I had every intention of editing some today, on my day off, but it didn’t happen.
A couple of developments on my Technical Communication Professional Delegation to The People’s Republic of China trip planned for October:
- I called them today to change my payment schedule, which I was going to pay monthly between now and when the balance is due 60 days before departure. However, it occurred to me that since I have the money in savings, I might as well keep it as long as I can and earn interest on it rather than giving it to them.
- Though the Web site said we had six people, the person on the phone told me that it was really up to 10, but that it just doesn’t show up on the Web site yet. Yay! 10 down, 5 to go!
- I’ve been thinking a lot about the extra 4 days or so in Hong Kong that we can add on to the end of the trip, and I’m thinking that I know how I get—after two weeks in a foreign country, particularly in one whose language I don’t speak, I know I’m going to be ready to come home. And I don’t want to be jetting off to Hong Kong thinking, “Dang, I wish I were going home now, instead.” So now, I’m leaning toward not adding that part on.
My workout today consisted of lower body, followed by 35 minutes of cardio. I’ve really been adding weight like crazy this past week or so, during both the lower and upper body exercises, but when I mentioned this to Kevin (av8rdude) afterwards, he said that that’s pretty normal in the beginning as you become familiar with the machines and “feel out” the amount of weight that’s going to really give you a good workout.
I still hate doing the last “machine” of the lower body exercises, which is the one for abs and I put “machine” in quotes, because it really isn’t a machine in that it doesn’t do anything for you—there are no weights to adjust. It’s more of just a “station” to lie back on to do crunches.
I started to do 45 minutes of cardio, but cut it back to 35 minutes, to end closer to Kevin’s routine so we could have lunch together afterwards. During my workout I listened to a few episodes of NPR Driveway Moments, one of which I just loved, loved, loved!
| Episode Name | Episode Synopsis | My Impressions |
|---|---|---|
| Van Cliburn: Treasuring Moscow After 50 Years [Listen] [17 min, 45 sec] | Fifty years ago, a tall 23-year-old Texan shook up the music world by winning the first Tchaikovsky Competition, in Moscow at the height of the Cold War. Van Cliburn reminisces about his victory and his unconventional career. | This was just a delightful peek into a 73-year-old’s “gentle grace, good humor, and abiding enthusiasm” about himself and music. |
| TV Finds a (Bleeping) Funny Way Around Profanity [Listen] [4 min, 32 sec] |
TV shows have been bleeping profanity for years when people speak extemporaneously. In recent years, however, scripted shows have been writing profanity in. The actors say the forbidden words and then the words are bleeped out for comedic effect. | I didn’t find this episode particularly engaging in itself, but what I did find interesting is the fact that this has become a “comedic technique.” I would imagine I didn’t find it that engaging, and didn’t know about this development, for the same reason—not owning a TV. |
| A Quotable, Pith Guide to Aphorists [Listen] [7 min, 39 sec] | James Geary has gathered examples of what he calls the oldest and shortest literary art form on the planet—the aphorism—into a compendium, Geary’s Guide to the World’s Great Aphorists. He shares the rules he uses to identify an aphorism. | I just loved, loved, loved this episode. |
These are the “five laws of an aphorism”:
- It must be brief.
- It must be definitive.
- It must be personal—that’s the difference between an aphorism and a proverb.
- It must be philosophical—that’s the difference between an aphorism and a platitude, which is not philosophical.
- It must have a twist—either a linguistic twist or a psychological twist or even a twist in logic that somehow flips the reader into a totally unexpected place.
Here are two examples, that I loved, loved, loved! [Can you tell that I’m a word geek?]
- Nobody ever forgets where he buried the hatchet.
- When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.
Today’s workout statistics:
Duration |
or Area Worked |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Warm-up |
5 |
20 |
|
Resistance |
40 |
Lower Body |
|
Cardio |
35 |
660 |
I met my neighbor, Kathryn, for dinner at Arby’s, before we headed over to our annual homeowner’s meeting, which was pretty much uneventful.
I did love when the subject of the pool (a very sore, divisive subject in our townhouse community history) came up, and after Ms. Buck said something to the effect of, “The board really considered the issue and came up with the best solution…”, Kathryn interrupted to say, “Uh, excuse me, but what the board presented was the most expensive solution possible,” intimating of course that that’s why everyone voted against it, which was what the board wanted.
Ms. Buck’s jaw just dropped, and she mouthed, “I had no idea that that was anybody’s perception.”
And Kathryn concluded, “But like I said, let’s not get into the pool. Let’s just not get into it.”
At the end of the meeting, Kathryn hugged Ms. Buck’s neck and said, “Aww. You know I love you,” to which Ms. Buck replied, “I just had no idea that you were harboring so much resentment about the whole pool issue.” LOL.
And speaking of being a word geek, these two phrases during the evening made me cringe: “…our annual yearly meeting…” and “subsequently thereafter.” Let me find a podcast about redundancy and repeating oneself. 
Dancing was fun enough tonight. Okay, so the long-awaited wooden floor that was supposed to be put in by this Saturday when the Charlotte Country guys come to town to dance with us is done.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that only the stage was done, and the lower half of some of the walls—sort of like, well, paneling.
Evidently, the wood wouldn’t stick to the cement floor that’s everywhere else in the place, so it couldn’t be put in. 