Geocaching, kettlebell and Zumba make the world go round...

The title to this post says it all.  I am in love with geocaching, kettlebell and Zumba.  I went to Lansing for the weekend to celebrate (mourn) my sister's continued existence on this earth and we ended up going geocaching on both Saturday and Sunday.  The one thing that occurred to me is that I should wear a pedometer and even consider wearing my heart monitor while geocaching.  I'm very curious how much I actual walk while geocaching.  Perhaps there's some sort of function that I can utilize on my gps unit to measure the distance traveled or something...  Anyway, there also seems to be lots of hills and such that I end up climbing in search of the cache which brings up my heart rate.  Maybe it's enough for vitality points?  At least it's something to consider.  But, on Saturday we found three caches and on Sunday we found two.  That brings me up to finding twenty caches total.  Added to that, I got some other people to enjoy it as well.  My obsession is spreading!

I also bought a kettlebell last week, and so far I really like it.  It's something that I'm going to keep perusing the Internet for more information about, specifically for new exercises to do with it.  Admittedly I'm very basic, but I like it and think that it's something that I can stick with.  What I would really like is for my gym to have a kettlebell class that I can go to.  When that happens, I will be there.

Zumba is tonight, which I'm really excited about.  I also have to go grocery shopping and get my alternator tested on my car, but Zumba is the priority.  The rest may not happen until tomorrow.  Oops.  My friend Ashley may end up going to Zumba with me, which would be incredibly awesome! 

With the beautiful weather expected this week and the March that feels like summer, I'm really wanting to cook using my grill.  I keep trying to find some delicious grilled food recipes on the internet to try out.  So that is mostly what I'm up to this week. :)

Until next time!

I trotted, sort of...

My friend Amy and I, along with 3000 other people, participated in the Lansing Turkeyman Trot on  Thanksgiving day.  Of course, I completed this event after only two hours of sleep since I was up most of Wednesday night cooking for Thanksgiving.  But, I still completed it!  Hopefully next year I won't be so sleep deprived.  Also, next year, Luna the Puppy-Dog will be joining us, possible dressed like a Turkey.  I'm sure that she'll enjoy that, or not.  But she doesn't have a choice in the matter.

But Amy and I walked the entire way, except for the last 50 feet or so at which point we jogged.  We completed the entire thing in 57 min and 4 seconds.  The goal for next year is to beat that time, along with the beagle dressed like a turkey and my friend Amy.  But, regardless of the time it took to complete, I will get Vitality points.  Especially since I already turned in the form to get those points.

In other news, I am now coming on the last couple weeks of school until GRADUATION!!  I'm so excited about graduation, but really NOT excited about the work I have to do before then.  That includes:

• Finish the ePortfolio
• Finish the Microsoft Encoder video
• Write the 15-20 page paper on some information behavior (I'm thinking the topic is going to be blogs)
• Maybe buy yet another textbook and take each chapter quiz as I read the chapter
• Continue to keep up with the discussion board

Hopefully that's all.  Hopefully...  The 15-20 page paper is actually due AFTER the graduation ceremony, but my goal is to complete it beforehand so that the ceremony actually is the end and there is some sense of closure there.

Anyway, wish me luck!

Blood Screening

For the Vitality program at work, I had to get a blood screening where they test your blood for cholesterol, glucose, whether I'm a smoker, etc. They also weighed me and took my blood pressure.  I already knew that my BMI wouldn't be in range, but some of my cholesterol numbers were surprising.  My bad cholesterol number was within range, as well as my overall cholesterol number.  A couple other numbers were high and low, depending on which is bad.  In terms of blood pressure, it was on the high range of normal.  I'm cool with that because it's not incredibly high.  Overall, I think that my health is a little better then I was anticipating, and everything can get better if I stay on track with healthy habits.  I'm calling that good news.

In addition to these numbers, this also adds vitality points to my overall score.  I hope that my due points are going to be posted soon.  But this means one step closer to lower health care premiums next year!  Oh, and my vitality age (similar to WiiFit age, but probably more accurate) went down four years because of my blood screening results.  Woohoo!  Also, vitality will generate goals based on the information that they have about me.  They just created a goal for me to MAINTAIN my cholesterol, not lower it.  I find that something to be proud of. :)

In other news, I bought a new cookbook.  It has a lot of yummy looking recipes using fresh ingredients, some of which I've never heard of.  That last part is one of the reasons I bought the cookbook; I want to encourage myself to try new things, particularly healthy foods.  This should be an adventure.

Turkey Trot

It's official!  I am registered for the 2011 Lansing Turkeyman Trot!  I'm pretty excited about it because this is my first 5k.  By no means am I running, because I'd like to not break my ankle or anything.  But walking it will be beneficial for me, and it will provide a great baseline for future 5k events that I sign up for.  Additionally, I will get vitality points for work which is never a bad thing.  Especially since it looks like next year they will be basing how much we pay for our monthly health care premiums off of how many points we earn this year.  That means that I need to earn more points to pay less.