Long Time No Post

I would like to thank my blends FV Tom, J-Dub and Havlow for checking up on me. I am fine. I haven't posted in a while for no reason other than I haven't had much to say or report and other things have taken my time. I DO HOWEVER, have a few things on my mind today!

Things have been very quiet at work. I've been bored even, but have successfully been able to act like I'm really, really busy. (don't tell anyone) Its been on my mind to write for my blog at my desk - wow! I'd really look busy then wouldn't I? But still, I just did not have the fire within. Well, this week my manager is in Palm Springs on vacation. So, I can really skive off work! (definition: evade a duty or depart evasively)

So, lots of topics have flitted through my mind in the last week or so but today, we're going to talk about Tracker. Hot topic among us Blends right now. Last week the shit hit the fan again in the Off Topic threads - PG and R-rated categories were created. I have chosen not to view the R-rated thread and I am very comfortable with that. Though I really DO NOT see the necessity to have R-rated category AT ALL! From what I gather having read some of your Blogs is that it pretty much spiraled into complete debauchery. Reminds me of the biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Maybe, as a few of you have suggested, the thread, topics and personalities subscribing to that thread will implode. I just don't get it. I don't see the need for THAT kind of discussion in a Fitness and Health site. WHY don't they just email each other with their lewd conversations? Oh, and I agree with what someone said on Tracker - just because we might say this isn't the place for that [kind of talk] doesn't mean we are prudes! I am a Hell of a lot of fun. Never had any complaints! (You might have seen my number on the wall: 867-5309) But I digress…

Today I see a Poll asking whether all Off Topic Threads should be removed and discontinued - not just the R rated OT thread. This is simply asinine. To paint all Off Topic threads with the same brush as the juvenile sexual banter on the R thread is just wrong. Come on! Captain Kirk would NEVER do that: sacrifice the good of the many for the good of the few.
Now, there are some regular OT stuff that I have no interest in. I just don't read them. I REALLY don't care how your sweetie proposed to you. I don't care about the score in your State's football rivalry. But it is also a place where we can feel a certain safety and freedom to express ourselves and ask questions. But I do think that if you fear you have a hernia or some ailment you should see a doctor - not ask strangers on a website for their thoughts or opinions. JMO. In short, Off Topic threads are not a bad thing and don't need to be banned altogether. However, r-rated topics have no place on a fitness and health related site. Again, JMO.
I want to express my puzzlement that the Webmaster dealt so swiftly and effectively with that hijacker (Butt Conspiracy) on the pooping thread. WM rode that doofus right out of town using every threat he had the power to use; reporting to his employer, threatening to report him to his internet provider etc. Now, how come he didn't do the same for The Magpies? (as I've seen some of you refer to those shit-disturbers as.) Why weren't those posts/threads shut down and locked with the same swiftness? And reprimands handed out? (pointing to the shit that went down in December and last summer) I learned from some of your blogs that the Webmaster has actually participated in these recent R-rated threads, that's why. By participating he is condoning it. I guess it is his site after all. PMO. This does not represent him in a very good light. Jerk. I agree with some observations that someone who really has a problem with a stalker or harasser may not feel that they can go to him and report the problem and trust that it will be dealt with properly. His integrity is questionable.
I'm going to switch gears now, away from the drama above. Tracker is loosing its luster for me. I am likening it to the same way my boyfriend and I have evolved in our fitness knowledge. To very simply illustrate: Shape magazine used to be enough for me. Now I see it as a regular fluffy woman's magazine with some fitness advice and skinny girls demonstrating exercises holding 3 pound weights. They are not the kind of fit body I want. Oxygen filled the gap for while but soon all the articles are the same and it is getting a little fluffy too. Bill's hit the wall similarly with Men's Fitness and their message boards. We evolved to Hussmann's fitness site and Burn The Fat Feed the muscle. Now where do you go from there?
So I'm saying Tracker is loosing its luster for me because I'm tired of seeing the same topics time and again from the newbies. Its tiring to respond with the same answer we did months ago and tiring to read the same answers. I do appreciate those of the long term trackers who do respond very helpfully to the new people. I haven't been one to post much anyway - its fear based. I've mentioned that before on Tracker. Fear that my comments thoughts or opinions will get lambasted or even just ignored. (FYI Peanut butter is more a FAT than a protein! 12g Carb; 14g protein; 72g fat. And beef jerky is not a health food!)
So, how has my fitness been going? I'm no star. I have good days, bad days, good weeks and bad weeks. I just have to do what I always advise - string more good days together than bad days. There was a week I made it to the gym every day. Then the next week I fizzle out going 3 or 4 out of 5 days. I burn out so easily. It is real work dedicating yourself to fitness and healthy eating. I also succumb to that strange phenomenon that Skwigg wrote so well about - self-sabotage. When I start to look good or see a number on the scale its very subliminal, something in me feels fear about looking good. Oh, I don't even want to go there right now. I recorded on Tracker that I reached 133 at one time in this challenge. I know now that it must have been an error on the digital scale. When it reads low like that I get off and then get on again and I get a truer reading. I haven't gotten below 135. Please don't tell me to get rid of the scale. I understand the scale and use it as a tool. I only weigh in once a week on Friday mornings - when I know I've been doing good on the program. I didn't get to the gym at all last week so I'm not going near that scale until I've been in the gym for a week.

These are not my cats. Tiger and Lucy will never been seen like this. But this picture just makes me smile whenever I see it.

It is my desktop wallpaper at work and it is our Theme for the day: Can't we all just get along?