The Other Don Kelly

Morning weigh-in: 190.0#, 15.5% BF

Spent most of the morning working on various projects in the basement, mostly cleanup and brew equipment maintenance, but I also managed to find and set up my trainer. I’ll get in a short ride later in the day, hopefully.

I’ve been pretty religious about the morning yoga and exercise, so that’s good, and blogging has been pretty consistent as well. Next up in my resolutions list: the cello. I got it out, tuned it up, and have been playing a few scales every day but that’s about it. I should be ramping up soon enough…

Morning Weigh-in: 188.0#, 14.0% BF (I’m still convinced that my actual body fat percentage is much higher…)

This weekend was like being shot out of a cannon.

On Saturday we hosted Sarah A’s 40th birthday party, which was basically about 40 people, including maybe a dozen kids — actual children, that is, not twenty-somethings. We got up early and I started the outdoor oven — we would be making pizza for the party — then we cleaned the house, got in some supplies and, with some help from Sarah’s parents and Mark, decorated for the party. The party itself started at 4:00, we cooked the pizza around 6:00, which was awesome but just a drop in the ocean of food we had on hand, and those burdened by kids (including grandparents on babysitter duty) all left by around 8:00. The rest of the party was smaller, and less intense with the kids gone, but things didn’t wind down until around 1:00.

Sunday should been a later morning than it was, but Anne was going to meet Ben and Renee at Lake Nockamixon for some ice skating — I dislike skating, but I could go for a hike while they were on the ice. Unfortunately, when I went to warm the car up, it wouldn’t turn over… Call AAA, change the plans a bit: Renee picked up Anne while I stayed to deal with the car. The same mechanics came out as for the last car problem two years ago, and they got lost again on the way.  They jumped the car and it started up, I ran it for an hour to give the battery some juice, and we were golden but it’s going in for a battery check tomorrow.

In the afternoon we went to Stroudsburg High School, to see Anne’s teacher do a violin concerto with the Pocono Community Orchestra. We went up (in our car, which added some excitement) with Jeff and Krista, and got there way early so we explored downtown Stroudsburg for a bit (OK, we found a bar), then saw the concert, which was awesome — the orchestra was OK, but Mike was incredible.

We stayed in last night, and were in bed by 10:00. Unfortunately, I must have pulled something in my upper back or neck, and could not get comfortable — this is the same back issue I’ve had before, by the way. I finally found a halfway comfortable position, but it was not what I’m used to and I woke up with vertigo — remember that? Ugh…

I’ve made a big decision though, and today I will be putting the bike up on the trainer. I’ll try to maybe get in a half hour of moderate spin every day, enough to keep me from falling apart — it’s just been too cold lately, and now it’s about to warm up and become mucky; it’s time to train indoors for a while.

Morning weigh-in: 188.5#, 14.5% BF

Not much to say: we stayed in last night, and I did my morning yoga both yesterday and today. Breakfast was oatmeal with apples and cottage cheese, lunch was a reuben at Syb’s Deli — we did a major food-shopping day today, including an epic visit to the Allentown Farmer’s Market. I like the drop in weight, but I think it’s really just noise.

We have that party tomorrow, and it’s so cold I really don’t want to leave the house, so I suspect that we’ll be staying in tonight as well.

I was rushing through that last post, and though (in discussion with others) I noticed that New Years resolutions seem to have become a bit passé, I still like to think about where I am at this time of year, and where I want to be in the coming year. So here are some more, more realistic resolutions:

• Ride More: It’s a bit surprising to me how much I fell off my cycling, especially considering how much I really like it. So, definitely I plan on riding more.
• Ride MTB A Lot More: I’ve got time, and I have a great bike that barely sees any of the riding that it was meant for; I should be doing a lot more mountain biking. Meantime, the few times I got out this year (and last year) I had so much fun it was almost a religious experience. So OK, there will be a lot more mountain biking this year.
• Start Every Morning With Yoga/Exercise: I started this morning. Again, I don’t know why I don’t do this more, it feels so good when I do it. Well, now it’s a resolution…
• Get Serious About The Cello: I see a lot of fun happening that I could be a part of, but I take it up half-heartedly over and over again, never get past square zero, and then I drop it, losing whatever I might have gained. I think I might look into going back for lessons again, as well as just, you know, practicing…
• Step Away From The Computer: Say what? Not really, but I think I can do with a lot less of that listless browsing that eats time and just makes me feel like I just wasted an afternoon watching television.
• Blog More: I think I’d like to be able to say I write something every day. We’ll see how that goes, but I’ll make the attempt.

Anyway, that’s all I have for now. My next list will probably be “places I want to ride this year.” For now, I am off to do my belated annual New Year’s Day hike.

Happy New Year to all my readers! Not much revelry last night: we stayed in with Emmi and Kyle, baked some Chicago-style deep dish pizzas, and only braved the five degree outdoors to bang on a pot when the new year arrived. (They left for Durham this morning.) Unfortunately, our new year is starting on a somber note: we’re leaving in a few minutes to go to upstate New York, near Ringwood, for the wake of a friend’s brother. So no hike, no bike ride… Tomorrow will be our traditional New Year’s.

Some resolutions:

• Blog more.
• Ride more.
• Ride MTB way more.
• Uh…

Running around, doing Christmas and post-Christmas chores, cleaning the house for guests etc, and I just thought I’d link to what I wrote about this time ten years ago.

Merry Christmas!

I’m just sitting here, working on a few chores, bills etc, and watching the chili cook itself in the crock pot. It should be ready tonight, but we’re not going to eat it until Thursday night, when Emmi & Kyle, and Ben, all arrive for our Christmas gathering. I am almost caught up with my Christmas shopping…

On Friday we went into Philly (by way of REI, where I finally got new boots), for a birthday lunch with Ben and his girlfriend Candace. We went into Port Richmond, a part if the city I’d never seen before, and apparently a heavily Polish neighborhood of long standing. Storefronts in Polish: funeral parlors, travel agents, even a BYO strip club (we joked that they played Polka stripper music), but most important: many Polish restaurants. Candace knew the area, and she knew of a place with “the best Polish food in town,” which is where we had our lunch. Much delicious, heavy food, then we went to the hipster coffee shop up the street before our trip home.

Saturday was rainy, so that “Christmas Lights” night ride did not happen, but we did get together with Liz H-D for our annual “fancy dress cocktails” at the Hotel Bethlehem. We also ran into Erin and Todd out with some of their friends, so the party went a bit later than expected…

Christmas Eve morning started a corresponding bit later than expected, but in the afternoon we went to Jeff and Crista’s farm for their annual bonfire, then we went with Anne’s mom to the Christmas pageant/service at the meeting house. That was followed by a rather subdued night out — a lot of places closed early — but we got our annual post-pageant Christmas Eve beer with Will & Martha and Peter and Anna, and Rick with Liz and Joey. Good to see everybody, and on the way home it started to snow.

Yesterday we laid low, with another late morning and another big breakfast, and an afternoon bike ride along the towpath north of Jim Thorpe. They got a bit more snow, maybe two inches or so, than the dusting we got back home. It was a bit of work in the snow, but the ride and the day were beautiful.