Foggy bike ride

Bike as in bi-cycle, not motorbike :-)

Drank last night after a long time, so couple of large were enough to make me tipsy. Woke up at 6:30 am. Since I had nothing to do, I decided to go for a ride. Now, the longest I've ridden in the last few days is around 3 miles. I did not venture further cos I wasnt sure if I can manage longer distances.

Anyway, set out at around 7:45am (email, nature's call, photo-call took up the 1:15 hrs in between), and this time, instead of making a right, I made a left at New York Avenue, and headed straight towards Old Country Road. Got as far as the intersection near the office before turning right onto Route 110. This was the scariest part of the ride, with cars, trucks and semis zipping past me. I keep cringing everytime I heard the roar of a car engine, expecting to be hit any second, but I got lucky -- no one hit me on the 1 mile high-speed stretch.

The final stretch was the hardest, because I had to climb up a pretty steep climb on tires that were running nearly flat (its not that I hadn't inflated them, but thanks to my weight....). Somehow made it home and finished off with a stoppie (by the way, this is another first for me). Too bad there was no one with a camera to take a photo of the stoppie.

Total distance: 5.15 miles
Time: 29 minutes
Top speed: 21.2 mph
Avg speed: 10.5 mph

Team dinner

Today Raj, Rodney and Edwin were in the office. Rodney and Edwin to train us on KB and learn NA from us. Raj was there to introduce us to each other. The whole day was crazy. In the evening Raj took us out to dinner at Blackstone Steakhouse. I ate lobster for the first time. It was ok. The whole dinner cost $650!! The most expensive six person dinner I've been to!!

Medicines in the US

The funniest things on TV are not sitcoms. They are ads for medicines.

X sleep medicine is the best. It gives you 8 hours of peaceful sleep. You feel better in the morning. Etc etc etc. Then come the disclaimers: X may cause headaches, nose-bleeds, nausea, you may never wake up, pregnant women may give birth to 3 headed children. Still they convince you its the best thing in the world.

Y is the best for middle-aged men with ED. It is effective for 36 hours. So that you can be ready when ever your partner is. Blah blah blah. Disclaimers: Y may cause heart attacks, if you have an erection lasting more than 4 hours call a doctor (I wonder why they advertise that it works for 36 hours if a 4 hour erection is bad), it may cause liver problems. But its the best thing for those with ED.

Its sick how these pharmaceutical companies hit the people in their weakspot by selling them potentially harmfull medicines and they absolve themselves of any blame by adding the disclaimers. If the medicines are in fact that harmful, why sell them at all?

Is it worth it?

Staying away from family and friends.

Not being able to satisfy my passion for biking.

Being deprived of home cooked food.

The million fights caused due to the distance.

The constant wait for the day I'll get to return home.

And the million other things that I totally hate.

Just for the "dollars"?

Is it?