Coffee, blog, run


Food and Coding at NorthEnd Coffee shop, Banani, Dhaka by Kausar Alam is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

Well, the semester has finally ended, and I have the entire summer off. I would like to laze around the house and relax all summer. I will relax, but I have also set some goals for myself. I will begin each day with coffee, a blog post, and a morning run.

I’m very self-disciplined when I need to be and when I want to be. I have decided to be very self-disciplined once again. I will wake up to a morning cup of coffee to get me started. For me, coffee is a stimulant, not a crutch. The aroma and that first sip get my creative juices flowing. Coffee also prepares my body for my morning run because it’s a diuretic. I’ll spare you the details. Of course, I must be incredibly careful not to drink too much or I’ll have to make an unscheduled pit stop and it’s not always easy finding a restroom while on the run. Especially in the morning when most public places are closed.

The blog post should be easy to write since the first thing I do after I prepare my coffee is turn on the computer. I just have to ensure that I don’t check my email or Facebook first. These distractions can wait until after I write my blog post while I drink my coffee. As I sit alone by my computer with my coffee mug writing my blog post right now, I feel great satisfaction because I’m doing something I enjoy so much. Well, not the drinking coffee part, but the writing and using my computer. Computers have really made it easier for me to write. But that’s a post for another day.

After the coffee and the blog comes the run. Running is the one constant throughout my life. Running takes up only a small portion of my day, but my entire day must revolve around the run if I want to get a good run in. In the 1980s I use to run a lot of miles because I wanted to improve my race times so I could get a running scholarship, but that never materialized. Mainly because I developed allergies and/or I over-trained and burned out too soon. But I kept running anyway. I always managed to run three to six miles several days per week. The last couple of years, I consistently ran four and a half miles at least four times per week.

Then, something took over my running. I’m not sure what it was. For a few years, I tried to increase my mileage, but I was unsuccessful. I would always develop new aches and pains that prevented me from running more than four and a half miles. Then, my son Alex started running track. I went to every track meet possible. When I saw the track meets last year, I felt inspired to run again. Suddenly, I started running more miles. Not necessarily faster, but certainly more miles. In fact, with each track meet that I saw, I was inspired by not only by my son, who turned out to be an exceptionally good 400-meter runner, but also by the other runners who struggled just to finish with determination. Slowly, I increased my mileage until I reached nine miles or so.

Well, I’ve completed the coffee and the blog part of my daily morning routine. Now it’s off to my run!

DDR

Driving


1976 Chevrolet Nova

My sons are now driving. They now have their driver’s license at age seventeen because they took driver’s ed. At first, they were enthusiastic about driving, but now that they have been driving awhile, the excitement has worn off. Especially since the car wouldn’t start up twice and I had to help them get it running again. I told them that part of driving also involves having car problems and getting stranded far away from home. They told me that driving wasn’t much fun anymore.

I remember when I first learned to drive. I took driver’s ed in high school Indiana, but I couldn’t get my license mailed to me because I had moved back home to Chicago, Illinois. So, I didn’t drive until I was eighteen and I had bought my own car. Not that I’m complaining. I always enjoyed walking and taking public transportation when I was in high school.

After high school, my friends and I all had our own cars. Whenever we went anywhere, we all drove to our destination separately, in our own cars. If we had to carpool, each one of us wanted to be the driver. The driver would drive his own car. There was an unwritten rule that no one was allowed to drive someone else’s car. Unless they were in no condition to drive.

Now that we’re older, my friends and I don’t see much of each other. When we do, we still argue over who will drive. However, the dialogue goes like this: “You drive.” “No, you drive. I drove the last time!” “If you drive, I’ll let you drive my car!”

Just do it!


Photo by anouar olh on Pexels.com

Just do it!

Nike’s slogan was always remarkably effective for me. Whenever I made excuses, I would simply tell myself, “Just do it!” I often told myself this even before Nike coined the phrase, but perhaps not in those exact words. You can waste a lot of time dreaming up excuses for not doing something. In the end, I realized I could have accomplished my goal in less time than it took to make up excuses.

My former excuses for not running

  1. It’s too hot.
  2. It’s too cold.
  3. It’s raining.
  4. It’s snowing.
  5. It’s too nice to go running.
  6. I don’t have clean socks.
  7. I’m hungry.
  8. I’m too full.
  9. I need a few more days to rest.
  10. Who’s going to know if you don’t run?

So, whether you are going out for a run, exercising, studying for an exam. graduating, going back to school, or anything you want to achieve, don’t make excuses. Just do it!

DDR

Fitbit


Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

My wife bought me a Fitbit for my birthday. I’m not even sure what to call it other than Fitbit. This device measures all the steps that I take throughout the day. So whether I’m running or walking, it’s counting my steps and converting them to distance traveled in miles. Please don’t ask me to explain how Fitbit works because I have no idea. But I like the idea of having another computer gadget!

I believe my wife bought me this Fitbit in order to encourage me to stay fit. Well, I don’t exactly need much inspiration to run. Running is my favorite form of exercise because it’s so simple. All I must do is put on my running clothes, step out the door, and run. I stopped stretching long ago because it complicated the simplicity of running.

I love running and I adjust my daily schedule to accommodate my running. However, this Fitbit thingamajig has reminded me that I have a blog. And that I used to blog regularly. I set up Fitbit to post my results on Twitter and WordPress, which in turn posts to Facebook. So, I was reminded about my blog.

Fitbit has inspired me to start blogging again. The running not so much, since I enjoy running no matter what, all year round. For the last two years, I have told myself that I will blog again, but I always find excuses for deferring my sitting down at the computer and blogging. This time I’m determined!

Let’s see how long I continue blogging!

DDR

Rihanna es …


Rihanna

Rihanna es de Barbados. ¿Qué es la nacionalidad de Rihanna? ¿Sabes?

We were studying countries and nationalities in Spanish class the other day. I don’t like to brag, but I like to tell my students that I know most of the countries’ names in Spanish and their nationalities. I challenge the students to challenge me with countries not listed in the Spanish textbook. Well, one student asked me what Rihanna’s nationality was. Did I know her nationality? Of course, not! I asked the student for Rihanna’s country and he said Barbados. I still couldn’t say what her nationality was.

What to do? What to do? Well, I went to my old friend Wikipedia and looked up Rihanna. An entry with Rihanna’s biography in English immediately popped up. I know Wikipedia is still not a reliable reference source, but Wikipedia is great for translating into other languages. If you look in the left column after you find your Wikipedia article, you will see many other languages into which the article is translated. Since español is one of the top languages of the world, most of the articles are translated into Spanish.

Once I found the Rihanna article in English, I switched to the Spanish translation. I soon found Rihanna’s nationality in Spanish! ¡Rihanna es barbadense! Since my classroom has a computer with an Internet connection, I was able to tell the class Rihanna’s nationality in less than two minutes! I wish I could tell you that the class was impressed with my Spanish research skills, but sadly, they were merely surprised that I even knew who Rihanna was!

caricature of author end of post
DDR