1/17/07: January Factoids...

January 31, 2007

I had a regular newspaper column in my high school newspaper. The paper was called "The Tilghman Bell". My column? "The Bell Tone", of course! :P

January 30, 2007

I decided I wanted to be a teacher in 7th Grade when I had Mr. Sandefer for Social Studies. He would show slides of trips to Egypt and other exotic locales and I decided that I wanted to be like him! Once I got to high school and took Spanish I decided to teach that instead of History or Social Studies. I got the degree and taught for 3 years. I still love the language and some parts of teaching, but I don't think a classroom full of adolescents is the place for me! If I get back into teaching, it would be either at the college level or in a private school, possibly in administration, but I really don't see myself teaching in the public school system again.
January 29, 2007

One of my long-term dreams is to open a private school some day. I'd like to have a rigorous, academy-style K-12 school focused on delivering a higher quality education than available elsewhere. (It would have no religious affiliation--let the parents and churches teach doctrine; the school would be strictly academics.) I would probably have a curriculum based on the concept of "cultural literacy" described by E.D. Hirsch in his books "Cultural Literacy" and "The Schools We Need (And Why We Don't Have Them)". I even have a working name for the school: "Renaissance Academy". If it happens, it probably wouldn't be for years down the road. I would need lots of money to get started right and be able to afford to pay for the good teachers that I would want. Anyone care to make a donation???

January 26, 2007

My very first car was a 1978 Cadillac Coupe de Ville! It was something of a family heirloom. LOL My grandmother had bought it new in 1978 and she drove it for probably 11 or 12 years. Then my mom drove it for some time, and my sister drove it as well for a couple of years, then finally it came down to me! Talk about a land barge! That car was HUGE, but it had some serious power. It was hideous--dingy white and brown with bondo filling in some of the larger rusty places--but I grew to love it in a weird sort of way. I must say, I was the only kid at PTHS who drove a Caddy! :P

January 25, 2007

I am a chess player. Though I haven't played much in the last 3 years, I learned when I was very young and tied for second place in a decent sized tournament when I was 11 or 12. Then I got back into a local chess club when I lived in Arkansas and I earned the title of Northeast Arkansas Chess Champion 2003! (That sounds more impressive than it is...there were only like 9 people in the tournament! LOL) So, if anyone knows how to play and would like a game, send me a message and we'll get together online and play a game! Like I said, I'm kind of rusty, but I enjoy it!

January 24, 2007

When I was in Italy in 2001, I decided to walk to a monastery called "Sant'Antimo" from a little town called Montalcino that I was staying in. After consulting the map (which was in Italian and marked in kilometers instead of miles!) I mistakenly estimated a distance of under 5 miles. It was actually over 10! And, about the time I arrived, it was about to start raining. It was actually a beautiful walk there through the countryside, but I wasn't looking forward to another 10-mile walk back in the rain! The public busses weren't running because it was a Sunday, so I decided to hitchhike back. I flagged down a private tour bus full of British travellers on the driveway to the monastery and was told that his company didn't allow him to take on passengers. I went on to see the monastery and as I was walking back down the driveway several vehicles passed without stopping. I saw the bus again and didn't bother thumbing it, but to my surprise he stopped and let me on, informing me that he was about to have a mutiny if he didn't give me a ride! So, that was the first and only time I ever hitchhiked!

January 23, 2007

Back when I was teaching school, my students pointed out that I look a lot like Jared from the Subway commercials. At least my "celebrity lookalike" lost the 350 pounds before anyone noticed that we favor! LOL I used to tell them that I was going to bring in my old pants from before I lost all of the weight so that they could see just how far I'd come on the sub diet!

January 22, 2007

I collect old National Geographic Magazines. My collection takes up between about 15 and 20 feet of shelf space, although right now they're all boxed up and in the garage. :o( My oldest one is from the 1920s. The advertisements are pretty entertaining in those older ones! Of course, I still subscribe and get all of the new ones too. The weird thing is I rarely read them. I enjoy reading them; I just never seem to get around to it. I guess it's sort of like a security blanket at this point; I've been moving them around with me for 15 years now. I don't think I could ever get rid of them at this point!

January 21, 2007

My grandmother slept on her coffee table for the last 20 years or so of her life. Don't ask me! She said it was comfortable! She was an interesting one! In fact, I could probably do a "Daily Granny Factoid" and not run out of stuff to say for a looonnnnggg time! LOL

January 20, 2007

I must be part shark or something. When I was growing up, I had 2 sets of adult teeth come in in several places. Needless to say, my teeth were messed up! I had one in front and one behind in several places, making everything all crooked...before I got my braces as a teenager, I had to have 13 teeth pulled, and I think only 2 or 3 of those were baby teeth; the rest were extras! (I couldn't have had some cool mutation like a spare lung or something handy like that; noooo...I had to have extra teeth! :P)

January 19, 2007

Unfortunately, I can be a terrible procrastinator. Case in point: at the time I am updating this factoid, it is 1am, and I have a long assignment for my Statistical Method class that is due by 12:00 noon and will probably take me 3 or 4 hours to finish, and yet I am on the internet updating this factoid! OK, OK, I'm going now!!! Sheesh!

January 18, 2007

In September 2005 I rode my bike in a "century", a 100-mile long organized ride sponsored by the local cycling club. It took me about 7 hours altogether, and I took one break of about 5 or 10 minutes. I intended to do two centuries in '06, but neither one materialized. I'd like to do at least one again this year. Can't wait for some warmer weather to get out there and start building up some endurance!

January 17, 2007

I took voice lessons as a teenager. I can still sing an Italian opera song! Just one though: "O Cessate Di Piagarmi", which translates "O No Longer Seek to Pain Me". Fun, huh?

1/9/07: New Year's Resolution

So how many of you made New Year's resolutions this year? It's January 9th now, how's that going for you? Send me a message and let me know!

It's been said that New Year's resolutions "go in one year and out the other". Sad but usually true. I try to resolve to change things throughout the year; Bro. Mike says we shouldn't wait till a new year to change things that need to be changed. However, one thing in particular this year I consciously decided to put off...well, truth be told, it's a "resolution" that I made back in the summer that sort of fizzled out, so I'm jump starting it now.

My resolution is to get healthier. Exercise more, eat less, etc. etc. Now, through the holidays is NOT a good time for me to start this sort of thing. I mean, how can one resist the temptation to overeat a bit when people are constantly inviting you over to partake of delicious home-cooked goodies? I mean, it's part of what the holidays are all about, right? Back in the summer, I had lost about 15 pounds, but I assure you that I found it all again by year's end. So now it's time to get serious!

You see, I went to the doctor for a check-up back in early June and he did a blood test to check my cholesterol level. They say that they like it to be below 180 these days, and mine was 210! (I'm ashamed to admit it, but 2 or 3 years ago I got it checked for the first time and it was even higher, like 246 or something.) The doc actually wrote me a scrip for cholesterol meds. Call me stubborn, but I refused to get it filled. I am 28 years old (for a couple more weeks anyway) and if I start on this type of drug now, I'll likely be on it for the rest of my life. I should be able to control it without medication, surely.

Now, I'm not morbidly obese, so apparently this is a genetic thing. (Thanks, Dad.) My pop is a registered nurse, and he advised me that getting rid of any extra fat is the single best thing you can do to lower cholesterol levels. He even plugged in my info into a computer program and came up with an ideal body weight of 138 pounds. Let me say that again: 138 POUNDS! That sounds crazy to me! I haven't weighed that since I was in junior high! I think I would have to be skin and bones with no muscle OR fat to get down to that!

So, realistically speaking, I am shooting for about 150. I started out the year at about 178, but I've already lost like 5 lbs, so I've got about 23 more to go. Here's what I'm doing...it's revolutionary...don't tell anyone my secret...I'm eating less. I'm also exercising a bit...push-ups and situps in the morning and evening most days. As it gets a bit warmer, I'm planning to add regular walking and biking to my weekly exercise plan.

Now, once I get down to 150 lbs., I'm planning to go back to the doctor and get that cholesterol checked again. I was supposed to go back in September or October, but I knew it wouldn't be any better and I still wasn't going to take the meds, so I figured "why waste the money?".
So, why am I blogging about this for everyone to read? If I fall off the wagon and gain 30 lbs, everyone will know that I blew it...

EXACTLY.

I NEED YOUR HELP. Check up with me every week or two and see how it's going. Remind me that I am doomed to a lifetime of medication if I don't get off my tail and stay healthy. It will be particularly difficult for me to maintain a healthy lifestyle when I'm starting back to school and everything. So, keep in touch and keep me accountable! I need drill sergeants to scream at me: "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING WITH THAT DOUBLE CHEESEBURGER, SOLDIER?! DROP AND GIVE ME 20!!!"

Thanks for any help you can offer!