Friday, June 27, 2008

Working Out

Today marks the end of Week 4 of my new daily workout regimen. This is pretty major for me - I've never had a regular workout before. I've been a member of a gym before, but did not have a set schedule for when to go. I'm a fairly active person anyway, but have never done anything so organized.

I decided to do an at-home workout, and the one I found has been great - ie, kicked my butt and had results. I like the workout because I don't need any workout equipment to do it, just balance! It's from Women's Health mag - check it out.

I'm doing well at most of those exercises now after four weeks, but the hardest one is that stupid bird-dog push-up. Sure, it might look do-able on paper, but just try it. You will immediately look and feel like an idiot, plus you might injure yourself as you crumple to the floor. This regimen has made me realize how poor my balance (and strength!) is, but thankfully it's improved the more I've done it. Except that I still can't do more than one bird-dog push-up at a time. So I've modified it to be a bit easier but still get results (the knee is on the floor).

The rest of the exercises are challenging, but I can do them. That first one is similar to the bird-dog one in that it may look easy on paper, but go ahead right now and try to do that without falling down. It takes a bit to train yourself to do it, and it clearly works the core muscles.

Another challenge to add to these exercises is this: a cat. Tuesday just loves to come visit me while I'm doing this workout, and she's clearly given herself some challenges:
  • How many times can I get in the way?
  • In how many different manners can I get in the way?
She is also succeeding in her challenges. It's fun to do push-ups (normal and bird-dog style) when a cat decides the best place to lay down and take a bath is right under you. It's fun to do sit-ups when a cat lays down next to you and puts her head on your arm and drools. She has learned to not get in the way of the windshield wiper exercise, because she's gotten kneed in the head several times now. I'd incorporate her into the workout by lifting her, as she'd be a 12.5lb weight, except that I don't want a weight that's quick to use its teeth and claws.

Anywho, I do those exercises MWF and thanks to the wonders of Craigslist, I do cardio T-Th. Craigslist found us a cheap recumbent exercise bike just down the street from us. We had a good workout just getting it to our basement, but now it's down there permanently and it's nice to bike for 20 minutes each morning while listening to the radio.

I've started doing this workout regiment with the hopes of training myself to be a healthier, more fit person. This has come to me as my 30th birthday looms and I keep having friends tell me that once you hit 30, your metabolism moves out and fat takes over its lease.

The first two weeks were easy on this regiment, minus the soreness, but I was very motivated to stick with it. Since then, it's been amazing - I can actually hear that voice creep into my head each morning (I get up 20 minutes earlier now to do this) that says, "You're tired, stay in bed, one day missed won't matter." My willpower and my laziness have gotten into fistfights over the past two weeks, and thankfully my willpower is winning the battle. I hope to keep it that way.

Anyone else sticking with a workout plan?

Friday, June 20, 2008

When God Doesn't Want You To Go Brown

Oh UPS, is there anything you can control? I was just checking the tracking status of a package I ordered, and everything was fine until yesterday. See below:

LAUREL,MD, US 06/20/2008 1:37 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

VERNON,CA, US 06/19/2008 10:00 P.M. ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS

LAUREL,MD, US 06/19/2008 10:00 P.M. NATURAL DISASTER
06/19/2008 10:00 P.M. NATURAL DISASTER

SAN PABLO,CA, US 06/14/2008 3:17 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN

SAN PABLO,CA, US 06/13/2008 11:04 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

SAN JOSE,CA, US 06/13/2008 9:21 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
06/13/2008 7:02 P.M. ORIGIN SCAN

US 06/12/2008 9:24 P.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Thursday, June 12, 2008


Public Transit

Next week I'll be in San Francisco for work, and as I was planning my transportation from the airport to the office, I noticed how easily understandable the San Fran subway map is.
Look at it - like a nice pretty rainbow....which I suppose is appropriate for big gay San Fran.

But, it's easy to figure out what's going where. Not tough at all.

And then I think about the NYC subway map, and that looks like someone gave a box of crayons to a kid who threw a tantrum and had a seizure at the same time.

I'm serious - have you looked at a NYC subway map? Okay, maybe that's a bit strong, but it certainly is a big ol' mess. I remember the first time I went to NYC and stood in front of a subway map in a station, just staring like a frightened tourist. Sigh.
I guess what might be annoying about San Fran's subway is that it's just a big line, whereas NYC's at least goes many different places.
And there's subway systems like those in Washington DC and Boston, where it's more like a spider and those who live in the city have few options if they want to travel around the city. It's either into or out of the city - no traversing within - are you crazy?!
And then there are cities like Baltimore...where the subway only has one line (the green line on this map). Thanks, crappy urban planning! Sigh. Off to San Fran!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Sentence of the Day

Said out loud this morning in my car on the way to the train stop:

"Why is that crab wearing a top hat?"

(To explain, there is a crab place on the way which had big signs out front promoting their delicious food)