A beginning of sorts...

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

I keep telling myself that. And yet, somehow I frequently fail to act on it. Habits are hard things to change. I keep telling myself that I need to start exercising more. I keep telling myself I'll start tomorrow. Tomorrow doesn't seem to come.

I have an old high-school friend I've reconnected with on Facebook. She regularly runs 2-3 miles, seemingly every day. Every time I see one of her updates, I think, "I really should start doing that."

Part of the problem is that I tend to think that if I'm going to run, I need to be fast, or be a marathoner, or complete an Ironman. I make myself think that I've got to be "all or nothing." Generally this results in either burnout or an overuse injury in a few months that lands me back on the couch. Trying too hard can be worse than not doing anything at all. Not only can it lead to injury, but the inevitable failure leads to a negative spiral of lower expectations and feelings of ... failure.

In reality, all I need to do is... something. Just do something. Anything. Daily, or at least several times a week. Walk, jog, bike, hike, swim, shop aggressively at Meijer. Whatever gets my heart rate elevated for a while each day. At my level of fitness, it all counts. It's all about getting off my duff and moving.

And I've got to stop using the kids as an excuse. They need to be out there moving, too. It's as important as a healthy meal or their homework. So, whenever I say, "well, I can't go walk because I've got to watch the kids" I'm cheating myself and them.

This week, I started taking a step. Several steps, in fact. Behind our elementary school there's a paved trail about 1/2 mile long. It's a section of what will eventually be a much longer multi-use path system. Almost daily this week, I've tossed the kids in the car, drug them to the trail and walked it while the kids walk or rollerblade. Afterwards, they get to play on the playground while I cool down. Today I jogged short intervals.

It's only a start, and it's very easy for this to slip back into an oblivion of couch-sitting as the stresses of life inevitably intrude. But it is a start.

What a waste!

I was hungry after lunch, so I ran through McDonald's. Picked up a Fruit & Walnut snack (good, since I only eat the fruit and a few walnuts) and an Apple Pie (not so good, but I get them rarely).

Then I noticed the packaging.

The Apple Pie was in a cardboard box, in a bag with at least 2 napkins. This bag was nestled, along with the Fruit & Walnut Snack in a second, larger bag with at least 4 more napkins, plus a fork/knife set wrapped in plastic. Nearly all of which ended up in a landfill. Keep in mind the Fruit & Walnut Snack is hermetically sealed in a clear plastic box itself.

I sure wish I'd asked them to keep the bags and at least most of the napkins.

To be fair, Mickey-D's isn't any worse than any of the other fast food chains at this. They all seriously over-package their "to go" orders.

Of course if I'd parked and walked in, I could have much more easily refused all the packaging, saved some gas, and gotten a tiny extra bit of exercise, too.

Folks who live in glass houses...

A quick hike...

I've been looking for a place to take the kids for their first tent camping trip. Requirements include convenience (close to home in case we bail), good sites, privacy, activities, and a nice view. On Saturday, the kids were at a friend's house and Mama was napping, so I slipped over to Fort Boonesborough to have a look around.

Front entrance to replica fort

Fort Boonesborough, as you might guess from the name was the site of a fort constructed by Daniel Boone along the banks of the Kentucky River. It's since been converted into a state park complete with boat ramp, RV parking, large picnic shelters, a beach and a swimming pool. It also has a couple miles of trails as well. There are a small number of primitive tent camping sites, and a guidebook that I consulted indicated that they were pretty nice.

Unfortunately, due to the immense amount of rain we've had lately, they were also nearly all underwater.

However, the rest of the park was not, and it appears that it will suit the purpose well. In addition to the abovementioned features, there's a small camp store that has firewood, a miniature golf course and a playground. The park also has a replica of the fort (situated much higher up the hill than the original) and a museum, but there's a fee to enter these two.

Pioneer Forage Trail

I spoke briefly with the campground attendant, drove around the lower part of the park, and then hiked the 1/2 mile trail up the hill to the fort to have a look around. It having just rained, the forest had that wonderful shade of green I love so much, but fortunately the trail was dry enough not to be a horrible mudhole.

The trail from the campground follows the right fork of a stream up a valley before crossing and doubling back to follow the left fork up the hill to the fort. From there, you can take a paved trail back down the hill to the picnic shelters at the other side of the parking lot. A nice, stiff mile of up/down hill, just enough to get the heart rate up.

Creek on Pioneer Forage Trail

I enjoyed this visit, and I think it will make for a good place to start the kids off, if for no reason other than it's only 1/2 hour from home if they bail. Somehow, I don't think they will, though.

A nice, if slow, improvement...

You may have noticed the slide show of pictures in my side bar. Those were from a trip to Denver (actually Westminster), CO, last fall. One of the things I really enjoyed about my brief visit was the extensive network of well maintained multi-use trails that literally spiderwebbed the city. From seemingly anywhere, you could walk to nearly anywhere else, with some pretty nice scenery to boot.

Back home, our fair city has been taking a few notes. On a recent trip to the new Wal-Mart near our home, I took the kids to visit a nice feature. Out at the far end of the massive parking lot is what would ordinarily have been a fenced-off, trash-strewn overgrown, ignored, nasty gully with a runoff stream through it.

Instead, it's a pleasant creekside meadow with paved walking paths and discreet lampposts, mostly free of garbage (though I did spy one shopping cart embedded in the stream), with small mowed lawns surrounded by tall trees that had been left by the developers.

Now, I know perfectly well that this little mini-park was part of the conditions of sale for this particular piece of horse-farm-cum-urban-wasteland - partly because it is host to a small, but elegant cemetery/memorial for the farm's founder/owner/namesake. But it's nice. It will be even nicer when-and-if the many small parks in our fair town are internconnected and extended so that one can walk all over town.

This little park is actually quite pretty, even though it is sandwiched between two major commercial developments. I find it quite clever that they made good use of what would have otherwise been either bulldozed over or ignored entirely.

Next time we visit, I'll try to snap a few photos and share them. I really hope our town planners and developers continue to make such excellent use of the "in between" spaces. It's a great way to, in a sense, have our cake and eat it too - urban devleopment with trees!

Itching...

No, not the skin-irritant-scratch-till-it-bleeds kind of itching...

... the gosh-it's-nice-weather-can't-wait-for-my-schedule-to-allow-some-biking kind.

I went out to get lunch today, and it was 60F and sunny, with just a bit of a wind. Wow, it was nice. And it's supposed to stay nice through the weekend. Very nice. Downright hot kind of nice.

Now, if I can just work out my schedule so that I can make it on a bike, all will be well. Unfortunately, tomorrow I have to make a "guest speaker" visit at the University, so I don't know if that will work. Friday is looking good, though.

It's a good thing that I'm feeling antsy. I really do need the exercise.

Movie Review: Appaloosa

Meh.

Granted, I watched this at 11:00 at night when I was tired and distracted. Still, this was a pretty lukewarm performance. I have to agree with one of the Rotten Tomatoes critics who said that it was like Ed Harris couldn't decide whether he was filming a Western or a Romance. He seems to try to meld both and simply falls short.

Now, don't get me wrong, it was an entertaining, engaging movie, and I don't regret putting it on my Netflix queue. But I just couldn't seem to get invested in the characters like I did with Tombstone or with 3:10 to Yuma.

The acting was well done, the scenery excellent, and the characters entertaining. But the storyline was very thin and seemed strung together, as though the writer made up a checklist of "Classic Western" set-pieces and then came up with a basic thread to hang them all on. There's the rich bad guy who wants to control the town, complete with a band of thugs who raise heck. There's the saloon/hotel, the train hijack, the old Marshall getting murdered, the tracking/hunting/chasing expedition through the brush, the Indian attack, the showdown between the Marshall and the bad guy's cronies at the porch of the jail, and of course the love triangle between the lead, the sidekick and the girl. And, at the risk of giving away the somewhat anticlimactic surprise ending, the classic shootout hastily tacked on, almost as an afterthought, at the end of the film.

I think, as good as the final twist was, that in a way it was the worst part. Not because it wasn't surprising or well played, but because it just sort of showed up apparently without warning. There wasn't really any build-up to it. Frankly, I was expecting at least another half hour of film when all of a sudden the movie was over!

As much as I might complain, it really wasn't all that bad a movie. Certainly fits the "Western" formula well. As I said, most elements of the film were excellent (acting, costume, scenery, effects, etc.). Wrapped around a decent, non-formulaic story, it would have been awesome. As it was, however, I'd say 3 stars is a stretch.

How not to change the oil in your car

During my self-imposed exile (due to combined chronic cases of busy-itis, lazy-itis and freezophobia) from cycling, I've put a lot more miles on the cars this winter. Accordingly, it was time to do another simple oil change on one of them (an older Saturn, if you're curious). Now, changing the oil, especially in a Saturn is a fairly simple process:

1. Unscrew the drain plug in the oil pan and drain the old oil into an approved container.
2. Remove the old oil filter
3. Screw on and tighten the new filter
4. Replace the drain plug(!)
5. Pour in 4 quarts of new oil.

It can normally be accomplished in 30-45 minutes in the driveway, including allowing 15-20 minutes of doing other stuff while the oil fully drains from the engine. Simple, effective, and usually cheaper than going to one of the instant-oil-chamge places.

Not this weekend.

Day 1:

First, I drove over to the auto parts store and spent nearly $40 on fresh oil, a new filter, and a new air filter to go along. Normally, Valvoline charges me about $45 to do the whole job for me in about 10 minutes. So I'm already nearly at break-even cost before I get home.

I pull in the driveway and shut down, pop the hood and open the oil fill cap on top of the engine. This helps prevent a vacuum lock and helps the oil drain quicker. At least I remembered that the drain plug takes a 14mm wrench, so I didn't have to try three different sizes. I slightly jack the car up (it's low-slung and I'm not skinny anymore), shove the drain bucket underneath and remove the plug. For the first time in years, I manage to do this without spilling hot oil all over my hand. So far, so good!

I give that about 15 minutes and then return to handle the filter. There are two ways to reach the filter on this particular car: from underneath, where there's not much room and it's hard to see, but no disassembly is required, or from inside the right front wheel well where visibility and access are very good, but the wheel and wheel well cover must be removed. I opt for the under-car method.

I slip the strap wrench over the filter and begin to turn it... but it won't budge. The handle turns to tighten the strap, but goes no further. Worse, I can't seem to remove the wrench without an unusual amount of wriggling. I reach up to feel it and realize that I have slightly crumpled the back end of the filter. Bad news. No way this thing should be so tight. Even worse, my wrench is now coming apart.

Cursing softly under my breath (the kids are in the yard...) I crawl back out from under the car, jack it up further, and remove the wheel and wheel well to inspect the situation. Sure enough, not only is my wrench bad, but the filter can is now crumpled enough that it wouldn't work anyway. Off to the auto-parts store for a new, different wrench. I'm now $55 and over an hour into a job that would have taken $45 and 10 minutes at Valvoline.

The new wrench doesn't work either, merely crushing the can further. Next step: drive a screwdriver through it (yes, this is actually fairly easy - the filter's shell is not much thicker than a soda can) and use that for leverage. No go. Turning the screwdriver merely tears a larger hole in the can. Further attempts with larger screwdrivers and other wrenches only worsen the situation. I now have the dirty oil that was trapped in the filter dripping all over my drive shaft, frame, and driveway, not to mention my hands and tools. At least it's cooled significantly.

After two hours and a number of other tools, I take a break and call the "master mechanic" - my father. He suggests removing the shell of the filter. Once that is done, the base of the filter, where it screws to the engine block is accessible. This base is a plate with a large, central hole which threads onto the pipe through which filtered oil flows from filter to engine, ringed by a set of smaller holes through which dirty oil enters the filter from the engine. Once this is accessible, one can insert a pair of pins into the inlet holes and wrench the base plate free.

Doing so, however, requires some tools I don't have, so I clean up and take the family to the mall for a stop at Sears. $50 later I've got a pair of side-cutters (useless for this particular task, but might have worked), a pair of "aviation snips" (tin snips), and a pair of mechanic's work gloves (to protect my already bleeding fingers from shrapnel). Tally so far: $105 and four hours, not counting trips to stores.

Day Two:

A bit of luck on this day. After handling other chores till nearly 4:00 and worrying about lack of daylight, I dive back into the task. As expected, the side cutters do not work on the filter shell - they're designed to cut copper wire, not tin sheet metal. The aviation snips, however, work fantastically, if one discounts the large size and close quarters. After another hour of struggle, I'v e completely dismantled the filter, except for the tightly-jammed base plate. I can now clearly see what is needed, but have no way to accomplish the task.

After a few failed attempts to build a homemade spanner wrench with two nails and the available lumber, it's off to the auto-parts store again. There, I spy the (nearly) perfect tool for this task: a cheap pair of long-handled 45 degree angled needle-nose pliers. These pliers have extra long handles and most importantly long, narrow, pointed jaws that are bent 45 degrees from the plane of the handles. This crucial feature will allow me to open the jaws wide, insert the tips into opposite holes in the plate, and get lots of leverage to turn the handles in the direction needed to un-jam the plate.

Returning home yet another $10 poorer, I set to the task. The pliers turn out to be ideal. While a 90-degree bend would have allowed me to apply somewhat better torque to the plate, it also would have required me to put my arm through the right wheel strut. The 45-degree bend gave me room to work.

Summoning all the limited upper body strength I had (remember, I'm a fat, out of shape cyclist...), I nserted the plier tips, squeezed the handles tightly to grip the plate, and began to turn. At first, no joy, but after repeated attempts, the plate began to turn ever so slowly. Finally, after an exhausting effort to get it loosened, the filter base spun freely from the spindle and into my waitinig hand. The wrench, of course, was ruined by the twisting presssure placed upon it. Good thing it was a cheap one.

I cleaned and inspected the mounting point for the filter on the engine block, and saw no issues. The new filter spun smoothly into place, and the rest of the oil change went as smoothly as ever. Fifteen minutes later, the car was running, the tools cleaned and put away, and the mess cleaned up.

Tally: $115, 6 hours over two days, four trips to auto-parts and/or tool stores, one Band-Aid, one tool ruined, and a half dozen other chores deferred to next weekend.

Did I mention that an "oil change" on a bicycle is far, far simpler?