Archive for February, 2011

Football vs Jane Austin

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

On my way to work this morning, I caught part of a conversation between two DJs, both guys, on this station that plays fun music now and then, but predominately seems to be about sports.  They were doing a poll about how many people actually didn’t watch the Super Bowl, since it apparently was the most watched single program ever or something (111 million viewers).  And one of the emails they got said that the sender of the email did watch the game but a coworker of his didn’t watch because he was “enjoying a glass of white zinfandel and watching Jane Austin’s Emma.”

And the DJs thought that this was the most ridiculous thing ever.  “Watching what?” one asked.  “Well, Jane Austin is a writer, so I guess Emma was one of her books that they made into a movie?”  And then they made comments about how he must have been sitting in his mom’s basement doing this and so presumptuous with his “white zinfandel” and how he’s not the sort of man that either one of them would ever hang out with.

And I don’t know about you, but I figure that if a man has that much refined taste, there’s a strong chance that he was actually watching this movie snuggled up with his beautiful wife.  And there’s also a big chance that he “got lucky” before the end of the evening.  I mean, really!  It’s Jane Austin!  I can’t be the only girl who gets lovey-dovey after Jane Austin’s stories.

Anyway, by my figures, a guy who’ll watch a chic flic and, presumably, enjoy time with his wife, comes out ahead of the guy who talks down on that sort of thing.  But I guess it might just be my crazy female logic.

We didn’t watch the game.  Justin played video games and I curled up in the chair beside him reading a book.  Not one of Jane Austin’s – it’s by Jim Butcher.  But I still think it was a very enjoyable way to spend the evening.

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Wishing I was home

Monday, February 7th, 2011

It took until today, but I’m finally not sore anymore!  Yesterday, I was still feeling it in my legs some.  Saturday, it hurt to sit down, but everything else was easier.  But today?  All better!  Which means I can go home tonight and do something painful, I guess.

It’s going to be a busy week for me.  Work is trying to get a lot accomplished with a bunch of people out of the office this week, so it’s going to be interesting.  Plus, we’re going to be moving from one part of the building to another (amusingly, back near where I was before they moved us last time) and we’re not sure when that’s going to happen.  Any time before the end of the month, is the rumor.

Outside of work, I’ll probably be at the gym late on Wednesday (Raid Night for Justin), I’m hoping to have a friend over Thursday to watch a movie (Girl’s Night), Friday is Game Night with friends online, Saturday we’ll be helping Habitat for Humanity (ServeFest with the church) . . . and I just realized that I can’t have Girl’s Night on Thursday because I’ve got band practice (unless it’s canceled and it is so often) so I can sing on Sunday morning at church.  And then Sunday afternoon, I’m helping someone clean out her closet while Justin works on her mom’s computer and we’re getting paid in Puerto Rican dinner.

It should all be fun, though.  Just a little hectic.

Today is gloomy and rainy and I really didn’t want to get out of bed so early.  I wanted to stay home, wrapped up in blankets on a pile of pillows reading a book or watching TV.  Or baking.  Baking would be fun, too.  But instead I’m at work, reformatting documents for people who don’t understand Word heading formats very well and trying to decide if I can just cancel the 5S meeting for today because I haven’t had a chance to prepare for it.

Upside:  For lunch, I had shredded turkey (frozen after Thanksgiving) with cuscus (leftovers from Friday) and mixed veggies (also leftovers).  All mixed together in a bowl, it makes a very satisfying and colorful meal.

All said, though, I think I’d rather be at home.

P.S.  I forgot to write about Justin’s meeting with the Dean last week.  It turns out that the professor that Justin didn’t get along with is no longer with the school, so the dean was someone he actually liked!  And it went really well.  He had to send a letter to admissions stating his intention to return and his reasons for leaving.  Later this week, he’ll get back in touch with the dean (and/or his advisor, I can’t remember which) and they’ll go over the changes to his major since he was last in school and what matches up with what he’s already taken and what he’ll need to take in order to finish.  And after that, I guess, they’ll figure out how exactly he’s going to go about getting those classes in — the whole long-distance thing.  So it’s good news!  And  hopefully we’ll have more good news again soon.  Thanks for praying!  Please keep it up!

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Exercise hurts!

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

Yesterday I went back to the YMCA for the first time this whole year (33 days in!) and the fitness instructor tried to kill me with exercise.  Seriously!  She was sadistic.  It was supposed to be a “Turbo Kick” class, which is a kickboxing/dance mix class, apparently, but I’ve never been to the class, so I don’t know.  This lady was the sub for the sub for the usual teacher who was out sick, and she didn’t know it was supposed to be kickboxing, which really didn’t matter to anyone other than the two people there who usually come to the regular class.  Me and the other lady in the class (that makes four people total in the class), were newcomers so whatever she did, we had nothing to compare it to.

What she did was an hour of strength and cardio. Which, you know, sounds great!  Strength!  Cardio!  Good stuff for working out and getting stronger and leaner.  So she said to grab a mat and a step and a variety of weights.  And then proceeded to run us through paces that included lunges and pushups and lifting weights and crunches and planks and . . . I’m genuinely blanking on some of the stuff we did because my brain doesn’t want to think about it.  It HURT.  I haven’t done weights in forever and my body is weak.  I admit this freely!  I’m a weakling!  I’m hauling around 90 extra pounds on my frame and that seems like enough weight to lift, you know?  Lunges are hard enough!  Add an 8 pound weight held at each shoulder and I’m in pain!

So, yeah.  It was rough. I made it through the whole class, but there was a time when I went to the wall and just stood there gasping for breath and waiting for my heart rate to slow back down to normal.  I didn’t go as fast as the teacher and I didn’t do as many reps as the teacher and I definitely collapsed to the floor a couple times because it just hurt too much to do anything else.  And I definitely had tears spring to my eyes a couple times as my body and my brain realized that I just could not do whatever I was supposed to be doing and everything hurt and it wasn’t just that I didn’t have the strength of will to do any more – I was completely and utterly spent.

But again:  I made it all the way through that hour.  And then I went home, started cooking dinner, Justin (wonderful, wonderful man!) drew me a bath, and I soaked in that water for a long time before I got out so I could eat the dinner that Justin finished cooking for us so I could stay in the tub.  This morning?  I hurt.  My shoulders ache, my abs ache, and my butt and thighs are in a constant state of rebellion that I got out of bed at all.  Going up steps makes me whimper.  Heck, even my neck hurts!

But I feel good that I went, good that I made it through the whole time, good that I’m doing something that made me work hard enough to make me hurt this much.  It’s not the hurt like I did something to injure myself.  It’s just that ache that makes me know that my body got a solid kick in the butt and I have to go back again and again until it stops hurting so much.

But I’m glad that I’ll have a week before I go back to the gym because I’m not sure I’ll stop hurting before then.

Today, unless it’s pouring down rain (and it might), my goal is simply to take a walk.  A long walk, granted, but just a walk.  Work out the kinks in my lower limbs.  Hope that by tomorrow morning, I’m feeling better than I do today.

And that’s what’s going on with me.  If you’re reading this before 10:00 (EST), Justin has a phone call with the dean of his department at school to talk about what he needs to do in order to finish his classes and graduate.  I’m a little anxious about it because they butted heads a lot while Justin was there, but we’re kind of hoping that the dean doesn’t remember.  Anyway, it’s going to be an interesting conversation and we’re both very curious to know how it’s going to go.

Also, we’re looking at a job opportunity possibility that would be wonderful if he got it.  But getting through the first screening to just get to an interview is really tough, so . . . .

Pray for us today, please!

I’m going to go take some Advil now.

(P.S. Happy belated birthday, Krista!!  I hope your day was FANTASTIC!!)

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