We got an offer yesterday on our house. It was a little low at $135,000. It was listed at $139,900, but that was a pretty firm spot for us. We countered at $138,900 and I don't think we'll move much after that.
I'll let you know what happens.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
A Map of Places We Like in Indianapolis
I just found a new feature in Google Maps where you can save your own maps for other to look at. Then you can add little notes and things to show people points of interest. I've created a map of Indianapolis, so check it out by clicking here.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Bike Season's Back On
I hadn't biked for three weeks, partly because it's too cold and party because we've been getting our house ready for sale. But yesterday it was back up to 50 F so I went out for a ride.
I started out with some friends but they decided to only go 20 miles. I wanted a bit more mileage so I pealed off and headed north of Indianapolis. I ended up going 51 miles and riding for just over three hours. Not bad.
Man, it's good to be back on the bike.
I started out with some friends but they decided to only go 20 miles. I wanted a bit more mileage so I pealed off and headed north of Indianapolis. I ended up going 51 miles and riding for just over three hours. Not bad.
Man, it's good to be back on the bike.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Bike Season Opens
It got up to 50 degrees today, so I decided to take off from work at 2 and go for a ride. It was still a little chilly, but once I got going I had a good time. It was really nice to get back out there again.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Getting in shape continues...
As anyone who knows me understands, I've a very goal oriented person. So, if I want to continue exercising I have to set goals for myself. My last goal was breaking 6:00 in the Bop to the Top (and surviving). My current goal is much, much more difficult. I want to burn 1000 calories in an hour on the exercise bike at the gym.
It's harder than it sounds. It's easy to burn 1000 calories per hour on a treadmill or an elliptical trainer, but it's much more difficult on a bike. I guess it's because on a bike you aren't actually moving your body up and down or your arms back and forth. You're just pumping your legs. Cycling is a very efficient way to get around, so it's hard to burn lots of calories doing it.
To put it in some perspective, when I started at the gym last November I was burning around 600 calories an hour. When I started my goal to get 1000 in early February, I was at around 700. So that's around a 50% increase in power output if I can reach it.
Today I hit 950 and I think I almost exploded. I'm by far the sweatiest person in the gym by the time I'm done. My heart rate was over 180 for about 45 minutes of the hour, peaking at over 190 from time to time. Needless to say, I've gotten some strange looks.
I'm almost there, but man does that last 50 look hard. I've only got about 2 or 3 weeks to reach it, though, because then the regular biking season will start and I won't be going to the gym anymore.
The next goal after this? Twenty-five miles on my road bike in an hour. After that, who knows?
It's harder than it sounds. It's easy to burn 1000 calories per hour on a treadmill or an elliptical trainer, but it's much more difficult on a bike. I guess it's because on a bike you aren't actually moving your body up and down or your arms back and forth. You're just pumping your legs. Cycling is a very efficient way to get around, so it's hard to burn lots of calories doing it.
To put it in some perspective, when I started at the gym last November I was burning around 600 calories an hour. When I started my goal to get 1000 in early February, I was at around 700. So that's around a 50% increase in power output if I can reach it.
Today I hit 950 and I think I almost exploded. I'm by far the sweatiest person in the gym by the time I'm done. My heart rate was over 180 for about 45 minutes of the hour, peaking at over 190 from time to time. Needless to say, I've gotten some strange looks.
I'm almost there, but man does that last 50 look hard. I've only got about 2 or 3 weeks to reach it, though, because then the regular biking season will start and I won't be going to the gym anymore.
The next goal after this? Twenty-five miles on my road bike in an hour. After that, who knows?
Sunday, February 18, 2007
200 Pounds? Say it ain't so!
I've had quite a few questions about my qualifications for the "over 200 pound" class in the Bop to the Top. Well, I'm here to tell you that I am, in fact, over 200 pounds. Barely, but I'm there. The morning of the race I weighted 202. After the race 200.5. So there.
I'd like to weight less than 200 pounds. I've been working my butt off at the gym. Unfortunately, I also eat like a horse, so it doesn't seem to help much. I'm in better shape, but I haven't really lost any weight. I'm hoping that when biking season starts back up I'll drop a few pounds.
I'd like to weight less than 200 pounds. I've been working my butt off at the gym. Unfortunately, I also eat like a horse, so it doesn't seem to help much. I'm in better shape, but I haven't really lost any weight. I'm hoping that when biking season starts back up I'll drop a few pounds.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Indy's Fastest Fat Man
I forgot to mention that I competed in a pretty interesting event a couple weekends ago. There's 38 floor skyscraper downtown called the First America Building. Every February, there is a race to the top as a charity for Riley Children's Hospital (where Jen works). This year a friend from work convinced me to do it.
The race is run in a staggered fashion, with a person leaving the bottom every 30 seconds. You give them an estimated time when you sign up and the fastest people go first. That's supposed to eliminate any passing in the stairwell. I signed up for 6:30, so I started at number 147. My friend also put in 6:30 and he started at number 151.
Anyway, it was a very, very difficult event. It wasn't really like anything I've ever done before. My legs got tired, obviously, but I felt like my real limitation was just the lack of oxygen in the stairwell. I couldn't get my breath. To top it off, the air was really dry and cold. That resulted in some pretty severe throat irritation. I was spitting up some blood the rest of the day.
Anyway, by the time I got to the top I was exhausted. Unfortunately, the race ended in a small room. There were a lot of people packed in there, so once again there wasn't much oxygen. I couldn't get my breath back and I couldn't get my heart rate down. Nothing worrying or anything, it was just exhausting. Eventually an EMT asked me if I wanted to take a few puffs off their oxygen tank. That really helped.
On the elevator ride down my friend and I were trying to figure out who had the best time (I was also attempting not to puke in an elevator full of people). Judging by my condition, my friend was pretty sure he had one. We had a $10 bet going, so he was pretty happy.
I finally recovered once we got down to the bottom. We waited around for a while to see the inevitable results. What were they? Well, he ran a 6:30 just like he predicted. Me? I ran a 5:30, far better than I was hoping. I was so surprised that I didn't believe him at first. But sure enough, the results were in. That explained why I was so tired.
I ended up 50th overall out of 1300 people. To top it off, I placed first in the "over 200 pound" category. That's right, I'm the fastest fat man in Indianapolis. Oh yeah!
The race is run in a staggered fashion, with a person leaving the bottom every 30 seconds. You give them an estimated time when you sign up and the fastest people go first. That's supposed to eliminate any passing in the stairwell. I signed up for 6:30, so I started at number 147. My friend also put in 6:30 and he started at number 151.
Anyway, it was a very, very difficult event. It wasn't really like anything I've ever done before. My legs got tired, obviously, but I felt like my real limitation was just the lack of oxygen in the stairwell. I couldn't get my breath. To top it off, the air was really dry and cold. That resulted in some pretty severe throat irritation. I was spitting up some blood the rest of the day.
Anyway, by the time I got to the top I was exhausted. Unfortunately, the race ended in a small room. There were a lot of people packed in there, so once again there wasn't much oxygen. I couldn't get my breath back and I couldn't get my heart rate down. Nothing worrying or anything, it was just exhausting. Eventually an EMT asked me if I wanted to take a few puffs off their oxygen tank. That really helped.
On the elevator ride down my friend and I were trying to figure out who had the best time (I was also attempting not to puke in an elevator full of people). Judging by my condition, my friend was pretty sure he had one. We had a $10 bet going, so he was pretty happy.
I finally recovered once we got down to the bottom. We waited around for a while to see the inevitable results. What were they? Well, he ran a 6:30 just like he predicted. Me? I ran a 5:30, far better than I was hoping. I was so surprised that I didn't believe him at first. But sure enough, the results were in. That explained why I was so tired.
I ended up 50th overall out of 1300 people. To top it off, I placed first in the "over 200 pound" category. That's right, I'm the fastest fat man in Indianapolis. Oh yeah!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Snowed In
Jen and I are loving the weather right now. We've both got to take work off yesterday and today because of all the snow we got.
We got about a foot of snow over the last two days. And since Indiana isn't used to that much snow, they pretty much haven't cleared anything off. It's pretty much impossible to drive anywhere. So that means no work for us!
It's like we're back in grade school and we get a snow day! Now we've got to get some sleds and find a big, big hil....
We got about a foot of snow over the last two days. And since Indiana isn't used to that much snow, they pretty much haven't cleared anything off. It's pretty much impossible to drive anywhere. So that means no work for us!
It's like we're back in grade school and we get a snow day! Now we've got to get some sleds and find a big, big hil....
Thursday, January 18, 2007
My week in Ohio
It's been a busy week for me. We did some manufacturing trials this week for the project I've been working on. It's been fun, but stressful.
It started last weekend. I worked 8 hours on Saturday and another 8 hours on Sunday getting everything set up to go. Then we took off Sunday night for Canton, OH. That's a boring 5 hour drive. Ugh!
Of course, all of this "overtime" happened just days after our illustrious leader decided to stop paying us for overtime. The massive amount of work doesn't go away, of course, just our pay. Can you tell I'm a tad bitter?
Monday we went to the supplier and set up for our first trial. (Note that Monday is a holiday that Rolls-Royce gets off. This means that, once again, I worked 9 hours that I don't get paid for. Brilliant!). Everything went pretty well that day and we got everything done that we needed to.
Tuesday was a much easier day. We basically just waited around for our supplier to do their part of things and we supervised.
Wednesday was a repeat of Monday. Thursday would have been a repeat of Tuesday, except I had to drive to Toledo to visit a different supplier. Plus, while that was happening I had to have another guy from work drive to Cincinnati to oversee some stuff for me at a thrid supplier and keep me up to date on the phone.
So, you see, it's been quite the week for me in Ohio. I've been all over the place. Tonight I'm back in Canton. I'll make one more quick visit to our supplier here before I head home tomorrow. It will be nice to have the weekend off for some relaxation.
It started last weekend. I worked 8 hours on Saturday and another 8 hours on Sunday getting everything set up to go. Then we took off Sunday night for Canton, OH. That's a boring 5 hour drive. Ugh!
Of course, all of this "overtime" happened just days after our illustrious leader decided to stop paying us for overtime. The massive amount of work doesn't go away, of course, just our pay. Can you tell I'm a tad bitter?
Monday we went to the supplier and set up for our first trial. (Note that Monday is a holiday that Rolls-Royce gets off. This means that, once again, I worked 9 hours that I don't get paid for. Brilliant!). Everything went pretty well that day and we got everything done that we needed to.
Tuesday was a much easier day. We basically just waited around for our supplier to do their part of things and we supervised.
Wednesday was a repeat of Monday. Thursday would have been a repeat of Tuesday, except I had to drive to Toledo to visit a different supplier. Plus, while that was happening I had to have another guy from work drive to Cincinnati to oversee some stuff for me at a thrid supplier and keep me up to date on the phone.
So, you see, it's been quite the week for me in Ohio. I've been all over the place. Tonight I'm back in Canton. I'll make one more quick visit to our supplier here before I head home tomorrow. It will be nice to have the weekend off for some relaxation.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Life in General
Well, I think this is a new record for time without a post. I guess there's just been a lot going on recently so I haven't gotten around to it. Plus, the only people who really read this are family and I already saw them at Christmas. But if I don't start back up I think Grandma is going to disown me. So here goes:
Jen has decided to take a pediatric position in Danville. That's a little bit West of Indianapolis. She still has to have a lawyer look over her contract, but she's told them verbally that she's going to sign. It's a great practice and the other two doctors are both very nice. She'll have a good time there. It will be so nice to have us both on a regular schedule. We're not going to know what to do with ourselves.
I've decided to put off my PhD for a while longer. I told Jen that if she'd leave the option open for me, I'd like to postpone for three or four more years. Basically, I just didn't feel ready to dive into it. I'd like some more experience here at my job, I'd like more time to finish my MSCS at IUPUI, and I'd like the two of us to get our financial feet under us a little bit more before I take all that on. Plus, I think I'd like to try to teach a couple classes at IUPUI before I go back.
So that means we'll be looking to move soon. Jen needs to be within 30 minutes of the hospital she'll be working at, and right now we're at 35. So we're going to move to the Avon area, which is between Indianapolis and Danville. It won't really be any change in commute time for me, but she'll only have to drive about 10 minutes to get to work. That will be nice.
We're excited about getting a new place. We've been looking around a little bit and we have tons of options. We pretty much just have to decide on a price range and then find that "perfect" place.
We're not so excited about selling our current home. That's just going to be a pain in the butt. We've got a few things to fix up around the house, both inside and out. Hopefully it will go fairly smoothly. I guess we'll find out.
Okay, so that's it for now. I'll be in Ohio the next couple weeks on business, Wish me luck.
Jen has decided to take a pediatric position in Danville. That's a little bit West of Indianapolis. She still has to have a lawyer look over her contract, but she's told them verbally that she's going to sign. It's a great practice and the other two doctors are both very nice. She'll have a good time there. It will be so nice to have us both on a regular schedule. We're not going to know what to do with ourselves.
I've decided to put off my PhD for a while longer. I told Jen that if she'd leave the option open for me, I'd like to postpone for three or four more years. Basically, I just didn't feel ready to dive into it. I'd like some more experience here at my job, I'd like more time to finish my MSCS at IUPUI, and I'd like the two of us to get our financial feet under us a little bit more before I take all that on. Plus, I think I'd like to try to teach a couple classes at IUPUI before I go back.
So that means we'll be looking to move soon. Jen needs to be within 30 minutes of the hospital she'll be working at, and right now we're at 35. So we're going to move to the Avon area, which is between Indianapolis and Danville. It won't really be any change in commute time for me, but she'll only have to drive about 10 minutes to get to work. That will be nice.
We're excited about getting a new place. We've been looking around a little bit and we have tons of options. We pretty much just have to decide on a price range and then find that "perfect" place.
We're not so excited about selling our current home. That's just going to be a pain in the butt. We've got a few things to fix up around the house, both inside and out. Hopefully it will go fairly smoothly. I guess we'll find out.
Okay, so that's it for now. I'll be in Ohio the next couple weeks on business, Wish me luck.
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