From Here to There

My journey in fitness from here (not so good!) to there (woohooo!!)

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Owl Prowl

How fun!

Steve and I signed up for the Owl Prowl through the Friends of the Gatineau Park. We began at the park visitor's centre where we attended the lecture on local owls, recent owl sitings, slide show, home movies taken by our speaker, and finally, some calls. It was great! It brought back a lot of what I used to know from when I was in university - one of my electives was Natural History, basically, the flora and fauna of the region. This along with astronomy were probably the most fun courses I took! Anyhoodle, from here we hopped in our cars (it was now around 8PM and dark) and headed to Mackenzie King Estate.

The speaker told us to be very quiet, which we tried to be, but it was below zero C and we were a little cold! He began by calling the saw whet owl (start smallest to biggest because when you call the biggest predator first, the little ones don't answer for obvious reasons!). No response. Next he called the other most probable candidate, who he found last week in this spot, the barred owl. Nope, no reply.

We moved on to P7, where we started over. Again, no reply from either bird, though he did interest a dog!

Lastly we moved to P8 at the base of the park. He called and called, and we were shivering, to no avail. We weren't disappointed in the least because it was so much fun to be out there anyway! Sure enough, on his last try, he gets a response from the barred owl:




After calling back and forth what sounds like "who cooks for you... who cooks for you all...", even with the odd car going by, we hear from very far away one of the little saw whet owls calling:



He didn't call for it, but a killdeer got into the action too, joining in the fun by calling a couple of times:


He didn't call a screech owl, because he said he couldn't do it. No problem, I've heard one before at my sister and her hubby's cabin in the Eastern Townships. Scared the crap out of us!

Having attended this session, I will now look up a little more when I hike and run. I never think to try to spot owls during the day, but they could be up there sunning while snoozing in a tree, now do I think to try to call them at night. You never hear them as they swoop down pretty much silently. You KNOW I'm going to be trying this soon!

Next up, the Frog Chorus on April 20th. Wooo!

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Sunday, March 25, 2007

Some new things

I keep forgetting to update my 40 new things!

I have a few to add:

  1. I had my first ever manicure. Should have taken a photo of the nails! This was two weeks ago, so needless to say, the polish is long gone.
  2. I had my eyebrows tinted. I'm fair and my eyebrows appear to end right in the middle. So now I have eyebrows! I love them, and will do this again.
  3. I had my eyelashes tinted too! My eyelashes are two toned, they grow in dark with light tips. So they can't be seen and I look like a bug. Because I am fair (see #3) and of Irish descent, I was blessed with Rosacea. I'm lucky enough to not stop at the skin, but to have Ocular Rosacea to boot! So I have extremely dry eyes (they don't open in the morning, they are stuck to my eyelids until I produce enough tears to get them to open). It also means that my eyelashes get infected every couple of months, and they fall out. So I have about 12. Honest. So mascara is out of the question, as it pulls and makes them fall out faster. I love my newly tinted eyelashes! I look made up 24/7.
  4. Visit to the Home Show. What a waste of time that was.
I think that's it. Going on an Owl Prowl this Friday, so that will be another! Can't wait.

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C-Run


That was the most craptacular run. I had such high hopes! I guess the hacking in the car should have clued me in to how difficult this run was to be. Or not be.
I had no lungs whatsoever :( I was wheezing too much, and not allowed to use an inhaler anymore (it can send me into Wenckebach) I didn't want to push it. So I walked until my heart rate dropped to below 150, then ran for about a minute and I was back at 170. Ya, I'm still sick.
So I turned around, walked to the last park bench, and listened to the DNTO podcast. I felt like an utter failure, watching everyone else able to run and not keel over. That day will come again, I just need to get better.
When Steve finished his 12km and was complaining his hamstring was really bothering him, I took it as my queue to suggest we go to the Market and stop at Lush. He bought the Marathon bubble bar, and I bought Big Blue (photo on the right). This will be consolation for the C-run.
And I will enjoy it.
I'll try my run again tomorrow.

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Saturday, March 24, 2007

Date Day

It's been ages since Steve and I had a date day! I don't know why, but we always fall off track. Steve had to go in to work for the morning, and I had homework to do, so that worked out well.

We went to the Home Show. What a huge let down! The top floor was carny hell, the basement not much better. I was glad when the other pavilions were somewhat better. On the upside, we got some great quotes for central air.

From here we went to Bushtukah. We wanted to look at the new bikes (Steve found his soul mate) and wanted to look at shorts and socks. We didn't end up buying anything, but we loved looking.

We then decided to get Chinese food, but on the way we'd stop at the Running Room. Steve tried on the Garmin 305, and I bought it for him for his birthday. It was more than I'd budgeted for (I was originally going to get him a new BBQ), but I'll take the extra $100 from my bonus. He's worth it. He's so excited! :) I also bought some running shorts (my rubbing thighs blew through my other two pairs, yet again... they're stitched up, yet again, but it's time for a new pair!), and got some socks.

We then went looking at glasses. Steve's benefits year end is in a couple of weeks and since we qualify for every two years, we want to get them on this year's plan. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything. I hate glasses shopping more than anything else.

We're going to run tomorrow by the canal (Steve is off). The weather is supposed to be springy, which I'll find surprising since we've been having white outs and blizzards all afternoon!

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Thursday, March 22, 2007

I must get back to this!

Wow, it's been busy.

First off, LOST is the best show ever. I wish it were on daily.

Some great stuff happened the past 10 days or so. While my company is laying off, we are still getting annual raises and bonuses. I'm thrilled with mine, I'm so lucky that I have a job I love.

I did ok on my midterm. I got caught on something that I missed in the first 4 weeks which was worth 12%. Boo :( But I'm ok with 82%. I'm still perfect on my labs and attendance (except for the weeks before I registered), so that's 40% of the grade at 100% right now! I'm really loving the class though, and can't wait to get on the next one in May.

I ran! My knee was a little wobbly, but last Wednesday Steve and I went for a great run by the canal. He did his thing, I did mine. I was going to try to pick it up a the 'next' week on the schedule, which was run 8 walk 1. And it was easy! Except my heart rate was 5-10 beats higher than it normally is for a run of late. I started to think maybe I really do have high bp. Then the next day I started to feel the cold. Correction. Sinus infection and bronchitis. Grrr. Friday-Monday were fever days (102F). I took Monday afternoon off work, and slept. Then went to class in the evening and at 8PM suddenly felt amazing! Fever broke. I've been feeling better and better since, except for the cough. It's a bad one, and my wheezing keeps me up at night and in the morning. But I'm getting better :) . Next year I won't miss my flu shot! This is my 3rd fever since Christmas! Lost 5 more pounds though. I'm sure it's not real loss, just fever/dehydration/lack of food!

Steve is doing great with Gotta Run. His segment was on a couple of weeks ago. If you're interested, click here. He's been interviewed in the local paper, great piece! I'm really impressed with him!

Off to read some blogs!

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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Phew! Hell Week is Over

Boy I'm bagged! Last week was non-stop between work, studying and life in general. I had my midterm last night, it went well though I'm kicking myself for not fully studying binary. I thought high-level/historical was what was covered (I missed the first four classes) and it tuns out we covered calculations. I never figured out the formula (which is so easy it's painful), and naturally 2 questions (6 pts) were converting decimal to binary or binary to decimal. Sigh. Lesson learned. On the upside my labs have been perfect so far and they are worth 30%. I love my class and can't wait to begin the summer one!

Some other good news... I ran on Saturday! I was able to eek out 6/1 (picked up where I left off when I twisted my knee 3 weeks ago). I was really stiff and light headed, but I think it's because I had been running at lunch time, and Saturday I ran the minute I woke. Going to go back to lunchtime I think, or start getting up a lot earlier to get something light in me. I'm so excited that it went well, but sad that I'm this many weeks behind.

Some work stuff, we deployed our system upgrade, and there are some issues (of course). It's been a stressful couple of days working the bugs out. All the testing and none of these issues appeared. Go figure.

Lastly, I went for my blood work today. Man that glucose tolerance stuff is icky. I sat for two hours listening to podcasts on my iPod, then the alarm clock went off and it was time for my second blood test. Of course there were no veins in my left arm that would stand up, and my right arm was already bruised from the first 8 vials 2 hours prior, but it was the only vein that would show any life. So back in she went. I was so glad to get out of there.

From the lab I popped into my sister's. Her hubby is home and recovering. I was surprised to see him at the lab this morning, but he was at his doctor's in the same building and they wanted to say hi. Anyway, I went to their house to test my laptop, vpn and voip on their network. When my sister gets back to work (she is self-employed and works from home) and needs to be on the road (usually one day per week), I'll work from their house to keep her hubby company if he still needs support.

I almost forgot, I weighed myself on Saturday. After 3 weeks of no running, a tiny bit of walking and a full 7 days of eating out, I lost 3 lbs. My body hates me. Anyway, I've been consistently taking in 1200-1300 calories and hope to get as much off as I can in the next 6 weeks or it's bp meds for me. Grrr.

I've taken the night off and tried to catch up on email. I think I'll call it a night and check blogs tomorrow.

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Thursday, March 08, 2007

Darn it



I'd put it off as long as I could. Even though I saw my OBGYN in December, and all's well, and my BP is 125/80, which is high for me, but normal.

Today is the day I see Dr. K.. Every time I see him and he takes my BP, it's high. I get to the office and the first reading is 154/xx. GREAT. The next is 167/xx. I told him 'your machine is clearly broken'. He leaves the room, and the automatic arm crusher continues for 3 more rounds. The next two are 149/90, and the last 125/80. He says, 149/90 it is. Darn it!! I have 6 weeks to get it down to under 125/80 or it's pills time. CRAP. Oh well, I've beaten him before, I can do it again.

I refused to get on the scale. His nurse was LOVING me ;o) I see the numbers every day, I don't need him to make me feel worse about it.

Since it's been 2 years since my last bloodwork, we decided to do it again. I am the proud owner of a requisition for not only regular bloodwork, but glucose tolerance. It makes sense, I eat 1500 cals a day, and until the knee cardio of 45 mins 7 days a week. He says I should be losing. Well I'm not, and carrying it all in the belly. He thinks it's metabolic syndrome. He did give me a brochure when I told him I needed medical guidance to get this off (nutritionist, whatever), for a local bariatric clinic. It's very expensive (approx $1500), but you get the works, weekly bloodwork, nutritionists, trainers, etc. Unlimited support, checking in a few times a week, etc. I can't afford this right now, but what stood out was the calorie count... a minimum of 1200 a day for woman. Ok, so that's what I'm going to do. As a parting gift I was given not one, but TWO shots! Tetanus and Polio/Diphtheria/Whooping Cough. I felt like a little kid.

In other news, the week so far has been crazy, we're deploying an upgrade to our system this weekend and as always there are last minute fires to attend to. The rest of my time is spent getting ready for my midterm.

In the great news department, my brother in law is doing great! He was released from hospital today and will be treated as an outpatient. His speaking is very much improved, he answered the phone when I called :) Some of the words are coming out wrong still, and he's cheating every so often by repeating what I say, but that's ok. Every time we speak there's a huge improvement! Hurray :))) Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement.

If any of you are members of Twitter, or interested in Twitter, click here to get started. If you want to add me as a friend, my profile is http://twitter.com/unab. It's faster than a blog post sometimes :)

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Sunday, March 04, 2007

What a week

Gosh where to begin.

Last Saturday my sister had to put her 32+ year old horse down after he'd had a stroke. Very difficult day for her, as she'd lost her other horse less than a year ago to founder. We saw her briefly that night, she and her spouse popped by after going out for dinner, she was so sad. Sunday morning Steve and I are car shopping, and the minute we get home my cell rings. Meet my sister in the hospital, she's on her way, her spouse has had a stroke. We turn around and race to the hospital.

What I wouldn't give to not be at a hospital for a few years.

We get to see him, he'd been given the clot busting drug and was beginning to get some words back. We stayed with my sister until midnight, after stopping by her house to get her some clothes so that she could stay by his side.

He suffered a severe stroke as a result of intermittent atrial fibrillation. Poor fellow. I visited him on Tuesday and he was able to say words, but much of them didn't make sense. As one of his daughter's flew in to see him, and he has a large extended family here, AND I have a large family, we didn't visit again until today. He is now saying sentences, which is wonderful. He understands everything, and his faculties are top-notch. Just sometimes the wrong words come out, and other times he can't find the right words. He is improving so quickly, we are confident he will fully recover.

Other than this, my colleague was away last week so I had to cover her job as well, which meant very busy days. Our evenings were very busy, but for the life of me I can't remember what we were doing.

On Friday Steve and I left for Muskoka. Because his store had the highest sales, his company gave him a weekend to any Delta hotel. We chose the Delta Grandview. Close enough to drive to. Though we didn't expect a blizzard! It was a longer than should have been drive (5 hours instead of 4), but most enjoyable (though one close call just outside the city), we chatted and listened to podcasts the whole way.

We expected a room, we weren't thinking condo! It was beautiful, whirlpool tub, wood burning fireplace, just lovely. Saturday we snowshoed, breaking new snow (we must buy snowshoes!), my knee held up great. Since I forgot my running shoes and my bathing suit (I was rushing to finish a lab before we went), while Steve went to the rec centre for a fast run on the mill and a sauna, I lounged. We then went for aromatherapy massages and facials. This qualifies as one of my 40 new things... I've never had a facial! I think I'm hooked!

Saturday evening Steve's Mom took us for dinner at the clubhouse (it's a golf club in the summer, and she lives 30 mins away). This morning we had a great brunch, checked out and headed for Rock Ridge. The hills may not look big (it takes about 30 seconds to get to the end) but I never expected a free fall! This would be my second 40 new thing - I've never gone snow tubing! I almost wet myself. When I opened my eyes, Steve was laughing at me. I was screaming and laughing, and screaming some more. For the record, I am the biggest wuss. I do not do rides of any kind. I'm also terrified of heights. Steve convinced me to go up a second time, and I didn't barf on the hill :). It was fun, we went farther than everyone else... as you'd expect since we weigh more than those 8 year old girls going solo!

Our drive home was relaxing and uneventful. Until the call came. KT reversed our car into the neighbour's parked on the street. She said she left a note on their windshield and would pay for the damages (kudos to her for not having to be told it was the right thing to do). Poor kid. I haven't seen their car, but apparently it's a ding and some scratches. Ours didn't fare as well. We need a new bumper (there's a hole in it!) and we lost a side light. Our repair can wait.

I'm pooped. Going to load some more pictures tomorrow. I need to finish my lab now.

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