White Juan's Distant Cousin

So apparently New England has been in a "State of Emergency" for the past 24+ hours due to the "fiercest blizzard since the winter of '78". Or so I hear anyway. Any of you readers who were with me back in Hali in the winter of '04 know this thing folks are calling "Nemo" is nothing more than a pussy storm...White Juan's Distant Cousin if you will. Isn't Nemo some cute little Disney character fish? Enough said.

Due to the American media's ridiculously overblown coverage of this storm, pretty much every business in the area shut down, including my beloved World's Gym! In the past, World's has stayed open during pretty much every storm I can recall but not this time. I worked from home yesterday since even though there wasn't a ton of snow accumulation at the time, I knew by the end of the day it would at least be above my Z4's barely-there clearance so it was best to stay home and avoid getting stuck in a nasty traffic jam in SoPo at 5:00 pm. Seeing as I am a badly addicted Facebook feed-checker even during work hours, I noticed around 10:00 am that World's had posted that they would be closing at noon. Now, maybe it's just me but wouldn't it make more sense to close at say 1:00 or so so that folks could get in their workout during their lunch breaks? Anyway, in a frantic tizzy I convinced someone to give me a ride at 11:00 so at least I could get in a quickie weight sesh but then I realized moments later that some dumb ass coworker has scheduled a conference call at 11:00. Now, knowing that there was a good chance it would get cancelled (all other calls that morning had) I sent out an e-mail to all parties asking if everyone was planning on going or if I should reschedule ahead of time. Of course no one responded so I had no choice but to turn down my offer of a gym ride. Fast forward to 11:10 and guess what? The meeting was cancelled! Can you sense my frustration? Although I did get in the usual dog walks and a short weight-free maXtreme workout, basically my Friday was a total chump day.

All of you loyal readers know that Saturdays are my absolute favorite workout days however I awoke this morning unsure of what the day would bring activity-wise. Peaking out my bedroom window I could see my car was not buried so that was a good start. I ventured downstairs to make breakfast and let Mugsy out but when I opened the door and felt resistance on the other side I knew it was not a good sign. Good thing I had taken my shovel out the night before! The wind was howling and for some reason had decided to blow all of the snow up against my front entrance. Yay. Poor Mugsy didn't want to take one step forward but I knew I had to clear a path so he could do his business so onward we pushed. Luckily it was light, fluffy snow that cleaned up easily but Mugsy was not a fan...

"Mommy please, I'd rather hold it all day than be subjected to this white hell."

After a hearty breakfast I decided to make the most of my day and checked several to-do's off of my procrastination list. I did my laundry, ran the dishwasher, washed my sheets, vacuumed, dusted (which hadn't been done in waaaaaaaaay too long!), and last but definitely not least I finished up the final essay section of my ISSA CFT exam and hit submit! I absolutely hate exams, even open book ones, as I always get massive mind block, over-think everything, and assume every question is a trick question. Seriously, I don't want to even think about the number of times in school when I would go into a midterm or final exam with excellent grades and come out barely passing. However, I just prayed for the best as there was nothing I could at that point. A message came up notifying me that it would take them 3 business days to get the results back to me so I took a deep breath and pushed it to the back of my mind. In the meantime, World's posted that they would be opening at 1:00 today and a fellow competitor who thankfully understands the "TNDO" attitude offered to pick me up on his way in. Sigh of relief! As I was waiting for him to show up, I checked my Gmail account and...

I passed! I passed! I passed! One more thing on my 2013 goal list checked off! I guess those 3 days are the maximum amount of time it takes them to get back to you. Further down the e-mail it went into more detail about each section and said I got a 91%! I'll never know what the 9% I got wrong was but I'll chalk it up to trick questions ;)

I was so happy when I finally got to the gym again. Home sweet home. I began today's workout with 30 mins of running intervals and then did a back & bi's weight sesh. I am already feeling it in my biceps and between the shoveling I did this morning and the back exercises I'd be surprised if I didn't have a sore back tomorrow. Feel like I'm back in the game! Prior to hitting up the gym the plow trucks had finally come through my neighborhood. I was able to free-up my car pretty easily so I plan to get up bright and early and hit up World's again for a legs and core sesh. Last time I did this particular legs workout I was hobbling for days so I can't wait to get after it! Now I'm sitting on my usual spot on the coach having just eaten a delicious and perfectly proportioned steak dinner :)

6 oz steak tips, 1 cup asparagus sauteed w/EVOO & garlic, 1/4 cup sweet potato

I think I'm starting to get used to the latest nutrition cut. Today was the first day ever that I came in at precisely the amount of servings in all food groups. Usually I at least go overboard on the veggies but I don't feel too guilty about that! I think I'll go make a nice hot cup of Tazo Calm tea, turn on the TV, and veg-out for the rest of the night. I hope all of you survived this "record storm" and at least got in some good shoveling today. Happy Gymming!