I will respond to comments at some point. In my history of blogging I have occasionally responded to comments. Almost without fail, those posts fall flat. I will say that I do take the time to read all the comments. But often times the comment-reply posts don't get much air play. I'll try to keep them topical or interesting if I do go that route.
The kids were off school today because of the snow. They also have a delayed opening tomorrow because of the snow. As you can see, the kids exhibit insane amounts of exuberance when they get a snow day:
Eventually I got them out of the house and we went sledding. It was my "non work thing" to do of the day. So this is something I have been trying to make a point of doing in the past 6+ weeks. As the fall wound down, I actually kept a notebook of things I did that did not involve working or just sitting at home. So getting out of the house for a bike ride counts. Trainer rides do not. This is an effort to make sure that I disconnect from work to some extent. Work was so busy (still is) that I would find myself basically working from waking up until going to bed, with minimal breaks between. Somewhere in there, I would just get on the trainer for 30 minutes to check that box and be done with it. At some point, I told myself I needed to do something, anything, to get out of that pattern.
So today was sledding. Yesterday I went to Hilltop to pick up some wheels that @jimvreeland built for me. And so on. While I do not always do "something" I at least have it in my head that I should try. In the end the sledding was moderately fun. The weather was brutal, with temps just above 20 and the wind blowing sideways. After sledding I rode the trainer where keeping up 200w was like giving birth to a pain baby. I think I ended up with a 199 something-or-other power on the ride. It was a good, hard ride.
So here is what I did this summer when the weather was insanely hot. I didn't look at the weather. I am doing the same now - not looking at the weather. I just wake up and it is what it is. Nothing says "I am not living in the moment" when you stare at the 10 day forecast all the time. On a similar note, who thinks about what they are having for dinner in 7 days? Nobody, that's who. The only time you do that is if you are having people over. Likewise, don't even look at the weather until it's time to care about it. What I learned from this experience this past summer is that it makes life so much more enjoyable not to have to add this thing you have zero control of to your plate.
I don't know what that has to do with anything. But I am looking at you, @rlb...
So in the thought pattern of "doing things" it does bring up that thread I started last year, well a year ago, about the 12 things. Honestly it quickly because apparent that it was too much to keep up with, and that frankly none of those things were really very challenging to make happen. So it kind of fell off the radar. There were a few things we wanted to do (ahem, bike Manhattan, calling @jmanic) but by-and-large (Large Marge?) we did a lot of the things we wanted to do.
This year, I am obviously trying to write more. And read more. And do non-work things every day. I have been hankering for a good, long road ride lately. Maybe when I wake up tomorrow and look out the window, it'll be a perfect day for it.
The kids were off school today because of the snow. They also have a delayed opening tomorrow because of the snow. As you can see, the kids exhibit insane amounts of exuberance when they get a snow day:
Eventually I got them out of the house and we went sledding. It was my "non work thing" to do of the day. So this is something I have been trying to make a point of doing in the past 6+ weeks. As the fall wound down, I actually kept a notebook of things I did that did not involve working or just sitting at home. So getting out of the house for a bike ride counts. Trainer rides do not. This is an effort to make sure that I disconnect from work to some extent. Work was so busy (still is) that I would find myself basically working from waking up until going to bed, with minimal breaks between. Somewhere in there, I would just get on the trainer for 30 minutes to check that box and be done with it. At some point, I told myself I needed to do something, anything, to get out of that pattern.
So today was sledding. Yesterday I went to Hilltop to pick up some wheels that @jimvreeland built for me. And so on. While I do not always do "something" I at least have it in my head that I should try. In the end the sledding was moderately fun. The weather was brutal, with temps just above 20 and the wind blowing sideways. After sledding I rode the trainer where keeping up 200w was like giving birth to a pain baby. I think I ended up with a 199 something-or-other power on the ride. It was a good, hard ride.
So here is what I did this summer when the weather was insanely hot. I didn't look at the weather. I am doing the same now - not looking at the weather. I just wake up and it is what it is. Nothing says "I am not living in the moment" when you stare at the 10 day forecast all the time. On a similar note, who thinks about what they are having for dinner in 7 days? Nobody, that's who. The only time you do that is if you are having people over. Likewise, don't even look at the weather until it's time to care about it. What I learned from this experience this past summer is that it makes life so much more enjoyable not to have to add this thing you have zero control of to your plate.
I don't know what that has to do with anything. But I am looking at you, @rlb...
So in the thought pattern of "doing things" it does bring up that thread I started last year, well a year ago, about the 12 things. Honestly it quickly because apparent that it was too much to keep up with, and that frankly none of those things were really very challenging to make happen. So it kind of fell off the radar. There were a few things we wanted to do (ahem, bike Manhattan, calling @jmanic) but by-and-large (Large Marge?) we did a lot of the things we wanted to do.
This year, I am obviously trying to write more. And read more. And do non-work things every day. I have been hankering for a good, long road ride lately. Maybe when I wake up tomorrow and look out the window, it'll be a perfect day for it.
