Here are some observations from my first few days as a single-handed southpaw:
Things that are close to impossible using only my left hand:
1. Tying back my hair
2. Opening a bottle of wine (a corked bottle – not a screwtop)
3. Cutting steak
4. Taking notes quickly during a phone interview
5. Opening a boxed vase of flowers ;-)
Things that are easier (surprisingly) than I would have thought with only my non-dominant hand
1. Eating sushi with chopsticks (at least no one has to cut anything for me!)
2. Writing legibly… not fast enough to take notes though
3. Shaving my legs (less cuts than usual… go figure)
4. Opening jars and bottles… though the insides of my knees are getting bruised from being used to grips things
5. Changing the side of the bed that I sleep on in order to prop up my broken wing… (okay, this is not dexterity related but it’s a big deal… side of the bed can be a relationship dealbreaker!)
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
spiral fracture of the 4th metacarpal in my right hand
yup... i broke my hand while riding, well, falling from my bike yesterday. sux, but could have been worse, i guess. i see the hand surgeon manana and will know more thereafter. hopefully i can run and ride my bike?
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Guy Q
This month’s “Men’s Fitness” magazine has an article, a questionnaire really, called “Guy Q”. According to the magazine a guy can have “the looks, the body, the moves, and the style – but if [he] doesn’t have the right Guy Q, the rest won’t matter”. But what is *Guy Q*? Apparently, it’s the thing a guy has that “makes a girl feel like a girl”. It’s the sense that “guys can protect and defend women, even when they don’t really need it”, which is why it is so desirable. The task-oriented questionnaire includes things such as installing a ceiling fan, slapping together a bedroom set from Ikea, catching a baseball in a mitt. Hardly life-saving… but decidedly masculine. Below are a few more of my favorites from the *quiz*:
- Remove a cork from a wine bottle in one piece, without getting chunks in the bottle (or just pushing the damn thing in).
- Drive a stick shift as well as an automatic – and lay rubber at will.
- Get your girl a drink in a crowded bar – in less than 5 minutes.
- Perform at least three pull-ups without your arms shaking.
- Um, spell – words like their and there or you’re and your do not serve the same purpose.
- Perform a basic slow dance (nothing too fancy – you just need to blend in with the other dancers on the floor).
- Split wood with an ax.
- Parallel park on a busy street on the first try.
- Play poker well enough to consistently win money.
- Open a beer bottle without an opener.
It also got me thinking about what the equivalent “Gal Q” questionnaire would look like. Nothing immediately leapt to mind. Well, a few things did come to mind (e.g. perform a blow job on demand) but they seemed to betray the tone of the article. I thought a little more and got a few more suggestions from Jen and Halee. It's actually kind of scary that I don't know the "little things a woman does that make her a woman" and that "make a man feel like a man." Maybe that's part of my problem!
- Tying her man's tie.
- Wear heels through impossible-looking terrain.
- Pick perfect birthday and holiday presents for her own family *and* your family.
- Clinch a dinner reservation at the hottest new restaurant.
- Prepare a delicious meal… and clean the kitchen while doing so.
- Iron a dress shirt in less than two minutes.
- Remember birthdays and other important dates, seemingly without effort.
- Arrange flowers tastefully in a vase and keep them alive for more than a day.
- Get red wine (or beer) stains out of your man’s favorite shirt.
- Soothe a crying baby, even if it’s not hers.
Btw, I scored 36/65 in the Guy Q questionnaire – good enough to sneak me into the “pass muster – barely” category. To be honest, I’m not sure than many of my San Francisco guy friends would score much better than me on this test… if they complete the test honestly, hand on heart! I know that I’d rather date the guy that is impressed that I can change a tire, set up a home theater system, swim (and not like a dog)… even though I’d probably let him do it. Haha. Let’s face it, as old-fashioned as it sounds, the guys that *provide, fix and participate in a variety of sporting events* are incredibly attractive.
- Remove a cork from a wine bottle in one piece, without getting chunks in the bottle (or just pushing the damn thing in).
- Drive a stick shift as well as an automatic – and lay rubber at will.
- Get your girl a drink in a crowded bar – in less than 5 minutes.
- Perform at least three pull-ups without your arms shaking.
- Um, spell – words like their and there or you’re and your do not serve the same purpose.
- Perform a basic slow dance (nothing too fancy – you just need to blend in with the other dancers on the floor).
- Split wood with an ax.
- Parallel park on a busy street on the first try.
- Play poker well enough to consistently win money.
- Open a beer bottle without an opener.
It also got me thinking about what the equivalent “Gal Q” questionnaire would look like. Nothing immediately leapt to mind. Well, a few things did come to mind (e.g. perform a blow job on demand) but they seemed to betray the tone of the article. I thought a little more and got a few more suggestions from Jen and Halee. It's actually kind of scary that I don't know the "little things a woman does that make her a woman" and that "make a man feel like a man." Maybe that's part of my problem!
- Tying her man's tie.
- Wear heels through impossible-looking terrain.
- Pick perfect birthday and holiday presents for her own family *and* your family.
- Clinch a dinner reservation at the hottest new restaurant.
- Prepare a delicious meal… and clean the kitchen while doing so.
- Iron a dress shirt in less than two minutes.
- Remember birthdays and other important dates, seemingly without effort.
- Arrange flowers tastefully in a vase and keep them alive for more than a day.
- Get red wine (or beer) stains out of your man’s favorite shirt.
- Soothe a crying baby, even if it’s not hers.
Btw, I scored 36/65 in the Guy Q questionnaire – good enough to sneak me into the “pass muster – barely” category. To be honest, I’m not sure than many of my San Francisco guy friends would score much better than me on this test… if they complete the test honestly, hand on heart! I know that I’d rather date the guy that is impressed that I can change a tire, set up a home theater system, swim (and not like a dog)… even though I’d probably let him do it. Haha. Let’s face it, as old-fashioned as it sounds, the guys that *provide, fix and participate in a variety of sporting events* are incredibly attractive.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
racing... why do i do this?
it seems trite for me to write much about my honu half-ironman race while a friend and training buddy is fighting for his life in a honolulu hospital... it's been a weird few days.
the water was really choppy and the sun position made for some difficult sighting... even the pros got off track allowing my coach, chris hauth, to be second out of the water. okay, he's an olympic swimmer but he's a self-confessed drafting whore in the swim so he's rarely out of the water among the first two or three. my swim time sucked. 38min and change... 2mins slower than last year! grrr...
the bike started pretty well. i soon caught and passed one of my training buddies but the climb to hawi seemed slow-going. however, it was not nearly as hot as last year. we even rode through a small rain shower. right before the turnaround i saw a guy, spread-eagled on the ground. a volunteer was attending to him so i continued on my way and was psyched to have a little recovery on the return to the Mauna Lani. about 5mi from the hotel, i passed a couple of girls in my AG... i wondered if i had reached the *pointy end* of my AG race? but i had no real clue what position i was in. as i turned into mauna lani drive i was disappointed to see 2:4X on my SRM. i was hoping for 2:3X. oh well. time to run.
mile 1 of the run is uphill and it felt less than great but i soon found my feet, running 8-8:10min/mi. i felt reasonable, taking the course a mile at a time, and thankful that it was not as hot as the prior year. the course is very undulating with varied terrain, sand, grass, concrete and tarmac but the multitude of out and back sections do allow you to get a sense for placing... alas, my *sense* was that i was in no better than 4th place or so in my age group. a trip to the bathroom at mile 9 allowed about three girls to pass me (too much coke?) but i did recatch one girl and crossed the line in 5:19 and 6th place in my age group. no kona slot for me! damn w35-39 age-group. i'd have qualified in w30-34... c'est la vie.
Katie & Sandy on the W30-34 podium
however, the post-race situation quickly diverted my attention away from the race. a close friend and training partner, dirk, had suffered some sort of brain hemorrhage during the race. that's *the guy* that i had seen on the side of the road. ugh! he was transported by helicopter to a neuro ICU at Queen's hospital in Honolulu... any disappointment i might have felt about the race quickly evaporated as i helped friends pack and travel to be by his side. currently his condition is improving but he's still in critical condition. life is fragile. dirk's as healthy as can be... but a congenital brain condition does not care how much you exercise or how healthy you are at mealtime... life is not fair.
the water was really choppy and the sun position made for some difficult sighting... even the pros got off track allowing my coach, chris hauth, to be second out of the water. okay, he's an olympic swimmer but he's a self-confessed drafting whore in the swim so he's rarely out of the water among the first two or three. my swim time sucked. 38min and change... 2mins slower than last year! grrr...
the bike started pretty well. i soon caught and passed one of my training buddies but the climb to hawi seemed slow-going. however, it was not nearly as hot as last year. we even rode through a small rain shower. right before the turnaround i saw a guy, spread-eagled on the ground. a volunteer was attending to him so i continued on my way and was psyched to have a little recovery on the return to the Mauna Lani. about 5mi from the hotel, i passed a couple of girls in my AG... i wondered if i had reached the *pointy end* of my AG race? but i had no real clue what position i was in. as i turned into mauna lani drive i was disappointed to see 2:4X on my SRM. i was hoping for 2:3X. oh well. time to run.
mile 1 of the run is uphill and it felt less than great but i soon found my feet, running 8-8:10min/mi. i felt reasonable, taking the course a mile at a time, and thankful that it was not as hot as the prior year. the course is very undulating with varied terrain, sand, grass, concrete and tarmac but the multitude of out and back sections do allow you to get a sense for placing... alas, my *sense* was that i was in no better than 4th place or so in my age group. a trip to the bathroom at mile 9 allowed about three girls to pass me (too much coke?) but i did recatch one girl and crossed the line in 5:19 and 6th place in my age group. no kona slot for me! damn w35-39 age-group. i'd have qualified in w30-34... c'est la vie.
Katie & Sandy on the W30-34 podium
however, the post-race situation quickly diverted my attention away from the race. a close friend and training partner, dirk, had suffered some sort of brain hemorrhage during the race. that's *the guy* that i had seen on the side of the road. ugh! he was transported by helicopter to a neuro ICU at Queen's hospital in Honolulu... any disappointment i might have felt about the race quickly evaporated as i helped friends pack and travel to be by his side. currently his condition is improving but he's still in critical condition. life is fragile. dirk's as healthy as can be... but a congenital brain condition does not care how much you exercise or how healthy you are at mealtime... life is not fair.
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