Finding Time To Do It All

I Did Something Crazy

I'm not going to tell you what it is, yet.

But I did something completely bat-shit crazy, and it feels great.  Not only am I excited about it, but I got a ton of satisfaction out of it and despite the scariness of it, it was worth it.

No, it wasn't life-threatening or anything, but you might argue that it was irresponsible.  I would call it liberating, in more ways than one.

You'll have to wait to find out what it is, and I know that makes you crazy.  But maybe it will inspire you to do something similar.

Leave a comment and let me know if you've ever done anything crazy.  I don't mean jumping out of an airplane; I mean jumping out of a 5th story window onto a trampoline.  I mean bungee-jumping on a non-permanent structure.  I mean taking a chance on yourself when nobody else would.  You know, the kind of thing that makes your parents say, "I don't believe I would have done that."

Forget Paleo, I'm WINNING!

With all I've been talking about the Paleo diet and Primal lifestyle lately, I couldn't resist posting this video.  I find the whole Charlie Sheen situation hilarious and I was convinced he had lost his mind.  However, this actually brings a tiny bit of doubt into my mind on whether it's a publicity stunt (or at least part of it - perhaps fueled by mania?).  I don't pretend to know (or care) but you'll definitely crack a smile when you watch this - especially if you are a healthy eater!

Charlie Sheen's Winning Recipes from Charlie Sheen

 

Hat Tip to the Daily Burn blog where I first saw the video!

I Went to a Conference and It's All a Blur...

I've spent part of the last week in sunny Orlando, FL at the Blur conference.  I won't bog you down with the details because you may or may not understand (follow the link) what it's all about - not because I don't think you're intelligent, but because, well, if you're not "into" it, you won't "get" it - but in a different way than you might not get something like a Star Trek convention.

A few times a year I am completely surrounded by people smarter than me.  While I don't think I'm the smartest person around or anything, I work in an atmosphere where there is little intellectual challenge for many reasons.  One of which is that The Man stifles creativity, but I digress...Anyway, I have to go elsewhere to feel like the dumbest person in the room, and when I do, it's splendid.

Blur is one of those places (and so is Defrag, but that was in November...).   The things that some companies are doing with human-computer interaction (HCI) is just incredible, and goes even beyond my imagination.  There are apps/hardware in the healthcare space, fitness, and someone even suggested that it was coming for nutrition (but I'm not sure whether that was a joke).  I saw some of the coolest games I've ever seen there.  One of them was a game you played while riding a bike - and the speed was tied to the game so it had an effect on your workout other than just distracting you.  The HCI space is just amazing, and the ideas surrounding it are just incredible.

I also got the chance to meet a lot of the people who are so much smarter than me, and that's huge.  If I can leave a place having learned something, I'm happy.  If I can leave a place having made a new friend/acquaintance/mentor as well, I'm even happier.  I managed to get off the wall and talk to some people about some of my ideas and where I'm going with Duey Flanigan (which I will talk more about very soon).

Anyway, I could go on and on about how fun and engrossing and educational Blur was, but you wouldn't get it unless you were there.  There will be a Blur 2012, and if you are interested in the HCI space, I highly recommend that you attend.  You won't be let down, I promise!

Jack LaLanne

Believe it or not, I'm old enough to know who Jack LaLanne was.  As a kid, I remember watching some daytime talk shoe (perhaps Donahue or the Today Show) and he was a guest.  I was young enough to think, "Wow, that guy is OLD!  But look at him work out!"  I was impressed with the fact that he was seemingly ancient at the time (this would have been the '70s), as I was in elementary school.

Over the next 10 or 15 years Jack would show up on TV somewhere, and he always looked exactly the same.  He didn't seem to age at all, and he was always spry - and it was always several years between my sightings of him so he was always "a lot" older than the last time.  He was always active and in workout clothes.

I can't say that Jack LaLanne influenced my decision to get healthy, but he's someone I've always looked up to as far as his ability to keep it going, even late in life.  I hope to be able to do the same thing; he certainly showed us all that it can be done!

Jack LaLanne will be missed.

Happy New Year and Other Business

Good morning folks, I hope you had a fun-filled Holiday season, and that you're ready to tackle 2011 with vim and vigour.  I know I am!

I am not one to set goals or New Year's resolutions, because they are always broken or forgotten by the end of January.  This year, however, is going to be different!  I'm starting a new adventure as far as business goes, and I have a goal to move away from the place I currently live.  The first one I will talk about shortly; the second one, let's just say that I'm tired of living in a place that's got everything ass-backward.

As for my new business adventure, I need your help.  I want to start a web site for children to motivate them to exercise at an early age - but that teaches them that exercise can be really fun, not just sweat and drudgery like we adults make it.  Exercise is playing kickball, tag, or climbing the monkey bars at a park.  Taking a walk on the beach counts too.

But before I can really start my new adventure, I need your help.  I need you to take a survey for me to help me decide whether this is even a good idea.  So if you wouldn't mind, would you fill out this short survey for me?  You don't have to tell me who you are and I won't contact you unless you want me to.  Thanks so much for your help!

And, if you didn't fill out the survey, that's cool; I appreciate the fact that you read my blog anyway.  I know everything I write doesn't appeal to everyone!

Have a great year, and I'll keep you posted on the progress of my goals on occasion.  If you want to share your goals, sound off in the comments, I'd love to hear them!

Time to do Everything, Except Blog!

Hello folks, it's that really busy time of year, isn't it?  I have so much going on, I don't know whether I'm coming or going.  Trying to exercise, have a full-time job, work on a new start-up idea, and be a parent and spouse is proving difficult.  Add the Christmas shopping into the mix and, well, blogging has to go - or at least be cut back a little.

On that note, it's been really cold here in Florida the past two weeks (I'm in the northern part - we have cold AND hills!) and running barefoot has been somewhat unpleasant.  I've been experimenting with different ways to keep my feet warm (basically, you overheat your core, which causes its own problems for me because of some health issues I have), with moderate success.  It all depends on how warm my feet are when I start!

As for the floor exercises, I did 190 pushups yesterday!  I'm using the 100 Push Ups plan and I'm on week 6.  Lest you think I just lay down and whip out 190 pushups, you're only half right.  I do them in sets, with a minute (or sometimes up to three) rest in between sets.  Yesterday was 40, 50, 25, 25, 50.  And no, I am not built like Arnold Schwarzenegger; I would quit before I looked like a man, thank you very much!  I do have to say that I don't have that saggy upper arm thing going on though.  You know, that sag that women start to get when they are middle-aged?  Of course, I also don't have sagging boobs, because they are non-existent. :)

I find myself doing my floor exercises in the family room more and more frequently, just so I can find a way to spend time with the boys.  It's fun, but they've reached the point where they ignore me now for the most part.  I'm hoping to change that when the new year rolls around - but I'm not sure how just yet.

So people, if I don't get another post in this week, I hope you are all having a very happy Holiday season (whether you celebrate anything or not - if not, you should just celebrate LIFE, right?).  Next week may be a bit sparse too, as we're taking a trip, but hopefully I can blog about my super abilities to find time to work out while visiting a theme park.

A New Adventure

I'm about to embark on a new entrepreneurial adventure that involves children's fitness.  It's something I've become quite passionate about (actually fitness in general, but kids are a hell of a lot easier to motivate than adults!).  I'm not ready to give any real details yet, but I'm sure as time goes on I'll let bits and pieces leak out - and I'll surely be posting more about it as time goes on. 

In the mean time, have a very Happy Thanksgiving and try not to eat too much pumpkin pie (which I find totally disgusting)!  And even if you do eat too much, make sure you find time to exercise!

Defrag, Running, and Ultramarathons

Last week my husband and I went to a conference called Defrag.  If you're into startups, entrepreneurialism, and emerging technology, you should check it out next year.  It was a blast and we met lots of new people as well as connected with some we knew before.

We ran both days of the conference.  The first day, we ran with a group of guys who are serious runners.  We both managed to keep up, although it was a relatively short run.  I did not run barefoot, as the temperature was 28 degrees, and my Floridian feet just couldn't take it.  In fact, my toes froze badly in my Vibrams and I thought I was going to have frostbite!  After the second mile they started thawing out though (and I even took off my shoes and tried to run that way, but it was just too cold).  Despite freezing, it felt good to get the run in!  The best part seemed to be that the altitude didn't really seem to bother me - unless I started talking.  Of course, that could also be due to the fact that I was trying to keep up with faster runners.

The second day, David and I ran by ourselves.  We did a similar route as the first day, but not quite the same.  We ended up climbing a massive hill (we have hills at home though too) and did well all the way around the loop.  So well, in fact, that we decided to go do a second loop for a total of about 5.5 miles.  It was great, and the view was just freaking incredible (we were in Broomfield, CO, just outside Denver, and the mountains were capped with snow).  We had an easy run and that day I wore socks and shoes and managed to stay quite warm (the temperature was warmer too).

The best part of the trip, as far as exercising goes, was meeting Mark Dowds.  Mark was at the conference giving a presentation on employee motivation (see his company, Brainpark), but it was mentioned that he was an ultramarathon runner as well.  Of course I immediately followed him on Twitter after that - and to give you the kind of person he is, he followed me right back within a few minutes.  I direct messaged him that I wanted to talk ultras with him and he was kind enough to oblige David and I (after a long bike ride even!).  Mark is an interesting fellow to talk to as well as being very approachable.  He's done 14 ultramarathons this year - AND he only did his first ultra a year ago!  He's never done a marathon, which amazed me.  I had to admit defeat when he told us that; I was urging my husband to do a marathon before attempting an ultra, but then Mark said it wasn't necessary (of course, an ultra is anything longer than a marathon, and I believe the shortest ultra is 50k, which is 31.07m - that's "only" 4m farther than a marathon).  So, both David and I are going to attempt an ultra (him before me, I'm sure).

At any rate, it just goes to show that you really can mix business with pleasure and learn a great deal in the process.  It was a blast meeting Mark and I'm sure David and I will pick his brain (as much as he's willing) about all kinds of things when we're ready.