i found this Web site a while ago called FitDay. you can open a free account and keep track of all your activities, the food you eat, your weight, etc.
because the site is fairly limited in terms of food, you do have the ability to customize it. however, it won’t be completely accurate. i also haven’t bothered listing my activities because the list they give you to choose from is rather vague.
i haven’t eaten a single peanut M&M in about a week now. i think my addiction has finally run its course. i only hope that the next type of food i can’t get enough of will be healthier. i’ve also managed to keep my daily calorie intake at about 1700/day, which is what my pdoc suggested. well, he said 1700 or 1800.
i was supposed to see my therapist this morning before martial arts, but i didn’t make it. even though i was awake and dressed and had plenty of time to get there, i felt too rushed. also because my class would have started half an hour after my appointment so i would have had to rush back up north. i don’t like to hurry myself because i’m likely to have an anxiety attack.
because of my new Neopets addiction, i was almost late for class and hesitated about going, even though i was already in the car. thank God Brian wasn’t in a meeting, so i was able to get a hold of him and he encouraged me to go.
the bad part is that i had to leave about 15 minutes early because my back hurt way too much. we were working on kicking, and every time i kicked, my back felt like it was burning. i forgot to get the name of the chiropractor yesterday, but i’m expecting my therapist to call, so i can ask her then.
Read about Casimir Pulaski Day
Casimir Pulaski Day closings
March 5, 2005
Monday is Casimir Pulaski Day. The following public services will be affected.
- Schools: Chicago Public Schools are closed. Suburban and parochial schools vary.
- Government offices: State and federal offices are open. City and county offices are closed.
- Transit: CTA, Metra and Pace will run on normal schedules.
- Postal service: Mail will be delivered.
- Parking: Meters must be fed.
- Banks: Will be open.
- Financial markets: Will be open.
- Courts: State and federal courts will be open. County courts will be closed except for Holiday Bond Court.
- Trash: Collection will resume Tuesday.
- Libraries: All city branches will be closed.
Copyright ? The Sun-Times Company
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-close05.html
accessed 3/7/05
when parallel parking your car in between 2 other cars, pull up as closely as possible to the one in front or behind you. in other words, don’t take up more space than you need. it may not look like another car could fit there, but trust me, people are going to try to squeeze in anyway.
my lower back has been killing me since some time yesterday, definitely since last night. i took a Naproxen, which the PCP prescribed to me a long time ago for just this purpose. it didn’t help. if anything, my back felt worse when i got up this morning.
we planned to go to the gym where Brian works out, down the street from his office. it’s about 45 minutes away, and i had never been there. i figured that i need to work on cardio stuff anyway, and they have a track.
the place is really, really nice–it looks pretty new. it wasn’t crowded, thank God–i always feel so self-conscious, which is why i take my martial arts classes on weekday mornings. still, i felt awkward and out of place. the area is totally suburban and predominantly white. it was a far cry from my martial arts academy.
i did some stretches, but my back was totally killing me. then we began by running. i absolutely hate running, but sometimes they make us do that in class. and we don’t jog, either, we run. so i tried to run at that pace and i could only do it for like, less than 2 minutes. it didn’t help that my back hurt so bad.
Brian suggested we try the cardio machines. ok–machines scare me. they’re big and huge and metal. so we were on some kind of stairclimbing/walking thing, which didn’t do anything for me cardio-wise, but my thighs were totally burning. that was unusual because even underneath the flab, my thighs are still as hard as they were when i was playing hockey 4 years ago.
we had planned to lift weights last, but by that point i was so disappointed and dejected i just wanted to go home. Brian was a good sport about it. i was beating myself up about it, but then i reminded myself that the fact that i got up and even went out there to begin with is pretty good, for me.
i wish that i had a better workout, but it probably didn’t help that my back hurts really, really, bad. i’ve decided to finally call a chiropractor on Monday.
That’s right. I don’t see why, of all TV programs, the new Ep. III trailer is premiering during the telecast of “The O.C.” What’s up with that?
people in Chicago–we do things our own way. that’s why there’s so much that can only be described as being "Chicago-style": pizza, hot dogs, blues, bibliographic citations. so of course there’s even a Chicago-style version of the old joke that begins, "Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup," except that it isn’t a joke–it’s a true story.
Leona’s is a local chain of restaurants serving "festive Italian, hearty American" food. their portions are so huge that when ordering for delivery, i choose side dishes that i’ll plan to have for lunch the next day.
one summer, i worked at an office, where i usually ate lunch at my desk,thank God–nobody witnessed what happened. on that particular day my lunch included a pasta salad side dish from my Leona’s order of the night before. i bit into something that was much harder than anything you expect to find in a pasta salad: an artificial fingernail that obviously broke off of one of the salad maker’s fingers. maybe even her thumb.
i cried.
Brian sent this to me earlier. i would totally freak if it happened to me–i can only imagine how the cats would react. and how could this woman not have noticed when she stopped for gas??? see article below.
Read the rest of this entry »
it was a lot easier to get to class today. i didn’t even have to think about going–at about 10:45 a.m. i just knew it was time to leave. when it’s automatic for me like that, it’s a good sign. it means that i’ve internalized going to martial arts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, that it’s a normal part of those days.
i got a promotion–the third stripe on my yellow belt. if i go regularly for the rest of March, i’ll be able to earn the gold belt in April, which means that i’ll move on to the next level class. i stuck around for a while afterwards to practice kali since i haven’t picked up my sticks in months, and i’ve been itching to returning to my kali class.
had an appointment with the pdoc this evening, which is also when i get weighed. since my last appointment on Feb. 21, i’ve lost 2 lbs. w00t!!! instead of just keeping track of what i eat i’ve started recording the calories and fat grams/%RDA, which my therapist suggested. i’d been consuming about 2500 calories a day and basically sitting in front of the computer all day. this past Monday i ate something like 2800 calories but on Tuesday i only ate 1800. the pdoc said that 1800 is what i should aim for.
for the first time in months i actually feel happy! sure, it has to do with losing some weight, but mostly it’s from going to class today. it was a lot of fun, and as i had hoped yesterday, the “good” feeling lasted for the rest of the day and not just until i got into my car to go home.
ladies don’t bury. make the boys bury.
yesterday i made it to my martial arts class. i had a hard time getting out the door, and nearly convinced myself that i would arrive too late. it had snowed the night before so there was an inch or two on the ground. i knew that i’d have to scrape it off the car, which i didn’t want to do. also, i hadn’t left the apartment since Friday and when i stay inside for several days, my anxiety level increases when i next have to leave.
of course i left my mittens upstairs. fortunately, the snow was powdery so i didn’t have to worry about getting frostbitten fingers from scraping off ice. as i made my way around the car, i noticed that it didn’t sound right. it didn’t sound horrible; just different. we just got the car in April brand new, so there was no reason for it to sound the way it did.
i got in the car and looked at the oil change reminder decal on the windshield. the oil should have been changed in November. Brian said he was going to take it in a couple of months ago, right before he drove to Iowa to visit his grandfather, who had been hospitalized. i assumed he had it done.
so it was yet another thing that we haven’t taken care of, one of many that are piling up. we’re so behind, and i’m overwhelmed. we just can’t get the things done that need to be done, and it just makes our circumstances worse.
at that point, i didn’t even want to go to class anymore. although i was maybe halfway there, i felt like turning the car around and going home. i was on the phone with Brian and he encouraged me to go, and i did. it wasn’t as hard as that one time in July, not nearly.
it felt really good to be back in class, even though most of the people i know are now in Blend II. of the 6 or 7 of us that were there that day, i only knew 2 of the guys. i didn’t pass out, feel like throwing up, or anything like that, though we didn’t do any hardcore cardio. however, i noticed that the medication the ENT prescribed has made a difference. things that would have left me really short of breath in the recent past didn’t bother me.
afterwards i felt good, more confident, walked a little taller–the way i usually do when class is over. by the time i got to my car, i felt depressed all over again, but felt pretty good physically. if i can manage to keep going to class regularly, that feeling will last longer. and at least i had an hour-and-a-half during which i completely forgot about all the crap that needs to be done.
