Was yesterday. Nothing notable or special, like most of my birthdays. In fact, I can't recall anything special about any of my birthdays that connect with a particular "milestone" year. This is mainly due to the crappy timing of it - people are out of town somewhere with family (in college or early working years), or the people you work with are not working due to vacations. Friends often are saving their partying for the following night, New Year's Eve (aka Amateur Night), and money is tight due to the Christmas binge.
I made a nice chocolate cake from scratch. I remember thick dense chocolate cakes from my childhood, and this one was moister and not quite so dense. I used cake flour which probably lightened things up a bit. Dinner was a nice chicken stir fry with the obligatory spicy peanut sauce. Lots and lots of veggies - bok choy, broccoli, red and yellow peppers, onions, finely diced jalapeno, ginger with black bean marinade on the chicken. Yum!
Sisters-in-law gave me Rock the 80s Guitar Hero, so I have a whole new bunch of songs to work out on. Plus it is their generation so they can sing along. Last night, too, my wife took up the guitar and was getting into playing the three chord staple Smoke on the Water. A game for the whole family indeed.
Today, not so fun. Mother-in-law has a lot of back and leg pain, and the only option is looking like spinal fusion surgery. I was sent as a stabilizing force - in other words I was not likely to start crying when discussing risks and options. She is walking with a cane, but soon might be wheelchair bound. The surgery is major and would last over 5 hours, with weeks of recovery, but it would hopefully relieve her of the constant pain. On the other hand, she also needs/could use knee replacement, and letting leg muscles atrophy during recovery from the back surgery could just make that worse. She has been talking about moving into a home - or assisted living if that makes it better. I don't like the idea. It seems like the people in those places are not just lacking mobility but many are not quite all there in the head, which is not mom.
Now to call a friend to drag her to the Y to work out. Tonight we are visiting some friends having a family game-night get together for New Year's. Not sure how long we will stay, as youngest doesn't stay up past 830 much of the time. It promises to be fun, though.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Saturday, December 29, 2007
A New Beginning
Sounds like a Star Wars movie title. Anyhow, I am going to try this blog thing again. Like quitting smoking, this is about the fifth time I have tried, and I always drop off pretty quickly. Maybe I just feel like nobody is reading this (and I have been told that is not true), maybe I feel like it is not important. Either way, this time I am going to stick to it!
Other new beginnings - today I went to the YMCA to work out! St. Francis Hospital sent me a card (probably as a result of doing my hernia surgery last year) that included a 2-week trial membership. There is a Y just up the road from the school where I teach, so I went there (http://www.ymcamemphis.org/branches/nuber/). If/when I sign up the membership fee will be waived. They have a year-round pool under a big inflatable dome like many tennis centers have, a rather spacious and well outfitted exercise room -- treadmills, elipticals, recumbent and other cycles, free weights, nautilus and cybex too. So, today I just did 10 minutes on a bike then 15 on a treadmill. Lower back was a little tight/sore, and my calves complained during the treadmill (4.5 mph for posterity).
Why exercise? Well, I have set a goal of some weight loss. Last year I was running pretty much daily, then we had a spell of a couple of weeks of high heat and ozone alerts. I took this as an excuse to cut back, and never got back to it. Now I could stand to drop 40 pounds or so. Limited goal is 20 pounds over the next six weeks. You read it here first, so I can't back off of it now. The weight loss should also help with my sleep apnea. Got a breathing machine the day after Christmas and have been using it. I think I am sleeping better, but still getting used to keeping my mouth closed. I don't want to wear the chin strap. The mask has given me a pimply breakout on the bridge of my nose and along one side (is there a name for that wrinkle where your cheek meets your nose?). So, less weight = less pressure on my diaphragm = easier breathing. Hopefully it will cut down on my acid reflux, too, which is also caused by that same pressure.
In entertainment news, my friend and New York Times bestselling author (hehe, I love saying that) Libba Bray's book also came out the day after Christmas. I like having known somebody before they became famous, even though I haven't seen or talked to her since her fame, but the rest of my family has. Christmas entertainment around the house includes me getting hip with the popular Guitar Hero franchise (Santa brought all 3 plus 2 guitars - Rock in the 80's will have to wait). Already gone through all of them on Easy mode (including Through Fire and Flames - the end song of GH3), now working on Medium on GH1. So far I haven't failed a song, and about half are 4-5 stars on the first try. I am amazing myself, but since I type almost faster than I can speak, and much faster than I can write longhand, it shouldn't surprise me. Plus the fact that all the fancy fingerwork is done with the left hand, sometimes I hit notes unconsciously.
Both girls are enjoying their Nintendo DS with assorted games (mainly Nintendogs), and there a a couple of new games for the Wii. We didn't grab this one for this year's holiday, but got it following the huge stampede last year, which means March. Mario Galaxy is waiting in the closet for tomorrow, when I become officially mid-40s, and cross that invisible marketing boundary into a new (and much less desirable) demographic. Next stop - AARP.
With the writers strike I don't watch much less TV than before, since I didn't watch much to begin with (aside from Lost, Survivor and Heroes) thanks to World of Warcraft and internet distractions. I swear I could watch Firefly endlessly, and we also have the Dresden Files (one season on Sci Fi) based on the Jim Butcher novel series - go read it, it starts out good and just gets better - 9 books I think so far. Also grabbed up the first season of HBOs Carnivale because my friend Heather said it was good, and it only runs 2 seasons, so it is a complete experience, and also because Best Buy had it for $20. Season 2 will cost me, though. Plus various and sundry DVDs I bought but haven't watched, and improved releases of DVDs I already owned (final cut of Blade Runner, extended cut of Serenity, 20th Anniversary of Princess Bride).
Currently reading: Angelmass by Timothy Zahn. I liked his writing on the early expanded Star Wars universe, and this is so far doing fine by me.
Other new beginnings - today I went to the YMCA to work out! St. Francis Hospital sent me a card (probably as a result of doing my hernia surgery last year) that included a 2-week trial membership. There is a Y just up the road from the school where I teach, so I went there (http://www.ymcamemphis.org/branches/nuber/). If/when I sign up the membership fee will be waived. They have a year-round pool under a big inflatable dome like many tennis centers have, a rather spacious and well outfitted exercise room -- treadmills, elipticals, recumbent and other cycles, free weights, nautilus and cybex too. So, today I just did 10 minutes on a bike then 15 on a treadmill. Lower back was a little tight/sore, and my calves complained during the treadmill (4.5 mph for posterity).
Why exercise? Well, I have set a goal of some weight loss. Last year I was running pretty much daily, then we had a spell of a couple of weeks of high heat and ozone alerts. I took this as an excuse to cut back, and never got back to it. Now I could stand to drop 40 pounds or so. Limited goal is 20 pounds over the next six weeks. You read it here first, so I can't back off of it now. The weight loss should also help with my sleep apnea. Got a breathing machine the day after Christmas and have been using it. I think I am sleeping better, but still getting used to keeping my mouth closed. I don't want to wear the chin strap. The mask has given me a pimply breakout on the bridge of my nose and along one side (is there a name for that wrinkle where your cheek meets your nose?). So, less weight = less pressure on my diaphragm = easier breathing. Hopefully it will cut down on my acid reflux, too, which is also caused by that same pressure.
In entertainment news, my friend and New York Times bestselling author (hehe, I love saying that) Libba Bray's book also came out the day after Christmas. I like having known somebody before they became famous, even though I haven't seen or talked to her since her fame, but the rest of my family has. Christmas entertainment around the house includes me getting hip with the popular Guitar Hero franchise (Santa brought all 3 plus 2 guitars - Rock in the 80's will have to wait). Already gone through all of them on Easy mode (including Through Fire and Flames - the end song of GH3), now working on Medium on GH1. So far I haven't failed a song, and about half are 4-5 stars on the first try. I am amazing myself, but since I type almost faster than I can speak, and much faster than I can write longhand, it shouldn't surprise me. Plus the fact that all the fancy fingerwork is done with the left hand, sometimes I hit notes unconsciously.
Both girls are enjoying their Nintendo DS with assorted games (mainly Nintendogs), and there a a couple of new games for the Wii. We didn't grab this one for this year's holiday, but got it following the huge stampede last year, which means March. Mario Galaxy is waiting in the closet for tomorrow, when I become officially mid-40s, and cross that invisible marketing boundary into a new (and much less desirable) demographic. Next stop - AARP.
With the writers strike I don't watch much less TV than before, since I didn't watch much to begin with (aside from Lost, Survivor and Heroes) thanks to World of Warcraft and internet distractions. I swear I could watch Firefly endlessly, and we also have the Dresden Files (one season on Sci Fi) based on the Jim Butcher novel series - go read it, it starts out good and just gets better - 9 books I think so far. Also grabbed up the first season of HBOs Carnivale because my friend Heather said it was good, and it only runs 2 seasons, so it is a complete experience, and also because Best Buy had it for $20. Season 2 will cost me, though. Plus various and sundry DVDs I bought but haven't watched, and improved releases of DVDs I already owned (final cut of Blade Runner, extended cut of Serenity, 20th Anniversary of Princess Bride).
Currently reading: Angelmass by Timothy Zahn. I liked his writing on the early expanded Star Wars universe, and this is so far doing fine by me.
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