vet

Now some have downloaded their fb accounts to their blackberries. Me, I am enjoying this blog while I wait approach. Today we are at the vet, I am sitting in the little exam room while the little guy is in back getting shots etc.

Paul Newman

I don't know what this means. I don't ever recall seeing this bestowed on someone before. But it made me feel good. Recognizing the good that someone has done over their lives. Do you think there's any connection between the timing of the market drop and his death?

WASHINGTON – Paul Newman, the late actor and 10-time Academy Award nominee, has been honored by lawmakers as a screen legend and humanitarian.
Newman died Sept. 26, 2008, at age 83 after a long battle with cancer. The House on Tuesday night approved a resolution recognizing Newman's achievements on and off screen.
The resolution said Newman's "humanitarian works and incomparable talents have made him an American icon who will never be forgotten."
The Hollywood star won one Oscar and took home two honorary ones, and had major roles in more than 50 motion pictures, including "Cool Hand Luke," "Exodus," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The Verdict," "The Sting" and "Absence of Malice."
Newman and his popular food company, Newman's Own, have given more than $250 million to charity over the years. He also helped to start "Hole in the Wall" camps across the world for children with life-threatening illnesses.
The resolution is H.R.18.

Triathlon cancelled?

Yes, the Bermuda Department of Tourism announced that they will not be sponsoring the Escape to Bermuda and Bermuda Shorts triathlons this year. It has been postponed until 2010.
I am contemplating visiting anyways - earlier in the year while there are still direct flights and it is warmer. And I am reviewing other triathlons to possibly compete in.

Ten Things Tuesday- NASA

My mom was at Cape Canaveral yesterday. I called her about the cancellation of the triathlon and caught her in a moment. That's all she had to say. I knew what the moment was... My dad. He is the reason she is there. He is the reason I am about to list the few things I know...

(1) I was born the year they first walked on the moon. Big celebration year it is!
(2) My dad dragged me to the National Air & Space Museum in DC when it first opened and every subsequent visit to DC.
(3) When I finally visited DC on my own as an adult, where did I go first? The National Air & Space Museum. Even funnier - there was a Star Wars exhibit there at the time. SO NOT my thing.
(4) I have been to Cape Canaveral/Kennedy Space Center twice. I will have to scrounge around for those pictures.
(5) The first IMAX movie I remember seeing was of the Space Shuttle launch. It brought tears to my eyes. No, seriously. I cried/cry every time I watch Apollo 13. I am a sap that way.
(6) We saw a live Space Shuttle launch the summer of 1984 (?) It was an amazing site to see. Incredibly awe inspiring.
(7) My dad was so moved by the whole experience he bought an Operators Manual to the Space Shuttle. He bought it one of the gift shops. It was bright orange. And I always (even today) make fun of him for it. I wonder what happened to it.
(8) When my parents visited me in Bermuda - we took the ferry to town one night. You might consider it coincidental but I am sure my dad had it planned all along. From the top deck of the ferry you could see the Space Shuttle orbiting over in the late evening sky. It was just a glimpse/a speck but he was all over that orbit and planned it exactly.
(9) He and my mom have been to the Space Camp - not as campers - just as tourists. I still have the tshirt. It is pretty worn out but a really cool shirt.
(10) I was on the phone with my mom watching the TV when the Space Shuttle (please forgive me I forget the name - Endeavor?) caught fire/exploded during its approach.

If you haven't checked out their web-site you should
www.nasa.gov
As of the last news release there will be no launch while my mom is in Florida.

Travel

Well the onslaught of travel has come to an end - for now at least.
Now to get myself back to the gym. In my time away I did ponder some things with the blog. Bascially that I am not getting the workouts in all that much. And once I do get it down to a routine how much of THAT does anyone really want to read about.
So I started thinking of other "new" things to do to write about. I ended up down the path of things I already do that I don't take the time to write about... Hence my first digression - a little music enlightenment. And as the weather starts to turn around here maybe some new things in the garden will get some honorable mention as well.
We shall see.
For now - I am going to blop myself on the couch watch the Oscars for a little bit, drink some tea and go to bed.
It has been a long month.

Monday Music Musings

I find that when I am in the car for too long my mind starts to wander towards monologues of the music playing on the radio. This week's thought... What the heck is the song in the Vonage commercial. So I google it... Well it seems everyone is hooked on the older commercials not the most recent. But after some continued searching... And there was a lone person out there that shared my guess...
"She's So Lovely" by Scouting for Girls
And off I went to YouTube in search of video and commercial.
Well finding the commercial was a no go... And finding the video of the song - well on a few of them I kept getting a message that the video wasn't available in my country. HUH?!
So I just searched the band instead...
http://www.scoutingforgirls.co.uk/video.php?id=47
Hear it?
Could it be that the Vonage guy in Brielle is hip? Or just hires hip people?

pounds

can you see them from there? even my type is heavier.... can you see it?
that's what happens when you spend all this time travelling for work...
there has been tonnes of unhealthy foods....
i can't wait for this week to be back at the gym and eating like a normal person again...
even if that homemade fried chicken and squash casserole in MS was SOOOOO good...

airport

Well this is something new
In my boredom I am sitting here at the airport with my phone typing with my thumbs. Not much to say on the subject. Boredom is not fun. It sucks all the energy and creativity out of me. It has been a long week as well. So much to do. So much to try to get done.
I did make it to the gym once while I was awya. I only did 30 minutes and only cover 1.5 miles. I guess it's better than nothing.

Another neighborhood walk

My intention this morning when I left the house was to do a walk around the office. I figured the scenery would be different etc etc... But I didn't bring lunch with me and I got kinda hungry. So instead I came home, had a pb&j, and headed out the door for another local walk. Today I went a little further - still haven't logged on to mmr to verify - but it was longer. I stopped at CVS for some alergy meds and water. And I did jog for little little bit.
It feels good. The sun is nice and warm. I am taking my latest book out and I am going to sit on my front porch and read for a little while.

In other observations - they were repaving the driveway of the post office during my walk. Why does the smell of tar remind me of the beach, boardwalk and driftwood?

Numbers continued...

No I haven't been crunching so many numbers that I forgot to write. I just haven't been going to thegym this week to write about anything.
Sunday and Monday my sinuses were giving me some pain. And since I spent most of February last year ill, I decided to lay low for a few days. Tuesday I was still on the fence. Wednesday I met a friend for a glass of wine after work. Then met a client for dinner. And Thursday and Friday were a culmination of crazy meetings for the client. Productive and interesting and equally exhausting. I was thinking I would hit the gym yesterday. Instead we went out after work and then I went by a friends.
So not much working out and not much number crunching.
TODAY I did make it out. I waited until later today as it was to get warm around here. And it sure did. The temp on-line says it is 70d. I went for a 40 minute walk around the townhomes and out of the neighborhood. I would suspect it was a little over 2 miles. I could go to mapmyrun but it has been a while since I was out there. Don't need to jack up that addiciton.
The other number crunching I have done is tracking total minutes and miles. Perhaps I mentioned it late last year that for every hour of exercise I did I was going to donate a can of food to the foodbank. I figured I would do the same for this year. So far I have accumulated a little over 7 hours of exercise. And where I can track miles (not zumba related) I have tracked that as well. I am just over 33 miles. So I am pretty excited by all that.
Will need to hit the gym or outdoors again tomorrow.
And put on my gym game face for when I travel. I leave again on Tuesday!

Number crunching

Friends tell me that they get somewhat bored on the treadmill. That they generally walk because at least then they can read while they are walking. I have given it some thought as to what I do. I do occassionally take a book. It is with the intent of walking for a long period of time. So more time than speed or even distance. I will snag a magazine from the shelf at times. I usually find that with a magazine I stare at a particular page for minutes at a time and then realise I need to turn the page. The music is always blaring in my ears - which impacts my speed. And lastly I do watch the tv with closed captions at the front of the gym. All these things seem to keep me occupied as I walk and jog along.
The other thing I am constantly doing is running the numbers in my head. Trying to figure out my average pace. What that first mile? What was the second mile? How fast was that warm up? What impact did it have on my pace. Numbers crunching through my head.
Well wouldn't you know the tv added to my number crunching earlier this week. On one of the channels they had some expert on about investing. It is inevitable these days - one tv is sports, another sitcoms and the 3rd finance. We are junkies for this crap. So the commentary was something along the lines of a 25 year old saving $500 per month in a retirement plan. And on they went about how much this would accumulate to (I don't know what rate they were using). I was just thinking $500 per month saved into a retirement plan at 25?!?! That sounds great but what does that really mean... And off my brain went calculating as I was trucking along on the treadmill. At $60,000 that would be 10% of income. First of all, how many 25 year olds are earning that much? And second of all, how many people are really saving that much into their retirement plan. So as always I just got pissy at that station and focused on the sitcom.
BING - 30 minutes over...

head ache

I have a dull sinus type headache nagging me all day.
I have lots of ideas mulling about in my head what it is from... lack of blood, too much sugar last night with dessert, too much wine (only 2 glasses so I doubt it), lack of water (maybe so I have tried to compensate today)...
Or maybe I just need to start taking my allergy medicine again. There are flowers popping through the pine straw in the front - daffodils, crocuses, Easter lily (that one always kills me because they don't get up enough steam until July to bloom)... So it is probably about that time again.

All that being said I did not go to the gym today. I just couldn't work up the motivation.
Instead I cleaned a little. And worked from home. I know, not fun. But sometimes you just have to do it.

Now I am dragging myself to watch the game. UGH!

So soon in fact - Saturday

One of my thoughts for this morning wa to take zumba near my office and head to work. Instead I volunteered to give blood later this afternoon. And I opted to bring some of the work home instead. Then I saw there was a zumba at the same time at Siskey. I thought - hmmm it is closer, I could go there. Well when I got out of bed this morning - that cleaning I was avoiding hit me square on. So I spent most of the morning toying with that. OH there is still more to do but the essentials are done.
But I also opted for some gym time. I went to the little gym. I am still working on that interval trainer on the treadmill. Plus my legs felt a little sore from biking maybe? I was certainI would end up with a crappy pace. But I have to say I was eventually surprised and pleased with myself. That first mile was slow and painful. I finished somewhere over 15minutes. I picked up the pace on mile 2 to finish somewhere around 32/33 minutes (total) and then to get the 3rd mile in in just over 45minutes? I was psyched. In total I did 5o minutes for 3.22 miles.
AND I stretched. It is nice to feel some of the flexibility in my muscles coming back. Every time I plop myself down on the mat I think of how flexible I was in those gymnastic and cheerleading days. Damn - why did I ever let that go? I am hopeful it will come back!
Off to eat something, get some hydration and give some blood.

Friday - still no cleaning as exercise

I had convinced myself that the cleaning was never going to happen so I best make an effort to get back to the gym. I packed my bags and was all set to get on that bike again.
You hear there is a but coming along, can't you... Well KP called and said they would be at the Siskey Y for basketball if I wanted to join her in a workout. I have never been to that Y. What a great way to force me to check out something new. Go with a friend. And that's what we did. We walked the upstairs track for 30 minutes - it would have helped if we had counted for distance etc. But we did not. We both did run a few laps. She is much better at pushing herself and getting her heart rate up. Me, not so much.
And then we did the reclining (I know there is a specific word for this) bikes for 20 minutes... funny on that bike I actually got 6 miles in in 20 minutes. Go figure. Overall it was fun and different and I am looking forward to going back to that location soon.

Tuesday - stationary bike

I went to the gym again on Tuesday.
Note - that was FOUR days in a row! Go figure. What the heck's up with me?
I did the stationary bike and struggled to read my Presidnet Ford book as I peddled. I did 6 miles in about 36 minutes. Nothing stellar. It was more for the habit of continuing to go to the gym and I needed some bike time.
Wednesday - I was going to clean as my exercise. 1/2 price martini night happened instead
Thursday - Was THEN going to be my clean as exercise night. Dinner with friends happened instead. They got a new tv too so I had to spend some extra time there to check it out.

Aerobics class

I was all set to come straight home last night and write up a little entry on the aerobics class I took. It was an hour long zumba class. And it was fun. I think they are in the process of switching in a new teacher. I know this is the first time I have gone to a class in about a year but I think I liked the old teacher better than the one they are working back in. The difference would be - the one seems to understand the hip movement of the salsa and merengue with respect to dancing and the other seems to be more like a cheerleader with no clue as to hip movements. I will probably need to get different shoes for the class. Mine are pretty worn out to begin with. And I think I should find some that are more dance oriented. I will do some research.

Getting there

Well I almost feel like this gym thing is becoming a habit again. Today was going to be a rough day getting out. It is cold again. And I have a lot to do around the house (still do). But a friend called - she was taking her kids to McD for lunch and play and invited me join along. It got me out of the house... and I figured with a quarter pounder and cheese there needed to be some gym time to follow. So on my way home I went around the block the long way to swing by the little gym.
I am doing well with the getting to a 15minute mile pace. I used to be able to accomplish that so easily. Now it truly takes some running with the walking to get to the pace. I wonder sometimes if it is my stride on the treadmill versus my stride on land that makes that pace a little more difficult. OR it could be that the first few minutes are spent in warm up so I have to kick it up to get to the 15minute pace. The warm up consists of 1minute@2mph; 1minute@2.5mph; 1minute@3mph; 1minute@3.5mph; (hah - that averages out to 2.75mph pace) then I usually ramp it up to 3.8 from there. I use 3.8 as my base and jack it up to a run from there. I alternate between 5mph in a run and 6mph in a run. I like my pace and stride at 6mph better than 5mph but I just can't seem to keep at it as long.
Today's total run/walk was 3.17miles over a 49minute period. Both the 2mile and 3mile marks were at a little over 15minute averages. The other aspect of the treadmill I have picked up is the incline and interval modes. I would love to ramble on about that feature but at the moment it would be closer to bumble along on that feature. I need to find the treadmill web-site and see if I can learn more.
Tomorrow gonna shoot for zumba at 5:30

Success

Somewhere along life's line I have been told - probably from my personal trainer friends - that most successful people have built some form of a workout regime into their schedules. That they are not only driven by the success of their profession but by other aspects as well. Well I was pleased to see one of the most successful people I know at my little gym today. We had a brief chat on my week. I was thankful to be reminded that there are others out there on the same page as me in some aspects of what I do. And when I got on the treadill I thought... Of all places - sure he was by our office earlier this week - I never expected to see him at that gym. He does live nearby. So location makes sense. And he is one of the most soft-spoken, non-flashy, humble people I know. So I guess it would make sense that he would be there instead of one of the flashier locations. And then I felt bad because I know others are jealous of his success and would have snide comments to say as a result of running into him. And that pissed me off. So I just ran it off instead. Interesting where you can find your motivation at times... 2.38miles in 37 minutes. Followed with some stretches.
I could easily take a nap now.

Weigh In

Well the ww@work came to an end sometime over my trip to Cancun. I don't know what my final weigh in was to tell you the truth. I had contemplated sticking with it on-line or even live meetings. But decided for the $ I could do something else. HAH like get real cable...
Then my mom came to visit and the trips to the gym and watching what I ate fell off in importance. This morning was the first day in over a month I decided to get on the scale. Thankfully it wasn't THAT bad. I have gained a few pounds since the lowest weigh in but not too bad. So now back on the band wagon - especially if I am going to do some more racing etc.
And on that note - I AM trying to get to the gym this morning.

Hotel Gyms

I have been traveling with my current job now for 4+ years. Fact of the matter is I have been traveling for them almost since day one when we went to ATL and stayed at this pretty nasty hotel. All a very wierd start. Not too long after that I started doing the ATL trips on my own - well at least some of the time. One of my first recollections was to a location north of ATL - I have recently learned I actually have family in the area. But at that time I stayed at the hotel down the road. I have always been the hotel gym optimist... I will pack my sneaks and clothes and maybe get on a treadmill. Now remember I have never considered myself an athlete so I find this habit a bit off. But I am consistent with it. The other aspect that I don't find as odd - probably because I was a mermaid in a previous life - is that if there is a pool I am packing my swimsuit. I remember swimming at this hotel in ATL and have packed a suit ever since and more often than not get in the water. It is quite relaxing when traveling and so far better than sitting in the hotel room.
Well this latest trip the hotel had a gym and a pool. I brought all the fixins...
However I only made it on the treadmill the first night. Now I won't whime or complain. I did 2.14 miles in about 32 minutes. So for me a job well done. A pace well achieved. And luckily enough in the midst of it I was able to catch some innauguration coverage.
The next night I was going to try the pool but the 12 hour day just took the wind right out of my sail.
On the highest note - I can thankfully say I hit the gym three days in the past 6.
And I am gearing up to go again tomorrow. Let's hope the motivation sticks in the overnight.