Great news for Dziezynskis and non-Dziezynskis alike! "Crazy" Uncle I think this also replaces the time Uncle John and I were on Sportcenter for "most Dziezynskis on television at one time". I obviously saw Rachel (nice sign!), Chuck (cool Geddy-Lee glasses!), Gram, Colette, Kim, and Tom (who in my opinion could also garner the "Crazy Uncle" tag). I assume Alex was in the mix somewhere too!
It's great to have Bob back home! Hey Bob, do you still have use of your plane for a bit longer? My car is making some funny sounds out here in Colorado :)
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Yesterday I started a program that should, in 6 weeks time, have me pulling off 10-15 pull-ups at a time. As for now, I can struggle to about 4, give or take 3. It's not that I'm out of shape or weak--on the contrary, everything I've done lately has involved leg power. Running, hiking, cycling, snowboarding, kicking field goals, etc. While typing on the internet and playing NES games does involve some small muscles in the forearms, you'd need many hours of Burgertime to get those muscles strong enough to lift anything heavier than a cream-laden Twinkee.
Coincidentally, last night I watched a special on TLC called "The Man Whose Arms Exploded". The title doesn't pull any punches; the story documents a guy who used so many steroids it looked liked he stuffed a pair of suitcases into his upper arms. Eventually, the muscles exploded, shrinking his beefed-up roid-filled arms to a more modest size, say that of two toasters per arm. It makes me wonder what might happen is Barry Bonds' head does the same thing.
Well, here they are, my Nevis pictures! I used a new photo-sharing program that will play a slideshow if you let it go OR if you'd like to read my captions, simply pause it and click on the main picture--it will bring you to the next shot! You can then go through the pics at your own pace.
By the way, for those who care, the named is pronounced "Nee-vis", with a long E like "knee". Oh and in advance, I apologize for my blindingly white skin.
The news here in Boulder is that Paul Bartok is in town! He was able to sneak out of California for a few days and make the most out of his time before getting CRUSHED by a deluge of assignments for his masters program.
In honor of his visit, I took Xanadu to the vet yesterday! Hooray! Obviously it was unrelated to his presence--she needed to get her "gooey eye" checked out. Paul was a bit suspicious of why her eye was sore when he saw a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a shaker of black pepper on my living room table. Again, it was unrelated--I was cleaning NES and SNES games while eating cream of broccoli soup, which I happen to enjoy with copious amounts of black pepper. Needless to say, the only going into her eye is her medicine to clear up the condition.
Oh, and one of the aforementioned cleaned games was Super Mario World, which Paul and I played through in one afternoon, clearing all 96 levels in a few hours! Outside of the super secret special world levels, we played an intense level of SNES perfection. Never you mind that Paul is working on his master's program papers and I'm looking for new work! What's important is that we saved 7 Yoshi eggs that hatched right before our very eyes, much to the delight of onlookers.
Coincidentally, last night I watched a special on TLC called "The Man Whose Arms Exploded". The title doesn't pull any punches; the story documents a guy who used so many steroids it looked liked he stuffed a pair of suitcases into his upper arms. Eventually, the muscles exploded, shrinking his beefed-up roid-filled arms to a more modest size, say that of two toasters per arm. It makes me wonder what might happen is Barry Bonds' head does the same thing.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Well, here they are, my Nevis pictures! I used a new photo-sharing program that will play a slideshow if you let it go OR if you'd like to read my captions, simply pause it and click on the main picture--it will bring you to the next shot! You can then go through the pics at your own pace. By the way, for those who care, the named is pronounced "Nee-vis", with a long E like "knee". Oh and in advance, I apologize for my blindingly white skin.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
The news here in Boulder is that Paul Bartok is in town! He was able to sneak out of California for a few days and make the most out of his time before getting CRUSHED by a deluge of assignments for his masters program. In honor of his visit, I took Xanadu to the vet yesterday! Hooray! Obviously it was unrelated to his presence--she needed to get her "gooey eye" checked out. Paul was a bit suspicious of why her eye was sore when he saw a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a shaker of black pepper on my living room table. Again, it was unrelated--I was cleaning NES and SNES games while eating cream of broccoli soup, which I happen to enjoy with copious amounts of black pepper. Needless to say, the only going into her eye is her medicine to clear up the condition.
Oh, and one of the aforementioned cleaned games was Super Mario World, which Paul and I played through in one afternoon, clearing all 96 levels in a few hours! Outside of the super secret special world levels, we played an intense level of SNES perfection. Never you mind that Paul is working on his master's program papers and I'm looking for new work! What's important is that we saved 7 Yoshi eggs that hatched right before our very eyes, much to the delight of onlookers.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Quick note: I'm home-- woot! Nevis pictures will be up in a while, for now I've got to get back on the wagon with assorted things!
Friday, March 10, 2006
Hi Friends!
It's been a wonderful time down here in the Caribbean. The people aer great and the triathlon looks to be a good challenge. The wind has been strong of late, meaning rough seas for the swimming portion-- great! I hope I don't seasick on top of getting worn out from the swim!
Overall, the bike course looks hilly but rideable and I hope to make up time on the course by pushing a little on the hills. The run-- well, all I can say is I'll do my best.
On the "work" sode of things, the food has been great and the history rich. I climbed the 3,323 ft. Mount Nevis yesterday, getting up and down from 1,000 ft trailhead in 3.5 hours. Not bad for a pasty white guy.
I hope you are all safe, happy, and enjoying life! I'll write more when I can!
Well, in about 40 hours from now, I'll be off to the mysterious Nevis Island. I was unsure of who actually ran the place; it turns out it's the Netherlands. The island is part of the Netherlands Antilles, which also includes Aruba and St. Kitts. You can read more about the history of this island (first tramped upon by that Italian stallion, Christopher Columbus) on this page.
Now, as for the triathlon, I'm a little intimidated. Last year there were only 40 participants and only one of those folks was not from Nevis or St. Kitts. The way I see it, it's all going to come down to the run--my semi-strong biking should make up for my semi-weak swimming. I'd like to factor in the fact I've been training at altitude, which will probably account for a .0678 second improvement on my time.
Normal triathlon athletes train 3-6 months before an event and rest a full week before the actual race. I didn't even know I was doing this until 6 days before, meaning I had to scale back my training to 6-10 hours and 1-2 days rest. I've never really wanted to do a triathlon but I've also never not wanted to try one.
If I come in last, I'll blame it on an excess of oxygen.
It's been a wonderful time down here in the Caribbean. The people aer great and the triathlon looks to be a good challenge. The wind has been strong of late, meaning rough seas for the swimming portion-- great! I hope I don't seasick on top of getting worn out from the swim!
Overall, the bike course looks hilly but rideable and I hope to make up time on the course by pushing a little on the hills. The run-- well, all I can say is I'll do my best.
On the "work" sode of things, the food has been great and the history rich. I climbed the 3,323 ft. Mount Nevis yesterday, getting up and down from 1,000 ft trailhead in 3.5 hours. Not bad for a pasty white guy.
I hope you are all safe, happy, and enjoying life! I'll write more when I can!
Monday, March 06, 2006
Well, in about 40 hours from now, I'll be off to the mysterious Nevis Island. I was unsure of who actually ran the place; it turns out it's the Netherlands. The island is part of the Netherlands Antilles, which also includes Aruba and St. Kitts. You can read more about the history of this island (first tramped upon by that Italian stallion, Christopher Columbus) on this page. Now, as for the triathlon, I'm a little intimidated. Last year there were only 40 participants and only one of those folks was not from Nevis or St. Kitts. The way I see it, it's all going to come down to the run--my semi-strong biking should make up for my semi-weak swimming. I'd like to factor in the fact I've been training at altitude, which will probably account for a .0678 second improvement on my time.
Normal triathlon athletes train 3-6 months before an event and rest a full week before the actual race. I didn't even know I was doing this until 6 days before, meaning I had to scale back my training to 6-10 hours and 1-2 days rest. I've never really wanted to do a triathlon but I've also never not wanted to try one.
If I come in last, I'll blame it on an excess of oxygen.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Ah, nothing like the good old cosmic joke, eh? You know what I mean; the notion that the universe is orchestrated by some kind of benevolent clown-type-deity who decrees strange events in our lives so bizarre that we either go crazy trying to figure them out or admit we don't know what in tarnation is afoot on this here mortal coil. Case in point: on a morning where I ate months-old bootleg-brand cereal (Super O's) with water, I come to my vague-in-limbo job and find out they plan to send me to the Virgin Islands to run a triathlon. More precisely, I'll be on Nevis Island, which is near St. Kitts. So, to put it in perspective: my cat and I are splitting a case of Fancy Feast today, next week I'll be on the beach, eating like the King of Colorado.
Now, let me answer the question you all have: How does a magazine that can't afford to pay its online editor enough to buy milk send that same editor off to a tropical paradise to run, swim, and bike? The answer: Hooked doesn't pay for press trips, the agencies representing the attraction foot the bill. So in this case, I would assume it's the good citizen of Nevis Island (and the cash flow of tourists) treating me to the adventure.
So for a week, I get a reprieve from looking up pay-for-blood donation clinics and instead, I prepare to indulge in the warm crosswinds of the Lesser Antilles. I guess the best way to put it is: Life can be really stupid and wonderful.
For the uninitiated, DAP Central is a fantastic eDonkey server dedicated to full length DVD copies of MST3K episodes! While you may need Lenhartian or Breslerian intellect to actually understand how it works, basically it goes like this: download eDonkey 2000; then follow the steps on DAP central on how to set up on their private server. You have two options when downloading files: compressed AVI files suitable for viewing on a computer or true DVD files, which you must download in chunks. A free program called image burn will cobble the pieces together and voila! Instant (well, not so instant) DVD!
Since my laptop has an S-video out component, I burn the AVIs to disc and watch them on my TV (if your TV doesn't have an S-video in, you can buy an s-video-to-AV wire input adapter).
The bottom line: if you're up for trading episodes, let me know. So far I have Jack Frost and Gamera vs. Zigra from DAP, but I also have Pod People, Space Mutiny, Cave Dwellers, and the complete season 7 on DVD. If enough people have interest, I'll set up a simple trading page on my web site.
Now, let me answer the question you all have: How does a magazine that can't afford to pay its online editor enough to buy milk send that same editor off to a tropical paradise to run, swim, and bike? The answer: Hooked doesn't pay for press trips, the agencies representing the attraction foot the bill. So in this case, I would assume it's the good citizen of Nevis Island (and the cash flow of tourists) treating me to the adventure.
So for a week, I get a reprieve from looking up pay-for-blood donation clinics and instead, I prepare to indulge in the warm crosswinds of the Lesser Antilles. I guess the best way to put it is: Life can be really stupid and wonderful.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
For the uninitiated, DAP Central is a fantastic eDonkey server dedicated to full length DVD copies of MST3K episodes! While you may need Lenhartian or Breslerian intellect to actually understand how it works, basically it goes like this: download eDonkey 2000; then follow the steps on DAP central on how to set up on their private server. You have two options when downloading files: compressed AVI files suitable for viewing on a computer or true DVD files, which you must download in chunks. A free program called image burn will cobble the pieces together and voila! Instant (well, not so instant) DVD!Since my laptop has an S-video out component, I burn the AVIs to disc and watch them on my TV (if your TV doesn't have an S-video in, you can buy an s-video-to-AV wire input adapter).
The bottom line: if you're up for trading episodes, let me know. So far I have Jack Frost and Gamera vs. Zigra from DAP, but I also have Pod People, Space Mutiny, Cave Dwellers, and the complete season 7 on DVD. If enough people have interest, I'll set up a simple trading page on my web site.
