09 May 2008

Should I do this???

I was reading the local race mag at lunch and a small ad in the corner of a page I wasn't reading caught my eye.

At first I thought it was an ad for the Xterra qualifier held on Oahu every year in August. Then I notice it says BE PART OF HISTORY! and that's it's on December 7th not in August. Well, that made me stop and take a look.

Turns out it's the first ever World Championship for the Xduro series which is basically trail running. It's a half marathon and for this one you don't have to qualify to enter. I'm seriously thinking of doing it. I love trail running but I stopped doing it around June 2005 because I had a bout of sprained ankles. It was ugly, I was spraining both of them every time I ran, it was bad!! Ever since then I've been all freaked about trail running. Maybe it's time to try it again. I'm much stronger then I was 3 years ago and, even though I don't weigh any less, I'm really in much better shape. I may have to give trail running a try and see. Then I just might have to sign up for this. How fun.

08 May 2008

Idiot Drivers!!

I almost forgot about this. Yesterday I took my car in and then rode my bike to work. I rode my mountain bike, I had forgot how fun that bike is. It feels like a tank and like I can take on the world on it. Anyway, I had to ride my bike back to get my car in the afternoon. The shop is located on a busy street and Hawaii does not believe in bike lanes. I have to ride my bike in the right lane. I stay to the right and try to stay out of cars way but sometimes you just can't help getting in their way. So there was this one jerk that would pull as far over to the right as he could at every stoplight. He was pissing me off and there was no reason for it other than to block me. I fooled him though because I would go up onto the sidewalk and then back into the street once I got around him. I just don't understand why people do that. There was no point to it other than to be an as*hole to a bike rider. Wow, I hope my life is never that pathetic that I do things like that to get my thrills.

Moving on.....

Today was day 18 of my 30 day program. I'm almost done. Yea!!! I am seeing some definition in the arms and legs. Awesome!!! I am also coming across some new programs I want to try. This is usually where it starts to fall apart for me. I get 2 - 2 1/2 weeks in and I start looking for another program. I tell you, it's adult ADD!!! Anyway, I am determined to finish this 30 day program. I am going to complete every workout in this program. I am determined to follow it through to the end. I'm determined!!!!

The other day Vickie asked me what my next race is. I read the comment and literally opened my mouth to answer and realized I had no answer. I want to get back into running, I've been slacking pretty bad in that area. I am now registered for 2 marathons but those are not until the end of the year. I'm doing the Tinman Triathlon on July 20th. I wanted to do a half marathon in June but I don't know if I could do that with the little I've been running. Vickie, I'll get back to you on my next race :)

Okay, I've got to get moving, I am such a slacker sometimes :)

07 May 2008

Get a second opinion!!!

This saga began about 2 months ago. The light on the dashboard of my car that shows the emergency brake was on would not go off. Also, there was a hissing sound coming from the pedal area. I took my car into the dealer. A couple of hours later I get a call. The reason my emergency brake light was on was because I was low on brake fluid. The reason I was low on brake fluid was because my master cylinder was leaking. It was leaking into the brake booster and had corroded all the rubber. I needed a new master cylinder, brake booster, rear cylinders, pads, and some other things. Bottom line, $1,500 worth of brake work was needed. At the time (near tax time) I just didn't have it. I took the car back and tried to figure out a way to afford it. Oh yes, and they charged me $400 to tell me this!!

As I drove my car around from day to day I thought it odd that my brakes felt fine. Also, as time wore on I never needed to add brake fluid. I was thinking if my master cylinder is leaking I would need to add fluid. But no!! Hmmmm....... It got me to thinking.

About 2 weeks ago my car developed a bad leak. Hubby and I looked and looked and could not figure out where it was coming from. I took it in to the only shop that could take me, a Midas shop. They found the leak, replaced the part, and it only cost me $125. I had not gotten out of the Ford Dealership for under $400 in forever.

So today I decided to get a second opinion on my brakes. I took it to Midas again. I didn't tell them what Ford had told me, I just told them someone quoted me a huge brake repair cost and I wanted a second opinion. They pulled the tires and examined my brakes. They looked at the master cylinder and even test drove it. No problem. They could not see anything wrong with my brakes. At this point I told the mechanic about the hissing noise under the dash. He looked at it again, drove it around some more and said that noise was nothing to worry about. It's not in the engine compartment, it's restricted to the cabin. I questioned him about it not being a big deal and he repeatedly assured me that he wouldn't worry about it. He's a master mechanic and he drove the car twice. I decided to trust him.

So, the entire day cost me $15.95 and there's nothing wrong with my brakes. I am angry with Ford. I've decided I'm never going there again. It appears that all has ended well with my car. It just needs to last a few more years till I buy a new one. I just don't want to buy one yet!!!

Oh yeah, and that $1,100 tune-up Ford quoted me?? I don't think so.....

Internet scum bags!!!

I'm getting comments that appear to be real comments on the surface but really are spam. I do not think you screen name really is cheapvegashotels, or viagraonline. I can be a little slow sometimes but those are not real. It pisses me off because I have to have the moderation on so these slime balls don't get through. If you have that much time on your hands that you can make up these stupid screen names and write real comments on people's blog, why don't you try a legitimate job instead of being the scum of the Internet??? And please, learn the English language and learn how to spell. I make spelling mistakes but I generally spell correctly. Your English stinks, many times it doesn't even make sense, and your spelling makes your comments almost unreadable. If you going to try to impersonate a human being, at least try to do it well.
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Okay, sorry but they really tick me off. I had to drop my car off this morning to see what's wrong with my brakes. My Ford dealership told me it'd be $3,000 to fix. I don't believe them and I'm getting a second opinion. Keep your fingers crossed that it's not $3,000.

Wow, those spammers put me in a foul mood. I'm going to log off now before I really start ranting :)

06 May 2008

Sidebar changes

Okay, I removed that silly widget from the sidebar there. It was annoying the heck out of me and I've had some complaints on it. So that's it, it's gone. I told Hubby I was trying to win him an X Box 360 and he said 'why?' Okay, that's it, seriously, I give up. I was trying to do something nice and pissing myself off in the process and he doesn't even care. That's it, I'm done. So now my blog should load easier, be easier to read, and not so damn annoying. Hey, I tried.

Meanwhile, the workouts

It's amazing how good a couple of good workouts and a few days of eating right can make you feel. Sunday my stomach was not well at all. I didn't eat anything until lunch time and I kept it pretty light the rest of the day. Yesterday morning my stomach was still a little yucky, but I went back to my healthy eating and kept it a little light again yesterday. Today I woke up feeling awesome. I had a pretty good workout yesterday and today's was good. It seems this week is basically a lighter week in the program. Anyway, I'm feeling great, things are getting back on track and I'm back feeling strong and in control again. I do think I know what went wrong last week. I kind of let my eating get out of control a bit. I had cookies every night and dessert twice. I also ate lunch out 2 days last week. That's something I don't normally do. Anyway things are going well and they will remain so.

05 May 2008

The shirt is on the way

to Shelly. I hope it fits her and she likes it. I'm sure there will be pictures :)

So this weekend was a little rough. Something did not agree with me and the tummy was not well most of yesterday. Luckily today is much, much better.

Back to the strength training routine again today. It was a killer!!! My knee is really killing me though I have begun taking fish oil and glucosamine. I know they take a couple of days to build up in the system, so I'm not expecting overnight relief.

Okay, I just don't have a thing to say today. I just hope Shelly likes her shirt and uses it in good health :)

04 May 2008

A shirt giveaway

I've never done anything like this before but I thought I'd give it a go. I got a really nice technical shirt for the Lanikai triathlon that is made for a Barbie doll. It says it is a size large but I'm not sure in what universe. Right under the arm measures 18" across the front. Even if I were to lose 50 lbs there's no shot this would fit me. So I'm going to give it away. If you want it just leave me a comment and I will send it to you. If more then one person wants it I will put your names in a hat and randomly draw to see who gets it. I will email you for your address etc.
Here is the shirt:

101_0416 This is the shirt laying on top of a standard man's medium shirt. You can see the large discrepancy between the two. I'm going to guess if you're a small this shirt will fit you but no guarantees.

101_0414 This is a close up of the design. It says Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii, so you won't forget where it's from :)

101_0415 And this is the back of the shirt.

It's a really nice shirt and I wish I could wear it. If I had looked at the shirt before I left the packet pick-up I would have exchanged it for a man's shirt. But, my loss is someone in blogland's gain. So if you'd like the shirt and you think it would fit you, just let me know and it's yours.

Some Good, some not so good

You'll be happy to know that I did my bit to prop up the economy yesterday, even though we have not gotten our stimulus check and probably won't until June. I am really not a huge shopper and once I find clothes I like I will wear them till they fall apart. I wear shorts to work but, because I work in a lab, I tend to get chemicals on them. Pretty soon I can only wear the shorts to work because they have holes or spots or whatever. For the last couple of months I've been realizing that I have no shorts to wear on the weekends (read: with no holes) except workout shorts. That gets old after awhile. So yesterday, in an effort to pull this country from the brink of recession, we went shopping.

We hit Old Navy, one of my favorite places, and found some stuff on sale. I got the cutest running outfit at Kmart. If you haven't been to Kmart lately you should check it out. Since Sears bought them things are changing and it's great!! I also got some workout gear at the Sports Authority. Being rather well endowed, I need rather severe sports bras for running. It was time for some new ones. But, the real excitement of the day was the grand opening of Steve & Barry's. Now I had never heard of Steve & Barry's and had no idea what the heck it was. But a grand opening is a grand opening, so we went in. OMG!!! I think this may be my favorite store now (sorry Old Navy). There grand opening sale was nothing over $9.98!!! I got some seriously cute shorts, that I won't worry about at work because they were $9.98, and some very adorable tops. I was so excited!!! Even Hubby was all charged up and he is not a shopper. It was great fun and the find of the century. The lady at the checkout was telling us they had been open for 8 days and from day 1 were the number 1 store in the country. The people of Hawaii are so starved for bargains, I'm sure we'll keep them there for a while. So that was my bit for the economy.

On the not so good side, I didn't workout yesterday and I won't have time this morning either. Something is going on with my stomach. It hasn't felt right for about 4 days. My eating has been off because of it, which leads to my workouts being off. I'm seriously considering not eating at all today and seeing if I can't clear it out and stop this feeling. I don't know. .

Anyway, I have a meeting this morning I have to get to.

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...