Cheetah

What brand do you like? Right now I'm almost done with a tin of Taylor's of Harrogate "Afternoon Darjeeling." It's got a nice deep flavor that's great with a splash of milk and a drop of honey.

Have fun!

I shoot for about 190-200 deg.F. Just below boiling. Too hot and your tea will be bitter, although Irish tea, which I think has more Assam than other blends, seems to be able to go a little hotter. but it depends on the tea. I have a darjeeling I like that does best when the water is just barely steaming.

Hopefully the fires will be under control soon! It's awesome that this challenge has been going so well for you!

For what it's worth, I'm enthusiastic about you running a half-marathon! And also jealous. Deeply jealous. Not a lot of quality gifs for envy.

Obviously, the medication issue is a serious one. I think it would be wise to call up the place where you get them and ask what the policy is for people who will be out of country for a time. Surely this isn't the first time it's come up; I should think they have a way of handling this kind of situation. Beyond that, it just sounds like you're going to have to just embrace the spirit of adventure. It's all about your outlook. You have to be able to tell yourself that yes, there will be ups and downs, things will be great and things will go wrong, but in the end you'll be okay, and you'll have stories to tell and memories to enjoy for a lifetime. For what it's worth, I've done a little bit of this sort of thing over the years. A couple of times I did end up without a place to live for a little while - once in a city where I didn't know anyone, and I lost literally all of my worldly possessions except the clothes on my back. When that happened, I just looked around and said, Okay, here I am, what's the next thing I need to do? And before long I was back in a job and a flat (that I shared with a schizophrenic Native American former stock-exchange trader.... I've got some stories there....) And everything just kind of worked itself out. I totally understand fear of the unknown. It used to churn my stomach every time I'd move to a new place with little or no plan of what I was going to do when I got there. But, I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything, and sometimes I even miss being able to pick up and vanish over the horizon to go and find the next adventure. So I say work out the meds, and then go for it, and take lots of pictures.

I like the Twinings. I just assumed there's something better out there. I've read that Barry's or Brewley's are the standard teas in Ireland, but I don't know if that makes them actually good or just good at marketing. The smallest package of either that I can buy is 40 tea bags, which is a pretty big commitment for testing new waters. And I figured the many Britons in the Ranger Corps would have opinions about this.

Great job on the 100-mile achievement!

I wouldn't say you're being a wimp... you have a really valid concern. Sounds like you'd have to be willing to be homeless for a little while when you get back. I don't know how easy that is to do where you are - here in the states the shelters are really hit-and-miss. Some are not too bad, some are places you really don't want to have to stay. I'd say you have to think on that a bit and decide if it's worth it - but it does sound like an awesome adventure. I think you should seriously try to talk yourself into it.

Okay, serious question. Who makes the best Irish Breakfast tea?

The other crap thing about being sleep deprived is that it makes me want to eat. Being tired is a major food trigger for me. So, I'm still doing a pretty good job staying on my calorie target every day, but it's a lot more difficult to keep from raiding the junk food that is readily available all night here at work. I think I'm going to have to start bringing healthy snacky foods, which means leaving a little room in my daily calorie budget, but I can do that without too much trouble I think. Tomorrow I'm going to bring carrot sticks and maybe some almonds too, and that should help.

How well do you know the person who's invited you?

When is the Spartan?

Thursday: Calories. I'm good, but I'm struggling again. I've been tired this week, and being tired makes me want to eat, even if I'm not hungry. But I'm staying good. 4.5 of 7 Lifting. I did not lift today. 1 of 3 Yoga. I did not yoga today. 1 of 3 Ukulele. I did not play today. 2 of 4 Bible. I did not Bible today. 2 of 7. So much for finishing strong this week! Mostly this couldn't be helped. Our washing machine ejector pump has been acting up, so between that and grocery shopping today, I only had enough free time left to play 7 Wonders with my daughter, and that was the priority today. She'll be back in school in two weeks, and with me being on second shift, I won't see her much during the school year. So, while I did not work on my challenge goals today, my time was well-managed and well-spent, and I feel pretty good about that! Oh, and I weighed in at 205 today. I'm down 30 lbs from April-ish. I know scales lie, but this is a nice lie that I'm choosing to believe.

That's awesome! I'm super jealous of everyone who gets to run long distances.

I'm not a fan of intervals, but I do them because they work. I do love it when they get faster and easier. Keep up the great work!

This just reminded me that I need to make tea to take to work tonight. Thanks! :-D I understand that feeling of wanting to experience as much as possible of what this life and this world have to offer. It's important to maintain an active and curious mind throughout life, but even the best of us will only ever scratch the surface of what is possible in the utterly vast experience of humanity.

My challenge be like: Surprise! Dragon head!

Wednesday: Calories: Good today, but struggling with it. I want to eat munchie snacky things. I think I'm actually slightly hungry, but I've had all my cals for the day. I think I ate dinner to early. 3.5 of 7 Lifting: Rest day. 1 of 3 Yoga: Did another one of Adrinne's beginner routines. I can't sit cross-legged very well, so I'm still trying to figure out how to work around that. 1 of 3 Ukulele: I did play a little bit this morning. Today was busy, so I didn't get as much in as I wanted. 2 of 4 Bible: Missed it today. 2 of 7 Today I took the kids to the children's museum. If you've never been, it's huge and awesome. It would take two days to see everything they've got. We have a membership, so my kids know the place pretty well, but there's always new things, too. Today we got to see and touch real dinosaur fossils from South Dakota, including a T-Rex femur, and I finally saw the circus exhibit, which was pretty cool. Always a good time, but didn't leave as much ukulele time as I was hoping for. Tomorrow will be grocery shopping, so I don't know if I'll get to lift or not. I also have to fix our washing machine ejector pump and fiddle with my car. The idle is surging when the AC is on. Popular theory is it might be air trapped in the coolant, so I'm going to try to bleed it out and see what happens. So ya. Maybe not so much lifting. But I also really really don't want to miss a day. I think I can do it as long as I don't mess around in the morning, and get right on it. So we'll see how that goes. This gif has nothing to do with anything.

Author?

That's basically what I'm doing. SL 5x5 only has scheduled one set of deadlifts every other workout - I think last time I did three sets of 10 instead, because the weight doesn't feel challenging until I get to the 8th rep. So ya, I'm adding sets and reps as needed.

Tuesday: Is it week 4 already? How time do fly! Calories: On target, no worries. Well, maybe not as many veggies today as I should have. Oh well. 2.5 of 7 Lifting: I did get a full lift in this morning, in spite of all the craziness around the house! 1 of 3 Yoga: Not yet, but since I'm not lifting tomorrow, I will definitely have time in the morning. 0 of 3 Ukulele: I did get the old girl out and play a few songs. Tomorrow should be a better day for it. 1 of 4 Bible: Short devotional today. That might just be the way of it. 2 of 7 My lift today felt pretty good. I set up my phone and recorded myself from the side while I did squats with a moderate load, to see if I've got my vertical rise and fall under control, and it seems like I'm going pretty straight up and down. Over the next few sessions, I plan to gradually build the weight back up, and I'll probably keep recording myself, so that if a problem starts to develop under heavier weight, I can catch it before it gets out of hand. But it really seems like my problem was having my stance way to narrow. Now that I've opened it up, everything seems to be falling into place much better. I'm still more or less doing SL 5x5, but I'm modding it pretty heavy to match my meager equipment. I need more weights, but I'm saving up to switch to olympic, and I really don't want to spend money on more standard plates. It's a dilemma.

Yay, 2-day streak!

I just did the math and realized I made my first level-up! Yay!