Me and the Couch to 5k

For the last five weeks I've been participating in a Couch to 5k program. Basically, it's designed to take people from sitting on the couch to running 5 kilometers (3.1 miles). There's an irony here though, because I don't actually believe in running unless there's a fire, or a bear, or maybe a tornado.. Essentially, it's against my religion. But, like riding a motorcycle and shooting a gun, I think it's an important life skill. You know, just in case.

So I started the program with three women from Boot Camp (a whole different story for another day). The overall program is about intervals of running and walking. The first day was 60 second runs followed by 90 second walks. Or maybe vice versa, but there were 8 run/walk intervals and I thought I was going to die.

As I am still writing some five plus weeks later, I clearly did not die.

This week, week five (but really week six because we did week four twice) is where things get much more difficult and I have not given up the possibility that this will be the week I meet my maker. I am not looking forward to the experience.

And here's the thing, were it not for peer pressure, I could quit. Peer pressure has never really gotten to me, so this is a totally new phenomenon. Basically, there is one woman who I told to join the little band of former couch potatoes and if I quit, she'll kill me. So either I die running, or I die not running.

All I know, is that once I finish this program, I better encounter a bear. Or a tornado.

Back at the Lake House

Where there's nothing to do. Not even blog.

Boot Camp

When I don't feel like I'll spend more than 10 minutes on the elliptical machine at the gym, I go to a class. Last Thursday, I decided to try Boot Camp. What possessed me, I don't know. As we were waiting for the earlier class to finish in our room, I asked the teacher if I was going to die during the class. He looked at me and said, "Unlikely." Those weren't the odds that I was hoping to hear.

It was by far the hardest class I've been to. At one point, he suggested he was going to get oxygen tanks for us, and one woman said, "What he isn't saying is that we don't get to use them - we have to carry them!" I was sore for days. Maybe until this morning.

So tonight I went back. I know, crazy. I walked into the gym and the instructor was waiting by the front desk to tell us that class tonight would be up on the track. Now why he assumed I was coming back for that class and not going to water aerobics I don't know. But he happened to be correct.

The problem is that 'track' implies running. And I don't believe in running unless there is a fire or certified emergency that requires me to move that quickly. So I'm thinking I should go home and get my swimsuit. But I don't.

There are 8 of us in the class tonight. We warm up with things like jumping jacks, push-ups, and lunges. And then he makes us run around the track. Honestly, it's a small track and even I think I can run that far. But again, it's against my religion. It would be like mixing meat and milk. Or wearing cotton and linen together. Or profaning the Sabbath. Unfortunately, I'm a vegetarian and otherwise not so observant. But I digress.

The thing about a class is that there's peer pressure. So when you're running in two rows of four around the track, you have to keep up. Especially when there are other people there who look like they can't run half that far. It's a dilemma. But I ran. I didn't like it and I had to pretend there was a serial killer behind me, but I ran.

Knowing now that I won't die and that the worst that will happen is taht I'll be unable to move without wincing means that I feel safe going to class again on Thursday... as long as there won't be running.

Mug Shots and a Painted Kitchen

Our kitchen is finally repainted. It's a Martha Stewart color called Lemongrass, but I'm sure other paint companies would call it Asparagus, or Leaf, or Just on the Mint Side of Pistachio. For an amateur job, it looks great. We figured out toward the end that there's wall paper underneath what now must be at least three layers of paint. Maybe in 10 years we'll strip it all and paint again. Bonus, we didn't get paint on the cabinets, stove or refrigerator. And we did find out, despite taping in advance, that paint does come off of granite pretty easily. Good thing.

On a completely unrelated note. I'm vaguely fascinated by the mug shots that are published in the Chicago Tribune. I'm not sure how often they are updated - I probably only see them once every few weeks or so. But when I do, I flip through them all. It's also hard to believe that they thought it was appropriate to go outside looking the way they did that day. I mean, really, did you honestly think that was an attractive look? This is actually from a big case here in Chicago which I didn't realize when I was first flipping through the pictures.

Once I was in an antique store in Evanston and they had mug shots from the 20's on sale. The front were sepia pictures and the back had the alleged crimes. At the time, I couldn't see spending $5 each on them, but in retrospect, they would have made an interesting look on a wall, maybe near the family pictures. I did go back to the store about a week later and was told they'd all been scooped up by a woman who wanted to use them for her Christmas cards. Clearly I wasn't on her list.

The Sound of Music

It's a great musical, we all know that. Last night, spur of the moment, we went to the Wilmette Park District's Starlight Theater production of The Sound of Music. I know the person playing the Mother Superior (although it's actually a different title) and I know she's very talented, but I still figured, it's a park distric play, how good could it possibly be?

It was great! Costumes, set, actors - it was pretty impressive and there were a few hundred people in the audience for this final show after a three week run. They had some problems with the individual microphones for a few actors but they'd also mentioned before the show that they were glad to be going on after being rained out the night before and having to rebuild their sound board, so everyone was pretty forgiving. There was one actor who, frankly, wasn't so great, and sadly, his mike did work while Max's frequently cut out, and he was great. Oh well.

There were two songs I didn't remember, and at least one song from the movie that wasn't included. I didn't miss it from the nearly three hour show (including intermission). The biggest disappointment of the whole show, it would have been unseemly to sing along (which still didn't stop one of the women I was with!).

There were at least five Jewish nuns and a few Jewish Nazis and stormtroopers. I also appreciated that they took their armbands off for their curtain call. I'm assuming they didn't have to learn that the hard way.

I Know Really, Really Funny People

I'm not sure how, but it turns out that I know some really funny people. And ironically, the one who is a professional comedian, isn't even close to the funniest on a regular day-to-day basis. (But he is the only one willing to get up on stage and then, he's very, very funny.)

The upside is that they send me funny things. Earlier this week, one of them sent me to this website to watch a movie trailer. Really, there just aren't words. But the same person sent me the trailer for the new Israeli film called A Matter of Size. So he can't be all bad, right?

Several of them are funny writers. They just don't write enough, or they write things that aren't also funny. Who needs that?! One of them accidentally wears two different shoes on a more regular basis than she should. Another one agrees to consider rooming hundreds of students alphabetically by first name. All different types of funny - it's good.

I've found that the only problem with hanging out with funny people is that when I'm with them, or corresponding with them, I don't feel as funny, and I think I generally am kind of funny. So I'm left with either being funny by myself (boring) or spending time with people who aren't as funny, and that's just dumb. Hmmm.

Harmony Bay Coffee

This is a great company, and before you ask, no, they did not pay me to write that!

More than a year ago, I bought some Harmony Bay Coffee at Trader Joe's and when I went back to get more, I was told they stopped carrying it. So I went on-line and found the company to see where they sold their coffee locally. I didn't find out because I noticed that they sold coffee on-line and that they were offering free shipping (evidently a very occasional promotion).

So I ordered a lot of coffee on-line.

Flash forward to Thursday (no, this is not about LOST) and we've got one day left of coffee. So I find myself back on the Harmony Bay site about to order coffee annoyed that I didn't think of ordering last week. And I can't find any free shipping promotion - bummer. Nevertheless, I fill my virtual cart and I'm ready to check out. But there's this very tempting "discount code" box right there, taunting me.... I looked on other sites to see if there were coupons available, and found nothing.

I was about to hit 'purchase now' when it occured to me that I could call and ask if they had any specials that weren't on the website. The man that answered could not have been nicer and immediately told me that they had a 20% off promotion available this week to their Facebook friends.

So I ordered two more cans of coffee. (Dennis, yes, I can hear you cringing.) But wait, it gets better.

I ordered the coffee yesterday morning. Today, it's at my front door. I definitely did not pay for extra-fast overnight UPS shipping (though I should double-check the invoice!). And bonus - tomorrow does not have to be a caffeine-free day!

Park Hoffman

My parent's planted five trees in their backyard about 20 years ago. Now, they are huge and their yard, if you ignore the fact that they have neighbors, can be imagined as a park. It's missing a water feature, but that doesn't seem to keep the birds away.

I imagine the squirrels waking up and saying, "Hey! Let's go to Park Hoffman today!" The rabbits have their turf, the squirrels have theirs, and certain birds frequent certain trees and/or bushes - it's like the high school cafeteria all over again.

How to Eat in the Car

We left yesterday morning, driving to St. Louis. Since we'll be gone a few days, I figured we should pack up whatever leftovers were in the refrigerator and take them to eat in the car. Unfortunately, we didn't really have much car-friendly food. In otherwords, we had too much food that required utensils, which is fine for passengering, but not so much for driving. (And it also requires remembering to bring a utensil, which we did not.)

So we had marinated tofu, cucumber salad, vegetable pitas and grapes. Okay, it's easy to eat grapes in the car, but afer that...

At some point, Ronnie remembered that we had a spoon in the glove compartment. Less helpful than a fork, but nonetheless, easier to use for cucumber salad than fingers. But eating with a utensil while driving is still a far less than ideal situation.

Unless... you get held up by so much traffic that the interstate becomes a parking lot. Then, you've got plenty of time! Thankfully for us, this happened right outside of Springfield, Illinois. We made it 3 miles in 45 minutes and had plenty of time to eat. Thanks, IDOT!

The Longest Haircut Ever

A friend and I went to get haircuts today at a beauty school here in Evanston. It's not a "name brand" school and I was a little wary. I've gone to the Aveda school many times and they've never failed me. But we really didn't feel like having to go all the way to the city just to get haircuts so why not try this place. What would be the worst thing that could happen, right?

We got there on time for our 1:30pm appointments and I was in a chair with Chrystal 10 minutes later. I asked her how long she'd been on the floor and she said, "Three weeks." That's usually how I decide whether I'm just going to get the same haircut I had only shorter, or something new. This was clearly going to be a healthy trim day.

It took about 15 minutes to shampoo my hair. There was water everywhere. Chrystal was very, very new. At least I knew enough to take off my hoop earrings. And the whole shampoo process was strange. For the hair right above my forehead and at my temples, she just sort of patted the shampoo in. Like I said, very new. And the back of my head got a good scrub. Weird.

And then she started cutting. Like Aveda, there are instructors everywhere and she and I were thankfully working with a very good one. There were others who were very obviously not as good, so I had one thing going in my favor. Chrystal was very slow, methodical and detail oriented. I suppose that's a good thing, but I felt like she was cutting each hair individually.

They always ask how I style my hair at home and what products I use. I always have to laugh. I wash it, towel dry it, and it styles itself. And every once in a while I put a leave-in conditioner in, but not so often that it could constitute a routine. But they put all sorts of goop in my hair anyway and dry it. I didn't have the heart to tell her I was going to the gym afterwards.

A full two and a half hours later, I was finally done. I was too embarrassed to ask if she really had cut every hair individually.

The Last Pizza

The last pizza was far traditional and very, very good. It was cheese (of course), carmelized onions and tuna. and folded up into a wrappy sort of thing before being put in the oven. Very, very good.

On the look out

So far, we have not seen Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, or their families. We are on the look-out.

Venezia

Venice is beautiful. And there are no cars or bicycles, which makes it a great place to walk. The manager at our hotel told us that the pizza is no good here, but we already discovered that he was wrong.

The lunch menu listed a four-cheese pizza, but only listed mozzarella, gorgonzola, and parmesan. I thought the logical question was, “What’s the fourth cheese?” It took a while, and finally the waiter understood my question and answered, “Brie.”. I have to say, it was a great pizza. Not the best so far, but definitely already better than anything in Florence.

Getting here was an adventure. We were waiting for the train on the correct platform and at the place that the overhead signs indicated the doors would be. Except they weren’t. We were smack in between the two doors. So rather than being the first people on the train with all of our bags, we were literally the last. Thankfully, there were lots of other tourists who didn’t realize you could put bags under the seats and so we had plenty of space for our things.

The other things we‘ve noticed about Venice is that there seem to be more pastry shops than gelaterias. We haven’t stopped in either yet, but I’m sure we will. We did stop at a grocery store to buy things for dinner. It will certainly be our least expensive meal so far and the first time we’ll see vegetables on our plate other than topping a pizza.

Our hotel is right on the Grand Canal. The room has the same flocked wallpaper as my parent’s dining room, and the furniture is the same style as the bedroom furniture I had as a child. That’s just weird.

A Dearth of Pizza

I think we figured out that pizza here in Florence just isn't as good as it was in Rome, so today, we had no pizza. But since I had pizza for lunch and dinner yesterday, I think that overall, I'm still on track for an average of pizza once a day.

But tonight's gelato was excellent. It was a chocolate base with rum, cinnamon and pepper. Maybe a bit too much pepper, but overall, quite tasty.

An ordinary day

My friends took the bus to Lucca today and I decided to take a day to wander around more of Florence.

The Galileo Museum has been closed for renovations and is supposed to re-open this spring. May is spring, so I walked over to the museum. It turns out, that in Florence, June 10th is spring. While technically that is correct, it is not helpful for those of us here in May. There is a very large sun dial outside the museum and so I knew I was there at 11am. That didn't matter, but it was helpful to know how long I'd already been wandering around.

I also stopped by a post office to change some more money. Invariable, no matter when or where I travel, I need just a few more dollars (or shekels or euros) to make it through the last few days. The other good thing about the post office is that there are seats, and it is cool, and maybe even air conditioned. There are no actual indications at the post office that you can change money there - I'd read about it, but there's all sorts of bad information on the internet, so really, I had no idea.

The other interesting thing we've discovered is that not so many Italians speak English. I'm not one of those people who thinks that the rest of the world should all learn "our" language, but given that I don't know Italian, I have been seeking out those people who do have some English facility. I did not find any of those people at the post office.

But I watched what everyone else was doing, took a number and waited to be called. The clerk behind the counter also didn't speak English, but she did speak the universal language of money, which was helpful enough.

While I was waiting to be called, I noticed that you can do more at the Italian Post Offices than just buy stamps and change money. You can also buy music CDs, exercize videos, books (ficton and non-fiction) and office supplies.

We're leaving Florence tomorrow. There are simply too many tourists. Groups with the leader wearing a funny hat, carrying a bright yellow umbrella or in sad cases, a stick with a bright rag on the end. It doesn't matter whether I'm in DC, Chicago, or Florence, I'm not a fan of groups of tourists.

Sadly, we will be missing the Firenze Gelato Festival. That might be for the best, but I can't see how. There is also a Terra Futura conference that was scheduled to coincide with the gelato festival. I guess they're thinking that gelato is part of an environmentally sustainable world. I agree.

Pizza Redemption

The pizza I ate for dinner was definitely a step up from lunch. Still, so far, the pizza in Rome has been better than pizza in Florence.

There's a huge market here with all sorts of leather goods. But at the end, there were a few other types of artists, including a Moroccan who had beautiful water colors and etchings. I'd rather spend money on art than leather, so I did. I'm sure I'll spend far more on framing than I did on the etching of the Ponte Vecchio, but that's okay.

The artist was drinking some wine as we approached his table, and before we could even start looking at his work, he told us he'd been drinking for 32 of his 48 years. The only person he really loves is his mother because she gave birth to nine people. I didn't ask about the wedding ring he was wearing.

Hotel Carravaggio

This hotel is definitely three-star (as opposed to our four-star hotel in Rome). The rooms are fine. The bathroom is clean. There are fitted sheets on the bed (as there were at the hotel in Rome). But the beds are the smallest beds I've ever slept in. I tend to toss and turn in my sleep, and in these beds, if you toss, you can't turn. And if you turn, you definitely can't toss.

In addition to cereal, milk and rolls, breakfast features all sorts of packaged foods- from jelly and nutella and honey, to crackers and pate. Yes, pate. I have only one word for this. Ewww.

David

Michaelangelo's David doesn't look very Jewish. And we all decided that the Accademia is our kind of museum. A few specific things to see and not too big. We spent almost an hour there, most of it looking at David, who doesn't actually seem very self-conscious given how many people are staring at him.

The pizza today (so far) has been disappointing.

Firenze

The waitress on television was most definitely not named after this city.

Smaller than Rome, more manageable, more diverse, both old and modern, and not quite as much graffiti. In Rome, everyone was wearing something bedazzled, or at least shiny. Here, they are dressed to the nines, and you can look at them in direct sunlight and not be blinded.

The train was an adventure. First, we all decided to walk to the train station. Bags on wheels are a great invention, but five people, four of whom have the identical bag, walking in a line like ducks for a mile is just embarrassing. At some point, we thought that two or three might take a bus or at least a cab, but in the end, no. We all walked.

And, we all have bags that are too big. Thankfully, they fit under the seats of the train, but not so easily. And none of us believed it was time to start getting our bags out so we could make a quick exit when the train stopped. Oops.

We’re hoping that the call I made to Italy a few weeks ago to reserve tickets for the Uffizi and Accademia will actually yield tickets. We’ll find out tomorrow.

And, just to be on the safe side, I had both pizza and pasta today. I have yet to have gelato, but the night is young.

Addendum

1. We did not expect to get mugged in Naples, but the city has as reputation as the pick-pocket capitol of Italy. We also were not disappointed not to have been chosen to participate in this time-honored activity.

2. Who knew that Roman numerals are still used extensively in Rome?!

3. I do not believe the citizens of Pompeii were individually responsible for the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and the concept of guilt-by-association had already been realized.