Riding, Weights, Reading, Working

Riding

I have started bicycling again, but not a lot, during the past month. Replaced my really old Clement Xplor USH tires that failed me in fine gravel and grit last June. I’ve gone back to Continental Tour Ride tires for my Jamis, but this time 32 mm width versus the 37 mm Tour Rides I’d installed on the bike back in 2014. My original post about those tires is found here: https://christov10.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/first-ride-continental-tour-ride-tires/ The WordPress post formatting scheme in use now renders intuitive linking a thing of the distant past.

About those tires, though, they were easy to install and I am again able to ride with confidence the degraded tarmac here at Stepford. You will understand that I am cautious when making turns, especially that one at the bottom of my street where I came to grief last June. It’s been several years since really long rides were part of my fitness and fun regime, but I noticed no problematic rolling resistance or heaviness/sluggishness using the new Tour Rides.

Weights

Weightlifting’s been my primary fitness activity for two or three years, now. I have been lifting on the average five to six days a week. I’ve had interesting political and theological discussions with two or three of the people I’ve met while working out in the early a.m. This weekend, I’m taking a break from the gym. I slept in until 7:00 am yesterday morning. Today I got up, as usual, at 4:00 am, drank a cup of coffee, read the news, and decided I’d post something here instead of the chest, shoulders, and triceps workout I had planned.

My workout schedule is typically: Day 1 – Legs and core; Day 2 – Back and biceps; Day 3 – Chest, shoulders, and triceps; Repeat. Some days I will do nothing but cardio using a treadmill, elliptical walker, or lateral walker. If I go too many days without a tiring workout, I get irritable.

We sold our last Volvo, a 2006 XC70, last Fall. I’ve been driving a Honda Accord hybrid sedan since then and that car hasn’t got roof racks. I bought a set of Handi-Racks inflatable roof racks for use with our folding kayaks. Soon as I get the garage organized, I’ll assemble the RZ-96 so my son and I can get some paddling in before the hot weather.

Reading

I’ve still been reading Galaxy’s Edge novels and other military science fiction series. I enjoy reading, probably too much, and read the way most people binge-watch series on Hulu or some other streaming service. But writing about what I read, even though I think a lot about and critically interact with the content – writing about what I read is something that’s hard for me to do. Possibly that’s because I want to intelligently and seriously address insights provoked by and areas of philosophical agreement or disagreement with what I’m reading. And that’s a lot of work.

It’s easier to post clever, flippant responses to news items online or at a social media site than it is to compose a logical critique or review of even a few paragraphs regarding something I’ve just read. For instance, I’ve read Karen Traviss’ Nomad novels – The Best of Us and Mother Death – a couple of times but it took several months for me to finally post a review of the latter at Amazon although it was stuff I’d had in mind for quite a while. Those two novels, by the way, are well worth your time. Here’s an unwieldy link to an Amazon page where you can preview or purchase both titles: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NHNHJR5?searchxofy=true&binding=kindle_edition&ref_=dbs_s_aps_series_rwt_tkin&qid=1648983662&sr=8-1

Working

Because I have some kind of mathematics disability, I’m still working with people instead of information and/or machines. For the past year, I’ve been working at a facility much closer to the house than formerly. My previous drive was a sixty mile round trip each work day. Now it’s about 19 miles round trip. Huge savings in time and fuel. That’s what enables me to get to the gym in the early morning hours before work.

Chinese Cold AGAIN!

Yup. That’s right. Monday, after weeks of repeatedly testing negative at work for the Chinese Wuhan Contagion, I tested positive for the virus. Weird thing is, I felt better than I had in at least seven days. Probably what happened was I had a cold, then contracted the virus Fauci and other libs, in concert with their fellow travelers in the Chinese Communist Party, released to upset the progress the Trump Administration had made in returning the United States to normal constitutional republican function.

Am I sick? Not really, I have a cold.

Have I been vaccinated? Nope.

Have the people with whom I associate whose tests were positive for the CCP Virus been vaccinated? Yup.

Will I get vaccinated? Nope.

Moustache

For the past week, I’ve not shaved my upper lip because it was badly scraped up when I crashed my bike last Wednesday. The resultant moustache (I’m pretty sure that’s how it’s spelled) doesn’t match the way I see myself. Maybe after it’s grown in another week, it’ll look better to me. Probably, though, I will wind up looking more like John Hillerman’s Higgins than Tom Selleck’s Magnum.

7-27-21 – Update: At my last haircut, got the moustache trimmed down sufficiently to shave it off. Still recovering from my bike wreck injuries, but I’m back in the gym lifting weights several times a week.

Crashed My Bike

Update 9-12-21: Still a lot of pain at that one shoulder and for that reason have reduced weight lifting workouts to maybe four or five times a week. That huge, girl-hip-like hematoma bulge on the injured side hip has decreased in size to the point where the leg looks and feels almost normal. My tooth’s still chipped. I guess that’s permanent. I wasn’t being recruited as a male model, anyway.

Update 7-10-21: Still somewhat smashed up from bicycle wreck. No weight lifting for the past 9 days. Plan some cardio at the gym today. Some shoulder rehab work. Still got a knot literally the size of a tennis ball on one hip, but bruising has improved.

Crashed my bicycle on a short neighborhoodish ride last Wednesday 30 June. I was turning left at the bottom of my street on the way home – four to five tenths of a mile from the house. I saw one of my neighbors walking before making the turn and as I got to the turn, he’d got just to the point where I usually cut in to make my turn. I made a wider turn to get around him, recognized him and turned my head slightly to say, “Hello.”

Before I could speak, my bike slid out from under me and, although time slowed down for me, my reflexes were not quick enough to correct and avert the fall. Hit the pavement hard – left hip/thigh the hardest. Helmet kept my nose from getting smashed but did scrape my upper lip and chipped a front tooth. Scraped up both forearms pretty badly. Left shoulder’s bad sore. Some slight injury at the left ankle and left knee but small pain compared to the hip/thigh. Hands got kind of torn up, too, although my gloves don’t have tears in them anywhere. Just blood stains.

I cussed. Shit, I think I said. Maybe something worse. That’s just me, a sinner to the core. When pressed, like a tube of toothpaste, what comes up out of me is the usual foulness that afflicts much of humanity.

My left hip’s been swollen and jutted out the size of a baseball. I feel like I’ve got girl-hip on that side. I don’t know how females tolerate flaring out at the sides like that. My left thigh’s twice the size of my right.

My neighbor stayed and talked me through my initial shock and dizziness, then walked with me up the street to my house. I almost fell out when I first stood after the fall. Back at the house, I took an epsom-salt bath, texted photos of the injuries to my wife (out of town with our son for the holiday week), then talked with her a bit on the phone. Conked out early.

Saw the doctor next morning – palliatives and antibiotics. Glad I didn’t go to the ER. Nothing broken. I’ve made an appointment with a dentist to get the chip sealed. Funny. Chip sealed. Pavement. Har. Not initially intended.

I went to work Thursday and Friday, but left early Friday after seeing my appointments and documenting our sessions. Saturday, I didn’t leave the house. Injury has interfered with my usual weight-lifting regimen, as well as cycling. I’d hoped to paddle the Long Haul this weekend, but it’ll be a while given the state of my shoulder.

My bicycle, the Jamis Supernova I’ve been riding since 2014, is fine. My body served as bubble-wrap, insulating it from damage during the crash.

How to Steal an Election

I just saw this over on Gab.

https://gab.com/BrianOkert/posts/105782178405521164

Hope you can see it without an account.

Donald J. Trump & the “N”-Word

I’m talking about the word the Democrat Party, the Left generally, BLM and Antifa HATE.

No, not that tired racial aspersion. The parties mentioned in this post’s first sentence all LOVE that word. They want it used as much as possible. It’s divisive. It serves their ends. If Donald J. Trump had used it or any of it’s variants, you’d already know all about it.

The “N”-Word I’m talking about is NORMAL.

Donald J. Trump returned the United States of America to a normal footing – normal constitutional governance, normal separation of powers, normal national self-interest. That return to normalcy I’ve briefly described and very idea that NORMAL exists is abhorrent to the left, probably also abhorrent to faux conservative establishment “Republicans,” also.

Do you know from whence springs NORMAL on a national level? It should be obvious. NATIONALISM. Pursuit of NATIONAL SELF INTEREST.

Stop the Steal

Update

Still up as of 01-20-2022

Here is some more evidence – Peter Navarro’s reports on the recent fraudulent election of Joseph Biden’s demented regime:

Navarro Report, Part I

the-immaculate-deception-12.15.20Download

Navarro Report, Part II

the-art-of-the-steal-1.5.21-finalDownload

Navarro Report, Part III

the-navarro-report-volume-iii-final-1.13.21-0001Download

Update

Still up – not yet canceled as of this date – 4 February 2021.

Update

As of this writing – 23 January 2021 – this post and this site are still up.

Here’s an interesting article I read on the American Thinker website this morning: Industrial-Scale Election Fraud – Did It Happen?

An Experiment

Today, I thought I’d conduct an experiment to see whether some wackadoodle lefty will “cancel” my blog if I post “Stop the Steal” and use that phrase as a tag. I’ll also link to some “controversial” material – evidence that the 2020 presidential election was actually stolen in favor Dementia Joe Biden.

Here’s the Evidence

And here’s the evidence: https://hereistheevidence.com/

Everyone knows that the election was stolen – it’s obvious to anyone with five or six active brain cells. Sadly, feckless politicians (for instance, those grifters Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty) and equally feckless U.S. Supreme Court justices (as well as numerous lower courts) have failed to, in the case of politicians, stand up and demand that evidence is entered into the congressional record, send the electoral college votes back to key swing states for recertification; and in the case USSC and other courts, hear and rule on matters of fact.

Nutri-Sludge

I wouldn’t describe kale greens as “glorious”

Self-indulgent Backstory

Two or three years ago, as an adult, I got braces. I don’t recall whether I ever mentioned that here.

When I got braces, I quickly discovered I’d have to change my eating habits. They’ve been off now for about a year, but at least one of the dietary changes I made for braces has proved a keeper.

Before braces, I ate a bowl of oatmeal with raisins every day for breakfast, usually eaten the consistency of cookie dough and sometimes with chocolate chips. Cinnamon, brown sugar also. Something about that mix – probably mostly the scalding raisins – gave me a bad sensory interaction with my braces.

My wife had started making kale smoothies using the individual blender cup that came with our factory refurb Ninja Blender set of devices. They looked like alligator vomit but actually tasted pretty good. No sensory malfunctions associated with consumption of this meal substitute.

Seriously, This is a Great Breakfast

I started making these smoothies myself when my wife several times balked at preparing them for me. I like the ones I make better than those my wife makes. These sludge mixes taste surprisingly good. Here’s how I make them using the large Ninja blender container:

1. I dump in 24 ounces of almond milk. I prefer chocolate but my wife never buys it because she thinks it too fattening. Almond’s don’t really have teats and I’m sure the process used to wring “liquid” from almonds actually uses whatever’s left over from packaging almonds for sale.
2. I add grape juice or grape extract.
3. I add some “essential oil” blend made from, it smells like, mint and grapefruit.
4. I add a couple of bananas
5. I add one or two cups of quick oats
6. I sprinkle some cinnamon
7. I sprinkle some chili powder
8. I dump in some chia seeds.
9. I add two or three tablespoons of flax seed
10. I add about four tablespoons of powdered peanut butter
11. Sometimes, I’ll dump some yogurt into the mix
12. I stuff the blender with kale greens or spinach leaves. I prefer the spinach but for some reason, my wife usually gets kale.
13. I run the blender to mix this stuff down to sludge.
14. Sometimes I add more kale or spinach.
15. I typically dump in some water or coffee
16. I add some coconut oil – in order to properly digest some of that ruffage, a little oil is necessary
17. Finally, I add some frozen blueberries
18. Then I blend all that for awhile

Today’s sludge had a bowl of pomegranate seeds in the mix.

Yes, it takes a few minutes to make Nutri-Sludge, but large pitcher of it lasts two or three days as a breakfast drink. And it tastes better than it sounds like it would taste. Have you ever read Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu series? This stuff reminds me of the longevity mix the insidious Fu Manchu requires Dr. Petrie to compound for him in exchange for ceasing his interference with Petrie’s relationship with the former Egyptian slave girl, Karameneh.

Give it a try and see if you achieve length of days and domination of a secret Oriental society.

These are amazing, not glorious, but amazingly good

Who Knew?

Someone’s got to do it. Those precincts aren’t really sacred.

A little perspective

Donald Trump American Samson?

Samson smites the Philistines

Do you not know that the Democrat/Communists are rulers over us?

Back about 1000 B.C., the leaders of the Israelite people were, in aggregate, capable only of verbalizing their longstanding surrender to the Philistines – a group of people whose special interest was subjugating the Israelites – making them slaves; making them the host to Philistia’s parasitic needs.

During the last, I don’t know, 30 or so years, all that the elected representatives, senators, chief executives have been able to consistently verbalize is that the United States’ sole legitimate reason for existence is to serve as the host to the parasitic needs of “the community of nations,” especially the needs of parasitic, communist China.

Donald J. Trump has upset all that during the past four years and even those elected officials who have benefited in terms of elected office have banded together to inform him, “Do you not know that the Democrats are our masters now?” They’re essentially saying, “They worked really hard to game the election and their coordinated work in cheating and stealing the presidential election is so significant and so clearly indicates how much they want to win that we can’t risk upsetting them by overturning their fraud.”

Tossing Dagon

Trump’s a flawed guy and doesn’t pretend he’s anything but what he is. He’s sort of an American Samson at this point in U.S. history. Trump’s had a weakness relative to women. Trump’s actually got some surprising physical strength. Trump says pretty much what he thinks without regard to the (often false or put-on) sensitivities of others. Trump’s even agreed to fight with one hand tied behind his back. Twitter may be the jawbone of the ass? The parallel’s clear.

⁹ Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. ¹⁰ And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” ¹¹ Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.” ¹² And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” ¹³ They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

¹⁴ When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. ¹⁵ And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. ¹⁶ And Samson said,

“With the jawbone of a donkey,
    heaps upon heaps,
with the jawbone of a donkey
    have I struck down a thousand men.”

¹⁷ As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi.

Judges 15:9-17 ESV