A funny time for a race, just three hours after going to sleep, following three hours of non-stop dancing, er, "rockin' the casbah", but out of bed I popped when Q-tip came knocking on the door. Ricky couldn't even roll over in bed, much less get vertical, so he missed out on the Cap 10K for the first time since we moved here.
Anyway, approaching the start line, got energized by Evil (seriously, what would a race be without him?!) and a light rain shower. We walked at least half of it and jogged, slowly, most of the second half, walking if my knee bothered me. All in all a good one. Saw a few good costumes as well: Frost Bank tower, ballerinas, a "green" armadillo, etc.
Topped it off with a Bueno burger from Mother's. Yum!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
There's Nothing Like a Massage!
I could just lie there for hours getting worked on! Honestly, I know I could. And moreoever, there's no doubt that I would!! Oops, just realized that that would make me more of a massage therapy gourmande and less a gourmet. Eww.
For me, the saddest moment of an hour-long deep tissue massage comes when it's time to turn over. Why? Because that signals that it's approximately halfway done. Quelle tristesse! If there's ever a time when I would like to retard the advancement of time, that would have to be it! Seriously.
If I had the means, I would absolutely treat everyone I know to a session with Kristi. There's nothing like seeing someone emerge, post-massage, with all traces of stress, imbalance, tightness melted away. What a good place to be.
For me, the saddest moment of an hour-long deep tissue massage comes when it's time to turn over. Why? Because that signals that it's approximately halfway done. Quelle tristesse! If there's ever a time when I would like to retard the advancement of time, that would have to be it! Seriously.
If I had the means, I would absolutely treat everyone I know to a session with Kristi. There's nothing like seeing someone emerge, post-massage, with all traces of stress, imbalance, tightness melted away. What a good place to be.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
OK, Time for Training Talk
And the news is mixed. While I've been soooo preoccupied with keeping my si joints happy and my right hip flexor relaxed during my recent jogging trials, my right knee has balked at being neglected. Now I'm all too aware of its existence, but thanks to Sam, I have a plan.
The past few days have gone like this:
Wednesday: jogged to Tai Chi class! I actually made it there just in time.
Thursday: crossed my legs during a meeting and felt my knee really hurt. Of course, this meant I just had to go on a bike ride after work. Of course, this meant that my knee started hurting within a couple of minutes, which, of course, meant that I had to finish the ride no matter what.
Friday: still feeling it in my knee meant it was time to confess to the trainer.
Saturday: short stroll and long, exciting organizational meeting for an animal welfare non-profit.
Sunday: too much coffee and loads of scrummy apple whole wheat pancakes at Kerbey Lane.
This of course meant having to take a pedal with Ricky and Q-Tip while these two snored:
Monday: good pedal, some knee pain
Tuesday: good walk, some knee pain
The rest of the week? Well, there's the Cap 10K on Sunday, preceded by Rock the Casbah on Saturday night:
Will I jog? Will Ricky wake up in time? On verra bien!
The past few days have gone like this:
Wednesday: jogged to Tai Chi class! I actually made it there just in time.
Thursday: crossed my legs during a meeting and felt my knee really hurt. Of course, this meant I just had to go on a bike ride after work. Of course, this meant that my knee started hurting within a couple of minutes, which, of course, meant that I had to finish the ride no matter what.
Friday: still feeling it in my knee meant it was time to confess to the trainer.
Saturday: short stroll and long, exciting organizational meeting for an animal welfare non-profit.
Sunday: too much coffee and loads of scrummy apple whole wheat pancakes at Kerbey Lane.
This of course meant having to take a pedal with Ricky and Q-Tip while these two snored:
Monday: good pedal, some knee pain
Tuesday: good walk, some knee pain
The rest of the week? Well, there's the Cap 10K on Sunday, preceded by Rock the Casbah on Saturday night:
Will I jog? Will Ricky wake up in time? On verra bien!
Friday, March 21, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Running the Numbers
Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait by Chris Jordan
This series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 410,000 paper cups used every fifteen minutes. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. The underlying desire is to emphasize the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.
These images are all very striking; I cannot imagine the impact it would have on people seeing these in person, but the photos of the images themselves are quite impressive.
Let me know which ones you find the most compelling.
This series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 410,000 paper cups used every fifteen minutes. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. The underlying desire is to emphasize the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.
These images are all very striking; I cannot imagine the impact it would have on people seeing these in person, but the photos of the images themselves are quite impressive.
Let me know which ones you find the most compelling.
Sleep Deprivation
I didn't realize I'd be back again so soon, but writing about daylight savings time activities made me think about recent night-time activities, which should normally just consist of lots of good, sound sleep, but no, not lately.
Things Keeping Me Awake At Night
1. Our dog Sonny...of course, he sleeps all day and stirs all night, pawing me at 3am to be petted, because he's so neglected and attention-starved, and at 120 lbs, he's difficult to ignore!
2. Hip joint structure...fascinating, really. It allows almost as much movement as the shoulder joint, but has loads of stability, so sublaxation and dislocation are relatively uncommon.
3. Hip joints make me think of hip flexors, of course, and the fact that mine are feeling a little tighter and less happy the past few days keeps them on my mind.
4. Who even knows? Random, trivial thoughts that I can't even recall at the moment.
Guess I've got a few things brewing...on verra bien!
Things Keeping Me Awake At Night
1. Our dog Sonny...of course, he sleeps all day and stirs all night, pawing me at 3am to be petted, because he's so neglected and attention-starved, and at 120 lbs, he's difficult to ignore!
2. Hip joint structure...fascinating, really. It allows almost as much movement as the shoulder joint, but has loads of stability, so sublaxation and dislocation are relatively uncommon.
3. Hip joints make me think of hip flexors, of course, and the fact that mine are feeling a little tighter and less happy the past few days keeps them on my mind.
4. Who even knows? Random, trivial thoughts that I can't even recall at the moment.
Guess I've got a few things brewing...on verra bien!
Everything's Gone Green
and it makes NLBG happy indeed!
What's the report, you may ask, having noticed, I'm sure, that it's been a little while since the last post.
Well, the past two weeks have been action-packed, to say the least. With the time change, we're taking advantage of the extra daylight in the afternoons/evenings by doing more outside activities late in the day. Some complain about the change and the morning darkness, and I admit that it's unnatural for me to get up and go to work while it's still pitch-black dark outside, but, oh-how-fabulous is it to come home from work with the sun still high and to realize that there's time for supper AND outdoor fun before dusk?!
Daylight Savings Time Activities
Gardening:
My December-planted bulbs are now full-blooming tulips. I've set out tomato and pepper transplants. Some nocturnal critter is either completely enraged or enthralled by this, and consequently, my plants have been disappearing, so I'll have to do it all over again, this time with precautions taken (chicken wire?).
Cycling:
Finding our legs again...I've been selecting the mountain bike lately, which is funny because I do enjoy my road bike, but the MTB seems easier for now. Ricky took out his road bike for Sunday's pedal down Balcones. He was cruising on that lighter-weight bike! Yesterday's rain had me spinning on the trainer in the living room while watching the Simpson and Biggest Loser.
Walking/Jogging:
We've cut back drastically on distance since the half..guess there's really not a reason to take regular 10 mile or so walks...in any case, we are still walking (4 miles, usually) and I'm still working on my slow, relaxed jog. So far so good. I even hope to jog most of the upcoming Cap 10K, which I should be able to do if I get a good walking warm-up in at the start!
Lounging:
Nothing quite like a few minutes in the chaise longue on the patio when the sun's still shining.
What's the report, you may ask, having noticed, I'm sure, that it's been a little while since the last post.
Well, the past two weeks have been action-packed, to say the least. With the time change, we're taking advantage of the extra daylight in the afternoons/evenings by doing more outside activities late in the day. Some complain about the change and the morning darkness, and I admit that it's unnatural for me to get up and go to work while it's still pitch-black dark outside, but, oh-how-fabulous is it to come home from work with the sun still high and to realize that there's time for supper AND outdoor fun before dusk?!
Daylight Savings Time Activities
Gardening:
My December-planted bulbs are now full-blooming tulips. I've set out tomato and pepper transplants. Some nocturnal critter is either completely enraged or enthralled by this, and consequently, my plants have been disappearing, so I'll have to do it all over again, this time with precautions taken (chicken wire?).
Cycling:
Finding our legs again...I've been selecting the mountain bike lately, which is funny because I do enjoy my road bike, but the MTB seems easier for now. Ricky took out his road bike for Sunday's pedal down Balcones. He was cruising on that lighter-weight bike! Yesterday's rain had me spinning on the trainer in the living room while watching the Simpson and Biggest Loser.
Walking/Jogging:
We've cut back drastically on distance since the half..guess there's really not a reason to take regular 10 mile or so walks...in any case, we are still walking (4 miles, usually) and I'm still working on my slow, relaxed jog. So far so good. I even hope to jog most of the upcoming Cap 10K, which I should be able to do if I get a good walking warm-up in at the start!
Lounging:
Nothing quite like a few minutes in the chaise longue on the patio when the sun's still shining.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Last Taste of Winter 2007/08?
How miserable was the weather yesterday? Seriously. It's March now. Why was it 37 degrees (and raining) at 4pm? Definitely not conducive to outdoor activities. And, dare I say, not conducive to much in the way of indoor activities either. I did ultimately manage to muster sufficient motivation to take a short spin on the trainer. First post-flu sweat, which I tolerated fairly well, in spite of a few coughing bouts!
Today marks our return to Sam, as we had to cancel last Friday due to the flu. Looking forward to getting in a good session to kick off what should be a good, warmer weekend. Hopefully, we'll be able to resume some road biking.
Today marks our return to Sam, as we had to cancel last Friday due to the flu. Looking forward to getting in a good session to kick off what should be a good, warmer weekend. Hopefully, we'll be able to resume some road biking.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
In the grips of "la grippe"
NLBG is just emerging with a post-flu touch of bronchitis (moi) and a sinus infection (Ricky). Antiobiotics all around! A slow, short stroll yesterday, it felt good to leave the house for a bit.
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