Movies

R and I went to see Toy Story 3 last night.  I really enjoyed it.  The ending was particularly sweet.  I highly recommend it, but it doesn't really seem like a kids' movie.  The little kids in the audience seemed bored.

I am now watching It's Complicated on DVD while R is away at a bike race.  I really want the main character's house and her food.  The story is okay--well, it's about people having an affair.  The acting is fine.  I like Meryl Streep, Alce Baldwin and Steve Martin.  The other characters are total throwaways, but it's still fun to watch a "chick flick".

Gooooooooooal! Update

(Not a soccer/futbol-related post.)

There were three things that stymied me as far as keeping my "at least 30-minutes of cardio" goal: my period, being on call and being exhausted. The exhaustion I think is a combination of lots of very hard workouts and my physiologic state. Frankly, if I'm on call, I really don't want to be barely dragging myself around to begin with. But, every day is a new one to try to do my best.

However, I've been 100% on reading the scriptures every day and reading a journal article every day, so that's something.

The healthy snacks goal has been achieved only about 50% of the time. My major accomplishment was packing healthy snacks for my overnight shift and sticking to them, not going to the doctors' lounge and getting cookies. I did eat peppermint ice cream over the weekend and at the beginning of this week. The only thing I can say in defense of that is that it was low-fat ice cream. Lame, I know.

Techmology

Pulse monitor--check. GPS--check. Beeper and iPhone--check. iPod--check.

The reasons for this ridiculousness?

Well, the beeper and phone are because I'm on call. There being a full moon and all, I have gotten calls this week while on a bike ride, during Stake Primary presidency meeting (three times!) and during my walk/run this morning.

The iPod is for listening to the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me podcast while I am walk/running. Podcasts are my favorite listening when I am working out by myself. They're even more helpful than music.

And lastly, I have been frustrated with my lack of weight/body fat loss during the past two and a half months of boot camp. I am getting stronger (welcome to the gun show), and I do feel like I have more endurance, but I think that part of the problem is that I'm working in my anaerobic zone--not the place where my body is burning fat.
So the pulse monitor was to keep things in the 60% of max heart rate range. I know that there are Garmins that have pulse monitors in them, but I don't want to spend the money for that when I already have a Polar monitor. So, okay, I look dorky for now while I'm figuring out what each range feels like.

It Only Took Eleven Years

I finally have my med school diploma framed and on my office wall.

A Refreshing Summer Drink

Combine watermelon, ice and limeade in the blender.  So refreshing and delicious!

My Freaky Talent

I have a talent for summoning people, random people, just by thinking of them. Of course, this should be read with tongue firmly in cheek, but there is an element of truth to it.

For instance, there was a guy who worked in IT at my workplace who got me up to speed on different dictation equipment when I was a new hire. Six or nine months later, maybe a year, he quit to go back to school. But he was a helpful and nice guy, so one day three years later when I looked at the IR dictaphone, I thought, "Gee, I wonder whatever happened to ______. He was such a pleasant fellow." (I actually do think things like that.)

Within a week, he showed up in the department to invite everyone to his graduation party. He hadn't visited since he quit, three years before. When I told him I had been wondering what happened to him, he said, "Well, I guess that makes sense. Aren't we all somehow connected by the same energy?" (I can see Amberly nodding her head in agreement.)

Example #2--earlier this week, I happened to think about one of our "frequent flyers", an unfortunate young woman with a disabling chronic illness. It occurred to me that we hadn't seen her in awhile, and I hoped that it was because she was doing well. Did it surprise me, then, when I got a call this afternoon from one of her doctors asking if I could do a procedure on her? Not much. When I went into the room to talk to her, I told her how I'd been wondering about her. I said, "______, you know, you could've just called me to tell me how you're doing. You didn't have to get sick to come and see me." She chuckled, and I hope that it made her feel good that her doctors do think of her and hope that she is doing well.

Unfortunately, this only seems to work with random people. I can't think, "Gee, it's been awhile since I've seen Jordan," and have her magically appear. That would be totally awesome.

So, friends and family, know that I am thinking of you often and wish that I could summon you. If you feel an uncontrollable urge to come to San Diego, it's because you are in my thoughts. xoxo

Fitness Challenge

A friend of a friend started a fitness challenge last Monday. There are many cool things about this challenge, but I did not formally join because, frankly, I did not want to give up my Diet Coke. Why put money into something that I know I wouldn't win? I'm just not that philanthropic right now.

The challenge has inspired me to make some goals of my own. My fitness goal for last week was to do 30 minutes of cardio every day, in addition to boot camp. There were days that I didn't think it would be possible to work that into everything else I had to do, but I was able to at least do a 30 minute walk every day. I even did a 15 mile bike ride on Saturday.

Another goal was to read the scriptures every day, which is something I'm entirely hit-and-miss with. I'm reading Isaiah, which is tough going, but I'm doing it.

The goals for this coming week are to keep up on last week's goals and add:

1) Read at least one journal article every day. I have enough publications stacked on my desk at work to keep that going indefinitely.
2) Do two self-assessment modules at work during the week.
3) Improve my nutrition. I'm working out enough that I need to have healthy snacks throughout the day so that I'm not making poor choices at mealtimes.

Complaining About Complaining

Today, I really have had enough of people spending all of their energy complaining about a situation instead of shutting up and doing something proactive about their problems or just shutting up and doing their cussing work already or just shutting up in general.

I just wanted to say that. But R can complain all he wants, and I will listen to it because I love him.

I am now going to go buy him a Slurpee and maybe even take him home from the hospital.

One Foot In Front of the Other

It Is What It Is

I used to really hate that phrase.  Somehow it seemed like giving up, like rolling over and accepting that things are just how they were and you couldn't change things.  Tough stuff for a "fixer" like me.  I always want the power to make things all better.

But the older I get, the more things I deal with in life, the more I realize that truly, things are the way they are sometimes.  It's not rolling over and playing dead to accept and adapt when things happen that aren't the ideal.  It's also counterproductive and seems to block learning the lessons that may come from certain events in my life when I want to put blinders on, become frustrated that there's something that I can't fix or change and fret about what might occur in the future.  I'm working on accepting and embracing my life situations and trying oh-so-hard to align my will with God's.

Rowdy is in the hospital for the second time this year with a small bowel obstruction.  He's on two strong medications for Crohn's, but somehow they haven't kept him from having a severe enough flare to put him in the hospital.  Usually, I'm tearful and terrified at the prospect of him possibly having to have surgery and want so badly to know what to do to make it all better.

This time, I just feel more resigned.  He'll sit in the hospital for a week.  He'll have nothing to eat for days.  He'll be on IV steroids and pain meds.  We'll see what happens and take it day by day.

These hospitalizations have been strengthening my testimony of the Savior, his role as a healer, and that the most important healing isn't physical.

I've also learned that the Holy Ghost does bring peace, and that I shouldn't assume that that feeling of peace means that Rowdy will be 100% better right away.  Maybe he will have to have surgery.  Maybe our plans for our trip might not go off exactly the way we planned.  It doesn't matter.  We can handle whatever happens and still be happy, optimistic, and at peace.

Ghost Soldiers

Our audiobook for the drive back from SL was Ghost Soldiers, by Hampton Sides.  It is the story of the rescue of American and other soliders held by the Japanese in the Phillipines during WWII.   The story was grisly, but the courage and heroism shown by the US Rangers and the Fillipino guerillas was amazing, not to mention the strength the POWs had to have to survive three years in deplorable conditions after being part of the Bataan Death March.  My respect for and admiration of the Philippine people definitely has increased as a result of that story.