switchng bedrooms 7/2/05

My moving/selling the house has become very real when I made an appointment with my realtor for next Wednesday. She is going to come in to get a house key so that she can set up a box for it for agents to show the house to potential buyers. I have long planned to do so, but today I decided to move into the second bedroom and use the master bedroom as storage. This meant moving a few pieces of furniture and some lifting and moving boxes. Then I realized I am going to need a lot more boxes! Today's workout was just straight legs, no abs. Feels like this move at home made me feel like more exercise than at the gym!

can't stop dancing! 7/1/05

I am supposed to be organizing, cleaning the office and the house and I no longer work for Sears over the weekend. Today I started dancing with Thalia's remix album on my iPod and for close to an hour, I couldn't stop. That is my way to get the stress out, but just can't do anything else! My intention was to do the cleaning with pleasure, but can't do anything but dance! I had to stop myself trying to convince myself that iPod battery is going to run out because it was showing only one level... Grrr.

weeds 6/29/05

I have been neglecting the house for too long and now it is high time to take care of everything. The worst was the back yard. I never cleared the fall leaves (!) and spring moisture brought unusual amount of weeds. My friend, Javier (the same one who told me about Michoacana ice cream) took last week and Monday to cut everything. I spent my Monday evening and Tuesday morning to bag them all. It was nothing heavy or difficult about it, but it was a physical work. So I decided to call that an exercise of the day for yesterday. I was feeling my hamstring a little bit yesterday, so I guess it was OK to have a rest day. Today I should definitely go to the gym because tomorrow is another early day at Sears. (Oh, I still go there once a week because I want to use Associate discount. Grrr.)

And the winner is... 6/28/05

In Dallas, I spent most time looking for the best fitness club for me. Some made me fill out extensive forms, asked me questions and gave me lectures. That was time-consuming, so I am glad that I am done with that part. I can't be doing that when I need to concentrate on getting my classes prepared in August. Here are some considerations:

1) location
My current gym is five minutes drive away and that is just about right or it could even be closer. Community fitness center is about five minutes away, so is 24-hour fitness. Bally and Lifetime Fitness are 10 minutes drive.

2) hours
The only complaint about my current gym is that it doesn't open until 8am on Sundays. I hardly go there at 4:30am in the morning weekdays and I think the latest I have ever been in the gym was about 9:30pm and maybe only once. 24-hour and Lifetime is 24 hours open (although some locations at 24-hours are actually NOT 24 hours). Bally doesn't open until 8am on Saturday and Sunday. Community one is only open between 12-4 on Sunday.

3) place to stretch
A lot of city gyms that have limited floor space doesn't allocate space where you can work on the floor. People use it to work on ab, but that is where I stretch. At 24-hour fitness, when I asked the question, the answer was, there is a slope and you can do lunge and stuff. (???) Lifetime Fitness said I can use unused studio to stretch. Bally had separate areas and they even had this stretching gadget.

4) price
Community one: $190 a year, 24-hour fitness about $30 a month. Bally has complicated fee system, because it is basically three-year commitment, but if I didn't want contract, no matter how you cut it, it is over $40 a month. Lifetime Fitness: $40 a month.

5) machines, facilities
Community one: fair, 24-hour fitness: poor, Bally: good, Lifetime: very good

And the winner is... Lifttime Fitness! Check it out!

restortive yoga 6/26/05

Good morning from Dallas! I am here this weekend to finalize the place to live and hunt for a good health club to join. I really want to decide on my routines here, have no interruption with my exercising and start a smooth semester academically and fitness-wise. Yesterday I visited a couple of places, but one was Yoga For Life on LBJ and Preston. I ended up trying out restortive yoga class. I never had anything like it before, so I was surprised when I was told I should get 5 blankets, 2 bolsters and a chair ready. Eileen, the instructor, used several aroma therapy and even massaged my feet! It was nothing like what I have had before and it was some trip. I have another ticket to go back, so I know I will try something other class again!

I went to 24 hour fitness with high hopes and online guess pass. I am starting to realize how good Defined is now. With all that hype in advertising, I was not too impressed. This was the second closes, next to the community one, so I was hoping this is going to be it. The community one is nice, but their weekend hours are really too short. 24 hour fitness is about 5 minutes drive, but it is loosely unacceptable level. I have a few more to look this morning. I am sure I will report here.