Suburban hiking

The problem with taking Thanksgiving week off from work is that I feel disgusting to be sedentary during that time. This year, I even got a gadget that reminds me just how much I am not moving: the Apple Watch. With me staying home the entire day, those daily fitness rings are definitely not closing. Can the gamification of fitness actually help me get off my butt?

Yes it can! (Thanks, Obama.) That Monday afternoon of the week off, the unfinished fitness rings were staring right at me from the watch face. On a typical work week, those would have been fulfilled by that time. Not content to let the streak die, I reluctantly put on some outside clothes - because wearing the same clothes outside and inside the home is kind of dirty - and headed outside for a walk. 30 minutes later, mission accomplished (like President Bush), rings closed.

And then I did the same the following day, and every week day during Thanksgiving week.

Turns out, taking a walk around the neighborhood is kind of nice (file under: duh). Obviously, it helps to be in a safe and leafy neighborhood. I can’t imagine doing this 20 years ago living near the Sunnydale housing projects. It also helps to go outside during golden hour - the period just before sunset. The views are often spectacular this time of year, with many clouds and no fog. A meditative stroll is a great way to end the day before heading to a hearty dinner.

New habit, then: I shall take walks around the neighborhood on weekend days - and weekdays when I am not working - where I’ve only been inside the home. Got to close those Apple Watch rings! The health benefits are cool, too.

Burning sunset.

Grow old together

On a leisurely stroll through the local park this Saturday, I encountered an old Asian couple having a picnic at the bench tables. Both looked older than my own parents, who are in their 60s. It was a beautiful scene to see. A loving couple, well into their golden years, still going out on a date. Both enjoying each other’s company and conversation, while eating a nice meal.

That’s just sweet, isn’t it? We’d all be so lucky to find a life partner like that. A loving relationship with the ultimate longevity. The type that can weather the ups and downs, well beyond the initial spark and illogical craziness. I’m sure the couple I encountered had to work hard through some shitty times to get to where they are. They understood the tradeoffs, and had no qualms with dealing with both the positives and negatives in choosing one another.

Or perhaps I’m merely projecting my own hopes and dreams to this lovely couple (I definitely am). Maybe they’d just met each other on an online dating app, (they’ve got those for older folks, surely) and this picnic at the park is their first date. But I doubt that. Asian couples of that generation tend to have stuck around with each other for a very long time. They didn’t have the options available to go do something else. A commitment was made, and that was it.

And if there were irreconcilable differences, they would stick together despite it. Either for the kids, or for the safety of money. There’s pros and cons to this too, obviously.

I feel like our generation have too many options. Dating apps, social media; everybody’s waiting for the person who is just right. Any sight of a red flag means game over. And why not? We’ve got access to so many others at the flick of a finger. It’s easier to give up than to work things through. Is this necessary better and improved? I honestly don’t know.

What I do know is it would be kind of wonderful to get to that picnic table with someone, in my old age.

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DragonBoaty McDragonBoatFace.

Everyday I ruck

These days I’ve been carrying a 30-pound weight in my backpack on my walks to and from work. It serves to add a bit of exercise to my otherwise normal routine. To get a modicum of strength and cardio training during those 20 minutes of walking. And all it takes really is a few taped up bricks. I of course did not go the cheap route. I instead spent nearly $300 on a new backpack and a weight that fits in it perfectly.

I don’t do things half-arsed.

Rucking the 30-pound weight made me realize one thing: people of a larger size (read: fat) essentially carry around this weight all the time. They don’t get to take the weight off once they arrive at work like I do. The increased pressure on the joints and the back is significant. I certainly feel it in my knees and shoulder area. This is what it would be like if I were 30 pounds heavier. Which I was, way back in my college days. The freshman 15 gets to us all.

And I’ve been determined since then to live a lean and healthy life. Sort of ironic that in finding a new way to exercise, it has also reminded me of how I used to be. That is some built-in motivation! What I am looking forward to is taking the 30-pound weight on long hikes. It’s a great and easy way to add some difficulty to some of these hiking trails that lack heavy elevation.

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Lift heavy things.

Walking home

With summer semester going into action at the university, the staff are being asked to work on campus fully for two to three days out of the week. California is getting ready to fully open in about a fortnight, so things are returning to normal quite rapidly. Every weekend in May, I’ve gone out to places and ate indoors at restaurants. I’ve hung out indoors with a relatively large group of friends, unmasked. We are back, baby.

Except for much of the rest of the world. Rising COVID rates in countries with formerly ultra low outbreaks such as Taiwan and Vietnam show that vaccines are the only solution out of this mess. It’s perverse luck that the United States is amongst the worse in COVID deaths, yet we are the amongst the first to achieve an appropriately high level of vaccination. I read on twitter that some people are contemplating travel to America just to get the vaccine.

From worst to first, the underdog story. That’s America!

Anyways, being back to working a full day at work makes me appreciate how nice it is that I now live only a 10 minute walk away. To end a nine-hours day on campus without a commute slog in a car afterwards is just the best feeling. Yesterday evening I walked by heavy traffic on 19th Avenue on the way home, and thought to myself how grateful that I’m not the one stuck in a car amongst that quagmire. Maybe it’s not the job that’s soul-sucking, but it’s the commute?

I think this is why plenty of people are thriving with working-from-home. The commute time they get back in turn allows them to perform better. They are less stressed because they have more time. Unfortunately they’re going to hav a rude wake-up call if and when they are asked to return physically to work. Something for employers to look out for, surely.

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Portsmouth Square.

WFH on rainy days

The best days to work from home are the rainy days, when I am comfortably indoors with a hot cup of tea. The flowers are blooming this time of the year, so the view outside my window is rather lovely. The BMW M2 is getting a free car wash courtesy of the rain. The clouded skies means the sun isn’t shinning directly into my eyes during the afternoon. I have window shades, but I prefer to keep a view towards the outside.

Rainy days are great when you don’t have to go outside. One thing I didn’t calculate for when I moved closer to work is that I would have to walk through the rain to get to campus. Even the strongest umbrella cannot prevent the bottom half of my body from getting wet. The brief 10 minute walk is enough to completely soak the shoes. I really need a pair of rain boots, or shoes that are somewhat weatherproof.

The ultimate first world solution would to actually drive to work when it rains, even though I only live two longish blocks away. My parents would never dream of being so wasteful, but what’s the point of making money if not to make our lives more convenient? More so than the cost of gas, I’d be more worried about such a short trip having a negative effect on the engine. Advantage to electric vehicles: there aren’t any internal fluids to get up to temperature.

But there’s a problem: the distance from the school’s parking lot to the building where I work is precisely the same distance as that building from my home. I would literally gain nothing from driving. Perhaps those boots are indeed the way to go.

In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy working at home in front of the window on these rainy days. As the vaccines proliferate, pretty soon I’m going to have to say goodbye to this pandemic work lifestyle.

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They call this work.