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Jul. 19th, 2012 01:38 pmYesterday was sweltering. The upstairs at my parents' house was so hot that my glasses literally fogged over when I moved from the air-conditioned downstairs to my little under-ventilated room on the second floor. I'm sure the large desktop computer I'm running up there didn't help matters, but it was pretty bad. As I sat at my desk, I could feel the sweat running down me in the occasional miniature rivulet.
I'd gone out by bike to the plasma center on the north side of Kenosha earlier in the day. It's a one-way trip of a little over 4 miles, so it leaves me less tired, and my clothes less soaked, than my twice-a-week seven and a half mile ride to school. It's still good exercise though, and I'm really enjoying all the riding I've been doing. It makes a difference in how I feel. I feel notably less fatigue in my legs when walking up stairs these days, and my blood pressure is down. I was in pre-hypertension when I was working at my last corporate job. Yesterday, my reading was 118 over 60. In fact, my blood pressure is low enough that I'm finding I get a little dizzy when I stand up quickly sometimes. Funny how the brain needs that stuff to keep functioning, isn't it?
I'd made plans to go visit![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
posicat yesterday evening. Schedules and money had kept me from visiting him in quite some time, so I was pleased to be seeing him again, even as I felt a little bad for having something tech related I wanted him to do for me. But once I got to his place and showed him the charger and the information from other internet geeks on what needed to be modded, he had it done in about ten seconds with a soldering iron. He rules.
After I showed him the slide rule I picked up recently and socialized with his cats, we went out to get some food. I offered to buy Posi dinner in return for his help, but he declined the offer, 'cause he knows I'm tight on money and is awesome like that. We got Chinese buffet, the first time for me in quite some time! I'm sure it did nothing for my recent attempts to eat more carefully, get exercise, and get in better shape. But it was damned tasty.
From there we went on to Goodwill where I found a book of Ansel Adams' photography paired with writings by John Muir. I looked at a couple of lenses, including a decently fast 50mm prime, but I'm pretty sure they didn't fit my camrea. We also chatted with a guy who was buying a couple of Heathkit devices of some kind. I always miss the good stuff! I did see a pair of size 11 and a half bowling shoes, which it took me a long time to decide not to buy. I've looked for bowling shoes at thrift stores, literally for years, for me, just because I thought it would be nice not to have to rent them when I go bowling. But despite owning my own bowling ball, I haven't gone bowling in at least two years. If I was still employed, I would have snapped them up at five bucks, but I decided I didn't need to spend money and devote space to things I'm probably not going to use much. For that matter, I may even want to get rid of my ball. It was actually too heavy for me last time I used it.
While we were in the store, a thunderstorm rolled in! We could hear the rain on the roof and see flashes of lightning though the store windows. Northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, like so many other places, have been in a scorching drought, and seeing rain out there made us both excitably bouncy. When we left the store, I wrapped my book carefully up in its plastic bag and dashed into the downpour, giggling and skipping around the puddles.
We talked in the car about how great it is watching a storm. Posi tried to drive out to a park he knows with a high vantage point for doing just that, but the gate was closed. Instead, we went back to his place where we could sit out on the walkway in front of the door of his third floor walkup. He got his camera and tripod out and started trying to photograph lightning bolts in the dark sky overhead, as well as water sheeting down from the roof above. We sat together for most of an hour I think, collaborating on camera technique and chatting about random things. It was getting late enough that I was tired and yawning and tempted to head home, but I was having too nice a time with someone I don't get to see enough. Finally, a bit after ten-thirty, the storm had rolled along its way, Posi went in for the night, and I drove home after connecting my newly functional GPS.
Despite the rain-induced temperature reduction, I still turned on A/C for the night. I'm a bad dog.
I'd gone out by bike to the plasma center on the north side of Kenosha earlier in the day. It's a one-way trip of a little over 4 miles, so it leaves me less tired, and my clothes less soaked, than my twice-a-week seven and a half mile ride to school. It's still good exercise though, and I'm really enjoying all the riding I've been doing. It makes a difference in how I feel. I feel notably less fatigue in my legs when walking up stairs these days, and my blood pressure is down. I was in pre-hypertension when I was working at my last corporate job. Yesterday, my reading was 118 over 60. In fact, my blood pressure is low enough that I'm finding I get a little dizzy when I stand up quickly sometimes. Funny how the brain needs that stuff to keep functioning, isn't it?
I'd made plans to go visit
posicat yesterday evening. Schedules and money had kept me from visiting him in quite some time, so I was pleased to be seeing him again, even as I felt a little bad for having something tech related I wanted him to do for me. But once I got to his place and showed him the charger and the information from other internet geeks on what needed to be modded, he had it done in about ten seconds with a soldering iron. He rules.After I showed him the slide rule I picked up recently and socialized with his cats, we went out to get some food. I offered to buy Posi dinner in return for his help, but he declined the offer, 'cause he knows I'm tight on money and is awesome like that. We got Chinese buffet, the first time for me in quite some time! I'm sure it did nothing for my recent attempts to eat more carefully, get exercise, and get in better shape. But it was damned tasty.
From there we went on to Goodwill where I found a book of Ansel Adams' photography paired with writings by John Muir. I looked at a couple of lenses, including a decently fast 50mm prime, but I'm pretty sure they didn't fit my camrea. We also chatted with a guy who was buying a couple of Heathkit devices of some kind. I always miss the good stuff! I did see a pair of size 11 and a half bowling shoes, which it took me a long time to decide not to buy. I've looked for bowling shoes at thrift stores, literally for years, for me, just because I thought it would be nice not to have to rent them when I go bowling. But despite owning my own bowling ball, I haven't gone bowling in at least two years. If I was still employed, I would have snapped them up at five bucks, but I decided I didn't need to spend money and devote space to things I'm probably not going to use much. For that matter, I may even want to get rid of my ball. It was actually too heavy for me last time I used it.
While we were in the store, a thunderstorm rolled in! We could hear the rain on the roof and see flashes of lightning though the store windows. Northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, like so many other places, have been in a scorching drought, and seeing rain out there made us both excitably bouncy. When we left the store, I wrapped my book carefully up in its plastic bag and dashed into the downpour, giggling and skipping around the puddles.
We talked in the car about how great it is watching a storm. Posi tried to drive out to a park he knows with a high vantage point for doing just that, but the gate was closed. Instead, we went back to his place where we could sit out on the walkway in front of the door of his third floor walkup. He got his camera and tripod out and started trying to photograph lightning bolts in the dark sky overhead, as well as water sheeting down from the roof above. We sat together for most of an hour I think, collaborating on camera technique and chatting about random things. It was getting late enough that I was tired and yawning and tempted to head home, but I was having too nice a time with someone I don't get to see enough. Finally, a bit after ten-thirty, the storm had rolled along its way, Posi went in for the night, and I drove home after connecting my newly functional GPS.
Despite the rain-induced temperature reduction, I still turned on A/C for the night. I'm a bad dog.
