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18 Jul |
Never again!at 5:03 pm Cycling, Day to Day Life
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Well, at least not for a long while.
I typically pass on offers to ride Glendora Mountain Road (GMR) on my bike. I decline, because I know what a tough ride it is, but mostly I hate driving the 45 minutes minimum to get to the start. Plus it’s either too hot or too cold, and if you know me, that’s usually enough of a reason.
But for some reason, today I agreed to do GMR with an old bike riding buddy, who also is a lymphoma survivor. Even under those circumstances I normally have declined, but since it’s been over 4 years since my last trek up the mountain to Mt Baldy, I decided this would be a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
Well if nothing else, today certainly reminded me why I’ve avoided this ride for the past 4 years.
It’s a tough ride, made even tougher by the fact it was particularly warm today, 80°F at 9:45 AM when we hit the turn around point at Mt Baldy Village. (It was 88°F when we got back to the car 2 hours later.) Plus there was an unexpected 3.5 mile climb, in the middle of what I remembered as a section of rolling hills, after the initial 9 mile 2800 feet of climbing, which just about did me in.
Total, the ride was 51 miles, with 5400 feet of climbing, and lasted 4.5 hours [with rest stops]. It was just fortunate the return trip was a lot easier than the ride out, otherwise I don’t think I would have been able to make it back.
But, I persevered and managed to make it back with little trouble. I’ll just think long and hard before deciding to that ride again, regardless of who’s doing the asking.
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12 Jul |
Life imitating artat 9:41 pm Day to Day Life, Health Care, Off Topic
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Just like the Visa commercial depicted below, the seemingly efficiently flowing checkout line, Edie and I were standing in at our local Costco today, came to an abrupt stop, when the couple in front of us, decided they would pay cash for a $900 Visio LCD TV.
Now while these people did not appear to be criminals or otherwise trying to evade paying taxes, non the less, when someone pays cash for a TV worth $900, it sure raises suspicion with me.
It obviously raised suspicion with the Costco personnel as well, since the cashier had to call for a supervisor to approve the transaction. Not only that, but the cashier inspected each bill to ensure it wasn’t counterfeit, after which both individuals (the cashier and supervisor), counted the payment at least 3 times, to be certain of its accuracy. Then the cashier had to close his register, while the supervisor collected the cash to transfer off the floor, before reopening the register, to check out customers in what now had become a pretty substantial line.
Haven’t these people ever heard of a credit card? You get to use the banks money, at least for a little while for free, and many times you get points which can be exchanged for cash, trips and many other different things.
I just don’t understand why the government doesn’t mandate the use of debit or credit cards.
At a minimum, it would speed things along at the check out counter, do away with the underground economy, make the IRS’s job of collecting taxes much simpler, eliminate losses due to counterfeiting, and it would do away with the need for the US Mint, all of which would save the government countless billions of dollars.
It might even save the government enough money to provide health care for everyone living in the US [like in every other civilized country in the world].
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10 Jul |
And yet another bad dayat 10:56 am Day to Day Life
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I knew I should have stayed home today. Of course that wouldn’t have made any difference, but at least I wouldn’t have to make the drive home dwelling on this problem at work, and how to resolve it.
And to think I almost had the problem solved, until I realized I forgot how to properly calculate reduction of area. Plus I already reheat treated the parts once, which is what I think caused the problem in the first place, so that option is out.
And to top it all off, Becky decided to sleep in this morning!
Oh well, now I’ve really got my work cut out for me deciding what to do.
Maybe I’ll just retire.
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7 Jul |
Oh the humidity!!at 6:50 am Day to Day Life
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Although several people had commented to me over the past weekend about the humidity, it never dawned on me until this morning, why I had been feeling so sluggish lately. But when I checked the weather forecast this morning, I realized my suspicions may just be correct. [At least I hope that's the reason!]
The humidity this morning was 87%. Yesterday it was 90%. No wonder, I have been so uncomfortable, despite relatively moderate temperatures.
It’s the damn humidity!!
Now I know many of you must endure far worse conditions, and my condolences go out to you, but after 26 years in southern California, I’m just not used to that anymore. Remember, LA is a desert.
The worst part is, today I’m marshaling at the Long Beach Men’s City Championship. Fortunately it’s only supposed to get to the mid 70’s, and the humidity is supposed to drop to about 50%, but even that may be too high, out in the middle of a golf course.
Hopefully I can find a good shady spot with a nice breeze to sit.