Mishaps and other haps

This post is for Michael, who reminds me every day to look around and remember how lucky I am.

So far, so good.  I missed working out on Saturday morning (discovering I had some very sore muscles before getting out of bed), but I was back at it at 9 AM this morning.  I have mostly been doing leg/bottom work this weekend since that’s where I tend to put on extra pounds.

Starting this exercise program (if it can be called such at this point), I am flabbier and heavier than I have been in twelve or thirteen years.  It feels horrible to be so stocky and weak.  This is not my body at “normal.”  I blame inactivity, as well as bad food choices.  I see it all the time at my workplace, in people who are both younger and older than me.  The sedentary office lifestyle (sit in front of a computer most of the day), combined with vending machines, snack shops, office parties, and the like, can really do a number on your body if you don’t make efforts to be active and eat well.

I have motivation, though!  I am getting married in about fifteen months!  It’s gonna be an awesome goal to work toward!  This week, my goal is to try more strength-building classes (yoga, pilates, something called “Dynamic Strength”) and spend yet more time on my legs and bottom.  I hope to build up endurance and enegry so that the more athletic, aerobic classes will be something that I think I can master soon (Turbojam, Zumba, Bodypump).

Here is the promised line-up from this year’s film fest, which included fantasy genre movies reminiscent of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, in memory of Gary Gygax.

12:30 PM  — Dungeons & Dragons* (i.e. the 1980s Saturday morning cartoon series which Gygax co-produced) episode: “Valley of the Unicorns”

1:00 PM — Conan the Barbarian

3:10 PM — D&D episode “The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow”

3:30 PM — The Magic Sword

4:45 PM — D&D episode “The Dragon’s Graveyard”

5:10 PM — Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

8:45 PM — D&D episode “Child of the Stargazer”

9:05 PM — Conan the Destroyer

This year’s film fest ended around 10:45 PM, well under the 12 hour mark.  Artie and Matt’s brother and sister-in-law, Greg and Jayne, were in attendance as well as Artie’s friend Kel, who is visiting from Australia.  The Guffeys, the Talbots, and Michael, Alice and I comprised the remainder of the group

* Several of us grew up watching this cartoon on Saturday mornings.  I was about seven when it aired and liked it reasonably well at the time.  I think it is both wonderful and terrible that many of the TV shows we remember from childhood (and eagerly anticipated watching each week) are now available as complete series on DVD.  I suppose it’s mostly wonderful, except when they don’t live up to our memories or our refined adult expectations.  The Dungeons & Dragons episodes provoked mixed reactions from our movie-watching crowd.

Guffey’s annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film Fest is happening today at our house, from 12:30(ish) until whenever.  Expected agenda is 12-14 hours of Fantasy (only) genre movies this year.  The actual films are a surprise– I will do my best to post this year’s line-up after the film fest.

We have been out shopping this morning and have picked up snacks.  Guffey has already started his famous buffalo wings, which will be served early during the film fest.

It should be a fun day of movies with friends!

As of July 12th … it’s coming up … there are plans for a party.

But I have to tell you … five years is a LONG, LONG, LONG time to work for a company.

After hemming and hawing about fitness options, I finally made a decision and signed for a year with Pinnacle yesterday.  It’s very close to my house, it has just about every amenity I think I could ever want to keep me active and entertained, and their current class schedule offers something I am excited about every day of the week.

All three of these factors are important in motivating me to be an active gym member, as my last gym debacle testifies.  I signed up for two years at the Princeton Club and was pretty good about going regularly for a few months, but my attendance tapered off after that and then it was really hard to start again.  I think the biggest factors were that Princeton Club was very crowded at times, classes offerings were OK, but not great, I had to drive a little farther to get to the gym, and it was inconvenient to workout if I didn’t carry my gym clothes with me to work.

Pinnacle caps its membership, so overcrowding at the gym shouldn’t be a problem.  I can generally drop by home after work and change before I go (for me, shaving off this time at the gym makes it seem like it’s not going to be such a big time bump in my day).  Fitness centers tend to clear out a lot in the summer (and they are recruiting members with lower rates as a result), so it’s the perfect time to join.

I was also considering the nearby yoga studio, but Pinnacle offers yoga and pilates classes at times that are convenient for me during the week.  Plus, I would have been paying almost as much per month for unlimited yoga classes as a full gym membership (with classes, equipment, trainer sessions, towel service, pool and sauna) costs.  The yoga studio is neat, but most of their classes utilize a type of yoga that focuses on repetition of sun salutes and I was afraid that routine would bore me after a bit, too.

I also considered Curves after having a conversation with a couple of people about it last weekend.  I dropped by our local Curves and had a chat with the owner this week.  It was tempting, but overall I think the choice I made will motivate me to stick with a fitness routine more long term.

OK, off to work now!

Happy first day of summer!  The weather is just gorgeous here and it’s sunny and warm, but not too warm to ride around town in an un-air-conditioned car, which is what we have been doing for the errand-related portion of the afternoon.

I had a great start to my day– breakfast with my friend Steve, one of my local friends that I only see once in a blue moon, at Hubbard Avenue Diner.  Sounds like things are going well in his life and we exchanged movie suggestions and talked about a variety of topics– particularly work and gaming.  I eyeballed a 4-layer yellow cake with banana cream filling, coconut cream pie, and a dolce de leche pie, but did not buy any sweets.  After multi-grain pancakes, dessert seemed less appealing.

I did pick up a wedding cake catering menu, however, and I think Hubbard is officially on the list for cake tasting appointments, whenever we get around to that.  Mmm, German chocolate cake with chocolate ganache inside and amaretto buttercream frosting sounds yummy.

Afterwards, Michael and I went to the Farmer’s Market.  Strawberries are in season now and the market was full of them.  We also picked up cheese at the Hook’s stand (local company that has a variety of products– we really love their aged cheddar).  We stopped at The Old Fashioned for lunch/brunch and ran into Michael’s friend Emily and her guy.  We talked to them until our table was ready and had a very satisfying meal.

We ran our Saturday afternoon errands after lunch and are expecting Josh and Betsy over to stay the night.  Michael is going to help Betsy with her website, as she is starting her own business.

I think I am going to run out this afternoon and pay for membership at the nearby yoga studio I have been planning to join for a few months now.  I need more regular exercise in my life.

Tomorrow morning there is a party at the park for Andrew’s third birthday, so we’re planning to go to that.  Then we have gaming, so it will be a pretty fun day.

I thought this was pretty neat news and it brightened my day when I scanned the news this morning and saw the headline.  I particularly like the story of the two women in their 80s who have been partners for 50+ years.  Now they have a great excuse to act like newlyweds, which is about what I think I’d want for my Golden Anniversary anyway.

I had a very different college experience, for the most part, than most people who go to a state school and live in a dorm.

I didn’t feel I was prepared to let dorm-style chaos into my life at age seventeen.  Living in a dorm wasn’t required at my school and I found a roommate who wanted to live off-campus (waaay off-campus, completely across town), so I opted out of dorm life my freshman year and never considered taking it up after that.

However, I did have a couple of years later on when I lived in apartments closer to campus that were designed for students.  They were actually brand new, very nice digs– despite the poor management that was ultimately beaten into submission by the utterly depraved tenants who kept breaking things, such as the “security entrance” … (my college town had a lot of “luxury” apartment communities with “secure” entrances– I think it was a Florida thing, maybe even a mid-90s thing).

I am glad to have memories of fun, crazy, semi-chaotic times and people to remember them with, in spite of being a cautious college student.  It wasn’t really chaotic, but it seemed like it at the time … Various memories stand out:

– the bunny that ate chunks of the brand new, green carpet

– my first cheap beer, followed by much better alcohol

– my first (and last) schizophrenic roommate

– conversations until 5 AM (when we had to be up by 8 for class)

– piles of unwashed clothing

– Halloween decorations from the dollar store

– a trail of stuff that exploded out of someone’s bedroom

– the acquaintance who accidentally lit her hair on fire

– loaves of freshly-made bread

– sunsets and corned beef with cabbage (for St. Paddy’s Day)

– voodoo discussions (true deal), Haiti, race, and managing retail (my oldest roommate was 24, which put her 3-4 years ahead of the rest of us and there was a maturity difference as well)

– getting lost in the middle of the night on a road somewhere, very pre-GPS

– riding around in the back of a Jetta in pajamas

This post was inspired by a message I just received from one of my college roommates who was recalling some champagne/bathtub exploits from long ago.  I stayed shut up with the books a lot, but the best times I remember were the times that I didn’t. 

(We got fun ‘n’ games)

Wow, it’s been a week punctuated by major flooding in the area last weekend, followed by more intense storms on Thursday night that produced a number of tornado sightings and a bunch more water.

The inconveniences we have experienced so far have been a *small* amount of water in the basement and road closings/traffic-related problems.  This is so tiny compared to what people in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids have experienced, as well as the folks in Baraboo and the Wisconsin Dells.  I feel very lucky to be able to come home to my air-conditioned home on this bright, sunny Friday afternoon.  Even the garden is still intact and will probably grow profusely after all this rain.

We’ve had quite a bit going on this week and I think the summer is just going to be much like this.  We’ve had friends over every night except Monday this week.

It looks like Wednesday might be the weekly “quiet night” around here in a couple of weeks if we can resist adding a board/card game night to our agenda.  I am not sure whether I want to avoid scheduling Wednesdays or not since I enjoyed playing Gang of Four this week, we have the Kingsport expansion for Arkham Horror in the house, and Puerto Rico is on its way.  However, I know that downtime is something I need on a regular basis and it seriously helps me enjoy social activities much more, particularly hosting social activities.  As it is, it looks like Monday nights might be the best time for fiance time in the near future.

Michael brought home a de-humidifier today at my request and we’re going to see whether it helps with the moisture levels in the basement.  I may be a little overeager here, but I’d like to avoid issues with mold and mildew if we’re going to have a wet summer.

Dinner (for our Friday night gaming group) has happily been cooking in the crockpot all day.  I am really very pleased that someone thought to invent the crockpot, as well as the coffee maker and the bread machine.  They make it so much easier to be social, flexible, and mobile.