Umm...there's a window missing...

Wednesday, April 27, 2011
I was walking back from the bottom of the driveway with the morning paper when I noticed a huge, clean spot in the back window of the van. I figured Jack had wiped a portion of it clean instead of writing ‘wash me’ in the dirt, but as I got closer, realized that it wasn’t a clean spot…but a missing spot. About a quarter of the rear window was missing…well…it was in the back of the van. The rest of the window was hanging on, but by a thread. Now…the van was in the garage and the door had been closed all evening until I opened it to retrieve the paper. I looked in the van through the missing window and saw that the GPS was still there and nothing seemed to be amiss. I checked the doors, which were unlocked meaning that breaking the rear window to enter the van would make no sense. I looked around the garage for anything missing or disturbed…including my car…but everything seemed fine. I dialed Dan to tell him what I was witnessing.

“Sometimes there’s a hairline crack in a window and they just go,” he said as way of an explanation for the unexplainable. I was having trouble with that theory because I know how tough windows are from my old B&E days….but what else was there? The window had been intact when the garage door was closed last evening and it was smashed now. Anyway…we called Guardian Glass per Dan’s advice and they came out and fixed it for $200, which I thought was extremely reasonable. Apparently, the installer told Holly the same nonsense Dan had said to me. Shit happens…no one knows why.

I was feeling really guilty about missing yesterday’s workout since it had finally been nice…so I went for a double. I started at the Metropark with a ‘Hike 56’ doing my push-ups, step-ups with thirty pounds on my back and much lifting of heavy objects. The knee is definitely getting better, though I’m not ready to run or jump…so I kept it to lifting and core work. I returned to the car and drove home for a bike ride…outside. Before leaving, I finished cutting the front lawn with the hand mower, which was still difficult because of the thick grass and wet lawn. I noticed I was getting an excellent upper body workout from this and was happy to have the mower for future use. I’m guessing it’ll take at least a couple of hours to do the half acre of grass we have when I’m able to do the whole thing at one time.

Anyway…that was a good warm-up for the bike ride, which became an 80-minute effort through Willoughby Hills and Waite Hill. I made it home by the predicted time, which was good because Holly was holding dinner on my account. She and Jack were having a Tuna Noodle Casserole, but I opted for a tuna steak, spinach/mushroom salad, and a bowl of acorn squash soup with fresh mushrooms added. After eating, I was full but far from satisfied. As I often do when training hard, I was craving sweet carbs and planning a trip to East Coast Custard. We never made it there, but being worthless and weak, I had a small piece of peanut butter cream pie and a glass of skim milk. It hit the spot…but I wish Holly would quit making these things…or that I’d get stronger about resisting them.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes. Bike duration: 80 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm for workout and 130 bpm for bike ride.
Calories burned during workout: 600 for workout and 1200 for bike ride.