Get your fitness on!

            As I stand here, basking in the post-workout glow that was achieved from doing a HIIT (high intensity interval training) session, I can’t help but think about something that I saw in the world of social media today. It was a meme poking fun at the way one group of individuals (members of Planet Fitness) elected to workout. Sure, I have poked fun at the unique rules that have been put into place at Planet Fitness gyms and would probably not feel comfortable there… not because of the rules, but because I prefer to workout alone, in my garage gym. The only comfort that I would gain from going to Planet Fitness would be due to the fact that their gyms are air conditioned, unlike my garage, which, given the fact that I reside in the desert of New Mexico, gets quite warm during the summer.

            That brings me back to the meme. Just because someone doesn’t workout or train the way you do, it doesn’t make their efforts at health and fitness moot. Heck, I don’t really care for LISS (low intensity steady state) cardio, but do I poke fun at those who do it? No. I am just happy that they are doing something active. While you may enjoy heavy deadlifts and seeing your veins show, others may simply enjoy getting in a little exercise while socializing. Both physical exercise and socializing are beneficial to one’s overall well-being. Me, personally, I enjoy weight lifting, MMA- and athletic training-inspired programs. I like feeling strong and being able to feel like an athlete. Some of my favorite workouts are from Beachbody (no, I don’t want you to be my coach, thank you though): Les Mills Combat, Les Mills Pump, Insanity, and Insanity: Asylum. I’ve completed two Tough Mudders, and hopefully will complete another sometime in the future.

            I’ve noticed that since I have received a diagnosis of a chronic pain condition (fibromyalgia with small fiber neuropathy), it is even more important for me to remain active. However, if someone were to tell me that the only workouts I could do was LISS, I would most likely not be interested in doing it. Despite my preference, there are some days that my pain and physical symptoms are just too much to allow me to do my favorite workouts, leaving me the only option to do LISS. I am still moving. I am still being active. So, before you judge someone as being inferior to you because they happen to belong to a certain gym or prefer a different activity from what you proclaim to be the best, take a second to acknowledge that they may be doing the best they can due to health issues or perhaps, *gasp* enjoy something that you don’t find enjoyable. Congratulate that old biddie doing some power mall walking...at least she is being active!

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

As stated in the United States Declaration of Independence, there are three rights that are referred to as unalienable, yet many who reside in this country don’t experience the benefits of these rights. The right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness often are pushed to the background, in favor of lobbyists who have their own interests in mind, rather than the individuals whose lives are affected by the choices that are made behind closed doors, often with money changing hands. In effect, this is blood money, particularly in regards to the National Rifle Association, or NRA, which is one of the most influential lobbyists. The NRA spends a tremendous amount of money in order to defend the right for citizens to own weapons of mass destruction, while also working to reduce gun regulations, even when it comes to assault weapons. I don’t think that the Founding Fathers had this level of carnage-capable weapons in mind when they drafted the Amendments. According to recent figures, the NRA spends over $3.3 million annually trying to stop gun regulations, even when most of the registered gun owners in the United States support the use of expanded background checks and other proposed measures. 

Life: The opposite of death

How are people supposed to pursue life when there are bigwigs who are trying desperately to prevent this very thing from happening? People are dying due to the use of guns instead of common sense or effective conflict resolution skills. Sarah Winchester recognized the destruction of lives that were attributed to the Winchester rifle, going to the lengths of constantly building on the house in San Jose, CA in order to appease the spirits of those who died by the very thing that was named after her family. Why is it that she could recognize the death and destruction that is caused by the weapons that bear her namesake, but our current society appears to be blind to the issue? More accurately, the politicians, specifically the Republican party, prefer to have people armed to the gills, while also taking away or reducing access to mental and physical health care.

            Now, this isn’t a post against the Republicans or NRA per se, but more of a way to bring to light the “unalienable rights” that have been squashed by the power of the almighty dollar. When it comes to the pursuit of life, access to health care seems to be a no-brainer, but sadly, even with the recent introduction of the Affordable Care Act, many in this country lack access to sufficient or adequate care. While the rich are able to access any type of healthcare they may want or require, it is the poor who pay the price for the decisions made by those in power. As of February 2016, the Republicans have voted 63 times to limit access to health care services. Sixty three times. Although the Republicans have opposed this plan 63 times, they have yet to bring an alternative plan to the table. The changes wouldn’t affect them, but rather the millions of families that would lose any access they may currently have to the services that help them to sustain life. So, there goes the right to pursue life.

Liberty: Freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control

            Gee, does that sound familiar? In politics, this pertains to both the social and political freedoms that citizens of the United States hold. However, in light of the current political system, it doesn’t appear that this right is achievable. Our current presumptive nominees for the role of the President consist of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, even when other candidates have received higher voter turnouts. Why is it that the “superdelegates” play any type of role in our political system? What ever happened to every vote counting? Our political system appears to be more of a popularity contest, with the one with the most name recognition, winning, despite any of their views, history, or plans for the country.

            Now to the arbitrary government or control aspect...long ago, it was written that there is to be a separation between church and state, but it appears that too has been crossed out in many of the playbooks that our elected officials use to make decisions that affect the citizens who pay their salaries. Many states have placed the lives of those who they are supposed to represent at risk due to the rulings that have been made, often with quotes from the Bible intertwined with the legal standing. This can be seen in the fight against the right to access comprehensive medical care for women, protection for the LBGTQII community, and even legalizing the right for a business to refuse service or insurance coverage if they don’t agree with what’s at hand. There is not a war against Christianity, far from it. There is a war against equality.

Happiness: A mental or emotional state of well-being, defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.

            Now, here is where I will put my psychologist hat on. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, there are a few basic human needs that need to be met in order to obtain maximum psychological health and pursue happiness. These include physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and then the ability to self-actualize. Under the physiological needs, you will find food, water, and sleep. Now, let’s look at our current society. Are these needs being met? The answer is no, they are not, and they are not being met for millions of people residing in one of the richest countries in the world. How are we supposed to pursue happiness if we don’t know where our next meal is coming from or if we are going to have a safe place to sleep at night? How about clean water? One just has to look at the events that have taken place in Flint, Michigan, where in order to save a few bucks, the safety of the water and health of the residents were sent into jeopardy without their knowledge. Even more states have been affected by lead-tainted water, with some suggesting that approximately 20% of the water systems in the country have lead levels that trigger the alarm for a call to action.

            Okay, let’s move to safety, which is the second tier of the hierarchy of needs and is considered to be a basic need. This group includes the security of body, employment, resources, family, health, and property. Again, this basic need and requirement to strive or pursue happiness is not being met for millions of people who live in the United States. Rape, violence, outsourcing of jobs, splitting families up due to some biblical passage that is misconstrued in order to fit the needs of the conservatives, the blocking of access to medical care by the Republican party, and the overpriced housing market...this is just a small number of examples that support the idea that the safety aspect of the steps to pursue happiness are road blocked and inaccessible to millions of people.

            In conclusion, there appears to be a great divide between the haves and the have-nots, with the rift growing larger by the day. If these unalienable rights are supposed to be applicable to all, why are just the elites able to ensure that they have all of their needs met, while millions of people watch from afar, unable to have access to the same quality of life? I don’t pretend to have all of the answers, but I do think that instead of making the divide greater in our society, perhaps we need to build a bridge, instead of a wall. We need more peace, love, unity, and respect, not more wars, carnage, and hate. That’s just my 2¢ though. If you have any other suggestions, feel free to comment.

What's Bugging You?

Imagine this. You move into a place, thinking that it is a step up for the same price you were paying, only to find out that it’s already occupied. Not by squatters, but rather blood sucking parasites. No, not Republicans, but close. Ticks. Yes, those horrid little buggers that are the things of nightmares and associated with Lyme disease. Well, that is our story.

We moved in on Sunday the 21st of February. The roof of our previous rental had been leaking and the management hadn’t patched the hole in the ceiling and sagging drywall in almost a year. So, we were looking for a new place, with a new roof, and possibly an extra room since I had my gym in the garage. That wouldn’t be too much of an issue, but we live in southern New Mexico, where the garage would only be inhabitable for six months out of the year, if that. We found that our current rental property manager had a different place available, for the same price. It was a three bedroom house that had a larger yard, which is important when you have dogs. Since it was the same company, we were able to transfer our security deposit to the new house, so that was an added bonus.

The actual moving part went well, no terse words were exchanged and no injuries occurred. We ordered takeout for dinner, since we were famished and everything was still in boxes. During dinner, we started to see a few bugs come in through a gap in the sliding glass door that the handyman had recently installed. We tried to identify the bugs through a Google search during dinner, but we were not really familiar with the bugs we were seeing. They kept coming in though. They were crawling on the floor, on the walls, everywhere. I sprayed them with the only thing I had available at the time, which was a bottle of 409. Note to readers, 409 does not kill ticks.

We decided to go to bed and try to get some sleep, since it was a long day of moving and whatnot. As we were in bed, with our dogs (since they are part of our family), I started feeling things crawling on me. I was flicking them off of me several times a minute. I ended up driving to our old place (which were were in the process of cleaning out and had until the 1st of the month) and tried to sleep on the floor. Bugs were still on me. I emailed our landlord to tell her about the issue and then eventually got to sleep, around 4 in the morning. I woke around 6 and saw that my landlord had emailed me back, stating that she had no idea that there was an issue and that she would try to get the exterminator out there that day.

I ended up going back to our new place, and with the help of my boyfriend, packed up our dogs and took them to our old place so that I could give them all flea and tick baths. Going on very little sleep and high emotions, this was not a fun feat. Dogs washed, I was exhausted, but there was nowhere to sit or lie down at the old place, since I felt like I still had bugs on me. I took a shower and cried hysterically (one of many such showers during the past two weeks) until the water ran cold, trying to scrub the bugs (real and imaginary) off of my skin.

The exterminator ended up coming out and sprayed inside and out. He said that we were infested with ticks. There were thousands of them. THOUSANDS! He said that we should be seeing the number decrease and that to call if they are still bad in a few days. Since that day, we have spent over $200 on pest control out of our own pocket, primarily for the dogs...flea and tick shampoo, tick spray, tick collars, perimeter spray, etc. I also vacuum several times a day, making sure that I have some Diatomaceous earth in the vacuum to torture the ticks before they die.

Our valiant efforts to slay the ticks were not sufficient nor effective, so the exterminator came out a second time. This time saturating the entire place with a substance that promised to be the end all for these creatures. We are seeing fewer of them, but I am still sweeping up 1,000+ per day outside on our patio. Yesterday our package from Amazon arrived, which contained a pest spray, pump sprayer, and tick collars for the dogs. These collars came highly recommended and were a decent price. Well, the dogs had been treated with a tick spot treatment, tick spray, and now tick collars. All of the chemicals are just killing me. In the 11 years that Peggy Sue has been in my life, she has never had a single tick or had to be treated with such chemicals. We even used to go hiking through the woods at least once a week, never getting as much as a hitchhiker from the trips. Now, she is the one that we pulled the largest tick.

Last night, the ticks were back in our bed, which led to horrible sleep and a hangover feeling that I experience when I don’t have sufficient sleep and am under stress. I work from home, so there is literally no escape. I smell like I am at a sleepaway camp, but without the fun and treats. I am covered with OFF (with DEET) and have found several ticks crawling on me today. One of our dogs which we place a collar on last night wasn’t acting herself this morning, so I took off her collar and gave her a bath.

Had we known about all of the issues, including a dishwasher that doesn’t really work, a garbage disposal that doesn’t work and smells like the bottom of a dumpster, a fridge that has a mysterious odor that comes and goes (no, it’s nothing IN the fridge, so I have no idea), and the tick infestation that has caused us to put countless chemicals on our dogs and ourselves, there is no way that we would have moved here.

This place is nearly uninhabitable. It is not good for my mental or physical health, nor is it healthy for our dogs. At least our landlord appears to be concerned and has reimbursed us for our costs associated with the tick infestation issue. It’s funny (not lol funny though) that the handyman noted that there were a lot of bugs (ticks) in the frame of the sliding glass door when he replaced it, but instead of doing anything about it, he just replaced the door and framing.

I don’t really feel like unpacking at all and have lost close to 10 pounds since we started moving (about a month). This is probably due to not wanting to be in the kitchen since there are...yup, ticks in there too, and just being too stressed. I am not against moving again, to a house that doesn’t have any ticks and all of the appliances work. It sucks that the place we moved out of had everything that I liked, including a fireplace and working appliances...oh, and NO TICKS! I just want to live in a place that is safe, clean, and habitable. Is that too much to ask?