Nobody asked me, but...

Credit to Bob Smizik, long-time columnist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, for inspiring this format.

Nobody asked me, but...

...Since the Blackhawks season ended, I am appreciating not being stressed out of my mind these days. I always want them to win, of course. But if they weren't going to be champions this year, they might as well get some much-needed and well-deserved rest. The mental break has been good for me, too.

That aside...

...It's great to see how well the Penguins are playing. As I've said many times, the Pens are my second-favorite team behind the Blackhawks. If the Hawks can't win the Stanley Cup, I definitely want the Pens to win. I think it's always hard to watch a successor get crowned, but some successors can be easier to live with than others. In 2010, the Pens were probably thrilled when the Hawks were their Cup successor over Pittsburgh's rival Philadelphia. On the flip side, it would be really cool if the Pens could be the Hawks' Cup successor this year.

Wildlife photographer fail.
"Should I tell him I'm here?"

...I love this candid-looking photo with Artemi Panarin. What is it about black and white photos that always looks so artistic? On a humorous note, some folks joked that they couldn't tell which of the two people in the picture is older.

...Animal crackers are weirdly addictive. While I do love crunchy snacks, normally I prefer the salty variety to the sweet. But since animal crackers aren't overly sweet, they don't trigger my sugar overload flags the way things like chocolate chip cookies do. I wonder if animal cracker design labs realize this and play this up on purpose?

...Strength training works well in bits and pieces. Earlier this week, I had a yoga class but went to the gym 15 minutes early to knock out some lower-body lifting. It worked really well. 

This made me realize how strength work can be done effectively in short bursts. In my opinion, fitness activities like running or yoga require at least 20 minutes to be worthwhile. But with strength work, you can easily pick a muscle group, do 5 minutes of focused strength work, and move on.

I am going to experiment with trying to add 5-10 minutes of incremental strength work to my cardio/yoga days in the future. As many of us say, you can do anything for five minutes, right? Hopefully the little things will add up over time.

...The umbrellas are multiplying. There was a lot of rain in Chicago this week. Each day, I brought an umbrella with me from home for my walk to the office. Then, I'd forget to bring it home that evening. The next day, I would bring another one. This is on top of the fact that even when it's not raining, I've always kept an umbrella at the office just in case. The end result: A sizable umbrella collection at my office cube. My current count is four.

...Orange is the new black. Yesterday I saw a man wearing a very nice 3-piece black suit and tie. He was carrying a leather attache, and he had the Wall Street Journal tucked into one of the pockets. All in all, he looked like the perfectly polished businessman... save for the fact he was wearing neon-orange socks.

I find a lot of humor in the minute character details like this!

It reminded me of another similar incident from a few years ago because...

...Seriously, what is it with things that are orange in color? I once saw a nattily dressed businessman striding purposely down the street. I imagined he was on his way to leading a high-powered board meeting. He just oozed that kind of executive presence, you know? At the same time, he also had three orange parking tickets sticking out of his briefcase.

Parking tickets are a great accessory for adding a little pop of color to your outfit (business professional OR casual).

Hey, even the most executive of executives still need to find a place to park, yes?

...Races that offer free race photos automatically get ENORMOUS ratings boosts from me. Many thanks to RAM Racing for providing free Cinco de Miler race photos again this year! Here is my favorite of this year's action shots:

and finally...

...I want to up my race photo body spasm game. By my standards, my recent race photos have been on the tame side. I think it's time to start practicing some new body spasm poses (in private, of course). My new goal is to get a race photo posed like this:

Confession: I've never been able to gracefully click my heels in the air. Therefore, if anyone has suggestions on heel-clicking training plans, I would be most obliged!

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Linking up with Amanda's Thinking Out Loud Thursdays.