Quick Saturday Post

 

Just a quick post, as I have been away a few days:

• Because I was a bit behind in my miles for the week, I ended up running 15 miles (~24 km) this morning to catch up for the week.  Fortunately, there was little wind this morning, so that was helpful.  Feeling BEHIND in my 55 mile goal (88.5 km goal) ALL DAMN WEEK LONG, leaves me feeling stressed.  I do NOT want to fall behind next week. 

 

• Three factors played a role in my falling behind in my miles.  A) Most of the days this week were VERY blustery with winds in the 20-25 mph range.  This TENDS to be a very windy period in my region, but it has been especially strong and consistent all week long. This made it difficult to run outside much.  B) The U has been hosting a week-long State engineering competition for  high school students.  This has made parking a challenge, and most of these events for the competition are occurring in the U building with the indoor track.  It is so crowded in the ENTIRETY of the building because of these folks, that it feels akin to being a character in the science fiction film, Soylent Green.  I have ran VERY EARLY many mornings before the massive hoards of people arrived but, they would arrive pretty darn early most days, cutting my time a bit short.  I even ran once while they were about (where I was fully masked, which is not fun to do when running).  And, C) the larger than typical number of parish events that are occurring because of it being Holy Week.

 

•  I am working my fingers to the bone with all sorts of grading at the moment.  I have two classes with major essays (literature critiques) that I have to finish, plus two versions of a test I administered this week that were produced incorrectly by my secretary.  For both of the errant versions of the exam, I have had to make new keys for each and regrade each.  It was a simple mistake on her part, so I understand and am not upset.  But, it has added A LOT more work on my plate that I didn't need. 

 

• All my time when I wasn't at our parish yesterday was spent on finessing and fine-tuning a grant I had written that needed to be submitted by 5:00pm yesterday (Friday).  I was (lucky) to get it formally submitted electronically at 4:52pm.  

 

• I am already feeling behind in the two chapter reviews I agreed to conduct for a publisher I work with regularly.  One textbook is by a new author in endocrinology, and the other is from a new author in embryology.   I still have time to complete both, but I had hoped to be further along in each by this time. 

 

• I keep thinking about my pipes and pipe tobaccos.  It seems so, so very long ago now that I had the beautiful ritual on Good Friday, that after the service, my wife and I would go travel out to my in-laws and my wife and mother-in-law would go shopping for various items for the upcoming Easter festivities, and my father-in-law and I would typically have an especially grand time with a few drinks and pipes.  My father-in-law had a habit of wanting his drinks to be a bit stronger on Good Friday, and I followed his lead in that regard.  We often played cards and listened to news while we chatted and smoked our pipes, often sampling several different blends across the afternoon. I miss the camaraderie.  I miss the relaxation.  I miss the joyful feeling of the pipe tobaccos. 
  

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