Saturday Update

I haven't written here for a while, and there's a very good reason for it. The reason is that I'm a lazy blogger.

My brother and I made the trip from Albuquerque to Mapleton, Maine in 43 hours. We alternated driving and sleeping (at one point, I drove 1000 straight miles, which was a new record for me). It was nice to drive all that distance together, and we had a really good time and a lot of laughs.

Here in Maine, it is C-O-L-D cold. It is absurdly cold. I mean, it's just stupid how cold it is. I've only been out to run three or four times, and it's a struggle, because it is so damn cold. I can't stress how unseasonably low the temperatures are. Outside right now it is absolutely arctic.

We have been busy for the past week installing a new heating system in the basement of the house, which we more or less finished today. My brother knows a lot more about this stuff than me, but I'm learning pretty quickly. He didn't know jack about it before, either, and we've come to the conclusion that necessity is not only the mother of invention, but the mother of skill acquisition. A human being has the capacity to store so much knowledge, and a lot of times we box ourselves in with expectations that society places on us or that we place on ourselves. We all have the potential to be renaissance men/women, and I think lack of money to pay someone else combined with a healthy thirst to learn new things helps us along that path. I could be just bullshitting. I do know, however, that my brother and I have learned a LOT of stuff thanks to inheriting this old farmhouse, and it's wonderful in a lot of different ways.

Did I mention that it is really freaking cold here?

I'm probably headed back to New Mexico next week for a 3-month temporary duty assignment with the NM National Guard down on the border with Mexico. It's pretty good money, and employment opportunities in Maine are a little limited right now. It seems silly to have driven all the way here for a couple weeks' stay, but I wouldn't have done anything differently. The trip with my brother, and the time we've spent working and hanging out together over the past days has made it all totally worth it.

Yesterday, just out of morbid curiosity, I decided to see how much I could bench press. I have lifted weights MAYBE 10 times since August, and 0 times since mid January, so I was not expecting much at all. It was more or less to gauge where I am and have an idea of just how weak I've gotten. It ended up being like when I ran a five-miler a month ago to "ease back into" running, and somehow ran the fastest five miles I have ever done (35:50). Yesterday my max bench press was 250 lbs. I won't lie...I was pretty damn impressed with myself, since the most I EVER did was 275, and that was back when I weighed 210 (I'm now around 165). I should really work WITH my body, if it seems to want to work with me.

Well, I don't know what else to write. Wish I had something profound to say, but I'm not feeling particularly profound lately. Be well.