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Yay #1: exercise
Yesterday I did the coolest thing I've done in probably three years. Rob and I went to a fitness store to try out weight machines & see how many exercises I could do without standing, and while we were there I found a water rower.
I'd always believed rowing machines would be too rough on my feet. Some of them probably would be, and certainly if I hadn't been wearing my special shoes there'd have been no way. But I sat on that thing in the store for fifteen minutes, breaking a sweat, making myself red in the face... and I was happier than I've been in years. NOTHING else I've tried can get my heart rate up, really up. Swimming doesn't even remotely come close, for me. Operating a wheelchair I'm limited by my wrist strength. But THIS I could DO.
I was almost afraid to smile, coming out of the store, because I didn't know whether my feet would flare up in pain later in the day or the next morning. If they did there'd be no point. But it's the next morning now, and they don't seem to be too bad. I may have a winner.
I'll have to rework the foot straps completely, of course. They're terrible.
Nifty Thing #2: Iridium flare
I'm still not over jet lag, so I was awake at 4:30 anyway. I went outside to look for my first Iridium flare. The sky was very cloudy, but this one was supposed to be incredibly bright (-8) so I waited. Thanks to Rob mentioning it last night, I knew what direction to face, how high up to look, and what time to be looking (plus or minus the uncertainty of an analog watch that's been time-zone-changed a lot lately). Sure enough, I saw it, even through the clouds! It lasted maybe a second or a second and a half, a bright spot moving quickly across the sky. That was really nifty. I can see how people who don't, say, need sleep for some reason, can get caught up in going to chase these things.
Yesterday I did the coolest thing I've done in probably three years. Rob and I went to a fitness store to try out weight machines & see how many exercises I could do without standing, and while we were there I found a water rower.
I'd always believed rowing machines would be too rough on my feet. Some of them probably would be, and certainly if I hadn't been wearing my special shoes there'd have been no way. But I sat on that thing in the store for fifteen minutes, breaking a sweat, making myself red in the face... and I was happier than I've been in years. NOTHING else I've tried can get my heart rate up, really up. Swimming doesn't even remotely come close, for me. Operating a wheelchair I'm limited by my wrist strength. But THIS I could DO.
I was almost afraid to smile, coming out of the store, because I didn't know whether my feet would flare up in pain later in the day or the next morning. If they did there'd be no point. But it's the next morning now, and they don't seem to be too bad. I may have a winner.
I'll have to rework the foot straps completely, of course. They're terrible.
Nifty Thing #2: Iridium flare
I'm still not over jet lag, so I was awake at 4:30 anyway. I went outside to look for my first Iridium flare. The sky was very cloudy, but this one was supposed to be incredibly bright (-8) so I waited. Thanks to Rob mentioning it last night, I knew what direction to face, how high up to look, and what time to be looking (plus or minus the uncertainty of an analog watch that's been time-zone-changed a lot lately). Sure enough, I saw it, even through the clouds! It lasted maybe a second or a second and a half, a bright spot moving quickly across the sky. That was really nifty. I can see how people who don't, say, need sleep for some reason, can get caught up in going to chase these things.
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