Walk Like an Egyptian

(Article first published as Week 13--Walk like an Egyptian on Technorati. This is Week 13 chronicling my training for the 3-day for the Cure.)

Training went fairly well this past week considering I spent a few days visiting my sister in the beautiful town of Castle Rock, Colorado.

My sister, who is a nurse, was a tad bit worried about me continuing my training for the 3-day for the Cure, especially after last week's stupidity that left me and my walking buddies near heat exhaustion. But after assuring my sister that (1) it was much cooler here than in Texas (2) I would bring water and a cell phone (3) I had my emergency money and (4) I was familiar with some tips on how to avoid high altitude sickness, I marched on my merry way.

I am happy to report that so far my training here has been uneventful. I had planned to design one of my training walks into town with a little side trip to Dream Pastries until a friend pointed out that the benefits of any training walk would quickly be negated by all that sugary goodness. I swear some people are just killjoys.

One highlight of my trip was going to the King Tut exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. The exhibit was not only stunning, but I learned a few things, too, while listening to Harrison Ford's soothing voice on the $5 audio tape relaying interesting tidbits of information about the exhibit.

One such miscellaneous tidbit said how the Egyptians had a pretty good knowledge of the body and its organs--all except the brain. Yep, apparently they didn't think much of Mr. Grey Matter and tossed Mr. Brain aside instead of storing it in one of those nifty canopic coffinettes--miniature coffins that housed internal organs.

Instead, the Egyptians viewed the heart as the most important organ. It was the heart that was weighed against the Feather of Truth to determine if a person's entrance was granted into the afterlife or sent to the Devourer of the Dead.

I guess I have to agree with the Egyptians about the importance of the heart. When people ask me why I'm willing to participate in this 60-mile walk to fight breast cancer, I can spout off statistics and tell you that more than 1.3 million women are diagnosed with breast cancer globally each year, more than 465,000 die from the disease each year and that a woman dies from breast cancer every 68 seconds.

But for me, it still remains a matter of the heart.

Life's a Carnival–the Education Buzz

Well my friends, I hope your summer has been fab-u-lous so far. Summers come and go and apparently most of our education carnivals have been like a summer breeze--here one moment and gone the next. I miss the days when the education carnival was consistently up and running.

So-o-o-o-o my dears, let’s see if we can get this one up and running. It's called the Education Buzz. Here are a few ground rules…

1. No spam
2. Must be education related
3. Since the carnival may be organized around themes, not all submissions may run.
4. Please remember to post and link back to the carnival.

The carnival will appear on Wednesdays. Hopefully, the carnival will appear weekly. Our very first Education Buzz carnival will appear here Wednesday, August 4. Deadlines for submissions will be Saturdays by 5 p.m. Central Standard Time.


You can use this handy dandy form for your submissions.

I hope to hear from everyone soon!

Week 12: Kicking it into stupid gear

(Article first published as Week 12: Kicking It Into Stupid Gear on Technorati.)

Sometimes I ignore warning signs, whether it's a simple telltale sigh from my spouse or something more "official" like those nasty little National Weather Service heat advisory bulletins.

Sometimes I'm a poster child for memory loss, like when I forget that the previous week of my training for the 3-day for the Cure was short on training and long on air conditioned conference rooms.

And then, sometimes, just sometimes, I'm just not the brightest crayon in the box.

Yep, Week 12 of my training found me kicking it in high gear on the stupid level.

It started on Monday when I, along with my two training buddies, decided it would be a brilliant idea to do an 8-mile walk... at 1:30 p.m. during a heat advisory. Despite slathering on sunscreen, packing lots of water, wearing light colored clothing and taking a few breaks here and there, by mile five things weren't looking so good. 

I, of course, knew the problem: heat exhaustion. I even ticked off all the symptoms to my walking buddies because, after all, I had previously written about those dangers in my Week 5 post.

Still, we remained undeterred, but things started getting ugly at the six and half mile marker when we collapsed on a bench located, fittingly, near a cemetery.

We almost called our husbands to come and rescue us, but the thought of them taking photographs and posting our failure on YouTube was enough to spur us on.

That and the sound of an ice cream truck (as if we needed a reason to celebrate National Ice Cream Month.)

Good thing I carry around an emergency five dollar bill.

Workshop, Slackers & Shoes

(Article first published as Week 10 & 11: Shoes Provide Little Hope for Slackers on Technorati.)

Blame it on the week-long high school journalism workshop filled with 600-plus kiddos that I had to attend.

Or blame it on a lack of sleep resulting from chaperoning said workshop

Or, let's just blame it on the rain. (OK, so you probably have to be pre-Generation Y to get that rain allusion.)

Perhaps all those factors combined to make it not only difficult to walk, but also impossible to find the time to dutifully report about my inactivity for my 3-day for the Cure training. I only managed to squeeze in four miles or so while attending the workshop. The previous week I kept to my walking schedule racking up two to three miles every day, but I'm such a slacker I neglected to report about it.

I didn't even get a chance to read the second part of the USA Today fitness challenge story.   

I did, however, read with interest another article  about those toning shoes that supposedly will give the wearer a more shapely behind, toned legs and tighter abs--all without having to set foot in a gym.

Oh, if I only had a pair of those shoes, I wouldn't have to obsess so much about my lack of training this past week.

If life were only that simple. If it were, I'd be the first to slap down a hundred bucks or so (plus shipping and handling), and everything would shape up. 

But my hopes for an easy out were snuffed by the seventh paragraph. The article quoted a professor from Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine in Baltimore who very succinctly said those claims were "utter nonsense."

Moreover, according to the article, doctors warned toning shoes can cause other problems with balance and can strain Achilles tendons.

Perhaps  I'm better off with a pair of those ruby red slippers and my regular walking shoes. 

Summer Days Journalism Workshops & Mouse Ears

Ahhhhh the lazy days of summer and the hotter than the inner circle of hell Texas temperatures tempted me to just re-post my technorati article updating everyone on my training for the 3-day for the Cure. 

But no siree, Missy, we'll have none of that. I don't want anyone pulling my Texas card. Hails bails, no self-respecting Texan would admit to succumbing to the blazing temps or pawning off laziness on those triple digits. I was born in San Antonio, home of the Alamo. It's going to take a bit more than the sweltering Lone Star sun to stop this blogging.

OK, OK, OK… but it is summer and my DIs (Darling Inspirations) are all nestled in their air conditioned homes or out tanning by the pool or doing whatever it is DIs do when they're not driving me nuts or making me crazy or providing fodder for this blog.

I will be seeing 20 or so of them this summer when I spend that quality time at our annual summer workshop.  You know the one where I get to spend five fun-filled days and four worrisome nights with teenagers. Yeah, that's the one. 

Already the phone calls have been coming in with questions about this and that. Here's my favorite one so far. It's from a new staffer. (You can tell because new staffers always call me "Mrs. Richtsmeier" instead of Richie.)


Yearbook staffer… "Mrs. Richtsmeier, I was wondering if I had to attend the summer workshop."

Me… "Well, yes, why?"

Yearbook staffer… "Well, a friend of mine invited me to go to Disney World and it's during the same time as the workshop, and I was wondering if there was any way I could go."

Me… "Really? Disney World? Hmmmmmm. I don't know. Disney World or the journalism workshop. Disney World or the journalism workshop. Disney World or the journalism workshop. I don't know why you wouldn't want to go to the workshop instead of Disney World. The workshop is so-o-o-o much more fun…"

Yearbook staffer sounding a tad bit puzzled… "Oh…"

Me… "Are you kidding me? Go to Disney World…"
But blast it all, I forgot to tell her to pick me up some mouse ears.

Ain't Life A Beach

(Article first published as Week 7: Training on the Beach, Incidents and Oil Spills on Technorati.)

After school got out, I headed for the beach. Thankfully, we go to South Padre Island. We gave extra thanks because the Texas Gulf Coast (at least for now) remains unscathed by the BP oil spill wreaking havoc along the coastline from Louisiana to Florida.

So while the cities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach in Alabama have closed public beaches because of the gooey, slimy mess, those of us fortunate to vacation along the Texas coast still can enjoy sun, surf and sand as well as some tasty shrimp.

My week at the beach, however, in no way stopped my training for the Susan G. Komen 3-day for the Cure 60 mile walk. 

In fact, I stepped it up a bit and  walked about 30 miles while at the beach. My family made sure I stayed on track offering to walk with me. Sometimes we walked along the beach. Sometimes we walked along Gulf Boulevard. All of it was walked in the hot Texas sun. Walking on the sand provided some extra workout benefits. We even walked a bit across the border venturing into Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, to do a little shopping. 

Although we've been there numerous times before, we did check with the tourist Welcome Center at South Padre Island before we decided to go because of all the drug violence reported in border towns. The very nice Welcome Center people told us that although there had been some "incidents," we would be fine as long as we as we remained aware of our surroundings.

They never did define "incidents." 

While walking across the bridge and while shopping in Mexico, we couldn't help but notice that we were one of the few Americans shopping there. Now I know why.

The very next day another shopping mecca destination for tourist, Matamoras, was in the news for a running gun battle that began at a police station and left seven police officers dead before it ended when the Mexican military finally took control of the situation.

I wonder if those nice Welcome Center people would have referred to that as an "incident."

And all that makes as much sense as referring to the BP oil spill as an "incident." 

Graduation, Churches & the Summer Sun

(Writer's note: Well school is out and summer is here, and I need a break. So-o-o-o I will be sharing posts made on technorati here from time to time. I still plan to post weekly. So make sure you come by. The following article was first published as "Graduation Venues Heating Up Controversy" on technorati.)

We all survived graduation in the sweltering near 100 degree heat at our football stadium. Until about three years ago, we used to hold it at Potter's House until it became too expensive.

But even if we could have passed around the ol' collection plate and rustled up enough donations to head back over to the very nice, air conditioned Potter's House, apparently the ACLU and a federal judge would have tried to stop that.

Something about separation of church and state. Oh, did I forget to mention Potter's House is one of those megachurches? 

A school district in Connecticut  had a big brouhaha showdown over wanting to hold graduation in a megachurch there. After a U.S. District judged issued a preliminary injunction saying it was unconstitutional for the Enfield School District to hold its commencement ceremonies at The First Cathedral, the school board voted not to appeal the ruling.

Like so many other high schools across the country, megachurches offer great air conditioned spaces that can accommodate everyone from Uncle Bob to Cousin Jake and even the neighbors down the street. Not only can they accommodate huge crowds, they even have enough parking spaces for them, and, as an added bonus, they even have state of the art video feeds to view your graduate up close and personal. What's not to like about that?

The superintendent of Windsor Schools told Fox News that the board voted not to appeal the injunction because "the board felt that if it remained with the Cathedral and faced the ACLU, the cost to the taxpayers would be significant and the board could not justify that cost."

With temperatures expected to soar into the triple digits here, administrators at Southlake Carroll Senior High School opted to move their graduation ceremonies to the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium with its cool 78 degree indoor temperature. Still, all that fuss in Connecticut got me wondering if moving the Southlake Carroll graduation bothered the sensibilities of parents or kiddos who are Philadelphia Eagles fans, or maybe that little move violated some sort of NFL thingy. 

When my daughter graduated a number of years ago at Potter's House, I don't recall even remotely thinking her high school was endorsing any religion. We were too busy doing the dance of joy to pay much attention to the venue.

I wonder if that judge would have changed her mind if she had had to sit on the 50 yard line in near 100 degree heat, in her black robe.

Just wondering.