Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Let there be light!

I will tell you something, I hate the dark.  Not that I am scared or anything of the dark, it is I am a klutz and half blind so adding no light to the mixture does not help the situation out.  So when I go camping I bring a variety of flashlights to make my issues with dark and stuff better.  I have a giant flood flashlight that is 500 lumins, then I have a small pocket flashlight that is 100 lumins, and I have a coal miners thing that is 250 lumins, not to mention I have a lantern for my tent and stuff.  In certain situations I don't bring all these flashlights with me at all times, say for instance if I am backpacking then I will just bring the coal miners light and my pocket flashlight.  There is one flashlight that I am obsessed with getting though.
That ultimate flashlight would be the Nitecore TM26 with its four, yes count them four CREE (my favorite brand of LED bulbs) XM-L2 bulbs putting out an amazing 3,800 lumins.  I can only think that it would be like holding four suns in your hand that was the size of a diet coke (because I am diabetic that is why I use the diet coke analogy) can.  So you are wondering why I haven't gone out and purchased one of these amazing flashlights yet?  That would be because they retail around 400 bucks and on EBay I see them going for around the 200 dollar mark.  That is alot of money to throw down on just holding four suns in my hand.  Then I think, that is worth the price to hold four suns in the palm of my hand isn't it?  They do make lower but similar models to the TM26 but they are no where close to the 3,800 lumins that the TM26 produces so I will always be longing for this one.  I will be saving all my nickels and pennies and one day I will hold the sun in my hand, and try not to shine it in any ones eyes.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Ride of my life!

This past Saturday we had our second kick off ride for the DFW tour de cure.  I love this season of hopes and dreams that I will be faster than last year and that my butt will never be sore and all sorts of impossible other things.  There is just one thing that always bugs me about the tour de cure.  That is the slogan for the ride.  It is called: "The ride of your life" and that to me means that once you have done it then you can't ride it again because what sense does it make to have a ride of my life every year if the last one was of my life.  Like do I have to jump through burning hoops one year and the next I have to do the Happy Days jumping of the shark and so forth?  A wise person once told me years ago that you are never supposed to describe things as "the best" or "greatest day of my life" and so forth.  That is because it symbolizes that you will never get any better or do something better than that in your life.  Describing things like that puts the rest of your life as a downhill spiral out of control or something.  So my buddy Jeff always bugs me about this because he knows it gets under my diabetes laden skin.  He says stuff to me like: that was the training ride of your life, and this is the next ride of your life and so forth.  Fun stuff but I just wish for a different slogan so I don't have to prepare myself every year for the greatest day ever of my entire life.  That is alot to expect from just pedalling a bike.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

The worst diabetic on the planet!

This comic says it perfectly about my eating habits right now.  I will eat well for a while and count my carbs perfectly, then turn around and find myself with a bag of trail mix.  Why do I do this to myself?  I always blame it on allergies because I feel like I am allergic to the planet during the spring and allergies cause my BG's to go up and down, up and down.  so I am constantly low or 200, with little in between.  Friends are very helpful and give me advice on ways to beat my stomach which is attached to my eyes at times.  The good thing is I have kept up exercising and training so that gives me positive mental focus and I know this is just a slump and I will get on the diabetes horse again and improve my eating habits.