in conjunction with the start of the ymca's "mad dash" which is the ymca's version of the "biggest loser", the spring session began for the ymca keeping fit programs. the ymca keeping fit programs are the research aspect of the ymca in quincy. basically, participants of the program receive attentive training on nautilus equipment while data is collected in the name of research.
unfortunately, i suck at the ymca which probably isn't good because i'm an instructor for the keeping fit programs. thus, i had to work tonight because the keeping fit program started.
as it seems to be the case for every time i work for the keeping fit programs, i get highly frustrated with the organization known as the ymca. perhaps that is why i suck at the ymca. now, don't get me wrong. i don't consider myself to be a bad research instructor. in fact, i have always gotten great evaluations from participants in the program for being attentive and pushing them to their limits.
the more i work at the ymca, the more i get frustrated with the direction of the ymca. it seems more and more that the south shore ymca is more concerned with the financial apsect of the organization as opposed to the four ideals that the ymca supposed strives for (caring, honesty, respect and responsibility). the keeping fit programs are grossly understaffed for the number of participants in the class. the staff themselves (as much as i like all of them) are not credible as instructors. i could probably go on and on. it's quite disheartening for me because the ymca operates under the guise that everything is done because of those four ideals, when in fact it is clear as day that it is not (at least, based on my opinion).
needless to say, false pretenses has always annoyed me probably because i'm more of the "what you see is what you get" type. (that's also probably why i disliked my so-called "scourge of evil" ex-girlfriend so much. if she had simply told me she liked someone else instead of me, i'd probably be fine with it... well, okay... maybe not, but i'd at least have more respect for her. that's beside the point of course.)
anyway, it's too bad the south shore ymca (located in quincy) is all about the benjamins these days. one of the things i used to enjoy about being an instructor for the keeping fit programs was getting to know the participants and actually helping them achieve their fitness goals. it was very rewarding at the time. and now, even though it's still great to meet the participants and help them reach their goals, it's not the same because the motives of the organization are different.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
I Suck At Being A Teaching Assistant
today is karen and hot amy's normal day to get together to review case studies for the class they are teaching together. (pictured below are karen and hot amy discussing one of the case study answers written by a student.)
anyway, to save them time, i was relegated to being a teaching assistant. now, i suck at being a teaching assistant. don't worry, i wasn't given any actual "teaching" duties, which i'm sure the students would be very appreciative of (or maybe not depending on what they think of their current professors). my duties, in addition to chauffeuring the sorry butts of karen and hot amy every wednesday night, was to input all of the graded case study answers into a spreadsheet. who knew being a teaching assistant could be so fun? in an effort to even win employee of the month honors as the teaching assistant, i even alphabetized the case study answers by the last name of the students.
does this beat going to a celtics game? probably not. my friend (carlos) had tickets for tonight's celtics game. he was going to bring his son (matthew), but his son was sick and couldn't make it. so, he had asked if i could go. i was actually second on the list as hot amy was his first choice (apparently because they were discussing the celtics during their wild wedding night). anyway, i declined going to the game because of my stupid car. i am so annoyed with my car right now. thinking about it right now annoys me. had it been any other day, i would have loved to have gone to the celtics game. oh well.
anyway, to save them time, i was relegated to being a teaching assistant. now, i suck at being a teaching assistant. don't worry, i wasn't given any actual "teaching" duties, which i'm sure the students would be very appreciative of (or maybe not depending on what they think of their current professors). my duties, in addition to chauffeuring the sorry butts of karen and hot amy every wednesday night, was to input all of the graded case study answers into a spreadsheet. who knew being a teaching assistant could be so fun? in an effort to even win employee of the month honors as the teaching assistant, i even alphabetized the case study answers by the last name of the students.
does this beat going to a celtics game? probably not. my friend (carlos) had tickets for tonight's celtics game. he was going to bring his son (matthew), but his son was sick and couldn't make it. so, he had asked if i could go. i was actually second on the list as hot amy was his first choice (apparently because they were discussing the celtics during their wild wedding night). anyway, i declined going to the game because of my stupid car. i am so annoyed with my car right now. thinking about it right now annoys me. had it been any other day, i would have loved to have gone to the celtics game. oh well.
I Suck At Driving
today, karen and i were invited to her parents for lunch (or what they refer to as supper which always begins at 1pm). turkey, green beans, carrots, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and stuffing were slated on the menu. karen was in charge of bringing dessert (which was a fruit salad with yogurt and granola). needless to say, everything was quite delicious as usual.
too bad i suck at driving. on our way to karen's parents' place, our car started rattling. we didn't notice the sound on the highway. the rattling seemed to start once we entered quincy (damn quincy!). apparently, as we pulled up to karen's parents' place, karen's aunt (denise) told us that our car was smoking. smoking is never good (whether it's of the tobacco variety or of the oh-my-god-my-car-is-smoking variety).
well, my brother-in-law (pj) came over as karen popped the hood of the car. we noticed that there was some fluid leakage somewhere. (leaking fluids is also never good, whether it's of the bowel variety or the oh-my-god-my-car-is-leaking variety.)
after supper, i drove the car to the local garage (dana's at the intersection of furnace brook and newport). unfortunately, the garage was closed so i had to leave the keys with a note explaining the situation. so hopefully, the mechanic can make sense of what we wrote tomorrow morning.
in the meantime, i asked my father if i could borrow their car for the time being. my mother is in hong kong, leaving the car with my father. he didn't need the car, so he was more than happy to help out. (he helped out the last time i had car problems too, so he must be getting used to this.) anyway, karen and i now have a way to get home.
hopefully tomorrow morning, i will have a more definitive answer as to the cause of the problem. pj seems to think it's the transmission. i am hoping not because it would really not be worth fixing the transmission on that car. oh well. i suppose the possible silver lining is that this could now allow me to get that hybrid vehicle i've been wanting...
too bad i suck at driving. on our way to karen's parents' place, our car started rattling. we didn't notice the sound on the highway. the rattling seemed to start once we entered quincy (damn quincy!). apparently, as we pulled up to karen's parents' place, karen's aunt (denise) told us that our car was smoking. smoking is never good (whether it's of the tobacco variety or of the oh-my-god-my-car-is-smoking variety).
well, my brother-in-law (pj) came over as karen popped the hood of the car. we noticed that there was some fluid leakage somewhere. (leaking fluids is also never good, whether it's of the bowel variety or the oh-my-god-my-car-is-leaking variety.)
after supper, i drove the car to the local garage (dana's at the intersection of furnace brook and newport). unfortunately, the garage was closed so i had to leave the keys with a note explaining the situation. so hopefully, the mechanic can make sense of what we wrote tomorrow morning.
in the meantime, i asked my father if i could borrow their car for the time being. my mother is in hong kong, leaving the car with my father. he didn't need the car, so he was more than happy to help out. (he helped out the last time i had car problems too, so he must be getting used to this.) anyway, karen and i now have a way to get home.
hopefully tomorrow morning, i will have a more definitive answer as to the cause of the problem. pj seems to think it's the transmission. i am hoping not because it would really not be worth fixing the transmission on that car. oh well. i suppose the possible silver lining is that this could now allow me to get that hybrid vehicle i've been wanting...
Saturday, March 29, 2008
I Suck At Playing With The Wii
today, the ymca's "mad dash" began. part of the requirements for the "mad dash" is a photo shoot of the participants wearing skimpy clothes, which are to be used as the "before" shot. at the end of the "mad dash", there will be another photo shoot for the "after" shot, and the comparisons will be one of the criteria for judging the winner of the dash.
needless to say, my friend (jen) and my sister-in-law (janine) had their pictures taken today. to kick start the dash, janine and pj went to dinner at the haunted restaurant known as the scarlet oak in hingham. (located at the intersection of queen anne's corner, the scarlet oak was formerly known as the witten house, syro's, and black fin.) according to the lore, a young girl can sometimes be seen late at night coloring in the corner. as well, there is a story of where this same girl got into the flour and walked on the ceiling. apparently her footprints are still there.
thus, that left karen and i to babysit our niece and nephew. as the kids were asleep, we started to play with the nintento wii that janine and pj have. i suck at playing with the wii. (for the record, i'm more of the hardcore gaming type.)
anyway, rather than play the games on the wii, karen and i decided to create some mii characters. according to my friend wikipedia, a "mii" is:
"A Mii (pronounced /ˈmiː/) is a digital avatar created by Nintendo for the Wii's Mii Channel. After creating them, they can be used as participating characters in certain Mii-oriented games, as first shown in Wii Sports and Wii Play. Miis are customizable and allow the user to capture a likeness or caricature, or capture the personality of themselves and others.
Up to 300 Miis may be created on any Wii console. The Wii Remote itself can hold up to 10 Miis on its internal memory, which can later be transferred to another Wii console. In addition, Miis can also be exchanged via the WiiConnect24 service, whereby allowing a player's Miis to "Mingle" will enable such Miis to appear on other people's Wii consoles (appearing in a "Mii Parade", where up to 10,000 may feature). Miis transferred to another console cannot be edited from that particular console."
needless to say, this can get to be quite entertaining trying to find miis to create. (pictured below is the mii created by karen using the information from the site, famousmii.com. the mii is supposed to be owen wilson.)
our original intent was to create a spiderman for our niece and nephew. we, however, got distracted with the other possibilities. hopefully soon, we can return to create the spiderman mii.
needless to say, my friend (jen) and my sister-in-law (janine) had their pictures taken today. to kick start the dash, janine and pj went to dinner at the haunted restaurant known as the scarlet oak in hingham. (located at the intersection of queen anne's corner, the scarlet oak was formerly known as the witten house, syro's, and black fin.) according to the lore, a young girl can sometimes be seen late at night coloring in the corner. as well, there is a story of where this same girl got into the flour and walked on the ceiling. apparently her footprints are still there.
thus, that left karen and i to babysit our niece and nephew. as the kids were asleep, we started to play with the nintento wii that janine and pj have. i suck at playing with the wii. (for the record, i'm more of the hardcore gaming type.)
anyway, rather than play the games on the wii, karen and i decided to create some mii characters. according to my friend wikipedia, a "mii" is:
"A Mii (pronounced /ˈmiː/) is a digital avatar created by Nintendo for the Wii's Mii Channel. After creating them, they can be used as participating characters in certain Mii-oriented games, as first shown in Wii Sports and Wii Play. Miis are customizable and allow the user to capture a likeness or caricature, or capture the personality of themselves and others.
Up to 300 Miis may be created on any Wii console. The Wii Remote itself can hold up to 10 Miis on its internal memory, which can later be transferred to another Wii console. In addition, Miis can also be exchanged via the WiiConnect24 service, whereby allowing a player's Miis to "Mingle" will enable such Miis to appear on other people's Wii consoles (appearing in a "Mii Parade", where up to 10,000 may feature). Miis transferred to another console cannot be edited from that particular console."
needless to say, this can get to be quite entertaining trying to find miis to create. (pictured below is the mii created by karen using the information from the site, famousmii.com. the mii is supposed to be owen wilson.)
our original intent was to create a spiderman for our niece and nephew. we, however, got distracted with the other possibilities. hopefully soon, we can return to create the spiderman mii.
I Still Suck At Weighing In
well, this week has been a busy week.
with all the things going on, i could not weigh myself for my high intensity interval training experiment on my usual thursday time at my friends' (marc and kelley) place.
so, i still suck at weighing in. luckily, i happened to be at my sister-in-law's (janine) last night. janine has a cool looking glass scale with a digital display. it is so hingham. just kidding.
anyway, i decided to use her scale this week as i did not have access to any other type of scale (because i don't own one myself). naturally, i tested the precision of the glass scale by weighing myself a couple of times. the numbers were the same. i know using this glass scale actually throws off the validity of my experiment, but i figured it was only for a week anyway... and really, i'm not publishing this experiment or anything in any medical journals so i figured it would be okay.
well, the magic number was 185.2 pounds, which is a difference of 2.6 pounds from my weigh in last week. and for those "biggest loser" fans, the percentage difference would be 1.38% which would actually make me fall below the yellow line this week.
my food intake, however, for the week averaged about 2200 calories which is 300 calories less than the week before. so, it's hard to determine whether the reduced caloric intake or the high intensity interval training (or both) influenced my weight loss. i think next week should be a better indicator as i attempt to bring my caloric intake back to a steady level. (of course, i say that now.)
anyway with week 3 of the experiment complete, i guess we'll see how the remaining weeks go.
with all the things going on, i could not weigh myself for my high intensity interval training experiment on my usual thursday time at my friends' (marc and kelley) place.
so, i still suck at weighing in. luckily, i happened to be at my sister-in-law's (janine) last night. janine has a cool looking glass scale with a digital display. it is so hingham. just kidding.
anyway, i decided to use her scale this week as i did not have access to any other type of scale (because i don't own one myself). naturally, i tested the precision of the glass scale by weighing myself a couple of times. the numbers were the same. i know using this glass scale actually throws off the validity of my experiment, but i figured it was only for a week anyway... and really, i'm not publishing this experiment or anything in any medical journals so i figured it would be okay.
well, the magic number was 185.2 pounds, which is a difference of 2.6 pounds from my weigh in last week. and for those "biggest loser" fans, the percentage difference would be 1.38% which would actually make me fall below the yellow line this week.
my food intake, however, for the week averaged about 2200 calories which is 300 calories less than the week before. so, it's hard to determine whether the reduced caloric intake or the high intensity interval training (or both) influenced my weight loss. i think next week should be a better indicator as i attempt to bring my caloric intake back to a steady level. (of course, i say that now.)
anyway with week 3 of the experiment complete, i guess we'll see how the remaining weeks go.
I Suck At Hanging Out With Nana
yesterday was quite an event-packed day. in addition to the commute home, karen and i went to visit nana.
i suck at hanging out with nana. the last time i saw nana was easter. okay, so maybe that isn't that long ago. anyway, nana had surgery performed on her shoulder. it turns out that while she was pitching for the boston red sox, she tore her rotator cuff. i'm just kidding about the red sox part. she had surgery on thursday and was returning home on friday.
anyway, karen and i went to visit nana to make sure she was okay. we even stopped off at brigham's ice cream to pick up some ice cream for her. as it turns out, aunt denise was staying at nana's as well. (aunt denise made a pot roast with barley... it was very delicious... some may even call it "legendary".)
needless to say, we had a very enjoyable time at nana's. as much as i joke that hanging with the voelkels (the maiden name of karen's mother) is a "rigamarole", it actually is entertaining. after all, where else can i learn about the interesting family gossip, history, and religion? plus, the look on nana's face was priceless when she had learned that karen's cousin (karlene) drank whiskey.
nana never liked alcohol. if prohibition were still around, she would be all for it. karlene, as far as i can remember, has always been the straight arrow. she never liked the taste of alcohol until this year when she had whiskey. yes, it's odd that whiskey would be a non-drinker's choice of alcohol. anyway, karlene always felt odd when she was with people who were socially drinking because she never had a particular drink she liked. thus, whiskey!
anyway, when nana heard that about karlene, she was astounded that her straight arrow granddaughter was imbibing. in fact, i think she's going to pray for karlene now... which added to the list of other things she was praying about. (as it turns out, nana prayed that uncle paul would return a call to aunt denise back way back when after she had called the cops to report the possible disappearance of her then 23 year-old daughter during aunt denise and uncle paul's first date. apparently, her prayers worked.)
i suck at hanging out with nana. the last time i saw nana was easter. okay, so maybe that isn't that long ago. anyway, nana had surgery performed on her shoulder. it turns out that while she was pitching for the boston red sox, she tore her rotator cuff. i'm just kidding about the red sox part. she had surgery on thursday and was returning home on friday.
anyway, karen and i went to visit nana to make sure she was okay. we even stopped off at brigham's ice cream to pick up some ice cream for her. as it turns out, aunt denise was staying at nana's as well. (aunt denise made a pot roast with barley... it was very delicious... some may even call it "legendary".)
needless to say, we had a very enjoyable time at nana's. as much as i joke that hanging with the voelkels (the maiden name of karen's mother) is a "rigamarole", it actually is entertaining. after all, where else can i learn about the interesting family gossip, history, and religion? plus, the look on nana's face was priceless when she had learned that karen's cousin (karlene) drank whiskey.
nana never liked alcohol. if prohibition were still around, she would be all for it. karlene, as far as i can remember, has always been the straight arrow. she never liked the taste of alcohol until this year when she had whiskey. yes, it's odd that whiskey would be a non-drinker's choice of alcohol. anyway, karlene always felt odd when she was with people who were socially drinking because she never had a particular drink she liked. thus, whiskey!
anyway, when nana heard that about karlene, she was astounded that her straight arrow granddaughter was imbibing. in fact, i think she's going to pray for karlene now... which added to the list of other things she was praying about. (as it turns out, nana prayed that uncle paul would return a call to aunt denise back way back when after she had called the cops to report the possible disappearance of her then 23 year-old daughter during aunt denise and uncle paul's first date. apparently, her prayers worked.)
I Still Suck At Riding The MBTA
i still suck at riding the mbta.
yesterday, however, was a pretty fun commute home even though the weather was pretty dreary. there have been a couple of times now where the stars will align and a bunch of us will ride the subway train home together. the bunch usually includes karen, hot amy, carlos, and myself. yesterday happened to be one of those days.
in addition, yesterday we were treated with the presence of another one of my friends (aimee) for the commute home. apparently, aimee had gotten on the subway at an earlier station. the four of us just happened to choose the same subway car that she was in. in fact, none of us even realized that she was sitting on the train... that is... until aimee hit me in the leg. (normally, aimee's reach would be about my leg height anyway because aimee is short... just kidding. pictured below is aimee on the subway train.)
as it turns out, aimee had been engrossed in the metro newspaper and did not even realize we were on the train until i had laughed. yes, i have a distinct laugh... some people would even possibly call it a high pitched giggle.
anyway, the five of us rode the train home together. before, there were four of us... today there were five... some day, there will be an entire subway car full of people i know! that would be fun...
yesterday, however, was a pretty fun commute home even though the weather was pretty dreary. there have been a couple of times now where the stars will align and a bunch of us will ride the subway train home together. the bunch usually includes karen, hot amy, carlos, and myself. yesterday happened to be one of those days.
in addition, yesterday we were treated with the presence of another one of my friends (aimee) for the commute home. apparently, aimee had gotten on the subway at an earlier station. the four of us just happened to choose the same subway car that she was in. in fact, none of us even realized that she was sitting on the train... that is... until aimee hit me in the leg. (normally, aimee's reach would be about my leg height anyway because aimee is short... just kidding. pictured below is aimee on the subway train.)
as it turns out, aimee had been engrossed in the metro newspaper and did not even realize we were on the train until i had laughed. yes, i have a distinct laugh... some people would even possibly call it a high pitched giggle.
anyway, the five of us rode the train home together. before, there were four of us... today there were five... some day, there will be an entire subway car full of people i know! that would be fun...
Thursday, March 27, 2008
I Suck At Karaoke
today has been an eventful day. after working late hours again, i went to pick up karen at the ymca. karen was giving a presentation to kick off the ymca's "mad dash" event. (the "mad dash" is the ymca's version of "the biggest loser" where the person who loses the most percentage of body weight wins a prize.) basically, karen talks about how a sensible diet will help the participants lose weight for the "mad dash". as it turns out, my friend (jen) and my sister-in-law (janine) are participating in the mad dash competition. (pictured below are jen, janine and bill who attended karen's presentation.)
anyway, i hope jen and janine do well and achieve their workout goals (whatever that goal may be). interestingly enough, i also got to meet the new ymca intern (mary kate). apparently, mary kate is taking a class at... where else... simmons college. and guess who her teachers are... karen and hot amy. what a small world. too bad i didn't ask her who the better instructor was. that would have been interesting to find out... not that i am instigating anything.
after the ymca presentation, karen and i met up with a bunch of other friends at... where else... but hot amy's favorite hot spot of blue 22. my friend (kelley) got a new job and so we decided to celebrate the event. (kelley is a scientist.) it was nice to see my friends (cass, ellen, marc, kelley, and garv) again. i feel like i haven't seen all of them in awhile. as usual, we were placed in the corner of the bar. we seem to have a habit of being secluded whenever the group of us go out... probably because we could be embarrassing with our humor.
needless to say, tonight happened to be karaoke night. now, i suck at karaoke. i can't carry a tune for the life of me, which is pretty odd considering how much i love music. i guess you could say that singing to me is what dancing is to hot amy... love it, but can't do it. marc attempted to get me to do a duet with him (to the song "a little respect" by erasure), but i opted not to. we were, however, treated to a rendition of "if i had a million dollars" by garv. (pictured below is that rendition.)
anyway, all of us had a good time. it was fun.
d'oh! i just realized that today was supposed to be my weigh-in day. oh well. i guess i'll have to use another scale for this week's weigh-in as i won't be seeing marc and kelley for another week. i'll see how it goes. i'm curious what the results will be. maybe i should do the "mad dash".
anyway, i hope jen and janine do well and achieve their workout goals (whatever that goal may be). interestingly enough, i also got to meet the new ymca intern (mary kate). apparently, mary kate is taking a class at... where else... simmons college. and guess who her teachers are... karen and hot amy. what a small world. too bad i didn't ask her who the better instructor was. that would have been interesting to find out... not that i am instigating anything.
after the ymca presentation, karen and i met up with a bunch of other friends at... where else... but hot amy's favorite hot spot of blue 22. my friend (kelley) got a new job and so we decided to celebrate the event. (kelley is a scientist.) it was nice to see my friends (cass, ellen, marc, kelley, and garv) again. i feel like i haven't seen all of them in awhile. as usual, we were placed in the corner of the bar. we seem to have a habit of being secluded whenever the group of us go out... probably because we could be embarrassing with our humor.
needless to say, tonight happened to be karaoke night. now, i suck at karaoke. i can't carry a tune for the life of me, which is pretty odd considering how much i love music. i guess you could say that singing to me is what dancing is to hot amy... love it, but can't do it. marc attempted to get me to do a duet with him (to the song "a little respect" by erasure), but i opted not to. we were, however, treated to a rendition of "if i had a million dollars" by garv. (pictured below is that rendition.)
anyway, all of us had a good time. it was fun.
d'oh! i just realized that today was supposed to be my weigh-in day. oh well. i guess i'll have to use another scale for this week's weigh-in as i won't be seeing marc and kelley for another week. i'll see how it goes. i'm curious what the results will be. maybe i should do the "mad dash".
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
I Suck At Chauffeuring
i suck at chauffeuring.
today is my normal day to don the little black cap and chauffeur the two miss daisies (karen and hot amy) from simmons college. karen and hot amy teach a nutrition course together at simmons college and they usually dismiss class around 7:30pm.
well, today i almost ran a little late. i took the mbta subway train home with my friend (carlos) from work. as it turns out, hot amy asked me to see if carlos would be available to accompany her to a wedding this weekend. the wedding is for her hairdresser and apparently hot amy needed a date. you would think that someone who has the moniker of "hot" would not need to find a date, especially since she recently had a pleasurable night out compliments of the united states navy, but apparently that is not the case... such a bizarro world.
needless to say, the nice guy that carlos is... he agreed to go. as we took the subway train home, carlos asked if i wanted to grab a quick drink before i went to pick up karen and hot amy. never one to pass up alcohol, i agreed. plus, we had gotten back to wollaston station at a pretty good time. (i also ended up picking up two bottles of wine at wollaston wine and liquors too, but that is another story. hopefully, the wine will taste okay... not that it will matter really as i will drink it either way...)
anyway, carlos, the two bottles of wine, and i ended up at the hancock tavern. the hancock tavern is one of carlos's favorite places as he apparently knows the bartender (john). we each had a drink. shortly after, we were getting hungry so we ordered appetizers (i ordered chicken tenders. carlos ordered mozzarella sticks.) we thought we still had plenty of time. unfortunately, we were wrong.
although the food had yet to come, i had to leave to pick up karen and hot amy (or else they would have to wait... and no telling what would happen to them... surrounded by sketchy simmons women of ill-repute.) so, carlos and i agreed that i would bolt to my parents' to pick up the car, come back to pick up the food (and carlos), and then head on in to town to pick up karen and hot amy.
needless to say, i ran to pick up the car. might i add, running with two bottles of wine... is very difficult. i drove like a madman, picked up carlos and the food, and headed into town. surprisingly, there was no traffic today. so i made it to simmons in record time. both karen and hot amy were a little confused when i arrived because carlos was with me. they were also pleasantly surprised by the mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers too. (they ate most of the food before carlos and i could delve into it.)
but all in all, it was an interesting day.
today is my normal day to don the little black cap and chauffeur the two miss daisies (karen and hot amy) from simmons college. karen and hot amy teach a nutrition course together at simmons college and they usually dismiss class around 7:30pm.
well, today i almost ran a little late. i took the mbta subway train home with my friend (carlos) from work. as it turns out, hot amy asked me to see if carlos would be available to accompany her to a wedding this weekend. the wedding is for her hairdresser and apparently hot amy needed a date. you would think that someone who has the moniker of "hot" would not need to find a date, especially since she recently had a pleasurable night out compliments of the united states navy, but apparently that is not the case... such a bizarro world.
needless to say, the nice guy that carlos is... he agreed to go. as we took the subway train home, carlos asked if i wanted to grab a quick drink before i went to pick up karen and hot amy. never one to pass up alcohol, i agreed. plus, we had gotten back to wollaston station at a pretty good time. (i also ended up picking up two bottles of wine at wollaston wine and liquors too, but that is another story. hopefully, the wine will taste okay... not that it will matter really as i will drink it either way...)
anyway, carlos, the two bottles of wine, and i ended up at the hancock tavern. the hancock tavern is one of carlos's favorite places as he apparently knows the bartender (john). we each had a drink. shortly after, we were getting hungry so we ordered appetizers (i ordered chicken tenders. carlos ordered mozzarella sticks.) we thought we still had plenty of time. unfortunately, we were wrong.
although the food had yet to come, i had to leave to pick up karen and hot amy (or else they would have to wait... and no telling what would happen to them... surrounded by sketchy simmons women of ill-repute.) so, carlos and i agreed that i would bolt to my parents' to pick up the car, come back to pick up the food (and carlos), and then head on in to town to pick up karen and hot amy.
needless to say, i ran to pick up the car. might i add, running with two bottles of wine... is very difficult. i drove like a madman, picked up carlos and the food, and headed into town. surprisingly, there was no traffic today. so i made it to simmons in record time. both karen and hot amy were a little confused when i arrived because carlos was with me. they were also pleasantly surprised by the mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers too. (they ate most of the food before carlos and i could delve into it.)
but all in all, it was an interesting day.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
I Suck At Zumba
i suck at zumba. if it weren't for my friends (jen and hot amy) who are taking a zumba class, i probably wouldn't even know what it is.
according to my friend wikipedia,
"Zumba is a fitness program inspired by Latin dance. It was founded by Miami-based dancer and choreographer Alberto 'Beto' Perez, who teamed up with two local entrepreneurs: Alberto Perlman and Alberto Aghion. Zumba combines Latin rhythms with cardiovascular exercise to create an aerobic routine that is fun and easy to follow. The name Zumba is derived from a Colombian word meaning to move fast and have fun...
Inspired by Latin dance and music, Zumba uses a variety of styles in its routines, including cumbia, merengue, salsa, reggaeton, mambo, rumba, flamenco, and calypso. Music selections include both fast and slow rhythms to help tone and sculpt the body."
tonight, i got to watch a zumba class firsthand at the ymca. karen had a meeting at the ymca, so i worked a little late and picked her up afterwards. when i arrived, karen asked if i wanted to stop in and say hi to jen and hot amy who were taking the class. needless to say, i couldn't resist. (the video below was taken through the door during the zumba class. jen, who is in the back next to the only guy in the class, is the one with the rhythym. sadly, hot amy is still rhythmatically challenged. go grease lightning go!)
according to my friend wikipedia,
"Zumba is a fitness program inspired by Latin dance. It was founded by Miami-based dancer and choreographer Alberto 'Beto' Perez, who teamed up with two local entrepreneurs: Alberto Perlman and Alberto Aghion. Zumba combines Latin rhythms with cardiovascular exercise to create an aerobic routine that is fun and easy to follow. The name Zumba is derived from a Colombian word meaning to move fast and have fun...
Inspired by Latin dance and music, Zumba uses a variety of styles in its routines, including cumbia, merengue, salsa, reggaeton, mambo, rumba, flamenco, and calypso. Music selections include both fast and slow rhythms to help tone and sculpt the body."
tonight, i got to watch a zumba class firsthand at the ymca. karen had a meeting at the ymca, so i worked a little late and picked her up afterwards. when i arrived, karen asked if i wanted to stop in and say hi to jen and hot amy who were taking the class. needless to say, i couldn't resist. (the video below was taken through the door during the zumba class. jen, who is in the back next to the only guy in the class, is the one with the rhythym. sadly, hot amy is still rhythmatically challenged. go grease lightning go!)
Monday, March 24, 2008
I Suck At Leaving Work At Work
my normal working hours are from 8:30am to 5:30pm. i usually get to work earlier than the rest of my team, so when 5:30pm sounds i feel no guilt in being the first one out the door.
generally, once i'm out the door, i usually can focus on other aspects of my life such as booze, women, and this blog (not necessarily in that order of course). i consider myself lucky that way because i know a friend who can't leave work at work. he gets all riled up over his job to the point where it's painful to ask the "how's work going" question because the diatribe that follows just seems to continue endlessly. so naturally, i try to avoid asking that question whenever i see him.
i can't really imagine getting all stressed over work... that is... until now. today, i suck at leaving work at work. as some of you may know, i have been working on a social networking project. this project is a nightmare and has been from the start. there has been no formal specifications written. and naturally, there is tight deadline in a couple of days. needless to say, i have been asked to build something based on the meandering imagination of whatever i can pull from my butt, all within a few days.
naturally, that does not bode well for my happiness. in fact, i have just spent an additional 3 hours of my life working at home, where i could be doing other stuff like enjoying my booze, my women and this blog... and sadly, i have to continue the vicious cycle again tomorrow morning. sad. at least the red sox will be playing tomorrow.
generally, once i'm out the door, i usually can focus on other aspects of my life such as booze, women, and this blog (not necessarily in that order of course). i consider myself lucky that way because i know a friend who can't leave work at work. he gets all riled up over his job to the point where it's painful to ask the "how's work going" question because the diatribe that follows just seems to continue endlessly. so naturally, i try to avoid asking that question whenever i see him.
i can't really imagine getting all stressed over work... that is... until now. today, i suck at leaving work at work. as some of you may know, i have been working on a social networking project. this project is a nightmare and has been from the start. there has been no formal specifications written. and naturally, there is tight deadline in a couple of days. needless to say, i have been asked to build something based on the meandering imagination of whatever i can pull from my butt, all within a few days.
naturally, that does not bode well for my happiness. in fact, i have just spent an additional 3 hours of my life working at home, where i could be doing other stuff like enjoying my booze, my women and this blog... and sadly, i have to continue the vicious cycle again tomorrow morning. sad. at least the red sox will be playing tomorrow.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
I Suck At Easter
i suck at easter... probably because i have original sin. growing up, my family in an effort to be like the all-american family celebrated easter by making ham for dinner. we celebrated more of the commercial side of easter (the side involving the easter bunny and eggs as opposed to the side involving the resurrection of christ.)
so needless to say, today was no different. i began celebrating easter with a quick high intensity interval training workout. i rolled out of bed, visited the local high school track with karen, and promptly keeled over gasping for air after about two minutes. it was fun. luckily, i only have six more weeks of this workout experiment.
anyway, from there we went to my sister-in-law's (janine) to celebrate easter. they hosted easter last year, in which there was the first annual table tennis tournament among the relatives. being genetically predisposed to table tennis, i thought i would do well last year. sadly, that was not the case. regardless, thankfully this year there was no table tennis tournament. in fact, there weren't that many relatives attending today's events. it was a nice and quiet easter involving my brother-in-law's (pj) parents, his brother mark, karen's parents, and karen's grandmother. in fact, everyone played nintendo's wii. so, it was like a happy wii-ster... it was quite entertaining watching the older individuals attempt to play with the wii. (pictured below is my niece kaleigh during the easter egg hunt portion of the day.)
needless to say, janine did a great job as usual hosting easter. the food was delicious... and i must have eaten a ton of asparagus. i'm quite lucky to have her as a sister in law, and i don't say that just because she likes egg salad as much as i do.
so needless to say, today was no different. i began celebrating easter with a quick high intensity interval training workout. i rolled out of bed, visited the local high school track with karen, and promptly keeled over gasping for air after about two minutes. it was fun. luckily, i only have six more weeks of this workout experiment.
anyway, from there we went to my sister-in-law's (janine) to celebrate easter. they hosted easter last year, in which there was the first annual table tennis tournament among the relatives. being genetically predisposed to table tennis, i thought i would do well last year. sadly, that was not the case. regardless, thankfully this year there was no table tennis tournament. in fact, there weren't that many relatives attending today's events. it was a nice and quiet easter involving my brother-in-law's (pj) parents, his brother mark, karen's parents, and karen's grandmother. in fact, everyone played nintendo's wii. so, it was like a happy wii-ster... it was quite entertaining watching the older individuals attempt to play with the wii. (pictured below is my niece kaleigh during the easter egg hunt portion of the day.)
needless to say, janine did a great job as usual hosting easter. the food was delicious... and i must have eaten a ton of asparagus. i'm quite lucky to have her as a sister in law, and i don't say that just because she likes egg salad as much as i do.
I Suck At Tio Juan's Margaritas
tonight, i had the pleasure of going out with karen, jen, and kerry. according to jen, it seems like her hotness (amy) was too tired to go out with us after a torrid night of pleasure with the united states navy.
the four of us ended up at tio juan's margaritas located in weymouth. we ended up there as kerry attempted to get a present for her mother who is moving to a condo located in the bare cove area of hingham. kerry wanted to get something at linens 'n things, which is located near bare cove. she ended up getting a snoopy sno-cone machine.
regardless, karen and i met her and jen at linens 'n things after we took a slight detour to best buy. the geek that i am, i went and got the heroes tv soundtrack. i think i have an addiction to music, much like my playstation games, as i can't seem to get enough of them. but, that's besides the point.
anyway, i suck at tio juan's margaritas. the place was fairly dead tonight, probably because tomorrow is easter. the music was, however, pretty good. "margaritas" has a grape margarita called "heavens to mergatroid". it's very delicious so i had two. plus, i drink like a fish. (the roasted vegetable zarape was also very good too.)
regardless, it was a fun time. i haven't seen kerry for a couple of weeks and i think it's been even longer since the last time i saw jen. we basically hung out and laughed like old times. plus, i found out kerry won tennis balls for being queen of the court during her tennis lessons today... so maybe a tennis challenge is still in the works.
the four of us ended up at tio juan's margaritas located in weymouth. we ended up there as kerry attempted to get a present for her mother who is moving to a condo located in the bare cove area of hingham. kerry wanted to get something at linens 'n things, which is located near bare cove. she ended up getting a snoopy sno-cone machine.
regardless, karen and i met her and jen at linens 'n things after we took a slight detour to best buy. the geek that i am, i went and got the heroes tv soundtrack. i think i have an addiction to music, much like my playstation games, as i can't seem to get enough of them. but, that's besides the point.
anyway, i suck at tio juan's margaritas. the place was fairly dead tonight, probably because tomorrow is easter. the music was, however, pretty good. "margaritas" has a grape margarita called "heavens to mergatroid". it's very delicious so i had two. plus, i drink like a fish. (the roasted vegetable zarape was also very good too.)
regardless, it was a fun time. i haven't seen kerry for a couple of weeks and i think it's been even longer since the last time i saw jen. we basically hung out and laughed like old times. plus, i found out kerry won tennis balls for being queen of the court during her tennis lessons today... so maybe a tennis challenge is still in the works.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
I Suck At Teaching In Quincy
today, karen and i went to visit her grandparents who live in hanover. as karen's grandparents have recently had some medical conditions, we thought it would be good to visit them and see how things were going. (plus, we figured we'd help out with some things like bringing up their laundry from the basement, taking the trash to the garage, and getting the mail.)
anyway, while we were there, their neighbor stopped by to take the trash to the dump. as it turns out, their neighbor (bob) is a teacher in the quincy public school system. because i suck at teaching in quincy, i asked if he knew our former track coach who is also teaching in the quincy public school system. needless to say, we started talking about other fascinating aspects of teaching in quincy.
we started discussing the construction of the new high school. it seems based on the opinion of bob, that the then future mayor of quincy was opposed to building the new high school on faxon commons and had actually used fear tactics to block the construction of the high school on that site. hazardous materials were discovered on the site, which were remnants of when quincy had a shipyard. the future mayor successfully used the fear tactic as he eventually become elected. regardless, the original plans for faxon commons were reviewed by an environmental engineer and was actually deemed extremely good in dealing with the removal of the hazardous materials. so it's a wonder as to why those plans would be rejected. in all fairness, it should probably be noted that teachers in the quincy public school system aren't fond of the former mayor of quincy, especially with his handling of the teacher strike.
anyway, from there we discussed other things like the ideal location for the high school and the pageant field location was brought up. pageant field is located by the football stadium and there is plenty of land around it as it is set very far back from the street. pageant field has a baseball field, and a soon to be built track. in addition to the existing centrally located sporting facilities, there is also only one entrance into pageant field which makes it ideal for a high school location in terms of security.
bob actually grew up in quincy and attended the public school system growing up. thus, he has seen all the changes to the school system over the years. he had mentioned that he knew the school system was going down the tubes when mcdonald's opened across from north quincy high school, as well as the gas station / fire hazard located beneath part of the high school.
it was an interesting conversation and i'm glad i got to meet bob today. i actually wished i had him as a teacher because he is a good communicator... which is why he is probably a good teacher.
anyway, while we were there, their neighbor stopped by to take the trash to the dump. as it turns out, their neighbor (bob) is a teacher in the quincy public school system. because i suck at teaching in quincy, i asked if he knew our former track coach who is also teaching in the quincy public school system. needless to say, we started talking about other fascinating aspects of teaching in quincy.
we started discussing the construction of the new high school. it seems based on the opinion of bob, that the then future mayor of quincy was opposed to building the new high school on faxon commons and had actually used fear tactics to block the construction of the high school on that site. hazardous materials were discovered on the site, which were remnants of when quincy had a shipyard. the future mayor successfully used the fear tactic as he eventually become elected. regardless, the original plans for faxon commons were reviewed by an environmental engineer and was actually deemed extremely good in dealing with the removal of the hazardous materials. so it's a wonder as to why those plans would be rejected. in all fairness, it should probably be noted that teachers in the quincy public school system aren't fond of the former mayor of quincy, especially with his handling of the teacher strike.
anyway, from there we discussed other things like the ideal location for the high school and the pageant field location was brought up. pageant field is located by the football stadium and there is plenty of land around it as it is set very far back from the street. pageant field has a baseball field, and a soon to be built track. in addition to the existing centrally located sporting facilities, there is also only one entrance into pageant field which makes it ideal for a high school location in terms of security.
bob actually grew up in quincy and attended the public school system growing up. thus, he has seen all the changes to the school system over the years. he had mentioned that he knew the school system was going down the tubes when mcdonald's opened across from north quincy high school, as well as the gas station / fire hazard located beneath part of the high school.
it was an interesting conversation and i'm glad i got to meet bob today. i actually wished i had him as a teacher because he is a good communicator... which is why he is probably a good teacher.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
I Still Suck At Weighing In
well, it has been a week since my last weigh in.
i still suck at weighing in as i have the tendency to verify the precision of the scale by stepping on it multiple times within a given time frame. what can i say, it's part of the scientific side of me. (i should probably thank my 7th grade science teacher for teaching me about accuracy and precision... it's one of the few things i remember from middle school. so thanks!)
anyway, today's magic number is 187.8, which when compared to last week's weigh in number of 191.8, is a weight loss of 4 pounds. if i were on the tv show, "the biggest loser", that weight loss would be a percentage change of about 2.08%. as it turns out, i'd be above the "yellow line" if i were on the show this week.
i'm actually surprised by the weight loss because i feel i didn't really change my eating habits. according to my food log, i had averaged about 2500 calories a day, which i would say is a normal amount for maintaining my body. as i have not done any exercising other than the high intensity interval training, i would probably say that the workout is working. the only other possible confounding factor could be the fact that i am keeping a food journal and thus am realizing what and how much i am consuming.
speaking of which, thanks to my bff (kerry), i have actually decided to switch my food journal methodology. apparently, there is a site called fitday that offers an online weight loss and diet journal for free. so, rather than writing everything down on a piece of paper and inputting them later in a spreadsheet, i can simply track my food anytime online... much easier. so thanks kerry for the great idea.
anyway, i am nearing the end of week 2 for the high intensity interval training. i've still got 6 more weeks to go, so we'll see how the rest of the experiment goes.
i still suck at weighing in as i have the tendency to verify the precision of the scale by stepping on it multiple times within a given time frame. what can i say, it's part of the scientific side of me. (i should probably thank my 7th grade science teacher for teaching me about accuracy and precision... it's one of the few things i remember from middle school. so thanks!)
anyway, today's magic number is 187.8, which when compared to last week's weigh in number of 191.8, is a weight loss of 4 pounds. if i were on the tv show, "the biggest loser", that weight loss would be a percentage change of about 2.08%. as it turns out, i'd be above the "yellow line" if i were on the show this week.
i'm actually surprised by the weight loss because i feel i didn't really change my eating habits. according to my food log, i had averaged about 2500 calories a day, which i would say is a normal amount for maintaining my body. as i have not done any exercising other than the high intensity interval training, i would probably say that the workout is working. the only other possible confounding factor could be the fact that i am keeping a food journal and thus am realizing what and how much i am consuming.
speaking of which, thanks to my bff (kerry), i have actually decided to switch my food journal methodology. apparently, there is a site called fitday that offers an online weight loss and diet journal for free. so, rather than writing everything down on a piece of paper and inputting them later in a spreadsheet, i can simply track my food anytime online... much easier. so thanks kerry for the great idea.
anyway, i am nearing the end of week 2 for the high intensity interval training. i've still got 6 more weeks to go, so we'll see how the rest of the experiment goes.
I Suck At Going To Hong Kong
yay, today is the first official day of spring!
anyway, my mom should be touching down (if not already) in hong kong right about now. she left yesterday around noon time and as the flight from boston takes almost 24 hours, she should be at the special administrative region of people's republic of china (hong kong) by now. she is going to be there for about two and a half weeks to visit family and friends. one of my cousins is actually getting married the first week of april.
i wish i could have gone to hong kong. i suck at going to hong kong. i would really like to go back and meet some of my relatives before it's too late and things or situations change.
the last time i went to hong kong was about 20 years ago. it was the summer after 6th grade. so, i was just a wee little chubby asian kid. i remember it being very humid during that trip. (of course, being a little chubby asian kid didn't help with the humidity either.) i had a great time. granted, i didn't experience much of the cuisine there as i only ate meals courtesy of mcdonald's (and you wonder why i'm fat). nonetheless, i had fun with my relatives. we went to some amusement parks. i got to learn the train system (which at the time was really neat for me in comparison to the mbta subway system of boston). i know, it sounds thrilling.
anyway, my uncle (my mother's brother) passed away some time ago. i was lucky enough to have met him because i have heard that he did a lot in providing for my mom while they were growing up. so naturally, that got me thinking that i should go back to hong kong before things change more.
so hopefully some day, i'll get to go back.
anyway, my mom should be touching down (if not already) in hong kong right about now. she left yesterday around noon time and as the flight from boston takes almost 24 hours, she should be at the special administrative region of people's republic of china (hong kong) by now. she is going to be there for about two and a half weeks to visit family and friends. one of my cousins is actually getting married the first week of april.
i wish i could have gone to hong kong. i suck at going to hong kong. i would really like to go back and meet some of my relatives before it's too late and things or situations change.
the last time i went to hong kong was about 20 years ago. it was the summer after 6th grade. so, i was just a wee little chubby asian kid. i remember it being very humid during that trip. (of course, being a little chubby asian kid didn't help with the humidity either.) i had a great time. granted, i didn't experience much of the cuisine there as i only ate meals courtesy of mcdonald's (and you wonder why i'm fat). nonetheless, i had fun with my relatives. we went to some amusement parks. i got to learn the train system (which at the time was really neat for me in comparison to the mbta subway system of boston). i know, it sounds thrilling.
anyway, my uncle (my mother's brother) passed away some time ago. i was lucky enough to have met him because i have heard that he did a lot in providing for my mom while they were growing up. so naturally, that got me thinking that i should go back to hong kong before things change more.
so hopefully some day, i'll get to go back.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
I Still Suck At Building Web Communities
a while ago, i was talking with my friend (hot amy) about creating a web community for her to use for her family website (sheeleys.org). shortly after she agreed to be my guinea pig, i had set up a quick web community for her and she had played around with the site to familiarize herself with managing that community. unfortunately, i still suck at building web communities because i never got around to actually making the site look "finished" with my personal testing.
as a joke, i considered using my picture for the administrator profile, and thus becoming an honorary sheeley in her web community. the instigator that i am, i thought it would be funny if the sheeley clan saw some asian looking guy and was like "who is that sheeley and how is he related to us?!?" needless to say, i didn't upload my picture.
anyway, a couple of days ago i began to make the web community look a little more polished. (pictured below is the original banner i had created for her web community.)
might i add, finding pictures of the sheeley family online... not as easy as i thought, especially when you consider the fact that there is a family site with pictures of the sheeley family.
regardless, hot amy thought the banner was cool, but wondered if i could go with a more st. louis/boston theme (her family has ties to those respective cities.) well, i tried another stab at it. (pictured below is my second take.)
hopefully she'll like this second one.
as a joke, i considered using my picture for the administrator profile, and thus becoming an honorary sheeley in her web community. the instigator that i am, i thought it would be funny if the sheeley clan saw some asian looking guy and was like "who is that sheeley and how is he related to us?!?" needless to say, i didn't upload my picture.
anyway, a couple of days ago i began to make the web community look a little more polished. (pictured below is the original banner i had created for her web community.)
might i add, finding pictures of the sheeley family online... not as easy as i thought, especially when you consider the fact that there is a family site with pictures of the sheeley family.
regardless, hot amy thought the banner was cool, but wondered if i could go with a more st. louis/boston theme (her family has ties to those respective cities.) well, i tried another stab at it. (pictured below is my second take.)
hopefully she'll like this second one.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
I Suck At Knowing My iPod
today, i went to workout during my lunch break. now, i have been counting in my head to keep track of time for when i need to switch up from jogging to sprinting and vice versa for the high intensity interval training that i am doing because the battery in my watch died. i thought it would be no problem to keep track of the time in my head because i'm normally a slow counter. i was so wrong. lately, i have begun to notice that, as i am keeled over gasping for air, i am counting breaths as opposed to seconds.
so, i decided to ask my coworkers today if i could borrow a watch. little did i know, i suck at knowing my ipod. one of my coworkers (tim) pointed out that i could simply use the timer on my ipod. i never ever thought about using the timer in the ipod. in fact, i didn't even know that function existed. i have only ever used my ipod to play music. that's all. in reality, i probably should have known that the timer function existed as it was an electronic device after all.
in case anyone was curious, the timer function is one of the "extras" in the menu list. who knew? certainly not me. and in case anyone was also curious, running with an ipod and checking the time... very difficult. hopefully i can learn to run with my ipod or find a battery for my watch.
so, i decided to ask my coworkers today if i could borrow a watch. little did i know, i suck at knowing my ipod. one of my coworkers (tim) pointed out that i could simply use the timer on my ipod. i never ever thought about using the timer in the ipod. in fact, i didn't even know that function existed. i have only ever used my ipod to play music. that's all. in reality, i probably should have known that the timer function existed as it was an electronic device after all.
in case anyone was curious, the timer function is one of the "extras" in the menu list. who knew? certainly not me. and in case anyone was also curious, running with an ipod and checking the time... very difficult. hopefully i can learn to run with my ipod or find a battery for my watch.
Monday, March 17, 2008
I Suck At Celebrating St. Patty's Day
happy st. patty's day!
today me and the rest of the entire world are irish. too bad i suck at celebrating st. patty's day. the extent of my celebration today involved wearing green. most of my wardrobe (that hasn't fallen apart yet) involves the color green, so it wasn't too hard to wear green today. that's it. i didn't even get to down a pint of guinness. yes, that is sad because i sure could use a beer right now.
instead of celebrating my heritage today, i got to work... and work some more on a project from hell. very fun i know. hopefully, my next st. patty's day will be better.
today me and the rest of the entire world are irish. too bad i suck at celebrating st. patty's day. the extent of my celebration today involved wearing green. most of my wardrobe (that hasn't fallen apart yet) involves the color green, so it wasn't too hard to wear green today. that's it. i didn't even get to down a pint of guinness. yes, that is sad because i sure could use a beer right now.
instead of celebrating my heritage today, i got to work... and work some more on a project from hell. very fun i know. hopefully, my next st. patty's day will be better.
I Suck At Hanging Out With Amy
yesterday, i had brunch with my friends, aimee and amy at the british beer company, which is located in pembroke. my friend (amy), who happens to be my only friend named amy who does not read this blog, has been wanting to get together for a while... at least since the fall of 2006. thus, i suck at hanging out with amy. interestingly enough, the last "i suck at hanging out with..." post involved my friend ron whom i also went to the british beer company with (maybe it's the place). also interstingly enough, i had called ron to see if he wanted to go to this shindig, but he couldn't make it.
anyway, aimee and i took amy out for her birthday. happy birthday amy! (pictured below clockwise from the top is amy, aimee's daughter amaya, and aimee.)
i sometimes refer to amy as the "czar", not because she is russian or anything. her last name starts c-z-a-r. it's similar to how i sometimes refer to my friend (andrea) as "lamo", as those are the last four letters of her last name.
anyway, even though neither aimee nor i could go back to amy's place after the brunch to hang out, i think amy had a good time. hopefully, i'll see her again some time soon... at least before the fall of 2008...
anyway, aimee and i took amy out for her birthday. happy birthday amy! (pictured below clockwise from the top is amy, aimee's daughter amaya, and aimee.)
i sometimes refer to amy as the "czar", not because she is russian or anything. her last name starts c-z-a-r. it's similar to how i sometimes refer to my friend (andrea) as "lamo", as those are the last four letters of her last name.
anyway, even though neither aimee nor i could go back to amy's place after the brunch to hang out, i think amy had a good time. hopefully, i'll see her again some time soon... at least before the fall of 2008...
Saturday, March 15, 2008
I Suck At Working On The House
as i sit here in front of my computer, i just realized that my glasses are covered with sawdust. no wonder why my eyes have been itchy as though there was something in them.
anyway, i suck at working on the house. i can't remember the last time i worked on the house. it definitely seems like ages ago when i put trim around the bedroom windows and hung the roman shades in them.
it has been months since the contractors finished adding a second floor to the house. i've gotten so used to the second floor addition that i can't remember (or maybe i just like to forget) the tiny shack of a house that it was before.
regardless, even though the contractors are done, the trim work still needs to be done on the second floor addition. thus, what better time to work on the house than when karen is away in newport! i don't think karen particularly likes it when i work on the house while she is gone, not because she doesn't like the quality of my work. she doesn't like how i occasionally miss a meal or two as i play mad scientist with the table saw. thus, to prevent any worrying, i'll let all of you know that i have eaten my normal three meals today.
anyway, today i worked on finishing the base trim in the master bedroom. (pictured below is the threshhold i created from a piece of wood that separates the bedroom from the bathroom.)
with my trusty miter saw, the base trim was a breeze to finish. each wall has a single piece of base trim with the exception of the wall behind the bed. the length of that wall was too long, so i had to use two pieces.
from there, i decided to work on the threshholds to the bathroom and to the balcony. as neither home depot nor lowes sold trim that would fit the varied heights of the floor in those transitional areas, i had to create them from scratch. thankfully, i received a router table as a present!
after putting together the router table and attaching my router to it, i ran some strips of wood through it. i then had to put my dreaded table saw skills to use to make the wood fit the varied heights. needless to say, there was sawdust everywhere.
anyway, i think the threshholds came out okay. unfortunately, i did not finish the entire master bedroom. there's a small corner piece that needs to be created, as well as a lip for the threshhold leading to the balcony. other than that, the master bedroom seems okay.
now comes the fun part... cleaning up...
anyway, i suck at working on the house. i can't remember the last time i worked on the house. it definitely seems like ages ago when i put trim around the bedroom windows and hung the roman shades in them.
it has been months since the contractors finished adding a second floor to the house. i've gotten so used to the second floor addition that i can't remember (or maybe i just like to forget) the tiny shack of a house that it was before.
regardless, even though the contractors are done, the trim work still needs to be done on the second floor addition. thus, what better time to work on the house than when karen is away in newport! i don't think karen particularly likes it when i work on the house while she is gone, not because she doesn't like the quality of my work. she doesn't like how i occasionally miss a meal or two as i play mad scientist with the table saw. thus, to prevent any worrying, i'll let all of you know that i have eaten my normal three meals today.
anyway, today i worked on finishing the base trim in the master bedroom. (pictured below is the threshhold i created from a piece of wood that separates the bedroom from the bathroom.)
with my trusty miter saw, the base trim was a breeze to finish. each wall has a single piece of base trim with the exception of the wall behind the bed. the length of that wall was too long, so i had to use two pieces.
from there, i decided to work on the threshholds to the bathroom and to the balcony. as neither home depot nor lowes sold trim that would fit the varied heights of the floor in those transitional areas, i had to create them from scratch. thankfully, i received a router table as a present!
after putting together the router table and attaching my router to it, i ran some strips of wood through it. i then had to put my dreaded table saw skills to use to make the wood fit the varied heights. needless to say, there was sawdust everywhere.
anyway, i think the threshholds came out okay. unfortunately, i did not finish the entire master bedroom. there's a small corner piece that needs to be created, as well as a lip for the threshhold leading to the balcony. other than that, the master bedroom seems okay.
now comes the fun part... cleaning up...
Friday, March 14, 2008
I Suck At Running Drills
i suck at running drills.
as i was working out with my friend (andrea), i started to think of some of the running drills that i used to do when i was running track.
here are some of the drills as detailed by runnersworld:
"Over years of running, inefficiencies can creep into your stride. Often, an injury changes the way you run. Or maybe one leg has become stronger than the other for some reason, or you've started swinging your arms across your chest too much.
Stride drills can help. Most world-class runners do some sort of stride drills after their daily workouts. They know these simple exercises optimize their stride by searing proper mechanics into muscle memory. Niggling flaws work themselves out, posture improves, forward movement is accentuated. Following are four excellent stride drills to incorporate into your running program (a level grass field is the best place for them). Aim for two to four of each drill per session and cover at least 50 meters when you do each one.
High knees
Just like it sounds. Drive your knees skyward with each stride, like a drill major in a marching band. Don't worry about forward speed. Simply lift those knees high. This drill strengthens your hip flexor muscles and improves your push-off power.
Butt kicks
Almost the opposite of high knees in that you're doing an exaggerated back kick. Literally, you should be "kicking your butt" with the heel with each stride. This drill stretches and strengthens your quadriceps muscles.
Skipping
Yep, just like you used to do in grade school. Use a slightly exaggerated arm motion to propel yourself upward and forward. Skipping improves your coordination and push-off power.
Bounding
As if you were jumping from one rock to another, exaggerate your normal running stride's height and length. Run in slow motion, alternately letting each foot do all the work of absorbing impact, then pushing off. This drill improves coordination and strengthens glutes and calves."
as i was working out with my friend (andrea), i started to think of some of the running drills that i used to do when i was running track.
here are some of the drills as detailed by runnersworld:
"Over years of running, inefficiencies can creep into your stride. Often, an injury changes the way you run. Or maybe one leg has become stronger than the other for some reason, or you've started swinging your arms across your chest too much.
Stride drills can help. Most world-class runners do some sort of stride drills after their daily workouts. They know these simple exercises optimize their stride by searing proper mechanics into muscle memory. Niggling flaws work themselves out, posture improves, forward movement is accentuated. Following are four excellent stride drills to incorporate into your running program (a level grass field is the best place for them). Aim for two to four of each drill per session and cover at least 50 meters when you do each one.
High knees
Just like it sounds. Drive your knees skyward with each stride, like a drill major in a marching band. Don't worry about forward speed. Simply lift those knees high. This drill strengthens your hip flexor muscles and improves your push-off power.
Butt kicks
Almost the opposite of high knees in that you're doing an exaggerated back kick. Literally, you should be "kicking your butt" with the heel with each stride. This drill stretches and strengthens your quadriceps muscles.
Skipping
Yep, just like you used to do in grade school. Use a slightly exaggerated arm motion to propel yourself upward and forward. Skipping improves your coordination and push-off power.
Bounding
As if you were jumping from one rock to another, exaggerate your normal running stride's height and length. Run in slow motion, alternately letting each foot do all the work of absorbing impact, then pushing off. This drill improves coordination and strengthens glutes and calves."
I Suck At Coaching
karen is away at newport this weekend for st. patrick's day. i hope she is enjoying the women's weekend because she seemed like she needed a little break from things (including me). so while she is gone... i am going to party it up like a rock star with the sluts and the booze... not necessarily in that order... just kidding.
today, i actually went to workout with my friend (andrea) who did not attend the st. patrick's day weekend with the ladies. (pictured below is andrea at the ymca track, which is where we worked out.)
anyway, today was the first time i got to work out with andrea since we started the high intensity interval training together. as i had already did my workout during lunch at work, i attempted to help andrea with her workout because she was unfamiliar with certain aspects of running. as it turns out, i suck at coaching.
coaching runners is nothing new to me. i was an assistant track coach for notre dame academy for a season (notre dame academy is an all women's catholic high school.) granted, that was a long time ago. so i was a bit rusty when i attempted to help andrea.
anyway, we ended up primarily doing running drills until the rain came down. i hope andrea was not disappointed that she did not really get to workout. i thought it would be better in the long run for andrea to develop better running form, than to possibly hurt herself by running with improper form.
regardless, she did very well today.
today, i actually went to workout with my friend (andrea) who did not attend the st. patrick's day weekend with the ladies. (pictured below is andrea at the ymca track, which is where we worked out.)
anyway, today was the first time i got to work out with andrea since we started the high intensity interval training together. as i had already did my workout during lunch at work, i attempted to help andrea with her workout because she was unfamiliar with certain aspects of running. as it turns out, i suck at coaching.
coaching runners is nothing new to me. i was an assistant track coach for notre dame academy for a season (notre dame academy is an all women's catholic high school.) granted, that was a long time ago. so i was a bit rusty when i attempted to help andrea.
anyway, we ended up primarily doing running drills until the rain came down. i hope andrea was not disappointed that she did not really get to workout. i thought it would be better in the long run for andrea to develop better running form, than to possibly hurt herself by running with improper form.
regardless, she did very well today.
I Suck At Trans Fats
for those who are curious, i suck at trans fats.
according to boston.com:
"Boston health regulators today unanimously approved a ban on artery-clogging trans fat in restaurants and grocery stores.
Boston joins a growing number of cities, including New York, Philadelphia and Brookline, in banning the food ingredient, commonly found in french fries, donuts and other fried foods. Trans fat have been linked to heart disease in humans and diabetes in experimental animals.
The first phase of the ban goes into effect in September and will apply to the use of cooking oils, shortening and margarine that contains artificial trans fat. The makers of baked goods will have a year to eliminate trans fat from their products.
Packaged goods clearly labeled as containing trans fat can still be sold. Most major manufacturers have already removed trans fat from their products.
The Boston prohibition would include all restaurants, including school and hospital cafeterias, as well as food that is prepared in kitchens inside groceries and delis.
City inspectors will visit businesses to make sure they comply with the ban, and scofflaws could face fines of up to $1,000 for each violation.
Studies estimate that having as few as 40 calories of trans fat a day can boost the risk of a heart attack by 23 percent. A fast-food meal of chicken nuggets and French fries, if prepared with artificial trans fat, can easily contain more than 100 calories of the substance."
now what am i going to do when i want greasy fries in boston?
according to boston.com:
"Boston health regulators today unanimously approved a ban on artery-clogging trans fat in restaurants and grocery stores.
Boston joins a growing number of cities, including New York, Philadelphia and Brookline, in banning the food ingredient, commonly found in french fries, donuts and other fried foods. Trans fat have been linked to heart disease in humans and diabetes in experimental animals.
The first phase of the ban goes into effect in September and will apply to the use of cooking oils, shortening and margarine that contains artificial trans fat. The makers of baked goods will have a year to eliminate trans fat from their products.
Packaged goods clearly labeled as containing trans fat can still be sold. Most major manufacturers have already removed trans fat from their products.
The Boston prohibition would include all restaurants, including school and hospital cafeterias, as well as food that is prepared in kitchens inside groceries and delis.
City inspectors will visit businesses to make sure they comply with the ban, and scofflaws could face fines of up to $1,000 for each violation.
Studies estimate that having as few as 40 calories of trans fat a day can boost the risk of a heart attack by 23 percent. A fast-food meal of chicken nuggets and French fries, if prepared with artificial trans fat, can easily contain more than 100 calories of the substance."
now what am i going to do when i want greasy fries in boston?
Thursday, March 13, 2008
I Suck At Weighing In
today was the big weigh in.
thursdays are usually the day i see my friends, marc and kelley. since i don't own a scale of any type, i figured i'd use their bathroom scale. it's only fitting because i use their bathroom a lot. they didn't realize up until today that i was going to use their scale weekly.
anyway, we had planned to go to the fat cat for dinner tonight. the fat cat is a restaurant located next to sully's bar in quincy. supposedly, the food is really good. i'm not sure what type of food they even serve as i have never been there. as it turns out, it'll probably be while until i actually get to go again. when marc, kelley, karen and i arrived, the wait to be seat was over an hour.
needless to say, we were starving and did not want to wait that long. as we were leaving, we ran into the mother of my former friend (greg) who was a high school teacher when we were growing up. she was with a former high school guidance counselor too. apparently, they had just finished eating at the restaurant and said it was delicious. lucky them.
anyway, we ended up at blue 22 which is owned by my friend (garv). surprisingly, he had mentioned that her hotness (hot amy) frequents the place a lot... interesting... it must be the sweet potato fries. speaking of which, i ate plenty of sweet potato fries... and beer.
regardless, we finally ended up back at marc and kelley's place. now, i suck at weighing in. when i first got on the scale, i forgot to take my workboots off. so, i had to weigh myself again without the boots. (shows you how often i weigh myself.)
in the red corner... tipping the scales at 191.8 pounds... me... and so the weekly weigh-in begins...
thursdays are usually the day i see my friends, marc and kelley. since i don't own a scale of any type, i figured i'd use their bathroom scale. it's only fitting because i use their bathroom a lot. they didn't realize up until today that i was going to use their scale weekly.
anyway, we had planned to go to the fat cat for dinner tonight. the fat cat is a restaurant located next to sully's bar in quincy. supposedly, the food is really good. i'm not sure what type of food they even serve as i have never been there. as it turns out, it'll probably be while until i actually get to go again. when marc, kelley, karen and i arrived, the wait to be seat was over an hour.
needless to say, we were starving and did not want to wait that long. as we were leaving, we ran into the mother of my former friend (greg) who was a high school teacher when we were growing up. she was with a former high school guidance counselor too. apparently, they had just finished eating at the restaurant and said it was delicious. lucky them.
anyway, we ended up at blue 22 which is owned by my friend (garv). surprisingly, he had mentioned that her hotness (hot amy) frequents the place a lot... interesting... it must be the sweet potato fries. speaking of which, i ate plenty of sweet potato fries... and beer.
regardless, we finally ended up back at marc and kelley's place. now, i suck at weighing in. when i first got on the scale, i forgot to take my workboots off. so, i had to weigh myself again without the boots. (shows you how often i weigh myself.)
in the red corner... tipping the scales at 191.8 pounds... me... and so the weekly weigh-in begins...
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
I Suck At Keeping A Food Journal
today is the second day that i started keeping a food journal.
i must say... i suck at keeping a food journal. luckily, karen is a dietitian. she has helped me a lot with figuring out how to keep track of my food intake. it's actually quite addictive once you start... sort of like writing a blog post.
you'd think that i would have done a food journal earlier since i have access to the seedy dietitian underworld... not just with karen, but with hot amy as well. anyway, i'll admit it. up until i started my food journal, i was not ready to be serious about monitoring my food intake. i always had a general idea as to what i was consuming. i also had a feeling that i ate larger portions than i should. in addition, i always felt that monitoring food intake was for people on diets. oh, i was so wrong on all accounts.
according to the data, the amount of calories i've consumed today are approximately 1200. that is for the entire day. that is not good, considering i had 1000 calories more yesterday. if i keep this cycle up, my metabolism is not going to like me. granted, it's only been two days so it could be an anomaly.
i must say... i suck at keeping a food journal. luckily, karen is a dietitian. she has helped me a lot with figuring out how to keep track of my food intake. it's actually quite addictive once you start... sort of like writing a blog post.
you'd think that i would have done a food journal earlier since i have access to the seedy dietitian underworld... not just with karen, but with hot amy as well. anyway, i'll admit it. up until i started my food journal, i was not ready to be serious about monitoring my food intake. i always had a general idea as to what i was consuming. i also had a feeling that i ate larger portions than i should. in addition, i always felt that monitoring food intake was for people on diets. oh, i was so wrong on all accounts.
according to the data, the amount of calories i've consumed today are approximately 1200. that is for the entire day. that is not good, considering i had 1000 calories more yesterday. if i keep this cycle up, my metabolism is not going to like me. granted, it's only been two days so it could be an anomaly.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
I Suck At Odorless Urine
today was a good asparagus day.
i had some asparagus for lunch. i also had some asparagus for dinner. you can only imagine what is coming next... i suck at odorless urine. after using the bathroom, the smell of the asparagus was pretty evident. so, lucky for me, i have the gene.
according to webmd:
"Asparagus contains a sulfur compound called mercaptan. (It's also found in rotten eggs, onions, garlic, and in the secretions of skunks.) When your digestive tract breaks down this substance, by-products are released that cause the funny scent. The process is so quick that your urine can develop the distinctive smell within 15 to 30 minutes of eating asparagus.
But not everyone has this experience. Your genetic makeup may determine whether your urine has the odor -- or whether you can actually smell it. Only some people appear to have the gene for the enzyme that breaks down mercaptan into its more pungent parts. A study published in the May 1989 British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology found that 46% of 115 people tested produced the odor in one group of British citizens, while 100% of 103 people produced it in a group of French citizens. The ability to smell the by-products may also be genetic. Another study published in the same journal found that 10% of a group of 300 Israeli Jews could not detect the odor. In other words, a person's urine could smell, but he or she might not know it."
i had some asparagus for lunch. i also had some asparagus for dinner. you can only imagine what is coming next... i suck at odorless urine. after using the bathroom, the smell of the asparagus was pretty evident. so, lucky for me, i have the gene.
according to webmd:
"Asparagus contains a sulfur compound called mercaptan. (It's also found in rotten eggs, onions, garlic, and in the secretions of skunks.) When your digestive tract breaks down this substance, by-products are released that cause the funny scent. The process is so quick that your urine can develop the distinctive smell within 15 to 30 minutes of eating asparagus.
But not everyone has this experience. Your genetic makeup may determine whether your urine has the odor -- or whether you can actually smell it. Only some people appear to have the gene for the enzyme that breaks down mercaptan into its more pungent parts. A study published in the May 1989 British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology found that 46% of 115 people tested produced the odor in one group of British citizens, while 100% of 103 people produced it in a group of French citizens. The ability to smell the by-products may also be genetic. Another study published in the same journal found that 10% of a group of 300 Israeli Jews could not detect the odor. In other words, a person's urine could smell, but he or she might not know it."
I Somewhat Suck At Making Ginger Tea
karen is still sick. so while she was lying sick in bed, i decided to make some ginger tea for her.
now if any of you read my previous blog on making ginger tea, you would know that the last time i made ginger tea, the concoction came out too gingery.
tonight, however, the mixture came out pretty good. karen even thought it tasted better and was more drinkable than the last time... so i am making progress. yay! i guess you could say that i somewhat suck at making ginger tea now.
now if any of you read my previous blog on making ginger tea, you would know that the last time i made ginger tea, the concoction came out too gingery.
tonight, however, the mixture came out pretty good. karen even thought it tasted better and was more drinkable than the last time... so i am making progress. yay! i guess you could say that i somewhat suck at making ginger tea now.
I Suck At Noticing Holes In My Pants
well, it seems like the people who took the mbta train to braintree around 5:30pm today got quite a showing from me. the fashionista that i am, i usually wear articles of clothing until they fall apart as mentioned before about my sneakers. it just so happens that today was one of those wardrobe malfunction days. and as it also turns out, i suck at noticing holes in my pants. (pictured below are my pants with the gaping hole in them. let this be a lesson that you shouldn't mess with my crotch.)
normally, you would think that a big gaping hole in your pants would be noticeable to the person wearing them. i would disagree and say that is not the case... obviously. needless to say, karen was mortified when she noticed the hole in my pants. lucky for me, i don't have any shame. it's probably a good thing for the mbta commuters too that i was not "going commando".
normally, you would think that a big gaping hole in your pants would be noticeable to the person wearing them. i would disagree and say that is not the case... obviously. needless to say, karen was mortified when she noticed the hole in my pants. lucky for me, i don't have any shame. it's probably a good thing for the mbta commuters too that i was not "going commando".
I Still Suck At High Intensity Interval Training
the overachiever that i am, i decided to squeeze a workout into the normal three day per week routine of this program. thus, if all goes according to plan, i should have done four workouts in this first week.
that said, i still suck at high intensity interval training. during my lunch break from work, i attempted to try to workout along the charles river. let's just say, i still ran out of gas after the first minute or so (it was hard to keep track of time as i was keeled over, gasping for air for most of the workout). after what i thought was four minutes, i happily stopped.
also, mental note... remember to drink more than 32 oz. of water before running. my calf muscles are tightening up right now as i type this. they started to tighten up as i was walking up beacon hill. that was not fun.
speaking of water, i have also decided to do a few other things to quantify this workout. i have decided to make a journal of my food intake (35 gummy bears so far today) and also do a weekly weigh-in. i don't own a scale, but i was thinking that i could use my friends' (marc and kelley) as i see them weekly.
anyway, hopefully the next workout will be better...
that said, i still suck at high intensity interval training. during my lunch break from work, i attempted to try to workout along the charles river. let's just say, i still ran out of gas after the first minute or so (it was hard to keep track of time as i was keeled over, gasping for air for most of the workout). after what i thought was four minutes, i happily stopped.
also, mental note... remember to drink more than 32 oz. of water before running. my calf muscles are tightening up right now as i type this. they started to tighten up as i was walking up beacon hill. that was not fun.
speaking of water, i have also decided to do a few other things to quantify this workout. i have decided to make a journal of my food intake (35 gummy bears so far today) and also do a weekly weigh-in. i don't own a scale, but i was thinking that i could use my friends' (marc and kelley) as i see them weekly.
anyway, hopefully the next workout will be better...
Monday, March 10, 2008
I Still Suck At Sharing My Blog
well, it looks like i might have to change my requirements again on who can read my blog. (the readership appeared to be only people who had a first name that began with the letter "a" or "k". granted, there were only four people.)
don't get me wrong, i still suck at sharing my blog.
today, however, i sent two other people a link to this blog. the first was jen, who i still think should blog about bathrooms and/or her creative inventions. the second was andrea. (i finally felt bad having andrea attempt to find the site on her own with her mad google skills. it's been about a week.)
anyway, that brings the total of possible readers to six because i'm relatively certain no one outside of my friends would read this garbage that i call a blog... not that jen and/or andrea are definitely going to read this blog or post comments to the blog.
when i presented the link to this blog to jen, she was hesitant to read it because she was afraid that she might disagree with what i wrote and get annoyed. similarly, when i presented the link to this blog to andrea, she was hesitant to read it at work due to the title of this blog. so, i guess we'll see if either of them visit this site.
naturally, their hesitation to read my blog actually got me thinking. one of the things i had liked about the limited readership was the fact that i could say whatever (not that i don't already) and not have to worry about making comments that differed from the point of view of others, particularly when it came to my friends. thus, an innocent comment could now create unnecessary drama and whatnot as more and more of my friends are sent the link to this blog. now, i don't think i've written anything lately that would cause drama, but you never know.
so, as a disclaimer, i'm going to apologize up front if anything that i write offends any of my friends or family. if there is something i have written that does offend you, please let me know offline so that i can attempt to rectify the situation... whether it be with beer, drugs, or dancing...
don't get me wrong, i still suck at sharing my blog.
today, however, i sent two other people a link to this blog. the first was jen, who i still think should blog about bathrooms and/or her creative inventions. the second was andrea. (i finally felt bad having andrea attempt to find the site on her own with her mad google skills. it's been about a week.)
anyway, that brings the total of possible readers to six because i'm relatively certain no one outside of my friends would read this garbage that i call a blog... not that jen and/or andrea are definitely going to read this blog or post comments to the blog.
when i presented the link to this blog to jen, she was hesitant to read it because she was afraid that she might disagree with what i wrote and get annoyed. similarly, when i presented the link to this blog to andrea, she was hesitant to read it at work due to the title of this blog. so, i guess we'll see if either of them visit this site.
naturally, their hesitation to read my blog actually got me thinking. one of the things i had liked about the limited readership was the fact that i could say whatever (not that i don't already) and not have to worry about making comments that differed from the point of view of others, particularly when it came to my friends. thus, an innocent comment could now create unnecessary drama and whatnot as more and more of my friends are sent the link to this blog. now, i don't think i've written anything lately that would cause drama, but you never know.
so, as a disclaimer, i'm going to apologize up front if anything that i write offends any of my friends or family. if there is something i have written that does offend you, please let me know offline so that i can attempt to rectify the situation... whether it be with beer, drugs, or dancing...
Sunday, March 9, 2008
I Suck At Alias
i have a lot of tv show seasons on dvd that i have not watched yet. one of the main reasons i have not watched them is because of the time commitment needed to watch the entire season of a particular show.
that said, i started watching alias season 5 last weekend. i suck at alias. the show has been off television for a couple of years now and i'm finally getting to the last season of the show (season 5). season 5 is also where the main character (played by jennifer garner) gets pregnant (which coincided with the real life actress getting pregnant with ben affleck). karen has been busy these past couple of weekends. so while she has been out and about, i have been cuddled up on the couch watching the show.
needless to say, as of right now, i have finally finished alias season 5. it was a good run for a show and i thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the story throughout. it's always sad when a good show finally ends. i felt the same way when buffy the vampire slayer ended... and angel too. sad...
that said, i started watching alias season 5 last weekend. i suck at alias. the show has been off television for a couple of years now and i'm finally getting to the last season of the show (season 5). season 5 is also where the main character (played by jennifer garner) gets pregnant (which coincided with the real life actress getting pregnant with ben affleck). karen has been busy these past couple of weekends. so while she has been out and about, i have been cuddled up on the couch watching the show.
needless to say, as of right now, i have finally finished alias season 5. it was a good run for a show and i thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the story throughout. it's always sad when a good show finally ends. i felt the same way when buffy the vampire slayer ended... and angel too. sad...
I Suck At High Intensity Interval Training
today, i began the 8-week high intensity interval training.
the workout for today was a four minute workout, switching from jogging to sprinting every 30 seconds until four minutes was completed.
oh my god, the workout is awful. let's just say, i suck at high intensity interval training. now, i know i'm not in any kind of shape whatsoever. i do, however, consider myself to be in better shape than most of my friends. apparently, i was in for a rude awakening.
i managed to convince karen to do the workout with me. she has a stopwatch on her watch, whereas i have to resort to mentally counting to 30 in my head. (the battery in my nike watch died, so i currently do not have a stopwatch.) anyway, we warmed up at the high school track. (we used the hanover high school track as it was on the way to the supermarket.)
everything began pretty smoothly. karen and i jogged for 30 seconds... no problem. it was the next 3 minutes 30 seconds that was the problem. i was out of gas after the first minute as the sprint portion seemed to last forever. now imagine having to repeat it three more times.
needless to say, i was basically crawling by the end of the workout. keeled over, i was sucking wind trying to recuperate. i could barely run, let alone walk. i kept breathing heavily for a good chunk of time afterwards. karen did not fare much better either.
as i was hunched over, i thought... what have i gotten myself into with andrea?
now that i have feeling back in my lungs, i can't wait for the next workout.
the workout for today was a four minute workout, switching from jogging to sprinting every 30 seconds until four minutes was completed.
oh my god, the workout is awful. let's just say, i suck at high intensity interval training. now, i know i'm not in any kind of shape whatsoever. i do, however, consider myself to be in better shape than most of my friends. apparently, i was in for a rude awakening.
i managed to convince karen to do the workout with me. she has a stopwatch on her watch, whereas i have to resort to mentally counting to 30 in my head. (the battery in my nike watch died, so i currently do not have a stopwatch.) anyway, we warmed up at the high school track. (we used the hanover high school track as it was on the way to the supermarket.)
everything began pretty smoothly. karen and i jogged for 30 seconds... no problem. it was the next 3 minutes 30 seconds that was the problem. i was out of gas after the first minute as the sprint portion seemed to last forever. now imagine having to repeat it three more times.
needless to say, i was basically crawling by the end of the workout. keeled over, i was sucking wind trying to recuperate. i could barely run, let alone walk. i kept breathing heavily for a good chunk of time afterwards. karen did not fare much better either.
as i was hunched over, i thought... what have i gotten myself into with andrea?
now that i have feeling back in my lungs, i can't wait for the next workout.
I Suck At Not Your Average Joes
last night, i met up with karen and kerry for dinner. we ended up at not your average joes. because i suck at not your average joes, it was the second time within the week that karen and i ate there. what can i say... they have good bread.
anyway, karen and kerry had previously went out to watch the chick flick "definitely maybe" starring ryan reynolds. apparently, they enjoyed the movie but wanted to see some shirtless ryan reynolds action. sadly, there was no ryan reynold shirtless action. (he does have nice abs.) needless to say, i didn't know kerry and karen had a likewise affinity for his body. it was interesting to find out.
karen and kerry had originally talked about meeting up with jen and hot amy after the movie. jen and hot amy were going bar hopping. they are such lushes. just kidding. more appropriately, they were probably on the "prowl" and their usual hot spot of sarsfields was not up to par in the male factor.
as it was late (and kerry had to work bright and early in the morning), karen and kerry ended up with me instead as the consolation prize. we had a great time at not your average joes. interestingly enough, not only was it the second time within the week that karen and i ate at not your average joes, it was the second time within the week that karen and i saw kerry.
it was definitely fun to just hang out with kerry. as i was sitting there at not your average joes, i started to think that kerry and karen should hang out some more. last night had that old familiar feeling to it where it was just a bunch of long time friends hanging out, laughing, etc. it was a definitely a fun time and as selfish as this sounds... i'm glad karen and kerry ended up at not your average joes instead of bar hopping last night so that i could be a part of that feeling.
anyway, karen and kerry had previously went out to watch the chick flick "definitely maybe" starring ryan reynolds. apparently, they enjoyed the movie but wanted to see some shirtless ryan reynolds action. sadly, there was no ryan reynold shirtless action. (he does have nice abs.) needless to say, i didn't know kerry and karen had a likewise affinity for his body. it was interesting to find out.
karen and kerry had originally talked about meeting up with jen and hot amy after the movie. jen and hot amy were going bar hopping. they are such lushes. just kidding. more appropriately, they were probably on the "prowl" and their usual hot spot of sarsfields was not up to par in the male factor.
as it was late (and kerry had to work bright and early in the morning), karen and kerry ended up with me instead as the consolation prize. we had a great time at not your average joes. interestingly enough, not only was it the second time within the week that karen and i ate at not your average joes, it was the second time within the week that karen and i saw kerry.
it was definitely fun to just hang out with kerry. as i was sitting there at not your average joes, i started to think that kerry and karen should hang out some more. last night had that old familiar feeling to it where it was just a bunch of long time friends hanging out, laughing, etc. it was a definitely a fun time and as selfish as this sounds... i'm glad karen and kerry ended up at not your average joes instead of bar hopping last night so that i could be a part of that feeling.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
I Still Suck At Sharing My Blog
i still suck at sharing my blog.
it being the weekend, my friend (kerry) had to work today. she works for the commonwealth of massachusetts, particularly in emergency management. due to the inclement weather (rain), she had to work as the threat of flooding was a possibility this weekend.
anyway, knowing that kerry to work today, i figured that she'd probably be bored at her desk waiting for the possible flood threat. thus, i gave her the link to this blog. she was quite surprised that i even had a blog and have had it for quite some time. little did i know, she was only working a half day.
needless to say, the total of possible readers of this writing sample that i call a blog is now up to four. those four are as follows:
1. aimee
2. hot amy
3. karen
4. kerry
thus, readership is no longer available to people whose name sounds like "ey-mee". i've apparently now opened readership up to people whose names begin with the letter "a" or "k". (i also gave karen the link to this blog yesterday, even though she never has asked to read it.) so we'll see if either karen or kerry... or both, return to read about any more things that i suck at and possibly post any comments...
it being the weekend, my friend (kerry) had to work today. she works for the commonwealth of massachusetts, particularly in emergency management. due to the inclement weather (rain), she had to work as the threat of flooding was a possibility this weekend.
anyway, knowing that kerry to work today, i figured that she'd probably be bored at her desk waiting for the possible flood threat. thus, i gave her the link to this blog. she was quite surprised that i even had a blog and have had it for quite some time. little did i know, she was only working a half day.
needless to say, the total of possible readers of this writing sample that i call a blog is now up to four. those four are as follows:
1. aimee
2. hot amy
3. karen
4. kerry
thus, readership is no longer available to people whose name sounds like "ey-mee". i've apparently now opened readership up to people whose names begin with the letter "a" or "k". (i also gave karen the link to this blog yesterday, even though she never has asked to read it.) so we'll see if either karen or kerry... or both, return to read about any more things that i suck at and possibly post any comments...
I Still Suck At Riding The MBTA
i still suck at riding the mbta.
i must admit, however, that yesterday was actually a pretty good commute home from work.
yesterday, my friend (hot amy) asked if i wanted to take the mbta home with her. she works in town for the commonwealth of massachusetts. the building that she works in is right around the corner from where i work. so naturally, i agreed.
later that day, karen asked to meet me at the mbta train platform at park street station after work. she was working a little late at her job at the hospital and thought it would be nice to commute home together. so naturally, i agreed with that too.
as i was getting ready to leave work, i got an instant message from my other friend (jen) who works for a travel company. she heard that hot amy, karen, and i were going to be taking the mbta home together and said she'd try to meet up with us as well.
anyway, when i arrived at the station, i was quite surprised to find hot amy as the only person standing there on the mbta platform. (she is generally tardy for things.) soon, an announcement came that the train all of us would be taking (the braintree destination train) was approaching the station. i was a little concerned because there was no sign of karen.
as the braintree train arrived, karen bolted down the stairs and was able to meet us. in addition, my friend and coworker (carlos) was there! thus, all four of us were able to take the mbta home together. unfortunately, jen could not join us as she was delayed by her bus. (stupid bus!).
needless to say, it was fun commute home. having everyone there also made the commuting time go by very quickly. if only every commute were like that...
i must admit, however, that yesterday was actually a pretty good commute home from work.
yesterday, my friend (hot amy) asked if i wanted to take the mbta home with her. she works in town for the commonwealth of massachusetts. the building that she works in is right around the corner from where i work. so naturally, i agreed.
later that day, karen asked to meet me at the mbta train platform at park street station after work. she was working a little late at her job at the hospital and thought it would be nice to commute home together. so naturally, i agreed with that too.
as i was getting ready to leave work, i got an instant message from my other friend (jen) who works for a travel company. she heard that hot amy, karen, and i were going to be taking the mbta home together and said she'd try to meet up with us as well.
anyway, when i arrived at the station, i was quite surprised to find hot amy as the only person standing there on the mbta platform. (she is generally tardy for things.) soon, an announcement came that the train all of us would be taking (the braintree destination train) was approaching the station. i was a little concerned because there was no sign of karen.
as the braintree train arrived, karen bolted down the stairs and was able to meet us. in addition, my friend and coworker (carlos) was there! thus, all four of us were able to take the mbta home together. unfortunately, jen could not join us as she was delayed by her bus. (stupid bus!).
needless to say, it was fun commute home. having everyone there also made the commuting time go by very quickly. if only every commute were like that...
Friday, March 7, 2008
I Suck At Building Web Communities
yesterday during lunch at the 21st amendment, my friend (hot amy) and i were discussing her family's web site (www.sheeleys.org). one of the things that i admire about hot amy (aside from the fact that she reads this blog and also aside from the fact that she is hot) is her forward thinking. she comes up with intriguing ideas like the edietitian web site, the custom jewelry website, the medical alert jewelry tags, etc.
anyway, she had asked about the capabilities of blogger.com (which is what this blog is a part of) because she thought about using the application for her family's web site (instead of the current set up that she has for the site). her family's web site is primarily used for displaying photos. thus, hot amy thought that the ability for users to post comments would be a great thing to have for her family site.
naturally, that got me thinking. i suck at building web communities. i am currently working on a social networking project (which is responsible for the creation of this blog, my facebook account, and my linkedin account among other things). thus, i proposed that she create a web community to use for her family's web site using an existing community building application. the only catch, however, was that i could use her community to become familiarized with that particular application.
i was originally going to create a test community called "mikespace" or something similar and invite all of my friends to join in so that i could test out the application. but, it seemed more appealing to have an actual real world use for testing the application. (which is not to say i still won't create "mikespace")
needless to say, hot amy agreed. so, we'll see how it goes.
anyway, she had asked about the capabilities of blogger.com (which is what this blog is a part of) because she thought about using the application for her family's web site (instead of the current set up that she has for the site). her family's web site is primarily used for displaying photos. thus, hot amy thought that the ability for users to post comments would be a great thing to have for her family site.
naturally, that got me thinking. i suck at building web communities. i am currently working on a social networking project (which is responsible for the creation of this blog, my facebook account, and my linkedin account among other things). thus, i proposed that she create a web community to use for her family's web site using an existing community building application. the only catch, however, was that i could use her community to become familiarized with that particular application.
i was originally going to create a test community called "mikespace" or something similar and invite all of my friends to join in so that i could test out the application. but, it seemed more appealing to have an actual real world use for testing the application. (which is not to say i still won't create "mikespace")
needless to say, hot amy agreed. so, we'll see how it goes.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
I Suck At The 21st Amendment
today, i had the pleasure of having lunch with my friend (hot amy).
we decided to eat at the 21st amendment, which is located right next to the state house. now, i suck at the 21st amendment. i have never eaten there even though the place is right around the corner from where i work. (pictured below is hot amy in the 21st amendment. her co-worker named neil, who has his hands on his head, is in the background)
anyway, the food was pretty good at the 21st amendment. (i had a goat cheese and cranberry salad that had walnuts in it. i also had some of hot amy's sweet potato fries that came with her tuna melt.) by the way, for those of you who are curious, the 21st amendment according to wikipedia repealed the 18th amendment to the united states constitution, which had mandated nationwide prohibition.
needless to say, i had a good time and i'd go back.
we decided to eat at the 21st amendment, which is located right next to the state house. now, i suck at the 21st amendment. i have never eaten there even though the place is right around the corner from where i work. (pictured below is hot amy in the 21st amendment. her co-worker named neil, who has his hands on his head, is in the background)
anyway, the food was pretty good at the 21st amendment. (i had a goat cheese and cranberry salad that had walnuts in it. i also had some of hot amy's sweet potato fries that came with her tuna melt.) by the way, for those of you who are curious, the 21st amendment according to wikipedia repealed the 18th amendment to the united states constitution, which had mandated nationwide prohibition.
needless to say, i had a good time and i'd go back.
I Suck At High Intensity Interval Training
my friend (andrea) asked me the other day if i would be interested in running again. apparently, she wanted someone to train with while she gets in shape. naturally, i agreed. her initial desire was to attempt to run 3 miles.
today, however, her coworker mentioned the concept of high intensity interval training to her. according to askmen.com:
"HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is cardio performed at such an intense level that your body will spend the rest of the day expending energy to recover from the ass-kicking you gave it. This is commonly referred to as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) and it means that you consume a great deal more oxygen recovering from the exercise bout than you would have if you'd just done a steady-state workout.
This means that you will be burning up to nine times more fat while sitting on the couch later that night than you would have if you'd spent an hour on the treadmill at a moderate pace.
Obviously, I am talking about intense training. You will need to push yourself out of that comfort zone you have gotten used to and really challenge yourself. If you are willing to do this, however, I can guarantee that you will spend less than half the time you usually do on those machines and get much leaner in the process.
HIIT training has a number of benefits in addition to the reduction in training time. First of all, this type of training is far superior to steady-state exercises when it comes to increasing your VO2 max, which is the maximum amount of oxygen you can uptake during exercise. This means that you'll be in much better shape when it comes time to play a game of football with the guys.
Secondly, when you perform long-duration, moderate-intensity exercise, you can actually put yourself in a catabolic state in which you will start losing muscle mass. That's right: Some of that hard-earned muscle will start degrading itself in your quest to get lean.
The reason is that there are two types of muscle fibers in your body: fast twitch and slow twitch.
Slow twitch fibers are more compatible with endurance training (such as a steady-state one-hour run), whereas fast twitch fibers are more compatible with short, intense bouts of exercise (such as weightlifting or sprinting).
When we train in one of these modes, our muscle tissue has a tendency to take on the appropriate properties. As an illustration, imagine a marathon runner and a sprinter. The sprinter is composed of fast twitch muscles and carries a great deal more muscle mass, whereas the marathoner has a lot of thin, slow twitch muscle fibers so that his body is as light as possible to transport across those great distances.
This is going to the extreme to prove a point; however, you can see how much of a difference the type of training you do has on your body shape."
anyway, i suck at high intensity interval training. the concept is very exciting to me because i love challenges whether they are mental or physical. most importantly, andrea seems very willing to try it. thus, both of us have decided to begin our hiit workout starting monday... so wish us luck.
hopefully, the workout will kick our butts and andrea can achieve her weight loss goal.
today, however, her coworker mentioned the concept of high intensity interval training to her. according to askmen.com:
"HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is cardio performed at such an intense level that your body will spend the rest of the day expending energy to recover from the ass-kicking you gave it. This is commonly referred to as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) and it means that you consume a great deal more oxygen recovering from the exercise bout than you would have if you'd just done a steady-state workout.
This means that you will be burning up to nine times more fat while sitting on the couch later that night than you would have if you'd spent an hour on the treadmill at a moderate pace.
Obviously, I am talking about intense training. You will need to push yourself out of that comfort zone you have gotten used to and really challenge yourself. If you are willing to do this, however, I can guarantee that you will spend less than half the time you usually do on those machines and get much leaner in the process.
HIIT training has a number of benefits in addition to the reduction in training time. First of all, this type of training is far superior to steady-state exercises when it comes to increasing your VO2 max, which is the maximum amount of oxygen you can uptake during exercise. This means that you'll be in much better shape when it comes time to play a game of football with the guys.
Secondly, when you perform long-duration, moderate-intensity exercise, you can actually put yourself in a catabolic state in which you will start losing muscle mass. That's right: Some of that hard-earned muscle will start degrading itself in your quest to get lean.
The reason is that there are two types of muscle fibers in your body: fast twitch and slow twitch.
Slow twitch fibers are more compatible with endurance training (such as a steady-state one-hour run), whereas fast twitch fibers are more compatible with short, intense bouts of exercise (such as weightlifting or sprinting).
When we train in one of these modes, our muscle tissue has a tendency to take on the appropriate properties. As an illustration, imagine a marathon runner and a sprinter. The sprinter is composed of fast twitch muscles and carries a great deal more muscle mass, whereas the marathoner has a lot of thin, slow twitch muscle fibers so that his body is as light as possible to transport across those great distances.
This is going to the extreme to prove a point; however, you can see how much of a difference the type of training you do has on your body shape."
anyway, i suck at high intensity interval training. the concept is very exciting to me because i love challenges whether they are mental or physical. most importantly, andrea seems very willing to try it. thus, both of us have decided to begin our hiit workout starting monday... so wish us luck.
hopefully, the workout will kick our butts and andrea can achieve her weight loss goal.
I Suck At Wearing New Sneakers
i suck at wearing new sneakers.
like most articles of clothing that i own (sneakers included), i generally wear them until they fall apart. yes, i'm such a fashionista.
anyway, today i wore my new sneakers out in public for the first time. maybe the reason i wore them today was because i thought it was such a beautiful morning when i woke up, or maybe i was just excited that kerry had spent the night. (kerry had pointed out the scenic view from our workout/office area overlooking the pond this morning. it was very pretty with the sun coming out.)
don't get me wrong, i have worn my new sneakers a few times when i used the treadmill at the house. so, it's not like i haven't worn my new sneakers since i bought them. (i bought the sneakers at the beginning of the year. in what has almost become an annual tradition, i have purchased new sneakers the past few years on new year's day. so apparently, there is one thing to love about lowell. karen and i typically go to lowell for new year's... hence the lowell reference.)
needless to say, i'm wearing my asics sneakers and it's making me happy.
like most articles of clothing that i own (sneakers included), i generally wear them until they fall apart. yes, i'm such a fashionista.
anyway, today i wore my new sneakers out in public for the first time. maybe the reason i wore them today was because i thought it was such a beautiful morning when i woke up, or maybe i was just excited that kerry had spent the night. (kerry had pointed out the scenic view from our workout/office area overlooking the pond this morning. it was very pretty with the sun coming out.)
don't get me wrong, i have worn my new sneakers a few times when i used the treadmill at the house. so, it's not like i haven't worn my new sneakers since i bought them. (i bought the sneakers at the beginning of the year. in what has almost become an annual tradition, i have purchased new sneakers the past few years on new year's day. so apparently, there is one thing to love about lowell. karen and i typically go to lowell for new year's... hence the lowell reference.)
needless to say, i'm wearing my asics sneakers and it's making me happy.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
I Suck At Resisting Ice Cream
my friend (kerry) is spending the night today at my place. she has some work-related thing in carver, massachusetts at 7:30am tomorrow. (i live closer to carver than she does... hence the reason for the slumber party.)
anyway, kerry contacted me saying how she was sad that she would not be able to get ice cream yesterday. my sister in law (janine) had sent out an email about some fund raising activity at this ice cream place called nona's in hingham for my niece and nephew's school.
of course, i couldn't let my "bff" down. i told her that we could have ice cream tonight at our slumber party. then i realized that i suck at resisting ice cream because the ice cream that is currently in the freezer is almost gone. oops. (we've only had the ice cream container for a few days.)
granted i didn't go to nona's, but karen and i ended up going to stop and shop to pick up a 1.75 quart container of cookies and cream ice cream just for kerry. we apparently had a lot of choices to choose from too, which may seem somewhat surprising because kerry is a very finicky eater. but, like me, she can't resist ice cream either. (she likes oreo, chocolate chip, chocolate, black raspberry, cookie dough... flavors that don't have nuts or peanut butter flavored or mint flavored)
and as usual, the whole topic of ice cream got me thinking about how i really do suck at resisting ice cream. i remember a while ago (when i was able to burn off the calories more easily... so this is quite a long while ago), i would occasionally go to the supermarket (also stop and shop because it was nearby) to pick up a quart of ice cream for lunch when i worked at my first job out of college. every one of my coworkers was amazed that i was able to polish off the quart so easily. realistically, i could probably still do it now, although i'd probaby be a lot sicker after eating it.
anyway, kerry contacted me saying how she was sad that she would not be able to get ice cream yesterday. my sister in law (janine) had sent out an email about some fund raising activity at this ice cream place called nona's in hingham for my niece and nephew's school.
of course, i couldn't let my "bff" down. i told her that we could have ice cream tonight at our slumber party. then i realized that i suck at resisting ice cream because the ice cream that is currently in the freezer is almost gone. oops. (we've only had the ice cream container for a few days.)
granted i didn't go to nona's, but karen and i ended up going to stop and shop to pick up a 1.75 quart container of cookies and cream ice cream just for kerry. we apparently had a lot of choices to choose from too, which may seem somewhat surprising because kerry is a very finicky eater. but, like me, she can't resist ice cream either. (she likes oreo, chocolate chip, chocolate, black raspberry, cookie dough... flavors that don't have nuts or peanut butter flavored or mint flavored)
and as usual, the whole topic of ice cream got me thinking about how i really do suck at resisting ice cream. i remember a while ago (when i was able to burn off the calories more easily... so this is quite a long while ago), i would occasionally go to the supermarket (also stop and shop because it was nearby) to pick up a quart of ice cream for lunch when i worked at my first job out of college. every one of my coworkers was amazed that i was able to polish off the quart so easily. realistically, i could probably still do it now, although i'd probaby be a lot sicker after eating it.
Monday, March 3, 2008
I Suck At Giving Birth
i don't have birthing hips, which is probably why i suck at giving birth.
anyway, today my friend (pam) gave birth to a baby girl (named keira) . so yay, congratulations pam! apparently, keira weighs in at 10.1 pounds. outside of that, i don't know any other information about the baby.
the way i found out about little keira was through my other friend (jen). jen mentioned to a bunch of us that pam sent her a text message saying "she is 10.1" and the she "is perfect". knowing that pam was pregnant, we assumed she meant the baby.
so congratulations again pam!
anyway, today my friend (pam) gave birth to a baby girl (named keira) . so yay, congratulations pam! apparently, keira weighs in at 10.1 pounds. outside of that, i don't know any other information about the baby.
the way i found out about little keira was through my other friend (jen). jen mentioned to a bunch of us that pam sent her a text message saying "she is 10.1" and the she "is perfect". knowing that pam was pregnant, we assumed she meant the baby.
so congratulations again pam!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
I Suck At Teaching Classes
since i forgot the other day... welcome back hot amy and jen! (the two of them went to aruba. they were lucky enough to miss the great new england weather.)
anyway, hot amy came over today. after showing karen and i the aruba vacation pictures, karen and hot amy began correcting homework. (i'm sure hot amy must be excited to come back from her vacation to correct homework as you can see in the following picture of her and karen).
both karen and hot amy are teaching a nutrition course at simmons college this semester. i don't know what the actual name of the course is. every time i ask, i am told that it's the lab portion to some other class. they won't even let me sit in on the class (possibly because they're afraid i'd make a scene or something in the all women's college known as simmons). so because i suck at teaching classes, i get the lucky duty of chauffeuring their sorry bums from school to home.
anyway, that got me thinking. it would be pretty neat to teach a college class someday. granted, i know nothing so it may be a little difficult to teach nothing to students. nonetheless, teaching was always something that was in the back of my head growing up. (of course, i had a lot of things i wanted to do when i was growing up... like being a scientist... a firefighter... an actor.... etc. so as you can tell, those professions didn't pan out for me.)
when i was in college, i helped my friend (cass) teach a summer program for his parents. i had the luck of teaching third graders both english and math. i don't think the kids liked me that much when i was teaching them because i gave them a lot of work in comparison to the other people helping with the summer program. although, i must say, the following year when i ran into a couple of students that i had, they had thanked me for teaching them because they said they were prepared for the subject matter that year in school. it wasn't much, but it made me feel good to know that i helped them learn.
anyway, hot amy came over today. after showing karen and i the aruba vacation pictures, karen and hot amy began correcting homework. (i'm sure hot amy must be excited to come back from her vacation to correct homework as you can see in the following picture of her and karen).
both karen and hot amy are teaching a nutrition course at simmons college this semester. i don't know what the actual name of the course is. every time i ask, i am told that it's the lab portion to some other class. they won't even let me sit in on the class (possibly because they're afraid i'd make a scene or something in the all women's college known as simmons). so because i suck at teaching classes, i get the lucky duty of chauffeuring their sorry bums from school to home.
anyway, that got me thinking. it would be pretty neat to teach a college class someday. granted, i know nothing so it may be a little difficult to teach nothing to students. nonetheless, teaching was always something that was in the back of my head growing up. (of course, i had a lot of things i wanted to do when i was growing up... like being a scientist... a firefighter... an actor.... etc. so as you can tell, those professions didn't pan out for me.)
when i was in college, i helped my friend (cass) teach a summer program for his parents. i had the luck of teaching third graders both english and math. i don't think the kids liked me that much when i was teaching them because i gave them a lot of work in comparison to the other people helping with the summer program. although, i must say, the following year when i ran into a couple of students that i had, they had thanked me for teaching them because they said they were prepared for the subject matter that year in school. it wasn't much, but it made me feel good to know that i helped them learn.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
I Suck At Making Ginger Tea
karen has been pretty sick the past couple of days. there seems to be a bug going around. i guess the symptoms are a scratchy throat, followed by stuffiness, and then followed by achiness. karen seems better today. she's actually up and about now... albeit she is still stuffy. (a couple of days ago, she was unable to get out of bed, so this is an improvement).
anyway, my mom experienced the same thing a couple of weeks ago. when my mom heard that karen had the same bug, she mentioned her remedy to me... ginger tea. apparently, both my parents swear by the healing benefits of ginger tea. usually, when my parents tell me about the healing benefits of a lot of chinese remedies, i tend to tune them out. i usually think of that childhood commercial where the lady says "ancient chinese secret!". okay, so maybe i should actually listen to my parents because there must be some truth in eastern medicine, right?
in my moment of guilt, i humored my parents and agreed that i'd attempt to make ginger tea for karen. when they heard that i'd give it a shot, my mom and dad both got really excited, probably because i was actually showing some interest this time in listening to them.
as it turns out, i probably should have listened to them a little harder because i suck at making ginger tea. i made what i thought was ginger tea for karen. it turned out to be a little too gingery. karen almost gagged when she drank a sip of the concoction i made. in my defense, my parents didn't really give me a recipe to make ginger tea. the instructions were basically: add this piece of ginger to a bowl, add some water, add some honey. definitive quantities are a rare thing when it comes to making food at my parents' household.
anyway, i added some more honey to mask the taste of the ginger. i hope karen liked the blend. speaking of which, i should check to make sure i didn't poison her with my ginger tea.
anyway, my mom experienced the same thing a couple of weeks ago. when my mom heard that karen had the same bug, she mentioned her remedy to me... ginger tea. apparently, both my parents swear by the healing benefits of ginger tea. usually, when my parents tell me about the healing benefits of a lot of chinese remedies, i tend to tune them out. i usually think of that childhood commercial where the lady says "ancient chinese secret!". okay, so maybe i should actually listen to my parents because there must be some truth in eastern medicine, right?
in my moment of guilt, i humored my parents and agreed that i'd attempt to make ginger tea for karen. when they heard that i'd give it a shot, my mom and dad both got really excited, probably because i was actually showing some interest this time in listening to them.
as it turns out, i probably should have listened to them a little harder because i suck at making ginger tea. i made what i thought was ginger tea for karen. it turned out to be a little too gingery. karen almost gagged when she drank a sip of the concoction i made. in my defense, my parents didn't really give me a recipe to make ginger tea. the instructions were basically: add this piece of ginger to a bowl, add some water, add some honey. definitive quantities are a rare thing when it comes to making food at my parents' household.
anyway, i added some more honey to mask the taste of the ginger. i hope karen liked the blend. speaking of which, i should check to make sure i didn't poison her with my ginger tea.
I Suck At Meeting Men
i suck at meeting men... which is a good thing because i'm not attracted to men (okay, sure i may have the occasional man-crush but that's beside the point). i have a lot of female friends who are single. so, there will be times where i'll be asked how come its so hard to find a good single guy and all that good stuff. (personally, i think my single female friends have a laundry list of expectations that are too high... not that they should "settle" but i think they rule out a lot of men before even giving them a try).
anyway, after making some tea for karen (which i'll blog about later), i got on the computer and discovered an interesting article from cosmo. (i don't normally read cosmo, there just happened to be a link on yahoo to the article). according to cosmo, one of the best places to meet a guy is: the apple store! yay apple! (it's just another reason to dislike microsoft)
"The draw: Most guys are natural gadget lovers, and with sales of iPods and MacBooks skyrocketing, more men than ever are stopping by Apple boutiques. The vibe at the stores is conducive to man meeting too: You can check your email among cuties, take a free workshop on anything from Photoshop to podcasting (a great opportunity to strike up a conversation), or just survey the, ahem, good-looking merchandise."
naturally, this got me thinking that my original suggestion to my friend (kerry) about going to a geek star trek conference could pay dividends for her.
anyway, after making some tea for karen (which i'll blog about later), i got on the computer and discovered an interesting article from cosmo. (i don't normally read cosmo, there just happened to be a link on yahoo to the article). according to cosmo, one of the best places to meet a guy is: the apple store! yay apple! (it's just another reason to dislike microsoft)
"The draw: Most guys are natural gadget lovers, and with sales of iPods and MacBooks skyrocketing, more men than ever are stopping by Apple boutiques. The vibe at the stores is conducive to man meeting too: You can check your email among cuties, take a free workshop on anything from Photoshop to podcasting (a great opportunity to strike up a conversation), or just survey the, ahem, good-looking merchandise."
naturally, this got me thinking that my original suggestion to my friend (kerry) about going to a geek star trek conference could pay dividends for her.
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