12 of 12, March 2010

My first 12 of 12 since December.  Too bad it’s a work day and rather boring!

Trying to turn insomnia into something positive, I’ve been getting to the gym at 6 am and doing whatever class is going.  I may have insomnia, but I still don’t function at this time of day.  So the day before I have to get everything ready: water bottles full, clothes for the gym ready to put on, clothes for work in my rucksack, towels and toiletries packed, keys and gym swipe card in my pocket, etc.  I set it all up in a spare bedroom so I can just sneak out of bed without disturbing the husband too much.

Lottie doesn’t understand this early morning abandonment.  (Well, she never likes abandonment.)  She much prefers to sleep in – and for her people to sleep in too.  Apparently she howls when I leave for the gym, so Scott calls her up to the bedroom and gives her some love to calm her down.

Although I’m a member of the staff gym at the Royal Hobart Hospital, I’ve recently joined the gym at the Hobart Aquatic Centre as well to take advantage of their classes.  This way I can’t slack off.  I can’t believe how much my arms hurt sometimes after a class; left to my own devices I don’t exercise them enough.

It’s dark when I get to the gym; I hadn’t left my tripod out for myself so couldn’t remember it to take a photo when I arrived.  This photo was taken when I left the gym.  Doing this has made me aware of a strange underworld I never realised existed in Hobart: at 6 am, there are actually people queued up to get into the Hobart Aquatic Centre to hit the pool or gym.  This of course is Wrong, but I find myself one of them lately.

The room where I flail around like an uncoordinated blob actually has great views of the sunrise over the Derwent.  But there’s no way I’m using a camera inside the Aquatic Centre.  First off it’s probably against the rules (and if not should be), but secondly I would hope that if anyone took a photo of me working out I’d be well within my rights to peel off all their skin and plunge them into the heavily chlorinated pool.

Free parking can be competitive around the CBD, but when you arrive at 6 am you tend to have your choice of parking.  While I was in the gym sweating, the cacheMobile (on the left) was enjoying the sunrise and the billions of rainbow lorikeets flitting around the trees.  Even though they keep almost brushing my cheek as they fly past, I’m just unable to photograph birds.  And all I can think of at this point is leaving my gym stuff in the cacheMobile, getting to work, and getting myself around some breakfast.

View of Mt Wellington through the fence of the Hobart Tennis Centre, where the cacheMobile is parked.

After the gym, breakfast is such a GREAT thing!!

We talked about what he should do on holiday next week mainly.  Although I did ask for a bed at my workstation so I can have a nap after the gym.  Hmmm. . .he never said if he was going to get me one or not.

I had some errands to do at lunch, such as dropping off my dead netbook at Dick Smith to be sorted out (poor netbook!!!) and going to Medicare to sort out a pathology bill. But these didn’t take long, so I thought I’d go to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery to quickly check out a new exhibition. However I was sidetracked: as I walked past the Hobart Town Hall, there was a sign advertising free entry to a Tasmanian Horticultural Society show. I wasn’t much interested in gladiolas, dahlias, and bonsai, but I was interested in seeing the inside of the Hobart City Hall so in I went. It was lovely, and I even scored a lunch of cut sandwiches and carrot cake being sold by Rotarians. (And I felt so young! I was the youngest person in there by several decades!!) The carrot cake was consumed in honour of delboy1203, who was celebrating a birthday today. Many happy returns, Del!!

On the way back to my office, I came across this Boxer, parked on her person’s scooter. She was very sweet and Boxerish. And she’s just sitting there, parked.

After leaving work and picking up my now alive netbook, I made my way back up to the Queen’s Domain and my parking spot near the Tennis Centre. I was the first car here this morning and the last one to leave.

How can anyone not have a dog?

This may seem a strange way to end the day, but Alan Kohler’s ties actually are something we note every day. Alan Kohler does finance news for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). He’s great: he can make finance interesting and often has a graph that is not only informative but also makes us laugh. Yes, he has a dry humour and can make people laugh at a graph. However he has horrid taste in ties. It’s not entirely clear in this photo, however this tie was a pale shiny yellow one with dark spots which he wore with a blue and white square checked shirt. Train wreck. Alan, we love you but you need new ties!!!