Our new GPS is a little too ambitious for my taste. We took her out on her first ride yesterday for a trip to Jim's Aunt Josie in Pennsylvania. "American Female" (we haven't named her yet) mapped the trip down and back pretty well for us but I have to admit I'm not ready to give up Google maps for travel advice. What I noticed especially was the very optimistic travel timeline she offered for this 180 mile trip. Her expected arrival at our destination predicted a very quick trip and apparently supposed we'd have the pedal to the medal for the full 180 miles not slowing down one bit for slower traffic, stop signs or police cars. It was kind of nice to see that ETA be a nice reasonable 3 hours on the nose.
Almost immediately, she began to add time to the trip, such as when we stopped at the base of the driveway to make the turn into the road. Plus 5 minutes. Since Colesville Road isn't flat as Kansas, plus another 5 minutes on the first ascent. And so on. Never mind getting gas, food or stuck behind someone going 60 in a 55.
Even as we got really close to Aunt Josie's house, American Female kept adding a minute here and a minute there. How does the math work that the closer you get, the further away the ETA becomes? It was like a never ending trip--we were never going to actually reach the ETA as it kept adding time to itself. We'd been watching too much Twilight Zone over the New Year's marathon. I was honestly wondering if we'd ever actually get there even though we drove pretty steadily and I was fairly certain Josie's house wasn't inching its way away from us. It was too weird watching the GPS instead of the road.
That ever-advancing goal or destination is another trick my doctor plays on me. Last fall, he decided he wasn't happy with the blood pressure reading taken at 3 PM the first Friday of school. I was joyous that it was low enough to keep me out of the hospital. He decided it was time to take further measures "for my benefit". Understand this was not a horrible reading--around 140/88. Not good but not all THAT bad.
Time for Pat to get some enforced exercise. Walk 3-4 times a week for 30 minutes. Yeah yeah yeah. So I did. Not happily. Not willingly. Not surprisingly, it made no real difference in my blood pressure, which under more normal circumstances is around 132/82 or so. I pretty much stopped when the weather turned and as I realized these walks that were supposed to be relaxing were mostly just pissing me off. Another chore on the list put there by someone else taking up time I should be doing something else. How good could that be for my blood pressure and overall health?
Back to this doctor this week. Blood pressure about 132/82 after almost 10 days of vacation. Go figure. But, guess what? Not good enough. He's moves the target again, just like American Female. Further away. If walks aren't working for me, I should find exercise that is relaxing and focuses on ME. I'm already laughing on the inside as he is carefully encouraging me to make a suggestion that fits this definition. Relaxing exercise just doesn't happen for me.
So he suggests YOGA. Now I can barely contain my guffaws. Me and YOGA! Relaxing exercise to get to an EBP (estimated blood pressure) that he's just going to keep moving out of my reach. I have accepted borderline hypertension. I consider it a legacy from Mom that I can almost live with and manage. Way too ambitious. Yes, I am fatalistic about my blood pressure given my genetics. YOGA. Honestly. Don't put that picture in your head because it won't go away, trust me.
But as I reflect on 2008 and look ahead to 2009 it reminds me of my family history research. Every time I find new stuff, such as I did with Aunt Josie yesterday and I think it puts the goals within reach--I find it only makes for more questions. Puts the goal just one more step further away. The information leads to more questions, more stuff to find. Which I love. I don't mind that ever advancing goal so I guess it's YOGA for the soul. That ETA to "finish" just keeps moving away from me a little at a time but we'll get to the destination anyhow. OMMMMMM. Happy New Year.
Almost immediately, she began to add time to the trip, such as when we stopped at the base of the driveway to make the turn into the road. Plus 5 minutes. Since Colesville Road isn't flat as Kansas, plus another 5 minutes on the first ascent. And so on. Never mind getting gas, food or stuck behind someone going 60 in a 55.
Even as we got really close to Aunt Josie's house, American Female kept adding a minute here and a minute there. How does the math work that the closer you get, the further away the ETA becomes? It was like a never ending trip--we were never going to actually reach the ETA as it kept adding time to itself. We'd been watching too much Twilight Zone over the New Year's marathon. I was honestly wondering if we'd ever actually get there even though we drove pretty steadily and I was fairly certain Josie's house wasn't inching its way away from us. It was too weird watching the GPS instead of the road.
That ever-advancing goal or destination is another trick my doctor plays on me. Last fall, he decided he wasn't happy with the blood pressure reading taken at 3 PM the first Friday of school. I was joyous that it was low enough to keep me out of the hospital. He decided it was time to take further measures "for my benefit". Understand this was not a horrible reading--around 140/88. Not good but not all THAT bad.
Time for Pat to get some enforced exercise. Walk 3-4 times a week for 30 minutes. Yeah yeah yeah. So I did. Not happily. Not willingly. Not surprisingly, it made no real difference in my blood pressure, which under more normal circumstances is around 132/82 or so. I pretty much stopped when the weather turned and as I realized these walks that were supposed to be relaxing were mostly just pissing me off. Another chore on the list put there by someone else taking up time I should be doing something else. How good could that be for my blood pressure and overall health?
Back to this doctor this week. Blood pressure about 132/82 after almost 10 days of vacation. Go figure. But, guess what? Not good enough. He's moves the target again, just like American Female. Further away. If walks aren't working for me, I should find exercise that is relaxing and focuses on ME. I'm already laughing on the inside as he is carefully encouraging me to make a suggestion that fits this definition. Relaxing exercise just doesn't happen for me.
So he suggests YOGA. Now I can barely contain my guffaws. Me and YOGA! Relaxing exercise to get to an EBP (estimated blood pressure) that he's just going to keep moving out of my reach. I have accepted borderline hypertension. I consider it a legacy from Mom that I can almost live with and manage. Way too ambitious. Yes, I am fatalistic about my blood pressure given my genetics. YOGA. Honestly. Don't put that picture in your head because it won't go away, trust me.
But as I reflect on 2008 and look ahead to 2009 it reminds me of my family history research. Every time I find new stuff, such as I did with Aunt Josie yesterday and I think it puts the goals within reach--I find it only makes for more questions. Puts the goal just one more step further away. The information leads to more questions, more stuff to find. Which I love. I don't mind that ever advancing goal so I guess it's YOGA for the soul. That ETA to "finish" just keeps moving away from me a little at a time but we'll get to the destination anyhow. OMMMMMM. Happy New Year.
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