Sunday, May 25, 2008

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Updating, finally!

So, okay, it's been 3 months since I posted anything. Probably time to update.

Life is good. The Phoenix summer is beginning, which is a little depressing. It was 110 last Wednesday. But now we're having a freaky cold snap and it's been in the 70s this weekend, which is sort of wonderful. But work is really fabulous and I'm starting a master's program (in healthcare innovation) in the fall, which will be fabulous, especially since work is going to pay for it. Woohoo! I miss school, and I'm super-psyched about being a student again.

Hmm. Probably the most interesting thing in my life right now is my new Wii Fit, which is the greatest invention of all time. So, the main controller is the balance board, which is the main controller. You need the controller to navigate around the screens, but mostly the game is controlled by the board. As far as gameplay, there are four basic components - yoga, aerobics, strength training, and balance games. The games are awesome - soccer ball heading, snowboarding, skiing, hula hooping.

The workout parts are really fun and innovative - the focus is on improving your balance and stability, so during the strength training and yoga poses, the goal is to maintain your center of balance within a certain area - here's a screengrab, since this is tough to explain. the red dot is your center of balance and you have to keep it inside the yellow oval, and then at the end, you get points based on how well you maintained your balance - so it incorporates elements of gaming and competition into working out, which is awesome. Plus it keeps track of how many minutes of activity you do per day, which is awesome since I'm in a fitness contest at work and have to log at least 30 minutes of activity per day.

I also made a trip back home to the Midwest last week to see my sick granddad, who is doing okay, or about as well as could be expected, and my darling niece Katie - she turned 2 in March! It's hard to believe. She's doing the typical 2-year-old autonomy thing, and she insists on picking out her own food and putting on her own clothes. ("No, me" is probably her most oft-spoken phrase - but for now, her tone is mostly sweet, not bossy. We all expect that to change over the next few months.) My mom recently bought her a little leotard, which she calls her "tutu," (her pronunciation kind of sounds like choo-choo) and wears it all the time. Cutest thing ever. I'd put up some pics but I can't find my camera wire thingy. Fail.

So, other than that, life is just kind of rolling along. Work is fantastic, I'm finally making some progress paying off my monstrous credit card debt, and I've made a few more Phoenix friends (at long last). And I'm going to work on updating more.

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