Urban Running

Okay... fun new sport for the occasional work-out. Because I'm taking the afternoon off and our HRM system doesn't allow us to input 1/2 vacation days, I decided to come in at the butt-crack of dawn (pre-dawn, really), work for a bit, take an exercise "lunch" break, then work again until noon.

Well, it is such a beautiful day and the morning was such that I didn't feel like doing the elliptical machine. So I took my key card to the building, headed out the front door onto a quiet Main Street at 7 a.m., and took a 30-minute run! My route took me up Main Street across the plaza in front of the Salt Lake Temple, up North Temple past the Church Office Building, up a KILLER hill, then along 2nd Ave (my favorite part of the run) to "I" Street. At that mid-point, I headed back south to South Temple, down past the Governor's Mansion--

--to 2nd East, over to 2nd South, and then down to my starting point. It was a total of 19 city blocks or about 2.4 miles. I wasn't going for speed, as such isn't my intent--and I was reassured of that when a die hard runner passed me in front of the Cathederal of the Madeline like I was standing still--but that 30 minutes was such a fun way to start the day.

It's a bit ironic that I'm saying all of this. I used to see people running through the city and think, and even say outloud, "Who are they kidding? What a silly place to run." Well, I'm a new convert... if one goes early enough and incorporates a bit of the urban residential area (like the Avenues--again, LOVED that part; what charm), it's actually an enjoyable, ever-changing terrain with a plethora of sensory appeal.

A little GAS humor...

Nah, by no means should the title line of this post be misinterpretted. This has nothing to do with flatulance and everything to do with friggin' gas prices at their all time high. $4 a gallon! NUTS. Time to do that diesel-veggie conversion thing. :)

In honor of the insanity, a few pix from a funny e-mail I got at work today:






I think this last one is a bit outdated. I filled up Monday morning from about 1/3 of a tank, and it cost me $46! That was Sam's Club gas at $3.85/gallon, too. And a friggin' CAMRY, too. Sheesh!!

Privacy - an irony

Like many friends, I decided to make my blog "by invitation only." To the best of my memory, I've invited all friends who ever commented on a post (and therefore I consider "readers"), and my closest family & friends. If I've left someone out, all they need to do is e-mail me at jdcracroft@gmail.com and I will gladly add them!

My choice to do this is closely linked to the root of why I started my own blog in the first place--it's a place to put thoughts into words, let go of frustrations, and to get creative. Because some of those frustrations or grand schemes may vividly discuss work, school, or the like, I thought it wise to keep control of readership so as to not let the boss, the dean of students and the like have access without consent!

The irony? I just think it's kinda funny that in an age where there is such a focus on privacy of information, the technology of the day has an uncanny way of erasing so much of a person's true privacy. Nevertheless, I myself am making steps in the direction of controlling what I can!

Best,

Justin

Habits, habits...

It's official... out with the old:

(Exhibit A)

And in with the new:

(Exhibit B)

This may mean nothing to you, but it's a huge event in my life! People who know me well know that I have this nasty soda drinking habit! Albeit, I have about 90% switched over to DIET in the past few months, but soda is still about as good for the stomach as acid reflux!

This Pepsi cup (Exhibit A, above) has been my constant companion for at least 2 years. I bought it when we lived up north at the 2M on Gentile St. If I were to venture a guess, I'd say it has seen between 30 - 40 refills per month since then.

MATH
It's a bit CRAZY to do the math, but on the conservative side:

30/month x 24 months = 720 refills (23,040 ounces!)

I'd like to believe that all refills have been as cheap as Gandolfo's 50 cent deal across the street from my office, but reality is that Maverick is $0.74 and 7-Eleven is $0.84. We'll go with Maverick as an average to compute the scary, scary financial impact:

720 refills x $0.74 = YIKES! ($532.80)

So, I think I just justified the $9.99 I spent last night on my beautiful new cobalt blue (to remind me of the good old days with Exhibit A) Camelbak WATER-ONLY bottle. [I have another that I left at M&D's house a couple of weeks ago, the location of which I remembered only after last night's purchase and my unwrapping of said purchase.]

Sure, I'll still enjoy the occasional diet Dr. P or even diet Mountain Dew (thank you WebMD for suggesting such occasional indulgence is "okay"), but it's time to attack the core! Bring on the TRUE results show. (Idol ain't got nothing on this.) I'm ready to drop my final few pounds and really tone up my mid-section.

Viva la agua!

Great FHE for any family

For an Elders Quorum lesson recently, we watched this talk of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's from the April 2007 broadcast of General Conference. It's worth checking out:

Give it a listen or even watch Elder Holland himself deliver it by clicking here.

My plan to hit 175:

So, the "final 12" is going to be a tough nut to crack, I realize. Of course, by that I am referring to nothing involving Simon, Paula, and/or Randy, but losing 12 more ellbees to reach my goal weight of 175. But this is my plan in getting there.


1. Portion control. We've traded bad habits with good in our household as far as choices in food. Ex. spray butter v. real butter, non-fat mayo v. real, light and/or non-fat yogurt v. regular, soy milk v. cow milk, chicken and fish instead of red meats and pork (the other red meat), etc. But I really am not being so careful with portions at meals. Back to the six small meals focus... meaning small meals! This is my big focus area. I love food. But I need to make a concerted effort to eat the amount my body really requires, not what my appetite suggests.


2. Steady routine. I've adapted Luanne Cobb's routine to my own personal fit. Her schedule focuses all upper-body routines on one day and all lower body routines on another, with opposing muscle groups (like biceps and triceps) being worked on the same day and abs only on lower body days. I've made that into "extension" days and "curl" days, where I do the upper AND lower body exercises that focus on the extension muscles on the same day and the same for curl exercises grouped together with abs every day. Of course, I've got the aerobic days mixed in 3 days a week between the 3 training days. Looks like this (click to enlarge):

Fun Money! Thank you, Congress.

Ever since they first came out, these fancy-shmancy flatscreen t.v.'s have been the rage. Being somewhat conservative as we are by nature, Amanda and I have opted to "save our money" instead of buying one. Truth be told, however, one of our absolute favorite things we love doing together is to enjoy a good flick as often as time will allow.


Well, I'm a bit torn with this whole "economic stimulus" plan. On the one hand, I truly despise debt and do NOT approve of the direction our deficit has been headed. It has been estimated that this "stimulus" adds between $110 and $150 BILLION to that number. Nevertheless, I understand what they are trying to do, and since I did not have a chance to voice my opinion about it before receiving a payment from the government last week, it seems only fair to treat those funds as they were intended by spending them.


So, after a bit of research and no arm twisting on either of our parts, we found ourselves last night at Sam's Club and then today on lunch break at RC Willey. Long-story-short, I will be setting this beautiful piece of electronic mastery up this evening in our home:

"Ooooooo's" and "ahhhhhh's" are permissible at this point in the post... I won't judge you as being materialistic. It is hard to argue that this simply is a beautiful piece of modern engineering in grand piano black, as the salesman called it. In part, I see us as helping celebrate humanity and our progress in technology, fueled of course by the gifts and intelligence given to man by our ever-powerful Creator. So in many ways, this is a rather oddly spiritual experience.

So, to the economy, will you please consider yourself stimulated by this branch of Cracrofts, and right yourself a.s.a.p.?!