One of the things that’s been fueling a low-level sense of frustration with me recently is a feeling that I’ve had no time to to deal with personal projects (and things) that were MY priorities, because life and work have combined to suck up all my time.
For instance, my weight. I set out in 2004 to get serious about my weight, and set what I thought was a reasonable goal of 40 pounds. Early on last year, that got sidetracked, and I never really got serious about it again.
Yet, when I saw my doctor last week, he was thrilled — I lost 15 pounds in the year between visits. I was grumpy, because it was only 15 pounds.
Who’s right? well, we both are, but mostly, he is. Even I have to admit that. Most of his patients never lose any significant weight. And of those that do, almost all of them gain it back.
Me? I started somewhere north of 380. I’m down in 2 years to 345. Whatever goals I set, that result can’t be ignored, and it’s a good start. (there are, by the way, some interesting studies (which I can’t currently find) indicating that taking off that FIRST hunk of weight reduces the stress on the circulatory system, cutting your health risks significantly. Which is not to be considered a reason to stop, but may indicate some increase in the margin of error. OTOH, I still have at least 80 pounds I need to take off, and last week, my blood pressure finally showed a noticeable rise into the areas where doctors take notice (that, however, might have been caused by other factors; see previous post). I’ll know tomorrow, when I see him again, as we sit down for a bit to discuss strategies on how to accelerate the weight loss.
I already know a key factor there are lifestyle changes. Um, see previous post. But we’ll see what other options we decide are useful. But it’s become increasingly clear the stress and hours I’ve been investing in the project are not sustainable. I’m tired of coming home and turning into a vegetable, and it leaves no time or energy to get an exercise program going. So I”m not unhappy, I guess, to be able to call a halt and rethink the calendar, because you can bet we’ll keep those considerations in mind as we rebuild the schedule, too.
I”ve always made the somewhat snide comment that I’m most likely to be carried out of Apple on my xServe, not with it. The last few months, however, I’ve really come to feel that as being very likely — and that some people have decided that’s okay, as long as stuff gets done sooner. I admit, however, one of those folks has been me.
Another aspect of that is the growing frustration of various home projects that seem to be going nowhere. Some of that is true: the “server migration” that’s been ongoing for months, when in fact, all I need is about 10-12 hours of concentrated work to finish it. And the living room that would not die. or finish. or get moulding.
But in reality, while many projects stalled badly in 2004, 2005 has seen some great progress — it’s just that I”m still seeing the lack of progress from last year hanging over me. Both bathrooms here at home have been in various states of remodel seemingly forever, ever since installing the vanity in one bathroom required the demolition of the vanity in the other (long, long, sad story) — but in reality, both bathrooms are now plumbed and the fixtures are in and the shelves and towel racks, and all I have left to do in both is mouldings and replacing a noisy exhaust fan, and some wall prep, and we can paint both of them (although in the first, we’ve decided to pull the towel bars and rethink the accessories a bit again).
Out back, we’ve had all the concrete removed and a new patio poured, and added new teak furniture and a new BBQ — despite losing a month to rain, and seeing the rainy season continue well into May. Lots of work for the summer out back, but where normally we’d be trying to plant tomatoes now, we probably won’t be ABLE to plant them until June, given current cool weather. The workshop in the garage is finally functional: small and cramped, but I’ve figured out the workflow so I can do most things (I still prefer to chop up plywood on the driveway, just to get more space, but once I do those cuts, I can finish stuff up inside again).
And in the living room, the fireplace is almost done, and the bookshelves moving forward. I could have it ready for paint in July, if this continues. Given we started the process in 2001 with a new front door and by ripping out the carpet (and the floors underneath it) — I’m ready for the room to be done.
And we can see the end of the remodel work in general: the kitchen needs done, and laurie’s office and my office and the library, and we want to build a new closet into laurie’s office, and then a new master closet, and replace the carpet in the maaster and the junk room, and paint — and at some point, upgrade the electricity service, the only piece of infrastructure we haven’t had done yet. If I don’t hit significant stops again, we could be done in a year. so figure (since I suck at scheduling), 18 months.
Here’s hoping…
