Another Lost Week

 Less than 20 days to Christmas (!!), time is relentless...

1. The last several weeks when I've writing these weekly posts, the holiday of Thanksgiving was front and center. Now, it feels like a small lull between coming down from the emotions of that holiday and before the emotions of the next holiday really hit. Perhaps somewhat ironically, we are better prepared this year for the "business" of Christmas; we had so much time over Thanksgiving weekend, and with a commitment to avoid places with a lot of people, we did a bulk of our shopping online are various stores, some local, some not. In any event, most the shopping has been done, many of the items have already been delivered (daily it seems, much to the chagrin of our dog).

Obviously, this is all because of COVID, which continues to cloud every little thing. We're heading into the week where will start to see what, if any, impact people's choices over Thanksgiving has on the ever increase percentage of positive tests and hospitalizations in our county and state. I want to be hopeful, especially when there feels like there is a light at the end of the tunnel with a vaccine on the horizon, but I just don't know anymore.

2. On the health front, it was a "lost week" as suggested by the title. When I started my efforts to get healthier and chronicle some of it here for purposes of accountability, I had another lost week back in September. However, that lost week I didn't exercise at all. This week, I still hit the treadmill twice. Due to a couple late nights at work, along with a night with a terrible headache, I just wasn't able to follow through as much as I would have liked. That said, I was consistent with drinking more water, generally being more aware of my eating, and I know that commitment remains the same. Life is life sometimes, so there will be weeks like this past week where the time is just not there for everything one wants to do.

3. Completed two more books this week. Yuval Levin's A Time to Build was excellent, and reaffirms my belief that it is so important to read philosophical and political books by those who you generally disagree with; it is clarifying to your own thinking, useful to see how others approach ideas, and a reminder of how much can still be agreed upon. Also just finished A Burning by Megha Majumdar, which was a fascinating story examining cultural and economic inequality in Indiana, a really good read. I'll be starting Obama's new memoir, A Promised Land, which I've been really looking forward to; and as yet I'm not sure what else I might pick up next.

And so on to another week ...