lgsunshine

Books – With 23 books read so far this year, I will pass my goal of 27 books. 

I’m thinking about buying the Kindle.  My barrier is the price.  It seems convenient and yet pricey.  Perhaps the feeling will pass.  I like the idea of having a large selection of books to choose from.  Particularly for books I read for work and have little attachment towards.  Maybe I should ask if work would let me purchase one.  I would rather not.  I like my stuff to be my stuff and I know that I would include personal books.     

Exercise – for the last year, I worked with a trainer.  I’ve decided to be responsible for planning and doing my own work out plans.  Again, price was the motivating decision maker.  I was on vacation last week and at a conference this week.  Before vacation, I began to transition to my own workout plans.  They were a mish mash of activities.  Sometimes I realized I had too many squat variations and would mix things up on the fly.  I want to get more thoughtful in my goals and plans to reach them.  I’ve decided to give myself some monthly benchmarks.  Nothing crazy. 

Goals for October:

Running – 6 miles (1.5 so far)

Push Ups – 235 (52 so far)

They are low numbers.  I should have no problem hitting them.                  

In addition, I plan on 2 work outs, 3 yoga sessions and a run per week. 
Basically, I hope to keep the momentum going without reporting to a trainer. 

Maybe that’s too much yoga – I still have other things that I want to do.
I have the hope for something like home cooked meals done with some thought and not as rushed as most of my cooking. 

Grr - I don't know how to adequately post this. 

It's Billionares for Wealthcare. 

 

I actually love the few clips of the British Parliament that I get to see.  I love their spirited (and sometimes inappropriate) debates.  I do sometimes feel we are way too polite. 
And yet, I am torn.  I think much political conversation is not conversation at all but theatrics.  I’m particularly thinking of talk radio and the 24/7 news channels.  For some reason, these examples turn me off to paying attention.  It may be their saturation.  I also sense that it's more about appealing to a market than a passion for the case they are making. 

So when The Gentlemen From South Carolina called the President a liar, I disagree with the message, but I’m not appalled by his willingness to speak up inappropriately. 

Yesterday I was strumming my toes.  My friend jumped back.  I laughed.  It is pretty interesting to watch.  I don’t have piano playing control.  Sometimes the toes get feisty and do their own thing, which is what caused my friend to jump back in surprise.  But I consider it a pretty good reflection of their strength. 

My grandma has hammer toes.  I’m not quite sure that begins to describe it.  When I google hammer toes, the pictures do not come close to describing what my grandma’s toes look like.  The toes next to the big toe cross over each other towards the big toe.  Just standing, I’m afraid she’s going to fall over.  Watching her go up and down stairs is absolutely terrifying. 

Lately, I’ve read about the benefits of running barefoot.  I haven’t tried it.  But I do have some very light shoes that I like to run in.  Most people cringe and state – you can’t be getting enough support. 

Just questioning the message from the shoe manufacturers.   

I’m going through my stuff – getting rid of stuff I don’t use or don’t want anymore. 
I have two pairs of jeans – same brand, Banana Republic. 
One I bought used and one new. 

Size 8 – fits
Size 10 – can’t get them over my hips

Not really sure what to make of that….
(what if after the mood key you could hit detect and it would guess your mood - confusion?)

Books read in 2008 -
Graphic Novels: 3
Total Books (including graphic novels): 25
Books I started, but didn’t finish: 2

Books so far in 2009 -
Graphic Novels: 0
Total Books: 16
Currently reading: 7
Books I started, but didn’t finish: 1
Goal: 27

edit: if I want to read more, I have to be on the look out for books.  Just thinking about possible books helps me pick what I want to read next. 

 

More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroads.  One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other total extinction.  Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly. 

Traveling for work, I hit the hotel gym.  My goal was to run 1.5 miles in about 14 minutes.  Wee!  I ran it in a little over 13 and half minutes.  Something like 13 minutes and 33 seconds.  I feel that’s close to what I was running in high school. 

I ran on a treadmill – so I don’t know how close I could approximate that on a track. 

Even though it wasn’t set as a goal – it feels like I hit a goal.  I did 10 full body push ups with alternating rows (10 lbs).    yay!

Today at the gym, I got two compliments on my running.  That makes mee smile. 

Yesterday in yoga we did backbends.  My teacher warns us that backbends bring up emotions.  I’m already in a kind of wacky space.  Plenty of emotions did come up. 

We did Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana. 

It wasn’t pretty.  But I got into the pose.  Mostly, I couldn’t figure out how to get my arms in the right place.  And I got closer to the pose than I have ever gotten before.  I continue to marvel at how tight my hips are. 

I enjoy Larry McMurtry stories. 

Sometimes his plots wonder.  But his characters keep me in engaged. 
Quote from The Late Child:

Watching them, Harmony felt too shaken to take a step.  Eddie and Sheba were young; but she herself had become old.  Even if she wasn’t particularly old if you just counted years, the fact was years were no way to count.  Happenings were the way to count, the big happening that separated her from youth or even middle age was the death of her daughter, Pepper.  That death made her realize that life, once you got around to producing children, was no longer about being pretty or having boyfriends or making money – it was about protecting children; getting them raised to the point where they could try life as adults.  It didn’t have to be just children that come out of your body, either.  It could be anyone young who needed something you had to give.  Some grown men were children; some grown women, too.  Harmony knew that she had spent a good part of her life, taking care of just such men.  But now that she felt old she didn’t think she wanted to spend much more of her energy protecting men who had had a good chance to grow up, but had blown it.  If she never had another boyfriend – something she had been worrying about, on the plane – it might be a little dull in some areas, like sexual areas, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. 
            What would be the end of the world would be to let some little girl like Sheba get in the car with a bad man who would make a U-turn across the street and kill her right there in front of the pay phones, where pimps and crack dealers were making their calls. 

It might cross the line between novel and preachy.  But Harmony’s grief is real.  She reads as completely submerged in grief with occasional observations about the world around her.