Wednesday, July 23, 2008

These Boots (Sneakers, Really) Were Made for Walking

I just got home from a brisk 30-minute walk, and I am so tired out I didn't have the energy to walk back to my office and sit down in front of my computer. Instead, I flopped down om the sofa, and started to write this blog entry from my cell phone.

Pathetic, huh?

The Wife (fat, like me), The Kid (not fat) and I have been making a concerted effort to exercise every day after dinner. We go for a brisk 30-minute walk around the neighborhood and then spend the rest of the evening quietly until it's time for bed.

Truthfully, I don't know if it is making much of a difference in my weight loss, but it at least assuages my guilt and makes me think I am at least making an effort. Certainly my heart and my leg muscles are noticing the effort.

Even if it doesn't seem to be doing much to forward my weight loss, there is one added benefit -- I get to see what is going on in the neighborhood. I can see that someone finally mowed the lawns of the two foreclosed homes on our block, the neighbor across the street is working on his car, and the demolition of the old bowling alley about a half mile from our house is almost complete. Our nightly walks give us a sense of what is going on around our home.

We have lived in our home for seven years and we barely know our neighbors. We don't speak to them, nor do they speak to us. Our neighborhood seems to consist of small suburban islands, each cut out of their respective portions of city block. The inhabitants of each island, even if they share a common language, simply don't have anything to say to each other.

Since there is virtually no neighborhood gossip, the only way we are going to find out if someone painted or put in a new deck is to see it for ourselves. Now that we are walking every day, we'll be sure to notice.

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