Crosswords and Weightlifting

Two things that likely don't go together in peoples' minds. But they are quite similar!

Both, when done properly, cause you to exert yourself.

Both, when done properly, boost your feelings of accomplishment and self-esteem.

And, I had been slacking on both for a while!

My crossword-doing had gone by the wayside during moving and paper-revising: though, really, I've had enough time to do them. No real excuse except the sad fact that, however much time I have, whether a little or a lot, I manage to fill it up with whatever chores I have for that day.

It might be one, it might be ten. Doesn't matter.

"What did you do today?" "Oh, it was rough. I had to paint my toenails! Took all day!"

Yeah.

But doing them all in a row actually helped me see some of the overlapping themes more clearly, which was kind of neat.

I still don't like doing Sunday's on the computer, though. There MUST be a place near me that sells the NYT on Sundays!

Weightlifting, on the other hand, I haven't done in ages, except some moonlighting.

But my new digs have a gym: a beautiful, woefully underused gym. I've determined I can't let that go to waste.

So I used it yesterday. Nothing too crazy: two sets instead of three, and such.

But, as I wince while I type today, I have realized that doing push-ups once or twice a week does not a strong person make!

Ouch.

Well, off to try another group and a different run. I'll be sore all over when I get back, if I'm lucky

Friday the 13th!

I loved Friday's puzzle. There was the blurb that started it. That was fun. Then, that led you into 1-across.

Superstitious (or superstitions - I don't have it in front of me right now)

The rest had interesting crosses and it was actually rather fun for a Friday!
In fact most of this week has been fun and easier than usual, including last Sunday's puzzle, with the opposites, like taped lives and the like.

I'm happy that I've had time for crosswords. Now for my magazine piles.......

Hehehehehehe

Spending Sunday sitting on my settee was fabulous, though unproductive.

Yes, I do have a setee.

Puns are my favorite sort of joke.

Which says a lot about my sense of humor, I suppose.

So Sunday's crossword more than made up for some of the lame themes they've had recently. I was getting afraid that I wouldn't want to dp them anymore!

Ok. That's not true. But I would have been grousing a lot.

Unlike Sunday, when I was chortling away.

The theme was "a river puns through it".

Which was, itself, a pun. Hilarious!

Try to figure out the clues for these answers.......

Missouri loves company

Tomorrow Neva dies

Yalu jacket

Thames fightin words

Wereal lindus together

Yukon go home again



Hehehehehehehehehehehehehe!

He

Back on a Roll

Sunday's theme was actually quite clever. Not funny but clever, with several levels to it.

Best clues:

It's between green and black.......oolong

Pea observer.......Mendel after trying to think of synonyms for 'princess', I reached back to undergraduate genetics for this one. His papers are actually quite interesting. I highly recommend them for a good read.

Raise a big stink?.......reek

The paper the puzzle is printed on is too thin to successfully make the shape you are supposed to be able to make. Perhaps if I had some cardboard to glue to the backside.....But, I've got class in about 5 minutes so I will have to wait to roll again.....Hah.

Easy as ABC

That was the answer to one of today's crossword clues and pretty much summed up the puzzle as a whole.
The theme wasn't so great today: I'm waiting for some more of those witty, sly themes that have been missing for a while from my Sunday afternoons.

A few good ones though.

Round container........gun

Ohio State athlete who forgot his uniform........buck naked Buckeye.

Fragrent cake......bar of soap

One who puts U in disfavor?..........Brit

And a tricycle for a CEO? Big wheel of big cheese.


Heh

Back to work......

River Tranquility

Soloed it today down around the Charles River, through Watertown and back. Met up with a really nice runner who was running 21 today and chatted for a bit. I love watching the boats while I'm running down the river.
The new headphones Suave got me work really well and, when I'm not using them, they don't bump painfully on my collarbone, like my previous ones did.
Felt like I had a great pace today and just generally felt amazing during this run. Maybe it was the weather? Ran 1:30, so at least 10 miles. We'll see what the rest of the week brings......2 talks and a trip to Washington does not bode well for my running.
Still have a knot in my quad that's resisting the roller. Will have to take out the rolling pin when I get home, I fear.
Watching Baltimore Football with my brother is an event. There's a common family trait of yelling loudly at the T.V., even when you are in public and likely ought not do so. Heh.
Working got a bit derailed this weekend, with long treks around Boston and a new game - Angry Birds. So addictive.
Oh, and of course the crossword for today. Yes, I beat Suave's butt at it. What did you expect?

Demographics

I just finished the Friday crossword and I had to ask, "Really? How many baseball, classic writers, and classical music questions does one crossword need to have?!" It's not like there were that many of each but they were ones that I had to solve with the crosses. And sometimes they crossed each other!

Then I realized: demographics. Just like the Game Show Network, one of my two favorite T.V. channels. When watching it, I am innundated with commercials with tag lines like, "It's easy, with Tweezy!" and "Health Alert saved me and could save you, too!" Hover-rounds and medical supplies - right to your door! - factor in heavily, as well. I am, I am glad to say, not in their target demographic.

Similarly, I don't think I'm in the target demographic for the NYT crossword puzzle. Sure, Friday is supposed to be hard, but I'd do a lot better answering NBA questions, or obscure 80's music, or such like that. They've been getting better about this - and I've also been getting older, which might help as well - but I just don't know what team Ted Kluszewski played on when he won the 1954 N.L. home run title! I had to get that one on the crossses. Among others. That one was especially hard because one of the crosses was the 1969 Oscar-winning title role of someone I've never heard of.

I think I might find a pursuit that is within my own demographic. I don't want to cross over to another too soon.

Ready for some Exploration

but stuck (for now) in the usual

Bed-Stuy, Greenpoint, East New York, Owl's Head Promenade. Enticing me with their odd little shops and unique storefronts, or their ten-degree temperature difference and the ambiance of Vancouver to one's right. Whispering the promise of new loves while I ran on the worn and familiar. But the familiar is what I need right now, even if I don't want it. I need to stay close to either home or to the subway, in case my leg starts hurting. PT's orders.

I took some much-needed alone time and ran around the outside of the Prospect Park this morning. Having spent so much time alone in Hawaii, it's been an adjustment to come back to a place where I am expected to interact with others on a daily basis. The heat having abated, the run was an easy one, with no watch and no company save my own. It's only 6.75 miles but they were solid and much-needed ones.

I also got some education today on history, a subject I have always been bad at, having a bad memory for both dates and names. Did you know that the Pisans lost the Battle of Meloria in 1284? Or that Lake Micmac, in Nova Scotia, is named after a Native American tribe? As can often happen with Friday's, the puzzle was frustrating but ultimately solvable.