The Visible Woman...February 17, 2004

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

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A Journal from Austin, Texas.
A Project of LBFFP Stealth Publishing.

health and mood

bellyache

Something gave me a stomach ache. It was either the chili or the contractor.

I was racing around this morning all business. I was taking phone calls and visits from the subs and contractor, feeding myself, downloading OS updates to some of the computers, checking backups, revising and revisiting my 'punch list.'

By noon everyone was gone, probably for the day, I thought. I let my guard down and relaxed and ate some 'Frito chili pie' made with turkey chili. My stomach hurt ten minutes after cleaning up the kitchen. Maybe it was the chili. Maybe it was the milk with my breakfast cereal...maybe I'm becoming lactose intolerant. But maybe, just maybe it was the remodel.

Anyway, I cured the bellyache by complaining to Billy, the painter, the one guy on the job I've never gotten upset with .... an old school painter looking askance at how things are sometimes done or not done these days. And by drinking a Coke poured out bit by bit into a glass to lose a tad of fizz.

Then when the house was free of all the workmen, I felt fine. I ate nachos with lots of jalapeno peppers for dinner. And wine. And I felt fine.

The dog isn't all that thrilled about the way things are going either. She spends a lot of time in my office 'in jail.'

JUST TYPING

A solid mass in the gut.
Pain.
No excuse for eating like that.
Should know better.
Don't remodel.
Either.
Because it really isn't the diet, is it?

Food Diary.

breakfast
cereal (Product 19) with 2% milk
four slices turkey bacon (35 calories a slice)
banana

lunch

Frito chili pie with half a can of turkey chili and cheese and onions

snacks

a Coke...see because the chili upset my stomach or something did

dinner

massive plate of nachos
half a bottle of cheap Cabaret
a Clementine

Today I
- realized that it is getting easier and easier to remember most of the things I eat, that it is second nature to take note of my consumption.

Time flies....

I think I finally got to sleep, in the bed, around five. FFP must have gotten back up (he'd been wandering, too) soon after. He went to the club. I got up about the time he got home. I ran around after that doing all this stuff, trying to make sense of the remodel 'fixes' and everything. Finally everyone is gone except FFP and it's quiet. The maid has decided she doesn't feel like cleaning which is just as well. There is little hope for the place at the moment that a maid can help so we are just paying her to clean up something that will be dirty as soon as the next worker tramps through or to change the sheets on the pull-out bed.

A friend is supposed to show up and help me organize. I've tried to get strarted on this project in various ways...by thinking about it and by actually moving a couple of things around. She's late but I'm relieved because I'm not really ready for her.

Then the painter shows up. I didn't really expect him, but he does some caulking and I talk to him about things that need touching up (everything).

When the painter is gone, a friend shows up to help me with my office cleanup. Having her help to carry things to and fro and keep me focursed gets me through one fourth of the closet and gets a fair-sized pile of stuff into her car for the thrift store. I tell her that I look at stuff we give away not as stuff or potential money in a sale but as 'cubic feet of space!'

When FFP is ready to finish working, he calls around and finds where we can rent American Splendor and goes to get it. We have bad food while watching the movie. I love the movie. I'm not a comics person but I also loved the movie Crumb which was a pure documentary. This one uses the real people, actors, bits of the comics. It's so real. Great adaptation of graphic novels. Deserves the academy award. Won't win, though.

Our friend leaves after the movie and I read and watch lousy choices on cable including a far-fetched Law and Order: SVU.

Reading.

Newspapers. (Read the NYT Science Times about ways the world may end. Well, the universe actually. That puts things in perspective.)

The Conquerers by Michael Beschloss.

Voices of D-Day. ed. Ronald Drez.

A DVD course on WWII. (Didn't watch today.)

nothing

Exercise

recumbent bike
treadmill
ergonomic rower
water aerobics
chest, shoulder, triceps
leg, back, bicep
lower back
ab exercises
stretches
walking
tennis

Today I didn't exercise because I couldn't find the time. First I was dealing with the remodel then I wanted to take advantage of my friend's help wiht the office cleanup. I fear my weight will balloon with my poor attention to diet and my slipping up on the exercise. We shall see.

.

.

It makes me feel better to get up and attack some of my demons as best I can: complaining to the contractor, showing the subs things, discussing it with FFP. My belly ache was brief although it did give me an theme for the essay.

It's a Tangled
Web we weave...these
days of our lives.

One year ago
"Mathematics is as far from fiction as it is possible to get. Of course, this is a story about mathematics and a mathematical quest not really a book of mathematics. The writer tries to keep the math simple. And, given my rustiness, it's hard to make it too simple for me. "

Two years ago
"We have friends going through health crises that are likely to end badly soon. When things like that happen to people, I always swear I'm going to put things into perspective myself. Take my nows happily. And sometimes, you know, I actually do it."

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