Sunday Scribblings #347  Flood

 Flood- physically a huge torrent of water.  Although we normally think of huge catastrophic events (hurricanes, earthquakes, etc) as killing the most people- it’s the weather, both excessive rain & the absence of rain that are the largest source of natural disaster.  Floods & droughts have the biggest economic & human life toll as they typically  impact far more people.

I think most of Manhattan is officially done digging out from their flooding, but it will still be months more of clean-up in some of the other boroughs, Long Island, and New Jersey as they re-build after Hurricane Sandy.

From watching recent hurricanes & the news coverage, I’ve learned that they have a new scale that they can measure & predict the severity of a storm.  Instead of just basing it off maximum wind speed, they are starting to take into consideration the tides at landfall & also how far the storm surge is expected to go inland & how low-lying the areas are along the coastline.  Although Sandy was only a Category 1, t hey knew the flooding would be catastrophic, especially with the full moon & high tides coinciding with landfall.

Living in the Bayou City, flooding has historically been a problem in Houston.  We had some crazy local flooding earlier this year- with full blown water boat rescues & other drama.  Generally, the city  has grown so fast & is so flat that there wasn’t really proper consideration given to flood prevention in the past.  After Tropical Storm Allison flooded huge sections of the city & destroyed tens of thousands of homes, the city & county have made a bit push to add more retention & detention areas to mitigate flooding.

 Even though Hurricane Ike did some damage at our house & we got tons of rain, there wasn’t much flooding out in our suburbs- even though the bayous of Houston were full & sometime overflowing.  Localized flooding can still be a problem & certain streets in/out of our neighborhood can be flooded with just a few hours of heavy rain.  The flooding is usually quick to recede once the rain stops falling, but its one of the many reasons I still like to drive an SUV that sits a little higher.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Had an amazing long weekend- doing good stuff, spending good time with friends & family.

Sunday Scribblings #346- Silence

Silence is a toughie!  I don’t do complete silence very well at all- I like quiet, with a bit of white noise.

I’ve re-committed to daily mediation.  I’m currently doing Deepak Chopra’s 21 Day Mediation Challenge at the moment, but will return back to silence once the series is over.  Even though I sit in (near) silence, I can still hear the  humm of the HVAC, dogs moving around me, the sounds out of the street and so many other noises that I’m not generally aware of on a daily basis.

Not that running is ever silent, especially a race, but I do prefer to run without music for the most part.  I love hearing the chatter around me, runners supporting each other, the crowds cheering on the sidelines, and appreciating how all those noises bring me into the race experience.  When the going gets tough (like oh say…mile 18), I do sometime put on my music & get lost in the rhythms & lyrics to help me keep my feet  moving over the miles.

Growing up, I learned to sleep with the radio on.  Perhaps it goes back to the times I’d crawl in bed with my grandmother & she’d listen to talk radio as she fell asleep.  As I got older, I’d fall asleep with the TV on or music on the radio- something to generally drown out all of the other loud sounds.  I had to give up the music when I met hubby, and now we sleep in silence, albeit I still must have the fan on to provide that gentle white noise in the background.  I can sleep perfectly fine in hotels without fans, but I’d really rather have it on when sleeping in my own bed (except when one of us is sick at night).   Several times lately, I have used some neat apps on my phone to fall asleep- they are forms of yoga nidra or deep relaxation process.

I’m sitting on an airplane typing this & I’m loving the silence.  Not so much silence, but the loud whir of the engines & the quietness that occasionally spreads through the cabin, after all the anxious children have settled down, the PA announcements have been made, once the meals & beverages have all been served, and everybody is busy working away or catching  up on sleep.  Usually if the seat is comfortable enough, I can almost always fall asleep on any plane- the micro-vibrations and calming white noise can put me to sleep in no time.

Writing about silence is difficult- it’s not often the absence of something (noise/sound) actually occurs.

I’ve witnessed silence used as a weapon in relationships or punishment during a flight.  But it’s in our silence that we often choose to pay respect to & remember those not with us any more.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Got approval from the bank to move forward with our house project- need to blog about it now!

Sunday Scribblings #344 Heal

Another oh-so-timely Sunday Scribblings prompt.   Instantly, I think about  myself- my own health & body, I think about the destruction and devastation that was caused by Hurricane Sandy, and of course the political strife in our country this week before another hotly contested election.

October thoroughly kicked my rear.  Working too much, running too much, resting too little, and a run in with a nasty staph infection had me running ragged all month.  I’ve really had to step back and draw some lines, skip some runs, pass on some travel, and get some extra sleep to try to get completely healed up & over all the allergic reactions. Spending this whole weekend at home, sleeping in, hanging out, catching up, and relaxing has been really restorative to me & I feel much better about facing November & heading into December renewed and rested.

 I’m still nursing a tweaky hamstring that’s been bothering me for months.  It’s not  really painful and it hasn’t really stopped me from running at all, but it’s certainly not feeling normal.

And though it’s been less than week since Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast, they are signs that it may take months and months for many areas to even get back to normal.  A sense of normalcy is quickly returning to Manhattan as the power is mostly restored & the subways are almost all back online, but the devastation out on Long Island, Staten Island, and parts of New Jersey is just unbelievable.

Even in the running community, there was a great deal of strife and controversy about the New York Road Runners continuing on with the marathon.  Sadly, I saw things get really nasty on Facebook  twitter, and in the blogosphere.   Even though the race was cancelled very last minute, I hope that the NYR’s efforts to donate their resources towards helping the storm survivors will make progress towards healing the bitterness that engulfed the spirit of the New York City Marathon.

And I don’t even know what to say about the politics.  Things are so divisive right now in the country, just  3 days before our next presidential election.  For several years, I followed politics closely & read dozens of blogs a day about the state of political affairs in our country, but I just simply got burned out.  I love having an informed, intelligent conversation about public policy and the different points of view that we can have about how to have government approach a problem.  Unfortunately,  I think the media has done so much to fuel the atmosphere of hostility and intolerance that it’s nearly impossible to have a civil discussion or debate.  I don’t even know where to start on healing this fracture in our society, other than just keep on doing my part to be engaged in respectful and well-educated dialogue with others.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Ran 2 miles instead of 26.2 this morning & then went to the Texans game.

Sunday Scribblings #343- Risk

I certainly wouldn’t consider myself a risk-taker; I tend to play things on the safe side and like having everything planned out.

There are some areas that I do tend to take risks: my job (working on interstates) is pretty risky, running on the roads at night carries a risk as I train for marathons, and all of our traveling around the globe presents some risk.

I’ve never played the game of Risk, but it sounds interesting.

Everything you do life carries with it some risk.  I’m fine with being aware of the risks & understanding ways to be resilient instead of trying to make things risk-proof.  After reading the Limits of Power, I’m a firm believer that we should focus our efforts on being prepared and being prepared to handle a variety of risks, since it’s impossible to predict or prevent every single risk.

Speaking of risks- the risk of taking medications, such as antibiotics for my staph infection, carries a risk of a drug reaction or further complications .  And I found out the hard way that one of the risks is a reaction where I”m allergic to my meds & have a horrible rash from almost head to toe.  So more antibiotics & some steroids, which all carry more risk & I’m hoping there are not horrible side effects for my marathon next week.

I’ve seen this risk quote several time lately & I really  like it: And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.  Anais Nin

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Another day at home, zonked out on the couch, trying to get some healing & rest for my poor body.

Sunday Scribblings #342 Upgrade

Oh how I love upgrades!  Especially technology ones.  I did just get the the new iPhone 5 and I am loving it.    My excuse was that my battery life was horrible on my old 4s, I could go through 50% of the battery before lunchtime.  After upgrading to the 5, I just realize I must be on my phone waaaay to much because I still go through my battery that fast.  Otherwise- I do appreciate that it is a bit lighter & thinner, but I do enjoy the bigger screen.

I did upgrade to the Macbook Pro earlier this year. Yes, I’m officially using 3 different computers on a regular basis & I’m a bit embarrassed about that fact.  I’ll write a separate post late about that technology upgrade, but I’m thrilled to have the Photoshop with my when I travel (and yes, I’m occasionally carrying two laptops in my carry-on).

In case you don’t follow me on Instagram (you should + check out all my fab yoga poses), but we’re thinking about upgrading houses next year.  We’re pretty close to having all the details ironed out and I’m excited to set out on a new adventure with the possibility of moving back into the city.

Husband keeps trying to get me to upgrade my car.  I really do owe my Jeep a dedicated post of it’s own- it’s been with me for 8 years next month & we’ve covered lots of ground together.  Although I do love the new Jeep, I think I’m going to stick with my old clunker since all I do is haul around the pups.  No upgrade for me in the near future.

I totally thought this prompt was about update when I first glanced at it & thought about all the stupid software updates I need to do!

I’m a travel snob and love my upgrades for being an elite traveler.  As much as I travel for work, I get upgraded just about every flight on a full-size plane.  Unfortunately, almost half our travel these days is on the smaller, regional planes that you can’t even stand up straight inside.  These upgrades rock, even if I’m not too thrilled with the new United.  I get the same with hotels for traveling so much, not I care much more about the points for free nights instead of the room upgrades.

We just bought our first Broadway tickets to see Jersey Boys when we’re in New York in a few weeks.  We did NOT do the upgrade- tickets are already insanely expensive!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Leg is healing well & I had a full afternoon/evening to catch-up and prepare for this week.