Thursday Random

Another good morning — maybe even a little chilly, if you think about where we’ve been over the past few weeks. It was 69 degrees Fahrenheit when I set out at 4:30. But I was still soaked completely through by the end of the ride.

Still — two BCFBs in a week is something I used to do. Just haven’t been able to do much of any lately because of the weather. It really looks like things are turning the corner now, though.

This morning, I followed the weather. Although the wind was only blowing at 1mph, it was still coming out of the south, so I did a good Starfield lap. It’s interesting cutting around through their parking lots before sunup. So much different than going there on a Sunday afternoon.

I’ve had a bit of back trouble lately, and yesterday I was miserable. It just wasn’t going away. And when I got up this morning, it didn’t feel much better. But as I was stretching, it seemed to improve, and today turned out to be a pretty good day. Knowing the pain I was in yesterday, today felt downright incredible, even though there was still a twinge. I felt like I was one good twist — one good bend — away from wrecking it again. But it turned out alright, and I’m feeling great right now. Haven’t taken an Advil all day. Took 4 yesterday.

Got a bit of a doggie problem right now. Our dog Sommie doesn’t take kindly to the one whom we are dogsitting, Lovie. She’s much better now than before, and that’s not the problem. The problem is, Sommie’s a bit particular about what pad on which she’s gonna pee, while Lovie is not. Lovie goes a little bit on every one, and Sommie won’t go where Lovie’s gone, so we’ve been fighting the battle with puddles where they’re not supposed to be. Unfortunately for Sommie, she’s on a medication which causes her to drink a lot of water. Double unfortunately — Micha has doggie diapers. They do the job, but Sommie doesn’t particularly enjoy wearing them. On the bright side for her though is that I’m taking her out a bit more than before. I’ll take Lovie out once a day — pretty pointless, because she refuses to pee outside and has only pooped once (quite surprisingly). Sommie, on the other hand, is a pee machine when she’s out, and pretty much poops only when she’s outside.

We’ll live though. Lovie is still such a sweetheart and we love having her. But she’ll be going home in just over a week, and we’ll probably have to scrub any scent of her out of Sommie’s bathroom just to be sure, but the poor girl will get back to a normal life soon enough. Still, I’m thinking watching Lovie for a couple of days every so often wouldn’t be a bad thing.

I’ve got a couple of good ideas in the hopper. I’ve been a bit inconsistent lately, and I’m hoping to rectify that. I see the value in writing, and I actually like doing it, as long as I have the time. Interestingly, I picked up a draft of a document that I’d written some years back (an official, technical kind of thing), and I was able to knock out quite a few changes to make it better. It was downright encouraging, actually. Some of the language that I needed to be using was quite clear, but I know I had worked quite a bit on that same document in the past, so there had to be some kind of difference, and I think that difference was that I’ve written and edited so much more over the past two years. It’s just easier now.

But those new ideas aren’t writing themselves. Hopefully I’ll be able to get them down soon enough. And in the meantime, maybe I’ll pick up Zinser’s book, On Writing Well, again for a bit of a refresher…

Finally, I loved this opinion piece in the Times — “A Word of Gratitude for Salman Rushdie’s Readers.” I count myself as one of them. He’s one of my absolute favorites, and mostly because his language is so creative. If you haven’t read him, you should give it a try. I recommend, of course, Midnight’s Children, and the lesser known Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights. I loved both, but the latter was quite surprising and absolutely magical.