Happy Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to some of the most amazing mom's I know. Of course, these are just a few of the wonderful mom's, but they are all inspirations to me.

This weekend I went to Houston to go to my cousin's 3rd birthday and to see my own awesome mom. I also went to lunch with Kristen. It was a quick trip home but nice to be able to make a quick trip now that I'm living in Austin.

I'm finally getting around to reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," recommended to me by my former boss. So far; pretty good. Granted, I'm only on habit one. "Be Proactive" I think I'm good at this one but it is nice to be reminded that you always have a choice as to how you react to the world around you.

Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. Reactive people are often affected by their physicial environment. If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn't, it affects their attitude and their performance. Proactive people can carry their own weather with them. Whether it rains or shines makes no difference to them. They are value driven; and if their value is to produce good quality work, it isn't a function of whether the weather is conducive to it or not.

Until a person can say deeply and honestly, "I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday," that person cannot say, " I choose otherwise."

I think this is important to remember. Although we are not always in control of life, we still control the choices we make. I'm going to make an extra effort this week to change my state of mind. How about you?

Good Luck to Europe

First of all... GOOD LUCK to Lauren, Buck, and JB from CF Ramstein. They will be competing at the CF European Regionals this weekend in Sweden. I wish I could be there to cheer you on but I will be doing so from Texas! Kick some butt. I can't wait to hear/read all about it.

My bike ride this morning was a little shaky. I am not a good bike rider. Hopefully this will change with time on the bike. Lucky for me the 2 times I ride it's still so early in the morning that there is no one on the road so I have some space to be bad. It was fun riding to CF this morning. The ride back wasn't quite as fun after some front squats but the wind in my face was a great cool down.

5 x 5 Front Squats

Warmed up with 45 and 55

65, 75, 85, 95, 105

Then

Some workout that didn't really go as planned. I won't explain it in detail but essentially in 9 minutes I performed 100 pushups, 56 push jerks (55#), and 10 front squats (55#). That was exhausting.

Strange day at work. Glad tomorrow is Friday. It's been a good week though. It's nice to be back contributing to society.

On the coffee front I have concluded that 3/4 of a 'tall' Starbucks Pike Peak Blend (no cream/sugar) provides the perfect amount of morning pep while still allowing me to sleep wonderfully. I have a reusable mug that is a 'grande' so I ask the baristas to fill it halfway which is normally no issue. This morning I asked for a 'tall' and the guy filled it up all the way to the top, handed it to me, and winked. I was like 'noooooo!' in my head but said a polite and enthusiastic 'thank you'. Then I went to the bathroom and poured half of it out in the sink. No coffee or wink is worth a wink of sleep to me.

I'm infected!

Well, went into work today. Another few hours of training but we got out early again so I headed to the Occupational Health Office to get my TB test checked. Getting extensive testing like this done is common when working in a healthcare setting. It turns out my TB test was positive. Considering I have no symptoms and am super healthy, it's clear I don't have the Active TB. I have something called a TB Infection or latent TB. Basically I have TB Bacteria in my lungs but they are just kinda chilling out there. It's not contagious and it might never present itself but if my immune system were to ever become compromised it could spring back to life. I was sent to the hospital to get a chest X ray to confirm that indeed my lungs are healthy. I have to go to the Travis County Dept of Health Services to meet with a doctor who will more than likely prescribe me 9 months of antibiotics to kill the bacteria. Although TB has had outbreaks in the US in recent years, I more than likely 'caught it' while traveling around Egypt or Turkey as outbreaks there are much more common. So, below are my chest X rays. I love looking at this type of stuff even though I can't really tell what any of it really means. There are probably people you run into everyday that have this type of latent TB so don't get freaked out. In fact, YOU might have it.

The best part about contracting TB was the fact that I found a local bicycle store near the hospital that sold "commuter bikes." Since I've been in the market for a bike for a while that fit my budget, when I found one I jumped on it...literally! It is sitting in my apartment right now because the bike is so new I feel bad leaving him outside in the elements. Yes, it's a him. No name yet. Since my first ride on him will be tomorrow morning to CF, I figure I might think of a good name once we get to know each other a little better. I also got an awesome pink helmet! My plan is to ride the bike to and from CF for now. If I get brave I might start riding around the city more often.

Speaking of CF, today's WOD with trainers Mike and Mike:

5x5 deadlifts

Warm up sets of 95 and 115.

135, 155, 175, 185, 195 - probably should have made the jump to 205 for the last reps

Then

AMRAP 12 minutes

7 Burpees

9 Med Ball Cleans (14 lb)

11 Pull Ups

5 rounds + 11 Pull Ups. I did this workout backwards. My hands are now pretty ripped up.

In case you are wondering how the coffee experiment is going, it's still in the trial phase. Yesterday morning I had about 1/2 as much as usual and I did not sleep very last last night. This morning I had half as much as that so I'm hoping I sleep better. More to come. I know you are all on the edge of your seats. Experimentation is fun!

Excitement!

So, exciting things first. I sat through 6 hours of computer training today and loved it. The training was for a computer system that I will use quite frequently for my job and I guess after 3 1/2 months of unemployment learning new things for my job was just thrilling. It was also a good confirmation for me that this will be a good job. To find exciting what I found exciting today takes a 'special' person. Two more days of training and then finally my first day in the office. Perhaps the most exciting part of the day was getting out at 2. I was able to run some errands and then chill out at the apartment. I'm certain leaving the office in the early afternoon will be a very rare occurrence.

Since cutting out coffee was my experiment, I decided I was allowed to alter it. Today I had 1 cup of coffee and will see how that affects my sleep tonight. I am crossing my fingers that I sleep splendidly because just the 1 little cup really did put an extra spring in my step.

WOD:

CF Central does Benchmark WODs at the beginning of every month. This means the T/Tr class did Fight Gone Bad as well. Another guy and I did this little not so fun WOD that Zach made up on the spot.

5 RFT

20 Russian KB Swings (1.5 pood/24 kg)

15 Push Ups

10 Dead Hang Pull Ups

18:31. My first time using 1.5 pood and my first time ever doing dead hang pull ups (vs. kipping pull ups) in a WOD. I completed 2 or 3 of each round with dead hang and then did the remaining reps using a thin purple band. Not too shabby. This took way longer than I thought it would.

I hope tomorrow is as exciting as today was. On the agenda is patient scheduling, referrals, and charge capture. : )

First day of 'work'

In case I nod off during this post I will first say that giving up coffee, a 4:30 alarm clock, and a day of sitting in PowerPoint presentations is a bad mix. I'm planning an early dinner so I can go to sleep at a time that I'm too embarrased to even type on my own blog.

Anyhow, CF workout was Fight Gone Bad.

Two rounds. 1 minute each of:

Rowing (count calories)

Wall Balls (14 lb ball)

Sumo Deadlift Highpull (65 lbs)

Box Jumps (20 inch)

Push Press (55 lbs)

So for those that do not know CF, you do each of those movements for 1 minute. So it's 5 minutes of work. Then you take a 1 minute break and do the entire 5 minutes all over again. The official "Fight Gone Bad" is 3 rounds, but due to time limitations we did 2 rounds this morning. I totaled 167 reps. I have done this workout before but it has always been 3 rounds so I don't feel right comparing them. But, overall I was a little disappointed. Afterwards I felt like I could have given more; mostly with the push presses and SDLHP. My wall ball reps were horrible but that is due to horrible squating technique. It was nice to get back to my early morning workout routine and it was super nice to workout with 15 other people. Makes you feel not so crazy when you are out there in the dark.

I had my first day of work today except it was employee orientation so it was a lot of sitting around hearing about health benefits, retirement benefits, mission, vision, etc. Not super fun but I suppose necessary and I got all of that figured out and my name badge so I'm official looking. The next 3 days I will be training on some of the computer programs. Friday I finally get to the office that Ill be working at. So if I can make it to Friday without falling asleep in a training class Ill be good to go.

Off to prep for dinner.

Lazy Sunday

Today was pretty lazy with the exception of practicing squats in my kitchen for quite a while. Tomorrow is not only my first day of work but also my first 0530 class at CF Central. Which means a 0445 alarm. Yay! I can't wait. The trick is laying everything out the night before so I don't have to think too much.

I passed a place around the corner from my apartment called Snap Kitchen and wandered in to check it out. They actually have things on their menu that are marked *Paleo and I was like "holy cow!" So after talking to the owner for a bit I found out the lowdown. They cook food, portion it out, and then refrigerate it. So you can buy 'take home' style meals and microwave them. In honor of 'lazy Sunday' I decided to try it out. Above is turkey meatloaf with green beans and sweet potatoes. The portion size looked a little small in the recyclable plastic container, but it turned out to be more than I could eat. And taste= yummy! Definitely a place to check out again when I'm feeling lazy. They also had a *Paleo breakfast that I decided to buy and check out tomorrow AM. I'll report back on that.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Sunday!

I'm ready...

I let myself sleep in until 7 today. It is Saturday after all. : )

I headed to the apt gym for a workout.

AMRAP 12 mins:

5 Anyhow from Ground to Overhead (30# Dumbells)

10 Push Ups

15 Back Extenstions

5 Rounds Even. Those 30 # DBs are a killer for me. And I still suck at Push Ups. Getting lots better though.

I rested 5 mins then did this...

3 RFT

10 burpees

10 Thrusters (20# Dumbells)

5:01. I am working to do squats correctly so it turned out to be a box squat standing into a press with the DBs.

Afterwards I ate an amazing breakfast and then headed out of the apartment by 0930. Tomorrow I head to church and then have to be in the apt to wait for the cable man so I tried to get as much done today as possible.

I've always been a $10 pair of sunglasses from Target type of girl but last year I spent the most I've ever spent on shades on a pair of Oakleys. After a full year, the sunglasses have traveled cross continental twice, all across Europe and never been lost or damaged. So I thought that after a year I needed another pair of shades. Especially since the sun is starting to get serious in Austin. I'm ready...