Swim

85-year-old swimmer set to break national, provincial records
One good thing about getting older is there is less competition in your age group for just about anything you want to attempt.

Via Iaman

Bite your tongue, but not too hard

Iaman reports from Austin:

I was invited by a fellow church goer to participate in fixing up someone's house. I was thinking it was some local poor unfortunate.

Watch what you volunteer for.

I arrive (84 mile round trip ) at a small 1980s tract home is a well kept community, at 9 AM.

There are nice serviceable cars in the garage and driveway.

How does this house differ from any other in the subdivision?

There is a bustle of fellow volunteers arranging tools and materials.  Overgrown Trees and bushes have been trimmed, the result bundled on the curb. Some of the hardboard siding had already been replaced and caulked.

Closer inspection shows the wallboard to be damp, decomposing and needing to be replaced in another 8 years. This what we are to paint.

The house looks pleasant in its Tan and brown,  fitting nicely into the community.  The owners requested a festive Mexican style color change to Teal trim and white.  This of course requires more paint and more attention to detail. and that combo with brown brick is going to suck.

I bit my tongue. as I think: "fuck this, I'm not painting any fucking Teal paint!"  then another  "fuck that!" .

I wire brush the aluminum patio cover trim  of sticks and leaves,  looking top-side there is a composting pile of leaves, a foot deep,  and the junction of the patio and house roof.  The rot of the roof is palpable. No one wants to climb up there to expose a bigger job.

Thinking "what can I do that will occupy my mind and not violate my sensibilities"  I take to painting white  under the shelter of the patio cover from the cold 40F windy damp weather.  I'm being careful and more attentive to detail than this job deserves.   Looking up while painting under the kitchen window I see a large 300lb man very ably maneuvering through the kitchen building a large burrito, he guiltily catches me watching him. Next to cut-in the sliding door, inside is a woman younger than me watching TV, later she gets up again quite ably to drive her late model car out of the driveway to run errands.  Those two could have changed the entire experience for 20 people if they had come out and profusely offered their thanks, many times over (that's what you do for volunteers)....but no......just silence layering over guilt.

(in retrospect I should have asked more about the project beneficiaries and made a go/no-go decision from there, not because a nice person asked me to volunteer.  Oh well, live and learn)

I finish doing what I can without climbing ladders, listen to 4 men discuss the logistics of asking the homeowner whether it is OK that they can paint the black patio support uprights with enamel spray paint, vs brushing them with latex teal........ and I then skedaddle.

Weaving through traffic down to Deep eddy, air 40F, water 69F,  I swim 2.25 mile to bleed off my disgust with the illogical world. 

I'm the sole swimmer attend to by 6 lifeguards and attendants.

Watch,  the repainting project will go viral as a example of man's humanity to man.

Cold Water Swimming

Crazy people in the Himalayas

Iaman gets his exercise by swimming. Some people like swimming in cold water. We had a pool when we lived in Phoenix. In the spring and fall it was great. In winter the water was too cold, some people had gas-fired heaters. In summer it was too hot, it was like bath water, which wasn't much fun when the outside temperature is 110. After the sun went down you could get some relief from the heat by going swimming, but not while you were in the pool. It was only when you got out that you got any relief. The water evaporated into the dry air and cooled you off. This didn't work during the day time because any cooling effect was canceled by the sun was blasting you.

Lone Swimmer offers a cold water temperature scale for swimmers. He starts at 72°F and goes all the way down to freezing. At 50°F, the intervals drop to 1°. At 41°F a tenth of a degree becomes significant.

Trouble and Toast

TROUBLE COFFEE CO.

Iaman goes to church, and reports to California Bob:

The talk/sermon this morning at the Cedar Park Texas Universalist church was on was on Trouble and Toast, referencing the coffee shop a couple blocks from your house.
The gist of the story is the Owner of the chain is a friendly schizophrenic tattooed woman who perfected the art of couch surfing for years between friends houses in SF, not having a place of her own. Wanting a place she set up a coffee maker and a toaster calling her  sidewalk cafe "Toast" "its not about coffee its about place and belonging to each other". It had a appeal, now people wait in long lines for $4 coffee and $4 cinnamon toast.
While I was couch surfing/squatting at your place  I tried to go there but was rebuffed by the long lines. i did not know the story then.

Small world. Some people like to travel. I used to, when I could drive. Now everyone is too busy to drive, so I fly.

Report from Arizona

Iaman reports on his daughter's car:

Yes, I did drive from Iowa, I enjoyed it, I really like the Toyota Corolla,  like a nimble sports car,  easier to park anywhere than the Tundra,  good on the highway (it is a much smaller target), very ergonomic and clean crisp logical driver controls.  In my mind it is a much improved design on the motorcycle and golfcart.
. . .
I had Corolla advertized in Iowa on 2 CL listings for months where I received  10 scammer come-ons.  In AZ I has 3 legitimate bona fide offers in the first week,  the last full price. And supposedly AZ economy worse that IA.

His efforts in personal maintenance:

The swimming is my salvation,  I can push my self as hard as I can without  joint pain,  the "runners high' is something I can count on after 20 laps.   I've resolved the boredom with a Finis Neptune. Good big googles, earplugs, swim cap and a Tyr snorkel complete my isolation tank exercise  outfit. 

Finis Neptune Waterproof, Bone-Conduction, MP3 Player

And his experience with corticosteroids:

Just found this about my medication:  Therapeutic doses may cause a feeling of artificial well-being ("steroid euphoria"). The neuropsychiatric effects are partly mediated by sensitization of the body to the actions of adrenaline. Therapeutically, the bulk of corticosteroid dose is given in the morning to mimic the body's diurnal rhythm; if given at night, the feeling of being energized will interfere with sleep.  Maybe why I was up till 1:30 AM house cleaning.....but damn I felt good! :)