NOTE: Posting has been lagging lately due to the fact that most of my time spent “doing stuff” has been done indoors. There is no real creative joy in posting daily updates about crap three-mile runs on the treadmill. Hopefully I get outside soon. Crap or not, after a week of running/lumbering nearly 20 miles to nowhere I had time to think about the direction that I want to take my life. I’m not one for New Year’s Resolutions, or at least not very good at keeping them, but I am one to make a list of things that I will “try to do.” Not so much because it’s a new year, but just because. This is a long one, so I have split it into two posts.
This is Part I, and written for me more than anything else, so feel no need to read it, but this is the sort of stuff that goes through my mind as I run staring at a blank wall in front of me.
– Management
Eat Better
I always eat well, but I want to eat better. Meaning I want to get a lot cleaner when I eat (lean meats, vegetables, fruit (I hate fruit!), less cheese (I love cheese), etc.,. Back when I was unsuccessfully doing endurance races I took a lot of pride in my vigilance to eat right, hydrate, work out no matter what, and be in control of my weight. Since then I’ve said “F*ck it, it’s just pizza (a whole pizza), f*ck it, it’s just a gin and tonic (a double, four of them), and F*ck it, I worked out yesterday (a crap 20 mile ride)” too many times. My goal in 2017 now is to take better care of myself in the eating right department. Eat right, work out (riding, running, strength training, etc.,), and if weight loss happens, fine. If not, I’ll enjoy being the fittest man with a 30+ BMI.
Baked Zucchini Fries, see their origin under the Cat 5 Cooking menu above.
Drink Less
This sort of goes with the above, but in recent years I’ve found myself reaching for booze way too often to try to feel better about myself (it didn’t work). Nothing goes with a pity party like booze. No, I didn’t sit around crying whilst sitting in a pool of my own slack, but being jobless, and being at home all day folding clothes and running errands has often had me reaching for a bottle of something–anything–around 5 PM to forget about my lack of contributions to society outside of the home.
When I worked I NEVER drank on a weeknight unless I was guilted into going out with friends who worked on the weekends, or it was a special event. When I did go out I would force down a light beer or two, not double gin and tonics, and be home in bed by 10 PM. That went out the window when I left the paper in 2009, and got worse after the demise of XXC Magazine in 2013. I don’t plan to stop enjoying some beers on the weekend but the days of liquor are over, and the days of BIG craft beers have to be a special occasion, not all Friday and Saturday night. So, the 70% rule applies here. Meaning outside of the weekend, there needs to be a damn good reason to have a drink, but at the same time that doesn’t mean that the weekend is an open invite to go through a case of Sierra Nevada, but more a chance to catch up with Wifey and have a few pints.
In addition to all that B-Man is going to be turning 13 in February, this is a very impressionable time and sadly in the coming years he will no doubt be faced with decisions at parties, etc., I want to set him up for making correct decisions and he doesn’t need to see me treating alcohol so irresponsibly, that would only create a useless “do as I say, not as I do” type atmosphere. I might not be too keen on myself, but I love that kid, so I think I can find some healthier ways to flagellate (not to be confused with fellatiate) myself.
Exercise More
In years past I HAD to ride. If I didn’t ride, inside or out, it wasn’t a workout. I’ve gotten better at this, but often I’ve confused a leisurely hike with my camera for a workout. Nothing against a leisurely hike with my camera, I love that, but it needs to be in addition to doing something of quality: a ride, a run, intense snowshoeing, or some circuit training with the weights, etc. With the addition of the groomed fat bike trails at Snow Snake just 25 minute away, winter has the potential to be more than me holed up in the basement, or freezing my tits off on some an exposed frozen dirt road (not that I don’t dig that on occasion!).
If nothing else there’s always my dayglow leg warmers and old beta copies of Jazzercise Funk to help me shed those unwanted pounds while toning my hips and buttocks.