I went back to the gym today!!!

Thanks to physical therapy my lower back is feeling much better.  I decided that today would be a great day to start up at the university rec center.  My physical therapist limited me to using the stationary bike as opposed to any running or weight lifting.  That worked for me as I was able to ride and read at the same time.

It was a small step, but one I needed to take.  It's been so long since I exercised that the task of losing weight seems very daunting.  It's as if there's this mountain that I keep trying to climb.  I start up the mountain, then for some reason take a break.  But when I stop, I slide all the way back down to the bottom.  How do I get over that mountain?

I also went to see "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1" today.  I read the book when it first came out and I decided not to reread it because while I knew the basic plot, I didn't remember many of the specifics.  The one issue that I had with the book was the same one I had in the movie - they spent waaaay too much time camping.  It just seemed to be filler and really slow the book down.  Overall I did enjoy the movie and am looking forward to seeing Part 2 when it comes out next year.

This is the true story of 7 strangers...

Matt and I were talking today about "The Real World" and how it is completely different from when it started back in the 1990s.  I was in college when the first season debuted.  It wasn't until grad school that I really started watching when the Los Angeles season was on.  It was must watch television during the LA, San Francisco, Miami, Boston, Seattle, Hawaii and New Orleans seasons (I don't include London because let's be honest - it was sooooooo boring).  There were issues and topics brought up on the show that we could relate to and the cast members actually had real lives.

Then came The Real World - Las Vegas.  In one season the show became nothing more than a chance to show 7 strangers get sh*t-faced drunk and hook up with one another.  This was a train-wreck of a season and, big surprise, it drew HUGE ratings.  So of course, every subsequent season has an endless progression of drunks, sluts and douchebags who are brought together to do what they do best .... nothing.

I really miss those days when The Real World was interesting to watch.  Now, it's a mess, and not even a hot mess, just a mess.

Goal #6 - Continue to not drink soda

In January of this year I decided to stop drinking soda.  Growing up in the south I was pretty much raised on Coca-Cola.  Over the years I have tried on and off to ween myself of drinking soda, but would always end up resuming my cola drinking ways.  I just felt I needed to go cold turkey and just give it up.  Now I drink iced tea, water, milk, etc.

The first few weeks were rough as I would get some wicked headaches and there was one day when I actually got the shakes during school.  Imagine the fun of teaching algebra while dextoxing from caffeine! I would usually fall off the wagon so to speak after a few weeks, but for some reason this time it took.  I haven't had any soda since mid-January.

I will admit that the one thing I miss about soda is the feeling.  I miss how an icy-cold coke feels in the back of my throat when you first start to drink it.  Now to specify, it has to be a Coca-Cola in a glass full of ice.  Just something about that sensation makes me crave a soda like crazy.

A few people have asked me why I don't just try having one soda every once in a while or just drink diet soda.  I have to be honest when I say that I know I have a problem with soda, the way that an alcoholic has a problem with just having one drink.  I know that if I have one, that I'm going all the way down the rabbit hole again.  I'm determined not to go back to that place.

Oh My Aching Back

Earlier this week my doctor reevaluated my back injury. To catch everyone up, in August I somehow managed to pull a muscle in my back. Over the next three months I ignored the issue until the pain went from an annoyance to a major issue. I was diagnosed with a severe muscle spasm in my lower back and placed on prednisone and a muscle relaxer to hopefully loosen up the spasm and allow my back to heal.

Well on Sunday of last week I played in my rec league volleyball tournament. I had a great match and went all out. Unfortunately the play aggravated the injury and by Tuesday I was having difficulty standing or sitting without considerable pain. So it was back to the doc to get more anti-inflammatory medicine and a new muscle relaxer (the first one made me feel horrible after I took it).

In addition to the meds, I also was scheduled for physical therapy. My first session was on Friday morning and it was, in a word, heavenly. My therapist, Chris, worked on my back for about 40 minutes and when he finished my back was pain free for the first time in 3 months! It only lasted for about 30 minutes before the little aches and pains returned, but it was a sweet taste of what I can expect once my treatment is finished.

Goal #2 Update....

My number 2 goal is to finish the book "Numbered Account" by Christopher Reich. As I've previously written, this is a book that I have started and stopped too many times.

This past weekend I dropped by the Ames Public library and checked it out. I'm 50 pages into it and I hope to have it finished by next week. When I finish it I'll post my review of it.

Not the best of days

It was a rough election day here in Iowa. As in the rest of the country, Republicans scored major victories in most of the state offices including the governor's office.

The biggest loss was in the vote to retain three of the Supreme Court justices who ruled that same-sex marriage should be allowed in Iowa. There was a vicious and misleading campaign led by the most evil man in Iowa, Bob Vander Platts. The vote certainly felt like a referendum on the issue of gay marriage, with each of the three justices losing by a wide margin.

The retention loss felt so personally to me and for most of the day both Matt and I were very down. But this afternoon Keith Urban's "Only You Can Love Me This Way" video came on GAC. The song was our "first dance" at our wedding and it reminded me that no matter what happens, I am MARRIED to the man I love and NO ONE can take that away.