Beginning 2013

    Happy New Year!

January 2013 decided that Winter Shall Be Experienced in Canada and my little city was no exception.  I shoveled snow and glumly watched my heating bills rise all month.  Still the season had its moments, like those still, quiet nights where snow doesn't fall so much as drift down, covering the world in a clean sheet of white.  There's a sense of peacefulness as the falling snow sparkles drifting through the diffused glow of the streetlights.

I began my January with a visit to the Cancer Centre's clinic for blood work.    Even thought I'm no longer receiving treatment (last chemo visit was January of 2011!) I still  need to do this on a quarterly basis.  So far the results of these tests show  nothing adverse or unusual to write about.  This blog is positively boring.   I definitely want to keep it that way (although some might argue that you can't change what already is..)

Three years ago my energy was waning, my weight was dropping and I was being engulfed by Cancer.  Now I am in the second month of my Cholesterol medication (Crestor) and attempting to correct the Winter Eating Everything Excesses mode we seem to go through.  I can't afford to treat this as 'mundane' any more than I could the tumour that was growing inside me back then.  To that end I've been attempting to get to sleep earlier (easy to do: I'm Tired), and while it's been too darn cold to walk, I still walk when I can.   And then there's the exercise bike.

I like bike riding, so when it was suggested that perhaps a stationary exercise bike could be used in lieu of retrofitting skis to my existing bikes, I thought "why not?"
Exercise bikes come in all shapes, forms, sizes and capabilities.  They all have one thing in common: their assembly instructions require a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering and the patience of a Buddhist Monk.  Perseverance, frequent consultation to the "instructions", deep breathing and less than 24 hours after unpacking the box an exercise bike was ready for a spin!

Exercise bikes are not as comfortable as my road bike.  Or my mountain bike.  Mostly because those are sized for me, and my riding position is not as upright as that forced upon me by the stationary bike.  The ergonomics are not the same, but I ride it for about 25 minutes.  The bike features an lcd console which shows distance travelled, speed, and heart rate.   I don't need a panel to tell me I'm doing work, the sweat and tired leg muscles know that already.  The bike is kind of cramped, but it serves to get me off the couch.  Now maybe it they made a bike that was couch-shaped...

January would also see me trundling off to a local library to volunteer with chess tournaments for kids.  Volunteering in things that I've never done before gets me out of my comfort zone.  Winter is too easy to settle in mentally and physically.  While I'm not a novice chess player, I had never really participated in the organizational aspects of *anything* unrelated to my workplace and career.   Set up a Wide Area Network between remote offices, no problem. Assist in data migration from an acquisition, routine.  Dealing with dozens of small children playing Chess makes me think fondly of the serenity associated with assembling Exercise bikes.

For the most part the kids tolerated me (actually they pretty much ignore me, except to report scores and wait for the medals to be handed out) and I didn't  muck things up too badly.  I suspect that as long as I only double the workload of the organizer I'll be asked to hang around for future tournaments.

So January passed with the tempests of the season roaring in.  Tempests do not last forever, the cold days will warm up.  Already the sun is seems to be hanging around a little longer, the promise of Spring will be here before I know it.  My life is one of unfinished projects at work and personally.  But no cancer.  If I made New Years resolutions it would be to live my life without worrying about 'what if', and think more about 'what now'.