Category: Health

Work At Home; Walk Near Home

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 23, 2020

I’m nearing the end of Week 5 of working at home (out of my kitchen). The commute from my master bedroom to my “desk” (kitchen table) is right at about 6 seconds.

I actually drove to my actual workplace for the 2ND Monday morning in a row this past Monday, and I spent over 5 hours there trying to work as normal of a traditional work day as possible. I plan to do it again this upcoming Monday ! Maybe in May I’ll expand to Thursdays as well at my actual workplace.

I still don’t miss the traffic between here and there. My workplace is about 5 miles away as the crow flies, but it’s currently a rough and tough 9½ miles away by road (due to road detours). On a really good day it can take 20 minutes to get between home and work. On a bad day – 40 minutes or more.

Meanwhile my walking (for exercise) has intensified recently. Between March 22ND and April 22ND (a full month) I walked on 9 mornings at dawn. My start times were as follows: 0715, 0709, 0707, 0706, 0705, 0701, 0703, 0658, and 0650. (Dawn is starting earlier each morning.) I’ve walked a total of 13.09 miles. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic I had only walked 3 times this season (once in December, January, and February) for a total of 8.50 miles. Those 3 walks were at the walking / jogging track at the (currently closed) city park down the road from my neighborhood.

This is Season 13 of my fitness program (also known as “The Major’s Walk-A-Thon”). It’s my busiest season since Season 10 (2016-2017), and it’s my 5TH-busiest season ever.

I probably have a few more walks to go before this season ends (due to unbearable weather conditions). Here in South Florida we have a 5-month rainy season that runs from the middle of May through the middle of October. We receive over 70% of our annual rainfall during those 5 months. That’s about 4 feet of rain in 5 months. Additionally minimum temperatures at dawn generally hover between 77°F and 83°F with relative humidity at or just below 100%. Did I mention all of the bugs (many of which bite) that love that moisture ?

Yeah Season 13 is nearing its end, but Season 14 shall commence later this year once a new dry season takes hold here in South Florida.

“The Major’s Walk-A-Thon” is dedicated to my dad – William L. Day – who lost the ability to walk on his own in 2006 due to the crippling effects of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The disease would take his life less than 4 years later. 54 years ago today – April 23RD 1966 – he and my mom got married in the Philippines.

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Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 16, 2020

It’s back for the first time in 5 months – a rapid-fire session of thoughts on my mind right this minute:

I miss doing these fun blog posts.
This was a fan favorite from the early days of this blog.
By “early days” I mean late-2000s.
Most of you weren’t tracking with me back then.
“Tracking with me” – that’s a favorite phrase among pastors and preachers.
This “Sunday Scripture” I’ll look back at my 4-part sermon “Faces & Heels”.
It’ll be a nice wrap-up of that 4-Sunday experiment.
So I’m nearing the end of Week 4 of my work-at-home experience.
It’s an experience – no longer an experiment.
The biggest “pro” – not having to deal with traffic.
The biggest “con” – working longer (and more erratic) hours at home.
I’m working out of my kitchen.
I never eat in my kitchen.
I always eat in my living room.
I’ve driven only 88 miles over the past 28 days.
I last filled-up with gas 37 days ago.
Last week I walked only 11.63 miles.
That was barely over 25,000 steps in 7 days.
That was the lowest ever during my 4½-year #Fitbit era.
3 weeks ago was my 3RD-lowest week of the era.
Ironically despite little to no exercise – I’m losing weight.
I can’t explain that.
Maybe I’ll get up and walk at dawn this morning.
Lately we’ve been close to 80°F at dawn.
This morning we could actually dip into the lower-70s.
That’s an incentive to get up and walk around outside.
Next week marks 12 years since I quit smoking !
I smoked from age 11 to 41.
You know I’m doing a lot less laundry since I’ve been working at home.
My washer and dryer are using less electric power.
My A.C. is using more electric power.
It runs at the same temperature day and night now (77°F).
Happy 39TH Birthday tomorrow to my sister-in-law Christina !
She doesn’t read this blog.
Nobody in my family reads this blog.
Happy 10TH Birthday this coming Monday to my oldest niece Taylor !
I met Taylor for the first time at #DFW when she was 24 days old.
I’m looking forward to seeing my family again at the end of June.
Well I’m running out of things to write, so let’s end it here.
That was abrupt.

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New Look, New Feel

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 2, 2020

So you’ve noticed that my blog has a new look and a new feel to it. Last weekend I changed the theme (as WordPress calls it), and I customized it to look as close as possible to the previous theme. This is the first time I’ve changed the theme of my blog in about 10 years, so it was time to do so. It’s got a cleaner and crisper look now, and it’ll take a little while to get used to it, but I’ll manage. I may still tweak it a little here and there.

Last week (23-29 March 2020) was my most sedentary week in over 4 years as per my Fitbit. I only walked 12.20 miles, and that actually included a 1.47-mile walk around my neighborhood early last Saturday morning. I walked a 3.01-mile day on that Saturday – the most in over 3 weeks – yet that wasn’t enough to prevent it from being such an inactive week of walking. Now that my professional workplace office is temporarily my kitchen – I don’t have much to walk. I really need to force myself to go outside before I begin each new work day and just walk around for a mile or more.

For those of you tracking with me on “Sunday Scripture” I’m half-done with my WWE-inspired online-only sermon “Faces & Heels”. Part 3 is coming this Sunday. I know that I’ve exceeded my “3-minutes-or-less” reading rule for both Part 1 and Part 2 by about a minute or two apiece, so I’ll make-up for it with this short blog post.

Tags Fitbit, Sermon

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Home Sweet Home

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 26, 2020

Home Is Where The Heart Is

That’s right, and I’ll be at home for awhile. My kitchen is now my professional workplace. Due to the current real-world conditions I brought my job home with me earlier this week, and it will stay here at home indefinitely. It could be a few weeks. It could be a few months. But I’m determined to continue working here at home in my kitchen to support the mission – whatever that mission may be. (I don’t discuss my job in public other than the fact that I’m a 35-year employee of the United States Air Force.)

Incidentally this is a COVID-19-free blog. I won’t talk about it on here in any way because this is also a political-free blog, and you can’t talk about COVID-19 without getting political.

My goal over these next few weeks (or months) is to – believe it or not – lose a few pounds (by eating less), and get more physically fit by engaging in my favorite exercise – walking. This past Sunday morning at dawn I actually did something for the first time in a little over 3 years. I walked around the entire perimeter of my own neighborhood – 1.37 miles in 23 minutes and 21 seconds. I hope to do more neighborhood walks early in the morning, as long as weather conditions permit.

Well this is my spontaneous Thursday at 3 AM blog post. I have no idea what I plan to write until I actually write it. My Friday, Sunday, and Monday blog posts are programmed. You pretty much know what you’re gonna get from me on those 3 days. Incidentally this upcoming Sunday I’ll present Part 2 of my multi-part sermon titled “Faces & Heels”. Part 2 will pick-up where Part 1 left-off this past Sunday. This is shaping-up to be a 4-part sermon, so it will culminate on Easter Sunday (April 12TH).

Over on my Flickr site I’m posting photos of my January 19TH 2020 visit to the Edison And Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers Florida. I love that place. If I lived over there in that region I’d probably hang out there on a regular basis if not volunteer there and give guided tours. It’s one of the coolest museums that I’ve ever visited – even cooler than the last museum that I volunteered at inside Everglades National Park.

Well this concludes my Thursday blog post. I’ll be back again tomorrow morning for my weekly RETRO. This week I’ll be looking back at Sunday March 25TH 1990. A 19-year-old had the # 1 smash on my chart, and it eventually hit # 1 nationwide on Billboard’s Hot 100. He got help on the song from the hottest band in the world at the time. Find out who he is when I turn the page on a new day.