Winter Reassess...

New Year's Day was the last time I donned my running shoes.  That was to be the start of the next 8 week session in my cycling and running program.  One thing has gotten in the way. Money. Or lack thereof. More accurately I guess would be to say using that money elsewhere.  I had already decided I would dump the indoor cycling for the winter to save (or redistribute) a little bit.  The loss of the running clinic was a last minute decision - literally the day before and I e-mailed the coach after midnight the day we were to start.  It's annoying, but I should be able to get myself through the winter with a couple runs every week and some time in the home gym in our basement, if I can clear enough junk away to comfortable access the equipment.  It will also give the body a little time to recover from any minor aches or strains I may have had.

So, the money that would have gone to my training will be going to Harry's.  I met with a trainer last week for an evaluation and we will be starting in a basic obedience class in early February.  Harry is too old and already has the basic puppy stuff down, so we're going right into class with the older pups.  This is more for me than him, really.  My main goal is to get him to snap-to and come to me instantly.  If there is anything he is lacking in, it's that. That could be the difference between life or death if, for example he were to get away from us in the driveway and head for the road at full speed.  He must stop, turn around and come back. No questions asked.  I don't care if the mailman is standing there covered in raw steak and chicken.

SANS TV & PHONE


I think I mentioned in an earlier post that we are attempting to break free from the chains of cable TV.  So far, we do not miss it.  In fact, I feel amazingly liberated.  I am fairly certain the TV causes me stress because I have to listen to the crap TV only at work now and it grinds on my last nerve.  We wonder why we are so screwed up in this country?  I think TV brainwashing is a big portion of it.  Gone are the days of a news man just reading the news of the day and moving on.  Now we have to sit there through hours and hours of talking heads blabbering on about why this is this and why that is that and usually misleading or heavily biased in the case of one particular "news channel" and it's local affiliates.  Even local news is like this now.  Just read the story, and move on.  I am particularly glad to be rid of it in an election year.

For a while I had the same feelings about the Internet.  Mostly it was from people forwarding or posting fake stories or information as a way to cause panic and fear.  I spent a lot of time replying with proof that these were made-up or only partially true stories.  Thankfully a lot of that crap has gone away.  I have even stopped replying unless the misinformation was so egregious that I could not ignore it.

Last night Mrs and I sat in our 'lounge' with the dogs and cats reading.  True, we did have our devices connecting us to the Internet there, but we spent a majority of our time reading.  It was so peaceful and wonderful.  It made me think maybe working day shift for a while would not be such a bad thing.

We have also shut off all of our land line telephones in the house.  We went back to the phone company rather than using the cable company.  We intended to keep it for 9-1-1 only, but Mrs decided to keep the number unlisted (my only request) and with a few extra dollars we kept local unlimited long distance calling.  It's so nice to not have the phone ringing in the house again.  I think every time it would ring my blood pressure would go up.  Now, when the house is in near silence we will all of a sudden hear my voice on the answering machine if someone happens to call the number.  Serenity now.

I played a little in the gardens the other day.  More on that later.