Frustrated

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, ExerciseLeave a comment

I’m probably checking my weight too often but it just doesn’t seem like I’m losing any weight.  This has been my problem though, I check my weight and I don’t lose then I get frustrated and then stop exercising/dieting and go back to my old eating habits and idle behavior.

I do realize that since I’m building muscle with riding the bike that I probably am losing fat but just building muscle.  And since muscle weighs more than fat then that is probably why I haven’t lost any weight.  I just have to stick it out for a bit longer and just not think about my weight.

9 Miles

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

These are what the cyclo-computer says.  9.014 miles, maximum speed reached (mxs) 27.0, average speed (avs) 10.7, time 50:35, calories 436.6, fat calories 43.5.

Boy are my legs swollen lol.  9 miles is the longest I’ve gone so far and I plan on breaking that record too.  What I did was I rode to Beach Park which took about 16 or 17 minutes (not including the times I stopped at the lights and had to stop to drink water) then once I was there I sat on a picnic table and rested my legs for about 10 minutes.  Then I got up and went on the bike trail and rode for about 9 minutes.  I was going to do 10 minutes but my legs were just killing me.  So what I did was I stopped and stood there for a few minutes and watched the 2 people on the 2 horses and waved then watched them pass me.  Then I got back on it and went back to Beach park where I sat on the bench at the trail entrance before going back home.

I just can’t believe that I finally started riding my bike again.  I think this is so cool.  When I was a kid all I had was the bike, I didn’t have the helmet or water cage with bottle or the frame bag with the tools or the computer.  It was just me on the bike.  Not even any protective gear.  And I also didn’t have the extra baggage that I do now with all this weight.  That’s one reason why I don’t recall having any pain and swelling in my thighs.

Well, I just have to wait until I can do this all over again tomorrow and just hope that I go further.

It’s Too Cold

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I’m waiting for the heat to kick in lol.  I just went to my bike to the cyclo-computer to find out the temp outside and it says 49.5 degrees.  Hell to the no.  No freakin way am I going out bike riding when it’s this cold.  But I’m dying to get it over with lol.

Why is it either too hot or it’s too cold?  It’s never in between!  The only time of the year that it’s in between is 1 month before the summer heat which usually starts in May and 2 weeks after the heat is over in the end of September to the beginning of October.

Now, keep in mind that I love the cold.  I can’t wait for the cold every year but when it gets this cold and I have a purpose for being outside then I’m not so sure about it anymore lol.  I do know one thing is for sure, I’m gonna need some bike gloves.  I didn’t get them because they were a little much and I have bills to pay but now I think they are really important for my ride.  Especially when it becomes really cold and it hurts to hold the rubber grips on the handlebars.

Normally when I go bike riding I wear a regular t-shirt and a pair of shorts.  I don’t wear pants or a jacket because it gets too hot for that.  Even when it’s cold outside I still sweat in them.  And the ride is so long that my head is usually soaking wet.  Which is also not good when it’s this cold outside because it could cause me to catch a very bad cold.  I’m going to have to wait until it’s at least in the 60’s outside.  That’s what the temp usually has been the last few weeks that I’ve been riding and that’s ok.  And perhaps if I have to wait until noon for the temp to be up that high then so be it.  I just don’t want to miss out on riding because it’s too cold.

Presidential Election

On By Michel McDonaldIn Political

I was not going to post anything that has to do with the president at all because people get so uptight when it comes to discussing who our president is.  The Democrats always fight with the Republicans and vice versa and there is never a common ground.  They just get so mad and so this post is not going to spark up a debate.  At least here it’s not because comments are disabled.

The point of this post is to show you how as of this very minute the votes were calculated from the whole USA and of course my county of Kern.  Ok so all you have to do is click the little image and it will open up to full size.

Prop 8 Undecided

On By Michel McDonaldIn Gay, Gay Rights, NOH8, PoliticalLeave a comment

I’m still waiting to find out about prop 8.  I heard that it’s 55% for yes and 45% for no which is not good news but they said that it would probably end up in court again.  This issue is never going to die.  The christians are going to constantly be against us and it just shows gay people that we are still very much hated and we have so many more years before we will ever be accepted.  It just makes me so sick to my stomach that the people that I thought liked me ended up voting yes on this issue.  It let’s me know who really like me and who doesn’t and I will never look at them the same again.  I will also never step foot in a church again as long as I live knowing every single one of them voted yes on this.  A yes vote on prop 8 is a vote against gay people in general.  You can argue with me all you want but you know it’s true.

Todays Ride

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I decided that since I got a new cyclo-computer that I would go out today even though I went out yesterday.  I like to give my legs a day’s rest normally but I was too excited not to go out.  I wanted to see the exact amount of time I would ride along with the exact miles per hour and the exact amount of miles that I rode.  Before I would have to go to google to map out my ride so I can get an exact number of miles that it takes to go from the house to there and then back but this tells me all that information.  Also google maps doesn’t let me map out the ride on the bike trail so when I start riding on the bike trail I won’t know how many miles I went.

Well, today when I got to Beach Park the ride was only 16 minutes.  Normally with my other stop watch the ride is like 22 minutes but that’s because whenever I pull over to get a drink of water or to rest my legs for a minute I don’t stop the timer.  This new computer turns the timer off when you stop riding so I’m getting an exact reading of how long it takes me to get there.

I’ve been putting in the SparkPeople website that I’ve been doing 14-15mph and I was riding 12-15 mph today but it showed my average speed at 10mph so where it shows my calories that is reflective of me going 10mph.  So, when I added todays bike ride to SparkPeople I had to tell them I went 10mph.  I want to be as accurate as possible.

Instead of riding every other day I’m going to try everyday.  I figured maybe I could do 2 days on, 1 day off but I think that my legs are getting used to it enough that I can start going everyday.  This is my 4th week of riding the bike.  My first week I only rode to California ave and back which was 4 days in that week.  My 2nd week I only rode to Oak and Truxton and back and that was 3 days.  My 3rd week I made it to Beach Park and rested then came back and that was only 2 days.  Now my 4th week I’m getting to Beach Park and without resting going straight onto the bike trail but I only went a little distance before deciding to go back to the park and resting for 10 min before going home.

Now that I’m getting better I would like to spend 20 or more minutes on the bike trail (maybe 10 min out then 10 min back) then resting before heading home.  I’m actually really excited that my legs are getting better and getting more used to riding because as I’ve said before, I’d eventually love to ride for 2 hours a day.  The weight will definitely melt off when I’m riding for 2 hours a day.  Also I’d like to get to the point where that is 2 hours straight.

I’m actually excited about losing weight for the first time in a long time because I know that if I ride the bike on a daily basis I will definitely lose the weight a lot faster.  Now I just need to start eating better to make this weight loss go faster.  I’m trying my best.

Edit: Yes, I realize I was rambling lol.  I edited out some of the redundancy lol.

Rawhide Sticks

On By Michel McDonaldIn PetsLeave a comment

When we went to Target today I bought some Rawhide sticks for Flower because she has been chewing everything in sight.  She has chewed so many holes in my comforter and pulling the stuffing out so I wake up most mornings with all this stuffing all over the bed.

Darrin was afraid of giving her rawhide because she is such a small dog and he was afraid that the rawhide would splinter and she would get it stuck in her throat.  Which is a valid concern but this stuff when chewed becomes soft and it doesn’t splinter.  He just hasn’t had any experience with giving rawhide to dogs and so I can understand why he was worried.

But since I gave her one when we came home she’s been chewing it and he holds it for her hehe.  It’s so cute to watch him holding it for her.  She just loves it too.  So now I know what she will get for Christmas.  Now hopefully she will stop chewing everything including my shoes.

Cyclo-Computer

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Well I bought a Cyclo-computer today at Target with 20 functions.  Some of the functions are Odometer, speedometer, how many calories I’m burning, how much fat I’m burning, timer and many more.  The way it works is I put a magnet on one of the spokes on the front wheel and I attach a sensor to the fork then the wire goes up to the computer.  The computer is also removable so nobody will steal it when I go to the store.

I also bought a new lock while we were there.  It’s a much better lock and it came with a bracket that attaches to the frame.  This new lock has a key so I don’t have to worry about a combination and the spare key is in a drawer just in case I lose my first key.  If I lose both keys then I will probably lose my bike forever because this is the type of lock that you cannot open easily.

Raining

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Well I was so looking forward to riding my bike today but it’s pouring rain outside and I can’t afford to get sick.  I’d rather be safe and dry and not get sick and be able to ride tomorrow as opposed to going out, getting sick then incapacitated for a few days or longer.

I remember as a teenager riding my bike home from school and the cars passing me would just drench me.  No thank you.

Ghost Hunters Halloween Live

On By Michel McDonaldIn Halloween, Paranormal, TVLeave a comment

This is the 3rd annual live episode of Ghost Hunters.  It’s a 7 hour investigation beginning at 7pm and ending at 2am.  The following Wednesday night episode will be a follow-up to show the results of all the EVP and videos from the cameras and the flir.

Tonight the team revisits Fort Delaware in Delaware City to probe the former Civil War post. Guests Amanda Tapping and Mike “The Miz” Mizanin join the hunt. Hosts: Josh Gates and Steve Valentine.

So far after the first 6 minutes they already starting having issues with production.  All of a sudden the screen went snowy bringing back old memories of before cable was invented and you had to fiddle with the “rabbit ears”.  Also when Josh Gates was talking to Amanda Tapping and The Miz you couldn’t hear them talking.  You could hear Josh but not the other 2.  You could hear a lot of Josh’s voice echoing though and hearing Amanda talking sounded like an EVP, you could barely understand what she was saying.  The only people who were able to get what she said were lip readers.

It took about 45 minutes before they actually started doing their investigation which is fine because they showed the tour of the property and they showed how they got there which looks like it must have cost a lot of money, like you could probably buy a decent house in a rich neighborhood for the amount of money that they spent.

Once they went in the camera started messing up and they had just started.  It kept freezing up.  They could have switched over to Steve just until they got it all squared away but they kept going hoping it would clear up which eventually it did.

I also noticed on the Flir that they are 13 minutes ahead of us which means someone set the clocks ahead.  Of course I’m on the west coast so they are 3 hours ahead so it isn’t live for me but still, they were 13 min ahead for the east coasters too.

The cameras are messing up again.  It just happens to Jay and Grant but I think it’s because of the walls of where they are walking through.  They are after all in the dungeons.  You can’t expect good quality video down there.

Edit:  Sci-Fi channel keeps popping up these ads at the bottom of the screen.  Now I realize they won’t be showing a lot of commercials like they normally would, 15 – 17 min of commercials per hour, but the pop up’s are starting to get annoying.  I mean, they could make them smaller.  They take up 1/4 of the screen at the bottom every few minutes.  It reminds me of pop up ads on the internet except I can’t click them off.

I’ve stayed up for the entire 7 hour investigation despite the fact that I woke up at 4am and couldn’t go back to sleep.  I am sooooo tired lol.  I made a pot of coffee about 2 hours ago and of course I ran out of equal and sugar so this is my last cup.  There is only 20 more minutes left of the show so I’m going to tape my eyelids open, I got the tooth picks on hold just in case lol.

So far all that has happened is a strong authoritative male voice telling Jay and Grant “You aren’t supposed to be here”.  That’s all that I’ve noticed so far.  Josh said there were some other sounds like footsteps and knocking but I didn’t hear it.  I can’t wait to see the episode on Wednesday that will reveal all the evidence they found.