Operation Arm Flaps: The Final Chapter

i did it. It wasn't pretty, nor was it particularly successful, but i did it.

Mostly.

Original goal was focus on upper body work, built around the push up challenge, and to alternate days with core/lower body work. In the end, i stayed with just the push ups...

Minor moral victory? Let's just cut to the wrap-up.

Final measurements: EXACTLY THE SAME AS WEEK 2.

Yep. No additional shrinkage in the last 2 weeks. But perhaps more tone. There's that. And i can definitely do more push ups! Starting 'exhaustion test' had me at 10. i can now drop and give you 30! Stronger. That is good.

Comparing my first "bingo wings, week 0" pic vs "bingo wings, final" shot? Biggest difference is that my shirt is a little rattier (hey, it's ALWAYS laundry day here...).




Why was this second round of "30 Days" so much harder for us all to stick to? i dunno. The novelty had perhaps worn off... Distractions abound, don't they? We seemed to lose a lot of energy around week 2.

Rather than lament what didn't work, however, i'll cheer for what did... We slogged through. We at least felt guilty when we didn't... And for me, i do feel stronger. And the arms are perhaps marginally less likely to take me airborne in a stiff breeze...



Here's to finding ways to keep stretching a bit. To hold ourselves accountable, even without communal accountability. And to the seemingly endless 'little things' we can all find time for that can make us a bit better...

Riding & Reading, final report

I know we're a bit past the 30 day mark, but I wanted to get in one final report. I'm still going. All through the 30 day challenge, my numbers on the exercise bike crept up, bit by bit. But those bits added up. 3.86 miles and 162 calories on the first day, and 4.9 miles and 220 calories on the last day.

I like numbers. They give me some idea how I'm doing. But sometimes round numbers get our attention more. In my case, five miles seemed to be the wall I couldn't cross on a 20 minute ride. 4.86, 4.97, 4.98, 4.90. So close, but I wanted that FIVE.

So a couple days ago, I decided I was going to break the five mile mark if it killed me. No warmup time, just get going right out of the gate. Pedaling the bike when it's at the lowest resistance is actually harder in some ways than when you're really pushing. If you go too fast it feels a bit out of control, like you're going to bang your ankle or your knee or crash through the window. But I needed that five.

By the time I got to the "top of the hill" I was dying. My thighs were burning. I put down the book. On the second "peak" I thought I wasn't going to make it through 20 minutes, much less five imaginary miles. I watched my speed. I watched my distance. I watched my time remaining. I tried to calculate what pace I was on and what pace I needed to keep. But I eventually just gave up and pedaled.

Forget about it. Either you make it, or you don't. Just give it all you've got.

Pedal.

Eventually, I felt the resistance go to nothing, meaning I was near the end. I pedaled out of control again, eyes closed, breathing hard, waiting for the final beep to tell me I was done.

5.64 miles. 247 calories. All those near misses, and I finally broke through the wall and kept going.

And it didn't kill me.

It was the second wall I broke through on this journey. The first wall was back at zero miles and zero calories. Somehow, that one was just as hard to break through.

Tonight, I hit 5.68, and 249 calories. I guess 250 calories is my new wall....

--

CONFESSIONS OF A SLACKER

Well, not  a bad slacker, just a busy person, really.
Some days I don't manage more than 20 minutes. That said, when things get hectic I am usually walking at a brisk pace from A to B and back. Several times.

And I did get this bike for times when I can't get out to walk. All the same, I did set 30 minutes a day as my challenge and I hope doing extra  when I can makes up for the short bits?

Is this 30 day challenge going to continue? If so, I think I'll settle for something more doable! Well, even if all you challengers  are quitting after this I'll still set myself a goal! As well as daily pedaling.

Anyway, we're not at the end of this one yet so I'm going to have 30 minutes on my bike (indoors) while I watch some aerial footage of Provence on the time-waster.

Operation "Arm Flaps": The Quest Continues!

Although i'm deep in the midst of a holiday dive trip - where i've been trying hard to get in a massive number of dives before the end of the week. This means 4 dives/day for the first 3 days. i'm tired. But....

Managed to get in my Friday push up sets on Sunday morning (Saturday was a travel day) and just busted through my Monday sets on Tuesday evening. So the schedule is a little blown, i'm still working it...

Didn't have a chance to do the measurements/picture, but will do that for my final post -- which should be next Monday, if my 30 day count is correct!

And since i had to work terribly hard at Week 4 of the challenge? i'm repeating it - with a few more reps in each set. Progress. At the end of this series, i will do one final exhaustion test -- to see how far i've really gotten in the past 30 days...

So, not letting the holiday be an excuse... but i'm mildly derailed as i chase fish!

Cryptic Mitzi September 13

I got my three cryptic clues down this morning. It's a rushing sort of week and my mind is on deadlines rather than on crosswords - except I did do the mega Monday last night, which had a few cryptics in amongst the regular clues. It is fun though how cryptic clues fuse with the act of punning and wordplay.

eg Q A horse's whinny sounds like a denial! ((5)
A Neigh

That feels like almost 30 days. Has anyone been counting!?

Looking back, and thinking ahead

Yesterday was one of those days where riding the bike was just not going to happen. Even the satisfaction of the ride and the promise of a little reading time aren't enough to overcome the kind of day I had yesterday.

Four hours of sleep. Getting up and getting the kids off to school. My daughter gets on the bus at 6:15 and my son gets on at 6:30. They are 8 years old. Brutal.

Got to work by 7:15. Commented to a co-worker how things had been pretty quiet. Then right after lunch I got sucked into a major problem. I was on the phone until 8:00pm. Got home a little before 9. Savage headache.

I forgot to even eat dinner. I stared at the computer for maybe an hour before collapsing into bed.

But it was okay. I just got right back on the horse bike today without hesitation. And beat both my calorie and distance marks. To me, it means I'm really on board at this point. It's no longer a "challenge". It's just something I do. It's part of my day.

I've got a 5k coming up in October, for the Autism Society of North Carolina. (Obligatory link to donations page.) I've never done a 5k before. Never anything even remotely close. I'm a couch potato by trade. With a non-bionic foot that may not be ready for running. But at least I can walk in with the confidence that I'm not totally out of shape.

--

No Cigar

but i was close! i had these grand ideas of reconnecting with lost friends and family. somehow, though, life just had a tendency to roll over me. delightfully so, with trips and festivals and hiking and theater and this and that and the other (guess i ran out of commas and had to use "and").

still, comma, i made pretty good progress. not to any great depth of reconnection. i've not found myself spending hours a day conversing with long lost family and friends. but, i have reached out and chatted...by e-mail or voicemail. my goal was 30 people. if i count some folks i will reconnect with on a scuba adventure i leave for in...CRAP!...7 hours from now (and not in the least sleepy!)...then i will surely get close to my goal of 30 reconnects.

i've been joining along with daisyfae in doing the pushup thing, with success, though not in Arnold Schwarnegger-ian proportions. i've also been cognizant of, if not strictly keeping to, my old goal of an earlier bedtime and a 7 hour sleep. next 30 days? no clue.

and an apology for dropping off the grid and not supporting my fellow 30-day-ers. i know i appreciate your bon mots and optimistic support.

but, must toddle off for now. that OCD fifth repacking of the suitcase is in order...

Reading & Riding, 9/7

My eating habits are at two ends of a spectrum. As often as I can manage, I'm eating delicious, home-cooked, (small "o") organic food from the abundant local farms, along with hippie standbys like green tea, nuts, raisins, artisan bread, and eggs from the back yard.... or else I'm wiping the grease off my hands after a trip to the Wendy's drive-thru or trying to get my money's worth at the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet. But I don't pay nearly as much attention as I probably should to "healthy" eating. I like Michael Pollan's "Food Rules" a lot, but I also like fried stuff.

I finally got the results from my blood work that was done way back at the beginning of this challenge. I was feeling run down all the time, and it was enough of an issue that I decided to see a family doctor for the first time in a long while. My mind was ticking off things like early stage heart disease, diabetes, thyroid problems.... Not that I was losing sleep worrying, but given family history, lifestyle, and other factors, many possibilities were plausible.

The one area I figured would be most likely to get dinged was my cholesterol, because of my love of all things golden brown and delicious.

So I was mildly surprised to find that pretty much everything was normal. Mostly not even borderline, but right in the sweet spot. Even my LDL ("bad") cholesterol, the one affected by diet, was "excellent," just shy of "optimal".

The only small blemish on the whole thing was that my HDL ("good") cholesterol was a little low. And what fixes that? Let me go to the doctor's words: "This can be improved by increasing physical activity and exercise."

Which brings us, at long last, to the whole point of this blog post: the exercise.

Man, I did NOT want to ride tonight. I mean, I missed my usual ride time. I'm very tired from a short night's sleep. My stomach is a bit off -- well, I could go on whining some more, but I won't. But I did the ride. I even rode hard, setting a new high for distance.

Before I get to the chart, there are some missing data points. I have missed some days here and there, and I can't quite get the hang of recording it every time, even when I do ride. I also added a column, really just for myself, showing which program I'm doing on the bike. I've been trying some different intervals and resistance patterns, which affects the calorie burn and distance numbers. The new column will just help me compare apples to apples.

Date     Lbs    Miles  Cal Prog    
08/15/11 230.6  3.86   162  2
08/16/11 232.6  4.06   178  2
08/23/11 230.6  4.14   176  2
08/24/11 230.6  4.05   172  2
08/29/11        4.59   204  3
08/30/11        4.64   204  3
08/31/11 230.4  4.51   201  3
09/01/11 228.6  4.86   211  3
09/04/11        4.77   192  4
09/06/11        4.60   184  4
09/07/11 229.8  4.97   199  4

I'm finding it's getting harder to beat previous highs, but it's also getting easier to get through the ride without feeling like I'm going to keel over. It's getting hard to pedal any faster at the low resistance parts, so I may just have to bump everything up a notch across the board.

No weight loss so far, but I'm ok with that at this point.

I haven't talked much about the reading, I guess because there's not much to tell. I'm enjoying being able to read books, it's helping me regain my ability to concentrate for more than 30 seconds at a time. It even spurred me to finally go check out our (excellent) local library.

So that's my report. I can't believe there's only like a week left of this challenge. My intention is to keep this going indefinitely. I'll be curious to see if it gets harder once the accountability is gone.

And since I have to get up in under 5 hours, I really need to stop rambling on....

--

Cryptic Burger Septermber 8

Following yesterday's maudlin recognition that a challenge is actually challenging, I then reverted to my daily cryptic task with some determination. Result! I figured out 10 clues from yesterday's puzzle, and 3 from today's.

As time is pressing due to other daily duties, I will supply just the one clue, my favourite of the lot.
Q President gives duck two arts degrees (5)
A Obama

I worked this out from President + BA (bachelor of arts) + MA (Masters)...I don't actually know why the word "duck" is in the clue, but the answer is correct based on today's solutions. So the crypticising continues, I am back in the game.

Cyrptic Mitzi September 7

I wonder if others are finding this 30 Day challenge more challenging the second time round? It could be my fault entirely for choosing a difficult challenge. The hype of my organised and successful first week has waned. I'm also not sure of the end date of our present 30 days, so am having trouble focusing on the light at the end of the tunnel. Not to sound too grim, but it's good to have a sense of momentum. Either way, the magic of the first 30 days has worked, as I'm still getting to the gym every day. It's possible I will revert to a physical challenge next time.

I did complete the Monday night Omega crossword apart from a few stray clues. Here was a success...
Q ?Trial Sam arranged for person in a constant state of anxiety (8)
A Alarmist
(anagram of Trial Sam)

I also have two chunky work deadlines which have claimed my headspace. So I think I'll do a "Challenge, Lite" this time round and take up the cause more stridently next time. 

Operation "Arm Flaps" - Week 3 Wrap Up

i'm still at it... and feeling marginally stronger. Haven't done much more than the push up work, and the alternate day abs/core stuff has slid - but i've been bicycling and hiking on those days, so i think i'm still making some progress.

The metrics this week: 13 1/4" / 34 cm

Miniscule progress, but i believe it is becoming real...

In hindsight, i think i should have come up with a different measurement technique. Perhaps something to do with timing the resonance of the flaps? Give 'em a push and see how long it takes for the flappage to stop?

Also, an action shot... A day on the water, playing in river kayaks. Definitely got an extra upper body workout. Not so much from the paddling, but from lifting my drink bottle filled with Crystal Light Lemonade and Vodka. Lunch. Yay...

Is there Bellydancing move that involves the tail between the legs?

Total failure.

I've dropped the ball on quite a few things these recent days. :-(

But I'm back. So while I'm not pleased that I didn't make the 30 days of this particular exercise, I haven't given up on improving my figure and bringing a new experience to my life which is ultimately the point, right?

I did change bellydancing videos from one that was exercise-focused to one that is more focused on the dance part. It's still difficult and a little unnatural for me, but I did better today than I did yesterday and the day before... so must remember the ol' adage: progress, not perfection.

Running is good...

I'm doing well with the running. I am pleased.

It is not much fun to write here about my running because it is boring. I mean, I can't say much more than "I ran". I could tell you what I thought of the plot of the teen drama I was watching while I ran ("Make It or Break It" or "Greek"), but I doubt that would be very fascinating, either.

So, I'll just stop by every few days and say how it is going, rather than posting every day. I'm running on a good running schedule, with one or two rest days a week. That's fine.

There was a brief chance that I would run in a half-marathon in two weeks, and that revved up my running for a few days, but the chance fell through so I'm back to normal.

I'm still reading your posts even if I'm not writing as often!

Cryptically Mitzi Day Aug 28 - September 1

Sunday to Wednesday. A stretch of some four days. I did the bulk of the Monday 'Omega' but was not able to crack some of those pesky cryptics embedded with the rest. I did get some great clues out, explained below (after this disclaimer!)

Cryptic crosswords are like yoga: if your mind isn't in the right place of stillness, you will topple over. My mind has been busy at work, so much so that even when I did try my cryptic crossword in the past few mornings, I literally could not balance on the cyrptic beam. Added to that, I have a funny excuse - Dylan Moran. I went to hear the Irish comedian on Tuesday night. His performance was brilliant and his manner with the audience is respectful and generous.

A night at the opera following northern style Chinese dumplings tied up my Wednesday night. I am finally home and able to concentrate on my crossword. No matter how hard on tried - on buses and trains in the past few days - nothing sank in. I could tell my concentration was at a weird ebb, because I lost my ATM card. Needless to say, I was in a furious funk of irritation as a result.

The Monday Omega contained a few clues with the word "converted".
eg Q Salacious in-flight society, converted
I knew the answer was related to The Mile High Club (wolf whistle!) but how? What is meant by 'converted'?
Answer: a conversion of measurements from American 'miles' to Aussie 'kilometres'...hence The One Point Six Kilometre High Club.

Same for the heavy rock industrial goth band Nine Inch Nails...who, 'converted', became 'twenty-three centimetre nails'.

Now that my brain has settled down, here are four clues from the Thursday mini.

Q Rides his bike around on the worst windstorms (8)
A cyclones
(cycle + cyclone)

Q Encroachment in the street (6)
A Inroad

Q Destiny, it's said, is a celebration (4)
A Fete
(Fate + fete)

Q Start off in the thing I ingested (8)
A initiate
(to initiate + ate/ingested!)

Day 17 -- Made Up Yoga

I'm late getting this done.  It's practically the middle of the night.

Oh well.

Tonight I made my own routine.  I was jammin' to my own select iTunes playlist and found myself up and jammin' yoga to my own melody.  It counts, right?

Gawd yoga makes my body feel good.  I find myself stretching throughout the day.  Tonight, knowing I had to do it for the challenge, I let myself stretch to my own rhythm not caring much if I were doing a "routine".  It felt good.

I'll go back to doing a structured routine tomorrow, but for tonight I'm happy living in my own La La land of c'est la vie. Screw it. =)

Reading & Riding: 8/31

I missed one day of riding because our bedtime routine with the kids got thrown off and it just slipped my mind. The next day I had a soul-crushing headache, so I skipped that day too. (I know, no excuses, right?) But I've hit the bike every day since then. I think this routine can really work for me long-term. I've missed recording my stats a couple times, or forgot to weigh in, but I'm getting the hang of all the pieces of the routine.

My goal at this point is to do a little better every day, either in distance or in calories burned. I took it too easy yesterday, so today I put the hammer down. I may be in trouble tomorrow.

Here are my collected numbers so far:

Date     Lbs    Miles  Cal     

08/15/11 230.6  3.86   162

08/16/11 232.6  4.06   178

08/23/11 230.6  4.14   176

08/24/11 230.6  4.05   172

08/29/11        4.59   204

08/30/11        4.64   204

08/31/11 230.4  4.51   201

09/01/11 228.6  4.86   211

--

Christ, you know it aint easy...

OK, so now we all have a mental image of Jesus on an exercise bike...
I have to admit that I "fell off" at the weekend and missed Saturday and only just got my 30 minutes on Sunday in two hits. (Busy time Chez Dinahmow)
And I'm struggling  this week. Just some silly little viral thing, but it seems to kick my asthma up a notch, damn it!
But I count yard work and a brisk walk in with 20 minutes of the bike. Oh! Did I mention the tension? Yes, I've upped the ante a little and from where I sit, that counts, too!
So...Tuesday was 30 minutes and I aim for that again today.
Now I have to lift another sack of potting mix out of my car and onto the bench.But I think I'll ask for help to move the potted rose!

Day 16 - You Guessed It

Ack!  Yep, here I am with another "I did it" report.  Whoopee! 

Today's yoga was infused with a bit of extra energy.  I read an article that INFURIATED me.  I wrote about it, which calmed me down, but I was still mad when I did the yoga.  I'm still mad even now.  But Meghan (the oh so cute, I wanna be a princess just like her when I grow up) yoga chick says in the PM video, "Can't think about anything else (when you're trying to balance)", and ya know, she's right.  I about fell over a couple of times today because I have the balance of a two year old.  Fighting gravity took my mind off the stupid people in the article I read, if only for a moment. 

I'll be back tomorrow with another I did it report-- bet you're on the edge of your seats for that one! ;-)

Day 15 - Dear Yoga, I'm Back

Wow, epic fail.  I knew this challenge would be more difficult than the last one, but I never expected to skip three days in a row.  Or was it four?  I lost count.

I can't say what happened or why.  I don't know.  I think the trouble started when I decided not to post every day that I'd met my challenge.  I mean really, who wants to read, I did it again! every day?  And you know what?  That was the first day I didn't do yoga.  Then two more days followed (or was it three?).

But, I'm back.  This being Monday, and I'm feeling pretty decent, and trying hard again to do what I need to do everyday and not get discouraged (blah, blah, blah), I jumped back on the challenge bandwagon.  I did yoga and I'm here to blog about it. 

Which is your unfortunate fate.  It appears as if an important aspect of this challenge for me is to check in daily and say, I did it again!  Yippee, just what you want to read.

I think I need to go back and watch that TED video again.  I think I need a refresher course on why I'm doing this and to be inspired again.  I'm definitely not tired of the challenge, but maybe I've lost sight of why I wanted so badly to be a part of this.

Ok, hope everyone's challenges are going well.  Happy Monday!

Operation "Arm Flaps" - Week 2 Wrap Up

And we're still battling the bingo wings!

Did my first "exhaustion" test, and was a little disappointed, but will continue the program. 20 push ups, on my toes, reasonably good form, without resting. My first attempt, 2 weeks ago, was a puny 10, so there has been improvement. i shall be winning no bar bets just yet, however...

Circumference of Arm Flaps: 13 5/8" / 34 1/2 cm.

EXACTLY the same as last week (sigh). i knew it would be infinitesimal progress. But c'mon, i DID it this week, damn it!

Some lessons learned along the way...

- DON'T attempt push ups after backpacking adventure.

- DO attempt push ups earlier in the day.

- DON'T attempt push ups after getting hammered during a theater event.

- DO wait til the next morning and do it when you are hungover and have a terrible headache.

- DON'T skip your abdominal workouts just because you are tired, working longer days, have activities every evening that keep you out late, or are lazy and a slug...

- DO remember that you are accountable to your comrades out here in the blogosphere....

i give myself a C this week because i only did the abdominal work ONCE. Grrr....

Mitzicryptic catchup

I have been crypticising diligently.

Here are some more accurate results of my efforts.

Q New piece of fiction (5)
A Novel

Q Meeting up once more on a French island (7)
A Reunion
(this relied on general knowledge; post-colonial island near Mauritius.)

Q Piggy friend to whom one writes (3-3)
A pen-pal

Q Reforms only in French city
A Lyon
(anagram of 'only'; gen knowledge of French geog required! plus, what's with the Frenchness? Bloody Dominic Strauss-Kahn.)

Just realised I have lost a cryptic (or mislabelled soemthing, somewhere) because I can't find the solutions for the "pen-pal" edition...oh well!

Onwards to 'Friday'.

Q Spotted area on Adriatic Coast (8)
A Dalmatia

Q After starters, be with her for choice language (6/2)
A Either/or (I mainly got this from the use of the / !)

This was my favourite.

Q Dusty whodunnit a welcome sight at a summer barbie? (ie Barbecue) (4, 4)
A cold case

Mitzicryptic August 27

3 clues from yesterday, and a couple from the day before. Many activities in meat-space have prevented me attended to the blogging part of the challenge, but I find it's good to prioritise 3-D activities and not become a slave drone to technology (said daucer-eyed with itching typing fingers.)

I am curious about how much cryptic crosswords rely on one's general knowledge beyond the vocab-knowledge that is concealed in the actual clue.

My recent reliance on Aussie slang was incorrect. While a "terrible blue" is related to fury', the clue simply needed me to mix up the letters in 'blue', at it to the letter "c", and think of a word related to 'cell'...the answer was CUBICLE (not 'century'...): it was not a cricket question.

Either way, from 'cubicle', I worked out another answer.

Q Bloke has right to be concealed (6)
A Covers
('cove' is old-fashioned cockney word for bloke)

Q Lubricates tablets in tanker's mishaps (3, 6)
A Oil Spills
(the tanker mishap was a bit of a giveaway, but the "tablets" reference is a synonym for 'pills'.)

Q Omen Sean misplaced for windflowers (8)
A Anemones
(my friend T used to have Japanese windflowers in a pot; it took me a while, and I would not have known anemones were the nerd name for windflowers, but I went with a gut instinct, seeing as the letters were 'misplaced', as you can see.)

Q Model in sleep ruined grinding tool (6)
A Pestle

It Takes Time

well, i'm off to a slow start in reconnecting with 30 people. i'll be making excuses and giving reasons. they're more for my benefit than trying to convince you.

so, here we are...what?...10 days into this challenge? so, theoretically, i should have reconnected with 10 people. okay, how about 5? and you may challenge me on one of those, but i'm counting it.

after two years away in the Peace Corps, my Girl Child has returned from South Africa. admittedly, i spoke with her on the phone fairly often (it was a tad expensive dialing halfway across the world...go figure) and e-mailed on occasion (e- service was sporadic and expensive where she was). but, since her return this past Friday, i've considered this to be a major reconnect in my life. she's actually here in person!

the others? a couple friends from years past. and a couple friends from not to long past (though i'd felt i'd really lost track of them...and them, me).

so, i'm going to have to kick it up.

and will do so just as soon as Daughter Person leaves here to begin her life in another state (this weekend? boo!!).

Rest day!

I'm taking today off from running. It isn't really reasonable or safe to run every day, and I've run for four days straight now, so I'm giving myself permission to have the day off from running. Rest days are important, too!

Mid-week "Flap Update" ("flap-date"?)

i am on track.

but i learned a lesson the hard way last night.

Wednesday nights have evolved into my 'practice backpacking' night, as well as an 'upper body' night. After kicking my own ass on the hiking trail* (25 pound pack, just an hour, but i'm in start-up mode), i returned home and still had to do my push ups.

i did them.

but i was in a bit of discomfort. not the upper body, but the lower back.

Next time? Do the upper body work BEFORE the hike. D'uh. Seems obvious.

~~~~~~~

* And perhaps spending a post-hike hour at the wine shop, conveniently located in between the trail head and my home....

Reading & Riding: Day, uh... 8-ish

So my "every day, no excuses" plan failed to take into account travel. I just got back from a trip with my oldest son to visit my mom in Florida. No real opportunity for riding. So I did the next best thing: I turned my 8-year-old loose on all that Florida had to offer, and vowed to keep up with him every step of the way.

We went to the beach, a sea bird and sea turtle rescue center, and a very tall lighthouse. I even suggested we climb to the top, just to get some exercise in.Unfortunately, the spiral staircase around the outer edge of the lighthouse had a steep incline, and a vertigo-inducing open center, so he bailed about a third of the way up. I kinda didn't blame him.

The next day we spent a long hot morning at the biggest flea market I've ever been to, wandering the labyrinthine aisles looking at all sorts of cheap knock-off goods and edible oddities before having a light lunch and heading off to a water park. I think I counted eight times up the four-story water slide towers, not to mention all the walking at ground level. My always-wet feet on always-hot concrete still feel a bit shredded, and walking barefoot on our living room rug is somewhat reminiscent of velcro.

The next day we were up bright and early to head for Disney's Magic Kingdom. Rather than doing rides and attractions that were close by, we followed his whims, back and forth across the blazing hot giant pizza stone amusement park grounds. I knew we'd done it right when at the end of the day I told him it was time to go and he said "okay, good."

Day three was spent kayaking, with me doing all the paddling and him gawking at boats and birds and everything else. The payoff was a cove full of at least a dozen friendly manatees, all of whom wanted to be our friends. They had a dog-like desire to be close to us, nibbling on the boat straps and resting their flippers on the sides of our kayaks. (They also have dog breath, for what it's worth).

After that, we walked on Daytona's boardwalk and splashed around some more in the waves before finally hopping the train back to North Carolina.

I even ate relatively healthy stuff, with an abundance of salads and a minimum of fried foods. If you knew me, you'd know that means I must be getting serious.

Since getting back yesterday morning, I've gotten back in the saddle, so to speak. Here are my stats for the last two rides:

Tuesday, 8/23
Weight: 230.6
Distance: 4.14 miles
Calories: 176

Wednesday, 8/24
Weight: 230.6 (is my scale stuck??)
Distance: 4.05 miles
Calories: 172

I might have to bump up my program on the bike tomorrow. It's too hard to read and pay attention to how hard I'm pedaling at the same time, so I may have to let the technology push me rather than me pushing myself.



--

And I ran...

I just got off the treadmill, where I ran 3.75 miles, to make up for the fact that I only ran 2 yesterday due to lack of time. Perhaps my goal should just be to get ON the treadmill and run at least a mile, because if I do that AND I have time, I will always run for 45 minutes (because that's how long the shows are that I watch while running, and I hate to stop in the middle of a show).

Feeling good, and I could definitely go faster. Maybe tomorrow.

Day 10 - Done Yoga

Today I actually did say to myself, I feel bad, I should do yoga.  And so I did.  I can't say as I necessarily feel better for it, but I'm still glad I did it.  How much worse would I feel if I hadn't done it?

I rested again during the more intense parts, but not as often. 

So, yoga is done for the day.  I never did yoga last night before bed and I don't see myself doing it tonight, but we'll see.

Namaste.

Mitzicryptic Day August 24

Tackling cryptic xwords is a humbling pastime, because I reckon there are word nerds out there who must fly through it in a "Harry initially joined curry" (hurry).

Hence, I should not be mortified when I can only get 2.5 clues out of 3; well, I'm 99% sure of my aptness for number 3, but there's that doubtful niggle.

Q Captain has terrible blue about nearly a hundred in cell (7)
A Century
(cricket term - 100 runs; a "blue" in Aussie slang is a fight/row, ie fury (rhymes with tury....I think I got there: I'm suspicious of the "nearly a hundred" part - which refers to "ce" in cell, but could be something I've missed.)

The next two are worry free!

Q Twin flags reveal flexibility of principles. (6, 9)
A DOUBLE STANDARDS!
(I was quite proud of this one.)

Q Diplomacy of South American City read to those misbehaving badly (4, 3)
A Riot Act
... I was up late in bed counting off on my fingers all the South American cities I know; Rio got me there (my baby must have smiled at me...) and I still didn't even see the "diplomacy" part until now (tact, joining Rio to Act.)

There are a few more clues where I annoyingly felt I was a third or two thirds of the way to the correct answer: and the frustration can be agonising*. This is why one shouldn't attempt cryptic xwords around breakable glass or grindable teeth, and perhaps taking up yoga would provide the ultimate calming effect?
*exhilirating, you know I love it.

Day 9 - Butt Kicking Yoga

AM Yoga accomplished!  But boy was I low on energy.  I couldn't get through the whole thing without stopping to rest.  There's a whole downward dog into plank into cobra into downward dog segment I can't get through anyway, but today was worse than usual.  Then there was my favorite section that I usually love but today couldn't get through without taking a break.  The nice thing about doing this at home and alone is that no one sees my cheats and rests (but of course I have to out myself here-- geesh, when will I learn? lol) 

Ok, on with the day (with an eye toward PM Yoga before bed, because it's much easier and feels good).

Day 8 - Tight Yoga

Whew.  I didn't realize how tense and tight I was until I did yoga tonight.  My muscles hurt through most of it, until finally I got stretched out and relaxed.  I'm really glad now that I did it.

I have four yoga videos, but only use two of them on a regular basis-- AM and PM.  The AM is supposed to wake you up in the morning.  It's much more vigorous than the PM, which is mostly stretching and relaxing in preparation for sleep.  I'm going to try hard to do AM tomorrow since it seems like I really need to work out the tightness in my muscles more than I am.  Lots of stress and pressure around here, and the yoga helps a lot; but it's funny because I don't notice how tense I am until I'm actually doing yoga.  It's not like I ever say, gee, I'm stressed and tight, I should do yoga.  Frankly, if it weren't for this challenge I probably wouldn't be doing it at all.  Good thing I picked this for the challenge, huh?  Well, that's what I'm thinking anyway.

Ok, all for now. Namaste.

I did it again!

I ran another 5K this morning. It was only barely 12 hours after my previous 5K, but I needed to get it in before heading off to the Children's Museum in Cincinnati for the day.

It was a good run. I took 5 minutes off of my time (which should tell you how slowly I was running before), and could probably have gone faster. I'm starting to feel more tenderness on the soles of my feet, so we'll see how that goes.

I watched "Make It or Break It", which I always find inspiring and fun. Yes, I prefer to watch teenage drama television.

Now, it is 10:36pm, 6 minutes past my previous goal of getting to bed by 10:30. I'm glad I gave that one up! This one is better for me, anyway. And more attainable. Sleep is such an inconvenience!

Mitzicryptic Day 8

Q Two Days off sound like a feeble goal (7)
A weekend

Q Canberra finds the cash (7)
A capital

(NB Canberra is the capital city of Australia. It's alright, I keep forgetting too.)

Not sure about this one:
Q Drum that got a good run in France (5)
A snare? (the word "ran" is backwards in 'snare')

Those 2 from the mini, and here's a dreaded clue from the Monday Omega:

Q Tool used to get rid of workers you no longer need (3)
A Axe

Time to hide the crossword book and get back to real work!

Day 7 - Last Minute Yoga

Getting the yoga in for the day just under the wire once again.  This time it's because I've been working, not because I've been slacking. ;-)

A week in and other than feeling better when I'm done I don't notice any more flexibility or balance.  The feeling better and stress relief is definitely worth the effort, so even though we're only a week into the challenge I can definitely see that I'll be keeping this up well after this current challenge ends. 

Ok, shower time, then I'm off to write the next Great American Novel. (ha ha ha)  Namaste.

Operation "Arm Flaps" - Week 1 Wrap up

Managed to complete the push-up challenge for week 1, which was 3 workouts (M, W, F). Stuck in abdominal/core operations T, Th... but failed on Saturday because i was out of town farting around (not an excuse, really).

Only did the extra arm work on M, which needs to change. And the ab/core work is quite necessary - as i'm feeling the crunch of the crunch, and know that i'm weak in the midsection.

So i'll give myself a grade of B- for Week 1. i can do better.

Circumference of Arm Flaps: 13 5/8" / 34 1/2 cm

Potentially a loss of 3/8", or 1.5 cm - but this could be within the measurement error. Expect to not see something substantial until the end of Week 4. But slow and steady...

and yes. i know that's an ugly tank top. i'm doing laundry, alright?

Let the running commence...

New goal is to run at least 5K every day. So far, so good. I used to run 5M a day, but I haven't done that in almost a year, so I'm very happy with 5K. I ran it VERY slowly, so my goal will simply to be run faster, not run farther. I always get into the trap of running farther, but that takes longer and eventually I get to the point where I can't dedicate as much time to it as it requires. This time, I'm going to try to make it take less and less time instead. That's more efficient, right?

I feel good. My ankles and calves are sore, as they always are when I start up. That should go away in a week. The soles of my feet are pretty tender right now (I run barefoot), so I'm stuck on the treadmill, but once they toughen up I'll head outside... hopefully before the weather gets too nasty. We have nice golf cart paths I can run on here.

Here's to the happiness that running brings me!

Belly "Dancing" day 7

The good news... I have done something with my belly dancing video every day - something other than throwing it out the window which crosses my mind the whole time. I've only been able to do about 10 minutes at each section. I hope that counts - I wanted it be 30 minutes a day but frankly, it's just too hard for me. My arms feel like they're going to fall off and I still can't figure out the difference between a hip up and a hip drop.

Ok, so here's the embarrassing part... it's not actually a belly dancing video. Turns out, it's an exercise video using belly dancing moves with two lucious belly dancing babes in the their cute belly dancing outfits. I'm kind of embarrassed that I didn't read the box right, but oh well...

So anyway, I was going to just keep suffering through it, but now I'm mad and have changed my mind! Instead, I went to Amazon and bought an actual Belly Dancing video for beginners and chose overnight delivery!

I'm not giving up on the challenge - I've been doing it every day and I will do them again tomorrow - but if I want to belly dance, I want to do it right! So when the real video comes in Tuesday... this video is going out the proverbial window!

but I still feel stupid.

Cryptically Mitzi Day 6 & 7

My challenge is progressing. The grade of this challenge is so steep, it's almost vertical. Partially, I suspect the cryptic crosswords get harder as the week goes on. Or maybe I got tireder?

Still, I got some clues out.

Q Head brought back gem and spice (6)
A NUTMEG

Q Mine history ends in shame (4)
A PITY

Q Old mathematician reversed half-size curved structures outside (10)
A ARCHIMEDES
(I liked this one: arch + the maths dude in the bath Archimedes + demi backwards)

QFive hundred each? Remainders is the most expensive? (7)
A DEAREST

Q This occasion completed the opening? (5)
A EVENT

Q Certain old town in the southeast (4)
A SURE
(That 'old town' being Ur, the town which the biblical Abraham came from; see? all those years of Jewish education paid off!)

So that's my six successfully answered cyrptic clues. The endorphins effect of getting over-excited about my newly exercised skills can be deceptive - as the crosswords start difficult, stay tricky and grow more cunning by the day. I was right ot stick with only 3 clues a day. Any more is like that extra martini - dangerous!

I give up...

I give up. I cannot go to bed by 10:30 at night right now. It is not reasonable or possible. I did start running again, though, so maybe I should try that instead.

Day 6 - Return of the Yoga

I don't know why I didn't do yoga yesterday.  I have no excuses.  I just didn't do it.

However, inspired by dinahmow's most recent post, I got yoga in for the day just under the wire-- with a mere 20 minutes left of the day.  Yes, I feel better.

With all this feeling better stuff when I get done with yoga it's a wonder I'm not doing it all day long.  Well, we're just a week into the challenge so there's time yet for it to become habit.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!  Namaste.

reasons or excuses?

I always feel that when people give a list of reasons for doing,or not doing, something they had said they would(or would not) do...those reasons are excuses. A cop-out.
So...here I am, on the eve of week two with an excuse/reason of my own. Oh dear!

What happened? I missed my 30 minutes of pedaling on Thursday. I have what I think is a reason, but it sounds like a cop-out!

On Thursday morning I whizzed about, doing domestic stuff and fully intended to get my 30 minutes in after my stint at school.

I was a "helper" at a local school which was hosting a visit from some Japanese students from our Twin City. It was a happy few hours, lots of laughter, great co-operation  from all the kids and friendships forged.

But I came home with a crashing headache, probably from bending over low kiddie-size desks for hours. So I didn't get on my bike.

But I did swim 1200m on Friday and pedaled for 45 minutes so I figure I'm still in the game.

Cryptically Mitzi Day 4 & 5

An uninvited headache and asthma got me all exhasuted and hypochondriacked last night, so my post is delayed to what is actually Day 5.

I'm off to the swimming pool shortly to continue my Round 1 Legacy of daily exercise. Yesterday I did my serious kilometres while listening to her highness Tina Fey reading Bossypants - memoir - into my jogging ears. She rocks. "Gay people are just as good and screaming at their hockey-playing kids as straight poeople" (or something to that effect, and other gems.)

Matters Arising

* duck-bill is definitely (4-4)
*I have been going over the limit of 3 where possible.

Wed 17.8

Q 1A Some fakery in hte building trades? (3-2, 3)
A Put-up job

Q 11A It fixes tooth holder (3)
A gum

Q 29A steer and span two universities (8)
A oxbridge

Those were achieved without extra assistance.
Extra assistance are like "second tier" recognitions (guesses) when you have a letter or two provided by a previous answer.

eg

Q17D Storage for driver's mittens (5-3)
A glove-box

20 A What causes reaction making everything sort of green? (8)
A Allergen

This next one was my EUREAKA moment.

Q 13d Relative destruction of nice dangers (5-5)
A grand-niece

which led to ...

Q 21d Smiled when rending another way (7)
A grinned

A lot of these depend on anagrams, as I am learning. Then, there are the harder logical leaps to make.

So that's about 7 clues over two days. I have attempted four clues from today's cryptic and will view the results later on in today's paper.

I think my challenge is working well, perhaps too well. I return far too feverish with excitment to my comfy chair for cryptical conundra.

Q too comfortable beneath when glass is shattered
A ass

Day 4: Hace dos días

What I saw:

1. 4 really cute students in the corner of the cafe before school starts
2. boy on steps cruising me 'cause we're wearing similar penguin hoodies
3. my whiteboard a mess with new vocabulary
4. 2 Elluminate screens while training a teacher
5. implant specialist putting xray film in my mouth
6. puddles of my sweat on each side of gym treadmill — interval training
7. cards on floor of Spanish class
8. full(ish) moon over London Eye, lit up blue
9. late night omelet in a frying pan
10. my new bf Andy Dwyer on P&R as I crash on sofa

7. Cards of the floor of Spanish class

Lupe has multi-colored sets of cards, all with sentences. She explains we have to put them in order. Each one has a sentence, and when the task is over we'll have a story. My partner and I get the yellow set. It will be a race.

Lupe asks if we want to work at our escritorios or en el suelo. Without answering, I'm out of my chair and on the nasty, industrial carpeted suelo. My classmates follow suit. I'm so exhausted from the intervals I did before class (speedwork kills) that I just want to lie down. Even if it's on a classroom floor that has years of shoe shit trampled into it.  It feels hard, coarse and just a little itchy.  It could in fact be the most inviting sleeping surface I've ever been prostrate upon. If I had a blanket, I'd be sound asleep, like a toddler in a pram being pushed down a crowded city street. I envy their ability to sleep anywhere; or perhaps just the fact their yummy mummies pump them full of Benadryl before going out on a shopping spree.

As best I can tell, the story is about a trip to a safari park and a woman feeds her apples to an elephant, who then gets his trunk stuck in her car window.  Drama ensues. Lucy and Ethel go to the safari park.

I don't recognize many of the words, but can suss out enough key phrases to figure out the order of the story. While my partner wastes time looking up words in the dictionary (it's a race, remember?) I drag the cards across the carpet into some semblance of order.  Classmates' whispers of English and Spanish translations breeze through the recycled air. Lupe walks above us, in sandals instead of her usual white go-go boots (she's fab), answering ¿como se dice? questions.

The cute Ibiza boy, who you may remember from a previous Spanish post, is on the floor next to me. He's working with his friend, my namesake, who's not only a member of the team, but could very well be a team captain.  Yup, Spanish class is pretty much a gay bar.

We finish ahead of the other teams. Lupe checks our answers, we made no mistakes, and I want to fall into a celebratory, ¿como se dice coma?.

No sleep til Brooklyn...

Ugh. Last night I was in bed with lights off at 10:30. And 11:00. And 11:30. And 12:00. And 12:30. It was awful. I ended up messing around on the internet from 12:30 - 1:30, and finally fell asleep for another fitful night. These are not good sleeping days.

Day 4 - Yoga, Good Times!

Just finished up yoga and wow do I feel good.  If every day were like this I could see it getting addicting.

I did yoga before bed last night, but even so woke up feeling tense and stiff.  My mattress is crap, which probably helps explain why I feel so rotten in the morning.  All those kinks are worked out now though.  Whoowee.  The crappy mattress could work in my favor for this challenge thing.  If I wake up feeling rotten I'll need yoga, right?

Ok, off to have a great day.  Hope ya'll do too!  Namaste.

Press Ups Away!

It's Wednesday, and i've completed Week 1 Day 1 and Week 1 Day 2 of my quest.

In a word? "Ouch"

For my 'off day', i did a bunch of random abdominal crunch-like sets and what not after pumping up my neglected yoga ball.

i'm feeling it. Oh, i am DEFINITELY feeling it.

Three days in, and i'm on my way. Not over doing it. Just doing it.

Day 3 - 2 Year Old Yoga

The balance was worse than ever tonight.  I have the balance of a 2 year old anyway, but tonight I could barely stand on two feet.  Geesh.

Mission accomplished though.  I'm freshly stretched, freshly showered, and ready for the sleep of the dead. 

Good night all!  Namaste.

Success!

I did it! I went to bed by 10:30 last night... earlier even, maybe. I think I was asleep by 10:30. We were in a hotel in Indianapolis, so we could arrive when they opened at 10am, which would have been hard if we had had to drive 2.5 hours first. Also, adding a cheap hotel stay into it made it feel like a vacation instead of just a museum trip.

Anyway, I went to bed early but slept terribly because the bed was too soft and the room was too moist. I don't know what to say about that... it was just really humid in that room, and the air conditioner seemed to make it worse. Opening the window helped, but I had to close it halfway through the night when I realized that the sun streaming in would wake the kids earlier than I wanted.

So, I did it, but woke up a million times, so I'm still tired. I'm hoping for better luck tonight in my own bed.

Day 3: Hace dos días

What I saw:

1. towel draped over side of bathtub
2. people on line outside coffee truck
3. traffic on Old Street
4. new students, some very cute, registering in lobby
5. my class waiting for me in room 409
6. oooo backpack on floor of glass cube
7. my clothes hanging on door of shower room at gym
8. my iPod plugged into the gym's stereo
9. Upper Street full of post-work commuters
10. dinner dishes in the sink

8. My iPod at the Gym

I start my warm-up on the treadmill and trainer John asks me how I'm feeling. The speed reads 11 which is fast for a warm-up. I say I had a cranky weekend for no real reason and he pushes the speed button up to 12. The whir of the machine at my feet slap against the canvas.

He says music helps when he's like that. I say I've been looking for new tunes and a man in jeans and a dress shirt walks in front of the treadmill, heading to the physio office. John speeds up the pace and my stride follows suit.

"I want to hear a Bob playlist," he says, and when the warm-up is over he sends me for my iPod. "DJ Bob is in the house," he announces as he plugs it it.  I'm sure the red-shirted trainer boys have better things to listen to and won't like it.  My "long run" playlist.

"It's eclectic," I say, hoping the first song on shuffle won't be too homocentric.

We go to the chin up bar and a disco re-mix, keeping the homo in homocentric, comes on. A remix of Will Young's first song. Evergreen. It was a ballad when he won Pop Idol (or X Factor, or whatever it was called back then) with it. Trainer John is singing along, his hands just above my waist as he gives me an assist to finish the set.  He knows the words. N is coaching his client through a series of walking lunges. Better him than me.

We move to the bench for reverse pull ups. Super sets with press ups ('cause I'm in the UK, remember, and they're not push ups here). In between sets, W (who I had a a trainer affair with while John was on holiday), blows me a kiss while he checks his phone between clients. These are the gayest group of straight boys I've ever met. The banter and camaraderie always makes the hard work more enjoyable. They all seem to genuinely love their work. It creates an amazing energy. And fit lads flirting with you never hurts.  "I miss you," W silently says from across the room. John says 10 more seconds rest. Time to get back under the bar and pull.  Back days are hard for me.

Another set and N is now tapping his foot to Born To Run — not a re-mix,  told you it was eclectic — while he checks the form of his client's plank. 

It's strange to hear my music on the loud speakers. I never listen to this mix unless I'm running. What is usually just in my head is now the whole gym's soundtrack.

Fast forward to end of session. It was a tough but excellent work out. I get more than my money's worth here. I'm showered and changed and head to the stereo. John's with his next client, putting him through warm-up paces on the treadmill. "See you Thursday, Big Bob," he yells across the gym.

I turn down The Killers mid-song, and unplug the pod.

"Booooo," yells N.

W chimes in with another "Booo" and soon a half dozen red-shirted trainers (all who knew my name by the end of my 2nd session) are boooing me, and some of the clients as well.

"You've changed, Bob," N says. "You used to be such a nice guy.  And now you take away our music?"

"Did you want me to leave my phone here till Thursday?"  I pull the top CD off the stack next to the stereo. It's a compilation of Christmas songs. Random. I hold it up. "Shall I put on a little Christmas?"

W re-racks the kettleball he'd been making his client swing. "It can't be Christmas if you're leaving," he tells me and gives me a wink goodbye.

Cryptically Mitzi, Day 3

Matters Arising:
Following some consultation with Parental Unit-M, I have revised some answers to Omega cryptic clues.
Now, "Youngster's Horses (3-4)" is not cryptic but I would never have known this. Apparently Uiver knew the phrase all along, and I'm foolishing for not asking him. The answer? Gee-gees. Weird. Ancient cockney or Aussie slang?
I also revised "identity nucleus if a neat plan" - the answer is IDEA based on gee-gees.

Just checked another answer from the Monday mini-cryptic. "Repossess" was correct for "what the devil may do if you don't pay the exorcist".

From the Tuesday mini-cryptic, I attempted 5 but I believe I only got three right.

Q Remove old North Brit in sketch (6)
A Scotch

Q Affirmative Returning after family doctor involved in sex research (6)
A Kinsey
(the "yes" of affirmative is "reversed" - clever, ha?)

Q Avoid invoice for monotreme (4-3)
A duck-bill

Ba-bowm. I got two out of three. My error was in the old North Brit.
the answer is DEPICT. That was very tricky. I was thinking of the slang term "scotch a plan".

Despite the 2 out of 3 success rate, I am getting a little addicted to the cryptic challenge. I am toddling through the Wednesday cryptic and looking forward to the solutions tomorrow. Major geek attack from within responds sharply (3): eek!

Day 3 Down Under

OK...I have done my 30 minutes each day, with some extra time last night. At this stage I've screwed the tension right back to as loose as I can get it. Well, I have not ridden a bike in years and do NOT want to do a cruciate ligament or something. So, baby steps.
I hope that by day 30 I'll be pushing harder.

For the record - biceps toning is not my (current) goal, but Daisy Fae seems to think she's cornered that market so this should make her feel better: 13" or 33cms. On a hill, with a following wind, I could save an air fare!

And my cryptic clues, from the Saturday Australian
Q      A Liberal meeting fellow in recess.   6
A       Alcove

Q       At home? The opposite, to some extent.  2, 1, 3
A      In a way

Q     Listener's fine arts section  3
A     Ear

Oh dear! I've just seen the fine print: solution on Monday


I assumed the solution would be next Saturday, so now I'll have to scratch around for a copy of Monday's paper. Are we having fun yet...

Day 2 - Yoga, Blah

I woke up this morning tired and not feeling well so I skipped the non-essentials of my morning routine including yoga.  As the day wore on I began to feel a little better, but still waffled about whether or not to do yoga today or skip it. 

It is night now, nearly time for bed, and I guess my conscience got the better of me because I just finished up with my yoga routine.

I did a different routine than I usually do.  The one I did today is a lot more floor stretching than my morning routine-- a good thing because my balance is especially bad today; I nearly fell over! 

So day two accomplished, though I can't say I feel particularly proud or happy for that fact.  I guess I'm just in a grumpy mood because I don't feel well.  I'm all relaxed now from the stretching so hopefully I'll get a good nights sleep and wake up tomorrow both feeling better and with a better attitude.

Good night all.  Namaste.

Reading & Riding: Day Two

Day 2 complete. So what's the protocol here. Do people check in every day? I mean, I expect to run out of anything even remotely interesting to say by about, oh, day four, if not sooner.

Yesterday I had a mistake on the calorie burn. Should have been 162. Like y'all care. But I'm tracking it anyway.

Day 2
Weight: 232.6
Distance: 4.06 miles
Calories: 178

For those keeping score at home, everything went up, including weight. But I know enough to not get hung up on day-to-day weight. Well, unless it goes down.

I may still be in the honeymoon phase here, but I'm liking this. I'm already plotting and scheming for what I'm going to do for my next 30 day challenge.

But then I always tend to put the cart before the goose who lays the golden fleece after the barn door is closed.

--

Day 2 - Hace dos días

What I saw

1. Text on phone about lunch
2. White jeans at Aubun Wills
3. oooo Brick Lane vegetable market
4. Cheap household junk at other BL stalls
5. Brunch table at Owl & Pussycat
6. ooo Rebekah making post-brunch at Nelson's
7. Getting lost during the run
8. Seeing John the masseur finshing up my run
9. Word with Friends notifications on iPhone
10. Laptop screen with documents I didn't finish this weekend

5. Brunch table at the Owl and the Pussycat

The boys didn't want to sit upstairs we ordered at the bar and tried to decide on a table. Most of the chairs are stools and don't have backs. We sit by the door, but they decide to move to a bigger table that has benches.  I opt for the more comfortable thrift-store chair at the head of the table, professing it has a better view instead of saying I wanted to sit comfortably. 

The back patio is empty. Service didn't start till noon, so the place is still quiet as the wall clock reads 12:10. And that's probably bar time. Better than the 10:30 start the boys asked for last night. Who has Sunday brunch at 10:30am?

A woman sits at the table next to us, drinking a Bloody Mary and reading a paper while waiting for her foodl.  Our table is big -- distressed wood and could easily sit six, so there's plenty of room. The manager, perhaps even cuter than he was last visit, has cranked up the sound and starts dancing to "Brown Sugar" despite having told me he's shattered from last night and starting a double. He assures me the vegetable roast (egplant -- sorry, it's aubergine in these parts --, carrots and sweet potato in strudel) will be amazing. When the food arrives, I will find he did not steer me wrong.

The speaker is directly above our table, which means brunch will be louder than I expected. It's never this loud upstairs.

The patio fills while we're eating, as does the pub. My iPhone goes off, telling me a bloke I know who moved back north has just checked in on F'book to a pub with the same name as the one we're in. A few minutes later, he walks by and looks surprised to see me.  I'm not the one who moved.

"It's trendier here than I remember," he says.

I joke "that's 'cuase I'm here" and he says that might have something to do with it.

Cryptically Mitzi, Day 2

Some of us are going beyond our comfort zones. That is what we taught our boys at school camp (when I taught at high school) when encouraging them to drop down from 15 foot ledges attached to a rope and carabine; or to climb 20 vertical feet on a ropes course, wearing a helmet and safety rope. In all of those team-building activities, the poor sucker trapped on a fashioned log at way too high metres is forced to trust the people below, and the person within.

Metaphorically, here in 30 Days land, we are holding each other's safety rope. I am so at the edge of my comfort zone I am in danger of falling off! Still, the second security feature on this madcap challenge - attempting 3 cryptic clues only - has got the second half of my August off to a cracking start.

Yesterday's answers - I won't know if they're correct until Monday.

I also attempted the mini-xword below the Omega, and I am able to check my answers using the Tuesday edition.

Here goes (and by the way, the first two are totally non-traditional cryptics, in my humble op!)

1. (weird, does not use the letters of the questions words)
Q Young and Grizzly (4, 3)
A Bear Cub

2 (weird, also does not use letters from question words, but it's bloody funny.)
Q What the devil may do if you don't pay the exorcist? (9)
A Repossess

3 (I tried this because the answer was only three letters. I got two out of the three letters. )
Q sounds like little dog gets every last bit of scrap (3)
A Yap
(I got "pup" and "ap" but could not make it from "pap" to "yap"...this one was a learning experience)

BONUS GLORY
(The answer was three letters, and this was a trad the-answer-is-in-the-question cryptic clue.)
Q Reach the abyss but not by donkey (3)
A Ass

Nerd note: I am cutting and pasting the crosswords into a special book. Am regressing to teenage geekdom. Fun!

Day 1 - EPIC FAIL!

Hmm... let's see... what time is it? Oh, look! It is 11:49pm as I type this. Hmm... what time was supposed to be in bed? That's right... 10:30pm. Oops.

I was rather spontaneously going to take the kids to Indianapolis to visit the Children's Museum for a day or two, which involved getting a hotel, which took longer than it perhaps should because I really wanted one with a pool and a hot tub that didn't have terrible reviews AND didn't cost very much. Seems like that's a pretty tall order. I started that at 10:00pm.

Two hours later, I have a hotel reservation, and have unfortunately determined that the reciprocity from my local children's museum membership does not extend to the Indianapolis Children's Museum (why?), so I can't reasonably go there two days in a row. Argh.

New plan, wait for the husband to come home after work, then head over there so the kids can play in the indoor pool for a few hours before bed, then spend the day at the museum, then drive home. We could do the museum as a day trip, but the kids REALLY want to stay in a hotel, and it ensures that we can get to the museum as early as possible. I know I'll be dragging them out of there at 5:00 when the museum closes, anyway, and I like to eke out every moment I can.

Anyway, all that to say, EPIC FAIL. I'm already 1.5 hours late for my deadline. Oops.

Why am I so bad at this?

Reading & Riding: Day One

I decided to impose one more restriction on myself: No substitutions. I ran up and down the basement stairs probably ten times today, moving some things that we need to get rid of. And I thought, well, that's as good as riding the stationary bike, isn't it?

But that would miss the point. I'm supposed to be adding to my everyday activities. And I'm supposed to be reading. So, no substitutions.

I was tired and had a headache after dinner, and last night was a bit rough, and it was a grueling work day, and blah blah blah. But I pushed on. You can't skip Day One if you wish to have any credibility, with yourself or with others.

So we did the bedtime thing with the kids, and I got on the bike. I had a surprisingly hard time figuring out what to read. It seems like it has to be a certain kind of book - something with a good story, rather than say, a non-fiction book... though I have no idea why. It may take me a few days to settle on the right book.

At any rate, here are my stats for the first day:

Weight: 230.6 lbs
Distance: 3.86 miles
Calories: 187

It's a start. Which, I suppose, is the point.

--

Day 1 - hace dos días

Ha, you thought this would be Spanish-free, didn't you. ;-)

What I saw:

1. My clothes on the floor next to the bed.
2. A pile of papers and books on the coffee table.
3. Cream swirling into my coffee.
4. Larry lying on the sofa.
5. A stack of newspapers under his feet.
6. The cat lying on the back of the sofa, above Larry's head.
7. Cyclist in my way as I ran.
8. A bowl of crips at G's.
9. A table set for four.
10. A white black cab stopping to take us home.

#8: A Bowl of Crisps at G's

Potato chips, 'crisps' because I'm in England now, beckon to me. They sit on the end table in G's living room. I haven't been there since camping out last December after the fire at ours. J is on the sofa, next to Larry. G is in the kitchen, apologizing that dinner is going to be late. His iPod in in the Bose player on the bookshelf to my left.

I want the crisps, but they're not on my reducing plan. Neither is the red wine I'm drinking. We'll call this a cheat evening rather than a cheat day — and I did run seven miles today, faster than I had planned.

I have pistachios instead. They are delicious and I'm thankful they're not cashews, because I'd be downing them by the handful. Larry and J are talking about the insurance market (J's job) and I want more wine. The shell dish (brown ceramic, just like the two next to it that harbor nuts and crisps) is filling up while the pistachios slowly disappear inside my gut.

G moves my wine glass to a coaster, saying, "Sorry to be an old woman about that."

"Not at all, it's your house," I say, instead of telling him it's stemware and therefore won't leave a mark. You don't need coasters with wine glasses.

He changes the music to something I've never heard before, but would be happy to play on a rainy afternoon at home. Which, being England, never happens. An indy band that sounds like something you'd slit your wrists to. "Is it too dour?" G asks.

"No, I like suicide dinner music," I say.  The potato chips' siren call is too tempting and I start to slide down the slippery slope of having just the one. Mmm. Salt and crispy fat.  So much for the reducing plan.

Day 1 - Accountable Yoga

I sat recovering from our long morning walk, reading blogs, checking email, that sort of thing, and thought to myself, ok, so yoga is next.  Then I smiled, because there it was: the accountability factor. 

And that's why I'm doing this, right?  The accountability?  Yes, I do believe so.  At least today anyway, because today would've been one of those days I'd have let myself skip it if I weren't doing it as part of this challenge.

So, knees popping, muscles groaning, whole body wobbling against gravity, I did my yoga routine.  And yes, I do feel better for it. 

I do believe this will be a much tougher challenge than the last one.  I abhor exercise, which is why I like yoga.  It's the least horrific of all exercises.  (Although I will begrudgingly admit that when my dog is seized by anxiety and refuses to walk for several days in a row I do miss it and will go without him if he's too stubborn for too long.  That's what walking almost daily-- usually twice a day-- for five years will do to you.)

Cryptically Mitzi, Day 1

For 30 Days Challenge Round 2 I am going to (gulp) attempt an intellectual rather than physical feat. I am going to attempt to solve three cryptic crossword clues per day. Earlier in the year I made it my mission to make the 2010s-20s the "Decade of the Cryptic", as it's a long-term goal that I know I can only reach slowly and painfully.

Over the months, my cryptic skills have improved microscopically but noticeably, so I thought I would sneak some into the 30 day shebang, to keep my crypticise regular.

I will need to be organised. Every Monday, usually, I get the SMH newspaper with the "Omega" crossword. It's a ritual commenced when living with my parents as an adult between bouts of wishful independence. So, here I am, a tentative crossword junkie on the make. If I don't buy the newspaper daily, it's no hardship: I plan to hang on to each attempted cryptic crossword puzzle and check on results the next day ... the system is still under construction.

By the way, the Monday Omega seems somehow easier or more accessible than the daily puzzle. It's because cryptic clues are mixed in with regular clues, so you have more of a chance of getting some letters down to help you.

Here's Day 1. I won't know if I'm correct until next Monday.
1.
47 Across: ?Those taking part in audition?
A: Listeners

(it's not so cryptic, but fits in with surrounding letters...)

2.
31 Across: ?Cheese is sharp for the most part?
A: Brie

(I may well be incorrect, but the letters R and E where provided, and I like Brie, so nyah. Also, it sounds likes brief, so brief is the "most part" of a word?)

3.
29 Across: ?Identify nucleus of neat plan?
A: ions

(The letter I was provided; The "n" and "p" could stand for positive and negative, which relate to the ions in a nucleus, if faded memories of Year 9 science class serve me well.)

Operation "Arm Flaps"

My arms. They look like Mom's. This is unacceptable.

Full combat assault for the next 30 days - yes, we're taking on "Bingo Wings", folks. Gonna tone 'em up, and smack 'em down!

Sunday nights i will post my progress, via measurement and photo.

You want personal accountability? Post your fat on the interwebz...

i will be working a program based on "100 Push Up Challenge", augmented with other upper body work. This is a 3 day per week thing, so i'll be doing core/lower body work on alternate days.

i'll keep you posted on progress, but Sunday will be my day to do this...

Circumference of Arm Flaps: 14" / 36 cm

Success and Continuing

wow. what an adventure. i'd forgotten how wonderful it was to sit down and read a book. now, admittedly, i did have a few excellent suggestions on what books to read, so that made it worlds easier to accomplish the reading challenge.

even though there were a few days i didn't make my 30 minutes reading challenge, i still declare victory. three books, plus bits and pieces of three other books. and still a taste...a need...to continue reading. that is the essence of the challenge.

the sleep? not so well with that challenge, but glimmers of hope. will continue to pursue a full seven hours a night, plus try and do so with a reasonable (ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!) bedtime.

and, absolutely, i want to continue. i will continue to work at last month's challenges. but a new one is surely required.

next 30 day challenge? i will reconnect with 30 people who have been otherwise 'lost' in my life of late. people who are in my thoughts, but not recently in my e-mail, snail mail, voice mail. make the effort to let them know i care and hope they are doing well.



most of those will be family. after my divorce, i sort of withdrew from my family, spread across the country, in favor of my virtual local family comprised of good friends and colleagues. while my 'new' family is important to me, i still wish to reconnect to my true, blood family.

some will be friends. people i've crossed paths with in the past who have changed my perspective on life or otherwise been important to me. a man, for example, who was a work colleague and a friend...to include being best man...yet i've lost touch with him (or him, me...but that's not important) and want to at least reach out.

the notional challenge will be one person a day, but reality will be (due to upcoming vacation adventures), that i will likely double or treble up a few days.

accountability? indirect. i won't be posting on each person i reconnect with, but give an overall impression on how things are going.

and to those continuing with a new challenge, plus those new to this challenge? good luck and see you on the blog!

Challenge Accepted

I've been inexplicably tired lately. Run down. Worn out. Beat.

Now granted, I've got an always defiant 8-year-old son, who has a severely autistic twin sister. Did I mention the three-year-old too? So I guess it's not entirely inexplicable.

Still, these little soul extractors cherubs haven't just arrived -- they've been around a while. But my fatigue has been much more pronounced lately and I don't know why. It's been a little concerning.

So much so that I scheduled a doctor's appointment to see if there's a medical explanation. The night before my appointment, I slept 8 1/2 hours. And still felt the need to take a 15 minute nap later in the day. That'd be fine if I were 78 years old. I'm 40.

The good news was that I really liked my doctor. I had yet to visit my new primary care physician since moving to NC a year ago. The doctor spent more than five minutes with me, made eye contact, and listened, which is more than I've gotten from a doc in many a year. He didn't try to throw a prescription sample at me as a sort of trial-and-error school diagnosis. He didn't seem distracted or overworked. It was almost as if he actually cared about trying to help me. Crazy, I know.

At any rate, the gist of it was that I didn't have enough symptoms of any of the various possibilities to raise a red flag. They're doing some blood work to see if anything abnormal comes up. And in the meantime exercise and weight loss are the prescription. I've put on about ten pounds this year, which could be a factor in all of this.

One of the problems I've found with being tired a lot is that I can never get any reading done. If I sit down with a good book, no matter how interesting, after about ten minutes my eyelids start to feel heavy, my respiration slows, and suddenly it's 3am and I'm lying fully dressed in a puddle of drool on the couch, wondering where everybody went. For somebody who likes to read, it's a teensy bit frustrating.

So here's my 30 day plan: Ride the exercise bike for 20 minutes, and read a book while I do it. Flock of Birds, meet Stone. I can get 20 uninterrupted minutes of quiet, guilt free reading time. No kids allowed. No chance of the reading making me sleepy. And something to turn the workout from a boring 20 minute chore that must be endured and is easily procrastinated, into something I'll look forward to. And the exercise should, at least for some window of time afterwards, banish my lethargy.

Also, I've signed up for the Triangle 5k Run/Walk for Autism that happens on October 8th, so I really need to get my butt in gear. (Anybody want to sponsor me?)

My goal is to do this EVERY DAY. No alternating days or skipping weekends, or mixing up workouts. No free passes for headaches or tiredness or illness. No rationalizing. No excuses.

But then I'm really good at rationalizations and excuses. So that's where you come in. Doing this in a sort of public way will hopefully keep me honest and accountable.

Now to pick some reading material....

--

My First 30 Day Challenge

How exciting! I've always wanted to do this as I was also intrigued with the concept after watching a few episodes of Morgan Spurlock's short lived series several years back. But I've always had a problem committing to anything!

I joined a gym and Weight Watchers 3 weeks ago - it was a spontaneous decision and I was "excited" about it, but secretly... I thought I would fail/quit and I was emotionally preparing myself to once again face the music. And then I'd have to give myself another pep talk just so I wouldn't feel bad about myself. But I took it one day at a time - the first 3 days were tough, but when I got to day 4 I started to really feel proud of myself. I was convinced I'd done this amazing thing - the gym!... 4 days...then 5 days... in a row! who does that? Oh, I know... Me!

Fast forward 3 weeks - I've been totally committed to changing the way I treat my body - I go to the gym 5 days a week, I stick to my food plan and I have already felt dramatic physical and emotional changes. Suddenly I feel that anything is possible and I want more! I'm ready for another challenge!

Daisyfae, my dearest and most supportive bloggy buddy, turned me on to this 30 day challenge and I'm so grateful!

I couldn't decide on the type of challenge - intellectual? creative? physical? spiritual?... I sat with it a couple of days, it was a tough call but since I'm finally learning new things about my body I'm going to expand on that discovery...

My plan is to learn how to Bellydance! It looks fun and sexy and really tones and strengthens the body.

I'm not a graceful girl so this could be laughable! On the other hand - I can only improve!

Thanks again for letting me play along!

Challenge II - Sleep

I really like daisyfae's idea of getting enough sleep for a while. I'll need to set my alarm to wake up at 6:00 to get the kids to school starting in about a week. It would be reasonable to be in bed by 10:30, right? And maybe asleep by 11:00? That's still only seven hours of sleep each night, but as a night owl, the idea of going to bed as early as 10:30 is a bit terrifying, so I'll take what I can get.

I can't imagine that this will be a very exciting activity to post about, but I think it will help me A LOT with my general happiness in life, so here I go!

Round 2 — What I'll (not) do

Well, my intention was "I'm going to do one new thing every day for the next 30 days."

Then I started thinking, while it might be an amazing task, I'm not sure how feasible it is, especially since I've already got a lot on my plate. So I'm going with Plan B (and I'll try to incorporate something new into my days, which will help out with said Plan B).

There's an exercise that I've done before from a book called Page by Page by Heather Sellers. In the book, she says if you do it ten days in a row, "your life will change." I've always* wanted to follow through with it. So here's what I'm gonna do for 30 days.

Page by Page, Exercise 13 (page 60)

• Number a page from 1-10
• Set a timer for 3 minutes
• Make a list of ten things you saw two days ago, starting from the morning and ending with the night. Keep your hand moving. If you get stuck, draw slow circles. You want to end up at exactly number ten at the end of three minutes. Don't write a novel at each item, just a few anchoring words to capture the image.
• Three minutes, one list.
• Look over your list. Let one item pick you, or if nothing leaps out, do number three. Number three is magic and it always works.
• Set the timer for ten minutes. 
• Write the item number and the words at the top of a fresh sheet.
• Some rules: You must keep your pencil moving. You must write slowly, all caps, skipping lines. Write in simple clear sentences. Don't try to be too fancy. Avoid adjectives and adverbs. Just write in nouns and verbs, very simply, very slowly. 
• For ten minutes. Write what you see. Write what you hear.

Apparently it's all about creating ritual. And forcing yourself to just write what you remember (and I reckon that after a few days I'll subconsciously be looking for new images/details to try to remember for two days later).   And, as busy as I know I'm going to be, if I can't find make 15 minutes a day to just sit down and do something for myself, then things be needing to change.

I'll type them up and share them, maybe not every day, but there will be thirty lists and thirty sets of observations.

What are you doing?

* Okay, you caught me. "Always" is a bit of an overstatement. I bought the book 4 or 5 years ago, and I've wanted to do it since then.

Wrap-up Round 1 a la Mitzi

The 30 Day Project came just at the right time. I was getting slovenly, and couldn't access the right inner zing to inspire me toward exercise. Un/fortunately, I am obliged to exercise for health reasons. The mental uplift is vital, and the maintenance of steady (decreased) weight is preventative of potential nastiness. Then a score of vanity reasons follow.

Getting out to the sea was an initial form of exercise, as I spent a good deal of brisk walking time exploring the local area. As I have only lived here eight odd months, the walks were exploratory and fun.

Despite the zensome joy of strolling by the sea and my initial stoicism, bad weather forced me indoors and back on the treadmill. The mental leap I made between about day 10 and now is exciting. It used to be gruelling to make it to 30 minutes. Now, it is distance rather than time thatI look forward to achieving. I also have proof that steady jogging of about 4 k's on a regular basis has shifted my shape around a bit. I became reacquainted with my waist which is once again the slightly narrower bit in the middle.

Now that the exercise hit from 30 Days round 1 has kickstarted my health and fitness needs, I may return to a mental challenge. One ten year goal I set earlier this year was to be able to do cryptic crosswords. The more I try, I find I've been able to make more sense of them. However, I don't want an unrealistic challenge. To complete an entire cryptic crossword is still impossible for me, but I can work out two or three clues. Therefore, one possibility for 30 Day Challenge Round 2 is to complete 3 cryptic crossword clues per day. As Monday 15th arrives slightly earlier for me than Northern Hemisphereans, I shall have to decide overnight!

My other desired challenges are: yogic stretching; a daily swim; contimued jogging; resume my learning of Gaelic; and a million other things.

Meanwhile, I will try to blog about a daily jog on my regular blog so that I maintain momentum. I also suggest that the highlight of my 30 Day Challenge round 1 was doing The Bay Run of 7 kilometres with relative ease. It showed how it only took about 15-20 ish days to resume a happy level of fitness and determination. Hooray for all of us, and Bob for getting the party started in cahoots with Daisyfae, and the rest of us tribal types. It's grand to form a fun yet frolicsome collective.

The hopeless case!

Yes, there is always one. And I'm afraid the "one" is me!
I said I'd give up wine for one month. Then promptly fell off the wagon when a friend had a celebration ! *
So I thought I'd start again, but with a more achievable goal of sorting my photos.
And I did stick with it (still a long way to go, but it's doable), but I completely forgot to post reports here!
See? Hopeless case.
But Daisy Fae is game for another round and wants to trim her flaps. Not sure my shoulder could manage many push-ups, but I'll throw my hat in with this:
30 minutes a day on my exercise bike.

This is a new "toy" to keep me active when the wet season closes in and I can't walk. I still intend to walk and swim as often as possible, but the bike is now my daily challenge.
If I miss posting here I'm pretty sure Daisy Fae will holler at me!

* when lab tests come back clear it's a celebration.

Wrap up - photo organization...

Well, I was not impressed with my performance during the first 30 day challenge. I made my usual mistake and overachieved for the first ten days, then petered out. I probably managed to do an AVERAGE of 30 minutes a day of photo organizing, but the majority was in those first 10 days.

I loved updating here, and it did encourage me to sit down and work on a few days when I otherwise would have skipped the project. I like the accountability of it.

The most important accomplishment that came out of this project for me was setting up an online backup system, so I can finally feel that my precious photos will be preserved even if the house burns down. I would be devastated to lose those triggers for memories of my kids' childhoods.

I do want to try again, so I'll be back for the next challenge. I have some ideas, but I think they will be less accomplishment driven and more peace driven. Maybe more guitar, maybe more sleep, maybe more baths. Or maybe I'll start running again. Or maybe an alternate day sort of thing. My kids start school in 1.5 weeks, so I'll theoretically have more free time then, but Cub Scouts also starts up again, which can easily suck my life away if I'm not careful. We'll see. I need to preserve some time for myself.

I really really enjoyed reading everyone else's posts. I checked back every day even though I didn't participate every day. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with the 30 days... it has been really interesting! I hope that you'll all be back for Round II, and that you'll bring friends!

30 Days - Scores and Highlights

Perpetually distracted, huge stacks of books on my night stands, yawning my way through meetings after driving to work on snooze-control.

i still have a bit of this going on, after my run at 30 days to more focused neurons and more sleep. But i'm better. Definitely better.

Finished three books - not a huge number, compared to what most bibliophiles devour in 30 days, but that is three more books than i'd read in any other month this year! Still have stacks of books on my night stands, but i will continue to poke my way through them.

Sleep, glorious sleep! Forcing myself to bed by 11pm has made that 6am alarm far more tolerable. Definitely had some days where it just didn't happen - but mostly due to a few cases of "Fun Happens!" keeping me up far too late. i will continue to target a solid night of Zzzzz's because i simply feel better when i do.

It's been a lovely exercise in communal accountability - and i'll be back for Round 2. i've genuninely enjoyed tracking the progress of other contributors, and any chance to spend time with my old friend bob? Priceless. Thank you for launching this project!

the daily swim 30

Didn't swim naked. Or in champagne. But I did swim out to the buoys where the water is really really deep (with my noodle). And because we still have guests who want to go down the beach every day it doesn't feel like an end to the project yet. I'll have one day next week - Tuesday - when I'll be on my own, just before we drive back to the UK, so I might make that my 'last official swim'. And that means the next few days can be my catch up days for the ones I missed.

It's been an enjoyable discipline, an exercise in being aware, and fun too.  I think there also might be some material in my posts that I can use for poems/short prose pieces. So that was an unexpected gift.

I won't make round 2 in August but will pop in to see everyone and find out what you're all doing.


L
x

30 Day Challenge Wrap Up

I'm glad Bob requested a wrap up because I like to blab.  ;-)

Really though I do want to thank each of you for sharing your stories and a bit of your lives over the last 30 days.

I think that's what I enjoyed the most-- getting to see bits of the world through the eyes (words) of others.

As for my challenge, I struggled at points with wanting to carry on, to keep going.  If it weren't for the accountability of this blog I would have quit long ago.  So that's another thing I liked about the challenge-- the accountability. 

Which is why I'm signing up for round 2 beginning August 15.  My dog and I walk anywhere from 2-6 miles a day, but it's not enough exercise.  Or rather, it's not the right kind of exercise.  So I've been doing yoga-- sometimes.  I feel really good when I get done (much better than I do after our walks) but I don't do it consistently.  So, yes, you guessed it, my next 30 day challenge is to do yoga everyday.  I need the accountability and this is a great place to be accountable. 

Again, thank you for the experience.  I hope to see all of you back on the 15th.

--kathi

¡Treinte!

Triente

Y la primera ronda llega a su fin.

Espero que todos hayan tenido un buen momento como lo he hecho. Ha habido tantas cosas sorprendentes que han salido de este proyecto. Gracias a todos los que jugó.



Para mí, lo mejor es saltar a una idea y pegarse con él. No importa si lo hiciera cada día, sólo el hecho de que la gente tiene la costumbre de meterse en un hábito (o el reconocimiento de cómo fijamos nuestras metas y si están o no realmente alcanzable).



Felicidades a todos!

___________________

I hope that all have had a good a time as I have. There has been so much amazing stuff to have come out of this project. Thank you to everyone who played.

For me, the best thing was jumping on to an idea and sticking with it. It doesn't matter if you did it every day, just the fact that people got into the habit of getting into a habit (or recognizing how we set our goals and whether or not they're actually achievable).

Congratulations to all!!!

I definitely want to do this again. I even am pretty sure that I know what my next 30 days will be. And, it will be in English!

Round 2 starts on Monday, 15 August.

I hope you can play … if not this time, then for Round 3!

Thanks again everyone. I’m so grateful to everyone for making this happen. I'd love it if you posted wrap-up:: what (if anything) did you learn from this? What did you enjoy most? Etc.