aimless ramblings
Fuzzbutt and I wandered to the local baseball/soccer/football field/cinder track to have a little off leash time in the misty snow that's coming down. Mist sucks, regardless of whether it's in the rain form or the snow form. The snow form is graceless, ono proper flakes, and in this case a lot flailing about for the thinnest veneer of snow on the ground. But tell that to the dog. He was running around catching snowflakes on his tongue.
It was one of those moments I regretted not having my camera with me. There was just a thin layer of snow over a dark cinder track which made every foot/paw print and tire tread (it's an abused cinder track) look like a moonscape. But I knew that by the time I got home, the light would have changed, the snow would have changed and the moment was gone. Better to stick to snowflake catching and playing "police dog takedown". Mental note to self, must get smaller dog next time, one that can only jump maybe to my hip and not all the way to my shoulder.
Upstairs/Downstairs
I'm in the process of reading two books (would be more if I didn't think my brain would explode. My downstairs book (aka the one I read when I get a few spare minutes in my day) is "Animals in Translation" which so far has been a surprisingly good read about how this woman uses her autism to identify with animals. Her job is to work at stock yards to find reasons why animals balk at doing things like walk into the squeeze box to get shots. When they balk, they get zapped, so she's hoping for more humane treatment when they behave better.
The upstairs book, though, has the best title ever. Basically, I love it because the title fills up the whole front of the book. "Crunchy Cons: how birkenstocked burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers and their diverse tribe of countercultural conservatives plan to save America (or at least the Republican Party)" Since both Chris and I qualify (essentially it translates to "conservative hippy"), I figured it was worth a read. For Chris, he's determined to read it even though it sets his teeth on edge just hearing the term "crunchy con." In other words, look for me to walk around the house the next few days going "Crunchyconcrunchyconcrunchycon".
Ah, the joy of books.
A Bike Racer's Wife
Only a bike racer's wife could hear her husband call another man's wife and say
"It's beautiful outside, wanna hook up?"
and maintain her calm.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
The Girl Scout cookies have arrived. If anyone needs me, I'll be running thin mints off all weekend
Op Fab - fatuous post number 1,246
Cue the rumba music, I lost two more pounds.
Ah, diligent dieting.
Oh crap, diligent dieting. Oh well. I'll celebrate by wallowing in cheese and green curry (coconut milk = saturated fat = bad) when I hit goal.
I think it's really funny because this has been a horrible week when it comes to exercise. Sometimes sharing space in bed with the dog has me twisted in knots. Said knots are currently located in my calf, and at the base of my neck, leading me to have less interest than usual in working out.
I had a good run today, which is amazing because I struggle under the best of circumstances with running. Running when I can't turn my head and when any part of my leg is cramped seems like it should be death. But I managed to run two 6 min reps followed by two 5 min. Which is a great prep for jumping up to 3 x 8 min reps next week. Throw in lat pull downs and 50 exercise ball sit ups and I had a really good for me workout. Maybe I was just buoyed by my unexpectedly light weigh in. Whatever works, I'm not complaining.
Getting Old
Yesterday I went to a salon to have a facial
1. For you perverts...shut up
2. For everyone else, yes it's shee shee.
My skin for the last few weeks has looked HORRIBLE. Winter has taken it's toll, and the only description can be "chapped". And last night they made clear why. At some point my skin went from oily, to delicate. Awesome. For those not in the know, it's a huge difference in skin care.
Oily:
1. Scrub face with bleach
2. Rinse with kerosene
3. Exfoliate with sandpaper
See? Easy!
Delicate:
1. Mist air around face with cool rose glycerin water (available at our counter for $350)
2. Walk through mist to moisten face
3. Apply our super expensive delicate skin wash (an additional $720)
4. Remove by dabbing with organic cotton 220 thread count gentle-wash-cloth (special cloth available for $160)
5. Exfoliate by sitting in dark room thinking abrasive thoughts
6. Mist air around face with cool rose glycerin toner (which is far different than the water used in step 1. An additional $350)
7. Apply our extra gentle moisturizer made with natural plants (as opposed to the chemical ones?), chamomile, lavender and roses all crushed on the thighs of virgins. ($950.)
Actually the woman who did the work was pretty cool about it, and recommended cetaphil instead of their product, although she did recommend their mild exfoliator. Since exfoliation is not something I've ever been awesome at, and I figured she was cool to mention the cetaphil, I bought the exfoliant. Sucker.
So while I'm pretty content in the skin I'm in, I now have to learn to live with the new, more delicate me. But my face looks a thousand times better today, so it was a worthwhile trip! Next to think about will be manicure/pedicure. You're not shee-shee until your nails say so, you know.
Ah the joys of working from home...
I love that I can still get work done AND watch movies. Sweet deal. So I watched "Shipping News", which I liked better than I thought I would. Now on to "Dangerous Liaisons". I watched the opening of the movie and realized "Oh, yes, the movie with the push up bras that could have won the "best engineering" award. Can't wait!
Wow...these people are evil.
"I want the excitement of watching her betray everything that's most important to her. Surely you understand that. I thought betrayal was your favorite word."
"No, no, CRUELTY. I always think that has a nobler ring to it."
Mediocre Movie nights
Hmm, a couple of ok flicks which qualified as not bad enough to turn off, not good enough to be excited about.
First up was "Hope and Glory". Rather than be a tale with intro, conflict resolution, climax, denouement and all of that good stuff, this is more along the lines of an extended slice of life move. It's set in London during WWII, and follows one families highs and lows as the war progresses. And then it just sort of ends.
Second was "Beyond the Sea" about Bobby Darin. This is sort of "De-Lovely" for the 60s. Overall not really that exciting, with the only really touching scenes coming at the very end. 1:45 is a long time to wait.
In neither case do you need to run screaming from the room should you be shown the movies. But don't knock your grandma down to see them either.
Labels: Movies
Summers End
Summers
stepped down as president of Harvard.
As a good feminist/engineering graduate, I know that should gratify my heart. But really I think this was a tempest in a tea cup. Hardly a victory for women everywhere. What Larry Summers said was that women aren't innately drawn to the sciences. God help him, one delicate flower said it almost made her faint. Nice going ma'am, way to break the stereotype.
But the reality is... how many little girls do you know who are craving a chemistry set? Based solely on my own experience, I don't know a lot of women who have the remotest interest in math or science. (It reminds me of a South Park episode where Wendy says "Mom, what's 6 x 8?" and her mom replies "Oh, honey, those are completely different numbers!") The women I do know who have gotten involved in math, science, and engineering are as good or better than their male peers, often because they've felt the weight of all of femininity on their shoulders. But what's at issue is general inclinations to math and science vs individual abilities to be involved in math and science. The fear is that a lack of women in the field will discourage those with the ability, and encourage the morons who think women can't do it. Should all women be kept out of the sciences or prevented from advancing, even if they're the right stuff? Of course not. But I don't think that's what Summers was saying. He was addressing the question of the number of women in sciences. And that number is considerably smaller than the number of men in science.
So, no, I don't think Larry Summers said women can't do it. I think he said something incredibly non-PC, and he's paid the price. But playing politics is part of education. I guess it was his turn to learn something.
Duh
"Secret to a Happy Marriage" says
WebMD. Huge drumroll and we find out that it's focus more on your partner than on yourself.
Next up: Bears poop in the woods. Report at 11.
Surprise!
Who's surprised that the first photo on my new camera was of Fred? Yeah, that's what I thought
And as further proof that inmates are running the asylum, my hubby post ride with friends, pre-ride with Fred
Brrr
It's 5 degrees out. My husband left an hour ago for a mountain bike ride. The dog begged and begged to go out until I finally let him out and now he's just laying in the driveway making sure no squirrels approach the house.
I live in a nuthouse.
Moooooooooo
So since I was doing all of that nutritional reading, one of the things I've run across is that a lot of people don't know that they have those other allergies to dairy. Not the ones that leave you unpleasant to be around, we're talking about the kind that aggravate runny nose and stuffed up head. So... Being allergic people, we went dairy free for a couple of weeks to see if we can tell the difference. And the answer is....yes for him, yes but not a lot for me. And now we move into an arena where we're sort of vegan meat eaters. (Our vegan friends' heads have just exploded). With the occasional break because we cannot live without pizza and ice cream, we're going to try to avoid dairy.
So that led to today's adventure - making tofu sour cream. Whipped it up, took a taste and
BLEEEACCCCHHHH
Washed it down the sink. Some areas are better avoided all together I guess!
Christmas in...er...winter...
Man it's totally like Christmas around here. Both sets of awesome shoes are in (Haven't tried on the boots yet, sandals are wicked cool). I also got a Jean Paul Gaultier blouse off of eBay. Nothing exciting looking on the rack, but when I put it on, I realized "Holy crap...is that...a WAIST?" And I got a screamin' good deal. Anyway, then we have this employee incentive program, and my boss in the last year has given me enough points to finally join the 21st century and get a digital camera with the points. Since my beloved Nikkon bit the dust last year (Damn Mt Washington!), I've been taking pictures using Chris's cell phone. It's really just not the same.
Anyway, there are two ways this can go - either you'll not hear from me for a long, long time, or else this blog will turn into a documentary.
But first I have to walk the dog. He looks so woeful that I'm afraid wrist slitting is in the offing.
Then pictures. In my boots and blouse on my exercise ball (which I get with more employee point stuff). Sounds kinky, no?
Smiley
While I'm linking to other blogs,
this picture and it's associated caption makes me laugh.
Sympathy Pains
Wow, do I sympathize with what
Heather at Dooce says about losing her dog. We lost Fred overnight a few years ago in a bummer of an accident. The dog outsmarted us. He and my husband went mountain biking, but when Fred got tired, he just went back to the car without mentioning the fact to my husband. After a comedy of errors involving my husband checking the park while someone saw Fred in the parking lot and worried that he would get hit on the busy street next to the parking lot. He took Fred home. Oh yeah, and Fred wasn't wearing his collar. Alas, his dog was not down with Fred visiting, so Fred slept in the garage that night. And we walked through the park for hours calling him. I kept envisioning my baby having fallen off one of the steep hillsides, laying hurt in the snow someplace, wondering why we wouldn't come get him. Finally I went home to call vet clinics while my husband got flyers made up and plastered the park and adjoining streets. At about 2AM, he found the note that the guy who had Fred had left. And he came home. The guy called at 7:30AM, and we went back to the park to get our boy. 12 horrible hours without our baby. I cried
a lot.
I know if you don't have a dog, it's really weird. It's the whole "It's just a dog!" But, Dooce, I
totally understand. The plus side that came out of it was we managed to get through that totally devastating evening without getting mad or calling each other names. Kind of a good pre-marriage test of how we handle things when the going gets tough.
Dooce
Contentment
We went out for our Valentine’s Day outing yesterday, a low-key affair with early dinner at our favorite local Mexican place, and then a walk down the block to REI and a book store. Then we went home and watched “Meet the Fokkers”. It’s funny; a few years ago it’s not the kind of thing that would have sounded exciting to me. But end of the night last night I thought “Man…this was an awesome evening.”
Into the Arms of Strangers
Wow, talk about a documentary that will rip your heart out and stomp that sucker flat….
This is the story of the kindertransport. In 1938 & 1939 organizers in Britain managed to get the Nazis to allow 10,000 (mostly Jewish) children out of the country, and they were taken into homes in Britain. The story is told through interviews with children who were part of the transport. One woman’s father couldn’t bear to let her go, and ended up pulling her out the window of the train as it began to leave and took her home. When she was finally rescued after 10 concentration camps, she was 14 years old and weighed 58lbs. Most of the children’s parents were killed during the war in concentration camps, but a few discussed how difficult it was to be reunited with their parents after being away from them for 6-9 years. Their parents sent away 8-10 year olds, and got back teenagers/young adults. One woman talked about going to Britain and going house to house begging for jobs for her parents so that they could get out of Germany before the war started.
Very compelling.
Labels: Movies
Portrait of a Modern Ninja
Happy Valentine's Day
I.HATE.MORNINGS
Danish Cartoons - never too much
This is really late to the party, but Dave at Garfield Ridge has
a fair point about the famous Danish cartoons. Doesn't keep me from wanting to say "Dude, if the Catholics rioted every time something offensive was said, written, cartooned or otherwise artistically depicted, there wouldn't be a standing building in the country." But any commentary which contains the sentence:
I titled this post "a religious disconnect" because the world is now in a very bizarre transitional stage when it comes to religious belief. I'm not here to insult Western religious beliefs, but. . . c'mon, most people in the West believe in religion like they behold the power of cheese.
deserves a read.
Things that are good for you
Mmmm. Green Tea. Good for you. Lots of anti-oxidants.
Bleah.
I’m not even going to tell you what green tea looks like.
It doesn’t taste horrible, I just need to remember “MORE SUGAR” next time.
My mantra tonight: “I am healthier because of the antioxidants”. Assuming I recover from the caffeine high that 2 cups/day of green tea will give me. I may need that mantra, because sleep is probably right out. On the other hand, after my run today, I'm ready to nap right here at the desk.
Think I’ll stick with dark chocolate. Same caffeine high, more flavor.
I need to put the nutrition books DOWN.
Labels: Fab-Flab
Geek Giveaway
Too funny, I was reading a friend's blog, and she mentioned
this site which I've had book marked on my computer forever. Every once in a while I go oooh and ahhh over how far ancients traveled without the help of Boeing or cool frosty beverages. Back when dogs pulled the vehicle instead of lounging in the back seat. (Ahem. Fred.) And I thought "SEE! I'm not THAT big a geek!" Then I realized that she's a teacher, so she has to be interested in this stuff. I AM that big a geek. Oh well, the upside is little things make me happy.
Now to go try to figure out why on earth someone would shortcut through siberia...
Shoes!
Ok, so I have this little problem. I really love cute shoes, but shoes that are cute on size 6 feet look like death on size 11. Remember the chunky shoe phase of a few years ago. Yeah. Put those on my feet and it looks like monster truck treads. I know with my height I would look ridiculous with smaller feet, it just makes my personal trend towards overtaking Imelda Marcus somewhat more difficult.
But I got a great deal on these two cuties, and I'm ridiculously, girly excited. YES!
Laugh for the day
Ok, the Daily Mumps is usually pretty funny, but this particular one reminds me of a lot of family vacations where either my brother or I felt
like this. I say this with the caveat that my brother and I were both goody two shoes, so most of the time we genuinely loved being on vacation.
My personal downfall: Civil War battlefields. ("Yes, yes, they're dead. That's lovely. Let's keep moving, I have books to read")
His: old houses. ("This looks newer than Grandma's place!")
Wonderland - Update
Wow, if ever a movie were an ad for the joys of clean living, this is it. John Holmes, porn king, is the central figure in the story of the investigation into the murder of 4 people on Wonderland Dr. In this movie, he's a pathetic, drug-addicted loser with no backbone, no money, and no ethics. What he does have is a semi-ex wife (no divorce) and a girlfriend who does whatever he tells her to. This follows the investigation/unveiling of the actual story of what happened leading up to, and the night of, the murders
What it comes down to is - boys and girls, if you don't star in porn and don't do drugs and don't date/marry anyone who does, life gets a lot simpler.
Interesting movie, although not outstanding. Worth a gander if nothing else is in stock at blockbuster or if the netflix list runs low.
Update - ok, hubby feels it's a good movie. He felt the camera work was good, as was the acting. He's right. You certainly don't watch Val Kilmer in this movie and think "Ice Man!" So I'm willing to concede that I'm probably not of the nature to find this story compelling.
One thumb up, one thumb sideways on this movie...
Labels: Movies
When people go bad...
I got the humane society pet gazette today, and there on the front page was a story about a dog who was brought in last January with two broken legs, two broken teeth, badly beaten with a mysterious puncture wound because she pooped on the floor. The story ends well with this little doggy in a good home with her own kitten and back to full healthy. But it still makes you wince. The punishment for such things should be to experience what they inflicted.
Revenge of Operation Fabulous
Week 1 is here Week 2 is here Week 3 is here Week 4 is here Hmm, this is the end of week 5 of Operation Fabulous and I've lost a whopping 3lbs. The scary thing is I know how to lose weight - I did it at last week's weigh in. It's actually sort of easy. I cut saturated fats out of my diet and voily, 3lbs gone. Ok, there's probably more to it than that. But since the last weigh in, I've had two krispy kreme donuta and two hamburgers, and I think by themselves that's enough to nullify the workouts I put in this week. So I MUST get back on the wagon with the diet after this celebrational week.
It's been a rough week for my running. Monday I finished my six 3 minute run intervals, but had to have 2 minutes before my last two intervals. Wednesday wasn't bad, I increased to 3:30 intervals, still with 2 minutes before my last two intervals. Today was going to go for five 4 minute intervals, but there was an incident I won't get into for the third interval. It threw my already panting self totally out of whack, so I didn't finish interval four or start the last interval. No good.
All in all, I'd have to say I was darn lucky not to have GAINED weight this week!
Labels: Fab-Flab
Low fat or no?
Probably everyone on the planet has seen
this story and reached for the fried Mars bar by now. Christine was kind enough to look up the actual study from JAMA and her thoughts and mine sort of track:
First of all it was an impressive study in the size of the group studied (Total: 48000) with some good markers. It's great to see actual studies being done about nutrition.
but...
Like any study, there has to be some limit to the length of the study. This was done on women over the age of 50. A study has not yet been done to see the long term effects of low fat (or higher fat as the case may be). The study specifically cut out people already eating 32% fat or less. Too bad they couldn't have been in as a separate group to compare to the control and the newly low fat crowd. Also, the study was over 8 years, so there's no telling whether that's long enough.
They relied on self-report a lot. They did have some markers that indicate the people were truthful, but what if the intervention group diverged during some months & got back on the program about folow up time? They did not track lifestyle. What if the higher fat people wanted to control their weight & started to exercise at some points which would have changed their risks. The BMI, waist, and physical activity data suggest this was not a factor, but again it was NOT controlled. Also, what about other known factors like smoking, alcohol, drugs, exposure to chemicals, etc?
They "assumed" that if people reduced their fats to 20%, they would naturally have less than 7% saturated fat. Based on what? And - their intervention group NEVER got to 20%. At lowest, the average was 24%, and by the end the average was 29%. Saturated fat these days is commonly considered to be the demon, not fat in general. And 29% is hardly low fat in terms of Pritikin or Ornish. The control group ranged from 35-37% - not very much higher than the current daily recommendations.
In other words, this study is a great first start - way to go gang! - but by no means an excuse to start cooking with lard. On the other hand, it certainly casts doubt that the extremes are worth going to in dieting. First of all, they're just hard to maintain - even with 18 nutritional counseling sessions in the first year, the group didn't manage to get to the 20% fat mark. Secondly, they may not be effective.
My theory at this point is that while I love my fatty foods, I'm doing my best to mostly eat veggies, fruit, beans, skinless chicken breasts, and other foods low in saturated fat, and as unprocessed as possible (i.e. as much homemade as I can sanely make). In other words no trans-fatty acids/partially hydrogenated oils, and limited saturated fats. My theory is that the only people ever to say fruits and veggies are bad for you are the carb fiends, and they've been acknowledged to be nutritionally disastrous from day one. Once the scientists have come to a decision about what's
good for you, I'll be glad to change my diet.
But lest anyone, including myself thinks I'm nominating myself for nutritional sainthood, I'm seriously considering a big juicy burger from Molly's tonight.
Movie-a-rama
Thanks to the powers of Blockbuster & Netflix, in addition to crappy weather, a cold, a sinus infection, and a general round of apathy, we watched movies instead of the Super Bowl this weekend:
Serenity - If you like the series, you'll probably at least like if not love the movie. If you didn't see the series, take a pass as you're just not going to understand how devastating the end is
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - I don't know why I thought this would be any more interesting to me than the book. Let's face it, when it comes to the book you either loved the British humor and off the wall space travels, or you thought it was weird. If you, like me, fell into the latter camp, you aren't going to change your mind when you see it on the big screen.
Swingers - we were absolutely hysterical at the beginning of this movie. Our two protagonists go to Las Vegas and happen to go to the place we stayed last fall. We lovingly nicknamed it "Crappy Crappy". They reflected the same general attitude towards the hotel in the movie. Overall, it's money, baby!
Rules of Engagement - Great acting from Samuel L Jackson & Tommy Lee Jones. Not my type of movie overall, but that's more a personal preference than any kind of reflection on the quality of the movie. My hubby loved it.Labels: Movies
Interesting website
I mysteriously got a book in the mail yesterday called "The RealAge diet". I have sort of skimmed through, but what was even more interesting is the actual website:
www.realage.com. The basic theory is that your lifestyle choices speed or slow aging - something we've known all along. I like that mine has slowed my aging by 3 years. I need to keep working on that so I can be the same age as my husband. I also REALLY like their weights programs. They offer you choices of strength exercises that require machines, weights, and nothing. Each exercise comes with a detailed description of how to do it, and then when you're done selecting what goes into your weight program, you can print out a fitness plan to allow you to track your strength training.
I gave it a whirl today, aye carrumba! It's tough. I can feel that I have shoulders. My muscles are totally screaming "How do we maintain our girlish figures!?" I also did 30 min exercise bike and 15 min treadmill. Given I was already sore from yesterday's run, I'm just pathetically crying on my desk right now. Good thing I'm in the back corner, by a window. Send ibuprofen.
Setting Expectations
The personal laptop suffered from a bad interaction with gatorade a few days ago, so my man called Dell and it's under warranty.
Today he was giving me the update.
"So I get this weird email from Dell saying they can't be using Hueys unless this is the marine corps."
Huh? I guess that would be a weird email.
Then we finally established that the Marine Corps/Hueys thing referred to the menu for the DVD of "Rules of Engagement" that's on in the background.
Dell just realized that they hadn't set his expectations, and he needed to call one more place to get the box in which to return his aquatic laptop.
All has been made clear
OpFab Week 4
Week 1 is here Week 2 is here Week 3 is here She shoots, she scoooooooores! Hmmm, wrong metaphor for Super Bowl weekend. How about “TOUCHDOWWWWNNNN!” I finally had a weight swing on weigh in – 3lbs. Which just baffles me. Even though I did diet, there’s NO WAY I was 10000 calories less in the last 7 days. What is that, like 1500 calories a day in the negative? Given I didn’t spend the week in some African village on the Sudanese diet, I have no idea where the weight went. As long as it stays away, I’m happy. Baffled, but happy.
Of course then I blew it all with today’s chow. 1 Krispy Kreme glazed donut for breakfast, washed down with a pepsi, a free hamburger for lunch with cake for dessert and a sprite. I’m pretty sure I gained all 3lbs back with that. Tonight, though, we’re having tasty turkey-barley skillet which has the double bonus of being good for you and tasting really, really good. That will make all of the other calories go away, right?
Labels: Fab-Flab
Delay of Game
Christine and I have been working on this running program which is supposed to get you up to 30 min continuous in 8 weeks.
It breaks down like this:
Week 1 Run one min, walk 90 seconds. Repeat eight times. Do three times a week.
Week 2 Run two mins, walk one min. Repeat seven times. Do three times a week.
Week 3 Run three mins walk one mins. Repeat six times. Do three times a week.
Week 4 Run five mins, walk two mins. Repeat four times. Do three times a week.
Week 5 Run eight mins, walk two mins. Repeat three times. Do three times a week.
Week 6 Run 12 mins, walk one min. Repeat three times. Do three times a week.
Week 7 Run 15 mins, walk one min, Run fifteen mins. Do three times a week
Week 8 Run 30 mins continuously.
Ahem.
This week we're on Week 3. But I’m definitely going to have stay back a grade. Monday was a disaster and I only completed 5 of the 6 reps. Today’s run went better, but still not great. First 3 reps were fine, but I walked 90s instead of 1 min after the third one. Then I miscounted my run, so the 4th rep was only 2.5 min. Walked 2 min, 5th rep was fine, walked 2 min and only ran 2 min on the last rep. It sucks. I was just exhausted, face was fire red, gasping for air… It’s not like I’m running quickly, either, but I’m still way more miserable than I’ve been. These are 11-ish min miles, so not precisely Roger Bannister stuff. I think this is a tribute to how little cardio I’ve actually been doing the last few weeks, with more consistency on things that I can do easily at home, like pilates. Not that I want to cut the other stuff, it’s just going to be a bit of a curve to bring my cardio up to snuff as well. Anyway, today was better than Monday, I got 16.5 min running today as opposed to Monday’s 15 min.
Anyway, I went to the workout going “no way I’m just going to repeat this week, I’m going to really fight for that next step.” By the 5th rep, I thought, “Wow, I’m going to repeat this week.” What I may do is this weekend just go out and run without worrying about how long the intervals are. Just to sort of get my head cleared and not freak myself out, but still workout. If I do well on Monday, I’ll try to lengthen two intervals on Wed & Fri just to bring the overall running time to be the same as 5 min interval week. I’m shooting for 20 min of running by Friday, just different interval lengths.
Grrr.
But hey, I'm up to 45 situps on the exercise ball, and that's really not pushing to failure. So the pilates is working!
What your drink says about you
Waiterrant has a great post about what your drink says about you.Hmmm, I'm a Jack & Coke drinker, a beer drinker, and a margarita drinker. I didn't do badly with the 2nd two, but he didn't identify Jack & Coke.
Jack & Coke Your taste buds never evolved from that first hit of alcohol, but you're still EXTREMELY intelligent. (Ok, maybe not for that last part!)
Food and Drink
Getting to Know You
Hmm, a friend of mine sent this tonight, and I figured, that means no actual work has to go into writing the next blog. Sweet!Welcome to the Winter 2006 edition of getting to know your friends. What you are supposed to do is copy (not forward) this entire e-mail, and then paste it onto a new e-mail that you'll send. Change all the answers so they apply to you, and then send this to the people you care about, including the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends, if you did not know them already.
1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:45AM - dog and I had tussled for my pillow long enough.
2. Diamonds or pearls? Um, I lean towards pearl, although most of mine are of the faux variety. I have one diamond and without a doubt it's the nearest and dearest to my heart!
3. What was the last film you saw? Seabiscuit, the Lost Documentary. Not sure if it counts. Last night we watched Real Genius. Blast from the past for me, eye rolling adventure for the hubby.
4. What is your favorite TV show? Since we don't have the tv hooked up for either cable or aerial, I'm dependent on what Netflix has in stock. I got hooked on a short run series called Firefly most recently.
5. What did you have for breakfast? Honeynut Cheerios in soy milk and orange juice
6. What is your middle name? Ann
7. What is your favorite cuisine? I like most, probably Italian as comfort food, and thai or ethiopian for exotica.
8. What foods do you dislike? German. Bland, bland, bland...
9. What is your favorite chip flavor? Ranch
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I listen to XM radio mostly, and digging The Killers, Jet, Gorillaz, Bowling for Soup and other pop type of music. Not a deep river here!
11. What type of car do you drive? Honda Accord
13. What characteristics do you despise? People who whine but make no effort to improve their situation. People who don't know I'm right.
14. Favorite item of clothing? Cute, hip, grey pants which alas I just found a hole in the other day
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Hmm, Macchu Picchu in Chile, or Austria or retrace some of the places I've already been with my husband.
18. Where would you like to retire? South, probably. Someplace warm.
19. Favorite time of the day? Anytime I'm with my husband! (All together now... "Awwwwww")
20. What was your most memorable birthday? My 31st party. My friends threw a surprise party (thanks guys!)
22. Favorite sport to watch? Hmmm, in person, baseball. On tv cycling or figure skating.
23. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? Don't know.
24. Who do you expect to send it back first? No clue. C'mon Angie, I'm counting on you sister...
25. What fabric detergent do you use? Whatever my husband uses - he does the laundry!
26. Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi
27. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Er...neither? When I'm on vacation my natural sleep cycle is midnight to 8.
28. What is your shoe size? Canoe
29. Do you have any pets? Fred the Wonderdog, flirter with women.
30. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with your family and friends? No, thankfully things have been a bit quiet of late.
31. What did you want to be when you were little? Rich and idle.
32. Shampoo? Infusium
33. Soap? Any good smelling girly stuff. I'm not girly overall, that's where I make it up.
34 Summer/Winter? TOTALLY summer. I overheat, but I prefer it to freezing my butt off.
35. Wearing? jeans and an oxford. What a prep!
36 Eating? Drinking? About to have a light dinner
37. Listening to? My dog sighing deeply because he's not getting the attention a dog of his caliber deserves.
>***********THE LAST 24 HOURS**************
Cried? No.
Met someone new? No
Cleaned your room? Surely you jest
How many hours of sleep? 7
************DO YOU BELIEVE IN**************
Ghosts? Sorta, not really. Not a very supernatural gal
Yourself? Depends. Usually, but there are areas I'm a little unsure of.
Your friends? Absolutely!
Destiny/Fate? Yes - I totally believe things happen for a reason. Sometimes they're bad things, but usually there's a redeeming aspect in there somewhere.
Who have you known the longest of your friends? I think Christine - 15ish years now!
Update Good line from Christine's Response: 37. What do you like Listening to? my husband telling me I was right, or how beautiful I am, and for more common occurences: different types of music, my puppies snoring or breathing hard, ocean waves.
Favorite things from Angie's Response: 7. What is your favorite cuisine? yes.
8. What foods do you dislike? anchovies, lima beans, sprouts
(Gotta love the disliked foods, lima beans suck...)
