busy busy

Not much to report. Last night after a birthday supper out for a friend I haven't seen in ages I came home and just snuggled up and went to sleep early. I felt lame...but I was just so tired I couldn't stay awake, even at 930. I feel good this morning after a decent sleep. I forgot to plan lunch so I have a really weird lunch mix of what I could find in the fridge - some spinach, beets, hard boiled eggs and a bit of fried rice. I'm going to mix it all together and see how it goes...I figure it has veg, protein and carbs. I know...lame. My weekly meal planning needs an azzkicking again :)

This AM I got up at 520 came in and was able to get into the 630 spin and sculpt class. Sweaty spin plus some core focused exercises made for a good workout. And now, after munching on some yogurt and granola and one of my hardboiled eggs (man I love hardboiled eggs) and a giant mug of coffee I feel ready for today. I'm hoping I can walk home with J after work and maybe get out tonight with friends. We'll see. Maybe I'll just have a nap... :P
 It's gonna be a hectic weekend. A friend is moving away on monday so he's staying with us for a day or two and flying out, plus other friends are having a big gathering saturday night and J is working, and I also need to hit the farmer's market and do some chores...and...and...
I feel more busy now than I was before and I know it's not true...how ever did I do it all then?

It's amazing what we can do when we have to :)

later:
I found this pic...it's so very suited to my rant yesterday :)

There is nothing new under the sun

I had Word crash while writing an article last night . So instead of ranting I randomly searched ridiculous topics. The most absurd thing I could think of off the top of my head was "Potato Band".
And, yes, there is a Korean rock band called Potato Band. Apparently they are doing quite well. 4 albums.

Yup.

Do I know how to have a fun wednesday evening or what? :)

This AM I came in for sweaty spin class with evil Mel. Pushed myself and felt great after. I've been living off beets and roasted summer squash on the days J works late. Last night was so delicious...more for lunch! Whoop :)

I am currently on a quest for knowledge. I have done genetic research, and even briefly worked for research project related to GMO canola. I have had to do a lot of reading into how GMO crops are created. I also do not wish to work with them or eat them because of the high chemical use in their cultivation and growth and think they should be clearly identified in my food stream for that reason alone, because depending on the type of GMO crop it is, it could be toxic. Without that knowledge, I refuse to eat it. I'm on this reading kick after Yum Yucky (whom I respect for her well researched posts) linked to a website that ranted against GMOS (nothing new) but had photos from animals fed GMO corn that developed hideous huge tumours.
!!!!!
Seriously. Huge tumours. They were horrid.

Firstly, I was angry....because it is absolutely inhumane for any animal study to be allowed to be carried out to that point. It would never be allowed in the facility I work for. That is ethically unconscionable to do so and the new rules regarding animal research in Canada would prohibit something like that form occurring because it is cruel and unnecessary. If 70% of an animal group died of liver or kidney failure the study would be stopped so that the animals would not have to suffer unnecessarily.
But also, and equally importantly, I want access to this study and the research details. I want the published results...because if this is true and from a well designed and validated study it would be published in a scientific peer reviewed journal.  Even Monsanto and pharmaceutical companies cannot stop the printing of independent research. The fact the animals were allowed to live in the state they are in suggests otherwise to me, but rules in Europe are different, so I want to know just what they did. If this is the case people need to know this. *I* need to know this. So I want to know control information, what they were fed, how...the important stuff. It's hard to know if whether I ate nothing but GMO corn my entire life if I wouldn't develop huge tumours too. And strangely, many chemical agents (like BPA) are, strangely, much more harmful at low doses than overwhelming ones, so dosage is important. Were some fed only a bit of it? And what happened to them? I mean,  maybe I would develop tumours if I ate only regular corn all my life too. When you seek the truth you have to look at everything. Sometimes the results you get aren't what you want...but you can't let bias interfere with reporting the facts. So it's important to know things like what else, if anything, were they given? What pesticide was the GMO crop grown with and how much was sprayed on the field? What KIND of GM crop was it (developed for pesticide resistance or nutrient enhancement).
I'm being so very nerdy, but I get all twitchy when things are presented incompletely or out of context to build an argument...for me it makes me suspicious. Thing is, I *know* how easy it is to twist data to say what you want it to. Bias comes from both sides, and it makes for bad science. If you want things to change and you want scientists to lobby for this change this kind of clear argument building is critical. There's a LOT of bad science out there.
Stories like this have been around for ages looking at how to better and properly stay away from hype and look at the facts about GMOs. It's hard to do.

I have a thing against GMOs. I also have a thing against bad science. I am a supporter of guys like Ben Goldacre who spend their time debunking false and inaccurate results and studies and push for scientific transparency. If you ever want a good read into what makes a good study and some more well known examples of poor science and false claims, pick up one of his books or watch a few of his TED talks. It's definitely worth it. Even if you don't agree with him on every point he encourages you to think and examine things for yourself scientifically.
As for me, I'm gonna do some more Pubmed searches and see what I literature references can come up with on this...if I find anything I'll let you know...

Evil robot on the floor

You know, I should learn to never step on the scale when I feel good.

I can tell I have gained a bit of muscle and am feeling more toned, but according to the scale I weigh 133, which is 5Lb up from a few weeks ago. I am assuming some of it is due to the burmese food I had at a farewell dinner for a friend last night, but am hoping the rest is solid asskicking muscle. Despite this, I am bummed and suddenly feel round and plump. All from a stupid number on a little machine. Grr. I hate how a little number can just ruin your day like that. It's why I don't weigh myself very often anymore and try and go by my clothes. Thing is - my clothes were feeling a bit better, which is why I checked things out. Strange.

This AM I came in to sculpt class at the gym. It was a solid workout. I finally got a locker at the gym today, so I was able to leave some stuff there and am hoping by the end of the week (with a few purchases of some duplicate stuff I can leave at home) I will no longer have to haul half my house with me in the mornings...just my clothes and lunch...and laptop. Which when I write it out is still a bit of stuff, but about half of the ridiculous baggage I haul now. I feel like i need to buckle down for a while. I'm looking forward to a few weeks of more concentrated fitness and controlled eating and a bit of relaxing. I have permission to take a few days off after thanksgiving to go visit my Dad so I'm quite looking forward to it. I'll bring my interval timer, mat, a few dumbells and my runners with me and have come great outdoor foresty workouts up there. Maybe get in a few runs in the woods. Can't wait :)

Today? Well, it's a good thing I feel plump (har har), since there is a photographer coming to take images of our new building and I have to "dress" a lab for pictures and probably be in them too. Yeesh. Ah well, should be fun, and not a bit like regular work, which is great!!
Must go build a fake lab :)
Later taters...

image

like a well oiled (squeaky!) machine

Last night's bellydance class was a blast. We went over shimmy's and hip lifts again, with a lot of new and different strengthening and stretching exercises. Then we learned figure 8s...I love them. They just feel all strong and sexy. One of those moves that comes naturally to me. By the time I got home after class and we had supper it was pretty much time to call it a day. I ended up whipping up spaghetti since we were starving and it was about 8. I need to do some preemptive meal plannings for mondays. I think I'll be whipping out the slow cooker for mondays so we still get healthy food and I'm not in a famished rushed panic to make food for us...
This morning? Oh my abs. The thing about belly dancing is you use muscles you don't normally use. my obliques are so sore today...so I came in to work out! Hee hee.

I did ZWOW 35, with altered pistol squats because of my knee -I went down onto a low bench and back up. Still challenging, but no knee crunching. Sweaty. Fun. It was really hard to hold the 10Lb weights over my head while squatting...I think I had my tongue out and my eyes crossed concentrating the whole time I did those :)
Then, inspired by madam Josie's (of the realm of Yum Yucky) early morning Facebook post I did an extra 3 sets of 5 tricep dips and 25 deadlifts into shoulder presses.
Then I hopped on the elliptical for 15 minutes to work out the kinks and sweat a bit.
THEN, I did the BodyrockTV Play Hard abs bonus from their 12 Minute Magic workout (I've been wanting to try it for a while) with a 12 Lb medicine ball: 25 V-situps, 25 bodyrock V-rock double situps, 25 side to side rows and 25 plank mountain climbers knee in to opposite elbow, with 3 forward lunges on each side with a twists after each exercise. Whew.
I feel fabulous!
Now I must run. Science calls :)
Later taters.


We Rock the Body

Quick workout log...This morning the fit class was full so I dug out the interval timer and banged out an older bodyrock workout instead:
(50 sec on 10 sec rest): I did 3 rounds instead of 2
-skipping
-pick up 20Lb weight to shoulder, back lunge, side lunge, put weight down. Alternate legs.
-skipping
-monkey pushup + tuck jump
-skipping
-pushup, planked hop crunch in to L side and out, hop crunch in to R side and out

Then ab bonus - 1 min of each of the following:
-v sits
-bicycle crunches
-plank with toes on bosu ball, alternating toe touches to the floor
-10 one legged butt/pelvic raises with leg extended and other up on a ball, alternating sides

Then I hopped on the elliptical for 15 minutes and called it a day. Good workout overall. Today I can try and get a gym locker later today (they only come open once a year and we have to wait until all the student ones are taken first), so I hope one is available. I am tired of lugging 2 or 3 bags of junk to work every day. It would be nice  to not have to...

Must dash. Lots to do. Aaaaand, bellydancing tonight! Woot!
Have a great day!!

Lazy 2.0

Last night I was bad...I didn't work on my paper. J worked all last night, so instead of working, after a healthy supper, I caught the bus to the mall and got a few groceries and then wandered around shopping and got a few small things for myself. Don't have much spare $$ after fixing the car, so I mostly just wandered. It was nice. I felt wasteful of my time though. It's odd. Add in a late bedtime meant tired me this morning though.
I came in for spin and sculpt. It was 40 min spin and then core work. A nice solid workout.
I have much to do today and I'm hoping to sneak in a nap after work. I (well OK J) pick up my thesis from the boundary today. Hee hee. Other than that, J works all saturday so I'll do some work then on my paper. I may get to present my data at a conference in the spring if it's accepted. I hope it is.
I'm babbling already -better get some caffeine in me :)
Later taters! Have a great weekend!


Alive and kicking

Spin class this morning was evil. EVIL. But I did it. I pushed through it and had a really good workout. I am stiff from yesterday, but not as horrendously as I'd feared. Our instructor had a lot of angst to work out this morning... and so we really got a workout!

Last night I had time to make a proper supper and roasted up some maple balsamic brussel sprouts with pecans and red onion to go with supper...oh...so good. I don't make them often because they take an hour but they are hands down the best way to make them. I love having more time to make supper...so many possibilities. A lazy evening and early bedtime made this morning a bit easier. I made up some wicked pumpkin date bran muffins for snacks and had pumpkin chia overnight oats for breakfast today. Oh yes. It's on. :)

I was disgusted to learn this morning that my spin instructor's dog was pepper maced by a utility worker that had gone into her yard on monday to do some work. Can you believe it? People were home when this happened too and they heard nothing - the workers didn't even try to call someone to get into the yard - just sprayed the dog and then did their thing. Her big old dog is 11 years old and not mean tempered and she just thought that perhaps he was having breathing issues for a day or two due to his age. But then the company called her TWO DAYS LATER to tell her what had happened. Too late for treatment....and what is really sad is that on tuesday her dog died from it. She spent yesterday home with her 11 year old son who was devastated by the loss of his dog...and she had tears in her eyes when she was telling me about it.
This just makes me angry. This didn't need to happen. She is trying to find out who did it, and is having difficulty getting this information from the company, but she is the yelley tough instructor, and I've no doubt she will keep at it until she can find out who it is and make sure they are disciplined. She is even considering small claims court, just to try and drive home the point of how wrong this was. Not only is bear spray considered a weapon where I live, it's illegal to carry for use unless you are hiking and are in bear country. Using it on private property on a client's dog is so very illegal. I don't see why they couldn't just call and ask that any dog be leashed or contained when they come in the yard. I hope she makes sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.

ooh eee ooh ah aah

Well then. I made it into the morning class today and I'm gonna be sooooo stiff tomorrow. It was an hour long sculpt class. 100 reps of squats, step ups, lunges, shoulder presses, chest presses, back flys, side raises, tricep dips, bicep curls and some plank action with some crunches and lower ab work. Having done some of these muscle groups yesterday made this a real challenge. It felt great though :) And I didn't forget any clothes or stuff to get ready today. My knee seems to be holding up well too, so I'm pleased.
Level up!
I am tired today, after waiting late at the airport to pick up my Dad and then staying up to vist a bit last night...I am in desperate need of some coffee. I'm off for my breakfast and a cup of liquid energy...
Later taters :)

Ah yes :)

Fantastic weekend. Oh yes. Camping in a river valley (which I think is one of the most beautiful places in this country) with a group of old friends, tasty apricot beer, delicious food, a roaring fire...fantastic. It was so clear you could see the milky way. Swam in the (freezing!) mountain stream. Laughed with friends. Then moved on to the city to a potluck and gathering at a friends place. More wonderful people I haven't seen much this year, with great food and beer and fantastic music played on the decks by my good friends. Watched my friend's dogs being taunted by the squirrels in the crab apple tree as they tossed fruit down at them. Nibbled pie in the moonlight. Danced and laughed until my face hurt from smiling. It was nice.
Yesterday was back to "life" and that was AOK. Work was fine and after was my first bellydance class of the year. Meep. We went through undulatons and basic shimmys/hip raises. I was pleased to see that 4 girls I know from classes years ago are also in the class - it's so nice to have familiar faces. I'm hoping I get to visit with them a bit next week and catch up a bit. The intro class was the right choice...she's going over form and technique and terminology and the review is a good thing. I can slowly build my way back up and take more advanced egyptian classes after christmas. I really enjoyed it :)

This morning I got up to come in to workout to find the morning class was full (not a huge surprise), so I dug out my HR monitor and gave myself a solid workout on my own. Three times through 15 rep sets of: side arm raises, tricep extensions, chest presses, deep squats with shoulder raises, one legged Bulgarian dead lifts, clean and presses, sumo squats, burpees and some plank ab crunches. Then I hopped on the elliptical for 30 minutes. Lots of sweaty goodness in my performance cardio range and I burned 449 calories. In my half awake packing I forgot my hair stuff and makeup so I am au naturale today, but I don't look too shabby (I hope!). Good way to start the day though. Feeling like I can take on the world!!
I'm off to science land. Have a great day :)

I went to the woods...

Spent last night gathering camping gear and making some birthday cookies for my friend Bunjee, who's birthday is the reason for this last weekend campout of the season. Many old friends are getting together for a campout weekend. I managed to only eat a few cookies as I baked. It's my Mum's old chocolate chip recipe and I rarely make them because they are insanely delicious and I eat them all. Bunjee and his wife love them, so it seemed a low key gift to bring along.
I also gathered up stuff for another potluck on saturday at another friend's house with more good people I haven't seen in ages. Yes, only one night camping and the other at a second gathering (busy weekend!!) I baked a pie with apples from my friend's tree and prepped stuff to make guacamole on saturday. It should be a whirlwind fun filled exhausted weekend and I can't wait. It's been over 2 years of sending J off to these things while I stay home and work. Now I can come too. :)

I had lots to gather this morning so I didn't have time to get up and go in to workout at the gym, but I still got up and banged out a tough one of Sean's leg and booty Bodyrock workout before getting ready for the weekend and packing up the gear for J to load up.
Twice through reps of the following (50sec work/10 sec rest):
-ninja tuck jump + 5 high knees
-2 dive bomber pushups + drunk chicken jumpjack
-4 planked knee to opposite elbow crunches, 2 side alligator crunches and 2 front crunches
-2 pop-up pushups + 5 squat jumps
-Bent rows with dumbells
-4 sumo squats (both sides) and 4 scissor jump lunges (both sides)
Wish I'd had time for a third round through. I'm still back to knee pushups for a lot of them, but I'll get back there. It felt good to push myself and get in a workout though. I have to remind myself that it's consistency that's the key.

Now it's off to a short workday and then off to the woods and wonderful people.
Hope you all have a good weekend. :)

Adjustments

Well, I am registered for bellydance classes. Hooray! Basic class every monday at 6.
So excited. :) I figured I'd ease my way back into it all and just have fun with it. I can do more advanced stuff after christmas if I feel the urge...I have this strong aversion to over committing myself to anything at the moment. Plus lessons are $150 so it's not like I can just sign up for a whole bunch of them at the moment thanks to the  recent car repairs. (unless there's a rich bellydancing scientific philanthropist out there who'd like to help me out? Hmmmm?)
Yesterday was attack of the PMS and try-not-to-eat-everything-in-sight. Tried hard. Kept it reasonable, but man...endless hunger. I tried to distract myself by starting on a manuscript from my thesis, but in the end I just went on the Internet and then read a bit of a book before going to bed. I really wanted to get some work done on the paper to get it out of the way, but I just don't want to do anything right now. I will though. Honest. NO really.

This morning was spin and sculpt class again. The classes are all jumbled up this week. Next week the new schedule starts and I will try and stick to it. Spin and sculpt will be monday and friday with spin on tuesday and thursday and sculpt on wednesday. Seems reasonable. If I can make as many as I can (maximum 20 people in the class and you can't sign up in advance), the ones that are full will be me improvising with ZWOWS or something similar. I want to throw in a bodyrock interval workout on the weekend too...we'll see. It's like I'm yo-yo-ing at the moment and fighting any sort of hard committed work as backlash against school. I have to keep reminding myself: Just because I'm done school doesn't give me free reign to turn into a big ol' puddle of jello. I have to fake it until I get the fire in me again. It will come. I know it will. Some days it's there. Others...well, it's somewhere :)
There's just a whole lot of adjusting for me to do. It really is weirder than I thought. People warned me about the whole post-thesis ennui and I thought they were joking. It's not bad...just, well, weird...:)

I leave you with this little song by (don't be afraid) William Shatner and Lemon Jelly. I love Lemon Jelly, and even they can work with Mr. Cheeseball himself to make a little happy song. It makes me smile.

Jingle jingle

Man I'm loving this not being a grad student stuff :)   Last night I had the time to walk home from work and then roast up a hugeass spaghetti squash someone gave me with some sauteed veg and chic peas for a late supper. Then we wandered about gathering up gear and food for our final campout of the summer this weekend. Even scored a long drooled over cast iron frying pan on our travels which happened to be 80% off (Score!). Add in lots of snuggle time with my J and it was one great evening. :)

This AM I was up again and in for a morning workout: spin and sculpt class. I noticed as I got dressed after that the shirt I chose (joy) has a strange stain in it (???) so I get to look extra classy today. Ah well, with any luck it's not too noticeable...at least that's what I keep telling myself. Good thing I wear a lab coat a lot :)

I should get to my lab. Tonight I get to (squeee!!) register for fall bellydance classes! I can't even tell you how much I've missed bellydancing while I was in school. My old instructors have both stopped teaching and I was a little sad I'd just have to flounder on my own, but I learned a few weeks ago that  one of the girls who used to be in an old troupe of mine is now teaching tribal fusion classes in an old church that's been turned into a community dance studio and I cannot wait to have classes from her!
I'm going to start off with basic lessons this fall and go from there. I can't wait!! Registration is tonight and classes start monday.
Can I get a woohoo?

Have a great day everyone. I'm off to the mad science lab :)

much better

Ah, there we go. :)
Walked home from work yesterday with J to a relaxing evening. Nice supper, a bit of my homemade beer and then finally watched the new Muppet Movie last night. So good :)

Woke up this morning and came in for spin class. It was a good solid class, and even with yelly Mel the instructor I had a good solid workout. All the students are back now so the gym is crowded and it's harder to get in to classes in the morning, so I'll have to make a point of being more on time.
It's harvest time so my asthma/allergies are going whackadoo but I'm hoping that regular exercise will help keep things together. We shall see. I haven't been good and properly sick in a while and I honestly expected to come down with something after I defended, so maybe I'm due. Who knows.

I just feel so much better after a workout. Less anxious, and ready for a good day at work. I forgot my lunch at home but I picked up a yummy looking cob salad on the way in with an egg and blue cheese, olives and bacon in it with avacado dressing. I'm drooling over it already :)

Hope you all have a most splendiferous day :)

slow and steady

My Dad was here visiting this weekend. I felt rather dull not having a lot to entertain him with, but it was good to see him nonetheless. Had some family visits on both sides, got some chores done and actually relaxed to the point of boredom...I need to get my craft room organized so I can funnel all this extra energy somewhere creative and fun next time.
Got up and organized this morning to see Dadoff on the plane. With any luck I'm back to morning workouts as of tomorrow. I am a bit relieved that when I convinced myself to step on the scale for my monthly weigh in today that after the dust has settled post thesis I still weigh 129, only 4Lb over my uberbest... At any rate, it gives my hope that I can, indeed keep it together and a slight bit of jiggle does not make a catastrophic set back in fitness. Yes I need more muscle back but I am not dramatically doomed as I had somehow convinced myself I was...

Slow and steady wins the race :)

Fight the funk

Well, last night I funked myself through some errands and watched a horridly cheesy movie and tried not to snack the night away. Did OK. Not great, but OK. It's funny I feel like I deserve to sloth and relax after working so hard....but I have issues just not doing anything anymore...turns out, just sitting is BORING. I need to develop hobbies again. To do that, I first need to organize life a bit and do some housework. My house needs love so I have space and time to do more fun things. My plan is to make a chore bowl on the weekend - to put all the major chores I have to catch up on in a bowl and just pull them out one by one and do them. It's overwhelming if I look at it all at once, but I think one thing at a time is reasonable and less crazy making.
I did manage to get my gear together despite my brain's protests and this AM came in at stupid oclock for spin and sculpt....and, Wow. She kicked my ass. I could tell I'd been away for a week or so -I couldn't do all of the moves, but I tried. And now I'm in a set of my spiffy new work duds and feeling rather styly and professional, trying to figure out what to start out my day with. It's dark in the mornings again, and there's a fall chill in the air but it felt good to get up again and work out. I missed it. Heh -Here's hoping I'm not falling  asleep by 8 PM :)
Later taters...

Oh Geo oh Geo where have you been?

Oh hai.
Well, we had a lovely relaxing weekend away. Celebrated J's birthday good and properly and relaxed, rode some rollercoasters, got a few things for me to wear to work and a pair of (meep) purple Dr. Martens boots for me as a present to myself. Had some delicious food and wine and beer and now, must settle down and try to figure out what exactly life is all about post-thesis.

Now, it's back home...to normal life. Getting the car fixed (grr), and finishing up any last school details so I can graduate in October. All papers are completed and signed and I just dropped off my thesis at the bindary to be bound this morning. 5 copies...hopefully they are all in order. I had to insert the colour pages and a few weren't printed off right, so I reprinted them at home at the last minute and they still aren't perfect, but you know what? I'm done. It will be good enough. My thesis is available as pdf so they can see all it's perfect glory there if they really  want to. I was glad to learn that I can bind my own personal copy in Navy blue as opposed to the pukey brown maroon university binding colours the other copies have to be in... and in 10 days I'll have a copy to put in my bookshelf and pull out every few years and go "oh yeah, THAT took a few years off my life didn't it?"...

I haven't been in to work out yet this week. I've had errands and things both mornings and evenings so I haven't been able to but I think I may work out when I get home. I have the ennui and usually that means I need my sweaty endorphins. Plus...I feel roundish. I need to really buckle down. I know I have a few pounds to shave off...I don't need to be my uber best immediately, but I know me, and I know I need to keep this in check. All this celebration and sleep has been fun, but if I don't watch myself, I'll eat myself up a clothing size, and that, my good peeps, is simply unacceptable...

So...I will work out and live and try and settle into my new life and figure things out as I go. Daily morning workouts and more healthy food is what I need. I'll figure it out eventually...