Making friends with time

For those wondering how my weight loss program is going I have to say that it is well underway. Worked out again tonight which makes for three straight nights on the treadmill. I have finally found a treadmill workout that is quick, challenging and keeps me interested as I am on the road to nowhere. Basically it is five minutes at no incline followed by two minute intervals of 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, and 5 degree inclines followed by five more minutes at 5 degrees and then a five minute cooldown. 35 minutes in all and even though I am only going at 3.6 miles an hour (which is damn slow) it is still a good beginning workout. As the speed increases I will feel better.

I’ll start adding in some weight training this weekend and bring that into the routine. I just feel better when I get started to just focus on the treadmill because I know how that should feel and I know that I will end my workout a sweaty mess and I still believe that as long as I am sweating that I am doing something right. I know that I will never be an athlete but I would at least like to be in better shape than I am now.

I am happier that I seem to have found a way to fit working out into my schedule. I know that working out at night isn’t optimal (everything I read tells me that I should do it in the morning except a) I am not a morning person and b) I do have a job to go to) but it works for me. I’ve figured out how to fit working out, writing, having dinner, reading and the rest of my real life into my evening routine. Mainly this is by banning Facebook chat sessions. I am sorry but from now on to talk to me you are most likely going to, you know, actually talk to me. I really have been shying away from Facebook these past few months because it is such a time vacuum and I really don’t have the time to deal with it anymore.

It is interesting though that as we near the weekend I am trying to figure out just what to do these next few days. One of the things about being in a long distance relationship is that when you are together that is what you are and you spend basically every moment together. When you are apart for the weekend you are really on your own and I typically struggle to figure out what to do with myself. Errands make up part of it as I can always do laundry or clean the apartment for part of the time. It is the evenings that become a little more challenging.

See, I can’t remember the last time I went out by myself to a bar in Delaware. It has to be months now. My typical reasoning to go to bars is to a) drink and b) meet people, hopefully of the female persuasion. However, now that I am with the best girlfriend ever I look at these reasons and determine a) I would typically have to drive to a bar here and that takes much of the fun out of drinking and b) while meeting new people is cool I would rather talk on the phone than waste my night in a bar. (I know some people would say, “Why don’t you go out with friends?” to which I reply that in my year out here I still don’t really know anyone. Take that for what you will.) So I will still have to struggle to figure out what to do this weekend. I might just go out for the sake of going out. Or I’ll watch a few movies. I’ll figure something out.

Lousy Smarch Weather

Best of 120 Minutes: Of all the songs that I wrote about last week, The Cranberries “Linger” is the one that made me look up the video immediately. Man, I dug this song back in my younger days.

I seem to have lost track of time. Literally, I’m not sure what day it is right now. My body clock is all screwed up. Between travel back home for Christmas and being out of the office I seem to have lost all of my usual indications as to what I’m supposed to be doing. What’s worse, the TV schedules aren’t helping me out at all. This led to today being as close to a lost day as I’ve ever experienced.

It starts with my staying up to 7 in the morning on Saturday night. Ok, that sounds a hell of a lot more exciting than it really was. What happened was I slept on my couch until 10 in the evening, gathered my self together, went out for a while, came back at 1 in the morning and wrote emails until 2. That really isn’t too unusual for me. Then I went to sleep, or at least tried to. I must have slept for part of the time but most of it was spent lying in bed as my head cold grew progressively worse.

At around 7 I finally got up the strength to get out of bed, take some medicine and watch TV for ten minutes at which point I promptly fell back asleep and woke up around noon. Having completely wasted my morning I decided to spend some time watching the Bears game, reading the first act of Henry IV Part I and falling asleep on the couch. By five in the evening I realized that all of those wonderfully productive things I planned on accomplishing today were never going to happen so I just microwaved dinner and fired up the Playstation. This might be the laziest I’ve ever been in my life.

I’d like to blame most of this on my cold, as I think my body was just telling me to take a day off and not deal with all of my usual hassels. It’s not as bad as the one that put me in the ER in September but it is just one of those that leaves you sniffling and wondering how sore your throat can get. I get this cold every year after Christmas, a result of my dealing with crowded Southwest flights and being the favorite uncle to seven nieces and nephews. That always results in my spending the new year fighting off a cold.

Luckily I’m not in the office tomorrow (though I probably will end up doing some work from home). By midnight tomorrow I’ll need to finish Part I of Henry IV (to keep up my yearly tradition of reading one Shakespeare play). I’m hoping to have my year end email done for those who typically receive it but that might be delayed by a day or two.

I’ll go out on New Year’s Eve even if it is amateur night and I’m now a grizzled veteran. I thinking I’m turning into the Vinny Testaverde of the bar scene. The guy you’re amazed to see is still around. Actually, I’ll probably just see a band tomorrow. It’s strange enough being by yourself on New Year’s Eve; I’d much rather avoid places where everyone is a couple. Somehow watching a band is much more acceptable.

The five random CDs for the week:
1) Kathleen Edwards “Failer”
2) Neko Case “Live From Austin, Texas”
3) Sting “The Dream of the Blue Turtles”
4) Wilco “Sky Blue Sky”
5) Billy Bragg and Wilco “Mermaid Avenue Volume II”