My attempt at journaling
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ICE/fascist thugs continue to terrorize immigrant communities, committing random acts of murder along the way. For many conservatives, the reply to such a killing is to shrug their shoulders and claim the brown person shouldn't have been in the country illegally, as if murder is an acceptable punishment for a misdemeanor offense. On Monday, ICE killed a young man in Maine ; they shot him numerous…
Ever since my osteoporosis diagnosis more than four years ago, I've been a reluctant rider on the roads out of fear that a crash on pavement will lead to broken bones. Gravel roads are somewhat more forgiving, at least that's what I tell myself. I've recently dusted off my road bike and have been enjoying riding it again . In addition to enjoying road riding again, I'm also excited to see the…
Meet Jack! Rachel sent me this photo of him to add to my blog. He's so sweet and precious. We took the 75-minute drive to visit Rachel and her family a week ago. Tammy was in her happy place as she held Jack and rocked him. I love that for her. Cliff was at daycare, so we missed seeing him, but we video chatted with him a couple of nights ago. Hearing him say "Hi Gampa" makes my entire body smile.…
We received a text from Rachel yesterday morning saying, "Jack Martin was born on May 11 at 2:59 a.m., 6 lbs 13 oz. We are resting and doing great!" It was the text we were expecting, as she had begun experiencing contractions more than 24 hours earlier. We drove down to see them at the hospital in Rochester around noon. She and Drew were both tired, and it showed. It had been a long 36-hour…
I've been in a funk. While I'm managing to get to the gym most mornings for about an hour, walk Oscar and Rudy 20+ miles (32 km) per week, and get in a few rides (mostly on my indoor trainer this time of year), I'm struggling with motivation. I can admit to my fair share of doomscrolling. I think back to when I was employed and living a more structured life where every hour of my day was spoken…
In my last blog post, I talked about aging in relation to my physical performance on the bike and during my walks. Perhaps it's the Virgo in me—the meticulously organized side that tracks meaningless stuff, such as performance—but the numbers don't lie. The stats tell me I've been slowing down for many years, but a big part of my drop-off was due to my arthritic right knee. Now that I have my knee…
I jynxed us in my last blog post when I spoke about our mild winter. A strong depression came through Saturday night and into Sunday morning, bringing with it about 15" (38 cm) of snow, single-digit temps, and winds gusting in excess of 40 mph (65 kph). It's pretty out there, I'll say that! But a warmup is on the way! My WeatherBug app is forecasting 68°F (20 °C) for Saturday, just two days from…
Tammy had surgery on her foot last week to remove bone spurs and bone chips. Her doctor said it was a much-needed surgery for her. Over the past two years, especially, she hasn't been able to work out or walk very far the way she used to (because of pain), so we're hopeful this will give her that ability again. She was supposed to have the surgery last fall, but had to put it off for six months…
I've watched my share of Olympic coverage from Milano Cortina, Italy, over the last two-plus weeks. I mostly enjoy watching curling, but also figure skating, snowboarding, and ski jumping. I love the winter Olympics. It's been a nice distraction from our dysfunctional country. I was in a curling league two years ago and became fascinated by the sport. There is so much strategy involved. I still…
I've had enough. Like many people, I've toyed with the thought of deleting my Facebook account. Earlier this week, in a spur-of-the-moment decision, I decided to toy no more and did it. More accurately, I stopped short of deleting it and deactivated it instead. Not deleting it gives me continued access to Messenger, where I can still connect with friends. Perhaps it was the algorithm I had…
