Front view of cupboard 

Side view of cupboard

Back view of cupboard – this is the only part that will not be painted

The paint that was on it was a very glossy oil based white.  It was so thick that it took a few days soaking of paint stripper.  Because this is being done indoors in the dead of the winter, we had to use a stripper that was rated for indoor use.  Since I am rather old school and don’t believe in anything other than true and tried solvents, I was skeptical about this product, Citristrip.  Let me tell you…the stuff really works….and it smells good!

View of cupboard during paint stripping process

Another view of cupboard during paint stripping process

View of cupboard prior to priming and painting

And now a word from our sponsor…..AAA – We’re Here to Get You There!

AAA – We’re Here to Get You There!

The view from my window and yes, MY WINDOW!

And back to the little project….

Finally, after some convincing by my sister who has creative “old time” ideas, we were going to go with a barn red color.  The closest I could come was terra cotta since at first glance, the barn red was a little too eye catching.  I also wanted to make it a color that was not a primary color in the kitchen or dining area namely, green.  Gone are the days where everything had to match.

After first coat

Notice it is more orangy than reddish since the paint was applied lightly and it was blended with the still wet white primer which was applied over the slightly wet stripper.  The idea is to create an imperfect finish so that it looks old.  Not only did I achieve that but I gave it an aged wood look.

First coat of paint

After several coats of paint mainly to seal in the aged cracked look, here is the final result…

The end result

Aged wood look

The end result

The end result

And that concludes our little side project.  Stay tuned for the next episode in the life of Sam Spritzer……

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In the course of my journey, I became a mentor with the special distinction of being part of the first class of mentors.  Today, we are in full force and known as the Bionic Ear Association or BEA for short.  Last night, I met with a prospective candidate for the upteenth time.  He just found out that he is officially a candidate.

As a mentor, my role is to help others maneuver the world of cochlear implants.  I am a helping hand, a shoulder, a teacher, a guide, a cheerleader and a giver-back all rolled up in one.  Scared and quitting are not options; I will make darn sure of that!

The following message was posted on: Wednesday February 20, 2013 06:49:49 PM
Sam in Buffalo and I got together… Wow!! I learned so much more than I ever thought possible about the technology that is sonn to be for me.  I have had an arduous journey to get here.  I am overwhelmed w/ so many emotion (all good).  It feel surreal that it has all come after so long and then boom!!! Here I am.  Sam brought over Bionic Buddy coloring books and activity guide as well as he  and she stuffed little toys and two rubber ducks.  My wife and I colored a picture with her and she said “Daddy’s gonna be a robot… does that mean he will hear me?” I had a tear or more in my eye. She understood at her level as a 3 year old.  After that she insisted on taking a bath and playing w the 2 rubber duckies.  It’s 10 pm and she is sleeping with he and she monkeys in her arms.  Thank you Sam.  I also really took to heart what Sam told me… “Don’t look back, Just keep going and looking forward.”  After learning more… I realize the future is wide open and with time and effort… a whole lot brighter.  Thank you all as always.  I am always sorry I ramble at times, but I am overjoyed and always wanna share with u all (best humans on the planet). Thanks!!!!!

I was once in this person’s shoes under similar circumstances.

Giving back….this why…..

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Week 4 wasn’t too bad but the long run Saturday sucked.  We had dinner the night before at a Thai restaurant so in addition to the rich heavy but awesomely good food, we also had a bottle of wine per person.  There were five of us.  And then we hit up Blu, a bar next door that used to be a pretty decent martini place but now looks like some local joint on its last legs.

For the week…

Meanwhile, my right foot is taking its silly old time healing.  I find that the hard plastic orthotics put more stress on my foot and force it to push on the outside.  I have switched to a soft shell just for running so we’ll see how that goes.  I also signed up for the RunSmart boot-camp.  Hopefully that will speed up the healing process as well as make my feet, ankles and legs stronger.

Have a great week y’all!

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Anyway, for those of you who are interested in cochlear implants here is a story that is well worth reading.  I haven’t read it yet but i will…at least I promised the author in return for an autographed first edition.  Problem is…its only in an electronic version which is known as an e-book.

So if you are looking for something interesting to read, please check out “He Is Not Me” by Stuart McNaughton.  I don’t think you will be disappointed!

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The first one and the best one is about my feet and ankles.  These have been pretty painful since the Turkey Trot last November…3 months ago.  At one point, I thought I had a stress fracture but a visit to the ortho ruled that out.  It turns out that all of these years of running have pretty much flatten my feet out.  Call them old man feet since not they feel it but I walk it.

A visit to the new PT group at the Y, Buffalo Rehab, revealed the muscles around my feet are so weak you could call them spaghetti.  After one day of exercises which consist of nothing more than balancing on each foot, I was totally amazed at how neglected they were yet, how critical they can be to the sanity of a runner/triathlete!  A second visit during the blizzard, more exercises and I proclaimed myself ready for the race too tough to tame, the Lockport Y10!  Ten miles of grueling suffering in the cold, on the slush even though its most famous feature, the wind was missing.

Now typically, this would have been another race, another ho hum day.  While this wasn’t my best time my training plan called for me to run this continuous evenly paced.  And that I did!  In some spots, the time would have been different but pay attention to the elevation there.  This course has plenty of rolling hills plus one big monster at the end!  I was suppose to run it at a 9:30 minute per mile pace yet I averaged just a snag under 9:00.  The conditions were perfect for it plus one important thing that I neglected in the past, I was well hydrated with carbs!

Let me tell you…a fuel belt is the best accessory/article of clothing any long distance runner can wear!  Four bottles filled with HEED, a sports drink specially formulated for long runs and slow absorption kept me going as if on a full tank.  At every mile split, right when the vibrator in my watch goes off…SIP!  It was so cold out, 16 degrees, that it turned to slush but I still managed.  So lesson #1 and a successful check off of one aspect of the training plan…HYDRATE!

Next…even though I was suppose to run at 9:30 pace, I hope Coach Mitchell didn’t mind my doing 30 seconds faster but I wasn’t alone since other members of her training groups were turning faster times.  We were we freezing our bunzies off!  But I think doing the next best thing also paid dividends.  Each mile split was evenly paced after you factor in/out the elevation changes.  Since I was suppose to do 12 miles total, I started out with a 2 mile warmup which you don’t see here.  Those two miles were at 9:05 and 8:50 so if you add in the first two miles of the race, you’ll see I was averaging 8:55.

Notice on the elevation graph at miles 3 to 5 where I dropped to 8:34, those were downhill.  These are very long downhills that can give you a chance to catch your breath because as you can see, the rest of the way is pretty much uphill especially between miles 9 and 10.  This was where pacing and saving the best for the last comes into play.  For the first time I can remember, I RAN up the hill and what you don’t see on the chart….I was passing people.  And at that very last 200 yard mark, I SPRINTED pass some poor huffing and puffing dude.  I swear…I could have kept going!  Even though that last mile was the longest, I remember the last two times I did this race, I had to walk up the hill.  Lesson #2….PACE YOURSELF!

So three weeks into my training I find myself enormously satisfied and confident.  And I count my blessings that I made the right decision in getting a professionally coached training plan and in finding those muscles I didn’t realize I had, with PT.

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Yesterday I finally saw Steve Gonser at Buffalo Rehab.  This is another perk of the new YMCA being close to home.  They are the best PTs in business and having them right down the block is just awesome.  I have been having these nagging feet and ankle problems for a couple of months now.  The ortho’s diagnosis was my flat feet were catching up to me and with the sagging arches, my tendons are getting stretched.

Steve found that the muscles in my feet were also loosing their elasticity and just flopping around.  To prove this, he had me balance on one foot.  I couldn’t make it past 5 seconds without losing my balance.  So now, along with new running shoes, I have an exercise regimen that is designed to strengthen my feet and ankles.  One of them kinda resembles the crane kick in the movie, Karate Kid.

Meanwhile, I ran for the first time OFF the treadmill, on the new indoor track surface at the Y.  Even though it’s short, 9.4 laps to a mile, I just wanted to feel anything that resembles pavement under my feet and break in the new shoes, ASICs GT-2000.  Four miles felt good!

This weekend is the first race for 2013.  While it is a race, I will not be racing it.  I need to do a 12 mile easy run.  I’ll start with 2 under my belt before hitting the race.  And a kicker…they are predicting a winter storm for tomorrow to Saturday!  LOVELY!  I guess I’ll have to stop at Dick’s and get some YakTrax to toss over my shoes for traction.

Sentiment of the day…“If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.”

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It was a pretty boring game until my friend Evelyn texted me that it was “lights out” for the 49ers and guess what…5 minutes later, the lights went out!  From that point on, the game got a little exciting as the Niners rallied but came up short on the last play.  Some of the best parts of the game were the coaches both of whose names were Harbaugh.  At one point of the game, the Raven’s coach was so animated about the power loss, you could easily read his lips…every other word was an f-bomb.

As for those famous commercials, the Budwesier Clydesdale “Brotherhood” takes the top honors.  The Go Daddy one takes the cesspool honors.  It is so repulsive, if you want to see it google it.  The halftime show featuring Beyonce and her old group, Destiny’s Child looked like something out of Bada Bing on the Sopranos.

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So today is totally a rest day.  The only exercise I plan on is pushing a snowblower and applying primer on some furniture I am refinishing.  I’ll have pictures of that when I am done….sometime this year.  The Super Bowl is on tonight.  I’ll be looking forward to over-hyped commercials and hopefully a bad lip-synch job here and there.  I guarantee you one thing…a coach named Harbaugh is going to win the game.  Anyone want to bet me on that?  Otherwise, look for the Harbaugh named Jim to prevail…49ers 35, Ravens 21.

Sentiment of the day…” “

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Anyway, for those of you who are runners and triathletes if you are experiencing any pains and aches please do yourself a favor and see a doctor.  I have been seeing a lot of posts on Facebook about someone’s aliment and while most of the comments are “see a doctor”, some of them can potentially do more damage.  So please…if a couple of days rest doesn’t alleviate the pain, see a doctor.

Sentiment of the day….“143 days until summer.”

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Now, on day 9 I mentioned I was going to try something different.  It was a Bike Power to Weight Ratio Challenge put on by Coach Jon Metz of TriVault Multisport Coaching and Training.  Basically, this consisted of riding the bike compu-trainer flat out for 30 minutes.  During that entire time, my wattage is monitored.  The wattage refers to the amount of pedal power.  The ratio consists of the average watts over my weight.  Lets just say that I barely managed to power more than I weight…just barely.  My ratio came to 1.06.  Not bad for an fat old geezer like me but far from the 4s and 5s that are typical achieved by the pros.  The next time I am measured will be in April.

Now, the purpose of this is to translate power into efficient use of energy based on the individual’s body size.  Clearly, large folks like me are at a disadvantage comparing to smaller ones.  The best way to get the ratio up is to lower the bottom number or the weight.  For example, 3 watts/2 lbs. = 1.50.  Lower the weight to 1 lb. and you get 3.00.  Conversely, keep the weight the same but raise the wattage to 4 and you’ll get 2.00.

Raising wattage is much harder than lowering weight but only to a certain extent.  You only want to lower weight so long as it doesn’t involve muscle.  After all, you need muscle for wattage.  So the goal is to reduce the weight gradually but at the same time, work on increasing the wattage.  Ideally, Coach Metz thinks I could get up to 1.15 by April.

Day 11…today…an easy 4 on the treadmill while 5 lunatics named Colin, Lynn, JoJo, Kathy and Nate brave the wind and blowing snow to keep true to the word of the Thursday morning gang.  I’ll give them credit for being out there but I’ll take the warmth and comfort of the Y in this kind of weather!

Sentiment of the day (and borrowed from Mary Eggers Facebook page.  Check out her blog here)…“You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.” ~John Wooden

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