Posted by Mark on January 20, 2005

Major Progress

I have been trying for weeks to get “the lab”, the guest bedroom, and the garage under control. Something always seems to be interfering. I either have to train, or I have to cut my nails, something seems to be preventing me from getting these three things done.

The lab is a disaster. Computer cables, filing from the last year, and all sorts of other junk strewn all over the place.

The guest bedroom is full of tools. I need to get this room sorted out so it’s ready to roll if someone drops into town.

The garage is, quite simply, chaos. It all starts with four 16 foot 2×8’s that I can’t seem to find a place for.

Ok, so here’s where the pgrogress comes in:

I got home thisevening and couldn’t stand the garage. So before I walked into the house I decided I’d at least start on it. I found a place for the 2×8’s by stacking them on top of two sets of shelves. The shelves are rated for 700lbs, so they shouldn’t come crashing down. Then I kinda went to town. I couldn’t help myself- I had to get it into some semblence of order. By the time I was done you could actually walk around in the garage, and several pieces of equipment had found new, and much more convenient, homes.

The guest bedroom… Yea. I didn’t even go in there tonight. Wait, I did! The cable guy came by to fix my HBO- I could see it on my hd cable box, but I couldn’t see it on my regular tv. He told me I needed to re-do some stuff, took some filters off at the tap, and then as he was walking out the door said “Hey, you work for ebay?” I had my ebay jacket on. I said yes, then he proceeded to tell me how much his wife loves ebay, and that she’s considering putting up a store. Well, I actually buy hats and stuff from the ebay company store a dozen at a time so I can give them out at moments like this. I went into the guest bedroom, grabbed his wife a ball cap, and he was simply estatic. Anyone I meet that tells me how much they love ebay… well, it’s a lot better than my former jobs where they immediately started howling about how bad the service was. I love our customers.

Ok, the lab- I decided I’d had enough. After I did a spin workout to the second half of the Lord of the Rings the Return of the King I decided to attack the lab. I managed to clear off the desk, and sort out the paper from the books from the magazines. So I have several big boxes of papers to go through. Sooner or later I’ll get them all filed, but at least the lab isn’t shameful anymore.

Thank goodness Alex didn’t call me to play Ghost Recon II…

Posted by Mark on January 14, 2005

Of Archival Quality

The archives are working. For all the new people finding me for the first time in ages, please take a browse down below at the old entries. Particularly you might want to check out:

http://www.ghoststar.com/archives/2004_10_10_archive.html

http://www.ghoststar.com/archives/2004_10_17_archive.html

and

http://www.ghoststar.com/archives/2004_10_24_archive.html

The last one especially is a good representation of just how involved the rennovations were.

As well, this gallery gives you a great feeling for what it looks like now:

http://www.ghoststar.com/gallery/afw

Last night I ran my standard wash park loop, around 5 miles. The pootch is getting better at running with me, but we have a long way to go. Unfortunately yp.yahoo.com led me astray on where the yoga studio was- Instead of being up the street from my house it is actually up in a very dodgy area of town. I think I’m just going to stick to CorePower Yoga on Broadway, and Grant St.

Tonight I have off.

Posted by Mark on January 13, 2005

The end of an end is the beginning of the beginning

Well, sooner or later it had to happen- I had to get back to who I am, and what truly gives me a deep feeling of accomplishment: Endurance athletics.

Last night my training partner Kath and I spun to “Star Wars” and had a great workout. We did some long-haul high cadence work, and low cadence medium load. It was fun. Kath is enthusiastic and interested in getting faster and stronger, so she makes a good training partner.

For myself my goals are twofold- Get in shape for Ironman Idahoe in June, and get into ultra-distance condition for the August Pikes Peak Ascent. 13.1 miles straight up. Now there’s also the marathon version, however I know from experience that climbing isn’t the dangerous part- Descending can cause serious falls, serious injuries, and generally beat the crap out of ones lower back and knees. I’m just doing the ascent.

Then again, I like to climb. I’m not great at it, but I’m one of those freak guys that likes to bike UP the ski runs in the summer, and then take the chair lift down. Descending is not my forte, but like all things I simply grit my teeth, point myself in the right direction and go. I’m an idiot like that.

Tonight I’m going to at least go to yoga, I’m not sure if I’ll run or not. It kinda depends on traffic. Yoga is at 6:30, I gotta be there at 6:10 to register, so if I get home at 5:45… Not enough time. Maybe I’ll just do two yoga classes…

Then it’s off home to play a little GR2 with Alex.