Tagged

Alright, here goes...

10 years ago I was going to BYU waiting for Matt to come home from his mission to Romania.

5 things on my to-do list today:

Make Beds

Run at the Legacy Center

Plan Meals & Make Grocery Shopping List

Fold Clothes

Go Grocery Shopping when Matt gets home

5 snacks I enjoy:

Sour Patch Kids

Ding Dongs

Cheese & Crackers

Potato Chips

Carrots with Ranch Dip

What would I do if I suddenly became a billionaire?

Buy a house with lots of acreage, a barn, horses etc.

Pay off my debt

Pay off all parents debt

Open kid's college funds

Travel

5 places I have lived:

Heaven

Downtown Lehi

North Lehi

North-west Lehi

West Lehi

5 jobs I have had:

Vittles

Arctic Circle

Emporium at Thanksgiving Point

Money Room at Thanksgiving Point

Mom

5 things you don't know about me:

I have a hard time calling people on the telephone. (seriously . . . nothing comes out right)

I like to play online computer games with my husband.

I have to organize everything.

I want to plant a garden.

I cannot think on my feet

I tag Lori, Jen, Becki, Tami, Blacks, and anyone else who reads this blog.

Iris Registration

Canon appears to be attempting to patent a system that will be built into digital cameras that registers the photographer's iris, and then embeds it into the digital metadata included on each photograph taken with that camera. All in an effort to stop digital piracy. Very interesting concept, and surely something that weighs heavily on the minds of professional and amateur phtographers alike, at least those who chose to share photos online at sites like Flickr.

Now for someone like me who just likes to take photos, and doesn't actually aspire to ever doing anything really important with them, this is just interesting reading. But for those out there who care, it's definitely worth taking a look.

Home away from home

One Annual Pass to the Lehi Legacy Center: $300-ish.
Swimming Suit: $25.
Swim Goggles: $5.
Waking up too early in order to go find out that I forgot how to swim: Priceless.

That's right. The Lehi Legacy Center. I was opposed to it being built back in the day, seeing more important things that the city could spend its tax money on, but I have to say, it's not a bad place. I've never spent much time there, to be honest; mostly just there for dance recitals and such for the girls. However, with my yearly goal for the Summer Games Triathlon, I was in need of somewhere to train for the swim. I've been finding out how desperate that need was over the last few days.

I grew up swimming, albeit probably pretty rarely. I still remember swimming lessons in a covered pool that some neighbors of ours had when I was six or seven. Thanks for those lessons, by the way Mom. We spent all kinds of time in the summers at Lake Powell, Yuba Lake, or up in the mountains (mostly by some lake somewhere), so I spent a lot of time in the water. I have always considered myself a fairly proficient swimmer. I've been learning that indeed I am not that great after all.

M-W-F I swim at the Legacy Center in the wee hours of the morning. Alright, it's only 6AM, but it's 'wee' for me, especially on a weekday! The training schedule that I picked for myself had me starting off with a short 250-yard swim. Wow, that's 10 lengths of the lap pool. Not so short after all. I made it through 6 laps the first day before I had to flip on my back and cheat the rest. Today was a bit better, if only because I realized Monday that I needed to work myself up to where I'm going. 3 lengths at a full swim, one length on my back. Rinse and repeat. That worked out pretty well, but it was still a very strenuous workout.

After my swim I'll do either my bike or run (bike this week). Then T-Th-Sa is for my other workout (whatever I don't do on my swim day) and some light strength training. I'm convinced that if I can make it through 4 weeks of my regimen I'll be fine.

Other than that the Legacy Center appears to be a great social networking site. I've run into an old bishop, several old ward members, several current ward members, and my grandma. All before 7AM. Who knew that so many people suffered from this sickness called 'need to workout'?

Ironman it's not, but it's a start...

I never wrote it down, but I suppose that one of my goals for the year is somewhat official, with my registration for a triathlon in June of this year.

We've got a group of guys in the neighborhood that are committed to training together (as much as possible anyway with crazy work schedules, church assignments, etc...) and we're all registering for the Sprint Triathlon, one of the events in the 2008 Utah Summer Games.

And now the fun begins. I've been an on-again-off-again exerciser for ages. The most consistent I've ever been was back in High School, but lately it's been more of weekly pickup basketball or an occasional early morning/late night jog around the neighborhood. That's going to need to change. The Sprint Triathlon for the USG is a 750m swim/14mi ride/5k run. Taken individually, I could probably go out tomorrow and do any of these (but not win any awards except the least-fit person to finish...), but put all three together and it's a pretty daunting task.

So I'm planning out my training regimen and it's looking to be pretty full. 2-3 sessions of each part for training every week. I've found a nice training program that is set for a couch-to-sprint (i.e. I've never done any of these things before) in 22 weeks. I only have 18 weeks or so, but since I'm not exactly coming off the couch, I think I'll be able to pull it off. Here's my checklist of things (besides train) that I need to get in order before then:

1. Get my iPod playlist up to date with my best music. This is obviously the first step in my preparation. Highest of priorities.
2. Start at least paying attention to what I eat, how I sleep, how much I weigh, etc. I'm not thinking of making any real changes to any of these things just yet, mostly because I haven't assessed the situation yet. So I need to assess.
3. Buy lots of cool clothing items that will help me be the best triathlete I can be. Like a speedo. No, scratch that--that's a horrible idea. Let's go with lots of loose-fitting exercise-ish type clothings. Yes that sounds better.
4. Get a pass to some location that sports an indoor swimming pool. I'm pretty sure that I'll not be able to practice my swimming techniques in the girls' froggy pool.

In all seriousness though, I will need to get my bike in ridable condition, make sure my running shoes will still cut the mustard, and get a few important things (spare tires for the bike, some sort of triathlon suit, etc...). Looks like I found something to spend that government rebate on after all. Too bad, really. That island in Fiji was looking good.

Time to do my job

Well, now that the economic stimulus plan has passed the House, the only obstacle left is that stingy Senate. Let's hope our elected officials of the 'Sen.' prefix don't mess up what our 'Rep.' representatives have fixed. After all, last time this happened, some reports showed that 75% of American who received their 'economic stimulus rebate' used it to pay down consumer debt, and not spend it to bolster the economy. But I'm probably mincing words there, aren't I?

The New York Times had a decent writeup in their news posted today. Strangely enough, my favorite quote from their story has gone missing. An earlier version of the story has Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) quoted as saying: "The sooner we get this relief in the hands of the American people, the sooner they can begin to do their job of being good consumers." Well now, since my responsibility as an American person has been spelled out for me, I suppose it's time to start shopping. Here's a few ideas on what I could get with my Federal Government Subsidy Rebate Loan Free Handout:

A New Camera



A New Puppy


A New Fence


Some New Real Estate


That's probably enough to be getting on with. I wonder what the rest of the American people are planning to spend the money on in order for us to fulfill our roles as consumers...

Oy Vey

Once in a long while, all the planets mis-align in such a way as to create a cosmic event of such magnitude that it disrupts the space-time continuum and creates havoc for all of humankind (or at least for me). One such even happened just this morning.

I'm scheduled to teach a lesson this coming week in Sunday School. No big news there. It happens every other week, so I'm prepared for it. This morning, though, we got an email from our Bishop asking us to speak in our ward's sacrament meeting service on the same day. I began to feel bad for my class members, who now have to endure two hours of me in one day. That kind of punishment is usually reserved for people who must have done something really bad, like my family and coworkers. Enter the mis-alignment of the planets, when I checked my voicemail and found a message from my priesthood quorum's secretary. "Just wanted to remind you that you're teaching the lesson this week in priesthood meeting, from the signup sheet that we passed out several months ago. The lesson is ..."


Romanians have a phrase for this type of thing: 'vai de mine'. I've never thought that it translated very well into English, at least not to convey the feeling that it does in Romanian. The direct English would be something like 'Woe to me' or 'Woe is me', but the feeling is more along the lines of something that happens to make me say 'Unbelievable' or 'You've got to be kidding me' or 'Oy vey'.

Be SMART About Your Goals

If you're like me, then this time of year brings with it thoughts of change and resolution. It's time to take a look at my life and see what things I'd like to improve or eliminate. And if you're like me, then you might succeed at a few of those things over the course of the next few weeks and months. I was reminded yesterday of something I had heard a long time ago, but it kind of stuck this time, and I think I'm going to use it as I set some personal goals (and we'll use it together on our family goals) for the coming year. The trick is to be SMART.

S is for Specific

M is for Measurable

A is for Attainable

R is for Realistic

T is for Timeframe

My goals need to be specific. Instead of saying 'I need to lose some weight', I might say 'I need to lose 15 pounds over the next two months.' That's nice and specific, so I'll be able to measure myself.

My goals need to be measurable. I've got to be able to measure my progress so I know when I've reached my goal and when to keep working.

My goals need to be attainable. When it comes to goals, nothing is as disheartening as not achieving what I set out to do. So I need to make my goals attainable right from the start.

Going along with attainable, my goals need to be realistic. What could be a good goal for someone else, might not be realistic for me. So I need to set goals that are in line with my life right now.

And my goals need to have a time frame. A nice deadline for when I'd like to achieve my goal gives it some urgency, and a reason to work on it now instead of putting it off until tomorrow. Nothing says I can't extend that deadline if I feel like it later, but having a time in mind for when I'd like to attain is good incentive.