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Eat, Pray, Love – Indonesia

1 September 2010 by Nicki

First, I want to thank Maria at BOREDMommy for leading this group of women reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love. I had read the book previously but jumped on the band wagon – although I fell off along the ride – to re-read the book before I head to the theatre to see the movie.

Second, I had not re-read the Indonesia part before reading several people saying they thought it was boring or that they did not like the book at all.  Because of this, I think I re-read with a different outlook.  I wanted to see if I could figure out what would turn people off about this section of the book.  I have my theory but first my thoughts on Indonesia.

I think the whole section circles around some words on happiness that are on page 260 of the book.  If this theme is not in the movie while Gilbert, played by Julia Roberts in case you live under a rock as I can’t imagine that no one knows this, is in Indonesia, I will be sorely disappointed.

Happiness is the consequence of personal effort.  You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and  sometimes even travel around the world looking for it.  You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of your own blessings.  And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.  If you don’t you will leak away your innate contentment.  It’s easy enough to pray when you’re in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments.

Not only does this discussion of happiness explain why Gilbert was in Indonesia, it ties in the time spent in India when it discusses praying.  I could have put the book down at this point and been thoroughly thrilled with it.  I didn’t but I could have.

Now, on to why I think this part of the book is hard to take.  I do not think it is boring.  I think it hits to close to home.  The section on Indonesia talks about balance, about how the Balinese people have it, about how they keep it.  Balance should be a four letter word, a dirty one at that, in other societies.  Women, in particular, are always striving for balance and we never seem to achieve it.  I think we are looking for something that does not truly exist.  How the Balinese find it and keep will not work in the US or other industrialized societies as we live differently.  We can adjust how we view life but that will not adjust where we live.

To close, I will say that I loved this book.  I could relate to so many portions of it.  I am now ready to see the movie…soon!

Posted in Book Reviews, Just my Thoughts | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

Eat, Pray, Love – India

30 August 2010 by Nicki

Yes, yes.  I am behind.  While BlogHER caused the first delay (no, I didn’t attend but Maria did), my mother being in town for a two week vacation caused my personal delay in my sticking with the Eat, Pray, Love postings.  Here’s the background. Maria of BOREDMommy fame is reading and writing about Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love.

The section of Eat, Pray, Love that deals with India also deals with Gilbert’s internal search for spiritual recognition.  Gilbert heads to an Ashram in India that practices yoga and meditation.  Even my first read of this book left me thinking that this was not me.  Of course, with the exception few moments in my life, I have been a big follower of organized religion.  I question parts of organized religion, still, to this day.  But I am not sure I am fit for an Ashram or for meditation on a regular basis.

Near the beginning of this section of the book, there is a bit about yoga and that the word means UNION.  This is an idea I can get behind.  I have spent a lot of time trying to create a union between my beliefs and my way of living.  I have spent a lot of time creating a union between my mind and my body.  I believe I do live as I believe but know I sometimes slip up.  I also have moments of that mind-body union.  These mind-body moments frequently occur as I am on a long run.  I can see myself running, feel my feet hitting the pavement but not truly feel it.  I love the idea that both my mind and my body will come together.

I also had a huge feeling of being just like Gilbert as she described introducing a new chicken to a flock and how her arrival at the Ashram was the same – under cover of night and so no one knew she had arrived.  I can picture times in my life when I have wanted to be silent and arrive without notice.  This is not like me but I do see the benefits.  I, on the other hand, like to be noticed, at least at some points in time.

I am awed by Gilbert’s progress in her life as she is at the Ashram.  She goes from not being able to still her mind at all – a feeling I can relate to in many ways – to being able to be still while anticipating her departure.  I do not know that the discipline acquire while during her stay in India is one I could grow into.  My mind does not like being still, does not like being quite.

Have you read Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love?  If so, what did you think of her time in India?

Posted in Book Reviews, Just my Thoughts, Religion | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments »

Family

29 August 2010 by Nicki

One of the reasons my blog has seen less activity in August than is normal was a family reunion.  My mother generally flies east for a high school graduation.  Since the May that she came and had to wear someone’s winter jacket to a Little League game, she never comes before the end of June which coincides perfectly with NYS high school graduations.  Only one left in my family so in two years, I can guarantee she will be here at the end of June.  This year, though, she came the beginning of August, just in time for the August cooldown.

The family reunion was two weeks ago today.  Normally, I would  have tons of photos but I only took about 50.  The reunion was held at Dorchester Park, a Broome County park on the Whitney Point reservoir.  I live approximately 20 miles from the park.  Anyway, here are the photos from the reunion.  Please realize the duct-taped child was not hurt and asked to be taped up.  An aunt or an aunt’s boyfriend obliged.

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Posted in Family, Just my Thoughts | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

Life Lessons from the Long Run

28 August 2010 by Nicki

Yesterday was my longest run to date, 20 miles.  There are many reasons this is important but the biggest thing is I learned some lessons I can apply to life in general.

Plan your work and work your plan.

I have been following a plan for marathon training.  There are a few “ifs” or “buts” in that statement.  I started at week six as I didn’t decide I was going to run an October marathon until after I ran the Boilermaker in July.  This was not a stretch as I was already running the miles necessary to step right in but it is not something everyone could do.  As with life or with work, I had to evaluate if I was at the right point to jump in the plan at that moment.  I needed to be realistic in my assessments of both my current fitness and running ability and the time I had in the future.  Assessments of skills and time available occur regularly in my freelance life and are an ongoing thing in my personal life also.

Flexibility

With life and work, as with running, the plan needs to be slightly flexible.  First, I didn’t start the running plan at the beginning.  Second, each week I have played with it a bit.  I haven’t made wholesale changes but I have rearranged runs and, in the case of one week where I wanted to run a 5K with friends, daily distances to fit into what I had the ability to do.

This week was no different.  Tuesday, after a day of cross training on Monday, I saw the extended weather forecast for highs in the 90′s on Sunday.  Even if I started early, I would be running in heat at least part of the time so I quickly rethought my week.  I decided to take a rest day on Thursday and do the long run – all 20 miles – on Friday morning.  Friday’s high was only predicted to be in the low 70′s.  That 20 degree difference would be huge in my overall feeling after the run was finished.

Friday came and with it more flexibility.  I was up by 6 am and getting breakfast and such ready.  There was fog.  Heavy fog.  I wanted to be out the door by 6:30 at the latest.  I never left for the run until 10.  The fog was heavy.  I got involved in work.  I didn’t check and got behind.

In my personal life, I like to have things on the calendar.  The reason for this is so I know I have the time and the energy to do the things I enjoy – hanging out with friends, parties, going out.  On the other hand, I like the flexibility to just drop everything and go out with friends when they show up at my door.

Hydration is KING!

I know I need to drink water daily.  I know that hydration is extraordinarily important to a runner.  I need to plan those water/sports drink drops better for the next 20 miler.  I was getting really thirsty when my friend Kristy saw me along the road.  She stopped to see if I was okay.  I fibbed a bit and said yeah but only because I knew that my sports drinks were just ahead.  Unfortunately, I had been about two or three miles without any fluids and had been fairly low for two or three miles prior to that.

Life is similar to running.  If you do not get the sleep you need, the mind stimulation you need, the hydration you need, you cannot function the way you would like.

Are you a runner?  If so, what life lessons have you learned from running?  If not, what do you do in your “spare” time?  What life lessons have learned from hobbies or vocations?

Posted in Fitness, Just my Thoughts | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Board of Education

26 August 2010 by Nicki

My run for school board this past May was not my first foray into local politics.  I had run in 2003 also and the woman who beat me is still on the Board.  I had also, several years ago, applied for an open position that was available but withdrew my name after the interview when I found out that it would not be filling the position until it was set to expire but would require running again two years in a row.  While I love politics, that was too much politicking for me.

Back during that interview process, I heard many people saying that Board of Education was no big deal.  There are only two meetings a month, most months, and how much time can that take up.  I am hear to dispute that a Board member only goes to two meetings a month and that the time spent on school district business – whether reading newspapers or reading information or at actual meetings or visiting buildings – is more than the actual meeting time.

Since I was sworn in July 7th, I have been to two official board meetings.  I am about to go out the door to my third safety committee meeting.  I have spent, easily, two hours a day reading information about school business.  This reading can come from any number of sources.  The superintendent sends out a Friday bulletin that has all kinds of information in it that must be read.  The NY State School Board Association sends out a daily email that lists articles in newspapers around the state with education as the topic.  There have been Board meeting packets that come the Friday before meetings with at least an hour of reading involved.  All this time has been spent and school has not yet started in NYS.

While the position of school board member is not to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the school district, a board member does need to know what is going on in the district.  Consequently, the time involved in being a board member is more than just the monthly meetings.  As I learn more and more, I am continually inspired by those who have 15 to 20 years of service.

Posted in Board of Education, Just my Thoughts | Tagged , , | 2 Comments »

Race Recap – Catharine Valley Half Marathon

25 August 2010 by Nicki

Me, Steve, Evelyn, Jeanne, Jamie (E's son)

This particular race was a challenge, not in the course but in the weather.  If you look at the pavement we are on, it is very wet.  We may have been in a slight sprinkling period as it was taken but there were torrential downpours throughout the race.  I was thinking we would be on a trail – a cinder paved in most places trail but a trail none the less – so I was hoping that the rain would be absorbed by most of the trees overhead.

The Catharine Valley Half Marathon started and ended at the Watkins Glen High School.  I was thinking that the finish would be good as it included a 3/4 lap of the track at the high school.  Unfortunately, the end of the track it was as if we were running a steeplechase as the track itself was covered with a couple inches of water.  You can find additional photos of the race at The Odessa File.

I ran on Sunday in honor of MCM Mama as she turns 40 August 25.  While this may not seem like a big deal, she is celebrating with gusto by sponsoring a virtual race.  The suggested lengths were shorter than my half (with the exception of the 40K) but I thought honoring her with a race would be great.

The weather does not deter me from running.  I had done a long run the Sunday before the race in a torrential downpour here at home.  That particular day I had pieced together some local routes that constantly circled by my home so as to be close to shelter if it should happen to thunder or lightning.  This race had none of those safety features.  Thankfully, the storms were forecast for later in the day.

As is usually, those that I knew who were running the race all ran much faster than I did so I was off on my own.  I was treating this as not only the honoring of a friend’s birthday but as a long training run.  I chatted with some friends along the route but settled on following these two people who were running together.  They were behind me for about three miles and then just in front of me for a couple.  On the one uphill on the trail – I really didn’t think there was a lot of long uphill like some, I decided I was going to run hard up the hill.  I went past the couple again but soon they were in front of me.  I got close to them at about six miles and asked what they thought their pace was.  Since he thought it was about 11:30, I decided they were the people that I was going to stick to like glue (I have been listening to a lot of Sugarland lately).  Eventually, Denise went off on her own and PJ and I continued to run together until about mile 12.  I knew we had slowed down and I wanted to pick up the pace there – even knowing I had a huge puddle to go through – to finish strong.

I will definitely try this race again next year.  Loved it and knowing others that were there.  Hopefully, next year will be slightly dry.  You can find out more about the trail by visiting the two links below.

Friends of the Catharine Valley Trail

NYS Parks

Posted in Fitness, Just my Thoughts | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments »

Thank You

25 August 2010 by Nicki

I have been on an extended break.  I didn’t think it would happen but family came to visit and I didn’t get to my blog much.  You see, my mother lives in the desert southwest.  I generally see her once a year.  It is usually when she escapes the summer heat in the greater Palm Springs area and comes to NYS.  This year’s trip coincided with a family reunion for her family.

I knew it was time to start writing again when I wrote a three or four paragraph comment on someone else’s blog.  Time to start letting all these thoughts out of my mind again as they are getting a bit crowded in there.

So, to you dear reader, thank you for coming back to check and see if I had written something new.  Look forward to a few race recaps coming up, some thoughts on Race to the Top (a US Dept of Education program that NYS just won), and much more, including my final thoughts on the book Eat, Pray, Love.

Posted in Just my Thoughts | Tagged , | 6 Comments »

Operation Beautiful – Book Review

16 August 2010 by Nicki

Lately, I have been obsessing on numbers – my times on the my runs, pace on my run, the length of my runs, and, unfortunately and very new for me, my age.  I have not put it straight in my mind why this sudden obsession with age.  I really do not recall having these issues as I approached 20, 30, or 40.  Why should have them as I approach – and it is still over a year away – 50?

To my rescue comes Operation Beautiful – the web site and the book.  While the goal is to stop negative body talk, I read and read and applied the stop talk to my age issues.  I have decided I am just going back to being me, not the obsessive almost 50 year old.  Me – the mom of six who is running a marathon in about two months.

Caitlyn Boyle has edited a book about the Operation Beautiful mission.  While Operation Beautiful is mostly based on stopping “fat” talk, I have taken the “love yourself” message to my aging this past week.  As I read of the struggles these younger women were having with body issues, I could definitely relate to a time back when I was their ages.  Now, I have pretty much come to terms with my body but aging is a different issue all together.  Operation Beautiful helped me through this little bump in life.

Back when I first read Mary Pipher’s Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, I started recommending that book as reading for any parent – with girls or boys.  Now on my recommendation list will go Operation Beautiful for all people, not just parents.  I am also going to order two copies for my local school district’s middle school and high school libraries.

Disclaimer:  I did receive a copy of Operation Beautiful from the publisher for no cost and for review purposes.

Posted in Book Reviews, Just my Thoughts | Tagged , , , | 15 Comments »

The EPA and Security Issues

10 August 2010 by Nicki

This coming Thursday the Environmental Protection Agency was scheduled to hold a public hearing on hydraulic fracturing as a method for removing natural gas from shale deposits.  The hearing, the fourth and last in a series of hearings being held across the country,  was originally scheduled for the Binghamton, New York area.  Binghamton is an area where natural gas is just beginning to make an economic impact.

On Tuesday, August 9th, the EPA announced that the hearing was being moved to the OnCenter in Syracuse, New York.  The EPA took no responsibility and blamed Binghamton University for raising the price on the event.  The problem was, as I read over many days in local papers, that the original location was not big enough.  The Events Center at the university was not available due to the floor being refinished.  The West Gym, which was available, does not have air conditioning and the EPA said that would be an issue of public safety.

The other issue is that there are approximately 6,200 people who are not speaking at the actual hearing who will be in attendance – demonstrations by both pro-fracking and anti-fracking factions.  The costs to ensure the safety of all – those at the EPA hearings, those demonstrating for and against fracking – is a lot.  The university, from all I can tell, was charging the EPA for all costs so that the university remained cost neutral on the event.

Just one day after the EPA announced the hearing would move to Syracuse, the hearing has been postponed.  Syracuse was not able, on such short notice, to guarantee the safety of those that would be in attendance.

While I think that the hearing is a necessity and should be held in the Southern Tier, preferably in Binghamton, I do think that the EPA needs to realize that the venue is the least of the costs for the hearing.  The EPA should realize it has to assume the costs for the safety of all those in attendance, not just those who are speaking at the hearing.

Posted in Just my Thoughts, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

Post Run Recovery Smoothie

9 August 2010 by Nicki

I have never been a smoothie fan until I started training for a half marathon.  Now I am training for a full marathon and I am drinking, eating smoothies all the time.  Sometimes, I have them pre-run but usually post run.  So here is the one that freaks out all my friends.  Undoubtedly, I get to all the ingredients but the one that starts with S and then they say “eww!”

Head to your local grocery and pick up some Oikos organic Greek yogurt.  I pick up the Greek yogurt because it has more protein in it so that helps with recovery.  I also get frozen organic fruit.  Today, I used strawberries.  I also pick up some organic spinach.  Yup, there it is!  The S word.  Then, I put in a splash of skim milk which, providing the boys haven’t drank it all and not told me, I always have on hand.

So the ingredient list would look like this:  

8 ounces of Oikos Greek Yogurt (I use either Vanilla – what I had today – or plain)

5 or 6 frozen strawberries (I get them whole but sliced is fine)

A handful of spinach (you really can’t taste it when all is said and done)

2 -4 ounces of skim milk (depends on how thick you want your smoothie)

Blend until smooth.

Pour the blended smoothie into a glass and drink.  I love this.

Posted in Fitness, Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts | Tagged , , | 18 Comments »

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