random thoughts – Day 1,283 – (Thursday) – soup days

Lunch soup.

Another beautiful day dawned in Lowell with blue skies and sunshine. The week has launched the household into soup season, and it's been homemade chicken soup with vegetables and noodles for a couple days. Dang, I do love soup. 

Today was a doubleheader. There was soup for lunch with half of an everything bagel with butter, and for supper with two slabs of Scandinavian rye crisp with butter. 

Cooler temperatures often make me want to cook and the meals on hand situation improves dramatically. Veggie roasting season is right around the corner and I can almost smell it. Fragrant good times are ahead.

After a video meeting, there was a quick break out to the front yard to pull some weeds. This particular task used to be handled in small spurts, two or three minutes here and there while Winston did his business. With fewer excuses to be in the yard, the weeds have a chance to go a little wild.

The front flower bed was overgrown with individual tall grass stems, waving in the breeze as if to say “hey!” and beckoning (taunting?) me to pluck them from the earth. So, I did. In no time I had harvested a bunch of grasses and weeds and dropped them into the Yard Waste bin.

In fewer than 10 minutes, I was back at the desk, cranial cobwebs cleared and mentally ready to tackle the next glamorous marketing task. Today's glamour included sending emails to check in on the too many projects suspended in limbo in other departments and check the details on some of the initiatives under my own control. 

Overall, it was one of my favorite types of work day. There were no nasty little brush fires to be stomped out. No last minute requests. Nobody complaining about the execution of said last-minute requests that were made with insufficient information. Truly, a very good day.

After work, there was no debate about going to the gym. It was a remote day with no commute home. There was a quick costume change into some gym pants and a tee shirt topped with a lightweight hoodie, and by 5:15, I was parking the car at Planet Fitness.

The preferred treadmill location is about three-quarters of the way down the row, beyond a couple of intimidating stair machines. The treadmills closer to the entrance and the check-in desk seem to fill up, but at the further end there is more availability. 

The only thing I really don’t like about the gym is the ceiling fan situation. They are huge, built to circulate the air, and they execute their function very well. No matter where I am on the floor, it feels like I’m in a hurricane force wind. It takes a full 20 minutes on the treadmill before I can lower the zipper on my hoodie even an inch. I’ve yet to take it off. Or even unzip it all the way. Sweating is a physical impossibility. It's all good -- shivering burns more calories.

The reward for 35 minutes on the treadmill (hills program) was a 10-minute treat in the massage chair. It was a tossup between the hydro massage table and the massage chair. The chair won out but only because it was the first word I saw on the check-in screen  Either way, life in the massage equipment is good, 10 minutes at a time.