Shopping and Erging

Sunday dawned cold, rainy and breezy so no on water rowing for me. The next window will be Wednesday. Erg class it was then. Before I headed out for my erg class, I got up and started the laundry and ran out and did the grocery shopping. Both Ann and I work, so I it's only fair that I pull my weight around the house. Ann hates grocery shopping so I do it. I don't love it, but it doesn't bother me like it does her. I'm not sure why she hates it so bad. When I shop I like to make a game of it. I call it turbo shopping. I head in, printed list in hand with items listed in the order they come up in the store as I make my way through the various isles and see how fast I can get in and out. Before I head in, I'll take a look at the list and give myself a time goal to beat. This irritates Ann to no end. In the rare case she accompanies me, her idea of shopping is a leisurely stroll through the store carefully comparing several brands for each item on the list. This is true even though we almost always buy the same brands. When she begins one of her zen comparison moments, I'll leave her and continue shopping often finishing the list while she contemplates the various benefits of Campbell's versus B&B baked beans. This brings us to the two things the drive me crazy when I shop. If Ann accompanies me, if a question comes up about something on the list, say something she listed isn't available and I need her input, I can never find her. I'll return to where I left her and no Ann. I then half to scour the various isles trying to find where she wandered off to burning up precious time. The running joke is that she's having an affair with the butcher back in the meat department, which is why I can't find her. Once I do find her, usually checking out the makeup or shampoos, the line is "How was the butcher?" For some reason she doesn't find this as amusing as I do. Which brings us back to the list. Most of the items on it we've previously discussed as we try and come up with a menus for the week, but inevitably there will be a few items on the list that need further clarification. This week it was deodorant. I pay no attention to what deo Ann uses. So I called home from the store to find out what kind she uses. No answer, I try another number. No answer. I try her cell figuring she might be out walking the dog. No answer. Ok, I'll just continue shopping and call back. While I'm finishing up, I think of a few things Ann might have left off the list, but I don't make a note of them on the list as I make my way through the store. Once I'm done shopping, I call home again. No answer. At this point I'm on the verge of just checking out figuring she can buy her own deo. I try one last time and she finally answers. She was drying her hair and couldn't hear the phone(s) ringing over the noise. Grumbling, I find out what brand she likes and I check out and make it home in less than an hour. Decent enough time, but not great. I figured I lost about ten minutes trying to get her on the phone. How can she expect me to set new time records if she won't answer the phone? Also the items I thought she might have left off the list? She did. So no broccoli and Vanilla Zero for her.

Erg class was a bit different this week as we had a substitute instructor. In our regular class, we erg for about 45 to 50 minutes to music with the songs being of variable length with the instructor varying the intensity at which we are erging (say half pressure or full pressure, etc.). We usually get 20 to 30 seconds between songs to grab some water. Yesterday we did a series of four minutes on full pressure and three minutes off. We did seven of these with warm-up and cool down periods before and after. It was quite intense and the last two cycles were quite the challenge. Our instructor also kept upping the stroke rate during each piece. It was different so it wasn't boring, but not something I'd like doing every week.

The reason our normal instructor was absent was that she was attending the wedding of one the former members of our rowing club. So, congratulations Mel!