stress levels = high, thanks WALMART

I swear I will be glad to see the back of the house flood issues. we are getting close but there seems to be little things that are driving up the cost. I know they are not fluff items though and are needed hence why I accept them being done, I just wish I knew about them earlier.

On things that are annoying me (see total tangent LOL) I had to have the clutch replaced on my car. 860 dollars paid out so far and another 200 to go to make it 100 percent. It is drivable till I can get the last fixed (leak on the reservoir that allows it to be driven as long as I keep an eye on it). I would have grudgingly accepted as my car is getting older and is close to its 200K birthday. As I said I would have grudgingly accepted it if it were not for the fact that It was the incompetence of a Walmart "mechanic" that caused this issue.

How, I hear you, do I know its Walmarts fault? Simple In the last 60-100K miles the only company that has topped up my fluids (during oil change) and did my oil changes has been Walmart. How do I know its their fault. Simple the mechanic who worked on my car found the cap of a DOT3 fluid bottle lodged in my reservoir which had blocked the fluid from getting down the hose. Their words, "this is what caused your clutch to fail".

I am going to email Walmart corporate and explain what happened and see what they say. I don't think they are going to say anything but I am going to make clear that this is the last straw for me and that they have lost my business and that I am letting everyone know what happened. Also I am pointing out that this is not the first instance of incompetence, the list is long that I let them away with :-

1. not balancing a new wheel, as soon as I hit 50 mph it started wobbling like crazy
2. taking car in with dying battery and indicating that If dying please replace. they replaced with WRONG battery.
3. leaving the oil cap off after an oil change (oil every where)
4. leaving cable disconnected to air filter (old car)
5. leaving tools sitting on engine when completed.
6. selling a wheel that was faulty (out of round) then blaming it on alignment (finally another store looked and agreed it was a tire issue)
7. the last straw - the clutch issue.

While it would be great if they came back and apologised and offered to pay the costs because they are just that type of company I am not holding my breath. Have a google of "walmart car problems" or similar and you will find that Walmart is prone to fobbing issues off to their insurance company who then find ways to deny it (you took your mechanical issues to a mechanic instead of bringing it to our guys who only do minor things like oil changes tire changes etc.). I hope that Walmart will prove me wrong and will report on anything I get back.

More unrelated news - weigh in Sunday 237lbs

Weigh in

Well its been an ok week...worked on the eating, had personal training Wednesday and trying to get on the bike trainer.

Weighed myself and its a 2lb loss for the week

Current Weight :- 248lbs

not really awake enough to type much more today so I will try to do a real post later today or during the week.

Steve

Weekend Update & Weight

Well its the weekend and its my first weight update in 3 weeks. As you will have seen from my posts I had a few bad weeks, this week was a different matter. I worked on my diet and with the working out it seems to have worked. I am back on track and its where I plan to stay. It will be a simple matter of pushing myself further physically and making sure I don't eat poorly.

Weigh in for this week was taken at noon today and is : 255lbs

This is also time for me to revise my goals as I have reached the last one albeit a week late. New goal is the target goal for Dragon-Con which is Sept 4th 2009.

Target Goal for Dragon Con : 245lbs

It gives me 6 weeks to make it to the goal, hopefully this gives me 5 weeks at 2lbs a week loss and still supplies a week cushion.

In other cycling news we finally found our "team" shirts. Reggie, Jen and myself all wore them today and even if I'm biased we looked good *grin* . What made it even better was that we got them for an excellent price, well below the 70 dollars that cycling shirts normally cost.

Link to Route in Gmaps

Stats for Ride

• Trip Distance :- 26.49 mph
• Trip Time :- 2hr 00mins 25sec
• Ave Speed :- 13.20 mph
• Ave Cadence :- 73 rpm
• Max Speed :- 28.75 mph

Talk to everyone soon.

S.

quick update

Ok Weigh in Sunday lunch time was 260lbs a loss of 2lbs.

We went Camping with Jens Parents this weekend so fun was had by all and dang was it hot hot hot. Kept on finding myself drenched in sweat *EWWWWWWWW*.

Hoping to get out and ride a couple of times this week but house (inside and outside) may prevent this. Here's hoping. May just schedule one for Wed or Thur and say top heck with it. Might see if Reggie n Jen want to do the 101st 20 miler again *Evil Grin*.

Tour De Wayne = D.N.F.

For those that are unsure what D.N.F. is it means we Did Not Finish. Jen had to be picked up at mile marker 30 due to injury and Reggie and I were picked up at mile marker 40 as we were just disgusted and didn't want to do it any more.

So what was so bad about the Tour De Wayne. Let me tell you first what was not bad about it. The rest stops were brilliant. They looked to be done by volunteers and the fare they provided was amazing. They get 5 stars for that. The Sag Support were great also. When we needed them we ended up getting guys that were really cool. What was not great about SAG was the markings. Most had red tape on their mirrors or back of vehicles which you could not see till almost too late. The Facilities for changing/showering at the end were scary!!!! I understand that its a high school but the showering facilities looked scary and they had hair clogging up the drains. I didn't feel safe taking a shower. The worst thing by far about this ride though was the condition of the roads. While a percentage of the route was on normal roads part of it was on tar and pitch roads. This by itself is not a problem. What is a problem is when these tar and pitch routes are so degraded that they are nothing but potholes and in sections they even had gravel. This was not a route that road bikes should have been travelling, hell I think it would give car shocks a run for their money. It surprised me that I did not bust a spoke, I do think that our wheels will have to be re-trued after this "ride". While they did warn about the tar and pitch beforehand we were not told about the poor condition till the start line WTH.

I don't think the Elevation data is accurate for this route so no maps are provided. Lets just say, lots of uphills very little downhills (not that bad on real roads though - the trace uphill was fun, although about 7-8 miles long *LOL*).

Stats for ride:

• Trip Distance: 39 miles (approx)
• Trip Time: 3hrs 00mins 14secs
• Ave Speed: 12.69 mph
• Ave Cadence: 59 rpm
• Max Speed: 35.11 mph

The three of us did however have fun on the trip and this is the main thing that matters about this event. I think we all agreed though that :-

1. we will NEVER be back to Tour De Wayne
2. we need to work more on our stamina and speed
3. we need to do 30 mile routes on organized events and work on our distance with the clarksville route.

Last but not least Weigh in was taken Friday and I am at 262lbs a loss of 2lbs for the week.

Weight update

As the last post states I did a 60 miler yesterday. Normally when I ride I will gain a pound or two due to water and whatever I eat on the ride but within a day or so its quickly gone. As a safety net I will weigh myself on the morning of the ride and the morning after generally taking the Saturday weight as its lighter. Not this week. I weigh yesterday I was 265. Today I weigh in and I am between 264 and 263. I weighed 5 times and it came up 263 twice and just below 264 the other 3 times. So I have to say

Official weigh in at 10am Sunday is : 264lbs a loss of 4lbs for the week.

Since I started this journey in February I have lost a total of 45 lbs

What surprises me about this week is what I eat for a few days. Friday night we picked up a pepperoni de-light pizza from pappa murphys and I had half of it. Yesterday after the ride we had sausage, baked beans and lemon orzo, cherries and low carb ice cream/fat free milk shakes which is more carbage than I normally take. I think looking more to lower calorie input has been doing the job.

EDIT: Just noticed that I have completed my goal weight a week early. I had marked it as being 265 by June 14th. It has been completed Jun 7th. Reset goals as follows.

• 255lbs by 12th July (the usual 2lbs a week goal)
• Still a Max of 245lbs by Dragon Con.

Weight update and thoughts

Ok so first things first Weight. As of 9am this morning I am : 278lbs a loss of 2lbs for the week.

We have not had much chance to ride the bikes due to crappy weather, I just hope to get at least one ride this week before Watertown and it might have to just be on a stationary bicycle at the Gym *sigh*

This Saturday Reggie, Jenn(our friend) and I went on a train ride to the Monterey Dogwood festive. All in all we had a fun day. 9 hours in a train and 1hr at the festival. They gave us too long at the festival. Let me explain :-

• The dogwood festival should have dogwoods, I saw none, there was a report of 1
• A festival should have festivities, 6 stalls of which 3 were hotdog vendors and one other was a polish sausage vendor which was just a hotdog for 3 times the cost does not count as a festival.
• A stop where there are two shops and 1 gas station should NEVER be stopped at, deliverance all over again.
• If you are going to open a store and call it Jimmy's toy and bike store (name changed to protect the guilty) and then advertise it for the festival here's a good hint.... HAVE SOME BIKES in your bike store.

Today its time to take Jens bike in for its service while she is on vacation and then we head to Watertown to gauge the route for next week. I gotta get stuff done so laters.

Weekly Weight Update

Ok so I was hoping for around 3lbs of weight loss for this week imagine how surprised I was to weigh myself at 7am this morning an be 8lbs lighter. Think its a combination of the couple of bike rides and eating healthier, making conscious decisions on my eating and also not eating enough *LOL* (i have only been eating about 1000-1200 calories each day....not through choice its just what I end up with at end of day.

Weigh in for this week taken today 7am :- 285lbs

Stuff forgotten Yesterday

• We checked out a bike route in Ashland City. Its an old converted train track. 4miles one way then return. We walked about 2 miles and its good for MTB not Road.
• Eventually bought the Sigma Wireless units from Amazon. They are in hand thanks to an early delivery from UPS.
• Changes have been made to the look of the blog what do you think?
• Logo Pic is a Jen original from our 05 Hawaii trip. All copyright is held by Jen and no duplication is permitted.

Weekly Updates

Well it has certainly been a week to remember. Things seem to have been going at break neck pace and up untill today I had not worked out since Monday. Jen and Reggie came down to Nashville and picked me up from work. First we visited Cumberland Transit, what Reggie would call a mom n pop outdoor store (for us a bike store). Our goal for the evening was to look for a bike shirt for Jen and to look at pedal extras and bike computers (with Cadence ) for our bikes. After visiting here we crossed the street and visited The Bike Pedlar. In both locations we could not find acceptable accessories. No Red bike shirts for Jen and the only Cadence computers we could see were the Catseye CC-RD200 which knowing I could buy them for 34 dollars on Amazon were not acceptable to buy at 50 dollars. Before heading to our final destination we stopped off at the Bombay Palace for dinner. Sad to say I did not keep to my low carb diet on Thursday but that the food was amazing, coming a close second to the Tandoor here in Clarksville (NOTHING has beaten the tandoor in the US for a good curry so far). For our final destination we headed to REI armed with 7 dollars in dividends (a lot less than the 70 odd we were expecting but didn't get because Jens bike was on sale at the bargain price of approx 700 dollars WTF - partially softened by a discount coupon for REI.com) and a 20 percent off 1 item coupon. After a bit of searching I found the toe clips shown below for 5 dollars each (even cheaper than Amazon)
I grabbed two for our bikes. No luck on the Cadence computers the catseye was still 50 and a Sigma wireless I saw for $60 was selling for $90 at REI and damn them if they don't price match. Jen had waaaay better luck though. She hit the Jackpot and found her Jersey. (shown below) and I decided to leave the cadence computers and buy online so we could use the discounts. We saved over 20 dollars on the sale which was excellent.

On this same day as Jen was leaving to go to Reggies we had a visitor. Of the four legged variety. It was a stray puppy and pretty young. We named him charlie while he stayed with us and we proceeded to try first to find an owner then find a home. None of the people we know wanted a dog but we were lucky enough to find Precious Friends Puppy Rescue which is a no kill shelter that will find him a nice home with peeps to love on him (plus I donated 75 bucks to help with his vet and grooming bills). If you want a loving cocker spaniel who is good around dogs and cats get in contact with them cause he is up for adoption people. Who cant love this face

Saturday was a weird day. I forgot to eat till about 4pm... I got up did a few things then studied for a final. Finished studying and took the final (got a 90) by this time it was hitting 2pm and I pottered around and realised and said to Jen I thought I hadnt eaten. Man did she look at me funny. We put the toe clips on the bikes, added the saddle bag to Jens bike, raised my seat and took the bikes out to test the clips. One circuit of the sub division (0.75 miles) later and we were both happy with the result.

Sunday was the big test for the clips though. We met up with Reggie and took the bikes for a 10 mile run. First thing I noticed was that with the seat higher my leg muscles no longer get sore plus it feels more comfortable. Also we were able to do our trip with very few stops. Route taken is shown below.

View Larger Map

Weight for this week :- 293lbs
Total lost since I started keeping track :- 16 lbs

Weight and weekend

Ok weight date for the week, measured at 6am this morning :- 300.5lbs
I would say 300 or 301 but it was right in the middle!!!

So I now find that weekends are my true nemesis. I guess the saying about idle hands is true. I had Larry over to have a few drinks and watch a movie or two. We ended up talking more and watching movie less and I drank one or two Gin n cokes (low carb yah know). While im still pretty sober he ordered a texas size pizza(20") and I got 10 hotwings. as the night wound down (and my alcohol level wound up) I had a couple of slices.....damn the gin *grin*.
It wouldn't have mattered much though Saturday I went to 2 places to eat and it was impossible to eat without having carbs, I eat pretty healthily in both places, with the worst being some onion rings.
It still wouldn't have mattered much because the worst was yet to come. Jen and I meet up with Colton and Melinda to have some lunch before studying at blackhorse, I order a Diet Coke and while drinking it I keep thinking to myself *man this is sure syrupy* and *why am I feeling so blech*. Finally I have Jen try it...... she tells me that no it is not Diet, and on top of everything it is not even coke *WTF taste buds at least tell me I don't have the right drink* I had been given Dr Pepper....damn my Scottish accent for getting me in trouble....

Movies Watched this weekend :-

• Taken - this is a good old fashioned action movie, I loved it, lots of violence and death *LOL*. I would recommend seeing it and i think I might like it for the collection.
• Superbad - This was a stupid funny movie, the coming of age / trying to get laid type movie. even though the genre has been played to death a good laugh (its on watch instantly courtesy of netflix).

Ok that's it for now..... time for work.

Steve

home upgrades

No update on weight as I have not weighed myself... I keep forgetting in the morning *LOL* I will remember an post tomorrow.


Whats been happening since my last post. Well a few things have been going on behind the scenes but nothing that needs to go onto the blog. Overall its been a busy week, as they all seem to becoming. College is hectic this semester for some reason and it seems to be constant from one thing to another. For now it is to produce a 6 page (double spaced) paper by midnight Wednesday. Perhaps I will get stressed closer but I feel ok about it.


I have been looking at our house, in and out and the yard to see what needs to be done and that I want to be done. Here is my list of things needing done or I want to do.

Master Bathroom

• Finish paining the ceiling - removed popcorn ceiling and did 1st layer on drywall.
• Install Light
• Finish stripping last of wallpaper backing
• clean the damned shower/bath tub - the upper section is scary.
• Tile from top of shower/tub unit to ceiling.
• replace toilet. The toilet itself is ok but the seat fittings are rusted, seal is shot and I don't like it
• replace sink unit & possibly paint current cabinetry (after sanding varnish off)
• put proper tile down
• paint trim etc and replace mirror / vanity lights

Spare bathroom

• sand and paint ceiling
• tile floor
• replace sink surface and possible paint cabinet
• paint trim etc
• clean bathtub

Master bedroom

• Paint room
• remove popcorn ceiling (dependant on how well bathroom looks)
• hardwood floor
• paint trim
• install light/fan

Guest bedroom 1

• Paint inside closet
• hardwood floor
• remove popcorn ceiling
• install light/fan

Guest bedroom 2

• repaint walls & trim
• Paint closet and doors
• Hardwood floor
• remove popcorn ceiling
• install light / fan

Living room

• fix cracks in ceiling / loose drywall tape due to settlement
• hardwood floors
• remove raised section of room
• paint
• removed popcorn ceiling (they are vaulted and 16 ft and I have a fear of heights hmmm might be hard)
• sort out noisy fan / replace

Dining room

• replace ceiling fan
• fix cracks in ceiling
• hardwood floors
• paint

Kitchen

• Fix Ceiling (replaced light was smaller and now there are holes *LOL*)
• paint and / or tiles on walls near stove
• Tile floor.
• Cabinet upgrade maybe
• Counter upgrade for SURE!!!

Game room

• hardwood maybe
• repaint

House outside

• Fix loose bricks on front step
• Replace eaves or repair where needed.
• replace front roof section (shingles / roof due to shoddy replacement - caused eave damage)
• other minor issues

Yard

• remove pool and replace with sunken bricked sun area / fire pit / fireplace type (picture of something similar below.
• finish removal of shed (approx 80% complete)
• finish replacement of fence (approx 35 - 40% complete)
• make yard pretty.

Looking at picture imagine more sunken with a retaining wall and a bricked fireplace type thing and maybe firepit