Thinking

Some of the people that know me get nervous when I say I'm thinking. They never know what to expect. At one work town hall where the big, Big, BIG boss from London was in town to address the troops, my boss told my two immediate co-workers that if it looked like I was going to ask a questions, they were to incapacitate me on the spot using whatever means necessary. He said, and I don't think he was kidding, that he'd rather explain a limp body and a possible pool of blood, than face the consequences of what my imagination might come up with. 

But I'm thinking about the past year, and the coming year. One cannot do that without the word COVID, dammit all anyways. Nobody thought we'd be here now. Going into 2022 with another pandemic wave in our face, and nobody in Alberta knowing what the situation is because the UCP government doesn't report on weekends, and takes time off for Christmas. I get that it is a statutory holiday, and people are entitled to time off, but I've worked Christmas and other holidays. I kind of think that pandemic response qualifies as essential work, so why aren't we getting the numbers and the info we need to at least try to stay safe? Well, some of us are, don't get me started on the anti-vac crowd.

I had thought that during COVID I'd have lots of time to work on projects. Oddly enough, that didn't happen. Sure, there was a big work contract in the middle of it, but that ended (like all good things) 7 months or so ago. Since then, if I'm being honest, I've pretty much been a sluggard. Not doing much. Oh sure, there were a few photo trips, one of which generated 8 out of the 18 photos currently under consideration for image of the year.

There was some community association stuff as well, including the near-emergency replacement of our long serving facility maintenance man. The exec have been spending much time trying to noodle our way through the COVID situation, trying to balance unclear and sometimes conflicting rules with getting back to normal. It doesn't help when our members ask why they can't come and play bridge when they're all vaccinated and masked, and yet people could go fill a stadium to watch a sports event? There are no good answers. We continue to play it safe; the last thing we want to deal with is someone claiming they got sick at one of our events.

I started swimming regularly again. I've missed that a lot, and it was wonderful to get back in the pool. I'm on a bit of a plateau now, which is not a surprise. I'm still not back to where I was before COVID, which is also not a surprise, but I'm working on it. I know from past experience that trying to reach some milestones is an epic struggle, never quite making it, till one day you blow past it and it was easy. Swimming at Canyon Meadows is not as much fun as Repsol, but I'm saving about an hour's drive every swim, so there's that. Plus CM is about 2/3 the monthly price of R, so there's that as well, not like I'm cheap or anything. I have a buddy still at Repsol, with some free passes, so we might get together for a swim and water run and coffee.

But that brings me around to fitness in general. During COVID I stopped running regularly because my knees and IT bands were getting cranky. At first I thought it was a temporary thing, some time off and it would be fine. Well, there's no massage either, and that probably contributed. Now I'm about 10 to 15 pounds heavier than I was, and it's all around my middle. That isn't good for starting running again, if I should choose to. Did I mention that today it's -26C outside, with the windchill about -38C? There is an extreme cold warning on the weather page. I probably wouldn't have gone running in that even if I was running regularly. I have run when it's really cold, but this is about where I'd start thinking seriously about passing.

Like many people, I'm thinking that I need to be more careful of how much I eat, and how much exercise I'm getting. Less and more, respectively. Carefully. There's an effort level where you push your body to rebuild and get stronger, but as you age that effort level gets closer to where you break. And then it takes much longer to heal, and sometimes it doesn't. I know all sorts of older people that were doing really well until some event, and they were never the same after. I don't want that to be me.

Much of the last half of this year has been sort of like a vacation for me. The idea of not working for a while, and then going back to work is a familiar one for me, and so I think that's why I've treated this time like a vacation. But there are things I want to do, and the clock is ticking. So if I'm going to get them done, I need to get going on it. A little bit every day.

So a couple questions:

-Do you have an AMA (Ask me anything). The cutoff time is rapidly approaching. That thinking thing? I'm starting to dream up questions to assign to people.

-Are you about 50, plus or minus a few years? Do you want to be part of a series of portraits about such people? Male or female. Do you know someone that might be interested?

-Do your hands tell a story? I'm interested in doing a small book about old or beat up hands that have a story to tell. 

Feel free to get in touch with me.

Some snowy icy seasonal shots from the last little while, since I'm still working up the courage to go outside for photos today. Yeah, I'm being a weenie. All the food yesterday from an awesome Christmas dinner and I want to hibernate today.

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Of the Day

Driftwood

For a bit of mental whiplash, it's a warm beach.

Peony