Bindu Wiles Challenge, Day 2 (9 June 2010)

In keeping with the tenets of 21.5.800, I did a yoga session at home after work this afternoon. It’s rare that I have the house to myself in order to do so. Shari and Aaron had gone to hunt down a part for his bike, and then they went to go get haircuts at Fantastic Sams and pick up dinner at Panda Express (yes, I do have my indulgences).

Have you ever tried to do yoga with a highly social and energetic dog in the house with you? It doesn’t work very well. Every time I would try to strike a pose, Izzie would come drop a toy at my feet and look up at me expectantly. She did enjoy mimicking me while doing the downward dog pose, as she’s always been good at that one herself. And let me tell you, Bichon butt, in the downward dog pose, is the cutest thing. I think I’m just jealous that she does it better than I can. The most difficult thing to do with Izzie around was the savasana. I would lay in the corpse pose, with my palms facing up, fingers curled, and try to clear my mind, get into the zen moment, and just breathe. Next thing I know, she comes up and positions herself above my upward turned hand, and wants to have her tummy scratched! You’re ruining my moment here, girlfriend. If I didn’t comply, she would nudge my hand a bit with her nose. If that didn’t work, she would then start pawing and scratching at my hand and arm. I never did get that nap; I mean savasana.

The experience did refresh me enough to go about getting my self-imposed household chores done for the day. Today was my day to dust and vacuum/sweep the kitchen and family room/office area, and water the houseplants and patio plants. Ever since I’ve been making sure to use only distilled water for my orchids, they seem to be doing better. Well, at least they haven’t died. I also was refreshed enough to clear a bunch of paperwork things from my desk – post some accounting things, write a couple of checks, and do some filing. I really like a nice clean desk. It makes me feel like I’ve accomplished everything. Now all that’s left, after my writing, is to load up the dishwasher with all the miscellaneous glassware (I swear they multiply throughout the day – we only have three people living here!), set up the coffeepot to automatically brew in the morning, and get my clothes laid out for work tomorrow.

I’ve abandoned the iMac on my desk and am currently writing on my MacBook Pro in bed. Shari and Aaron took over the office/family room and are watching missed episodes of Hells Kitchen with Chef Ramsey on her computer, which is turned up much too loud, and it’s ruining my zen. Let me just tell you how much I hate that show. Have you ever seen it? This guy Ramsey must think he’s the be-all-end-all of the cooking world. Granted, some of his newbie chef ‘contestants’ are idiots, but it seems like the entire premise of the show is to see how much he can yell, scream, curse, and belittle the contestants. Sorry, I just don’t think that’s very entertaining. It’s just loud and obnoxious, and I don’t need that noise in my life. Thank goodness for the remote control. Or in this case, a laptop and a bedroom where I can retire in peace. Maybe with a glass of wine. Hmm… be right back.

The little counter at the bottom of my Microsoft Word say I’m only about three-fourths of the way to tonight’s writing goal. Last night and tonight’s writings are just random stream-of-thought blog entries. Some nights I will be working on a different writing project (hopefully to be announced soon), and sometimes my writing at work will count towards my daily word count. On those days I’ll just post a brief mention on my blog of what I worked on for the day. At work I’m writing a chapter for a book on the use of remote sensing in coral reef management. My assigned chapter deals with the use of aerial photography, and I’m using examples from all of the benthic habitat mapping projects I’ve done, in addition to the history and applications of aerial photography. I’m also working on an internal U.S. Geological Survey publication, called a Fact Sheet, about our multi-disciplinary Ridge-to-Reef project. So sometimes my work on those will count – yes? I’m not quite sure where Bindu came up with the fact that 800 words equals about five or six pages. Even double-spaced, my 800 words only come up to four pages. I’m just going to trust the little counter at the bottom of my document window, which at the moment, reads 824!