Wacky 'American Idol' last night...

I just commented this at Huffington Post and I thought it merited a blog appearance. 

David I'm sure was in good company last night when he was blown away at the fact that Kris and Adam rounded out the AI bottom three along with Matt. Allison and longtime favorite of mine, Danny Gokey, were in the top two. Even I was surprised, though somewhat relieved. If they had been in the bottom three, I would have feared for the safety of one of my favorites.

I learned a valuable lesson last year, and America should have too, when many of us thought little Davy Archuleta had it in the bag. Performance after performance, being praised by the judges for being perfect is something he has in common with this year's Adam. True, Adam has something that David didn't - real performance talent and experience (although they both have great voices). Adam owns the stage when he's up there, he doesn't twitch like a 16-17 year old boy in front of his stage daddy (don't get me wrong, I love David A.). But the two have another something important in common-

When that many people like you, you can bet just as many hate you. I still think that's what gave David Cook the win last year, although I loved him as well.

Personally, I'd expect Kris to come in and pose a serious threat to Adam's stability in this competition. Kris is gorgeous, musically talented with a great voice and instrumental ability, completely original and that package comes in a great "guy next door" wrapping. Better than last year's Cook, if you ask me, but comparable in numerous ways.

Adam has hands-down the best voice in the competition - but that doesn't mean it's the best suited for selling an incredible number of albums. I'd pay lots of money to see him on Broadway, but would never buy his CD. He's too theatrical and too all over the place. You can't blame him for wanting to show off his incredible range, but come on Adam - it's getting ridiculous.

I didn't even like this week's performance. And although I thought Kris was great - and I may be going against the grain with this one - Danny and Allison deserved their top two spots this week. Not saying they are the top two in this competition because they're not - but based on this week, they were right where they should have been.

I was pretty sure Matt was going home, and I was OK with it, even though I've been a big fan from the beginning. I mentioned on Twitter today that I really want to go to a piano bar now. Sometime soon, anyway.

My predictions for the last 4? If it goes the way I want it to - Allison goes next, then Danny, then Adam with Kris being crowned the American Idol at the end. I could be wrong, but I'm going to live dangerously.

Dick Ankiel?

Last night,  David made mention of some of his Cubs fan friends who had taken to calling my beloved Rick "Dick" Ankiel. Like David, I thought they were taking a shot at him. 

So until last night, I admit, he wasn't having a very good season. He's on my fantasy team and I'VE even sat him out. I know. You can pick up your jaw now.

On top of that, he's been sporting some very strange facial hair as of late. I was liking the dirty unshaven look (just when I thought nothing could be prettier than Ricky's clean-shaven face) and then he went and cut it all off EXCEPT THE DIRTY MUSTACHE. I didn't see it, though I hope to get a peep tonight. From what I hear though, yuck.

Now this. 

He actually WANTS to be called "Dick." Why, Ricky, why?

About to turn 30 this year, planning to start a family, and on the brink of free agency's windfall, Ankiel sees contentment where others see quiet. There is only one thing he's thinking about changing.

His name.

Ankiel has been preoccupied recently about when it is age appropriate for him to shorten his given name, Richard, to "Dick" instead of "Rick." Some friends and clubhouse denizens have already taken to calling him "Dick" this spring. He calls it an instant "ice-breaker." 

That Dick Ankiel, always redefining himself.

Call him Rick. Call him Dick.

Call him a Cardinal.

Get the full story from the Post-Dispatch here.   

Took my test at the doctor's today

I have never been admitted to or had to do anything inside of a hospital other than visit my parents or spend some time in the emergency room, so it goes without saying that I got lost inside Alton Memorial this morning. It wouldn't have been so bad but all the rerouting from the construction in the front can really confuse a person. 

On top of that, the pulmonary function tests are taken inside a unit for "wound care," which was a little alarming. I was almost afraid I'd see something gross - kind of like when I was at Walgreen's last night and saw a little girl carrying a plastic bag of puke around with her - but I digress...

They had me sit in this plastic chamber and breathe into a tube. Normal breaths, deep breaths, panting breaths... oh, and my favorite *sense the sarcasm* - they had me hyperventilate on purpose. I could have passed out, but other than that the test was mostly harmless. 

Then they made me breathe in all this medicine - the same stuff in the Proventil inhaler Dr. Ricci prescribed - and had me take the tests again to find any difference. The tests inside the chamber were supposed to simulate breathing during and after exercise.

I have to wait for the doctor's official results but the lady that performed the tests said there was a 35 and 55% difference in my lungs after the medicine. So the good news is, it's manageable :) Yay.

I just jogged for the first time since my inhaler

And it was a great experience. 

Mostly, I walked so I wouldn't get all sweaty and gross for work, but I pushed my limits a few times to see how things would go. I only jogged for about three minutes but I could finally tell a difference between out of shape catching my breath and asthma gasping for air.

This could be kind of exciting...

Couch to 5K, I'm coming back for another round!

Busy week ahead

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning to take a full pulmonary test in relation to my recent allergy and asthma issues. We'll see how that goes.

Friday, the boss is sending me to Carbondale to recieve a number of awards The Telegraph recently won from the Southern Illinois Editorial Association, so that will be my entire workshift. It's a long drive, but it will be a nice break. Additionally, it'll be nice to reap some rewards from all the staff's hard work.

Friday night and Saturday morning we have a lot of cleaning and cooking to do at the house to prepare for the housewarming/open house. It should be a lot of fun, so I hope to see you there. (P.S. I bought invitations but never sent them out. Maybe I'll get to that tomorrow. :( ) Here's the info anyway.

6- 9 p.m.

Sat. April 25, 2009

Laura & David's place (ask if you need directions)

BYOB, we will have food and fun :)

Jake Gyllenhaal in 'Blame It"

Saw this on Extra last night. Loving it. 

I can finally breathe

I started having major allergy problems about two years ago. 

I endured sinus infection after sinus infection. I treated itchy, burning eyes with allergy drops. It was all manageable with a little Claritin D, but when that got too expensive to use on a regular basis, I tried to switch back to plain ole' Claritin. But plain ole' Claritin didn't work. 

When the wheezing and itchy throat started, Benadryl would give me one good day, then would cease to work. Then Zyrtec. Not even the D, which I'd dubbed my magic bullet all that time, could help.

I tried to pinpoint the beginning of all this mess and the onset of the major problems seemed to have come on after a particularly bad go at Week 2 of the Couch to 5K program I had been so excited about. 

I had worked through Week 1 - three 20+-minute workouts (plus warm up and cool down) that consisted of light intervals of walking 60 seconds and jogging for 30, with a day of rest in between. I was out of breath, though it got a little better after my second day. Week 2 had been a different story. The same workout lengthened itself to 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking - but the way my body reacted, one would have thought I jumped straight to the 5K.

My iPod malfunctioned and my Couch to 5K podcast  stalled just after my warmup, then 30 seconds of jogging. I walked briefly to restart the program and then hit it hard. What normally wouldn't have hit me until just before the 20 minutes was up hit me like a brick during the first interval. I ignored what I then thought was my out of shape self and pushed on. I got to the end of the workout, coughing, sneezing, wheezing all over the place. It got worse when I thought it should have been getting better. Embarrassed, I sat in the adjoining empty dance studio, in the corner, in the dark, trying to concentrate on my breathing and recover. My chest was tight and I couldn't get air IN, although it didn't seem as hard to get it out. A half hour passed but the wheezing hadn't gotten better. I could at least stand up without fainting, and thought it might be safe at this point to drive home. In bed at home, it took me more than an hour more to recover. 

I told this to my doctor last week when I told him about the allergies. I also told him that my grandmother had pretty severe asthma as a young woman. He said it sounded like a case of exercise induced asthma, as I had somewhat suspected. 

I still have to get a chest x-ray and a respiratory test sometime before the beginning of May, but in the meantime he has me on Singulair and gave me an inhaler to use before exercise. I can finally breathe!! (He also gave me some allergy medication, but I can't afford it right now. For now, this will have to do.) Last night, after some brief exercise, I felt what it must be like to be out of breath and not in-pain out of breath.

It all makes sense, really. I never had much wind in me as a kid, and even in high school, I loathed running because I didn't have the lung capacity for it. Everybody always told me to stop whining and I felt bad because I thought I was lazy and blamed myself. It's somewhat assuring to me now that I have a problem, and better than that, it can be controlled. 

And I can get back to my weight loss program. 

With only 8 weeks to go, I am only down 4.5 pounds from my start weight...  20 pounds from my original goal (due to not eating meat, but also not exercising much :()

2.5 lbs a week seems a little strenuous but I'd be happy to get down to 155 (10 pounds lighter than now) if I can establish a regular routine.

Housewarming/ open house set for April 25

Hey readers, 

For those of you who have been following along, we are just about ready to show off the house. I have set up a closed Facebook event (ask if you want an invite) and will be sending a few (mostly to those not online) via snail mail. 

I have also put event information and extensive photographs at my new Shutterfly site, soon to be linked to Lauranette.com, http://lauranette.shutterfly.com