Road Trip

I work for the State University of New York, and several times a year I get to travel to various campuses within the State University system. Tomorrow I am going to Delhi. This is the perfect road trip. It is probably under 3 hours and most of it is on easy roads. I don’t have to be there until 2 pm, so I have time to go to the gym before heading out. Then I can load the CD player and set the cruise control. When I get to Delhi, maybe I will find a funky little lunch emporium (then again, it is more likely that Delhi is devoid of anything even remotely funky). After the meeting and a friendly dinner, I get to hang out in a hotel room and read, write, or watch TV. And then….. if I may quote my friend Lynn, “the best part of going to these meetings is you get to sleep for 8 hours in a bed all by yourself.” As much as I love DH and sons #1 and #2, I must admit that sometimes I enjoy being by myself. In small doses, of course. For 2 days, there is no dishwasher to empty, or laundry to be folded, or daily reminders of the chores I neglect. I get to interact with some interesting people, too, people that are so different from me. The downside-- the food is usually mediocre but abundant. Boredom often leads to mindless eating. There is usually a lousy “fitness center” in the hotel. Should I bring my sledgehammer? Or my suspension trainer? Hmmm, maybe I will bring some fitness toys on my road trip.

Time to Defunk

I had a crappy weekend. In fact, the last few weeks have been crappy. At this point, the only option is for things to get better, to head up out of my funk. Being in PT, and having my cardio very limited has totally killed my motivation to go to the gym. That in turn has totally killed my motivation to eat properly. Add in the following:

1) Snowstorm that keeps you indoors all day Friday and most of Saturday.
2) Son that wants to go to his friend's house wearing his slippers after snowstorm.
3) Lack of telephone service while husband is away and both children are somplace other than home accompanied by lack of cell phone coverage at home, making it necessary to drive to the firehouse parking lot to get cell phone coverage in order to leave messages for various people so they know the phone doesn't work.
4) DH leaving pen in shirt pocket which ends up in washer/dryer and ruins 4 shirts.
5) Starting to make banana muffins and realizing I am missing key ingredient and having to make trip to the supermarket because I don't want to throw out the ingredients that I have already prepared.
6) Feeling sorry for myself and buying Oreos at the supermarket and then eating too many.

The Oreo thing is so uncharacteristic of me! I am not an emotional eater, but this was defintiely a response to feeling lonely and cranky. At least it made me realize that this was a total pity party and that it was time to turn it around. Yesterday was much better. Getting back to work after a 3 day wekend (snow day on Friday) was the best medicine. I do much better when I have structure and a routine. And tomorrow is the first day of spring! A new season, longer daylight hours, new growth and bicycle season! I am heading out of this funk, time to get back on the bus, the only option is up.

This week also marked the beginning of a 3 week Health and Fitness Challenge here at work. It is a fundraiser for the students and I am "team captain" for faculty/staff. I signed up 42 participants ($10 entry fee, winner gets a $25 gift certificate to Sports Authority). It involves everyone identifying healthy habits that they need to practice daily and a weekly fitness goal. Basically you earn points for practicing these habits and achieving your goals. My daily habits are not to eat any white food (white flour, white rice) and to floss my teeth. My weekly goal is to Dab the Wussy once a week. What would be your daily habits and weekly fitness goal?

Time Part II

DH started his own law practice 10 years ago. He had been with a firm for 17 years, had become a partner, but he wasn't happy there. Today he has 1 partner and 3 employees. It has taken a while to get the right mix, but he and his partner are very happy with the way the practicing is running on a daily basis and with its growth and direction. Life is good in their little part of the gigantic attorney universe. To celebrate, he and partner planned a lovely dinner for everyone and their spouses. We went to a restaurant in NYC and since 2 of the employees live in the same suburban town as us, and the third lives between us and NYC, we took a limo. What a blast! The traffic was horrendous getting into the city, but at least we were drinking champagne while complaining about it. DH and I were seated at the head of the table as the firm's parental units. Time was quickly becoming compressed-- had it really been 10+ years since we talked about him leaving a parternship behind to start his own practice? Of course hindsight is 20/20 and it was the right decision. I tried to think about what it was like when we made that decision, what did we see in the future, and I don't think we really thought about what the future would be like if he left. What we did see very clearly was what the future would be like if he didn't leave. There continue to be forks in the road, and so far we have not hit any deadends. I hope the way continues to be well marked into the future.

Wonderful but not the Giants

The 4 day weekend brought many wonderful moments. We spent Thanksgiving with some friends and had a lovely time. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t spend the day with my brother’s family, but thankfully we live close enough that we can get together for dinner and some quality family time without too much difficulty. And thankfully we look forward to making it happen. On Saturday DH and I went to a 50^th birthday party for a friend that I have known since we were 12 or 13 years old. I saw some old friends that I haven’t seen in many years. We had some good laughs when he was “roasted” by his brother and various friends. He recently became engaged to a really wonderful woman, so the entire event was filled with laughter, love, and memories. On Sunday morning I went for a 20 mile leisurely ride with 2 other club ladies. It was perfect. The temp was in the 50s. The landscape is so different at this time of year, and although the explosion of colors that is October is gone, the muted palette of November is still beautiful against a bright blue sky. Then there was Chinese take-out for lunch and the first half of the Giants game. That’s when the wonderfulness ended. The Giants game became a debacle and a stunning loss and a great cloud descended upon the household. There was nothing left to do at that point but clean up the kitchen, finish the laundry, and make some obligatory phone calls. Sunday evenings are not my favorite part of the week, and certainly coming off a 4 day weekend added to the general feeling of malaise. But witnessing the implosion of the Giants made me crave the Acoustic Night of Depression to lift my spirits!

Today marks the beginning of my “busy season.” It’s not the “holidays,” in fact I do my best to ignore them as much as possible. It’s work. I teach a course during the winter quarter which starts today. That’s 7 hours per week of classroom time. Plus prep time. I just have to be much more efficient and occasionally put in some extra hours to get the job done. I also have less flexibility in my schedule because the only day I’m not scheduled is Thursday. But it’s the part of my job that I enjoy the most. I am still committed to the Winter PreSeason and the Winter Indoor Season. The last 5 days were excellent, featuring a spin class, a bike ride, a body sculpting class, some strength training, a run, and some more miles on assorted indoor fitness equipment. In general, life is good.

A Great Recovery

I had a good day on Friday. I got to work early, put my game face on, dug in, and didn't quit until I got done what needed to get done. It took a while, but I did get to the gym. I used a new playlist I had designed to run 3 minute x 2 minute intervals for 30 minutes. Then I did a rockin' UBWO. Today I judged public forum at the debate tournament all day, from the first round all the way through the final round. That meant that I spent a good deal of time hanging around the judge's lounge which featured large quantities of crappy food. Tomorrow I would like to go hiking, weather permitting. If it rains, it will be an indoor day at the gym. Either way, tomorrow will feature fitness and good food.

An Unproductive Week

My week has been filled with false starts, lost opportunities and lack of focus. Although I had the time, I did not get done what needed to get done, at home or at work. As a result, I have backed myself into a corner. I will need to spend more time getting these things done, which will leave less time for effective Winter Preseason implementation. The reason I'm so angry with myself is I had the time to do everything, but just burned the time doing nothing. I am entiled to some down time, but not at the cost of productivity. I realize I can't get back the time lost, so I will move on, try to focus more on my priorities, and get done what needs to get done. So for starters, I am on an early train, give myself an extra half hour at my desk. Athough I usually only work a half day on Friday, I will not leave until I have completed one task in particular, one that I have been avoiding. If I can focus on that and get it done in a reasonable amount of time, then I can get to the gym. If it takes longer than I think, then there will be no gym today. Time to suck it up.