What I've been reading

King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard. Oh, the way they show their progressive racial attitudes. Oh, how they show their love of the natural world by killing and eating every animal they happen across! Aside from that, it's a fun adventure story. It's interesting how all the movie versions sub in a woman named "Elizabeth" who is looking for her husband in place of Sir Henry Curtis who is looking for his brother. I understand that, cinematically, it's good to add in a chick for romantic potential. But then it deprives the story of the (unintentional?) homoerotic vibes as Allan Quartermain goes on and on about Sir Henry's magnificent physique!

and

"The Private Life of Plants" by David Attenborough. It's based on a BBC nature film, and it's chock full of wonderful color photos and strange and interesting facts about plants, their relationships with one another and with fungi and animals. A really fun and interesting read.

My full comments on both books here.

Activity update

Jan 1. - 7
Total active days (cardio, weights and/or yoga, at least 10 min.): 7 out of 7
Total days did a full stretch: 1

Comments on activity: I'm counting house projects, since we spent 5-ish hours one day and 9-ish hours another day laying flooring. I didn't do heavy sawing like J. did, but we were active and not sitting on our butts, and our muscles were sore afterward, so I'm counting this. I'm also counting snow-shoveling, as well as my walk from the parking structure to my office and from the office back to the parking structure. During my walks to/from work, I'm typically hoofing it pretty fast, enough to get my heart rate up. The cold weather is a motivator to pick up the pace. I'm estimating it takes 8-10 minutes one way and includes at least one flight of stairs; it adds up to between 16 and 20 minutes of moderate exercise each day I work at the office (normally Mon/Tues/Fri).

Comments on stretching: I did partial stretches on some days, but not the full upper/lower body stretch except one day. And I felt so much better the day I did stretch! I think once I start going back to the gym on a regular basis, I'll get better about stretching. I almost never forget to stretch after a gym workout, but I often forget to stretch when I exercise at home.

A *real* northerner's guide to snow shoveling

I recently had another article published, "A real northerner's guide to snow shoveling." Pretty good timing, as we got socked with snow here in southeast Michigan. I think we got something like 3 inches between noon Friday and this morning, and then it's been snowing steadily all day, for maybe another 3-4 inches of accumulation. Luckily, it's pretty fluffy, but it was still enough snow that J. took one half-hour pass this morning and then I spent nearly another 50 minutes doing a second pass late this afternoon.

The article has a rather embarrassing typo on the second page (I swear that the editing team either inserted it or made it worse by high-lighting it ...) but otherwise, I'm fairly proud of it.

Excerpt:

Have you read other guides to snow shoveling and thought, "What planet does this guy live on?

For instance, I've read that you should always push and never lift or twist when you shovel. That advice makes me wonder where the author lives and how many inches of snow he's used to shoveling. Pushing rather than lifting is ideal, but it's not always possible, especially if you have six or more inches of really heavy, wet snow.

I grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and have lived in some part of Michigan my entire life (with the exception of about nine months in Tennessee). So, here, you'll read advice from someone who actually has spent her entire life in the Great White North and knows one or two things about how to shovel snow efficiently while not giving yourself a heart attack.