Breaks Over
2006-10-24, 5:03 p.m.

Day 791 Break�s Over for a Bit

Oy! Been a while. Crazy busy at work. Trying to bring a new board up (power PC, FPGA, gobs of memory, motor controllers, all kinds of crap). The last week has been rather like peeling an onion. The deeper you peel, the more you cry. Finding some alarming stuff wrong in purchased support packages. Makes it hard to trouble shoot our stuff when the tools we buy are wonky.

Man, it�s been forever since I updated. Bowled last week. Did fine. Raised the average a bunch. Team got smoked, again. We�re just hitting other teams when they�re hot � plus we�re giving up a ton in handicap. We have all 4 of us averaging 200+ (and then some), many other teams have only one guy over 200, and some have averages down into the 170�s. We started last week down 90 pins a game. That�s a lot of ground to make up. Screw �em. I�ll just have to start striking more.

On other fronts � I think that in spite of regular attendance at Al Anon, I�m slipping in trying to modify my own behavior. Noticed it when I read just a little tiny piece of my last entry. Saw something about snooping around, trying to find the latest stashed bottle � then noting consumption rates. Caught myself doing it last night too. Checking for stash that is. Found it too. Bad, I know. But now Jill is doing it too. Jill even noticed that one day last week, Cindy was working two drinks. Had one out in the garage, handy for her smoke breaks, then had another hiding behind a lamp in the family room. I was busy doing something and never noticed, save for the fact that I noticed Cindy was pretty well trashed by dinner time, again.

Hmmmm � got a phone call from non other than Serena last week. I was in a temporary lull at work, so felt perfectly fine about doing a little catching up. After all, my computer was getting lots of work done while I was watching it. (Compiling, simulating, busy, computer kind of work) Unfortunately, a project lead stopped by, looking for a progress report. Sad to say, Serena and I had to curtail the catching up. So Serena, if you�re reading � I will call you back and finish that catching up. Then we must make plans for another night on the town � before #1 son graduates in December.

Been almost 2 weeks since I told Cindy I�ve been going to Al Anon meetings. Not much has changed except her willingness to drink in front of me. I don�t see any evidence that she�s even considering trying to dry out. All I see is denial and transferal. She either believes she doesn�t have a problem, or if she does, it�s everybody�s fault but hers. Reason enough for me to go to tonight�s meeting. I really need to learn more about not obsessing over this. It�s not like being obsessive/compulsive, but it is occupying far too much of my time � all the fretting, the needless searching for the stash, constantly assessing her current state (hungover, tipsy or shit-faced) (see � I did it again with the constantly thinking about it). I must go chastise myself. Later maybe.

Most states require annual inspection of ones motor vehicle, Florida being one notable exception. This provides an opportunity to insure that brakes are adequate, and all the other safety features are in tip-top working condition. Now, here in NY they even check your computer codes for emission related problems. But. Did you know that you could fail an inspection because one of your license plate lamps is burned out? I learned that this weekend. Now, I re-did the rear brakes and put new tires on the front expecting that each of those would be an inspection failure waiting to happen. But the license plate lamps? Came outta the blue. Now I�ve plunked down hundreds for the brakes & tires and $21 for the initial inspection, but that pesky little $1.25 lamp will cost me an additional $10 to get re-inspected. $10 and another 45 minutes sitting on my ass in the �Instant Inspection� waiting room. Hope there�s a tough crossword puzzle that day. It would suck if it was one of those that you can knock off in 10 minutes, in pen. Wish that were my biggest problem these days.

Anybody have a set of hip waders I can borrow? Time to sink the water lilies to the bottom of the pond for their winter storage. Have a few cinder blocks to move out of the way (holding up a lily in the center of the pond) and I�m sure the water is waaaaaayyy colder than anything I want to get into. Trying to think of ways to move the cinder blocks that don�t involve me getting into 3 foot deep, 45 degree water, but the risk of ripping the liner is nuking anything I�ve thought of so far. Looks like we�ll have to put the boys at risk and go swimming this weekend. Maybe a garden hoe would work. Hmmmm.

Think it�s time to give up on the bike riding for the season. Outdoors at least. Getting really cold up here and I hate the thought of riding in long pants and/or sweatshirts. I�m also not a big fan of doing any exceptionally heavy breathing in really cold air � seems like an invitation for foreign bugs to take up residence. Can�t be having that.

Indoor workouts are going well, if a bit, hmmmm, irregular. Don�t always get to the gym as early as I�d like, so many mornings I forego the weight work and head out after only completing the cardio work. The cardio is what burns up the calories, so to me that�s more important. Besides, I don�t want to turn myself into some sort of Aahnold or Incredible Hulk. Not that there�s any worries about that happening anytime soon.

One thing I maybe learned � It�s important that I do a rousing lower body workout (leg presses, quad extensions, hammie curls especially) on bowling days. Keeps my foot work slower at bowling and helps to slow down my shot. Skipped weights one Thursday and kept throwing the ball too damn hard. Never got enough hook on it � consistently threw it through the break point and it kept coming in late & light. Then you make other adjustments that only make things worse � and result in a game with 5 freakin splits (like 2 weeks ago) Last week � got in a really nice hard leg workout and bowled pretty well.

Well � just got an updated grocery shopping list. Gotta get goodies for a chicken fajita style dish. Makes a gumbo sorta concoction that we ladle over rotini noodles, but has a Tex/Mex flavor to it.

I�m curious about how this evening will go. I�m headed to my Al Anon meeting regardless. Cindy�s reaction will be what ever it will be. Maybe someday she�ll figure out I�m serious about this stuff and quit lying to herself. Maybe.

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: 842.90 (on target so far)
Miles with cool down: 927.09
Target for 2006: 1000 miles
Plus 183 miles biking so far. Think outdoor biking is done for the season. Too cold.

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