"But the bottom line," he added, "is that we already know that the genes that are associated with exceptional longevity already exist, and that they are concentrated in subgroups of the population. And the rest of us don't have those genes, or don't have all of them. Those who do have won the genetic lottery for making it out to exceptional old age. And, unfortunately, if you haven't won, there's no chance you can make it."
--Jay Olshansky, a senior research scientist at the University of Chicago's Center on Aging
from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/16/AR2008121600756_2.html
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Pushups & Cat Food
I just got back from the gym! Yesterday & today were the first days that my legs really felt usable after Thursdays ass-kicking workout. I was limping around like an old lady for most of the weekend, and the pain was almost unbearable when I'd try to go up or down stairs. Overall, I did not feel good.
Anyway, I developed a pretty nasty cold on Sunday/Monday which pretty much came to a head today. Getting out of bed was nearly impossible this morning. I juiced it up old school today (1.5L green smoothie, 2L celery juice) but caved and ended up eating rice/yucca/bacalao from the hispanic place next door. Ugh. I didn't feel that crappy afterwards, but I was a bit worried that it would interfere with my speedy recovery.
I came home right away after school today (after thoroughly clearing my desk in case I decide to take tomorrow off...tehe), sat & rested, caught up with some emails, etc etc, and eventually felt well enough to go to the gym. I did the Week 1, Day 1 of http://hundredpushups.com/ and found it to be a bit challenging. I did a series of 6, 6, 4, 4, 5+ pushups. What made it so difficult is that as my arms get stronger, my form gets better and the number of pushups that I can do with super-correct form decreases. Obviously this will increase over time, but for right now I am really feeling the burn. I also ran for 30 minutes on an 2309283 incline, and feel so much better now (breathing/hackey wise) than I did before I went running.
I've decided I'm going to switch my cats to an all raw diet (consisting of raw meat/bones, some fish, pureed veggies, freshly grown wheatgrass, eggs, oils, and supplements). After months of watching Luscious get even more...luscious, I've decided my planning needs to morph into some serious action. I weighed the cats today (first by trying to coax them onto the scale, then by realizing I could just pick them up and stand on the scale...DUH). Luscious is 17 pounds! Her brother Fred is 12 pounds, and a solid, solid muscular cat. This makes me feel like Luscious should probably fall within the 10-12lb range. If she were a human, she would probably be considered morbidly obese. :( Jack and Dante are both 10 pounds each, and while weight-wise I'm only concerned with Luscious, the others would definitely benifit from raw food as well.
Anyway, I developed a pretty nasty cold on Sunday/Monday which pretty much came to a head today. Getting out of bed was nearly impossible this morning. I juiced it up old school today (1.5L green smoothie, 2L celery juice) but caved and ended up eating rice/yucca/bacalao from the hispanic place next door. Ugh. I didn't feel that crappy afterwards, but I was a bit worried that it would interfere with my speedy recovery.
I came home right away after school today (after thoroughly clearing my desk in case I decide to take tomorrow off...tehe), sat & rested, caught up with some emails, etc etc, and eventually felt well enough to go to the gym. I did the Week 1, Day 1 of http://hundredpushups.com/ and found it to be a bit challenging. I did a series of 6, 6, 4, 4, 5+ pushups. What made it so difficult is that as my arms get stronger, my form gets better and the number of pushups that I can do with super-correct form decreases. Obviously this will increase over time, but for right now I am really feeling the burn. I also ran for 30 minutes on an 2309283 incline, and feel so much better now (breathing/hackey wise) than I did before I went running.
I've decided I'm going to switch my cats to an all raw diet (consisting of raw meat/bones, some fish, pureed veggies, freshly grown wheatgrass, eggs, oils, and supplements). After months of watching Luscious get even more...luscious, I've decided my planning needs to morph into some serious action. I weighed the cats today (first by trying to coax them onto the scale, then by realizing I could just pick them up and stand on the scale...DUH). Luscious is 17 pounds! Her brother Fred is 12 pounds, and a solid, solid muscular cat. This makes me feel like Luscious should probably fall within the 10-12lb range. If she were a human, she would probably be considered morbidly obese. :( Jack and Dante are both 10 pounds each, and while weight-wise I'm only concerned with Luscious, the others would definitely benifit from raw food as well.
I've been reading up on raw food for cats for a while and am absolutely horrified by the things that go into conventional cat food. Kibble contains melamine, preservatives, animal "by-products," and grain/carbohydrate fillers that cause digestive problems. The fats in conventional dry kibble typically go rancid before the food is even consumed. On study showed that 9 out of 10 bags of dry kibble have some type of bug living in them. Gaaaah. Its disgusting!
So now I need to find a meat grinder. And take some before & after pictures of the kitties!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Stolen Cell Phone!
So, as some of you may know, my cell phone was stolen on Thursday night while I was at the gym. I accidentally left it on a treadmill for no more than 2 minutes, and when I went back it was gone. After the initial trauma of being heckled by the ladies who stole my phone when I tried calling it, things started to feel pretty good.
I LOVE not having a phone. The night it was stolen I panicked and spent hours searching online, trying to find something to tide me over on eBay until my contract renews in February (iPhone time!) If I were to replace it with an iPhone through AT&T at this moment, it would cost me over $500. My roommate suggested I wait 2 days, and if I still *NEEDED* to have a phone, I could then figure something out when I'm thinking more clearly. Its been four days (even including a weekend!) and I've decided that I'm completely fine going without. In all honesty, the thing I miss most is being able to tweet at all hours of the (work)day. Haha.
I'm really looking forward to this experience!
Moral of the story: You don't NEED a cell phone. Also, it probably doesn't hurt to spend the $10 or so per month on insurance.
I LOVE not having a phone. The night it was stolen I panicked and spent hours searching online, trying to find something to tide me over on eBay until my contract renews in February (iPhone time!) If I were to replace it with an iPhone through AT&T at this moment, it would cost me over $500. My roommate suggested I wait 2 days, and if I still *NEEDED* to have a phone, I could then figure something out when I'm thinking more clearly. Its been four days (even including a weekend!) and I've decided that I'm completely fine going without. In all honesty, the thing I miss most is being able to tweet at all hours of the (work)day. Haha.
I'm really looking forward to this experience!
Moral of the story: You don't NEED a cell phone. Also, it probably doesn't hurt to spend the $10 or so per month on insurance.
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