Training log wk 10 d7

Starting time 9:03pm
4 minutes stretching
20 minutes stepper (no breaks)
6 minujtes stretching

Another week came and went

And not just any week. This marks the end of March, which also marks the end of the first quarter of 2007.

I am taking stock of the projects that I promised myself this year. Unfortunately, I haven't make much progress on most. Do I sound like a broken record? I certainly feel like I am. Sigh. Perhaps I have taken too much onto my plate again. Anyways, let's review.

1. Half Marathon training: March has been a miserable month for this goal of mine. I am ashamed to report only 5 days. Only three months left. Need to get cranking. For the overall goal to be more active, I did have two days of snowboarding at SLC.

2. A Year to Remember class: another horrible showing for the month of March. I did zero homework. I am probably just going to skip this one and start April fresh. For the overall goal of scrapbooking learning, I did take 7 classes from Scrap-a-faire. Learned lots of tricks on Photoshop and misc techniques.

3. Learn and be motivated at work: Well, I know I sinked a lot of time here this month. Lots of overtime. Attended Semitherm and learned lots. Doing more readings on engineering fundamentals. Even more in store for April.

I think I really need to find a balance. There has got to be a way to balance life and work. I don't want work to be my life.

Who is Dr. Mao?

Beats me. But he has some advice on keeping the brain alert:

Mental Gymnastics Keep Your Mind Nimble
It is normal to become more absent-minded as we age, and in fact, most people over the age of 40 experience some memory loss. The most likely causes of a forgetful memory include poor concentration due to brain-chemical imbalance, tiredness, depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders.

If you find you are more forgetful than usual, try these steps and see if there isn't some improvement in your cognitive clarity:

1. Get an uninterrupted eight hours of sleep each night.

2. Do a half an hour of cardiovascular exercise every day, such as brisk walking, slow jogging, biking, or swimming. This will improve circulation and increase blood flow to the brain.

3. Turn yourself upside down for a couple of minutes daily.

4. Mental fitness activities are imperative to prevent age-related cognitive decline. Read and learn new things, find new hobbies, do crossword puzzles, add up your bill in your head while shopping, memorize a set of phone numbers forward and backwards; all these can stimulate brain cell activities and in some cases even grow new brain pathways.

5. Work with your physician to find a supplemental regimen that helps improve your cognitive capabilities. Memory-enhancing supplements and herbs include B-complex vitamins, magnesium, CoQ10, alpha-lipoic acid, fish oil, flax seed oil, Chinese club moss, ginkgo, and ginseng. A supplement that has been well-documented in Europe for reversing age-related dementia and memory loss is phosphatidylserine (PS), a compound made by the body from the amino acid serine. Taken in supplement form, PS lowers stress response and promotes the release of neurotransmitters in the brain that facilitate thought, reasoning, and concentration.

Good food, good time

Well, I have stuffed myself silly in Salt Lake City. Saturday night, we dined at Red Iguana. According to zdog, the line was always out the door. We waited 40 minutes for big plates of very juicy carnitas and tasty spicy chile verde. There was even two Mexican guitarists (one Spanish guitar and one vihuela)walking around playing. Wonderful dinner. Sunday night, we dined at Market Street Grill. I had half dozen Hunter Point half shell oysters from the bar. Delicious. But that's just the start. We also had Alaskan king crab legs. Well, I had most of it :D This is the second time I had it. The first time was in January, here at the same restaurant. Meaty, firm, and sweet. Looooove it.

Suffice to say, I need to really work out this week to make sure I digest all these fine food :)

One good heart

One good heart attracts another. Each true friend deserves the other.

― Shaker saying

No training...again

Taking the weekend off to Salt Lake again...which means no training. But then, I have slacked off since d2 of week 9. Well, I did do 25 minutes on the stepper on Monday (3/19), but that was the end of it :(

So, I attended SemiTherm 2007 the past week for work. Five days of electronics cooling course and presentations from various companies/researchers etc. I am also beefing up engineering fundamentals on my own time. Must keep up!

Training log wk 9 d1 (Sunday 3/18)

Starting time 9:15pm
5 minutes stretching
25 minutes stepper
5 minutes stretching

Training log wk 8 d7 (Saturday 3/17)

Starting time: 9:10pm
5 minutes stretching
5 minutes warm up (slow stepper)
45 minutes stepper
5 minutes cool down (slow stepper)
5 minutes stretching

Training log wk 8 d5

Starting time 9:20pm
5 minutes stretching
5 minutes warm up (slower stepper)
30 minutes stepper (no breaks)
5 minutes cool down (slower stepper)
5 minutes stretching

Interesting read

The Effort effect

Priorities

So, the goal this year is to live consciously and be active. In that light, I set my sight on a couple activities that I thought would get me there.

1. Run the SF marathon (July 29). Consider running the Bay to Breaker as part of training (that's in May, 7.5 miles). Erm...so far, I have been slacking very badly. Went from 5 days/wk on training to 1 day/wk. And clock is ticking away.

2. I am taking a year-long SB class. Have assignment once a week. I am 6 WEEKS BEHIND on homework! How did this happen?

This is a recent add, post the rejection,
3. For my career, I am re-energized and committed to learn and grow. But, this means overtime and coming home exhausted...and in turn, I have no time for Item 1 and 2.

Only three items. How do I balance it all? And I don't even have kids yet!

Training log wk 8 d3

Really lost track of my training here. This is more like one day a week. Sad. But but but, I was traveling. Went to OC last Friday, visited my mom, sister, and N. Wonderful time. Eh the problem is...no training. Whenever I stop, I have a hard time starting again. Sigh.

Anyhoo, I did it today. Here are the stats
Starting time 8:10pm
5 minutes stretching
30 minutes stepper (no breaks)
5 minutes cool down/stretching

Must get serious. Only 19 weeks left. Focus!

Rejection

is never easy to take. I received the rejection email from the company Wednesday. While I had expected it, actually seeing the words is still hard to take.

But, I feel that the experience is good for me. It opened my eyes to things I can improve on, revitalized my drive to be a better engineer, and overall be even better than I am now.

Thank you, zdog, for pushing me to do this.

Sewing so simple

So I finally learned how to trim the beginning and the ending of a sewing stitch on paper. Curtesy to Scrap-a-faire, the stitching class by Jen Lessinger.

For the longest time I could not figure out how people get the perfect start, the perfect corner, and the perfect end on a stitching. And now, armed with the knowledge, it is so simple I can not believe it. Arghhhh....I wish I knew this two years ago when I sewed my little heart out for my wedding invitation. Would've made it so easy! Argh!

Training log wk7 d4

Finally back to training...

Starting time 8:10pm
5 minutes stretching
30 minutes stepper (no breaks)
5 minutes stretching

Lacking training...

The past few days. Came down with a head cold this weekend. Then, my "good friend" is visiting. I can never do anything when that happens. Sigh...

Never fear. As soon as "good friend" leaves, I will reset and start again. With daylight savings right around the corner, I might start real running outside.

Scrap-a-faire

A "online faire" sponsored by Scrapbooks Etc/BHG magazine. I was skeptical because the overall looks and feel/navigation of the website SUCKS. But the classes were actually really good, and this opinion is not influenced by the low expectation factor :D