I went to a linux meeting last night and the speaker was a GIRL! MIT graduate, Lawrence Livermore Lab and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center physicist, but she was FIT! Skinny, muscled, Jane-Fonda-in-the-70s arms, trim tight body under a relaxed polo shirt tucked into herringbone slacks. God, is she smart.

The linux guys were more animated than usual (I was the only other female in the room) and her talk was on linux in CARS. Cars! The guys loved it. And she was funny. At one point she grumbled, “I’m too old and bitter to think they will fix that…” The audience laughed.

Then I realized she was bike lady. http://www.exerciseforthereader.org/ I had found her page months ago from her postings on the devchix listserv.

My take away is how she manages stress. Her website is simple and full of info. It says “Logout, go outside!” This woman has fun. She apologized to the guys for her attire. “I had to go to Intel today for a developers conference and I knew I had to dress up to cope with the scary grownups.” She got a laugh. She likes Chrissie Hynde’s advice to women:

Chrissie Hynde's Advice

I think Christianne Northrup is right, your body is a barometer of how you are doing in your life — in the largest, spiritual sense. I think I am going to change my attitude about work being more important than exercise. I can exercise more and accept a lower work output. I don’t want to be forced into taking care of myself due to a bad diagnosis. I want to choose it.

I choose it now.