Getting back on track

Amazingly, for the first time in about 10 or 12 months, I actually feel somewhat relaxed. This is a first fellow hedgehogs! Last week, I was actually enthusiastic to go back to work, the science fair is coming along nicely and it's been exciting to set up our new head office and hire a full-time administrative assistant to keep us in line. It's only been getting back to training that's been the slow cog in the works - jet lag, the weather and a plethora of catch-up work have kept me inside (not very good excuses). But this week it's back at it regularly. 5:30am comes very early for spin classes! But I'm buying a new pair of shoes this week so hopefully those will be incentive enough to get my lazy ass back in there! The next "Throwdown in O-Town" is in late April and I'm supposed to be on the card at 150 lbs so have to get back into shape. Hopefully my shoulder holds out. Right now, it's sore ALL the time. Sometimes worse (in the morning, after workouts, after shoveling or carrying things), sometimes better, but it throbs pretty much continuously. Last week, it was killing me from laughing too hard! That's pretty sad. So I've booked some ART sessions again to (hopefully) get it back to normal. I have a suspicion I'm stuck with having to be careful with it for a long time to come.

I think I've lost any cold tolerance I had before I left. Anything less than -5 deg C makes me run for my down jacket. That's pretty pitiful! Thankfully, we've only had one day of extreme cold. I'm going to go out and try skate skiing next weekend to fool my body into enjoying this cold stuff!

Today, I stopped in at Sharky's Scuba Supply and looked at regulator packages - first stage, reg and octo. Yes, I'm preparing in advance for my tax return! But I hope to do a fair amount of diving this spring and summer, and that requires my own equipment. Luckily I picked up an excellent BCD while in Phuket, but I left all the expensive gear to buy until I got home. Yikes. Mid-range regs are going to cost me $1000, plus another $200 for a set of gauges (depth and pressure). Plus a dry suit or a wet suit since water here is quite a bit colder than in Thailand!

But buying equipment now means I'll have my own gear for next year in Thailand, or Indonesia. Or the Phillipines. Or Micronesia. Or wherever I decide to go! I'm thinking the Similans for 4 days. But Banda Aceh in Indonesia sounds excellent as well. As long as the political environment in Indonesia stays stable.