3.2 miles before work.  Finally got out there in the semi-dark for the first early run since the time change.  Found a small rubber ducky in the street, which I brought home with me.  I collect them. So- score!

stumpy77 and others. I had no power tools. I did have a drill. A hand cranked drill.  A power drill and screwdriver would certainly have made the whole thing go faster. Yes, I would have easily covered the cost by getting a job flipping burgers for half the time it took me to get all of the screws back in.

I just did some gym work this morning. Now to get my tail into gear and get some work done.

Tramps the way they measure "happiness" does not clearly get at the idea of "happy." The surveys typically ask "On a scale of 1 to 10 how happy are you?" (The range changes from survey to survey, but it is the general question that is asked.) People then give a number. Typically there is no scale. It is why, I think, you generally find wealth has little correlation with the survey answers. People in very poor countries give scores close to those in wealthy ones. I do not think people are answering this question on an absolute metric. I suspect they are answering the question, "Relative to how happy you think others are that you know how happy are you?" If you were to scale this so that the question was, "Call the happiness level of the typical billionaire a 10 and that of a person suffering from horrible lifelong pain a 1. On that scale how happy are you?" I think the results would be dramatically different. Quite a few people at my school work on the what makes people happy question and I have been harping on them for years that they are not measuring what they claim to measure. I have not seen something to change my mind. There is also strong evidence against the survey results. When it comes to where people think they will be happy they vote with their feet. Those feet typically (no not always just more than elsewhere) head to the US when they can.

It's the First Day of Spring and I'm just happy we are in the mid 50's, even though it's raining.  Of course, my DH isn't happy about the rain because he thinks come spring time he should be wearing shorts. Maybe he'd be happier in Arizona. 

Loved the pics AD shared yesterday.

Glad you have your new desk set-up Leslie. That should help alot. 

Ran a 5 mile shamrock run on Saturday. pretty slow at 51:17 (compared to 2 yrs ago when I ran it at 44:40!).  Then a friend and I ran another 7 miles after that. We were planning on 8 but the rain was coming down so hard at that point and we were both satisfied to get in a double digit run for the day so we turned around and ran back a little short of goal.   No run yesterday though. just feeling tired and run down, so other than a ton of laundry and making a fried chicken/biscuits/gravy, I didn't do much yesterday. 

May get in a short run after work. i have about 45 minutes to kill in between work and a parent meeting at David's school, so might take advantage of that time to run.  We'll be at the school for 2 hrs though, so depends on weather. if it's rainy, i'm sitting around in damp clothes for 2 hrs. 

have a great Monday and Happy Spring!

Tammy, sounds like you are running well and long these days.  Any races coming up?

Jay - the camera is a great idea, however, I don't have internet service nor a computer at the cabin.  Perhaps someday....not now.

As you all know, I grew up in Canada.  There was definitely a prevailing sense of security knowing the society you live in will have your back should you fall on hard times, become disabled, or need life saving surgery, like I did once.  And not pay a penny for that surgery.  The lack of worry about health insurance I believe does reduce people's day to day stress levels.  The sense of respect it implies for all citizens....I think that makes people happy, to be valued and respected equally.  I am paying for my own insurance here now, and of course there is a high deductible, which adds to my stress level, for sure.  The income spread in Canada is much compressed, but really, who needs that 6,000 sq ft house or yacht or whatever.  I constantly think about how a little bit of income redistribution in the US would improve the lives of many folks.

And of course happiness is more a construct of someone's personality than their situation, apart from extreme poverty.

But you could measure stress levels instead, possibly objectively too through measuring cortisol levels!

My 2 cents.

I am determined to run today!

Howdy folks!

Interesting reading here today.  I know that when I fill out the Wellness Assessment for our insurance wellness program, the questions related to happiness or stress or health are all correlated to work productivity, as in, "How many days have you missed in the last month due to your stress?"

No run for me today, just 36 times across the pool (900 yards)

I often see the same birds on or near the river path where I run - the odd ones standing out enough to recognize them, like the two white geese who mated with Canada geese and their little family groups of calico offspring.  The last year or two, I have occasionally noticed a strange looking duck on the river, black head with white wings/back.  It always looked a bit lonely, just on the fringe of the regular huge gaggle of geese and raft of ducks on the water.   Yesterday I was amazed to see this bird joined by a large group of its own kind, maybe 50 or so birds, about half of them this black and white and the other half (likely the females) a quiet brown.  Pretty cool.

Happy Spring!

...mornin'....

 

......we need an

 

International Jay Appreciation Day...........I'd say he's earned it

 

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+1

Being a someone who seems to feel depressed and/or anxious for no reason I read a lot about happiness. I like to see what I might be missing,   I like Aristotle's idea that you can't tell if someone was happy until they are old or gone.  Happiness is a life long pursuit of virtue. (Virtue was not what we generally think of, but it was a life of contemplation.)  Happiness in today's world is more an emotion or a pleasant feeling.  Anyway, I got a shelf of books on it if you need anything.  They don't do me much good.

I am suspicious of surveys about health or happiness. Did you ever read how they come up with the rankings of healthiest cities?  They look at how many gyms, parks, and fast food restaurants there are. They don't review anyone's health.

Workout wise, nothing for me today. I am a bit messed up. On Saturday night, Cindy woke up around 1:45 AM and couldn't get back to sleep.  All her trashing around kept me from sleeping, so at 3:00 AM I asked if she just wanted to get on the road. And so we left Tallahassee at 3:20 AM to head home.  The trip was went well despite a 30 minute wait in Kentucky.  Luckily it came right after a pit stop and we were only an hour and a half from home so it didn't bother me much.  I hate being stuck on the road when hours of driving still lay ahead.

Travel time: 13 hours and 10 minutes.

Today I am tired, and my head and throat hurt.  I am working from home just enough to get caught up from the week away.

A new donut place opened around here yesterday (Paradise Donuts).  I went and tried a regular glazed, a chocolate glazed, and a chocolate iced cream filled.  All were pretty good. If I feel well enough to go to the office tomorrow I will stop there to get some for the office and see what they think.  None for me though. I think I may be donuted-out for a few days.  3 of them was a bit much.  I'm not as young as I used to be when a dozen would have been no problem.