DWE and The DWE

Last summer, I started jogging a couple of days a week. I never jogged much more than a half a mile, but I wanted to do something, and my knees can't handle running much longer than that.

Well, it got cold, and running outside was not an option. (Never mind that running outside hasn't been an option for several months, and it hasn't been cold for that long...)

Monday I did something I kept saying I was going to do this year -- I went swimming.

I took a lap swim class in my last semester in college and lost 15 lbs. (I'm not sure if it was the class or the weird eating I did while working at the Herald-Leader, possibly a combination of both of those things and the fact that I worried constantly while I was working.) So I wanted to go back to doing some swimming. It's good for my knees and I enjoy it.

So I showed up to the pool Monday night and decided to take a deep water exercise (DWE) class. I have done it the past two nights and it has been absolutely fabulous! We wear buoyancy belts and water gloves and run around in the deep end while doing a variety of cardio and strength exercises. I even made Hal go with me tonight and he seemed to somewhat like it!

Well, that's DWE. So, what, you ask, is The DWE?

In our grad program, we research-oriented majors (our program has a professional track for those who want to be reporters but weren't journalism students in undergrad and a research/teaching track for those of us who want to do some sort of academia) have a special fondness for a professor whose name bears the initials D.W.

D.W. is a calm and quiet fellow (some might say soothing) who happens to be highly respected in the mass com field. He taught our methods course and this semester he is also teaching in an area that he has published extensively in -- Agenda-setting. I am taking this particular class, and I am extremely excited about it (and an envy of my friends who could not fit it into their schedules).

So last night when a classmate of mine and I were in the grad lounge looking at the group fitness classes, I said, "Hey, I could take DWE. What is DWE?"

She responded, "The [professor's name] Experience!"

We had quite the chuckle imagining our professor teaching deep water exercise and have since decided that our Guitar Hero Band will be called "The [professor's name] Experience."