Emissions Test Photos

Around where I live in Wisconsin we have to pass a vehicle emissions test before we can renew our registrations. It seems like I have to go every year but I think it's really every other year the test is required. It's possible it seems like that to me because I have more than one registered vehicle and I think they alternate years. Anyway there are sometimes long lines nearer to the end of the month and at certain times of the day. Someone had a good idea and put up some cameras at all the test stations and a website that you can go look at the photos to determine if it's a good time to go. Last time I had to have this test I pulled up the website on my computer at work and I left it up while I drove over and took my test. The camera takes a picture about twice each minute. After I got back to work I did some investigating. It was a little tricky but I found all the image files in my browser cache and was able to pull out the relevant ones from the time period while I was in line. I'm the green Ranger at the back in the first photos. Blogger shrunk my photos for some reason but if you click on them the full size image is there.

StarTrac Machines and Sandwiches (again)

I just finished my sandwiches after I got back from my Saturday workout. My sandwiches were as great as last week's sandwiches. I cannot imagine a time when I will ever grow weary of the taste of my sandwiches or desire any other after workout meal. Quick summary of my workout....I did an hour on the StarTrac crosstrainer. I've found that different machines have a different feel to the resistance at the same level. I struggled a bit my first half hour to stay at level 12 once I was warmed up. I alternated between 12 and 11 with 5 minutes a piece on each. The second run even on the same machine was altogether different. I used levels 13 and 14 in the same way I did the 11/12 except I did 11 minutes on 14 then 4 on 13, alternating until the half hour was up. I felt pretty great throughout except for there was somebody nearby that kept farting or something. I was near a ceiling fan and I'm not sure if that sucked the offending air toward me or away from me but it was pretty foul either way. It smelled like a sewer. After the StarTrac there was somebody on my usual Lifefitness Cycle so I tried one of the StarTrac cycles. I wanted to try one out anyway and I was pretty impressed. It has the same little fan attachment as the crosstrainer does. I noticed the pedaling seemed to be at a bit of a different angle than I'm accustomed to and the pedals seemed a bit close together but those would be my only complaints. The mechanism for the straps on the pedals was solid and easy to operate. It had arm rests and the heart rate sensors were on this adjustable bar that came out in front of you. I thought that was pretty cool. I tried one of the regular (not recumbent) bikes a few weeks ago and I liked that. The operation was real smooth and quiet on both types of bikes. I think I might switch to the StarTrac bike for good now.
So for the day now I'm worked out, showered and cleaned up, I've had some great sandwiches to satisfy my appetite....and I've written about it here while I rest up. So now what?

Foil Easter Eggs

It just occurred to me as I was eating a few of these chocolate Easter eggs that they are very similar in size and shape to testicles. They're a little smaller than testicles but still this is a somewhat disturbing similarity. I can't be the first person to ever think of this. Why don't they just make them wider at one end like a real egg?

Saturday Workout and Sandwiches

Today I went to the gym again for another long workout. At work I've been working in the warehouse for about the last month for various reasons so my morning workout routine has suffered as a consequence. My only day to get a good workout now is Saturday and so because of this for the last few weeks I've been doing longer cardio workouts on Saturdays. I've been spending about 45-55 minutes on the StarTrac Crosstrainer and then an additional half an hour on a LifeFitness bike to cool down. The programs on the machines limit you to 30 minutes so I have to cut my StarTrac workouts into 2 consecutive chunks. My first half hour is the most intense and the intensity of my second 20 or 25 minute turn on the StarTrac depends on how I feel. I've been targeting my heart rate at a maximum of 140-145 during the first half hour and easing off a bit to the 130-145 range for the second run. I cool off on the bike maintaining my heart rate around 100-110. By the time I'm done I've usually drank two bottles of water. When I take my shirt off before my shower I'm always amazed at how heavy and wet it is. It's pretty disgusting really but in a way if feels like an accomplishment of sorts.

I never know whether or not to believe the stats from the displays on the machines. I have no idea how they calculate your calories burned or your distance. I'm most skeptical of the distance figure. I'm not a runner as much as a cyclist but the StarTrac only shows I'm going about a mile every 25 minutes or so. If that's true I'm working awfully hard just to get one mile. I don't think running a mile would take that long or would be that difficult going across real ground. Maybe the settings I use would be comparable to running up a steep hill or something. I always use the manual program and during my first half hour I adjust the level to a 12 or so out of 20 and I keep my strides per minute to a min 130 but I try to maintain it around 140 or so. It's plenty difficult but not overwhelmingly so. These are just the settings I need in order to reach my target heart rate. After my workout....stretching, a shower, 10 minutes in the hot tub, and then another shower I'm usually pretty hungry. When I get home I usually make my favorite sandwich of late which is a peanut butter and banana sandwich on toasted wheat bread. I make 2 of them and I put super chunk peanut butter on one half and smooth on the other half. Because I'm usually so hungry by this time eating these 2 sandwiches is like eating the 2 greatest sandwiches ever made.

ACME Products

The Original Illustrated Catalog of ACME Products.

I'm back.......again

I've not had any real trouble with the "operating system not found" issue but my internet service has been out. I've been off since the 2nd of March with the exception of about a week in the middle of March. I almost became accustomed to not having any service. The wireless service I had uses a radio signal from a tower near my place and the frequency of the trasmission from the tower is 2.4 GHz. Apparently that is an unlicensed frequency that anyone can use. The problem I was having was that someone nearby was using some device with that same frequency and (unknowingly) interfering with my signal. Some newer cordless phones use the 2.4 band among other things. I thought for a while I would ask my neighbor if she had one of these phones but in the end it wouldn't really matter. It's not as if I could tell her to stop using her new cordless phone. And beside that the range on those phones is pretty far so it could be any of a number if different neighbors (or devices). So in order to get back online I got Roadrunner. It's faster at downloading but slower uploading than the wireless was. At least I'm online again. I have the introductory rate for now but eventually it's going to cost me about twice what the wireless was. OUCH! After I got it I went through some of the steps from the booklet in the welcome kit to activate my account. I'm not completely sure it was even necessary to do the steps but I did them anyway. Now I have this roadrunner in the corner of my Internet Explorer browser. He runs whenever I click on a link. For some reason the welcome kit or the roadrunner mousepad that it came with smelled like bacon at first.

So now since I'm back for good I guess I plan to continue where I left off with this blog. That is to say I plan to continue to write about whatever nonsense I feel like sharing and continue to use my corner of the web as my creative outlet.