I once thought that aikido was just a way for me to step out of my comfort zone and change me. Then I discovered that my comfort zone has shifted so I had to adjust to stay outside of it. I'm shifting again. I went to my first sparring class two weeks ago. It's totally beyond my abilities. But I ended up having fun and feeling proud to be there. I didn't go last week, as I had a guest from overseas visiting. But I've marked it on my calendar to go every class in June (save the one where I'll be out of town).
Yesterday was a holiday and I didn't got to work. But I was invited to go to a private aikido lesson. I jumped at the chance. We practiced some of the moves I'll be needing to know to advance. I feel like a remedial student sometimes, it takes me so long to get some of the concepts. But I worked some of the kinks out yesterday. I spent a lot of time on the mat and for the first time I noticed that it is getting easier to get back up. I'm able to jump right up now and not grunt and groan and struggle. What a change.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Monday, May 27, 2013
A Pint's A Pound The World Around
I gave blood recently. I have been donating fairly regularly since my dad was in a car accident a few years ago and needed blood. I had tried to give once before during a blood drive for a friend with leukemia. My only child at the time was 2 and was running all over the convention center where the blood drive was held. And I was chasing him. When they called my name my pulse rate was high. They wouldn't accept my reason for it and I was rejected from the pool of donors. I'm ashamed to say I didn't go back to donate again until dad's accident. It's sad that the reason that drove me there was tragedy both times. But I go quite often now. Not as often as I can, but almost.
It seems that about a quarter of my donations involve some drama. Not real drama drama, but enough drama to remember the experience. One time they found a good vein and blood flowed well, until it didn't. It just stopped and no matter how much they fiddled with the needle, I squeezed the ball, and the cuff was tightened, we couldn't get it to fill a whole bag. The bag had to be thrown away because it wasn't filled (and it's got a pre-measured amount of some chemical that preserves it). But I had given enough that I couldn't come back and really donate again for another 6 weeks. Grrrr. A few times they have had trouble finding a vein and several people come to help move the needle around. That is what happened this time. I got a new girl. Which is normally just fine with me. I don't mind letting EMT's practice their IV's on me and I didn't really mind having a new girl draw my blood. She came at me with the needle with a running start! And missed. She was so disappointed that she didn't get the vein right off. She tried and tried to move the needle just right and all it did was hurt! Finally she asked for help and that person was able to just slightly move it and all was working. It may have been the fastest I'd filled a bag since I started giving blood. Then she jerked the needle from my arm (not a nice draw it out and put the cotton on it, a pull-it-out-as-quickly-as-possible-and-hope-it-doesn't-hurt. It did.), and she was surprised to see how much the hole could bleed. We put the cotton on it and raised my arm while she did her QC and paperwork. She came back with a bandaid and I think she almost passed out when the hole oozed still. It was like she had never seen someone actively bleeding, which I guess, if she does her job right she shouldn't really see much of. I sat longer with my arm in the air. Finally we were able to get a bandaid on it and got up to get my juice. I hope that she was just new and nervous and that she recovers quickly. I have. My arms isn't bruised at all after all of that, and I weighed one pound less on my next weigh in. A pint is a pound after all.
Go save a life! Give blood! It's good for you and it's good for others.
It seems that about a quarter of my donations involve some drama. Not real drama drama, but enough drama to remember the experience. One time they found a good vein and blood flowed well, until it didn't. It just stopped and no matter how much they fiddled with the needle, I squeezed the ball, and the cuff was tightened, we couldn't get it to fill a whole bag. The bag had to be thrown away because it wasn't filled (and it's got a pre-measured amount of some chemical that preserves it). But I had given enough that I couldn't come back and really donate again for another 6 weeks. Grrrr. A few times they have had trouble finding a vein and several people come to help move the needle around. That is what happened this time. I got a new girl. Which is normally just fine with me. I don't mind letting EMT's practice their IV's on me and I didn't really mind having a new girl draw my blood. She came at me with the needle with a running start! And missed. She was so disappointed that she didn't get the vein right off. She tried and tried to move the needle just right and all it did was hurt! Finally she asked for help and that person was able to just slightly move it and all was working. It may have been the fastest I'd filled a bag since I started giving blood. Then she jerked the needle from my arm (not a nice draw it out and put the cotton on it, a pull-it-out-as-quickly-as-possible-and-hope-it-doesn't-hurt. It did.), and she was surprised to see how much the hole could bleed. We put the cotton on it and raised my arm while she did her QC and paperwork. She came back with a bandaid and I think she almost passed out when the hole oozed still. It was like she had never seen someone actively bleeding, which I guess, if she does her job right she shouldn't really see much of. I sat longer with my arm in the air. Finally we were able to get a bandaid on it and got up to get my juice. I hope that she was just new and nervous and that she recovers quickly. I have. My arms isn't bruised at all after all of that, and I weighed one pound less on my next weigh in. A pint is a pound after all.
Go save a life! Give blood! It's good for you and it's good for others.
Caffine update
It's been 6 weeks since I quit caffeine cold turkey.
The day after I made the decision and announcement I got to work, made a pot of coffee and was on my second cup before I remembered I didn't want to do that anymore! I was a little disappointed in myself, but I didn't let it slow me down much. I dumped the cup I had remaining and filled up my water bottle. The next day I still made the coffee, but I didn't drink any.
I've had an occasional iced tea. Several of those were because I wasn't thinking again. I avoided the caffeinated sodas and had iced tea instead. What sense does that make? I guess I have to be a little bit flexible. I'm not a fan of clear soda usually, and I can never remember which root beer has no caffeine1. So I can avoid the caffeine or I can avoid the sugary soda. I guess I could just drink water, but at a restaurant that seems kind of unsatisfying.
I ended up with headaches for only a few days. But if I drank enough water during the day that side effect of quitting was minimal. And the first few days I found that my head felt cloudy in the afternoon and it was harder to concentrate. When I started to feel like that I just got up and walked around the office for a few minutes then sat down to work again. It seemed to help.
This last weekend I noticed that getting out of bed was easier. I didn't feel so groggy that I wanted to roll over and sleep another hour. I just got up and got busy with my day. I'm happy to find that has carried over into the weekdays as well. I have been awake and clear headed well before my alarm goes off. I'm sure that is part of not being dependent on caffeine and I hope that it continues. It is certainly not an effect I anticipated. I don't know what I was expecting, but getting up in the morning more easily wasn't on the list.
1.(root beer, my family has found is tricky. Some are caffeine free, but more of them do have caffeine. Even a creme soda we assumed was caffeine free wasn't.)
The day after I made the decision and announcement I got to work, made a pot of coffee and was on my second cup before I remembered I didn't want to do that anymore! I was a little disappointed in myself, but I didn't let it slow me down much. I dumped the cup I had remaining and filled up my water bottle. The next day I still made the coffee, but I didn't drink any.
I've had an occasional iced tea. Several of those were because I wasn't thinking again. I avoided the caffeinated sodas and had iced tea instead. What sense does that make? I guess I have to be a little bit flexible. I'm not a fan of clear soda usually, and I can never remember which root beer has no caffeine1. So I can avoid the caffeine or I can avoid the sugary soda. I guess I could just drink water, but at a restaurant that seems kind of unsatisfying.
I ended up with headaches for only a few days. But if I drank enough water during the day that side effect of quitting was minimal. And the first few days I found that my head felt cloudy in the afternoon and it was harder to concentrate. When I started to feel like that I just got up and walked around the office for a few minutes then sat down to work again. It seemed to help.
This last weekend I noticed that getting out of bed was easier. I didn't feel so groggy that I wanted to roll over and sleep another hour. I just got up and got busy with my day. I'm happy to find that has carried over into the weekdays as well. I have been awake and clear headed well before my alarm goes off. I'm sure that is part of not being dependent on caffeine and I hope that it continues. It is certainly not an effect I anticipated. I don't know what I was expecting, but getting up in the morning more easily wasn't on the list.
1.(root beer, my family has found is tricky. Some are caffeine free, but more of them do have caffeine. Even a creme soda we assumed was caffeine free wasn't.)
Monday, May 6, 2013
Bloomsday 2013
I did Bloomsday again this year. It was great! Well, in the end it was great. Parts of it were fantastic and other parts were less than stellar. I over did it on Aikido and yard work on Saturday. By Saturday evening my back as really aching. But I was hoping it was the kind of ache that some Ibuprofen, a hot shower, and some rest would take care of. But when I woke up at 3:00am because I rolled over and hurt myself I became worried that I wasn’t going to be able to walk Bloomsday. And that sucked because I had people counting on me. The boys were looking forward to it this year. The oldest had a friend come with. And the friend’s mother was going to walk with me. And my roommate from college was going to walk with me for the first time in 20 years. I wanted to be there. So I got up at 3:00 for more anti-inflammatory, and tried to get more rest. I wasn’t better in the morning, but I hoped that I could walk the kinks out (Wishful thinking?), so we hit McD’s for McMuffins and headed to pick up our friends. We decided there would be less walking before and after the race if we took the Bloomsday shuttle bus from the mall to downtown. The idea probably did save us some walking, but they had thousands of people riding the bus, so we had to park a fair way away and walk. We still saved walking time, but it was a little disappointing. :)
I had a goal to beat my last years time. I didn’t count on having a wonky back. And I didn’t count on having a slow walking partner. We stopped and waited for her to catch up a few times. And about halfway through the race she gave us the go ahead to just go on without her. Her son stayed with mine and we picked up the pace just a little. We did stop at each mile marker and take pictures of the boys. So with a bad back, a slower partner, and stops to take photos we only came in 15 minutes behind last years time. And that feels really good to me!
I have a strategy for next year. The last two years we have started in the Lilac group. It’s the last group of walkers before the strollers and pushed wheelchairs. It’s also the biggest group. I think next year I’ll move up a group. It will be a tad less crowded and I may not have to volley to get in front of some people. Plus I’ll be in better shape. :) It helped the kids to have a friend come along, so perhaps next year we can have a couple friends.
Today, my back is still sore. And my hips are sore. And I have blisters on my feet (which came about at the very end of the race when I stepped in a deep puddle. The sprinkler on my skin was great, the wet feet weren’t. But it was all worth it! As soon as I get my back calmed down, I’ll get back to working on a regular exercise program again. Ouch.
(For those who don’t know, this was the 37th annual Bloomsday. A 12k (7.46 miles) road race. They allow anyone to enter and everyone gets timed. There are infants in strollers, and children walking. There are wheelchair bound participants who don’t race anything else, and there are 90 year old men and women walking. As well as elite athletes who come from all over the world to compete in mens and womens divisions and the wheelchair divisions. Bloomsdayrun.org)
I had a goal to beat my last years time. I didn’t count on having a wonky back. And I didn’t count on having a slow walking partner. We stopped and waited for her to catch up a few times. And about halfway through the race she gave us the go ahead to just go on without her. Her son stayed with mine and we picked up the pace just a little. We did stop at each mile marker and take pictures of the boys. So with a bad back, a slower partner, and stops to take photos we only came in 15 minutes behind last years time. And that feels really good to me!
I have a strategy for next year. The last two years we have started in the Lilac group. It’s the last group of walkers before the strollers and pushed wheelchairs. It’s also the biggest group. I think next year I’ll move up a group. It will be a tad less crowded and I may not have to volley to get in front of some people. Plus I’ll be in better shape. :) It helped the kids to have a friend come along, so perhaps next year we can have a couple friends.
Today, my back is still sore. And my hips are sore. And I have blisters on my feet (which came about at the very end of the race when I stepped in a deep puddle. The sprinkler on my skin was great, the wet feet weren’t. But it was all worth it! As soon as I get my back calmed down, I’ll get back to working on a regular exercise program again. Ouch.
(For those who don’t know, this was the 37th annual Bloomsday. A 12k (7.46 miles) road race. They allow anyone to enter and everyone gets timed. There are infants in strollers, and children walking. There are wheelchair bound participants who don’t race anything else, and there are 90 year old men and women walking. As well as elite athletes who come from all over the world to compete in mens and womens divisions and the wheelchair divisions. Bloomsdayrun.org)
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