Random update...

Moved my doctor appointment up to today (well, yesterday now) because my acid reflux went a little nutz Sunday night. Still no closer to really having that under control, thanks to prescription drugs being crazy expensive and health insurance choosing not to cover anything since not having it won't kill me, but it was still good to discuss the findings (or not-findings) of the ultrasound I had last month in greater depth. Nothing to worry about there, and the chances that the pains are being caused by something life-threatening like some sort of cancer or serious like chronic appendicitis are pretty well diminished to as near to non-existent as possible without a hell of a lot more scans (just to be 100% sure)... so that's good.

Also the bursitis is improving as quickly as can be expected... It's just something that takes months and months to heal. He gave me some more tips to help it along. The stretching has been helping. I also need to minimize how much I drive as much as possible and adjust my car's seat a bit so that as little pressure as possible is put on my hip. I might also buy one of those posture support things for my car and one for home use and another for work because most of those "ergonomic" chairs at work are ironically painful to sit in, even for a few minutes, but not as painful as standing for over 7 hours straight. I need to get a new computer chair for home too. Really, really need to do that. I've found that using a straight-backed dining chair to sit in while spinning also helps because it's higher and straighter than my computer chair or any of the chairs in the living room. I might be able to return to more regular spinning... although not at the pace at which I used to work, where I was spinning about 6 ounces a day or more. Half an ounce a day, max, if I'm careful and cautious about it. But that's much better than nothing at all.

My left-over lung yuckiness from my cold is almost entirely gone. YAY!

Also, I've officially lost 10 pounds in the past year! \o/ This is a very good thing. I don't want to loose weight quickly, I just want to be headed in that direction - loosing, rather than gaining - without having to be working out like crazy or depriving myself of things I want to eat. It's working so far! Also, my doctor was able to discuss this with me, and express that if I could loose another 20 over the next few years, he'd consider that a perfectly healthy weight for me, BMI be damned, without offending me at any point. He's the first medical professional I've ever seen who has managed to do that. Kudos to him.

On to another random observation: I'm really liking Cupid on ABC. It's on late, at 10pm. But it's kind of a delightful light sort of show. A nice balance to all the heavy drama I tend to watch. If you haven't seen it, give it a chance if you would. It's cute... Fairly predictable if you know anything about Classical mythology, but still cute.

I'm coming out of my warmer weather induced desire to knit with nothing but cotton and now I want to make a shawl. Lace. Soon. I've got a hankering because several times this winter and spring I've wished for a proper shawl for times when a sweater is just too much and bare arms are just way too cold. Laminaria maybe? With cheap merino lace yarn from KnitPicks, I'm thinking? I would do the Danish Wrap Shawl that I've been wanting to make forever but I don't yet have the variety of appropriate handspun yarn I'll need for that, so it will have to keep waiting.

Mmmm... endorphins...

So I've decided that it's time for me to get out there and exercise again. It's been well over a year since I've done anything significant because school had been kicking my butt. My weight got kinda ridiculous around November or so... but most of that stress-eating-induced increase has gone away by itself, as it tends to do with me. Still, horribly out of shape...

And there's no excuse now that I've graduated, so yesterday, I got on my bike and rode about a mile or so... just to see how that would go. It was nothing... So today, I got a little bit ambitious. I rode my old 3-mile route. Oy! When I got off the bike a minute ago, it felt the same as when I got off my friend Maria's horse last year after not riding one of those in 5 years... although at least this time, my legs held me up and I didn't fall all the way to the ground on spaghetti legs, giggling madly from the endorphin high (Sky [her horse] was so good not to step on me). Still, a bit dizzy and endorphin rush and that last half mile, woah! kicked. my. butt. let me tell you!

Still, it's a good little 3-mile route. Better than I remembered it being. I'm going to have to start going out a little earlier than this though because toward the end mosquitoes come out. And when I get a basket for my bike, I'll be able to stop my the Bearss Groves market sometimes for produce half way through. (YAY!) I already have a nice little shady park-like place to stop and do stretches at the half way point. And let me tell you, that helps so much in preventing sore muscles the next day.

But the biggest reason of all that I'm doing this right now is because I want to look better than I do now for my pictures with Jared Padalecki and other Supernatural stars at EyeCon in April. Fangirl? Me? Why, yes! Thank you for noticing!

Now, the big question will be if I can stand to not only ride my bike 3-miles at least three times a week for the next 6 weeks, but if I can also bring myself to do the 90-minute NYC Ballet workout DVD routine I've got at least twice a week... (I used to do it 4 times a week, but then I didn't have a bike.) There will also be regular gardening chores, beginning this Saturday because it is Spring planting time.

Oh, my. That's a lot. :D This is gonna be a good challenge...

Wish me luck!

... Okay, now I feel like I could ride another 3-miles... but I can't... stupid mosquitoes... oh, endorphins...

My day and a sad, simple truth...

Well, I had my Archaeology midterm today as well as a midterm paper due (though it's not officially due until Thursday). Proud to say I had it all printed out and ready to turn in at 4:15 am today. Class was at 2:00 pm. I think I did pretty well... Will know in a few days.

After I came home, I went out riding my bike. I got about 2.5 miles from the house and got to a treacherous bit of sidewalk. Live oaks on both sides within inches of the edge of the side walk, lots of roots tearing up the surface, about a 2 - 3 inch drop from the cement on both sides to the ground, and the sidewalk wove back and forth very quickly... Well, I slowed down hoping that would make it okay to get past it, but my front tire hit a weird bump, slipped off the edge of the cement and bam! I hit a tree. My basket is all messed up, and I've got scratches all over the left side of my face and left arm from wrist to elbow... And there's possibly a bruise developing from the side of my knee almost down to my ankle on my right leg. I saw stars... for a second I just hugged the tree and wondered if I had broke my jaw. I didn't, thank goodness. Odd thing is there isn't a scratch on the bike. And then I had to ride 2.5 miles back home. It sucked.

But then, I remembered that Jeff Corwin, of Animal Channel fame, was going to be speaking at USF this evening at 7pm, so I cleaned up, hurried to eat dinner and headed back to school. The lecture was held in the Special Events hall this time instead of the ballroom... a good call 'cause there were hundreds and hundreds of people there. A lot of kids, some looked as young as 3 or 4 too. I was surprised. Jeff talked about his travels and the things he's learned over the last ten years since he started doing tv. He said that the best advice he could give, before anyone could ask, was to find something you love and find a way to make a living off it. He said he decided he wanted to do what he does since he was 6 years old and got bit by garter snake in his grandmother's backyard... and he decided on tv specifically when, having just finished his undergrad work, he was asked by a documentary crew to show them around Bolivia, which he knew like the back of his hand practically because of all the work he'd done there and time he'd spent. He got lucky. It only took him 4 years of persistence and tenacity to land a show on Disney. The rest is history.

He was really nice, and funny, and patient with the little kids, and the whole point of his lecture was to raise awareness of species that are truly endangered... Not the fuzzy, cuddly ones that everyone likes, like pandas, but rather the ones that a lot of people wouldn't mind killing themselves cause they're afraid of them or think they're a nuisance, such as rattlesnakes in the southwestern US.

He's also quite upset, and rightly so, about the "reworking" of the Endangered Species Act. If you haven't already, read up on what the distinguished gentleman from California, Richard Pombo, has done. Here's his version: http://www.house.gov/Pombo/press/press2005/sept29_05.htm Really, it's a toothless excuse for a law and will allow developers and other rats to continue to endanger threatened and nearly extinct species (and this isn't the first time Pombo has, pardon my French, bent over for developers and self-serving "special interests."). Every environmentalist in the country knows this... but the vast majority of this country isn't caring about the environment right now. They're too distracted with the hurricane clean-up, and Iraq, and gays getting married, and their own problems... The environment is always there and yet not in their face, so they ignore it. And that really sucks of them. If you're one of those people, I suggest you get up and start writing your local newspapers, your elected officials, tell your friends and get people pissed about this so-called TESRA. Cause those 900 species still on the Endangered Species List was reduced by 4 last month because 4 species were officially acknowledged as having become extinct... gone forever, never to be seen on this good Earth again. And there will only be more, thanks to Pombo, TESRA, every single Congressmen who voted for it, everyone who supported them, and everyone who didn't fight against it with everything they felt they could do. The loss of those 900 species *will* be *their* fault, it will be on *their* heads, every one, and no one else's because when they were able to do *something*, *anything* to stop it, they made the selfish decision to pander or to be apathetic. And that's the simple truth.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes...

I've been watching "Shrek 2" lately, pardon the reference...

I bought a bike today. I figured if I can't buy American, the next best thing is to buy for value and quality. I got a Schwinn "Hollywood" on end of the '05 model year closeout (it's like bikes are cars all of a sudden), so got a deal and quality in one. It has aluminum wheels and stainless steal spokes, which are guaranteed not to rust, and a bunch of other "we're better than the rest" kind of manufacturing pluses. So woo-hoo! Now, I can bike up to Publix!

Other changes this week are that I got the fig tree (it's only about 18" tall) and the grapes planted. This past weekend my dad, Joe, and I built a 10' x 20' grape arbor to the Eastern side of our back yard field. Mom says she's wanted one for years, so even though my dad complains about doing stuff like this, he did it anyway. It doesn't look like much yet, but give the vines time to grow, and me time to finish spray painting later this week. And of course, I still have to run the lead-wires across the top.

After we were done building it, I realized that we're finally going to have our own sukkah for Sukkot (aka "the Festival of Booths" or Tabernacles, for those that don't know; it's in the Book of Ruth). Sure, it doesn't have a palm frond roof like they have today, but what on earth could the people in Europe do for Sukkot in centuries past, 'cause I know they didn't have that many palms widely available in the wilds of Eastern Europe or London. There must have been something else... A grape arbor seems good enough to me. There was probably citron and palm available in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages, but in Prague? I seriously doubt it...

(After doing a bit of research, I've found that anything can be used to cover the roof and walls of a sukkah as long as it was grown from the earth and cut off at some point... So this wouldn't techanically be a sukkah, since the grapes would be continuously growing... But, seriously, toss a few tree branches on top, lean enough against the sides to sufficiently cover three of them and the mitzvah is technically fulfilled as long as they won't be blown off by the wind... Although, I still can't find out how the Jews of Medieval Europe were able to fulfill the commandments concerning the citron and palm for the benedictions.)

Irony and disappointment

Well, they had no bikes except very tiny children's bikes at Goodwill... So back to being SOL for an American made bike under $200. On the ironic side of things, I found an American made adult tricycle for $268.97 at Walmart of all places when I stopped in to price their Schwinns. But I neither want nor need a tricycle as it is too expensive and not at all manuverable when compared to a bicycle. Evenso, this is the only bicycle-like thing made in the US that I've seen since I began my search about three weeks ago.

So I'm disappointed about that, and the Roberts confirmation... On principle, I oppose anyone or anything that Bush and his cronies think is a good idea. And I got a link to this article in my e-mail from Oxfam America, "Housing Issues, Eminent Domain Top Concerns Among East Biloxi Residents". Here's a link: http://www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/news_updates/news_update.2005-09-23.6533152730

Bike update

Well, I went to Sports Authority in Citrus Park on the way to my job and they may have one type of bike there that is okay. It's an Iron Horse. The brand is based in New York State and was founded about 20 years ago and they make mostly mountain bikes and bikes for racing, but they have four different kinds of ladies' cruisers there. Three of them have stickers placed prominently below the handlebars which read "Made In China," however, the fourth has no stickers anywhere on it to indicate where it was made... I have to go back when I'm not in a hurry and get someone to tell me where it's made.

Later...

So I went back to Sports Authority and asked the guy working the bike section if he knew where the purple Iron Horses were made. He went into a tirade about his politics, how much he hates China and "the Commie-bastards who live there," and how there's hardly anything in the whole blasted store that isn't made in China... Yeah, yeah... That's why I'm asking if it's made in the US or China, guy. But he wouldn't really give me a straight answer, just kept saying, "Well, it's hard to find a bike made anywhere other than China these days." "I know," I said, "But these don't say where they're made. Do you know for sure?" "Well, the rest of the Iron Horses say they're made in China." "Yeah, I noticed that, but these have no stickers, so I was wondering if maybe they weren't, since the rest say specifically, but these don't." ('Cause there were like 6 of the purple ones on the floor, and none of them had stickers saying where they were made, but all the other models did.) "Well, those really aren't very good bikes anyway. What *you* want is a Schwin. I think even they're made in China now too, but they're the top of the line! I've got one over here, I can get it down for you if you want to take a look." No, no, that's okay...

::sighs::

So apparently, I have three choices.

1. pick out a $250.00+ bike from a boutique outfit that *is* made in the US *but* that's really over my price-range and way fancier than I need.

2. buy from China.

3. don't buy a bike.

It kinda unfair that those are my choices. It's my bank account versus my aspirations to actually live up to my political/economic values versus my health and the environment. That really sucks...

After brain-storming, I have a fourth choice that might rid me of my problems, which is to go down to the Goodwill Store instead... I think there's one on Hillsborough Avenue... Let's just hope they have ladies' bikes 'cause I've never gone there before and I haven't a clue as to what they have available.

"Made in the USA"

My goal is a simple one: find a cruiser-style (i.e. not "mountain" or "bmx") bicycle for somewhere around $100 or less that was manufactured in the United States by citizens of the United States in order to support American jobs... I do *not* want to buy a bike from China and I refuse to support the outsourcers, even if they have a perfectly lovely looking one for $53.97 at Walmart down the street. I want a bike to take around the neighborhood, to the grocery store for little things, and for exercise in the park. Is that so much to ask? Apparently so...

None of the major bike manufacturers manufacture their bicycles in the US anymore... Schwin, Pacific, Roadmaster, and Mongoose have *all* been bought out by a Canadian conglomerate "with offices in Asia." ::rolls eyes:: Huffy prominently displays "Made in China" on the frames of all their bikes, which is disappointing because the bike I had when I was in grade school was a "made in the USA" Huffy. Murray, although apparently British-owned, once made bikes in the US, but appears to have gone out of business because I can't find them *anywhere* on the net, let alone in stores. I went to http://www.usstuff.com/ hoping for help, but most of their info is either out-of-date or for Lance Armstrong wannabes... (I don't want a $300+ handmade-in-California-on-the-beach road bike for racing... I just want a nice, simple 26" lady's 1-speed bicycle, maybe with a nice little basket on the front or over the back wheel. Why is that so difficult?)

So I thought, okay, used... So I looked up bicycle shops in Tampa in the phone book. There is literally one place listed that says it has used bikes in the greater Tampa/St. Pete area, called "Anne's Attic" in extreme South Tampa, about an hour's drive from here. The place that used to have used bikes near the University has gone all new and mostly high-end (which makes no sense to me whatsoever)... and "Play It Again Sports," the used sports equipment store three blocks from here, says that they rarely get any bikes in these days. There's one place which might have some that I haven't checked yet - the Pawn Shop near the University (because occasionally there will be some displayed out on the curb), but anyone who's been around that part of Tampa knows why I hesitate to venture over there alone. Even fastfood restaurants in that part of town go into lockdown with bars on their windows as soon as the sun sets.

So, yeah, looks like for the moment I'm SOL, unless anyone has any suggestions...