Unraveling

New Knitter!

Cancer Warrior Melissa is learning to knit!

She had two lessons in one day! One with me in the a.m. at the coffee shop and in the p.m. she reinforced her newly acquired skills at the Women's Cancer Resource Center with Kate Freeman of Article Pract. And she was happily knitting (and ripping) to her heart's content this morning.  You go, Melissa!

As for me, this new walking routine (walking as transportation) is liberating.  And much easier than the old walking routine (walking for exercise alone).  I have always loved the pace, if you don't mind the pun, of the world when I'm walking. Now that I'm leaving home a little later (7 a.m. instead of 6 a.m.), it's less of a solitary activity.  I see much more that goes on in my neighborhoods at each end.  I run into people I know. I don't feel compelled to rush, although I do like to walk briskly. And I have a little time to knit at the coffee shop and on the BART train. Moreover, I am saving money on gas and parking. Not to mention the exercise I am getting.  And on top of it all, Mr. Celia is teaching me some Pilates exercises to keep me stretched and firm up my long-neglected tummy.

Get yourself a pedometer.  You'd be surprised at how far you actually go in a day. Memorial Day, I walked 7,263 steps = 2.86 miles, while running errands in the car and taking the dogs for a walk in the evening. 10,000 steps = 4 miles.  Easy.

Weekend Wrapup

5/26/06 16405 steps = 6.47 Miles
5/27/06 11269 steps = 4.44 miles
5/28/06 11510 steps = 4.54 miles
5/29/06   7263 steps = 2.86 miles

A total of 30.94 miles walked in the first seven days of shakin' it up. Interesting to really keep track of it.

My colleague and I saw thousands, I kid you not, THOUSANDS of grunion on spawning on Crown Beach this morning (1-2:20 a.m.). Fabu.  Seriously.  Thousands. As far as the eye could see. I kid you not.  See for yourself.

I did some shopping this weekend and am sorry to report that most of the stores are full of crap. I'm trying to find something nice for Mom's birthday later this week and all I saw was crap, crap, crap.

But tomorrow, Melissa the Cancer Warrior and I have a date at 7 a.m. for her to learn some stitchin' with the pointy sticks at the coffee shop. Yippee! Worth waking up for! And now, to bed.

K is for

...KAYAK!

Yes, last Thursday after work I went Kayaking! We are saying goodbye to Christy, who has been working with us for several years (sniff), and who is the whole reason I got into blogging ("Hey, look at my sister's blog!" ...and the rest was blogging history). Now, her contract's run out and she is on to bigger and better things. So some of her pals from the office went paddling on the Estuary with her to say farewell.

Here we are getting some instruction in how to use the paddle

A self portrait of the guest of honor

It was a beautiful windy evening.

Me and my partner in tandem Kayaking

Note: we are up to our *sses in water... our.Kayak.leaked...

We were soaked from the waist down.

Nevertheless we laughed a lot.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

5/24/06 13,991 steps = 5.52 miles

All three dogs went for a walk with me after dinner. I am their new hero. And during the LOST 2-hour finale (one fascinating revelation after another and a very interesting twist at the end), I finished knitting Secret Sock One and cast on for Secret Sock Two.

5/25/05 I drove to work. I have a date to kayak on the Estuary this evening,so I'll be coming home late.  I do have a meeting in downtown this afternoon, so walking will happen today and I think I'll try to walk the dogs again tonight after I get home.

Shaking it up has improved my attitude and performance at work, which was the idea in the first place. Speaking of which, time to get to it!

Whole Lotta Shakin'

Yesterday's stats: 13174 steps = 5.19 miles

Today, I'm up to 6681 steps = 2.63 miles and I'm halfway through the day.

I kind of like this new regime.

Shaken, Not Stirred

6:13 a.m. - Awakened. Damn! What happened to the alarm? !

6:16 a.m. - Radio turns on.  I. Forgot. To. Reset.

7:01 a.m. - Left the house.

7:07 a.m. - Ran into my neighbor at the bakery. Bought a Apple-Barley muffin.

7:26 a.m. - Arrived at the coffee shop. Chamomile tea, Apple-Barley muffin and the paper.

7:56 a.m. - Hopped on a train. 1.31 miles walked from my bedroom to the BART train.

Knitted four rounds on Secret Sock One. Just a couple more inches to go and we will have toe!

8:06 a.m. - Exited BART in downtown.

8:26 a.m. - Arrived at the office. 1.94 miles walked from my bedroom to my cubicle

I am at work much earlier than yesterday! I will walk to Mr. Celia's gym after work and catch a ride home with him. Day One of new routine. I will try for Day Two tomorrow.

Shakin'!!!!!

Shaking It Up

I have not been been walking much in the early morning this spring.  It rained so much during April that I got used to sleeping in.  Sometimes I was too tired to remember to set the alarm and sometimes I just plain didn't want to set it.  I went away to  San Juan and New York, where I did walk and walk, and then when I came back I was jetlagged and didn't feel like walking for a while.  And then I was blue because the Boyo was leaving and found it hard to get up. So now I tip the scales at...let's just say over the weight I was before and well over where I'd like to be.

Lately my attitude at work has not been good. We are undergoing a reorganization.  It is...unsettling...to say the least. I have been grumbling about many things and it has been s-l-o-w, which doesn't help me grumble less.  And I have been frequently late and wanting to leave early.  And a  boatload of work is about to descend on me. And I need to be brilliant and on the ball.

And our lovely weiner is rapidly becoming a geriatric hound. She turned twelve in February.

No matter how much she wants to go out in the morning, she's finding it hard to keep up.  And I need a brisk walk. I don't want to feel like I'm dragging her along at the end of a fifteen-foot leash.

And traffic...I'm not sure I need to go into traffic.  It's bad around here. People don't pay attention.  And they can be really nasty.

It's time for a change.

I was talking with Coffee Shop Jeanne this morning and she's been going through the same kinds of things. So we've decided to start shaking it up -try something new - find a new routine.

Tomorrow my plan is to get up at 6, get ready for work, and walk to the coffee shop. Then I can talk to my pals for half an hour, hop a BART train to downtown, and walk the rest of the way to the office.  I can get 3-4 miles of walking in if I do it both ways. Then walk the dog(s) in the evening after I get home.

Mr. Celia and I have already decided to drink less wine.  And with the Boyo gone, our intake of red meat wil go down, too.  And...I can knit on the BART train.

I'm not sure what I'll do Wednesday or the rest of the week. I'll have to take it one day at a time. But for tomorrow I'll be shaking things up.

The change will do me good.

Untangling

Heel turned on Sock One.

But step back a moment and see what I've got ahead of me.

And I've got the last two episodes of Lost to watch...

Secret Socks

Did you want to see my new sock project?

Socks that Rock yarn in the Pebble Beach colorway.

They're for Mr. Celia's birthday in Pebble Beach. Sh-h-h-h-h-h!

J is for...

JOURNEY!

Words fail me...