Solo Saturday (Paul, Ron & Dixie)

 Solo 43 on SART. Wanted to hit this trail for a while hoping to get Paul, R&D on video. Finally happened and always nice meeting these people. Paul looking awesome and riding strong according to his Strava, lifting his pace and speed, awesome! 

Saw Ron and Dixie so I doubled back as we were heading in opposite directions. Good to chat with them if even for a minute or two. I did get them on video as well as I had hoped.

Otherwise, not much happening on the trail but felt good. But a little tired at the end seeing I haven't been riding as much as I have been wanting. But always good to ride and feeling great on the bike and off. You are what you eat and you never realize how good you can feel till you clean up your act. Makes me wonder why I hadn't returned to good eating sooner. Lesson learned. Put 3 new holes in my belt after going down 2. So feeling great myself, just like Paul!

After, a little din din at Sizzler with Gina. The 6 ounce steak meal is always good for me, perfect portion. And our favorite waitress Angelina always taking care of us. Never have to worry about getting a table, the trimmings and even pumpkin pie this time. Well, it is TG weekend so I accepted this time. Our girl Angelina always treating us like gold. I give her good tips, 20 bucks here and there but always at least 10 seeing she takes really good care of us. She doesn't know but I plan to give her a hundy for Christmas.  She'll be pleased. 

Courtesy of Ron & Dixie (video still image)

                                                           Always been a peach fan! :-P

Ordered some Clif Shot Bloks on ebay. Arrived quickly,  ordered on Friday eve and arrived Sunday evening. I opened the Amazon bag but the box was destroyed, OK! 

Monday Blues: Back to work and eating bird food ha ha ha! But feeling great, more notches on the belt. But a trip to the mall, a coffee and time with my Honey makes it all worth while. Not to mention an awesome MIL who knows I love me some fresh salsa!

                                                        Dinner with fresh homemade salsa

Back to work Monday blues.

A trip to the mall and good times with my Honey, Gina.

Bird food snacks. No more Twinkies he he he!

Thanksgiving Ride (video)

 Nice short 26 miler being pressed for time. Pico to the Santa Fe Dam nature center and back. Felt Great!

I did feel horrible and sick on my last ride but think I figured out why. New Polar bottles have different tops from the CamelBak so I didn't clean them the way they need to be cleaned after electrolytes in the bottle. Though I use sugar free, I did have a couple sugar types left so I used them and they got the crud along the seals. I didn't see it though I had rinsed them but not enough I guess. 

So going from being sick to my stomach,, seeing stars on the ride and feeling like passing out, I felt great today. Of course keeping a good diet and feeling really healthy, I shouldn't expect any less while being on the bike.

Of course I have to work on Friday and Gina has it off so I'm guessing it's going to be rough getting up in the morning. Whahhhhhh !!!

But a great ride today and feeling great!

Now time to eat my TG dinner ha ha ha!

Work Saturday IT'S A CURSE, I TELL YA !!!

 No ride,  work Saturday instead. Asked Friday afternoon. Initially said no but after the boss explained, OK since I know what's going on!

Being an Inspector/Laser Operator, I've been running a laser welder machine on day shift. Couple of guys on nights also run it and one guy for over 2 years. Many problems with this young generation not paying attention being on the cell phone all day long. Not sure why they put up with lousy employees though they say they have a hard time finding help, good help. So running the machine off and on over the last month and a half (?), the boss noticed the quality of my work. Couple of weeks back, he mentioned that he noticed how detailed I was in my work. Well yeah, I take pride, lots of pride in my work, always have and always been praised for doing anything and everything well. Since I was a child, I have received compliments and comments and described as being a perfectionist. Funny thing, about 5 years ago, ran into my 4th grade teacher at the mall. I was 55 maybe, then he started telling Gina that as a 9 year old child, I always had to have things perfect and organized. I didn't realize that but wow, I guess so.

So yesterday afternoon, the boss asks me to work, I said no thanks then he explained. He said that they had some parts coming up that they needed to get done and that he knows he can count on me to do them right and with high quality. Yeah buddy! He said the guys on nights do lousy work and he doesn't know why they are so bad. He said he wanted me to do the parts and that he wasn't going to allow them to work on the parts knowing they will mess them up and if I do them, they will be right. 

Well yeah, I do 100 to 125 parts a day and all are good. OK, 2 out of 2 weeks were bad, my mistake, I own up to it but that's a pretty good ratio. The other guys do 70 per day and they mess up 25 and scrap another 30 per day, WTH!!!!!

I pay attention to my work and they don't. Maybe a generation thing? I did maybe 1200 parts in 2 weeks with 2, yes only 2 scrapped parts, mistakes. They did maybe 800 with about 90 scrapped parts, WTH!!!!!

So I went in seeing it might rain and I might not be able to ride anyway.  125 employees and I'm one of only maybe10 that were asked to go in. I guess it's a good thing that they notice my work and that the other guys suck ha ha ha!

Anyway, worked 8 then took Gina, her Mom and brother to Millie's in Covina for and early dinner. Been doing well so today was my cheat day. So I added a little individual banana cream pie to m meal. Heck, had to add more holes into my belt so yeah, been doing really well, I deserve a little pie.

Lunch, small turkey sandwich and a cucumber in vinegar.

Ghost town at work today

Ah, the early morning 5:30 am drive into work.

Sunday was wet in the morning so rather than get my bike muddy, I chose to cut my hair. Another homemade haircut ha ha ha. Saving about, 20, 30, or 40 bucks with what they charge nowadays. Wow, I do it for free and actually looks better than most of those that I pay. So I'm happy with my homemade haircut. 

Then Gina and I went to eat and to a movie. Something different as we hadn't been to a movie theatre in like 15 years. Always watch movies at home with surround sound and better popcorn ha ha ha! But wow, very different with the theatre reclining type of seats and the surround sound was cool with the big vibration in the chairs. So it was cool as we were at the Montclair Plaza movie theatre.

Sizzler MVP status. 😄On Sunday, Gina and I decided to eat at Sizzler going in about noontime. Pretty crowded with the church goers eating after services. Big line and didn't see any seats. But our Girl Angelina saw us in line and had the servers clear a table for us in her area and placed a reserved sign on the table. Kind of funny seeing the people ahead of us wondering why we were getting a table set up before they were.

Wow, we're MVP status now ha ha ha! Good to have friends in high places. 😁

This pic is from tonight Tuesday, not Sunday. Not very busy but we get the same awesome service from our Girl! 👍

Laughlin Road Trip

 First things first, cycling! Saw this on a friend's (Ron) Strava posting. Good one!

Headed out to Laughlin with Gina and Cecee.

Turned a bad situation into a road trip. The water at our complex has been off due to a broken water pipe. City and complex going around about responsibility. So about 3 days it has been affected. 

Screw it, taking off Friday from work not having water to get ready etc. Talked Gina into taking the day was well. Who cares if we're not freshly showered driving to Laughlin?  Stayed at the Edgewater as usual, gave Cecee some money to hit the slots, and we're good. Friday and Saturday night leaving Sunday morning. I actually relaxed most of the time, not a ton of walking or carrying camera cases around, just relaxing. Made my video and ate a few places going off my healthy diet. Oh well, just a couple of days and I didn't overdo it by much vs my usual of eating everything I can get ha ha ha! Got to be smarter, even while cheating.

So Denny's on the way, Bubba Gump just to try it, Casa Serrano, my usual want to eat place. They were ok but nothing great this time. Though the coffee at Denny's Barstow is always great, and I don't even care much for coffee. 

So no riding, just relaxing and having a good time in Laughlin Nevada making another one of my videos. AND, Cecee did win a little bit and brought some home this time so she paid for dinner. I'll take it!