I'm Shrinking

OK - now that I have all of the bad news out of my system I will brag about the good news. I am now 22 pounds lighter than I was 10 weeks ago! The pile of clothes to give to Goodwill because they are too big is getting larger every day. I am going to have to figure out how to get my suits tailored - or not - depending on how much it will cost. I have no "software training" clothes and I will quickly be needing some.

In March (so far) I am conducting training for:

• internal people the 8th and 9th
• clients in Redmond 13th-15th
• client in Allentown, Pennsylvania 17th
• client in Chicago 21st & 22nd

How I am going to continue my appointments with the personal trainer along with all of this I don't know yet.

2 Strikes

Yesterday was a really weird day. We have been thinking about trading in our bikes on a different style for trips so we went to the BMW dealer. We test rode a pair of 650GS bikes from BMW for a few hours and while we were out riding around we stopped by the Suzuki dealer and test rode a V-Strom. After riding around for a little while and eating lunch, I had decided on the 650 BMW and we went back to the dealer. John said "Hey - sit on the 1200." That's when the trouble started.

I got on a nice red 1200GS and John got on the 650 and we went on a short test ride. They let me borrow a lower seat for the test ride - the thing is TALL. It was so smooth and so fast and had none of the annoying vibration of the 650 (which is only a 1 cylinder) I was having a blast! But then, it happened - I decided to turn around on a side street - gravel and a hill. I stopped while executing the turn and found myself lying on the ground on my left side. Not good. Not good at all. I was feeling quite embarrassed and stupid, but John helped me get the bike back up and I got back on that puppy and rode. And got on the highway - and rode some more. It was such a sweet bike! I decided I wanted one.

We went back to the dealer to tell them the good and bad news and then waited around for the requisite 3 hours it takes to do any kind of vehicle purchase. I ended up purchasing the one I had dumped because A) it was already discounted since it was a few months older and a demo B) I wouldn't have to pay for the damage I had done to it - cosmetic damage of a BMW is expensive.

Now - notice that the title of this entry is "2 Strikes" - can you guess what happened next? Yes, that's right, as we were pulling out of the lot a car turned in and I thought it was closer to John then it was. Again - I was already turning and I stopped. PLUNK - fell over on the right side. I have rarely been so thoroughly embarrassed and disappointed in myself. Two guys from the BMW place came running to help and the guy who sold us the bike offered to ride it to our place for me. Instead we switched, John got on the new bike and I rode his (which is still much bigger than my old one). We got home in one piece, but then both fell into a funk. We started to question this hobby of ours. And, of course, I felt so bad about dropping the bike - twice - that I was miserable.

This morning we decided that although the power and smoothness of the 1200 is spectacular - it's just too big for me. So, John is going to take the new bike and I am going to ride his until we sell it and then go get the 650 - which is what I should have done in the first place. Live and learn. I am NOT waiting for the third strike before learning my lesson.

Pictures later.

Sunny!

Well, it's a beautiful sunny day in Seattle and I am waiting around until the doctor can see me at 2 because I have a cold I can't shake. What a waste of a beautiful day. I started feeling bad last Saturday and didn't exercise Sat, Sun, or Mon...but I bit the bullet Tuesday and have been doing my 60 min cardio + weights every day, but it's hard! My head feels like it's underwater.

John test rode a motorcycle yesterday - a different style than his current one. He has absolutely giddy afterwards - he is definitely in lust!

I bought some new jeans @Goodwill this weekend since I probably will shrink out of them in a month - $6 a pair. Not bad, except that while there I managed to lose my new voice recorder that I had just bought a week previous. I called and begged them to check the dressing rooms and left my name and number, but there really is no hope. Overall I lost much money on that trip!

I was having a conversation with my trainer Wednesday - the TV in the gym was showing some of the rioting going on overseas and I said something about it being over the cartoons. He looked at me with a very puzzled look on his face and said, "What cartoons?" I explained about the Dutch cartoons mocking Mohamed and how it had inflamed Islamic tensions. He said, "Why, who is Mohamed?" This was not a productive conversation, but it went on a bit longer until I couldn't talk anymore because I was running too fast - really better that way. Strange to be so clueless about the world.