"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

I'm restarting my exercise program, so I went off for a quick power walk to start off the day (yes, yes, don't all start giggling at once). Nice morning, brisk and chilly; I think the crocuses that came up all got frostbite, but the robins and cardinals are all still convinced that spring is already here, and the forsythia outside my window is bravely plugging away.

Apart from getting horribly ill Friday night (something I ate) and thus losing Saturday to recovery, I have to say this has been a nice weekend. Mostly because I had such a nice Sunday. :-) Let me introduce a new character to our narrative, who for the moment we will call The Finn. The Finn and I met on OKC about a month ago and have been emailing back and forth. We've been on three dates now and, I have to say, I think she is something pretty special. Some people you meet and the "click" comes instantly; it's almost audible. Other people, I am coming to find, there's no sudden click, just a gradual sense dawning over one of "Hmmm, this person is pretty special, and we seem, mysteriously, to get on very well. How interesting; let's see where this goes." I am really looking forward to seeing how things go with the Finn. We spent Sunday having coffee, walking, and then sharing lunch. And talking, a great deal. It was an exceptionally nice day. Among other things, we spotted a coot. :-)

In other news, I managed to procrastinate my way out of doing my taxes yesterday by going to the Newseum with Da Grrlz. So I'll need to do it tonight instead, as I have to have those numbers for several other bits of paperwork.

I've finished a couple of books and an audio course; I'll write them up later.

I ran across a UK series that I really quite like. Of course, since I like it, it only lasted one season. Called Monday, Monday, it included some actors of the small screen that I'm quite fond of (like Fay Ripley, Neil Stuke, and Holly Aird, who reminds my of one of my sisters) and one gem of the British screen who I think every guy of my age in Britain has a certain thing for, Jenny Agutter. :-) It's about a small (given the size of the head office) supermarket chain; right at the end of it (spoiler alert),
( in case you might watch it, who knows? )


And on that rather morbid note, off to work.

Ah, finally a day where the weather is just to my liking! :-)

Yes, I realise that I'm perverse in preferring grey, cool, rainy weather to hot, humid, sunny weather. Call me crazy.

But it also made me feel like seeing a friend I've not spent much time with all summer--Rupert, my bike! I took him out on a loop that combined my two regular local exercise routes (short and long), about five miles altogether. It was terrifically nice to get out and zoom about, even if I did end up puffing (and often walking) rather a lot.

Your average day (or night)I really have to talk myself into going out to jog, most of the time. Shame sometimes works. :-)

But if it's cold and raining, with sleet starting to mix in and snow threatening, and I can't wait to get home and get my kit on. *shakes head* I guess it's because I'm so contrary and like to do what no one else would (be silly enough) to do.

No wonder I get on so well with... (insert the names of several of my friends I can think of :-)

It was rather nice tonight, rain or not. It was just a short jog (or what's become so for me (10/10). I can't say how cool I think it is that repetitive physical exercise really does become easier over time, if taken in tiny, tiny quantities. :-) I'm up to running (*cough* jogging) four minutes at a stretch, and I really do find when I'm done that I feel as if I've just warmed up enough to start doing something really vigorous, like play footy.

Of course, I had to put something in my calendar for May today, and I saw it came the last day of the training program I'm on. According to which I'm supposed to be running 30 minutes straight that day. Yeah, I still don't know that I believe *that* will be happening...

Time for shower and some sort of dinner...

Little by little, we make our way.

First 25 minute session tonight. 20/5, and I actually ran (jogged, slowly) the 5 all together for the first time, instead of splitting it up. Made it with barely a wheeze.

Oooh! Time for the SOTU!

Brunch at Eastern Market yesterday with a friend.

More reorganizing and taking stock. Some sedate jogging. Vacuumed a few rooms. Exchanged some emails.

Dinner: fresh scallops sauteed in butter and then sprinkled with remoulade. Spinach wilted with a little olive oil. A glass of wine.

A little later, tea and apricots for afters.

Not bad for a humble bachelor life. Next weekend I might stretch the culture envelope a little further.

Well, one thing I can say for exercise, it does have some ability to remove stress. Did my second walk/run session tonight. I have another at the end of the week with a walk in between, then next week it's walk/run every time. Then in February it ramps up to 10 minute runs and four goes a week. I trust my guru to get me there in due course.

Had a shower after and I feel *good*. Making dinner (lamb chop, roasted carrots & parsnips from Trader Joes, rice); when I got home, I snacked on a mixture of olives, artichokes, beans, and red peppers--Whole Foods is expensive, but they have yummy stuff!

Whew, finally polished off the latest writing assignment! Did my 20 minute walk (actually 30). Fed the cats. Turned on all the lights. Now for an hour or so of relaxation before bed...

Oh, and I've decided that the Lib-Dem dove symbol needs replacing. I think they should have a scorpion stinging a frog.



(With credit to William A Borst and Giancarlo Livraghi)

ETA: ...and invoice away! I love sending out invoices!

I am *so* out of shape.

I went out for a walk after lunch. I didn't go far (~2 miles), and I'm not exhausted by any means, but I am certainly tired and a few parts of me ache after what shouldn't be that tiring a walk. Even gentle upslopes had me breathing extra. I clearly need to do this sort of thing much more (not that I didn't know that already).

And boy, is it hot! The BIRDS are all going about with their mouths open!

Speaking of birds, I saw the usual suspects (American robins, mourning doves, European starlings, our summer visitors the catbirds, house sparrows--both male and female :-) plus a few not usually spotted. Someone who might have been a goldfinch, but tiny. Someone who might have been a young blackbird (pre-redwing)--like a grackle, but without the speckly and the iridescence. And one or two someones who might have been a northern flicker.

I saw recently but not today a real proper crow (along our stream) and a red-winged blackbird (in the fields out in the country near Bryan's mum's, when I went up there for Neta's soccer party).

After having a talk with the trainer in the gym at work, I started on a new exercise program today. I'm aiming for 3-5 cardio sessions a week of at lest 30 minutes each. After two weeks, he wants to re-evaluate and add some weight training. He also recommended drinking more water (at least 64 oz. a day) and snacking between meals, while eating less at the meals themselves. All simple, basic stuff.

So today I started off with 30 minutes on the stair stepper. It was a bit tough, but I got through it without stopping and while managing a pretty steady pace.