A sort-of-farewell to Facebook. Life in the real world is calling

The good news, in case you’ve been wondering, is that I’m still alive.

The not-so-good news — or great news, depending upon your perspective — is that I’m not feeling very social. At least not when it comes to Facebook and other social media.

“I find it bothersome that you have been so quiet lately,” my sister wrote on my Facebook page Friday. “Did you lose your stirring stick?”

I guess I have.

On Oct. 29, I started a new job. It was almost eight months to the day when my old newspaper job was eliminated and I was left without employment for the first time in my life. The new job is going well. I like it. And it’s keeping me busy, so much so that I have scaled back quite a bit on the amount of time I’m spending on Facebook.

This hasn’t been an accident. In my first week on the new job, a wise friend said, “You’re not a reporter anymore. You shouldn’t spend so much time on Facebook.”

It may surprise my friend, but I’ve actually listened to what seemed like pretty good advice. The friend was right: I was trying too hard to see how many comments I could stir up on Facebook.

And it just doesn’t seem like as much fun as it used to.

So, instead of spouting off so much, I’ve been reading more and listening to a lot of music. Spotify has leapfrogged ahead of Facebook on the list of things I really like about the Internet.

Also, I’m keeping busy getting to know more about the other staff, the residents and community members who support Muscatine Center for Social Action, my new employer. It is a very special place. And not just because the people who work and live there have given me a chance to prove I can be more than an ink-stained wretch.

Last but not least, I’m still trying to eat better and work out as much as possible. That’s way more important to me than Facebook. It’s something I have to maintain while also spending a lot of time at my new job. My current workout regime includes:

Leading up to three indoor cycling classes per week, and leading a group-strength class one day a week at the Muscatine Community Y.
Going to one or two Pilates classes per week at the Y.
Going to Warrior Crossfit Muscatine two or three times per week.

In a good week, that can be up to 11 workouts. The Crossfit and Pilates classes are killers. I’ve written much about Crossfit. Pilates is every bit as hard. It leaves me sore for days. Pound for pound, the Pilates instructor whose class I’ve been attending is the strongest grandmother I know. She is amazing.

But it must be paying off. After all, the numbers don’t lie. I am getting stronger (even if I will never be able to do most of the postures included in the graphic above.)

Friday, we did the Crossfit Total workout. It consists of working up to the heaviest weight you can lift in a shoulder press, dead lift and back squat. I lifted a combined total of 740 pounds.

When I first did this workout in June, I lifted a combined total of 635 pounds. That almost was good enough to rank as a novice, according to the website I was referred to by Sarah Garvin, who owns WCFM with her husband, Jacob.

Keep up that kind of improvement and I might even rank someday as an intermediate. When it happens, I’ll be sure to post it on Facebook.

Speaking of Facebook: Here are some links to things I liked, but did not post on the social networking website: