My Jeep!

I am now the proud owner of an old heap. It's noisy, stinky, it leaks oil, it's not comfortable to drive, and the CD player is dead, but I think it is the coolest thing ever. I love my old Jeep, despite all of the issues I now get to deal with. The next thing I need to get is a shop manual so I can diagnose and repair my new toy.

(There is a picture of it on Karen's blog, if you wanna see it.)

Here is the list of stuff that I have already done:

replaced plugs

replaced plug wires

replaced distributor cap

replaced rotor

aimed headlights

adjusted front-end alignment

changed oil

changed oil filter

changed air filter

I know I am forgetting some stuff...

Jeep, knee, and Father's Day

I might be in the process of buying an old Jeep Wrangler, just to play around with. I have been haggling with the owner about the price for quite a while now and I just might be the new owner of a 1994 Jeep Wrangler with piles of miles and in need of a little TLC. Only time will tell if I am to be the one, maybe I will have more to tell tomorrow?

I know, you're thinking that I am a nutjob for considering buying a gas guzzler when the price of gas is so high. You would be right. I just want to get it to play around with and for when the weather is really terrible in the winter. You know, that one day in Kansas City when the weather is really yucky. Okay, I am being silly about the whole thing, but I have always wanted one. I can always sell it again pretty quick if I decide the I don't want it any more.

Other news - I got the shot. I got a shot of cortisone near the angry tendons in my knee and it works like magic. I ran comfortably on Sunday. I got to run with my wife and my sister, how cool is that!!! I also ran a few miles again on Tuesday. I am much slower than I was in February, but that is A-OK with me. As long as I can still run, I will be a happy guy. Thank you, cortisone and yoga. Yep, I said it. I have been doing yoga for a few weeks now and it works wonders. I feel like a total dork, but I can't argue with success. The yoga enabled me to narrow the inflammation down to two small spots, and the cortisone got rid of one bad spot, so I seem to be on the mend. I only have one sore spot to deal with and that one seems to be getting better all the time. Icing it make the pain go away entirely, but it returns about an hour later, so I have to keep icing it to keep it completely happy.

I got to spend father's day with my parents, Karen's parents, my sister Jay and her husband John (who is a new father!), my adorable new niece Maggie, my brother-in-law Chris, my wife, and my son. It was an excellent Father's day, I must say. It was great to see at least some of the family, and I wish everyone could have joined us to make it even better. We spent the day around the Kugler house in Valpo, and I made a really tasty brisket on our homemade smoker. (our smoker was inspired by Alton Brown - the genius from the TV show "Good Eats") I seem to have figured out the way to reliably make good brisket using my contraption. Last time was only a moderate success. I found out that needed a layer of insulation to keep the direct heat off of the meat so that I did not get a layer of dried out shoe leather on the bottom of the brisket. I had to throw out a bunch of meat last time, but it was all useable this time thanks to a single small aluminum pan. I think I need to try making pulled pork next time.

UPDATE: I just talked to the owner of the Jeep and he has agreed on my price, so I will be buying an old Jeep tomorrow.

Race day wrap-up

I finished the race that I signed up for, sort of. I wanted to do a triathlon. I trained for the swim leg. It was the only part of the race that I was trained for. I knew I could do the rest of the race without any real issues, since it was going to be fairly short and sweet. The race I signed up for was not that race they were going to allow us to do. They decided that all of the rain had stirred up the pond and washed all of the duck feces into the water, causing any unhealthy amount of bacteria to be in the water on race day. The alternate plan was to have everyone do a duathlon, instead of a triathlon. That meant 4.8 miles of running instead of 2.4, and 13.5 miles on the bike instead of 9 miles. I was not ready for that because I was not trained for any of it. I was actually sick to my stomach before the race wondering if my day was going to end up in agony and not be able to finish the race. As it turned out, I was able to finish the race and I finished upright with a smile on my face. I wasn't fast, I never have been, but I finished.

I should have stopped there...

Karen wanted to go for a run later in the day, and since my knee still felt great, I decided to go with her, and push James in the jogging stroller. The legs were willing, but the knee was weak. After another four miles, my knee was a little bit angry again. It's not too bad, but it is still a little sore two days later. I thought I was cured, so I decided to push my luck. I now know that I still have some limitations on my distances until I get everything completely healed up. It's getting better, but I am not ready for a marathon quite yet.  :>) Maybe next weekend...

Triathlon weekend!

Well, it is time for the triathlon this weekend and I still am not sure if I will be able to run the last section or not. I have not run much at all in over a month. I tried it once a week ago, for just a mile or two, and my knee was fairly indifferent. I somehow made my knee sore again the day after by stretching it just a little to much. I am now really trying to get it to calm down again by taking all the anti-inflammatory drugs and icing my knee all the time. Wish me luck, I may need it!

I am also supposed to play softball on Sunday night, long after the triathlon has ended, which may also be interesting since I will probably be in the outfield. (right field, where they put all the terrible players) For those of you who have been witness to the horror of seeing me play softball before, this season is sure to be more of the same. I am really a horrible player.

Back to my knee - has anyone heard good or bad things about getting cortisone shots to get the healing going? I have been semi-broken and fragile for four months and it is really getting old to be in pain all the time.