Crunchy ‘Nanas

For those of you thinking, hmmm, Crunchy’s gone quiet, she must be out running marathons left and right and is too exhausted to write about her sub three-hour personal best, you’d be oh so wrong. (But thanks for the compliment!) For those wondering if maybe she is absorbed in re-reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in eager anticipation of midnight 21st July, you’d be sort of right. If, instead, you are betting she is tinkering behind the scenes, you’d be almost right. If you are sure she WOULD be tinkering behind the scenes if she could get her phpMyAdmin to do what it is told, you’d be SPOT ON.

Nothing is ever easy, is it? This is what I wanted, wasn’t it? A challenge? Yes, I like challenges. I must keep reminding myself of this. I like challenges. I like challenges. Challenges make me smile. Or grit my teeth. One of the two.

Deep breath in. Slow breath out. MySQL extension, we are on the same side here. Help me, help you.

~~~

She shoots, she scores! One minor challenge hurdled. Hooray! (Okay, so now I’m tinkering.)

In honor of the HAIL we had this week and the expressed curiosity over at Cranky Fitness, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind my readers that Christmas 2007 is only 165 shopping days away, the first day of Hanukkah only 145 days away, and Festivus (you know, that holiday for the “rest of us”) is only 158 days away. If you are already making your lists and checking them twice, here’s holiday gift idea #1. It is, in my opinion, the ultimate stocking stuffer.

That’s right friends, a glow in the dark Banana Guard. It will protect your ‘nana from getting squashed at the bottom of your backpack, gym bag, camelbak, or whatever lovely tote you carry on your rigorous excursions into the world of let’s not be lazy today. Tried and tested by yours truly.

Why, you may ask, does it need to glow? Beats the heck out of me, but it was the same price as the other one, so I figured I’d be adventurous! I’ll let you know if I ever get stuck in a cave and it proves to be a useful feature. But, it is such a party conversation piece. (We tried to get a picture of it glowing, but it didn’t work out.)

I’ve decided that before I die, I will complete at least one half marathon on each continent. Each continent except Antarctica. Because that’s just too flippin’ cold. The only question left is where next: South America, Africa, Asia, or Australia?

(Crunchy husband didn’t seem as supportive of this plan as I expected him to be. Possibly because he thinks I’m avidly Googling “Mauritius, half marathon” right now. I wasn’t. Until he mentioned it.)

As an itv commentator aptly put it Friday night, “no bombs, no drugs, no rain.” Just 189 pairs of the fittest legs on the planet! (Yes, I’ve got pictures of more than just Americans coming off the ramp. But, the Americans are the only ones I know without matching up image time to the start order. And Hincapie came third in the Prologue!)

Now, I’ve got to eat my breakfast so we can get out to Canterbury for Stage 1 of le Tour de France en Angleterre.

David Zabriskie- US National Time Trial Champion

George Hincapie

Levi Leipheimer

Treadmills bore me. Absolutely bore me zonkers. I’d much rather be outside, taking in the sun and fresh air. Or, rain and thunder as luck would have it here in rainy, flood-ridden England. And yet, in my forgiving and open-minded manner, every now and then, with a bit of trepidation, I return to the terrible beast.

My story this time is that when I signed up at the new gym for the fantastic outdoor pool, they mentioned that a personal assessment was included with my membership. I’ve never spoken with a trainer, nor set out a personal plan with someone who actually knows something about what I should be doing, so I figured this would be a good time to do it. Especially since I tend to under-utilize the resources in gyms because I feel too self-conscious and too worried I’ll hurt myself trying to use the weight resistance equipment.

I spoke with the trainer last week. I told him, I hate treadmills. Treadmills bore me. And yet, he still set me a plan that incorporates ten minutes on the sucker. Ten minutes doesn’t seem like a long time. When you’re soaking in a warm bath or getting a relaxing massage, ten minutes go by in a snap. But on a treadmill, ten minutes can last a LIFETIME, let me tell you, even with U2 pumpin’ on the ‘Pod. I set myself up on a machine situated by a window, facing the outside world, but that didn’t help. I tried thinking about how on Thursday I’m taking myself out to Minnis Bay for a run. That really didn’t help. I couldn’t watch the built-in tv because exercise time is “me” time in which I try to turn off worry and stress. The latest news brief on the recently foiled terrorist attacks is not conducive to 30 stress-free minutes.

But one thing that did keep me occupied, for maybe 45 seconds anyway, was this question. Why don’t treadmills simulate downhill courses as well as uphill tracks? You can set the gradient so that you are running a bit uphill. It must be possible to build a machine with the same gadgets in the back as in the front to lift the back end up to simulate the downhill part of a course. Not that I really care, I’d much rather run uphill than down. But, at the same time, I’m a stickler for balance and consistency. If you can run uphill, you should be able to run downhill.

And there you have it. Inconsistency: one more reason to hate the blasted treadmill.

So many people turn a blind eye to the reality of climate change because if they accepted it as a real threat they’d feel morally bound to do something, to make changes they feel will be difficult and detrimental to their quality of life. Because they are not willing to make these changes, they reject or avoid addressing the reality of climate change.

Wow, right on. We finally got “An Inconvenient Truth” in our DVD queue. Beyond all the graphs and powerpoint, which some could find a bit dry, it gets you thinking about climate change and the drastic impact it is having on the planet, of course, but also about how and why we make choices in general. How we apply the things we learn to our daily lives, how we use knowledge and understanding to live in the way we think is right. And, possibly more importantly, how we rationalize choices we make along the way that don’t always jibe with what we feel to be right. We all have those things that we think of as necessary evils. Things that we know to have a negative impact in some part on human life on earth, whether it be ours or the planet’s health, but are still things we feel make our lives easier, better, more convenient in some way. (As long as I am able, I will always get on a transatlantic flight to see my family and friends. But no, it was probably not necessary to drive to Canterbury when we could have taken the train. Bad us.) It’s important to re-evaluate them occasionally to see how necessary they really are, and to isolate where we can make changes, even small ones, to live what we feel to be a more moral life. We’ve heard it a million times, but if we all make small changes individually, the sum of the effects could really do some good. It’s easier for 6.6 billion people to move a mountain than for one person to shoulder the impossible weight. But, each person has to help, or else the mountain stays put.

The movie came to us at a good time. It’s Change Your World week here in the UK, but like I said previously, I think it’s something that can be applied globally. Hint, hint. (Yes, I walked to a smaller store for dinner groceries last night, rather than driving to Tesco. Though, I am still trying to figure out a safe route to ride my bike to the gym.)

I’ve also just found out that one of my closest friends has started a blog called Manifest Health thru Knowledge, a lovely notion that can be applied to so many areas. She forecasts her blog to be a chronicle detailing her learnings on her journey toward a healthy body, mind and spirit. “Health cannot be bought or sold, it must be cultivated and protected.” Kind of like the earth’s well-being, actually. While reading her entries, I kept thinking about how our struggles to affect changes that will benefit our personal well-being can be compared to our disinclinations to change things in our lives that are unhealthy to the Earth. Knowledge can definitely be power. But, when it comes to health sometimes we find it difficult to do what’s right, even when we know what we’re doing isn’t the best for us. I think it’s the same with how we treat the planet. I’m going to try to do better.

The contract has been signed. The walls have been painted. The furniture’s been brought in and arranged. The music’s pumping and there are a couple of people already hanging out and dancing on the tables. It’s time for the housewarming. Welcome to Crunchy ‘Nanas’ new home. (This is the first post not originally posted at http://crunchynanas.wordpress.com.) It’s not designed exactly as I’d hoped, it may be at “fixer up-er” status for a while, but it’s got a roof and a functioning toilet so it’s a good enough start.

There shouldn’t be any major changes to come. I won’t trick you and put the bathroom where the kitchen once was. I’d like to you to come back. But, I am hoping to clear away some of the half-empty boxes and move the sidebar contents into a fully functional rollover navigation menu that will work in other browsers besides Firefox. (I was feeling very accomplished when I completed styling my navigation bar. Until, I tested it out in Internet Explorer and it went to absolute pot. As I know I can’t encourage the world to switch on over to Firefox, I need to flex to your needs and re-style a bit.)

I am not sure when these changes will come. I’ve been a bit (over) consumed with this blog design challenge, and I think I need to step back a bit and not worry so much about getting everything done RIGHT NOW. Plus, the WordPress support forums scare me. Some members on there are a bit rude and patronizing. Which really doesn’t make sense because people usually need the most support when they’re just beginning. But, I’ve read a couple strings that actually say, “if you don’t know that, you shouldn’t be using WordPress”. Not very encouraging, helpful, nor the sentiments of the WordPress organization, probably. Personally, I think these people need either to step off their high horses and become a bit more compassionate (there was a time when they didn’t know the answer to that question either), or keep quiet. But, since I cannot dictate where or when Mr or Miss Does Not Play Well With Others will strike, I’m investigating alternative sources to learn how to get my blog site to look and do what I want.

That could take a while. But, please come in and have a look around. Have a cookie. And PLEASE tell me (either in comments to this post or in an email) if it does funky things in the browser you’re using (I’m aware that in IE you can’t see the bullets next to the sidebar listings), or if there are things you just don’t like. I can’t promise a speedy change, but I will take suggestions into consideration. After I have a cookie.

Baked by Chef Moose

Smoking ban, smoking ban, smoking ban!

Wa-hoooo!!!!