Sunday, August 30, 2009

Ahh relaxation

Ah, now that I have finally gotten some sleep and am NOT studying, I can "publish" a decent post. I am so relieved that the CSCS exam is over and done with. I can also honestly say, that was the most difficult exam I have ever taken. I don't know how anyone can call it "easy," unless you've already had experience as an athletic trainer or a personal trainer. That was a tough exam. To anyone who is thinking of taking it, I highly recommend the following:
  • know every concept in the book and have a very thorough understanding of those concepts
  • buy the practice tests, take them, and then understand that the real test will be harder than they were
  • purchase the symposium dvd and/or personal training dvd that the NSCA sells. Even though they are never emphasized as good study material anywhere, random facts from both are on the exam (however, I did pass it without watching them)
Moving on from CSCS stuff...I'm pretty excited about this upcoming weekend. My brother and his family are coming and I finally get to meet my nephew! I can't wait! He is getting baptized at our church on Saturday. I went shopping today to get his gift. I am so looking forward to seeing all of them! I need to remember to buy a lot of extra batteries for my digital camera, because I'm pretty sure it's going to get a lot of use for those three days!

Tomorrow is my first meeting of the semester with my scholarly project advisor. I'm gearing up for the fact that he's probably going to be mad that I don't have my project done and the meeting, more than likely, won't go so well. Oh well...I've done my best on it so far, and I plan to continue to do my best on it until it's finished. I just know that I am NOT going to work on it today! This is my day of rest!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

CSCS Exam

Well, I passed! I am officially a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. I'm almost too tired to write this because I probably slept about 4 whole hours last night and have been worrying about it for months now. My brain is so tired! I'm off to take a nap and relax for the rest of the weekend. NO MORE STUDYING. Although, it did pay off! I am a CSCS!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

The big day

The next time I post here, I will be able to tell you whether or not I am a CSCS. The test is Saturday at 9am. I am trying very hard not to freak myself out about it, but I will more than likely be studying up until then. I can honestly say that, even if I don't pass it, I did my absolute best to study for this exam.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Just keep smiling

I have to say that so far this week hasn't been that bad. I've been trying to have a more positive attitude about it. Of course some things have gone wrong:
  • I found the perfect way to get to class that avoids a lot of stop lights and traffic. However, it's only open to go East right now due to construction, so I have to take Dorr street to get home, which includes more stop lights and continued construction.
  • The very first packet of information I received on Day 1 of class was a brochure for the police department. Not a good sign.
  • I found out that we are supposedly going to be required to dress up for all guest speakers in class. We have guest speakers every day. Sigh.
  • I was standing in the hallway with a group of friends when one of our instructors (who we don't even have this semester) came up and scolded us for what we wrote on our parking ticket appeals two months ago. Apparently "we were told..." was not to be written.
  • We were required to go early yesterday to have lunch with the first and second year students. This consisted of me sitting on a bench with other people in my class and talking to one second year student the entire time. I still don't know who any of the first year students are.
Despite all of this, I am still trying to keep a good attitude. Getting all upset isn't going to solve any of it, so I might as well just smile and let it go. There are a lot more important things in life than worrying about these things for just six more weeks.

My big exam is this Saturday. I have been stressing out so much about it. The people in my class who have already taken it keep reassuring me that it's no big deal, but I can't help but worry. Every time I look at the book, I find something that I didn't remember from before. We have a 6 hour break tomorrow between classes and I am going to spend it studying with another person in my class who has yet to take the exam. I also have all day Friday to study for it. I keep reminding myself that I have more time, but that time is dwindling down! I think that if I do pass it, all of Toledo will hear me cheering.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Stressing

Tomorrow is my last "first day of class" ever. While it's only for 7 weeks, I just know that it's going to be the most stressful semester yet. I'm not exactly looking forward to it, but I know I can get through it. I just have to keep a positive attitude, as difficult as that may be at times.

I took the 2nd CSCS practice test today. I really improved in the content that I didn't do so well on the first time, but I also really declined in the areas I haven't reviewed since the 1st practice test (the ones I did well on the first time). Needless to say, I'm stressing. The test is Saturday. Looks like I have a lot of studying to get done before then. I don't know if I just wasn't focused today while I was taking it or if I was just tired or if I really don't know the information that well. Whichever it was, I need to get it figured out in the next 5 days.

However, the rest of the night, I am just going to sit back and relax and take it easy. I feel like maybe I over-did it a little bit this break and that's why I'm so stressed. A little relaxation and a good night's sleep might do me some good.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Where did the break go and did it ever even occur?

Would it be horrible if i just took this whole day off from studying and schoolwork in general. I've had one heck of a week. After my last post, I went out to check the air pressure in my car tires to make sure they were good to go and one of them was only at 20 psi (in case you didn't know, they are supposed to be at 44). So I take a closer look at it and there's a nail in the tire. It had to have been there the whole day I was driving around. Nice....Luckily, I have some very helpful cousins who fixed it for me and got it all patched up. It could have been worse, but it was just the start of one of those weeks.

Now that it's the end of the week, I just want to sit back and relax and take it easy just for one day. I want to go sit outside and read a book, play nintendo wii, and take a long nap. But....I know I probably won't do any of these things, because I will just feel guilty for not accomplishing more.

This is what I accomplished yesterday:
  • reviewed two more chapters of the CSCS book (I'm on the 3rd time through)
  • started the "pre-course assignment" and got it halfway done
  • added one article to my scholarly project paper and did some revisions to sections that needed it, making the paper 20 pages long (double spaced), but it was only 7 pages long at the beginning of break, so I have accomplished something right?
  • organized my stuff for next week so that I don't have to worry about it later
  • reviewed my current stack of CSCS notecards
  • reviewed a couple of old anatomy notecards (I'm reviewing 2-3/day from now until Boards)
That is enough accomplishments, am I right? I should not worry about accomplishing any more today. I need a break! If I do not do any school-related activities today, it will be the first day of this 5-week break that I actually take a break. Seriously. I have a feeling, I might take a peek at my CSCS book today, but the rest of this stuff...I am really feeling like putting it aside for one day. My mind could really use a day off.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Gotta Get Through This

After running errands all morning, I basically have no motivation to be productive this afternoon. Ok, so my errands only took 2 hours and consisted of:
  • going to the bank to deposit my student loan check
  • going to get my car serviced to prepare it for the 10,000 - 20,000 miles that will be put on it by May
  • going to Walmart to stock up on everything so that I don't have to go as often once classes start
Despite the fact that there were really only three whole errands, I feel like now I should just sit back and do nothing for the rest of the day. That's pure laziness kicking in right there and I need to knock it off. I've been fairly productive for the past 2 days, so there's no need to waste any time today.

I want to take my second CSCS practice exam before classes start. That means, I need to be prepared to take it by Sunday night, at the latest. I have 3 practice exams total, so this will leave me with one more to take before the big day (a week from Saturday). I'm getting more and more nervous for it as each day passes. Every day, I think - "I've studied enough to pass this test" and then I start reviewing things in the book and think - "hmm..I wonder why I didn't remember this sentence/paragraph/chart. It looks pretty important." In other words, I think I need all the extra study time I can get.

I also need to get started on a "pre-course assignment" that is due before classes start. Yes, I'm being totally serious. A pre-course assignment. Seem pretty ridiculous? It is, which is why I haven't started it yet. It's a 6-8 page paper that will more than likely not get started until the very last minute because a) I am bitter about it and b) I feel like my other projects are more important right now.

Scholarly project? I don't even want to think about it. I keep changing the layout of the paper to make it look longer. It's gone from double spaced to single spaced to bigger headings, etc. Right now, it's 11 pages single spaced with 16 font headings with my abstract taking up the entire first page. Don't get me wrong, I have added some actual writing to it, but every time I sit down with an article, it's like a huge sigh and groan takes over my entire being and I end up just staring at it. blah.

But...rather than complain anymore, I think I might as well go do something about all of this and go get some work done. In the end, I know it is going to be worth it. Just gotta get through this next year.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Change

I've changed. It's as simple as that. Not a huge change, but I've definitely not the same person I was a few months ago. It's been on my mind for some time now, and it wasn't too long ago that I decided that if I want to become a good, respectable individual, I need to make some changes.

First, and probably the biggest change, is that I'm just not that into the drinking and partying scene anymore. I just don't find it entertaining these days. Don't get me wrong, I still like to go out and have fun (I did make an appearance at the music fest last night), but I'm just not into going out and drinking. This presents a problem, because 99% of my friends do like that scene and that's what they want to do with their free time. Anymore, I'm perfectly happy just staying home and watching movies, however, I don't know anyone else who is. So basically, this has left me feeling a little "friendless" lately and kind of lonely. But, even if my phone no longer rings at 3am with texts about "after-bar" parties, I still know that this change will be for the better. There are a lot of little girls in my family who might look up to me as a role model as they go through their early teenage years, and if I want to set a good example and be a good role model, the partying and drinking is OUT.

Another change is that I'm making more of an effort to know and understand what is going on in the world around me. I think we have some pretty big issues in our own country right now that we should all be well-informed of. I am a firm believer that you have no right to complain about something unless you really understand the facts of what you are complaining about. The only way to know what's going on in the world is to watch the news, read the newspaper, and just take a look around. That being said, watching the news is, of course, going to give you a distorted view of the reality, as everyone knows that most of the newsmedia is biased one way or the other. Since I'm too poor to actually travel the world and see things firsthand, I've made an effort to watch various news networks, in an attempt to get "both sides" of the story. This means...be prepared for the shocker here...that I've been watching Fox News. I've even go so far as to watch Bill O'Reilly. My political viewpoints have changed. I'm not a Republican, but I'm not a Democrat either. I just have more conservative viewpoints than I thought I did. I would have to say that most (not all) of my viewpoints are along the lines of the Libertarian party. Too bad they don't have a news network.

Another change: I've been going back to church again. I have missed it. I met the new minister while my mom and I were going on walks in the evenings (the minister and her husband walk as well). I thought she seemed like a very nice person and very outgoing and easy to talk to. I started going to church to see what her service was like and I realized that I should have gone back a long time ago. It's hard to explain, and I am not one of those people who tries to push religion onto others, but as soon as I started going back, I just knew that it was the right thing to do. Not just because we have a new minister, but because I needed that sense of security I guess. That being said, our new minister really does do a good job and I like her services. I think our church will really benefit from having her here.

Change #4, of course I've already talked about this is numerous other posts, I've been eating better and trying to exercise most days of the week. I can already notice a change since I started this a little over a week ago. I don't know if I've lost any weight (I don't weigh myself), but my clothes fit better and I feel more awake and alert during the day. Putting all that crappy junk food into my body was making me feel sluggish. Now I feel like I have a lot more energy.

The last change, which I haven't had a chance to really try to put into effect yet, is that I am going to try to have a better work ethic. Not that I think I had a bad work ethic at my last clinical (I actually think I had a pretty good one), but I think that I need to have a better attitude about my work ethic in class for the next 7 weeks. I'm not looking forward to going back at all, for a variety of reasons that I have already mentioned in previous posts, but I am going to try to have a better attitude about it. I especially need to work on this better attitude when it comes to staying late and driving through hectic Toledo traffic to get to and from the Scott Park campus. I have never had a good attitude about having to stay late for school or work, but this year, I am going to try. In my career, it's something that I am just going to have to get used to and it's going to be the biggest obstacle that I have to overcome. It will be interesting to see if I can tackle it.

So there you have it, my life's recent changes. Like I said, they're not huge changes, but I do feel like I may be a better person for them. I guess I'll let everyone else decide in the weeks and months to come.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Ups and Downs

I'll start with the downs...I took the first CSCS practice test today. The scientific background and nutrition questions were harder than I thought they would be. I passed all of the sections except for the nutrition...ugh. So basically, I have to go back and memorize that whole chapter for real. How frustrating. On the plus side, the video portion of the test wasn't bad at all. And once I graded my test, I realized that they actually give you the exact page numbers and areas of the book to study for the ?s you missed, so I can go back through and study up more on my weak areas. Another downside - the test is graded in sections, so you have to pass each section in order to pass the test. For example, I can't rely on my exercise prescription knowledge to make up for the ?s I missed in the nutrition section. You have to pass every section in order to pass the test. I'm scared! I'm really going to have to get focused now. My scholarly project is just going to have to wait a while.

Speaking of my scholarly project, that is actually the "up" of the day. I received an email from my scholarly project advisor that he was forwarding from the OPTA that my scholarly project did NOT get accepted for the presentations in Columbus this fall. This means....I don't have to present there!! I'm sure he is still going to try to make me go to it, but I really don't feel I should have to if I am not presenting. I have no desire to make PT contacts in Columbus, seeing as how I never want to move there or work there. Since we're supposed to have a week off class the week of that conference, let's keep our fingers crossed that I really don't have to go and I can enjoy having a week long break like the rest of my class.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

My Exciting Summer Break


Here are some pictures of what I have been doing with my awesome and thrilling summer break so far:


These are my new golf clubs that I've been getting good use out of, although my grandma still beats me every time, my best this summer on 18 holes is 105 at Suburban. I'm pretty sure I could beat that by now, but it's been too hot to go.


This is my new queen-sized bed that I've been bragging about. It actually did come today and it took 3 of us to get it put together. It doesn't look like much, but under that mattress is a lot of complicatedly-put-together pieces of plywood. That post is actually part of my futon, not part of the bed, so don't get confused, we didn't get it completely wrong!




This is the futon that I've been sleeping on for over a year. It is finally folded up into a couch like it's meant to be and you can see that the cat enjoys it very much. Don't mind all the junk underneath it. I had to throw that stuff under there while we put the bed together.



This book has pretty much been my life for the past 3 weeks and will be for the next 3. It's actually a better read than it looks, but when you are trying to learn and memorize every page, it gets old. The whole binding is broken because I have opened it so many times. It will get thrown out the window if I don't pass this test.



These are my scholarly project binders. The one on the left is full of articles that I have added to my paper. The one on the right is full of articles that I have yet to add. I can't wait until I can combine them all into one binder, marked "finished." By the way, those fine people in the picture frame in the background are my grandparents. I miss them very much, but it makes me feel better to have them looking over me while I study every day. I know...weird...but it's true.



Last but not least, this is the highlight of my room - the TV, and it is where my I play all my Wii games, as you can tell. Although all this Wii equipment is going to have to get moved downstairs since my room is so full now, I have enjoyed playing Tiger Woods 10 when I have those whole 5 minutes of free time every day. I do think that the cat house and scratching post add a nice touch to this photograph, along with the random fan.


And that's it. That's pretty much been my summer break. I hope you've enjoyed.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Sleep please!

Well, my new bed is supposed to arrive tomorrow, but...the UPS shipping tracker says that it's destination is "LaFayette, Ohio," which sadly really does exist, so who knows if my bed will actually get here tomorrow or not. Somebody in LaFayette is probably going to get a free bed. Ugh. I called UPS today and after fighting with an automated voice for about 15 minutes, I finally got through to a real person who told me not to worry and that they "usually" go by the zip code instead and it will only be a problem if the delivery guy doesn't think my address is a real address. Nice...because my address is never recognized because I don't have a home phone line or a P.O. box, so no one thinks that this address exists. Awesome. So we'll see if I really do end up getting a bed tomorrow or not. I got my room all re-arranged and ready for it and I have my mattress laying out to "fluff up." It's a memory foam mattress, so it takes about a day for it to rise up to it's full height.

Other than preparing for the bed, I spent the weekend studying massive amounts of CSCS info and did absolutely no work on my scholarly project, so that is the goal for today...to at least get something done on the scholarly project before I begin my CSCS study marathon again. I did actually get to go swimming yesterday for a while, which was much appreciated since it was 95 degrees and insanely humid. My a/c is supposed to cycle on and off and I don't think it's had much "off" time. I can't complain though, this is the first real "summer weather" we've had all summer.

My diet is going pretty good so far. I've found a new way to eat pizza that is much healthier, even healthier than the home-made ones I used to make. I now buy these little pizza crusts (I forget the brand), but they come 3 in a pack and are sized just for one person. I brush the crust with a little olive oil and put italian seasoning on it (you can buy this in the seasoning isle - it's one of the Marie Calendar's grinders), add sauce (they now put it in with the little pizza crusts in a separate packet), sprinkle parmesan cheese on the sauce, add shredded mozzarella cheese and turkey pepperoni. Bake at 440 for 11-12 minutes. It's amazing. I also recommend using ham and green pepper as toppings.

I also worked out yesterday for almost an hour and today I am sore. I knew lunges were hard, but I didn't think lunges with 15 lb. weights would be all that much more difficult. THEY ARE. haha. It's safe to say, I will not be lifting weights today or doing any sort of resistance training. I'm just going to have to suffer the heat and get out there and walk.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Day 1 of healthy eating

After thoroughly studying the nutrition section of my CSCS book, I've decided that if I do pass this exam and become a CSCS, I better practice what I preach and start eating healthier if I am going to be advising other people to do the same. This decision was backed up by the fact that I had to purchase size 8 jeans/khakis yesterday while shopping :( All the stress of CSCS and scholarly project have made me eat a lot of UNhealthy quick and easy foods, like frozen pizzas and nachos. I'm getting too old to eat those without gaining weight. So I've started a new diet plan for myself, which really isn't all that difficult...it's pretty much based on the food guide pyramid, but I'm trying to get in a lot of vitamins, minerals, and essential amino acids every day. Of course the downside to this plan is that eating healthier is more expensive and takes longer to make meals, but my goal for when classes start is to prepare a lot foods over the weekend that I can either refrigerate or freeze to eat during the week. Plus, with classes being later in the day, there are a lot of days that I won't have to pack a lunch, making it a lot easier to eat better. This could be a completely different story when I start my clinicals, but I'll work that out when the times comes. Here are a few of the changes I'm making:
  • The first big change is that I am trying to stay away from liquor and beer. I am replacing these with red wine (I don't really like white wine). Wine has a lot of antioxidants that liquor and beer do not. It also has Chromium, which is good for lowering blood sugar. They say a glass of wine a day is good for you, so I'm going to take "they're" word for it. (My CSCS book does not give a recommendation on how often to drink it, lol).
  • I'm trying not to worry about the "low-fat" or "low-sugar" craze. Some fats are good for you (pretty much any of them except for saturated fats / trans fats). Plus, a lot of low-sugar foods are loaded up with aspartame, which is questionable at best. Foods like peanut butter and cheese have a high fat content, but they are filling foods and are good for you in lots of other ways.
  • I do not like milk at all, so I usually drink soy milk, but I hardly ever buy it. I'm going to try to keep stocked up on it from now on, as well as take a Calcium supplement, because I had no idea until I read my CSCS book that ALL the calcium in your body comes from EXTERNAL sources. We need calcium for our muscles to contract, so I've probably been a lazy bum just from the fact that I don't get enough calcium. Plus, I don't want to have osteoporosis someday.
  • I'm trying to FORCE myself to eat fruit. I don't like fruit very much, but I'm buying it and telling myself that if I feel like I need a snack in the middle of the day, it has to be fruit. I know I'm never going to incorporate fruit into my lunch or supper, so I have to find a way to eat it sometime. The only way I've been eating fruit all summer is by putting a slice of lemon in my water. lol
  • I'm also trying to eat breakfast. Apparently fortified breakfast cereals are one of the best breakfast foods you can have. Who knew? I'm trying to eat more cereal until I can someday force myself to eat eggs again. I have lost all taste for eggs and I don't know why.
  • I have never been good at the "5 small meals / day" diet, but I am going to try 3 small-moderate sized meals / day with 1-2 small snacks and see how that works.
  • I am not going to weigh myself because a) I don't even want to know what I weigh. It's too scary to think about and b) muscle weighs more than fat so if I gain more fat-free mass and lose a lot of fat mass, I will actually weigh more and c) I am only judging my success with how good my clothes fit and measurements of my waist and hips.
  • The minimal amount of exercise I will do every day is walk 2 miles. I will do other forms of exercise, obviously, but that's the bare minimum. I may have to sacrifice sleep on busy days, but I'll do what I have to.
Wish me luck. If I can keep this up through the rest of the year, I will be ecstatic with my will-power.

Other than my new diet (which I have been following for about 5 hours now), I received an email today of our official fall schedule (with week 2 missing...nice). It looks pretty intimidating to be honest. There are a lot of extra little "things" besides class, such as guest speakers, scholarly project meetings, etc. And the due date for that looming scholarly project is October 12. I don't even want to think about it. I'm sure my advisor is going to want it finished by the time fall classes start and that is by far not going to happen at this point. Not unless I study CSCS all day and work on scholarly project all night and never sleep until classes begin. At this point, just doing my best with the time I have left is going to have to suffice.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

A good night's sleep would be much appreciated.

My hand officially feels like it is going to fall off. I've been trying so hard to study this CSCS information and the only way I can learn it is to write it out. Well, I'm currently working on the nutrition chapter, which is the most important chapter in the whole book, so I am trying very hard to concentrate on it by writing out all of the important points. My writing finger is burning and I'm not even halfway through the chapter. Ugh. I guess I'll just have to suffer my way through it because I wanted to have this chapter completed by the end of the day.

On the plus side, my new mattress arrived today for my new bed! On the downside, the actual bed hasn't even shipped out yet. I guess that's what you get when you're too lazy to actually go to a furniture store and shop for one in person. I am officially sick of sleeping on this little futon every night, so I went ahead and ordered a queen sized bed. Don't get too excited, it's nothing fancy. I found a 10" memory foam mattress on amazon for $375 and then ordered a cheap platform bed (that I have to put together myself) for $125. I am basically going to be just putting my memory foam mattress on a raised-up piece of plywood, but that's good enough for me. The main goal is to just see if I can get the pieces of the bed upstairs without having to cut them down. Wish me luck. Although the task obviously won't get underway until next week sometime, at the rate this shipping is going. Although, I still can't really complain because all the shipping was free. I love having amazon prime.

If you really want to know just how much of a "summer break" I am having, I took 3 breaks from studying today. 1) a 15 minute break to eat lunch, 2) a 5 minute break to go outside and meet the FedEx lady at the door to get my mattress in the house, and 3) a 30 minute break to re-arrange my tv stand, tv, Wii, DVD players, and Dish receiver to the other side of my room so that I'll have room for my new bed when it actually comes. Other than that, I have literally been studying CSCS ALL day...with the exception of this post, as well. I just have to keep my eyes on the prize, which would obviously be my dream job.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

My Scholarly Project

Well, after doing some research on the internet, I found this video that I think I will just turn in as a replacement for my literature review. ha. But seriously, the sad thing is...I actually learned something from it.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Losing steam.

Another week has gone by and I still feel very overwhelmed with all that I need to accomplish. I really just want to go lay outside and do nothing today, but I know I need to force myself to sit at my desk and get things done. I have only 3 weeks left to get everything accomplished, and as much as my scholarly project advisor told us to "stay in touch" and that he will help us with the project, I really feel like he doesn't care at all, as long as we finish it. So basically, I'm trying to get it done with no help, yet his name goes on the paper too. Nice. Also, one of the girls in my class (who also took the CSCS elective) just took the test last week and said that it wasn't too bad, but she wished she would have had more time to study and that she really had to rely on a lot of things she remembered from PT school. That's a scary thought, because I feel like I have forgotten a lot of things from PT school. It also makes me feel like I should use all my free time in the next 3 weeks to prepare for that exam. I don't really like having to make one project a higher priority than the other, because then I will totally ignore the lesser prioritized one, but I think CSCS gets the higher priority here. It is coming up the soonest.

The big Bullthistle weekend went well. I didn't go out to see the fireworks this year because a) I was too tired and b) I didn't want to hastle with all the parking and traffic and walking around in the dark and c) I didn't want to get bit up by mosquitoes. The parade and the afternoon in the park went well though. Nothing too exciting occurred though. I guess the most exciting thing was that I talked to someone who could have some really strong influence for an awesome PT job in the area and he said he would put in a good word for me. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I made a good impression. See..who needs the OPTA events in Columbus to make contacts in the healthcare business? haha

Nothing much else is new with me. I had a dream last night about having to drive all the way to the Scott Park campus for classes and that the hours were 10am to 10pm every day. Sadly, that's not too far from the truth. Thank goodness it's only for 8 weeks and then I'll be away on clinicals until I am done. Well, it's time to go hit the CSCS book and scholarly project articles. Yipee.