Shut UP!!!

My darling husband and I went to lunch together yesterday at San Sushi II in Towson. We came in from the freezing cold to  be seated at a cozy corner table. We ordered hot tea and soup and were soon sipping the warmth. It was lunch time and the place was pretty crowded but being seated in the sushi bar area is not too noisy as the padded walls absorb so much of the sound. There were two business men having lunch behind us. I hardly noticed them as they were not the type to yell their conversation, rather they sat conversing in quiet tones. Frank and I were having a nice quiet conversation of our own. 

And then, the loudest most obnoxious ring tone was heard. I wasn't sure where it was coming from at first as no one was moving to answer it. Then, slowly business man #1 dipped into his pleated khaki pocket and drew out the still-ringing phone. He looked at it and said,"Ugh." He continued looking at it as it continued it's nerve-jangling sound. He finally decided to answer it on the 5th ring. But the noise did not stop there. Oh no. He took on a completely different vocal quality from his conversation with his dining partner. I'm pretty sure the guys in the kitchen could hear him over the clanging and banging of pots and pans. He informed his caller that he was at lunch and I thought that would perhaps be the end of it. But he kept on talking. The conversation was not about any emergency. Children were not dying and he certainly was not a brain surgeon needed back at the hospital stat. He was making arrangements to watch a movie with this person later. And he would be sure to call him back as soon as lunch was over and he got back to his office so they could firm up their plans because that's what he was doing. "Yeah, I'm going back to the office. Are you going to be around? OK I'll call you when I get back to my office."

Maybe I was supposed to be impressed that he had an office. I'm not really sure. But I couldn't wait for him to get off the phone. He was talking so loudly that Frank and I were unable to continue our conversation. It was terribly distracting. Then, after a few assurances of calling back later. He hung up. He and businessman #2 chuckled a little about the caller and then went right back to a normal toned conversation. Which was great as Frank and I were then able to continue our conversation. Of course, I was inclined to talk about how irritating it is when people talk so loudly on their phones. And how annoying it is that people don't put their phones on vibrate when in a restaurant. And how I can't understand why people don't just ignore the call. 

I have been in the situation before where I've needed to use the phone when in a public place. If I can't ignore it, I excuse myself and go to an anteroom or outside. And if I were to answer in a restaurant at the table, I would certainly do so in the quietest tone I could. I don't really have a problem with people talking on their phones in public. My real problem is why they feel the need to raise their voice to talk. It's a phone, right next to the mouth. No yelling is really necessary.  I could understand if the phone were across the room. But it's right there connected to your face!!!!

Phew. I'm glad I have this forum to vent about things that piss me off. So, when I rule the world there will be punishments for people who use heir phones in a rude manner. It will be completely acceptable for me to do what I wanted to do when BM#1 answered him phone: Take his phone, hang up the call and yell,"Shut up." in his face. Perhaps it will even be legal to confiscate the phone of an obnoxious user. Kind of a modern-day stock. The offender will be publicly humiliated, condemned by his peers and unable to offend again without the cost of replacing the phone. I think that it would only take one confiscation to make someone really think long and hard about answering and talking loudly. Ah, I can dream can't I? 

Mi Fit

Now that the house is back together after a whirlwind Christmas/Vacation period I thought it was time to get this body back in shape. I could go to the gym but the thought of running indoors on a treadmill depresses me a bit. So I cracked open the Wii Fit Santa brought to us. I set up my profile and took the Body Fit test. This test rates your balance, BMI, weight and gives you your Wii Fit Age. I'm happy to say I'm 35 in Wii Fit years. I don't like that I'm only a pound or two away from being overweight though according to my BMI. I think Wii Fit is putting a little too much stock in the BMI. I'm not sure that's so accurate a measure as it does not take into account fat vs. muscle. But I now have a baseline from which to measure my progress. And I have a real way to track my workouts. each time you "play" Wii Fit, your minutes are charted on a graph. And if you miss a day, the animated balance board will give you crap for it. I worked out two days and took a day off. When I turned it on on the 4th day the board asked, "Too tired to work out yesterday?" I love it. A smart ass computer to motivate me.

In addition to the Body Fit test there are 4 Training Categories : Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics and Balance Games. For the Yoga and Strength Training you are given a trainer who shows you how to do each move and encourages you and gently tells you improvement is needed. For example, I suck at pushups and after I did what I thought was a good job on the pushup move she said, "I can see you're not quite strong enough for this move yet. Keep working out to improve your strength." Well, I'll show her. And I have. I no longer cheat and do my push ups with my knees on the floor.  You see, the balance board is constantly measuring the weight and when I was on my knees, it knew and wouldn't credit me for having done the pushup. They aren't pretty push ups, but I do get credit for them now. 

Another good motivator is the Piggy Bank. For each move or game you play you are awarded credits. These credits unlock new games, moves or increased reps or activity levels. As I run through all the Yoga moves, I may unlock a new balance game. I was overjoyed yesterday when I unlocked Snow Boarding. Frank asked if he could try it. "Oh, no," said I. Only I have unlocked it. And if he got on the board pretending to be me, it wouldn't work. So of course I gloated about all the games I had unlocked already and got the reaction I wanted. Frank signed on and registered his Mi. Now, he and I have a healthy competition. The Wii Fit tracks the standings of all the games for all the Mis registered. So we are now trying to knock each other out of first place in all the games and yoga moves. In fact, Colson topped my Hula Hoop status today and I can't wait to get back up there and kick his butt! 

All this competition can only be good for us. I know I feel good. I've got muscle pain in my abs and thighs that I have not felt in a while.

I think this Wii Fit is going to be a good thing and I hope I stick with it. The competition within the family and the encouragement from my trainer should be enough to keep me interested. And, I've still got a lot of games to unlock and master. I'll keep you posted.