We knew we were going to go somewhere this weekend. Hiking somewhere, that is. With Spring-like temperatures and clear skies forecast all weekend we knew we had to. Plus, spring, especially early spring in this area, means hillsides that are swathed in brown 10 months out of the year are currently bathed in green. Heck, we'd even try to get out ( Read more... )

Friday wasn't a day of literal rest. I was very busy with work, pushing through until 6:15pm (having started before 8am), and even then choosing to leave a few things undone until Monday. But Friday was a rest from coughing and taking pills ( Read more... )

I've been mostly sober for the past 6 weeks.

No, this hasn't been a purposeful, meme-based thing like Sober October or Dry January. I haven't gone dry because I think booze is ruining my life or to score points on social media. I've avoided booze for all but a few days these past several weeks because I've been sick and haven't wanted to drink any ( Read more... )

This morning in my shower I noticed a pimple-like sore on my wrist. "Hmm, strange place for a pimple," I thought. "Maybe I'll steam it out with a hot washcloth." Then as I was toweling off I noticed several small pimples on my opposite wrist. That's when it clicked: these aren't pimples, they're poison oakMy last obvious chance for exposure to ( Read more... )

It's been a while since I've checked in on stats about my blogging. I track metrics mostly out of curiosity but also because long ago I set goals and I like to see how I'm doing compared to my own predictions/expectations.

One thing about setting goals is that I rarely set just a goal. I set a multiplicity of goals. Sometimes that based on ( Read more... )

This past Saturday we went hiking at Las Trampas Regional Wilderness near San Ramon, California. It's part of the East Bay Regional Park District. Casual park-goers might not think much of this place. Way up at the end of Bollinger Canyon road it's got just a few picnic tables and not even a jungle gym or anything. But what it does have is a ( Read more... )

Since yesterday morning I've been feeling better than I was this weekend. Ugh, this sickness is kicking my butt, though. And it's the second time. I just got over a similar sickness a week before getting sick again ( Read more... )

There's been good news and bad news on the Being-Sick-Sucks front. The bad news is that last night was a rough night. To cap off a pretty much shitty all the way through, three day weekend last night I was 🤌🏻 this close to asking Hawk to drive me to the ER. My hacking cough was so bad I was often struggling to breathe. With the help of a medicine ( Read more... )

...it's awful. I've had cold/flu like symptoms since Friday night. Just like the two-week-long cold I had... starting about 3 weeks ago... I'm having coughing fits that make it hard to breathe. I've been gobbling down a drawer full of OTC medicines but nothing seems to work. Again I've taken a rapid Covid test that came up negative. Late this ( Read more... )

I think I'm getting sick again. Not quite three weeks after getting sick from a trip to Austin I've got a cough again. This bout of sickness would seem to be from my trip to Las Vegas this week. My Vegas trip had a lot of the same risk factors- especially being in a room full of colleagues for a few days- with the added risk factor of cigarette ( Read more... )