Archive for March 14th, 2008

Yoga for Beginners

Friday, March 14th, 2008

I’ve been doing yoga at home for several months now but I definitely still consider myself a beginner. I just decided to try it out and picked up a yoga DVD at Target one day to give it a go. I’ve become more flexible but it took quite some time before I could make it through the entire workout because some of the poses were so challenging for me. I’m not talking about standing on my head, either. I’m talking about how Proud Warrior is hard to hold for as long as the DVD instructor wanted me to. Last time I did the workout I had to stop when I felt something in my knee move in a new and disturbing way.

Recently I received a new DVD to try out called “Yoga: Gentle Practice”. It is also for beginners but this time I actually feel like it is my level. In addition to not having any self congratulatory ads at the beginning (that took ages to get past every time I used it), the menu is complete and concise. Before when I started the workout, it would take me to another menu where I could choose to listen to the instructor talk about feeling centered for five minutes. She’d already done this during the intro

Then we would start the 16 minute workout (the only one on the entire DVD on a beginner level) and I would have to constantly glance up to see what she was doing. On my new yoga DVD the shortest workout is 33 minutes and there are 5 others to choose from with different lengths and different difficulties but all still beginner stuff. I don’t have to crane my neck to see what’s going on on the screen because Zyrka Landwijt (the instructor) says clearly what I should be doing.

With the old DVD, it was suggested we repeat movements but given no time to do so. With my new DVD, the instructor leads us through a few repetitions. I feel more thoughouly stretched out by the time I’m done with the workout and get that sense of rejeuvination you sometimes hear about yoga giving you.

I’m actually a little sad I didn’t know before this that my DVD was so useless. I just thought that was the way it always was. And I feel as though I can get more into the process when the voice of my instructor sounds like it still has some strength in it.

Posted in Health | Comments Off

Can You Denounce But Not Reject?

Friday, March 14th, 2008

Like I said, I read too much news.  But how else would I be able to bring this post to you.

Remmeber a couple months ago,  Farrakhan said something that people didn’t like and there was a todo about how Obama denounced what was said but did not reject it?

Well this time it seems Obama’s pastor said something people don’t like (7 years ago and it was pretty awful in my opinion). But Obama has learned from previous complaints and if people need him to BOTH denounce and reject, he will.

Quoting from the CNN article: “I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country…. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Reverend Wright that are at issue.”

Let there be no misunderstanding this time.

Posted in Politics | Comments Off

Oyster Bake

Friday, March 14th, 2008

Yes, oysters are slimy.

Yes, oysters are weird.

Yes, oysters taste good.

I had my first oysters when I visited San Diego with my family when I was a kid. I was braver about food back then. Or maybe being away from home made me braver because it was on that same trip that I tried my first artichoke. Or did I do it on a dare? I can’t quite remember. But I was surprised by how good they tasted.

Gulf oysters are one of the kinds you are likely to run into if you choose to try this yumminess. I myself prefer them cooked but they can be safely consumed raw by healthy people. I say healthy because there is a risk of getting a specific bacteria that can cause problems for some with health problems like diabetes or compromised immune systems. Luckily, when the oysters are fully cooked, every one can partake.

If you really like your oysters raw but are in the at-risk group, take heart. There are new post-harvest processes that make the oysters safe to eat, though they can be hard to come by. According to the BeOysterAware.com site, less than 10% of oyster sales in the US are made up of mollusks that have been treated to make them safe.

All this talk of oysters makes me want some and I have NO IDEA where to get some around here…shoot.

And by the way, I was kidding about them being slimy and weird. (But just so we’re clear, I was serious about the yummy part.)

Posted in Food | 1 Comment »

Guess How Many Fingers I’m Holding Up

Friday, March 14th, 2008

I spend too much time reading news.  I just need to let it go, but I seem to be addicted.  And then I find my blood starts to boil because I read the same story in more than one place, but the details are different.

Just yesterday, I read about how Southwest Airlines is grounding 44 of their planes.  I mean, 42.  I mean 38.

I don’t know what the real number is and, honestly, it doesn’t actually matter but I feel like something as simple as this should be easy to get right.  The company does put out press releases for this sort of thing, don’t they?  So all that would be needed would be to read the thing, right?  Maybe not even read the whole thing – just scan for a number.

Why put in the number at all if you don’t know for sure what it is?  Why not do one of those ‘more than’ things like “More than 25 planes have been grounded.”  It helps give it a serious tone which seems to be what they were going for.

I was just whining to my mom today that news articles don’t contain enough details for me to form a knowledgeable opinion about most of the things they like to write about.  Despite that, I’ll take no details over incorrect or made up ones any day of the week.

Posted in News | Comments Off

theme designed by Tim Sainburg