33--more difficult than I thought

We hit the gym today for the first time since arriving here. It was also my first workout since I headed back to the States... and since I turned 33. The point was driven home when the stationary bike told me that my target heart rate for a cardio workout was now one beat per minute slower than it had been for my 32-year-old self.

I clicked it back to the old target, started pedaling, and survived.

Pedal and survive: It's not a bad mantra when getting re-settled into a place like Abu Dhabi. Things that I kind of took for granted or tuned out--the heat, the occasional maddening paucity of taxis, the basic unwalkability of the city, the view from our front window--can accumulate into a big pile of frustration quickly for someone experiencing them for the first time. The good stuff too, from friends to sights to restaurants... that needs to be accounted for all over again.

It's a transition, and you have to keep rolling with it. Although no one is going to be dumb enough to ride a bike around in Abu Dhabi's streets.