The Making of Smiles

My response to This Emotional Life's tweet:

Re: what made me smile ths weekend: pool time, a woman's hat & umbrlla at Race for Cure, my climbing partners' camaraderie.

Other things that made me smile: Hazira's How did you like the movie? after I fell asleep on My Wife's An Actress and J.J. Barea's mismatch against LeBron James which resulted in a offensive foul against James.

Patti's encouragement on Sunday definitely made me smile on the inside. It took me five attempts to get over the arête on a route. Finally, after pulling my hips into the wall (Patti's suggestion) and abs in, I was able to elevate myself, grab this one hold and get over the hump.

Patti's observation on my arête work: Nothing's wrong with your technique. Later on, she gave me a compliment on my burgeoning technique in general. Leah said that I was ready for lead climbing and jokingly put her money where her mouth is by saying that she was going to put a down payment on the class for me.

The lead climbing class, as it turns out, is full so Mike (Leah's husband) and I, are on the waiting list.


Route Tally for Sunday, June 11th:

Baby Steps, 5.7

Dig In, (Fifth Time Is The Charm), 5.9

Duchess of Cambridge, 5.7

Paranoid Troglodyte , 5.9

Paranoid Troglodyte (Halfway), 5.9

Pinkerton , 5.8

Static Report, 5.9

Summertime, 5.9

Leah said that any day that one is able to climb is a good day. I'm going to say that I had a very good day since I spent almost four hours at the gym. Half of it was climbing and half of it was yakking. It was enough climbing, though, that my abs, armpits, calves, forearms, sidewalls and triceps are feeling the love.

What made you smile this weekend?

Bellybuilding?

"Let me know when I can talk," my cousin said while I was distracted by the frenzy of the Celtics/Lakers' game on Sunday.

My cousin could have talked as much as she wanted since she told me that my face et al. looked slimmer. She also gave me the muscle vs. fat spiel about how muscle looks leaner. I love the muscle card...

On one hand, the scale says that I'm in maintenance mode but my pants feel looser.

I once heard this joke about a man who had an affair. His wife says that she saw him with her own two eyes then he says, "Who are you going to believe -- me or your lying eyes?"

Hope my cousin's eyes aren't lying.

If the pants that I recently tried on are any indication, my cousin's eyes are golden. I got in a size 12 which I've been itching to try on. There was very little room for negotiation but, by golly, I got in them.

By the way, I feel lost in the store now. I feel like I don't belong in any department and I just sort of wander around...

Went to Kate's class tonight. I slid in, as usual, with about three minutes to spare. I head towards the step platform and risers but I'm waved off and told that we're doing 30 minutes of kickboxing moves then strength training. Lesson for tonight: Kate doesn't need props to kick one's butt.

Kate even had the nerve to say that she has the best job (i.e. butt-kicking) in the whole wide world. She also confessed to listening to aerobic music in a non-exercise environment.

Before class got started, Joy asked Jane who will be helping her out after knee surgery. Jane says no one.

Joy: What do you mean no one?

Jane: No one. I live by myself and I will get through this surgery by myself.

Joy: If you give me your number, I can bring you dinner.

Jane: No thanks.

Me: Joy, my number is...

I thought Joy's offer was sweet. Gestures like that renew my faith in humankind even though I might be semi-jaded right now.

Tip-Off

Gym time coincided with the 8:00 p.m. tip-off of game two between the Nuggets and the Lakers.

The Nuggets blew a golden opportunity on Tuesday to go up 1-0 on the Lakers and they were looking pretty outmatched in the first half of today's game.

After splitting time on the AMT and Treadmill, I headed home at half-time and was looking for news of the game. Most sites are stingy with updates but I looked around anyway and landed on ESPN where I discovered NBA Gamecast which streams in stats in real time. There's even a basketball that's launched towards the goal. It fits perfectly in the hoop if there's a made shot. I also like the way the stats are highlighted by the team's color. Once the game was over, Gamecast unceremoniously announced end game and put the win in the Nuggets' column.

Gamecast was a good way to keep up with the series. For some reason, I also appreciated the inaudibility of it all.

Was It Almond Butter?

I usually go straight to the fitness club or pool after work. Otherwise, I have time to relax and, possibly, forgo exercise.

Today, I decided to workout around an NBA playoff game. I've found that I can stay on a cardio machine for a very long time if a game is in front of me. I watched the first half of the Cavaliers/Hawks game which was pretty good but the Hawks have to play almost perfect to hang with the Cavs and it didn't happen.

I like the Lebron James MVP t-shirt. And did I hear that the Lakers lost the first game of the series to the Rockets? Whattttttttt?

I logged 85 minutes watching the first half of the game and a smidgen of TNT's half-time show. I wanted to stay longer but my thigh is already smarting from my other unofficial 'Dreathon on Saturday.

I finished off my peanut butter that came from Whole Foods. In the meantime, I decided to go back to my Algood p'butter and it didn't taste very well this time around. In fact, it tasted how I imagine Crisco would taste if you ate it straight out of the can. I can't believe that my taste buds changed so fast. I picked up some 365 Organic Peanut Butter and it's not what was in the Whole Foods container; the texture is completely different.

Hmmmm, just what did my benefactor give me? Was it almond butter? The 365 peanut butter was quite satisfying and I absolutely love the hint of sea salt but, now, I need to go on a quest to find out just what I was eating.