Saturday, February 27, 2010

A massage..damn I needed that!

Last Sunday after my first game at an open gym for IBL, I hurt my back. I have no idea what happened. I was able to finish that first game just fine, and since we lost I was just stretching on the sidelines chopping it up with Francis. And then all of a sudden I felt this SHARP pain in my lower back. I honestly couldn't breathe. It then resonated all up my back and practically paralyzed me while I hunched over. Since it was about a 40-minute wait till my next game [4-5 game wait] I was able to loosen it up while continuing to stretch and jogging in place. By the time I got to play again, the pain subsided. Thank God! I was able to play to play 3 more games that day with no issue. Well, I guess I just wasn't thinking about it when I was playing. That tends to happen when my adrenaline gets going. And now that I am 30, the adrenaline cannot protect me for long periods of time. After hoopin' I went to Alice and Eddie's place to hang for a bit where my back continued to stiffen up and then the next morning I was useless. Every way I turned, my back hurt.

So fast forward to today. My back had finally loosened up this week after icing and resting, so I decided to get a massage. I went to Massage Envy today in Palatine and Christine hooked me up with an hour massage. I thought my lower back was my only issue, but it turns out my upper back is all kinds of crazy too. She found knots all over the place. We talked a good amount about running since I saw one of her hobbies was running in her bio in the waiting room. She said she ran the marathon last year in under 6 hours. I hope to do the same this year. She told me some stretches I need to as well as techniques. I'll be sure to do those the next time I workout/run.

Tomorrow...a swim while Jaz is at her driving lesson. Then Monday, outside to run! I have the Shamrock Shuffle 8K at the end of March so I gotta be ready for it.

Sorry for the boring blog, just wanted to write SOMETHING for tonight :)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

LOST: Lighthouse

This episode revolves around Jack

Flash-sideways
  • Jack has a scar on his hip appendix was removed at 7 or 8 years old. Jack doesn't fully remember
  • Jack had a kid named David (13-14 years old?)
  • Shared custody of David, where's his mom? What happened with Jack and her?
  • It appears Jack still liked the occasional drink before his father's death [his mom saying, "good for you", although he did drink on the plane
  • Jack and his mom learn of Claire from his will
  • David runs away from Jack to audition for Williams Conservatory where Dugan's son is at also

On the island [2007]
  • Hugo sees Jacob by the fountain
  • Jacob sends Hurley and Jack to the lighthouse where a set of mirrors show the lives of people at different degrees. Each degree shows a name. Jacob wanted Hurley to turn it to 108 degrees...whose name is that? 108 also was not shown in the cave of names in "The Substitute"episode. Whoever is listed at 108 must have some significance to getting of the island
  • Hurley addresses the question about the two skeletons in the cave. "Time travelled to dinosaur times, and it is really them"
  • Claire is back...mmmmm
  • Apparently Claire is still on the lookout for Aaron, and appears that she has no recollection of what really happened the night she disappeared. She is not happy with the idea that Kate raised Aaron, which is in line with Kate's thoughts/nightmares about Claire
  • According to Jacob, someone bad is going to the temple...could that be Claire? Or will Jin be leading Flocke in as well as Claire through the secret passageway

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

LOST notes: The Substitute

Some observations/questions about tonight's episode of LOST

Alternate timeline [2004]
  • Yay, John Locke is supposed to get married, but awesome he's getting married, but aw someone parked too close to his car, but yay it's Hugo!
  • Hugo leads Locke to a temp agency he owns and Rose reports to Hugo
  • According to Peg Bundy miracles do happen
  • Locke is now a subtitute teacher...and so is BEN?!

2007 timeline
  • John Locke WAS a candidate [episode later this season]
  • Who did "Flocke" see while talking to Richard? Blonde boy with blood on his hands. Was that Aaron?
  • Flocke is "recruiting" according to Ilana, also an episode name later in the season
  • Apparently drunk Sawyer can figure out Flocke is not the real Locke
  • How does Ilana know that Jin will be at the temple?
  • It is so hard to not make the Jacob/MIB leap that they are God/Devil
  • Flocke is trapped
  • Long-haired Sun is way prettier than short-haired Sun
  • Ironic that Ben is the one who speaks at Locke's "funeral" on the island
  • It would've been funny if Flocke turned into the smoke monster before climbing down the ladder on the side of the cliff....cheater!
  • White rock/black rock = Jacob/MIB?
  • Jacob wrote numbers with names inside the cave: 8 - Reyes [Hugo] all not crossed out. Crossed out means dead?
  • Jacob had a thing for numbers
  • Why didn't they show Kate's number?
  • According to Flocke, the people on the wall were all candidates to become the protector of the island? Why them? Jacob touched them all during very difficult times in their lives or when they had to make a decision. Why them?

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Yeah...I'm LOST

Just watched the third hour of the final season of LOST, and yeah, nothing has been resolved yet. Instead, at the end of "What Kate Does" even more questions have popped up about what the hell is going on with this damn island and show. Theories will always fly through the internet, but it seems like it almost doesn't matter anymore. We will just have to wait till this season is over before we get the answers we would like. I guess I'll just use this post for random thoughts/questions/observations/theories up until this point

LA X parts 1 & 2
  • The first two hours were named LA X, with a space between the A and the X. Must be because we now have two timelines to follow [yipee! NOT], one in LA, one on the island, I guess we're calling that X, because it seems to always move like a variable.
  • Is it me, or did alternate-2004 Jack seem to have been aware that something was "different" when he was on Oceanic 815. The little conversation he had with Rose seemed like they both knew that they had gone through something.
  • Juliet first said it didn't work when Sawyer was able to get through all of the metal that somehow did not empale her. Then she seemed to have gone back/forward to another time in her subconscious talking about getting coffee and going dutch [much like Charlotte's death when she said she couldn't have chocolate minus the nosebleed]. And then was able to tell Miles [after she already died] that the bomb did in fact "work". Did her mind flash to the alternate 2004 timeline?
  • I liked Hurley as the leader for as long as it was. He always brings comedy to his role: "I travelled across the ocean, and like, through time"...haha
  • Wonderful, ANOTHER set of "Others", who now reside in a temple!
  • OHHH Kate stole Jack's pen on the plane...didn't catch that till watching the episode the 2nd time
  • Is alternate-2004 Sun going to leave Jin? Not that it matters to the story, but that's what her plans were before the crash anyways.
  • Unconscious people can't hold their breath...thanks for the lesson doc!
  • Why did they hold Sayid in the springs as long as the sand minute glass when Dogan only took a second to see if his hand would heal?
  • How did the springs "heal" Sayid if it didn't work for Dogan when he cut his hand?
  • Frogurt..YES!
  • Where is "home" for the Man in Black/Locke?
  • Didn't Ben once summon the Black Smoke Monster to kill off the mercenaries? How did he do that?
  • Quite a popular one, Is Sayid now the new Jacob like "Locke" is the new Man in Black? There would be one major inconsistency. The man in black did not need Locke's body to be him, he was able to become a separate entity. Whereas if Jacob became Sayid, he actually used Sayid's body
  • "Nothing's irreversible"? C'mon, Jack HAS to remember!
  • Richard was a slave on the Black Rock
  • Man in Black was disappointed with everyone on the beach "The Others"
  • Seriously, "in love" Sawyer is a little bitch


  • What Kate Does
  • Even in the alternate-2004 timeline, Kate and Claire have a special bond regarding Aaron. Even without the crash, they were somehow drawn to each other
  • The "tests" they run on Sayid appear to be testing to see if he is the MIB/smoke monster? The ash has proven to repel the smoke monster, the electric shock did also with the gate, did the searing hot poker also do the same?
  • What's with the poison pill? My guess is if Sayid was the MIB, then he would not die from it. If he was not, then they could resurrect him with the springs again?
  • Claire goes into "early labor" in alternate-2004 just like she did when she did when the crash occurred. It seems like some things will stay the same, just like the bond between her and Kate. So it appears some things may happen in the alternate timeline as they did in the original post-crash timeline. What other things may happen in both versions of the timeline?
  • Specs [as I will call him] said that they think Sayid is "infected". Is it like what Russo saw in her team before she had to off all of them? Then later Dogan says that Claire was also infected in that same way. How does one get infected? Maybe through the MIB? Claire could've been infected when he was Christian [if that's what happened]
  • Now that Claire can't give Aaron to the adopting parents, it is fate's way of telling her to not give up the baby?
  • Dr. Ethan? uh oh...that can't be good
  • Is Claire the new Russo? Cappin' guys left and right now!
  • Speaking of cappin' people, Justin needs to seriously cap Aldo!
  • Monday, February 01, 2010

    Just waiting to register for the Chicago Marathon...

    I'm not even running right now, and I feel like I'm going to puke. 11:46PM right now so I have 14 minutes before I make a decision that will change and own the rest of my year. I can't believe I am even considering this. I had a good last year of running right? Was able to run up to 9 miles within a few months when I really started pushing myself. I mean, I just have to TRIPLE that effort, right? Starting out this year of working out, I think I finally found some workout and some good resources [my cousin Joe and my friend Jeremy]. And it's amazing how helpful it is to just be on twitter and tweet with other much more experienced runners and see what kinds of tips they have with running. Also the support is simply AMAZING in this community! Of course I have my running friends who I go to often - CJ and Lisa [10 min now], and they totally have my back. Hundreds of thousands of people run in a marathon in a year, if not in an actual marathon, but on their own. There's a guy I am following on twitter who is trying to run 250 marathons this year! Just an amazing story! So what's my story? I don't have some crazy story about possibly never being able to ever walk again, or have the courage to run for someone who battled with a terminal disease. I am simply running for the ones I love. I have seen lives end too soon whether it was something that could be avoided or not, and time and time again, I wonder how much more life did that person have in them? How many experiences in their life were they supposed to have? What did they not get to accomplish? Whenever God says it is my time, I don't want people to think I did not live a full life [5 min left]. I want people to know I went when I was supposed to, and I did everything in my power to accomplish the goals I set. I am not a motivational speaker but I would love to be the person to tell everyone that they can. They can do whatever they want to in this life if they work hard and stay focused. And there is only one way to prove this theory. It is to show everyone that anything, is indeed possible. Years ago, I would have NEVER tried something like this because I thought I couldn't. Now I realize I never did it because I wouldn't. I thank you all in advance who will be supporting me throughout this year in this seemingly improbable goal...I promise you, I will do this for you. 3...2...1...