Still Battling

I have been run down and fighting illness for about three days. The agony of my illness is compounded by the aches created from what you’ll discover below.

Today’s Personal Project
Try to return to a point in my life where I wasn’t completely miserable.

Today’s Daily Challenge
Plan to try a cup of green or black tea the next time you are feeling stressed or in a bad mood.

A hot cup of tea doesn’t just feel soothing because of the warmth – there are stress-reducers in those leaves! Green and black tea contains L-theanine, a chemical that relaxes the mind. And new research shows that chemical compounds in these types of tea mimic the effects of a mood-stabilizing drug, so sipping may give you a little natural lift.

I think that I could have a gallon of tea today and I would still be stressed out.

A Happy Thanksgiving, ‘cept For That Stupid Jets Game
I attempted to code each day this Thanksgiving “long weekend.” In fact, I came into the office yesterday for about five hours as well.

On Thursday I barely thought about the once-annual “get up early and run watch the Atlanta Half Marathon.” (Congrats go out to all who ran, including ITP-Reader Jenka!) I was okay with not leaving the house early as it was cold and I had code to write. I hunkered down in bed with my laptop until about noon or so, before getting ready to head over to Sanitary Not’s house for Thanksgiving dinner.

Food was bountiful, conversation great, and the Patriots/Jets game, well, I’m thankful that I didn’t actually watch the game.

ITP Flickr Pic
On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights we built fires.

And they were good, especially on Friday when we accidentally caught that big log in the background on fire, forcing us to add it to the mix before we were ready.

No collateral damage occurred..

White Men Can’t Shouldn’t Jump
Alternate title: “My Day With Usher”

On Saturday afternoon the “family” headed to Suwannee (WHAT!?!) to go to Sky Zone (WARNING: Music auto-plays when you go to their website. Idiots!) to do some jumping.

I’ve never been much of a trampoliner, but I was game. Though I consider myself to have great rhythm I had a bit of a challenge getting the cadence down for trampolining. After a while I caught on and was astonished on how much energy it takes to bounce (inefficiently, probably); it’s quite the workout and worked up a sweat in no-time.

The place was crowded, in part because it was Saturday afternoon and in part because Usher was throwing a birthday party for one of his children. I’ll assume from the large “5” balloon which was present at the bottom of the stairwell which led to the private party his son or daughter is now five years old. Yes, I did actually see Usher in the building, ever briefly, as he ascended the stairs.

At one point ITP-Reader Randy and I decided to try our hands at dunking the basketball on the rim which has a long trampoline in front of it. This was a very bad idea for me. After watching Randy attempt, and then eventually dunk the smaller-than-regulation ball, I took my shot.

Bounce.
Bounce.
OUCH!

I strained a muscle in my lower back. I turned around, tossed the ball back to the teenager working the dunking station, and hobbled away in pain.

After waiting a few minutes I attempted to jump again in the main jumping section, but the pain was too great for me to continue. I realized that continued attempts at jumping would only further aggravate my already-aggravated back, so my jumping day was done.

I thought about attempting to sneak into Usher’s birthday party, but the huge man guarding access to the stairwell convinced me otherwise. Instead I spent the afternoon people watching, and realized that I wasn’t the only one to get injured on that day. I saw a young girl icing her ankle, and a guy wearing a leg brace (which, I cannot validate occurred at the Sky Zone).

Today my back still hurts, my shoulders and neck hurt, I have what appears to be a large snake bite on the top of my right foot which is really trampoline burn from a couple of my falls, and in an unrelated injury my left ankle feels as if someone is sticking a pin into it (yes, I’ve looked for a foreign object but can find nothing). All of this on top of the misery caused by my illness.

I was going to start a holistic lifestyle today, but probably ruined that by eating two Pop Tarts with my coffee. Wait, what!?!?! There are pumpkin-flavored Pop Tarts? Why has no one told me about this?…

A Happy Thanksgiving Weekend Thanks To Friends, And The Florida Gators
Regardless of my health, which seems to be worse today than it was the past two days, I had a good time this weekend.

I hung out with ITP-Readers Lisa and Randy and their two sons, as well as the family which has adopted me as one of their own.

Yesterday I spent a lovely breakfast at ITP-Readers Bob’s and Laura’s house along with Lisa and Randy as the gang chatted awhile before Lisa and Randy (and sons) headed back to North Carolina.

And now for the delicious cream filling in the middle of my Oreo cookie:

I am a lucky son of a bitch when it comes to my friends, who accept me for what I am. So many of my friends have transition from singles to parents well, and though it normally means that I don’t get to do the things I used to do with these folks, I am still thankful for their friendship and the times I get to spend with them.

The Work Ahead Of Me Is Massive
The reason I was coding each day on which I was supposed to be relaxing is because deadlines are eminent and there is a massive amount of work still to be done. If I can get and stay healthy I plan to be working a lot during the next few weeks. At least it’ll keep me from the malls! Who am I kidding, I can no longer stand going to malls, especially during the Christmas shopping season.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – achey, old, losing my eyesight, old, miserable, old, fat, old, sneezing, old
Current Music – listening to last Friday’s “R3-30” podcast from CBC Radio 3; it came out on schedule because this weekend wasn’t Canada’s Thanksgiving weekend.
Website Of The Day – Friday was “Black Friday.” Today is another ridiculous fake “Big Day” Cyber Monday.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Saturday = jumping, ~45 minutes
Morning Weigh-In – not checking again until next week

November Goals
– none

2012 Goals [will be a little less fluid than last year]
– Get my weight under 200 pounds, or at least whittle myself back down to where wearing a 36″ pant size is comfortable
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Run Sharpened Stone as a real business
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
– Ride in no fewer than five 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Run in no fewer than one one 10K
– Submit at least one application under the name “Sharpened Stone” to Apple’s iOS store
– Restore the ITP Estate to a condition where it can be put up for sale at any time
– Buy a new iPhone (iPhone 5), a new iPad (iPad 3?), and MacBook Air [look, not all goals have to be altruistic]

The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient and profitable programmer in Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions
– Start, and continue, to make my own bread using my bread machine as well as using the technique outlined in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
– Read and discard magazines during the month in which they arrive (even digitally)
– See more live concerts than I did in 2011
– Drive/Fly somewhere for a real vacation

Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2012

1. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me — Mindy Kahling
2. Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man’s Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science — Curtis Ebbesmeyer
3. God, No! — Penn Jillette
4. The Elephant to Hollywood — Michael Caine
5. Here Comes Trouble — Michael Moore
6. How We Decide — Jonah Lehrer
7. Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson
8. Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays) — Arthur Miller
9. Fahrenheit 451 — Ray Bradbury
10. White Jacket Required — Jenna Weber

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]