Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Today's Workouts

Woah I've been slacking. Not in my workouts, I'm still doing those, but in my posting. Life keeps getting in the way.

5 mile run this morning and swimming at lunch time.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Today's Workouts

Early am - 40 miles cycling

Lunch Time - 5 miles running then 1,200 yards swimming

EOTWAWKI

Another installment of occasional updates on how we are doing out there

  • Since 2006, roughly 3 million homes have been lost to foreclosure.
  • Over the next two years, another 3.6 million are expected to lose their homes
  • Sony Lays off 16,000
  • The Airlines are projected to lose $5 billion this year
  • Oprah is mad at herself for weighing 190 pounds
  • Bank of America to slash 35,000 jobs (Merry Christmas)
  • Man handcuffs wife to bed and loses key (sure he lost it)

    As usual one of these is false

    answer - Oprah "cry me a river" Winfrey is mad cause she weighs 200 pounds. She needs to come workout with me

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Today's Workouts

15 mile run this morning in a cold rain.

18 miles cycling after dinner inside.

Arby's Curly Fries Update

After my munchies attack the other day while running and the scarfing down of the Curly Fries, I emailed Arby's the same story I posted here. Here is the response I got today from them.

Dear Rob;

Thank you for your comments. Our customer’s input and comments are always welcome and very important to us. We use this information to guide the decisions we make about our brand and our products.

Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Arby’s Customer Relations



What a let down. No coupons for free product. No offers to stay in Arby's commercials or Fear Factor and eat other weird things. I could see a whole new reality series about runners who are forced to eat things they find while out on the roads running. No book deals to write about my life as a Running Curly Fry Eater. No movie deal to play a ridiculously good-looking Vampire who has given up human blood sucking and only eats Arby's Curly Fries in order not to upset his human girlfriend.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Today's Workouts

5.2 miles running this morning in 60 degree weather :)

1,250 yards swimming at lunch time

Hey Buddy Can You Spare a Dime?

Or $10 or $20 or $50? Maybe you can maybe you can’t. I realize these are tough times for some people so if you are one of them then don’t worry about the rest of this post. (you guys hang in there the Feds are on the job! – just remember; there is no problem that the government can’t make worse).

For the rest of you with a bit of change to spare…read on. Check out the website for Catholic World Missions. They ship food and medicine to the poorest of the poor. And unlike some relief supplies, these foods and medicines are handled by the Missionaries of the Poor, Sisters. So you know your donations are having a direct impact. How do I know this? Well anyone who has ever gone to Catholic School or CCD or had any encounter with Nuns knows what I’m talking about. These woman don’t take no for an answer. If they set their mind to do something it gets done. Think of Attila the Hun but in a habit and with a heart of gold.

So your donations aren’t ending up in the hands of some third world dictator so he can build a huge palace with 20 bathrooms, a heart-shaped pool, a cocoa-motion machine and hedges sculpted into the shape of The Donk.

I know everyone has various charities and churches they support but if you are looking for a good one to help out, please check out CWM. Maybe a cash donation equal to the equivalent of the amount you would spend on a Christmas gift for a close family member would be a good place to start.

And I promise to not ask you to donate to any cause for at least the rest of the year. Unless of course The Donk decides to get that Ear-Job he has been saving up for.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Today's Workouts

18 miles cycling this morning.

7 miles running with the 3 middle miles at a fast pace.

Today's Workouts

Actually yesterdays workouts.

6 mile run in the trails behind the pool complex, then a 1,000 yard swim.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Be back in a few days

Off to West Virginia to camp with the 3 middle boys, plus some friends and their boys. Camping as in staying in a house in the woods. I don't do tents.

Happy St Nick Day everyone.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Today's Workouts

40 miles biking from 4:30-7am this morning.

5.5 mile run at lunch time on the trails behind the pool complex where I swim. Quick change into my jammers and into the pool for 1000 yard swim.

Yo Curly Where are Larry and Moe

My workout adventures yesterday.

For breakfast I took Barbara and Dominic to McDonald’s after 8am Mass. It was the feast of St Barbara, even though some commie at the Vatican took her off the calendar – but I digress.

Anyway I had a breakfast biscuit, hash brown and coffee. At 11am I went out and biked 26 miles. I got home around 12:30 and had a few more cups of coffee. I meant to have some Gatorade and a Power Bar but I got sidetracked with work.

At 2pm I went out for 10 mile run. A half of a mile into the run I realized I had forgotten to bring my bottle of Gatorade. I figured it was no big deal because it wasn’t hot out and I wouldn’t get dehydrated. I forgot about the lack of calories I had taken in.

At the 2 mile point of my run I started getting that light-headed low blood sugar feeling and my legs were feeling wobbly. For those of you who workout, this is called Bonking. I decided to switch my run to 6 miles and just try and get home without fainting.

At the 3.5 mile point I was feeling really weird, like at a Grateful Dead concert weird. Now I’m not thinking clearly at all. I decide to try and figure out who I know that lives near where I am at. So maybe I can get some food or a ride home. When low and behold what’s this littered on the ground? An Arby’s bag?

Hmmm I like Arby’s. Open up the bag. An empty milkshake cup, an empty roast beef sandwich wrapper, rats I like roast beef, and at the bottom of the bag…jackpot….an extra large order of Curly Fries that for some reason haven’t been touched.

I stick my glove covered mitts in there and start shoveling those fries in my mouth like I’m going to the electric chair. They are cold but so scrumptious. Too bad there are no ketchup packs to munch on too. It takes me about all of 90 seconds to eat them all. I look in the bag at the receipt from the food; it’s from yesterday afternoon, around 24 hours ago. Oh well it has been pretty cool recently. Kinda like a refrigerator. (It has been 4 hours now since I scarfed down the fries and no food poisoning …yet) The light headedness starts to go away and I decide to finish the last 2.5 miles of my run. Those are the fastest miles of my run, I’m Frying…I mean flying home.

Forget steroids and EPO, Arby’s fries are going to be my new performance enhancing drug.





Thursday, December 4, 2008

Today's Workouts

26 miles cycling at lunch time.

6 mile run mid-afternoon. It was supposed to be 10 miles. More on that tomorrow.

Toxic Boobs

Several women have claimed that a popular type of bra from the leading lingerie firm Victoria’s Secret made them ill.

Roberta Ritter, 37, claims: "I had the welts that were very red, hot to the touch, extremely inflamed, blistery. It itched profusely. I couldn't sleep and was waking up itching."

Miss Ritter, from Ohio, filed a lawsuit against Victoria's Secret in May and claims she has been contacted by dozens of women suffering similar symptoms who are now seeking permission to join her in a class-action lawsuit.

Her lawyers said they purchased the same bra types that Miss Ritter had bought and had them laboratory tested. They claim the tests revealed that the bras showed traces of formaldehyde, which is used in the textile industry to make fabrics crease-resistant. The lawyers believe Miss Ritter may be allergic to formaldehyde.


Ok since I don't wear bras (well not on a regular basis) I have a few questions about this story:

1) There are labs that test bras?

2) Formaldehyde? Seriously? Isn't that the stuff those fetal-pigs we used to hack up in high school science class were kept in?

3) There are Victoria Secrets stores in Ohio?

4) Bras need to be crease-resistant?

5) If they aren't made crease-resistant, do women iron them? And if so how do they work around the curves?


Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Today's Workouts

5 miles running this morning.

13 miles cycling at lunch time. It was supposed to be 25 miles, double flatted with only one spare inner tube. Wife to the rescue.

Alice Cooper Wannabe

This is why she's known as 'Monster Baby' and 'Hunter'. Any questions?


Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Today's Workouts

7 miles running this morning.

1,200 yards swimming at lunch time.

Good Thing They Aren't Brass Monkeys

For some bright reason the younger boys, Dominic (7) Robert (8) and Joey (10), decided they wanted to sleep in a tent in the backyard one night over the Thanksgiving Day weekend.

And for some reason my bride decided an adult needed to sleep out there. We do live in the 'wilds' of the Washington DC suburbs. So I guess she was worried about a rabbit nibbling their toes or a squirrel stealing their nuts. And of course there is the goatman you lives in the wood on the outskirts of our town, but I'm pretty sure he's a vegan. So, you guessed it, she slept out there. Yeah you thought I was going to sleep out there?! Sam didn't even bother to ask. My idea of roughing it is tap instead of bottled water. Rob Don't Camp!

It doesn't get real cold here but it did go down to 30 that night. So the boys must have put on just about every piece of clothing they owned. Joey had on 4 pairs of socks and 5 shirts. Plus he but on 3 pair of underwear, 2 pairs of pants and 2 pair of shorts...he must really be trying to protect something. Dominic out did them all. The next morning he counted his socks as he took them off; 10 on one foot and 11 on the other. Little momma, who is always cold, was all bundled up and snuggled up with the boys on the nice cold and hard ground. Barbara (12) joined them around midnight after wathcing a movie.

They did run a power cord to the tent and setup and radio and a light...why they didn't bring out an electric heater is beyond me. But I give them credit, they stayed out there the entire night.

Me? I slept in our nice king-sized bed. The one with the flannel sheets, electric blanket and down comforter...I was actually sweating.


Monday, December 1, 2008

EOTWAWKI

Thus far in 2008 the Feds have spent or committed the following amounts of your money:

• $29 billion for Bear Stearns
• $143.8 billion for AIG (thus far, it keeps growing)
• $100 billion for Fannie Mae
• $100 billion for Freddie Mac
• $700 billion for Wall Street, including Bank of America (Merrill Lynch), Citigroup, JP Morgan (WaMu), Wells Fargo (Wachovia), Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and a lot more . On top of $45 billion for Citibank, comes a guarantee of $306 billion in bad loans.$800 billion to buy mortgages issued or backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae and Federal Home Loan Banks.
• $200 billion for the auto industry
• $200 billion to buy securities tied to student loans, car-loans, credit card debt and small business loans.
• $8 billion for IndyMac
• $700 billion to $1 trillion stimulus package (from January)
• $50 billion for money market funds
• $138 billion for Lehman Bros. (post bankruptcy) through JP Morgan
• $620 billion for general currency swaps from the Fed

“The numbers change so fast, it is hard to even add them up. Rough total: $3,651,800,000,000 .00

****note the total is now even higher...The federal government committed an additional $800 billion to two new loan programs on last Tuesday

So the total is more like $4.5 trillion

Happy Birthday Cecilia

Cecilia aka 'Hunter' aka 'Monster Baby' aka 'Tinker Bell' is 3 day. It's been a long 3 years with this. She is the #10 child in the family and I'v pretty much decided that every 10th child is a lemon, so we are stopping at 19 kids for sure....

When Cecilia is happy she is great to be around but when she's not happy...watch out!!!