[The Most Loathed] learns....slowly

[The Most Loathed]

On 1/9/2018 at 7:34 AM, Jittersthe.Clown said:

Oh man, get them on Troop WebHost. http://www.troopwebhost.com/

They appear to use webhost for their "internal" site. By internal I mean that they post everything "in the clear" but on their homepage they ask you not to use it if you're not a member. I plan to work on this once in the troop. I was at the meeting a week ago and saw that they have a troop librarian and may try to make web improvements a requirement in the future.

On 1/5/2018 at 12:20 AM, LouCarJo said:

I only watched a bit as the subject matter wasn’t really for me but the humour reminded me of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_Stars_(TV_series). I’ve been trying to find my favourite clip but seeing as I’m going off memory to search for it, I haven’t been able to.

I have not looked into this yet but will.

On 1/3/2018 at 8:23 PM, peelout said:

Didn't know you climbed.  Got into that for about 2 yrs, mostly as a way to spend time together w/ my son.  Also went Rock climbing a few times.  Didn't take long for my son to quickly surpass me.  Fun sport.

I don't, much. It's a fun activity but not one I plan to ever get serious about. My friend wants to get "serious" which for him means, be able hang with a guided tour. I just go to give him some company, to give myself some variety, and for the barbeque place next door. I mostly mess around with the 5.7 and 5.8s. I can do an easy 5.9 when I'm fresh. The 30 foot walls can defeat me even on the lower difficulties. 

On 1/12/2018 at 4:28 PM, Elastigirl said:

Hey there, how's it been going? 

First, thanks for asking. I appreciate it. 

Second, let me see where I left off...01/03. Let me see what I recall

• 01/04 was Arkham Horror. We played Essex Express. In this scenario the Investigators are on a train and must move from the back to the front as a rift to beyond space and time has opened behind the train. We all got sucked out of the train and into the rift. Fortunately this does not mean that the campaign is over or even that we have to start new investigators. We all just get a minor penalty and move on. I think that this scenario is meant to be a little tougher to teach players that a "loss" isn't the end of the game, in fact, they are expected to happen sometimes. I happen to know what's coming up in the next scenario and I'm a bit concerned. This could be the beginning of a downward spiral if we aren't careful.
• 01/06 we had friends over for a trip planning session. We're heading to Yellowstone May 19th with the same couple who joined us to Colorado 2 years ago. I'm hoping to get some time to do a longer hike with Laura and separately with Nathan. I need to do my homework on what might be reasonable to hike since the snow is typically still clearing out of the park at that point.
• 01/07 I dont have it in front of me but I'm fairly certain that this was the day that I did squat and cleans
• 01/08 My first Scout meeting. I liked it. It reminded me a lot of my old troop. I had had some concerns that it would be a bunch of kids playing with their phones and not listening to anyone but instead they worked on merit badges and rank advancement then played a game that I recall called "Snatch the Bacon". Afterward I filled out the app to be an Assistant Scoutmaster. I had to list character references, one of them was @Sloth the Enduring. So he may get a call from the BSA (not a joke). 
• 01/09 If memory serves this was my other workout in the window under review. It as deadlifts and clean and jerks and some other stuff. I got told by another gym patron not to drop the weights. It pissed me off as I was mid set. I wasn't a jerk but when I told him "no, this is where I can drop the weights" he was obviously upset. I checked in with the front desk lady and she confirmed that he cam and complained but I was fine. It threw me off though and I feel he's at least partially responsible for my disappointment with that workout. 
• 01/10 I met my friend Brian for beer and a board game. We played Photosynthesis, which he had received for Christmas but neither of us had played. I liked it. It's simple but with decent strategy. We also caught up a lot because we hadn't seen each other in months. One outcome of this get together will come after this calendar list
• 01/11 I had to take Clem to the vet. She's been scratching her ear until she whines. They think it's just the last vestiges of the allergies that kick her butt most of the time. I got some ointment and took her home. This took considerable time so no events this evening
• 01/12 we had planned to get up and workout. Instead we slept in. No regrets. Then I took Clem to "camp" and we packed up and headed to Iowa to see my family. This evening we also met up with Laura's dad who was in town for some professional training. We all ate way too much. More happened but I'll cover it in detail shortly
• 01/13 I met with my best friend from high school, who I haven't seen in something just shy of 15 years. Details below
• 01/14 we drove back and oh so much more. Again, see below

Three stories in detail - organized from the most to least frivolous, to me

 

Love Letter

When I met with Brian (see 01/10) one of the many topics of catching up was our shared love of Python. We also love board games. I mentioned that I had recently played a variant of a popular card game Love Letter. I had long ago floated a theory that Love Letter is essentially random but gives the impression of agency. He had agreed. In reminding him of this I told him that I had made a commitment to myself to code up a version of Love Letter then figure out ways to test the theory. He was as excited as was.

 

We agreed that we would both work on our own versions of it and meet up in mid to lat February for a shared code review and to figure out how to combine our approaches. So I have been working on that. It's the biggest program I have ever worked on and some of it's new to me so I'm leaning on internet resources to help me navigate the challenging waters. I'm excited nd enjoying throwing time at it.

 

Dinner with Rob

When I was in junior high school and high school I had one really good friend, Rob. We were in scouts together, wrestled together and played video games and other things together with pretty much all of our free time. He was the best man in my wedding. I hadn't seen him since. He lives in the town directly next to where my parents live but we hd failed to link up time and again. This trip back it finally happened.

 

Some context is important here. Rob was always the one who was going to get out of Des Moines, I never was. Oddly, I ended up getting out a few years after high school and he did too, for a time. He ended up moving back though and putting down roots. Nothing wrong with that, just not the way I, or he, would have imagined it. He has two kids and a wife who, hilariously to me, has a name that may parents always assumed was "exotic" while she couldn't be more typical-Iowa-woman as far as I can tell.

 

I'm still trying to decide what I think of this encounter. It felt weird to say the least. I felt like I had progressed past a lot of what I was 20 years ago but I didn't feel like he really had. It may have just been the moment, I don't know. I plan to try and do a better job of staying in touch and just let things be what they are. See if we can't find some of what we had and if we can't, that's ok too.

 

Bernadette

So, spoilers, we had to put Bernadette down today. I'm going to write it out in a spoiler tag because it's likely to be long and sad. Read it if you want, don't if you don't want. I'm writing it largely for my own catharsis. Regardless, we're both really sad today. We will be sad tomorrow and for a couple days. 

As you may recall, Bernie had a tumor and was on medication. The medication made her extremely thirsty and also really sapped her personality. The past month(s) of watching the tumor grow and her personality shrink have been tough. I've written a couple times on here about how her days were numbered. We knew it was just a matter of time but we didn't want to be hasty.

 

This was being balanced against our fear that we would head to Amsterdam and leave her with a friend only to have her experience a health crisis and him stuck dealing with it. However, if she could live for months more and not seem to be in pain, we were going to support that. Within the past week, the pain question seemed to be creeping in more and more. 

 

Friday night, I woke up to the perfect alarm clock sound, the sound of a creature vomiting near you. She had gotten sick and none of the food seemed digested properly. We cleaned it up as best we could and since she had vomited on my side of the bed, I spent the rest of the night sleeping on the floor near her both to keep and eye on her and to not have to sleep under a vomit blanket. We chalked it up to the fact that she hadn't eaten in over a day then suddenly ate and entire container of food.

 

Saturday, she and I were both a little listless, Bernie and I. She was calm and quiet for most of the day after being extremely restless all night, after the vomit incident. We kind of joked about nice it must be for her to just get to sleep it off. Her bathroom schedule was a little weird that day and she was back to not eating. 

 

Saturday night we were about to go meet Rob and is wife and I took Bernie out for a quick pee break. She peed but then began stumbling around in a way I have never seen, just really uncoordinated. She steadied a bit, vomited and went into a seizure. At the time I didn't even recognize it as a seizure. I just saw her go down and picked he back up. I think realized she was flailing oddly and I thought she was panicked. So I tried to get her on her feet and it kind of dawned on me what was going on but not until I got her stabilized and tried to relate it to Laura did the word seizure come up and I realized it was correct.

 

We left her with my parents and went to meet Rob. They had our cell phone numbers and we really just thought it was a one off. Fortunately, we never got that call and they never made it We got home and they talked about how she would just move from spot to spot but nothing weird happened. We could tell she was uncomfortable and in light of the seizure thought we'd bring her home at least and if nothing changed, we'd need to start to talk about euthanasia. 

 

I don't know what woke me up that night a little after midnight  but Bernie had already puked (just recently) and was now pooping. She doesn't normally do that in the house. More over she was doing it in a super odd way. She'd poop a little, take a few steps, poop a little and so on. Really odd. We scrambled. I cleaned up the material I could get at with a paper towel while Laura ran to the store for pet carpet cleaner which we applied to very limited success. Laura suggested I take her out to the living room for the rest of the night so I did.

 

The next time I woke up was probably 30 minutes after getting settled in. It was to the sound of Ms. B's nails scrabbling on my parents dinning room floor. She had obviously vomited and was seizing again. This one was longer and more erratic than the one I had seen the night before. As I was cleaning this up she started the pooping behavior again. I put her out side and she just stared off in a random direction. I got thing cleaned up and brought her back in, thinking that we had messed up on her pooping timing and things were good now (it was late and this was night two of bad sleep, forgive my stupidity).

 

An hour later I woke up to nail again and this time hearing her water bowl flip. I ran to the kitchen and she had obviously come for a drink and seized. She was vomiting while she did so. I held her for what seemed like the longest time yet while she flailed. I pointed her head down and water seemed to pour out of her. Eventually she settled down and I got her standing. I dried her off and proceeded to clean up the kitchen. We're probably talking 2:30 or 3 ish, I don't recall. All I could think is that we needed to get her through the night without making too much mess so I could get her home to get her put to sleep. Again, no sleep, panic, dumb.

 

I'll spare you from the detailed recaps as I don't even remember how many total times but I'd say 4-5 times (including the two detailed above, six if you count the evening before) I wen through a similar process. I'd startle awake, she'd be seizing or about to seize. I'd hold her and talk to her, I tried to keep her head down as I could hear her aspirating moisture despite the fact that she seemed to have forgotten how to drink. 

 

Finally, six am arrived, our agreed wake up. My parents were stirring and I wanted to get Laura and get on the road. I feared trying to get her back to the Twin Cities (a four hour drive) if this vomit, seize, poop cycle continued but I wasn't thinking of other things. My parents mentioned an ER vet but I only thought in terms of "they can't fix her so we have to get her home so we can put her down". I went and woke Laura and told her I had been up all night with the seizures. She immediately saw what I hadn't this whole time. That we needed that emergency vet to put her down now.

 

She got in touch with the vet while I prepared the car. My mom was left watching Bernie who seized again in our absence. We collected her in a towel and moved her to the car. She seemed  to be barely registering what was going on. Each seizure but especially the last few seemed to hav diminished her ability to know what was going on around her. Laura drove as fast as reasonable to the emergency vet.

 

They were very good and patient with two people who just wanted to cry at 6 am. They got the info they needed without any undo hassle. They put and IV port in her leg and let us hold her while they sedated her then euthanized her. They were in patient in listening to us babble and giving us time with her. Truly, they did all the right things.

 

We left and drove back to my parents house. They offered food or to let us sleep but we wanted to just get going. We offered to pay for a carpet cleaning but they had already cleaned everything up, somewhat amazingly. 

 

We got on the road and would take turns trying to talk and get teary eyed. We got home around 12:30 and have just stayed home. We need groceries, tomorrow we both have to work, tomorrow I have to go get Clem, Tuesday is Laura's going away party for work but today we cried and cuddled and loafed and talked and just dealt with it as well as we could. This is going to be painful and raw for a while.

 

 

vague plan for the week

• Monday - dunno, probably not workout, maybe groceries
• Tuesday - Laura's going away party
• Wednesday - workout
• Thursday - probably workout but if we need a mourning day I won't force it
• Friday - Arkham Horror
• Saturday - probably a workout
• Sunday - workout

Sorry for the super long one

[Elastigirl]

Hugs, sorry about Bernie. Glad you and Laura had a chance to just stay home today for a bit and bw with one another and comfort one another.

 

All else sounds great, fun games, great volunteering, working out, and planning awesome vacations, sounds like you have a really good full life

[LouCarJo]

Really sorry to hear about Bernie, and the difficult end she had.  Glad you’re now home and able to spend some time together quietly.

[Sloth the Enduring]

I'm sorry. That's a rough weekend. I don't know how you managed to drive home after all that.

[The Most Loathed]

18 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Hugs, sorry about Bernie. Glad you and Laura had a chance to just stay home today for a bit and bw with one another and comfort one another.

All else sounds great, fun games, great volunteering, working out, and planning awesome vacations, sounds like you have a really good full life

Thanks. We're doing what we can for each other.

I do have a very full life. I often find myself trying to pull back from new things I want to try just because they things I would have to give up are too valuable to me to give up.

14 hours ago, LouCarJo said:

Really sorry to hear about Bernie, and the difficult end she had.  Glad you’re now home and able to spend some time together quietly.

It was a rough end but she had a good run. We still miss her but it will dull with time. Laura is already eyeing another terrier for us. 

9 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

I'm sorry. That's a rough weekend. I don't know how you managed to drive home after all that.

It sucked and Laura had to handle the driving. In truth, I wouldn't have trusted myself after so little sleep. I think I'm still coming back from that. 

We had some sad moments on the way home but we needed to get home both for schedule and for sanity, even though we missed her there even more. The harder part was working today.

 

Today was a holiday for both of us but we both ended up working anyway. For me this was relatively easy as I was at home and my "work" for the day didn't require a ton of engagement from me. Laura actually had to go to the office and was not in a good mood about it. She did her time but is glad to be home.

 

I have limited time before our big trip. This means limited time to train, or do anything frankly, but I'm ind of enjoying the fact that, at least for workout planning it give me a bit sized chunk to think about. So here's my planned schedule fo the next couple weeks.

• Monday 1/15 - No workout - tonight - we're just hanging out together, may walk to the store together
• Tuesday 1/16- No Workout - Laura's going away party for work. 
• Wednesday 1/17
  • Deadlift 315 10 minutes
  • Barbell Row 135 
  • Barbell Snatch 85 3 x 10
  • Push Press 155 5 x 5
• Thursday 1/18- I give myself 50:50 odds of working out. If I do,
  • treadmill, 5% incline varying between 5.5 and 3.5 for 45 minutes to an hour
• Friday 1/19- no workout, Arkham Horror night
• Saturday 1/20
  • Clean and Jerk 155 10 minutes
  • Back Squat 215 5 x 5 (light but trying to not cripple my legs)
  • Band assisted pull ups
  • TRX Circuit
    • row
    • press
    • curl
    • tricep extension
• Sunday 1/21
  • Kettlebells (pending Kristjian agreeing)
    • Snatch 1/1,1 x 3 24kg
    • Clean and Press 1/1, 1 x 3 24 kg
    • 1/2 snatch 1/1, 1 x 3 28 kg
    • 2 hand swing 2 x 25 32 kg
    • front squat 3 x 10, 2 x 24 kg
  • cardio - treadmill - 1 hour 5% incline, alternate between 3.5 and 5.5 mph
• Monday 1/22- No workout - Scouts
• Tuesday 1/23
  • Clean and Thruster 24 kg (If I can find the bells at the gym this time) 30 minutes
  • Negative Pull ups
• Wednesday 1/24- No Workout - adding a note at the end to explain
• Thursday 1/25
  • Deadlift 405 3 x 3
  • Snatch 85 5 x 5
  • RDL 185 5 x 5
  • Lunges TBD
• Friday 1/26- No Workout,  GPL (Gym, Pizza, Laundry)
• Saturday /27
  • Back Squat 255 - try for 20 reps
  • Pull ups 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1
  • Standing Press 135 5 x 5
  • Row 500 m x 5
• Sunday 1/28
  • Kettlebells
    • Clean 28 kg 1/1, 1 x 3
    • Push Press 28 kg 1/1, 1 x 3
    • Jerk 28 kg 1/1, 1 x 3
    • 2 Hand swing 2 x 25, 32 kg
    • Front Squat 3 x 10, 2 x 24 kg
  • Cardio - treadmill - 3% incline, 5.5 mph, 45 - 60 minutes
• Monday 1/29 - No Workout - Scouts
• Tuesday 1/30 - No workout - time to prepare for our trip!
• Wednesday 1/31 - sleep on a plane

That's it, can you believe it? I'm heading to Amsterdam that soon. Speaking of which, I've lost track of @kbgirl. I will try PMing her and I may have an email address somewhere. I'll look. 

I'm trying to put together a coherent plan for February through April as well. I'm calling it "Small Engine Repair" as it will be focused on trying to prepare myself for the Hammer Race. It's not enough to make Sloth and Rooks eat my dust. I want to make them wonder where I even went to. 

 

Addendum 01/24

I'm missing a Wednesday workout which pains me. I love my workouts on days when Laura has rehearsal because I can just keep hammering away. However, I have an opportunity that I want to take advantage of. There is an organization in town called StartEightyTwo (I don't know why) that is trying to do data science for charitable causes. I'm trying to get more and more data science experience so this seems like a win-win to me. 

This particular meeting is their New Years resolution meeting. They have a handful of people bringing a handful of projects that need work done. They will pitch their projects and talk about what kinds of workers they need. I plan to get in on one.

[LouCarJo]

That is some organised plan for the next fortnight you have there!  And Amsterdam does seem to have come round quickly.

[Bearlee]

Sorry to hear about Bernadette. That seemed like a really rough time both physically and mentally.

 

Great to hear about you and the Scouts. I was a little surprised and excited when I read it. I’ve kind of been lacking in the Scouts area but reading that gave me a boost at the right moment. Looking forward to hearing more about your experiences with them.

 

Anything special you are looking forward to in Amsterdam? Other than possibly meeting KB girl.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Hopefully your small engine repair plan will be enough to keep from getting totally hammered by me.

@KBgirl 's gym is on FB; you might be able to get ahold of her through that. Or, IIRC, @MadHatter has met up with her; she might have contact information.

[The Most Loathed]

8 hours ago, LouCarJo said:

That is some organised plan for the next fortnight you have there!  And Amsterdam does seem to have come round quickly.

No plan survives first contact with the enemy. This will be no exception

3 hours ago, Bearlee said:

Sorry to hear about Bernadette. That seemed like a really rough time both physically and mentally.

 

Great to hear about you and the Scouts. I was a little surprised and excited when I read it. I’ve kind of been lacking in the Scouts area but reading that gave me a boost at the right moment. Looking forward to hearing more about your experiences with them.

 

Anything special you are looking forward to in Amsterdam? Other than possibly meeting KB girl.

I'm glad I could motivate you on scouting

Honestly, nothing in particular. For me, this trip is important because we've talked bout this kind of thing for nearly 20 years and never made good on it. Two years ago we made a big Colorado trip, last year, nothing. This year Amsterdam and Yellowstone. It's us making good on promises that I feel we made to ourselves, promises that a lot of people make but few ever deliver on.

I think people make a lot of plans and promises to themselves and just fail to deliver. While I have absolutely done this, I try and at least do it with thought and intent.

46 minutes ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

Hopefully your small engine repair plan will be enough to keep from getting totally hammered by me.

@KBgirl 's gym is on FB; you might be able to get ahold of her through that. Or, IIRC, @MadHatter has met up with her; she might have contact information.

I think I actually have an email from her from a while back. I'll go dig through my old messages and see what I can find. 

 

Tonight is my wife's going away party at an arcade (UP Down for my locals). I went a year or so ago and didn't love it but I'll go tonight and enjoy seeing some of her coworkers and residents. They're all really nice people.

 

 

Edit: Music video for the week

If I recall correctly, this guy was the lead singer of mudvayne. I find him fascinating because he and his band are not young but still doing the metal thing and doing it well. He makes me think of a Gary Numan a lot. 

 

[The Most Loathed]

On 12/25/2017 at 6:53 PM, The Most Loathed said:

 

Just sharing this again because I was looking for something else in my thread and saw it. 

Saying goodbye to my baby.

[Rooks]

Sad times sir. Sad times indeed. Sorry to hear and I hope you and Laura get the proper time to grief your loss. 

[The Most Loathed]

On 1/16/2018 at 3:07 PM, Rooks said:

Sad times sir. Sad times indeed. Sorry to hear and I hope you and Laura get the proper time to grief your loss. 

Yeah, I can officially say that we've come out the other side of the acute mourning. Most of last week it was really easy to get a sniffle from either of us. By last weekend we had a couple tears once or twice just talking about Bernie. We still miss her but we're into the "new normal" stage. Laura is aggressively talking dog at this point. I had thought I would want to got a while with only one, maybe even eventually try out none but that's not going to happen and I'm finding that I don't mind. 

 

On 1/16/2018 at 8:05 AM, The Most Loathed said:

No plan survives first contact with the enemy. This will be no exception

^This guys knows what he's talking about ^

• Monday 1/15 - No workout - tonight - we're just hanging out together, may walk to the store together
• Tuesday 1/16- No Workout - Laura's going away party for work. 
• Wednesday 1/17 
  • Deadlift 315 10 minutes complete, ended up being 2 reps E1/2M, so 40 reps
  • Barbell Row 135 a bit ight but beat up after deadlifts so just right
  • Barbell Snatch 85 95 3 x 10 5 x 5
  • Push Press 155 5 x 5 - probably closer to crappy jerks
• Thursday 1/18- I give myself 50:50 odds of working out. If I do,
  • treadmill, 5% incline varying between 5.5 and 3.5 for 45 minutes to an hour 
• Friday 1/19- no workout, Arkham Horror night
• Saturday 1/20 - back was sore from Wednesday so treadmill for an hour fo 4 minutes run (5.5), 3 minutes walk (3.5). ended up easier than expected
  • Clean and Jerk 155 10 minutes
  • Back Squat 215 5 x 5 (light but trying to not cripple my legs)
  • Band assisted pull ups
  • TRX Circuit
    • row
    • press
    • curl
    • tricep extension
• Sunday 1/21
  • Kettlebells (pending Kristjian agreeing) -  did this 
    • Snatch 1/1,1 x 3 24kg
    • Clean and Press 1/1, 1 x 3 24 kg
    • 1/2 snatch 1/1, 1 x 3 28 kg
    • 2 hand swing 2 x 25 32 kg
    • front squat 3 x 10, 2 x 24 kg
  • cardio - treadmill - 1 hour 5% incline, alternate between 3.5 and 5.5 mph  didn't do this
• Monday 1/22- No workout - Scouts

 

Tonight I'm booked to do my long cycle benchmark workout, 100 reps in under 30 minutes with 24 kg x 2. It's always brutal. What idiot programmed this?

 

Weird week. I've been given a "team". I'm not the boss in any official capacity but it's openly acknowledged that I'm the boss. I got what are effectively the team rejects and frankly, it's working out perfectly. Neither of them have any technical knowledge (which is why they don't fit in on a team of Developers), we're objectively the oldest by a lot and we're all white, the only whites. I pointed this out as a questionable decision to my boss, he tried to laugh it off. I don't think he's trying to do anything sketchy but my opinion is trying or not, you can not segregate a time along race and age lines. 

That said, like I mentioned above, it's working out for me. One of the team members like to feel like she's got authority so I made her the gatekeeper. She gets to hand out forms and make sure  that they are done correctly which is something that we need for record keeping and I hate to do. The other guy likes lots of little tasks that he can just do and not think. So he has all that tasks where you log into an arbitrary system and do a thing. This leaves me to cover the gaps (I had been doing everything for months so that's fine) and do all the interesting stuff that they don't like, like troubleshoot why people who have access can't do the things that their access says that they can. 

All that said, I totally had a call with a Target recruiter last week and I'm increasingly thinking about going back to work for them. I can keep doing what I'm doing indefinitely, almost certainly with a pay raise but I'd rather be coding and playing with data.

 

Speaking of coding, I stalled on my side project over the weekend so hopefully I'll get back to work this week. I mentioned several big posts ago that I'm working on coding out a card game called Love Letter. I have made good progress but now things are getting trickier. I'm to the point where I have to figure out how to actually play a card on another person. It's kind of hard to explain what's so tricky about this.

 

I should have more to say but I didn't take any time to organize my thoughts so I'm going to end this here.

 

 

Music for the week

 

[Sloth the Enduring]

If you're in the market, I know a nice little yak dog.

The way you describe it, your team totally has a misfit-war-heroes-movie vibe.

[The Most Loathed]

8 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

If you're in the market, I know a nice little yak dog.

I showed her your picture of yak dog and she thought he/she is adorable. However she really want another 20-30 lb terrier. We've known a couple of people who have had a similar terrier to Bernie and I think that she's trying to find one of those.

8 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

The way you describe it, your team totally has a misfit-war-heroes-movie vibe.

I had used the "island of misfit toys" metaphor. I like your better. It's a good metaphor.

[Bearlee]

Found something on Hulu and I thought of you. It’s a show called Travel Man 48 Hours: then destination. It features Richard Ayoade (Maurice Moss from IT Crowd) traveling to different destinations with various celebrity friends. Basically it like watching his character from the IT Crowd taking a holiday and not finding any joy in what he’s doing. I’ve only seen one so far (the Barcelona episode) but thought it might be a good primer for you before you travel abroad. While looking for a clip on YouTube, it seems a lot of the episodes can be found on YouTube. Here is the clip for Amsterdam.

 

 

[The Most Loathed]

13 hours ago, Bearlee said:

Found something on Hulu and I thought of you. It’s a show called Travel Man 48 Hours: then destination. It features Richard Ayoade (Maurice Moss from IT Crowd) traveling to different destinations with various celebrity friends. Basically it like watching his character from the IT Crowd taking a holiday and not finding any joy in what he’s doing. I’ve only seen one so far (the Barcelona episode) but thought it might be a good primer for you before you travel abroad. While looking for a clip on YouTube, it seems a lot of the episodes can be found on YouTube. Here is the clip for Amsterdam.

I love Travel Man! It's the only TV show I have watched pirated episodes of in recent years and only because we can't get full episodes here in the US.

 

 

[Elastigirl]

Are you in Amsterdam now? I can't remember when you were going. Did you get to meet up with KB Girl? Anyway, hope you are having fun. We expect a full vacation report on your return.

[Sloth the Enduring]

I hope he didn’t drop a kettleball on his head.

[Rooks]

It is Super Bowl week here in the Twin Cities so I'm fairly confident he's outta the country. 

[The Most Loathed]

15 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Are you in Amsterdam now? I can't remember when you were going. Did you get to meet up with KB Girl? Anyway, hope you are having fun. We expect a full vacation report on your return.

I figured I'd journal right here

13 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

I hope he didn’t drop a kettleball on his head.

not recently

11 hours ago, Rooks said:

It is Super Bowl week here in the Twin Cities so I'm fairly confident he's outta the country. 

^this

 

 

I did some working out in the time leading up to my trip but didn't really bother to records it. Lots of clean and jerks, some squats, some running. 

 

I'm currently in Amsterdam. Yesterday was the mid-Atlantic flight portion of the show. I use the term yesterday loosely because it I'm lumping the day that we prepped to go, the flight, and the first day in Amsterdam together.

We got up at about our usual time and did some packing. Clem had been dropped off at "camp" the day before so we just flitted about doing, whatever, killing time, a lot of the time. Laura wanted to do yoga at noon so I went over and ran the "cardio+"program on the treadmill for 45 minutes. I'll probably do that again. Cardio makes me very sleepy so this was a calculated move to try and make myself sleep on the plane. The hardest part was not taking a nap all afternoon

Our flight was at 7:30 and they always say to get to the airports 3 hours early, which we do, then feel kind of dumb for sitting in the airport for 3 hours. Regardless, we got a ride at 4 pm and sure enough, by 5 we were waiting at our gate. We took a few walks but it really was just killing time. I passed on supper because I knew we had a meal coming on the flight.

We boarded the plane pretty much on time. Laura likes a window seat so I usually book that for her. This leaves me in a center seat pretty much all the time. It's a real crap shoot because if I get some lady next to me, it works out. Other guys, though, mean we have to figure out who's shoulders go where as mine will encroach on the seat next to me. This guy had kind of a rounded posture so I got to keep my shoulders pressed back and it worked out. He had a cold so I was not super happy about that. 

Pretty much as soon as we got going they started feeding us supper. I had chicken in cream sauce. It was fine. Not something you'd be happy to get at a restaurant but better than I've come to expect from airplane food. I skipped beer and wine as an option and stuck to water. 

As they cleared the trays they also dimmed the light, sending the clear message that everyone should sleep now. Negotiating sleeping sitting up is always kind of a mess. I'm a little too tall to lean forward on my tray but could put a pillow between my head and the seat in front of me. So it was some of that, some of fully sitting up (with seat reclined). They gave us the black sleep masks that I think everyone has seen and a set of earplugs. I did some of the time with earplugs in, some of the time listening to a podcast that I use almost exclusively to sleep to. The crew still had to roam around and offer people drinks and snacks occasionally which would wake me. 3-4 hours of fitful sleep is about all anyone got.

We arrived at Schipol airport and things went extremely smoothly. We piled off, everyone hit the restroom, we all wandered to the customs folks who barely did more than wave us through and stamp out passports. The baggage was already coming out when we arrive at the carousel and we got our shared suitcase in no time.

Our first destination was the Central train station which meant buying a ticket for the train and following the signs. Simple. Efficient. The train ride was insanely smooth and quiet and it was really nice just to see the outskirts of Amsterdam. Honestly, I'd do it again just for fun. From the central station it was only two stops on any of the train lines to the neighborhood where our airbnb is Wareloopin. 

Once in Waterloopin we wandered around for just a little bit and none of our technology was working but I had the address written down. We pretty quickly zeroed in on the flat but when I buzzed up there was no reply. I tried calling the first cell phone number I was given, no reply. Being a little strung out on no sleep, this was frustrating. I tried the second cell phone number I was given and got the owner. Her English was about as good as my German and way better than my Dutch. She eventually understood that we were outside but no one was coming down to get us. I knew she was out of town but her mom was supposed to be here. Within a couple minutes her mom showed up at the door and let us in.

The flat is on the 4th floor. The stairs are insanely narrow and steep which is not a problem except for the the part where I had to haul a full sized suitcase up them. It was my surprise workout for the day.

Once we got settled in we took a nap for about two hours. I've heard a lot of takes on how to deal with jet lag but that's what we did.

 

......

 

we're about to head out for today so later I will cover last night and whatever we do today. First TO PANCAKES.

[The Most Loathed]

"day one" part 2

We woke up for our nap and headed out to see what we could see, now that we could see straight. We headed towards what I believe is called Rembrandt square, or it should be if it isn't . There's a famous Rembrandt painting, Night Watch, that someone has recreated in cast metal there. We wandered around a bit, keeping to straight lines so we wouldn't get terribly lost. Laura has and amazing innate sense of direction but given the nature of the last ?day? I didn't feel like testing it. We found a japanese restaurant chain that Laura knew of Wagamama and stopped in for supper. 

Afterward we walked back past the place we are staying to see what was the other direction. That was during evening rush hour which gave a different feel to the city as Everyone as out. In the US Portland and Minneapolis go back and forth, being rated as the best bike city in the country. After seeing this, I'm realizing that we're playing tee ball. There we probably 10 walkers to a driver and 10 bikers to a walker headed home. It was barely controlled chaos and any place that you could chain up a bike had one.

After our post dinner walk we headed in, tired. We vowed we would stay up until 8 and just barely made it. By 8:30 we were both asleep. We were wide awake once again at midnight. So, we each got some water. Chattered a little bit, read a little bit and were back out. We started to wake again around six but din't crawl out of bed until 8, that's when I typed the last post.

 

Today we began our day with Pancakes. I did not realize that a good pancake house was missing from my life. Now I do. They had your standard blueberry or even banana but they also had salmon with cream cheese and onion or avocado with peppers and baba ganoush. I opted for something still a little sweet with a bunch of berries, plain greek yogurt and granola. No regrets. Laura's already talking about going back.

We headed over the Hermitage which had a Dutch Masters exhibit and it was great. The Dutch Masters have some quirks, like putting biblical figures in clothe that were contemporary to when the painting is made, but you have to acknowledge serious skills and changing the way that painting worked. We also hit up Foam, the photography museum and the Botanical Gardens. We wrapped our day with an Indonesian dinner. 

Now we're sitting and relaxing. We're thinking we'll head down to a cafe for a drink before bed but that's it.

 

That's it for today. Tomorrow morning it sounds like Laura wants to hit up The Avocado Show for breakfast followed by a couple more museums. It's supposed to be raining midday so we plan to hide inside. 

 

 

[Elastigirl]

Amsterdam sounds really great. Interesting about all the bikes. We always try and arrive the two hours early for domestic flights, then sit around and wait. Except of course those times where we are delayed and then everything delays us, the lines are super slow, and we end up running through the airport all stressed. My son waits until the last minute and saunters in casually about 5 minutes before boarding.

[LouCarJo]

Sounds like you’re having a good time.  I’m not so fond of Wagamamas but it’s reliable enough when you know of nothing better.

 

What’s a city break without having to wander about in the rain?!

[The Most Loathed]

On 2/3/2018 at 6:33 PM, LouCarJo said:

Sounds like you’re having a good time.  I’m not so fond of Wagamamas but it’s reliable enough when you know of nothing better.

 

What’s a city break without having to wander about in the rain?!

I enjoyed Wagamama's well enough but I wouldn't declare it the best asian I had ever had or anything. Food here has been interesting because it's hard for me to point at anything "Dutch". While it's not the chains I know or anything, it feels like chains. That said, it's all been good.

 

Yesterday we heading the the Museumpline. We didn't do the Avocado Show. Instead we hit a little bakery called Bake My Day. I had the "Moroccan Pancake" which was basically and ham and cheese tosti and it was really tasty. We then hopped a tram to the Rijksmusem. We wandered around there for about four hours, saw tons of art, lots of Dutch masters stuff. I was pretty full on art so we elected to take a break at the cafe. During our break they announced that the museum closes in 30 minutes. I felt bad because I had intended to go back and do some more after and would have just let Laura have the last bit time in the museum rather than the cafe.

After the museum closed we started walking, quite a bit. Once again, we had a fair bit of rain. Enough that we broke out the umbrellas. We wandered past another museum that we want to check out but it was closed. We walk a fairly long ways, although not as far as I thought when we got back and double checked. While it doesn't sound like a lot, it was a pretty full day.

Today we grabbed breakfast at the same place as yesterday. Laura had her eye on the two-egg breakfast. We both had it and it was good but it ended up being more food than either of us really wanted and it wasn't quite as good as yesterdays, still good though. We then boarded a train to Utrecht. 

In Utrecht it was cold and windy but we found a couple interesting sights and left even more behind. First what the church which was just cool. It was started in something like AD43 although I don't know when the building was started. It was one of those times when you realize the European and American history don't really operate on the same scales. We also hit up the clockspile museum which I loved. It as all about automated music machines fro the 1500s - the 1950s. Think of the spectrum of church bells to music boxes to player pianos and you have a good chunk of it in your head. Totally worth going.

We ended the museum trip because we had an appointment to keep. I hung out in the space between the church and it's tower to wait for @KB Girl, @Mirrodin, and their Intern. The five of us got together and hit a restaurant because they had been teaching a kettlebell workshop all morning and hadn't had food yet. All three spoke English which saved us from a potentially long and awkward meal. It was great fun to talk to them. We were able to talk about The Netherlands, travel, fitness, kettlebell sport, language and a variety of things. Honestly, the most naturally conversation that I think I have ever had with people who I had never met before. I didn't keep track of time but I'd bet at least an hour, more like 90 minutes. Alas, KB Kiddo is ill so they needed to get back.

 

Leaving there Laura challenged me to get back into fighting shape and return to The Netherlands for a comp. So you have that to look forward to. 

 

[Sloth the Enduring]

The return of the unimaginable TML KB workouts? I’ve been waiting for that for a long time.