ONE REALLY TOUGH WEEK...
Friday, January 25, 2013
OK, Monday I had nobody to blame but myself... motivation was lacking. And I really should have taken the opportunity to get outside, because things went downhill fast after that.
Tuesday I spent the day buying a Shop Vac and a drainage pump and pumping, pumping, pumping sewage water out of the basement.
Wednesday I spent the day in a very cold classroom at work, then came home, waited for the guy from Roto-Rooter to show up, and then listened to him come up with a plan to fix the drain that wouldn't flood the basement. Unfortunately, he couldn't get the equipment here until the next night.
Thursday I spent the day in an even colder classroom, then came home early and waited... and waited... and waited ... until I finally found out that they were sending a new guy over to handle the clogged main line to the city sewer. Once he finally got here he was able to fix the problem without flooding the basement. Of course, now I'm left with a massive cleanup in the basement.
Friday - yet another day in a cold, cold classroom. I had hoped to get outdoors after work, but being cold all day long leaves me pretty drained - and on the tail of the last three days, tonight was even worse than usual. I ended up crawling into bed at 6 PM, both to warm up and to rest, and woke up about two hours later.
Next week's got to be better, right?
JMH
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
SNOW, SNOW, SNOW, SNOW!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
A welcome sight after two tough days that saw me too tired and too buried under work to get my lazy backside out the door after work for a run...
OK, it's only supposed to be about 6 inches or so, but it's better than nothing... it was good enough to get us an unexpected day off, it means I'll be able to do some easy snowshoeing this afternoon, and it's probably good news for the snowshoe race scheduled for Saturday morning...
Besides which, it's winter and I like to see snow in the winter!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
A welcome sight after two tough days that saw me too tired and too buried under work to get my lazy backside out the door after work for a run...
OK, it's only supposed to be about 6 inches or so, but it's better than nothing... it was good enough to get us an unexpected day off, it means I'll be able to do some easy snowshoeing this afternoon, and it's probably good news for the snowshoe race scheduled for Saturday morning...
JMH
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Serendipitous Coopers Hawk
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Early in the school year I always try to take my classes outside for labs while the weather is still nice. This morning I was out on the track with one class and saw a bird fly down onto the bleachers on the opposite side of the field. Fortunately I had my good camera with me... love that 140x zoom...
JMH
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Early in the school year I always try to take my classes outside for labs while the weather is still nice. This morning I was out on the track with one class and saw a bird fly down onto the bleachers on the opposite side of the field. Fortunately I had my good camera with me... love that 140x zoom...
JMH
Friday, February 17, 2012
Long Week...
Friday, February 17, 2012
Heading into the end of the term at work is always tough, but this time seems even busier than usual. Between getting home late several nights, not getting much sleep most nights, and general laziness - I didn't get out at all over the past five days. But tomorrow is looking better - I'll be heading down to Connecticut to run with Ed and Konrad. No snowshoe races this weekend - our essentially snowless winter continues, but at least that's left us with decent conditions for running.
JMH
Friday, February 17, 2012
Heading into the end of the term at work is always tough, but this time seems even busier than usual. Between getting home late several nights, not getting much sleep most nights, and general laziness - I didn't get out at all over the past five days. But tomorrow is looking better - I'll be heading down to Connecticut to run with Ed and Konrad. No snowshoe races this weekend - our essentially snowless winter continues, but at least that's left us with decent conditions for running.
JMH
Friday, January 27, 2012
OUTDOORS AT LAST!
2.5 Mile Walk on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Friday, January 27, 2012
This was a tough week. I put off doing some things for work way too long and paid for it big time this week, both in lost sleep and no time outdoors. Last night I finally had time to get out for a run, but initially I was too tired, and once I'd finally gotten my second wind for the evening it was raining and I just couldn't summon up the motivation to go out and be cold and wet. So tonight was the first time since Sunday that I've been outdoors this week, other than to go back and forth to work.
I considered going for a short run but in the end my best option was a walk instead... took the bike path from the Lions Park out past the Niska Isle bridge and back. Not too cold, but very windy, which made for a chilly walk out. Very little activity - even with the warmer weather we've been having, it looked like there was still a lot of ice on the river. Maybe it will be warm enough tomorrow and I'll have time to go for a short bike ride, so I can see things in the daylight.
JMH
2.5 Mile Walk on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Friday, January 27, 2012
This was a tough week. I put off doing some things for work way too long and paid for it big time this week, both in lost sleep and no time outdoors. Last night I finally had time to get out for a run, but initially I was too tired, and once I'd finally gotten my second wind for the evening it was raining and I just couldn't summon up the motivation to go out and be cold and wet. So tonight was the first time since Sunday that I've been outdoors this week, other than to go back and forth to work.
I considered going for a short run but in the end my best option was a walk instead... took the bike path from the Lions Park out past the Niska Isle bridge and back. Not too cold, but very windy, which made for a chilly walk out. Very little activity - even with the warmer weather we've been having, it looked like there was still a lot of ice on the river. Maybe it will be warm enough tomorrow and I'll have time to go for a short bike ride, so I can see things in the daylight.
JMH
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Yet Another Change of Plans... Sigh...
Thursday, January 19, 2012
A very unproductive week... too many evenings of falling sleep after eating dinner and then spinning my wheels while trying to do work after waking up. I haven't gotten outdoors since Monday either... sigh.
I was really looking forward to running Brave the Blizzard on Saturday morning, then driving out to Rochester to spend time with Ann and run the Lake Effect Half Marathon Sunday morning - I did the Lake Effect duathlon the first two years it was held and really want to do the long race that's replaced it one of these years. Doesn't look like it's going to be this year... with all the work I have to do, it doesn't make sense to spend all that time on the road this weekend. Guess I'll go over to Massachusetts and run Constitution Hill instead - word is it will actually be a snowshoe race (unlike BtB, which is almost certain to be a trail run.)
There I go doing what makes sense again... the Apocalypse must be inching closer...
JMH
Thursday, January 19, 2012
A very unproductive week... too many evenings of falling sleep after eating dinner and then spinning my wheels while trying to do work after waking up. I haven't gotten outdoors since Monday either... sigh.
I was really looking forward to running Brave the Blizzard on Saturday morning, then driving out to Rochester to spend time with Ann and run the Lake Effect Half Marathon Sunday morning - I did the Lake Effect duathlon the first two years it was held and really want to do the long race that's replaced it one of these years. Doesn't look like it's going to be this year... with all the work I have to do, it doesn't make sense to spend all that time on the road this weekend. Guess I'll go over to Massachusetts and run Constitution Hill instead - word is it will actually be a snowshoe race (unlike BtB, which is almost certain to be a trail run.)
There I go doing what makes sense again... the Apocalypse must be inching closer...
JMH
Monday, September 12, 2011
It Always Surprises Me...
Monday, September 12, 2011
... how much being back in the classroom tires me out initially.
The father of my karate student mentioned last week that all the teachers he knows talked about how much they dread the start of the school year. I guess I'm really lucky in that regards, because - that's not how I feel at all. Don't get me wrong - if someone was willing to pay me my salary to stay home and do whatever I want, I'd probably do it. But I like my job, I enjoy working with my students, and other than the inconveniences of getting up early in the morning and not being able to do whatever I want each day - I really don't mind being back in front of the classroom again.
But it always surprises me how much a job that doesn't involve any hard physical labor completely exhausts me for the first week or two. Came home this afternoon intending to get out on my bike for an easy ride, ate some dinner - and then fell asleep for a couple hours, at which point it was getting dark and I gave up on going anywhere for the evening.
So I'll be glad when I get used to being back to work again and getting outdoors at the end of the day isn't nearly as much of a struggle.
JMH
Monday, September 12, 2011
... how much being back in the classroom tires me out initially.
The father of my karate student mentioned last week that all the teachers he knows talked about how much they dread the start of the school year. I guess I'm really lucky in that regards, because - that's not how I feel at all. Don't get me wrong - if someone was willing to pay me my salary to stay home and do whatever I want, I'd probably do it. But I like my job, I enjoy working with my students, and other than the inconveniences of getting up early in the morning and not being able to do whatever I want each day - I really don't mind being back in front of the classroom again.
But it always surprises me how much a job that doesn't involve any hard physical labor completely exhausts me for the first week or two. Came home this afternoon intending to get out on my bike for an easy ride, ate some dinner - and then fell asleep for a couple hours, at which point it was getting dark and I gave up on going anywhere for the evening.
So I'll be glad when I get used to being back to work again and getting outdoors at the end of the day isn't nearly as much of a struggle.
JMH
Friday, July 29, 2011
That's a Lot of Honeybees...
Friday, July 29, 2011
Over the last 50 years there have been alarming reductions in the numbers of both wild and beekeeper-supported honeybees. This hit the news about 5 years ago when entire colonies of honeybees began dying off (Colony Collapse Disorder) for no apparent reason. I know some folks look at that and think "What's the big deal? They're just bees..." but the truth is honeybees are very important in both the pollination of wild plants (allowing them to reproduce) and many agricultural crops (I had never realized prior to reading about CCD that there are commercial beekeepers who travel with their hives to farming operations to provide bees for crop pollination.) Honeybees are a vital part of the ecosystem and the agricultural system.
I got word last night that this week the Albany Academy (my employer) had a company in to remove a honeybee hive from under part of the roof. The company that did the removal is called Everything Honey Bee Inc and performs live extractions - they save as many of the bees as they can, as well as removing the hive and honeycombs. Big kudos to AA for taking this approach when it probably would have been cheaper to just bring in an exterminator to kill all the bees and then a contractor to remove the hive and repair the damage.
Everything Honey Bee's youtube video of the removal/extraction gives a good idea of not only what a big job this was but also the sheer size of the colony living under the roof...
JMH
Friday, July 29, 2011
Over the last 50 years there have been alarming reductions in the numbers of both wild and beekeeper-supported honeybees. This hit the news about 5 years ago when entire colonies of honeybees began dying off (Colony Collapse Disorder) for no apparent reason. I know some folks look at that and think "What's the big deal? They're just bees..." but the truth is honeybees are very important in both the pollination of wild plants (allowing them to reproduce) and many agricultural crops (I had never realized prior to reading about CCD that there are commercial beekeepers who travel with their hives to farming operations to provide bees for crop pollination.) Honeybees are a vital part of the ecosystem and the agricultural system.
I got word last night that this week the Albany Academy (my employer) had a company in to remove a honeybee hive from under part of the roof. The company that did the removal is called Everything Honey Bee Inc and performs live extractions - they save as many of the bees as they can, as well as removing the hive and honeycombs. Big kudos to AA for taking this approach when it probably would have been cheaper to just bring in an exterminator to kill all the bees and then a contractor to remove the hive and repair the damage.
Everything Honey Bee's youtube video of the removal/extraction gives a good idea of not only what a big job this was but also the sheer size of the colony living under the roof...
JMH
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
CRUNCH TIME... BLEAH!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
What a week... I've wanted to get out for a run every night and just haven't had the time or in some cases the energy. We split the school year into three terms, and the winter term ends next week... which means my kids are getting ready to take exams on what we've been studying for the past few months and I'm trying to not only help them prepare for that but also grading work they've submitted so they can use it to help them study. Lots of late evenings giving them extra help and then even later nights at home working means not much time left for getting outdoors.
I'm reminded of the following quote, which I posted several years ago after reading the book it's from:
"One recent morning, while running, I had a vision of a bear careening slo-mo through Yellowstone on a National Geopgraphic TV special. Bears are big, but they sure can move. Everyone knows a gazelle is built for running -- and yet you wouldn't want that bear chasing you, would you? Then I remembered that the Colorado Department of Wildlife allocates one hundred square miles for each of our state's brown bears. Any less than that, and you end up with 'nuisance' bears who eat garbage and start fights. I related to this implicitly. If I am prevented from crashing through the underbrush, I too eat garbage and snarl a lot."
-- Robin Chotzinoff, People Who Sweat
I definitely need to get outside and crash through the underbrush (or at least through the woods) so that maybe I'll eat less garbage... and before I start snarling a lot. Thank heavens we have two snowshoe races coming up this weekend!
-JMH
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
What a week... I've wanted to get out for a run every night and just haven't had the time or in some cases the energy. We split the school year into three terms, and the winter term ends next week... which means my kids are getting ready to take exams on what we've been studying for the past few months and I'm trying to not only help them prepare for that but also grading work they've submitted so they can use it to help them study. Lots of late evenings giving them extra help and then even later nights at home working means not much time left for getting outdoors.
I'm reminded of the following quote, which I posted several years ago after reading the book it's from:
"One recent morning, while running, I had a vision of a bear careening slo-mo through Yellowstone on a National Geopgraphic TV special. Bears are big, but they sure can move. Everyone knows a gazelle is built for running -- and yet you wouldn't want that bear chasing you, would you? Then I remembered that the Colorado Department of Wildlife allocates one hundred square miles for each of our state's brown bears. Any less than that, and you end up with 'nuisance' bears who eat garbage and start fights. I related to this implicitly. If I am prevented from crashing through the underbrush, I too eat garbage and snarl a lot."
-- Robin Chotzinoff, People Who Sweat
I definitely need to get outside and crash through the underbrush (or at least through the woods) so that maybe I'll eat less garbage... and before I start snarling a lot. Thank heavens we have two snowshoe races coming up this weekend!
-JMH
Friday, October 22, 2010
Harvesting Seeds in the Pine Bush
Friday, October 22, 2010
Several times a year we have community service days at work where we spend the day doing work both at the school and volunteering in the Albany area community. Since I have a new group of student advisees this year, it was an opportunity to go to a new venue to work (my previous group was adamant that we continue to work with the same organization every time, in part because they often bought pizza for us afterwards) and I chose one that is near and dear to my heart, the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. Since moving to Albany in late 1999 I've run, biked, snowshoed, skied, and walked countless miles on the Pine Bush trails, so this was an excellent opportunity to give back a little bit.
Our job today was working with two staff members harvesting bush clover seeds for planting next spring in one of the areas where habitat restoration is being done, a process where the vast majority of plants in an area are removed, leaving behind essentially bare soil, to get rid of invasive species and allow re-establishing of native species that are important to the various endangered species that need the Pine Bush to survive - in this case, the Karner Blue butterfly, which as an adult feeds on the nectar from the bush clover blossoms. After meeting the staff at the Pine Bush Discovery Center we headed over to a field along Kings Road where we spent 2 1/2 hours harvesting seed materials, which will be run through equipment later to extract and clean the seeds to planting in the spring.
I was pleasantly surprised that the boys didn't grumble about the work being pretty boring, though they did get antsy toward the end, mainly because they were getting pretty hungry and in some cases a bit chilly. Before we headed back to the Discovery Center for lunch, the staff members weighed the bags we'd collected - turns out we gathered 63 lbs of material altogether, which is pretty darn impressive.
Back at the Discovery Center the staff explained why the Pine Bush is important (it's environmentally unique) and we got to see the box turtle they have there (rescued from someone who had been keeping him illegally.) The boys chowed down on the food we'd brought with us from the school and then spent a while checking out the displays and activities. I was glad to have the opportunity to see the inside of the Center - usually I'm there in the evening when it's closed - and chatted with the staff briefly about how tough it's been with all the budget problems NYS has been having, before we hopped back on the bus to return to school.
JMH
Friday, October 22, 2010
Several times a year we have community service days at work where we spend the day doing work both at the school and volunteering in the Albany area community. Since I have a new group of student advisees this year, it was an opportunity to go to a new venue to work (my previous group was adamant that we continue to work with the same organization every time, in part because they often bought pizza for us afterwards) and I chose one that is near and dear to my heart, the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. Since moving to Albany in late 1999 I've run, biked, snowshoed, skied, and walked countless miles on the Pine Bush trails, so this was an excellent opportunity to give back a little bit.
Our job today was working with two staff members harvesting bush clover seeds for planting next spring in one of the areas where habitat restoration is being done, a process where the vast majority of plants in an area are removed, leaving behind essentially bare soil, to get rid of invasive species and allow re-establishing of native species that are important to the various endangered species that need the Pine Bush to survive - in this case, the Karner Blue butterfly, which as an adult feeds on the nectar from the bush clover blossoms. After meeting the staff at the Pine Bush Discovery Center we headed over to a field along Kings Road where we spent 2 1/2 hours harvesting seed materials, which will be run through equipment later to extract and clean the seeds to planting in the spring.
I was pleasantly surprised that the boys didn't grumble about the work being pretty boring, though they did get antsy toward the end, mainly because they were getting pretty hungry and in some cases a bit chilly. Before we headed back to the Discovery Center for lunch, the staff members weighed the bags we'd collected - turns out we gathered 63 lbs of material altogether, which is pretty darn impressive.
Back at the Discovery Center the staff explained why the Pine Bush is important (it's environmentally unique) and we got to see the box turtle they have there (rescued from someone who had been keeping him illegally.) The boys chowed down on the food we'd brought with us from the school and then spent a while checking out the displays and activities. I was glad to have the opportunity to see the inside of the Center - usually I'm there in the evening when it's closed - and chatted with the staff briefly about how tough it's been with all the budget problems NYS has been having, before we hopped back on the bus to return to school.
JMH
Thursday, October 21, 2010
4 Mile Run, Albany Academy to Normanskill Farm
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Very little time today between wrapping up extra help sessions with my students and another work function, so I squeezed in a very short run from the school over to Normanskill Farm. After following city streets for a ways, I went down what used to be a yellow-brick road (before it was paved over, though in spots the asphalt has worn away revealing the bricks underneath) and over the Whipple bridge to follow a trail down the hill and then along the Normans Kill a short distance before turning around and heading back. I would have liked to have run longer but there just wasn't time...
The last time I was at Normanskill Farm was almost a year ago, after last year's Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon, when I stopped to get some photos of the many trees that were in brilliant fall colors. There were fewer showing gold and reds today, possibly because of the recent rain or possibly because some of the trees have yet to change color. Still, it was awfully nice to spend some time surrounded by a bit of nature, before having to follow the city streets back to work.
JMH
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Very little time today between wrapping up extra help sessions with my students and another work function, so I squeezed in a very short run from the school over to Normanskill Farm. After following city streets for a ways, I went down what used to be a yellow-brick road (before it was paved over, though in spots the asphalt has worn away revealing the bricks underneath) and over the Whipple bridge to follow a trail down the hill and then along the Normans Kill a short distance before turning around and heading back. I would have liked to have run longer but there just wasn't time...
The last time I was at Normanskill Farm was almost a year ago, after last year's Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon, when I stopped to get some photos of the many trees that were in brilliant fall colors. There were fewer showing gold and reds today, possibly because of the recent rain or possibly because some of the trees have yet to change color. Still, it was awfully nice to spend some time surrounded by a bit of nature, before having to follow the city streets back to work.
JMH
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Rough Week...
Thursday, September 16, 2010
First full week back to school always wears me out, and this year is no different. Monday I barely summoned up the energy to go for a walk, Tuesday I planned to go out for a ride and ended up conking out when I got home instead, and tonight it was pouring when I got home... so rather than go for a cold wet ride I ended up falling asleep for a couple of hours. I'll be very glad when my body finally adjusts to being at work every day and sleeping on a regular schedule (my summer sleep schedule is anything but that...) Next week I definitely need to push myself to get back to my "outdoors every day" schedule.
On the plus side... I'm definitely not going into this weekend's races overtrained...
JMH
Thursday, September 16, 2010
First full week back to school always wears me out, and this year is no different. Monday I barely summoned up the energy to go for a walk, Tuesday I planned to go out for a ride and ended up conking out when I got home instead, and tonight it was pouring when I got home... so rather than go for a cold wet ride I ended up falling asleep for a couple of hours. I'll be very glad when my body finally adjusts to being at work every day and sleeping on a regular schedule (my summer sleep schedule is anything but that...) Next week I definitely need to push myself to get back to my "outdoors every day" schedule.
On the plus side... I'm definitely not going into this weekend's races overtrained...
JMH
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Aargh... No Outdoors For Me Again Today!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
And it was tough to just head indoors when I got home... it was raining very lightly and just perfect weather to go out for a walk... unfortunately the end of the school year is rocketing toward us and I am, as always, buried under work.
I'm hoping to take much of tomorrow afternoon/evening off from working to visit one or two nature preserves near Catskill before heading to Olana for the annual Olana Star Loop 10k race... lots of hills while running the beautiful carriage trails of Olana. Should be a really nice break from grading, grading, grading.
JMH
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
And it was tough to just head indoors when I got home... it was raining very lightly and just perfect weather to go out for a walk... unfortunately the end of the school year is rocketing toward us and I am, as always, buried under work.
I'm hoping to take much of tomorrow afternoon/evening off from working to visit one or two nature preserves near Catskill before heading to Olana for the annual Olana Star Loop 10k race... lots of hills while running the beautiful carriage trails of Olana. Should be a really nice break from grading, grading, grading.
JMH
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