Bud Baker
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Posts posted by Bud Baker
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 17 degrees with a 25 mph north wind when I got up this morning. That put the wind chill below zero, for the first time here in quite a few years. They're calling for a balmy 29 degrees as a high for the day.
Lots of CNC equipment in a uninsulated shop doesn't like this extreme weather, so there will be no chance of me getting caught up at work today.
Stay warm, Judy. I hope you get to see some snow, Ann. Have a great day, all!
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 24 degrees with freezing drizzle and howling north winds as I left for work this morning, so the bike stayed in the garage. I was glad I didn't need to use any of the expressways to get to work, because most of the local expressways looked more like parking lots than expressways this morning from all the ice. It's a fairly flat route with light traffic for me in the mornings, so I had no problems with the roads this morning.
Keep warm, all!
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Is there room for a bicycle in all that luggage on top of the bus?
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 32 degrees here this morning, with light south winds and a forecast high of 51. That's not exactly balmy, but it's the warmest day we'll get this week, so I rode my bike to work.
When I arrived at work, there was unseen ice on the ramp leading up to the shop door near my office. I think I invented a new olympic sport: ice skating backwards while walking a bike. I didn't fall, so I think I did well in the event. I gave myself a 9.0. I think my form was perfect, but I took off 1 point for the grimace on my face.
Have a great day, all!
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Wow, what great news, Denise! Big congrats!
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That sounds great, Susan! Big congrats to Mom for three years!
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So sorry about Frank, Judy.
As for complaining about feeling bad, I think you do a great job of functioning when you feel bad, if your posts are any indication. When I was getting chemo, I started a thread on a cycling forum about riding with chemo. If you want to read something from someone who really doesn't handle feeling bad very well, go read that thread. I hope you feel better soon. Hang in there, (((((((Judy)))))).
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There are three sure signs of old age. One is loss of memory, and I forget what the other two are.
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I'll have you know that man's poem isn't accurate at all. I'd rather she owned a bass boat and bicycle...
That reminds me of the dating ad I always ran: Wanted, beautiful woman with bass boat. Please send a recent photo of the boat.
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Good morning, everyone!
Judy, you probably just hit the "new topic" button instead of the "reply" button. I've done that before.
It was 23 degrees here this morning, with frost everywhere, so I just drove the truck to work. It's supposed to only get down to 31 degrees tonight, with a high of 51 degrees tomorrow. That will be the warmest day of the week, so I'm thinking I'll do the bike commute thing.
Judy, your comments about crappie fishing sound all too familiar. They can be finicky little fish, and you never know what they might bite. They have a way of humbling anyone who becomes too cocky about his own ability to catch them, by hitting someone else's bait better.
Have a great day, all!
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Welcome, Jess, and best wishes for you and your mom.
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Condolences on the loss of Joel's mother. Best wishes for a great scan!
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Wow, the big five years, officially! Congrats, Kasey!
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That's great news, Colleen! Congrats!
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Good morning, everyone!
Sorry you're not feeling well, Judy. Anyone watching the 10 day forecasts? They're calling for an arctic blast later in the week that's going to get us all. One local weatherman says he expects citrus crop damage in Florida. Bundle up, Judy!
It was 26 degrees with a stiff north wind here this morning, so I left the bicycle in the garage. I'm going to make a Cabella's run after work today, to pick up some crappie jigs, and a pair of atv handlebar covers that I hope will help with my cold fingers on the bike on these cold mornings.
Ann, I'm sending positive vibes for your cold to be better soon. Have a great day, all!
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Good morning, everyone!
I got up early yesterday, spent the entire day fishing, and was tired enough when I got home that I never even checked in. It was a fun day, and the freezer needed the fish.
This morning, I got up early to meet the air conditioner man a my old house, to help with repairs needed for the sale.
It was 29 degrees this morning, and isn't supposed to get out of the 40's this afternoon. I want to get in an afternoon ride, but it's hard to get motivated to ride when it's this chilly. Looking at the 10 day forecast, the highest forecast high is 53 degrees. We usually get more warm days than this, even in January. And the forecast low for Thursday is 14 degrees. I don't even remember when we last saw 14 degrees.
I'm hoping to ride my bike to work tomorrow (yuck, back to the grind, with no more holidays in sight), but they're calling for a north wind, and it may dip below freezing, so we'll see.
Have a great day, all!
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Good morning, Ned! Good morning, everyone! Happy New Year to all!
It's a good thing I got off work at noon, yesterday. I rode home and within a few minutes, the wind really picked up, the temperature started dropping, and the cold rain started. It was not a fit afternoon at all to be outside installing a north facing storm door. Ask me how I know that.
Rose and I enjoyed a quiet New Year's Eve at home. Today, we're having a family gathering for lunch. I'll probably do a short afternoon bike ride. It's clear and sunny now, but it was 26 degrees this morning, a good morning to stay inside and take it easy.
Have a great day, all!
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Well said, Ann. Happy New Year!
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Good morning, Judy! Good morning, everyone!
It was 40 degrees and mostly cloudy when I first checked outside this morning. They were calling for a chance of rain. There was nothing on radar, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't misting before putting on all my cycling stuff. It was just mostly cloudy, with the blue moon trying to shine through an opening in the clouds, so I went ahead and did this year's last commute by bicycle.
The north wind is supposed to pick up, and we have an increased chance of rain or snow this afternoon. I'm getting off work at noon, so I'm hoping I make it home before any wet stuff starts falling.
Happy New Year's Eve, all!
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Happy Birthday, Denise!
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Happy Birthday, Ginny!
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Good morning, everyone! Hang in there, Judy! I hope the day isn't too tough for you.
It snowed all yesterday afternoon and evening, but warmed to the upper 30's by morning, so all the snow was gone. It's supposed to be in the upper 50's this afternoon, then another cold front tomorrow to cool it off.
Ann mentioned New Year's resolutions earlier in the week. It is that time. I always set a couple of cycling goals, but for many years, I've only made one New Year's resolution each year: to fish more. I really fell down on that one this year. Maybe I'll do better in 2010.
Have a great day, all!
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 27 degrees when I headed for work this morning. It's supposed to warm to the upper 30's before noon, then start dropping again, and start snowing some time this afternoon.
Best wishes for your daughter, Judy. Tell her we're all pulling for her.
Have a great day, all!
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Wow, so sorry to read of your diagnosis, but glad you found us.
I can't offer any information about your rare type of cancer, but I do know about lung surgery. I just passed the second anniversary of my own surgery which removed the upper lobe of my left lung. I've ridden my bicycle almost 7,400 miles this year, so while it is a tough surgery, you can make a great recovery from it.
This beginning will be the most scary time for you. Once you have a plan and get started with treatments, you'll feel a lot better about everything. Try not to worry about things too far ahead of time. Just tackle everything as it comes along.
Best wishes for you. Keep us updated as you find out more.
Friday's Air
in JUST FOR FUN
Posted
Hang in there, Katie! At least you are trying to move toward a healthier lifestyle at an earlier age than I did. Keep trying. You'll eventually find the right activities and schedule to work for you. But it's never easy. It certainly wasn't for me. With my bad back, I didn't have too many exercise choices when I finally decided to exercise. I can't even do a brisk walk for very long without my back hurting.
For most of my adult life, I didn't lead a very healthy lifestyle at all. My father had died of a heart attack at 54, his father died of a heart attack at 48, and I always just assumed that I would have no old age. And I did a great job of leading a high stress life. I worked as a field service technician. I went to machine shops where their own maintenance people couldn't fix the problem, and with everybody watching and anxiously waiting, was expected to wave the wand, work miracles, and get everything fixed quickly. I traveled and ate fast food like it was going out of style.
My second income came from my software site. After working all day, I would spend the evening at home on my pc or at a motel on my laptop (if I was traveling), jacked up on the caffeine and nicotine that I loved, working until midnight or 1:00 am programming with Visual C++. In case all that wasn't enough stress, I spent the weekends competing in bass tournaments at a fanatic level.
Some time after I passed 50, I slowly started to get the thought in my head that I would really like to stick around a little bit longer. But it took a while to change. In September 2002, I changed jobs, going to work for a local company that stopped the traveling. In the 7+ years since then, I've eaten lunch out less than 10 times total, on work days. I started slowly ramping down the software business.
It was August, 2003 when I finally got around to quitting the cigars, cold turkey. At that point, I was already about 15 pounds overweight, and I quickly added 25 more pounds. The often heavy machine shop work I had been doing for so long kept good muscle tone for me, but had also cratered discs in my back, and hadn't done anything to help me keep in aerobic shape. And, it turned out, it was more the caffeine and nicotine (and youth) that had kept the weight off me all those years.
Internet nerd that I am, I researched to find out what aerobic exercise was recommended for someone with a bad back. I only found two recommendations: swimming and a recumbent stationary bike. I didn't want to own and maintain a pool, or do a membership somewhere where I had to drive to swim, so I bought a stationary bike.
I'm here to tell you that a stationary bike is the most boring form of exercise on the planet. I've never been too much of a tv watcher, and even in front of a tv, I just couldn't make myself put in much time on the bike. By September, 2004 I had only lost 5 pounds. It was then that I stumbled across recumbent bicycles, and read about people with bad backs who rode them a lot. I got one, and quickly discovered that I loved riding a bike just as much as I had at 10 years old. At that age, my sister and I ranged far and wide on our bikes, riding all over Oklahoma City (it was a different time; you'd never let kids ride that far today).
In February, 2005 I joined bikejournal.com. I'd already started logging my miles, and I found that setting goals and tracking miles did a great job of making me stay on the bike whenever life kept trying to pull me away from it. I rode just over 5,000 miles in 2005. In 2006, I rode over 5,000 miles again. 2007, a year punctuated by lung surgery on December 20th, was the year I started doing long distance rides, and I ended up with 6,100 miles. In 2008, in spite of surgery recovery, chemo from February to April, and thyroid surgery in June, I ended up with 6,700 miles on the bike. And in 2009, I rode just under 7,500 miles.
Somewhere along the way, I gave up the tournament fishing, spending more time at a slower pace after crappie these days. And I kept trying to improve my nutrition. I still eat too much, and not as much of the good stuff as I should, but I've stayed within 15 pounds or so of what I should weigh, in spite of no nicotine, and almost no caffeine intake now.
And the bike riding isn't all the exercise I do. The core muscle exercises that I started even before I started riding, have helped my back a lot. And when my back isn't too cratered from heavy stuff at work, I also do 15 minutes of dumbbell work. It's all done reclining, or on an incline, so as not to compress my back. Once I was able to start doing it again after surgery, it was those exercise routines that seemed to help the most for getting rid of my lobectomy pain, too. But that's all more like a chore than my riding, and I have a tougher time staying with it as well as I should.
If an old f*rt like me can do it, you can too, Katie! Riding a bike may not be your thing, but if you keep looking, you will find what is.