That Crossover Step

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

In my last post, I mentioned that I’m not good at the left foot over right foot crossover step. I can’t quite figure out why this is, but being a competitive, athletic person, it drives me nuts. Because it was on my mind on the way home, I decided to try it a couple times to see if I can get myself comfortable with it or at least figure out what I’m doing wrong. Given my previously mentioned attire (lots of heavy clothes and a backpack full of stuff), this probably wasn’t a very good idea. In the middle of the playground, I took a pretty good fall. The initial impact was on concrete, just inches away from wet grass, which I rolled into. I know how to fall correctly as to minimize the damage to the weaker body parts, but the fall was so awkward, and I had very little control of more than half my body once my feet got tangled, I had no choice but to slam my knee and hand on the concrete. I couldn’t angle myself into the grass first.

I’m okay. (Computer is fine too.)

For the next couple of days, I am gonna figure this out. I should be able to do this. But it’s like doing something with your dominant hand and then trying it with your non-dominant hand.

Now that I begin moving in different directions, my neck and shoulder are a little sore too. This is the worst fall by far I’ve had on these skates.

Posted in Rants not related to my dogs | 2 Comments

Taking Advantage

Posted on January 24, 2012 by

It had been a while since I had taken the dogs out skating. As most of you know by now, I’m no fan of cold weather. But today, temperatures while the sun was out were in the 50′s, probably closer to 60. I was more than happy to get out and give the dogs a chance to race through the neighborhood…

We also stopped for about 10 minutes to play fetch. By ‘we’ I mean Jewell and I. Goliath had no interest today; he just sniffed the grass and watched Jewell run back and forth.

Knowing that Goliath expends very little energy running around, I had to take him back outside without Jewell. We went to the 44 inch box (see 44 Inch Box ) but to make it more challenging I added his weighted backpack. Of course, he still makes me feel as if it’s not much of a challenge at all, but I always use caution when it comes to high intensity exercise regarding the dogs. They won’t always tell you when they’ve had enough because they’re so eager to please, they’ll blow right through their physical limits. After that, we went down to the beach to jump up and over some rocks that are a few feet high or less.

All of this exercise wears ME out too! But for strong, healthy dogs, it’s more than worth it.

On the way to work, I had an interesting encounter with another skater. (By the way, I use my skates to get back and forth to work, barring bad weather.) About halfway into my trip, I see a young man? grown man? skate through an intersection I was just reaching. Not to be out-done, I sped through the intersection, leaning hard into the right-handed turn (because I’m not good at the crossover step left to right for some reason).

To this point, he didn’t know we were racing. That allowed me to catch him and pass him, but in a subtle way. We were skating down the main city street (a five lane road) on a section recently re-paved – very good for skating. He was on the sidewalk and I was in the middle lane. He clearly took notice of my awesome skates and the aggressive nature in which I was using them as he began to skate faster.

Let’s take a moment to assess our attire: I was wearing Dickies work pants with sweatpants underneath, 3 sweatshirts, and a backpack large enough to carry my laptop, sneakers, work jacket, and various smaller essentials; the competition was wearing track pants, a long sleeve tee, and a small back pack probably holding sneakers and a sheet of paper. He was also What I’m getting at is the obvious weight disadvantage. His skates also looked pretty cool: they also had two wheels, but they were situated in line under the foot. Also, judging by his ability to jump on and off the curbs, my guess is they were much lighter than my LandRollers.

As we continued, he got about a two car length lead on me, and I couldn’t close the gap. I was definitely stronger, but my extra weight kept me from going as fast as I go like I do with the dogs. The other guy was showing off, jumping off the curb on one foot, landing on the other, criss-crossing his feet, and various other tricks my legs were too burnt out to perform. As we came to a red traffic light, we were at a point where our future paths were no longer similar. I crossed in front of him to use the sidewalk to beat the traffic, and as I passed we gave each other a nod of acknowledgement. I’ve never seen this person before, and I may never see him again…

A few minutes later as I enter my job and sit down to take my skates off, I realize I may be very sore later on. I pushed harder than I ever had on the skates over a distance of about half a mile. It was totally worth it. If only they made lighter LandRollers…

I actually inquired about that. I emailed one of the guys in charge over there and he told me that the current LandRoller style (the Mojo) is lighter than their original skate (the Terra) and is also average in weight compared to other skates in its price range and that a lighter version is in future plans. There is no specific date for release. I’d definitely pay more for LandRollers that are, let’s say, made with carbon fiber!!! I didn’t suggest that, but maybe I should…

Posted in Jewell and Goliath | 2 Comments

What’s In A Name?

Posted on January 11, 2012 by

Something that bothers me is when a name for an object or a theme doesn’t make much sense. I think the name should accurately describe whatever it is.

For a long time, I had no idea what Rally-O and Flyball were. I saw them referred to on dog forums periodically in regards to activities for physical exercise, but no one EVER described them. Bad on me, I never had the inquisition to find out what they were (which is surprising because I’ll fire up Google and YouTube in a heartbeat when I don’t understand something).

When I read Flyball, I expected it to have something to do with a ball being launched somewhere high into the atmosphere and the dog having to retrieve it, with some kind of parameters. The videos I watched on YouTube last night have NOTHING to do with that. Dogs sprinting over hurdles, getting a ball that is in a box, and returning over the hurdles in a relay format? Sure says Flyball to me!

And what about Rally-O? I had no idea whatsoever what this would entail. I learned the “O” is for Obedience. Simple enough. Heel, sit, down commands seem like the obvious thing there. But what is the Rally part?

In all fairness, the name of my favorite American sport, Football, is kinda silly too. Using your feet in relation to the ball is only a small part of the sport. Futbol (the beautiful game) makes complete sense because the majority of the game is played with your feet.

I searched, and searched, and searched some more, but no one seems to have an explanation as far as where the names originated. What does Flyball have to do with a sport where the ball is stuck in a box? Can’t they just call the sport Obedience since Rally apparently has no special meaning? Frisbee involves throwing a frisbee… Agility, by definition, is the ability to change direction without losing speed… Weight Pulling is a display of strength and power pulling weight… Dock Jumping or Dock Diving is the dog jumping off a dock into water… All of that makes total sense to me. The name of the sport tells you exactly what the sport is.

Why does this bother me so much? I want to do these sports (especially Flyball), but I can’t see myself referring to something if I don’t like the name. That’s my beef. No, I won’t just get over it, either. I’m gonna start calling them something else. (Here’s where my creativity hits a wall…)

Posted in Rants not related to my dogs | 5 Comments

Winter Time is the Best Time

Posted on December 24, 2011 by

It’s the one season of the year that I get more freedom my neighborhood. It’s the one time that I don’t have to deal so much with the general ignorance of man. I have (what’s left of) nature and my dogs. That’s the upside. The downside is that this freedom and lack of traffic is at the expense of warm weather. While I look forward to the time I get to spend walking around off leash with the dogs, I’d rather not do it in the frigid winter temperatures. (I have a feeling I’m gonna get a Canadian comparison, so I’ll just say that I know “frigid” is relative term.)

Today, we spent a lot of time at the beach. But the walk there was a little more interesting than usual. I got a chance to let both dogs go from the leash while we headed to the fun spot. The behaviors were interesting, but not surprising as it reflects their general attitudes. Jewell was trying her best to stay close to the group, but her excitement, as usual, wins out and she trots ahead, stops to look back, surges forward some more, stops again, etc. After a while of this, she is so far ahead, she is already on the beach playing with a ridiculous 12 foot stick. Meanwhile, Goliath was at first concerned with Jewell’s anxious behavior. He appeared to want to chase after her. But he soon lost interest and would wander into the grass from time to time along the way, following his nose. I never stopped walking forward, and when he realized it, he would run to catch up. He stayed by my side or behind the entire way to the beach.

The scene on the beach is very similar: Jewell is fired up to run around, Goliath casually explores the sands. Goliath will run after the ball with Jewell two or three times, then he’ll watch her do all the work. Jewell competes against herself in the end. She hasn’t really changed much in that way with another dog in the pack.

The walk back home is what’s most special to me, though. Goliath is walking at his normal pace – having not done much running around – but Jewell is also walking in a more relaxed manner.

The goal is to find a place to live that is a lot like Atlantic City in the winter – void of most of the distractions that interfere with a basic desire to be closer to nature (but is warmer than AC in December, of course)…

Posted in Jewell and Goliath | 2 Comments

Finding Inner Peace

Posted on December 13, 2011 by

Let’s see how much of this I can get through while at a place that certainly doesn’t give me peace… Work. Currently, the discussion is about fiber’s uses in the human body (that’s the clean version) and what some people smoke orange peels when there’s nothing else around (I had NO idea you could do that). I have began to find ways to come up with some of my more introspective ideas while in situations that didn’t typically allow me such clarity. I have started to wonder why.

What I came up with is that I am beginning to figure out how to use the rest of my mind – the parts that we don’t use on a daily basis. I am learning to consciously access the sub-conscious parts of my mind and I think that is where all the good things lie. I find happiness there. I also find good ideas there.

Do you ever have moments where you think of something really good only to have it seemingly vanish, leaving you with little info on retrieving the thought? I do – or I used to all the time. WIth my mind being more open, more clear, and stronger, I’m able to hold on to such thoughts. In the past, I only came up with good ideas in small spaces or rooms, like while in the shower (because the idea is that individual thoughts have their own pulse and frequencies, and being in a small space allows them to bounce back to you after emitting them from your brain).

(Stop me if this is starting to get weird. This is how I am thinking nowadays.)

Anyway, it’s been worth it learning to control my mind and my thoughts – they are mine after all.

But what brings peace within? My answer is happiness. Happiness is the easiest answer because it applies to all of us. The challenge is grabbing that feeling and holding on to it every waking moment of your life. It’s not simply the absence of negative feelings, like anger, sadness, frustration, etc; it’s actively thinking and acting on things that make you feel really good.

For instance, I’m very much into jazz music. I will make sure I get my “fix” of many of my favorite songs at the beginning of the day and at various points throughout, especially when I’m heading into work.

Another instance is cherishing my time with my dogs. Given my schedule, I have mornings to most often times lay in the bed if I choose. The dogs have learned to take advantage of this and they’ll sleep in too. They are so peaceful on the bed, I don’t dare disturb them by getting up. Sometimes, I can’t physically get up because one or both of them are laying on me! But I feel SO GOOD just watching them rest, it puts me in a great, positive state of mind for the day.

Getting a good start is good advice. It’s much easier to keep a good day going than it is to turn around a bad start.

But when I have a bad start, like if I have a headache or something, I get right to the things that make me feel good. It usually helps instantly.

I’m not sure where this is gonna go, or if it’ll even end, as I can go on and on about the last 5 or 6 months of my life. I’ll just end it awkwardly like I d…

(If you’d like more, feel free to email me.)

Posted in Rants not related to my dogs | 3 Comments