J.P.

So I just walked around 65 blocks in Manhattan. It might have been a little more. I know that I’m well over my 10,000 steps daily goal per my FitBit, so I’m feeling pretty good.

For a February day, the weather in Manhattan is quite acceptable today. It’s partly sunny with a temperature around 42F. There are quite a few people lumbering around bundled up like they’re ready for the next Ice Age. I walked around in my leather jacket without a hat or gloves. I was not uncomfortable. The accompanying scarf was more stylish than functional.

As I hiked up to the Upper West Side I found myself feeling much like I did as I walked around Dublin back in 2007; my thoughts floated in a happy direction and my soul soared a bit. I find that I enjoy New York much more when I’m away from the tourists milling around Times Square and the like.

I should go out for a walk more often.

So I’m sitting here in the kitchen with my husband as we enjoy our lunch hour together. He has taken a half day off from work; I am working my normal hours but I’m doing that from home, so I’ll hear him roaming around as I do my thing in the basement office.

After work today we are headed to the Big Apple for a weekend getaway; it’s our annual celebration of Earl’s birthday. This year we are going to see “Spiderman on Broadway”. We are also staying at a hotel other than the Hilton on Times Square, simply because we were in the mood for something different and a little less heavy on the budget. We opted to stay at The Edison Hotel. I hear it’s nice.

Though I just got back from a business trip last night, I’m excited about our weekend trip coming up. It should be a good time. Hopefully it’ll be somewhat relaxing. I’m also hoping that the weather will be cooperative.

The trip to Toronto with the VP of our group was quite productive. I was so energized by the meeting that when I got home last night I started writing code like a madman. I was able to bang out a few ideas in a relatively short amount of time, though apparently I was tired and not thinking clearly because there was one very simple script that I couldn’t get to work. When I looked at the script again this morning, I had it working within the first five minutes of my day. Sometimes one needs a good night’s sleep and a fresh outlook. I was able to accomplish both.

I am definitely a creature of structure and habit, even though I fancy myself as one that thinks impulsively. When taken outside of my comfort zone I am always looking for some sort of familiarity in my surroundings so I can reground myself. I found that for the most part during this trip to Toronto. The company we visited ran their operation along the same lines that we have at with our company, so it felt very familiar, but it was different enough to provide a good learning experience.

Learning experiences are always a good thing.

So I am sitting in a cafe at the Eastview Mall near Rochester eating lunch. I’m eating lunch kind of early; it’s 11:30 as I write this, but I’m rather hungry and the timing just worked for this little lunch adventure.

Normally I would opt to eat at Tom Wahl’s, my favorite fast food establishment in this area, but attitudes change when you’re trying to lead a healthier lifestyle, so I am eating at a place called Colie’s Cafe. My meal consists of a roasted vegetable soup and a Very Veggie wrap. The side is chips and salsa in lieu of fries. This cafe reminds me of Panera a little bit, though I like the food choices better.

I am going to be meeting some of my co-workers for the first time in a little while and I’m looking forward to that part of this adventure. It’s always good to meet people in person, especially when you work as part of a collaborative team. Electronic introductions, as much as people rely on them, are not a suitable replacement for an in person ‘hello’ and a friendly handshake.

Today is my husband’s birthday. We celebrated with a homemade supper last night (I made turkey meatloaf) and I gave him two of his presents. He’ll get another present today. Since I will be away on business tonight, this will be the first time that I haven’t spent his birthday with him. This distresses me a little bit, but at least I was able to wake up next to him this morning and hop out of bed in the wee hours to give him his birthday card and some husbandly affection. He said I shouldn’t worry about my absence, since we are movers and shakers.

So late on Friday afternoon I found out that I was selected to go on another trip for work. This Wednesday I’ll be gone for one night on business. We are traveling to the outskirts of Toronto, where we will see another company using the software that I help support. I’m looking forward to the adventure. It’s a little stressful, having to be outside of my comfort zone and all that, but I think the positives far outweigh this little negative, so I’m good with it.

One thing that I’m stressing about is that I will be so close to Toronto but that it will be for such a brief amount of time (less than 24 hours). I haven’t been in Toronto in a couple of years. I look forward to the opportunity to visit for vacation like activities again. But not this trip.

Looking at our family calendar (which we share on all our electronic devices), there’s a lot of travel coming up. I fly to the outskirts of Dallas for a week in a few weeks, we are going to Disney, we are going to play with the other bears in Chicago in May, there’s a trip to North Carolina in the works and Earl and I are already planning our summer road trip, which will involve the likes of Wisconsin and Arkansas and all points in between.

I am a lucky man.

The thought of travel is helping me keep the winter blahs at a minimum. Just the thought of a change of pace is putting a little spring in my step. It’ll be nice when spring is actually here.

So I’m taking my Friday afternoon lunch hour a couple of hours later than usual. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been in a training class all week. I have spent the better part of the last four days staring at a 14-inch laptop screen, trying to follow along with an instructor that is piped in via VoIP and then doing the exercises as indicated. The instructor seemed very nice and he knew his stuff, but he didn’t believe in stopping for a break. He took one 15 minute break the first day of the class and yesterday he took a seven minute break. Other than that, if there was a need for the latrine or something, you were on your own. One hoped that they didn’t miss any important information while they were answering the calls of nature.

I need to take a break every so often when I’m working. I even need to take a break from play sometime. Taking a break helps keep me focused. I did find my attention wandering a little at times during the class, but I would walk around within the length of my headset cord and look at something other than a computer screen for a few moments and find my focus again.

I still think breaks are really important, though. When I work at the office I join a couple of my co-workers and we do laps around the parking lot. It’s a good way to stretch the legs, get a little bit of exercise and to enjoy a few moments of fresh air. We go out in most weather conditions, though we tend to avoid the more drenching episodes of rain.

I’m going to go for a walk now and stretch my legs a bit. I hear it’s fairly nice out for these parts. I need to get a breath of fresh air.