Day 274 – (AD 704) – Jim's Trek Part III – 21.4 Miles – Boredom Maybe, On My Schwinn 170

Good Day,

I spent all day yesterday putting and setting up the exterior Christmas lights and display at the house. I truly do not go into inflatables and I certainly want to make sure it is warm when I manage the lights and wires to the peak performance.

Today I cycled 21.4 miles on my Schwinn 170. I have now reached and accomplished 58.33% of my overall goal. My total miles now equal 14,525.2; kilometers 23,376.1.

Virtual journey and Trek is not going to be too spectacular for the next couple of days. I should be arriving at my next destination and goal point in about 34 days.

Last night’s menu – Penang Chicken and Eggplant Curry and Hare Moong Ki Kachari, this morning’s blood sugar count – 95. I dropped 11 points. Oh by the way Kachari relatively easy to make – Rice, Split Mung Beans, Onions, Spices…sort of an East Indian pilaf.

All the 120 blocks have been or are almost created for the inner top of our new Chopsticks quilt.

My cycling companion is the 2011 series Falling Skies. Aliens have landed on earth and are currently wiping out the human race. The humans are fighting. My type of science fiction and fantasy.

Google Cardboard? The new virtual View-Master?

This is my 744th Jim’s Trek post. And according to Blogger Jim’s Trek has recorded, as of this morning, 57,199 Pageviews.

I welcome comments or thoughts or ideas. Please feel free to contact, email me at Jim’s Trek.

Be healthy and enjoy your day.

Jim

Day 273 – (AD 703) – Jim's Trek Part III – 23.1 Miles – 14,500 Miles On My Schwinn Fitness Cycles

Good Day,

This morning I cycled 23.1 miles on my Schwinn 170. I think I got carried away today.

My grand total now stands at 14,503.8 miles; 23,341.7 kilometers. And a dark chocolate milkshake after 8:00 pm can certain increase my blood sugar count; this morning I recorded 106.

Today I am headed in a southeasterly direction on National Highway 1. I reached the intersection at Central Arnhem Road. I think I am in the area of Central Arnhemland. And I believe I will be heading to the right. Got 702 miles to go to my next destination and goal point.

Question – Would 250,000 emails persuade me to vote for another Bush in 2016?

This is my 743rd Jim’s Trek post. And according to Blogger Jim’s Trek has recorded, as of this morning, 57,112 Pageviews.

I welcome comments or thoughts or ideas. Please feel free to contact, email me at Jim’s Trek.

Be healthy and enjoy your day.

Jim

Day 272 – (AD 702) – Jim's Trek Part III – 21.0 Miles – Beyond Katherine On My Schwinn 170

Good Day,

This morning I continued my pedaling Trek and I cycled another 21.0 miles on my Schwinn 170. I have now reached 14,480.7 miles; 23,304.5 kilometers.

It looks like the same old images are appearing on my virtual Trek in the part of Australia.

I did venture past the Town of Katherine today. This means that I am headed into a completely different part of Northern Territory. With a population of about 6,100, Katherine is the fourth largest settlement in the Territory. The total population of Northern Territory is just about 233,000. My calculation works out to about 1 person to every 2 square miles… Definitely don’t have to worry about nosy neighbors.

I'm following the colored feathers.

I am amazed at what lengths people will go to hurt others. False advertising to make a political point, in this day and age, whether right or wrong is damn right stupid. What comes to mind is “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known” – 1 Cor. 13:12

And now the end is near…er. We’re facing the final curtain. You have the money, you have the vote.

From today’s The New York Times “G.O.P. Angst Over 2016 Led to Provision on Funding” -

“It is now headed for likely passage as a rider in a $1.1 trillion spending bill loaded with provisions sought by banks, food industry lobbyists and other special interests.”

80 blocks have been completed for our new Chopsticks quilt. Check out the latest update at Quilts SB - http://quiltssb.com/.

This is my 742nd Jim’s Trek post. And according to Blogger Jim’s Trek has recorded, as of this morning, 57,056 Pageviews.

I welcome comments or thoughts or ideas. Please feel free to contact, email me at Jim’s Trek.

Be healthy and enjoy your day.

Jim

Day 271 – (AD 701) – Jim's Trek Part III – 22.2 Miles – Yes, I Continue On My Schwinn 170

Good Day,

Today is 12/13/14. Maybe some lottery omen?

This morning I pedaled 22.2 more miles on my Schwinn 170. Total mileage to date – 14,459.7; kilometers – 23,270.7.

At least I am now encountering a few cars on the road, on Stuart Highway. As this is my virtual Trek I can accept the fact that the image is from four years ago. And guess what? The red dirt is back…and seems like it’s going to be a part of my Trek for the next interval of time.

Science and Invention - Feb. 1926

Am I alone? Or am I imagining things that the world is just moving way too fast for me to try, even though I want to, to absorb as much of what is out there in the way of technological innovation and advancement?

The progress of our new Chopsticks quilt continues. Fabric is a jelly roll, Chop Chop from Robert Kaufman.

This is my 741st Jim’s Trek post. And according to Blogger Jim’s Trek has recorded, as of this morning, 57,017 Pageviews.

I welcome comments or thoughts or ideas. Please feel free to contact, email me at Jim’s Trek.

Be healthy and enjoy your day.

Jim

Day 267 – (AD 697) – Jim's Trek Part III – 22.2 Miles – I Feel Great On My Schwinn 170

Good Day,

This morning I pedaled 22.2 miles on my Schwinn 170. I have now completed a total of 14,373.0 miles; 23,131.2 kilometers on two Schwinn Fitness cycles, first a 150 and now a 170.

On my crazy Trek I am headed southeast and I will 4 days I will have retraced my miles back to Katherine, the town in Northern Territory. From what I can see there is no other way than to follow Stuart Highway to a point where I start a new direction to my next destination.

You could say that we’re pretty much organized when we work on a quilting project. Doesn’t work when you have a would-be flying-mountain-goat of a dog who is all ears and legs.

Here’s what the table of strips looked like before Radar decided to bound across the living workroom.

And another of the Innocent puppy who thinks he has wings…

Got to thinking yesterday at the number of people at Busch Gardens yesterday late afternoon and evening that were glued to their cell and smart phones. Guess we’re losing the ability to relax and enjoy life without being electronically plugged in.


Here’s an astounding thought I caught on an NPR story yesterday. There could be about 1 million live accounts but dead “friends” on Facebook. As Molly Roberts of NPR wrote “In the meantime, a Facebook profile remains shrouded in just as much mystery as King Tut's tomb.” (A Plan to Untangle Our Digitable Lives After We’re Gone, July 23, 2014)

And Zachary Green and Xander Landen’s PBS NewsHour article “Digitally departed: How to avoid being haunted by an online afterlife” handles the idea that “may surprise you.”

This is my 737th Jim’s Trek post. And according to Blogger Jim’s Trek has recorded, as of this morning, 56,792 Pageviews.

I welcome comments or thoughts or ideas. Please feel free to contact, email me at Jim’s Trek.

Be healthy and enjoy your day.

Jim

Day 266 ½ – (AD 696 ½) – Jim's Trek Part III – 0.0 Miles – Today Is A No Pedal Day On My Schwinn 170

Good Day,

Today I decided to take a day off from pedaling on my Schwinn 170.

One of the first things I did this morning was to write my 750 Words. This is an exercise every morning that I just write down whatever comes to mind in at least 750 words. It is a daily writing practice originated by Julia Cameron in her book The Artist’s Way. Julia Cameron suggests that one write his/her words longhand.  The idea is to just “brain-dump” so-to-speak and just write. It does not have to make any sense. It is just my own stream of consciousness as I write.

Christopher De Gasperi
Man On Ladder, 2011

But it has been many years that I have even attempted to write a couple of sentences longhand. I was directed to the site 750 Words, thank you TQ, and I now have been using the site 750 Words for 514 days. The 750 Words site provides an alternate way of getting the morning pages done by typing.   I am now just shy of 400,000 words at 394,867… And of course this does not include the number of words I type for my blogs. Yes it is a part of my regular and daily routine.

This morning, my exercise was 2 and ½ hours of yard work… I suppose the climbing up and down, and the lugging of the step-ladders can sort of count as some sort of cardio-exercise. I know for sure that I am not sitting on my keister. All-things-being-equal I think I can guesstimate that I may have burned up about 500 calories.

I watched an RKO 1948 film last night, (one that I had never heard of), The Miracle of The Bells. The main actors were Fred MacMurray, Alida Valli, and Frank Sinatra. About halfway through the film, at which I had to rewind because I had fallen asleep, I asked if the female star, Alida Valli who in the film was rehearsing the role of Joan of Arc, was Ingrid Bergman. She had a similar accent. And of course she wasn’t.

This morning while I was researching the film I discovered the following on Wikipedia –

“The film was put into production at the same time that Ingrid Bergman was filming her own Technicolor Joan of Arc, which was also released by RKO in 1948. Ironically, the very expensive Bergman film, although much more highly regarded today, was not a success upon release, unlike the fictional Joan of Arc film depicted in The Miracle of the Bells.”

Guess there are many triggers out there that set the unknown 90% into motion.

Of course one of the Tampa news headlines is about a squirrel and some power outage… near the University of South Florida area. No bull! This is what makes the Google News for Tampa Bay. “Squirrel knocks out power at USF, again.”

Check out my update of our current progress on our new Equality quilt at Quilts SB.

This is my 736th Jim’s Trek post. And according to Blogger Jim’s Trek has recorded, as of this morning, 56,728 Pageviews.

I welcome comments or thoughts or ideas. Please feel free to contact, email me at Jim’s Trek.

Be healthy and enjoy your day.

Jim

Day 266 – (AD 696) – Jim's Trek Part III – Miles – Still Thinking On My Schwinn 170

Good Day,

This morning I pedaled 22.1 miles on my Schwinn 170. Total to date – 14,350.8 miles; 23,095.4 kilometers. This is the real part.

My virtual Trek image may seem to be a repeat and my response is yes, it may as well be… First of all I am journeying through Australia. I'm moving south in Northern Territory and all-things-being-equal I’m not as yet back in the Outback.

I think I picked a very apropos viewing companion this morning while I was pedaling – Star Trek Into Darkness. "Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

NASA successfully launched Orion yesterday. "Orion is NASA's next exploration spacecraft, designed to carry astronauts to destinations in deep space, including an asteroid and Mars."

I tried two new recipes last night – Spanish Town Scotch Bonnet Shrimp and Rice and Peas. Yes both are considered Jamaican recipes. The Shrimp dish was something I do not ever remember tasting.  Maybe there were something similar.  The Rice and Peas was certainly different from the recipe that I grew up with. Supper was good and of course, I broke my promise to myself and I did have a second helping. (And of course LD I did not make this one for you.) And my blood sugar this morning hit at 97. Damn good.

Question – Is AG Pam Bondi acting, albeit reacting in token good faith, on behalf of the population of Florida or as of her perceived and possibly forth-reaching political aspirations?

“Bondi brings Florida into lawsuit against Obama over immigration”, PalmBeachPost.com.

Case of “cut off your nose despite your face”?

"Florida's Hispanic population includes large communities of Cuban Americans in Miami (mainly from refugees fleeing the Castro regime) and Tampa, Puerto Ricans in Tampa and Orlando, and Central American and Mexican in inland West-Central and South Florida, like the Lake Okeechobee area. The Hispanic community continues to grow more affluent and mobile: between the years of 2000 and 2004,Lee County in Southwest Florida, which is largely suburban in character, had the fastest Hispanic population growth rate of any county in the United States." (Wikipedia – Demographics of Florida).

Oh yeah, did I ever mention that I was an Immigrant? And who became an American in 1996? Sí, hablo español ... y francés ... y Inglés.

All the strips for our new Chopsticks quilt. Each rail fence block will be composed of 10 strips. We’ll be playing with the organization of the blocks to create a moving design.  Follow updates at Quilts SB.

This is my 735th Jim’s Trek post. And according to Blogger Jim’s Trek has recorded, as of this morning, 56,689 Pageviews.

I welcome comments or thoughts or ideas. Please feel free to contact, email me at Jim’s Trek.

Be healthy and enjoy your day.

Jim

Day 265 – (AD 695) – Jim's Trek Part III – 21.9 Miles – Thinking On My Schwinn 170

Good Day,

Another day, another mile. This morning I pedaled 21.9 miles on my Schwinn 170. My cumulative total is now 14,328.7 miles, 23,059.9 kilometers. Oh yeah my blood sugar this morning was at 90 mg/dl, 5.0 mmol/l.

Well the Google Maps images are working this morning and I am headed south on Stuart Highway. 

Believe it or not I have now completed 54.42% of my virtual Trek through Australia… And I now have 877 miles to go to get to my 12th designated goal and destination point.

I’ve noticed something recently about my feelings and actions about this crazy Trek. I have become a wee bit complacent and haphazard about my eating overall habits. I try to cook “healthy” and nutritious meals but I do notice that I have increased the amount that I am eating. As of this morning in 735 days, I have lost just 2.0 lbs. Okay, okay there is probably a bit of redistribution of weight and my intention was not to lose much weight just girth. My waist is down 12 inches and my leg muscles have increased considerably. So I must be doing something right. But I wonder?

Never trust a politician. Originally Governor Rick Scott promised that by 2017, upon first taking office, he would produce an increase of 700,000 jobs in addition to the 1 million jobs that the state had lost. His latest announcement of $9 million for rural road improvement across Florida only highlights the supposed 679,000 private sector jobs created during his first 4 years in office. This new road fix is a 5-year plan which means of course, and I can add, 2020. So if I understand correctly somewhere and somehow the 1.7 million mark has been missed and possibly extended another 3 years. Governor Scott is this the new Common Core Math?

KE, you will be proud of us. We’ve started a new quilt, Chopsticks. Our inspiration – Karen Fisher’s Garland and the classic Rail Fence pattern.

This is my 734th Jim’s Trek post. And according to Blogger Jim’s Trek has recorded, as of this morning, 56,618 Pageviews.

I welcome comments or thoughts or ideas. Please feel free to contact, email me at Jim’s Trek.

Be healthy and enjoy your day.

Jim

Day 264 – (AD 694) – Jim's Trek Part III – 21.9 Miles – Continuing On My Schwinn 170

Good Day,

And Max just watches me and waits patiently.  He must have learned his perching sit from the more than occasional vultures outside.

Today another 21.9 miles on my Schwinn 170. My grand total 14,306.8 miles; 23,024.6 kilometers.

This morning I am back on the National Highway 1, Stuart Highway and I am head in a southerly direction. That’s me, the virtual me located at the B-marker.

Yesterday, as I wrote that I reached my 11th destination and goal point in my Jim’s Trek III, my virtual trek in/on the mainland of Australia.

Finally my grade school geography is kicking in. As usual I more than likely wasn’t listening during class. The continent Australia includes “mainland Australia, Tasmanian, New Guinea, Seram, possibly Timor, and neighboring islands.” And New Zealand is not a part of the continent Australia. It is of the "separate, submerged continent of Zealandia". Damn, I wish I had listened in class. And yes it looks like that Jim’s Trek III is taking me around the perimeter of mainland Australia.

I will say that there are some tangents.

Interesting concept... Just think of the encyclopedic amount of memories, thoughts, and details? Maybe this is the other 90%?


Scientists have found that memories may be passed down through generations in our DNA – The Mind Unleashed, 6 January 2014.

And DNA Memory Exists and Keeps Our Ancestors' Experiences - The Collective Intelligence.

This is my 733rd Jim’s Trek post. And according to Blogger Jim’s Trek has recorded, as of this morning, 56,577 Pageviews.

I welcome comments or thoughts or ideas. Please feel free to contact, email me at Jim’s Trek.

Be healthy and enjoy your day.

Jim

Day 263 – (AD 693) – Jim's Trek Part III – 21.9 Miles – 11th Destination – Darwin, NT Australia On My Schwinn 170

Good Day,

This morning I pedaled 21.9 miles on my Schwinn 170. My total to date now stands at 14,284.9 miles; 23,989.4 kilometers.

And today I reached my 11th destination and goal point in my Australia virtual Trek. My 11th destination on this virtual trek was the City of Darwin in Northern Territory. (Population - 136,250)

Now I have to realize that there must be something with a Twilight Zone-type twist watching my virtual and wacky journey. Check out the B-point on the Google Map where I have landed on my 11th goal.  My word for the year - Synchronicity.  Period.

Yes that is right. One of the streets is Smith Street. This is purely happenstance and I can honestly say that I had NO prior knowledge of the street name, let alone the actual corner in the City of Darwin where I would land.

And of course I have not completed by Australia Trek. I have pedaled a total of 5,667.8 miles which is now 54.0% of my total Australia miles. My next and 12th destination and goal point is only 917 miles away. Hell, who would have thought Australia?

My blood sugar is at 102 this morning. I’m counting the days until January 2, 2015.

Our immediate quilt projects progress is as follows: Equality – Only the corner blocks remained to be quilted, thank you Keith Haring; Moon Over Bayshore – First draft design completed and the fabric shades have been chosen; NT Celebration – The quilt sandwich has been assembled and end-to-end quilting is taking shape; Chopsticks – A new project inspired by Karen Fisher’s Garland.

This is my 732nd Jim’s Trek post, and I start my 3rd year pedaling. And according to Blogger Jim’s Trek has recorded, as of this morning, 56,547 Pageviews.

I welcome comments or thoughts or ideas. Please feel free to contact, email me at Jim’s Trek.

Be healthy and enjoy your day.

Jim