Friday Thoughts

Several quick thoughts for today that I have been meaning to have here:

1.  In my Lenten vows, I forgot one additional item I am incorporating (or trying to incorporate) this Lent.  I am making a concerted effort to consistently work towards having better (more consistent) work on upper body strength.   With aging, this is important to try to maintain or improve upper body strength to help in balance and support issues.  I have unfortunately been wildly inconsistent in these efforts. 

2.  Although I failed to mention it a few days ago when I did this, I did put my pipe I had been carrying about with me back in its pipe rack.  I felt it was a good idea to not have it be a perpetual habit for me to carry it about like a pacifier.  It was helpful for my stress, but it did also have me think more about pipes than I already do so that part was not a real benefit.

3.  I am hoping that by the end of the workday today, I will feel all caught up on my U work that had gotten chaotic and sporadically out of sequence due to my forced "governmental service".  It will be nice if that really comes to pass today.

4.  Even though I do not have time for it yet, in the next few weeks I likely need to begin perusing vehicle options as my wife's vehicle is at a point of needing to be replaced.   Probably in the next several days, I may talk about how I get vehicles, as it is a fairly long process. 

5.  In about two and a half weeks, I am going to present some of my research at a meeting I attend every year at this time.   It popped into my mind yesterday that one of the previous hallmarks of this particular meeting was that there was a really wonderful pipe shop nearby that for many years/decades, it would be my routine to stop in there after I presented and just enjoy shopping/smoking in the shop.  It occurred to me, that perhaps this could be a relatively safe opportunity for me to see if I could successfully adopt an "occasional" pipe smoking pattern.  Not sure what I may or may not do yet, though.

6.  My wife and I watched an episode of "Life Below Zero" on National Geographic yesterday.   I really enjoy the show.... but it was quite disheartening to see the folks on that show set in very Northern Alaska have an episode about their pleasant Summer when it is awfully damn cold and blustery in my area currently.  :)

PipeTobacco