"...In the end, people either have excuses or experiences; reasons or results; buts or
brilliance. They either have what they wanted or they have a detailed list of all the rational reasons why not."

~ Anonymous
(taken from Matt Erbele's, It Takes Time to Get Good)

Thursday, February 14, 2008

In the weeds

When I was a waitress there was a saying for when you were completely behind on all your tables. It is called being "in the weeds." (Random trivia moment: the saying apparently dates back to wartime, when being in the weeds would cause your army to be slaughtered. and was used by the army cooks to indicate when they were seriously backed up)

I am totally in the weeds.

Unfortunately, I am 100% responsible for my for my position among the vegetation. We are off next week for President's Week (don't ask me, but I ain't complaining) and I have almost every minute of it booked. I just need to get caught up and I am sure I will feel better. I have a mountain of grading, a major presentation to create for my master's program, I need to do my training, my house is a disaster, I have no clean laundry after today, the list goes on and on and on....

Valentine's Day

It is Valentines Day, the Thursday before a week off of school. The kids are going ape shit and I think it is seriously cruel and unusual punishment to expect us teachers to actually try to teach them today and tomorrow. It is a simple formula:

Teenage hormones + candy + drama = massively unproductive learning environment


Random Trivia moment #2: One of the stories of the origin of Valentine's Day. It was named after a rebellious Roman priest, St. Valentine that lived and died in 270 AD. At the time the Roman emperor had issued an order banning marriage as a means to keep men from being distracted by familial ties assuming that it would make them better soldiers. St. Valentine opposed this order and would meet young lovers in secret and perform marriage ceremonies (see picture to right. I like it because it looks like he is flipping the bird to the Roman emperor). For this act he was jailed and sentenced to death. While in custody, it is fabled, that St. Valentine befriended his jailer and restored the sight of the jailer's daughter, on the eve of his execution he wrote a note to the daughter and signed it "from your Valentine"



Somehow that all got turned into butt loads of money being spent on candy, flowers, and Hallmark cards. Oh, and of course, my favorite, singing, dancing stuffed animals (my husband gets one every year! I love those damn things . I don't think he does, but that is not the point!)


Kooza!

My husband and I bought my parents Cirque du Soleil tickets for their birthdays in October and on Tuesday night we finally went.

It. Was. Awesome.

I have seen three (Vareka, Corteo, and now Kooza) Kooza was the best of the three. That is saying a lot because with Cirque du Soleil it is hard to top the first one you see because you are so blown away.

Now, I am not a "show" person. I hate crowds. I never go to concerts or Vegas shows, because I usually am bored to tears. Cirque is AMAZING. If you have never been you absolutely MUST GO. It is expensive, but worth it.


These women either have no bones at all or they are mutants that have 78 vertebra in their spinal column. Of course, this is a gross exaggeration to illustrate the point that these were the most flexible and strongest humans I have ever seen. (Random trivia moment #3: Adult humans have 24 vertebra in their spinal column. You are born with 33, but five fuse to form the sacrum and the four below that fuse to form your coccyx. The remaining vertebra are divided into three regions of the spine: 7 cervical (neck) vertebra, 12 thoracic (upper back) vertebra, and 5 lumbar (lower back) vertebra.)



Marathon training

I ran on Tuesday and my knee felt pretty good, but I am going to the doctor today to get a cortisone shot just in case. I am going to try to run tonight. It may not happen because the shot made me sore last time. It has been pretty sore since the 30K. I don;'t want it to be an issue for the marathon. I am running in a half marathon this weekend that is supposed to be a little hilly. Hopefully the knee will be ok.

I went and had my weight room training last Sunday. It was pretty laid back. He just told me how to use the machines set the range of motion, etc. They are are FitLinxx machines so it stores your information which is nice.

I am still not sure about a routine. I have some exercise plans that I am taking from and I need to add strength exercises for the knee issue I have. I am procrastinating,

... much like I am by writing this blog instead of grading. Ok, must go back to life.

2 comments:

Southbaygirl said...

You really are a biology teacher!!!
Prolotheraphy for your knee!!!! Yep i'm a pusher for prolotheraphy!!

I must actually cut this short for a change-I have to go put rollers in my hair so I look cute and hot for my evening out with the girls. Beer and Chocolate! yeah baby!!!

Lucky you getting a week off for a few dead presidents! Cool!!

Tracy said...

Owww. My head! Okay I have to come back and read this post again to make sure I absorbed everything. LOL But for now I'll comment on the weight machines and a routine(shocker, huh).

Don't plan too much or you'll talk yourself out of it. But as for routines, alternate upper and lower body for now (you can alternate even more muscle groups later).

Choose three machines that work upper body (chest, arms, etc.). DO NOT LIFT HEAVY for your first few weeks. You're going for range of motion and to get your muscles used to the new activity.

Use a weight light enough that you feel it but not so light that you're only using momentum to lift it. Do 20 reps. Rest for about a minute. Do 20 more reps. Rest a minute. Do 20 more.

Either do lower body the next day or better yet, wait a few days and then do lower body.

There, my friend, is your routine.

Sooo stoked for ya,

~ Tracy

PS: WATCH YOUR KNEES! When bending do NOT let your knees go over your toes. And never EVER lock your knees when extending your legs and lifting weights! :o)