Archive for September, 2008

2008
27
Sep
9:11

cruisin’ half-way (live post)

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

we’re back in port for a few hours, marking the halfway point in our cruise. It’s been a wonderful week filled with rest, relaxation, snorkeling, and way too much eating. The coolest thing was an
excursion from calica (which isn’t really a town, just a port in the middle of a quarry – the nearest town is playa del carmen ten miles away). We snorkled underground in a cavern called chaak tun. I think we have some good pix of the underwater stalactites, stalagmites, collumns, and even some fishies. We also met some great people, including a girl traveling by herself from Russia (siberia to be exact). She was very interesting and we spent a lot of time hanging out with her. Of course, pix and full recap will have to wait until we’re home at the end of the week and I have my computer.

2008
22
Sep
6:33

bon voyage!

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

we are moments away from heading out to catch our cruise ship. since i am very excited about this cruise and getting away, i’m not even going to rant about how terrible i felt last night when i was trying to fit into my old “formal” wear. i’m not going to tell you how devastating it was to my recent exercise mentality. i won’t even tell you that if i had had a half-gallon of ice cream and a bag of cheetos, they would have been gone. what matters is that i’m going on a cruise and that’s something to be happy about!

2008
21
Sep
16:27

balancing out the body

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy

since we both had good lower body workouts this morning (104 flights of stairs for me, 10 mile run for him), we took the kayaks out this afternoon to give the upper body a chance too. we played around a bit and had a nice two mile paddle. it was tiring but so nice. now how about some packing?

2008
21
Sep
9:43

going on a cruise (aka hurricane time!)

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

naturally, since we are getting ready to cruise, i have been watching the tropical activity closely. especially with all of the ‘canes that have been going on in the last month or so. so i was very pleased last week when, all week, there was no clyconic activity in the atlantic or gulf (according to the nhc). then, on friday morning, there was a big yellow blob on the map indicating a low potential for tropical formation within 48 hours. that same afternoon, the blob was orange which means medium potential… yesterday was a busy day of having fun so i didn’t look at it at all. but today, the blob is twice as big and red – high potential for tropical formation. fantastic!

A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM LOCATED OVER THE NORTHEASTERN CARIBBEAN SEAABOUT 100 MILES SOUTH OF PUERTO RICO IS PRODUCING WIDESPREADCLOUDINESS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE LESSER ANTILLES…ANDADJACENT CARIBBEAN AND ATLANTIC WATERS. THIS SYSTEM IS SHOWINGSIGNS OF INCREASED ORGANIZATION…AND UPPER-LEVEL WINDS AREEXPECTED TO GRADUALLY BECOME MORE FAVORABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT TOOCCUR OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. A TROPICAL DEPRESSION COULDFORM LATER TODAY AS THE SYSTEM MOVES SLOWLY NORTH-NORTHWESTWARD. AN AIR FORCE RESERVE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT IS SCHEDULED TOINVESTIGATE THE SYSTEM THIS AFTERNOON. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL ANDSTRONG GUSTY WINDS WILL AFFECT PUERTO RICO…THE VIRGIN ISLANDS…AND THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLAND THROUGH MONDAY. INTERESTS IN THESEAREAS SHOULD CLOSELY MONITOR PRODUCTS FROM THEIR LOCAL WEATHERFORECAST OFFICE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS SYSTEM.

2008
21
Sep
9:35

where’d that burst of energy come from?

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy

somehow, i woke up this morning feeling energized (makes no sense since i didn’t sleep well). i got up, saw that hubby was gone, got dressed, and hit the stairs. i took a watch this time so that i could track my time a bit better. i made it down (22 floors) in four minutes flat. i made it up (24 floors) in 05:13. not too bad. i expected by time to dramatically increase on the second “lap” because i tend to be much more winded and my legs tend to protest more the second time but i made it down (all 24 floors this time) in 04:25 and up (all 24 floors) in 05:40. not too shabby, imo. anyhow, i ended up doing 104 flights (2×24, 3×10, 4×5, 3×2) in sixty-seven minutes. though i still feel like i’m dying, i am clearly getting better at this. go me. of course, when i try it again in two weeks, i’m expecting to be right back at square one again. oh well – that’s a worthwhile price for vacation fun.

2008
19
Sep
11:51

lunch activity

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy

fifty-five minutes of weights. and i slightly increased weights (i purposely do low weights, high reps because i want to get fit, not bulky) on almost everything today so it was a rigorous workout. i then did the nineteen flights of stairs up to the top and two back down to our floor. it may just be my imagination since i don’t wear a watch but i really felt like i did the stairs quicker and easier today. my breathing didn’t become severely strained until the 21st floor. seems like that usually happens around the 12th. it really just felt like i maintained a better pace all the way up. and, if i had had the time, i felt as though i could have kept going.

so that completes three weeks of a good workout routine (four days a week, half weights, half cardio). now comes the tricky part: can i maintain that routine while on a cruise ship and can i jump right back into it when we come back in two weeks? this is always my weakness. i start a routine and do really good at it but then we go out of town or something interferes and i just don’t get back into it. i’m going to strive to do a better job this time. i’d be happy if i can force myself to do at least three days a week for the next two weeks. i’d be thrilled if i did more. it would be so easy since there’s a running track around the top deck of the ship and state of the art gym. of course, it’s also much too easy for me to say “i’m on vacation” and shirk it. i’ll try to keep in mind the pain that my cousin is putting herself through for a fantastic cause and maybe, just maybe, that will be enough to guilt me into some vacation activity.

2008
19
Sep
11:51

marital wii-ing

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

last night hubby and i enjoyed some rock band and wii sports, just the two of us. we really don’t play much when we don’t have company but we really should make it more of a habit. it was a good way to spend a crummy tv evening. of course, hubby still kicks my butt at pretty much anything and everything but as long as we’re having fun together, i won’t complain.

2008
18
Sep
12:24

lunch activity

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy

forty minutes on the treadmill followed by nineteen flights of stairs (plus two down). is it naptime yet?

2008
17
Sep
9:24

exploring the new seascape

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

yesterday was so beautiful that we decided to go snorkeling after work. the water was comfortable and clear. it was interesting to see how much the gulf-floor was changed by ike. i knew it had since you can see the difference in the sandbars from up here. not to mention that our beach itself is almost two feet higher than it was the beginning of last week (i can tell this because the first two steps of our walkway are under sand now and the showers at the foot of the walkway that used to be hip-high are now below the knee). but it was amazing how different it is under the water now. it used to gradually get semi-deep from the shore and then shallow again for the sandbar and then deep after that. now, it plunges to deep right off shore and the sandbars are pockets of shallow almost perpendicular to shore. it doesn’t gradually build up to the sandbars either, there’s a three or four foot wall of sand that creates each one. we found some great shells. and there were some huge crabs washed in. it was a very relaxing way to spend an hour and a half. we ended up pulling our heads out of the water just in time to see a magnificent technicolor sunset into it. and since the air is starting to get cool at night, we made a mad dash to the hottub to warm up when we got out.

2008
17
Sep
9:24

it’s a beautiful day

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

truly it is. there is a wonderfully cool breeze. the water is calm and back to normal clarity. the sandbars have been restructured significantly. our beach is higher and cleaner thanks to all of the sand that ike brought ashore. it’s simply lovely out there. i adore our backyard.

2008
17
Sep
9:24

lunch activity

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy

fifty minutes of weights and seventeen flights of stairs.

2008
16
Sep
17:31

today’s activity

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy

shockingly, i managed to force myself to be active after work today. i’m not good at that. i’m much more likely to be active during lunch since it’s a break from work. yesterday i had the same goal and failed. today, i climbed 89 flights of stairs (2×24, 2×10, 3×5, 3×2) in seventy minutes. i then came back, got changed, and gathered my hubby. we walked thirty minutes on the beach and swam six lengths of the pool before finishing off in the hot tub. the way i see it, that’s practically a triathalon. over two hours of activity. so then, time for some fresh, warm cookies, eh?

2008
15
Sep
15:45

weekend wrapup

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special, pix

this weekend we had my dad and his wife come to visit. we had a great time and i think they did too.

they missed the really impressive storm surge that we had thursday but the waves were still plenty big on friday
dad and rhena
hubby getting pulled around by his kite
ready for liftoff!
hubby and his kite
wii rocked!
wii rolled!
wii even golfed a bit
poor dad got beat by everyone

it seemed like my dad really enjoyed the wii. especially golf and bowling. other activities included walking around the marina, driving through our favorite shopping plaza (rhena’s got a bad foot and can’t walk much), looking for shells on the beach, swimming, hot tubbing, pokering, and conversing. it was a fun visit but having morning persons as houseguests can be tiring. i guess it was fair though because i kept them up way past their bedtime and they woke me up way before my weekend wake time. i was happy to get a three hour nap after they headed out yesterday though.

2008
12
Sep
6:39

in search of la parrilla

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

which is the mexican restaurant that we frequented with the office group in ga. when i say we frequented it, i’m talking pretty much every-other-friday lunch for four years. we miss it very much so we decided to start looking around here for a good mexican restaurant. in that pursuit, we stopped at a place in town last night to give it a try. it had all of the indicators of good mexican – silly name, hole-in-the-wall looks, lots of cars in the parking lot. it was such a let down, folks. the chips were too thick and chewy. the salsa had no flavor (seriously, it might as well have been water with chunks). the meat seemed to be cooked in the same taco season mix that i buy at the grocery store and make at home because i don’t know any better. i ordered nachos and, instead of a thick, soupy plate of chips drowning in melty cheese sauce and meat, i got a plate of burnt chips with meat and shredded cheese sprinkled and burnt over them. needless to say, we will continue our search for another la parrilla but we WILL NOT be going back to los rancheros.

2008
12
Sep
6:16

storm surge

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special, pix

i plurked yesterday about the surge that we are getting from ike. i’m a little surprised because it’s a slightly bigger surge than we saw from gustav and gustav was much, much closer to us than ike. i didn’t expect to get very much from him. anyhow, these are some pix that do not at all portray how impressive it truly is.

the waves may not look all that big in this pic but remember that it is taken from 22 floors up
that’s our dunes and walkway, i couldn’t catch the bigger surges that were coming up into the dunes and well under the walkway
this is between our property and the one next door, you can see in the sand how much higher it was getting
and just for reference, this is what our backyard usually looks like (i didn’t have any looking straight down at the walkway and dunes but this shows the area from the above pic)