Summer Slowdown

-
It’s not your imagination that I’m not as chatty as I used to be – on this blog, your blog and email.

Two things happened.
My laptop that holds my RSS feeds is on its last breath. The battery died three years ago, and I never replaced it. Instead, I relied exclusively on electricity to keep it going. Then it started to send out small distress signals culminating in a keyboard FAIL. First the n and then k keys no longer work, which makes it difficult to blog or comment when you can’t use every letter in the alphabet.

Then our IT policy changed at work and I no longer do anything personal using company equipment – even on my lunch break. This means I can’t access my personal e-mail account, nor read or respond to running blogs.
It took a week to get used to the new system, but then a funny thing happened. I became incredibly productive. Without the distractions, I could focus for longer stretches on tasks at hand.  I always thought I carefully managed my days, but I now realize I spent more time encouraging online transactions than I probably should.  Turns out when you only “do e-mail” in the early mornings and evenings, you don’t have to answer 100 messages. Your reticence reduces the number naturally.

And that leaves more time for other things, like actually running rather than just writing about it. I’ve been doing a lot more of that lately, and with some new friends too.
So if you don’t hear from me as much, it’s not you. It’s me and it’s only for now. And just because you don’t “hear” from me doesn’t mean I’m not keeping up with your online journals.  Just not as often until I replace my aging laptop. Sure hope that’s okay … or as my laptop would now say o_ay.

Popular posts from this blog

I Leave You With This

-
Image
There's this social media post some guy put up on Instagram. I almost scrolled past it, but I'm glad I didn't. It asked what question we should ask ourselves when we die. In retrospect, ChatGPT's response was basically pulling from Eastern philosophy, but, still, I couldn't stop thinking about it in the hours and days since I first heard it. Here's a partial transcript I cribbed using -- what else? -- AI. Some guy set up the prompt, which was long and convoluted. The following picks it up from there.  Some guy : I'm assuming most people would ask, 'Where am I going? What's next?' Something like that. Is that a good question?  ChatGPT : No, because they don't matter. Some guy : W hy don't they matter?  ChatGPT : If there's a heaven or hell or some next phase, you're likely already heading there. Asking won't change your destination. It's a wasted question.  Some guy : That's a good point. Um, what about 'Did I do en...
Read more

What's Your Slavery Footprint?

-
I just came across an app that immediately intrigued me because it brings awareness to something way too often overlooked in this country. It's called The Slavery Footprint , and I found out about it this morning courtesy of this post . Living in California, and traveling regularly through the Central Valley where a bulk of everyone's U.S.-bred fruits and nuts are produced, I became keenly aware of how poorly farmhands are treated in this country. I even blogged about it several years ago . Some of us tend to feel morally superior because of the foods and lifestyle choices we make. After taking this "test," perhaps that piety will recede a bit. After you take it, you can share your score if you wish. Personally, I'm embarrassed by mine.
Read more

Do Mom and Dad Make You Run?

-
I know of a lot of middle-aged running friends who are motivated by their parents to run. Their mother or father was in poor health for many years and it ultimately cost them their lives (or at least a higher quality of it), and so one reason they initially put on a pair of running shoes was to avoid the same fate. However, that's not the sort of parental connection outlined in a provacative post about the link between exercise and genetics in this morning's Daily Beast. It reflects a couple of scientific studies that show we may be genetically encoded to favor workouts. That means some of us will never enjoy exercising like others, nor will our children. If this is true, then those of us modeling good behaviors by eating well and exercising in moderation may merely be passing along the endorphin baton to those with our "exercise gene." And that might also explain why some parents who push their kids into sports end up disappointed that their child never "takes...
Read more