An April update

I've been scarce around here but busy, which is the reason for the scarce part.  So what have I been up to?  Working and working out like a fiend, basically.

The job has kept me plenty busy, whether it's been with the regular ins and outs of it or the predictably regular uncertainty of how the whole arrangement will continue.  One answer appears to be close to agreement, which should resolve some issues in the situation and could provide some much-needed freedom and exciting opportunities.  Granted, it also comes with a significant budget cut and the need for some of that to be made up somewhere.  I tend to think it'll be a good thing, assuming it gets approved.  Clearly there are other things that will need to be worked out with another party, but I'm choosing to see this as a step in the right direction.  This has been going on in some form or another for, yikes, around six years, so it will be a relief to put it to rest.  (Or so I hope.)

After ending last year and starting this year feeling banged up, I'm happy to report that I'm feeling much better these days.  The couple of health scares turned out to be nothing (or the lingering effects from that 2010 car accident.) I've been diligent about working out for an hour at least five times a week, whether with a student trainer or on my own.  While I'm resisting doing a hard count of the calories I consume, I have a pretty good idea of how much I should be and am eating.  I can tell that all of this is making a difference.  Without having set foot on a scale, I'd wager I've lost 15-20 pounds so far this year.

I've also taken to trying to go to bed earlier, which is part of the reason why this blog has seen my contributions reduced to almost zero.  I am getting more sleep than I used to, in part because I'm tired by that point in the day and because it's been a conscious choice.

Extra time has seemed like a rare commodity, but I know I'm susceptible to wanting to overdo it to fit in everything.  I think I've done fairly well in balancing how much I can handle with my desire to do more than I'm sometimes able.  (There are always more movies to see than time to see them, for instance.)  Still, I've seen The Black Keys in concert and attended ten NCAA Tournament Division I men's basketball games, including the one in Dayton that President Obama and the British Prime Minister were at.  (I sat just two sections over from them.  That was pretty exciting.)  I'm seeing Bruce Springsteen next week and Radiohead in June.  I'll be making my annual trip to a festival later this month. 

So I certainly can't say that things are boring, even if there are times I'd like more time to catch my breath.  I'd like to be writing here more, and perhaps it'll pick up again on a more regular basis.

Anyway, I thought I'd pipe up for the handful (?) of people who might still peer in here from time to time.