Geek Habitat

Justin, Sara (AKA Kidlet) and I camped overnight at Guadalupe River State Park on Wednesday. Had an awesome time and hope to have an opportunity to post a new trip report on WildTexas.com, but wanted to share some of the pics in the meantime. We’d reserved a site for two nights but Sara developed a bit of a fever and was getting eaten alive by bugs (despite citronella, etc.) so we decided to end on a positive note and break camp a day early.

Here are some of the pics from our camping trip -> Tent Camping Trip #2 – a set on Flickr

And here’s a cute, short video of Justin interviewing her at the end of the trip. (I’m surprised she didn’t mention the river or the playground as she wanted to spend a lot of time at both!)

Oh, and for those not following me on Twitter or Facebook, I’m busy playing with (ehrm, I mean seriously using) my brand new 2.66Ghz 15.4″ MacBook Pro (aluminum unibody model.) We’re selling one of our pro digital camera bodies to fund the MBP purchase, so if you know anyone in the market for a lovingly cared for Canon EOS 1D Mark II, drop me a line.

Justin and I tent camped a lot when we were dating as well as the first several years of our marriage, before we got busy. Before Sara was born, we resolved that Sara would grow up exposed to camping and the outdoors from the start. So we’ve gradually been easing her into camping, first a cabin “camping” trip to Buescher State Park near Austin, and this weekend, her first tent camping trip to Guadalupe River State Park.

I hope you enjoy the cameraphone photo gallery of photos I took with my Blackberry during our camping trip (until I drained the battery.) I sent some of the photos to my Twitter account as well as Flickr, so it was cool to have folks literally following our camping trip. Of course, this only works when you’re a) at a park in close proximity to cellular telephone towers/with good cell coverage and b) close enough to home that you’re not worried about depleting your phone’s battery quickly. (UPDATED: Justin is adding some of his photos taken with a real camera.)

I’ll post a link to a proper trip report chronicling the trip on WildTexas.com soon; in the interim, here’s a stream of consciousness trip report — Camping w/ a 1 Year Old

Justin, Sara and I are packing up and heading out tomorrow for a couple nights at a Texas State Park. We’re playing it safe and staying in a “mini-cabin,” which we just discovered doesn’t have a built-in restroom–not like Sara needs one, yet. We will have air conditioning, running water, a mini-refrigerator and microwave, so we’ll hardly be “roughing it.”

Technically, this isn’t camping, but it’s a good safe start to camping with Sara since Justin and I don’t have a clue what we’re doing yet marrying up our still relatively newly-minted parenthood with our almost two decade’s long shared love of camping and the outdoors…

No more updates until we return Sunday/Monday. You may find occasional new Flickr photos, assuming AT&T’s Edge network extends sufficiently at the State Park. If not, even cameraphone photos will have to wait until we return. We will, of course, take shitloads of photos while we are there…
Love to all, have a great weekend!

I used to work with someone who’s personal mantra was “Goals are dreams with deadlines,” and in that spirit I’m giving myself a deadline to get my present whale-rific body back to more healthful, desirable proportions.

I’ve never dieted in my life, and don’t really plan to start now. However, I have been much more active and much more responsible in my eating habits in the past, and my body settled into a weight of 140-145 lbs. For me, that’s a good healthy weight as long as some of that weight is toned muscle. Just prior to pregnancy (late April 2006), I weighed 156 lbs. and was already feeling slower, less healthful and less fit. At the height of pregnancy, I hit 181 lbs. Right after Sara was born, I dropped to 165 lbs. briefly and stupidly thought, “Hey, this breastfeeding weight loss thing is cool! I can splurge on Dr. Pepper, chocolate, ice cream, etc. to my heart’s delight!” Uh, not without consequences… so I’ve crept over three months’ time up to 175 abhorrent pounds on this 5-foot-6-inch frame.

So, obviously it’s goal-setting/dream-setting time. This is totally doable because I’m giving myself at least 9 months to accomplish this (“9 months on, 9 months off” is the phrase regarding getting rid of all the baby weight… it isn’t insane for it to take at least that long!)

My Weight-Loss Goal

145 lb. by Sara’s first birthday (March 15, 2008)

Yeah, it’s a long leash I’m giving myself, but considering I’m only starting this at her 3.75 month mark (eg. I’ve been doing everything wrong up ’til this point), I think it’s the most reasonable, achievable and sustainable goal.

In that spirit, Justin had baby duty for 25 minutes this evening as I churned away on our Concept II indoor rowing machine and burned roughly 207 calories (that’s more than 1 Dr. Pepper can). If I can wean myself back down to 1 Dr. Pepper a day or less and exercise at least five days a week for at least 30 minutes (cycling, hiking, indoor rowing, walking, etc.), I’ll be golden. My food intake is really not that crazy, but when combined with sitting my butt on a sofa/chair all day nursing or recovering from frenzied 10-minute-bursts of house cleaning and incessant Dr. Pepper consumption (major calories and sugar), well… hello whale!

Here’s what I looked like at 141 lbs. (I had toned abs!) This was during 3 months of physical therapy after my ACL reconstruction (knee surgery) in February of 2005, and it’s totally doable again. Yeah, they worked my butt off in PT, but I wasn’t even cycling or mountain biking yet!

So, there we go, no more excuses…. a line in the sand, as it were.

At Justin’s behest, spurred by my own comments about needing to walk/exercise more, we walked 2.33 miles at Stone Oak Park today (tracklog from Justin’s new Garmin Forerunner 305).

We were pleasantly surprised when we pulled into the usually deserted parking lot — it was nearly full with families and couples out enjoying this sunny and mild December day. Ordinarily, we aren’t delighted by crowds, but the trail system at Stone Oak is reasonably sufficient to spread the load. The park has definitely validated the adage, “If you build it, they will come.” The Stone Oak area needs as many parks as it can get, given the rampant new home and apartment development.

Walking feels a little alien these days, considering I can no longer see my feet and all my joints seem to be developing randomly assorted aches and pains. However, it was great to get out and exercise with Justin a bit. He’s kept up his road cycling habit, and I hope to join him in that post-pregnancy, when I can be properly fitted for a road bike myself (and resolve some fit issues with my existing mountain bike.)

When we arrived home, we pulled the Ford Escape Hybrid into the driveway to check the engine oil since it’s been politely asking me to “CHANGE ENGINE OIL SOON” — about 3,000 miles earlier than I anticipated; I guess the onboard computer is tracking elapsed time (we bought the FEH in early March), not just miles on the odometer? Anyway, the oil level is fine, but it wouldn’t hurt to have it changed out “early” (before the scheduled 10,000 mile first oil change). When Justin and I were peering into the engine compartment of the hybrid, our neighbors noticed my incredible morphing body and finally asked if I’m pregnant. I suspect they’ve wanted to ask for quite awhile, but my proportions are such that there’s really no mistaking “Is she pregnant or just really enjoying the holidays?” anymore. So, that’s done — our news is finally in the neighborhood grapevine, for whatever that is worth.

Continuing on our string of successful hikes while on vacation in Rocky Mountain National Park earlier this month, Justin and I have been hiking together at any available opportunity. We’re not breaking any records or anything, averaging between 2.5 and 3.25 miles on each hike, but we are definitely enjoying the onset of cooler weather here in Texas. Sprout’s logging some pretty good mileage on the trails, and we hope to keep that up once s/he is born, as well.
Our Latest Hikes:

• Crownridge Canyon Hike (~2 miles) — several weeks ago
• 17th annual Siesta Valley Ranch Hike (3.18 miles; tracklog) — October 14, 2006
• Leon Creek Greenbelt Hike (2.93 miles; tracklog — October 21, 2006

I haven’t been cycling in awhile, but Justin is keeping up with his post MS 150 road cycling and I’m extremely proud of him. Check out his Bike Geek blog for updates as he posts them!