Tag: treadmill

Crafting Pains

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Etsy1 Comment

I am a crafter. I think I was born a crafter because I love making things with my hands from raw materials. Everyone loves something that was made specifically for them to enjoy.

When I was 9 years old in the Cub Scouts, I learned to make keychains with 2 strands of Rexlace, or as some people call it “Gimp”. I made a few here and there at that age, but never went further with the craft until I was in my early 30’s when I remembered how fun it was to make, so I decided I wanted to learn all over again. I played around with the 2 strand keychains, but still didn’t know how to finish them, so I did what we did as kids, we burned the strands to melt them together with a lighter. That of course was the wrong way to do it.

Fast forward 10 years to a couple of years ago when I broke my arm and decided I wanted to make keychains again, but this time I learned how to properly finish them. I also learned how to make keychains with more than just 2 strands and in many patterns. I went overboard and opened an Etsy shop to sell my keychains. I wasn’t as successful as I had hoped, but it was fun.

I recently had an order for 200 mini DNA red and white keychains. Unfortunately my carpal tunnel syndrome got in the way, and I was only able to complete half of the order before I was forced to take a break. I shipped out the first 100 in the first week of October, and I just finished the second 100 and am going to ship those out in the morning.

This is a casual business for me. I’m not living on the profits, in fact, when I do get an order, which is very rare, it helps me buy some groceries, or it may help me pay for a new video game, or jewelry that I wanted to buy. I never intended on huge bulk orders like this. It’s nice that someone thinks highly of my work that they want a huge order, but my hands can’t handle the constant torture from pulling strands of plastic lace.

My hands are in so much pain that I wake up every morning in agony. When I go to the gym, if I have my hands up on the bars or on the top of the treadmill, the pain in my thumb is excruciating and I have to bring my arms down to swing.

As of right now, I’m retired from making anything in bulk. I don’t mind making up to 10 keychains,  10 mini or 5 regular size, but that’s it. I’m going to have to just stop the torture on my poor hands. I love the work, and appreciate the groceries and winter cycling gear I was able to buy, but it’s just not worth permanent damage to my hands.

Actually, as of right now I am on vacation from my Etsy shop lol. I honestly don’t even want to think about making keychains and earrings, or even the Friendship bracelets or anything that is repetitive.

Come to think of it, my hands are killing me from typing this blog post. I have to rest my right hand from typing every few minutes, so I’m just going to stop typing and get in bed.

Planet Fitness Day 1

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Screenshot_2015-09-13-16-29-18Today was my very first day at Planet Fitness. I rode my bicycle and it took me 25 minutes to get there and I logged it into the Planet Fitness app manually and that was 275 calories burned.

When I signed in, I bought a gym bag because I needed something with a zipper. I saw they were only $10 on the PF Store in the app. I also asked for a pair of earbuds and a neoprene armband to hold my Dell DJ, but they didn’t have that. Instead, they showed me that they had a sale going on the gym bag with a pair of earbuds, a sports bottle, a combination lock, a hand towel and a rubber band bracelet with Planet Fitness written on it. Well, I had already bought a combination lock from Albertson’s and a sports bottle that was actually better than what came with this special, but I went ahead and bought it anyway. You can never have too many locks. The sports bottle would have been okay if it were better than what I already had, but it was worse, WAY WORSE!

The hand towel that came with it was a white towel with the logo printed on it. Well, you know what happens when something white with something inky gets wet? Just imagine putting in a red shirt in a load filled with white socks and white underwear. The ink runs all over the towel. Well, when you are wiping it all over your sweaty head for an hour, guess what happens. You get the ink all over your skin. My forehead looked like I had a major sunburn.

After I bought the bag with all the stuff I really didn’t need, besides the earbuds of course, I used the Total Body Enhancement chamber. Oh, I had to go back to buy a pair of “Peepers” to protect my eyes from the bright red light. They would’ve given me a pair to use, but I figured if I’m going to be using this machine every day, and possibly the tanning bed, I might as well own a pair and not use something someone else has used. The Total Body Enhancement was pretty cool. It vibrated my whole body. I honestly don’t know if it did anything, but I liked it and I’m going to do it before every workout. I asked if it’s before or after and the guy said you can use it either before or after, it doesn’t matter.

After that I went to the treadmills and got on one and did 30 minutes. It did a 5 minute cool down which is why it logged as 35 minutes in the Planet Fitness app. I plugged my earbuds in the machine and was able to watch I Am Cait on the E! channel. It ended in the middle of my workout, so I switched it to Naked and Afraid lol. When my workout was complete, I used the PF app to log my exercise and the app has this feature that all you do is tap Snap a Workout and you choose your machine then take a picture of the summary on the screen. It processes and eventually posts your workout in the app. Pretty cool eh? I didn’t have to enter anything manually into the app.

I didn’t stay to do anything else because my back was really hurting halfway through my Treadmill workout and it was agony when I finished. I went to the desk to sign in to use the massage chair and the guy gave me 2 tokens and that gave me about 5 minutes in the chair. It was a heck of a lot better than the Shiatsu massager that I have for my desk chair. It does a lot more than even the massage chairs at the mall. It helped a lot. I forgot to bring ibuprofen with me, so while I’m thinking about it, I better put the bottle in the gym bag now. I’m in absolute agony so I’m going to take some now as well.

I considered taking a shower before I left, but I figured I’m going to ride my bike home, why would I take a shower when I’m just going to have to take another one when I get home. I bought a bottle of water on my way out and rode the same distance, only it says 4.03 miles and I rode for 29 minutes this time. The reason is because my legs were so exhausted from riding the bike, then walking on the treadmill, then riding the bike again. I was really dragging ass on the way home, but it will all be worth it when it conditions my legs to allow me to do more at the gym in the future.

Tomorrow instead of using the treadmill, I think I will use the elliptical machine. It’s too soon for me to even think about the stair machine. There’s really no point in using the bicycle machine since I ride one to and from. It’s a bit redundant to ride the bike, then hop on a machine that rides like a bike, then ride my bike home. It would be like walking there, then getting on the treadmill and then walking home.

Anyway, I had a fun time and tomorrow I plan on tanning and using the hydromassage bed instead of the massage chair at the end of my workout. I hope to burn many calories and lose a lot of weight so I can be a skinny bitch again.

Invasive Questions About Homosexuality

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, SexLeave a comment

Interogation

I had to come out of the closet at age 17 because my  mother confronted me about it.  I wasn’t ready to come out, but apparently she was ready for me to come out.  She treated me like dirt, lower than dirt, like pond scum, no, lower than pond scum.  The disgust she had in her facial expression made me feel guilty for being gay, but I knew it wasn’t my fault because I never chose to be gay.  But that wasn’t the only time I ever had to go through that.  I had to come out to every family member.  Some of them were more accepting while others were just as disgusted as my mother was.

It is one thing to come out of the closet to your family, but why do I have to come out of the closet to every person I come into contact with?  Why is it that when I go to a doctor’s appointment and I bring up my health concerns, like my HIV, why is it that my sexuality comes into question?  I recently went to a cardiologist because I need surgery to remove my parotid gland, but in order to do that, I have to have some tests done.  So when the cardiologist read that I was HIV+ he asked me how I became HIV+, so I told him.  His response was “Oh so you’re a homosexual.”  WOW!  Yeah I’m a homosexual, so what?  What the hell does that have to do with what I am here for today?  In what world does that have to come into conversation or into question?  I am gay, not my heart and/or my blood.

A couple of weeks later I had to go back to run on a treadmill and the woman who was doing the test was making conversation.  She asked me if I had any children and all I could think was here we go again.  I responded with no.  Then she asked if I had a wife and again, I said no.  She asked if I had a girlfriend and again, I said no.  She looked at me like you are a 43 year old man without a girlfriend or wife or any children, how can that be?  I told her that I was in a domestic partnership and she asked me what that meant, and I said I was gay.

Okay first of all, she’s there to give me a test.  Her job is to put stickers on my chest with wires and then stand there at the computer pushing buttons while I’m running on the treadmill.  Why is she asking me these questions?  I know that she’s just trying to make conversation, but it made me very uncomfortable.  It’s like people make me feel bad for being gay, like I should apologize to them for being the way I am.  I should never feel bad for being gay.  It’s how I am, how I’ve always been and how I will always be and that is none of anyone’s business but my own.

After she asked me those questions, she asked me if I’ve ever been with a female and I said yes, I tried to “change” because my parents and sister and then brother-in-law were making me feel bad about being gay and constantly telling me that I was going to hell if I didn’t change.  So yes, I slept with a girl, twice.  I hated every minute of it.

I have a story about my uncle, who by the way I looked up to as a child.  He was my hero.  He hung the moon.  When I went to my aunts house when I was homeless and about to start living in a homeless shelter because my mother kicked me out of the house, my aunt called my uncle (her brother) on the phone and made me talk to him.  I was shocked and bothered by his invasive questions.  After he accused me of horrible atrocities against my parents, like beating the crap out of my step-dad which never happened, and then running away from home, he asked “How can you take it up the ass?”  My sister’s ex-husband grilled me with those same questions.  “How can you take it up the ass?”  This coming from the guy who was using the back door on my sister, and the only way I know that is because they told me, multiple times, like they were bragging about it to me.  Why the hell would I want to know that?  They both bragged to me about what a massive dick he had.  Why do I need to know that?  Which begs another question, why is it okay for them to tell me in full detail about their sex life, but if I even mentioned being gay, I was shoving my sexuality down their throats?

I don’t think that it is appropriate for people to constantly ask me these invasive questions about my sexuality.  I don’t go around asking people about their sex life, so why is it that I am shamed and made to feel guilty every time someone asks me about mine despite the fact that it has absolutely no connection to why I am seeing them, like at the cardiologist office for example.

I know that people have questions and the only way to make “them” feel comfortable with gay people is to just respond to their questions to educate them, but why am I responsible for that education?  Why can’t they just buy a book?  Here is one called 101 Frequently Asked Questions About Homosexuality.

Look, I am okay with non-invasive, non-sexual questions.  If someone wants to know something, fine, but don’t make me feel guilty about it.  The male doctor made me feel really bad when he said “Oh so you’re a homosexual.”  The woman who did my treadmill test, well she seemed a bit more accepting and didn’t really make me feel bad, but I still didn’t feel too comfortable.

One of the questions that she asked was when I knew I was gay and that is a question that a lot of people ask.  My response was this and it will always be this.  When I was about 3 or 4, I knew I was different, like in a sexual way.  In other words, I knew I wasn’t straight.  I had never seen a same-sex couple, so naturally I thought I was the only person on the planet who had feelings for someone of the same sex.  I thought there was something wrong with me which is why I kept it to myself.  When I was in the 2nd grade I had a crush on a boy in my class named Adam who lived nearby and we played together.  I had such a huge crush on him that I was dreaming about him.  It wasn’t just a dream like we’re playing in the sandbox or playing on our bikes, they were, you know… boyfriend dreams.  He was my first crush and you almost always dream about your first crush.  So that is a question I don’t mind answering because it tells people that I knew I was gay at a very young age.

Some people think that people who were abused as children become gay.  I don’t think that is true.  I was abused, but that had nothing to do with me being gay.  I mean, why would I be attracted to someone of the same gender if I am being abused by someone of the same gender?  That makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.  I’ve known straight men who were abused by their fathers, and they never became gay.  So there is no logic in that.

Some people think that being gay is a choice and I can say with certainty that it is not a choice.  Who would choose to have people call them negative names like faggot or choose to get beat up in school for being gay?  Who would choose to be an outcast?  Who in their right mind would ever choose to be different if they knew it was going to make their life a living hell?  Nobody, that’s who.  You choose to be a vegan, you choose to drive a motorcycle as opposed to a car, you choose to wear velcro shoes, you choose your career.  You don’t choose which sexual organ you are attracted to, and you do not choose the sex of the person you are going to fall in love with.  I mean if straight people think being gay is a choice, let me ask this.  When did you choose to be straight?

I believe I was born gay.  If straight people believe they were born straight, then why do they think that I chose to be gay?  Being gay isn’t a choice, but being an asshole is.

Read this article, it tells a lot about sex organs and sexual orientation and when it happens and why.

I am all for educating people, but I don’t feel like I should be obligated to educate everyone on the planet about my sexuality.  I mean, I don’t go around asking straight people invasive questions, so why do I have to put up with it?  If someone wants to know why someone is gay, ask themselves why they are straight.  It’s the same thing.  You are straight because well, that’s just the way you are.  That’s just the way gay people are too.  I’ve been asked how I can take it up the ass, well let me ask how a straight woman can take it up the ass and how can a straight man do it in the ass to a woman?  Why is that such a hard question to ask when straight people do it in the ass all the time?  And why are straight people so obsessed with taking it up the ass?  Straight people are more obsessed with taking it up the ass than gay people are.  I mean seriously dudes, just buy a dildo and get it over with.

I am not Dr. Ruth, so don’t interrogate me about my sexuality and don’t put my sexuality into question.  Educate yourselves on your own time.

Weider Total Body Works 5000

On By Michel McDonaldIn Products I LikeLeave a comment

I bought this home gym from the Wal-Mart website a couple of years ago called the Weider Total Body Works 5000 and at the time it was $99.  I forgot how much the shipping was though.  But I just went to do a search on that particular brand that I have to see if there was any new information such as blogs or instructional videos or whatever to give me more of an insight into this gym which houses more dust and spider webs that it should and I find that they dramatically raised the price to $174.  It looks like I bought it just in the nick of time.

My friend Sue calls it my Weider Total Towel Rack 5000 lol.  My aunt Betty has a treadmill in her living room and when I was there the last time it was folded it and it actually did have towels hanging on it lol.  I had to joke with her about that.

Michael Jackson’s Final Curtain Call

On By Michel McDonaldIn CelebritiesLeave a comment

Michael Jackson is doing his final curtain call by doing 10 concerts in London.  He says “this is it” no more after that.  Is this supposed to be a come back?  Because I’m not seeing come back when he says it’s his final curtain call.  Why is he doing this?  Money!  He’s broke because of all his financial problems due to his court issues a couple of years ago.

He has to do 10 concerts so he can have the money to buy a new Neverland in London because his Neverland has been sold and all of his possessions are being auctioned.

I really do feel sorry for him.  He was a gorgeous black man once upon a time and now he’s a gross skeletal white woman.  I really don’t understand what is going through his mind.  His nose is so small and it looks like he doesn’t have a nose.  I don’t want to trash Mike because I like him but come on dude, stop doing weird shit.  You are a very talented person but your BDD is way out of control.

I have BDD also but I don’t have the money to fix my issues.  The only issue I have is my weight so all I’d need is a treadmill and possibly a personal trainer and I’m done.  Maybe go to the hair club for men and get some contact lenses but that’s it lol.

I wish Michael Jackson the best of luck with his final 10 curtain calls and I hope he makes enough money so he can be comfortable even though our shitty economy is spreading like wild-fire to the rest of the world.  Good luck taking all the English people’s money away from them, making them homeless so you can get rich again.

Recycling Numbers

On By Michel McDonaldIn GreenLeave a comment

Today we went to turn in our plastic to recycle and found out that different plastic containers have different numbers and they cannot all be recycled together.  See I never knew that.  I found this website that shows you what the difference is.

What do those recycling numbers mean?

I had all these different types of plastics.  I had clear soda bottles, milk cartons, yogurt containers etc. and they had to separate the clear bottles with the rest.  The clear soda bottles had the 1 on the bottom inside that little recycle symbol.  Those get you more money than the other ones which were 2 and up.

We had basically half number 1 and the rest were 2-6.  When the guy gave us the receipt it showed us how much each plastic cost.  The plastic with the 1 was a lot more than the rest.  I think it was $7 something for all the number 1’s but all the rest we got like .45 cents and that’s it and it was half  number 1 and the other half was all the rest and that rest was less money.  So basically it’s not even worth recycling the rest.

They basically told us that it’s a waste of time to save anything but the number 1 plastic as well as even paper.  The reason I am recycling isn’t for the money although it helps in today’s economy but also because those Brita commercials where they say like 30 minutes on a treadmill, forever in a landfill.  Those make me feel guilty for buying anything that comes in plastic or anything lol.  But, you know if they are so concerned with it then they will have a machine that goes through the trash cherry picking all the certain types of plastics and paper etc.  Darrin told me that he read in the newspaper that there is like a mountain of recycled paper that they are having trouble getting rid of, that’s why paper is so cheap to recycle.  That’s probably also why the plastic that isn’t number 1 is cheap.

I’m not saying to not recycle because the CRV items like the soda bottles/water bottles and soda/beer cans give you a lot more money but I’m certainly not going to waste our patio space recycling milk cartons and yogurt containers and other plastics anymore.  I’m going to find out about steel cans too before I waste any more time with those.  I want to save the planet but at the same time if they don’t want to recycle certain things then it’s out of my hands.  I can only do so much by using the cloth grocery bags and recycling plastic and aluminum.

Sparking Up Again

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Health, SparkPeopleLeave a comment

In October 2007 I was on the SparkPeople diet which is really not a diet but they teach you how you should be eating the right foods and the right portions. They tell you what foods to eat which include the food pyramid and you eat veggies and drink water all day long and you tell them exactly what you ate and they tell you how many calories, carbs, fats etc you had for the day.

This is really helpful in losing weight. It’s not a diet because you are eating foods you are supposed to be eating anyway. You can eat snacks just as long as they aren’t too fatty or have a lot of calories. Eating an apple for a snack is good, or carrots, hey my mom used to give that to us for snacks and celery with peanut butter. And they tell you to exercise and you can log your cardio exercises in there so it can tell you how many calories you have to burn 3 days a week. The program has 4 stages too.

In October 2007 something changed in my life a few weeks after I started this diet and I ended up slacking off because I was too depressed to continue with it. I started out on October 1st at 225lbs and lost about 13lbs. Since I quit I gained 30+lbs.

I can’t tell you how much I need to lose this weight. I am having trouble breathing, my back is breaking all the time from carrying around 93lbs of extra weight, I have sleep apnea, if I don’t get thin I will be diabetic and that is no joking matter. I need this to work.

I’m going to try to get a jump rope today because apparently that is really good cardio. I was using the treadmill a couple years ago and the calorie loss in 1 hour is the same or more for 30 min of jumping rope. When I was a kid I jumped rope for hours so hopefully I can get back into it and lose the weight.