Thursday, May 12, 2016

Nobody asked me, but...

Credit to Bob Smizik, long-time columnist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, for inspiring this format.

Nobody asked me, but...

...Since the Blackhawks season ended, I am appreciating not being stressed out of my mind these days. I always want them to win, of course. But if they weren't going to be champions this year, they might as well get some much-needed and well-deserved rest. The mental break has been good for me, too.
That aside...

...It's great to see how well the Penguins are playing. As I've said many times, the Pens are my second-favorite team behind the Blackhawks. If the Hawks can't win the Stanley Cup, I definitely want the Pens to win. I think it's always hard to watch a successor get crowned, but some successors can be easier to live with than others. In 2010, the Pens were probably thrilled when the Hawks were their Cup successor over Pittsburgh's rival Philadelphia. On the flip side, it would be really cool if the Pens could be the Hawks' Cup successor this year.
Wildlife photographer fail.
"Should I tell him I'm here?"
...I love this candid-looking photo with Artemi Panarin. What is it about black and white photos that always looks so artistic? On a humorous note, some folks joked that they couldn't tell which of the two people in the picture is older.
...Animal crackers are weirdly addictive. While I do love crunchy snacks, normally I prefer the salty variety to the sweet. But since animal crackers aren't overly sweet, they don't trigger my sugar overload flags the way things like chocolate chip cookies do. I wonder if animal cracker design labs realize this and play this up on purpose?
...Strength training works well in bits and pieces. Earlier this week, I had a yoga class but went to the gym 15 minutes early to knock out some lower-body lifting. It worked really well. 

This made me realize how strength work can be done effectively in short bursts. In my opinion, fitness activities like running or yoga require at least 20 minutes to be worthwhile. But with strength work, you can easily pick a muscle group, do 5 minutes of focused strength work, and move on.
I am going to experiment with trying to add 5-10 minutes of incremental strength work to my cardio/yoga days in the future. As many of us say, you can do anything for five minutes, right? Hopefully the little things will add up over time.

...The umbrellas are multiplying. There was a lot of rain in Chicago this week. Each day, I brought an umbrella with me from home for my walk to the office. Then, I'd forget to bring it home that evening. The next day, I would bring another one. This is on top of the fact that even when it's not raining, I've always kept an umbrella at the office just in case. The end result: A sizable umbrella collection at my office cube. My current count is four.
...Orange is the new black. Yesterday I saw a man wearing a very nice 3-piece black suit and tie. He was carrying a leather attache, and he had the Wall Street Journal tucked into one of the pockets. All in all, he looked like the perfectly polished businessman... save for the fact he was wearing neon-orange socks.
I find a lot of humor in the minute character details like this!

It reminded me of another similar incident from a few years ago because...

...Seriously, what is it with things that are orange in color? I once saw a nattily dressed businessman striding purposely down the street. I imagined he was on his way to leading a high-powered board meeting. He just oozed that kind of executive presence, you know? At the same time, he also had three orange parking tickets sticking out of his briefcase.
Parking tickets are a great accessory for adding a little pop of color to your outfit (business professional OR casual).
Hey, even the most executive of executives still need to find a place to park, yes?

...Races that offer free race photos automatically get ENORMOUS ratings boosts from me. Many thanks to RAM Racing for providing free Cinco de Miler race photos again this year! Here is my favorite of this year's action shots:
and finally...

...I want to up my race photo body spasm game. By my standards, my recent race photos have been on the tame side. I think it's time to start practicing some new body spasm poses (in private, of course). My new goal is to get a race photo posed like this:
Confession: I've never been able to gracefully click my heels in the air. Therefore, if anyone has suggestions on heel-clicking training plans, I would be most obliged!

--
Linking up with Amanda's Thinking Out Loud Thursdays.

17 comments:

  1. The socks remind me of the Birdcage. "One must have a hint of color."
    I'm with you on the strength training too. Since I started PT, I would have two PT sessions a week, then I'd do exercises on my own every day outside of PT. Short, effective sessions that I could focus on for 10 to 15 minutes.

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    1. I've never seen the Birdcage but it sounds like a classic! Yes on the PT exercises. I had a few on my regimen that just took a few minutes each, but even so - it was tough sometimes to find the motivation. When I did do them, though, it was amazing how much benefit I'd get for those few minutes of work!

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  2. I'm with you on the strength training! If I'm pressed for time, I like that I can still throw in a quick and effective workout with weights! :]

    Free race photos are such an awesome perk! :P

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    1. Isn't it amazing how much you can accomplish with weights in such a quick timespan? It's miraculous. =)

      I wish more races would offer free photos!!!

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  3. Fancy business socks for dudes must be a new trend... I've been noticing a lot of that lately!

    I do 5 minute kettlebell sets all the time when I'm working from home. It's a great break, and it does add up :)

    I love those animal crackers. Someone in my office used to bring in a giant tub of them from Costco and I'd load up constantly.

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    1. I've got a couple of guys in my office who are a bit more on the hipster side, and they wear brightly colored socks and shorter pants to show them off. So I thought it was a more hipster thing, but maybe it's becoming more mainstream now?

      5-minute kettlebell sets sound fantastic! What a great way to take a break and be productive at the same time!

      Ah yes - if there was a giant tub of Costco animal crackers, I wouldn't be able to walk by without grabbing another handful of them. =D

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  4. Thank you so much, Kelly! It's a wonderful perk to get free race photos, I can only think of a small handful of races that do it! I'm with you, I'd estimate that I only like about one out of every 7 of my race photos. Usually I cringe when I see myself captured with some weird foot position or facial expression, LOL. I am hard pressed to find umbrellas, too, which makes it even worse when I start leaving them all at the office, hehe. I am equal opportunity sweet tooth and salty tooth as well. I eat it all!!!!!! =D

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  5. Heel-clicking is very tricky, you need to have a pretty solid vertical jump to give yourself enough time for the click AND to properly reposition for the landing. Maybe consider adding box jumps to your 5 minute workouts, great for VJ and for explosive power, which can help the running a lot.

    Maybe races should start putting like "photo booth props" at points along the course before you're getting to a photographer... Then you drop them at a table after the photog and a volunteer runs them back to the pick-up spot... Might have to try this for the next longer race I'm managing...

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    1. Ahhhh, great advice, Amanda! I've never tried training with box jumps but for sure, they seem like they could be extremely helpful for both running and heel-clicking! You are obviously quite the resident heel-clicking expert! =)

      Oh my goodness, what a great idea to have photo booth props on a course! Why hasn't anyone thought of it earlier? You could make a killing implementing this idea at your next race!!!!!!!

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  6. At first I thought that umbrella pic was of all of your umbrellas! I also love races that have free race pictures. What's the deal with race pictures? They are either free or cost $75! :)

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    1. LOLOLOL, that would be a museum-worthy collection of umbrellas if it were indeed mine. =) Yes, why are race pictures so crazy expensive? Especially when you can have spectators out on most courses taking photos of us for free!!!

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  7. I read somewhere that people who wear fun socks are more intelligent than people who don't? Is that true? I do love the color orange!

    That race photo of you is great! Yay for free! Is RAM getting better with their races?

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    1. Veddy interesting! My hosiery is pretty nondiverse - I usually wear only black socks, nude hose, and running socks - so maybe I need to start looking for neon-colored socks to help boost my brain???

      Thanks so much Wendy! I've had awesome experiences at Cinco de Miler both this year and last year, so my experience with RAM has been quite good!

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  8. Want to share some of those umbrellas? I broke two this week. Two. That is what I get for bringing weak ass suburban umbrellas with me to the city haha I think I need some wind ones... I don't know if they have a real name.

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    1. Alexandra, I totally feel your pain with the broken umbrellas! Several of mine have a penchant for turning inside out and/or the panels falling off the wiring. They need to design Chicago-specific umbrellas that are built to design the crazy winds we have here, right?

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  9. My husband doesn't have to dress extremely professionally, but he loves to wear goofy socks. He says it helps brighten his mood.

    Great Race photo! I generally love RAM races. They do a great job. AND, if you can figure out how to successfully and photogenically click your heals in the air, please share!

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    1. Good for your husband! I do think it's fun to keep the attire creative in your own personalized way. If it helps brighten the mood, all the better!!!

      Thanks very much, Jennifer! I've had a great experience at Cinco de Miler the last two years, so my experience with RAM has been terrific, too. Absolutely - if I ever I unearth the secret for gracefully clicking my heels, I will be sure to write up a detailed step-by-step and tell-all. I'm on the hunt! =D

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