What Recession?

A picture from Macy's on Black Friday...

Day at the beach

Just another day at the beach!

Grandma's House

We love being pampered at Grandma's house...

Long day

Today was a very long day. It started at 5:30 am for our last Team in
Training long run of the Fall season in Fremont.

The run took quite some time and we had some delays as well. After
lunch, I headed home for a quick shower and then headed out for my
long drive.

I'm now in Orange County at my parents' house. They are on a cruise
for a few more days, so the house is empty.

I'm headed down to San Diego tomorrow so this should be my only night
here alone... Good thing too because it's kinda spooky to be here alone!

Working from Home

I've decided to work from home (my parents' home) next week. Not much is going on at work, so I'll drive down to my parents' house this weekend and stay there for the holiday week. I assume that's ok with my boss since he's still out recovering from knee surgery. And since I was left in charge, I say it's fine. =)

It's difficult to be in charge and also be on strike at the same time. I hear there may be a big layoff in a couple of weeks, so if I still have a job after that, I'll start working again.

Quietly on Strike

I've had a lot of free time at work recently. Why? Because I'm quietly on strike until a few things change. Until those changes happen, I'm refusing to travel and not doing any "real" work. Of course, for this plan to work, I need someone to notice that I'm not doing anything other than surfing the internet all day. No one has noticed yet...

Inaguration

I've decided to be in DC for the inaguration... I just booked tickets today using miles. I know you all think I'm nuts. I am. It will be crazy, but something tells me it's going to be memorable.

Wash My House

Does anyone think it's strange that I want to wash the outside of my house? There is all this dirt on the windows and the walls. I assume it is because of the new construction. When it rained, all of that dirt became more visible.

I guess I don't care if anyone thinks it's strange. I'm going to attempt to rinse the dirt off the outside of my house...

Nice Ride in Solvang

The 100-mile ride this weekend started early. We left the hotel around 6:40AM and rode ~4 miles to the starting line. Once there, we headed out onto the course.

The first 20 miles were pretty uneventful. There were lots of rolling hills and somewhere around mile 16, my lower back started tightening up. This "ache" is typical for me, but not usually this early. I stretched and kept riding.

I tried to enjoy the cool morning as much as possible and kept my nutrition up. I knew it was going to get warm later in the day, so I prepared. Around mile-40, the route passed by our hotel. Too early to head back to the hotel even though my lower back was hurting.

By this point, it was warming up, probably low 80s already and I was barely 1/2 way done. The hills kept coming and it seemed like very little of the ride was really flat. Even roads that appeared flat were not.

At the 2nd waterstop (57 miles into the ride), I stretched, refilled my supplies and headed off. What I forgot to do was eat and drink. It was hot by this point (low 90s?) and I just didn't feel like eating or drinking anything. I went at least 30 minutes without anything and when it was time to start climbing again (a big climb this time), I had nothing in the tank. I felt horrible and even considered turning around and riding back to the hotel. I just couldn't make my legs go up that hill. It didn't help that I was under-trained and by mile 65, my training had run out...

I decided it was time to stop and regroup. Once I cooled off a little, I was able to take in some food and water. About 5 minutes later, I was back on my bike and headed up the hill. I still felt really weak, but slow was better than stopped.

At the top of the hill, there was a waterstop with ice. I added this to my water bottles and it helped cool my core temperature. I took a couple of salt tablets at this point too. Once back on my bike, the downhill let my body rest and the nutrition kicked in. I was feeling much better. Tired, but much better.

The last big climb of the day was at mile 82. I took it slow and let myself take a break every mile on the climb. After the "summit" was very bumpy and painful downhill. I thought my arms would shake loose since it was so bumpy and my hands were clamped onto the brakes the entire time. Not the great downhill I was looking forward to. At mile 90, the road smoothed out and it was slightly downhill, so I was able to get in my aero bars and ride fast. I was riding around 28mph and it was awesome. I think that was my favorite part of the ride.

At mile 100 of my ride, I decided to skip the finish line and turn into the hotel. I would have made the 4 miles to the finish and then again back to the hotel, but my goal was to get in 100 miles and I was finished!

The ride took 7hrs 30mins total and 7 hours of that was actual ride time. Max speed was 46mph. No one knows for sure how much climbing there was. Anywhere from 4200 feet of climbing to 6500 feet depending on who you ask. It registered 95 degrees on my friend's bike computer and many folks didn't finish because the conditions were so rough. If it hadn't been for some salt tablets and ice at mile 70, I'm not sure I would have finished either.

All in all, it was a great ride and fun to be out there. Now it's time to focus on my upcoming 20-mile run this weekend and marathon in 3 weeks.

High Security

This is the security lock on the hotel door in Solvang. It was a Best
Western and at least it was clean.

We were on the 1st floor and it sounded like there was an elephant in
the room above us. Whoever was up there stomped around a lot. Sigh.

Solvang Century

Well, this weekend is my century ride with TNT. That's 100 miles on my bike down in Solvang. Of course, I haven't done enough long rides and I'm a lot undertrained for a 100 mile bike ride, but I'm sure I'll be fine.

I'm gone for the weekend, so I'll update you on Monday how the ride went. Even if the ride isn't great, we are going wine tasting on Sunday, so that will make everything better.

F for Parking

I've been wanting to get stickers printed up with "You get an F for parking" on them. Then, I could go around stick them to people's windshields that I feel deserve an "F" for their parking skills. They would have to be double-sided so people in the car could read it as well as people outside.

Just yesterday, there were at least 6 people I would have given "F"s to on their parking skills. Seriously people, just try to park between the lines. If you can't see the white line when you get out of your car, you need to re-park your car.

And no, it doesn't matter that you parked like an idiot because the person next to you did it first!

Random Craving

I have the most random craving for gummy bears or gummy worms. Yesterday it was a craving for mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joes. I managed to resist that craving, but not sure about today. I'll do my best though.

I guess running 20 miles will cause some strange cravings.

Summer in November?

It is supposed to be in the 80s here this weekend! I'm confused by the
weather since it is supposed to be fall.

I am headed to Solvang this weekend for a century ride (yes, 100
miles) and didn't really expect it to be 80 degrees. I suppose it's
better than rain.

In Charge

My boss is out for the next 3 weeks, having ACL surgery. And, he put me in charge while he's gone. That's not as glamorous as it sounds... especially since I had planned to take lots of days off while he was out of the office. So much for that. Now I have to be here, or at least pretend to be here for most of the day.

Running "Food"

I ran 20 miles today down in Monterey. During the run, I was eating the usual running food, GU. Basically a gel with easy to digest calories.

Today, I was introduced to the Power Bar Gel Blasts and they are awesome! They are gummy pieces with a bit of cola flavor in the middle. They taste like gummy cola bottles and I love cola bottles! It's like a little treat while running.

Best of all, they have a bunch of caffeine in them! It made my run much better.

Everything is on the internet

Have you ever typed some really random question or topic into a search on the internet? It's amazing to me that everything is on the internet. I mean EVERYTHING.

When discussing the silly commercial that said eggs would have to come from Mexico (advertisement against one of the propositions this election), my friend asked what sound does a chicken make in Mexico.

So, I typed the question into Google and hit search... And there were multiple answers to this. This is the best one I found...

In Spanish they say El Gallo ( the cock) says, "Quirri, quiri, quiri,quiri" La Galina (the hen) says "car-ra,ca-ra, ca-ra,ca-ra" and Los Poluellos (the chicks} say, "Pio! Pio! Pio! Pi!"

I've decided the internet is a clear sign that we all have WAAAAYY too much time on our hands...

Swimming

Last night, I swam laps for the first time in over a year. Yes, I did have a few pool and beach days in Malaysia, but never did any real swimming.

The good news: I didn't drown... sad when this is the good news about swimming.

The bad news is that I'm back to swimming like a brick.

I managed to trudge through 1500 yards, so my fitness isn't horrible. I'm sure I'll get faster and more efficient quickly, but that will mean a lot of time in the water.

Free Coffee for all...

Yesterday, Starbucks was giving a free coffee to anyone who says they voted. Ben and Jerry's was giving out a free scoop of ice cream and Krispy Kreme was giving out a free donut.

Then someone pointed out that giving something in exchange for votes might be against election policies... so they had to give coffee, ice cream, and donuts to everyone... no matter if they voted or not.

Seriously, if a free coffee, ice cream, or donut is going to change whether you vote or not, that's really sad.

Now that the election is over, all the commercials can stop. And I can start on my new campaign... to split the bay area into a separate state from the rest of California.

OK, I promise, that's the end of the political posts...

Republican or Democrat?

Don't worry, this isn't going to be a political post. I won't even mention who or what I voted for. But make sure you get out to vote today.

I remember going with my dad to KMART one day when I was young. There was a guy outside of KMART that wanted to register my dad to vote. He started down the list of questions needed to register someone to vote... name, address, etc, etc.

Then he asked my dad, "Are you a Republican or a Democrat?" I vividly remember my dad pausing for a second, then replying "I'm a Republican because I'm from the Republic of China."

To this day, I'm not sure if my dad was joking or not... But, that was my first vivid memory of politics. And every time I am asked if I am a Republican or Democrat, I remember my dad's answer.

I'm sure everyone who reads this blog has already voted, but for those of you who haven't yet, please get out and vote, no matter who or what you vote for.

Mud

Apparently fall is here. I've had a nice even coat of dirt on my car for months now... then it rained... and turned the dirt into mud.