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By kilax, January 24, 2014 6:50 am

This is not going to be a popular (heh) opinion, but when all those “vote for me”s for the Run to Napa ZOOMA women’s race trip starting showing up in my Facebook feed this week, I got a sick feeling to my stomach. Not that people were entering. It sounds like a super fun trip if you like wine and running, and heck, I wish all of my friends who wanted to go, could, and for free.

It was the fact that the page asks you to vote for your favorite blogger, and shows your vote number right by your photo, allowing you to compare yourself to everyone else in the contest. It’s a simple popularity contest. And that is what gave me that icky feeling – the contest reminded me of a part of blogging I try to avoid – the quest for popularity.

And I by NO MEANS have anything against ZOOMA doing this or anyone who has entered – just seeing it made me think about it.

There are lots of these contests online, and they have never bugged me like this.  I have voted for people before (I don’t think I have ever entered) and sincerely hoped my vote would help! Maybe it’s just that I know so many people who have entered in this one – and really, that they know each other. These bloggers are friendly, and will congratulate and feel happy for whoever wins. But I bet there will be some disappointment, and comparison. 

And that is probably it. Bloggers quite often talk about avoiding comparison. And that number count sure does encourage it, even if it’s friendly, and all in good fun. 

It’s made me think – what can we do to make sure blogging doesn’t turn in to a popularity contest? Or does that even matter?

Most of us say we don’t feel upset if a post doesn’t get many comments, a Facebook entry doesn’t get many likes, or a tweet doesn’t get many responses (just guessing on that one since I’m not on Twitter). We say we do it for ourselves. And mostly, we do! Truly.

But come on. 

We notice when a fellow blogger, especially one we are close with, seems to have oodles and oodles of followers/commenters/whatever-ers. Guys, I’ll be real! I see myself doing it from time to time! I read other blog comments thinking “Wow, they have a lot of commenters!” and “Whoa, who are all these people?” and feel bad for a few seconds (then remember to feel grateful people read this, and even comment, at all! ha!). I think it’s in human nature. And… all those followers/commenters help in a contest like this. And might make some people feel really bad if they don’t get many votes.

But there are so many blogs out there, and the cool thing is, each one is of different value to a different person. Sometimes you find a person you totally connect with and wonder why many others don’t read them. Sometimes you question why big bloggers get the amount of comments they do, with the crap they write. Sometimes, you will meet cool people and get to know them in real life, then love reading their blog even more!

So, my hope, when seeing this contest, is that people don’t let those votes influence the value of their blog or content, to them. That they don’t get caught up in a popularity contest, and feel bad. That they be themselves. BE GENUINE. That they enjoy the writing. The readers who are meant to find them, will. 

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By kilax, January 23, 2014 12:26 pm

… from my earlier post. Ha ha. Because three more bullets would have been RIDICULOUS.

• It’s always nice to get a response to a comment you leave on a blog! I’ve been trying to reply to the comments I receive more quickly, to encourage interaction. Do you like it when blog authors comment in a more timely fashion so you can keep the conversation going, while the post is still “current”? Or do you not give a crap? 
• So, how annoying is it to have an instructor in a fitness class who tells stories/makes bad jokes? Sometimes I am soooo hyper when I teach, and little stories/jokes just come out. I try to keep it to a minimum. But I also don’t want to teach a silent class. Besides the music playing, I am usually counting (including missing numbers), reminding what the proper form is, and telling people where they should be feeling the exercise. 

• One of my BIGGEST pet peeves is when people pluralize/make possessive proper nouns/names that are singular. Ha. I am sure I messed up a ton of English rules in how I wrote that (and probably didn’t even get it right), so let me know if I bug YOU! But anyway, some examples would be calling Aldi Aldi’s, or Panera Panera’s, or JCPenney Penney’s. Why does this make me bonkers?! Grr! Anyway, dear readers, please let me know if you have any incorrectly pluralized/made possessive instances like this for me to add to my list. I am doing research on it, and am going to write a book. Just kidding*. But I was wondering if there are any others I should watch out for and correct people on**. <— me so nice

*But I would be curious to know what is up with that. I understand an older generation doing that, as they may be more accustomed to stores being owned by someone, and the store name being a possessive name. Maybe. But why do younger people do it?! WHY DOES IT BOTHER ME SO?!?!
**Ha ha. So I called my mom’s mom*** out on this, saying “You don’t make things singular that already are possessive, so why do the opposite?!” And she is so funny, she called to tell me, she was going to “Kohl.” Not Kohl’s, but Kohl. So now we call it Kohl. 
***She also calls a sandwich at Subway, a subway, not a sub. So I tease her about this, too. She finds it amusing. Thankfully. Ha ha. Because I HAVE to tease. IT’S MY ONLY WAY OF COPING.****
****Note: I am trying to be funny with most of this. Trying. 

Comments (27)

By kilax, January 23, 2014 6:27 am

• Data got his cousin Dexter a toy mouse for Christmas, and we were really cracking up over these pictures of her playing with it! She looks like she has boxing gloves on in the first one (click to see larger)!

• Speaking of boxing gloves, check out these schweet ones my parents got me! Holy cow, they are too awesome. We are actually boxing in the class I am teaching right now, but I forgot to bring them Monday night! I will remember for the Friday class. 

• And speaking of cats, I have turned in to an even bigger dork (surprise surprise). I somehow ran across these “anti dust” cat earphone jack plugs  on Amazon and had to get them (should I be worried about dust or more about the fact that I bought them?). They don’t exactly look like the image on the amazon page… but I am still using one. Even Data is rolling his eyes at me. Hmm, maybe a few of my cat ladies need these as well? Or maybe I should share what I have. For some reason, Steven took the one out of his phone that I put in there. Hmm, strange. 

• I was really excited to try these LED Nathan PopTop gloves but I haven’t been impressed. The batteries take a long time to charge. One of the batteries came broken so I’ve asked for new ones twelve days ago (still waiting on them, but it was nice of Nathan to send some!). I went to charge them tonight and the charging port came out of the working battery. And the wires get a bit in the way when you put your hands in. I am going to keep trying though. If anything, I will just use them as gloves! Oh, but they get pretty sweaty (ha ha, that is probably just me!). 

• The song Say “Something” by A Great Big World featuring Christina Aguilera is so pretty, but damn, it makes me feel soooo sad. But I keep listening to it, anyway. So pretty. So sad. So pretty. So sad. STUCK IN THIS CYCLE 4-EVA!
• I am really glad I met Anne for a run last night. Not only because we had a great time, but also, because it caused me to take a different train to meet her. Huh? Why does that matter? Well, I didn’t even know until Bobbi asked me about it, but the exact train that I usually take home hit a car, in the town I live in (pdf here). It’s awful to say, but I am happy I didn’t have to experience that.  Did you know there was an increase in train vs car and pedestrian collisions in this area in 2013 (pdf here)? I read about so many of them, that I wasn’t surprised when that statistic came out at the end of the year. It’s so sad. Train safety, peeps!  
• I was feeling really bummed at the beginning of the January that I wasn’t taking many pictures and wouldn’t have much to add to my digital photo frames in the beginning of February. Then, lo and behold, I actually started doing things and taking pictures and feeling happy again. Wait, what is this? Should I actually leave my house and be social once in awhile? Does that make me happy? It appears, yes. Ha ha. 
• I was going to ask you some questions, but dang, this is long enough. I can put them somewhere else or save them for next week!

Other Random Thoughts Thursday Posts: 53, 52, 51, 50, 49, 48, 47, 46, 45, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, XXXVII, XXXVI, XXXV, XXXIV, XXXIII, XXXII, XXXI, XXX, XXIX, XVIII, XXVII, XXVI, XXV, XXIV, XXIII, XXII, XXI, XX, XIX, XVIII, XVII, XVI, XV, XIV, XIII, XII, XI, X, IX, VIII, VII, VI, V, IV, III, II, I.

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By kilax, January 22, 2014 6:22 am

Is there ANYONE you can think of from high school that you would actually WANT to run in to in your home town? And not with your car?

Ha ha. What? You guys didn’t have the same high school experience as me?

I kid, I kid! Seriously, who would you want to randomly bump in to?

If we are Facebook friends, this is a repeat story (but what is social media if not repeat stories?! ha ha), but on Saturday, my dad and I went to Panera after our run. I was changing in the bathroom and when I walked back to the table I saw a woman standing there, that I did not recognize, but then the back of a male’s head… that I immediately recognized! It was my high school Spanish Teacher, Mr. H!

So, I have to tell you a bit about my perception of my high school. Well, my post college perception of it. See, when I was in high school, I thought I was smart because I easily got straight As. Nope. I wasn’t smart. Most classes were really dumbed down. I figured this out the hard way, when I got to college (and thought it was hard).  I don’t know if it was to get people to pass, or because the teachers didn’t care, or the parents complained… but not much learning was happening in high school. Most classes were 30 (if even) minutes of lecture then time to work on homework. 

Anyway. Mr H was the only teacher I had that taught for the entire class and made students do their homework, at, gasp, home! And I remember then, that students hated it. And had their parents complain. I didn’t understand what the big deal was. I didn’t understand why the other teachers gave us so much time to do work in class… when many students had study hall (I never did, but I still worked 40 hours a week and got straight As, so, yeah, easy). I think that is the beginning of when I started to, um, despise whiny little biznatches. Anyway…

I had Mr. H for all four years of high school Spanish and appreciated that we spent the class learning, and not screwing around. I deeply respected him and his principles – I shared similar thoughts on hard work and the payoff of it (even though I had to learn what that really meant with a full load, in college).  He was without a doubt my favorite teacher. 

After high school, I went to Spain with my dad, Mr. H and some Spanish students. My dad roomed with Mr. H! So they became buddies. Hee hee. 

We had a fabulous time in Spain. I will forever feel spoiled and grateful that my dad was able to come. 

We last saw Mr. H together in summer of 2003 to look at Spain pictures. So… we hadn’t seen him in over 10 years until this Saturday! We only chatted for 15-20 minutes, but it was so nice! The warmth, happiness, passion and everything I remembered about him was still there. I also think I got to see a bit of a silly side I didn’t see as much in school. 

Anyway,  he said the nicest thing to us when he left. He told me that he could see what a special relationship my dad and I had when we were in Spain together, and that he was so happy to see us out, the two of us, keeping that going. Gosh, that just made my heart melt. It was such a nice thing to say. So of course, I had to brag on my dad real quick and say how he started running and now we get even more one on one time together, which I love and appreciate so much.  

So yeah. That’s who I would want to run in to. I hope I do again. I sent him a Facebook request. Ha!

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By kilax, January 21, 2014 6:02 am

How many of your childhood toys or books do you have in your home?

Surprisingly, I have a few. Okay, not surprisingly… we don’t have a basement, which is where I imagine I would put that stuff, so not much of it is here. I really only have my box of Polly Pockets and Smooshies,

a set of Star Wars books,

and scary Yoda.

A lot of the toys I have around the house were gifted to me as an adult! Ha! My love for toys may never die. And I look forward to the day when I get a chance to look through all my Barbies and Star Wars toys from youth (no, Dad, this is not a hint that I want them, now). Whether I keep them, or donate or sell them… I think it would be a fun walk down memory lane.

I was thinking about this because I was home this weekend and trying so hard to remember a book I read as a kid so my dad could grab it for me. But it was such an obscure book, I just can’t think of the title! It was about a brother and a sister who find some orb / crystal ball and take it to their summer home. They find out the orb has magical powers, so they make little clay people and use the orb to have them come to life (I think?). Then it turns out the power is evil and they have to save the day at the end of the book. Or something. I am so surprised (sarcasm) that what little I remember from the book is NOT helping me find it online. Ha ha. Or helping my dad find it at home. “Um, I think it’s a little fat book, with two kids with an orb on the cover?” <— so helpful. 

But the book keeps popping in to my mind, and I am interested in reading it and see if I still enjoy it as much now, as I did then. I remember reading it over and over and over. Maybe it would give me a clue as to another genre of books I would like as an adult. 

And since I am talking about books I read as a child… did you hear they are making The Giver in to a movie? With Jeff Bridges as The Giver? In fact, the casting looks really good.  I do have a copy of that at home, so maybe I should read it while I continue to try to figure out what the heck that other book is!

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By kilax, January 20, 2014 6:23 am

Steven and I went to a wedding this Saturday and stayed until the dance floor closed! I don’t think we have done that since our wedding! We were having such a fun time chatting with people and dancing, that the night just flew by. And the funny thing is, I didn’t know anyone there except for the bride and one bridesmaid… so I wasn’t sure who would we hang out with for most of the night. But we ended up sitting at a table with some wonderful people, and it felt like we were there with family. What a great time.

Do you stay until the dance floor closes at weddings? Are you out there dancing the night away?

Anyway… this is about to get cheesy. You’ve been warned.

The wedding was for a college friend of mine, and the whole night, I just couldn’t stop smiling, and thinking about how happy I am for her. I teared up during the ceremony. I got overly excited when it was my turn to greet and congratulate her. I… just spent the whole night with a stupid grin on my face, thinking happy thoughts.

And that wasn’t the point of the post. Oops. I am getting there. You could just tell how much planning and thought went in to the wedding. You could see the little details that made their special day, well, their special day. When I was there, feeling so honored to get to partake in it, I started thinking about our wedding and how one of my favorite parts after was hearing everyone’s different wedding and reception experiences. Because after all that planning, the night just flies by, and hearing everyone’s stories afterward makes the feelings of the night last even longer. Weddings can have a lot of guests – how much do the bride and groom actually see? It’s so fun later on, to hear about how old friends got to reconnect, or a funny story from the dance floor, or whatever it is. Hee hee, when I get a chance to catch up with the bride, it will be to tell her how crazy fun her cousins and their partners are. I wonder what other stories will be shared with the newlyweds!

It makes me feel good to think about all of these people coming together with love for the couple and for their family and friends there, to share a fun night together with all of these somewhat different experiences.

So, yeah – cheesy. I just felt a really good buzz after this wedding. It was a great feeling.

And thankfully, my snister did my hair and makeup so I didn’t look completely ridiculous! Ha ha ha.

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By kilax, January 19, 2014 8:59 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running in the snow with my dad!

Monday | January 13, 2014: 3.5 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 40°/39°, Time: 34:01, Pace: 9:44 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: Like I am getting better? Maybe?!
Strength: Lebert Bars & Dumbbell + Boxing, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Tuesday | January 14, 2014: rest
Wednesday | January 15, 2014: 30 min cycling intervals
Time: 30:00, Difficulty: medium, Felt: sweaty – like I was working hard
Thursday | January 16, 2014: 4 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 30°/32°, Time: 40:49, Pace: 10:12 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay – annoyed when the wind blew the snow in to my eyes, ha ha
Friday | January 17, 2014: teaching strength class
Strength: Lebert Bars & Dumbbell + Boxing, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: great – we worked hard!
Saturday | January 18, 2014: 4.7 m run (w/Dad)
Loc: Cedar Falls, Temp: 16°/17°, Time: 53:44, Pace: 11:26 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay
Sunday | January 19, 2014: rest

Notes:

• I was really excited to switch to a challenging new strength routine this week that left me sore for a few days. Love it when that happens! Gotta keep challenging myself and my students. 
• Starting to get back at it… um, kinda, with workout intensity. Hopefully February will be a more typical month for me, and I will be done coughing stuff up by then (one can dream, right?!).
• I contacted the local running club in my hometown to see if they have a fun run on Saturdays that I could take my dad to. They did, and we went! We ended up running behind everyone, but it was nice to follow people on a route. We were running on packed snow in the streets, and it was snowing, but not too slippery. Right toward the end I was saying how nice it was to my dad that it wasn’t slippery… then I completely bit it on a patch of ice. Ha ha! I better keep my mouth shut. 
• We did my family Christmas this weekend and my mom, sister and sister-in-law each gave me awesome running clothes (among other things – Steven and I got so many nice things were were grateful for!!!). Anyway. I wrote “funky patterned tights and capris” on my wishlist, and I added a little picture to the end of the collage this week to share the patterns they got me. They found me the best stuff!

Plans from last week (√ if I did it, X if I didn’t):

• X Back to 6 days a week of working out. 
• √ A least one run/strength double.  
  
• √ A least one cross training workout – indoor cycling or snowshoeing (doing a snowshoe 5K with Erin at the end of the month!). 
  
• √ Run with Dad on Saturday!!! X Maybe Sunday, too?!

Plans for next week:

• Run with Dad on Monday! (Ha ha, at first, I wrote “Data” instead of “Dad.”)
• Back to 6 days a week of working out. 
• An 8 or 10 mile long run.
• Plan a super fun strength workout for the Saturday blogger & friends session.
• Cycling during the week. 
• Don’t fall during the snowshoe 5K. <— Buah ha ha, probably the least likely one I will meet.

Link to Training Week 221

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By kilax, January 17, 2014 7:28 am

Do you have a junk drawer in your house/garage/at work/wherever?

Gina and I were talking about junk drawers the other day, and I said to her, “do people actually have those?!”

Then, “Wait! I think I we have one! An electronics junk drawer!”

Ha ha ha. 

But let’s call it what it really is, folks. A museum. 

Um, a somewhat unorganized museum. 

But what fun it was to look through there! Look at all the different types of music devices I found! I should have taken a photo of all the different headphones, too. 

So, we apparently do have a drawer to throw random electronics in. But everything else is mostly organized in the house. We tidied up after we put away all the holiday decorations, and I really love keeping the house that way. I hope I can keep it up!

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By kilax, January 16, 2014 6:26 am

• Are you guys tracking anything new this year? I love to track silly things on spreadsheets and in my calendar. Last year I started a spreadsheet to track books read (I know, I could use Goodreads, but I prefer to keep my social media stuff to a minimum) but ended up not using it because I spent a lot of the year studying for the ACE personal trainer exam. Now I am back to reading for “fun” and loving it! So I have started tracking books again. I am even tracking how long it takes me to read them, and averaging out pages per day <— dork alert! I do have studying I need to do throughout the year, which I also enjoy, but I hope that doesn’t occupy most of what I read. 

• This past Tuesday marked five months until my snister’s wedding! Woo hoo! I am stoked!

• I posted this picture about getting my blood pressure taken at the dentist’s office this Tuesday and a few people seemed surprised I get it taken there! Does anyone else get their blood pressure taken when the are at the dentist? I actually like going to the dentist. I love having my teeth cleaned. The only thing I don’t like about the dentist is when he makes inappropriate off-the-wall comments. I will never forget the time he came in to see me and made a comment about someone’s body size on the television that was on.

I hope that just because the time on this thing is wrong, doesn’t mean my BP is too…

• I mentioned a long time ago (whoa, like, over 6 years ago!) that Steven had a star named for me, but he recently received an email with a jpeg of the certificate I have a hard copy of. If that makes any sense. It’s really pretty. I should frame it and hang it up. Click the image to see larger.

• Speaking of hanging things up, we recently put up this sign that my grandma gave me for my birthday that says “Always Kiss Me Goodnight” (I’d say it’s 50% effective, ha ha, just kidding). I also put up this neat-o jewelry box that Bobbi gave me for Christmas. It perfectly combines my love for photos… and jewelry! Hee hee. 

• Did anyone else watch the Golden Globes? We actually had friends over to watch them, which was really exciting for us. Steven and I have always been in to movies, and it’s not until the past couple of years that we’ve had friends who are as well! So we enjoy chatting our movie thoughts up with people. Anyway, I was actually going to mention a TV show. Ha! Steven and I are rarely in-tune with current TV shows, but for some reason, we decided to start watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine (mostly on On Demand). I’ve always been an Andy Samberg fan, and we think the show is just silly and fun. But I NEVER thought Andy (yeah, we’re on a first name basis) would win for Best Actor in a TV series, Comedy (even though I selected him on my sheet), and I especially NEVER thought the show would win for Best TV Series, Comedy, at the Golden Globes. I was so shocked. And excited! Ha ha, it made me feel relevant to have actually seen a show than won, as I had seen NONE of the others (but was still able to guess some correct winners). Does anyone else watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine?

• I’ve been trying to get back in to the swing of things with posting more often. Thank you for reading and commenting… while I find my groove. 

Other Random Thoughts Thursday Posts: 52, 51, 50, 49, 48, 47, 46, 45, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, XXXVII, XXXVI, XXXV, XXXIV, XXXIII, XXXII, XXXI, XXX, XXIX, XVIII, XXVII, XXVI, XXV, XXIV, XXIII, XXII, XXI, XX, XIX, XVIII, XVII, XVI, XV, XIV, XIII, XII, XI, X, IX, VIII, VII, VI, V, IV, III, II, I.

Comments (30)

By kilax, January 15, 2014 6:18 am

Guys. Do NOT trust Organix shampoo and conditioner.

Seriously. The shampoo and conditioner will make your hair feel so soft and nice that you will forget you need to brush it… or do any other sort of styling with it, before you head out the door.

Ha ha ha. Who are we kidding? We all know I don’t take care of my hair, so I wouldn’t really be “styling” it anyway.

On Friday night, I was telling Kelsey how I used to have this haircut that worked so well in the spring (because of lower humidity levels) – it was shoulder length, and I’d just wash it at night, put mousse in, then it would be ready to go in the morning. I liked how easy that was.

So Saturday morning, I wake up and have waves in my hair and it looks not too frizzy and I’m thinking, “Hey! I will wear it down for the group event I have this morning!” (Like I used to with the miracle haircut). So, I brush it, put some product in, and off I go.

Bad idea.

What looked good and tamed to me, basically looked like a rat’s nest on camera. Yikes. I saw a picture of myself on Facebook and my stomach flipped. Damn you, Organix, for making me feel confident! (Okay, and being really sleepy and out of it when I got ready, too).

Have you ever wanted to untag a picture of yourself on Facebook? Or wanted it off of there?

All joking aside, I just shouldn’t wear my hair down, because I don’t know how to style it, and it’s not important to me (I know, that probably makes some of you crazy). Although… it probably should be – I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but I workout because it makes me feel good and I enjoy it. But being a personal trainer, and knowing that a lot of people work out because of a desired exterior appearance, I should make mine presentable (which is why I often straighten my hair and (always) wear makeup to teach). And it mostly is. Mostly. Except sometimes… that hair, ha ha.

I feel good about my appearance and what my body can do, and feel sad that others stress so much about their bodies/how they look (although some of you reading this may think I should, ha ha). I mean, yes, let’s try to be healthy and take care of ourselves, but have some self love, too!

And I think that’s the reason I’m even writing this, because when I saw that rat’s nest hair picture and DID care about how I looked in it, I felt deeply ashamed. Ashamed by my gut reaction. And worried about how my appearance made my studio look (since I was at a multisport club event). I’m still getting used to that.

Anyway. Body image posts are a dime a dozen. And that’s not quite what this is. It’s just a (public, ha ha) reminder to me that if I leave the house with my hair down, I should really ask Steven how it looks. Or someone, wherever I am going. And yeah… I should probably get a haircut. Or use crappier shampoo and conditioner that would make my hair feel how it looks and remind me I don’t know how to style it.

Note: I didn’t write this to fish for compliments… or get hair care tips. Ha ha. It’s actually an improvement that I am using this shampoo and conditioner and not the 2-in-1 stuff anymore. And I’ve been thinking about buying a curling iron! Baby steps, for this one.