A Follow Up and Things

In a follow up to yesterday's post, Maryland gave Coach Friedgen a proper send off by beating East Carolina 51-20. I was happy to see plenty of Maryland fans had brought along "Thanks Ralph" signs. I'm glad his team was able to send him out on a high note. The team has a lot of young talent. Ralph didn't leave the cupboard bare for the next coach. Things should be bright for next year if the new coach is any good at all. Maryland has said they want to name a new coach by January 4 - the official start of recruiting. Lets hope they stay on schedule.

Given the name of this blog you would think I would mention rowing every once in a while. Well it is winter and the temperatures have been below freezing for an unimaginable time for Virginia. For sure on water rowing is done until 1 April, weather permitting. So it's time for that all so popular winter conditioning. Like in most years past once our last race is over (1st weekend in November), I fall off the wagon during the rest of November and most of December only to try and drag myself back out of the fitness abyss. I have dug my erg out of Daughter#2's old bedroom put on a new handle and did my first 5,000 meter indoor row yesterday. It was painfully slow, but not unexpected given the long layoff. It's just about getting a bit faster and stronger with each workout. I'll be doing another 5,000 meter row tomorrow. If I manage anything close to respectability for my age, I will certainly post it here.

Today was also my last workday for the year. I'm off until Monday and low is the work backed up. That first week back is going to be pure hell. Retirement is sounding better all the time.

Daughter In The House

Yesterday Daughter#1 traveled down from Connecticut to visit with the rents for a week. She's down to look into getting registered for some college classes when she leaves Connecticut in May for the foreseeable while while she works on her nursing degree. Her husband will join her on Wednesday and stay until the end of the week when they will return back to Connecticut. Hopefully they will have some power by then. It has been out since Saturday night. Ann and I went and picked her up at National Airport yesterday morning.

It was Daughter#1's first chance to meet the new kids in the house - Scruffy here on the left and the twins, as we are now calling them - Amy and Emily, the miniature schnauzers. She loves them all, of course.
The twins are so full of energy, but seem to be settling in well. We even discovered that they know how to fetch. Obviously someone has spent some time with them doing some training, but lord can they be loud. We also bought a "coupler" so we can walk them on one leash that splits into two leads. Note the last remnants of our February snowstorms. Even this little bit is now gone.

Scruffy too has settled in and we are even getting him to eat without to much problem. Seems he likes various takes on dog stews. The Hill brand Irish Stew seems to be a favorite.

The twins are into everyone and everything. Here The Son keeps an eye out to make sure they don't get into trouble. Amy on the left and Emily on the right.

I forgot to mention in my last point that the previous weekend, my rowing club, hosted erg sprints for the local high schools. It is the 7th time we've held the sprints and it marks the end of their winter on land training as they switch to on water training. We had upwards of 180 rowers competing. The registration desk: two coaches and a rower checking in.

We hold the sprints at the local Gold's Gym where our club and Golds own 20+ ergs. 10 ergs were set up, and run through a laptop and the display shown on a large screen TV so spectators could follow the action.

Rowers taking their seats on the ergs. It was very competitive and everyone seemed to have a good time. A fitting end to the toil that is winter training.

What Weekend?

I just had a three day weekend curtesy of a compressed work schedule, but now looking back to do a recap, I'll be darn if I can remember half of what I did. Well lets see what can dreg back up.

For blog that titles itself: "Ready...Row", there hasn't been much on rowing lately. This is due mostly to the time of year. There isn't much rowing going on in these parts during the winter, at least out on the water. Heck up to this weekend, the Occoquan has been frozen in places. The Park Authority also takes a dim view of rowers out in this cold weather and water. Unfortunately there hasn't been much indoor rowing, or erging as it's called, by yours truly either. It goes this way almost every year. By the time my rowing season ends in November, frankly, I'm a bit burnt out and take a break. Plus going from rowing on the water to rowing on the erg really sucks. So by taking a break, my fitness level goes into the toilet. By the time I realize I need to get with it, my times on the erg suck and I get discouraged and I don't erg as much as I should. This year seems worse then usual. By the time I got back on the infernal machine, my 5,000 meter time was horribly bad. Like beginner bad. Like times I had when I first got the erg back in the mid 90s. I'm sure the fact that I had a bad cold and was hacking up lots about of goo from my lungs didn't help matters any. I've been trying to be a bit more diligent with getting on the erg more frequently. So far, I've take a minute and half off my 5,000 meter time. My time still isn't good though. Its gone from being horribly bad to just bad. Hopefully I can get it to something resembling reasonable over the next few weeks. Come 1 April. I want to be able to hop into a single and be able to do a decent 7 or 8 mile row without gasping for breath and taking a break every half mile or so.

Saturday morning was the initial get together for the Board of Directors/Officers for my rowing club as we try to get things ready for the 201o season. The best I can say for the meeting is that it was held to only 2 hours and we did nail down what coaches we want to approach to come work for us in 2010 and the dates for our "Learn to Row" days. We have a bunch of newcomers on the Board this year, which is a good thing really, but it was obvious it's going to take a meeting or two to get everyone up to speed. While we're at it since this is a pretty informal organization, if we could keep our Roberts Rules or Order at home that would be a big help also.

Other than that, not much went on over the weekend. The usual chores and a lot of football watching on Sunday. Poor Brett. Is it in his DNA that he has to throw an interception late in play-off games with the game on the line?

A Slow Row

As spring slowly approaches (where the hell is it? I'm so tired of this cold overcast weather), I've been trying to increase the frequency of my workouts. I want to be ready when I can finally get out out on the water, which is 1 April. Since I work at home on Wednesdays, I dragged out my erg for a row. The past month or so, I've been erging Friday, Saturday and Sundays. I figured a Wednesday row would help going into the weekend. I figured 5,000 meters would be fine. I was so wrong. For whatever the reason I just didn't have it. My legs felt heavy. I had no pop to my stroke and my splits were slow. I tried picking up the pace to get my splits down, but all that did was wear me out faster. Maybe it was just one of those days, but man what a sucky row. I got through it, but it wasn't fun and my time was slow. By a good minute. I can take solace in that I finished the workout and there is benefit to that, but it was less then satisfying Hopefully I can come back on Friday with something a lot better. Getting out on the water can't come fast enough. This rowing in the bedroom isn't going well.

2009 High School Erg Sprnts

Saturday my rowing club hosted our annual erg sprint competition (6th year!) for the local high schools. What are erg sprints you ask? Basically an erg is an indoor rowing machine. Its primary purpose is to keep rowers (and others) in shape. It mimics what you experience out on the water or close anyway. While some erg all year round, most of us tend to use it most during the colder months when going out on the water is no longer possible. The thing about erging though - it's boring. Concept2, the maker of the erg, is always running various challenges on their web site to give us something to shoot for, to relive the boredom. Our erg sprints, we like to think, gives the high school kids something to train and shoot for as their winter training starts to wind down. Something to break up the monotony. To see how they match up with their counterparts from the other local high schools. They will begin on the water training the end of this month. My job for the sprints was the set-up and take down. A roadie of sorts. We hold the sprints at our local Golds Gym where we (my rowing club) and Golds have about 20 or so ergs available. We use only 10 for the sprints so we have to move the others out of the way and reconfigure how the ergs are lined up. We set them up facing each other to make the cabling to the computer easier. As the kids race, you can watch their progress up on a TV brought in for this purpose. Each erg shows up as a small boat that travels across the screen at a speed based on how hard and fast the rower ergs. Various information during the race is also compiled, stored and provided to their coaches. Here the ergs are set up and we're testing the connection.

In this picture, which as I remember is for the freshman girls, sit ready for the start. The girl on the far right, in the green shirt, ended up having some sort of what I perceived as a diabetic episode, almost fainted as they tried to push sugar into her via a candy bar. She didn't finish this race, but came back later and erged in the relays so good for her for hanging in there.

Here lightweight girls sit ready for their race. Lightweight girls weigh 130 or less. When Daughter#1 did high school crew the weight limit was 120 lbs. Lightweight boys weigh 165 lbs or less. When The Son did Crew, the weight limit for boys was 145 lbs or less.

Next up the senior girls open weight category. The two girls closest the camera broke the record for their category. Congrats to them.

Another picture of the lightweight girls during their race. It gets quite loud as the crowd gets into urging their racer on.

One of the final races before the relays, was the coxswain race. They race for only 500 meters as opposed to 1,000 meters for the freshmen and 1,500 meters for everyone else. These three girls (left to right) Molly, Devon and Katie also coxed for the men's side of my rowing club. They were a delight to work with and did a heck of a job for us. Molly finished first, Katie second and Devon fourth. Nice work ladies.

Finally I've included a video for your enjoyment of the start and first minute of the senior women's race. Just remember that after the video stops, they still have another four minutes of hard rowing to go. On Saturday we had no fainting, although two close calls and only one puker. Enjoy and congratulations to all that participated.

New Year and It's Back to the Gym

You could certainly tell it was the beginning of a new year in my Sunday erg class at the gym. All the people who made New Year resolutions to hit the gym more often and lose that weight or get in better shape help fill the class. Of the 20 or so ergs there were only a few were not in use. We had many more first time rowers than we usually have on any given date. I can't imagine being a first time rower in that class as it's pretty demanding. However the woman rowing next to me kept right up although her form needs a little refinement. New rowers are a good source of rowers for my club so we really try and encourage them along. If they like to erg, they'll definitely like doing it out on the water. Unless they can't swim, of course. I managed to get in 10,000 meters during the class, which is more than enough for me in one sitting.

After erg class, Ann made us tuna sandwiches for lunch and she, The Son and I settled in to watch the football play-offs. We watched the Baltimore Ravens beat up on Miami and once the game was in hand we decided to watch a Netflix movie - "Burn After Reading". I have to say, given the cast, it was a bit disappointing. It had a few good chuckles, but definitely could have been better. After the movie was over, we switched back to football and watched Philly play Minnesota. I think I'm about footballed out for a while anyway.

It will come as quite a shock to have to go back to work tomorrow. Getting up at 3:30 sounds like torture. I haven't had to go in on a Monday since October. Back to the old routine. Retirement sounds better everyday.

The Cable Guy - Final Installment

So the problem with our Internet connectivity seems to be resolved. Comcast did show up and repair the box out front and we have had Internet connectivity all day. Its been lovely.

A good thing too since between the wind (gusts up to 48 mph) and the cold (30s), it was definitely a day to stay inside and surf the net. It was also a very lazy day. I watched some TV and devoured a Cinnamon bun along with my morning Coke in the morning before jumping on the erg for a 30 minute row. Not a great amount of meters, but I got through it and can build on it. I hope to add another row tomorrow to welcome in the new year. Ann and I did watch Nicholas Cage in National Treasure - Book of Secrets. It was highly entertaining and fit our mood for the day.

We have no real plans to welcome in the New Year. We are way past the time where a night of boozing it up sounds like a good idea. We do have a bottle of bubbly chilly in the refrigerator though. So to all of you, I hope you have have a wonderful 2009 as we usher out 2008.

A Bloody Mess!

When I managed to extract myself from bed this morning, I had a few things I wanted to do today. Not that I wanted to get up seeing it was another cloudy, dreary cold morning. Its been a while since we've seen any sunshine. The things I wanted to do were to erg, watch Navy play in their bowl game and fix our outside lights. As I was getting my morning coke from the refrigerator, I decided before my day got underway, a Christmas movie might be nice way to ease into the day. Comcast's On Demand Channel is running a large selection of Holiday movies, some free and some not. Ann likes the Bill Murray movie "Scrooged" so that's what I picked. It's really pretty funny and has the usual "A Christmas Carol" happy ending. So that was two hours well spent.

After the movie, I headed upstairs to erg. Working out on the erg for me is a funny thing. Sometimes I feel into it. Sometimes I don't. Today I didn't feel it. I struggled through 5,000 meters. About the best I can say for it was that I finished it. Maybe tomorrow I'll be more into it. After a shower, I settled in to watch the first of the college bowl games, which featured Navy vs Wake Forest. I really like both teams so it was hard to know who to route for. In the end, our and my family's association with the Navy won out over Jim Grobe's (the Wake Forest's coach)
Ohio University ties. It was a good game with the score going back and forth before Wake finally pulled away at the end.

Next up - lunch. Ann and I grabbed a sub from Jerry's Subs and Pizzas before I tackled the outside lights. It was a two fold job. One, remove the net with the melted connection and two, find the burned out light on another net that was keeping a section of that net from lighting. Removing the melted net was quick and painless and I moved some other nets around to cover that space. Good, one down and one to go. I brought the second net in to find the burned out light. After plugging in the net, it only took me a few minutes to find the problem. A bulb had broken off leaving just the remnants in the base. Frankly it was a lucky find right off the bat, otherwise I was looking at checking some 50 lights. As I tried to get the broken bulb out I got a shock as the wires to the bulb were still there and exposed. Note to self - unplug the lights before you work on them. I replaced the broken bulb and the net lit right up. However, I did notice another bulb that was burned out. As I was going about trying to extract that bulb, it broke off and cut the heck out of my thumb. It wasn't a bad cut, but did it bleed and bleed and bleed. I continued to try and replace the bulb, but I was dripping blood onto the kitchen floor, which didn't sit well with Ann. She took over the task while I worked on stopping the bleeding. Once I got a band-aid on it, that seem to do the trick. I took the now repaired net outside and out it on the bushes and it's now burning brightly in the night.

After attending church services, Ann and I dug into bowls of white bean chili with The Son driving up to join us. We retired to the family room to watch some more football and the three of us promptly all nodded off to sleep. No one can say we aren't a lively group. Now I'm off to finish that nap.

To Donuts and Burned Out Christmas Lights

First let me thank the Holidailies's staff for selecting yesterday's entry A Rockwell Christmas as a Best of Holidailies selection. It's very humbling and certainly helps the number of visists to my page. Hopefully some will like what they see and continue to return.

I worked from home today. I traded today for my usual Wednesday work at home day. I had to go in yesterday for a big in-house review of a Request for Proposal that will be released next month. That went a lot better than anyone expected. And there were donuts. Mmmmmm.

Speaking of donuts, I weighed myself this morning and found that I was eating my way out of my lightweight status as defined by US Rowing. I decided I had to get a lot more serious about my off season erging and get on a much more regular schedule. So during my lunch break I hopped on my erg and did 5,000 meters. I managed a best time since our rowing season ended, but a long way from where I should be. Since I'm home until Tuesday, I'm going to try and erg at least 3 of the next 4 days. Lets see how disciplined I am about doing that.

Today I also checked on our outdoor lights, which have quit working for the most part. I found that one of our light nets was partially fried. This was one that was involved in last year's frying incident, but I had hoped it was good enough to go this year. Apparently not. I took that net off line and the others are now working again although obviously there is a hole where the missing net is/was. We're going to shop for a replacement tomorrow, but I fear most decorations have been pretty picked over by this point.

I leave you with a picture (above) from this year's Diamond States Regatta back in July. The webmaster and our unofficial photographer just got around to posting this year's pictures to the club's website. I'm seating in bow of our Men's Quad. I miss being out on the water.

To the those in the midwest and northeast about to get clobbered with snow tomorrow, think white Christmas!

Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving has come and gone and overall it went well. We ended up having a total of five for dinner. My cousin and his wife were no shows.. The Son did show, but there is a limit on how much family reminiscing he can tolerate. The food turned out well, which is what the day is all about. We did end up with a lot of leftovers even after giving my uncle some to take back home. We got the turkey in the oven around 9:00 AM. Here it is all covered in foil.

A picture of Ann after the turkey went in the oven. She always a lot more relaxed once the turkey is cooking.


I had the task of peeling the potatoes to make the mashed potatoes. My handiwork before I cut them into cubes. Ann cooked them and then The Son was given the task of turning them into mashed potatoes. He runs a mean hand mixer and is generous with the spices and sour cream.


Mmmmm is there a better smell in the world then a turkey fresh from the oven? Here it is in all its 21 lb glory before I carved it up.


We all ate our fill and then some including the pumpkin and sweet potato pies. My Uncle's wife made the pumpkin pie from scratch starting with a real pumpkin. We're a lot lazier at this house (when we make pumpkin pie) relying on Libby to make the pumpkin filling. After laying around in a post turkey haze, we headed up and we were in bed by 9:00 and happy to be there.
Today, Friday. i actually broke out my erg for the first time since May. I was hoping to grab one more day out on the water before Sandy Run closes for the season at the end of this month, but it doesn't look like the weather will cooperate. I did an easy 5,000 meter piece. I'm not going to try and kill myself until I can get my fitness level back to where it should be. After erging and getting cleaned up, Ann and I walked the dog for about an hour. I don't know who needed the walk more - us or the dog. After lunch we looked on line for some deals, but really only managed to get a few things and nothing major. After that time sink, I retired to the family room and watched Miracle on 34th Street. That movie always does my heart good, but its really so politically incorrect these days what with the insane talk and commitment to Bellevue all because Kris thinks he is Santa Claus. I ended up the day by going out for pizza by myself. Ann was just too tired and not up for it at all. Our pizza place is like our "Cheers". They know our names and get us our drinks without even asking anymore. It's friendly and cozy and it wasn't a big deal for me to go by myself.

Tomorrow will no doubt be more attempts at shopping and watching football. Va Tech plays Virginia and my game, of course, is the Auburn vs Alabama game. If Auburn only had an offense. Hopefully the defense will keep it close.

Shopping and Erging

Sunday dawned cold, rainy and breezy so no on water rowing for me. The next window will be Wednesday. Erg class it was then. Before I headed out for my erg class, I got up and started the laundry and ran out and did the grocery shopping. Both Ann and I work, so I it's only fair that I pull my weight around the house. Ann hates grocery shopping so I do it. I don't love it, but it doesn't bother me like it does her. I'm not sure why she hates it so bad. When I shop I like to make a game of it. I call it turbo shopping. I head in, printed list in hand with items listed in the order they come up in the store as I make my way through the various isles and see how fast I can get in and out. Before I head in, I'll take a look at the list and give myself a time goal to beat. This irritates Ann to no end. In the rare case she accompanies me, her idea of shopping is a leisurely stroll through the store carefully comparing several brands for each item on the list. This is true even though we almost always buy the same brands. When she begins one of her zen comparison moments, I'll leave her and continue shopping often finishing the list while she contemplates the various benefits of Campbell's versus B&B baked beans. This brings us to the two things the drive me crazy when I shop. If Ann accompanies me, if a question comes up about something on the list, say something she listed isn't available and I need her input, I can never find her. I'll return to where I left her and no Ann. I then half to scour the various isles trying to find where she wandered off to burning up precious time. The running joke is that she's having an affair with the butcher back in the meat department, which is why I can't find her. Once I do find her, usually checking out the makeup or shampoos, the line is "How was the butcher?" For some reason she doesn't find this as amusing as I do. Which brings us back to the list. Most of the items on it we've previously discussed as we try and come up with a menus for the week, but inevitably there will be a few items on the list that need further clarification. This week it was deodorant. I pay no attention to what deo Ann uses. So I called home from the store to find out what kind she uses. No answer, I try another number. No answer. I try her cell figuring she might be out walking the dog. No answer. Ok, I'll just continue shopping and call back. While I'm finishing up, I think of a few things Ann might have left off the list, but I don't make a note of them on the list as I make my way through the store. Once I'm done shopping, I call home again. No answer. At this point I'm on the verge of just checking out figuring she can buy her own deo. I try one last time and she finally answers. She was drying her hair and couldn't hear the phone(s) ringing over the noise. Grumbling, I find out what brand she likes and I check out and make it home in less than an hour. Decent enough time, but not great. I figured I lost about ten minutes trying to get her on the phone. How can she expect me to set new time records if she won't answer the phone? Also the items I thought she might have left off the list? She did. So no broccoli and Vanilla Zero for her.

Erg class was a bit different this week as we had a substitute instructor. In our regular class, we erg for about 45 to 50 minutes to music with the songs being of variable length with the instructor varying the intensity at which we are erging (say half pressure or full pressure, etc.). We usually get 20 to 30 seconds between songs to grab some water. Yesterday we did a series of four minutes on full pressure and three minutes off. We did seven of these with warm-up and cool down periods before and after. It was quite intense and the last two cycles were quite the challenge. Our instructor also kept upping the stroke rate during each piece. It was different so it wasn't boring, but not something I'd like doing every week.

The reason our normal instructor was absent was that she was attending the wedding of one the former members of our rowing club. So, congratulations Mel!

Erging, Flying and Baking

My slow return to some sort of reasonable rowing shape continues. I attended my erg class on Sunday and actually survived and clocked in 11,200 meters. And I could still walk. I actually erged again today. I did another 5,000 meter piece and my splits continue to come down, but still a ways to go, but it's encouraging. Today is the first day I could go out in a single, but it's way to windy. I'll take a look and see how Friday looks. Saturday is definitely out as the high schools will be racing every Saturday between now and mid May. Sunday is also a possibility, but I'd like to reserve that for my bike, but I'm flexible.

Daughter#1 is back in Connecticut after taking some time off and going to Florida. In a little deja vu along the lines of Daughter#2 and her trip, Delta delayed their 7:00PM flight until 10:30PM with actual take off at 11:05. Needless to say, she didn't get home until about 2:30 in the morning. I'm sure she appreciated that. While she was gone, we had some work done on her car. She has been driving around with her "Check Engine" light on for quite a while. Turns out her catalytic converter was no longer functioning. $$$ Also her brakes were basically metal on metal - front and back $$$ Her tires were also worn out and she somehow had managed to dent two of her rims. $$$ Ouch.

Today being Wednesday, it's my day to make dinner. I also have to bring in food for work tomorrow. I usually just buy various baked good for people to nibble on and, in fact, I have bagels and donuts already bought, but today I'm going to try baking some bread to take in. We see how it turns out given my limited baking skills.

It Hurts To Workout

Oh man it is so hard getting back on the erging bandwagon. I haven't worked out in over three weeks due to my infection. Now that the miracle that is modern science and antibiotics have seemingly cured me, it was time to start working out again. Can I say that erging after a three week lay off is really hard. At least if you're old like me. I did a 5,000 meter piece yesterday. It was gruelling and my time was a major suck. I tried another 5,000 meter this morning and while I took 32 seconds off Friday's time, it was still a pretty sucky time compared to what I had been pulling. Just goes to show how bad Friday really was. I've truly lost all my endurance. Lack of wind leads to major breaks in form which equals sucky times. I know from previous lay offs that my endurance will come back pretty quickly if I keep at it. Tomorrow's erg class will help. I'll need it as I can start sculling again in just five days. I don't want to embarrass myself on the water by stopping every five minutes to catch my breath. Now all we need is some warm weather and low winds. The last thing I want to do is flip a single on a cold day in 50 degree water. Not that I've done that, of course.

Why I'm envious of my kids. Daughter#2 just returned from two weeks in England and Scotland. Daughter#1 just finished her big trade show in Philadelphia (pictures to follow I'm told) and is now sitting on the beach in Cocoa Beach, FL with her boyfriend. What is wrong with these pictures I ask you? Maybe I need to be a kid again.

Erg Racing and Bike Jerseys

Last Saturday my rowing club hosted an erg sprint for the local high school crew teams. This is the fifth year we've hosted the event. It provides the teams something to shoot for as they reach the end of their winter training. They start on water practices the week of the 25th. Lucky them. We run the sprints out of the local Golds Gym where are our club and Golds own about 25 ergs split between Model Ds and Model Cs. We use the new Model Ds for the sprints. We set up ten ergs for the kids to race on all connected to a lap top, which in turn projects the race live on a TV as it happens. Here are the ergs set up and ready to go with the TV in the background.

Getting ready to race are the under 16 girls. The girls in green are from Woodbridge High School.

A race under way. I think this is a coxswain race. They race for just 500 meters. The regular rowers race over 1,500 meters.

A good time was had by all. We had over 180 rowers compete. When you have that many kids together along with parents, you can get some really loud cheering, especially if the race is close. We got some very nice feedback from a few of the coaches and how pumped up it got their kids. Winter training is often boring and tedious so we are happy to provide a distraction for the kids.

Planning for our own rowing season is underway. I was up way to late closing the books for the 2007 season and preparing a budget for 2008. We had a meeting on Saturday morning and the budget was accepted without that much discussion. The downside is we're going to have to raise our fees. Again. That should generate some bitching among the membership. Sigh.

The rest of Saturday was spent watching basketball. VA Tech got crushed by UNC and Maryland beat Florida State. So 50% for the day.

For Daughter#2's birthday last year, we bought her a VA Tech bike jersey. I bought it on line and waited and waited for the confirmation notice that it had shipped. After a month of nothing, I called to find out what the delay was. I was informed that VA Tech jerseys were on back order and were one of the most requested jerseys as a result of the shootings in April. It finally was shipped 3 months after I ordered it. It looks pretty good on her.

Super Bowl and Low Rate Erging

Like most of America, I spent Sunday evening watching the Super Bowl. I had no real routing interest in either team, but as I got into the game I found myself routing for the Giants. It's not so much that I didn't want New England to go undefeated. On the contrary, anything to shut up the 1972 Dolphins and their annoying toasting to themselves every year. Grow up. I guess it was more routing for the underdog. Back in the day when I was little and growing up in NJ, I was a big Giants fan. At least until the AFL and the Jets came along. There has been talk that this was the biggest upset in Super Bowl history. So not true. Anyone who says the 1969 Jets - Colts (the true Colts from Baltimore not the sham Colts in Indianapolis) wasn't the biggest upset just doesn't understand football or more likely is under the age 35.

While waiting for the game to come along, I made it to my Sunday erg class. There were far fewer rowers than normal. I think it's because the Mid-Atlantic Erg Sprints were held on Saturday and those rowers, wisely, decided to skip the Sunday class. We also had a substitute Instructor. I know her as she's one of the younger rowers from our club not long out of college. Rather than our usual row, she had us doing pyramids at very low stroke rates - 16 to 18 strokes per minute to start out. At these lower rates, you have to put a lot more omph into it. It's basically a strength exercise rather than an aerobic one. It turned out well and was something different. I ended up putting in almost 13,000 meters so I got my money's worth. Now to make myself at home tomorrow to keep things moving along.

The Sloth

I erged this morning for the first time in over a week. Needless to say my time for my 5,000 meter piece was pretty hurting. My time was closer to 22 minutes then the 21 minutes it needs to be. As Daughter#1, who is my crew conscience, likes to remind me, it's winter conditioning that determines who will make the "A" boat come the spring. Being what the rowing community considers a lightweight rower (i.e., less than 165 lbs) plus being only 5'6" on agood day, the only way I can compete with the other guys in my club is to be in better shape and to have better technique. I need to step up the erging to 4 times a week and also start hitting the weights 3 times a week. Easier said than done with my work schedule so we'll see.

My eyes are feeling much better although the rims of my eyes are still a little red looking. I'm applying heat a few times a day, taking antibotics and using an ointment. I can tell the swelling is way down from what it was.

Friday was a work from home day, which was just as well as the forecast called for freezing rain. Ann went and worked from The Son's condo waiting for the plumber, who was to check for leaks in the bathroom. They had rescheduled twice on us and we were suppose to their first call of the day. He still didn't show up until after 10:00. The good news is no leaks were found. So we're not sure where things go from here. If the occupants of the unit below The Son's still complain about leaks, then the only way to find the leak is to cut into their ceiling to find it. Given their silence over the past week or so, the leak can't be very big and maybe the problem has resolved itself. Time will tell.

Baby It's Cold Outside

We're currently experiencing our first real cold snap of the winter. When I got up this morning, around 7:00, the temperature was a brisk 17 degrees with a wind chill of 13. When I got home from my erg class just after noon, the temperature had climbed to a balmy 19 degrees, but the wind chill had dropped to ten. Now as I watch the start of the AFC Championship Football game, it is 22 degrees, but the wind chill is 8 degrees. To add to the misery, the air is extremely dry. The dew point is a minus 6. My poor skin is screaming it's so dry. Definitely a day for curling up with a nice warm quilt.

The erg class was completely filled today. Over 24 rowers. We even had to turn 4 rowers away as there were no more ergs. Part of it is that our instructor is a crew coach at South County High School and several of her rowers are now attending her class. That's enough to completely fill the class given the large number of Master's age rowers that show up to every Sunday. The high school season starts the end of February and I assume the high school rowers will drop off at that point. It's not a bad thing to have them in the class. They bring a certain level of energy and enthusiasm that the rest of us feed off. I managed to get my 10,000 meters in during class so it was a good day of rowing. Not as good as being on the water, but it will do for now.

I've been on the verge of catching a cold. Not quite there, but right on the edge. My nose as been producing impressive quantities of snot for the past three weeks. Now my eyes have decided to join in and are currently zombie red and tearing like crazy. As a final act, the congestion is moving into my chest. Now I can cough up the same amount of phlem that I am blowing out my nose. Sweet. Thank goodness Monday is a holiday so I don't infect the van pool.

Tis the (End of the) Season

Today officially marked the end of our Holiday Season as we took down the tree and our outside lights. To me this is always the most depressing day of the year. I hate taking the tree down. Not so much because of the mess of needles that always occur, but it's so sad to dismantle what was once so beautiful and looked like this:

To it lying in the gutter waiting for the garbage men to haul it away. Actually I think there is a poem or story that tells the sad story of the Christmas tree. Alas poor tree, we will miss you in all your lighted glory and your sweet pine smell.

I had a problem with my outside lights this year. They worked fine until the weekend before Christmas when about half of them failed to come on at dusk. The ones that wouldn't come on were all linked to an extension cord I run from the back of the house. In a brain fart designing the house, the builder did not include any outside sockets in the front of the house. Brilliant. Anyway, I discovered that a circuit breaker was tripped. Every time I reset it, it would immediately trip off again. I even tried a different outlet, but the same thing happened. I assume both outlets must be on the same circuit. Finally I just gave up and they stayed dark until I took them down today. In dismantling the various connections and extension cords, I discovered this:
At first I thought it was just covered by mud since it rained yesterday. Closer inspection revealed that it was burnt and had melted some of the rubber insulation. I couldn't separate the two cords since the melted insulation from both cords had made them one. No wonder the circuit breaker would trip. I suspect that when Daughter#1 arrived home and used her hair dryer that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I swear half the house is wired into that one circuit. I'm glad to see the circuit breaker did what it was suppose to do.

I watched the Redskins exit the playoffs on Saturday. It looked so promising after they had rallied and scored 14 points to take the lead in the second half. They then recovered the ensuing kickoff on the Seattle 14 yard line only to come up empty missing a field goal. I think that was the defining moment of the game. After that it was all Seattle. Time to wait for next year.

I made my erg class today. I got in my goal of 10,000 meters and lord was it hard. There was a good turnout today. Every erg was taken, which means we had 24 (I think) people rowing, including the instructor. It's amazing the energy that group will generate. It's really hard for me to plant myself on my erg at home and rattle off 10,000 meters. It would take me about 43 minutes and the boredom that would ensue boggles the mind. Not to mention the exhaustion in rowing that far on the erg. It's much easier doing it as part of a group. Shared misery and all that.

Tomorrow is my first day back at work after being off for two weeks. The idea of getting up at 3:30 is not very appealing and I know it will just be crazy at work with everyone coming back. I just want to survive the day. Hope you all had a great weekend.

Back to Work

Yesterday was my first day back to work since before Christmas. First day of work, but not in the office since I worked from home. Things were much quieter than normal and certainly not what I suspected. I assumed almost everyone would be back and the e-mails would be flying. Not so. I didn't get a single e-mail directed solely to me. I got a few that were sent to the whole Department,but that was it. I guess most people are still off. Even my industry counterpart was missing in action. The silence did allow me to catch up on a few items. I'm sure it won't last. I was off today using up the last of my 2007 vacation days so I'll work from home again tomorrow. I'm hoping tomorrow will be as quiet as Wednesday.

The Son is having a few minor repairs done to his condo that we discovered since he moved in. I spent this afternoon at the condo to let the handyman doing the work in. He had his bathroom regrouted, and his linen closet door repaired. His sliding glass door also popped off the track and almost fell in on him and his gf. It's an old door and needs to be replaced. The Handyman got it back on the track and adjusted it a bit, but its still marginal. While the work was being done, I just played on The Son's computer and watched tv until he was finished. The work seemed to be well done and not expensive. We'll probably have the handyman come do some things around our house.

I erged again this morning after taking yesterday off since I was working. I did a 30 minute row and did just ok. I'm still rebuilding my aerobic base and its coming slowly. I didn't get the distance I wanted or I'm capable of. Since I'm working tomorrow and I also have a dentist appointment, I'll probably skip rowing tomorrow and row Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully I can improve on my performance during January.

Erging and A Christmas Carol

The storm that was forecast for us turned out to be a big nothing. At least around here. We got some rain, but nothing major. No major torrents. Even to the west of us, in the Shenandoah Valley, where Daughter#2 worked through the night, where they were suppose to get 3 to 6 inches of snow, nothing. It appears the worst of it past well to the north of us.

As the weather turned out to be no big deal, I did make it to the erg class along with about 20 others. There is something magical about watching so many people erg at the same time. All in unison keying off the instructor as the stroke. I didn't get to the class quite as early as I would have liked in order to erg a little before class and then class seem to end a little early, but maybe I was imagining things through the pain. I only did 8,500 meters during the class so after the class ended, I stayed and rowed another 1,600 meters to get me over 10,000 meters and then a bit extra. For me, 10,000 meters is a lot and I usually feel the effects the rest of the day. I feel tired and run down, but I know in the long run its good for me.

I spent the bulk of my afternoon doing the laundry. I hate doing it that late. I like to get it going early and get it over with. Blah. After the laundry I settled in to watch "A Christmas Carol". It's one of my favorite holiday movies. I'll watch almost any version of it I can find. Today it was the 1938 MGM version starring Reginald Owen as Scrooge. I love this version maybe second only to the version with George C. Scott. One of the highlights of this version is that the Cratchits are played by the Lockhart family. Gene Lockhart and his wife Kathleen play Bob Cratchit and Mrs. Cratchit. Their then 13 year old daughter June played daughter Belinda. For those of you old enough to remember the TV show Lassie remember June as Timmy's Mom and later she played the Mom on the TV show "Lost is Space". There is nothing like this movie to get me feeling its really Christmas.

The Son cooked as a tasty salmon dinner before he disappeared down into his dungeon to play his shaman or tree dwarf or whatever he plays on World of Warcraft. Ann and I plopped our butts in front of the TV to watch the Redskins play the Giants. We both promptly fell asleep. Not that we're old or anything. I recovered enough to watch the last quarter, but lord I hate the Sunday night games. I just can't stay awake to watch them. Tomorrow is another day off. Hallelujah for long weekends.