To avoid getting fat(er)

Did you know that fathers put on weight while mothers are pregnant? Yep. I certainly did and things haven't really gotten much better since Eleanor arrived. In fact, most of my weight gain has probably been in the past five weeks -- eating bad food because it's easy, drinking more Coke, and being too tired and out of sorts to exercise. It's probably been two months since I was in the gym. This has resulted in me getting pretty "soft in the middle" (now that my life is so hard. . .). This has got to change. I've begun taking a small step these past two mornings. Instead of parking in the lot right outside Withers, which requires me to walk all of 30 feet into my building, I've begun parking on the other side of campus. I park in the faculty spaces behind Life Sciences and walk to Withers. It's still not very far, all things considered, but it's more than 30 feet. The walk is very nice as well. I go around Byrnes Auditorium and across the front entry to Winthrop, which is populated by several large oaks and green grass. Not only does parking on the other side of campus get me a little more exercise, it integrates me further into campus life. Withers is across the street from most of the university, so it's easy to just come and do my thing without noticing other things on campus. By parking on the other side and walking, I notice more of what's going on -- like the colorful fish "statues" (they look more like kites) someone has erected in front of Life Sciences. The walk now takes 10 minutes instead of 2, but it's worth it for the exercise and the experience of campus.

Here's a Winthrop Map so you can see where all this stuff is. My building is 32 and I am now parking behind 21.