Drag Me To Hell

The main theme of this review is to say Sam Raimi is back!

After weeks of saying we were going to go see the new Star Trek, and when it finally came down to it, Drag Me To Hell had just opened. I'm a fan of horror movies. Lori is a fan of horror movies. I'm a fan of old Sam Raimi and Evil Dead movies. So these previews really perked my interest. After seeing all the highly positive reviews, I figured maybe we should just switch our idea and just go see Drag Me To Hell instead. I thought we had lost Sam Raimi to the mainstream with Spider-Man!. Guess he's come home!

Slight slap-sticky horror, Raimi's trademark is prolific in this movie. One gross-out after freak-out after another. Many "OH SHIT!" moments. The ending was a little predictable, but otherwise a freakin' great horror movie.

Unfortunately, I think we've had enough of going to see movies at a theater. The incessant talking, cell phones, and annoying teenagers really make me want to kill. Don't bring your crying baby to the movies please.

Go see it. Or, be mysanthropic and wait for dvd.

Flat Footed Fanatic

No amazing travels. No interesting motorcycle or car updates. In fact not much of anything. But what I do have is my running. I remember in December when Lori told me I was going to start running, I didn't realize I'd be so hooked. I was a pole vaulter in junior high, a bad one. I toyed with cross-country for 2 seconds. It took over 15 years to suddenly realize how much I missed out. At first it was for weight loss; I was a chubby 205 pale pounds at the beginning of this year. I started running, slowly building up my stamina. I couldn't even do 2 minutes in the beginning. There was milestone after milestone: 5 minutes, 8, 10, 20, 30, one hour!

I now weigh 183 lbs. And still have some room to go. I feel great. I'm thin and lanky again. I haven't weighed this little since my bmx days in Austin in early 2000's. Now I'm running 4 times a week, almost 20 miles a week. Tomorrow we're going to run 6 miles in the city. And it's fun! Lori has created a monster. I may not be fast, but I've realized I'm doing it for me. I'm digging out old pants that I can now fit into. People that haven't seen me in a while take a double-look and tell me that I look great. That feels great.

I've progressed from treadmill running to running on the streets, exploring the neighborhoods. I run in heat, cold, wind, rain, darkness, early mornings. I'm planning on running home from work on Fridays soon... 8 miles. Lori and I are already discussing having Sunday runs TO San Francisco for lunch... 10 miles. Races are incredibly fun. And I'm becoming more and more interested in trail running. My new obsession? I hope so. For life.

Good dog

Crazy Legs

Again not too much to really report. I had an absolutely terrible tempo run with Lori last night. I aimed for 11:00 miles, 30 seconds slower than my 5K pace. The goal was to do 3.5 miles. Well, I crapped out after 2 miles and had to walk the rest of the way.

After moping all night I decided to pack my clothes and run during lunch at work today. I did 3.66 miles in 50:48. It was a much better run. The sky was blue and sunny, it was warm. The neighborhoods were quiet, shady, and tree filled. Everything was just nice. I'm bumping my runs from 3 days a week to 4 starting this week. And this week's long run is 5.5 miles. I'll be running 20 miles a week starting next week. I'm hoping to start seeing some actual improvement.

I've added my Fitness Blog and Run Stats to the left side links (at the top). If you're interested you can track my progress. Pretty boring stuff unless you're another runner.

So I don't really have too much else to talk about. I'm trying to find a way to get ahold of a welder again so I can continue working on my Triumph. I can't afford one so I have to borrow somebody's. God, I wish I had access to a shop.

My friend Jess and her bf Joel visited from Chicago a couple weeks ago. We had a pretty damn good time. Here are some pictures.
Gallery of pics

Memorial Day Weekend Update

So Lori and I are shivering under 3 blankets on the couch. California warm? Hah! It is so goddarned cold in South City, and on Memorial Day weekend. This is the weekend we should be barbequing and relaxing in the sun. Not here. We drove to Redwood City below the fog line and enjoyed some sun yesterday with the dogs. But it sure was depressing coming back.

I had big plans this weekend. Do some more welding, clean cars, and just enjoy being outside. No luck. When it's 40 and windy I just don't feel like going outside. And I had to give my buddy Ted back his Mig welder today. So now my Triumph project is really going to come to a screeching halt. I need to get my own welder and torch set up. And a house that can run a welder for more than 6 seconds before blowing a fuse.

Todaywe braved the city and found my wedding suit at Macey's. I look pretty good, I must say. I clean up well. Running has definitely helped me out. And speaking of running Lori and I did our first 5 mile run today. We're working up to 6 miles and over for our July 6 mile run in Santa Cruz.

Other than that, back to relaxing and cooking a beer butt chicken.

Juliet, down

My boss let me borrow his 1970 Triumph bobber Juliet. Everything was fine this morning. I pulled off the freeway. As soon as I crossed the intersection the back wheel locked up and I just spun on the left foot peg down the street doing a couple circles.

What happened was the rear fender's front bracket bolt worked it's way loose and the whole fender rotated forward under the tire and I just skiied down the street.

Damage:
fender
fender strut
brake light wiring broke
brake light switch broke
left footpeg bent
left foot rubber ground down a little

All in all I got off really really easy. The footpeg and my hip took jthe brunt of the impact. I can't imagine how bad I would have wrecked on the freeway. And this is a warning to anyone fabbing a fender: make a fail-safe bracket so the fender can't rotate forward. And loctite is your friend.

Grindy grindy

I finished the foot peg. I'm pretty happy with the result.
This




To this


I enjoy getting to sculpt it intio shape. I just wish I had a more detailed grinder of some sort.



Used a torch to heat up the right side back into place. That new oxygen tank ran out on me quick. I was in the middle of of heating up the kick stand bracket and I lost oxygen. I only got 2 things bent. That wont work. I need to find a cheap torch kit to buy. Hell I need tons of things.

Anyway also filled all the holes in the frame I dont need. Good day.

Footsies

Tomorrow is my last Lori-less day. Why she's out galavanting in Arizona I'm stuck at home taking care of the kids.

Shitty news of the day: I cashed out 17 hours of PTO and the the taxes took 45%.

Today I modified a BSA foot peg to work on my Triumph. The inside of the foot peg was a large tapered hole so I ground some tubing down to a taper and welded it in. I then welded a washer to the back to accept some small pegs off the washer to keep the foot peg from rotating. Things are tackwelded so I can make some adjustments once I have everything lined up. I'm going to have to take about an 1.5" out of the length too. I attempted to bend the right side back down into place before I
ran out of oxygen for the torch. I could only weld for about 5 seconds at a time before my fuse would blow. To be continued...

I really enjoy making my own redneck shit.

Pics http://vorhese.com/gallery/album302


















Right peg needs bent down into place and other fixins.

Gene Romero Flat Track Racing

I hitched a ride with Germ and Skip from the T.U.C. and headed out to Lodi, CA (where Creedence was stuck) to see the Gene Romero West Coast Flat Track races at the Lodi Cycle Bowl. It was totally radical-boom-bazzical. Right off the bat the was a pretty gnarly wreck. There were even some vintage classes which, of course, were the coolest classes. Nothing like seeing a heavy, deep-throated vintage twin skitter around the turns.
Pics: http://vorhese.com/gallery/album343

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX2cd-WnaEc

Omega Paw Self Cleaning Litter box

This is the best litterbox ever made. We love it so much I had to make a video. Seriously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogjNKPyPJbU

Slow Mo Fo

It's 3:50 A.M. and Lori is getting ready for me to take her to the airport. She's going to be in Arizona for a week. And I'll be here wearing a loin cloth and grunting, howling at the moon with the dogs.

Yesterday I used my heart rate monitor and did a 3 mile jog only jogging in my aerobic zone. For me, this zone is about 150-164 BPM. This zone is your base zone, and for me, for now is an incredibly slow pace. Possibly even slower than walking. All my training so far has been in the higher anaerobic zone, which explains why I get tired so quickly. I never built up my base. So, for now, I run slow. It seems counter-intuitive, but in the long run, it will pay off. In a couple of weeks, this same heart rate zone will be at a higher pace as I get more fit, as my endurance improves. This will allow me to run farther distances.

Read about it:
HERE - Heart Rate Zones Explained
HERE - Train Smart This Winter: Base Training Basics
and HERE - Base Training
Calculate your zones here. There are many calculators, and they're all just rough guesses.

So here's my results:
http://runtracker.runnersworld.com/ba/journal/archives/13179/20090508
As you can see looking at my heart rate, I started at 150 BPM (very slow) and gradually increased it to around 164 BPM. It's a very slow pace. I came hoem and Lori was about ready to form a search party and find me because I was gone so long. The hope is in a couple weeks I'll be running faster at the same heart rate levels. I have a training program that includes these slow runs, long runs, interval runs, and tempo runs, with some hill interval runs thrown in. So in July when it's time for the 6 mile Santa Cruz run, it should be cake. Right?

An example of my training plan:
Tues - Interval training 2 miles
Fri - 3 mile slow base run
Sun - 4 mile slow base run
Tues - 3 mile Tempo run
Thurs - Hill interval runs
Fri - 3.5 mile slow base run
Sun - 4.5 mile slow base run

Dainese event

Last Saturday I was asked to bring my boss' 70 Bonneville, Juliet, to an invite-only Dainese charity event. I guess they're releasing a line of "retro inspired" gear, and wanted a bunch of vintage Brit bikes as decorations. Some of the Ton Up guys brought their bikes. I wouldn't exactly say Dainese gear caters to my (cheap, broke-ass) crowd. After eating a few chicken skewers I was pretty much ready to skeedaddle.

Gallery

Spanked

Last weekend we gotta watch pre-banned Manny Ramirez and the LA Dodgers get clobbered by Lori's man-crush Tim Lincecum and the Giants. Chicken fingers, garlic fries, and a blanket to stay warm. Good clean fun at the ball park!
Gallery

Happy Birthday!

Cinco de Mayo is Sheena Santa Maria Sandoval's 2nd birthday!
Yay! Happy birthday you little rug rat!







Comin home with her.

Synchronize Swatches

Last night I finally convinced Lori to get Garmin Forerunner 305 Heart Rate Monitors/GPS to use with our running. The new 405's came out, knocking the price on these way down. After lots of reading and opinions from friends, especially Rob, the 305's apparently have better battery life, bigger view screen, and the same functionality. We needed something to start ramping our workouts up. And this thing is way cool. It keeps track of all your stats: distance, time, laps, heart rate, GPS, calories burned, etc etc. Way way cool.

I started a second blog on Runner's World to keep track of my stats. The first use of our Garmins was on Interval Training tonight. Pretty freakin' cool.
http://SeeVorheseRun.rwruntrackerblogs.com