It’s Labor Day, which means a holiday from work—and you really shouldn’t have to work on a holiday that celebrates workers.

Isabella got me up at an ungodly hour to feed her, but afterward, I went back to bed. I could sleep in today, so that’s exactly what I did. As I write this, I’m obviously awake, but I still haven’t gotten out of bed. I haven’t decided whether to take care of the hard dilemma at hand, go back to sleep, or get up and make coffee. Whatever I choose, it’s nice knowing the choice is entirely mine.

Have a great Labor Day, everyone!

It’s Thursday, and honestly, I don’t have much to say this morning. It’s been a pretty low-key week, even with classes starting back and the campus coming to life again. Nothing particularly exciting has happened, which I suppose isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I am definitely ready for the upcoming three-day weekend, though I have absolutely nothing exciting planned. For that matter, I’m not even sure I’ll manage anything moderately entertaining. I’ll probably spend most of it at home with Isabella, reading, relaxing, and enjoying not having to go anywhere. There are certainly worse ways to spend a long weekend.

For now, though, I just have to get through Thursday and Friday. My coffee is helping with Thursday. We’ll worry about Friday when it gets here.

Have a great Thursday, everyone. The long weekend is almost here!

It’s Wednesday. Hump Day. The week is almost half over, and so far, this week has been pretty boring. Not that I’m complaining too much. Sometimes boring is better than the alternative.

The students are back, though, and that means one thing that makes the beginning of the fall semester a little more enjoyable: eye candy.

I still appreciate the fact that the new gym is now on the edge of campus closest to the museum. That means there is a fairly steady stream of guys passing by on their way to and from working out. Earlier this week, however, I saw something that I have probably only seen four or five times since I moved to Vermont nearly eleven years ago: shirtless guys on campus.

That probably sounds strange to anyone who has spent much time around a university in the South. On a warm, sunny day, shirtless college guys are practically part of the scenery. Walk across almost any Southern university quad and you’re likely to see guys tossing a Frisbee, playing an impromptu shirts-and-skins game of football, lounging around in the sun, or going for a run without a shirt. When I lived in the South, I never thought twice about it because it was such a common sight.

It happens at universities up here, too, although certainly not with the same frequency. There’s a decent chance that if you drive by the University of Vermont campus in Burlington on a warm afternoon, you’ll spot a couple of frat guys jogging along without shirts. On my campus, however, a shirtless guy is practically an anomaly.

I’m not even sure cadets are allowed to run around campus shirtless. There are rules governing so many aspects of their appearance that it wouldn’t surprise me if there were one about that as well. You would think the civilian students would make up for it, but apparently they didn’t get the memo.

So, when it does happen, it’s still a welcome sight.

Of course, on a campus like mine, where physical fitness is basically a requirement for the majority of the student body, the guys have plenty of other ways to show off what all those hours in the gym have accomplished. Tight T-shirts do a pretty good job of displaying shoulders, chests, and arms, while thin athletic shorts and sweatpants have been known to highlight certain other assets. I may be getting older, but I’m certainly not blind.

Summer would seem like the obvious season for more shirtless scenery, but unfortunately, we don’t have a large summer student population. Only a handful of programs hold classes during the summer, so there simply aren’t that many students around when Vermont finally gets warm enough for shirts to become optional.

And this is Vermont, after all. During the regular academic year—from late August through May—the window for genuinely warm weather is rather small. We might get a few weeks at the beginning of the fall semester and another few toward the end of spring before everyone disappears for summer. Before long, those athletic shorts will give way to sweatpants, then jackets, then heavy coats as winter settles in for what always seems like six months.

So, I suppose I should appreciate these warm September days while they last.

Besides, there’s still plenty of eye candy around campus, with or without shirts.

It’s Friday, and I’m hanging in there for just one more day. I just have to make it through today, and then the weekend can finally begin.

It’s been one of those weeks where I’m more than ready for a couple of days to relax, recharge, and not think too much about work. Thankfully, the finish line is in sight.

So, I’m hanging on and counting down the hours. TGIF! I hope everyone has a great Friday and an even better weekend!

I have a doctor’s appointment this morning. I had planned to take the whole day off, but something came up at work, so I’ll have to go in for part of the day.

I was also off yesterday for my Botox appointment. I always take the whole day off when I have Botox treatments for my migraines because my head is almost always sore afterward. I’m sure anyone’s would be after 37 injections in the head, neck, and shoulders. Sometimes the soreness itself causes a headache, which was the case yesterday, so I was very glad I didn’t have to go back to work after the procedure.

Today’s appointment should be much easier. It’s just my regular checkup. I know some people hate going to the doctor, but I actually enjoy seeing mine. I really like him, and I can already hear him knocking on the exam room door and saying, “Hello, hello, hello,” as he walks in.

He’s a really nice guy, and he has been incredibly supportive of my health over the years. He’s been there for me through so much during the past ten years, through good times and bad, and I’ve always felt like he genuinely cares about how I’m doing. At this point, going for a checkup feels a little like seeing a friend you haven’t seen in a while.

Hopefully, everything will be good at my appointment, and then it’s off to work for the rest of the day. Not quite the day off I had planned, but at least tomorrow is Friday!

It’s Friday, but it doesn’t feel like Friday. Sadly, it feels like Saturday. I say “sadly” because that means I still have to work, even though my brain seems convinced it’s already the weekend.

Last night didn’t feel like Thursday night either. In fact, I almost forgot to watch the new episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which is released every Thursday. Apparently, my internal calendar is a little out of sync this week.

At least Isabella let me sleep until a few minutes after 5 a.m. She usually isn’t that patient when it’s a salmon day. Maybe the days getting shorter are messing with her internal clock, too. Whatever the reason, I got to sleep later than usual, and I’m certainly not complaining.

Now I just have to convince myself that today really is a workday.

Have a great Friday, everyone, and enjoy the weekend ahead!

Do You Have a Type?

I came across the picture above while looking for something to use for a Pic of the Day, and my first thought was, Well, if I have a type, he certainly fits it.

Over the years, though, I’ve realized that my “type” isn’t nearly as specific as I once thought it was. My tastes have changed, broadened, and sometimes surprised me. I can find all sorts of men attractive, including plenty who look nothing like the men I would have described as my ideal when I was younger. More importantly, I’ve learned that what’s inside a man can make him far more attractive to me than what’s on the outside.

A man can be absolutely gorgeous and check every box on my imaginary list, but if he’s arrogant, cruel, selfish, or simply unpleasant to be around, that physical attraction can disappear remarkably fast. On the other hand, I’ve known men who might not have immediately caught my eye across a crowded room, but the more I got to know them, the more attractive they became. Intelligence, kindness, humor, compassion, confidence without arrogance, and a genuine interest in other people can transform the way I see someone.

Looks matter, of course. I’m not going to pretend they don’t. Physical attraction is often what first catches our attention, especially when all we have to go on is a photograph or a handsome stranger walking past us. But there’s a difference between what initially attracts us to someone and what makes us continue to find that person attractive.

All of that being said, apparently some things never change.

If you asked me to describe the physical “type” I’ve consistently found attractive throughout my life, the guy in this picture comes pretty darn close. Tall and lithe rather than overly muscular, with a lean, naturally athletic body and just a smattering of chest hair. Give him blond hair and blue eyes, and he would pretty much check every box.

I’ve wondered why blond hair and blue eyes have always had such an effect on me. I suspect there are at least two reasons. The first is that my earliest crush was a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy. Maybe somewhere in the back of my mind, that first experience of being intensely attracted to another guy established a template that has stuck with me ever since.

The other possibility is much simpler: it’s the opposite of me. I have brown eyes, and I had brown hair before most of what I have left decided gray was a better option. Maybe there has always been something particularly appealing about those lighter features because they’re so different from my own.

Of course, plenty of men I’ve been attracted to over the years haven’t had blond hair or blue eyes. Some haven’t been tall. Some haven’t been particularly lithe. Some have been hairy, some smooth, some muscular, some skinny, and some somewhere in between. Attraction has a funny way of ignoring the rules we make for it.

And the older I get, the more I realize that the men who stay attractive in my mind aren’t necessarily the ones who came closest to some physical ideal. They’re the ones whose personalities drew me in. Someone can become more handsome the longer you know him just as easily as someone beautiful can become decidedly less so once he opens his mouth.

Maybe that’s the difference between having a “type” and actually being attracted to someone. A type is an ideal we carry around in our heads. Attraction is much messier, more unpredictable, and ultimately more interesting.

Still, if a tall, lithe, blond-haired, blue-eyed man with a little chest hair happens to walk by, I’m probably going to notice.

I’m only human.

What about you? Do you have a “type”? And if you do, have the people you’ve actually fallen for fit that type—or have they completely surprised you?