For use when I really don’t have time to figure out to what category the post should belong.
Not that anyone needs to care, but my entire body aches. And stretching is problematic. Not in a “it hurts” kinda way. My muscles start pulling without pain, bending my body in a strange manner that I didn’t think I could achieve. I honestly think my spine performed an S shape. I was worried I wouldn’t straighten out.
The only thing I haven’t experienced was vomiting.
Three weeks ago today, I received my first vaccine shot. It kicked my ass. I had a sore back – exceedingly sore – for three or four days. And I’ve been exhausted ever since – more than usual for me, anyway.
I’m going to go for my second shot today, later this afternoon, at about 3:00 PM. I suspect I’ll be experiencing more significant discomfort. All the reports I’ve heard second hand suggest that I’ll be extremely miserable within 12 hours and then slowly taper down over the next 24 to 72 hours.
I’ve already struggled with keeping up on my school work. I’m afraid this will make me even farther behind. At some point, I will have to bite the bullet and inform my instructors of my struggles. For now, though, I’ll maintain the axiom of pulling myself up by my own damn boot strings, thank-you-very-much!
So, on Saturday I took Tina out for some shopping. It turned into buying her a new computer and buying myself a new phone (and giving my old phone to her). There was also a meal involved, one of which I posted about previously. All this driving about, shopping, and eating resulting in my forgetting that January 30th is my sobriety date.
That’s right. I was so busy practicing these principles in all my affairs of living 24 hours at a time I forgot I’d been doing so for 36 years. So, yeah me!
Tina treated me to lunch at Outback Steakhouse. I had the ribeye, and she had salmon. The Outback in Hermantown has yet to disappoint. I’ve had sirloin, prime rib, and now the ribeye. Tina has had the salmon there before, but they had a new variation, which had an excellent sauce. However, as is always the case, we had more food than we could eat.
Not to worry. This morning I cut up potatoes, onions, along with the ribeye and salmon. I fried up the potatoes and onions in a half stick of butter. I also had some leftover rice that was just the right amount of spicy that I also threw in with the potatoes and onions. I added Kosher salt, coarse ground pepper, some reduced salt Lowery’s, and granulated garlic. After that browned, I added the steak and fish. It made a most excellent hash for brunch. I thought about taking a picture of the finished meal, but I was too busy eating it. You’ll have to take my word for it that it looked fantastic.
Now I’m going to focus on school work. I have a biopsychology class I need to get busy finishing. You all have an excellent rest of your Sunday.
Here’s a better picture of Loki. He was looking at the living room. As you can see, his ears show the potential growth he is going to achieve. He’s half Maine Coon. His mother is a full Maine Coon. Loki’s father is unknown. He has the customary ‘M’ on his forehead and the tuffs at the tip of his ears. He also has six toes. No tuffs yet between them. He doesn’t look to be a long-hair. But it turns out that Maine Coons can be medium hair cats as well.
One of the reasons we got Loki was because Smokey is a high energy cat, and Kang doesn’t have the energy to match her in play. Now that Loki and Smokey have become accustomed to each other, there is much running and wrestling. However, as I type this, Kang and Loki are battling.
Loki is also a people’s cat. He follows both Tina and me around the house. And he has bonded to me. He will race upstairs to beat me to the bedroom. While Kang and Smokey stay with Tina downstairs, Loki stays upstairs with me while I sleep. If I get up to go to the bathroom, he’ll usually still be waiting on the bed for my return.
I decided to do my run on the treadmill in the basement. There’s just too much slush on the sidewalks and roads. Plus, there’s a lot of traffic this time of day. Finally, it’s dark. I am not in the mood to get hit by a car. My stats may seem off, but I ran with the incline set at 2.
I used my Withings Steel HR watch. It’s not a full-fledged Smart Watch. But it does monitor heart rate (hence the HR), and in conjunction with my iPhone, does GPS. Now, my Strava app is not able to directly link with the Withings watch. However, I can link the Withings Health Mate app to the Strava app. As a result, I get both apps posting my run online!
There is one irritating aspect of the Health mate app – it doesn’t seem to track my heart rate. And yet, the Strava app had my heart rate information. It really doesn’t matter all that much. Strava has a better website that gives me HTML code for posting my map. Withings doesn’t appear to do so.
As can be seen, by each leg’s dates, I’ve not been the most diligent in my running. In my morning post, I know I would take a separate post to explain my lack of motivation for running, but this is not that post. Anyway, below is my catch up on the incremental marathon.
Crap! My back was seriously pissed at me for the past week or so. My lower back mostly. And it was radiating out into my hips. So, about two days ago, I decided it was time to resume stretching. I haven’t been running. An explanation as to why is for another post. Suffice it to type, not running meant not stretching.
Anyway, stretching: I haven’t been doing yoga level stretching. Honestly, do you know how hard it is to find any beginner’s yoga online? I’ve tried a few. Yeah, not cool. I really think most yoga instructors never truly worked with someone as tightly strung as me. So, I’ve been doing the stretches I was taught in school back in the ’70s. And guess what? They are doing the trick. And just after a few days.
This morning, I will finish this post, say good morning to Tina, who is banging about in the kitchen, having just woken up, and then stretch before hitting the shower. You all have a great day. And keep in mind that all of ‘this’ shall pass. It always does. It always will.
Tina’s boss has come down with COVID. And since she had close interactions with him due to training on the new state-wide online DL system, I’ve chosen to stay home and get tested. It’s scheduled for 2:00 PM. It’s the rapid saliva test. So I should know the results before the end of the day.
When COVID first started its run back in February/March, we in the residential programs were told it was a matter of when, not if, we would get infected. I have considered myself lucky to have gone this long without getting sick. And, as is usually the case, now I think I have some symptoms. Mostly just a scratch in the throat. However, I also have sinus issues. So, yeah, it’s more likely to be the confluence of my sinuses and the dry, cold weather, not COVID.
Because I work in a residential setting, it’s better safe than sorry in regards to work. So, I’ll get the test, and if it’s negative, I will go to work tomorrow. If it’s positive – well, I’ll let you know.