Low Miles Low Stress

Monday (3) - In the NYC office early to set up for and execute the team meeting.  All went well, pshew.

Rockefeller Center
Such a beautiful tree.

I took myself on a walk down Madison Avenue, 5th Avenue ogling the lights and enjoying the sites.  I really do enjoy that, hopefully, I'll continue to have the opportunity to do this in the future.

Tuesday (0) -  NYC for General Counsel awards ceremony, went well, pshew.  Crazy busy day couldn't wait till I finally got to visit the Beer Table and plop my butt in a seat for the train ride home.

Harlem @ Park and 123rd
Wonder if they ever unearth anything when they demolish a building.

Jax's biopsy came back, benign with the caution it could have become cancerous. Glad he got a clean bill of health.  I've gotten a few of those biopsies, feh, no biggie.

Wednesday (3) -  Slow walk with Ro as the heels and dresses of the previous two days played havoc on my hips.  Crap I thought I had that all worked out, but no.  I felt better after the walk but as the day progressed I was back to where I started, going down the stairs backward.  Oh, it is so much fun to be meeeeeeeee, not.

He does love his bed, his fire, and recently started playing with Maxine again. 
His gums must be feeling better!

Thursday (0) - Back side still quite ouchy and tender might as well not annoy my annoyed SI or hip or whatever further even though it is going to rain on Friday and being outside in the rain if it doesn't warm up, isn't going to be fun.  Whatever.

This actually annoyed him, but I couldn't help but get into his space.
Squeeee super dork.

Friday (3) -  The run in the rain was really enjoyable.  Short due to my cranky hip.  At one point I didn't want to get too close to the water for fear of the ocean spray.  Yeah, let that compute for a second.

True Story.

Saturday (3) - Took Jax for a hike in the afternoon once the rain really stopped and we finished Dave's Christmas shopping.  He usually goes on Christmas Eve and if I'm home drags me with him.  I asked if maybe he wanted to go when the weather wasn't so great on Saturday.  After a bit of tooing and froing about how he NEVER involves me in this process, he seemed to remember that he did either IRL or via texting me in a panic from Talbots (for his mom), and he put together his list and we worked through it.  I think this is the earliest he's ever been finished and wrapped presents.

I was so tempted to drive around the block to get to zero.

Sunday (4 + 3) - I wanted to go for a ride but didn't want to deal with lots of people so I left later when all the competitive people are done with their morning workouts and the recreational athletes get their turn to piddle around aimlessly on the trails and roads.

Following the red line from the left of the map to the right was the plan.  I made through most of the yellow patch.

Turns out I really wasn't all that into a ride.  I did explore part of the Groton Cross Town Trail and some other loop in the Merrit Farm property (part of Groton Open Space).  Not what I was looking to ride.  I was out for an hour of ride time so that's not bad.  It is hard to judge what is or isn't an adequate mountain bike ride.  I was soaked in sweat and my heart was pumping, calling that good seems reasonable to me, but only 4 miles?  I think its the time in the saddle, not the miles when it comes to off-road riding.  The adjustment I made to the level the seat on Barney was perfect, I'm still having problems with the quick release not holding the seat to the right height.  I need to take him in and have an appropriate thingy installed. Dave didn't think he had the right circumference bracket for Barney's seat post.

That Way?

Or That Way?

Or Down There?

Dave's mountain bike ride ended with Razz breaking a knuckle after hitting his hand on a tree, he was going back down the hill Dave was at the top of cobbling together his broken bike to ride out of the woods.  Dave broke two spokes, the chain, and the rear derailleur.  Most likely one spoke broke, caught another spoke and then the whole mess lodged into the chain and then the derailleur and chain broke when meeting up against the chainstay.

Since neither of us had a good morning on our bikes, far far far better than Razz, though, we took Jax on Mount Tom trail, it is new to me and had a lovely hike.  It is tough to find an interesting hike, part of the appeal of night hikes is you aren't bored with the same old same old.  This was definitely full of awesome things to look at and lots of tricky parts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All in all low miles this week, low stress, other than Monday and Tuesday, but even those weren't as bad as last year.  This is all as odd me as my lack of wanting to sleep all the time.  Usually, the end of the year comes and I can barely keep my eyes open and want to strangle anyone crossing my path for the last week of work.  Not so much this year.  Must be I'm on the right path with whatever the hell is going on with my immune system.  I have two diagnoses, both along the same spectrum of Connective Tissue Disease but I think part of that is just being able to give me medication, off-label prescribing is very much frowned upon. 

Knitting:

Still plugging away on the experimental sweater.

Reading:

Still plugging away at Washington, although I fear my iPod is going to die.

Sincerely,
Beth, thinking what a crazy ride this year has been.  Hopefully, 2019 is clamer.