Various updatery
Feb. 26th, 2009 09:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
libertango* Just back from the gym, my fourth time in two weeks. The earlier three times, I'd always used the elliptical trainers. I could usually last 2, 2-and-a-half minutes, and my heart rate would zoom to just shy of 130. This worried me.
This time I tried a recumbent bike, and that felt much better. 10 minute session, heart rate hovering at around 100. Didn't feel as worn out once stopped, even though 4-5 times as long. Given my general decrepitude, I suspect a workout that's longer and less stressing will be more useful.
* Comcast is now completely out of the house. The internet is now Qwest DSL. The VoIP is now Vonage. Local phone calls are a good chunk of the Anglophone world (US, Canada, UK, ANZ) plus Sweden and many others. No cable TV, but that was our status quo ante for 20 years -- I don't think we'll miss it. (Hello, Netflix! Patient, aren'cha?)
* Nothing of note on the job front.
* Obama gave his almost but not quite State of the Union. The thing that struck me, yet again, was how modest Obama can be:
"As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress to send me a recovery plan by Presidents Day... And tonight I am grateful that this Congress delivered and pleased to say that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is now law."
He asked the Congress to do something, and he's grateful they delivered.
Which, really, are the way relations between the President and Congress should be. The President executes the laws, and Congress writes them. If the President thinks there should be a new law, he should ask, and then Congress either agrees with him or not.
How much does it say about the last few years that our government working the way it's supposed to is a breath of fresh air?
But the other remarkable thing continues to be how opponents to Mr. Obama stick sarcastic labels on him -- "The Messiah," "The One," etc. -- while his own words, actions, and demeanor are very humble.
This time I tried a recumbent bike, and that felt much better. 10 minute session, heart rate hovering at around 100. Didn't feel as worn out once stopped, even though 4-5 times as long. Given my general decrepitude, I suspect a workout that's longer and less stressing will be more useful.
* Comcast is now completely out of the house. The internet is now Qwest DSL. The VoIP is now Vonage. Local phone calls are a good chunk of the Anglophone world (US, Canada, UK, ANZ) plus Sweden and many others. No cable TV, but that was our status quo ante for 20 years -- I don't think we'll miss it. (Hello, Netflix! Patient, aren'cha?)
* Nothing of note on the job front.
* Obama gave his almost but not quite State of the Union. The thing that struck me, yet again, was how modest Obama can be:
"As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress to send me a recovery plan by Presidents Day... And tonight I am grateful that this Congress delivered and pleased to say that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is now law."
He asked the Congress to do something, and he's grateful they delivered.
Which, really, are the way relations between the President and Congress should be. The President executes the laws, and Congress writes them. If the President thinks there should be a new law, he should ask, and then Congress either agrees with him or not.
How much does it say about the last few years that our government working the way it's supposed to is a breath of fresh air?
But the other remarkable thing continues to be how opponents to Mr. Obama stick sarcastic labels on him -- "The Messiah," "The One," etc. -- while his own words, actions, and demeanor are very humble.
