What you do when you can’t run

24. June 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: Massachusetts, running

Life in the hotel continues on. I found a room to rent in Amherst for the months of July and August. The landlords are students at U Mass., Amherst. I did look at another home but it just wasn’t a good fit for me. This week or weekend, I’ll need to purchase sheets, some sort of blanket, pillows, and towels so that I can wash them this weekend and leave the hotel next weekend with clean stuff.

The job is keeping me busier than I care at this point, and it’ll get busier as time goes on. I have not been exercising as much as I should, but laundry is getting in the way. I have just two pair of running shorts, and they are awful when I’m done. Definitely a 1-workout pair of clothes. So, without spend $2.50 on a load of laundry for just workout clothes (and an hour of my time), they just don’t get done as often as I’d like. So, I have a new effort that I am considering. In case you want to try it on your own, you can find the link here:
http://hundredpushups.com
In just 6 weeks, maybe a few more weeks if you need to repeat a couple of weeks, and you can do 100 consecutive pushups. I think that would be a cool goal. For some reason, I think that I’d be really sore for the first two – three weeks, and would be quite tempted to give up since I actually need to be able to type all day long to do my job.

At least my reading is back to something healthy:
click here
I am ready to get back out there and start running again. My goal is to restart, in earnest, when I move to Amherst. The streets are flat, with sidewalks or paths, and lots of others doing the same. The thing that I love about living in a college town is that there are so many more people that are athletically minded. I drove past a 60 year old the other day, biking down a street. His calves were amazing — so muscular! My guess is that he probably bikes everywhere for about 5 months out of the year.

Another night in the hotel

19. June 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: hotel, Massachusetts, moving

So it’s another night in the hotel, by myself. I really miss my family, and long for the day we can be together again. In a short three weeks, I need to be in a different place, or paying for this one on my own. The $90 per night will eat into savings quickly, so I really need to find a home to buy or a room to rent.

US Sometimes There (AKA US Air)

15. June 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: Connecticut, Richmond, travel, US Air

Once again, I am trying to make my way out of a hell hole otherwise known as an airport. While the first leg of my flight was very uneventful, I now sit in the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina waiting for another US Air “issue” to be resolved. Today, the issue is a “maintenance issue” so has tacked a full 65 minutes onto my layover. Now I need to conserve batteries or find a plug to make the time last. What I don’t get is the fact that the originating flight left Jamaica on time, but there is a maintenance issue here. The funny thing is that since the plane has not landed, you have to wonder what that delay really is. If it was really a maintenance issue, would the plane have really taken off in the first place, or would it have returned to Jamaica to take care of the issue before endangering the passengers?

Personally, I think that this is the excuse de jour, equating to some miscellaneous issue that they didn’t want to explain.

The last trip, I had my originating leg canceled, then rerouted through Philadelphia, landing 3 hours late. The trip before that, my 30 minute layover at Dulles turned into a 4 hour delay, capping a 22 hour day. Every trip, I just need to expect pain and aggravation and add hours onto my expected trip. Good thing the people picking me up have cell phones…

Remembering why coming home is good

14. June 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: friends, Richmond, travel

Friday, I got the chance to see many of my good friends, both the guys and the gals. Some of us were together at the middle school ceremony Friday morning, then later at the pool. We also got together on Saturday, although for less time than Friday. Four of the couples went to eat at El Chaparal, a very authentic Mexican restaurant. Later, back to our house to chat, have a few beers, and just hang. This is why coming home is good.

A trip back home

12. June 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: Connecticut, family, Massachusetts, travel, US Air

I am in the Philadelphia International Airport right now, heading home. I have been pushing very hard lately, trying to see home after home, trying to get the laundry done, pay the bills, feed myself in a somewhat healthy manner, and trying to get sleep. The sleep has taken a back seat to everything else. I would give anything to have someone else helping with some of it, but it is the path that we have to take right now. Last night, I got about four hours of sleep before heading to the office. That allowed me to leave early to make my flight without taking any time off. It’s the advantage of flex time.

My children don’t know I’m coming, so I expect that it will be a good homecoming. Neither does my dog! I miss him since I haven’t seen him at all in almost 5 weeks. Certainly not as much as I miss the normalcy of life, but he is part of that normal life. Brewster never fails to make me smile, so I expect to spend a good bit of time with him this weekend. Tomorrow night is a party at our local pool. While we didn’t join the pool, we were extended a free membership for the part of the year we were still in town. This was for several reasons, but mostly due to my contribution of time and effort with the web site, the stereo, etc. That took a good bit of time, although has been turned over to someone else to maintain.

Back to the fortune. Last night, after seeing all of the homes in the Connecticut town that I could, I headed back to wash the car (dirty, dirty, dirty), then to get some dinner. Obviously, my choice was Chinese food and the above fortune was in the cookie I received. I laughed when I opened the cookie, knowing that I would be home in about 24 hours. Maybe I need to play the lottery with these numbers.

Mycelium

09. June 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized

Mushrooms are members of the mycelium family, at least that’s what I say to sound smart.

I heard a TED speaker (Paul Stamets) speak about mycelium (fungi) and how they are being studied for ways to help the environment. If you don’t subscribe to the TEDtalks podcast in iTunes, you are doing yourself a disservice. While a few of the talks are really “out there,” most have a good speaker talking about something (event, person, happening) that is evoking change in the world. The premise behind TED is to evoke thought, and this talk certainly did! Here is a link to the talk: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html

A quick walk to the conservation area

06. June 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: Amherst, Massachusetts

Today, I moved all of my MA-based possessions to the room I am renting for July and August. No real idea of how long I will be here, but at least for the next couple of weeks. After getting my very full Camry unloaded, I took a quick walk down the road. I knew that there was a “conservation area” down the road, but had no idea what that meant specifically. What I found, was a very large, unspoiled area with walking paths that are also bike paths when they are dry. The tree-covered canopy is lovely. The water pictured above runs inside of the area. There is a foot bridge that covers the water and that bridge is maybe a two minute walk from the house. Of course, this picture was taken from that bridge, otherwise I would have gotten quite wet taking it! There are a bunch of black flies there, so I used a bug repellant on my second visit and wasn’t overly bothered at all by the flies.

After one of the most stressful weekends of my life, this was a great way to start to unwind. Now where is that bottle of scotch I bought?

Short term move

05. June 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: Amherst, hotel, Massachusetts, moving

Packing for a short term move is a pain. I do get to figure out just how much stuff can fit in my Camry. If it’s too much for one trip, then I get to add more than an hour to my trip (40 minutes each way plus unpacking the entire first load and packing the second load). Of course, I need to do all of this by noon (or 1 PM for a late checkout). Tomorrow is the first move.

What’s in a house?

24. May 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: Massachusetts, moving

Late on Thursday, we found out that someone wanted to look at our house on Friday. Since the family is here in Mass. with me, we arranged for someone to go to the house and turn on all of the lights. Apparently there was a miscommunications between the prospects and their agent on when to arrive at the house. So, they looked around, talked to neighbors, talked to some more neighbors, and then were finally able to see the house. The talking to the neighbors must have worked since before the day was through, we had an offer for the house that we are accepting. The deal looks like it will go through, so we were in a much better state of mind today when seeing houses with the Mass. realtor. Not many houses in Mass. will work with contingent buyers, so selling the house takes that out of contention.

One very different thing about homes in this area vs. Richmond is that, for the most part, there is little work done to a home before putting it on the market. There were two notable exceptions, and both of them we are interested in. The first home has a weird bedroom configuration, so that we would need to give Jake a smaller bed or be very creative where we put his current one. The other home is higher priced than we want but is an 1850-era farmhouse with almost 11 acres of land. I am afraid of being bound to a home that large and with that much property, knowing almost no one in the area to share it with. It is perfect for entertaining, but will take so much work and money on weekends to maintain that we will be house-poor for a while. I’m not sure that is in our best interest, no matter how much we love the home itself. The homeowners have put tons of money into the property, all excellent investments. So, we will continue to look at properties, and will continue to decide on how much home we can afford.

Starting over in Massachusetts

17. May 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: Massachusetts, moving, Richmond, travel


The past two weeks go down in my life as being life changing. Last Thursday, we had a gathering at the house of many of my friends from work outside the City. These are the people outside of my wife and children that help me define my life these days. They are lifelong friends, all met in the past ten years. Not everyone was there, but many were to help me celebrate. My closest friends made a CD for my trip, to remind me that I always have a home in Richmond.

Friday, I left my job after more than ten years. I packed my last box, turned in my laptop, blackberry, and badge. Then, I made one final trip around the facility to say my goodbyes that I hadn’t previously said. While I still need to send an email to those folks, it was really strange saying goodbye. I went home and packed, then jammed as much as I could in my car.

Early on Saturday, I left the comfort of Richmond and headed north. It was a 12-hour drive, filled with phone calls from friends making sure I was awake and doing alright. At long last, I arrived in the Residence Inn located in West Springfield, Massachusetts – my home away from home for the next 60+ days. My GPS tried to self correct my intentional diversions from major highways, but that’s another story.

Sunday, I found a grocery store, Costco, and drove to my new office to be sure that the Monday commute would work. My GPS worked like a champ this time.

Monday, I started my new position, with a new company, doing things that scare the heck out of me. I am working for a very large company (again), but with many more corporate-based employees at the same building. The building is huge, old, and with the great style attributed to the early 20th century. There should be a picture above.

After a whirlwind week, I have settled into a basic routine. I have started to catch up on my sleep, and really got a chance to recharge yesterday. I was fairly restless last night, in part due to a loud snorer next door and in part due to my 2+ hour nap in the middle of the afternoon yesterday. I was up today at 5:30 AM, and was doing laundry at 6. Not much competition for washers and dryers at 6 AM.

This week, Sue and the kids come up. They will be visiting schools on Thursday and Friday, visiting northern houses with one of our realtors on Sunday, will be visiting CT and southern MA houses with our Realtor on Monday. Thank goodness for the three day Memorial Day weekend next week!

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