28 July 2007

Saturday, Day 1

Well, the first day of vacation and it was wonderful. I didn't do much of anything. Yea!!!

I got to sleep in (6:45 a.m.), have a leisurely cup of coffee, work out - hard, and shower and clean up. It was great. When hubby got home around 11:30 we headed out to lunch. I came back and took a nap since I drank 3 beers at said lunch :) It was wonderful......

I don't get to laze around and do exactly what I want to very often so it's a real treat when it happens. Usually on weekends I have a list of things to get done before Monday so I'm generally running around. Today was really, really nice.

When I workout, I generally have the History channel on. It's great entertainment and one of my favorite channels. Since I normally workout at 5 a.m. there is some really interesting stuff on then. Anyway, I turned it on today and the show Modern Marvels was on. They were covering candy. Mass produced candy. Did you know it all started with Hershey?? He was the first to make a candy bar and sell it in the US - bastard!!! My point is that according to the Mars/M&M company every person in the US consumes 45 lbs a candy a year on average. When they spit that statistic out I raised my hands in the Rocky victory pose and yelled "NOT ME" I have decided this will be my personal goal. To not consume even 4 lbs of candy a year for the rest of my life. So think about it. If I'm not consuming even 4 lbs a year that means there are people consuming way more than 45 lbs a year to make up for my shortfall. That's scary and that goes a long way towards explaining the obesity epidemic in this country.

In other news, tomorrow we are going house hunting again. Although I'm not ready to put an offer on anything I figure I will be in the next 30 to 60 days. I want to have done all my research and know exactly what I want and where I want to live before that time comes. Maybe I'll stumble across a luxury home in my price range. Ha!! Yeah, right. My price range and luxury don't exactly go together.

Well, that's all for now. It's time to start getting dinner ready. It's been a rough day, I'll probably go to bed early ;)

27 July 2007

YES!!!!!

I made it. It's Friday.... I have the next week off.... I couldn't be happier.....
I have been so stressed the last few weeks, my neck is a giant knot. On the way home I was blasting Jimmy Buffet, singing at the top of my lungs, and I could feel the knot releasing. Yeah!!!

I have lots I want to do next week. Boring stuff, but it's got to get done. The first thing is we have a party to go to on Sunday and I have to come up with anniversary gifts for this couple. I'm not sure what I'm going to get them. I'll figure out something.

Well, tonight I'm going to take it easy. I'm sleeping in tomorrow, then working out, then doing some chores around the house. Sounds wonderful :)

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

26 July 2007

Once again I've changed my mind......

Geez, I do that a lot!!! But this time it's for real and it's permanent.

Okay, here goes. I've been doing strength and interval training since the beginning of this year. Just last week I started the Precision Nutrition Challenge. I really want to lose this last little bit of fat. I'm currently 24% body fat and would like to get down around 18-20. Not a lot of weight but it's all fat - it's hard. So things are working. Since I started the Precision Nutrition I've gotten my energy back - big time. In the afternoons I'm running around here like a fool. I also am feeling leaner. The muscles in my legs are popping and in my shoulders I've gotten those muscle dimples - I love those :) So things are going well.

I'm registered for the Honolulu Marathon in December and I've been dying to do a triathlon. What happens is that every week I don't get my runs in I beat myself up and feel bad. That's not good. Then this morning as I was doing a bodyweight circuit it dawned on me, I love doing this stuff. It pushes me physically. By the time I'm done muscles are quivering, I'm gasping for air, and I feel like Wonder Woman. I really look forward to these workouts. The mornings when I'm supposed to run I have trouble getting out of bed.

So I have decided to completely blow off the marathon and any thoughts of tris this year. I'm am going into fat loss with all my heart and soul. Once I reach my goal (in November :) I will then start adding running, biking and swimming in again. I will not pressure myself to do anything else but my fat loss workouts. So there it is. I've been heading towards this decision all year I just really want to run and tri. But, they will be there next year and I will be thinner and faster and have a better bike :)

Final answer!!

25 July 2007

Wednesday

Tomorrow we are getting our inspection so we can be certified for another year. I should be cleaning the lab or making sure the paperwork is in order or something. Instead I sit here cruising the 'net. Oh well. I probably should care more but I just don't.

One of the owners father died last night. He was very old and very ill so it wasn't unexpected. In fact, for the last month they've been basically waiting for him to go. So she has today off and I'm such a heartless b*tch all I can thing of is will this effect my vacation next week?? I know that's cold but it's true. I have not needed time off this bad in a long, long time. Maybe they will have the funeral over the weekend so she'll be back to work on Monday. I know, heartless!!!!

Honestly, the thing is, I don't believe in funerals. I don't believe in burying people in the ground. I don't believe in having a ceremony where everyone sits around and cries and then watches the casket be lowered into the ground. I just don't. I think you should celebrate that person's life. Laugh, drink, have fun, remember them. I want to be cremated and have my ashes spread on the ocean. Face it, funerals are for the living not the dead. It's a time to grieve for your loss. But really that can be done anywhere.

Okay, I'm sure I've offended someone with this post. I'll go now, my work here is done :)

24 July 2007

Ummm, this is weird.....

So I'm writing this post about Thoof. It's a new website where you can post stories and then it gives the story a rating and a little badge you can put on the story. So I picked a post I did and submitted it, then put the badge on the story. Then I changed my mind only now I can't edit the post. What is going on?? I was thinking this was a pretty cool little feature but now I'm not so sure. But to be honest I'm not sure the 2 items are related.

I'm going to write my post here then include the Thoof badge and see what happens to this post. I've checked all my other posts and they edit just fine. Hmmmm....... Kind of makes you wonder no???

Anyway, in theory this is a good idea. Readers submit stories and others can read them, in essence you get personalized news. There are all types of stories from all over the world covering all kinds of topics. It really does sound like a great idea. I guess we'll just have to see how it works though.

One of the things I really like about the web and blogging, etc is that you can read the most interesting stuff. People really are fascinating. The hard part is finding the good stuff. A site like this where people post interesting articles could be awesome.

The site is easy to use and the badge is a snap to create and post in your blog, that's easy. It's what the badge does to your post that's got me a little worried. I don't know exactly what happened but it's kind of bugging me.

We'll just see how it works okay.

Boy am I dragging...

I have so much to do at work and I'm just dragging tail. Thursday the inspector comes for our annual certification. We are all ready except the lab needs a good cleaning. I do not feel like cleaning....... But I have too. I can not wait for next week so I can ignore work for a few days.

In other news, Kiko laid her first egg yesterday. This should be interesting. I don't know if they ever mated but I guess we'll find out. It looks this morning like she may be getting ready to lay another. Hmmm.... interesting.

I may be picking up some lovebirds. I know a guy who has a whole bunch and he wants to get rid of some. I may take a couple off his hands. Not for breeding, just for pets. Well, in truth, the only reason I'm breeding the cockateils is because Kiko is a chronic egg-layer. I figure (and I've read) that breeding them may help regulate the production of eggs. So she is allowed to have a clutch now and that's probably it for this year. I'm thinking one clutch a year should be plenty.

Okay, I should get to work. Ugh!!!!!

23 July 2007

This is tempting

10 years ago, when I began this weight loss journey, I couldn't do much. I started out walking and gradually worked my way up to doing all kinds of other things. Along the way Taebo came out. I was so excited, I ran out and bought the set. I raced home only to find out I couldn't even get through the instructional video. But I worked hard and eventually I was able to complete the workout. Eventually I was able to do all the workouts (I think there were 3 videos) in one day. I was getting good. Eventually I outgrew Taebo but it's one workout that I always loved.

Well, here we are 10 years later and there's a new Taebo, Billy Blanks' Tae Bo AMPED.
It's tempting to pick this new set up. I had such good results from the original set. It's very interesting that Billy uses cardio bursts in his new work outs. 30 to 60 seconds of intensive cardio. Do you know what that is?? That's the intervals that I've been doing that work so well. Increasing your cardio in bursts like that you burn more fat while working out and you burn more fat after. Very slick that it uses the latest technology.

So it's tempting, very tempting but I think I'm going to refrain. So if you're looking for something new and different, Billy Blanks' Tae Bo AMPED, might be just what you're looking for.

Today.

Wow, I'm pretty uninspired today. I had to take my car in for service, she rolled 100,000 miles last week. Anyway, I drop my car off then ride my bike to work. In the afternoon I ride my bike to the dealership and drive home.

Because I forgot until this morning that I needed to take my car in, I had no food prepared. Trying to find something for lunch that I could throw in my backpack was hard. I threw something together but it was not near enough. As a result I got more exercise than usual on less food. So now I'm tired, and hungry, and worn out.

I'm going to eat a good dinner and head to bed early. I'm exhausted.

This is interesting.....

I am a chemist. That's my day to day job. I do chemistry. Specifically I do water chemistry (okay, some food chemistry too but mostly water). The largest portion of my work is discharge. Everything that is discharged into either the sewers for treatment or the ocean has to be tested. It has to meet certain levels of bacterial and chemical contaminants. If they exceed their assigned levels they are fined.

Apparently BP in Whiting, IN has received permission from the government to dump more into Lake Michigan. They are now allowed to dump more ammonia and sludge. The Chicago Tribune ran an article about it. Since I'm not a fan of the "media" I read it with a jaundiced eye. I find it interesting that environmentalist decided that less mid-east oil dependency is not a good enough trade off for some increased pollution. Now I am not a fan of pollution in any way shape or form. But if we are going to live the type of lives we've established and the environmentalists won't allow us to build nuclear power plants or new oil refineries, some sacrifices have to be made. There is a much more balanced article about this issue written by the News-Sentinel. BP has also put out a fact sheet with the info from their side.

BP will be refining oil from Canada. Now I don't know about you, but any way we can reduce our dependency on oil from the mid-east or Venezuela is a good idea to me. It's not an issue of the price going down, it's an issue of where it's coming from.

Also, just doing what I do for a living leads me to believe that this is not as bad as it sounds. The EPA, who didn't contest this increase, would never allow excessive pollution just for the sake of oil. We have an issue going on in Hawaii right now where the EPA is totally wrong but are sticking to their guns because of perceived pollution effects. So I can not see them allowing that. Also, BP can increase their ammonia discharge 54%. Does that increase bring it above allowable levels??? Or is it just an increase but still below federal regulations?? According to BP a 54% increase is still less than half the allowable limits.

Finally, BP is going to modernize the facility to the tune of $3 billion dollars. This will not only increase jobs during the modernization, it will increase jobs when the plant is complete. Did you know we have not built a new refinery in this country in almost 30 years? Do you know why?? Environmentalists!! Yep. Refineries pollute. Do you think that we've made any progress in 30 years as far as cleaner refineries? I bet we have and I be BP is going to incorporate those advances in their facility.

This is one of those issues that just piss me off. People look at one aspect of it and start jumping up and down and beating their chests. Oh My God, they are going to destroy Lake Michigan. You can not view things in a vacuum. You have got to look at the big picture. Buying oil from Canada reduces our dependency on the middle east. Refining it here could reduce costs, supply more jobs, and help the Indiana economy (which ultimately helps the countries economy). Is this worth the cost of little extra pollution?? I think it could be. As a chemist who deals with this day in and day out, I can say that the regulations are tight. Very tight. And sometimes you have to loosen up in one area to make another area work. Things do not exist in a vacuum.

Ultimately, I would like to see us develop alternative energy sources. I would like to see hydrogen cars. I would like to see more, new nuclear power plants. I would like to see oil a thing of the past. Or, and this will cause an uproar, environmentally friendly drilling of Alaska. We have the technology, we could do it.

22 July 2007

Make a PhotoShow Full Size

The tiels

If anyone out there knows anything about cockatiels I'd like you to contact me. I have my two, Kiko and Chubs. 2 weeks ago I got them a nest box as they seemed like they were getting ready to do their thing. For the first couple of days Kiko (the female) would go in there, hang out, do whatever it is birds do in nest boxes. She would not let Chubs in, but he seemed content to just stick his head in and look around.

Yesterday they started doing something and it's freaking me out. Chubs will not let Kiko near the nest box during the day. He will try to attack her if she tries to go inside. He doesn't appear to be hurting her, just basically chasing her around and nipping at her. But he won't let her anywhere near the nest box. Last night he let her go inside and sat outside whistling seemingly quite happy. This morning he even let her go inside for a while. But all day now he's been keeping her away.

I read that the males will sit on the eggs during the day and not let the female near them. But they don't have any eggs. There is nothing inside the box.

Anyway, if any of you have experience breeding birds please feel free to chime in with any and all advice. Thank you.

House Hunting

Another Sunday afternoon spent house hunting. Today we only looked at a few. Most of the areas we are getting to know so there is no need to look unless there is a house that really interests us. So we looked at about 6 and called it a day.

There was one house......... I could absolutely see us in that house........ It's right around the corner from where we are living now......... It's gorgeous......... It's $900,000...... Hahahahahahahahaha!! Like we could afford that. The payments would be around $5,000 a month. Hahahahahahahahaha!!! Yeah that will happen. But it was beautiful. It had travestine tile floors, granite counters, cedar closets in the master bedroom closet, a pool with a waterfall, stone tile garage floor. It was perfect. But at that price it will never be ours. Hahahahahahahahaha!!!




There is the outside. It's setback from the street and backs up to a canal so it's very private.















This is the pool and waterfall. All I would need to do is add the Endless Pool thingy and I'd be all set.











Here is the living room, kitchen and dining area. All recessed lighting. Tile floors. God, I really love this house.








Oh well, I guess we have to have dreams or we wouldn't work so hard.

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...