Archive for January, 2009

2009
31
Jan
11:06

saturday’s activity – wait, is that right?

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy

i found a little local running group on the web this week.  last night i told hubby about it and this morning we got up at our normal weekday time and went to our favorite shopping plaza to stalk meet them. 

we got there around 07:15 and the website said that they met at 07:30 but didn’t specify where.  we stretched and stood around for a while and then i resigned myself to the fact that we had somehow missed them and we started running.  we ran an easy one mile loop around the park (no walking) and got back to where we started.  we saw some folks over by the parking lot so we started walking over to see if it was them but they got in a car and drove off so we were pretty sure it wasn’t.  we started back to the loop to run another mile when we saw a guy that looked like a runner.  we stopped him and asked him if he knew of a running group that met there saturday mornings and we were pleased to find that he was one of the leaders.  we walked with him back to the parking lot where his partner was talking with a woman who was a beginning runner.  introductions went around and it was decided that the partner was going to take the woman around the loop we had just done and the guy we met was going to take us on a three+ mile loop around the whole plaza. 

it was a nice course that they had plotted out and it was nice to have someone to talk with.  unfortunately, i didn’t time it but i’m pleased to say that i only walked less than five minutes of it so i feel like it was a pretty decent time.  it was by far my longest continuous running in i-couldn’t-tell-you-when.  i really liked the guy we ran with.  he was very nice, about my age – probably just a few years older – and he didn’t make me feel bad about being a slowpoke.  he even tried to give me some pointers.  toward the beginning of the run he asked me, “how do you breath when you’re running?” my response was, “i gasp,” which he seemed to find humerous.  he then tried to teach me better breathing techniques which i will try to work on but the gasping just comes naturally.  really, when i’m doing any kind of physical activity, i sound like i’m dying.  i can make it just fine, but you will think that i’m getting ready to keel over. 

when we were finished with the three mile loop, we were back at the parking lot with the other two.  we talked for a few minutes before parting ways.  sunday mornings they do a 10k trail run at the local park but i’m not so sure i’ll make that.  giving up both sleep-in-mornings seems a little excessive to me.  i’ll probably try to rotate one or the other each weekend.  hubby will probably do both because he’s much more devoted than me.  there is also a thursday run over the bridge.  i’m looking forward to those because they do dinner and socializing afterward (and to be perfectly honest the whole reason i brought the group up to hubby is because i desperately want to make friends around here) but the thought of doing laps over the bridge intimidates me quite a bit.  us orlandoans don’t take well to inclines.  but we’re being social and getting exercise so this is a good thing.  who knows, maybe i’ll build up to doing all three runs each week.  and there was a reward this morning.  after our four miles of running, hubby took me to chick-fil-a for a yummy breakfast biscuit.  hmmm, what would the reward be on sundays?

2009
30
Jan
20:11

friday’s activity

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy

lunchtime:

35 minutes of fiit – yoga and strength.  that’s really about all you can do in an hour since you have to back in and out of all of the exercises.  and i start with the body test every time so that takes up a few minutes too.  i did fairly awful today.  my whole body is just worn out from all of the activity this week and my muscles are all tired and shaky.  i couldn’t hold my center of balance in any of the exercises.  however, this was the first time that it pronounced my weight as decreasing.  not by much but i think maybe it’s warming up to me!

evening:

libationous bicep curls – hey, it’s my birthday!

2009
29
Jan
14:12

thursday’s activity

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy

lunchtime:

35 minutes on the fiit – aerobics and balance.  it punished my for not playing with it yesterday by saying that i had gained two and a half pounds since my last time.  i call shenanigans.  i continue to patiently wait for it to get used to me and start acting friendly-like.

evening:

30 or so minutes of swimming twenty-four laps.  i was shocked that hubby, who is a much stronger swimmer and infinitely more fit than me, was struggling to keep up with me the second half. 

2009
28
Jan
13:40

lunch activity

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy

forty minutes of weightlifting in the gym.  it was HOT in there.  i was reminded of why i prefer my activities to be outdoors in the breeze or in the comfort of my own home.  hubby has been trying to talk the board into approving ceiling fans.  to me, it’s not about temperature in a gym, it’s about circulating air.  maybe that’s just me, though.

2009
28
Jan
10:30

the part where i get freaked out and angry

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

so the bad thing about condo living is that there is no shortage of people walking around with a key to my home (maintenance persons and such).  i can deal with this.  what i cannot deal with is these people just walking into my home whenever they feel like it.  there is a built-in deadbolt thingy on our door lock.  we generally keep it locked when we are here.  but the master keys that they have open it up.  i don’t see the point to this at all.  if the deadbolt thingy is locked, that clearly means that i am home and you have no business walking in on me.  simple right?  so hubby is at a dr appt this morning and the doorbell rings, which freaks me out anyhow because we’re certainly not expecting anyone and i’m alone.  while i am much less of a skeerdycat than i used to be, i still don’t like dealing with strangers when i’m alone.  so i jump up and am scrambling around for clothing that covers me so that i can answer the door.  but then i hear the front door opening and men’s voices.  half-dressed, i yell out, “is somebody in my home?”  and they answer that they are doing a fire inspection.  i hurriedly finish dressing and meet them on the other side of my bedroom door.  i asked them if it is standard policy to just walk into someone’s home instead of waiting for the door to be answered.  i followed the one man around while he did what he had to do and then made a point of walking them both out and immediately locking the door behind them.  i then called hubby and told him that we need to buy a true deadlock and put it on our door.  and i will.  this isn’t the first time this has happened but it was the first time that i was by myself and i also didn’t know either of the men that were here (we pretty much know all of our maintenance staff by name).  i’m so not okay with that.  and i think it is very poor policy on our CMA’s part to allow them to a) have the ability to override the deadbolt thingy and b) allow their people to walk in on people, especially owners.

2009
27
Jan
20:00

afternoon fitting

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy, playing around

i did another 40 minutes on the wii fit this afternoon.  i was pleased to have it tell me that i was even fatter than i was yesterday.  what can i say, i’m on the upward track.  *sigh*  so, aside from it being such a wonderful boost to my self esteem, i do find it to be a lot of fun and it really is cool to be more aware of my balance as i’m doing exercises.  i can’t say that i’ve ever paid any attention to my balance and stability while exercising.  it really makes a difference.  it’s going to take me a while to create an organized workout plan for the fit.  i wish that it had some sort of automated routine mode.  i’d say that’s my biggest complaint, having to choose the exercises one at a time and back out of one to select the next.  i’d like it to have the option of selecting some routines that they randomly put together and it just goes from one exercise to the next with minimal wiimote interaction – kind of like it does with the body tests.  anyhow, at least i’m getting some activity back into my days.

2009
27
Jan
14:21

lunch activity – old people: still rude

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy

another thirty+ minutes in the pool.  didn’t lose count today, definitely twenty-four laps.  tomorrow i’ll have to break down and go to the gym.  i know i can’t do that a third day in a row.  as it was, i immediately felt yesterday’s swim when i was about halfway through my first lap today.  i’m pretty certain swimming wasn’t nearly so tiring twenty years ago. 

at least three different old peoples commented, with a chuckle, about how they were all in my way and it must be hard swimming laps with so many old folks (her words) in my way.  not one of these commenters bothered to move out of my way.    jerks.

i have also discovered a semi-surprising side effect to swimming laps on my lunch break.  i’ve gone from ghost-pale to perfectly and evenly tanned.  It’s not that being in the sun and getting a tan surprises me, just how darkly i’ve tanned in just two days.  and how evenly – i can’t do this on purpose laying out.  clearly, if i keep this up, i’m going to have to start wearing sunblock.  and since i hate wearing sunblock, i’m thinking i’ll be moving my swimming back to nighttime laps.  which will be necessary soon enough anyhow since spring break crowds will start coming in just a few weeks.

2009
26
Jan
20:40

am mii fit yet?

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy, playing around

i’ve been looking for a wii fit for a few months because my cousin said it was so much fun.  i had just about become convinced that it was a mythical creature since i couldn’t find it anywhere.  and, frankly, i was getting more and more ticked and was almost to the point that i was going to boycott it on principal.  almost; not quite. 

this weekend, i was finishing some grocery shopping at walmart and i decided to stop by the electronics equipment, just for kicks.  as i rounded the end-cap, i was shocked to encounter TWO of the creatures.  i kept my wits about me and snuck up on them.  i didn’t want them to get skeered off, never to be seen again.  at just the right moment, i pounced and was able to wrangle one of them into submission and bring it home with me.  i’ve left it locked up for the last two days so that it could get acclimated to its new surroundings but tonight, i let it loose. 

i spent forty-five minutes playing with it but it is going to need a lot more human contact before it gets friendly.  actually, i think it got a little crankier tonight since it decided that i was fatter at the end of my forty-five minutes than i was at the beginning.  it’ll take some time but i intend to get it tamed in no time!

2009
26
Jan
14:52

lunch activity – aka: old people* have NO manners

   Posted by: arcanai    in getting healthy, rantings

funny how my first day back off the phones coincides with my first day of renewed lunch activity.  can i get a WOOHOOO!?  unfortunately, it has been so long that i was intimidated at the thought of going to the gym so i headed to the pool instead.  i swam for thirty minutes straight.  i did either twenty or twenty-four laps.  i was rotating one lap each way of freestyle-ish and one lap each way of backstroke-ish (i don’t actually know how to swim properly so it’s my own version of swimming – i won’t be racing phelps anytime soon but i shouldn’t drown either).  i know that i did at least five rotations of each but i sort of lost count and i think i actually did six.  either way, thirty minutes of cardio activity made for a hot and tired me. 

now for the rant… 

it’s winter so there are lots of snowbirds here.  i’m generally fine with that (other than the fear of an open spark on the elevator when there are a dozen oxygen tanks in a confined area).  the old folks like to gather in the pool with their noodles and stand around in circles talking.  hey, no problem.  however, to me, common courtesy would dictate that when you see someone start swimming laps, you move to one side of the pool in order to get out of their way.  no, not these old people.  instead of moving to avoid being in my way, they actually spread out to be MORE in my way!  unfreakingbelievable.  i started off hugging one side of the pool trying to avoid them and ended up having to zig zag down the middle of the pool carefully navigating between them all.  and let me tell you how difficult that is when i’m swimming on my back.  frikking rude snowbirds.  i should have plowed over a few of them!  apparently they didn’t raise kids to have manners a century ago. 

*i would apologize for offending any elderly readers that i may have but i really don’t feel like having lived longer excuses people from being courteous.  you know as well as i do that they’d be griping up a storm if some whipperschnapper were getting in their way.  come to think of it, i’ll bet they were complaining about me because i was rippling the water.  bunch of jerks.

2009
22
Jan
16:31

dangit! i already got myself a birthday gift…

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

although valentines day and our anniversary are right around the corner…  i want this new car more than anything in the world!  and i’ve been such a good girl!!!  i have gotten indescribably sick of the drive to wedowee, atlanta, and orlando.  really, i fidget in my seat the entire drive.  i’ve been asking hubby to buy me a small helicopter or a little cessna for years but this would be so much more practical.  and it gets 500 miles on a tank of regular unleaded so it’s economical too, right?  now if we could just negotiate down the $194k price tag…

2009
22
Jan
8:15

nostalgia

   Posted by: arcanai    in pondering the past

if you’ve been around here long, you know that i’m insanely nostalgic and spend way too much time thinking about people from the past.  like a scary crazy person.  i’ve always been like that.  going all the way back to kindergarten when i would wonder what happened to the kids from that horrid Christian pre-school or from the nursery of my parents’ presbyterian bowling league.  it’s just who i am.  i’m a freak. 

last night, i had a dream about one of my sweetest memories with an ex.  we were very young (i know… i’ve been with hubby since i was eighteen so all of my relationships were very young but we’re talking middle school here) and our relationship was tumultuous at best, but i sure liked that boy.  his was the very first rose i kept.  valentines day of 1995 (before i came to despise v-day).  if i were to go open my box of flowers right now, i could still pick out that rose (actually, i could tell you who they all came from).  of course, i ruined things and we drifted apart.  i saw him once or twice at the start of high school and felt terrible about how much i still liked him. 

a few years later, i got a call from him out of the blue.  i was elated and we started seeing each other again.  it lasted just a few weeks and then he disappeared.  dropped off the map.  i had lost him again and i wondered if it was his way of getting revenge for our younger, stupider days.  a year later, i heard through a friend that he had called another friend of ours from japan.  i was heartbroken.  we had hurt each other plenty throughout our awkward history but i was truly heartbroken.  luckily, i had just started dating hubby and was going through a low point thanks to the robbery so i didn’t have time to dwell on it. 

it’s all in the past.  we’re both grown and married.  he has a beautiful little girl.  my only relationship with him today is via a social networking site that neither of us much logs into.  and i always knew we would never end up together because i couldn’t be a military wife.  i have utmost respect for our military but i just know who i am and i am not strong enough to be a military wife.  i worry way too much over rediculous stuff as it is. 

wow, this has turned into a long, nattering trip down memory lane, eh? 

i have no regrets.  i am extremely happy with my hubby and our life.  this isn’t about regrets.  it’s about remembering a simpler time.  a time before getting jaded and cynical.  a time when sitting together and holding hands in a planetarium on a seventh grade field trip was the absolute height of romance.  and a whole life of possibilities was rolled out ahead as we leaned our heads together to look up at the pseudo-stars.  and the butterflies in the stomach.  those were the days…

2009
20
Jan
11:22

congratulations, mr president

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

it’s official, the 44th leader of our country is president obama and, while i am not happy about that fact, i will do my best to give him the respect that his position deserves.  i pray that my fears about the next four years are proven wrong.  nothing would make me happier than to be wrong here.  i pray that he is the leader that our country needs. 

i’d also like to thank president bush for his service over the last eight years.  while i may not agree with all of his decisions, i am so thankful that he did what he was supposed to do – protect our country.  i pray that president obama will keep us as safe as president bush did after that tragic day over seven years ago.

2009
20
Jan
11:02

password protected posts

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

now that i’ve figured out how to password protect posts, there is a chance that you will be seeing them occasionally (i promise to try not to abuse the power).  as such, i’m going to have one password that i use for all such posts, unless otherwise noted.  yesterday’s will be changed as well.  if you are interested in having the key to my secret rants, please comment here and i will email it to you.

2009
19
Jan
12:53

Protected: rant

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

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2009
18
Jan
19:08

comment trouble

   Posted by: arcanai    in Nuthin' Special

is anyone having problems with leaving comments here?