Daily Update – 4.26.11

I haven’t done a daily update in forever.  It just seems like I’m always busy with either schoolwork, regular work, or fitness.  All are pretty important.  Obviously I have time for other stuff, but this has fallen to the end of the line lately.

Today was a day at home with no regular work, so I was able to do a better job on the discussion boards at school.  It’s good to get those in sooner, rather than waiting until the end of the week.

I was quite sleepy today, so much of the day was “wasted” on that, but since I rarely nap and such, if my body wants to, I try to listen.

When Laurie came home, we did a 12 mile bike ride on Shoal Creek.  My handlebars were bugging me quite a bit.  I can’t figure out why some days they are fine, and others they bug me a great deal.

We also went to book group.  Then came home, played our Lego game a bit, and then that was about it.

Daily Update – 3.11.11

I finally had a day to stay home and get stuff done.  I took more photographs with my Argus C3 Rangefinder for my classes.  Then came the process of developing the film.  Taking it to Precision camera would have been the easy method, but they were quite rude the last time I as in there, so I’m doing my best to give them as little of my business as possible.  So, I pulled out my photo chemicals and developing equipment and did it myself.  It wasn’t too difficult once I found the right chemicals that hadn’t gone bad yet.  It’s a bit time consuming, but not too bad.

So that took up most of the day.  When Laurie came home, we did 3 loops on Shoal Creek, equaling 12 miles.  We raced the straightaway and Laurie won easily.  I got rather annoyed, given that she claims it’s tough keeping up with me.  She had no problems today.

After that, we came home and had dinner and watched Reno 911.  Exciting stuff.

Photo of the Day:

Daily Update – 3.10.11

Another ho-hum day.  Work took up most of it, which is annoying.  I came home and did some schoolwork.  This week is experimenting with film, so I also tried out a camera I picked up at Goodwill – an Argus Rangefinder C3.  No clue how it works, but I think I did okay.  I’ll process my film tomorrow and find out if it worked.

Laurie and I had a tennis ladder match.  We started off well, but then ended up losing the first set.  But we came back at the end of the 2nd set.  But then fell in the tie-breaker.  I think strokes were fine – but strategy needed some work.

Came home and did more schoolwork and now time for bed.

Photo of the Day:

I wish I could have a scent of the day. These trees smell SO good in the spring.  I love it!!!

Daily Update – 3.2.11

Today was the day I needed to finish reading a bunch of GLBT books.  I finished up with the task, so that’s good.

Laurie stayed home, so we went on a bike ride.  Just a couple laps on Shoal Creek.  My legs were tired from the get go, but we did okay.

We did pick up 2 new fish, since our koi did eventually succumb to some unknown illness and died.  The one fish that was left kept hiding, but once we added the two new ones, it has come out to investigate, so that’s good.  Hopefully they will all get along.

That’s about it.  Tomorrow is a USTA singles match.  I had preferred doubles, due to a sore shoulder and a tournament match on Friday, but oh well.  Hopefully I don’t overdo it.

Photo of the Day:

Daily Update – 3.1.11

Laurie and I finally played tennis together again and we won!  I still think it might be too early for her to play, given the elbow/arm issues, but on the other hand, she is my favorite partner, and obviously it’s nice to break my losing streak.  So we’ll see how it goes.  It was a good match and the 6-3, 6-2 score was nice, especially since Laurie is still in the early stages of learning a two-handed forehand.  She seems to be a quick learner though.

Not much else to note.

Photo of the Day:

Daily Update – 2.25.11

Today was a lovely day with Laurie, who took the day off work to recuperate from her out of state trip earlier this week.  We slept in.  Then headed to the camera store and Goodwill to look for odds and ends.  Next up was some tennis practice.  Then a bit of easy bike-riding so Laurie could get used to her new cycling shoes and pedals.  Then a dog walk / photo walk.  I got some pictures taken for my school assignments this week.  Finally back home for pizza and a movie – a Ricky Gervais one called the Invention of Lying.  It was a cute movie, but not too heavy or involved.  A 3 out of 5 stars one.

On a political note, one thing I mentioned to Laurie today was that instead of firing all our teachers and shutting down schools because of no money, how about just get the cops to start writing a ton of traffic tickets and funnel that money to the schools.  There’s entirely too many people out there speeding and driving badly.  Let’s make some money and make the roads safer at the same time.  If you don’t want a ticket, just drive according to the laws.  Otherwise, speed all you want, just get ready to help support our schools.  Seems simple and obvious enough to me.

Photo of the Day:

Daily Update – 2.23.11

Today was pretty much spent tidying up the house so as not to shock Laurie upon her return.  Not that I’m all that untidy, but I’m not quite as fastidious as she is.  Then I worked.  Then I came home and tidied up a bit more before picking her up at the airport.  Now it’s bedtime.  Fascinating day, to be sure.

Photo of the Day:

Daily Update – 2.22.11

Today was a pretty uneventful day.  All I really did was do some grocery shopping, work, and come home and do some schoolwork.  Not much excitement at all.  I’m in a no-fitness rut due to all the work and schoolwork, which is not  making me happy.  It’s so much easier to lose fitness than gain it, and the loss can happen quickly without vigilance.

Hopefully with Laurie back tomorrow, we can get back into a routine of getting some exercise in.  And I’m going to need to continue to find ways to get everything done, despite being way too busy.

Photo of the Day:

Daily Update – 2.20.11

I had to wake up entirely too early – 6:25 am – to get out of the neighborhood before I got trapped by the Austin Marathon.  Which meant I was super sleepy for the whole rest of the day.  I eventually napped around 6pm, so now at 11pm, I’m fairly awake.

Despite a messed up sleeping arrangement, I had a nice day with my family.  I then came home and managed to get some more schoolwork done.  I still need to get more done tomorrow, and don’t really have any time for that, but I think I’m doing better than last week, so I’ll take the improvement.

I have a tennis match tomorrow, but unfortunately have come down with a mysterious wrist/shoulder pain.  I can still play, but I’m guessing my wrist will be pretty unhappy about it.  Luckily it’s doubles, so less serving.

Counting down the days until Laurie is back.  She left me some pretty hand-drawn cards while she was away.  I appreciate the effort she put into them, and am very happy she exercised her creative talents.  I like it when she is creative.

Photo of the day:

Daily Update – 2.19.11

I played my first USTA league singles match in a while today.  I started out getting down 4-1, really worried I was going to completely embarrass myself.  But really, I was just down a service break, and managed to hold the rest of my serves, so ended the 1st set down 6-3.  I tried to stay positive – something quite difficult for me.  But I did a decent job, and won the 2nd set 6-3.  Unfortunately, I lost the 3rd set tiebreaker, but I consider myself lucky to escape with a 3 set loss.  My opponent was younger, faster, and seemed more confident about her strokes.  I felt I played a bit defensively, but on the upside, managed to hold my serve every time except that one break in the first set.  So it’s a loss, and I’m 0-2 for the Spring season, but I think I held my own okay.  I kind of prefer losing because of me and me only, whereas in doubles, sometimes you can play well, but if your partner has an off day, you don’t see results.  But on the other hand, doubles is more fun because of more strategy and teamwork.

Other than that, I did more schoolwork.  I kinda feel better about this week, but still need to have a productive Sunday.  I’ll be at my parents’ for some of the day, so I need to make the most of the rest of the day.

When I talked to Laurie on the phone, she told me she was feeling sick, which makes me sad.  They work entirely too long days there, so she isn’t going to have a chance to try to nip it in the bud, before it gets worse.  When I felt sick a few days ago, I re-prioritized things so I could get a lot of sleep and focused on not stressing out, which I feel was crucial to staying healthy.  It seemed to work, as the past couple of days I have felt fine, and managed to avoid having my “off feeling” turn into sickness.

Photo of the Day: