As I Walked

Thought about bicycling but didn't feel like I had the stamina for that mode of exercise so I decided to walk which was a good choice for my quasi-pensive mood. During my first walking stint, I logged 98 minutes then I went back for more and walked a total of 123 minutes.

I listened to episodes of Death, Sex & Money, RN Ted Radio Hour and NPR's Ted Radio Hour and Fresh Air while walking.

Saw a bird that I'd never seen before. Believe it was a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. So beautiful...

Thumbs up to This Senator Saved My Love Life on Death, Sex and Money.

As I listened to Rita Pierson, I planned to send the link to my cousin Chiquita.

Every child needs a champion who will not give up on them.

Chiquita had the chance to hear Pierson speak several times and told me that, unfortunately, the educator died last year.

I wish the TED talk had mentioned Pierson's death the way The Moth mentioned that Katherine Russell Rich, author of Dreaming in Hindi, had succumbed to cancer.

Shane Koyczan had my full attention during his TED Talk about Overcoming:

We are meant to endure difficulty if for nothing else than to give us a reference point to navigate us toward something better.

I thoroughly enjoyed Unstoppable Learning, Sugata Mitra's account of installing roadside computer stations in impoverished neighborhoods in India.

Didn't start my car once. Washed clothes, cooked (veggie casserole, baked chicken) and read.

During Survivor's Live Reunion Show, Jeff Probst talks to a soldier who'd been in Afghanistan. Can't remember how he was injured but the soldier endured 120 surgeries. How does a body get through that many surgeries?

During my second outing, kept my eyes open for the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Didn't see the bird but saw plenty of things that captured my attention.

60 Minutes

When I decided that I would push myself to exercise more, I committed to sixty minutes of exercise whether stepping into the gym or into the concrete jungle. I should have made an exception for the Adaptive Motion Trainer. My workout clothes were quite damp and my legs felt quite shaky once I got off the AMT today. Really, I was used up.

I watched week nine of The Biggest Loser. Tara continues to give her all in workouts and challenges. She's lost 94 pounds in nine weeks. Others have dropped impressive amounts of weight including the hot cousins from the island of Tonga who have each lost 89 pounds.

I wish that there was a Biggest Loser for folks in the second phase of weight loss because I would apply in a heartbeat.

Sugar Ray Leonard and Rocco DiSpirito were the celebrity guests. The blue team worked out with Leonard while DiSpirito oversaw a challenge that had the contestants cooking lower fat versions of fast food like burritos, fried chicken and pizza. DiSpirito suggested cooking with soy flour which I had never heard of until then.

I was watching Survivor earlier. I know, it's like the high fructose corn syrup of reality shows but I don't have cable and I must give proper respects to Taj, who is exquisitely thick; she has large, beautiful arms and was able to win a challenge for her team by holding sandbags (attached to a bar across her shoulders) totalling 100 pounds.

I was reading an August 2008 edition of Fitness magazine. Sigh, I'm a bit behind in my reading. Several Olympians were interviewed including runner Lolo Jones. I loved what she had to say:

...What do I like best about my body? My legs. I have about 20 scars from where I've hit the hurdles over the years -- and I've earned them all.

I'm going to look into Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food, a cookbook that Olympian Natalie Coughlin mentioned in that same issue of Fitness.

My Grandmother's Message

My grandmother recently left this message on my answering machine:

"It's really cold. I hope that you are staying warm. I found one of your pretty
pictures and I'm going to put it up front where I can look at it. You've always
been pretty."

I kid you not. I did not make this message up or the smile on my face as I listened. My grandmother is one of the main reasons that I never had much overweight angst. I was, pretty much, accepted -- no matter how much I weighed.

I often get teased by some relatives because my g'ma often tells me how smart and pretty I am. It's a grand kid thing and I don't think the off-spring understand. My grandmother would never write my name down to be voted off the "Survivor" tribe. She would, however, gleefully write down a child's name down on her "list." My grandmother has my back in unimaginable ways.

When I was over at my grandmother's house on Sunday, she wanted to feed me chicken and dumplings as well as pound cake that she considered low-fat since it was made with margarine instead of butter. I refused the chicken and dumplings (texture issue) and the cake (still calorically challenged). My grandmother desperately wanted me to take something so we settled on an orange. My grandmother didn't understand that she's already given me so much and, even if I didn't eat or take anything, I could never leave her house empty-handed.

Jocelyn Jee's mother reminds me of my g'ma.