Washer and Drier!

And so, on the eve of the day that I had resolutely decided to go out and finally get a roll of quarters - the heavens parted. and out popped a free, full sized, new-to-us, stand alone washer and drier set. From a guy who only lives one floor down in our same building! how crazy is that. yeah for craigslist! Considering that I was on my last ironed dress shirt, last pair of clean undergarments, and while there was still a pile of socks in a box that I moved in with .... I don't think that any pairs currently exist therein.

Basically, this is tho best thing that could possibly have happened to my in terms of general room cleanliness, incentive to do laundry, and ability to follow through on the motivation for Bounty-ful fresh, warm-straight-from-the-drier clothes. Because, the bathroom is right next to my room (bathroom is huge) and the wash/dry were put there (b/c of the hugeness of the bathroomness). hence .... no more excuses. laundry will be vanquished.

I usually like to wait until I have either an all white load, or a load of mixed racial background, before sending it down the dirt gantlet. but the amount of room on my floor that this will free up is awe inspiring.

I, of course, won the debate over who would get to do the first load(s) of laundry. my simple technique of subterfuge was taken exactly as planned. I offered it to whomever would like to do laundry first. Jim accepted the bait. and I congratulated him on his choice to go first. that way, if the person getting rid of the washer had just done a load of carpets, or dirty sneakers, or whatever you put into a washer for the last run when you know you'll never see it again, HE would get to find out for the rest of the apartment on HIS first load. subsequently, I got to do the first three loads through our new laundry facility! :) hurray for seeds of doubt.

on another note - 46 netters are going out to lacal businesses and restaurants today, asking for donations ... think good thoughts about them wanting to help out and donate, and send me food at drop points along the trip so that I eat more than just peanut butter!

security envelopes: $1.79
postage stamps: $18.86
addressing/folding: 3 hours
one good donation: priceless

$1,000.00

This week.

I will raise $1000.00 towards Bike and Build.

I need to in order to get my bike ordered and start training on it. Please help me in any way possible - through donations, letters, grants, or letting me know of people that I should contact to ask for funds!!

thank you!

Waterfall Pics.

Hey - got some of the pics of my waterfall edited. The color ones are pretty darn blue - but there was no sun out yet that morning, and it's ice ... so that makes sense. Personally, the black and white ones I like the tone change a little better ... but I leave that to you!

Enjoy!

waterfall

btw - some of you may know this waterfall and think that it's not just mine, but a common waterfall known as Pikes Falls.

nope. mine. but thanks for checking.

Frigid.

in case you were thinking about coming up to the lovely winter wonderland that is the outer Burlington/Shelbourne limits, and visit for a spell to walk around and watch the sunset over the lake with your significant other while sipping from a warm cup of hot chocolate or huddling around a bowl of New England clam chowder made fresh from the Bay Market - think again.

that may sound great, but it's too cold.

and windy.

it was 10 degrees out the other day, with the sun shining, and an 18 degree wind chill, measured from the airport station ... which is not near the lake. The inside of my nose froze. the knuckles of my hands inside my jacket with gloves on started drying out and freezing. not fun.

pretty. maybe.
frigid. definitely.
outside. foolish.

Food in The Woods.

always tastes a little better if you have to hike out, build a fire, sharpen sticks to cook it on, and then eat it still sizzling with steam shooting out of your mouth. Landgrove - several pounds of chipotle marinated pork cubes, sechuan barbecue beef cubes, and lime garlic chicken cubes were skewered, roasted, and consumed with delight - after a peaceful drive out to the middle of nowhere, a nice hike up to the top of the hill, and a fire that somehow made enough smoke to incapacitate everyone on each side of the pit.

delicious.

oh yeah - and there was a loaf of bread and sharp cheddar cheese. grilled cheese sandwiches were attempted with the roasting sticks ... but with little real victory. perhaps on the next trip! corn on the cob would have been delicious as well ... mmmm. and a longer hike.

yes. vermont winter is lovely - but it could stand to be a little bit warmer in the finger area.

Obscene.

I have apparently become obsessed with Tetrical. I can easily get over 7000 without much considerable effort ... and if I get a really amazing high score (like double my last one) then I may post it ... just because I keep playing ... but otherwise, just know that I have become a zombie for 3D tetris. who would have thought. the controls are intuitive, the concept easily understood, the lack of a camera rotation angle is slightly hindersome - but could be distracting to a novice player - so I understand the choice to not include et.
anyway. got to get back in. messed up at 8000 and was heading for a potential new high. wish me luck!

.......... oh yeah ..... and I just ate a pint of Vermonty Python ..... so much for eating along a training schedule.

Eating.

I think the hardest part of training to remember is the eating.

You've got a schedule for working out, know what vitamins to eat, can even work out at night or do a harder workout if you miss one. But what if you forget to eat all day? I mean ... I bring food with me, power bars, drinks, etc. The intent is there ... but then I get caught up in the day, or what I'm currently doing, or playing on the computer and don't want to have food on it, etc. and half the day may go by before I remember that I haven't eaten.

Even the little zone bars and a bottle of electrolyte water. no go. forgotten. perhaps I need a slightly better day schedule that includes food times. but eating takes so much time!!

no real revelations here. just saying. eating takes a lot of time. and I forget about it. but apparently it's a big part of training. so somehow I have to get that part together! just eating at night doesn't cut it.

update.

tetrical : 4060.


* re update : 7396.

Umm .... Cold.

The weather channel says that it's 22 degrees out and 'feels like 10'.

no. it's worse.

it feels much colder when you have decided that today is just as good a day as any to get back outside on the bike and really start getting in shape for Bike and Build. because - hey - why not - it's sunny and nice and the air feels crisp and enjoyable - and you've got an a thermal and tweed jacket and long pants and it wasn't that cold walking to work this morning.

no. it's cold.

I had to stop at Brooks, which may or may not have recently been bought up by Rite Aide - but I refuse to call it that, because for at least the 6 years that I have been living in Burlington, it has been a Brooks - and I can't let that piece of nostalgia get left behind in this sweep of corporate franchise bulldozing. Hence - if I ever give you directions to turn at the Brooks - just turn at the Rite Aide. Because it's only a Brooks in my heart now. Anyways. Stopped at the Brooks to get a second pair of gloves (which - incidentally makes sense - because there are two gloves in a pair, whereas a pair of pants - there is only one pant. sure - there are two legs - but would you ever where one leg without the other? no. you'd look very short-bus if you did - so why the pair?hmm?) and a hat ... yeah ... went out without a hat. I know. but it looked so sunny. ...and I couldn't find my hat. the truth comes out. my room in an inconsolable mess right now ... and an earwarmer layer because those seem to get cold all the time no matter what.

yeah. cold biking.

so I did a nice mild 6 mile loop, just to test things out, do some sharp uphill sections, a little flat biking, but really - nothing even felt stretched out except that my throat hurt from the cold more than anything, and the bike needs a serious professional tune-up. and probably a new bottom bracket. so I have to make some new bike shop friends and see what I can do for parts. fun fun. and where did my studded winter tires go?? geez. falling apart here.

no. not literally.

and in the meantime I am going to go make and eat delicious chinese food over at Pete's place on Spear street! dumprings anyone?

Tetrical ...

2 hours later.

high score so far : 1814.

TETRICAL

ridiculous.

Mushrooms.

Are somehow delicious.

I can't stop eating them.

I bought a bag of fresh picked white button mushrooms yesterday ... and by bag, I mean 2.5 pounds of succulent, pale, large capped, expectant fungi - and have devoured easily half the bag already. They're like potato chips ... except not made with oil, not fried or baked, not potato, not salty, not crunchy, not grown below the soil, not mass produced in little snack bags, and definitely not good with salsa ... so perhaps not at all like potato chips. But I eat them in prodigious handfuls nonetheless!

As I bite in, the flavors of the rich earth and supple hints of mold rise up to my waiting palate - a thin layer of mushroom pulp envelopes my tongue with a cool, refreshing, bitterness that strikes an oaky chord - as I finish the bite, and reach for another, there is a clean, yet soft aftertaste, like the tiny droplets of water on fresh green grass in a spring field overlooked by apple trees and willows over a garrulous stream after a mild rain.

yes.

mushrooms.

I have a 6 pound bag full of every kind of chocolate snack that Hershey, Nestle, and M&M make sitting next to me (Costco business expense thanks to Kaplan ... 'student incentives') and I am instead munching contentedly on the spore bearing fruiting body of a fungus.

it has indeed come to this.

Aaaaaaaand We're Back ...

First of all.

Thank you to everyone that actually looks at this amalgamation of text that I try to pass off as intelligent ramblings. With rarity - I may even spout something worth commenting on!

There has been a bout of silence - or rather blankness - even lackness - on this site, because I have been lazy. Hopefully no more. In the meantime - I will NOT attempt to update everyone yet on what has occurred recently in my life. Instead, I will leave you with a series of images that I found on cards in an antique shop in Texas. Yes. Austin. Which explains why they're actually funny - and not something about the war or being american and proud.

enjoy.

Austin Cards