Weekend Round Up
2006-07-05, 4:38 p.m.

Day 682 Holiday Roundup

Now that it�s past July 4th, does it mean we get a reprieve from the flippin (illegal) fireworks going off at all hours of the day & night? I hope so. I mean, I like fireworks and all � especially the ones you can get out of state that are actually entertaining, but geeze Louise � all night long? Some folks in our neighborhood just have no courtesy. Figure if they�re up, drinking & having a good time, you may as well be too. Oh joy.

Actually spent a rather quiet holiday weekend. Saturday started at the gym, as per usual. Played around with my bike, got it sorta tuned up & run able. Fiddle farted around with some domestic chores, mostly behaved myself. Oh � my final weigh in for the big weighdown � no change from last week. Still at 186.75 lbs. I think it�s the double stuff oreos. Seriously. If you subtract what I�ve eaten in those things in the last 2 weeks, I�d be down to 184, easy.

Went to my brothers Sunday, messed around with some siding at his house. Seems he�s had a patch of vinyl that�d had been replaced by some slab of 1 x 12 since he got his deck & pool removed last year. A contractor stopped by to finish it off, decided he didn�t have the materials on site. Arranged to have the materials dropped off, then never showed up again. Never got paid either. So me & the bro spent about an hour or so Sunday wrestling with the siding & some trim pieces. Looks great. By the time we finished, the rest of my clan converged on the place and some serious picnicking commenced. No oreos, but we did have some brats (no � not the kids � we have nice kids) & beers. Nicest thing about having kids over 21? You can send them out on beer runs. Of course, ya still gotta give them the money, but it�s nice having someone else do the running. Plus, they think it�s kinda cool still, so we let �em go. My SIL must have taken a hundred shots with my camera � she�s good for things like that. Leave a camera around, she�ll fill it up for you. Might be some good shots in there, probably should sort through them and post a few Maybe tonight.

Monday was spent on more domestic stuff. Gardens, father in law, smoked a pork loin. Also took my bike out for a little spin in the afternoon. Had a destination in mind, a local college (Roberts Wesleyan). I had a water bottle full of ice, thought I was set. Headed out, basically running south west, turned north for a bit, then curled back east. Passed the college at the 7.5 mile mark. Oops. Didn�t think it was quite that far. Ended up doing 14.4 miles in 55 minutes, averaging around 15.5 mph. My ass was SO sore. What ever muscles link the glutes to the hamstrings took a pounding. Didn�t know there was anything there. Now I might have to go learn the name of it. It�s definitely south of the glutes and north of the hammies, kinda right where it transitions from butt to leg. I had no idea! It�s all better today, two days later, but I might go for a slightly more conservative ride next time.

Tuesday was a total relaxation day. Smoked a turkey for dinner (yes, it takes really big rolling papers) and did zippo. Helped that the weather here was kinda dicey for the majority of the day. Kids went downtown to watch the fireworks, Cindy & I opted to stay home and avoid the traffic. Also had to run her dad back to his senior living community after diner � and we got a late rain shower � only an hour or so before fireworks. Kinda sucks when you can�t really sit anywhere.

Speaking of Cindy � with the possible exception of Friday night (I can�t really recall), she was sober the entire weekend � including Sunday when I might have had an extra beer or three. We had all good beer though � Dogfish Head Ale, Guinness, Saranac. Tried to stick to the really, really dark stuff � even had a black & tan done with some poor lager that had a Guinness poured on top of it. That�s something else about my SIL � if she decides it�s a drinking day you never get a chance to empty your glass � she�s always filling it back up. Can make for some really raucous evenings � I�m just glad they�re few & far between.

Anyhow � only day Cindy drank was Sunday, but she stuck to wine and very little of that. She has a tendency to do that in public though, saving all her serious drinking for at home. But she didn�t this weekend. Might have to mention that in passing to her tonight � that I noticed it at least. Think I�ll stop there though � don�t want to leave things open for any sarcasm or snide remarks. It�ll ruin the moment. Don�t want to read a whole lot into this, but maybe a little recognition & subtle encouragement couldn�t hurt.

Of course, she could be blotto when I get home tonight and just put things back to normal in a heartbeat. Glad we already decided what was for dinner.

Oh � expecting 2 things today � a little MP3 player I got with a gift certificate from work, and a 1GB memory card for my camera. Both were shipped last week and due to arrive today. New toys!!

Think we lost a couple of fish recently too. Looks like two Golden Orfe are missing. Have only seen a single Orfe for the last day or so. They usually hang out together and drag race each other. They are by far the fastest fish in the pond. But since Monday evening I�ve only seen one single Orfe � cruising around looking rather lost. Of course, the water is murky, partly due to all the rain we�ve had lately, but still, I watched the pond a lot yesterday and saw just the one. All the other fish appear to be present � so far. Hope we don�t have a heron or raccoon stopping in for sushi. Either would be rather tough to eliminate. Woodchucks are easy � but raccoons & big freakin birds? Whole �nother story.

Better run.

Updated stats:
Weight start: 206.5 on 1/1/06 (265.0 on 1/15/05)
Current weight 186.75 on 7/1/06 (f*&%in oreo�s)
Target: 180 by 7/1/06

New target � 8/22/06 to be at 180 (my 2 year quit anniversary)

The Keep on Truckin goal: (idea stolen shamelessly from Marn�s Big Adventure)
Miles at speed 7/5/06: 517.90
Miles with cooldown: 569.54
Target for 2006: 1000 miles

Weighdown Stats

VICTIM	NET LOSS	TARGET	WEEKS TO GO	% OF GOAL
Brian	7.0	14	0	50.0
Sport	5	8	0	62.5
alison	7.0	8	1	87.5

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