After over nine months of waiting in Virginia, and probably over a year on top of that in Rockville, I was giddy to see that FIOS was finally available at our address! I have compulsively checked the online availability page at least once day. That’s a lot of inquiries :)

My install date is Monday, April 10th. The wait will be worth it: I opted for 30Mbps down, 5Mbps up package for $54.99 a month. I chose the one-year commitment, so there is no installation fee (normally $70 if you go month-to-month). I am also saving $60 a year with the contract.

At last, beeyatches!

So today makes the third week of my workouts with my trainer, Yoda. This was the first week I wrote down everything I ate. I was surprised at a few things, most notably how little calories I take in unless I go out to eat. I think it’s a learned behavior that tries to compensate for when I eat out.

Last week I had Lady Jaye take some pictures of me so I could compare what my body looks like now versus important milestones. My next big milestone will be in a few weeks when I get calipered again. Yoda thinks I can drop between 2% and 3% body fat a month. I figured I’d put them up on here to add more incentive for me to continue my training. I apologize that these pictures are a little dark.

I am totally cheating in this one by sticking my belly out. But it looks more gross, and therefore hopefully more compelling for me to shed that bit around my waist. Check out my sway back :) Thanks a lot, life in front of a desk!

Expect my lats to get a lot bigger in a short amount of time, it’s one of my few easy-build zones.

Not too much to say here, as they’re just where I’m starting from. Hopefully I’ll have some better results to show you in a few more weeks :).

I stack my magazines atop the toilet tank in My Bathroom™. When I have more than two or three, I have to coordinate them properly so I don’t read multiple issues from the same magazine. I don’t know why this bugs me, but I don’t want to read three issues of Outside magazine in a row. New issues go to the bottom of the stack. So, here’s what I’ve got stacked up right now:

FHM
Shape
Guns & Ammo
Outside
Guns & Ammo
Outside
Maxim
Stuff

What’s in your reading queue, magazine or otherwise?

Aftermarket tuning company Hahn Racecraft updated their Turbo Solstice page today, noting that they will offer a 300HP turbo kit. The stock Solstice has 177HP. The car’s Ecotech engine has been proven (on other cars) to scale as high as 500+HP, but that requires a lot more investment on internal parts, etc. The Hahn turbo kit should not require any additional upgraded parts. I wonder how much additional power could be squeezed from an ECM tune after adding the turbo.

The kit has an estimated paper launch date of later this month. I am guessing the real street launch date will be in April. The guesstimated cost is around $4500 – $5000 installed.

I’ve been wearing contact lenses since I was sixteen years old. Going from glasses to contact lenses was an amazing experience. I hadn’t realized how much one’s peripheral vision is lost while wearing glasses. I originally started wearing contacts because of my involvement in contact sports, but continued to wear them diligently for the next decade. I was pretty good about cleaning my lenses, although I do miss the days of thermal cleaning instead of the chemical process that’s so prevalent now. I swear the chemical system is a conspiracy not only to sell more consumables, but also to push the more expensive, and less durable, disposable contact lenses.

Speaking of disposable contacts, those little beauties signaled the demise of my love affair with contacts. I could deal with putting plastic in my eyes every morning, scrubbing them for exactly 20 seconds a side (but never in a swirling motion) at night, and using re-wetting drops after particularly long periods of usage. What I came to hate was how disposables made it hard for me to wear contacts for any longer than five or so hours at a time.

I guess I’m being a little unfair. The important sidebar to tiny rant is that I developed astigmatism at about the same time my optometrists started recommending disposables. Astigmatics have a much more limited array of contacts to choose from. We have to wear “torics,” or specially shaped contacts that apparently is synonymous with “fucking painful.” To go from wearing soft contacts for 14+ hours a day to no more than five was a big blow. I chalked part of it up to working ever increasing hours in front of a computer monitor. I tried three brands of torics before giving up and settling on lenses made by Ultraflex, as suggested by my optometrist at Costco. I wore them for about four years, not because they were comfortable, but because I figured I was screwed and the Ultraflex was as good as any.

Torics are shaped kinda odd, and are made out of a thicker plastic than other disposables. The thicker plastic reduces the air that can flow through, which results in a dried out lens. Odd shape + dried lens = discomfort and all sorts of other fucked up symptoms, such as the lens moving around on my eye (blurry vision) and my own personal favorite: ejecting the lens from my eye when blinking. I found that I could hold the lens in place by squinting slightly, which was better for my acuity but gave me horrible headaches. Gradually I stopped wearing contacts at all, except when I swam or rode my motorcycle. Soon I couldn’t even handle wearing them for an hour at a time. Let me tell you, swimming without vision correction is a dangerous thing.

I started seeing commercials for Accuvue’s Advanced Toric lenses on television. They specifically touted a thinner lens that allowed for more air to pass through. Hrm. Sounded good to me. I made the pilgrimage back to Costco and asked for another exam. I wanted to make sure that my current lenses were properly fitted. They were, and my prescription hadn’t changed, so I asked my doc about the Accuvues. He made a face. “Those are getting a lot of attention because of their television ads, but I don’t like them. If you really want to, I can give you a trial pair, but I’d recommend four other lenses before those.” I accepted, although my doc had me worried that I bought into the marketing hype.

I’m not sure why he was so down on them. They were EXTREMELY floppy out of the package (my left lens kept trying to roll into a cylinder), but other than that handled just like any true soft contact. I still had hair on my head the last time I wore contacts this comfortable. The first day I had my trial pair I wore them for about twelve hours. I started putting my lenses in first thing in the morning and wore them throughout the day. Lady Jaye remarked it was good to see my face again :)

I’m not entirely sure why the Accuvue lenses are so much better. Aside from the thickness of the lens, they seem really slick out of the package. I doubt there’s a coating on them, but I wonder if the plastic used to make the lens is different than other lenses as well. They are more expensive: $68 for 6 sets of lenses, compared to the $40 I was paying for the Ultraflex lenses.

So, the question arises: why was my doc so down on them? Being a little bit of a pessimist and conspiracy theorist, I wondered if it was because the Ultraflex lenses were made private-label for Costco. While this is a possibility, I know that the optometrist rents his space from Costco, but is otherwise unaffiliated with them. However, I guess there could still be some incentive to push the Costco white label brands instead of the national brands. Even if the profit margin was higher on the house brand, Costco is probably making more on the Accuvues. Odd. Maybe the optometrist really doesn’t like them, for whatever unspoken reason.

So far I’m on my second pair of Accuvues, and I love them.

Accuvue Advance Toric lenses, I blink out five out of five STFU mugs!

I finished up about 150 miles over Friday and Saturday, mostly thanks to meeting my friends Bond and Cleopatra out at various spots throughout Richmond. I checked my odometer, and I’ve turned past the 2000 mile mark. I had originally wanted to log 3000 miles by around April when the temperature hit an average of 60 degrees, but I don’t think that’s going to happen in ten days. Although I guess if I do 100 miles a day ….

I’ve decided to push my deadline out until the end of April. Budgeting a trip to California in there somewhere I think I might be able to do it without becoming a candidate for the Iron Butt award. I still want to take Cylon up to Rockville, but until the air temperature is a bit higher I’d rather not ride cold-handed for two and a half hours each way.

Here’s to another 1000 miles!

Total Winter Miles: +600

I recently sold two games to two different people at a Web site I frequent. I printed the shipping labels out, affixed them on the securely packed boxes, and proceeded to mail each person the wrong game.

Shit.

Luckily the two fellows were cool about it, and I’ve sent them adequate postage to mail the packages to the right person. Still, it was definitely a >< moment!

After months of wondering, I cut the bullshit and went to the gym today to calculate my body fat percentage and to partner up with a personal trainer. I calipered in at 24%, which is the most I’ve ever been. Getting calipered reaffirmed my believe in that body fat % is far more important than overall body weight. I weigh 2 pounds more than when I lived in Oregon and had a body fat percentage of 12%. Then, as now, my trouble spot is around mah belly. I attribute that to not exercising and to sitting down all day. And cheese fries.

So, starting tomorrow I’ll be working with Yoda, a young buck who never the less has eight years of personal training experience. I told him I’d do whatever it takes, as long as it doesn’t involve running or giving up hamburgers. ;)

Join me in welcoming my new tag: 21 Percent.

After discussing my Klein Grid entry with a few friends over IM and Lady Jaye, I wonder if some folks are reluctant to share their results comment-style in my previous entry.

This poll is open to everyone, but only I will see who selected each option. If I could make it totally anonymous I could, but you’ll have to deal with me knowing what your preferences are.

It was in the low 80s today, which of course meant that I hopped out on my bike for a little cruise. I hit the streets at about 4PM and as an experiment decided to wear my full-leather pants instead of my perforated ones of the same model. I wanted to see, without going too far, how hot was “too hot.”

Meatspace friends of DrFaulken will know that I am always hotter than everyone else in the room. Not in a Vin Diesel kind of way, but in a “omg it’s too fucking hot in here” kind of way. My buddies also know I become intolerably cranky if I get too hot. My gear test today wasn’t just about academic interest, it may mean the difference between life and death if someone pisses me off on the road. I wore some calf-high cotton socks, cotton boxer briefs, and a nylon compression short-sleeve shirt under my leathers. I did not wear my reflective vest today.

Because a ton of shit in Richmond closes early on Sundays (or isn’t open at all, like the coffee shop near us), I had a nice chance to test my gear out at low speeds. I spent probably 45 minutes at speeds of 40MPH or less. I specifically choose the busiest street in our area so I would get stuck at as many lights as possible. Sitting at lights gave me lots of chances to wave at all the other cyclists out today and to take note about what other riders were wearing.

For the most part, these jackasses are going to raise my insurance rates if they crash. There were plenty of “squids” with shorts, sneakers, a leather jacket, and helmets on, but I also saw one whackjob with a helmet and a leather jacket — completely unzipped. What the hell is an unzipped jacket going to do for ya in a crash, buddy? Hopefully wrap around your head like a garbage bag and suffocate you so you won’t pass on your Idiot Gene™ to any future riders. There were tons of Harley-type cruisers out there, too cool to wear anything but a wifebeater, denim jacket/vest, and jeans. One guy was wearing nothing but an open-faced half-helmet. Enjoy eating those bugs, tough guy!

I only saw one rider with full leather gear on other than myself, and he one-upped me by wearing a full piece suit. He was also riding a big ass liter bike and appreciated the consequences of crashing at highway speeds.

I tooled around for about 90 minutes than came back home. I didn’t feel particularly overheated during any part of my time out, except for behind my knees, the top of my head, and my hands. My full leather Held Ninja gloves were HOT. I can’t imagine what it will be like this summer with temperatures in the 90s and hot-ass-sun blaring down on me. I may have to look into some textile gloves for extremely hot days. I got home and pulled my suit off. I sweat a bit through my generic Cool-Max shirt, and as I had thought initially my legs were fairly sweaty. While my pants and jacket are lined, I am concerned about stanking up my suit once the temperatures really escalate. I am in the process of researching suit liners. It might make me a little warmer, but if it’s something that is machine washable then I’d rather be a little bit more uncomfy than have to worry about de-stinky-fying a leather suit.

I started a thread on my FZ6 forum to see if any of the more experienced riders have suggestions on what they do about the warmer months. I know at least two of my readers are/were motorcyclists, so I’ll update this post with any information I might find.