I have lost my focus concerning my cubicle prison workouts, and I have been too exhausted to workout at home. My commute is 45+ minutes one way. About 8 weeks ago I began walking the stairs just a bit to get ready for the backpacking trip to the East Caney loop trail in Arkansas, and after that trip I started doing a bit more to prep for the Ozark Highland Trail 3 weeks later. Walking the stairs in the building is actually against the property management rules now, at least according to our power trip HR director. I do it anyway, but I can’t be obvious about it which means I can’t do it with the frequency I would like. As of Last week I have started to adjust to the new grueling workload, and I am willing myself to get back on track. I am listening to my morning motivations again, my attitude has been better in the face of unrealistic expectations, and I have begun my cubicle prison workouts again. Nothing worth noting because at my age I am basically just starting out again. I won’t push my body past 40 consecutive pushups yet, it’s like I’ve never worked out before.

Initially this was a minimum security cubicle prison, but it is no longer. The atmosphere was more laid back, encouraging, and upbeat. It was hopeful and people smiled a lot. That is no longer the case, and hasn’t been for several months, hence the complete silence. A new warden was brought in to work alongside the “minimum security mindset” warden with the intention of increasing the net operating income. This place has now turned into a work camp, it’s as bad as the place I left in March. Moral is terrible, we are working way to hard, head count has been reduced, every month we are changing processes in attempts to be more “efficient”, etc. Today is Friday and we are wrapping up close week. I have been at work at 6:45 AM every morning this week, and haven’t shut down my computer until at least 8:30 PM. I was told when I interviewed that if we worked more than 50 hours during close week we would get comp time, but I have only received comp time once. The reasoning behind not getting comp time anymore is because we are too busy and there is too much to do. I have been doing ledger accounting as opposed to sales and use tax (although I still do some of that as well), and I hate it. And I kinda suck at it. I’m not organized (or anal?) enough to be good at it. The insurance here is far more expensive, so even though I got an 8% raise when I jumped ship, I actually bring home roughly $300 less each month. I’m really struggling financially because of it.

The thing that got me typing updates again is I want to document my quest to get my house sell ready. I have been doing it for about a year, but things are ramping up. This brings into focus the fact that this blog has become less about my overall battle against the typical American Suburbanite life and more focused on how I am trying to stay healthy and fit while trapped at a desk – which is a part of the overall struggle, but not the entirety of it. So, … I’m sure at some point in the past I had mentioned minimizing, and I am still on that path. However the “throw/give away something every weekend” has become less and less doable, but I am always on the lookout for things that I can jettison. When I began the process of getting my house sell ready, I really had no plans to sell it, I just figured there is no downside to having the house sell ready. I would be living in a house that is in good repair and less cluttered. I look at things and ask myself “if I were moving, would I pack this up and move it to the new place”? If the answer is no, out it goes.

Now I am planning to sell the house once I get it sell ready. I originally had misgivings about selling because it’s the house my kids have grown up in, it’s the only house they’ve ever lived in. But now I’m thinking there is no reason to stay in it. It’s not like there are all these fond childhood memories here. This is where all of the disfunction happened. Plus my oldest is engaged and will get married sometime next year, my youngest will be a senior in high school next year, and I plan on proposing to my girlfriend after the beginning of the new year. Two weekends ago I cleaned up a good portion of the back yard. I ripped out one of the raised beds and leveled it, and built a zone 1 garden bed with cinder blocks that looks really nice. Last weekend I painted the cabinets in the bathroom, organized some of my tools, and threw away an old work table that was falling apart and had become a catch all. Next weekend (not tomorrow) I will probably paint the bathroom walls. After that I will paint the Kitchen cabinets, then the walls, then I am going to put up a tile backsplash.

Well I am going to sign off for now, I need to get back to the grind so I can leave this hell on time today.

Peace!!

Lubimûr