Well…after getting an indoor ride in this morning and making lunch, I decided to get one last outdoor ride in, too so I jumped on the bike and froze my butt off for 15 miles….my fingers are still a little painful and I’ve bee back here for an hour so I’m not sure if it was a good idea or not…I sure did need the exercise but I seem to be more sensitive to the cold as I get older and it just makes it too brutal for me to go out…and it looks like the weather is going to keep me off it for the rest of the year with the rain/snow that is coming in the next few days, and then it is going to get really cold with highs in the 20’s next week and even down to 21 for a high next Friday….I am still trying to get to the record for the year but that will mean two indoor rides every day and I’m not sure I can muster up the dedication to do that…I guess we’ll see starting tomorrow….damn, I’m still freezing…think I’ll put the heating pad on my back to help that…..
All posts by James DeVol
True fusion?
Well…I think I’ll talk a little about science this morning since I haven’t been able to find a political topic yet and I just put some chicken in the oven for lunch…yesterday, there was a news story that would be surprising if it’s true since true fusion has been 40 years away since I was a kid…so this story said that the National Ignition Facility, that uses lasers to compress a deuterium pellet to trigger fusion, got almost 20% more energy out of the reaction than they put into it….the holy grail of fusion reactors across the world…oh, I probably should explain what the difference is between fusion and fission reactors…in fission, atoms of uranium are split and the resulting heat is used to turn a steam turbine to create electricity…while in fusion atoms of deuterium are squeezed together by lasers or giant magnets to form a new element which also releases energy and that is what happens in the sun…one of the reasons that fusion is being pursued all over the world is that it is much more clean than fission with no leftover radioactive waste that piles up from the fission reactors currently in use….so the reporting has been breathless about this one event since it was the first time that more energy came out than went in to the start the reaction…but I’ll reserve judgement until they make the announcement tomorrow and the data is peer reviewed….more later….
December 12th
Well…damn…not sure how I’ve been running late for weeks now but I am…up at 5:07 but not out of bed til 7:17 and it’s pushing 8 and I just poured my first cup of coffee…so that will telegraph into the entire day and I don’t like that feeling….had an okay day yesterday and did get an outdoor ride in when I was supposed to have the day off for a rest day…so I should feel good about that but I don’t…if I could do one ride, I should have done two but I was so damn cold that I didn’t warm up until I put the heating pad on my back to keep it from seizing up…so I think I’ll start the day by riding downstairs and then maybe do an outdoor ride later if it warms up enough….didn’t do a damn thing other than ride yesterday but I am going to clean the bathroom today since it is coated in dust that I don’t see unless I have my glasses on…and I made the mistake of having them on yesterday….I just noticed that the nail on my right thumb is almost healed from the damage I did to it catching it on my fence raking over a year ago…it has been split down the middle since then but it only has about 1/4th of an inch to go and the split will be gone….not much to do today….just need the damn coffee to work so I can start moving but I guess until then I can read the news and sit here a bit…and then figure out what the day is going to look like….more later
People are embarrassed…
Well…just read a funny little article that says that people are now becoming embarrassed to drive their Teslas with the idiot musk revealing who he really is by his destruction of twitter and his trump like tweets that spew the same kind of right wing bullshit…and the sales of teslas are dropping like a rock as is it’s stock price that has dropped by 75% over the past year…so I wonder why the tesla board hasn’t done anything about musk since it appears he is intentionally trying to tank the stock for some reason? I know he hated twitter and the content moderation that kept the worst of the worst right wingers off the site but he is now running up against EU and UK regulations that require moderation and it is going to cost him millions after he just fired everyone at the company that did that task…and facebook just got a 230 million dollar fine in the UK for not doing enough to keep banned content off the site…so what the hell is his endgame? I know I used to like musk for the innovations of spacex but I’m done with him…I’m off twitter now and refuse to watch the spacex launches until he is gone…I really do hope he goes broke…so any of my readers who use twitter, please go over and try Mastodon…I find it relaxing and there are no ads….or Nazis…geez…
December 11th
Well…yeah, I was lazy and only did one of these yesterday but I will do better today…slept okay last night but still feel a little worn out this morning and I’m waiting for the coffee to work after going out to get the paper….there was supposed to be a big snow storm later this week but it looks like it’s going to be light instead of the feet of snow they are getting in the plains and mountains to the west….and I’m okay with that…if we can get through December with just a little snow, there are only two months of winter to endure and I can live with that…I’m re-thinking getting another car in the spring since I don’t really use mine much and I’m not going to be able to afford one after all the dental work…going to take the day off the bike today since I need to rest my legs a bit and I just don’t want to ride right now…I may go down there later since it only takes about 45 minutes to keep my guilt at bay but I don’t have to and I like having that option at least one day a week…didn’t get anything done yesterday…as you know…and today is going to be the same I think…but right now all I want is to have another cup of coffee and to read the news for a bit….no world cup on today so I am just going to run the tv in the background and veg it out a bit….more later….
December 10th
Well…damn, not sure how things changed but I didn’t get out of bed til after 7 again today and I still feel pretty worn out even without doing anything yesterday…and it’s almost 8 now and I need to get on the bike soon so I can be done before the world cup comes on at 10…I am going to try to get an outdoor ride in before the second cup match comes on at two but I’m still leery of going out in the cold…I did look for a pair of heated gloves the other day and I may buy a pair but then it dawned on me I have over 4 grand going out by March of next year and I shouldn’t spend any more money…if I add buying a new car that will be 12 grand and there is no way I can afford that…so, another reason to be depressed…not sure what I’m going to get done today since I haven’t planned for anything but I think I’ll move the spare mattress out of the dining room and into the spare bedroom so I can get at the trim in there…but what if I don’t want to? What if I just take the damn day off and do what I want? Yeah, I’m pretty conflicted this morning and even when I take a day off the guilts don’t let me enjoy it….and I’m tired of it….oh, well…I did finally get Yellowstone yesterday at the mid point of the second season and I am enjoying it now…thanks, Tom…..not much to do today…just need to shake off this malaise and get going but I think I’ll need another cup of coffee to do that….so I think I’ll get one and read a little news…more later….
Need to get off my butt…
Well…with another wasted day today, I really do need to get off my butt and get some work done around here…haven’t accomplished anything in weeks and it is starting to depress me…I do have an excuse with the world cup on but that is not enough to keep me from feeling guilty….going to start doing two rides indoors tomorrow so that will be something but I still don’t think I’ll make it to my goal for the year…oh, well…I did finally cook something other than ham today when I made chicken and roast potatoes for dinner and I need to make room for the ham bone in the freezer when I strip it down tomorrow…I think I’m puffy from all of the salt in the ham so I need to eat some other stuff for a while…I did get some Fuji apples wed and I can’t believe how hard they are…have had to cut them up into slices to be able to eat them…but I like the slices better anyway so that’s good…okay, can you tell I’m bored? I do have a book to read that I could work on but that just doesn’t interest me right now…okay, I’m done…
Covid isn’t over…
Well…after going out to the grocery store wed and being almost the only person in a mask, I can’t believe that people are still not protecting themselves….and the uptake rate of the latest vaccine booster is in the 25% range even in my age group and I can’t figure that out since the latest stats show that over 90% of the 500 deaths a day that are still occurring are people over 65…in an article I read today the hospitalization rate for children is the highest it’s ever been and the entire country is in the red of the highest cases there have ever been…so, what’s the deal? Are people just tired of the pandemic and think that if they ignore it the virus will go away? Whatever it is, I am not going to let my guard down with the possibility of long covid hanging over my head…so it looks like another year of isolation here as I do my best to not get this damn disease….and I will be wearing a mask whenever I go out and I will continue to get boosted whenever new vaccines come out…covid is not over…and I will not delude myself that it is…maybe I shouldn’t complain…after all, the virus is killing more repubs than dems and if it keeps up thye may never win another election…sick, I know…
December 9th
Well…damn, running late again today and I should feel okay with not getting out of bed til after 7 but I don’t….still worn out and I’m not sure why that would be…and I feel like I’ve gained most of the weight back that I’ve lost over the past year and I sure don’t know how that could be….oh, well….I did get a few things done yesterday but I’m not sure about today…I am going to get on the bike here in a few minutes but there won’t be an outdoor ride today with the wind blowing like crazy and rain/snow coming in a few hours out….the world cup starts up again today with two matches so I’ll have something to keep the boredom at bay….I do need to cook some of the chicken I got at aldis today and that will be a welcome change from ham although I still haven’t finished up the mashed potatoes and gravy I made to go with the ham….I did resist going out to daily deals to get some kielbasa they have on sale since it is not good for you and I have no room in the freezer for it after I put the chicken in….I did catch another mouse in here yesterday and that is the first one in about 6 months and I hope it’s the last one in a while….had to dispatch it with my billy club and that is not something I enjoy….not much to do today…just need to get more coffee in me and read some news before I get going on the bike….but I really have no motivation right now….ugh….more later….
Finally got to 1,000 miles downstairs…
Well…it’s been a long, sweaty slog but I finally got to 1,000 miles today on the downstairs bike…and instead of just rolling over and start counting over, the computer on the bike just started flashing error messages so I had to reset it…and the problem with that was I couldn’t find the instructions so I spent an hour and a half looking for them everywhere and finally found them right on the table next to the couch in a bunch of paid bills….and, with getting to 4,800 on the outdoor bike yesterday, that makes 5,800 miles for the year so far and I am wondering if I can do the last 250 miles to get to my record for a year in the next three weeks…that will mean and outdoor and indoor ride every day and I’m not sure I want to do that much work…but I guess we’ll see…didn’t go outside today since I feel cold and just couldn’t get myself to go out and freeze like yesterday…I think I’m going to look for some heated gloves to just see what they cost…..