by Kat
Thanks everyone for being understanding about the last post. I really do appreciate your support. I've had a hard time explaining why writing about this sort of thing makes me uncomfortable but I think I finally put my finger on the issue:
I always fear the implication that by setting fitness and dietary goals for myself I am somehow passing judgment on people who may not have set the same goals. I worry that when I state that I want to lose weight, people will misread it as me saying that because they weigh more than me or have a different body type I must think they are "fat" or worth less as a person. That couldn't be farther from the truth-- my thoughts are about the standards I set for myself and have nothing to do with the way I feel about other people.
The long and short of it is that I love other people just the way they are— but I’m pretty hard on myself. I judge myself. I don't judge others... that's just not my place to do.
I remember when I used to set goals for myself that were way out of reach. I wanted to be “perfect” and trying to get there just made me angry. (Partially because I never set a concrete goal or, much less defined what “perfect” was.) Somewhere along the way, thank god, I learned to like myself and stopped being completely unreasonable. Now it’s all about comfort, lifestyle, and ultimately health.
So, thanks again, for letting me be touchy-feely. I was really worried the assholes were going to come out en force for that last post. I certainly won’t make this a “weight loss blog” but I will post some updates over the next few months. Er, that is, if I can even find a scale that works. The sliding-weight scale in the gym locker room suspiciously tells me I’m more than 150 lbs if the bar is on 100 and less than 150 lbs if the bar is on 150. My best estimate is 67 kilos on that busted thing, which is about 148 lbs. My goal is 135, give or take, with the aesthetic goal of less one stomach-roll sitting down and the concrete goal of fitting in my old jeans.
OK! LET’S EVERYONE WORKING OUT! YOSH!
Posted on May 31, 2007 @ 4:06 PM |
7 comments
by Kat
This morning I decided that I wanted to wear one of my roller derby tanks with a pair of well loved, well worn jeans from college. The jeans, they did not look so good. They've always been TIGHT and I'd be lying if I said they didn't fit
at all because they zipped and buttoned and didn't cut off circulation to my internal organs. But they didn't fit, ah, like they're supposed to... You know, like they
used to.
This is a problem that must be solved.
I refuse to get fatter as I get older. I mean, shit, I'm a person who consumes sweets and junk food in moderation and drinks beer and wine (generally) in moderation (at home). But these things, out of my house they will go entirely. I have had enough. Too much, apparently. And I'm
done snacking. Snacking is unacceptable-- and therefore being hungry must be acceptable. gonna be snacking in careful moderation now on low-sugar, high-protein things like fruit, veggies, nuts, and yogurt. But I do have to get used to the thought that if I'm slightly hungry I don't need to EAT SOMETHING to be OK. A little hunger won't hurt me.
I cook healthy meals from whole and organic ingredients. I rarely eat meals in restaurants and I bring my lunches to work (I have lunch out maybe once a week). And I don't feel like I eat
too much. But still. Double-you tee eff. I guess I have to learn to read the difference between hunger and craving a little better. How depressing... I really like seconds.
I'm gonna have to learn to deal, 'cause these 10 pounds are coming off one way or another. I have seen damn near zero results in the last 2 weeks, so I figure I'd best step it up a notch. So goodbye, pasta and thin mint cookies. You were never really my friends anyway.
As my friend
Lazy Lightning says, it's not really an issue at this point, it's vanity. But if trends continue, as they tend to do for most people, it becomes an issue quickly. So, to vanity I gladly succumb.
Nevertheless, even if last summer's jeans don't fit, I'm glad to be here now with 10 more pounds on me and not, well... there... then. I'm in a much better place mentally, and despite the spare tire, much happier with myself, my job, my friends. All these things are NOT worth trading to fit in some dumb old pants.
It can be especially scary for me because, well, I've been unfit before. I was one of those kids in high school who skipped the PE requirement by satisfying it with IT and band/choir classes. I played JV tennis and softball only because I wanted desperately to somehow be cool. I never really did anything athletic until college and then instead of gaining the freshman 15 I lost the freshman 20. Whenever I assess my weight there's always a bit of fear of backsliding into the place I was mentally when I was heavier. It was a bad place to be and thankfully I can't think of anything that would convince me to feel so awful about myself again, weight-gain or otherwise. And I certainly have no intention of returning to a sedentary lifestyle EVER. But there's that nagging, irrational voice that associates weight with self-worth and still lives someplace in the dark,
pre-college days. The voice whimpers, "FLEE! FLEE!!" I know it's dumb, but there it is.
Still, I value my health, I value setting personal goals, and I value self-control. So into the blog these thoughts go, to solidify them for my own goal-setting. And off to the gym I go for a little sweating.
Monday I start Boot Camp, which runs for 9 weeks and should be plenty of time in which to meet and exceed these goals. No worries, I have a physical therapy consult to check on my gimpy knee. With luck, it will just be IT band issues and I can hut-hut-hut away with the best of 'em.
Posted on May 30, 2007 @ 6:06 PM |
12 comments
by Justin
Both Kat and I are on the bandwagon this week because dangit...almost everything over at
Threadless is on sale for $10.
Crappy T-shirts at Old Navy cost $10. Don't give money to Old Navy. Please, think of the children.
In other news, now that we're home and no longer camping or near a swimming hole it is nearly 80 degrees and spotlessly sunny outdoors. The gods they do laugh.
(P.S. Thanks to those who bought shirts at Threadless. As you might have guessed, if you click through the above link and buy something it gives us a $3 credit towards purchasing shirts ourselves. It doesn't change the cost of your order, it's really just philanthropy at it's purest. Shameless, sure. But you're buying the shirts anyway, support your friendly bloggers too.)
Posted on May 29, 2007 @ 7:01 PM |
1 comments
by Kat
For Kyle, who awesomely set up the camping trip and made kickass pancakes. We won't whip you with the switch so hard next time.
So, uh... where are my pancakes, beyotch? <3 <3
Posted on May 28, 2007 @ 11:39 PM |
3 comments
by Kat
( Llama Camping at Shady Cove )For the long weekend, we took a wee (6 hour) jaunt down to the Opal Creek Wilderness in Oregon to camp with Llamas at the
Shady Cove campground. For those of you paying attention, the Opal Creek Wilderness area is about 25 miles east of Salem on the way to Bend. The campground was lovely, right alongside the North Santiam River. If the weather had been warmer, we would have been in the river all weekend-- our campground was next to some of the most gorgeous, clear, and perfectly accessible "swimmin' holes" I've ever seen.
We got there on Friday night and made camp with a few other people. The rest of our crowd-- 15 total-- showed up on Saturday. We headed up the back roads (some of us in the back of a pickup, Whee!) until we hit snowpack. The trail we were aiming for was still inaccessible due to blowdowns and snow, but we hiked to the Opal Lake instead. The lake hike wasn't as long or as scenic of a walk as I was craving, but the steep creek bed trail and alternately snowy and marshy lake basin presented a unique set of challenges for a party of 15.
Saturday night we enjoyed the best virtues of car camping: burgers, beer, and bonfire . Though we had brought many of the luxuries of home with us, the fact that we were 20 miles off a dirt road outside the ass end of nowhere and without a municipal water source made it easy to shake off some of the urban funk I've been under.
Sunday morning we pulled a classic camping maneuver: when it proved too wet to hike or sit around camp, we packed up and went home. The rest of the weekend was still a perfect memorial day-- movies, sleeping in, and when the weather improved Monday, a damned authentic bbq. I'm not looking forward to going back to the grind, but this was a much needed break.
Posted on @ 10:49 PM |
3 comments
by Kat
How about a few more gratuitous photos of Rupert, like Shanna asked for. No? Well, too bad. That's all I've got at the moment so it's what you get. ;)
Posted on May 24, 2007 @ 10:22 PM |
3 comments
by Kat
My knee is still enraged. Any continuous stabilization required by my left leg or torque on my left knee makes it feel sore, rubbery and just generally... wrong. I think it might be time to go see if a physical therapist can give me some advice. (Besides the obvious which is "stay off it" and I ain't gonna do that.)
Posted on May 23, 2007 @ 10:31 PM |
1 comments
by Kat
I've been stuck in a funk for the last week. Work, family, body, hormones, personal life-- everything is sort of out of whack. It should sort for the most part in the next couple of days, thank God.
I'm super frustrated at my body (as can be evidenced by yesterday's post). I'm ready for my knee to stop feeling rubbery and sore after exertion. I feel like no matter how much I rest or how normal it feels between exercise, once I torque it at all it starts acting up. Justin is thankfully very sympathetic-- he has even higher expectations of his body than I do of mine. I just hope that maintaining a moderate exercise level until "boot camp" starts in mid-June will keep me from re-injuring during the program.
Also, I would like to note, lest there is any confusion caused by the last post's comments-- I actually *do not* consider myself
an athlete. I would like to think I am
athletic, that is, possessing some of the qualities of an athlete. I pride myself on strength, endurance, a sense of adventure, and a degree of physical acumen. But as far as traditional sports or feats of athleticism go, I've never had much interest. I don't typically follow to the cycle of training/competition that I ascribe to being an athlete (noun), however, I do consider myself athletic (adjective). There's a really great discussion on the topic in
the Runner's World forum.
[In an interesting and related side-story, I do remember having mixed feelings about the group of walkers in the Portland marathon who held signs declaring "I am an athlete." I certainly recognized their need to defend themselves but at the same time I knew that 26.2 miles was no small feat for most of them even at a walking pace. Even afterwards, I had mixed feelings about the sign... maybe it was too in-your-face for my tastes. Even still, it's a nice reminder that athletics seem to have a rather subjective definition.]
So! Justin and I are driving down to Oregon for the long weekend to do some camping/hiking with Llama-friends. I'm very much looking forward to getting outdoors and enjoying some of the great weather we've been having because I've been stuck in the office for many of the nicest days this week and last. And alas, I've accrued just enough of a (small) chunk of credit card debt to feel like I'm working my ass off just to be totally broke after I bank my paycheck. I ought to dent that sucka in the next few days too, knock on wood.
After work today I had what was probably my 10th or so guitar lesson. I actually managed to practice some over the last two weeks and therefore my teacher and I could actually progress a bit during our hour together. It was a nice feeling. He's got me working on some finger picking, putting together a more complicated tune. And I just learned me how to play Country Roads! I love my guitar. :)
In other news, my baby tetras are doing relatively well. Five of the six have survived. The sixth, who was the runt of the "litter" died today. He wasn't growing like the others and I can only assume he was having trouble eating or digesting the brine shrimp. The rest of the hatch are getting bigger and soon I'll be able to let them out of their little quarantine because they'll be able to escape being eaten by the adult.
Anywho, those are all the little things I've got on my mind at the moment. We shall see what tomorrow brings.
Posted on May 22, 2007 @ 10:21 PM |
3 comments
by Kat
This is a post I've been meaning to compose for a while but I've been worried about the blow back. Why? It's about weight loss.
I can write about diet (recipes are the bread and wine of our foodie religion), exercise (hiking, marathoning, climbing, etc.), and mental health, but if I mention that I'm trying to lose a few pounds or that I'm feel heavy, the critics come out of the woodwork.
So, allow me to offer a few counterpoints in advance: I'm aware that I'm a healthy weight. I'm aware that I don't "need" to change the way I am. I'm aware that I'm lucky to be tall and athletic. I'm aware that I should be happy with myself-- and for the most part I am. But, like most people, I do feel the drive to improve.
I don't exercise for the express purpose of losing weight. I do it to keep fit. However, in a fully ironic twist of fate, I gained weight during both stints of marathon training in the last six months. At first I would have been happy to call it muscle weight, but muscle doesn't sit like a spare tire at waist level and cause a muffin-top. Heh. The fact is that long weekend distance runs wore me out too much to exercise adequately during the week and freaked out my metabolism. The end result was that I ate marathon portions and indulged marathon cravings and ended up, well, fit but flubbier.
A likely contributor, too, is that I switched from hormonal birth control to a copper IUD in October. I may have just been one of the lucky few who slimmed down while on the pill.
So I've got an extra 10 lbs on me and while it ain't the end of the world, I want, as Cosmo puts it, my "bikini body" back. Call it vanity, call it compulsion, call it what you will. It's gotta go, and maybe an extra 5 along the way.
(
Cut for length... )I'm gonna gripe for a moment to get it out of my system: Marathon training has destroyed both my left knee and my go-to-the-gym-in-the-morning routine. I'm exhausted when I wake up and I can't get my ass out of the bed. At the end of the day all I want to do is relax. I used to do weight training M-W-F from 7:30 to 8:30 and run on U-H-Su, but that routine's been quashed for a little while. Running anything over two miles is out for the time being until my knee heals.
So I'm trying to do something cardiovascular every day and for the most part succeeding, with little noticeable result. I'm tired of hamster-wheeling about on elliptical machines even though they're refreshingly low-impact. When I ran the NARAL Pro-Choice 5k last weekend I had to gimp a bit in the middle to alleviate the pain.
Here's what I HAVE been doing besides hamster-wheeling:
1) Kickboxing on & off at the gym. While the class IS chock full of bubbly sorostitute-types, it's damn intense, total-body, and an hour long. I enjoy hopping about like a crazy person too much to be bothered by all the fake-tanned girls.
2) Justin and I had a great 3-hour session at the Ballard Vertical World rock-climbing gym this Saturday. He's an avid climber and has a membership... I've had classes but I'm still out of my element on a rock wall. I tagged along on a day pass and my forearms are still sore.
3) I'm still hoping to get a new bike (probably a hybrid road bike with flat handlebars) sometime in the next month so that I can enjoy the trails nearby on long weekend rides.
4) Finally, several coworkers and I have registered for the Sound Mind and Body "boot camp," which bills itself as
...an intensive, outdoor fitness class series, taught by Sgt. Mike Lawson. The 90-minute sessions are designed to give recruits a taste of real military basic training.
That class should get my ass back in shape.
5) I would love, LOVE to take rowing classes and get a membership to the crew house that's a few blocks from both work and home. It's a pricey commitment, so I'll have to think about it more, but it seems worth it.
What I want most out of this is to feel relaxed, energized, and healthy. It's a bit of a catch-22 because to feel that way I have to feel as if I'm making progress toward a concrete goal and at the moment that goal is getting rid of my (small) gut pouch. By making my self-complaint public, I hope at the least to solidify it enough that I can maintain some sort of reality check when it comes to food and exercise. Working in Fremont it's way too easy to write off a trip to the gym rather than pass up an invite to the Red Door. I certainly don't think it's true that "less is more" when it comes to weight and I hate feeling that way about myself. (The side of me that's an angry feminist is beating up the side of me that wants a 6-pack right now.) But what I dislike even more is the *feeling* that I've somehow let myself get away from my commitment to being fit and healthy. I *know* that putting on a few pounds doesn't make me less fit or less healthy-- but it certainly does make me less sure I won't face a compounding problem as I get older and my metabolism slows down. So it may well be self-absorbed or vain to still maintain a concern about my weight when I know logically that it says nothing about my immediate wellbeing, but so be it! I'd rather get it and flaunt it than not have it and miss out entirely!
It's time to go work up a sweat!
Posted on May 21, 2007 @ 5:00 PM |
16 comments
by Kat
Posted on @ 2:36 PM |
6 comments
by Justin
This post is a week late, but it's a post that should be made anyway. Last weekend a challenge was thrown down, a gauntlet if you will. Of course, me being me, I had to accept the challenge. What was the challenge? Was it to provide some 70 people at a late night party with food? Of course not...I've done that before, that's no challenge! Was it instead to do that...and then cook for both Kat's family and my own for Mother's Day? Yeah...that's it, now you're speaking my language. Normally I do these things on my own, but this time I decided to enlist help. Menu design was easy, I'd done most of the recipes before, but I really wasn't looking forward to peeling 6 lbs of shrimp this time. A good friend of mine whom I was role playing with the night before made an unprecedented offer. She offered me slave labor in the form of her daughter and niece. How cool is that? The kids didn't even ask why they were peeling shrimp until about 4 lbs in.
On Saturday after running the NARAL Pro-Choice 5k "Run for your rights" (to which some obnoxious protesters showed up) and spending the early afternoon with Kat's new baby fish we put our noses to the grindstone. While Kat handled the tomato and basil mini-pizzas I tackled the rest of the menu. Saturday's menu...scallops wrapped in curry and brown sugar pressed bacon, cajun shrimp, the above mentioned pizzas and an 8 layer chocolate and peanut butter cake. Of course that isn't meant to feed everyone, and this particular event isn't really a dinner party, it starts at 9 pm and the hosts, the gracious
Mistress Matisse and her partner Max supply vegetable, fruit and cheese trays along with the full complement of alcohol. Fast forward through the preparation (which leaves the entire house smelling like bacon in case you wondered), the transportation, entertaining our new friend and guest, the cooking and serving...and the
completely innocent activities that would occur at this sort of party (
maybe another time...) to the next morning...
Kat and I wake up. It's 10:30 in the morning which wouldn't be unusual if we hadn't gone to bed at 4 am and would be less unusual if we were in our own bed instead of in Matisse's spare bedroom. Hey...it was 4 am and I'd been cooking since noon! Max prepared us a wonderful breakfast of bacon, eggs, pancakes and fresh fruit. Since it was nearly noon I threw a few pizzas into the oven to round out the meal. We even got to see the traditional breakfast food that makes Matisse such an amazing professional, but we were sworn to secrecy. Sorry!
Once we got home we crashed for a little while and then cleaned the house, threw together a spicy sausage ragu pasta; a summer salad with feta, pears, pecans and cranberries; some leftovers from the night before for appetizers (the scallops had no chance of survival...but some of the other food made it through); some cheese from Amsterdam and several bottles of nice red wine. We topped all that off with the remnants of the chocolate cake and cherry pie with vanilla ice cream. Though smaller scale than the night before I'm pleased to say that Kat and I completely rocked our first interfamily dinner event. I think both sets of parents were a little amazed at the expanse of the affair. We even had to set up a spare table...our table is not meant to serve nine...
The weekend...totally a culinary success. Lots of fun too. Big thanks again to Kat and our underage child labor for their help. Big thanks too to the kitchen aid at the party and an even bigger thank you to the lovely people who kept us entertained when I was able to pull myself away from the oven. It's rare, but it does happen.
We'd be happy to share any of the recipes above, but here's one to get you started:
Bacon-wrapped scallops with a twist:6 T brown sugar
1 T curry powder
1/2 tsp cayenne
14 jumbo scallops (not smaller bay scallops)
14 slices bacon
28 toothpicks
Mix spices together in a bowl and set aside.
Cut eat strip of bacon in half (NOT lengthwise). Cook the bacon until it's just started to brown around the edges but is still malleable. Set the bacon aside on paper towel covered plates to remove the grease. After the grease has been blotted off, cover one side of the bacon with the spice mixture.
Slice each scallop in half. Put one scallop half, cut side down, onto each strip of bacon. Wrap the bacon around it and secure with a toothpick.
Place as many scallops as desired onto a lightly-oiled broiler pan. Set pan in oven 4-5 inches away from a hot broiler. Cook for 6 minutes, turning once.
Repeat with remaining scallops and enjoy!
Posted on May 18, 2007 @ 10:19 PM |
4 comments
by Kat
Did you ever have one of those days when you're tempted to say "today couldn't get much worse"? Today is one of those days.
I try never to say anything like that because I know it could always get much worse. And if I do say something, it probably will.
It's still pretty bad.
Posted on May 15, 2007 @ 7:41 PM |
4 comments
by Kat
My
leedle seester sold me her lovely Fender Stratocaster electric guitar because she's no longer using it. Of course, I've had it in my house since Christmas and I haven't used it either, but I'm still learning to pick and strum at my acoustic. Howeva, I don't think I could get a better deal anywhere on a like-new fender with amp, gig bag, hard case, and lots of other goodies. I will be playing the metalest of metal until my neighbors move out. Plus, you gotta admit, it looks super sweet in all of its blueness.
I've learned at my semi-weekly lessons with my guitar teacher. Basic chords are cake now, and we're working on more complicated chord progressions with different sorts of strumming patterns and fingerpicking. I told him I have an eternal soft spot for Country Roads, so I'm working on that at the moment. I wish, if anything, I had more time and energy to devote to practice than I do. I do love it-- and I wish I'd picked up the habit earlier. I would've kicked ass in a band! RAWK ON! \o_o/
Posted on @ 11:58 AM |
0 comments
by Kat
As we were driving home from the movies, we stopped at a red light at the intersection of 45th and Wallingford up the street from our apartment. This is a pretty major arterial through the area and it's been quite torn up lately but it can be hard to navigate anyway. We were sitting in the left turn lane and as I looked around I noticed a young man navigating the sidewalk with a cane. We sat for a moment before I realized he was looking for the divet in the sidewalk that indicates a crossing... and he had no idea where it was. He was testing the curb between the QFC parking lot and the street when he hit up against the traffic signal box and stopped, obviously confused.
The moment I registered that he might not be able to find it, I asked Justin if he thought I should help. It was dark (10:40pm) on poorly lit street with a crosswalk completely torn up by construction.
Before I go on, I'll admit something right off-- I'm terrified of blind people. Not because they're disabled (I think they can get around better than I can sometimes) but because I'm afraid that I'll somehow offend if I offer to help. Even Erik Weihenmayer's inspirational book about being a blind mountainclimber, Touch the top of the World, is filled with his accounts of well-meaning but overbearing offers. I would have felt like shit if I'd looked the other way and this guy walked into traffic (again, construction, no crosswalk, nothing) and I was going to feel like a douche if I offended him by meaning well. We pulled over the car.
I asked the man if he was looking for the crosswalk and he said yes, he wanted to cross 45th to walk down Wallingford street. I got out of the car and told him he was heading in the right direction but the crosswalk was still a bit farther. Once he got there, I told him that the light would change soon and he'd be going down Wallingford if he headed straight. In retrospect, I probably should have waited until the light changed and walked across the street with him, then gotten back in the car, but I got back in the car and we pulled up to the intersection again.
So, of course, he was still standing there on the sidewalk and the walk signal came on, and he didn't know it. I'd been feeling sympathetic to that point (not pity really, but how much I know I'd feel awkward in the same situation) but that was when it really hit me how much it would be terrifying to be blind. It occurred to me that not only was there no auditory cue for him to cross the street, but there was also no crosswalk (the lines are typically raised) to indicate where he was going. The street is full of cracks and gravel, and completely uneven in places.
We were sitting right there, so I opened the window and, feeling kind of embarrassed, told him "Oh, you can cross now, but when you do, just be really careful because the street is all munched up." So he crossed, having to avoid the car in front of us which was idling where the crosswalk was supposed to be, and by the time he got to the other side he was off center and had to turn around a couple times after almost walking east on 45th before he got re-oriented.
I feel stupid for not realizing these things and telling him sooner. I also feel silly for even saying anything at all. I'm sure he would have figured it out eventually. But I know if it were me in his place I'd like a helping hand more than I'd like to be fumbling around at an intersection in the dark.
I feel shaken now, in some ways because I'm hyper-aware of my uncertainty and wish I knew how to react. Some of me wanted to shrug or flee the scene, "it's not my business." But the greater part wanted to make sure he was OK even after we left. I wish I knew, just for a second, what was going on in his head... how he was feeling, and what to do. I'm shaken, too, because he was like us, so young, and experiencing the world in a way I could never imagine.
I feel so real now, but so very off balance. I hope he found his way to where he was going. It's good to be home.
Posted on May 14, 2007 @ 10:43 PM |
5 comments
by Kat
It's official! We've decided on a wedding date: Saturday, September 6, 2008. The venue will be in or near Glacier National Park, Montana. The time will likely be mid-afternoon, around 2 or 3pm. Once we have more details decided I'll set up a wedding site with lodging, area information, and other details for guests. Keep checking back!
Posted on @ 10:23 AM |
2 comments
by Kat
I have six tetra fry remaining-- one died between Friday and Saturday when I checked on them. The rest are doing well and growing. They love the baby brine shrimp!
Unfortunately, one of the tetra males and the chinese algae eater died over the weekend. The pH of the water looked to be off, so I adjusted. The tetra male was dead Saturday morning when I checked on the tank and the algae eater seemed to be on the way out but alive. He was dead when I checked on the tank on Sunday.
There doesn't seem to be any sort of funk and I assume if there were, the baby fish would have been the first to drop dead. The last tetra male and the remaining fry seem to be active and eating well. At this point, all I can really do is keep feeding them and keep the tank water fresh. I'm completely at a loss for what happened to the other fish, but it seems like these fish should be OK.
Posted on @ 10:16 AM |
0 comments
by Kat
When I saw the little wriggle in my empty fish tank, I first thought it was a bug. I had removed all the fish and plants and I was scrubbing the tank accessories in the kitchen sink. To my complete surprise, the little sliver flitting about the tank was a baby red-eyed tetra! I could see about five of them moving around, and as I watched I spotted a few more. I had no idea my tetra were spawning.
Honestly, I hadn't been paying much attention to my fish lately. Their tank was filthy and I'd been leaving the light off for the most part. Probably the perfect time for them to get some luvvin'. Red-eyed tetra are supposedly difficult to breed, so it's ironic that mine did without any temperature or pH regulation, or special feeding.
Now, I know nothing about fish, aside from that I clean the tank and feed em every day, but I did know that I had to get the fry out of the tank somehow because I needed to clean it. The problem was that they were hiding in the gravel. To get them to come out, I had to stir up the gravel, which stirred up sediment and in turn made them very difficult to find. They look kind of like
this, or
this, though neither of those photos are of red-eyed tetras.
I collected them with a small net and freed them in a wide-mouthed glass jar with tank water. In retrospect, I should have tried to siphon them as it would have been less damaging. The hardest part was finding them, and in the process I think I brained a few. I collected 15 fry in total, although only 12 survived to be put in the jar.
It's a miracle those 15 survived as long as they did. Tetra are egg-scatterers and love to cannibalize small eggs and fry. Yum Yum. I'm sure there were a ton more eggs and probably loads of wee fish hatched only to be devoured before they could shed their yolk sacs. So my second problem was that I couldn't put the fry back INTO the tank after I'd removed them, or I'd basically condemn them to being eaten by the adult fish.
I had no second tank on hand and it was close to 8:45PM-- there was no chance I could get to a pet store to purchase a tank and whatever food the fry needed to survive. I had no idea what to do with them.
After freaking out for a bit, I rigged a system I figured would keep them alive overnight, at least long enough for me to get some food, if not find a tank. I filled a sandwich baggie with tank water, placed the fry into it, and suspended the baggie with rubber bands from the tank heater's cord. I then poked holes in the baggie with a staple to see if I could facilitate some water circulation.
This morning when I came into the office, several more fry had died. I now had 8 living. Sadly, the female red-eyed tetra also passed in the night. When I'd left her, she had been aggressively pursuing one of the smaller males, who I assumed to be her mate. This morning she was stone cold dead. The coworker who gave me the fish says she was over 3 years old. I suppose after seeing her progeny safe, it might just have been her time.
It might also have been my fault-- I clipped a piece of one of the plastic plants to put in the baggie so that the fry would have some shelter and some small pieces escaped to float on the surface. My tetra female is a huge glutton (the only one of the fish who ever really expressed interest in food) and could have eaten/choked on a piece of plastic. Oops.
In any case, I feel I owe it to her to keep her fry alive. At the moment, the seven remaining are doing well. I've replaced the plastic baggie with a fine mesh fruit bag from the grocery store in which they have a small but sheltered habitat. It's a sort of isolation-tank. I'll get them a tank in the next few days. For now I'm feeding them frozen baby brine shrimp, which I dissolve in water and pour into the bag. The circulating water moves the shrimp around the tank and the little fry seem to enjoy eating them.
While I sort of feel like an unwed teenaged mother raising these seven unwanted fish, I do want to see them thrive and prosper, if just to cannibalize eggs of their own someday. Aww.
Posted on May 11, 2007 @ 11:16 PM |
8 comments
by Kat
So, what's this business of
Opening Day? I wasn't quite sure myself, which is why I went along for the ride. The end result is that I learned a bit about the pomp and circumstance of yachting but I'm still not sure of the
significance of the event.
Unlike in Hunting boaters don't have to wait for the go-ahead to use their boats. I imagine Opening Day is just a grand celebration of the summer boating season and a chance for all the huff-and-puff bigwigs to show their stuff. The kickoff to Opening Day is the famous crew races through the cut:
This is followed by a competition between the Seattle Yacht Club and a visiting yacht club. The competition features the finest yachts (usually vintage or classics) performing some sort of decorative maneuvering through the cut while crew dressed to the nines stands on deck. This year "we" bested the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. Hoo-wee!
We were part of the entourage on Justin's mom & stepfather's boat. There were six of us positioned on one side of the boat and a marine in full regalia at the front.
While they piloted the ship, we stood facing the cut in uniform with one hand on the banister and the other at our sides, advised not to smile and to look straight ahead the whole time. This is actually one of the least ridiculous aspects of protocol (others included having x number of shiny buttons on visible sleeves, caps straight across the brow, no jewelry, etc), but probably the most fun. Getting dressed, we felt exceptionally dorky.
We only had to stand on point for five minutes, but in those five minutes we were goaded by hundreds of onlookers, many of who were trying to get us to crack a smile. Most people clapped appreciatively, which was nice, but some were pretty obnoxious. We did well enough, I suppose, because we won even though the Royal Vics had a giant yacht do a 360 in the middle of the cut.
Following the procession of both teams is a parade of sorts, featuring a variety of classic boats and other craft decorated in themes.
There was even a flock of rare amphicars putting around in the lake. I think at least two of them broke down and needed Coast Guard rescue, but at least none sank.
Overall, an enjoyably bizarre experience but one I'd repeat, if just for the entertainment value. Oh, and the silly hats.
Have a look at the rest of the
photos from Seattle's Opening Day 2007.
Posted on May 07, 2007 @ 11:11 PM |
1 comments
by Justin
Just a little note from class (because I'm in class right now, which means I should write on the blog of course). Kat is used to being addicted to websites (
Hi Sweety!) but it's not generally my normal tendency to spend all day on a given website. That's changing I suppose because I spent a ton of time today browsing designs on
Threadless. I suppose it could be worse, I could be
buying shirts there every day, but I'm holding back. Today I rated some 145 designs, and yesterday I rated about 100 before bed. When I was done rating possible prints I started browsing printed shirt again. I just purchased four last week for my birthday but so far I've kept myself from buying anymore. That probably won't last much longer because there are two or three (or more) designs that I'm really interested in.
The ones that I want are:
Perhaps I should set myself up a shirt budget. One shirt a month. Maybe two. Ah screw it.
( Kat sez: Oo! Oo! These are the ones *I* like! )
Kat's favourites:
Posted on @ 2:45 PM |
2 comments
by Kat
Rupert says "hi."
Had a nice weekend-- debaucherous party on Thursday (teehee), visiting friends Fri, out on the boat opening day/cinqo de mayo, watching lots of movies, taking it easy today. I'll post photos from the fun pomp & circumstance of opening day tomorrow.
Until then, though I got lots to talk about, that's it! Time to watch Brokeback Mountain. Yum.
Posted on May 06, 2007 @ 9:19 PM |
0 comments
by Kat
We're back home and hobbling around like fools after a weekend of grand (and not-so-grand) adventures. It was great to be back in Eugene; being there again made me realize just how much I miss it and how easy it is for me to be myself in that city. I tried not to think about leaving too much, but I still broke down for half an hour as soon as we hit the freeway. That made for a fun drive, lemme tell you.
Yesterday evening I was in a foul mood. All things considered, it made sense-- I'd just left the one place that feels like home and all my friends with it, I was exhausted and sleep-deprived and my legs weren't functioning. But when I sat down with my computer and went through all the marathon photos, my spirits improved.
GO TEAM LLAMA!From left to right: Sara [5k], Susan [Half marathon], Rachel [Marathon], Kat [Marathon], Justin [Marathon], Kyle [Marathon]. Note the spiffy green llamas stenciled on our team jerseys!! (Sara and Susan had already changed.)
All of the photos in the
marathon gallery are taken by Chris of
"The Gadget Monster & The Teacher" except for the last four, which
Dylan bravely took with his macro lens. Be warned, they are very nasty pictures of my post-marathon feet.
I was surprised when I whipped off my shoes to be met with massive
blood and
water blisters on several toes and
the side of my right foot. Strangely, my feet didn't/don't hurt at all, unlike my legs which burn and cramp when I try to sit or stand. I'd already lost one toenail during training and it looks like I might be fated to lose two more after these blisters heal. My feet don't normally look bad... but
this is what distance training does to them.
The marathon was difficult in the way that I expected it to be, but it presented a different set of challenges than the Portland Marathon. I ran alone for the second half, and while I made good time for a portion of that distance, my quads eventually started cramping in a way I'd never felt before and I lost my edge.
I was on track for most of the run to finish in 4:45 or earlier, but after mile 20 (about the time when most people hit the wall) I found it increasingly difficult to move my muscles. I've never had leg cramps like this before-- it felt like my quad right above and inside my knee on both sides was clenching into a fist. It hurt more to walk but running became impossible except in 1/2 mile bursts. I'd also maxed out my threshold for pain killers-- 3 Advil and an Aleve at 6am, 2 Advil at mile 12, an Aleve at mile 17, and 3 more Advil at mile 22 (when the despair set in). Yeah, that's a lot of drugs that weren't doing anything any more. I could've used a shot of morphine at mile 21 to carry me through.
I was really frustrated to lose my time. I wanted to finish in under 5 hours, but I still beat my Portland time by 20 minutes, which is still significant. It was a really hard race to finish, particularly because the last mile was so ill-planned. The course ran along Centennial boulevard into the Autzen Stadium parking lot to the finish. No one was cheering along the finishers along Centennial because everyone was at the finish line. Racers were subject to running on hot, oily pavement with no shade-- and here's the worst part--
next to solid traffic spewing exhaust. I was PISSED... it was completely disheartening. Luckily, Susan came to run me in:
The strangest part about this race was that I had a very high energy level the whole time. I remained cognizant, clear-headed, and mostly positive. My mental and cardiovascular state were perfect for a great run, but my muscles just went kaput. I really wanted to just push it and go. I wanted a perfect run because this is probably the last marathon I will ever do. I guess I will settle for good enough.
I'm not interested in running any more marathons. The training is too long and too taxing. The payoff is too slim. I just don't have it in me. However, I think I've got plenty of capacity for half-marathons and, with luck, some half-centuries once I take up cycling this summer. It may be too soon to start thinking about the next event, but I already have one planned: My friends, coworkers, and I are participating in the 2nd Annual 'Run for Your Rights' 5k put on by NARAL Pro-choice in Greenlake. Time to rest, recover, and run again!
Posted on May 01, 2007 @ 12:01 PM |
2 comments
Loreleilee, at
5:19 PM, May 31, 2007
lazylightning, at
7:33 PM, May 31, 2007
