Moving towards a better place

I'm working on re-organizing my home, starting with the pantry. I did it this morning, mainly because I was high on 2 cups of coffee, and I also wanted to do something to surprise my house-mate, the Bohemian Wordsmith. Plus I wanted room for art supplies in the dining area, so we can be all artistic and stuff whenever we have a non-writing creative spasm.

There's so much work that needs to be done in this place, most of it in my office and bedroom. But the pantry is easier; fewer decisions to make about what to keep and what to toss. Still, it was hard parting with the random pieces of plastic storage containers that I've had since the '90s. You never know when 10 lids that fit no containers might come in handy!

So now instead, I'll probably have a bunch of malformed beads and earrings made out of polymer clay.

But I'll have a blast doing it, so what the hell!

I'm still moving

But haven't been blogging about it. I have been exercising off and on, and in the warmer months, riding my bicycle, which I love. Go, endorphins!

Still, for me the problem isn't enjoying myself when I'm moving, but in getting going. That's still a huge effort. My butt has a lot of inertia, by mass, so it's tough to get it into gear.

I read a blog post somewhere about willpower vs. willingness. The main idea was that you shouldn't think of getting going as requiring willpower, but instead just be willing to commit yourself to your goal. If you focus on the goal, it should be motivating you to get moving.

The trick is to really understand your goal and your reasons for wanting to reach it. That seems like a lot of effort sometimes, but I think it gets easier every time you do it, if you do it consistently.

Just like riding a bike.

Signs and Portents

Ok, this is a bad sign.

Today on the way to work, I passed a state trooper on the highway just as he was getting out of his car. I was already going slow, so no danger there. But I said out loud as I drove by, as if he could hear me, "Be careful, young man!"

Yikes! It's one thing when you notice that Doctors are getting younger and younger. Because they are. But when you realize that "The Man" is just a kid, that's just plain sad.

I'm too young to be middle-aged!

Well, I'll always have immaturity on my side, at least.

My Crazy Life

Well, certain people are nagging me to keep telling my Mt Washington adventures, but I'm just too tired right now.

Although, I must admit, I enjoy writing it. But at the moment my days are really fractured, busy, and crazy. I have a project at work that I'm responsible for, so that's a lot of work. Once again, a new challenge to tackle that's exciting and scary. And I have my other project. There's a lot going on there. And of course, my other other project, which I don't want to discuss here. More demands on my time.

Somethings got to give, and right now, it's this.

I'll see if I can have something up on Tuesday, one month to the day from my last post.

But you know, it took me over an hour to write that post, and some days, I'd just rather get enough sleep.

And anyone one who wants to volunteer to come and cook, organize and clean my office, take care of my car registration and bills (I'll pay, you write the checks), do my landry, and be Eagle Toastmaster's VP of Education, just let me know.

Operators are standing by.

The assault on Mt. Washington: Day the First, Part I, with Haiku

The title alone speaks volumes, I think. A blog post might be superfluous. But here goes, anyway.

The Excuse

It was not the best day for a hike. It had been raining on and off the day before. The forecast was for some rain in the morning, and then partly cloudy.

Bah, humbug. They ought to call them whether forecasts, instead of weather forecasts, as in “We’re giving you this forecast, whether or not it’s right!”

It rained, then stopped, then rained again and more or less kept it up. I kept expecting it to stop anytime, and turn partly cloudy. No such luck.

Cruel crag teases.
Rain starts, stops, then starts again.
Wet pack weighs me down.

The hike begins

Tonto The Cockney Sparrow and I set out on Sunday morning. I was determined to be on the mountain by 8 am.

Well, that’s when we left the condos, actually. Then, with getting there, getting the parking permit, getting the backpacks optimized and balanced, and getting one final official restroom break before the Lake of the Clouds Hut, we weren’t on the Ammonoosuc until 9ish.

That meant that we’d have less than 8 hours to make it to the top. Piece of cake, once it stops raining!



We begin our hike.

The route of this climb to Mount Washington takes you up the steep and scenic Ammonoosuc Ravine where you'll discover a tributary brook, a Gem Pool, several waterfalls, and wildflowers. This trail will lead to a breathtaking view.

from GORP - Trails

I love the Ammonoosuc trail – it’s beautiful. I’ve hiked to Gem Pool before, so I know that. I can’t see much today, however. It’s all about my internal state on this trip: Will I make it? How does it feel? Should I wear my rain poncho? What’s with these hiking poles anyway?

The Cockney Sparrow is an excellent hiking companion. He’s being very supportive and encouraging; letting me know how far we’ve come, previewing the coming challenges (in a non-scary way), joking and chatting.

I’m having fun!

Cruel crag teases.
Up, down, up, down, up, up, up.
Wet rocks slow me down.

Well, except for that part.

Actually, up to Gem Pool, it’s more the mud than the rocks. Mud coats my pants up to my knees. The Sparrow has on his cool "technical trousers." They're the kind that have zippers around the legs, to quickly switch from shorts to long pants, and v.v. I gotta get me some of those.

But the Ammonoosuc thus far is a nice trail, much like Sleeping Giant. And even though I complain about the trail going downward from time to time, I actually don't mind, because those are mini-breaks.

I suppose the scenery is very dramatic, but I can’t see it anyway, with the rain and the mist.

Thus endeth the first part.

Mt Washington Haiku

This was written on my way to the summit:

Mean mountain teases:
up, down, up, down, up, up, up.
Wet rocks slow me down.

Still training for Mt. Washington

I've been busy training away. I'm not sure if I'm ready, but I do know I'm in better shape than I've been for a few years. I even lost 3 pounds (but they were the 3 I gained when I started slacking off a few months ago, so net=0).

I've climbed the steepest part of the blue trail twice - once in 1.5 hrs, the second time in a little over 1 hr. I felt like crap both times.

I've done stairs -- once I wanted to see how many I could do in 20 minutes, and came up with 36 round trips (only because I wanted to at least do half as well as the Cockney Sparrow's 72 times in 20 minute).

The next time I took a leisurely 1/2 hour and did 45 round trips.

No ill effects afterwards either time, except for feeling a little wembly in the knees for an hour or so.

I've been going to Curves twice a week. I think I'm going to start doing 3 circuits instead of 2 if I can only make it there twice. I have amazed the ladies with my attack on the "thigh-buster." I went from 8 wimpy reps to 11 power reps.

This machine is one where what looks like the Canada arm of the space shuttle is resting on your shoulders (with pads) and you're supposed to squat down and then come up, while the entire weight of the space shuttle is pushing back at you.

They do give you handles on the arm to help stabilize you, thank god.

Actually it's just some hydraulic thingy, so if you come up slowly, it's not as much pressure.

A lot of women at Curves don't squat far, and then come up slowly. I did likewise until Mt. Wash lit a fire under my butt. Now I squat so that my thighs are parallel to the floor and then push up as hard and fast as I can. 11 times in 30 seconds.

Then I recuperate at the next station, where you jog, walk, whatever on a mat. I think it's done me good.

We'll see, I guess.