24 day challenge: day three

Today is the third day of my 24 day weight loss challenge. I've lost about 2 pounds total so far. I don't know whether this was a good idea but I also hired a triathlon coach and started working out just yesterday with him.
I'm doing Ironman Arizona in November which is only about 11 months away so I hired a coach to get me into shape in a hurry. Actually I'm not worried about finishing but truth be told my ego wants to finish certainly and under 16 hours but definitely under 14 hours and if I can finish under 13 hours even better I know guys who are in really good shape Billybrook 1012 hrs. so I have no delusions that I'm going to be able to break 12 hours however maybe 13 maybe 14 I think I'll be happy if I can break 14.
So that being said I guess I'm not terribly concerned about losing weight for the next 24 days but I am concerned about working out consistently getting through these workouts and getting enough sleep and getting enough fuel in my body I figure the weight-loss will come naturally.

After all right now my body is at an unnaturally heavy weight. For the longest time I was at about hundred 95 pounds probably for the last six years. Just in the last few months I have let it creep up to close to 200 pounds. My goal is to get down to about 170 pounds but also to be very fit lean and strong at that way I don't want to look emaciated or week or have a lack of energy at that weight.
My coach sent me today's workouts last night and they are too bad I think he's ramping me in slowly. Today I have to cycle and swim.
I rode the trainer for an hour. He broke up that our into 10 minute segments of accelerations and recoveries which I really liked.
The pool work out the 1500 yards looks to be kind of similar with a warm up some drills simple buoy and cooldown I'm really looking forward to getting back in the pool

American girl doll to the hospital

Caroline is currently spelling out every word. It is a very cute phase. She listens to everything you say and then spells out the words back to you.

She's also turning out to be an incredible reader reading everything at the second grade level already.

Teachers don't even ask her give her the same test they give everybody else. They're doing a sight word challenge right now and they make her spell the sight words in addition to just saying the.

Somehow Callie the dog got a hold of Caroline the American girl doll. Callie unfortunately chewed off one of Carolines hands. Elizabeth found out that there is an American girl girl doll hospital at their headquarters in Wisconsin. And that for a mere $60 Caroline can be rehabilitated rehab their urgent care center and sent back (in a hospital gown) as good as new.

Ironman Arizona 2013

I got in! Even now the enormity of the challenge ahead of me is thrilling, yet terrifying. I'm not afraid of the race itself, but I am afraid of me losing focus, motivation, and not doing my training like I need to. Probably a good reason to hire a coach.

Let's review this in 2016

http://www.thedaily.com/article/2012/11/08/110912-news-obama-promises/

P90X Day 1 & Out of the Mouths of babes

Chest and Shoulders and Ab Ripper X. Filled out my worksheet but man, my numbers are pretty pathetic. Well, I gave is close to 100% anyway. My pull up station is junk and I'm going to build a solid wood one in the back yard. Will update this with pics.

This new chapter in my life is courtesy of my ex company being acquired. I have a few weeks of freedom which I've never really had in my adult life.

There are a ton of things for me to do and I'm still in the process of organizing them around a central theme or direction. Lots of busy work without a goal will make the time disappear and at the end I'll be in a bind looking for a job.

My daughter said something quite interesting to me last night. I broke the news that I was without a job for the first time in my life. Her reply was "That's good because it didn't seem like your job was very much fun." Her words didn't resonate until I was in the shower a bit later when her observation suddently struck me like a bolt out of the blue.

She's absolutely right, it wasn't fun and that, perhaps, was one of the problems. I'm middle aged now and still very healthy but one can never take that for granted. So I guess that begs the question of just what would I consider a fun job?

• Bicycle Cop
• Race car test driver, mechanic
• NASCAR official
• River guide at the USNWC
• Bike shop mechanic
• Velodrome racer
• triathlete (too old to be pro)
• personal trainer
• Politician? (Ugh)
• Real Estate Investor?
• Contractor?
• bulldozer owner/operator?
• Tax preparer?
• professional organizer?

I can probably easily narrow down that list and perhaps that is really my first mission. For now, however, I have to finish this double gate I started yesterday. 

First class cads

I'm waiting respectfully just beyond the first class chute at a gate. I'm in first class thanks to an upgrade so wanted to be close to the front to make sure I get a good overhead spot. About six people went around me to stand actually inside the chute. When the incoming passengers disembarked, these people crowded their exit path. I

Where have our manners gone?

Audi A6 2.7T Gauge Cluster Computer Display Repair

The instrument cluster, gauge cluster, on my 2000 Audi A6 2.7T has been steadily losing pixels over time. If the car sat out in the hot sun, the entire LCD pretty much vanished and was unreadable.

The picture below shows what mine looked like (on a good cool day) vs the photo on the right of a perfect display:

After searching a little on ebay, I found out that you can purchase just the new LCD screen for about $60. I thought, surely if they're selling them on ebay, they must be pretty easy to change so I bought one (see next photo.) This was one of those mistakes for which you wish you had the benefit of hindsight.

Long story short, I found out that I can't solder a ribbon cable to a PC board and was left with a completely bright red center LCD display:

A little searching on the internet brought up www.modulemaster.com. This company specializes in repairing failed ABS modules and, to my delight, Audi gauge clusters. In fact, the picture at the top of this post is from their site.

First, drop the steering wheel all the way down and out.

I popped out my cluster by removing the u-shaped trim panel just above the steering wheel. It is held on by two spring clips on either side. Pull it straight out as bending it upwards may break the plastic tab that holds the spring clips.

Next you'll see two phillips screw heads above the steering wheel along the bottom edge of the cluster. Use a pretty large (#3) screwdriver as these are usually stuck. Use a magnet to make sure you don't drop them inside the dash.

Next you'll need to pull the cluster straight back by gently gripping the bottom edge and the two reset "sticks."Again, take your time and wiggle it until it slides forward.

Now, angle the cluster until you can get access to the 3 electrical connectors on the back (Blue, Gray, and Green.) Each of them has a little purple locking handle that you'll need to pry up with a small screwdriver. Gently pull them up and the connector will come right out.

Then, lean the cluster back and you should be able to work it out. Your dashboard will now look like this:

Now the easy part. Fill out the repair request on Module Master, ship it to them, wait a few days for them to receive it, fix it, and call you back with the total. They'll ship it back to you promptly (I got mine in two days.) It came in a big box with tons of packing, wrapped like a papoose, good enough to survive a 10,000 ft drop:

Reverse the steps above to install it (take care to open the purple handle on the connectors completely so that they will seat properly, the purple handle should close easily) and you should be rewarded with the following now perfect display. (My check engine light is another matter, the secondary air injection system pump is bad again) :