FRIDAY FIVE

6 April 2002

I'm getting into this  "Friday Five" jazz. It certainly makes writing a Friday entry rather effortless. So here's this week's:

1. what are the first things that you do in the morning to start your day?

Turn off the alarm (it's 4 or 4:30 a.m.). Stagger to the computer. Spend the first 30 minutes checking e-mail and journal entries. Then, when the brain is clear, start transcribing. Sometimes I find Steve up at the same time, and we may chat for a bit, though he's been immersed in his music lately.

I used to do transcription at night after dinner, but once I went back to an office job, I discovered that the 59 year old brain cells aren't quite as lively as they were when I last held a job, and I was "only" 54. I can get the job done, if necessary, but I spend a LOT of time fooling around, and am exhausted when I finally go to sleep. If I get up at 4 a.m., I can generally accomplish in an hour and a half what it would take me several hours to do if I did it at the end of my day.

Then at 5:45, I get the coffee started, put on my Darth Vader helmet, hop on the bike, and head to the club, where I spend 50 minute working out.

2. what are the last things that you do at night before going to bed?

Wait till the e-mail trickles out and everybody seems to finally be asleep. Then do the evening ablutions, get into jammies, pretend I'm going to actually watch Jay Leno and doze off in the middle of the monologue.

3. what daily routine have you recently added to your day?

EXERCISE!!!! As anybody who has been reading this journal for more than a few days knows. 50 minutes every morning, five days a week, and then bike riding on either Friday or Saturday or both. On Friday Olivia and I try to get somewhere to ride bikes, on Saturday I'm hoping that The Bitter Hag and I will find time at least frequently, if not every week, to try out some of the bike trails around the Bay Area.

4. what routine do you wish you could get rid of?

I'd say housework, but since I don't do it, I suppose that would make people laugh. It would be nice to have a maid come in and do the dishes on a regular basis, since I can't really ignore them forever. I've also been the sole dog-feeder 99% of the time, and I'd love to share that task, but Walt has been the poop picker-upper for as long as we've had dogs, so I guess it's not that bad to be the dog feeder.

5. what's the one thing that makes you feel like something is missing if you don't do it some point within your day?

Obviously the time spent on the computer. E-mail is my life—I'm sure there must be a t-shirt in that somewhere. (Actually, somewhere I do have a t-shirt that says "Typing is my life, but I'm willing to consider a better alternative") My day starts with e-mail, it ends with e-mail and it is punctuated with e-mail. On days when I'm not around a computer, I don't exactly start twitching and going into withdrawal, but I do miss it.

Olivia and I rode our bikes today and I'm riding with Haggie tomorrow, so I'll hold off on reports or photos until then (especially since Olivia has all the photos from today and needs to e-mail them to me <--this is a reminder, O!).

I also went to my new doctor today to have all the aches and pains checked out. What a difference it is going to a doctor when you have already started doing all the stuff that you're afraid he's going to tell you to do. After he saw that I'd lost 40 lbs since I was last seen, had a decrease in cholesterol and blood pressure, had blood sugars under control, and heard about my exercise program, he had no complaints at all. It's so nice to have a doctor smile at you and tell you you're doing everything right!

But he did check out my sore knees and my sore toe, had x-rays taken, and decided that I'm not nearly as decrepit as I was afraid I was. All it should take is...(surprise) a little exercise. Actually, it just means adding another machine or two to my daily routine, and that will be a piece o'cake. He's having me see a physical therapist for guidance, and then figures I can be turned loose to augment what I'm already doing. I was very encouraged by his words.