inch or so on either side � leaves a big swath of frost right in the middle of it�s swipe. Takes 2 or 3 passes to really scrape an area clean. Must have a curve set in it or something. It�s too bad too, because this one is mounted on a nice long brush handle, a necessity for clearing off the windshield of the ol� van. Something for the �things to get to soon� list I s�pose.

About that title. Long story short: I still enjoy a beer every now & again. Like maybe one or two once every 2 � 3 weeks or so. Now that I drink so much less, I�ve kinda turned into a beer snob. As long as I�m only going to have �A� beer every now & again, I want something really good � so I�ve been leaning towards the craft brews. Couple of months ago, I was visiting a local laser assembly vendor (they do good work, but not what I need). This vendor was situated in the same plaza with a place called �Beers of the World�. A local joint � they literally have beers from all over the world. I stopped in after my laser visit and stocked up on some favorites � A sixer of Black & Tans (Yeunglings, just for Sport) , a 12 of Saranac Trail mix (sampler of some of their stuff, wish they�d ditch the IPA�s) and some Saranac Pumpkin Ale.

Had one here, one there, the boys would grab one every now & again. That case of beer had been stretched over 2 months. Before last weekend I know for certain there were 6 � 8 left, including 2 of the pumpkin Ales. Checked yesterday, cuz I was thinking of having a beer after bowling last night, there was ONE BEER LEFT (And some M1kes H@rd Lem0nade that Jill left � party remnants or something).

I shouldn�t oughta be fretting over this, but I know where those beers went. Don�t know exactly when, but I do know my favorite alcoholic hasn�t spent a sober evening since Sunday (the 20th) or so. I haven�t been tracking her whiskey consumption (conscious effort there), but I am fully aware of her lack of sobriety when it occurs. Apparently she�s either putting ice cubes in her beer in order to make them look like her usual CC & ginger ales, or she�s just drinking the beer out in the garage while she�s out getting cancer (smoking, still). Just going to have to find a beer she doesn�t like that I can stock up on. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that if she�s desperate enough for booze, the flavor of the beer isn�t going to matter much. Hate to waste a really good beer on her just drinking it to get drunk. That�s why they make that crap that sells for $5 a 12 pack.

I allow myself to vent here about it, but I�m pondering whether or not to take it up with Cindy and make an issue out of it. If she were going to AA and making some sort of effort to clean up her act and this were a �slip�, I could very easily forgive it. But since it�s just more of her sucking up every available drop of alcohol in sight in an effort to blind herself to some self perceived pain . . .

I should find it just as easy to forgive, because it IS a disease that�s doing this. I�ll have to figure out some way to bring it up, but not get critical or whiny. Just mention that I wouldn�t mind it if maybe there were some minimum as to how many beers I�d like her to leave in her wake for me to have every now & again. Of course, having any expectations of her accepting and conforming to that is a foolish thing.

Now, last Thursday night, maybe I should have started drinking before bowling. Sheesh. What a rough night. Could not buy a strike. Thought about stuffing a fiver in the thumbhole as a sacrifice to the pin gods, but I�m afraid the spin of the ball would just eject it half way down the lane. Then everybody would see that I was trying to buy a strike.

Still, had 4 splits all night and only one other open (a pesky 10 pin). If I could have put together a string of strikes every now & then it would have been ok, but I think I had back to back strikes only twice all night long. Ain�t no way to bowl a 200 game, I can tell you that for free.

Ah well, shrug it off, go back next week and try again. Our team did take a point, for the first time in 3 weeks. Helluva streak we�re on. Only get one guy bowling hot each week, kinda hard to get anything going. Plus, Ken (l�il bro) has been missing bowling every other week in order to watch his boys play soccer. His kids are freshman (twins) that have been called up to play varsity soccer for their high school. In the grand scheme of things it�s much more important that he be at the games supporting his kids. But. I think last night may have been the final game of the season, so maybe we can get back into a regular groove. That would be nice. We�ve finished 6th and 2nd the last two years in this league, now we�re wallowing down near 16th (out of 24). Very scary. Time to get out collective butts moving.

Updated stats:

Weight start: 206.5 on 1/1/06 (265.0 on 1/15/05)
Current weight: 186 on 10/21/06 (Nice rut to be in)
Next weigh in: 10/28/06

New target � Aim is 180, by Christmas.

The Keep on Truckin goal: (idea stolen shamelessly from Marn�s Big Adventure)
Miles at speed 10/24/06: 853.51 (on target so far)
Miles with cool down: 938.77
Target for 2006: 1000 miles
Plus 183 miles biking so far. Think outdoor biking is done for the season. Too cold.

If you use a pop-up blocker, hit "Ctrl" when you click to leave a comment