I am currently watching Base v. Jeffries at the Canada Cup Qualifier. This is the first of two games I am watching tonight. Base has a good lead in the fifth so we will see how it carries out. I bet you are glad you know that.
I have been feeling off today. I got into work at 10A today because I will be staying until 11P, to cover the aforementioned curling games. My whole timing has been thrown off and I am hungry when I shouldn’t be and tired when I should be heading home. It is all a mess.
Our condo has a gym for everyone who is a part of Sienna Ridge. It is a fairly nice gym, considering the majority of people who live here are seniors the heavy duty equipment like a squat rack and Olympic plates are missing, but it still gets the job done. A nice universal, lots of free weights and six cardio machines are at your disposal.
In the gym is a place to write your concerns or problems with equipment. We need to correct the tracking on a treadmill, or resistance bands need to be replaced. General stuff like that. The first concern I have seen was dated back in July, before we moved in, and I do not think it has been addressed. No matter, the machine still works fine.
Although there was one concern that appeared last month and it should have been addressed in a timely manner. The upper cable that connects the vertical bench, leg curls and pull down bar has become worn down. The plastic coating flaked off the cable where it constantly rubs on the pulleys and exposed the wire.
This started happening in October and the report of the cable was written early November. You could hear the metal “grinding” as it went over the pulley. Little by little tiny hairs left the cable. I continued to use it because that part of the universal covers my triceps, biceps, chest, back and legs workouts. It is a pretty important set of machinery.
This morning, several days after I commented (to Jenna) on the impending threat the decaying cable posed, karma caught up with me. I was nearing the end of my use on the machine when there was a creak, followed by a metallic snap and a whole lot of metal, plastic, weight and such succumbing to gravity.
Once I cleaned up the mess and re-emphasized the importance of replacing the cable on the bulletin board, I continued my workout. Fitting that my most used piece of equipment is crippled by me. I doubt it will be repaired any time soon, so it looks like I need to rethink some of my exercises.
That morning work out has led me in the funk I am feeling right now. Perhaps it will shed light on the telling of my anecdote or my next story.
I did a Google Image Search for “pioneer on the internet”. I am not sure why. It is something you do. You Google your name and projects you are associated with to see how popular you are. No surprise that Pioneer audio decks were a majority of the results, but I found one gem. This is my Pioneer on the Internet.
I would like you to meet Tan Tin Wee. He was on page one of the image search, so he is kind of a big deal. He is a programmer at the National Library Board in Singapore.
Perhaps he redesigned the Dewey Decimal Classification into a binary or a Java format.
I like to think he is covertly working at the NLB. He is a plant from a mysterious TLA organization in Moscow. Each day he arrives to work an hour early and stays until the cleaning crew comes by at night time. No one suspects anything because he is always doing his job.
He lives a normal life. He drives a sedan and drives his kids to soccer practice and school functions. He has been with the NLB for six years and worked his way up into a bigger desk space at every employee review.
His wife does not even know what Tan really does. She has a complimentary library card that she never uses. She secretly resents the fact that she settled for Tan when Osa was the better catch. Her parents told her Osa was better, Osa was going to become a doctor. Osa could provide for her. No, she settled for Tan because he made her smile. She doesn’t smile anymore. Not like she used to.
Now, when Tan is working long hours at the library she dreams of what life would have been like with Osa. Driving to fancy black tie affairs in a Cadillac and have the maid take care of everything around the house. Osa is not Tan and she is not happy.
Tan does not know that his wife has become tired of their relationship. Tan goes to work serving the NLB. He goes to work serving a greater good. A purpose that he will know soon enough. When the time is right, his years of due diligence and reconnaissance work will be worth it.
Tan is admirable because he does what is right and will continue to do so until told otherwise. We salute you Tan, and all of the sacrifices you have made will be worth it very, very soon.
