Teyrnon

I had an early morning doctor's visit which cut into my walking time for today. My blood pressure was 120/88 at the doctor's office which apparently means I stay on the current medication to keep the blood pressure under control.

For today's walk I circled around the neighborhood instead of heading out for the park and ride lot. I'm not sure how far I walked but I think it was about a mile all the way around.

Took another walk following the same route as the last couple days. Today I walked all the way to Hwy 78 and walked around Walgreens for a bit before heading back. A round trip of about 2.2 miles give or take a few steps. My knee started giving me trouble on the way back at about a third of a mile towards the house. It looks like two miles is going to be my limit for a little while. I don' t think it'd be wise to try to push further than that until I can make the two miles without problems.

Being limited to a two mile walking range makes me unhappy. Nobody to blame but myself. I should have been walking at least that everyday for the past several years.  I can remember when I could walk ten miles at a stretch. I'd like to be able to do that again but I don't know that I ever will. Age is catching up to me.

Today is 12.12.12. I feel like I should do something special to mark the day but haven't a clue what. It'll be a century before year, day, and month converge like that again. Of course that assumes humans will be using the same calendar in a hundred years. It seems like a safe bet but you never know what the future might hold.

Should I bother with holiday cards this year? On one hand I'd like to keep up the tradition but on the other hand a shocking number of the cards I sent last year were returned undelivered. And I don't recall that I got any cards myself. Oh well...

Is it me or have there been a bunch of changes to the Eljay interface lately?

Today I took a walk in the direction of Hwy 78. It's been a while since I've walked out that way or really walked that kind of distance. Maybe even a couple years. Mostly because I haven't had a reason to or felt like it. Partly because I've been having weird leg pains and cramps since 2010 and have been reluctant to walk so far from the house. Interestingly it gets really bad when I have to stand for more than a half hour or so.

It was a nice enough morning for a walk. By time I got to the Park & Ride lot the sky was darkening ominously. At that point I decided the Park & Ride lot was far enough for today's walk. It was only a little more than a stone's throw from Hwy 78. Beside's a mile and three fifths round trip is probably quite enough for the first time in a couple years. The downpour started a half hour after I got back to the house.

I walked around the Park & Ride lot for a little while. It hasn't changed too much though the big sign at the far entrance has faded into unreadability. A little surprised they haven't done something about that. The signs announcing the lot rules looked pretty new. Curiously the overflow lot was open and a pair of black SUVs in it. I don't think I'd ever seen it open before. Usually it's chained up and completely empty. Always wondered what the point of that was. The bus stop looks to be still in good shape. I stopped to read the notices taped to the glass. Just some safety tips and information about upcoming holiday schedule changes. Should it bother me that the safety tips pretty much all boiled down to not using electronic devices at bus stops or on the buses and keeping them hidden at all times?

I took the grueling bus trip into Atlanta. The GRTA express bus downtown wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to get up before dawn in order to catch it. The part about being stuck downtown until late afternoon doesn't help my resolve either. Anyrate, I got my errands done in about two hours. Leaving me with six hours to kill before the first bus back to Snellville left.

I reused the Breeze Card I got the last time I made the trip. It was nice to be in Atlanta again. I still found the whole tap to exit thing at MARTA stations a bit irksome. It still feels a little absurd.

I decided to head over to Lenox Square Mall and maybe browse the Waldenbooks there. I haven't been to a Waldenbooks in ages. Well, I haven't been to any mall bookstore in ages, really. It's been about five years since the last time I walked through Lenox Square and I was struck by how different it was. The majority of the shops I remembered were gone and in many instances the whole shape of the shop fronts have changed making goodly portions of the mall nigh unrecognizable. Sadly, Waldenbooks was gone. A quick look at the directory told me there were in fact no bookstores in the mall now. I can remember when that mall had three bookstores and most malls in the metro area had at least one.

About 3:30PM today I left the house with the intent to walk to a barber shop in the local Kroger shopping center. The shopping center is about a 1.5 mile from the house making for a minimum of 3 miles round trip. It's a distance that eighteen months ago I could have walked with impunity. Unfortunately I've been lazy and haven't done as much walking as I used to. I'm certain I should have been doing at least two 6 mile walks a week for the past year and a half. The reasons are several and all of them are just excuses as I think about it now, I won't go into them. Anyone who's read my postings here and in other places can infer many of them.

I was a bit overheated by time I got to the barber shop. As I was approaching the shopping center I noticed a curious numbness in the fingers of my left hand. Very odd. I made it to the barber shop though. The pounding in my chest while I sat there while my hair was being cut was unnerving. What was up with that? I think I'll be talking to my GP about that when I see him on the 12th. After getting my hair cut I went into Kroger to cool down and buy a soft drink for my return walk. I walked around Kroger awhile checking prices on a few things. (My brother absolutely loathes Kroger. He seems to think they're the worst grocery stores you can find. He might not be far wrong. They're much more run down looking than any other store in the area. I'm really not sure what's up with that.) After a bit I decided while I was certainly feeling a bit cooler walking around the store was unwise when I wasn't sure my legs were going to get me back home.

I grabbed a Coca-Cola from the cabinet, checked out, and headed for home. When I rounded the Famous Dave's on the corner I noticed my calves were threatening to lock up. Thankfully they just stayed painful until I reached the Park & Ride lot. The lot is about a half mile or so from the house. I was a little disconcerted that my chest was hurting. Could I have really gotten this out of shape in just over a year? It really doesn't take long does it? I'm still feeling slight chest pain as I type this. The forces of nature must have taken pity on me for my walk home, the black clouds rolled into obscure the blistering sun and a nice moderately cooling breeze kicked up. Even better it didn't start raining before I got home. Curiously, I note it still hasn't started raining nor does it look quite as dark as it did outside when I was walking home.

Now, I think I'll take a shower and change into something else. Later, folks.

Today I took my first actual walk in a few months. I haven't been able to do much walking this summer. It's been far too hot. I don't handle hot weather well, I don't sweat the way most people do and I'm prone to heat exhaustion after only a modicum of exertion in 90 degree weather. It was almost cool enough so I decided, what the heck, and took a little walk. I didn't walk very far. I just walked up to the Walgreen's on the corner, about a mile from my house, cooled down there a little and came back home. Two miles, pretty much, round trip. As it cools down out here over the next few weeks I hope to be able to work myself back up to eight mile walks.

It felt good to get out on foot. There was a nice wind blowing for most of the first part of the walk. I wish it had stayed along for the whole trip back. But it didn't and by time I reached my street I was pretty much on the verge of overheating. But that goes with the territory.

Now, I think I'll take a nice shower and cool down.