2007

Just got back from my Christmas travels!

Thanks 2007: You were a blast!

BBQ and PhillyCarShare

As noted in passing previously, someone is interested in getting me fit.

When there's plenty of work to do, though, I spend too much time at work to justify the long long strolls that are my preferred way to get more exercise.

So I decided to get an elliptical. And I decided that I'd try to save a little money by not having it shipped and picking it up from Delaware (where there's no sales tax.)

But, not being an especially confident driver, and even less confident navigating into Delaware, I recruited Tom.

So Saturday afternoon we headed into Delaware, and got to Sears at the Prices Corner shopping center, and found, on sale, a perfect elliptical.

Sadly, fitting the box into Tom's car was, despite our great optimism, impossible. I felt like a fat man looking at last year's wardrobe; despite how you wiggle, it just ain't fitting in there.

Fortunately, PhillyCarShare is here to help. I made a reservation on-line for the next day, and a conveniently located stationwagon (less than two blocks from me) was mine to use for four hours.

Tom navigated, but I drove. Alas, my city-dwelling ways have left me a little rusty about highway driving. But by the grace of God and light traffic we arrived safely to the Sears, picked up the package and hightailed it back to Philly.

So I spent the majority of Sunday putting the thing machine together, and tonight I fixed an annoying little "thump" sound I'd started troubleshooting last night.

The workout was good. I definitely got a good run in, all in the comfort of my own home.

In further news I had a great time at the IVC's fundraiser on Thursday. This was my first time at the BBQ proper, but it was a blast, just as I would expect from the wonderful First Wednesday programs.

My Pots

Taken Wednesday, June 6, 2007. Clockwise from top left: English Lavender (var. Lady), Sedum Matrona, Morning Glories, Strawberries.

More Springtime Photos

So, my posting has been slow, but here is a plant photo. Taken 5/5/2007, a beautiful spring day, a little cool and windy, but otherwise gorgeous.

The replacement lavender (top left) has already begun putting up flower stalks. Var. Lady Lavender, it is a dwarf variety. Some of the green is from last year--it never fully died back during the winter.

The Sedum Matrona (top right) has exploded in the past month, turning from cute, bright green florets popping through the dirt, and now beginning to fill out the container. I expect the flowers to start early next month, but there's always a chance it'll start earlier.

The strawberry plant is at lower left. It has started throwing out a few flowers, and will soon, hopefully, start delivering more delicious strawberries.

This is the big pot that used to hold the okra. In the back, against the wall, are the morning glory vines. In the front are zennia ('Zowie') seedlings, and the coneflower is in the middle (although I'm not sure any have sprouted.)

A Long Walk

It is springtime here in Philadelphia. Since the weather was warmer, my next assignment starts tomorrow, and someone suggested I should excercise more I decided to take a long walk.

I walked out the door at 1:20 or so, determined to walk a marathon (i.e. 26.2 miles.) To start, I headed from my front door to Market street. I went on Mapquest and verified the distance to calibrate my pedometer. The sky was overcast, but walking quickly I was soon warm even in my light jacket.

The pedometer was correct to within 6% (close enough for my purposes) and so I started walking around. After zipping into Chinatown I walked across the Delaware and back again. Then I checked out the very cool Northern Liberties neighborhood and had an iced coffee and baklava at Elixir Cafe.

Then I headed back towards home. Unfortunately I got nowhere near a marathon. Instead, I walked only 12 miles. Ah well, maybe next time.

Cleaning

Last week I ran out of work to do, and so I've been hanging out here at home. Taking advantage of the downtime, I've made it my mission to clean a little.

Or perhaps a lot.

You see, in general I have no difficulty ignoring junk. If a pile of paper sits around for month or so it becomes part of the background, and I really don't notice it anymore. But eventually it'll occur to me, hmm, I wonder if I ought to look through that.

But, as part of the new reduced clutter regime, I've decided to get organized. I'm applying a ruthless standard to magazines (read it and pitch it...unless it's lawyer related.) Folders and binders are now the framework for all important paperwork. In fact, for the first time since moving to Pittsburgh in Nov. 1997 all of my critical paperwork is now in one place and sorted in a useful way (back then I was only organized because I had far fewer important docs.)

So far the living room is farthest along, then the kitchen, the spare bedroom, then my bedroom and finally the bathroom (untouched, so far.) I think I need to buy some dusters.

In plant news I just planted Basil seeds I harvested last March in a clay pot. In the other pot I put in the last of last years nasturtium seeds. In a larger plastic pot I put some daffodil bulbs. Outdoors the dirt on top of the Sedum Matrona is starting to crack. I suspect that means a few early leaves are ready to pop through (even though it's still too cold--any shoot that did poke through will die off.)

Ice?

Tonight the meteorologists (and weather people) are concerned we may get freezing rain or sleet, rather than snow.

While I still lived in Huntsville, AL, in middle school, we got for more than a week because of a huge ice storm. We were fortunate in that our power stayed on for all but a part of a day, but many areas particularly in the northwest of the state went days without electricity. And I seem to recall that that time too the meteorologists had difficulty predicting ice.

Fortunately I don't have to worry about driving in this weather. If it is icy tomorrow morning I'll wear duck boots to work, but otherwise I should be fine.

Finally, I have no plans for Valentine's Day. But hopefully I'll manage to avoid wailing and lamentations.

Cold

It's so cold outside that I'm walking crazy fast to and from work every day. I haven't had to break down yet to take the bus but I have been walking very quickly to the closest point I can go underground and out of the wind all the rest of the way to work (You can walk all the way underground from 12th and Locust to Suburban Station.)

At work we've been limited to 40 hours, so I've been having my weekends free. Friday I checked out the galleries in Old City for First Friday. Saturday I got my taxes done, and on Sunday got to hang out with Tom to watch the football game.

And now, since I want to get into work early so I can head off to the IVC's First Wednesday tomorrow, I think I'm going to bed at the outragously early hour of 10 PM.

Finally Snow

Tonight we're getting snow. Not too much, but the meteorologists are predicting maybe an inch, with some ice before it switches over to rain in the morning.

My apartment building gets its snow removed, but I went ahead and threw out some salt I had sitting around. So my sidewalk is clear...no liability here, move along.

I also did some cleaning of my plants and pots. I noticed yesterday that someone had stolen two of the smaller pots, one that I'd put out as an experiment, the other had a small pomegranate tree in it. I have no idea why people steal my pots, but to protect the strawberry plant and my pot of oregano I put them in the alley behind the house.

In addition, I put new dirt on the sedum matrona from a fresh bag and the pot that formerly held my zinnia. The zinnia was wonderful last year, and I'm definitely going to buy some more seeds this year.

I also cut the stem of the main stalk for the okra plant. I haven't decided whether I'll grow it again this year, while it was really cool to have okra, I think I'm going to try for more flowers. One possibility is rudbeckia.

A new printer and my New Years Resolutions

So I got back from Georgia, and now I'm trying to address bills and paperwork from last year, and start getting ready for Tax Season.

But for me to work with paper means I need a working printer, and my cheap printer from a couple of years ago finally died. So now I have an HP D5160 I picked up for about $80 at Staples on my way in to work today.

Now as to my resolution. I bought a pedometer, and I'm going to try to use it to make sure I'm getting a good level of physical activity. For example, getting to 10000 steps a day seems pretty doable, and works out to about 5+ miles a day. And finally, I'm trying to cut down on french fries.