[April 24: 3 miles; April 26: 3 miles w/track; April 29: 3 miles; May 1: 3 miles]
Yesterday it got into the mid-80s here. It was hot. And of course I was sweating a river. I mowed the grass. I also broke up a big rotten tree stump that we had pried out of the ground last fall; too big to load into the van to take to the dump, I needed to get it in smaller pieces. My chain saw would start but not run. So I ended up using the axe and just worrying it apart in chunks. I whacked on it for awhile then rested on the sofa watching TV and drinking ice water. Repeat until finished.
Last week at work was recovery time from our spring show-and-tell day. Two of the core people took the week off. On Monday I did my first track session aiming for the Iowa Senior Games, which made me creaky in the knees. And to top it off I got the 2nd of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine jabs on Tuesday which made me tired and loopy on Wednesday. So I didn’t get much accomplished at work or at home for much of the week.
One bright spot (I think) was my Lunch-N-Learn talk entitled Ham Radio For Engineers. I had a two part thesis: A) post educational learning doesn’t need to be all career oriented and ham radio fits into the constellation of tech-oriented DIY along with open source software and the “maker” movement with B) an analogy of ham radio spectrum allocation with national parks: valuable public real estate that needs to be shown appreciation and used. At the end there was only one question about how I got into it. Otherwise the reaction was silence. I don’t know what that means. But it was interesting to do. We’ll see if they ever want me to do another.
As for my athletic project, I’m doing better on food control but not as good as I need. My first track session was 4 laps warm up, then progressive intensity sprints at what I think were the 100 meter markings. I started to feel some hamstring twinges at rep 8, so I cut things off there and did the cool-down laps. My fastest go was just over 18 seconds according to my wife who had the stopwatch. That’s not bad for a first attempt. But it felt uncoordinated and flailing: short stumping strides at a uneven rhythm. It was better than I expected. The old body can’t handle much more than one such session a week (I hope I do that well!) so more miles is not the answer. I need to be lighter. My 20 lbs (hah! you dreamer) of spare tire makes the launch a problem. Frankly, I don’t really know what I am doing. The event is on June 12. So maybe 5 more track sessions and maybe 10 lbs lighter and we’ll see what we get. (Let us lay aside the weight which does so easily beset us…)
Last week I also applied for a HELoC loan from the bank, which is a simple task yet somehow infuriating. It involves a minimal application establishing interest, followed by an extended back and forth between my customer server and a shadowy “underwriter” who refuses to say whether or not I qualify or what my rate will be until such time as I cough up documentation for my financial existence. It is a good-cop/bad-cop comedy routine. Customer carer says all is well, no problem, easily done. Then comes back later to say underwriter is asking for X Y and Z.
This is resulting from our poorly managed taxes in 2020. We made good money and had fun spending it. But not enough taxes were being withheld. So now we’ve boosted the withholdings and have to pay the owed, a bit of a double whammy. The party was fun while it lasted! The tax accountant said a HELoC was probably the cheapest way to go.
To end on a happy note, we regularly receive new pictures of #1 grandson on our shared photo frame which sits in prominence on the kitchen counter. And we get to do phone “face time” frequently also. I’ve made very little impact on the world, but there is a little person in another state who is like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
