zerotohero

Ante Up!

Kidnap that fool!  Because this platform isn’t friendly to embedding YouTube videos, there’s the link. Good Thursday morning anthem, but then again, I don’t start my days like most people. 🙂

How did I start my day, you didn’t ask because you don’t care but I’m going to tell you anyway? Why, in the way of us X-heads,of course. 95 pushups and 45 pullups over 30 minutes. The last 5 of each of those were absolute suckassishness, but push, push, push! Have I mentioned P90X3? Hahahahaha, of course I have. Dear body, thanks for bouncing back pretty quickly every time I fall off of the workout wagon.

Last night I had my first FabPole routine class. Loved it. It’s pretty yet it still takes strength and more grace than I have. I still have to keep the fabric lower on my back and not in my armpits, but hey, it’s the second time I’ve ever tried it so I think I’m on a good path. Three more weeks to keep learning and get it all down. I got this. When we’re all done, I’ll post a video…maybe.

Proud to announce that on only my fourth day using my sandwich maker, I have perfected the art. This morning, my whole sandwich was hot and none of my cheese melted off into the sunset. I think this has a little to do with me switching cheese, but more to do with my “sandwich making” skills. I can’t wait to see what else I can put in that little bugger and make deliciousness.

I didn’t forget about yesterday’s writing prompt. I just think that I’ve written that post previously. When I read today’s prompt, my initial thought was that it was another one I would throw by the wayside, but then I started thinking more about it. The prompt says: It’s 1984. You’re locked in a room with your greatest fear. Describe what’s in the room. Back then, I was 10 years old. Do you know what kind of irrational fears plague 10 year olds? For me, it wasn’t the dark or something fairly normal. At that age I had three major fears: our house burning down, tornadoes, and nuclear war (Reagan SMASH!).

The fear of the house burning down has basically followed me into my adult life and up to this day. It is probably slightly irrational, but I cannot help it. Every time we leave for more than two days, I get freaked out the moment we turn onto our street, and I’m deathly afraid that our (rented) house has burned down. Were I to psychoanalyze myself, I’d say that this issue stems from my (great?) grandmother dying in a house fire. Her house. It couldn’t have been too long before 1984. Follow that up with a nightmare about riding the bus home from school and coming around the corner to our house and everything goes into super slo-mo. I can, for some reason, hear my neighbors talking in their yard (yes, I’m still on the bus. Slo-mo obviously gives you hyper-sensitive hearing also) before the bus rounds the corner and I see our house burnt to the ground. I literally woke up screaming. Yikes. One of three nightmares I had as a child, or at least one of the three that I vividly remember.

I’m not entirely sure why I was so scared of tornadoes, but oh boy was I. I still don’t relish the thought, but I’m certainly better than I was. If it was stormy and windy, I wanted no part of anyone. At 10 I just KNEW that I knew how to survive the dreaded tornado. What’s crazy is that where I grew up, there were very few tornadoes. One did touch down about 2 miles from our house, but it was about the equivalent of the fart of the lactose intolerant after a bowl of ice cream. Oddly enough, the tornado fear didn’t translate into a hurricane fear when I lived in Miami. Don’t get me wrong, my first tropical storm I nearly shit my pants, but after that, I was cool.

So then why is a 10 year old so scared of nuclear war? Why does a 10 year old even know about this? Too much news at too young of an age. Too much listening to adults talk about the President. Too wild of an imagination. All of the above. I was quite a strange child, of this I am sure. Carried that into adulthood too. Being strange, not fearing WW3.

What about you? Any strange or irrational fears you’re harboring? It can’t be just me. Even us one-of-a-kind folks have similarities.

Most Depressing Week of the Year?

Seriously? This is what I saw on the news yesterday or the day before. I was only half-listening, so I’m going to go ahead and assume that they were saying that the first full work week of the year is the most depressing. Personally, I’d be hard pressed to try to figure out the most depressing week of the year for me because: a) they just all run together anyways, and b) my life is pretty decent.

I suppose I can understand not wanting to get back on the 5 days a week schedule, but since I had to work in the timeframe between Christmas and the New Year, back to work isn’t as big of a deal for me. Now, had they said that this week felt like the longest week of the year, I’d be first in line to jump on *that* bandwagon because somehow, IT’S ONLY WEDNESDAY!! Argh. Let’s just get to Friday so I can go snowboarding, ok?

Technically, snowboarding is on Saturday, and hopefully I’ll be moving around a little better by then. As per the norm after I start working out at a decent clip after a time off, I’m currently walking around like I got kicked down a flight of stairs. Not like I fell down a flight of stairs on a cruise ship, but like I got kicked at the top, kicked down the stairs, and kicked again at the bottom. I absolutely love the side eyes I get when I try to get up from my desk and get to the bathroom. I’m hoping that by this time next week, I’ll be back in the groove of things and back to my normal, patented (not really), Burkes walk. That’s what my Gram called it. Said she would know from afar if it was me just by the way I walk. Distinct is fun.

Fortunately, in the workout rotation, today was yoga. In 30 minutes. Which makes it a little tough, but still well on my side of being able to complete it. And because that 30 minutes couldn’t be nearly enough torture for one morning, I followed it up with a 45 minute stretching routine because, well, I’m partially off my rocker, but more so, I’m interested in being a bit more flexy. As I well know, strength alone does not an aerialist make. So I stretch and I stretch and I ache and I ache because my hips are absolute jerks, but one day, I will reach my goal of general flexiness. Flexiness by the standards of aerial/pole, not by the standards of general medicine these days. My chiropractor said that my current flexibility was way beyond the “normal” range because, get this, when laying on my back, I can bring either leg past 90 degrees. Ninety. Degrees. That makes flexibility?!?! Where the hell are we going as a society except straight down the crapper? So sad.

You know, today’s writing prompt is actually a pretty good one. I think I’ll write it up as a separate post…or I’ll save it for a day when there’s really just nothing going on. You’ll just have to tune in to find out.

 

Seven Whole Days

So we’re a week into the new year. Doesn’t it feel like the holidays were already forever ago? No? That’s just me? *Cartman voice* Screw you guys, I’m going home.

I really do feel like Christmas was forever ago. I suppose that could be because I more or less skipped it this year. I didn’t put up the tree or the village as I wasn’t feeling it (and we weren’t even home the entire week of Christmas, so whom exactly was going to see that work? No one.) Maybe I’ll get back into the swing of things this year, maybe. I guess I’m one of those Scrooge-type people that could seriously do without all the extra stuff, just let me have a couple days off of work.

Speaking of work, this is new for 2014: I got a promotion. While it isn’t official for another week, I’ll be leading my little team of 2 (and a half) engineers whilst shaking the hands and kissing the babies of other departments. Is it my lifelong dream? No, not exactly, but I can do it and I can do it well, so onward and upward after a rather interesting process of getting to this point. I swear I watched one person in particular do a complete 180 in regards to how said person was acting towards me and my interest in the position. Weirdos.

Anywho, work schmerk, let’s talk about my breakfast sandwich maker.  I LOVE IT! Now that I’m in my healthy breakfast sandwich mode (egg whites, smoked salmon, slice of cheese on a whole wheat muffin) , it’s so much easier to just throw the stuff in the machine, walk away and come back to a sandwich. Gives me time to do things like start writing the daily blog post. 🙂  I know that healthy breakfast and slice of processed American cheese don’t go together, but man is it good. Although, I am considering finding a different cheese because my sandwiches get too hot and therefore cause more of the cheese to end up on my paper towel than ends up in my belly, but that’s probably not such a bad thing either.

Sidebar: My mom just sent me an email and a portion of it said: “Let your confidence be as an earthquake – a force to be reckoned with – crumbling all negativity that comes your way. BOOM!

So day 2 of P90X3 was a little rough. These workouts are only 30 minutes, but they’re still tough. Today was Agility X. (It’s athlete stuff says Tony,which explains why I had a heck of a time..no coordination.) Jumping around and squats and lunges and more squats and lunges. I’m sure my knees will be feeling this tomorrow, particularly after I tried to follow it up with some hip and hamstring opening yoga and Zumba tonight. Somewhere along the line, I probably lost my mind. Before I lost it, I might have thought that this continual stretching and exercise might get me in shape. We’ll see what happens.

By the way, I haven’t forgotten about the writing prompts (or Zero to Hero for that matter). Sometimes the writing prompts just don’t prompt me to do anything but shake my head. Sometimes the ZTH item doesn’t require an actual post. Today’s prompt is about a time you felt helpless. I don’t do helpless. I’m sickeningly self-sufficient. More than my husband would prefer I’m sure. Perhaps the one time I felt a fleeting case of helplessness was about 20 years ago when I was driving down a hill (going to Monongahela for those that know) that had just been oiled and it had just rained and my tires were none too grippy. I completely lost control of my car, sliding on the wonderful mixture of bald tires, oil and water. Took a cruise down the oncoming traffic lane much to the chagrin of the car coming towards me who was laying on the horn as though I wasn’t trying to get the hell out of their lane. Finally made it back into my own lane, only to overcorrect and start spinning, Fortunately, it ended up only being a 180, but it was a slow motion 180 as I watched the guard rail come closer to the side of my car and hoped against all hope that it held as there was a rather large downhill/cliff waiting for me if it didn’t. Fun! Obviously it held as I’m still here. I did get out of my (new at the time) car and I literally expected my car to be bleeding. Hey, what do you want? I was like 19 and it was my first brand new car. I was absolutely butthurt. Possibly feeling helpless that I broke my car. Poor thing. No sliding around in the Brown Bomber though! I TRY to make that thing spin out but the ABS and AWD and anti-slip/anti-skid kick in and all I get is a little noise. Safe? Extremely. Fun? Hardly.

Well then, I suppose the time is now for me to wrap this up and get on with the day. Enjoy your Tuesday. Stay warm wherever you might be. It’s cold out…you know, because it’s WINTER!

Football and Margaritas

Sounds a lot more interesting that it is, I swear. I’m watching football and drinking a margarita. They’re killer. *sips margarita*

Today, I went on over to the FabPole workshop. It was pretty sweet. And on my “get good at something this year” bullet point on my list, this seems like a good choice. Probably equally as good as dance trap, but a little, I don’t know, edgier? At any rate, it lets be be dance-y and pole-y and fabric-y and happ-y. Makes it a good enough choice for me.

OMG, I am finding it very difficult to focus on writing today. I guess I should expect this to happen, but as long as I get some words on “paper”, I’m still doing something. Today’s writing prompt is kind of a bust for me as it deals with favorite quotes. I guess if at any time I’ve had a favorite quote, it was some years back and it was “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread”. Why? I don’t know. It certainly isn’t something that applies to me or the way I run my life since I’ve been known to just go balls to the wall. Probably I just thought it sounded cool. I’ve been a bit of a strange one from day one, or so I’m told.

I’m not gonna force this. I have margarita mind. See you tomorrow.

ROCO Friday – The Reverend Considers A Return

Hi. First, let me explain that title. Or better yet, use the search functionality to look for ROCO. If you aren’t going to, I’ll give you a brief explanation, but you’ll better get the gist if you look. ROCO (rock out with your cock out) Fridays are days in which, well, you’re just supposed to ROCO. They usually include music and an inspirational message. Our good Reverend MiamiShyner has been on quite the hiatus, but perhaps she’ll make some sort of grand return here in 2014.

Let the congregation say, ROCO!

While we await the Reverend’s return, let’s consider another topic: today’s writing prompt. It is a tough one today, asking what is number 11 on my bucket list. Well, since I’ve never created a bucket list, it’s pretty difficult to answer this one. I’ve been fortunate enough to have led a fairly interesting life, so what would I even put on a bucket list? I suppose I could put some places I want to visit, like this, but I don’t really know what else I would put on there. Maybe I should make a late NYR to create a bucket list. Ha! So does this make me a boring person because I don’t have a list of “one day”, only a list of “been there, done that”? Doubtful. Oh wait! I just remembered something else I want to do! I wouldn’t actually put it on a bucket list, but it is something I want to do and I’m going to take care of it in 2015. Lots and lots of ski/snowboard resorts offer camps that are usually a couple of days and are for women only. I’m going to do that next year. Probably at Winter Park. Maybe if I’m fortunate I’ll sneak one in over at Park City as well. I need to start saving immediately.

Speaking of saving, perhaps/probably you’ve seen that little savings plan floating around Facebook or the internet wherein you throw an amount in a jar (or your bank if you want to be more traditional) once a week that corresponds with the week of the year. At the end of the year, if you’ve stayed true to the savings, you should have nearly $1400. The 52 week savings challenge it’s called. It’s like paying income tax to yourself! One dollar and some Whiskey In A Jar for this week. Play along and buy yourself something nice at the end.

I have no segue back into professional related stuff. But I’ll be setting aside some time this weekend, between grocery shopping, possible snowboarding, and a FabPole workshop, to start looking into my SharePoint training and to start revisiting my old enemy, PHP. Many, many moons ago, I started learning PHP but it went along the wayside with learning HTML, CSS, and the like (man, am I stupid). But now, I think my brain is ready for it. Even though there’s a lot of junk up there, I know there’s space for more. Hello, smart me. I remember you. You used to hang out a lot. Then you quit using your brain. Welcome back.

I’ve not forgotten my Zero To Hero commitment. There just wasn’t really anything to actually blog about today, just an assignment on pretty-ing up the place. I did it. Did you notice? (if you’ve been here before, that is) Only way to tell me is in the comments. Ready, set, go!

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