she's a survivor

a few weeks back we went to a 'celebration of life.' this is the annual get-together sponsored by the oncology department at children's hospital for patients, current and past, and their families.

this year was the first year we have been available to attend. i wish we had gone before because it was a blast! it was held at a giant amusement center. they have batting, arcades, go karts, boats, etc. we had so much fun and we didn't even get to stay for the whole day.

being anal good little techies, we looked them up online beforehand to get an idea of what we wanted to do. pooka had some activities on her must-do list, as did i. we told pooka before we went that she if she wanted to do her things, she was going to have to try some others, as well. if you know pooka, you know she crabbed about it.

when we actually got there, though, she was surprisingly willing to try our must-dos. one was a hit, the other was, well, also a hit, but not in a good way.

the first activity was rockwall climbing. kisu suggested that we race up the wall, but that just wouldn't have been fair. (besides, i had to pee something awful and i knew the harness would destroy any shred of bladder control i might have after birthing two children.) so i just watched and took pics of her efforts. while waiting in line, i made sure to point out how gently the other people were descending. that eased some of her fears.

she was very nearly eager when the aide put her harness on (which is way more than i can say for the aide himself. a more bored young man i have rarely seen.) she even chose a route that was not the easiest. she really tackled the wall with gusto, but after the first 3 moves stopped and fell off. she looked like she wanted down, but we said no. she reset herself and climbed more. she was only a body length from the top when she quit for good, claiming that her hands hurt.having overcome her first obligation, she dragged me to the bumper boats where she proceeded to soak me.after that refreshing adventure, we hurried to stand in line for the go-karts. this place is so big, they actually had 3 different courses for different ages and experience levels. we had to wait through 4 rotations, but she benefited by being the first in line in her group. that meant she got her choice of car:

all the rest were black. she had a great time, even if we did have to yell at her to speed up or not hit the wall. she claims she was going as fast as she could, but she's not the speed demon type. when bug gets in one of those things, lookout.

while everyone else was waiting for the go karts, i ran off to swing for the fences of the batting cages. there were no real lines there and i'm not sure if it was because it was a less attractive activity or because you had to walk towards the back of the facility. i was able to hit 10 pitches and get back to the track in time for pooka's drive. but our time was running short, since we had plans to go out for kisu's birthday dinner. pooka wanted to do water wars, but i insisted that she attempt the batting cages. we headed over and again she surprised us by actually stepping up without whining. we had to wait for 1 person ahead of us and i used the break to show her where to stand to be able to hit the ball. ahh, here she failed herself. when she entered the cage, she stood precisely over the plate. frankly, i'm shocked it took as many as 3 pitches for her to get hit. she connected twice but the third took her squarely on the knuckles. she was officially done.

the only drawback to the day from my perspective (since i didn't get cracked on the hand by a pitch) was the lack of activities for bug. it was so crowded and we were so focused on pooka and photographing her actions that we didn't want to let bug out of the stroller. the poor thing spent the whole day sweltering in her prison. but she did get a chocolate chip cookie.


all in all, an awesome day celebrating an awesome group of people: survivors and their caretakers. we're hoping they hold next year's celebration there, too. we'll be there. and so will she:

make a wish trip day 1

so, we went to california. pooka's wish to meet m*ley c*rus finally happened. it seemed so strange in the days leading up to it. we couldn't believe the day had actually arrived.

the 4 of us were picked up in a limo at 7am on wednesday morning. i was nervous about how bug would behave on the 5 hour flight. she was not horrible. she had her moments, but she only slept about 20 minutes, despite the benadryl we had administered. we were all out of whack when we arrived in cali. we had only had a small snack on the plane and our bodies didn't know what time it was.

we got hung up at the car rental place due to a small error on my part. apparently when i went online to add carseats to our order, the system 'lost' the fact that make a wish was paying and not us.

by the time we got to the hotel, we didn't know whether to eat or just collapse into bed. we had to call for a crib and to let the front desk know that we had someone's nasty month-old leftovers in our fridge. i didn't want them charging us for an empty mini-bar when it was never full to begin with.

we finally got ourselves gathered enough to go looking for food. we drove our mammoth vehicle (in l.a.? hello?) out to find a restaurant. after going several blocks in the wrong direction, we realized that we should have just grabbed the stroller and walked. we were a mere 4 blocks from the ocean and the food was even closer than that. we stopped in for pizza at a place we thought was going to be a lot bigger. i was disappointed that we were eating pizza, again, on our trip. i wanted something less run-of-the-mill, more 'california-y.' (but cheap, cuz i'm like that.)




despite my crankiness, we enjoyed our food and then took a short trip to overlook the beach. it was windy and a bit chilly, so we didn't get close, but we did walk around the 3rd street promenade a bit.



we discovered a candy store that made pooka's eye bug out. bin after bin of chocolate covered items, old-style penny candy, jelly beans. i picked up a few choice items; not exactly stuff you can't find anywhere else, but stuff i don't look for or get often. pooka went for the jelly beans she begs for every time we go to the grocery store. they even had exotic treats like scorpion lollypops. the lady had signs out: "yes, they are real." "no, i haven't tried them." that made me laugh.


two more errands stood in our way before bedtime: a grocery store for some emergency staples (no need for room service for hungry kids at odd hours), and a drugstore for kisu's forgotten meds. after we accomplished both of those, we headed "home." we got our beds situated and we were all asleep by 830pm, cali time.

up in the air

pooka and i had the rare opportunity today to pilot a small airplane. my boss's boss has a beechcraft sundowner in which he graciously offered to let us fly.

we met him at plymouth airport and spent some time learning about the machine and how to fly it. pooka seemed genuinely interested and learned some factoids. she was in the co-pilot's seat for the first trip and as soon as we reached a stable altitude, jim let her take the yoke on the way to fly over our house. she did a good job of staying straight, turning, and keeping us from plummeting to the earth in a fiery wreck. not bad for a 6 year old's maiden flight. especially since she couldn't hear jim's instructions. we found out later that her headset wasn't picking up communication inside the plane, only the chatter from other craft. that also explains why she said not a single word the whole trip. jim thought she was terrified, particularly when she refused to give up control when he took over. i thought she might have been scared, too, but i figured it was due more to concentration.

i got a little nauseous up there. between the heat in the plane (who said it gets cold up there?), the turbulence, and trying to locate the house while jim was circling repeatedly, i nearly lost it. not until leaving the airport did i find out that pooka felt a little sick, too. she hid it better than i did, though. i was dripping with sweat.

we arrived back at the airport and did a switcheroo so that i could take my turn at piloting. honestly, i wasn't sure i wanted to endure another trip, but i didn't think i should send ragan up by herself on just her second flight. but i calmed down after a few minutes and we headed for the house again since pooka didn't hear me point it out the first time.

this time, i took the plane all the way to our neighborhood, where i gave up control in order to pinpoint the house. you know, it's awfully difficult to identify things from up in the air. most buildings look the same. you have to use landmarks like water, or freeways, or in our case football fields to get your bearings. it was a lot harder than i thought it would be. and finding the airport? forget it. i'm amazed at pilots who could do that, at night no less, before gps.

i got queasy again on the second trip, worse this time because i hadn't completely recovered from the first bout. i just sat there thinking, "if you puke in his plane, he will fire you." that helped.

when we got home kisu said that he and buggy saw us and waved on our first pass. the whole thing took about an hour, and pooka enjoyed it despite the nausea. she has been so fortunate to have such a wide variety of opportunities in her young life.

bocce 2008

it's time once again for the company bocce charity challenge. for the third year in a row we will be changing one player. this year jon is the lucky rookie and our team name is wombat flugtag.

we had a very slow start in the first match against the fried chicks, at one point down 11-3, but we managed to come back and eke out a 21-17 victory.

the next match was played under inclement conditions. i was freezing! it didn't help my sinus infection any, especially since i forgot my hat. this match was a see-saw battle through the halfway point until we finally got some momentum. we beat balls of fury 21-14.

our third opponent was crouching bocce, hidden ewald. movie title names are quite popular this year, with entries including no bocce for old men, and there will be bocce. it makes a nice diversion from the endless testicular references.

onto the match. it was a hard fought contest, with mutual commiseration over the poor court condition. there was also a lot of laughter even between teams, which is nice because some teams take this tournament waaaaay too seriously.

it's for fun and charity, people. (and for getting out of the cubicle for an hour and a half.) ultimately, we won 21-17, helped in large part by a round where we actually scored 4 points (the maximum). that never happens.

so we head into the weekend feeling pretty good and looking to rest up for the second half of the tourney. it's only gonna get tougher from here.

the renaissance passed us by

sunday i woke up obscenely early with a sinus headache and knew it was going to be a rough day. i called the doc and had some antibiotics wrangled because i self-diagnosed a sinus infection.

we met noel and nancy at the renaissance festival. it was quite a drive, with poor coty squished in between the girls in the back seat. i put my discomfort aside in hopes of getting lots of free chocolate: this weekend's theme at the ren fest. we didn't find any freebies, but they were selling lots of goodies. i was disappointed that the majority of them were not authentic. i'm pretty sure they didn't have krispy kreme back then. nor 'southwestern twisted egg rolls'. harumph.

we kind of had fun, when viewed through the perspective of the kids. well, really just pooka. bug was strapped into the stroller most of the time and coty was bored with waiting around for us. pooka made a wax hand (took about 30 minutes) and did the bungee jumper (after a 40 minute wait in line); see whence the boredom? when i realized i was going to have to pay a la carte for the bungee event, i told pooka that she needed to attempt some flips or something more than just jumping up and down. she can do that on her bed at home for free. she refused, but they have these helpers who strap the kids in and get them started; these people will 'help' the kids flip if asked by the parents. and so pooka did a flip. she had the meanest look on her face when she came around, but the smile peeked through just a little. she threatened to hit kisu and i both when she was done. i didn't think she would, but she hauled off and slapped me square on the belly. fortunately, i had a split second in which to flex my abs. (not a 6-pack, but firm, nevertheless.)

by that time, we were pretty much done. bug hadn't had a nap, but produced 3 poopy diapers, my head was about to explode, antibiotics notwithstanding, and we had spent plenty of money. thank goodness the entrance tickets were comps from Camp Casey.

we slogged back through the muddy forest trail to get to the truck and i relinquished the wheel to kisu. (yes, that's how bad i felt.) we made a pit stop at mickey d's (also not authentic, but a heckuva lot cheaper) where coty - that handsome devil - proceeded to flummox the girl enough that she charged me for 3 happy meals instead of 2 and forgot to give me the kids' drinks.

we bathed the girls when we got home and then i pretty much collapsed. time travel is exhausting work.

the divine mrs c

because i obviously can't get enough of myself. here is a clip that's celebrates how hott i am.

the most fun you can have in the desert

this weekend we went to the kalahari resort courtesy of camp quality. they are awesome.

we had a great time, even kisu who had to be persuaded to join his loving family and tivo the football games. this was a great weekend to spend at an indoor waterpark, considering the downpour we got (and even a tornado touchdown not too far away).

the place was insanely huge. despite our net surfing, we were completely unprepared for the scale of this destination. i guess we never really registered the 'resort' component in the title. we were caught a little unprepared in a few ways. one, although i borrowed an underwater camera from noel, i forgot my dry camera; there were a lot of photo ops i missed, like a live tiger cub! also, no adult thought to check on pooka's packing skills and she spent the entire weekend wearing her bathing suit since it was the only butt-covering item of clothing that was acceptable to be publicly visible. (although there were 3 stores in the resort, none of them had girls' shorts.)

but i did bring the wet camera, as i mentioned, so let's see some of those shots:




as you can see, pooka has made significant progress on coping with her fear of going underwater.

kisu and i were excited about the fitness room and both planned to use it, but by the time we were done in the water saturday, all 4 of us could barely walk (and we needed to, our room was about half a mile away from the hub of the resort). we were all asleep by 10 that night.

instead of working out, we pigged out. the adults got our money's worth at the breakfast buffet, and i even managed to make up for pooka, who ate only a bowl of cereal. dinner saturday night was a celebratory atmosphere, so we polished off this monster (the desert, not the baby, although they are roughly the same size): click for the full picture.

even bug partook of this, mostly eating the bananas, although she did get a little ice cream and whipped cream. i fear that i did the greatest damage, however. (playing in the water must have countered all the indulgences, thankfully, because the scale was nice to me upon our return home.)

this was the kind of family getaway that we could all feel good about. there was a variety of activities to engage in that covered all ages. kisu got to watch the michigan game, poorly as that ended, while bug napped and pooka and i rode the bigger slides and a water coaster. it certainly worked nicely into my thrive resolution.

we even managed to extend the joy by bringing home some decadent goodies from the candy hut. kisu got a caramel toffee apple; not just your average caramel apple, this had several layers: caramel, toffee chips, and rich chocolate. between 3 of us, we only managed to eat half (oh, we did save the other half for another time). pooka selected oreo bark (white chocolate with cookie bits mixed in) and i got a chocolate covered nutter butter, a pineapple truffle that is so rich it will take me a week to consume it, and an apple pie caramel. that one was delicious, but by the time i was done, my jaw felt like it was going to fall off. it was approximately a 1.5 x 2 x 2.5" solid chunk of caramel. yikes!

it was on this lovely family excursion that the following things occurred: pooka described bug's hair as 'reese's hair'; the lighter parts are the peanut butter and the darker parts the chocolate. (we're not really candy-obsessed in this family, honest.) and bug finally mastered pooka's name. granted it's not her whole name, instead it's the oft-used 'ray-ray', but it is intentionally that, and not just a garbled attempt at her full name. and it is oh-so adorable. now, if we could just get her to stop smacking pooka, they might be friends.

family fitness night

last saturday, pooka attended a birthday party at a gymnastics facility. it was pretty cool, she got to walk the balance beam, swing on the rings, tumble, jump on a trampoline, etc. she said there wasn't one activity she didn't enjoy.

naturally at the end of this event, the facility handed out schedules and registration forms along with a $10 coupon. since pooka had such a good time, i thought we might look into signing her up. she is still doing ballet, but i just don't see that giving her enough of an exercise load to keep her fit and work off the steroids. since gym class is only two days a week, i feel she needs more activity. of course, we don't have a lot of free time to get involved in too much (especially not gymnastic competition) so we need to keep that in mind, also.

kisu would love to take martial arts as a family, but pooka is just so resistant. and of course, bug is not old enough. awhile back pooka had agreed to let me home-school her in 'karate' (it's faster to say than tae kwon do, and she doesn't understand the distinction yet, anyway) but i just haven't gotten around to it.

so combining all of these thoughts i came up with the idea for family fitness night. why pay someone to work my kid out when i can do it just as easily at home? we can do basic exercising and i can also teach her the fundamentals of tae kwon do. a collateral benefit to this would be, hello!, the family part. granted we would have to do this after bug is in bed, but 3 out of 4 isn't bad.

tonight was our first attempt, although kisu was called away to fix a computer. pooka was very excited about it, even though she had no idea what i was going to put her through.

we started with some jumping jacks, and jogging in place. we moved on to stretching, with which she was familiar thanks to dance class. i then began to teach her a basic middle punch. this was the most time consuming segment, because i had to get her into the correct stance and show her how to make a proper fist. after demonstrating (i can still make sleeves snap--even short ones!) i let her target my hand and give it a go. i was impressed with how quickly she started to get it right. she really enjoyed putting some power behind it and hearing that satisfying distinctive sound of fist meeting flesh. (yeah, we're not aggressive in this family.)

after the punching, we moved on to some calisthenics. i was surprised (and quite disappointed) to find out that pooka can not do a single sit-up. is this common in kids? am i explaining it wrong? (telling her to clench her stomach muscles like she was pooping didn't seem to help.)

nor could she properly do a push-up (not even on her knees). we've gone over this before, but she has trouble keeping her body straight from shoulders to knees. so we worked on that first, which also showed her how to clench her stomach muscles. we then did squats, which she could do and do well. and we finished up with calf raises. she did those well and easily, so i am a little bit suspicious that something wasn't quite right. she didn't have any muscle fatigue climbing the stairs afterward. maybe she just needs to do more of those, she does have some pretty impressive calves.

overall, she had a great time and is already looking forward to the next night. i thought once a week would be sufficient, but maybe we can do it more often. the only detraction is the time. she ended up going to bed an hour past bedtime, but as she gets more familiar with the activities it should go faster since i'll be spending less time on explanations.

i'm very glad she is excited about getting fit.

opportunity knocked (a hole in the door)

working out is producing such stunning results that it has allowed to me explore some new occupations. recently i have taken a turn at towing broken-down cars, compressing bins of aluminum for recycling, manually launching space craft, and covering for atlas while he's on vacation.

but the one of which i am the proudest: as the model for a certain well known baking component odor-fighter. take a look:
too bad they won't give me free samples to put in my work out bag, because i'll tell you, all this hard work has more olfactory impact than a stroll through the rose garden (and not quite as pleasant).

another brilliant plan

ok, i know my last idea didn't work so well, but i think the problem was one of scale. i wasn't thinking big enough.

my new proposition, which deals somewhat with the same subject is grander and also aims to solve 3 of America's greatest problems right now: unemployment, rampant obesity, and foreign oil dependence.

follow me for a moment.

we construct acres of energy machines (aka treadmills, steppers, or whatever the most efficient format is) and create a 24/7 operation with shifts of workers/exercisers. this energy is funneled into whatever operation is nearby and needs power.

admittedly, i'm a little sketchy on the details, but can't you just see this?
millions of unemployed people will have jobs!
millions of overweight people will get healthy!
millions (?) of barrels of oil will go ...somewhere besides the U.S.!

i'm sure jonathan swift appreciates my idea. but seriously, how else can we fulfill b.o.'s plan to end foreign oil dependence without drilling for more of our own or building some new alternative sources (i.e. nuclear plants)?

camp quality pick-up

ahhh, i've waited too long to write this and now i've forgotten what happened. (see description of blog.)

kisu was very anxious and impatient. he didn't like the fact that they wouldn't let us see the kids right off the bat, but made us wait while they paraded them in for a slideshow that recapped the week.

i was just excited to see her and to hear about the exciting things she did at camp. i wished that she would have as good a time at camp as i did when i was young. i anticipated that she would have grown a bit. a few days without being coddled by mommy and daddy, of not having a kitchen cater to her, of having the opportunity to try some new and exciting activities. i hoped there would be less whining and more self-direction.

perhaps that was too much to expect after one short week.

she did get some new experiences and new friends. we also established a new relationship with the camp quality people which looks like it's going to provide us with many rewarding adventures in the future. pooka's companion, jane, really took to pooka and has expressed a desire to stay in touch. she obviously doesn't know me and my utter disregard for returning correspondence. she would like to be pooka's companion again next year if pooka decides to attend again (we'll probably force her to, again.) maybe before then we can convince her that kisu's name is not steve.

the one activity we heard the most about was making human sundaes. a few of the companions (oddly enough, the young ones. the older ones wouldn't deign to get gooey.) volunteered to have sundae toppings poured over the heads and bodies. there was chocolate, strawberry, and i think some whipped cream. ewwww. fortunately, organizers had the foresight to plan this event on the beach so that the desserts could simply wade into the water to wash up after the humiliation.

with much time to observe any character development spurred by her stay at camp, i think i can safely say uh, it didn't. but she had fun and that was the most important thing. that and the fact that she didn't pitch a complete hissy fit because she was homesick. can't wait til next year.

narcissistic much?

weight loss is a common topic in our office. from the aging art director who suddenly realized he'd been growing rounder and rounder, to the copywriter who has struggled with her weight all her life, to the other people who just want to stay fit, we frequently discuss eating habits, exercise plans, and the frustration of it all. the writer has not seen much progress, but the art director has shed some 50 pounds in roughly the last 9 months.

a woman on another floor actually went on a hospital-supervised shake-only diet. this was a pretty radical plan that produced a striking result. she lost a little more than 100 pounds, i believe, and literally looked like a different person. it may have been even more pronounced in my eyes because it happened while i was on maternity leave.

i couldn't stick to a shake-only plan while trying to provide normal/proper nutrition for my family, and by the same token, my eating/exercising schedule wouldn't necessarily work for other people. however, i was proud to hear that she marveled at my dedication to losing weight and my ability to maintain what i have done so far.

it's nice to have my hard work appreciated. i marvel at myself sometimes, and i like to hear people comment on my dedication when i'm heading to the gym as they're heading to a fast food restaurant. it's motivating and rewarding all at the same time. and not in a 'holier-than-thou' way.

kisu is especially appreciative of what i've accomplished, although possibly not as much as i am myself. like my idol, the divine miss m, i will randomly pop up and declare, "i look good!"

this is turning into a joke around the house. one night kisu and pooka were waiting for me and when they discovered that i was in the bathroom, kisu said that i was flexing in front of the mirror. in that particular instance it was not true, but it was darn close and i couldn't help but laugh which made him think that it was true.

i like to flex my muscles. i like to see my muscles in the mirror. i admit i even... fondle my muscles--just the arms, though!

i can't help it. i am in the best shape of my life (barring the year prior to earning my black belt--and i've had 2! kids since then) and i love the way it feels. i even find ways to sneak in exercise when we're out and about, like hoisting bug onto my shoulders and walking on my tiptoes. kisu has started calling me the fitness nazi. i don't think that applies, though, if you're only pushing yourself.

anyway, i don't care what he calls me, i am going to continue working. i don't consider a trip to the gym obligatory, i consider it a privilege and an enjoyable way to spend an hour. even if i have to put up with some old curmudgeons while i'm there.

camp quality drop-off

i suppose i should tell you about dropping pooka off at camp before i tell you about picking her up. that would be reasonable.

i was a little nervous about how she would handle it, because she maintained for so long that she wasn't going to go. 3 weeks ago when jane (her companion) sent her an email, she started to get excited, although she didn't really want to admit that to us.

the night before, she did NOT sleep well. she tossed and turned, kicked, cried out, "No, " and in general expressed a lot of anxiety in her sleep. this is according to my niece who had the distinct misfortune of trying to sleep next to her. being two floors above, we heard none of this and slumbered blissfully tossed and turned anyway since we were in someone else's bed (which used to be our bed, but that's beside the point).

i didn't realize quite how nervous kisu was to be dropping off his first-born child into the arms of strangers in the wilderness where they had no access to communication devices. well, the kids didn't anyway. (boy are we spoiled by cell phones, or what?) i was mainly worried about how she would adjust; i knew she would be taken care of.

when we arrived at the campgrounds, jane was thrilled to meet us and started to jump right into getting to know pooka. pooka, typically, was a bit more reserved and that demeanor was augmented by the fact that she had just woken up from her 'on-the-road' nap.

she quickly warmed up, however, and we stayed awhile to watch her get acclimated to the surroundings and to cement her transition to the substitute parent. they tackled a few crafts and then we all went to get lunch. during lunch we relayed some insights to pooka and jane shared some of her background. once that was done, jane said that they were going to attempt the scavenger hunt and we took that as our exit cue. pooka cheerfully said, "ok. bye," and gave us hugs and kisses before scampering off after her new friends.

wow, that was easy.

sadness

as i was walking to the main building
this morning to donate blood,
i came across this in the parking lot:



the covered parking area for the chief officers is a haven for birds of all kinds, despite being equipped with netting and annoying chirping boxes designed to keep them away. (it is also the haven for the obstinate people who refuse to quit smoking and continue to pollute us all with their second-hand cancer air. /rant)

anyway, there obviously was a nest above that spot and the hatchling sadly fell from it. it's too bad the amer-avian red cross couldn't get to it in time, although a blood transfusion probably wasn't the right medicine for its problems.

however, by the time i returned an hour later, it had been smushed by a motorcycle.

channel your energy

as i was leaving the gym today i was struck by the senseless waste of people using indoor cardio equipment. all those miles logged on treadmills and elliptical machines; all those flights racked up on stepping machines.

i'm not saying that exercise is a futile endeavor, of course i'm an advocate for being healthy. and it would be hypocritical of me to heap shame upon people who hide indoors instead of enjoying the beauty and the natural challenge of the terrain outside the gym walls.

my despair comes from thinking of the oodles of joules just seeping out into the ether. think about it: people are at the gym to burn calories, right? what are calories but units of energy!

why doesn't someone engineer equipment to harness that mass of energy? during its busy hours, the gym could collect kilowatt hours in a battery and release it during its less busy hours. the battery could power the facility itself.

power from the people!

****
upon further research, this idea isn't really feasible, much to my chagrin. the amount of energy produced wouldn't be enough to run the facility, although it could light up a bulb (CFL, of course) for a few minutes.

1 kilowatt hour = 8,598,452 calories (or roughly 8,598,152 more calories than i burn on a 2 mile run.) the equivalent of 2,456 pounds. that's weight loss on a slightly larger scale (thank God) than my paradigm. my efforts would be closer to producing 1 kilowatt second per week.

eh, in the words of emily litella: "neeeeever mind."

the next steps

i really missed the gym this weekend.

especially since i screwed up and had two cheat days. i decided to go to the gym tonight, but when i got there i discovered that they had just closed. guess it's been awhile since i used the gym close to my house.

i was all suited up and had the determination to run, though, so i decided to just go around my neighborhood.

i don't usually do that because i don't want people to laugh at my lousy running technique, my labored breathing, my early quitting it's hard to pace myself outside, as i proved in the 5k. but i thought, what the hell, you need to burn some calories.

i started out a little fast, i think, and immediately starting shortening my theoretical route. but i eased up and found my pace and managed to complete the circuit i had originally planned, and then tacked ona bit more for good measure. i was hoping that i had at least done a mile. when i got home, i registered at mapmyrun.com and discovered, to my happy surprise, that i had gone almost 1.5 miles.

i got muss-kles

it's important to include weight-training in your fitness regimen for several reasons.

first of all, building lean muscle helps increase your metabolic rate and burns more calories on a daily basis.

secondly, it can put some nice curves on your body (if your bodyfat level is low enough to reveal them).

thirdly, it will provide you with the strength of ten men to push stalled vehicles to the gas pump.

this morning as i was filling my tank ($54!), a woman driving a green gmc jimmy inched her way into the station. flashers blinking, she stalled out about 15 feet from the pump. predictably, she got out and asked if i could push her the last little bit. i stopped pumping and walked over.

when she realized i meant to get my hands dirty, she said, "oh, i didn't mean physically, i meant with your car."

i looked back at my precious, 3-year-old, 99% intact zed. i looked down at my office casual clothing. i shook my head and said, "nah, i'll do it this way."

she put the truck in neutral and i started pushing. it took a little rocking, but between us we got it moving. there was a small incline just before the pump platform area that gave us some trouble, but just at that moment a man pulled up, jumped out and helped with the other side of the back end where i was.

as he walked away, he said apologetically, "all these guys standing around watching you."

pshht, men, who needs 'em? we had it under control.

i felt so adrenalized, even though i almost pushed myself out of my shoes.

i wonder how many calories you burn pushing a 2,000 pound vehicle?

quality time

kisu got a new job, which he started today. we are very excited because it has the regular schedule of monday through friday 8 am - 5 pm. there are other reasons to be excited, as well, but that is a major one.

the new job is not far from my job, so i am hopeful that we will be able to drive together, at least a couple days per week. that will save us money on gas (about $8 per day), wear on his car (45 miles per day), worry about his safety while driving that car, and most importantly give us guaranteed time to talk to each other, as adults (while sitting in construction traffic).

he was concerned that his schedule would not be as cut and dried as mine is (99.99% of the time, i'm out the door at 5pm if not sooner). this could cause issues for picking up the girls on time. i'm not interested in paying late fees on top of the worthwhile, albeit hefty price we pay for their daycare.

after his first day, he thinks that this won't be a problem. the pace at the new job is much more relaxed than his previous position. this alone makes me happy for him. he spent so much energy and accumulated so much stress at the last place trying to do everything as fast as possible (although he was the only) that he had no energy left for anything outside of work. self-care, child-care, housework: no way. maybe now he'll be able to find a balance and get the other aspects of his life shaped up the way he would like. (as i have been attempting to do.)

heart & sole very tired

today was the 5K. i was nervous this morning.

nervous? what's up with that? as if i had any chance of actually winning.

i was also very concerned about the cold. the predicted high was a mere 59 and overcast. i only brought workout shorts. yikes!

the sun was peeking through a little by start time, but it was still darn cold. cold enough, in fact, that my nose was dripping like a faucet. i couldn't take more than 5 strides without snot sliding down my face. since i didn't want to look disgusting (for the footage the company was capturing) i used the tissue i had had the foresight to jam in my pocket. how clever of me to be prepared. how foolish of me to not be prepared enough--i could have used a whole box!

this situation was one of the many things that threw me off track. the snot made it difficult to breathe through my nose, which is, of course, the proper way to control your breathing. breathing through my mouth caused cottonmouth and my throat to feel like it was closing up. it was distracting to have to clear my nose constantly, though. also, the cold affected my body. it took half the course for my body heat to thaw out my arms from the elbow down. and another factor was pacing. i usually only run on a treadmill, which sets the pace for me. i don't know what 4.5 mph feels like on the road. i didn't feel like i was going much faster than usual, but who knows how the temperature skewed my perception. i must have been going faster than usual, however, because i finished in 34:15. and i didn't even run the whole course! i figured i walked roughly half a mile of the supposed 3.1 mile course. the superfast time to completion made me suspect that the course planners were a little stingy (or generous?) in their layout.

i later drove the path and came up with approximately 2.8 miles. ah-ha! just as i suspected.

overall, i'm happy with how i performed under the conditions. i didn't manage to run the whole thing, which was my initial goal, but i did complete it in decent time. i definitely have a target for next year.

for now, i'm not running for at least a week. in fact, i don't think i'm going to the gym at all for the rest of this week.

walk for wishes recap

the walk was pie. it sure didn't feel like 2 miles, and it went by really fast. i started out behind a partial throng and ended up, by my reckoning, the 4th person to finish. it seems a lot of people were actually looking at the animals. since pooka ended up staying home and bug fell asleep 10 minutes in, i figured i would just motor. that way i could get home, take a nap and a shower before keving and marianne showed up.


that plan worked out, except i decided to stay and see what the announcements were, and then i got introduced to the sister of one of pooka's wish volunteers. the sister works at the same company i do. we got around to talking about the 5K coming up, and ended up agreeing to run together.


the announcements revealed the top fund-raisers in each category of individual, team, wish family, school, and business. i was near the top for individuals, but not even close to the total. i managed to pull in $844, but the top person raised over $4000. wow. she was part of the top wish family, too. they were walking in memory of their daughter who died at the way too young age of 9. yes, i teared up. i don't think i was the only one, either.


in total, the event raised $225,000. it's amazing what people can do when they open their hearts. for raising more than $750, i even got my name on the back of the shirt. since they sorted alpha by last name, i'm the first listed. now i'm immortalized.