I am getting a little frustrated with myself

I came home today, right after work (for a change), with the best of intentions. I was going to conquer the clutter and mess by which my apartment is currently under siege. If anyone were to judge by my desk at work, they would think me a neat freak--I always make sure everything is put away each day and than only papers being used at the moment are on top. But at home, well, I'm pretty much a hoarder, and it's a small apartment with lots of books--more than in my library at work--and I've never been particularly neat. The one complaint my parents ever had about me was that I was reluctant to clean my room. And when you live alone, it's easy to come home and just plop stuff down on the couch or dining room table. But it's reached a point where I need to purge the messiness, as I do on occasion. So that was my goal today--to at least get part of the stuff in some semblance of order and get rid of what wasn't important.

But like many middle-aged people (I never thought I'd describe myself that way, but it is true), I have some back problems. I did a lot of bending, lifting, twisting, etc., this weekend. I guess I overdid it. One of the problems with having a truly sit-down job is that I don't walk enough (I average about 5,000 steps or just over a day, rather than the 10,000 you're supposed to walk), and my core and back are weak as a result. Then you add a generally sedentary lifestyle and bursts of activity on the weekends, and it's not pleasant. I came in today, took some Tylenol Arthritis medicine, slathered the Kroger equivalent to Ben Gay (which is very strong) on my back, and stretched out for a half-hour to see if I could get some of the tension out, doing various stretches I'd learned in physical therapy. That seemed to help, but as soon as I got up and gravity hit, it hurt again. Even sitting hurts at the moment. So I went back to the bedroom, slept for a little while, and got up just now to take my evening meds and prepare for actual bedtime. I hate to do it, but I think I'm going to have to take a mild muscle relaxant my doctor prescribed for flare-ups. I've never missed work due to my back or neck, but I do occasionally have these periods of pain.

My plan is to get up VERY early--4:30 or 5 am, do some walking, if I can tolerate it (to help strengthen the back), do some of the stuff I planned to do tonight, and then go into work early, as I have an appointment later in the day. I'm going to try to get up and walk about some more at work; I'm at my highest weight ever and that scares me a bit. I'm going to try to satisfy my sweet tooth with yoghurt or fruit for awhile, which usually works, as I've been eating too many sweets (I was about to say I'd done well today, but then I remembered a small serving of ice cream I had this afternoon).

Oh, well, here's to doing better tomorrow. At least we did play the game (and I think we all enjoyed it) yesterday, and we're back in the swing of things. I did stay late last night trying to update my desktop (which is at YKWIA's, on loan) to the Anniversary Update of Windows 10, but it got almost to the end, and then reversed the installation back to the previous version. I'm not sure why--I'll have to do a little research. But it was a bit annoying; the laptop took a long time, but it did fine. Oh, well. Hope you have a good night.

So the night before last

I wasn't online because it was time to do the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, and my laptop, for whatever reason, is always really slow at updating. When I took it from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, for example, it took a grand total of about 24 hours to install the new operating system. Regular updates aren't a problem, but this was a large file and changed some features. So at first it seemed to download way too quickly, and then got stuck on preparing for installation, and in fact, it had failed. I'm not sure what I did to get it going again, but this time it downloaded (slowly, and this was on an Ethernet connexion and not Wi-Fi). It was doing the preparing to install thing again, so by that time it was late and I went to bed for awhile. When I got up and came back to it, I started the installation, then went back to bed. A couple of hours later it was at 50% installation. By morning though, I just had to restart, and it was on its way. Since then I've tweaked the tiles on the start menu and gotten rid of what I don't use, while reordering what I do. I also updated Chrome, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and my anti-virus software (dropping back to the free version of the software; I just couldn't pay $70 or so for the two computers this year. I have not updated the desktop, which is over at YKWIA's, but I will try to do that this weekend, if I can find a time when he's not on it or needing it. It shouldn't take nearly as long as the laptop; maybe an hour or two.

I'm excited about playing the game this weekend, too. I've missed it--we haven't played since late April, and we usually play weekly. We've been playing this ongoing campaign since July 1991, so we've recently reached the 25-year mark. Yay!

Yesterday I got caught up in 'branding' my social media sites for the job search, and updating publications on LinkedIn. I'm up to 38, with one more recently submitted, and while most of those are book reviews, I've done a column, a book chapter, several stints as librarian selector for Doody's Core Titles in the Health Sciences, in two different subjects, and two different sections of a book meant for collection development as well. I also have a finding aid from before I became a librarian, as part of an internship in state publications, under my former name. So it is varied. I would like to frame a research study or write an entire book at some point. I may write an article about shuttering our library, as there isn't much on the subject out there in the literature.

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. I left her messages on her voicemail, e-mail, and Facebook, but I'm not sure she got them. I hope she had a good day.

This morning I saw my podiatrist and ordered some shoes, this time ones that will be good for exercising and walking in, rather than work shoes. Tonight I helped YKWIA with a few small things, did a short grocery run for both of us, and got home about 9 pm, right before dark. I've eaten some bread and cheese and now I think I'm going to take it easy, cool off (I've been warm all day), and maybe read and listen to some music. I got my work done today, but for whatever reason wasn't feeling particularly motivated--I just soldiered on anyway. Tomorrow I must pay some bills, including my rent, take YKWIA for an appointment in the afternoon, and get my allergy shots. I'm up to the green phial; I'm hoping to build up as quickly as I can. I was near the top of the build at one point and then life got in the way--I had to fall back down to silver and start almost over again. Even missing one week is an issue at this point. At my last visit, my allergist actually was telling me about new single-allergen sublingual immunotherapy, which I guess is an indication that I should make the time to come in more often. They're open late Wednesdays, at least. I'm going to stop by tomorrow just because I'll be in the area--down the street about a block--but normally I'm shooting for mid-week. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work. :)

Okay, I think I'm going to go relax before going to bed. I may turn in early--I didn't get much sleep on the night of the update, and I didn't sleep well last night, either. And two nights ago I had a horrible dream where there was a transgender uprising in response to oppression and Muslims were being rounded up like cattle. I think I'd read too much about Donald Trump that day. I count any dreams of oppression and violence as a nightmare, don't you? Hopefully tonight will be more pleasant in the dream department.