Goodbye, World

After some consideration, I've decided to become an ex-pat from Blogland.  I just unsubscribed from all the blogs in my Google reader, and this is going to be my last post.  It's not that there aren't blogs that I enjoy reading- I do- see my sidebar for many examples- and that I haven't appreciated the connections I've made through Blogland- I have- but it's time for me to go.

When I really think about what I want to do with my free time- breaks at work, time in the early morning- reading blogs and writing a blog that very few people read aren't on that list.  Back when I was racing a bunch and getting connected to other runners, it was a lot of fun, but my priorities have changed.  

I'm not going into total hermit-mode.  I'll come by and visit other blogs sometimes- to see pictures of babies born and laugh at funny captions and Paint drawings- but I want that to be a conscious action, not something I default to doing while I'm waiting for a program to run.  

I'm also not going to take the blog (or my earlier running blog) down because I *think* I'd like to go back to look at what was going on in my life from 2008-2011 some time.  And who knows, after a break, maybe I'll pull a Brett Favre and come back out of retirement 10 times.  

I don't expect comments or anything, I just didn't want anyone to think I'd fallen off the actual Earth.  Just the blog Earth. Goodbye!

Six Things Saturday

1. I finally got my head to touch the floor in this pose in yoga yesterday.  Now I can start working on pushing up into a headstand.  I'm sure that won't take long ;)

From Yoga Journal

2. As of 3pm yesterday, I'm one week caffeine free.  I'm not saying I didn't want a sweet, wonderful delicious Diet Mt. Dew at about 3pm yesterday, but I'm still going strong.

3. I also drank my last soda yesterday.  Because of #2 I have no excuse for drinking sweet, wonderful, delicious Diet Mt. Dew anymore.  I'll probably have some soda on special occasions... I do love Great Dane root beer... but it's out of my day to day life.

4. I want a fish nightlight.

5. I finished a major revision of a paper yesterday, and it was a huge relief to send it off to the front office to be formatted and sent to coauthors.  When/if it gets published, it will be my first first-author publication.

6. I'm 17% through the second Hunger Games book.  Do I try to finish it this weekend but have to wait longer (I can get the third book from the Amazon lending library in March) to read the final book or try to stretch it out but have to wait longer to find out what will happen???  Decisions, decisions.

What are you up to this weekend?

January resolution - check

Our church is reading the Bible in a year, and I thought an appropriate January goal was to stick to that schedule.  I'm excited to say it was a success.

Every day gets a check mark (sadly no stickers).  The numbers (in case you were wondering) are for location numbers on the Kindle so I can switch back and forth between the Psalms and other reading more easily.  It was easy to stick with because I committed to doing it first thing in the morning when there isn't any competition for my time, and because it just doesn't take that long to do the daily reading.  15 - 20 minutes tops.

I've been kicking around a few ideas for my February resolution.  I thought I wanted to do something to try to increase my flexibility, but I didn't want to commit to something that would require a new commitment of time- especially after work- because I'm really really really bad at committing to do things in the evening.  I also didn't want to do anything to wreck the success of my January resolution.

So... I decided to combine the two.  I'm going to do my reading sitting in three different poses that are targeted to stretch the hips and calves/ ankles:

Hero pose:

Lotus:

  (Both taken from Yoga Journal)

Full squat:

All of these are insanely hard/ impossible for me right now, but I'm hoping I'll see improvement by the end of the month.

On the menu: Chicken tikka masala (kind of) with the leftover dark meat from our chicken.

I work out: OMG- yesterday I ran... outside... in shorts!  It was glorious.

Bible: Ancient Israel was gross.

Whew

Still caffeine free.  Still alive.  Daniel is still alive.  My brain was angry with me from Saturday afternoon through yesterday afternoon, but I think the worst was over once I hit the 48-hour mark.  I couldn't find any reputable sources for how long it takes to work the magic fairy dust out of your system, but the disputable ones (ask.com, livestrong.org, about.com etc.) seem to agree on a week being the upper limit (gulp).

Fortunately I wasn't drinking a pot a day or anything, and I have some decaf so I don't to go through a change in routine as well as withdrawal from chemical dependence.  We'll see how work goes today.  As far as I can tell, I'm thinking clearly.  Or as clearly as I normally think at 5:30am.

This weekend was a lazy one but there were some highlights.  Friday evening we went out to Smokey's (a local supper club) for restaurant week.  Daniel and I debated what the definition of a supper club is.  It's one of those things that is hard to describe but you know it when you see it.  Our working definition Friday night was "a steakhouse that's not fancy".  I'd like to refine that to "A supper club is a steak house where you are offered A1".  

On Sunday Daniel played at church and then went in to work, making me look like a lazy bum because the best I can say for my Sunday afternoon is a I accomplished some afghan making and Mad Men watching.  I feel like I should care that I've been such a TV addicted hermit the last few weekends, but honestly, I don't.  January and February are kind of boring months around here.  While it was technically nice enough to go out for a walk yesterday, the windchill and remaining sidewalk glaciers made the thought unpleasant.  And I did talk to both my parents and my brother.  And I'm still showering and getting dressed and everything.

Ugh, I take back what I said earlier.  My brain is starting to throb again.  Hopefully yoga will help it chill out.  Otherwise today is going to be a looooooong day.  Caffeine free day three, here I come.

On the menu: Chicken Caesar salad.  We roasted the chicken using a new method where you heat a cast iron pan in the oven, then cook the chicken breast side up in the hot pan t 500 for 15 minutes and then turn it down to 350 until it's done.  It's supposed to help the dark and light meat get done at the same time.  We haven't eaten any of the dark meat yet, but the breast was very good.

I work out: Yoga and a walk Saturday.  Absolutely nothing yesterday.

Bible: I need to take "goat in mother's milk" off the menu for Thursday night...

On the agenda

• Blog post
• Go scrape the ice off the car
• Hit up Trader Joe's and Target at my very favorite time of day (before anyone else gets there)
• Go to yoga
• Go to Culvers
• Lay on the couch and want to die

Yeah... after contemplating this for awhile, I'm finally pulling the trigger to get off caffeine.  I had a cup of decaf this morning, and I give myself until about 2pm until my brain wants to self destruct.  Wish me luck.

Credit

  I love, too.  We can still be friends, okay?

WTFT

I hadn't been able to do any laundry since last Thursday, and last night things were getting dicey.  Like, "Do underwear become clean when you turn them inside out?" dicey.  The hot water pipes for our building needed to be replaced, which was going to expose some asbestos, which meant we weren't allowed in the laundry/storage area until the job was complete.  There was a big intimidating sign on the door to KEEP OUT.

But I kept trying.  Saturday... no luck.  Sunday... no luck.  Monday, Tuesday... no luck.  The laundry room wasn't supposed to be closed for THAT long... So I trekked around to the other entrance to the basement and, sure enough, the sign was taken down on that side.  The genius contractors forgot to take down all the "do not enter" scary warnings on our end of the building, and genius me didn't realize that for almost an entire week.  Anyway, I was able to get four huge loads done last night so we can be presentable in the ER if either of us gets hit by a bus.

Also, every time we go to Target, this green whale thing freaks me out.  Evidently it is a candy dish???

Did Target hire Timothy Leary as one of its new designers?   I can just imagine this thing chasing you, trying to gobble you up during a bad LSD trip.

On the menu: We went to the always fabulous Inka Heritage for restaurant week on Tuesday.  If you live in Madison and have never been, I highly recommend it- restaurant week or not.

I work out: Some gym, some yoga.  Same ol', same ol'.

Bible: The Ten Commandments.

Happy Chinese New Year

 
Crude but funny. You always come through for us, Some E-cards.

On the menu: Daniel requested Roman Candle pizza to build his strength for his first day teaching.
I work out: Not yesterday.  I walked on the treadmill while watching Mad Men.
Bible: Manna from heaven.