Cleaning the office

We have a very small room that used to be my youngest child's bedroom. After adding onto the house, we converted the room to an office. However, it quickly become a storage room and never served as an office.

Today, it is raining and raining and raining. I am not complaining because we have a record drought this year so any rain is really good.

Since I can't go outside, I wanted to keep busy. So I decided today would be the day to tackle this disastrous room. I threw out lots of old junk, gave some things to the charity, a few things to the young kid relatives, and boxed a few memorable items of the kids.

Whew! The room looks better and I feel much much better!

Jog again

My jog today was around 3 miles. I am not sure because the route was one I had not taken before. Because I did not go a long way, I was able to build a few sprints in the jog.

It felt good. However, I am feeling a little pain on the side of my calf. The pain starts at my ankle toward my calf. Hopefully, stretching will help.

A walk--instead of a jog

Today, I decided to take my time and walk the 5.8 mile route. I jogged 5 miles on Monday, 5.5 miles on Tuesday, and 3 + miles on Thursday. Because I had jogged more than normal this week, I was a little worried that the amount of constant jogging might affect my knees.

The weather was very nice --it felt more like an April day, not a December day. The walk went well. I really had the chance to think, but it did get boring. Around the 4 mile mark my legs begin to tighten up a little. I also got tired. I found that interesting, but I think the tiredness came a little from the boredom and a little from being hungry.

One reason I walked the entire route is that I wanted to expend the calories. Generally, a mile walked and a mile jogged equal the same amount of calories spent. The jogging makes the mile go faster and raises the heart rate which has other benefits. So, walking the 5.8 miles took me much longer than jogging it.

Another jog

I jogged 3 miles today. I did not want to jog 5 miles today like I did yesterday. I am afraid of working my knees too much. However, the jogging is helping. My glutes and hamstrings are tight--thankfully.

The jog makes my legs feel good, although they are a little sore--I know that exercise is good for me!

Each step results in a reduction in a calorie or a portion of a calorie--gotta keep moving.

Jogging the day after Christmas

Yeah! I finished 5.5 miles today. My knees began to hurt toward the end of the jog, but too badly.

During the jog, I felt an urge to stop jogging; however, after getting past some benchmarks along the way, I encouraged myself to keep going.

One problem today is that I did not stretch afterwards. Maybe tomorrow, I will spend a great deal of time stretching before and after my workout. I hope to exercise in the morning. I am not sure whether I will jog or work out in the gym. I hope to finish another 5 miles at least one more day this week.


It makes it awfully nice to jog and exercise when I have more time; I am not at the office this week.

Christmas Eve Jog

Around noon, I finally got away for my jog. A few weeks ago my knees were hurting so badly that when I jogged one morning, I could barely finish 3 miles on the track. A few days after that I still have trouble completing 3 miles on the road.

So I have taken it easier during my jogs--not pushing myself. I also lighten up the weights during my squats. I think the heavy squats is what really aggrevates my knees, but I am not sure.

This morning I was able to jog almost 3 miles before I noticed my knees. I jogged another mile before I started to be concerned about stopping. I managed to jog a little over 5 miles without any real pain in my knees, albeit, I did not jog fast.

Over the next couple of weeks, I hope to concentrate on the jogging and not do much weight lifting. Hopefully, I can narrow down the reasons that my knees hurt.

Hope all have a very Merry Christmas...

Check out my version of a online holiday greeting

It's time to go to sleep so Santa will come.

Lasik surgery

I have been wearing hard and gas permeable lens for more than 30 years.

My contacts are expensive and I replace them about every 3 years. Of course, I am of the age that when I am wearing my contacts, I need reading glasses. A few years ago, I started wearing bifocal contact lens which were great in the beginning. Replacing those with the 2nd pair of bifocal lens did not go so well. So I have been wearing eye glasses with my contact lens.

Adjusting to reading glasses along while wearing contacts has been cumbersome.

After losing my left contact in a rainstorm more than a month ago, I decided to investigate lasik surgery more seriously. Replacing my left contact would probably costing me more than $200 for the lens and the appointment.

My process I describe is just that--my process and my decision. What you decide about lasik is your own decision.

Lasik surgery is not about efficiency and comparing costs to benefit in monetary terms. Though, the cost of lasik compared to the cost of current expenditure for contacts and glasses still plays a role in the decision.

So here is my comparison as I know it today.

• Contacts $300 replaced every 3 years.
• Glasses $250 replaced every 6 years
• $8 per month on cleaning and soaking solutions, equaling $72 per year or $200 every 3 years.

Cost of Lasik $3800

With the assumption that the costs of contacts, glasses, and cleaning and soaking solutions do not increase, Lasik surgery will pay for itself in 18 years. I will be older than 60 years old.

So what is the benefit of lasik surgery for me? Convenience! I have started wearing glasses when I was 8 years old and hard lenses when I was 13. Not juggle both eye glasses--reading and far vision.

• See clearly and not fumble around when I wake up.
• Not have to remember to take glasses and solutions with me on trips. Frankly, I think the lasik surgery will give me a convenience that I have not had in more than 35 years.
• I take my contacts out every night and put them in every morning. That is one less thing I had to do in the morning.
• I get up very early-generally 2 hours before anyone else. I will spend less time getting ready to exercise.
• I can swim and jog without my eyes being irritated.

Another part of the decision is where and who does the surgery. A place in town that does lasik surgery has been here a few years. I know very little about them. They advertise a low price for the surgery. I have heard 3rd and 4th hand a few opinions, but I am not so sure about the accuracy of both the positive and less than positive statements.

I asked my optometrist who has solved problems with my contacts years ago when two ophthalmologists could not. I respect and trust the opinion of my optometrist. He recommended a doctor in a town about an hour away. This particular doctor has been doing corrective eye surgery for 20 years.

I could save money and time by having the surgery locally. It's not that I don't believe both facilities could do the surgery. But, I keep thinking that if something is a surprise and the surgery produces less than satisfactory results, then I would rather be in the hands of the experienced doctors.