In Memory Of

Jessie

December 3, 1993-November 17, 2006

She is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are her life, her love, her leader. She will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of her heart. You owe it to her to be worthy of such devotion.

-Anonymous

New Year's Resolutions

I had given up making New Year's resolutions. Why bother? By the middle of January, I've given up and gone back to the "old me". Even when written down, the scrap of paper that I've scratched my ideas on gets conveniently lost. It seems so fruitless to write down convictions that I'm not going to bother thinking about until the next New Year's Eve when I say, "Oh yeah, I was going to..."

This year is different. I'm 37. YIKES! When did that happen? All of a sudden, I'm 37 and taking stock of where my life is. When did all of this weight show up? Was I sleeping and the weight monster (sister to the tooth fairy) decided to show up and gift me with this body? No, I'm not that delusional to not know where the weight came from. I am, however, tired of the way I look and feel. So I started to do some reading.

Did you know that sometimes chronic heart burn can be caused by large amounts of belly fat? Did you also know that if chronic heart burn isn't taken care of, it can permanently damage your esophagus possibly causing cancer and a whole other possibility of issues? Wow.

I guess this is my "bottom". (no pun intended) I don't want to have cancer of the esophagus. It's not a pretty thing and from what I hear VERY painful. The book I'm reading suggests low fat, low carb eating and making sure that you eat a TON of whole grains. "Get rid of the sugar, get rid of the belly fat."

So I purge the pantry and refrigerator. If after reading the ingredients label and finding that sugar or white flour are in the first five ingredients, to the food bank it goes. The next step is spending a frightening amount of money at the grocery store to get the "correct" staples now that the refrigerator and pantry are cleaned out.

This day also begins the daily regimen at the local gym. I have to be on the treadmill for one half hour every day and lift weights three times a week. I think that I am going to die. Seven days a week at the gym? Are you kidding me? But, we're making life style changes here so we're going to try it.

As it turns out, this life style change thing isn't so bad. There are some really great cookbooks out there with super tasty recipes. And the gym thing isn't nearly as bad as I first thought. My better half (who is responsible for the motivation in this relationship) agreed to join my gym and now he goes seven days a week with me. If that isn't true love, I don't know what is. Who wants to spend an hour or so every day smelling other people's sweat and listening to the incessant bass beat from the step aerobics class going on? I think he's in line for sainthood.

I'm sleeping better. I'm less crabby. I don't grind my teeth or snore as much (always a plus) and I am starting to feel better about me. I don't crave sugar as much as I used to. In fact, it doesn't even really taste like I thought it did before. But, holy buckets, do you get a head ache when you stop taking in so much processed sugar. I'm surprised that I'm still married!

For all the hard work, I am seeing results. In the first week I lost 2 1/2 inches from around my waist and 4 lbs. The second week I lost 1 inch and 1 pound. I feel crappy when I don't go to the gym. My body lets me know it. I don't sleep as well. My hubby says that I snore and grind my teeth.

They say that you have to do something for at least one month before it becomes a lifestyle change. I have two more weeks to go. I hope my husband doesn't kill me before then.

Technology Woes

I'm not sure how this blog thing is going to work... This is the first time that I have done anything like this and was intrigued when I read my friends blog. So, here goes nothing!

I've been thinking about how computer technology has infused itself in our lives. Everything can be found online now. You can bank, buy groceries, get directions, communicate, store massive amounts of information... The list is endless! What would we do without it? When the computers are down at school, I feel like a fish out of water! Everything that I can do (besides grade papers and teach kids) is on the computer! Even lessons that I have created are there. I have also been thinking about how the older generation is sometimes resistant to learning about technology and how frustrating it is sometimes for them when required to use it.

A few nights ago, I received a call from a colleague who lives near me. She needed to take her car in to have some things replaced and was asking to commute the next day with me. We got to talking about our meeting that day and how useful it was, etc. She went into a story about how she was late to her meeting because she hadn't gotten the agenda (which was sent out on school email). When I asked why she hadn't gotten the agenda, she replied, "I couldn't get into my email."

Confused, I asked, "What do you mean, 'you couldn't get your email'?"
The story that came next made me giggle!

Before leaving school the night before the big windstorm, we were asked to unplug all of our computers so that if the power went out and came back on, nothing would be ruined because of a power surge or something. My colleague had done this in her classroom and, for good measure, had unplugged the Internet connections as well.

So, after I asked what she meant, she said that she couldn't get her email because she had unplugged her computers at school.

ME: "But, you aren't logging on to your computer at school when you log on from home. You are logging on to the network! You can still get your email!"

Colleague: "Yes, but, I unplugged the Internet connections too!"

It took another 5 minutes of explaining to convince her that even though she had unplugged her Internet connections and computers at school, she would still be able to get her email from home by logging on to the network! My colleague, bless her heart, took it all in stride and was happy to have learned something new!

I learned to not take knowledge for granted!