And the Emmy goes to... Or where have all my shows gone?

Just finished watching the second part of the Emmys on our TiVo. Now, don't be rolling your eyes at me now! Who has three hours of uninterrupted time to watch it all at once? Not us! Well, I gotta say first that I was pleasantly surprised by Conan. I always felt he was kind of creepy/weird, but the dude is hilarious! I love Jon Stewart, but his Oscar's hosting gig wasn't nearly as successful. Overall, I'm very disappointed with some of the winner choices. Office for best sitcom?!! C'mon!! The show sucks! Its ratings suck. It's not funny! And don't get me started on My Name is Earl. The show actually won an Emmy for best writing for their pilot episode. I watched that pilot episode in a hotel while on a business trip. Granted, I might have been unduly sad over the thin pillows and harsh sheets on my bed, but I don't remember even cracking a smile! I guess, at least NBC has the guts to laugh at themselves, as their show lineup is getting more and more pathetic. West Wing - we're gonna miss ya...

The two new favorites of ours - Two and a Half Men and How I met your Mother didn't earn the Emmy nods. Heck, Mother, wasn't even nominated for anything and what a delightful show that is! And Two and a Half Men have just brilliant writing! But alas, I'm not voting on those things.
I'm somewhat happy for Julia Louis-Dreyfus for finally breaking the Seinfeld curse, though we stopped watching her new show after just a few episodes as we didn't find it that entertaining.

All this brings us to the question of the Fall Lineup. We have lost so many of our favorite shows in the last few years - West Wing , Friends, Frasier, Alias, Sex and the City (and my husband lost his interest for Desperate Housewives - must be that dreadful new haircolor on Eva ;)). We need new good ones! We're looking to try the Studio 60, but other than that, we're not even sure what's coming out and how "bad" it will be. Hopefully, msnbc.com will do its ratings of new shows just like last year.
Okay, enough of TV show ramblings. Sleepy time now...

My name is Blanche, and I'm a GOLDEN GIRL!..

Hehe, I bet you wonder what's that all about? Well...
This past Saturday I went to a Turbo Kick Workshop for Round 27. For those not in the know, Turbo Kick instructors are required to attend two workshops during the two years their certification is valid for. This requirement makes sure that instructors stay true to form and technique. But, most importantly, the workshops are a wonderful opportunity to hang out with people that share your love for TURBO! :) The actual workshop is scheduled into the day long TK instructor certification. People that are getting certified are there from 8 in the morning till 5 or 6 at night (I did this last December). Current instructors just come for the workshop which is held from about 10 to noon. Workshops are also a chance for instructors to retest. What does that mean? Well, when you first get certified as a TK instructor, you get one of three passing grades, namely
In training - which means you still need to work on your form and technique before you go teaching Turbo Kick.
Pass- which is what majority of people get, though it could be on a lower end or the higher end of the spectrum (this is the grade I got back in December when I got certified)
And finally, GOLD - Here's a quote from PBP (Powder Blue Productions) on what Gold means ;) "The "Gold" certification is supposed to be reserved for those who are complete and total stand-outs. Not only is their form near PERFECT, but these people are able to put "explosive" power and energy behind it.
Gold rankings are supposed to be reserved for those who have a MOTIVATING style and demonstrate a bit of showmanship. "
Soooo... Cheryl - presenter from my original certification encouraged me to retest for Gold. She said I was very close to it the first time and I should go for it. And so I did!

Instead of just attending the workshop, I hung out with my fellow TK lovers and a GREAT presenter Kimi Thompson all day Saturday. It was so much fun! We were sweating bullets, whooping, kicking and punching ;) Kimi was wonderful - very thorough, kind and FUN.
To make a long story short, I gave it my very best and I got the GOLD!! I'm very proud of this accomplishment. TK is such a big part of my life that it means a lot to me to receive such a high ranking from PBP. Now, I just have to start teaching ;). When I get some pics from Kimi from the workshop, I'll post a couple here. Till then, ta ta...

P.S. Guess what my SWEETIE of a hubby did when he found out I got the Gold? He went out and got me flowers and one of those toy gold "Winner" medals. It was sooo cute :) He's the best hubby EVER!

Turbo what? Kick Who?..

I figure since the Turbo Kick has become such a big part of my life over the last year, I need to give a little background for my friends and family that are not familiar with what it's all about. Otherwise, I will perpetually continue to get glazed over looks when I'm trying to explain in five minutes or less what is it that I've gotten so obsessed with lately - failing miserably at that, of course ;)

So, grab a cup of Tall-Non Fat-Macchiato and settle in for the story. Could be lengthy, ya know, I do tend to ramble on ;)

I have been working out regularly for about 6 years now. One of the biggest hurdles I always faced was getting through my cardio workouts. My cardio was mostly done on elliptical machines or a treadmill, with occasional aerobics video tapes at home. I was BORED out of my mind and had to force myself to do cardio every single time. I knew I had to do it, but I was kinda miserable. I needed something different, something new, something I could actually like (since I had to do it anyway)!

And then it happened. August 2005. Enter TURBO JAM and Chalene Johnson (aka Turbo Mother, Ms Thang, and many other affectionate nicknames ;)). Beachbody (a website we used to buy video workouts from before) started promoting this new cardio kickboxing workout that promised me oodles of fun while I burned tons of fat! Now I already tried cardio kickboxing classes at the gym by then, as well as worked out to a couple of kickboxing DVD's. I already knew that I liked that sort of workout. And now it was going to come with an upped FUN factor? I needed little more persuasion. When my tapes finally arrived, I was very excited to try them. I did the form and technique video - Learn and Burn DVD. And then popped in the Cardio Party I. From the VERY FIRST workout, I was simply HOOKED! The music was OFF THE HOOK! The moves were challenging and I could feel them working my ENTIRE BODY. And Chalene had such a great presence as an instructor, that I just LOVED LOVED LOVED doing it! That was definitely a first for me, to look forward to a workout like that. I got so into it, that being the Google Junkie that I am, I went searching for more info. And what did I find? I found that there is such a thing as TURBO KICK! Turbo Kick was the original workout created by Chalene and it was being taught as a group fitness class in gyms all across the US. After Turbo Kick has become such a huge success (The story of TK), Chalene created a version of the workout for home users and called it Turbo Jam. I read all I could find about Turbo Kick and was thrilled to find out that Chalene released a new workout, called a Round, every 2 to 3 months. And all these Rounds were being sold right at the Turbo Kick site! That was great news to me, as I easily get bored and am always looking to change up my cardio routine. However, I had quickly deflated when I realized that in order to buy those workouts I had to be a CERTIFIED Turbo Kick instructor! Darn it, I thought! What a bummer! I am not an instructor or instructor material for that matter! I have never taught any group fitness classes before and wasn't really ready to start. But then I figured that I don't HAVE TO actually TEACH Turbo Kick. I could just get certified so I can buy the workouts! Inspired by my own sneaky cleverness, I ordered a home study certification. There weren't any live certifications scheduled in Detroit Metro and I was kind of intimidated to go to a live one anyway. But then Powder Blue Productions (Chalene's company) scheduled a live certification for Turbo Kick instructors in Ann Arbor in December of 2005. After much deliberation, I decided to give live cert a chance...
Let me just say that it was one of the BEST days in my life! I know it sounds crazy, but it's the truth. I had soooo much fun! The day was packed with high energy, fitness spirit, great music and a feeling of belonging. Cheryl Godfrey was the presenter that day, and that woman simply ROCKED! She was kind, supportive, knowledgeable, powerful, energetic and FUN :). As of the end of day on December 3rd 2005, I was officially a certified Turbo Kick instructor! I was very proud of that accomplishment, though I had no plans of teaching. I bought a whole bunch of rounds and went on to work out at home to them. I also made custom mixes by combining sections from different rounds. So far, I own almost all of the rounds released and have made 8 custom mixes. I guess, you can say I'm really INTO this workout, eh? ;)
Fast forward to this Summer... I finally found a live TK workout in the area. It was SUCH a HUGE difference to work out in a live TK class, vs at home to a TV screen. I was having a great time now! But as I kept watching the instructor, I kept thinking that if it was me teaching I'd do this differently and that differently, etc... I knew then that I actually wanted to start teaching myself! Whoda thunk it? ;)
My gracious TK instructor offered to organize a practice class session that I could lead. I went for it! I practiced every day for two weeks, trying to memorize choreography and learn how to cue properly. I was nervous as hell, but immensely excited as well! Then the day came and I had my first class! I'll tell ya, it's much easier at home than in front of a live audience ;)! I did mess up a few times, but everyone was sweating at the end of it, and I think I saw smiles :). My TK instructor, Cassandra, said I did very well and that she was impressed! She also gave me several very useful tips. So, after that first class, I immediately started thinking how much better I can do next time. So far I didn't have another class yet, but I have decided that I want to start teaching regularly for sure! I have compiled a list of 5 local gyms that might be interested in hiring TK instructors and even picked up one job application. I'm very nervous about the whole thing, but I really want to do this. I believe it will be a very rewarding thing to do :) I'll keep you posted on when I finally start teaching!

Whew... That was a long story. And I really just scratched the surface of all the things Turbo. Hopefully, though, now people in my life can understand a little more about this Turbo passion of mine!

Signing off with promises of shorter posts in the future...

So here I am getting with the times...

Hello Everyone,

I finally succumbed to the pressures of modern world and decided that it's unbecoming of a computer programmer not to have her own blog. After all, everyone who's anyone is blogging nowadays. And, darn it, this girl will be NO EXCEPTION! :)

Seriously, though, I think this will be a great way to keep family and friends posted on what's happening in my life, from the latest cool book I read or yummy recipe I discovered to some awesome vacation we took or my thoughts on World Peace (just checking if you're paying attention, hehe). I think, a blog is also a great spot to get people's opinion and advice on any problems I may be having as well as kudos on my many great accomplishments ;) (again checking ;))

Hopefully, I can keep this up and post more than once a month as to not lose precious audience ;). I'm gonna sign off for now, though, as I'm slowly dosing off. The Hip Hop instructor at my gym is back from his 5 weeks! vacation, and we're having our first class tomorrow (Yay!). So I gotta get my beauty sleep as he's gonna kick our butts, for sure, and I'll need the energy!

Nighty night
P.S. Aebleskiver's for breakfast tomorrow. Yumm... Sorry, uncle Mark, don't mean to tease... :)