Grab You By the Ear

I had a service guy showing up at the house somewhere between noon and 4 today so the workout was super quick. I managed to get in some cardio on a sloggy cross-trainer since the one I favor was once again in use. It's too bad there's only one Life Fitness cross-trainer that will set resistance to Zero, but of course, it's also the only one that has the idiot Hybrid mode kick in, negating the Zero resistance setting. I've barely enough time for pull ups, push ups and some core stuff. Then it's a hot shower and back home.

Just in time! The fellow shows up within 10 minutes to change the RO (reverse osmosis) filter for our drinking water, and fix the water softener. Our water is 12 grains hard but with a pH of 6.5. It literally eats pipes. But it tastes good. Over a year ago, I had a fellow clean out the boiler. He was a nice enough man, but careless. He didn't fully plug the acid neutralizer back into the socket, and the unit stopped working properly. My electrician tells me that partial currents will absolutely kill appliances, and that's what happened. Ugh. I was hoping not to have to replace the entire thing. Even as a rebuild, it was pricey. Today costed more than a normal service call, but less than a complete replacement. Whew!

My hubs has been enamored of a new Netflix original series called Frontier, starring Jason Momoa (Aquaman, Khal Drogo) and Landon Liboiron (Hemlock Grove, Degrassi: Next Gen). While it's intriguing enough with British redcoats, angry Irish and Scottish opportunists, fur trappers and traders, and complicated inter-tribal relationships, the most compelling thing about the show is the introductory theme music. Much like Game of Thrones, the music is mesmerizing. Unlike GoT, this is a mix of primal Cree chanting, with drum and string (fiddles?) undertones. I found a downloadable MP3 version I'm tempted to toss into my gym mix. Click here if you're interested.

Here's a YouTube version of the show's opening titles in case you haven't heard it... Give a listen!


Monday

30 min xtrainer
Calories 132
Miles 3.28
143 Average Heart Rate

HGPU 26
Mid Band Pulls 15
High Band Pulls 15
Push Ups 60
Scissors 50
Bicycles 50
Crunches 50
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s

Quickie Workout

There's no school today and my son went to a friend's sleep over birthday party yesterday. But I never know exactly when he'll need to be picked up. So after I get stuff done this morning and I'm about to leave for the gym, I get a text from him asking if I can get him between 11 and 12. I tell him I'll get him at 12 noon. It's 9:55 and I'd like to do something at the gym! It takes 15 minutes just to drive to the gym, and another few minutes to stash my stuff in a locker. I've narrowly missed the exiting aerobics class. Whew!

Again, I skip the cross-trainer in favor of the elliptical. I'm not happy with my old workout pants because the waist has lost it's shape and the weight of my iPod nano is enough to inch my pants down my hips uncomfortably. I resort to clipping it onto my tank strap. At least the ports are on the bottom of this model, which means it's less likely to be affected by sweat dripping off me. If these pants weren't so comfortable, I'd have tossed them into the GoodWill bag a long time ago. At least they don't hold onto the gym stink like they used to. No wonder Title Nine sportswear doesn't carry these pants anymore...

I'm getting used to the headphones, but I still feel spastic trying to adjust the volume. I have to press the buttons laterally against the earpiece against my head instead of just pressing down on the buttons. It's an ergonomic design issue, but at least they work and were reasonably priced. However, they're not really noise-cancelling, as I shove the earbud pieces deeper to block out the chatty people two machines over.

I have just enough time to do cardio, a set of pull ups, some push ups and maybe a few planks. Forget about stretching or anything else. There's no school and the gym is crowded today. My hubs has work though. And stores are open even if banks and post office are not. Go figure...

Before I shower, I step on the scale and hold my breath. 110 lbs is better than I expected so I'm happy. Tomorrow, maybe I'll whack the machine because I skipped it last week. I'm still debating getting a mammogram. It's been a year and honestly, I have like zero risk factors so I'm not really inclined to do this every year even though my Ob-Gyn insists that it's a valid test.

Of course, I can't get a hold of my son's dermatologist (because it's a holiday, ugh) so I've decided that I'm taking him off his acne medicine until he's done with this skin infection. He's been prescribed Mupirocin, a topical ointment, which seems to be working well, and an oral antibiotic, the generic version of Bactrim. And he only got prescribed the Bactrim after the attending physician read down to where I noted that my son had had a VRSA infection as a 3-year old. Because he was going to prescribe a cephalosporin. My son is currently taking amoxicillan-clavulanic acid (Clavamox, but for people instead of dogs) for his acne. Which makes me worried that he's brewing a resistant staph infection. It's probably time for him to stop taking that antibiotic, but I'm dreading the resurgence of his facial and back acne. Adolescence is hard enough without bad skin.

The tech wrote MRSA and I corrected her but she didn't write that down. Because she's a tech and I'm only a mom, and obviously don't understand the difference between methicillan-resistant Staph, and vancomycin-resistant. That difference meant an additional week in the hospital for my son, and a really really expensive antibiotic that, thank goodness, my insurance covered. Because it was a thousand dollars. And it was my son's pediatrician, Dr P (the man who retired last December), who made the diagnosis. My local hospital missed it. And the children's hospital downstate missed it after the first week and sent my son home, only to have Dr P say "Nooooo, get him readmitted." So, I don't have much faith in the docs who are now my son's pediatricians... Sigh.

Monday

35 elliptical
Program 1
Miles 3.01
Calories 342
Average Heart Rate 151

HGPU 26
Push Ups 60
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s