Pals forever

Oak Park Indian Guides: Potawatomie Tribe at Camp MacLean, Wisconsin Feb 10, 2008

Pals forever, that is the motto of the Indian Guides, and the time we spend together, just us guys, fathers and sons, is so very special. This weekend we braved the snow and cold and did the winter campout with the Prairie federation at Camp MacLean, near Burlington, WI. This particular YMCA camp is very rustic and the only activities avaialable were sledding or crafts. We made several runs and a braved the toboggan chute, but after a few hours of being wet and cold, we opted for the crafts and made several necklaces and bracelet's. Our tribe won first place in sled appearance, though our Klondike like sled did not do very well in the race. Clearly some more engineering is needed. We won second place in the tribal chant but our accumulated tribal property, including the new dream catchers we made in January, still does not amass to the same collection some of the older tribes such as the Saux Fox, Ute and Cherokee have. The whole tribe except for our newest members all made the camp out and are pictured here. The Bones left early and are not in the picture, nor are the Kellys. It was -7 with -45 wind chill when we got up on Sunday morning, so not a lot of folks stayed to play. What a great time was had by all.

My trip to southern Illinois was postponed due to inclement weather. I got a call at 6 AM this morning in time to stop me from getting on the Saluki. The ice storm shut down SIU today and likely tomorrow too. My trip is rescheduled for March 17th. It should be nice weather by then, especially in Carbondale. I have played my cards close to vest and have not discussed my reasons for going to SIU with any but my closest confidants. It will be hard to stay mum for another month. Seeing the schedule they arranged for me it will be a daunting though very exciting venture down yonder. They had me scheduled to meet with no less than 30 folks including the Dean of the College of Sciences, the Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate College, professors from other departments on the search committee, plus all the faculty in the Department of Physiology. Each of the colleagues who agreed to write letters in support of my bid have been most encouraging and supportive. One good thing about even entering into this is the positive effect its had on my own self esteem. Imagine me being a chairman of a department. I can do this, yes I can! I anticipate that this is an exercise at this point and likely the best that will come of it is leveraging me into a better place her at UIC. However the idea of a more bucolic life in a college town nestled in the Shawnee National Forest is most attractive. Realizing that the nearest Trader Joes is 100 miles away in Saint Louis and that there are no Starbucks in Carbondale puts this into perspective. Great places to ride my bike though, no doubt about it. We could buy a farm and raise alpacas. But how are the schools? It's a college town, right? much to consider and this will be on hold for another month.

Yes We Can

I am reading this book called The Bunion Derby about a cross country race in 1928 .The race started out with 199 men, and now, 33 days into the race they enter the Texas panhandle and all the black competitors are besieged by the Jim Crow Texans. It makes me think how Americans maybe be basically racist to our very roots and our attack on Iraq is just another example. The slaughter of the Native Americans, the saga of Jim Crow etc. Now, seeing Barak Obama gaining such popular support is so exciting, but very scary for Democrats. Will the majority of Americans vote for an African American for President, or will the inherent racist tendenicies dominate their decision, when they go behind the curtain to vote? While Obama excites everyone I know, it seems Hillary has the opposite effect. Trusted rationale people whose opinions I value and whose judgment I have never questioned rank their choices for president as Obama, then McCain, then Romney. Billary is divisive, but I would vote for her before any of the GOP's candidates. All of the Republicans are old white men. How refreshing is the roster of the dems. John Edwards is the only of the traditional mold in contention. Yes We Can! how exciting, how invigorating, how scary. Hearing Barak's victory speech after he won in South Carolina was exciting! Hearing Carolyn Kennedy equate Barak to her father and saying he is the JFK of her children's generation was astounding! Now with Ted Kennedy's endorsement, the old guard of the Democratic party seem to be aligning themselves with Barak. Is it possible that we can see a new day in America? Is it possible that we can have a president for all Americans? can we build it? yes we can! oh, I just realized that Barak is borrowing his catch phrase from Bob The Builder- another old white guy.

just a note on the bike commute. today its going to be 50 yet I did not ride. After my flat tire I realized I have 3300 miles on my tires and they are noticably worn thin, the sidewalls appear a bit cracked, time for new rubber. I would hate to have a second flat as I hurry to or from work. no problem with the old tire on the trainer, but I fear its road worthiness. I have been pondering tires, tire sizes, tread designs etc. I considered buying 32s with some tread for the inclement weather then going back to some road worthy 28s for riding season. Or perhaps I should just get some new road tires? I definitely need some new tires though.

Jurus Prudence and frozen cajones

Baby its cold out there! -5 this morning with -20 wind chills. No doubt about it, waiting for the EL is the coldest experience available. My last bike ride to work, last Monday, was cold but OK, however, my return ride was not. Immediately I had a flat tire. It was snowing, the wind was howling. I thought about fixing the flat-- I was right in front of the med center, but knowing I had to pick up Ryder ASAP, I did the cowardly thing, returned my bike to my office, locked it up, emptied out my panniers, and rode the EL to Oak Park in my bike clothes. By the time I made it to the Oak Park Avenue El stop it had snowed 2 inches. Bummer! that would have been a great adventure ride. Since then its been snowing and/or bitterly cold (subzero plus the wind). I have resumed my EL riding career, striding vigorously up and down the platform to keep warm and keep my heart beating. I see so many folks standing still huddled in the cold. Moving around generates heat, why stand? And it amazes to see, in this weather, so many idiots with out hats! I guess they get what they deserve-- frostbite. DOH!

Last week I had the pleasure (really) of serving on a jury. I have been summonsed 4 or 5 times, but never picked to serve before. While some of the candidate jurors purposefully made statements to get themselves excluded, much to the scorn of us honest folks, I just went with the flow and sure enough, got picked. A criminal case. High theater.

It was quite interesting indeed, and I gave into it, accepting my role as juror, being pleased not to be in charge or having to run the meeting. DUI. Guy changed seats with his girlfriend after the accident so it would look like he was not driving. eyewitness saw him behind the wheel and pushing down the deployed airbag,but not actually in the collision. it was circumstantial. But the state's attorney gave a compelling argument about the validity of circumstantial evidence, the smoking gun, snow on the ground though you didn't actually see it snowing, you know it did. Jury was 7-5 to convict after the first round. 2 hours of discussion and it was 11-1. It was pleasant, and #12 acquiesced. The defense witness, the woman, was hardly credible, had the story wrong, would not admit they were lovers, just friends but admitted when they were out drinking they were buying lingerie! The defense attorney said of course she acted that way, she was embarrassed, just friends with privileges-- clever, persuasive. But the state's attorneys were better actors and more convincing. After it was over they came into the jury room and talked with us. it was a lot of fun, all and all. The defendant had three prior DUI's but that was not admissible as evidence. The female attorney said that when the defense witness said she was buying underwear, she thought "my goodness, this is going better than I'd hoped" we all felt pretty good knowing we did the right thing and were out of there at 3 PM. Glad it only lasted 2 days.

the harlequin resolutionist

It must be global warming, right? no, there is a January thaw every year, but 63 degrees on Jan 7th? Made for a nice day to ride, for sure. 4th work day for 2008 and I've ridden half of them (2/4). The clip on the pedal broke off, the side I always click in and out of at all those stops that punctuate my daily ride. I had to replace the pedal set but the bike shop couldn't get the left pedal off of the crank-- likely a latent causality from the bike-car incident I suffered in September. So, Dan the bike man cleverly replaced the whole crank with an OEM exact match-- except it was in carbon black, not chrome silver. So, the harlequin crank set which nicely matches my harlequin wheel set, one black, one silver-- also from the car incident. It gives that Cannondale a certain character now, in keeping with the fenders and big guy that rides it.

I reset my trip meter today. 540 miles since Apple Century. 3290 total. I had about 1100 year one, so that means 2007 I rolled nearly 2200 miles. My goal for 2008-- double that! I have thought that 5000-500-50 would be a good year of bike-run-swim. Man that's a lot of swimming! If I am going to Tri-again, so be it, I better get my fat butt into the pool.

We had our first Pilates class of the year today. Ugh! oh those cookies and ah that lack of exercise. I am lucky I only gained 3 or 4 pounds in the last month and not more. After Pilates I did ball squats, imaging I was still on the slopes in Colorado, carving my way through the moguls-- a near perfect run down Cat's Meow at Loveland! No doubt the Pilates and the ball squats have given me skiing back after I fractured my knees. But only skiing conditions you for skiing. The first wave of resolutionsits hit the gym today. The same 15 or so folks who are always there, and were last week were there today, along with about 30 new folks. Some quite earnest in their approach to the machines. Some quite confused and shy looking. We are fortunate to have such a great facility here on the west campus but it lacks one huge thing-- spin classes! I have a huge energy barrier traveling across campus to take classes. Not such an issue when I can ride to work-- once again, winter is on the way back, rain then sleet, then snow and much, much colder weather is on its way. those poor folks in California, 7 inches of rain in LA and 11 feet of snow in the Sierras. Oh to be stuck in Tahoe. Talk about skiing! No spin classes need.

A new day, another year

I expected the gym to be filled with "resolutionists" today, but instead, it was nearly empty, only the same old bodies I usually see there were busy with their workouts. There was a big crew working on all the machines, taking them apart for maintanence, still leaving enough avaialble to get a bit of a workout in. My new favorite, the adaptive motion trainer was in pieces, so I tread on the old mill for a meager 20 minutes and 1.6 miles. Bravely, I stepped on the scale-- I feared the worst after a week or more of indulgent eating, but was pleased to see I am right at 206, still down ~25 pounds from where I was at this time last year. Which brings me to New Year's Resolution #1: under 200 pounds and under 20% body fat (I am at about 24% now). I've lost 3 inches around my middle and I've lost 5% body fat, but still feel and look fat. I know the way now to achieve this goal. P-diet and exercise. DOH!

I braved the weather and rode in today. It was a balmy 24 degrees and mostly dry. I was excited to try out my new winter biking garb I received for Christmas, and I was indeed warm and dry-- until I encountered a snow bank I had to traverse, then my toes got cold and my cleats got packed with ice and would not engage my peddles. The bike path around the park was spotty, but navigable. All and all it was just fine riding. The brisk south west wind brings us this warm up so I guess I can't complain about how slow it made the ride.

It is an exciting time in world history. Last week Benizer Bhutto was assassinated in Pakistan and the next day Kenya burst into flames-- reminiscent of Rwanda. The dollar continues its slide against other world currencies, sinking to the level of the Indian Rupee now. And how the world feels about Americans is at an all time low. Troubled times. Exciting times too. Last night Barak Obama won the Iowa primaries, besting both Edwards and Clinton. There were more voters in the caucuses than ever before, young Democrats. The electorate is excited and ready for CHANGE. I really like both Edwards and Hillary, indeed, but neither represent a new day in America. Barak, you da man, you are the one who will excite the youth vote. This time next year we will be looking forward to throwing the pigs out and making way for the new Obama presidency. Glory be.

Which somehow reminds me of my 2nd resolution. To be on time. I read a Tribune columnists reflections on turning 50 and one thing he observed was that promptness is a form of respect. My father oft repeated that if you aren't early, you are late. And of course Karen understands that I am late because I hate to wait and would rather make other people do the waiting for me. Which adds up to disrespect. Not malicious. Just habituation. I can change, sure I can. so, that is #2, be on time. There you have it. I have joined the resolutionists, but I did beat them into the gym.

Sunshine Daydream

Cold rain and snow describe our days for the last week. I rode my bike to work last Monday and though it was cold, gray and windy, it was dry. That was the last day until today, that its been dry. I should've, could've, ought to have-- but didn't ride today. The glaze of ice on everything was a bit of a deterrent, so I plugged in my MP3 player and walked to the EL. The sun was shinning and for the first time in a week I felt pretty well, the awful cold I got from Ryder now nearly gone. As I sat on the train, the sun beaming through the window, Ripple began to play. "if my words did glow with the gold of sunshine, and my tunes were played on the harp unstrung, would you hear my voice come thru the music, would you hold it near as it were your own?" the sweet voice of Jerry Garcia coursing through my brain as the sunshine played on my eyelids. It was a lovely moment that carried me off the EL, across the park all the way to the door of my lab. I have been in a very good mood all day.

Inspired as I was by this after Pilates class I did 40 minutes on the Precor AMT and burned 525 calories according to the digital output. I love that machine, like a hybrid Nordic Track and elliptical trainer. http://www.precor.com/comm/en/amt/amt100i/I kept my heart rate in the 135 range, maxing out at 152 for the whole workout. Then I did a handstand against the wall for over a minute which really jazzed me up. All and all, a very pleasant day. I don't care if it is cold, just as long as the sun is shinning, its a good day to me.

A winter's day--cold and dark December

All aboard the Holiday Train!

Clear, invigorating and cold-- but a wonderful ride this morning, 6:30 AM, 19 degrees, with my buddy Elissa. We both struggled through the getting dressed routine which nearly caused us to miss our connection. But we hooked up and breezed in. Easy. Into the not yet rising sun, the wind briskly blowing from the north, neither impeding nor delaying our eastward journey. My trick of putting sandwhich baggies over my toes in my riding shoes really has helped to keep my toes warm. The thumbs seem to suffer the most, regardless of the gloves. The rest of me verily boils under all those layers. Afraid to dress less, I suppose, since it is so cold getting out of bed and heading out the door, but once on the road and peddling , the heat from the core warms the whole being. Its those peripherals hanging out in the chill that let me know I'm alive! December 3rd and still riding. Three days last week in the first true taste of winter-- 20-30 degrees. Easy. The cold, the wind, the darkness-- no deterrent, yet. But the threat of snow and freezing rain, well, I balk at those obstacles. Riding the El, as it turns out has its advantages.


I felt remiss in not riding last Wednesday, believing the weatherman's forecast of snow and rain-- in fact it turned out to be the warmest day of the week, though the sun never did shine-- nor did it rain. I noted this as I trudged up Wood Street to the Medical Center stop, hoping to catch the 4:45 train so I could pick up Ryder at School and then celebrate his birthday. Alas, the 4:45 train never came. But then-- 4:54 and what do I see? The Holiday Train come straight at me. I'd seen the train many times from afar, all lit up and decorated with Santa Clause riding the middle flat car on his sleigh-- but I had never actually been on the holiday train before. Wow! What a delight. As I sat absorbing the totality of the decor, I felt giddy and excited, and couldn't stop smiling. The elves on each car handed out candy canes and a brochure listing the times and lines for the holiday express. The seats were upholstered in holiday themed material. The cars were fully decorated, candy striped poles, each of the advertising placards around the top were for Santa's elves, reindeer games, comet lanes, toy assemblers needed-- immediate openings. It was a trip! I noticed that everyone on the car was smiling and like me, whipping out their cell phones to take pictures. I checked the schedule and saw that 6:21 Friday the Holiday Train ran from Oak Park to the loop and my plan was hatched. So Friday, the three of us waited expectantly at the Harlem platform for the train. We waited as three other trains passed us by-- the first time I've ever skipped a train. Then it arrived in all its splendor and Ryder was as excited as me. We boarded the car and enjoyed the wonderful ambiance. This time, instead of surprised commuters, the train was filled with parents and their kids purposefully catching this ride. There was not a person who wasn't smiling. Everyone was happy! It was great! What a gift the city of Chicago and the CTA gave to us! We rode all the way to the loop to visit the Christkindlemarket at Daly Plaza. Under the Picaso there was a German themed outdoor Holiday market with many vendors selling ornaments or food. We cruised the stalls and bought some nick nacs, a few ornaments and then some food-- but when it came time to eat it was too cold to stand or sit outside and all the enclosures were packed with people, so we went underground to the El platform and ate our dinner while waiting for the train. There was an amazing busker with a fantastic voice serenading platform patrons, so we enjoyed the music and our food, despite the usual subway dour din. It was a most excellent start to the holidaze, and now, here it is December and the madness begins.