Monthly Archives: April 2012

Apr 27 2012
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Experiences

I Believe I Can Fly!

Late last February, my friends Brian and Martie presented me an offer I couldn’t refuse.  No, I’m not in the Mafia now, but I am going to jump out of a perfectly good airplane!

A little back story.  Brian was a Type 1 Diabetic for 38 years and was in desperate need of a new pancreas and kidney.  Two years ago he got the call that donor organs were available.  Through the tragedy of death, two lives were saved when the donor’s family gave Brian a kidney and pancreas and another recipient the other kidney.

Brian is an avid skydiver, so the surgery derailed his jumps for a little while, but he was back at it just 2 months after his surgery.   He and his wife Martie had invited me on jumps from time to time, but either the funds weren’t there, the timing was off, or I just chickened out.

When they heard about my MS Diagnosis, and saw that skydiving was on The List, they knew the time was right.  Tomorrow is the 2 year anniversary of Brian 2.0, and there is no better way to celebrate than doing what he loves best.

So tomorrow morning, I am going to take the biggest leap of faith and check one more item off the list!  I can’t wait to blog about it later and will have pictures and video.

If anyone wants to join in the festivities, we will be at Skydive The Farm in Rockmart at 9:00 am.  You can hold Matt’s hand for me while I jump.

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Apr 13 2012
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April 12 – Know Your Meme

I’m a little late on the Meme Bandwagon.  I realize I’m hopping on some of these just as the world is getting sick of them, however, I needed to blow off some stress from the job, and thus, the following was created.

 

 

Yes, a good part of the day is spent correcting people on the correct pronunciation of Segway… and answering annoying questions.  Sadly, 90% of my conversations go like this (except for the NSFW part towards the end…  that’s all in my head)

 

http://www.xtranormal.com/xtraplayr/7875787/i-want-to-ride-a-sedgeway

 

Which inspired this.

 

 

And then this.

 

 

Public Service Announcement Here – If you frequently purchase half price coupons from sites like Living Social, Groupon, etc…  Don’t be that guy who waits until the day before it expires to try and redeem it – especially when it is for a service like a tour with limited availability.  Just don’t.

Well, now that that is off my chest, we are off to make a “Shit Segway Tour Guides Say” video…

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Apr 12 2012
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Experiences

April 11 – Off The Beaten Path

In high school, just after we got our driver’s licenses, my friends and I often liked to just get in the car and drive until we got lost.  This made for some very interesting adventures in South Atlanta, which is probably where some nice, young, Catholic girls didn’t want to be in 1990 (before the 1996 Olympics spruced everything up).

Fast forward 20 years, and with the 259 map and navigator apps available on my iPhone, not too many chances to get lost any more.

This day, however, there was horrifying traffic on I-20, and Siri refused to give me any directions that didn’t somehow involve the interstate, so I decided to take some back roads on the way home and rely purely on instinct.

What a great adventure!  I weaved my way through East Atlanta which is now where I want to live.  Similar to Little Five Points, but with less chances of tripping over a homeless person.  It reminded me more of the Village in NYC.

I wasn’t too lost, because Matt and I had come here before to Trader’s where we bought an awesome leather ottoman.  As I drove past all the shops and restaurants, though, I thought, “Why haven’t we come back?”

I guess I’ll have to remedy that soon!

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Apr 10 2012
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Experiences, Goals, Uncategorized

April 5th – 10th: Just Be Nice

I know, I know, I said I would post everyday on my new experiences…  One of the groovy highlights of MS is it’s unpredictability, and I have been struggling the last week with fatigue and nausea.  Pity party for one, over here…  but I have been trying to keep up my resolve to try something new everyday!!

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There are very few things about my old Kia Sportage that I miss.  It was the first car I bought with my own money, but it had problems from day one and spent more time in the shop than in my driveway.  I finally got rid of it when it threw a rod and punched a hole through my oil pan.  I donated it to charity, thinking it would be sold for scrap, but low and behold I actually saw it on the road a few days ago (or at least its bumper).  How did I recognize it?  Well on the bumper was a City Segway Tours bumper sticker and my favorite bumper sticker ever – a simple request:  Just Be Nice.

I miss that bumper sticker.  My car now is geeked out with my NASA and Think Geek’s Timmy bumper stickers.  But it was the Just Be Nice sticker (and my good buddy Wil Wheaton’s personal motto) that inspired this New Thing.

I’m not (I’m pretty sure) a mean person, but I know from time to time I can be a little distant or formal with folks, especially strangers.  I thought I’d try and change that.  So for the past few days, every person that I interacted with, I made a conscious effort to extend a compliment to them.  Strangers on the elevator were complimented on their shoes or purse; co-workers got a sincere thank for their hard work or some positive feedback passed along from customers; tenants in my building were praised on their dogs.  And something wonderful happened.  That person seemed, if for only a brief second, connected with me and I could feel the pride and happiness coming off of them.  It made me feel happy to have brought a little bit of sunshine in their life.

Try it yourself sometime.  I promise it will make the day a happy one.

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Apr 06 2012
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Goals

April 4, Run Kristie, Run!

Anyone who knows me knows I’m often heard saying, “I only run when my life is in danger…  and even then, I weigh my odds.” I am not a fan of running.  My body does not like it, and I have never felt that runners “high” everyone talks about – all I feel is stabbing pain and hatred.

But I have realized that my exercise regiment has gotten stuck in a rut lately, and my 20 minute elliptical routine barely even breaks a sweat now.

So yesterday I downloaded the “Get Running” app on my phone. This is a nifty little Couch to 5K app that eases you into a routine by alternating walking and running.  The first session was 5 minutes warming up and then 8 intervals of running for one minute and walking for a minute and a half, then ending with a 5 minute cool down walk.  Because the elliptical machine is kinder on my joints, I decided to do the intervals on the machine.

Wow.  Butt. Kicked.  It is definitely a challenge to really burst into a fast stride and maintain it for a minute.  The minute and a half walking intervals seemed really short, and I almost gave up halfway.

Then I thought to myself, “Self.  If you can just get to the end of this session, think of how pleased you will be with yourself.” So I soldiered through to the end and finished a sweaty, happy mess.  The only drawback was, it got me late on my day, so when I do this in my next morning session, I need to hit the snooze one less time.

No, I realize this doesn’t quite make me a runner – but it’s a start!

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Apr 04 2012
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Goals

April 3 – It’s Pretty Easy Being Green

My husband has been on a wheatgrass kick for about a year and had been hounding me to try it.  After my MS diagnosis, he was adamant that I start the day off with 2 ounces of wheatgrass.  I’ll be honest, I was not a fan at first.  It took many tries, many brands and many different ways to deliver it to my body before we settled on the least icky option.

We came across the company Dynamic Greens who allows you to order packs of flash-frozen wheatgrass cubes in bulk.  You melt the cubes in some water and sip it down.  The taste is like a very weak iced tea (as opposed to the really nasty grassy taste of other brands and fresh pressed wheatgrass from a juice bar).

After a few months of morning consumption, yesterday I decided for my “New Thing” I’d bring some juice to work with me to drink before my lunch.

Despite some sideways looks at me as I drank my dark green juice, it was great.  I had really good energy through the rest of the day and wasn’t starving by the time I got home.

Chalk this one up as another thing I think I’ll keep doing!

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Apr 03 2012
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Goals

April 2 – Napping…

One of my earliest school memories was my preschool teacher complaining to my mother that I would not take a nap.  All this poor woman wanted was one hour of escape from 4 year old screams and cries – but I wouldn’t give it to her.  I would lie on my mat and talk, or sing, or sneak a book to read.  Why would I waste an hour of my day sleeping when there were so many more fun things to do?

Fast forward 30 some odd years, throw in a chronic illness and a hectic job and you have yourself a woman craving just 15 minutes where she could lay her head on her desk.

Unfortunately, my job does make it difficult to take a catnap midday. There is always someone calling, coming to the door or a tour out that needs some help.  However, I could feel my health suffering because of my fatigue.  I needed to find at least 20 minutes to carve out of my day to just unplug.

So yesterday, I did it!  My first midday nap while at work!  I know it seems simple, but it really did make all the difference.  I locked the door, put a sign out that said “Will return in 15 minutes”, turned off the ringer on the phone and let my guides know to call my cell if there was an emergency.  Then I stretched out on a cot in the back and closed my eyes for 15 blissful minutes.  I was helped out by a handy-dandy app on my phone called Power Nap with Andrew Johnson.  He is a hypnotist with a soothing Scottish accent that had me relaxed instantly and let me feel refreshed and energetic the rest of the day (good thing, since my day went to 8 pm!)

This was a “Thing I’ve Never Done” that is sure to turn into a “Thing I’ll Want to Do Everyday” for sure!  Maybe a move to Spain where the whole city shuts down mid-day is in the cards for me…

 

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Apr 02 2012
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Experiences, Goals

April 1st – Two Things I’ve never done…

I am sticking to my promise to do something new everyday in April – as long as I remember to do it!  I almost forgot to do something yesterday, but then realized I had inadvertently done two things I’d never done before!

1.  Record Breaking Day at CST Atlanta

Some of you may know that I run a tour operation of Downtown Atlanta – City Segway Tours Atlanta.  We had a spectacular day yesterday in which we got 115 riders up on Segways in one day! Our previous record was 66 (which we had only hit the day before!)

It was a bit of finagling to break that 100 mark – we only have 30 machines, and factoring in for the guides, the most we could realistically do on traditional tours would be 81 in one day.  We had 102 kids visiting from Minnesota (near and dear to my heart!) so we set up special 1 1/2 hour tours that went back to back.  Then we also had 13 folks on regular tours, so there was a lot of Segway swapping, nail biting, and prayers that all 30 machines would make it through the  day without any dead batteries.  Well, I’m happy to say, it was a success!!

2.  April Foolin’

Every year I try to get my mom on April Fools Day.  Epic “gets” include convincing her I had accidentally flooded my freshman dorm, and one year when I called and told her I had been hit in the face with a hockey puck during an Atlanta Thrashers game.  She has gotten so sly to me, however, that she refuses to believe anything I tell her on April 1 (heaven forbid I actually get into a real scrape!).  I’ve tried getting her a few days later, but she’s on to me.

With the craziness of yesterday – I completely forgot to try something (much to her relief, I’m sure).  I guess that just means I’ll have to come up with something extra special next year!

Now to come up with something I’ve never done before by the end of the day…  🙂

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