Category Fitness

Not much to report regarding last evening, I did my mini-workout when I got home which included crunches, static wall hand stand hold and elbow planche.  My dinner was some meatloaf mom kept for me and steamed broccoli from the garden.  After some WoW I watched some more Boardwalk Empire and the latest episode of Game of Thrones.  Both shows are very good in different ways.

I find it funny that my most favorite character on GoT is the dwarf.  This is the first show I can recall that has an adult little person in it as one of the lead roles.  The guy is damn good, I recognized him from Elf (dwarf child book author).

I forgot to mention that on Sunday I swapped out the ignition switch on my SSR.  Up until mid-model year of 2005, a defective version of this switch was put in the trucks.  The failure of these switches can cause any number of problems.  The general consensus is even if you haven’t had a problem yet, if your truck has one of the old switches in it, you should replace it anyway. So that is what I did.

Dicktator from SSRFantatics made a very good step by step how to on the procedure. Here is a link to a PDF version of the instructions that I made.  I decided to video tape the switch swap.  Other than my  successful, 60,000 view Tough Mudder video, my automotive maintenance videos are the most popular on my YouTube channel.

The most difficult part of the swap out was removing and re-installing the plastic cover that covers the lower half of the steering column.  I struggled quite a bit getting it off and on. It did not go back together cleanly, I have a small gap along the seam.  I think I may have damaged a tab when I pulled it off.

I also had the key, which is supposed to be in the RUN position for the entire procedure, in the wrong spot.  As a result when I first tested the switch everything was off by one click.  When I turned the truck off  it acted like the key was in the accessory position.  I fixed this by simply dropping the new switch down, putting the key in the proper run position and then clicking the switch back in place.

Anyway, if you are looking for the only known how to video on SSR ignition switch replacement, look no further.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FY7LuN_Z5I

Between my elbow planches and some severe (for me) planking last night my lower back is pretty sore today.  I just am not used to utilizing my lower back to that degree.  I am hoping to keep these type of moves in my exercise rotation so they become less severe in their back issue aftermath.

Ali is heading up to PA for several days to visit her family tomorrow.  As a result I will have the dogs back out at the house for dog sitting duties.

Ali continues to have tick issues at her new place.  For some reason the problem seems to be worse for Nicki.  Sadie has had a few ticks crawling on her but none have latched on and filled up with blood. Nicki on the other hand has had a number of engorged ticks on her, even after having a double dose of Advantix as well as a supplementary flea and tick collar.

Obviously Ali is very frustrated that despite her extraordinary measures, (she also has a spray down/inspection ritual before and after every walk) ticks keep showing up on the dogs.  She is dumbfounded that her tick problem has not been reiterated by other dog owners in the community she has talked to.  Ali doesn’t know what to do short of shaving the dogs, which would not only look silly but be traumatic for both of them.

I suggested that regular baths with flea & tick shampoo (natural) would probably be a good course of action.  Not only does the stuff kill anything that would currently be on the girls, it also will help prevent new bastard ticks from latching on for a period of time.

Ali is willing to give anything a shot at this point so I ordered some shampoo with good reviews off Amazon.  I may try to give them baths while they are out at the house this weekend.  It’s a tough job solo but doable.

Last night after work I decided to play around more with an elbow planche.  It is a balancing move that isn’t too hard but I have had limited success with in the past.  The main requirement to do the move is a strong lower back that allows you to suspend more than half of your body in a near horizontal position.

After a few practice runs I found a good balance point.

Part of my original cost cutting measures was an intent on reducing my costs for both auto and home owners insurance.  I contacted my local agents office back in early April.  I talked to somebody named Dan that went over my policies with me, indicating a few things that could be done to save money.  He said he had to check on a few things and he would get back to me the next day.  Well this started an incredibly frustrating pattern of poor follow up.

No less than 4 times over the past few weeks I have had to call into the office asking for this agent to call me back both via messages on his voice mail and frustrated messages left in person with other office staff.  He kept ignoring me.  I was pissed.

So late last week I call in and talk to some woman.  I told her that I have been trying to get Dan to follow up on these policy changes for three weeks and he keeps refusing to call me back.  I told her I was done with him and wanted to talk to somebody else.  She said she would have another agent contact me.

So I am contacted by another agent.  I recap the lack of communication by Dan.  The new guy said he apologized for the miscommunication, he said Dan supposedly was leaving me messages.  I asked what number he was calling.  Josh said it was my work number.  I told Josh I have no voice mail on that line so somebody is not telling the truth.

So anyway I review the situation with Josh and tell him what we were working on.  Supposedly he was going to be able to save me roughly $125 on my homeowners and about $200 on my car insurance.  I told Josh about a statement I had received in the middle of this miscommunication mess that listed policy changes on my home owners insurance.  One of those changes indicated an additional $381 for “rate change”.

Well of course this got my blood pressure instantly elevated.  I originally thought that my interaction with Dan somehow resulted in a nearly $400 INCREASE in my rate.

Well when I started looking at old bills I realized this 30% rate increase has been in place for the entire policy period.  Evidently they slid this rate increase in last year and Ali just paid the higher rate.  Well I am not the type to let a place suck additional dollars out of my wallet without a fight.

I told Josh that I want the replacement value on my house adjusted down.  It looks to be almost $100k high.  He said he is going to see what he can do.  He better do.

My life right now feels pretty simple.  I do my thing, when and how I want to do it, rinse and repeat.

So after my crazy road trip to Plant City on Thursday I designated Friday as chore day.  I wanted to get everything around the house done so my weekend was void of must do’s.

It really is amazing how much different cleaning is with one less person and two less dogs in the house.  The amount of scuzz that I pull out of the carpet is dramatically less and I didn’t even need to run the Scooba, the tile areas were totally fine.

It was also the first time I used my new mini-Dyson to vacuum the entire house.  It did just fine although there were a couple draw backs.  The smaller vacuum head means a lot more passes to cover the rug.  Also it’s smaller size translates into a shorter power cord, meaning I have to do more unplugging and plugging than I used to.  Neither thing is a big deal, just different.

Since I mowed on Tuesday I was totally done with everything by early afternoon.  I sat down and decided to peruse my newly connected HBOGO service on my 360 (courtesy of my buddies’ Comcast credentials)  I saw “Game Change” pop up, the movie about the 2008 presidential campaign and specifically that idiot, Sarah Palin.

Julianne Moore did a FANTASTIC job of portraying Palin.  Not only did she look like her she sounded almost identical.  Woody Harrelson was great as McCain’s campaign manager and Ed Harris made a pretty believable John McCain as well.

The movie did a great job of just portraying how overmatched Palin was being thrust into the role of potential VP.  Her overall lack of knowledge was comical as was the campaign’s staff realization that they were dealing someone that had no business being there.

I knew very early on that Sarah was a joke so this film did nothing but to reaffirm that existing opinion.  However if you are one of those people that still think Palin is the political answer to ANYTHING besides cancelled reality tv shows, please take two hours out of your life and watch the movie to free yourself of that silly belief. It gets an A.

I was unsure if I wanted to drag myself out of bed to do the club run on Saturday morning.  I was still feeling sleep deprived from the way my week went, especially Thursday when my day started at 4am and didn’t end until after midnight.

Well I set the alarm anyway and drug myself out of bed, cursing myself all the while.  I arrived at the start point of the run with 15 minutes to spare.  When I saw Christy and Michelle show up I figured since I was feeling like my batteries were half full, I would just run with Ali and them.  There was one problem, Ali wasn’t there. Ali came speeding into the parking lot just as the group had started walking out on to the main road.

So we started running at the rear of the pack.  I ran with the girls for a little bit but their pace was just a little too slow for me so I slowly pulled ahead.  I forgot my GPS so I had no idea what sort of pace I was actually running.  At the halfway point I met back up with Matt and ran back with him so I am sure overall I had a negative split.

After I finished I hung out waiting for the girls to get back.  I had asked Ali the night before if she had any interest in going to a game for the arena football team.  After her run she said she would go.  At first she sounded like she wasn’t all that interested in going but when I asked again she said it was a better option than sitting home.  I told her how the tickets were only $7 and we could park for free at the outlet mall next door.  It would be cheap entertainment.

My main task of the day Saturday was to thoroughly clean the SSR.  The inside and outside of it was a mess from the drive to Plant City.

I spent a good two hours thoroughly cleaning the truck.  One of the areas that required extra elbow grease were right behind the passenger side wheel wells where there was rubber residue from the retread I inadvertently drove over. One spot I was able to get off with just soapy water, the other spot required follow up with Goo Gone.

After the clean up I laid down for a much needed 90 minute nap so I wouldn’t be completely dead for the football game.

I headed over to Ali’s early.  I told her I would spring for the pizza and we could catch up on the latest Biggest Loser.  While I was there we took the girls for a long walk around the lake in Ali’s community.  As we walked it started to rain progressively harder but neither of us really cared.

I also brought my clippers with so Ali could repair my self inflicted haircut.  I tried to give myself and straightline across the rear of my head while using a mirror.  Instead I succeeded in giving myself a ridiculous looking jagged edge.

We left probably earlier than we needed to.  By the time we parked at the outlets and walked across to the arena it was 6:30, a full hour before the game was scheduled to start.  We just bought two 7 dollar tickets at the box office, knowing the place would not be very full based on our past arena football experience.

You see Alison and I had season tickets for the first two seasons of the first arena football team in our area, the Florida Firecats, who folded a few years back.  After two seasons of indoor football we sort of knew what to expect.

The new team is called the Florida Tarpons.  They evidently are pretty damn good as so far they are undefeated.

The first thing we did was grab a beer.  I was surprised that Ali ordered a Bud Light as well, she has never been much of a beer drinker at all.  We then walked the around the concourse a bit just to see if there were any significant changes to Germain Arena since we were there last.

We then found our $7 seats which were at the very top row.  Even being up top, the place is small enough that it isn’t a big deal.  Plus I was positive we would be able to easily move down as the game progressed.

I did find myself annoyed that a bunch of people sat down right next to and in front of us.  It seemed ridiculous that they would need to seat people shoulder to shoulder when there were so many empty seats.

So we just hung out in the seats and watched the Tarpons warm up.   Later on the opposing team, the Mississippi Hounddogs came out.  My eyes were immediately drawn in like lasers to number 60. He was not just fat he was SUPER fat.

This dude was so fat that the biggest jersey they had did not fit him.  He had to wear a supersized shirt underneath his jersey to cover his humungous stomach.

Both Ali and I were amazed the guy was even on the field.  The impact on his joints if he tried to run had to be tremendous.  I also pitied any ball carrier that found himself underneath this guy.

It turned out number 60 only played sparingly during the game.  I think we may have seen him in 4 or 5 series tops.  He made zero tackles but he did sort of run around a bit. Ali felt bad when the PA system played the Fat Albert “Hey, hey, hey…” a few times when big boy was on the field.

Well the Tarpons didn’t waste much time showing why they were undefeated, jumping out to a quick lead.  I found it interesting that in arena football you score a point if your kicker can boot the ball through the narrow uprights on a kick off, something the Tarpon kicker did two or three times.  I don’t recall that rule in the other league.

As planned we steadily improved our seat position during the game.  After half time we tried to really get greedy, moving down into the padded seats that include cupholders.  Well unfortunately the old lady seat attendant walked over and asked we had tickets for that section.  I told her we did, just a few rows up.  She said we had to move.

It sort of pissed me off.  Yea I understand we paid for $7 seats and were probably sitting in seats that cost $20 or more but really, who cares?  If these seats are not sold, it isn’t like I am costing the team money by sitting in an unsold seat.

To me, with a new franchise that is trying to build a following, they should tell the seat nazi’s to chill out.  If I am sitting in somebody else’s seat, sure tell me to move.  But in my eyes, moving to an unsold seat is a no harm, no foul situation.  If anything it makes me more likely to attend another game if I know I can improve my seat position with out getting hassled.

The Tarpons set a new standard for ugly mascots. Timmy the Tarpon was just fugly, no two ways about it.

The cheerleaders for the team, “The Reel Girls” were surprisingly good.  They did a number of dance routines that seemed solid.

The Tarpons absolutely smashed the Hound Dogs, winning by a final score of 58-26.  Ali and I ducked out with a little less than 10 minutes to go in the game to beat the traffic.   Ali and I both had a good time overall, the game delivered pretty solid bang for the buck.  I would go again.

I told Ali I had ideas of doing a bike/swim combo Sunday morning however the rainy forecast put it in doubt.  I told her I would let her know in the morning if I was going to do it or not.

Well Sunday mornings weather radar looked bad, rain was definitely coming so we scrapped the plans.  Instead I asked Ali if she wanted me to grab the dogs on my coffee run to take them to the house.  Ali wanted to clean her place thoroughly and having the dogs out of the apartment would make it easier.  She took me up on my offer.

So after picking up the girls we headed back to the house.  I let them immediately out into the back yard.  I can tell they really appreciate being able to roam around leash free now although during our walk at Ali’s place they also seemed quite happy strolling around the lake too.

My main Sunday project was to finally install the new spark plugs and spark plug wires I have had sitting on my workbench for the Tacoma for over a month.  I was sort of putting it off since the truck had been running ok although I know at 138,000 miles and 13 years old, the plugs HAD to be changed.

So I decided Sunday was finally the day.  I moved the SSR over and pulled the front end of the Tacoma into the garage to work on it.  It had been raining off and on for most of the day.

Getting access to the plugs on the passenger side was not bad, I basically just had to remove the hose that runs from the air box to the throttle body.  I was glad I invested in a magnetic spark plug socket.  The plugs sit deep in tubes, the socket was able to grab hold of them easily once I loosened them up.  The tool was equally useful in putting the new plugs in to prevent them from dropping down the hole and damaging the electrodes.

Getting access to the plugs on the driver side was a bit more challenging. I had to remove a few brackets and move some wires.  I was also very fortunate to have bought a swivel extension bar set a couple months go.  If I didn’t have it I am not sure if I could have done the plug by the firewall.

The plug wires were a new experience for me.  The last time I did plugs and wires on a vehicle was probably my 69 Firebird back in the early 90’s.  Back then you had one wire per cylinder. Well with the Tacoma, despite there being 6 cylinders/spark plugs, you only have three wires.

There is no distributor, instead each wire connects to a coil on the other side of the engine.  That coil controls the spark for two plugs.  I almost miswired two of the plugs but luckily realized my error before firing it back up.  I was quite happy that when I turned the key the engine fired right up an ran normally.

When I pulled the old plugs it was confirmed the job was way overdue.  The center electrode on the plugs was worn away from millions of ignition cycles over the years.  I am doing a new mileage test to see if the new plugs and their better spark translates into better mpg.

Later, I hung outside with the dogs several times, walking around the yard and watching them play.

I also watched all Game of Thrones episodes, I am now current except for the latest episode.  I really like the show. Sadie and Nicki slept in the bedroom with me while I watched the shows.

I asked Ali if she wanted to come out to pick up the dogs instead of me dropping them off.  She hadn’t been back to the house since she moved out in early April.  I told her I had some pasta in the freezer I could make.  She accepted the offer.

So when Ali arrived I had already started working on making a salad for dinner, something that used to exclusively be Ali’s duty.  I actually did 100% of the meal prep, it just seemed like the appropriate thing to do.

Ali watched the latest Celeb Apprentice with me while sitting on my new, used, furniture for the first time.  She said the sofa’s were pretty nice and overall she said I did a nice job of arranging things in the house to make up for what was taken out.

When it came time for Ali to leave she was upset which upset me.  It’s hard for her to be leaving like another house guest.  It was hard for me too.

Over the course of the weekend we talked about if us seeing/interacting with each other as much as we have been since we separated is a good thing in the big picture.  If we continue to act like a married couple that simply has two different addresses it probably isn’t the best thing long term. However this is a hard time for both of us and I think we both find comfort in each other’s company.

It’s early yet, we still have a lot of sifting through the trees till clear daylight is ahead.

I have been laying off pushing exercises at the gym this week, hoping that doing so will provide some relief for the chronic shoulder pain I have had for a long time.  So far it hasn’t made a difference, my shoulders, especially the right one still feels shitty.

Anyway, instead of doing my mini-push up, dip and pull up routine before my weight work I have just been doing pull up variations.  For whatever reason I have been feeling strong with my pull ups this week.

On Monday I equaled my all time best with a 22 rep set.  On Tuesday I did 15 slow and controlled reps non-stop in a knee raise position.  Yesterday I hit another milestone, completing a pull up while weighed down with half of my body weight. (85 pounds)

Doing heavy weighted work at Retro is sort of a pain in the ass since they don’t have a dip belt which is the normal way to add weight to your reps.  Instead I have to awkwardly and uncomfortably suspend a dumbbell between my legs.

My one rep max pull was done after I already had done some additional weighted pull up sets so I was somewhat fatigued so that made it even better.  I am not quite sure why I have had a sudden elevation in my pulling power/endurance but I hope it sticks around.  A 25 rep set would be the next big target.

Last night after the running club board meeting, which was one of the shortest I can ever recall attending, several of us headed to a nearby popular hangout for some beers and food.  It felt quite foreign sitting at a bar smack dab in the middle of the week but I had a real good time just hanging out and shooting the shit.

Surprisingly I was not the subject of some grand inquisition, I thought there would be attempts to extract additional details about Ali and my separation.  Instead it didn’t come up at all which was cool.  The group I was with are some of my favorites in the club, I expect I will be hanging out with them on a more regular basis.

I couldn’t believe the platter the one guy ordered, bacon macaroni and cheese.  It had to be a 3000 calorie dish although I heard repeatedly how incredible it is.

I was there pretty late, leaving shortly before 10.

This morning I got a text from Ali, saying that she found another tick on Nicki.  This one had actually latched on and was filled with blood.

It seems that the grounds at Ali’s new place are simply infested with ticks.  In the scant couple weeks she has been there she now has discovered almost double digit ticks, some on the dogs, some on the furniture  and some on Ali.

The tick latching onto Nicki of course is worrisome.  We applied Advantix to the dogs after they moved in but this tick apparently was not deterred.  I told Ali that she really needs to push the property managers to get pest control in there to spray the grounds for ticks.

I gave Ali some tips to get the tick off like covering it in Vaseline to suffocate the sucker.  Ali was hoping the tick would just fall off but it didn’t.  I knew she would be freaked out about pulling off the tick so I offered to stop by on my way to work to yank it. Ali took me up on my offer.

It took a few minutes for the dogs to calm down enough so I could take a look at the tick which was on Nicki’s chest.  I first tried to yank it with my fingers via a paper towel but was unsuccessful.  Ali had a tweezers as well.  I was able to easily get the tick off with the tool and it looked like the tick came off intact.

I’ll be heading over to Ali’s place this weekend to help her with some more stuff.

Last night after work I hoped to take an official crack at hard mode for this month’s challenge.  Hard mode is a bodyweight dip tree where you keep doing consecutive sets, increasing your reps by 1 each time.  At the gym at lunch I had done bicep and tricep work which potentially could have been a problem but I decided to try anyway.

I did a test run of this challenge at the gym and made it through 8 + sets.  Well I could tell early on that I was not going to do well.  I stopped abruptly in the middle of set number 7, hence my new title of Dip Quitter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3qOG6r0_xc

I wanted to at least do something positive out on the bars so I followed up with 5 muscle ups, the first two of which were very clean, at least for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VStB1-8sRZk

As I was coming inside I noticed yet another screen panel on the bottom of the pool cage was ripping along the spline.  I suspect my darling little Sadie may have head butted it at one point during their visit, probing for an exit.  I really don’t like doing the bottom panels, the low working conditions and surrounding thorny roses make it quite the unpleasant experience.

Since my CC period rolls over in a couple days I would like to get my SSR up to Plant City to get the clutch/flywheel swapped out late next week.  I am hoping that while that is being done the guy will let me put some other parts on the truck while it is up on the lift.  I have an upgraded engine fan and a front air dam, both of which are designed to bolster the stock underpowered cooling system in the truck.

I still have the new set of plugs and wires for the Tacoma sitting on my workbench. I haven’t gotten around to replacing them yet.  I find myself hesitant to do so since the truck is running ok.  But at 137,000 miles and counting it really should be done.  Heck it may even help me squeeze out another mile or two per gallon, something that is becoming increasingly more important with the price of gas.

Yesterday I equaled my all time best in pull up reps, scoring 22 at the gym over lunch.  If I chose to hang on the bar another 5 seconds or so I am pretty sure I could have set a new best.  I didn’t bother though because to be honest, setting a PR on an indoor bar where you can’t fully extend your legs isn’t quite legit.  (my other 22 rep performance was on my Iron Gym)

Having your legs tucked changes the movement around a bit.  I hope to chalk up and see if I can hit 23 reps at home on my outdoor bar.  The best I have ever managed outdoors is 20 reps.

I have found having your grip locked in tight is essential in a max pull up attempt.  As soon as the bar starts slipping down onto your fingers you are going to struggle.

I left work a little early yesterday to meet up at a near by bar with some other co-workers.  The former head of a department that had moved out of the area years ago was back visiting.  A few of us got together to catch up.  I only had a couple beers before I unfortunately had to head home to let the dogs out.

I was worried that I would come home to a smelly present since the dogs had been home alone for 11 hours by the time I got back.  I was quite pleased to see they both held it like troopers.

So Ali flew back last night from her work trip to Virginia.  Her plane didn’t get in until close to 10pm.

I piled the girls and their stuff in the party van to pick her up.  I saw Ali’s flight was a little ahead of schedule so I left a little early.  I wound up having maybe 15-20 minutes to kill in the cell phone parking lot.

I was sitting there with the van turned off and the windows down, checking email on my Iphone.  There was a BMW parked maybe 30-40 feet away with it’s windows down as well.  In the vehicle were two women, I think it was a mother and her daughter.

Anyway since it was quiet I could pretty much hear their entire conversation without even trying.  At one point the daughter got onto the subject of how she likes Katy Perry but is so tired of hearing her on the radio all the time.  She said it seems like every other song is Katy Perry.

Well I had to take a swing at that softball.  I instantly fire up Pandora on my Iphone, create a Katy Perry channel and turn the volume all the way up.  I saw the girl glance in my direction, although I don’t think she realized that I intentionally started playing her music.  I saw her bopping her head to the beat, probably after making a comment to her mom about how ironic it was that a Katy Perry song came on right after she talked about it.

I was smirking from my party van captain’s chair the entire time.

So Ali texted me she had her bag.  I fired up the van and picked her up.  As we pulled up to the curb both the dogs were up on the front seat with their heads out the window, excited to see their mommy.  I threw Ali’s bags in the back and off we went.

On the way home Ali told me about her trip although there weren’t that many details since she basically just worked and hung at the hotel when she wasn’t working.  I filled her in on what the dogs and I did while she was gone, including the various efforts at her new place.

As we were on I-75 Ali mentioned how it feels weird that I am picking her up at the airport but I am dropping her off at her own place.  I agreed it felt weird but just lumped it in with all of the other weird feelings we have already experienced and will surely experience more of going forward.

When we got back to her place I took her bags up for her and gave her a brief rundown again of what I did.  She liked the new tv and the shelf and laundry cart I put together for her.

When I it was time to go I got a bit choked up when I said goodbye to the dogs as I rubbed their heads.  They had a lot of fun with me and I am sure this geographic split of their “parents” makes no sense to them.  I could tell Ali was upset as well as I hugged her and told her I was glad she was home safe.

There is just no way to avoid those sad, painful moments in this process.  We can only both hope that as time passes they will decrease in frequency and intensity.

On a brighter note, I found a great replacement camera app for the Iphone, it’s called Camera+.  Spend 99 cents to see why  and thank me later.

Of course the latest surge in gas prices is hammering everyone hard.  I got a front row seat to just how hard that hit can be.  In the span of two days I spent over $250 filling three of the vehicles.  Wow.

In our upcoming separation Ali will definitely be in a much better spot when it comes to transportation. The Camry Hybrid is paid off, gets more than twice the gas mileage of the other vehicles and she is cutting almost 30 miles off any round trip that she will be making with her new address.

The Tacoma is the gas mileage leader in my pack rated at 17 in the city and 21 on the highway, yay.

In contrast I will be maintaining a 13 and 16 year old vehicle as well as the SSR which just developed a potentially expensive problem which I will detail next.  When I add in the insurance and vehicle registration costs of the three vehicles I have a huge vehicle related nut to manage.

Of course the timing of the SSR purchase, as much as I love the truck is not ideal at all based on what is coming down the pipe for me.  Just making the payments for the truck will be enough of a burden.  Well Friday a new potential burden arrived.

I took the truck to work as I do on most Fridays.  As I am now accustomed to, driving top down on the truck still makes me feel better about life as a whole, my personal four wheeled, topless therapist, even with the sharp turns that are now in my face.  The truck seemed to drive just fine while I was out on the road.

Well when I backed into the garage I heard a rattling noise.  At first it sounded like it was coming from the passenger side of the engine compartment.  I actually shot two different videos so the experts on SSRFanatics could give me some opinions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKGp150QYi0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxUrdM_sXa8

As you can hear, it does not sound good.  Immediately all sorts of bad scenarios ran through my head.  The last thing I need right now is another major vehicle repair bill.

When I crawled under the SSR it seemed like the noise was coming right from the junction of the engine and transmission.  The advice I received indicated there was a good possibility it was coming from the flywheel.

Evidently the SSR 6 speeds are factory equipped with an under-performing clutch set up which includes something called a dual mass flywheel.  This flywheel is designed with the intention of delivering smoother starts.  Unfortunately this design is not particularly good at dealing with the 400 HP the SSR LS2 motor put out.  The forums are filled with 6 speed owners that have gone through flywheels and clutches like mad.  It is just a bad design.

Unfortunately there is no way to know for sure until that area is ripped open which is a chore in itself.  If the problem is indeed the flywheel I could pay a shitload of money to have another OEM, poor performing flywheel installed and then wait for the issue to happen again.

However the option recommended to me by other Fanatics was to have a guy in Plant City do a swap of the clutch system with one designed for a Vette, a slightly more expensive solution but a much better long term solution.

Well neither solution fits into my financial jigsaw puzzle at this moment so as a result the SSR will be just resting in the garage until that situation changes.  So much for top down stress relief sessions.

On Saturday Ali was leaving in the afternoon to head to the east coast for her triathlon.  I spent the majority of the time leading up to it doing stuff around the house.  I did pretty much the full boat of chores, including cleaning.  I figure I might as well get used to it.

Once I dropped Ali off for her trip I headed home.  I spent a good portion of Saturday night researching the SSR problem and filled in the rest watching the rest of Walking Dead Season 2.  The show is very good but I suggest you don’t get too emotionally attached to any of the characters, there seems to be very few untouchables, anyone seems to be fair game at all times to be next up for Zombieville.

I got up early on Sunday to make the trek across the state with the dogs to watch Ali’s tri.  Originally we talked about me getting there before the race but that would have just been a mess between leaving incredibly early and trying to find Ali in the mass of pre-race humanity.  Instead I pulled out of the house at a more manageable 6:30 am, figuring Ali won’t be done until 10 am at the earliest since she was starting around 7.

The drive over to South Beach was tough early on as I drove through patches of extremely dense fog.  At points my visibility was dangerously short.  Nicki was driving me nuts, she was constantly up and down on the passenger seat that was already occupied by Sadie.  She was excited to be going somewhere but didn’t quite know why I guess.

As I approached the South Beach area I went over two bridges that already had people out on the bike course.  They had the normal exit I would use closed off, luckily I had the GPS along to help me navigate.

As I entered South Beach traffic was a mess because of the closed streets.  I had intentions of going to the public garage at 7th & Collins.  It took me a long time to get to the garage, carefully navigating the party van through the narrow streets with people buzzing all around.  When I did  finally arrive I was not happy.

I see the 6’8″ clearance sign hanging over the entrance.  I do not know the exact height of the van but I know 6’8″ is pretty damn close.  I rolled down the woman and asked her if she thought the van would fit, she said no.  Great.  I then asked where else there was a public garage.  She said up on 13th street so I headed up there.

Well I saw the same 6’8″ clearance sign on the other garage as well however I also spotted a small public parking lot on the other side of the street.  That will have to do.

By this time I had to take a leak like mad, something I knew I would be unable to do once I had two dogs attached to me via leash.  I locked the van and quickly looked for a place to relive myself.  I found a Starbucks around the corner that had bathrooms “for customers only”.  I grabbed a small coffee after relieving myself.  However as I was walking quickly back to the van I dumped the coffee after one sip, again realizing it would be impossible to drink once the dogs were in the picture.

I leashed up the excited girls, threw my backpack on which contained water and a dog bowl and headed towards the beach.  From a dog’s viewpoint South Beach was a wonderland of smells, they were both wanting to stop and sniff something every few feet.  I tried to humor them at first, later it became maddening.

On top of that, the sidewalks in much of South Beach are narrow and crowded.  I was wrangling the dogs non-stop to try to squeeze past other people without them jamming a wet nose into legs.

Finally I made my way down into Lummus Park, a spot I was familiar with since I played in several volleyball tournaments there over the years.  As we walked into the park we saw a bunch of runners, the elite people were running back towards the park, the not-so-elites were just heading out.  It was a little after 9 am at this point so I thought that if Ali was close to her goal of a 3 hour race that I might see her running out.  The one variable was when her wave started which I had no idea of.

I found a bench along the path that had some shade from neighboring palm trees, giving the girls a good spot to chill out.  I sat there for awhile watching the runners go by.  I was surprised by the half a dozen or so people that noticed my Tough Mudder shirt and commented as they ran by, fellow Mudders obviously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg62Kbk7RbM

I eventually spotted Ali running towards us and fired up the Flip just in time to shoot some video of her heading out onto the course.  Once she was out of sight I knew we had around an hour to kill so I just sort of meandered about.

As expected, South Beach was once again a spectacular place to just people watch.  I saw all sorts of interesting individuals.  There was the small group gathered around a black guy singing Christian Rock with a guitar and portable amp.  His audience included a chubby guy with a beard that was sleeping along with his full size poodle and her two small puppies.

Then there was the MMA looking fighter dude that was running on the pavement bare footed as he was shooting alternating jabs every few steps. In one store front there was a chubby guy wearing a much too small red, white and blue speedo with matching patriotic top hat and nothing else.

Skateboards are very popular in South Beach.  I saw a bunch of people doing a land based version of paddle boarding.  They were on long boards with a big stick that had a rubberized end.  They did all of the pushing off solely with the stick.  I also saw many people riding skateboards in a conventional manner, the funnies tof which was the guy that appeared to be delivering a pizza on one.

There were literally dozens of blog worthy sightings, I almost wish I had a notepad with to jot down some reminders.

So eventually I spotted Ali running back in.  The finish line was actually up and over the dune on the main beach area, somewhere dogs aren’t supposed to go.  Plus it would have been too hot out in the blazing sun so I thought it best to just stay in the park.  As Ali ran by I told her we would stay put so she could come find us.

It took awhile but eventually Ali returned to where we were, the dogs were of course thrilled to see her.  Ali briefly filled me in on her race saying she got a flat on the bike and then developed stomach cramps during her run.  It was a shame since she really had been training hard to throw a good number up for this race.

Ali said the hotel she was staying at was close by, we could go back there with the dogs so she could shower.  We went in a back entrance to smuggle the dogs in.  The Hilton actually is pet friendly, unfortunately only to pets that weigh less than 20 pounds.  We figured having our 50-60 pound monsters in there for an hour or so would not be a big deal.

Ali’s accommodations were certainly plush with marble floors and granite counter tops and even a bidet.  Unfortunately she said she had issues with a very loud altercation right outside her door at 3:45 am during the night.

The dogs certainly enjoyed cooling off on the marble floor.  I just hung out in the room and enjoyed the view of South Beach from the balcony.

Ali had made plans to join the woman she drove over with and another guy in his training group for lunch.  To be honest I would have been fine just heading out.  I was kind of burned out from managing the dogs. I didn’t want to dampen Ali’s plans though so we wheeled her bike, two of her bags, my backpack and the two dogs to a place called The Pink a few blocks away.

We of course had to sit outdoors with the dogs in tow but we also had all of this stuff.  I told Ali I would load up all the stuff and walk all the way up to 13th street where I was parked (restaurant was on 2nd).  Ali asked if I was sure I wanted to do that as in total I would be carrying three bags as well as maneuvering the bike.  I assured her I would be fine and just told her to order something for me and I would be back.

Well in the first block and a half I stopped 4 or 5 times to try new configurations to carry everything.  What I finally wound up doing was throwing my back pack on my back in a conventional manner.  I then took Ali’s backpack and threw it over my head and under my one armpit, sort of the way some women wear a purse.  I then held the remaining bag in my one hand and used the other hand to guide the bike.

It was not a comfortable configuration as the strap from Ali’s pack was pressing against the veins in my neck.  Adding to the discomfort was the hot sun and sidewalk that got more and more narrow the closer I got to 13th street.  There were many spots where there was barely enough room for one person to pass.  Trying to do so with a bike and three bags in tow basically sucked.

I was getting increasingly angry and frustrated as I trudged along, wishing death upon clueless pedestrians that would not yield their right of way.  I tried to maintain sanity by viewing the journey to the van like a Tough Mudder challenge. It helped a tiny bit.

Finally I arrived at the van and put all of the items inside.  By this time the lot which only had a few vehicles in it when I parked was now jammed with mongers circling about.  I was asked “are you leaving” 5 or 6 times during the few minutes I was there.

So now I started walking back at a much quicker pace since I was now freed of my baggage, the only thing I brought back with me was a water bottle and dog bowl for the girls.  Ali called me when I was at 5th street, saying the food had arrived.  I told her I should be back in a few minutes.

I arrived to a huge veggie burger and a bucket of fries.  It was quite good but I resorted to eating it with a fork and left half of the huge bun along with a bunch of fries.  It was kind of weird sitting there eating lunch with the other members of Ali’s group acting like we are just another couple.  I believe they all know what the deal is so I can imagine it was a bit weird for them as well.

After lunch I asked Ali if we could walk back via the park.  I wanted to stop at the bars they have on the beach to do some muscle ups.  The bars at South Beach are actually the first place I ever saw somebody do a muscle up in person years ago.  I remember thinking how crazy the move was, not able to comprehend how you could do a pull up so hard that you wind up on top of the bar.  I didn’t know when I would be getting back to South Beach again so  I didn’t want to squander the opportunity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvC4XRMGmmk

I did a couple reps on three different spots, the one set of bars had tons of sway in them and didn’t feel good for muscle ups at all.  None of my reps were very clean at all looking back at the video.  The best thing was probably my upper body only pole climb.  Oh well, it was still fun to mark “Muscle ups at South Beach” on the DONE list.

The drive home from South Beach wasn’t too horrible although navigating the van through the heavy traffic is always challenging.  Eventually, after scoring a large DD coffee we were out on the highway heading west.

Ali and the dogs dozed off for a good portion of the journey, all three of them were tired for different reasons. We didn’t wind up getting home until almost 5pm, much later than I anticipated originally.

I spent the majority of the rest of the night working on paying the bills, a process I am getting reacquainted with after letting Ali exclusively handle it for at least 6 or 7 years if not longer.  Doing so has been a real eye opener as I looked in depth at some of our spending, identifying tons of things that we were dropping a bunch of money on.

The grocery receipt was a huge example.  I realized that we were spending almost $60 a month on BIRD SEED.  One box of cereal, $5, my multi-vitamin was an incredible $15.  In two weeks alone over $350 was spent at the grocery store, it is insanity.

Now Ali has never been the type to scrutinize expenditures much, her attitude has normally been we can afford it so we can pay it.  I have always been the one that policed spending.  Admittedly, when it comes to normal spending like this I haven’t done much if any policing just because I let Ali bear full responsibility for the finances.  I was being lazy about it.

Well laziness can no longer be afforded in this area.  After spending a long time plowing through the numbers I emerged from the process thoroughly depressed.  I know we both will eventually navigate our way though this new financial maze but I have a whole bunch of anxiety about how I am going to create that path.  The numbers right now do not look promising in the least from my side.

The announcement of Ali and my separation seems to add to the steady stream of other long time couples splitting up recently in our circle.  Over the past year there have been a number of people that either split up or in the process of doing so.  It’s not a bandwagon that I am all that happy about jumping on but oh well.

So my blog entry yesterday was like my cyber press conference announcing our upcoming parting of ways.  As expected a number of people were taken by surprise by the announcement but universally nothing but kind words and support for both of us have been put forth which we both appreciate.

So both of us have started on the mountain of details that will need to be handled in order to facilitate our separation.  Yesterday I worked on changing a number of accounts that were set up to use the American Express credit card that going forward will be solely used by Ali.  I changed them all to bill to my Amazon rewards card instead.  I was surprised by just how many accounts there were, I bet in total I had to change almost a dozen.

Then I turned my attention to the necessary process of reducing monthly expenditures as money will now become something I have to pay much closer to attention to than I have for the last decade.

The first thing I did was kill a universal life policy that I have had active since my 20’s.  It was only for 100k and it’s premiums were rising quarterly.  I have life insurance through work and a much larger policy Ali and I set up a couple years back so there was no reason to keep this one active.

Cancelling it was sort of a lackluster experience.  The phone rep on the other end could have cared less I was cancelling a policy I had in place for around 20 years.  She basically said she didn’t have to cancel the policy, I just had to stop paying for it and it would die.

I remember when I was pitched the policy in the 90’s it was presented as not only a life insurance policy but an investment vehicle that could potentially generate some serious dollars.  Lol, what a joke, the cash value on the policy is basically nothing.

Next up I called Truly Nolen, the company that we have utilized for pest control at our house since it was built.  They have been annoying me for awhile, raising their rates several times over recent years.  I got a woman on the phone named Wendi.

I told Wendi that I just received the latest notification of a rate hike and I was thinking about cancelling the contract altogether as it is just too expensive.  Wendi said she could exempt me from the rate hike if I liked, ONLY charging me $127 for the 15-20 minutes the guy spends at our house once every 3 months.

I told her I still felt that number was excessive.  Wendi became obviously annoyed that I didn’t lavish her with praise for offering to not raise my rate further.  She then asked me what I would consider a reasonable rate.  I told her something less than $100.

I could hear Wendi rolling her eyes through the phone as she told me in a perturbed tone there was no way they could do that.  Hmm so I guess ZERO dollars is better than a 100 bucks.  Without any further attempts at remediation she said she would cancel my account.  When I asked her if there was some sort of confirmation number of the cancellation she said “Use my name and today’s date, GOOD BYE”  Haha you are welcome for 10 years of business Truly Nolen, I’ll be sure to look elsewhere if I look to reestablish pest control in the future, you pricks.

My final cost cutting of the day was a call to ADT whom we pay for monitoring our security system.  The security system was something that we did entirely to help Ali’s feeling security living out in the boonies.  Once we got the dogs, especially the addition of Sadie it was hardly necessary as the dogs sound like dual Cujo’s whenever someone approaches the house.

Anyway, I called up ADT and told them I was interested in cancelling.  Unlike Truly Nolen, they seemed more interested in keeping my business, offering several reduced rates before finally accepting my repeated desire to just cancel, although I did thank the rep for their efforts.

So thus ended the first round of cost cutting measures, I am sure there will be additional austerity measures on the way.

I am conflicted though, there are a couple items for the SSR that I really should take care of, the panhard bar and an upgraded radiator fan.  The bent panhard bar that resides under the truck now could literally allow the rear tires to hit the wheel well if I cornered hard.

The stock fan on an SSR is dramatically underpowered.  When I sit in traffic the engine temp routinely will climb to 235 degrees.  With the brutally hot Florida summer on it’s way I really should replace the fan with the upgraded unit.  This fan swap is something most owners on SSRFANATICS have already done.

I will have to decide if I want to bite the bullet and spend the money now.  It should be the only two items on the upgrade list that are mechanically important as opposed to other vanity/performance upgrades.

Over the weekend I had one of those parasitic home related expenses that seem to pop up so routinely.  The weed whacker died.  There was something wrong with the clutch, as I was running it the area around my hand was getting very hot and it coordinated with a  dramatic loos of power at the trimming head.  The engine was cranking but it felt like the head was “slipping”.

It was a cheap weed whacker to start with so there was no point in spending money to fix it.  I put the old weed whacker and the even older whacker with a gummed up carburetor I was holding on to for some dumb reason, out front where they were picked up by somebody in less than a half hour.  It’s always nice to have a built in neighborhood trash removal.  Almost anything I put by the road finds a new home somewhere, regardless of it’s condition.

I picked up a Poulan Pro weed whacker as a replacement.  It seemed to work quite well to finish up the second half of the property.

My new lunch box arrived over the weekend.  Well, new to me, it is actually a used box I grabbed on ebay.  It is an updated version of the 20 year old box it is replacing.  It looks slightly bigger on the outside but it’s interior dimensions are the same which is all that matters.

It feels kind of weird carrying in a box that does not have pieces of plastic falling off.  It seems to work just as well as old faithful.  My original lunch box will find it’s way onto some shelf on the property. I just don’t feel like tossing it out.

Last night I tried to keep some of my normal routines in place, heading outside for a brief work out.  You can see the first video of a GUTS routine along with my attempt at Bar-baric mode of this month’s challenge, dragon flags.

It was the first time I ever got a full ROM dragon flag on video.  This move is really tough for me since I have such a long build.  After the third rep I literally started seeing stars so I stopped there. 🙂

I forgot to mention earlier this week I found a replacement for my rapidly deteriorating lunch box.  It is a blue model that appears to have similar dimensions to mine.  It is used but I could care less.

I have already decided that I won’t be tossing my old box in the recycle bin, at least not yet.

After work I took a shot at normal mode of this month’s Bar-barian challenge which is dips after a 20 second static hold.  My 25 reps was a little less than I hoped for but I absolutely had nothing left at the end, my tri’s were shaking.

Last night I finally got around to making some fresh juice for dinner, something that just hasn’t happened lately for a few different reasons.  Last night the mixture included carrots, beets, celery, tomato, spinach and apple.

The stuff I was watching yesterday about the insidious nature of wheat was pretty eye opening.  Finding out that a piece of whole wheat bread has a higher glycemic index than a spoonful of pure sugar puts an entirely new spin on things.

Plus the fact that wheat has undergone the same process as soy and corn where the plant is modified to be able to survive exposure to highly toxic weed killers is just more gas for the fire.

Our food chain is just full of landmines wherever you look.  Corn has been turned into the backbone of the mess between it’s use to fatten up livestock to it’s utilization as the world’s most insidious sweetener.

Soy, which has been pitched as a great meat replacement by the companies that profit by growing it, is actually not very good at all for you when you do some digging around into what it actually does when ingested.

And now I can add wheat and it’s “wheat belly” effect, causing  blood sugar spikes higher than if you were swallowing teaspoons of sugar.

Now short of growing your own food exclusively, there is no way to escape the evil food empire. The best course of action is to practice moderation as much as possible.  If you are slamming bread, even wheat bread or other grain based products like it is going out of style you definitely are not doing your body any favors.

During the week lately I hardly see Alison at all.  Since she has a triathlon coming up in two weekends she has been adding on to her group training sessions.  In total she has been doing 6-7 group training sessions per week. When she does come home at night she is typically has little energy to do much more than eat and go to bed. It surely doesn’t make for much quality interaction/communication.

Last night was pretty much par for the course, our main interaction was when I noticed Ali’s latest impulse purchase, a new pair of cycling glasses.

I asked her about the purchase, questioning the need to buy ANOTHER pair of glasses when she already owns no less than 5 pairs of sport glasses.  Ali’s logic was much the same as her purchase of a “swimming parka”, these glasses were specialized, and automatically change their tint level as daylight changes. If there is one thing she loves, it is specialization.

This weekend I have a race to time on Saturday.  This is my least favorite race of all to time because it is literally held on a beach.  Sand gets everywhere.  Sand and electronic equipment just do not mix very well.  I really would like for this race to not be chip timed . The hassle/benefit ratio just does not work.

I have a new set of plugs and spark plug wires for the Tacoma.  After 136,000 miles it is way, way overdue. I watched a video on the basic procedure to remove/replace them which appears to be a mild pain in the ass but nothing I can’t muddle through.

I think we will be doing a bike ride on Sunday but I won’t be swimming laps yet.  Although the pain in my ear is gone it still does not feel 100% normal.