Tragic Sandwich

This weekend has been really hot, and it’s the kind of heat that comes with no air movement whatsoever. Naturally, this is when we ran out of water.

I believe that the city water supplies are safe. I’m not too worried about the pharmaceuticals in the water–the amounts, while measurable, are very low. Based on what I can tell, this is something that we should know about, not something that the media needed to turn into a panic-fest.

But our water tastes bad. It’s the pipes, not the water itself, so we get the reverse-osmosis water from those machines outside the supermarket, and have a stock of 5-gallon bottles that fit into a dispenser in our kitchen. This system works well until we stop paying attention to how many full bottles remain, and suddenly run out. So we just got back from a trip to the grocery store, where we also bought ice. Sometimes we also run out of ice.

Of course, it could always be worse. It looks like fire season may be starting, even though it’s early.

So if you go to Google and type in “Tragic Sandwich,” guess what comes up first! Of course you didn’t need to know that, because you’re already here. But I think it’s pretty cool, because the old Tragic Sandwich, which was on the Google-owned Blogger, never came up at all. Now I feel famous.

Last weekend was fun, although I still wish I’d been healthier, so that I could have enjoyed it even more. This coming weekend will also be busy, because we’re getting together with friends who moved out of town recently and are back for a visit, and we need to actually do more swimming. The triathlon isn’t coming up immediately, but we’re behind schedule in our training. Lousy colds. But by this weekend we both should be healthy again, and ready to swim…well, as many laps as we possibly can.

I wound up driving to work today so that I could get the smog test done on the way home. And it turns out that the shops I’m most likely to go to are in the neighborhood where we live. So I could have taken the bus and then just driven to the smog test location. On the other hand, I’m more confident that I’ll get there before they close if I drive straight there, instead of timing my departure from work to the bus schedule.

But still.

Does it make me a bad person if I don’t do anything? I mean, I’ll do the usual things. For example, I’ll ride the bus to work. I’ll eat organic yogurt for one of my snacks. But these are things I do every day, not things that I do specifically because it’s Earth Day.

It’s just…I have the feeling that the Farmer’s Market is going to be really crowded. And I have to work during all of the celebrations that I’ve been reading about. Yet I do think that Earth Day is important. I’m conflicted.

Also, is it appropriate or ironic if, after work, I get my car smog-tested?

I’m glad that I bought a really comfortable couch when I moved to New Jersey, and that I brought it with me to California when J and I got married, because I’ve spent a lot of time on it over the past two days. Both days I went to work in the morning, and then came home. Yesterday I spent all afternoon on the couch with a book, and I don’t think today shows signs of being any different.

Sadly, my weekend isn’t going to be a chance to recover. Tomorrow I have a fundraising benefit for my alumni club, and I can’t skip it because I’m the president. That ought to teach me to agree to run for office. After that we’re getting together for my sister-in-law’s birthday dinner. She and my brother are in town, and we’ll be joining them and her dad and stepmom. All of this is good, of course, but I wish I felt healthier so that I could enjoy it more! Plus I’m not entirely sure why people would want to be around me in the condition I’m in. Blech.

By the way, if anyone is looking for the old blogs (Cake Batter and the previous incarnation of Tragic Sandwich), they’re still out there. But rather than reconceive them, I decided to start fresh. But “Tragic Sandwich”? That’s a keeper regardless of blog hosting site.

All kinds of bugs have been floating around my office. I know people who have stayed home sick for days on end, more than once, with flu and stomach yucks. So far I’ve managed to avoid being sick, with the exception of one sinus infection back in late December and early January. But it looks like my run of luck is coming to an end, because I have definitely got a cold.

And of course, the weather is bizarre. I know that weather doesn’t cause illness, but it’s sure hard to feel that weather doesn’t cause illness when the highs are bouncing around the way they are. 70s today, 80 tomorrow, low 60s over the weekend. What the heck is that?

I’m not sure who sold me this virus, but it was a lousy deal.

We’re training for the Redondo Beach Triathlon in June. The race itself is pretty short, with a 1/2-mile swim, 6-mile bike, and 2-mile run. The bike and the run portions should be fairly easy, but I do need to work on my swimming

Yesterday was my first time in the pool since training for the Catalina Triathlon in November. I did 400 meters in my usual swim-100-gasp-for-a-minute style, and feel pretty good about it.

It was hot yesterday, but nothing like today. The temperature was supposed to be 97 at one point, and I can believe it based on how uncomfortable the apartment is. I stayed indoors, but J went for a mountain bike ride and the heat hit him pretty hard. Fortunately the heat wave is supposed to be pretty short-lived; for the rest of the week the highs are supposed to ping-pong between the mid-60s and the upper 70s.