Category Archives: Health and Fitness

Welcome to the Gun Show

Posted on by

Jenny is once again a gym member. She wants to get in better shape, and we decided that joining a gym would be worth it for her. She went gym shopping on Tuesday looking for a comfortable gym that offered good childcare, good class selection, and a reasonable prices. Here’s what she learned from the three gyms she visited in the Euless/Colleyville area:

24 Hour Fitness

Pros: Cheapest of the three by far, childcare included with a fun-looking kids’ area, great staff.
Cons: Equipment needed updating, comparatively small, class selection is limited so classes are generally very full, no kids in the pool, very much a traditional gym with lots of muscle-bound people and aggressive personal trainers
Overall: OK if no other options, but not really what Jenny was looking for

LA Fitness

Bonus Fact: We belonged to LA Fitness for about a year when we lived in Fort Worth and really liked it.

Pros: Very nice facility, 5 minutes from our house, good class selection, nice childcare workers, few kids
Cons: No kids in the pool, childcare very expensive, kids’ area pretty small
Overall: Better for us than 24 Hour, but hard to swallow the expensive childcare

Life Time Fitness

Pros: Facility is gorgeous and huge, great class selection, indoor AND outdoor pools with waterslides, kids are allowed in pools, great childcare at little extra cost, very family-oriented, free swim lessons for kids, some friends work out there
Cons: Most expensive of the three, much more than we’d originally planned on paying
Overall: She went with Life Time. It had so much to offer that Jenny thinks she will be motivated to go several times a week, including right after dropping Brenden off at preschool twice a week this fall. The boys will be able to swim year-round and to learn how for free. Life Time is more of a sports resort than a gym. Since it’s so kid-friendly, we hope that all three of them will have a good time up there, mostly in the morning while I’m asleep.

Snip Snip, aka Shootin’ Blanks

Posted on by

UPDATE: The surgery went well. As promised, it took 5-10 minutes and caused only minor discomfort. I went to work as planned without taking anything stronger than ibuprofen for pain. In the interest of taste, I’ll spare you the other details, but I’ll tell you all you want to know if you’re really interested. Thank for for your interest in my reproductive health. =)

PS…United HealthCare denied my request for a consolation iPad, so I picked up a vanilla milkshake instead. It was quite tasty.

=============================================

With January’s addition of Jonathan to our family, we now have a 1:1 ratio of parents to children. We like that ratio. It divides perfectly. It’s population-neutral in that each parent produces a single offspring. We can play Spades or doubles tennis together. Once the boys get older, we’ll be able to ride most roller coasters without making someone ride solo or (EEEEK!) with a stranger. We can all barely fit in the Turbo Mini that Jenny wants to get someday.

You know where I’m going with this: it’s time to shut down the Box baby production line. I know some of you are disappointed. After all, our boys are awfully cute. But we’re very happy with two.

The most important part of the line (Jenny) actually ceased operations in January during her c-section for Jonathan. Since strange things happen sometimes, I’m going to get fixed as well. If we ever get pregnant again, it will truly be a miracle! (yes, it has happened before – that’s how a friend of ours got here, but that’s another story) As a side note, ever wonder why they call it “getting fixed”, as if fertile = broken?

Today is the day, this afternoon to be specific. My urologist is Richard Beven-Thomas in Arlington. Why him? He offers a special type of vasectomy that uses no needles and no scalpel. Given the sensitivity of the target area, I liked the sound of this technique. A lot. He’s very smart and experienced. He also considers “balls” a legitimate medical term. Did I mention he doesn’t use a needle or a scalpel?

No-Needle, No-Scalpel Vasectomy

YouTube posts several videos of the procedure in case you’re really curious, but I doubt you are. =)

My mom told me that another country had trouble getting its men to get vasectomies at one time. Then they started passing out free radios with each procedure, and demand skyrocketed. Suddenly the guys walking around with radios were the most popular guys in town! Hmm… I propose that on the way out the door, each man who gets a vasectomy should get a free iPad. Are you listening, United HealthCare? For a deal like that, I’ll take two.

The doctor says the procedure and recovery should be fairly easy. I can drive myself home and need only Advil for pain. Famous last words? We’ll see. I’m scheduled to work Monday night thanks to a possibly foolish shift trade. If I have to call in sick, I hope to get a male superintendent instead of our lone female one. I don’t want to explain to Emily that I can’t work tonight because my crotch hurts.

Rehab Progress

Posted on by

UPDATE: 1.5 miles on Thursday with mostly running and some walking. Minor pain at first but none by the end. I probably could have gone a while longer, but I didn’t want to push it too hard. I got a new pair of Brooks Adrenaline running shoes and tried them out. So far I really like them. They are very comfortable, not super expensive (for running shoes, at least), and look good.

Optimistic after this week’s progress, I signed up for the Skinnydipper Sun Run 5k in Decatur toward the end of this month. Want to run with me? Sign up via the link on the race website! I would LOVE to have someone to run with.

=================

Yesterday I gingerly went out for a 1-mile walk/run, as I do about once a week just to see what happens. For the first time in a few years, by the end of my planned distance, I was not in pain. I wanted to shout for joy, but I was in my neighborhood and didn’t want to scare anyone.

I’ve had three physical therapy sessions at Restoration Physical Therapy in Grapevine. Their approach is different from the one used by my previous physical therapist. They are focusing on different muscles and using a technique called positional release, which seems to be somewhere in between massage and chiropractic. I can’t really explain how it works, but it “magically” loosens up tight muscles and connective tissue. They are working on my right hip and lower back in person, and I’m strengthening some weak muscles in my hip on my own.

After my run yesterday, I went in for my orthotic fitting. Expecting to dip my feet in plaster, I was surprised when Dr. Crane pulled out some special fiberglass socks instead. After wetting them and putting them on my feet, she waited a few minutes as they heated up and hardened to create a lightweight, flexible mold of my feet. She’ll ship them off to a lab in California for analysis. In a few weeks, I should have my orthotics. Today I get to go shopping for some new shoes. Things are looking up for my leg!

Birth Control Poll and V-Day

Posted on by

I hope you enjoyed my birth control poll. Thank you for all the responses. We had quite a wide variety, including some surprises. I wish all of you success in your reproductive endeavors, whether you’re trying to create babies or not.

The topic is on my mind these days as the birth of our second son approaches (four weeks from today). Two children seems like a good number to us. We’ll take up exactly two rows on most roller coasters, fit easily into any four-door car, maintain a one-to-one ratio of parents to children, have tons of fun, have time to be heavily involved with both of them, and (we hope) be able to help both boys with cars and college when they get older. Plus, after the difficulties of this pregnancy, we don’t want to go through it again. If we ever change our minds and want to add to our family again, we will adopt instead.

Our family-size decision leads us to another one: permanent birth control. It’s time for me to start thinking about the old snip-snip. I’ve done some research and watched some videos, and the procedure seems to be highly routine and very effective with only minor discomfort. Sitcoms like to joke about how the very idea scares most men, making them feel less adequate somehow. Maybe it’s just the target area for the surgery that makes them squirm. Perhaps I’m weird, (OK, I know I’m weird!) but it doesn’t really bother me. Right now we’re planning on scheduling V-Day for sometime in the spring. Sorry if that’s TMI, but if you’re a regular here, you’re probably used to it by now. =)

The Scoop on Chipotle

Posted on by

I love me some Chipotle. I would probably eat there every week if Jenny would tolerate it. Supposedly Freebirds makes a mean burrito as well, an even bigger one, but I haven’t been there yet. I like Chipotle because they make good, inexpensive food and try to be environmentally responsible by using locally grown produce and less-tampered-with meat.

After polishing off a particularly huge burrito Thursday night (got a coupon in the mail for a free burrito – SWEET!), I decided to look up the nutritional content. It takes a little work since you have to add up each ingredient. My typical burrito adds up to about 900 calories. Yikes! Then I always get chips that I sort of split with Jenny. A full bag is 570 calories. During non-Lent I add a Coke. So we’re looking at potentially 1600-1700 calories in one meal, a meal that seems to be fairly healthy. After all, it does have grilled chicken and black beans! Hmm…maybe I should start skipping those chips. ‘Cause you know I’m not skipping the burrito.