Tag / Work

by jim

California Love

SanDiegoAs discussed back in December, I won a free trip to San Diego from work due to my outstanding awesomeness.  Well, the time has come to cash in and today I will be heading out to southern California, with a quick stop in Denver first, leaving the cold of the so-called Chicago spring behind.  I’ll be spending the next three days in beautiful San Diego, before heading up to Los Angeles for another four.  And, of course, I’ve come down with something so I will likely be sick for most of the trip.

The San Diego portion of the trip should be mostly relaxing, with plenty of time spent by the pool with a book.  I have more activities planned for Los Angeles, including a Dodgers game, a trip to Warner Brothers for a studio tour, and a double dose of Chris Hardwick with a stand up set at NerdMelt and a trip to a taping of @Midnight.  Given the horrible winter and the cold spring (to date), this is a good time to get away.

by jim

The Sweet Sixteen

Despite a weekend of upsets, things are looking pretty bright for my brackets, at least in the work pool, where I’m currently in second place.  I’m tied for 44th in the big pool I’m in, which isn’t too bad.  And, my entire final four is still alive.  Let’s take a look at how things stand:

2014South-s16Things look pretty good here in the South region, where my final four pick is still alive.

2014East-s16Things were even better here in the East regional, where I was perfect through the first round and only lost Villanova going into this weekend.  Unfortunately, I did have them winning another game. Continue reading →

by admin

GlobalFit III: Week 36

Y3Week36

The week got off to an odd start as the temperature broke 50 degrees for the first time all year on Monday, but an overturned semi gave me my second 2 1/2 hour plus commute to work in under a week.  Despite that, and thanks to a meeting in North plaza in the morning and a coffee run in the afternoon, I was able to put up a pretty good total.  Tuesday finished a mere 60 steps below the 5000 step mark, mainly due to my decision to not wear the tracker when I got home from work.  Yet another snowstorm kept me home on Wednesday, which led to the day’s small total.  Thursday was a good bounce back day, thanks to my last night of bowling for the season.  Friday finished off the pretty decent week, before yet another horrid weekend performance.

Total steps: 32,876

Weekly average: 4696.6

by jim

It’s Tournament Time

It’s that time of the year again, as the nation’s attention turns to the college hoops scene for the next couple of weeks.  I’m in three different pools again this year, one at work, one at my mom’s work, and one run by a friend.  Once again, Purdue is sitting out the tournament, but I can take some solace that IU is as well.

2014SouthNot much in the way of upsets here in the South region, as I have overall #1 seed Florida making it to the Final Four.

2014EastI see Michigan State making it out of the East region. Continue reading →

by admin

Return Of Winter

chkdskSo, after spring arrived for one day on Monday with temperatures breaking 50 degrees for the first time in 2014, Tuesday night dropped another snowstorm on us, wrecking traffic and playing havoc with the electrical lines.  The power has gone out and come back on in under a minute at least 10 times since I woke up this morning.  As a result, I got the priviledge of watching my computer go through a CHKDSK after shutting down in the middle of a meeting.

On the plus side, I have recently started to back up my files for the first time in years, so a crashed hard drive, while annoying, would not be catostraphic.  On the minus side, I was in the middle of a meeting, so the continuous power outages kept knocking me off the phone and the prolonged CHKDSK made rejoining the Webex a bit difficult.

At the end of the day, the old computer made it through in one piece.  But, winter seems unwilling to let go of its grip on the Chicago area.  Any snow that had melted the past few days has been replaced with a fresh coat, and 2013-2014 has become either the 2nd or 3rd snowiest winter in Chicago history, depending on the airport, and the cities denizens continue to suffer the effects.

by admin

GlobalFit III: Week 35

Y3Week35A so-so week, as only 3 days surpassed the 5000 step plateau.  Monday and Tuesday were pretty typical, with a trip for coffee just pushing us past the 5000 step mark.  Wednesday was a busted day thanks to snow, which pushed my commute to work up past the 2 1/2 hour mark, and late meetings which kept me there past 6.  Thursday had the best total of the week, and it was because of a wake.

Total steps: 31,164

Weekly average: 4452

by admin

GlobalFit III: Week 33

Y3Week33Another pretty good week, with all 5 work days over the 5000 step mark for the second week in a row.  Monday saw a torrential snow storm which sent me home early, so that day’s total is a little surprising.  After that, the weather actually started to warm up for the first time all year, so there were occasional trips outside to head over for coffee during the week.  Thursday saw the usual bowling bump.  The weekend, however, continued to be a sinkhole of inactivity.

Total steps: 33,640

Weekly average: 4805.7

by admin

GlobalFit III: Week 32

Y3Week32

For weeks now, I’ve been having trouble keeping my tracker in one piece, thanks to a missing screw on the clip that attaches it to my shoe.  I’ve been trying to use broken off bits of toothpicks to keep it stable, which, for the most part, was working.  Until last Monday, when the second screw gave way and the whole thing flew off my foot.  Thankfully, I noticed as it was happening so I was able to retrieve the errant tracker and, using copious amounts of scotch tape, keep the tracker going, at least for another day.  Thursday I was able to get an entire new back, so we are back in the game.

Well, we have what appears to be a pretty good week.  The entire work week was above 5000 steps, and the weekend was actually better than normal.  There was also a lot of symmetry during the week, with Monday and Tuesday each coming in with 83 minutes of activity and Wednesday and Thursday clocking in with 67.  Furthermore, Thursday and Friday ended up with the exact same step total.

Total steps: 36,464

Weekly average: 5209.1

by admin

It’s Off To Work I Go

Monday had me chained to a chair doing mindless, repetitive work all day, so I pulled out my phone and listened to some tunes.  This list is the music that got me through the drudgery of that day.

You Shook Me All Night Long AC/DC Back In Black 2/10/2014 10:53 AM
Baby One More Time Travis 2/10/2014 10:57 AM
Hand In My Pocket Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill 2/10/2014 11:00 AM
Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon Urge Overkill Pulp Fiction OST 2/10/2014 11:04 AM
In Your Eyes Peter Gabriel So 2/10/2014 11:16 AM
All Apologies Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York Rock 2/10/2014 11:20 AM
Our Party Mexican Cheerleader Mexican Cheerleader 2/10/2014 11:22 AM
If You Dont Know Me by Now Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes The 70s Love Collection 2/10/2014 11:26 AM
Girls & Boys Blur The Best Of (Disc 1) 2/10/2014 11:30 AM
Crazy Seal Crazy 2/10/2014 11:36 AM
You Suck The Murmurs The Murmurs 2/10/2014 11:39 AM
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