Forget Vegas, women find water romantic

Forget Vegas and its 24-hour wedding chapels, Oregon is the quick path to romance.

Went up to the Columbia River Gorge a couple weeks ago. At Latourell Falls, there was a couple down by the base of the fall, kissing each other with the passionate intensity usually associated with the kind of situation where the man proposes and the woman accepts. (Or the other way 'round, I suppose.)

Latourell Falls, minus the kissing couple

The next convenient waterfall along the Gorge is Wakheena Falls. When we got there, there was another couple getting their engagement photo taken by a professional photographer. Their grins were fixed in place, as if the photographer were taking rather a long time to find the shot that would show the world their love.

Wakheena Falls, without the engaged couple

Then we went to the next waterfall, Multnomah Falls. This is a popular place for weddings.

Multnomah Falls... it ain't possible to take a photo of this falls without people in the shot.

By this time, I was starting to see the pattern. The next stop along the road was a campground, presumably a honeymoon spot. I put my foot firmly on the gas pedal and kept right on going.

Exercise du jour: I've had this kickboxing video sitting on my shelf for... um... okay, since Christmas, okay? It's been making the shelf feel like it has a purpose in life, so it's not as if it's been totally useless. I figure I'm never going to crack open the DVD unless I post it publicly up here, and maybe I can do the exercises without pounding the damn foot. Worth a try.

Oh crap. Not done, but for an embarrassing reason. I can't find the friggin' DVD. Maybe I left it on the shelf so long it crumbled into dust? There does seem to be an unaccountable amount of dust on that shelf, which I am loath to put down to my housekeeping skills.
On the other hand, I sure as shooting got a damn good workout today. Planted trees, which involved quite a bit of hard labor and sweating and high-caloric swearing. So I done good. Just not the good I'd planned to do.

Latourell Falls photo courtesy of gharness


Multnomah Falls photo courtesy of travis S.

The only way I'm going to lose any pounds

I've come to the conclusion that the only way I'm going to lose pounds is if I meet a pickpocket in London.

Still, I shouldn't complain. I am, but I shouldn't. It's not my body's fault if I'm not losing weight.

After the visit to the nutritionist, I dutifully stopped eating mostly fruits and vegetables and tried eating more cheese and chicken and saturated fats. I don't like it. It's a much easier diet -- two bites of chicken and I'm feeling full -- but I miss feeling healthy.

Bit of a conundrum there. The mostly veggie diet made me feel light and full of energy, but it irritated my digestive system. My innards are a lot happier on this saturated fat diet; even after several months my body hadn't adjusted to that high fiber stuff. Even so, I want to go back to the veggie diet. I'll find some form of protein that tastes okay and doesn't require a lot of a) cooking b) expense. Perhaps there's a brand of tofu out there that I would enjoy. I'm sure my body will adjust to a healthy diet eventually. Maybe several months is not enough time.

Switching the diet hasn't caused me to drop any pounds. On the other hand, I haven't gained any pounds either. Something else has changed lately. I used to fluctuate wildly, gaining or losing up to six pounds in a week. Thought that was normal. For the past couple weeks, I have not gained or lost a pound. (The fluctuations weren't caused by the high fiber veggie diet; I've been that way for years.) I'm recording it here because I want to try to figure out what I did to cause the change.

I've been writing down my daily calories. Haven't bothered to put them into Sparkpeople because I'm too lazy and I hate tracking calories it's been too hot in my home office. Yeah, that's it, the heat. Can't use that excuse now that my laptop is back in the land of the living.

One thing about summer living in a home without air conditioning; I've eaten 100 calories today. No interest in eating any more. I would worry about this, but the past week has shown me that I'll make up for it during the week in my oh-so-air-conditioned office.

All this makes it sound like I'm not getting anywhere. I don't think that's true.

I'm certainly stronger; even with the hiatus from the push up challenge, my arms look more toned. (Not that Michelle's going to see me as a threat, but I can see a difference.) I think I've got more stamina to walk or bicycle longer and faster than before. I've been taking it slow because that's what the body felt like doing, plus I'm paranoid about injuring something so severely that that I'd have to stop exercising completely. But with this extra muscle, maybe it's time to go to a higher level of intensity. More sprints, less sauntering.

Exercise du jour: 20 minutes walking, 40 minutes aerobics, 50 very sweaty minutes kickboxing with a DVD. I do appreciate how positive Patricia Moreno is.

Calories in: 1401
Calories out: 1073*

*Not counting basal metabolic rate

Poster Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/renaissancechambara/ / CC BY 2.0

Another change in the pattern

Brilliant act on my part: I did something different the other day. I was feeling rather depressed, so I went to a (cool hip) bookstore to find something to read. There I met people who probably thought themselves cool and hip, though I would describe them as extremely rude. (Making disparaging comments about a total stranger's looks is not really the cool hip thing to do.)
So I was even more depressed. Usually the trend would be to eat some high-fat comfort food, or down a glass of red wine. Instead, on a whim I picked up a new exercise DVD and tried it out when I got home.

Note to self: Exercise is like comfort food without the calories. A steak pleases the taste buds for the moment. Exercise makes you feel good for an hour or more afterward.

Giveaway du jour: I'm heading in to the garage again. If I don't come back, send handsome men with leaf blowers.
Sigh... that damn garage is looming large on the guilt-o-meter. Craven fool that I am, I couldn't face it. Put it off until it's dark and cold and uninviting. Probably have spiders lurking under every box. I'll give away a book, anything, please don't ask me to face that garage tonight.

Exercise du jour: Think I'll try the Cardio Burn KickBox DVD again. It was kinda fun, actually. Even if I did start to cuss at the instructor (Patricia Moreno) towards the end. Don't tell her. She could kick my butt from here to Cleveland without breaking a sweat.
Done!


Photo du Flickr.

Enforced freedom

Poem du jour:
Nothing is ever really lost, or can be lost,
No birth, identity, form--no object of the world.
Nor life, nor force, nor any visible thing;
Appearance must not foil, nor shifted sphere confuse thy brain.
Ample are time and space--ample the fields of Nature.
The body, sluggish, aged, cold--the embers left from earlier fires,
The light in the eye grown dim, shall duly flame again;
The sun now low in the west rises for mornings and for noons continual;
To frozen clods ever the spring's invisible law returns,
With grass and flowers and summer fruits and corn.

- Whitman, "Continuities"

That poem caught my eye, though it doesn't really fit my current mood. To avoid actually laying people off, the company is ordering a forced shutdown for the week. Initially I was peeved, since I am under a lot of pressure to get things done at work. But on the plus side, all the project managers are slacking off on their deadlines, since no one can get anything done by the deadlines. So I've decided if the week off is inevitable, I'm going to lie back and enjoy it.

Giveaway du jour: Okay. One book. I think I can, I think I can... Hey, I've got a whole 9 days off! I can do anything!
Y'know, I don't think I'll ever feel the need to re-read Sean Astin's autobiography again. Been there, and back again. Another book gone.

Exercise du jour: Rania's Personal Trainer DVD, arms and abs.
On a whim, picked up the Cardio Burn KickBox DVD. 50 minutes later, I've definitely worked up a sweat, but I feel good. I hope this isn't too much legwork, considering the couch to 5k program. Oh well, if my knees hurt tomorrow at least I'll know not to do this again.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.