As my regular readers probably know, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer early last year. She went through surgeries and radiation therapy and is free and clear of cancer at this point. However, her experience scared us all and woke us up to the realities of cancer. Thus, my family developed a desire to become at least somewhat more involved in efforts to raise money for breast cancer research. We didn't want to just send money somewhere, though; we wanted to DO something. A few months ago, my brother-in-law discovered an event that takes place throughout the year and around the country called the Dirty Girl Mud Run. He told us all about it, and my sisters, niece, mom, and I jumped on board.
The Mud Run took place this weekend (as those of you with me on FB already know), and we had a BLAST!!! Everyone who registers to run the course pays a fee (much of which goes to breast cancer research), except, of course, survivors or breast cancer. The Run is for women only, 5K (about 3 miles) long, and involves twelve obstacles participants must overcome, most of which involve a significant amount of mud. The obstacles themselves weren't too bad for the most part: some were giant inflatables to climb up, over, and down; some were simply large tanks of mud to walk or crawl through. The toughest two involved crossed ropes (much like cargo nets), one horizontal and one vertical. The horizontal one we had to find a way to climb across for about 20 feet, which was difficult because the middle sagged, so almost any technique used to traverse it only worked well for half of it, either climbing up or down. The vertical net(s) we had to climb up and down like rope ladders. Even those two obstacles were only rough because ropes can be difficult on the hand, feet, and back.
In the Run, participants can choose to forego an obstacle for any reason without any kind of penalty (it is a fun, non-competitive fundraising event, after all). My team made it through every obstacles and went the entire length of the course! My mother, a cancer survivor, did everything except the two rope obstacles and surpassed even her own expectations (she climbed over a wall that was five or six feet high!). In fact, we all exceeded our own expectations. I do not exercise regularly, but I guess I'm not in too bad of shape. I didn't feel to tired or winded at any point in the Run, and I expected to fail spectacularly at some early point, but I didn't! I did almost go completely under the mud a few times, but that just added to the experience. We all made it through in decent time, had a ton of fun together, and helped the fight against cancer in some small way.
I'm still finding mud, but I would definitely participate in this event again, and we're seriously considering it for next year. My dad and brother-in-law were disappointed they couldn't participate, but I think they had fun watching, and they took a bunch of pics and videos that may appear here and will definitely make it to FB. My brother-in-law (an extremely active man) was so impressed with use that he's trying to encourage my sisters and I to participate in other muddy events like Warrior Dash and Tough Mudder... We'll see...
Now, go play in the mud!
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Friday, July 12, 2013
Productive Soreness, or Sorely Productive
Friday (for now) is one of my days off. As such, I most often spend it reading, watching Netflix (Star Trek: TNG at the moment), and playing my computer game (Star Wars: The Old Republic, if you're joining this blog in progress). I rarely do much else on my days off, especially during the week, unless I make plans with friends or family. Today, however, I was strangely productive, which I am now paying for in one way or another.
I am somewhat lazy by nature. It's not that I don't like participating in activities or completing tasks around the house, but if I can sit and do something I enjoy instead, that's what I will do. I'm almost always doing something, and I'm usually thinking about several things at once, but I don't "get up and go" too often. Squeaks (i.e. my roomie) doesn't understand how I can be so content just staying at home, doing "the same thing" pretty much all the time. I just am. I also digress.
Anyway, today was one of my random days of productivity. I realized a few weeks ago that I needed more bookshelves. What I have in my room (2 sets) have to hold all my books and all my DVDs. As of last week, I had exactly enough space for my books and movies...if I took out some of the DVD sets of shows. I cannot live in such conditions! Therefore, with the help of my search-happy mother, I set out to find some options to expand my storage potential. As always, we came down to Sauder. All of my shelves, as well as my dresser/wardrobe, are Sauder. It's relatively easy to assemble, it all looks like it goes together, and it fits the space I have in my room (advertisement for Sauder over).
I decided that yesterday was the perfect time to check out the Sauder store on the east side of town after work. The "media storage units" I was considering were there, so I thought I'd save on shipping and buy them in-store instead. I chose three sets of small shelves: they fit the spot I need them to fit in my room, and they can be place in different parts of a room if I ever need to rearrange the furniture or move to a new apartment.
I thought I'd spend the weekend slowly assembling these pieces: one each today, tomorrow, and Sunday. Well, once I knew what I was doing and got a rhythm going, I decided to just keep at it, so I spent about two hours this afternoon assembling these shelves. They look great, I had no trouble putting them together, and they look like they'll be exactly what I need. However, the process is killer to my constitution.
What with spending all that time on the floor, bending down to pull it all together and crawling from one side to the other, my back and legs are pretty sore. My thumbs and palms are tender from getting the plastic protective sleeves on the shelf props and using tools I'm unaccustomed to.
On top of all that, when I was changing the sheets on my bed (which I probably don't do as often as I should) I managed to stab my thumb with the thumbnail on the other hand. That's a little worse than a paper-cut. Then, when I was finished with the shelves, I decided to vacuum so Squeaks and I would avoid any splintery bits that may have escaped the production line, I had to clean some string and hair and such from the roller; I used my fingers because they were most handy (pun intended), adding to the damage done to them today. I did manage to finish vacuuming, regardless.
Is this level of productivity worth the injuries I cause myself? I guess so. Now, the shelves are built and in my room, and my storage issues have been resolved once again (for a while, anyway). I bruise myself on a daily basis, and rarely remember how I received those contusions, so I suppose some soreness and cuts in a good cause are a small sacrifice.
Ask me again in the morning...
I am somewhat lazy by nature. It's not that I don't like participating in activities or completing tasks around the house, but if I can sit and do something I enjoy instead, that's what I will do. I'm almost always doing something, and I'm usually thinking about several things at once, but I don't "get up and go" too often. Squeaks (i.e. my roomie) doesn't understand how I can be so content just staying at home, doing "the same thing" pretty much all the time. I just am. I also digress.
Anyway, today was one of my random days of productivity. I realized a few weeks ago that I needed more bookshelves. What I have in my room (2 sets) have to hold all my books and all my DVDs. As of last week, I had exactly enough space for my books and movies...if I took out some of the DVD sets of shows. I cannot live in such conditions! Therefore, with the help of my search-happy mother, I set out to find some options to expand my storage potential. As always, we came down to Sauder. All of my shelves, as well as my dresser/wardrobe, are Sauder. It's relatively easy to assemble, it all looks like it goes together, and it fits the space I have in my room (advertisement for Sauder over).
I decided that yesterday was the perfect time to check out the Sauder store on the east side of town after work. The "media storage units" I was considering were there, so I thought I'd save on shipping and buy them in-store instead. I chose three sets of small shelves: they fit the spot I need them to fit in my room, and they can be place in different parts of a room if I ever need to rearrange the furniture or move to a new apartment.
I thought I'd spend the weekend slowly assembling these pieces: one each today, tomorrow, and Sunday. Well, once I knew what I was doing and got a rhythm going, I decided to just keep at it, so I spent about two hours this afternoon assembling these shelves. They look great, I had no trouble putting them together, and they look like they'll be exactly what I need. However, the process is killer to my constitution.
What with spending all that time on the floor, bending down to pull it all together and crawling from one side to the other, my back and legs are pretty sore. My thumbs and palms are tender from getting the plastic protective sleeves on the shelf props and using tools I'm unaccustomed to.
On top of all that, when I was changing the sheets on my bed (which I probably don't do as often as I should) I managed to stab my thumb with the thumbnail on the other hand. That's a little worse than a paper-cut. Then, when I was finished with the shelves, I decided to vacuum so Squeaks and I would avoid any splintery bits that may have escaped the production line, I had to clean some string and hair and such from the roller; I used my fingers because they were most handy (pun intended), adding to the damage done to them today. I did manage to finish vacuuming, regardless.
Is this level of productivity worth the injuries I cause myself? I guess so. Now, the shelves are built and in my room, and my storage issues have been resolved once again (for a while, anyway). I bruise myself on a daily basis, and rarely remember how I received those contusions, so I suppose some soreness and cuts in a good cause are a small sacrifice.
Ask me again in the morning...
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Friend-ing
My recent purge (or "summer cleaning") of my Facebook friends list made me think about the criteria for my "friends" on that site.
I believe that was the first time I had ever done a concentrated review of my friends list. I only removed about a dozen people, but it still caused me to reevaluate my Facebook situation. What makes me keep someone as a friend or remove him/her, perhaps never to hear from him/her again?
Keeping a Friend:
Removing a "Friend":
Also, while weeding my list, I came across a few people I was on the fence about: to keep or remove? I kept those for now, but I'm pretty sure I'll remove a few more of them in the near-distant future (as Squeaky would say); they're awfully close to those points on the second list up there.
This whole friend situation used to be much easier. If I didn't have regular contact with someone, we weren't friends. Now, Facebook has blurred that line of friendship, preventing gradual breaks from people I may not really need/want to have contact with. I don't know for sure if that is positive or negative, but it sure can be confusing!
I believe that was the first time I had ever done a concentrated review of my friends list. I only removed about a dozen people, but it still caused me to reevaluate my Facebook situation. What makes me keep someone as a friend or remove him/her, perhaps never to hear from him/her again?
Keeping a Friend:
- IRL friends ~ obviously, if I consider a person a friend off-line ("in real life," i.e. IRL), then I want to friends on Facebook
- Regular contact ~ we comment on one another's posts with some regularity, and the comments aren't too awkward for others to see
- Access ~ I don't mind that person seeing everything I post; if I unintentionally post a picture or comment to my Timeline, where everyone can see it, instead of just to a specific individual, does this person seeing it bother me?
- Interest ~ I actually want to see what he/she posts and care about the events of his/her life
- Other IRL relationship ~ if removing a friend could make IRL situations uncomfortable or difficult (i.e. at work), then I'll keep a person, though I may restrict access
Removing a "Friend":
- I have not seen, spoken to, or really thought about him/her on Facebook or IRL since adding as a "friend"
- I have banished his/her posts from my newsfeed due too excessively personal, political, and/or annoying posts
- I don't really want to know what is happening in his/her life (I want everyone to be healthy and content, but I don't necessarily need to know about it...in detail)
- I don't particularly want a person having access to the random posts and information I post; I try to keep everything I post online "safe" and assume anyone, even those not on my friends list, can see it, but I just don't want everyone to have direct access
- I didn't want to add a person as a friend in the first place, but felt bad/awkward not doing so, so I added him/her but have since regretted the decision for whatever reason
Also, while weeding my list, I came across a few people I was on the fence about: to keep or remove? I kept those for now, but I'm pretty sure I'll remove a few more of them in the near-distant future (as Squeaky would say); they're awfully close to those points on the second list up there.
This whole friend situation used to be much easier. If I didn't have regular contact with someone, we weren't friends. Now, Facebook has blurred that line of friendship, preventing gradual breaks from people I may not really need/want to have contact with. I don't know for sure if that is positive or negative, but it sure can be confusing!
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
What's in a Name?
So, I think it is about time that I attempt to explain the username. Here, it's ShishKa, and at Xanga it was shish_ka_bob, and that name comes from somewhere specific. Let us look back, if we can, to high school.
As many of you know, high school was not my favorite time. I liked it well enough. I had friends, was involved in various activities, received good grades, and was liked (I think) by most of my teachers. It was not a bad time for me, but it was not the "best time of my life," as it can be for many people.
My favorite element of high school (aside from English class, where I excelled and my teacher LOVED me) was band. I was in every band we had: concert, jazz, marching. Most of my friends were in band, and I spent all of my free time in the band room, as did almost everyone else in the band. (If you're wondering, I played the trumpet, and I was pretty awesome.)
With marching band, we traveled quite a bit, spending far too much time on school buses, but we were young and didn't mind that too much. However, all this time led us teens into finding strange ways of amusing ourselves. One such event occurred with one of my younger sisters one Saturday morning, as we were on our way to a marching band competition.
For some reason, BB decided everyone needed a nickname. I don't remember who she started with, but the theme became "bob" names based on real names. The driver, one of our usual ones, was "Bus Driver Bob" (I think). She went around to almost everyone on the bus, dubbing him/her with a "bob" name. Because of the first two letters of my first name, she decided I was "Ka Bob," which reminded us all of the food, shish kebab, so my name became "shish-ka-bob," and a legacy was born.
Then, in college, when my friends "encouraged" (*cough*pressured*cough*) me to open a Xanga account, I suppose to be more available and end some of my hermit-like tendencies, I could think of no other username that would do. Now, with this new blog, it seemed right to use a similar, but evolved, username. So, here we are.
Now you know and the torment of suspense has ended. You're welcome.
As many of you know, high school was not my favorite time. I liked it well enough. I had friends, was involved in various activities, received good grades, and was liked (I think) by most of my teachers. It was not a bad time for me, but it was not the "best time of my life," as it can be for many people.
My favorite element of high school (aside from English class, where I excelled and my teacher LOVED me) was band. I was in every band we had: concert, jazz, marching. Most of my friends were in band, and I spent all of my free time in the band room, as did almost everyone else in the band. (If you're wondering, I played the trumpet, and I was pretty awesome.)
With marching band, we traveled quite a bit, spending far too much time on school buses, but we were young and didn't mind that too much. However, all this time led us teens into finding strange ways of amusing ourselves. One such event occurred with one of my younger sisters one Saturday morning, as we were on our way to a marching band competition.
For some reason, BB decided everyone needed a nickname. I don't remember who she started with, but the theme became "bob" names based on real names. The driver, one of our usual ones, was "Bus Driver Bob" (I think). She went around to almost everyone on the bus, dubbing him/her with a "bob" name. Because of the first two letters of my first name, she decided I was "Ka Bob," which reminded us all of the food, shish kebab, so my name became "shish-ka-bob," and a legacy was born.
Then, in college, when my friends "encouraged" (*cough*pressured*cough*) me to open a Xanga account, I suppose to be more available and end some of my hermit-like tendencies, I could think of no other username that would do. Now, with this new blog, it seemed right to use a similar, but evolved, username. So, here we are.
Now you know and the torment of suspense has ended. You're welcome.
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