I miss Birdo. I miss playing Super Mario Bros. 2 too. Such an oddity.
Birdo came up in a convo with Asma earlier this week. I forget why. But it's also relevant because Proud Feather was sick for a couple of weeks. Turns out he was just cold – a heating pad over the cage last night turned things around completely. I feel really bad about that. Poor little guy has been suffering needlessly 
But he's back to his budgie self.
Also, Asma would be amazing at laying eggs if she was a little bird.
I had a smile on my face driving back from the doctor's office and seeing all the snow melting. Even if it was on the side of the road, the tiny streams were beautiful.
I am not in a healthy state. I've recently guessed that I am the heaviest I've ever been, but today I got confirmation that I've gained nearly 25 pounds in the last year and surpassed my max.
Not quite sure how it's gone up so much, since I don't think I've changed my eating style signficantly or at all. It could just be that I'm getting older, and my body is really slowing down. It could also be sleep apnea plus stress. But whatever the reasons and excuses, I need a plan.
Asma has also been feeling unhealthy for a while now. We're going to check out a gym that's less than two miles away. It's pretty cheap and looks good. I'm excited about it. I was somewhat decent for a few weeks at going to the apartment gym three times a week. But it's a boring little place, and sometimes the elliptical and treadmill (yes, one of each) are taken when I want to use them.
So we can work out together (or at least go together), which should be good motivation. And maybe they'll have some fun classes.
I need to learn to set aside time for myself and not feel like it's the end of the world if I can't do any work. I'll probably be more productive and function better if I step away more frequently.
Oh yeah, I wrote my first official entry on TCC. I wish work situations were ideal.
TiVo was recording an episode of Extreme Engineering that covered the process of loading/off-loading cargo ships, and I was surprised at how surprised I was at the process. The flow of thousands of tons of products and materials each minute, non-stop around different parts of the world is unreal.
We can actually do this? Do many people realize the complexity of moving such large things and how that affects every part of our society?
I'm amazed at humanity's highs. Just as amazed at its brainwashed/manipulative lows.
I spent all last week in training with the tech team. AARP is moving to Communiqué as its CMS (Zope hasn't done so well in the end). Overall, I think I learned a good amount, but there's a long way to go before I get comfortable with developing for the new system. For the next few weeks, I hope I'll have enough time to experiment with it so that I can be one of the main developers for it. I feel more like an auxiliary and hope to change that.
Probably the best thing about the training, though, is that I got to spend time with the other members. I wouldn't say that I'm close friends with anyone after it, but there was more interaction between me and other people in the last week than in the two years that I've been at AARP. Sad, but better late than never. Probably 33% of training was people talking and making jokes. And with subjects like ‘space docking’ and ‘donkey punch’ coming up, it was like hanging out with college roommates. Good times.
I need to stop making excuses to avoid exercise and eating right.
