Tech Geekery

From this post back in 2007:


There is no more "wanting". I was using a Pocket PC phone when the iPhone first came out, and I knew I needed to hold off so I behaved (even though I thought the iPhone was really, really pretty). Then there was a significant change in my financial circumstances which resulted in me downgrading to a basic flip phone which possessed the grudgingly redeeming features of flipping open in both portrait and landscape modes along with a full QWERTY keyboard while in landscape. I had no data plan, used no internet access, had the minimum number of monthly minutes I could get away with -- it was time for austerity measures, and it worked. And I've continued to use that phone for over four years, much to the distress of my cellular service provider.

But times change, and Choreboy and I decided that after nearly three years of marriage it was about time we combined our cellular plans. So now we're both the proud owners of smartphones: his is, lamentably, a Droid, and mine is the vastly superior iPhone*. Yes, I know they're about to release the new iPhone, but my iPad is first generation (the iPad 2 came out less than 3 months after I got mine) so I'm pretty used to being at less than the bleeding-edge of Apple technology anyway. Plus I hear they're changing the docking configuration this time around, and it will be easier for me to keep track of devices that all can share the same cord.

At least that's what I'm telling myself.

But seriously... iPhone, yay! I'm definitely a happy camper.

*Yes, this is a joke. He loves his Droid and it is the right phone for him and his needs. Plus with his extended work hours, the amazing battery life of his phone is a must. He's a happy boy, and I'm confident we can manage to navigate the hurdles of a mixed-phone marriage :P

And We Have Yet More Progress!

I just got my bloodwork back from re-testing my Vitamin D and B12 levels. Vitamin D is up from 12.2 to 27.2, which is pretty impressive. Now granted, I'm still low. The threshold for "adequate" is 30.0 ng/mL and I'm not quite there yet, but it's a definite improvement! And my B12 is up from 300-something to 517 pg/mL. So again, we've seen a definite increase.

The plan now is to keep on supplementing and see what shows up at my next annual checkup in March. I just need to get more Vitamin D pills, because I'm about out. For the B12, I'm working more on upping my meat intake rather than supplementing, because the Niacin flush on me presents as horrific itching on both my palms and the soles of my feet. Hate!

Also, I went and cancelled my gym membership. I have to admit I was freaking out worrying about it because the press on trying to cancel a membership with LA Fitness is abysmal, but it was pretty simple for me. I don't know if that's indicative of a change in overall corporate culture or if it's due to the fact that mine was a buyout contract anyway, but I'll take it. I'll just have to watch my bank account at the end of this month and August to make sure the cancellation went through.

So LA Fitness, if you're Googling yourself, Mike at one of your recent buyout properties in Central Florida is awesome.

Anyway, all that means we're back to working out at home (no commute, yay!) and I'll be checking out the Y to see what they have to offer for the boys. Also, Choreboy measured his waist circumference recently and muttered about what his AARP newsletter said it should be versus his own measurements so at least a family Y membership would offer him the ability to go work out there if he wanted rather than having to add to an existing gym membership. Definitely a win.

Bellydancing starts back up Wednesday. Hilariously, one of the people at the hafla videoed us and posted it on YouTube, so here for your viewing pleasure is our VERY newbie bellydancing class in our first public-ish peformance:



I know, I'm still a bit broad across the beam. It's genetic. I got down to 108 back when I was 16 after a nasty bout of pneumonia. I was hollow-cheeked, flat-chested, and STILL I had these saddlebags! My torso is freaking amazing, though :P

Have a great week, all!

Results Not Typical

I am not a fan of change.  It's not just my age, although that's not helping.  It's simply hardwired into my system.  And I know that people as a whole kind of tend to resist change, but I would posit that my resistance is less like the resistance of a reed to the wind, and more like that of a concrete block wall.

This whole "sale of the gym/ loss of the trainer" thing has thrown me for a way bigger loop than the situation merits.  I totally get that.  But I also get that within my own little tiny brain, it's bigger than I can handle*.  So I'm definitely cancelling the membership at now - L.A. Fitness.  We likely will join the Y in a bit, although I'm thinking I'll move back to exercising at home for awhile.  I've got some new lower body moves I've found I can do thanks to my exposure to both of my trainers, and the immense amount of time my gym sessions would take away from my family was just a bit much for a long-term activity plan.

It makes me sad, but perhaps this is all for the best.  I need to focus on the people in my life, not on how many reps I'm doing.  Those two things aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, but with my schedule and the way I tend to pursue things it was becoming that way for me.

I'll figure something out.  I always do.  I just need to get my act together food-wise (we will NOT discuss the Fourth of July and my Heluvagood Dip consumption) before my ever-widening ass gets to the beach.

*I know, it's freaking ridiculous.  And with some situations I would find a way to deal and adapt.  But with this particular situation, I'm bailing.  Because I can.  Because there are enough things out there that require my limited adaptation skills, and I'm not going to waste them on the freaking gym.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

Debby can leave any time now.  At first I was pretty relaxed about the rain, winds, and so forth.  In fact, overall I'm a fan of wild weather which is probably a good thing considering I live in Florida and made it through the 2004 hurricane season where my area of the state was pummeled by three (count 'em, three -- Charley, Frances, and Jeanne) hurricanes within 6 weeks.

I also literally rode out Opal in 1995 up in Alabama in one of the city's patrol cars (back in my reserve police days), and the next morning I got the call from our Lt. after about 4 hours sleep to come in for damage surveying.  It was a long 36+ hours.  But I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

All that said, I never personally suffered major damage from any of these storms.  Sure, a cracked window there, a roof vent flying off here... but nothing major.

And still, thus far it's nothing major, but I draw the line at freaking water spots on my bedroom ceiling.

This storm has gone on about a day too long.  Or two.  I don't know.  What I do know is that I covered my bed (new mattress *headdesk*) and the floor in plastic before leaving for work today, and I'm praying the leaks don't spread.  I don't have much hope on that end, though, because there were only two spots when I went to bed last night and by the time I woke up there was a third.

Murphy clearly isn't listening.

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Speaking of Murphy, the new trainer seems decent.  She's not my original trainer, but we got along fine, she was able to push me, and she's not scary-uber-cutesie even though she's all of five-foot nothing.  Bless her.  Our plan is to see out this week with the training schedule, and then look at what the switchover to L.A. Fitness brings.  They'll either refund my money for my training sessions, or let me continue with her (assuming they keep her on).

So it's still frustrating, but at least we have a workable solution for the moment.  Sadly, that "moment" ends July 1st.

Oh well, onward and upward!

Progress!

New trainer alert!  Thank goodness.  And yes, it's taken this long.  Good grief.

I meet with her tonight, so I'll let you know how it goes.  We spoke on the phone last night and she seemed pleasant enough, so here's hoping.

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After an unfortunate run-in with Pizza Hut (emotional eating -- I really shouldn't be shocked) and the resultant sodium bloat, I'm back down where I'm supposed to be, weight-wise.  Whew.  Dodged that bullet.  But just because I dodged it this time doesn't give me a free pass to go loony on the processed gunk, so it's back to normal eating for me.

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The belly dance group had its hafla this past Wednesday, and our beginners' class had its first public performance.  Yipes!  Fortunately it was very informal and I appear to have survived.  I even plastered a smile on my face for the entire duration of the choreography:

As I said, VERY informal!  I'm wearing yoga pants, a coin scarf, and my "Shut Up and Shimmy" tank, along with enough makeup to out-whore any whore in Whoreville.  September will bring the school's annual recital, which means not only will we be in full costume (although don't expect to see me in a bra top -- my upper arms still aren't quite ready for primetime :P ), I'm going to have to set my makeup phasers past "call girl" and well into "streetwalker" for stage-level performance.  That should be entertaining.

Sorry I'm so brief -- it's a workday and I'm taking shameless advantage of a break in production to crank this out.  More later, once I have a better bead on this trainer.

Murphy, You May Leave Now...

Dang I'm bummed.

Remember my way-awesome trainer? Well, she remained awesome but unfortunately it appears our gym is being sold to another company and when that became official, my trainer resigned. I can't say I blame her. Google L.A. Fitness buyouts if you're interested -- it's not pretty (specifically the Minnesota and Atlanta area buyouts), so I'm more than a little concerned myself.

Unfortunately I still have 6 sessions left on my contract. And although I was told I'd hear from the facility manager on that, I still haven't and it's several days later. So now I'm not just bummed, but I'm also stressing. It may be over nothing; I'm sure there's a ton of stress over on their end as well, but I'd like to know how we're going to handle my remaining training contract.

I'm just so annoyed! I finally get to re-join the gym after a decade hiatus, find a great trainer, and whammo. She's gone. Bleah.

Well, this could be a sign I should just resign my gym membership and go ahead and join the Y. I've had a great crash course in re-learning how to use the weight equipment and I've got some excellent workout routines, so it may be that the frou-frou gym's time has passed. Besides, we can get an entire family membership at the Y for less than 2 full memberships at the current gym... plus a discount on gymnastics classes for The Gum Zombie. So really, it could all work out to our advantage in the long run.

But still... dang!

Sigh.

Present!

Still here, workout schedule still holds.

In fact, this week I had an extra workout. My little sister was down from NYC and we abandoned our children (she is the mother of The Divine Miss M) to take a walk.

More like the Bataan Death March. Anyway, 6+ miles in 90+ degree heat and two bum hips later we made it home. Yes, apparently my hips are also joining in the "Amanda's Aging, Ha Ha Ha!" -fest. About four miles in and they were actually burning, in the hip sockets.

This isn't the first time that's happened to me either. Back in 2010 when we went to Glacier I had the same burning-hip-joints thing happen to me on the Loop portion of the trail following our Highline hike. It was only due to sheer force of will and a stubborn refusal to be airlifted out that I made it off that damned mountain under my own steam (okay, Choreboy helped. Like, alot). But that was 11.4 miles with over 2000 ft of descent mere months after I recovered from bilateral stress fractures, not just some 5-or-so mile walk over relatively level/ slightly rolling terrain when I am theoretically in great shape!

Good grief.

I guess I'll add that to the list of fun stuff I'm going to ask my doctor about. Yippie? Well, we'd better figure out how to fix it because we're heading back to Glacier in 2013 and I want to do the Highline again.

If I am confined to Hidden Lake, I'm gonna be bummed.

Anyway, must shut down so I can race home, feed the boys, and get my aching joints to the gym -- later, y'all!

I Thought Things Were Supposed to Calm Down

*snort* Riiiiight...

Well, to update!

First, the Offspring:

The Gum Zombie had a piece of art selected out of hundreds chosen to hang in our local art museum (in the company of several other children). He was over the moon, and his brother was flatly appalled at having to sit through the awards ceremony.

However! The Elder decided that this year he'd actually turn in his National Junior Honor Society application, in large part to ensure his little brother had to sit through something for him. We all survived his induction, but the Elder's over-the-moon moment didn't occur until he found out he has been placed in Advanced Algebra I for eighth grade.

There are times when I wonder if that boy is my son -- math was not my strong suit. Then I remember labor...

...yep, he's mine. And in my defense, I did finally learn to "speak" math in my late twenties. I survived Calculus I and II as well as statistics quite nicely.

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On the "is Amanda moving or has she become glued to her couch" front, I plead the former. In fact, I'll use it as my entire excuse for not blogging because time is now at such a premium. I have Tuesday and Thursday with my trainer, Wednesday I have belly dancing, and Saturday I head in to the gym with the Elder (we farm the Gum Zombie out to the gym's childcare center), followed up by independent dance practice on both Saturday and Sunday.

Monday and Friday I'm glued to Choreboy, because that poor man barely sees me now. Tuesday - Thursday I don't get home until after 8:00, and it's rare that I'm done eating and hosed off before 9:00. Considering that I'm in bed between 9:30 and 10:00, that doesn't leave much time. So I'm prioritizing.

Other than that, not much is new. I had a brief "episode" with Chipotle overkill (5 out of 6 days I ate there, yikes!) so now I've banned myself as I obviously am not to be trusted. I'll go back in a few months, but just because it isn't as bad for me as McDonald's does not make my burrito bowl with carnitas, sour cream, cheese, and guac into health food.

Off to navigate the Memorial Day festivities -- have an awesome holiday weekend, everyone :)

Humans Rock!

I had my body composition tested by a real, live, caliper-wielding human at the gym this past Saturday, and whaddaya know? 24.7% body fat, baby!

HAH. Take that, BodPod. Skinny-fat my happy asterisk :P

On my way to the gym, I stuffed this picture into my purse:

Isn't it delightful? Note the Diet Coke in my hand. Because that makes it all better.

Anyway, it took a while for the manager to finish with a walkthrough that had been previously scheduled, so I was chatting with a couple of girls at the desk. My workout history came up, and I hauled out The Picture of Doom to explain where I'd been (the picture is from May of 2006, about three months before I realized I'd cracked the 200-pound barrier), my current state, and my determination to never, ever, return to anything resembling the woman in the photograph. When the manager finally walked up, the older of the two women I'd been talking to looked at him and said, "I want her start-up," and then headed out onto the gym floor.

He stared after her kind of stunned, but I didn't think much of it. Turns out she's the head of their trainers and doesn't do the start-up program. Like, ever. But she was really impressed by how far I'd come from where I started, and she wanted "in" since I was finally turning to the professionals, LOL. Very cool lady -- I'm glad things worked out the way they did.

Her analysis of me at this point, after two one-hour sessions, is that she's going to have to keep me from hurting myself. On first impulse I'd say she's off base, but after the pulled back muscle, slipping shoulders, bum knee, bilateral stress fractures and I don't know what-all else that I've managed to put myself through in the past few years (there's a wrist issue in there as well)... okay, maybe she has a point! I just know where I want to be, and I do what I feel I have to do to get there. From what I can tell, she has the experience to get me there in one piece.

You can't beat that.

I'm glad I went in, and I'm glad I joined. I was bored unto death with my workouts, so having new toys to play with is just freaking awesome.

It's about time, too, because Choreboy and I are heading for the beach later this summer and remaining slackerly just isn't an option. I have three bikinis I have to fill out to good advantage. And while the stretch marks don't bug, my legs still do.

Time to kick it into high gear. Have a good one, y'all :)

YES!

Hallelujah, praise the Lord and pass the ammo, I joined a gym. The Elder is aging out of daycare in a matter of weeks and at this point I can float the dual expense for a month.

Yes, yes, YES!!! New toys to play with, a few sessions with a trainer, an assessment WITH caliper body comp testing -- awesome!

Okay, I'll fill y'all in further when I have more to report, but dang it feels good to be back in it.

Retrenching

Heya gang -- I'm still here, still alive. The weight is holding steady at 138 - 142, depending on day of the month, salt intake, etc. Not all who wander off the blogosphere are lost or diving headfirst into a bag of potato chips.

Well, at least not most days.

My posting has dropped primarily because I've been a bit out of sorts since this reflux issue reared its ugly head. I mean, I'm supposed to be the girl with the cast-iron stomach! I ate public school food throughout my formative years and then for another six years after that when I was teaching. I have taken great pride in the fact that I can eat almost* anything and suffer no repercussions from a digestive standpoint.

Now I've turned 40 (okay, 42) and that's all down the tubes, along with my stupid knee and all the other parts of my body that are hollering, "Yo, Amanda! Aging here! Hah!" And it's annoying as hell. I know I'm aging. I can look in the mirror and see the signs. I don't need my body snickering back to me about it in new and interesting ways. Seriously, I get it. The Mortality Clock, she is ticking. Yippie. So could a girl catch a break on this? Please?

Outside of that delightful area of thought, all is well. The boys survived their FCATs. Choreboy is a marvel (and he brought me flowers!!), the cats haven't killed us, and Teddy remains abominably cute.

Belly dancing is rather fun, and I'm developing a bit of proficiency with some of the moves which is tickling me pink. I spent an hour last Saturday practicing, and I get in a bit of other practice wherever I can fit it in. Yes, still in the bathroom at work, even. I am also now the proud owner of four hip scarves, which jingle rather nicely.

Oh, and I have this shirt:


I figure it'll be inspirational ;)


*That said, I absolutely cannot drink 6 mini-cans of spicy V8 in one sitting. That way lies madness... and a dreadful gut-pain.

Randomness

One of my favorite songs:

Mishaela, by Noa (Achinoam Nini).  It's been years since I heard it -- over 20, actually -- but one of my friends tracked it down for me.  If I had a brain I'd have checked YouTube my own damned self. I'm blaming old age for that one.

Oh, because it's in Hebrew perhaps a little translation* would help:


Who knows what is in her eyes?
Grey clouds disperse in the four winds
A dry riverbed overflows
And the horizon opens wide

Up to the heaven she turns her eyes
Searching, diving in to the chilly blue
Floating in the air
Touching the pure golden light
That glimmers in her hair

Mishaela, what do you see?
What is it in your heart
That greets the desolate silence with such
Laughter?

It is one rainbow in the east, she says
It is all I need

What more could I want?
It is all that I need.


*All credit goes to the various folks on YouTube who posted this version of the lyrics.

Out of my Cold, Dead Fingers

There it is: my lone remaining vice.  I've always sworn that you'd be prying it out of my cold, dead fingers.  I quit smoking years ago, I rarely drink, I track every calorie that goes into my mouth, and I figure we're all permitted one excess, right?

Wrong -- or at least my body didn't get that memo.  Because I've developed a marvelous case of reflux (thanks, Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs!) and one of the things that seems to trigger mine the most is carbonation.

This sucks.

I've gone from an-amount-that-shall-not-be-confessed, to 4 per day, to 2 per day, and yesterday I had only one.  I'm toying with allowing myself to stay at that number but I'll admit that there's now part of me that says to just dump it entirely.

On the plus side, my water intake (already in excess of 64 oz./ day) has skyrocketed.  At this point I'm so well-hydrated I could survive a drought.

Oh well.  I'll figure it out.  Probably over a nice, steaming hot cup of coffee.  Because you will pry my caffeine out of my cold...

Nevermind.  I don't want to jinx myself.

Coming Up for Air

My brain is now officially mush.  What with my birthday, Easter, work exploding all over me -- not that this is a bad thing, as actual productivity in the office rocks -- and the pending FCAT exams (Florida's wretched achievement tests that are directly correlated to scholastic advancement and graduation), I barely know what end is up. 

The Elder's middle school does all FCAT prep during school hours, which is fine by me.  The Gum Zombie's school, however, sends home packet after packet after bloody freaking packet of FCAT practice nightly leading up to the test (which, blessedly, is next week).  I'm absolutely in favor of my child doing well, I'm just exhausted and I'm sure everyone else, administrators, teachers, parents, and children, is likewise fatigued.  I also wonder how in the world parents who have children in various after school activities and what-not are managing to get this stuff done.  It's a squeeze for us, and the boys don't even have consistent extra-curricular obligations at this time.  Seriously, my kids' advancing ages really makes me think that parents who are doing their children's homework aren't necessarily doing it because they're trying to protect Widdle Pweshus from straining his ginormous-yet-oddly-feeble brain.  I'm starting to think maybe some are doing it because there just aren't enough hours in a day.

Ah well, it is what it is, and we'll do what we must.  But I draw the line at doing my kid's homework.  I'll sit there and suffer right along with him if need be, but he's going to have to be the one to strain his brain and develop writer's cramp.  I've done my time.

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As for the rest of life that that isn't utterly, completely insane, all is well.  I survived both my birthday and Easter without any impact to the scale.  In fact, my stupid pants were loose when I put them on this morning; I nearly had to wear a belt.  So I'd have to count that as a win.  Exercise is hit-and-miss (see FCAT, and see earlier posts re: exhaustion), but I'm keeping moving and not rooting myself to the couch.  Next week matters should improve on that front -- the FCAT will be ongoing which will, in fact, make life easier since there will be no homework!

Bliss.

Anyway, my second belly dancing class is tonight.  I've been practicing here and there (you should see me hiding in the bathroom stall at the office to work on my hip thrust -- it's a sight), so we'll see how it goes.  I managed to do "snake arms" effectively at home, but I have a history of freezing while in large groups which makes me unsure I'll be able to reproduce the move in class.  Eh, it'll work out.  Eventually.

Hang in there and have a good one!

It's Alive!

Y'all, I am so not into this new interface Blogger's got going on.  I'm sure I'll adapt (hey, it's free, I guess I shouldn't gripe), but good grief it's annoying.  If it ain't broke... *grumblemuttercurse*

Anyway, here's the annual birthday picture:

It's a bit dark (I don't know what's up with the photo quality -- grainy!) and Hound (aka Teddy) refused to look at the camera, but it'll do.  It's better than last year's which, although it was sharper, also shows that I wasn't doing my resistance exercises.  It shows in my face.  Well, to me at least.  There's only about a 7 pound difference between me then and me now, but I'll take now any day!

In other news, I got the results of my bloodwork in.  My cholesterol (both HDL and LDL) is outstanding, my blood sugar couldn't be better if I'd studied for the test, my thyroid is normal, all is well on that front.  However, my B12 is on the lower end of normal which, my doctor says, can cause one to become symptomatic for Vitamin B12 deficiency, and my Vitamin D levels are abyssmal -- 12.2 ng/ml, when the lower threshold is 30... which is still considered insufficient.  Optimal levels are from 50 - 70 ng/ml.  And one of the big symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency is (drumroll please) fatigue.

At least I have an explanation.  My doctor and I went over my diet and food-wise I'm taking in what I should for good health, so it appears we're dealing with an absorption issue.  I'm now supplementing with 5000 IU Vitamin D and 1000 IU Vitamin B12 daily.  We'll be rechecking in 3 months and go from there.

I'm not noticing any improvement in my stamina yet, but I have hope.

Regarding the belly dancing class, it was fun!  I'm also just as uncoordinated as I remember.  I can do the foot movements, or the hand movements, but putting them together just ain't happening yet.  And when you add "traveling" to the entire shebang, holy crap.  It's all done.  Remember, I trip over carpet lint people -- this is no joke.  I walk into doorways I know darned good and well are there.  So "grace" is not my middle name.  But I'll never improve unless I try so I figure I'll keep on and give it a whirl.

Have a great Easter weekend!

I am the Answer!

Sidebar now updated to reflect current age.  Geek points to those who get the reference*.

Have a happy day, all!

*And major hattip to my friend Angel, from whom I totally and shamelessly hijacked this pic ;)

Hmmm...

I did a measly 10.6 miles on the bike yesterday evening. It was a variable speed program rather than my usual, and I think I need to look at the manual a bit because all it did was start out higher resistance then keep decreasing. BOR-ring... okay, that plus it's hard for me to keep up speed when the resistance is too low.

Tonight I think I'll play with another Jillian workout. I'm looking at today's on her site (I'm a member, yes -- my utter lack of any intuitive athletic knowledge leads me to seek out those who know more, even at a price) and it seems I won't have to make any modifications other than putting all the cardio blasts on the bike because my knee is still peevish. I'm tempted to try one circuit with mountain climbers or even the treadmill cranked up to max incline, but with the amount of fuss that stupid joint is giving me I'd better behave.

Sigh. Oh well. Good news is I can still lift, and at least I can do the bike. It could be worse.


In other news, I'm starting something new next week. In line with me attempting to make my leisure time activities a bit more active than, say, bonding with my browser's "refresh" button, I've signed up for a beginner's level belly dancing class. I am as coordinated as an eleven-month-old child who's just staggering to his feet, so that should tell you all you need to know about my past dance history. It ain't pretty. But I've been interested since my college days when I was peripherally involved with the international students' association and saw some of the girls dancing. It was amazing. And I don't think that I have a prayer of moving like a twenty-year-old -- even like I did when I was twenty -- but it should at least be interesting.

I'll keep y'all posted. First class is Wednesday. I'll be 42 by then.

Yipes.

OUCH!

So I was bored with my workouts. The bike wasn't too bad, but too much cardio isn't going to do me good with my need to build more muscle and my limited time, and the circuits I'd been doing myself were meh, so I went to my Jillian Michaels source and found a lovely circuit training combination to try.

Oh. My. Hell. My glutes hurt, my biceps hurt, my upper back is not pleased and I once again hosed my knee because I'm too stupid not to do mountain climbers. Or was it the jumping jacks that did it?

It feels great. Not the knee -- I need to limit myself to zero or one circuit with a higher impact cardio option (because changing stuff up is good) so I don't completely hose my mobility. But other than the knee it's a good kind of sore -- muscular, not joint or connective tissue related. I think I'll throw these in a couple of times a week, just for giggles.

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Regarding my time of day for exercising, I'm going with evenings again for awhile. I appear to have the boys in gear for doing their homework on their own while I'm busy breathing heavy, then I can help them out after I've hit the showers. Waking up at 5:00 isn't off the table, but until I figure out why I'm so tired I'm going to go with the basic explanation of "You need more sleep, silly" and leave the early alarm out of the equation.

Choreboy sprayed the yard for fleas last night, and I'm bringing Hound home tonight. We'll see how much good it did. Here's hoping!

Present!

And accounted for. To an extent, at least.

Wednesday, 45 minutes, circuits with Tabata intervals
Thursday, 40 minutes, 11.5 miles (new distance record -- yay!)

Unfortunately, I managed to injure myself somewhere in there by irritating the cartilage in my ribs. Okay, I know how I did it, and I'm trying to figure out how not to do it again (it has to do with my dumbbells and lifting the right one up while rotating my back onto my exercise ball for my supported squats... now aren't you sorry I got all specific?). But in the meantime, that combined with ticking off my knee -- I might have worked a bit too hard to up that mileage-- meant that I needed to put everything on rest mode. Which is irksome because I hate getting off-kilter with my momentum.

On the plus side, I did do massive housework again on Sunday, so it's not as if I've been bolted to my desk chair or anything. Just nothing "formalized". So tomorrow it's back in the saddle for me.

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Good news is that I got my blood drawn today and in about a week we'll see if there's any testable reason why I'm so freaking exhausted all the time. I worked out in the evenings all last week again, hoping that would help perhaps, but it seems that waking up at 5:00 AM isn't the issue. I eat enough; in fact I've upped my calories again to see if my food intake is playing any part in this. Thus far? No difference.

That said, even eating more calories I'm still weighing in at 139, so it appears that I can handle more food than I've been taking in. I'll keep mucking about with that and see where my final tolerance ends up. Perhaps if I stick at a higher calorie level for awhile, with steady physical activity, and then drop the calories like a red-hot poker after a few months, maybe I can also drop those last few pounds that won't leave my mind? I know, I know, 139 is a good weight. There's a part of me that knows that just fine, and yet there's another part of me that says "But 130 would also be good!"

Then there's the cheap part of me that says 130 would actually stink because then my stupid clothes would all be too big. Arrrgh!!!

I give. It's Monday. Time to take out the trash and then stare at the clock for half an hour more. Have a good one, y'all! My neuroses and I will be here all week...

Slacker :P

Only with posting though! I've got in my workouts.

Monday, 45 minutes, circuits with Tabata intervals
Tuesday, 40 minutes, 11.3 miles

Now I will grant you both of those sessions were in the evening rather than in the morning. I woke up somewhere between 2 and 3 AM on Monday and didn't get back to sleep for over an hour, so when the alarm went off at 5:00 I smacked that sucker silly, and promised I'd work out that night. So I did. And last night Choreboy was closing which makes the evening workout arrangement work a little bit better.

I'll also be riding the bike tonight, but Thursday I'm going to have to haul myself out of bed early on because the Gum Zombie has his spelling test on Friday so we've got to be sure to get those words studied which is a bit difficult to do when Mommy's trying to pump iron.

Speaking of which, I am such a pansy. I tried to bench two 20 lb. dumbbells and learned that it just wasn't happening. I couldn't even get those suckers up an inch. Good grief. Two 15-pound weights? I'm fine. But just up the ante by a measly 5 lbs each and I'm toast. Oh well, at least it's something to work on.

Outside of that, the only interesting thing I've done recently is get my driver's license renewed. I had to get a new picture taken this year, and likely it was a good thing as this was the picture I had (taken in 1999):


and this is the new one, taken just this morning:


Pretty dramatic shift in the hair color department. Also, my face is thinner now thanks to having (finally) lost all the pregnancy weight from the Elder, who was born about 8 months prior to the earlier picture.

I think I can live with it.