[Runs since last post: 10/26: 4 miles; 10/30: 5 miles; 11/01: 3 miles; 11/06: 7 miles]
Well, it is not all the watch’s fault. I haven’t been running as much recently. After the 5 mile race on the 23rd of October I cut back a little bit. Some of that is because it has been very dark at the beginning and end of the day and I haven’t tried to shift to treadmill or noon time running.
The watch gets some blame because it interfaces with my phone and the phone has a record of my runs and where I went and even my heart rate. So I’m not afraid of losing the run information like I used to be; I don’t have to post to solidify that information before it slips away.
We’ve had a good couple of weeks. First, our grandchild came for a visit. He brought along his family, who are amazing people, and we got to see the little guy, now 10 months old. Last time I saw him he was about half that age. It’s no wonder he didn’t remember me! But we renewed our acquaintance and got along fine.
After an overnight together and a bit of day at both ends, they drove off back toward their home and we drove to Chicago to catch a flight to NYC for the 50th NYC Marathon which happened last Sunday. I didn’t run in the marathon but my wife did. And she did a good job.
While she was running I was a spectator and cheerer. We had picked up a little cowbell at the marathon expo and I rang that thing for about 3 hours in the morning and for about another 3 hours in the evening with some time off for a really good lunch. So I was an expert cow-bell-ringer by the end of that day. The bell is rectangular and the little clapper thing makes a different note for the long sides vs the short sides. I was getting so that I could give it a bit of a wrist/elbow action to make it have a really pleasant twiddly-twiddly instead of just bang-bang-bang.
I got to see some of the leading women and all of the leading men go by, as well as the majority of the “regular people” type runners.
After the race we had some adventure getting back to the hotel. A lot of the streets were still blocked off. And the runner was tired. So we ended up hiring a bicycle rickshaw, which was a wild ride! But we got there, got a good night’s sleep, a ride to the airport on Monday AM, a flight to Chicago, and a drive to home.
We had a couple of days in NYC before the race and we walked around in mid-town Manhattan. We also went to see the 9/11 memorial. On Saturday my run was the big loop in Central Park. I liked Central Park.
Now we are back home. I’m back to working on the porch project as much as I can with the dark evenings. Reversion from Daylight Savings has given me a bit of daylight in the morning before I have to report for work.
We heard from our house buyer for the rental house and he is making progress with getting a loan. We hope to have a closing before the end of the year. We’ve been looking on-line at other houses and trying to figure out what we need and don’t need.
Before our NYC trip we had a real estate agent come through our current residence and give us a plan for selling it. Right now it looks like we will be moving out then she can “stage” it, around the first of the year. If she hears of a good potential buyer that may move up in schedule.
A meeting at work today included a bit of presentation about plans for expanding the number of embedded programmers, so I am a bit more confident that I’ll have some sort of spot as a remote contract employee. We’ve been operating that way, mostly, since March 2020 anyway.
So you can see there are a lot of moving parts and we are going forward with hope that it all sorts itself out. If we had to live in an apartment for awhile we could probably do it. We’ve done that kind of thing before.
I think that’s about it for now.
3 replies on “I’m blaming it on the watch”
Busy!
One thing to consider might be your retirement coming in a few short years and another move when that happens if you decide on a lifestyle change. Transaction costs of owning are high (realtor, illiquidity, etc.). So the next place, while still working, might be interim? If that’s the case look at over 55 rental communities (if there are any?). Something like this (from a quick search – not a deep dive):
http://orchardparkcolumbia.com/our-cottages/
Then again, if they are too expensive to rent or you get a kick out of lawn maintenance, you don’t like common walls with the neighbors, and would be bored living where most maintenance things are done for you then skip the idea. Reading your posts I see you like to work on projects. That gives you the satisfying feeling of accomplishment, which is something I don’t care about. I like to spend time with dogs at the beach and have nothing to show for it at the end of the day.
Of course you could just go ahead and find your forever home that you will live in while working _and_ when retired. Something close to reputable hospital/clinics, no highway or airplane noise, views (before living on the river, I did not appreciate the value of having a view), maybe morning sunlight hitting the kitchen, no stairs, energy efficient, walkable to markets and restaurants.
It’s a hassle to move but could also be an opportunity.
I’m a amazed that your years in Starkville didn’t make you a cowbell expert already. Are you looking to go back to that immediate area?
That area generally.