Day 21: Not finding the right word

So here I am, end of April, and the future looms ever closer. Sometime over the course of the last week, it has really hit me that I am nearing the end of my four years in Louisiana. I feel like I've been trying to appreciate every part of every day (and every meal...) because my days here are numbered. It's bittersweet, because I'm truly trying to enjoy every conversation and moment, but I also know that this soon will be a part of my history and not my present. I'm trying to stay conscious about how great I have it right now: a beautiful city, a terrific roommate, and getting to go to work with my wonderful fiance every day.

Change is stressful for me. New city, new job, planning a wedding... I am trying to take the change bit by bit, but it's a lot! Since this is supposed to be about my reading and working out, here is the tie-in: Steve Jobs went through a lot of change in his professional life. Apple, NeXT, Apple again... all the while working with different people on different ventures. I'm having a tough time getting motivated to finish the book. I'm hovering somewhere around page 330, with really no end in sight.

I'm hoping that it becomes more entertaining now that I have memories of the products they are talking about. They just introduced the iMac, which I remember so vividly in Fitzy's family room. I was so jealous because I thought the computer looked so cool. Now that I'm reading this biography, I realize that was the point. I just finished going for a walk around the block listening to my iPhone and I'm typing this post on a MacBook, so I guess I should finish and see what this guy has in store...

Toodles.

Day 13. Rain, rain go away.

When I last left off, I was on school break. I naively thought that perhaps I really would be able to blog all the time. Instead, I went back to school, and my free time to read (and then write about it) has decreased greatly. 


Saturday, I headed to the library to take advantage of their partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank to reduce library fees. For every canned good you donated, you received a one dollar reduction on your fine. One time last year, I found a book under my bed that I swore I had returned, so I was sitting on a pretty hefty bill. Okay... $9. But it takes a long time for that to accrue on $0.05 per day. 


While I was there, I returned A Streetcar Named Desire (which I didn't read, but thought I might in my kick to experience all things New Orleans between now and June 9th) and picked up I married you for happiness by Lily Tucker. It's the story of of two people who met in France (love it), like math (love it) and get married (love it). Sooo... I put down Steve Jobs for a bit and started reading the story of Nina and Philip. 


Steve Jobs is chugging along. He's now been ousted from Apple and is working on NeXT. I had never heard of it before I picked up the book, so I'm anticipating a major collapse of the company sometime in the next twenty pages or so. 


On the life front: working out. I haven't been hitting the weights, but I've been running. Brendan and I have been more consistent in going out for runs together, which has been nice. I don't like to let him beat me, so it makes me run harder. We don't really race... but I'm trying to get fast enough where I feel like I'd have a chance to win if we DID ever want to race each other. 


We tossed around the idea of the Falmouth Road Race over the weekend. Registration for the lottery is next month. We'll probably both put our names in and hope we're chosen! 


Until next time.... 

Day 4. Happy Easter.

Happy Easter, blogging world. Went to a great Mass at St. Joan of Arc this morning. Brendan and I arrived after everyone else, so we had to stand in the back. A bit of a bummer, but a nice service nonetheless.

The most recent portion of Steve Jobs that I've been reading coincided with Easter in a strange way. Jobs was passionate but difficult to work with. I think that even though he wanted to see good things happen, he caused some hurt along the way.

It has been awhile since I've really considered God in my everyday life. Today, as I was considering the actions Jesus is said to have taken during the course of his life, I realized that it is not the absence of causing hurt, but the proactive measure of extending friendship and empathy to others that made him such an important figure.

We had a bunch of people over for dinner tonight, and each time a group gets together I'm called to examine the relationships that I've built here in New Orleans. Over the course of the past year, I've been "not doing harm" as opposed to "actively seeking good". That should probably change. Now.

This really has nothing to do with Steve Jobs, except for.... Mac (1980, where I a in the book now) = new beginning = Easter = pondering Jesus' = evaluating my relationships. Certainly a roundabout train of thought, but welcome to the world I live in....

Buona sera.

Day 2. Steve Jobs, by Isaac Watterson

I never thought that a book about an electronics mogul would make me think about religion, even if it is Good Friday. I've gotten a slow start to the book, considering the vast amounts of free time I've had for the past 48 hours (no work, no Brendan...). In the section I read this morning, however, Watterson discussed Jobs' departure from Christianity in favor of a more Buddhist Zen spirituality. Jobs is quoted (roughly) as saying that Christianity was lost for him when it was more about faith than about treating people like Jesus did. Maybe I read it wrong, or maybe that's what he meant.

It's an interesting perspective at this point in my faith life. I've gone through periods of intense clinging to the Church (vocation retreat, anyone?) and periods where I don't go to Mass unless I have to (where I find myself now). As I prepare for the sacrament of marriage with Brendan, a ceremony we want to have in a Church, it brings up the question... why?

The way Watterson is writing, Jobs also sounds like a jerk. I am fairly certain that I wouldn't have liked him if I met him, as I would have felt immediately self-conscious around him. Oh well.

Day 1. Part 2: Fitness.

If you ask my why weight training isn't part of my routine, I have three well-used excuses for you. Let's deal with them one by one.

#1: Oh... I just don't know how.

It's time to call bullshit on myself right there. I have a subscription to Runner's World, Cassie gets Self, and there are innumberable resources online. If I'm uneducated, it's my fault.

#2: Unless I'm consistent, it won't make a difference anyway.

Well... duh. Get consistent.

#3: I don't have time.

A quick look at my Netflix account would throw that one right out the window.

So, this morning I went to the gym and gave it a modest start. I need a plan... I can't remember who said it, but someone wise once used the words "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

Changes I can make right away:

1. Bring a notebook/journal to the gym so I can record what I'm doing and make sure this is variety.

It may seem annoying at first, but that's kind of how I felt about tracking food when I started Weight Watchers. That worked, so maybe this will, too.

Changes that will require more effort:

Plan workouts ahead of time so that I'm working major muscle groups each week and have a goal in mind.

Since my WW weeks go from Thursday - Wednesday, I guess I'll make my workout weeks go that way as well.

Here goes nothing!

(Anddd... today was 15 min elliptical, 35 min walk on treadmill, 2 sets of 12 bicep curls, shoulder presses, the unnamed weight thing where you drop it behind your head and work your triceps, and 25 crunches).

Day 1.

The biggest bummer about this experiment is how cliche it is. Here are my goals in starting this blog:

1. Serve as a way to remember books and articles that I read many years down the road.

2. Remember how awesome life was during my engagement.

3. Hold myself accountable for working out and eating right.

4. Become more technologically savvy.

The real inspiration behind this is Mr. James Hix Miller. He remembers everything. I was just finishing "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand, a book he read last year. He was able to bring up finer points of the book, including the name of the preacher who makes such a difference in Louis Zamperini's life. I always seem to forget everything about books. If I can look up on my own blog what I've read and how I felt about it, I'll be good to go.

Since Jimmy and I had that conversation, I read a book called "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" by Amy Chua. Here's how I felt about the book:

1. My mom made my life pretty easy.

2. I don't know that I would've survived within a Chinese parenting style.

3. Maybe if I had Chinese parents, I would have achieved more than I have thus far.

4. It made me worry about how complacent I am right now... and made me realize I need to set some more long-term goals.

That's it on books for now. I picked up the Steve Jobs biography at the library yesterday, but haven't started it yet. Hopefully I'll make a dent this weekend!