So does the same judgements we make towards humans and their alcohol consumption hold true for cats?? :)


I would totally hang out with both these cats.

Well I guess I had that coming...

After my last post about how important sleep is and how I am not going out in order to get my sleep, I got virtually no sleep last night thanks to the Fat Tuesday celebrators a.k.a. amateurs. Although I am quite glad I wasn't out amongst all of those people I was woken up about every 20 minutes from the hours of 10 to 2:30.

If it wasn't loud drunk idiots walking to their cars it was a hellicoptor or a siren or a stereo blasting or a harley breaking the sound barrier in front of my apartment. The drunk idiots are by far the most annoying of the bunch. I have never heard so many person yell "WOOO!!!" for no apparant reason. And that is how you know it is amateur night, what experienced drinker yells wooo? None of them do. I know.

Of course it doesnt help that my windows are from the 50's and offer virtually no sound barrier and that there seems to be some crazy amplification around my apartment. I swear that I heard someone talking on their cell phone and I could hear the person on the phone. Granted I couldn't make out what the other person was saying but still, that is ridiculous.

I looked at my calendar and it appears that St. Patrick's day is on a Tuesday this year as well so I will need to get some heavy duty ear plugs before then.

So I hope everyone who woke me up last night had fun, that they all have bags under their eyes as big as I do and that they are incredibly hungover today.

I need to move somewhere quieter, I am getting too old and cranky for this.

My justification for not going out during the week

We all know that sleep is important, but in more ways than you might think. Several studies have recently shown links between sleep and weight that is pretty fascinating. Researchers say that how much you sleep and quite possibility the quality of your sleep may effect the hormonal activity that is tied to your appetite.

The hormons leptin and ghrelin work in a kind of "checks and balances" system to control feelings of hunger and fullness. Ghrelin, which is produced in the gastrointestinal tract, stimulates appetite, while leptin, produced in fat cells, sends a signal to the brain when you are full. When you’re sleep deprived, your ghrelin levels increase at the same time that your leptin levels decrease. The result is an increased craving for food and not feeling full.

A Stanford study had 1,000 volunteers report the number of hours they slept each night. Doctors then measured their levels of ghrelin and leptin, as well as charted their weight. The result was those who slept less than eight hours a night not only had lower levels of leptin and higher levels of ghrelin, but they also had a higher level of body fat. What's more, that level of body fat seemed to correlate with their sleep patterns. Specifically, those who slept the fewest hours per night weighed the most.

The optimal amount of sleep each night is 7-9 hours. I get a solid 8 hours of sleep every night and since I have started doing that consistently I have felt a lot better. I am energetic throughout the day and I seldom have a lot of strong cravings for food. I have enough energy to get through a hard workout and I even feel like lately I have had enough energy to make dinner when I get home at night (smoky corn and black bean pizza is on the menu tonight!).

Sleep however is not a magical weight loss panacea. You also have to have a healthy diet (which is easier to stick with when you get enough sleep) and of course exercise (at least 50 minutes 3 times a week).

So not going out on Wednesdays is not only good for my mood the next day, it is also good for my health and fitness and waistline. A good excuse for loving going to sleep at 10 PM every night.

Crotch Sweat

Yesterday while I was working out I was noticebly sweatier than usual. I change my workout every 4 weeks so yesterday was the start of a new program. I was primarily doing my lower body workout but since it was brand spanking new, it was more challenging than usual. I was doing squats, presses, lunges, deadlifts etc., all (4) sets and all to failure for the last set. Bottom line, I was not glistening but sweating my ass off.

I usually wear black spandex pants when I workout but yesterday I went with a pair of navy blue cotton blend type pants that were as tight as spandex but not so much moisture wicking. I was doing leg extensions when I saw it, the dreaded crotch sweat. Arghh! I do not like walking around looking like I peed my pants nor do I want people to think about my crotch being sweaty. My crotch is just one of those things that I don't want people pondering. We all know it is there but I don't want to call attention to it.

It was near the end of my workout, but I still had cardio to do. I contemplated tying my towel around the front of my waist like a waiter but decided this would bring about the same amount of unwanted attention as the crotch sweat. I quickly and reluctantly realized there was nothing I could do and I just had to walk around sporting my crotch sweat as proudly as I could (crotch sweat means you are working really hard right?) My knees were even sweating through the material at this point. I didn't even know knees could sweat!

So I did my half hour of cardio and didn't pay any attention to it until I got home and saw that not only were my crotch and knees sweaty but so was my ass. Yup, I was even sporting the god damn ass sweat too.

Lesson learned, never wear anything but black pants OR if I do wear a different color, make sure it is that high performance moisture wicking material otherwise I risk being known as the sweaty crotch girl.

I guess we aren't the only ones who are curious about anal bleaching.

She seems to be a little more than just curious though. Hopefully she can fit it in between picking up Joey from pre school and studying for midterms.

Thanks Found Magazine!

I know I am a day late with this but The Obama's hosted their first state dinner Sunday night and I have to say, they look better than anyone did at the Oscars. Brad and Angelina, eat your hearts out, these may be the only two people in the world that are more stylish and cool than they are (not to mention they are the President and First Lady of the free world).

I find it very refreshing that we have such new and different leadership in our country and as a bonus they both have suave and sophisticated personal style. I really love that dress, she looks stunning.

I want to go backpaking, who is with me?

I had a dream last night about hiking in the Sierras, I really did. I could practically smell the pine trees and mountain air it was such a vivid dream. When I woke up I felt sad because I realized how long it has been since I have gone hiking or camping and I have never been backpacking on any overnight trips.

The dream was spurred because I watched Nature on PBS last night and they had a show on wolves in Yellowstone. The vistas and mountains they showed were gorgeous. I forget too quickly sometimes how wonderful it feels to be outside in the vast spaces of wilderness, to breathe and smell clean air, the quiet, and the night sky that is filled with bright stars. I really do love being up there.

So I would really really like to plan a backpacking or at the very least a camping trip this summer. If you are interested let me know and we can actually sit down soon and plan something in advance with maps and trails and everything instead of saying yes lets and then never talking about it again.

Who is in?

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Being the Same Exact Movie as Forest Gump

I was talking about this on Friday night so here is the video showing how The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Forest Gump are the pretty much the same movie in regard to the plot. They make a pretty strong case. That coupled with the fact that Benjamin Button is like 8 hours long, I have a feeling I will never watch this movie.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

F*** MY Life!

You know those days where you think, you have got to be kidding me, is this really my life? Well a lot of people do, so if you want to feel better about your life by reading about he effed up crap that happens to other people or if you just feel like commeserating with others, check out F*** My Life.

When you read such gems as "Today, I told my long-distance girlfriend that I just could not handle the distance and we should just be friends. To which she responded, 'What? You thought we were going out? Lol'. FML", you just can't help but feel bad for the guy but more importantly you also think, "glad that wasn't me!" or "That happened to someone else too??". Either way, you feel better.

I also think I am going to use FML more frequently in my own posts.

eharmony is time consuming

After filling out a painstaking long survey about myself I hae already been rejected by 5 people because I didn't have a picture posted yet. Note to anyone who is going to do eharmony, have the pictures ready to go before you sign up. I even wrote in my profile that I would have a picture posted soon but I guess 2 days isn't quick enough. I just don't have pictures of me anywhere because I dont take pictures very often and I didn't want to take pictures of myself at work and by the time I get home I am all gross and sweaty from the gym and don't feel like cleaning up and getting ready for a stupid photo. Anyway I got one up and poted now but I feel like I need more so if you have any pictures of me anywhere (preferably flattering) I would appreciate you sending them to me so I don't have to take more lame ass pictures of myself.

I have been sent a good number of matches but I am sure you will not be suprised to find that the ones I want to communicate with are all from the bay area or the LA area (my search area is 300 miles). All of my matches from Fresno are not at all exciting. I swear there have to be some cool, attractive, interesting people in Fresno but they apparantly don't need to date online. When I lived in Austin I would look at the guys on Match.com and there were a ton of good men. Don't believe me, try searching for guys in Fresno and then try a metropolitan area and see what a drastic difference there is in the quality of men. Obviously I don't expect there to be as many quality men in Fresno based on the fact that there are simply less men here, but c'mon on just 1 or 2??

Back to it being time consuming though, I guess one of the good things is that they get your feedback on every match so they can further determine what you like and don't like, but it takes time to fill that info out and then you also have to send your match a Closed Message telling them why you don't want to communicate with them. The ones you do want to communicate with you send 5 questions to and wait for them to respond. That is where I am right now, waiting for responses. Good thing I signed up for 3 months because this is going to take awhile.

The Economy Sucks But You Can Get Good Deals

I like to eat. I like to eat out at restaurants because I hate doing dishes. I don't however make enough money to go out regularly so when I come across a website that offers gift certificates to local restaurants at a discounted price, I get a little giddy.

Restaurant.com lets you search by city or zip code and then you can go through the list of restaurants and buy discounted gift certificates. The most common is a $25 gift certificate that you can purchase for $10 and you usually have to spend a minimum of $35 on food for it to be valid. Some of the restaurants listed of note in Fresno are:
-Max's Bistro
-Livingstone's
-Samba
-Sal's
-Thaiphoon
-Landmark
-Sante Fe Basque
-Dai Bai Dang

Not a bad deal if you are going to be dining with other people since it is pretty easy to spend $35 in a group.

Versus

Blueberry Crisp Clif Bar VERSUS

Bluerberry Muffins


Are you a blueberry muffin fan? Personally I don't prefer very sweet bakery items for breakfast but every once in awhile will have one because I love blueberries. One of my favorite mid morning snacks however is a cup of black coffee with a splash of hazlenut creamer and a Blueberry Crisp Clif Energy bar. It is actually pretty suprising how similar the clif bar tastes compared to a muffin, the big difference is the texture. It also saves calories and has more dietary fiber and protein than a standard blueberry muffin.

For example if you get a Reduced Fat Blueberry Muffin at Starbucks you will be consuming 420 calories, 20 grams of fat (yowzer!), 5 grams of protien and 1 gram of fiber. If you eat a Blueberry Crisp Clif Bar however you will be consuming 240 calories, 5 grams of fat, 9 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber. Much better for you and clif bars are easy to tote around. A note of caution however clif bars can contain more sugar and carbs then you might think so just be aware of that.

A difference of 180 calories may not seem like much but keep in mind that it only takes 3,500 calories to gain a pound and making that small difference can really add up so your weight doesnt. If you make this substitution 1 day a week for an entire year you will have consumed 8,640 fewer calories by eating the clif bar.

Don't get me wrong, if you love a hot muffin out of the oven with melted butter I totally get it, the smell alone is divine. Just save that for every once in awhile and in between times give the substitution a shot.

I absolutely HATE it when my dad tells me that he asked me to do something when he didn't. No dad you did not say you needed a list of the subs that have not returned close out documents yesterday. You said you would like to have those documents all submitted this week so don't give me that look like I screwed up because YOU DIDN"T ASK FOR IT. And also no one told me that we had Monday off and the only reason I knew was because I overheard you talking to someone on the phone so maybe, just maybe, you could work on your communication skills. Just a thought.

I have gone and done it

Anyone who reads this blog (all 6 or 7 of you) knows that I am not very lucky in love. I don't date very often and the few dates I have been on in the past year have been at the very least unmemorable bores. Anyone who is single knows the difficulty of meeting new people and I have personally grown tired of thinking that someday I will turn a corner and a fantastic man will just magically come into my life. Riiight. I am not the most outgoing person or uber friendly person when you first meet me and I could speculate endlessly about why guys very seldom approach me or even seem interested but frankly I think it is time for me to be more pro-active and thus have gone and signed up for eharmony.

Why the public announcement you ask? Well I often get accused of being secretive (understandably)so I thought I would change things up and just be open and honest about the whole process. Besides I can pretty much guarantee there will be some funny material coming out of this (like when I spend half an hour filling out a questionnaire about myself and when I am done click "find matches" and the message that comes up says "Our matching system was not able to find any new matches for you right now"). My love life is usually a comedy.

Why eharmony and not match or one of the gazilion other dating sites? Well with eharmony you do the work up front and then for 3 months they will do the rest of the work for me and present me with matches. Let's be honest I kinda dig having men delivered to me. There is also a bit more seriousness with eharmony. I am not looking to hook up or date a 22 year old but I want to have a solid relationship. For the first time in my life I feel really comfortable with who I am and I have accepted myself flaws and all. I like who I am and I am confident and content so it feels like a good time to look for someone.

So with all of that being asaid, let the adventures in eharmony commence! Check back for updates on what dating is like in 2009 for all of you old married people out there.

You Know When You Work in an Old Person Office is When...

..the calculators are bigger than your head, literally. I am holding this up right next to my face, no camera tricks or photoshopping here. Just senile co-workers who refuse to wear reading glasses and instead buy the most ginormous calculators possible. Sigh.


**Update** I don't know if this looks any less like a camera trick but my face is pressed against the calculator in this picture.

Chain restaurants in NYC with 15+ locations have been required to post calorie counts for a while now, and other cities and states are following suit, including California. The debate has been whether or not this blatant "calories in your face" approach will work or will people just ignore it.

A new survey out has answered that question and the great news is that it indeed affects the way people are eating:

Technomic found that 86 percent of New York City restaurant-goers were surprised by the calorie count information now listed on menus or menu boards, with 90 percent of them claiming that the calorie count was higher than expected. As a consequence, 82 percent say that calorie disclosure is affecting what they order and 60 percent say it is affecting where they visit. The researchers also found evidence that suggests a high level of consumer support for mandated disclosure of fat and sodium content in restaurant foods.

It is not suprising to me that 90% of consumers didn't realize how many calories some of the menu items contained, when you dont know exactly what is in something or how it is prepared calories can really add up without you being aware of it. The survey also found that consumers are increasingly wanting more healthy menu options. Hopefully this is the catalyst the restaraunt industry needs to focus more on nutrition. They can still have those ridiculous 2,000 calorie oreo cookie shakes, but they should also have healthy menu items to chose from as well.

And speaking of calorie counts on menus, you still have to search to find that information in California, but the folks from Eat this, Not That have helped with their list of meals you can get at fast food restaraunts for under 500 calories. Good to know when you are rushed for time, don't have much money and don't want your waistband expanding.

I see A LOT of T&A

I go to a naked gym. Everytime I am in the locker room there is a naked lady wandering around. You may be thinking well it is a locker room but in general the locker rooms I have been in the past, the nakedness only happens when women are changing into or out of their gym clothes. These women walk around chatting, wash their hands at the sink or going to the bathroom buck ass neked. They also don't seem to be much into personal grooming (and I am just going to leve it at that, you are welcome).

I am not really bothered by it, but it can be a little jaring to walk in and look up and see a 60 year old overweight naked woman putting lotion on. This also usually happens around my locker so I have to manuver very carefully around them. For some reason only the old and overweight women are the ones who seem to do this too. Although I commend them for the confidence to not give an eff, I think I would rather see a hot naked chick than an old fat one.

Last week I posted about rude groccery shoppers at Win-Co. To be fair to that establishment I feel I should add an addendum to that post.

Today at Trader Joe's an older man on his cell phone stepped in front of me when I was looking at the snacks. He stood there a good 30 seconds while I stood there patiently smirking (I was in a better mood because Trader Joe's gives away free samples and coffe)and he finally picked up a bag of organic cheese popcorn. He then moved on and I was able to see what was there and as I was reaching for the pita chips he walked right in front of me again, on his cell phone so he doesn't say excuse me and I had to move back to keep him from running into me.

Just another case of people being so self absorbed that they pay no attention to the people around them. I don't know this bothers me but maybe I am hyper aware of everyone around me because of the way I was raised, I was a super polite child. This guy was probably raised during the depression so he had to look out for himself hence the self absorption. Just a theory. A rather undeveloped and weak theory but a theory nonetheless.

If there is such a thing as divine intervention I think that it is in cases like this where god truly intervenes because even he would find this disgusting.

Interval Training

Since my marathon I have been progressively neglecting my cardio. I have been doing about 30-45 minutes on the bike about 3 times a week and I am in a rut. I dread doing cardio now because I find it boring since I have narrowed it down to one form of cardio. I seriously pitch an internal hissy fit with noticeable pouting when I am done with my strength training and I know I have to do cardio next. I know that running would be more challenging cardiovascularly but with my foot giving me problems and the anti runnning stance I always seem to embrace for months after races I havent been able to bring myself to climb on the dreadmill very much. The ellpitical is an option too but it is not as effecient at burning calories and I feel silly on those things anyway (for some reason in mind I am thinking "weee! Look at me go!" which is distracting).

I have done versions of interval training before and have found them to be challenging since you are constantly varying your speed and effort. Time seems to go by more quickly which is excellent when some ass clown changes the tv to Fox News and then blasts it so he can hear it from the back where he is doing the elliptical. I so gave that guy the death stare the rest of my workout. So anyway I did a little more research into interval training and there are many different varieties of interval workouts you can do (sweet!)but they all basically offer the same benefits.

Workouts that alternate high-intensity levels with lower intensity levels help you burn calories long after you have stopped workoing out (much like strength training does). It seems the more you shake up your body during the workout, the more energy your body expends getting your body back to normal after the workout. Longer sessions of a moderate and consistent pace do not challenge your body like bouts of high intensity work will. Your body will become very effecient at doing this type of exercise and effeciency in exercise is actually a really bad thing because it means you will burn less calories.

Also interval training works regardless of fitness level and, by increasing your intensity for short periods of time, you teach your body how to work harder without killing yourself. These workouts can last a minimum of 20 minutes and burn more fat than longer slower workouts can so it saves time, woo hoo! In addition you can do intervals with any type of cardiovascualr exercise -- running, cycling, swimming, stair master, elliptical, hell even roller blading if you feel like channeling your inner 90's child. This works well because you can vary what type of cardio you do and since you will only be doing it for a condensed amount of time you are less likely to become bored.

As I said before these type of workouts can be done in any variety of different ways too. When I was training for the marathon I would run at a 6.0 for 4 minutes, 6.5 for 2 minutes, 7.0 for 2 minutes back down to a 65 for 2 more minutes and repeat for 7 miles. It helps to focus on 2 to 4 minutes at a time then to think about in terms of the total amount of time you are running. It can also be as simple as 1 minutes moderate pace followed by 1 minute high intensity pace and repeat for the specified amount of time. Be sure to warm up for 4-5minutes before you start any high burts of intensity. They usually reccomend cooling down too but to be honest I usually skip that and use that time to stretch a little more. Also it is best to do interval workouts only 1 or 2 times per week or you might burn yourself out and have a higher chance of injury.

I am going to try to Great Pyramids Interval myself and see how that goes. This pyramid structure allows you to start with short bursts of speed, and then you’ll peak at the longest surge of energy in the middle of your workout before coming back down.

3 to 5 minutes warmup

30 seconds high intensity

1 minute low intensity

45 seconds high intensity

1 minute low intensity

1 minute high intensity

1 minute low intensity

90 seconds high intensity

1 minute low intensity

1 minute high intensity

1 minute low intensity

45 seconds high intensity

1 minute low intensity

30 seconds high intensity

3 to 5 minutes cooldown

If you are looking for a more effecient, less boring, less time consuming and aren't afraid of getting sweaty then ou should try interval training. Just don't neglect your weight training!