Dirtkids

Summer is so confusing, so challenging…every little bit of my soul wants nothing more than to be outside playing (preferably on two wheels) but the pangs of other sports I enjoy or once played draw me back to my computer. I say computer because we only have TV service in one of our three current locations…don’t feel bad for me, I’m happy to say I’ve never watched any of those reality TV shows and feel pretty damn good about it. I digress…

The World Cup is almost over and it’s been a challenging few weeks juggling work and watching/listening to the games streamed over the internet. Thank you www.espn3.com for streaming all the games…if only other networks would take such a bold step to keep us in touch with our sports (ex. Olympics??!?!?!). Soccer has always been the love of my sporting life. Many of the people in my life, places I’ve travelled, stories I have are all a result of years of playing soccer. Safely in retirement, my sporting life is now dominated by two wheels.

The Tour de France…yes, it’s a road bike race but on two wheels nonetheless. Each day currently starts with a review of results, recaps, etc. from the action each day. The sound of Phil Liggett’s voice is like music to my ears…

Stanley Cup playoffs…ok, a little late on this one, I’m no longer playing and technically the playoffs are over before summer starts. If the Sharks aren’t playing my interest dwindles.

Wimbledon…yes, I’ll admit, I secretly wish I’d played tennis…love the sport! Not entirely sure why as it’s nothing like the other sports that interest me.

Yes, baseball is an intentional omission…doesn’t interest me and I found it pretty boring to play.

Then again…there’s the new mountain bike movie I just downloaded. What was I talking about?

Here I sit, typing a blog entry that will have to be posted later.

Despite my enthusiasm for exploring remote, less travelled areas, the fewer people the better, I am occasionally guilty of missing the internet. I’ve never been one to watch much TV, which has been reinforced by the fact that Tom and I only have TV service in one of the three locations where we split our living time. All three locations do have land-line phone service and internet service. The land-line phone service is a necessity for a couple of reasons, two out of three locations have spotty or non-existent cell phone service and more importantly, since I work remotely and regularly participate in conference calls, need to fax, etc. having a land-line becomes important.

So, it was with great frustration that I arrived at our cabin last Thurs night, after a week of driving back from Bishop, shopping for a couple weeks worth of groceries (I’ll get to that later) and loading a trailer with a bed and other items and then driving to the cabin…only to find that our phone here has no dial tone. Oh, and this is the only location with no cell service…of any kind or provider. Since we have no dial tone, we also have no internet connection. It was after 9pm and I needed to at least call Tom and my parents (who helped me load the bed, thanks!) to let them know I’d made it to the cabin ok. The drive to the cabin is relatively remote and sparsely travelled on weeknights, so it’s always good to check in. My saving grace, I guess, is that there is a pay phone at the little store in town. Now can anyone actually remember the last time they used a pay phone, not including travelling abroad??? Me neither. I felt like an idiot trying to read the fine print on the phone about how to make a credit card call. I call AT&T first but of course I’m looped into automated answering system hell. The soonest a tech can come out to the house is Monday. And my appointment window? 8am to 7pm! What the hell? I calm down slightly and make my necessary calls, the last one being to my boss to let him know I won’t be online or available by phone Friday…that I’ll try to make it to cell reception to do a half-ass e-mail/voice-message check.

My first thought was to head back home but it was late, I was exhausted and we were having a debris box delivered Friday to clean up our “yard” of pine needles and leaves for fire season. And Tom was coming Friday night to spend the weekend at the cabin. We also plan to spend a long July 4th weekend here (hence the two weeks of food and no, there are no stores…the nearest true grocery store is at least an hour away).

The lack of phone line has been particularly brutal. We were trying to coordinate riding with a friend Saturday, so I had to call Friday, from another town 20 miles away where I have a cell signal, and come up with a plan since we had no way to contact each other. Then there was no way for me to check on Tom’s progress on the way here…was he ok? Running late? Stopped for food? Nothing, zip, nada. What’s worse is that the first US game of the elimination round of the World Cup was on Saturday and no way to watch, stream or even know the score (by the time I post this, I’ll obviously know the outcome.) It’s Sunday night and again Tom is on the road…with no way to check in. It gets better…the pay phone in town now isn’t working so I had to drive over the mountains to get a cell signal. Dare I ask what happens next?

Smoke signals, carrier pigeons, pony express, morse code, telegrams…geez, I don’t know how people did it. I’ve gotten so dependent on technology, even if just the ability to make a phone call, that I’m not sure what do without it.

Update: AT&T has obviously now fixed the issue, turns out critters gradually chewed through the line but according to the tech it was time to replace the line anyway.

If anyone needs a refresher on how to use a pay phone, call me. Oh wait, you can’t…

So last week while I was home, I had the opportunity to see and/or talk to some of my old friends. You know, the ones you’ve known for some ridiculously long time, who don’t live near you anymore, who have taken a different path in life, who have truly embarrssing stories about you, and so on. These are the friends where geography or time passed since you last spoke or saw each other doesn’t matter. Who when you see them or hear their voice, you get a rush of memories of “the old days” or whatever we’re supposed to call it when it seems like a long time ago.

The proliferation of social media such as Facebook and Twitter is a curse and a blessing all in one. I’ve gotten in touch with people I thought I’d never hear from again…not necessarily for lack of wanting to keep in touch but life gets busy. You leave high school and instantly people scatter…many go off to college, some stay behind. People find jobs, may move again. Some find a partner, others have kids. We’ve all moved on in some way and lost touch. We constantly find ourselves in positions where we don’t have a choice about the people we spent our time around…whether in school, sports, work, as parents, etc. So the people who are truly friends are the ones we WANT to talk to, to see, to keep in touch with.

So to my friends who I’ve laughed with, cried with (have I ever done that?), drank with, won with, lost with, travelled with, ridden with, bled with, camped with, driven with…(this list could get very long)…thanks for keeping in touch. We’ve got alot more good times ahead and stories to share…

So I came to the cabin last night…it’s been a while since we’ve checked on it with our geographical challenges, so it was time. Yesterday when I left our house, I was comfortable outside in a t-shirt, the sun was out…the spring fever I’ve been fighting was subsiding. Today is a different story…shortly after I took the dogs down to the river for a post-dog-knee-surgery shortened hike and returned to the cabin, the sprinkles started. The full blown winter storm predicted appears to have arrived…complete with wind and hail. A short, rainy run was looking good during a short break this afternoon but that window appears to have closed…now I don’t mind running in the rain, I actually like it…but this is a bit much. My arms are once again covered with a sweatshirt, fire burning in the stove and dogs staring at me…bored, wondering why they aren’t passed out somewhere in a sunny spot under a tree. I’ll be watching for my opportunity to get outside in the next few days but I don’t think I’ll see the sun on this trip to the cabin. But soon…very soon…we’ll be back…with bikes…and motos!

Yes, I know…it is something from an infomercial. I can honestly admit though that I didn’t know about the infomercials until AFTER we bought the DVD package…but really, there’s good reason for me mentioning it…and I’m not a paid actor, nor do I look like one…give Tom a cape though and he’s like an action hero…but I digress.

With our complicated geographic logistics and the ever-present potential for crappy winter weather in all 3 locations, we were trying to figure out how to make it through the winter without completely losing any shred of fitness we gained from all the summer/fall mtn biking and hiking. I was reading some trashy Hollywood gossip site on the internet (yes, surprisingly I’ve been known to do such things) that had some quotes from Pink, the singer, and her using P90X to whip herself into shape. I did a quick internet search on P90X and saw several positive reviews. Although somewhat skeptical, Tom and I have tried one of the Bowflex machines (it was barely recognizable through the layer of dust), tried free weights (boring) and a spin bike (good but not portable). I was struck by how simple the program sounded in terms of hardly needing equipment.

So just before the holidays, we pulled the trigger and ordered the program. We set it aside until just after the holidays, read through the information that comes with the DVDs and got started…

A little background…I’ve been involved in organized or individual sports since I was a little kid and have been exposed to or tried various ways of training depending on the activity or activities I’m into at the moment. Tom comes from a similar background but once he hit school, he tried a few organized sports and drifted towards doing his own thing (skiing, kayaking, windsurfing, mtn biking, etc.) but he’d never really been exposed to a training regimen.

So the P90X program overview is that it is advertised as a series of exercises designed to work the whole body using a concept called “muscle confusion”…having a physiology background, sounded plausible enough to me on the surface. The exercise routines are about 60-90 min and rotate in 4 week blocks for 3 months. There is some weight/bands work, plyometrics, core exercises, lots of push-ups/pull-ups, Yoga, Kenpo, etc. The second part of the program is a nutrition plan…which I was skeptical about…like I’m really going to stop drinking Cokes????

We decided to try out the nutrition plan and we were off! The first week was amazingly exhausting, which I’m embarrassed to admit. I was sore the day after each exercise for a little over a week but was impressed at the variety of the exercises. The nutrition plan was another story…it’s definitely not a diet but more of a way to train your metabolism and not at all difficult for us. We’ve stuck with the exercise schedule with the exception of skipping some weekend days due to other exercise activities and we both took a few days off when we got sick.

We’re wrapping up week 6 and have been through all the DVD workouts except one and I can honestly say I’m hooked. I can’t imagine not continuing to do this program or one of Tony Horton’s other follow ups to P90X. As an aside, Tony Horton is great…he’s energetic and throws out movie quotes during the workouts…if the guy can make you work your ass off and still laugh, he’s doing something right.

So we don’t have our final P90X numbers to work with but I can tell you this so far…
1. We’ve both noticed clothes are looser and bodies tighter
2. We’ve both lost a few pounds
3. We’re not religiously following the nutrition plan…my only digression is my occasional Coke but otherwise we are staying within the portion suggestions and think we will forever eat healthier
4. I’ve never felt stronger overall (except cardiovascularly but that’s not what P90X is best for)

I turned 41 in February…if I want to continue playing like I’m 20 with the dirtbiking, snowboarding, mtn biking, etc. I gotta keep this body tuned up…and the P90X program is the perfect tool. I’m looking forward to finishing this out and trying out the rest of the punishment Tony is dishing out!

I know…it’s only February.

Officially spring doesn’t start until March 21st…even then winter can linger…and will this year according to Phil (the Groundhog/meterologist). But my spring starts with daylight savings time. It’s light out until about 6pm right now…in just 2 weeks and change, it’ll be light until 7! Now my definition of “light” probably varies from most…I think of “light” as “is-there-enough-light-to-find-my-way-back-to-the-car-from-the-trail?”

There is probably some complicated scientific or psychological, behavior vs. environment type explanation for my need of daylight…being a CA native doesn’t help since most of the year you can engage in most outdoor activities within a couple hours drive. I’ve lived in Seattle and in Montana…which by virtue of being further North had less daylight in the winter and more in the summer. That’s was pretty cool…in the summer. I don’t mind the cold, rain, snow, etc. as long as there is daylight. Winter would be awesome if it was light until 8pm! I digress…

Soon charging the bike lights for a ride won’t be necessary…and I can’t wait.

Ah, December and the holidays are now behind us.

Plumbing/hot water issues at home, stormy weather and the holidays gave way to a relaxing week + at home. Relaxing is all relative since Tom and I don’t sit still much. We’ve got 11 months into Tom working in Bishop and the time with both of us home is few, far between and often involves a reason (appointments, moving stuff from one location to another, etc.) so to have this time at home, together, for this long has been unusual. We got a chance to see some family over the holidays and hope to see more visiting family in the next couple months. In the meantime, when not tending to job-work, we worked on the property (burning brush, grading our road, moving rocks, etc.) We (Tom) finished the plumbing for the new hot water heater, expansion tank, hose bib, etc. and rectified a major water pressure issue in the process. We cleaned up toys (bikes, quad, motos, Bobcats.) We cleaned out and reorganized the garage (including a dump trip.) We cleaned the house, did laundry, updated and reorganized our home theater (added a Blu-ray player.) We head back to job-work with a huge sense of accomplishment and the knowledge that the battle rages on…

We had a hit on our ad to sell our Ford and Tom thought he’d tidy the truck up a bit inside and out for a potential buyer…then he opened the hood…

Apparently the squirrel that hitched a ride to Bishop (and subsequently abandoned the truck) after chewing up various interworkings under the hood to build a nest has vengeful relatives at home still carrying the torch. We’ve already had one nearly $300 trip to the mechanic to repair hoses, turn signal wire, etc. This time a few new things appear to be chewed up…bastards! Thankfully, nothing is at all major…yet. Sheepishly I’ll admit we tried Decon, not knowing what we were dealing with…but it didn’t work anyway, so now we’re on to more drastic (and humane) measures. I’ll be shopping for some cayenne pepper to dump under the hood in appropriate places as a next step…contact us if anyone has any other bright ideas.

Looking forward to more adventures in 2010 and we hope you are too.
Michelle and Tom

I’ve always wondered why people refer to this time of year as the “silly season.” I think I understand now…

I’m fully aware that the insanity of the holidays is totally manufactured by us all (as well as many a marketing executive). Here are some of the silly things we do:

1. We’re all rushing around sending out holiday cards when we probably all keep in touch via Facebook, Twitter or some other much more modern format
2. We force ourselves to buy presents for people because it’s the holidays and that’s what we’ve been conned into thinking we’re supposed to do
3. We indulge in desserts or other random but not often eaten foods…again part of the holiday tradition (some things are even questionable as to whether they ARE food…case in point, fruit cake!)
4. We spent more money and time trying to get to friends and relatives during arguably the crappiest time of year to travel

As with all downsides, there is an upside…

1. We get to see friends and relatives we don’t regularly visit
2. We have an excuse to watch all the Rankin/Bass claymation Christmas classics (who doesn’t know a few words to the Heat Miser song)
3. We can eat and drink whatever we want
4. We get presents

The holidays would be fine if that was the only craziness, but when you pile it on top of those year-end corporate goals people ridiculously push for when most of the world is on holiday it becomes, well…silly.

Given we’re still working on returning our plumbing/hot water heater to working order, we’ll be downright ready for the loony bin when the holidays are over.

Happy Holidays to all our friends and family!
Tom, Michelle, McKinley and Bodie