The New ASL

That'd be "American Spin Language".

So last night I realized something. In a given day, every person has a quota for "things that can go right" and "things that can go wrong".  Yesterday, I apparently donated all of my "things that can go right" points to a friend who needed them (and I'm glad I did, because everything went as well as possible for her). However, that left me with a lot of "what??  THAT went wrong???" moments during the rest of the day.

I won't go into the little things (like how my iPod reset itself recently, so shaking it makes it shuffle the songs..which is super great mid-spin class), but the one major thing that left me shaking my head is worth sharing.

Last night I subbed for Alicia. I love the Thursday group - they're all regulars, and they were all there when I was first learning to teach a year ago. They're good sports. Last night, I was utterly exhausted after a day that started at 4 AM (which really means that Wednesday just never ended, since we all know that if you need to wake up at 4 AM you really wake up every hour before that, panicked that you forgot to wake up). I was already punchy. I walked around and helped some new members set up their bikes, which means I had the headset around my neck so I wasn't talking instructions on bike setup into the ears of everyone else. Oh, quick detour. This is what our spin room looks like:

 You see the wires coming down from the ceiling? Those go to headphone jacks because the room isn't enclosed - it's just a mezzanine overlooking the rest of the cardio area. Usually, I actually like this. It means the music (and my voice) is really inside everyone's head.

Here's where I live. That's a protein shake, not a milkshake, I promise. But you see that railing behind the bikes?  Behind that is this:

I call it The Void. Things go down there, they don't come back. For example, I lost a towel down there 6 months ago. The brown stuff, it turns out, is just insulation over ceiling tiles. Translation: step on it, you go through the ceiling of the children's play area.

So

Back to the story. I'm running around with the headset around my neck and get back up to adjust my bike. Lean over to move the seat and guess what I dropped down into The Void 5 minutes before class?

That would be the headset. The only headset.

I ran down to the front desk to get maintenance or someone with a stick, but no dice. Then I realized there was no class running in Studio A, so I grabbed that headset. Then realized that...duh...the headsets are wireless, which means they're not transferrable. Awesome.

So I spent the rest of the class playing charades and miming what the riders were supposed to do. The profile I'd planned involved a lot of verbal cues, so that was right out the window. I had to make it up as I went along, which was interesting. They were good sports, god love em, and laughed along with me. I told them it was a "do as I do" kind of class, so for the first time, everyone jumped in sync (which I don't usually like to do, because some people don't jump as fast as others) and we all got a kick out of Fred keeping his head down too long and missing the cue to sit. :-) Good times.

After class, an unnamed person decided to take it upon themselves to hop that fence, nearly fall through the floor/ceiling, and grab the headset (AND my towel!!) so all's well that ends well. I'm still shaking my head over that one.

So after all that, I finally made it home and wouldn't you know it there was one more thing waiting to go wrong.

Sir Derps Alot (aka Grisgris, aka Kitty Pants...I swear I've been calling him that for 2+ years and I nearly fell out of my chair when Rose said she called her cat that too) suddenly has a very bad limp and won't put any weight at all on his left front paw. It's really swollen too (you can kind of see it here) and he won't let me touch it. I don't blame him. So, off to the vet we go this afternoon. At least he's still purring, bless his heart.

God love him, Nick suggested we go out for dinner last night, so we did...we got home around 8:30 and by 9:15 I was passed out. Didn't wake up until 8 this morning. It. was. glorious.

Trivia

I really don't have much interesting to say, and I'm completely and utterly fried today. So here's a series of useless facts about me and my day.

Trivia. Look it up. 

---

Dunkin' Donuts is pretty much never a good idea, but when I do go I get exactly two things (or sometimes just one, but mostly it's two): a large iced caramel swirl, black with sugar, and a pumpkin muffin. Combined, if I ate/drank the whole things, we're looking at 92 g of sugar. Breakfast of champions. However, by the time I get through the top of the muffin and about half the coffee, I'm bouncing off the walls so hard that the rest ends up going stale/watery by lunch. So maybe only 46 or so g of sugar. For reference, a bag of skittles has 47 g. And I wonder why I bonk by lunch.

---

Hospitals don't faze me. Maybe it's because I basically grew up in one (on the good side - the dr's side), but even in the chaotic areas (think ER, OR, etc), I don't hate it. That bodes well for my future as a PT, right?

---

I'm teaching spin tonight (5:30 at the Executive) and Saturday, 10 AM. I realized that Saturday's class is the last one of the year, so I'm trying to come up with a good sendoff profile based on a summary of the year. Stay tuned.

Suggestions welcome. 

---

I'll admit, I got to work late this morning. But I was online until about 10, then off until about 12:30. In that time, I got >13 emails, 9 of which were regarding the fact that our office HVAC is on the fritz again. Normally it's a roll your eyes kind of thing, but today our office manager is, well, out of the office. Poor guy just wanted a day off, but no dice. So somehow this showed up at my desk.

Yeah that's 8 or so space heaters. I hadn't gotten to read my emails yet, so this was...perplexing. Turns out, I'm now the keeper of the heat, so I get to barter with my office mates if they want to type without mittens on. I see a lot of reclaimed Yankee Swap losses in my future. Muahaha.

---

Tonight's playlist isn't abnormal:

I Will Love Again - Baracuda
Blackout  -  Breathe Carolina
Panic Switch  -  Silversun Pickups
Blow  -  Ke$ha
Americano  -  Lady Gaga (If you haven't heard this one, check it out. It's about the only good Gaga I've heard lately.)
Good Feelin  -  Flo-Rida
Love in America  -  JTX
Once Upon A Time In Mexico - Cucka Rocka
United State of Pop 2011 (World Go Boom)  -  DJ Earworm
Papi  -  Jennifer Lopez
Danza Kuduro Feat Lucenzo  -  Don Omar
Jai Ho  -  A. R. Rahman Ft Nicole Scherzinger
Samson  -  Regina Spektor

That one in the middle is the latest from DJ Earworm, and it's a free download. Check it out. 

On that note, I'm going to crawl under my desk and power nap until class.

Winnahh and Amateur Hour

First up, holy crap I won an internet! Yay, go me! I can't wait to try it out!!

Second, Christmas. I don't have pics yet, but they'll come.

On Saturday, hub's dad took me, my sister in law, and her friend to the gym for an aerobics class. It was fun...it was also an ego boost to realize how far I've come since the last time I went to one of the classes at his gym. It's mostly the 50+ crowd there, and mostly people who are there avoiding the slopes (he lives basically at a ski resort) for one reason or another, so the workout was...less than intense. SIL and friend are Crossfit junkies, and you know my routine, so we were in the back of the class looking like pros with the heavy weights and whatnot. It was good times.

However.

You'd think that I'd be better prepared to hit the gym, all things considered. You'd think wrong. I not only didn't have shoes (I'd brought spin shoes, but that class was full), I somehow also managed to forget a sports bra. Fortunately, I had a bathing suit, so I rocked the top like I'd just come in off the beach to work out a bit. They had loaner shoes at the front as well, so that...helped...

Something like that.

It was fun, anyway.

Tonight I'm teaching Strength then FIT, back to back. First time teaching these classes in 2 or so weeks, so that should be fun. Spin tomorrow, Thursday (5:30 PM), and Saturday (10 AM).

Best Possible Outcome

When I walked in last night, there was only one person signed up for class.  I love this person, but still...just one person in class gets awkward.

And then, right before class started, 3 girls walked in - all a couple years younger than I am, and ready to party. They got every song on the list, and totally rocked out the whole time - even doing some of the arm motions for a few of the songs. By the time the Titanic remix came on, it'd been as much of an ab workout as it was a leg workout, we were all laughing so hard. It was beautiful.

The irony of the Spice Girls is that by today's standards, they look like nuns.

Totally 90's Night

Last night we went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie (it was fun - better than the first, I thought, but definitely not a small-screen movie) and part of the pre-show stuff was...

THEY'RE REDOING TITANIC IN 3D

That's just not right...

Much better.

So after falling out of my seat from swooning over young Leo again (seriously, I defy any girl of the 90s to tell me they don't still have feelings for Jack Dawson), I lapsed into a 90s-themed living coma from which I've yet to awaken. Didn't help that we watched Empire Records when we got home last night either.

So with that in mind, I give you tonight's playlist:


Girls - Beastie Boys 2:14
Plowed  -  Sponge 3:17
Men In Black  -  Will Smith 3:46
Larger Than Life  -  Backstreet Boys 3:52
The Bad Touch (Eiffel 65 Remix)  -  Bloodhound Gang 4:23
Kryptonite  -  3 Doors Down 3:55
Wannabe  -  Spice Girls 2:53
Bye Bye Bye  -  'N Sync 3:25
Baby Got Back [1992]  -  Sir Mix-A-Lot 4:23
My Heart Will Go On (Titanic Dance Mix)  -  The Hit Crew 3:56
Scatman  -  Scatman John 3:34
La Grange  -  ZZ Top 3:35
Desperately Wanting  - Better Than Ezra 4:37
Your Woman [1997]  -  White Town 4:17

I won't say it's my best playlist, but it's what I'm in the mood for. I'm betting it's going to be a slow week, so hopefully it won't be too embarrassing. I can always change lists if it gets too painful. Now I just need a good profile to distract them from this mess...

Did I miss any? 

Oh, I also found the "dialogue mix" of My Heart Will Go On. Remember that 90s kids? Why did that ever stop? I feel like they could be making bank with all the terrible Twilight songs that could be assaulting us with sparkly feelings...

Busy Week

Busy month, really. I may be MIA for most of the rest of the year, actually. I know, shame on me. Work's been nuts, Christmas is happening

whether I like it or not, and hubs is in his own world until Sunday when his classes are over. The upshot of him being so busy is that it'll be like dating him all over again come next week...awkward conversations at the dinner table (we haven't eaten together in like 3 weeks), a lot of lingering silences, and enough wine to take the edge off the whole experience. Should be fun. Seriously though, he's working his butt off for this school stuff and I miss him like crazy, but that's what we get for making our dreams happen...right?

Right.

Speaking of making dreams happen, I got the official "you're accepted" email from U Indy today. I won't lie, I was a little bit starting to think that last week's phone call had been a prank. In fact, I had a dream about it last night...my mind even created the text for the "oops we called the wrong person" email I was destined to get. Yeah, my self esteem is off the charts high, I know.

That's about all I've got right now...sorry I haven't been more interesting lately.

Oh, on Tuesday I had us sit on a balance ball and do Russian twists with a body bar instead of a medicine ball. It basically forces you to really twist your upper body (you can cheat with the medicine ball). My ribs hurt today. I wasn't aware how many oblique muscles I've been cheating by not really doing those right. Oof.

Welp, It's Official

One way or another, I'm going to be a physical therapist. I just got word that U Indy accepted me. 3 days after the interview, and they called to tell me I'm in. I don't think hearing "you're in" from Heidi Klum herself could have made my day any better.

Tonight's workout: bouncing off the walls.

Well is it?

All day today, I've been a space cadet. I didn't sleep too well last night, and I've had a mild to moderately throbbing headache all day, which goes well with the moderate to severe anxiety and stress of returning to work after a time away. It's not even like I took time off...I actually didn't. I even worked over the weekend. But it was just SO nice to be on a connection so slow that I couldn't get emails telling me things had to be done yesterday, and in a different format than before.

All day today, I've been thinking, "is it the 18th? yes? no. no. damn. Wait...is it the 18th??" As if 2 hours is 2 weeks. In my head, it sounds like this kid:



"It's the 18th? No?"

So that's where I'm at.

In other news, UC Denver invited me out to interview as well...yay!!! I'm actually kind of torn on this one. I love Denver. Love it. Love the mountains, love the fact that my brother lives sort of out there, love that I have an aunt and uncle and cousins out there. However. We just found out that there's a pretty nasty pitbull ban that's county-wide. Like, "drive your pitty through our city and we'll kill it" bad.

That means that our little menace to society would be at risk. I'm not sure what the towns around Denver have for legislation, but it's definitely unsettling.

It really stinks because I love the school and it's been my #1 choice since I started applying. But barring some very good news from a local shelter or something, or a full-ride scholarship that would show the world I can be bought (as long as I can live outside county limits with my pup), I'm not sure it's an option anymore.

I'm still going out though, since there has to be a way around it...right? Denver folk, any help?

Moving on.

Tonight I'm teaching back to back classes. I didn't want to...in fact, I've so enjoyed having not done a darn thing since Wednesday that I debated requesting a sub. But the girl who teaches after me had some school thing (translation: kid's PTA meeting >> finals week) and couldn't find anyone, so I begrudgingly said ok. It really is finals week, and the last one I need to take isn't going to be pretty. I also have a crapton of Christmas stuff to get done, and the house is in its "no one has taken care of me since August" state right now, which is losing its novelty fast.

That actually made me feel better. My kitchen is not that bad. Not nearly that bad. Even at its worst, it's not that bad. Ick.

Anyway, so that's what's up. Space cadet, anxiously awaiting news, trashed house, new interview, and classes to teach.

What's going on in your world?

Procrastination

I find myself once again putting off tasks I probably should be doing. It's Sunday, and they're work tasks, but they're the kind of thing I can do while I'm half watching a movie (LOTR...maybe this time I'll get it). And yet...

...still not doing them.

I took a drive up to Purdue today, to check out the school for hubs. He's in the Master's program there, via the magic of the internet, to eventually get his degree in Aerospace and Aeronautics. The engineering building there is the Neil Armstrong building, which is pretty rad.

Easily the most visually appealing engineering building I've ever seen. The one at the U is half underground and all depressing.

If I'm lucky, this is where I'll be spending the next 3 years of my life:

Ahh.

The next two weeks are going to be painful, I can tell.

Culture Shock

At some point in the last 5 years, I became a New Englander. Not sure when that happened, but now that I'm out of New England for the weekend (more on that in a second), it's really apparent. The biggest difference? Religion. Now, I'm not about to start telling you what I believe (and I DEFINITELY won't tell you what you should believe), but there's definitely an openness about faith out here that doesn't really seem to exist in New England. I think the absence of religious conversation is partly a desire to be PC, but mostly...we just mind our own business. At least that's how I see it.

It's ironic, since the whole reason New England became a thing is because of religion...but I guess over the years somewhere along the line we stopped talking about it. I'm ok with that, for a number of reasons...mainly, and quite honestly, I don't actually know 100% what I believe. I feel like I'd rather spend time in this life being decent to others than trying to figure out what the after life holds for any of us. Seems like a waste of time since no one has empirical proof either way. But like I said, I'm not here to talk about that.

What's bizarre to me is going to Kroger at 11 at night and hearing Christian rock on the overhead. It's not offensive, just...strange.

ALL that said, I actually really like it here.

Oh right. I'm in Indianapolis. I came out for an interview...not a job interview, a school interview. Have I mentioned that? I've been taking crazy classes all summer/fall so that I can go back to school to become a physical therapist.

Kat's out of the bag. (That's funny because my name is Kat...did anyone who hasn't emailed me know that?)

So yeah. Applications have all been in for a couple of months. Today was my first official interview at U Indy. They said they'd let us know before Christmas break, which starts the 18th I think. No big deal, but that's like 2 weeks from now. Yikes.

I've got a couple other applications out as well, but the only other place I've heard anything officially from is Franklin Pierce, which is in NH. They've moved my application forward a couple times (they don't do official interviews) and I've visited the campus (3rd floor of an office building in Concord, NH), but I won't hear from them officially until end of January. Blerg.

So that's where I'm at. I've been hesitant to post anything publicly about this for a couple reasons...one, until this weekend I really wasn't terribly confident that I'd get in anywhere. I'm still not saying I'm a shoe-in, but after realizing how hot a statistical commodity I am as a non-traditional student, I feel a little better about things. Two, I haven't really told my boss. Gym boss or real job boss. I probably won't tell either of them until I know for sure which school I'm going to (so...February sometime I guess). There's really no point. None of the schools I've applied to are ones that are clear-cut "first choice" schools...they all have merits and pitfalls...so I don't know for sure if/when I'd need to leave either job. Until then, I plan on doing both jobs to the best of my ability so there's really no impact on either job until I leave. That said, enough people at work know by now that I'm sort of over trying to cover it up so much.

SO that's what's up. And now you know.

Oh, my Monday night class is cancelled, which isn't surprising. But I still have Tuesdays and Wednesdays and all the subbed classes in between. Which includes the morning of New Year's Eve, now that I'm thinking of it. :-)

I Must Be the Fittest

Because heck yes, I survived. I taught 8 classes since my last post, and I flew through them all. No fainting, no nerves, nothing. It was magical.

Unfortunately, this whole "Cyber Monday" crap doesn't apply to me,and today needs to be uber productive so I'm actually working today. Blech.

More later.

Duck Duck Turkey and Stuff

Saturday was fun. The first class had 22 participants, so I cut the time down to 20 seconds a piece for the Duck Duck Turkey portion. I think people had fun...it was interesting walking around the room so much anyway. The second class had only 8 people in it, so I just ran the profile and skipped the game.

It's funny the difference half an hour makes...the 8:30 AM group they call the "weekend warriors" and they just want to be punished. It felt a little Animal Houseish after a while:



It was almost like I couldn't make them work hard enough - especially this one character in the back that kept yelling "thank you" every time I told them to turn the resistance up. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, so I kept telling them to add it on. Bizarre.

The 10 AM group was there for a workout, not a beating. We did the same profile, minus the game, and it was much less sadistic. They worked hard, but they also seemed to appreciate it when I encouraged them. The 8:30 group seemed to want a drill sergeant.

Weird.

Anyway, tonight I'm teaching FIT then strength, if anyone shows up. I won't lie, I have nothing planned yet. Not even a little. I should get on that I guess. The FIT group is usually fun and may be open to doing stuff that involves leaving their little workout bubble. Not sure if I have the time to get very creative at this point though...we'll see. Since the FIT class is supposed to be mostly cardio, I may adopt Queen Jillian's format and do 6 minute sets: 3 minutes cardio, 2 minutes strength, 1 minute abs. Actually, that sounds totally reasonable. Let's go with that.

I have a new fitness goal. I want to be so little I can do this to a client and not break their kneecaps. I wonder if she's wearing a harness. 

In other news, I got some really great news last week that I want to tell everyone, but I'm not really going public (read: I can tell the internet, but not most folks in my real life world) with it yet. I'm not pregnant. But it could have that level of financial ramification. We'll see.

Oh, and I painted the house this weekend. Again. Seriously, the novelty has worn off.

Before all the work:

With the new siding: 

And finally, a fresh coat of paint. Still need one more coat at least, but it's progress anyway.

Down Days

Wednesday night was fun...only one person showed up for spin, so we spent most of the time just talking while we worked out. It was relaxed and fun. I can handle one-on-one spin classes a lot better than one-on-one strength, that's for sure.

I haven't done a damn fitness-related thing (except volunteer to sub another class next week) since then. Go me.

In lieu of interesting things, here's the description of how we're playing Duck Duck Turkey (because it's almost Thanksgiving) this weekend:

Basically, the whole class gets on a moderate hill. One person volunteers to be the first "turkey" (the first person being "chased"), which only means that their time gets split up over the very first and the very last slot. I walk around and pick another "turkey" (the chaser) and as soon as I yell turkey the two of them take off and sprint it out while I go pick someone else. At the end of 30 seconds, I'll have picked a new turkey, and when I yell turkey again, the first turkey stops and the newly appointed one starts sprinting, to chase the previously picked one. So total, each person is basically sprinting for 60 straight seconds, except the first person who gets it split up over 2 sessions. Sort of like this, if you had 8 people in class:


Chased Chaser
1           2
2           3
3           4
4           5
5           6
6           7
7           8
8           1


In the middle I could yell "gobble" and everyone would have to sprint for 30 seconds (then recover for 30 before starting up where we left off), and for the already chased folks, I'd have them add resistance every 30-60 seconds to keep interest up.


It sounds more complicated than it seems in my head.

Social Networking

In order to stop harassing my family and friends on facebook with my posts, I created a facebook page just for Pedal Faster. Yay! So go feed my ego like the page for updates that are too silly to put on the blog and too long for twitter (which I'm also on...I'm so with it).

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pedalfastergo (also, there's a Like button off to the right side there)
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/pedalfastergo

OK back to work

In Which a Series of Unfortunate Decisions Leads to Near Disaster

For the first time ever, last night I very nearly couldn't finish teaching a class. Not in an "oh I haven't worked out and by butt hurts too much" kind of way but in an "all blood just drained from my face and I'm about to eat my Reebok step involuntarily" kind of way.

Let me explain.

Monday night, we got back from a (great) trip home to Texas to see my parents. We had a 20 minute layover and got in 5 minutes late, so dinner was cheese straws and airplane peanuts. On the way home, we went to Taco Bell, which is simply never a good idea. I got the nachos, which, again, is never a good idea.

When it tastes like vomit on the way in, you know you're making a poor decision.

Went to bed, no big.
Work yesterday was the usual onslaught of emails and catchup meetings, in addition to more of the upper-management-induced panic that's going to color the rest of my year. By the time I left, I was strung out and jittery from stress alone. Lunch was mediocre (a too-salty wrap that I only managed to get half of down before chucking the rest of it...kids in China wouldn't have eaten it either) and around 4 I decided I probably needed at least a *few* token calories in my system, so I went down and grabbed what was there at the cafe...naturally, that was a healthy apple whoopie pie.

Glorious

After another couple of meetings, I finally left for the gym, having downed only about 20 oz of water for the day. On the way into the gym, one of the regulars, who I'd called out (in a manner I thought was in good fun) 2 weeks ago for talking too much in class, caught up to me and gave me an earful about why it was that she and some others were hyper sensitive to being called out for talking in class. So that's a great way to start teaching a regular class.

So by the time I even walked into the room, I was completely fried. Add to that the facts that a) I still haven't really found my style with this kind of class, so I still feel like a total fraud, and b) I'm taking over for Leanne, who has somehow become her own variant of Greek goddess in my mind, and suddenly we're doing shoulder shapers and my heart rate just skyrocketed and I had to step to the sound closet to pretend I was futzing with the controls and not trying to keep the floor below me, the ceiling above me, and my heart from complete mutiny.

Not a good night.

But I survived, and I'm only mildly embarrassed about it.

Mildly.

In other news, I'm teaching spin tonight, then twice on Saturday morning. Next week I'm teaching strength Monday (if anyone shows up, HAH!) and Tuesday, FIT then spin Wednesday, spin Friday, then spin again on Sunday. I'm going to feel absolutely justified in gorging myself on Thursday.

And because my mom reads this blog (hi mom!) I won't post it, but go Google "thanksgiving overload" (without the quotes) and check out the bottom of the second page. Google, you're a winner.

Oy

That's really all there is to say right now. Just got in from a great weekend in TX with my parents and grandparents (grandmom even went to spin!) and now back to a completely slammed life. Work is a hot mess and I'm teaching on 8 of the next 12 days. 10 total classes, maybe 11. So there's that. I also need to put in work on Christmas gifts, write a term paper, take a midterm, write up another lab report, take a quiz, do 2 chapters' worth of homework and discussions, and sleep.

In other news, I think I figured out how to play Duck Duck Goose in spin class. Gonna be giving that a whirl this weekend to practice teaching off bike.

I'll be back in action sometime this week, I promise. Maybe.

Before/After

Just a quick post.

I just got a phone call from the gym, and I'm picking up the Tuesday night Strength Training class at 5:30. So that rocks. That's Leanne's class, as you may recall, so it's already got a decent following. Now I just have to maintain it.

So this is going to be me by like, February. Before/after.

Sadder, but hotter. Definitely hotter. I think the endorphins will take care of the sadder. Especially without some stupid chick to make me sad. I don't even know why this was what I thought of when I found out I'm picking up the class. Don't hate.

Also, it turns out the most common "during" picture is about pregnancy. Not cool, internets. Not cool.

Hello from Boston Balance!

And that exclamation point is as perky as I get right now. I'm waiting for the first class to start and I'm in zombie mode. Should've signed up for the spin class instead of body bar...spin is a way easier class to warm up in - no one can tell if you're phoning it in.

I'm just grumpy. I didn't get coffee on my way in and the coffee here is like $8 for a little thimble full. Lame. I tried to capture this moment, but I'm such a hot mess right now I won't even take the pic, let alone post it on the interwebs. So instead, here's a picture of my cat.



Enjoy. I'll check in later.

Walking Doesn't Do Anything for Your Butt

I was going somewhere with that title, but then I got distracted with my day job, and now I don't know what I wanted to say.

I'm still building the playlist for tonight, but the profile is an old one...power hills, you may remember it. Nothing exciting.

According to Google, Johnny Depp says kissing Angelina Jolie was "nothing exciting". So there's that. 

Last night was fun. I had a few newbies in class (Leanne's class), and they definitely weren't big fans of some of the moves. I won't lie, I wasn't either...I was TIRED last night, and at one point found myself contemplating having them run up and down the stairs so I could move the clock forward 20 minutes. But I powered through and I think overall it was a fun class. The new kids said so, so it must be true.

Shameful secret time:

I kind of love the new Nickelback song. The words are cute in that "yay humanity" way, but I really just like the rough edge of his voice combined with the guitar on the chorus. It makes me miss something, but I can't really figure out what it is.

I also now own the entire line of Jillian Michaels DVDs. Don't judge. I don't actually work out to them, I just use them for inspiration. My classes thank me with their grunts and expletives.

In other news, Boston Balance is this weekend and I'm super pumped. It's basically a fitness conference for Mad Dogg Athletics, and it's a chance to get the crap beaten out of me by people who know what they're doing. Here's what I'm doing:

BODYART STRENGTH
Saturday, November 05, 2011 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM (Eastern Time)

GROUP EX OR GROUP INJURY
Saturday, November 05, 2011 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM (Eastern Time)

SPINNING MIGHT AS WELL WIN
Saturday, November 05, 2011 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (Eastern Time)

SPINNING THE LT FACTOR
Saturday, November 05, 2011 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (Eastern Time)

SPINNING MASTER THE RIDE
Saturday, November 05, 2011 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM (Eastern Time)

That's basically 7.5 hours of working out, give or take a bit. Suffice it to say, I'm bringing a jar of peanut butter and an IV line. After tonight's class, I'm going to sit on my butt and eat bon bons in preparation. I'm also teaching Sunday morning, so I really don't feel bad about the bon bons.

And finally, this is why I'll be starting that marathon training just as soon as I'm done taking classes. According to that article, our bodies are evolutionarily built to run long distances...not to outrun prey but to to run them down. So it's basically in my DNA to run far and long, so I need to stop bitching about how much it sucks and just do it already.

Just as soon as I have 2+ hours a day extra to kill at the gym/outside. That's gonna happen.

Oh, and we got our power back last night. All's right with the world again.

Halloween, Not Christmas

I couldn't decide which costume to rock last night, so I just did both. For the first class (Deb's), I was a fitness fairy.

I took these after class in the only part of the locker room not likely to have nekkid people. Still not technically legal, but it was in the name of science. Really.

Fitness fairy squats are hardcore.

For my class, I whipped out this GIR costume I found at Hot Topic for $15. It itched, but I thought it was funny.

Doing the pigeon toed thing because it's cuter...right?

There's a tail on the back there.

Proof that I worked out in this mess - check out those sweat marks!

GIR squats are also hardcore.

This is what home looks like right now. Still no power (going on 60 hours as of noon today), but we're still having fun with it for the most part.

Our gourmet wood stove stew from Sunday night. Last night I heated up a can of soup. Not the same, but it got the job done just fine.

We also have a kerosene heater which we've been using to "preheat" the bedroom before bed. It's like the warmest little caged R2D2 ever, but it does smell funny. To combat that, I put a "salted caramel" flavor candle in there last night. I thought it smelled delicious. Nick woke up nauseous. Oops.

Between the wood stove and the kerosene heater, this is what our thermostat looks like. Yeah, not lacking for heating options here...just not efficient ones. Unfortunately, this is probably the warmest I'm going to be until July. Ugh.

Also, the problem with proactively trying to get laundry done before the storm hits is that once the lights start flickering, you forget about the stuff in the washer and then realize it 2 days later. So the guest bed is now our drying rack. It's convenient - this way we can see our options all laid out in the darkest part of the house.

What's the longest you've been without power? This is definitely the longest for me.