Due to some strange weight fluctuations, I have decided to abandon my new coffee addiction. Well, technically it isn't an addiction - because I don't miss it, minus having something to do/drink. But as I am sitting here in class, the student population is all discussing the merits of coffee and how they all have to have it for this class. Minus being tired, having coffee doesn't seem to change anything....... I still don't want to be here.
Is this what they call senioritis? Your last semester all you can think about are reasons why you shouldn't be here at all?
OK, and since I happen to be blogging while waiting for my class to start, here are the conversations going on behind me:
"OMG, I'm in my 20's! My birthday... I'm going out for sushi! I can't believe I'm in my 20's! I'm soooo old!" (hair flip and all.)
"My boyfriend, he's being a jerk. He isn't answering his texts... oh wait, it's like before 8AM isn't it? Huh..."
"Why do we even do homework? It's not like they need it, or something."
"Well I did my homework, but I didn't actually read the chapter."
"Dude, you see my car? I like it as much as chicks."
(Someone save me. Please. It's amazing I just took up drinking coffee, and not something stronger. I'll write a real blog entry later. )
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Twit This
OK, before blowing off the idea completely (and being that it's such great fodder for procrastination) I am trying out Twitter. The thing is, I really don't get it. Someone explain to me why this is so popular?
And how the heck are people talking to one another?
At least I figured out how to decorate it. Beyond that, I think I'm pretty much lost.
And how the heck are people talking to one another?
At least I figured out how to decorate it. Beyond that, I think I'm pretty much lost.
Quite Contrary
It's the middle of winter, January, and all the gardening catalogs are stuffing my mailbox. There are pictures of pumpkins the size of compact cars, small children grinning over ears of corn or picking sunflowers, and bushes galore!
And outside it's freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing.
I know, I know. From what I understand, the organized people of the world peruse the catalogs, order their seeds, and get going on growing seedlings sometime around now. I tried this once. I filled my open space with rows of little dirt filled pockets and seeds. And they DID grow. But once it came time to plant them outside, they all died on me.
I stink at gardening. I don't mean a little. I don't mean if I only had more time I'd be great at it. I mean, I STINK at gardening. If it were a club, I'd be banned. I don't even have any live houseplants - they're all plastic. But they look great. Really. Yup.
Part of it is our soil, we're clay for the most part. But we have trucked in loads of dirt and mixed it all up. And I'd like to point out that everything else grows here... just not MY stuff.
Still, I want a good garden. I want fresh veggies (besides green beans and radishes, for some reason those suckers not only grow, but multiply.) I want pretty flowers, and big pumpkins, and sweet corn galore! I also want to landscape the area around my house so it looks nice too. But this is HARD, people! Worse, the weeds and other natural growth out here are vicious. I don't know how people keep it in check.
You need to weed every other day (I'm not exaggerating) which is a problem in an area so large for me (getting up and down repeatedly actually makes me motion sick.) So... How do you do it? I had no problems when I lived in a neighborhood. I think because it was smaller, and the wildlife was less. But in a big open space, how do you garden? What do you use to keep your plants growing but the others out of the way? Flame throwers?
Oh, and HOW do I stop the dang moose from eating all my strawberries?!??! Seriously! This year, it is GAME-ON, dagnabbit! He's brought my once lovely patch of over 100 strawberry plants down to 12. TWELVE, I say! And my garden is FENCED! We also had a critter (I'm guessing a mole, maybe?) who tunneled under the garden, and just like a cartoon started pulling down veggies below the surface. Mr. Savy actually saw three carrots go down in person. Who knew those Disney cartoonists weren't kidding?
Is anyone else getting all the catalogs and starting to plan for this year? I'm having garden anxiety.
And outside it's freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing.
I know, I know. From what I understand, the organized people of the world peruse the catalogs, order their seeds, and get going on growing seedlings sometime around now. I tried this once. I filled my open space with rows of little dirt filled pockets and seeds. And they DID grow. But once it came time to plant them outside, they all died on me.
I stink at gardening. I don't mean a little. I don't mean if I only had more time I'd be great at it. I mean, I STINK at gardening. If it were a club, I'd be banned. I don't even have any live houseplants - they're all plastic. But they look great. Really. Yup.
Part of it is our soil, we're clay for the most part. But we have trucked in loads of dirt and mixed it all up. And I'd like to point out that everything else grows here... just not MY stuff.
Still, I want a good garden. I want fresh veggies (besides green beans and radishes, for some reason those suckers not only grow, but multiply.) I want pretty flowers, and big pumpkins, and sweet corn galore! I also want to landscape the area around my house so it looks nice too. But this is HARD, people! Worse, the weeds and other natural growth out here are vicious. I don't know how people keep it in check.
You need to weed every other day (I'm not exaggerating) which is a problem in an area so large for me (getting up and down repeatedly actually makes me motion sick.) So... How do you do it? I had no problems when I lived in a neighborhood. I think because it was smaller, and the wildlife was less. But in a big open space, how do you garden? What do you use to keep your plants growing but the others out of the way? Flame throwers?
Oh, and HOW do I stop the dang moose from eating all my strawberries?!??! Seriously! This year, it is GAME-ON, dagnabbit! He's brought my once lovely patch of over 100 strawberry plants down to 12. TWELVE, I say! And my garden is FENCED! We also had a critter (I'm guessing a mole, maybe?) who tunneled under the garden, and just like a cartoon started pulling down veggies below the surface. Mr. Savy actually saw three carrots go down in person. Who knew those Disney cartoonists weren't kidding?
Is anyone else getting all the catalogs and starting to plan for this year? I'm having garden anxiety.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
I Got Yer Speech Right Here.......
Last night my father came darting into the room on the Ojo phone while I was talking to my mother (it's a video phone, and it rocks... but you actually have to be dressed to answer it.) He wanted to make sure I was watching the presidential speech. I told him that even under the threat of death, I was NOT going to watch it. I never really understood why people watch those speeches anyway, it's easier just to get the bullet-point cliff-notes version the next day and not feel like I had an hour of my life sucked painfully out of me one second at a time, similar to how I feel when stuck in a traffic jam... or perhaps lost in Wal-Mart.
I had a good excuse to placate my father however, and I can sum it up in three words:
ACCOUNTING. IS. EVIL.
I won't elaborate, I'm trying to block the memory.
Still, there is nothing like attending college the day after a presidential something or other. I'm amazed that people ask each other about what they thought of what they heard and who they were interested in for the election. Don't they realize it's kind of a dangerous conversation? People are nuts, seriously, and you get onto a topic like that you are risking your life.
I never know how to respond, I always feel like I'm walking in a minefield. If I say the wrong thing, the other person will explode and list every argument they've had queued up for days (weeks, months, years, decades.) I never verbally or outwardly agree with someone's opinion I am at odds with, and instead just work on changing the topic (I have never been grateful for the Super Bowl before today.)
As you can see, I generally don't even let my feelings be known on my blog - because everyone has an opinion and I don't need to broadcast mine to all of you, because I figure it won't make one iota of difference. I know where I stand, and I'm good with that. But navigating the conversational war zone of topics when you know you don't agree with the other person who approached you, and they don't actually want to hear your opinion (they're more interested in trying to change your opinion to theirs) is tough.
I may have to design myself a button that says "Opinions: all filled up, please move to the next line."
Or just hibernate until after the election. That has some definite appeal.
I had a good excuse to placate my father however, and I can sum it up in three words:
ACCOUNTING. IS. EVIL.
I won't elaborate, I'm trying to block the memory.
Still, there is nothing like attending college the day after a presidential something or other. I'm amazed that people ask each other about what they thought of what they heard and who they were interested in for the election. Don't they realize it's kind of a dangerous conversation? People are nuts, seriously, and you get onto a topic like that you are risking your life.
I never know how to respond, I always feel like I'm walking in a minefield. If I say the wrong thing, the other person will explode and list every argument they've had queued up for days (weeks, months, years, decades.) I never verbally or outwardly agree with someone's opinion I am at odds with, and instead just work on changing the topic (I have never been grateful for the Super Bowl before today.)
As you can see, I generally don't even let my feelings be known on my blog - because everyone has an opinion and I don't need to broadcast mine to all of you, because I figure it won't make one iota of difference. I know where I stand, and I'm good with that. But navigating the conversational war zone of topics when you know you don't agree with the other person who approached you, and they don't actually want to hear your opinion (they're more interested in trying to change your opinion to theirs) is tough.
I may have to design myself a button that says "Opinions: all filled up, please move to the next line."
Or just hibernate until after the election. That has some definite appeal.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Choose A Step
Last night I was laying in bed thinking about random things. Usually, I imagine myself off in a fantasy world where certain fantastically handsome men are falling at my feet (and perhaps doing my laundry,) but sometimes I run out of scenarios and dwell on more mundane things.
I recently saw two films that sort of set the mind to thinking about where you are in your life and why. The first was Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School. The second, Waitress, I watched just last night. Both, in their own ways, are about people who find themselves at a point in their lives and they don't know how they got there or how to get out. A sort of questioning moment of "Is this my life? How did I get here? What happened to me? Why?" (Which in turn has firmly wedged in my mind the Talking Heads song, Once In a Lifetime)
I remember when I lived in Chicago and I was hitting bottom with my life. I remember looking in the mirror at all 230 lbs of myself, my hair scraped back from my face that had been washed clean of any disguising cosmetics, nothing in the way... just me looking back. I remember asking myself how the hell I had gotten there. I never did drugs, so it wasn't a hitting bottom in the sense that it is usually applied to people who abuse a chemical of some sort, but I had been abusing myself in other ways.
Weight is always one of the first things we think about. It's the most evident sign that something is wrong with us minus strapping on a board that says "something is bothering me... a LOT." But honestly, weight isn't the big deal that everyone makes it out to be. The media machine and our society in general have done a fantastic job of telling us that if we're fat and unhappy all we have to do is get thin. And we believe them! We think back to when we were truly happy, and we almost always weighed less than we do at the bad points and we somehow fool ourselves into thinking that is the reason. It couldn't be the horrible job, the bad marriage, the issues with the children, our parents, or our friends. It couldn't be our life that hurts, it can only be our waistline. Right?
I sat there for a long time, looking at myself in the mirror. I realized I wasn't looking at someone who was fat; I was looking at someone who was dying. Not because of my weight, that was a very small part of it. I was dying because I hated who I was. I hated where I lived. I hated my life. I hated myself, and I had taken up behaviors that were destructive. I was dying, and worst of all - I DIDN'T CARE. I wanted to die. It seemed like a better alternative to how I was "living".
I woke up every morning hating that I woke up at all. I stepped on the scale, and while I wasn't surprised to see it go up, I couldn't help but feel it was one more brick in the insurmountable wall of my horrible life. The garnish on my plate of misery. And even though I deserved to see it go up because of my behavior, it hurt. I dressed in whatever I could find that would make me feel more invisible, and I went to work in a job that was lacking of respect or humane treatment. Even my cat, my only pet since I had been in kindergarten, had recently died. (It's like a bad country song, isn't it?) That was my life, and my life was killing me.
Since this was my rock bottom at the time, and I mentioned I wanted to die, I don't think it will come as any surprise that I actually contemplated rapidly speeding up the process. I sat there in my bathroom, looking at the bottles of pills I could use (because those were cleaner than some of the alternatives) and really started thinking. "How the hell did I GET here?"
Humans are so fascinating how they're linear in theory, but they jump around a lot by pinpoints. We see a successful person and we cannot fathom that they had years and years leading up to the level they are at that day. We see ourselves with 100 extra pounds, and we forget that it was a daily process - a little too much here, a skipped walk there, finishing that plate when we were full here, and having that extra helping there. For some reason, we have a problem realizing that all that exists for us is NOT just this very moment. And why not? We're told to live for the moment, aren't we?
Well, you should live for the moment... but maybe that moment isn't right now. Maybe that moment is at that high school reunion in two months? Or maybe your sibling's wedding next June? What ever happened to looking forward and anticipating something beyond this evening, and waiting? We sort of all forgot how to wait, didn't we? Think of how many times you hear people blaring on their horns in traffic, and you'll have to concede that people are horrible at waiting even for the small things.
At that point in time, there was a gulf between who I was, who I had been, and an abyss in the direction of who I wanted to be. In my mind I was 165 lbs and graduating High School, and then suddenly I was married, living in Chicago, and 230 lbs. Whoa.
As I sat there, I realized if the channel could change so swiftly in my life, then I could sure as hell change it again. I walked away from that room with the endgame possibilities lined up on the counter, and I took some drastic measures. I won't delve into them, but suffice it to say that Mr. Savy must really, really, REALLY love me - because he gave up everything to follow me into the fire.
I went for a slash-and-burn approach. If it was in my life and it was bad, it was eliminated. I quit my job, and realigned my direction. I moved, without a job or knowing where I was going to end up. I ended contact with people who were supportive of me dying, but not living or succeeding (it's amazing how many people out there are like that.) I started moving forward, even though it was only by small steps.
Was my weight on the table at that point? NO. I'm sorry, but if your life is on fire who cares if you are eating an apple or a piece of chocolate? That's like finding out the ship you are on is sinking fast in the middle of the ocean and you going to water the flowers in your room before you go find a life jacket. One of the biggest hazards of being over weight is that it distracts us from getting a grip on the things in our lives that need our attention. Now, is that an excuse to down a pint of Ben & Jerry's? Absolutely not, but if you are spending more time counting carrots and calories while your life disintegrates, you are a fool. And I was so tired of being a fool.
That rock bottom moment was around 1996. Almost 12 years ago. The channel has most certainly changed. You could look at it in pinpoint style and say I'm suddenly thinner than I ever was even in high school. I'm fit. Happily married. Children. Pets. Home. Security. Career(s). I had someone tell me the other day that I have it all. While I certainly don't think I have it all, I am a huge distance from where I was. I don't even remember what it was physically like to live in that obese body, but I do remember what it was like to live in that dying mind. I remember, and I know that to look at it in pinpoint fashion is a disservice. 12 years is a lot of time. Time is yours to spend it how you choose, and I realized it was every day that counted. Getting the days right so I could wait for and enjoy the moments that I wanted to "live for".
Maybe the biggest step of all was the realization that there were actually moments to live for. There is something beyond this very moment, and there always will be. Life is going to go on with or without you. It doesn't matter how you got here, you are here now. The only thing that matters is that you don't just sit here and stagnate thinking that this is it - this is the only moment you have, the only one to live for, the one moment to live in.
You can't live your life in the moment, you have to live your life for ALL of them.
Maybe that means stepping outside of yourself and taking a good look at where you are headed. Everyone should do that on a fairly regular basis. If you think you aren't going anywhere, you are wrong. Life is motion, and even you cannot halt it. But you can direct the flow. You cannot predict everything that will happen, and things will happen. You can, however, guide yourself in the direction that you want to go.
Once you know that, the rest is simple. It all begins with one step. Even better? It continues with one step at a time. You never have to do more than take the next step, just make sure it's in the right direction.
I recently saw two films that sort of set the mind to thinking about where you are in your life and why. The first was Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School. The second, Waitress, I watched just last night. Both, in their own ways, are about people who find themselves at a point in their lives and they don't know how they got there or how to get out. A sort of questioning moment of "Is this my life? How did I get here? What happened to me? Why?" (Which in turn has firmly wedged in my mind the Talking Heads song, Once In a Lifetime)
I remember when I lived in Chicago and I was hitting bottom with my life. I remember looking in the mirror at all 230 lbs of myself, my hair scraped back from my face that had been washed clean of any disguising cosmetics, nothing in the way... just me looking back. I remember asking myself how the hell I had gotten there. I never did drugs, so it wasn't a hitting bottom in the sense that it is usually applied to people who abuse a chemical of some sort, but I had been abusing myself in other ways.
Weight is always one of the first things we think about. It's the most evident sign that something is wrong with us minus strapping on a board that says "something is bothering me... a LOT." But honestly, weight isn't the big deal that everyone makes it out to be. The media machine and our society in general have done a fantastic job of telling us that if we're fat and unhappy all we have to do is get thin. And we believe them! We think back to when we were truly happy, and we almost always weighed less than we do at the bad points and we somehow fool ourselves into thinking that is the reason. It couldn't be the horrible job, the bad marriage, the issues with the children, our parents, or our friends. It couldn't be our life that hurts, it can only be our waistline. Right?
I sat there for a long time, looking at myself in the mirror. I realized I wasn't looking at someone who was fat; I was looking at someone who was dying. Not because of my weight, that was a very small part of it. I was dying because I hated who I was. I hated where I lived. I hated my life. I hated myself, and I had taken up behaviors that were destructive. I was dying, and worst of all - I DIDN'T CARE. I wanted to die. It seemed like a better alternative to how I was "living".
I woke up every morning hating that I woke up at all. I stepped on the scale, and while I wasn't surprised to see it go up, I couldn't help but feel it was one more brick in the insurmountable wall of my horrible life. The garnish on my plate of misery. And even though I deserved to see it go up because of my behavior, it hurt. I dressed in whatever I could find that would make me feel more invisible, and I went to work in a job that was lacking of respect or humane treatment. Even my cat, my only pet since I had been in kindergarten, had recently died. (It's like a bad country song, isn't it?) That was my life, and my life was killing me.
Since this was my rock bottom at the time, and I mentioned I wanted to die, I don't think it will come as any surprise that I actually contemplated rapidly speeding up the process. I sat there in my bathroom, looking at the bottles of pills I could use (because those were cleaner than some of the alternatives) and really started thinking. "How the hell did I GET here?"
Humans are so fascinating how they're linear in theory, but they jump around a lot by pinpoints. We see a successful person and we cannot fathom that they had years and years leading up to the level they are at that day. We see ourselves with 100 extra pounds, and we forget that it was a daily process - a little too much here, a skipped walk there, finishing that plate when we were full here, and having that extra helping there. For some reason, we have a problem realizing that all that exists for us is NOT just this very moment. And why not? We're told to live for the moment, aren't we?
Well, you should live for the moment... but maybe that moment isn't right now. Maybe that moment is at that high school reunion in two months? Or maybe your sibling's wedding next June? What ever happened to looking forward and anticipating something beyond this evening, and waiting? We sort of all forgot how to wait, didn't we? Think of how many times you hear people blaring on their horns in traffic, and you'll have to concede that people are horrible at waiting even for the small things.
At that point in time, there was a gulf between who I was, who I had been, and an abyss in the direction of who I wanted to be. In my mind I was 165 lbs and graduating High School, and then suddenly I was married, living in Chicago, and 230 lbs. Whoa.
As I sat there, I realized if the channel could change so swiftly in my life, then I could sure as hell change it again. I walked away from that room with the endgame possibilities lined up on the counter, and I took some drastic measures. I won't delve into them, but suffice it to say that Mr. Savy must really, really, REALLY love me - because he gave up everything to follow me into the fire.
I went for a slash-and-burn approach. If it was in my life and it was bad, it was eliminated. I quit my job, and realigned my direction. I moved, without a job or knowing where I was going to end up. I ended contact with people who were supportive of me dying, but not living or succeeding (it's amazing how many people out there are like that.) I started moving forward, even though it was only by small steps.
Was my weight on the table at that point? NO. I'm sorry, but if your life is on fire who cares if you are eating an apple or a piece of chocolate? That's like finding out the ship you are on is sinking fast in the middle of the ocean and you going to water the flowers in your room before you go find a life jacket. One of the biggest hazards of being over weight is that it distracts us from getting a grip on the things in our lives that need our attention. Now, is that an excuse to down a pint of Ben & Jerry's? Absolutely not, but if you are spending more time counting carrots and calories while your life disintegrates, you are a fool. And I was so tired of being a fool.
That rock bottom moment was around 1996. Almost 12 years ago. The channel has most certainly changed. You could look at it in pinpoint style and say I'm suddenly thinner than I ever was even in high school. I'm fit. Happily married. Children. Pets. Home. Security. Career(s). I had someone tell me the other day that I have it all. While I certainly don't think I have it all, I am a huge distance from where I was. I don't even remember what it was physically like to live in that obese body, but I do remember what it was like to live in that dying mind. I remember, and I know that to look at it in pinpoint fashion is a disservice. 12 years is a lot of time. Time is yours to spend it how you choose, and I realized it was every day that counted. Getting the days right so I could wait for and enjoy the moments that I wanted to "live for".
Maybe the biggest step of all was the realization that there were actually moments to live for. There is something beyond this very moment, and there always will be. Life is going to go on with or without you. It doesn't matter how you got here, you are here now. The only thing that matters is that you don't just sit here and stagnate thinking that this is it - this is the only moment you have, the only one to live for, the one moment to live in.
You can't live your life in the moment, you have to live your life for ALL of them.
Maybe that means stepping outside of yourself and taking a good look at where you are headed. Everyone should do that on a fairly regular basis. If you think you aren't going anywhere, you are wrong. Life is motion, and even you cannot halt it. But you can direct the flow. You cannot predict everything that will happen, and things will happen. You can, however, guide yourself in the direction that you want to go.
Once you know that, the rest is simple. It all begins with one step. Even better? It continues with one step at a time. You never have to do more than take the next step, just make sure it's in the right direction.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Blood and Coffee
After writing this morning on art, my daughter and I headed out to the mall. It was a mommy-daughter day, and she couldn't wait to act like a pre-teen and shop. She actually bought shoes with her allowance. She cannot be my child.
Anyway, as we were strolling along, she noticed a big Red Cross sign. She got all giddy and said "Hey mommy! You always say you donate when you can... can you???"
Seriously? My daughter, on our mommy-daughter-day, wants to see mommy bleed a pint?
Yeah, I did it.
I think you have to have a small (or not so small) morbid streak to donate, though. So many people came by and pressed their noses to the glass of the empty store front the Red Cross was occupying that they could have charged a fee and made out like bandits. My daughter was disappointed that they wouldn't let her really sit close and watch (morbid streak,) I think they were worried about having a child freaking out so they stationed her with a huge pile of Oreos in front of her at the tables about 10 feet away instead. She didn't suffer much, I'm thinking.
When it was over, though, I got a surprise! Free coffee! I guess if you donate right now (here, anyway) Dunkin' Donuts gives you a free pound of their coffee. I think the Universe is letting me know that my new coffee addiction isn't completely evil, don't you? Blood for Coffee... kind of a weird combination, but when it's only 2 degrees outside it's not a bad idea.
Even with coffee, though... I'm sleepy. I never do well after donating for about 24 hours or so. My mom theorizes that it's because of my low blood pressure. I think I'm just defective. Either way, I'm going to go nap now.
Anyway, as we were strolling along, she noticed a big Red Cross sign. She got all giddy and said "Hey mommy! You always say you donate when you can... can you???"
Seriously? My daughter, on our mommy-daughter-day, wants to see mommy bleed a pint?
Yeah, I did it.
I think you have to have a small (or not so small) morbid streak to donate, though. So many people came by and pressed their noses to the glass of the empty store front the Red Cross was occupying that they could have charged a fee and made out like bandits. My daughter was disappointed that they wouldn't let her really sit close and watch (morbid streak,) I think they were worried about having a child freaking out so they stationed her with a huge pile of Oreos in front of her at the tables about 10 feet away instead. She didn't suffer much, I'm thinking.
When it was over, though, I got a surprise! Free coffee! I guess if you donate right now (here, anyway) Dunkin' Donuts gives you a free pound of their coffee. I think the Universe is letting me know that my new coffee addiction isn't completely evil, don't you? Blood for Coffee... kind of a weird combination, but when it's only 2 degrees outside it's not a bad idea.
Even with coffee, though... I'm sleepy. I never do well after donating for about 24 hours or so. My mom theorizes that it's because of my low blood pressure. I think I'm just defective. Either way, I'm going to go nap now.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Brrr!
It's COLD, people! -2 it says on my desktop. That's just wrong, that is!
I had to run my puppy to the vet for a booster shot this morning, and I was late. So I grabbed a pair of shoes not thinking about it... an OPEN TOE pair of shoes. I'm sure I'll have to come up with something creative to explain the criss-cross pattern of the frostbite if I venture outside again this weekend. There are days when it is hard to remember why I like living here instead of some tropical paradise where I could sell pretty sea shells and coconut apparel. Today would be one of those.
It was so cold in my house when I got up this morning (52 degrees, we set it to 50 overnight, but it doesn't usually drop down so far) that I was cold even while working out this morning. How is it you can be cold and sweat at the same time? Shouldn't that be a physical impossibility?
Ugh, I can't even finish my blog entry. I'm going to go camp out by my fireplace.
Edit: A puppy update, since it was requested. He thinks he is a cat. His favorite toy is a stuffed mouse on a stick that was the cat's Christmas present. He goes bonkers leaping into the air and chasing it in circles. He even tried to get into the cat's cat-nip last week. So here is a picture I took just a moment ago with his bear-bear (yes, I know I need to vacuum):
My daughter has a toy called a scoozie, they're creepy as all heck (robotic weird animal thing) but Koda looks JUST like her toy when he puts his ears back (he does this frequently, I have never seen a dog with so much ear-control before.) I'll have to find it and get a photo of the two of them side by side. At least Koda doesn't laugh sinisterly now and then for no reason, unlike the toy.
I had to run my puppy to the vet for a booster shot this morning, and I was late. So I grabbed a pair of shoes not thinking about it... an OPEN TOE pair of shoes. I'm sure I'll have to come up with something creative to explain the criss-cross pattern of the frostbite if I venture outside again this weekend. There are days when it is hard to remember why I like living here instead of some tropical paradise where I could sell pretty sea shells and coconut apparel. Today would be one of those.
It was so cold in my house when I got up this morning (52 degrees, we set it to 50 overnight, but it doesn't usually drop down so far) that I was cold even while working out this morning. How is it you can be cold and sweat at the same time? Shouldn't that be a physical impossibility?
Ugh, I can't even finish my blog entry. I'm going to go camp out by my fireplace.
Edit: A puppy update, since it was requested. He thinks he is a cat. His favorite toy is a stuffed mouse on a stick that was the cat's Christmas present. He goes bonkers leaping into the air and chasing it in circles. He even tried to get into the cat's cat-nip last week. So here is a picture I took just a moment ago with his bear-bear (yes, I know I need to vacuum):
My daughter has a toy called a scoozie, they're creepy as all heck (robotic weird animal thing) but Koda looks JUST like her toy when he puts his ears back (he does this frequently, I have never seen a dog with so much ear-control before.) I'll have to find it and get a photo of the two of them side by side. At least Koda doesn't laugh sinisterly now and then for no reason, unlike the toy.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Accounting Reality
On a lighter note (verses my lower tones of late,) I thought I would share a little excerpt from my first class for Managerial Accounting, from a lecture she gave regarding "the real world" and what awaits graduates out there:
"You all had what... Mr. Rogers growing up?"
"yeah..."
"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood? Mr. Rogers?"
"yeah....'
"Well, Mr. Rogers is dead."
I almost spit out my coffee, it was a close thing. Now this is the kind of accounting teacher who will keep you awake during an 8AM class!
"You all had what... Mr. Rogers growing up?"
"yeah..."
"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood? Mr. Rogers?"
"yeah....'
"Well, Mr. Rogers is dead."
I almost spit out my coffee, it was a close thing. Now this is the kind of accounting teacher who will keep you awake during an 8AM class!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Fix-It Lists
I'm a rather unstructured person. I seem to do best when I have some structure, but a whole lot more flexibility. I'm more productive and I'm happier when I don't have an overload of rules raining down upon my person. Mr. Savy is the opposite, he likes his rules. Rules make the world keep on turning for him.
With those very distinctive differences you would think that he would love having plans and lists to organize what needs to be done, and that I would hate it. However, someone has a warped sense of humor because it is the exact opposite. I love my lists. I make lists about things that need to be accomplished, steps to getting there, etc. Mr. Savy hates those lists because all he sees is a huge assignment added to the pile (even though everything on the list he had been meaning to do anyway. I don't see how writing it down makes it any more real than thinking about it all the time?)
I have been in love with lists since I was a young child. I tried keeping a diary when I was around seven years old, but the only thing I ended up doing was making lists of stuff I wanted to accomplish or needed to do (i.e. "clean my room before mom kills me.") I'm good about my lists too, I almost always immediately launch into a hardcore effort working on the listed actions. It is for that reason, perhaps, that I have avoided making a list for many months now (er... quite possibly almost two years.) The last time I made a list, I ended up enrolled in college.
Now that I am finally facing my last semester, and graduation is on the horizon (albeit, it seems distant right now and I find myself extremely and unreasonably angry to be in school yet again,) I am finding that the urge to list what needs to be done in my life is starting to surface. My lists are not small or easily accomplished. They involve things like our financial goals, physical goals, and life goals. These lists are probably similar to what some people do for New Year's resolutions, but the difference is that I take my lists really seriously and pursue them with perhaps more vigor than most, which would be admirable if it wasn't so daunting to begin with.
Usually my lists revolve around solving things that are bothering me, and finding the solution. Personal growth and satisfaction always plays a huge role from education, family, and career to fitness and health. Any one of those things could consume all a person's energy... and I always have at least six things on my list. I usually start with a "if everything were perfect I would be/have/do" list, and then make a real list to try and achieve those goals. (Do any of you make lists like that? If you could arrange everything in your life to be the way you want it to be, what things would change?)
My list has been forming, whether I like it or not. I can't seem to help it. Right now it includes many things like getting my art back out there (I pulled out of many galleries and general circulation when I went back to school for my business degree, though this semester it looks as if I can combine the two) to finally landscaping my front yard (which sounds small, but remember I live on 11 acres, so just my front yard is bigger than most people's whole property.) Maybe I should try and throw in some easy ones like "mop the floor" just so I can feel like I have accomplished something in a short period of time... nah, who am I kidding. I'll never mop the floor and feel like I have done anything useful. I'll just have to stick with World Peace, and be done with it.
With those very distinctive differences you would think that he would love having plans and lists to organize what needs to be done, and that I would hate it. However, someone has a warped sense of humor because it is the exact opposite. I love my lists. I make lists about things that need to be accomplished, steps to getting there, etc. Mr. Savy hates those lists because all he sees is a huge assignment added to the pile (even though everything on the list he had been meaning to do anyway. I don't see how writing it down makes it any more real than thinking about it all the time?)
I have been in love with lists since I was a young child. I tried keeping a diary when I was around seven years old, but the only thing I ended up doing was making lists of stuff I wanted to accomplish or needed to do (i.e. "clean my room before mom kills me.") I'm good about my lists too, I almost always immediately launch into a hardcore effort working on the listed actions. It is for that reason, perhaps, that I have avoided making a list for many months now (er... quite possibly almost two years.) The last time I made a list, I ended up enrolled in college.
Now that I am finally facing my last semester, and graduation is on the horizon (albeit, it seems distant right now and I find myself extremely and unreasonably angry to be in school yet again,) I am finding that the urge to list what needs to be done in my life is starting to surface. My lists are not small or easily accomplished. They involve things like our financial goals, physical goals, and life goals. These lists are probably similar to what some people do for New Year's resolutions, but the difference is that I take my lists really seriously and pursue them with perhaps more vigor than most, which would be admirable if it wasn't so daunting to begin with.
Usually my lists revolve around solving things that are bothering me, and finding the solution. Personal growth and satisfaction always plays a huge role from education, family, and career to fitness and health. Any one of those things could consume all a person's energy... and I always have at least six things on my list. I usually start with a "if everything were perfect I would be/have/do" list, and then make a real list to try and achieve those goals. (Do any of you make lists like that? If you could arrange everything in your life to be the way you want it to be, what things would change?)
My list has been forming, whether I like it or not. I can't seem to help it. Right now it includes many things like getting my art back out there (I pulled out of many galleries and general circulation when I went back to school for my business degree, though this semester it looks as if I can combine the two) to finally landscaping my front yard (which sounds small, but remember I live on 11 acres, so just my front yard is bigger than most people's whole property.) Maybe I should try and throw in some easy ones like "mop the floor" just so I can feel like I have accomplished something in a short period of time... nah, who am I kidding. I'll never mop the floor and feel like I have done anything useful. I'll just have to stick with World Peace, and be done with it.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Just That Type
There are all sorts of people out there, and as it is often said it's variety that is the spice of life. There are shy quiet types, loud and boisterous, loud and lazy, loud and busy, quiet and lazy, quiet and scientifically analytical and busy, loud and scientifically analytically busy, loud and scientifically lazy... Well you get my point.
It happens that I am the type of person who is actually very shy, but tends to blabber at inopportune times and stick my foot in my mouth so frequently that pedicures are unnecessary, while barreling forward into 1,600 projects at once and forgetting to sleep on occasion. My friends call my foot in mouth disease being lively, exciting, and vivacious when they're being nice (I won't tell you what they call it when they're not.)
Personally, I call it a serious infection of stupiditis (with a side order of self-esteem-anxiety, just for fun.) For which there is no cure, currently.
I have always admired those with a quiet command of themselves. The ones who are active in their own life, going out and getting things done, all the while being quiet and dignified about the whole thing. I go out and tackle the world full throttle too, I just do it with a whole lot of noise and a serious lack of grace in the process. I'm the one you see accidentally skating backwards through the finish line, because she didn't see that dip in the road, and who then attempts to soothe herself with the fact that at least she did actually cross the finish line. Because finishing should be all that counts, right? Right?
Knowing that about myself makes me feel sort of... half-baked (no, not like that.)
I come from a cross-bred line of dignified idiots. You see, the dignified members of my ancestry married a bunch of loud idiots, and I am the result (scientifically speaking, my brother keeps me company in my blunderings so I figure there is a strong genetic factor involved.) You can look back through generations of family albums and see pair after pair of dignified individuals struggling not to roll their eyes in exasperation at their spouses. I figure it's a sort of roulette with the offspring; my father was dignified and his brothers were... well. But both my brother and I landed the UNdignified gene in full.
In my household, Mr. Savy is dignified. He is smart, savvy, quiet, thoughtful, and would never be seen tumbling down a flight of stairs and managing to land IN the laundry basket in front of guests. I, on the other hand, know full well that I prefer to fall into a basket of sweaters over jeans from a working level of experience. (And that is just the beginning.)
Sometimes, I feel that I shouldn't be left unsupervised (shock collar, perhaps?) I go out on my own and manage to blunder in some way almost every day. It's an art form at this point. Do other people notice? Sometimes, but I like to tell myself that the only person really paying attention is me, so I can go home and just be embarrassed for my own sake rather than theirs too (don't disillusion me, I couldn't take it.)
While I spend time actively digging out of my self inflicted mortification, I wonder how it would feel to be like the dignified members of the world. I asked Mr. Savy what it was like once, and he simply replied "It's nice." Yeah, he's a big help. But it was a dignified answer.
I've tried fixing my blundering ways, but it seems the more I try to fix/behave the more I mess up in ways I had never anticipated. And lets face it, 85% of being dignified is being silent. Me... silent? Yeah, shush, even I will concede that I'm usually ill when that happens.
I suppose it's even more painful being the blundering idiot when you admire the dignified people, because those are usually the ones who are most annoyed with you. Of course, that is the basis of every sitcom ever written right there, isn't it? We have our purpose, I suppose. Mr. Savy and various other dignified (staid?) friends of mine have mentioned that they would drive each other crazy, and that being around me is a welcome distraction. I'm not sure how I like being characterized as a distraction, it sort of makes me feel like I should don feathers and audition for the half-time show.
But I'm sure it was meant in a most dignified way.
So, are you dignified or certifiable? Do I have company in my tripping-up-the-stairs-into- potted-plant-in-front-of-my-boss-ness? Or are you the quiet, dignified, respectable sort... (and if you are, how is it?)
It happens that I am the type of person who is actually very shy, but tends to blabber at inopportune times and stick my foot in my mouth so frequently that pedicures are unnecessary, while barreling forward into 1,600 projects at once and forgetting to sleep on occasion. My friends call my foot in mouth disease being lively, exciting, and vivacious when they're being nice (I won't tell you what they call it when they're not.)
Personally, I call it a serious infection of stupiditis (with a side order of self-esteem-anxiety, just for fun.) For which there is no cure, currently.
I have always admired those with a quiet command of themselves. The ones who are active in their own life, going out and getting things done, all the while being quiet and dignified about the whole thing. I go out and tackle the world full throttle too, I just do it with a whole lot of noise and a serious lack of grace in the process. I'm the one you see accidentally skating backwards through the finish line, because she didn't see that dip in the road, and who then attempts to soothe herself with the fact that at least she did actually cross the finish line. Because finishing should be all that counts, right? Right?
Knowing that about myself makes me feel sort of... half-baked (no, not like that.)
I come from a cross-bred line of dignified idiots. You see, the dignified members of my ancestry married a bunch of loud idiots, and I am the result (scientifically speaking, my brother keeps me company in my blunderings so I figure there is a strong genetic factor involved.) You can look back through generations of family albums and see pair after pair of dignified individuals struggling not to roll their eyes in exasperation at their spouses. I figure it's a sort of roulette with the offspring; my father was dignified and his brothers were... well. But both my brother and I landed the UNdignified gene in full.
In my household, Mr. Savy is dignified. He is smart, savvy, quiet, thoughtful, and would never be seen tumbling down a flight of stairs and managing to land IN the laundry basket in front of guests. I, on the other hand, know full well that I prefer to fall into a basket of sweaters over jeans from a working level of experience. (And that is just the beginning.)
Sometimes, I feel that I shouldn't be left unsupervised (shock collar, perhaps?) I go out on my own and manage to blunder in some way almost every day. It's an art form at this point. Do other people notice? Sometimes, but I like to tell myself that the only person really paying attention is me, so I can go home and just be embarrassed for my own sake rather than theirs too (don't disillusion me, I couldn't take it.)
While I spend time actively digging out of my self inflicted mortification, I wonder how it would feel to be like the dignified members of the world. I asked Mr. Savy what it was like once, and he simply replied "It's nice." Yeah, he's a big help. But it was a dignified answer.
I've tried fixing my blundering ways, but it seems the more I try to fix/behave the more I mess up in ways I had never anticipated. And lets face it, 85% of being dignified is being silent. Me... silent? Yeah, shush, even I will concede that I'm usually ill when that happens.
I suppose it's even more painful being the blundering idiot when you admire the dignified people, because those are usually the ones who are most annoyed with you. Of course, that is the basis of every sitcom ever written right there, isn't it? We have our purpose, I suppose. Mr. Savy and various other dignified (staid?) friends of mine have mentioned that they would drive each other crazy, and that being around me is a welcome distraction. I'm not sure how I like being characterized as a distraction, it sort of makes me feel like I should don feathers and audition for the half-time show.
But I'm sure it was meant in a most dignified way.
So, are you dignified or certifiable? Do I have company in my tripping-up-the-stairs-into- potted-plant-in-front-of-my-boss-ness? Or are you the quiet, dignified, respectable sort... (and if you are, how is it?)
Monday, January 21, 2008
In A Word
I was asked not too long ago how I ended up with a blog. The answer isn't very exciting; I ran a women's fitness site where we all had journals, and one day I realized I was essentially blogging and why not just have my own page that I can play with?
The internet is an interesting thing. Blogs are even more interesting. Why? Why do we read them? Why do we write them? Why are they suddenly of such interest to the business world?
As much as I abhor reality television, the truth is that I love hearing what people are up to. Blogs give us a biased sneak peek into someone else's life and thoughts. It's pretty neat actually, and some of the people I have "gotten to know" are really amazing people. But by the same token, you can't ever really know someone via online. Even if you typed out your life story, no one would really know you because that takes real physical contact and presence, as well as time. There is so much missing online.
So, why do we write blogs? Well, a major perk of having a blog is the ability to be heard. Maybe not a single soul reads your blog, but at least you have typed up your thoughts and thrown them out there in their entirety. That's a lot more than most people are allowed to do in person on a daily basis. Living with others is an exercise in patience and interruption combined with compromise and (hopefully) understanding. But your blog is your opportunity to have no one interrupt you, and to put into a semi-permanence that which you really wanted to say. A sort of unrefined, brash version of your thoughts. Sometimes a person doesn't need to be heard (though it is often a most sincere wish). Sometimes it is simply about being allowed to speak at all, even if it's lost to the cacophony of the internet.
I've been writing online with my own blog for about four years now (I think... it might be longer. This is not my first blog.) Back when I started, the business world was just starting to pay attention. I remember media reports on the influence of certain bloggers, and how shocked everyone was over the amount of flux a silly little thing like a blog could induce. I remember reading about the worry that these disreputable versions of personal "reporters" would cause major problems because they lacked the normal checks and balances a news outlet (supposedly) had.
The current school of thought seems to have changed. Blogs are so numerous, and influential to the small (but desirable) demographic that they reach that businesses are working on finding a way to harness the resources that bloggers offer. Research firms are watching and listening (if you think I am wrong, check your blog tracking programs.) Suddenly all the silly bloggers like myself who simply wanted to say something are on the radar of far more people than we ever would have been several years ago. Suddenly our opinion counts. Businesses are even researching potential employees to see if they have a blog (I can't decide if I agree with this or not. At the university I attend right now there is a huge discussion over how employers are using things like Facebook and Myspace to research employees - even the ones who have deleted their profile, as nothing ever really gets deleted online apparently.)
And then, suddenly, there is a little bit of stage fright.
A major misconception about bloggers is that they're all aching to be in the spotlight, the center of attention, roses flying through the air to land at their feet while cameras flash and diamonds rain down from the sky. While I wouldn't mind the diamonds, the rest is far from true. Yes, there are many authors online who desire fame, even if it's on a miniature scale. But most, I have found, are like me and simply looking for a place to "be". We have a great deal of respect (and surprise) that so many stop by and say hello, because we never suspected that our boring lives and opinions would interest anyone else.
But then again, other people's lives interest us. Therein lies the biggest reason I think so many people blog; we can connect with others who live lives similar to our own as society grows so far apart. Sometimes it's nice to "scream" about whatever mundane thing has set our life on fire this week, and hear that we're are not alone. We're human. We're normal.
Alright, alright, we're sort of normal.
But I think there are very few of us who ever thought that others would pop by and read what we have to say. Some are suggesting that blogging is becoming passee, and that the net is stuffed full of blogs and getting more crowded everyday by the mundane, which will soon lead to a mass exodus of bloggers. I disagree. I think it's only going to grow. People like being able to speak, and enjoy being heard. We like being able to find out what someone's opinion is of a person/place/thing without the influence of a suit and checkbook hanging over the author's shoulder (of course, we don't really know whether they are or not.) We like knowing that out there are lots of people living their lives alongside us, chattering away in a comforting manner akin to the ceaseless tides. Sometimes it is hard to remember that life goes on, and a blog offers the window to see it do just that.
The internet is an interesting thing. Blogs are even more interesting. Why? Why do we read them? Why do we write them? Why are they suddenly of such interest to the business world?
As much as I abhor reality television, the truth is that I love hearing what people are up to. Blogs give us a biased sneak peek into someone else's life and thoughts. It's pretty neat actually, and some of the people I have "gotten to know" are really amazing people. But by the same token, you can't ever really know someone via online. Even if you typed out your life story, no one would really know you because that takes real physical contact and presence, as well as time. There is so much missing online.
So, why do we write blogs? Well, a major perk of having a blog is the ability to be heard. Maybe not a single soul reads your blog, but at least you have typed up your thoughts and thrown them out there in their entirety. That's a lot more than most people are allowed to do in person on a daily basis. Living with others is an exercise in patience and interruption combined with compromise and (hopefully) understanding. But your blog is your opportunity to have no one interrupt you, and to put into a semi-permanence that which you really wanted to say. A sort of unrefined, brash version of your thoughts. Sometimes a person doesn't need to be heard (though it is often a most sincere wish). Sometimes it is simply about being allowed to speak at all, even if it's lost to the cacophony of the internet.
I've been writing online with my own blog for about four years now (I think... it might be longer. This is not my first blog.) Back when I started, the business world was just starting to pay attention. I remember media reports on the influence of certain bloggers, and how shocked everyone was over the amount of flux a silly little thing like a blog could induce. I remember reading about the worry that these disreputable versions of personal "reporters" would cause major problems because they lacked the normal checks and balances a news outlet (supposedly) had.
The current school of thought seems to have changed. Blogs are so numerous, and influential to the small (but desirable) demographic that they reach that businesses are working on finding a way to harness the resources that bloggers offer. Research firms are watching and listening (if you think I am wrong, check your blog tracking programs.) Suddenly all the silly bloggers like myself who simply wanted to say something are on the radar of far more people than we ever would have been several years ago. Suddenly our opinion counts. Businesses are even researching potential employees to see if they have a blog (I can't decide if I agree with this or not. At the university I attend right now there is a huge discussion over how employers are using things like Facebook and Myspace to research employees - even the ones who have deleted their profile, as nothing ever really gets deleted online apparently.)
And then, suddenly, there is a little bit of stage fright.
A major misconception about bloggers is that they're all aching to be in the spotlight, the center of attention, roses flying through the air to land at their feet while cameras flash and diamonds rain down from the sky. While I wouldn't mind the diamonds, the rest is far from true. Yes, there are many authors online who desire fame, even if it's on a miniature scale. But most, I have found, are like me and simply looking for a place to "be". We have a great deal of respect (and surprise) that so many stop by and say hello, because we never suspected that our boring lives and opinions would interest anyone else.
But then again, other people's lives interest us. Therein lies the biggest reason I think so many people blog; we can connect with others who live lives similar to our own as society grows so far apart. Sometimes it's nice to "scream" about whatever mundane thing has set our life on fire this week, and hear that we're are not alone. We're human. We're normal.
Alright, alright, we're sort of normal.
But I think there are very few of us who ever thought that others would pop by and read what we have to say. Some are suggesting that blogging is becoming passee, and that the net is stuffed full of blogs and getting more crowded everyday by the mundane, which will soon lead to a mass exodus of bloggers. I disagree. I think it's only going to grow. People like being able to speak, and enjoy being heard. We like being able to find out what someone's opinion is of a person/place/thing without the influence of a suit and checkbook hanging over the author's shoulder (of course, we don't really know whether they are or not.) We like knowing that out there are lots of people living their lives alongside us, chattering away in a comforting manner akin to the ceaseless tides. Sometimes it is hard to remember that life goes on, and a blog offers the window to see it do just that.
Management Not Required
Mini-Me Daughter: "Mom, do you ever wish you didn't have kids?"
Me: "No.... why?"
Mini-Me Daughter: "Because sometimes I wish I didn't have a mom, then I could do whatever I want!"
Mini-Me Son: "Heeeey! That's a good idea!"
*sigh*
Me: "No.... why?"
Mini-Me Daughter: "Because sometimes I wish I didn't have a mom, then I could do whatever I want!"
Mini-Me Son: "Heeeey! That's a good idea!"
*sigh*
Sunday, January 20, 2008
The Most Important Ingredient
I find it interesting that I get so many emails from PR and marketing people on new diet and fitness programs and books. They want me to evaluate them, and review them, or simply promote them. Some of them are legit and interesting to me, but I simply don't have enough time right now to dedicate to it. Others are simply stupid and along the lines of something like "hiccup your way to a size 2!"
There are so many plans and books and programs out there just begging for your attention. Watch television, and you are bombarded with ads from all sides. Go to the grocery store, and you are surrounded by diet-this and diet-that. Walk into a book store, and you could be risking your life via avalanche from the books stacked 20 feet above your head, their brightly colored jackets and photos of six-pack-abs gleaming back at you.
I was in a Barnes & Noble recently, and I wandered through the fitness/diet section of the store (on my way to the Science Fiction and Romance novels, because I need brain candy!) In the aisle were two women I judged to be in their mid 40's, each needing to lose a decent amount of weight. They were so confused, looking at this book and then that book, comparing the claims on the front. I over heard when one of them said to the other "I just keep hoping they'll come out with the book just for me. The one that understands me and makes it easy."
I haven't written a diet book. I don't sell diet plans. I'm not even taking on clients for personal training right now (I have to sleep some time you know.) So when I tell you this, I don't have to worry about some publisher showing up at my door and beating me up: You will never find a book just for you, a diet plan just for you, a food line just for you. You will never find the ultimate answer from some fitness guru, tanned and ripped and glossy white teeth flashing promises in your direction. There will never be a piece of equipment or a pill which will solve all the moments of angst over your weight, frustration over your dress size, or health concerns. Never. Ever.
EVER.
Worse, all those scientists are coming out and telling everyone that the whole mathematics part of dieting isn't so simple (which most of us had figured out a while ago, but we were still hoping we were wrong. We want it to be easy too!) Not everyone gains a straight on pound from eating in excess of 3,500 calories, nor do they lose it with a deficit of the same. There are other variables, and your body isn't so simple as to operate like a checkbook mirroring everyone else's with inescapable logic and precision without deviation from the tally columns. There is no perfect food that by eating it you will magically feel full and shed the weight and be healthy. There is no one-size-fits-all easy answer.
What there IS are many good ideas out there (and a whole lot of bad ones, which we know all too well.) Diet plans, fitness plans, and so on are like people's houses. Take a coffee table: people arrange different things in different ways to please the eye and themselves. It works for them, and if you like it you can have it work for you too at your house. It's an odd comparison, but that is what a diet book/plan is like. It's an organization of ideas in a way that works for someone else and could work for you too.
That's IT. 99.99999% of plans have the same ideas, just strung together a little differently. So why is it that there are SO many books, machines, plans, pills, and promises?
What none of those plans can do is control you. Could you make an apple pie without apples? It would be rather pointless, wouldn't it? You cannot make a successful healthy change without you. If you don't commit and make all the effort and put in all the work, it doesn't matter - it's just an apple pie with no apples. A fitness plan, without a success story.
My biggest complaint about plans, books, equipment, and companies out there in the industry is that they try to take all the credit. I remember long, long ago going to a weight meeting (not WW, I won't name it) and they all stood up and said the group mantra together. It was meant to inspire and make everyone feel like they were in it together, and whatever else. But part of it was about how any success was due to the program.
I refused to say it. More than that, I went back only one more time and found it made me so mad that I couldn't return again. Why? Because ANY success you have is due to you, and no one else. You read a book that arranges things in a way that works for you? Great. But any results you have are due 100% to YOUR OWN EFFORT. You can read a million articles on how to get fit, but none of them will actually make any difference without you. You are the power, they are only an idea.
As a trainer, I believe this whole-heartedly. It doesn't matter if I show up, it only matters if YOU do. You hire a trainer for ideas, and a witness to your effort - but NOT to share in your success. As a person who struggled with my weight for years (and still does on occasion,) getting control of your health and fitness is hard work, and I'll be damned before I'll put all the praise for the results at someone else's feet.
The down side to this is that the reverse is also true: refuse to try, don't achieve results and goals, live in an unhealthy and unhappy body and you have no one else to blame. It's a pretty uncomfortable feeling, which is why it's so easy to look to someone else. If they have the plan, the answer, the responsibility for your success... well then maybe they carry the blame for you not being there yet too. After all, if they had all the answers and you just heard about them - well, it can't be your fault right?
Don't misunderstand, there are a lot of confusing concepts out there. Even worse, there are plenty of people muddying up the water with false promises, snake oil, and other horrible things that they're trying to sell you. It gets confusing. I didn't become a trainer because I was so in love with exercise that I wanted to share it with all my friends (I'm still that girl cussing a blue streak at 5 AM on a run, or dropping dumbbells on my toes because I was thinking of all the other things I could be doing... but still working out anyway.) I became a trainer because I was done with being confused. I was tired of not understanding what I was looking at, and trying to achieve, and working so hard and yet going no where. I wanted to know why, and not be sold another powder or dvd or book. I felt that it couldn't be that mysterious, humans have been around for a VERY long time and only now are we blobs with no direction.
So what did I learn? I learned that there isn't ANY magic to it at all, and anything of value in the marketplace is based off of the real information and good ideas that are at the core of it all - MOST of which you already know, and the technical stuff that isn't necessary for most people you really don't have to worry about. So what that means is that there are many flavors of the same concept out there. So... what's the difference? Well, it's you, silly!
Find the plan that doesn't promise unicorns or a size 2 in three weeks. Find realistic ideas that make sense and work for you. Then make them your ideas, because if you don't they're just another idea instead of an action. Another apple pie, without any apples.
You are the one with the power. You are the one with the accomplishments and success. You are the one who controls everything, and makes the decision - you are your own fitness guru. YOU are the most important ingredient.
There are so many plans and books and programs out there just begging for your attention. Watch television, and you are bombarded with ads from all sides. Go to the grocery store, and you are surrounded by diet-this and diet-that. Walk into a book store, and you could be risking your life via avalanche from the books stacked 20 feet above your head, their brightly colored jackets and photos of six-pack-abs gleaming back at you.
I was in a Barnes & Noble recently, and I wandered through the fitness/diet section of the store (on my way to the Science Fiction and Romance novels, because I need brain candy!) In the aisle were two women I judged to be in their mid 40's, each needing to lose a decent amount of weight. They were so confused, looking at this book and then that book, comparing the claims on the front. I over heard when one of them said to the other "I just keep hoping they'll come out with the book just for me. The one that understands me and makes it easy."
I haven't written a diet book. I don't sell diet plans. I'm not even taking on clients for personal training right now (I have to sleep some time you know.) So when I tell you this, I don't have to worry about some publisher showing up at my door and beating me up: You will never find a book just for you, a diet plan just for you, a food line just for you. You will never find the ultimate answer from some fitness guru, tanned and ripped and glossy white teeth flashing promises in your direction. There will never be a piece of equipment or a pill which will solve all the moments of angst over your weight, frustration over your dress size, or health concerns. Never. Ever.
EVER.
Worse, all those scientists are coming out and telling everyone that the whole mathematics part of dieting isn't so simple (which most of us had figured out a while ago, but we were still hoping we were wrong. We want it to be easy too!) Not everyone gains a straight on pound from eating in excess of 3,500 calories, nor do they lose it with a deficit of the same. There are other variables, and your body isn't so simple as to operate like a checkbook mirroring everyone else's with inescapable logic and precision without deviation from the tally columns. There is no perfect food that by eating it you will magically feel full and shed the weight and be healthy. There is no one-size-fits-all easy answer.
What there IS are many good ideas out there (and a whole lot of bad ones, which we know all too well.) Diet plans, fitness plans, and so on are like people's houses. Take a coffee table: people arrange different things in different ways to please the eye and themselves. It works for them, and if you like it you can have it work for you too at your house. It's an odd comparison, but that is what a diet book/plan is like. It's an organization of ideas in a way that works for someone else and could work for you too.
That's IT. 99.99999% of plans have the same ideas, just strung together a little differently. So why is it that there are SO many books, machines, plans, pills, and promises?
What none of those plans can do is control you. Could you make an apple pie without apples? It would be rather pointless, wouldn't it? You cannot make a successful healthy change without you. If you don't commit and make all the effort and put in all the work, it doesn't matter - it's just an apple pie with no apples. A fitness plan, without a success story.
My biggest complaint about plans, books, equipment, and companies out there in the industry is that they try to take all the credit. I remember long, long ago going to a weight meeting (not WW, I won't name it) and they all stood up and said the group mantra together. It was meant to inspire and make everyone feel like they were in it together, and whatever else. But part of it was about how any success was due to the program.
I refused to say it. More than that, I went back only one more time and found it made me so mad that I couldn't return again. Why? Because ANY success you have is due to you, and no one else. You read a book that arranges things in a way that works for you? Great. But any results you have are due 100% to YOUR OWN EFFORT. You can read a million articles on how to get fit, but none of them will actually make any difference without you. You are the power, they are only an idea.
As a trainer, I believe this whole-heartedly. It doesn't matter if I show up, it only matters if YOU do. You hire a trainer for ideas, and a witness to your effort - but NOT to share in your success. As a person who struggled with my weight for years (and still does on occasion,) getting control of your health and fitness is hard work, and I'll be damned before I'll put all the praise for the results at someone else's feet.
The down side to this is that the reverse is also true: refuse to try, don't achieve results and goals, live in an unhealthy and unhappy body and you have no one else to blame. It's a pretty uncomfortable feeling, which is why it's so easy to look to someone else. If they have the plan, the answer, the responsibility for your success... well then maybe they carry the blame for you not being there yet too. After all, if they had all the answers and you just heard about them - well, it can't be your fault right?
Don't misunderstand, there are a lot of confusing concepts out there. Even worse, there are plenty of people muddying up the water with false promises, snake oil, and other horrible things that they're trying to sell you. It gets confusing. I didn't become a trainer because I was so in love with exercise that I wanted to share it with all my friends (I'm still that girl cussing a blue streak at 5 AM on a run, or dropping dumbbells on my toes because I was thinking of all the other things I could be doing... but still working out anyway.) I became a trainer because I was done with being confused. I was tired of not understanding what I was looking at, and trying to achieve, and working so hard and yet going no where. I wanted to know why, and not be sold another powder or dvd or book. I felt that it couldn't be that mysterious, humans have been around for a VERY long time and only now are we blobs with no direction.
So what did I learn? I learned that there isn't ANY magic to it at all, and anything of value in the marketplace is based off of the real information and good ideas that are at the core of it all - MOST of which you already know, and the technical stuff that isn't necessary for most people you really don't have to worry about. So what that means is that there are many flavors of the same concept out there. So... what's the difference? Well, it's you, silly!
Find the plan that doesn't promise unicorns or a size 2 in three weeks. Find realistic ideas that make sense and work for you. Then make them your ideas, because if you don't they're just another idea instead of an action. Another apple pie, without any apples.
You are the one with the power. You are the one with the accomplishments and success. You are the one who controls everything, and makes the decision - you are your own fitness guru. YOU are the most important ingredient.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Desperately Seeking....the floor
I know it's around here somewhere.
My family has achieved a new level in sloth and destruction. They're even more efficient at making a mess than even a month ago. The animals pitch in to help too. It's a team effort, apparently.
So, today I am ripping apart the house and trying to establish some sort of order and cleanliness. I HATE doing this, because I find myself increasingly angry as I move through the house. Take, for example, the pantry. Someone explain to me why it is a person would get into a package of crackers, and then instead of putting them back into the box when they're done they instead set it on the shelf (directly, no wrapper or anything) and later get a NEW package and open those instead of finishing the ones they set right next to the box?
Or how about the "kick'n'scoot" method of putting stuff away? They don't actually stoop to pick something up, but when it is in their way they'll kick it in the general direction or scoot it that way thinking it will somehow get put away by itself if they just give it a good enough push? I remember my mother telling (SCREAMING at) me how supposedly it takes the same amount of energy to pick something up and put it away than to step over it. I always felt that the math didn't add up with that one, but it sounds like a good theory being on the other side of the argument.
Flame thrower... what I really need is a flame thrower.
*sigh*
My family has achieved a new level in sloth and destruction. They're even more efficient at making a mess than even a month ago. The animals pitch in to help too. It's a team effort, apparently.
So, today I am ripping apart the house and trying to establish some sort of order and cleanliness. I HATE doing this, because I find myself increasingly angry as I move through the house. Take, for example, the pantry. Someone explain to me why it is a person would get into a package of crackers, and then instead of putting them back into the box when they're done they instead set it on the shelf (directly, no wrapper or anything) and later get a NEW package and open those instead of finishing the ones they set right next to the box?
Or how about the "kick'n'scoot" method of putting stuff away? They don't actually stoop to pick something up, but when it is in their way they'll kick it in the general direction or scoot it that way thinking it will somehow get put away by itself if they just give it a good enough push? I remember my mother telling (SCREAMING at) me how supposedly it takes the same amount of energy to pick something up and put it away than to step over it. I always felt that the math didn't add up with that one, but it sounds like a good theory being on the other side of the argument.
Flame thrower... what I really need is a flame thrower.
*sigh*
Friday, January 18, 2008
Holiday Plotting
Outside it is snowing like you would expect when you imagine Vermont in the winter, but it's rather dismal just the same. I seriously hate January. Everything is so lively and fun from September through December that January becomes the ultimate downer. Nothing good happens in January that you can look forward to with anticipation, except perhaps it simply being over.
Mr. Savy and I have been trying to mull over ideas. We have decided that January should have a "special" holiday in it, and it will just be our own little tradition. The day should fall towards the end of the month so there is enough space between New Years and Valentines day (which is only big when you are a kid anyway, but already my children are letting me know that they will need many little gaudy cards to pass out and how they can't wait.) The only problem is that we haven't found just the right kind of idea/theme for our holiday yet.
So, if you could create your very own holiday what would it be?
Mr. Savy and I have been trying to mull over ideas. We have decided that January should have a "special" holiday in it, and it will just be our own little tradition. The day should fall towards the end of the month so there is enough space between New Years and Valentines day (which is only big when you are a kid anyway, but already my children are letting me know that they will need many little gaudy cards to pass out and how they can't wait.) The only problem is that we haven't found just the right kind of idea/theme for our holiday yet.
So, if you could create your very own holiday what would it be?
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Scaredy Cat On A Wire
I made it back! Really, the only hitch to my flying back was accidentally packing the pet tornado that I bought for my son in my carry-on bag. TSA is not particularly pleased when you have a jar-like thing with water in it. I didn't even think, I only thought "It's glass, I should carry it on..." Duh. Hey, it was 3 a.m. That's my only excuse.
I knew what the problem was as soon as they pulled me over and I tried to tell them "Oh! I think it's this..." but they held up their hand and silenced me like I was trying to ruin the end of a good movie, because they wanted to discover it for themselves I guess. Luckily, they were nice once they realized I wasn't trying to blow anything up. They even stopped my panic of not being able to take it with me by pointing out I could check in my carry-on. Like I said, it was early and clearly I was in stupidville mentally. I was loath to check in my spare clothing, in case I got stranded, but it was worth the risk for the excellent "I'm sorry mommy abandoned you for the weekend to see her friend - gift."
The trip itself was a good trip. We did many things, including going to 6th Street, which is lined with so many clubs that the city actually shuts down the road for traffic on Friday and Saturday nights. One of the places we went to was Pete's Dueling Piano Bar, which was really interesting. There were people from 21-80 years of age in attendance. My friend got hit on a by a man who probably doesn't realize he plays for the other team yet, but to everyone else it was painfully obvious. I got a drink spilled down my back and an offer to be shown "the fun side of Austin" for the time I had left (which I declined.) I know that sounds negative, but it wasn't. It's just so nice to know I'm not dead or invisible. I can now go back to my little hole in the world for a while.
We stayed out until just after 2 a.m. and then got up at 7 a.m. for the Ropes Course. So, the pictures aren't fabulous and were taken with a cellphone. The only clear one with some other team members is from a shutterbug on my "team". He was hilarious though, velcroing a camera to his helmet and video taping everyone while still managing to take still photos too.
This is me on the first element. We had to hop from pole to pole, and then go across the swings. FYI, the poles wobbled like tuning forks when you hopped on, and the swings tried their best to dump you off. It looked a lot more stable from the ground, and that last pole you jump to you reach for that rope you see that I am grabbing thinking it will help but instead when you grab it the cable bows down and you realize you better find your balance yourself unless you want to do your best imitation of a worm on a hook.
These are a couple of my team members (I'm in the hat, anticipating a shower at that point) aren't those harnesses just the fashion statement of the year?
And this was the balance beam which got progressively smaller as you went from one end to the other. I thought it would be easy, but it being so high in the air (and having to keep my shoes on) made it the worst one of the three we did for me. My rope kept jerking and pulling me off balance, and so I was a wimp and grabbed onto the line attached to me. They kept telling me to let go again. I ignored them. You may be anchored and "safe" but it doesn't feel that way.
So, it turns out that with the high elements (there was one other I did with wires across, balancing and pushing forward) I am a wimp. Climbing a rock-wall thing, or cross ropes I am absolutely fine with. Jumping around without something in my face, and I turn into a total wuss. I think I would have enjoyed some of the other elements that involved the climbing walls and such, but those weren't the ones we did. My friend was disappointed in me for not enjoying it (she was worried that my trip was a failure) but I smacked her around and reminded her that I wanted to try it, and me acting like a frightened feline dangling over a bathtub was my own problem and had nothing to do with her and the trip. I wanted to try it. I'm glad I did. I'm NOT going up a pole and walking a wire again, ever. And I'm OK with that!
I'm covered in bruises, but I think only a couple were from the course. My friend had a HUGE (as in pony-sized) Labrador that made mine look petite. He had an injury on his ear and had to wear a massive cone on his head (I called it the "cone of death"), which he decided to make the best out of a bad situation by using it to barrel through anyone standing around and knocking them off their feet. Funny... but painful. My friend has a total of two dogs and FOUR cats, to which I kept waking up in the middle of the night with them all gathered around (some sitting on my chest) staring at me. I'm not kidding. It was seriously unnerving. I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and not having that, but I woke up twice last night to find my own pets gathered around watching me. (Maybe I've been mistaking my perfume for steak sauce or something?)
It was a lot of fun seeing my friend, and we made a pact not to let it go another 6-10 years before we saw each other again. It's good to be home, and back to my own little corner of the world. When I got back, Mr. Savy and I swung by the school and picked up the kids. My daughter burst into tears when she saw me. I'm glad I was missed, but talk about guilt! Mr. Savy didn't relay that all weekend she had been asking what the family would do if mommy died and didn't make it back. Ouch.
I snuggled both my mini-mes by the fire last night and read books. I think everyone is back to normal... except for the pets.
I knew what the problem was as soon as they pulled me over and I tried to tell them "Oh! I think it's this..." but they held up their hand and silenced me like I was trying to ruin the end of a good movie, because they wanted to discover it for themselves I guess. Luckily, they were nice once they realized I wasn't trying to blow anything up. They even stopped my panic of not being able to take it with me by pointing out I could check in my carry-on. Like I said, it was early and clearly I was in stupidville mentally. I was loath to check in my spare clothing, in case I got stranded, but it was worth the risk for the excellent "I'm sorry mommy abandoned you for the weekend to see her friend - gift."
The trip itself was a good trip. We did many things, including going to 6th Street, which is lined with so many clubs that the city actually shuts down the road for traffic on Friday and Saturday nights. One of the places we went to was Pete's Dueling Piano Bar, which was really interesting. There were people from 21-80 years of age in attendance. My friend got hit on a by a man who probably doesn't realize he plays for the other team yet, but to everyone else it was painfully obvious. I got a drink spilled down my back and an offer to be shown "the fun side of Austin" for the time I had left (which I declined.) I know that sounds negative, but it wasn't. It's just so nice to know I'm not dead or invisible. I can now go back to my little hole in the world for a while.
We stayed out until just after 2 a.m. and then got up at 7 a.m. for the Ropes Course. So, the pictures aren't fabulous and were taken with a cellphone. The only clear one with some other team members is from a shutterbug on my "team". He was hilarious though, velcroing a camera to his helmet and video taping everyone while still managing to take still photos too.
This is me on the first element. We had to hop from pole to pole, and then go across the swings. FYI, the poles wobbled like tuning forks when you hopped on, and the swings tried their best to dump you off. It looked a lot more stable from the ground, and that last pole you jump to you reach for that rope you see that I am grabbing thinking it will help but instead when you grab it the cable bows down and you realize you better find your balance yourself unless you want to do your best imitation of a worm on a hook.
These are a couple of my team members (I'm in the hat, anticipating a shower at that point) aren't those harnesses just the fashion statement of the year?
And this was the balance beam which got progressively smaller as you went from one end to the other. I thought it would be easy, but it being so high in the air (and having to keep my shoes on) made it the worst one of the three we did for me. My rope kept jerking and pulling me off balance, and so I was a wimp and grabbed onto the line attached to me. They kept telling me to let go again. I ignored them. You may be anchored and "safe" but it doesn't feel that way.
So, it turns out that with the high elements (there was one other I did with wires across, balancing and pushing forward) I am a wimp. Climbing a rock-wall thing, or cross ropes I am absolutely fine with. Jumping around without something in my face, and I turn into a total wuss. I think I would have enjoyed some of the other elements that involved the climbing walls and such, but those weren't the ones we did. My friend was disappointed in me for not enjoying it (she was worried that my trip was a failure) but I smacked her around and reminded her that I wanted to try it, and me acting like a frightened feline dangling over a bathtub was my own problem and had nothing to do with her and the trip. I wanted to try it. I'm glad I did. I'm NOT going up a pole and walking a wire again, ever. And I'm OK with that!
I'm covered in bruises, but I think only a couple were from the course. My friend had a HUGE (as in pony-sized) Labrador that made mine look petite. He had an injury on his ear and had to wear a massive cone on his head (I called it the "cone of death"), which he decided to make the best out of a bad situation by using it to barrel through anyone standing around and knocking them off their feet. Funny... but painful. My friend has a total of two dogs and FOUR cats, to which I kept waking up in the middle of the night with them all gathered around (some sitting on my chest) staring at me. I'm not kidding. It was seriously unnerving. I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and not having that, but I woke up twice last night to find my own pets gathered around watching me. (Maybe I've been mistaking my perfume for steak sauce or something?)
It was a lot of fun seeing my friend, and we made a pact not to let it go another 6-10 years before we saw each other again. It's good to be home, and back to my own little corner of the world. When I got back, Mr. Savy and I swung by the school and picked up the kids. My daughter burst into tears when she saw me. I'm glad I was missed, but talk about guilt! Mr. Savy didn't relay that all weekend she had been asking what the family would do if mommy died and didn't make it back. Ouch.
I snuggled both my mini-mes by the fire last night and read books. I think everyone is back to normal... except for the pets.
Monday, January 14, 2008
On A Wing
Today is my last day in Texas. I'll have to write up a big post on what I've been up to, complete with photos of me 50 feet up in the air jumping onto swinging posts and such (because apparently I completely lost my mind. Why I thought I would enjoy that is beyond me.) But for now, I'm sitting here stressing over whether or not I'll make it home tomorrow.
I was informed that there was a big "winter event" (i.e. way too much darn snow) going on in the east and messing up flights. On the airline website it says for people going through New Jersey all the way through tomorrow (like me) you can change your tickets now for free. Ugh. But I have been hovering over weather reports and it looks like I might be alright tomorrow getting home, and none of my flights have been updated as changed in any way. I really have an irrational level of anxiety attached to it, I think because of what has happened in the past. But it's bad enough that internally I am yelling at myself to just knock it off.
I didn't get a tattoo. I keep going back and forth on it anyway. I had dreams a couple weeks ago that I had silly things tattooed all over my legs (like Disney characters, HUGE Disney characters) and I had the post-tattoo-regret trying to beg anyone I could to find a way to get them off me. I must not be ready yet. Good thing the person here had no time for us to get in anyway. *ahem* But don't tell my friend that. I think she's pretty disappointed.
All in all, I have had a wonderful time. Now, just cross your fingers for me that I actually make it back in one piece, and in one DAY!
FYI: for those that were curious about the wine pairing with the raw cookie dough, and the guy not cracking a smile about it... Mr. No-Laugh nailed it. Unbelievable. The wine is a South African white: Mulderbrosch, Chenin Blanc, Steen Op Hout. I wouldn't like it on it's own, but with the cookie dough (that no one should be eating, and its just because we're being juvenile that we are, this is NOT healthy in any sense) it's perfect.
I was informed that there was a big "winter event" (i.e. way too much darn snow) going on in the east and messing up flights. On the airline website it says for people going through New Jersey all the way through tomorrow (like me) you can change your tickets now for free. Ugh. But I have been hovering over weather reports and it looks like I might be alright tomorrow getting home, and none of my flights have been updated as changed in any way. I really have an irrational level of anxiety attached to it, I think because of what has happened in the past. But it's bad enough that internally I am yelling at myself to just knock it off.
I didn't get a tattoo. I keep going back and forth on it anyway. I had dreams a couple weeks ago that I had silly things tattooed all over my legs (like Disney characters, HUGE Disney characters) and I had the post-tattoo-regret trying to beg anyone I could to find a way to get them off me. I must not be ready yet. Good thing the person here had no time for us to get in anyway. *ahem* But don't tell my friend that. I think she's pretty disappointed.
All in all, I have had a wonderful time. Now, just cross your fingers for me that I actually make it back in one piece, and in one DAY!
FYI: for those that were curious about the wine pairing with the raw cookie dough, and the guy not cracking a smile about it... Mr. No-Laugh nailed it. Unbelievable. The wine is a South African white: Mulderbrosch, Chenin Blanc, Steen Op Hout. I wouldn't like it on it's own, but with the cookie dough (that no one should be eating, and its just because we're being juvenile that we are, this is NOT healthy in any sense) it's perfect.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
All My Ex's....
I did actually make it to Texas. It was a little iffy at first. They spent a nice long time de-icing the plane, and then we were zooming down the runway, starting to lift off... when they slammed on the breaks and pulled over. Er... not good for the nerves, in my opinion - but it sure woke me up. Turned out they aborted their take-off because warnings started going off about the de-icing system. After trouble-shooting it for a half an hour they finally got back on the speaker and said "After working with the technicians and everything, we have decided that the safest thing to do is to fly to our destination and fix the system there."
Uh...
I managed to make all my flights and only arrive an hour late. GAH! I HATE flying now. The anxiety attached to trying to make connecting flights because they like to push you off for days if you don't is bad enough without technical difficulties added in.
So far, I haven't done much here. I went running at a local path that was just packed with people. I have discovered that running with lots of people around is a lot more entertaining than running where I live. In Vermont, it's pretty, there are trees, and cows... and *snore*. Here there are people in all sorts of flavors running with dogs and well, it just made the time fly.
We stopped by a tattoo shop, but they were too busy to tattoo my friend who had planned to update hers and get me my first tattoo... I'm ok with that. I wasn't prepared to be stopping by an hour after I landed and getting a permanent brand of sorts. I want a tattoo... but I think I have to work up to it. My friend also took me to a liquor store that the very biggest grocery store in Vermont could have fit in twice over - maybe more. I just... wow. And then she went up to one of the "wine advisers" and actually asked "what wine goes with raw cookie dough?" The guy didn't even crack and smile and suggested five different wines for various reasons. Would that she was kidding.
Wine and cookie dough can't be a good combination, can it?
I actually fell asleep at 9:30 out here. Aren't I pathetic? We're heading out to the "clubs" and going to listen to live music and dance. I think I'll redeem my early-to-bed status then. Tomorrow brings the 50 ft in the air ropes course. If I don't break anything vital, I'll check in then!
Uh...
I managed to make all my flights and only arrive an hour late. GAH! I HATE flying now. The anxiety attached to trying to make connecting flights because they like to push you off for days if you don't is bad enough without technical difficulties added in.
So far, I haven't done much here. I went running at a local path that was just packed with people. I have discovered that running with lots of people around is a lot more entertaining than running where I live. In Vermont, it's pretty, there are trees, and cows... and *snore*. Here there are people in all sorts of flavors running with dogs and well, it just made the time fly.
We stopped by a tattoo shop, but they were too busy to tattoo my friend who had planned to update hers and get me my first tattoo... I'm ok with that. I wasn't prepared to be stopping by an hour after I landed and getting a permanent brand of sorts. I want a tattoo... but I think I have to work up to it. My friend also took me to a liquor store that the very biggest grocery store in Vermont could have fit in twice over - maybe more. I just... wow. And then she went up to one of the "wine advisers" and actually asked "what wine goes with raw cookie dough?" The guy didn't even crack and smile and suggested five different wines for various reasons. Would that she was kidding.
Wine and cookie dough can't be a good combination, can it?
I actually fell asleep at 9:30 out here. Aren't I pathetic? We're heading out to the "clubs" and going to listen to live music and dance. I think I'll redeem my early-to-bed status then. Tomorrow brings the 50 ft in the air ropes course. If I don't break anything vital, I'll check in then!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Blue Yonder Details
Lots of stuff going on today. I'm trying to get everything together for my trip. I'm trying to see it as easier than when I have to pack the bags not only for myself but for my kids too. This trip is just for me. Me, going to see my friend I haven't seen in years. Me, going to see a friend who is actually taller than me so I won't be slouching, who is single, has no kids, and has a sense of style that doesn't include crayon and mysterious bleached spots on every item of clothing...
And suddenly I turned full fledged girl and started whining "OMG! What am I supposed to wear?"
I actually stopped and looked behind me. Who said that? Me???
I was told to bring workout clothes for running at the lake. Check. Clothes for doing the outdoors ropes course (workout/hardier type stuff.) Check. Club-clothes. .............Er, what? Last club I was in served Ritz crackers and juice at quiet-time.
In all seriousness, I have a general idea, I think... But someone tell me what the heck you would pack as "club clothes"?
Maybe it is easier when you have to pack for the kids too. Usually you are just so grateful you packed underwear for yourself, that you could care less if you packed matching clothing. Now I not only care, I HAVE to care - because I can't point to the mini-mes and say "Oh, I'm wearing snow boots and a miniskirt? Well, it was a rough morning trying to get everyone out of the house..." No, now I'll just look like the idiot I am with no one else to blame.
*sigh*
Mr. Savy is starting to look slightly panicked now that he realizes it's just him and the kids for five days straight. He keeps saying things like "you deserve to go and get a break and see your friend. You've never done this once before, so it's high time. We'll be fine, we'll be fine..." The thing is, it's usually when he is ALONE and I walk into the room and hear him repeating it. That can't be a good sign.
The kids are layering on the guilt. It's amazing. I thought my mother had all the talent in the family for guilt trips, but this is unbelievable. My daughter tearfully brought me her stuffed dog to take with me. My son teared up over breakfast and said with his watery big baby blues "but you won't be here to kiss me good night... how can I go to bed without you to hug me goodnight?" By the time I leave I'll probably be feeling like I'm committing some kind of child-abuse felony... in my snow boots and mini-skirt.
And suddenly I turned full fledged girl and started whining "OMG! What am I supposed to wear?"
I actually stopped and looked behind me. Who said that? Me???
I was told to bring workout clothes for running at the lake. Check. Clothes for doing the outdoors ropes course (workout/hardier type stuff.) Check. Club-clothes. .............Er, what? Last club I was in served Ritz crackers and juice at quiet-time.
In all seriousness, I have a general idea, I think... But someone tell me what the heck you would pack as "club clothes"?
Maybe it is easier when you have to pack for the kids too. Usually you are just so grateful you packed underwear for yourself, that you could care less if you packed matching clothing. Now I not only care, I HAVE to care - because I can't point to the mini-mes and say "Oh, I'm wearing snow boots and a miniskirt? Well, it was a rough morning trying to get everyone out of the house..." No, now I'll just look like the idiot I am with no one else to blame.
*sigh*
Mr. Savy is starting to look slightly panicked now that he realizes it's just him and the kids for five days straight. He keeps saying things like "you deserve to go and get a break and see your friend. You've never done this once before, so it's high time. We'll be fine, we'll be fine..." The thing is, it's usually when he is ALONE and I walk into the room and hear him repeating it. That can't be a good sign.
The kids are layering on the guilt. It's amazing. I thought my mother had all the talent in the family for guilt trips, but this is unbelievable. My daughter tearfully brought me her stuffed dog to take with me. My son teared up over breakfast and said with his watery big baby blues "but you won't be here to kiss me good night... how can I go to bed without you to hug me goodnight?" By the time I leave I'll probably be feeling like I'm committing some kind of child-abuse felony... in my snow boots and mini-skirt.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Self Destruction
Today everything is a bit scattered. Little projects, details, and things that need to be handled keep swirling around.
My dad is still in the hospital. One of the things people with pancreatitis have to do is follow a very low-fat diet, with smaller more frequent meals. The dietary fat and larger portions set off pain and complications from what I understand. But my dad ordered lasagna (not low-fat) for his first non-liquid meal last night and real bacon for his breakfast today.
My mom is ready to kill him.
I have worked with a lot of people over the years. Any trainer can tell you that most people are earnest in their desire to be healthy. They might like the junk-food, and lets face it - who doesn't? - but they have a real need and want to be healthy. Most clients have their hurdles to cross. You have setbacks and slip ups, because you are HUMAN. No one ever said to you that now you know how to walk, you will never trip and fall. That's just stupid. So why would your diet remain 100% clean and perfect? It won't. Some people struggle with this more than others, but in the end they're moving forward and making progress.
And then there are the babies. No, not real infants, but clients who just say they want to be healthy, but what they really want is for someone to tell them it's OK to down a box of cupcakes followed by three pizzas and a six-pack of beer on a daily basis. They want what they want, and they want it now. *whine* They really only hired you so they could have someone to blame for everything that stinks in their lives.
In the end, these people vanish, or if we clue in early enough - we fire them. Yes, clients are good. Clients pay the bills for trainers. But some clients aren't worth the paycheck, no matter how high. It's sad really, but the few I have come across have gone along on their merry way without me thinking much about them after the fact.
It's different when it's your father. It's different when all you can do is sit and watch the destruction. There isn't anything left to say or do. The man has been in the hospital on morphine for almost a week being denied even water for days, and had to cancel the big vacation to England that they were supposed to take on Friday. He's been in excruciating pain, told by doctors how serious this is, had the dietary restrictions explained... and at the first opportunity he loads up on the very foods he has been told he should no longer have (and the fact that the hospital is giving it to him is a whole other issue. But I guess the patients order food, and it's a separate system from the medical staff so they have no idea.) All evidence indicates that my father would rather die than do what he is told by doctors or anyone else. We have seen this before with him, but not at this magnitude.
It's aggravating to the point that it makes me slightly ill. There is not a single item of food that I could not give up permanently - even without substitutions. Nothing. And let me tell you, I LOVE food. Ice cream is my favorite of all things, and chocolate.... oh man, I do love it, but I absolutely adore food in general. However, if I was in pain or my health was threatened there is nothing I wouldn't give up to extend my life, not be in the hospital, and feel good. I'm not saying I wouldn't miss it, but there is nothing I wouldn't toss if I had to.
My brother used to be hardcore into drugs. I remember watching him and realizing that he would rather die than stop. It was the same attitude. He wanted what he wanted, and be damned all other direction. It wasn't even addiction. My brother is one of those rare people (likely owing to his natural chemical imbalances from being bipolar) who never got addicted through the years of doing everything except what required a needle. Every other drug you can think of, he did - a LOT of it. Years later when he decided he was done, he just stopped. No withdrawals, nothing. Just done. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. So it wasn't the addiction acting like a baby demanding his way with his own self destruction, it was simply him. I don't believe my dad is addicted to food either (and he makes no claims to be,) I think it's just him.
I wonder how many times I am going to have to watch family members try to destroy themselves. Honestly, it's becoming exhausting - even when you aren't really involved. Sitting on the sidelines of this sort of thing makes you feel as if you have run a marathon, even when you say nothing. Knowing there is nothing you can say or do (except quietly refusing to enable them) makes a person feel very helpless. And really... really... REALLY angry.
My dad is still in the hospital. One of the things people with pancreatitis have to do is follow a very low-fat diet, with smaller more frequent meals. The dietary fat and larger portions set off pain and complications from what I understand. But my dad ordered lasagna (not low-fat) for his first non-liquid meal last night and real bacon for his breakfast today.
My mom is ready to kill him.
I have worked with a lot of people over the years. Any trainer can tell you that most people are earnest in their desire to be healthy. They might like the junk-food, and lets face it - who doesn't? - but they have a real need and want to be healthy. Most clients have their hurdles to cross. You have setbacks and slip ups, because you are HUMAN. No one ever said to you that now you know how to walk, you will never trip and fall. That's just stupid. So why would your diet remain 100% clean and perfect? It won't. Some people struggle with this more than others, but in the end they're moving forward and making progress.
And then there are the babies. No, not real infants, but clients who just say they want to be healthy, but what they really want is for someone to tell them it's OK to down a box of cupcakes followed by three pizzas and a six-pack of beer on a daily basis. They want what they want, and they want it now. *whine* They really only hired you so they could have someone to blame for everything that stinks in their lives.
In the end, these people vanish, or if we clue in early enough - we fire them. Yes, clients are good. Clients pay the bills for trainers. But some clients aren't worth the paycheck, no matter how high. It's sad really, but the few I have come across have gone along on their merry way without me thinking much about them after the fact.
It's different when it's your father. It's different when all you can do is sit and watch the destruction. There isn't anything left to say or do. The man has been in the hospital on morphine for almost a week being denied even water for days, and had to cancel the big vacation to England that they were supposed to take on Friday. He's been in excruciating pain, told by doctors how serious this is, had the dietary restrictions explained... and at the first opportunity he loads up on the very foods he has been told he should no longer have (and the fact that the hospital is giving it to him is a whole other issue. But I guess the patients order food, and it's a separate system from the medical staff so they have no idea.) All evidence indicates that my father would rather die than do what he is told by doctors or anyone else. We have seen this before with him, but not at this magnitude.
It's aggravating to the point that it makes me slightly ill. There is not a single item of food that I could not give up permanently - even without substitutions. Nothing. And let me tell you, I LOVE food. Ice cream is my favorite of all things, and chocolate.... oh man, I do love it, but I absolutely adore food in general. However, if I was in pain or my health was threatened there is nothing I wouldn't give up to extend my life, not be in the hospital, and feel good. I'm not saying I wouldn't miss it, but there is nothing I wouldn't toss if I had to.
My brother used to be hardcore into drugs. I remember watching him and realizing that he would rather die than stop. It was the same attitude. He wanted what he wanted, and be damned all other direction. It wasn't even addiction. My brother is one of those rare people (likely owing to his natural chemical imbalances from being bipolar) who never got addicted through the years of doing everything except what required a needle. Every other drug you can think of, he did - a LOT of it. Years later when he decided he was done, he just stopped. No withdrawals, nothing. Just done. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. So it wasn't the addiction acting like a baby demanding his way with his own self destruction, it was simply him. I don't believe my dad is addicted to food either (and he makes no claims to be,) I think it's just him.
I wonder how many times I am going to have to watch family members try to destroy themselves. Honestly, it's becoming exhausting - even when you aren't really involved. Sitting on the sidelines of this sort of thing makes you feel as if you have run a marathon, even when you say nothing. Knowing there is nothing you can say or do (except quietly refusing to enable them) makes a person feel very helpless. And really... really... REALLY angry.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Insomniactive
I never went back to bed yesterday. Most people, having only slept a broken up hour or two for the whole night prior would have laid around or passed out in a corner somewhere. Not me!
Instead, I managed to get the rest of the Christmas stuff down (including a 10 ft tree + decorations, a 7 ft tree + decorations, three small trees, and the entire Dicken's village set. Before anyone asks, yes we really do have a tree in every room. Even the bathrooms. It's my quirk, allow me my tinsel-insanity.) I also deep cleaned the family room, and my bathroom. Has anyone else noticed that bottles of random things seem to multiply when left on their own? I did a lot of "why the heck would I even buy that?"
I strongly suspect some of the purchases were courtesy of Mr. Savy, who seems to be an impulse shopper. He's the guy you see wandering the aisles, pulling out the most ludicrous things from the shelves, reading the back, and then saying "Yeah! I might use that someday! I might wake up one day and think I really do need to hermetically seal all the door knobs in the house! I think I'll buy this!" Usually I can catch these little aberrations of shopping insanity and remove them from the cart, but sometimes he sneaks them by. And they ALL end up in junk drawers or cabinets of various types that are not looked in all that frequently.
Now, all the rooms with trees missing feel at least twice as large. It's like moving into a bigger house! I had hoped the rest of my family would be inspired to help me finish the job and finally get the house truly clean for the first time since... *gasp* the first week in November. Oh, that's horrible isn't it? We were just so buried with stuff that we would clean this part or that really well, but never actually got it all clean at once. Unfortunately, my children somehow vanished into thin air, and my husband followed suit.
I put my children on sock-sorting duty. It's such a massive job, it's like a matching/memory game with cards. When I checked on them, I found that they were having a contest to see who could put more layers of socks on their hands. Mr. Savy was impressed. He bet he could put more on than them.
*sigh*
Still, all that activity yesterday on no sleep... Even for me that is unusual. I'm beginning to suspect it might have been the coffee I had. Since I still only rarely drink it, I think I'm extra sensitive to the caffeine. But I feel like I'm treading a fine line.
Coffee addicts are dangerous people. You get in the way of them and their caffeine in the morning, and you might as well have decided to start juggling flaming machetes. Blindfolded. Standing on your head. You'd probably end up with less injuries from the machetes. At what point do you just have a cup of neat flavored coffee now and then (because the normal stuff is vile, in my opinion. I'm a tea-drinker at heart, but finals did introduce me to flavored coffee and it's side-eff... er... benefits.) And at what point do you become a willing slave of Starbuck's?
Do they have coffee rehab if I slip over to the dark-side? (and should I have a cup so I can get the rest of the house cleaned, for once? See? This is not good, I tell you!)
Instead, I managed to get the rest of the Christmas stuff down (including a 10 ft tree + decorations, a 7 ft tree + decorations, three small trees, and the entire Dicken's village set. Before anyone asks, yes we really do have a tree in every room. Even the bathrooms. It's my quirk, allow me my tinsel-insanity.) I also deep cleaned the family room, and my bathroom. Has anyone else noticed that bottles of random things seem to multiply when left on their own? I did a lot of "why the heck would I even buy that?"
I strongly suspect some of the purchases were courtesy of Mr. Savy, who seems to be an impulse shopper. He's the guy you see wandering the aisles, pulling out the most ludicrous things from the shelves, reading the back, and then saying "Yeah! I might use that someday! I might wake up one day and think I really do need to hermetically seal all the door knobs in the house! I think I'll buy this!" Usually I can catch these little aberrations of shopping insanity and remove them from the cart, but sometimes he sneaks them by. And they ALL end up in junk drawers or cabinets of various types that are not looked in all that frequently.
Now, all the rooms with trees missing feel at least twice as large. It's like moving into a bigger house! I had hoped the rest of my family would be inspired to help me finish the job and finally get the house truly clean for the first time since... *gasp* the first week in November. Oh, that's horrible isn't it? We were just so buried with stuff that we would clean this part or that really well, but never actually got it all clean at once. Unfortunately, my children somehow vanished into thin air, and my husband followed suit.
I put my children on sock-sorting duty. It's such a massive job, it's like a matching/memory game with cards. When I checked on them, I found that they were having a contest to see who could put more layers of socks on their hands. Mr. Savy was impressed. He bet he could put more on than them.
*sigh*
Still, all that activity yesterday on no sleep... Even for me that is unusual. I'm beginning to suspect it might have been the coffee I had. Since I still only rarely drink it, I think I'm extra sensitive to the caffeine. But I feel like I'm treading a fine line.
Coffee addicts are dangerous people. You get in the way of them and their caffeine in the morning, and you might as well have decided to start juggling flaming machetes. Blindfolded. Standing on your head. You'd probably end up with less injuries from the machetes. At what point do you just have a cup of neat flavored coffee now and then (because the normal stuff is vile, in my opinion. I'm a tea-drinker at heart, but finals did introduce me to flavored coffee and it's side-eff... er... benefits.) And at what point do you become a willing slave of Starbuck's?
Do they have coffee rehab if I slip over to the dark-side? (and should I have a cup so I can get the rest of the house cleaned, for once? See? This is not good, I tell you!)
Monday, January 07, 2008
Sleepless
I can't sleep. Part of the problem is that I slept in on Sunday. It was a forced issue (I kept waking up and then coaxing myself back into dozing... it's never as good as the real thing.) On top of that, I have a lot on my mind. I think I'll be driving my children to school tomorrow... er, today, this morning.... in a couple of hours (yikes!) I'm still concerned about the bus-driver thing. I don't trust the transit company to have pulled the driver during their "investigation."
Additionally, my father is in the hospital. He has pancreatitis, and maybe some other problems too. He's been in for a couple of days now, on morphine, no food or water allowed. What has been funny (in a very non-humorous situation) is that it's usually seen in heavy drinkers and my dad is as dry as the Arizona desert he calls home. So, I've enjoyed calling him a booze-hound while he yells at me for making him laugh. It's a daughter's duty to torture her parents after all.
In all seriousness though, he's in a lot of pain and my mother is pretty shaken up over it. She's used to being the one who has the medical issues (with her long term MS and Fibromyalgia status), so taking care of him is a real switch. The doctors say he's doing fine though, and my dad did text me a lot this evening about the football game. Apparently they also have other kinds of computer-geek gadgets that he can play with (internet access through his room television and other things) so he doesn't sound like he's completely miserable.
I'm also gearing up for my trip on Friday to see my friend in Texas. She plans on us going for a run at some lake she runs at, as well as the ropes course, and lots of other activities. Somehow, I think I'll be even more sleepless than I am now. But that is what a girls' weekend is for, right? I can't remember. I haven't had one since I was 18 (would would put it close to the cretaceous period according to my children.)
I also lifted weights (lower body) yesterday thinking it would be alright with my neck feeling better. Yeah, not so much. And then it's also heating up here! Seriously, it's over 40 degrees right NOW. My house has a heating problem where the heating system kinda runs when it's not supposed to, and when the temperatures are below freezing this is fine. But right now? It feels sweltering in here. But, I can't get Mr. Savy to wake up enough to go down and shut off the whole system.
Gah. I'm going to be so cranky tomorrow... today. *sigh*
Additionally, my father is in the hospital. He has pancreatitis, and maybe some other problems too. He's been in for a couple of days now, on morphine, no food or water allowed. What has been funny (in a very non-humorous situation) is that it's usually seen in heavy drinkers and my dad is as dry as the Arizona desert he calls home. So, I've enjoyed calling him a booze-hound while he yells at me for making him laugh. It's a daughter's duty to torture her parents after all.
In all seriousness though, he's in a lot of pain and my mother is pretty shaken up over it. She's used to being the one who has the medical issues (with her long term MS and Fibromyalgia status), so taking care of him is a real switch. The doctors say he's doing fine though, and my dad did text me a lot this evening about the football game. Apparently they also have other kinds of computer-geek gadgets that he can play with (internet access through his room television and other things) so he doesn't sound like he's completely miserable.
I'm also gearing up for my trip on Friday to see my friend in Texas. She plans on us going for a run at some lake she runs at, as well as the ropes course, and lots of other activities. Somehow, I think I'll be even more sleepless than I am now. But that is what a girls' weekend is for, right? I can't remember. I haven't had one since I was 18 (would would put it close to the cretaceous period according to my children.)
I also lifted weights (lower body) yesterday thinking it would be alright with my neck feeling better. Yeah, not so much. And then it's also heating up here! Seriously, it's over 40 degrees right NOW. My house has a heating problem where the heating system kinda runs when it's not supposed to, and when the temperatures are below freezing this is fine. But right now? It feels sweltering in here. But, I can't get Mr. Savy to wake up enough to go down and shut off the whole system.
Gah. I'm going to be so cranky tomorrow... today. *sigh*
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Trackers
I get a lot of emails about tracking programs. This is good, because tracking what you eat will help you see what you are actually taking in and make you realize that every crumb counts (including those taste tests while cooking.) There are a lot out there, and they all have their advantages and disadvantages. You have to pick what will work best for you. Some people need portable versions for the blackberry-type-devices, and others just want something they can check in fast with online or on their home computer.
There are a lot of tools that people can use to track their food intake, recipe ingredient breakdowns, and fitness routines. One of my favorites had been Diet Power. I hadn't used it in a while (since my computer crashed, but we installed it on the new one here) but I thought I would take it out and dust it off and use it again. However, it turns out my edition (4.0) doesn't jive with Vista (even though Vista is supposed to work with the old windows working programs too - Microsoft, you are NOT impressing me.)
The diet industry is competitive and constantly shifting. So, whatever program you go with, make sure you look at how they run their business. The free ones might only be free for a short time, or only give you access to half the stuff you need and then you'll have to pay through the nose to have total access. The paid ones might keep updating editions and requiring you to pay to update even to fix bugs in their systems. Some of the systems are subscriptions and you think you are paying one price for the software, and it turns out it's a recurring fee instead.
So, what's good, and what does it cost? Let me preface this with the fact that I am not selling any of these programs and make NO commission or anything else from you clicking through or buying. In other words, my only bias is my own.
Online Programs:
Fit Day : The program I originally began with. Online, free. There is a paid version for $20 (Fit Day PC) but I haven't tried it. It's a good basic tracker, but I have found that a lot of foods are missing from the database. It can over estimate calories burned (by a LOT) for exercise. Also, some people go off-track by inputting everything they did as calorie burning activities - like doing dishes, etc. The thing you need to understand is that your daily recommendations are for daily activities as well. You don't need to add the activity in for your daily totals unless it's real physical exercise - this goes for ALL programs out there.
The Daily Plate: has a free version, with a good selection of food and activities. There is a paid version (upgrade, subscription $45 for the year right now.) I've been playing around with this free version and I have to say I really like it. It has a smoother layout and good database, superior over Fit Day. Out of the free ones out there, this is my favorite so far that I have come across.
My Calorie Counter: Online, Free. There is a premium version for $5 a month. I've done some exploring with this one (free version only) and they seem to have a nice set up with charts and layouts. They have a better food database than Fit Day, but showing things like food totals is a "premium service" so in some ways you are restricted from the whole reason you need a tracker to begin with, without paying the subscription service. They do offer support boards, a blog page, and so on for members - so for those who want access to everything and are willing to pay $5 a month, it isn't a bad choice.
In the $5 a month range, there are a lot of options from many sites, so I won't go into them all.
iVillage: has a free online diet/fitness tracker. iVillage also has a lot of forums and more if you feel the need to be involved in a lot of groups and have access to a lot of articles. It's VERY simplistic, and not detailed. But if all you want is a tiny basic check in more than a tracker it's a decent way to go.
My Pyramid Tracker: The USDA launched this a while ago. It's free, but not as detailed as most of the programs offered out there.
Programs to Use on Your Computer:
As stated above, Fit Day has a PC upgraded version. I do not have any experience with this, but I have heard from others who like it.
Diet Organizer: There are portable versions like the one that runs on Blackberrys, mobil phones, other PDAs, etc. Pretty simplistic, (portable is excel-like program), but it gets the job done. Journal, charts, tracking, etc. (DietOrganizer PC runs on Microsoft Windows Vista, XP and 2000.)
On the Blackberry front, there are a LOT of food tracking programs out there for the portables. As I don't have a portable anything, I'm not going to go into them.
Protrak 2008: This program has intrigued me for a little while now. I have not used it personally, but I have played with a friend's version. In addition to all the normal tracking stuff, it also monitors your personal fitness goals. It allows you to track weights, reps, and so on, and apparently comes with pre-designed workouts (with instructions) you can take with you to the gym, as well as compiling your own workouts and totals. I like this because of the ease of use, as well as a focus on FITNESS. Yes, weight loss is everyone's main goal for the most part, but being fit is the real prize. The food tracking portion also allows for creation of your own recipes, etc. System requirements: Windows XP or Windows Vista. (Sorry, there is no version of ProTrack available for the Macintosh.) Hard disk with at least 65 MB free disk space.Works with printers supported by Windows. $34.95 (this program has "upgrades" which cost money, so be aware.)
Diet Power : Has a good program. Diet Power tracks food, exercise, has recipes included and have a section for you to input your own recipes for a break down of the values, and save it for you to input it in your diary. They also have a metabolism tracker which is decent once it has enough data on you, including adjustments for water shifts. $49.99. It is a wonderful program at it's heart - I cannot really say anything bad about it.
**(update on Diet Power: The CEO has been emailing and working with me. I'm switching over to the 4.4 version and seeing how that works. I'll post a better review of it, once I get a good grasp of the changes.)
On your own:
And remember, you can always use the Nutritional Values (this is one of the best sites for it, NutritionData.com), and just track your food yourself with excel or just some scratch paper. It's really the calculating you are after, the work of inputting is up to you. There are a lot of homemade excel programs you can download to make it easier on yourself. I believe Maggie (my partner in Pink Dumbbells, free women's fitness site) has designed several herself (some of which might be up for downloading if you explore her blog site.)
Bottom line? Find the one that has everything you need, costs what you are willing to pay, and suits you. What am I going to use? Right now I have downloaded the trial of Diet Power 4.4 after talking with the company. I'll let you know how it goes.
There are a lot of tools that people can use to track their food intake, recipe ingredient breakdowns, and fitness routines. One of my favorites had been Diet Power. I hadn't used it in a while (since my computer crashed, but we installed it on the new one here) but I thought I would take it out and dust it off and use it again. However, it turns out my edition (4.0) doesn't jive with Vista (even though Vista is supposed to work with the old windows working programs too - Microsoft, you are NOT impressing me.)
The diet industry is competitive and constantly shifting. So, whatever program you go with, make sure you look at how they run their business. The free ones might only be free for a short time, or only give you access to half the stuff you need and then you'll have to pay through the nose to have total access. The paid ones might keep updating editions and requiring you to pay to update even to fix bugs in their systems. Some of the systems are subscriptions and you think you are paying one price for the software, and it turns out it's a recurring fee instead.
So, what's good, and what does it cost? Let me preface this with the fact that I am not selling any of these programs and make NO commission or anything else from you clicking through or buying. In other words, my only bias is my own.
Online Programs:
Fit Day : The program I originally began with. Online, free. There is a paid version for $20 (Fit Day PC) but I haven't tried it. It's a good basic tracker, but I have found that a lot of foods are missing from the database. It can over estimate calories burned (by a LOT) for exercise. Also, some people go off-track by inputting everything they did as calorie burning activities - like doing dishes, etc. The thing you need to understand is that your daily recommendations are for daily activities as well. You don't need to add the activity in for your daily totals unless it's real physical exercise - this goes for ALL programs out there.
The Daily Plate: has a free version, with a good selection of food and activities. There is a paid version (upgrade, subscription $45 for the year right now.) I've been playing around with this free version and I have to say I really like it. It has a smoother layout and good database, superior over Fit Day. Out of the free ones out there, this is my favorite so far that I have come across.
My Calorie Counter: Online, Free. There is a premium version for $5 a month. I've done some exploring with this one (free version only) and they seem to have a nice set up with charts and layouts. They have a better food database than Fit Day, but showing things like food totals is a "premium service" so in some ways you are restricted from the whole reason you need a tracker to begin with, without paying the subscription service. They do offer support boards, a blog page, and so on for members - so for those who want access to everything and are willing to pay $5 a month, it isn't a bad choice.
In the $5 a month range, there are a lot of options from many sites, so I won't go into them all.
iVillage: has a free online diet/fitness tracker. iVillage also has a lot of forums and more if you feel the need to be involved in a lot of groups and have access to a lot of articles. It's VERY simplistic, and not detailed. But if all you want is a tiny basic check in more than a tracker it's a decent way to go.
My Pyramid Tracker: The USDA launched this a while ago. It's free, but not as detailed as most of the programs offered out there.
Programs to Use on Your Computer:
As stated above, Fit Day has a PC upgraded version. I do not have any experience with this, but I have heard from others who like it.
Diet Organizer: There are portable versions like the one that runs on Blackberrys, mobil phones, other PDAs, etc. Pretty simplistic, (portable is excel-like program), but it gets the job done. Journal, charts, tracking, etc. (DietOrganizer PC runs on Microsoft Windows Vista, XP and 2000.)
On the Blackberry front, there are a LOT of food tracking programs out there for the portables. As I don't have a portable anything, I'm not going to go into them.
Protrak 2008: This program has intrigued me for a little while now. I have not used it personally, but I have played with a friend's version. In addition to all the normal tracking stuff, it also monitors your personal fitness goals. It allows you to track weights, reps, and so on, and apparently comes with pre-designed workouts (with instructions) you can take with you to the gym, as well as compiling your own workouts and totals. I like this because of the ease of use, as well as a focus on FITNESS. Yes, weight loss is everyone's main goal for the most part, but being fit is the real prize. The food tracking portion also allows for creation of your own recipes, etc. System requirements: Windows XP or Windows Vista. (Sorry, there is no version of ProTrack available for the Macintosh.) Hard disk with at least 65 MB free disk space.Works with printers supported by Windows. $34.95 (this program has "upgrades" which cost money, so be aware.)
Diet Power : Has a good program. Diet Power tracks food, exercise, has recipes included and have a section for you to input your own recipes for a break down of the values, and save it for you to input it in your diary. They also have a metabolism tracker which is decent once it has enough data on you, including adjustments for water shifts. $49.99. It is a wonderful program at it's heart - I cannot really say anything bad about it.
**(update on Diet Power: The CEO has been emailing and working with me. I'm switching over to the 4.4 version and seeing how that works. I'll post a better review of it, once I get a good grasp of the changes.)
On your own:
And remember, you can always use the Nutritional Values (this is one of the best sites for it, NutritionData.com), and just track your food yourself with excel or just some scratch paper. It's really the calculating you are after, the work of inputting is up to you. There are a lot of homemade excel programs you can download to make it easier on yourself. I believe Maggie (my partner in Pink Dumbbells, free women's fitness site) has designed several herself (some of which might be up for downloading if you explore her blog site.)
Bottom line? Find the one that has everything you need, costs what you are willing to pay, and suits you. What am I going to use? Right now I have downloaded the trial of Diet Power 4.4 after talking with the company. I'll let you know how it goes.
Friday, January 04, 2008
Mommy-Alert-System
Growing up, there wasn't much that could panic me. I was young, I was stupid, and my ignorance was most certainly bliss. The biggest induced anxiety I had was after a slumber party where the idiot parents rented Nightmare On Elm Street for all the 9 year olds. I didn't sleep for MONTHS, an