Alegra la noche

Yesterday afternoon, on the way home from work, the city had a station set up, giving away free stuff. Yes, I consider myself a minimalist, but that won't stop me from checking out some free stuff.

They were giving away bike lights, reflector bands - like for your sleeve or pant leg - and reflective shoe laces. I partook of the bike lights (the freebie tail light turned out to be total crap, but the headlight's a winner) and the shoe laces. The occasion was "Brighten the Night", sponsored by the city. I guess it for  now that we're back to standard time, heading toward winter solstice.

The utilities people were there too, and I got a 4-pack of LED light bulbs. Generous of them. I was on my bicycle and really needed to play some excellent tetris to get everything in my bag.

This week has felt weird. Early darkness coupled with the election - tutor students looking for ease of anxiety, and not just the math kind. So we worry about the things we can control. Math is friendly that way. No ambiguity.

Speaking of controlling and brightness, I upped my visibility as I mentioned recently, regarding the early morning runs in the dark.

Snapped a couple of pics out in the pre-sunrise wilds this morning before the snow moves in.

My new vest not only is reflective, but has built in lights - front and back. Three light modes: fast blink. slow blink, and steady. I swear the fast blink has seizure inducing quality. I stay away from that. 

Stay seen and sane, everyone 👍

*the shadow of a lover goes dancing by...

oh, nope. Just a little pooch.

The days are getting shorter and colder and I like it! We are under a freeze warning for tonight. I say "bring it!" a.k.a. kill the allergens, already.

I went for an enjoyable run this morning. The thermometer said 37F and the feels like said 30. I had a hard time remembering what I should wear for such conditions. As it happened, I had on one too many layers, but nothing crazy.

I enjoy being out there in the dark and quiet - after talking myself out of sleeping in.  Fall is my favorite time of year. Soon, the early morning hours will be icy and unwelcoming, but currently, they're perfect. 

There's very little activity at that time of day, save for a handful of dog walkers who seemingly like the feel of the dark, quiet, early mornings too. I shuffled by a few of them, each of us acknowledging each other briefly before continuing our morning solitudes - pondering our life choices, or unable to shake a random earworm.

Some have small lights on their dogs, others wear lighted/reflective vests and/or headlights. Me, I have a headlight, but nothing else to really help the visibility. 

I was over on J. Bezos's store site, looking at light vests, pondering. 


It's reminiscent of my glory days as an elementary school crossing guard.


Now THAT was high fashion.


sigh what to wear?

*This run's earworm:

sloughing

 The view outside my window:

Last week, we were out in the sunshine, whooping it up at Bucee's, now we've got snow, a.k.a. "April Showers".

It's probably my fault. I'd put most of my cold weather clothes away and shook out the summer stuff to be greeted with highs in the 30s. 

Oh well, good moisture happening. Good for the plants and all the way up the food chain.

This was another good week that was. Got in some PEO, some testing, some tuting, checking things off the to-do.

Yesterday, I went for a haircut, and my stylist was making the small-talk that she does when she mentioned something about her "ex-husband", which took me a bit aback. All this time I've been going to her for cuts, the husband's always been "husband", not "ex-".

So I was curious but not that curious. I don't really know her that well. I pop in for a 30-minute cut every couple of months, so there's not a whole lot of dishing to be done. And it's not like she just came out with "I'm getting a divorce", she nonchalantly mentioned the ex-husband in reference to some general thing, like he'd been an ex for a long time. And I know she's only had one husband, so this had to be that guy.

Honestly, I'm not a super chatty person. In fact, I'd be perfectly happy to just sit while she cuts, no words needed. But I know others who like the social aspect of going to the stylist. I think it's something stylists are aware of, so they make conversation out of obligation. I can go along with it if I must.

So, should I have asked what's up with the "ex-"? Or just let the comment go by, like I did, not to be nosy. A couple of months ago, he was a several-years husband. 

I did wonder about her daughter, though. She's the youngest kid and still in high school. What does she think of this ex business? Right smack dab in the middle of prom season? This too shall pass.

I finished up my scheduled physical therapy sessions. Not surprisingly, Dr. J tried to sell me some more, but I think I'm good for now. Not quite feeling like a 17-year-old again, but good enough not to throw any more money at the troubles for now. 

I'm happily running again, slow AF, but it kind of looks like running.

crashing

I was out running in the wee mornig hours on Friday and decided to snap a pic of this sculpture at sunrise. 

It's a bronze sculpture that sits along a popular trail near the bike racks for a a botanical garden attraction. 

It "shades" a bench and one of those public bicycle repair stations.

It's titled "Cycologist" and actually makes me think of a multiple bicycle crash... in a tree?

Looking at the photo afterwards, it looks rather sinister and thorny in the darkness. 

So when I was in the area again this morning at a later hour, I snapped it again in the daylight. Still crashy/ thorny, but a little less sinister? Maybe?

So yes, I am able to run again and have been reminding my body of that for the last month or so. The physical therapy, including the dry needling, seems to have helped. I don't exactly feel 17 again, but I'll take what I can get.

Speaking of bicycles and crashes, Magnum and I were out walking around yesterday when we came across a fresh accident between a bicyclist and a (I think) pickup truck.

It happened on the other side of a busy road we were walking along. I looked over and saw a laid down road bike with its front wheel looking rather bent and possibly detatched? That's when I noticed the guy on the ground, the car with its hazard likes blinking and a pickup truck with its hood opened.

From my astute observations, I surmise that the pickup truck was going south and turned left to enter an apartment complex and hit the bicyclist going north in the bike lane. Probably a bystander then pulled their car into the apartment entance to block other traffic from the injured bicyclist.

Shortly afterward, all the first responders showed up - fire, ambulamps, po po. Traffic was blocked and rerouted at he intersection a little further south. I was actually impressed at the quick efficiency of it all.

The injured cyclist - wearing a helmet - was on his back and appeared to be conscious and speaking with his helpers. This was along a busy stretch that I personally wouldn't ride a bicycle on. There is a bike lane, yes, but PFFFT.  Now, I'm not victim blaming here, I'm sure he had the right of way. But a little common sense goes a long way.

Just about every close call I've ever had while bicycling in traffic involved someone turning left. In fact, [that one time I was hit], several years ago when I was bouncier, was by a woman who turned left into me. It seems that left-turning drivers are looking for oncoming cars and bicycles turn invisible. 

no escribas

I had to open my own blog to see how long since I last posted anything. Okay, one week, not too much of  a slacking? 

It's been a busy time, but should now quiet to a gentle roar. My tutor boss at the college opened up for semester requests, and my schedule became instantly filled. I told her I'd take up to 5 students for the semester, and they usually trickle in, but this time, it was like flood gates opening. Whoosh, 5 in the inbox. After the frenzy of figuring out everyone's schedules, we can get down to business. Plus, I'd taken on a couple of high schoolers in the meantime, so they should all keep me occupied. 

The testing center runs hot and cold. We were swamped busy on Monday, and yesterday was lots of downtime. I spent a good portion of the day putting stickers on a new batch of test booklets for Spanish speakers ala, "NO ESCRIBAS EN EL LIBRO" That's about the extent of my bilingualism.

Mango, our recently hired assistant boss, usually rides the bus to work. She's a fresh university grad and said that people on the bus often ask her what she's studying at the college. She explains that she's not a student but a staffer, so this is inevitably followed by them asking what she does.

This got my coworkers and I pondering our actual job title - what it says in the staff directory and on our nametags anyways: Professional Tester. 

Kinda confusing, sounds like we take tests for money, which is, in most cases, illegal. 

In other news, I'm back to the running. The physical therapy, including the dry needling, seems to be helping and I've been out running around again. Not quite race ready, but it's coming along nicely. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as laying on a table getting needles stuck into various places. I have to do a gamut of exercises as well.

Doctor PT just welcomed a new baby and mentioned he was thinking of signing up for a "big" race to help him keep the running motivation during this life change. Next thing, he's suggesting that I sign up for a 30k trail race. 

What? No! What...? 

In a weird way, that sounds kinda fun and awful at the same time.

Thank your husband and electric needles.

"Tell your husband 'Thanks!' for shoveling our sidewalk!", he cheered from his driveway.

"Oh, sure, no problem!", I hailed back

Neighbor Guy next door. I noticed during our recent snow storm(s) that no one seemed to be home for a while over there, so when I was out shoveling, I shoveled their sidewalk as well. Tell your husband - pffft. 

And I did tell Magnum, we chuckled a bit over it. I don't hold it against Neighbor Guy. I guess it's "normal" to assume the resident man handles the shoveling of snow. Neighbor Guy is a rather burly manly man himself who takes care of the outside of the house. I don't know him that well, but he always seems friendly.

And honestly, I rather enjoy shoveling snow. As long as it's not bunches of it, wet and heavy. Magnum does share in the task, but for the most part, especially before he began working from home, it was one of my chief duties. It's only fair since he brings home the Lion's share of our income. 

My coworker, Sarge, is in a similar boat. His wife is the main earner for his family, so he picks up the "house work". Yes, out there clearing the snow, etc. and also doing most of the cooking and shopping, driving the kids around... Equity and Inclusion, we're on it!

I went for a sloggish run this morning. Recall I've been off the running while dealing with a fritzed foot. It's been feeling better, but then I caught a cold, and then we were hit with an arctic blast - neither conducive to start running again.

This week, I had another appointment with the physical therapist, and he somewhat "assigned" me to go for a short run-walk this weekend and report back. Felt pretty good actually, though a bit cold and I had to deal with annoying ice in several places. Plus being out of shape *huff puff*. But the foot held together.

We did the dry needling thing at this last appointment. It felt... interesting. I didn't watch the process at all - first hit was in the outside of my calf while I laid on my back, second was in my lower back/hip while I laid on my stomach, so I didn't exactly have a view of either anyway. 

But he inserted (I think) two needles each time, then added electric stimulation to the needles, so there was this pulsing going on in there - like in [this youtube short] I found. He did that to the areas for about 2 minutes each. 

It felt neither amazing nor painful, but it was a very gentle feeling. Like the cat when he prods me to let him under the covers.

a break from this break

• We had our little white elephant gift exchange at work  yesterday - ended up just being five of us as Triple-D was sick, and Star and Kitty had other obligations. I was surprisingly content with what I ended up with - a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle, kitchen sponges, and a dental grab bag - HA!

With these work gift exchanges, we try to do them without anyone having to purchase anything. I learned that the jigsaw had been gifted to Party Girl's dad, who has dementia and can do a 60-piece puzzle, tops. I suspect that she did purchase the kitchen sponges - they are new and in the shape of cat faces. The dental grab bag came from Work Study, who informed us that the college's dental assistant program had given them out for Halloween. Who knew?

As to why I ended up with gifts from two people, it's a roundabout story, but suffice to say that I almost ended up with that Zombie book that I brought after things had made the rounds. But Sarge actually wanted the book and traded up to get it. So all's well that ends well, and I don't have to buy toothpaste or floss for a while.

• In other happy news, I went running this morning. My foot had been on the fritz for about a month and a half, but had gotten to feeling better, so I rejoined the weirdos this morning. It did okay, but in the meantime, I had contacted a local physical therapy office that specializes in running injuries.

They're offering a $49 special with full analysis/diagnostics, plus they're office is really close to our house. So I made an appointment for next week, and they sent me a questionnaire which asked typical questions like, "what hurts", "what makes it better/ worse", "what have I tried doing for it", etc... And it also asked something like, "What are my goals from therapy and how meaningful will it be for me to reach them?"

As for goals, I just want to be able to go for regular runs again and make a decent showing at a handful of races - 5K, 10K realm - each year, blah blah... But meaningful? I had to think. I mean, I'm nearly 60 years old. I'd like to be able to leave other 60-year-old women in the dust, but I'm pretty sure I've passed my peak. I came up with something for the meaningful question (all fields had to be filled in), but I realized I could find meaning in other activities if push comes to shove.

I'm off work today, and we're closed all next week. I guess I'll start searching for some meaningful things to occupy my time.

fourth thursday

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all  'mericans!  

Today is actually looking to be a quiet day for me. Magnum, Wolfgang, and Meego are going to Magnum's sister's for the big gathering. I'll stay behind and chill with the dogs since we had no one to unload them upon. Chaco recently moved out of state for work, so will also be thankful in abstentia.

It's just as well with the mystery dog illness going around. This is no doubt a busy time of year for dog kennels and other boarders. I know there are heightened restrictions in place, but don't know the extent. Turns out it's a good thing to have antisocial dogs - currently anyways.

The four of us plan to get together on Saturday. Might go downtown to check out the Christmas elaborations. Either way, I'm off the hook for cooking this year.

In other mysteries, I parked my bicycle after getting home from work yesterday. I keep the two bicycles I ride most often in the house because I'm a wimp and don't like retrieving them from a cold garage they're precious.

Soon after I'd settled my commuter, the cat snuggled in beneath the bicycles and was rolling around in some sort of bliss. If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought he found catnip down there. 

He hung out among the tires and chains for a good couple hours before deciding to, once again, join the sober. He hasn't returned to the seeming euphoria, and I have no idea what that was about.

I'm looking forward to four relatively quiet days off. I worked the last three days, and the place was a bit of a zoo. We thought it would be slow with the students on break, but it seems that everybody and their grandma decided this would be the time to get their professional certifications in. It was like a Black Friday version of testing. Door busters!

As I mentioned earlier, no Thanksgiving day road race for me this year. Recall that last year, I managed to beat the mayor. She no doubt has something to do with sabotaging my foot this year.

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Linking up with Mama Kat for the prompt:

1. Happy Thanksgiving! Share your Thanksgiving Day plans.

Barbies and turtles

Happy October! Feels like it snuck up on us. 

October is typically one of my favorite months, weather-wise anyway. It also is the month of Inktober! 31 days, 31 ink drawings.

I've made it to the starting line at least. Today's prompt is "dream"

I always wanted one of these Barbie Dream campers, but alas, it was not to be. Maybe I'll have a real one when I'm an old(er) lady.

Speaking of starting lines and old ladies, this morning was also the first of the season for Tortoise and Hare races. It was a short and sweet 4K (2.5 miles). Big turnout because...

1. it's the first race of the season
2. it's the shortest race of the season
3. the weather was beaut

I managed to make it to the finish without succumbing to injury or death, so it was a win. I noticed another runner refer to the races as "Tortuga y Conejo", and I think I like that better. Maybe I'm getting bored with English.

knee-highs ftw

I don't think I was too much of a tortuga. I was slightly slower than my predicted pace as the algorithm is still adjusting to my post-covid self, but it was a fun time with the other weirdos. 

So a nice end to a decent week and a nice start to the month. See ya, summer.

down by the crick

Hot enough for ya?  This morning I stepped outside for a run at what is usually a pleasant time for such activity. But alas, it was already 76 degrees. Gross.

I realize 76 degrees would be pleasant for some, but we're spoiled here, and it's typically a good 10+ degrees cooler at that time in the morning.

Strangely, conditions seemed to improve as time went on. I ran mostly following a creek, which proved to be my, literally, cool friend. I crossed many other runners, walkers, bicyclists, and such also wanting to beat the heat. 

Last week on reddit, runners were discussing amazon prime day deals. I skimmed and saw heart rate monitors, gps watches, etc. Nothing I was interested in. Then someone said, "Nuun tablets half price!", and I was all, "what are nuun tablets?"

Well, I guess I'll find out, because I ordered me a 4-pack prime deal.

In somewhat related news, read about this guy? Assassinated while running. Hmm, bet he thought he was doing something healthy. He regularly posted his running and bicycling routes on the Strava app for all to see. Not a good idea for a commander during a war against Ukraine, or any place else for that matter. 

I, like many others, use Strava for logging runs and bicycle rides. Once again, I'm grateful I'm a nobody. But this is another example of how surprised I am with what people will post online. Strava, naturally, includes privacy settings, but the former commander didn't use them, apparently. It's like some facebook friends who give updates about how they just landed at some airport destination far far away from home for a specific number of days, a la , "Hey, go rob my house!"

On the flip side, Strava can be a handy thing, like last week when a woman was cooling down after her run and was approached by perv who tried to "expose his genitals" before she left the area. She got some snapshots from afar and posted a be-on-the-lookout to a local Strava group. 

She didn't get a good picture of the perv himself, but that's a pretty distinctive vehicle. 

Seen him?

weekend bullets

And so ends another week. Time goes faster the older you get, it's true. 

• I worked at the college yesterday as my turn came up in the Saturday rotation.  I was teamed with Assistant Boss who struggles somewhat with dyslexia. He seemed more challenged than usual yesterday after a problem with an early check-in had him a bit frazzled for the rest of the shift.

He confided to me that he thinks his dyslexia is getting worse as he gets older (he's late 50's). From my observation, it seems he has developed anxiety from the potential mistakes as a result of the dyslexia. Maybe it's the compound effects of dyslexia + anxiety about dyslexia making it seem worse.  End result: it's worse, but not terrible.

On a lighter note, we had chuckles from a test candidate from China whose name was pronounced "Wrong Way" (she found it amusing too). Made us wonder if our names mean anything in other languages? Hopefully nothing embarrassing. 

• I decided to stop "drinking" a little over three months ago. At that time, the extent of my so-called drinking was splitting a lite beer with Magnum most evenings. So, I figured it wasn't really doing much for me, so what was the point? Admittedly, I did/ do miss the taste of it in a habitual kind of way, especially now that we're in the heat of summer and a "cold one" sounds enticing. 

Last weekend, we went out to eat with the guys for Father's Day, and they each ordered (not lite) beers. I got a slight buzz just from sampling them. If I wasn't a lightweight before, I definitely am now.

• 38-year-old Courtney Dauwalter from Leadville, CO won the Western States 100-mile ultra race by smashing the previous record for women. 

I enjoy running, and I have absolutely NO desire to EVER run 100 miles. I don't even have the desire to run a full marathon - something all kinds of people pay money to do. 

That said, I would happily run 100 miles through the mountains before I would ever get into a deep-sea submersible.

 

thinking thoughts

Tuesday, time to reflect I guess.

Random thoughts/ moments:

• We got together for a nice time with all the guys for Father's Day. It included another good restaurant discovery (featuring no adjacent table drama). My blackened chicken sammich was so good, but I didn't finish it. I actually woke up later in the middle of the night thinking, "Damn, shoulda got the to-go box!"
• My 19-year-old friend/former coworker CC had her baby. Everyone seems happy, lovey, and healthy in the filter that is facebook.
• Had a P.E.O. meeting last weekend. Our convention delegate came back with various prizes for us. I got the "Crunch" award, for coming through in a crunch, a.k.a. agreeing to be the next chapter Prez. I figured my award would have to do with that

News that caught my attention:

• Our local indoor mall is staging for a total redo that will essentially get rid of the indoor mall. It all makes good sense to me, but where are the old folks going to walk?
• I have no desire to go on any sort of "submersible tour" of the Titanic or otherwise be in a submarine. Certainly not to a depth of 13,000 feet. Especially not after such stories of the ongoing search operations.
• I read an article written by a local MD who is also a registered dietician. The article addresses why/ what to eat before running. I usually run in the morning and don't eat beforehand, but the article says, 

"Men and women's bodies function differently when it comes to burning fuel and things that have worked well for some men (i.e. fasted running) are dangerous and counterproductive to women."

So that caught my attention, which is mainly why I read the article. But I never found what was "dangerous and counterproductive to women". Anyone?

Triumphs:

• Is it a triumph that I thought about eating a graham cracker, like the good doctor's article suggests, before heading out for a run this morning? But then I said, "Nah", went for an enjoyable jaunt and survived?

Challenges:

• We've got landscaping ideas for the front yard. I actually like working in the yard, but it's time consuming. Do we just throw money at it and let some pros do the main bits, then happily maintain it afterward? Or keep chipping away and have a never-ending-WIP?

One thing learned from triumph or challenge:

• As mentioned, sprucing up the yard on our formerly-a-rental-enjoying-a-mere-modicum-of-lawncare house, I'm learning, is a good sized project.

end of week bullets

• Last Sunday, I went for a run in the rain. It was actually quite nice - just rain. No lightning, no hail. A couple of weeks prior, I'd got caught in a rainstorm while running. At the point of getting rained upon, I knew if I turned around to go home, I'd become fully saturated anyway, so I just kept on a-going... and got fully saturated.

So last Sunday, it was already rainy when I left the house, and I wore my nylon shell, which did a good job of keeping me relatively dry - between waist and neck. My shoes got fully soaked, however, from all the puddles. Add the soaked shoes to the fact that my left sock had a small hole from which my pinky toe had pooched out, and I ended up tearing a small patch of skin from said pinky toe.  

Surprising how annoying a skin patchless pinky toe can be. Talk about your first world problems.

• Work at the testing center was very slow yesterday during my shift. I was there for four hours and gave three tests. But there were a few other tasks to catch up and occupy my time, so I ended up feeling quite productive. Plus, Work Study - our student employee - was there with a pile of math homework.  Summer classes are more concentrated than Fall and Spring, and she's in the thick of it. So I got some tuting done, and she got her homework done (while getting paid). Win-win (win).
  
  
• A Youtuber I check in on now and then (I don't subscribe to any Youtube channels) announced this week that he's going to stop doing daily vlogs. And I was all, "Good for you!" He's vlogged every day for the last seven years! 

He's a likable guy, and his channel is centered on running. That's how I found him - via his well done, informative shoe reviews. He lives in nearby Denver, and he attended the same university I did, so there's a local flair. He makes his living off  Youtube and supports his family of wife plus five-with-a-sixth-on-the-way kids, so it's clearly a lucrative gig.

But EVERY DAY??

I wonder how that affects a person's off-camera life: to be on camera every day for a channel with a large following - while raising a family, no less. Out there every day with the selfie stick and whatnot. His growing family is naturally often featured on his vlogs as well. So I'm glad for him and the family that he's decided to back off. 

• We've been watching Beef on Netflix. Seen it? Finished it? We made it to the final episode last night and were about halfway through it when - ZHOOOP - power outage.  By the time the power was back, I'd shut off the laptop and was ready for bed.
  
  Ironically, the title of that last episode is "Figures of Light", of which we had none.

found

 Went out for a light run this morning since work is closed for biz on this holiday. I'd seen a headline in the news feed about American flags on display at a local park for fallen service men and women. I didn't read the article and figured there'd be some small "decorative" flags lining a pathway or such.

So this morning, I found myself in the area of this particular park, looked around and didn't see any little flags. "Maybe the little flags are at the other end of the park, or maybe I am just not seeing them", I pondered.

I continued to the other end of the park. Lo and behold, these were not little decorative flags. There were 500 good sized American flags taking up quite a bit of space in what I later learned from the provided website, is  the "Field of HonorⓇ  American Flag Display"  

Fort Collins Breakfast Rotary Club puts up their “Field of Honor® American Flag Display,” which consists of 500 American flags in formation. Hanging on the flags are medallions bearing the names of others’ heroes.  

I wasn't quite sure what was meant by "others' heroes", but I think it means fallen soldiers other than Vietnam since this year's display also included The Vietnam Traveling Wall.

There was an entire stage set up where a couple of women were reading names of fallen soldiers - apparently, the names of 58,318 fallen service men and women are read each day, Friday through today, from 7am to 7pm.

I was there around 7:30am, and there were very few others. I just saw one couple in the Vietnam wall area. The handful of others at the park were, like me, out using the pathways or tennis courts or dog park. But several vehicles were starting to arrive.

I headed back home in the morning sunshine, glad that I'd come across the more-impressive-than-expected tribute. 

reflection

Another week deeper into spring. Sun is shining, birds are chirping, pollen is floating.

I'm looking forward to the end of the semester. I've identified some inefficiencies in my tutoring schedule/ availability, and have made a few adjustments. But the adjustments won't kick in until after the end of this semester, so let's go already. 

Boss is his happy annoying self once again. His whining about being jerked around regarding his promotion has paid off, and he is supposedly given an agreeable start date. So he's back to his mundane running-of-the-mouth, and I find myself rather missing the grumpy moper boss.

From here, I'mma do this reflection prompt I found... somewhere:

Three moments from this week I'd like to remember:

• I got my teeth cleaned this week, and it was the first time I'd seen the hygienist as well as the dental assistant without surgical masks. Masks are no longer required in medical offices, and they happily showed their unfamiliar faces. Hygienist, of course, wore hers while working, but nice to see whole faces during the chatty times.
• While out walking with pooch Penny, I came across what looked like a couple of brothers learning some skateboard tricks. It was just a wholesome scene. Older was probably around 13 years old, younger was about 7 or 8. They looked like they'd just gotten the new skateboards, and the fact that they were both wearing matching new Vans sneakers made it all the more wholesome. 
• We have a workstudy student who works with us in the testing center. She has an "emotional support" dog that boss said she can bring to work. Omigosh, little Gizmo is the cutest thing!

One of the week's triumphs, big or small:

• I've mentioned how I've been dealing with physical stamina issues since having covid, mainly noticeable when running. I've been working on it with more attention over the last few weeks, and have made happy progress.

One of the week's challenges, big or small:

• Those tutor scheduling inefficiencies I mentioned up there. 

One thing I learned from my triumph or challenge:

• I learned that running slower really does help one run faster. 🤔
• I learned not to cater to unreasonable requests on my time.

Two events or news stories out in the world that caught my attention:

• I've been captivated by the story of 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, the national guardsman who leaked top secret documents over a Discord server.  Brought them home? Took photos of them? Supposedly for clout among his online buddies?
  I mean... what the hell??
• Is it the end for Bud Light? 

tan lines and pelicans, nope

Happy Easter, or Ostara for the pagans, or Sunday for all. We are enjoying pleasant springtime weather to coincide with the holiday.

I enjoyed a happy morning run along the creek where I met up with tan lines and pelicans. Two firsts for the year.

The pelicans seem to be happily cohabitating with the ducks and geese of the neighborhood. But they typically don't hang around for very long

It does feel like spring fever is kicking in for many. Tutees are dragging their way, just wanting to make it to the end of the semester. That one student who had covid about a month ago is still dealing with the aftermath - secondary infections - as the semester marches on.

We watched Nope last night. Seen it? Jordan Peele movie about aliens? Or rather, more specifically, Jordan Peele movie about UAPs  or unidentified aerial phenomena. 

I guess UAP has replaced UFO as the term of choice because people connote UFO with big-eyed aliens.

Anyway, I liked the movie well enough. It was entertaining, not mind blowing, but entertaining. Likeable characters except for the... well... y'know.

happy about sad

We've made it to March, congratulations, everyone.

Re-org things have become more prevalent at work - naming of new VPs and Deans. I'm too far removed from that level to pay much attention. 

The managers in my organization, which is disbanding and morphing into something else, had their last staff meeting this past week. Assistant Boss said they closed the meeting with going around the room and asking everyone to share something they're sad about the re-org and something they're excited about. 

Assistant Boss's contribution: "I'm sad that Boss is leaving. I'm excited... that boss is leaving!"

Yup, we all agreed with that sentiment! As I've said, Boss is a good person to work FOR, but annoying to work WITH. He's been told that he will move to his new digs on April 1st. Woe to the fools at his new location.

Speaking of reorganizing, I caught a bit of a tidy bug this week. Actually, I think I have a somewhat chronic condition, but I had a little tidying flare up and did some rearranging and purging of kitchen items. 

This was brought on by this week's mousecapades. We became aware of a mouse raiding a part of the pantry where we keep a few snacks. We'd occasionally hear it scratching around, plus the animals were all honed in on the location.

Magnum set a trap, but the silly mouse didn't get the memo on how to use it. Instead of snapping its neck in the thing and dying instantly, it somehow managed to catch its tail while remaining very much alive and anguished.

We opened the cabinet door while the great hunter Napolion, the cat, was nearby and highly interested. He seemed to take one look at this mouse/ trap hybrid, and say "Whoa, that's just creepy! NO thanks!"  I've since rearranged things to make the snacks, hopefully, less accessible to local rodentia.

Magnum trapped the unhappy combo in a plastic container and put it out back in the brick pile while we contemplated how to end the torture. In the end, our visitor froze to death. I've heard that hypothermia is quite peaceful toward the "end". After the awfulness that comes prior, I suppose. *SIGH*

This morning, I ran this month's Tortoise & Hare race with the running club, a 10k (6.2 miles). 

It was a nice sunny morning for it, temps in the 30s, no icy patches on the course. My NASA shirt didn't give me the rocket boost I'd hoped for as my pace is still notably slower since my bout of dang covid last summer.

I'm not sure if it's my heart rate or my lung capacity that's the issue, or something else entirely. I've never really paid attention to these things in the past, just running for fun. But I stayed alive until the end, strangely smiling in race photos. 

Note: there's a fine line between a smile and a grimace.

a mile from yours

Happy February. Did the groundhog see his shadow, or was there a big balloon covering the sun?

Whatever, I'm happy that the temps warmed up, and the sun has visited, and all this snow and ice and crap that's been around for a few weeks is slowly leaving. Yes, I like having four seasons, but snow and ice don't normally stick around very long here between storms, we're spoiled that way.

I did this month's Tortoise & Hare race with the running club this morning, a 5-miler. Not too chilly or windy, so a nice day of it. Icy in spots, but I managed to remain upright and make it across the finish. I'm still not up to my pre-covid pace, but it's fun nonetheless.

Speaking of getting older *ahem*, I visited a new gym yesterday. Magnum and I decided to leave the gym we'd been members of and get city rec passes instead. The passes give us access to various recreation facilities around town including three workout gyms. So happens, the one closest to our house is at the local Senior Center.

Okay, fine.

I will add that the Senior Center is not JUST for old folks. 18 years and up is the age limit, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was not the youngest person using the gym. As for the basketball court - that place seems to be all-pickleball-all-the-time. Pickleball? Anyone?

And speaking of younger folks, I mentioned last week that the tutoring center at the college is low on math tutors for the number of requests, so they'd asked me if I'd take on a calculus group. I said, "sure, why not?", but I've mainly been a one-on-one tutor and wasn't sure how effective a group (turns out, there are 4 students in my group) sesh would be.

But hey, our first session was actually quite fun, I can dig this group stuff. They all came with their anxieties and questions and likely picked up a few skills they wouldn't have otherwise thought to work on.

In addition, I have two one-on-one tutees, so the semester is off to a nice start. All pleasant "kids".

I'll wrap up this weekly rundown with a pic of my new water bottle, tea mug for scale.

It's pretty. It's insulated. It was essentially free-to-me. It has a screw-on-flip lid - which seems a bit of overkill - but it's what all the kids are into these days, I guess.

Simple pleasures.

iced, joyous, brokenhearted

It's a thankfully clear sunshiney morning as I sit for this weekly wrap-up post. There is a lot of snow and ice hanging around from this week's storm. We rely a lot on the sun for taking care of these things, and the sun's been slacking.

My less than 2-mile walk to work on Thursday was like crossing Donner Pass in parts, but I will give a shoutout to the parks department for promptly and thoroughly clearing the bike paths. Getting to and from the bike paths is another story. Good thing for spikey shoes. 

Speaking of clearing, I've started reading Marie Kondo's second book, Spark Joy. The "master class" follow up to her first book on tidying. 

The first book helps readers get rid of clutter, this book aims to help organize the remains. I think I have more clutter to get rid of first. It's not as joyous around here as it could be.

And speaking of clutter, things are still being sorted at work regarding much restructuring. Duties will likely shift a bit in my department once Boss fully moves into his new position, but no one knows when that will be and what precise shifting is to happen.

In the meantime, I've been training a new coworker whom I will call Gomer (he's an ex-Marine). Nice guy, catches on fast. He's confided in me on a couple of things regarding Boss, wondering if it's only happening to him, Gomer. 

"No", I assured him. "He does those things to all of us, and we are all annoyed by them" - mainly Boss's penchant for talking too much about himself and butting into business where he doesn't know the full story. It's embarrassing really. He's fine if he stays in the office doing Boss things, but whenever he comes out to deal with a customer or student, we all brace for the uncomfortable impact. Can't wait for him to move to his new location.

And speaking of annoyances, I was out enjoying a lovely run this morning. I'm thankful to still enjoy running at my age. No complaints from the various joints. But honestly, I've been sucking wind a bit ever since I had covid last June/July. 

Nothing terrible, and maybe "sucking wind" is a bit harsh, but I'm a little off and just don't have the same pace and stamina of pre-covid me. 

I've visited some discussion threads on the topic, and it seems recovery time for sucking wind is all over the place. So... patience.

As long as I can still beat the mayor.

playing catch up

Hello, December!

Another busy week down. Finals begin this week at the college. High anxiety time. These days, there are all these stressbusters in place: puppies, free treats, free yoga, etc. Sheesh, when I was in college, we tempered stress by studying and abusing substances on our own dime.

In other work related news, my boss is up for a promotion.  Similar role, but bigger crown. I hope he gets the job because (1) I think he'd be highly effective at it, and (2) if selected, his office would be at another campus.

I would still work for him, and as I've said here before - I like working FOR my boss, but I don't necessarily like working WITH him a lot of the time. He talks SO much about himself and his special interests (which aren't very interesting). So if he is the chosen one, it's the best of both worlds for me, and his maybe-promotion is all about me.

The selection process will take a while, but I'm over here rooting for him. He actually asked me to go over his cover letter and tighten it up a bit. You know I did my best!

The weekend was good. I had a PEO meeting on Saturday and then another Tortoise and Hare race on Sunday. This one was a 6k, so about 3.7 miles. 

The nature of these T&H races is such that "the fastest person doesn't always win". In fact, the fastest person rarely wins.

Likely winners are those who improve over their previous race. Last year, the one who took the grand prize at the end of the season was a 7-year-old kid.

But it's still a race, so naturally, everyone wants to know who's the fastest. Sorting the results always pulls up the same bunch.

Always those whipper snapper high school cross country kids. Oh, to be young again.