Welcome to "Cube Land"

As many of you know - I lost my luxurious, corner office with windows when our entire division moved from main campus to a building on the edge of the edge of campus. No longer do I have my office - but now a shoebox - I mean a cube to work in. In all honesty though - it's not as bad as I thought. Besides, now I can throw paper airplane notes at people and that's always entertaining.

Speaking of airplanes - this place reminds me of a huge intercontinental jet. Let me tell you why:

• there is always a quiet hum of a fan going so it sounds like a plane
• It's cold in here and my feet are always freezing. Just like in a plane!
• The building shakes... just like a plane does
• The aisles between the seats, I mean the cubes are about as big as those in planes
• people walk the aisles for excercise... just like on planes!
• there are snakes in here - just like on planes! (kidding)
• the people sitting next to you are always loud and annoying
• the bathrooms smell
• this place is about as big as a plane with 600 people jammed in it
• the phone rings sound like the beeps on planes when the pilot pages the flight attendant

I'm sure there are more - I'll continue when necessary.

Enjoy!

3 Down... 4th Round...

Yep, I did it. I signed up for a FOURTH ROUND of bootcamp. I think I have completely lost my mind but when I have a week off in between... I miss it... so I sign up again. It's like some weird sort of addiction. Which I guess is a "good" addiction if you're addicted to working out because then at least you're doing something good for your body.

And then, because I'm not crazy, tired or sore enough from the 5:30 a.m. workouts 3 times a week, I've decided to add some gym time on to that in the evenings. I'm looking for results here folks. The wedding (my sister's) is in less than 6 mo's and I've GOT to fit into that dress.

I'll keep you posted if you're interested.

Until next time !

Oh My Thighs

I don't understand why we must do 1 million squats in bootcamp today - my thighs are big enough - I don't need them bigger!

Here's to another day of being unable to walk...

The Wrath of Bootcamp Returns

So it's only been 2 days since I've been back in the swing of things with bootcamp and already... I CAN'T WALK. I swear to you - I'm moving slower than a turtle and can't sit down or stand up.

It's mostly my thighs. They feel like they have bruises all over the place and every time I move - the pain flares up. I hope I never get old - I feel like this might be a look into the future.

I hope my thighs at least lose a few inches!

Mouse in the House

One of the things I am afraid of is mice. Ew. Yuck. I don't like them. So you can imagine my distraught when I was changing the water cooler at work and there was a dead one, stuck, stretched out and dead on a sticky trap at work. Let me just tell you - I just about lost my lunch. 4 days later - it's still haunting me that poor little rhodent. And now, I think there is a dead one in my office - I've concluded it's dead inside of my radiator because every time the heat comes on - the stench gets worse. Again. Ew and gross. Guess there are some bright sides to moving to another office building into a cube.

Bootcamp ~ Round 3

Well bootcamp round 3 began today and this time inside - thank goodness! Instead of running laps outside at a parking lot in the dark, I now get to run laps inside of a gradeschool in the bright, blaring lights while admiring artwork from the little ones on the walls.

I felt like I was going to puke today - but I did run the entire time - I didn't let myself walk... let's see if this bootcamp kicks into the weight loss!

Stay tuned for updates!

The Wednesday Before Turkey Day

I don't have much to write as it's the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I think I'm the only living soul who is actually at work today and not at home cooking. Oh well. I'm getting my haircut tonight and I'm really excited. I"m going to cut it short for the holidays. Don't tell my cousin or my sister though - as I'm supposed to be growing it out for their weddings this Spring. I should be working on my 15 page paper about facial transplantations too - but I'm not. Oooh - the chinese we ordered for lunch just arrived.

Until next time my dear friends. And this thanksgiving - I'm thankful for all of you!

Happy Holidays?

I'd just like to comment on the fact that Omaha believes that it is December 12 and not November 12... as it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Everywhere you turn, people have Christmas lights on their houses, huge trees in their windows and christmas music playing on the radio!

I just have one question...

WHAT HAPPENED TO THANKSGIVING?!

Seriously - I know people are in a hurry to get things done and over with in today's society - but for heaven's sake - can you at least wait until November 23 to put up your holiday garb?

That's all I have for now. Until next time.

Another Camp Done...

Well, Adventure Bootcamp phase II is officially over. I ended it yesterday - complete with a nice pull in my lower back. So I couldn't move yesterday and I can't move today.

I also signed up for a program here at work called CU on the Scale. You get a team together a la "The Biggest Loser" and see who can lose the most. I haven't lost anything so we'll see if there are any results. I'll post them here if you're interested.

Otherwise - a weekend full of work. Our National Board is in town. Yehaw. I just love my life (even though that sounded sarcastic - I really do love my life! Hooah!)

I.Can't.Move.

My body is screaming at me... "WHY Did you decide that bootcamp would be a good idea you idiot?! I hate you! Take me back to sleep!"

I can't barely walk or move and I have discovered muscles I have that I didn't know exsisted... and this is only day 3 of round 2...

Getting Your Masters is Overrated...

... I've decided. Seriously, the LAST thing I want to do on top of everything else is research face transplants, prepare a discussion, outline, presentation and 20 page paper on it for next week! Meanwhile, I am also not so interested in The Importance and Function of Food in the book, The Joy Luck Club however I must write 10 pages on that subject too. by next week. And did I mention I'm planning an event for 150 people on Thursday as well?

It is times like these I want to take a "sabbatical" on school work because ya know what? I think it's overrated!

Thanks for listening to my rant... I just hate homework -

Round 2...

Well, today started "Round 2" of bootcamp and my I was NOT ready for it. Last week I didn't work out one bit and ate whatever the heck I felt like... now my body is laughing at me.... I should NOT have done that!

And the worse thing is - there is only 5 people in this bootcamp session as opposed to the 55 that were in it last session. This means that I am the one who is running in the back of the group... I'm coming in last. Perhaps this is just a bit more motivation to not come in last but seriously when I'm running and I can't breathe - it's time to walk and I don't care. Come to think of it... who cares if I'm walking! Hmph!

I'm sure I'll thank myself later for signing up for this again - but right now I feel like I could just use the extra sleep...

The Results Are In... VICTORY!

Today was the last day of my 4 week bootcamp. I want to thank everyone who has been there along the way to support me! A special thanks to my sister Kelly who made me sign up in the first place and for telling me to keep going when I wanted to walk instead of run... I didn't think I'd see much improvement but to my surprise I did! The results are in...

We ran the mile today and I was able to knock off 1 minute and 9 seconds from my first time! A huge deal for me as I DO NOT run - let alone a mile! I really pushed myself today... go me!

For my measurements...

• I lost 5 pounds! (who knew?!)
• I lost 3.9% body fat (which is a huge deal apparently)

Measurements

• Left Arm: down .25
• Right Arm: down .25
• Chest: down .5
• Waist: down 1.5
• Hips: Down 1.75
• Left upper leg: down .5
• Right upper leg: down 1

Fat Measurement

• Triceps: Down 4
• IL (I think this is waist?): down 7
• Abs: down 10 (!)
• Thighs: Down 5

The trainer said I have tied for first place for the person who has improved the most in measurements for the camp... again! Who knew?! I'm so excited to now sleep and eat!

I'll post more when it starts all over again in a week! (I did end up signing up for the October Express Halloween Camp - you should too!)

Happy Friday!

Cheater, Cheater Pumpkin Eater!

Today was the day before the last day of bootcamp - the last day is on Friday and I'm almost sure I'll have to run the mile again so I'm trying to get myself "pumped up" for that... right. Today at any rate, there was a new lady next to me and I caught her cheating! Truly she's really only cheating herself because by not doing the excercises, she's setting herself back but still!

We were doing these things called zen pushups where you take 2 dumbbells and do a pushup, then you get up and push your arms forward and then your arms up and back down for a pushup for 2 and then 3 and then 4 and so on... well she was getting done WAY before I was and I couldn't figure out why! Until I watched and she wasn't doing the pushup and then she was only extending her arms up - not out and up! P'shah! The nerve!

Again - she's just hurting herself by not doing the excercies... but still! :)

1 Liter Bottle of Water and Other Tall Stories...

So today is the beginning of the last week of bootcamp. I can't believe I've made it this far! But proud of myself for doing so. I haven't lost any weight (blasted!) but I've definitely toned up and can even show anyone my arm muscles who asks. :)

This weekend I spent 3 hours at the grocery store (I'm not kidding - ask my boyfriend Erik who I drug with me and was so spent by the end of it he needed a smoke break) and decided to buy a water bottle that held 1 liter of water. They say you're supposed to drink 2 liters of water a day so I thought cool! Ill get one of these, drink 2 and be set!

Might I say this is not a good idea to drink half of it before bootcamp even starts? Oh yes - that's what I did and today I thought I was going to EXPLODE with water 1o minutes in. Thankfully, I didn't but I certainly learned my lesson!

It was raining again today so my mat was soaked and so was I*. Now all I have to look forward to is running a mile again and pushing a car.

Oh joy!
*Note: I was soaked because it was raining out - not because I peed my pants. I didn't pee my pants; I just thought about it

Now THIS is bootcamp!

So I wake up this morning at 4:50 a.m. (my usual time to get up for bootcamp) and it is STORMING out... I mean pouring down rain, thunder, lightening - the whole bit. I'm thinking to myself "why am I going to get up and go to bootcamp and find out it's cancelled?" But I figure, oh well I mine as well just show up. So I drive there in the pouring rain, get there and everyone is sitting in their cars... finally the rain lets up and everyone gets out and we start stretching. Our leader gets a call from her boss saying he cancelled their camp... so she asks us if we want to cancel ours and some lady says "no way! we're already here!" she had a good point but I was looking forward to going home for some extra sleep! Oh well.

So we stretched out and then ran in the pouring rain for a half hour. Stopping every 4 minutes to do calisthenics... all I could think while I was running in the pouring rain with my pants, shoes, socks and whole self soaked... now THIS is bootcamp! Huah!

My First Bootcamp Injury...

I can't move my head, my neck, my left arm or anything that includes my back. I now know how people who throw their back out feel - HORRIBLE! And I couldn't sleep... word on the street is that bootcamp is HORRID tomorrow - I hope I can at least move by then or I might just be lifting weights in my head...

Bootcamp is not my friend

bootcamp today sucked hard core. I'm not sure if it was because I didn't really feel like going in the first place (I didn't get much sleep over my wild weekend) or if because my body just doesnt like to run... it tells me this everyday mind you but I like to try and ignore it... but today - I couldn't ignore it yelling at me to STOP with the running already!

We had to do an obstacle course which consisted of running one lap around the stupid parking lot (it doesnt sound bad but it is - this parking lot is deceiving - it has hidden hills and stinky outhouses - barf!) then after that jumping over hurdles, squatting and running from cone to cone and then stepping through some ladder thing. I could barely breathe let alone do an obstacle course so I admit I was half assing it -- then I got yelled at by the trainer for doing the ladder wrong so I had to do it again. Today - me and my body are mad at bootcamp. On the upside - I felt better for working out. Now for a nap this evening. :)

"Don't Do Anything I Wouldn't Do..."

This weekend marked many firsts in my life in which I'm not quite sure how I made it 27 without doing some of them. They include:

• visiting a winery/vineyard (p.s. My boyfriend Erik ROCKS who took me there. Love him to death)
• stealing a road block barrell complete with iridescent striping
• attending Oktoberfest
• walking through a drive thru

I think my favorite of those stories is walking through a drive thru at 3 a.m. ... it was taco bell and we were hungry! We got lots of honks from cars - I like to think it was because I'm so cute and people wanted to tell me that from their cars. :)

Umpah! But now if I ever have kids and I say "don't do anything I wouldn't do" they know it's okay to walk through a drive-thru at 3 a.m in the morning

Halfway There...

Today marked the halfway point to being done with bootcamp. I think today was worse then last Friday when we ran the mile. Today we did weights, push ups, ran up hills, down hills, sprinted, ran with bands, and had to sit with our legs at 90 degree angles up against a latrine wall.

Do you ever have "movie moments"? I do and I had one today at approximately 5:52 a.m. in that the music was blaring and I went from ice skater jumps, to tae bo kicks down to push ups. And as I was sitting up against the latrine wall after sprinting up a hill and jump jacking for 5 minutes I thought to myself "this must be what concentration camp was like... those poor, poor people."

Anywho - with my halfway mark I've sucessfully lost 2 lbs (we'll see if it stays off), built my arm muscle definition a bit more and can now run the entire 2 laps we do as warm up (I usually have to walk the second half) so for me - that's an accomplishment!

I'm excited to sleep this weekend and just RELAX my muscles so I can start walking normally again.

Happy Friday!