I've heard it said that whatever your doing at midnight new years eve is what you'll be doing all next year. An interesting thought... how much thought do you put into what your doing new years eve? Do you think it does or doesn't have any effect on the rest of your year? Or do you think that is only if you let it?
This year will be the first year in several years that I'm not on pager duty for new years. I'm pretty happy about that because it is one less thing to worry about. However, I have yet to decide what, if anything I will be doing that night. The last several years I've gone to see a friends band play but this year they are playing an hour and a half from my house. I'm not real excited about the though of driving that far on new years and am leaning towards not going. It's a long drive on small roads on one of the most dangerous nights of the year to be driving. I'm not sure I really want to take that chance. In addition, I'm really feeling like I don't want to drink much - I really don't want to start the new year with a hangover. My other thought is I really don't want to spend a lot of money. If I go a long ways or decide to drink, then I need a hotel room and a cab to get back and forth - money I don't need to spend.
But if I don't do that - then what? I'm not really interested in watching all the festivities on TV... I'm not really interested in going where there will be big crowds... I'm kind of leaning towards a quiet night at home, maybe playing on the wii or doing something more positive than drinking a lot. But I have friends that do want me to come out and that makes it kind of a tough choice. I've been burnt out on the whole bar thing lately. Kind of bored with doing the same old things - ya know?
I am spending a fair amount of time each day playing the wii fit and have some very sore muscles to show for it. Each day starts with a body test which gives me my weight and BMI. Of course to be really accurate, you need to do that at the same time each day which I've yet to manage. Right now, my focus is more on making sure I do it and varying my routine enough to keep it interesting. I start off with the step and advanced step and do them at least twice each. From there I either do yoga, strength (which is pilates) or more aerobics until I get to 30 minutes. Then I take a break and come back to do whatever else I feel like after that. My weight is up two pounds over the last week but since I'm not doing it at the same time every day I don't know or really care how accurate that is. Plus some days I'm in sweats and others I'm in jeans so I'm sure all that makes a difference. I'm still focused on getting to feel better rather than anything else and think once the soreness starts to fade I will feel quite a bit better. Well that and when I start getting better at some of this stuff. My balance is particularly bad so I'll be really happy when that starts getting better. I think that is probably a big part of why I feel so far out of shape. I've noticed that I don't move with the same ease and control as I am used to and really want to get that back. I know - I shouldn't find it shocking that such things fade with time as you don't use those muscles as often. I do find it funny that my wii fit age was as low as 36 before I got so sore and now it is up to 39... it will come back down as I adjust to the new activity level. I'm actually kind of glad for the soreness because it reminds me of what I need to be doing in order to get to where I want to go... in this case the old saying is true - pain is just weakness leaving the body!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
mind and body....
Life has been a little on the quiet side lately - a very nice thing indeed. Around the holidays people tend to get really busy, especially with so many family things going on. Some years I've had trouble with this being a lonely time of year for people like me that don't have all that stuff going on. I'd miss my family and friends that are no longer around and basically get pretty bummed. This year I decided on a different approach. I've spent more time doing things to help myself and less time thinking. I went shopping and bought myself some new clothes with a totally different look than usual. I've been logging on to pogo more often and playing more games that make me think and react. I've been playing wii fit more often - especially the aerobics to keep my heart rate up for a half hour at a time. I'm spending more time at home and less time going out. Some would say that isn't really such a good thing but I see it as a healthy break. After the first of the year when things start going back to normal, I'll probably start going out more again. Although I may not - I really don't like the cold at all and sometimes I just really hate going out in it any more than I just have to. What I've come to realize is going out isn't really the important thing - being more active physically and mentally is.
Through my teenage years I was active in sports and I would spend a lot of time playing various card games with my Mom. We got into a routine of playing every day for at least a while. Those are some of the memories I treasure most, just her and I sitting, playing, laughing and talking the afternoon away. I was thinking of that the other day - it bothers me that it seems to me that my brain moves slower than it used to. It also bothers me that my body doesn't respond as easily to activity as it used to. then it dawned on me that the brain functions much like a muscle - the more you use it, the better and more efficient it works. Hmmm... I haven't been challenging my brain any more than I have been my body. I can either feel bad about how I used to be or I can step up and start doing something about it. I decided to start doing something about it.
I'm not big on new years resolutions. Culturally we have a mind set that they are discarded in relatively short order and we all laugh and sympathize with each other about our lack of will power. So this isn't a new years resolution, it isn't a resolution at all. It's just a choice to start focusing on myself and committing to start making myself better than I am right now. I know they say you need solid goals but I'm not at the point that I want to do that. Right now the goal is to start working my mind and body more regularly and accept whatever the outcome of that is. I don't feel I must lose 20 pounds - although honestly I'd really like to. I just need to be more healthy no matter what weight and shape it makes me. It's much more about how I feel rather than how I look. To me this was a huge bright light bulb when I realized that is what my priority should be - and now it will be going forward.
BTW, on the wii fit tonight, my wii fit age was 36 which made me feel pretty good since I'm 41. Now I just wish they would make a balance board game that has a lot of the step and rhythm boxing type things on them. I'm having a lot of fun with those but there aren't a whole lot of varieties of them. I'm considering getting something like dance dance revolution even though it is on a flat pad rather than using the step. I think that will help keep my activity level up and provide new challenges. Still - wii games designers - more step and rhythm boxing please!!!!!
Through my teenage years I was active in sports and I would spend a lot of time playing various card games with my Mom. We got into a routine of playing every day for at least a while. Those are some of the memories I treasure most, just her and I sitting, playing, laughing and talking the afternoon away. I was thinking of that the other day - it bothers me that it seems to me that my brain moves slower than it used to. It also bothers me that my body doesn't respond as easily to activity as it used to. then it dawned on me that the brain functions much like a muscle - the more you use it, the better and more efficient it works. Hmmm... I haven't been challenging my brain any more than I have been my body. I can either feel bad about how I used to be or I can step up and start doing something about it. I decided to start doing something about it.
I'm not big on new years resolutions. Culturally we have a mind set that they are discarded in relatively short order and we all laugh and sympathize with each other about our lack of will power. So this isn't a new years resolution, it isn't a resolution at all. It's just a choice to start focusing on myself and committing to start making myself better than I am right now. I know they say you need solid goals but I'm not at the point that I want to do that. Right now the goal is to start working my mind and body more regularly and accept whatever the outcome of that is. I don't feel I must lose 20 pounds - although honestly I'd really like to. I just need to be more healthy no matter what weight and shape it makes me. It's much more about how I feel rather than how I look. To me this was a huge bright light bulb when I realized that is what my priority should be - and now it will be going forward.
BTW, on the wii fit tonight, my wii fit age was 36 which made me feel pretty good since I'm 41. Now I just wish they would make a balance board game that has a lot of the step and rhythm boxing type things on them. I'm having a lot of fun with those but there aren't a whole lot of varieties of them. I'm considering getting something like dance dance revolution even though it is on a flat pad rather than using the step. I think that will help keep my activity level up and provide new challenges. Still - wii games designers - more step and rhythm boxing please!!!!!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
On bailing out the auto industry....
I've been watching all this unfold with the big three while the stock market bounces like a yo-yo on steroids... Massive job cut announcements are a daily thing... it's official - the economy is in the toilet... are we going to flush it down the pipes and into the sewer? If we don't bailout the big three - I suspect that is exactly what will happen. There are so very many angles to consider here. First - no one I know of wants to buy a new car... or a used car... or anything that costs anything more than $500 right now. Most of us are in hording mode - trying to stock up on food, cut expenses and concentrating on surviving. Luxuries like a new car are really hard to justify. I look in the driveway and see my truck that I've had a little over two years now and have no intentions of getting rid of. In times past, by the time I hit the two year mark with a truck, I'm ready to get a new one. Now I sit here and think well, it should live at least 150,000 miles so I should have 100,000 or so more to go. I think my thought process is not unique at all, actually I think it is very common right now. So by bailing out the car makers - are we just delaying the inevitable? Or will the economy come back in 2010 like they say?
Granted - the big three have done nothing worth noting to try and prevent this from happening. They seem to spend money like there are no limits. Paying workers most of their salary for not working just doesn't seem like the brightest business model to me. It's been more than three years since hurricane Katrina hit and gas prices jumped to $3 a gallon. That kind of made me take a look at gas mileage as something that needs to be strongly considered. I know the car companies have made strides in improving gas mileage but there is such a very long way still to go.
For the average person - the math is pretty simple.... you need money to survive, keep a roof over your head and food in your belly.... so you need a job... and a way to get too and from that job. When it takes $60 a tank to fill your SUV - how far can you realistically afford to drive to work? I'm not bashing SUVs - I have one myself. I like to take road trips and I want a vehicle big enough to take passengers in comfort and big enough to haul my camping gear. But I did trade down from a 4x4 V6 (16 mpg) to a 2wd 4 cylinder to pick up the extra 4-6 miles per gallon (there were other reasons as well - primary being I wanted to be able to carry more than one passenger at a time). In town if I don't need to haul anything other than myself - I prefer my motorcycle at 55 mpg or my scooter at 83 mpg. So yes, I have an SUV that gets 20 - 22 mpg but I also have other, cheaper alternatives as well.
Back to the car companies... if they go under, it effects many other businesses... including a lot of mom and pop businesses that are near the various manufacturing plants. Diners, day care centers, gas stations, bars... the trickle down effect could be huge. But what good does it to make cars no one can afford? And are they even the cars people want if they can afford them? Honestly - who is going to buy a car right now without concerns about how long that car will live? How much it might cost to maintain?
I think the car companies need to take a good look at real people and see what their needs are and then figure out how they can meet those needs. They need to make "made in America" a symbol of pride and quality, of innovation, of affordability and dependability. We do need need to save the car companies - we can't afford not to. In turn they need to adjust and learn how to take care of the consumers that are indeed their lifeblood.
Granted - the big three have done nothing worth noting to try and prevent this from happening. They seem to spend money like there are no limits. Paying workers most of their salary for not working just doesn't seem like the brightest business model to me. It's been more than three years since hurricane Katrina hit and gas prices jumped to $3 a gallon. That kind of made me take a look at gas mileage as something that needs to be strongly considered. I know the car companies have made strides in improving gas mileage but there is such a very long way still to go.
For the average person - the math is pretty simple.... you need money to survive, keep a roof over your head and food in your belly.... so you need a job... and a way to get too and from that job. When it takes $60 a tank to fill your SUV - how far can you realistically afford to drive to work? I'm not bashing SUVs - I have one myself. I like to take road trips and I want a vehicle big enough to take passengers in comfort and big enough to haul my camping gear. But I did trade down from a 4x4 V6 (16 mpg) to a 2wd 4 cylinder to pick up the extra 4-6 miles per gallon (there were other reasons as well - primary being I wanted to be able to carry more than one passenger at a time). In town if I don't need to haul anything other than myself - I prefer my motorcycle at 55 mpg or my scooter at 83 mpg. So yes, I have an SUV that gets 20 - 22 mpg but I also have other, cheaper alternatives as well.
Back to the car companies... if they go under, it effects many other businesses... including a lot of mom and pop businesses that are near the various manufacturing plants. Diners, day care centers, gas stations, bars... the trickle down effect could be huge. But what good does it to make cars no one can afford? And are they even the cars people want if they can afford them? Honestly - who is going to buy a car right now without concerns about how long that car will live? How much it might cost to maintain?
I think the car companies need to take a good look at real people and see what their needs are and then figure out how they can meet those needs. They need to make "made in America" a symbol of pride and quality, of innovation, of affordability and dependability. We do need need to save the car companies - we can't afford not to. In turn they need to adjust and learn how to take care of the consumers that are indeed their lifeblood.
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