Cindy, thank you! Somehow and somewhen adventure and I became better friends ... I still pinch myself sometimes. That picture is from the spring, and is of me halfway up a route in the Cala Gonone region on Sardinia, Italy, on the east coast near the ocean. That was a particularly fun picture since it was one of the hardest climbs I've done "on lead", and the setting was gorgeous. You can see I've just managed a clip, am catching my breath, and checking out how I need to move get to the next clip. Kudos to you on mastering the cravings! That is just such a challenge. I go in and out of that neat space where you are now, where you can reason about hunger and make good choices. Sometimes weight loss takes energy away and perhaps that's why Cardio Kicks didn't do it for you? Nice job on getting organized for the birthday party. Sounds like you have quite an event planned.
Michelle, your hard work teaming with Toby is really paying off! Sounds like classmates all agree that you had a magical night!
Today I am continuing with "Packing Premix", hoping to get the clothing part settled so that tomorrow I'm down to printing travel documents and setting up my phone and so on. If all goes well I'll add a short Cathe. Normally Wednesday is a climbing day but this week I need it for packing.
Speaking of adventure, today we had one at work, which is not that unusual except that this was an entirely different and unexpected adventure from the usual type. I was sitting in my desk, catching up on calls to colleagues that came while most of us were attending an outdoor Halloween - themed morale booster party. My introverts were doing karaoke and chacha in public! Amazing! But that is not the unusual thing I'm telling you about here.
My office and my immediate staff offices are along a short corridor on both sides, and it's normal for people to walk back and forth, quickly, when it gets busy. Consequently the fast footsteps outside my doorway didn't break consciousness though I sort of wondered why there were so many ... BUT. There was a loud "That's not good!" shout and a quick pelting back my way!
I stepped out and my assistant said, kind of choked up - and I am not kidding - "there is a SNAKE in Joe's office"!
Of course you are thinking what I was thinking. Halloween themed party, someone brought a rubber snake that's realistic, and put it in one of the offices, and this is either a prank for me or a prank on my assistant. So I decided to play along, and went down the corridor to take a look.
THERE WAS A SNAKE IN JOE'S OFFICE! Hidden behind the door, a tiny fierce little thing, maybe six or eight inches long, all reared up and poised to strike. And ...it had the rings and coloration of a copperhead.
Yes, all, there really was a baby copperhead snake in Joe's office, tucked behind the door, hissing and darting its tiny head, daring us all to get just a little closer. "US" means me, and my deputy, since everyone else had sensibly backed off to "Let Leadership handle it."
You will be glad to know that the snake was captured without injury, using cups and paper plates, and carefully deposited outside our fenceline in the no-trespassing woods. Our best guess is that it came in on party goods somehow.
I don't know who is going to break the news to Joe. We are all going to check under desks in case of lingering squirmy visitors tomorrow
Trespassers beware.
Addendum. Did Cathe gym style chest and triceps timesaver, again substituting some additional antagonist muscle groups for the third or fourth sets of each (delts, upward push/shoulder, Ys and Ts, wrist twists, and reverse lifts).
