knock on that

I started working out again. I knew I was out of shape, but man, my butt is really getting kicked. In a good way. Well, mostly good. Tonight I'm having trouble getting in and out of my chair because my quad muscles are howling in pain. But other than that, good.

Tonight when I got home from the Monkey Bar, I made yam fries for the first time in about a year. They turned out perfectly -- ridiculously perfectly. I also made a batch of brown rice / kidney bean / green pea pilaf. I had a little bowlful to go with the yam fries, and with plenty left over for a couple of lunches this week.

I have gotten into the technique of cooking rice (or other grains) like pasta, by boiling them in a full pot of water and then draining them when they're nicely al dente. The brown rice I made took just under 20 minutes to cook, instead of 30-40 using the usual method. It also makes me feel somewhat better about not rinsing my rice, which I have never liked doing. (It might not work for making short-grain sushi rice, though, because all that water would wash away the stickiness that keeps it together.)

On an unrelated note, did I mention that I lost my pink-and-brown hat? The one that I made, that matches my scarf? If you see it, let me know. I really miss that hat.

Other things I haven't mentioned: My car has been in the shop since Friday, having been totally disabled by an electrical fire that killed the alternator and blew a fuse. It's not clear yet how much the repairs will cost, but it won't be pretty. Meanwhile, I keep having ridiculous tech problems at work and have been unable to do about half of what I wanted to get done for want of a computer or functioning network connection. And I have this lingering cough. A fortune cookie told me a few weeks ago that my luck has been completely changed; and I always thought I had really good luck so this makes me nervous.

But in spite of the worrisome fortune cookie, I'm still looking on the bright side. The car thing could have been much worse, because at least all it did was quit running, instead of, say, bursting into flame and blowing up in a fiery ball. And at work, this isn't a bad week to be hobbled by tech issues, and at least I had some things to do that didn't involve computers at all. And the cough is annoying, but it's just a cough.

And tomorrow it's supposed to get above 50 degrees! (That's 10 degrees Celsius, for those of you on the metric scale.) It's always easier to stay upbeat when the weather is in your favor.