spokesNspin

This was one of the advertising signs we saw as we exited the plane in Las Vegas:

On Saturday, I drove to New York City.  Yes folks you heard it right.  I drove to New York City.  I would never dream of such an adventure on my own.  I have my friend  to thank for attempting such a crazy thing.

She had business there and said she had done it before.  So if she was willing to navigate, I was willing to drive.  What was going through the back my mind was “What the hell am I thinking?’

 The trip had a rather inauspicious beginning when I took a wrong turn before we got off the DC  Beltway and we drove for 15-20 minutes before it came to our attention. (Note: I was the driver not the navigator)

Here are my thoughts on the trip.

It was easier to drive in NY than I thought it would be.  No more difficult than DC and easier in some respects.  There is certainly more parking.

I would say it seems to be much safer to be a pedestrian in NY than in DC .  In DC cars rule.  In NY the pedestrians seem to rule.  I was surprised at the number of bicyclists I saw.

The aggressiveness and number of people on the street hawking services surprised me.  There was a Chinese Massage booth. As we walked by, the woman started to massage my back.  It felt really good.  I kept walking and she literally grabbed my shoulder and tried to pull me back to her booth.  She gave me the evil eye when I walked back past the booth a few minutes later.

I thought the futile honking was funny.  Cars would honk when there was no possible solution to the problem that had them stuck. What’s the point of honking?  But I loved it.  In fact, I loved it so much that I determined to make sure that I took the opportunity to honk at least twice before I left the city.  It was very rewarding.

It is most certainly an interesting place to watch people.  The number of languages  that one can hear while walking around is amazing.  The many variations of attire were also fun to look at.  Where do these people come up with such clothing schemes?

Here is a pic of me in Times Square.

It was a fun trip.  But let me tell you that up and back to NY in one day ain’t no picnic folks.  It rained for almost the entire drive both directions.  Fortunately we didn’t get rained on in the city.

A week ago I went with a group called Zen Hiking.  We met at a lake and did an hour of yoga on the lake.  Then we took a hike around the lake.  It’s a nice combo. 

The most interesting thing was this:

First off  I will admit that this is a terrible picture of me.    But when I saw the dump rake I had to take a picture.  The dump rake seems to be the most common abandoned piece of equipment one will see around farm yards and back on the edges of the waste land.

I remember seeing them all over the county when I was young.  Let me just emphasize that they were abandoned.  I am not so old to actually have used one.

Basically they are like a huge horse drawn lawn rake.  The rake is pulled along while the hay piles up inside the curved teeth.  When it gets full the operator  pulls a lever and the teeth rise and dump the hay in a pile. 

The farmer would later come by with a wagon and gather the piles.

You can also see one of these in the movie Oh Brother Were Art Thou.  Note the scene where the three fugitives come to the farm of  Cousin Wash to have their leg irons removed.  As they walk around the back of the house Cousin Wash is sitting there and to the side is a dump rake.

Pay attention when you are driving around the rural countryside.  I bet it won’t be long before you will see an dump rake some where along your route.

Enjoy your Friday fotos.

I have recently been investigating different training programs and trainers to try and find something to jump start me back to where I was a few years ago.  There are a lot of things out there.  I find crossfit very interesting.  I like the philosophy behind it.  I have a friend who has had amazing success with it.  I also have some reservations about it.

I have looked at personal trainers and group training.  One of them included a cooking class.  That would do me good I am sure.

I like many of them but at this point,  I don’t want to spend the money.   I am already spending money every month for a gym membership.

In the meantime, I am doing something cheap, free and simple.  Last week I started the one hundred pushups.  I am also doing the two hundred squats.

Because of my extremely sexy bicycling legs, I started the two hundred squats at week three.  I am not sure but I think if I put my mind to it I could do two hundred squats right now.

With just one week behind me with the pushups I am surprised at how much improvement I have shown.  I just might make it.

I have committed myself and my log is out there for all to see.  Just go to the pushup and squat logger on the links above and check out Nielki.  That is me.

Now for the challenge. 

I think my family and friends out there should  take  this up. 

I excuse Ammon from this challenge.  He can probably do one hundred pushups right now.  I guess I could also excuse Liz for a few weeks.  She can wait until she recovers from the baby. 

But the rest of you slackers need to get out there and do it.

Check out these two stories about a Critical Mass ride in Ogden Utah.  

One is by the Ogden paper.

The other is the Salt Lake Tribune.

When I was living in Utah I once had a Davis County Police Officer intentionally brush very  close to me as he passed.  It was pretty obvious that he had it in for cyclists.