Linda, avert your eyes

There. Christmas shopping started, earliest ever by weeks. And done too. Not quite record time, but very acceptable, and I didn't trample anyone. No snarling, no gritted teeth. No road rage. I even smiled at the staff, who were very friendly and helpful. I still need to wrap, but that's ok. Now as long as Linda doesn't try to stash a present in the ultra-secret place I found, before I wrap.

There was also a good spin session today, on the bike an hour and 10 minutes, with 20 minutes at 175 to 180 watts, at about 120 beats per minute. After a short break, 4 minutes at 250 watts. Heart rate was a lot higher. I'm feeling pretty happy on the bike these days.

At work on Friday, I was talking to one of the people that had been called back. She's doing something a bit different, helping to unplug the software she used to manage. She's a little bit older than me, and we got talking about our experiences in being laid off. She struggled with it a bit at first, but then woke up to the reality that every day was Saturday for her. She is in pretty good shape for pension, and they had to work a bit to convince her to return on contract. She enjoyed the 3 months off.

Now that I've been renewed, I'm thinking about plans for winter training, and races next year. It's been a bit tough trying to work and train, harder than it's ever been. This getting old thing isn't helping, I guess. I'd like to do a marathon next year, and the Sylvan Half iron race. Plus a couple of shorter races. It's a short season and it's hard to fit it all in.

This was sunrise this morning, looking south and a bit west. Not east at all like you might think. Even though the moon barely shows up in the photo, it was huge in the sky. I was thinking about how far away it is, and how tiny the earth is. Sometimes when the clouds and sunlight are just right you get a sense of just how thin the atmosphere is. I keep thinking that this is the only place we know of that humans can live without specialized equipment, and that we ought to be taking better care of it.

Here is more of Linda's shrubbery arranging.