What a week! All kinds of crap went down at the office and after awhile it began to feel like I was getting blamed for everything, whether I had anything to do with it or not. When I finally left the office Friday at a few minutes past four (I’m supposed to work 7am – 4pm), one of my assistants gave me a big smile and said, “It’s nice to see you leaving on time for once!”
I suspect I jinxed myself on Monday by pondering the Medieval concept of the wheel of fortune while walking to work. Unlike Post-Enlightenment folk, who think of time as linear, Pre-Industrial people saw time as a big circle. Everything from the seasons to one’s personal fortunes go up, then down, then up again in an endlessly turning wheel. To the Pre-Industrial mind, there’s no shame in being down and not much glory in being up because the wheel will always turn again. This is in contrast to our own concept of linear time where down isn’t "normal" and if things aren’t getting constantly better and better, something’s wrong.
So I jinxed myself by thinking about how much healthier the wheel of fortune concept is, and found myself at the bottom of the wheel all week. But things were on the upswing by Friday, I’ve got a three day weekend and a short week next week, so I’m optimistic.
I was able to get in a workout every day this week, and I’m doing a little pondering on how I want to modify my routine to take full advantage of all the great opportunities I have here. I’ve been finding the rec center pool tempting. But because chlorine messes up my nose for hours afterwards, I would want to swim in the mornings, which would involve a change to my work schedule. I can do that, I just need to decide and commit. I also need to get onto a weight training schedule, either in my studio here or at the rec center. Once again, it’s a matter of making the plan and implementing it.
I’m excited by all the options I have here, and I think now that August is over I’ll be able to make a proper routine and get settled into it. For good or ill, I’m a creature of habit and I don’t like spending a long time unsettled like this. A month of chaos is quite long enough for me.
In other news, Dan and I did a little shopping for the house today. Dan wanted to buy something to put our umbrellas in, and I wanted patio furniture. We ended up with a lot of stuff, including a leather desk chair for me, but no umbrella stand or patio furniture. Dan was grumbling about this as we were leaving the parking lot of the last store we went to and I said, “See how addictive it is to shop?”
Just at that moment a truck went past, loaded down with furniture. Dan gestured toward it and said, “Yeah. I bet he only went out for a pair of socks!”
Cracked. Me. Up.
And finally, my edited-for-print version of my Diana’s Diary fiction blog finally arrived! I blogged about it here.
We’re going to a barbeque in Friendswood tomorrow if it doesn’t rain. And I've got no plans at all for Monday. Yay!
I hope all my friends are having a relaxing Labor Day Weekend!
This Week’s Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical, 5 minute rowing machine
Tuesday: 30 minute spin, 15 minute strength training
Wednesday: 30 minute elliptical, 5 minute rowing machine
Thursday: 3.5 mile run
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 12 mile run
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Done!
We got the last things out of the apartment and the storage unit today. It had seemed like it might be a big job, but it wasn’t at all. Either that or we’re just getting used to it by now.
While I went for a morning run, Dan took a big donation of clothes and books to Salvation Army. Then while I did a final wipe-down of things, he went to borrow a pickup from one of his professor friends. We loaded the pickup with the items in storage we were keeping, at which point Dan told me he didn’t want to keep the loveseat after all. I was annoyed because, what, now I’m supposed to buy seating for the garage apartment? But I was at that stage where I would do just about anything to avoid an argument so I told him to go on and donate it, if that was what he wanted to do.
So while he went to give Salvation Army the loveseat and bring the last of our boxes and a small table to the new place, I grabbed a few things and went home.
I was exhausted and hungry, so I was glad to get cleaned up, go have Indian buffet, and take a long nap.
This evening I went back to the old place for a few final things from the patio and for the cleaning supplies.
And that was it!
Dan wants to vacuum the carpet one last time tomorrow, so if we can get apartment management to do the walk-through, so much the better. Turn in the keys and be done with it. Otherwise we’ll have to schedule a time during the week for that, and it’s not easy for me to get away from the office at fiscal year end.
But regardless, there is nothing more that needs doing there. I’m so glad!
Tonight I cleared a space for a morning workout in the studio/garage apartment. I’ve got a lot of things to sort through back there, so it won’t be how I want it until mid-September or maybe even October. But I don’t care. I’m done with the old place and my new life can finally begin!
This is in the study, which also doubles as a spare bedroom.
Today’s Workout
11 mile run
While I went for a morning run, Dan took a big donation of clothes and books to Salvation Army. Then while I did a final wipe-down of things, he went to borrow a pickup from one of his professor friends. We loaded the pickup with the items in storage we were keeping, at which point Dan told me he didn’t want to keep the loveseat after all. I was annoyed because, what, now I’m supposed to buy seating for the garage apartment? But I was at that stage where I would do just about anything to avoid an argument so I told him to go on and donate it, if that was what he wanted to do.
So while he went to give Salvation Army the loveseat and bring the last of our boxes and a small table to the new place, I grabbed a few things and went home.
I was exhausted and hungry, so I was glad to get cleaned up, go have Indian buffet, and take a long nap.
This evening I went back to the old place for a few final things from the patio and for the cleaning supplies.
And that was it!
Dan wants to vacuum the carpet one last time tomorrow, so if we can get apartment management to do the walk-through, so much the better. Turn in the keys and be done with it. Otherwise we’ll have to schedule a time during the week for that, and it’s not easy for me to get away from the office at fiscal year end.
But regardless, there is nothing more that needs doing there. I’m so glad!
Tonight I cleared a space for a morning workout in the studio/garage apartment. I’ve got a lot of things to sort through back there, so it won’t be how I want it until mid-September or maybe even October. But I don’t care. I’m done with the old place and my new life can finally begin!
This is in the study, which also doubles as a spare bedroom.
Today’s Workout
11 mile run
Friday, August 24, 2007
Glimpses of Normality
I’m starting to see glimmers of what my normal life here will be. I was able to work out after work on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, which was very nice. On Monday and Thursday I went to the fancy rec center. On Wednesday I ran to the rec center via an indirect one-mile route, did some speed drills on the quarter-mile indoor track, and then went home. Very nice.
Dan spent two days with one of his techie friends who lives a couple blocks over, getting our internet stabilized, so hopefully my connectivity problems are over. And today I was able to combine dropping off a completed project to the CIO with my walk home.
I went to our storage unit twice this week and there was a lot more in there than I had realized. I think we’re set for this weekend to be it, though. We’ve got a pickup we can borrow, so we should be able to pull up to the storage unit, load up and go. We need to do a run of stuff to the Salvation Army, one final wipe-down on the old place, and I think that will be it. If possible, I’d like to do a walk-through and turn in the keys on Sunday, but we’ll see how things go. Bottom line, I’m ready to be done with the place so I can get on with my life.
By this time next week, I’ll have a three-day weekend ahead of me and no more ties to the old apartment.
It’s about time!
Dan spent two days with one of his techie friends who lives a couple blocks over, getting our internet stabilized, so hopefully my connectivity problems are over. And today I was able to combine dropping off a completed project to the CIO with my walk home.
I went to our storage unit twice this week and there was a lot more in there than I had realized. I think we’re set for this weekend to be it, though. We’ve got a pickup we can borrow, so we should be able to pull up to the storage unit, load up and go. We need to do a run of stuff to the Salvation Army, one final wipe-down on the old place, and I think that will be it. If possible, I’d like to do a walk-through and turn in the keys on Sunday, but we’ll see how things go. Bottom line, I’m ready to be done with the place so I can get on with my life.
By this time next week, I’ll have a three-day weekend ahead of me and no more ties to the old apartment.
It’s about time!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Almost Done!
While Dan did the windows, I did the floors at the old place. You can now eat off those floors, although I don’t particularly recommend it. We’ve brought over all the stuff we’re keeping except the patio furniture, which we'll bring over this week. We’ve also got bags and bags of stuff we’re giving to charity lined up along one wall in the living room. I’ll have to go over sometime this week and take those up the road to the Salvation Army store.
And that’s it on the apartment. We’ve got a table and loveseat in storage to bring over to the garage apartment, and I think there’s some books there, too. Not only can I clothe a third-world country with what I’m giving away, I could probably stock a few libraries too. Sheesh. But I guess if I’m going to collect things, books and clothes aren’t so bad. At least they’re useful and can be easily given away.
I’m rapidly working through the boxes in the house. There are no more boxes to unpack in the kitchen, and only two remaining in the living room. I got the shoes and winter closet organized, and got the bathroom organized for good measure. I also bought some rain boots today, so I’m ready for rainy days now. No more walking around puddles—I’ll just go right through them like a duck!
I’ve still got a lot of outstanding things to do, including getting my asthma meds renewed, and putting a new battery in the RX-7 and selling it. I want to do these things this week, if at all possible with fiscal year-end at the office making my life hell.
But I’m seeing glimpses of the light at the end of the tunnel. My plan is to be done with everything associated with the move by the end of the month, and I’m right on track. Most of the time my attitude remains upbeat, although there are moments when it feels overwhelming. I’m finally getting caught up on my sleep again though, which helps a lot.
It also helps that I’ve been able to work out every other day or so, I’ve kept up with my fiction blog postings, and I’ve kept my nightly routine of yogi tea while reading my friends’ blogs and working on another fiction project I have going on. My progress has slowed considerably, but I do something on my creative projects each night. It keeps me grounded and reminds me why I’m doing all this. After all, the whole point of doing the unpleasant stuff in life is to get through to the good stuff.
Part of my new kitchen. I just love those glass bricks!
And that’s it on the apartment. We’ve got a table and loveseat in storage to bring over to the garage apartment, and I think there’s some books there, too. Not only can I clothe a third-world country with what I’m giving away, I could probably stock a few libraries too. Sheesh. But I guess if I’m going to collect things, books and clothes aren’t so bad. At least they’re useful and can be easily given away.
I’m rapidly working through the boxes in the house. There are no more boxes to unpack in the kitchen, and only two remaining in the living room. I got the shoes and winter closet organized, and got the bathroom organized for good measure. I also bought some rain boots today, so I’m ready for rainy days now. No more walking around puddles—I’ll just go right through them like a duck!
I’ve still got a lot of outstanding things to do, including getting my asthma meds renewed, and putting a new battery in the RX-7 and selling it. I want to do these things this week, if at all possible with fiscal year-end at the office making my life hell.
But I’m seeing glimpses of the light at the end of the tunnel. My plan is to be done with everything associated with the move by the end of the month, and I’m right on track. Most of the time my attitude remains upbeat, although there are moments when it feels overwhelming. I’m finally getting caught up on my sleep again though, which helps a lot.
It also helps that I’ve been able to work out every other day or so, I’ve kept up with my fiction blog postings, and I’ve kept my nightly routine of yogi tea while reading my friends’ blogs and working on another fiction project I have going on. My progress has slowed considerably, but I do something on my creative projects each night. It keeps me grounded and reminds me why I’m doing all this. After all, the whole point of doing the unpleasant stuff in life is to get through to the good stuff.
Part of my new kitchen. I just love those glass bricks!
The Move - One Week Later
One week in my new home, and in spite of all the move-related work still ongoing, I love it!
We’ve got all but a couple final things out of the old apartment, and after we scrub the floors and windows, we'll be ready to turn in the key.
Here at the new place, we’re still putting things away and trying to figure out what we want on the walls. I think we’ll end up buying a few things for the living room, and we’ll need another bookcase, but there’s nothing we need urgently.
I spent a couple hours tonight working on the garage apartment/exercise room. I didn’t realize until this move just how much exercise equipment I had! Bikes, weights, stretch tubing, bottles, gels, camelbaks, spare tubes, kickboards, fins, an aquajog belt, tennis rackets, boxing gloves, and scads of exercise books and spin videos. Then there’s all the camping and hiking equipment. It’s all got to fit somehow, and we still haven’t brought over the loveseat from storage so Dan can also use the room as a music room. I sure hope our finances never require we rent the apartment out, because I don’t know where we’ll put all that stuff in the house!
I love my new “commute” to the office, which gets me about two miles of walking each day. Even rainy days aren’t a big deal. I just take my ginormous umbrella. The other day there was flooding around town and we were advised not to leave campus due to high water. I was stuck at the office anyway, getting my boss ready for a meeting, but it was cool to know that I could go home anytime I was willing to brave a few puddles. Street flooding and traffic jams were of no concern to me!
I met my UPS guy and made arrangements for him to leave things on my porch if I’m not home. When I’m home, though, I can just leave the blinds open in my study and see him. I can also watch people walking home from their university jobs, just like I do. When I go for a run in the neighborhood, people smile and wave hello. Everyone either knows each other or figures it’s just a matter of time, since most people who live here work for the university. It’s a nice, cozy feeling.
I didn’t do much this week in the way of workouts because I’ve been tired, we went to the Rush concert on Tuesday, and I’ve had a lot to do around here. But I think next week I’ll be able to start settling into a schedule. I’m a creature of habit and my tolerance for disruption has a shelf life. I'm committed to August being a chaotic month, but I'll be glad when things quiet down and I'm back into a routine.
Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute run
Tuesday: no workout, but lots of walking
Wednesday: no workout- too tired
Thursday: 30 minute spin
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 10 mile run
We’ve got all but a couple final things out of the old apartment, and after we scrub the floors and windows, we'll be ready to turn in the key.
Here at the new place, we’re still putting things away and trying to figure out what we want on the walls. I think we’ll end up buying a few things for the living room, and we’ll need another bookcase, but there’s nothing we need urgently.
I spent a couple hours tonight working on the garage apartment/exercise room. I didn’t realize until this move just how much exercise equipment I had! Bikes, weights, stretch tubing, bottles, gels, camelbaks, spare tubes, kickboards, fins, an aquajog belt, tennis rackets, boxing gloves, and scads of exercise books and spin videos. Then there’s all the camping and hiking equipment. It’s all got to fit somehow, and we still haven’t brought over the loveseat from storage so Dan can also use the room as a music room. I sure hope our finances never require we rent the apartment out, because I don’t know where we’ll put all that stuff in the house!
I love my new “commute” to the office, which gets me about two miles of walking each day. Even rainy days aren’t a big deal. I just take my ginormous umbrella. The other day there was flooding around town and we were advised not to leave campus due to high water. I was stuck at the office anyway, getting my boss ready for a meeting, but it was cool to know that I could go home anytime I was willing to brave a few puddles. Street flooding and traffic jams were of no concern to me!
I met my UPS guy and made arrangements for him to leave things on my porch if I’m not home. When I’m home, though, I can just leave the blinds open in my study and see him. I can also watch people walking home from their university jobs, just like I do. When I go for a run in the neighborhood, people smile and wave hello. Everyone either knows each other or figures it’s just a matter of time, since most people who live here work for the university. It’s a nice, cozy feeling.
I didn’t do much this week in the way of workouts because I’ve been tired, we went to the Rush concert on Tuesday, and I’ve had a lot to do around here. But I think next week I’ll be able to start settling into a schedule. I’m a creature of habit and my tolerance for disruption has a shelf life. I'm committed to August being a chaotic month, but I'll be glad when things quiet down and I'm back into a routine.
Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute run
Tuesday: no workout, but lots of walking
Wednesday: no workout- too tired
Thursday: 30 minute spin
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 10 mile run
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Moving Sucks
Well, we've still got some stuff left at the old place, but it's mostly little stuff and most of it is staged in the center of the living room for easy pickup-and-go. The bathroom and kitchen have been scrubbed, but we only made a token effort on the carpet. After 7.5 years it needs replacing, so no point doing more than a basic once-over.
Here at the new place, I've unpacked most of our stuff, but a few important things are still MIA, and it looks like we'll need some more pictures. I still need to hang the blinds in the laundry area, and my studio/exercise room is still just a place where we toss stuff we don't know what else to do with. But things are coming together nicely and the bedroom, study and living room have unbelievably soothing vibes. This whole house has a peaceful feel to it, in fact. It's intelligently designed, it's always cool, even during the current heat wave, and it just feels right in every way a house can feel right.
Tomorrow I'm going to try going to the university rec center after work and see how that plan works-- walk to work, exercise right after, then walk home.
I just hope I'm not too tired to work out. I've been going non-stop all weekend, up early, working into the wee hours, not even having time to eat. What's really scary is that we were living in 700 square feet, and we've filled 1300 square feet with furniture and stuff, no problem. Granted, the 700 sq/ft apartment was smaller than the duplex we had been in before, and we've continued to add to and upgrade our furniture so we'd be ready when the right place came along. But still, I'm thinking we defied at least three important laws of physics where we were living before, because I don't see how we got all this stuff in there.
But I shouldn't be surprised I defied the laws of physical space, since I've been a perpetual motion machine all weekend, which is also a supposed impossibility.
Doing the impossible is exhausting.
Pics tomorrow, if I've got energy left to take them!
Here at the new place, I've unpacked most of our stuff, but a few important things are still MIA, and it looks like we'll need some more pictures. I still need to hang the blinds in the laundry area, and my studio/exercise room is still just a place where we toss stuff we don't know what else to do with. But things are coming together nicely and the bedroom, study and living room have unbelievably soothing vibes. This whole house has a peaceful feel to it, in fact. It's intelligently designed, it's always cool, even during the current heat wave, and it just feels right in every way a house can feel right.
Tomorrow I'm going to try going to the university rec center after work and see how that plan works-- walk to work, exercise right after, then walk home.
I just hope I'm not too tired to work out. I've been going non-stop all weekend, up early, working into the wee hours, not even having time to eat. What's really scary is that we were living in 700 square feet, and we've filled 1300 square feet with furniture and stuff, no problem. Granted, the 700 sq/ft apartment was smaller than the duplex we had been in before, and we've continued to add to and upgrade our furniture so we'd be ready when the right place came along. But still, I'm thinking we defied at least three important laws of physics where we were living before, because I don't see how we got all this stuff in there.
But I shouldn't be surprised I defied the laws of physical space, since I've been a perpetual motion machine all weekend, which is also a supposed impossibility.
Doing the impossible is exhausting.
Pics tomorrow, if I've got energy left to take them!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
Moved In!
Well, we're mostly moved in. There's still a lot of small stuff at the old place, and of course I keep losing track of things here at the house. Right now I can't seem to find my asthma meds-- a bit of a problem, since I've been unable to breathe properly most of the day and now that it's bedtime, I know I'll have a hard time of it if I can't find them.
The cat has so far refused to come out of his carrier. Tidbit is a little more adventurous and has been poking her head in from time to time and stomping her foot, as if to say, "Hurry up!" But Pixel takes his own sweet time in everything.
More tomorrow, and pics coming soon!
The cat has so far refused to come out of his carrier. Tidbit is a little more adventurous and has been poking her head in from time to time and stomping her foot, as if to say, "Hurry up!" But Pixel takes his own sweet time in everything.
More tomorrow, and pics coming soon!
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Best-Laid Plans
Well, I knew something had to go wrong.
I confirmed the cutover dates on the electricity over and over. I made sure the water and gas switched over to us on the right day. I confirmed and re-confirmed the day and time Evil Comcast could come out and get our cable hooked up for internet access.
But the phone and DSL at the old place? Surely two calls were enough, right?
Uh, no.
I got home today to no internet, no phone, and nothing they can do about it. Oh, the lady who I spoke to was very apologetic about the confusion and wanted to help, but the best she could do was turn on the phone sometime Thursday. DSL restoration needed a three day lead time, and we're out on Friday.
Not worth the hassle.
I don't know how the phone people could've gotten so confused with my instructions to cut off old service on the 14th and start the new on the 9th with an overlap period where I would have service at both places.
I'm less upset about it now than I was earlier this evening, though. We had to bring some stuff to the house tonight, so it was no big deal to drop in at the office and get online. I've got a project I'm working on at home, so I'll have something to keep me busy while I have my evening tea. And the next 48 hours will be pretty serious crunch time on the move.
I have a pic of Tid, all packed up and ready to go, but it's in the camera at the old place, and I'm here at the office, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow.
If this is the only thing that goes wrong or gets confused, I'll be beyond grateful.
I confirmed the cutover dates on the electricity over and over. I made sure the water and gas switched over to us on the right day. I confirmed and re-confirmed the day and time Evil Comcast could come out and get our cable hooked up for internet access.
But the phone and DSL at the old place? Surely two calls were enough, right?
Uh, no.
I got home today to no internet, no phone, and nothing they can do about it. Oh, the lady who I spoke to was very apologetic about the confusion and wanted to help, but the best she could do was turn on the phone sometime Thursday. DSL restoration needed a three day lead time, and we're out on Friday.
Not worth the hassle.
I don't know how the phone people could've gotten so confused with my instructions to cut off old service on the 14th and start the new on the 9th with an overlap period where I would have service at both places.
I'm less upset about it now than I was earlier this evening, though. We had to bring some stuff to the house tonight, so it was no big deal to drop in at the office and get online. I've got a project I'm working on at home, so I'll have something to keep me busy while I have my evening tea. And the next 48 hours will be pretty serious crunch time on the move.
I have a pic of Tid, all packed up and ready to go, but it's in the camera at the old place, and I'm here at the office, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow.
If this is the only thing that goes wrong or gets confused, I'll be beyond grateful.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Garage Sale Run
After checking Craig’s List for area garage sales, I picked a few within the same general area, mapped a route with Google Maps Pedometer and set out this morning to see what I could find for the house. I was carrying $70 cash, a check, ID, and business cards. My plan was that if I saw something cheap that I liked, I would buy it, leave a card and arrange pickup after my run. If the item was expensive, I would pay by check or give a cash down payment, leave a card and make the same arrangement for pickup.
It was a brilliant plan and I felt sooooo smart!
Too bad the sales mostly sucked.
The first one I went to wasn’t on my list—I was just trotting along and saw a sign. There wasn’t much there except clothes and dishes, both of which I’ve got plenty of.
The first sale from my list was deep in the Rice Village area. The lady had an intriguing selection old books, some free, some only one or two dollars apiece. I was tempted by the 1896 encyclopedia set, but I envisioned the look on Dan’s face if I told him I had acquired yet another large, heavy non-essential to lug to our new home, so I passed. I think I’m going to regret it, too. Since there was nothing else that caught my eye, I went on my way.
The next sale was in the Museum District. It had some nice stuff, but once again nothing of any real use for my house. There were lots of lace curtains still in their original packages, but I’m not a lace girl. The grill they were selling was of a sort I might’ve been interested in for myself, but I had a vision of Dan getting manly and informing me that now that we had a proper yard and deck he wasn’t messing with no wimpy girlie grill. I found a heavenly vintage black ‘50s dress with taffeta underskirt, but I’m on a clothes-buying moratorium and besides, I already have a couple of vintage ‘50s dresses with taffeta underskirts that I don’t wear. Getting another would give Dan an excuse to roll his eyes and point out that I’ve got enough clothes to outfit a small country, so why do I need yet another dress?
On to the next sale.
The last one had a few electronics that caught my eye, and some nice pictures. But I think I have enough pictures, and until I move in I won’t know what I really need. As for electronics, I really do have enough. And by now I was dripping sweat so I didn’t want to pick over the clothes. There was a floor lamp that was kind of cool, but it didn’t look like it would fit my décor. I did end up buying a small rug, though, which I think will look exactly right in my kitchen. And for $5, if it doesn’t work after all, who cares?
After I paid for my rug, I got into a chat with a member of the civic association for the neighborhood putting on the sale. He and his partner are active in the community, fighting the developers who are indiscriminately tearing down the nice older homes of the Montrose area and putting up cheap overpriced construction in their stead. Boy, did we have a lot to talk about! It’s heartening to see people fighting for weird, funky Montrose, where you can be whoever you want to be, and it’s all cool.
I ran back to the bayou trails via Montrose, which is something I’ve never done in all these years I’ve been running through the neighborhood. I thought about how I’ll miss living in this area I’ve called home for more than two decades. But a house like the one I’m buying would cost four times as much in Montrose or the Heights. Out of my league, on my university management pay. I won’t be far away, though. And my little university faculty neighborhood has that same Montrose/Heights feel that I love—a sense of appreciation for the past and a willingness to live and let live.
Just before I got to the bayou trails, I stopped at a favorite cemetery on Montrose. It’s old and tucked in a funny little urban corner, like the cemeteries of New England. There’s a grave I like to visit, of two teenage girls who were killed in the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. They were sisters, one almost sixteen, the other just turned thirteen. Their double stone has a poem on it about the storm that killed them, and how what was supposed to be a fun weekend holiday became an early death. I don’t know why I like this grave so much, but I’ve visited it off and on for as long as I’ve lived in the area, and I took flowers on the hundred-year anniversary of the storm.
I finished my run feeling like I was wrapping up a chapter in my life. I’ll still have close ties to Montrose and the Heights, and I’ll still do my shopping here and some of my running. But it’ll now be an area I visit, not the area I call home. The way it’s been trending toward cheap gentrification and phoniness over the last few years, there’s been less and less of what I moved here for in the first place. But people like the guy I talked to at the garage sale are fighting back, saving the old, the funky and the unique.
I hope they succeed. And it will be an interesting adventure to see where this next chapter in my life takes me.
It was a brilliant plan and I felt sooooo smart!
Too bad the sales mostly sucked.
The first one I went to wasn’t on my list—I was just trotting along and saw a sign. There wasn’t much there except clothes and dishes, both of which I’ve got plenty of.
The first sale from my list was deep in the Rice Village area. The lady had an intriguing selection old books, some free, some only one or two dollars apiece. I was tempted by the 1896 encyclopedia set, but I envisioned the look on Dan’s face if I told him I had acquired yet another large, heavy non-essential to lug to our new home, so I passed. I think I’m going to regret it, too. Since there was nothing else that caught my eye, I went on my way.
The next sale was in the Museum District. It had some nice stuff, but once again nothing of any real use for my house. There were lots of lace curtains still in their original packages, but I’m not a lace girl. The grill they were selling was of a sort I might’ve been interested in for myself, but I had a vision of Dan getting manly and informing me that now that we had a proper yard and deck he wasn’t messing with no wimpy girlie grill. I found a heavenly vintage black ‘50s dress with taffeta underskirt, but I’m on a clothes-buying moratorium and besides, I already have a couple of vintage ‘50s dresses with taffeta underskirts that I don’t wear. Getting another would give Dan an excuse to roll his eyes and point out that I’ve got enough clothes to outfit a small country, so why do I need yet another dress?
On to the next sale.
The last one had a few electronics that caught my eye, and some nice pictures. But I think I have enough pictures, and until I move in I won’t know what I really need. As for electronics, I really do have enough. And by now I was dripping sweat so I didn’t want to pick over the clothes. There was a floor lamp that was kind of cool, but it didn’t look like it would fit my décor. I did end up buying a small rug, though, which I think will look exactly right in my kitchen. And for $5, if it doesn’t work after all, who cares?
After I paid for my rug, I got into a chat with a member of the civic association for the neighborhood putting on the sale. He and his partner are active in the community, fighting the developers who are indiscriminately tearing down the nice older homes of the Montrose area and putting up cheap overpriced construction in their stead. Boy, did we have a lot to talk about! It’s heartening to see people fighting for weird, funky Montrose, where you can be whoever you want to be, and it’s all cool.
I ran back to the bayou trails via Montrose, which is something I’ve never done in all these years I’ve been running through the neighborhood. I thought about how I’ll miss living in this area I’ve called home for more than two decades. But a house like the one I’m buying would cost four times as much in Montrose or the Heights. Out of my league, on my university management pay. I won’t be far away, though. And my little university faculty neighborhood has that same Montrose/Heights feel that I love—a sense of appreciation for the past and a willingness to live and let live.
Just before I got to the bayou trails, I stopped at a favorite cemetery on Montrose. It’s old and tucked in a funny little urban corner, like the cemeteries of New England. There’s a grave I like to visit, of two teenage girls who were killed in the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. They were sisters, one almost sixteen, the other just turned thirteen. Their double stone has a poem on it about the storm that killed them, and how what was supposed to be a fun weekend holiday became an early death. I don’t know why I like this grave so much, but I’ve visited it off and on for as long as I’ve lived in the area, and I took flowers on the hundred-year anniversary of the storm.
I finished my run feeling like I was wrapping up a chapter in my life. I’ll still have close ties to Montrose and the Heights, and I’ll still do my shopping here and some of my running. But it’ll now be an area I visit, not the area I call home. The way it’s been trending toward cheap gentrification and phoniness over the last few years, there’s been less and less of what I moved here for in the first place. But people like the guy I talked to at the garage sale are fighting back, saving the old, the funky and the unique.
I hope they succeed. And it will be an interesting adventure to see where this next chapter in my life takes me.
Friday, August 03, 2007
My House - First Things
Busy, busy week! But in spite of all the late hours and hassles, I was able to get some things done for next weekend’s move. On Thursday my dad and brother came to my office around lunchtime and we went and saw the house. My father liked it a lot and that made me happy. He’s not good at faking enthusiasm, so I could tell from the way he gushed over it that he was in love.
And so are Dan and I.
Today I took a mid-day break to do a little shopping for the house, since there just wasn’t any other time to do it and our PeopleSoft servers were down anyway, limiting my effectiveness at the office. I bought rugs, blinds, a new shower curtain, a floor lamp and other things, then after I finished up my day at the office, I met Dan at the house. We had a great time putting things in place. Even with just a few rugs and small items, it felt like home. I was ready to go back to the apartment, throw everything into boxes and finish the move right then and there!
But of course that wasn’t possible. A cleaning service is going to give the place a thorough scrub-down next week, the evil bastards from Comcast will get us set up with internet access on Thursday, and our furniture will be moved in on Friday.
And that should do it! I’d like to have everything at the new place Friday and not have to return on Saturday for any stray stuff. My experience is that it’s just a lot easier to do a move that way—everything at once and be done with it.
With the new place feeling so right and so much like home already, I hope for this to be my final move, ever. For me, this is just that kind of house and that kind of community.
In other news, I saw my dad's Spain pictures last weekend and as soon as I have time to transfer them from the laptop to the desktop, I'll post a few. He had a fabulous time, and I'm so happy to see him doing fun things for himself, finally. He's always worked hard and lived frugally. He's earned the privilege of living a few dreams!
And so are Dan and I.
Today I took a mid-day break to do a little shopping for the house, since there just wasn’t any other time to do it and our PeopleSoft servers were down anyway, limiting my effectiveness at the office. I bought rugs, blinds, a new shower curtain, a floor lamp and other things, then after I finished up my day at the office, I met Dan at the house. We had a great time putting things in place. Even with just a few rugs and small items, it felt like home. I was ready to go back to the apartment, throw everything into boxes and finish the move right then and there!
But of course that wasn’t possible. A cleaning service is going to give the place a thorough scrub-down next week, the evil bastards from Comcast will get us set up with internet access on Thursday, and our furniture will be moved in on Friday.
And that should do it! I’d like to have everything at the new place Friday and not have to return on Saturday for any stray stuff. My experience is that it’s just a lot easier to do a move that way—everything at once and be done with it.
With the new place feeling so right and so much like home already, I hope for this to be my final move, ever. For me, this is just that kind of house and that kind of community.
In other news, I saw my dad's Spain pictures last weekend and as soon as I have time to transfer them from the laptop to the desktop, I'll post a few. He had a fabulous time, and I'm so happy to see him doing fun things for himself, finally. He's always worked hard and lived frugally. He's earned the privilege of living a few dreams!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Thieving Bastards at Comcast
It COMPLETELY sucks to be between DSL service areas. I talked with our university's head of network planning and he explained the whole stupid situation with me. Comcast is the only option I have until our neighborhood gets DSL, unless I want to poke along on 56K dialup.
Comcast seems to know they've got us over a barrel. $200 just to get set up!!! And $50/month after!
I wonder how successful I'd be at running an ethernet cable across the street from the university (where we have our own fiber network) to my new house?
Bastards.
Comcast seems to know they've got us over a barrel. $200 just to get set up!!! And $50/month after!
I wonder how successful I'd be at running an ethernet cable across the street from the university (where we have our own fiber network) to my new house?
Bastards.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Bike Trainer Meltdown
Well, it's official. My bike trainer is dead.
A few weeks ago it developed a crack in the part that regulates the tension, but I had been finding workarounds that kept things spinning normally. Today, though, the tension crank came off in my hands and the actual spin part would not work properly. It either shrieked or made a grinding sound, neither of which was something I cared to listen to for the duration of a two-hour workout.
So the trainer is dead. Damn it. A new trainer is so not what I wanted to have to buy right now, with all the lease-breaking/house-buying expenses. But exercise and good health are cheaper in the long term, so me and my Visa card will just have to buck up and hit the bike shop.
At least all the little plastic bits that showered out of the dying trainer inspired me to vaccum the bedroom. Small blessings.
A few weeks ago it developed a crack in the part that regulates the tension, but I had been finding workarounds that kept things spinning normally. Today, though, the tension crank came off in my hands and the actual spin part would not work properly. It either shrieked or made a grinding sound, neither of which was something I cared to listen to for the duration of a two-hour workout.
So the trainer is dead. Damn it. A new trainer is so not what I wanted to have to buy right now, with all the lease-breaking/house-buying expenses. But exercise and good health are cheaper in the long term, so me and my Visa card will just have to buck up and hit the bike shop.
At least all the little plastic bits that showered out of the dying trainer inspired me to vaccum the bedroom. Small blessings.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Moving Plans
Another crazy week at work! My right-hand gal has been on vacation, as has one of my managerial counterparts, and we’re heading into fiscal year close, etc, etc. Everyone should be back next week, though, and our boss has said no vacations in August. Luckily she made an exception for me to have a day off for moving. We want to move the furniture on a Friday, when the parking lot outside our apartment will be empty and the van can pull up close. And of course, once your furniture is gone, you might as well be gone with it!
So with two weeks to go, moving plans are speeding up. It’s scary how long I had to spend on the phone to get electric service transferred, vs the almost magical speed of dealing with the gas company. We also found out there’s no DSL in our new neighborhood. WTF? Our house is a block from the third largest university in Texas and NO DSL??? I’m skeptical, so I’m going to ask the university’s head of network planning if this is true. In the meantime, Serious Packing has begun.
My father is home from Spain and we’ve talked on the phone a couple times. He had a fantastic time and we’re going to go see the pics tomorrow. We’ll try to arrange for him to see the house sometime next week, since he’s going back to New Mexico soon.
I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to be crazy-busy. I’ll be doing good if I can just keep to a workout schedule and hold onto my sanity. I’m cocooning tonight, knowing it won’t be so easy to get down-time in August. I'm sometimes embarrassed at how much alone-time I need to stay sane, but I used to try pretending to be someone I'm not, and it always ended badly.
I did the Memorial/Chimney Rock/Tanglewood run again today, since after next weekend, I’ll have to drive to get to a place to start that particular route. It just doesn't seem right to drive in order to run, so I’ll probably stick with routes near my house after the move. So Tanglewood it was! It was an unusually cool morning for almost-August, although the humidity was bad enough that gills might’ve been useful.
After that, it was quality time with the bun while I iced my legs, then a long hot shower and soon Dan and I were on our way for Indian food! We were going to drop by the house afterwards to see the new varnish on the hardwood floors, but we were so full and lazy afterwards that we skipped it and took an afternoon nap instead. Good times!
Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minutes elliptical, 10 stairmaster
Tuesday: 4 mile run
Wednesday: 3.5 mile run
Thursday: 30 minutes elliptical
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 13.5 mile run
So with two weeks to go, moving plans are speeding up. It’s scary how long I had to spend on the phone to get electric service transferred, vs the almost magical speed of dealing with the gas company. We also found out there’s no DSL in our new neighborhood. WTF? Our house is a block from the third largest university in Texas and NO DSL??? I’m skeptical, so I’m going to ask the university’s head of network planning if this is true. In the meantime, Serious Packing has begun.
My father is home from Spain and we’ve talked on the phone a couple times. He had a fantastic time and we’re going to go see the pics tomorrow. We’ll try to arrange for him to see the house sometime next week, since he’s going back to New Mexico soon.
I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to be crazy-busy. I’ll be doing good if I can just keep to a workout schedule and hold onto my sanity. I’m cocooning tonight, knowing it won’t be so easy to get down-time in August. I'm sometimes embarrassed at how much alone-time I need to stay sane, but I used to try pretending to be someone I'm not, and it always ended badly.
I did the Memorial/Chimney Rock/Tanglewood run again today, since after next weekend, I’ll have to drive to get to a place to start that particular route. It just doesn't seem right to drive in order to run, so I’ll probably stick with routes near my house after the move. So Tanglewood it was! It was an unusually cool morning for almost-August, although the humidity was bad enough that gills might’ve been useful.
After that, it was quality time with the bun while I iced my legs, then a long hot shower and soon Dan and I were on our way for Indian food! We were going to drop by the house afterwards to see the new varnish on the hardwood floors, but we were so full and lazy afterwards that we skipped it and took an afternoon nap instead. Good times!
Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minutes elliptical, 10 stairmaster
Tuesday: 4 mile run
Wednesday: 3.5 mile run
Thursday: 30 minutes elliptical
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 13.5 mile run
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Searching for Normalcy
I had another nutso week at work. I’m trying to finalize a project that I inherited, which is always a challenge, and there have been a lot of complications along the way, including that it’s a moving target with data changing almost daily.
This week I was told to work with our department’s budget guru on certain aspects of the project, and while Budget Guru is brilliant and accurate, she and I might as well have grown up on different planets. We have completely different ways of approaching matters and communicating about them, so that even though I like her, it seems that whenever we have to work together, I find myself spending a lot of time wanting to strangle her.
I only barely escaped having to pull office time over the weekend. I would’ve been deeply unhappy with some people if that had happened, considering I brought work home with me nearly every night this week and worked part of July 4 and the Saturday after that!
The house is coming along nicely. Dan stopped by on Friday and said most of the sheetrocking and painting is done and it looks fantastic. I can’t wait to see! We continue to drop things off at the garage apartment, which is our staging area. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s something. The house should be ready for move-in the first week of August, but we’re not scheduling anything until we have a firm date.
Dan keeps going on and on about the things he wants to do with the house if we buy it. Replace this, add that, update the other. It makes me nervous, because he has a poor sense of money and it gets us in trouble. Furthermore, I don’t like how this whole deal is setting us back financially. If we weren’t having to break our lease and pay on two places in August, we would’ve been financially clear again by now, with the exception of the student loans. Instead, we’re throwing ourselves right back into debt again, and there will surely be other expenses that I’m not even aware of yet. There always are when you move. So every time Dan starts babbling about wanting to rip out the cabinets and put in new ones, I get twitchy.
I wasn’t feeling like a long run this morning, but since I always feel like having lots and lots of Indian food, I slugged out 13.5 miles. It’s a bad sign when you need to give yourself a pep talk in the early miles. Not much happened on my run, other than that I saw the most amazing spider web at Turtle Pond when I stopped for an electrolyte/water break. It was strung between a tree and light post and I was baffled how the spider accomplished it. I guess a spider the size of a quarter can jump pretty far!
My father is scheduled to return from Spain on Monday, so it looks like I’ll be busy with family stuff soon. I’ll want to see his pictures and hear his stories. And I need to take him to see the house and find out how much of a down payment he wants to help us with (since he offered). He’s only in town for two weeks, so with house, family and a busy work schedule, I hope I can just keep myself pulled together. I’m not one of those people who gets energized by being around a lot of people and having a big long list of must-dos. I need my down time or I start getting bitchy and neurotic.
It’s turning into such a crazy summer, and that doesn’t even include the creative projects I’ve got going on!
I just keep telling myself that all these demands on my time are temporary. It will pass and life will return to its normal rhythms. I really only have to get through the rest of July, and then August. Then, if luck is with me, I can settle in, start repairing the financial damage, and find a new peaceful routine to settle into.
Recent Workouts
Last Sunday: 90 minute spin
Monday: 30 minute elliptical
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical, 10 minute stairmaster
Wednesday: 4 mile run
Thursday: 30 minute elliptical
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 13.5 mile run
This week I was told to work with our department’s budget guru on certain aspects of the project, and while Budget Guru is brilliant and accurate, she and I might as well have grown up on different planets. We have completely different ways of approaching matters and communicating about them, so that even though I like her, it seems that whenever we have to work together, I find myself spending a lot of time wanting to strangle her.
I only barely escaped having to pull office time over the weekend. I would’ve been deeply unhappy with some people if that had happened, considering I brought work home with me nearly every night this week and worked part of July 4 and the Saturday after that!
The house is coming along nicely. Dan stopped by on Friday and said most of the sheetrocking and painting is done and it looks fantastic. I can’t wait to see! We continue to drop things off at the garage apartment, which is our staging area. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s something. The house should be ready for move-in the first week of August, but we’re not scheduling anything until we have a firm date.
Dan keeps going on and on about the things he wants to do with the house if we buy it. Replace this, add that, update the other. It makes me nervous, because he has a poor sense of money and it gets us in trouble. Furthermore, I don’t like how this whole deal is setting us back financially. If we weren’t having to break our lease and pay on two places in August, we would’ve been financially clear again by now, with the exception of the student loans. Instead, we’re throwing ourselves right back into debt again, and there will surely be other expenses that I’m not even aware of yet. There always are when you move. So every time Dan starts babbling about wanting to rip out the cabinets and put in new ones, I get twitchy.
I wasn’t feeling like a long run this morning, but since I always feel like having lots and lots of Indian food, I slugged out 13.5 miles. It’s a bad sign when you need to give yourself a pep talk in the early miles. Not much happened on my run, other than that I saw the most amazing spider web at Turtle Pond when I stopped for an electrolyte/water break. It was strung between a tree and light post and I was baffled how the spider accomplished it. I guess a spider the size of a quarter can jump pretty far!
My father is scheduled to return from Spain on Monday, so it looks like I’ll be busy with family stuff soon. I’ll want to see his pictures and hear his stories. And I need to take him to see the house and find out how much of a down payment he wants to help us with (since he offered). He’s only in town for two weeks, so with house, family and a busy work schedule, I hope I can just keep myself pulled together. I’m not one of those people who gets energized by being around a lot of people and having a big long list of must-dos. I need my down time or I start getting bitchy and neurotic.
It’s turning into such a crazy summer, and that doesn’t even include the creative projects I’ve got going on!
I just keep telling myself that all these demands on my time are temporary. It will pass and life will return to its normal rhythms. I really only have to get through the rest of July, and then August. Then, if luck is with me, I can settle in, start repairing the financial damage, and find a new peaceful routine to settle into.
Recent Workouts
Last Sunday: 90 minute spin
Monday: 30 minute elliptical
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical, 10 minute stairmaster
Wednesday: 4 mile run
Thursday: 30 minute elliptical
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 13.5 mile run
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Refreshing Run!
Okay, so fourteen miles isn’t most people’s idea of refreshing. But the morning was overcast and cooler than is typical for this time of year. And much of the time, I ran in a light sprinkling of rain, which helped regulate my body temp, even though it didn’t do much to keep me from getting sweaty and stinky. But at least it never really rained, for which I was grateful. With such fine running conditions, I was able to get through my long run at a pretty good clip, feeling strong at the end.
And then the weather indulged me by staying overcast all day. Had we gotten a real rain shower, it could’ve been a problem. The ground is still saturated from all the wet we got last month. But instead, it just sprinkled on and off all day, with lots of cloud cover to keep our a/c from working so hard.
At the office, I was boss-free this week, and didn’t have to bring much work home, either. Very nice. But my hopes of making up for working part of the Fourth of July holiday and part of Saturday didn’t come to much. I had forgotten that I had approved vacation time for one of my employees, and another is on summer flex time. I don’t like to leave one of my employees playing Lone Ranger for more than an hour, unless it’s for a work-related reason like meetings. It just doesn’t seem fair to ask someone who earns significantly less than me to run the place solo while I take personal time. And since one of my managerial counterparts was also on vacation and the other was busy with meetings, there were several afternoons when I was the only one in our entire business office who could make Important Decisions (as if there were any to be made!) and Sign Things.
Well, maybe things will work out for some other time.
At least I got some things moved to the house. With all the work being done on the house itself (painting, new sheetrock in areas that need it, etc), I’m staging things in the garage apartment. I’m taking the attitude that with so much to do, anything I do will help. Therefore, I try to take a few items to work each day and drop them off at the garage apartment before going home. My hope is that by the time we’re ready to move in early August, we’ll only have furniture and essentials, like toothpaste, left to haul over there.
On a psychological level, doing something every day is also quelling the occasional waves of panic I still feel at the thought of all that needs to be done so we can move. I keep telling myself that there’s a bright side to having so much to do—I can do anything and it will be an improvement. Even if it’s just dropping off the waffle maker at the new place. Hey, that’s one less thing to take in August, right? And who needs waffles, anyway?
Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical
Tuesday: slacker, non-scheduled rest day
Wednesday: 30 minute elliptical
Thursday: 15 minute elliptical, 15 minute run
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 14 mile run
And then the weather indulged me by staying overcast all day. Had we gotten a real rain shower, it could’ve been a problem. The ground is still saturated from all the wet we got last month. But instead, it just sprinkled on and off all day, with lots of cloud cover to keep our a/c from working so hard.
At the office, I was boss-free this week, and didn’t have to bring much work home, either. Very nice. But my hopes of making up for working part of the Fourth of July holiday and part of Saturday didn’t come to much. I had forgotten that I had approved vacation time for one of my employees, and another is on summer flex time. I don’t like to leave one of my employees playing Lone Ranger for more than an hour, unless it’s for a work-related reason like meetings. It just doesn’t seem fair to ask someone who earns significantly less than me to run the place solo while I take personal time. And since one of my managerial counterparts was also on vacation and the other was busy with meetings, there were several afternoons when I was the only one in our entire business office who could make Important Decisions (as if there were any to be made!) and Sign Things.
Well, maybe things will work out for some other time.
At least I got some things moved to the house. With all the work being done on the house itself (painting, new sheetrock in areas that need it, etc), I’m staging things in the garage apartment. I’m taking the attitude that with so much to do, anything I do will help. Therefore, I try to take a few items to work each day and drop them off at the garage apartment before going home. My hope is that by the time we’re ready to move in early August, we’ll only have furniture and essentials, like toothpaste, left to haul over there.
On a psychological level, doing something every day is also quelling the occasional waves of panic I still feel at the thought of all that needs to be done so we can move. I keep telling myself that there’s a bright side to having so much to do—I can do anything and it will be an improvement. Even if it’s just dropping off the waffle maker at the new place. Hey, that’s one less thing to take in August, right? And who needs waffles, anyway?
Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical
Tuesday: slacker, non-scheduled rest day
Wednesday: 30 minute elliptical
Thursday: 15 minute elliptical, 15 minute run
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 14 mile run
Monday, July 09, 2007
Meme Monday!
Hay, there! Tidbit, here.
My human has been pretty busy lately, so she asked me to do a couple of these "meme" things for her.
So here goes:
Eight Random Facts:
- I used to belong to a child who liked to hold me close.
- I ended up at a dog pound, but I’m not sure why.
- I lived with the dogs for nearly three weeks (in my own cell) before I was taken to my new home.
- I don’t like being locked up. I stomp my feet and throw things around with my teeth until I get let out!
- My favorite food is carrot greens.
- My favorite hobby is digging holes in the carpet.
- I like chewing perfect circles in the male human’s shirts, when he leaves them on the floor or sofa. It’s my way of reminding him to pick up after himself.
- My favorite hay comes from the Oxbow company in Nebraska. My humans say I’m pretty fancy to require special hay, but I think I’m worth it.
And here's the next meme:
What were you doing 10 years ago?
I wasn’t even born yet!
What were you doing 1 year ago?
About what I’m doing now—eating hay, playing with the cat and wishing my humans would give me more of those delicious pellet things.
Five snacks you enjoy:
1. Raisins
2. Just Carrots (dehydrated carrot bits)
3. Tortilla Chips (when the male human drops them on the floor)
4. Apples
5. Timothy Hay Cakes
Five songs that you know all the lyrics to:
1. Here Comes Peter Cottontail
2. White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane)
3. Rabbit Run (Eminem)
4. The Bunny Hop
5. At the Hop
Plus, I like anything by Echo and the Bunnymen.
Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1. Buy the Oxbow Hay Company
2. Donate to local animal shelters
3. Donate to Houston Bunny Buddies
4. Invest in an organic carrot co-op
5. Help my humans pay off their student loans so they’ll quit threatening to sell me to the circus
Five bad habits:
None! But here’s what my humans complain about:
1. I like digging in the carpet
2. I taste-test the computer cables
3. I chew books and magazines (easier than reading that small print)
4. I scatter my food (makes it look like there’s more)
5. I shed
Five things you like doing:
1. Snuggling with the cat
2. Digging in the carpet
3. Eating
4. Getting ear-rubs
5. Lounging
Five things you would never wear again:
I wear my fur coat everywhere, and nothing else!
Five favorite toys:
1. my bell
2. my cardboard box
3. my cat
4. my fleece rabbit
5. my humans’ shoes
I hope I did this right. If not, blame my human!
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Meritorious
What a total aberration of a week!
We were given a ridiculously narrow window for our managers and CIO to make decisions on merit adjustments for some 230+ employees for the upcoming fiscal year. I spent part of last week and all of this week running numbers and getting data for the decision-makers. On Tuesday, I was supposed to start entering data, but the people who were supposed to help only gave me the run-around and I spent half my Fourth of July holiday working on it, instead.
But there was still a lot to do, and it all hinged on the CIO’s final decisions. He didn’t get those numbers to me until Friday morning, and the deadline for entry was 5 pm! Well, it took most of the day just to get the data in (with three other people helping), and by 5 pm, we were still trying to balance the new totals. (Long dull explanation of university fund accounting available upon request.) It didn't help that the accounting system was overloaded and I couldn’t get my reports. I found myself doing manual person-by-person data checking against my spreadsheets.
Budget took pity on us and extended the deadline to noon Saturday.
Ugh.
So I re-arranged my weekend and met my boss at the office this morning. And yes, it took until noon. And no, some of the reports never did run, but enough did that I was able to test my work-around and find that my numbers were balancing. At noon, we got locked out of the accounting system, and my brain was mush, anyway. I came home.
Since the cranberry scone my boss had brought to the office for me contained at least 8,000 calories, some kind of workout was in order. But with the first glimpse of sun after weeks of rain, I was in no mood for an indoor workout. Even though I have a long run planned for tomorrow, I had to run today or I would die!
And so I did. At 1:00 in the afternoon, in the sun, heat and 112% humidity. I didn’t care. I have good heat tolerance, and I really needed to be outdoors!
But tonight my whole schedule feels out of synch. The mid-week holiday started the confusion, and already July 4 feels like two weeks ago. Thursday felt like a Monday or Tuesday. And Friday was confusing because I worked late (6 pm) and didn’t do the laundry. I didn’t do a morning long run today, but went to the office instead. And now I’m doing laundry, with a long run and Indian food planned for tomorrow.
Monday is going to be so confusing. That’s if I can even keep straight when Monday is supposed to be!
Oh, and as for wrapping up the merit cycle—my boss found a little “extra” money toward the end of the day Friday. Among other uses she found for it, she doubled my merit increase. Double of something small is still pretty darn small, but sometimes it’s the thought that counts!
Recent Workouts
Thursday: 45 minute spin
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 7.5 mile run
We were given a ridiculously narrow window for our managers and CIO to make decisions on merit adjustments for some 230+ employees for the upcoming fiscal year. I spent part of last week and all of this week running numbers and getting data for the decision-makers. On Tuesday, I was supposed to start entering data, but the people who were supposed to help only gave me the run-around and I spent half my Fourth of July holiday working on it, instead.
But there was still a lot to do, and it all hinged on the CIO’s final decisions. He didn’t get those numbers to me until Friday morning, and the deadline for entry was 5 pm! Well, it took most of the day just to get the data in (with three other people helping), and by 5 pm, we were still trying to balance the new totals. (Long dull explanation of university fund accounting available upon request.) It didn't help that the accounting system was overloaded and I couldn’t get my reports. I found myself doing manual person-by-person data checking against my spreadsheets.
Budget took pity on us and extended the deadline to noon Saturday.
Ugh.
So I re-arranged my weekend and met my boss at the office this morning. And yes, it took until noon. And no, some of the reports never did run, but enough did that I was able to test my work-around and find that my numbers were balancing. At noon, we got locked out of the accounting system, and my brain was mush, anyway. I came home.
Since the cranberry scone my boss had brought to the office for me contained at least 8,000 calories, some kind of workout was in order. But with the first glimpse of sun after weeks of rain, I was in no mood for an indoor workout. Even though I have a long run planned for tomorrow, I had to run today or I would die!
And so I did. At 1:00 in the afternoon, in the sun, heat and 112% humidity. I didn’t care. I have good heat tolerance, and I really needed to be outdoors!
But tonight my whole schedule feels out of synch. The mid-week holiday started the confusion, and already July 4 feels like two weeks ago. Thursday felt like a Monday or Tuesday. And Friday was confusing because I worked late (6 pm) and didn’t do the laundry. I didn’t do a morning long run today, but went to the office instead. And now I’m doing laundry, with a long run and Indian food planned for tomorrow.
Monday is going to be so confusing. That’s if I can even keep straight when Monday is supposed to be!
Oh, and as for wrapping up the merit cycle—my boss found a little “extra” money toward the end of the day Friday. Among other uses she found for it, she doubled my merit increase. Double of something small is still pretty darn small, but sometimes it’s the thought that counts!
Recent Workouts
Thursday: 45 minute spin
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 7.5 mile run
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
My Fourth
Although technically I had the day off from work, I ended up working half the day from home, doing the things I would've done at the office Tuesday if so many people hadn't been wasting my time.
But the evening was pleasant. Some friends from work met us here and brought their kids. We went for a walk along the bayou and then watched the fireworks from the top of the apartment complex parking garage. We were able to see four different shows, and it was pretty amazing, even though the downtown show wasn’t up to par due to the weather. It’s been nothing but rain lately and tonight the humidity and a lack of wind made the smoke from the fireworks linger, obscuring some of the show.
In all, it was a nice day. I wasn’t happy about having to bring so much work home, but it wasn’t hard work and I was able to do it at my own time and at my own pace. I just hope people don’t waste my time the next couple days, too, because I have a 5:00 Friday deadline to meet and I’m still waiting on information from my CIO. I’m not going to have much time to spare if anything hits a snag.
Recent Workouts
Sunday: 2 hour spin
Monday: no workout; wasn’t feeling good
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical
Wednesday: 1 hour gym workout—treadmill and elliptical
But the evening was pleasant. Some friends from work met us here and brought their kids. We went for a walk along the bayou and then watched the fireworks from the top of the apartment complex parking garage. We were able to see four different shows, and it was pretty amazing, even though the downtown show wasn’t up to par due to the weather. It’s been nothing but rain lately and tonight the humidity and a lack of wind made the smoke from the fireworks linger, obscuring some of the show.
In all, it was a nice day. I wasn’t happy about having to bring so much work home, but it wasn’t hard work and I was able to do it at my own time and at my own pace. I just hope people don’t waste my time the next couple days, too, because I have a 5:00 Friday deadline to meet and I’m still waiting on information from my CIO. I’m not going to have much time to spare if anything hits a snag.
Recent Workouts
Sunday: 2 hour spin
Monday: no workout; wasn’t feeling good
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical
Wednesday: 1 hour gym workout—treadmill and elliptical
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Big Plans
It’s done. I’ve given the required 60 days notice on my apartment. It’s costing us a pretty penny to break our lease and make this move, but it’s a good opportunity.
In just about every way, the house fits the mental picture I’ve carried around for decades of the type of place I would jump on if I ever got the chance. I wish it were in the Heights, Village, or Montrose, where I've lived for twenty years and where all my favorite stores and restaurants are. But it’ll be a very short car trip, and I don’t do much shopping, anyway. Being able to walk to work will be wonderful. And I’ll have all the benefits of a large university just a block away—library, book store, museum, theater, concert halls, and state of the art rec center. The campus has recently gotten some pretty decent restaurants, too.
So now comes the stressful part—the weeks of hell as I get ready to move. A lot of it will cost money. Nearly all of it will be a pain in the ass. But I’m going to take it one day at a time and stay focused on the end result. The stressful time won’t last forever. The dust will eventually settle and I’ll be happily set up in my very own house.
Oh, did I say “my very own?” Yes, the owners have offered to sell it to us, owner-financed! So not only are we moving, but we’ve got to do all those house-buying things, like get an inspector, negotiate terms, talk to a lender, get insurance, etc. If the purchase deal falls through for any reason, we can still rent, though. And we have a deal with the owner that they won’t sell for at least two years, unless it’s to us. It was a deal I insisted on, since no way was I going to incur all the expense and hassle of lease-breaking, only to pack up and move again in a year.
But I’m pretty sure we’ll end up buying the house. I wish this deal had come our way when we were better positioned for it. But opportunities come when they do, and this is the house I’ve held out for. I was committed to renting for the rest of my life, rather than buy simply because people told me I should or I must. And just like I met my husband when I quit caring whether I met the right man or not, the right house dropped into my lap once I gave up wondering if I would ever find it.
There’s a lesson in there, somewhere.
This has been a stressful week for me in other ways. My boss was out of town all week at a conference, leaving me to spearhead the merit plan. We were given a very narrow time window to run all our numbers, so it’s just been me and the VP, meeting, calling and sending documents back and forth. I’ve been calling meetings and fielding anxious phone calls from lots of very important people, bringing work home and working late every night. But my boss is back now and the VP is making his final decisions this weekend. Data entry will be next week, and then we’re done.
As much as I’ve been frustrated by all the late hours (plays havoc with house-buying and exercise!), I’ve enjoyed the challenge. At lunch today, Dan commented that I seemed to be enjoying it, and I had to smile. Before my job duties changed last winter, I had gone six years without any major change in the nature of my work. I had learned everything I needed to know years ago. I could do things fast and sometimes slip away early with no one the wiser, but I was also bored. Since the business services centralization, I’ve been learning new things nearly every day, and I enjoy the challenge, even though at times like this I hate all the stress.
Well, that’s it for today, and it’s quite enough!
Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical
Wednesday: 3.5 mile run
Thursday: 20 minute treadmill run/15 minute elliptical
Friday: rest day
Today: 15 mile run
In just about every way, the house fits the mental picture I’ve carried around for decades of the type of place I would jump on if I ever got the chance. I wish it were in the Heights, Village, or Montrose, where I've lived for twenty years and where all my favorite stores and restaurants are. But it’ll be a very short car trip, and I don’t do much shopping, anyway. Being able to walk to work will be wonderful. And I’ll have all the benefits of a large university just a block away—library, book store, museum, theater, concert halls, and state of the art rec center. The campus has recently gotten some pretty decent restaurants, too.
So now comes the stressful part—the weeks of hell as I get ready to move. A lot of it will cost money. Nearly all of it will be a pain in the ass. But I’m going to take it one day at a time and stay focused on the end result. The stressful time won’t last forever. The dust will eventually settle and I’ll be happily set up in my very own house.
Oh, did I say “my very own?” Yes, the owners have offered to sell it to us, owner-financed! So not only are we moving, but we’ve got to do all those house-buying things, like get an inspector, negotiate terms, talk to a lender, get insurance, etc. If the purchase deal falls through for any reason, we can still rent, though. And we have a deal with the owner that they won’t sell for at least two years, unless it’s to us. It was a deal I insisted on, since no way was I going to incur all the expense and hassle of lease-breaking, only to pack up and move again in a year.
But I’m pretty sure we’ll end up buying the house. I wish this deal had come our way when we were better positioned for it. But opportunities come when they do, and this is the house I’ve held out for. I was committed to renting for the rest of my life, rather than buy simply because people told me I should or I must. And just like I met my husband when I quit caring whether I met the right man or not, the right house dropped into my lap once I gave up wondering if I would ever find it.
There’s a lesson in there, somewhere.
This has been a stressful week for me in other ways. My boss was out of town all week at a conference, leaving me to spearhead the merit plan. We were given a very narrow time window to run all our numbers, so it’s just been me and the VP, meeting, calling and sending documents back and forth. I’ve been calling meetings and fielding anxious phone calls from lots of very important people, bringing work home and working late every night. But my boss is back now and the VP is making his final decisions this weekend. Data entry will be next week, and then we’re done.
As much as I’ve been frustrated by all the late hours (plays havoc with house-buying and exercise!), I’ve enjoyed the challenge. At lunch today, Dan commented that I seemed to be enjoying it, and I had to smile. Before my job duties changed last winter, I had gone six years without any major change in the nature of my work. I had learned everything I needed to know years ago. I could do things fast and sometimes slip away early with no one the wiser, but I was also bored. Since the business services centralization, I’ve been learning new things nearly every day, and I enjoy the challenge, even though at times like this I hate all the stress.
Well, that’s it for today, and it’s quite enough!
Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical
Wednesday: 3.5 mile run
Thursday: 20 minute treadmill run/15 minute elliptical
Friday: rest day
Today: 15 mile run
Friday, June 29, 2007
Scrapblog!
(Note: This post is cross-posted to my Writing blog.)
Check this out-- online scrapbooking! I wish I hadn't found out about this. I'll be wasting a lot of time here!
And in other news, Thomma is at it again. This time she gave me a cool little award:
All this in spite of the fact I still owe her a meme! Now that's a real friend!
Check this out-- online scrapbooking! I wish I hadn't found out about this. I'll be wasting a lot of time here!
And in other news, Thomma is at it again. This time she gave me a cool little award:
All this in spite of the fact I still owe her a meme! Now that's a real friend!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
A run, a house, a sale and a parade
What a busy day!
I started with an early run. I did the Tanglewood route again, which I really like. I think I’m just not bored with it yet. I also like being able to stop at Rice Epicurean Market for some cold water, which helps a lot at mile nine. Overall, I had a good solid run. It looked like it might rain, but it never did.
Dan and I did our usual Indian buffet for lunch, and afterwards we went to look at the house. We got there a little early and the professor wasn’t around, so I walked around the neighborhood a bit, getting a feel for the place. It’s very tidy and quaint, and nearly every car has a university decal. I noticed the university police patrolling the neighborhood, which I considered a good sign. Our university has real cops, not rent-a-cops, and our university cop shop even has a real jail with two cells. Security is a big deal, so when the professor showed up to show us the house, I mentioned having seen a university cop car in the area, and he said the neighborhood is part of their regular patrol beat. Very cool.
Anyway, the house needs some work, which is why it won’t be ready until August, but it’s structurally sound and has some really lovely retro features like glass bricks, a phone cubbyhole in the hallway, black and white checkerboard linoleum in the kitchen, and of course, hardwood floors. There’s a fireplace, too. What the place mainly needs is some paint and a re-do of the bathroom tile. The owner said he was going to do all that, and more.
The garage has lots of storage, outdoor parking for two cars, and an efficiency apartment that we can either sublet or use for our own needs. I want to make it into a workout room, but Dan thinks it would make a better music studio. I can see we’re already going to have to make some compromises!
The lot is on a small hill and it didn’t flood in either Hurricane Alicia or Tropical Storm Allison, so it’s safe from that bugaboo of Houston properties. And it’s got decks out back, a nice front porch, and lots of big shade trees, which accounts for the ridiculously low electric bills the place has, even in the hottest months. The lower bills would completely make up for the marginally higher rent, and keep us from needing to rent out the garage apartment.
The only two issues are that there’s a woman who hasn’t seen the place yet who has first dibs if she wants it, and of course we have a pesky lease-thingy where we’re at now. But I’m going to give a copy of my lease to one of my lawyer friends and see what he thinks. Then I’ll talk to my last boss at the university, who is quite possibly one of the best contract negotiators in the state. If there’s a way out of my lease, I’ve got the Dream Team to make it happen! And if I can’t get out of the lease, maybe we could sublet the house to a quiet law or MBA student until the end of next spring. But there’s a way to make this house happen—I’m sure of it.
After we saw the house, we came home and dropped by a moving sale at an apartment in our building. We bought a nice table that we can put in our kitchen if we get the house and that we have no clue what we’ll do with, otherwise. Put it in storage, I guess. And we also got a floor lamp, a small wicker chest, wooden hangers, and some other cool stuff.
I took a nap in the late afternoon and went to a parade tonight. I had a great time, since there’s nothing like a night parade. Everyone was feeling pretty festive, and even the police horses were wearing beads and glow necklaces! Spectators kept trying to join the parade. The group with the banjo-player were somewhat convincing, but no one was fooled by the others. One spectator thought she was in New Orleans and kept flashing her breasts. Honestly, if you’re going to expose yourself in public, you should at least have something worth showing. Maybe that’s why no one really seemed to mind what she was doing. I was glad when a cop showed up, though. Her little group was pretty drunk and kept wandering into the street, which was sort of already in use by this parade thing, you know.
But that was the only sign of rowdiness I saw. It was a friendly street festival atmosphere, with people of every age, ethnic group and social class, dogs and children in tow, taking pictures of the parade and each other, while the parade marchers took their own pictures of us and each other as they went by. As the parade was drawing to a close, a man in the crowd behind me got my attention and draped a lei around my neck. Then he kissed me and walked away. I must be doing something right to get still get that kind of attention from a stranger!
In all, it’s been a fun day. And even Tidbit got to join in the fun once I came home.
Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical
Tuesday: 3.5 mile run
Wednesday: 5 mile run
Thursday: 30 minute elliptical
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 13.5 mile run
I started with an early run. I did the Tanglewood route again, which I really like. I think I’m just not bored with it yet. I also like being able to stop at Rice Epicurean Market for some cold water, which helps a lot at mile nine. Overall, I had a good solid run. It looked like it might rain, but it never did.
Dan and I did our usual Indian buffet for lunch, and afterwards we went to look at the house. We got there a little early and the professor wasn’t around, so I walked around the neighborhood a bit, getting a feel for the place. It’s very tidy and quaint, and nearly every car has a university decal. I noticed the university police patrolling the neighborhood, which I considered a good sign. Our university has real cops, not rent-a-cops, and our university cop shop even has a real jail with two cells. Security is a big deal, so when the professor showed up to show us the house, I mentioned having seen a university cop car in the area, and he said the neighborhood is part of their regular patrol beat. Very cool.
Anyway, the house needs some work, which is why it won’t be ready until August, but it’s structurally sound and has some really lovely retro features like glass bricks, a phone cubbyhole in the hallway, black and white checkerboard linoleum in the kitchen, and of course, hardwood floors. There’s a fireplace, too. What the place mainly needs is some paint and a re-do of the bathroom tile. The owner said he was going to do all that, and more.
The garage has lots of storage, outdoor parking for two cars, and an efficiency apartment that we can either sublet or use for our own needs. I want to make it into a workout room, but Dan thinks it would make a better music studio. I can see we’re already going to have to make some compromises!
The lot is on a small hill and it didn’t flood in either Hurricane Alicia or Tropical Storm Allison, so it’s safe from that bugaboo of Houston properties. And it’s got decks out back, a nice front porch, and lots of big shade trees, which accounts for the ridiculously low electric bills the place has, even in the hottest months. The lower bills would completely make up for the marginally higher rent, and keep us from needing to rent out the garage apartment.
The only two issues are that there’s a woman who hasn’t seen the place yet who has first dibs if she wants it, and of course we have a pesky lease-thingy where we’re at now. But I’m going to give a copy of my lease to one of my lawyer friends and see what he thinks. Then I’ll talk to my last boss at the university, who is quite possibly one of the best contract negotiators in the state. If there’s a way out of my lease, I’ve got the Dream Team to make it happen! And if I can’t get out of the lease, maybe we could sublet the house to a quiet law or MBA student until the end of next spring. But there’s a way to make this house happen—I’m sure of it.
After we saw the house, we came home and dropped by a moving sale at an apartment in our building. We bought a nice table that we can put in our kitchen if we get the house and that we have no clue what we’ll do with, otherwise. Put it in storage, I guess. And we also got a floor lamp, a small wicker chest, wooden hangers, and some other cool stuff.
I took a nap in the late afternoon and went to a parade tonight. I had a great time, since there’s nothing like a night parade. Everyone was feeling pretty festive, and even the police horses were wearing beads and glow necklaces! Spectators kept trying to join the parade. The group with the banjo-player were somewhat convincing, but no one was fooled by the others. One spectator thought she was in New Orleans and kept flashing her breasts. Honestly, if you’re going to expose yourself in public, you should at least have something worth showing. Maybe that’s why no one really seemed to mind what she was doing. I was glad when a cop showed up, though. Her little group was pretty drunk and kept wandering into the street, which was sort of already in use by this parade thing, you know.
But that was the only sign of rowdiness I saw. It was a friendly street festival atmosphere, with people of every age, ethnic group and social class, dogs and children in tow, taking pictures of the parade and each other, while the parade marchers took their own pictures of us and each other as they went by. As the parade was drawing to a close, a man in the crowd behind me got my attention and draped a lei around my neck. Then he kissed me and walked away. I must be doing something right to get still get that kind of attention from a stranger!
In all, it’s been a fun day. And even Tidbit got to join in the fun once I came home.
Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical
Tuesday: 3.5 mile run
Wednesday: 5 mile run
Thursday: 30 minute elliptical
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 13.5 mile run
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Home, Potential Home!
We may be getting a house!
Okay, we wouldn’t actually be buying the house. We can’t afford to buy in any of the areas we want, and we don’t want a mortgage so badly that we’re willing to endure a long commute to get it. But one of Dan’s professor friends owns a house just a couple blocks from campus in a neighborhood that’s very popular with other professors. It’s for rent at a price not much higher than what we pay now, and it has a garage apartment we could sub-let to a grad student if we wanted to, bringing our monthly rent significantly lower than what we pay now. We’d probably use the garage apartment as an office or studio, though.
We’re going to try to see it this weekend, if something can be arranged with the current tenant.
The only problem is that we have a lease where we’re at now, and the lease isn’t up until next spring. But this is a fantastic opportunity, and it won’t hurt to explore what our options are.
I’m already having pleasant fantasies of being able to walk to work every day and having my professor friends for neighbors. The university has a fantabulous rec center, which would make up for no longer living in a place with an on-site gym. Campus events like plays, lectures and concerts would be no big deal to go to-- just put some shoes on and stroll on over. I could go home from work for lunch, or a mid-day nap. And I could run around campus on short-run days, and use the nearby bayou trails for long runs.
So I’m feeling cautiously excited about this opportunity.
In other news, Thomma tagged me for a meme a few days ago. I haven’t forgotten, I’m just saving it for a day when I want to post but haven’t got much to say!
Recent Workouts
Sunday: 2 hour spin, abs, upper body
Monday: 30 minute elliptical
Today: 3.5 mile run
Okay, we wouldn’t actually be buying the house. We can’t afford to buy in any of the areas we want, and we don’t want a mortgage so badly that we’re willing to endure a long commute to get it. But one of Dan’s professor friends owns a house just a couple blocks from campus in a neighborhood that’s very popular with other professors. It’s for rent at a price not much higher than what we pay now, and it has a garage apartment we could sub-let to a grad student if we wanted to, bringing our monthly rent significantly lower than what we pay now. We’d probably use the garage apartment as an office or studio, though.
We’re going to try to see it this weekend, if something can be arranged with the current tenant.
The only problem is that we have a lease where we’re at now, and the lease isn’t up until next spring. But this is a fantastic opportunity, and it won’t hurt to explore what our options are.
I’m already having pleasant fantasies of being able to walk to work every day and having my professor friends for neighbors. The university has a fantabulous rec center, which would make up for no longer living in a place with an on-site gym. Campus events like plays, lectures and concerts would be no big deal to go to-- just put some shoes on and stroll on over. I could go home from work for lunch, or a mid-day nap. And I could run around campus on short-run days, and use the nearby bayou trails for long runs.
So I’m feeling cautiously excited about this opportunity.
In other news, Thomma tagged me for a meme a few days ago. I haven’t forgotten, I’m just saving it for a day when I want to post but haven’t got much to say!
Recent Workouts
Sunday: 2 hour spin, abs, upper body
Monday: 30 minute elliptical
Today: 3.5 mile run
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Obligatory Saturday Post
I had been a little worried that it would rain this morning, but when I woke up, there were only patchy clouds. Although the Doppler showed a big green blob, it was well to the northwest for the time being. So I taped myself up and hit the road!
I did my Tanglewood run, which is starting to become a favorite. I stopped at Turtle Pond along the way (my name for it-- it’s part of an office park) and while I took a calorie/water/electrolyte break, the turtles bobbed to the surface and paddled over to look at me. No, I do not share my Amino Vital with reptiles. Sorry, kids. I caught one turtle trying to escape the pond and chased it back in, so it wouldn’t wander into the street and get run over. My good deed for the day.
After my break, I crossed the street and noticed the roadside garden at Memorial Drive and Chimney Rock is doing well. I saw a cucumber and lots of green tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen and should be ready soon. It looks like it’ll be a good year for the figs and oranges, too. I saw the gardener himself, trimming one of the kumquat trees, but I had dawdled too long at Turtle Pond, so I didn’t stop to chat. I would like to know the story behind the garden, though. It’s just so bizarre to see all that stuff growing inches from the curb of a busy street, when the house and yard are more than sufficiently large for growing just about anything short of a redwood.
I ran up Chimney Rock to Tanglewood, to San Felipe. After I stopped at Rice Epicurean Market for some water, I did a little window shopping at the fancy drug store next door. I say it’s “fancy” because it’s one of those drug stores one often finds in these high-end neighborhoods, where you’ll never find a designer knock-off perfume or a pair of $5 flip-flops for sale. Since I had already run about 11 miles in the humidity, I was drippy and stinky at this point, so I didn’t go inside. But I saw through the window that they sell one of my must-have items that I have a dickens of a time finding at stores and usually end up ordering online: Frownies patches. Yay! Next time I’m running low, I’ll make sure to bring my credit card along on my morning run and buy a new box, which will fit into the pack I wear on my waist for long runs.
(Aside: For you ladies not in the know, these patches pre-date botox, and are cheaper and safer than having poison injected into your face. And what’s more, they really work!)
I got home from my run feeling pretty good. I wrung out my running clothes and hung them to dry, wiped myself off with baby wipes, and iced my legs. Dan was watching one of his video lectures for his summer class, and I flipped through a book about New Mexico ghost towns while listening to a wholly unrelated lecture about nineteenth-century American imperialism in Central America. How I didn’t end up concluding that William Walker conquered Colfax County is beyond me.
The big green blob I saw on Doppler early this morning had arrived by lunchtime, so my plan to buy a new desk chair got nixed. But a little water wasn’t going to keep me and Dan from our weekly Indian buffet, and the daal was particularly tasty today. And spicy potatoes—yum! Indian spices plus the quintessentially American food makes for damn fine eating!
This afternoon I read Motherland, the latest edition of Y: The Last Man. I was a little disappointed, since I had thought it would conclude the story. Instead, it looks like there is still more to come, and now I’m annoyed. Not only was Motherland not as good as the previous books (in my opinion), but now I’ll have to wait for the next book to find out if all the loose ends finally get wrapped up. I only hope the next book is out soon, so I won’t forget the story line.
And that concludes my long, rambling, Saturday post.
Todays Workout
15 mile run
I did my Tanglewood run, which is starting to become a favorite. I stopped at Turtle Pond along the way (my name for it-- it’s part of an office park) and while I took a calorie/water/electrolyte break, the turtles bobbed to the surface and paddled over to look at me. No, I do not share my Amino Vital with reptiles. Sorry, kids. I caught one turtle trying to escape the pond and chased it back in, so it wouldn’t wander into the street and get run over. My good deed for the day.
After my break, I crossed the street and noticed the roadside garden at Memorial Drive and Chimney Rock is doing well. I saw a cucumber and lots of green tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen and should be ready soon. It looks like it’ll be a good year for the figs and oranges, too. I saw the gardener himself, trimming one of the kumquat trees, but I had dawdled too long at Turtle Pond, so I didn’t stop to chat. I would like to know the story behind the garden, though. It’s just so bizarre to see all that stuff growing inches from the curb of a busy street, when the house and yard are more than sufficiently large for growing just about anything short of a redwood.
I ran up Chimney Rock to Tanglewood, to San Felipe. After I stopped at Rice Epicurean Market for some water, I did a little window shopping at the fancy drug store next door. I say it’s “fancy” because it’s one of those drug stores one often finds in these high-end neighborhoods, where you’ll never find a designer knock-off perfume or a pair of $5 flip-flops for sale. Since I had already run about 11 miles in the humidity, I was drippy and stinky at this point, so I didn’t go inside. But I saw through the window that they sell one of my must-have items that I have a dickens of a time finding at stores and usually end up ordering online: Frownies patches. Yay! Next time I’m running low, I’ll make sure to bring my credit card along on my morning run and buy a new box, which will fit into the pack I wear on my waist for long runs.
(Aside: For you ladies not in the know, these patches pre-date botox, and are cheaper and safer than having poison injected into your face. And what’s more, they really work!)
I got home from my run feeling pretty good. I wrung out my running clothes and hung them to dry, wiped myself off with baby wipes, and iced my legs. Dan was watching one of his video lectures for his summer class, and I flipped through a book about New Mexico ghost towns while listening to a wholly unrelated lecture about nineteenth-century American imperialism in Central America. How I didn’t end up concluding that William Walker conquered Colfax County is beyond me.
The big green blob I saw on Doppler early this morning had arrived by lunchtime, so my plan to buy a new desk chair got nixed. But a little water wasn’t going to keep me and Dan from our weekly Indian buffet, and the daal was particularly tasty today. And spicy potatoes—yum! Indian spices plus the quintessentially American food makes for damn fine eating!
This afternoon I read Motherland, the latest edition of Y: The Last Man. I was a little disappointed, since I had thought it would conclude the story. Instead, it looks like there is still more to come, and now I’m annoyed. Not only was Motherland not as good as the previous books (in my opinion), but now I’ll have to wait for the next book to find out if all the loose ends finally get wrapped up. I only hope the next book is out soon, so I won’t forget the story line.
And that concludes my long, rambling, Saturday post.
Todays Workout
15 mile run
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Office Parties R Us!
I have such cool people working for me!
As the HR team for our division, one of our duties is to arrange events. In that vein, we had to put together a farewell party on short notice. The departing employee had been with us for eighteen years, so it could be no small deal.
Well, we did all the usual stuff—arranged the room, catering, gifts, guest list, etc, but something was missing. Yesterday morning on the way to work, I had an idea—we would get a scrapbook and photo printer and make a commemorative book right there on the spot, with all the party guests collaborating!
Everyone liked the idea, so I sent two people from my staff to get supplies. And since there wasn’t enough time to arrange for the use of a university photo printer, I bought a new cartridge and extra photo paper so we could use my own.
At the party today, we removed the pages from the scrapbook and set them out on a table with different color pens so people could sign them. Then we took pictures of the party, trimmed them with fancy pinking shears, and pasted them in the book, decorating any white space with scrapbooking stickers and the like.
Or rather, my staff did most of it. I helped when I could, but as a manager, I had to do some politicking, and as the owner of the photo printer, I had to print pics, switch out chips and cameras, and all that. The bulk of the creative work was done by my staff and they did a really amazing job. The uber-boss and even the CIO were impressed.
We’ve started something, I think, and the bar can only get raised higher. No good deed goes unpunished.
But for today, I was just so happy to be able to have a neat idea, hand it off to the fantastic people on my team and see them do something wonderful with it. Our departing employee loves her book, and we took compliments all afternoon on what a great party it was.
I know I occasionally use this blog to grump about my job, but there are some days when I just need to say that I work with some of the bestest people EVAH!
Recent Workouts
Sunday: 2 hour spin
Monday: 30 hour elliptical (ladder drill)
Tuesday: 15 minute elliptical, 15 minute treadmill (intervals on both)
Wednesday: 3.5 mile run
Thursday: 30 minute spin + upper body and abs
As the HR team for our division, one of our duties is to arrange events. In that vein, we had to put together a farewell party on short notice. The departing employee had been with us for eighteen years, so it could be no small deal.
Well, we did all the usual stuff—arranged the room, catering, gifts, guest list, etc, but something was missing. Yesterday morning on the way to work, I had an idea—we would get a scrapbook and photo printer and make a commemorative book right there on the spot, with all the party guests collaborating!
Everyone liked the idea, so I sent two people from my staff to get supplies. And since there wasn’t enough time to arrange for the use of a university photo printer, I bought a new cartridge and extra photo paper so we could use my own.
At the party today, we removed the pages from the scrapbook and set them out on a table with different color pens so people could sign them. Then we took pictures of the party, trimmed them with fancy pinking shears, and pasted them in the book, decorating any white space with scrapbooking stickers and the like.
Or rather, my staff did most of it. I helped when I could, but as a manager, I had to do some politicking, and as the owner of the photo printer, I had to print pics, switch out chips and cameras, and all that. The bulk of the creative work was done by my staff and they did a really amazing job. The uber-boss and even the CIO were impressed.
We’ve started something, I think, and the bar can only get raised higher. No good deed goes unpunished.
But for today, I was just so happy to be able to have a neat idea, hand it off to the fantastic people on my team and see them do something wonderful with it. Our departing employee loves her book, and we took compliments all afternoon on what a great party it was.
I know I occasionally use this blog to grump about my job, but there are some days when I just need to say that I work with some of the bestest people EVAH!
Recent Workouts
Sunday: 2 hour spin
Monday: 30 hour elliptical (ladder drill)
Tuesday: 15 minute elliptical, 15 minute treadmill (intervals on both)
Wednesday: 3.5 mile run
Thursday: 30 minute spin + upper body and abs
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Bandwidth Blues
Nothing like having your connection hang and ultimately fail, only to find it's because someone else in the household has decided to download a whole slew of bandwidth-hogging patches.
Last I checked, DSL was a shared resource in this household.
Hello? Anyone listening?
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Weekend Montage: Bookcases, Workouts, and WTF
Not much to say about this past weekend, except that it went by way too fast and I got a very nice, very big bookcase out of the deal.
One of Dan’s co-workers was having a yard sale Saturday morning, so I arranged my run so that I could be there when the sale started at 8:00. I did a five mile loop through River Oaks and was only a few minutes late arriving at the cute Montrose duplex where the sale was being held. Dan was already there, and so was Dan’s boss Charlie and his wife. I spent about thirty minutes hanging out, chatting about nothing and everything before we finally agreed to buy the big bookcase, with pickup arranged for after lunch.
Then Charlie and his wife went on their way, Dan went for more coffee, and I took off for Rice University where I made the loop around the campus and came back home. It was very humid and getting quite warm when I finished my run, and I can say with authority that we’re into summer for sure.
After lunch, we went to get the bookcase, but once we got it back to the apartment, we realized that it was too heavy for me to help carry upstairs. It was embarrassing to wimp out, but we live on the third floor, at the top of a winding staircase. I got to the third step and realized that I couldn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t drop my end, injuring myself or Dan. And since I have injury-related arthritis in my right foot from a case of furniture-related bravado twenty years ago, I said no way, we needed someone stronger. So Dan got a neighbor to help, and even he, a fit young man of thirty, said it was no picnic.
Okay, so I’m not a total wimp. Maybe just 75% wimp.
In the meantime, I played Betty Homemaker and cleared a path for the bookcase, swept up the bunny hay and fetched cold drinks for the guys. Anything was better than feeling useless. And after the neighbor left, I helped Dan bring the bookcase in and move it where we wanted it to go. I could do that much. It was just all those damn stairs I couldn't manage!
New furniture makes for curious critters, of course, and they’ve had a fine weekend investigating the altered landscape of their little world. Very cute.
And that was the big excitement of the weekend. I did a good two-hour spin workout today, picked up my asthma meds, and finally found a store that had my favorite granola bars in stock. I got the last box.
Anyone else noticing shortages of stuff in the stores? You know, things that used to always be in stock and are now regularly in short supply or out of stock altogether? It’s very frustrating to have to shop four different places for a box of dumb granola bars. And no place within a five mile radius seems to be stocking Puffin cereal bars this week. I’d find these kinds of situations much less annoying if I had an explanation for them. It’s the WTF factor that gets me every time.
And speaking of WTF factor, anyone watch the series finale of the Sopranos? I quit watching regularly a few seasons ago because I was getting too hooked, and I refuse to be a slave to my TV. But I really did want to see how it all ended, and quite frankly, I wish I hadn’t bothered. Nothing happened that I couldn’t have read about on the message boards. An hour of my life, wasted.
You have a lot to answer for, David Chase!
Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 elliptical—steady state
Tuesday: 5 mile run
Wednesday: worked late—no workout
Thursday: 30 minute elliptical—ladder drill
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 13 mile run
Sunday: 2 hour spin
One of Dan’s co-workers was having a yard sale Saturday morning, so I arranged my run so that I could be there when the sale started at 8:00. I did a five mile loop through River Oaks and was only a few minutes late arriving at the cute Montrose duplex where the sale was being held. Dan was already there, and so was Dan’s boss Charlie and his wife. I spent about thirty minutes hanging out, chatting about nothing and everything before we finally agreed to buy the big bookcase, with pickup arranged for after lunch.
Then Charlie and his wife went on their way, Dan went for more coffee, and I took off for Rice University where I made the loop around the campus and came back home. It was very humid and getting quite warm when I finished my run, and I can say with authority that we’re into summer for sure.
After lunch, we went to get the bookcase, but once we got it back to the apartment, we realized that it was too heavy for me to help carry upstairs. It was embarrassing to wimp out, but we live on the third floor, at the top of a winding staircase. I got to the third step and realized that I couldn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t drop my end, injuring myself or Dan. And since I have injury-related arthritis in my right foot from a case of furniture-related bravado twenty years ago, I said no way, we needed someone stronger. So Dan got a neighbor to help, and even he, a fit young man of thirty, said it was no picnic.
Okay, so I’m not a total wimp. Maybe just 75% wimp.
In the meantime, I played Betty Homemaker and cleared a path for the bookcase, swept up the bunny hay and fetched cold drinks for the guys. Anything was better than feeling useless. And after the neighbor left, I helped Dan bring the bookcase in and move it where we wanted it to go. I could do that much. It was just all those damn stairs I couldn't manage!
New furniture makes for curious critters, of course, and they’ve had a fine weekend investigating the altered landscape of their little world. Very cute.
And that was the big excitement of the weekend. I did a good two-hour spin workout today, picked up my asthma meds, and finally found a store that had my favorite granola bars in stock. I got the last box.
Anyone else noticing shortages of stuff in the stores? You know, things that used to always be in stock and are now regularly in short supply or out of stock altogether? It’s very frustrating to have to shop four different places for a box of dumb granola bars. And no place within a five mile radius seems to be stocking Puffin cereal bars this week. I’d find these kinds of situations much less annoying if I had an explanation for them. It’s the WTF factor that gets me every time.
And speaking of WTF factor, anyone watch the series finale of the Sopranos? I quit watching regularly a few seasons ago because I was getting too hooked, and I refuse to be a slave to my TV. But I really did want to see how it all ended, and quite frankly, I wish I hadn’t bothered. Nothing happened that I couldn’t have read about on the message boards. An hour of my life, wasted.
You have a lot to answer for, David Chase!
Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 elliptical—steady state
Tuesday: 5 mile run
Wednesday: worked late—no workout
Thursday: 30 minute elliptical—ladder drill
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 13 mile run
Sunday: 2 hour spin
Friday, June 08, 2007
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Personal Jesus
There I was, having an ordinary morning at work, everything going smoothly, when for no reason I could see, my computer hung. I rebooted, and it hung again. And again. I couldn’t open any of my programs before it would hang and it wouldn't even respond to the on/off switch, requiring I unplug it from the wall.
Great.
I was just about to call tech support, when who should peek in my doorway, but my husband? And right behind him was his boss, Charlie. Yay! They aren’t officially “my” techies, but they’re in tech support and they’re on the university’s payroll. As far as I was concerned, they were mine, Mine, MINE.
Dan started tinkering with my computer while Charlie smelled a trap and scooted off down the hall so fast that if we hadn’t had carpet he would’ve left skid marks. But after awhile he came back and together the three of us got my computer working again. I gave Dan a kiss as he left, and Charlie muttered that he didn’t get a kiss, to which I called after him that he should come back, if that was how he felt about it.
Nope. They left. Fast. I have a feeling they won’t be back anytime soon to wish me a good morning. I might make them rescue me again.
Nothing like having your very own technical saviors.
Great.
I was just about to call tech support, when who should peek in my doorway, but my husband? And right behind him was his boss, Charlie. Yay! They aren’t officially “my” techies, but they’re in tech support and they’re on the university’s payroll. As far as I was concerned, they were mine, Mine, MINE.
Dan started tinkering with my computer while Charlie smelled a trap and scooted off down the hall so fast that if we hadn’t had carpet he would’ve left skid marks. But after awhile he came back and together the three of us got my computer working again. I gave Dan a kiss as he left, and Charlie muttered that he didn’t get a kiss, to which I called after him that he should come back, if that was how he felt about it.
Nope. They left. Fast. I have a feeling they won’t be back anytime soon to wish me a good morning. I might make them rescue me again.
Nothing like having your very own technical saviors.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
New Preparedness Product!
With hurricane season upon us, some of you may be interested in the WaterB.O.B.. It's a water bladder, similar to the kind one would find in a Camelback. You put it in your tub and fill it in advance of a hurricane or other impending situation where you could find yourself without clean water for a time. It will hold up to 100 gallons of water! It comes with its own convenient pump for getting the water out once it's in. And when you no longer need it, just poke some holes in it, let the water go down the drain and throw the WaterB.O.B. away.
I'm not very familiar with the types of disasters people have in other parts of the country, but here on the Gulf Coast, where we know when we're about to get hit and we know we must store water, this looks like a must-have!
I'm not very familiar with the types of disasters people have in other parts of the country, but here on the Gulf Coast, where we know when we're about to get hit and we know we must store water, this looks like a must-have!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Sounds of Summer
Today I’m hearing (or perhaps only noticing) the cicadas for the first time this year. The buzzing outside my window and on every shaded street corner is as sure a sign of summer as the temps and humidity. In fact, I hardly think it’s summer at all until I hear the wretched creatures. We get them every year, and until they die out in the fall, their rasping song is as inescapable as a guilty conscience.
They sound like a heat wave and sweat-damp skin.
They sound like summer.
They sound like a heat wave and sweat-damp skin.
They sound like summer.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Home-- One Week Later
Well, I’ve been home exactly one week, and it’s nice to know exactly where everything is and not be constantly rummaging through suitcases. It’s also nice to be back in a daily rhythm. I don't mean to be a little obsessive about that, but I think I am.
Also, I've noticed my body is almost used to being home and back on a schedule. I spent a lot of time being sleepy this week, but other than that, things are starting to get back to normal. Things got a little crazy at my office and at Dan’s while we were away, though. After our first day back at work, we both came home, related the day’s gossip to each other, then looked each other in the eye and asked, “When do we go on vacation again?”
Fifteen more years until early retirement.
My long run today went well—much better than last weekend, when I was tired and having asthma troubles. It’s starting to be warm and humid in the mornings, though, so I’m going to have to start getting up earlier for these runs. Winter and early spring spoil me, allowing me to sleep until nearly 7:00, but I really need to be getting up an hour earlier now. In spite of taking water and electrolytes with me and stopping for more at every opportunity, my calves got crampy once I was home, before I iced and fully re-hydrated. It’s time to learn how to run in the heat again!
This would be a good time to give a plug for unscented baby wipes. Uh, yeah. Really. Maybe it’s different in dry climates, but here in HumidLand, if you’re not leaving a drippy trail at the end of a long run, you’ve cheated and have been sipping lattes at an air-conditioned Starbucks instead of running. Unless you live alone, your spouse, roommate or significant other is not going to be pleased when you come in the door, dripping and stinky, needing to ice down for 10-20 minutes before even thinking of getting in the shower. Hence the baby wipes. They’re great for a quick cleanup! Then you can ice down your legs in peace, without offending anyone.
Not much is happening around here this weekend, and I’m trying to keep it that way. I’m just striving for what constitutes “normal” in my life. And I’m dreaming of vacations to come!
Recent Workouts
Monday: 80 minute spin
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical—ladder drill
Wednesday: 30 minute spin
Thursday: 30 minute elliptical—steady state
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 15 mile run
Also, I've noticed my body is almost used to being home and back on a schedule. I spent a lot of time being sleepy this week, but other than that, things are starting to get back to normal. Things got a little crazy at my office and at Dan’s while we were away, though. After our first day back at work, we both came home, related the day’s gossip to each other, then looked each other in the eye and asked, “When do we go on vacation again?”
Fifteen more years until early retirement.
My long run today went well—much better than last weekend, when I was tired and having asthma troubles. It’s starting to be warm and humid in the mornings, though, so I’m going to have to start getting up earlier for these runs. Winter and early spring spoil me, allowing me to sleep until nearly 7:00, but I really need to be getting up an hour earlier now. In spite of taking water and electrolytes with me and stopping for more at every opportunity, my calves got crampy once I was home, before I iced and fully re-hydrated. It’s time to learn how to run in the heat again!
This would be a good time to give a plug for unscented baby wipes. Uh, yeah. Really. Maybe it’s different in dry climates, but here in HumidLand, if you’re not leaving a drippy trail at the end of a long run, you’ve cheated and have been sipping lattes at an air-conditioned Starbucks instead of running. Unless you live alone, your spouse, roommate or significant other is not going to be pleased when you come in the door, dripping and stinky, needing to ice down for 10-20 minutes before even thinking of getting in the shower. Hence the baby wipes. They’re great for a quick cleanup! Then you can ice down your legs in peace, without offending anyone.
Not much is happening around here this weekend, and I’m trying to keep it that way. I’m just striving for what constitutes “normal” in my life. And I’m dreaming of vacations to come!
Recent Workouts
Monday: 80 minute spin
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical—ladder drill
Wednesday: 30 minute spin
Thursday: 30 minute elliptical—steady state
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 15 mile run
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
New Writing Blog
I’ve created yet another blog!
I’ve decided to post one of my novels as an online serial novel It’s the novel that precedes Diana’s Diary, and I’m illustrating it, just like I did the diary.
So here it is: Bella Diana. Take a look and let me know what you think. I’ll start posting next chapters in another day or two. The novel is complete, so unless I change my mind about putting it out there for free, there will be regular installments every couple of days or so.
Note: This post is cross-posted on my Writing blog.
I’ve decided to post one of my novels as an online serial novel It’s the novel that precedes Diana’s Diary, and I’m illustrating it, just like I did the diary.
So here it is: Bella Diana. Take a look and let me know what you think. I’ll start posting next chapters in another day or two. The novel is complete, so unless I change my mind about putting it out there for free, there will be regular installments every couple of days or so.
Note: This post is cross-posted on my Writing blog.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Home Again!
We got home Saturday evening to find the power off, due to a storm. But after the light company repaired the transformer, we still didn’t have power because the lightning had caused a surge which blew out something here on the property. Luckily the apartment management called in an electrician right away, but by morning we still had no power. A good thing it wasn’t very hot! And a good thing we had some glow sticks! They’re cheap and you can set them all over your home to help you find your way around. They’re safer than candles, and the trick is to set them out as navigational guides, like night lights. Then use your lanterns, candles, or flashlights only in the room you happen to be in.
I got up early this morning, still no power, and thought I’d do a long run. But it didn’t go well. I’ve been having trouble breathing since we got back to Houston, and my lungs never cleared on this morning’s run. That wasn’t the whole problem, though. I think I was just more tired than I realized, because at around mile five I realized that I was just deeply exhausted, all the way through. I wanted to push myself to finish at least twelve miles, but I cut it short at nine.
I should know better. A similar thing happened a couple years ago when I got back from vacation and the very next morning went out on a ride where I suffered a major bonk under conditions that shouldn’t have been a problem. It’s funny how you don’t realize how tired you really are after a trip.
But I’m pretty proud of myself for keeping to an exercise schedule while I was on vacation. There were only two days when I didn’t run, hike, or work out in a hotel exercise room. I also got a deep tissue massage, and ate pretty healthy. I can’t get over how in the last few years, it’s gotten so much easier to get a fresh salad, vegetarian meals, and a hotel with a workout room, even in small towns!
While I was gone, my bike was at the shop, and after I test it out on the trainer tomorrow, I think I’ll be ready to hit the road! I got the rear wheel fixed, the chain and cog set replaced, and a general tune-up. So I should be road-worthy now. Anyone up for a ride? Next week, please. Or the week after. I’m tired.
My vacation posts are all up at my vacation blog.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Open Road
Well, first thing in the morning, we’re off!
It was a totally insane week at work, but I think I got done most of what needed doing, and I handed off the rest to my staff, who I hope will rise to the occasion.
I thought I would have time to take a new Tidbit Travel pic, but no such luck. I'm leaving you with an oldie but goodie insead:
I’ll be making updates to my Vacation Blog for the next two weeks. Starting as early as Sunday night, you can check out my pictures and stories of the road!
See you soon!
It was a totally insane week at work, but I think I got done most of what needed doing, and I handed off the rest to my staff, who I hope will rise to the occasion.
I thought I would have time to take a new Tidbit Travel pic, but no such luck. I'm leaving you with an oldie but goodie insead:
I’ll be making updates to my Vacation Blog for the next two weeks. Starting as early as Sunday night, you can check out my pictures and stories of the road!
See you soon!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
I’ve Been Tagged!
Eight Random Facts/Habits:
- My normal body temp is 97.4, not 98.6. I suspect this is why I’m so sensitive to cold and not easily put off by heat.
- I like to dance, play music, and even sing, but I don’t usually enjoy sitting and listening to music or going to concerts.
- When Dan met me, I owned a TV, but it was a gift from my parents from five years before and was still in its original box, unopened. I still don’t watch TV and I rarely watch movies.
- I know more about the stars of the silent film era than of our own.
- I want to learn flamenco dance.
- I once took boxing classes. It was a lot of fun. For the last few years I’ve wanted to learn krava maga.
- I like anything to do with clothes—buying, designing, sewing (with or without a pattern), mending, tailoring, and even ironing. I can starch, too.
- I write fiction, but most of my reading is non-fiction, especially history.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Planning
It was a crazy week at work, and I’m anticipating worse this coming week, since I’ll be on vacation for the two weeks following. Already my meeting schedule is so packed that I don’t know when I’m supposed to actually work. At home, I guess, just like I did last week.
**sigh**
I tried a different route for my long run this morning. I don’t usually run through the Heights, but I was angsting for something different from either of my two usual routes, so I plotted a course online, and off I went! I ran Heights Boulevard to 20th (most of which was on a jogging trail on the esplanade), then finished by running to Memorial Park and home via one of my established routes. It was a tough run for me, with my legs feeling heavy and my calves a bit crampy for no reason I could figure out. I think I need a massage, but who has time?
We have an itinerary, of sorts, for our trip. It’s not big on details, just general locations. It looks like we’ll head out Sunday the 13th, toward Santa Fe and northern New Mexico. My camp is the 18th-20th in Raton, and after that we’ll head south to visit my Dad in Bosque, about 30 miles south of Albuquerque. We’ll start heading back on the 24th, probably south through the Black Range and east through El Paso, like last year. We’d like to be home no later than the evening of the 26th, which would give us Sunday and Monday to rest up before going back to work.
I don’t have much else to say about the past week or today. I have an intimidatingly long list of things to do before we go out of town, but hopefully now that Dan is done with classes for the semester, I’ll have some help.
Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical, 15 minute stairmaster
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical, weights
Wednesday: 30 minute elliptical, 15 minute run
Thursday: slacker day—skipped spin session
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 13 mile run
**sigh**
I tried a different route for my long run this morning. I don’t usually run through the Heights, but I was angsting for something different from either of my two usual routes, so I plotted a course online, and off I went! I ran Heights Boulevard to 20th (most of which was on a jogging trail on the esplanade), then finished by running to Memorial Park and home via one of my established routes. It was a tough run for me, with my legs feeling heavy and my calves a bit crampy for no reason I could figure out. I think I need a massage, but who has time?
We have an itinerary, of sorts, for our trip. It’s not big on details, just general locations. It looks like we’ll head out Sunday the 13th, toward Santa Fe and northern New Mexico. My camp is the 18th-20th in Raton, and after that we’ll head south to visit my Dad in Bosque, about 30 miles south of Albuquerque. We’ll start heading back on the 24th, probably south through the Black Range and east through El Paso, like last year. We’d like to be home no later than the evening of the 26th, which would give us Sunday and Monday to rest up before going back to work.
I don’t have much else to say about the past week or today. I have an intimidatingly long list of things to do before we go out of town, but hopefully now that Dan is done with classes for the semester, I’ll have some help.
Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical, 15 minute stairmaster
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical, weights
Wednesday: 30 minute elliptical, 15 minute run
Thursday: slacker day—skipped spin session
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 13 mile run
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Week in Review and Other Thoughts
What a week! Meetings, meetings, and more meetings. I swear I spent more time sitting around listening to people talk than I did getting actual work done. Some of it was really useful, but as usual, most was not. Too bad there’s no way to do a Reader’s Digest version of meetings, where it all gets condensed down to the basics and you can go get more info on just the parts that matter to you.
I had planned to put my bike in the shop on Monday, but that didn’t come to pass because I was late getting home from work. Then it rained Tuesday and Wednesday, and by Thursday it was too late in the week and I was concerned about getting the bike back by the weekend. Now I’m looking at the calendar thinking I should probably just drop off the bike before going on vacation. That way they can do whatever needs doing, no time pressure, and I’ll get the bike when I return. It’ll also be one less item in the entryway to impede the pet sitter. Win/win!
Today’s run ended up quite a bit longer than I originally intended. I had a couple errands to take care of, so I figured I would take care of them while I was out. So I arranged my run so that I ended up at the bank at 9 am, where I deposited a check from my father. I already had the check and deposit slip ready to go, so it was just a matter of taking them out of the plastic bag and handing them over. Very fast.
Tip: Save all oddly-sized ziplocks from purchases. They’re great for stashing things on a run or bike ride, so they don’t get wet. Little bags are good for Endurolytes or Sport Beans. Slightly larger ones are good for cash.
The next place I needed to go didn’t open until 10:00, which led to some of my extra mileage. I could’ve gotten there by 9:20 or so, but had to invent extra loops and mileage, so that by the time I finally got home, I had run fifteen miles instead of the planned twelve. Oh well. It was a nice day for it.
After several weeks of feeling angsty and dissatisfied with Life, the Universe, and Everything, I’m doing better now. No particular reason, it’s just that either my hormones were out of whack, or I’ve found a way to cope. Maybe some of both. It will be interesting to see what my vacation does to me. I often come home feeling more than ever like the life I’m living isn’t real enough, and reality is “out there” somewhere.
While it’s true that much of modern life is very far removed from the essentials that matter, it’s also true that meaning is where you find it. A smart man I once knew said that he used to think he needed to go to India to “find himself,” until he realized that if he needed to go halfway around the world to figure out what was in his own head and heart, he had bigger problems that wouldn’t be solved by crossing an international border.
Wise thoughts. Putting wisdom into practice on a day to day basis is the tricky part.
Recent Workouts
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical, weights
Wednesday: 35 minute spin, weights
Thursday: 4 mile run
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 15 mile run
I had planned to put my bike in the shop on Monday, but that didn’t come to pass because I was late getting home from work. Then it rained Tuesday and Wednesday, and by Thursday it was too late in the week and I was concerned about getting the bike back by the weekend. Now I’m looking at the calendar thinking I should probably just drop off the bike before going on vacation. That way they can do whatever needs doing, no time pressure, and I’ll get the bike when I return. It’ll also be one less item in the entryway to impede the pet sitter. Win/win!
Today’s run ended up quite a bit longer than I originally intended. I had a couple errands to take care of, so I figured I would take care of them while I was out. So I arranged my run so that I ended up at the bank at 9 am, where I deposited a check from my father. I already had the check and deposit slip ready to go, so it was just a matter of taking them out of the plastic bag and handing them over. Very fast.
Tip: Save all oddly-sized ziplocks from purchases. They’re great for stashing things on a run or bike ride, so they don’t get wet. Little bags are good for Endurolytes or Sport Beans. Slightly larger ones are good for cash.
The next place I needed to go didn’t open until 10:00, which led to some of my extra mileage. I could’ve gotten there by 9:20 or so, but had to invent extra loops and mileage, so that by the time I finally got home, I had run fifteen miles instead of the planned twelve. Oh well. It was a nice day for it.
After several weeks of feeling angsty and dissatisfied with Life, the Universe, and Everything, I’m doing better now. No particular reason, it’s just that either my hormones were out of whack, or I’ve found a way to cope. Maybe some of both. It will be interesting to see what my vacation does to me. I often come home feeling more than ever like the life I’m living isn’t real enough, and reality is “out there” somewhere.
While it’s true that much of modern life is very far removed from the essentials that matter, it’s also true that meaning is where you find it. A smart man I once knew said that he used to think he needed to go to India to “find himself,” until he realized that if he needed to go halfway around the world to figure out what was in his own head and heart, he had bigger problems that wouldn’t be solved by crossing an international border.
Wise thoughts. Putting wisdom into practice on a day to day basis is the tricky part.
Recent Workouts
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical, weights
Wednesday: 35 minute spin, weights
Thursday: 4 mile run
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 15 mile run
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Product Review: LightWedge
You know the drill. One of you wants to sleep, the other wants to stay up and read. But you’re away from home, at a hotel, a relative’s house or in a tent. Lamps aren’t in convenient places and going to another room to read might not be an option.
But luckily for us bibliophiles, some clever person invented the Lightwedge! It’s a thin piece of plexiglass, lit by an LED powered by four AAA batteries. Just put the Lightwedge over your page and turn it on!
I bough the paperback size Lightwedge and it’s pretty cool. It’s small, light, powerful, and fits in a book just like a bookmark. It’s much more convenient than the book lights that were around in the ‘80s. If, like me, you like to read in bed all cuddled up with book, blanket and cat, the Lightwedge doesn’t get in the way at all. And you can keep it in your book when you’re not using it.
My only quibble is that the light arcs of the two LEDs overlap, creating a faint wave-patterned shadow on the page. This is an extremely minor flaw though, and overall, this is an excellent product. Four AAA batteries give you forty hours of light. That’s a lot of late-night reading while your spouse snores in the dark!
But luckily for us bibliophiles, some clever person invented the Lightwedge! It’s a thin piece of plexiglass, lit by an LED powered by four AAA batteries. Just put the Lightwedge over your page and turn it on!
I bough the paperback size Lightwedge and it’s pretty cool. It’s small, light, powerful, and fits in a book just like a bookmark. It’s much more convenient than the book lights that were around in the ‘80s. If, like me, you like to read in bed all cuddled up with book, blanket and cat, the Lightwedge doesn’t get in the way at all. And you can keep it in your book when you’re not using it.
My only quibble is that the light arcs of the two LEDs overlap, creating a faint wave-patterned shadow on the page. This is an extremely minor flaw though, and overall, this is an excellent product. Four AAA batteries give you forty hours of light. That’s a lot of late-night reading while your spouse snores in the dark!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Blog Apocalypse
The blogosphere is ending. No more blogs. Blog apocalypse. The internet is still working, the world is fine. But you can’t write anymore. Write your last post. Make it a good one. What is the reason you blog? What is the last gem of knowledge you want to leave? What do you want to be remembered for? Who are you? What is the meaning of life?
Okay, there really is no Blog Apocalypse. It's just a new meme making the rounds, and my blog pal Thomma tagged me!
Unfortunately, I don't think I've got much to say on something like this. No great words of wisdom to share, no summing up of my blogging experience. I don't know if I would even indulge in a whine about having to go back to lots and lots of email and forum postings. I'd just post one last fabulous bunny pic and take the fun to some other medium.
But hey, blogging isn't going away, at least not anytime soon. And if the idea of blog apocalypse isn't scary enough for you, an intriguing new game is going to get started on April 30. Check out World Without Oil!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Further Adventures in Caffeination
I’m experimenting with cold brewing this weekend. Although there are specially designed cold-brewers you can buy, all you really need is coffee, water, and time.
For the purpose of my experiment, I bought a box of Black Mountain Gold single-cup coffee “pods” of the Kenya AA variety. I put them in a glass jar with fresh-filtered water and set the whole thing in the fridge. The results are pretty good. The coffee is strong, mellow and non-acidic. It packs a good caffeine punch, too. It’s not as highly concentrated as I would like, but I think that’s just a patience issue. If I hadn’t been siphoning off some of my brew within 24 hours and had just let everything keep steeping, it would’ve gotten much more concentrated than if I hadn’t been pouring out some to drink and topping off the jar with more water. Duh.
Since single-cup coffee pods are expensive and wasteful, I’m going to look into getting some reusable cloth bags next time I’m at Whole Foods or Central Market. I can then use whatever kind of ground beans I like for my cold brew. I also need to find a better container for it than the jar I’m using now. I’d like something I can pour from more easily, but I don’t want anything plastic. I also want to find a small container I can take to work—something I can use to make just one or two cups of coffee.
But overall, I feel like my recent coffee experiments are a success, and I love the convenience of just pouring my coffee (whether from a jar or a Java Juice pouch), adding a little hot water and being ready to go!
For the purpose of my experiment, I bought a box of Black Mountain Gold single-cup coffee “pods” of the Kenya AA variety. I put them in a glass jar with fresh-filtered water and set the whole thing in the fridge. The results are pretty good. The coffee is strong, mellow and non-acidic. It packs a good caffeine punch, too. It’s not as highly concentrated as I would like, but I think that’s just a patience issue. If I hadn’t been siphoning off some of my brew within 24 hours and had just let everything keep steeping, it would’ve gotten much more concentrated than if I hadn’t been pouring out some to drink and topping off the jar with more water. Duh.
Since single-cup coffee pods are expensive and wasteful, I’m going to look into getting some reusable cloth bags next time I’m at Whole Foods or Central Market. I can then use whatever kind of ground beans I like for my cold brew. I also need to find a better container for it than the jar I’m using now. I’d like something I can pour from more easily, but I don’t want anything plastic. I also want to find a small container I can take to work—something I can use to make just one or two cups of coffee.
But overall, I feel like my recent coffee experiments are a success, and I love the convenience of just pouring my coffee (whether from a jar or a Java Juice pouch), adding a little hot water and being ready to go!
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