14 posts from February 2008

A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 12 PM CST TUESDAY.

A MIX OF RAIN...SLEET AND SNOW HAS BEGUN ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING. THIS PRECIPITATION WILL START CHANGING OVER TO ALL SNOW THIS EVENING. TOTAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS FROM THIS STORM WILL BE IN THE 5 TO 7 INCH RANGE. SNOW WILL BEGIN DIMINISHING TOWARD DAYBREAK TUESDAY.

WINDS WILL BEGIN INCREASING TO AROUND 15 TO 25 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH TONIGHT. ONCE THERE IS SNOW ON THE GROUND...IT WILL LIKELY START BLOWING AND CAUSING SOME NEAR WHITE OUT CONDITIONS.

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. THIS...COMBINED WITH BLOWING SNOW WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS.

Top Pot Doughnuts has thoughtful placed their fourth store in our neighborhood--conveniently located at the end of my running route.

A few days after I got back from Chicago last week, I checked recommended feeds from my GoogleReader. Oddly enough, near the top was the Chicagoist blog. Now, I live and work in Seattle, but was born and raised in the Chicago area. Google didn't recommend the Seattleist blog--only the Chicagoist one. It was as if Google somehow knew I just got back from Chicago (similar to when it seemed to know I was both blonde and lived in Seattle--though I can't find that post right now, but it was serving up ads for both Seattle and blond jokes on the same page).

Anyway I've been enjoying news bits from Chicago in my RSS reader. Yesterday it included a video of an old Burt Weinman Ford ad. Anyone in Chicago during the 60s and 70s will remember these.

Image... a 1977 Ford Pinto... just $1888 full delivered price

Saturday mornings I take a Body Pump class -- a free-weight-lifting class set to music. Body Pump is the only thing that gets me to consistently do weights, other than hiring a personal trainer. But, actually, I've come to prefer group atmosphere in Body Pump class. You start with squats, then move to chest (bench press), back, triceps, biceps, lunges, shoulder and finally abs.

We had a new instructor today. She is otherwise quite petite, except for her enormous chest, which I suspect is surgery-enhanced. The studio is not heated--not a huge issue in Seattle--and until people get going they usually keep a jacket on. As she was announcing the next exercise ("next is chest...") she took off her warm-up jacket to display, in all their glory, her girls barely contained in a bra-type top. I can't decided whether this was intentional on her part or not. Next is chest indeed.

We weren't able to see this from our roof deck because buildings were blocking it, but we were able to see it from street level. We sat on the sidewalk and I took a couple of pictures. Didn't fool with the tripod, which would have of course resulting in a much better shot.

I am normally not a fan of matinée concerts; there is something about sitting in a darkened auditorium in the middle of the day that just doesn't work for me. But, yesterday, I made an exception for the Russian National Orchestra--and I'm glad I did.

When there is a visiting orchestra or conductor I often pine for a change in artistic leadership at the Seattle Symphony. Someone who brings youthful, sexy energy to the podium (and I'm talking about artistic leadership here, not appearance.) The RNO has that with Vladimir Jurowski:

Well, OK, Jurowski also has a youthful, sexy appearance. That doesn't hurt now does it?

The piano soloist, playing the always-fun Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, was Stephen Hough. He came out of the wings wearing concert blacks with--I am not kidding here--ruby slippers-- as in bright red satin loafers.

You can get an idea of the spine-tingling performance with this:

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Later, after dinner, we watched the PBS two-part series on Balanchine. Wonderful to see and hear Mr. B in action.

I am not a chronic worrier, but sometimes events can trigger in me a multi-day worry-fest. I really didn't give worrying much thought until, several weeks ago, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about worrying. Then, I guess, I became worried enough about my occasional worrying to order a book about worrying called The Worry Cure.

My first realization in reading this book is that I'm actually not much of a worrier. This is based on the self-evaluation criteria in the book and also the "example worriers."

Also, I don't worry so much about myself: I tend to worry more about other people and the suffering they might endure. For example, helping take care of my Dad when he was in hospice care at home. That was a constant worry because it's hard to know whether you are doing the absolute right thing for someone who is terminally ill. And of course out of love you want to always be doing the absolute right thing. I'm not sure anything gets you over that kind of worry.

But right now, I've been stewing a bit about a work situation that turned hurtful for someone I really like and admire. That's the kind of worry that is more easily addressed with the techniques in the book. This is an unproductive worry because there are not any real actions I can take to resolve the worry. This differs from productive worry, for example if you you are worrying about finances and don't know how much is in your checking account. This type of worry drives you to do something productive about it -- e.g. balance the check book. As simplistic as this sounds, just recognizing when I'm engaged in unproductive worry has been helpful.

There is much more involved with the book and because I'm not a chronic worrier some of it isn't completely applicable. But, still, overall I've found the book to be surprisingly helpful. Maybe even though it's not all applicable it relieves a worry about becoming a chronic worrier, which I guess in this case would be productive worrying if it leads me to seek out techniques to prevent worrying. No wonder I feel better!

I arrived to sub-zero temps (-2, -25 wind chill) Sunday night and departed Tuesday in the midst of a classic lake-effect snow storm.