Things I Won’t Do Again

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AKA, my “Fuck It” list. Inspired by Unclutterer, who was in turn inspired by Amy KR.

I will never again:

  1. feel guilty for not attending every event I’m invited to.
  2. feel guilty for finding a new home for gifts I’ve been given if they don’t work well in my home.
  3. allow negative people to suck up my rare free time.
  4. be a negative person who sucks up the free time of others. < == hard! I'm trying!
  5. purchase something without asking “do I really need this?”

2012 Update: Going through my drafts folder, I found this old post from Aug 24, 2010 that I never put up, but should have.
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More on the rowing….

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…with some pretty pictures, because my posts are too boring otherwise.

I decided not to blow off the rest of my classes, despite my frustration, and that turned out to be a good thing. We went out in a quad and sculled with a “guest coach” – this dude Andy who rowed for Yale – and I did better, although it’s clear that I suck at sculling. I just can’t wrap my brain around both oars and what to do with them. And I was feathering completely wrong because I’ve never had a whole class that focused on doing that correctly due to all the rain outs and unhelpful weather this spring.

Sculling Single

Sculling – more oars, more problems. Plus, tippy boat.

Monday we went out in the training barge, which is I guess a bit undignified, but it sure helped ALOT – because I finally got a chance to really focus on sweep (which is what I want to do) and I got help feathering, finally, and learned what I was doing wrong; leaving the oar feathered for WAY too long before turning it back on the square and dropping the blade. This is why I was catching crabs all the time.

Sweep – one oar, one problem. More people, more stability.

The tricky part of this is that I STILL need to get what I’ve learned into muscle memory. I’m hoping to start rowing with the other adult rowers on Tuesday nights to try to get some of this down so that I feather correctly without thinking about it. That makes me a little nervous because I don’t want to be a liability for the other rowers, but I’ve got to learn somewhere.

I’ve still been going to the boathouse regularly to erg, but I’ve switched to mornings because it’s so hot in the afternoon. Here’s a little slideshow of my workouts, for your entertainment. You can see the whole photoset here.

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Rowing at a Crossroads

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I’m having some frustrations with rowing lately, and I think I need to work out on paper some of my thoughts. Indoor rowing – love the heck out of it, and I plan to do it for the rest of my life. I’m looking around for a used ergometer for home so I can erg everyday.

Outdoor rowing – This is where my frustration lies. I know there’s a gap between my skill set/physical capabilities and other adult rowers in our club that are regularly out on the water. I took Learn to Row 1 and Learn to Row 2 at IRC to try to close that gap, so that I would be an asset in a boat and not a liability.

I can tell that I didn’t close that gap, so I took Learn to Row 2 a second time. It’s been a disaster, to put it mildly. We don’t have enough people in the class to take a larger boat out, so we keep ending up in a sculling boat, which is not at all what I’m interested in learning. We did go out in the quad (4 person sculling boat) and I felt like I was learning something, but that was one evening. Last night, though, we had 5 people, so we had to take out singles and try to learn to row and feather near the dock. If you are looking for a floating dock builder in Quogue NY, you may contact companies like EZ Dock of Long Island.

This is the type of boat I flipped. And not what I want to learn, so I was doubtful. I managed to get out and get a bit of rowing, but my instructor had to run over to help one of the other women in a run away boat, so I didn’t get much time in. When I hopped out and my partner got in the boat, we tried to steer her perpendicular to the dock… and she flipped the boat trying to get her oars set in the water. But she blamed me, although there’s not a thing I could have done to prevent it.

So we ended the evening frustrated, without learning much, and with creating distrust between the people in the class who are supposed to learn to work as a team.

I’m ready to throw in the towel on Learn to Row 2, and just go to the boathouse to erg until I can get an erg for home, and forget about getting out in a boat altogether for now. I still want to row on the water – that was the goal from the beginning – but I just can’t seem to get the skills I need to do that well.

I’ve been looking for Rowing Clubs in the Midwest that have indoor tanks for practice – basically a boat suspended in a pool that lets you learn to manage your oars without fear of capsizing. None that I can find are close enough to drive to regularly to get training, so I’m stuck, I think, until something changes. I don’t have much confidence that I can get the instruction I need from the coaches at the boathouse, so I don’t know where to go next.

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Rowing Updates

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One of my workouts

I’ve completed Learn to Row 1 and Learn to Row 2 classes at the Indianapolis Rowing Center, although we had enough rain-outs that I’m still not very comfortable on the water. I’m going to take Learn to Row 2 again this summer so I can get more of the basics down.

Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to do erg workouts a lot to get caught up with the other adult rowers, most of whom are in much better shape than I am. I’m usually spending about 40-48 minutes on a workout, doing intervals of workout / rest and trying to get my times lower. I’m competing against myself, for the most part, with a goal of improving to keep up with others.

I can feel the changes in my body pretty significantly. I have lost a bit of weight, and added quite a bit of muscle. It’s pretty awesome; I’m as strong as I was before my heart surgery, which is a really nice feeling.

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The 5 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating

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From Livestrong.com: The 5 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating | LIVESTRONG.COM.

Read the whole article for why they’re healthy.

NUTRITIONAL YEAST
HOW TO EAT IT: Stir 1-2 tablespoons into sauces, soups, or stir-fries to add rich flavor and a protein boost without a lot of extra calories (2 tablespoons has about 60 calories).

Chia Seeds
HOW TO EAT THEM: Sprinkle chia seeds on cereal, yogurt, salads… really anything! The seeds form a gel when mixed with liquid, so they’re great for thickening smoothies, salad dressings, and soups.

Kefir
HOW TO EAT IT: Pour a glass for a light breakfast or a sweet snack. Just be careful: Since kefir is so packed with healthy probiotics, you may need to build a tolerance to it. Start with a small glass (about half a cup) and increase the amount every few days.

Hemp
HOW TO EAT IT: Toss two tablespoons of hemp seeds into your oatmeal or stir-fry. Or add them to a smoothie for an extra dose of protein.

Black Garlic
HOW TO EAT IT: The gentle, sweet flavor of black garlic makes it a versatile superfood—add it into any recipe in which you’d use fresh garlic, from pasta dishes to soups and stews. The best part? No garlic breath.

As more people become aware of the nutritional benefits of lesser-known superfoods like nutritional yeast, chia seeds, and black garlic, meal kit services have stepped up to incorporate these ingredients into their offerings. By focusing on healthful, diverse options, companies like Green Chef and Hello Fresh not only cater to taste preferences but also promote better eating habits.

When selecting meal kits, consider how these nutrient-dense ingredients can elevate your home-cooked dishes, ensuring you’re not just eating for convenience but also for optimal health.

For those exploring their options between different meal kit services, understanding the benefits of each can guide your decision-making process. A comprehensive review by experts comparing green chef vs hello fresh can illuminate which service best aligns with your dietary preferences and lifestyle. Both meal kits offer unique advantages: Green Chef focuses on organic and sustainable ingredients, while Hello Fresh provides a wider variety of recipes to cater to different tastes.

With an expert team evaluating these meal kits, you can gain insights into which service not only meets your culinary desires but also incorporates superfoods that contribute to a healthier lifestyle, making meal preparation both enjoyable and beneficial for your well-being.

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How to Commit to a Goal

How to Commit to a Goal

via How to Commit to a Goal — PsyBlog.

The key, according to PsyBlog, is not to simply fantasize about how much better it will be when you achieve your goal, or to wallow in how unhappy you are now, but to contrast those two with each other each time. Fantasizing tends to make you give up the goal because you hoax yourself into believing for a bit that it’s true. Wallowing in the reality tends to bring you down.

But contrasting the fantasy with the current reality motivates you to make a change.

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Beast Glatisant Du Jour: An Atomic Bedside Alarm Clock

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Questing BeastThe Beast Glatisant, or Questing Beast, was a mythological creature in King Arthur tales, with head and neck of a serpent, the body of a leopard, the haunches of a lion and the feet of a hart. Knights in the stories would take off hunting him when word came that he was terrorizing a village somewhere, and he was an allegorical symbol of either the dangers of lust or of Christ eaten alive by the 12 tribes of Israel; you can take your pick.

I thought of him the other day when I was trying to describe, on Facebook, something that I’m hunting for – A bedside alarm clock with some really specific features:

Bedside (not travel; i.e with cord, not batteries) alarm clock, atomic, with large am/pm display. I just want something really specific and can’t find it. This is one of those cases where I search forever for a specific combo of features, and I buy something just off of what I want, and 6 months later, what I really wanted comes out. Before you say ‘iPhone’ this is for an older family member with no computer. 🙂

I want the clock to be just like any bedside alarm clock that plugs in and lights up – but I want it to be an atomic alarm clock – self-setting. And I want the AM/PM display to be in actually letters and fairly large, so you can easily see whether it’s day or night.

Finding this specific combination of features is proving elusive. They make alarm clocks that aren’t self-setting; most atomic clocks aren’t meant to sit near your bed or have you slap the snooze button when you’re half awake.

While I was describing the odd hybrid device I wanted cobbled together the Questing Beast popped into my head (head and neck of a serpent, the body of a leopard…) And I realized I have this kind of quest fairly often.

A few years back, I was on the hunt for a very specific kind of wrist watch that I just couldn’t find: light-colored face, numbers not roman numerals, day and date display, and it also had to light up, but it couldn’t be a digital or sport watch. You’d think that wouldn’t be hard to find, but I spent 3 years looking for that exact combo. Most watches don’t actually have numbers on the face. Most watches with date display don’t light up. I finally found one from Timex. And soon after, that same combo became more available in stores. It just took time for it to come around.

Before that, I was hunting a summer bathroom. I wanted a light cotton bathrobe that wasn’t terry cloth or flannel, and that was actually long enough to cover my legs. They had short ones for women that I would look silly in. They have heavy flannel. But no simple, light cotton. Stephanie hunted in every store in the mall and finally ordered one she found online. The next year, they were in every store.

It seems like the year after we find that specific thing we want, it’s suddenly the new craze. We keep going after the same strange beast. It must really love us.

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