Still Alive

By cliopatra

May

3

Hey there… just a quick update to let you know I’m still alive.  Here’s life as I know it at the moment:

1.  Still using SparkPeople – down 23 lbs since January 25.  Some days it’s easy, some days it’s hard, but every day it’s worth it.

2.  Tried yoga for the first time last night.  It was Leslie Sansone – You Can Do Yoga, a very good place to begin since my only other yoga anything was Wii Fit
yoga, which I have a tough time with. Trying to keep that little dot within the circle stresses me out.

3.  Still loving my Kindle.  I read a little something on it every single day.  In fact, for my birthday all I got was Amazon giftcards. I haven’t used them all up yet because I’m trying to be conscious of my purchases – what do I want to keep forever?

4.  Speaking of birthdays, I had one last week.  I turned 38, and I’m telling you, I don’t know how it will beat 37, but it had better try.  I love getting older, I really do.  I love looking back on my life and seeing how I’ve grown and changed.  I like myself a little more every day.  That may sound strange, but I am more awesome than even *I* realized.

5.  I’m contemplating what to do with my life next.  My job is rapidly approaching a dead end.  Actually, I think I am at a dead end, I’m just keeping my eyes shut tight so I don’t notice just yet.  I’m gearing up to take a huge leap of faith very soon.  Probably before the end of the year.

Lots of irons in the fire, plus plates in the air and all that.  Still tweeting, etc.  Say hi!

Getting Sucked In

By cliopatra

Oct

21

I will admit that on the healthy living front I have failed miserably for the past couple of weeks.  I haven’t been feeling motivated, and I have somehow even made the Wii somewhat of an enemy.  I’ve been treating it like going to the gym, which is to say “I don’ wanna!”

When my brother got it all hooked up correctly to the tv last weekend, I lost the excuse that “the dvr has control right now” and can now use it whenever I want.

I did manage to make it to a workout with a friend yesterday after work, 30 minutes on the stationary bike, in air conditioned comfort, while watching Cash Cab and watching the neighborhood kids out riding their actual bicycles.

When I got home I stayed in my workout clothes, and after dinner decided to do a couple of things on the Wii Fit Plus, because why not?  I was dressed for it.

I did the Perfect 10 (adding to 10 using numbered mushrooms you bounce off of your hips), the basic step, and the advanced step.  Probably one of my favorite games on the Wii Fit Plus is the cycling.  Here’s a clip of the basic cycling:

To play this game you hold the Wii remote horizontally like a handlebars and you stand on the balance board and either lift your feet or heels to simulate pedaling while you follow the trails and the roads to collect a set number of flags.

I did the basic cycling and collected all 13 flags in about 4 minutes.  Then I did the advanced cycling, which requires you to collect 22 flags.  That may not seem like much more, until you are trying to track down those last two f&*king flags that you can’t seem to find.  I found them and returned to start/finish line in 25 minutes, dripping in sweat.  (Total Wii Fit workout time: 45 minutes.)

As a reward, I “unlocked” the Ultimate Cycling.  Now, the Island View cycling (which is the next step up from Advanced) has 27 flags.  I shudder to think what Ultimate Cycling requires of you.  I think I may set aside a couple of hours this weekend and find out.

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Who AM I?

By cliopatra

Sep

8

56/365 morning run
Image by kharied via Flickr

This weekend was Wii Central at our house.  I’ve discovered that I am completely addicted to the tennis game.  It’s a lot of fun, and when I don’t win I just want to play “one more game” until I do.  An hour later, the Wii says “why don’t you take a break?”.

I never seem to want to take a break, though, and if you were someone in our house you would swear that one of the Williams sisters was in the livingroom.  I really love swinging that tennis racket around and beating up on poor old Shouta and whathisface (the other loser).

I’ve been doing the Wii Fit, as well, and really enjoying that.  I’ve been tracking my activity on SparkPeople and also putting little stickers on my calendar.  So far I’ve put a sticker on every day of the month.

I can feel it today.   I’ve never really been this active for this long of a stretch, and I can now see the wisdom in taking a day off every now and then.  My right arm and side are sore, and so is my back.  I played tennis so late into the night last night I couldn’t sleep, so I’m exhausted AND sore.

So I say to myself that I’m taking tonight off.  I didn’t get up and do it this morning, and really, I could stand to have a rest.

Thing is?  I really want that sticker on today.  I’d like to have one for every day this month.  So I’m reasoning… I committed to 10 minutes of walking/running per day for the month of September on SparkPeople… I’ll just do the 10 minute island lap and then that will cover it.  But first I should do some yoga to warm up my muscles.

Who the heck is this person?

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Is It Working?

By cliopatra

Sep

5

Fruit Bowl

When I got up this morning I decided to do the body test on the Wii Fit – first time since Tuesday.  I’ve been avoiding it because it annoys me, but this morning it was fine.  Astronomical gain had turned into astronomical loss, and my balance has improved.

So does it work?

If I look at the numbers on the scale, I’d have to say “no”.  My weight, according to both my regular scale and the Fit is around where I started when I got the thing 17 days ago.  That’s been a little frustrating.

If I don’t look at that number, then my answer changes to “yes”.  I’ve been on the thing every day since Monday (including today already), and I’ve also worked out with friends two days this week.  So the 6 days working out this week is 3 more days than the prior week, and 6 more days than the weeks and months and years before that.

I used to not be a worker-outer.  I guess now I am.

My balance has improved.  My ability to work the games has improved.  I’m really enjoying the yoga poses.  I find myself doing the advanced step routine “just one more time” to see if I can improve my score (and one more time turns into two or three more times).

I’m running.

That’s probably the most interesting development for me.  I realize it’s just sort of jogging in place, but I did 2 minutes, and survived.  Then I did 4 minutes, and survived that, too.  Then I did the island lap, which is 12 minutes.  About halfway through I wondered why I had chosen to do the lap, but I survived it, too.

It’s working.

Wii Story

By cliopatra

Aug

22

Wii Fit

Image via Wikipedia

I preface this post by saying that I am not a gamer.  I haven’t ever, as an adult, owned a video game system.  The last time I played a gaming system was a Playstation maybe 6 or so years ago.  It was fun, but it’s never really been my thing.

A few months ago I took on an assignment with I’ve Tried That, writing about a moneymaking system (they call it system, some people call it scheme) called Project Payday.  I spent a couple of months working the system and wrote about it first here and then here.

I didn’t really make any money with Project Payday, but by the time I worked through the system I was about halfway finished meeting the requirements to get a “free” Wii from YourNintendoWii4Free.com.  I’ve wanted a Wii for a while, and I was close to getting it, so I decided to finish getting referrals and get the Wii.

It was far from free.  I estimate I probably spent $100, not to mention that I first signed into the site in January, and didn’t get my last referral completed until the end of July.  The wait was excruciating.  Once I met the requirements and placed the order for my “free” Wii, it took nearly a month to get it, since they said they tried to deliver it once and my address was wrong (even though it wasn’t).

Last Thursday, though, I got my bundle.  Included was the Wii game system, an extra controller, and an additional game, EA Sports Active.  All in all I got $335 worth of products for about $100 (plus 7 months of hassle).

On Wednesday, knowing that the package was going to be delivered the next day, I bought a Wii Fit.  Thursday night Irish and I got it all set up and bowled a game from Wii Sports before we went over to have dinner with his parents.

Since then I’ve played it every day at least twice.  I think I’ve finally hit on something that is going to help me stay active.  I’m a very competitive person, and this helps me compete against myself.  I love mastering the activities, beating my own scores, and unlocking new levels.  I also love how the Wii Fit tracks my progress and talks back to me.

I know it’s been around for a while, and to some people it’s no longer groundbreaking, but I am really enjoying it.

Wii Menu

Image via Wikipedia

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