Dominant Eye

Have you ever taken the dominant eye test? Apparently it consists of holding your arm straight out, and covering up a distant object with your thumb. Then you close your eyes one at a time, and see which eye makes the thumb move. The other eye is then your dominant eye.

I think I first heard about this test in high school, but it doesn't work for me. Every time it comes up, I try it, and I get frustrated, and other people get frustrated trying to explain it to me.

When I hold my thumb out at arm's length, and look at distant objects, I do not see one thumb, I see two. Both are transparent, neither of which can actually be said to "cover" that object. I can cover it with my whole hand, my hand's large enough that I get a significant overlap between the two hand images that I see.

Conversely, I can look at my thumb, instead of the distant object. Then I only see one thumb, but see two distant objects. I can cover either one of those up with my thumb, but the other is still out bright and clear.

I looked up other tests for finding the dominant eye. One consists of holding your hands out together, overlapping and leaving a hole between your thumbs and forefingers, then centering the distant object in the hole. Once again, I see two holes. I can look at the object through either hole, but to center it, I'd actually put it behind the fleshy bridge between the holes.

I don't know if I just don't have a dominant eye, or something else weird is going on. But for between 20 and 30 years, I've been trying to do this, and have only gotten frustrated. I don't know why it works for other people, if their mind suppresses the image of one of the thumbs, or what.

We once again had nice weather this weekend, after those cold days we had last week. It looks like that trend is going to continue for a while. It got cold again last night, and is supposed to stay cold these next couple of days, while getting nice again on Saturday and Sunday. At least, though, we stayed in the 30s last night, not those really cold 19° and 14° days we had last week. The wind howling last night, though, made it sound like a lot colder out there than it really was. And when we heard the rain coming down, it didn't really sound like a good thing. Fortunately, the ground was still warm from the nice weekend, so no ice stuck. I think ice storms are probably about the worst thing about Missouri weather.

Remember When? (Computers)

It's funny, looking back at things, how much has changed since I was a kid. The changes seem to happen slowly, until you look back, and realize how much has happened.

When I was younger, computers were just beginning to enter into private houses. We got a Vic20 when I was in high school, and used it to play games and do word-processing and such. The hard drive hadn't been invented yet, so the programs were on cassette tape, and you had to run one every time you turned it on. The screens were monochromatic, green or orange. Orange tended to be easier on the eyes. And the graphics were hardly worth the mention of the name.

When I went to college, the school required me to buy a portable computer (it was a technical/engineering school). It was technically portable, but was about the size of a suitcase, and heavy. The keyboard fastened onto the front of it, for storage and portability. We had moved on from tape to 5" floppies, quite a step up in the world. But still no hard drives, so you had to make sure the right disk was in the drive when you turned it on. And you also had to wait for the message telling you that you could take out the disk, or you'd ruin it.

I don't remember when hard drives came in, but they made life much easier. And then we switched from 5" floppy disks to 3" disks, which weren't really floppy at all. I remember predicting that eventually we'd have computer disks, storage systems the size of credit cards. They would try to go smaller, but then move back up, because too many people would lose the dumb things. Well, you see how well that's turned out. We get a lot of programs on CD/DVD disks, which are stiff, not bendable at all, and probably close to 5" floppies in size, though they hold considerably more. We also have small flash drives, thumb drives, etc., that are much smaller than my thumb, but hold a couple gigs in memory. The amount they hold keep going up, while the prices keep coming down.

And for a lot of things, you don't even need drives. You can pull the information you need right out of the air. That's bizarre, when you really think about it. The air is filled with information, computer wireless, TV, radio, GPS, probably a whole host of other things, that you just need the right equipment to pull out of the air and use.

First cold day of the season

Today's one of the coldest day's we've had so far this season. It was only 19° when we got up this morning, and doesn't really feel much warmer out there now. Plus we got a smattering of snow. It'll probably vanish if we get any sun at all, even as cold as it is, but the sun is hiding today.

Rocky and I took a much shorter walk than usual this morning. I bundled up as much as I could, even wore an extra layer of clothing. Rocky just went as he was. But he probably still was warmer than I was. Though, really, I was bundled up enough that I didn't feel the cold as much as I might have. Other than my head. I couldn't find my hat. I wore my neckwarmer all the way up over the top of my head, which helped keep my ears from freezing, but an extra layer would have helped me feel warmer.

It wouldn't have helped, though, to keep my glasses from freezing to my face. I wore my sunglasses, since even with the sun hiding, the snow made things bright out there. But it wasn't too long into the walk before the bridge of the glasses felt like a bar of ice across the bridge of my nose. Ugh.

Even so, I was considering taking the 1.8 walk we usually did. I didn't really want to, since besides the cold, the snow had turned icy in spots. I was taking things very slow (to Rocky's impatience), since I tended to be afraid that I'd suddenly slip and fall. Since I haven't been able to get our pace even up to 3 miles per hour on good days, we were probably walking less than a mile an hour. Another day or so, even without things warming up, should get rid of most of the ice/snow.

But at one of the first places where we had a choice of a longer/shorter walk, Rocky suddenly started limping, hopping along, not putting one of his feet down on the ground. I let him lie down for a moment, and he cleaned the bottom of his feet, after which he bounded off again. So I decided to take the shorter walk. But still, twice more the dog had to stop and clean his feet with his teeth. Makes me glad I'm not a dog. I wouldn't want to have to chew on gravelly snow/ice. If it weren't for getting ice between his toes, I bet Rocky would have been glad to stay out there even longer, though I think even he was glad to get home and out of the cold for a bit.

Walking on the Ice

Walking on the ice,
Walking in the snow,
Cold, cold, cold,
As on we go.
I'm bundled up
As much as can be,
But I think the dog
Likes it more than me.
We'd like to go faster,
But on ice I'd slip.
He doesn't much care if
Over I'd trip.
He stops twice
To clean his feet,
Or bark at those
Pesky cats we meet.
He doesn't get why
We soon turn around
When he's not done
Sniffing the ground.
My glasses are almost
Froze to my nose,
The dog complains
Of ice in his toes.
But he'd still love
To stand out there,
Sniffing out the scents
In the clean, crisp air.

Joyeous Pome

To the tune of "As with Gladness"

Easter morning rises fair
As the sun now gilds the air.
Glorious the Risen King
To whom the Church will bow and sing.

Holy, Holy, Holy He.
The Blessed One, the Blessed Three.

The Creator of the sun and light,
Maker of all sound and sight
Father God, we praise your name
Ever glorious, all the same.

Holy, Holy, Holy He.
Father of the Trinity.

And the Spirit, God's third part,
Which binds the church from heart to heart.
Comforter, abiding friend,
Intercessor, until the end.

Holy, Holy, Holy He
The holder of infinity.

And the Godhead, Three in One,
Father, Spirit, and the Son.
Worship Them, bow and adore,
Forever, ever, evermore.

Holy, Holy, Holy Three.
Blessed throughout eternity.

Bucket List?

It's funny how certain words and phrases come into vogue, when you've never heard them before, but suddenly everyone is talking about them.

For instance, a couple years ago the musical "Momma Mia" came to Star Light Theater. It was a fun little show, but definitely not the "Feel-good show of the summer" as it was advertised. That title belonged to "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." Any way, there were a couple things about the show that I found annoying in. One was how everyone was really shocked and surprised that the main character was getting married at the absurdly young and unheard of age of 20. Right. The second annoying thing was that they kept talking about how she wanted a "White Wedding." I had never heard that phrase before (and only heard it occasionally since then) and it took me quite a while to realize that it merely meant a big, fancy wedding. At the time, I wondered why on earth they invented a new phrase that no one would understand, rather than simply saying "big, fancy wedding."

The latest phrase that hit me the same way is "Bucket List". It apparently has nothing to do with listing things you need to clean, or a honeydew list, which were my first two guesses, but rather a wish list of things you'd maybe like to do someday. I've heard this multiple times over the last few weeks, in different contexts, folks asking each other what was on their bucket list. I'm not planning on making one. I have no problem with someone talking about having enough spoons, but at the present, the phrase "bucket list" goes down my spine like nails on a chalk board.

Rocky vs. Santa

When Rocky and I go on our long walks in the mornings, we tend to go the same route, but I sometimes vary it, especially if I got us walking late that morning. Not Rocky's fault, of course, he keeps telling me that we need to get going from about half an hour before we normally get ready to go. Apparently when Jonathan and the kids get ready to go, it somehow means that he needs to go, too. Even though he knows we don't start getting ready to leave until after the boy goes.

While we were going out before Christmas, there were lots of houses decorated for Christmas. For the most part Rocky ignored the decorations, I don't think he gave much signs that he even saw them. There were lots of houses that had half-sized Santas, Mrs. Clauses, and elves on the lawn, lots of houses with half-sized Nativity scenes. He didn't turn an eye on any of them. But shortly before Christmas, we took one of our shorter alternative routes, and passed a house with a live-sized Santa statue standing on the porch. He was wearing red Chiefs sweats rather than the traditional Santa suits, but was instantly recognizable. But not by Rocky, apparently. He took one look at that statue, and started growling and barking at it suspiciously, and kept an eye on it until it was completely out of sight. Since he's usually friendly with anyone we might meet out on our walks, about all I can figure is that to Rocky, the statue *looked* like a normal human, but didn't *smell* at all like one. It didn't look particularly lifelike to me, but from what I can tell, dogs don't see as well as we do. That's more than made up for by their sense of smell, of course.

So, as near as I can figure, though the statue was clearly fake to me, for Rocky, it fell smack-dab in the middle of the Uncanny Valley. It was rather funny, seeing him react that way.

In subsequent days, I took him down that street often. Like I figured, the next time we went that way, he kept a suspicious eye on the statue, and on following days didn't notice it at all.

Walking Rocky

I took the car out this morning and determined that the "good long walk" I've been taking Rocky on nearly every morning is about 1.8 miles. I'd been hoping that it was closer to 3 miles. I'm going to have to see if I can walk it faster. I've been getting through it in a little less than an hour. I'm really slowing down by the time we get back. Rocky at least has been enjoying these walks, lots of interesting smells and all that. I often wonder what a dog's perception of the world is like. What sort of information is he getting with all those sniffs?

The other day we were walking by a corner house that usually has three good sized dogs in its yard. They all started barking at Rocky, of course. The fence was close enough to the street that I let Rocky go over and exchange sniffs through it. That made everyone happy. I'm pretty sure that most of the dogs that bark at us as we go by are really nice friendly dogs, that don't mean much by it. Greeting us, and letting us know that if we try to get into the house, we'll have to go by them.

Back at that corner house, after the dogs greeted each other through the fence, we kept walking. All of a sudden, though, one of the three dogs came running up to us. Came running up to me, actually. I didn't see how he got out of the yard. He was very friendly, and I rubbed his ears. I don't know what it was, but from the way his ears felt, I could tell that he really was still a puppy.

Now, of course, I had a problem. This friendly pup would probably follow us home if we kept going. I tried knocking on the front door a few times, but no one answered. I checked his collar tags, but there was no phone number on them. I did find out that his name was "Chase", though. That seemed appropriate. After dithering around there for a few more minutes, I walked down the other street, to see if the house had another door by that driveway. It did, and I knocked. After a moment someone opened the door, and stuck her head around the edge of it. I could only see the eyes and forehead. I explained that the dog had come out to greet us, and I was afraid that he'd follow us home. So she called the dog in, and shut the door.

I thought I'd try to avoid walking by that house for a while, to not give Chase any more temptation, but I forgot after a couple of days. However, every time we've gone by that house since, there haven't been any dogs in the yard. They must not be letting the dogs out until later. I did see a couple of girls heading out to the school bus one day when I was running late, though.

Psalm 1 Pome

I've decided to try to go through this year and "versify" Psalms, as a devotional exercise. My goal is to complete one psalm a week, but considering that it took me three weeks to get through Psalm 1, that may be pushing things somewhat. Or you could say that it only took me one hour, after I switched the tune I was trying to write to.

Based on Psalm 1
To the tune of "O Worship the King."

The man who loves God,
How blessed is he!
To follow God's path
Continuously
To stand in the judgment,
To sit in the throng
Which worships the Saviour
All the day long.

The man who loves God
Will grow like a tree,
With leaves that are green,
With fruit abundantly.
God's love flows like water,
Alive in a stream,
That waters the roots,
And keeps the leaves green.

Not so are the wicked,
They're like the dry leaves,
That blow in the wind,
That blow on the breeze
Their ways are forsaken,
Their pathways are dim.
For all roads shall perish
That lead not to Him.

Rainy Days and Mondays

It really rained last night. I woke up about 5:00 to hear the rain pounding on the roof, and knowing that it had been doing so for quite some time, even though I woke out of a weird dream. And the power was off. Jonathan said that the power had been off since at least 3:30, when he had woken up. We slept some more, and got up about 6:00. By then, the rain had tapered off a bit, though it was still coming down. It's rain like that that makes me worry about the house two doors down, where the cliff by the creek has been gradually creeping up on the house. I couldn't make Jonathan his usual oatmeal for breakfast, since the power was out, so I just settled for packing his lunch.

I took the dog out for his walk sometime after 6:30. I wore my watershoes, since I was hoping to go wading with him through the creek. But the water in the creek was far too high. We looked at it in a couple of places, and it was up a couple of feet and running fast. We went down the path where we usually go wading by the rocky beach, but there was no beach visible this morning. The fast-moving water was up over the end of the path, and there was no way I was going to go wading in it. Fortunately, Rocky agreed. He sniffed around a little at the waters' edge, then wandered by the creek-bed a little, but didn't complain at all when I had him walk back. It wasn't a waste wearing my watershoes, however. The grass in the park was rain-soaked, and so were my feet.

So I took Rocky for a good long walk around a couple of blocks. One of the drainage ditches a couple of blocks over was filled with water, not moving. So when Rocky saw that, he waded in, and laid down, like he loves doing. So he did get his fun water time.

Then, between there and home, we saw a KCP&L truck leaving the area. We had been seeing signs that at least on that street, the houses may have had power. So I was hopeful that the power had come back on. And, sure enough, so it had.

That's good, because I can't open the garage door without power, and I needed to get to Sam's Club to buy some dog-food for Rocky, since we were all out of it.

Senior Tax Day at the Library

It appears to be Senior Tax Day at the library today. They've taken up most of the tables, and I hear people talking about taxes, both Missouri and Federal.

Unfortunately, they took my usual spot, so I'm having to sit at a table that's much left comfortable. The one I'm usually at is really a booth seat, like at a fast foot place. Neither the seats nor the table are fastened down, so I can move them to a comfortable distance apart, and the booth seat hits my back at just the right spot to be comfortable. Most of the other seats at tables aren't quite as comfortable. And they have some really comfortable chairs with an attached desk-board on one side, but it's not at a comfortable level for typing. Sometime I'll sit there if I just want to write on paper.

I'm having more difficulty working on my story this morning because the noise, though not really all that much louder, is much more purposeful than usual. I got a couple hundred words in, though, so I'll consider it a win. (After I wrote this, I found a table on the other side of the library that was much quieter. Still not as comfortable as my normal table, but I was able to write a couple hundred more words and finish the scene.)

I've tried writing at Panera at times before. I have the same problem that only some of the seats really hit my back in the right spot, though there the chairs are more comfortable than the booths. And there's a McDonald's near by that also has comfortable booths, and is even pretty quiet (probably because the noisy kids are all in the play area instead of the restaurant proper).

***

A few years back, my folks gave both Jonathan and I initialed attache bags, suitable for carrying files, with slots for pens and cards, etc. Jonathan's gotten quite a bit of use with his over the years, but I've not had much reason for using mine. But it's just the right size for slipping in my Neo and a journal, and even my Nook, if I feel like it, so I dug it out and have been using it for lugging my stuff to the library these last couple of days. It works pretty well, though I think I'm going to see if I can sew a division into one of the sides, to keep the Nook and journal from bumping into each other.

Spring Snow, and Non-Escaping Dog

Funny, last week, it was so warm we had all the windows open and were wearing shorts. Now, as soon as the weekend came, it turned cold, and even snowed. It snowed all afternoon yesterday, and didn't stop until sometime late last night. Of course, for most of the afternoon, it didn't stick at all, just turned everything wet and yucky. Overnight, it did start to stick though. Just enough to cover the grass and the tree-branches. Not enough to actually stick to the roads or driveways. The snow was still there when we got up, and when I took the dog out, but it didn't stay around much longer. Pretty much as soon as the sun hit it, it was gone. Fortunately.

I'm from Michigan, so I'm used to having nice weather, then snow again the first week of spring. But even there, we didn't usually get shorts weather before hand.

I think it's now been several months since the dog escaped. Which means that we've gotten considerably better at keeping ahold of him, rather than that he's reformed at all. I can tell that he's still longing to race around the park all day, chasing squirrels and cats and whatever else he'd find, and coming home filthy, soaked, and tired. Then, of course, he'd have to go through the horrors of a bath (why does he like playing in the water so much and hate baths?), and spend the next day or two barely able to move with his sore muscles. Of course, delayed consequences don't discourage him much at all. Even that bad cut on his foot last spring, and the six weeks wearing the cone of shame and hardly being let out of the house didn't discourage him, either. That was hard work keeping him cooped up like that. The first week or so was easy, since he didn't feel like moving, but after that he felt better, and was back to his bouncy self, and couldn't understand why we weren't taking him for any walks other than right around the house, and just long enough to do his business.

Tree comes down

A couple weeks back we noticed that there was a downed tree on one of the empty lots down the hill from us. I don't think it was dead, just falling over, and still partially connected to its roots. The tree was being completely supported by the streetlight electric wire (not the main power lines, they go behind the houses). The streetlight wire was really being stretched, and you could see the strain that was being put on the streetlight poles, especially the near one. So I called it into the city, figuring it was a no-brainer. The tree was on city property (We think. It appears to be connected to the park, and no one could possibly build a house on it anyway), and was endangering city property (the streetlight), and when (not if, but when) the wire decided to break, it would also almost completely block the road.

The answer I got back from the city (via email) was that they weren't going to do anything about it, since they didn't have enough money for routine maintenance/tree clearing. I wrote back that this wasn't routine maintenance, like a downed branch, or ivy growing on the wire, which we see at other places, this was emergency maintenance, a whole tree down. I got exactly the same reply back.

So, we waited a couple weeks, watching the tree continue to sink further down, and more strain being put on poles. The streetlight pole was being pulled out of true, we figured 5-10 degree bent in it.

Finally, Jonathan called it in again a couple of days ago. They didn't take any of his personal info, which was weird, because they asked for mine, so he didn't get any reply back. But yesterday morning there was a tree-truck there, and a couple of workers chopping down the tree. They left it there, with a big pile of brush, but at least it no longer is putting that strain on the wire. We all heaved a big sigh of relief at that.

Missouri Weather

It has been closer to "normal" weather this week. The three storms that hit over Christmas break weren't really that unusual, except that they all hit in such a short period of time, without any time in between for the snow to melt. And that it was so cold, too.

The snow is all gone now, and has been for a few weeks, except, of course, for the piles in various parking lots. Those'll probably be there until spring. We've had a few flurries in the mean-time, and about a week where we didn't see the sun at all, with several days of winter fog. That was rather depressing.

I figured that today would be another day where we didn't see the sun, since the clouds seemed so thick this morning. But by this afternoon, it's grown brighter again, and the sun is out.

I've heard (not from the weather forecasters, just from people talking) that the weather in February is supposed to be like it was in December, that the storms that whacked us in December are making their way all the way around the globe, and will be hitting us again. It's too early to see how true that is, but somehow I doubt that a series of storms could keep their coherency that long, across several continents and oceans. It may be that I'm just underestimating the stubbornness of storms, though. I know that once hurricanes start reaching a large expanse of dry land, they start breaking up, so that we in Missouri only receive the faintest brush from them. We can get some good thunderstorms out of them (especially if the warm, moist air from the south hits some particularly cool air from the north), but that's about it.

But, anyway, it's been almost warm outside these last couple of days. Warm for January/February, anyway. This type of weather would be downright cold in August. I hope it stays that way for a while. But you know what they say about Missouri weather. If you don't like it, wait a day, it'll change.

Christmas Bells

by Henry W. Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said.
"For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till ringing, singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day--
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Our new dog, Rocky

Last Saturday (Sept 12), we went down to Wayside Waifs and got a dog. We'd been wanting to get a dog for a long time, and have been seriously considering that the time was getting close for about a year. Wayside Waifs was having a promotion that weekend, half-off the adoption fee, so it seemed a good time to go down and look at the dogs, and see if the dog we were looking for was there.

I'd been thinking that I'd like a dog that was about 20 pounds or so, like both dogs I had growing up were. Big enough so as not to be stepped on too easily, but not too big. I didn't really care what breed, in fact, a mutt would do nicely.

Of course, the dog we saw and all fell in love with at the shelter is a much bigger dog than that. He's about 60 pounds (they weighed him at 50 pounds at the shelter, and 60 pounds at the vet the next day. I think someone's scale is off). He's got black hair, with reddish-brown highlights around his ears and the fringe of his fore-paws. They think he's about 2 years old. That's about the age I wanted, not a puppy, but still pretty young. Probably what drew us to him was the paper they had on the door of his kennel, with a little bio on it. Most of the other dogs just had their basic information up about them. I wish I had that bio, but the basic info on it was something like this: He'd been transferred there from another shelter where he'd run out of time, to this one. Back when they got him, he had some sort of skin condition that caused him to lose a lot of his fur, but that's better now. He's really smart and eager to please, loves playing with other dogs.

We can tell that he's a really great dog. An over-grown puppy, really, that doesn't know his own strength, and needs to be taught a few manners, but really loving. He spends most of the day sleeping, but gets into what we're calling his "super-hyperdrive mode". He runs around crazily, chasing his tail, growling at his toys, and the like. It probably means he's not getting enough exercise. I've been trying to run him a little when we go on our walks around the house, and on the longer walks. When I'm walking with one of the kids, I let them run him. We've also started putting him out on the line the previous owners of the house set up for their dogs. It runs between the deck and a tree on the edge of the lot. He can probably go about 8 feet on either side of the line. Don't worry, we're not going to leave him out there alone for hours. I've been putting him on it, and then sitting in our sky chair, watching him, and knitting, reading, or writing, for about an hour. Then I put him back on the leash, and walk out to get Gidget from the bus stop.

The main problem we've had with Rocky has been him "pooping" inside the house. He's picked a spot in the play-room, and goes there. On the carpet, of course. He was supposed to be housebroken, and has no problem wetting outside. We're not sure what the problem is, if he's just not used to the idea of pooping while on the leash, or what. I'm hopeful, he's pooped outside twice within the last two days, that he'll get the idea, and stop pooping inside. It hasn't happened yet, though.

Rocky also has a bad habit of "mouthing" things when he gets excited. He jumps about and puts his mouth on things. I've been trying to tell the kids that he's not trying to bite them (even though we can feel his teeth), he's just excited, and trying to say how much he likes something. And screaming about him biting them is more likely to make him more excited, making the situation worse than better. They understand mentally, but are having trouble putting than understanding into action.

Accident

There's been some sort of accident right in front of my house. Check my Twitter for further details.

26 miles per gallon

Created by The Car Connection

October Curves Smart Report Card

Well, I got my second Curves Smart report card, and I can say I'm less than thrilled.

My weight stayed the same as last time time, but my measurements all stayed the same or decreased, so that's all right.

I had rather hoped the Workout Results time lines would gain dots as you had more reports, maybe showing the last four or five results, instead you just have the beginning and ending points. Which is helpful, I suppose, but I'd like to see how the numbers change with time.

The weird part is that it shows both my caloric burn and strength decreasing. I *know* that both have gone up. The last week or so I've been routinely getting over 600 calories burnt on regular workout days. IIRC, today's result was 618. Alternate days have been lower, of course. My PI from the last report was 274, this one is 308. This should, in theory, say that I've got quite a bit *more* strength than when I started, not less.

As near as anyone can figure out, it's the alternate days that are dragging the averages down. It's almost enough to make me not come in on alternate days (though I figured out this month that if I skip the alternate days, I'm far more likely to skip the regular days, too), or maybe come in an work out, but not check in or use my card. Or just use the treadmill or something (Shh!! don't tell Curves HQ they have one!)

When I came in on Monday, my PI was decreased by 0 (which I thought was a funny way to say "unchanged"), and today it was increased by 3. I previously had been able to keep in the greens, this time I had trouble. I'll get it next time. For once the stepper gave me reasonable heart rates the first time all three times it measured them. The first time, 128, after the warm up and three machines; both the next times about 145. I really hate it when I've been really working out, and I get on the stepper, and it tells me that my heart rate is 70. Stupid machine! It was more than that when I walked through the door.

I've also noticed that I still get breathless while on the circuit, but now my breath is nearly back to normal by the time I've finished stretching, in stead of some time later. So that's an improvement from when I started Curves Smart.

ETA: Now that I've had a chance to look over my previous "report card", I'm even more confused. the numbers that are "low" are higher than the previous "high" numbers. Where is their starting point?