how do you sit all day?

While I was walking today I had a running narrative for this column in my head. Plus one for my March goals. When I finally opened the blog I forgot.

Then I stood up.

Now I remember.

I stand at two of my three jobs. My online job I sit. But usually for less than two hours.  I have a deadline of Sunday to apply for several teaching jobs. I spent hours trying to write a curriculum vitae. CVs, I found out, tend to provide great detail about academic and research experiences. Where resumes tend toward brevity, CVs lean toward completeness.You pretty much need to tell them everything except when you pooped last.  Though that might be on the list somewhere. I spent hours digging thru disks and paperwork.

Then I got up. And I couldn't move.

Clearly, when you have these marathon sessions at a desk, you need to get up at least every hour. And maybe run to the second floor.

I put on my coat and went out. The sun was deceiving. I didn't take gloves or a hat and I needed them.

I headed up Fiot, then out Sioux, crossed Broadway and went out Summit. Then it was down Monclair and into Ahart's to get groceries. Then out Broadway to Brodhead, and back home via third and Delaware.

Nearly fell on my ample tush on Third. The ice going up the hill was awful. Clearly, sneakers were not a good idea.

crazy day

What a crazy day. It was warmer (30s) and it snowed for a while.

I worked all morning on my classes and prepping for my job search.  When I finally got out to walk  there was a little coating of snow on the ground. But the sun was strong and it was melted quickly.

I was running late for school so I parked closer, but across the street by the restaurant.

After class I walked back. No keys. Back to the building. No keys. back to the car. I am so happy that I didn't park at the overflow lots like I normally do.

Crazy day.

oops, i did it again

Yesterday I didn't post. That means twice I missed in February. Not doing real well with my goals this month. I realized it this morning as I drove past the Art Trail, trail head. The new parking lot is really nice, and I hear there is more art on it.

Nothing eventful happened in the last two days. Very busy with work, school and looking for work. So much to do. Wrangle letters of reference. Rewrite resumes. Make a stupid LinkedIn Profile. (I hear it is necessary in 2015. It is clearly not wanted. I do not like strangers stalking me.) if anyone can help me. You'd be amazed at the number of hoops you need to jump thru to get a job in 2015.

I also set up a Behance portfolio. It's plain and boring. One of my colleagues said it lacks creative work. That's partially because I work in a dead end job. I won't bore you with the details of my job hunt. I will tell you when I find one. Even if it's at Wegman's.

Anyway, not much time to take formal walks. Tomorrow I hope to get at least an hour in. If that doesn't happen, I'll go around the block.

I have 6 minutes before midnight. Better hit post.

41! break out the shorts, it's a heat wave.

This morning we awoke to much warmer temperatures and about 2 inches of snow. Thankfully, no ice or sleet. The snow was pretty easy to remove if you went out early. I only wore my blue hjacket and gloves. That's pretty much naked after the last couple weeks.

At two I headed out for my walk. I contemplated not wearing the jacket. Water was pouring off the porch roof, it was 41 degrees. Around the side of the house the huge icicles were growing larger and there was a steady stream of water coming down. At first I though a pipe had broke.

Today I went down and up the hill, out Seneca by the old house, down 4th to Broadway.

Many people had removed the snow. But more than enough did not. By that time it was two inches of wet slush. The water was pooling and pouring over the sidewalks. The intersections felt like lakes. Clearly people do not open drains. (Tonight the arctic freeze is supposed to come back. It will be a skating rink in the morning. Goody.)

My shoes were plenty wet by this point so I decided to head up Brodhead. Most of those properties are owned by the university so they should be shoveled. And they were.

The stairs were also shoveled so I took them up to 8th street. Lydia left her camera here and I've been using it all day to work on my portfolio. (I'm not happy with any of the pieces. They are old and too similar. It feels like I've been doing this for a week, not 40 years. If you have a suggestion let me know.)

I came out 8th to Wyandotte. that's where I noticed the Night Before Christmas. It appears they decorated for Halloween, then added Christmas touches. I'll watch to see when the Easter Bunny arrives.

It was easy to cross Wyandotte today. I only went as far as Sioux, then home.

boom boom ouch

Today Lydia and I did the Tail on the Trail event at Jacobsburg State Park. It was so much fun. I love winter. It's the one season where I regret living in a city.

It was a snowshoe event. I got mine from the garage. Lydia had to borrow hers. There was only 15 pair available, so I was sure to reserve our spot. You all know how much I hate reservations!

Snowshoes are based on weight and height. It's all about achieving maximum balance. Lydia was right in the middle of two sizes, so the Ranger decided that the larger and considerably longer ones would be better for her. As a first-timer, she'd have no balance issues.

Since the lot and the sidewalks were shoveled, we had to walk to the trail without them. We were with another woman, and I gave them the skinny. Walk more like you are marching. Turn 45 degrees at a time. And be sure to keep a wide stance, otherwise you'll walk on your shoes.

Thankfully there was a picnic table to sit at when we arrived. The shoes went on, pictures taken, and off we went.

The trail was a figure eight with a bit of a hill in the middle. Everything was going terrific. Lydia had four layers on, I only had three. I left my sweatshirt in the car. We were joking that we looked like the Michelan man!

I did perfect the first loop. Then I guess my figures were too frozen to take pixs and I was fuzzing with the camera instead of paying attention. My gloves started to fall. I tried to catch them. Down I went. Thankfully I remembered the Ranger saying if at all possible land on your butt. Yeah, I did. It was like landing on a fluffy pillow.

The second loop was non-eventful.

It was suggested to borrowers that you only go for about 30 minutes, so more people would get a chance to borrow. We were out about 45, so we went back over to the ed center. But nobody was waiting for snow shoes. As much fun as she was having, Lyd decided to turn hers in. (Snowshoeing burns about twice the calories as walking. I think you need to build up for distances.)

We left the ed center and drove the short distance to the regular parking lot. We could have walked, but then it would have involved climbing mountains of snow. Car was a better option.

From the lot we crossed the bridge and took the trail into "Henry's Woods". I was trying to get a picture, and I went down again. this time on ice. And it hurt. My iPod went sailing away. Thankfully, it didn't break, and it takes just as crappy pictures as always.

The path itself was pretty good. It gets a lot of traffic so the snow was packed tight.

Driving home we were in Nazareth and Lydia said "I think it is snowing". We drove right into the storm. The weather people, wrong like always, said it would begin mid-afternoon. I believe that 12 pm is very, very early afternoon. The snow is fine. This is going to pile up.

Best part of the day was having someone to play with. Thankfully, Lydia's car issues are over. Then in spring, Bonnie, Megan and the (no longer a) baby will be able to come again.

hills.

It's a little cold today. Okay, it's a lot cold. I waited till 2 to go walking so I could maximize the solar heat.

Also since I was going for a short walk. I decided on a few hills.

I'm wearing from top to bottom:
fuzzy hat
hood sweatshirt
pink scarf
hooded LL Bean
black fleece scarf
pink fleece pullover
shirt
thermal top
thermal bottoms
yoga pants
socks and muck lucks
oh, and two pairs of gloves.

I was actually too hot on top, but didn't want to carry anything. Especially since I had a full bag of groceries coming home. My fingers were cold because I kept taking off my gloves to take pictures.

The pictures are all looking down. Pictures looking up are even worse. At least proportion is on my side shooting down. I was going up.

 Alaska, towards Broadway.

Ontario, towards Broadway

 Montclair at 9th. See the dip at the truck?

 This is at the truck, above 8th

 Monclair at 8th. That red building is Packer Avenue.

 Montclair at Sumner. The red  building is Wells Fargo on Broadway.

 Montclair at Packer. The end is near.

hmmmm ....

Here in "Nome"

At home in the Lehigh Valley.

What's wrong with this picture?

rising and falling temps.

The dentist is only about a mile away. But it's really cold. Icicles are forming on my remaining winter decorations.

My first trip out was to get the paper. At about 7 am it was cold. My guess is single digits.

My second trip was to the south side post office. I parked at Ahart's, shopped, and then walked the generous block to the PO, and back. It was up to 13. And the sun was bright and warm.

A little after 11 I headed out to the dentist. It was not horrible. I think it went up a few degrees. But by the time I reached the dentist, a short mile later, the wind had picked up and I was walking into it. The news at the dentist wasn't good. But it rarely is. Payback from not taking care of my teeth as a kid.

Walking home wasn't bad. The wind was at my back. The sun still very warm.

At 2 I got in the car to go to work. It was 26. I stopped at the bank and did some errands. It was barely a half hour later and it was down to 19.

The weather people said the temperature was going to drop 30 degrees so I decided to park close to my building and not to do the scenic tour of campus. The wind had picked up. It was cold. I wished I had tights under my trousers.  When I returned to the car, it was down to 9. Good call on the parking close.

I like walking in the cold. But I'm not nuts.

i'm obsesssed?

I must admit I was having a really difficult time coming up with a topic today. Walking to the dentist in the bitter cold just had no appeal for a story.

Earlier this morning I called Bonnie, but her phone was busy. When she called back I was busy. We were playing a lovely game of telephone tag. I had just finished my work and was going to head off to the dentist when the phone rang. It was Bonnie.

I told her about her Girl Scout cookies being here, and that I couldn't talk I was going to walk to the dentist. She pretty much told me to drive it was freaking cold out. I was trying to explain that it was walk now, or walk later, but I had to walk. That's when she called me obsessed with counting my steps.

I am not obsessed.

On my computer dictionary obsessed is defined as "preoccupy or fill the mind of (someone) continually, intrusively, and to a troubling extent:" That is clearly not me. Now I will admit that there was a period when Angel first got her Fitbit that I was a bit obsesssed, but it wore off.

There was also a period where I had my goals set too high that I was getting a little stressed. But I lowered them. Making 10K steps a day is not an obsession — it is the recommended goal of a lot of very important health organizations.

Since when is striving to make a reasonable, recommended goal, an obsession? A goal, which I fail at 70% of the time since December.

Is it because sometimes I walk around the house, or in the halls of a hotel? No, that's not obsession either. That's being close to a goal and achieving it with 10 minutes of extra work. What's wrong with that?

Sadly, when Barb called I told her I was upset that Bonnie called me obsessed. She laughed and said I was.

WTF?

Does everyone think I spend my days looking at my FItbit? Quite the contrary. I hardly check it.  Generally at lunch time, and late in the evening. At lunch to see how far I have to go. Late evening to see if I'm close or completed my goal. Sometimes I look after a walk. Especially this month when I am blogging everyday. I need something to write about. I look at the computer maybe once a week so I can enter the information into my president challenge. I don't think that is obsession. 

This is the last time I will talk about or post about steps. Or tracking. Or pedometers of any kind. They'll be no more posts that I've achieve a huge milestone. Even if they send me beautiful graphics.

Now off to write the boring dentist post.

ice floating on the delaware

The Delaware was beautiful this morning. Just after sunrise, with the light bouncing off the ice as it floated downstream. The banks were frozen with maybe a third of the width still running.

Sorry I have no pictures. I didn't want to walk over the bridge in my work clothes. Beside it would have taken too long. Instead I'll just wax poetic. I can only imagine what a real writer would do with the image.

It was an ordinary walking day. Lots of stairs, and walks thru two campuses. Not great, but I managed to get 6K steps so far.

I also registered Lydia and I for snowshoeing on Saturday. You had to register to borrow equipment.  I have shoes, but Lydia doesn't.

Tomorrow I'll try an more interesting walk. I guess if you do wild and crazy walks everyday, blogging daily would be fun. I'm actually looking forward to the end of the month and having quality, rather than quantity.

glitter fell from the sky

It's February in Pennsylvania, so that means it's snowing. Again. But today was different.

I woke to about 2-3 inches of the finest snow possible. I was out shoveling and it sparkled. Like Mother Nature dropped a bottle of glitter. I'm guessing it was micro pieces of ice. But I have no idea. It was beautiful. Made my day.

I shoveled it and it blew right back. It was that light. After clearing the front sidewalk, I walked up the hill and back down the alley and did the back. Then retraced my steps and went home.

The only other walking I did was my scenic route around the college.

Otherwise I've been working on my resumes, job hunting, and trying to build an online portfolio.

Saturday, I'm doing the Tail on the Trail snowshoeing event. I have to call and reserve.

a really crappy day

This post has nothing at all to do with walking, mostly. So if you don't want to listen to a fat girl ranting, wait till tomorrow. I'll be better then.

I'm a graphic designer. We are employed by the whim of whoever the creative director /editor/whatever is. It is very typical that a new person comes in, fires the staff and rebuilds the department to their liking.

We got our new boss in September. I was just starting to relax. But today was the day. The axe came down and it hit me, among other people.

What does that mean? It means in the near future my income will decrease by at least half. If not more. I don't know when. Soon. But maybe as much as two months. Three part-time positions are being merged into one full time position. When that new person arrives, I am gone. Thanks for 16 years. Here's the door. Don't let it hit you on the way out.

Right now I am still in panic mode.  I don't really have much savings, I've loaned it out to family members in need. Stupid. But me. I had already begun the process of budgeting and rebuilding. The rebuilding will be put on hold and the little savings will be ravaged more. Hopefully not depleted. The budget will be so tight it will squeek. That means the walking adventures are going to be limited. No more fancy hotel stays and long trips. No walking vacations. Except for ones already paid for, of course.

Hopefully, I can get a third teaching job. Graphic Design is a young persons profession. There is no way my skills match the needs of the 2015 employer. At 59, I am a dinosaur.

I just realized that I don't teach in summer because I had a day job. Summer classes meet four-days a week for five hours a day. For maybe five weeks. Maybe this summer I can teach the summer term. Blessings in disguise?

This is not new. It has happened with every job. I always find something else. If not there is always Target or Wegman's. Just don't put me near money.

Action steps:

• Tell the roomie in the morning. She will not take it well.
• Rewrite and update resumé
• Put some sort of a portfolio together. Including a digital one. I haven't had one in 16 years. And I really don't have anything to put in it.
• Maybe design some business cards to network with.

Breath. It will all be okay. There is no alternative.

baby it's cold outside

It snowed maybe an inch last night. Okay. Maybe two inches. Clearly wasn't worth the end of civilization weather reports from last night.

At about 7:30 I went out to clear the snow. Shovel, might be too strong a word. It was single digits. And very windy.

This is what I wore. I probably looked silly.

TWO pairs of gloves. When I came back in I couldn't feel my fingers
Long undies, top and bottom
Long sleeve shirt
Pullover fleece
LL Bean coat with hood up
Sweatshirt with hood up
Fuzzy hat under all those hoods
And a scarf

Except for my fingers I was not cold.

I did the front, walked up the hill, around to the alley and did the garage and the back sidewalk, then went up the hill and came back down to the house.

After getting half that clothes off, I went out to make breakfast. Bonnie called. "Let's drive to the Poconos and go for a three mile hike." "Okay." Alas, she was teasing. But I really did want to go to the Poconos. Angel was picking the girl-child up from Moseywood. I toyed with the idea of hiding in her car and walking around lake Moseywood. (Supremely jealous of girl-child—snowshoeing, cross country skiing, sledding, painting snow—why don't they have adult weekend in winter?)

I did some work, then put all that clothes back on, and headed out at lunchtime for my walk. Alone. Lydia had been a maybe for today, but she called and said it was F@*&‡!G cold out. She was going to the movies instead.

I went down to Itaska, and wove my way to Broadway. Out Broadway and back up thru Lehigh.  One reason I chose the university is I knew the sidewalks would be clear. They were so clear they were dry.

Even the stairs were clear. So I took them.

At the top of the hill I headed out 8th Street toward home.

Sadly, it was barely two miles. I only have 7500 steps for the day, but I do have 38 floors. So I'll need to do at least 2500 steps in the house later. Unless I decide to bundle back up and head back out.

 The view from 8th Street

Oh, I weighed myself this morning. Up another two pounds. I think I'm going to stop watching what I eat. More exercise. Less and better food. I do not understand.

colder at home than in nome

I am so thankful that I'm waiting for Bonnie in "Nome". It's a balmy 15 degrees here. I wonder if anyone told her they changed the route. She'll be doing some serious rock climbing if she didn't get the memo.

I kind of miss waiting for Dave. He always brings the bourbon.

boom boom splat

It's snowing! A gentle, light snow. It shouldn't add up to to much this round. Another round is coming tonight that could bring anywhere from an inch to six inches. It's Valentine's Day and I'm sure the restaurants were booked solid. They'll probably lose money hand over fist. Me, I'm having leftovers. That's what we have on Saturday night.

Lydia and I planned to walk about 11. It was already snowing in the boonies, so she chose not to come.

I went out by myself about 2. Getting up my hill was no problem. Getting up Sassafrass was a horse of a different color. There is a five foot section that really steep. Cars often scrap bottom on it.  Normally it's no problem walking up it. Today I kept wishing I had my snow shoe poles with me. I could not get traction at all. I decided to give it one more try before I went a different way. I walked in old snow and it worked.

Up the alley I went. I turned left on to Wyandotte and came down Fiot Avenue. It was harder getting traction going down than up. I was taking baby steps. Before I could get out into the street, down I went. I went out into the street the first chance I had.

Finishing the hill, I decided on a shorter walk. I headed right on Sioux and down Ontario to Broadway. Once I reached Broadway it was back on the sidewalk, around the bank, and up Wyandotte back to Sioux. Once I reached Sioux again, back out into the street I went until I reached home.

Since I was dressed, I also cleared the snow.

The walk was only about 6K steps and 22 flights of stairs. Clearly, tonight I'll be walking in the house again.

and done, again

I should really save some of this for one of those "routine" walking days when there is nothing interesting to post. I won't make the next level till I reach 8000 flights. That's a lot of hills! Good thing I live in a hilly neighborhood.

And I'm finally making some progress on the "fit for food" program.

and done

I also finished the Idita-Walk. Now I get to hang out at the Nome Nugget Inn and wait for Bonnie to arrive.  Thank goodness for indoor walking. Outside its tough this year.

Twenty-nine other people have finished. A lot of them have Volkssport clubs as their "group".

The actually Ididarod begins March 7 in Fairbanks this year because of lack of snow. But it will end here in Nome, as always.

It's only a few degrees colder in Alaska than it is here.

done

The Tail on the trail challenge is done. I think part two is triple. I think I can do that.

baby it's cold outside

Today I had an appointment at the car dealer for inspection, oil change, and to get my seat checked. I decided about 3 am that walking home from the garage would be a lovely idea. I'd get exercise, take a totally different route, and get the car done.

Bethlehem Ford is at the Allentown/Bethlehem border line in west Bethlehem. Across from the Lehigh Shopping Center. Near the old A-treat factory.Much closer to my brother's than my house.

It was 4 degrees this morning. What the heck was I thinking?

At seven I got dressed. All my long underwear was in the laundry, so I put my flannel pj bottoms back on, then covered them with my jeans. I have no long socks, so I put on regular socks, and then my pedi socks. They have no toes, so I inched them over my heal and scrunched them around my ankles. Then tucked the pj pants into them.

On top I had a long sleeve tee and a fleece. At 8, I added my blue coat and headed out the door. After dropping off the car, I added my hoodie over my coat, two pairs of gloves, my fuzzy hat, and both hoods. And a scarf. I was cold.

I always wanted to take a photo of the tile work on the Ukrainian Church.
Today I got the opportunity and the sun was not cooperating.
Can't complain. It's been a while since we have even seen the sun.

I headed out Union Blvd toward home. The sidewalks on the north side are just as bad as the one's in the hood. Lot's of those homes don't shovel either. What melted yesterday also turned to ice.

At 8th Avenue, I turned down and headed toward Broad. Out Broad to 3rd, then out Spring to 2nd. Over the 2nd Street ram, across the bridge, out Broadway and home.

I walked in the door about 1:40 later. It was about 3.5 slow miles. I was barely in the house when my roomie said: "The car dealer called. Your car is done."

I guess I should have just waited.

poop. I forgot to post yesterday

So much for an entry a day for February! I thought about it yesterday -- as in what the heck am I agoing to write about -- but when I got home I spaced it. It is very difficult to post everyday. Ordinary daily exercise doesn't make good copy. How many times can the Readers see the same thing over and over? Without races and events to make good copy it is get to be even more difficult.

This is Wednesday's entry:

My colleague knows that I like to do stairs. Her husband (a GI Joe) found this stair workout online and they did it over the weekend. He thought it might be fun. She said it was difficult and felt good after it was over. She was still sore yesterday. He'd like to do it again. She is not so sure.

I'd like you to note that this lady's stairs are carpeted. Mine aren't. And mine squeak. I don't know if they would survive this pounding.

However, I'm going to try a couple of the things. Like go up side to side. I'm not running anywhere unless someone is chasing me. I do the walk up and down one. At one point I was up to about 20 minutes. She of course runs.

I wonder how many takes this took. She is soaked with sweat at the beginning.

campus tour

Today was a busy day. I took my sister to the doctor, shopped at the supermarket and the farm, went to the post office, went to Jersey for gas (still a buck ninety five)... lots of running around. We left at 8:30 and didn't get home till noon. And there was still a load of laundry to be done before I left for work.

I was driving to work when I realized that I didn't walk. Poop.

Plan B. I'd take a walking tour of campus. It's not nearly as fun as it is at Lehigh, or Lafayette, or Villanova. The campus is only 40 years old (it used to look like a prison) situated on an old corn field. It has young trees, lots of parking lots, and a blanket of snow. Every building is covered with the exact same brick and concrete. 

 War memorial

 I knew this was a garden, but I didn't know it was medicinal.

 Quad. It's brick.

I took pictures with my iPod. I think my new camera went from a want to a need. These iPod pixs aren't very good.

This blog post a day is difficult. Hopefully it's nice tomorrow so I can walk on college hill.

ice, ice, baby

February weather is just not cooperating. I picked a really bad month to post everyday. Today's trouble maker—ice.

I tried walking at lunch time. Little tiny shuffle steps. I stayed upright but didn't go far.

Every hour or so I jogged for a count of 100 at my desk.

I ran up and down the steps.

If I finish my online class early enough (school is cancelled, again) it will be time for Leslie.

Fit for Food

Fitbit has a challenge happening right now. The month of February they are donating a big hunk of money to Feeding America. How much that chunk is depends on how many calories "we" burn. Sad part is it's not all your calories. Just your active ones.

Fitbit has four activity categories—sedentary, lightly active, fairly active, and very active. Today's walk, which included four major hills and a bunch of smaller ones, only earned me 660 calories. The other 12K calories I burned today don't count. And that's a bummer.

So it looks like only my weekend walks will be going to Feeding America. During the week I'm mostly lightly or fairly active.

slippery walk

Today, I walked two hours on some tricky sidewalks. Mostly, I stayed in the street when I could. I was spurred on by my disappointing number on the scale this morning. (+2)

I left here close to 11 to do errands. I headed up the hill, out Sioux, up Findlay and out Moravia. Then down Hertzog and Lechauwecki. While I was on Moravia a man passed me. He was walking and doing exercises at the same time. Productive, but really silly looking.

Once I crossed Broadway I headed to the Wawa to use the ATM for Pat. Then I headed out Smiley to Dodson and started up the hill. A car came slowly up the hill. It was one of my former students. I think he was going to offer me a ride, but I told him it takes work to keep this Rubeneque figure. He laughed and went on his way.

At Graham, I turned right and went down the hill, past the hospital and out Ostrum. At Brighton and Cherokee I headed up Cherokee and checked my fit bit — 40 floors and only 8k steps. Really? Is that all?

I headed down third to the alley before Broadhead and went thru the parking lot by Henry's apartment. Then it was out Broadway for some shopping at Ahart's. I divided the groceries into two bags and headed toward Wyandotte. Then it was up, up, up Wyandotte. This section had the worse sidewalks. At Sasafrass I checked the fit bit. Still not at 12K, and at 60 floors. I went down the hill, turned right and went right back up Fiot, and came down again.

I was almost at goal of 12500, and had 69 floors. Will try to get 75 before the end of the day. I'm also shooting for 15000 steps.

UPDATE: I've changed my Instagram name to . Now it matches the blog a little better. Thisismygymtoday works better as a hashtag.

should have saved those late night posts

My day involved exercise. But not the walking kind. I kind-of forgot to walk.

The day started with taking my niece to Girl Scouts and lugging cookies to the car, out of the car, sorting them, and putting them back in the car. And taking them out again at her house. And we all know that GS cookies have no calories.

When I fished cookies it was time to use brute strength to take apart the Christmas greens. Lug the can to the porch. Cut, pull and unwrap all kinds of wire. Sort wire/cord and greens and put greens in recycle can. The compost center isn't open, so the can waits in the garage till march, I think.

I spent the bulk of the remaining day grading. At 3:15, it was back to pick up the child. Then make and clean up dinner before grading some more.

It was then I realized I forgot to walk. So instead, I ran up and down the stairs 10 times.

Six thousand steps is pretty lame for a Saturday. But at least I don't feel like I sat on my butt all day.

you can stop the emails ...

But I totally forgot about the packets of flyers that come in the mail. Sigh.

look I'm legal!

I haven't had health insurance -- except for two weeks -- since April 1998. It's pretty useless insurance, but I'm legal.

dang it was cold

When my friend Pam and I decided to walk today, it was a balmy 45 degrees out. What a difference a couple of weeks makes.

We planned to go to Cedar Creek (beach) Park off of Hamilton Street.I awoke this morning thinking, "does the city do winter maintenance"? The parks are heavily used, so I hoped they did. the backup plan was Trexler Park. I was fairly sure they plowed that.

As I was driving down Ott I could see the left side was plowed. Yes!

Pam was waiting for me by the pool. We headed east around Lake Muhlenberg. But when we went to cross the bridge quickly realized the other side was not done. We headed toward the sidewalk but that had drifted shut. We returned to the pool the way we came. After crossing Ott we went south towards Cedar Crest College. (All directions are totally random. Hopefully after hearing landmarks you can make your way around.)

After we went past the rear of the college there were city trucks working. They were pruning and removing trees. It was 30 degrees out. Maybe. Why? Seemed like a more appropriate job for spring, summer, autumn ... not winter. Pam had a great theory. Maybe it's true. Many of the trees run along the creek. Perhaps the banks of the creek are so soft and unstable that they do it when it is hard and frozen. And the trucks won't fall in. Sounds plausible. I'm sticking with it.

When we finished the loop at Ott, we decided to go around again.

As we returned to the pool, Pam told me the Allentown JCC was  having a Polar Plunge and was I game. It's supporting their aquatics program. She always goes with me on my adventures, so I said yes. Yes, I know. No spending money. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

On the way home I took a picture of this fellow on Hamilton, across from the park. Clearly he is a Phantoms phan. He's built on top of the snow bank and pretty hard to miss.

A friend posted this race on FB. It's in York. I am so tempted. How many times do you get to race around a giant shoe? I will resist. It's 3 hours away.

Sunday is the Tri-to-help Triathlon. I signed up to do this event, but my friend backed out. Not really interested in doing it alone. It's a two-hour drive. Probably will just skip it.

hashtags

I look at this bumper sticker in my neighborhood every day. And every day my blood boils when I see it. So today I wrote a couple of hashtags. Got to get it out of my system.

# maybeyoushouldbuynewshockabsorbers
# nowayinhellthisfatgirlwouldridewithyoushehasstandardsbetskinnygirlsdonoteither

i resisted the allure of donuts

 Did you see the news yesterday? Our local turkey farmers turned mega-developers have bought the land that will connect the D&L in Allentown with the D&L in Hanover Township. Be still my heart. Finally, you'll be able to get from point a to point b without a car. Of course it will be years before that rail-to-trail is done.

Today walk I knew would be a challenge. It snowed. It rain. It froze. It melted. It froze again. Sidewalks are not all bad, but corners are horrible.

I'm in Easton today, so I thought campus would be fairly good, and it was. But the streets around it were a mess. I decided that breaking my leg was not on the agenda today.

The post office is in the basement of Farinon.  I went down, mailed my packages, and went up to the second floor. I looped around and came back down. Out the front door towards Acopian. I skipped Hogg Hall because the porch is tile. Tile in winter is not good. In summer it's beautiful.

I reached Acopian and the sign in the window said "donuts and lutron". They were set up in the lobby. Handsome, thin, professional, young men offered me donuts. They weren't busy and had a lot left. But it wasn't noon yet. I went right past them and to the back staircase and up to the top (ground level is 3), around to the other end, and back down the 6 flights. Then it was back around and back up to the third. Walking past the donuts again! (photo credit)

I finished the loop around the quad and head out past the Arts Center toward Cattell Street. things turned ugly quick. I carefully made my way back to the "birds nest".

yikes! i opened an instagram account

I opened an Instagram account last night. Yeah, it scares me too.

It all ties into doing social media/web for the walking group. If I'm taking pixs with my iPod, then they can be uploaded to Instagram and right to their FB page, I think. Maybe. I'll have Lydia help me.

Anyway, if you want to search for me my name is thisismygymtoday. Yeah, it does look more like a hash tag. Right now everything is generic. But I added 2 test photos yesterday. And they showed up.

It looks like you really need to be sure you want to post it. I do not see an edit or delete button, at least on my desktop. Maybe there is one on the iPod. The mobile interface is much more robust.

The only part of this that truly excites me is writing hash tags. I find myself glancing at the pixs and then just reading the hashtags. My favorite from yesterday is"wishicouldblastmymusicbutsomeoneisnapping"‬. I just need to figure out how to do it. I think you just write using the pound sign.

We'll see how it goes.

Today I substituted, so no time for a long walk. I was going to take the walking path around campus, but there is no winter maintenance. Maybe I should take my snowshoes with me to school. So I walked around and thru buildings and up the stairs. Somehow I managed to get 9K steps in. So last night, after dinner with a former Girl Scout, and putting in my final grades, I walked back and forth thru my house for the remaining 1K steps.


Mission accomplished.

Now I just need to do that everyday.