Energized

Went on a bike ride with the Rocket Scientist this morning. That was our weekly date. It's the first time in months we've gone for a ride, and the first time in memory we've gone without the boys (in a trailer behind my bike). My knee and various parts have been giving me trouble the past few months. In physical therapy, I came to realize it was a variety of factors: lack of exercise, occasional overuse, and very importantly lack of stretching. See, I always sit cross-legged, always. Months of that, with no stretching and little exercise tightened up my hamstrings, and led to all sorts of problems. But the ride was great!

Then, we had lots of fun with the boys, working in the garden and playing. We got our second bed of vegetables planted. All told, there are now about 20 pepper plants of a half dozen varieties, about a dozen tomato plants, of 5 or 6 varieties, 4 or 5 eggplant plants (2 varieties), two each canteloupe, honeydew, and cucumber plants, and three rows of lettuce, which we've already been harvesting leaves of for more than a week. God, I love fresh food from the garden. It's so... rewarding. I'm anticipating pots and pots of goulash and spaghetti sauce, and ratatouille, come the summer. We might have to get a small freezer to store it all in.

The boys are in bed now. And I've got a little deadline to keep tomorrow, meaning I'll do my best to be productive tonight. I have so gotten out of the practice of working at nights. I'm mostly too tired, physically and mentally, to get anything of account done after the sun goes down. Come to think of it, I wrote just about all of my dissertation during daylight hours as well. And, I used to be such a night owl. I haven't pulled an all-nighter since, I don't know when. I haven't taken an exam (or given one for that matter) since I passed my comps back in 2002.

It's not that I've finally mastered the art of compartmentalization. I'm no Bill Clinton, that's for sure. One of these days, I really hope to be able to set up boundaries between work and family time. But I hope those boundaries are not too strong to separate my life from my work, just enough to let me leave it all behind, sometimes.

Meantime, I'm hoping to get a good draft of this fellowship proposal written tonight. Wish me luck.

*Updated to add:*
Not tonight. Had a nice chat with the wife, read over my draft, and got some feedback from her. I think it's a good start, really, and a good project, though I need to spend more time tightening it up, filling it out. I'll get it done tomorrow. I think I'll take a nice hot shower, then hit the sack early.