Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Day 84 - 05/15/2007

For some reason I thought it was Wednesday all day long. And by all day long, I mean all day long. I planned on biking to work, but after waking up, I saw that I had library duty during lunch, so I drove in instead. I arrived early, however, and hit the gym for a pre-work training session. I wasn't in a rush to get to work so I did two biking sessions (a quick 10 minute one before lifting and a 40 minute "ride" afterwards). While I don't care for the treadmill compared to running outdoors, riding a stationary bike isn't all that bad. I typically grab a magazine and get in the zone. And since there's very little in the way of air rushing over my skin, I sweat like a pig. It feels great.

Afterwards I did my stretches, showered and headed to the office. I love having the gym right across the parking lot from work; it makes it so much more convenient for getting in a workout before going to work. It also allows me to head over there during (or after) work if I just need to get away and burn some energy. Having the shower also comes in handy for when I ride my bike to work (like I was supposed to do today...grrrrrrr).

Work was work. Nothing special to report there. We're still going strong on the current development cycle (actually, we're somewhat done with it, but are waiting for QA to finish their testing so that we can ship it out the door). I basically bided my time until it was time to go to school.

I arrived for library and it was empty. I thought for a minute or two that there wasn't going to be any library that day or that they were in the class like they've done in the past. This was for naught, however, as they were just at lunch. They arrived a few minutes before the kids did and soon I was checking in books while they started perusing the shelves for more books to check out. Out of all the school volunteer duties I've done over the past few years, I think I like library the best. You get to interact with all the kids (for the most part), but aren't responsible for "teaching" them like you are in computers. (And if PE is anything like what I've heard, I have no desire for volunteering for that.)

After finding their books and checking them out, the kids gathered 'round the tables to watch Pollyanna. I had M read that story the night before, so I was excited she would be seeing the movie. It was in one of the books from the Wonderful World of Disney box set I bartered for at the thrift shop when I was dropping off some old junk (junk to me, not to thee). I saw the four volume collection that we had as a kid and had to get it for the kids. I asked if I could trade in my box of books for them and the guy taking donations found it acceptable. Not only are there stories from fairy tales, but also abridged stories from the Disney movie archives. In addition to Pollyanna, there's "Swiss Family Robinson", "Babes in Toyland", as well as "The Shaggy Dog", to name but a few. (I tried searching for it, but most of the hits were from auction sites, which will probably be gone by the time you read this, so I won't add a link. If you're interested in finding out what I'm talking about, click here.)

Anyway, they watched Pollyanna while I shelved books. It wasn't too long after Mrs. Watson started the movie when the entire class erupted in laughter. Since there was only music coming from the film, I knew it had to be visual, but by the time I could see the screen, whatever was so amusing to the 3rd graders was gone. I later found out that there was a boy swinging on a rope and jumping into the water. Nothing funny about that, except he was sans clothes. Egads!

After work I had to make cookies for M to bring to school the next day. This week is Culture Week at school and the students were able to bring in a treat that highlights their heritage. I have a recipe for Danish butter cookies, so I offered to make them for her. (Note: The recipe found at the previous link looks suspiciously like it was copied from the cookbook I got mine from: Scandinavian Feasts.) I was only able to make about 40 of them as I always seem to make them bigger than they're supposed to be, so instead of two per child, there will be one with some left over. (I'm sure I'll put them to good use.) I hope the kids like them.

Before making them, however, I had to get some flour. Since I was unable to bike to work, I decided to bike to the store to pick up the remaining ingredients. It was just up to Bloom (which replaced Food Lion), so it only took about 20 minutes (there, shopping and back). I also picked up some cleaning/lube for my bike, which I'm hoping I'll be able to address this weekend. It's amazing how much quicker I can get there via bike vs. car. It's not that it's faster, but it's not that much of a difference. Traffic on Stringfellow is at a standstill at that time of day and by riding my bike, I can just bypass all those folks sitting in their cars going nowhere. Too bad not everyone a) can ride their bike vs. drive to where they're going; and b) has the desire to ride vs. drive. If even 10% of those in their cars could ride, it'd go a long way towards making the traffic in this area so much better.

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