A weekend in New Hampshire

Brought the kids to steamy New Hampshire over the weekend…..Storyland and Clarks Trading Post. It was very fun, yet exhausting.
Here’s a numerical breakdown:

0 – the amount of power we had when we got to the condo where we were staying. A severe thunder storm knocked the power out as we were just shy of Glen, NH. It wasn’t long before it came back on, after only minor panic had set in.

4:16 – the time in the morning that the rooster across the way decided to start Cock-a-Doodle-doing…..

12 – o’clock noon Saturday, when all hell broke loose, aka, the meltdowns. Both kids melted at 12. Unfortunately, the meltdown started on the Swan Boat ride, a 10 minute ride that felt like a half hour……Lou, recovered pretty quickly, after she got some food into her. Max, not so quick….(see “9” below).

6, minimum – the number of times I thought I was going to hurl, while on the rides. Rob doesn’t do the spinning, twirling rides, so I had to ride the Twisting Turtles, Alice’s Tea cups, Crazy Barn, Whirling Whales and the Dutch Shoes (some twice, once with each child)…..for rides that are supposed to be scaled down, they still move pretty quickly.

1 – the number of families I saw at Storyland that I knew from home.

9 – percentage of alcohol in the Unibroue beer (Don de Dieu or La Fin Du Monde, I forget which one it actually was) we drank to stay sane.

2 – number of visits to Glen Junction, a great place to eat breakfast. They have a few trains that periodically start “choo-chooing” and moving around the restaurant on a set of tracks set close to the ceiling. The trains always seemed to start to go just that the right time, to prevent Louise from wanting to get up out of her chair – how’d they do that?

2 – number of bears at Clark’s Trading Post that we saw in the bear show; one of the bears actually rode a scooter. Did you know they reward the bears with ice cream?

1 – dollar amount for a bag of fresh popped popcorn at Clark’s….a bargain!

1,000,000 – number of smiles on Max and Lou’s faces over the weekend.

Spin Cycle 07/27/06

THE BRITISH ARE COMING!
THE BRITISH ARE COMING!

Today was British Invasion day - all the music I used was from them damn Brits. Class was good, though, I think the music may have been a bit over the riders heads......

1. Don't Panic - Coldplay
2. Under Pressure - David Bowie
3. Glass Onion - The Beatles
4. Bonus Track - Jamiroquai
5. Everyday I Write The Book - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
6. Don’t Go - Yaz
7. Give The People What They Want - The Kinks
8. Dead Flowers - The Rolling Stones
9. Eminence Front - The Who
10. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
11. Rudie Can't Fail - The Clash
12. The Bends - Radiohead
13. Rock 'n' Roll - Led Zeppelin
14. Pick Up The Pieces - Gomez
15. Walking In Your Footsteps - The Police
16. Mood For A Day - Yes

Up my ass

I frigging hate it when the A-hole behind me drives so close to my car that he or she is practically sitting in the passenger seat next to me. It makes me IRATE.

Why?? Why do people tailgate. Its not like they are going to get there any faster.

Inevitably, the person driving the car is sitting way close to his or her steering wheel, hugging it, like that's going to make him or her go faster or something. Get off my ass.

Its silly.

Ok. End rant.

Thanks.

4 Things

I just got one of those self-indulgent emails where the person answers questions about his or herszelf, and sends them on, so that you can learn little known facts about him or her.
I usually don't respond to them, but this time I did.
I decided to post my answers here:

A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Anal QA professional
2. Spinning Instructor
3. Baker
4. Ice cream scooper

B) Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
2. Sixteen Candles
3. Valley Girl
4. Wizard of Oz

C) Four places I have lived:
1. Jamaica Plain, Ma
2. Swampscott, Ma
3. NY, NY
4. St. Louis, MO

Four shows I love to watch:
1. Food Network
2. Survivor
3. 24
4. CSI

E) Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Italy
2. France
3. Jamaica
4. Mexico

F) Web sites I visit daily:
1. www.whenindoubtreboot.blogspot.com
2. www.egullet.org
3. www.phantasytour.com
4.

G) Four of my favorite foods:
1. Mexican
2. Sushi
3. Italian
4. My granola

H) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. LA; moe. is there
2. Working out
3. At the beach
4. Anywhere but at work

Learn anything?

Lima Part 2

Another hot and humid one today - at 5:45 am it was already 70 degrees.
I jogged on the treadmill this morning and felt great. Listening to 11/28/97 certainly helped and my first 30 minutes was The Curtain -> YEM.
(For those that don't get the reference, it's Phish I'm talking about).
That was followed by I Didn't Know (featuring Henrietta), a sick MAZE and Farmhouse to finish up. Great way to start my day.
The weather brought thunder storms and rain, but now its just hazy and hot at 5 pm.
I saw 6 dead racoon on the way to the lab.
Our visit to this lab was interesting, the people were nice and my workmate actually helped out....I was worried that he might be more of a hinderance than help.
Because there are soooo many restaurant choices around here, (note the sarcasm), dinner tonight will be at Olive Garden. (Its either that or Ponderossa or Crapapplebees)...
Here is a picture from the Texas Roadhouse:


Yee Hah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lima....Ohio, that is, not Bean

Greetings from Lima, Ohio. Yes, that's right, Lima, Ohio. I am here on business. Well, Spencerville, Ohio, is where I'll be doing my business, but I don't believe that there is anything else in Spencerville except for the place I'll be visiting, so we are staying in lovely Lima.
I have never been to Lima, Ohio before (in fact I've never been to Ohio before).
First impressions - it's flat, with lots of fields.
Everyone parks their cars on their front lawn.
There are lots of birds of prey, floating high in the humid sky.
It's so hot here, my nipples are sweating.
You can get your car fixed, have a beer and some pizza while you wait at a place called the Lug-nut.
Texas Roadhouse does not employ the smartest people.
Gas is cheap here at 2.84 a gallon.
Its' 8:33pm, and the sun is so strong, you can still get a burn.
The bed at the Hampton Inn is pretty frigging comfortable.

So, there will be no Spin Cycle this week, as I am not teaching....
I will try and post again tomorrow.

Spin Cycle 07/13/06

Class this morning was KILLER!!!!!!!!! I did an "Every Other" class, meaning every other song was a particular discipline on the Spin bike. Today we did Hill, Jump, Hill, Jump....you get the idea. It was good. Very challenging aerobically. My students are great. They are so receptive to whatever I want to do, it makes teaching them so easy.

I definitely cheesed out on the tunes this morning. I stepped back in time to my college years and pulled alot of the songs from that era (yes, I said era....seems like a long time ago!!).
Enjoy!

1. Welcome to the Big Show - Dan Patrick + Chris Berman of ESPN
2. We Got A Love Thang - Ce Ce Peniston
3. Check On It - Beyonce
4. Jump Around - House of Pain
5. Finally - Ce Ce Peniston
6. Macho Man - The Village People
7. Macarena - Los Del Mar
8. Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now - McFadden & Whitehead
9. 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumoin' New) - Coolio
10. This is How We Do It - Montell Jordan
11. Set It Off - Strafe
12. Boogie Oogie Oogie - A Taste of Honey
13. Best of My Love - The Emotions
14. Everybody, Everybody - Black Box

Homemade English muffins

I recently got myself a set of english muffin rings and made myself some homemade english muffins. I used a recipe by Alton Brown (Food Scientist Extrodinaire). The batter is a yeasted batter and calls for a short 30 minute rise.

Brown's recipe called for using an electric griddle set on 300. I don't have an electric griddle, but I do have a regular griddle (non-stick), so it was a bit of trial and error where cooking temperature and time were concerned. The temperature was a bit too high for the first 4 that I made, so I reduced the temp for the second four and they cooked up golden brown. I had to cover the rings in some way, so I placed a jelly-roll pan over the top of the rings (the bottom was sprayed with cooking spray), and that worked pretty well.

The second time I made the muffins, I doubled the recipe and swapped out half of the AP Flour with Whole Wheat Flour. I liked the taste of these muffins better; they were more nutty tasting.
Doubling the recipe worked well and it allowed me to sock a bunch away in the freezer.

Good stuff - don't know if I'll ever buy Thomas's again.....

Ode to Eva

This is an ode to the woman who sits at the end of my row of cubes. Her back is positioned to the entrance to the cube. When I walk by her cube, she turns her head around, like a frigging crane, wrenching it's neck around, to see who's walking by.
Its frigging annoying.

So here it is:

Why of Why,
do you look at me,
everytime I walk by
your cube?
Isn't your time
better put to use?
Please, there is
no excuse.
Do not look at me
again.
Or I might just
accidentally stab
you with my pen.

Thank you.

Run Away not Walk this Way

Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith sat in with the Boston Pops for the 4th of July extravaganza in Boston. It was like a slice of BIZZARO POPS.

Conductor Keith Lockheart, leading the Pops, and rocking out (kind of), with Tyler and Perry out in front was enough to scare the most stable person out of his seat.
The interactions between Lockheart and Tyler were scary as well. Picture this: Lockheart, arm around Tyler, face to face, with Tyler singing, "Just give me a Kiss". For a moment, I thought Lockheart was going to give Tyler a kiss!
I liked the music portion of the pairing, and thought the Pops sounded good. I just wasn't thrilled with the Aerosmith portion. I thought Tyler sounded tired and flat, and a bit used, if thats the correct word. It may be time for Tyler to take a step back, and hang up his bandana.

More importantly, I just couldn't get over the amount of work Tyler has had done on his face. Looked to me like he had a face lift, eye job and nose job. AND HE'S STILL SCARY LOOKING!!!!
So, as of now, I officially changed the words from Walk This Way to Run Away, cause that's what I'll do if I ever cross paths with Tyler.....

Spin cycle 07/06/06

Good morning y'alls!
This morning's ride was set to Madonna, Confessions on A Dance Floor, with the reason being, I'm going to see her on Sunday night. I happen to really dig this release by Madonna and think its one of her best. The album is heavy on the electronic side, with back beats and not many tempo swings - perfect for what I planned for class.

Class was killer - After a 5 minute warm up, we did four 10 minute hills, with 1 minute in between each and a 2 minute sprint to finish. Love the burn!!!!!! I hope all of my students hamstrings are feeling it.
Here is the listing of songs on Confessions on A Dance Floor:

1. Hung Up
2. Get Together
3. Sorry
4. Future Lovers
5. I Love New York
6. Let It Will Be
7. Forbidden Love
8. Jump
9. How High
10. Isaac
11. Push
12. Like It or Not