Hat on Top, Coat Below

Goal Wednesday, 7.28

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:11:00 +0000

1. Stick to the 400 x 4 plan as much as possible.
Doing just barely okay here; still a little heavier than my recent low of two weeks ago.

2. Weight work twice; aerobics twice.
Yes. Neither aerobics session was quite as long as the week before, which was a conscious choice because the weather was very hot and humid and heat stroke is no fun. As far as weights, I lightened up a bit one session because I woke up with a splitting headache that took most of the day to go away. Yesterday, for my second session of the goal week, the FitLinxx system at the gym was down, which meant the machines couldn’t tell me what to do, so I did a subset of the machines and then some free weights and balance work. Today, I’m feeling some muscle soreness, so it seems like adding a little variety to my routine would be a good thing to work parts of me that the machines don’t get to as well.

3. Handle mail on the day it comes in.
Done every day except one. It’s so nice not to have a big pile to sort through on the weekend.

4. Pick a box and empty it.
Again this week, I did not do this, even though there are so many boxes to choose from. I think I need to lower the bar a bit on this until I can get some momentum worked up.

5. Do a page a day at DP and a photo or memorial a day at Find A Grave.
Almost. Did 6 of each, but also responded to questions on the DP forum, so I think that makes up the difference.

6. Get post processing software working on new computer.
Yes. I didn’t actually try any post processing, but I did use it to edit a file and things seemed to be working correctly.

Goals for this week:
1. Stick to the 400 x 4 plan as much as possible.
2. Weight work twice; aerobics twice.
3. Handle mail on the day it comes in.
4. Clean out backpack and purse. (I’ll get back to the boxes another week.)
5. Do a page a day at DP and a photo a day at Find A Grave.
6. Do five post processing steps on an American Missionary issue.

*****

This post is part of New Beginnings Wednesdays. Apologies to anyone who wanted to post a comment on last week’s entry; I didn’t realize I’d turned off that option until I posted my trip report yesterday.

Best Outdoor Venue in Columbus

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:35:56 +0000

Mr. Karen and I always try to catch Kansas when they come to town, because, like I said in 2002, “How many more years they’ll be coming, I don’t know.” (At least eight, I know now.) This year we skipped their appearance at the venue formerly known as Pine Knob, though. They weren’t headlining but instead were coming with Styx and Foreigner, which meant they’d do a shorter set so we’d get less Kansas for our money (there’s an ordinance that means bands can’t just play as late as they want). We might still have gone if pavilion seats were less expensive and/or there weren’t so much road construction between us and the venue and/or it were on a Saturday night instead of a work night, but everything added up to “let’s not go”. Where we went instead was Columbus, Ohio, this past Saturday, to see Kansas with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra at (on?) the Chemical Abstracts lawn (voted the Best Outdoor Concert Venue by Columbus residents in 2006, according to coolspotters.com, so it must be true). It isn’t a permanent venue (if you scroll through the historical shots on Google Earth, the band shell appears and disappears) and buying seats was a bit confusing (if you don’t want to sit on the lawn, you buy a table, not individual seats, but the online form wasn’t clear about whether the amount shown was per seat or for the whole table, so Mr. Karen had to go old school and order over the phone), but it’s good to try new things.

The weather forecast was not Karen-friendly, calling for temperatures in the low-90s well into the evening, but since the venue allows concert goers to bring their own food and drink and coolers and such, we arrived well prepared with my cooling crystals neckerchief and a misting bottle and water and watermelon and other refreshing fruits and plenty of ice. I was still warm, yes, but it turned out to be quite a pleasant evening. Parking was free, there was plenty of space around the table, so I could kick my shoes off and wiggle my toes in the grass and move around, and I don’t know how they managed it, but the even with the heat, the porta-potties were tolerable, and there weren’t even any lines for them to speak of. I’d definitely go back there. (I might feel differently if it had rained, but fortunately the thunderstorms that came through Ohio that night stayed to the north of us.) The first half of the concert was just the symphony, doing an “Italian Fiesta” of orchestral pops, then after intermission Kansas joined them (with their own conductor) and did their classics as well as a mashup of two of their later songs that we couldn’t recall ever seeing them do live before. After the show ended, we hung out at the table a while longer, so by the time we left, getting out of the parking lot was no problem. All in all, it was a very nice evening.

Since it seemed like a shame to drive all that way just for a concert, the next morning we went to the Franklin Park Conservatory, which I’d visited with my mom in 2008. (We talked about going to the science museum to see the Titanic exhibit, but they didn’t open until noon and we had to be out of the hotel at 11, so the conservatory got our tourist dollars because they opened earlier.) I hadn’t realized how much more there was to see than Mom and I had gotten to, and of course some things were changed in the meantime. There were plenty of plants and flowers, of course, but also lots of art by Dale Chihuly and a special exhibit (including art by other people) on carnivorous plants and a glass blowing demonstration. We had a tasty lunch at the café in the conservatory and then walked around the park grounds before heading home.

Goal Wednesday, 7.21

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:30:32 +0000

1. Stick to the 400 x 4 plan as much as possible.
I slipped a bit here and gained a little weight back; I am hoping that most of that is just water retention, because I did have more sodium than usual. My big indulgence was a friend’s 50th birthday celebration, and I don’t regret that meal at all.

2. Weight work twice; aerobics twice.
Yes. Dare I hope I’m establishing good habits again?

3. Handle mail on the day it comes in.
Almost every day; one day I got a lot of packages and didn’t manage to unpack them all that same night.

4. Pick a box and empty it.
Fail. I did not even choose a box.

5. Do a page a day at DP and a photo or memorial a day at Find A Grave.
Yes, plus I handled requests for help from another user on both sites.

6. Get post processing software working on new computer.
No, but I did verify that it’s not working, which I only suspected when I put this on this list.

Goals for this week:
1. Stick to the 400 x 4 plan as much as possible.
2. Weight work twice; aerobics twice.
3. Handle mail on the day it comes in.
4. Pick a box and empty it.
5. Do a page a day at DP and a photo a day at Find A Grave.
6. Get post processing software working on new computer.

*****

This post is part of New Beginnings Wednesdays.

We Has a Giant Tire

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:10:59 +0000

One of the ladies in the self-portrait Flickr group I’m in had a birthday last week and also (not coincidentally) had volunteered to pick the theme for the week, so she asked that those of us who were up for it make a happy birthday sign for her and take it where we would take her if she came to visit (and then take a picture of ourselves with the sign). My first thought? She needed to see the world’s largest tire. My visitors’ usual view of this is from I-94, but stopping next to the freeway and getting out of the car to take pictures a few feet from 70+ mph traffic is not the best idea, so I planned to get at it from the other side, something I’d meant to do for years but had never gotten around to. The internet helpfully told me where to locate the parking lot from which I could follow a dirt road to the tire. I found the lot, but I also found that access to the dirt road was blocked by an active construction site—”All vistors must report to office” the sign on the gate said. Hmm. Trees blocked the view of the giant tire from the parking lot, so I couldn’t just shoot from where I was, and I didn’t want to try talking my way past the construction guys.

I was about to leave and go find another interesting landmark when I decided to take one more look at the far side of the area that was fenced off for the construction. From there, I could see the dirt road, with only a stretch of grass and weeds and flowers between me and it—no fence. Wishing I’d worn walking shoes instead of flip flops, I got out of the car and headed for the dirt road. The ground sloped down from the parking lot, which I was happy about because that meant I was less visible to the construction workers—happy until I realized that it was sloping down into a small pond, into which the end of the fence I had intended to walk around was jutting. If I’d had different sandals on, I might have just walked through that bit of pond, but didn’t want to ruin the cork and leather ones I was wearing and didn’t want to complete my journey barefoot, so I walked back the way I’d come, then around the other end of the pond. There were some beautiful flowers on the way so I stopped to take some photos of them on my way to the dirt road. Once I made it, I was in full view of the construction site and half expected someone to come rushing toward me and threaten to have me arrested for trespassing, but no one seemed to notice me. I was disappointed to find a locked gate just a little ways up the dirt road, preventing me from getting as close to the tire as I’d hoped. But it was hot and I wasn’t sensibly shod, so I didn’t try finding another way around or through and just shot photos from where I was. Maybe I’ll come back another time to see what I can see then. Even though I didn’t get the picture I had planned, I did get to see a part of my local area I hadn’t been to before, so I was still happy, especially since I made it back to my car without getting intercepted by construction workers.

Goal Wednesday, 7.14

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:37:13 +0000

1. Stick to the 400 x 4 plan as much as possible.
I’m continuing to do pretty well here; I’m down a pound from last week. At some point, I’ll need to work on improving the quality of what I’m eating, but right now I’m sticking with what’s working for me.

2. Weight work twice; aerobics twice.
Yes and yes. I’m proud of myself for getting up and walking before it got meltingly hot instead of sleeping later.

3. Two small de-cluttering/organizing projects to be named later.
Eh, sort of. I did finally finish unpacking from my June trip and get the suitcases back where they belong, and Mr. Karen and I straightened up the whole house so it was presentable (including me going through the new pile of mail that had formed on the kitchen counter).

4. Do a page a day at DP and a photo or memorial a day at Find A Grave.
Yes, and I even made up for last week’s deficit in both areas.

*****

This post is part of New Beginnings Wednesdays.