Well….after getting out on the bike yesterday to mostly just wet trails with patches of snow and ice, I expected that they would be even better today…and at the start they were…but, as the temp started to fall, the slight dusting of snow that had started to melt refroze and black ice appeared all over the trail…so the mantra that I needed to keep repeating to myself was “pay attention…slow down and don’t lean the bike” about every thirty seconds…trying to rid myself of 8 months of warm riding habits is not as easy as it sounds since I rarely turn the handlebars and steer the bike by leaning it into the corners….on the fast downhill/uphill combination I even got the bike into a two wheel slide at over 20 mph and I can’t remember ever doing that before….after that, I really did pay a lot more attention and I did slow down…and got back here basically intact other than my hands and feet were damn near frozen since going slower left me out in the cold for an additional 15-20 minutes and that is enough to push me over the edge…but, I survived it…and I did go over 5,900 miles this morning…won’t make it to 6,000 but 5,900 isn’t bad….
Monthly Archives: December 2020
4 years and the idiot still doesn’t know how government works…
Well…you would think that after 4 years of being in charge of the government, the idiot trump would have some idea how it works…but you would be wrong for thinking it. After throwing his little temper tantrum over the weekend where he said he was going to veto the covid relief bill and the bill that would keep the government running, idiot boy signed both bills….but not until costing almost 20 million people 630 dollars each since they will lose a week of unemployment benefits that they wouldn’t have if the moron would have signed the bills on Saturday. That might not sound like much to the asshole in chief, but to people who will go hungry without it, it is a pretty damn big deal…and, I’m sure there will be some people who will be homeless just for that week’s delay. The worst part of the whole thing is the idiot stating that he has sent a “redlined” version of the bills back to Congress and wants them to make changes that he has requested…cripes, how stupid is that? The bills he signed are laws and can’t be changed unless they are replaced by new ones…and the *president doesn’t have a line item veto and no one around him knew or told him? The Congress has already said they are not going to change the bills…and what leverage does idiot boy have now other than tweeting nasty tweets at the senators and house members? You know, a good place to have started to get these changes would have been in the negotiations between the administration and congress…but trump was too damn busy shouting “election fraud” and golfing to be bothered with that…what a waste of space…
December 28th
Well…I get so tired having to remember how to sleep and that there is a specific way I have to lie in bed to sleep at all…and I missed it completely last night so I feel like crap today…and I’m coughing and my head is plugged up and that is a direct result of sleeping on my left side instead of my right…crap…I guess I’m just getting old…pretty worn out right now, too, so I’m going to hope the coffee works pretty fast…the damn faucet in the sink started to leak again yesterday so I’m going to throw one more cartridge at it and see if that helps…one good thing is that I now know how to replace them pretty quickly so it’s not really a big job like it was taking the original one out that had been in there for 40 years….it really does look like I’ll end up in an apartment since the house listings have dried up over the holidays and I haven’t gotten any the past few days…and that sucks…not much more to say about that….didn’t get anything done yesterday but ride the bike but I do need to start packing my stuff up and cleaning today after the bike ride….and I need to get on the bike as soon as it gets light since it is only going to get colder as the day goes on….more later….
The baby pouts and the nation burns…
Well…we have a pouting baby for *president who is going to let the nation burn and people die just because he didn’t like the truthful reporting that he is not doing a damn thing and that includes the covid relief negotiations that led to a bill being passed…so now the pouting baby won’t sign the relief bill or the continuing resolution that is needed to keep the government functioning…and more people are going to die because of it…and 18 million Americans are losing their unemployment, 24 million face eviction, and millions of small businesses will fail without the funding that is in the relief bill…and the baby in chief is doing it all just because his own behavior made him look bad. One insider told a reporter that he is also doing this to “punish” the repubs in congress who don’t support his lies about “voter fraud” who he sees as betraying him…I put all of this on the repubs who knew what he was and what he would do when they unanimously voted to keep him in office even though he committed enough crimes to lock anyone else up for the rest of their lives….and they knew he would lash out at the country when he lost the election and they still support him even to this day…not one of them have said boo about throwing people out of their homes because they just don’t care…and this lays bare who the repubs are…but, people still vote for them, too, so I guess almost half the country doesn’t care either….and that’s a shame…geez…
Got a bike ride in…
Well…finally…I got a bike ride in this morning and it wasn’t too bad…just a little cold and I’ve already warmed up from it…and the trails were okay…some snow and ice but nothing that was worrying at all…and that should make for clear trails tomorrow…I will be curious to see how my legs fare after being off the bike for three days…they feel a little sore right now so I’m sure they’ll get worse overnight…but, I didn’t go too hard so maybe it won’t be too bad…just got in from washing the car and bike so I think I’m going to make that my work for the day and do the kitchen tomorrow since there is a third soccer match that is starting right now and I feel like watching and vegging some….so, I’m not sure about a political one right now but maybe later….
December 27th
Well…man, I feel like crap this morning…didn’t get to bed til late and then up around 6 or so…it was even a lot of work to go out for the paper so after I do this, I’m going to take it easy for a while and maybe even take a nap when the first soccer match comes on at 9…I do have to figure out when I’m going to get on the bike but that won’t be for a while…maybe this afternoon….I did get some work done yesterday and I have a clean bathroom to show for it but I’m not sure what I’m going to do today….maybe nothing if I don’t feel better soon….just worn out and I think it’s stress from not finding a house yet….but, I’m not too sore so I’ll take that and build on it…I am going to take a look at the trails today to see what they look like…I’m hoping I can ride on them instead of the street but I wouldn’t mind riding into downtown just to see what it looks like…haven’t ridden there since spring and I’m sure the bike lanes will be clear so I can get at least a few miles in….just can’t go 4 days without getting out of here and getting some exercise….not much to do today….coffee, coffee, coffee and then some news is all I can think about right now….more later…
Too many rules in racing….
Well…if you’ve watched any type of racing in the past 20 years or so, you have seen the explosion of rules that have taken all of the innovation out of the sport. Watch any Indy car race for example…every car is a Dallara that looks exactly the same as all the rest…and all of the engines must meet a rule package that is tested all season to make sure that no one figures out how to make more power or reliability…when I started following this series, there were every kind of car imaginable and they only had to have 4 tires and then anything else went…you had Offenhouser 4 cylinders, Ford V-8′s, Novis, diesels, turbines…front wheel drive, all wheel drive, rear wheel drive cars and any body work they needed to cover the engine and driver….and it was cool to see what people had come up with over the winter to try to get an advantage…now they shave .003 of an inch off a side plate of a wing and the car is disqualified….too many damn rules. This misguided reliance on rules permeates NASCAR, too…with cars being rejected in inspection for being .0002 inches too low or for having a rear fender that is a 16th of an inch too wide and all of this is measured by lasers which is taking all of the creativity out of the sport…I sound like an old guy but, again, when I started following nascar in the early 60′s you had people like Smokey Yunick showing up with a Chevelle that had a foot cut out of the center of the car to lower the drag…and no one would have found out but someone parked a rental Chevelle next to it and then you could easily see the difference…and what about Freddie Lorenzen’s 1966 Ford “banana car” that had the front of the car pushed down by a foot while the rear had been bent up by a foot to give it more downforce…or the special manufacturer cars like the Charger Daytona or Torina Talledaga that gave each manufacturer an advantage for a while. And the engines….like the Chrysler Hemi, the Ford Boss 429, and the Ford SOHC 427 that were built just for this series….and now the engines are basically all the same and in the truck series, they ARE all the same engine built by Ilmor and put in the Fords, Toyotas, and Chevys…no innovation at all other than what is allowed by the series…and this has made all of the series just too damn boring. I think they should have a”run what you brung” series that goes back to 4 wheels and a driver and no other regulations…I mean Bill Elliot lapped Talladega at over 215 mph all the way back in 1985 and the cars have just gotten slower and slower since and how can that be exciting? Okay…that’s enough for now…don’t even get me started about formula 1….it will take one of these just for that….
Might do a few of these today…
Well….I’ve already made the decision to not ride the bike today since it is only going to get to 30 and I just don’t feel like getting cold…it is the first time this year that I’ve taken 3 days in a row off and I don’t feel guilty at all…and that is weird with my well developed sense of guilt…I did get the bathroom cleaned already and will probably do the kitchen later today as I listen to soccer…and soccer will get me through until 4:30 or so and it’s nice to have something running in the background that I don’t have to pay attention to…regular tv shows just don’t do it since they demand more attention than soccer…I did get a few texts from one of my nieces last night and that was a little odd since I have only talked to her probably twice in her life…but it was kind of nice that someone was thinking about me and to find out my youngest sister is still in remission from the bone cancer she had….hmmm…what else? Not much right now but I do have one on racing that I want to do…but it may be a repeat and I don’t want to do that….but, I really don’t want to search through 9,000 of these to find out….more later…
December 26th
Well…the day after christmas used to be my favorite day of the year…when the running for presents and visits to family were over and all I had to do was just get up and do whatever I wanted for the day…but, since I don’t celebrate it anymore, it’s just another day…oh, well…I did sleep okay last night but feel pretty slow this morning and need to ease into the day…not sure if I’m going to try to ride the bike today since it will have to be on the bike lanes since the trails will still be snow covered and icy…I did watch the new WW 1984 movie last night and I’m not sure how it got a 7.8 rating on rotten tomatoes…not much to it and I would rate it a 5 at best…but it killed 2 1/2 hours so I guess that’s okay….didn’t get anything done….again…yesterday but I need to get off my butt today and clean the bathroom at least…still working on leftovers so I don’t need to cook and that is a little boring…I may try to make some scalloped potatoes tomorrow and will need to work on a second meal, too, and I’m not sure what that would be yet…need to look in the freezer to see what’s there….not much to do today…Man U plays in a half hour so that will take up most of the morning…or a good part of it and then there are other games to watch…but right now it’s more coffee and some news….more later…
I’m bored…again…
Well….yeah, it’s another day and I’m bored…have already gotten everything done I wanted to and it’s only 12:45…so it looks like another grind it out day…can’t even find anything to watch on tv other than Doctor Who….just watched the first one with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan and that just makes me even more meh on the new ones….I did have to listen to some Mountain this morning with Leslie West dying Wed night and had it up pretty loud….which you really should do when you listen to them….haven’t been thinking about politics much the past couple of days and I really don’t want to write about it….at least right now but maybe later in the day if the boredom holds….don’t feel like cleaning today so I think I won’t…or maybe just do the bathroom counter and sink since they are looking pretty ugly….I don’t get this….my forearms hurt like crazy right now and they are stiff…I feel like I have a bug coming on and it is about time for my yearly cold that goes on for a month…and I have been coughing and sneezing this morning but with shutting down the downstairs project weeks ago, I had hoped that my allergies would subside some but I’m not feeling it since I wake up every morning with my head plugged up and coughing…oh, well….hey, it’s one o’clock now! Only 10 hours and I can go to sleep again……that’s how bored I am….