Damn It.... Too Busy to Think

 

Truth-be-told, the failure of the infernal treadmill could not have happened at a more chaotic time.  When the damn thing broke it was the second day of the start of the semester.  The start of the semester always entails extra long hours with me fussing to get things started appropriately, and it also involves considerably more time than typical in addressing an array of student worries and concerns.  And, added to this normally hectic week is the considerably amped up workload I have due to profoundly successful fornication activities by my rodents.  I had set up some "meet-and-greet" opportunities between some of my younger rodents in hopes a few would become engaged (both "emotionally" and physically) with each other.....and that one or two litters might arrive around this time, but.... apparently my matchmaking skills surpassed even the wild success of the matchmaker in "Fiddler on the Roof" for I now have five litters of pups to measure and assess.... all born within 3 days of each other.  Typically, the births tend to be far more staggered, which gives me and my research students smaller amounts of measuring, testing, and assessing to do on a day-to-day basis.   But, five all at once makes for some long days.  

Normally the long days are fine if they need to occur.  BUT, I get home in the evenings now the last two days and have to ruminate, fuss, and finagle about the damn treadmill.  And, by the evening.... my ability to THINK deeply, carefully, and creatively..... is awfully damn scant.  I get home pretty exhausted, and trying to fuss with fixing the machine is not easy at that time of day.

But..... I now have the wooden brace securely connected between the two arms of the treadmill.  It is secured by a large number of 1/4 inch hex bolts, with sturdy washers and lock washers to increase strength and durability. I debated between using traditional hex nuts or if I should instead use locking hex nuts.  I ended up deciding on using traditional hex nuts with locking washers with the idea that once I get (hopefully..... fingers crossed) the damn beast fully set up and fully functional, I can go back to each nut attached to each bolt and put a dab of "LockTite" on it to further secure it together.   

Since I could not run again this morning (I feel physically lousy too, not running), I drove to the U and arrived at 5:00am, so I could get a lot of work done before lecturing for three hours later this morning.  By arriving early, my hope is that I can vacate the U perhaps by 2pm (if I have all the rodent work done), so I can get home earlier than usual to put a last, all-out effort to FINISH putting this damn treadmill back together.... and praying that it will work again, so I can RUN.  Come hell-or-high water.... I am going to get the damn infernal beast back together in some fashion today to see if it continues to work.  If I can run SOMETIME today, I will be only one day behind.  Being one day behind in my mileage is something I can catch up on with some brute force extra work.

As has been the case all week long.... my pipe cravings are back with a vengeance.....  I would rate my PCS (yes, the cravings are back in such a way that they again merit a score).... as being at an 8.  It is indeed a struggle again to refrain.  I keep thinking of and imagining... throwing in the towel..... and it sounds very inviting and tempting to do so.

PipeTobacco