20 January 2007

Cow Pose

Can you believe, I used to be able to do this pose!! It was only about a year and a half ago.

I've been working with weights for about 4 weeks now and it really feels awesome. But the last couple of days my low back has been twinging. In my infinite wisdom :) I decided I was tight and that yoga would be a good thing to add to my repertoire 2x a week. So tonight I went to my workout room, popped my favorite yoga tape in and set to twist myself into a pretzel. Ummm, yeah, not so much. I am way, way tighter than I thought. I can not do any full pose. I had to do the beginner modifications for everything. Oh how sad. But, on the bright side, this gives me something to work towards and god knows, I love a challenge.

You know, wait - qualifier: this is purely my opinion!! I have not based this on any information obtained anywhere but my own body. When I was in my 20's my sister worked for a chiropractor. At the time I was overweight and so therefore had back pain. I started going to him. I would go like 2 or 3 times a week and I did that for years. Maybe it was only once a week towards the end, lots of my 20's are a blur ;) Anyway, eventually I stopped and I never really had back problems for years. When I really started getting active and doing marathons and triathlons my back started giving me trouble, nothing real serious and I put it off to training so hard. Also, I could always fix it by doing some yoga twisting poses. One thing I noticed is the crunching sound that occurs when I do twists. I wonder if I have arthritis in my low back and if it's due to the chiro treatments when I was so young. I have nothing against chiros and still see one once in a while when things get really bad. But I always wonder about that. I'll never know because no one else has my back but it makes me go hmmmm.........

Okay, I must go eat dinner now.

Alright, now that that's over......

I'm on vacation - Woo Hooo!!!!!!! Just knowing I don't have to think about work for the next 9 days makes me all giddy.

So I'm trying to plan my week. I do want to get lots of training in simply because I have the time. I think today will be weights and I'll go for a run later in the afternoon.

We will be doing our usual Saturday errands today I just have to keep the beer to one small one so I can run later :)

Or, ocean swim tomorrow and then a run over Diamond Head. There's a race next weekend that's a ride or a run. I was planning on doing the ride but since I haven't ridden my bike in like forever, and since it's still in the shop, I'm guessing the run is the way to go. The run goes right into Diamond Head Crater which is pretty darn cool. Hmmmm, decisions, decisions.

Of course, I could wait and go during the week when it's not as crowded. Oh, I don't know.

I do know I need to go have my protein shake and get to my weights. I hear them calling my name......

19 January 2007

Time for a smackdown.

I'm not sure but, who's blog is this??? Oh that's right, it's mine. Which means I get to express my opinions, and my thoughts, and unlike the vast majority of the population (anonymous) I do develop thoughts and opinions all by myself. I am not told what to think or how to interrupt things. I don't need to research my opinions because, as MY opinions, I know what they are. I do not need any website or news station to tell me what to think or how to think it. I, being an intelligent individual, have the ability to reason things out and come to my own conclusions. Unlike anon. who apparently needs to be told what is going on.

Now, and this is just for the record, I have a science degree and 2 science minors. My major was Marine Biology. My minors were Chemistry and Oceanography. Now, I'll explain because this is complicated, in the courses I had to take for my degree we studied many, many things, including the temperature history of the earth. This is not the first time the temperature has increased and it won't be the last. The STRONG agreement among scientists is that global warming is occurring, not that humans are causing it. Since anon clearly gets their information from Al Gore (after all, he did invent the Internet!!) I can completely understand how your thinking is all muddled.

I find it interesting how data that does not fit into their global warming theory is just totally ignored. Why are the temperatures rising on Mercury???? Why are the temperatures on the sun's surface increasing????? They don't know, they can't explain it so they just ignore it. A real scientist knows that all factors have to be considered, even those that don't seem to fit. You can not ignore data, you just can't!!!!

As for my indifference to even attempting such change, uummmm, yeah, couldn't care less. I drive an SUV, hubby drives a V-8 truck, we run our a/c unit as much as possible, yep. Tell you what, as soon as Al Gore, and all the other green freaks give up their private jets, multiple homes, and the rest of their high gas using lifestyles I'll consider changing mine.

There was a letter to the editor in the local paper today extolling the virtues of electric cars. This person as saying how they've gone away because they were the gas companies worst nightmare. They went fast, had decent power, and all you had to do was plug them in at night. I think this person must have been anonymous. Where the hell do you think electricity comes from??? How about burning fossil fuels!!! It's these kind of people that make this world scary. They do not have the ability to reason and just regurgitate whatever crap they are fed.

Okay, that's all. We are done with this topic for now. Now, Sharon, where were the M-80's???? :)

18 January 2007

Things rolling around in my head.

First of all, snow in Malibu?!?!?!?!?! Let's hear it for global warming!!!!!
Okay, just a tiny rant. You know what?? Global warming is occurring. Are humans responsible?? I don't think so. I don't think we have that much power over the planet. Mother Earth is a whole lot more powerful than we are in spite of what we think. If you've read the news lately the temperatures on Mercury are going up. Temps on the sun are increasing. Does this connect with anyone but me??? If the temp of the sun is going up and the temp on Mercury is going up and I'm pretty sure there are no Hummers on either, does it not stand to reason that this is a solar system occurrence and not just an earthly problem??? Will species die??? Probably. Is there anything we can do to stop it??? Probably not. The earth, sun, and moon have gone through cycles of heating and cooling since the Big Bang. I honestly don't think we are influencing it that much and I know we can't stop it. And if Al Gore is so freaking concerned why doesn't he ground his private jet and drive a Prius!!!! End rant.

The last few mornings I have hardly worked up a sweat during my workout. I guess it's official, winter has arrived in Hawaii. Let's hear it for global warming!!! Speaking of workouts, wow, this weight training is so starting to pay off. I am getting definition in my shoulders (that always happens pretty quickly) and I'm increasing the weight almost every workout!! Yeah!!

Tomorrow is my last day at work. I have next week off and you have no idea how badly I need it. I have not taken a day off in a year. I hate when I do that!!! So I'm stoked. Next week will be lots of training and lots of house organizing. I'm also going bike shopping. I probably won't buy a new bike till March but I'm going to go looking. If anyone has any suggestions please feel free. I want a good bike but don't have unlimited funds.

What else. Nothing new on the drug dealing neighbor front, I'll keep you posted. I like the suggestion to get Dog (hmmm, might have to work on that) and lob M80's at them (do you think they'd get the hint??). I believe a land use inspector has been out and things have quieted down over there, we shall see.

That's it for the moment. Hopefully I'll have more to say about training and such after some time off. Right now I'm just tired and ready to veg :)

16 January 2007

HI!!

Just thought I'd drop in and say HI!! I don't really have anything to say.

Things are going well. Yesterday ended up being a rest day due to a birthday party Sunday night that went longer than I thought it would. Between the beer and ice cream cake there was no getting up at 4:30 Monday. But today was right back at it. I did weights this morning and I upped my weights on some exercises and WOW!!! could I feel it!! But there is no residual soreness so that's good. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.

I finally got my bike into the shop. It's in dire need of a tune-up and my chain was skipping. That's the only way I could describe it and the bike mechanic knew exactly what I meant. She (yes, she!!!) looked at the chain, tuned the pedal a little and said, oh, you have a stiff link. You're going to need a new chain. That was easy! So my bike will be ready in a couple of days.

I go on vacation next week. Not going anywhere just taking some time off - I need it. I hope my bike is ready so I can get some riding in next week. Next week is also early registration for the Honolulu Marathon. They do this every year. If you live here you can register now for $20.00 instead of waiting until summer and paying $80.00. They also give you a free gift when you register. So I'll be doing that next week. I'm doing the marathon this year and I'm going to do it really, really well. My public goal is under 5 hours, my secret goal is under 4:30.

I guess that's it. Life is just rolling along. Nothing new or exciting and that's okay. There are definitely times when I like being in a rut.

Oh, wait, I know, my drug dealing neighbors. Since I talked to the police in June things have actually quieted down over there. I had hoped it was over. Then, around New Year, things started picking up again. Lots of people (weird, scary looking people), lots of activity all night long. I was getting pissed. Then a friend of ours stayed over one night and was sleeping outside. He told us there's traffic there all night long. They park down the street and walk to the house; buy drugs and move on. Then they dismantled a car with a sledge hammer - IN THE DRIVEWAY!!!! Okay, I've called the police a number of times and they would come out, then the neighbors would stop for a while but things would pick up again. Then Saturday a smell started coming from over there. I can not figure out what it is. It doesn't seem to be toxic but it's annoying.

So I've finally reached my limit. I decided today to take action. I called the police -again- and reported that place as a drug house. I called the land use department to turn them in for fixing cars in the driveway. I've called the zoning department because they are illegally building a deck out back. And I shot an e-mail off the mayor explaining everything that's gone on and asking why I can't get any action on this. Then hubby called a friend of his at the zoning department and it turns out there have been 8 complaints filed on this house just today. Apparently I am not the only neighbor that they've pissed off. Anyway, I've decided I'm not going to stop until they move or are arrested. I'm going to call everyone at least 2x a week to keep the pressure on.

That's all from here. Sunny, beautiful Hawaii is kind of dull right now. But that's okay, sometimes dull is just fine:)

14 January 2007

Sunday morning

and I'm in a quandary. Yesterday I was scheduled to do weights (I did) and go for a run (I didn't). Today I'm supposed to go for an ocean swim (jellyfish) and a bike ride (bike's not ready yet). So I'm thinking I'll do my run today but my plantar is acting up, for no apparent reason, and I'm not sure I want to push it. I'm actually wondering if it is my plantar. I've been using the tennis ball and a) it doesn't hurt, b) it doesn't help. I'm beginning to think it may be something else. Decisions, decisions.

The reason I didn't run yesterday is we went to the Sony Open. We have a local kid playing in it. Tadd Fujikawa is 16 years old and the youngest person to make the cut into a PGA tournament in 50 years. If you're into golf at all you've heard of Michelle Wie. She's 17 years old and turned pro last year. I don't really like her for a number of reasons. The main one being her parents pimped her out for $20 million. She can't play on the LPGA tour because she doesn't have a tour card. She can't play on the PGA because, well, she's not a man. She can't play in the Jr. division because she turned pro. So basically she plays where they will give her exemptions. Mostly she plays in the mens games trying to qualify but she hasn't been able to yet. Sony is one of her sponsors so she got a slot in Open but failed to qualify. In fact, on Thursday and Friday she played about the worst games of her life. She came in 3rd from last.
Anyway, she never played on the Jr. circuit and has only won a few tournaments in her life. Now she's playing with the big boys and losing regularly. You have to learn to win and she hasn't. Look at how Tiger did it. From the very beginning he was learning to win; and he does, all the time.

So we went and followed Tadd for 3 holes and it was pretty fun. I've never been to a pro golf tournament so it was a new experience for me. Little Tadd is so cute. He's only 5'1" and just as nice as can be. Since he's an amateur he can't win any money so he's just out to have fun and he's shooting a great game.

So that's what I did yesterday and it was fun. But now I'm left with my dilemma today. What exactly do I do. While I've been typing this I decided to go the botanical gardens and go for a run, or walk, whatever. I really want to get outside so that's what I'm going to do.

Conversation with Hubby

 So yesterday morning I presented my idea of working out at home to the Hubby. Once I presented it to him, he said he was in. I told him I h...