Saturday, March 28, 2009

My new years resolution this year was to be healthier. I planned to eat more "whole" foods and not much processed food, workout on a regular basis and cut down on partying/drinking. So far....so good. The year started out as any other year but this last month has been very different.

When I started out in Jan. I went to the gym and walked on the treadmill at a slight incline for 15 minutes and was exhausted. I then began to hike on days when the sun was shining, I got a little confidence and returned to the gym. I began my fitness crusade in the middle of Jan. and it is now almost April. I have progressively gotten more intense and more dedicated. I now do a minimum of 90 min of cardio and 30 min of weights every other day. I start out with the step mill for 30 min. Then I do the Elliptical machine at an "8" resistance for 30 min, then I run for 30 min. That was just today. The other day I ran for 55 min and added in some other stuff.

The point is..... Never in my life have I been in "good shape". Unfortunately I am, in fact, approaching the age of 30! Super scary. I want to know what it is like to be in good shape. I want to know what it is like to look good in a bathing suit. I want to know what it is like to shop for clothes without worrying about looking fat. But, above everything, I want to be proud of myself and know that physically I can do whatever I put my mind to.

Originally I began working out to lose weight. Right now I am the heaviest I have ever been and it does weigh on my self esteem. After working out regularly for the past month and a half I have not lost a single pound. When I realized this I was devastated ( and still am.. a little) But even though I have not lost weight (I know..I've gained muscle!) and my pants do not fit any better, I do feel stronger and healthier.

During softball last summer a full run around the bases would leave me winded for a good ten minutes. Now, I am out of breath for a few minutes at most. So I do see differences. Maybe not the ones I had originally hoped for, but I see that certainly my work has paid off in other ways.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

It's been a week since I posted last. I know the blog is getting a little dusty, it's wilting and needs water. Lately I am feeling a lack of things to blog about. Truman can easily blog about the most random everyday event and make it sound incredibly interesting. I, on the other hand, cannot. Perhaps it is because I have a difficult time being as blatantly honest. I feel like I should only post when something is going down; something exciting or different. I guess the whole point of blogging though, is to talk about your life and your feelings, views and whatnot.

I'll work on that :)

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Sorry, this was just too cute!

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Some Good News

Well, even though Paul did not make it as far in the tournament as he would have liked, he played some great poker, got to hang out with his friends and family in Vegas, and eat a really big lobster. I even won a little money playing poker!

Oh, ya...I also found out that I got in to PA school!!!




WooHoo!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Top Ten Reasons the Prairie Dog is the New Batman


The Prairie Dog Coalition asked it's members to come up with a "Top Ten Reasons Prairie Dogs Are..." list to help out with press for the upcoming fundraiser. I came up with this and it looks like they are going to use it! Yay :)


1. Prairie Dogs get blamed when things start going south.

2. Prairie Dogs carry the weight of the entire prairie ecosystem and
thus, are incredibly strong!

3. Prairie Dogs don't mind wearing silly outfits!(lots of pics online
of prairie dogs wearing outfits )

4. Prairie Dogs are cute, but if you are an evil doer and face to face
with one in a dark alley, just give up. Their teeth are quite sharp :)

5. Prairie Dogs have one of the most sophisticated communication
systems of any mammal known to man. They may know what you are doing
or thinking before you even think about doing it!

6. Prairie Dogs provide the resources that their neighbors on the
prairie need to survive. Without the Prairie Dog, you can say goodbye
to almost nine other species that call the prairie their home.

7. The Prairie Dog is not only an inhabitant of the prairie, but a
symbol of it's health an well being.

8. The Prairie Dog is unable to fight it's opressers on it's own. It
needs the help of people in it's community to educatet the ill
advised. The Prairie Dog needs this help in order to persuade those
that may make quick and unfortunate decisions regarding the fate of
the prairie dog.

9. The prairie dog is not only a hero, it is a role model in it's own
right. The prairie dog creates an expansive home that includes: many
bedrooms, a front and back door, a pantry of sorts, a bathroom (which
is cleaned regularly) and a nursery (or nesting room).

10. Prairie Dogs realize the impact that their population has upon the
environment in which they inhabit. Therefore, they breed only once per
year and practice their own form of population control if resources
become scarce.

11. Prairie Dogs tend to get the blame even when it is out of their
control. The Rock Squirrel is actually the biggest culprit in the
transmission of animal plague to human counterparts and even then it
has only effected 10 people in the last 13 years.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Well, I had my interview on Friday. I can't say how it went but I can give you a general idea of how I felt about it. First of all, walking into the interview it was hard for me not to feel like "what the heck am I doing here!". I know that I have good grades and all but I imagine that all of these people do as well (the nine people in my interview session). Over half of them have applied to this program before, this would be their second time interviewing. ALL of them have an undergraduate degree (except one). The first 3/4 of the interview goes very well. The entire process took 4 1/2 hours! The second one on one interview was a bit challenging. She really nailed me on the fact that I don't currently have a bachelors degree and asked me, basically, why don't you have a degree and do you realize that you will need one to be successful in this field. It kind of felt like a kick in the stomach. I mean, why did they even invite me to interview if that is a stipulation for entrance into the program? She also asked me about grades I got in college over ten years ago. Like I said, I really have no way of knowing how I did. It seemed like every person I was interviewing with was very qualified. I can really see them coming back to say, "you are a very qualified candidate but we really need you to have a degree. Go get that and then come back and reapply."

Can I blame them? Absolutely not. I was taking a real chance with this program. If this program had not existed I would have gotten my degree then taken the prereqs for whatever program I wanted to get into. I kind of did the it the opposite way, hoping I would get in on my first try.

I guess we'll see :)