~Tuesday~ I got up late this morning, at 8:30, because it was a “work from home” day. It was a work from home day, because our office belongings—including our computers—were being moved for us from the second floor to the basement as noted in yesterday’s entry. But as it turned out, it was an adverse weather day at the university, too, due to the ice situation that built up overnight.
I weighed in this morning, for a three-pound loss for this week. Yay for that.
From my bathroom window—the one with one bent slat in the plastic blinds from lifting it up all the time to play Gladys Kravitz—I witnessed two most incredible attempts to get ice off car windshields. Both were by college kids—an unknown guy parked in the visitor spot next to my two spots, and the other a girl, my neighbor, parked in one of her spots on the other side of my two spots.
As I peeked out the blind the first time, the boy’s arm was lifted over the hood of his car with a container of what I’m guessing by the large amount of steam rising from it, was boiling hot water. I was screaming in my head, “No, no, no. Don’t pour that on your windshield. It’s going to shatter into a million pieces.” while thinking I could run down there and tell him, “Wait! Wait! I have an ice scraper in my car.” He began pouring it on the ice on the glass, and I moved away from the window so as not to witness the inevitable.
Looking back out a minute later, he was using an ice scraper in the area in which he’d poured the water, and I was amazed at 1) the fact that the glass hadn’t cracked, and 2) that he’d had an ice scraper to begin with, and 3) how thick the remaining ice still was where he was chipping away at it.
About 15 minutes later, I heard some rap, rap, rap going on outside, and peeking out this time, I saw my next door neighbor working on her windshield. With her gloved palm, she was slapping down on the ice, and then pulling on what I then noticed was a huge, black, plastic trash bag she’d evidently put over her windshield last night. Needless to say, the dream of just lifting that up and the ice coming off was not being realized.
What she did next made me cringe, and that was to take a key in her fist, and start bearing down as hard as she could on the ice on the windshield. Good lord, people! I had to remove myself from watching any more of that, and when I next looked out, she’d managed to break up a section of the ice close to the driver’s door, and she opened the door to free the end of the trash bag and then started tugging on it trying to break up more of the ice. When I looked again, about ten minutes later, the bag was completely gone, and she was removing the large pieces of ice, which looked like shards of glass, that remained.
One of the great things to me about working from home is to be able to do laundry “in the background” while I’m working. And that’s exactly what I did today.
I had a very rough eating day today as the perfect storm of: 1) having just weighed in with good results (which in a sick way wants to be rewarded with food), 2) being so close to my refrigerator all day long, and 3) not having all that many good choices in said fridge, really challenged my willpower.
I’m happy to report that I resisted, though, and ended my day a good 200-300 calories below my daily intake goal. And, yes, I know it’s not good to under eat, too. It makes your body think you’re starving… blah, blah, blah. I’ve been a professional dieter for years. As my friend’s friend Sue says, “I’m starting on my 34th year of Weight Watchers,” and as my friend Courtney says, “I’ve gained weight; ask me how.”
Someone on Facebook pointed to this article yesterday, and I found it quite good. Although it’s entitled, Tools for White Guys who are Working for Social Change (and other people socialized in a society based on domination), I personally think it’s applicable to anyone working in a collaborative or team environment, which let’s face it, is what most jobs today are.
Also in reference to another day, this one to Friday instead of yesterday, just to prove that my salon members are not always all uppity and intellectual, I’ve added a picture that I only came in possession of today, to last Friday’s blog entry at the end of the scene of our Salon Coffee Klatsch gathering, of one of us getting downright kinky.
Every year, NC State University, selects a book for its Common Reading Program. The purpose of the program is “to create a common educational and interactive experience for incoming undergraduate students, introducing them to the University’s institutional and academic values and expectations, including engagement as members of this community of scholars.” This year’s selection is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, and you can see the 2006-2010 selections here if you’re interested.
Thinking about a potential next book when it’s my turn to pick our Mostly Social Book Club book again, I thought it might be a good idea to read this one, so I logged into the Wake County Public Library to request a copy of it, and was promptly added to the waiting list in position number 141.
Tonight, while using my desktop machine in my guest bedroom, I noticed five books that: 1) I had on my wishlist, 2) I received last year for Christmas, 3) had forgotten I have them, and 4) obviously haven’t read any of. These are five books from a list of books that every writer must read that I came across somewhere on the Internet last year.
So, while I’m waiting in the queue for the common reading book, and using the slackest criteria imaginable, I’ve chosen the thinnest one of the five to read now: The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman.
I’m signing off here now, and starting it.