Possible Revamp

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Just a quick blog today. I received some news today which is going to cause a major revamp in my goals for the year. I can't really say anything about it right now but it will result in big personal changes for me - which are mostly good, no worries there - but I will need to take a hard look at what I had planned to do this year and what I will need to do instead and completely switch focus.

[insert small sigh]

I was doing so good in sticking to my goals these first 2 months too.

Oh well. The only constant in life is change, and life happens while you're busy making other plans.

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Scale War: The Charge of the Packzi Brigade or the Battle of Fat Tuesday

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

(Note - see CODEMAULER's description of a packzi in the comments, she describes it well. Packzi are death by donuts).

The forces of the Empire of Fangfacekitty are on their way to victory over the Scale Gremlins and their latest allies, the Packzi. Fighting is fierce and across many fronts but the Empire is holding firm and making gains. The evil alliance is being driven back step by step into the inhospitable region of powdered sugar where they shall certainly perish by the hundreds.

Fat Tuesday Fat Tuesday
Fat Tuesday comes now
All in the Valley of Fat
Calories of six hundred
�Forward, the Packzi Brigade!
Eat me all up� they said
Into the Valley of Fat
Calories of six hundred.

�Forward, the Packzi Brigade!�
Was there a Packzi untasty?
Not tho� the baker knew
And not with calories eighty:
Theirs not to be low fat,
Roll out the Welcome Mat
Theirs to be eaten at -
And in - the Valley of Fat
Calories of six hundred.

Dieters to the right of them,
Dieters to the left of them,
Dieters in front of them
Lined up & noshed;
With anticipation,
Boldly they chewed and ate,
Outward their cheeks they puffed,
Into their jaws they stuffed
Calories of six hundred.

Raspberry and strawberry,
Chocolate and cream,
Lemon and blueberries,
Consumed by the thousands
All the word wonder�d:
Can we survive this onslaught?
All the calories we ought not
To Have consumed?
Reel�d from the sugar coma,
Stuffed and bloated.
Dieters� remorse, but after
Calories of six hundred.

Dieters to the right of them,
Dieters to the left of them,
Dieters behind them
Lined up & noshed;
With anticipation,
Frosted and powdered,
They that tasted so good
Outward their cheeks were puffed,
Into jaws wide were stuffed,
Every last crumb of
Calories of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild treat they made!
All the world wonder�d.
Next year the doors blockade!
Resist the Packzi Brigade,
Calories six hundred!

(apologies to Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade poem)

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Vindication

Monday, February 13, 2012

Anyone who has ever been a child will know this, and it is especially forceful once you have children.

Parents know less than nothing.

Until that magical day may dawn, far in the future, where a child may one day grudgingly admit that perhaps Mom might have been somewhere in the ball park once or twice.

Dawn has broken.

For years I have encouraged (his translation = "forced") my son to stay in Boy Scouts, to keep up with karate, to particpate in extra curricular activities and community service. Schools and employers tend to look at a student's involvement - or lack of - in his community and will favor the more involved. He learns valuable life skills, he gives back and pays it forward, he builds his character.

All fell on deaf ears and we would argue regularly over his continuing participation. I generally "won" the arguments, but it was never pretty.

Until this weekend. We have been filling out job and college applications.

What a surprise - every last one has a section for extra curricular activies. My son had filled out the first few listing "nothing relevant" in this section. I kid you not. He actually turned in some job applications with this statement, applications his father supposedly looked over first. I had to sit down and bite my tongue for a few minutes before asking him exactly what he was thinking with this answer.

His response was none of his extra curricular activities was related to the jobs he was applying for, or academic or applicable to the degree he wants to get and he did not want to leave the section blank. Plus, "I don't want people to know I'm in the Boy Scouts, it is embarrassing."

More tongue biting and deep breaths later I pointed him to one of the college websites where they describe exactly how highly they value community involvement, as students who are active in extra curricular activities and their community tend to be better adjusted and more successful as students and in life. These activities build leadership skills, show the student can work as a member of a group, can think and reason and draw conclusions, can make decisions and take appropriate actions, etc. and so on.

I asked him based on what he just read what he thought his chance of acceptence would be if he turned in his application listing "nothing relevant"?

He looked at me with comprehension dawning in his eyes. "So THAT's why you made me do all these things all these years! NOW I understand!"

Vindication!

Now if I could only get my 13 year old daughter to understand why dating a 16 year old boy is strictly verboten and I don't really care that it is less than an age difference than I had with her Dad.

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Review of Coach Nicole's 28 Day Bootcamp DVD

Sunday, February 12, 2012

I was one of the lucky members to receive Coach Nicole's 28 Day Bootcamp DVD for review.

Disclaimer & legal stuff: I received this DVD for free from SparkPeople and did not (and will not) receive any form of payment or other compensation for my review.

The DVD came in the mail on the day I went home sick from work. I opened the envelope , looked at Coach Nicole and said she's way too perky for bootcamp, went to bed and forgot about it for the next 2 weeks while fighting the nasty cold bug.

Finally, though, once reminded of my commitment to try the DVD and review it, I opened it up. Now I have never used an exercise video before so I had no real idea what to expect. My initial impression - before even starting the DVD - is that "perky" and "bootcamp" do not go together. And I don't react well to "perky." I also wondered just how tough this workout could be as no real muscle definition is visible on Coach Nicole's picture on the DVD so how hard could the strength exercises be? In my mind I equate bootcamp with muscles and evil drill sergeant like instructors, neither of which appeared to be the case here.

Note that these are NOT criticisms of Coach Nicole in the slightest. Or of the DVD. I am trying to provide my honest impressions.

First I read the included insert which has several recipes from the SparkPeople cookbook although some of them are not to my taste at all (example: braised swiss chard with beans). Others are definately on my to try list (blueberry flaxseed muffins).

On to the DVD workout. You have 2 options - to follow Coach Nicole's 28 plan, which varies the workouts each day or to choose one (or all) of the 4 preset workouts. I did not choose the 28 day plan option.

The first time I used the DVD I did the warm-up and the first 2 cardio routines. The second time I started with the warm-up and went all the way through the entire 84 minute workout (all 4 routines).

So I was pleasantly surprised. Coach Nicole was not a Pollyana-like Susie Sunshine so I did not feel the need to hurt something. She is very "approachable" and down to earth on the video. Her assistants, however, smile way too much. It's kind of freaky.

The workouts do get you to work up a sweat. Depending on your starting fitness level these could be pretty hard (for the newbie) or a light workout (for the experienced). Coach Nicole is always very clear that you have choices on some of the more challenging exercises to just do the basic move, the intermediate or the advanced. She does not make you feel like a failure if you choose the basic moves, which would be important for someone just starting out. Even the advanced moves are nothing extremely tricky or complicated to do, so not somethine you have to be afraid will cause injury. They are work though, don't take what I said to mean they are a piece of cake.

In the second cardio workout there is a section with some kick boxing moves which I really enjoyed.

So while I worked up a sweat and got my heart rate up, and felt the strength exercises with the dumb bells, I still do not equate "bootcamp" with this DVD. To me it just doesn't fit my definition of bootcamp. My ass did not get kicked and I did not feel really challenged. Again, this is NOT a criticsm of Coach Nicole, it is my impression of the expectation raised by calling this workout a "bootcamp". Semantics can be important and the DVD does not fit my definition (this is more my "problem" than SparkPeople's). This was also the first time I used an exercise DVD; I just don't like using them and will probably not do so again (which is also more my personal preference than due to anything with the DVD).

I will list specific pros & cons below, as well as some suggestions for improving the next release.

Pros
*Coach Nicole is very much down to earth and approachable, not a vicious evil wench like I have heard some female instructors called (Jillian Michales anyone?)
*modifications are offered at 3 levels
*not made to feel bad for choosing the modifications
*music is not over powering
*many of the moves are explained
*gets your heart rate up and makes you sweat
*really feel the strength training in your arms
*variety of workouts so you don't get bored
*choice to focus more on cardio, more on strength, or a combination of the 2

Cons
*Coach Nicole does not fit a pre-concieved notion of a "bootcamp" instructor (or maybe this is a "pro" point for you)
*music is not always in sync with the moves which kind of threw me off
*not all moves explained before you do them (i.e. "grapevine") so if you are new to this sort of thing you're left trying to catch up
*sometimes a move is modified from what you expect (i.e. the second time a "grapevine" was done it was done differently)
*way too many arm lifts to the side (OK, this is probably more of a personal preference than a "con")
*the video times in the Fitness section (to record your minutes) do not match up with the DVD times - I think the warm-up is missing

Suggestions
*synch the cardio with the music better (i.e. marching in place doesn't match the beat of the music)
*maybe a short instructional section to define the moves used in the DVD. This would be useful to those who are new to exercise, or exercise DVDs of this type, and have no clue what to do for a grapevine, or burpee
*share what weights each person is using in the DVD (because I'm nosy and competitive and want to compare my progress)
*more kickboxing

I hope I did not sound too negative about the DVD. Really, I have nothing against it. I think many people will like it and find it beneficial; for me it just does not work well but that is purely a personal preference.

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Maybe it's me and I do too much

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

A mild rant about other kid's parents. Or maybe it IS just me.

I have control-freak tendencies, I admit it, but I try to keep them in check now that my kids are getting older (16 & 13). I encourage them to be independent (within guidelines due to their ages) because I refuse to be one of those moms who can't cut the apron strings. Actually, I refuse to even have apron strings and I am actively looking forward to them leaving the nest and living their own lives.

So last night I picked up my son from his girlfriend's and he starts asking me questions about the scholarship application. He's worried because a transcript is required, it can take 2 weeks for the transcript to be sent, and the scholarship application is due next Wednesday. Then he says GF is also worried and doesn't know what to do with her application.

OK, I think, GF also has parents, so I asked him what her parents said. His reply?

She's doing it by herself, they are not helping her.

Um, do they know she's applying?

Yes.

And they are not helping her with the process?

No.

WTH?!?

There is a line between doing it for your kids and helping them do it themselves. But to not even help, something as simple as explain the form and the process and then answer questions?

Now, if it were up to my son I'd be doing the whole thing for him because it's easier for him that way. But that isn't going to happen and he knows it so he's working on the process himself...with my support and guidance but he is doing the actual work.

So I told him she can come over Sunday and I'll sit down with both of them, walk through the application and proof read her essays too, and make sure they both have everything done as well as possible for submission next week.

I openly admit I am not even close to being the best parent in the world. But even I cannot conceive of being the way I observe so many parents these days...and ones that are my own age or older and so should know better. Letting their kids run riot in inappropriate settings (gym, restaurants, offices, stores, etc.). Letting their kids not just talk back but be actively rude to them (name calling, insults, etc.). Verbally attacking other adults when the adult dares to call attention to the child's misbehavior. My daughter use to have a friend who would not go home for days, spending the nights with various friends, and who would be out walking from place to place in the middle of the night, smoked, stole, got in fights...and who was 13 at the time. 13 years old and you let your daughter not come home for 2-3 days in a row, don't know that she's out walking around at 2 in the morning (or maybe don't care?).

I'm going to stop now because I'm really starting to make myself angry.

I am positive it is NOT me with the problem.

And when I heard that the former friend was going to walk home in the middle of the night I did pack up my daughter and go looking for her to give her a ride home. I know that at least for that one night she was safe.

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