I still get some twingy soreness in my back if I sit or stand too long.  I have a giant pile of yoga-like exercises that I have to do.  Nothing crazy like this guy, but other stuff that sort of hurts.

Apparently, I need to do some of them every two hours. Have you ever tried laying on the floor in a factory to do yoga? People tend to stare. I tried closing the door to my office, but my lab coat was still completely filthy when I got up. I think I need a mat or something.

Sunday I tried going for a run at the park.  I have 9 miles on the schedule, but my back decided that 1/8th of the mile was more appropriate.  I walked for 2.5 miles after that.  Sigh.  I guess I will work on my exercises and take the running more slowly.

I had alot of other stuff to talk about but I forgot most of it, and if I don’t post something soon, I won’t remember any of it.  Done.  Posted.

Oh, and I made chocolate this weekend.  At least I can do that without hurting my back.

I feel pretty good today actually.  After last night’s sleep with Soma and this afternoon’s nap, I’ve got almost no sharp pains at all, just very weak.  Its hard to stand up without my back getting tired.  I haven’t tried any fancy dance moves, but at least I can walk without screaming now.

I’m a little nervous about having a therapist named “Matt”.  Just something about a guy manipulating my body versus a woman.  Feels a little creepy.  My doctors have always been women, except for Dr. “Mole” back in grad school.  Creepy old man with moles all over his face.   I have a male dentist since moving hear and I’ve been able to tolerate it.

If my back is feeling good tomorrow morning, I’m heading back to work.  Being at home has been incredibly boring.  Not that I don’t like the rest, I just am not too excited about spending hours and hours staring at the ceiling.

Heading to the doctor’s office today.  I don’t often get good advice from doctors.  My doctor is wonderful but I’m seeing the nurse practitioner.  My prediction: “You hurt your back again.  Take ibuprofen, rest, apply ice/heat, go see our physical therapist for an additional co-pay, thank you for the $35.”

I’m not optimistic.

UPDATE: 100% correct.  I need to call the PT today to get an appointment.  Oh, but I did get some muscle relaxants.  I guess that’s a new thing.  Maybe it will help.

And it wasn’t “ow” that I scream either.

I do hope the neighbors can’t hear or they will be calling the police.

My back is seriously f’d up.  I can sit down ok, but then I can’t straighten up again when I go to stand.  Once I lay down, things calm down a bit, but one can only lay on their back for so long before going stark raving mad.

So here I am, sitting at the computer.  I will be in serious screaming pain when I try to get up again.

I am totally not counting any calories today.  I’m eating what I want and I don’t really give a damn.

Ofcourse, I can hardly make it to the kitchen, so my choices are limited.

Ooh!  Look what was within arm’s reach:

Very strange tasting chocolate.   Hopefully, its not Dead Sea sea salt.  Its not bad but the little chunks of salt hurt if you bite into them wrong.  Did ya notice they didn’t call it chocolate?  I don’t think they can because it contains salt.  Technically, its chocolate candy.  Candy with salt.

Ok.  That’s all I’ve got.  If you’ll excuse me, I have to go scream in agony for a little while.

I’m running 2-3 days a week, which is not exactly stellar with a half marathon 6 weeks away.  I’m trying to get the long runs up to where they need to be at least.

I’m trying to dump the extra pounds.  I’m down by about a little over 9 so far, but I’ve got 15 more to go.  I don’t know how I let it my weight get so out of control again.  Too much overindulgence in the sweets and junk I guess.  Muffin Day at work doesn’t help.  3 muffins = ~1200 calories.  Add that on top of regular food and its not good for my belly.  Besides, I’m sure they are made with partially hydrogenated oil.   I think I will always have to count calories in my life, even when the training is heavy.

Right now I’m on about 1650 calories a day, spread out over the day.  A good balance of all the major food groups, salad, meat, dairy, unsaturated fats, 100 calories of dark chocolate, etc.   I find myself actually hungry for meals and not just “ready” for them.  When I get closer to my weight goal, I will boost it up to around 2000 by adding more protein at lunch and dinner. When I hit the weight target, I go back to about 2500 calories and see how my weight balances again.

I also want to get back to drinking cranberry juice every day.  I’m alternating it with an apple right now, but the cranberry juice will help with cholesterol.

I find myself strangely alert these days.  Almost hyper-alert.  Kinda punchy and jumpy.  I’m not sure if that means I’m overtired and cracking up, or if my brain is just not used to the normal sugar levels.  I eat too much sugar and I think it normally makes me sluggish and slow.  Maybe this is how my brain should be feeling.  I don’t know.

Speaking of feeling strange, something else has changed too.  Without going into too much detail in public, some of my senses seem to be extremely heightened. Its a little scary and a little intriguing at the same time.  No more details except that the full moon tonight has me nervous.

I have a 9 mile run this morning at the park.  Right now its -2F, but the sun is coming up and it should be about 12F by the time we run.  I don’t see any wind yet, so maybe we will luck out.

I had alot more to say but my mind is a blank at the moment.  I hope I can post more regularly now.

UPDATE:

I threw my back out about an hour before I was supposed to go run.  I can’t stand up straight, much less run.  Ofcourse this happens.  Running long distance is just not in my future.  :(

I had a good run on Sunday. 6 1/4 miles in the snow.  I have new Yaktrax and I will be posting a review of the new design this week.

I camped out in a tent Friday and Saturday night.  Below zero.  Very cold.  I may never be warm again.

My diet is not working today.  I came home and ate a pile of chocolate.  And a bagel and half a can of chili.  Afraid of the scale now.

Can’t talk about work here, but let me say I was not dealing well with the fussy interactions.

Having an oscillating feeling of happy and exceptionally angry.  Egads.  I’m manic.

I thought watching a movie would help, but it made me hyper.  I probably shouldn’t have picked a war-ish like movie.

Its very late and time for bed.  I can’t believe its Tuesday already.  The week is almost over and I don’t have enough done.

I did not run today because I’m a big fat lazy slob.  I have not put together any new resolutions because I’m a big fat lazy slob.  And I’m a big fat lazy slob because I’m a big fat lazy slob.  So there.

No running until Wednesday due to evening commitments.   Did I mention I have a half marathon in March.  Yeah.  So very not ready for that one.  And a snowshoe race in two weeks.  Unprepared.  And fat.

I watched Groundhog Day today too.  I love that movie.  If I could watch one movie over and over again, it would be that one.

These were sold in a liquor store and so all the truffles they were selling that day were made with alcoholic beverages.  They referred to them as having alcohol in them, but I think in reality the alcohol is long gone, and the flavor of the particular beverage remains.

I was interested in seeing these and hearing more about her business because this is something that I had always wanted to do.  It started as a hobby and then she grew it into a business by using a kitchen at a local bakery.  In NY you need to have a health department inspected kitchen and, for a one-person business, renting space is easier and more economically feasible than having your own kitchen in your house.

I was curious about how these were made, what they looked like, how they were packaged, etc.  Lots of questions.

So the packaging.  They come in a clear plastic box with a little straw bow.  Simple and nice.

This was the 8-piece box ($18, I think), but I saw 4, and 16 pieces there as well.  I liked the clear boxes because it showed off the truffles.  Although, its not so eco-friendly.  I wonder if there is a paper box with just a plastic lid.  Still, if you are buying so many boxes of truffles that its impacting your local landfill, maybe you have other issues.  :)

So, eight pieces, two of each kind.  I don’t know which is which but these are Riesling, Irish Coffee (the one with the coffee bean?), Cabernet, and Mud Slide truffles.  Looks like one of the coffee beans (upper right) has gone astray.

These are all hand rolled, I think.  There was an article about the company and it mentions her dipping a gloved hand into the melted chocolate and rolling the center between her palms.  So I guess there is no dipping of the center in the coating, which is why the surface of the truffle seems very rough.

I noticed that the bottoms are all flat.  This tells me that the centers are very soft when she makes those.  Although, the center is very firm and dry to the touch, i.e. not runny or gooey. I suspect she lets the ganache cool and does not whip it like I do.  Probably lets it get firm and then scoops it out with a melon baller or some such device.

The article goes on to say that she coats them twice with “chocolate from California that is about 63% cacao”.  There’s a few chocolate suppliers that come immediately to mind.  Sharffen Berger, Guittard, and Ghirardelli.  I think Hershey used to have a facility in Oakdale.  None of these seem to have a 63% cacao product, although Scharffen Berger has a 62% cacao couverture.  Maybe she meant that?  Dove’s chocolate (i.e. Mars) has a 63%.  She wouldn’t use that would she?

The double coating makes me think that the coating is applied very thing.  Maybe she gets gaps, like on the bottom of the truffle (hardest for me to fix).  The bottoms of these clearly show they were wiped with chocolate and not just set down.  The feet are very small.

This is actually a picture of the bottom of one of the truffles.  Aside from a few crumbs from other truffles, it looks almost the same as the top.  Like it was cooled upside down so that it didn’t get feet.  I may do some experimenting with rolling the truffle in my hand while coating, instead of dipping, to see how the texture changes.

I want to think that the very thin outer coating means that the coating had a very low viscosity.  I do like how the coating is so thin.  I think that makes for a nicer truffle.  Less crunchy.  Mine tend to get too thick on the bottom because I dip them and drop them on wax paper, and then the feet grow too big.

I did actually eat these instead of just dissecting them.  They are actually quite good.  I like the dense centers, and the thin coating compliments them well.   I don’t much care for the liquor beverage flavors, but that is a personal preference.  There is a slight gritty texture as the chocolate melts.  I’m not sure what causes that.  I think I prefer it to be much smoother.

The ingredients seem normal enough, although she must need to add potassium sorbate for a preservative to get longer life out of them.  From what I have read, this is a pretty harmless preservative and occurs naturally in some fruits.  I’m happy to see no vanillin.  :)

If I can get on a small rant here about selling chocolate, I think the type of person you are has a huge impact.  Some people like to run a business because they like business.  Other people have a passion for something and they turn it into a business.

If you are the kind of the person that likes to sit in a closed room and do your hobby because its an escape from the rest of the world, then turning that hobby into a business may be a mistake.  This is because your escape from the world will turn into an intrusion of the world into your life.   Chances are, if you want to escape from people that much, you may not be a people person.

Selling products like this to people, might not be such an enjoyable thing, if you are not a people person.  Its not drain augers or car parts, its chocolate.  Its an indulgence that people enjoy for the deep pleasure that it gives them.  Its emotional, and buyers wants to feel happy and comfortable throughout the entire process.  If they are buying it from you in person, and if you are clearly unhappy to be near people, they really aren’t going to like buying from you.

Its easy to spot people who will do well in their chocolate business.  They smile.  They are friendly.  They are giving, not in merchandise, but of themselves because they have both a passion for their craft but also for cultivating relationships with people as part of their business.  Simply, they love their art and they love to share it.

Two examples.  There was a franchise store in Ann Arbor that sold hand made chocolate.  The guy that owned it was like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld.  The Chocolate Nazi.  You felt as though you were imposing on him to be there.  He was cold and angry and clearly did not like people.  Its very likely that he loved his craft, but did not like people being involved.  Maybe he was a snob, maybe he felt his product was too good for the people who bought it.  Whatever the reason, his shop folded in a year.

Example two.  There is another local store here called Kraus’s.  They’ve been in business for many many years.  When you walk in that store, its pure happiness.  The people are kind and friendly.  Their uniforms are bright and colorful.  And everyone happy to see you.  I feel welcome in that store and I like going there.  I suspect they will be in business long after I am gone.

So that’s all I have for this Friday.  I hope you all had a good 2009, and will have a great 2010.  :)

My RP and I met up tonight for one last run this year.  I was in the mood for intervals (at a few days ago I was) so we met at the high school track and did  5 x 400.  The track was covered with snow and we did a warm up run once around to mark the lane so we didn’t go running off onto the grass.

I wore my new YakTrax (which I will talk about later this week).  I don’t like doing intervals in the snow.  Its just hard to do because even with Yaktrax, you never have quite the same traction as shoes on nice clean pavement or track surface.

I was hitting about 1:38 every time, which was about 15 seconds slower than my usual speed.  My lungs just didn’t have the volume tonight.  Not much sleep last night.  Excessive eating over Christmas.  I’m going to get some intervals in every week from now on, to try and keep the fast twitch fibers sharp.

I’m going to put together a list of resolutions for 2010.  Lots of people don’t like those, but I do.  Here’s how I scored for my 2009 goals:

1. Break my addiction to online gaming. – 100%.  I completely quit the RPG game I was playing.  Cold turkey.  I’m very happy with that.  It was a complete waste of my time and energy.

2. Get to bed by 9:30. – 30%.  I’ve been bad about the 9:30 bedtime, and hit it maybe 1/3 of the time.  Still needs more work.

3.  Friday night workout with the wife. 0%.  I got  a few in, but that was it.  The workout always got pushed aside for other things.  And I never rearranged the time.  Fail.

4. Weekly activity with the kid. 10%.  This came down to just Boy Scout activities, but nothing at home.  Too much time running and Facebooking.  Fail.

5. Speed. 100%.  Destroyed the 7:00/mile barrier in April.  Absolute joy.  :)

6. Run a marathon. 0%.  Crash and burn.  Cuboid stress fracture.  Never made it to the starting line.  Fail.

7.Write for CRN. 0%.  Never wrote one single article in 2009.  Major fail.

8. Raise my HDL to 50. 50%.  I stayed at 36 and not got any better.  At least I didn’t lose ground.  Semi-fail.

9. Take charge of my job. 75%.  I think I’ve come a long way in the job.  Not as far as I’d like, but I’m miles ahead of where I started.

10. Build a wind turbine.  Nope.  Fail.

11. Build a time capsule. Ditto.  Fail.

Overall, not so good.  I’ll work on a new list for 2010.

Happy New Year to everyone!  See you next year.

That’s the feeling you have inside when  when everything in your mind suddenly clicks together and it all makes sense.  All at once.   Think of it like being in a room where there are 10,000 superballs flying about, in the air, and bouncing and thumping loudly off every wall, the ceiling, the floor, in your face, in every possible direction and its complete and utter chaos, and the air seems to be alive with flying superballs everywhere.  Then suddenly there is a loud thump and, for an instant, they all just happen to be just hitting a surface at the same exact time and none of the balls are in the air.  The room feels completely empty and you can see all the balls at once, laid out in spectacular pattern on every surface in the room.  The feeling you have inside, is the peace from having just acquired the knowledge or how it all works.

And like a flash, the instant is gone and total chaos returns.

It was the “feeling” like that, without the knowledge.  Maybe that’s blissful ignorance.   Too stupid to know I don’t know what’s going on, not smart enough to know that its a problem.  :)

But it does feel good.  And sometimes, I feel like people’s thoughts are moving very very slowly, and then I wonder if maybe I’m just thinking very slowly and not getting the information I need.  Then I slow down to think about it, and can’t catch up again.

Crazy(ier) story time.

I took German in college.  I was in an exam, trying to remember a word in German.  I knew the English word.  As I sat thinking about it, I started daydreaming and saw my textbook in my head.  I opened the book and flipped to the dictionary in the back.  Ran my finger down the page to the word, and just as I reach it, I said in my mind “No, that’s cheating!” and the book slammed shut.  I couldn’t get back to it again.  Got the question wrong.  The annoying thing was, that it wasn’t cheating because it was in my (fool) head.  It would be almost five years before I did frighteningly smart things again.

Oh yes, the stupid feeling.  Tonight I had the stupid feeling.  Sitting watching a movie about someone really smart.  It made me realize I was never that smart.  I’m not that smart now.  Not even close.  I think some people think I’m smart, but I’m really not.  Some people think I’m very stupid and they may be right.  Did you see the movie “Being There”?  It feel kinda like that.  Sometimes I’m just standing in the right place and stuff falls into my lap.  If I nod and look thoughtful at just the right moment, people nod in agreement.  Its crazy.  I feel like I just waved my hand and said “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

I need to get some sleep.  I’m writing crazy talk.