134/365 Setting the table

134/365 Setting the table
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

The nice thing about having the flexibility of working from home is that I can occasionally see clients during the day. Of course, that may not be an issue in a few weeks, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Excuses

Well, it's clearly summer, even if it isn't official for another week or two. And I'm not talking about the mini heat wave we had last weekend, I'm talking about the density of our calendars.

The SOOTTAD and I are off to All-Bal weekend this afternoon. We've been talking about going ever since she went a couple of years ago, but we haven't had the chance because, well, it's summer and y'know, there always seems to be too much stuff going on.

This morning was actually the first time I'd gone for a run in over a week -- a little over 6 miles, decent pace for most of it.

I've pretty much fallen off the wagon since a had to go on a business trip in California almost a month ago. Hopefully, I'll finally get back into the swing of things, seeing as we've hit the 16-week mark before that marathon I'm supposed to be running in October, even though I still haven't actually figured out which one it's going to be*. I've even packed my running gear and a map of the area around the hotel in the hopes that I'll be able to run while we're in Ohio.

So yeah, off the wagon. We played this game a few weeks ago, returning from a wedding in NYC where we'd had WAAAAAYYYYYYY too much to drink and had painfully paid the price for it that morning and on the drive back home. It went something like this:

TALLASIANDUDE: The problem was, I didn't get any sleep the night before. If I'd actually gotten some sleep last night, I would have been fine.
SOOTTAD: No, the problem was, you kept drinking the bourbon out of my glass.
T: No, I think the problem was, when you stopped letting me drink out of your glass, I went and got another glass of my own...
T: And actually, maybe the problem was every time I ordered a bourbon and a glass of water, I kept getting the bourbon and not noticing that they weren't giving me the water. If I'd just had that water...
T: Well no. The problem was I shouldn't have had that cigar. That thing was totally giving me a false second wind so I didn't notice I was out of gas...

Stupid open bar**. The problem was that I drank too damn much and I totally didn't get enough rest, so my body basically shut down. Except that it couldn't because I'd been spending the evening poisoning it until 3 in the morning.

Anyhoo...

The game, as applied to my running (and by extension, blogging).

Precede each with "I would have run if I hadn't been (at/on/with) [a/the]..."

5/17-18 - Wedding in New Hampshire (got a run in before the ceremony)
5/19-21 - 3-day business trip in California, stuck at the airport hotel with no car and no time because of the meeting schedule.
5/22 - return flight to Boston, just in time for a frisbee game (ADDED BONUS: body clock reset to Pacific time)
5/23-26 - Boston Independence Exchange -- full dance weekend with friends visiting and late-night dancing running until 4AM. (I did get a run in on Memorial Day...)
5/23-26 - 4 clients (3 new). This is good (Yay, clients! Yay, covering rent!) but still time consuming.
(5/26 - Run 4.5mi)
5/27 - frisbee game
(5/29 - Run 6.3mi)
5/30 - client
5/30 - All-nighter finishing document for work. (1-1/2 hours of horizontal time) before...
5/31 - client, before...
5/31 - drive down to NYC for (previously described) wedding
6/1 - return to Boston hungover
(6/2 - Run 5.25mi) (OMG!)
6/3 - frisbee game
6/4 - 2 clients
6/6-8 - fly to Buffalo, drive to Fergus, Ontario for frisbee tournament, drive back to Buffalo, fly back to Boston
6/8 - install of the A/C unit in SOOTTAD's office
6/9 - install of the A/C unit in bedroom
6/10 - frisbee game
6/11 - client (2 clients canceled)

So yeah, a little busy. Gonna try to resync to the morning run schedule, especially after sweating out the tail end of the heat this past weekend. Which means I'll need to be careful this weekend and not stay up too late at the evening dances. Which is tricky, since that's where I'll probably get the most practice for the material I'll be learning in the workshops.

Oy, it never ends.

* I feel a bit like Goldilocks right now. Marine Corp is too big (described as a "clusterf*ck" by more than one friend. Cape Cod is too small. That probably rules out Mohawk-Hudson. So maybe Breakers in Rhode Island? Or maybe Steamtown, although both may be too much on the small side. *sigh*

** Awesome wedding/reception, though. Even if I was semi-zombified and had to nap under a table for part of it.

The Right Foot and Mr. Crankypants

I thought I got off on the right foot this morning -- I woke up without much effort by around 6:45AM and lazily got up around 7AM to get ready for my run.

Not a bad start really. Especially considering yesterday's rude awakening to the alarm at 7:30AM (I almost never use an alarm) -- a gym workout, an overall zombie day at the office with a tic developing in my left eye late in the afternoon. I only made it through a late-evening massage session with the aid of a 30-minute power nap in the comfy chair.

A lot to do today, though. Laundry, dirty dishes, errands, packing. And, of course, work. But I'm getting a massage this afternoon and some friends are getting together after work so there are a few things to look forward to.

And no problems this morning. Things seemed grand...

...and that lasted for all of maybe an hour, or about halfway through the run.

A bit under 6.4 miles today; I figured I'd bump up the tempo a bit to push that "lactic threshold." Perhaps, a mistake. A little too ambitious. I ran out of gas about halfway through mile 5. (Note to self: let's try working on starting slow and hitting negative splits next time, m'kay?)

It was also cold this morning. The numbers didn't suggest anything unusual (27°F), but maybe because I was running harder, it just felt worse than it normally did. Or maybe because it was still kinda dark. (I'm pretty sure the sun was supposed to be up, but it seemed pretty gray.) So at the end of the run, my head was cold. It actually kind of hurt. Blargh.

Stretched, the core-strengthening thing (I was actually doing the plank variation to help the hamstring), shower, breakfast, then work.

No wait, I tried to sync my GPS to download info from the run...and my computer wouldn't recognize the device anymore.

Computer: What is this thing? Whatever you are, you DEAD to me.
Me: Dude, this worked, like, 2 days ago. WTF?

Microsoft troubleshoot failed to find the problem for the millionth time. (Has anyone EVER successfully gotten a problem resolved using this POS piece of software?) It ended up forcing a reboot of the machine. And then it's all kittens and puppies again.

Computer: Oh, hi GPS! How's it going? Wassup? Where ya been?
Me: *sigh*

Ok, I can sync my GPS now. After the reboot, Windows takes the volume control icon off my taskbar. (This is an on-going problem.) I go into the control panel and put it back in by "removing" it and then replacing it. It gets old, but at least it still works. Sort of.

And THEN work.

And then, some belly unhappiness which has been creeping around the edges since I finished the run. Gastro-intestinal distress. It's been a while since I've had this problem after a run. *sigh* Probably again with the running harder than usual and the cold weather.

Not too much progress with work -- a bit stressed, actually, trying to get things done before heading out of town tomorrow. But finally got some momentum after moving downstairs for a change of scenery. Somehow I seem to work better in the kitchen or at the dining table. (better writing surface? Better light? Dunno.)

Stressed and getting cranky. I bag the get together, head out to run errands and get the massage. I hit 5 of 5 red lights on the way to Petco, and 5 of 6 on the way to the massage.

Pause.

Exhale.

Yay, massage.

Highly recommended. All the craziness seems like yesterday.

It's a fresh start.

A new day.

I'm putting things into perspective -- if I hadn't hit all those red lights, I would have been crazy-early to my appointment. I had no issues at Petco. The craziness forced allowed me to pick my priorities, decommit so I had time to deal with the important things.

I'm in and out of Trader Joe's in maybe 10 minutes. Feeling good. Efficient. Thinking about the work problem I've been puzzling over -- I think I can be productive. This'll be awesome.

I grab the grocery bag in one hand, the small case of cat food balanced on the bucket of cat litter in the other. Close the trunk. Nice. Efficient.

And three steps later, all the cat food is on the sidewalk.

Calm.

I over-committed. That's a lesson. We're cool. Bring the other stuff in. Go back out and collect the cat food.

Sit down at the computer and...

Why is the computer off?
don't worry, it's just because you set the power mode to hibernate after prolonged inactivity.

Ok, cool. Um, so why is that amber light lit up?
La, la, la, not listening... just turn the computer back on. It'll be fine!

Um, it just shut itself off again.
WTF?!

Dude, you're supposed to be the calm one here.
...

So, apparently... apparently the outlet I used for the computer is dead. So I'll just go and grab an extension cord and plug it in over here and it'll be ...

Ok, so my computer performed a hard shutdown.

...

Well, at least the auto-save should mean that I won't lose too much work.

Hello?

Auto-save?

Remember auto-save? Piece-of-shit auto-save that interrupts my work half the time? WTF is the recovery file that you keep auto-saving?!

Computer: Yeah, uh, so do you remember that time when you found out that your copy of Visio that you bought and paid good money for was actually a pirated copy?

Ok, so I did finally scream at my computer. Once.

It didn't make me feel any better.

I started reconstructing my work, but I couldn't stay focused.

And that is why I've just burned an hour and a half blogging.

I still don't feel any better.

And now I'm hungry.

Fuck.

Certified

Whew!
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.

More later...

For now, I think I'm going to go for a run.

A list, of sorts

This is just a mild rant. Apologies in advance.

So I've mentioned that I'm studying for the National Certification Exam for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. Anyway, I picked up the review book at the school that was being used for a review class. Didn't go to the class; figured I'd get just as much info reading through the book, and it'd be easier to schedule my own time rather than block out the time to attend the class -- plus I think I saved fifty bucks.

It seemed like a reasonable enough book -- it broke the subject matter into several sections and chapters and had review questions. I was a bit disappointed that it didn't come with a CD or something, since this was going to be my first time taking a computerized standardized exam (yes, I think that dates me a bit), but my concerns were somewhat mitigated because the book indicated that you could access several practice tests online with a handy-dandy passcode that was protected by that crappy silver stuff that you find on lottery tickets and game pieces at McDonald's. (Do they still do that? Is that dating myself again?)

So anyway, the book.

Basically, I'm unimpressed. I'm going to resist calling it a steaming-pile-o-crap simply because I have no other points for comparison, but really, pretty crappy. But I am going to enumerate (ironically, in an unenumerated list) my issues with the book. I'm hoping to find it at least a wee bit therapeutic. Because, you know, it's all about growth and healing.

Anyway, here we go:

• The book includes little notes in the text (which they call "display boxes") which provide "practical applications, additional explanations, and real-life examples for the material covered in the book." Great. Seems helpful. Except for the part where the authors consider the information included within them (and solely within them) important enough to create practice questions on them. Sorry, if it's important enough to be tested on it, it's probably important enough to be part of the main text of definitions.
• Y'know, I'm really glad you provide practice questions -- it's helpful to go through a few questions to see if you've understood a section, or conversely, to determine whether you need to study a certain section of material. Great. It'd probably be more helpful if you'd provide practice questions after every chapter rather than say, after the first 22 chapters, 100 pages into your 300 page review book. Whaddayathink?
• And while I'm at it, it'd be nice if the questions you're asking for a given section could actually be answered by the information in the chapters that make up that section. (ok, maybe part of this problem was that some of the answers might have been found in those stupid "display boxes" mentioned in item one, er, I mean that first dot there.)
• But you know, I'll take the ones that were in different sections, if you'd at least make sure the answers were provided SOMEWHERE in your book.
• Oh, and when you provide practice questions, it'd be really nice if your answer key ACTUALLY HAD THE CORRECT ANSWERS IN THEM. I found 3 errors that I had to confirm by corroborating them with the text and with my old class notes and textbooks. It made me wonder whether some of the other answers were sketchy. Especially when it was unclear what material was being used to derive the answers.
• and when you say "additional practice exams," I generally take that to mean EXAMS, as in, several exams. If you use the same questions and just mix up the order of the questions and the order of the multiple-guess answers for each question, that doesn't count.
• And I'm sorry, even if you're going so far as to call a reordered test a different test, um, you're only providing three tests? Way to underachieve, guys.
• And incidentally, not fond of questions that test for pattern recognition of text rather than understanding concepts. Ever heard of a paraphrase? Especially since I can't be certain that the National Certification Board is going to use the same choice of words as you. An example:
  

  Name the technique that uses the palpation of tender points to guide the positioning of the body to reduce the tenderness.
  (a) Muscle energy
  (b) Myofascial release
  (c) Strain-counterstrain
  (d) Structural integration
  
  From the text: "Strain-counterstrain is a technique that uses the palpation of tender points (or trigger points) to guide the positioning of the body to reduce the tenderness, ..."
  

  Do I really understand that? No. Did I get the question right? Yes. The second time I saw it. Do I feel confident that I'm ready for the real exam? No.
• And, by the way, the "full index" (that they hype in the preface) is not, in fact, particularly full.

And FWIW, I found the book's overall organization to be fairly poor. But that's probably pretty obvious.

I suppose one way of looking at it is that the authors' choice of organization forced me to review more subject matter because I had to spend additional time scanning through whole sections, multiple whole sections, to figure out answers to some of the questions. Not to mention my own class notes and old textbooks. Hey, thanks guys!

Anyway, annoyed, but done now. Hopefully I'll do alright on the test on Saturday.