August 2008 Archives

Today is the third day in a row that I will have biked to work and biked home from work. Woohoo!!! I feel like my legs aren't as jiggly as the were before. I know that they are still jiggly, but I do feel like I am making some progress. I think that this weekend I will try to do some pilates to start toning my stomach area. I can't believe that I have made it three days in a row! My ass still hurts a bit though. The bike trail along West River Road is very bumpy and I still feel every bump. Taka starts work again on Monday. It kind of sucked because they denied him unemployment. Apparently because he worked for an educational institution he is supposed to be out of work during the summer months. They also said that he was not significantly worse off then he was last year. So losing one quarter of your income per year is not a significant problem. Morons. Nice to see my tax dollars hard at work. Needless to say, by being fairly invisible this summer, we were able to make it through the summer without incurring significant credit card debt. My paychecks took care of most of our expenses. When we start getting paychecks for Taka it will be really nice. Maybe we will be able to add to our savings account. The ride is between 15-16 miles per day. Hey, I biked three days in a row!

Amanda asked me if I wanted to go to a free lunch over at Northop Mall today.  I said sure, why not.  We hopped on a campus bus and got off at the mall.  Nothing there.  Then it dawned on Amanda that today was the 14th not the 21st.  Opps!  So we started walking back to work.  On our way we decided to go into Azuki, the new Japanese restaurant at Washington and Oak on campus.  They have a cute little sushi bar, but the menu has other Japanese food.  Amanda ordered the lunch special of Chicken teriyaki over rice with miso soup.  I had the Pork Katsu over rice with miso soup.  We also split an order of Gyoza.  The Gyoza was delicious.  Amanda's teriyaki was good (it had onions and some broccoli), if not pretty standard.  Pork Katsu is a breaded and fried pork cutlet.  They filled a bowl with seasoned rice topped by mushrooms, fried onions, bok choy, the pork cutlet, then they made a sweetened omlet that was poured over the entire dish.  It was really good.  I even ate the mushrooms and bok choy (which if you know me, that is an accomplishment).  I was only able to finish half of the bowl.  The rest will be lunch tomorrow.

I was able to bike all the way home last night.  Taka again met me on the way.  He was impressed when I beat him up the last hill.  I was really pushing it at the end.  We biked together part of the way in this morning.  I hope that at some point in time this starts to get easier.

I biked in this morning.  It was raining yesterday and I didn't feel like doing an impression of a mud puddle.  Today I made it in 41 minutes.  I think that it is mostly a downhill ride on the way in because I tried to bike as fast as I could (without making myself sick) and I felt fine a little while after getting to work.  I was slightly winded and really sweaty, but not too bad all things considered.  I am going to time myself on my way home tonight because I think that my time will be slower.

I don't normally pay that much attention to the Olympics, but I couldn't help watching Michael Phelps over the last few days.  The 800-relay last night was incredible to watch.  Also saw some of the gymnastics team event.  Some of that is a bit insane.  This morning I got distracted when Taka turned on the TV and Cuba was playing against China in volleyball.  Cuba battled back to tie the match at 2 sets apiece.  I couldn't stay to see the fifth set, but I bet it was incredible.  I haven't looked up the results, not sure if I want to know.  I will probably ask Taka because he probably watched it.  Tonight I have to make sure that I don't stay up too late.  I am a bit tired right now.  Hopefully it will stay cloudy for my bike ride home, but not rain on me.

It was raining this morning.  I decided that I didn't want to bike in the rain.  So far this summer we haven't gotten as much done as we would have liked but we have gotten some stuff done.  Taka starts work again next Monday.  It is hard to believe that it is 3 weeks until school starts again.  The one thing that Taka and I did do over summer was to watch a lot of TV.  Taka checked a lot of stuff out of the library.  We have been watching some Six Feet Under, The Wire, Battlestar Galactica, Ghost in the Shell SAC, Bleach, Full Metal Alchemist, Neverwhere, Burn Notice, Eureka, and Doctor Who.  Those are the shows that I can think of off the top of my head.  Of course there were movies in there as well but I don't feel like thinking that hard.  Full Metal Alchemist was incredible and the Movie was just as good.

Oh, I did finally see Howl's Moving Castle.  I really liked it.

Burn Notice is fun.  The Wire is really good as well.  And I have to say that season three of Doctor Who was incredible.  In particular the episodes Human Nature, The Family of Blood, and Blink were amazing.  Of those three Blink was the best.  I want to see it again.

 

If you haven't seen the movie The Mist, don't waste your time unless you REALLY have nothing better to do.

 

We still have quite a bit of TV to watch in order to get caught up with all the shows that we want to see.

Today was scrubbing and watching Olympics.  I am going to feel it tomorrow.  Taka started assembly of the new furnace.  Yeah!

Today we had a later start time for our Sunday sailboat race.  Taka did some minor work on the car before we headed over.  We got stuck in traffic on West 394.  We got to the club and looked on the dock for the Potato, but it was no where to be seen.  Taka spotted them a ways out into the bay.  I guess we missed the boat.  Well we got to come home and I worked on the garden for a while.  We have 6 confirmed ears of corn, 18 potential cantaloupes, many cucumbers, several peppers, some roma tomatoes, and tons of cherry tomatoes.  It is so exciting.  I need to take some photos of the garden and perennial beds.

As I was biking home last night I got a nice surprise.  Taka had biked partway in to meet up with me so that we could finish the bike ride together.  After I had showered, we headed up to my Dad's house where we were meeting up with my Dad and brother to play cards and watch the opening ceremonies.  We always play pinochle.  It is usually me and my brother against Dad and Taka.  Tom and I usually lose miserably to Taka and Dad, but last night we were on a roll.  We dominated!  Woohoo!!!

Today Taka and I bike to the Central library in Downtown Minneapolis.  I can't bike as fast as Taka.  Maybe in a month, but not right now.  Needless to say I was a bit winded from that bike ride.

I biked in today.  YEAH!!!  It took me 45 minutes to go just under 8 miles.  Not too bad for my first time biking to work.  Last week I had brought showering supplies in to work so that I could take a shower after biking in.  This morning I packed a few more things, grabbed some clothes to wear after my shower, and then headed in.  I was sweaty, but I felt pretty good overall.  Here's the kicker, I forgot to bring a bra in to wear after my shower, because there was no way I was going to wear the sweaty sports bra that I biked in.  Opps : )  Now I get to look forward to a bike ride home.

Today they are painting the kitchen at my work.  Amanda and I got to choose the color.  We chose a light purple.  Actually it looked grey with a bit of purple in it.  It turns out that the color is a bit purpler than we thought it was going to be.  It looks good overall.  I was talking to the painters and told them that I wanted to go home and paint my house.  Maybe, someday...

After biking 45 miles on Saturday, it seemed kind of pathetic that I couldn't bike the 7.75 miles home from work.  Of course biking to work and back means biking up some hills, which were lacking on the mostly flat 45 mile ride.  Also as I was biking up Plymouth Avenue there was a strong head wind.  I guess I need more practice.

Today Taka drove me into work with his bike on the car.  He is returning some of the parts we got for the bike rack that we didn't need to use.  I will be biking home after work tonight.

I am so sore today.  I really wanted to bike in, but I am glad that I didn't.  For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why my back hurt.  It really hurts.  I finally figured it out.  The ATV ride.  I was getting bounced around so much.  Ouch!

Last night there was much food, and much alcohol.  It was funny how hungry I was after the bike ride.  I ate almost half a pizza and 2 granola bars.  As for the alcohol, Kelly made a very tasty brandy slushy.  Unfortunately I was worn out by the bike ride and fell asleep before midnight.  This morning we woke up and were getting ready to leave when we were talked into going on an ATV ride.  Taka and I had played around on them the day before.  Bob lead with Chris on his, Danny and Karen were second, with Taka and I bringing up the rear.  Taka drove while I was a passenger.  We had bandanas over our noses and mouths, goggles, and helmets and I still could feel the layer of dirt build up on my face.  It was very dusty.  We drove around for a little over an hour.  It was actually quite a bit of fun.  Very bouncy.  After the ride we had a late lunch and then people started to head their separate ways.  First thing when we got home it was to take a shower.  Now we are spending the rest of the evening watching TV.  I don't think that I am going to be up very late.

Yesterday we decided that today we would go back to Sparta and ride on the State trail.  Last year we rode from Sparta to Elroy.  It was about 35 miles, but Kelly and I only made it 28.  This year we decided to ride from Sparta to La Crosse and back.  We biked, and biked, and biked.  The trail was quite flat, which was nice.  The problem was that we were biking through restored prairie, which meant that the trees were few and far between so no shade.  It was hot out.  At one of the small towns, West Salem I think, we stopped at a local bar and ordered two pizzas.  They were really good.  Then it was back to biking.  We finally made it to La Crosse then we had to turn around and go back.  On the way back I spent most of my time biking with Kelly.  We were very proud of ourselves when we finally reached the cars.  All told we biked 45 miles today.  Thankfully it was a flat trail.  I don't think that I would have made it very far if it was hilly.  It took us about 4 hours.  The worst part about it all was that about 5 miles from the end of the trail the wind really picked up, and it was blowing right at us.  But we did it!  WOOHOO!!!

Taka and I arrived at the cabin, or cabbage as they are called (because it is a garage with a living area above it), around 11:30pm.  We set up our tent quick, and then sat by the fire until 1:30am having a rum and coke.  Dave and Kelly came out while we set up the tent then went back to bed.

Today we woke up and decided to go to some local bike trails.  We drove over to the trail and it turned out to be a mountain bike trail.  It was no fun.  There was sand everywhere and I was slipping every time I hit the sand.  Most of the time, I had to walk my bike up the hill.  I was exhausted after 4 miles; I think that is about how far we went.  After that ordeal we went back to camp and I made some chicken satay for lunch.  Then we sat around waiting for Bob, his wife Kim, their kids Ben and Chris, and Danny and his wife Karen, to show up.  They showed up around 6:30pm.  We went out to eat then after dinner set up a fire and had cocktails before going to bed.