I’m Ba-a-a-ck!

 

Hello, gentle readers, and welcome to July! It’s been a long time since I’ve been here, and if you’re still here checking in from time to time, thank you.  And if you’re new here, thank you, too!  I was actually going to take a peek and see what date I posted my last entry, but I don’t think I really want to be depressed right now.

I’m dropping back in now because I’ve missed being here, and also because today marks the beginning of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  I’ve done this particular challenge a time or two in the past and I’ve usually had fun, so I thought I’d give it another try.

The new month also marks the beginning of another photo prompt list from Fat Mum Slim, so I thought I’d see if I could get back to that, too.  Lots of fun to look forward too.

But it’s also kind of terrifying.  It really has been a while since I’ve blogged regularly, and even longer since I did much with photographs beyond taking a snapshot with my phone.  But I guess that’s what these challenges are all about, bringing people outside their comfort zone just a little bit, so I’m going to go ahead and jump in.  After all, what is there to lose?  A little face, maybe?

Maybe, but I might as well give it a shot.  So do drop back in here from time to time, where I’ll be chatting about whatever crosses my mind on any given day, and sharing my challenge photos, too.  If you’re interested in reading more about the July challenges, you can find the details here and here.  Read all about the fun, and maybe even join in—like the very best games, they’re more fun when lots of people play along.  In the meantime, happy blogging and snapping to you all, and mostly just happy July!

 

Overload

 

Something had to give.  In truth, a lot of things had to give recently, but visiting here at the blog was the one I missed the most.  It’s strange the way life just sneaks up on you sometimes, and you suddenly just find yourself just going with the flow—or raging current—with little to no control.

It started simply enough; I wasn’t feeling too swell one evening.  By the next morning, I was really just feeling sort of “off”, and by end of shift, I was ready to make a stop at the walk-in clinic.  They ended up sending me over to the ER, and by half-way through my visit to the hospital, I was feeling pretty miserable.

The really stupid part of the whole thing?  Nothing too drastically wrong with me, just a pretty bad case of vertigo. (Not that I’m asking for a more serious diagnosis; don’t get me wrong about that!)  Turns out vertigo is not particularly uncommon after a respiratory infection, which I’d dealt with a week or two before that.  What is uncommon, though, at least for me, is not being able to stand for more than a few minutes, or move my head too quickly, even when sitting still, because doing so just about causes a blackout.  It was totally stupid. 

That was a Wednesday night, and I pretty much stayed in bed for the next four days, moving as little as possible.  I think it was at least Saturday before I realized I hadn’t been posting to the blog.  Oops.  I blame it on the medication.  But, Saturday—or maybe Sunday—when I realized I hadn’t been posting, then I made the conscious decision that I couldn’t do it.  I was still feeling pretty cruddy, and I just couldn’t fathom the idea of sitting at a computer even long enough to tap out a short piece, much less actually think of something to tap out.

Monday I dragged myself back to work, but was far from recovered, so had to take a few hours to to drive back to town and see my own doctor to figure out why I wasn’t getting any better.  (And, yeah, driving was undoubtedly a risky proposition at the time, but I managed it, thank God.)

The problem with being sick enough to miss work, of course, is that the work doesn’t care if you’re there today; it’ll just be waiting for you when you make it back.  The first couple of days back, I had no choice but to take it sort of easy, though that just meant getting further and further behind on the work.  By Wednesday, I was finally starting to feel a bit better, but that meant working crazy long hours to try to get caught up again—which still hasn’t happened yet, by the way.

But that’s the sort of thing that starts the George Jetson treadmill going.  Then, the next thing you know, school is being neglected, the PTK weekend event that’s been planned for months is suddenly looming, seemingly unexpectedly, and, oh yeah, at the office, we’re suddenly preparing for trial next week.  So, you get through the week as best you can, muddle through the weekend on a total of about 7 or 8 hours sleep, then drag yourself into the office to do it all again Monday morning. 

As I said, something (besides sleep) had to give.  So, part of the PTK event weekend was missed; an assignment got turned in a few hours late, and my office looks like a cyclone tore through.  And, of course, I didn’t stop to write. 

I’m not happy about any of those sacrifices, but I’m most discouraged by being away from the blog for two weeks.  It was, as I mentioned, a conscious decision (once the meds wore off, you know), so I suppose there’s no one to blame by myself, but a careful analysis of the situation said there was just no way to make it happen.  I think my choice was well-reasoned, and in the same circumstances, I imagine that’s how I ‘d handle it again, but I can’t deny that I felt a little emptiness inside.  So, tonight, I made it home from the office just after ten, ate a quick chicken sandwich while watching the news (it’s amazing how quickly you can feel really out of touch these days), and now I’m here.  I think the treadmill is still running, but maybe something else needs to give for a while.

Sunday Closings

 

We’re sitting here watching the closing ceremonies (I thought this day would never come!) and my mind was wandering over various sorts of things, when I realized that I missed posting here on Friday.  I’m not sure if I’m most upset that I missed the day, or that I didn’t even realize it for forty-eight hours.  Of course, there was a reason—mostly that I was simply worn out.  There had been family drama for a couple of days before that, which was not only emotionally draining as drama always is, but also kept me from sleeping well, meaning I was also physically drained.  So, by the time it seemed to resolve itself Friday afternoon, I was beat.  I came home, ate a sandwich, and did some homework, and then I was crashed on the couch by about eight o’clock.  The only problem I recognized at the time was that I also had to study for a mid-term I would be taking Saturday morning, so when I woke up a few hours later, the only thought on my mind was cramming a bit of extra bankruptcy information into my brain so I wouldn’t totally bomb the test.  It sort of bothers me that it didn’t even cross my mind that I hadn’t yet written my daily post.

Of course, it’s not the end of the world.  One of these days, I will manage a true streak of daily posting; I’m hoping to one day hit a full year.  The important thing is that the drama does actually seem to have been resolved, and other than a few nights of lost sleep, nobody seems too much worse for the wear.  And I think I even did mostly okay on the exam yesterday.  All in all, while my mind wanders erratically over any number of things, I think I’ll choose to focus on the positive, and I’m going to close out this weekend and consider the week a win.

Fantasy Spending Spree

 

So, over at BlogHer, it’s NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Posting Month.  Really, I think they sort of celebrate this particular event every month there at BlogHer, but it’s a really big deal in November.  The reason I bring this up, is because during this celebration, they post a bunch of writing prompts to help get people through the month, and I was intrigued with the very first one:  If you found one million dollars in the morning and had to spend it by nightfall, what would you do with the money?

That’s a fun thing to think about, isn’t it?  I mean, everyone can probably pretty easily rattle off how they’d spend a million bucks, but to do it in one day?  I like to spend money, but that’s a lot of dough to get rid of in, what—twelve hours, fifteen?  Of course, it could be easy enough if you decided to go big, something like a house.  Even around these parts, you could easily drop half that on a home in a matter of minutes, and with a little effort, you could probably find something you liked that would let you drop in all in one fell swoop.  But I think that’s not the way I would go.

I think I’d start with cars.  For myself, as much as I love my Hondas, I’ve always had a hankering for a Jag.  But I’ve never actually driven one, so it’s hard to say if I’d really like it once I had to live with it every day.  Still, I think that’s what I’d go for.  After all, if I hated it, I could sell it and buy myself a new Honda with the proceeds.  And for Brian, he could have that Corvette he’s always wanted.  I’d still make a trip to the Honda dealership, though, for new cars for my kid, and my sister and brother-in-law.  I might even pick one up for my nephew, though it will still be a while before he needs a car (barely over a year though; they grow up so fast).  I figure that ought to take me through a quarter of it, maybe even a little more.

After the cars, I’d probably spring for a whole new kitchen remodel.  Of course, it wouldn’t be completed before nightfall, but I feel quite certain I could pick out my appliances and flooring, as well as hire a contractor and work out a design with a pretty good idea of budget needs—it’s sort of amazing how quickly you could make decisions about things like that if you didn’t have to worry about cost. 

Next, I’d make some travel plans.  Again, I think as long as I spent the money, I’d be within the rules, even if I didn’t get the benefit of that spending just yet.  For sure, I’d book at least three trips:  Disney World and Australia, both including travel for me, Brian, and Billy, as well as Tanya and her family.  I’d also book one of those around the world type cruises for just me Brian and me.  I might also buy a few airline mile vouchers just to keep on hand for the next time I want to take a trip somewhere but no longer have my windfall bag of cash.  By this point, I figure I’m up to about five hundred thousand. 

No doubt there would be at least a few electronics purchased, too.  A giant, wall-sized television, couple of new computers decked out with the latest gadgetry, and definitely an iPad, which I’ve been wanting forever but just can’t justify.  And maybe new smart phones for the whole family, with the bill prepaid for a couple years or so.  In the grand scheme of a million dollars, though, these few things are just a drop in the bucket, though they would probably end up being the things I used the most out of my entire day of spree shopping. 

I’d like to make sure my son and nephew had school money for any education they’d like to pursue, but since higher education institutions don’t really have gift certificates, I’m not sure how that would work.  Do you suppose buying a CD would count as “spending” the money?  Well, it’s my game, and I’m saying that it would.  I figure if I set aside about a hundred grand for each of them, that ought to get them through most of a college degree, even if they picked some place sort of fancy. By now, I think I’m up in the neighborhood of seven fifty. 

Lastly, I’d make sure there were no immediate needs that any of us had—clothes, home repair, medical bills.  Surely there wouldn’t be more than fifty grand there, even if one of us had some sort of major home issue and we all decided we needed entirely new wardrobes. 

At this point, I think I have taken care of all the basic needs of my closest family, as well as some fun splurges, too, and I think I’ve still got about two hundred thousand left.  That would go to charitable contributions of some sort.  Maybe just a flat out donation to something like cancer research, or maybe buy a bunch of necessities for homeless people, or spread it around to different causes and agencies.  But I’d find someplace useful to direct the money. 

All in all, it would be a pretty busy day; it takes a lot of work to do all that running around and spend all those dollars.  But it would be the most fun day I’d had in a really long time!

 

A Bill to a Law

 

Well, it’s Constitution Day here in the good ol’ U.S. of A., but around here at Idle Chatter, it’s also Tube Day Tuesday.  I thought about telling you about any of the many legal programs I enjoy (probably my current favorite law show, Suits) as a tie-in to both items, but, honestly, even as much as I love Suits, I knew that I just didn’t have the enthusiasm necessary to be trying to detail an entire show.

Then I thought about just blowing off the television theme for the week, and just reposting last year’s Constitution Day post, but that seemed like a little bit of a cop out.

Instead, I’m going to let you watch one of my very favorite things from my childhood.   (Childhood?  I’ve got a copy on my iPod now!)  But, besides being a sentimental favorite, it also details out the basic legislative process, and all on television—way to combine the themes!

A Mild Fixation

 

It’s not exactly that I want to keep talking about my granny, because honestly, I sort of don’t. I’d rather be talking about something else, but my brain won’t really focus on anything else.  Every time I open homework assignments, or bills, or even blog posts, my mind goes right back to Granny.   It makes me feel sort of fixated and obsessed. 

But I think it’s maybe because we haven’t had the services yet, and it just feels like there’s so much to do, even though there really isn’t.  (Well, of course there’s still a lot to do, but not in the immediate sense.)  That’s probably part of the “closure” everyone talks about that a farewell service can bring, and only then will my mind settle down and release some of its fixation so that I can put some focus on other things.  Unfortunately, I’ve got some homework due before then, so I hope I can find another way to let go just a little bit, or that could be a problem.  And in the meantime, I might keep talking about my granny a lot.   

Day One. Again.

So, I fell asleep on the couch last night (thankfully after submitting my homework assignment), and when I woke up about 2:30am, I immediately stumbled off to bed.  But, just as I was laying my head on my pillow, I remembered what I’d been doing just before I dozed off—loading up the Live Writer to create yesterday’s post. 

I almost got back out of bed to make my way back into the living room and write it up.  I knew exactly what I was going to say; how long could it possibly take?   But, the reality is, it would take at least half an hour, possibly longer if I got distracted at all.  That would make it at least 3:00 before I’d be back in bed, and by then I’d be wide awake again, with no guarantee that I’d go back to sleep quickly.  Since my alarm goes off at six, that seemed pretty risky.

So, sad as it was, I made the decision that my much-needed sleep was more important than continuing a daily blog post, so once again, my streak has ended.  I didn’t even make it a year.  (But about ten months, which is a personal best for me.)  I’m continually impressed with people who can manage to post day after day, year after year.  People like Roger.  It’s because he’s more organized than I.  (Probably they all are, but I can’t say that for sure.)  Anyway, he’s been at it for something like five years now.  That really is impressive.

I may never make five years, but I will begin again today and see where it leads. 

Facebook Friday

 

A couple of weeks ago, the hostess of Five Question Friday decided to hang up the question marks and call the whole thing off.  That left me without a theme for the day and wondering what I’d use to fill the spot.  Well, at least for today, I’ve decided to try out the idea of Facebook Friday.

Like most people (I assume), I’ve got a Facebook feed full of all sorts of pictures, motivational thoughts, snarky cartoons, videos, links to websites, and offers to buy stuff.  Oh, and every now and then, my friends actually post something about themselves and their lives, though it can be easy to overlook amid all the other stuff.  Still, I have to admit that even though I scroll pretty quickly through some of the random stories on my page, I do take the time to look at quite a bit of them.  Sometimes, clicking a link leaves me feeling like I’ve just spent a couple of minutes of life I’ll never get back, but sometimes, every once in a while, something on Facebook really resonates with me.

And that’s what Facebook Friday is about:  something that came to me via my social media feed that made me laugh, cry, think, feel—just something that meant something to me in the moment and made my day a little better than it had been.  I don’t know how often I might want to visit the theme, but this week there was definitely something that deserves sharing.

This story is simple—a 96 year old man lost his wife and wanted to honor her memory, and some decent folks found a way to help him do just that.  Spend ten minutes with Fred and Sweet Lorraine; I think you’ll be glad you did.  Though, if you’re like me, it might be good to keep a tissue handy.

Farewell, Five Question Friday

 

 

So, as I’ve been doing every Friday for quite some time now, I dropped by Mama M’s place to check out the questions for the day. But, instead of questions, I found sad news:  Five Question Friday has been put on an indefinite hiatus. 

Having just retired one of my own blog themes—and not even one that’s a link-up that requires attention beyond putting my own fingers to keyboard— I can understand how she feels about reaching the “have to” stage of something. And she’s right, at those moments, it’s far better to opt out than to try to do something you really don’t want to do anymore. 

So, while I admire her courage in laying to rest something that’s been very successful on her blog, now I have to worry about what it means for mine.  (It’s all about me, you know!)  In the space of one short week, two of my theme days have now gone by the wayside.  Maybe that’s some sort of sign that it’s time for a change here, too, though I’m not sure what.  As I said before, I’d like to replace those days with new and exciting themes, I just need to figure out what those new themes might be. 

Of course, it won’t be the end of the world if I just have to chatter about random thoughts for a while on Fridays and Sundays, or maybe browse around the great World Wide Web and try out a few memes and themes and see if any really feel good to me.  One of the most beautiful things about blogging really is the fact that I’m free to do whatever I dang well please; there’s definitely a certain liberation in that feeling that doesn’t come from too many other parts of life.

So, I’m putting my thinking cap on, but I’m jamming it tight onto my head because I’m just going to see where the wind blows me.

A Day in Search of a Theme

 

First, a little blog business:  it’s time to put Snapshot Sunday to rest, at least for a while.  I seem to have lost my photographic mojo for the moment, and there’s just no sense trying to force these things.  Interestingly, Brian and I were talking just this evening about finding a photography class at the vo-tech or someplace, somewhere I could learn some actual skills to go along with my interest.  It’s certainly not anything I’m giving up on completely.  But for now, it doesn’t need to hold a regular place here on the blog.  Doesn’t mean pictures might not pop up from time to time, but it’ll be sporadic, as the spirit moves me.

  In the meantime, Sunday is in search of a topic.  I’ve grown sort of fond of the idea of theme days here, and I’d like to find one for Sunday.  If not, goodness knows I can ramble on about something, but a little direction can never be a bad thing. 

So, if anyone has any grand ideas, this would be an excellent time to share them.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For today, though, let me tell you about a little incident that had me shaking my head . . .

Since I’ve been working, I’ve been relying pretty heavily on the slow cooker for dinner time, because who wants to walk in the door at sixish and start preparing a meal?  Especially given that Brian goes to bed at nine, that wouldn’t give us a very large window of opportunity for eating.  Anyway, the problem is, my cooker is just a plain old fashioned one, not one of those newfangled programmable ones, which means the food cooks from the time I put it on at roughly 7:00am until Brian gets home at about 5:00pm and turns it to warm for another hour or so until I get home.  As you might imagine, ten hours is a long time for food to cook, and some of it hasn’t fared so well from the extra time.  (As an aside, chicken was the worst; that stuff dries out fast.)

So, I finally went today to buy one that switches automatically to a warming setting to see if that could make a difference in the palatability of our meals.  I spent quite a long time in the small appliances section, trying to decide just which one I wanted.  In fact, I spent enough time there that I also decided to pick up a breakfast sandwich maker, even though I didn’t know such a thing existed.  I’ll be trying that puppy out tomorrow morning.  But I digress.

After looking over the slow cookers for longer than strictly necessary, and browsing the rest of the store just for fun, I selected a nice six quart Crock-Pot model and carted it and my new sandwich maker up to the register.  Then I tossed my purchases into the trunk of my car and went about the rest of my errands for the day.

Hours later when I returned home, Brian was actually the first one to open up the box, and he stuck his head out into the garage (I was still carrying in some other purchases; it was tax-free weekend here and I needed some shoes!) and said “there’s no crock pot in that box.”  Well, Brian has been known to be a prankster, so I just figured he was being silly and went about my business.  When he repeated himself firmly, I realized he wasn’t joking around, so I went into the kitchen to see what he was talking about.  This is what was in my Crock-Pot box:

 

Oh, and there was also a set of bowls and a strainer in there, but Brian had been digging through the stuff and had some of it sitting out when I took this picture. 

Anyway, about half of the stuff was brand new, the rest various stages of used, but none of these things are going to slow cook my roast.  If I can paraphrase Colonel Sherman T. Potter, I ordered a Crock-Pot and got a box of kitchen gadgets; both highly useful items, but hardly interchangeable. 

The chain of events leading to this seems very clear cut to me, and here’s how I think it played out:  Someone got a slow cooker for a wedding gift, which they wanted to keep.  They also got a bunch of kitchen gadgets that they were not so fond of.  Deciding they could keep the cooker, get rid of the unwanted gadgets (and some other random crap already lying around their kitchen), and even make a few bucks on the deal, they took the Crock Pot from its box, stuffed it full of various gadgetry to reach the appropriate heft, and then packaged it all back up nice and neat.  Then they took it to the unsuspecting store and returned it.  Likely for store credit, but you never know, someone might’ve given them a gift receipt just in case they got two Crock Pots, so they might’ve even gotten a free sixty bucks out of the deal.  All of this definitely causes me to shake my head. 

It didn’t have to happen just that way, of course.  There might not be some soon-to-be-wed couple starting their life together by trying to turn a profit on the gifts of well-meaning friends and family.  But however that box of stuff ended up in my kitchen, it wasn’t accidental.  Someone got a free slow cooker out of the deal in some way, shape, or form, meaning the store is out the cost of the item (because they have agreed to replace it) and the inconvenience of an extra trip to the store for us.  Seriously, what’s with people?  If it truly was a wedding gift scam, do you really want that sort of negative energy hanging over your new life?  And even if it wasn’t, could you ever really enjoy a meal that came from that cooker, knowing you’d stolen it?

Typically, when people steal, I try to give them the benefit of the doubt and think that there’s some set of circumstances that made it almost a necessity; I try to think that they must have needed the item more than the rightful owner.  And maybe that’s the case here, but this just seems so deliberate and deceitful, that I’m having a hard time cutting the thief too much slack. 

Still, I don’t wish them a lot of ill will; it is only a slow cooker, after all.  But I do hope their chicken turns out dry.

White Collar to the Rescue

 

Feeling a little run down today.  Operating on about 4.5 hours sleep because of way too much homework to get done, which is a bad cycle to be in so early in the week.  And, to top it off, with all the assignments I had to get done, some simple textbook reading got set aside for a later time, but our professor must have some sort of sixth sense, or something, because she called us out and gave a pop quiz over the chapter.  There were some in the class who didn’t write a single answer down.  Thankfully, I wasn’t quite that unprepared, but my simple skim of the pages didn’t help me much.  Oh, well; better luck next time.

So what does any of that have to do with Tube Day Tuesday?  Honestly, not much, except that it means I’ve seen very little television in the past week or so.  And, much of what I’ve seen in the past 24 hours has been about Boston.  That’s enough to make a person feel run down, too.  Late last year—just a couple of days before the tragedy in Sandy Hook—I wondered what the world was coming to, with violence seeming to surround us daily.  I’m still wondering, and constant images of disaster accompanied by nothing but confusion and hypothesis do nothing to make me feel any better.  I’ve discussed before the relationship television has with disaster, and it’s a relationship that’s going strong.

But, there is some good news on the television scene this week:  my beloved White Collar has won the 3rd Annual Buzz Focus Spring Madness Tournament.  Now, oddly, even though the tournament concluded a week ago, there’s been no official announcement over at Buzz Focus, and even their tournament bracket hasn’t been updated.  It’s a little strange.  But, the poll results clearly show White Collar walked all over Breaking Bad  for a whopping landslide.  And, the White Collar Facebook page is claiming victory, so I’m saying it’s a done deal, even if the tournament hosts are being strangely silent.  So, let’s hear it for my favorite federal agent/con man duo!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See?  Even when I’m run down, I can always be cheery about White Collar.  If only it was so simple to solve all life’s problems. 

Monday Happenings

Image courtesy of olovedog at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  You know what I’ve decided is one of the very best things about being grown up?  No one (or at least not too many) feels inclined to play stupid April Fool’s jokes.  I’m not much of a jokester, and goofy pranks have never been high on my list. 

  On the other hand, I did see a status on Facebook earlier today that was something of a tirade.  A woman was emphatically telling everyone that they should not put any “stupid pranks” up about being pregnant, because it would be hurtful to those who were either unable to conceive or who had lost a child.  Now, as I said, I’m not a fan of April Fool’s fun and games, but I thought that went a little far.  I try really hard to be as kind and respectful of others’ feelings as I possibly can, but sometimes I think we’re just over the top with the whole PC thing.  I mean, would a fake joke about pregnancy be any more hurtful than an honest update sharing your joy?  I’d think the latter might be even more hurtful, because that person would really have the happiness you are seeking.  I don’t know.  Like I said, sometimes I think we go too far.

But, that’s enough of that; it was just something that was on my mind.  Other than April Fool’s, today is also my granny’s birthday; she’s now 93.  I’d like to say that is “93 years young”, but the truth is, she’s pretty old.  Still and all, not as old as you might think a 93 year old would be, and she’s relatively healthy, so yay for her.

In still other news, got the first of two mid-terms out of the way today, and I think it went okay.  Typically, the one issue I was least confident about had about five different questions on the test, but what’re you going to do about that?  But I am glad this instructor believes in partial credit!  Now just one more test to get through tomorrow, and then I can quit worrying about school (mostly) and try to enjoy my Phi Theta Kappa trip out to California this week.  We’re leaving before the crack of dawn on Wednesday, and I’m not too thrilled about that aspect of it, but it is going to give us a big chunk of the day to just chill and see the sights, since all we have to do that day is check-in, and then we’re free until Thursday. 

And, lastly, for reasons I can’t fully explain, last night at about 11:30, I made the decision to join up with the Ultimate Blog Challenge again this month.  I really didn’t do too well last time around, and I’m even busier now than I was last October, so I’m not exactly sure what I was thinking, but I did it anyway.  We shall see how that goes.

And that’s an update from my world today.  How are things going in your corner?

 

I’d Like to Thank the Blogosphere . . .

 

Yesterday, I took a look at my comments and found the nicest surprise:  I was nominated for a Liebster Award.  Liebster Awards are for blogs with less than 200 followers (beat that by a wide margin!), and designed to let bloggers share some things about themselves, as well as help promote other small blogs.  Jeannie, over at For What It’s Worth was the lady kind enough to nominate me.  And, as she says, this sort of thing is a grand idea, because small blogs need love, too.

So, the first rule of blog awards is that you should always post the rules, so here goes:

{1} Each blogger should answer the questions the tagger has set for you.

{2} Choose 11 new bloggers to pass the award on to and link them in your post.

{3} Create 11 new questions for the chosen bloggers.

{4} Go back to their page and tell them about the award.

{5} Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.

{6} No tag-backs!!

 

And now, to see what questions Jeannie has for me . . .

Butter or margarine?

Margarine, though that’s mostly a consistency issue than flavor.  Margarine tends to be much more spreadable, which is what I prefer.  And, it’s what I grew up eating, so it is the flavor I’m accustomed to, as well.

Fact or fiction?

Fiction.  Tell me a story, entertain me, take me to another world. 

Musical or Action film?

As much as I love a good musical, I think I have to go with action film.  Maybe it’s because musicals are easier to screw up, so there aren’t really as many good ones.  But, when I’m flipping through the TV channels, surfing around for something good to watch, it’s frequently an action movie that I will land upon.  Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, The Rock, The Negotiator . . . I could go on and on, but those movies never get old.

Realist or a dreamer?

Would you settle for a realistic dreamer?  I’m not exactly a pie-in-the-sky type of a person; I completely get the realities of every day life.  But I am an optimist, and I think with that goes some dreaming. 

Do you read between the lines?

hmm.  Jeannie’s notes about her questions said “interpret as you will”, but this one stumps me a bit.  But, I think everyone makes inferences about any number of things they deal with daily, all based upon past experiences.  So I guess I do read between the lines, because I think it’s hard to take some things just at face value.  But I don’t go looking for trouble, trying to find drama that doesn’t exist.

Are you as tall as you want to be?

In my childhood, I wanted to be shorter.  And then, in my young adulthood, I sometimes wished I was taller, like all those striking beauties that show up on billboards and in magazines.  But in my maturity, I’ve decided I’m fine with my height as it is.

Pet peeve?

People who order food at the Sonic drive-through.  I usually rant about it on Facebook every few months or so.  I’ve even talked about it here before, so I won’t repeat the whole explanation, but it’s high up on my list of peeves.  Also, mean people.

Introvert or Extrovert?

Hah.  I think I’ve discussed that too, and not too terribly long ago, though I don’t remember why.  Oh, yes, here it is; one of the 5QF questions.  Anyway, to keep it short and sweet, introvert.  I’ve never really taken a poll, but I’d guess that’s not all that uncommon among writerly type people.

Favorite quote/movie or song?

So here’s another question up for interpretation.  Favorite quote, movie, or song?  Or, favorite quote from a movie or song?  Doesn’t matter.  Either way, I don’t think I could pick.    I like words, so there are a lot of lines that have ended up on my favorites list over the years.  In my mind lately, though I couldn’t say just why, is “So shines a good deed in a weary world”.  Willy Wonka quoting Shakespeare; does it get any better than that?

How many projects do you have going right now?

My only project at the moment is school. 

What is your "One Thing?" (City Slickers)

I haven’t seen that movie in years, but it seems that the “one thing” was in reference to what you do, right?  Like a career/life path type of thing?  I don’t remember.  But, since Jeannie says I can interpret how I wish, it’s not going to be career related for me.  For one thing, I don’t think I know the answer to that.  Though I hope that working as a paralegal isn’t too far off the mark, since that’s what I’m trying to get myself geared up to do!  But, beyond the work life, the “one thing” for me is pretty simple:  try to be a good person.  That’s sort of my deal.  Be nice to people.  Smile.  Get along.  See the good.  If I can manage that for most of my days, I think I’ll be satisfied. 

 

And now, if you haven’t already heard too much about me, 11 random facts:

1. I have never been drunk.  Most people find that hard to believe, but it’s true.
2. I have lots of acquaintances, but few friends.  But my BFF has been my BF for over 30 years.
3. I’m still sort of afraid of the dark; creepy things are there.
4. I hope that some day I’ll be able to travel in space.
5. I don’t like to fly. (But, yes, I still want to go to space.)
6. I have a pretty good memory.
7. I have pretty bad handwriting.
8. There are a lot of foods I don’t like.
9. I don’t wear makeup.
10. I am like some sort of mosquito magnet during the summer; they always bite me (and I get big welts).
11. I can’t go to a baseball game without having a hot dog and some Cracker Jacks.

Next up, the questions for my nominees.  Two things, though.  First, I’m going to re-use a couple of Jeannie’s questions because I liked them.  Second, I’m officially giving my nominees permission to accept an “honorary” Liebster, if they’d prefer not to answer the questions and/or pass the award along.  Okay, here goes:

1. Do you like amusement park rides?
2. What’s your pet peeve?
3. If there was a movie about your life, who would you want to play you?
4. Last movie you saw at the theater?
5. Morning person or night owl?
6. What song makes you cry?
7. Realist or dreamer?
8. Believe in love at first sight?
9. Do you play the lottery?
10. Beach or mountains?
11. If you could have one super power, what would it be?

And, now, finally, my Liebster nominees.  I don’t get to visit blogs nearly as often as I’d like, but when I do, these are some of the folks I like to drop in on.  Also, some didn’t have follower information that I could see, so apologies to anyone if I’ve labeled you a “small blog”, and you’ve really got thousands of folks awaiting your every post!

1. Suzy at Someday Somewhere
2. Melissa at The Bright Side
3. Roger at Ramblin’ with Roger
4. Jessica at Finding Sunshine
5. Jess at Splashes & Dashes of Yellow
6. Candy at clh Photography
7. Nubia at Brighter Horizons
8. Melinda at Musings
9. Holly at Aggravation Station
10. Connie at Sunfire’s Ramblings
11. Miss Riki at Refreshingly Riki

Well, I have to say, that was sort of fun!  Everything you never wanted to know about me, right?  Well, I don’t imagine I’m ever going to be on stage making an acceptance speech, so this is me, taking my bow.  Many thanks to Jeannie for including me in her list of nominees.  And, since I don’t say it often enough, thank you, Gentle Readers, for being here.

Also, if you’re curious about the beginnings of the award (like I was), it seems we weren’t the first to wonder, and someone has already done a bunch of research to try and track down the info.  What answers she found (which weren’t many, I gotta tell you) were detailed in a post about the Liebster origins.

Okay, guys, I’m off to tag my recipients and then off to bed.  Sweet dreams to you all.

 

 

 

Snapshot Sunday, March 17

 

So, it turns out I did not take a single photograph this week.  Well, that’s not exactly true.  Our DSLR currently sits permanently affixed to a tripod, pointed out the window in the direction of the bird feeder.  I have snapped a few pics there, but nothing spectacular, and not even any new birds. 

But, in terms of my pocket camera, the one that’s almost always with me, or my phone, which is always with me, nothing.  Not a single frame.  That’s really unusual.  Typically something catches my eye at least every couple of days or so.  But not this week.  Or, more accurately, nothing caught my eye when it was possible for me to take a photo.  One day, I did see a group of hawks circling over an area that I assumed had some sort of meal opportunity, but I would’ve had to stop right in the middle of the road to capture it, and I was already running late for school, so it was kind of a no-win situation.  Other than that, nothing that even made me pause to consider a snapshot. 

But, over on Facebook, I do see quite a few photos every day.  I mean, besides fuzzy baby animals and Grumpy Cat.  Some of the ones I see are from one of my bloggy friends, Candy.  One of her shots won some recognition on a photo site contest recently; you can see it here.  Since it was a bird , you know I liked it! 

Also, I saw a beautiful picture from a page called 999,999,999 People.  They credit this photo to a woman named Emily Stauring, and if this is the kind of work she does, I’d like to see more.  My instinct is this did not come directly from the camera this way; I’d assume there is some post-processing involved.  But I’m not one of those purists who gets upset by that sort of thing.  It’s still a creation of art, and this is gorgeous. 

Okay, had to take a short break for a quick Google search; turns out Ms. Stauring has an online shop, and you can own your very own print of this lovely photo starting at $27.00.  Tempting.

 

Maybe during this week of a break from classes, I’ll get outside and get back to snapping a few pictures of my own, even though it seems the weather people were right about the return to cooler temperatures.  Of course, my pictures won’t look like this one, but I love to see these sorts of shots to serve as inspiration. And, even though I have a lot of homework to do this week, I still need to have a little bit of fun, right? 

January Gone

 

Let me just say that the older I get, the quicker time seems to fly.  I point this out today because I can’t believe the first month of 2013 is over already.  Seriously.  Wasn’t Memorial Day just last month?  Didn’t we celebrate Independence Day last week, and Christmas just yesterday?  If you put me under oath, I’d swear to it.  And, yet, here it is, January 31. Cuh-ray-zee. 

Anyway, the end of the month also brings us to the close of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  Assuming I hit publish on this thing before the stroke of midnight, I’m giving myself a passing grade, as I will end the month with 31 posts, one for every day of the month. 

Now, besides daily posting, the other part of the challenge is a more social aspect: share your posts on Facebook/Twitter, and make the rounds of other UBC participants, visiting some blogs.  I have to say, while I started off just fine with that, I’ve not done so well with it in the past week, since school started.  I’m giving myself a B- for that part. 

This is the third time I’ve participated in this quarterly challenge, with varying degrees of success.  The first time was the best in terms of my overall participation, but I’ve enjoyed it each time.  There are a wide variety of blogs in the challenge, most of them sites I would never run across in my normal routine.  It’s interesting to me to see the way different people approach their blogging, and the things others like to write about.  It’s good to step out of your comfort zone from time to time, I think.

If you’re following my Weight Loss Wednesday posts, then you also know that today is the end of the Planks-a-Lot challenge, too.  I’m giving myself a big fat D for that one.  Probably it should be an F, but I’m cutting myself a little slack just for improvement shown.  The goal was to be able to hold a plank for 2:30 by today; my best day so far was only half that.  Still, the first one I did at the start of the month was barely ten seconds, so I’ve come quite a ways.  Wendy is continuing the challenge into February (and adding squats, OMG!), so I’m going to keep trying. 

So, two challenges this month—neither of them over the top winners, but both of them pretty good.  I think I can live with that.  Besides time moving so quickly, that’s one of the other things that comes with old age:  learning to recognize and celebrate even the small successes, because those are the ones that keep us moving forward.

What successes have you celebrated this month?

 

Weight Loss Wednesday—The Beginning

Hi, everyone, and welcome to the first installment of a new weekly topic here at Idle Chatter.  As you have likely deduced from the title, it has to do with weight loss, namely, mine.  I’m hoping to add an extra layer of accountability to my currently flagging efforts, and this seemed like a good way to do that.

Before we get started, let me give you a little bit of background on me.  I have considered myself overweight my entire life.  Now, let me say that I’ve never consciously felt demeaned or pigeon-holed by the constantly perfect female bodies that populate the public face of our society.  However, I can now look back objectively at photos of younger me and realize that I was not quite as horrific as I always imagined myself to be, so it is possible my expectations were unrealistic.  Not that I have ever been a perfectly fit specimen, mind you, but I would gladly trade my 25 year old body for the one that almost-50 year old me now inhabits.  But now I’ve got a more realistic picture of my weight, and I know for really and truly that something needs to be done about it.  

That reality sank in for me in the spring of 2010, when I saw a snapshot of myself taken at my former place of business.  I wish so badly that I had a copy of that picture, but I think I must’ve left it behind on my work computer the day I was unceremoniously asked to leave.  Too bad, because the photo was a galvanizing moment, bridging the gap between believing I was too fat and knowing it.  Let’s put it this way: had I been trying to button my pants in that snapshot, it would’ve looked a lot like this.


 So, I did what any self-respecting yo-yo dieter would do: I lost about ten pounds and called it good.  But then, months later, toward the end of the year, I ran across that photo again, and come January of 2011, I was determined to get myself smaller, and thereby healthier.  That was the first New Year’s resolution I ever managed to stick with all year.

                 Image courtesy of Michelle Meiklejohn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When I began my weight loss journey two years ago, I had a goal of losing a total of 80 pounds; by December of ‘11, I had dropped 55 of them and was on a roll.  I was exercising regularly, eating more sensibly, and feeling better than I had in years.  Of course, the pounds were dropping really slowly by that point, but that was okay; I was determined, and I was working a successful plan. 

Then, in March of 2012, the rug was pulled out from under me when I was fired from my job of twelve and a half years.  I didn’t lose too much weight after that.  Oh, maybe a pound here or there, but nothing too drastic.   I lost a total of 62.5 pounds before I allowed myself to give up.   At first, I was determined not to let my job loss ruin my plan, and I maintained my weight for a little while, but by June it started inching back up slowly, and by October, it was out of control.  Really, I can trace back to the exact moment in my fruitless job search when I gave up entirely; the moment when I felt like it was all just pointless.  But I know now that wasn’t a real reason, it was just an excuse to get lazy again.

So, at the beginning of this year, I began my journey again, and now I need to lose 52 pounds.  It makes me sick with myself that 35 of those pounds have come off once already and now I have to do it again, but I just keep reminding myself that I know how to make it happen.  I’ve done it before, and I will do it again.  Does it seem harder this time around?  Without question.  But I am determined.  I know how much better I felt thirty pounds ago, and I can imagine how much better I’ll feel fifty pounds from now.

So, my goal with this weekly entry, is to report my workouts from the week before, hoping, as I said, that the need to report to the world every Wednesday will help me stay focused on what I know needs to be done.  I’m not following something pre-planned like Insanity or P90X or anything like that.  I’ve got some DVDs that I work out to, an exercise bike and an exerglider as my primary pieces of equipment.  Plus, an iPod full of good dance music when I really just want to move.  I am hoping to replace the glider with a treadmill sometime soon, but what I have now served me well before, so I know it can again.

Also, this month, I am participating in a daily plank challenge with a fellow UBC participant, Wendy, over at One Tough Mother Runner.  The idea there is to do one plank each day, increasing your time throughout the month.  I’d been doing pretty well at first, increasing from barely 15 seconds the first time I tried (not quite two weeks ago) up to 48 yesterday.  Sadly, today was a backsliding day, and I only managed 31.  I think I might try it again before I hit the sack, but if that’s all I can do today, I’ll just get up and do it again tomorrow.

So, that’s my story.  I hope you guys don’t mind serving as my virtual accountability partners each week; I know that I appreciate it.  Also, I’ve read other blogs where folks are doing similar posts periodically, and I know that it always helps me a little to know I’m not the only one struggling, so maybe some of you can get some of that benefit from me, as well.  I’d like that.  And, please, if you’re on a similar journey and would like to share your triumphs and tribulations, tell me about it.  Leave a comment, or drop me an email, whichever you prefer.  Like I said, I like to know I’m not alone.

Are there any big changes you’re determined to make?

Simple Rules

 

  I think I probably annoyed my Facebook friends today.  But in my defense, it’s because a lot of them have been annoying me lately.  It’s bad enough that when it comes to most social issues (you know, of the type you find frequently on social media) I am in the small minority of opinion.  This means that I am frequently annoyed by the things my friends post.  It also often leaves me wondering just how it is we came to be friends in the first place.  Of course, many of them aren’t really honest-to-goodness friends; they’re co-workers, or people I’ve met somewhere along the way, or even people I’ve never even met but have become friendly with in the cyber world.  And I don’t mean that in sort of demeaning way; some of my best friendships have originated in the cyber world; my very best friendship began as a co-worker relationship.  Friends can be found anywhere, and I think life is better with lots of them, even if many of them are sort-of friends.  But, that’s how it is that my newsfeed ends up cluttered with a lot of status updates that annoy me.

So, today, I addressed a couple of them.  To start, I have recently been bothered by a rash of people posting a standardized message on how to change some particular settings to prevent strangers from seeing restricted online activity.  Of course, everyone who posts this is so sincere and well-meaning, even offering to make the same changes for any of their friends with similar concerns.  Never mind that the instructions don’t accomplish the stated goal, much less that they actually have the power to solve most of their privacy concerns themselves, without such a post, if only they would take the time to give it a little thought.  I posted a pretty long status update about that when I saw one too many friends posting the dreaded message. 

Then, later on, I posted my “rules” for deciding whether or not I would “like”, “share”, or “copy/paste” a particular status update.  (Spoiler alert:  I don’t do it much.)  I’ll share them with you here:

1. I must agree with your message. Otherwise, no amount of guilt or shame will cause me to pass it on.
2. If it's mean spirited, closed-minded, or hateful, don't expect me to share, even if it's supposed to be funny. (See rule 1.)
3. Proper spelling/grammar is a must. I might forgive the occasional typo or missing comma, but if you (or whoever you are quoting) has misused your/you're, they're/their/there, too/two/to, or its/it's, I likely won't be sharing it.
4. If it's essentially the modern version of a chain-letter--whether promising good for sharing or threatening ill for ignoring--I'm going to have to take my chances on the ill.
5. About rule 1 and "guilt or shame": Messages that contain words like "95% won't repost", "I'm counting on true friends to do this", or--my personal favorite-- "like if you love Jesus, keep scrolling if you don't", all of these messages will be summarily ignored. It's not that I'm heartless, or a heathen, it's that I have an aversion to manipulation in all its forms.

And, I later amended to add a final thought, that you must check your facts before posting amazing stories to share with the world; Google is your friend.

I really wasn’t trying to be mean, or pompous, though I think it may have come across that way; I was just venting a little bit—hoping that maybe at least one or two of the “guilty” ones would recognize the error of their ways.

Then it occurred to me that I feel similarly about the blogosphere, and I look for many of the same things:  fair-mindedness, interesting topics free of bigger-than-life promises or non-stop sales pitches, posts that leave readers with a positive feeling rather than making them feel bad about themselves, and authors who have a good grasp of the fundamentals of the English language.  And just as I follow my own rules on Facebook, I also try to follow them here.  We’re all members of this gigantic, world-wide society, and I just hope we all do our own little parts to make it a better place.

What rules do you have for your social media?

Z is for Zanzibar

 

I suppose, if I were more of the intellectual type, I’d tell you a little bit about the country-ish* place located in Africa.  (*Technically, Zanzibar is part of Tanzania, but they’ve got some partial autonomy.)  It looks like a lovely place, and it seems Freddie Mercury was born there.  Interesting. 

But, if you’ve been around here much, you probably don’t expect a geography/anthropology lesson, and today is not the day I’m going to break form.  No, instead, I’m going to tell you a little bit about a nifty little song of the same name.

“Zanzibar” is a catchy tune off of Billy Joel’s 1978 album, 52nd Street.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but Joel most likely holds the title of My Favorite Musician Ever.  I mean, if you’re like me, at any given time there’s someone who’s tops on your playlist, and if someone says, “hey, who’s your favorite singer?”, you might rattle off the name of whoever you’re listening to non-stop at the moment.  But even so, for most of us, there’s someone who’s always on our playlist, someone that we always return to, year after year, who never grows old.  For me, that someone is Billy Joel.

Anyway, “Zanzibar” is an album cut, but I’ve never entirely understood the decision making process in these things.  There are lots of songs I listen to that I think would’ve been hit singles, but they never got released.  Or maybe it’s that I think they should’ve been hit singles, so someone should give them the chance.  I don’t know.  What I do know is that “Zanzibar” is a lively song, with some nice piano work (as you’d expect from Billy), and some less common trumpet playing, that just really works.  It sounds like it ought to be playing in some smoky jazz dive, which is just about exactly what the song is about.  It’s also got some vibraphone and marimba going on, giving it an even more distinct sound than much of Billy Joel’s trademark keyboarding, and making it sound like maybe it could be honoring the African island after all.  And, it’s got some fun lyrics, mixing sports and sex all together with some typical youthful exuberance.  What’s not to like?  But, even with all that, it never got its chance at the fame of radio play, and I think that’s a shame.  Listen here and decide for yourself. 

Over the years, I’ve heard some fans trying to figure out just where the mythical club Zanzibar was located, but none of the ideas I’ve heard floated ever seem to pan out.  There was a disco in New Jersey by that name, but it didn’t open until almost a year after the album debuted, and besides, it was a disco.  A popular opinion seems to be Zanzibar on the Waterfront in Washington, DC, but, again, not in existence at the time of the song’s writing.  And, there used to be a club in Hell’s Kitchen called Zanzibar, which would seem a likely choice, except that I don’t think it was open back in the 70s, either, and if you browse their website (still running, though it seems the place has been closed for a couple of years), it just doesn’t look right.  Pretty sure that’s not the place Billy was singing about.  So, I’m going to go out on a limb and say the place didn’t really exist, at least not by that name.  Given some of the interviews I’ve heard with Joel, and his descriptions of some of the places he played as he was coming up, I’m pretty sure the club was real, even if it was called something else. 

So, that’s a look at the musical version of Zanzibar, one of my favorite non-singles from Billy Joel.  As an aside, there’s another on the same album, “Stiletto”; that’s also pretty darn good.  Really, the whole album is pretty good.  (Not as good as The Stranger, of course, but what is?)  If you’ve never heard it, you ought to do yourself a favor and change that. 

And, in case you’re video-inclined, here’s a live version of Zanzibar.  I didn’t select this one because of its fine quality, but because the performance was more contemporary to the album than some of the others.

And, that, my friends, brings us to a close of ABC Wednesday, at least for me.  I want to thank the fine folks who keep things running over there for giving me something fun and interesting to do here for the past 26 weeks.  Everyone on the team is welcoming, and makes participants feel like they’re part of the group.  And special thanks to Roger, who’s been helming things this time around, and doing a very fine job of it.  They’re already gearing up for the next go-round to begin next week, so if you’re looking for a fun theme day for your blog, I’d encourage you to drop on by and join in. 

For myself, I’ll be taking a break for round 12, though I may drop by again for round 13, if it’s still going on.  (And I have no reason to think it won’t be, since they’ve been at it six years now!)  Next Wednesday will begin a new weekly theme here at Idle Chatter, Weight Loss Wednesday.  As you might guess, this will be a more personal undertaking, chronicling my ongoing struggle to get to a healthier, skinnier me.  I hope to see you around for that.

 

Today’s Swirl

 

Today, just some odds and ends . . .

We’re having trouble with our heat pump.  Again.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but when the guy came out this evening, it probably marked at least the sixth time they’ve been out this season.  And, incidentally, we live in Oklahoma, not some place with crazy winter weather; we’ve only been running the heat for maybe three months.  I’m just about over it.

Image courtesy of posterize at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

On his way home from work tonight, Brian got pulled over.  The officer issued a citation for doing 50 in a 40 zone; Brian is insistent that he was maybe doing 42mph.  It’s kind of a bummer, since there’s no practical way to contest it.  I’ve heard of people finding information about radar guns being out of calibration, or officers not being properly trained, or what-have-you, and those sorts of things would most certainly make a nice defense for a speeding ticket, but I’m pretty sure the police figure most people won’t go to that kind of trouble.  And at least in this case, they’re correct.  And who’s going to spend money to involve a lawyer to avoid a $161 fine?  Again, not us.  (Yeah, $161; ridiculous, right?)   Brian is beyond annoyed, and it doesn’t help to point out that even two miles over the limit is technically still speeding and carries the same fine; no, that doesn’t help at all.  He’s feeling persecuted by the man. 

Finally unpacked the textbooks that have been sitting around in boxes for about a month.  Everything’s good with the order, but six classes makes for a bunch of books.  It was a little bit daunting. 

I got a 2x teleconverter today for my camera; I’m hoping to get some better bird pictures with it.  It was too dark today by the time I got it, so I’ll have to test it out tomorrow.  You lose some light with the doubler, so it’s definitely a trade-off, but I’m looking forward to seeing how it works out. 

Unexpectedly, I am not watching the National Championship game tonight.  Brian was outside with the heat pump repairman for most of the first half, then went to bed as soon as the half ended.  But, based on the score I did see, Notre Dame is getting whumped up on pretty badly.  Not a terribly big surprise, and Brian will be far from displeased if the whumping continues the entire game.

I’m chugging along with the Ultimate Blog Challenge; today marks the first week complete.  I am planning to post every day this year, not just this month, but this makes a nice way to kick off the new year.  And, I’m also back to daily workouts this year, including a plank challenge that started today.  As I may have mentioned in the past, I don’t really have a lot of strength, so even one plank a day will be a true challenge for me.  There’s a goal by the end of the month to be able to hold the plank for 2.5 minutes—definitely a challenge. 

And, lastly, when I downloaded the image for today’s post, do you know what the security challenge code was?  Hugger-mugger.  How apropos is that?

What’s going on in your world these days?

Wrapping Up

 

Image courtesy of Idea go at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Wow, I absolutely cannot believe that another year is ending.  I think it’s a definite sign of age that I so often find myself saying, “where does the time go?”.  Still, I’m hoping that I’m not so old that I don’t still have quite a few more years of wondering left in me.

So, what few tidbits to wrap up 2012 and make room for 2013?  Let’s see . . .

• No more excuses; it’s time to get back on the fitness wagon.  My steps last year were 3,925,361, covering 1872.75 miles.  Certainly, the average is skewed, because the last few months of the year have been so horrendously sedentary, but it averaged out to slightly less than 11K steps a day, or just over 5 miles.  My goal is to average 15K steps daily, which I think (if my math is correct, which is always a huge “if”) will be about 7 miles or so per day.  I also need to find some sort of strength training to work into my goals, since straight out cardio doesn’t seem to have very lasting effects for me.
• Beginning tomorrow, the latest installment of the Ultimate Blog Challenge will begin, and I’m taking part again.  I did pretty well with it last summer, but did horribly with the October attempt, so I need to make up for that.  I already have a planning calendar, and even have a few things penciled in, so I’m hoping to be a bit more organized about the whole thing.  If you want to meet some new bloggie friends, I’d encourage you to check it out. 
• My plan is to graduate in December, though that will take a couple of jam-packed semesters.  (I’ve enrolled in 18 hours for the spring, though I may need to drop one of those classes once I get a look at the syllabi.)  I’d prefer not to have to include classes during the summer, but that may be necessary; we’ll see how that works out. 
• I saw an idea online that I really liked, so I’m going to give it a try:  You start the year with an empty jar and some note paper.  Then, as the days roll along, anytime something good happens, you jot it down on a piece of paper and drop it in the jar.  Could be reaching a goal, or having a good meal out with friends, receiving a compliment that made you feel great—just anything good in your daily life.  Then, on New Year’s Eve, dump out the jar and read through the notes, reliving all the excellent parts of life that you may have forgotten about in the jumble of daily living.  I think it’s a great idea, and I’m hoping Brian and Billy will play along.
• Lastly, in the past few days there have been many cute/thoughtful/inspiring graphics floating around Facebook (many more than usual, I mean) with thoughts about how to live your life going forward.  I will leave you with the one that I’ve enjoyed the most.  Also, a hope that the new year brings to each and every one of you the very best of everything.  Happy New Year!