Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The 3 R's, thank you Jack Johnson for writing a great song for children and adults to sing and follow in their daily lives.

I invested 50 bucks in a 60 gallon rain barrel and the parts to get me started over the winter. I set the barrel up in early April, no kidding a couple of days later it snowed. Living in Wisconsin always has you guessing on what the day will bring. I'm very proud to say we have collected and used over 100 gallons of water thus far and it's not even summer yet! My only regret is not buying 2 rain barrels, I want to invest in at least one more in the years to come. A rain barrel is so easy to set up and maintain and you help mother earth in the process.... why isn't everyone doing this yet?

I'm still using my push reel mower to cut the grass but I did hit a snag when I broke the handle a couple of weeks back. I ordered the parts but I had to use the gas mower one week because the parts didn't get here on time. I have to tell you, using the push reel is hard work, it's slow, doesn't cut the grass very short or even and you have to mow more often as compared to the gas guzzler but as I sucked on exhaust fumes last week I realized the push reel is the only way to go for me. I could care less how manicured my lawn is, all I care about is that it gets mowed without using fossil fuels. I ask my self again... why aren't more people doing this? Wait I know... in America all that matters is time and convenience not conserving limited resources. Just because using gas powered mowers is easier doesn't mean it's the right way, someday when our grandchildren are paying 20$ a gallon they will be asking us what we did to use less... how will you answer?

I made a hap hazard attempt to put together a makeshift compost box last summer, it isn't working like I had hoped. I didn't put much of any thought into it. This summer I plan to build a larger compost with a blueprint and instructions from budget backyard makeover magazine Nikki brought home from work. So this summer with a little work I should be composting. Is composting convenient or require little time.... no, it takes time and effort as do many things in life. Do you have a back yard and left over vegetable scrapes? Guess what you can compost. Why aren't more people doing this?

I'm not trying to put anyone down for not doing things to conserve the limited space and resources we have. I'm just trying to open a few minds, if I persuade 1 person to try and make a difference then we all win. As a society we take the easiest route but not all things that are easy are the right thing to do. Reducing, reusing and recycling takes much effort and time but at the end of the day I know I'm doing my part... are you doing yours?

Sorry

I have been the biggest slacker of the blogging world. I have a lot to catch you all up on.

Most of you already know but I like repeating it... Nikki and I are expecting a boy on June 1st. We already have the name picked out...Noah Mark Huber. I'm so excited to become a father, I can't wait to hold him for the first time. Life as we both know it will never be the same, in saying that I know this change is a great thing for us. Thinking back 10 years ago... Nikki and I we're just starting our life together and now we are expecting our first child. I starting painting Noah's room a really cute powder blue color. I was hoping to finish painting before my semester started, I'm not quite there but close.

Last semester went very well for me. I finished with 3 A's and a B. I learned quite a bit, and got a good shot of confidence. I now know what it takes to do well. Classes should be a little more intense this semester. I have two different clinical rotations on an every other week cycle. Starting with 2- 8 hour shifts of Med. surg. ( patients with minor to major surgeries), one week and 2- 8 hour shifts of OB the next week. The OB rotation comes at a perfect time, I'll be caring for Mother and baby, so I'll gain some valuable experience to apply to our birthing process.

Winnie is calming down as her puppy days are numbered. Winnie and I will attending some basic obedience classes soon. I'm hoping after some work on our part she behaves better. 9 times out of 10 she is very well behaved for us. Whenever friends or family come over she becomes a different dog, all she wants to to is jump up on people. Nikki and I are concerned about trusting Winnie around Noah, if we can't control her excited nature we may have to give her up. I know both of us don't want that to happen, so we have to work hard to correct the problem before Noah comes. Well that's all I have for you... until next time.

Life is Good

I think I'll write a positive blog this time around, so no right-wing bashing here...this time. No seriously, even though I may have made a few people mad, it really made me feel better to voice my opinions. I may bash Republicans but I expect the same from them...we're all better for it.

With that said, I'd like to comment on how my life has been going. I'm in my first semester of my Nursing clinicals and I'm truly loving it. I've surprised myself with the knowledge I already have and the knowledge I'm gaining every day. I can really say it's exciting to get up for school every day.

On Wednesdays I have 2 classes: Pharmacology and Nursing Fundamentals. Pharmacology is definitely my hardest class but it's also the most interesting. To read and understand how drugs work at the cellular level is cool. Pharmacology as a Nurse is ever evolving and changing with new drugs and research. This Pharmacology class is the base to build on because learning about new drugs and their effects is something I'll be doing on a daily basis until I retire. The second class of the day is Nursing Fundamentals. Fundamentals is not nearly as exciting as Pharm but it's still very important. This class has to do with everything from the history of Nursing to how to do a complete a head to toe assessment. One of the most important things we've touched on so far is the Nursing Process, an organized way for nurses to assess, diagnose, plan, implement and evaluate problems. This is another tool I will use on a daily basis.

On Thursday I have Nursing Skills. This class is 2 1/2 hours of lecture and 2 1/2 hours of lab. We get to practice how to give injections, listen for heart, lung and bowel sounds, basically all of the hands on stuff. I seem to learn better from observing and doing rather than reading.

Fridays are the Clinicals, the real deal. We get to interact with the patients, learn about their disease process' and the meds they take to ease the symptoms. The first 6 weeks of the semester we were at Ridgewood, a nursing home. It was a valuable experience but I know I couldn't work as a nurse at any retirement home. Never say never but I'm pretty sure it's not for me. The pace was much too slow and it's sad seeing all the lonely old folks. I'm just used to acute care with a fast pace and critical patients. I'll be at St. Mary's (3C) for the rest of the semester starting this Friday. I'm looking forward to getting to the hospital setting, there's a lot more to take in; diagnostic tests, EKG's, surgical procedures. This is also the day we get to put things we've taken from other classes and apply them, so things that were a little hard to grasp in lecture come all together. It's a great feeling.

Interesting

I find it interesting on how the gas prices have suddenly dropped 30 plus cents in the last few weeks. Even as we're in the peak of hurricane season. Could it be that November elections are right around the corner? This is a pathetic attempt for Bush and his cronies to win some much needed votes. Republicans have sank to an all time low. With so much voter backlash coming back to bite the Right-wingers, they probably hatched this scam to win back some of the voters they scared away in the first place. The sad story in all of this is they win back votes, people will turn a blind eye to all of wrongdoings of their political party as long as the gas keeps getting cheaper. This is one of the many reasons why I, Ross, will never vote for a crooked oil loving republican. What's great about this country is that I can express my opinion and not get locked up in prison for it! As we creep up to the 5 year anniversary off 9/11, the mastermind is still at large and he's probably plotting his next move as I write this blog. All the war in Iraq has gotten us is thousands of insurgents that swear to destroy the West and anyone who sides with us. Thousands of American solders have given their lives for a war, when the end of major combat was declared 3 plus years ago. Even more innocent Iraqi men, women and children have been murdered in the name of war. A war that is looking more and more like Vietnam every day. The good old U S of A has spent over 312 billion dollars in this invasion. That same 312 billion could get every American healthcare, build more schools, hire more teachers, firefighters, police officers, etc. We could focus that 312 billion on making sure everyone has a place to call home. There a hundreds if not thousands of things that could be improved in our own backyard. But fixing the school system or healthcare doesn't win elections. Am I saying Democrats have the answers... no, but a war with no end, a failing healthcare system and an inadaquete school system, something has got to give. We need to solve our own problems on the homefront before we start dropping hundreds of billions on a useless war. I'm done now, I'll step off the soap box to give someone else a chance to vent, thank you for your time.

Metric Century

I told myself after the Cream City century I would be done with long organized rides until next summer. Well I have created a monster that isn't satisfied. After my last century I found myself looking at the calendar and I figured I can get a few more long rides in this season The Bicycle federation of Wisconsin is hosting a fundraising ride out in Cedarberg on September 17th. They aren't offering a 100 miler but they do offer a 62 mile or metric century option. I jumped on the opportunity to ride one more long one this season. Then I'll be done... For the year anyway.

Century # 2

I completed my second century. I love to say that. This one was definitely harder that my first. The terrain for the entire route was rolling hills. Just when you had enough there was more on the horizon.

I started my ride at 7am, eager to get off to another good start. The air and earth was damp, the roads wet from condensation and the sky filled with clouds and light fog. The route was headed Southwest towards the Burlington area. 15 Miles in, the first pit stop was in the town of Lyons. I was feeling good, had plenty of water so I skipped it. As the ride continued we headed west toward Elkorn. The next rest stop was at the Elkorn Armory at the 31 mile mark. I took a quick potty break, filled up the water bottles and munched on some almonds. Our route then headed Northwest towards Turtle lake. The next rest stop was at Lake Loraine at the 50 mile mark. Lake Loraine rest stop was my favorite because there were 8 old 1930's looking cars. Some car club has group rides and they ended up having a pit stop at the lake also. The view from the rest area was also pretty cool, Lake Loraine is pretty big. Then our route headed North towards Whitewater. It was after the half way point were I really started to dislike rolling hills. Just as I was getting tired of climbing we hit the roughest part of the route. The Kettle Moriane State Forest. The hills would only get bigger and longer. This is when you question why you got yourself in this mess, but the only reasonable reply is you got yourself in this, now get yourself out of it. I kept plugging away trying to remain in a positive state of mind. These were by far the hardest miles I have logged so far. As I struggled to climb up hills, I was passed by a few guys that were 20 years older than me. Granted these guys looked to be experienced bike riders and it didn't look like they weighed more than 150 pounds each. I'm such a competitor, that even though there was now way I could catch up those guys, I kicked it into overdrive to save a little face. I did catch up with those guys, too bad it was at the next pit stop. At the 65 mile mark was LaGrange, the 4th pit stop. I was extremely gassed from the blasted Kettle Moriane. I knew now the worst was over. The hills could only get smaller from here on out. Well that was partly true, yes the hills weren't as bad but there were just so many of them. Our route was headed East towards East Troy. Right outside of East Troy I came upon an awesome farm with 4 huge solar panels and 2 wind turbines. Seeing that brought a smile to my face. I love to see progress and Solar panels and wind turbines are a huge upgrade from the 19th century coal power plants. Wouldn't you agree, Moon? Anyways, East Troy was the last pit stop at the 83 mile mark. I was so focused on finishing I again decided to skip the pit stop. At the 92 mile mark a heard a loud snap and I immediately knew I just snapped a spoke. I wasn't in the mood to sit and wait for the SAG wagon to come help, so I partially disabled my rear brake so the wobbly tire could rotate unimpeded and I jumped back in the saddle. With my rear tire wobbling so much it was hard to keep a good pace. I was struggling to keep my pace at 15 MPH. The majority of my ride my AVG pace was 17.6 MPH. At this point I was ready to be done and thankfully the finish was within reach. I needed every muscle fiber in my legs to get through the last few hills and on the last climb near the finish I saw 3 familiar faces waiting for me. Nikki and my parents made it out to see me finish. I finished completely drained. Thanks for coming out to support me, its' always nice to have someone there for you. I finished with a average pace of 17MPH and my total time was 6 hours and 14 minutes. 2 minutes better than my last century. That's progress.

Up North

This post is a couple of weeks late but better late then never. Nikki and I had a terrific time up North with Phil and Aralee, Rita, Sam and Sara, Dean and Amber, Moon and Laura - we missed you John!

I wanted to get my 65 mile training ride out of the way so I had Nikki drop me off in Antigo and I rode to the cabin from there. It was pretty cool. My route was highway 45/47 to Monico, at Monico I took a left onto Hwy 8/47, that took me into Rhinelander were I continued on Hwy 47 to McNaughton. The majority of the ride was on busy highways, but I still very much enjoyed the scenery. Once I got into McNaughton the only traffic I had to worry about was deer. I only ended up with 60 miles when I was close to the cabin so I went along the old logging roads to get my needed mileage. When I pulled into the driveway everyone was there to greet me and congratulate me on the ride. All I wanted to do is jump in the lake to cool off. After a swim and some much needed food, I was in relax mode for the rest of the day. That night we all went out to veiw the meteor shower. It was fantastic, I saw several meteors with long vapor trails streaking across the star lit sky. What a sight.

Another high-light of the trip was SCUBA diving. Moon brought all of his gear. He has an extra regulator so two people could dive on the same tank of air. Moon and I went off to look at the fish crib, that's right off the pier in 10-15 feet of water. On our first dive we missed the crib completely, visability wasn't very good. On our second attempt we hit the jackpot, the crib was massive, there were several fish hanging out. We saw some tiny fish that looked to be transparent. I had a good time, that dive made me want to get back out in the ocean again.

Grandpa Phil and Moon built a ski board thing, to help Sam and Sara learn how to ski. Both of then did a good job. I did a little skiing myself. My legs were screaming at me to stop, I was sore from my ride, but I wanted to get a few laps in. I got a little too confident in my ablilities and I crashed hard. I was moving across the wake and lost my balance. I fell and skipped across the water like a rock. I thought the water would be forgiving but I was wrong, I got the wind knocked out of me and I lost a contact. Needless to say I had enough water skiing after that.

One night Dean and Amber and Nikki and I went to see Pirates 2. It was flippin' hilarious; Johnny Depp is such a great actor. We had a good time hanging out with Dino and Amber. We should do that more often.

On our way home bad luck hit us twice. Nikki got a speeding ticket in Fond du Lac and 10 miles down the road after that a rock hit my windsheild and put a crack in it. A bad end to a great getaway.

Century training stats

I'm a big numbers guy, I get that from my dad.

10 Week Training schedule: 1,295 miles

Total Hours in the saddle: 65

Total Miles on Stationary bike: 495

Total miles on Road bike: 800

Flat tires: 2

Century review

Well I did it. I, Ross Huber, have officially rolled up triple digits on my bike odometer in one day. It was a successful day, I enjoyed it so much I already signed up for my next century ( the Cream City century) in Waterford. The Tour de Villes in Janesville was a very hot one. Thankfully I started a little after 6:30 AM. I was extremely nervous and a little anxious. I kept thinking to myself, what did I get into, maybe I bit off more than I could chew. After checking in and saying goodbye to Nikki and Winnie, I was off into the unknown. A couple of miles in I was beaming with confidence after passing several other riders on a tough climb. That was my competitive spirit coming out in me. The second hard climb of the day was a pain, at the end of the hill my heart rate was up to 183 BPM. In all of my training my heart rate didn't go above 178BPM. It must have been the extra adrenaline that gave me extra strength when I really needed it. At the first rest stop, I took a quick bathroom break ate a banana and filled up the water bottles and was off. I was thinking about increasing my pace in the early morning hours so I could cover more ground before the heat of the day set in. I think it was a good gamble because the hot summer sun sapped my energy as the day wore on. My pace was 17.8 MPH for the first half of my ride. For me that was great because I was doing all of my long training rides in the 16 MPH range for the most part. After several more hard climbs is when the fatigue started to creep into my conscious thoughts. A couple times I asked Mark for some strength and I truly believe he was with me. When you're in the saddle and it's just you and nature if your attitude isn't right you can be your own worst enemy. I just kept thinking positive thoughts. Another thing that kept me going was the scenery and the quaint little towns of south central Wisconsin. Quiet and friendly are the words that come to mind. After another rest stop, I set off at the same time as another guy. I rode with him for several miles. There weren't many words spoken between us besides pleasantries but it was still cool to be right along side with someone for a short while. I didn't even catch his name but he was definitely not a first timer. I could tell by his fit frame and awesome French carbon bike, needless to say his pace began to be too much for me. In a century you'll find out in a hurry if a pace is too much for your body to handle. My pace started to slow a bit after about 60 or so miles. I started to feel the wind more and I started doubting my idea to start fast, could I keep up the pace I want for the rest of the ride? I had to keep telling my self to remain positive. The last rest stop of the ride I took a couple extra minutes to rehydrate and focus on finishing strong. The ride back into the city of Janesville was cool because a couple of the hard hills I climbed on the way out of town were now working in my favor. When I realized I was close to the finish I kicked it into overdrive. As I was climbing the last little hill there I saw Nikki, my Mom, Dad and Winnie cheering me on. I was extatic to finish strong and to have some familar faces waiting for me. Thanks Nikki, Mom, Dad and Winnie for being there for me. I truly appriciate it. I finished the day with 5 hours and 41 minutes in the saddle and 35 minutes worth of breaks. For a total of 6 hours and 16 minutes. My pace for the day was 17.1 MPH.