Way more than 168 feet.

and to burn 47,200 calories more each year.  This would bring me back to my pre-pregnancy weight in less than a year (without changing my diet – story for another day).

So, my excuses are just like your’s and everyone else‘s.  But, I would like to add the large mountain between my house and work.  It is the beach cities’ tallest mountain – 168 feet.  I would also like to add the inconvenience of having to shower and change at work (yes, I could shower at work).  Pretty pitiful excuses.

As they say, prior proper planning prevents poor pitiful performance.  Tonight, I will try to plan once again to be my aspirational self.  We’ll see how that one goes…I already qualified planning with “try to.”

Lynda ‘Angel’ Exley

Lynda has lived in Barrow for nearly 17 years but is originally from Manchester. Lynda has worked in the local shipyard and more recently for local charity Sure Start. She has also worked for the NHS,  for a newspaper, a radio station, a University, AND in a wine cellar for a large Hotel!

Lynda first came to Age UK Barrow in December last year and attended our first ever ‘Urban Angel Introduction Day.’ She decided she wanted to try volunteering to experience new things whilst doing something positive in her community. Lynda has already been out and about in Barrow referring clients to the project. She is based at the local cafe in The Forum 28  and has been very busy getting to know some of the customers there over the past few weeks.

Lynda says:

“The best thing about being an Angel is all the fantastic feedback I have had from meeting local people so far.  I was quite worried that people would bomb me off and tell me to go away if i tried to approach them and start up a conversation! However, this has not happened at all.”

“I feel like i have been accepted by everyone which has really surprised me. I really like it when people say they remember me and they recognise my face from meeting me the previous week. It’s nice getting to know people and it feels great introducing them to new activities or services that will help them.”

Lynda would definitely recommend signing up as an Urban Angel to others.

“If you have the time to spare, try it! You get to meet lots of lovely people. I think the RespectAbility Project is really making a difference to local people as it gives them a pathway. It creates lots of new opportunities for older people to learn new things. The social aspect of the project is very important in a town like Barrow.”

Thank you Lynda – you really are an Angel!

]]> http://afterthekidsleave.com/2013/03/04/randy-bachman-and-me-and-my-buddy-ron/ Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:10:09 +0000 afterthekidsleave http://afterthekidsleave.com/2013/03/04/randy-bachman-and-me-and-my-buddy-ron/ http://afterthekidsleave.com/2013/03/04/randy-bachman-vinyl-tap-tour-review/ Mon, 04 Mar 2013 05:02:23 +0000 afterthekidsleave http://afterthekidsleave.com/2013/03/04/randy-bachman-vinyl-tap-tour-review/ http://wellnessandaction.com/2013/03/01/the-critical-importance-of-mastery/ Fri, 01 Mar 2013 14:10:28 +0000 tornadonate http://wellnessandaction.com/2013/03/01/the-critical-importance-of-mastery/ In the ongoing pursuit of a discussion revolving around the things that matter in life, I’d like to propose two: fly-fishing and mastery.  I don’t expect that most folks relate to the former, though I think that the latter is nearly universally applicable.  For me, the two are often intertwined.

A year ago I was still living in Colorado.  Upon moving there about 11 years ago, I caught my first trout on a fly rod.  I’d grown up fishing for Illinois species, and taking an occational trip to the cold waters of the Ozark mountain trout streams to sling pink powerbait for hatchery rainbows. The wild, tumbling streams of Colorado, however, were a completely different kettle of fish.

With spring coming, I expect to experience some real pangs of longing for those streams, and for the time spent thigh deep in rushing water. One of the things I’ll miss most is the sense of mastery that I occasionally was able to tap into when really zoned in on a good day.

Occasionally, there were days in which I would get into the water,and, lo and behold, the rod would fit in my hand just right, my casts would be precise, and I’d scrambled up the river, drifting the choicest runs with an efficiency I could not have dreamed when I first got my feet wet.  Granted- these were occasions- on most days I’d be lucky to make a few nice casts to eager fish.

My point here is not to laud my own abilities as a trout fisher.  What matters is not my skill in catching trout, which is certainly considerably less than a number of folks I’ve fished with.  Rather, what I find interesting is the subjective sense of mastery that arises from the persistent and sustained engagement with a particular activity.

Skill mastery goes far beyond just being good at something, and offers us a template for how to engage with the world in a meaningful way.  What we do often comes to define us, and when we do something over time with care and with intention, part of what comes to define us is not simply the activity itself, but the process of engaging in life with that same care and intention.

I think that any sustained commitment to skill development contains within it a number of vital lessons.  Through pursuing trout, for instance, I’ve had to develop a far greater capacity for patience.  If you fly fish, you either patiently learn to untangle knots in monofilament, or you stop fishing.  Most activities, in my experience, contain within them both pleasurable aspects and difficult ones that require commitment and, well, work.  Part of the reward comes not from merely enjoying the pleasurable part of an activity, but from mastering its challenging components as well.

I have always taken pleasure in catching fish, even as a boy, catching bluegill on a cane-pole with my Grandpa.  I am far more skilled now than I was even just a few years ago.  Part of the enjoyment I take from fishing surely derives from my sustained engagement with the sport, and my ability to put the fly where I want, when I want- or at least in the ballpark.  Now I’ve got a whole new challenge, largemouth bass on the fly. I’ve got some big, ugly streamers waiting for the spring- it might take a while to master those…

What are the areas in your life in which you consistently apply yourself in the pursuit of mastery?

Maureen Cookson

Maureen has lived in Barrow since 2005. She first came to Age UK Barrow & District to seek employment through our  ‘Age Works’ project and was successful in securing work with local charity St. Mary’s Hospice. She was unfortuntely made redundant from her post due to funding cutbacks but has since managed to find new employment in her local newsagents. Maureen loves chatting with the regulars that come into the shop and she really enjoys her job. However, Maureen’s health has suffered recently and she has experienced some difficult times. Despite making a full recovery from a recent operation, Maureen’s relationship with food and healthy eating habits have changed considerably.

Maureen decided to sign up to ‘Cooking for One’ – a 6 week course at the Barrow RespectAbility Project – after seeing a poster displayed on the window at Lakeland House.

Maureen tells us about why she decided to sign up to the course and how it has helped her:

Maureen is now planning to get more involved with RespectAbility and wants to sign up to learn I.T skills. She would also like to join a walking group as she loves walking and is a member of the Ramblers Association.

Cooking for One takes place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Call 01229 831 425 for more information or to book a place.

• What is a blog and why Siverdreams projects are using them
• How to access the RespectAbility blog page
• How to follow a blog page
• How to post comments in a post

Our Urban Angels finding out about Blogging

Our Angel volunteers requested this session to help them keep up to date with new RespectAbility activities and converse with each other outside of their monthly meetings.  They also agreed it would be a great way to provide feedback about how the project is developing.

I.T Tutor (and fellow Angel) Richard Britton was on hand to help our new bloggers and also advised the group on the different I.T courses on offer at Age UK Barrow and how to sign up.

So – to all our new Angel followers : Hello and welcome to our Blog! We are really looking forward to reading all your comments and finding out how you are all getting on!

‘Urban Angels’ are volunteers who help identify isolated and vulnerable older people living in Barrow and connect them with Age UK Barrow services and Barrow RespectAbility activities. Urban Angels is a community based volunteering model  completely new to Age UK Barrow (and the world!) so we are very excited to finally see it in action.

So far we have recruited 7 Urban Angels who will be based at local community venues across Barrow including: The Forum 28, ASDA, Foodbank, and The Greenheart Den. Our Angels have been very busy meeting and chatting with local older residents and have already made great referals to our project.

Urban Angel Volunteer David Duckworth referred his neighbour Nigel Howard (aged 53) to us last week. David thought Nigel would benefit greatly from signing up to our Cooking for One class.

Nigel (left) with Angel David Duckworth

Not only did David contact Age UK to book him a place on the course, he accompanied Nigel to his first ever session to make sure he settled in.

This is a great example of how Urban Angels volunteers will work with our project beneficaries. By taking a much more active role in supporting isolated and vunerable older people in our community, our project will engage more effectively with harder to reach client groups who are experiencing life changing events.

A few years ago I cut myself deeply and had to go to the ER. It was a routine visit, I just needed stitched up and sent on my way. I got a bill, and it was high, but not outrageous. I was fortunate to have good insurance, so I was not too worried, because outside of my $100 ER copay, my insurer picked up the tab. But I did look at the bill. One thing I noticed was a $4.00 charge for Ibuprofen- 800 milligrams. I thought to myself- “this has got to be a big part of why healthcare is so dang expensive in this country”.

Essentially, that story is the premise of the article. Brill breaks down the itemized bills of 7 different patients, and tries to get at the root of why things cost so much. In the process, he finds standard practices of double and even triple billing, 400% markups (or more!) on devices, procedures and lab work, and pharmaceutical costs that are higher in the US than anywhere else in the world- and extend well beyond “research and development costs”. He finds that non-profit hospitals are generally more profitable than for-profit ones, and that the bills for uninsured people who cannot afford care are higher than the bills for those with good insurance who can. Really, read the article.

The major problem with the cost of medical care is that it is generally required. When you need care, you need it. As a consumer, you are in a really, really poor bargaining position. Do you want this potentially life-saving care or not? If so, pay us what we are charging you. You want this drug that will dramatically increase your quality of life? It costs a third of your monthly income. If we can, we are willing to pay it, because it is so important. The problem is that all the links in the food chain know this as well, and they all add their own sizable markup into the final cost, knowing full well that it is the ultimate seller’s market.

And, at the end of the day, thank God for modern medicine. When my young son was hospitalized with pneumonia, what a blessing that he got such great care at the Children’s Hospital. When my dad got a pacemaker, it was truly something to be grateful for. The fact that there are costs associated with these miracles is an inevitable truth. But are the astronomical costs always warranted? This article presents a powerful case that they are not.

In the meantime, though, this is how it is, and we consumer citizens are pretty powerless. There is nothing else in modern life that will put you into astronomical debt and financial ruin quicker than a medical event. There will always be accidents and diseases that are beyond our control. But the best thing we can do to limit our exposure to the behemoth of the medical-industrial complex is to fastidiously safeguard our own health.

While our ability to control for all aspects of our health is limited, it is something we can influence. Genetics are what they are, of course, and our environments are sometimes pretty unhealthy. However, there are lifestyle adaptations that we can make that are likely to make a significant difference in our vulnerability to many, many major (expensive) illnesses. As I discussed in a previous post, there are five major categories of lifestyle factors that most impact wellness:

1. Sleeping Habits
2. Quality of Diet
3. Physical Activity Level
4. Stress management
5. Social Connectedness

Robust engagement with these five variables can be protective against a lot of illnesses. They aren’t perfectly effective, of course, but they help, and they have the distinct advantage of being largely under our control. Sadly, while they are behaviors that we can choose or not, they are often very difficult to control, especially in the context of busy and stressful modern lives.

Often psychological processes impact these variables negatively.  We might use food as a means to avoid difficult emotions, or we may skip the gym so as to not come into contact with experiences of inadequacy or self-judgment. It is really common to react to a perception that one is impoverished for time by eliminating adaptive behaviors that help manage stress and remain rested. Never mind that this often leaves us less productive and our lives more chaotic- it can give us the feeling of being in control, even when that comes at the expense of actual control.

That’s not to mention the ways in which our social relationships can fray and become strained. Maintaining healthy social relationships is vital to both mental and physical health, and often our family histories, stress levels and entrenched patterns of behavior wreak havoc in our social lives- among friends, families and colleagues.

These are not just things that happen to “some people”, as we’re often led to believe, given the treatment of psychological health by the popular media. These are struggles that hit home for folks in all walks of life, from the high-strung type-A executive to the line worker at the local plant, from the soldier to the stay at home parent. Life often throws more at us than we believe we can handle, and we adapt in ways that are ultimately unhealthy. This tendency is not bound by socioeconomic status, race, gender or nationality. It is human.

Paying attention to behavioral health is vital if one is to succeed in managing the lifestyle factors that are influential in either causing or protecting against illness. Sometimes, that may mean getting help from a qualified professional- a licensed counselor, psychologist, marriage and family therapist or clinical social worker.  Certainly, these professionals are not your front line when you get sick- thank goodness for Docs and hospitals- but they can play a key role in helping to prevent you from getting there in the first place.

We are really looking forward to watching our garden grow over the next few months. And we look forward to cooking up new receipes using the produce in our kitchen.

Nom nom nom!

David tearing up the weeds

The transformation is complete…

The cabbage seeds have been potted…

The following ideas and suggestion may benefit the process of creating a better bicycling strategy and hopefully healthier urban fabrics in the long run. However it’s also based on the assumption that content research, data collection has been undertaken for your particular local government area prior overlaying these suggestions.

• 1. Compelling

A good bicycling strategy should carry through a compelling lifestyle message that is aligned with the long- term vision of your city or municipality e.g. a sustainable, prosperous, healthy and liveable. This needs to be supported by strong and imaginative visuals throughout the strategy and I don’t mean just male dominated sport cyclists.

• 2. Goal setting

Be clear about your most powerful message in your current political environment of your city. Have a realistic target and focus on how do get there- this should be the new reality on the horizon of your urban environment. Have an integrated and whole of government approach as part of the exercise.

Prevent unrealistic expectation by communicating projected budget allocations early. As long you don’t have the money you will find it hard to implement actions.

• 3. Communication of benefits

Instead of focusing on the issues, celebrate the potential benefits that every member of the community will have because of this strategy. For example economical benefits, CO2 emission savings, less road network congestions, less air and noise pollution, social inclusion, safer, health benefits, happier and more child friendly environments.

Stylish easy to read graphs, facts, simple and consistent language/ terminology should make it easy for all members of the community to understand the bicycling strategy.

Use before and after shots or photomontages, illustrate in sections of the strategy different bicycle users in different problem situation and show what you might be able to do about it as part of the strategy.

• 4. Community consultation

Include holistically active and meaningful engagement opportunities for the community members and stakeholders groups. For example arrange sessions where the existing users are: coffee shops, at street festivals, at workplaces, in schools and universities, at popular bicycle destinations. No one knows a network better than the people who are using it every day.

Most importantly ensure that the community is empowered, feels that you have heard them and you understand what needs to be done. Therefore effective prioritisation and inclusion of innovative concepts support commitment and vision.

Do it proper in the first instance as it will save you a lot of hassle and time later!

• 5. Pure happiness

Evidence suggested that people that are more physical active as part of their daily routine enjoy incredible physical and mental health benefits. Harness this energy and celebrate the civil community through colourful and inclusive images that aim to mainstream bicycling in your community. Make sure images are from your local community and are high in quality. Do this in the strategy documents, at consultation sessions as well as use these images for campaigns afterwards.

• 6. Convenience mapping

Demonstrate in easy to read maps that you are seeking to create a network of convenience for bicycle users. Make sure that members of the community understand that is very much part of an ongoing conversation and by no means a map that is set in stone. You are keen to hear more and create ongoing conversation channels with the community e.g. bicycle hotline, online portal, Bicycle Advisory group to the government. Utilise projects that are already working in the city very well and celebrate these early wins and commit to what you can do with projected budget in the future and perhaps do it even better!

• 7. Bicycle brand label

Branding is very much part of the contemporary zeitgeist and if you are committed to make a valuable contribution to a bicycle revolution- show leadership by creating with the community a unique and strong brand label. Supported by a strong slogan or claim this should be included and integrated in many of your city programs e.g. tourism (cups, t-shirts, stickers, flags), active transport (stencilled on the paths, displayed on traffic messaging boards, in busses), health messaging (TV adds, workplaces), infrastructure provision (in bus shelters, on water bubblers, light poles, community message boards, shop fronts).

• 8.Comfort and safety

Comfort and safety comes first -provide options on how to achieve realistic, sustainable and better network maintenance. Demonstrate pride and include some of your local government staff members from the maintenance team in the strategy and communication e.g. in images showing them at work.

As one size doesn’t fit all – address what want people perceive as a serious safety barrier to bicycling more often. Stick with the realistic arguments, as we won’t be able to change the weather. Apply the following hierarchy:

1. Children and older members of the community
2. Families
3. Students
4. Urban ‘hipsters’
5. Employees (commuter cyclists)

Showcase solutions such as some big-ticket items e.g. new separated off road bike lane or child friendly neighbourhoods, as well as small but effective ways that can have a big impact e.g. bike priority on intersection.

• 9. Time travel

The contemporary urban society is often suffering on the perceived issue of not enough time and therefore you need to think about of ways how to improve the real time travelled on bicycles in a direct and effective manner. A dear colleague of mine Dr Paul Tranter has done some excellent work on “effective speeds” in urban environments and strongly suggests getting hold of some of his research findings.

As part of demonstrating the benefits of short travel times on bike perhaps think about the introduction of digital message boards that display travel times for bicyclist compared to vehicles along selected routes. This can be powerful in creating strong messages for behaviour change.

Focus also on how people may go further and quicker by considering new infrastructure such as bicycle highways in appropriate parts your city, or better integration with other means of travel e.g. bike’n’ride or bike racks on all busses.

10. Summary

Make sure you are able to have a summary of your entire strategy on one page available. This should include referencing of modal split as well as cross- references to head topics in the strategy itself with projected targets. Include links to the ongoing communication stream. This is useful for you in meetings and for every stakeholder or interested party to advocate for the collective ideas to make your city a better, healthier and more liveable place.

Most notably, my goal to live a happier and healthier life.

I’ve successfully made fitness a regular feature of my day and life.

I’ve been working out on average 5 days a week. I love it. It feels good.

Even the pain.

But there is pain.

And it’s not all good pain.

I may have overdone it by running too much too soon.

I had the goal of running 10K in May for the Bluenose Marathon in an hour. 13 minutes faster than my time from 3 years ago when I was not nearly as fit as I am now.

Have I mentioned that I’m injury-prone?

So I’ve been dealing with a strained soleous.

Now I have a strained hip and glute.

Now that’s a pain in the ass…

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

I’m not sure if the 10K is going to be possible now since I’ve had to modify my training significantly to avoid further strain.

But I’m not giving up hope yet.

It’s good to have goals

Our Thursday group members with volunteer Leanne.

Jean made her quiche using courgettes and peppers.

She said, “It was great to learn this new healthy receipe. It was very easy to make and I will make it again and maybe serve it with some crusty bread. I am really looking forward to next week though as it is pudding week!”

Jean with her quiche