Still confused, but working on it

Yeah, that pretty well sums it up.

I’ve started walking in earnest again, keeping track of my progress with the RunKeeper app on my iPhone. It’s actually pretty nifty. They also make apps for Android phones, but I’m not sure about BlackBerry.

I’ve walked two different trails around town this week. I miss hiking, I’ll be doing that more often too. Probably walking on the days I work and hiking on my days off. Being close to a state park has its benefits, one of which is lots of different trails to choose from.

I have to go back to work tomorrow and I really don’t want to. There’s going to be some sort of drama that happened on my vacation that will somehow end up being my fault, there usually is. Oh well, not a lot I can do about it at this point.

Missed out on a sweet deal on a HUD foreclosure because I’m still a little late on my old Student Loans. Not to worry, the place has been empty for at least two years and I’ll be caught up in six months or so and I can try again. I just need to be able to qualify for an FHA loan and those should be the only negative thing left on my credit.

Spent a lot of time with Critter and the kids this week. One of the trails I hiked was with them. That was fun. I bought a grill that was on clearance, that was a good thing. We used it to have a cookout and ate out on the porch and everything, which makes the first time I’ve ever used the patio set for the purpose it was intended for, yay! That only took a year…

If I’m going to make a habit of hiking some of these trails around here I really need to get a good pair of waterproof hiking boots. The trail I hiked today had three stream crossings with no bridges, but I was able to stay dry since it hasn’t rained in about a week and there were some rocks I was able to use as step stones. A local guide book advises getting used to the idea of having wet feet for the duration of the hike and bringing an extra pair of shoes for the camp site if you’re overnighting (some of these trails are quite long).

Went to help Critter out with some chores on Thursday and ended up cutting the grass for her. Well, most of it. She’s got a seriously steep driveway that requires five passes to get everything and I was only able to manage three before I just gave out. I lamented to Critter that cutting her grass shouldn’t wear me out like this, expecting some sort of sympathetic reply like, "it’s a steep hill" or "you’re not used to doing it" or something along those lines. What I got was, "you’re right, it shouldn’t. Maybe you should get serious about losing some weight." Jesus. I’m not saying I’m not overweight, but damn. She could have sugar coated it a little.

So I’m off my old pace of 15 min/mile, but not too badly. I’m at 23 min/mile right now but I can recover pretty quickly I think. I’d love to be able to get to a consistent 8 min/mile but I don’t know if I can get myself trained to that level of fitness now. I’m thirty-nine, almost forty, and I don’t know if my body will even do it. Still gonna try though. I need to get down to 180 lbs again too. And I’ll remind Critter of our deal when I hit 200 lbs: I hit that weight and she quits smoking. Get serious my ass, I’ll show her.

And now I think it’s time to activate the cloaking device…