Joanne’s Blog

Did you know that during times of recession the % of obese people in the population increases?  Current statistics indicate that 34% of the US population is considered obese, 33% is considered overweight based on BMI measurements.  During times of recession people tend to eat cheaper food.  Probably why Whole Foods and Draeger’s are taking a hit now.  McDonald’s now offers a $1 menu where everything on the menu is just $1.  For $3 you can get fries, a burger, and a soda.  Today I heard someone say “He bought sneakers for $80, I bought sneakers for $40.  Man, he wasted 40 burgers!”  Who knew that McDonald’s burgers are now currency?

I personally have always had issues with weight my entire life.  I have to go through an  unsustainable workout schedule and eat 1400 calories of low-fat food per day to maintain my ideal size.  My struggle has made me very interested in understanding how the human body interacts with food and vitamins.

Many years ago I went to a nutritionist to learn about eating better.  I learned a lot in just one $150 session.  In this economy, people still need nutrition info but who can afford the $150/hr?  And thus my new personal project is born…

I intend to become certified as a nutritionist and start up a website offering nutrition info to those who need it.  I’ll be new at it, but I’m hoping that I can help some people.  It may take me up to a year to get the nutritionist certificate and set up the website.  After I get some experience, I’d like to volunteer at a high school and work with overweight teenagers to try and help get them healthy.  It’s never too early to start good eating habits!

I’ve been thwarted!  I tried to buy the 3G iPhone and it just wasn’t meant to be.  The guy at one Apple store lied to me and the other Apple store had a problem opening my account because of the fraud protection notice I filed with the credit bureaus.  So I didn’t get the phone.  Now I’m glad I waited since Palm has announced their Pre launching sometime within the first two quarters in 2009!  YAY!  I knew I wasn’t meant to have an iPhone. 

I am in retail withdrawal. I really need to upgrade my laptop or buy something fun, but I can’t find anything to buy!  Seth and I went to the Verizon store today and I didn’t even find a phone I liked.  Seth said “the world just isn’t ready for you”.  I’d like to move to Mars then - maybe then there would be some cool gadget to get!  There is a new Nokia phone coming out in July 2009, but I want something now!  I might have to break down and get the 3G iPhone.  Russ showed me all the features and it’s pretty slick.  I’ve just been holding off since I’m not really an Apple person except for the iPods.  I have a MacBook but I only use it for browser testing.  It crashed on me about a year ago and I had to re-install it.  I wasn’t happy about that.  Anytime I’ve had to reinstall a PC I’ve always managed to save the data.  But according to the Mac geeks and the blogs and forums, there was no saving my MacBook based on the error I received.  Boo.  I’m going to investigate how much it will cost to cancel my Verizon contract and go from there.  I’ve been a Verizon customer since college - 1988 - that’s a lot of $$ they’ve received from me!

I am woefully behind in blogging!  Lemme see what’s happened since September…  I’ve finished my Christmas shopping and I’m getting ready to wrap everything and start mailing the gifts out.  Yesterday was Thanksgiving and we ate two dinners - one at Phil’s the other at my brother’s place.  We played mah jong and I won $11 after two full rounds.  My second fish died so now all I have left is Piper. But I’m convinced that Piper is a boy as the fish is pretty and big and eats all the food.  The other two were much smaller.  Seth traveled a lot the month of November for work.  He also started playing ice hockey with his friends in a league.  He’s also signed up for the SF Kaiser Half-Marathon in February.  I will eagerly watch from the sidelines.  The puppies are good!  Casper keeps on growing little bumps on his skin but I’ve had 2 of them checked out and have been told that they are benign, so I guess he is ok.  Moobo still has lots of energy.  The two of them do circles around the living room.

I’m heading downstairs to make paw prints of the puppies!  Seth is playing LAN games with his friends.  I’m going to put on pajamas, make paw prints, put in a movie and get to wrapping presents.  Yippee!!

I hadn’t been back to Montreal since I was a little girl, so it was super fun to go with Seth and our friends Takane, Barry & Mika!  We also signed up for the half-marathon “Marathon Oasis de Montréal” during our trip.  We figured it would be a great way to see the city and do a race!

Seth and I were in Taiwan the week before (pics coming soon), and unfortunately I sprained my ankle while we were on a tour.  When we got home the doctor prescribed a huge walking boot and she told me I could do a 10k so long as I wore this snowboard boot size monster on my foot!  OK - cool!  I didn’t want to cop out since Takane was doing the race so I was excited that I got the go ahead to do the 10k.  I tried hard to recover during the in-between week, but sprained ankles seem to take a long time to heal - especially at my age!  So I took my boot to Montreal but eventually decided to just wear the brace for the race.  It would take me 8 hours to do a 10k with that dumb boot!  I was excited because we finished the 10k just in time to get set up to take pics of Takane! 

Takane had been training hard for her first Half too.  When I saw her I thought “Dang!  She looks great!”  She’s totally lean and skinny and elite runner-ish!!  She was planning on running the whole half-marathon so she did serious training.  I always intended to walk, and after the sprain I definitely had to walk.  Seth was nice and did the 10k with me and walked too.  It was an icky cold rainy day - but it was still a fun event! Mika even participated in Le Petit Marathon - 1k! Barry ran with her and so they both received participant T-shirts and medals too!

We ate well!  Duck in a Can and croissants…  The hotel had a great breakfast every morning so we chomped down every day!  Ha ha.  (I went on a diet as soon as I got home though… oops)

Here are some pics and a video of Takane almost at the finish.  She said she felt like she was about to throw up, but she looked great! 

» Joanne, Seth & scenery in Montreal
» Takane, Barry & Mika
» Video of Takane (avi, 10mb download)

Today we celebrated the marriage of two good friends - Jahna & Nam!  The nuptials were held at the Hotel De Anza in San Jose, CA under a canopied sky where we didn’t even realize we were in the middle of a huge city.  The ceremony was fun and touching, the food was yummy, the cake was yummier, and the speeches showed just how much Jahna & Nam are loved by all of their family and friends.  The bride & groom’s dance lessons paid off as they glided effortlessly across the floor with grace and rhythm!  Everyone had a fantastic time and we’ve never seen so many people stay on the dance floor, no matter what type of music was playing!  From rock to cha cha to polka to easy - the dance floor stayed hoppin’.  As always, I had a camera stapled to my hand and this time I had reinforcements of Seth’s camera and his Flip video!  Ha ha - gadgets are us!

» View all the wedding pics (Aug 09, 2008)

Videos will be posted shortly!