I have a coad.

(This post has no continuity.)

For the last few days, I've had the sniffles. It started Thursday night, and I took Friday off of work so that I could rest and get better for Legoland. Then Legoland kicked my ass and by Sunday night I felt like shit. Still, I had a great time at Legoland.

And, as is always the way, I'm calibrating a machine this week. So, work Monday was drug induced stupor. Today I felt much better. A bit of Sudafed to clear the congestion, but I actually felt O.K. for most of the day. Now it's evening, and my congestion has returned, but at least I don't feel miserable. I should be done with the machine on Thursday (we are doing this machine the slow, traditional way because my super-cool fast way won't work this time). If I still feel like this, I'm taking Friday off again.

I have no Halloween costume this year. It's strange. I really really want one, but what's the point. There is no party to go to.

I'm coming back to St. Louis on the 6th of December, but only for the day. I fly in about noon on the 6th and leave the morning of the 7th. I already have plans for that night, but will probably not bother going into work that day if anybody wants to hang out for lunch somewhere. Preferably a burger joint.

OW!

I did bouldering instead of routes last night. I got up some V2s which was fun. I also wrenched my back somehow. I hate getting older. So today I've been in pain. It will heal. Need to remember to stretch more before climbing. Especially bouldering.

The Stonehenge and Bath pictures are up on Flickr. I particularly like this one. I think I might get a print of it.

Not much new (random rumbles to fill space)

Amanda has been on me to post. Not much new going on. We went to Bath a bit over a week ago now. It was nice, nothing spectacular. I'll get the photos up this weekend probably. I spent most of last week and a bit on Saturday getting a demo ready at work. I now have a lame little demo where a robot puts dowel-pins into an MFI cabinet side. Mostly, I've been wasting my time.

I finally finished Zelda, Wind Waker. O.K., so I'm about four years behind everyone else in video games. It's new to me. I did enjoy it, but felt it got very tedious at the end (wait for controller to vibrate, hit [A], maneuver to a good position, repeat). I only consulted the Internet three times throughout the game, which is pretty good for me and puzzle games. Now Amanda and I are back on to Dark Alliance II, making a second pass through the game.

It gets dark here now about 6:30. A long cry from it being light until 11:00 at night before. The weather is cool and rainy. About like you would imagine England. I heard that it is hot in St. Louis. Read in the news that a few dozen people at the Chicago Marathon ended up in the hospital because of the heat. Glad I ran it last year.

I'm thinking of starting running again. I'd like to just work on doing a 10K in 52 minutes. Its a goal. Also, I've noticed that without any bike riding or any aerobic activity whatsoever my climbing stamina has suffered. I can't make it to the top of the wall on lead without a break about 3/4 of the way up. That has to change. So, back to running for a while. I also have a goal of ascending Long's Peak next summer. That is my big motivation for improving my cardio and endurance. It's about a 14 hour 8 mi one-way hike with just under 5000 vertical feet. Not technical, but not for the faint of heart, or the out of shape.

Thats about it really. Winter is setting in here, and there is less to do with less light each day.