A college friend of mine used to get his work done in great, epic fits of energy lasting entire nights and into mid-morning the next day. I'm not sure what combination of caffeine and possible other substances helped him achieve these feats of academic stamina, but I know he often mentioned--in the midst of such marathons--engaging in sessions of what he called "vigorous stretching."
The term was always funny to me because stretching seemed more like something to do in order to relax, not to get fired up. But I'd seen him do this stretching before, and it was definitely more of an active, energy-boosting activity that a wind-down. He would change stretching positions very quickly and do the whole routine with all kinds of excitement and urgency. And even though I'd seen this routine, I still had a difficult time imagining how stretching in any form could be invigorating.
To me, stretching was just the boring and rotten part of P.E. (well, that and the running), and the part that I wasn't very good at. I'd like to think it's extra long legs that prevents me from touching my toes, but if that's any part of it, it's a small part compared to the stiff, Frankengenes I inherited from my Dad.
Still, I've always wanted to try Yoga. Seems like drillions of women out there swear by the practice (and I recognize that it's a well-developed practice with many schools rather that just a complex form of stretching), even ones who are in great shape and do nothing more than practice Yoga to get their exercise. I did buy a prenatal Yoga DVD that I used during my pregnancy, but I'm pretty sure it was a super cautious, watered-down version of Yoga, so I didn't really count that.
Early on when I got my iPhone I downloaded a Yoga program, and there it sat getting lonely until I updated and employed it this evening:
Today's New Activity: Exploring iPhone Yoga app Programs
What I came to realize early on in both the "Sun Salutation for Wellness" and "Shakti Yoga: Stretching" programs is that the energizing aspect of Yoga comes through all the deep breathing, along with the simply feeling parts of your body you could easily forget about if it weren't for the fact that you were trying to touch them to each other or point them in all new directions.
On the first go round I wasn't very good at some of the poses. Bending in half with my head pressed up against my legs (no bending at the knee) is just not something I can do. I wish I could! I just think that looks cool and somehow relaxing. But I can't.
Still, I enjoyed the practice of going through the routines. The programs have a narrator who tells you what to do next along with large and clear photos of a very normal-looking woman doing all the poses. By normal, I mean that she doesn't look like some freakish Cirque du Soleil performer...just a regular woman who happens to be more bendy than me, for now anyway.
While I can't say I plan to run down and enroll in any Yoga classes at the moment, I'm glad to have finally shown that app the light of day and I will be doing a routine here or there. It was a nice break in my evening routine and I actually had a hard time sleeping afterward because it did somehow fill me with energy. Maybe I should be doing lunchtime Yoga to help me get a second wind during the long afternoon hours at work. It'd be cheaper than the pearl tea I usually rely upon, and would have the opposite effect on my health...which is a good thing.
Showing posts with label iPhone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iPhone. Show all posts
3.11.2011
The GGA Project -- Day #90 "Left Behind"
In what was probably the biggest splurge of my life, I bought an iPhone about 5 months ago. At the time, I wasn't even all that excited about apps or anything. I just liked the idea of a smart phone that would let me access e-mail and that allowed me to type out texts without the pain of multi-letter digit madness. Also, iPhones are just pretty--so sleek and simple.
For a while (and by a while I mean maybe a week or so), I managed to avoid developing the attachment to my phone that so many people warned against. If anything, I was addicted to Angry Birds and would steal away little moments to fling birds at piggies, but it wasn't something I couldn't live without, even for long stretches of time (and by long stretches I mean four hours, max).
Before long, however, I was hooked. I got tuned into the phone's every noise, responding to each with the consistency of Pavlov's dogs. I answered every text immediately and jumped to check out every Facebook update or e-mail my phone sent through.
Before I got my new phone, I'd considered working hours to be for working alone, left my phone in my purse in my locker, and was genuinely curious/annoyed by my co-workers' clinically diagnosable attachments to their phones. It awed me that people could not live two hours without access to communication with the world outside. That is, of course, until I became one of them.
I tuck my phone into a cozy little spot in a drawer I have to access all the time anyway, so I can get my little fix without behaving in ways that are too odd. Typing that now I feel like The Biggest Loser (in the loser sense, not the fatty sense).
A few days ago I recognized that I was beginning to get mentally annoyed with customers for coming into the bank and interrupting my all important text conversations.
Whoah. That belonged in the "You Know You've Crossed a Line When..." file. Time to make a change.
Today's New Activity: Restricting iPhone Access, Reclaiming Sanity
It probably helped that I only worked a four-hour shift today, allowing me to ween myself slowly and with fewer jitters of withdrawal. But still I have to say it was tough. I admit I've gotten a bit of the affliction I see in people about 5 years younger than me and younger---those who had cell phones through their high school years. It has become increasingly more difficult for me to focus on only one thing at a time. I am more easily bored than I used to be, and have been spending less and less time just sitting quietly and thinking...one of my favorite former hobbies.
While I never want to be completely out-of-the-loop, or a luddite, I appreciate and admire the people I know who can still be happy with a slower, more thoughtful pace, and who don't constantly have the need to be plugged into something; I'm striving to get back to that point myself.
Leaving my phone behind today was a good exercise. Responding to the phone's noises and answering texts all the time is a pretty unsatisfying and even stressful way to go through the day. With my phone far, far away, I was able to focus all my attention on the people around me, on the extra things I could be doing in between customers, and on the big bag of Almond Hershey Kisses Geisell had left up for grabs. Much nicer way to pass an afternoon...
For a while (and by a while I mean maybe a week or so), I managed to avoid developing the attachment to my phone that so many people warned against. If anything, I was addicted to Angry Birds and would steal away little moments to fling birds at piggies, but it wasn't something I couldn't live without, even for long stretches of time (and by long stretches I mean four hours, max).
Before long, however, I was hooked. I got tuned into the phone's every noise, responding to each with the consistency of Pavlov's dogs. I answered every text immediately and jumped to check out every Facebook update or e-mail my phone sent through.
Before I got my new phone, I'd considered working hours to be for working alone, left my phone in my purse in my locker, and was genuinely curious/annoyed by my co-workers' clinically diagnosable attachments to their phones. It awed me that people could not live two hours without access to communication with the world outside. That is, of course, until I became one of them.
I tuck my phone into a cozy little spot in a drawer I have to access all the time anyway, so I can get my little fix without behaving in ways that are too odd. Typing that now I feel like The Biggest Loser (in the loser sense, not the fatty sense).
A few days ago I recognized that I was beginning to get mentally annoyed with customers for coming into the bank and interrupting my all important text conversations.
Whoah. That belonged in the "You Know You've Crossed a Line When..." file. Time to make a change.
Today's New Activity: Restricting iPhone Access, Reclaiming Sanity
It probably helped that I only worked a four-hour shift today, allowing me to ween myself slowly and with fewer jitters of withdrawal. But still I have to say it was tough. I admit I've gotten a bit of the affliction I see in people about 5 years younger than me and younger---those who had cell phones through their high school years. It has become increasingly more difficult for me to focus on only one thing at a time. I am more easily bored than I used to be, and have been spending less and less time just sitting quietly and thinking...one of my favorite former hobbies.
While I never want to be completely out-of-the-loop, or a luddite, I appreciate and admire the people I know who can still be happy with a slower, more thoughtful pace, and who don't constantly have the need to be plugged into something; I'm striving to get back to that point myself.
Leaving my phone behind today was a good exercise. Responding to the phone's noises and answering texts all the time is a pretty unsatisfying and even stressful way to go through the day. With my phone far, far away, I was able to focus all my attention on the people around me, on the extra things I could be doing in between customers, and on the big bag of Almond Hershey Kisses Geisell had left up for grabs. Much nicer way to pass an afternoon...
3.03.2011
The GGA Project -- Day #82 "Bustin' Loose"
Three objects in my life have made this daily blogging project possible. First, of course, is my ASUS Netbook, which is tiny and portable and doesn't need too much attention. It actually fits in my purse (granted, I have a biggish mom purse, but still). Second is the Sony Cybershot digital camera I bought a couple of months ago, which also fits into my purse and now comes everywhere with me, ready to document the goings on. Finally, my iPhone 4, which has become a shamefully inextricable part of my life.
Until recently, however, I didn't know that two of these objects could be working together in a more friendly and symbiotic manner. Enter the the IT expertise of my friend Kenneth.
Tonight Kenneth and I were going to join our buddy Liz at a benefit concert up in SF. I opted out pretty last minute in the interest of sticking close to home and the baby (and also on account of the work-the-next-morning factor), and he flaked for as-yet-undetermined, less substantial/noble reasons (I'm thinking it would have cut too deeply into his WoW time). Still though, since he'd originally offered to drive, he was nice enough to head up my way and make good on a previous promise, which was to help me with what became
Today's New Activity: Jailbreakin' my iPhone
So apparently there are tons of people out there developing apps for the iPhone that, for whatever (and various) reasons, Apple decides not to approve for download through iTunes. Some of these are good, useful apps, though. So the Smarties in Smartyville found a way around this, which involves "jailbreaking" the phone (totally legal, FYI) to allow these other apps their day in the sun. Granted, some people may then use the phone for more nefarious, pirating purposes, but that is honestly not my intention. I'm pretty firmly anti-piracy.
What I wanted to be able to do was tether my netbook to the 3G network the iPhone accesses in order to have the glorious interweb available to me wherever I may roam (namely coffee shops without a wi-fi connection, or the breakroom at work). Jailbreaking makes this possible. Yay!
Kenneth and I had long been unable to get together to make this 10-minute phone fix happen, so I was happy we'd get it taken care of. Unfortunately, I'd failed to download the latest version of iTunes, or the latest version of iPhone software to my iTunes or my phone, so the 10-minute fix turned into a whole lot of download progress bar watching. But eventually everything was up-to-date and ready to be hacked.
I freaked out a little when my phone did this:
until I realized it would do that with the download of every single app or configuration available through Cydia, the software and hub of download madness the jailbreak bestowed upon my phone.
And I nearly squealed with delight when I saw that the normal apple icon that appears anytime the phone boots up was replaced by this:
Cute!
Though I'd already loved my phone well and truly, exploring Cydia (which I was up waaayyyyyy too late doing last night) made me realize the iPhone was an even better investment than I'd thought; there is so much more it can do; I haven't even scratched the surface of its potential. And I was super excited to try out the new, mobile wi-fi connection my netbook would be enjoying.
Just one thing, though. As with any tool, the phone is only as good as the monkey who possesses it. By way of proof, consider this tech support-soliciting text I sent Kenneth after he'd left and I'd purchased the tethering package ($1.99...not bad):
"I can't figure out how to actually do the tethering. It is turned on but I don't see my phone in my network list. I know I'm missing a step but I'm not sure what"Good thing he gets paid to anticipate the special needs of tech-challenged people. His response:
"And phone is plugged into laptop?"D'oh!
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