Category: Life News

4 City Mileage Run

Since I have not been travelling much with my new job, I have not been earning miles. So, in order to “preserve” my Continental Platinum Elite status for one more year, I needed to earn 5,210 miles. I just did that Saturday. I found a cheap flight and flew from DC to Houston to San Francisco to Newark and back to DC. Long day that was – especially when the first flight out left at 6:00am.

When I left the house that morning at 4:30am, it was cold. Not just chilly, nor freezing, but bone-chilling, finger-blackening cold. Well, for a displaced Houston boy at least. It was 18 degrees at the coldest point I saw and almost had to pull over the bike to put my hands on the engine to warm them up.

But, all ended up well with me getting to the airport on time and with all extremeties intact. I got upgraded on all possible segments as well – that is ALWAYS welcome.

So – I’m going to be Platinum at least one more year… I’ll lose it next, though.

Back To Work

2012-01-08 23:29:23

It seems like I’ve been away for so long, that I got used to being home. I was dreading the fact that I’d have to work a WHOLE WEEK this week. Funny how it only takes a little slip to convince you that what you normally do is way too arduous.

So, i’m back at work after a great Thanksgiving weekend. I actually got some rest, fixed some things on the web site and did some yard work [of course, there’s still more of THAT to be done before the next snow].

The rain has stopped and it’s bright and sunny outside. Of course, that means that it’s just plain COLD outside now. Luckilly, I have a new fleece under-jacket to wear under my leather for extra warmth as well as some glove liners. Now, all I need is warmer boots… and heated hand grips… and a heated seat… that’s all.

But, when the snow comes, and I mean REALLY comes down, I may have to steal Laura’s car. I haven’t yet tried to ride below freezing, although I came close a couple of weeks ago. It was … uncomfortable. Brrr.

And I love every minute of it.

Happy White Thanksgiving!

When we wake up in the morning, we will look out our windows and see that white flakes of frozen water have fallen from the sky and smothered the nearby plants. Yes, you heard me right: snow. Snow now? In November? Where do we live, Montana? Nope. Virginia. Not usually known for its harsh winters, this first snow of the year is unusually early. This doesn’t usually happen in fall, but more towards the middle of winter. Last year, I don’t remember snow until January.

Maybe it’s getting cooler around here – like a Little Ice Age.

So much for Global Warming, eh?

Happy [White] Thanksgiving!

Weathering The Storm [Wilma In Cozumel]

I ran across this post on Divester:

Divester contributor Eric Brodeur has a dive buddy who rode out Hurricane Wilma in Cozumel. Locked in his hotel’s main dining room for three days, his friend nailed pieces of furniture to the walls to reinforce the shutters, “stacked credenzas and other furniture against one doorway to the outside as a barricade to keep it from collapsing,” and generally went without sleep for the duration. What a terrible, exhausting experience. What’s more: when it was all over, his escape from Mexico was equally stressful and chaotic. Check out this, uh, “trip report” on Eric’s blog and be happy you weren’t there.Or, as Eric writes, “if you suffer from ADD, skip the words and go straight to the photos.”

 

What makes this important to me is that the resort in the pictures is my favorite resort in Cozumel: Fiesta Americana. Having stayed there before many times, I’m saddened by the devastation. I am, however, glad to hear of the co-operative nature of not only the staff but also of the residents/tourists when the chips are down.

I encourage you to read the entire post – it’s quite moving.

Cold Up Here!

It’s starting to get rather chilly. This morning, on my ride to work, I began to shiver.

“Hmmm…”, I thought, “it seems to be getting somewhat cold.”

Almost at the end of my ride, I started up the steep slope of the mountain only to feel the temperature drop yet again. “Did I say somewhat cold? I meant pretty cold.”

It was 44 degrees.

I think I’m glad I was already planning to stop by the motorcycle shop this evening to buy a heavier winter-ish riding jacket. I really hope they have warmer gloves! I might have to invest in some thermal underwear, too…

A Return To Two Wheels

Now that I’ve gotten the splint off my wrist, I can now exercise my hand and do things that have for the past three weeks been rather difficult. Like riding the motorcycle. Today, I took my longest ride since the accident – 43 miles. It’s the usual commute to my customer site, so I’m familiar with the drive. However, this was the first time that I’ve ridden that far since the accident.

And, of course, it was also raining…

And I’ll do it again when it’s time to go home from work…

Splint-less

This morning, I got my wrist x-rayed again and it appears that my fracture is mostly healed. I say “mostly” because we could barely see it to begin with and you never know unless you do a bone scan… that sounds scary – “bone scan”…

Anyway, I can ditch the splint now and start to strengthen back my wrist and regain my range of motion. I was going to ride my motorcycle to work this week, but I will be in Houston for the funeral and therefore unable to ride my bike. Ah, well. Guess I have to wait a week for that. Probably for the best anyway.