It's About Time
Ep 72: From "don't quit" to "do it"
I’m sorry. It’s been a minute since I last published to this Substack. Well, 530 days of minutes, which is 763,535 of ‘em.
What the heck happened?
You’re justified in asking, especially those of you who subscribed in the meantime.
Inertia happened.
Just as I had gotten into the routine of publishing regularly, week after week, and dipping my toes into the world of cartooning, I decided to take a break and assess whether I still felt called to continue. I was knee-deep in home renovations, and one project bled into another. I stopped cartooning. I stopped most creative pursuits (though one of my friends would correct me, justifiably so, arguing that renovating your home and landscaping ARE creative pursuits). The power of inertia that drove me to write regularly subsequently drove me to stay in the world of NOT writing.
What the heck have I been up to since I last showed up in your inbox?
Home Renovations: The floor in our gym was sagging quite a bit, so I spent some quality time in the crawl space adding a joist that is jacked up from the crawl space floor. After DIY-ing and refurnishing most first-level rooms in our home, I hired professionals to redo our kitchen and guest bathroom. We vacated our home earlier last year to have the kitchen’s hardwood floor refinished, and worked with a design firm on our new kitchen layout. I carefully removed our old kitchen cabinetry (gifting it to a neighbor), and after a few months of contractor help, we’re now enjoying a beautifully rejuvenated kitchen.
Emoticakes Closed: My wife closed down her bakery business after 20 years in business. It was bittersweet, but time, and we found new grateful homes for her oven, prep counter, and 3-bay sink.
Landscaping: We had a stamped concrete patio put in to connect our deck to our backyard sauna. I had the pleasure (not) of digging a trench around our deck to add wire mesh as a woodchuck deterrent – we had four of them living under our deck last summer. I built new paths and planted perennial beds to complete the project.
Injury: I badly sprained my ankle in September. It sidelined me from running for a few months, and wouldn’t you know, of the 2-6 month recovery estimate I was given, it took the full 6 months? Ugh.
Flooding: This may be a post in itself in the future, but our crawlspace flooded for the first time in 20 years. It was due to the nefarious acts of a neighbor altering the drainage. I remediated the damage myself, tearing out all of the material and replacing it with a proper vapor barrier once I got it all dried out. A genuine PITA.
Travel: Oh, did we ever. Being mostly empty nesters, with our youngest in college, we took trips to San Diego, Ottawa, Portland (Oregon), Amsterdam, and Daytona Beach. I traveled to New York at least eight times for business, and twice for pleasure. I also enjoyed Figma’s Config conference in San Francisco last year. We racked up seven trips to Boston, too, since that’s where our son is in college.
Entertainment: With all of those trips to New York, one couldn’t help but be entertained. We saw Titanique (which closes tomorrow!), Moulin Rouge, Water for Elephants, The Outsiders (jaw-dropping), The Great Gatsby, and the Thanksgiving Day Parade from the 6th-floor perch of my 6th Avenue office (I work from home still, but when the mothership hosts a parade watch party, you go!)
Fitness: Of course, right? I notched two more 50K efforts in my belt with last year’s FLRC Challenge. Last year’s spring schedule of the Syracuse Half, Skunk Cabbage Half, Gorges Half, and Seneca 7 (with our hot yoga studio) was eclipsed only by running five half marathons to kick off this year. The photo below is from the last race, and it’s my favorite photo of the year. Is that a picture of a happy runner? Yeck yes.
So, with all of that in the rear-view, it’s NOT done (“it” being this Substack). For the curious, the other side of that multi-purpose sign says Giddyup.
I’m here.
I’ll push that Publish button when I have something to say, and while that may be weekly, it might be somewhat less stringent. But I don’t plan on going dark anytime soon.
A Tip for the Modern Worker
Adore your door. One of the most important items in your remote work arsenal pivots on a trio of hinges. You can shut a door when you need privacy for an important meeting. A door signals to others that you're busy. A door can dampen noise coming from other rooms where you're working. If you have the luxury of a workspace with a door, you're in good shape.
This tip is one of 365 in my Handbook for the Modern Worker. That followed my first book, The Art of Working Remotely, about my experience working from home since 1998. Depending on where you work and which way the wind is blowing, these may be banned books or fan fiction. I hope it’s the latter.
Mail Bag: If you work remotely and have come across an issue that needs solving, a thorn that needs removing, or just an observation you’d like to share, hit reply. I’d love to hear from you.
Fitness Inspiration
Two pieces of fitness-related items piqued my interest this week.
First, Faith Kipyegon ran the fastest women's mile ever at the "Breaking4" event in Paris, clocking 4:06.42 and besting her prior time by more than a second. If you’ve ever tried to run a fast mile, this entire group of runners will inspire you.
Second, David Roche is “in it to win it” at this year’s Western States 100. The Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run is the world's oldest 100-mile trail race and is often called the "Super Bowl of ultrarunning." David’s moonshot video is a fantastic watch and a nice glimpse of the course. The race started THIS MORNING at 8, and you can track what’s going on today at ultralive.net and iRunFar’s Live Blog.
congrats!!
Now that's a race photo! Quite a few of my favorite local running faces in there...