A new way to read 168 Hours, weekend in Nashville + a week of workouts

It’s a bit of a hodge podge post today!

First, if you’ve been wanting to read 168 Hours, here’s a new way to try. Google has been working with a handful of non-fiction authors to bring some of the benefits of AI to older books in a way that respects IP. 168 Hours is one of those books. You can buy the ebook here and then search and access various material through Google’s Notebook program. Google is giving away a limited number of complimentary copies of the 168 Hours ebook to jumpstart this program. You can enter code EXPERTINTELLIGENCE at checkout to see if it’s still redeemable when you’re reading this. I really enjoyed writing 168 Hours, and I’m excited to see it get a new audience.

Now onto the weekend…I took a quick trip Friday-Sunday to Nashville. My college kid transferred to Vanderbilt for his sophomore year. My husband brought him down in August (I was on my way to Sydney) so I hadn’t seen him in his new environment. Parent weekend didn’t quite work so I blocked off this weekend to go.

My flight down on Friday was uneventful, if an hour late. I took an uber to my hotel (the Marriott at Vanderbilt, right by the stadium) and then met up with my son at a nearby Starbucks. He took me on a brisk walking tour of the entire campus, showing me where his classes were, the campus landmarks and the like. Vanderbilt is quite pretty. It is right in Nashville but feels kind of separate, so there’s a “best of both worlds” quality. You can find restaurants and stores and enjoy big green quads with old trees.

We had a late dinner reservation, so we went back to our respective rooms for an hour or so. Then we went to the Finch. The food was good but wow are there a lot of bachelorette type parties! I hadn’t worn the official Nashville outfit of a little dress with cowboy boots. Oh well.

On Saturday I was up early with the time change. I went to the gym and ran on a treadmill looking right out at the football field. It was a very rainy day, so I was glad I wasn’t actually going to the game, but it was kind of cool to see from inside.

After I got cleaned up, my friend Mary Laura Philpott came to get me. I know her through writing circles and getting to see her was a bonus of going to Nashville! We had brunch at the Chloe — eating some absolutely amazing fried chicken biscuits (pictured). When in Nashville!

I then met up with my son and we went to the Mall at Green Hills. I had a really strong sense of deja vu, but that was because this is also a Simon mall (like the King of Prussia mall in PA) and so it had many of the same stores and even some similarities of layout. We shopped at Abercrombie and American Eagle among a few other places. Meanwhile, I was getting dispatches from my husband, who was at KOP mall with our daughter shopping for a homecoming dress. It took many hours but they did find one (good, because homecoming was Saturday night!). We did not stay quite so long at the equivalent mall in Nashville, but my son managed to get some good cooler weather clothes. We went back to the university and I got to see my son’s apartment — he shares a 2-bedroom apartment with two other transfer students. So now I know where he is calling from.

I went back to my room for a bit and thought I might rest but that didn’t really happen because the football game was going on. My “stadium view” room didn’t quite show the field but I could see the scoreboard and the videos of each play. Vanderbilt did not do so well. It was also very loud. So I just watched and relaxed and worked.

Then my son and I met up again to go to an Italian place (Amerigo) — we had Caesar salad and pasta and it was a very nice, albeit fairly quick meal. He then announced he was going to go study, which seemed surprising to me on a Saturday night, but I do not question these things. Before he went I made sure he got all the things I brought for him from home: his mail-in ballot, his contacts, and a mug my husband apparently got for him (not sure on that one).

Sunday AM I had been planning to go back to the gym but then I saw that the rain had mostly stopped. So I crossed the street and ran in Centennial Park. This was kind of fun — I looped around the Parthenon several times (and the nearby lake) and took in the stalls that were setting up for the Tennessee Craft Fair. Much more entertaining than running in place. I grabbed breakfast from McDonalds (it was right there, and I just ran…) and went back to my hotel. After check out I met up with my son again to go to Aba, which is a Mediterranean restaurant. We had a combo of things like hummus and French toast (brunch!). Fun. Then it was back to the airport where my flight was an hour delayed but considering how much the storm was messing up travel everywhere that was not so bad. I was home around 8:40 p.m. and now am plunged back into the workweek.

In trying to keep myself accountable, here’s my list of last week’s workouts.

Monday – 30 minutes of strength with my trainer via Face Time.

Tuesday – 2.5 miles on the treadmill at night + some strength (I can do push-ups and bicep curls while waiting for the treadmill to reset, plus I did some other things after).

Wednesday – 2.1 miles on the treadmill from 7:30 before needing to go get my 11-year-old at church.

Thursday – 3.3 miles looping around the Haverford preserve in the afternoon. This was my little treat for finishing most of my work on time. The trees haven’t really changed yet but it’s pleasant nonetheless, and only about 8 minutes from the house. Plus I put gas in the car on the way back, so it was almost like not even an extra errand.

Friday – no formal exercise but walking all around Vanderbilt briskly was about 6000 steps!

Saturday – 2.5 miles on hotel treadmill + strength (hotel gym machines + weights)

Sunday – 3.1 miles around Centennial Park in Nashville.