Sunday, October 23, 2011

Odds and Ends

CHEESE!: I was in one of the higher end grocery stores yesterday to pick up a few items that I cannot get at Walmart.  One of those items is Smartbeat Cheese slices.  As I came into the aisle, a youngish woman was holding two packages of Sargento Cheese - a provolone and a muenster.  She stopped me and asked about the two cheeses.  (funny thing I actually once worked in a deli and could offer some input)  As I was explaining what I knew, inside my head I was trying to find a way to gracefully encourage her to choose the 2% reduced fat Sargento, instead.  I did, I said, "well I always buy the 2% and I saw over there (pointing), they are on sale this week".  She actually did change and get a 2% pepperjack variety - which I could then say was a favorite of my Mothers.  Bottom line: YAY!

Print, Copy and Lunge:  I thought of you Friday or maybe it was Thursday.  YOU - my blog readers.  I was waiting for a document to print and later for a document to copy.  In both instances, I stood there for a second and thought - "why am I standing here, I have been sitting at my desk for like an hour".  The first time I waited, I did those real slow marches which work the abdominal muscles and the second time, I did some walking lunges.  Bottom line:  Yay again :)

Nicotine and Muscle Power: I ran across a flyer in the Rec Center on campus yesterday.  It was a recruitment flyer for a research study.  The grad student and his faculty supervisor are going to study the effects of oral nicotine (i.e. NOT smoking) on muscle strength or power.  I wish I could remember exactly what the flyer said. I do recall that the people had to already be users of nicotine in order to participate. And why would that be???  I hope that you answered because it is addictive.  Anyways, I did email the professor, as I had just been introduced to him about a week ago.  I told him I would be around this summer if they needed any help with the data analysis etc.  He told me that they were having some trouble finding people to participate.  I suppose that is a good thing really (yay again).  You may also recall from my posts a few years ago that I DO believe that nicotine has some positive attributes, it is smoking and tobacco in general that I dislike (abhor).

Free Sample: It was just my lucky day at the Rec Center yesterday.  (I was there because my walking buddy had to cancel our walk and I thought if I used the treadmill I could also read the articles I had to read for my classes - multitasking YAY).  Near the group fitness studio I spotted some samples.  We get freebies from time to time, deodorant, perfume, Avery products, etc.  Yesterday there were samples of Fiber One Honey Squares cereal.  Interesting thing is that the little box had a NFP (nutrition panel) for the serving size of 3/4 cup but it said that there was less than that in the sample.  It has 10 grams of fiber, and promotes itself as healthy.  The ingredients are corn based however and sugar is near the top of the list, as is sucralose.  I am very curious to see if that cereal would get FOP points under the proposed criteria, which I am still reviewing.

Putting it All Together:  Yesterday I spotted a woman and immediately thought 'smoker'.  I wondered about my gut categorization and thought that it had to do with many things.  We make our decisions based on a convergence of things.  For example, I was a smoker once (past experience).  I have read about smoking and the effects it has on the skin and the hair (research and book knowledge).  I noticed that her skin and hair looked very dry, she was wrinkly but looked like she was too young to be so wrinkly (generalization of aging), also as all this was being processed in my head, I walked by her and the third hand smoke smell lingered on her clothes (using my "senses").  Bottom line:  No YAY about smoking.

Workout:  I finished my 4 of 4 workouts on Thursday so I need a new routine starting tomorrow.  I think that I will visualize it all in my head tomorrow while I am drinking my coffee.  I'll let you know what I come up with - I anticipate more challenging leg work and maybe chest flies with dumbbells for starters... WAIT - I said I would figure it out tomorrow..... sigh -

No comments: