Excercise and blogging etc.

Brian on one of the Amherst College Sanctuary trails. We discovered that the trails meander around and cross the Norwottuck Rail Trail, where we like to run. These sanctuary trails make our 4 -5 mile jogs more varied, although I should mention that I haven't been running as much lately.

Poppy attack

Now, I'm into Body Step, Body Pump and Zumba, three of the group exercise classes at the Leading Edge gym, which is less than a swimming pool's length from our back door. Every time I try a new approach to exercise and/or dieting, I think it's THE ONE, but I've learned more from and have stayed enthusiastic about these classes than I have with anything other than running and swimming.

Among other things I've tried were Body for Life, a program I understood poorly but which convinced me of the merits of interval training; the South Beach diet, through which I learned how carbohydrates affect your appetite and The Body Tailor, personal trainers who worked in the same building as I did on University Drive. They got me thinking more about the importance of weight training.

I only discovered recently, though, how shockingly little I knew about which muscles are where, good nutrition and other highly relevant information, when I studied for -- and passed (!) -- the written and practical exams for group exercise fitness instructor certification.
ANYway, I'm pretty sure there is a correlation between walking/running or otherwise observing the world at a pace more slowly than is done in a car -- and blogging, which I've been doing less of lately too. And so I've been out of the loop with respect to the (interesting) tomfoolery concerning whether elected public officials should have blogs, a discussion avidly reported by Only in the Republic of Amherst Larry Kelley.
Someone protesting Larry and his blog at a July 4 parade a few years back

Various school committee officials have sought advice from the district attorney about whether a local school committee member's blog (Catherine Sanderson's) violates the Open Meeting Law. It stipulates that a quorum of members of an elected body may not meet outside public view to discuss substantive matters except under certain circumstances -- to discuss a lawsuit, for instance.

The letter writers fear that a quorum of school committee members could be discussing something substantive on her blog and the public wouldn't realize it, because the school committee members could be posting anonymously or under pseudonyms only they recognize.

Me, trying to follow Catherines instructions.

(She teaches a group exercise class at Leading Edge.)

I guess they COULD do that -- carry on a discussion under pseudonyms -- cleverly placing their comments amid those by unwitting blogreaders, reaching decisions and then quickly enacting them in public view without further discussion. It seems like it would be more trouble than it's worth, though, and I think clever blog readers would be able to figure out what was going on pretty easily. Plus, the comments probably could be traced back to the scheming public officials' IP addresses.

In any case, I'll be interested to see how it pans -- or peters -- out.

Hester!