Solving the Puzzle

1/25/11
I was having a rough time on some projects today for work. Some "issues" surfaced and I need to do some research in order to determine the best course of action to take as resolution.

It was stressing me out a little.

I took this picture of Snickers and found some similarities between the two of us.....besides being old.


We put treats in the dog toys to keep Snickers and Ruby entertained and mentally sharp. I watched him working on this toy with stern determination to get the treat out. Nothing was going to stop him from getting the reward inside. Sometimes you just have to attack the task at hand repeatedly using a variety of methods until you get the job done.

Snickers and I have the same drive to get the job done....whatever it takes.

I resolved my work issues. I like a challenge.

Game On.

Mmm...Lemony

1/23/11
Is that spelled right? Lemony..lemonie...lemoniey. Whatever.

That is lemon zest right there. Aimee was making a batch of scones. Mind you that these are not your typical hockey puck scones. These are way better. I'd give you the recipe but then Aimee would kill me.......help me.


1/24/11
Sitting on the office desk was one of my favorite mugs, can ya tell why. I had some hot chocolate in the morning.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

1/22/11
It has been very cold around Northern Ohio. Let's face it...it's been cold everywhere. But that didn't stop the Snow Queen (Aimee) and I from getting together with our friends for a morning run. The temperature was -4F when we started and the snow was ankle deep on the trails.

After the run I took this picture of Aimee's eyelashes proving that she is the Snow Queen.

We ran with our friends Dale, Tina, Deb and TriGuyJT. You can read JT's blog post at Iditarod for Humans.

Me, Aimee, JT, Deb, Dale, Tina

Some may call us nuts for being out there, but spending time with friends out in the cold weather........

that was beauty in the eye of this beholder.

Game On.

Cycling Legs and Pink Glasses

1/20/11
As I was getting ready to spend some time on the bike trainer I looked and down decided to take a picture of my leg in my Pearl Izumi shorts.


1/21/11
During my annual eye exam I was waiting at the counter and found these cute sunglasses for kids. Yes I did try them on and they did fit.

Broken

I guess it's bound to happen. When you want to be competitive and have set certain goals for yourself it's....just....bound to....happen.

Hopefully it's nothing serious. Maybe the muscles are just sore, tired or strained. The goal is to avoid a full blown injury like a tear, serious inflammation, stress fracture, sickness, blood. Oh please don't let there be blood.

Sometimes we just feel broken. I watched several friends become broken this past year. Jason is currently dealing with foot issues. Patty is recovering from hers. And I can't keep track of who is sick.

I feel broken today....because of yesterday.

Tuesday is typically a double workout day. Crossfit in the morning and run speed work in the evening.

Kate put us through a skill set and regular WOD.

The skill involved 5x3 Hang Power Clean to max. Description and video.

I was on my last set of three at max. I managed to pull two but not the third. I had terrible form on the second and quite possibly strained my right trapezius and index finger. Index finger? Don't ask me how but it hurts today.

The WOD consisted of:
21-15-9
Back Squat
Kettlebell Swing (55 lbs)

I took it easy on the squats and went with a lower weight than prior. Partly due to the number of repetitions and second the run workout I would have in the evening. Today my inner quads are sore.

I felt great after I was all done at Crossfit. I wouldn't feel the effects until later in the evening and morning.

My evening run workout was done on the treadmill due to some rainy crappy weather.

I preferred the treadmill since I had some goal times/pace to hit. I needed to complete 4 x 400m. I haven't told you about my current training goals so lets just say the pace was fast. Each interval needed to be complete around 1:20. I'll let you do the math to figure out overall pace and speed.

I knew it was going to be hard but I had to suck it up. This is the training plan I signed up for and Aimee had done the same workout in the morning.

Intervals 1 and 2 were good. I could feel a twinge in my right glute/quad so I kept things under control during the hard push. Interval 3 was a struggle but I kept it together. Interval 4.....definitely the hardest effort. I had to really focus on what I was doing to make sure several things didn't happen.....loose my legs and fall....get spit off the back of the treadmill......puke. Actually I didn't feel like puking until I completed the last interval and was sucking in as much air as possible next to the treadmill.

I'm not sure how much the evening workout contributed to my soreness this morning but I feel a little like the picture below.......broken.

Fortunately I will mend faster than the window. It's been like that for over a year.....two winters for sure. I'll fix it in the spring...right after race season.


Game On

Numerology

1/18/11

I've heard that there can sometimes be special meanings in numbers.


You can click on the picture for the hidden meaning.

Music.....

...makes the world go 'round. Aimee and I are putting some playlists together for some spinning sessions. Oh yeah we will be using songs from all of these CDs.

1/17/11

Get me home in time for dinner

1/14/11

This was the most important piece of paper in my possession on Friday. This was my ticket home after being in Alabama for the week.


1/15/11
Saturday I wanted to get in a bike workout but had to adjust my rear derailleur. That little screw above the "H" was adjusted about half a turn. The bike shifts great now.


1/16/11
Aimee and I spent the evening cooking dinner together. This risotto was accompanied by some artichoke hearts and walnuts. The salmon with red wine mushroom sauce was pretty damn good also.

Traveling Man

1/12/11

While eating breakfast I noticed the following on my fork. It turns out the plate was also environmentally friendly.


1/13/10

Sometimes it's all about knowing what buttons to push. The small white button starts the power on the computers systems I install. I have to use a pen to push the button....and these systems start at $30,000.


This button starts the Nissan Maxima I have been driving this week. I'm really getting used to the keyless system. The car cost about the same as the above computer system, at least this time.

Picture catch up

I have fallen behind already and here I am playing catch-up. But you will soon realize why the delay. Oh yeah...delays. That's been my world the past couple of days.

1/08/11
So going back to Saturday.....it was time to finally take down the Christmas decorations. While Aimee was busy with running some errands I put away the trees (two of them), bagged up some larger items, packed the knick knacks that I knew where they should go. I couldn't figure out where a small batch needed to go so I waited for Aimee to get home. That's Santa in the background.


1/09/11
Sunday morning Aimee and I lead a spin session at Coca Crossfit. Before we started I took this picture of the pull-up rig in the gym. Rogue Fitness sponsors Kate as an athlete and their equipment is very nice.


1/10/11
Monday. Where do I even start. Monday actually started on Sunday. I was flying to Birmingham, AL for work. As we approached Birmingham the pilot was told to divert to Huntsville due to the weather. We wound up stuck in Huntsville for the night. This winter storm was bringing Alabama to a stand-still just like many other southern states. Huntsville totaled 9 inches of snow that night. That is their average snowfall for one winter.

I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with US Airways, not my favorite people right now, and the company travel agency, Egencia......now these people were very helpful and took care of me.


1/11/11
Tuesday afternoon, today, I finally arrived where I should have been on Sunday night. Gadsden, AL is a city in northeastern Alabama. My one hour drive took about 1.5 due to the icy conditions on the road. I managed to get 3 good hours of work done before calling it a night. I was going to stop by the local YMCA to check on their schedule only to find them closed. So I put together a workout I could do in my hotel room. In honor of 1/11/11 I did

1 WOD (Workout Of the Day) consisting of:

• Squats
• Dips
• Pushups
• Situps

11 reps
11 rounds
for time

Overall I did 121 of each exercise in 14:02. The squats and situps were fine, but the pushups and dips fried my arms. I could hear Kate in the back of my mind yelling, "KEEP IT UP" or "HALF WAY THERE". I pushed myself pretty hard being on my own. Having the clock running helped a lot.

Snowcap

Somehow I ran out of time yesterday to post my daily picture. It still counts if I post the day after, right?

Thursday night we received some snow which covered the backyard. I took this picture from inside the backdoor Friday morning. This is a bike in our backyard.


A more close-up view shows the Schwinn badge from Thursday's picture is almost covered.

Snowy Bike

We got a fresh coat of snow today and my poor bike is stuck outside.

I wear every day.....

A Facebook friend posted the title on his wall this morning. He was referring to his LiveStrong bracelet. Unfortunately this little reminder was caused by a cycling friend of his who has been admitted to the hospital with advanced cancer.

I thought about my LiveStrong bracelet and when I first started wearing it. Our friend Tina had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I started to wear it in support of her (she is fully recovered now). That was in 2006. I have worn my yellow wristband ever since. I have added a black band and they complement each other.

The Yellow helps me remember those that are fighting or have fought cancer.

The Black tells me that no matter how hard I feel something is, it will never come close to what it's like to do battle with a potentially fatal disease.



Game On

Working Together

Sometimes the simplest image can convey the right meaning. The paintbrush below reminds me that sometimes you just can't do it alone. Sometimes we need help.....with a project at work, raising children, getting through a tough workout, surviving a hard emotional time in our life.

A single strand from the brush can certainly paint the intricate details of a small figurine, but it won't be able to handle an entire room.

C is for Cookie...

...that's good enough for me.

How about oatmeal raisin cookies. One of them even had frosting on it.

Micro Photography

I really only have one resolution this year. Post more on the blog. And to help with that I am going to take and post more pictures. Last year I started a Photo365 where you take pictures everyday. I made it a couple months before...I lost interest...motivation....subject matter...whatever.

So this year I wanted to give it another go. But to help with the pictures I have decided to run with a particular style of photography......micro-photography. Extreme close-ups of items. For some reason I like the minute details involved with these types of photos. So here is my first picture.

Aimee and I have been redecorating the home office. Fresh paint, new curtains, additional flair for the walls will come along soon.


This is the end cap of the curtain rod I installed yesterday. It gets interesting trying to use the flash on the camera when you are so close the object. Definitely something to play with.

Polar Plunge

For the past 6 years I have started the new year the same way...with a quick dip in Lake Erie. The Polar Plunge has been a lot of fun over the years with many friends. Here is a quick recap of past plunges that I have done.

If there are no pictures click on the year to be taken to the post for that plunge.

2005 - Double Dipping. I did the CTC Polar Plunge on New Years Day then a second dip in March to help with the Tsunami relief efforts. This was before I started my Blog so here are some pics from that year.

We had about a dozen people this first year.



These pics are from the Tsunami plunge.



2006 - For some reason I don't have any pictures. Still looking.

2007 - The plunge was held at Edgewater Park on a mild winter day. No ice, cool water and warm air. It was also Jason's first plunge.

2008 - I had to miss this year because I was out of town for work.

2009 - Back at Huntington Beach where the sand was covered with a sheet of ice. I almost face planted running into the water.

2010 - This was the coldest plunge yet. The snow was blowing almost horizontally.

2011 - This year was a challenge. The beaches around Cleveland were already frozen by Christmas. I have never seen this happen in recent years. The plunge was moved to a smaller beach where Mark and Ken cleared an area for us to plunge into. We had to line up and jump in individually. The water was 33 degrees and the air was 50. It was still a great time had by all.

Mark clearing the ice

My first plunge....


I decided to plunge again with my teammates..Jason, Mike, Ken, me and new teammate Andrew.

This is also the first day on my Photo365 project. Even though I didn't take the pictures...thanks Aimee...I am counting them for the year.