Monday, January 16, 2006

(Not) Working @ Home

Read the morning's installment of this blog here.

Well, I haven't gotten any real work done today and I've decided that I am fine with that.

But, to this point, I've been managing my time with worthwhile pursuits.

After reading Lileks a bit more this morning, I decided to take a walk around the block, taking advantage of the sunny, if chilly weather.

It started out feeling a bit more than chilly, but I was confident that as my stride got going, I would heat up. Getting warm while exercising has never been a problem for me. As I can out of my garage I found that city workers were lopping off tree limbs that run along the street on the "public" side of the sidewalk. As I turned left and started walking, I was fiddling with my iPod to turn it on while weaving around the largish limbs strewn along the sidewalk. But once I turned the corner the limbs cleared out and my iPod started shuffling up songs.

My walking gait is not very smooth, but I got into a rhythm eventually. Once I got on one side of the block the wind was blocked and the sun was at my back. I started warming up and quit looking at my feet and tried to pay attention to the neighborhood around me. (Why I walk with my head down is probably explained with a whole lot of deep psychoanalysis, but I think it has something to do with my propensity to stumble over nothing. After you have fallen flat on your face in public enough, you start being more cautious.)

Sure enough, I did stumble twice, but then things evened out. About the time I got halfway to my next left turn, crossing in front of Lynda's coworker's house, I realized that I could have been riding my bike rather than walking like a sucker. Oh well. . .

Then I turned left and headed for the halfway point of my around the neighborhood stroll. About here I started trying to convince myself to make this a frequent habit, walking/riding more. But the only way to do that consistently during the week is early in the morning. Maybe it was the good weather, the sense of activity (endorphins rushing to my brain?), the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's version of "O Magnum Mysterium" in my ears, but the thought of getting up an hour earlier every (every other?) morning to walk in the predawn chill didn't sound quite so ludicrous. And my shower would feel more soothing and earned each and every time, by God!

We'll see what comes tomorrow.

My trip around the neighborhood was shaped sort of like a square that was topped by a tilde. The tilde part was a passage along a bike path that curved through a subdivision and around a small residential pond. As I walked around the pond I encountered a jogger ahead of me. Just then I also encountered a wet spot running across the path, which due to the January chill was slightly icy. My traction shifted a bit and I was glad not to be riding a bike then. While I pondered what I should do on a bike in that situation, the jogger simply shifted off onto the grass to get past it. (Duh!)

Once I got home I saw that my brisk walk had taken me about forty minutes, something that would be doable in the mornings--depending on the weather. I hope I can give it a try and see what happens.

After cooling off for a few minutes, I got in the car to pick up Lynda at work and take her to lunch. We had a nice time eating at a "sidewalk cafe" near the office. But it was busy and we felt obligated to get up as soon as our final crumbs were consumed to give way to another group fluttering around us. I swear to you that they didn't even let us get our coats on and pick up our trays before they were plopping their stuff down!

After dropping L. back at the office I swung into a bike store that fronts the road to work. I've been wanting to drop in since they opened, but never have. Today I wandered around, looking at various biking gear, child seats and trailers to carry Grace around. I talked to the CSRs, who were a friendly duo--helpful but not pushy. I took a catalog, got on the mailing list, purchased a book on bike trails, and made a mental promise to myself.

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