Soreness and Business Trips

Soreness: So I'm on the first week of my new health and fitness kick. This latest fitness kick involves a lot of weight lifting. Tonight I'm on the "off" portion of my "3 on-1 off" routine which means that I would work out three days then rest on the fourth day. I was planning on working out every day, but it became a 3 on-1 off routine by default, because I...can't...move...my...body. In a nutshell, I'm feeling a tad sore. Now, back in the good old days when I used to "train" people in weight lifting, I would always tell them to start out slow and to use lighter weights if they haven't trained in a while. It makes good sense. Is that what I do? Of course not. I couldn't possibly take and follow my own advice--do as I say, not as I do! Instead of starting out slow and light, I started out hard and heavy. I put myself through the routine I used to put myself through when I was in the 10th grade. Yes, and right now no one needs to remind me that I was in the 10th grade nearly 17 years ago! No one needs to remind me that I'm not as young and strong as I used to be, because my old and decrepit body speaks for itself. Oh well. It feels bad now, but it will feel much better next week. And another good side effect of working out is that I'm sleeping much better these days, with the one exception of the night I dreamed I was being eaten by a grizzly bear.

Business Trips: Well, it is official. I will be making a business trip out to New York at the end of July. Technically the sales conference/launch I'm going to will last only about three days from July 24 to July 26, and I would come home on the 27th. But, if I can get approval, I might stay an extra day and come back on the 28th instead. I found out that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a nice collection of Greek and Roman art. Because it is difficult to find Classical exhibits in Colorado, I might as well take advantage of the opportunity while I have it. Plus, I'll be staying at a very nice (and expensive) hotel while I'm there.

Clouds at Sunset

Crazy Dreams

Last night I seemed to have a lot of bad and crazy dreams. The dream I remember most involved camping and a grizzly bear. In my dream I found myself camping with a bunch of people and friends and their identities seemed to change throughout the dream. One minute I was with some friends, another minute I was with other friends. The first strange thing is that I was camping, because I never go camping. We were in tents in an open field and at the edges of this field was a forest of pine trees. Suddenly we saw about three grizzly bears getting into fights with other animals. One minute the animals were female lions, another minute they seemed to be elk. Fortunately my dream wasn't gruesome, and even though they were fighting, it seemed like they were play fighting. The grizzlies, though, were still scary, so we were hiding in our tents hoping that we wouldn't be noticed. Naturally we were noticed, and and a grizzly ripped and tore his way into the tent. We escaped, though, and ran into a nearby cabin. Why we were camping in tents with a cabin nearby is another mystery. We thought we would be safer inside and we were watching the bears through the window. The bears still managed to find us and they also managed a way to break through the window. The bears crawled through the windows and there I was, trapped in a small cabin with what seemed to be a very angry or hungry bear. I manged to wake up at this point, so who knows if I escaped or was eaten. I have no idea what this means or what it says about my subconscious or stress level. All I do know is that I woke up grinding my teeth. Maybe I need to relax more.

Health and Fitness, Part II

I think that every few months I find myself in the middle of a new health kick. I convince myself that I need to eat better and be more active. Yesterday, I decided to take a brisk walk along the Boulder Creek Path. It was just a three-mile walk, round-trip, but it felt nice. So I told myself that I need to do that more often and that, with all of the mountains and trails surrounding me, maybe I should go on more hikes. Feeling this exciting wave of enthusiasm, I thought, "hey, maybe I should join a local gym or athletic club, because they have tons of cardio machines and great weight rooms." So I searched around and was slightly disappointed and annoyed to find that memberships for most of these clubs run about $300 a year. Sorry, I have an editor's salary, so I'm not ready to spend that much money on a club. Although disappointed, I told myself that I should just do what I've always done, work out at home with my dumbbells and free weights. I've always worked out at home with free weights, and I always got results, so if the record ain't broke, why break it. I also remembered that I had a balance ball, you know one of those inflatable balls that people use for yoga or pilates or any of the other trendy exercises these days. I don't use it for yoga or pilates, but I improvise and use it as a workout bench. I took out my balance ball and started to inflate it. Some balance balls come with an electric pump or a foot pump where all you need to do is step on the pump to inflate it. My balance ball came with a hand pump, so the motion of inflating the darn thing essentially amounts to trying to saw a branch off a tree. Eventually I inflated the ball and managed to plug it up without losing too much air. Then I decided to test it out, and because I haven't used it in a while I had to get reacquainted with it. I must first say that I'm a lot like my Ma in the sense that I occasionally have balance problems. I leaned against my "balance" ball and tried to roll back a tad so that I would have my back on top of the ball so that I would be in the position of an imagined bench press. Well, I sort of rolled back too far, rolled out of control, and nearly broke my neck. Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration. But, not to be discouraged, I tried it again and managed to stay on the ball the next time. The next test was whether I could find my position on the ball, manage to stay balanced, and use some weights at the same time. And I managed not to kill myself. So, I'm feeling better about the potential of my workout routine. Let's just see if I can keep it up!

Construction, Heat, and More

Construction: I've said something about this in a previous post, but I'll say it again. If Julius Caesar can build a bridge across the Rhine River in ten days, it shouldn't take us over a year to widen one intersection. Why do I write about this a second time? Because it took me about 30 minutes to get home from work today. A 30-minute commute isn't all that bad consider the time that many people spend on the roads commuting. But, a 30-minute commute is annoying when you live less than three miles away. Honestly. Julius Caesar. Man power. Wooden bridge. Only ten days. Us. Man power (that mostly stands around doing nothing). Big, expensive machinery. Almost twelve months, and still no major progress. Thank God Americans these days aren't expected to create grand architectural and cultural monuments like the Parthenon or the Colosseum. The structures would never get finished.

Heat: About six months ago, when we were buried under several feet of snow and stranded at home, people throughout Colorado kept saying how tired they were of winter and how much they were looking forward to warm weather. I'll admit, I was saying the same thing. Spring was nice, but the summer is starting to get hot. Temperatures are starting to climb into the 90s during the day, and things stay fairly warm at night. Sleeping naked is the only way to bring some relief to the nights...and that is probably more information about me than most cared to read about. My little cabin apartment tends to be warmer because I don't have air conditioning, and I haven't bought a fan yet. So my apartment can get quite warm at night. I suppose cooking a steak dinner tonight only added to the inside temperature. ... and maybe the bottle of Zinfandel also adds to the heat a little...

More: Things in general are good. With the exception of one chaotic book, things at work are reasonable and relatively quiet. We see the waves on the horizon, though, so things will probably start to get a tad busier. But we'll just have to take things as they come, and I'm used to riding the waves...metaphorically speaking, of course. Speaking of riding waves. I started writing a new poem that alludes to Odysseus and the Sirens, but I got stuck. Hopefully my Muse will strike me, and once she does I'll post what I end up with.

Current mood: relaxed and stuffed from a big dinner
Current music: Dixie Chicks. Taking the Long Way
Current drink: Ravenswood 2004 Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel

Summer Storms

You can tell that it is officially summer here in Colorado. The morning and early part of the afternoon were beautiful. It was sunny and the temperature was pretty warm. But, as if on cue, some dark clouds started to roll over the mountains right around 2:30 in the afternoon. There was a continuous low rumble of thunder, and eventually the rain started to fall at around 3:00. It rained for about an hour, now things are clear and calm. The temperature certainly cooled off because of the rain, and the air smells wonderful.

I was out shopping before it started to rain, and I wish I had my camera then. I was in a perfect shopping center to take some great pictures of the mountains and the clouds. The clouds were incredibly dark and had a slight greenish tint to it. It was cool and eerie at the same time. But, unfortunately, I had to wait until I got home before I could snap a few pictures. The clouds weren't as dramatic from the point of view of my apartment, but it was still pretty cool.
I was hoping I would be able to capture some lightning in a picture, but I wasn't lucky enough. Besides, I didn't stay outside for long considering lightning has an uncanny way of striking people in Colorado. Maybe it is the elevation. Who knows? All in all, I knew that standing outside in an open parking lot probably wouldn't have been the wisest thing to do. I also didn't want to unsettle certain members of my family and a few of my friends by letting them know that I was standing outside trying to take pictures of lightning. Of course, they would probably suggest that if I really wanted a picture of lightning, I should try taking the picture while flying a kite with a little key attached to the end of it. That would be the advice from my family and friends.

Comment Moderation

I'll admit, I love it when my family and friends post comments on my blog. I even like it when a stranger or casual reader posts a comment, especially if that comment sounds genuine and if the reader actually sounds interested in what I'm writing. What I don't like, though, are the spam comments which people post in order to get you to go to their blogs. This happens only occasionally, but in an effort to curb it, I've turned on comment moderation that will allow me to preview the comments before they are posted.

One More Thing...

The only other thing I have to add tonight is that there are cop cars with lights flashing on my street, there is a kitty cat outside my door and he wants to come in, and random people are commenting on my blog. Just your typical evening...

Sunset

I don't have much to write about tonight, but here is a picture I took earlier this evening. I'm not sure of the quality. I had a few sips of Cognac, and I was multi-tasking while I was taking the picture.

Less Moody...More Happy

For the past few days I have been feeling a tad moody. Maybe it is because I haven't been sleeping that well lately. Either way, I'm feeling better today.

My first book at my new job just came out and is finally in print. This book is what we call a delayed paperback (I think we call it delayed), so this is simply a paperback edition of a hardback book that came out last year. These types of books usually don't require that much work, and typically all you'd have to do is copyedit a new preface or introduction and make a few other corrections to the text throughout the book. It's not like working on a "new" book, but a book is a book and you can still be proud of it. Anyway, I received my advanced copy today, and it is proudly sitting (by itself for now) on a shelf in my cube.

In other work related news, I found out this morning that I will probably be going to New York City or Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a sales launch next month. And that is launch not lunch. This is basically a huge meeting where the Acquisitions Editors pitch their new books and proposals. It gives us a preview of the books we might be working on within the next year or two. I haven't been to either New York or Cambridge. I usually feel a bit claustrophobic and stressed out in big cities, but I think that this will be an exciting and interesting little business trip. Heck, if I go to New York, maybe I can find my way into a Law & Order episode.

Also on the horizon: more happy hours at the Purple Martini with good friends, possibly Julius Caesar at the Colorado Shakespeare festival in Boulder with a good friend...

Current mood: happy and relaxed, dancing around my apartment
Current music: Maroon 5. It Won't Be Soon Before Long

More of This and That

This is just another one of those posts about nothing much at all.

Work and such: Things in general have been going pretty well. For me, things have been somewhat quiet at work since most of my projects are with freelancers or are being reviewed by authors. It feels like the calm before the storm, though, because things will get really busy really soon. Our company just bought another company and we expect our workload to double. We don't know when the tidal wave will hit, but it will probably hit within the next few weeks. Things will be busy and things will be chaotic, but at least it is a good kind of busy and a controlled chaos. At most of my previous jobs all of the chaos was uncontrolled chaos, so controlled chaos is much better and welcome change.

Ego (and by ego I mean ego in the Greek and Latin sense of "I"): I'm slowly starting to form some pretty good friendships at work, and that's nice. But on the other hand, I'm still somewhat timid. I'm sort of a strange person. My best friend tells me that I've never seemed more confident and more comfortable in my own skin, and this is true. I think that over the past few years I really grew into myself, if that makes any sense. But as confident and as comfortable as I am, I've noticed recently at this new job that I'm actually somewhat shy and reserved and sort of dodgy and skittish. I think I sometimes resemble a nervous cat. But, over the past few years, I've learned to pick and choose my friends more wisely. I need time to gauge a person's comfort level with me. I need time to build trust, and the older I get the longer it seems to take. I'm somewhat protective of myself, so I'm slow to get to know people and I'm slower to let people into my little life. Of course the real irony is that I have this public blog in spite of the fact that in person I'm usually very private about my personal life. I know it doesn't make sense and it doesn't make any sense to me. I don't make any sense to myself sometimes. Most of the time I look into the mirror and ask, "who the heck are you?" Yet the other side of me, my alter ego I suppose, knows exactly who I am, is confident in who I am, and is proud of who I am.

Visitors: I've noticed that I've recently had my 1,000 visitor to this blog. Actually, I don't have a ton of readers, I just have a few who read regularly. Still, I'm somewhat surprised to see that people actually have an interest in my crazy life and my insane mind. But I suppose people are intrigued by strange and crazy things, like car wrecks or three-legged cats.

Goodreads

One of my friends recently drew me into the world of Goodreads (goodreads.com). It is basically a type of social networking site like MySpace except for people who can read and write...I suppose that was kind of harsh. Basically Goodreads is a site where you can put together lists of books that you've read, are currently reading, or are planning to read. You can also rate and review the books you've read. You can get your friends to sign up (or try to as is usually the case with me) and you can try to "friend" other people on the site. I love how "friend" has become a verb...kind of like "befriend" but shorter because our society is too impatient to add that extra syllable...

It's really cool to see what your friends are reading and what they like. But it is sometimes more interesting to see what other people are reading and what they like. It is especially fun to read their reviews and see their ratings. A book you might think is total trash might be ranked five stars in someone else's eyes. And naturally there are books that I would rank at five stars while someone else would rank it at just one. In fact I was mortified and personally offended to see people give Homer's Odyssey only one star. How can someone possibly give The Odyssey only one star??!!?? One person gave it two or three stars and added the comment that it seemed like "a gimmicky sequel to the Iliad." That comment made me laugh out loud.

Time to Fly a Kite...

...well, maybe not...

In Colorado, every now and then, we have some pretty windy days. For those of you from California, it's like the Santa Ana winds but much worse. Yesterday we had some especially bad winds that reached about 92 m.p.h. That's not a typo! Early in the evening when I looked out my window, I saw welcome mats fly by and lawn furniture tumbling and rolling down the street. The wind also started to rip branches and limbs off the trees. At about 10:00 we lost power. The strange thing is that the moment we lost power it was almost as if the world had ended. When the power goes out, you would normally expect someone to at least poke their head out of their door to see what is happening. No one opened their door and I heard no voices at all, not even the voice of my annoying neighbor. You would at least expect to see the glow of a flashlight or a candle in some of the windows, but I didn't see any of that either. It was total darkness. So I lit my candles, and because I have so many of them, it was almost as if I had my lights on. Since it was getting late anyway, I decided to just go to bed, but it was impossible to sleep. The wind alone was loud enough, but the winds also got stronger throughout the night. Tree limbs kept falling directly on the roof above me, and I was constantly jarred out of sleep by the sound of giant crashes or thuds. I suppose I'm fortunate that nothing crashed through the roof, because that happened to a few people in the state. So I woke up this morning tired and exhausted, because I couldn't sleep. Fortunately the winds have quited down, so maybe things will be better today.

Another Random Observation

Has anyone noticed that in spite of the fact that people seem to be buying bigger and bigger cars, the parking slots in parking lots seem to be getting smaller and smaller? I guess people design parking lots to accommodate more customers (and cars) by making their parking spaces smaller so that they can fit more cars in the lot. Well, if one SUV takes two spots, what is the purpose? And if someone else parks on the lines, who is going to park next to that person? I have a fairly small car and I'm a small person, but sometimes I can barely open my door and squeeze myself out of my car. In parking lots like this, I often park myself in one of the last rows, away from everyone else, so I don't have to worry about being near any other cars. Naturally, however, in spite of being surrounded by about ten or twenty open spaces, some idiot in an Escalade or Explorer or Hummer decides to park in the slot right next to me. That's when you really want to slash a few tires!

--written after a frustrating experience in the Whole Foods/Barnes & Noble Parking Lot of Death on Pearl Street in Boulder, Colorado.

I Feel So Dirty...

I received a Victoria's Secret catalog in the mail the other day. It is for their semi-annual clearance sale, which, for some reason, seems to happen every few months, but I digress. Anyway, there happens to be an insert in the catalog that is an advertisement for one of their perfumes. So all you have to do is open the little flap and sniff it. It smelled pretty good, but there is also something slightly odd and scandalous and disturbing about sniffing a Victoria's Secret catalog. I suppose a scratch-and-sniff catalog would be more disturbing...or more interesting...