Fast Away

Fasting was...uneventful. Which is a good thing on the one hand, but didn't lead to a feeling of accomplishment on the other hand. I was hoping the fast would be a stand to change the way I was doing things. I'm a goal person - gotta have a goal. Lost weight initially by setting a three month stick to it diet, road a 100 mile bike ride by setting that goal. So, now what? I think I must do something to understand that changing to a healthier lifestyle means every day - no goal other than do it EVERY DAY. Boring, eh?

I'd like a partner in healthy lifestyle change, but all those around me trying to make that change want to make it on their own. I think because I bike ridiculously long miles people think that they can't "keep up" with me when I exercise. Bah! I had back surgery that's left me...shall we say less than capable of decent workouts. I get tired very easily because the workout hurts. (Unless I'm biking.)

Reading about other's journeys is motivating though!

Juice fasting

O.k. step number one to juice fasting is not to chant in your head "I'm going to be hungry, I'm going to be hungry..." I woke up this morning and that was the first thing in my head. I wasn't hungry, but the fact that I was GOING to feel hungry LATER was a bit too overwhelming. So, I decided to have a different morning than I normally do. First, I'm dressed comfortably instead of already dressed for work, which is what I normally do on the night I work. Then I took the dog for a walk on a different route than we normally take. He wasn't so sure about that, but enjoyed the new sniffs along the way, so he adjusted quickly. Myself, I enjoyed looking at different flower beds along the way and also enjoyed the different sniffs!

I was a good librarian and read up on the dos and don'ts of fasting. Apparently if you're going to juice fast and just for a day, there aren't too many rules other than don't eat an entire pizza the night before. I'm trying this one day deal first to help me prepare for a longer one. Thankfully, I don't have any of the health issues that would lead you NOT to fast, i.e. diabetes, tendency towards bulimia (duh), blood pressure issues etc.

Why am I doing it? Not to lose weight. It's the feeling that if I could start fresh in one aspect of my life, maybe I could start fresh in others. And, I'm hoping that I can be a bit more zen in my life and a little less tighter than a fully stretched rubber band. I'm thinking that might reduce the back issues as well. At least I hope it does!

Gotta go drink some water now!

Where to go?

People get their motivation for change in various places. Some get it from family, friends, a job that's stale or crappy - some even get it from tv shows. Me - I guess I'm getting mine from pain. See, people say to me when they catch me stretching "Oh, is your back bothering you today?" Fact is, my back is bothering me every day. It's making me tired all the time, and it's just generally making me grumpy. So, what can I do?

First, I'm preparing to fast. I feel like I need a fresh start, and I think that fasting might help me mentally get there. I'm starting with a juice fast on Wednesday. After reading up on fasting, I've learned not to jump into a long fast without preparing for it, so I think I'll start with a one day juice fast and go from there. I'm hoping it gives me some motivation for focussing on the positive in my food choices which inevitably helps with my mental state.

I'm going to try to post every day to the blog so I can track my own journey. Read it or not. Comment or not. Help me or not - but I sure could use the help.

Dead blogs

As I look back on my web 2.0 web blog, I can't help but wonder how many "dead" blogs there are out in space. Last mutterings of people now gone from this earth or who have moved on and just don't care about posting anymore. This blog, of course, is one of those. Perhaps I'll keep it as a learning blog for things I'm learning in life, work, and love.

Here's what I'm learning lately:
Love: you suspect that your spouse is interested in someone else. This, of course, makes you feel insecure. Insecurity is very unattractive which leads your spouse to be interested in someone else. So then, what do you do????

Life: If you want to be something, choose it and then become it. You're a non-smoker or a smoker. Choose which one you are and then be it. Don't flop between trying to quit and smoking - you're one or the other. Fitness - same deal - you can spend your life being a miserable person if you're a yo-yo up and down the scale. I have a friend that I saw eating a yummy looking frozen mocha drink. I made a comment that it looked wonderful, but I was betting that it had too many calories for me. Her comment back was, "I gave up on that. I'm a large person - not fat, but also not meant to be skinny. Once I realized that, life was much happier." So, decide - are you fat or fit? Decide which one you are and then become that.

Work: I'm not learning anything and it's making me miserable. At least I'm learning things in the other two areas!

And the finish line is here!

The biggest question - would I participate again in something like this. A most definite yea, but I think we could improve upon things by having more discussions on the item. Having just taken an online class, I think the most I got out of the class were bi-weekly, one hour chat sessions where people in the class could share what they learned that week, what was a stopper for them, and tips and tricks that the rest of us might not have discovered.

I think in the future something like that would keep everyone motivated to move along. I'm excited that everyone at PA tried the program out. Don't know if everyone will finish it, but at least everyone gave it a shot and that's all I can ask. (Without being a learning SS soldier!)

Learning 2.0 was definitely worth my while and I really think we should continue on a path like this again on a smaller scale with online chats as an added feature.

My thoughts

I really enjoyed hearing the buzz about the Learning 2.0 experience when it first began. It has been really great to have people working together in our labs to help each other through the experience. I would like to have seen Google Docs rather than Rollyo say because I think staff would get more use from something like that. Fortunately, we went ahead and had a staff member here do a training on it.

I think this experience has given a great opportunity to those who may have less experience in the library field, but more experience in the area of using these tools. It was great to see the young clerks helping those people out who normally help get them through their day.

I enjoyed looking at some of the blogs. Those who put more pictures in were more attractive, but it's nice to see that people blog in short about their experiences and what they liked and disliked. I really enjoyed the whole experience of having all of us learning together.

Rollyo Woooooo Oooooo

Had to chant the guards music from Wizard of Oz there! Rollyo - don't get it. Spent more time on this one that any other item so far because I wasn't familiar with it, but I still can't find a good use for it for me. I did find someone's roll which was all sheet music sites. Thought that would be helpful, but, well, no not really. I was finding it just as easy to just seach Google for the piece of music I was playing for and adding "sheet music" in the search. In fact, some came up easier that way since they weren't found in any of the sites for the guy's search roll.

Listening around the library I could hear how some didn't find it useful, but after playing with it for a long while found ways they could use it. Recipes seem to be the favorite. I could see that if you have 5 or 6 sites that you search regularly for recipes and you're looking for the best pot roast and know you can trust Paul Deen, Rachel Ray, or Ina Garten to provide you with the best options. Rollyo is my least favorite so far, but I'm still glad I took a look at it.

Here's my roll: http://rollyo.com/avenleigh/womens_music1/