I know, I know……It’s been a while. Well, it’s been crazy the past few months. First of all, let me preface this blog by saying that I hate winter. Texas winters are the worst too; at least up north they get snow…which can be fun. Here in Texas we’ll have a sunny day that reaches 75 degrees followed by a high of 25 degrees and hail. There’s no consistency and there is never any snow. Well actually I heard it snowed for about an hour in Houston a few years ago….sorry, that doesn’t count. The worst part about the winter months though is the shortened days. I believe it’s the reduced exposure to sunlight that does it for me. I like to think that one day, when we’re out of this recession and I’m making lots of extra money, I’ll invest in those special lights they use in Alaskan homes to help treat seasonal mood disorder…then all I would need is a TSR indoor cable park! I know…dream on.
Work has been keeping me plenty busy these days, I can’t wait for a vacation! Our last break was over the Christmas holidays and that already seems like centuries ago. Josh and I had a wonderful Christmas by the way. We flew to New York to visit my older brother, my sister-in-law, and their three children. I also got to see my younger brother who took off for Iraq just a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the trip was short (4 days) and as soon as we returned home it was back to work. Not just “homework” from my job, but also house re-modeling. Josh and I (mostly Josh) took on the guest bedroom (which I also claim to be my room- I need one room to myself!). The room turned out gorgeous- we covered the plastic paneling with layers of sheet rock mud and Josh sprayed on the last layer with a hopper which created a cool textured effect. The walls are now a pretty light sage color with dark grayish greenish paneling. I decorated the room with bamboo and it turned out rather professional looking- we are both very pleased. Currently, Josh is in the midst of tackling the living room and I suspect it’ll be another week before it’s finished. I try to help out when I can, but as of late work has been just exhausting. When I return home I just don’t have it in me to start applying sheet rock mud to the walls. I will say, however, that I was an active participant in tearing down the magazine paper glued to the walls- I found that to be fun and rather therapeutic.
Unfortunately wakeboarding has been at a standstill for the month of January….not by choice, however. The Ski Ranch has been closed due to winter renovations. I’ve missed it tremendously…I didn’t realize how much of an outlet it is for me. I’ve spent the past month trying to stay in shape with extra running and trips to the gym….but I was definitely having wakeboarding withdrawals. This was the first weekend it’s been open since January 5th. I have to say, as you’ve heard before on this blog- I didn’t pace myself. I rode for about 4 1/2 hours straight. It felt so good to be back out there on the water I didn’t even notice the 25 mi per hour winds. I’m feeling it today though….
The cats are doing well. Oatmeal finally hit his goal weight of 11 lbs! He’s looking very healthy now and he’s more active. Now we’re just in maintenance mode. To all fat cats and their owners out there, it’s possible!
I recognize that I have grossly neglected my blog for several months and I apologize. I started working again and consequently have had little free time for blogging. The truth is, I write ALOT for my job so by the time I come home the notion of formulating my thoughts into a passage just exhausts me. My brain is usually too fried to sustain my attention for such things, even if it is a topic of interest. Nevertheless, I vow to keep up with this. I find it rather therapeutic to get my thoughts out, even if nobody is reading them.
Well, here are some updates. Oatmeal is doing great! I’m scheduling an annual vet appointment for him next weekend so I will find out his exact weight soon. On my scale he is estimated to weigh between 12 and 12.5 lbs. If this is accurate, he has approximately 1 more pound to go. That last pound is always the toughest!
Josh and I are doing well. We finally started redoing his house. In case I have not informed you, Josh’s house was decorated by his ex-fiance 5 years ago. It is covered from top to bottom with magazine cut outs. It’s pretty much a collage that covers every square inch of his entire house (minus the guest bedroom). While Josh finds it rather artsy, he quickly agreed with me that his walls could use a make over. Unfortunately, the walls underneath are not much better- 1980’s plastic paneling. After doing some research we decided the best strategy was to peel off all of the decoupage magazine wall paper, put primer on the paneling, then apply several layers of sheet rock mud. In the end the walls turned out VERY nice! We painted them a deep blue color which makes the room feel very serene. However, the process was much more involved than we had anticipated. It took an entire week to complete just one room! We worked tirelessly every day after work. That week, despite numerous showers, I constantly had paint and primer on myself. I actually had to cut parts of my hair- primer does not come out of your hair with shampoo- it doesn’t matter how many times you wash it! At work I had to wear long sleeves, slacks, and keep my hair pulled back- white primer on your skin and in your hair is not very professional.
Nevertheless, the end result was well worth it! One room down, four more to go!
Wakeboarding has been going especially well! I recently competed in TSR’s Fall Fest and it was a great time. Usually, I get too nervous to really enjoy contests, but I’m trying to put an end to that. There was a record turnout for Fall Fest this year- 5 ladies total! Usually we’re lucky to have 3 girls sign up for this particular contest. All of the ladies were very supportive toward one another and we all encouraged each other. In the prelims I stood up the run of my life. I put my best tricks in and was surprised that I stuck everything! I was a bit nervous going into the finals the next day. I was hoping that all of my luck didn’t run out the day prior. Well, my hard work payed off- I stuck everything for a second time! Stomped it! I couldn’t believe it! I was sooooo excited that after my run I threw a switch air raley for the crowd right before I exited. I wanted to put it in my run, but I just wasn’t consistent enough with it. While it didn’t count toward my overall score, it felt really good to land the switch raley for everyone. I felt so proud, I finally show cased my best tricks without my nerves getting the best of me. The great part was, all of the women threw the best runs of their lives in the finals. Marisa landed her backroll and stood up a switch FS360 off the helium kicker for the first time (not to mention it was her very first competition ever)! Danielle threw a very clean TS FS 540 off the kicker and looked really good on the rails. Holland stepped it up and threw her very first air trick (an air raley)! She also did a huge tantrum (backflip) over the iceberg which is darn audacious. Here was my trick run:
Lap 1:
poked nose slide on the A-frame to the inside
TS BS 360 off the helium kicker
HS FS mute 360 off the booter kicker
Air backroll
Transfer from the fun box to the A-frame 90 out
Lap 2:
backboard to switch front board on the A-frame to the inside
Switch front flip off the helium kicker
Kink rail
Air krypt
A-frame to the outside (in prelims I gaped it, but in the finals I came off of it a bit early)
Tootsie Roll off the helium kicker (wild card trick- front roll with a blind 180 spin)
Switch air raley (extra- didn’t count as part of my run, though, still stoked I landed it)
I have to say, I’m also very proud I landed that tootsie roll both days. I finallllly got up the nerve to start throwing that trick again after my mishap in the Philippines (see post dated 7-28-08).
The womens division received many complements, which was vitalizing. I feel it’s a step toward earning the respect and recognition that we deserve out there! We have worked darn hard to get where we are at, and we’ll continue to push ourselves and eachother to progress even further. We were actually mentioned in TSR’s write up:
http://www.texasskiranch.com/fallfest/
While it was a great day, I was sad that my favorite rider, Josh Rice, was unable to compete. He’s been out with an elbow injury for the last few weeks. I can’t wait till my man’s back out there tearing it up. He’s my inspiration!
I’ll be sure to post Swami’s pictures of the comp on my blog after he gets them up on his site.
Filed under: wakeboarding
Unfortunately, the time is near. That’s right, I have to return to work next Monday. The summer fun and games are soon over. This weekend, however, I allowed myself one last trip before summers end and had two volunteers to join me- Josh and Marisa. We drove to KCW this weekend and I have to say it was a blast. It was really nice to travel with companions this time around.
We left Friday evening and drove for 12 hours straight (all the way through the night) and arrived in Hillsdale, Kansas at 6 in the morning. Unfortunately, KCW was closed Saturday due to inclement weather, so we had to entertain ourselves in Kansas until Sunday. We set up camp at a state park about three miles from the cable park. In hindsight, it was probably for the best that we didn’t ride on Saturday. We were all so delirious from lack of sleep- I suspect it would have been a horrible display of riding. I was so discombobulated that day, I kept tripping over my own feet and had trouble maintaining any train of thought. I never realized just how “drunk” one will appear with only 1.5 hours of sleep. I really wonder how I maintained passing grades in undergrad with the numerous ”all nighters” I pulled.
Boy, was the trip well worth it by Sunday. We had a blast! Mike (the owner) opened the cable a bit early so we could get some riding in before the weekend crowd showed up. We had the cable to ourselves for an hour and a half and it was pure bliss. The lake was butter, the sun was shinning, and each of us had a hector (a space between carriers so we didn’t hit each others rollers). Even when the cable opened to the public, it was still bunches of fun. I enjoyed spinning while I was there and learned a new trick- a switch frontside 3. I have now officially landed 6 360 variations: Switch and regular HS BS 3s, Switch and regular HS FS 3s, Regular TS FS 3, Regular TS BS 3.
I also tried a new blind trick- a switch raley to blind off the kicker. I figured I’m very comfortable with switch raleys and switch blind 180s landing wrapped….so I added them together. I only tried it 3 times before I ran out of time, however my attempts weren’t bad, I came all the way to blind 180 but I kept landing too heavy on either my toes or heels. Here’s a video of my third attempt:
Marisa, Josh, and I rode for 7 hours straight. We knew we were going to be hurting the next day, but we didn’t care. KCW’s obstacles are so much fun. The kickers and rails are a bit more mellow than those at TSR which is very conducive to learning new tricks and stomping old ones.
Monday morning I woke up unable to move as expected. Prior to this weekend, I hadn’t wakeboarded for two weeks (due to my hip flexor strain). Though I had been running and biking over the weeks, I was not in wakeboarding shape. Seven straight hours of riding did a number on my body. The worst part was, I had to sit in a car for 12 hours the next day, which just made my body even more stiff. Ugh. Oh well, it was totally worth it!
Good news- my hip flexor is doing great- it’s the only part of my body not sore. Those PT strengthing exercises I’ve been doing seem to be working (knock on wood).
Filed under: cats
Mr. Oatmeal
This blog is about my struggles with weight loss……for my cat. I’m ashamed to say that I’ve always emphasized appropriate diet and exercise in my own life, but have grossly neglected this postulate for my cats. One month ago I returned from the Philippines very lean. I attribute this to a two week fish and rice diet, constant wakeboarding, and jogging. I was feeling very healthy and fit upon my return (fractured skull and black eyes aside). Anyway, when I came home my poor fat Oatmeal was quite plump. He weighed in at his heaviest- 13.5 lbs! Now, I’m not blaming Josh at all (he fed Oatmeal for me for those two weeks). Oatmeal was tipping the scales before I left and I knew that a serious change in his feeding had to occur when I returned.
Ok, first off, I take complete responsibility. I am completely to blame for his excess weight as I control his food supply. But, you have to understand why I have let it get to this point. Eight months ago Oatmeal almost died. He had an acute case of pancreantitis which caused him to stop eating for several days. I hadn’t noticed his lack of appetite right away because he shared a food bowl with my two other cats. Due to the lack of eating he developed fatty liver disease, became jaundice, and anemic. Oatmeal was hospitalized at the local vet for one week and did not get any better. Well, supposedly he was getting better until I received a frantic phone from my vet saying Oatmeal took a turn for the worst and he needed to see a specialist pronto. So…why didn’t they refer him to a specialist from the start? He spent a whole week there, got worse, and I got a $1700 vet bill. Sorry, getting off track, I’m a bit bitter about that. Luckily the feline specialist in San Antonio, Dr. Norsworthy, saved Oatmeal. Oatmeal had a feeding tube surgically implanted and I fed him three times a day for 6 weeks through that tube. He eventually got his appetite back and was eating on his own again. Anyway, to make a long story long, Oatmeal, at his sickest, was a mere 6lbs. Once he started eating on his own, I provided him with a plethora of food. I wanted him reach 10 lbs.
Well, Oatmeal has long since passed the 10 lb mark and now I’m trying to put on the breaks. After he hit his goal weight I honestly stopped keeping track because he was healthy again. It wasn’t until one day my boyfriend suggested Oatmeal was getting fat (nicely of course). It definitely hit home when my brother Jordan came to visit me in June. He saw Oatmeal and did not hold back. He several times noted just how huge poor Oatmeal was.
So I did some research on the internet and realized I was doing everything wrong. Sigh…first off, since Oatmeal was a kitten I never had specific feeding times. I just kept his food bowl constantly full because he was always able to portion himself. My close friend and previous roommate Monica called it “the all you can eat cat buffet”. Second, I found out that Oatmeal’s expensive prescription diet food (my vet sold to me because Oatmeal has a food allergy) is high in carbs- he needed more protein in his diet. Third, is just common sense. Oatmeal’s an indoor cat and he needed more exercise.
So…with all this in mind, I made some changes. I started to feed my cats several times a day with a specific amount of food. When I fed them in a group I quickly noticed a peking order. Ms. Oreo was first, then Oatmeal, then poor Cocobutt. Oreo would eat a reasonable amount and then walk away, next Oatmeal would pig out and leave the scraps for poor Coco. I started reducing the amount of food over several weeks and soon realized that the only one losing weight was poor Coco- and he was already thin! So, after doing some more research on the internet, I decided to separate Oatmeal during feeding times. I also decided to gradually change their food over to something more rich in protein. Lastly, I started to play with my cats more. Unfortunately, Oatmeal’s interest in toys is fleeting so he doesn’t burn many calories. I throw his mouse and he just looks at me. If he’s in the mood he’ll run a few times and then quit. Sigh…I need to invest in a laser light.
So we’ll see how these changes work. I’ve learned weight loss for cats has to be very gradual. Oatmeal’s goal weight is 11 lbs. Thus far, he has lost a half pound, and I think that’s good progress. Good job Oatmeal!
Filed under: wakeboarding
Sooo…here’s the thing about me and wakeboarding. I love it, and I push myself to the limits. However, I’m careful to not to skip steps when learning new tricks as I fear injury. This tactic; however, does not always prevent me from getting hurt. I recently particpated in the WWA cable world championships in the Philippines. For the comp, I rode pretty well for myself. However, it wasn’t enough for me to advance from the quarter finals. I was up against women who have been riding much longer than me and had more air tricks. I have to say, I did pretty well on the obstacles, comparatively, but unfortunately for this competition, airtricks seemed to carry a bit more weight. Oh well, anyway, this post is about my most recent wacky injury (besides pulling my hip flexor for the 3rd time, which happened today). Soo…while attempting to land my “hammer trick” -the tootsie roll- off a kicker much smaller than the one I’m used to here at home, I came up short and violently kneed myself in the face. The point of impact was just above my right brow. My forehead immediately swelled up so big I looked like an alien. For the next two weeks of training in the Philippines I had to walk around with two black eyes. It was pretty embarrassing, especially because I was meeting just about everyone for the first time- it was my first international comp and I was meeting athletes from all over. I got sooooo sick of answering questions from people about my black eyes. I wanted to stamp a big note on my head stating that I kneed myself in the face and I wasn’t answering anymore questions.
I have to say, I was a trooper. I got out there the next day after the incident and kept practicing (that is as soon as the swelling went down and I could open my right eye at least half way- which didn’t happen till later in the morning). However, I never did try the tootsie off that kicker again. Hell, I’m still shy about throwing it at TSR.
I never had any real concerns about my head during those weeks. I did not exhibit any symptoms of brain injury- no concussion, no memory loss, no recurrent head aches. Well….a few days after I returned from the Worlds I was looking in the mirror and noticed an inch long dent in my head, right where I hit myself. I started to freak out. I was so distracted by my black eyes, I hadn’t even considered the fact that I may have fractured my skull! Anyway, x-rays were completed and it turns out I have a depressed nondisplaced skull fracture. Since there are not any displaced skull pieces the doctor informed me that surgery is not needed, though, I will have this dent in my head for the rest of my life.
How depressing (no pun intended). Who fractures their skull with their own knee? It’s a freak accident, even for wakeboarding.
On the bright side, at least my executive functions are intact. God knows I’m not the most planful or organized person out there. I need every brain cell in my frontal lobe.
Filed under: Introduction
I’m 28 and currently living in Canyon Lake, Texas. While I absolutely love Texas and consider it home, I’m actually a Pennsylvania native. I was born and raised there, and received my undergraduate degree at a division II state school near Allentown (Kutztown University). I moved to Texas to attend graduate school and study School Psychology. I graduated with a specialist level masters degree in May of 2007 and I am currently working in the field. Because much of my job often deals with confidential matters, I will not be blogging about my work related experiences. Sooo…work aside, I spend much of my time with my boyfriend of two and a half years. We recently moved in together, which has been a huge transition for me as this is the first time I’ve cohabited with a significant other.
Since I was a little girl, I have always been involved with sports. I started gymnasts at the age of four and continued until I was eleven. Unfortunately I was forced to quit gymnastics because it became too financially taxing for my middle class family. However, I soon discovered I was pretty fast and joined the track team in middle school. I sprinted throughout high school and was a “walk on” to KU’s track team in college. I could pretty much beat anyone in the first 30 yards of the 100 meter dash…however, my short legs (I’m 5′0″ tall) often could not beat the long strides of taller competitors. Therefore, my participation in track at KU was about camaraderie and keeping myself in shape.
It was the end of my freshman year that I was approached by my coach about trying the polevault. While my height continued to be a great disadvantage, my upper body strength and kinesthetic awareness (developed from gymnastics) helped me tremendously. With much work and assistance from a very experienced coach I exceeded expectations. I won the PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Championships) indoor title and became both an indoor and outdoor NCAA All American (placed in the top 8 at nationals).
Currently much of my time is spent cable wakeboarding. I started wakeboarding right before I met my boyfriend, Josh, in December of 2005. We met at the Texas Ski Ranch in New Braunfels. I was learning how to wakeboard in the middle of December with my crazy friend Monica (which is weird, I know, who learns to wakeboard in the winter?). Josh is a very experienced cable rider who won the World Games three years ago. He saw me out there trying to get up on my board and gave me some tips. Anyway, I’ve come a long way in two and a half years. I’ve learned all sorts of tricks and I’m hoping to make a real contribution to the progression of women’s cable riding- especially here in the States. Several videos of my riding are posted below. Rails are my favorite, but I’m also working on air tricks and kicker tricks.
Let’s see other aspects of myself? I am a very independent and ambitious gal. Despite years of trying to “live in the moment” I have yet to change the fact that I am a very goal oriented person who is very focused on achievement; thus, I often have to remind myself to slow down and enjoy life in process. Though I have great social skills, I am a pretty introverted individual. I’ve never been the life of the party, but more or less the girl with a few really close friends. Despite being fit and athletic, I can be very clumsy. This is only really due to lack of paying attention to my surroundings. I have a tendency to “get lost in my head”, you know…just thinking pretty intensely, which leads to me tripping, and bumping into things. While I’m well educated, I’ll be the first to admit I’m spacey from time to time. I was brought up Catholic but I’m not religious. I’m more of a spiritual person, not religious. What’s the difference? Perhaps I will blog about it sometime.
Well that’s about all I can think of at the moment.
