The new domain fits my name change, is still short and is easy to spell.  It definitely gives off a more professional vibe than “kabby” does, and so I’ll treat it as such.

In terms of private life, there has been a lot going on, but I’ll just give a quick snippet.  I saw Hamilton (Chicago) a week ago, and it was a truly monumental experience.  I started writing up commentaries on each of the songs – no small feat, considering that there are 46 of them – to help me remember the experience.  I may consider posting some of them here.

Moving prompted some spring cleaning, and as such I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the news section of the WordPress site I had previously hosted.  The news I share goes straight to my blurblog (through my Newsblur account) and from there to my Google+ and Twitter via IFTTT.  Due to this, I’m not entirely sure it’s necessary to host them myself through WordPress.  That decision still remains to be made.

I wonder if the calming down of my life means I will post more often.  I know that journaling is something I miss, and this is a more tech-friendly journaling substitute.  We shall see.

You may ask, “Why are you still hosting that?  Didn’t you quit WoW years ago?”  Yes, I did.  You can quit playing games, but that doesn’t mean you quit the people involved.  The Months Behind community has been around even longer than the site/forums I created for them, and I know we will continue to be around even after WoW is a fading memory.  So, to keep in contact with them, I and the many others who have since quit playing WoW, need this communication avenue which doesn’t require an active WoW account.

I intended for this to be a much shorter post, but apparently I suck at being succinct.  I will update later with all the stuff I’m up to.  There are many things to mention, and it seems like the list just keeps on growing.

I know that times are tough, but it would mean a lot to me if any of you could show your support by cheering us on, participating or contributing to the cause.

If you’re interested in attending:
The race begins at 8:30am on Sunday, May 15th at Oak Park River Forest High School:
201 North Scoville Avenue
Oak Park, IL 60302
Get Directions

If you’re interested in walking or running:
Participation in the 5k (3.1 mile) run/walk is $25 if you register online now. I know the website says $30, but when I registered yesterday, it only asked for $25. The price may go up on May 10th, and race day registration is $35. The route map is published on their website, and you can choose to be timed. You can find more information about the race and view the brochure on the Get Your Rear In Gear website.

I’ve started a team, named 4Kay, for anyone interested in joining me for this event. To join this team, register as an individual and then select the team 4Kay on the second registration page. To start the registration process, go here.

If you’re interested in donating:
The Colon Cancer Coalition is the nonprofit organization that is running the Get Your Rear In Gear 5k. Their goal is to increase awareness, provide screening programs to those with financial barriers and create support for those affected by the disease. 75% of their funds raised stay local to ensure monies are spent to increase community awareness and screening programs. They have a grade of “A” with the Better Business Bureau. The link my donation page is here: http://www.active.com/donate/gyrigchicago11/4Kay

Colon Cancer Facts
» It is highly curable – over 90% – if caught in its earliest stages; however, it is a silent killer. Usually there are no symptoms to rely on until more advanced stages of the disease.
» It equally affects men and women, affects those primarily 50 and older.
» It is one of the top 3 causes of cancer deaths in the United States – 54,000 each year.
» More than 150,000 people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer each year.
» Those with family history of the disease are at increased risk, but approximately 80% of people diagnosed with colon cancer have no family history.

Thank you so much for your consideration. Any amount you can contribute, be it through time, effort or money, is truly appreciated. This cause is dear to my heart.

So, those are the basics of what is new with me. Hopefully, at some point, I’ll be struck with inspiration and do a full blog post.

I get this question a lot now that I’ve lost thirty-five pounds.  The answer is simple, but no one wants to hear it: self-control.  You can put it in any form of words you like, but what it boils down to is willpower.  I’m not trying to toot my own horn here, but it was an essential and necessary component in everything I’ve done to improve my health so far.

The amazing thing is I had no idea that developing my willpower was the key behind losing weight (rather than subject knowledge, which tools you use or any other contributing factor) until recently.  As in, until this morning when I read this jaw-dropping article in Allure called “Mission: Control” by Judith Newman.  I would love to link to the article, but it appears to not be available online.  Instead, I must encourage you to run out and buy the December 2009 issue, open up to page 189, ignore the half naked model wearing pleather on leg press machine, and start reading.

You’re probably saying, “Karen, since when do you subscribe to a magazine devoted to makeup?  You don’t even wear makeup.”  Well, that’s true.  The fact of the matter is, I didn’t exactly pay for a subscription to the magazine.  With the paper-based news and magazine industries hit so hard recently, I’ve gotten free subscriptions to Wired and Allure through other purchases I’ve made.  In the case of Allure, I could have instead gotten Glamour, which I used to read years ago.  I decided to go with Allure over that since I’m less familiar with the content and likely to learn more from it.  That’s one of the better decisions I’ve made, based on what I’ve learned from the magazine so far.

The article I’m referring to cites multiple psychological studies, most of which are over ten years old (I must be out of the loop), that help explain how strong self-control is developed, maintained, and most importantly, how it wears out.

To quote the article:

What most of us don’t grasp about willpower is that it is a limited resource, according to research by Roy F. Baumeister, a professor of psychology at Florida State University.  This is particularly true when it comes to losing weight.  You may have every intention of eating less, but if you are exercising self-control in one arena of your life, it may be hard to get it together in another.

In a 1998 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, hungry subjects were presented with plates of radishes and chocolate chip cookies.  (The latter were actually baked in the lab, so that the air in the room was fragrant with cookie goodness.)  Some subjects were allowed to eat the cookies, and others were told to eat only the radishes.  Later, they were given puzzles to solve–and the radish eaters gave up more quickly on a puzzle than subjects who had not had to exert self-control by avoiding the cookies.  In other words, the radish eaters who had to say no to the siren song of cookies could not exert the discipline needed to plug away at a boring, frustrating task.

Thus, self-control is a resource your body uses, similar to energy.  Certain actions/foods will build up willpower, while others drain it.  The article goes on to explain that exerting self-control obviously drains your self-control resource, in addition to other actions like decision-making, thought control, emotion control, impulse control, and task performance.

The good news is you can build self-control up, similar to strengthening a muscle.  This is something I have been doing unconsciously for the past year.  I started to get a handle on what things I wanted to change about my life, I started enacting them slowly.  The first things I changed were small, like “I want better posture,” “I want to speak more clearly,” or “I don’t want to speed as much while driving.”  The article considers these to be mental workouts that help increase your willpower.  Since willpower is a limited resource, though, you shouldn’t try to change too much at once, especially if the things you’re changing are big.

Then, as if the article already knew it had me hooked and wanted to make sure I’d blog about it, it went on to slightly bash artificial sweeteners.

Using up your self-control resource also lowers your blood glucose levels.  To replenish your pool of self-control, sugar does a good job at being a quick fix.  Artificial sweeteners, on the other hand, were shown to not have this effect.  In the long run, though, the protein-rich snacks will be better for you and have a similar replenishing effect; it just doesn’t act as quickly as sugar does.  Additionally, liquor will lower your blood glucose levels, which may be part of the reason why our willpower goes out the window when we drink.  Sleep also replenishes the self-control resource, and lack of sleep puts your willpower in a bad place.

Oddly enough, the article then goes on to talk about other ways to motivate oneself.  It recommends the threat of losing money, as opposed to the reward of gaining even the same amount of money, as “Tons of economic studies have shown that people work harder to avoid monetary losses than they do to gain a similar amount.”

Back on topic, though, the article mentions another self-control method that I’ve been using myself, without thinking about it.  The author calls them “if-then plans.”  You think about a situation beforehand, and make specific plans in the event of a situation that would otherwise throw you off.  For example, “If I’m tired when my alarm goes off, then I’ll get up anyway.”  You’d be surprised at how well this works, if you take a little time to focus on that.  The article claims that these plans remove the decision-making that would normally take place at that time, which prevents that decision from using up your self-control resource.

So, to sum up, here is a list of things that REPLENISH your self-control resource:

• Sugar (for a burst)
• Protein (slower, but lasts longer)
• Sleep

These are the things that DRAIN your self-control resource:

• Using self-control of any kind (thought, emotional, impulse, etc.)
• Decision-making
• Task performance
• Alcohol

So, keep that in mind if you have an indulgence situation coming … like Thanksgiving.  Give yourself every advantage you can.  Plan ahead so there won’t be any decisions to be made.  Get a lot of sleep.  Do tasks ahead of time if possible.  And, if all else fails, have a little bit of some real sugar.

On a side note, the article goes on to say that a 2007 study in the Journal of Consumer Research found that exerting self-control in one area of your life increases the amount you’ll spend shopping.  That probably explains why my checking account hit an all time low.  Well, that and Jamaica. 

So, quit bugging me about it. I’m not a moron or an anorexic. I’m healthy for once and dammit I’m gonna stay that way.

Sorry for the rant but it really irks me.

I’ve moved over to a blog powered by WordPress, formerly powered by Blogger, for a couple of reasons.  One, I’d love to be able to reliably update this site using my iPhone.  Blogger cannot handle this for whatever reason.  I was even unable to get Blogger to cooperate with emailed blog posts.  Two, it’s a much stronger platform with greater customization capability.  Three, it gave me something fun to do for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning.

So, thank you to Blogger for your posting capabilities in the past, but I’ve moved on.  We’ll see how this goes from here on out.  Hopefully, this will be even better than the old blog.

This is a test blog post. This is only a test.

However, you may be interested to hear that this is a test from my new
iPhone!