Good Early Morning at Home So Far

 It's now a little past five in the morning, I'm up, and my FitBit has so far given me a little over three hours of sleep credit.  Ran in place for 7 minutes, brewed coffee, and ate a couple of toaster strudels. unless we find ourselves going out today, I'm gonna be a homebody.  The news of this ongoing missile war is disconcerting and I'm tired of reaching news channels that dwell on it.  My hunger level is almost non-existent, so unless whether we go through a Dunkin' drive-through comes up from another in conversation, i'm planning to play it all cool.  Now back to my exercise and rest.  Oh, and Happy Rebecca Anniversary Day and Casimir Pulaski Day. So will I try taking out the white Camry for aa short neighborhood spin today? We'll see...

More Radiation, Headaches, TV Football...and About Sleep

 Today Melissa took me down to the UF Healh Davis Cancer Pavillion for another round of radiation treatment, after which an oncologist assigned to my case consulted with us.  Then, following a weekly lab blood draw, I talked with Amy, the nurse practitioner working under Dr. Rinonos, my chief oncologist.  We discussed the possibility of surviving a limited and pessimistic lifespan prognosis following diagnosis with an aggressive variety of brain cancer, which I just underwent.  I guess I"ll just live as long as I live...hopefully enjoying life as time winds on.  I did little-to-no home exercise, My virtual miles for the day being a little more than one.  The featured televised pro football was uninteresting, and I probably slept through much of it.  My FitBit has recently been very uninformative regarding my length of sleep time and my sleep quality...I don't know when or if it will resume being useful.  I have more radiation scheduled tomorrow.  I'm hoping that my headaches in the morning will be light...

On This Anniverary of the Pearl Harbor Attack

Right now it's morning in Gainesville.  I'm sheltered in place within my house and it's raining quite a bit, predicted to do so for hours.  I think I did sleep some last night, although I'm not counting on my FitBit to bear that out.  It is also December 7th, the 84th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that ushered in the United States' entry into World War II.  I thought of the family scene at the close of the movie The Godfather Part II in which Santino (Sonny) rants about "what do you think of the Japs bombing Pearl Harbor on Pop's birthday".  Fredo replies, "They didn't know it was Pop's birthday", bringing a round of laughter.  Later Michael, played by Al Pacino, reveals that he had just enlisted in the Marines, greatly angering his volatile older brother.  This flashback scene comes right after the end of a planned murder spree in which Michael has not only disgraced his own family but has effectively destroyed it.  The scene to me is one of the best in the Godfather series, not just this movie.  Well, Pearl Harbor has NOT just been attacked, and today is before me although I plan to stay at home for most of it.  Blessings to all...

Training On Though Therapy Process

 Today was Tuesday, a real weekday just preceding Thanksgiving Day by 48 hours.  It seems that the last two months of the calendar year are stacked with special holidays that appear deliberately designed to disrupt the regular routines of living, including those of school and work.  I'm looking at Thanksgiving morning, just ahead of me, and think sure, I'll make it out to show up at the Gobbler Day Depot Parkrun 5K.  The idea then is that once I'm there and the race begins, I'll give it my best try...that's called "following through".  Today from early on I was meditating on when and for how long I would train in my living room at a zone 1 level, usually listening to foreign language podcasts while doing so.  My training exercise of choice is something I call "rock running".  I rock back and forth, from toes to heels, while moving my arms forward and back as a balancing mechanism.  Today I took this training strategy seriously, doing rock-running for 72 minutes and crediting myself with 7.2 training miles.  As I make this treacherous personal health journey after beginning chemotherapy and radiation treatments for my brain cancer, I often evaluate my subjective state of feeling, such as whether I suffer from any headaches.  Sometimes that plays a discouraging role, but I've never felt fatigue that doesn't naturally come with a day fully and actively lived through.  I'm continuing to hope and pray that this process is successful at fighting back the cancer while my discipline with training brings me encouragement and realistic optimism...

Ran at Night Outside Under Difficult Weather Conditions Yesterday

As I stated in yesterday's article, I have been tailoring my back yard to accommodate more running and walking training in the nighttime hours as the summertime and its hot and humid conditions here in northern Florida wear on.  I went out there right after sunset, with temperatures still in the 80s and humidity in the 60s and, using my ring-tally-counter, ran back and forth across the yard 150 laps to cover 5 miles, all while listening to an Amazon Music shuffle of songs by Led Zeppelin, one of my all-time favorite musical acts.  The nature of the setup requires me to greatly decelerate as I approach each fence, and the turf itself is uneven with sloping that I have to maneuver through, so my pace is by necessity much slower than it would be on a continuous paved and even pathway.  I finished last night's jaunt at 1:09:07, slow but I'm not concerned with the speed anyway, at least at this stage.  For the first 2.8 miles I mixed running with walking at a 4:1 ratio while for the final 2.2 miles I simply ran.  Although it was already nighttime and the brutal 100-degree late afternoon conditions had alleviated somewhat, my shirt and shorts were still completely drenched in perspiration at the end...yes, brutal is the fitting description of this summer so far, and it's technically not even summer yet!  I'm optimistic about using my back yard in the future as a way to run at night...

You Shoulda Heard This Joke

 

Looks like our little puppy Daisy is overcome with mirth...we're always joking around.  But no, I just caught her in mid-yawn on this recent lazy day loaded with bad weather, including heavy rain, keeping her inside...and curled up on the recliner.  When we first got her at a pet adoption fair at PetSmart in May of '22 she was only seven pounds...but we then believed that she could grow to be 60 or higher at full weight.  But Daisy Dewlop, as Melissa, her human mommy, likes to call her, stabilized at 41 lbs.  She's quite a vocal character who has a mission to fight squirrels, birds, bugs, lizards...and trucks.  Humans, dogs...and especially humans with dogs...are okay when she's looking out the window at home, though: they may pass! Yet she's still pretty skittish and tense while in the car or out in public, barking up a hysterical storm when she spots people and other dogs close by.  We are training her to overcome her anxiety, though, and respond more readily to our commands.  Daisy is definitely a great blessing to us.  Below is a shot of her, with her "cousin" Kairi (our daughter Rebecca's dog) on lookout duty at our front window...

Tackling Still More Jigsaw Puzzles at Home

 

During my recent recovery at home I've gone through a slew of jigsaw puzzles...the nearby Walmart has an excellent selection.  I just open the box, spread the pieces out on the dining room table, and walk up to the puzzle at various random moments during the day.  I'm about to begin a new one...if you have a free surface to work on, why not try this fun activity yourself?  Besides simply being fun, it also helps the mind stay sharp, I imagine more than popping some over-the-counter pill.  Each puzzle presents its own challenges, and I enjoy tackling them while inviting anyone around to share in their construction. I've completed quite a few...the above three represent my three favorites of late.  By the way, I was surprised by a recent contestant on the game show Wheel of Fortune who said that she engaged in jigsaw puzzle competitions and that there was actually a world championship in it. If that's your schtick then go for it....for me, I like doing them for their own sake... 

Game of the Week: Croquet

A few days ago I read Agatha Christie's first mystery novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, from 1921.  Set in a rural English estate, a passing reference is made to a croquet game...bringing to my mind a flood of memories of playing it with my family during my childhood in the 1960s.  After reading up on it, I discovered that there are different versions of croquet...including one with flamingos for mallets, hedgehogs for balls, and living card-men for wickets, if you happen to be a Lewis Carroll fan.  But here in America, we seem to have agreed on one form: the nine-wicket game.  Each player starts off in front of the "home" stake with their own mallet and colored wooden ball, the goal being to make a complete circuit of the course by putting the ball through each wicket (a thick rectangular wire stuck into the ground) in the right sequence and direction while hitting the stakes at the ends of the course before anyone else.  I remember getting pretty good at it...and then we all sadly seemed to outgrow croquet.  But I'd like to revive interest in it, at least at my home.  The only problem is that with this heavy rain we've been having and almost unbearable humidity, the ground in my backyard is thoroughly saturated with water and is sloshy to walk through.  It's bad enough to try mowing the lawn through it...at least during my recovery I'm happy to let others tackle that...but in this mushy state it is impossible to attempt a croquet game.  Still, I entertain hopes for a dryer future and plan on obtaining a croquet set soon...

Managed to See Comet NEOWISE Sunday Evening

Sunday at twilight I dragged a folding chair across my backyard, bringing with me a cup of coffee, and then sat there as the blueness gradually receded and the darkness began to reveal one star after another.  My purpose in this venture was to catch a glimpse of Comet NEOWISE, only discovered less than four months ago, and which is visible to the naked eye...if you're at the correct latitude, that is, and clouds aren't obscuring the sky.  Sunday it was wonderfully clear and I first noticed the star Arcturus high in the sky, followed by Vega in the east, the north star Polaris, and the stars of the Big Dipper, a popular asterism within the constellation Ursa Major...in which Comet NEOWISE was to be located on its western side.  As the sky darkened and more stars became visible, I was frustrated at not being able to make out the comet.  Melissa then came outside and joined me in looking for it...she found it first and eventually so did I, around 9:30 pm.  The Big Dipper was turned on its side in the northwestern sky with the pan in the bottom and the handle on top.  I went down from the Dipper about halfway to the horizon, and a little to the left...and there it was, a faint smudge in the sky trailing off to the upper right: I could see it better if I looked a little to the side, not directly at it.  Okay, good, I saw it in person...and frankly, noting how the summer skies here in northern Florida tend to get overcast lately in early evening and that I'm going to be indoors at work this time of the day until next Saturday, this may have been my final opportunity to view it...glad I did.  I first heard of this comet on a Tweet by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, whom I follow, and then kept up with it through some posts by Julie, a Facebook friend.  A few days ago it was in the constellation Auriga, then drifted eastward to Lynx and is now in that far western section of Ursa Major: its position among the starry background changes due to the comet's own motion as well as the Earth's revolution around the Sun.   By the way, the reason the name is in all capital letters is that the discovery came about under a project (NEOWISE) using the space telescope WISE, which stands for Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer...at least that's what Wikipedia said...

Starbucks Not Yet Ready for Me to Sit There

Yesterday before work I decided to try out my local Starbucks...visiting for the first time in nearly three months...to see what their new seating/distancing arrangements were and maybe in the process come up with a new topic for a blog article.  Also, I wanted to finally return to a sense of normality: sitting out in public in coffee shops has been something I've enjoyed doing for many, many years and I get a lot of studying and writing done there.  So I got on my phone and did a remote mobile order for my Venti iced coffee with cream, drove on down to the location on NW 43rd Street...and discovered that despite other businesses opening up around Gainesville, Starbucks (at least the one nearest my home) still does not seat people, only selling their products drive-through or take-out.  I did get my coffee at least...no money lost, I used my Starbucks "points" to order it.  I had been looking at the reopening of Starbucks as a bellwether to resuming life as before the coronavirus...not yet, and quite frankly we may be in for a rough road ahead with mass noncompliance of restrictions due to various factors that may be beginning to cause an uptake in cases reported.  Let's all hope and pray that doesn't grow into another spike in COVID-19.  Back in November 2017, long before the current strain of COVID made its entry into our world, I came down with a severe virus that caused painfully deep coughing fits for three days, along with a few more needed for full recovery...it was no flu, I could tell that much. But in retrospect I'm certain that it was something similar to the virus going on around the world today, another one of the coronaviruses on "steroids'". I totally get the trials that some people who are infected with COVID-19 have to go through and don't wish it on anyone, not even the deniers who proudly refuse to cover their faces or practice social distancing around me and my loved ones.  In the meantime, here I go again writing my blog articles at my home desktop computer, next to my Smithsonian Air and Space Museum mug of home-brewed hazelnut coffee...hey, that's not so bad, is it?

Missing Being Able to Haunt Local Coffee Shops

I'm sitting here at my desktop in the living room with the TV on CNN in the background and a view out the front window at a sunny, breezy day.  I miss not being able to go out and sit in an Internet-friendly business like Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts, drinking a flavored iced coffee while conjuring up within my mind something to write on this blog...home is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but even good old Bilbo Baggins had to get away from his hobbit hole every now and then.  There's a new Dunkin' Donuts within walking distance of my house...they supposedly opened starting March 24th but haven't yet been able to seat anyone because of the coronavirus outbreak, which we're apparently now supposed to call "novel" coronavirus because it's so novel, you see.  It's funny, but since I stopped frequenting these places for coffee and writing I haven't had a single iced coffee...once I drove up to order one through the drive-through at the new Dunkin' (after voting on March 17th), but when I got to the window they informed me that it hadn't opened yet and that it was training employees...

One of my friends who recently retired and has a condo on the Atlantic shoreline had bemoaned the closing of most of Florida's beaches (although some are still open and the governor won't mandate their closure), which happened primarily because of the pictures of young spring breakers pretty much thumbing their collective noses at social distancing guidelines and congregating there en masse.  The problem with reopening them now is that due to school closures these people are in a sense still on "spring break"...I agree with my friend that beaches could work for people who use them in a proper distancing setting, much like within a neighborhood where people still go out walking their dogs or jogging.  But I'm afraid the same elements that caused their closing would return were they to reopen...yes, the selfish spring breakers ruined beaches for us all...

Eventually the infection curve will flatten and both the beaches and coffee shops...along with libraries, schools and so-called "nonessential" businesses...will reopen and do so doubtlessly amid others' outcries that they are placing dollars over lives.  But as I have mentioned before on this blog, this divisive debate is inevitable.  I'm guessing that when these places finally do reopen, they will be invoking similar distancing guidelines to what we see in groceries, limiting the number of customers and keeping them apart.  I don't know what they're going to do with the schools, though...

Quote of the Week...from Thornton Wilder

When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.                          ---Thorton Wilder

Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) was an American playwright whose play Our Town was a common English class assignment in high school...we got saddled with it, too.  Maybe some day as a "free" adult I'll voluntarily reread it or watch it performed on YouTube.  For now, though, I've found the above quote of his and thought it pertained very well to the "stay at home" mantra sweeping the country...and much of the rest of the world, for that matter...

When I had free time in elementary school I'd often visit the library and read old stories and fables...I was especially entranced with the adventures of Sinbad, a wealthy citizen of Baghdad during the Caliphate era who would become restless at home in spite of his prosperity and set sail for adventure.  Inevitably he would find himself in dire peril and bemoan his decision to travel, longing to be back home and safe...but he always managed to escape and return home.  And there he'd be happy for a while and then, bored, continue the cycle with another adventure.  I think many of us are like Sinbad, but with a much more limited attention span largely caused by our modern-day expectations of instant gratification.  The introverts among us can find inner peace in solitude and companionship with loved ones: extroverts seem to be in a constant itch to go out and hobnob with others, though...I see a big problem with these open house parties and spontaneous street basketball games I see springing up within my neighborhood during this time of supposed social distancing...

I would have preferred to be one of those employees who could work from home instead of being someone "essential" who had to work in a crowded facility with others while the infection rate here from the COVID-19 virus is climbing exponentially.  Unfortunately, some of my colleagues either do not understand what "exponentially" means or because they can't actually see the virus they deny its existence or that their decisions to forgo physical distancing in the workplace are their own business and nobody else's...but it all comes out looking like foolish bravado.  I think bravery is commendable, but only if it serves a worthwhile purpose...

This pandemic will eventually run its course and we'll all be able then to have our adventures and social life as we see fit...in the meantime can we please just show a little forbearance and maturity in order to save lives, save our economy and give the health care sector the time it needs to staff and equip itself to deal with this crisis?

Severe Squall Line and Storm Blasts Gainesville

I had quite a little adventure yesterday afternoon in my quest to drive the eight miles from my home to my workplace, extending the final total distance covered by several miles.  A severe storm front, headed by an intense squall line "highlighted" by torrential rain, strong winds, tornadoes, and lightning, swept through the area, starting at about 11 in the morning.  I had planned on staying home and driving to work later when the weather was less threatening, but almost immediately after the squall line hit, our power went out...something unusual for my subdivision since we have underground lines.  So with no electricity I decided to get ready for work and head on out, a little earlier than planned.  That was fortuitous since I had no idea how bad it was outside on the road.  At least from NW 34th Street on west all the traffic lights were out, and 34th was blocked by the police south of 39th Avenue...apparently an accident or fallen tree down the road.  So I went west and found myself in a succession of traffic standstills while steering to avoid fallen branches and emergency vehicles.  I even tried driving down a stretch of I-75, entering at 39th Avenue.  The traffic there was relatively light and smooth-running until about a mile short of the Newberry Road exit, where a small sign flashed, "Road Closed 1 Mile Ahead: Crash".  Fortunately, the exit occurred before the crash site and I left at Newberry Road.  As I was turning off, I noticed none of the vehicles around me were heeding that sign and saw them all coming to a sudden halt down the road where emergency vehicles were flashing their lights...oh well, you can lead a horse to water...  On Newberry Road it was bumper-to-bumper traffic and I turned off at Perkins Restaurant and snuck my way through the back of the Oaks Mall Plaza and through the Oaks Mall parking lot to SW 62nd Blvd.  At the SW 20th Avenue intersection a car nearly rammed me as I was turning left and already clearly in the middle of the intersection...I had the impression they weren't looking where they were going. Eventually I made my way down to SW 43rd Street and noticed as I approached Wal-Mart that the traffic light was working...hooray! From that point onward the drive to work was routine. The power in my house was out until early evening, and as I drove by around 10:15 after work I noticed power crews heavy at work on a line at NW 34th St and 16th Ave.  Today many of the streets are strewn with small branches, leaves, and pine needles...other than that you wouldn't know that anything had happened the day before.  After getting home from work, I flicked my TV on Channel 20 for the local Gainesville news at 11 and, after the lead story briefly mentioning...in words, no pictures...that a storm had swept through, they quickly passed on to other stories that were of much less immediate interest...I wish they would prioritize their news better.  Maybe I'll start watching their competitor from now on...I switched over and they at least showed some of the roadside debris...

I'm sitting here writing this and basking in this pleasant, meteorologically unremarkable day...not to mention being off from work...

Rain, Rain, and More Rain in Gainesville Today

In Gainesville, today is one of those days when the rainy, intermittently stormy weather makes me glad to be spending most of it indoors at work...although I have to admit I am enjoying the cool temperatures.  This has been a peculiar winter/spring: in February we saw temperatures climb into the nineties and yet may see it dip into the forties later this week.  Besides the ground around my house getting oversaturated with water, it looks as if I'm going to need to mow the lawn soon since the grass seems to visibly grow overnight after this kind of downpour, which seems to have become relatively commonplace during the past few years.  It's forecast to rain all day, lighten up later at night, and then resume tomorrow morning.  Then, after it's all over, I plan to go out for a good, long neighborhood run...assuming that happens before I have to go back to work...

Annoying Seasonal Respiratory Allergies Appearing

This past Saturday I went on one of my four-mile runs through my own neighborhood, the adjacent subdivision, and down NW 53rd Avenue and back.  It was a good run, but afterwards I began to show the signs of seasonal respiratory allergies...sneezing, sniffling and coughing...which have bothered me over the course of several years.  I took a Zyrtec that night, and it alleviated my symptoms.  I've noticed some others in my workplace and in stores and church in different states of allergic distress as well during the last few weeks of this extremely early spring season...my heart goes out to them.  Last night I sat out on my back porch to keep our dog Freckles company as she roamed sniffing around the yard.  No mosquitos yet, thankfully, but I could sense those little particles of plant emissions that have plagued me so much in recent years...time for another Zyrtec.  Still, I enjoyed it out there with the bright stars, a misty fog beginning to sweep in, and the pungent smell of flowers permeating the air.  I'm not going to allow respiratory allergies to ruin my spring...the temperatures are warm but not excessively so and I've noticed that I run the best under these conditions.  With a little help from the pharmaceutical industry to treat my allergies...and possibly a little later from the companies making mosquito repellent...I'm determined to spend more time outdoors during the upcoming weeks...
 

Slogging Through Rainy Day After Rainy Day

Carrying an umbrella around wherever I go has never been a habit for me...at least not until this week.  Day after miserable day here in the Gainesville vicinity it's been one rainstorm after another.  The ground around my house has become saturated with water...parking on the grass like I usually do is no longer an option if I don't want to have to call AAA to tow my car free of the muck.  I am glad that I managed somehow during a rare precipitation intermission to get the front and back lawn mowed, but it looks as if the breaks from rain with be few and far between for the foreseeable future.  One of my friends at work said that there was a tropical disturbance spinning off this moisture...sure do wish it would spin it off somewhere else.  The one bright spot with all this is that we're pretty much immune to any forest fires in this area that tend to accompany dry, drought conditions.  Well, I had to find something positive to say about this awful weather...

Stepping Out Back, Stargazing Last Night

Last night I went outside in my back yard and looked up at the sky, something that I had fallen out of the habit of doing recently.  You see, since I was seven I have enjoyed star-gazing, checking out where "my" constellations and their stars are against the celestial background while noting the moon and planets (if they're visible) as well as the weather...and how the neighborhood seems to be doing.  It was easy to see the moon, high up in the west in its first quarter phase and emitting a faint halo through the thin clouds surrounding it...it was in Gemini, one of the bright constellations marking the brilliant winter evening sky.  There was Orion, Auriga, and Canis Major as well in that sector...always a visual draw with their brilliance...but my eyes turned more eastward as I observed the ascending springtime stars.  Leo was nearly overhead and Corvus was low in the southeast, just above the treeline of tall pines.  On the eastern horizon were the stars Arcturus and Spica...and looking north there was the inverted Big Dipper from the constellation Ursa Major.  My home seems to be directly under a jet route, because in the few minutes I was out there I saw a number of them passing overhead...we're also not very far from the Gainesville airport...

Lately the humidity has been higher than usual, and I prefer dryer air when I'm outside.  Last night conditions were cool and very pleasant.  Since I have a chain link fence surrounding my back yard, the rest of the neighborhood is pretty transparent to me...someone was out walking their dog with a flashlight and a car in the opposite cul-de-sac briefly flashed its headlights at me as it rounded it.  I can see how having a sense of neighborhood community is a good thing...but frankly, I'm getting tired of feeling like I'm in a fishbowl every time I step outside my back door.  Yes, I think a nice privacy fence will coming soon to my home...