Navigational Snafu and Tofu

Yo yo yo. I got up bright and early this morning to get to work bright and early, to do some testing in the lab. Of course, our process does not allow people to simply get their work done, and I had to fill out a request form for permission to look at something. Awesome. And this request has not yet been granted, so I'm sitting on my hands. By the way, they want to know my progress by 10:00 today. Super!

In other news, I've been off coffee since Tuesday and I have to say I'm doing much better than expected. Now, nobody jump off the deep end just yet, I've been drinking green tea in its place. I know it has some caffeine, roughly 1/4 that found in coffee, plus I'm also not drinking as much of it. My stomach had been really bothering me after the weekend, as I drank approximately one shitload of coffee each day, starting Friday when I had an entire pot straight to the dome while driving to B-lo. That was after my regular 3 cups at work. Phew, I was flying high that day. I'm hoping that I can get back on the pot - so to speak - after taking a little time off.

Yesterday I went for a run in the woods with a couple of ladies from the CRG. They had to drop their kids off for soccer practice or something, then run, then pick them back up. So I figured they weren't going to have a lot of time. Operating under this assumption, I decided to run to the meeting place, do the group run, then run home. This would add a little over 3.5 miles to the group run, but no biggie I thought. Wrong! They kicked the shit out of me.

The first mile is just straight uphill, over treacherous rocks and so on. Then you get a reprieve as the terrain levels off to just a regular uphill slope. At the tail end it turns downhill to give your quads a real workout. If you're confused, here are some translations I've learned since I started running with the CRG:

• Uphill = Steep, lung-wrenching incline where you feel your pulse in your eyeballs. Not a reason to stop, walk maybe, but only if you're a wuss.
• Flat = No uphills greater than about a 1/4 mile. Rolling terrain for the most part.
• Downhill = Uphill, but not as steep.
• Flat and dry = No impassable rivers, mud is no deeper than the top of your shoes.
• It's all downhill from here = There's some more uphill, but at some point the laws of physics require that we have some downhill eventually.
• An easy 6-miler = It probably really is only 6 miles, but you're going to end up at the top of a mountain.

So there you have it. Yesterday was about a 7 miler plus the runto the park (roughly 2 miles due to a navigational snafu on the way). I got a ride home - thank God - so all told it was a nasty 9 miles in the scorching 65 degree heat.

Afterwards, I cooked up some Spicy Garlic veggies. I had some Spicy Garlic Sauce that I added to a bunch of vegetables and - watch your step - tofu. Oh man, tofu is my new thing. I forgot how tasty it can be. It doesn't have much for flavor on its own, but it takes on the flavor of whatever you're cooking. What it does add is a bunch of protein (my new beefless diet needs protein), and other assorted goodies. Anyone looking to try it, if you crumble it up it has the consistency of scrambled eggs. I think my weekend breakfast is going to be tofu scramble with veggies and cheese. Pretty soon I'm gonna bust out my Birkenstocks, wear only wide wale corduroys, stop shaving my armpits and carry everything around in a handmade bag.

Now, I'm gone,
Old Coot