Double unders

Another great day at the box. Today we had a different coach than our usual one, still lots of fun. The WOD wasn't a tough as I thought it might have been. I still have a sore back from all the dead lifts I did on Wednesday. The WOD included:
10 Burpees
15 Back squads
30 Double unders
and the skill was front squad. My arms are my weakest part right now and I am really sruggling with pull ups. That being said, I can see myself doing them at some point but monster double unders!!! Don't think they will happen anytime in near future:(
My legs are doing fine so far and i hope I don't get as sore as I got last time.

Breakfast:
I had my new favourate 3 ingrediant pancake:
1 small (~4oz) sweet potato
0.5 cup egg whites
1 scoop protein powder

So good with my coffee. There are contradictory information on benefit or harm of coffee. I am a tea drinker for most of the day and I really enjoy my cup of coffee (which got part of my life when I came to Canada) in the morning. So for now I am going to stick to it.

BK's (hubby) mom left last week and we took M to the airport to keep us company while there. It's not she the cutest in here little bag??!!! She behaved really well and made me really proud :)

The other day at the Costco I was surprised/ happy to see this product. The re giving out samples and it seemed that it was a huge hit! I did not sample it (I am trying to avoid bread as much as I can) but BK liked it but mentioned that it is not even close to Iranian/Persian bread!

Crossfit!

I survived my 3rd CF class:) Have no idea how it all happened?! Started crossfit with Hubby on Monday (September 10, 2012) and I am already in love, committed, devoted, hooked. That's a first for me, it was love in first sight for sure. I am planning to do 3x a week, which is recommended by my coach and the other 2 days I will practice my same o'l exercise at my gym which has worked perfectly for me.This week is/was however was the first week from vacation and the problem with the car made me so tired so I decided not to the gym and stick to the box only.

The WOD (workout of the day) was a killer today. After not a very intensive warm-up (when we got to the box, people were already in the middle of their warm up process) we started the exercise. O MY. I hated it so much but I loved it so much. I cann't wait for monday to kill myself again:)

Don't worry Canadians...

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The new budget is released and off the leash. Yes, Canadians face it we are and were in recession and it was not the conservative government who saved us. We are in big messy situation and cuts on every service imminent. And for me the saddest slash is on Health Care  services. I still have to pay 40k+ tax and not get one fifth of the services I use to get. Nice job. To top it off, they Ministry of Environment is almost gone, which in turn means more cancer, new strange diseases, etc. 

I am not even worry about the retirement now, how many of us do you think will grow old to see those days by these cuts on health care and environmental regulations....

Women and Engineering!

There are lots of female engineers in engineering schools and they do very well while in school but what happens to them (us) when they (we) mature and start their (our) real world experiences. Why there are not a lot of us working as faculties in universities? Why they are not significant number of us present as CEOs and top shareholders? Why governmental institute have to enforce rules and regulation for hiring more women forces? What it is that keep us behind?! Is it our commitment to our partners and children that does not let us advance the corporate ladders?

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After working in the industry for 4 years, I have realized that sexism is one of the reasons that prevent us from advancing in our career, but unlike this time we, women, are doing the dirty job for them. Because we are still being judged by our feminine aspect rather than our brain and competent. Let me elaborate. When someone is promoted to a position based on her other qualifications that are not related to what she is doing, she does not feel secure and at the same time she does not have the independency of making decisions as she is not qualified for the position. So on one hand, you have someone who listens to you no matter what because she is not confident enough to think independently. On the other hand, she will be super cruel to her subordinate specially the female ones since she feels insecure. She thinks she can seduce the male subordinates in most cases as she did with the big boss. But female ones are danger, specially if they are smarter than her. She knows she lacks knowledge compare to them in few years so she starts bully them in various ways. Men are more likely to participate in aggressive bullying behavior (60%), however when the bully is a woman her target is more likely to be a woman as well (71%). So as a junior female engineer please be aware of these fifteen signs of workplace bullying:

Fifteen signs of workplace bullying

1. Continually undervaluing effort. Recognition of effort is an important motivator for every employee. Without it, people tend to decrease effort, have little desire to be in to work on time, or perform their work to the best of their ability. By undervaluing an employee’s efforts, an exceptional employee can quickly become a problem employee.
2. Refusing to delegate. Delegation is a tool for getting more done in less time and for developing employees. When an employee is not given the opportunity to develop, they will certainly look for the opportunity elsewhere.
3. Frequently changing workplace rules. When the playing field is ever changing, how can the players play the game effectively? Changing the workplace guidelines on a regular basis sets employees up for failure, "keeps them on egg shells" because they never know what the "rules of the day" are. It also undermines trust amongst co-workers.
4. Public humiliation. Reprimanding an employee in a meeting or in the presence of other employees, yelling at or swearing at an employee, or rolling of the eyes when an employee or co-worker is expressing an opinion are all examples of humiliation.
5. Personal insults and name-calling. Whether in the presence of the individual or behind the individual’s back, this tends to alienate and lends to the forming of camps, further dividing your workforce.
6. Over-monitoring with malicious intent. Micromanaging with the intent of finding problems undermines the ability of an individual to do their job and do it well. Over time this approach can increase the mistakes a person makes. Micromanaging can make someone feel as though their every move is being monitored and judged. It can make them nervous and take their mind off of their work, increasing stress levels and developing into health issues.
7. Unfair applications of leave or promotion. This occurs when the rules for promotion are not applied consistently among the staff, when some have flexibility in scheduling, or some have the freedom to come and go as they please and others do not. When one individual is singled out and the rules of the workplace are not applied consistently it constitutes as bullying. This behaviour undermines trust, decreases motivation, and creates a negative attitude toward the supervisor and the organization. This will be reflected in the quality of work of the individual if the individual does not leave the organization first.
8. Instigating complaints from others to make an individual appear incompetent. Not all staff complaints are genuine issues. The challenge for the supervisor is defining the difference. A well versed bully is able to manipulate others into believing that the person being bullied is incompetent and will manipulate others into joining their camp in ostracizing the one being bullied by filing complaints that are unfounded.
9. Constant criticism. Feedback, whether positive or negative, is a useful tool for improvement, however some mistake criticism for feedback. Regular criticism that is judgemental in nature is destructive to the individual receiving it, undermines self confidence, impacts the spirit of the individual, and instils a sense of incompetence.
10. Spreading malicious rumours, gossip, or innuendo. Hard to catch, yet extremely destructive to the workplace, rumours are hurtful and demeaning; they pit staff against one another and undermine the ability to work as a team.
11. Ignoring or excluding. The act of ostracizing someone in the workplace has the same effect as exiting someone from the community. Shunning creates a loss of identity and belonging. Every employee needs to feel a sense of belonging. One of the reasons people work is to experience a connection to others, as a sense of purpose is required for each individual to feel whole as a person.
12. Withholding information. When information is required to do a job and the information is withheld, we are setting someone up for failure.
13. Intimidating a person. Intimidation comes in many forms, and all instil a sense of fear in the person being bullied, whether it be fear of losing one’s job, fear of humiliation, fear of being ostracized, or fear of reprimand. All of these forms of control constitute intimidation.
14. Removing areas of responsibility or promising projects and not following through. In particular when there is no reason or explanation. By taking away responsibility or not following through on a commitment to an employee, the employee looses trust, motivation and starts to question their own ability.
15. Deliberately sabotaging or impeding work performance. This can happen in many forms, by not giving information required to perform the job, by not providing adequate workspace to complete the job, not giving the authority required to complete the job etc. This sets the employee up for failure; the result is that the work fails, the individual fails, and the organization looks incompetent in the end.

I am back!

Hello!

It seems like forever. Well first and hopefully the hardest semester of all is behind me and I am glad to report that everything went just fine:) I trying to get back on the wagon as soon as I can. The "17 Day Diet" did not go as I planned but it definitely more aware of what and how much I eat. I have realized that  I eat way too much and even though almost everything I eat is healthy, the calorie still matters.

I had a great holiday with friends and family and although we don't celebrate Christmas and share the same new year calendar wise, we still enjoyed the season very much. The day after the exam we went for a road trip/shopping to US with B and H (great friends). It was an amazing and relaxing two days trip with lots of shopping. Then in less than a week my parents came to visit us (all the way from Iran!) and then we had another two day trip to US to pick up my brother (S). He lives/study in US. It was another amazing trip along with some shopping:) (so you can say I spent a lot of money but everything I bought was necessary and I would say it was money well spent, even the Hubby agrees:) ).

Anyway I am back hopefully for good. I am planning to blog regularly. This morning I did not have that much appetite and I settle for a nice warm coffee after walking Maggie.

Maggie also got groomed yesterday and was very exited afterwards:

Nicole Richie's Halloween Plea

I know I defiantly do not appreciate the profs who recycles their assignments and exams. It is just not fair to new students. It is about 2 hours that I have realized in one of my courses the instructor has used the exact same questions for midterms and assignments so far. Do not ask how I realized that but that did not made me happy:(

Well, the life has not been that bad today as I had my favourite food both at lunch and dinner. Teriyaki salmon. During weekend we bought a big salmon from Costco and I marinated the whole thing with garlic, teriyaki sauce, salt, paper, and fresh lemon juice. I had it over salad with Renee Honey Dijon.

Our first run is with my running buddy is scheduled for Thursday. I am so much looking forward to it. 

I read about Nicole Richie's Halloween Plea. I found it so stupid to say the least. Nicole, I am not 

sure if you can know it or not but dressing slutty is very relative and it depends who is judging. Sometimes

very regular dress is much more slutty than a slutty dress that many of us wear for any occasion. Do all of us

a favour, would you? stop being concerned about our dress!

Running buddy

Today was a great day for Maggie as I was totally in the mood to walk her around the neighbourhood. She enjoyed sniffing every thing she could. Now that I have no major upcoming deadline (with the exception of one mini assignment) I want to plan to be prepared for the finals and one term paper which is due almost at the same time that I have a final scheduled. BUT I have enough time and if I plan I can do it. For breakie today I had two of these yogurts. They are so good.

I am starting to get hold of things at school. Some people are really nice and that is what matters. One of my office mates is a runner (jackpot) and she lives close to school and preparing for her second half marathon (double jackpot). When I realized it I asked her if she likes to go for runs together and she liked the idea. I am trilled. It means that I have somebody to run with, yoooohooooo. I love running but I am one of those people need a buddy to push me and I think I just find the right person:)

No Halloween Spirit

Today has been by far the coldest day this year (seriously what's up with the weather?!) I had an early appointment with my dentist for pre-crowing of my tooth. I am not one of those people who hate the dentist office and I guess that is not a good thing. Since I figure if you complain a lot dentist tend to take a better care of you! My appointment went well. Then a long commute to school as usual. By the time I got to my office I was starving and so made myself a cup of coffee and had one of my Liberte greek yogurt. I love these. So creamy and delicious. Both hubby and I are in love with them so every trip to Costco includes two boxes of these bad boys:)

There is no Halloween spirit on campus whatsoever. Not even one single person with orange shirt or something. One of my office mate came in with kind of costume and interestingly she was complaining about the same thing. I guess that's what midterm does to you. Need to get back to studying.

Halloween

After two midterm exam and not perspective of any school related work (exam, assignment, etc.) it really feels good to spend the weekend with Hubby and Maggie. There were some house cleaning overdue today morning was kind of spent cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, etc. Since precious Maggie is part of family, we have a Bissell's ProHeat 2X Pet® cleaning machines. It has saved our life ever since we bought it from Costco almost four years ago. So it was put in a good use this morning for cleaning the kitchen floor. 

Last night we were invited to a friend house for a Halloween party, a great one I must add. I was great get together. Lots of new faces but that is the whole purpose of a party right?! We are going out tonight too but I am not going to wear any costumes. 

Hello, I am the Engineer and I am a sugar addict!

Well, two assignments and one project later, here I am preparing for my first midterm on Thursday. I am nervoussssss, as these marks are very important to me. I have my office now and everything is set but a bit too late, since for the first couple of weeks everything was very disorganized and kind of delayed my study. Anyhow, now everything is fine and that is the important part.

One of the cheapest coffee shops in the world (well Canada) is in the next building where I filled up my coffee mug. A large coffee for 60 cents (tax included!!!!), unbeatable. It has lots of other things such as sandwiches and stuff too (again very cheap) but I am not very interested as I am (drum roll please) on the 17 day diet! I need to lose some weight but I am mainly doing this for sugar detox as I have realized that I am really addicted to sugar. I am on the second day and it is not easy for me as I love my desert and I cannot have any.

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Hopefully things will be easier in couple of days as so many people had the same experience. Lets see.