Day 109 – (AD 332) – Jim's Trek Part II – The Sequel – 21.5 Miles – Near the Rio Grande in New Mexico on My Schwinn 150.

Good day,

This morning I cycled on my Schwinn 150 an additional 21.5 miles. I burned another 682 calories. Everything seems to be going right but I have to figure out a way to tone up my gut. Yes, I know that I am no longer 30 years old, but at twice that I think there must be a way for me to get “the fitter thing.”

My three month average fasting blood sugar count is 96.68 mg/dL. This translates to an A1c of approximately 5.11%. This means that my A1c result falls within the normal range, even for people who don’t have diabetes. This is not a clinical test. I get that one next week. I wonder how the two will compare?

I am currently headed southeast on US-60 E. The landscape imaging has not changed that much over the past couple of days. Tomorrow I will be passing through Socorro, New Mexico, elevation 4,579 feet, population about 9,000. I didn’t realize that I am that close to the Rio Grande.

And I now have 630 more miles to go to get to my next Interlake address goal.

Isn’t 14% a big number? It is…especially when the other and opposite number is only 86%. Hah!

In the search for the origins of my great-great-great-grandfather James Smith I posted another one of my transcription works yesterday at A Genealogy Hunt. The mystery is where did he come from, or where did my Smith family line originate from before it arrived to Grenada?

And last night, I definitely learned that I must not add plain Greek yogurt to a hot pot. If only I had read the following before I added it to my Calcutta Lobster and Shrimp in Spinach and Yogurt Sauce experiment.

“Don't expect it, (the Greek yogurt), to act just like regular yogurt - chiefly, don't bake with it unless it's thinned out and don't heat it quickly or the concentrated milk proteins will separate from the remainder of the whey, never to unite again. Temper it before adding it to a warm dish, and only then, right at the end.”

The dish was good but it looked like I had used dry cottage cheese. Oh and by the way, I didn’t have any spinach so I used Swiss chard and tatsoi.

Some secrets revealed on Bleak House.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 108 – (AD 331) – Jim's Trek Part II – The Sequel – 22.1 Miles – Looks No Different in New Mexico on My Schwinn 150.

Good day,

This morning I cycled another 22.1 miles on my Schwinn 150. I am sort of getting bored of my cycling but there is no way that I intend to stop doing it right now. In just about another 30+ more days I will have been cycling for the period of one year, and there is no bloody way that I am going to give up that goal. The total number of miles that I have cycled now is 6,563.3. And I have still maintained the reduction of 11 inches on my waist.

It appears that my virtual Trek using Google Maps is actually a trip of the past, so-to-speak. The Google Map image of my location on US-60 E, just west of the Village of Magdalena, New Mexico was taken in 2007. From the satellite view at 500 feet I can see the indication of the Magdalena Airport.

The above image was posted on the website of the Magdalena Chamber of Commerce. I see Rwy 2 and Rwy 20, but what happened to Rwy 1 and 3 through 19?

I stumbled upon a site this morning of which I am totally enthralled. Street Pianos and Play Me, I’m Yours is an artwork project by British artist Luke Jerram. The Play Me, I’m Yours project tours internationally and began in 2008. And I am humbled, and excited.        


Play Me, I'm Yours London 2009 from lukejerram on Vimeo.
And I never know what or who I am going to encounter on this Trek that I began last December 2012.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 107 – (AD 330) – Jim’s Trek Part II – The Sequel – 20.7 Miles – New Mexico Still, On My Schwinn 150

Good Day,

I’m a bit late writing up my Trek journal and blog today. I cycled 20.7 miles this morning on my Schwinn 150. I have now cycled, in 330 days, 6,541.2 miles. My return Trek or my Part II now equals 35% of my total miles, 2,284.1 miles. All-things-being-equal I only have about 1,800 more miles to complete my complete cycling Trek, in this part of North America.

Virtually I am still in New Mexico on US-60 E and about 24 miles from Magdalena. The Google Maps satellite image certainly has this area as light brown, and seemingly dry.

Spent some quality time with CK. The kid now recognizes Grandpa's big toe.

Part 3 of Bleak House is still something that keeps my mental and visual minds focused on the story. And the actors are most definitely telling stories with their faces. This is certainly a help to my keeping up with my exercise on my Schwinn 150.

This is a short writing day.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 106 – (AD 329) – Jim’s Trek Part II – The Sequel – 21.0 Miles – New Mexico Somewhere, On My Schwinn 150

Good Day,

Today my cycling clocked 21.0 miles on my Schwinn 150. My next Interlake location goal is about 700 miles away.

I am on US-60 E somewhere in New Mexico between the Madre and Crosby Mountains. I am a bit north east of Datil, population about 55.

Not sure I understand this, but it seems that Firefox is recommending Add-ons to me that are Russian and Italian...in Russian and in Italian. Why? Accordingly the recommendations are based on the current ones that are included in my extensions. I only have three Add-ons currently added on; Google Image Search; iCloud Bookmarks; and Lightbeam. So what do these three have to do with the Russian and Italian recommendations? Strange thought…

This morning I watched Part 2 of Bleak House. It is Dickens’ dark examination of the shortfalls of the English Chancery court system in about the 1820s. How apropos that there is examination of legal documents and affidavits? Not in any way that I am an accomplished writer in the caliber of Charles Dickens but there does hold some persistence in the search and research of certain writings and scripts. I definitely might learn something.

I wonder if there may have been some slight association between Charles Dickens and Jules Verne. One of the minor characters in Bleak House known as Nemo is found dead, and there is an occasional reference to the fact that “Nemo” is the Latin for “nobody, no one”. Is that the meaning of Jules Verne's Captain Nemo in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea?

Decided on the new band for our Vanderbilt afghan. I think this one will work. Design work continues on CK’s GPS quilt. This new one should prove interesting and somewhat different. We started a new quilt design, The Doors. Both RG2013 and Tampa Kaleidoscope are in process of being quilted. Guess I’ll have to update our quilt and afghan schedule. Stay tuned to both Afghans SB and Quilts SB.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 105 – (AD 328) – Jim’s Trek Part II – The Sequel – 22.5 Miles – Catron County Heliport On My Schwinn 150

Good Day,

Today I cycled another 22.5 miles on my Schwinn 150. I’m ½ mile short of my 6,500 mark; 6,499.5 miles. And there is tomorrow.

This morning on my Trek I reached the fairly new Catron County Heliport. Google Maps' street views were taken in 2008 and the Heliport was opened in 2009. Sort of not much to see. And there is something that I do not understand. Accordingly the Catron County Heliport, C54, is 8 nautical miles east of Quemado, New Mexico. I did pass through Quemado, population about 250, but I am still looking for some body of water to measure the nautical miles. (The B-marker in the above image is me.)

I just realized that we as a human race are creating a thousand of new dialects under the umbrella of “Computer-eze”. Just trying to understand the what-application-works-with-what-device-and-if-you-do-not-have-this-make-or-type-of-device-you-can’t-use-this-application certainly boggles the wee bit of grey matter that I am trying to hold on to. Is it that I am getting old? Or just left out in the cold? It is raining nanobytes, and I do not mean the candy type.

The  kitchen and flood reconstruction is almost done. Some minor things to finish. We’re still heading for a completion date of Thanksgiving. The air-conditioning is back online... and of course our service company was insistent that there was another new gizmo that was needed for the unit.  No thanks.

My desktop PC is back to work and I am ready to start my writing and research once again.

This morning’s viewing companion was Masterpiece Theatre’s 2005 presentation of Charles Dickens Bleak House. Part 1 begins the introductions of characters, place, and time. As I never read this in school in all the English Literature classes I sat through, this one should prove somewhat interesting. There are 15 parts and this video companion will take me through much of November and about 300 miles of cycling.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim