Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog: #28 - Mystery Pain, Bratty Raccoons, Watch Out For the Door, etc.

1. I am now of the age where I get an ache or pain and can’t always remember how it happened. I’ve had soreness on the inside of my left calf up into my knee for a few days. When I stop and think I honestly have no clue where or how it happened. It could be an insect bite, I could have torn my calf sleepwalking, or aliens came in and kicked me there and left. All of these make sense at this point.

2. This week I signed up the oldest client I have ever trained. He is 97 years old. This man was literally graduating high school when World War II ended. All he wants is to get the most out of his body as it is today. Sadly some trainers would see a person in their 90s and say ‘sorry you’re too old I can’t help you.’ I know this because I had a 91-year-old client who told me that happened to her. For me, I want to try to help anyone who comes to me seeking it. I was unable to help my grandparents as they declined in their 90’s. I look at this as symbolically helping my grandparents since this new client is how old they would be if they were still here.

3. I pulled into the parking lot at work like any other day. When I shut my car door I noticed something at the dumpster. 2 heads popped up from inside between the large plastic flaps covering the dumpster. It was a pair of young raccoons. This has happened before. I walked over to kind of shoo them away. That’s when I noticed a 3^rd one inside the dumpster too scared to come out. I opened the right flap of the dumpster and began walking away. The 3^rd raccoon climbed out and began to leave with its siblings until it saw me leaving. Then all 3 scurried back into the dumpster. I had to go to work but came back out a few hours later. Yes, they were all still inside. The same 2 ran away leaving the 3^rd behind. This time I opened both sides of the dumpster and watched the 3^rd raccoon climb with its siblings into a nearby tree. They were not happy when I closed the dumpster and locked it. Sorry kids, the buffet is closed.

It wasn't quite like this but since the site won't let me upload the actual video this will have to do.

4. I’ve been doing more running than I have in a few years. That, plus it being overwhelmingly humid on Cape Cod this summer, means lots of soaked-in-sweat days. Sadly this means I’ve had acne issues for the first time in several years. The only very small bright side is that at my age when I bought Stridex pads I could pass them off as being for my teenage child if I had been asked. Very small bright side.

5. In a ‘life flashing before your eyes’ moment I was driving down a curvy road when some jerk in an SUV was coming the other direction. Not only was he going way too fast but he was also halfway in my lane. I had to swerve out of the way and ended up in someone’s driveway while also laying on my horn. Needless to say, I had to give a quick wave and apology to the woman who was gardening in her yard that I scared half to death.

6. I have reached the point in my life where even on my days off the time I wake up is getting earlier and earlier. If you had told young me that someday I’d wake up at 6:30am because I wanted to I’m sure young me would have either laughed or wondered what the hell happened to me. Now? I take it as extra time to get content work done, like this blog.

Me and early morning are friends.

7. Shout out to the people who work at my local Subway. It’s in South Yarmouth, MA if you want to visit. I don’t go as often as I used to (I am trying to get back into race shape) but every time I go they are always friendly despite the restaurant industry being so cruel. I worked it for years so I know. The food is always good too. So there, go get something from that Subway and be good to hospitality workers because, well because it’s what decent humans do.

8. Everytime I think it has been the soupiest humid day possible the world says ‘hold my beer.’ A run this week had me soaked so much that I think I’d have been less wet if I’d have just dove into the ocean. Fall can’t come soon enough.

9. I’ll never say ‘now I have seen it all.’ Once I say that then I see something like a teenage boy running face first into a closing automatic door at a supermarket. He was too busy looking at the toy vending machines to see the door closing. He whacked his face so hard that he probably thinks he’s a gumball now.

10. Does anyone else feel like there are way more ads on YouTube now than even a few years ago? I’m seeing videos I watch with ad breaks every 3-4 minutes. That’s more than regular television has. But hey the jokes on them. I don’t even watch the ads, I mute the sound and stare at the lower right corner until the ‘skip’ option comes up. Or I just find the latest ad blocker, shhhh.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog - #25: Squeaky Wheel, Soupy Air, Deja BBQ, etc

1. It usually pays to be a squeaky wheel. I placed an order a few weeks back for some books for an event I am speaking at on July 19^th. Everything was good on my end with the person at the publisher confirming my order. The only thing was I didn’t get any sort of receipt email or shipping confirmation. I reached out after the 4^th of July weekend just to be safe and sure enough, the person at the publisher had never even placed the order. Nice. That person was even away on vacation so if I had waited I’d never have gotten my books. Instead of pitching a fit I just thanked the new person who helped me, lest they get mad and then not place my order, again.

2. On Cape Cod it finally made it to the overwhelming heat and humidity that summer is known for this week. Wanting to keep on my running comeback trail I met a friend to do some evening running around a school track. It was so soupy that I felt like I had just gone swimming in my clothes. We also had done a lap around a neighboring cemetery, which was appropriate because I was so beat after that run that I could have just picked an open spot and dug myself a bed there.

3. So in a fitting bit of insanity I was at the grocery store and couldn’t for the life of me remember if I had any BBQ sauce at home. I thought I didn’t so I grabbed a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s. I got home and not only did I have BBQ sauce but it was Sweet Baby Ray’s down to the exact flavor, Sweet & Smokey. I am a creature of habit even when my mind is blank.

Maybe I have too many of the same BBQ sauce?

4. While on a bike trail run in the afternoon, I came to a road crossing. Coming out of a parking lot was a friend’s father. Not taking into account how I looked or sounded I just started yelling at him and waving. Now, he might not have heard me, or more likely he thought I was a wacko looking to carjack him. Or possibly his dog told him to floor it to get away from me.

5. For the last month or so I’ve been using Duolingo trying to relearn French. I took it for 4 years in school and was curious about what my brain retained even though it had been almost 30 years since I last studied it. Surprisingly more of the French came back than I expected. Granted I’m only into the 5^th unit of study but it’s almost like muscle memory except using your actual memory. Je suis impressionné!

6. One of the most annoying things while driving is when you stop to let a car pull out and then the car behind them comes barreling out too. Talk about entitled people. I let one car out at an intersection and then pulled forward to make my left turn when the car behind the one that pulled out began turning right into me. Luckily they actually looked at the last second and didn’t t-bone me. The looks on their faces plus their stupid vanity license plate confirmed their ‘entitled’ status.

7. I read this week that the current stretch of humidity, at least on Cape Cod, is the worst it has ever been for July. We are currently setting a record for most consecutive hours of the dew point above 72 degrees. By the time it(hopefully) gets drier late next week we will likely pass 260 straight hours of the soupiest air I’ve felt in my life. I like summer but am already looking forward to the crisp fall weather.

8. A true mark of my selective laziness is that my mother gifted me a nice new bedding set, sheets, pillow cases. She said I should wash them before putting them on my bed. I waited 2 days with the intention of not washing them and just using them. I mean how dirty could they be in a sealed package after all? I did relent though and threw them in the washer. At least now I won’t have to lie when she asks me if I did. I never could lie to my mother which I guess is a good trait.

9. Fun Fact: For most of my life I thought that the occupation known as a Notary Public was actually a Noted Republic. Misheard song lyrics, misheard job titles, it’s all the same. In case you were not sure of what it was A Notary Public is an official appointed by a state government to serve the public as an impartial witness during notarizations. I may or may not have had to look that up to make sure I was right.

10. There are summer days on Cape Cod where I don’t want to go to the gym because it’s packed like sardines in there and I’d rather be outside in the warm weather. There are summer days on Cape Cod where I don’t want to be outside driving because it’s packed like sardines on the roads and I worry about bad drivers. Then some days are both and I think it would be best to hibernate until Labor Day.

11. I am lucky that I live close enough to the Cape Cod Rail Trail that I can run it pretty much whenever I want. Over the years they have slowly expanded it west. It used to end suddenly at a random road after going through a golf course. In the last year they have continued expanding from there. It’s been little bits, a hundred feet here, hundred feet there. So in order to keep my designation of running every step of the CCRT I have to run to the new end each time it gets expanded. In total it’s been extended about 1,400 feet and I’ll be there when it goes to 1,500.

The new 'end of the line' on the bike trail