Monday, Tuesday, Crappy Days...

Get it? Like the opening song to Happy Days, except that I replaced "hap" with "crap"... you get it. Anyway, that's the theme song for the start of this week folks. I had a swim meet this last weekend - and despite it going pretty well, I'm freakin' exhausted. That coupled with the fact that it might quite possibly be as depressing outside as anyone could ever imagine, and probably a few other factors have made yesterday and today two of the more depressingly crappy days on record.

You might have noticed that I haven't been blogging so much lately. Well, like I told a concerned student this morning in class (that's right, someone other than you actually reads this, Mom! :-)) I've just been filling my time with things to do more. TV has, in large part, been replaced by real life. Success! But today... oh boy. Today is what my students might call a "life fail".

Back in the days when I was watching TV, if I had a crappy day, I would just watch, watch, watch... show, show, show. Sometimes if I felt reeeeaaaallly validated, I would be in a slightly better mode as I went to bed having done nothing else. But sometimes, I would just sulk in the crappiness of the day in front of the TV all afternoon/evening, and not get anything else done. This would of course leave me feeling guilty that I didn't do anything with the day, and I would then become disappointed with myself, and thus even more depressed about how crappy the day was. I figured without TV as that outlet on crappy days, I was safe from sinking myself further into those already crappy and depressing days. As it turns out... "la, la, la... I'm no superman." :-)

Those days are just bound to happen, and there's nothing I can do about it. Today (and yesterday) was one of those crappy days. Yesterday really set the stage. Exhausted from the meet this weekend, my emotional state has been pretty fragile - I'd say. The rain doesn't help. Especially since, without a car, I have to go out in it. Rain or shine, I had to ride my bike up to the pool for my swim workouts. So yesterday I got to ride up to the pool. (When I got there, there was a guy standing under the awning, talking to someone on his phone for the sole purpose of complaining about the fact that it was raining buckets and that his car was 100 feet away. He said this as he watched me ride in from the rain, completely drenched head to toe. So... I guess I could have been in a bit more of a sulky cranky mood - but don't worry... I'll get there soon enough as the story is not over.) The ride up was ok, I guess... but on the way home - I rode through a puddle (word to the wise - if it's raining AVOID PUDDLES ON YOUR BIKE), right into a huge pot hole that stopped me dead in my tracks. I got a flat tire... 2 miles from my house. That's right. So in the pouring down rain, I had to get off my bike, and change a flat tire, and then continue to ride home.

Today, I was supposed to ride up to the pool again. This time to swim and run - both indoors because it is yet again, raining like a banshee. I had a little extra time though - which turned out to be just enough down time before my workout to fall asleep. That was about 4 hours ago, and I woke up about an hour ago. So today, instead of going out in the rain, I fell asleep for about 3 hours. Didn't do my workouts. Made a sucky dinner, which my poor wife will have to eat when she gets home... all by herself... Why? Because I'm a bad husband that's going to bed without her, because despite sleeping an extra 3 hours this afternoon, my eyes are doing this weird shifty thing that is making me dizzy, and difficult for me to finish typing this blog entry. Is that from not watching TV anymore? Who knows!

Bottom line is this - as it turns out - those really crappy days that I thought were crappy in part because of TV might have just been days that were bound to be crappy regardless. Oh well - the sun will come out... tomor--oh wait, no it won't. The sun will come out... the day after tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that ... the day after tomorrow.... there'll be sun. In the meantime - let the crap-fest continue.

Today's temptation rating: 7.6

Day's without incident: 48

PS - I sincerely apologize if I depressed you a little with this post. :-)

Some unexpected rest...

My hamstring has been sore from running the last week or so - so yesterday my coach told me that instead of this week being the last of 3 hard weeks of training, it is now a recovery week. I took yesterday off, and the next week will be lighter workouts. It was nice to have some time at home to myself yesterday, but I definitely had a TV attack amidst all of that unscheduled time. The temptation rating was through the roof!

Today's better. I've got plans all day including... wait for it... PIZZA! :-)

I can't tell you how excited I am for this dinner. It's going to be fantastic. Not only do I get to enjoy it in the company of my new friends Ian and Anna, but ... well... it's pizza! I mean who doesn't love pizza right? I think I'll get "the Joey special." What's the Joey special you ask? Two pizzas of course! Oh Joey... I'm actually waiting to post this until I get home so I can include a few incidences with Joey and pizza for your enjoyment.

Recovery and pizza... all we need is for the clouds to part and this would be the perfect day - who needs TV!

Today's temptation rating: 3.8

Days without incident: 42

(OK so I didn't get a chance to embed some videos from youtube, and it is now the following morning. Oops!)

Blowing through 40 days...

Well so much for posting every day! I guess it's a good thing in a way. I feel as though I've run out of thoughts on TV worth posting about. So maybe it's fading into the background a little more. I'm finding more to do with my time that involves real life and real people. I'll continue to post, but I think I'll start to space it out a little more...

In any case, I wanted to post this morning because I've now given up TV for more than 40 days - a duration of biblical proportions... :-) Biblical in the sense that 40 days is often a measure of time that is used biblically, not in the sense that my sacrifice is so groundbreaking that it belongs in the bible. Given the time of year and the number of days I've now gone without TV, I thought it would be fitting to reflect just a little on one of the church's most time honored traditions, Lent.

I think the purpose of lent is often confused with the purpose of New Year's Eve. For a lot of people lent is identified as the 40 day period leading up to Easter where you have to give something up. I didn't give up TV for lent, I'm giving it up for life - it's just coincidence that I started right around the start of lent. So as we approach Easter, we've now surpassed the 40th day since I've sat on my couch and watched one of my favorite shows.

It's interesting that I really don't feel like I have much to report anymore. I guess I'm not thinking about it so much anymore. Maybe I really am kicking the habit of watching television. Don't get me wrong - I have my moments where I really miss it, and there are moments (like this evening) where I REALLY want to watch it, but denying myself the privilege has - to some extent - become habit. Success! If this were a New Year's resolution, I'd be among the 8% of people that claim to successfully keep their New Year's resolution (I don't even believe that stat, but that's what it says on the interwebs!). And it's a big one too! This isn't something vague like eat healthier or temporary like lose five pounds - this is significant and permanent! Anyway... I digress upon my high horse. OK, maybe one more little digression... :-)

Lent. Lent, lent, lent... Lent is not just a time to give something up and it's main purpose is not to make resolutions for self-improvement. In fact, that's only a fraction of what we're supposed to do with lent. Lent is (as my dear illegitimate source, wikipedia professes) a period intended to prepare a believer for the commemoration of Christ's death and resurrection via PRAYER, PATIENCE and ALMSGIVING... oh and self-denial (the focus of sacrifice that people seemed to have picked up). Well, what happened to those first three?

It seems to me that when you reeeeallly think about it, self-denial is actually the easiest - especially on the level at which people I know participate. Just don't do something. It's actually an act of inactivity. No action required. But I think that sincerely remembering what the Easter seasons is all about is a very active process. So now, whether the temptation to watch TV is behind me or in the forefront of my mind, I'm considering it my act of self-denial, and I'm going to use my extra time to do the other 75% of the actions of Lent: pray, practice patience (however I do that), and to give charitably of my time and resources.

Today's temptation rating: 9.3

Days without incident: 41

New ways to escape...

As I sit back down at my desk here at school, I see that everything I escaped for a day is right here waiting for me. It saddens me a little. The sick day was nice though - it really was. I'm feeling well rested and refreshed. Without TV, I did get a lot done. I cut my hair, did the laundry, made an omelette, took a nice long nap, and got in plenty of time off my feet. It was a different kind of sick day than I was used to, but it was still an escape.

Even Jesus would retreat from time to time. Everyone needs to escape. I imagine that Jesus' escapes were a bit different from mine though. I imagine him sitting quietly in earnest prayer with the Father - if you caught a glimpse you could practically see him glowing with the restoring energy of the spirit just filling him up. Almost like he plugs himself into a wall, and powers up his battery. Like I said - mine aren't like that.

Sure I'd love to have that kind of powerful rejuvenation, but I don't... never did. When I watched TV it WAS my escape. No other means for retreat. I didn't plug into a wall and start glowing. I just plugged into a glowing TV set, tuned out the world, and that was it. I don't have that anymore. Now I spend time with Emily, I spend time napping, I spend time talking to friends and family on gchat. On a daily basis, I feel about the same as I did spending A LOT more time watching TV. As if plugging into other people were a higher voltage form of rest. I don't need to be plugged in as long to feel recharged. And that extra time has allowed me to do things like laundry mid-week, or cutting my hair, or cooking more dinners.

So I'm learning new ways to escape and recharge... better ways I think. GROWTH!

Today's temptation rating: 4.3

Days without incident: 38

Sick day productivity...

Oops! Yesterday I ran a little too hard - my hamstrings are SOOOOORRRE. There's so much standing and walking around with teaching, that sore muscles often feel more stiff and irritated at the end of the work day than the beginning. So, as a precautionary measure, to avoid the same disaster I endured last triathlon season, I'm taking a sick day to lay off of my hamstrings and let them recover they way the need to.

This is the only sick day I've taken in the last month, so it'll be the first one without TV. Were I still watching, I could guarantee you that I might get one, maybe two things done over the course of the day. Maybe a load of laundry, maybe I pick up around the house a little. However often times, the house and my life are in the same condition at the end of the day as they were at the start. And honestly, those activities will be so drawn out by the distraction of Michael Weston's latest client or Abed and Troy's latest shinanigans (scenes above and below are actually older shinanigans since I haven't seen their newer shinanigans... ....shinanigans :-)), that I'll actually get a lot less rest than I could really use.

Today will be different. No TV here! I've made a list of tasks that will keep me off my feet (mainly grading tests) plus a few brief walking around tasks to keep it loose... there's a nap in there... it's gonna be awesome. And this time, when the day is done, despite being off my feet, I'll actually have something to show for it!

My only concern is making sure that I have enough discipline to actually keep from watching TV...a whole day at home... new, unseen episodes on Hulu calling out to me all day long... God, help me!

Today's temptation rating: 6.8

Days without incident: 37

It's Bedtime!

I love going to bed at a reasonable hour. That probably wouldn't have happened yesterday if we watched some TV.

On the other hand I skyped with my friend Gered and with my mom and both of them watched a HIMYM (How I Met Your Mother) episode last night, and asked me why Barney Stinson was fat. Yes, I was able to answer, and no I have not watched it recently - it was a re-run of earlier this season when Barney and Robin were together. I DO miss HIMYM though... ah well.

Today's temptation rating: 5.4

Days without incident: 36

What to do with a rainy day...

If you live on the east coast, you're probably wet right now. Sure you could be inside, but if you were outside at any point, you're probably still saturated by the relentless rain that's been falling for three days now. I've been inside for all but about 4 minutes today, and my toes are still wet from those 4 minutes. Sad for my toes. Anyway - it's the kind of rainy day where you just want to call in sick, put on your sweats, grab a blanket, some popcorn, a hot chocolate, and watch movies all day - never setting foot outside. Unfortunately, that's not the road I took this morning, nor will it be a path I'll take when I get home. Sadly, I will definitely be getting wet this evening...

Sadder still, I can tell you that were I still watching TV, I probably would have stayed dry this evening. This is EXACTLY how today would have unfolded were I allowed to watch TV:

1. I would have walked in the door, took off my wet shoes and jacket, and turned on the TV.
2. At some point shortly thereafter, I would have gotten some popcorn, and a glass of chocolate milk.
3. I would have sat there watching all kinds of new and old episodes of my favorite shows.
4. 4:30 would roll by, 4:45, 5:00... at which point I'll begin to contemplate not swimming today (I have a bike ride and a swim this evening).
5. 5:30 will roll around, and I'll realize I don't have enough time to both bike and swim, so I will officially "decide" not to swim (though the TV would have made that decision for me).
6. Probably right around 6:00 I'll decide to get on my bike, which will take about 30 minutes because I'll get set up while watching TV.
7. My ride would be mediocre at best because I'll be distracted by watching whatever it is that I'm watching, and I'd probably stop early anyway, because... well I would be disappointed with myself for (A) skipping my swim workout and (B) riding poorly.
8. I'd get done around 7:50, but whatever I'd be watching wouldn't be over for another 20 minutes, so I'd  stand there and pseudo stretch (pretend to myself that I'm stretching, but not really doing anything) until it's over.
9. Get in the shower around 8:15 and get to making dinner around 8:45 - incidentally, that's about the same time I'd get home from the pool and start cooking anyway.

Instead I will start my bike ride promptly at 4:30, get done around 6:15, ride over to the pool, swim with some buddies, get home by 8:45, start cooking, and be a lot more satisfied with my time... Well hey! I guess I don't need to figure out what to do with a rainy day. Seems like I've got it all figured out already! Glad I'm not doin' that other thing!

Today's temptation rating: 6.4

Days without incident: 35