When I was swimming while I was in Idaho, I thought maybe the pool might be a little longer than the pool at my gym, since it was taking me a solid six minutes longer to finish 100 lengths than it had been at my gym.

The folks at the pool in Idaho swore up and down that their pool was 25 meters. The folks at my gym swore up and down when I asked them this afternoon that their pool is also 25 meters, even though it felt noticeably shorter than the one in Idaho.

So, there are three possibilities:

1. The pool in Idaho is actually longer than 25 meters, meaning the pool at my gym is 25 meters.
2. The pool at my gym is actually only 25 yards long, meaning the Idaho pool was 25 meters. This also means I haven’t been going nearly as far as I’ve been thinking I have.
3. The fact that the Idaho pool was outside and at moderately high altitude and the pool at my gym is inside at sea level is playing with my speed and perception, and the pools are actually the same length.

Frankly, I think option 2 is the most likely, given that at my pace the 6 extra minutes it was taking me to finish in Idaho is about how long it takes me to swim the 214 meter difference between 2500 yards and 2500 meters.

How much of a tool would it make me if I showed up at the gym tomorrow with a measuring tape so that I can find out if I’ve actually been swimming 2500 meters or 2500 yards?

In an effort to finally rid myself of this cold, I’m trying out the theory that the constant entering and exiting of air conditioning is what’s made it so bad. Consequently, I’ve left my air conditioner on fan mode.

This isn’t anything terribly revolutionary, but it’s been a bit warmer than usual here and it’s now about 79 degrees in my apartment at 10:30 PM. Normally I try to keep it at 76, and I don’t think I realized what a difference those three degrees made in terms of comfort.

I knew it was hot in here when I got back from the (even hotter) gym yesterday and Chaplin walked up to me, then flopped over in this position:

for about half an hour. This from a cat who is apparently physically incapable of sitting still for 2 minutes when he’s awake. In his defense, it must be hot wearing a fur coat in this weather.

On the upside, between the heat and my lack of recent drinking, I’ve got a very nice buzz going off of approximately half a beer.

Cold: Yep, still there. Thought it was going yesterday, then woke up to a nice fresh bout of coughing up internal organs this morning. Fun!

Work: Still unemployed. I suppose I should be grateful that I’m not fighting through this nonsense while working, but the financial and boredom situations are both getting a bit concerning.

Terminal Boredom: Yeah, starting to get there. The illness rendering me pretty well immobile is not helping at ALL, but I did manage to watch the entire first season of Mad Men over the weekend, so I’ve got that going for me.

Further updates when either a) something actually interesting occurs or b) I snap and write something totally loopy. Bets on which will happen first can be placed in the comment box.

Two bits of interest from my annual physical this morning.

First of all, I’ve grown an inch. I’ve never measured above 5’4″, and often called myself 5’4″ on a good day. For some reason, today, I measured 5’5″ even.

Not that I’m complaining, particularly since this height change knocks a solid point off my BMI. Still, it’s a little odd that after somewhere between 10 and 15 years of not growing a bit, I suddenly got an inch taller in the last year.

Secondly, I have to say, it is a rather distressing sign for your love life when even your doctor says, “So, why aren’t you seeing anybody?”