Balance

It's been great doing some consulting lately. I've taken a few steps outside of my usual corporate box and been the lone-thinker. It's also been wonderful to help my friend take charge a bit more.

A friend of mine is a Director of Marketing for a large theater. His web developer upped and quit without notice, having gotten a full-time gig out-of-state. So, I got the "help!" phone call. It's been fun digging in and not only taking on an existing web project, but help enable my friend (and his team) to get to the point where they can start making the updates themselves. He's also starting his own marketing consulting business, so I've had the bandwidth to help out with recommendations there, as well. I got a little too excited talking about SEO than any human probably should be.

It's fun to take on new little projects once and a while and do something outside of the norm. It's been just the little break I needed.

I'm readying myself to get back out on the market again, soon, after a little traveling I have planned next week. I'm headed up to the Adirondaks (near Lake George) for a few days, expecting to return fully refreshed.

Uptown Girl

I'm so glad this week is over. I could use a day to myself. It was lots of hard work, but there was some fun in there, too.

The launch went well. There are always little follow-up things and it'll be a bit before the dust settles, but with it all being public now, I have more resources to help. It's bound to be an interesting ride for a while, though.

This weekend, I plan on leaving all thoughts of work behind. Sunday to Monday was pretty much one big 24-hour day with a couple hours of sleep wedged in there. I left late Sunday and was back in at 5am Monday, then chugged along with the week. Wednesday night I slept nearly 12 hours-- what a relief! I don't really feel like I've caught up fully yet, though. That's for the next couple of days.

Tuesday night, despite the exhaustion, I went to the Vince Guaraldi tribute at the 92nd St Y. It was so much fun! I met my friend Rick for dinner at a great little Italian spot near the theatre. I'm rarely on the upper east side, outside of doctor appointments, so it's fun to explore new neighborhoods. Amazingly, not only did they have food I could eat, but delicious food I could eat-- and more than one choice! Especially for an Italian place, it's a rarity. I did have one small warm-from-the-oven biscotti with my bowl of perfectly-ripe fruit and it was heaven, but I figured id I ate one, it wouldn't be so tempting to have something worse later. A little perfect bite of vented steam. Maybe some day I can try the lemon spaghetti, which is supposed to be absolute perfection. I'm not quite there yet.

The concert was fantastic. The evening was part of their Jazz in July festival, directed by Bill Charlap. I didn't know his music before that night, but I'm definitely a fan. He captured Guaraldi's style perfectly, right down to the accents and his solos were great.

Joe Locke was on vibes-- wow. Wow. He's a true master of his instrument. He and Charlap did "Skating" in perfect sync. That's not an easy task. It was like they fused together as one instrument several times that night. I'd seen Locke play before, but he seemed especially in his element. Since we were up in the balcony, it was interesting to watch him play from above. I was mesmerized much of the time.

Each of the musicians that night was remarkable. The percussionist did this amazing solo that gave me absolute chills (not my first of the night). I need to look up his name again and post it later. Brilliant. And to hear Carol Woods sing "Woodstock" was a lot of fun. If you saw, "Across the Universe", she was the gospel singer singing "Let it Be" (she also did Smokey Joe's on Broadway).

Here's a bit of Charlap playing at the Village Vanguard:


Let it Be (warning- if you haven't seen the film, there's a spoiler here):


Joe Locke, doing his thang (I really wish I could have captured "Skating"-- I've been thinking about it all week!):


Here's the song "Skating" anyway, so you can understand the intricacy. Who doesn't like watching Snoopy?

Countdown

I'm all prepped for my single-day weekend tomorrow. I plan on doing as little as humanly possible, but will probably squeeze in a bit of productivity and, at the very least, a good walk. Sunday, work-wise, we pick up where we left off and Monday ends phase 1 of the current project (woo hoo!!). I can't wait for the exhale! If all goes as planned, that exhale happens in just a few short days.

Nothing new on the health front. I'm still being incredibly cautious about everything put in my body. I haven't gotten the results for last weeks tests yet, which will determine just how careful I have to be. Basically, we need to know if it's just the liver and the definitive root cause. I haven't gotten word of a cancellation for my GI doc, so I'm assuming I likely won't get there until the beginning of August, which is when I'm scheduled. I've been on the cancellation list for weeks. The stomach is the least of my worries at the moment, though.

Can we just stop with the body issues now? I think I've reached my quota of physical problems, especially for things that happened ages ago.

The easy part of this is that I've basically returned to how I was eating when I was still in California. I'd loosened the reins a bit since getting out here, since my friends are all great foodies, but it's a way of eating I'm at least used to. And I already wasn't much of a drinker, so cutting out alcohol completely isn't that great a challenge. I'd miss the occasional glass of red wine with dinner, but the dinners for which that'd be most applicable aren't in the picture anyway. One hitch is fine dining here. I feel like in California there was always at least one or two options everywhere I went since it's a little more health-focused out there. It was more the exception than the rule that I couldn't eat somewhere. It's a challenge here, but not impossible with certain modifications. I just feel more high maintenance here. Ah, well, my health comes first.

Who knows? The nutritionist may unlock even more. I'll be seeing one after my next doctor appointment, based on certain test results. I'm predicting that I'll be a rarity, showing up to my appointment, full food diary in-hand. I've kept one off and on for years, so the nutritionist can already see how I eat, complete with nutritional breakdown, etc. The only fault I would find in my current habits is that I slightly under eat, which is a problem. I'm having trouble eating as much as I should, but I think I just need a bit of time on that one. It's tough going back to old habits with a new lifestyle and daily routine. I just don't live like I did in California (having several large supermarkets and health food stores available in a short radius, for one). One positive change to my current daily life, however, is that not only am I a block from the gym here at home, it's also the same building as I now work.

Okay, time to curl up with my Kindle and get some well-deserved sleep!!