Friday

I finally got back on my bike today.  It's supposed to rain, but I can't handle being lazy any more.  I'm feeling fat, and I really need to do something about it. 

Before I continue, I have to admit I'm something of a curmudgeon.  I work on the 6th floor of my building, which happens to be the top floor.  I work for the government, in health care (sort of).  My department is constantly promoting healthy living.  Until I started having trouble with arthritis in my ankle last year, I always took the stairs.  To the 6th floor.  Now that I figured out that stairs were causing a lot of unnecessary ankle pain, I've started grudgingly taking the elevator.  I hate it. (I do take the stairs if it's only a floor or two, though - there's no reason to be completely lazy)

Every day, someone inevitably comes running onto the elevator at the last minute, forcing everyone who is already on there to wait extra time for the doors to open and then close again, despite the fact that there are 5 other elevators.  Then they get off at the second floor.  I know, I know other people are in the same boat as me and have physical difficulties that aren't apparent.  Of course, if I'm about to miss the elevator, I just wait for the next one because there are so many.

Also, these people are often the people who are drinking a giant starbucks and complaining about how they wish they could lose weight.  It drives me nuts.  They also usually immediately start pushing the door close button so no one else can get on. 

Anyway, this morning I got to work early and was feeling more charitable and as I got on the elevator, I noticed someone was hurrying to get there, so I held the door.  It was a woman.  She was probably about 5 months pregnant.  She smiled and thanked me.  I didn't even want to look at her.  I feel a bit like a failure.

Oh, and since I'm on the subject of elevators and pregnant women, on one of my first visits to Kaiser, I had to go to the second floor and I had no idea where the stairs were, so I pushed the button for the elevator and waited.  A very pregnant woman came up and stood there waiting a minute later.  The elevators in my office make a loud ringing sound when they arrive, so it never occurred to me that the Kaiser elevators wouldn't be audible.  I had turned around to read a flier about an infertility class on the bulletin board across from the elevator, and when I turned around a minute later, the elevator had come and gone in silence, and the pregnant woman had gotten on and never said a word to me!