Open Your Book of Good

I’d like to ask my friends to help me with a serious cause. I’ve lost several important people in my life in the last year because of cancer. It pisses me off because they’ve been taken from this earth before their time was up. I started working with the American Cancer Society with their Relay for Life about five years ago as a “preventative maintenance” thing. At that point, no one I knew, much less was close to, and had died from cancer. In fact, skin cancer was the only thing I’d ever heard anyone I know talk about. Since then, I’ve learned of many women I’ve worked with have told me about their scares with different cancers. Then, it happened. I lost 3 friends in one week because of cancer. Needless to say, it was not a good week. Then, a student was diagnosed and had to have her leg amputated. Another friend died. Another student’s dad is badly suffering but fighting the fight with his family and friends. This has all been since January 2004. I was glad that I had decided to do whatever it took to help fight this ugly disease.

Relay for Life is more than an event that happens one night. Every spring, we work to raise money and awareness in fighting cancer. On April 16, the community of Round Rock gets together to celebrate. We celebrate the lives of our friends lost, we celebrate the fact that others are still surviving. We also celebrate our success as a community in raising money to support the American Cancer Society’s fight against cancer.

This year, as a community, we are trying to raise $300,000. As a team, the band kids are trying to raise $5,000 towards the bigger goal. It can happen but only with your help. If you’d like to help me raise money in the fight, you can do it easily below. The great thing is if you’d like to your donation to honor someone you love that is fighting cancer or in someone’s memory, you can right there!

Thanks for your help. It means a positive future for many people!
~Cathy

Here’s the Link!

Saturday Night Live, Best of Will Farrell

http://bigbenford.com/images/cowbell.wmv

This is such a good DVD. Almost worth getting. Aside from the Cowbell skit, there’s the Cheerleaders at the Chess Match, The Devil who trys to give hit songs to Garth Brooks (but they suck) for his soul, the Music Teachers at a Drug Free Rally and all the political skits including President Bush talking about his health (“I get 14 hours of sleep a night; every night; no matter what.”). Did you know Harry Carry’s favorite planet is the Sun? Have you also noticed that Jimmy Fallon can rarely keep a straight face when he’s in a skit with Will Farrell? Really hillarious! 4 1/2 stars out of 5!

2 Chick Flicks — Little Black Book & Someone Like You

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebigbenfors-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B0006D3HCE&fc1=000000&=1&lc1=0000ff&bc1=000000&lt1=_blank&IS2=1&f=ifr&bg1=ffffff&f=ifr http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebigbenfors-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B00006ZXSO&fc1=000000&=1&lc1=0000ff&bc1=000000&lt1=_blank&IS2=1&f=ifr&bg1=ffffff&f=ifr

Other than the cute ending, this movie was just a no-brainer stupid chick flick. The characters were canned, the story was predictable and the guy just wasn’t hot enough to make it worth my time. The movie’s idea kept reminding me of Someone Like You but unfortunately, it can not compare in quality. I give Little Black Book two stars out of 5.

So, I decided that I needed to flush crap movie out of my system so I popped in my copy of Someone Like You. Love that movie. Ashely Judd plays that part so well. And any movie with Hugh Jackman is a winner in my book. *sigh* The concept of “old cow”, “new cow” is hilarious and almost makes sense in some circles. It ends well, too. Highly recommended for anyone that needs a good chick flick. Someone Like You gets 4 1/2 out of 5 stars!

Balance of self

I didn’t work out yesterday, I just wanted to sit at home and veg. Cathy T came over and we watched TV and had some pizza. (My pizza was mostly veggies and had a thin crust, doesn’t that make it okay?) I don’t get to see her very often so it was nice that we kicked back and caught up. This morning, Len woke me up when he called on his way to work. I’m glad he called because if I would have slept any longer, it would have been too much sleep and today would be absolutely useless.

So, I got up, filled and ran the dishwasher and headed to the apartment complex work out room. Again, there wasn’t anyone in there so I started my work out peacefully and alone. I really need moments like that — where I can be out of my home but alone. I tried using the elliptical machine but I felt like I was too tall for it or something. My legs just didn’t cycle as long as I wanted them too so I couldn’t keep my balance. I’ve heard other people say that’s what it feels like when you first try it. I wasn’t feeling patient enough to try to work through that akward feeling so I moved back over to the bike. Another 30 minutes, this time on level 2. Because I tried the elliptical machine for about 10 mintues before getting really frustrated, I really got a longer workout than I’d intended. By the end of the 30 minutes on the bike, I was beat. My legs didn’t want to let me stand right away.

I know I’m really not keeping consistent enough with my workout but I do what I can when I can. I feel work is starting to get at that point that it overwhelms everything else called life. It happens this time every year so I just have to learn how to make sure I’m keeping things in balance. I guess more so than “getting in shape” or losing a few pounds, my goals in eating right and keeping an active lifestyle is just keeping life in good balance. I have quite a bit to keep in balance so that in itself is quite a bit of work.

———- ———- evening update ———- ———-

After I got home from working out, I felt sooo tired. Not physically tired — my body feels really good. But all of a sudden, I felt totally drained. I took a shower and only got more tired. I talked to my folks and they said it sounded like my body was trying to keep from getting sick. My dad, mom & sister have all been suffering from cold symptoms lately so it’s likely that I am getting a little sick. It’s about that time of year. So, I took a 2 hour or so nap. It felt good but I’m still tired. I spent the rest of the day sitting around the apartment doing not much of anything. I have a lot of things that need to be done but sometimes, it’s more productive to take a day off than to work and work then get sick and be out for days. Let’s see how I feel tomorrow.

Feel the burn, don’t forget to breathe!

Today, I decided to head to my apartment complex’s work out room. I’ve lived here for a year and a half and never explored it. I’ve never been a big fan of gyms or work out rooms. Did 30 minutes on level 3 on the bike. I worked up quite the sweat and I feel pretty good. I think what I liked most about this work out room is that I got in there early enough that I was the only one there and there were only 3 other people after my 30 minute ride. I deal with enough random people during the day (okay, so my 150 students aren’t random people but they go to school with 1850 random people) that too many others when I get home is not okay. I had a horrible night’s sleep (if you can call it sleep) last night so that work out was just what I needed. Hopefully, I’ll have a good nights sleep tonight. I have another long day tomorrow. I’ll work out again on Friday.