So...this thing keeps happening where the week starts, then before you know it, it's Sunday again. It's Sunday again. I currently have a sort of love-hate relationship with Sunday, because it usually represents this day of little-to-no plans where I can kick back and read my newspaper. For better or worse, I am becoming the 90-year-old man who walks out in his bathrobe and gets the paper when it's 8 degrees out. I really enjoy taking a solid 30-60 minutes of my life and reading the Times Magazine, in addition to a few other pieces of the weekend paper. So in this respect, I enjoy Sunday. At the same time, you have this "week is over, time for the grind again" feeling. Now, I don't hate my job by any stretch. In fact, I take a lot of enjoyment out of it. But there is always some aspect of it that blows, and right now that aspect is an org in Minnesota that I am working with. When I thought about that, my blood pressure went up a tick.
As a counter to that thought process, it turns out I have tomorrow off. In reality, I am not sure if I can take the whole day off but I may pull a half day. I wish it were going to be 55 and sunny and I could go out and get a 2-3 hour ride in. But it doesn't look to be in the cards so I'll take what the day gives me. I may end up breaking out for the day after lunch, and then go hit up Chimney Rock for my first MTB ride of the year. Hopefully it's not 5 degrees when I wake up.
This past weekend saw the in-laws in town with more presents, marking the actual end of the Christmas season. Here, Simon opens 1 of his presents. I think he managed to get them all unwrapped in less than a minute, both Friday night then Saturday when my parents came with theirs. The astute reader will note the glass of wine in the pic, as well as the cups on the shelf behind D that go with the ill-fated teapot from last week. And the Russian dolls at the far upper right of the cabinet. Also that D is dressed for dead-of-winter and Simon is dressed for summer-in-Florida.
When D's parents are in town it usually translates to food. This is a roast chicken that was picked apart for lunch one day:
Then here is Saturday night's dessert:
I took some other pics but they were not as good, so this is what you get. I know
@Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST is a fan. Aside from eating, we are provided free Child Shepherds for the weekend so we took advantage and hit up the gym both Saturday and Sunday mornings. Saturday we just did spin class where my right knee was bothering me so I was not able to stand on the bike. Oddly, just putting it on high-resistance and turning a low cadence made it feel better. So I ground out an hour+ yesterday morning.
This morning, the knee was feeling better so I did whatever the instructor said, which is usually some combination of sitting, standing, and sitting & standing. When it comes down to it, the options on a spin bike are kind of limited. After spin, D did yoga and I went to get a coffee and read the NYT Magazine. I have a take on the Guo article but I will let
@jmanic read it before I offer anything. That hour+ of my day epitomizes what I love about these unstructured, free-form, aimless Sundays I described above.
As an aside, is it a requirement for every woman who enters a Starbucks to wear black yoga pants?
Then later in the day I went back to the YMCA with the boys and we played basketball. I am old and my knees hurt after an hour, but I can still shoot the ball pretty well. The boys eventually found 2 other kids to play with, and I just practiced my baseline jumper for a while. Yes Zac is color blind.
On the week I ended up with 7:39 on the bike, all inside, plus an hour of basketball. I am starting this year on a much better track than last year, when I more or less did nothing for 2 months. I seem to be a little more driven this year, which is good. I am certainly more tired at night. With that, I am going to read and go to bed.