Friday, February 26, 2010
I have been given the Happy 101 Award by HenkTracy
And I'm giving this award to Ally from CasuAlly Musing
Thanks Tracy!
The rules for the award are:
1. Copy/paste the award on your blog
2. List who gave you the award and their link
3. List 10 things that make you happy
4. Pass on the award to other bloggers and let them know
So without further ado....10 things that make me happy
Steev's kisses
One raspberry cordial from Godiva
Change Your Mind, by Sister Hazel
Seattle's Best Blend coffee with International Delight Pumpkin Pie Spice creamer
Hearing my kids laugh
Sunshine on my face and my toes in warm sand
The smell of lilacs drifting in the window in the late spring, when I lay down at night
Phone calls from friends
Getting A's in school
That feeling of satisfaction when I successfully complete a project
In the last week:
got and 80% on a quiz :( (thought I knew the material better!)
someone hit my car while it was parked in front of my house, wiping out the tail lamp (which will cost me $130 to replace)
missed a chance to reconnect with my study buddies & share a cold one....
but on the flip side...
had a whole day to spend alone with my sweetie
several visits to see my mom (who is recovering from knee replacement)
support from several friends while struggling with a family issue
The Universe is balanced after all.
got and 80% on a quiz :( (thought I knew the material better!)
someone hit my car while it was parked in front of my house, wiping out the tail lamp (which will cost me $130 to replace)
missed a chance to reconnect with my study buddies & share a cold one....
but on the flip side...
had a whole day to spend alone with my sweetie
several visits to see my mom (who is recovering from knee replacement)
support from several friends while struggling with a family issue
The Universe is balanced after all.
Friday, February 12, 2010
This must "stupid day" on the road. Two very odd, rather stupid things happened today while I was driving to class.
1.) I'm on the freeway, middle lane. As I approach my exit, I see cars braking ahead in the right and middle lanes. Can't see why, yet. I slow down and see people merging out of the right lane and into the middle lane. Now I can see a furniture truck, stopped, in the right lane and people trying to go around it. As I get closer, I see a road crew truck in front of the furniture truck, also nearly stopped. As I come up alongside the road crew truck, suddenly a worker, who's walking in front of said truck, steps out into the middle lane with a long shovel filled with blacktop and tosses the blacktop onto the far left side of the middle lane. Without looking for on-coming traffic. This, of course, causes me to step hard on the brakes - there was absolutely no indication of workers up to this point. Couldn't see anyone while driving in the middle lane. No signs, nothing but the road crew truck behind them. Which was blocked by the furniture truck that was stopped directly behind it. I slowed way down, steered clear of the large loose pile of blacktop, and drove past them. As I pulled away and looked in my rearview mirror, I saw the worker step from in front of the truck again, stretching the shovel way out to the far edge to toss more blacktop. This time, the car in the middle lane had to slam on their brakes.
Seriously.
What do you do in a situation like that?!? No accident has happened - yet. But clearly its looming on the horizon. I called 911. They transferred me to the State Police, to whom I explained the situation. Know what they said? "We'll get this information to them". To who?
Now I realize that something terrible didn't actually happen (yet), but that worker was stepping out blindly from in front of a big truck that shielding them from oncoming traffic.....right into traffic travelling at 60mph! You don't need to be psychic to see how dangerous this was! And the response was so ....so.... casual?
You can't fix stupid.
So, while still rather alarmed by the oblivious road crew person, I continue my drive to class. I get off at my exit, turn onto the overpass and proceed to the light. As I approach the light, in the middle lane, I look over at the left lane and see some small thing on fire laying in the middle of the lane. As I get closer I see that its a rag of some sort, looks like a crumpled t-shirt, just burning away. Just like that. Flames coming off it about 6 to 8 inches high. Nobody around but a few other cars. Nothing. That's weird. So I'm stopped at the light, looking over at this flaming rag, and I see a car approaching in that left lane. They stop short of it, so I guess that they saw it. It was pretty hard to miss, flames in the middle of the street. Then all of a sudden, this driver starts pulling forward.....but the light is still red. And I think, well maybe they're trying to get in front of it. Except this driver pulls up just far enough so that now the flaming rag is directly underneath the gas tank. HOLY SHIT! I think!! But just as I'm about to start honking and waving furiously, the driver pulls just a little bit further forward and passes it.
Seriously.
Oblivious. Stupid?
I can't stop shaking my head.....
1.) I'm on the freeway, middle lane. As I approach my exit, I see cars braking ahead in the right and middle lanes. Can't see why, yet. I slow down and see people merging out of the right lane and into the middle lane. Now I can see a furniture truck, stopped, in the right lane and people trying to go around it. As I get closer, I see a road crew truck in front of the furniture truck, also nearly stopped. As I come up alongside the road crew truck, suddenly a worker, who's walking in front of said truck, steps out into the middle lane with a long shovel filled with blacktop and tosses the blacktop onto the far left side of the middle lane. Without looking for on-coming traffic. This, of course, causes me to step hard on the brakes - there was absolutely no indication of workers up to this point. Couldn't see anyone while driving in the middle lane. No signs, nothing but the road crew truck behind them. Which was blocked by the furniture truck that was stopped directly behind it. I slowed way down, steered clear of the large loose pile of blacktop, and drove past them. As I pulled away and looked in my rearview mirror, I saw the worker step from in front of the truck again, stretching the shovel way out to the far edge to toss more blacktop. This time, the car in the middle lane had to slam on their brakes.
Seriously.
What do you do in a situation like that?!? No accident has happened - yet. But clearly its looming on the horizon. I called 911. They transferred me to the State Police, to whom I explained the situation. Know what they said? "We'll get this information to them". To who?
Now I realize that something terrible didn't actually happen (yet), but that worker was stepping out blindly from in front of a big truck that shielding them from oncoming traffic.....right into traffic travelling at 60mph! You don't need to be psychic to see how dangerous this was! And the response was so ....so.... casual?
You can't fix stupid.
So, while still rather alarmed by the oblivious road crew person, I continue my drive to class. I get off at my exit, turn onto the overpass and proceed to the light. As I approach the light, in the middle lane, I look over at the left lane and see some small thing on fire laying in the middle of the lane. As I get closer I see that its a rag of some sort, looks like a crumpled t-shirt, just burning away. Just like that. Flames coming off it about 6 to 8 inches high. Nobody around but a few other cars. Nothing. That's weird. So I'm stopped at the light, looking over at this flaming rag, and I see a car approaching in that left lane. They stop short of it, so I guess that they saw it. It was pretty hard to miss, flames in the middle of the street. Then all of a sudden, this driver starts pulling forward.....but the light is still red. And I think, well maybe they're trying to get in front of it. Except this driver pulls up just far enough so that now the flaming rag is directly underneath the gas tank. HOLY SHIT! I think!! But just as I'm about to start honking and waving furiously, the driver pulls just a little bit further forward and passes it.
Seriously.
Oblivious. Stupid?
I can't stop shaking my head.....
Monday, February 8, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
As of Monday, February 1st, we started changing our diet and eating habits. First thing on the list is cutting out the trips to fast food restaurants and cutting out sugary drinks. No more Sweet Tea from McDonald's or cans and cans of Mountain Dew.
Since we have tried this diet thing before, and who hasn't, we decided to take a little different approach this time. In addition to wanting to lose weight, we want to eliminate the "hidden" dangers in our food as well. After watching Food, Inc., Supersize Me, and various other films related to food and its manufacturing processes, unhealthy eating habits, the general lack of good nutritious foods and the overabundance of unhealthy foods, we have come to realize a few very important points:
1. Attempting to make drastic, impulsive changes to our eating habits is futile: change needs to be deliberate, specific, and gradual. And planned. We've learned from experience that not planning our meals just leads to impulsive, carb heavy, fat heavy meals that lack fresh ingredients.
2. We will not be successful if we try to force ourselves to eat things we don't like, just because they are healthy; we need to find healthy foods we enjoy and use those to push out the bad ones.
3. Portion control is an issue. We got into the habit of eating out fairly often: restaurant portions in the US are grossly oversized. One thing we are doing now is sharing an entre instead of ordering two, on the fewer occassions that we go out. Portion control at home will start with reducing the amount we cook of the things that are less healthy, and supplementing those with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.
4. And speaking of eating out, it'll help not only with weight loss, but reduce $$ loss as well.
5. We will eat much smaller, more frequent meals, instead of skipping breakfast, eating a rushed lunch, and sitting down to a large dinner late in the evening. These alone are going to be the most challenging because they involve time constraints and require planning ahead. That's going to be a big challenge for me, as I never have more than a cup of coffee in the morning, and usually eat something fast (and usually unhealthy) for lunch. Now I'll have to get up earlier (UUUGH!!!) and do some preparing. I'll definitely need to work at this part.
6. We are learning a great deal about the food industry and the hidden dangers in mass-produced food products. Aside from the obvious abundance of preservatives and chemicals that we all know about and can't pronounce, recent books, articles and videos have started to illuminate things like how pervasive genetically modified foods are, how unhealthy (and other things) the meat and poultry industry can be, how foods are "engineered" to cause consumers to get "hooked" and over-consume them. There's so much more out there, so I'll be doing more research and posting.
______
It's not just about "dieting", its about changing our habits and lifestyle in order to become healthier and more energetic. Its about delaying or preventing the onset of the most common illnesses in the US, which are directly attributable to overeating. And its about doing everything we can to ensure that our lives don't become the interlude between doctor's visits.....like so many older people we know. We aren't there yet, in age that is, but we've already noticed how we've slowed down and started feeling, well....rather crappy, over the last few years. And the most obvious reason is that we've both put on weight, and are less active. If we don't do something now, it will only get worse and more difficult to remedy.
So....here we go!
Since we have tried this diet thing before, and who hasn't, we decided to take a little different approach this time. In addition to wanting to lose weight, we want to eliminate the "hidden" dangers in our food as well. After watching Food, Inc., Supersize Me, and various other films related to food and its manufacturing processes, unhealthy eating habits, the general lack of good nutritious foods and the overabundance of unhealthy foods, we have come to realize a few very important points:
1. Attempting to make drastic, impulsive changes to our eating habits is futile: change needs to be deliberate, specific, and gradual. And planned. We've learned from experience that not planning our meals just leads to impulsive, carb heavy, fat heavy meals that lack fresh ingredients.
2. We will not be successful if we try to force ourselves to eat things we don't like, just because they are healthy; we need to find healthy foods we enjoy and use those to push out the bad ones.
3. Portion control is an issue. We got into the habit of eating out fairly often: restaurant portions in the US are grossly oversized. One thing we are doing now is sharing an entre instead of ordering two, on the fewer occassions that we go out. Portion control at home will start with reducing the amount we cook of the things that are less healthy, and supplementing those with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.
4. And speaking of eating out, it'll help not only with weight loss, but reduce $$ loss as well.
5. We will eat much smaller, more frequent meals, instead of skipping breakfast, eating a rushed lunch, and sitting down to a large dinner late in the evening. These alone are going to be the most challenging because they involve time constraints and require planning ahead. That's going to be a big challenge for me, as I never have more than a cup of coffee in the morning, and usually eat something fast (and usually unhealthy) for lunch. Now I'll have to get up earlier (UUUGH!!!) and do some preparing. I'll definitely need to work at this part.
6. We are learning a great deal about the food industry and the hidden dangers in mass-produced food products. Aside from the obvious abundance of preservatives and chemicals that we all know about and can't pronounce, recent books, articles and videos have started to illuminate things like how pervasive genetically modified foods are, how unhealthy (and other things) the meat and poultry industry can be, how foods are "engineered" to cause consumers to get "hooked" and over-consume them. There's so much more out there, so I'll be doing more research and posting.
______
It's not just about "dieting", its about changing our habits and lifestyle in order to become healthier and more energetic. Its about delaying or preventing the onset of the most common illnesses in the US, which are directly attributable to overeating. And its about doing everything we can to ensure that our lives don't become the interlude between doctor's visits.....like so many older people we know. We aren't there yet, in age that is, but we've already noticed how we've slowed down and started feeling, well....rather crappy, over the last few years. And the most obvious reason is that we've both put on weight, and are less active. If we don't do something now, it will only get worse and more difficult to remedy.
So....here we go!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
My Dad was born in the 30's. Almost by definition that made him a fan of old western movies. John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Gene Autry, Clint Eastwood. And later TV shows like Gunsmoke and Bonanza.
These are the kind of men he identified with, the tough, brave, emotionally distant "heroes" that pulled no punches and took no bullshit. My Dad was like that too. Never one to overstate his feelings, he tended to show his affections in little ways and fewer words, but people always knew where he stood. He would defend his family (and sometimes the neighbors) with a fierceness that rivaled those guys on the big screen. People would call him for help. And I never remember anyone crossing him.
When I was younger, I couldn't always understand or agree with his viewpoints. I often thought him narrow-minded, and he thought I was still "wet behind the ears". As I grew into adulthood, though, I came to realize that he was both a product of his up-bringing and a result of his life experiences: he grew up during the depression, lived through some pretty tough times, socially, and worked hard all his life. I came to believe that I knew my Dad pretty well.
But somehow, by watching some of the old films that he used to love, I've come to appreciate a part of him I never recognized when he was still with us. His definition of what it meant to be a man really was influenced by the movie and TV role models he grew up with. And considering the "specialness" of entertainment back then, it only makes sense that those big screen men left a deep and lasting impression on him.
Tonight I watched High Noon, starring Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, and Lloyd Bridges. And I think I'll consider it a bit of a tribute to my Dad. I'll never know if this was one of his favorites or not, (it was five years ago on Saturday that he passed away) but as I watched it, I felt like I was remembering him in a way that I never knew to begin with.
I miss you Dad.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Well, in the last week or so, I've done a bit more reading and knocked a couple more movies off the AFI list, (101 list item number 35). And with that came a bit of a self-realization...though it shouldn't be surprising, since also on the 101 list is a challenge to stop procrastinating.
The realization: I am working diligently to get the easy things done....thereby putting off the more challenging ones.
Seems rather insignificant, when I look at it in writing. Not much of an insight. But sometimes the smallest insights can have the biggest impact.
The more challenging items are the ones that will cause me to s-t-r-e-t-c-h and g-r-o-w, while the easy ones are merely the same kind of things that I would already be doing....with just a little more intention behind them.
Many items that are on my list are tasks to do around the house. No big deal there. Except that I have been a life-long collector of ideas for projects, most of which never get off the ground. They are always those "one of these days I'm going to...." kind of ideas.
With the aforementioned "insight" came the realization that in order to accomplish the larger things on my list, I am going to need some kind of game plan, some kind of organized map that contains mini-goals that will help me reach the larger ones.
I'm thinking that a good first step might be for me to map out a timeline, with milestones along the way. My first inclination is to say I'm going to do that for all of my tougher goals. Truth be told, I really need to start with one or two, and see how that goes.
So, in one week, I'm going to pick two of my tougher goals and map out a game plan for them: when I will accomplish them, what steps need to happen to get there, how I will measure my success.
Wish me luck!
The realization: I am working diligently to get the easy things done....thereby putting off the more challenging ones.
Seems rather insignificant, when I look at it in writing. Not much of an insight. But sometimes the smallest insights can have the biggest impact.
The more challenging items are the ones that will cause me to s-t-r-e-t-c-h and g-r-o-w, while the easy ones are merely the same kind of things that I would already be doing....with just a little more intention behind them.
Many items that are on my list are tasks to do around the house. No big deal there. Except that I have been a life-long collector of ideas for projects, most of which never get off the ground. They are always those "one of these days I'm going to...." kind of ideas.
With the aforementioned "insight" came the realization that in order to accomplish the larger things on my list, I am going to need some kind of game plan, some kind of organized map that contains mini-goals that will help me reach the larger ones.
I'm thinking that a good first step might be for me to map out a timeline, with milestones along the way. My first inclination is to say I'm going to do that for all of my tougher goals. Truth be told, I really need to start with one or two, and see how that goes.
So, in one week, I'm going to pick two of my tougher goals and map out a game plan for them: when I will accomplish them, what steps need to happen to get there, how I will measure my success.
Wish me luck!
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