Can it be? I'm actually blogging? After more than a year?

Well here I am sitting in Wayward Coffeehouse, watching the snow continue to fall on a Sunday morning after receiving more snow than we've had in all my ten years in Seattle. It's probably somewhere around 6-8 inches, which isn't a lot compared to winters back east, or in the midwest or Colorado, but it is insane for Seattle to have this much snow. They don't have the kind of snow-removal equipment necessary to get us dug out. Usually when we get a little snow it melts in a day or two. But we had a couple of inches on Wednesday night, and the roads were a sheet of ice for three days while the temperatures were in the teens to mid-20s. Then this on top of that. I'm watching the cars go by on Greenwood Ave., which is a major arterial, and it's completely snowpacked. Most of the cars have chains.

So I found my old snow boots and took a walk over here. As I walked down my driveway, a woman was walking past, listening to something on headphones. We exchanged good mornings, and she said she was listening to something about the guy who ripped off all those millionaires. (She was talking about Madoff.) And she said, "You know, they were all these millionaires who lost all their money. Must be the Lord telling them to care about something besides money." And I said "Whatever," and walked off into the street (because it was snowpacked for easier walking), thinking about the charities and organizations who lost money because of what Madoff did. Then the woman called to me from the sidewalk, where she was trudging along, "Is it easier walking out there?" I replied, "I'm surprised the Lord didn't show you the way."

I worked from home on Thursday and Friday last week. POP was supposed to have our holiday party on Friday night, but it was canceled, so I invited a few folks from work over instead, and none of them made it, because the roads were just too treacherous.

Yesterday I watched WALL-E and A Little Romance. I never got around to seeing WALL-E in the theatres. I enjoyed it a lot. I saw A Little Romance on TV years ago, and loved it, but forgot most of what happens. It's an utterly charming movie, maybe one of my all-time favorite romantic movies.

I thought I might go to a movie today; the Oak Tree theatre is within walking distance. So I checked out what's playing there. Six movies, average Metacritic score: 45. I think I'll pass.

So I'll check out what's available on Netflix instant-view. And otherwise have a peaceful day at home. Laundry. Cleaning. Pretty much like every other Sunday.

Keeping a commitment to go to the gym is hard when you are sick. I spent the week recovering from a bad cold, having root canal, and running all around for various things that kept me too busy to make it to the gym every day. I did go twice, which isn't that bad, and I am planning to get there today. But the next two weeks I'm going to be traveling for work, so that's going to cut down on my gym attendance.

I'm going to Las Vegas next week for a mangement seminar. I get back from that on Friday afternoon. Then the following Sunday, I leave for Chicago for a three-day training on Silverlight.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to make plans to remodel the downstairs of my house. I've had a number of build and design folks come over, and I'm waiting to get some estimates so I can make a decision on how to move forward. It's exciting, but it adds to the stress of my life.

I am looking forward to getting away for these training opportunities. Not just for what I will learn, but because I hope they will reinvigorate me. I'm not sure why, but I feel like I need some reinvigoration.

Summer came and went in Seattle without any warning. I didn't do anything eventful, important, or especially fun all summer. An afternoon drive up to LaConner with my friend Joy one Saturday and Labor Day weekend in Vancouver were the extent of my travels out of the city. My writing group was on hiatus, and although toward the end of the summer I wrote one story and started a second, I didn't do any writing pretty much all summer long.

I had somewhat of a revelation recently, and out of this is coming a new commitment. I've used my high level of job satisfaction in the past year as an excuse not to look for ways to nurture myself outside work. But I really don't think this is all that healthy. My job continues to provide rewards, although some recent changes are diminishing those. Nevertheless, there are things I should be doing--community service, volunteer work, or something--that I'm not. Even writing, if I could get truly serious about it and commit to it every day, would be better than just relying on my job to fulfill me and make a difference. And being more consistent with exercise (for which there shouldn't even be an option) is crucial. I've been working long days, though, and by the time I get out of work, I'm always too hungry or too tired to feel like exercising.

These things need to change. I have yet to figure out what changes to make (I was sick this week, and still getting over it, so I haven't taken any action yet), but I need to do something.

I should start with something small. Going to the gym is probably most critical, so maybe I should make a firm and absolute commitment to 45 minutes of aerobics 4 times a week.

Look at that "maybe." Okay, let's try again:

Minimum of four times a week, I'm going to do 45 minutes of aerobic exercise, starting next week.

You heard it here first.