Discipline Will Make Me Stronger, If It Doesn't Kill Me First
Seems like everything in my life has reached a bit of a plateau lately: work has been steadily busy during what has traditionally been a post-New Years quiet period; extra-curricular theatre activities have settled into a manageable cycle that hasn't required huge amounts of extra time; and the diet regiment has resulted in a (hopefully, temporary) equilibrium state. I'm currently running in the 191 - 194 range, bouncing between the two, with a once-in-awhile day of being either slightly over or slightly under that range.
Even though I'm averaging gym visits about two times a week, I've also been a little less disciplined about my intake, so I need to just knuckle-down and get that side of things a little more back on-track. Hopefully, with what looks like a return to unseasonably clement weather for the near term (anyone complaining that the blizzard conditions in the Northeast MUST be "proof" that Global Climate Change is a myth need only look at the fact that, in mid-February, the Olympics organizers up in Vancouver are being forced to truck in snow from remote locations in order to keep the slopes in good condition), I'll be able to increase my activity level even further, which should help matters somewhat.
I'm still focused on the goal of getting down to 180 lbs., but I just have to acknowledge the last 10 - 15 pounds are going to take a lot longer to shed than I anticipated.
Seven Miles To Travel Down A Twisting Track Of Gravel, Seven Ragged Miles To Town On Unpaved Road
I had planned to get this up a few days ago, but frankly, the six days off rather ate into my ambitious plans. Plus, I think I caught some sort of low-grade cold, or possibly even a mild sinus infection somewhere early in and I've been feeling a teensy bit under the weather ever since; not enough to prevent me from doing things, mind you, but just enough to require prioritizing what sorts of things I was up for doing.
So, the mini-vacation turned out pretty well, with the sole exception of the speeding ticket I got in some podunk burg outside Bellingham on Thursday afternoon. 31 in a 25 zone, and me in the middle of a line of cars all going the same speed. Yeah, I know municipalities across the land are cash-strapped, but seriously, could you-all be just a little less blatant about hitting up us hapless out-of-towners to cover your revenue shortfalls? Especially, when it goes on our driving record? Thanks!
Otherwise, speeding tickets and stuffy noses aside, it was a pleasant time off. I spent two days in a very nicely appointed cabin just outside La Conner, overlooking Skagit Bay with Whidbey Island due west. The weather was a little chilly (although still rather warm for January), but not too cold that I was uncomfortable, especially during the occasional sun breaks. Spent pretty much spent most of the two and a-half days I was there sitting on the porch or walking on the beach. Lots of wildlife on-view: bald eagles, hawks, seagulls dropping oysters onto the rocky shore, little brown squirrels, birds galore - all very peaceful.
Except however, when the jets from NAS Whidbey did fly-overs, which on Wednesday at least was pretty much all afternoon. Mostly appeared to be EA-18's (a variation on the F-18 Hornet), along with what I presume was a large cargo jet, with a couple of air/sea rescue helicopters and some fancy close-formation aerobatics thrown in for good measure. I think they were just taking advantage of the relatively clement weather to practice touch-and-go's (simulated take-offs and landings) and turnouts into the Straight of Juan De Fuca, heading up the narrow gap between the U.S. and Canada that leads out to the Pacific Ocean.
The evenings got decidedly colder, but a very efficient wood-burning stove (and back up electrical heating) kept the inside of the small space nice and cozy.
I lolled around until about noon on Thursday then "broke camp" and headed north along the coastline to Samish Island a little spit of land that juts out into the Sound - with some insanely large (and presumably quite expensive) homes dotting the shoreline. From there I caught the scenic Chuckanut Drive, which hugs the shoreline and drove north to Larrabee State Park, just south of Bellingham, for a quick hike, then hopped back in the bus and drove north and east through B-ham heading in the general direction of Mt. Baker, whereupon I had my meet up with the aforementioned revenue enhancement official.
After that minor setback it was relatively smooth sailing: I took State Route 542 to S.R. 9, then turned south passing through Deming, Van Zandt, Acme and Sedro Wooley, before finally turning east onto Hwy 20, which leads straight into the heart of the North Cascades. I ended up stopping a few miles short of my goal for the evening, a campsite just outside Concrete, and found instead what turned out to be an even better (not to mention actually open!) location at Rasar State Park, where I overnighted.
The next morning I continued east to Concrete, then turned south to Darrington until I hit what's known as "The Mountain Loop Highway", which is something of a misnomer, since: A of all) it doesn't make a full loop without considerable effort, and; B of all) the middle 14 miles is in reality an unpaved single lane U.S. Forest Service road, which at certain times of the year (and generally that means now) is unpassable due to snow. But not this January - I checked at Darrington, which was the last place I could have gone in another direction other than back the way I'd just come, and was told the pass was clear, if somewhat muddy in places.
So, the bus and I trekked up the mountainside, following the Sauk River (and passing two trucks coming from the other direction on a muddy, narrow, one-lane dirt road - some days you just can't get away from traffic!) until we reached Barlow Pass, then cruised down the other side, making a quick rest stop at Big Four Mountain Viewpoint, before completing the long, meandering coast down out of the foothills into Granite Falls, then south through Lake Stevens, Machias, Snohomish, Cathcart, Maltby and finally into Woodinville, where I stopped for a quick snack at the local DQ, and where I finally, reluctantly, took to the freeway for the last few miles back home.
Whereupon I spent the remainder of the weekend doing as little as possible - with the exception of teaching a tax workshop and going to the gym Sunday afternoon.
But, now it's Monday again, and I'm back in the real world. Thanks Vacationland, it was nice visiting you - maybe we'll do it again sometime.
Life In The Fast Lane, Surely Make You Lose Your Mind
Well, so much for that promise to maintain more regular blogging hours. It's just that work has been insanely busy, what with trying to catch up from all the short weeks since Christmas, including this past weekend, which, as seems to be the case lately, turned out to be rather less than the anticipated "three day weekend" for which I'd been hoping. Mind you, I got quite a bit done on Monday: did most of the taxes for my "second job", processed all the W-2 forms I need to send out, and got some filing done; but I really would have preferred to have not been there at all. And this week has just been more of the same, including the usual round of evening meetings, which generally leaves me only a couple of free nights at home, and those have been spent mainly trying to catch up on domestic chores. Plus, I've had to tackle a good portion of next week's workload on top of everything else, since I'm actually taking a bit of a mini-vacation.
Yes, you heard me: something vaguely resembling an actual vacation, although I'm not planning to travel any farther than La Conner (AKA "The town where that crazy writer lives"). Still, I've booked a little cabin in the woods next to the Sound for a couple of days, where I intend to do little more than walk on the beach and stare at the sky - maybe I'll take a book along, but that may be about it. The rest of the week will be spent (hopefully) just lounging around the home base, maybe get a couple of household projects done, but in general engaging in as few scheduled, structured activities as possible, which for me will be a pleasant change-of-pace.
On another note: apparently, the return to the gym, even though I've only been managing it a couple of times a week, seems to be paying off. I've initially been limiting myself to cardio work: half an hour on an eliptical trainer, half an hour on a recumbent bike, followed by fifteen minutes in the dry sauna, but I'm back on a weight loss track after several weeks of holding steady at around 195-197. As of today, I'm solidly in the mid 193's, and seem to be dropping roughly a pound every ten days.
So, definitely not losing it as fast as my previous track, but as someone pointed out to me the other day (and which I guess should have been obvious if I'd given it more thought) I weigh 30 pounds less than I did six months ago, so my body doesn't require as many calories to maintain the lower weight, which means in turn that the lower calorie diet I've been on is in fact no longer enough to cause me to lose more weight, just to stay at where I am; in short, I'd reached a state of more-or-less equilibrium. And in order to get back onto a weight loss regimen I need to do one (or preferably both) of two things: either further reduce my caloric intake (and I have managed to find a few ways to trim off a bit more without feeling like I'm sacrificing anything), and/or increase the number of calories I burn, which of course is where the return to exercise comes in.
The bottom line is that it looks like I'm definitely going to miss my mid-February target for hitting 180. But, the good news is that I'm still losing weight, albeit more gradually than before. As I continue, I think I also have a better sense of needing to ramp up the activity level accordingly, and with the (temporary, but timely) return of warmish weather (thanks, El Nino!) to the Upper Left-Hand, and a determination to increase my gym visits to three a week, I think I can still get there by maybe April or May.
Being a native Mossback, I generally like the rain, whether it's drizzling down in a fine mist or pouring down in a deluge. But lately, rain seems to be a lot like that one guy who always shows up first to your party, and he's really funny and charming - for awhile. But, after several hours you realize he keeps telling the same joke over-and-over again, and he keeps hitting on everyone else's girlfriends, and he drinks all the vodka, even though he didn't bring any himself, and he tries to pull off some sort of stunt that goes awry and puts a scratch in your coffee table, and suddenly you realize it's 3:00 in the morning, and everyone else has left an hour ago, but this guy just keeps yammering on-and-on, even while you're trying to shove him out the door - and then he just suddenly passes out on your couch, but you're simply too exhausted to try to wake him up and make him leave, and the only thing you can think of as you close your weary eyes is: "I just hope he's gone by the time I wake up, and that my TV is still here!"
That's how I've been thinking about rain lately...
When My Work Day Is Over I'm Too Tired For Havin' Fun
Dear Blog:
Hi! How've you been? Really? Sorry to hear that. Me? I've been really, really, REALLY busy - in like, too busy to log on and chat busy. Yeah, yeah, I know. I said I'd keep in touch, and I meant it when I said that, but c'mon, give a guy a break! It's only been - what? - ten days, that's not so much now is it? Well, okay maybe it HAS been one of the longest runs of non-posting since we started this thing together, but it was bound to happen sooner or later, right? Honestly, I promise I'll do better in the future - no, I mean it! I can change! So, no hard feelings, okay? Okay, good - whew! I'm glad we got that out of the way.
What have I been up to since the beginning of the New Year? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let's see, first off, that four day weekend turned out to be really like just a two day weekend spread out over four days, since I ended up doing some maintenance work at the theatre one day, and having to also come into the office for a few hours on another day to get some prep work done for a board meeting on the 4th. But, I did also manage to get out to a show on Saturday night.
So, there was the board meeting on Monday night, and an Equity Liaison Committee meeting the following night, then on Thursday evening I went over to a friend's house and had dinner with her and her husband, then spent three hours doing some "table work" with her for a show she'll be doing in February. Friday I was supposed to work our monthly late-night cabaret, but I took myself out knowing I had to be up early the next day for the workshop. Instead, I walked down the hill five blocks to my new gym (which is HUGE, BTW!) and spent a couple of hours on the elliptical trainer & stationary bike, then a round in the sauna and the jacuzzi (the steam room, unfortunately, appears to be out-of-commission until the end of the month.)
As I expected, Saturday turned out to be a very LONG day: 14 1/2 hours, to be precise. Got to the office around 8:00 a.m. to prep food & make coffee, did the workshop, which ran until about 6:00 p.m., did some clean up in advance of the Sunday session, then went to dinner with the group at one of my favorite local restaurants. And since I was officially the "host" (seeing as I set up the reservation, picked the appetizers, etc., etc.) it wasn't all fun-and-games since I also dealt with the restaurant staff, the waiters, et al. Fortunately, I have a good friend who's one of the sous chefs there, so I knew we'd get exemplary service - which of course we did!
Sunday, I was back at the office at 8:00 a.m., and the session started at 9:00 and went until about 1:00 p.m., after which I spent some time cleaning up - and putting bits-and-pieces of things back onto Big Red, since most of my tools are still living at the office (installed a new turn signal switch, new radio antenna, new rear running light, and new front stereo speakers), so I didn't actually get out until around 3:00 p.m. by the time I cleaned up and the last of the workshop participants came by to pick up their luggage on the way back to the train station. I (very briefly) considered hitting the gym again, but by that point I'd pretty much hit a wall, and decided the best thing to do was to go to the grocery story, pick up a few sundries, go home, fix dinner, take a shower, and finish off the day with a DVD. By 10:00 p.m. I was ready to call it a week. Unfortunately, that was Sunday evening, and I was back in the office bright-and-early at 8:30 this morning.
This week it shaping up to be much quieter: I've got a small pile of work that got neglected due to prepping the workshop, but which should be fairly easy to get through. And, so far at least, I only have one evening event on my calendar this week, a financial health workshop I'm attending tonight (always looking for new information I can impart to my tax appointments!), and that's really it in terms of obligatory extra-curricular activities. There are a couple of social events I COULD plug into the schedule, but after the past few weeks, I'm feeling more inclined to not commit myself to anything, and if I feel like I've got the wherewithall to do it when it rolls around, then so much the better.
Next weekend is another three-day off stretch, and seeing as I didn't even get a two-day weekend this week, I'm also purposefully not planning anything more ambitious than a bit of yard work (weather permitting) and maybe whatever laundry I don't get done earlier in the week.
And, I'm actually taking something resembling a vacation the last week of the month: taking the 26ht through the 29th off and spending most of that time in a cabin on the Sound just west of La Conner where I hope to three days doing nothing but eating, sleeping, reading and sitting next to a wood stove watching the rain come down.
Not to toot my own horn, as it were, but I think I deserve it.
What? No, I don't know if they have Internet access there, in fact it would probably be good for me if they don't. I'll be back, I swear! You just gotta trust me!
