Showing posts with label fitness center. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fitness center. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

New day, new mood

Hi!

There have been a lot of things weighing on my mind lately and I'm not exactly sure why. I think that it's partially due to the fact that I haven't had a routine in what feels like forever. When I returned to work after my surgery and what not, it was practically time for the holidays. Then, when the holidays finally passed, the Atlantan Ice Debacle 2K11 kept us out of work for almost an entire week. And now, despite yesterday's MLK holiday, we're supposed to work from home this week while they move our offices. I'm not exactly complaining because of course it's nice to be at home, but I'm looking forward to establishing some kind of routine for the first time yet this year.

Things are going well on the exercise front. I've been going to the fitness center occasionally, riding my spin bike, and dancing to the Wii. I haven't exercised this frequently in a long time, so I guess that's a perk of having such a jacked up schedule. I can't believe my roommate and I got up at 5:30 a.m. to exercise. I'm still in denial.

Today I'll be heading to campus for the first time in 12 days. Can you believe it? I need to get some things from my desk, go to a lunch for Patient Family Advisors, and attend my last protein study visit. I've got a big day ahead! The first step is actually changing out of sweatpants for probably the third time in two weeks. I bet you can sense why I've been feeling out-of-sorts...

Last night I was thinking about the people we meet throughout our lives and how they affect us. I'm thankful to be surrounded by such great people. There's no such thing as too much love in this world. Just think about it...

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Late December back in '63

Guess who hasn't gone to sleep yet?! Guess who isn't going to sleep tonight?! This was not intentional.

Today was such a busy day. Between trying to finalize everything under the sun for work and get ready for this trip, I have been going nonstop all day. I stayed up later than I should have last night, but I think the adrenaline was kicking in because I wasn't feeling tired. This morning I woke up pretty early, too, probably because my body knew how much there was to accomplish today...

DANG! THE BRAVES LOST! They didn't just lose or anything. It hit me that I didn't see any of the game, so I checked the score.

Anyway, I did go to the fitness center for a brief stint today and met a neighbor. That was a highlight of the day because it was the only moment when I forgot how much stuff there was to do. Fast-forward through a day of nonstop work (I am still emailing work people right now) into a crew shift. The camera is officially jacked up, so it was a challenge to train tonight's pupil appropriately, but he got the gist of it. The show was a blast.

Right before the show I was in decision-making mode. Knowing how much stuff I needed to get done when I'd get home at midnight, I made the decision to drink a Monster at 9:00 p.m. for my shift drink. I was tired enough that I never really got a boost, but at least I'm coasting right now. About an hour ago, I had to make another decision - whether to take a nap or not. I started to lay down to take a nap, but then I decided maybe I should truck through. So, I went and unloaded the dishwasher.

I'm very hopeful that everything goes smoothly with our travel arrangements tomorrow. My biggest source of paranoia is all of my medicine. I tried to make phone calls to make sure I have it all figured out, but I'm not sure how effective that was. Let's just say that my study drug looks shady... little homemade-looking packets of white powder. Being the person I am, I would like to be up-front at the airport about all of my medical stuff and what not. However, I don't want to end up going through some ridiculous drama just because I chose to be honest. I'm carrying all of my medicine in my carry-on and I have the best documentation I could get for each of the items. I don't think I will bring anything up unless I'm asked. Once I get through the airport shenanigans to leave, though, I'll have to go through Customs. I hope I'm not in a jail in the Dominican Republic by the time you read this. Maybe I could sue someone and make a lot of money if that happened. I must officially be delirious to be having these trains of thought. Choo. Choo.

I need to make a luggage tag.

I don't feel so hot today, but I know that relaxation is just around the corner. It doesn't help that I've been up forever, but oh well. I might drink an Emergen-C after I finish my morning breathing treatments that I just started. I'm getting picked up in 1.25 hours.

Man! I set up my out-of-office reply a few hours ago. That felt so good! I literally won't deal with work for the next 16 days. BALLER! I know I'm going to have some revelations over the next few days of things I forgot to do, but I'm going to let them slide.

It's weird when an occasion finally arrives that you thought would never get here. It's still a little surreal to me, and part of that probably involves the fact that my brain isn't functioning at its full capacity right now. Wait, I don't think that makes sense. It's not acting to its fullest potential? I would hope its capacity isn't maxed out because I don't feel very smart right now. I am talking in circles.

I hope I haven't forgotten anything. Luggage tag. Luggage tag. Luggage tag. I just finished my breathing treatments, so I guess I'd better pack up my little machine and put it in my carry-on. La. Dee. Da.

I'm gonna miss y'all. I love everyone. Please bail me out of the DR jail.

Oh, and I doubt I'll have access to blog-writing. But I'll try to document each day so that I can write upon my return.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Roadblock

Yesterday was CRAZY!

My bathing suits shipped! I just went and tracked the package and it appears to be in the ATL. Guess who's getting her bathing suits on time! Awww, snap. Now let's just hope I got the right sizes.

I got up and worked for a while and then decided I wanted to go pick up something from Starbucks, so off I went. I quickly grabbed an Iced White Chocolate Mocha Latte (mwahahaha!), which kicked the day off right.

Then, for my lunch hour, I went to the fitness center where I witnessed a miracle. I'm being overdramatic, but I did run 3.36 miles without ever even slowing down. In fact, I increased the speed after two miles. Usually I end up standing on the side of the treadmill for a few seconds several times, or may even turn the pace a little slower for a bit. Yesterday, I was ON FIRE! I honestly couldn't believe how energetic and unfazed I was. There wasn't a single moment when I thought I needed to stop. In fact, I only stopped because I needed to get back home. Maybe Starbucks for breakfast helped...

The afternoon was consumed with work changes that are under way that I'm probably not allowed to mention. It's good, though.

At this point it was almost time for the Braves game debacle. Well, I had a drink or two before we hopped on MARTA to ride down to the game. It was raining when we got on MARTA, and my sister decided we should bring an umbrella. I'm very glad she did because I said I was willing to tough it out, but didn't realize it was going to be a monsoon. When we got down to the Five Points station to hop on the bus to the stadium, it was raining so unbelievably hard. Everyone was standing under the awning waiting for it to stop, but we made a run for it with the umbrella. It was a pretty bad call because we were sloshing water everywhere. Then, I proceeded to get on the bus and sit in a seat next to a leaking window, so I sat in water and it continued streaming in the window and getting on my pants. We moved across the aisle.

We got off the bus and hurried to a covered portion at one of the ticket gates. Our parents were in a parking lot tailgating (inside the truck) nearby. We were going to wait it out because we didn't think we should even try the long walk in the pouring, horizontal rain. Well, I asked the Atlanta Police Department officer if we could drink beers and he said no because we were in public. So we decided we were ready to venture to the truck. Our dad met us halfway, but it was a long journey. We got to the car and I ate a footlong (yes!) Publix sub. I also drank three Bud Light Limes. Finally, at about 8:45 p.m., it seemed to be clearing up so we headed to the stadium.

Thankfully our seats were in the club level and were covered. The game was a good one, and I improved my seasonal record to 3-0. It was 7-3 in the top of the 9th with one out when the bottom fell out of the sky. So, they called a rain delay at about 11:30 p.m. I wanted to stay and wait it out, but then they announced that the Friday night fireworks were canceled due to a noise ordinance (since it had gotten so late). With that information, I really didn't push back on my family because they were ready to go.

We took the long journey back on MARTA and got in the car a little after 12:30 a.m. Well, when we got to my sister's place, there were tons and tons of cop cars on the road. It appeared we had stumbled upon a roadblock. It was just past my sister's place and just before mine (we live less than .2 miles apart). They were letting cars through one at a time and talking to everyone, so needless to say, I did not feel prepared to drive. Instead, I fell asleep on my sister's couch. I woke up at about 1:30 a.m. and went outside to look. The roadblock was still in-process. So, I went back to sleep again and got up at 3:30 a.m., just in time to realize I'd missed my vanilla for the first time since the study began. Oops. Stupid cops. I finally headed the .2 mile home since the cops were done.

Is it just me or am I interacting with a lot of cops lately?

I'm getting ready to go down to the theatre for a lengthy shift on camera. Let's. Get. Energized!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Yawn

What a day! Well, today I got up and hit the fitness center before work. I surprisingly ran two miles without stopping, and then walked for a couple minutes before heading back home. I reset my alarm a few times, so I didn't have as much time to exercise as usual when I go before work. Oh well! It was better than nothing. I was really excited to run for 20 minutes without ever even stepping my feet on the side of the treadmill; I haven't done that in a bit!

I went to work and knocked out a TON of stuff all in a few hours of time. I was in the office from a little before 9 until a little before 1, then headed to my CF study appointment.

So, the appointment went really well. Well, it didn't, but it did. When I did my PFTs, they were surprisingly low - lower than my appointment last week, and about on-par with my first study appointment. The doctor basically told me there were two options... 1) try IV antibiotics and see what happens, or 2) have him declare me 'stable' so I would be eligible for the study. Since a drop of a few percentage points can be attributed to many things other than my true lung function, I went with the tell-me-I'm-stable route.

I then proceeded with my EKG, bloodwork, nasal PD (measuring electrical activity in your nasal cells - WILD!), sweat tests, etc. All in all, it took about five hours to complete all of the necessary testing. It looks like I'm good to get randomized as long as today's results come back looking good! It's funny because, after all of the things that could have kept me from being in the study, the biggest issue today was getting blood out of my arms. We moved from arm to arm with multiple people trying to get a good result. Finally we got a good vein and, of the nine tubes that needed to get filled, we got to the ninth one and my arm gave out. Someone else had to come save the day by poking and prodding around to get that final BIG tube filled. Thankfully I don't mind needles in the arms.

After all of that, I met a few theatre friends at El Azteca (Midtown area) before the improv show tonight. It was a showcase put on by the folks in the Improv Studies group, and I had a lot of fun. I probably stayed out later than I should have, as you can probably tell, so I'm about to hit the hay. I have a crew shift at the theatre tomorrow night, so it looks like it will be Saturday before I can relax.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Givin' Lip

I'll go ahead and say that the title of this post has nothing to do with actually giving lip... I am wearing a shirt that someone gave me because it was too small, and it is a white tank top with the words "Givin' Lip" in pink writing. I actually kind of love it because it's worthless.

Well, I just got home from rehearsal. I guess you can't really call it rehearsal because we actually went hanging up posters around Midtown - at least that's the group my area tackled. [Side bar: I just noticed after posting that I said "group my area tackled" instead of "area my group tackled." I have been doing backwards things like this for a few days, so I'm leaving it as-is for a trip down memory lane.] It was a fun change of pace, but we walked around a lot and I'm feeling kinda worn out. I guess that's good since I should be heading to sleep soon!

Umm, Drew's Crew is at $9,602!!!!! I really, really hope to hit $10,000 by the week's end. Did I say that yesterday? Or say it in my mind? Either way, it's still the truth! I think I did say it. (Can you tell I'm delirious?)

What elsssssssse? I went to the fitness center for a little chunk during lunchtime today. I got in a pretty good workout. I ran for a little on the treadmill, then hopped on the elliptical, then did some sprints on the treadmill, and topped it off with walking at an incline. I didn't feel like I could exert myself in the way that I do when I'm feeling my best, but I was able to do moderately intense things for a decent length of time, so that was good!

I am kinda at a loss of things to say, which is surprising.

I better take advantage of this 'being tired' thing while it's still accurate.

Oh, my boss is going to have a baby any day now. I don't know why it is nerveracking for me! I'm not the one giving birth, but I am just anxiously waiting...in a neutral way. The actual due date is April 22, so I am trying to be prepared, but I don't think I will be. I will miss her while she's on maternity leave.

Okay. Done.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Papa. Paparazzi.

It seems like I just wrote in here yesterday, but obviously it wasn't... This week flew by, probably because I was anticipating the show.

So, Thursday night was my first apprentified show at the theatre, and I had so much fun! Just for my own memory and not so much yours, these are the games I was in: Emo Interview, Sit Stand Lean Oscar, Remote Control Styles, ABC, and Oscar Musical Rap. I had soooo many WONDERFUL people supporting me and it couldn't have gone any better. I can't wait until the next - whenever that is!

Well, I'm up so late because I just finished working the 8:00 and 10:30 p.m. shows at the theatre. They were both sold out, which was fun. I was in charge of walking around getting suggestions for the show, and then pretty much watching and helping out if anything came up during the show. During the 8:00 p.m. show, a guy asked his girlfriend to prom onstage. He had planned it in advance, and it was actually very cute. I hate to admit it, but it almost made me cry. It was just so sweet, primarily because of its innocence.

Today I went to lunch at Mimi's Cafe with a friend that lives in my complex. I hadn't seen her since New Year's, so we had a good time catching up. I got a cheeseburger and onion rings. Woohooo! It was pretty good. When I got home from lunch, though, I literally passed out and didn't wake up for an hour and a half... I have no idea how I was so tired! Tomorrow night I'm meeting some friends for Mexican, so that's going to be AWESOME!

I went to the fitness center this morning, even though it took everything in my power to get out of bed (and this was at 11:00 a.m.). I ran a mile on the treadmill, then did 1.7 miles on the Stairmaster, then alternated between sprints and walking for 1.1 miles on the treadmill. I'm pretty surprised I'm not sore yet because sprints usually do it to me, especially if it's been a while.

Well, I'm about to go to sleep and not set an alarm. I usually set an alarm just for the heck of it, but not tonight. I'm just going to sleep until I can't sleep anymore... So excited!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Smile all day

WELL WELL WELL!! It is Tuesday and the week is almost over! Or so it feels!

Yesterday was an enjoyable day off in which I, once again, accomplished NOTHING. I slept in pretty late and sat around for a while. I got a shower... I then went and ate a late lunch of Mexican food at Pure Taqueria. I also had two peach mojitos, which were pretty enjoyable.

I had improv last night and just wasn't feeling it altogether. I honestly think it had to do with having such an unproductive weekend. I hadn't really had to be 'on' at all during the weekend, so it was hard to kick it into 'focus' last night when I got to the theatre. Oh well... I bet tomorrow I'll be feeling it again.

Today I got up and went into work really early. There was a lot I wanted to accomplish and I hoped to have most of it knocked out before I went into hour after hour of meeting. I stopped at Starbucks on the way to the office and got a vanilla latte. I got to work a little after 7:00 a.m. and was able to knock out a lot before my first meeting at 9:00 a.m. From that point forward, I was away from my desk until close to 12:40 p.m., which makes for a hectic day. I actually wasn't feeling all the well, combined with starving, and headed home a little before 2:00 p.m. to eat lunch and telecommute for the remainder of the day. It was a pretty good workday, especially compared to last week's roller coaster.

After I was done working, I went to the fitness center and walked a while as I read a book. I wanted to run some, but even the limited arm movement in walking was aggravating my SC joint. Sooo.. I took it easy. That reminds me, I should be hearing from the doctor pretty soon about moving forward with the ultrasound.

Anything else interesting going on? I'm getting pretty pumped about my show on Thursday! Each day I learn of a few more people that can hopefully come, so I'm crossing my fingers for a pretty full house! I'm also glad that the weather forecast isn't placing any potential cancellation threats on the show!

Oh, and one last thing... The highlight of my day. I have a column in a CF newsletter, right? Well, today, I got a post on my Facebook page saying, "We got a donation today in your honor! The message said, 'Drew is obviously a talented writer and the column in Reaching Out is a worthwhile contribution to the newsletter.'" That pretty much made me smile all day!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Unpretty

I just heard "Unpretty" by TLC on Pandora. I've actually never paid attention to the lyrics before, but it has a somewhat respectable message. It also fits my mood lately; it's extremely difficult to feel attractive in the colder weather. I can't exactly explain why - maybe it's my feeling ghostly, maybe it's wearing the frumpy clothes, maybe it's just me going into my seasonal funk inspired by the colder weather.

I am doing my therapy vest right now. I'm actually pretty proud of myself because I've been doing it almost daily, which is an extreme improvement from 'rarely.' I plan on taking it with me to my parents' house, so I should receive some kind of "Most Improved" award for that.

Well, my new glasses are doing me justice. I meant to mention that I wore them out Friday night and this weirdo came up to me and made a comment. Now, it would be one thing to walk up to a girl and compliment her glasses, and take it from there. However, this guy walked up and started telling me how he had a thing for glasses, etc. Way to make a miserable first impression by coming off as a total creep. He also made some comments about kidnapping me, so we had a good laugh at that after I sent him packing.

Today I went to this pizza place near work with several of my 'colleagues.' I built my own pizza with blue cheese, grilled chicken, caramelized onions and buffalo sauce. It was incredible! I ate the entire thing.

Tomorrow after work I am headed hooooome home. To my hometown. I am dropping my car off at Nissan for its 6K mile check-up. How cute! I hope my mom will make me pancakes for dinner. I'm not even going to be able to start thinking about Thanksgiving until I have some pancakes. I haven't had pancakes since the last time I was running my mouth about them in here.

I got on the elliptical today at work for the first time in over a week. Call me outrageous, but I plan on hitting the gym before work tomorrow. I realize that will involve getting up at 5:00 a.m., but I also know that I won't be doing much of anything productive until further notice.

Considering my likelihood of getting up so early is diminishing as each minute ticks away, I better put an end to this to preserve as much hope as possible!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Rain, rain, go away

As if the cold weather isn't enough to force me into hibernation mode, it is raining and gross outside. I'm pretty bummed because I planned to run outside today. Not only will that not happen, but I will also probably talk myself out of even walking over to the fitness center since the rain is gross. I know I am totally looking for excuses here, but nothing will bring me out of this house today. NOTHING!

I always become more of a homebody during the winter. I dislike cold weather with a passion. I'm one of those people who wants it to be summertime year-round. I would be happy if it was steadily 80 degrees. Seriously. I looked at the 10-day weather forecast and it's going to be pretty chilly in the coming days. BLAH. I wish I was at the beach!

I got my new glasses on Friday, and I must say I make them look pretty good. They are super-cute and I definitely feel like I can see better with these than with any of my other pairs. I don't notice that they are correcting my astigmatism, but I have noticed that my eyes have been watering a bit when I wear them, so my eyes are probably adjusting to the change.

Yesterday I watched a CF friend compete in an Irish dancing competition. It was a lot of fun and very interesting. It's always incredible to learn about something new and see that there is a whole different world out there to which you were unaware. I was oblivious to the Irish dancing 'circuit' until I met my friend. Then, last night, I was eating dinner at Outback and saw a girl who had clearly come from the competition because she was wearing a curly wig. Had I not been to the competition yesterday, I would have just thought the girl had a ton of hair and would have wondered how long it took her to get it that curly. Anyway, I had a good time and have deep respect for Irish dancers.

I'm super-excited to head home for the holidays. I am heading to my parents' house immediately after work on Tuesday and hanging out until the weekend. It will be nice to be at home, enjoying a break from it all. I also look forward to eating some PANCAKES. On Wednesday night, we are playing Bunco at Gran's house and we're celebrating Thanksgiving at Gran's on Thursday afternoon. I am beyond eager for this mini-vacation.

Well, perhaps I'll go start enjoying my lazy Sunday - The Falcons play at 1:00 p.m., so I'll probably watch the game and lay around like a worthless one. I bet it will be everything I dreamt it will be!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Gooooooooooo Jackets!

I am sitting here with my brother's dog, Turk. We are watching Georgia Tech play Virginia Tech. Gooooooooooooo Jackets! GT is winning 21-10 in the third quarter. I am happy. I think Turk is happy, too, even though he appears to be asleep.

Well, I had fun last night at the improv show. I got home around midnight and fell asleep shortly after. Believe it or not, I slept until about 11:15 a.m. That is the longest I have slept in I'm not sure how long. It felt good, and it's amazing to me that I could sleep that long without needing to get up and use the restroom or anything. I still feel like I'm either fighting a cold or allergies of some kind.

I got up and went to the fitness center, where I exercised for a while. I didn't run since my first rib has been bothering me, but I walked on an incline for 45 minutes and then did 15 minutes on the StairMaster. While I exercised, I began reading a book called Self Storage, which is pretty good and intriguing so far.

Other than that, I haven't been very productive today. Me and Turk took a few naps on the couch and went outside a few times. He is being such a good little boy. Gosh, he is so cute next to me, breathing and what not. He has a green argyle collar and it makes him look so handsome. Turk is a very attractive dog. I'm pretty sure he has a crush on me.

It has gotten cold in Hotlanta. I believe we have a freeze warning tomorrow night. It's nice because it's keeping my house so much cooler. I'm too much of a cheapskate to run the AC very much, so I love when it's a temperature that doesn't require AC or heat. I was actually kind of cool when I was sleeping last night. That hasn't happened since.... well, the winter.

I am rambling because it's time to EAT.