Note of the Living Deb

I've heard that some people don't do well in retirement because they don't have the structure of a work day to inspire them to get things done. I always figured I could make my own structure if necessary.

I've already figured out that yes, this will be necessary for me, at least in regards to jogging. During my job (which generally involved working Monday through Thursday) I jogged on Friday and Sunday mornings.

As a retiree, I decided I could jog three times a week. I jogged Saturday (because I had worked the Friday of my last week) and by Tuesday night I still had not jogged again.

So I've decided I assign myself specific days to do my jogging. But which days? I've decided on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. These seem the least likely to conflict with other plans. And today is Wednesday and I have now jogged.

I'm sure I will add additional structures, even though I will also happily blow them off for the slightest good reason, because I can.

First of all, in 2013 I resolved to heal my shoulder and heel. I wasn't 100% certain that I had done so by the end of 2013, but now I am. Yea!

Last year

Last year I had one minor resolution: to donate blood more. I did. Robin and I went in every two months for a while until I started getting rejected for low iron and he had some kind of problem, too, which I no longer remember, and then we both had colds, and then we forgot. I would have thought that after menopause struck, I would have plenty of iron like men, but I guess not. Interesting. Overall, I'll call it a victory, though I could have done a little better.

I also was focused on work but decided that no work resolution was needed because I already had a strategy in place: to take only jobs where they want me. Specifically, I was going to start off working in the tax office half time and stay open to more degree audit jobs. Then after the tax season ended, I'd contact UT about doing temp jobs. And if any of these things stopped being fun at all, I'd leave.

What actually happened is that technical difficulties led to my not working at the tax office after all. At the same time, one of my colleagues suggested that I apply for another UT job. I did so and was hired. So I never applied for temp work. And it was financially okay that no one needed me for degree audit work. My job never got very fun, but I committed to holding out until I was qualified for my pension. So that worked out fine.

Next year

People like to ask me what I will do with myself after I retire. For now, most of the answer is going to be more of the same: more reading, more learning, more creating, more socializing, more exercise, more cooking, more cleaning, more fun.

I also specifically want to start learning Spanish again--which I already have--and to start volunteering to tutor some junior high school student in math. I know with volunteering, things can get out of control where once you say yes to one thing, you start getting pressured to give up all your time to volunteering. So I think I'm going to follow some advice I heard about winning the lottery: don't make any big decisions for at least a year.

I also thought of a very specific resolution-like thing I want to do which is to declutter at least one space per week all year. That sounds like a lot, but it's not because the spaces can be very small, like one drawer.

This week's project is my travel shower supplies. I used to fit everything into a Tupperware. Then rules changed and I needed smaller containers and they were supposed to be in a clear plastic baggy that I could pull out and display like Vanna White. I re-thought a few things, and after this trip, I have re-thought a few things again.

I now have a baggy that contains:
* Dr. Bronner's soap - good for soap, shampoo, and laundry
* vinegar water - this is what I use for hair conditioner these days
* face lotion that also has sunscreen - I can use this on other skin in the summer
* toothpaste

All of that can fit in my old Tupperware (between trips) along with:
* shower scrubby
* razor
* toothbrush
* dental floss

Nice and minimalist.

I got to go to an and-of-summer party yesterday. This is a swimming pool and board game party thrown by some friends who have millions of friends. It's generally quite large and full of people I don't know, though after all these years of party attendance I am actually getting to recognize some of them.

One interesting thing I noticed is the huge difference I feel between work and this party in terms of being in the loop.

At work I feel very out of the loop. For example, I was not automatically "invited" to certain committee meetings and didn't notice until Wednesday that two of them were on Friday, so I took Thursday off instead of Friday. If I had gotten the notifications when the meetings were set up for all the principal attendees, I would have noticed earlier and probably taken off Wednesday instead of Thursday.

For another example, a couple of weeks ago I contacted the head of the advisors in my college and asked if they had meetings of any kind and, if so, whether it would be appropriate for me to attend these. He said yes, they have monthly meetings, and I am welcome. But my predecessor didn't come because she was only part-time. I am also part-time, but feel that advisor meetings should not include all advisors except me.

(Another sad thing is that I'm a little afraid to tell my supervisor that I contacted the head advisor and am doing this. Because I'm a little afraid that she'll tell me that I don't need to go to those. I want to at least see what one is like before I let the cat out of the bag. And this is even though I know my supervisor likes me to keep her up to date on all my goings on.)

In contrast, at the party I got to find out things! I wasn't necessarily told directly, but it still felt good. For example, one friend who likes to help host Halloween parties told the hostess that she would not be doing so this year because her husband will be out of town. So, the hostess might like to throw the party instead. However, the hostess likes to go to the party thrown by the No Kidders (group for people who don't want kids). (Yes, most years she goes to at least two Halloween parties!) And I get to know way ahead of time instead of just wondering at the end of October if anyone I knew would be having a party.

For another example, when I went down to the hot tub to say goodbye to the host, the gal he was talking to recognized me as someone who performs at recitals and requested another recital. And so I got to hear the preliminary plans being formulated (perhaps next April).

The party was a lovely antidote to the alienation of work, even though I see even my favorites of those people much less often than I do my co-workers.

Also, of course it was a nice party where I got to learn about how Starbucks barista jobs are stressful (but why? that is so wrong!), two friends are probably moving into new jobs soon (one is having the job created for her; one has two companies talking to her but the timing is off and she might lose both opportunities), one of my classmates is angry about how much time our teacher wastes, one of my friends is willing to travel only 33% for her job now and yet is currently travelling over 50% and, for example, has the highest status on an airline that flies only to one country (The Philippines), etc.

And I tasted bread pudding made with biscuits, which also seemed to have custard and chocolate--too bad I was so full by the time I tasted that. And I learned that chicken nuggets make a good party food. And there are these "chips" made out of cookies you can buy now. And I got to wear a winter hat in Austin in September because it went with the party theme and it was actually a bit cool outside.

There are so many things that are bad for you long term but in the short term there is no noticeable effect. So, since you can't see an effect, if you're not just going to bury your head in the sand, then you have to figure out who to trust.

And this is (mostly) not one of those things where turning to religion helps. One exception: I once read that the iron in meat cancels out the good effects of the calcium in dairy and vice versa, so the Old Testament rule about not eating meat and milk together helps you with that one. There are probably some more, but probably not a lot.

Mostly I'm inclined to trust science. However, there are [at least] three big problems with trusting science:

1) Long-term effects take a long time to discover. Long-term science is expensive and rare.

2) Correlation is not causation but it is so damned tempting. For example, death by heart attack is hard to measure--you have to wait around and see how people die. But death by heart attack is correlated with high cholesterol, which is super easy to measure. So you have millions of studies about cholesterol, but what do they really tell us about heart attack death risks?

3) Scientists can no longer be trusted. There is pressure to publish, and people only want to publish "good" results, not boring results. (There is less pressure to publish "true" results.) So people will lie about their results. Plus, a lot of research money comes from biased parties. Plus, even if the science is good, science reporters are often unbelievably incompetent or just plain lying bastards.

And those three problems are making me angry. I am willing to make small and even medium changes in my behavior to better my health. But I don't want to change things I like for no reason at all. Or to change, be wrong, and have to change back (I'm talking about you, margarine, which it turns out people knew was bad for you when it was first invented, but I didn't get the memo).

Also, with the internet, it's so easy to find information. I should be able to find out anything I want! But if the information is all suspect, then it's just frustrating.

Here are just a few of the questions I am wondering about now.

* How bad is it to store your food in plastic really? What about "food-grade" plastic? How bad is it to microwave your food in plastic? What about "microwave-safe" plastic? I love bringing plastic containers to restaurants--they are lightweight, they are durable, and they nest. But I could switch to glass, which is inert.

* How bad is sugar for me really? Is it okay if I just keep my weight down and brush and floss well and am not (yet) diabetic? Or am I really just asking for trouble? (Diabetes runs in my family. When we were kids we theorized that it might be case that you only get a certain amount of sugar in your life, and if you eat it too quickly you turn diabetic earlier than if you just spread out your intake. However, it looks like some people--at least two that I know--have been able to turn back their diabetes by reducing their weight. And then they get to eat sugar again.) Does letting my blood sugar spike and plummet (even if I don't notice symptoms) wreak havoc with my body?

* How bad is jogging for you really? Does it depend on if you're doing it wrong? If so, am I doing it wrong? Or if you're built wrong (and am I built wrong?)? Do I really have to buy new shoes every five minutes (or whatever the ridiculous time frame du jour is)? If my feet and knees and hips aren't hurting, does that mean I'm okay? Is it okay if I don't do it too much, like training for marathons all the time? Or is all jogging so high impact that it contributes to a ticking bomb of bodily destruction? Or is that impact just what I need to protect me from the osteoporosis for which I have multiple risk factors?

* Okay, uncle, I should have been wearing sunscreen through my entire childhood--or wait, sunscreens in those days were probably poisonous themselves, so I should have been wearing hats and long sleeves. While swimming. My dad always made sure that wherever we moved, we lived near a pool, but I should have ignored that and stayed inside? The damage was irreversible. Like asbestos and fiberglass and maybe lead. Well, I'll just wear sunscreen now and watch for signs of skin cancer.

Yes, yes, first-world questions. And yes, I am very appreciative that I rarely have to worry about quick-acting poisons.

Before having kids, there were three things my mom decided she wanted from her kids. One was that she didn't want us to be racist. The three of us are quite different from each other, but none of us grew up racist. She was so happy when my brother pointed out the boy whose mom insisted she meet us before he could come over, and he described the only black guy on the playground as the boy with the red shirt.

Another goal is she didn't want us to be the kind of kids who scream for things at the check-out counter at grocery stores. The kind who is so obnoxious that you give them the thing just to shut them up. If we had done this, she would have just left the store immediately without buying anything. I do recall that my sister once said, "Mom, I need some smash." But that was in a basically normal tone of voice and was in the aisle with the squash, not at the check-out counter, and she didn't throw a fit when she didn't get it. So Mom succeeded in this goal as well.

I don't recall the third thing, but I do recall that she succeeded there as well, too.

Of course, she says, there were a number of other things she should have thought about ahead of time that didn't turn out as well!

So I've decided to start thinking about what worries me about getting older and to figure out some strategies for dealing with those things.

Losing abilities

The biggest worry is that I will no longer be able to do some of the things I can do now. I recall mourning the loss of my ability to do flips (ugly ones, but flips nonetheless) in my twenties because I became too chicken. That ability is not even important or even very useful. What will I be like when I lose useful abilities? I don't want to become bitter and no fun if I actually still can do plenty of other things.

One obvious solution is to keep practicing the important things so that I don't lose those skills. Keep learning things and otherwise using my brain. Exercise. Reach for things on high shelves. Get up off the floor. That's great as far as it goes, but things do start breaking down as you age anyway. So another strategy is to keep fixing them (with medicine, physical therapy, surgery). And another strategy is to use helpful aids, even if they make me look old (cane, walker, wheelchair--and I'm already wearing glasses). Also, learn sign language.

Another idea is to look at what's most likely to break down and do the things I most want to do that require those abilities sooner rather than later. Are there places I want to hike? Books I want to read? Things I want to make? I think I'm pretty good at keeping up with things like this, actually.

But what if I become so decrepit I can't even drive? People who can't drive probably don't want to deal with buses either and might have trouble riding bikes. How do you get places? There may be some kind of bus for handicapped people. And I guess taxicabs. So you need money. I also read about someone who thinks New York City is perfect for old people because you can have anything delivered there. That's a rather pricy solution as well.

But what if I become too stupid and gullible to deal with my own finances? Yikes. I sure don't want anyone else dealing with them. Fortunately these days it's easier to automate things.

Looking old

If I live long enough, there will come the day when I look like just another old person instead of like myself. Yes, yes sunscreen. I'm not dying my hair, though (smelly, messy, expensive, possible stings). (Well, maybe I'll henna it once--red is so pretty.)

I may get into hats and/or scarves.

Getting boring

I don't want to be one of those people who just talks about my never-ending medical problems (and I am totally a person who talks about my medical problems--they are a part of me!). Or I knew one couple that talked only about restaurants and routes to places.

I think if I can just keep my mouth shut about boring things (and things I've already said to the people I'm talking with), I will always be trying to do other things as well that are of some interest to some people.

Running out of friends

There came a point in my Grandma Miller's life when she had outlived all her friends. Yes, she could make more friends, but there is a big difference between new friends and friends of sixty-plus years.

This is a real danger to me, too. Currently, I mostly hang around people my age, people ten years older, and people ten years younger. Well, I will be auditing classes and tutoring kids, so maybe all is not lost.

Running out of money

This could certainly happen. But the house is paid off. I will have a state pension big enough to cover all my basic expenses plus some extras--that's for life, but it might not keep up with inflation or might even be reduced at some point. (Similarly, Social Security.) I have a Roth IRA made of index funds--even though I've been maxing it out since it was invented, that turns out not to add up to much, but since I won't need it until my needs increase, it can grow (and plummet) as a safety net. I have a few I-bonds, dividend growth stocks, and speculative stocks as well.

I sometimes think my city might become too horrible (corrupt, hot, expensive) for me to want to live here anymore (or all my friends will get jobs with Google and move to California), but most other places I would like would cost more.

And I'm too poor to have long-term-care insurance. I may also have to figure out how marriage and joint financial accounts affect finances when one person gets sick enough to need all the money or their business goes down the tubes or something.

But mostly, I'm not too worried about this area. Admittedly because there's nothing more I'm willing to do in this area (besides learn new frugality skills).

Fixing up the house

I should maybe think about making my house more accessible while it's still fairly easy. Certainly keep working on getting rid of the clutter! (I've heard that you can get tax breaks for doing things like adding grab bars to your bathtub area--but not until you already need them, by which time you probably can't do it yourself anymore. Doh!)

I met the challenge (50K steps per week for 6 weeks). I also met most of my daily challenges (10K steps per work day, 5K steps per weekend day). My plan worked!

So now I am switching my focus to the year-long "Middle Kingdom March to War" for which the goal is to travel some multiple of 400 miles outside of your daily activities by walking, running, biking (divided by four), and swimming. Each 400 miles represents the journey of one soldier to the battleground.

I'm noticing interesting differences between these two challenges. For example, because the travel has to be beyond your daily goals, then catching one of the less convenient buses home (which requires an extra mile of walking at the end) doesn't help like it does with the pedometer challenge. Similarly, if I don't bring my lunch and walk to lunch, that walking doesn't count the way walking at lunchtime counts if I brought my lunch. Jogging to the bus stop doesn't count if I'm afraid I'll miss my bus. But if not, especially if I'm sleepy and would rather be walking, then it does. (Well, that's my interpretation.)

Also, doing my pilates video or the 7-minute workout don't count the way they did for my other challenge where I was allowed to convert those to step equivalents.

So, I've been doing a little extra walking in the evening, even if I didn't need it for my step count, just to have some more to count toward the Marching challenge. And as of last night, I've decided to bring weights and work on my arms during those night walks. At first they will be tiny. Eventually I will graduate up to small. We wouldn't want to go overboard now.

I've calculated that for the Marching challenge, I need to travel an average of 1.1 miles per day per soldier. Or, if I can do double on work days, 1.4 miles per work day and 0.7 miles per weekend day. I've decided that although providing a single soldier would not be automatic, it would be an easy goal. Providing two would take more work, but is also certainly within reason. Providing three may be reasonable if I get more into jogging after I retire next year.

So I'm planning to continue doing both challenges. I will try for a minimum of 5K or 10K total steps each day (depending whether it's a work day). But I will also try for an average of at least 1.4 or 2.8 extra miles each day (also depending). Currently I am on track to supply 1.35 soldiers after the year is up. Our group as a whole has already supplied its first soldier, so we now officially have an army. A tiny, pathetic army. But that soldier will inspire others to join.

But, I will be taking a Spanish class next fall (details coming), and I think that might end up taking a crazy huge amount of time. Spanish will be prioritized over exercise, so we'll see what happens.

It's another week of victory. By which I mean I logged over 10K steps each work day and over 5K steps each weekend day.

I continued pacing at the bus stop and walking during lunch like before the challenge. I did my pilates workout again and walked around the block a few times like last week. And I also did a twelve-minute workout* and an evening of ballroom dancing.

* The link goes to a 7-minute workout. I am not efficient at looking up the next exercise and remembering how to do it and getting to the place where I can do it so it took me 12 minutes. Also, I didn't do that exact workout, but a similar one I made up to have more upper-body stuff.

Last week it felt like a mild challenge; this week, an annoyance. One should not wait until bedtime to finish up, ideally.

My total steps (and step equivalents) are now 129,265. Subtracting 58,571 from last week means this week's total was 70,694. That extra 20K was almost entirely from the dancing.

It turns out that the official work challenge is really completing 300,000 steps in six weeks. I still prefer my version of meeting daily goals. Unless I'm really aching or something from overachieving the day before, I should be getting up out of my chair several times a day to do something more active.

One of my plans for things to do when I retire is to finally learn Spanish. I would do all the things I used to do when taking classes:
* go to class
* do the readings
* do the homework
* study for the tests
* be well-rested for the tests
* ask the instructor questions/visit during office hours (didn't really learn that until the very end)

Plus I would do what my old roommate Cissy recommended:
* flashcards for vocabulary learning (and I once found a flashcard ap that looked really good)

And what my old friend Mattias did:
* try to do a lot of my self-talking in Spanish

And what my friend James did:
* try to get a study partner

And my old friend Jack:
* figure out who the smartest and best students are and sit near them and try to do any group projects with them

Plus I would do those things I've been hearing about from by academic advisor co-workers:
* start a study group
* talk to an advisor and see what is recommended
* check out any learning center resources

And what I've heard from other sources about language learning:
* study every day, even if it's just a few minutes--cramming doesn't work
* talk to Spanish speakers, even though you don't sound as good as a two-year-old (maybe--scary--or maybe just try conversation meet-ups and/or an informal class on conversational Spanish, plus at restaurants)

And my own additional ideas:
* pick up children's books from the library
* look at the same topics in multiple texts, not just our required textbook
* become a tutor
* watch familiar movies with the sound and/or subtitles in Spanish

I suck at languages. So even though I had three years of Spanish in high school and have tried to learn it a few times since then, I thought I'd take Austin Community College's placement test cold. And make sure not to answer any of the questions unless I was sure of the answer so I wouldn't look more advanced than I really am. I'm afraid I'll get into a class where there will be a lot of prerequisite knowledge I don't have, and I have enough trouble keeping up as it is. I'd rather start in a class where I already know some of the stuff and then I can learn every single other thing that is taught. And then by the end of the classes I will actually know Spanish--be able to talk to people, read my favorite local Spanish weekly newspaper, and maybe even read Spanish books in the original (though there's nothing in particular I'm looking forward to).

But then I saw a review of duolinguo, which teaches you things bit by bit and you keep score like in a video game that's actually fun. And because the lessons are short and repetitive, you actually learn things and don't get overwhelmed and don't forget last week's stuff while you're learning this week's stuff.

So now I'm thinking maybe I'll learn and re-learn as much stuff as I can on my own and then take the placement test, hoping I'll need at least one more class because group learning is better.

Opinions?

Quote of the Day - "Of course I can't go interview people myself because I have a medical condition where I don't want to." - Stephen Colbert

Last weekend we went out of town to help one of Robin's friends celebrate his 50th birthday. One of the activities was a cross between whiffle ball and bumper cars. You steer with one hand while holding a spatula-like scoop with the other hand, and there are eight of you against eight of them with the goal of flinging a plastic ball at something resembling a basketball backboard.

The first game I'm not sure I touched the ball at all, but I did get better at controlling my vehicle and enjoyed driving it all over the court like a maniac. I was also happy to find out that when I totally slammed into something or vice versa, it was fun and not painful. One day I will be too old or brittle for that, but not yet.

The second game I did actually get a hold of the ball several times and I completed two passes. Fun times!

There weren't enough cars for everyone, so I sat out every other game, and during one of these times I noticed that people tended to err in the direction of the ball going over the target board rather than under.

The third time I got an opportunity to make a shot myself and indeed I did not make that common mistake--instead it went under the board. Dang.

I often got into the action and sometimes roamed around the other end hoping the ball would come flying my way (like I always used to do in soccer class so my shins wouldn't get kicked all the time).

I'm pretty sure I was one of the worst people there, but I still had fun.

Then we played laser tag. I'd never done this and I never did figure out all the rules. For the first third of the game, I enjoyed hiding and getting people as they ran through. At first I noticed I got shot in the back twice (from invisible people above), so I had to move. Then sometimes people would surprise me and sometimes I would surprise them. But then a huge crowd of the other team came through and it was no fun anymore so I moved to another area.

I ended up joining a large gang of my own team with one guy calling out locations of enemies such as "on the bridge!" This was kind of fun but I was definitely doing less. Then we dispersed again and for the last third of the game I was mostly running around and occasionally getting shot.

When the game ended, they announced the total score of the two teams, something like 19,000 for my team to 20,000; not embarrassing. When we got out, we got score cards. I was ranked 19 out of 19 (or was it 21 out of 21?). No worries, it was fun making a victory cheer about how I won last place. Then I noticed that my score was 350, and the next lowest score was well over 1000. So basically, I single-handedly lost the game for my team. Oops! That was a little embarrassing. But as with the last game, no one was serious, it was all just good fun.

Friday night we had a surprise visitor at craft night from someone who had moved several states away. She had just learned to make trees of life which are wire pendants consisting of a thick wire circle enclosing a gnarly tree shape made of thinner wire. She got lots of practice and got to where she could make one in only 20 minutes.

She brought a huge pile of them, each in a little linen bag she had stamped, and gave them to us. Then she told us we could trade the one we got if we liked another one better. I got one with "leaves" made of snowflake obsidian (a white and black stone, as you might have guessed). I didn't actually like any of the other ones better, so yea!

Then the real gift is she taught us how to make some ourselves. She had forgotten the stones to use for the leaves (they were packed, but not in the same place as all the other supplies), but she did have stones to use for full moons. Fun times.

Mine turned out to be the worst one. Sparce, boring, and the outer circle was no longer circular. (I really should re-learn a way to get pictures in this blog, but oh well. If I hold off on writing until I do that, it never works out.) But I had fun. And it still actually worked, even though I cut my tree wires too short.

And another friend took some notes and let me have them, then I added some more and let her have them. So it's quite possible that I will give myself more chances in the future if I think of just the right stones and wire colors. I'm so glad I decided not to sit out but instead to hog some of the teaching attention for myself.

(Plus I still got to finish the scarf I had brought for my craft project. I didn't finish it in time for local winter, but as I told R, "I'll probably finish this in time for August," the time when you least want a scarf. And indeed I did.)

In conclusion, being the worst at something doesn't necessarily mean you suck, and even if you do, that doesn't necessarily matter. I think a lot of times grown-ups don't want to do things that are new and that they are uncomfortable with and which they are sure will make them look like idiots. But that's sad.

Article of the Day - Huffington Post's 7 Reasons Dressing Your Age Is Overrated with pictures of a parent and grown child swapping clothes (or wearing different sizes of the same clothes so they fit). Of course the young folks all look good in the older folks' clothes, but the opposite is mostly true, too.

The lesson is supposed to be to wear whatever you like or at least that there may be a lot more things that are flattering for you than you realize.

But mostly it's fun to look at the pictures. The people also try to copy the stance of the other person in the "before" picture, which is quite fun.

It wasn't quite as fun to imagine switching clothes with my mom, mostly because I don't know what poses we would strike and then try to copy from each other.

One thing about a new job is figuring out the new social codes. Normal people probably do this automatically. Even though I work for the same employer, so I already know about the casual dress code, transit craziness, awesome libraries, etc., a few things that have surprised me about my new group:

* Don't even leave for local team meetings until the start time. But show up a little early for meetings involving outsiders.

* Say hello to office mates the first time you see them each day, but ignore them the rest of the time. Probably I'm supposed to say good-bye when I'm leaving for the day, too.

* When you're leaving the suite and no one else is there, lock the door to the suite. I don't know if this is true even if you're going to be gone only a few minutes, but I suspect so. Corollary: never leave the suite without keys in hand. (No, I did not have to learn this the hard way. Woot!)

* There is no bonding around food. One person actually dislikes when there is food at meetings. Another person said she has never seen the first person eat anything except at their occasional meetings a the coffee shop. No one brings food to share, and there is no table in the break rooms (one per suite), so we never happen to eat lunch together. Not surprisingly, my co-workers are all thin; in all the other offices I've worked at, there has been loads of bonding over food and most of my co-workers were not thin. So pi day this Friday will be like every other day. Oh, right, I don't work on Fridays anyway, so I won't be missing anything.

* There is no bonding around bathrooms, water fountains, or any other gathering place (as far as I can tell). There are two sets of bathrooms, with water fountains nearby, on our floor and I never see anyone at the one I use. We don't even bond going to and from meetings because some of us take the elevator and some take the stairs. Actually, the one person I noticed takes the elevator and I take the stairs.

* Meetings should end ASAP, which is generally good except that I have to be more assertive than I'm used to when bringing up my own issues. I can't wait for a lull because a lull means it's time to end the meeting.