Back to normal

Or what passes for it around here, at any rate.

I got my car back Wednesday evening for about double what I was hoping to pay. They had replaced a lot of old, rotting hoses. No big surprise, given the condition of the big easy-to-reach radiator hose a couple months ago. The hoses were cheap, but the labor involved in removing various other things to get to them was not. Well, what can one do? I would love to be able to walk, run or ride my bike to work and back, but there is no safe route. And public transportation would take an hour and fifteen minutes. I can drive the distance in ten. Is it any wonder this country is at the mercy of petroleum-producing nations? This will all come back to haunt us someday.

We had a big party today for all business staff in what used to be our division and is now sort of a grouping in a larger division. Morale had been questionable lately and getting together for some food and fun cheered us all up. Since I hate party games, I agreed to be responsible for them, figuring that way I could make sure we had some good ones. I made Mad Libs out of some of our policies, including the Business Casual Dress Code. It was pretty funny.

Then I had to go get documents signed... in person, per the new decree. Well, at least our new CIO has a way of making me feel good about the decisions he makes, even when I don't agree. This is a very fine quality in a manager of any kind, especially someone in a senior executive position.

Nevertheless, I was dismayed when the meeting, which was supposed to run to 4:30, ran on until 5:30. I had thought it would run a bit late since we got started half an hour late, but even by that standard we should've been done by 5:00, which would've left enough time for me to get to the 5:30 kickboxing class at the Y. No such luck. But I went to the Y anyway, worked out in the gym for half an hour and then went to the other classes on my schedule, so it all worked out okay.

And then I came home, late and very hungry. What a long day! And tomorrow is our office Thanksgiving party! It seems that we're into the holiday food season now. This will be my third big office party this week and of course next week is all the family stuff. All this food, just when I finally lost last winter's weight gain and got back into my old clothes!

Today's Workouts
Morning: Abs, quads/hip flexors and upper body
Evening: 20 minutes elliptical, quads and hip flexors in weight room, pilates, body pump, 500 meter swim with focus on form