There But For the Grace of God ...

I had jury duty most of this week, a civil trial regarding a minor vehicular accident.  When the case went to the jury on Thursday, things didn't go well for the plaintiff: We awarded most of various contested medical bills, and $3000 for non-economic damages, which effectively is nothing at all.

The problem was that the plaintiff was obese with a sedentary lifestyle, diabetes, high blood pressure, and on disability from an old foot injury.  To us, the "Preponderance Of Evidence" standard was not met that his lingering pain was from the accident.  Quite frankly, with one party clearly at fault for the actual accident, the aftermath was amazingly murky.

Friday I was back at work at Google, where I had lunch guests of a high school classmate, her high school-aged twin sons, and a friend of the sons.   I wowed them all with our free food, climbing wall, foosball tables and other amenities.  When the boys all announced they wanted to work for Google, I gave them the lecture:  First, most of the employees we saw were not using the amenities, but rather sitting at their desks quietly working, and second, to be good enough to work where you want, one has to both embrace and command your field.  I also pointed out the physical plant was effectively a big parlor trick:  The real Google shows in how the company treats us, which is in fact pretty good.

I skipped the part about pure luck being involved, I didn't need to depress them.   But I did  think about my own luck, especially with the contrast of Thursday.  I am (still) obese and have various aches, but I have an interesting and well paying job, and I've avoided the abyss of declining health.

I've glimpsed the ghost of lifestyle future, and I dearly reminded why my self-improvement efforts this year are important.

Drew & Katherine's Big Adventure

I've been quiet about the diet and exercise front lately.   The weight loss has in fact stopped temporarily, with a week's travel and the recovery screwing up both my intake and exercise.   I'm not panicked (yet), but distractions like this after this much loss have been my downfall before.

Which is not to say I've given up.  In fact, yesterday we got out the bikes, checked the tires, and set course to have lunch at University Village in Seattle, a ride ~50% longer than we had previously taken.

The only problem is, we didn't make it.  About eight miles into the eleven mile ride, Katherine found her front tire was going flat.  After a trail side inspection, we decided the stem itself was leaking, and walked the both bikes to the nearest shop, Cycle University.  Nice owner, prompt service, but he didn't have the proper size tube.  So I  hopped back on my own bike, pedaled down to the near by Bicycle Center, got a tube, and took it back to Katherine at Cycle U where she had it installed.

Suffice to say the delay took the wind out of our sails, and once we got lunch next door we headed back.

I did still log ~ 21+ miles, a new daily high for me in the past 25 years.