It’s been so long since I’ve posted anything that I didn’t realize my sister updated my blog template. Nice!

This post is going up from a Wordpress app from my new iPad. So far I haven’t been able to put this thing down. I honestly don’t know why I spent even this much time waffling. After a weekend of exploring, I can confirm that it is indeed magical. So far, it’s worth it for the Papers app alone. More on that later.

Nice. My Kindle has downloaded a software update. The new features? 1) Native PDF support and 2)Manual screen rotation. More on this when I see how well these features work.

In case, like me, your viewing of the Lions-Browns game yesterday consisted mainly of surprise at the cumulative score flashing by during other games and sort of feeling bad for the Browns because of  the last second TD by the Lions, check this out.

I recently finished my 60 days of the Insanity workout.  The first month alternates between  3-4 intermediate workouts.  Then, there’s a month of “recovery” which is 7 repeated days of a quasi-vigorous muscle burning workout that really does feel like a recovery once you get into nausea-inducing month two.  The second month alternates between the next set of DVDs of hour-long advanced workouts.

Every two weeks, you’re supposed to take a 25 minute fitness test to measure your progress (which is always exhausting because you are trying to do as many of a series of exercises as possible for a minute each).  It turns out that the fitness test is totally unnecessary. You can easily judge your progress by how destroyed you are after each workout.  You end up repeating each DVD in the workout series maybe 8-10 times.  The first time, you wonder how you will get off the floor and stand up again.  You dread the second workout because you so vividly remember the first but you have no problem getting off the floor.  The third time, you’re never on the floor in the first place and by the end, you feel completely transformed, though still knowing there is room for improvement.

My final verdict is that this workout series is just AWESOME.  It forces you to try and in some cases master, exercises you never thought your body could handle.  The fitness improvement is undeniable.  The other night, I tried a Tae-bo workout for the first time in months after completing the Insanity program and it seemed easy.  When a  series of Tae-bo exercises ended, I couldn’t help but think that if it were insanity, I’d only have to do that same exercise a few hundred more times (an exaggeration but you get the point).  I actually love Tae-bo for dispensing with the fluff exercises found on so many other “workout’ DVDs, but definitely think Insanity is more intense.  I find myself doing the Tae-bo exercises with extra effort to get a good workout and Insanity with less than maximal effort to just survive it.

Overall, I highly recommend it if you have been working out regularly prior to beginning the program.  And one last tip: buy a headband or bandana so you’re not swearing at the TV when loose hairs on your head plaster your face and the copious sweat pouring into your eyes threatens to blind you.

The NFL matchups were horrible last week. There were virtually no games I was interested in watching (outside of CIN/PIT). This week is a different story. If you were going to watch just one at a time, there’s IND@BAL in the morning and SD@DEN in the afternoon. There are some more games that could also be good: SEA@MIN, ATL@NYG, NYJ@NE, and of course the epic battle of mediocre and desperate teams, PHI@CHI.

Hey Everyone,
I’m back. It’s been a while but keep an eye out for more posts coming soon.

мебелиIf you have been living under a rock or, like many I know, have arbitrarily decided you’re too good to watch the olympics, you may have missed the thrilling victory by the American men in the 4×100 freestyle relay. Leading up to the big day, the race favorite French team were boasting that they were going to smash the Americans. Up until the last 50 meters, it looked like that was going to be accurate. Then it happened. The American swimming the anchor leg, Jazon Lezak, kicked it into another gear to clock the fastest 100m split in history. The Americans won by .08 seconds and the French are eating crow.

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I’ve had a great birthday so far. It has included some of my favorite activities: watching Wimbledon, lounging, napping, working out, shopping, eating fantastic food etc. So after my birthday dinner at my favorite San Francisco sushi restaurant, Tsunami, we went to a different restaurant close to my sister’s apartment for dessert. This where things start getting weird….

Because we were just there for dessert, we were seated at the bar. After ordering, one of two ladies seated near us turns to me and says “Prachee??” I turn my head and I cannot for the life of me place who this person is. For those who know me, this is totally typical. My memory is horrible. I have a track record of forgetting people and events that I haven’t thought about in a very long time. So, while I could not at all remember who this was, I played along hoping she would drop me a hint. We make small talk for a minute or two about how we could have been sitting so close to one another and have not noticed each other and she says, “you’re really the Prachee, I know, right?” I am still playing along and say “yeah of course.” She says, “the one that’s married to Mo?” I am not now nor have I ever been married to a Mo. So I said, “uh no.”

So long story short, this very sweet woman tells me that she has a friend named Prachee that she hasn’t seen in a while that looks exactly like me. What are the odds?? I tell her how embarassed I am for pretending I knew her but she just laughs it off and we talk about what a good story this is going to make. It turns out she has a sister that lives in Salt Lake City as well. I asked her what her name was since given these odd circumstances, I wouldn’t be surprised if I knew her. I mention to her that I might be moving out to San Francisco soon. So we exchange email addresses with the intention of sending each other pictures of her friend/me etc. On the way out, we say goodbye to one another and she says that I should definitely contact her when I move to town because she feels like somehow we should be friends. I tell her that I feel the same way and will be sure to do so.

I don’t think anything so coincidental has ever happened to me. What are the chances that she feels so strongly that I look like a friend of hers that turns out to have the same name as me? I guess I’m just glad that my memory isn’t as bad as I thought.

Bizarre.

Martina Navratilova has teamed up with an artist to create works by hitting a tennis ball against canvas. Sometimes it’s a painted ball on a white canvas, sometimes a clean ball on a painted canvas. The paintings are inspired by various tennis venues around the world. I have the strongest reactions to the tennis ball imprints around the court lines at Wimbledon and Roland Garros.

I had another follow-up appointment to test my progress after my May 1st vision correction surgery. With both eyes open I can read most of the 20/20 letters. My left eye is still stronger than my right but there does seem to be some noticeable improvement since my last appointment. Next appointment: July 21st.