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!?
Monday, 12 September 2011
Saturday, 10 September 2011
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 thehorse 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.
--
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
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...
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...
Thursday, 8 September 2011
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.
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....
--
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.
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.
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
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.
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.
Monday, 5 September 2011
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.
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...
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...
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