Call for Volunteers

Hello!
For all you PDX-ers: I'm looking for 25 subjects for my master's thesis research, "Self-efficacy and preferred exercise intensity in sedentary adults." Doesn't that sound exciting?!

You can be in my study if you are:

• Exercising one or fewer days per week regularly (specifically, cardiovascular exercise - so if you're counting walking the dog, to qualify as cardio., your route should be up a nice incline that causes you to pant - like a dog!).
• Male or Female
  
• Age 18+
• Not pregnant or less than 8 weeks postpartum.
• Willing to come to the Portland State U. Ex. Physiology Lab on 2 occasions and exercise on a treadmill for 20 minutes or less, take to short questionnaires, and get body measurements (height/weight/body composition).

My bonus is that you can also request feedback based on your first treadmill workout and body measurements that helps get you motivated to work out more than 1x per week! Sound good?

LotsofTalk

The Light, originally uploaded by apkoski.

So much to say....

Okay gang, expect my posts to be intermittent for a while. I have much 'ado about school and more: it's mid-term week and it's also time to buckle down and do the thesis. "Bear with me," is all I can say. School ends July 20th.

So for now I have a teeny Blog dump and some updates.

First, the results for the Button Contest are in. Thanks all who voted! There were so many great professional ones, even in "The Team" (runners up).

And, people may be talking madly about the revolution my (second) hometown is working on: The Farmer's Market Lifestyle. Now the "buy local" buzz is nothing new, but these folks are doing specifically Farmer's Market local, except for what they can grow themselves or is not offered locally (for example, there is no local toilet paper producer). Ask to join if you're interested - those Iowans are nice folk.


Last weekend Paul & I visited St. Louis to see nearly entirely everyone from 1/2 of my family (my dad's half), Paul's dad and step-mom, and our College friends -- all within <48>

Paul's parents picked us up from the airport and put us up for our first night in town. It was nice to catch up in person instead of on the phone. And the dinners they fix - grilled Ginger-Pork-Kebabs, and grilled potatoes, bacon, and green peppers (I know, sounds weird but they're awesome!).

Our friends are expecting twins any day now - she's on house arrest with a 2-year old. Can you imagine (OK, so some of you can)? Crazy that "we" used to start drinking at noon, ride bikes drunk, and slide down wooden stairs together for fun.

We were actually in town for a less-than-joyous occasion, my Grandma V's memorial. It was very nice to hear how others remember her. I hadn't known she had taught other grandchildren to crochet, and that she stored fabric scraps under her bed! I think everybody but a few family members were able to come. The last time we were all gathered at my uncle's house like last weekend was in 1985, for my cousin's wedding. They are both fond memories now. :)

-A

I'm In!

...at least that's what they say. Recognize the design? See my exciting button design contest acceptance e-mail below:

Hey,
One of your designs was selected!
It was hard choosing the top 100 or so out of 235 designs, but it is
up and ready to vote.

Tell all your friends:
http://www.busybeaver.net/soandso

Top 20 most voted for buttons will get into the machine and get 200
buttons of their design.

Best wishes and there's no "I" in team or in losers, either!

Thanks for your submission.

Busy Beaver

So Go Rock The Vote!

Between Then and Now

Rec'd, originally uploaded by apkoski.

I tell you what, I've already had my Friday the Thirteenth. Since my last post (04.09), I've experienced a series of trying events. Light peeped through at various times, such as Monday afternoon, when a little package containing vintage buttons (pictured above) from my Vintage Buttons Swap partner arrived. She also fashioned a little felt envelope - just for me! Check out her Etsy shop.
Also, I got a great workout from a friend on Wednesday, with whom I'm swapping personal training sessions - me first, then her, post-baby. Also on Thursday, some of us BBC instructors got together for a brainstorming session. If you're reading this as a participant, all I can say is get ready for some new & creative kinds of hurt!
I also got in a little a visit here and a little coffee talk there, and my usual PSU school. Not a bad week, you say?

Okay. Here's the rest:
Tuesday as I was driving to BBC class, my clutch completely stopped working; got stuck to the floor, namely. So I rolled over to the curb, grabbed my backpack and ran the 2-ish miles to class (wasn't late, whew!). After a class filled with much toddler concern over my 'broken' car, and several ride home offers (which I accepted), I called and got the tow truck and the garage arranged.
Now, I guess tow truck guys expect the driver to call immediately after a breakdown occurs, and then wait (and wait, and wait), and swoon when they finally come to our rescue. So, when the dispatcher called and said, "he's there, do you see him?," I had to defend myself. "The other dispatcher said he wouldn't be there for another half hour, which is why I'm not there yet." Miffed, he was (how dare I make them wait).

My plan was to ride my bike the 2.5 miles back to my car so I could give the guy the keys. I hadn't left yet when they called because I'd run into a problem: my tire pump was in our trunk. After banging on my neighbor's door and then remembering that it's probably the middle of the night for him, I recalled that I had CO2 cartridge 'air.' I squirted some into each tire, eyeballing the pressure, and set out.
Who knew along the way that my phone would be getting automated tow truck ETA reminders every 15-minutes (despite knowing that the guy's already there)? And then, picture this:

As I ride through the Foster/Powell intersections, an woman tears by me and then makes a right turn. I half T-bone her, half slam the brakes hard enough to fly over the handlebars. She's going so fast that by the time I actually hit her, I get her bumper instead of the side doors. I hit her, as I'm flying, and then hit the deck. Great. There goes my city cycling confidence. I actually came out with no road rash & no damage to my bike. I had a nice conversation with the crying driver, who "Totally didn't see" me. I reminded her that she's lucky that I'm not a bitch, seriously injured, or one of those people who sues over just about anything.
So then I continue on to the (totally bummed out) tow truck driver. I say hello and apologize for being late, and get a grunt & no eye contact in return. Okay, let's up the ante.
"I would have been here sooner but I got into an accident." Another grunt, followed by a poor attempt at summoning mild concern.
"Oh, really?"
Nevermind.
I handed him the key and went home. I posed the rest of the week's travels as a challenge to find alternate modes of transportation. I walked, jogged, bicycled, and Trimetted. Yay for me. Now somebody buy me a drink. It's Friday the Thirteenth!

-A

Oh, and we could have bought flatware service for 72 with our repair bill, so I'm sorry to say that we'll all have to keep holding our breath on that big decision.

Woo-Hoo!

A new ironing board!

No more breaking my back over this abomination - the "inch" squares aren't really 1", the middle is all ripply, and it's just too smushy all together. I love my new (gulp, $80) ironing board!


And we're still working on the flatware. We realized that (1) much of it looks the same, and (2) there aren't that many "service for 12" in the stores. Online shopping, baby. This was a helpful online resource.
-A

Is It Summer?

This totally makes me think of summer. (If you want more, you can stream the entire album here.)

And this does too, which we did this evening... plus fresh corn on the cob (silks were still yellow). Where was the ice cream truck?
Oh yeah, the 80-degree weather yesterday and the "humid," balmy air today also made it seem like summer. Nice tease, anyway.

Thanks a bunch to everyone's flatware finding suggestions. Tomorrow evening we'll give you an update - oh boy ;)

Happy Easter e'body.

-A

High Class

Hey, want to play?
You, yes YOU have the opportunity to be involved in making a decision that will affect Paul & I for a long time. Maybe like, more than 10 years. Here we go. Your are gonna be SO excited:

In a drawer in our kitchen, Paul & I have 4 of each of the following: floppy forks, C-shaped spoons, and mediocre butter knives. We asked for 'flatware' on our wedding registry, but alas, 6.5 years later, we're still using the (ahem, sorry P) crap that Paul had in college. Every time we have more than 2 guests over, one of us is relegated to the puny salad fork (maybe the key to the next dieting revolution?).
So... we're making a trip to the local affordable flatware store this weekend to get some. Finally. So the big question is,

"Which set should we get?"

Also, service for 8 or service for 12? We're not wild socialites, but I don't want regrets.

For matching info, I should mention that we're growing weary of our chipped/nicked/cracked china (they're Pier 1, yellow with blue flowers or something), and are looking toward getting a set of pure white, not fancy, maybe a circle, maybe square.

Happy shopping,
-A