Category Archives: friends

Almost every day is a good day to ride a bicycle

rideWhen asked why he rides a bicycle, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer is reported to have said: The advantages? Exercise, no parking problems, gas prices, it’s fun. An automobile is expensive. You have to find a place to park and it’s not fun. So why not ride a bicycle? I recommend it.

Stephen Breyer

Stephen Breyer

Breyer, 74, was appointed in 1994 by President Bill Clinton and is generally regarded as one of the High Court’s liberals. So maybe that’s why he is an advocate for bicycling.

But I’m not into politics today. I only point out Breyer’s position on bicycling to raise awareness for 30 Days of Biking. Now in its fourth year, the organizers say the only rule for 30 Days of Biking is to bike somewhere every day for 30 days — around the block, 20 miles to work, whatever suits you — and then share your adventures online.

To be honest, I wimped out and didn’t ride Monday night because it was kinda cold. And I don’t know if I’ll make it today. But I am planning to ride Wednesday.

Hope you are, too.


Catching up with Dear Diary

This phone booth in New Boston, Ill., came in handy Sunday at the end of a 20-mile windy ride from Muscatine. Of course the picture was taken with an iPhone, which has helped make phone booths obsolete.

This phone booth in New Boston, Ill., came in handy Sunday at the end of a 20-mile windy ride from Muscatine. Of course the picture was taken with an iPhone, which has helped make phone booths obsolete.

After awhile, these blog posts tend to take on the feel of public journal entries. And I’m OK with that, because a lot happens in my life that I don’t write about here.

Such has been the case in the past few days. Friends and others have said things — sometimes just simple offhanded comments — that have really made me think. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve processed it all yet, but it ought to make for some interesting blogging if — and when — I figure it all out.

In the meantime, Dear Diary, it’s time to catch up on the simpler stuff.

A week or so ago, I wrote about some ongoing efforts at self-improvement that included scheduling visits with my doctor and dentist. Well, I’m supposed to meet with Nate Olson, my new dentist, on May 28, unless he can get me in sooner.

But I met Friday with Dr. Mike Maharry, who, for the purposes of full disclosure, is a Facebook friend and reader of this blog. Over the past few years, I’ve come to think of Mike as a friend — Facebook or otherwise. It made for an interesting and, I thought, pretty honest visit. (For what it’s worth, it gives me confidence for the dental appointment because Nate is someone else I’ve come to regard as a friend.)

But let me get to the point: I was worried mainly about my blood pressure and other issues I thought might be related.  On Friday anyway, my BP was 134/90, which, maybe isn’t the greatest, but it could have been worse, too.  According to the doctor, it wasn’t bad enough to put me on BP medication. At least not for now.

Instead he:

  • Told me to regard sodium as my enemy and said I should — for starters  — try to lose 5 percent of my body weight.
  • Gave me the book, Am I Hungry by Dr. Michelle May, and told me to read it.

As I mentioned, he sometimes reads this blog, so he said: “I know you’re a reader. You might benefit from reading this.”

It’s too soon to tell, but so far I think the book teaches a valuable lesson — one I’d have to agree with May is astonishingly simple, but definitely isn’t easy.

I’ll keep you posted, Dear Diary.

More follow-ups:  Nearly two months ago, I blogged about my goal to start lifting heavier weights at the Muscatine Community Y. Then, I farted around for the better part of a month before I got serious. But in the past month, I’ve been a regular.  And Saturday, I did the same workout I did on March 12, when I really started hitting the weights at the Y.

Even I have to admit I’ve made some progress — enough to keep me coming back to the weight room.

This particular workout consists of three sets of five repetitions of the bench press, squats and dead lifts.  The total amounts I lifted for each were:

Lift                                             March 30                 March 12               % increase

Squats                                       735 lbs                       575 lbs                   27.8

Bench press                             635 lbs                       525 lbs                   20.9

Dead lift                                    675 lbs                        450 lbs                  50

And that brings me to this …

Saturday, I thought it was pretty cool to lift heavier-for-me weights. I was especially pleased with my efforts in the Muscatine Community Y’s Kevin Garrison Squat Rack and at the dead lifts.

But then came Sunday and my first real outdoor bike ride of the year — a  20-miler to New Boston, Ill., in some challenging 20-25 mph crosswinds. It gives me just a little apprehension to realize RAGBRAI is only 111 days away.

Yikes. Someone, please pass the Icy Hot and the ibuprofen. I’ve got to get ready to ride again and soon.

A sure sign that summer is finally just around the corner.

A sure sign that summer is finally just around the corner. This was taken Friday at The Brew in Muscatine. I didn’t get to ride with them, but I did show up in time to take the photo.

Dealing with disappointment?

newspaperThe Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce & Industry held its annual meeting Tuesday night.

And I have two observations:

  • Jon Stetson

    Jon Stetson

    Jon Stetson was the best after-dinner speaker I’ve ever seen at this particular banquet. I don’t know how he did the things he did, but I’m very glad he did not call on me to reveal the dark secrets kept hidden inside my bald head.

  • A table mate teased me about excessive blogging, saying she only reads some of this nonsense because she doesn’t have enough time to read all of it.

For what it’s worth, I didn’t think I had been posting that much stuff here. But my dinner companion is in luck because it may take at least a few days to recover from the disappointment I feel today. And that may mean no more blogging for a while.

Why am I so blue?

Well, I’m a little behind in my reading so I didn’t realize until today that the local newspaper on Tuesday published the photo of Muscatine Mayor DeWayne Hopkins shown here at the upper right. He was pictured with Eugene Newton and Jeanne Pankow.

me and hoppiI thought for sure this picture of, from the right, Pankow, Hopins and some big, dumb guy would be the one to get published.

Maybe next time.

Tempting fate by asking: Is it all a bunch of hooey?

red diceJust a couple of rambling thoughts this morning …

Over coffee, a friend today say he is a big believer in fate. Everything happens for a reason, he said. Nothing ever happens by accident.

The idea of fate is something I’ve been pondering lately.

Merriam-Webster defines fate as the will or principle or determining cause by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are. The Google search that led me to that definition also pointed to this website of quotes about fate.

I especially liked this quote from Bryce Courtenay, the best-selling novelist from Australia who died last year at age 79: “Sometimes the slightest things change the directions of our lives, the merest breath of a circumstance, a random moment that connects like a meteorite striking the earth. Lives have swiveled and changed direction on the strength of a chance remark.”

This is sort of unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory for me. I’m really not that deep. But I can’t help but wonder:

  • What really brought me to Muscatine in the first place? It had to be something more than a job that was eliminated — some four years after I started it — in yet another round of newspaper layoffs and expense-cutting measures.
  • Why — after that job was eliminated and followed by eight months of stress and searching — did I finally find the job I now have at MCSA?

I don’t really know the answers to those questions. And many of the reasons that have rumbled through my mind don’t seem likely to me. Or it just may be that they seem unlikely because they make me uncomfortable.  And that led me to another quote, this one from Lemony Snicket, the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler: “Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don’t always like.”

I want to think that is true. But the old cynic in me can’t help but think it’s all a bunch of hooey and that I’m just over thinking these things. It may be nothing more than it needs to warm up so I can go on some long bicycle rides to clear my head. And that has to happen sooner or later, right?

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