I Heart Climbing

I have had a rough week or so. I already hate winter. So nothing much going on. It's cold and blah and I don't get out as much as I'd like because it's so miserably cold outside. Then I got sick a week ago. It came on kinda slow, thought I'd be ok, but alas, I succumbed to a week of snot, sore throat and low grade fever. Lack of sleep also accompanies these symptoms, which seems to make a week last forever. So anyway as of yesterday and several boxes of tissues I am better.
I thought ah, what a nice day to finally be feeling better. Right? Well turned out to be the day from hell. I was so mad and upset by yesterday evening that I hated all people. That is until last night when we met up with Marc, Christian, Wes and his friend Genia and we went bouldering. All my worries of the day just melted away. It was so awesome! I love climbing. We had done a little bit of climbing years ago when visiting a friend who had lived up near the Philly Rock Gym. But it was a haul and he no longer lived up there, so we stopped going. That is until last week when we met up Wes, a couple of his friends and Rob at a new gym not too far from home.
This time no ropes. We've been strictly bouldering. It's been so much fun. Last week I was sick, but I went anyway. I had a lot of fun, but paid for it the rest of the week as I ached and think it took my cold for a turn for the worst. This week was better. Felt a little more comfortable. Though I still panic when I get too high, or just think I'm high. I fell once and held on for dear life dangling around, tore up my knuckle, skinned my forearm, bruised my butt and drug my back down the wall as I finally released, and it turned out I was only about 3 feet off the ground. Yeah, I'm a chicken. After that little incident Wes's friend Genia showed me how to fall correctly. Genia is great. She is so nice. Wes has some of the nicest friends. She is so friendly and helpful. She was giving me tips on how I could do things and move to make things easier. She was great.
I would like to say that the euphoria of climbing held over until today, but it did not. As I drove home my stress slowly crept back in. As I tried to sleep last night my mind raced with the problems I had to deal with today. But at least I found a little reprieve and I guess I don't hate all people.

Where will you be at Midnight on 7/21?

It's finally been set. Saturday July 21st the 7th and final book in the Harry Potter series will be released. Many bookstores are already taking pre-orders. Borders actually sent me a pre-order request a couple weeks ago. Which I found very odd as there was still no release date at the time. But now there is. So pre-order away if you want to be assured you will be one of the ones to get one on release day.

I will say. I did not pre-order book 5 and I did manage to find one the same day it was released. It take several trips to several different stores. But after some hunting we did find an ample supply at Walmart.

For book 6, I wasn't taking any chances and I pre-ordered with Borders. This is one of the few stores that was releasing the book at midnight. So yes, I was one of the goofy people out there standing in line for what seemed like forever to get my book. And though all I could do is go home and go straight to bed, it was still worth it, because as soon as I woke up on Saturday morning I could begin reading instead of heading out to the store to pick up mine.

This may sound a little obsessive. However, it's not that I can't wait to read it. Well actually I can't. I do want to find out how this whole thing plays out. But also, I hate spoilers. I can't stand all the rumors about what is going to happen. Or the people who say they got a hold of the manuscript and leak out what is supposedly about to occur. Whether it be true or false, it just spoils it. I want to read it as it comes and not know something might be coming up.

Shortly before book 6 was released there were a ton of rumors about Dumbledore dieing. I figured no way, she can't kill Dumbledore, he's a vital character. But low and behold damn if they weren't right and Dumbledore was killed. Now the rumor is that Dumbledore really is alive. However, Rowlings has squashed that one and said no, Dumbledore really is dead. And no one can come back from being dead. She has been consistent in that. Except for Voldemort of course. But he never really died either due to the horcruxes.

So on July 13th the 5th movie "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" will be released. And on Saturday July 21st the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will be released. It's going to be a very Harry July. His fate will soon be known.

The Goldilocks Ride

I didn't ride Saturday due to the cold and wind. Though I wanted to ride, I'm having a rough time motivating myself to actually go out now that it's cold. Marc said he heard it was supposed to be better Sunday and no wind. So I said ok.
I slept in a little too much and missed leaving with Marc. So he took my bike over for me and I went over later. I wasn't going to ride with his group anyway. So no big deal. And I still can't haul my bike around as I haven't put the rack back on my car since the garage incident.
Anyway, I get up, grab as many warm clothes as I can find and head out. When it's cold as a general rule I do not like to turn the heat on in the car so my body can get acclimated to the cold and not be all warm and toasty and go into shock. But I found I was loosing more heat that I felt I'd need later, so I had to turn it on a little. Then I checked the temperature. 24 degrees! That's just crazy.
I arrive at the park and put the rest of my clothes on as quickly as possible. It's so cold, but it will be better soon as I get moving. That's what I keep telling myself anyway. As I'm hauling my bike out of Marc's car I see James, he's out riding too. We say hi, he says he headed over to Middlerun and asks if I'd like to tag on, I decline, I'd rather stay close to the car because I wasn't so sure how long I could talk myself into staying out in the cold. He takes off.
I get on my bike and unfortunately the beginning is a fast open field downhill. AHHHHH! The wind is so cold, my face is burning, my eyes water up so bad I can barely see. Oh it's just torture. I'm bargaining with myself, if the next hill doesn't warm me up I'm heading straight back to the car and calling it a day. Just as I reach the top of the climb I run into a huge group with Fitzie at the lead. He stops and asks where I'm headed. I say I've just started, as I really had. So he says goodbye to his group and heads off with me. Now that he just left his group I can't hardly call it a day so we keep going. We talk as we go and I do warm up some. It was really nice to ride with someone and it helped to keep the cold off my mind. After a while of riding he tells me it's the Goldilocks ride. Of course I have to ask what he means by this. He says, he started out with Marc, Buddy and Todd's group, but they were too fast. Then he pulled off and went with another group, but they were too slow. Now it's just the two of us and it's just right. I laughed. Good analogy.
We ended up riding the entire park. Actually he rode some of the trails 2 and 3 times due to the group switching. But I didn't freeze, I was really really cold, but I didn't freeze. It was a good time. Thanks Fitz!

Week of Pain

I think I'm loosing consciousness. Well, not really. But maybe it would be a good thing. I think I am slowly starving to death. The worst part is it's self inflicted.
Monday we started the Lisa/Paul diet. Cross season wasn't kind to me and I gained some weight and then came the holidays, which are never kind to anyone. So I spoke to them and others that had done their diet. All said it was hard, but they had great results. It's only 9 days (which sounded short enough) and you loose a bunch of weight and give a boost to your metabolism. So a win win right?
HA HA HA HA HA
The first two days are cleanse days. Which basically means you don't eat anything solid. You're flushing your system and what not. So you drink some stuff and a ton of water and get a small salad for lunch. Not so bad right.
Day 1 - No issues, everything went smoothly other than I had to pee every 15min from drinking so much water.
Day 2 - I measured wrong and forgot one of my drinks. Ooops. I bonked so hard that I couldn't get myself to recover that night. I was like a zombie, I could barely find energy to speak.
Marc and I went to the grocery store to get stuff we needed for the next few days as we were entering the eating days. We get there I look at the sheet and it says to eat lean protein and 2 green vegetables. Alright, so we pick up some chicken and then I stand staring at the vegetables. This is when it occurs to me I do not like anything green! Yellow, orange, white, all good. But not green. Finally I decide on string beans and carrots. Yeah carrots aren't green, but I needed something.
Day 3 - now I get food and shakes. I had my chicken, string beans and carrots for lunch. It tasted so good, I devoured them. Now on an energy high after getting some food after not having any for a couple days I decide I can go to the gym after work. For some reason too I decided this would be the day I'd run 2 miles instead of just 1 1/2 miles like normal. I don't know why I do these things to myself.
First mile all is good. Soon into the 2nd mile I start going South. My pace is slowing, I can't control my breathing, my stomach feels like it has little razors in it trying to get out (it was the raw carrots I had for lunch). I finish the 2nd mile and walk to cool down and try not to hurl. I can't get the feeling to go away. It was bad.
Day 4 - same as day 3 only no carrots. I decided to give my stomach a rest. Also, no gym. I didn't want a repeat. Day 4 brought on a new sensation however. Strong uncontrollable cravings for sugar! I love sugar, candy in particular. I hadn't had any candy now for days. I got home and saw the box of Gobstoppers sitting there whispering to me, "you know you want some, 1 won't hurt". I gave in. I had 1. I put it in my mouth and just let it sit there. Oh, it was so good. I miss candy so much.
Today - I was so irritated that I couldn't have candy or anything else, that I didn't pack my food appropriately. I paid for that. I didn't have my shake, so instead I ate an apple. I didn't have my veggies, so lunch consisted of a bowl of chicken. I think I'm getting to the breaking point. I'm not sure there will be a day 6. We will see.

This is why we have no screens on our windows.

Beautiful Weekend in January
(what an oxymoron)

This past weekend was jammed packed. Not that most weekends haven't been lately. But usually by this time in the winter it's cold and dreary and no one really goes out or does anything. It seems to be a quiet time until things resume in Spring, or Spring training for some. But lately with it being unseasonable warm, it's been awesome. Saturday Marc and a huge group were planning on riding Elkneck, which I despise. So Amy agreed to ride with me on the road. Well as Friday nights weather did not cooperate, the Elkneck ride became a road ride. So we all headed out in one big pack.
It was still cloudy and wet when we headed out, but crazy warm. There was 15 in all. It wasn't long before everyone was peeling off layers as the sun started peeking through the clouds. Buddy, Marc, and Paul were riding their fixed gears. It was crazy being behind them going down hills as their legs flew around in circles. Or better yet their back wheels hopping as they had to come to a halt. It was quite a sight to see as they all seemed to do this so easily. Give me gears and brakes any day.
We rode the road more mountain bike style. We'd be in a pack and then kinda string out and then come back together. There were peppy sections and I think maybe a sprint or two. Not so sure as I was at that back during those. Whenever I got too far behind though, a hand would be on my back to give me a little help. I had one bad stretch on a false flat and there were numerous hands. I really appreciated all the help. Thanks guys! It was great to be out on such a beautiful day and with a great bunch. I miss group rides. It's been a long time.
Saturday night we did some relaxing/partying before riding again on Sunday. Sunday's group was even bigger. This time we did make it out on the trails. We ended up splitting into two groups, but we came back together a few times throughout the ride. It was pretty cool. I was the lead ass of the ride on Sunday. I felt like ass and Jamie decided to find every climb he could that day. At one point, after already climbing for a while, we stood at a cross section of trail trying to decide where to go. We didn't know exactly where we were, all I knew is we were getting dangerously close to "skip a trail". I said I didn't care which way, as long as we didn't take it. Jamie turns and darts off down this nasty rocky downhill and then we climb and climb some more, we were on "skip a trail". I really need to learn that side of the park so I can stay away from that thing!
Overall it was a great weekend. Got in lots of riding, rode with great people, caught up with some people I hadn't seen in a while and the weather was beautiful. Who could ask for more.

A Book for Monkey

I used to be a snoop when it came to Christmas presents. Curiosity would get the best of me and I just couldn't take it. My sister and I would hunt through the house looking for presents. Then my parents caught on and started locking them up. So we resorted to unwrapping and re-wrapping the gifts. They caught on to this as well and my dad would take hours to painstakingly wrap the gifts so precise and with as little tape as possible, so any extra crease or added tape would be noticed.
When Marc and I started living together I carried on my snooping until I realized it was just too easy, the game was over. He never hid what he got me very good, if at all, and then the surprise would be ruined. Not that the surprise wasn't ruined before, but the stealthness just made it so much fun. So then I'd bug him and ask him questions to get hints of what it was, anything to peak my curiosity. But he'd practically tell me. So again, I had to stop this as well. Eventually he broke me of my snooping and questioning and now it's too the point that if I think he's about to tell me something, I tell him "stop, don't tell me, I don't want to know".
Well this year Marc not only kept it a secret, but he managed to totally surprise me. I did get some bike stuff, which I figured I would as he was just asking too many questions about what I was thinking of getting. However, the other part to my gift was a book. Not just any book, but an actual hardback book written and put together by him. It's a photo documentary of my season this year. It is the coolest thing ever. He said it took him 2 weeks to put together. He would stay up after I went to bed and work on it. If I popped back downstairs or into the room, he said he'd have to quickly change screens to hide it. I just thought he was telling me to go to bed early because I looked tired and needed some extra sleep, but apparently I was just in the way.
Anyway, Marc got it done and said he had a terrible time waiting to give it to me, but he managed without a peep. It it the coolest, most creative, most thoughtful one ever. He's so awesome! And who would have thought he could have topped the envelope full of money he gave me last year (yes, that really was my present).