Workout Music

Today at the gym, I saw myself in the reflection of the window and thought to myself, "I wonder what people would think if they knew the type of music I was listening to." I was wearing a very bright tye-dye t-shirt that I made at Girl Scout Camp, black shorts, my hair was up, and bright blue and green tennis shoes. From this description alone, you probably wouldn't think I was listening to rock, metal (much less heavy metal) or anything else in those genres. 

Well that is exactly what I was listening to. 

When that thought popped in my head I was listening to Judas Priest followed by Black Sabbath. I had to stop lifting at that moment because I was laughing too hard.

So what do you listen to when you work out? Is it a contradiction to what you wear too?

Meditating in a Sauna

I have a new love. Meditating in the sauna.

Let me explain. Today is my Opa's 87th birthday. He is still very active and does gardening, housework, goes for walks that are several miles long, doe tai chi, and goes to the gym, swims, and much more. He also loves saunas. He taught me the way of the sauna and has told me countless stories of him saunaing in Europe when he was younger where everyone (men and women) go into one sauna. Now that's not how most saunas in the U.S. are, but they are just as relaxing.

To honor his birthday today, I decided that I would sauna after my workout. I got in there and the heat was intense (as it should be). I sat down, looked at the clock, and then closed my eyes. With how busy life is for everyone with school, family, and work, and all of the stresses that go along with everything, it's good to relax, take some 'you time,' and be at one with yourself. 

So I decided to meditate in the sauna. 

15 minutes later I come out and have this happy feeling deep down, knowing that it's going to be a good day.

So I have some homework for you. I want you to sauna. You can go in with nothing on but your birthday suit and a smile (and please have a towel to sit on), with your swimsuit, or with some light clothes. Don't bring any electronics with you (saunas usually have a clock on the wall). Don't talk with anyone. Just sit there and meditate. Take time for yourself and you'll soon fall in love like I did. 

Gym Common Sense

Lately I've been seeing some people at the gym that don't have common sense. I'm here today to tell you the common sense rules for the gym. If you do these things, everyone at the gym will have a good time and you won't look like an ass.


1) Rerack your weights. If you can lift them, then you are strong enough to put them away.

2) No grunting. You might think it helps you lift more or makes you feel more manly, but it doesn't. It makes you look like an ass.

3) Don't drop your weights. Sometimes when you're on a machine, it'll happen accidentally. That's fine. But don't be that guy that keeps dropping the weights so everyone looks to see how much your lifting when in reality, I could probably lift more than you.

4) Share the mirror. If someone is using the mirror, DON'T STAND IN FRONT OF THEM!

5) Keep your shirt on. Even Clay Matthews keeps his shirt on at the gym.

6) If you're going to watch TV while doing cardio stuff, make sure you check with others to see if they are watching that TV. Don't just go flipping the channels. 

7) When you're done with a machine, whether you just got there and aren't sweaty yet or on your last rep for the day, WIPE OFF THE MACHINE! I don't want to get an unexpected sweaty hug from you through the machine just because you were lazy and didn't wipe it off.

ATF Internship

Yesterday I had an interview for a summer internship with the ATF. I got there early so I walked by the river some then went into the building. 

The interview wasn't a strict interview, more conversation like. At the end of the interview, she told me that I should probably get my fingerprints done for the background check which is the next stage and that she would be telling me that night. I figured she wouldn't be telling me this unless if I'm pretty much in. 

On my way home, I stopped at the UWM Police dept and got my fingerprints done. I could tell that the officer who did them was more used to dealing with drunk college kids from the way he did them. 

Right before I left for work, I decided to check my email and not even 2 hours after the interview, I get the email telling me that I have to fill out the background check information and that I have the internship! 

I went to work and my boss called me giddy. Then my best friend Mike stopped by and brought a banana split to celebrate. 

It was a pretty awesome day and I'm really excited. 

You may call me your Queen

Yesterday at work, my boss and I were having computer difficulties because someone pressed something they weren't supposed to. So I offered to go over to the IT room and get some help (mainly because we couldn't find the number to call and walking outside on such a beautiful day was an added bonus). 

Just as I enter the IT room, my phone rings. For those of you who don't know, I have the Doctor Who theme song as my ringtone. Immediately, every head in there (all of whom were nerds as it was the day before spring break) has their eyes locked on me. I walked up to the counter and say, "Well at least I know how to make an entrance." 

I was, if not only momentarily, Queen of the Nerds.

Professors. UGH!

I had an exam in one of my classes today. Not a big deal, this is school after all, there will be exams. What bugs me is that my professor wasn't there. Instead, we had a guest 'speaker' of sorts come in and hand out the exam and watch over us to make sure we didn't cheat. One thing that bugs me is that if we needed clarification, the guest 'speaker' might have interpreted it differently than our professor intended so we would be screwed. 

Several hours after my exam, as I was walking home, I saw my professor. He clearly wasn't sick. I asked him why he wasn't in class today. He claimed that he was guest lecturing a different class. So instead of having our professor, we had a guest 'speaker' and he went to guest speak at some other class. 

Guest speakers are fine if they are contributing to the subject matter, don't get me wrong, but this guy was NOT! We had this particular guest speaker come in last week Tuesday and he started off by telling us that he was recently fired from a police department because of several 'issues' were he was not doing his job correctly. He then went on to say that we all (a criminal justice class of grad and undergrad students) were nuts to go into this field because you can be fired at any moment for something that you do. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but you can be fired at any moment from any job because of going against the rules of that company. 

I can't speak for anyone else in my class, but I'm in school to learn. I actually like learning (never thought I'd say that). I am also paying for my professor to teach me. My professor has not been to three classes already (only the 5th week of the semester). I'm not paying for a guest speaker to come in and tell us that we are all crazy for picking this subject matter. I'm not paying for the same guest speaker to come in and babysit us while we are taking an exam that we can't ask questions about to be clarified. 

All I want to do is learn. Not that hard of a concept.

Good Deed

Last night, after a beautiful snowfall all day which accumulated up to several inches, Mike and I headed down to play pool. When were were almost at our destination, we see this sports car trying to turn right at a stop light but all he kept doing was spinning his tires, going no where. So we decided to be good Samaritans and help him out. After pushing him for a few minutes he finally was able to drive without our help. As we crossed back to our side of the street, he rolled down his window and shouted a quick thank you and drove away. 

After several hours of playing pool, we head out to go home and I decided that because it was such a peaceful night, we'd walk along the beach. Only thing I didn't consider as we made our way down the steps, was that the sidewalk was shoveled and buried in almost a foot of snow due to wind drifts. As it was almost midnight, with no cars around, we decided to walk in the street which was freshly plowed. A few cars came and went, one old guy even honked at us angrily, but we always moved to the side of the road. 

It was a nice night, even with the old guy honking. 

Tricky Grandparents

Yesterday I visited my grandparents. My Opa was still napping so my Oma and I were talking and then we started playing doubles solitaire (ironic, I know). A little while later, my Opa comes into the kitchen where we were playing and starts reading the newspaper and keeps interrupting our solitaire game for me to read bits and pieces of the news including the middle school shooting in New Mexico, the retired cop who shot and killed someone in a movie theater over texting in Florida and about the woman who gambled her millions away in Vegas. During that time, my Oma would keep playing solitaire, possibly cheating! 

Once he finished the newspaper, he brings out a book with famous paintings and their stories and the stories of the artists in them. He shows me the famous picture of Adam and Eve and asks if I can spot the mistake. Again, all the while my Oma is playing solitaire and possibly cheating cause she kept winning!

The mistake of course being that they have belly buttons. 

Next he shows me "The Discovery of Honey" and asks what I think of all of those "funny little people."

My theory is that my Oma and Opa planned this whole charade so that my Oma could win more games against me than I normally let her win. 

To get back at her, I took her smurf figures and hid them all around the house. I think we're about even, but I'm watching them!

Playing God?

According to some website that has different "holiday's" each day, it is Play God Day. Also according to the website, people believe that God is good and therefore it is a day to do something good and extra special. You could do something nice and boring like hold open a door, shovel snow for someone for free or bake cookies for your neighbor...but what if you are not a good God. 

What if you like watching people suffer. What if you like watching them get hurt. Well then I suggest you don't actually do these things in real life (cause the law doesn't care that it's Play God Day and you might get in trouble), so I suggest writing. If you want to watch people suffer, write a scene where a dog dies and the family is in mourning. Feeling more evil then that? Maybe you blow something up. A bomb in a house. A pipe exploding in a factory. A fatal car crash. Want to go bigger? Maybe a plane crash.

Remember to always think big, whether good or evil. Think like Darth Vader if you have to, remember, he blew up a whole planet!

(and yes while Tarkin gave the order, the guy at the control panel actually fired, and Darth Vader who held Princess Leia back)