087

Run Streak: Day 287!

Mileage Mayhem: I have logged 237.2 running miles for 2019 so far!

Run The Year: What a week! I now have a personal best mileage week at 26.2 miles! It may have taken me 7 days to run a marathon, but I did it. This slices my current debt to 10.3 miles. As you may have guessed, March has been my highest mileage month ever at 91.9 miles. I've continued wearing my running shoes on the treadmill on days that I run more than a mile. Any weird aches or feelings in the top of my foot/ankle are a memory.

Present Situation: What was going to be a full week of overtime seems to have been cut down to a couple of days. It's nice to feel like I've been "gifted" time I didn't think I'd have. Regardless, I'll be going to bed soon because I need to wake up early and make that money.

But what if it's almost 10 PM and I'm sleepy?

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086

Not Good: Yesterday morning around 11 am, I found water dripping from the ceiling to the floor in the bathroom on the main floor of the house. There is a bathtub in the bathroom directly overhead. Long story short, the combination of cracked caulk along the bathtub and 3 children who use it caused the ceiling to collect water, and eventually, soak through enough to drip onto the floor. A small fan has been blowing into the access panel for the bathtub and shower since. There wasn't much to do with the ceiling but remove the part that bubbled, and I poked a hole to let the small pond drain. It could have been worse—my mind went there first. Fortunately, re-caulking the tub and a little cosmetic repair on the ceiling should set things straight. Maybe, just MAYBE, the kids will take us seriously when we say to keep the water in the tub.

Adversity Day: Today wasn't the best, but I didn't let it get to me. I went with the flow and remembered to smile. This isn't by accident, but rather, something I am aware of and am working at to become more resilient. Building blocks for now and into the future. There are a lot of ways to work on building this resilience to adversity, but what it comes down to is practicing it in the moment that it's needed. That is not always easy.

Present Situation: I had to leave The Place That Pays Me 2 hours early today due to a sick daughter, so I'm actually further along with my Friday night routine than I normally am. That's also after reading books with The Toddler at least 30 minutes among other things that came up that wasn't related to getting ready to go back to The Place That Pays Me tomorrow. If I play my cards right, I'll get this Note finished, watch a little TV, AND go to bed at a decent time.

The carnage. The destruction. The wreck...oning.

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085

Today Is History: We tried eggplant parmigiana tonight for dinner. It went over fine for 4 of the 5 diners. My wife and I had some eggplant years ago and thought it was pretty good. It doesn't have an overpowering taste in the least. We also finally bought a pressure washer today. This has been on my wife's wishlist since we moved into our house almost 6 years ago. It comes with a handy floor attachment that will make it easy to clean our garage floor. I re-shared my 2019 goals post on Facebook. Give that a look if you're new to me or missed it the first time. I continued work on getting myself organized and strategized.  And, you know, more things.

Recent Link I've Enjoyed: Here's a quick article for you, if you fancy. My whole life, I've always been pretty good about being content with what I have. It hasn't been something that I've needed to work at, either. There will always be more "things" to have and other people who have them. I say that so often now that I have kids, but it's true. I do like to have "things," but what I'm driven by has more to do with how I want to spend the time in my life—the accomplishments, the experiences, the people. I want more life in my time. The Perils of 'Comfort Inflation'

Present Situation: The Toddler is at the helm watching some YouTube. He got a good nap in kinda late. That's okay. I've been working on this Note and my wife is taking an epsom salt bath after her run. If we don't kick him off of the TV, it might be nice to get a chat in with the wife and get caught up on some big picture talks. Yes, related to the work I've been doing.

This picture is a new technological internet innovation! Scratch the screen and sniff!

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084

Book Report: Doing Time in Hollywood by Brian Gallagher _ I did it. I finished this book today. I actually could have finished it yesterday, but I felt like not trying to squeeze it in, even though I only had a page left. I always feel weird about ending a book. I know that it's not likely I'll ever read it again, and for the most part, I have spent a fair amount of time with it. Not day in and day out but rather visiting with it over a fairly lengthy period of time. There's a certain attachment or comfort in it. I hope to read more books more quickly going forward, so I'll be curious to see how that evolves. I may write a little something about the book in a section of THE NOT SO DAILY DUMP. I'm likely to not write longform, standalone posts on books anymore, but who knows. In the next "Book Report," I will introduce you to the next book.

Goal For The Week: I'm pretty happy with the progress of the week so far despite some lows. Things really feel like they may be turning a bit in the right direction. I'm completely convinced that's purely my perspective, but it's a wonderful one to have. I attribute it to a variety of factors. Sometimes what it takes is having the right influences around and having the right mindset to achieve results. Confidence helps a lot, too. I never professed a specific goal for this week to the internet yet, but it's partly a continuation of last week's: planning, strategizing, and knocking out tasks—moving forward. Very vague, yes, I know. Depending on how the future shapes up, I'll say more. I will say that music and writing are small parts to my life's big picture and that there are other things I want to pursue and try out.

Present Situation: I'm looking forward to finishing Deadpool 2 tonight. It's quite entertaining, as I figured it would be. 2 nights in a row with all of the kids in bed. What?

Keeping the streets safe is a job for not just any toddler.

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083

Last Week Tonight: A couple of reasons that contributed to why I didn't get to a Note last week were music related. On Thursday, my daughter had her second and final 5th grade choir concert. The kids did well. She was also able to do a solo, her first, and did a great job. I mean it. When the kids in 5th do a solo it's generally about 2 lines or a verse so nothing terribly long in duration. On Friday, The Toddler and I had an impromptu jam session in his bedroom. He played his drums and sang and picked an instrument or two for me to play along. He mostly stuck to covers of already established songs, but he did play an original. Lately, I've heard him singing a line around the house—one that he's written himself. It goes, "I don't even know you name." He sang this line repeatedly while playing the drums. I learned shortly after that this song has a deeper meaning than I had previously thought. The line is sung from the perspective of a puppy.

Thoughts On Notes: The problem with writing these Notes at night is that I'm starting to get to the point of no return in regards to fatigue, and then on top of it, there are plenty of unknowns and other random things happening that make it hard to get a Note done with any bit of expediency. Once in a while, everything aligns and all is well. Tonight isn't exactly that kind of night. One of the problems with this, and with all work on the computer in general, is that the home "office" is situated in the living room. This means that anything going on in the main floor of the house is going on right there. That itself makes it difficult for focus and expediency. It's important to notice those things and try to correct them.

Present Situation: I think that my wife and I are going to watch the movie Kingsman: The Golden Circle. We watched the first one in theaters years ago and loved it. When The Toddler sleeps, make hay. I think. EDIT: Kingsman is neither on HBO or Netflix. The wife swears she saw it up somewhere. Deadpool 2 is a go.

Taco Monday doesn't sound as good as Taco Tuesday, but I'm not a fan of flatulent karate.

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082

Run Streak: Day 280!

Mileage Mayhem: I have logged 211 running miles for 2019 so far!

Run The Year: My mileage is back up again for the week ending today. I ran a total of 23.9 miles. This certainly helps knock my debt down to 17.25 miles. So far, I don't see why I wouldn't have another week running 20+ miles. Running as many miles as I have been was starting to wear on the region around the top of my feet and ankle, mostly the left foot. For the last couple of weeks or so, I've been wearing my running shoes on the treadmill. I've still been going barefoot on the days I only run a mile or a little more. If I were only doing 1 mile per day to keep my streak going, continuing to go barefoot would be no problem. I guess that's what happens when you run 5 miles a day for 3 or 4 days out of the week.

Present Situation: I'm looking forward to no overtime again this week. I have big plans and high hopes. Plenty of items to knock out and I hope to do a little dreaming in between. One thing I'd like to shoot for this week is to get back to being a little more consistent with these Notes again. More on the week's progress as it goes and a little catching up for last week as well. I'm tired but stupid, so I imagine I'll be watching a little TV after my shower. (Just go to bed, idiot.)

Good point, lady. Now MAGA and fetch my slippers.

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081

Goal For The Week: While I'm not necessarily happy with my progress for this week's goal, I have been able to work on setting up a good foundation to work from. I explain a wee bit about this goal in Note 080. I'm not quite done with this "foundation" as I have been working on this from home and have thus served at the pleasure of the family's whims. I also went into The Place That Pays Me this morning, so at best, I would have had time this afternoon. Not so much. It's a good thing I was able to get started yesterday. My brain works best when I feel organized and that's what I've been working on right now. Sorting through and organizing files and notes (not Notes) and creating spreadsheets to track, organize, and plan. Sure, one could see this as stalling or delaying the inevitable or just being pointless, but I know what I need to do right now—build a foundation. There comes a time now and then when a cleansing must be done, a reorganization, a perspective refreshened. I'm being somewhat vague on purpose. If there's anything I want to say beyond my general daily or weekly activities in these regards, I will.

Karate went well. My oldest son was able to help another kid work on Coordination Set, which will earn that kid a ribbon if performed correctly. My son had expressed interest to me in helping the other kids in class as some do. I told him that he should. The teacher (sensei) asked him to help yesterday, and so I literally gave him a nudge. It was a proud moment for me. Hopefully, he'll learn how to be a better karate student from this and perhaps have more teaching experiences.

Present Situation: I'm looking forward to another binge-y type of TV night. I was able to get The Toddler to sleep. I don't know if my method was sound but it consisted of wrestling and horseplay followed by pajamas, teeth brushing, and book stories about underwear and going potty. He was already tired before the tomfoolery, and I figured a little more exertion wouldn't hurt. My wife wasn't home, and she's always against this type of activity at bedtime as she's worried about the dreaded "overtired" or "the great and grave winding up of the rage monster." Perhaps I'm on to something. Studies show that children do better in life when they roughhouse with Dad. I think I can handle that.

I have now reached and surpassed 200 INDIVIDUAL miles for 2019.

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