On The Road Again...! :-)

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Stupendous day to hit the road again with my bike! Just a tad on the cool side, but that only helped to keep my sweating down...lol.

I looked a bit kaleidoscopic riding my maroon Wildwood Diamondback wearing my navy workout shorts, tangerine SPARKPEOPLE *yeah!* t-shirt and my Spartan Green Michigan State University biking gloves, a gift from my sister...GO STATE! We're reviving the good old days of Magic Johnson and Gregory Kelser...who took the nationals by storm back when I was an MSU student...woo hoo!

It was fun to take a new route, 18 miles round trip, even if there WERE a couple of GIGUNDO hills which I had forgotten...! A bit more than I probably should have bitten off for my first longer ride of the season, but after a rest on the other end I was ready to go again. Feeling good and SPENT when I arrived home.

I'd like to share a couple of powerful opinions about the recent shootings in my Binghamton community and the connections to the stress of unemployment:

www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/135026/b
inghamton_is_my_home_town:_reflections
_on_the_shooting

www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stor
ies/2009-04-04/confessions-of-a-man-wh
o-almost-went-postal/full/

May all 14 who died in the Binghamton shooting rest in peace and may their family and loved ones find the comfort, guidance and solace needed for resolution as well as the ability to reconnect with their own lives.

Don

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

SPARKHOPE 4/6/2009 3:53PM

Don! 18 miles? I hope your not pushing yourself too hard, too soon , after your surgery. Don't ramp up your efforts so much you make your self too sick to make the trip! My prayers are with those family's too. They will have a lot of grief to work through . I hope they find peace because bitterness, grudges and hate can eat at a person like Cancer. The man may or may not of been nuts but he sure lack coping skills. He must of been in a lot of pain to do such a horrible thing. This is a tragedy for his family as well. Report Inappropriate Comment

TRAINOF4 4/6/2009 2:12PM

--I'm glad you had a nice bike ride! 18 miles is fantastic! Hills are killer, you know about the standing & rocking thing & using the handlebars & your upper body strength to make that hill climbing easier, right!? Sure ya do, what was I thinking!? Around here there's nothing BUT hills-LOL- you're either nearing cardiac arrest in a climb or doing a zilliong miles an hour in descent. HA ha! Wow, I forgot that was your community. I have to disagree w/Jibbie on this one .. .it isn't just that someone is nuts. Having had to deal w/the different "services" lately has made ME feel angry, hopeless, depressed, frustrated...all of it. I think people do go nuts after awhile. It's the "straw that broke the camel's back." A person gets desperate & when they try to get help sometimes the attitude of those who are supposed to be helpful is really obnoxious (I've gotten a lot of "I could care less about you" attitudes & treatment lately) ... it just destroys the human inside a body. It isn't in my nature to harm others, but I think that maybe other people don't know exactly what's going on in their head. Not a lot of people are self-aware & that rage & frustration & so on gets turned outward. I'm not saying it was right or that it wasn't an awful, horrible thing that happened. But I guess having been a "nut" before I somehow "relate" to other "nuts." What goes wrong in a human that would cause them to take other lives? I don't think any of us will ever know for sure. But I hope the survivors are able to forgive that man - because hatred & grudges destroy us just as much as bullets. Peace & Blessings Report Inappropriate Comment

JIBBIE49 4/6/2009 1:56AM

People don't go kill themselves and others because they are unemployed. They do it because they are NUTS. It is just like the stupidity of saying "He killed his wife because she left him." NO....SHE left him because he was NUTS and he came and killed her, because he was NUTS. It had nothing to do with HER. Report Inappropriate Comment

OUTDOORGIRL68 4/5/2009 9:09PM

Don... Glad you made it the 18 miles. You must be feeling better after the Gallbladder operation. The hills can kill you on the first ride of the year. That is the great thing about the stationary bike. I agree with you on the triadic shooting. My prayers are with all the families. Report Inappropriate Comment

Counting Down the Days To San Diego!

Thursday, April 02, 2009

I would like to really ramp up my efforts this month, not only to celebrate two years with SparkPeople, but I am going to the Spark Your Life Convention in San Diego at the end of the month and am SO PSYCHED and wanting to put my best foot forward for this MOST SPECTACULAR occasion!

It is so special for a number of reasons:

---of course it is special to celebrate at SparkPeople's first annual convention and meet SO many other members and SparkPeople staff, not the least of which is Chris Downey, SparkGuy who is nearing the completion of his first book about SparkPeople and will be drawing from convention attendees for his book!

---in addition, my sister and her family resides in San Diego and I have never ONCE visited them in the 20+ years they have lived out there.

---also, I have NEVER traveled further west in the USA than the Mississippi River!

---by some strange fluke, my son will be in San Diego at the same time attending a Physician Assistant convention right in the same building (San Diego Convention Center) as the SparkPeople convention.

Because of all these factors I made up my mind I was going to get there one way or the other and will be spending several days there staying with my sister and her family.

I'm getting all sorts of ideas from other Sparkies of great things to do like rent a bicycle and tour the town, catching all the beautiful sights.

So...I need to come up with a plan to really buckle down and accomplish some great things before the end of the month!

Trouble is...not sure where to start, what to aim for...breaking through my plateau and really working on shedding a few more pounds would be good. I am also a bit hampered still by my recovery from gall bladder surgery. Recovery is going well, but not sure I can yet truly pump it up on either treadmill or bicycle. Some strength-building might be off-limits also due to demands on my abs, which are still pretty sore.

But I better get going on SOMETHING here...!

Don

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

HEARTOLOVE 4/4/2009 5:06PM

Have fun in San Diego!! Glad to hear your recovery is going well....Just remember to take the same advice that you give to others as far as recovering from physical challenges! What a GREAT coincidence that your son will be attending a conference in the same building!!!! Wooo! Hoo! Report Inappropriate Comment

SJ1320 4/4/2009 9:24AM

I am so happy for you that you are getting to go to the conference and see your family too! Have a wonderful time! Report Inappropriate Comment

PTPHELAN 4/3/2009 8:10PM

Don, I'm so glad you were able to arrange the trip. You will represent Binghamton and upstate well! Enjoy the beauty of the area. You may not want to return! Report Inappropriate Comment

MRSBIGGLESWORTH 4/3/2009 3:18PM

First - congrats on all the weight you've lost...what an amazing transformation! Woo hoo! I live in Vista (north San Diego county) and am going to the convention - you'll love our city!! (Just like I love New York when I visit - it's different and fun!) One suggestion I have to see the city is to take the Trolley around town - go to all the major sightseeing spots and you can get on and off as long as you want (like in New York....only on a Trolley!) There are a few of them, but here's the most well known: http://www.trolleytou rs.com/san-diego/ I'm sure your relatives will be able to show you around - have a great time and welcome to San Diego and California! Brenda Report Inappropriate Comment

JIBBIE49 4/2/2009 8:58PM

Well, make sure to remember to tell everyone that JIBBIE said "HELLO" and if she wasn't dealing with Nathan and his Cancer treatment, she'd have come, since her older son lives in Los Angeles. Take a GREYLINE TOUR. You can't go wrong doing that. Report Inappropriate Comment

KAYAKID 4/2/2009 1:47PM

glad to hear you were going to the convention. Have fun!!! relax in that San Diego Sunshine. Send some of the sunshine up here towards Oregon. We are waiting for its appearance. hows the recovery. Mike Report Inappropriate Comment

LUCYSMOM09 4/2/2009 9:21AM

Make a list of all the things you want to do. Do the ones you think are important. Most of all have fun! Report Inappropriate Comment

LMSW55 4/2/2009 7:02AM

I'll be going to the Sparkpeople Convention too. Glad to hear you are leaving your comfort zone to visit California and your family. There really is so much to do, so rather than be overwhelmed, let your family guide you to a few things. I spend at least 24 hrs in Encinitas, Ca when I go because there is a wonderful meditation garden there as well as the beautiful beaches. Follow your bliss! Mary Report Inappropriate Comment

ANDALEX 4/2/2009 1:33AM

great energy, great sentiment! but still, take it easy...no sense compromising your recovery and ending up worse off than you started. has your dr cleared you to work out yet? sounds like the conference is going to be awesome!!! Report Inappropriate Comment

The Gift of Loving Ourselves

Sunday, March 29, 2009

During my walk today an old favorite song of mine pumped me up in a whole new way. Ages ago many of us have heard what sounds like common sense spoken by Erich Fromm in his tiny book "The Art of Loving" that in order for anyone to love another person one must first truly love themselves.

Well for most of my life I belonged to that very large (pun intended!) club of people who never really "got it," never could honestly say that he/she loved him/herself unabashedly without conditions.

I realized today that one of the most exciting aspects of working out and making healthy food choices is that these are powerful means of affirming, accepting and truly loving and celebrating ourselves. Instead of hearing this song as a love song for someone else, I heard it as a celebration of being able to love myself, able to draw from that hidden strength inside about which I hadn't known for SO much of my life, feeling all pumped up, stepping right along to the drive and push of this wonderful song! So I had to get home and write this up and share it with all of you here within our SparkPeople community:

This is Love
Artist: Mary Chapin-Carpenter
Album: Stones In The Road

If you ever need to hear a voice in the middle of the night
When it seems so black outside that you can't remember light
Ever shone on you or the ones you love in this or another lifetime
And the voice you need to hear is the true and the trusted kind
With a soft, familiar rhythm in these swirling, unsure times
When the waves are lapping in and you're not sure you can swim
Well here's the lifeline
If you ever need to feel a hand take up your own
When you least expect but want it more than you've ever known
Baby here's that hand and baby here's my voice that's calling, this is love,
all it ever was and will be
This is love

And if you ever need some proof that time can heal your wounds
Just step inside my heart and walk around these rooms
Where the shadows used to be,
you can feel as well as see how peace con hover
Now time's been here to fix what's broken with its power
The love that smashed us both to bits spent its last few hours
Calling out your name, I thought this is the kind of pain
From which we don't recover

But I'm standing here now with my heart held out to you
You would've thought a miracle was all that got us through
Well baby all I know, all I know is I'm still standing
And this is love all it ever was and will be
This is love

And I see you still and there's this catch in my throat and
I just swallow hard till it leaves me
There's nothing in this world that can change what we know
Still I know I am here if you ever need me
And this is love

And if you ever think of me let it be around twilight
When the world has settled down and the last round of sunlight
Is waning in the sky, as you sit and watch the night descending
A car will pass out front with lovers at the wheel
A dog will bark out back and children's voices peal
Over and under the air, you've been there lost in the remembering
And if you ever wish for things that are only in the past
Just remember that the wrong things aren't supposed to last
Babe it's over and done and the rest is gonna come when you let it

And this is love, all that it ever was and will be
This is love, when you let it, if you let it now
This is love, all it ever was and can be
This is love

Lyrics link: www.getreadyforlove.com/thisislove.h
tm

Link to album review: Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Stones In The Road
This is absolutely one of my all-time favorite albums! So is her other one, "Come On, Come On."

www.amazon.com/Stones-Road-Mary-Chap
in-Carpenter/dp/B0012GN3ZU/ref=pd_bbs_
sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1238356968&sr=8-1

Link to mp3 download, entire album $8.99, songs 99 cents apiece:

www.amazon.com/Stones-In-The-Road/dp
/B00138CSA8/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=
dmusic&qid=1238356968&sr=8-2

If you aren't familiar with this album, celebrate yourself, celebrate life and buy it! :-)

Don

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

ANDALEX 4/1/2009 1:58AM

thanks :) i needed that. Report Inappropriate Comment

HAPPYWRITER7 3/30/2009 7:47PM

It's so great to see you still around! I went to comment on sweetzmix's page and saw your comment, I remembered you from my first few weeks here on SP last year! Great Blog, Im still learning this myself. Im working on having more than just a few glimpses here and there. I want to live in loving myself. Report Inappropriate Comment

MARJIJANE 3/30/2009 4:27PM

Yupp! So true ...thanks for sharing a new perspective! Report Inappropriate Comment

JIBBIE49 3/30/2009 2:48PM

So True! Report Inappropriate Comment

TRAINOF4 3/29/2009 11:04PM

Oh that is sooo true. I've told people & even had on my page that no matter how thin I ever was or ever get, how fit I ever was or ever get it won't make an iota of difference if I can't love myself completely. Your post really hits on what I think a lot of us at SP suffer from - a lack of self-esteem, self-confidence, etc. Report Inappropriate Comment

OUTDOORGIRL68 3/29/2009 4:37PM

Don.... That is a great Blog and a very good thing to think about. I am also one of those that never could honestly say that he/she loved him/herself unabashedly without conditions. It gives us all something to think about. Thanks for sharing. Hope you are doing well. Still snowing here we have had 5 1/2" so far. God Bless and my prayers are with you. Report Inappropriate Comment

Miracle of Modern Medicine

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Today I walked up through town and back...nice bit of walking...not "quite" what I'd call a power walk, but a thought occurred to me as I did this:

Back in the day, I used to BICYCLE up to town and back thinking I had accomplished something!

Now, only a few days after having had major surgery, I'm WALKING this same distance as a "warm up" to getting back to true working out...!

Put a smile on my face...perspective can really make such a difference in how one views life!

Don

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

TRAINOF4 3/29/2009 11:44AM

Great! I love taking long walks - so perfect for contemplation! I'm really psyched about finally being able to do that again in the not too distant future. I'm SOOO jealous about your SD trip - good for you! I'm sure you're going to meet a lot of great people that you "know" already & didn't even realize it! There must be a thread going somewhere abou the convention & you could start "meeting" people over there. Sooo glad to hear you're doing so well. Yippeee! Report Inappropriate Comment

JIBBIE49 3/28/2009 10:47PM

Lots of storms here in past two days. So didn't get out to do much. Report Inappropriate Comment

Reclaiming My Walking Mojo!

Friday, March 27, 2009

I've been taking things pretty slow and easy thus far...but today...whew WEE!

Got out to a local park and started walking...wanted to get my quota of sunshine before the rains kicked in for the weekend...lol.

I recently had a chance to nab the mp3s of David Byrne's album "Look Into The Eyeball." Byrne has always had appeal to me whether back in the Talking Heads days or his solo work. "Like Humans Do" was the only song on the album that I knew previously...LOVE that one so I thought 'let's check out the rest....

www.amazon.com/Look-into-Eyeball-Dav
id-Byrne/dp/B000059XNQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1
?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1238204530&sr=8-1

Although there are a number of tracks that appealed to me, one in particular, "Walk On Water" has such a walking GROOVE to it that just lit me right up!

I walked and walked and just beamed and boogied to that song! Soaking up the rays and moving along...feeling so alive! These moments don't happen often, but they occur more than ever these days and I'm learning to savor them HUGELY!

Don't even have a CLUE what the lyrics mean...Byrne seems to delight in straddling blasphemy and being eccentric which has always appealed to the quiet rebel in me...lol!

It was great to be BACK today!

Don

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

JIBBIE49 3/27/2009 10:06PM

I'm not familiar with his music but if it gets you going then GREAT. I see a lot of 4 and 5 star ratings. I spend time listening to lots of oldies on YouTube. The past couple of days I've listened to HANK SNOW "A Fool Such As I" and "I Don'T Hurt Any More." I guess I like those old songs because I remember the 50's and 60's as being such a happy time. Lots of them my parents listened to on the country radio, and others I listened to on my Transistor radio as I road my pony around my farm and through the woods. Report Inappropriate Comment