TimbukTOO Team Room

[damselfly]

Ahoy, maties!! With all the turkeys bobbing into the sunset at our stern, we cast our eyes forward on the horizon to our next holiday of challenge! One down, one to go.... I managed to keep on an even (food) keel this holiday, and stay active. I'm hoping you all were successful in your holiday cheer-making!

A rip-roaring TimBuk(Too|Two) welcome to new teammates Heather Ramsay, Bob Goodwin, and Debra Julian!! Welcome aboard, grab an oar, and find a comfy seat. We hope you enjoy your journey on our good ship into the waters of activity and health! And of course it's good to see Mark and Pam back aboard, as well.

Just a reminder to our new and returning crew members: Izzmeister is our Cap'n and does the meters reporting Sunday through Thursday, and I take over for him Friday, Saturday, and on any holidays or trips he needs me to. We have a program I constructed that pulls and tracks everyone's meters from our affiliation web page, and we normally try to run it consistently around 7PM Pacific time. Times vary due to schedules and commitments, but we aim to pull and report on the meters as timely and consistently as we can. But your patience is always appreciated! If you do see some sort of discrepancy or have questions, please post them to me. It has been working very well for quite some time now for some time (and should continue, unless C2 changes the format of their web pages!!).

... But I digress. On to today's report!!!

A goodly number of our crew, 17 of 49 members (35%), logged 2,029,928 total meters today (totals being so high due to Heather's 1.5M, Bob's 307k, and Debra's 3k added to our day's efforts). Can I get a Woot!!

Milestones achieved: Heather R roasted 1.5M, Chris H moguled over 800K, Bob G carved out 300K, Glenn Y mashed 300K, and Bernie J made gravy out of 75K. Great rowing, mates! (Guess I'm still thinking about food.... )

On the horizon we have a bunch of things in sight: Heather is approaching 1.6M (-24,000m), Gary is approaching 1.1M (-31,081m), Jamie is approaching 700K (-49,907m), Fred is approaching 600K (-7,889m), Marius is approaching 350K (-14,500m), James is approaching 150K (-17,927m), and Mark is approaching 100K (-3,788m). Row strong, team!!

Posted Meters:
Heather R - 1,576,000 Welcome Heather...
Bob G - 307,778 ... and Bob!!
Chris H - 20,000 First meters in a bit, welcome back!
Mark E - 19,811 Lookin' good....
Glenn Y - 17,495 Yow! and after a half yesterday!
Gary G - 10,820 A kickin' 10k...
Adam M - 10,500 Gnarly consistency!
Jamie B - 10,000 Great meters!! Best in a while!
Marius S - 10,000 Good strong 10k!
Mark S - 8,381 Back in the groove...
Andrew A - 7,430 Back to daily rows!
Kevin K - 7,242 Unstoppable...
James C - 6,000 Great meters!!!
Bernie J - 6,000 Welcome back Bernie!! Great come-back row!
Kathy B - 5,191 Winning the top honors for most weekly rows, so far!
Fred B - 4,047 Good to see Freddy back in the boat...
Debra J - 3,233 Welcome Debra! Good starting meters!!

[damselfly]

"Timbuk2 got disbanned due to leadership exchange and the name got changed to keep the spirit alive"

I was not confused until you got to the above quote. Timbuk2 got disbanned and the name changed? To what??? I thought it was still Timbuk2 for the Challenge team.

I think the challenge team is TimBukTwo.....

[garygOP]

So: we are TimbukTOO- and for the Team Challenge we morph into TimbukTwo.
There is no Timbuk2.
Does that sum things up?

[damselfly]

So: we are TimbukTOO- and for the Team Challenge we morph into TimbukTwo.
There is no Timbuk2.
Does that sum things up?

Well, yes and no.... There are actually two entities. ...TOO is the year-round affiliation, and ...TWO exists to compete in the team challenges -- the Virtual Team Challenge, Fall Team Challenge, etc. It gets hairy...

Sometimes folks just join the challenge team, but we always extend an open invitation to them to join the year-round affiliation as well. The more oars, the faster the boat!

[damselfly]

Ahoy mates! 15 of 49 members (31%) have paused in their holiday shopping to hop on their ergs and log 149,145 total meters Saturday! Too bad we can't get in-store credit somewhere for meters rowed....

Some biggie milestones today, with Heather R pounding through 1.6M, Matthew R smashing 1.2M, and Elisa H pummeling 600K. Great rowing!!

On the horizon: Gary is closing on 1.1M (-14,781m), Jamie is nearing 700K (-39,907m), Andy is approaching 600K (-16,117m), James is stalking 150K (-7,893m), and Deb is coming up on 15K (-8,645m)

This week's frequent rowers (Sat 11/19 through Fri 11/25):
Kathy B - 6 Oh yeah!!
Adam M, Gary G, Kevin K, Mark E & Matthew R - 5
Andrew A & Jamie B - 4

Posted Meters:
Heather R - 24,000 Yow!!
Gary G - 16,300 BIG rows this week!!
Elisa H - 12,006 Very strong row....
Matthew R - 10,857 Also putting up some BIG numbers!
Glenn Y - 10,192 Kicking some serious erg behind....
James C - 10,034 Quick ramp up!
Chris H - 10,000 Is there...
Jamie B - 10,000 ... some sort of ...
Andy I - 10,000 ... 10k planetary alignment ...
Bob G - 10,000 ... today I'm not aware of?!?!
Andrew A - 7,395 Back on the daily streak!
Kevin K - 6,000 Good round number...
Kathy B - 5,196 Going strong!
Bernie J - 4,043 Excellent two-day total! Keep it up!
Deb J - 3122 Off to a great start...

I'm on the erg tomorrow!! I got a pint drained today (not Guiness, O-positive...) so I'll be off the trails for a few days. If I faint rowing, it hurts a lot less falling over!!

[Izzzmeister]

I got a pint drained today (not Guiness, O-positive...) so I'll be off the trails for a few days. If I faint rowing, it hurts a lot less falling over!!

A shameless, transparent attempt at a bloodless coup, one pint at a time. William Bligh is not easily fooled!

[damselfly]

I got a pint drained today (not Guiness, O-positive...) so I'll be off the trails for a few days. If I faint rowing, it hurts a lot less falling over!!

A shameless, transparent attempt at a bloodless coup, one pint at a time. William Bligh is not easily fooled!

Curses!!! Foiled again!!!

[Hummingbird]

Thank you for the warm welcome. I have rowed with TimbukTwo for a few challenges, but I only learned about this forum when Yisroel invited me to join the affiliation--so I read the log for the last challenge to get up to speed...and yes, okay, I admit it: I heard that my name had been mentioned once or twice. So before I go further, that 38,000 m entry was comprised of 2 sessions on different days; my son was playing poker online and I couldn't enter the results and forgot until I reconciled my monthly metres with the challenge metres. No way could I ever do that much in one session, nor will I aim for it. My butt couldn't take it, for a start (I'm still sore from the 24K yesterday, made worse by the session I did today to make sure I meet my November goal of 400 K). I doubt my neighbours would like it much, either. These apartment walls are paper thin.

I am very impressed with all of you who bought your machines and then instantly rowed your way into the million metre clubs. My rowing history is a chequered one, which will be glaringly obvious when I confess that I bought my rower in 1999 and only just hit 5 M metres this October 31, 2011. In my defence, I was semi-bodybuilding for 10 of those years (not deliberately; it was just a good stress release) and I was mixing my cardio between rowing, running, biking, stairs etc. Then one year (2000, I think: I didn't start recording my metres online until 2002) I got motivated to row for the March Hare competition (renamed to something insipid now, so I don't do it ), requiring 5,000 m rowing a day for 20 days to qualify for a paper certificate. Fit though I was, rowing is a tough workout when you start doing these endurance challenges, and I was pretty chuffed with myself for achieving that first goal. I didn't even look at the Christmas challenge until 2004, and I have the button still, yellowing with age in its plastic baggie. For many years, all I did was the Christmas challenge, so I've got several buttons. But I've missed a few: in 2008 I managed to clock up only 25,000 m; doubled in 2009 to 49,900.

So what gives with the 1.6 M metres this year and pounding 400 k/month? Hmm. Many of you have health issues, and I'm not exempt. Mark the blacksmith made a comment about artists not having a choice to not exercise their crafts, and he's right: when they are forced to suppress that drive, they end up climbing the walls without need of ropes or heed to safety, with predictable results. So, while I can't seem to get a big enough spark to relight the fire, I can at least row. And I must: I just bought an ice cream machine; I love Brie cheese; French cooking (the secret of which is "butter, butter, butter")...et cetera. Fortunately, due to all that body building, I didn't gain much weight, but all things come to an end and thanks to the 1.6M metres and counting, I'll fit my new-old clothes soon.

That’s it from me for awhile: like the little hummingbird in the picture that isn’t there yet (but will be soon), I am quite reclusive, venturing out only once in a while to try my wings (I just type too fast). The thing that’s special about the hummingbird that isn’t there yet is that it has chosen my verandah and feeder as its territory for the second year running, so I get to watch it flit to and fro while I’m rowing. Very, very, sweet; so small, and so tough. I feel honoured.

Thanks again for the warm welcome, and good luck to you all in the season challenge (but please stretch after rowing! This is the voice of experience, having crippled myself a few times).

Heather

[The Blacksmith]

Been off my meters- recurrring back nonsense-trying to keep up. What happens with the back stuff (for me anyway) is when I am having "issues" of the back variety-inactivity makes it worse, so trying to find the sweet spot between aggravating the problem and helping it is a very fine line. Gotta learn to stop moving things by myself that weigh 2x more than I do Gotta move a 400 lb gate and install it tomorrow-any helpers??

[The Blacksmith]

P.S. welcome Heather Looking at the stats I don't think I'll be ahead of you for much longer-try not to bowl me over with the wake as you blow on by

[damselfly]

... We have a program I constructed that pulls and tracks everyone's meters from our affiliation web page, and we normally try to run it consistently around 7PM Pacific time. Times vary due to schedules and commitments, but we aim to pull and report on the meters as timely and consistently as we can. But your patience is always appreciated! If you do see some sort of discrepancy or have questions, please post them to me. It has been working very well for quite some time now for some time (and should continue, unless C2 changes the format of their web pages!!).

Criminey. Speaking of curses and foil, C2 DID change the format of the page for the holiday challenge, so I need to alter my proram. I can't get to it tonight, so stats won't get done tonight. Sorry for the delay, but hopefully I will get it resolved early tomorrow. Tomorrow's numbers will most likely combine Sunday and Monday. Thanks for your patience and understanding!!!

[damselfly]

Been off my meters- recurrring back nonsense-trying to keep up. What happens with the back stuff (for me anyway) is when I am having "issues" of the back variety-inactivity makes it worse, so trying to find the sweet spot between aggravating the problem and helping it is a very fine line. Gotta learn to stop moving things by myself that weigh 2x more than I do Gotta move a 400 lb gate and install it tomorrow-any helpers??

Paypal me the $$$ for the cross-continent air fare and I'll be right over!

[damselfly]

OK, stats program is fixed. I will be pulling numbers for Sunday and Monday today at around 6:10 PST, so get those meters rowed and report in!!

Sadly, this will goof up this week's frequent rower's accolades, awarded Saturdays at a Team Room Forum near you. Deal with it. What do you want for volunteer work?

[The Blacksmith]

To paraphrase Wimpy "I'll gladly pay you next Tuesday for some work today!" Paypal airfare-didja ever hear the term "starving artist"-if you look it up in the dictionary, it's got my picture next to the definition

[Izzzmeister]

All bellies on deck, bellying up to the oars! 21 of 49 members (43%) logged 335,215 total meters between Sunday & Monday which absolved much guilt! Solidly in 10th Place!

Milestones: David W first to 3.3M, Gary G achieved 1.1M, Lisa H accomplished the feat of 400K, James C climbed to 150K, while Mark S hit the 100K mark!
Approaching milestones: Jeff elevening towards 700K (-6,000m) with Jamie (-17,574m) close behind, Fred (-7,889m) & Andy (-7,974m) close to 600K, Cindy (-17,200m) challenging 500K, Kathy picturing 400K (-22,078m), Bob G (-12,222m), Glenn (-12,835m) & Marius (-14,500m) race towards 350K, Daiva (-4,000m) halves the gap to 150K, and Deb is on the cusp of 15K (-1,389m)!

Posted Meters:
David W - 49,045 Can’t match that…
Yisroel H - 33,911 Reached 100 hours for the season!
Lisa H - 22,778 Lots of turkey energy used…
Jamie B - 22,333 Four big rows in 4 days!
Glenn Y - 20,092 Man’s on fire!

Bob G - 20,000 Hit the ground running!
Chris H - 20,000 …And avoided all the trees & gates!
Mark S - 19,289 Getting serious!
Heather R - 16,000 Hey, give me a fighting chance!
Gary G - 15,962 Big rows almost daily!

Matthew R - 11,147 On to the next milestone…
Jeff S - 11,000 Maintains the relentless beat…
Kathy B - 10,265 Six days in a row…Where’s the “before pic”?
James C - 10,000 Back in the swing of things…
Joseph W - 10,000 Next stop: Another million-meter year!

Mark E - 9,082 Hard to row long when you’re starving…
Andy I - 8,143 Getting back to regular rows…
Bernie J - 7,607 The gravy & stuffing slowly dissipating…
Andrew A - 7,305 Steady…
Deb J - 7,256 Helping Bernie keep the C2 from rusting…
Daiva S - 4,000 Back from a too-busy week…