Anyone looking for a great starter program, this is for you.

Anyone looking to kick my ass into shape, monitor my progress and let me have it if I’m slacking!!

Over the past few months I was blessed to have a friend who felt the same way. Coincidentally, he lives a mile away from me. So a couple of times a week we go get pumped at the gym. It’s awesome. Sometimes you just need that little bit of motivation (a person coming over) to get you started. And I know once I’m started, it’s all good. Get me TO the gym and I will workout.

But then summer came. My gym buddy works for a school, so his lucky ass gets summers off. So he surfs all the time, and doesn’t have the time or desire to come to my janky apartment gym.

What have I been doing since summer vacay started? Well, lots of things. But sadly, not one of them has been “gym time”.

Then I saw some tweets from @itsKrust about C25K. What is that? So I google it, and it’s pretty awesome.

Basically it’s a running program designed for the person who is 100% completely out of shape and is literally starting at 0. Hence the name “Couch to 5K”

3 workouts per week for 9 weeks and you’ll be off your couch running about a 10min mile pace for 30 minutes. This is my cup of tea. I did the week 1 workout 1 yesterday and found it quite easy. So I mixed it up a bit. Added a 1.5 incline and sped up the walking portions. Also ran the last 5 min. Not too bad. I think I’ll skip ahead to week 2 next time.

The only potential setback I might have is that my current workout schedule is 2 days a week. This means I’m going to have to actually get off my couch on Saturday or Sunday to do the 3rd one each week. J said he would do it with me on Saturday. For him, this really is couch to 5K.

Wish us luck!!

I would like to thank you for tainting the 2010 World Cup. Because of your regulations, I have found myself yelling at my television set like a maniac. This is doing nothing for my stress level or my blood pressure. I know I’m not alone; your decisions have impacted teams from most continents.

What am I talking about? Goal-line technology. Or rather, a serious lack thereof. Any kind of replay would be useful really. But because you choose to remain in the stone age, we are left with referees having to rely on what they think they may have seen. And honestly, it’s just not working.

I’m not even writing as an angry American fan. Yes, you fucked over my team. Twice. TWO TIMES. Group play game 2: I’m still not sure what that penalty was. Offsides? A foul? You tell me. Then in game 3: Dempsey was perfectly even (or even a little back) with the last defender. That’s a goal.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

But again, I’m not trying to be an angry American. Let’s look at some of the other muffed calls:

• Italy vs. New Zealand: Smeltz is clearly offsides. No goal. No tie. NZ shouldn’t have gotten that point. Sorry Kiwis!

Click here to view the embedded video.

• England vs. Germany: I’m sorry, but that ball was at least a full foot over the line. There is NO question that was a goal. When your tying goal is disallowed that really changes the mentality you have in the game. It’s just not OK. You tell me – how did this not count?

• Mexico vs. Argentina: Mexico got FUCKED. This was clearly offsides. From here they self-destructed. I would like to at least dream that the game would have been much closer were it not for this terrible call by the referee AND line judge.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So there you have it. 5 solid examples of game-changing, even tournament-changing calls that would have easily been correct if replay technology were allowed. As a true fan of soccer, I urge you to maintain the sanctity of the game by allowing such technology onto the pitch. The status-quo just isn’t cutting it anymore.

Sincerely,

Caro

WORLD CUP SOCCER

As if I don’t get up early enough (anything before noon is “early” as far as I’m concerned), I’ve been waking up for the 7am games almost every other day. Yes, I have a TiVo. But some games, like the US third round game for example, you just HAVE to watch live. And for the other games that I do record? Yeah I watch those starting around 7pm. After I’m done with 2 games, I promptly go to bed and repeat in the morning. Whew!

But this will all end soon. With the third game for each team underway, games are coming hard and fast (That’s what she said). Seriously, 2 games at once, twice a day. Yeah, I’m taking in 4 games daily – but I’m doing it in under 4 hours. SWEET!

And starting Saturday we’re moving into thrilling single-elimination matches. With no ties. Over time. Even maybe shoot outs. It’s going to be suspenseful and exciting, and I CAN’T WAIT!!

I had the distinct pleasure of watching the Mexico-France game LIVE online courtesy of espn.com. I didn’t think my computer could handle it, but I decided to give it a shot. While it wasn’t 52″ HD quality, it worked.

And Mexico WON!!

I’m really pretty happy about this. And France lost, which is an added bonus! It was also the first 2010 game I’ve been able to watch that involved a penalty kick. As a former goalie, these are particularly fascinating. Guessing which way to dive was NEVER a strong point of mine, and I love seeing how many times keepers are actually able to do it correctly.

Anyway, it was a lively game and a good one to watch, if you’re still interested. Either way, I highly recommend watching games live online. There’s an option to have it subtitled too!

Happy world cup-ing!

Then you look at the Mascots for the 2012 Olympics in London.

What in the world is going on here? It’s like Gumby had a threesome with Rainbow Brite and Leela from Futurama.

I’m all about alternative transportation but let’s get one thing straight: I hate bicyclists. They think they own the road, the travel soooooo slowly, and they’re bound to accidentally veer off their path and drift into your lane.

Since today seems to be their holiday, there’s what seems like millions of them on the road. It was almost more than I could handle this morning. I was exhausted and cranky, and being attacked from all directions by bikers. Then I saw it.

Superman was riding a bike. Or rather, some DS on a bicycle was dressed as Superman. Maybe he was crazy. But he made me laugh.

Cheers to you, Superman on a Bicycle. When disaster strikes, you can’t fly, but you can pedal your heart out.

Today my physical therapist thought she would be helpful and tape my foot again. Only it was clear she didn’t have the slightest clue what she was doing. I would see her tearing off tape, tearing it in half, then haphazardly sticking it to my foot. In weird ways, not in a coherent pattern like the other chick did. Keep in mind the other woman put absolutely 0 pieces of tape over the top of my foot. It completely covered the bottom, and went up the back of my heel and a tad up the sides of my feet. Yet it felt SOLID.

This is what I ended up with today:

What in the world is going on here? There’s all kinds of asymetrical tape going in all sorts of ways. Whereas the previous taping lasted 36 hours (apparently it’s OK to keep on in the shower!), I had to remove this one about 2 hours after I got it because it was restricting my movement and actually causing additional pain. It took like 15 minutes to take off cuz I didn’t even know where to start. Seriously, WTF?!?

I have yet to watch the opening or closing ceremonies, but I feel that I have bored enough people about the Olympics for the last couple of weeks, so I’m gonna make this my last post on the topic. And what a better way to go out than with a news article on the top 8 winners and losers of the games? No, I’m not talking about athletes. Well not JUST athletes. Some of these other things are good too. Like winner #8:

8. Safe sex
In a victory for planned parenthood, the 7,000 residents of the Athletes Village ran through a supply of 100,000 free condoms halfway through the Games. “That’s about 14 condoms per person,” notes CBC. An emergency shipment was immediately dispatched to the libidinous Olympians.

I guess if your sport was on one of the earlier days that gives you extra time to go around partying it up!! Though not if you’re loser #5:

5. Scotty Lago
Though few debate that the US halfpipe snowboarder had a right to celebrate his bronze medal, his post-podium shenanigans (captured in famously “racy” photos leaked by TMZ.com) led the 23-year-old to leave the Olympics in disgrace.

And the one I agree with most: Loser #2. NBC

2. NBC
The network — which lost $200 million on the games — repeatedly came under fire for tape-delaying events and restricting online access to video footage.

THANK YOU to all the other people with me on calling BULLSHIT regarding the tape-delaying. And the unrestricted access (aka censorship)? That was bullshit too. Of the 12 skaters in the exhibition gala on Saturday night, NBC only showed 6. Of those 6, not a single pairs medalist. Can I find this online? No. SO LAME.

OK I’m not going to end this post on an angry note, so let’s talk about something exciting….

The 2010 World Cup is just 100 short days away. YESSSS!!