National Marriage Week USA 2011
After reading the weekly ads in the Sunday Denver Post to allow myself time to enjoy my morning coffee and wake up, I picked up the Business section. Today’s Business section contained a full size ad promoting National Marriage Week USA. Since I am recently divorced from a short, but volatile marriage, the ad piqued my interest. Read more
Unemployment falls sharply to 9.0% in January, 36k jobs added
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate dropped sharply to 9.0% in January with 36,000 jobs added, surprising many economists. Private sector employment increased by 50,000 jobs, while government cut 14,000 jobs.
Let’s breakdown the numbers:
Fitness Training Session 12: Legs
Last Friday was the last of the original twelve personal training sessions. Things have been a little crazy for me that last couple of days, hence the late update. Believe it or not, my quadriceps are still a little sore today. However, they were killing me yesterday.
Legs were the emphasis of last Friday’s session. Little Miss Sunshine promised to increase the intensity of the workouts and she did not disappoint. I started off doing squats with a barbell loaded with two 25 pound weights across the back of my shoulders. I did not have much trouble with performing this task. On a subsequent set, Little Miss Sunshine added another 25 pound weight to each side. Since there was no pad to wrap around the barbell, the pain across my shoulders was a little unbearable with this amount of weight. Little Miss Sunshine also brought in a couple of long, heavy rubber bands to add to my torture. One of these exercises featured me stretching out the bands with my feet and my hands over my head. While in this position, I sidestepped across the floor. I could only manage very small steps. Coming back the other way, I began to tire. I also did squats against the way with an exercise ball. To change things up a bit, I performed this exercise using one leg at a time. Little Miss Sunshine also had me use a leg press machine. When Little Miss Sunshine could see that she had not added enough weight, she sat on the machine. This encouraged me to push a little harder and faster in hopes that I could toss her off. Little Miss Sunshine was able to hold on to the machine to prevent this from happening.
My quadriceps finally gave out at the end of the session. It was difficult for me to even stretch my quadriceps out. You might recall that the second set of twelve personal training sessions begin tomorrow. I will be switching to two days a week, Monday and Friday. Before our session begins tomorrow, Little Miss Sunshine will be giving me another FitPoint assessment. I will be posting the results of this assessment, as well as the results of the assessment that I was given prior to starting my personal training sessions. Like you, I am interested in seeing the results.
Fitness Training Session 11: Upper body
The emphasis for today’s session was strengthening exercises for my upper body. Little Miss Sunshine warned me that she was going to kick up the intensity of the sessions. Read more
Case-Shiller Index: Home prices down 1.0% In November
Home prices in the Top 20 Metropolitan Areas fell 1.0% in November, according to the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Index. This was the fourth consecutive monthly drop. Every Metropolitan Area experienced a price drop with the exception of San Diego gaining 0.1%. Detroit was the biggest loser suffering a drop of 2.7% over the previous month. The biggest overall loser in this current market downturn continues to be Las Vegas where prices are off 57.2% from their peak. Overall, home prices in the Top 20 Metropolitan Areas are down 30.3% from their July, 2006 peak .
Here’s a look at how the individual Top 20 Metropolitan Areas are performing: Read more
