(The new laptop, for those who are interested in the technical specs, is a 14.1" wide-aspect Dell Latitude D630 core 2 2.0 GHz with 160 gig hard drive--something like double the capacity of the previous machine at half the weight and energy costs. It has a nice big keyboard and it runs XP cheerfully. I had originally fallen in love with the XPS, which brings the shiny and has a bigger hard drive, but that one only allows for Vista and no.
Also, it's
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
netcurmudgeon's experience--and mine--that the business laptops, though they have less chrome, are more durable. So I am now the proud owner of Daphne the Laptop, at about two hundred dollars more than I paid for Ethel the HP in 2003. God, I love Moore's Law as it applies to my personal electronics. (Yes, you do deduce correctly from these data that the desktop is named Phred and the Zune is named Ginger. Because dancy! Ahem.)Item the second: my climbing is getting better. My strength/weight ratio still sucks, but it sucks less (not because I've lost any weight: rather, I continue to gain slowly, though perhaps I have topped out around 245, and maybe now that my body has built a completely unreasonable amount of muscle (I've gained twenty pounds in the last ten months while dropping a shirt size and half a jeans size) it will consent to giving up some of the dead weight. Anyway, it's on cereal, sandwiches, soup, and salads until further notice... and maybe the occasional cookie. Because dammit, I want to climb better still. (The good news is, I have been doing all this work in the equivalent of a sixty pound pack, so if that weight does come off and I get down to a nice sensible 170 or so, I will be flying up those overhangs.)
Anyway, as I was saying, strength, balance, and recovery time are all improving, and I think I'm actually back to what I consider a reasonable level of fitness for the first time since 2001. Yay! I've climbed three days this week--Sunday, Monday, and last night, and still managed to go out for a three mile run this morning, in the driving rain, getting soaked to the skin in my new ugly Prana stretchy shorts. I swear, I am 50% more physically competent in the rain. What's up with that?
I started a 5.8 on Monday--couldn't stick the transition over the lip, but I got up on it, which is more than I have ever done on a 5.8 before, and I'm getting to the point where there are a couple of 5.7s that I can send reliably, though I have to dog on the rope a bit on both of them. (There's another one I'm going to try on Monday--or Saturday, if it's still rainy/wet and we don't get to climb out doors.) Yesterday, I did six routes, if you count the bouldering route I made four tries at before I just said "fuckit" and cheated on the last pusbucketing move, which I cannot quite swing.
...Okay, I also rainbowed a bit on #6, but it has a big mantle move and I was le tired by then. Sewing machine legs and the whole deal. (Rainbowing is when you cheat on a route by using hand/footholds intended for other routes. Mantling is when you have to press down on something at chest level to get your feet up higher: it's hard. Sewing machine legs is.... well, self-explanatory if you have ever seen a sewing machine. *g*)
But that last route I'm still proud of, because I used to thrash terribly on the bottom part, and now I'm sailing up that bit. I think any other gym would call it a 5.8, but Prime Climb is special. Their 5.5s are like 5.6s or easy 5.7s I've climbed in other gyms...
Anyway, visible progress. Which makes me think I may someday attain my goal of being able to do 5.10s. And I have to remember to ice my left elbow and take the NSAIDs today, because I do not want the tendinitis getting worse, thanks.
It's nice having a sport again. It's been a long time. And my last sport did not have couches.
Item the third: Tomorrow I have to revise "The Red in the Sky is Our Blood." And do laundry. Saturday is climbing and maybe late lunch at Tapas with The Jeff and Alisa and Tanya. Sunday, to Fall River for an AD&D game. Monday, nose to the grindstone again, as my post-Readercon recovery is pretty much over by then and I have Deadlines To Hit.
Today I am having a goof-off and play with computers day, and then I am going to archery. It has occurred to me that in other jobs, you get, you know, days off. And that maybe I should look into that idea.
Item the fourth: Lone Star Stories, the 'zine with the fastest turnaround time on the block, will be publishing my maudlin Tam Lin poem "Seven Steeds," which some of you may remember from when I posted the very rough draft to this blog last year.
Item the fifth: Dora Goss is smrt.
...I really love this little computer.
64 miles to Lothlorien.
- Mood:
chipper - Music:David Byrne - Like Humans Do (Radio Edit)
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Comments
...and bet on A Bottle of Smoke...
Ah, memories...
I really, really enjoyed it. I'm not quite coherent enough to be specific about the things I liked, but it was definitely two thumbs up. Creative use of history/historical figures/"gods" is one of my favorite things in a story, and it's there in abundance. The writing also has a good cadence; it flows from beginning to end at a quick pace that draws the reader along.
The characterization was also very good, and the dialogue about the differences between 1964 and 2002 gave me a giggle or two.
I can't wait to see the whole story!
Better and more consistent body cooling. People built like you and me (the chunks) perform best when it's cool, as opposed to the lean and skinny. I preferred jogging in the rain back when I did it (will not happen now, too much in the way of knee problems), and it's one reason why I love skiing in crappy weather. Except for the visibility issues. Flat light is a pain to deal with.
Re: the climbing, and the running, and the fitnessey goodness: Go Team You! You, ma'am, are AWESOME and my role model. I'm Going to Get In Shape. And I might go CLIMBING.
(Turns out you can't be a bone marrow donor if your asthma required any oral steroids in five years; mine does about once or twice a year now --way down from once a DAY, sure, but STILL-- and the doctor says exercise is my ticket to increased lung capacity!)
Thanks, but it is the lie of the small bod. I am SO out of shape. I am sedentary and easily winded since I stopped running. Just had to climb six flights of stairs in the parking garage because the elevator was out, and I swear I thought I was going to have to take a nap before I drove home...
I prefer the larger screen of the 800 series, but you pay for that in weight.
For the record, I still have my D600 and it works, and I also still have a C610 for my wife, and it's passable. That one has to be at least 6 years old, since we get a hardware refresh every 3 years. So, I hope you'll get a good longterm use out yours.
Seriously, its a *sweet* machine. I am so happy I paid for the faster HD: the music that took seven hours to back up onto my external is taking ~50 minutes to move onto the itty bitty laptop.
On the otherhand, I find it nice to be able to work in Word, and have two side by side pages up and actually read both pages comfortably.
Well, I hope Daphne serves you well for a long time.
Which makes me think I may someday attain my goal of being able to do 5.10s.
as this:
Which makes me think I may someday attain my goal of being 5'10.
And thought, wow, I didn't know rock climbing makes you taller...
(bearing in mind, you already ARE 5'10 for all I know)
*goes and scrubs and scrubs and scrubs* to think I...I...liked your brain..
*shudder*
You probably know this already, but I'd suggest keeping a fair bit o protein in the food mix to help keep you fuller and to help with maintaining muscle - sunflower seeds in the salad, maybe, or peanut butter or meat on the sandwiches, or an occasional Luna bar in place of the cereal.
Re 50% more effective in the rain: do you notice that specifically in summer? Maybe it's the cooling effect; I know heat slows me down noticeably.