Archive for the ‘Misc’ Category
Posted by terrepruitt on September 22, 2009
I believe that positive thinking can go a long way in helping someone get better. I also believe that “happy” and “positive” can assist with improving someone’s heath and/or keeping them healthy to begin with. I believe there are a lot of things people can do to be responsible for their own health and make themselves better. But I didn’t use the term healing or self-healing. So when I first heard Nia using that term I thought, “Uh-oh, what is this?”
But it is not meant as a proclamation that any or all ills will be cured with Nia. It really is “self-healing” as in feeling better. There is always room for improvement and even just a little better is still BETTER.
More and more people, and even the medical field, are realizing that the body has its own intelligence and sometimes we need to listen to it. One BIG thing that a lot more people are paying attention to is things like “a cold”. I have recently experienced a larger number of people realizing that when they get a cold it is their body saying, “Whoa! Slow down. Rest.” And yes, most of the time that is very difficult but these people are saying, “I better take one day to rest because if I don’t it is going to be worse.” And they exercise a little self-healing, by taking one day and then taking it easy for a few more days and it seems like they can “heal” themselves faster. And taking one day off, can work out so much better than having to take a week.
See? That is self-healing? Our bodies will basically heal themselves.
Yes, there are illness and situations where we need medical attention. But there are a lot of things that we can do to feel better/self-heal.
For example: One thing I did to “heal myself” years ago was stop talking on the phone with my shoulder and head holding the phone. I used to get terrible neck aches and I talked on the phone at work a lot. It got to a point that I could no longer hold the phone like that as much as I needed to so my employer got me a headset. Ahhhh! I felt a little better. Then I realized I needed a headset for home. Ahhhhh. Totally better. Now I don’t talk on any phone holding it between my head and shoulder. Voilà! Self-healed.
So . . . Nia uses the term, self-healing, a lot because it is believed that movement is a healing act. Nia used to say: “Through Movement We Find Health”.
One of the incredible tools that Nia has (and there are many) to assist in self-healing is the Nia 5 Stages. It used to be called the Nia 5 Stages of Healing. I recently took a two day training so that I can now assist people in self-healing with the Nia 5 Stages.
I am confident that living in the Bay Area with San Jose, Mountain View, Cupertino, and Santa Clara having so many great technologies around us I can easily add the technology of the body to the Silicon Valley.
Posted in Misc, Nia | Tagged: Bay Area exericse, Bay Area Nia, Bay Area Workout, body intelligence, body technology, Cupertino exericse, Cupertino Nia, Cupertino workout, heal, heal myself, heal others, Mountain View exericse, Mountain View Nia, Mountain View workout, Nia, Nia 5 Stages, Nia 5 Stages training, Nia Bay Area, Nia Cupertino, Nia exercise, Nia Mountain View, Nia San Jose, Nia Santa Clara, Nia self-healing, Nia workout, positive thinking, San Jose exericse, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, Santa Clara exercise, Santa Clara Nia, Santa Clara workout, Silicon Valley exercise, Silicon Valley Nia, Silicon Valley workout | 7 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 19, 2009
This is a bit of a continuation of my CPR, AED, First Aid Training post. Things to think about and figure out:
1 (first and foremost) You have to figure out what you need. Do you need CPR/AED AND First Aid? Or just CPR and AED? Do you need Professional certification? Child CPR? There area lot of certificaitons out there, so you want to make sure that you get the one you need.
2 Find out if the places you are planning on working (if that is why you are getting it) take only certain certifications (Red Cross, American Heart Association, etc.) Most gyms that I have seen will NOT take certifications received online.
(Yes, you can get CPR certified online. Go figure.)
3 Find out how long the cert is good for. If you find one class for $50 and the cert is good for a year and another class for $75 and the cert is good for 2 years, you’d save yourself $25 by taking the more expensive class. Not to mention the time.
4 Does the training facility have dummies that you will get to practice on? Do they have AEDs that you will get to practice with? If you are going for a certification for child CPR does the facility have “child” dummies?
5 How long is the training? I have seen two hour ones and eight hour ones.
6 Does the training include information to take home? The first time I was certified I got a couple of booklets and posters and all kinds of information to use as reference material, I got something tonight too, but one of my classmates, who has been certified a few times said she had never before received anything. It is really great to have reference material to look at later.
7 Is the instructor just an instructor or has sh/e been an actual rescue work experience?
NOT ALL CERTIFICATIONS ARE THE SAME, neither are the instructors. Do your homework. Do research online, talk to people who have taken courses, talk to rescue workers—they will have opinions on which course they like best. Its your money and your time and if it is for your job or business it pays to do a little bit of checking first.
Posted in Helpful Hints | Tagged: AED Training, American Heart Association, CPR Training, First Aid Training, Red Cross | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 17, 2009
I love the movie “Lars And the Real Girl”. For those of you that are not inclined to watch it because you think it is about a man and his blow-up doll, you are somewhat correct. There is a man in it who has a “life-sized doll named Bianca”. But it might not be what you think. Even the back of the DVD cover does not describe the movie the way I see it.
I can’t remember what made me actually want to watch it, but something did and I am so glad because it was NOTHING like I expected. I expected a comedy. While there is some humor in it and it makes me laugh, it makes me cry more. It is, in my opinion a very, very touching movie.
Now, I think that might be enough for those of you that don’t like to know too much, but thought this was a silly movie. For those of you that don’t mind knowing more, read on.
It is a silly movie, there is a life-size doll in it for heaven’s sake, but it also an amazing movie. It is really about a person having “stuff” in his life and how he deals with it. We all handle different things in different ways. This movie is about how Lars handles his “stuff”. But what I find amazing and I am getting teary-eyed just thinking about it, is how the town handles the way he handles his stuff. They are the most amazing people that I could ever hope to meet.
It is a small town so the whole town can get involved. In big cities like San Jose or big areas like the Bay Area, I don’t think this would have worked as well.
The Townspeople where Lars live rally around him. They do everything—they go out of their way—to support Lars and to help him through this period in his life. They are so incredible. I have only seen this movie twice. And the first time I was just in awe and wondering what was going to happen and how it was going to work out. The second time, I knew what was going to happen (basically, I didn’t remember everything), but I was still in awe. In fact I had more of achance to be in awe because I wasn’t wondering what was going to happen.
I honestly can’t say that I would be as strong and wonderful as the people in this movie. Their patience was exercised to the fullest! I don’t think I could or would take time out of my life for a plastic doll, but then again, they didn’t do it for the doll, they did it for Lars. They decided to particpate in his delusion because they realized that it was what he needed. So maybe I could, but I don’t know, I just think they were so amazing.
This is my “whatever” day —- Thursday, so I am just sharing a bit about a movie that I think was really good, but I think might get overlooked by some who would really enjoy it, but are turned off by the name and the idea of it. So, if you have not seen it and you are still reading, please, rent it or see it however you view movies. I think you will like it.
Just as I was about to post this I had another thought, that my Nia Friends might really enjoy this because it is about letting someone do what they need to do. In a sense, allowing someone to follow their own “body’s way” (even though it was more his mind).
If you have seen it, what did you think?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Bay Are exercise, Bay Area Nia, Bay Area Workout, body's way, Lars and the Real Girl, life-sized doll, Nia, Nia Bay Area, Nia exercise, Nia workout, plastic doll, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 15, 2009
Wow. There are different types of training. I am not going to get into all of the different types because you need to determine what you need yourself, so you’ll need to do a bit of research. Once you know what you need, shop around and find out the best one that will work for you. I just want to share with you some information that you might not think about when shopping around.
I took my first CPR/AED/FA training a year ago. The certification for CPR/AED-Adult lasted one year. That certification for the Standard First Aid lasts three years. I think it was an excellent course. It was long, it was 7 or 8 hours. But the instructor had been doing it a long time and he was very good. He was entertaining and injected just the right amount of humor so as not to let the class be boring or to have us falling asleep.
I would recommend this long, extensive class for anyone that is getting certified for the very first time. It was very detailed and we did a lot of practical practice. We used dummies to do CPR, plus each group practiced with an AED. Then we practice basic first aid on each other.
I also liked this class because it was really close to my house in San Jose.
This latest class I took was CPR/AED and the certification lasts for two years! Yay! I love that! It will be perfect timing because that is when I will need a recert in First Aid.
This was the perfect re-cert class. It moved much more quickly and there was not as much practice on the dummy. Right now the ratio is 30 compression to 2 ventilations performed 5 times in two minutes. Doing that three or four times is enough. It takes a good amount of pressure to get that dummy’s chest to click.
With this class I think I got a little bit of a different idea about the whole thing. The first class I took was with an instructor. I don’t think he actually ever performed CPR. Tonight the teacher was a fire chief (I think that is what he said). He had a long list of in the field experience. He had even worked as an EMT. He has actually done CPR and used and AED. So a few of the questions actually made him pause. You could tell he had an answer, but he was not going to just blurt out the truth, but he wasn’t going to lie about it either.
Both teachers were great, just in different ways. It was just really interesting to get information from someone who had actually performed CPR and used an AED. I honestly don’t remember my last instruction including the information that it would be “crunchy”. The amount of pressure required to compress someone’s chest to get the heart to force it into pumping blood just might break bones. He said it probably would and it was ok. I thought that was really important to hear, because I think I might have backed off from pressing as firmly as they are now saying you need to, if I had not been told that bones will break. I thought that was invaluable information. Need to know kind of stuff.
CPR/AED/FA training is one of those things, like insurance, that you hope you never, ever, ever need. I hope it works out that I never need to exercise my knowledge. It is good to have it, I just don’t ever wanna use it. Are you certified? Do you have any stories to tell about a certification class you have taken?
Posted in Helpful Hints | Tagged: Adult CPR, AED, AED Training, certification, CPR, CPR Training, First Aid, San Jose class, San Jose exercise class, San Jose training, San Jose Workout, San Jose Workout class, Standard First Aid, training class, work out class | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 8, 2009
This is a simple overview of TweetDeck. And by simple I mean it does not include all the features and tips and tricks of TweetDeck. My posts regarding Twitter are not for the power users to learn from. It would be great if they commented and shared information, but basically I am sharing what I know and I feel as if I have barely scratched the surface of what Twitter and all its hundreds of applications can do. In this post I do not cover all that TweetDeck can do. I only briefly address what I do, so far, with TweetDeck.
First off, one of the things that some people love about TweetDeck is that you can manage multiple Twitter Accounts with it. I don’t have multiple accounts so I don’t use TweetDeck like that so I won’t be talking about that here. All I can tell you about multiple accounts and TweetDeck is that there is something that says, “Add more accounts” and above the box you type in it says “From” and I am guessing that if you have multiple accounts it will list them there and you can indicate which account you are sending from. (I circled that in the photo. At the bottom.)
For my one account, I use TweetDeck to see various tweets all on one screen. I have an “All” column set up so that I can see tweets from all of the people that I follow. But, I am beginning to think that only the people I recently follow show up because I don’t see tweets from people that I started following when I first signed up for Twitter. So I made another column for those Twitterers.
I also have a column for “Nia People”. This is a “Group”, these are the people that I have met online that teach, do, practice, and love Nia. With this column I have actually set it up so that I see certain people that I am following that I know have something to do with Nia.
I have a “YelpSV” search column. With this column it is set up so that I see people that send a Tweet that mentions YelpSV. It searches for tweets that contain @YelpSV.
See? You can set up different columns and you can set them up different ways. You can set up a column for a search on “Workouts” and it will capture tweets that have that word in them or you can set up a column for a group called, for example “San Jose” or “Exercise Classes” and actually indicate certain people whose tweets you want to see in either of those columns.
It is quick and easy to set up columns so you can change them whenever you would like.
I also have a mentions column of HelpYouWell set up so when people @HelpYouWell I see those in a separate column—although they sometimes show up after the ones in the other columns. And I have DM (Direct Message) column so I can see messages sent directly to me, HelpYouWell.
I don’t have an issue with “API” (whatever that stands for), but I hear of people that do. Apparently Twitter only allows third party applications (systems? programs? Whatever.) 100 “touches” (that’s what I am calling them) per hour. So if your account “touches” twitter (either sending, receiving, dealing with, whatever) 100 times in an hour you have to wait for the next hour in order to “touch” twitter again. But this is only with third party stuff, like TweetDeck. If you are on Twitter.com it does not do that. So use TweetDeck and if you max out, use Twitter.com until the hour is up and go back to TweetDeck.
Posted in Twitter | Tagged: @HelpYouWell, API, exercise, exercise classes, exercise people, exercise San Jose, learn Nia, multiple Twitter accounts, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia exercise, Nia people, Nia Practice, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, teach exercise, teach Nia, teach workout, TweetDeck, TweetDeck API, TweetDeck columns, Twitter, Twitter.com, workout, workout classes, workout exercise, workout people, Workout San Jose, Yelp, YelpSV | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 5, 2009
Twitter is interesting. Twitter is nothing to be afraid of. Twitter is a tool to be used as one sees fit. Unlike a hammer that basically has a specific use, Twitter can be used in different ways. I have some friends that use it as a main source of instant communication: “Hey, ya wanna go to lunch today?”, “Meet me at . . .”, “I am in front of the fountain.” And other people just pump out their business information with no conversation at all. I think that however you want to use it is fine. It all works. Everyone is different, do what you want. I use twitter to meet new people, to connect with people, learn things, introduce people to Nia, get the word out about my business, and make kissy faces at my husband.
So that last part doesn’t really fall under what I think of as my “business account” but it sneaks in every once in awhile. (Shrug!) That is what is so great about it. It is MY account and I can use it like I want.
I do actually try to manage my account, and here again, people can manage their accounts all different ways.
I use TweetDeck to see stuff all at once: tweets of people I am following, mentions, DMs, and other columns I have set up. Then I use Twitter.com to look at my list of new followers and look at their profiles. I also use Twitter.com sometimes because DMs and “mentions” come to it faster than TweetDeck. Also, I look at my tweets from Twitter.com. I try NOT to tweet a bunch of tweets in a row especially if they are “general” tweets. Sometimes I am having a conversation and so they are in rapid succession. Twitter.com allows me to see them all in a stream and when I am sending out Nia information or business announcements I try to space them out.
TweetDeck allows you to do some of these things too, but I like Twitter.com for some things.
I also use Mr. Tweet to see who that system recommends.
I use FriendorFollow.com to see who I am following but who is not following me (“following”). It also shows you who is following you that you are not following (“fans”) and it shows you who you are following that is following you (“friends”).
I also use Twittergrader to sometimes check who is following me. Friendorfollow is not always accurate. I also use Twittergrader to see who I can follow in my area. One of my goals of being on Twitter, as I mentioned, is to expose people to Nia and along with that I want to obtain students for my Nia exercise classes. So I try to follow people in San Jose, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Mountain View, and basically the Bay Area, so that I can see local tweets and maybe they will follow me back. Sometimes that works out.
As you can see if you know anything about any of these programs this is a very rough overview. If you don’t know anything about anything I have just mentioned then—perfect, I told you something new hopefully without confusing and overwhelming you. Just go to these sites and check it out. I promise you can’t break them nor the internet! From these sites you can work on managing your twitter account or get information on your account.
There are so many systems and programs to use. It is amazing and overwhelming. Just try it. Don’t be afraid of it. Have fun. Be safe.
If you already use different sites and programs, what do you use? How do you use it? Please leave a comment and share with me and my readers because I am not an expert. I am just learning and I love to hear about all the other stuff out there.
Posted in Twitter | Tagged: Bay Area Exercise, Bay Area Nia, Bay Area Nia classes, Bay Area Workout, business on twitter, Friendorfollow.com, Los Gatos Exercise, Los Gatos exercise classes, Los Gatos Nia, Los Gatos Workout, Milpitas classes, Milpitas exercise, Milpitas Nia, Milpitas workout, Mountain View exercise, Mountain View Nia, Mountain View Nia classes, Mountain View workout, Mr. Tweet, Nia Classes, Nia exercise, Nia information, Nia workouts, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia classes, San Jose Workout, TweetDeck, tweets, Twitter, twitter business, twitter help, twitter programs, twitter sites, Twitter.com, Twittergrader.com, workout Nia | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 1, 2009
Multitasking. So revered we have invented a word for it. Thought so highly of it is a buzz word included on resumes. Employers look for it. They want someone who can do multiple tasks at once. Sounds fabulous.
But at what cost? What is each task not getting so that the other can receive? How can someone possibly do more than one or two things at once? I mean, when you think about it, our bodies are already DOING a lot of tasks, then we expect our brain to do MORE. No, our brain does not need us to stop and think about breathing and blinking, but when you add a task to that, it is DOING more than one thing already. So if you try to do five, it is going to be doing a lot.
Our society praises and rewards “multitasking”, but it has come to light in studies that whatever tasks are being done while other tasks are being done, the tasks suffer. We — in America at least —- don’t concentrate on much of anything. Stop for a second and watch. Do you see one person in your line of sight doing one thing? Is there someone walking while on the phone, driving while drinking, eating while talking, riding a bike while listening to a device?
I am not sitting here typing this because I am the master of living in the moment and concentrating on one thing I am doing, I have a task I do every single day—more than once a day—that I am guilty of doing while doing other things, so I am not sitting here saying it is all YOU that are guilty of this, I am just pointing out something that you have heard of lately as being not as great as we were originally led to believe. My teeth and gums can prove it to you. I never JUST brush my teeth. I am usually picking out my clothes, or finding my earrings, or finding my shoes, while I am brushing my teeth so then I have to stop and say, “Did I brush my inner lowers?” And I brush them again.
I could go on and on about this. There are texting while driving issues, there are talking on the phone while driving issues, there are cooking while on the phone issues. So maybe I am just saying to stop. Just once during your day in the next few days, stop and do one thing. Oh my! How much will it cost you? Five minutes? Or less? I know that if I stopped and concentrated on brushing my teeth and didn’t brush the same spot five times because I wasn’t paying attention it would probably cost me less. What about you? What has “multitasking” cost you? How much did you really save? Could we all benefit from doing one less thing at a time?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: brushing your teeth, multitasking, resumes, texting while driving | 13 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 20, 2009
We have recently had baby blue jays surface. For the most part I don’t even know they are there. When they do make noise it is hilarious. I can’t tell how many there are. I think there are at least two, maybe three, but at least one has a hilarious voice. It is not the squawk of a blue jay yet. I can’t even describe it, but it makes me laugh. Whatever I am doing I will stop to listen to him. It is so funny. I tried to record it today, but . . . I only have my iPhone and the baby stopped the second I pressed record. Then all the other birds started in and drowned out his little voice.
Anyway, it is Thursday, and I haven’t posted birds once this month so I thought I would share some baby pictures. The babies are deceptively large. At first, you don’t realize that the baby is the baby because he is so much bigger than the adults then it opens its mouth and makes this pathetic noise or it walks and has absolutely no grace.
So, please keep in mind I am not posting this pictures because they are good pictures and I wanted to share, I am posting them because they are our babies and I wanted to share.
Its a beautiful day in San Jose for this bird to sit by the water.
Do you see his brother (sister?) on the rock behind him?
I think the one on the rock is the one that is has the funny little voice. It is so funny.
Babies just stand different. They are still learning. It is so funny to watch them move.
I think the one on the rock still wants to be fed because he will open his wings and make his little noise. He “screams” at the top of his voice. But scream is a harsh word since it sounds so cute, but . . . you can tell it is a workout for him. He puts a lot of effort into it.
Ooooh, balancing on one foot. Good.
Posted in Birds | Tagged: Baby blue jays, blue jay squawk, blue jays, jays, San Jose, San Jose Workout | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 6, 2009
I am thinking about playing this game every first Thursday of the month. Let’s see if that works out. I am not sure that I can come up with material every month. I know that I have sung and heard others sing a lot of wrong lyrics, but I can’t remember them.
I was thinking of doing it different ways, sometimes asking for guesses, sometimes just throwing them out there, but, always, of course, asking you to share. We’ll see huh?
What are the correct lyrics?
1. Don’t let go, if you cling to tightly your gonna lose your soul.
2. Strumming my fate with his fingers . .
3. It’s safe to dance . . .
So, on this rainy day in San Jose, these might not be a challenging exercise on your brain, but maybe coming up with of some lyrics you have sung incorrectly or that you have heard someone sing might be. So tell me what the correct lyrics are and share with me some other ones you have found out about.
Posted in Entertainment, Misc | Tagged: safe to dance, San Jose exercise, San Jose Workout, song lyrics, wrong song lyrics | 12 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 30, 2009
I love these. At first I was disappointed because you can’t actually see the colors, but I looked at them again, and, I like them.
Look, you can see the tiny feet.
He’s not landing because he keeps getting chased off.
Their little feet are so cute!
I always think that we are so lucky because in San Jose, California, we get to see them for a long period during the year. And we have about eight. My friend just posted on FaceBook that she has too many to count. She has to fill her feeders twice a day. We have six feeders and we don’t fill them that much. When it is hot, it works out to maybe twice a week, but when it is cooler they don’t drink at much.
Posted in Birds | Tagged: Facebook Hummingbirds, Hummingbird Silhouettes, Hummingbirds, Nia, Nia San Jose, San Jose Hummingbirds, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, Silhouettes | 8 Comments »
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