The Color Lite Version.

So I’m sitting in the parking lot near Dunkin’ Donuts during my lunch hour. I’m looking across the lot at the various cars parked in a reasonable order and I can’t help but notice that the color selection of the majority vehicles is, for lack of a better word, muted. There are no oranges or lime greens or yellows like you’d find in the days gone by. Everything is a subtle color, if the color falls outside of a monochromatic selection at all.

I wonder why this is.

People often buy the vehicle that expresses their personality. This isn’t always the case, but people will most likely buy the color vehicle that they are attracted to, and judging by this completely unscientific survey I’m doing here, people are feeling rather subtle these days. They don’t want to stray far from a gray area. There are very few who make the bold choice.

I find this intriguing.

The Modified Illumination.

I just popped a Vitamin D capsule from my husband’s stash. For some reason I have not been taking Vitamin D this winter. This is something that I usually do because it does help with the winter blahs I feel from time to time. I like to think of Vitamin D as a little capsule of sunshine. It helps boost my spirits a bit. Or, at least I think that it’s helping me boost my spirits a bit.

Even though I don’t like being out in the sun, I still really enjoy sunshine. Lots and lots of sunshine. I like to sit in the shade and look out over a sunlit landscape and just feel the warm breezes on my face. That doesn’t happen a lot in January in Central New York. We get a steady diet of gray skies and snow covered landscapes. While it can be quite pretty, it’s kind of monochromatic and that contributes to a ‘blah’ feeling.

I have a couple of natural LED lightbulbs in my office that are suppose to help me feel all cheery by simulating sunlight. I definitely prefer the LED lightbulbs over fluorescent lights, and the light is kind of cheery, but it’s not warm and cheery. This zaps my energy levels a little bit. Perhaps the warmth and the energy levels will come in the Vitamin D tablet I just pilfered from my husband’s stash of vitamins.

Now I remember why we sneak off to Virginia Beach around the last week of February. We might have to do that again this year.

In the meantime I’ll look at the LED lamp and hope there’s warmth in the Vitamin D.

The Time Factor.

I must be doing something wrong. There must be something that I’m missing in this grand scheme called life. I look around. I see people in real life having dinner with friends, enjoying drinks, spending hours at the gym. They laugh, they have fun. And they have all the time in the world to do so.

I read blog posts. I see tweets. Same deal. People out having fun, having a grand time with all the time in the world. They seem relaxed. At ease. Ready to par-tay. Woo woo!

I must have signed up for a shortened timeline or something. I feel like my life is frenetic. Packed to the seams with events and activities. And we’re not even that sociable. Sleep, eat, work, eat, gym, repeat. It doesn’t feel treadmill-like, it just feels like I don’t have enough time.

I’m organized. That’s all working and has made things better, but after dinner, working out at the gym and then trying to fold a load of laundry, it’s time for bed. Time to rinse and repeat.

Maybe this is part of some two-decade long mid-life crisis. There’s so many things, both big and little that I still want to do. So many little projects that I want to escape into. So many people I want to meet, so many places I want to see. But who has the time? Something is consuming all of my time.

And I don’t have the time to figure out what it is.

The Little Thing.

If I were ever to monetize my blog, I would seriously consider becoming a spokesperson for PopChips.


My monthly case of PopChips arrived on Thursday. There was much excitement because I decided to go with 11 different varieties in this case instead of the standard six. I tried the That Sweet Chili Potato flavor and the Sweet Potato variety to much delight. Today was my first experience with Parmesan Garlic Potato.

Delectable.

Now, when you’re in line at Subway trying to eat healthy by ordering a Veggie Delight on wheat bread with barely a suggestion of dressing and a complete absence of cheese, take a moment to look at the bag of the healthy-looking SunChips. They’re really not that healthy. In fact, I think the caloric count of the SunChips will outweigh the caloric count of the healthy sub you’re ordering.

PopChips? 100 calories a bag. No saturated fat. No Trans Fat. Total fat 3.5g. And quite frankly, I don’t see anything in the ingredients list that I can’t pronounce.

I won’t ever ad ads to my site, after all, you have my vivacious personality to enjoy, but if anyone ever asks for a snack recommendation, I recommend PopChips.

The Inspiration Inclination.

So, back at the end of August, on the day that I shaved off that big mustache that wasn’t as popular as the absence of it, I weighed myself. This is not unusual in itself, because I weigh myself every day. I know that people say that a person shouldn’t weigh themselves every day, but this is something that I’ve done for years and it’s the just the way that I am.

Anyways, on that last day of August I weighed 209 pounds. It’s not the most I’ve weighed in my life but I was headed in that general direction. And quite frankly, I didn’t really like the way I was feeling. Riding my bike was not as enjoyable as it had been in years past and I just didn’t feel comfortable in my skin.

Now, I’ve always had a “cub gut”. I will always have a “cub gut”. There is a picture of me playing basketball at 7 or 8 years old with my Dad’s cousin (we called him Uncle Bill) and when I posed for the picture it looked like I had a little tyke-sided basketball under my shirt. My abs have always worked undercover and they will always continue to do so. I am a realist and I know that I’m never going to be the chiseled type. My only goal was to feel comfortable in my own skin. So I decided to start doing something about it.

Removing the daily 75 minute commute each way was a big step in the right direction. By working from home three days a week, I had the opportunity to get out and do something instead of spending daylight hours behind the steering wheel. So I ramped my alarm back to 0500 ET (I always write that in military time so that I feel disciplined about it) and started getting up early and going for a walk. After a few weeks of doing this, I started riding my bike again. I found myself wanting to tackle hills I hadn’t climbed before. I found myself wanting to get out and feel the fresh air. My body thanked me after its initial confusion. The daily weigh-in, which never left my routine, did not result in disagreements with the scale. There was no drop-kicking. If the number crept back up, I decided I need to work harder.

I didn’t crash diet. I’ve tried that before and it has never worked. SlimFast did not enter the picture. Protein shakes did not become part of my routine. What I needed was a lifestyle change, not a quick fix. So what did become part of my routine was keeping track of everything on an app that our friend Jeff introduced us to, MyFitnessPal. I have written about this before and I have found it to be very valuable to this whole approach. It tracks my calories in, calories out, water intake and my weight, and it syncs between my iPhone, iPad and any computer with a web browser. I have no excuse for not keeping track of these things. It even has a barcode scanner that looks up nutrition information for you!

When the daylight hours grew short and the weather didn’t lend itself to bike riding, Earl and I joined the gym. Other than a break during the holidays, we have been going to the gym on a regular basis.

My area of concentration has been weight loss. I set reasonable milestones along the way and I even changed my goal once when I felt happy about where I was headed.

On the first of September I weighed in at 209. This morning I weighed in at 178.4. I have lost over 30 pounds.

I haven’t reached the number I have as a goal yet, but I’m in the ballpark. I took my blood pressure the other night and it was 120/82, and that was after a day at work! Ten years ago I was on daily medication because I had chronic high blood pressure. My weight yo-yos a little bit still, I’m sure I’ll clock in a little over 180 within the next week, but it just keeps me more determined.

Folks are starting to notice the weight loss and I find it flattering when someone says something. The folks that have always seen me with a beard or with the big mustache wonder why I’m clean shaven. It’s part of the effort; a more disciplined approach to my morning routine helps me get on track for the day and having a naked face helps me stay that way.

For the first time in many, many years, I am looking forward to the longer days so I can start walking or riding my bike in the morning before work without risking getting hit by a car. In the meantime, Earl1 and I are going to keep doing what we’re doing and holding tight to the effort.

It’s good to feel good, both inside and out.

1 Earl has made amazing progress as well and while I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to talk about his goals and achievements, I will say that he is impressing me VERY much with his efforts. I am very proud of him.

The Lunchtime Whine.

I am working from home today, and as I sit here at the kitchen table and enjoy my lunch, I can’t help but notice that the house is being buzzed by some very large airplanes today. This is not surprising; this sort of thing happens when you live a couple of miles off the end of one of the longest runways in the United States, despite the fact that the Air Force Base that houses this runway has been officially decommissioned for nearly two decades.


He’s bigger than he looks in the photo.

I find these planes fascinating. From what I can tell, they’re Lockheed Galaxy transports and I believe there are students flying the plane. I think two planes are taking turns doing touch-n-gos. One of the planes markedly pulls back on the throttle just as they’re approaching the house and it looks like the jet is coming to a complete standstill. The other plane opens up the throttle and the engines whine about it, higher and louder. The second plane was loud enough to get Tom’s attention (must be the frequency of the whine) but not loud enough to wake up Jamie, who’s still asleep as of this writing.

Maybe they’re both used to the noise.

So the planes go ’round and ’round and I watch them fly over wishing I was up there with the students and whoever else is on the plane. I bet they’re massive on the inside. I could see myself enjoying the view with a parachute strapped on my back and awaiting for the leader to give the signal to jump. That’s a different passenger approach than the planes that most people fly on. There’s probably no first-class section divided from the rest of the plane by a limp, blue curtain. The curtain probably isn’t even camo or anything because there’s no first class. Honestly, skydiving would be a first class experience to me. The idea of skydiving from a big plane like that (or even a small plane) is awesome. I told Earl that I want to skydive for my 45th birthday this year. He looked at me with fleeting panic but then calmed down. He knows that I’m adventurous enough to do such a thing. To tell you the truth, it’d be quite an adventure to just be in one of the Galaxies when they feel like they’re coming to a halt in the air.

For now, I’ll listen to them whine while I whine with envy a little bit.

Just as I was finishing up this entry the whine was replaced by the traditional roar of jet engines usually heard around passenger airports. Since Griffiss doesn’t have commercial service, I had to take a look to see what was flying in and saw that DHL must be having some jets serviced by that does that sort of thing on site. Nifty! I need to work at home on Thursdays more often.

The Resolute Week.

So it has been a week since I set some goals for myself for 2013 and quite frankly I’m feeling good about them thus far. The scale and I are getting along. I have completely revamped my workflow at work and I am markedly less stressed (though sometimes I played the harried part to keep people off my back). At home, well, the cleaners come back in a week. Two out of three ain’t bad.

Earl and I went to the gym the other night and I snagged the last available elliptical machine (otherwise known as the ‘Spazz-master’). It seems that there are many people trying to get fit for the New Year and I applaud their efforts. The social engineering person in me is curious to see how long the overpopulated gym situation lasts. I think some make a list of dozens of resolutions and lose interest in them. I know that I would. I’m finding by concentrating on less than a half dozen goals, instead of trying to revamp my life, I’m focused on what I want to get done and I’m actually accomplishing something. This is a good feeling.

I’m employing technology in my new routines where I can; I still use MyFitnessPal to keep track of my healthy stuff. I have a FitBit that is keeping tracking of my steps and sleeping patterns. I was a little surprised to find out how many times I wake up during the night and after the first few nights I adjusted my sleep schedule so that I would get more restful sleep. My organizational goals at work have focused on a completely paper-free desk. I wiped out a bunch of unused apps on my computers and iDevices. I’m getting rid of older technology that I used to keep around for nostalgic purposes and only keeping the things I actually use.

It’s a good feeling. I guess when your only resolution is to set up achievable goals for yourself, you’re setting yourself up to win.

And that feels good.

The Weather Coaster.

So yesterday it was bitter cold, which made taking a morning and afternoon walk at work less than as enjoyable as it could have been. It’s important to get exercise, plus walking at work has the amazing benefit of clearing my head and making me more productive when I return to my desk, so one must do what they must do, even if Mother Nature doesn’t want us to do it. Still, it was quite cold.

This morning when I got up for work I noticed that it was 9F. It was another chilly morning in these parts, just like it’s suppose to be in January. It’s what’s expected. Except now it’s over 40. And now only is it over 40, it’s over 45. The weather folks are saying that it could hit 50 by the weekend but I rarely believe what they say so only time will tell.

I feel like we are on some sort of weather roller-coaster this winter. I’m not complaining about it, mind you, as this appears to be the new norm, where the winters are more mild than they were when I was a kid. Earl tells me that it’s all cyclic and it probably is, we are just in a part of the cycle that I’m not familiar with.

But I have to admit that I do miss having that “really big storm” of the season where we get dumped on with several feet of snow within a 24 hour period. Sure, it’s inconvenient and I’d probably complain about it myself as it’s happening, but it’s a good way to get the adrenaline pumping and nature knows I love the pumping of adrenaline. Maybe after our spring in January we’ll get something wacky like a sno-nado or something.

Good times.

The Life Enjoyment.

So I haven’t written in my blog in three days. This is unusual for me, though there have been weekends where I haven’t written much in the blog simply because there has been too much going on in our merry lives.

Apparently such was the case this weekend.

At the beginning of the year I decided that I was going to reassess my social networking ways and decide what was microbloggable, what was bloggable and then act accordingly. This weekend I decided that I just wanted to enjoy life without telling the world about it through every inane detail. Earl and I had a lovely date night on Saturday night, saw an enjoyable movie and accomplished many chores around The Manor yesterday. It was a simple, yet effective way to enjoy the weekend and quite frankly I loved it. I feel good today.

Yesterday I actually sat down and read. I didn’t read to find things to talk about on the blog, I didn’t read to get the latest trends in technology news, I read because I wanted to read and enrich my mind and stoke the creative fire. I loved it. I feel stoked.

Sometimes it’s good to take a short break.

The Shorts Conversation.

So when we woke up this morning, I noted that it was -10ºF at home. That's pretty dang cold. By the time it was time to leave for work (an hour later), it had warmed up to -8ºF. There was hope of getting above zero during the commute in; I actually saw a reading on the Jeep thermometer showing 2ºF, but then when I got to the office it was back down to -7. During the morning walk with my co-workers, it was still -1ºF and I feared I had managed to get frost bite on my face. I slapped myself a few times to make sure. Everything is still intact and not a gross color.

One of my goals of 2013 is to come out of my shell a little bit. I'm always going to be a bit introverted, that's just the way I'm wired, but there's no reason I can't reach out and be sociable once in a while. So I have a goal of talking to at least one stranger a day. I wouldn't have made this a goal if I didn't feel it was sustainable, but it is a little bit of a challenge for me, because I'm not in a job where I can accomplish this by asking “would you like fries with that?!?” in an excited voice.

Standing in line at Dunkin' Donuts this afternoon I noticed that the customer ahead of me was dressed for warmer weather. Well, this manner of dress was noticed on his bottom half.

I didn't say anything about it and went about getting my unsweetened iced tea with lemon, accompanied by the usual confusion that occurs when I pay with my Dunkin' Donuts iPhone app. (They always scan, forget to press a button on the register, and then scan again).

My drink was delivered to the pick up area, where the man in shorts was still assembling his straw and such for his drink. I decided to be friendly and ask a simple question, “Dude, are you cold wearing shorts?”

Ok, I don't know why I said “Dude”. I sometimes say “Dude” and it makes people nervous because it doesn't sound natural coming out of my mouth. I think “Dude” is less annoying that “wicked”, which I say a lot more than “Dude”, but “wicked” didn't really apply to this situation. Now that I think about it, I could have fit a “wicked” in there with “Dude, aren't you wicked cold wearing shorts?”, which would have scored a tally of “2” in the weird vocabulary column, but I left off the “wicked”.

In one second he looked at me, looked me up and down and said, “No, not at all.” He sounded strident. Perhaps he didn't like the “Dude”. Maybe he thought it was wicked cold. There's a chance that someone else had asked him the same question but without the same flair for language.

A little put off by the fact that I had asked him this, what was now very apparent to me, very personal question, I was a little embarrassed and simply said, “Well have fun with that.” I could have said, “well you have very nice legs” or even “you have wicked nice legs” but I didn't want to make him blush. That would have been a little too much.

At the very least, I can say that I spoke to a stranger today. Maybe I'll try a different approach tomorrow.