Murphy's Roommate

Much appreciated folks. The inspection objection is in, the die is cast, and we will see what happens. I made it out for a nice walk this evening, low 30's, the snow has melted off mostly, no wind, practically ideal. Overall this week was a win, I think I only missed one day for the foam rolling/exercise side. November should be awesome! - Murphy's Roommate

Pretty awesome! Have you considered paragliding (or powered paragliding) to get you into the air before you can upgrade to a full aircraft? I am planning to get into powered paragliding this summer - it seems like a good compromise between cost and fun. Good luck! - Murphy's Roommate

And then, there is Fall in Colorado... Aka blizzard season. Which to be fair is anything other than July and August. We've had snow in June, and September. This is my fall photo contribution... Yep. - Murphy's Roommate

Well, I'm still here. The weather out here has taken a turn for the awesome, and we've had a very snowy fall. I have a very interesting road ahead of me now. A substantial portion of my bandwidth is going into getting this house buying thing across the finish line. The above is the view from the window. Yes, in Colorado deer are everywhere. There are issues with the inspection, and I'm hoping the Seller can meet with me near the middle and get us across the finish line. This will be fairly vague, but I'll keep you updated with the effort. Pending any luck, I'll be closed before the challenge ends. Exercise, foam rolling, and diet. This is just an on going battle. Getting away from microwaving my food, sitting on my posterior, and not taking care of myself is just a perpetual annoyance. Good news is I have been taking advantage of the weather and going for walks in the snow. My goal is simply daily activity, foam rolling, and eating right 2 days a week. Start easy. Faith. A touchy topic, but I would be remiss in not listing the biggest struggle I'm in. While I was in Korea, I ran into a sequence of men who were excellent examples on the faith. A lot of my questions were answered, and I made the decision to take my faith seriously. This means altering 20+ year old behaviors. Fret not, I'm not becoming some holy roller, the more I experience, the more I know that humility is one of the virtues I need to work on. I don't know what the metric is to measure this by, but this is where the majority of my effort is going for the foreseeable future. - Murphy's Roommate

Trucking along, looking forward to the next challenge. Little steps add up. - Murphy's Roommate

Under Contract. Now on a vision quest for inspections, etc. ad nauseum. There was a walled off section that reminded me of the Cask of Amontillado - inspection should be super fun. Can't wait to find out what is in there - could be backup batteries for a solar system, could be plumbing, could be anything. I think I'll be getting a good N95 mask in case of mold, rodent feces, or other shenanigans. Full MOPP is overkill, but it would be fun messing with the inspector. Or I could use an old Halloween costume... Hazmat Hero, or Breaking Bad, depending on age group. Functionally correct, and as warm as expected on a cool fall night. Dry ice in the bucket was a fun touch when the trick or treaters came wandering by. Work is busy, seasons are turning, the struggle is real. Lay on, Macduff, and damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’” - Murphy's Roommate

Offer sent. The adventure continues. Curious to see how this plays out. - Murphy's Roommate

I am getting tired of looking at houses. Saw another one today. It will be nice to not have my life revolve around house hunting eventually. - Murphy's Roommate

Jean - That song rocks. Hope, that ineffable thing where humans reach so far beyond any expectation. We rise, we live, the impossible becomes merely difficult when we have Hope. Thank you for sharing that. - Murphy's Roommate

Offer didn't work out. Well, for the nonce it did not. Pursuing some low ball offers, and putting the current effort on hold. Not much good on the health of fitness side. The struggle, continues. On the other hand... The cold is awesome, I got to help out with a Burmese Mountain Dog trial (dogs, demonstrating they are smart and capable), and my mental assessment of home value is pretty dialed in. - Murphy's Roommate

Finding balance is tricky. Often just coping is a great start. Please keep up with the medication, it is often too easy to stop and slip into something else. Ankles are difficult to work around. I know when my shins are acting up, life is difficult. What else have you considered doing? Even just stretching? - Murphy's Roommate

Wind is picking up out here. So neat. Here it comes! - Murphy's Roommate

And so it begins. Put in an offer on a house, we'll see where this goes. Doing some foam rolling, and next up will be some actual exercise. In other news, Colorado Springs will be getting its first cold snap this Thursday. Looking forward to some snow. - Murphy's Roommate

Jakkals - I appreciate the thought. Getting a place is tricky, trade space is great to have, but difficult to execute. I am most fortunate to have trade space (acreage vs how nice the house is vs price point vs convenience) to worry about. Last night I drove through an area I was interested in. It was deep dark woods, and amazing. In other news, work has gone full clown shoes, but I am working to not let work impact me. I think. - Murphy's Roommate

Sounds like some more struggle. Keep getting up. I tend to handle fatigue well, and I handle stress well professionally, but a stressed me makes bad personal health decisions. All the bad personal health decisions. Looking forward to seeing what you do next! - Murphy's Roommate

Well, I completed the physical fitness test. Passed it, but not by much. I can hold just a little better than a 10 minute mile. I'm done with this. Time to change. I know how to do it, work will just have to deal with me focusing on getting to the point where I don't have to worry about fitness. Had a few incredibly nerdy wins at work. But, they were wins, and I will embrace them. I am a nerd about communications. When I hear people work through the "message sent, message received, message acknowledged" process, and run what we call rock drills before they start an exercise, I am a happy camper. So geeky, so happy. The house thing was unexpected. I was inverse to what I expected for what I liked. The realtor I am working with is on frequency with me, and we recognize that the best deals are still coming up. It is all trade space. There is another aspect. After living in a suburban neighborhood, Korea, and an apartment complex, I forgot how dark the country is. It's welcoming. Light pollution puts us out of touch with life. - Murphy's Roommate

I like that haiku. Well said. Not sure why, but it resonates with me. - Murphy's Roommate

Went for a run/shuffle/joggle/walk yesterday. Looks like I have a chance of holding a 9 min mile for 1.5 miles. Either way, test on Friday! Today was, onerous. We survived, and things went as well as they could, courtesy of 3+ hours of prep and handholding for a short event. Wargh. Bright spot is I go house hunting again Friday night. There is a spot in the back end of eternity I may like. Acreage is seductive to me. A 30 min commute that has almost no traffic is also nice. It is really nice not having any pressure to get a house, and I wouldn't mind trying RV/Camper living out! - Murphy's Roommate

Work... I love walking into the office and finding out things have already gone clown shoes. All I want is for us to get ahead of problems. But that would require taking the time to plan, train, and equip properly. Instead, we are trying to put the wings on the plane as we fly it. Foam rolled. Didn't eat too terribly badly. Took a nap when I got home. I'll focus on the positive. Or at least try to. - Murphy's Roommate

Jean - From my little corner of the internet, you sound burned out. I strongly resemble that remark, the problem is we expect everyone in our corner of the universe to simply live/function like that. In your world, 4 days won't cut it. Our AFI (Air Force Instruction) directs that we should seriously consider taking at least one 2 week vacation a year. It doesn't happen, but some smart folks have recognized that it takes a sane human days to weeks to decompress. You are right. You are broken. If (as we would say) a short tactical pause lets you get back in and keep fighting, that answers the now problem. It doesn't fix the bigger problem. In my little world, I get a 4 day weekend in the middle of October, then I plan to take vacation for 5 days at the end of October. That will be my big reset for the current year. Come next Spring, my goal is to take 14 days off to learn to paraglide. I could work 12 to 14 hour days from now to then, and still never finish all the work I have. Instead, I chose to self protect (excluding days where overwork has real reason. Then I am fanatically all in.) for the majority of the time. I say this to suggest you reconsider your game plan of taking 2 days off. If there is a way (I think you are a government servant, same as me, equally limited) to deal with the misery a little longer to take a longer time off, it could be beneficial. - Murphy's Roommate

Well done. Each man is allocated a portion of the work, and you did yours. Resting in a time for rest is your duty. Reserve guilt for sins. - Murphy's Roommate

Foam rolling - it is a good thing. Got some in today. Wandered about on the elliptical on Friday, not much happened Saturday. Looking forward to Columbus Day weekend. Certain events are conspiring that I may truly have it off. If so, time to put the Excursion on afterburner and head out! Sadly, my vehicle is still fueled by plain old gasoline, so that is a figure of speech, but a guy can dream of putting jet engines on his vehicle. Sigh... As of late, I have been watching Almazan Kitchen. The simplicity really pulls me in. It is nature/food eye candy. Just cooking over a campfire, simple ingredients, if you cannot pronounce it he doesn't use it. Cast iron or clay. Doesn't get better than that. I think I'll take a swing at cooking like that when I can. Lastly, getting ready to cut slingload and move into a camper if I don't find a house soon. The housing market in Colorado Springs is a hot mess right now, and while I can afford rent, I'd rather spend some cash and live for a much lower rent in something I own until I find a house. The side benefit of being able to roll out on the weekend and live in the lap of luxury surrounded by stunning views is merely a side benefit. - Murphy's Roommate

Whisper - Good to see you staying in the fight with life. As an umpteen hour workday survivor, I get the loss of circadian rhythm and overall problems with over work and burnout. Like Diadhuit, I'm a Roman Catholic and I've had some challenging, and a great experience with faith directors. Getting right with God is something we all struggle with. It has only taken me 20 and change years to start fighting on the righteous path again. My life is a lot more fail than win. The primary thing I hang my hat on is keeping on trying again. Seriously. Simply showing up and trying has gotten me further than I ever imagined. Looking forward to following you. I'm not here for the victories. I'm here to support the struggle. - Murphy's Roommate

Once again, A different perspective. Wouldn't you want to be born and raised in a world where your mother was on fire with how much she loved you? That is how your love for your daughter seems to me. Our world has always been, since the start of recorded history, a train wreck. Examine all of recorded history, and it is humans doing violence unto other humans. When have we not faced catastrophe? Humanity has a miserable history, we kill each other in droves and winnows for any and all excuses. Even before recorded history, ice cores show the climate changed. Fossil records show species going extinct. When has daily life not been a struggle, excluding the last 50ish years in Western Civilization? That's right, never. As an aside, when I turned 30, my parents commented that they never expected all of us children to make it this far. My parents deliberately placed us in dangerous, but controllable situations. As a result, we are pretty hard to kill. Afghanistan and Iraq, for the older siblings, and the youngest survived law school AND living near DC, so I think they were onto something! The world has not changed. What you feel is not new. Rock on, Lady of the Bog. You face the same challenge every mother has. And like every mother who gave her best (never knowing if it was enough) before you, you got this. - Murphy's Roommate

Jakkals - You quote Marcus Aurelius. I assume you have read his Meditations. As a fellow aspiring Stoic... Let the suffering go. So easily written, so difficult to do. I struggle here as well. Standards are meant to be set high but achievable. Achievable to yourself. We seek to do the best we can, and that is all. The attainable goal is our Muse, not our jailer. If the goal imprisons or crushes you, seek another goal to inspire you. This was written in a rare moment. In vino veritas. - Murphy's Roommate