Tomorrow I have to get new garage doors installed and that means that today I had to clear out the area underneath where they will go. Most of this stuff was paperwork from Jackie or some of her paintings that I just don’t have room for, etc.
To my surprise, though, in the middle of everything else were two big boxes labeled “glassware”. Turned out these boxes were all mine and I had totally forgotten what was in them. Four hours later, here is what I pulled out:
Some of this I know I don’t want, but some I’ll keep if I can figure out where to put it.
Brindy is generally a very calm, easy-going dog. She does still have issues when left alone, though. This is the only type of cage that has ever been able to hold her:
Today, I made the mistake of leaving my yoga mat next to the kennel when I left for 3 hours. This is sort of what it looked like:
This is what it looked like after I started the clean-up:
All those pieces were in the kennel with her. How the heck she managed to pull the mat through the bars in order to tear it up so thoroughly I can’t even begin to imagine!
“We are messy biology. We are just meat that thinks. We live with the persistent delusion, however, that we are somehow more than meat.
“Additionally there is a tendency to believe that existing in the natural state of every person would mean their body functions perfectly. In reality the human body is a kluge, a series of evolutionary compromises that functions well enough to breed, and exists in a constant state of decay, barely staving off entropy for seven or eight decades until finally succumbing to the inevitable.”
No, I didn’t do any running; I doubt I could run 21 meters easily much less 21,000 meters!
I do, however, row on a regular basis both at home on my own rowing machine and, for the last 2 months or so, at Row House, a fitness center focused on (not surprisingly) rowing. Rowing there has taught me a different technique and given me a good variation to my usual routine.
I fairly often row for 7 to 10 kilometers, which, at home, takes me 45 minutes to an hour. Today’s challenge at Row House was to complete either a full or half marathon distance in 5 hours. I wasn’t looking to set any records, so I aimed at keeping a pace of 7 minutes per 1000 meters and that’s exactly what I did. So, 21 kilometers in 2 and a half hours. Not bad for my first such outing.
I am sure I will be a bit stiff tomorrow. If nothing else, it’s a bit long to sit on one’s derriere!
I just got back from a 12-day cruise to Alaska. Here are a few highlights.
Started the trip at the Edgewater Hotel in Seattle. I had stayed there before with my mom and loved the idea of starting a cruise by staying over the water.This is the view from the roomHere is the Oceania Riviera next to one of her bigger relativesAnd here she is at anchorHeading toward Hubbard GlacierHubbard GlacierA humpback decided to show off near SitkaExploring an island near SitkaSea otter with cubBlack bear on Anan Island. These were taken without any zoom; we really were that close!Brown bear also on Anan Island. This one did require my zoom lens
I cannot tell all of you how different it feels to be able to read again. This morning after breakfast I was thinking about what I wanted to do with my day and suddenly realized I could spend a lot of time reading. This has just not been an option for so long that it didn’t even occur to me at first. I’ve now very comfortably spent several hours reading and loving every minute of it!
Sometime last year it started becoming more and more difficult for me to read. I just couldn’t get my eyes to focus and even with setting my Kindle to larger print, I just didn’t see well enough to enjoy reading. For me, as a life-long serious reader, this was a real change. I watched a lot more TV and played a lot on the computer.
I am very, very happy to report that I can now comfortably read again! I am already lining up books on my Kindle and looking forward to catching up with some favorite authors.
My upper eyelids have been drooping more and more over the past few years and it finally got to the point where it was seriously messing up my vision. Two weeks ago today, I had surgery on both lids. Here’s the aftermath on the day of the surgery:
And here’s today after the external stiches have been pulled:
Apparently, it takes a couple of months for the swelling to entirely go away. The important thing, of course, is that I can see much better!
I stayed at a very nice hotel in Brooklyn: the Hoxton, Williamsburg. The bed was so comfortable that I asked them to tell me who the mattress manufacturer was.
As with many hotels, though (especially, I find, European ones), the only covering on top of the bed was a 4-inch-thick duvet. For the life of me, I do not understand the appeal of a big, thick duvet as the only cover. Whatever part of my body the duvet is on spends the night over-heated and sweaty, while the part I leave uncovered is cold. I spent the first night trying to find some sweet spot that would even out the hot and cold but was not very successful. In fact, halfway through the night, I took a big bath towel and used that as a sheet for the upper part of my body. Much better!
If you’re going to give me a duvet, at least give me a single top sheet to go with it. I did ask for a sheet the next morning and slept beautifully the next two nights with the duvet over my feet and the sheet over the rest of me.
That was an easy fix, the next problem not so much so. The bed had 6 or more pillows on it, all of them were filled with down (or some equivalent). I have never understood the appeal of down pillows if a nice foam one is available. I asked for a foam one when I requested the sheet, but, alas, they simply provided me with yet another down one.
Here is what I don’t like about down pillows: you fluff them up before going to bed, then you fluff them up every time you get up during the night, and yet, this is what you get in the morning:
My head is resting on about 1-inch of material, meantime, as I am a side-sleeper, I am almost suffocated by all the down that is no longer under my head.
Using two pillows doesn’t change things very much:
Here is what my Isontonic pillow looks like before I go to bed:
Tuples and Attributes 