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It’s nearly 2:00 a.m., and I can’t sleep. All I can think about is the Appalachians in the state directly east of here.

I remember walking down Montreat Road towards downtown Black Mountain. Descending into the Hickory Nut Gorge on NC 9 just above Bat Cave. I-40 south of Asheville. Downtown Sylva and Bryson City. The valley between Andrews and Murphy. The Blue Ridge Parkway. The one-lane bridge where I took pictures in the fall of ‘05. The view from Mt. Mitchell. Driving on US 70 between Black Mountain and Asheville. Valle Crucis and Boone. The Seven Sisters covered with snow. The Broad River. The Valley River. The French Broad. Crabtree Meadows. All sorts of waterfalls. A dozen babbling mountain streams, with ice-cold water rushing over the oh-so-rounded rocks. More camping trips than I can count. The Moses Cone estate. Even the Andrews Geyser.

What is it about Western North Carolina that holds my attention month after month? I wanted to be there before I ever lived there, and now that I’m gone, somewhere deep in my soul I wish I could be back. (The Appalachians just west of the NC line in TN are just as beautiful, and I’d love to be there too, but … I’ve never experienced them the same way, so they don’t have the same draw. And yes, I know I’m still in Appalachia.)

I never wanted to be the kind of person who seemed to wish they were back where they grew up. And, in a sense, I’m not. I don’t long to be back in Wake Forest or Youngsville like I do Asheville.

Don’t get me wrong, Chattanooga is a great city, and I love it. I’m not going anywhere. I’m rooted to this house for at least 10 years, by golly, because moving is way to much trouble. I’ve said that I wouldn’t give up this house if anything remotely like my perfect Craftsman bungalow becomes available in the area. Rachel thinks I’m joking, but I’m not. Yes, Chattanooga is lovely city, and I don’t want to leave.

But, Western NC holds a place in my heart something like my old 1987 Fiero GT … I can’t get it out of my mind. It calls for me in my sleep; it comes to me in the early afternoon, whispering in my ear that it’s where I belong.

Tonight, I’ll go back to bed and lie there awake, wishing to hear the distant rhythmic rumble of the freight train, westbound after crossing the continental divide, passing ever so briefly through downtown Black Mountain. I’ll hear the horns blowing out at the Chickamauga Dam, and maybe a train heading through Lupton City, and I’ll be safe and secure, still happy to be where I am. But still, it won’t be the same.

Tonight I created the ultimate home office setup. I now have my workspace set up so that I can work and exercise at the same time. In fact, I’m writing this blog article while exercising.

I’ve known for a long time that one my problems is that I don’t “move around” enough, which has contributed to my being overweight. It’s hard to move around a lot when your job more or less chains you to your desk, and you’re working long hours trying to make a fledgling small business take off … by the time I’m not working, all I want to do is read a book, watch TV, or sleep.

My diet isn’t really a problem; I eat well, and I don’t generally overeat. In fact, some days I only eat one meal a day.

So, I’ve been hemming and hawing about getting more physical activity in for a while. I talked about joining the YMCA up the road, but never did it because it would have been relatively expensive, and we didn’t have too much income to spare at the beginning of the year.

But … I’ve wanted to have an exercise bike in the house for a long time. If I had thought I could have afforded it, I would have bought one before I got married.

Tonight I bought a cheap one from Wal-Mart; a recumbent model. It’s not top-of-the-line by any means, but it’s functional, and actually seems to be pretty well made.

I got it home and got it assembled. However, my wife balked at the idea of keeping it in the livin’ room, which didn’t sit well with me at first. See, my idea was to be able to exercise and watch TV at the same time. I figured I could record Andy Griffith, M*A*S*H, the X-Files, and whatever was on the Hitler History Channel, and watch that while riding. That idea was now out the window unless I wanted to move this beast into and out of the room every time I wanted to use it.

Then I came up with an idea. Perhaps the front portion of the bike would fit underneath my desk.

Well, whaddya know, it does. Mind you, I had to remove one crossbrace from underneath the desk, but it works, and the desk seems as sturdy as ever. I was able to push the bike just far enough under the desk so that I can reach the keyboard and mouse, and still keep my knees from banging on the desk. Touche!

It’s gonna be hard to come up with an excuse to not exercise on a regular basis now …

Update: Added a photo of the setup.

Technorati Tags: Geeky Stuff, Fitness

I have, as of a few hours ago, finished that yearly ritual that most citizens of the US are compelled to undertake … that treasured rite of spring, the completion of income taxes.

Ick.

Every year about this time, I find myself once again firmly supporting the idea of replacing the income tax as we know it with a flat sales tax. The income tax system is broken. Badly.

Seriously, folks … the income tax paradigm has created an entire occupation … that of the paid tax preparer. That ought to tell you something. If somebody like me relatively smart guy, must spend hours poring over obtuse instructions trying to figure things out, then something ain’t sittin’ right.

Why must it be so difficult for citizens who want to count themselves in the law-abiding category to do what the government tells them they must?

Anybody who thinks filing taxes is easy must have no investments or retirement stashed away … or otherwise have any sort of weird income that puts them in a category that requires them to use something other than the basic 1040-EZ.

For instance … in order to complete a portion of my taxes, I had to list, year by year, the amount contributed to a Roth IRA we have, and the total value of the IRA at the end of that year. Right now, it’s only been around since 2002, so it’s not so bad. But … let’s say I’m 65, not retired (and I hope I’m not … I don’t plan on retiring unless health or something else forces me to do so), and still have this IRA. The year will be 2040, and the IRA will have been in existence for some 38 years … which will mean (if the tax rules are the same) I have to list 38 years worth of contributions and market values.

That, my friend, is ridiculous.

And the kicker is I can’t even figure out why I had to list that. I can’t see that it in any way changes the amount of tax I have to pay. After all, I pay tax on the money as it goes into the account, and I don’t pay tax on the interest. So why does the IRS care how much was put in for years prior to the previous tax year? Beats me.

You’d think they could check their prior records for that stuff.

A nice flat sales tax would be so much easier to deal with. And … I can say that this year as someone who is on the collecting end of the sales tax thing … I’d much rather file yet another form like the one I send to the State of Tennessee every month than deal with the mess of questions I have to answer to file using my filing program of choice.

No more stupid deductions and credits. No more keeping up with every blasted expense and trying to figure out what category they go in. Gone!

If only …

Some days, I wonder how John Adams or Ben Franklin would have reacted if they had been presented with a complete suite of IRS forms and told to file.

Technorati Tags: Taxes