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Friday, July 4, 2008

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PIE PIE PIE
Wednesday night was our long anticipated excursion to A'Mews in Glebe for their Winter Pie Special. Apparently the chef has a tradition of designing a new meat pie each year which is only available on certain days in June and July. This year it was "Black Angus Beef, Madeira, Eschallot & Kipfler Potato Pie with Creamed Parsnip". We were joined Miss Fee, the Sock Victim, Emily the Car, and Clare. (Miss Fee has photos of the pie.) It was fantastic. Without a doubt one of the best meat pies I've had. The restaurant is cozy and inviting, and the staff are friendly and helpful. My only complaint at all is that the prices are pretty high for Glebe, which will limit how often we go there. But if you can afford a fancy night out - and you enjoy a bit of meat - you should definitely try the pie while it's still available...

Thursday, July 3, 2008

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Interactive Packaging. Neat. I didn't know that Jiffy Pop was invented in LaPorte, Indiana. I can remember my parents making some on a camping trip when we were little and my brother Anthony absolutely freaking out because he thought it was going to explode. Also, man, I miss pressurized biscuit dough. That stuff just doesn't exist outside the US.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

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HIDA Scan
Well, that was the boringest medical procedure in history. Seriously. Other than a one-second pinch when they put the IV in my hand, there was nothing painful or scary. I just lay there on a "bed" (which was more like an industrial table) while they pushed the radioactive stuff through my IV. Then they wheeled this big metal contraption over my midsection and I just had stay still for an hour. I could see a sort of a screen above the machine with some sparkly dots on it, which the doctor said was my liver. (Later the dots coalesced into a single big bright spot, which was apparently my gallbladder.) Anyway, I put on my iPod, snuggled under the blanket they'd given me, and pretty much dozed the whole time. Then they trickled something else into the IV and took more pictures for another half hour. It was pretty relaxing... until I was presented with a bill for $500. Ouch. (Apparently Medicare covers the great majority of it though.) No word on the results yet; apparently the doctor has to do some analysis and then send the verdict over to my GP.

As for my superpowers... Nothing yet. I've been trying unsuccessfully to read minds without much luck. I asked the doctor about the half-life and he said it was six hours, so I'm sure it'll all be gone by tonight. I wonder if that's enough time for my DNA to finish mutating?

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Bex says that the next time I enter a race, she's going to be holding up the first sign. It's great to get encouragement from your friends.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

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Radioactive Girl
In the continuing Saga of Kris's Stomach... now my doctor thinks it might possibly NOT be my stomach. Apparently if your gall bladder is malfunctioning, it can present as ulcer-like pain. Interesting. So in 14 hours, I'm having a HIDA scan. I'm going to get injected with radioactive dye (!!!) and then scanned to see if there are any problems. Fun, huh? Worst case scenario: They don't find anything and the mystery continues. Best case scenario: My gallbladder is at fault; I have surgery to get it removed; I'm all better; and I get super powers from the radioactivity! I'm kinda looking forward to it.

Monday, June 30, 2008

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RunningBlog: This past week was the start of my Melbourne Half-Marathon training. I did easy half-hour runs on Tuesday and Thursday, and I was happy to note that my lower back pain was almost completely gone. On Saturday I had a long, leisurely walk with the Snook. On Sunday, I headed out for a 5-miler. I've been reading Jeff Galloway's Book on Running and I'm already trying to put a few new things into practice. The big one is speed. My pace on the long runs has been way too fast. My goal pace for the actual race is 10:00/mile, therefore I'm supposed to do my long runs at 12:00/mile (including walk breaks). It seems counterintuitive to slow down now in order to go fast later, but as I understand it, the biggest factor in gaining speed is not getting hurt. I can be patient. The other thing I'm working on is FORM. Galloway gives the helpful mnemonic "CHiPs": Chest up, Hips forward, and Push off. I think I'm improving, though I still get annoyed when I check myself in shop windows and catch myself leaning forward too much. (Check out this Phedippidations episode for a great discussion about running form.) Anyway, I did my five miles at 12:00 pace pretty easily. The biggest problem I had was my perpetual bugbear - hydration. I thought I'd had enough to drink but the sun was hot and I got parched quickly. I hit every water fountain I could find but still my mouth was dry. I really need to work on that.

Happily, my lower back felt pretty good after the run and I had a great final session with the physiotherapist this morning. My pelvic alignment is rock solid and my core strength is improving. I think I'm pretty much fixed! I actually feel kind of stupid for suffering through so much back pain when all it took was a couple sessions to correct. I can highly recommend Michael over at Peak Physique for any exercise-related injuries.

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From the Snook: Chicks dig whiskers. Well, a little bit of whiskers, anyway. Personally, I'm a big, big fan of the scruff.

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Weekend Update: What a difference a week makes. You know how sometimes you just fall into a rut? Last Sunday I told the Snook that I was feeling cross and frustrated. Sometimes we enable each other's laziness a little too much, you know? And it was starting to get to me. This week, though, my mood went through the roof. It was like turning on a light switch. We spent time hanging out in the evenings (without automatically burying ourselves in Warcraft/knitting). We crossed off a lot of errands on our To Do list. We kept the house relatively clean. On Saturday afternoon, we went for a long walk to Newtown and back, and then headed to Broadway to buy a new DVD player (since ours died). Sunday I went for a long run and finished off a few knitting projects. It was... nice. It's always a surprise to realise how much a difference simply deciding to be in a good mood can make. I feel rested and happy.

Although, part of me wonders how much of my good mood can be attributed to the sunshine. We had a week of fine weather and it certainly improved my outlook a lot. So maybe that was part of it.

Friday, June 27, 2008

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Pushups! Okay, so I nearly killed myself trying to do Day 1 this morning. I don't think it's my arm strength so much as my lack of core stability. (My wrists were also kinda hurting.) My form is seriously crap. So I've been reading up on ways that I can ease into it a bit more...Based on what I'm reading there, I think I'm going to start each workout doing my best to do full pushups, but I'll switch to knees when my form starts to suffer.

Any else make a start yet? (The Snook managed 15 in his initial test - much to both of our surprise - but he nearly killed himself trying to do the first day's workout.)

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Woman Geniuses. Great thread that I somehow missed over at AskMeFi.


Created and maintained by Kristine Howard © 2000-2008.
Me and the Snook
 
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welcome

I'm Kris Howard, a thirtyish Hoosier living in Australia. I spent the last several years working in a knitting and craft shop, but now I'm back in IT as a software engineer. This is my weblog and personal site.
 
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recent comments

Emily: "We're thinking we might go in on the off-chance and *share* a pie before the end of July......."

rdh: "Yeah I remember that, we were at Cedar Point. Little dude was running around yelling "its gonna splo..."

brigita: "Woo! LaPorte shoutout! (thanks for teeing that one up for me...didn't know about Jiffy Pop, either!..."

jessica: "very clever!..."

Kris: "You're a doctor! Aren't you around radiation all the time? Or do they make you wear lead aprons so y..."

Emily: "So if we all sit close to you tonight do we catch the superpowers? I only ask, cos I've just realise..."

Nicole: "You get to glow in the dark?? way cool :)..."

Bex: "Tricotella? The power to fix miss-crossed cables with a single glance... ..."

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