seanwillson.com

happy birthday to me … happy birthday to me … happy birthday to me … happy birthday to me


how old are you … 29 … ya I know … getting darn old aren’t i? i’ll always be younger than my brother though, hehehe, love ya bro!!!


had to work today but had a great dinner with amy and the team at work at fogo de chow. i love that place, amazing food, great wine, and phenominal service.


we’re heading to michigan for the weekend. hoping to swim, relax, bike, and see my family. we miss them a lot. i’ll write when i get back on monday.

i rode my trainer for the first time this morning. i got up bright and early, still sore from the ride yesterday, and put in 35 minutes on the trainer. i like the ride a lot, it’s a solid workout. even with someone my size i was able to push myself pretty well. there were a few creaks, but honestly i think that’s just the metal on metal of the rear wheel skewer. i think even though you can lower it to the ground that with my front shock i may want to get a front riser for our front wheels. it feels like i’m riding downhill and puts a lot of stress on my hands and wrists. i think it would be darn near perfect on a road bike without front suspension. i’m looking forward to putting some serious riding in over the next few months.

i’m planning on riding 5-6 days per week on either the trainer, the road, or both depending on weather. i’m still planning on doing weights as well, just cutting it down to 2 days per week. i’m trying to shock my system a bit and also trying to see what kind of losses i can get by changing up my program while still eating good. i love biking and think it’ll help motivate me on some of the days i feel lazy.


amy and i are revamping parts of our diets. as long as i’ve been up and down on body for life i’ve always had trouble getting my vegetables in. well we’re changing all of that going forward. at least one serving of veggies per day, less foods with trans fats, and seriously cutting back my coffee intake are my initial changes. that combined with my regiment change should really knock some stuff back in kilter.

amy, myself, brawnski, and rhapsody went for a 20 mile bike ride on the poplar creek trail today. i’d say that it’s amy and my favorite paved trail. it has a great combination of hills and flats, it could use a few more trees though, but otherwise it’s a great place to ride. after the first lap i was feeling pretty good but around the second lap i was starting to bonk on the climbs. i was forced to use lower gears and a higher cadence, which is fine, just zapped me even more. by the time we finished the second lap i felt better but definitely needed some carbo reloading. we decided to call it a day though and retired to the local jamba juice for our carb refresher.


for my first ride in a few weeks (due to no rear tire) i did pretty well. one of my goals for this year is to put in a 50 mile circuit of that trail. that would be a little under 6 laps as each lap is about 9.2 miles. i have to put in some serious training here soon to hit that goal.

i attended my astronomy clubs public observing session last night. mars was the hot topic and the turnout was amazing. we had about 200-250 people turn out in addition to around 30+ members with about 30 telescopes. we had everything from little 2” celestron, 10 & 12.5” portaballs, big amature made newtonians, huge 155mm astrophysics apo refractors and massive 30” obsession telescopes along with everything in between. there was really a huge offering to choose from all with fantastic views by all.


i really enjoyed not only looking at mars through all of the instruments but getting a better feel for the pro’s and con’s of each type of tool. i was able to look at the dumbbell nebula, m13, m31, the ring nebula, mars, the north american nebula, and others through more than one telescope. the differences between the refractors and reflectors on deep sky objects was amazing. it reenforces my decision to get in line for my 12.5” portaball.


a great time was had by all and i look forward to bringing my telescope to a future public session to share with others. on a side note, i did think the public was pretty interesting to talk to. some thought this was the only time they could see mars. some thought that earth could hit mars and were seriously concerned about a collision. still others asked seriously if i thought there were martians looking back at us from mars, i kid you not. either they had some wicked imaginations or astronomy education is seriously lacking in schools. it was fun talking to everyone though, regardless of their “viewpoint” on the world.

i went out today and bought a new rear wheel for my bike. my other wheel is still in the shop, should have it back next week. i’m tired of not having my bike and thought it wouldn’t hurt to have a spare wheel around. i’m always breaking spokes so this will be a good alternate wheel to use in case something happens like this in the future.

this past week our family was hit with bad luck. amy’s mother had a heart attack on wednesday. specifically she threw a clot that somehow lodged itself in her coronary artery. she was somehow able to call 911 and made it safely to the hospital. they performed laparoscopic surgery on her and she’s recovering great.


needless to say we were shocked and in awe. she’s very young to have a heart attack and her family has no history. she also wasn’t even doing anything strenuous, she was quilting on her couch. if it wasn’t for her quick acting and the speed of the local emergency response personnel she might not be here today.


they sent her home this morning. her blood pressure is low, but it’s always been low. amy has the same low blood pressure, it’s kind of scary. we were playing with amy’s new tools for school and i was taking her blood pressure. i had to retake her blood pressure because i thought i took it wrong the first time. anyhow, her mom is on a million medications but she’s doing fantastic. she checked out perfectly before they sent her home today and even said that if they didn’t know it they wouldn’t have known she recently had a heart attack.


it’s amazing how something like this can really make you think about your lifestyle. are we all doing enough? are we watching our food? our environment? i have to admit these past few weeks i’ve been having trouble working out and eating perfectly. it’s time to take account of my lifestyle and where i am with my fitness. i need to regroup and push onward, there’s no more making excuses.


keep her in your thoughts everyone.