Saturday Afternoon, Getting Things Done

So far, I do not have a panicked look on my face, though I still love this Sheldon cartoon:

(Click on it to see it bigger)

Kind of true... But mostly, I'm tidying more than cleaning. Things pile up, when you live alone, and especially when you would rather sit knitting or reading than get things put away. As I read elsewhere this week:

"Company coming is our motivation to attend to all those little things we've been meaning to do."

So there I am. Not panicked, but busy. Some errands, a little laundry, dishes, rearranging. My mother tells me not to worry about it on her behalf, and I mostly don't: as I told her, I'm not cleaning the top of the stove (and, frankly, it needs it). But I will do a few things. In an unworried way.

The Bruins won this afternoon; they shouldn't have had to go to overtime to do it, but I'll take it. I follow a bunch of NHL blogs (official and not), but in general when I get busy, I don't always read that much detail that isn't Bruins-specific. I've noticed quite a lot of, "Wow, the Western Conference is so strong," coverage this year, and let it go in one ear and out the other. This week, though, I noticed that the Bruins, who moved into the top of the Eastern Conference after Tuesday's game, were still only ninth in the league overall. Eight teams in the West have more points than the top of the East? Eight? Okay, then. West is strong. I get it now.

There has been knitting progress this week. Last night, I kitchenered the sock toe on the bike (and started to cast on the second sock), meaning I finished one sock on the bike in about three months. Not so bad, actually. What, you want to see it? Sure! Whole sock:

 And from top

 To bottom

 As well as the turn.

Ta da! That's hours of exercise, that is. And a nice, soft sock.

After my long day Thursday, I was still tired yesterday. In fact, I was so sleepy at work that in the afternoon, so I got out the MP3 player in an attempt to get myself moving; a one-person dance party. Unfortunately, the headphones rubbing against the zipper of my jacket somehow made a noise/vibration that drove me INSANE. I had been pleased because it was merely chilly and not freezing in the office, but after that, ugh. The fact that I had a fleece over a hoodie over a long-sleeved shirt over a t-shirt, only to achieve "not freezing," seemed less like a win.

I put my scarf on, and that kept the wires from rubbing on the zipper, and the music helped me wake up. Still, how ridiculous.

Random thought: Periodically, I check the website of the cat rescue place that took Miri back, but she still isn't listed there. Perhaps they are not finding it quite as easy to make her the perfect, social, adoptable animal as they thought they would. They were certainly full of ideas when I dropped her off! But that's a month ago (praise the heavens), and yet, no listing. Interesting, eh?

Right, I'm off to put dinner together. Happy Saturday night, all!

Apply, Bike, Zzzz

There was a whole list of things I want to get done this weekend, and I didn't get to many of them today, but for a really good reason: I finally found a job to apply for, and spent most of the morning working on my resume and cover letter. Once I sent them in, I managed to get a few other things done, but tomorrow looks slightly daunting from here. Oh well, take it one thing at a time. It's been discouraging, all the looking and ruling out listings as not even worth applying for; finding a good one is heartening even if nothing else comes of it.

It crossed my mind that I may in fact get an interview from them, just because I have a monster zit coming up on my face. I mean, wouldn't that figure? But probably the auto-reply e-mail I got is all I'll hear. Still, it's something.

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My brother sent me a link to an interesting article about the mental aspects of exercise, which made me realize that I do sometimes pep-talk myself while I'm riding the bike ("Doing well, keep going," that kind of thing. I also thought about how when I'm at a turning point in the sock, like trying to get around the heel or something, I sometimes ride longer because I'm trying to get to a certain point, whereas I don't tend to push myself as hard when I'm just at a round-and-round part. So Thursday night, I pep-talked myself more consciously, and also incorporated the sock into that ("One more round!"), and did in fact go for longer than I've been managing lately. Interesting; we'll see how that goes. (I didn't ride last night; I'm about to get on tonight, despite being pooped; there may not be enough pep in my talk to make a difference, but just getting on is an achievement tonight.)

I'm also fitting into a pair of jeans* that until recently were too tight for me, which is another kind of motivation. I haven't lost much weight, that's for sure, but something is happening. It's a relief to be in these jeans**, as for a while I was in an awkward place where they were too tight, but the ones I was wearing were really too loose, and that's no fun. I get really sick of pulling up my jeans all the time.
*They're Lands End jeans, though if I remember correctly I got them at Building 19, a few years back. And that makes me sad, because Building 19 is closing its stores. Another childhood memory+ goes!
**Not literally, as they are still snug, but metaphorically; we'll hope that literally follows. Soon. Oof.
+I mean the memory of going there with my mother. Clearly I still shop there, since that's what started this whole cascade of footnotes off.

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Someone at work recently referred to something that's happening Monday, which is November 11, as happening on "corduroy day," which was a new one to me; I don't know how I missed hearing about it a few years ago, on 11/11/11. I found the idea very amusing, kind of like how I love calling December 23rd Christmas Adam (because it's the day before Christmas Eve).

Well, I may have missed 11/11/11*, but this year we get 11/12/13, in the US anyway; I know that day would be 12/11/13 in the UK. What do other countries do, formatting dates? Anyone know?
*In terms of calling it corduroy day, that is; certainly I was around for the actual day

Of Weather, Hockey, Non-Hockey

The weather today has been bipolar, I think is the best way to describe it. I ate lunch outside, and it was glorious (at least, the weather was; there was a woman near me talking on her phone in a mix of French and English, and my brain would not stop trying to hear what she was saying, even though I didn't care. Isn't the brain funny that way?). Sunny, warm--around 70--just overall lovely. I was very happy, and sad to have to go back inside.

As the afternoon went on, it became overcast, and when I left work, it had dropped at least ten degrees. It kept dropping as I drove home, to about 50 now, and it started to drizzle. So disappointing! Wasting the lovely weather when I'm inside ... not nice, mother nature.

Of course, making this time of year beautiful and deadly shows you the sort of person she is. My allergies weren't quite as bad today as yesterday, unless it was that having cramps as well distracted me, but my throat is all clogged and I had to keep sucking on cough drops and lifesavers and anything I could find all day, to not be That Person Who Makes Annoying Noises in the Office All Day. Tiresome, to say the least. I think tonight calls for some peaceful knitting. At home I can "ahem, AHEM!" as much as I need to. A few things before I go, though.

First, the Bruins. Game One was last night, and wow, what a game! Where has that Bruins team been hiding? I missed them; that was fun to watch! They went down early on a power-play goal by Toronto, but after that it was all Bruins, and very entertaining. The final score was 4-1, and it should have been 5-1 but for a goal disallowed (by my boy)(that intent-to-blow thing is bullshit). Can't wait to see what happens next time, which is Saturday night.

In other hockey stuff, if you are at all a hockey fan (and not just currently, but if you've ever been one), you really must see this excellent playoff montage of past and present, put together by the CBC/Hockey Night in Canada. They know their stuff up there, eh?

Man, I could watch that over and over. If it whets your appetite, do what I did and go watch some of the good NHL commercials of past years (so far, this year's aren't doing much for me); don't miss Cup Raise and No Words, which are my two favorites.

The non-hockey thing is an article in the New York Times that my mother sent me a link to, that my brother had sent to her, and that she had found interesting. It's about shopping habits, and it was in fact quite interesting, but the part that I found most interesting is more about habits, not about shopping. Specifically, it's about exercise, which as you know I've been trying to make a regular habit of mine for some months now.

"Luckily, simply understanding how habits work makes them easier to control. Take, for instance, a series of studies conducted a few years ago at Columbia University and the University of Alberta. Researchers wanted to understand how exercise habits emerge. In one project, 256 members of a health-insurance plan were invited to classes stressing the importance of exercise. Half the participants received an extra lesson on the theories of habit formation (the structure of the habit loop) and were asked to identify cues and rewards that might help them develop exercise routines.

The results were dramatic. Over the next four months, those participants who deliberately identified cues and rewards spent twice as much time exercising as their peers. Other studies have yielded similar results. According to another recent paper, if you want to start running in the morning, it’s essential that you choose a simple cue (like always putting on your sneakers before breakfast or leaving your running clothes next to your bed) and a clear reward (like a midday treat or even the sense of accomplishment that comes from ritually recording your miles in a log book). After a while, your brain will start anticipating that reward — craving the treat or the feeling of accomplishment — and there will be a measurable neurological impulse to lace up your jogging shoes each morning."

This is what I did by setting up my "bike knitting", the sock I only knit on the bike. It's right there, where I can see it, and I want to finish it. I want the sock, and the way to get it is to ride the bike. It's slow, but it's working. Interesting, eh? I thought so! Do you have any examples of your own? Exercise or otherwise.

Updating, Last Week and the Weekend

I wish now that I had written yesterday, for I'm rather crabby today, and that's not something to preserve, but there we are. The vet was here this morning, and then I did my taxes, and neither improved my mood. I have a slight-but-worrying throat and cough, and the weather is gloomy. Laundry, dishes, vacuuming. A grey day all around.

The vet visit was to follow up with Carlos, since his blood-in-urine issue last fall was inconclusive. She took the urine, which thankfully looked more clear than last time, and she took blood to test too, so we'll see how that turns out. (I've told him that if he doesn't live forever I'll kill him, but he mostly ignores what I say.) She also took his blood pressure, yes, with a little cuff on his "arm," which was hilarious, and the number was surprisingly low; he's such a laid-back guy, even with the poking and prodding, so that's all good. 

Hopefully the test results will be too, and then I can take him in for dental work, which she says he badly needs. Certainly his breath is foul! Or I wouldn't call him "swamp breath" sometimes. He didn't enjoy the morning, but he did manage to relax later. I sent her the picture, since she'd asked if he usually sat "like that" when he got onto the bed after being released. No, he doesn't, he "sits" like this!

The vet also wants him to have an x-ray, because his lungs sound possibly asthmatic, and when he walks his spine is a little humped instead of flat, which could mean problems. It could also be fine, but best to check. And he's my baby and worth it, that goes without saying, but you can't believe how much it all costs. Sigh. And he's lost some weight, so I have to keep an eye on that, weigh him and let her know. Thank heavens she was able to get the urine sample: at first, she was having trouble, and let me admit freely that the idea of following him to the box with a cup to get a sample did not appeal to me in the slightest. She didn't seem to be kidding, but what a joke.

As long as I was already depressed by that whole morning, I decided to get my taxes out of the way. I started them a few weeks ago, and when I got far enough to see that there was no big refund this year (thanks to unemployment), I put off finishing. But it has to be done, of course, and in fact I do get some back from the Feds--just not as much as I owe the state, so that's tiresome. Add the gray skies and flurries, and you can see why my mood isn't sunny.

Still and all, I had a sweet cat next to me on the couch as I started writing this, and I could start this on the couch thanks to the iPad, so that's something good (I don't find it easy to blog on the tablet, but it's sort of possible). And if I need to buy less yarn in the next month or months, well, fortunately, I have enough to last far longer than that!

Now, back to last week. I'm not sure if I'm blogging less because of chiropractic getting me home later* a few nights a week, or having Bruins games to watch, or both, or something else, but there we are: it's been harder to get myself here. (Perhaps it's partly the iPad, too, since I can sit on the couch, with Carlos, watching the hockey game, and check e-mail, without having to be at the computer.) So, what was going on last week?
*Not late, but later, and it doesn't take much to throw off my routine.

I saw the Yarn Harlot! As I mentioned last week, she was teaching some classes in the area, and gave a talk as well. She's such an entertaining speaker, and of course it's a focused group, knitters, so we get all the jokes ("it's not like everyone can carry emergency knitting..."). Since the purse sock I had going was too close to the toe to bring, I had to* cast on a new one; I chose the Ella Rae Lace Merino yarn I got--a year ago, sheesh, you wouldn't know I'd been dying to try it!
*I know, I know, but really I had to!

I got this far Friday night (thanks, Stephanie):

As she was holding another sock for a photo, a few people ahead of me in line, she mused aloud on how hard it was to answer the question, "What is the purpose of your trip?" when she went through customs. Do you even try to be honest?

The yarn colors really suit my project bag, by the way, especially the inside:

And the yarn is so soft, and behaving quite well so far. I went back to the other sock this weekend, too, and got it done today. It's the first of a pair, so I need to make another in that yarn. Here it is pre-toe.

But I can work on the blue one for now. Though I ought to cast on the second gold one, so it's ready to grab when I need it. Ooh, forethought. I impress myself.
What else last week? Well, that awful pain in my hamstrings last Monday, which had me hobbling all day, got better over the next few days, but kept me all but completely off the bike all week. I guess stretching the quads isn't enough; what I was doing to try to stretch other leg muscles either didn't get those, or didn't do them enough good. Awesome, I needed exercise to get more complicated! Have to work on that. You wouldn't think riding a stationary bike would require so much preparation. Well, at least I wouldn't think so.

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I heard from two different people recently that my blog now starts playing music shortly after they open it. I keep my speakers off unless I'm listening to something, so I hadn't heard it, but sure enough, it's there. I have no idea why, and my google-fu failed to find an answer. Any ideas? I found results for how to add music to your blog, but not explaining why it would show up uninvited. Here we go again with complications.

The blog is also getting deluged with spam since I took the comment verification off. (Are these two related? Could be, but maybe not.) Does anyone want to speak up in defense of keeping the word verification off? Because although the spam can be highly amusing, and although Blogger's filter catches most of it, some of it still gets through, so I have to keep checking and removing, which gets old.

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I had to call a customer service line for something recently, and I had a little trouble with the guy's accent. No, he didn't sound like he was a non-native English speaker, but I still had trouble, and it took me a minute to realize who he sounded like: Tim Conway on The Carol Burnett Show. "Miss-is a-Wiggins..."

I'm still not sure what he said in the middle there...

*****

I was listening to the radio, and I changed the station just in time to hear the DJ say, "That song could annoy the paint off a bus." What song? I'm so curious.

 

*****

There's nothing like reading about dry eye syndrome to make one self-conscious about blinking.

 

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A final thought on the iPad: apps and podcasts. I'm ready to dip my toe in the water. And recommendations? Advice? Thoughts in general?

The End of November

Somehow, November has flown by just about as quickly as October did. What's up with that? There are just three weeks, and three and a half weekends, until my Christmas departure. Christmas! Seriously! Wasn't it just ... well ... October?

It was, I'm sure. I was writing about trying to exercise, and how my doctor was concerned about my blood pressure being high. Remember? Of course you do. And since then, I've mentioned how I'm riding the stationary bike, hating it, but surviving it with the help of TV and especially knitting. I am here to report that I have kept it up well this month. See?

Not a lot, necessarily, but the trend is going the right way, and as my strength improves I'll be able to do more. The doctor says 30 minutes at a time is good. Ten still kills me most nights, but give it time, give it time. In the meantime, at least I have this to show for it:

About an inch to the heel. It's funny to think that I'll be able to see exactly how many knitting minutes it takes to make a sock.

Here it is in comparison to the purse sock:

Purse is slightly ahead of bike, though as it has almost a month's head start, the comparison isn't quite equal.

Speaking of the doctor, he said that the results of the cholesterol test were acceptable, and much improved from the previous one (which, since I didn't change anything in response to the first test [in May 2011] is kind of funny, but I'll take it), and my blood pressure today was still on the high side, but better than it was. He's giving me another six months to keep on fighting the good fight with the exercise thing, so we'll see how he likes things in June. Way too far away for me to worry about today (though I had a pang, making the appointment, of wondering if I'll still be at the same job then, my recent history being what it is).

Even funnier, to me, is that according to him I've lost a little weight; funny because my clothes don't fit any different, which is usually how I can tell there's been a change one way or the other. I saw him in early September; then again mid-October, when I was supposedly up four pounds; and now today, when I was down seven. Up four and down seven equals down three overall, which isn't that much, but still, weird. Makes me wonder about their scales, to be honest! Not to mention the blood pressures: I guess I really don't understand how it works, though he tried to explain it to me, because I don't see how the nurse clocked me at 120/100, then ten minutes later he got 138/86. That's just odd!

And I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to keep biking, trying to eat better or at least not as badly as I want to, and frankly paying more attention to getting ready for Christmas. Three weeks! So much to do! I got a bunch of wrapping done the other night, and another bout like that will get me mostly done. I'm waiting for a few things to arrive in the mail, but I should be able to get to the post office in decent time for holiday arrival. I'd like to send some cards, too; perhaps I will do one tonight, so that I can say I started.

In conclusion, here is something that has no connection to anything I'm writing about. But how could I not share?

Bits and Pieces (worth sticking around to the end, though)

The week progresses slowly toward Friday. I'm not conscious of overwhelming stress levels, though I am a little more minor-headachy than usual. Not life-impairing pain levels, just small ouch. On the other hand, that could be PMS, because OF COURSE this is the week*. Way to go, universe.

*TMI? Sorry about that.

"I know!" says Mother Nature. "Let's take a pants-too-tight week, with impending PMS, and add pet-health-related stress! Fun!" Awesome. Excuse me while I go eat my weight in chocolate, then go shopping for a new wardrobe.

Yeah, not really.

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I tried something a little different on the bike last night. Inspired by that NYT article I mentioned yesterday and the idea of interval training, I rode for a few minutes at my regular pace, then for about thirty seconds I went as fast as I could. Then back to regular, and did it again a few minutes later. My legs really felt like they'd worked harder than usual. We shall see.

I did my grocery shopping last night, and brought home lots of fruit, and the veggies to make that (no-tomato) salsa I love so much. Healthy and delicious! And I did not buy ice cream--which I managed by reminding myself that I want my clothing to fit, and then not even walking down that aisle.

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Fellow yarn lovers, there's a contest at Tanis Fiber Arts you should check out. I've been reading their blog since I saw and fell in love with the jewel tones in their Fiddlehead Mittens (someday I will get the kit for that), and all you have to do for a chance to win some beautiful yarn is tell them your favorite of their colorways. The hard part is picking only one!

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Has anyone been wanting to try Netflix? I got an e-mail from them offering a free month's trial for me to share with friends and family. Since that's how I tried it before joining, I thought I'd pay it forward and offer if anyone's interested. Let me know, before June 15th.

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Just for fun today*, I tried to list all 30 NHL teams without looking them up. I got to 20 without slowing down, then up to 26 more slowly. At that point, I allowed myself to look at a US map, and got up closer (I forgot St Louis?!), even checking a Canadian map** to verify that there are only 6 Canadian teams. The last team I remembered (or the one I forgot the most) was Columbus. Got it!

*I know, not everyone's idea of fun. I enjoyed it!
**Not a map that shows the teams, just one that shows cities so I could confirm that I got all the ones with teams.

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Actually, I did get a piece of good news today, a small but significant thing that might be a step in the right direction, job-wise (or, of course, may be a step that dead-ends, but don't rain on my parade). I applied for a job on Sunday, and was contacted by an HR person today with a couple of questions before passing my info on to the hiring manager.

It's not an interview, not yet, but it means that someone actually looked at my resume, and didn't circular-file it. Fingers crossed! I am so grateful to be working (and getting paid), but wouldn't I love a permanent job, wow.

Quick March Updates (books and bike)

Well, the month isn't technically over, but with all the packing and getting-ready I still need to do tonight*, the chances of my exercising any more, or finishing another book, before midnight are beyond slim and well into none, so I think I can give the March Exercise and Reading Summaries now.

*Depending on the weather tomorrow, I may put my trip off, but the forecasts are varying so wildly, I'm waiting to see what things look like tomorrow. It's complicated by the fact that they'll get more crap snow west of here than I'll see when I wake up. Decisions, decisions.

To recap, I read 20 books in January, and 21 in February. In March, I read ... 22! How very consistent of me. And also, how very explicative of why I get so little done around the house. It's a sacrifice I am willing to make, though I was thinking yesterday of the irony that when I'm at work, I think of all these things I could be doing if I was at home ... then I go home and don't do half of it. (Though I did do dishes last night, which is something. And cleaned the top of the stove, which was disgracefully overdue.)

After experimenting with Goodreads earlier this year, I've been keeping the book list in a spreadsheet in my Google docs, and it's working perfectly for me. Thus I can tell you that eight of the March books I read for the first time, and I got eight (but not the same eight) out of the library. My favorite of the new reads was probably Tied to the Tracks, by Rosina Lippi (author of another favorite of mine, The Pajama Girls of Lambert Square), and I've been on a real fantasy kick, re-reading much Mercedes Lackey, Tamora Pierce, and Lois McMaster Bujold. And it has been good.

As for exercise, you know I've been improving there. I mean, in January I rode the bike for 10 minutes, while in February, the total was 65. Now, are you ready for March?

302 minutes. Wow, if I do say so myself. That's more than 5 hours! I like that graph.

And having said that, I'm enough of a nerd that I actually did make a graph. Embrace the inner nerd.

Plus, that's with losing 7 days to illness and headache, plus the occasional self-granted day off. Not bad.

All right, I have things to do. The Bruins are up 3-2 after 2, so hopefully the third period will be entertaining to pack to. Now hush, don't tell Carlos I'm leaving!

Still Biking, Still Knitting

Today I was thinking of the part in Alice in Wonderland about jam yesterday and jam tomorrow, but never jam today. That's because we had snow yesterday and should have snow tomorrow, but had none today. The difference, of course, is that jam is a wishful thing, while snow, well, you know how I feel about that.

In the interest of fairness, I will say that the snow yesterday was not a big accumulation: it melted on the roads, and only piled up on the grass and roofs--and on my car, I cleared an inch of slush off the thing. Eventually, the precipitation changed to rain, and melted much of what was there, though this morning there was still some around, including on a pile of old snow I noticed, which looked like a huge lump of coal dusted in powdered sugar.

Also, I would not say that before yesterday, I thought we were all done with snow. But thinking it might come, and seeing it fall, were very different feelings. And knowing that more comes tomorrow (one to three inches, they think), well, yuck. I may have had to stop on the way home for some chocolate, preventively speaking. Theoretically. The Mini Eggs have been out for weeks, you know, and me not buying them.


Exercise report:

The biking is going well. Knitting, in addition to being magic in other ways (sticks+string=fabric? magic!), really keeps me going on the bike, for reasons I can't quite articulate but am not going to question. Of course, bring sick threw me off for a while there, but I picked back up and am going strong.

These are my calculations, based on a Sunday-through-Saturday week, of minutes on the bike:
January (total month): 10 minutes
February 15-18: 20
February 20-26: 30
Feb 27-Mar 5: 75
Mar 6-12: 10
Mar 13-19: 85

Obviously, I didn't really get started until mid-February, and you can see about when I discovered the knitting connection, and the numbers headed upward. The week that I was sick barely registers, but I got back on, didn't I? Yup. (Pats self on back.)

Yup. Knitting. On the bike. I'm not asking why, I'm just going to keep doing it. Right now, in fact. Later!