Ice Water

June 23, 2010

It has been a while since I've posted anything from a work trip. After the last couple of parks we collected we (our program) decided that the cameras we have in our new truck do not let in enough light for the areas we collect. When we collected Redwood National Park the video images turned out pretty dark :(. Not good news. So we decided to get new cameras put into the truck. The process has taken some time but testing is currently going on with new equipment so I hope to be back on the road in a week or two.

I have to post a little blurb from this article I was reading.
http://www.beachbody.com/product/newsletters/nl_413.do

Ice water. Almost every nutritionist will recommend drinking eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day, but did you know that if you drink ice water versus room-temperature water, your body will burn an extra 9 calories per glass? Drinking room-temperature water can burn about 16 calories per glass—that's 25 calories per glass for ice water. So, eight glasses of cool water a day can be responsible for burning 200 calories! Plus, water is necessary for all of your bodily processes, including the ones that control your metabolism. If you're underhydrated, your body will underperform. Water also flushes out fat deposits and toxins, which can hamper your energy.

Can you believe it! I never would have imagined that it would matter if you drank ice water or room temperature water.

I was at the grocery store the other day and garlic was on my list. This is what i found...garlic with a purple outside. Yes, I double checked the label and it said garlic. I had to make sure it wasn't a shallot (small type of onion). It kind of looks of like garlic but Colorado garlic is not purple...weird. Must be an East Coast thing.Oh, and just thought I'd mention that it was 80% humidity here yesterday!

Apartment Organizing

June 20, 2010

Today was another day filled with unpacking and organizing. It is not easy going from a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom condo to a 1.5 bedroom and 1 bath apartment. Things are coming along and I posted a couple of photos but I'm still too embarassed to post more photos. I'm just not sure what I'm going to do with a few remaining boxes. My bedroom still need some work before I can post a photo :).

A Week In Virginia

June 19, 2010

I have been in Virginia for about a week now. Things are going pretty good here. I can say it is really, really hot and humid. I haven't gotten out much after work. I've been working on getting my apartment in order. I feel like I've done a lot but am still way to embarrassed to post any photos of it. It is pretty full of boxes. I hope after this weekend it will look better and I can post some decent photos. I am posting some photos of the outside though. One photo is the front of my building the other is the view from my small deck and the other is of a bird that was chirping away in a tree by my deck.

I have made the typical trip to Wal-mart and the grocery store. I am surprised that I'm having problem finding what I want. Like vitamin water in a 4 pack. I did find it at on grocery store but it was vitamin water zero...I'm looking for the real thing. I haven't found it yet. I have also had two massages while I've been here. The 2nd one was better than the first but I'm still looking for the perfect massage therapist. I think I left her in Denver but there has to be one out here!

Travel Day #4 - Arrival Day

June 11, 2010
Today started out in Ohio. We drove through OH, PA, WV, MD and finally VA! It was a long day but yesterday was defiantly longer. It was good to finally make it to Virginia. We went to the condo I was going to buy...yep, going to. It was OK and lets say I half like it. It was a flip but they took some some short cuts I was not fond of. There was also something in the air that made my dad and I a bit dizzy. It also needs a new furnace/AC, new windows and a new water heater. I decided with all I have going on with my health and with traveling for work that fixing up another place probably wasn't a good idea for me right now. I decided to rent so I have NO maintenance worries and the place I'm renting at is really, really great. I wish I could buy that place! It is right across the street from work so I can save $ on gas and just walk. More later....

Travel Day #3

June 10, 2010

Another LONG day in the car. My dad and I drove from Rochester, MN to New Paris, OH. It is about an hour west of Dayton, OH. I took a couple of quick photos of downtown Indianapolis while we were stuck in some evening rush hour traffic. We have about another 9 hours of driving to do before we make it to our Virginia destination.

Heading East

June 8, 2010

Today was a long 10 hour day in the car. It was mostly uneventful, which is always good. I got up at 5:30am central time / 4:30am MTN time! Even with the early wake-up we still didn't hit the road until 7:00am. It was cloudy most of the day with a few random rain showers in NE, IA and MN. We almost had a run in with 2 deer that were running across the interstate and made it to the median but luckily once they were in the median they decided to run parallel with the car rather than run across the road. A near miss! We saw several wind turbine blades being hauled on the interstate. There are a lot of wind farms in IA! I also saw a pretty big convoy of military fuel trucks. It was neat to see. I couldn't snap a photo because I was driving when we passed the convoy. We made it "home" to Rochester around 5:00pm . I'm taking a break from driving tomorrow to visit family for the day but Thursday and Friday will be big driving days again. I hope to be in VA by Friday night.

Moving Day

June 7, 2010

The day has finally arrived! Lots of phone calls and planning have finally paid off and things are falling into place. Most things are falling into place at the last minute but I'm learning that that is just how things work. The moving truck showed up at 8:30am and they looked at my stuff and said "oh, this should go pretty quick." Four hours later they finally finished. I had a feeling it would take them a bit longer than a couple of hours. I have lots of stuff! I had to do some quick errands while the movers were at my house with my dad and when I got back one of the movers said "what do you have rocks in some of those boxes." I just looked at him and started laughing. I said "sorry, but yes they are really rocks." I've moved them many times myself so I know his pain but he is getting paid to move them and I did tell him "thank you for moving my rocks." What can I say...I'm a rockhound at heart. I just can't part with them...they do look pretty on my shelves. The movers left around 1:00 in the afternoon. My dad and I did some last minute cleaning and packing of my car and we were on the road around 3:00pm. We drove to North Platte, NE where some friends were kind enough to take us in for the night. Thanks a bunch to Jim and Irma!