Consider my Bubble Burst (02/13)

For the past six months I have been attempting to swim for exercise at a local pool. At first it was a challenge to swim even a half of a lap, but I have been going about 3 times a week and am slowly improving. In fact, I am proud to say that I have can now swim several laps. (Well, that is if I rest a little in between laps).

I wonder if I look this good swimming...

With my new found confidence, I decided to set up a new challenge for myself – like swimming a mile. Which after looking it up on google, I learned was 16 laps. I was so excited to see how close I could get. I decided to use the grate at the pool’s end and my flip flops to help me keep count and I was off –

like so...

When my time was up (I go during my lunch hour so time is limited), I had swam 12 laps. 4 laps short of a mile!

I was so excited that I called my sister after to tell her!

But then I started to think about it. I am no Olympic athlete (heck, I barely qualify as a swimmer) could I have really swim nearly a mile in 40 minutes? Wait – am I even swimming in an Olympic size pool? I didn’t know. So I set out to investigate the size of the pool today. It measured 101 of my feet – which translates to approximately 23 meters – about 27 meters short of an Olympic sized pool.

Those of you that are good at math have probably already figured this out, but my almost mile was a little bit closer to almost half of a mile.

I guess I still have some work to do.

Ever heard of a Yurt? (02/12)

I was listening to NPR and they were interviewing a couple who decided to rent out their home to help pay for their kids’ college tuition while they continued to live on the back end of their property – in a yurt.

yurt |yoŏrt; yərt|
noun
a circular tent of felt or skins on a collapsible framework, used by nomads in Mongolia, Siberia, and Turkey.

modern yurt (in colorado)

There are other names for yurt such as ger (rhymes with “air”) or uy (oo-ee) and no one really knows where they originated , although the Buryat Mongols of Siberia claim their land as the birthplace of the Mongol tribes and also of the ger.

Doesn’t seem like too bad of a set up really. I could see my adventurous aunt and uncle (who lived on a sailboat from many years)  giving this a try.

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