Tag: steven brewer

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As you’ll know if you subscribe to my newsletter (sign up in the sidebar), my brother and I are attending SFWA’s Nebula Award Conference in Chicago.

View of the sunset out my hotel window, showing a plane departing from O'Hare at the top center of the image

Today Steven had SFWA board stuff all day, so after breakfast I went to the hotel fitness center for a workout.

Normally I always do a full warmup before a workout. (This is slightly problematic, as too often I just do the warmup, and then need to walk the dog and fix lunch, and end up never getting to the workout.) Today, because the scheduling seemed to work better, I did the workout first, right after breakfast. Then I did my morning exercises in the early afternoon.

That worked out surprisingly well.

One reason it worked out well was that I did most of the workout on new-to-me machines, so I started with reasonably low weights and worked my way up to working weights, which basically amounts to a warmup all by itself. I did:

  • Single-leg Romanian deadlifts with a 25 lb dumbbell 3 x 5 left/5 right (my only non-machine exercise)
  • Shoulder press 30 lbs 1×12, 35 lbs 1×12, 1×10
  • Leg extension 50 lbs 1×12, 55 lbs 2×12, 60 lbs 1×12, 65 lbs 1×12
  • Pulldown 70 lbs 1×12, 75 lbs 1×9, 1×5

I forgot to do goblet squats! There wasn’t a leg-press machine, and I kept thinking, “What can I do to work my glutes?” But I didn’t think of goblet squats. I can do those tomorrow, as well as hitting the other machines (leg curl, biceps curl, and chest press are the ones I didn’t do today).

In con-related news, I have successfully registered! I have a name badge, a program, and tickets for a promised book bag.

I’m expecting Steven’s board-related activities to wrap up shortly, and then we’re talking about heading out to a margarita bar. Or, if his thing runs too late, maybe just having a beer here in the hotel.

I personally am very flexible in this regard.

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My brother and I think alike about many things, and differently about many other things. We also sometimes disagree about what it is that we disagree about, which is kind of funny all by itself.

Although we agree about many things, we sometimes actually come at things from quite different perspectives.

Source: Retiring to… Something – Steven D. BREWER

My brother and me, wearing hats. In pre-pandemic days, so not wearing masks, even though we were out in public
My brother and me.

In my brother’s thinking, I “never really wanted to work and pursued a career with the goal of retiring early,” which is both true and false. I hated having a job of the sort where I needed to show up every day, and do stuff that I didn’t find interesting. But I never objected to working. I just wanted the word used correctly. I was delighted to “work” in the sense of producing great works of literature (or art, or philanthropy).

It was never working I objected to. I simply didn’t like “working for the man.”

In retirement I don’t have to do that, and am able to devote myself to work (such as my fiction writing), to the necessary tasks of daily living (such as walking my dog), and to doing things I enjoy for their own sake (such as exercise, and reading).

And although the specifics may be quite different, in this area I think my brother and I are very much in agreement.

I have no shortage of interesting projects I intend to work on in retirement.

Source: Retiring to… Something – Steven D. BREWER

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As one of many pleasant outings during our visit, Steven took us to the New England Botanic Garden. It was a good choice for the group, providing opportunities for walks of all different lengths for people who wanted to walk further or less far.

There were, of course, lots of plants to see (f you’re a fan of diverse hostas, you’d be in heaven), but I found myself drawn to the art, and particularly enjoyed the sculptures. Although not religious myself, I don’t mind religious art, but I do find the endless Christian iconography one tends to find especially in the Midwest to be tedious. So I always enjoy anything different.

The New England Botanic Garden had a lot of western classical art, one sort I particularly enjoy. (I always like allegorical personifications (like Liberty and Justice, but lots of others as well), and I saw figures for Summer and Autumn (although I failed to get pictures of those). I also like classical western architecture—especially faux architecture, such as follies, which they had one of, along with a Temple of Peace. And I did manage to capture a photo of the statue of Pan.

Folly at New England Botantic Garden
Temple of Peace at New England Botantic Garden
Sculpture of Pan at New England Botantic Garden

Well worth visiting, if you’re in the area, and like botany or classical western art.