Day 72 of Firsts: Learn Towel Art

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. ~Lin Yutang

Every day at the El Dorado Maroma Hotel in Mexico, a different towel animal  with little flowers would appear on our bed at the end of the day. 

What's a towel animal? Yeah, I'd never seen this before either. Napkin animals, reynolds wrap animals, balloon animals, yes.  Towel animals? Who knew.



 
Silly but cute. Anyway, as we were checking out today , I asked Wilberto to show me how he does it. 
 

 
Here's my try at making an elephant.
 

 
You can be sure, if you spend the night at my house, a towel elephant will appear on your bed. (maybe)
 
Anyway, the towel animals were just one of the sweet little details of our vacation.  
 
Rested and glad to be home.

Day 39 of Firsts: Row Exercise Class

Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back. ~Chinese Proverb

If you've been reading this blog, you probably can tell by now, I'll try just about any kind of workout once.  In fact, I get pretty bored with my workouts so I'm always looking for something new.

This is fun and different. You don't need a boat and you don't need to  know a thing about rowing. But the classes at RowZone are centered around a rowing workout. Check this out.



It's actually pretty cool because it doesn't matter your age or your fitness level, you can do it.



RowZone is Ian Andracchio's creation.



I couldn't believe how fast the 45 minutes went.  A great workout for someone who needs something new to get them started.  I met Jillian as I was checking out.



Anyway nice change of pace for me. Felt like I had all sorts of energy and was humming when I left...."life is but a dream.."

You can find out more at http://www.rowzone.com/

Day 35 of Firsts: No Blackberry!

Our only security is our ability to change. ~John Lilly

8:30 am

I am so anxious about not being able to use my Blackberry today.  I keep thinking, "okay, must tell my family, everyone at work, friends, tipsters...I will not be using my crackberry, er blackberry today".

AHHH. I'm panicking already.  I'm at the point I check emails, facebook, twitter on a constant basis through this thing.

Will I miss a story? a good tip? a pithy remark?  Have I lost it?

Wish me luck.

7:15 PM

You think I was freaked out? Look at the faces of our nbc 10 investigative interns as I tell them I will be "sans" blackberry today. It was almost 10 am and I was about to leave for a two hour road trip to get an interview.  From right to left: Danielle, Kristen, Eric and Ryan and finally Producer Ed Dress weighs in.



I did let important sources know they would have to call today, that I was on the road. Meanwhile, I felt like I had a nervous twitch for the first two hours where I would go to reach for my blackberry , then mentally slap myself. 

That thing has become my security blanket. I feel in touch, in the know, connected, constantly in the loop. My G-d it's exhausting! 

By the end of the day, I was better. I resorted back to "working the phone" to get things done. I have to say I now think email is often faster and more efficient.

At 6:30 I ran into the office, to my computer to check my email. My eyes got big.  Dozens of emails unopened! oh my! 

What did I miss??  As it turns out, nothing that couldn't wait.  Our smart and capable interns managed to call me with information I needed to know. There was not a complete melt down.

I might need to schedule more blackberry free days.