4 Set Power Hour

Continuation of previous post...

XXX, I haven’t watch this movie in a LONG time

Excited

Go

4              Quick

8              Smooth

12           Easy

16           Tighten

20           Ankle pop

24           Stomach grumble

28           Questionable

32           Tick tock

36           Knees hurt

40           Standing helps

44           Relax

48           Water good

52           Still good

56           Hungry

60           Timer

64           4 count

68           Biceps

72           Grumble

76           Confident

80           Nail split

84           4 is good

88           Breathe

92           Push

96           Scoop

100         Nibble

104         Sip

108         Spinach

112         Seconds, seconds, seconds

116         No more lasagna

120         Twinge

124         Half way

128         Pan

132         Heat

136         Pancake batter

140         Up downs

144         Flip

148         Too soon

152         Head rush

156         Can do

160         Smells good

164         Alternate legs

168         Time speed

172         Hot bite

176         Hesitate

180         5?

184         Slowing

188         Wassa

192         Clench

196         Smooth

200         Watch the clock

204         Spartan

208         Endurance

212         Storm coming

216         Chew

220         Light at the end of the tunnel

224         Warm

228         Wrapping up

232         More

236         Get some

240         Energized

                COMPLETE!

The Easy Road to Happiness

A song once stated, the best things in life are free, but I disagree. I think the best things in life are earned. There is nothing better than working at something and having it come out well. That being said, my engineering brain is always looking to make any anything easier. Following that logic I started thinking about all the quick and easy items in my life that make me sublimely happy.

How about meals that take only a few ingredients and an process.
Rice Krispy Treats... 3 ingredients, 10 minutes and probably the BEST texture/ taste combination on the planet.
Grilled Cheese... 3 ingredients, 10 minutes and a taste of childhood, or a burned roof of the mouth... blow on it first! BTW, use butter, it is way better.
Instant Pudding... 2 ingredients, ~20 minutes
Fried Eggs... 1 ingredient, 5 minutes... use a seasoned cast iron skillet, medium heat, crack 2 and cook until the white is opaque, flip and turn off the heat. 30 seconds later you have the best damn egg of your life. Come over Ill convert you to an egg lover, but im bringing my skillet.

What about tasks that are quick and easy to do but leave you with a sense of accomplishment.
The 20 minute clean... set the timer and pick up, organize, wash, or clean anything in your house, car, or yard. It is amazing how much you can get done in 20 minutes. You will feel a lot better about your surroundings if you try it. Dump the Saturday cleaning day routine, you won’t need it if you do this 3 times a week. Trust me.
The lunchtime workout... 20 minutes of walking, stretching, hiking, biking, etc. A little bit of exercise in the middle of the has reduced my stress and my blood pressure to a near catatonic state.
Park and walk... park on one end of town or shopping area walk to the opposite end and shop your way back. The walk and carry routine is good for you, you get to enjoy some of the natural surroundings, and I bet it takes you less time than jumping in your car 3 times and finding parking . The variation of this would be to park on the opposite side of the mall and walk across it to the store you wanted to be at. Not all stores/ entrances at the mall are created equal. More people are going into Van Maur than JC Penny, so you can get better parking and the couple minutes of extra walking if always good.

Going along with this idea of small action make the difference; tonight I am going to take the "Power Hour" challenge that was on my "workout of the day" email I get from my Spartan Race signup. Do between 2-10 pushups every minute, on the minute, for an hour. Let’s see if I can walk the walk, or move my arms tomorrow. My goal is 4 a minute for an hour = 240 pushups! Yikes, math sucks.

Stay Tuned!

Stay Awake You Idiot!

Over the course of the last 10 years I have done a lot of late night driving, but in the last 6 months I have done roughly 30,000 miles of it going back and fourth between my new job and my home in IL. As I walked through the following list last night I thought I would share with all my peeps (bad Easter joke, sorry).

Tips for staying awake while driving…

1.       Drink as much water as you pack into your body over the course of 30 minutes and then don’t stop to go to the bathroom. I wouldn’t recommend this for people with weak bladders, like preggos, but that uncomfortable feeling is bound to keep you awake. Stay away from high caffeene drinks, they make you have to pee way quicker and give me eye twitches and then I crash like a 2 year old that ate too much sugar on Easter. At least she had fun!

2.       Listen to music you can sing and dance along to, and do both at a volume just above annoying. Dont listen to books on tape/ cd, we are trained from an early age to fall asleep when someone reads to us. 5 minutes of a professional voice over artist and I am in a comma if the sun aint shining.

3.       Make yourself as cold as you can without shivering. Shivering is a natural reaction that the body uses to stimulate muscles and warm you up. You are looking for that camping outside with the wrong equipment cold, just enough so you can’t sleep all night. God I love camping.

4.       Keep your heart rate up and your muscles loose. This might get you some looks if anyone happens to roll up on you late at night, but I like to do pushups at all the stop sign crossroads I hit. However if you are not planning on driving from Dekalb, IL to Decorah, IA twice a week I would recommend some form of calisthenics every 30-45 minutes. Snap out 20 pushups, jumping jacks, Chinese fire drill, ding dong ditch car addition, tip a cow, whatever you want.

5.       Chew on something. I like almonds and sunflower seeds, because I think gum is too repetitive. I realized repetitive gum chewing is slightly redundant but my drummer like mind instantly goes to chewing at 120 beats per minute and I don’t stop until I spit it out… damn marching band.

6.       I have tried with little success to physically injure myself in order to stay awake. I have learned that I can slap myself pretty hard across the face, but all I end up with is a red mark and instant drowsiness. Plus if you are easy to bruise you might have some splainin to due to your friends and family.

Try these out the next time you sit up quick and realize you don’t know what happened to the last five minutes of driving. Be Safe!