RT day #450!

For those of us keeping score, in under 3 years, that's 3,150 miles and roughly $2,500 saved (on a day to day basis, not based on the fact that I don't buy monthly subway passes). Obv things to omit are off-days and weekends. I'm confident I can hit 500 by year's end.

Listening to AC/DC Live today. It has apparently rained amply enough both on LI and in NYC but I'm dry and that's good. I can feel my legs today, and that's probably because I ran on the Boardwalk Weds night, which I count toward "the count." Because I have Nostromo and some mags in a plastic Borders bag, the front wheel looks like it's struggling, too. Probably should've prepared for a nicer day so that I could run, but then again, I don't like running on Fridays b/c of the return trip. I may kick it up next week and run 3x. We'll see how Monday goes.

Today is the last day for a couple of executives at work. One of whom I mentioned earlier as the person at the median I was fortunate enough to recognize and stayed out of his line of sight. The only time he ever addressed me directly was in a group setting where he asked me and some colleagues to take a pay cut. 5 years and that's all I got. Good riddance to you.

Big groups of Asian tourists are near Ground Zero today and too many people are just too important and won't wait for a cement truck re-positioning itself at Albany Street.

Thank you for reading.

RT day #449

First day back to the grind.

Had to feed Lex's guinea pig first and quickly tightened some screws on the bike.
Started to read Nostromo again. It's easier for me to read on a train than in my own home lately. We'll see if I can make any real progress with it. It'll be rewarding if/when I finish it.

There's a major difference in the weather this morning. It's still sunny, of course, but not nearly as hot nor humid. There's a comfortable breeze hitting me which I thought at first was just for the streets but even as I made it to the Highway it remained. Today is perfect weather for riding.

I am prepared to run for lunch in case my friends cannot make time. But today I'd rather skip the run and hang out with them instead.

I haven't hit the road since the 14th. I also haven't run since the 13th. Even though I hit the gym 3-4 x in the past 7 days, the regiment and schedule was too simple and no matter what you do you cannot lose all that cardio and keep the leanness. I can see it on me, I still look good and my weight is down but it's not the same as it was 2 weeks ago. 2 weeks of eating (more) like a king and beach bumming does that to you. The important thing is to keep this in mind for the week before the triathlon, b/c I have vacation that week, too. That means for the next 4 weeks I really have to discipline myself and get it straight. It's kind of a smart move not to run today anyway and make sure the legs still get me from point A to B. Tomorrow is a Cyclones game so no bike.

I moved pretty quickly today and even with a bathroom break and stopping at a couple of long lights I am still in before 9:25. I do all this on auto-pilot still, which is simultaneously impressive & pathetic.

It's good that I was able to take a week-plus off, as I am not dreading the return today. Not that I want to be here but it's not terrible today.

Thank you for reading.

Playlist:
RHCP: "Especially In Michigan"
Wolfmother: "Cosmic Egg"
Yes: "Roundabout"
Van Halen: "Amsterdam"
Wolfmother: "Cosmonaut"

Shot calves...not those calves.

My legs are shot. Spec. the calves. To begin, I ran a 21:13 run during lunch yesterday and a 21-flat 5K this morning pre-ride. I was able to hit the gym in the morn, worked bis and pecs first, then ran, then finished the upper body stuff. I noticed a major difference b/w running my outdoor route and running on the treadmill with the Vibram shoes. Obv the outdoor is tougher on the legs unless I run part of it on the dirt and grass (there's very little opportunity to do that). But when I run outdoors, if I feel sore anywhere it's in my thighs, whereas this morning I felt it in my calves. By the time I arrived at the train I knew they were shot. That's more than 6 miles in less than 24 hrs so I suppose it makes sense. My strength for the weight training was mildly sapped b/c I didn't sleep well last nite and probably got a combined total of 4-5 hrs. It was a blessing in disguise, as it turns out, because "Look Around You" is airing on DVR Theatre on Adult Swim this week. Had I known that earlier, I would've nudged my parents to record it. Still, I couldn't complete the sets of 185lbs and I was mildly disappointed but couldn't dwell b/c time is a factor in the mornings.

Had my PB Cup RTD and half a banana on the train (so at least I'm re-fueled) and dove in to the first 2 chapters of Hemingway's Moveable Feast. It's a little over 200 pgs and I've got a long subway ride to Coney Island tomorrow, on top of two more LIRR trips, plus a road trip on Sat so I'll knock it out soon. It's about his experiences with other expatriates in France in the 1920s so if someone were to watch that new Woody Allen movie they'd like this book. I'd even lend it to them once I finished it.

I have abandoned hope on the vocational front. It's just a harsh reality at this point. I truly expect nothing now, as it's not all that dissimilar from when PH pulled this crap last May-????. Someone at work is supposedly going to help me get noticed elsewhere and she's really cool but I will not hold her to it. My expectations need to remain low in this arena.

I'd like to hit the gym if for only 20 minutes just to knock the hell out of myself completely but I don't know how feasible that will be.

It's all just blurring together out here. It's beautiful and perfect out here. Mild breeze, not as humid. Truly a perfect summer day. Can't wait to have a whole week-plus of them to myself.

Thank you for reading.

Playlist:
AC/DC - "House is on Fire" (live)
RHCP - "Funky Crime" "Storm in a Teacup"
Monster Magnet - "The Right Stuff" "I Control, I Fly"

Here's The Answer

Had to drop the car off to have them replace the brake light. Made the ER stop from the 813 in the nick of time.

I have one passage/chapter left in As I Lay Dying. I'm glad I am reading the heralded works of the past century because after a while there are only so many crime novels one can take before they all blur together. The best ones in recent memory were Tom Rob Smith's two that I read in the winter. Hemingway and Faulkner used the same literary tactic where they say that there's a problem without actually saying it.

It smelled uncharacteristically foul at the Highway crossing today. Like raw sewage and burning rubber. There was a woman standing at the crossing and I was going to ask her if she smelled it, too, but I think should've misconstrued it as an insult.

There are a lot of people on the path today -- joggers, cyclists, most of whom are unusually ripped. I'm listening to Everyday Demons by The Answer. I picked up this album when Virgin was going out of business 2 yrs ago. I hadn't heard of them but the sticker on the cover touted them as the opener for AC/DC and they were worth the risk (of a whole 3 bucks) because it's just damn good rock and roll.

I am going to run today and since I made the earlier train I am taking it a little easier on the road today. I stopped off at the GNC on Beaver St. and it had nothing I'd want for the prices they're asking.

I'm slated to help the Lizard's friend with a thesis today and I have a couple of opportunities I need to explore online. It'll be an allright day. If I'm really lucky I'll see GL tonite and get it out of my system.

Thank you for reading.

looking for revival across sunny skies

Not exactly sure what happened but I took the bike lane on 9th avenue today and took it down to 26th, which slowed me down some. I won't repeat this act because it just isn't worth the time.

It's another beautiful day but it is also quite hot and it's going to get hotter. I had planned to run today but I'm uncertain now. I had a rough headache on Friday that is fresh in my memory and I can't have that again. If it means waiting an extra day when it's 7 degrees cooler and running them back-to-back, that's fine.

Worked out last night and let the devil out. Punching that bag in the steam room provides an unparalleled high.

Have roughly 60 pgs left in Faulkner. It's a good read which gets better with each chapter. You have to meet each character several times before you are in the mode. I am glad I'm finally getting around to these classic novels and authors, if only to satisfy my curiosity.

Am listening to the Rev this morning -- some tracks off Lucky 7 and Revival. The song "Revival" is the one I was most excited for, probably b/c of the way I am feeling about my current job situation. Let's try to patch some things up.

Am wearing my sunglasses today, not as a fashion statement but merely to keep the pebbles and soot out of my eyes.

Made the second train today and it still doesn't slow me down at all. Certainly not in this weather.

A woman wearing a nice dress was on a motorscooter at Albany Street, crossing beside me and then pulled up on to the curb there. I wonder what someone like that does for a living.

Thank you for reading.

pebble in the eye

A solid ride home as there was no bus depot at Church Street.
My laces are getting tangled in the pedals more frequently than I'd like.
I did get behind a bus that must've kicked up the tiniest pebble that hit me right in the right eye. I had to pull over to get it out.
Everything was fine until I got to 21st Street and noticed that the square block was sealed off by the cops and the FD. I went up to 7th and came back around to 23rd and 6th. I kind of regret that since 8th Ave would've been a smoother transition but it's ok.
I will hit the gym tonite as I owe it to my future self. I had a (rare) weekend off so it's time to rip it up. Will do some abs, tris, some shoulders and punching bag.
I'm getting a queer feeling lately from a co-worker whom I value very much. I hope it's just a dose of paranoia on my part. I'm positive I didn't insult the person directly but I think I may have said something that rubbed the wrong way. I hope I am wrong. Not everything is about me. It does bum me out and it takes the flavor out of the day as I don't like to let this person down.
Thank you for reading.

"Hey Hey do the Zombie Stomp."

Listening to some choice selections off Ozzy's No More Tears.

It's going to be 91 degrees today.

If Friday's run taught me anything it's that running in such hot weather is fine if you are going to have easy access to water immediately after, which I don't have. I do not want to run with a water bottle. I'm moving too fast and it'll distract me. So it'll wait for tomorrow, when it will presumably be a few degrees cooler and I'll be well-prepared.

I'm still hung up on the lines of BS I absorbed during my performance review last week -- I must admit. I can't wait to turn 50 and tell everyone younger than me that "this is the way I am and I will not change." I'm kidding, of course, but that is the gist of what I was told.

"You're the under-ling, you have to change. I epitomize deadness and enjoy my corporate slavery, I fill out the reports, I screw you out of money and you will sit there and take it unless you go somewhere else."

I had a celebratory weekend that had very little time for exercise, so I plan to hit the gym hard tonite and let a lot of this out. The biking doesn't really let out any frustration it's merely a means to an end at this point. The extra training is what does the job and lately hitting the bag is releasing the most energy. It will be abs and upper body tonight for sure.

Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of people jogging and biking today on the path.

Am still reading Faulkner and am more than half-way done. It's getting easier to understand and follow as I move along. I can see where a kid would be bored to tears with it in high school -- but as you get older some of these literary works resonate with more impact. The time to read this sort of thing is in college to truly appreciate it. Maybe senior year of high school, too.

I'm sweating right through the back of my Polk High jersey-shirt. I haven't had any coffee yet but I'm still moving quicker than normal.

I find myself privately exhaling the following (Oftentimes it happens while training at the gym or on the bike.) : "You'll get nothing from me."

I interpret this in a variety of ways but mostly I feel like I'm being interrogated and beaten and this is the response I'd give, if at all.

Thank you for reading.

Day 2 of 2

Ran a 21:32 5K today and am now beating back a headache.
It's raining and I did this to myself.
Thankfully it wasn't a bus depot on Church Street. I took Cortlandt and made a left. I had wanted to go all the way up to Fulton and then make the left but that's where the buses were. So in that regard I was fortunate.
The goal is to make the 520, which I think I can do, esp. since I wasn't waiting too long at any one light.
By the time I hit 14th Street I had 10 minutes left and I know I can do it.
Thank you for reading.

Planning ahead

Feel better about doing this today as opposed to yesterday. While I still sort of regret not just sticking to the plan, I'm able to take the two days and tack them on to the days immediately following my next week-long trip so that's fine, too. I was hung up on the 10-trip passes I had bought, but I don't think the numbers will work in my favor no matter what. I still save 50 bucks so that's fine.

Saw a film last night called "The Kid: Chamaco" and it really underwhelmed me. It was an interesting take on the old boxing formula -- that part was good. I think I was disappointed for 3 reasons: 1. Michael Madsen has a marquee name in it and he's in only a handful of scenes and none of them are opposite Martin Sheen. It would've been cool to see the two of them duke it out. 2. The American boxer is not a good actor and he's not holding his own against Sheen. The only time he was believable was when he was boxing/training. His inflection when he yelled was off-putting and weird. 3. Motivations were lost. If I were a gringo in Mexico accused of anything and I can prove I didn't do it, then I'd be saying that first-thing. Not just sweating it out in jail.

It was a cool idea (the rise of a good-hearted Mexican tough from streetfighter to amateur boxer with the help of some altruistic gringos) and the Mexican kid was pretty good, and Sheen's Spanish -- while better than mine, for sure -- was intentionally choppy, but then again, he's an American in Mexico and it's obviously not the character's first language. Still, they were lobbing them in high and slow for him. Think of it as "Slumdog Millionaire" in Mexico, revolving around boxing.

Am about 70-75 pgs in to Dying. There are a lot of characters whose points of view you have to read from, and at first it was daunting (esp. b/c some of the characters have ambiguous names, like Darl and Dewey Bell) but it's all gelling better. After this, I reckon I'll read a comic and then I'm very excited to be starting Life by Perec. That will be a mammoth undertaking but I will have time in which to do it. We'll see if I'm glamorizing it now, in hindsight, or if it really was that good, or, if I was just happy I finished the damn thing the first time. It'll be the first time I read a full novel a 2nd time. It's been nearly 10 years since the go-around.

I'm giving some hard thought to something I was told yesterday and the gist of it was that I shouldn't expect any kind of acknowledgment for the extra work I do except for one day a year when it can be packaged in a way that so that it will seem genuine. This is the mindset of the middle-managers of corporate America. There's no time for that sort of thing here: Just work, work, work and be happy you have a job. I'd argue but what's the point? There are people who are just not going to adapt, not going to change and they are the real assholes. This is how it is and enter your cliche here about the way things are. Should the day come where I am responsible for others, they will know their worth on a regular basis.

I might run today. I'd like to get one in. I was sore as all hell from the intense leg workout of Sunday but it's finally dissipated. We'll see how that effects my time. I love my new method -- don't pace yourself; just run as hard as you can the whole time, and when certain parts of Megadeth songs come up, run harder.

Today's a nice today with a looming threat of rain. Nothing terribly interesting happening today on the road. I realize though that the bus depot we call Church Street might need to be circumvented on the ride home if I'm to make the 520.

Thank you for reading.

Playlist:
Pearl Jam -- "Whipping"
Ozzy -- "I don't want to change the world" "11 Silver"
Chris Cornell -- "Time" "Ground Zero"
Lo-Fi Allstars -- "Hold On"

what am i doing?

I am already cursing myself for making the trip.
I was so indecisive that it is haunting me. I suppose I can re-sched time for the end of the month but so much for living in the moment.
I read about 25 pgs of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and had trouble concentrating b/c of the petty stuff I'm hung up on regarding today and tomorrow. I'm sure it will be a good read.
Still stuck in the past, I was hoping to not have to worry about this but plans I had tried to set in motion have not (yet?) panned out and I am trying to use my days wisely. Petty is the word. For some reason it is easier to get hung up sometimes on this insignificant day-to-day things that I am losing sight of the big picture.
I'll make the best of it all today but I'm sort of down-and-out today.
Listened to some of the upbeat songs from Elton John & Leon Russell's album, as I don't want to go to work all amped up. It could hit 90 today and I will not run in this, mostly because I won't have any water nearby when I'm done. Supposedly it might rain tomorrow. If it's cloudy and cooler, I'll hit the pavement tomorrow.
Thank you for reading.

Beginnings and Endings?

Interesting day, as I believe it was 6 years ago that I was hired. I pick today of all of them, b/c I recall having to ask whether or not to come in on Monday even though Monday would be Independence Day.

Musically, the list is the, but here's one that is atypical and a standout -- like being awake in a dream. I come back to it when I need to and sometimes I think of Pop. Living Colour: "This Is The Life"

Finished TACN. There were some fascinating passages in there, even the parts discussing art and art criticism. It helped that a couple of prints were included so I can fully appreciate Miller's take on things. He makes a case for the South, also, which is unsurprising because modernization was occurring to the extreme east and west, and with it, according to Miller, is the downfall of our society. I keep thinking of what he wrote about Death and Deadness. That will stay with me for a long time. There may be added bits to the book in subsequent printings and if I come across it I'll check it out. This was what I was hoping Kerouac's book would be.

Ran my 5K in 20:37 yesterday -- an all-time best for sure. I can feel it in my legs a little bit so I'll give it a rest today. To ensure that I don't run, I'm wearing my beige Timberlands.

The guy at Chelsea Piers did a lousy job of stopping cars in our bike lane. Me and a well-dressed man on a bike were commenting while riding about it. It wasn't the normal traffic guy and he just sort of looked at us like we were aliens. Not too long after I saw a man in a nice blue suit and pants on a bike. Amazing. It could be me one day, too. Good for him.

It's a nice guy's last day at work today. I've known him only less than a year but it was apparently better goings elsewhere for him. Too bad b/c I feel like we could've been buddies.

I will have at least Tues & Weds off next week. By now I was hoping to have solidified more events but that hasn't happened yet and I need to stop being naive.

For some reason I fare much better in the morning when I need to make the early train as opposed to the normal one.

I'm going to hit the gym and the pavement as hard as possible in the next two weeks (particularly next week) and then will rest during the full week I'll be off. I would like to resume/revise the essay I wrote about my favorite band and maybe I will.

Thank you for reading.