madameblogalot

My friend Marathon Bird recently posted about her recommitment to weekly menu planning. I had kind of fallen out of practice on that too, and was so glad she wrote about it. It is not a hard practice and really does not take too much time and the benefits are greater than the effort it takes. It makes putting together a shopping list easier, it makes the evenings go more smoothly, and it does save time and money too. I have been putting together my weekly menu again and I am glad MB reminded me to do it!

…I finished my first ever Olympic distance triathlon. What a day! We had record temperatures and a pretty sizable wind. We also had to cross the Kemah bridge, twice!

While I am pleased that I finished and happy with my swim time I did not feel too good about finishing third from the bottom of my age group. But, that just leaves me with something to strive for-either getting faster and stronger, or being happy as a back-of-the-packer!

Our distances included a .93 mile swim in the South Shore Marina, a 25 mile bike ride (which actually turned out to be 28 miles) and a 6.2 mile run. I dropped my inhaler on the bike portion and decided not to stop and pick it up. BIG mistake!! First off, I had a really really hard time on the run without it and ended up wheezing and painful at the finish line. Second, I had to replace it, which I did not know was going to cost me $40! (The one I dropped was a sample.)

But, all in all, my times were pretty good for me, pretty close to what I expected. I was really thankful to a teammate of mine, Rik, who earlier in the season cycled with me one day. We ended up doing the last portion of the race run together. He pushed me a bit faster than normal and while I paid for it in wheezing for a bit, I was really happy and loved seeing the race photo of us crossing the finish line together!

Here are my finishing times:

16th-of 19 in my age group

281-overall place (not sure how many entrants, at least 320)

40:02.2-swim time

2:28.4-transition 1

1:45:49.4-bike

15.9-average speed on bike

2:10.8-transition 2

1:10:15.4-run

11:20-run pace

3:40:46.3-total time to finish

This was my “A” race, my big race for the season. I am not sure where I will go from here but I do know it’s fun, it’s a challenge and it’s good for me. I know I will never be a contender, but I do hope that I am healthy enough to continue for as long as I want to.

Rango: STRANGE! NOT for young children (cursing throughout, unsuitable images, etc.) I fell asleep before it was over. A BIG MISS.

Unknown: This movie was another with that Inception feel. I really enjoyed Liam Neeson. I liked the story too. It was filled with enough plot twists to keep me guessing as to what was really happening. And after the movie, it made us talk it out to make sure we “got it”. My daughter watched it again the next day with my son. I give this one a HIT.

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus: This was the assigned summer reading for my daughter’s upcoming World History class. I was not sure how to approach this book after my daughter would nearly not let me read it. She said I would hate it and it was weird. So I braced myself. It was not near as bad as I had expected. It is weird as it is a revisionist history told from an alternate reality. I don’t want to give too much away, but the ending was not what I expected, though from the title I guess I should have expected it. I am a bit ambivalent as to the storyline and not sure really how I feel/stand about the whole thing. I am interested as to how they will utilize the story in the classroom. I was surprised that by the end what role Christianity actually played in the story. I will rate this one neither a HIT or MISS and will likely continue thinking about it for a while before I decide.

Limitless: When I heard the premise of the movie, accessing the ability to utilize your entire brain, I thought this would be a good movie. The movie was weird. I did not like the way it was filmed, and I did not like the way the brain’s power was accessed. Not to mention a lot of the story itself. So all in all, I ended up rating this movie as a MISS.

Sphere: Another Michael Crichton novel. This one takes place under the ocean and involves the ideas of alien life forms and time travel. At one point I almost thought I was going to have to give a Crichton book a MISS, but I kept with it and was not disappointed. I will rate this as usual a HIT.

Tangled: A fun disney movie. A little weird. Again I don’t think for very young children but ok for older kids. For us, I’ll give it a HIT.

Rising Sun: Yes, another Crichton novel. It is so easy for me to get caught up in his stories. I really like the way he tells them and keeps them moving along. I find them intriguing and insightful and I usually learn something along the way. As I started this book I was afraid this was going to be my first MISS as a Crichton novel. I could not stand the constant bad language and the dark world which was being portrayed. But as I got further into the story I did become caught up in it. And there are plenty of twists and turns to keep things moving and to keep the reader guessing. Again, I will rate it as a HIT.

Well, we got one kid shipped out. I thought we would have a cut back on the drama around here. But alas, it looks like we are in for three more years of it. I can only hope that by then there will be a reduction of the drama brought on by teenagehood!

This summer I became lifeguard certified. Part of the lifeguard training included CPR training and certification. All participants in the class had to go through step-by-step instruction to learn the proper technique and procedure for executing CPR. The CPR course included the chest compressions and the mouth to mouth resuscitation. Some people are very uncomfortable giving mouth to mouth to a stranger, but it seemed like there was no other way to help save a life. However, in a campaign from the American Heart Association and the Ad Council, a new digital application has been introduced to help teach the steps of Hands-Only CPR. This could be a good solution for the people who still want to help save lives, but don’t like the uncomfortable situation of mouth to mouth with a stranger. This could become a very popular idea!

I always have a huge problem with schools’ extra curricular teams not following/enforcing their own dress codes. And it seems that some programs are becoming more and more revealing/skimpy/(insert your own words), particularly cheerleading, track and volleyball. So when I came across this article, I was pretty impressed. More so because the girls themselves supported it. And I like how it makes them feel. And to be able to be competitive and not just look like some nerds/geeks/(insert your own words) makes it even better.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/blog/prep_rally/post/Girls-track-team-turns-to-skirts-to-improve-resu?urn=highschool-wp3098

My daughter can hardly wait for her brother to go to college. She is counting down the days until she has her own bathroom! She has plans for renovating and remodeling the bathroom they shared (that she never used-she always uses ours!) That is a whole story in itself. I was thinking about that project while I was scrubbing my kitchen sink the other day. And I started wondering if I should do the same with my sink.

When we did remodel our kitchen we got a white ceramic sink. It’s pretty. But it is hard to keep that way. It stains easily and it is filled with scratches. So I wonder if I should have went with a stainless steel Undermount Sink in the kitchen. I don’t know if that look would match the look of our kitchen, but I am guessing that all stainless steel Undermount Sinks pretty much match everything and are not as hard to keep looking nice.

I am reading a book which was required reading for my daughter’s upcoming history class. It is a strange enough revisionist-history story. Interesting. But I decided today that I don’t think time travel is possible. I used to think that it just might be if we could figure it all out. Or maybe I wanted it to be possible. I don’t know. But after reaching a certain point in the story today, I think that I have decided that it just is not possible. I may change my mind again. And we’ll see what I think after I reach the end of this story. But….as for now I think that with time being a continuum which may not be a flow per se but happening at the same time. Not necessarily alternate realities but something I read about C.S. Lewis thinking that God is “outside time” and sees all the things happening. So, if that is true (which I am certainly not sure of) then I am thinking that time travel is not possible. But I do find it interesting to think about.

It took me most of June and half of July to finish this book. *Spoiler Warning* It’s a Christmas gift for a certain someone who I am pretty sure will read this post!!

The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy: The Lion, The Witch and The Worldview: I bought this book on sale as a Christmas gift for my sister. The title really intrigued me and I knew she would love it. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read it as I was afraid it would spoil the magic of Narnia too much. But, after reading the table of contents I went ahead and decided to read it. While I do not agree with everything presented in the book, it was very interesting and thought provoking. It made me both sad, seeing how much I have failed my own kids in so many ways, and it also made me long for Narnia like I did when I was younger. It made me want to re-read the Chronicles, especially wishing I had time to read all seven books to my kids again before my son leaves. I will rate the book as a HIT.

A Case of Need: This is one of Michael Crichton’s early books. In fact, he originally wrote it under a pseudonym. I enjoyed the story, though maybe not as much as some others. I will still rate it a HIT.

Mother: While away at a small bed and breakfast, this was one of the few movies available. It was not that good of a movie and only served to reinforce the feeling of dysfunction in my own relationship with my son. I rate this one as a MISS.

Cold Mountain: Another of the few movie choices. I went into it thinking I would like it. It was a romance set in the Civil War. While I know that people were brutally slaughtered, I don’t like to see it graphically displayed or sensationalized. Nor do I like to see folk’s brutally lewd side either. Even though I know the things probably represent very human things that happened, I do not want to SEE it! Nor do I even want to SEE the sexual encounter that is to represent “true, pure love” in the story. There were some big names in the movie-Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Renee Zellwegger, Donald Sutherland, a young Natalie Portman. Even so, I rate this one as a MISS.

The Source Code: This movie is tough to describe. My husband said it’s an Inception wannabe. It has elements of Groundhog Day and Knowing. It is an interesting concept-a man relives eight minutes of the immediate past in order to help change the future. The lead actors do a pretty good job. There is some rough language. Overall, I rate this one as a HIT.

The Great Train Robbery (novel): When I realized this was written by Michael Crichton I had to give it a try. This is based on a real event. I always love how Crichton does his homework on a book. This story was hard to follow at times because of the slang of the time which Crichton uses to make the story even more real. As always, I will give it a HIT.

Here is my second month’s time trails. I have only improved in the swim and that is if I did not miscount. I think my run last month was a bit faster because the little karate boys were all out doing their training run-they were motivation, like running after little rabbits. I know the bike was slower because it was a very windy day this month, but I finished it none-the-less. I do feel like I am getting stronger, even if my times don’t always reflect it. Now if I can just train my heart to work more efficiently during more exertion….

swim
16 laps
time-18:36

bike
15 miles
time-55:16
ahr-148

run
3.1 miles
time-29:08
ahr-156