Wobbegong
Well-Known Member
Well said Norm. Same here, except make it a son, and no wine. 🙂
My boy questioned how Santa got the train table down the chimney. Magic, I told him.
Winter in the Land of my Bikes & Wife
- Thread starter Norm
- Start date
Well said Norm. Same here, except make it a son, and no wine. 🙂
My boy questioned how Santa got the train table down the chimney. Magic, I told him.
Monday December 27th
My sense of time is completely gone. I am now more or less officially on no time at all. I just looked up and saw it was 10:00 and we haven't even had dinner yet. Well, I made 2 eggs and put it on some bread but we're just sort of hanging out. Julia is playing and we're surfing and making goofy threads on Facebook. Our pre-jetlag effort is going reasonably well. Aiming to sleep in the 2-3 realm tonight.
Today was just an average post snow day which is just white fluffy crap that causes me to shovel more and ride less than I want. We got neither more nor less than the extreme cases, so it's not worth showing average pics of a foot of snow. It took me about an hour to shovel the driveway, then I took down the Xmas tree and stood it on top of the biggest mound at the end of the driveway. If it wasn't dark out there I'd go take a pic.
After that we went out of the house to run errands. I've certainly entered type A headless chicken mode, which is a sort of do-all-full-speed-ahead mode. I've been cleaning up stuff and putting together preliminary piles of stuff we need to bring with us. For some idiotic reason we agreed to bring all sorts of junk with us for Calvin. Yes, he was just here a month ago. He asked for 80 pods of Keurig coffee and a pod holder. Umm...
We went to Blood Bath & Beyond, Costco, and Target, all primarily for Calvin's shit. Then over to Dunkin Donuts to get some bagels for Julia's breakfast the next 2 days, up to Burger King to get fries I promised the child, then Century 21 only to find it was closed. After that we went home to do more cleaning & packing.
No bike for me today, which I'm not thrilled about but really isn't a huge deal. I'm not going to force it and ride on icy roads in gale-force winds. I'll be in a warm climate in 3.x days and I'll have the bike together hopefully in 3.x days and about 4 hours, then I hope to go for a short ride in 3.x days, 4 hours, and about 3 minutes. Of course, I doubt it goes down exactly like that but you can always hope. The first day on the ground is always a bit of a CF.
I have nothing of use to say. This is appropriate for today's weather:
My sense of time is completely gone. I am now more or less officially on no time at all. I just looked up and saw it was 10:00 and we haven't even had dinner yet. Well, I made 2 eggs and put it on some bread but we're just sort of hanging out. Julia is playing and we're surfing and making goofy threads on Facebook. Our pre-jetlag effort is going reasonably well. Aiming to sleep in the 2-3 realm tonight.
Today was just an average post snow day which is just white fluffy crap that causes me to shovel more and ride less than I want. We got neither more nor less than the extreme cases, so it's not worth showing average pics of a foot of snow. It took me about an hour to shovel the driveway, then I took down the Xmas tree and stood it on top of the biggest mound at the end of the driveway. If it wasn't dark out there I'd go take a pic.
After that we went out of the house to run errands. I've certainly entered type A headless chicken mode, which is a sort of do-all-full-speed-ahead mode. I've been cleaning up stuff and putting together preliminary piles of stuff we need to bring with us. For some idiotic reason we agreed to bring all sorts of junk with us for Calvin. Yes, he was just here a month ago. He asked for 80 pods of Keurig coffee and a pod holder. Umm...
We went to Blood Bath & Beyond, Costco, and Target, all primarily for Calvin's shit. Then over to Dunkin Donuts to get some bagels for Julia's breakfast the next 2 days, up to Burger King to get fries I promised the child, then Century 21 only to find it was closed. After that we went home to do more cleaning & packing.
No bike for me today, which I'm not thrilled about but really isn't a huge deal. I'm not going to force it and ride on icy roads in gale-force winds. I'll be in a warm climate in 3.x days and I'll have the bike together hopefully in 3.x days and about 4 hours, then I hope to go for a short ride in 3.x days, 4 hours, and about 3 minutes. Of course, I doubt it goes down exactly like that but you can always hope. The first day on the ground is always a bit of a CF.
I have nothing of use to say. This is appropriate for today's weather:
Well if it makes you feel any better I thought today was Saturday 😕 I'm off for 10 days and have no form of schedule what so ever.
ArmyOfNone
Well-Known Member
whats at century 21?
soulchild
Well-Known Member
it's a department store that's like Marshalls on steroids... love that place... there's one in Morristown on the green... the big one is in the city... don't know if there are any other locations though...
ArmyOfNone
Well-Known Member
Tuesday December 28th
I decided to not count calories from now through the end of the trip. Utah thinks I’m going to come back at 350 pounds, and he may be right. But I’ve been taking this week off from tracking everything and I feel like I’m eating more balanced. This may go to shit as soon as I get to Food Land. But right now I think it works for me. Also, while I’m not dropping pounds on the scale, my clothes are starting to loosen up again. Not sure exactly what that means.
So the question is, will I come back closer to 170 or 190. Right now I’m more or less right in the middle, with a hint towards 190. I guess that translates to: Am I going to lose or gain weight on this trip? I don’t know the answer, and frankly as I sit here on my 2nd beer, I don’t care. I need some time off from the spreadsheet.
I’m also taking the week off from the bike. Well, the part in the US. With the snow, pain in my right knee, and the packing chaos I’m just going with it and skipping the bike. I looked out and saw the street covered in ice this morning and wondered why I would force it. Makes no sense. I guess this might beg comments of HTFU but when I’m reeling off back-to-back days of 6 & 5 hours you may all eat me.
If that happens.
I decided to leave the protein powder and Endurox here. I did pack a metric shit ton of power bars though.
Today the Errand Madness went like this: Post office, the High Gear warehouse to drop off the good bikes (sorry thieves, the good ones aren’t here), 2 convenience stores to get Skoal (for the junkie relatives in Taiwan), the bank for real-cash money, the library to return a bunch of crap, haircut (no I’m not allowed to buzz), the food store for spreadable butter (no shit, my BIL wants this), the in-laws to check the mail, Century 21 to finally get a winter coat (success), then Wendy’s for a mid-afternoon snack at 7:30 pm.
Burger King has much, much better fries than Wendy’s. When I get back and take Pearl on a Madness Tour I'll buy him fries if he makes it out alive.
Lou answered the question about Century 21. It’s kinda like where player/yuppie wannabes shop for expensive stuff but get it at 30-70% off. I got a $450 retail winter coat for $175 tonight.
The bike is packed. I was able to disassemble it with a multi-tool. So in theory I should be able to get it together in about 10 minutes.
My daughter just drew a horse's ass. For real.
This is my last reasonably coherent post. From here on I have no idea how it’s all going to go. I think the bold keywords are probably done now. This was just an entertainment widget to keep us all interested until the trip got here.
On that note, I'll likely be posting a daily update on the blog so my wife can share it with her friends and not have to point them to this website. I'll link it from here, then add my own comments from there.
I suck with the pics lately. This is where I’m going. It's hard to believe that shit is earthquake proof:
I decided to not count calories from now through the end of the trip. Utah thinks I’m going to come back at 350 pounds, and he may be right. But I’ve been taking this week off from tracking everything and I feel like I’m eating more balanced. This may go to shit as soon as I get to Food Land. But right now I think it works for me. Also, while I’m not dropping pounds on the scale, my clothes are starting to loosen up again. Not sure exactly what that means.
So the question is, will I come back closer to 170 or 190. Right now I’m more or less right in the middle, with a hint towards 190. I guess that translates to: Am I going to lose or gain weight on this trip? I don’t know the answer, and frankly as I sit here on my 2nd beer, I don’t care. I need some time off from the spreadsheet.
I’m also taking the week off from the bike. Well, the part in the US. With the snow, pain in my right knee, and the packing chaos I’m just going with it and skipping the bike. I looked out and saw the street covered in ice this morning and wondered why I would force it. Makes no sense. I guess this might beg comments of HTFU but when I’m reeling off back-to-back days of 6 & 5 hours you may all eat me.
If that happens.
I decided to leave the protein powder and Endurox here. I did pack a metric shit ton of power bars though.
Today the Errand Madness went like this: Post office, the High Gear warehouse to drop off the good bikes (sorry thieves, the good ones aren’t here), 2 convenience stores to get Skoal (for the junkie relatives in Taiwan), the bank for real-cash money, the library to return a bunch of crap, haircut (no I’m not allowed to buzz), the food store for spreadable butter (no shit, my BIL wants this), the in-laws to check the mail, Century 21 to finally get a winter coat (success), then Wendy’s for a mid-afternoon snack at 7:30 pm.
Burger King has much, much better fries than Wendy’s. When I get back and take Pearl on a Madness Tour I'll buy him fries if he makes it out alive.
Lou answered the question about Century 21. It’s kinda like where player/yuppie wannabes shop for expensive stuff but get it at 30-70% off. I got a $450 retail winter coat for $175 tonight.
The bike is packed. I was able to disassemble it with a multi-tool. So in theory I should be able to get it together in about 10 minutes.
My daughter just drew a horse's ass. For real.
This is my last reasonably coherent post. From here on I have no idea how it’s all going to go. I think the bold keywords are probably done now. This was just an entertainment widget to keep us all interested until the trip got here.
On that note, I'll likely be posting a daily update on the blog so my wife can share it with her friends and not have to point them to this website. I'll link it from here, then add my own comments from there.
I suck with the pics lately. This is where I’m going. It's hard to believe that shit is earthquake proof:
There is another one on Route 4 Paramus.
soulchild
Well-Known Member
Last edited:
I hope you packed that picture that you have on the fridge....I have been looking around for one of those kind of pics of me....dont really have a good one.
This is why taipei 101 is earthquake proof
http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/for-whom-bell-tolls.html
This is why taipei 101 is earthquake proof
http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/for-whom-bell-tolls.html
my bet on your weight is 186.
safe travels, i'm looking forward to reading about the adventures "normbrero"
safe travels, i'm looking forward to reading about the adventures "normbrero"
Red Mosquito
Formerly RLB the Scrapple Boy
Has anyone heard from the international man of mystery? 
yeah, apparently he was in my kitchen last night. i was wondering where all my pulled pork went.
Day 0 - Thursday 12/30
Blog link:
http://normbrero.blogspot.com/2011/01/taiwan-day-0.html
Like I mentioned earlier, I'm posting the bulk of this on the blog so Nat can share it with her friends and such. So I won't go too into the biking stuff there. As it turns out, there really wasn't much biking going down on day 0.
I did get a bonus as the woman at the Eva Air counter didn't make me pay extra for the bike box. Normally they would. I mentioned this phenomenon to Utah about how rules in the Asian culture are somewhat arbitrary. When I went to get the visas, we got the shit end of the stick. But with shipping the bike, we got a bonus. She also slapped "fragile" stickers all over the box. It made it through safe.
I have ridden the bike since we got here. As I sit here now, it's Sunday evening just about 6:30, the 3rd full day on the ground. I'll catch up eventually.
This is merely the second leg:
Blog link:
http://normbrero.blogspot.com/2011/01/taiwan-day-0.html
Like I mentioned earlier, I'm posting the bulk of this on the blog so Nat can share it with her friends and such. So I won't go too into the biking stuff there. As it turns out, there really wasn't much biking going down on day 0.
I did get a bonus as the woman at the Eva Air counter didn't make me pay extra for the bike box. Normally they would. I mentioned this phenomenon to Utah about how rules in the Asian culture are somewhat arbitrary. When I went to get the visas, we got the shit end of the stick. But with shipping the bike, we got a bonus. She also slapped "fragile" stickers all over the box. It made it through safe.
I have ridden the bike since we got here. As I sit here now, it's Sunday evening just about 6:30, the 3rd full day on the ground. I'll catch up eventually.
This is merely the second leg:
Day 1 - Friday 12/31
Link:
http://normbrero.blogspot.com/2011/01/taiwan-day-1.html
I know I'm duplicating information between here and FB. A long time ago I setup the blog to feed into FB, which worked sometimes, but mostly not. Apparently they have that fixed, so now it feeds there, though I've seen it take 12 hours before. Whatever, you can read or ignore it anwyehere you like. It's all the same.
No biking yet though I did get the bike put together on day 1:
Goddamn thing is heavy. And we ate a lot. Here's a plate of liver that was really good:
Pearl posted on my wall that Vick was out, so I was able to sneak in a quick FA move before the 4:00 game. Thankfully Vick was playing the 4:00 game and Sam Bradford was available and playing the worst defense in the league. Hopefully he scores 30 and I win by 1.
Worked out the internet issues at the apartment. EVen though it's wired (WTF?) it's something. Today I should be able to get a data plan for the iPhone at which point I imagine I'll post more crap to FB.
Link:
http://normbrero.blogspot.com/2011/01/taiwan-day-1.html
I know I'm duplicating information between here and FB. A long time ago I setup the blog to feed into FB, which worked sometimes, but mostly not. Apparently they have that fixed, so now it feeds there, though I've seen it take 12 hours before. Whatever, you can read or ignore it anwyehere you like. It's all the same.
No biking yet though I did get the bike put together on day 1:
Goddamn thing is heavy. And we ate a lot. Here's a plate of liver that was really good:
Pearl posted on my wall that Vick was out, so I was able to sneak in a quick FA move before the 4:00 game. Thankfully Vick was playing the 4:00 game and Sam Bradford was available and playing the worst defense in the league. Hopefully he scores 30 and I win by 1.
Worked out the internet issues at the apartment. EVen though it's wired (WTF?) it's something. Today I should be able to get a data plan for the iPhone at which point I imagine I'll post more crap to FB.
Red Mosquito
Formerly RLB the Scrapple Boy
Looks pretty cool! I'm eagerly awaiting the ride reports. Have fun out there.
Day 2 - 1/1/11
It's going to take me 6 months to get used to 2011. Blog post:
http://normbrero.blogspot.com/2011/01/taiwan-day-2-first-ride.html
The first ride goes like this. I leave the apartment and in 2 minutes I'm thinking, "WTF did I get myself into?" In 5 minutes I'm out of town and there are bike lanes everywhere. I have a general idea where I'm going, basically straight to county route 7, then left and stay on 7 for a while, then left at the alt-route 7 back to town. Once I get to town I'll look at the GPS map and see where I started. I almost made it without needing the map, but it did save me some headache at the very end.
The route 7 road was a gradual climb that I didn't realize while I was going up:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/61367918
But when I started to go down suddenly I felt great. Surprise, that. The roads are narrow out there but there are few cars so it works out. The big danger is the gutters along the side of the road which are a foot deep and a foot wide, and promise massive amounts of pain if you drop into one. So when I get passed by a tour bus, I get a little nervious.
As a note, the blog links all have the daily pics which are each a set on Flickr. I'm taking 20-75 a day at this point so I can't post them all.
It was good to get out on the bike, but legs were dead for much of the ride. Weather has been "cool" which is generally in the 50-65 range, though it did dip into the 40s the first night. The houses have no heat so it's cold in here.
The bike is heavy but it works which is what I want. I put super heavy duty tires on because I want to go the extra 9 yards to avoid a flat.
In all, very successful first ride. Should be an interesting trip in this regard. At one point I was seeing signs for LiShan (Pear Mountain) which was about 100 km away, all uphill. I found this link from some (I think) German who rode here last year:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/52933581
Total elevation is clearly a joke as you climb the whole time and top out between 6-7000 feet. That looks like a lot but after today's ride it really doesn't look that crazy. It pitches up a bit in the last 10 miles but still not too crazy. I should be caught up with this thing tomorrow at some point.
Smile! You're on a bike again!
It's going to take me 6 months to get used to 2011. Blog post:
http://normbrero.blogspot.com/2011/01/taiwan-day-2-first-ride.html
The first ride goes like this. I leave the apartment and in 2 minutes I'm thinking, "WTF did I get myself into?" In 5 minutes I'm out of town and there are bike lanes everywhere. I have a general idea where I'm going, basically straight to county route 7, then left and stay on 7 for a while, then left at the alt-route 7 back to town. Once I get to town I'll look at the GPS map and see where I started. I almost made it without needing the map, but it did save me some headache at the very end.
The route 7 road was a gradual climb that I didn't realize while I was going up:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/61367918
But when I started to go down suddenly I felt great. Surprise, that. The roads are narrow out there but there are few cars so it works out. The big danger is the gutters along the side of the road which are a foot deep and a foot wide, and promise massive amounts of pain if you drop into one. So when I get passed by a tour bus, I get a little nervious.
As a note, the blog links all have the daily pics which are each a set on Flickr. I'm taking 20-75 a day at this point so I can't post them all.
It was good to get out on the bike, but legs were dead for much of the ride. Weather has been "cool" which is generally in the 50-65 range, though it did dip into the 40s the first night. The houses have no heat so it's cold in here.
The bike is heavy but it works which is what I want. I put super heavy duty tires on because I want to go the extra 9 yards to avoid a flat.
In all, very successful first ride. Should be an interesting trip in this regard. At one point I was seeing signs for LiShan (Pear Mountain) which was about 100 km away, all uphill. I found this link from some (I think) German who rode here last year:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/52933581
Total elevation is clearly a joke as you climb the whole time and top out between 6-7000 feet. That looks like a lot but after today's ride it really doesn't look that crazy. It pitches up a bit in the last 10 miles but still not too crazy. I should be caught up with this thing tomorrow at some point.
Smile! You're on a bike again!