AKMA’s Random Thoughts

I don’t remember the last time I had back spasms — I don’t remember any since I was working in Evanston, which would be fifteen blessed years or so, but I woke up this morning with the real thing. I took some Naproxen, and tried to run, but the jarring that accompanied each stride seemed…

Donald G. Adam, 1935–2008.

I’m having a hard time bearing down and getting things done, and Holy Week and the new term are looming on the horizon, so I’m back to the blog to mark out a degree of accountability. (Running accountability is moot, now, since I run my two miles almost without exception so long as I’m at…

I slept later than usual this morning, and Margaret and I had been talking about the time change — so through the power of post-hypnotic [‘hypnos’ in the Greek sense of ‘sleep’] suggestion, I spent the first half of my run assuming that clocks had changed. So I was thinking, ‘Today is Sunday, but what…

We arrived back home yesterday morning a bit before noon, and spent the rest of the day re-acquainting ourselves with Flora and Minke, dozing and napping, and sending out word of our safe return. We loved seeing our deeply loved family and friends after two years away from the US, but it’s not home for…

Chris Locke died yesterday afternoon. He’d been living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for a long time, an especially long time considering how scary the diagnosis was when he first got it. For the last couple of weeks he’d been in hospice care; for the last week, those of his friends who knew were checking…

Just falling out of the habit of blogging, again. Two miles a morning except last Saturday, when it was freezing and raining (so I only ran a half mile or so). Working hard, pressing on.

I gave myself Sunday morning off running (not quite hung over, but undeniably somewhat groggy), but it’s been two miles a day since then. This was the last week of teaching in one of the degree pathways at St Stephen’s House, so I’ll be a bit less frantic beginning next week. And it’s the beginning…

Two miles in 9°, which felt like a glorious heat wave, last-minute preparations, and a glorious dinner party for Margaret’s Nth birthday.

Two miles yesterday, in clear 1° air, on dear Margaret’s birthday, and two more this morning in 0° weather. Someone is mocking me. Hot breakfast yesterday, Rick’s today. Time to clean the house for tomorrow’s big birthday bash for my sweetheart.

I started exercising about five years ago. I was thinking about two things: My father’s pulmonary fibrosis (and my own shallow breathing), and my mother’s multiple sclerosis. I started by skipping rope, reasoning that this would address both concerns. The aerobic exercise got me breathing more deeply, and the jumping provided a daily check on…

Yes, it’s November, but this is a bit on-the-nose; the weather could have sloped off gradually and gotten to frost closer to the middle of the month. Two miles, two degrees, hot breakfast, teaching, tutoring, marking, Mass….