I suppose you could say I fell of the workout wagon. I was doing so well. I doubled the amount of miles I had put on my bike in 3 months last summer (as compared to 9 previous months of ownership). I was making most spinning classes.
... and then I got sick (again)... and didn't get well.
Now, 2 weeks after taking dramamine 3 times a day, I can say I've gotten back on. And it feels good. I was worried for a bit. I never had a problem with motivation, and all of a sudden I couldn't seem to make myself go. Thankfully, motivation wasn't the problem (it was taking sleeping pills 3 times a day).
I really missed working out, but riding my bike in particular. This past Saturday was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed the ride. Which has really helped me be excited about trying to get back to (and surpass) the shape I was in. It seemed like a daunting task, but I had forgotten how enjoyable riding is and how much better I feel when regularly excercising.
Now, my challenge is staying well enough and keeping my sinuses in check so that I can stay on the wagon/saddle.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Out With the Old, In With the New
At the end of Christmas break my Dad turned to me and asked if I could have a new car, what would I get? He told me to start thinking and crunching numbers. The Beetle was intended to last through college, after which I would join the "real" world, make some money and get something new. Well, my detour to grad school left two options: fix the Beetle up so that it lasts through the end of grad school, or trade it in for something new.
That got me to thinking. Man, would it be nice to have a new car. Plus, the Beetle needed at least $2000 worth of repairs... not including labor. That, along with the fact that it was only worth $3700 and nearing 100k made me start car shopping. My dad suggested a Mazda3, and I remember how well it did on Topsis, so I started there. I considered the 6 also, and started doing comparisons versus everything in the same class... honda accord and civic, toyota corolla and camry, ford focus, vw jetta and passat, etc etc.
I settled on test driving a 3 and 6 (but leaned more towards 6... I remembered how much I loved it at the car show), so off Dad, Will and I went to Jim Ellis last Friday afternoon. After 2 hours of test driving... first a 2005 4 cylinder Mazda 6, a 2006 Mazda 3 and a 2006 6 cylinder Mazda 6. I can now say that I understand why their slogan is "zoom zoom." Unfortunately, I loved the v6, which means bigger price tag.
I ended up getting one from a dealership my brother recommended. It's the first car where I've considered performance as seriously as any other metric (in fact, I chose to spend more for the nicer engine as opposed to moonroof and cd chager) and boy does it show. Everything I drive it, I smile. And it's not hard on the eyes, either.
One of the best parts, though, is that I totally did everything myself. Well, except for the male support that every girl needs at a dealership. It's only my name on the papers, which is awesome. I feel like such an adult... up next, a "real" place to live!
Plus, this car is so nice compared to my other one, it's a huge step up. I even forgot to be sad to part with my little Beetle... even after all we'd been through.
Some of the features I adore:
215 hp (makes it very zoomy)
6spd automatic... but still manual in a way
Climate control
Satellite radio (1st month as a trial, thanks to will!)
Auto-dim mirror
Audio control things on the steering wheel
Nice stereo system
Power seats
HUGE trunk!
and I'm sure I'll find many many more!
... ok, so I'm being totally superficial. Oh well :-p
That got me to thinking. Man, would it be nice to have a new car. Plus, the Beetle needed at least $2000 worth of repairs... not including labor. That, along with the fact that it was only worth $3700 and nearing 100k made me start car shopping. My dad suggested a Mazda3, and I remember how well it did on Topsis, so I started there. I considered the 6 also, and started doing comparisons versus everything in the same class... honda accord and civic, toyota corolla and camry, ford focus, vw jetta and passat, etc etc.
I settled on test driving a 3 and 6 (but leaned more towards 6... I remembered how much I loved it at the car show), so off Dad, Will and I went to Jim Ellis last Friday afternoon. After 2 hours of test driving... first a 2005 4 cylinder Mazda 6, a 2006 Mazda 3 and a 2006 6 cylinder Mazda 6. I can now say that I understand why their slogan is "zoom zoom." Unfortunately, I loved the v6, which means bigger price tag.
I ended up getting one from a dealership my brother recommended. It's the first car where I've considered performance as seriously as any other metric (in fact, I chose to spend more for the nicer engine as opposed to moonroof and cd chager) and boy does it show. Everything I drive it, I smile. And it's not hard on the eyes, either.
One of the best parts, though, is that I totally did everything myself. Well, except for the male support that every girl needs at a dealership. It's only my name on the papers, which is awesome. I feel like such an adult... up next, a "real" place to live!Plus, this car is so nice compared to my other one, it's a huge step up. I even forgot to be sad to part with my little Beetle... even after all we'd been through.
Some of the features I adore:
215 hp (makes it very zoomy)
6spd automatic... but still manual in a way
Climate control
Satellite radio (1st month as a trial, thanks to will!)
Auto-dim mirror
Audio control things on the steering wheel
Nice stereo system
Power seats
HUGE trunk!
and I'm sure I'll find many many more!
... ok, so I'm being totally superficial. Oh well :-p
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Code for Dramamine
I was really struggling last week. Completely exhausted all the time, even though I am logging more sleep than ever (am actually logging... if I average 8hrs/night for 1 month, I get something from Will... that something tbd). I could've been so productive last week, but I found myself just hanging around, usually napping. I was confused about what it could be: Am I just burnt out? Depressed? Is Kristy rubbing off on me?
Then, on Saturday, a discovery. The medicine I had been prescribed to take 3 times a day for 2 weeks has a label on the back of the bottle (where one looks for instructions, naturally) that says "may cause marked drowsiness, do not operate heavy machinery." Today, when I was looking up what is in it to see whether I was eligible to donate blood and it's just generic dramamine.
Yep... I'm taking dramamine... all day long. Well, at least it's not something more serious.
This weekend was pretty fun... until Monday. Dinner, Friends watching, Jaime's graduation party, babysitting, Mansion party, Swim club movie thing. Then Will woke up sick Monday morning and shortly after Hurricane Bill (aka the roomie who flooded the apartment) struck and the rest of the day was spent cleaning up. I myself played the part of FEMA this time, except I was actually useful (retrieved my Dad's carpet machine from Dunwoody) and by the early evening we weren't splashing about anymore.
The Mansion party was pretty fun. Two guys on my fixed wing design team went along, which was surprising. I thought both the band and dj weren't very good, but the company was good and it was nice to see people I hadn't seen in a while. And, extremely amusing to watch all the "shenanigans" that took place. And they're on video.
And now it's the soggy start of another week and it looks like I'll be pretty busy, so I should probably get going on something... like taking a nap, cause I just took my medicine.
Then, on Saturday, a discovery. The medicine I had been prescribed to take 3 times a day for 2 weeks has a label on the back of the bottle (where one looks for instructions, naturally) that says "may cause marked drowsiness, do not operate heavy machinery." Today, when I was looking up what is in it to see whether I was eligible to donate blood and it's just generic dramamine.
Yep... I'm taking dramamine... all day long. Well, at least it's not something more serious.
This weekend was pretty fun... until Monday. Dinner, Friends watching, Jaime's graduation party, babysitting, Mansion party, Swim club movie thing. Then Will woke up sick Monday morning and shortly after Hurricane Bill (aka the roomie who flooded the apartment) struck and the rest of the day was spent cleaning up. I myself played the part of FEMA this time, except I was actually useful (retrieved my Dad's carpet machine from Dunwoody) and by the early evening we weren't splashing about anymore.
The Mansion party was pretty fun. Two guys on my fixed wing design team went along, which was surprising. I thought both the band and dj weren't very good, but the company was good and it was nice to see people I hadn't seen in a while. And, extremely amusing to watch all the "shenanigans" that took place. And they're on video.
And now it's the soggy start of another week and it looks like I'll be pretty busy, so I should probably get going on something... like taking a nap, cause I just took my medicine.
Monday, January 16, 2006
The Do-Gooder
What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com
I'm not sure about that example thing, but otherwise seems to be correct.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Grad School: Week One
Well, this week has been relatively calm, with the exception of some money stress (thank you Tech for not paying me for another month!) It really is extremely surprising, since unlike other more fortunate majors, AEs usually get slammed with reading and homework from day 1. None of this 'let's go over the syllabus and call it a day stuff.' And not this happened in any of my classes, but 2 of the 3 were cancelled this week. So it made for not only definitely the easiest first week I've ever had, but also one of the easiest weeks I've ever had at this school. Period.
Just in time, too. Because I am dealing with some serious lack of motivation, man am I burned out issues. This week did come with the usual what classes do I take drama. I signed up for fixed wing, adm 2 and design seminar like I was supposed to, but struggled with propulsion and spanish linguistics. I heard many bad things about propulsion, including that it wasn't very useful... plus it's Fridays 3-6, so the decision to not take it was somewhat easy. Although I still fear the wrath of Doc on this one.
Spanish was more difficult. For the first time ever I found myself dreading going to that class. Never has this happened with a language class before... not even when they were 3 hours long. The class I went to, Spanish Linguistics, is taught by a woman from Spain and sounds extremely interesting. However, there is a fair amount of work involved with the class, including a project that comprises nearly half the final grade. I just didn't feel like doing the work... which was really disappointing, because I try to never let that stand in the way of a great class.
But, after some chats with my favorite people, we all agreed that I should ease up on the course load to give myself time to adjust and to also recover from last semester. There you have it folks: for the first time since I can remember, I am taking the easy way out and not pushing myself.
As hard as this is for me to be ok with, I feel that in the end it will be the right decision. After being sick almost all of 2005, I'd like to focus more on myself and my health this year. That includes not having to stay up late to finish work, not stressing out so much, not running around like crazy, sleeping enough and excercising regularly.
Now if I could only find the motivation... Melissa is probably waiting for me to lose what she has to gain!
Just in time, too. Because I am dealing with some serious lack of motivation, man am I burned out issues. This week did come with the usual what classes do I take drama. I signed up for fixed wing, adm 2 and design seminar like I was supposed to, but struggled with propulsion and spanish linguistics. I heard many bad things about propulsion, including that it wasn't very useful... plus it's Fridays 3-6, so the decision to not take it was somewhat easy. Although I still fear the wrath of Doc on this one.
Spanish was more difficult. For the first time ever I found myself dreading going to that class. Never has this happened with a language class before... not even when they were 3 hours long. The class I went to, Spanish Linguistics, is taught by a woman from Spain and sounds extremely interesting. However, there is a fair amount of work involved with the class, including a project that comprises nearly half the final grade. I just didn't feel like doing the work... which was really disappointing, because I try to never let that stand in the way of a great class.
But, after some chats with my favorite people, we all agreed that I should ease up on the course load to give myself time to adjust and to also recover from last semester. There you have it folks: for the first time since I can remember, I am taking the easy way out and not pushing myself.
As hard as this is for me to be ok with, I feel that in the end it will be the right decision. After being sick almost all of 2005, I'd like to focus more on myself and my health this year. That includes not having to stay up late to finish work, not stressing out so much, not running around like crazy, sleeping enough and excercising regularly.
Now if I could only find the motivation... Melissa is probably waiting for me to lose what she has to gain!
Sunday, January 08, 2006
And so it begins...
New year, new degree, same great roomies! (Missed you girls, glad we're all back and I'm looking forward to hanging out... even though 'Mommy' disaproves of some things that transpired over break...)
So it begins again. Here's hoping this semester will be less stressful and more beneficial. And healthy. For everyone!
Yay to no morning classes!
So it begins again. Here's hoping this semester will be less stressful and more beneficial. And healthy. For everyone!
Yay to no morning classes!