Food And A Cold

In terms of dinner and my cold this has been a difficult week. Normally one or two dinners do not contain rice or beans but this week it seems every dinner is lacking these side dishes. This is not completely accurate because the dinner on Monday night and tonight did contain beans but they both had meat in them rendering them ineligible for my tray. The dinner last night was some kind of beef stew which was lacking rice or beans. I was given my standard issue of two tubes of peanut butter to go along with the lone baked potato on my tray. I did ask for an additional baked potato but the kitchen supervisor told me she is not supposed to give out additional side dishes. I was not going to push the issue so I just said thank you and took my tray.

Tonight the dinner was hot dogs with chili beans. The chili beans did contain meat so I was given zucchini (double helping which I guess was okay as long as it is not a baked potato) and the two tubes of peanut butter. I wasn’t sure if I was going to go to dinner because I knew there would be very little on my tray. I did go but was left disappointed and hungry. I did not eat lunch today. Well that is not entirely true because I did have a banana (which I had to sneak out of the dining hall at breakfast in order for me to have it later in the day because my lunch never contains any fruit) and a graham cracker at lunch time so I guess I did have lunch. Of course, I was hungry after dinner so I made a peanut butter and jam sandwich after returning.

I received some good news today when I found out that the package my wife sent did indeed arrive. Now the trick will be retrieving from the package pick-up area. An attempt was made this morning to retrieve the package but it was unsuccessful. I was hoping because it is very late in the quarter and not many other inmates will have packages to pick-up so it can be retrieved rather quickly. Once I do get this package I become more selective with going to dinner because lately it has been pointless. The nutritional offerings to me the vegetarian are non-existent and peanut butter can only go so far. One shining light on dinner is next week the Marinara Pasta and Vegetarian Pizza are on the menu. I have had this once here before and it was fairly terrible but edible. More importantly that particular meal did fill me up. I was actually given more pasta by a fellow inmate because he could not eat it due to acid reflux condition. I happily ate it not because it tasted good but for the additional calories.

Enough of my eating or rather lack of eating habits, onto my current cold. Yes, I did take some cold medicine last night which did dry up some parts of my system with the two exceptions of my nose and I had to get up every hour on the hour to go to the bathroom. This is a very normal side effect for me when I take cold medication and no, I can’t seem to explain why my throat feels very dry yet I continue to go to the bathroom and my nose still runs. It is yet another anomaly of how my body operates. Needless to say I did not have a restful sleep. Also it was freezing last night and I slept in my sweatpants, sweatshirt, and socks for the second night in a row. I was also under two wool blankets but I was still cold (I think the coldness had something to do with my going to the bathroom so often along with the cold medication.) When it was time for me to get out of my bunk this morning I wasn’t feeling all that well but I knew I should get up and see how I felt as the morning progressed. The temperature was 33 degrees (which may sound balmy to my friends in the Great White North but to me this is very cold) as I walked to breakfast this morning. Thankfully the PFT class does not start until tomorrow so I didn’t need to go right outside after breakfast; I returned back to the dormitory after breakfast and laid down for 45 minutes. My nose was still running and I could definitely feel a sinus headache. I took some ibuprofen for the headache which seemed to alleviate some of the pressure.

Now it was time for me to go to work and I know my body well enough to know I just wasn’t up to any physical activity this morning. One of the advantages of being an instructor for the PFT Plus class is that I don’t actually have to exercise if I don’t want to, I can instruct. I asked the lead instructor if I could instruct and he was more than happy to have me lead the class. The class only takes 30 minutes and when I was over I was feeling much better. Maybe it had to do with being outside and after the class I know I had to exercise. My cold is strictly above my neck in my nose and sinus cavity. I do know as long as my illness stays above the neck I can workout. When it gets into the chest and lungs working out is certainly not advised. I did a very good workout and I sweated some of the cold out. After this I headed back to the dorm so I could rest up for the afternoon session. This is where I had the banana and graham crackers for lunch. I also read some more of my book.

Lunch time was over and I went back outside for the afternoon session. I was feeling better and wanted to workout in the class. However, the lead instructor wanted all the new instructors to observe the class as a training tool. We all observed but I did take part in the run. Again, the class was over in 30 minutes and I knew I had to exercise more. I was thinking about running but the cold winds were blowing so I settled on doing and hour and half of the Harvard Steps which breaks down to 45 minutes per leg. I got a great sweat by leaving on my sweatpants and sweatshirt. An interesting thing happened while I was about half way into the Harvard Steps, my nose stopped running. Probably because all of the water in my body was coming out in other areas. I did in fact feel very good while doing this exercise.

The class list was posted for the new PFT class which starts tomorrow. It is a very large class with 100 men. This is double the normal class of 50. A few of the inmates who arrived with me from the reception center are in the class including my “bunkie”. (This makes me wonder had my medical clearance not gone smoothly would I too be in the class, oh well I will never know.) In fact including my “bunkie” there are four inmates from my dorm who are also in the class. The favors and questions have already started from my dorm mates. One of my dorm mates wants to give me a signal (a certain whistle) when he feels I am going too fast during the power walk. Another dorm mate (who is very nice by the way) was asking me about special clothing because he is very tall. (All the participants receive “PFT” engraved shorts, sweats, and tee shirts.) I very politely answered these two questions and the fact of the matter is there is no way I can show favoritism to anyone. I can’t slow down because some one whistles; I have an exact pace time to maintain. I must maintain this pace or the “Coach” would be very upset with me. As much as I would like to help my other dorm mate I cannot. If I start looking for special clothes for him what about the 99 other participants. I told him we will make it work and find clothing which fits him after all the clothes are given out.

Another interesting fact about the upcoming class is three of the instructors are in the class. I found this out today; even though I am an instructor I am not per se exempt from the PFT class, I must be part of the class on paper but I can still function as an instructor. Essentially these three will function as student/instructors. This also means we are losing them after this class and my responsibilities will increase. Another fact about one of the instructors in the class is that he has only been an instructor for one month and even though he verbally agreed to the four month commitment the “Coach” can not keep his name off the PFT class list. In other words; when his name comes up for the PFT class he must take part and the “Coach” has no say so. Also, because he did not fulfill his four month commitment he cannot select his fire camp. I was happy to find this out because presumably when I do finally receive medical clearance I won’t have to wait four months before moving forward. This means if it is less than four months I cannot select the fire camp which is fine because it means I can get to fire camp sooner. Of course all of this is predicated or me receiving medical clearance.

Tomorrow is Day One of the PFT class and thankfully I am feeling better. I was given a sinus pill by one of the other instructors which seemed to help better than the one I was given last night. The weather is supposed to be even colder tomorrow morning (temperature in the high 20’s) so it should be an interesting day. Also, due to the large size of the class and the fact that we are short instructors I should be very busy which is always good. Being busy truly makes the days go by faster. Today was a perfect example because when I woke up I really didn’t want to do anything, but I forced myself to go outside and do my job. Before I knew it my day was over and it was time to go to sleep. Routines are very good and I am happy to have found a good routine.