Wednesday, February 29, 2012

February Diet Quality Card

20120220_dietcard

I suppose at some point I should modify what constitutes quality for this diet card, it was originally vegan- and somewhat starch-based and now I'm way more protein- and vegetable-based.

Or maybe I can stop tracking so much, I think I have this pretty much down: protein and veg for breakfast, lunch, and snack, vegetable and starch for dinner, starch and protein for post-workout snack. So basically eggs and vegetable for breakfast, chicken and vegetable for lunch. I started eating steamfresh vegetables as an easy way to eat vegetables at work, but they're just an easy way to eat vegetables full stop—this is a Monday card, not that one day isn't much like the next. I am putting the Steamfresh kids through college, I go through two or three bags of vegetables a week by myself. Then either carrots and tuna or carrots and cottage cheese for afternoon snack, either veganly beans or curried vegetable stew with rice for dinner and workout fuel, and ramen with egg at least for post-workout snack.

Yeah, the ramen is bad. I finally figured out that almost all the sodium in a package of ramen is in the soup base, which I don't use, and almost all the fat is in the noodles. I'd probably do a lot better with noodles that aren't a third of my daily fat intake.

ETA: Okay, I switched to udon! Obviously it is still refined grain, but I'm okay with that for the meal before or after a workout. Just as easy to make as ramen, just as yummy, and no fat. And protein, apparently. Ha ha, from what. The wheat gluten, I guess.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Cultivate Optimism

There's something not right about the way this is written:


Winners have the ability to manufacture their own optimism. No matter what the situation, the successful diva is the chick who will always find a way to put an optimistic spin on it. She knows failure only as an opportunity to grow and learn a new lesson from life. People who think optimistically see the world as a place packed with endless opportunities, especially in trying times.

Because maybe so, but man, you know who really has the ability to manufacture optimism, losers. Why would you have to manufacture optimism when you're winning? You invent light bulbs because it's dark! And I'll tell you something else, light bulbs do not make the sun shine. What you get with a light bulb is... a light. In the dark. And by losers, I mean happy losers. Of course there are sad losers, they're the ones sitting in the dark.

In other words, I contest that success makes you able to manufacture optimism. If anything, success obviates the need to manufacture optimism. I mean, success probably does produce some sense of optimism. Where does that leave you when it's taketh away, though. Dude who's had to deal with the dark has all the light bulbs.

Perhaps I've misunderstood and what's being said is the other way around, optimism makes you able to manufacture success... maybe it does? What I'm saying is, what does success have to do with anything. I thought we were talking about being happy.

Boy I'll tell you, I auditioned to deliver the valedictory address at my high school graduation, oddly enough being that I was the actual valedictorian but never mind that. Also I lost, possibly because in the interview portion I was asked to give my definition of success and I completely insincerely answered that it didn't matter if you were a success as long as you followed your heart, and believe me I have been paying for that answer ever since.

Also I was voted Most Likely To Succeed. Hold on, I have to tape the plastic back up on the window, the wind whistling through the sills keeps ripping it down, brb.

I'm back. I have completely lost track of what optimism is.

Okay, I think there are two kinds of optimism. One kind is an expectation of success that theoretically produces success, the other kind is an expectation of happiness that theoretically produces happiness. Three kinds, if you count the philosophical doctrine that this world is the best possible world. They're related of course but not identical, like the Olsen twins and that other Olsen sister.

I dunno, an expectation of success probably produces success? I think I believe that negative self-fulfilling prophecies are almost always fulfilled, and positive self-fulfilling prophecies are sometimes fulfilled. If they are accompanied by an ability to produce success. I also believe that an expectation of success or even actual success does not at all guarantee happiness. And I believe that an expectation of happiness does not alone guarantee happiness, but does if accompanied by an ability to produce happiness.

So I'm basically saying that the ability to produce happiness produces happiness, because I'm helpful like that. And you can have this happiness with or without success, whenever you want! I mean, yes, the sun shines and makes the grass grow and we eat the grass that makes our brains work and we invent light bulbs, only connect yadda yadda. Let's just say that it's safer to be aware of the sun out of the corner of your eye than to look right at the sun.

I'm not saying that you can't want and work at success. That's a separate series, though. That comes with special glasses and everything.

Which brings us to how you cultivate this ability to produce happiness. I would guess that optimism, or the expectation of happiness, accompanies and perhaps amplifies the ability to produce happiness. Which brings us back to how you cultivate optimism. I really have no idea. I basically am an optimistic person, and pretty happy probably as a result. I don't know how I got this way, and I don't have a huge vested interest in teaching the world to sing so I haven't thought it out, in fact I don't actually have high hopes, ha ha, that I could actually do that. Or not actually, figuratively. That I could actually teach the world to sing, figuratively. I shy away from movements that rely on the world getting together to accomplish anything. Any zombie movie will show you how impossible it is to get even ten people to agree and work together, and at a time when you would think it's really, really important to agree and work together and not shoot the locks off the barn for the love of god. Though this does illustrate how capacious the doctrine that this world is the best possible world indeed is, I think my ability to accept that we're totally doomed in the face of a zombie apocalypse, or for that matter in the face of the zombie apocalypse that's actually happening, global warming, and still feel okay about hanging out with people is a real measure of my optimism.

But I don't have to believe in the world, I mean I believe in the world in that I accept it as it is. I do believe in single people. Individuals, I mean, not the unmarried. Really, that's my secret. Mom always said if you want to be happy, dream small!

She didn't actually say that.

What she actually said was, Remember once you slacken in your work it will forever be in your record.

letter from mom

What, you thought I was kidding?

Monday, February 27, 2012

Movement and Muscles at the Ankle and Foot
 summary

  dorsiflexion plantarflexion inversion eversion
anterior tibialis X   X  
extensor hallucis longus X   X  
extensor digitorum longus X     X
peroneus tertius X     X
posterior tibialis   X X  
flexor hallucis longus   X X  
flexor digitorum longus   X X  
gastrocnemus   X    
soleus   X    
plantaris   X    
peroneus longus   X   X
peroneus brevis   X   X

Friday, February 24, 2012

Movement and Muscles at the Foot
 inversion and eversion

Oh man, we are almost done, stay with me though if you're a skater because these are two key skating movements that you might not be thinking about.

biggie inverts her feet biggie everts her feet

What movements happen at this joint?

Inversion is when you lift the inner edge of your foot, not at the ankle joint, but at the subaltar joint below the ankle joint, and eversion is when you lift the outer edge of your foot. Technically this is a foot joint and movement, but functionally you still probably think of it as your ankle.

I assume that the book includes inversion and eversion because they're functional to a lot of activities. I can tell you that they're hella functional to skating, there's bending your ankles and then there's more. When Papa Doc tells you to spell out the alphabet with your feet, that's to work all of your ankle movements and muscles. You need to invert and evert your feet to get at your angles and edges, which is what makes just plain speed happen, for starters, and also swizzles, plow stops, slaloms, hockey stops... work those ankles, ladies!

What muscles make these movements happen?

foot eversion anterior foot eversion posterior, also ankle plantarflexionfoot inversion anterior foot inversion posterior

The muscles that invert your foot at the subaltar joint are your anterior tibialis and extensor hallucis longus and your posterior tibialis, flexor hallucis longus and flexor digitorum longus. I don't really understand that mix of extensor and flexors and it slightly offends my sense of order, but so it is.

The muscles that evert your foot at the subaltar joint are your extensor digitorum longus and peroneus tertius and your peroneus brevis and peroneus longus.

What exercises make these muscles work?

Resisted inversion and resisted eversion with resistance bands basically works these movements and muscles with added dorsiflexion and plantarflexion, if the muscle in question is also a dorsiflexor or plantarflexor.

I just had an idea, resisted alphabet... yeah?

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Movement and Muscles at the Ankle
 dorsiflexion and plantarflexion

biggie dorsiflexes her foot at the ankle biggie plantarflexes her foot at the ankle

What movements happen at this joint?

The foot is technically described as flexing towards its dorsal or top side, and also towards its plantar or bottom side. Dorsiflexion is what you probably commonly say as flexing your foot, and plantarflexion as pointing your foot.

If I've been told once, I've been told a thousand times to bend my knees. Better trainers like Coach Larry also tell you to bend your ankles, believe me, bend everything that bends. Everything that bends is a spring that you can load for power, power to hit, power to get the hell out of the pack. Etc.

What muscles make these movements happen?

ankle dorsiflexion ankle plantarflexion foot eversion posterior, also ankle plantarflexion

That is supposed to be a cross section of gastrocnemus on top of soleus on top of plantaris. Also I have drawn gastrocnemus huge, having just bought knee high boots. Soleus, though, is actually larger than gastrocnemus.

The muscles that flex your foot at the ankle are your anterior tibialis, extensor hallucis longus, extensor digitorum longus, and peroneus tertius in your lower leg's anterior compartment. The extensors are called that because they also extend the toes, by the way.

The muscles that point your foot at the ankle are your posterior tibialis, flexor hallucis longus and flexor digitorum longus, which also by the way flex the toes, gastrocnemus, soleus, and plantaris in your lower leg's posterior compartment, which also contains the popliteus that we talked about at the knee. Peroneus brevis and peroneus longus in the lateral compartment are also involved in plantarflexion. A funny thing is how many muscles are involved in plantarflexion, which is what you need for running away from woolly mammoths.

What exercises make these muscles work?

Resisted inversion or eversion, which we will talk about in the next post, is recommended for most of these muscles. The book says cycling with toe clips for anterior tibialis, I presume that's because toe clips hold your feet in a flexed position. I don't know, I don't bike with toe clips.

Gastrocnemus, soleus, and plantaris are your calf muscles, my daikons! Anything jumping or generally going up exercises your calves: hill running, jumping rope, stair climbing, also obviously calf raises—for calf raises and stretches, you get at gastrocnemus more with a straight leg position and soleus with a bent knee position—and if you've seen The Triplets of Belleville, cycling.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Bones of the Ankle and Foot

ankle and foot

What bones are at this joint?

The bones at the ankle joint are the tibia and fibula and the talus, and we will also be talking about the subaltar joint between the talus and the calcaneus. I apologize for the lack of detail in Mr. Skeleton's extremities, the book does not venture to those parts unknown.

What type of joint is this?

The ankle or talocrural joint is a synovial hinge joint. The subaltar or talocalcaneal joint is a synovial plane joint.

What body part moves this joint?

The muscles that work at the ankle joint are mostly in your lower leg.

What body part is moved at this joint?

The part that is moved at your ankle is your foot.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Quilt: A Step Forward

deconstructed dresses to be pieced

Let's see, it's only been... ten months since I first envisioned making a quilt out of my old summer dresses. That's actually not bad for me, I'm okay with having an idea and not getting it done immediately. Think how rewarding it'll be when I'm fifty and this quilt actually exists.

I had some time Xmas Eve to rip the dresses while I was watching Voyager, when it occurred to me that I like Star Trek not because I like space or science such as it is or even aliens, but because much drama—Dexter, for example— is all about people making questionable choices or circumstances coinciding to create, argh, unnecessary life predicaments, because hello it's drama. But the optimism of Star Trek is about people already in predicaments getting out of them. Which to me, is life. I can't do anything with my hands if I'm wringing them over Dexter not being able to just say no to his dark passenger, but when I'm watching Star Trek I can deconstruct my old summer dresses and mend my old sweatpants and mend my old couch; and also, this is why I blog instead of writing novels.

A terrible thing I say is that my ex-husband and I watched all of Star Trek TNG and then DS9 together, and then I couldn't face seven seasons of Kate Mulgrew's flat voice, so instead of proceeding with Voyager I got divorced. Now I'm halfway through Enterprise. Soon I will have watched all of the Star Trek, what will I do. Write my own series of dramaless science fiction where it's all barnraisings and square dances in space in the heretofore underutilized Beta quadrant, I guess.

My quilt needs a plan now. I love the pockets and the buttons, I'm going to make applique squares with the whole pockets. I don't think I have the patience to quilt a whole quilt, I will probably make a comforter instead and just tack the layers together with, hark, the buttons.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Express Gratitude 2

It just doesn't make sense to me not to start with awareness, always start with awareness. Maybe everybody already starts with awareness, but the awareness is silent. I just can't be aware, I have to express my awareness because I'm a special snowflake like that.

So there's being aware of things that make you happy that you have, step one, and step two, there's being aware of things that don't make you happy that you don't have:

make you happydon't make you happy
have1. be grateful for this3. get rid of that
don't have4. then, get this2. be grateful for this

There but for the grace of God, go I pretty well covers this, and also the spectacularly graceless Tonight thank God it's them, instead of youuuuu.

2. Be grateful for things that don't make you happy that you don't have.

In the order of business:

  1. knowing what you don't have
  2. being grateful for what you don't have
  3. expressing that you're grateful for what you don't have
...after I get past points 1 and 2, it's the walking the walk form of point 3 that lights my lamp. I mean, I'm not saying that talking the talk isn't getting warm, hello, I'm in therapy. I blog. It's not like Bob Geldof didn't buy a lot of TV dinners.

But the bad thing that you don't have isn't about you in the end. If you make it about you, it's two steps to fear and protectionism. When it should be about compassion.

Though whenever the sweetie man does the dishes, I still write it down on my to do list then I cross off that he did. So I have it written down that I didn't have to.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Where Women Glow and Men Plunder

p: i hate winter!

p: i really can't complain, it's been so mild.

p: but imagine, a warm day...

m: yeah.

m: a day without hats.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Movement and Muscles at the Knee
 summary

  flexion extension internal rotation external rotation
biceps femoris X     X
semimembranosus X   X  
semitendinosus X   X  
gracilis X      
popliteus X   X  
rectus femoris   X    
vastus medialis   X    
vastus intermedius   X    
vastus lateralis   X    
sartorius   X    

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Movement and Muscles at the Knee
 internal and external rotation

poppy internally rotates her lower leg at the knee poppy externally rotates her lower leg at the knee

Just to show you, your lower leg slightly rotates at the knee when the knee is flexed. Not going to go into a lot of detail because we don't tend to work this movement a lot. Semimembranosus, semitendinosus, and popliteus do internal rotation, and biceps femoris does external rotation.

Your lower leg does not rotate when it is fully extended, due to the "screw-home mechanism" that locks your femur on the tibia for stability.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Baby Carrots alla Tonnato

baby carrots and tonnato dip

I am only supposed to eat half this amount of tonnato with the baby carrots and put the other half away for later.

I have never been able to snack on carrots. Somebody told me dunk them in peanut butter, bleaghh my mouth kept expecting apple and getting carrot. But you know what's good, carrots dunked in tuna salad. Or it started as tuna mushed together with greek yogurt, and then I thought how good would this be all tonnato-style with capers and anchovies. And see, I got flaxseed oil in there too.

1 can Italian tuna packed in olive oil
1/4 cup greek yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon flaxseed oil
1 tablespoon capers
4 anchovies
baby carrots

Puree all the ingredients except obviously the carrots in a food processor. My rocket blender comes with a smaller cup I don't know what for, I guess it's for making tuna smoothies.

Eat with baby carrots or any other vegetables.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Buyer's Guide to Toe Stops: Snyder Rounds

snyder round toe stops

In the end, my Snyder rounds lasted me about a year. They've been worn down mostly flat for the better part of the year; but they've been working fine and when things work fine, I don't want to change them ever. But finally I had to ask what I was waiting for, actual metal to erupt in the middle of a bout?

I did decide that I prefer Snyders to Gumballs, your mileage may vary. I know a lot of girls who skate on Gumballs, and they seem to wear just as much as Snyders.

I'm actually having a problem now with my new right toe stop loosening all the time. I don't know why. Is it something about the shape until I wear it down? Did I strip the stem? The collar that the stem screws into actually disintegrated during my last bout; it's fixed now, but the toe stop still keeps loosening. I'm not sure what to do, I'm going to wrap a little bit of plumber's tape around the stem. And bring a toe stop wrench with me to the bench.

Oh and, I ordered new skates.

What.

ETA: Steve from Lombard, whose derby name should be Highley Recommended, says thumbs up to plumber's tape, sometimes the threads just need a little help to catch.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Blog Planner

blog planner

I dunno, is this interesting? This is my blog planner, I used to draw this out every month or so in my notebook; then I realized, they make calendars. This is an At-A-Glance monthly calendar, stapled not spiralbound, so it slides flat into the middle pocket of my notebook.

I pretty much post five days a week about SYSTEMS, Fashion, Gear, Fitness, and Food, roughly on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, though Food has the run of the place (breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, and drink, roughly on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday) and right now movement and muscles are all over the joint. Ha ha, get it? Joint.

This works for me because it's not too freeform and not too structured. It's more like set up a structure, riff off the structure, let whatever comes up find its own level. Or I suppose If you build it, they will come is pithier. Maybe that's the subtext of that movie.

Movement and muscles, actually, have given me a huge leg up EEEE I CAN'T STOP on having to think up blog entries, but I'll be finishing them by the end of the month. So I better think of something else, I'm spawning the other three parts of four-part series on gratitude in the upper left and a little pile of pomodoro workouts in the bottom right. If I get really craven, I will post my three-ingredient recipe for ramen.

Actually what really works are the Post-Its, that's how I let whatever comes up find its own level. I have blanks stocked on the left. I pile them up and move them around like the game of solitaire that blogging so essentially is. Or it is the way I play with my comments disabled. What, I'm an introvert. When a post gets written, it gets written down in its own little square. When it gets published, it gets a green X.

There are regular features that always take up squares, like my monthly diet cards and my quarterly charts and fitness and food plans; writing regularly about the same boring thing is good exercise, like scales. Also a twenty-day break four times a year takes up a lot of squares and also is good exercise.

This year also I've started posting some extras like bout day breakfasts and WCR promo videos on bout days and poppylogues as the spirit moves, and the twelve things that happy people do differently on the first and the second to last days of the month wherever that falls.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Thumb War

p: ooh!

p: i get excited when i get even a piece of your thumb.

p: hsss... hsssss...

p: eek!

p: or when i evade your thumb.

p: aaagh!

p: hey.

p: you're not even looking.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Safety First

p: i can pack my snack and some safety pins in the same baggie, right?

p: i mean, they're *safety* pins...

Bout Day Breakfast
 TF vs HB

baked eggs in avocado and sweet potato bean mash with OJ

Baked eggs in avocado and sweet potato bean mash with OJ

More bout day breakfasts!

Lady In Red and Roller Roadrunners Beware!

Friday, February 10, 2012

My Interview with Urban Folk Circuit

We love roller girls! The one who’s closest to our hearts, though, is Poppy Spock. We’re sponsoring this rad lady and we couldn’t be more excited!

Movement and Muscles at the Knee
 flexion and extension

I did not photograph Biggie doing movements at the knee for some reason, womp womp. Here's some more pictures of me in my sweats and crocs!

poppy flexes her lower leg at the knee poppy extends her lower leg at the knee

What movements happen at this joint?

Flexion is when the angle between the tibia and the femur is decreased by moving them toward each other, and extension is when the angle is increased by moving them away from each other. Of course your knee is backwards, so your lower leg goes behind you to flex and comes back forward to extend.

What muscles make these movements happen?

knee flexion knee extension

Best if you take this drawing of semimembranosus and semitendinosus with a grain of salt, I think actually ST is on top of SM; it's hard to tell from the pictures in the book. All I can vouch for is that biceps femoris is the lateral hamstring and ST and SM are the medial hamstrings.

By the same token whereas your hip flexors are anterior muscles, your knee flexors are posterior muscles and vice versa for extensors. As a matter of fact, muscles of the thigh are grouped into compartments; the posterior compartment contains the knee flexors, the anterior compartment contains the knee extensors, and the adductor compartment contains the hip adductors, one of which assists in flexing the knee. Anyway without further ado, your knee flexors in the posterior compartment are your biceps femoris, semimembranosus and semitendinosus, or hamstrings, and also your gracilis from the adductor compartment, and also your popliteus, a small muscle behind your knee that "unlocks" your knee from extension, and also your gastrocnemius (not pictured) or calf muscle, and your knee extensors in the anterior compartment are your rectus femoris, vastus medialis, vastus intermedius and vastus lateralis, or quadratus femoris a.k.a. "quads," and also your sartorius.

Note also that some of the muscles that work at the knee also work at the hip, not the least of which are your quads and hamstrings.

What exercises make these muscles work?

Same exercises as for movement at the hip, for the most part. Exercises for rectus femoris also work the rest of the quad muscles, exercises for biceps femoris also work the popliteus.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Winter Chart and Fitness Plan Revised

So you know that I actually started this blog in March 2009, bumbled along for about a year, pulled the plug I think in May 2010, and started over in June 2010 like my sweet Audrina, a joke I'm sure I have used before. Some of the better posts from back then have already been raptured into this new incarnation, like my work/play series and actually also my racerback dress, of all things, is heading up the charts like a bullet, thanks to Pinterest and Stumbleupon, and now and again I think about repopulating the back end of this blog with the rest of the best of my old posts as a record of where I came from. I took at serious cut at this and then decided against, because I was just too out of control back then. I just wouldn't want any of my struggles to be accidentally construed as advice. In this incarnation I have been wrestling with reducing my workout schedule and always ending right back up with five practices per week, which I like to think is lovably ridiculous, but where I came from wasn't even funny with me wild-eyed trying to manage up to eight practices and the twenty different vitamins I was taking, man, my vitamin chart was off the chain.

At long last, a glimmer of sanity:

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
HOBBY
 
HOBBY
 
WORK
 
HOBBY
 
WORK
 
HOBBY
 
PLAY
League
HOBBY
 
HOBBY
 
WORK
 
HOBBY
study
WORK
 
HOBBY
study
HOBBY
 
PLAY
Leag/Ref
PLAY
Fury
PASTIME
 
HOBBY
study
PLAY
Scrimmage
HOBBY
study
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 

...or well, insofar as a color-coded chart of one's life represents sanity.

Actually down to four practices a week, though. I know it looks like I'm trying to squeeze in two practices on Sunday. Those are practices that I lead, they count as recovery not key workouts. Lead means lead, Munt. I have a slight ego problem with this that I am working on.

What I got rid of is Wednesday practices. Mainly because my certification exam is coming up in April, so I study instead of practice. I've been doing this since being back from break, and it's been an eyeopener. It's so awesome. It's not even that I need the whole night to study, I just need not to have to wrap it up at 5:00 so I can eat and get dressed. I can press on points that I don't quite get, and wind naturally down by 6:30 or 7:00. And also, I can leisurely cook dinner.

If I don't do all the practices, I actually have the energy to pick up my kettlebell. Which is fun and something different, and which I don't have to bike for twenty minutes to get there. I actually already feel stronger, I only do it for fifteen minutes twice a week.

I mean, whatever. Poppy discovers sliced bread, film at 11.

I'm just saying, I'm so happy. I'm playing better, too. I said this in the car on the way to Naptown and Go-Go paused and said, "I'm glad you finally realized that, Poppy." Ahhh kids, they never listen and always have to figure it out for themselves, and now I have kids who don't listen.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Bones of the Knee

knee

What bones are at this joint?

The bones at the knee are the femur, patella or kneecap, tibia and fibula.

What type of joint is this?

There are actually three joints here:

  • the patellofemoral joint is a synovial saddle joint that allows the kneecap to slide up and down and from side to side with knee movement
  • the tibiofemoral joint, which is mainly what we're talking about, is a synovial hinge joint that allows flexion and extension and also slight internal and external rotation when the knee is flexed
  • the tibiofibular joint is a synovial plane joint that allows for gliding movement between these two bones

What body part moves this joint?

Your thigh muscles move the knee joint.

What body part is moved at this joint?

Your lower leg is moved at the knee joint.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Slow Lemon and Olive Chicken

slow chicken with lemon and olive

You don't have to manhandle your chicken as much as I do, then you could serve it in actual pieces. I tend to churn it around with a fork to fish out the bones, and that makes the meat fall apart.

I use whatever olives the sweetie man sees fit to bring home from the store. If they're pitted, I go to town and use the whole jar. If I have to pit them, I lose patience and only half the jar goes in. Both ways are good. This time I got pimento-stuffed, you know what would be really good? Those garlic-stuffed ones.

4-5 chicken thighs
1 large or 2 medium onions
1 large or 2 medium tomatoes
1 jar of olives
1 lemon

Take the skin off the chicken thighs.

Dice the onions and tomatoes, and slice the olives. Put two pieces of chicken in the cooker, lightly salt them, and layer over half the onions and olives. Then put in the rest of the chicken, onions, and olives. Top it all with the tomatoes. I just felt like I wanted to get those onions and olives in with the chicken, and let the juices from the tomatoes seep down over everything. You can also throw in a couple of bay leaves.

Set the slow cooker on low, and then go away for six to eight hours. Towards the end slice the lemon, squeeze the slices over the chicken, and throw the slices in there. I wasn't sure if the lemon flavor would be very bright after eight hours of slow cooking, this way it is.

Serve with steamed vegetables.

Slow Lemon and Olive Chicken Quinoa
I think because of the tomato, this slow chicken comes out on the liquidy side. A thing you can do is, pour off the liquid into a measuring cup and add enough water to make two cups. Put the liquid in a saucepan with a cup of quinoa, bring to a boil and then simmer for fifteen minutes. Then stir the cooked quinoa back into the chicken.

Don't Look At Me

p: ugh, i need not to ride this bike for two days.

p: my legs are so tired, i can barely move them.

p: like i'm in the back of the pack seeing who needs to be hit, and i'm like "hey you, take care of that."

m: "i'm more of an idea blocker."

p: ha ha. aw.

Reference: "Me Too," Flirt soundtrack

Monday, February 6, 2012

Baked Eggs in Quinoa and Roasted Vegetable Nest

baked eggs in quinoa nest

So you get the idea, you can make a nest out of any leftovers. I will not belabor them all. I will tell you that I made some minnesota wild rice soup over break, I added a little extra rice to that to make it less soupy and more nesty, and that was really, really good.

olive oil
leftover quinoa with roasted vegetables
two eggs
Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Lightly oil the bottom and sides of a ramekin, and spoon in quinoa and roasted vegetables about half or three quarters up. Make a well in the center and crack in two eggs. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Bake for twenty-five minutes.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Circus Hair

circus hair

p: i have a complicated hairdo.

m: woooh!

p: does it look yummy?

m: yes.

p: do i look yummy?

m: yes.

p: i try to look as yummy as possible for you.

p: within the context of a snowsuit.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Movement and Muscles at the Hip
 summary



















  flex extend abduct adduct horiz abduct horiz adduct int rotation ext rotation
ANTERIOR                
iliopsoas X             X
sartorius X             X
rectus femoris X              
tensor fascia latae X   X       X  
pectineus
X     X   X   X
addictor brevis     X   X    
adductor longus       X   X    
adductor magnus       X   X    
gracilis       X   X    
POSTERIOR                
gluteus maximus   X X   X     X
gluteus medius     X   X   X X
gluteus minimus     X   X   X X
piriformis         X     X
gemellus superior               X
gemellus inferior               X
obdurator internus               X
obdurator externus         X     X
quadratus femoris               X
biceps femoris   X X          
semimembranosus   X   X     X  
semitendinosus   X X     X  

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Movement and Muscles at the Hip
 internal and external rotation

biggie internally rotates her leg at the hip biggie externally rotates her leg at the hip

What movements happen at this joint?

So for actual rotation of the leg, the leg hangs straight and the ball of the femur turns around like Linda Blair in the socket of the pelvis. Internal rotation is when the leg turns in toward the hip, and external rotation is when the leg turns out away from the hip.

A way to isolate internal and external rotation is to flex your lower leg at the knee and point your knee straight down, then flip your foot out for internal rotation and flip it in for external rotation.

For skaters, you internally rotate your leg for things like plow stops and externally rotate for mohawks and spreadeagles. I have heard "my legs don't do that" from a lot of students. I think it's helpful to think not about freezing your hips in a turned out position, but about how your hips naturally move in and out of that position. That said, I'm pretty flexible at the hips and I might just be talking out of my butt.

What muscles make these movements happen?

hip internal rotation hip external rotation anterior hip external rotation posterior

The anatomy chapter gives as the muscles that internally rotate your leg at the hip your gluteus medius (anterior fibers) and tensor fascia latae, and slightly your semimembranosus and semitendinosus, which is what I have drawn above; however, the kinesiology chapter also gives the adductor brevis, adductor longus, gluteus minimus, and pectineus and also says that from anatomical position, there are no true primary internal hip rotators. As you flex your leg, the above muscles are in a better position to work as internal hip rotators. I dunno. Just from where they're positioned, smaller glutes and tensor fascia latae and adductors all make sense to me.

The muscles that externally rotate your leg at the hip are a lot: anteriorly, your iliopsoas, sartorius, and pectineus and posteriorly you have your glutes plus six external hip rotators: piriformis, gemellus superior, gemellus inferior, obdurator interus, obdurator externus, and quadratus femoris.

What exercises make these muscles work?

Resisted external rotation will work the external rotators.