The excuses I tried to make included:
"I need to check my eBay sales to respond to questions buyers might have"
"I am not going to spend a second over 15 minutes online"
"I need to check email or else I will have have 300+ emails to deal with when I get back home"
"I need to be available for team stuff"
The rebuttals my wife provided (as I remember them):
"Your items will sell or they wont, independent of your answering questions"
"That does not work for me"
"You are not that important and I don't care about your email"
"You can be available when you return from vacation"
There is really NO reason what so ever to be online when I am with Caitlin so I am going to be unplugged when we are together from here on out. The exceptions I will allow for myself will be to check movie times, do some sort of research that involves the both of us, or to fulfil an already existing commitment (such as a ride that I need to check an email to figure out what time and where we are all meeting).
I did however blog on a legal pad each evening to try to keep my commitment to this blog, for whatever it is worth. I think they only way I am going to find my voice is by trying to be consistent in my posts... even if they are off topic and somewhat self indulgent.
Th:
The day started with a jog around the a park about 3 miles from my sisters house. They had a great x-country type trail around the park in the distances of 1/2 mile and 1/4 mile... perfect. This is the work out that I ended up running:
2.5 mile- warm up/ jog @ moderate pace (around 9-10 min/mile pace)
3 mile- 1/4 mile all out 1/4 mile easy recovery
1 mile- cool down, easy
It felt good to get a decent work out in and I did the 1/4 mile on/off in an attempt to find my rhythm again. It was nice to run in what felt like the middle of the forest. It reminded me of Idyllwild (where I spent 4 years in high school). During most of my run my thoughts were occupied with how our lives would be if the South has successfully succeeded from the union. Would North America more closely resemble the middle east? Would we all be familiar with true face of war?
Caitlin and my sister joined me for the first mile of my run and then they did there own thing... some jogging and A LOT of TALKING. ;)
Following our run we headed to the Georgia Aquarium. It was pretty amazing and a good time was had by all. Although, there was some internal conflict regarding the true nature of such an exhibit that takes animals out of there natural habitat and places them in a "jail" of sorts for our viewing pleasure. All of the animals seemed happy enough however (but what do I know).
The penguin exhibit was closed while they are remodeling which was a major bummer and Caitlin has decided that she wants to be a Dolphin trainer.
That would be a lot of fun, to work with dolphins all day long? I wonder how people end up in that profession?
After the Aquarium we walked mid- town Atlanta (not to be confused with down town where we spotted no fewer then 3 corner dug dealers with in a 2 block radius) to the westin, where we took an elevator up 72 stories to a bar that has a panoramic 360 degree view of Atlanta...AWESOME. We had fun identifying hills and locations of major civil war battles.
From there we headed to dinner at an amazing vegetarian restaurant where over 98 percent of the menu was vegan... again, AWESOME. They even had 9 different types of vegan cake!
After dinner and dessert was the botanical gardens where we rendezvoused with my Aunt Anita. The Botanical Gardens were great- they always are great. I like how that is becoming a family think with us. Where ever we go one of the stops is the botanical Gardens.
The last stop of the evening was the lounge at the Four Seasons Atlanta for a drink before we headed home and spent an hour or two chatting in the kitchen. I like kitchen table chit chat sessions... they are right up there with stunnah shades.
FR:
Martin Luther King Memorial in the morning. Very inspiring. Some men manage to do so much with their lives. My sister (Always the teacher) asked what was something new that I learned that I had not known prior to our visit. At the time I could not think of anything that was completely new that I learned. I was reminded of many things which I had been taught but had wiggled their way out of my mind. But mainly what I took away from the exhibit was inspiration.
I read a quote from the reverend Dr Martin Luther King that had to do with man dying when he fails to stand up for what he knows is right. It hit me pretty hard. Another way to paraphrase that would be to say to thine own self me true.
There have been many times over the course of my life where self centered fear has prevented me from what what I knew to be right or standing up for the opinions and values that I believed in.
There is a saying that goes the road to hell is paved with good intentions and I think that is what MLK is speaking on. My intentions or convictions or opinions really don't matter one bit. What matters is my actions. I can have good intentions and moral and philosophical convictions galore but if my actions are contrary to those then what good are they? The type of man that I am is determined by the actions I take, not the thoughts I think or words I write...
We spent a total of about an hour and a half at the gallery before we headed back (Yes back) to my new favorite Thai Restaurant. I ordered exactly the same thing and was delighted to find it even better then weds version.
We headed home with full bellies and took an afternoon power nap before we headed to the movies and then the Gym. It was between FAME ro Cloudy With a Chance, and unfortunately we ended up seeing Fame. It was completely and utterly mediocre. Caitlin and I both met at A boarding school for the Arts and we had a laugh at the first lunch room scene. I told her I must have been sick that day when everybody broke into song and dance in the mess hall in perfect unison and choreographed rhythm.
Gym time: 30 minutes on the tread mill. I SEVERELY DISLIKE RUNNING ON THE TREAD MILL, but I was out voted 2 to 1 by the wife and sister. I ran .5 miles easy at at 10 min mile pace and then ramped up to a 6:30 min/ mile pace and then got in a nice cool down. Then I spent 20 minutes stretching and bit the weights. I did every single leg machine that I could find... lifting weights is weird. That's all I have to say about that. I can already tell, writing this, that I am going to be SORE for the next few days.
Post Gym, we headed to the 3$ Bar where Andy was playing. It was a great southern Bar and everyone was having a blast. We must have been the only 3 people in the place who did not know everybody else... Although the waitress was a but perplexed when Caitlin asked to see a wine list...
SA:
Slept in again... (although its not really sleeping in since Caitlin and I decided NOT to switch over to east coast time, rather keep our clocks in sync with the West SYE--EEED). We woke up late morning, put on a cup of Joe and sat around the kitchen table planning our day and chit chatting. the first stop was the GYM... Again. I put in a good fight but was again outvoted 2 to 1. I ran 4 miles today. Started with a little warm up and then ramped up to a 6 minute mile pace and then a nice easy cool down. I finished off with some good solid stretching and then a little upper body lifting and some core work.
I have been very diligent with my stretching and so far no knee trouble has plagued me. My mom just told me she has started training for the Tram Road Race, touted as the hardest 5 k in the US. If things continue to progress for me with out shin splints or IT issues then I will race this event.
Our last afternoon/ evening in Atlanta was spent at my Aunts house playing balderdash, making home made gluten free vegan pizza and laughing our pants off!
It was the perfect way to end a wonderful trip and it was great to spend some time with my sister on her new "turf".
We took a ton of pictures but most of them are still with my Aunt and Sisters phone. As soon as I get my hands of some of them I will amend this post and post up some of the best ones.
Yesterday was a travel/ rest day and today I am planning on riding easy for an hour.
I leave you with some words from the Reverand MLK himself:
“One of the great problems of mankind is we suffer from a
poverty of the
spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific
and technological
abundance. The richer we become materially, the
poorer we have become morally
and spiritually.”
No comments:
Post a Comment