Let's just pause a moment. 8am. During weekdays I'm usually awake at 5. Weekends I'm often up and out of bed at 6. Sleeping till 7 is a debauched pleasure. What can we say about 8? It means I've had a busy week, and the stars, planets and moons aligned so I got a good sleep. This is one for the record books.
I did some playing with my blog under the influence of coffee. There are a few new buttons off to the left. I already had the Twitter follow me button. I Tweet after blogging. I added a button to get email notifications if that's what you want, and an RSS feed. I don't know if either of those last two actually work, and would appreciate an email or comment if they do or not. (Now I know the email one works. A few hours after posting I got an email of the blog. How nice.)
It was beautiful out so I decided that it was finally time to get outside on my bike. Estela has been pining a bit, locked onto the trainer for many, many months. Even getting the trainer tire off and replaced with a road tire was easy, though admittedly, that's the easy change. The reverse is harder unless you know the trick.
The battery died on the bike computer, as I suspected it might. All the data is from the Runmeter app. Here's some screen shots.
This was a nice easy relaxed ride. It didn't seem like a good idea to head out 22X and be a long way from home if my legs decided to pack it in, so I wanted to stay in town. I had no idea the speed or cadence, and I didn't much care. It was just fun being out. My left knee didn't seem to mind standing up as much as when I'm on the trainer. Maybe my position is subtly different. The hour ride was good, but I could feel the usual left hand numbness creeping in, and my knees were getting a bit tired. I don't think I'm going to be doing Road to Nepal in 2 hours again any time soon.
Just as I came back, we were getting a delivery. A few more are coming on Monday. Exciting times for the house. More photos as things happen.
It feels so manly to be playing with power tools again. One needs to treat the circular saw with respect. I didn't lose any fingers, but we did lose a gate post. It was in the way.
It's Stampede Parade day, so about a third of Calgary is down on the parade route. The reports had Mayor Nenshi, the Emergency response coordinator Burrell, and a selection of first responders get a slow motion wave of a constant standing ovation, and well deserved. They have done a heck of a job throughout the flood. It has been refreshing to see an elected politician justly praising other people to the skies as they work their asses off, be smart enough to get out of the way and let them get on with the job, make tart observations where needed "the only bride that failed was the one not inspected by public servants", and speak truth to the idiocy that surfaced. "Don't be a Nenshi Noun" is going to live on.
Stampede in Calgary is just a bit different. I suspect people will appreciate it a bit more this year, since nobody could have blamed them for canceling this year. Just 10 days ago the parade staging ground was under 4 feet of water, and the grounds didn't have much less. The LRT tracks just outside the grounds are the only practical way of getting there, and they looked like a roller coaster ride. Some events have been cancelled, or moved, or there are other alterations. Parking is going to be a capital B bitch the entire time. Some parking lots are converted to event tents anyways. This year several are still staging grounds for ongoing work. City Hall is going to be a mess for a while yet. Nobody is expecting this to be something to top last year. Many people are still coming to grips with the damage to their homes. I've already heard people expressing a bit of guilt about going out Stampeding when there are people that need help.
Sometimes it's best not to know any of that data, and just ride, or run, or whatever.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been to the stampede in years, though I think it's great that it's been pulled together.