Hanging Around the House

On Thanksgiving Day, we spent the day at my brother and SIL's house. Since they live between here and son #1's college, son #1 went to their house on Wednesday evening. That worked out well. My brother is very into digital photography and son #1 just bought himself a digital SLR, so they went out taking pictures on Thursday morning . After enjoying a spectacular Thanksgiving dinner, we all played Dance Dance Revolution and other games on the Wii. That was hilarious. I improved, but I am not very good at DDR. But I can see how some kids get addicted to it! My nieces were planning on going to bed early so they could get up before the crack of dawn for....... BLACK FRIDAY. I'm sure they were in the mall by 6 am. I am working hard at avoiding any roads that go anywhere near a major shopping destination. The truth is I really need to buy some clothes, but I can't stand the idea of fighting those crowds. Its gonna have to wait.

I am taking advantage of not shopping to take care of things around the house, and of course, spend some time at the gym. On Thursday morning DH and I did the "Pilgrim Pedal." It is a tradition at our gym-- a special 90 minute spin class on Thanksgiving morning. There is a guest instructor..... wow, talk about eye candy at the front of the spinning studio. The number of women taking spin classes would probably skyrocket if he was teaching classes on a regular basis. At the end of the class, we collected our commemorative pilgrim pedal bling-- just what we need around here-- 2 more T-shirts and water bottles! I've been using my new heart rate monitor that calculates calories burned, based on your age, HR, weight. So I sat down at the Thanksgiving table with a 570 calorie deficit! That's no excuse for eating like a pig, but I guess it's better than not having those calories in the bank.

So over the weekend, I guess I will do the usual weekend thing-- cook, laundry, gym, football. I also need to clean out my clothes closet and clean up my desk-- both things I have been avoiding. I'm also trying to contemplate "where do I want to go from here." And I'm thinking about a triathlon. More on this in future posts over the next few weeks, but if I am serious, then I need to seriously considert taking some swimming lessons and a new session is starting the week of December 3. I may take them anyway, because fitness swimming would be a wonderful activity to add to my fit life, even if I never do a triathlon. Lots to think about.... do I even have a bathing suit for the gym?

Big Pharma

Thank you Leslie and Irene for pointing to this video.

A Good Week

This week was definitely a step in the right direction. I ate better food and I got to the gym for a variety of activities. I feel better, too. Part of it is just feeling better about myself because I know I am doing the right thing, but part of it is physiological. Small changes can make a big difference in my energy level, which in turn fosters a positive attitude. So yeah, a little bit of forward momentum has me fired up!

This week also featured 2 doses of live music! I went to see Bruce Springsteen on Thursday evening, and Susan Tedeschi on Saturday night. The Boss was what I was expecting, and the man always delivers. Susan Tedeschi was much more than I expected and very exciting. She is a blues singer and a fairly accomplished guitar player. I was pleasantly surprised at her guitar skills (as an aside, her husband, Derek Trucks, is one of the best guitar players EVER). She came out wearing this spaghetti strap flapper dress and stiletto heels! She played a combination of her own music and some wonderful covers. At times, she sounded like Janis and some times, like Bonnie Raitt. Overall, it was fantastic! It was at a 1500 seat restored theatre practically around the corner, so it was easy, too. I took some photos and considering I couldn't use a flash, some of them came out great.

I'm Back

It has been a while, like 6 weeks, since I have posted. Everything is OK, but for a combination of reasons, I haven't had the time, or inclination to blog. I guess I feel like my life of late has been not just ordinary, but downright boring. But apathy born of boredom takes on a life of its own, and life becomes even more boring and less blogworthy. Blogging also keeps me accountable to myself, at the very least. So it is time to get my blogger mojo back on track.

I have been struggling with consistency on both sides of the equation-- food and fitness. I am trying to recommit and as part of that, I am trying to define some new goals. I have 2 major goals in mind, but they are probably mutually exclusive. Each one will force me to focus my fitness in different directions, so I have to pick one. Both are events that are scheduled for summer 2008, but it is not too soon to start working toward these goals. Both represent significant challenge and will require serious effort and a work/fitness ethic. More on these challenges in days to come, as I work thru this choice.

So here I am blogging during a plenary session of a conference on energy and sustainability. Did you know that 5% of the world's population lives in the US, but the US uses 25% of the world's energy? Only 7% of that comes from renewable sources (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass). Another 8% is nuclear, but the remaining 83% comes from fossil fuels-- oil, natural gas and coal. The US uses 20 million barrels of oil per day! In the last 2 days I have learned about growing willow as a biomass energy crop, turning fry oil into biodiesel, how to run a "no waste" event on a college campus, and the growth of solar power in the US. As much as I am learning and enjoying this meeting, I've hit my limit of sitting and listening for the day. So I am sitting but not listening. I may have more to say about this issue and this conference, but right now it is time to duck out of the meeting and hit the fitness center.