Eventually that string is going to break

You know the phrase, I'd forget my head if it wasn't tied on with string? That's been me lately. Two examples.

We usually take lunch to work in glass containers with those click top lids so they don't leak. On swim days I'll take a couple of other containers. One has yogurt in it, the other has granola, and I mix them after the swim. Then they all go into my pack to go home. On Tuesday, at home, I dug the three containers out, carried them stacked up with my right hand, my swim suit in my left hand as I walked through the kitchen into the bedroom. After I put my suit where it goes, I'm standing there looking at all this stuff in my right hand.

After the Thursday swim I forgot to shave. No, really. I've been swimming there, then going into the office for several years now, and I forgot to shave. Good thing there isn't a fashion police at the office. Good thing it's strong string.

So the swimming. Pretty good. Tues was 500 m warmup, then 8 x 100 aiming for under 1:50 on 2 min in the long course pool. That's pretty close to my CSS pace, but it's harder to do long course. Cool down. 1500 m overall.

Thurs was 1500 m that started good. The first K was 19:15 long course, then it all fell apart. It took almost 10 minutes for the next 500 m, and I could feel myself struggling. I did some pull and drill, really focussing on my stroke, and that was a bit better. 2 K overall.

Then with the weather so nice I tried a run. Short and heavy describes it. Only 2k, but it was so nice to be out in shorts and a tech shirt. Now it's cold and looks like it's going to snow. Nothing like in Halifax, of course, but maybe a nice dusting to put some moisture in the ground.

Other thoughts at random. I should get Michelle to do more guest blogs. That was very popular! I still need a vacation. I'd like to take the people that designed Maximo out behind the woodshed. I'd like to take the person that shut down the network servers last night out behind the woodshed too. I came in today wanting to get something down first thing, and I had to deal with autosaved documents in excel. That got me all tensed up afraid I was going to lose some work, and meanwhile, my office is much hotter than normal, and I'm warm from a brisk walk in.

My left hand is all banged up, but I didn't bleed too much and not on anything important. I think I did it opening a door in a parking garage I've used a zillion times. The swim lane ropes have been eating my right hand, wrist, and elbow. Ouch. I used to have a good sense of where my appendages were, and didn't bang into things. Much.

Lately though, I think my brain is full. It doesn't like switching between tasks anymore. I've noticed myself walking on auto-pilot a few times, and I'm curious about where I'd have gone if I hadn't noticed. I've done that driving a few times. I'm finding it harder to let stuff drain away. Workouts used to do that, but lately I can't do them hard or long enough.

Even though Penn West said they weren't going to do more lay offs, they did. Not to the scale of Conoco Phillips or Talisman, but these were people just down the hall from me. Some days I feel like pulling the plug on the whole industry and see if I can make a living as a writer. The rational side of me says that's a lot more work, and pays a lot less than the current job.

Celina likes the micro-fiber towel. She has tried to drag it off to do who knows what to it. I have to hang it in the bedroom to dry.