Tuesday was another 3:30am day. It honestly isn't too bad... I wouldn't want to make a habit of it, but it could be worse.
I was busy until 1pm or so, and then I went and got some running clothes. We're actually almost all caught up on laundry, so most of the choices were actually clean.. that's fun!
I had the running clothes in hand, went into the bedroom, and looked at the bed and said.. "I'll lie down. Just for a second."
Bam.
There went an hour.
Then, I said to myself after waking up.. "OK, I'll get right up and go running."
After a half hour of in-and-out, I finally got up.
So, I hit the pavement a little before 3. Still, not too much traffic. Nothing like 5:00pm or anything.
It was pretty uneventful. Had to pause at one intersection so that an ambulance could go through. So, it was a bad sort of eventful for someone.
Legs started to feel tired after a mile and a half, but I was able to finish the 3. They seem a bit sore today, but I'll probably give it a shot anyways..
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Oban Scotch
Went out for dinner last night (well, we go out most nights). What made this night different is that we went somewhere that had decent drinks. The restaurant has recently expanded, and has a number of good single malts available. What a great way to try new things!
Last night's drink was Oban 14 year single malt.
The feel of the drink in the mouth was just so smooth. It was like velvet. Needless to say, when swallowed, the smoothness was obvious as well.
The scotch itself had almost a fruity taste to it.. There was very little smoke in the smell. I drank it neat, and just never felt the need to add a bit of water or ice to open up the nose.
The price wasn't unreasonable, as far as scotches out go. It was $7 for a 2oz pour. A bottle on the web seems to run anywhere from $50-$77.
If you're looking for a smooth drink, and you don't feel like a really smoky scotch, this is an excellent choice.
Last night's drink was Oban 14 year single malt.
The feel of the drink in the mouth was just so smooth. It was like velvet. Needless to say, when swallowed, the smoothness was obvious as well.
The scotch itself had almost a fruity taste to it.. There was very little smoke in the smell. I drank it neat, and just never felt the need to add a bit of water or ice to open up the nose.
The price wasn't unreasonable, as far as scotches out go. It was $7 for a 2oz pour. A bottle on the web seems to run anywhere from $50-$77.
If you're looking for a smooth drink, and you don't feel like a really smoky scotch, this is an excellent choice.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Weekend Libations
On a wedding weekend with a couple of open bars, I had a few tasty beverages.
I started with 'some sort of good scotch, neat'. The waitress brought back the request in an appropriate sniffer glass. No idea what brand it was, but it was nice. Not very smoky, though.
I also had a 'Grand Martini', which was a vodka martini with Grand Marnier. Not bad at all. Unsure as to the type of vodka. It was smooth, though.
That was all at the "classy" joint.
The next day, we went to the "not as classy" joint, so finding neat things like that just doesn't happen. However, I was able to make do.
I sampled "Duggan's Dew" scotch, which is a blended scotch. It's similar to Dewar's. Not a bad buy for the money, which would fit in the way this joint would roll. Never had it before, so that was neat.
I also had a number of 7&7s, vodka&7s, etc. Nothing too noteworthy, though.
To throw you off, here's something new:
A Montecristo cigar. I'm not sure what size it is.. I'm guessing a No. 1. I'm not really a cigar smoker, so I don't know too much about them. (The last cigar I had was probably 10-12 years ago).
Anyway, the cigar was smooth. I couldn't really tell you what sort of flavor it had. Tasted like a cigar. Must be how my wife views beer. Hah. One of the best cigars I had in my life, though. (Again, not that I have had many).
On Sunday, I had this:
This is Wolaver's (Otter Creek) "Will Stevens' Pumpkin Ale".
The Wolaver beers are all organic. Kind of an interesting twist on beer. Both the 'Otter Creek' and 'Wolaver' brand are very good. They are typically very drinkable microbrews.
This pumpkin ale was very tasty. There's a medium head on it which disappeared fairly quickly. There was a clean pumpkin flavor. Really, the taste was like pumpkin pie. The beer also had an 'organic' taste to it. Almost like you knew you were getting nothing non-natural from the beverage. It's not an overpowering beer.. so, if you're in the mood for a beer-beer, this probably isn't right. If you want to mix it up, this is where it's at.
I started with 'some sort of good scotch, neat'. The waitress brought back the request in an appropriate sniffer glass. No idea what brand it was, but it was nice. Not very smoky, though.
I also had a 'Grand Martini', which was a vodka martini with Grand Marnier. Not bad at all. Unsure as to the type of vodka. It was smooth, though.
That was all at the "classy" joint.
The next day, we went to the "not as classy" joint, so finding neat things like that just doesn't happen. However, I was able to make do.
I sampled "Duggan's Dew" scotch, which is a blended scotch. It's similar to Dewar's. Not a bad buy for the money, which would fit in the way this joint would roll. Never had it before, so that was neat.
I also had a number of 7&7s, vodka&7s, etc. Nothing too noteworthy, though.
To throw you off, here's something new:
A Montecristo cigar. I'm not sure what size it is.. I'm guessing a No. 1. I'm not really a cigar smoker, so I don't know too much about them. (The last cigar I had was probably 10-12 years ago).
Anyway, the cigar was smooth. I couldn't really tell you what sort of flavor it had. Tasted like a cigar. Must be how my wife views beer. Hah. One of the best cigars I had in my life, though. (Again, not that I have had many).
On Sunday, I had this:
This is Wolaver's (Otter Creek) "Will Stevens' Pumpkin Ale".
The Wolaver beers are all organic. Kind of an interesting twist on beer. Both the 'Otter Creek' and 'Wolaver' brand are very good. They are typically very drinkable microbrews.
This pumpkin ale was very tasty. There's a medium head on it which disappeared fairly quickly. There was a clean pumpkin flavor. Really, the taste was like pumpkin pie. The beer also had an 'organic' taste to it. Almost like you knew you were getting nothing non-natural from the beverage. It's not an overpowering beer.. so, if you're in the mood for a beer-beer, this probably isn't right. If you want to mix it up, this is where it's at.
Morning run
Well, I hadn't run since Thursday.
This weekend, my running buddy got married.. (Congrats!) She's happy, and that's good. He's a good guy, too. I like him.
But, the wedding, the festivities, and the prep/post work consumed the weekend.. alas. No running. We'll chalk that up as 'rest' time.
Work this week starts at 3:30am. That's a wee bit earlier than I'm used to. Just a bit. sigh.
But, I went for a run during 'lunch' at 7am. I don't usually run in the morning, because my body just isn't ready. Each step seems to reverberate and ache and ugh..
However, since I'd been up for 3.5 hours, I was ready to go (apart from being tired).
The nice part about running early in the morning is the lack of traffic. Very very nice.
Last night, the winds from the hurricane came through.. gusts of up to 50 mph. Pretty noisy, trying to sleep. Nothing like the folks that felt the brunt of the hurricane though. If you've been affected by it, I hope you're OK and that things get back to normal as speedily as they can.
Running along, I saw a big downed tree branch that was all entangled in power lines. There were fire trucks and utility company trucks and such all around. The firemen were pretty nice. I made sure to move to the other side of the street, and said "hello".
I also startled one groundhog on the way back. Poor guy.
The tree branch really hadn't moved in the 2.5 miles since I first passed it.
End result was 3.33 miles in a bit over a half hour.
My legs felt pretty good, really. About what I'd expect for having taken 3 days off. The effects that I felt last week of absolute deadness in my legs were gone (for today, at least). I'm hoping it stays that way.
My Garmin Forerunner (model 305) appears to be losing it's speaker. Some searches on the web indicate that moisture gets in the speaker holes and causes corrosion. After a while, the speaker doesn't work. Right now, I get an occasional chirp instead of a tone or beep.
I'm pretty cautious with my Garmin. I don't wear it in the rain. I wipe off the back every time I go running.
Still, it has felt the ill effects of my sweat.
Seems like this should be a solvable problem. I'm not an engineer, but c'mon.
Kind of bumming, I must admit. It's not a cheap toy. At least the GPS and data tracking is still working.
Keep on rockin'! I'm hoping for a solid week of workouts this week!
This weekend, my running buddy got married.. (Congrats!) She's happy, and that's good. He's a good guy, too. I like him.
But, the wedding, the festivities, and the prep/post work consumed the weekend.. alas. No running. We'll chalk that up as 'rest' time.
Work this week starts at 3:30am. That's a wee bit earlier than I'm used to. Just a bit. sigh.
But, I went for a run during 'lunch' at 7am. I don't usually run in the morning, because my body just isn't ready. Each step seems to reverberate and ache and ugh..
However, since I'd been up for 3.5 hours, I was ready to go (apart from being tired).
The nice part about running early in the morning is the lack of traffic. Very very nice.
Last night, the winds from the hurricane came through.. gusts of up to 50 mph. Pretty noisy, trying to sleep. Nothing like the folks that felt the brunt of the hurricane though. If you've been affected by it, I hope you're OK and that things get back to normal as speedily as they can.
Running along, I saw a big downed tree branch that was all entangled in power lines. There were fire trucks and utility company trucks and such all around. The firemen were pretty nice. I made sure to move to the other side of the street, and said "hello".
I also startled one groundhog on the way back. Poor guy.
The tree branch really hadn't moved in the 2.5 miles since I first passed it.
End result was 3.33 miles in a bit over a half hour.
My legs felt pretty good, really. About what I'd expect for having taken 3 days off. The effects that I felt last week of absolute deadness in my legs were gone (for today, at least). I'm hoping it stays that way.
My Garmin Forerunner (model 305) appears to be losing it's speaker. Some searches on the web indicate that moisture gets in the speaker holes and causes corrosion. After a while, the speaker doesn't work. Right now, I get an occasional chirp instead of a tone or beep.
I'm pretty cautious with my Garmin. I don't wear it in the rain. I wipe off the back every time I go running.
Still, it has felt the ill effects of my sweat.
Seems like this should be a solvable problem. I'm not an engineer, but c'mon.
Kind of bumming, I must admit. It's not a cheap toy. At least the GPS and data tracking is still working.
Keep on rockin'! I'm hoping for a solid week of workouts this week!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Mini fartlek
Ran 3.25 miles last night.. Legs were somewhat sore and sluggish still. Midway, I decided to try a little something different to see if I could break them out of their funk.
Rather than going slow, I tried kicking it up a notch and run faster. (I'm no Usain Bolt, mind you.. We're talking about moving from 9:15 to 8:00 miles).
It actually felt better. Weird.
On the way back home, I tried to mix it up, making it a mini fartlek. Legs are still somewhat tired today, but I believe I should be able to go out tonight for another 3.
Not sure if it's the week and a half off from training, my weird running form with a broken elbow, or some unknown ailment, but I'm just struggling. Blah.
This weekend is pretty much shot for running. My running buddy is getting married (whoo-hoo! congrats!), and that will tie up most of the free time I have. It'll be fun, and I'll count it as 'rest' time. One of my previously mentioned guidelines will be followed (or should be.. or better be :) ). No blogging while imbibing.
I do go to the ortho doctor tomorrow morning, so I can see how my elbow is healing. I suspect the pushup challenge is still off limits, given the ease that a painful tweak can still occur.
Next week, I'm supposed to get up and be working at 3:30am all week. Yes, that is 3:30 in the morning. Not looking forward to that at all.
So, I'll update at some point in the future.. In the meantime.. Keep on rockin'!
Rather than going slow, I tried kicking it up a notch and run faster. (I'm no Usain Bolt, mind you.. We're talking about moving from 9:15 to 8:00 miles).
It actually felt better. Weird.
On the way back home, I tried to mix it up, making it a mini fartlek. Legs are still somewhat tired today, but I believe I should be able to go out tonight for another 3.
Not sure if it's the week and a half off from training, my weird running form with a broken elbow, or some unknown ailment, but I'm just struggling. Blah.
This weekend is pretty much shot for running. My running buddy is getting married (whoo-hoo! congrats!), and that will tie up most of the free time I have. It'll be fun, and I'll count it as 'rest' time. One of my previously mentioned guidelines will be followed (or should be.. or better be :) ). No blogging while imbibing.
I do go to the ortho doctor tomorrow morning, so I can see how my elbow is healing. I suspect the pushup challenge is still off limits, given the ease that a painful tweak can still occur.
Next week, I'm supposed to get up and be working at 3:30am all week. Yes, that is 3:30 in the morning. Not looking forward to that at all.
So, I'll update at some point in the future.. In the meantime.. Keep on rockin'!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
A run and a break
Did a solo run last night.. a little over 3 miles.. say, 3.25. Nothing too bad. Legs were tired, but I'm not sore today, at least. The weather was really nice last night. It was cool and not raining (it had rained most of the day, off and on pretty hard).
Hoping to go out again tonight. My running buddy may be free as well, so that'd be cool.
Afterward, I finally got around to watching the season premiere of 'Prison Break'. If you haven't watched it, skip the rest of this post.
I've watched this series from the beginning. I absolutely loved Season 1. Season 2, well, it felt like it was lost. It was a "Crap! We don't know what to write about! We'll take 'The Fugitive' and add in a big government conspiracy". Thankfully, it ended.
Season 3 was good. Of course, it was about a prison break again. They didn't have the luxury of the prison schematics as a tattoo any more, though.
This season.. well. I watched the intro episode, and I'm skeptical.
Very skeptical.
We're going to watch the remaining original characters take down this huge rogue government group. OK. Whatever. We added this weird hacker guy, with this amazing hacking device.
Let's explore that, shall we?
Something the size of a cell phone that can dump the contents of any electronic device just by being within 10 feet of it. If used at a gas station, it can pick up all of the credit cards. It can apparently dump MP3 players and TIVOs.
Really?
How pray tell is it doing that? Have you tried pairing a Bluetooth headset with a cell phone? There's a couple of steps involved. You don't just wave it nearby. Same with a wireless network. If there's any encryption on it, there's even more steps.
Never mind that my credit card isn't broadcasting anything. I could maybe give them a MP3 player dump, with the Apple line of iPods and such. A Tivo?
OK. Forget these devices used as examples.
The uber-secret government card is just there to be dumped too? You can read it from 10 feet away? There's no encryption on this thing? Why would it be transmitting anything?
Ah, forget it.
Then, there's the tattoo. I'm glad that it's not going to be a plot point anymore, as the times it was used in the second season were a stretch.
But, he just went and got it zapped off by lasers overnight, and he just gritted through the pain? And he's as good as new now?
C'mon.
And everyone got arrested at the same time at different points in the country (and in different countries), but the government found out and brought them all together within hours? Streeeeeetch.
I did love the line about eating some "bad Mexican". My wife wasn't too amused, but that probably was the high point of it.
We'll see how the rest of the season shakes out. My wife has given up, apparently.
Hoping to go out again tonight. My running buddy may be free as well, so that'd be cool.
Afterward, I finally got around to watching the season premiere of 'Prison Break'. If you haven't watched it, skip the rest of this post.
I've watched this series from the beginning. I absolutely loved Season 1. Season 2, well, it felt like it was lost. It was a "Crap! We don't know what to write about! We'll take 'The Fugitive' and add in a big government conspiracy". Thankfully, it ended.
Season 3 was good. Of course, it was about a prison break again. They didn't have the luxury of the prison schematics as a tattoo any more, though.
This season.. well. I watched the intro episode, and I'm skeptical.
Very skeptical.
We're going to watch the remaining original characters take down this huge rogue government group. OK. Whatever. We added this weird hacker guy, with this amazing hacking device.
Let's explore that, shall we?
Something the size of a cell phone that can dump the contents of any electronic device just by being within 10 feet of it. If used at a gas station, it can pick up all of the credit cards. It can apparently dump MP3 players and TIVOs.
Really?
How pray tell is it doing that? Have you tried pairing a Bluetooth headset with a cell phone? There's a couple of steps involved. You don't just wave it nearby. Same with a wireless network. If there's any encryption on it, there's even more steps.
Never mind that my credit card isn't broadcasting anything. I could maybe give them a MP3 player dump, with the Apple line of iPods and such. A Tivo?
OK. Forget these devices used as examples.
The uber-secret government card is just there to be dumped too? You can read it from 10 feet away? There's no encryption on this thing? Why would it be transmitting anything?
Ah, forget it.
Then, there's the tattoo. I'm glad that it's not going to be a plot point anymore, as the times it was used in the second season were a stretch.
But, he just went and got it zapped off by lasers overnight, and he just gritted through the pain? And he's as good as new now?
C'mon.
And everyone got arrested at the same time at different points in the country (and in different countries), but the government found out and brought them all together within hours? Streeeeeetch.
I did love the line about eating some "bad Mexican". My wife wasn't too amused, but that probably was the high point of it.
We'll see how the rest of the season shakes out. My wife has given up, apparently.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Punkin head
Boy, I love the fall beers. Mmm mmm good.
Today's (last night's) selection was Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale.
Dogfish Head makes some very interesting and tasty beers. At the beer festivals, I try to make sure I hit their tent at least once.
The Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA is one of my all time favorites.. Off the top of my head, I've also had the Festina Peche and Pangaea. Pangaea is interesting in that it has at least one ingredient from each continent. But, that's not what this is about...
Back to the Punkin Ale. This is a brown ale with some added ingredients. Pouring it into a glass yields only a small head. The carbonation isn't strong either. The smell has all of the smells you might associate with pumpkin pie and fall. Cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin.. The essences of all of those can be detected.
It tastes very smooth.. much like a brown ale, but seasoned quite wonderfully. It's sweeter up front, and the pumpkin comes out a bit later.
It's a bit pricey.. a 4 pack will run you $10-$11. However, it's a good introduction to pumpkin ales. I have a couple others which I'll be going over soon.
As a bonus, this is a new bottle opener my wife got me. The pic is a bit dark & grainy, but it's a skeleton arm.. perfect for fall & Halloween!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
