I forgot my mardi gras beads. It completely slipped my mind that today is Fat Tuesday, despite yesterday realizing that my favorite restaurant in town was having a free cookie giveaway if you wore your mardi gras beads in to lunch today. (I did, however, remember that today is International Pancake Day, but I digress.) Upon realizing my forgetfulness regarding the beads, a co-worker came to the rescue and brought a couple of her mardi gras beads back from lunch. Lunch was saved. Beads were worn. After walking in to the restaurant and wagging the beads, they told me that the restaurant wasn't actually giving away free cookies with lunch, despite what their facebook page promotion said. But, I must have looked super sad at this, still wagging the beads, because the nice lady at the counter said that she'd give me a cookie for free with my sandwich. It was delicious.
I worked out this evening and decided to up the weight on one of the machines I tend to use. I only use about 4 or 5 machines. The fellow who was doing my initial health consultation only showed me how to use those handful of machines. Someday I might ask someone what a couple of the others do. Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with my little routine that I do right now, although I don't remember any recommendations for when to up the weight level that you are lifting/pushing. I guess just when you feel like giving it a go? It seemed like many women who would use the machines prior to me and who appeared to be about a half century older than me were oftentimes lifting/pushing upwards of twenty pounds more than me. I'm not in competition with anybody on weight lifting, but after nearly two months of lifting the same amount, I decided to give it a try. I'm still not pumping as much iron as some of those older ladies, but I am pushing (incrementally) more than I was. I do feel that I've made a bit of progress in that regard. I'm 'bout to go get a bowlful of m&ms soon, probably.
I was chatting with a friend of mine earlier and we have very different political views. We have basically very different backgrounds in general. We met in Italy on a study abroad trip and have stayed in touch since then. Anyway, she has been looking for a job for a while now and hasn't had much luck. She's aggravated and angry at President Obama and, I understand the aggravation, but I am still of the opinion (although perhaps I am more and more in the minority) that Obama was still the best option in 2008, and he has not done as poor a job at attempting to lead a struggling nation as some people think he has. He's tried a lot of things. Maybe the things he has done haven't been aimed at your social class, and maybe you haven't benefited from the programs he's implemented. But he has done things. He's tried programs, he's gotten laws passed, he's attempted some pretty brave programs. Some things haven't succeeded as we would all have liked, but I much prefer a president to try things rather than one who sits and does nothing. While my friend and I certainly do not see eye-to-eye on the topic of politics, we are incredibly respectful of each other's opinions. I can understand why she feels the way that she does, and I don't feel the same, but it doesn't diminish our friendship. I have to say, that one of the things I like most about my friends is the ability to speak rationally and calmly about things that we see completley differently and never sink to the level of meanness or rudeness that seems to permeate a lot of other areas of life. It's pretty cool to be coming from extremely different positions and have very strong beliefs about certain things and still be able to respect the other's opinion without feeling the need to argue, persuade, or tear down the other person. I'm proud of my friendships in that regard, especially. I think people who belittle other people because they don't see an issue the same way are not people I enjoy being around. Even when I disagree with someone, I still enjoy hearing the other viewpoint. I still like to find out why someone feels the way that they do about something. I may never truly understand it, but I can usually learn something about where the person is coming from and see another side to an issue, even if there's no way I would ever agree with them on that topic.
I heard the new Jason Mraz song on the radio several weeks ago and haven't heard it since. It stuck with me enough that I found it on youtube and fell in love with the video. It's full of old airmail envelopes! I loooooove international airmail envelopes. When I worked at the archives and handled the mail a lot, I would always get excited when I'd see the international airmail envelopes from researchers on other continents. I get a nerdy rush from letters, as you know, and I do also get a nerdy rush from the idea that a piece of mail has arrived from across the globe. Good job, Jason Mraz! Thanks for making the nerds smile with your video.
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