I am a runner now.
By jjenning | July 6, 2011
Hi long time no post!
Well, I am a runner (jogger) now. I started running every night to improve my health and lose weight. I started with under a KM, and I couldn’t even run the whole thing without having to stop to catch my breath a few times. Last night I ran 2.7KM, and got to 1.5 km without having to walk for a while to catch my breath. I can see real improvement in my lungs and am happy that my fat appears to be coming off.
I started with a $20 pair of running shoes, and once I was sure I was going to continue running, I bought $200 running shoes.
I discovered a cool iPhone app the other day that will show my run on a map, complete with elevation speed, average speed, distance, and calories burned. It is called iMapMyRun. I love it because I can see my improvement over time and I can post my results to Facebook so I have incentive to keep improving. I am getting encouragement and some ridicule from friends on Facebook. Both help me keep doing it.
Here is a link to the website for the app. It has a lot of neat tools for people to get fit.
TTFN
John
Topics: Life | No Comments »
Beautiful Day Today
By jjenning | January 21, 2011
It is cold, and snowing. I saw cars in the ditch while I drove, and my own car is covered in road salt. The drive in to work today was long and stressful. With the snow and roads that look like they could turn into sheets of ice any minute. As the minutes go by on the drive in I feel my shoulders getting tighter and tighter. Both from holding the steering wheel in a death grip and trying to figure out how I am going to handle the latest crop of problems at work gnawing at me.
I arrive at work, park in my usual spot on the bottom floor of the parking garage, and walk towards the entrance to the building in the parking lot.
There is square cut-out in the parking garage where the two floors above ground are removed to allow natural light in. Somehow just seeing the beauty of daylight shining off of the lazy snow flakes falling amidst the concrete raises my spirits. The world is a beautiful place if you stop to appreciate it.
Now with my shoulders most of the way back to where they should be I can step away from my problems and take another kick at my my work related issues.
Have a great day!
Topics: Life | No Comments »
We had a cat for 3 days.
By jjenning | October 7, 2010
A cat had chosen our house to stay at since August.
 At first we tried to ignore it so it would go back to its family… It stayed.. So I tried to comfort it by petting it, but there was no way it was coming into the house… We found out that two of our neighbors were feeding it, so we were not worried about it not having food. Whenever we came home from work there it was sitting in the exact same place as when we left it in the morning. It was creating a yellow spot on my lawn because it sat there all day every day. We felt sorry for it, so we pet it and tried to keep it company… Outside.. |
We got so worried about it that we created a poster for it and put in on 3 mailboxes and the front door of the local elementary school. We asked all of our friends if they wanted a cat. Posters for this cat were put up in no less than 4 places of work. When it started to rain and get colder we couldn’t let the cat sleep in the cold and rain anymore so we took it in. Alex who can see hair from a mile away and has a real phobia about it wanted to take it in. We bathed it with flee shampoo (It was not happy about that, but remained mostly calm), brushed it and gave it a pink bow… a bed, food in nice new dishes, a litter box with fresh kitty litter, and a flee collar (Just in case). |
I made an appointment for the vet to give the cat a checkup, and to check for a microchip (on the off chance that this cat had one). I also made an appointment to have the cat professionally groomed the day after the vet’s office. Well, it turns out the cat did have a chip. HE (Sorry about the pink bow Winnie) had been missing for two months, and had lost about 10 pounds. His family was very happy to see him again, and were thankful for his return. |
I canceled the grooming appointment with apologies and went home to vacuum the house.
Happy Ending!… I do miss him a little though.
Topics: Life | 1 Comment »
Fun on a Fun Ship
By jjenning | March 29, 2010
Alex and I went on the Carnival “Fun Ship” Pride a few weeks ago. We had a great time! Lots of eating, drinking, dancing, swimming, singing, sun bathing and just having a great time. We had a blast and were sad when it had to end, but real life calls and we had to answer.
If you are interested, here are some pictures and videos from our trip.
http://jennings.homeip.net/pictures/cruise2010/
Topics: Life | No Comments »
Poem
By jjenning | January 26, 2010
I find myself in the same place at a later time.
I am the same but older.
The place is the same and also older.
I breath and feel the world around me – cold and ever present.
It is good to be alive.
I dearly want to have the capacity to miss it when I am gone.
I can not believe that I will.
I take the time to breath.
The place breaths with me.
We enjoy our breath for as long as we can.
Topics: Literature | 1 Comment »
Post from iPhone
By jjenning | December 28, 2009
Happy Holidays!!
I got a wordpress app for my IPhone and can now update my blog on the fly. Let’s see if it helps me post more often. 
Topics: Fun, Tech | No Comments »
Shaiya Progress
By jjenning | November 12, 2009
I have been playing the free online MMORPG Shaiya for a while now, and am really enjoying it. I started off playing a mage as usual, but wanted to test out other character classes.
(Left is my Level 43 HM Mage on his cat. It is the reward for a quest given at level 25 that you can only use at level 40.)
It increases running speed and looks cool.
Abbreviations:
NM = Normal Mode (The only choice you have at first)
HM = Hard mode. (More powerful, but slower leveling)
UM = Ultimate Mode. (Most powerful, very slow leveling, and if you die and don’t get resurrected, your character is DELETED)
I started with a NM mage called PyroTechs. He made it to level 40, and I started a HM mage called PyroTex (original I know). I got him to 40 and stared an UM archer called Duckey (Who is now Level 32). I also have a level 30 HM defender, a level 25 HM priest, and a 32 HM Fighter. If I want to make another UM character I am going to have to delete on of those characters. 
… Probably the fighter. I already had to delete my first character (PyroTechs) to make space for HM characters.
It is a really fun game if you are into RPGs. Please say “Hi” if you ever logon to the Teos server. (I will probably be playing Duckey)
Topics: Life | 2 Comments »
Movie Review: Cloudy with a Chance of Meat Balls
By jjenning | September 23, 2009
My Wife and I went to go see cloudy with a chance of meat balls on the weekend. It was a really fun movie. I don’t want to give anything away, but it was fun, exciting, and had great animation.
You can learn about the movie at http://www.cloudywithachanceofmeatballs.com/ if you like.
My favorite character was Steve!
4.5 out of 5 stars.
Topics: Life | No Comments »
Quick Movie Reviews
By jjenning | May 25, 2009
Movie 1 Star Trek:
Fun movie. Just go in with no knowledge of the previous movies or series, and you will be fine. Also has the best red shirt death so far. If I don’t think about what I already know about Star Trek I would give this a 4 out of 5 stars. If I dwell on how they changed history so everything you knew and loved never happened… Then I cry and give it a 2.5 out of 5.
Movie 2 X-Men Origins – Wolverine:
Good movie! Fun an exciting. I really liked it. Apparently if you actually know what Wolverine’s back story was, you would not be amused, but I didn’t and it worked well. There were a few holes in the logic and consistency going forward to the x-Men movies, but I can ignore almost anything if there are enough explosions and mutant powers. 4 Stars out of 5 from me.
Topics: Life | No Comments »
Watchmen Movie
By jjenning | March 11, 2009
I watched Watchmen last night, and I thought it was a very entertaining movie at times.
My favorite character was Rorschach. He is totally Kick Ass! He knows what is right and what is wrong, and will do anything to punish the wrong doers, and I mean anything. If you are a bad guy, do not expect him to show any mercy.
There is a great scene where he is locked in with a bunch of very bad people. Undaunted he yells “You don’t understand, I’m not lock in here with you. You’re locked in here with ME!” As an audience member I was thinking those bad guys are in some serious trouble.
If this movie was 100% Rorschach I would have been extremely happy. Unfortunately it was not, and delved into some very murky moral waters. Which is interesting, but not as entertaining as watching Rorschach torture someone for information or kill a very bad person in a gruesome manner.
Overall, it was a very good movie, and I would recommend you go see it.
Topics: Life, Movies | No Comments »
