Taking the Good with the Bad

Last Sunday I was in a complete funk, thus no blog.

Amazing how things can turn around in a rather short amount of time. Guess we'll just have to work through whatever it is we need to work through.

I am in the process of completely revamping my healthy living program. Picked up the book "The Female Body Breakthrough" by Rachel Cosgrove and got inspired.

Now Rachel is all about weights and strength training and puts steady-state cardio (e.g. aerobics) at #3 of her workout hierarchy. #2 being HIIT (High-intensity interval training) and #1 ST (strength training), of course.

HIIT and steady-state cardio (can't we just name that SSC?) to be an add-on to your ST sessions, not a substitution.

Interesting concept and well worth pursuing, especially since I've hit a wall with my current program of SSC almost exclusively.

I'm sure I'll report back on my progress.

Please don't ask if you don't really want to know!

Yesterday I had a phone call from a friend. It started with: "Hi, how are you?" My answer: "Fine, thank you, and how are you?"

After having posed the question I went and listened to the news my friend had called to tell me about; threw in some questions, and some ahs and ohs.

After a while my friend asked: "And how are the kids?" I didn't even get halfway through my first sentence when I was interrupted, and the conversation went back to her topic. So clearly she was not interested at all in my answer. (How silly of me to think otherwise...)

Why ask if you don't really want to know?
You might think it's polite, which it would be if you listened to my response.
As it stands I just find it rude. It's just another rhetorical question, and I guess I was expected to say: "Great, thank you".

In this fast-paced world, are we going from caring and engaged individuals to shallow, superficial and self-serving creatures?

I can't speak for anybody else, but I'll be sure to watch myself next time I pose the question: "How are you?"

Back to Basics: The Great California Winter Experiment

20 years ago this coming September we moved into our house. 20 years ago we started with all new appliances, all new carpet, and an all new heating and cooling system.

Since, we've added a second story, updated all carpets and floors, and all appliances. Some more than once.

Never the heating and cooling system.

Two summers ago the cooling system went out. The technician said it was due to a freon leak, and the amount he quoted just to try and find the leak (no guarantees), was outrageous. We decided to brave the California summer without air conditioning, which was a bit brutal at times, but we survived.

Calling it "back to basics" made it a bit more bearable, plus the hugely lower electric bill also helped tolerate the heat.

Now, this winter the heater went on the blink.

"Back to basics" has come full circle.

I've always wondered how it would feel to go though a Southern California winter without the help of central air and I guess this year is the year to find out.

Due to our favorable geographic location, we certainly are in no danger of freezing to death, but getting out of bed in the morning with the in house temperature at 53 degrees F is not fun.

Wool socks, slippers, and many layers of clothing are standard attire around the house this winter.

Will I do it again next winter?

Probably not! I'm thinking, I'll (have to) make an investment this year and update our heating and cooling system. Maybe our little experiment will help us use energy a bit more sparingly and responsibly in the future.

Beginning

You should always start at the beginning. But where is the beginning, when you're in the middle of your life, the middle of your journey, the middle of everything?

For lack of being able to determine the beginning, my wish to start blogging has just been a wish. I tend to do nothing, when I'm not sure what to do and how to do it.

Time to navigate some uncharted waters and learn as I go along. That's actually quite a scary thought.

This is the birth of my blog: The beginning.