A few weekends ago I was sitting on the couch, bored and surfing through the channels on tv. when I ended up coming across an Insanity infomercial. The Insanity program looks - well, insane - so I wasn't about to buy it, but it did give me the idea to purchase P90X. I generally don't buy into infomercial workout videos but I'd heard great reviews from friends about it in the past and this was something that B and I could do together. He won't run with me because he says I'm too intimidating (which I can see since he is not a runner and has no intention of becoming one) and with his full time student and full time job schedule he's always too tired to come to the gym with me.
It's been one full week into the P90X program and I'm happy to say that it's making me do something I truly hate doing - weights. In high school I used to skip out on any kind of weight training because I believed it would make me bulky. I also just hate doing it. I'd rather run extra than do any kind of weight training. So, nonetheless, I've been fairly sore. all. week. long. The women on this program are intense. They are like straight up muscle and can do 20 pull ups. I can't do one. And pushups? OHHHHHGEEEEZ I should video tape B and I trying to master one of these videos, I'm sure it would be pretty comical to watch. I mean, I get a kick out of watching B try some of the fun yoga positions - one of the few things I'm at least sorta-okay at.
Yesterday was our stretch day and I ran for 50 minutes outside in the beautiful weather (Oklahoma has ADD weather, ya'll, now its stormy and cold) and completed the hour long stretching DVD with B. Good stuff.
Also, I've been using the Iphone app called My Fitness Pal and would love to have some friends join me. Unfortunately, I discovered that when I went home for lunch today I ate almost half my days worth of calories. The good part is that at least this information has become known to me so that I can watch myself this evening, right? Although... I rediscovered ice cream in the freezer last night and have been meaning to eat it before anyone else gets to it - this is the sort of mentality you get when you grow up as one out of four kids.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Hello there. Remember me? No? Has it been that long?
Yes, I suppose it has been a long time. The weather is actually cold and I'm pretty sure in one of the last posts I was complaining about the heat.
Well, to update you on my life... I'm beginning to round out the end to my AmeriCorps VISTA year of service. Funny that when I started this, I was just beginning - actually, hadn't even started. It has definitely proved to be a challenging year. My main project was to create a tutoring project pilot program for some of the high-poverty, low-income high schools in Oklahoma. Sounds easy enough, right? WRONG.
It has taken 10 months to get this thing going and it hasn't been smooth sailing. You see, we are not just providing your old run-of-the-mill tutoring program. We connect college students (the majority being education majors) to tutor a student online. We do it online so that we can provide tutors to the very rural areas. When I say rural, I mean rural. The school to which we are trying to provide tutoring is in no man's land. Deep in the panhandle, Oklahoma. Here, the principal is also the counselor (seriously) and probably the bus driver, gym teacher, and coach, too. So, challenges that I've hit have included students not knowing how to work a computer, computers not working, not having anyone available to talk to to organize the tutoring process, and teachers forgetting that the students are supposed to be online to get tutored (yes, this one happened today, actually). The school has the technological capability because this is just a small piece to a big grant where we have provided computers for them to use, but we are currently having to teach the kids how to work a simple program from afar and this has been rough.
There have been various other things that I will not get into, but what I'm trying to say is that there has not been anything easy about getting this going. But, the kids in this town NEED this. Most of them have never had a parent/sibling/ friend go to college and just meeting a college student and having them as a tutor has the potential to open their minds to the possibility for them continuing their education after high school. This is why I want it to work and - had I not thought this could help someone - I would have given up a looooooong time ago.
Add all of the stress of getting this up and running with my unsuccessful job search so that I will be employed once my AmeriCorps year has ended in April, and you'll find me with the emotional mood swings of a hormonal pregnant woman. My poor, poor boyfriend! Happy Valentine's Day to him. :)
Yes, I suppose it has been a long time. The weather is actually cold and I'm pretty sure in one of the last posts I was complaining about the heat.
Well, to update you on my life... I'm beginning to round out the end to my AmeriCorps VISTA year of service. Funny that when I started this, I was just beginning - actually, hadn't even started. It has definitely proved to be a challenging year. My main project was to create a tutoring project pilot program for some of the high-poverty, low-income high schools in Oklahoma. Sounds easy enough, right? WRONG.
It has taken 10 months to get this thing going and it hasn't been smooth sailing. You see, we are not just providing your old run-of-the-mill tutoring program. We connect college students (the majority being education majors) to tutor a student online. We do it online so that we can provide tutors to the very rural areas. When I say rural, I mean rural. The school to which we are trying to provide tutoring is in no man's land. Deep in the panhandle, Oklahoma. Here, the principal is also the counselor (seriously) and probably the bus driver, gym teacher, and coach, too. So, challenges that I've hit have included students not knowing how to work a computer, computers not working, not having anyone available to talk to to organize the tutoring process, and teachers forgetting that the students are supposed to be online to get tutored (yes, this one happened today, actually). The school has the technological capability because this is just a small piece to a big grant where we have provided computers for them to use, but we are currently having to teach the kids how to work a simple program from afar and this has been rough.
There have been various other things that I will not get into, but what I'm trying to say is that there has not been anything easy about getting this going. But, the kids in this town NEED this. Most of them have never had a parent/sibling/ friend go to college and just meeting a college student and having them as a tutor has the potential to open their minds to the possibility for them continuing their education after high school. This is why I want it to work and - had I not thought this could help someone - I would have given up a looooooong time ago.
Add all of the stress of getting this up and running with my unsuccessful job search so that I will be employed once my AmeriCorps year has ended in April, and you'll find me with the emotional mood swings of a hormonal pregnant woman. My poor, poor boyfriend! Happy Valentine's Day to him. :)
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