Mood:  d'oh

Well, then. Haven't touched this blog in nearly three & a half years. For various reasons. Recent posts have been on, and will continue to be on http://sluggo33.blogspot.com/. I've moved there for stability and accessibility to more folks. I'm hoping to keep this blog alive, if only for history, memories, photos, etc.

 See you on the new one. Thanks & cheers.

-Jamie

Mood:  rushed

Howdy from the desert of Tucson. Back here after only one week's absence.  I'm feeling great; however, Mom has to have surgery to repair a broken foot/ankle. Not how I'd planned to spend my mid-September, but then, life is full of surprises. Mom's in good spirits, despite knowing that she'll be spending the next 10-12 weeks in a cast. I'm squaring away details, getting some work around the house taken care of, trying to stay up on work stuff (the 3 hour time difference makes morning con calls a bit tough), and, of course, getting in some biking (with Mom's blessing/direction to get out of the house and stop fussing over her). Pics from the trip start here.

Not as hot as a couple weeks ago, and a bit less humid. Mid 90's for temps during the day, with some T-storms in the area. Pretty breezy - warm, slightly damp winds - makes for  some challenging stretches of the bike ride, as the winds whip across the valley and then swirl as one heads up the mountain...or down.

The afternoon T-storms do provide some amazing sights. Yesterday afternoon, I was beginning my descent down Mt. Lemmon and started to hear the rumble of thunder. Behind one ridge I could see some huge thunder heads massing. As I rounded one of the curves that provided a clear view of the valley, 2,500 feet below, I could see this white-gray wall of rain cascading down from the clouds all the way to the ground - no obstructions of view - just an awesome sight. And, then, the lightning began. Wow! Super thin silver-white strikes, visible from sky to ground (or is that ground to sky?). Let me tell you, that's a tad distracting when you're doing 35 mph on a curvy road down the side of a mountain. I was hoping, praying for a quick descent to flat ground. 

I made it down safely, and quickly, staying in sunlight the whole way, but hit rain when I got to the edge of down. A bit of a wet, and slightly blinded, finish. With the setting sun glaring off of the rain, visibility was a bit hindered.

Anyhoo. I'm sure I'll have more time to post soon, as I'll be hanging out in Starbucks near the hospital where Mom's having surgery. More later. Cheers. 

Mood:  rushed

Progress continues. I’ve made it four days without needing to use the lidocaine to numb my tongue before eating. Things are still a bit sore, but it’s getting easier to eat. That’s a good thing. I need to get some good eating done – more than ice cream J

I managed a 39-mile ride today, despite the 100 degree temps, high humidity, and blistering sun. I loaded up on water, and slathered on the SPF 30, and didn’t push myself too hard. It’s just about 12 miles from Mom’s house to the base of Mt. Lemmon. From there, the mountain beckons. Today, it took me 43:34 to bike to mile zero at the base of the mountain. Exactly one hour later, less five seconds, I was several thousand feet higher, and seven and a half miles farther up the mountain (it’s a full 25 miles to the top). After a short stop to suck down some water and a package of strawberry/banana Power Bar Gel, I headed back down. Hitting speeds as high as 40+ mph (66.6 km/h, nice number J) while descending got me back to mile zero in exactly 15 minutes. 60 minutes up. 15 minutes down. Nothing like quadrupling one’s speed. I only had to tap the breaks once, when I was hitting 40, and getting passed by three cars on a reverse curve - discretion being the better part of not ending up as a stain on the pavement, and all. (If you want to see the stowaway I picked up on the way, click here.) From the base of the mountain, it took me 55 minutes to get home – that was longer than I’d thought it would take. I expected the return time to be more like the 43 minutes outbound. Normally, that’s the case…unless I haven’t been paying close enough attention. The winds were pretty strong today, but it felt like I was making good time…I’ll have to check that if I go out tomorrow. Which I’m planning on doing; however, there may be a couple obstacles, besides the predicted 104 degree heat (but only 72 at the top of the mountain).

One, the "Check Engine" light came on in Mom’s car tonight while I was on the way to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I managed to make it to the movie, but didn’t want to risk going out afterward and having the car break down at night in a town where the sidewalks roll up at 7:30 PM…so much for a visit to the Candy Store…  So, I’ll bring the car back in to Jiffy Lube tomorrow to see if the light was due to something they did last week, or if the pack rats are back and chewing through more wires. That happened last year – Mom got back from her summer in Boston to find that her car wouldn’t start. Turns out that pack rats had gotten into the engine and had chewed through most of the wiring, leading to a dead car, and a costly repair. There are now a few wires that appear gnawed upon, but I don’t know if those are new (gnew?) marks, or just wires that weren’t replaced last time. Like I need to have more things to do before I leave on Thursday…

Let’s see, what else needs doing…well, there’s the sink that’s started to leak. I think it’s the faucet, but I’m still trying to track it down. I’ll see if I can ID the spot, then have a plumber come in while I’m gone to fix it.

Directly above the sink, the kitchen sink light is half broken. One side lights up fine, the other not at all. (And, no, it’s not just the bulb that needs replacing – I checked that, thank you very much.) Despite having swapped out a couple light switches earlier this week, electrical work is not my forte. I’ll see if I can replace the light or not. It may be a bit beyond me. Dad was the electrical whiz. We’ll see if I can match his skills.

There’s also the matter of repairing the interior walls and ceiling that suffered water damage in last year’s monsoons. Over 120 units in my Mom’s community had roof damage in the storms – tiles breaking, blowing off, etc. That led to water damage in a number of places. I count at least seven spots in Mom’s house. The outer roof has now been repaired, but there are a number of homes that are still in need of repair. After that, then the interiors will get done. I need to find out where Mom falls on that list, as she’s going to be laid up here after her ankle surgery next month, and I don’t want construction going on then.

(It’s a good thing I’m not here to rest or anything….)

So, all of that should keep me plenty busy on Wednesday. Plus, we want to see Paris Je T’Aime tomorrow afternoon before I head home, provided the car’s in working order. Tucson’s a great place for second run, or in this case, late run, movies. Tonight’s viewing of FF:ROTSS was actually free – there was no one at the ticket office when I got there a couple minutes after show time. I walked in, and found no one taking tickets, just a high school-aged girl in a theater shirt talking with some guy, showing no interest in either selling or taking a ticket, nor in selling me any popcorn. So, I just walked in to the theater, sat down and watched the movie. Now, I’m not saying that I want my money back, but it wasn’t a great film. It was, however, exactly what I expected in terms of quality, etc. Some better FX than the first FF movie, but nothing amazing - maybe a better movie than the first one, too. Nice FX on the Surfer – very much like a "living" Alex Ross painting. I’ll expect a bit more from Paris Je T’Aime, however.

Wish me luck with all of my chores…

Cheers!

At the base of Mt. Lemmon, outside of Tucson.

More pics from the trip are here.

HOT, HOT, HOT still. And, not all that dry. 

Posted by Jamie at 2:49 PM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, 28 August 2007 9:57 PM EDT
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Mood:  a-ok

Howdy from the HOT, HOT, HOT and humid(!) desert. Hanging out in Tucson for a week of not talking, helping Mom get settled back in after two months with me in Boston. 

Feeling great so far. The tongue is healing well, and today I made it though an entire 60 oz. protein shake, loaded with my fave fruits, without any lidocaine. That's progress. Great to be able to eat and drink without using pain-killers, and, more importantly, not getting that searing, blinding referred pain in my ear. Man, I hate that sensation. So, here's hoping that I've crossed that bridge for good, and can now start eating more and more normally. I'm down seven+ pounds from my pre-surgery weight, and need to get that back on (especially the muscle, not so much on the fat). I'll give the tongue a pass on booze until I'm back home, and then will try that again. Mixing pain and pleasure isn't always a bad thing, but when drinking champagne hurts, that's definitely a bad thing. Capital "B" on that.

Got in my first ride of the visit today. A fairly easy 31-miler, with a four-mile ride up the lower part of Mt. Lemmon. Nothing too hard at this point. The heat wasn't a factor, as there were serious thunderstorms last night that helped break the heat and humidity from the high 90's and 60% mark, respectively. The heat is back this afternoon, now that the clouds have passed. So, I'm hanging out inside Starbucks for my internet connection, as sitting outside is an instant sauna situation.

Making great strides on getting things done for Mom. The car is tuned, washed, and filled with gas. Only the passenger-side mirror replacement remains. I'll deal with that when the part comes in next week or next visit. Things around the house are pretty good. I replaced a couple broken light switches - the house is now 10+ years old, and things are starting to need replacing. Gota find the leak under the kitchen sink next, then line up repairs for the damage from last year's monsoons. The outter roof has been repaired. Now it's time to fix the interior walls that had water damage. I'll be down here a few times over the next months, so that'll give me time to get everything else all taken care of, too. But, as long as the AC works, all else is dealable. I can't imagine living down here with out that - the heat is a killer.

Being away from Boston is always a bit of an eye-opener when it comes to interacting with people. I forget that people you don't know are friendly and outgoing. It's that way most places, but you forget that after living in the inter-personal chilliness of Boston for a while.

People here make eye contact, smile at you, and say "Hi." (Which is nice when they're attractive women.) People working at the car wash stop to chat while you're waiting for your car. Ditto in Starbucks - the baristas remember me from visit to visit, and chat with me about my laptop, etc. Yes, they do that at my Starbucks back home, but I'm a regular there. It's always a bit of a gear shift coming here - Dad used to remind me to slow down when I got here - things move at a slower pace, but a friendlier one.

Catching up on some DVDs while I'm here. Movies soon, too, especially at the $4 theater. DVD reviews: The Count of Monte Cristo was OK - DVD was the right medium for viewing. Nothing special. If you never saw the older version, or didnt' read the book, then it's worth Netflixing, otherwise, you can skip it. Elektra, on the other hand, was terrible. Absolutely horrible. I had to force myself to watch it all. Who ever thought that Jennifer Garner could act?!?!? OK, maybe the script and direction didn't help, but, man, she was awful. But then, so was the whole movie.

That's twice now that the movies have screwed up Frank Miller's great comics - both Daredevil and Elektra. Good think Sin City and 300 came out pretty well. We'll see how he handles Sin City 2 and Will Eisner's The Spirit as director. The former just wrapped and the latter starts shooting soon. I pray he doesn't screw up Will's Spirit. My fear is that he'll try to go Sin City on it, which wouldn't be quite right. He's cast Jessica Alba (unannounced as of yet, but reliable sources indicate...), Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, and Samuel L. Jackson in it. The latter of which means that the Octopus will actually be seen full body, and not just as the striped purple glove that was the trademark image in the comics. Also, the Spirit's trademark blue suit is gone in favor of a black one - apparently that was needed for the digital treatment, or Frank just wanted to have a darker look.

Anyhoo, here's some interesting viewing and reading for your weekend pleasure:

Goth Barbie -  a fun li'l take on a product that probably isn't too far away.

From the same group, Salem - A Brief History. 

Unrelated, but interesting to me, a Dutch biker's view on Americans after a bike ride around the country.

And finally, while I don't often agree with the Globe's Jeff Jacoby, his op-ed piece on the Armenian Genocide is pretty good. It wasn't until the recent flap that I had any idea that there were people who didn't consider the massacre of the Armenians by the Turks to be genocide. I grew up knowing about that event, along with the devestation of the Holocaust. I guess that some groups want to have the monoply on Genocide to help advance their own causes. Sad, but true.

On a more up beat note - go have a great weekend. Heat or not, it's lovely to have summer to enjoy. Winter will be here soon enough.

Thanks, again, for all of the comments, emails, texts, etc. The support from my friends is making this surgery recovery much easier.

Cheers!