Training Archive: barbIn the 30 days ending 2008-06-30:
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| S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Monday Jun 30 | ||
| Note | |
| My editorial published! | ||
| C • Editorial 4 | ||
| Hiking 3:01:00 [3] | |
| in banff.
meat. caff. 2 hrs. alc. fl. peop. | ||
Sunday Jun 29 | ||
| Orienteering race 3:13:50 [5] | |
| tough. geat map. hot. sorta thick. lots of bugs but they didn't bite much. technical. really nice course. a bit heat strokey after. i beat both john and dave today! long courses give me an advantage - just wait for them to get tired and err. | ||
| Note | |
| 10/17.
Counting going up the steep hills as strength training... | ||
Saturday Jun 28 | ||
| Orienteering race 1:30:21 [3]5 km (18:04 / km) | |
| wcoc middle dist courde 10. excellent map. thick but in a good way, wet at low areas, mosquitos, technical. john dislocated a finger and had to fix it. reviewed courses over beer.
notes on pts. 2 exer. fast. stretch. meat. 5 things. people. work. | ||
| Running 11:00 [2] | |
| Walking 20:00 [1] | |
Friday Jun 27 | ||
| Event: Western Canadian Orienteering Championship 2008 | ||
| Hiking 3:50:00 [2] | |
| up to bluehll fire lookout where we talked to the looker outer lady. | ||
| Walking 40:00 [1] | |
| i was really really tired. the treasure hunt was fun - we got to act out a shakespeare scene at one checkpoint. i was in heaven! shakespeare AND orienteering, all at one time! | ||
| Note | |
| notes for points. 2 exercise. 1 medit. 1 meat. 1 people. caffeine. work. | ||
Thursday Jun 26 | ||
| Note | |
Collard greens (on which we dined last night), cauliflower, peppers:
Beets in front; tomatoes behind: 
I have failed the 17-point plan the last couple of days. Yesterday I felt OK about it because the evening was devoted to a lovely get-together with Caz and Stef. Heading off to Calgary today for a week. | ||
| Bicycling 45:00 [3] | |
| to airport. late start (6:45 after dealing with some work for the new company that isn't paying me yet) so more traffic than i would like. but maybe early sunday morning is the only safe bet.
thought about how a kid i know doesn't try to figure out how to make somethibg happen bc he knows it's a lost cause. | ||
Wednesday Jun 25 | ||
| Note | |
| More garden photos.
Kohlrabi: 
Left to right in front: Horseradish, dill and jasmine.  | ||
| Note | |
| I am psyched! Dave's company is going to allow me & the kids to join his health insurance. So we are now officially Domestic Partners. He even has to sign some affadavit. | ||
| C • That is most excellent 16 | ||
| Bicycling 25:00 [1] | |
Tuesday Jun 24 | ||
| Bicycling 15:00 [1] | |
| Note | |
In mid-April, the Wednesday afternoon club kids planted tomato and lettuce and eggplant seeds in flats. They didn't get off to a good start: not enough light; they became leggy. They've never really grown much and yet they don't die. Here is the resulting bonsai vegetable garden:
I recently transplanted a few of these puny tomato plants to a big pot just to see if they'll grow: 
You can see corn leaves in the bottom of that photo; we're going to try and grow some corn but I think the pollination will need some manual attention. | ||
Monday Jun 23 | ||
| Note | |
| I need to decide whether to do the rogaine in July in NY, and if so who to con into doing it. I almost don't want to, because of all the other travel this summer. | ||
| Bicycling 15:00 [3] | |
Sunday Jun 22 | ||
| Bicycling 1:18:00 [3] | |
| To Middlesex Fells and back with Dave. Later, work commute. | ||
| Running 1:00:00 [2] | |
| Around the Fells. | ||
Saturday Jun 21 | ||
| Note | |
| Gardened for a couple hours then went to work.
6/17 | ||
| Bicycling 8:00 [1] | |
| To work & back | ||
Friday Jun 20 | ||
| Hiking 1:00:00 [1] | |
| Down from the hut.
In the morning we had oatmeal and pancakes. 
I can't resist - one more photo from 2000: 
| ||
| Note | |
| I said goodbye to the kids at the airport then went home and indulged in all sorts of things not on the 17-point plan to try and stave off the letdown.
5/17 (we're on week 6) | ||
Thursday Jun 19 | ||
| Note | |
| When I traveled to Chicago I happened to wear my "support evolution education" T-shirt. I got a lot of positive comments in the airports! | ||
| C • t-shirt 2 | ||
| Hiking 2:00:00 [2] | |
Slow haul up to and around Lonesome Lake with 6 kids and a bunch of weight on my back. David and Isabel's last day of school was Wednesday, and we'd managed to eke out another day and a half before they had to head to their dad's in Erie PA. Isabel brought her friends Nell, Jessie & Eva on the hike. David couldn't find any friends who could go, and at the very last minute I invited our neighbor Keegan. David was not too happy about this, but he's amazing with little kids, so it worked out fine.
Staying in an AMC hut is pretty deluxe. They provide 3 blankets and a pillow; you just have to bring sheets and a pillowcase. They cook dinner and breakfast for you. Lonesome Lake Hut is the easiest to get to, and great for families with small kids; we started going there when Isabel was just turning 3 and David was Keegan's age: 
Back in 2000 it felt like a long haul getting up to the hut, and we took frequent rest stops: 
 | ||
| C • Priceless 2 | ||
Wednesday Jun 18 | ||
| Bicycling 8:00 [1] | |
| major slump
1/17 | ||
| Note | |
Rogaine photos:
Jeff Brucker (Tucson) & Bob Laird (BAOC) 
Nate and Mike Lyons 
Glen Brake and KW I  Adam and me
Impressionistic view of the map - should replace with a scan... 
Team Concorde 
Nightcrawlers 
Francis 
A team I would like to know more about. | ||
| C • Rogaine strategizing 1 | ||
| C • What is that, some kind of ... 9 | ||
Tuesday Jun 17 | ||
| Running 8:00 [3] | |
| "fast" | ||
| Bicycling 40:00 [1] | |
| Note | |
| 7/17 | ||
Monday Jun 16 | ||
| Bicycling 53:00 [2] | |
| Home from the airport. I was pleased no one ran me over. Except one guy in a van was too close to me so I called him a bad word and made lots of contorted faces at him with my tongue sticking out. I think the best time for a bike ride to or from the airport is 6 am on a Sunday. I wonder if they'd fix the roads if I wrote to Mayor Menino.
8/17 | ||
| C • I wonder... 5 | ||
| C • feel 3 | ||
Sunday Jun 15 | ||
| Rogaining 10:00:00 [3] | |
| Finishing the rogaine.
I was pretty happy with the food I brought. What works for me is variety. This time I had: Sandwich made with Adam's home-made cherry-pecan-whole-wheat bread and Canadian cheddar Adam's home-made granola bars salted roasted pecans dried cherries brown rice cakes rye-crisp freeze-dried veggies (peas, carrots, corn, tomatoes, peppers) freeze-dried tropical fruit (mango, banana, pineapple, kiwi, ...) vanilla gu salted taro/sweet-potato/beet/turnip chips with lemon and olive oil flavoring It was all very yummy. I was relieved that we weren't troubled by insects except for one FDF that bugged Adam and not me. It would have sucked to have had to regret not bringing a sticky blue hat. | ||
| Note | |
| 7/17 | ||
Saturday Jun 14 | ||
| Event: 2008 US Rogaining Championships | ||
| Rogaining 13:00:00 [3] | |
| Allegany State Park in NY, with Adam Rudner. Finished 2nd in mixed open (after Erin & Kristoffer) with 1640 points.
At nightfall in the south of the map we ran into vegetation that was slow and difficult to travel through: some downed trees; some ferns hiding logs and rocks; some blackberries. That negatively affected my morale. I felt really tired and sore and just not into being there. Then we struggled with trails a lot, and that was partly because I was so reluctant to go off-trail after being burned by the thick stuff. We took many hours for just a couple controls. Most of the course, we were in woods that were easy and even lovely to travel through. There is a lot of climb on that map, and I longed for cleats on many of the steep parts. My favorite leg navigationally was following a complicated ridge system at night using careful pace counting and compass work, and closing in on the control using the direction the land was sloping and following a reentrant down. It rained off and on; my feet were wet the whole time. I got a couple minor blisters but not to where it was a real problem. I used grease on my feet but did not use any moleskin etc. The bottoms of my feet started hurting fairly early; the trail-running shoes I used have hard soles and I need more cushioning. Rubbing my feet when I took my shoes off afterward felt really really surprisingly good. The dry socks I brought along got damp before I could put them on; next time I need to pack them in a plastic bag. The pain in the bottoms of my feet was my biggest complaint. By the end I was taking an ibuprofen every half hour. I was happy with my legs. I think the biking has strengthened my legs and to where they endure pretty well the whole 24 hours. My knees didn't mind the downhill in the way they used to, and the injury I got at the last rogaine just under the right kneecap in front appears fully healed. On the other hand, the old injury under the center of the kneecap is still an issue when I bend the right knee too much while bearing weight on that leg. It was a great course, and a fun event. I feel lucky that people are willing to put these things on so we can come and play in the woods. It was nice to see other rogainers I know. | ||
| C • vegetation 1 | ||
| C • bottoms of feet 1 | ||
| Note | |
| 7/17 | ||
Friday Jun 13 | ||
| Note | |
| weight:135lbs | ||
| Well, I haven't been getting the sugar and wheat points most days, but the 17-point system is acting as a deterrent nonetheless, and I've lost about 5 pounds in the 5 weeks. The G was 138 on June 4, so hopefully I'm sub-G. The rogaine this weekend should knock off another pound or two. | ||
| C • recalcitrant food points 2 | ||
| Bicycling 53:00 [2] | |
| work and home. then to airport. 1:03 home to thru security.
yesterday in the boston harbor i saw a small boat named "Big Eddie". it was fast. | ||
| Note | |
| 8/17 | ||
Thursday Jun 12 | ||
| Bicycling 45:00 [1] | |
| To Long Wharf to catch a ferry with the 1st & 2nd graders. They'd visited Jessica R at Harvard on Monday to learn about invertebrates including field study methods. Today we looked at bugs on Spectacle Island, and then orienteered on George's Island. | ||
| Walking 20:00 [1] | |
| Setting controls. Nice to have controls in the closet for such times as these. Some kids oriented the map and matched features. Other kids ran around like mad. Two parents told me that the former were the girls and the latter were the boys. I made one mistake I'd like to fix next time: I forgot to walk through the course with them while I was talking to them over lunch; that would have gotten the kids more familiar with the map and course ahead of time, and would have had other benefits as well.
The parents said the kids really got the fact that your shadow points north at midday. I think they were into that, and as a result more of them could orient their maps than typically do. Off to a rogaine tomorrow. Decided to attend the Calgary events. That will be my break between jobs. | ||
| Note | |
| Favorite news items of the day:
* veto-proof bill to fund Amtrak * DNC moving to Chicago 5/17 | ||
Wednesday Jun 11 | ||
| Bicycling 1:15:00 [2] | |
| To Woburn for jury duty. Those selected are looking at a 3-week trial. Neil Entwhistle is being tried in the same courthouse. Newspeople have mounted a stake-out in the parking lot. | ||
| Running 30:00 [1] | |
| To the nearest bike shop for tire repair kit.
7/17 | ||
Tuesday Jun 10 | ||
| Bicycling 1:15:00 [2] | |
| 5:20 am to the Fells. | ||
| C • sudoku 3 | ||
| Running 24:00 [2] | |
| Last time both a snake (in the woods) and a Buddhist monk (on route 28) crossed my path, but I saw neither this morning. Nice to be out in the cooler part of the day.
I thought about why I am depressed. Diet? Hormones? Weather? The job change and wondering if I can handle the new one? The two people who are really angry at me and telling me about it lately? The fact that David and Isabel are about to leave for the summer? | ||
| C • sobering at least... 6 | ||
| Note | |
| 7/17 | ||
Monday Jun 9 | ||
| Note | |
| As I reviewed David's recent homework writing up an experiment they did at school on osmosis, I realized that (a) he was a great science writer (clear, efficient, readable), and (b) he had no idea what diffusion or osmosis were. So we talked about the molecules in a liquid bouncing around and he made this simulation in about 20 minutes using the Scratch programming language. Not correct in many ways, but the point was the basic idea about semipermeable membranes and how molecules distribute themselves over space in time. | ||
| C • Scratch 2 | ||
| Note | |
| 5/17 | ||
| Bicycling 30:00 [1] | |
| Work commute, plus a trip into Boston to turn in my signed offer letter. | ||
Sunday Jun 8 | ||
| Bicycling 1:15:00 [2] | |
| To Boojum. Listened to science podcasts. | ||
| Running 35:00 [2] | |
| Trail running at Boojum. Yesterday was 97; today is supposed to be hot too, so I left the house at 5:45 am. Before I left I figured out why my front brake keeps getting lopsided: the bike lock was hanging from the handlebars on that side and hitting it. That was after a couple episodes of trying to adjust the brake holder-thingy tension on either side but in vain because the screws are rusty and stripped.
After I got home I gardened for a couple hours. Planted rhubarb, tomatoes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, horseradish, jasmine, squash, corn - mostly in containers on the sunny pavement out back. Our dirt pile is still way too big. I think getting more and more containers will not be a sufficient solution. | ||
| Note | |
| I have a treat for you! The Story of a Carbon Atom by David (graphics) & his friend Jack (story). (Science homework.)
Individual pages (click to get large size): 
 | ||
| Note | |
| 8/17 | ||
Saturday Jun 7 | ||
| Note | |
| 5/17 | ||
Friday Jun 6 | ||
| Note | |
| 6/17 | ||
Thursday Jun 5 | ||
| Running 10:00 [1] | |
| Bicycling 8:00 [1] | |
| Today I resigned from my job.
I'm going to start a new job in July, but only part time until October. I won't be covered by health insurance until October, so I get to pay for it myself. Wow, that's a lot of money. 7/14 | ||
| C • New Job 5 | ||
Wednesday Jun 4 | ||
| Bicycling 8:00 [1] | |
| 5/14 | ||
Tuesday Jun 3 | ||
| Note | |
Today is Mom's 75th birthday. Last night we celebrated by hosting a dinner party for 12. Dad & I asked if we should cancel, but Mom said to carry on. We put bandages above and below her eye and she used makeup to mostly cover the rest of the black eye. After the cake, we gave her the 90-page book that we put together from reminiscences that people sent in. A few excerpts:
Mom (on the left) with her siblings. Her sister Connie wrote You always had lots of friends. They would come around to our house to play with you. If you were too busy to go out to play, they would ask, "Can we come in and help?" We shared a bedroom for a while. You were always after me to keep the room neat. I thought you were "bossy", but I should have listened and learned to be neat and organized. You never cramped my style. We had good times with friends and family. On vacations, we would either take a trip (6 of us in one car) or go to a lake. In evenings or on rainy days at the lake, we would play Contact or Dominoes as a family. You were always hard working and intelligent. I remember that you could write compositions or your English class in college and turn in your first draft for an "A". Your sense of humor showed when you had a good time with the declension of "fui" and "a fui" in Latin. If anyone said "Phooey" or "Oh Phooey" they were likely to hear the rest of the declension. 
Mom and Dad on the right with our friends Sheri (close family friend since she had my parents for teachers in the 60s) and Fred (wonderful prankster who did things his own way and eventually disappeared, we think lost at sea in his sailboat), the little neighbor girls, me and Doug. From another former student: In addition to being my Algebra teacher, Jan was also my Assistant Debate Coach. That's where I discovered that the guy she ran off to Russia to marry was also a teacher at Rich East, never putting together in my mind the changing of her last name from Swanson to Moore meant something. He appeared to be the short little bearded communist whom I never got to know until my senior year when I took a course from him. He wasn't nearly as nice as Jan, because one day on the chalkboard he had written "I have lost my voice but not my temper. Listen to St. Cecelia's mass during this period and remain quiet." Jan never had to tell us to be quiet in Algebra class, because we were always worried and concerned about learning it. 
They didn't really get married in Russia, but they did travel to the Soviet Union, and elsewhere. Dad was pretty queasy at the wedding but Mom was her usual graceful self. Mom's dad was a Lutheran pastor. Dad's dad was a banker who lost his money in the depression. Dad: At Jan's 50th reunion at Augustana the spouses had to account for themselves. I said that I grew up in Minneapolis and eventually went off to Beloit College hoping to get rid of the Swedes and their Yan Yanson jokes and lutefisk dinners that inundate Minnesota: only to fall in love with a smart pretty Swede when I went to teach in Park Forest, Illinois. She showed up in my Russian class as Miss Swanson. I was invited over to her apartment where she cooked a pot roast, one of my favorites. What we had the first meal after we were married I can't remember, but it wasn't lutefisk. Honeymoon One was a resort on the Gunflint Trail, canoeing, eating, lovemaking, breathing pine scent. Honeymoon Two was Eastern Europe. We bought a VW convertible in Munich and headed for the Iron Curtain. There the car was nearly disassembled for Cold War purposes. Once in Russia though everything was friendly. A crowd gathered whenever we stopped and opened the bonnet: where was the engine? everybody marveled. In Russian a conversation also ensued about Gary Powers, the spy whose plane was forced down. I thought they were talking about Yuri Gagarin. The dissociated conversation was finally ended when Jan recognized what the subject was supposed to be about. 
1970s. 
At an orienteering meet in Zermatt, Switzerland. After they retired, Mom and Dad taught for the Peace Corps in the Czech Republic, and also arranged two year-long teaching gigs in China (I was visiting them in June 1989 when the Tiananmen Square massacre happened), and several months in Kyrgyzstan. Mom's active in the League of Women Voters, and church, and she and Dad both teach various adult ed classes on things they are learning about like Tibetan history or whatever. 
David: She's very good at advising what is smart and what is not smart, which is good for me. Grandma is always trying to make sense of what Grandpa is doing. She makes sure he knows what's going on, and figures out with him what's the best idea or what's just spacing out and needs to be fixed. Grandpa can get so off track sometimes. Isabel: You live in a house, but also in my heart. You are planted there like a seed in the earth. | ||
| C • mom stories 1 | ||
| Running 1:19:00 [3] | |
| Morning, through the forest preserve again. Back was fine, no pain. Several small, fearless deer. | ||
| Note | |
| My high school friend Mike drove up from Champaign to spend a few hours with me and my parents today as previously arranged. Not previously planned was the fact that while we spent that time together, we were taking Mom to her orthopedist appointment, and having some of our catching-up conversations in the waiting room. But we were all willing to make do. Mike is one of my favorite people of all time. It was a blast to see him, and I was sad when he left. As he and I were driving back from the doctor appointment, we stopped at my favorite second hand store; I grabbed a bunch of clothes for the kids and he went through the records. He finds records cheap and sells them on eBay; he's big into music and was in the music industry for many years. Now he works for a small academic publisher that focuses on labor history. He loves discovering and promoting things (bands, books, ...). We also drove through the old neighborhoods. | ||
| Note | |
| 4/17 | ||
Monday Jun 2 | ||
| Running 25:00 [2] | |
| Note | |
| 3/17
| ||
Sunday Jun 1 | ||
| Running 1:20:00 [1] | |
| 5 am run thru the forest preserve near my house. lower back pain; stopped to stretch often.
It is now afternoon and I am sitting with Dad in a hospital watching Mom get a cast on her leg. she and dad picked me up from the conference for lunch. she didn't see a curb and fell on her face and side. Quite a few stitches, very black-and-purple eye, contusions. I got to ride in the ambulance. I feel stupid about not having been aware enough to prevent the fall. There was a lot of blood, but Mom with her usual grace and practicality managed to not get any on her Sunday-best clothing. I, on the other hand, whipped off my shirt to use to staunch the blood, when we ran out of kleenex. The 911 handler was telling me I needed to put pressure to stop the bleeding and I didn't see anything else at hand. Dad handed me his Sunday-best linen suit jacket, so I didn't have to go around in just my bra for too long. The ambulance got there real quick, and the medical people at the hospital were great. They even gave me a nice T shirt. On the other hand, I was pretty disappointed in the conference attendees lounging by the door some 30 or 40 yards away; supposedly this is a clinical oncology conference, and no doctors came to help us. It should have been clear that we needed help, with Mom on her hands and knees, and me shouting for someone to bring some paper towels. Mom had a faint spell when we got home but otherwise seems to be recuperating fine. She is sporting a terrifying black eye, and it's a bummer about her cast, since she's a pretty active person in general. 9/17 | ||