Usually I spend Sunday night staring at my planner and all the things I wanted to get done during the weekend but didn’t. This week, this is not the case. Not only did I finish everything on my to-do list I also got out a ton and did some stuff I didn’t plan on doing! I’m very pleased with myself. Here’s the run down:

Friday:

• found a primary care doctor and an eye doctor from the massive PPO list, going to make dentist, eye doc, and physical appointments Monday
• picked up Collin and Sarah at the airport
• went to the gym (leg day)
• In-and-Out with Collin and Sarah (counter productive to above item)
• went to REI, didn’t find my sandals and ordered them online
• grocery shopping (Costco, Trader Joes, and Safeway)
• paid a bill

Saturday: (read all about it here)

• Castro
• Haight/Ashbury
• delicious Indonesian food (I’m still thinking about it)

Sunday:

• tried a crazy new low-carb, high-protein pancake recipe that involved pumpkin, oats, cottage cheese, and egg whites (The results were less than thrilling. Some of you are probably reading this and thinking “well, I could have told you that based on the ingredients.” You were right, but I will say it wasn’t as bad as you might think.)
• cleaned the apartment (well, parts of it at least)
• Griffin did the dishes
• Griffin did the laundry
• Griffin cooked lunches for the week
• updated my measurements (to keep track of my weight lifting progress)
• went to the gym (chest/triceps day)
• went shopping in Union Square

Shopping downtown was a lot of fun, I walked all over the Union Square area as I have never really seen all the streets up there. I took a bus (Muni Route 27) from Potrero Hill to 5th and Market which worked out great. My $1.50 in bus fare would have allowed me to park in Union Square for about 30 minutes but instead bought me 4+ hours of time.

We had a super old gift card for American Eagle that I wanted to get rid of (we never shop there) so I used it for a pair of jeans (see picture) I found on clearance that actually fit me as well as a super comfy new pair of workout pants (that are destined for lounging, not working out, I prefer shorts for the gym). Bath and Bodyworks had a sale on their antibacterial line (5 for $10) so I picked up a bunch of hand soap. I hit this same sale last year and was down to my last one. The soaps are $5/each normally so I wouldn’t be buying them if they weren’t on such a good sale.

I also picked up a workout tanktop (like the picture but pink) at Old Navy without trying it on because the line for the fitting room was HUGE and I figured I could always return it. I thought it was going to be okay since usually Old Navy tops fit me well but the front comes down a little to low for any serious exercise. Oh well, it’s not like I’m not at Old Navy on a semi-regular basis anyways to return it.

Today Griffin and I played tour guide to some of his friends that are in town on vacation. We were ALL over the city. Picked them up at Nob Hill where they were staying and headed to the Castro. This area is always a fun destination but we didn’t see as many strange people as usual. Then we drove down to Haight/Ashbury (crossing this one off the SF To-Do List) to walk around a bit. I’d never been before so it was kinda fun, although I don’t feel a strong need to hurry back anytime soon. Had lunch at Asqew, a place that serves mainly skewers, it was pretty good for a quick meal. There were several crepe places we passed by but didn’t stop, so now I’m having hardcore cravings for a dessert crepe. Yum. One of the more famous “chains” is Squat and Gobble that has several locations in the city. Their menu looks AMAZING. We’re talking “Almond Peach” crepes with peaches, almonds, brown sugar and cinnamon. Mmmmm…. (salivating).

In the Haight we also went to the Kidrobot store, a new experience for me, but not for Griffin. I don’t really know how to describe the store, but it only sells little toy figurines geared towards our age group. Strange but oddly likable. There are many different “collections” of figurines and each of these figurines are sold in unmarked boxes. You purchase a box from the collection but you don’t know which figurine you get until you open the box after you buy it. Griffin got an Adult Swim item and ended up getting Robot Chicken. He really wanted was Ignignkt & Err from Aqua Teen Hunger Force (a show I despise). I was kinda tempted to get a box from this collection, I thought they would make a good desktop item, but I resisted the urge and decided I really didn’t need one.

After checking out the Haight we came back to our place for a while, got some coffee at Farley’s and then headed out to dinner in the Nob Hill area. I found an Indonesian restaurant on Yelp (another one of my favorite websites). It was really delicious, chalk another one up to a great Yelp find. It was the Borobudur Restaurant specializing in authentic Indonesian food. Seeing how I’ve never eaten Indonesian food before in my life I can’t really comment on it’s authenticity but I can comment on how delicious it was. My appetizer and main dish were amazing. The appetizer was “Roti Prata,” a pan fried bread with curry dipping sauce. This was NOT a healthy option, but so doughy and delicious. I’m sure the fact that I’ve been on a low-carb diet recently contributed to it’s deliciousness. My entree was a noodle dish served with chicken and fried chicken wontons, the noodles didn’t have a sauce but were so deliciously seasoned somehow. Although this restaurant is not convenient to get to from our place, I definitely want to go again. It was fairly reasonably priced as well, $7-12 per entree.

Some good sights from today (or at least the ones I got pictures of):

• This was a sign on a garage near the Mission. Gave everyone in the car a good laugh.

• A painting on the side of an old residential building in Nob Hill. Not sure what it means…

On a side note: congratulation’s to Little Sister who graduated from college today in Colorado. She has been at Lamar Community College for the past two years and now has her degree in Equine Science.

New SF experience: waiting in line for a parking space.

REI has a tiny parking lot (like most places in the city) and there was a line to park with two employees directing traffic this afternoon. Wow.

Speaking of REI, they didn’t have the color Keen’s I wanted (only had bright blue and bright red) in store so I’m going to get some through their website. It was nice to try them on in store to make sure of the size I wanted. Wohoo for a 20% off coupon. However, they are on backorder so who knows how long I’ll have to wait for them… :(

Starbucks’ Slutty Mermaid Making Waves

A work friend posted this on Facebook. Hilarious. Anyone else craving a Slutbuck now?

Lately, I’ve seen some changes at the two Starbucks that live less than a block away from the Mother Jones office. Last month, they both started pushing a new blend called “Pike Place Roast” as their regular drip coffee, as part of a campaign to compete with brisk coffee sales at Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s. As part of the campaign, Starbucks re-introduced its 1971 brown-and-white logo featuring a two-tailed mermaid. Okay, technically it’s a siren, but regardless, the image of a female figure brazenly spreading its tails has made a few Christians vow to boycott the company.

“The Starbucks logo has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute,” explains alarmist Mark Dice, of a Christian group called The Resistance. “Need I say more? It’s extremely poor taste, and the company might as well call themselves Slutbucks.”

While I’m curious what the value of a Slutbuck is relative to a Schrutebuck, I’m worried that Dice doesn’t seem to understand the Starbucks siren is half-fish. She doesn’t have legs to spread, much less a vagina to go between them. The fact that Dice doesn’t get the difference between a fin and a foot may be an example of what abstinence-only funding does to education, but it’s certainly not the first time spunky Christians have boycotted the multinational company.

Just last summer, a group of Christian ladies boycotted Frappuccinos because there was a homosexual-agenda-pushing Armistead Maupin quote on some of the cups. Others have boycotted the company because of anti-God quotes.

All I can say is that if Starbucks goes down, it won’t be because of a handful of Christian boycotters. And it won’t be because a friend of a CATO Institute vice-president couldn’t buy a customized “Laissez Faire” gift card, either. As the WSJ tells it, a Starbucks slump will be due to oversaturation and a faltering economy that makes $4 lattes seem like less of a necessity. Whether that’s an act of God or not is for you to decide.

Hooray! No work tomorrow! I love my 9/80 schedule!

Plans for day off include (but are not limited to):

• making doctor’s appointments
• working out
• going to REI’s big sale (as mentioned here)
• picking up some of Griffin’s friends from the airport

How to Eat Sushi from The Zen of Fish

Now I’m craving sushi…

This week I’m starting a new workout program. I like to change things up every two months so my body doesn’t get to used to something. This time I’m trying something new, incorporating some faster pace/”explosive” movements. This was inspired by an article on hypermetabolic training. The idea here is to further throw your body off balance and therefore require it to exert more effort (and therefore calories) to return itself to normal. We’ll see how it works out. Here’s what the new program looks like:

Workout 1 - Back/Biceps (Mondays)

A1) Deadlifts

A2) Wide-grip Pull-Ups

4-6 sets, 4-6 reps, 90 seconds rest

B1) Bent-Over Rows

B2) Hammer Bicep Curls

Done with high acceleration and fast pace.

4-6 sets, 6-8 reps, 60 seconds rest

C1) Face-Pulls

3-4 sets, 6-8 reps, 90 seconds rest

Workout 2 - Chest/Triceps (Wednesday)

A1) Bench Press

A2) Dips

4-6 sets, 4-6 reps, 90 seconds rest

B1) Incline Bench

B2) Triceps Pushdown

Done with high acceleration and fast pace.

4-6 sets, 6-8 reps, 60 seconds rest

C1) Cable Chest Flys

C2) Cable Lateral Raises

3-4 sets, 6-8 reps, 90 seconds rest

Workout 3 Legs/Shoulders (Friday)

A1) Box Squats

A2) Lunges

4-6 sets, 4-6 reps, 90 seconds rest

B1) Push Press

B2) Jump Squats

Done with high acceleration and fast pace.

4-6 sets, 6-8 reps, 60 seconds rest

C1) Leg Curl

C2) Arnold Press

3-4 sets, 6-8 reps, 90 seconds rest

So far I’ve done Monday and Tuesday’s workouts and they went pretty well. I’m not entirely sold on the “explosive” bicep curls or tricep pushdowns. I’m excited to try box squats on Friday as this will be the first time I’ve done them.

Dear Users of Wrist Straps Today,

Wrists straps are used to aid your grip strength in lifts where your weight is very high. This does NOT mean you use straps to do machine rows with 100lbs or for lateral raises with 30 lb dumbbells. If your abuse of this lifting accessory continues your privileges will be revoked.

Thank you,

Audrey

Dear 24 Fitness,

Phil Collins is not acceptable gym music. Please don’t let this happen again.

Love,

Audrey

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Dear 3 People Waiting for an Open Ab Bench,

It’s called the floor.

Love,

Audrey

P.S. Doing crunches will not make that spare tire go away. Do some interval training instead.

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Dear Hispanic Dudes that were Worried I Was Going to Hurt Myself,

Yes, I’m going to lift that amount of weigh. How much is it? 175 lbs. Yes, I know that’s a lot. No, I will not hurt myself. Thank you for your concern though. Why am I doing this exercise? Because it is good for me. What does this exercise work? A lot, it’s called a deadlift, you should try it sometime.

Love,

Audrey

Decided I want a pair of these this weekend. Good thing REI is having their annual sale and I have a 20% off coupon!