Category Archives: Misc
In search of the perfect night’s sleep…
Perfect? Did I say “perfect”? I’d settle for “Mostly OK”
One of the items on my “10-Point-Plan” to “Transform Tony in 2013” is #1 Get plenty of sleep every night.
Easier said than done! However, talking about sleep is a good way to emphasis and reinforce the ongoing theme that Getting Fit and Healthy is complex because “EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED TO EVERYTHING!“
Sleep is important and most definitely connected to everything else in your life. Without consistent restful sleep, getting fit and healthy is almost impossible.
Without meaning to whine and moan, or act like a pampered diva…. But, since we’re mentioning “diva” could I please have some cheese with my Whine? Hmmm?
Oh, did you hear about that cheese truck fire that took days to put out? I kid you not!!!!
Holy Cheesus! Who knew?
Anyway in Norway where this cheese is made there was a truck accident in a tunnel and the load of cheese, called Brunost caught fire and burned for days.
But… I digress… Back to the whole sleep thing…. Read the rest of this entry
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Reflect, Review, Revise, Revel, Reward, …Really!
Reflect…
Well, yesterday was a busy dance day. Practiced with my dance partner for a little over an hour. Then I went to the West Coast Swing classes taught by the most fabulous Beata Howe and “Pappa Daddy” TRose aka Terry Roseborough. That was another 3 hours of dancing. OMG! Oh, my aching feetsies. Ouchies! Oh da pain, da pain.
Ok, ok, maybe I’m being a bit dramatic, (hey being dramatic is what I do…I wouldn’t be “Tony” without the drama!)
…but in all seriousness, I did kinda push things.
So, now I know, at my current fitness level, doing four hours of dancing/learning/practicing is very close to “over doing it.”
The trick is to find exactly the right amount of exercise with which to stress my body. I may have to alternate “heavy days” like yesterday with “easy days” or “rest days” while I’m still on the bottom end of the “fit” range.
It is true that I’m trying to build up stamina but I’ve also got to not overdo it and injury myself. It is important to give my body a chance to repair itself and build itself stronger.
That’s how you get fitter; you stretch your limits, rest a bit, then stretch your limits again. Eventually tasks that were difficult become easier. Then they become routine and then you have to stretch further to keep on improving. Woot!
Revel…
Who da man? Who da Pappa Daddy? Who is on track on his fitness goals! Come on, chant with me… “Go Tony! Go Tony! Go Tony!”
Doing those little circle things with your hands clenched in a fist is optional, but encouraged. 🙂
Here are the cold hard numbers:
-- 12.2 lbs lost (total so far) -- 1 lb lost at the official Jenny Craig Weigh-in this week. -- 5.65 inches lost (total so far) - Hips, Chest, Waist -- .4 inches lost this past week.
Yay! 2013 is on track! Woo Hoo! Here are the charts and the cool fun visual stuff: Read the rest of this entry
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I’m re-reading the Dresden Files (as part of my “new year plan”)
So, what does “reading a SciFi/Fantasy” series have to do with the price of tea in China?
Well, nothing actually. But it does have something to do with my whole “Transform Tony in 2013” plan.
Here’s the VERY brief outline of the plan. Trust me, I can be brief when I need to and today, I need to because I’ve got a LOT of things on the “to do list”
But, Uhmmm.. I digress… back to that outline of “The Plan.”
Here is the deal, I recognize that to achieve my goals for this year (more detail on that later) that I have to do a little bit every day/week:
- Get plenty of sleep every night
- Stretch daily
- Lift (3 x a week)
- Cardio (3 x a week)
- Diet (in the sense of eating right, not in the sense of starving myself)
- Dance (overlaps with cardio but not always — also overlaps with lifting, but not always)
- Be “domestic” (e.g. laundry, dust, balance Quicken, pay bills, ride herd on the clutter, etc)
- Be “entrepreneurial” (e.g. add designs to my online t-shirt/button/bag shop on Zazzle, write articles on Squidoo, promote and advertise my Line Dance Instruction business, etc)
- Socialize and/or Relax
So, where does the “reading SciFi” fit into all this? Well, friends and neighbors, I’m about to go all Zen on you.
There has to be balance!
To maintain a healthy “me” there has to be some socialization and relaxation built into the picture. It can’t all be “work, work, plan, plan, plan, work, work, work toward the goal” Ya just gotta cut loose and relax some too!
So, as part of my ‘getting ready for bed” routine I do some reading.
Ah-HA! cry the teeming masses of the eight people actually reading my blog!
The light dawns. The sun rises and understanding and clarity reigns throughout the land! Woot!
And the SciFi series I’m re-reading is The Dresden Files / by Jim Butcher. Ok, so I’ve read this series of books before. And I have this “rule” that I only keep books around if I’ve read them at least four times. And since this is the fourth? fifth? sixth? time I’ve read this series I’m going to keep the books around this time so the next time I want to read them I won’t have to go scrounging around to find them all.
If you’re into SciFi, or Fantasy, or you’re into Detective Noir books then this series has got your name written all over it. It is about this nice guy who happens to be Wizard, and a Private Investigator and who sometimes gets himself into trouble. Uhmmm. Did I say “sometimes”? That’s like saying the Mississippi has a little bit of water in it. LOL
Anyway, the books are a very fast read. Lots of fun. Entertaining, enjoyable and full of action. They have characters which develop and grow, not only within each book, but over the span of the entire series. Which means that you really do need to read them in order.
The first one, which I finished last night, is called “Storm Front” Here is what it says about the book on the author’s website:
Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he’s the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things — and most of them don’t play well with humans. That’s where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a — well, whatever.
There’s just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry’s seeing dollar signs. But where there’s black magic, there’s a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry’s name. And that’s when things start to get… interesting.
Magic. It can get a guy killed.
Now, that I’ve finished book one, I’m going to have to head to Half-Price Books today and try to find Books 2 & 3 in the series. *sigh*
That is after I go to the dance studio this morning and before I go practice with my awesome dance partner and then go to the wonderful West Coast Swing Class tonight.
See ya on the dance floor!
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2013 Calendar / Event Calendar Updated
Don’t you hate the words “Tentative” and “Possible” and “Probable?”
Well unfortunately, at this point in the year, there is no help for it… *sigh*
I’ve updated my calendar, for now. Stay tuned for more changes over the coming few days as I line up this year’s schedule.
At any event where I’m attending I’m ALWAYS available for private coaching and teaching. In fact, I’ll stand on my head and do back flips to make the schedule work so I can meet you! Woot!
Uhmmm… don’t literally hold me to that whole stand on the head thing…it is a metaphor. If I actually tried to do a back flip it would be the end of my dancing career. Urk.
Anyway, stay tuned as the calendar continues to be updated and detail added. 😀
See ya on the dance floor!
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Putting “Getting Fit and Healthy” into Perspective
An interesting comment at Worlds, sparks some deep thought and a very long blog post…
While I was at the World Championships of Country Western Dance, I pretty much cornered anyone who would listen to me for more than 60 seconds and regaled them with my “plans for the coming year.”
Side note: for those of you who want me to get to the point without my usual “Tony Ramblings” *ahem* Today’s topic is:
“trying to come up with an analogy that accurately encompasses the magnitude of someone’s effort to ‘get fit and healthy'”
But saying it that concisely just sounds way to scholarly for my taste. And it is Borrrring! And way *not fun* and way “too brief”, so back to the ramblings of Tony’s Brain as I set up the picture for you. 🙂
So, at Worlds, I “trapped” lots of people and forced them to watch me make like Tigger as I bounced around in excitement and effused about my plans for the coming year!
Just in case you don’t know who Tigger is watch this video:
This enforced captivity on the part of my listeners at Worlds usually started off with the innocent and alluring sounding statement
“Did you hear my good news? I won a spot on the US DanceSport Team! China here I come!“ then…
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 