July 2005 Archives
So, after I kvetched about Lake Calhoun being crowded last Sunday, I went there on Tuesday morning. Much better. And it was so much cooler. Low 60s. So I decided to run it kinda hard. If I needed any proof of the effect the heat has, this was it. I did the 3.09-mile loop in 29:19. About 2 min/mile faster than I've been running lately. It was a harder effort than usual, but in a different way from running in the heat. It felt pretty good. I know it's still kinda slow compared to many people, but I felt like I was flying. I can't wait for the fall.
Even further proof that the weather is the culprit: I ran 4 miles and change on Wednesday at a similar pace and still had enough for a kick at the end.
For today's run, I did two laps at Lake Nokomis. I've driven near it once or twice, but I've never actually been to Lake Nokomis. It was nice. The beaches were pretty crowded. It was still mid-80s close to sundown and not unbearable. I may do my rollerblade there next Saturday.
So my second week at the increased mileage went pretty well. My knees haven't been bothering me nearly as much as they used to when I was doing half the weekly mileage. Maybe my legs are getting a little stronger. I definitely like doing the cross-training on Saturday instead of a short run.
I have a feeling I got in to the TC Ten Miler, but I'm not positive yet. Details when I get them.
The running link of the week is not actually a link, but just a mention that if you thought Google Maps was the bomb before, the new hybrid feature that overlays street names on the satellite map is even better. Especially since it's also a part of GMaps Pedometer. I do a lot of my running on trails that aren't exactly on the map, but are a little hard to follow just from the satellite picture.
I just got a voicemail from my mom's best friend. She's in town on business until Tuesday and wants to know if I can meet her for dinner tomorrow night.
Which is cool. I'm glad to see her. It's been a while. She's a terrific lady. But I can't help but think my mom (whom I still haven't talked to since the holidays) put a bug in her ear about checking up on me and reporting back.
I completely trust my mom's friend to have some discretion and maybe even do some good as far as facilitating communication goes, but I'll definitely have my guard up.
She's a university bigwig and probably on expense account, so I'll at least get a fabulous dinner out of the whole deal.
Guy goes into the doctor. Doctor says, "I have bad news and bad news. You have cancer and Alzheimer's."
And the guy says...
From my TV star partner.
1. If you had to live in one season all year round, which would it be? Fall. Autumn. Whatever.
2. Did you ever walk in on your parents making whoopie? Unfortunately, yes. I think I was about 7 and my sister was 4. It was the summer and they sent us outside to play, apparently thinking we'd stay out longer. *wash my brain*
3. Has anyone ever walked in on you? Nope.
4. Name a song that suits your mood today. I Like the Way You Move by Outkast.
5. Have you ever been audited by the IRS? Nope.
6. Is there something you do regularly for the sole purpose of annoying someone else? Not that I can think of.
7. If we were playing charades, how would you act out self-indulgence? What the hell kind of fancy pants charades game is this? It would probably involve eating and drinking.
8. Do you keep mementos from past relationships? I have, until I get tired of it. If I'm keeping a memento, I'm probably mentally hanging on to something about that relationship.
9. If forced to choose, would you rather fart every 20 seconds or hiccup every 20 seconds for the next month? Fart. Hiccuping hurts.
10. Ask me something. :-) Can I crash on your floor in San Francisco until I find a job?
You know what? Running feels good. More broadly, I feel good when I exert myself. Before, any activity used to be tiresome. Now, it's not only less tiresome, it's a source of pride. I can make it up the stairs to my apartment without getting winded. I can squat a certain way while doing something at work. I actually have stamina!
UPDATE: These words from Jen are the running link of the week.
Today was my first run for over a week and half -- between my sister's wedding and the heat, I was on a mini-break. It felt good to be running again; my body missed it (though after the first 30 minutes, my body decided it didn't miss it that much after all). My appreciation for running -- for exercise of any kind, really -- is freaking a lot of my friends out. It's hard to explain, as I can't really say that I like running, it's just ... there. I like being outside and alone with my thoughts. (Yeah, because what I need to do is think some more.) I've even come to appreciate sweating. Kind of.
A year ago today, I blogged about Chris and her Supergirl underpants. Today, I have on those underpants.
Sherri has her recap and pictures of her visit last weekend up. She pretty well covered everything we did outside of the casting call.
I wish it hadn't been so damn hot. There's lots more we could have seen and done. I know the heat was making me pretty lethargic. But we sure did eat good.
Is complete.
(click to embiggen)
I'm running the Torchlight 5K tonight. It seemed like fun when I signed up. Now I'm thinking not so much.
I got a free singlet for signing up in-store at The Running Room. I got number 2005. The course goes through downtown Minneapolis. And it's part of Aquatennial, so there's a parade happening right after the race. All very cool.
Except that it's Africa hot outside right now. 91° (feels like 96°) and I highly doubt it's gonna cool off appreciably in the next 2.5 hours.
And I have to eat something, but I worry that it's gonna want out (if you know what I mean) in the middle of the race. But I can't not eat. Don't want to be starving at the end of the race. I didn't eat much. A ham/egg/cheese sandwich and an orange. I feel like I should have some coffee to flush things out. I wanna make sure I go before I leave the house.
In case I needed incentive to continue running in the mornings when I get up, this is it. I always take care of business in the morning. I can run on a mostly empty stomach. And food and facilities are waiting for me when I get home.
I just read a looooong thread in the Cool Running forums about people with colon problems and to my dismay I discovered that a helluva lot of runners routinely pop Immodium before their long runs. I didn't need to know shit like that. Heh. Bad choice of words.
Seriously, this is really making me nervous. *clench*
If the questions get asked on Tuesday, I don't feel so badly about answering them on Wednesday.
1. How many keys are on your keychain? Two for the house, one plus fob for the car, and one for the lock on my locker at work. So... four.
2. What are your favorite pizza toppings? Chicken, feta, red onion, garlic.
3. How did you first learn about the birds and the bees? I really do not remember. I remember making an awkward presentation to my science class about menstruation in 5th or 6th grade, but that's about it.
4. Are you a Harry Potter reader? Nope.
5. You've just won a 3-week vacation, which option do you pick: a cruise and a resort stay, or an adventure trip through the Amazon? Amazon.
6. If forced to choose, would you rather eat a bowl full of live cockroaches or a bowl full of cat puke? Cat puke, I guess. I thought you were the one that would eat anything, and I'm the one that would do anything.
7. Have you ever been arrested? Nope.
8. Where do you see yourself living and what do you see yourself doing 5 years from now? Bay Area. Probably still something engineering-related, but wishing I were doing something else.
9. Have you ever asked for a raise? How? Did you get it? No, I haven't asked.
10. Ask me a question. How was the trip home?
I need to get some goals going here. So far, all I've really had for goals is knowing I want to run the Ten-Miler in October, and having some semblance of a training schedule to conform to every week.
So. Goals for July:
As I mentioned, Sherri and I went to an open casting call for The Amazing Race.
We went to the ApplianceSmart in Apple Valley. They handed us applications to fill out. We had both worked on ours previously, so even though we didn't complete them before, we had most of our answers in mind. You could tell the questions are designed to provoke conflict. They ask you how your partner has disappointed you and what your pet peeve is about them, but nothing about why you like them or anything.
We stood in line between rows of stoves for our chance to make a video. Near the front, we handed our applications in to a woman and selected New York as our callback city, should we be selected. I figure since Sherri came here for this, it's only fair for me to go where she lives for the next round. Then we got in another, shorter line to wait for our turn on camera.
The camera area was basically a corner of the store sectioned off by giant appliance boxes. We had two minutes to go in there and do our thing. Pauly D told me the key was to have energy, and I think we did all right in that regard. We certainly didn't have any dead air. The camera guy was chuckling at us the whole time, and told us he thought the "internet friend" thing was a pretty good hook. He hadn't seen anything like that before. I figure that might probably be pretty unique in Minnesota, but I find it hard to believe they haven't seen that before in all the applications that get mailed in.
We thought there might be representatives from TAR there, but it was mostly just local WCCO folks. The woman who collected our applications said this was a pretty big group for a TAR tryout, and that there were a lot more people here for this than show up for Survivor. Her thinking was people are more chicken to audition by themselves. We were thinking it would be the other way around as it would be harder to find someone to do try out with you.
I had seen all sorts of info on the Apprentice casting call on the news and around the local blogs, but not a peep about the TAR casting call, so I didn't really think it would be that crowded. We figure there were 150-200 teams there. We got there at 12:50 and were done by about 3:30. When we left, the line was a little longer than it was when we got in it, and we were team number 74.
We thought most of the other teams were pretty unremarkable looking. Except for the pilot and flight attendant pair. Nice gimmick, whatever. They had to go out and get those outfits, too, because it's not like they could wear their actual airline's uniform on tv. Pfffft. And there were a couple of stuffy asshole business-y guys in front of us, wearing bad shoes. They should be disqualified on that basis alone.
Just as we were about to go in and do our taping, a guy in line behind us (who we had just been making fun of) asked us what was up with our shirts and what blogging was. We were all, "You don't know what blogging is?" Sherri said it was a kind of website and he was all "You don't know what it is?" and we were all "Of course we know what it is." I told him to Google it, and he was all "Google?" *sigh* Never mind. He had fucked up sideburns and perfectly frosted/gelled hair and kind of a hippie shirt and that sort of surfer dude, I'm-too-cool attitude. We're in Minnesota, buddy, in case you hadn't noticed.
I would love to be able to sit in while the TAR people watch these tapes. Just to hear the kinds of comments they make.
So anyway, we think we rocked it. We got lots of compliments on our shirts. We feel good about our video. We got positive (if minimal) feedback. But it's probably gonna be September before we hear back about the next round. They're still accepting applications until July 26.
And of course we celebrated by belting out Since U Been Gone all the way home. And I do mean all the way.
I noticed that the last two years on this date I posted about sangria, so I made some today.
Mmmm... sangria.... :9
The TMS crossword: 13 Jul 05
The clue for 26 Across: "Really fast rodent?"
The answer: "FLYINGSQUIRREL"
No lie.
(click to embiggen)
WeatherPop is back. And a new website for Glucose Software.
My guess is they were less than diligent and got hiiacked when their domain expired. No mention of it on their site, but there's a new Yahoo group for support/info.
Too bad I already found a replacement.
Sherri's gonna be here in 19 hours! Squee!
I should probably go to bed.
My right ear canal is larger than my left.
My right ear bud always falls out. When I wear earplugs, I never get as good a plug on the left.
That is all.
(photo courtesy of WNBA.com)
I was sure she'd have no problem scoring 11, but she was awfully slow getting there. She didn't get those last five until late in the second half. A shot-clock-buzzer-beating three, and then on the very next possession a hard drive to the basket for a layup.
Most people had no idea that that was the momentous basket. They did announce it after the next tv time out. The crowd was mostly gaggles of day-campers in brightly colored shirts anyway. But since all the kiddies were up in the cheap seats, I got to walk all the way down to row G and sit near center court.
I didn't know whether to wear my Shock shirt or my Nicole Ohlde jersey. I ended up with the Ohlde jersey because the Shock shirt was dirty. To commemorate Katie's 5000th point, I sprung for a Katie Smith replica jersey. It's my new favorite shirt.
I was late for work. I called my boss from the Target Center. Heh.
Pictures here.
UPDATE: Women's Hoops Blog rounds up the coverage.
(via daniel)
From Sherri, who will be here on Thursday!
1. What color (besides black) is most prevalent in your wardrobe? Blue. In all shades.
2. Where do fruit flies come from? A mama fruit fly and a daddy fruit fly get very close....
3. Which type of natural disaster would you rather endure: hurricane, tornado, earthquake or volcano eruption? Tornado. I guess because that's what I'm the most used to. There's really no escaping a lava flow. A hurricane is gonna get you if it comes through. An earthquake... I've never experienced one, so the idea of the ground swallowing me terrifies me. A tornado is likely to be hit or miss.
4. When is the last time you visited an amusement park? Valleyfair, summer of 2001.
5. If you have insurance, what is your office visit co-pay? I think it's $10.
6. If you could, is there anything about your personality that you would change? I'd be more assertive. And there's really not any reason why I can't change that.
7. What's your next big adventure? The casting call!
8. If forced to choose, would you rather live the rest of your life not being able to have an orgasm or not being able to hear? Take my hearing. Please!
9. Describe yourself in 3 words. Witty, athletic, antsy.
10. Ask me a question. Are you not SO EXCITED?!?!
Game and Blog (Bonus points for Matt Wurst of WNBA.com for using "scrumptulescent" in a sentence.)
UPDATE: More on the game from Women's Hoops Blog and from Timber (who was there).
I'll take one Erica Sandwich, with a Sue Bird/Diana Taurasi bun, please.
Random comments:
I turned on my phone when I left work on Friday and got a message saying that Laura was locked out of our apartment. And there might also be a rodent locked in it. Say wha...?
Running link of the week: Gmaps Pedometer. Can't use it on my desktop like Route Ruler, but it moves around the map so I don't have the pesky problem of zooming in close enough to see the details of my route, but far enough out to get the whole route in one picture.
- Authorial Candy Bars, with Their Respective Tag Lines, That Weren't as Successful as the Oh Henry! Candy Bar The E.A. Poe Candy Balls are my favorite.
- What to Think About When Two "Grown Adults" Come and Complain to You About How They Cannot Get Along With Each Other at Work Funny because I see this at work all the time.
- Things My Family Prefers Over Gay Marriage
Silly me went all the way to St. Paul....
I didn’t go to any fireworks displays but some friends and I bought some of our own and went down to Loring Park to set them off. The festivities were cut a little short when the police came and asked us to stop but we came out of it without getting in any trouble.
--Katie Smith (Minnesota Lynx guard)
Eep!
If I actually saw her, I would totally be too chicken shit to approach her.
In remembrance of Luther Vandross, my favorites:
Give Me the Reason
Stop to Love
Power of Love/Love Power
The Best Things in Life are Free (with Janet Jackson)
One of my favoritest tv shows is The Amazing Race and I've long thought I'd be a good contestant. Problem was, I didn't really have anyone to do it with. Usually everyone else I knew who was interested didn't live anywhere near me and so it was nigh unto impossible to do an audition tape.
However....
There's an open casting call here in the TC on Friday, July 15th. And Sherri's flying out here to audition with me!
OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!
Ahem.
This is gonna be so fucking cool.
If, as you live your life, you find yourself mentally composing blog entries about it, post this exact same sentence in your weblog.
*sheepish*
(via lauren)
De Sherri.
1. What's the most creative way you've ever asked someone out? I can't clearly recall asking anyone out (shut it), but I'm sure on the few occasions I have they weren't particularly creative. It's usually along the lines of, "So we should do something sometime...."
2. Do you have any cavities? If so, how many? I have three fillings. Or maybe it's four. i don't feel like finding a mirror at the moment to count. I think I have a couple more teeth that may be on the verge. But they've been on the verge for years and they haven't actually bothered me.
3. Would you rather spend an hour swimming in a murky pond full of leeches, or spend an hour sitting in a dark cave full of snakes? I'll take the snake cave. Out of sight, out of mind. And the snakes won't necessarily attach themselves to me. *heeb*
4. What was your favorite thing to do on the playground during recess when you were a kid? I recall playing a lot of Chinese Jump Rope. (In, out, side-to-side, on, in, out.)
5. How many states have you lived in? Two. Michigan and Minnesota. Whoop-de-fucking-do.
6. Have you ever had stitches? If so, where and why? No stitches here.
7. Have you ever sued anyone or been sued? No litigation here.
8. Have you ever witnessed a person or animal give birth? Oh gawd, no.
9. Did you get an allowance as a kid? I think maybe I did for a short while, but not as a rule, no.
10. Ask me something. :-) What are you proud of this week?
Casey is officially knocked up. Here's Roscoe's* first picture. I can't decide if it's doing the Running Man or the Roger Rabbit.
In other iVillager/non-blogger baby news: Kathy just had her second boy, Andrew, and Wendy is currently six months or so along.
Kathy's kids are swirl babies** and are, by default, the Cutest Kids Ever. Wendy and Casey have both been trying very hard to get where they are, so I'm particularly excited for them to see their wishes coming true.
Yay for my friends' babies!
*Never fear. Roscoe is merely a placeholder name.
**Swirl babies in the house!
I couldn't think straight anymore looking at the old design. Couldn't even figure out where to begin. So I'll start with a default and go from there. Something is still a little wonky behind the scenes, but it's not impossible to work with. I'll change/add/move stuff gradually, so there will be some flux for a while. Hang in there and let me know if you get lost.
/overestimation
Having looked over the last week's content, I'm so boring. If I ran across myself in the blog world, I would never read myself. I've posted a quiz, a forward, something I ate, and the weather. Atrocious. I promise to have something more interesting to read to go with the new look.
And me talking about me being boring is equally as boring. I can't win.
Is putting cheese spread and sliced cheese on a sandwich overkill?
No?
I didn't think so, either.
Not sure what the problem is, but I'm having trouble saving things in MT. Comments seem to be hit or miss. Kind of rains on the parade when you wanted to spend your long weekend playing with your templates.
Meh. Working on it.
UPDATE: Fixed! This was the problem. My host downgraded a couple Perl modules for me and all is right again. And now my long weekend is almost gone. Gah!
I think I'm going to make this a regular feature. If I'm gonna be serious about this running thing, the Long Run Sunday should be a regular occurrence. And I have these thoughts, especially while I'm out running, and I feel a need to record them. But I'm not gonna do a running blog because...zzzzzzzzzz.
If my running schedule makes you zzzzzzzzz, pay no attention to the post behind the extended entry.
Sandra Day O'Connor retires. Classy lady and a much-needed moderate voice on the Supreme Court.
Luther Vandross dies. My mom loves him. We used to listen to him around the house all the time.
Especially the ones that go off right after you've sat down, and spray your ass. Dont'cha just hate that?
What pisses you off?
Created by ptocheia
By way of Kelley.
TWO COWS
DEMOCRATIC
• You have two cows.
• Your neighbor has none.
• You feel guilty for being successful.
• Barbara Streisand sings for you.
REPUBLICANISM
• You have two cows.
• Your neighbor has none.
• So?
SOCIALIST
• You have two cows.
• The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
• You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.
COMMUNIST
• You have two cows.
• The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
• You wait in line for hours to get it.
• It is expensive and sour.
CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
• You have two cows.
• You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.
BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
• You have two cows.
• Under the new farm program the government pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pours the milk down the drain.
AMERICAN CORPORATION
• You have two cows.
• You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.
• You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when one cow drops dead. You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses.
• Your stock goes up.
FRENCH CORPORATION
• You have two cows.
• You go on strike because you want three cows.
• You go to lunch and drink wine.
• Life is good.
JAPANESE CORPORATION
• You have two cows.
• You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
• They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains.
• Most are at the top of their class at cow school.
GERMAN CORPORATION
• You have two cows.
• You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.
• Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.
ITALIAN CORPORATION
• You have two cows but you don't know where they are.
• While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman.
• You break for lunch.
• Life is good.
RUSSIAN CORPORATION
• You have two cows.
• You have some vodka.
• You count them and learn you have five cows.
• You have some more vodka.
• You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
• The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.
TALIBAN CORPORATION
• You have all the cows in Afghanistan, which are two.
• You don't milk them because you cannot touch any creature's private parts.
• You get a $40 million grant from the US government to find alternatives to milk production but use the money to buy weapons.
IRAQI CORPORATION
• You have two cows.
• They go into hiding.
• They send radio tapes of their mooing.
POLISH CORPORATION
• You have two bulls.
• Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to milk them.
BELGIAN CORPORATION
• You have one cow.
• The cow is schizophrenic.
• Sometimes the cow thinks he's French, other times he's Flemish. The Flemish cow won't share with the French cow. The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow's milk.
• The cow asks permission to be cut in half.
• The cow dies happy.
FLORIDA CORPORATION
• You have a black cow and a brown cow.
• Everyone votes for the best looking one.
• Some of the people who actually like the brown one best accidentally vote for the black one.
• Some people vote for both.
• Some people vote for neither.
• Some people can't figure out how to vote at all.
• Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state tell you which one you think is the best-looking cow.
CALIFORNIA CORPORATION
• You have millions of cows.
• They make real California cheese.
• Only five speak English.
• Most are illegals.
• Arnold likes the ones with the big udders.
By way of Tanya.
Hee hee.
Presidential pimento
The word "Iraq" is like presidential Viagra -- if the Shrub weren't packing a pimento, I am certain his hard-on would have bopped the microphone off the podium tonight during his brag-fest from, appropriately enough, Fort Bragg, N.C.
I just wanted to slap that smirk off his face as he continued to tap-dance around a justification for our continued presence in Vietnam. I mean, Iraq. Whichever.
Heh.
Second verse, same as the first
I just read the transcript of President Bush’s speech last night. If I may paraphrase:Fall in line, bitches! And to make you fall in line, do I have to fucking remind you assholes that Saddam Hussein personally flew those planes into the Trade Center buildings himself, but went all McGuyver and managed to get out before the planes hit? It’s all Iraq’s fault, bitches! But it’s the crazy foreign terrorists that we’ve drawn to Iraq—‘cause we’re crazy! We’re crazy, bitches! I’m the guy to keep you safe! I don’t mind fighting the terrorists in Iraq and letting them blow up Iraqi men, women, and children that America saved from Saddam Hussein—who is a very bad man, by the way—as long as you bitches get to continue to enjoy eating Wonder Bread and watch the reality shows. So we gotta stay the course! ‘Cause the longer I let our brave military people die in Iraq, well...the foreign terrorists will done get blowed up, too. Well, and some nice Iraqi citizens. Better them than us, bitches!
Not that I would have listened/watched if I knew the speech was on anyway. One, I'm just not interested. Two, I always try and end up being unable to stand listening to him after about 30 seconds anyway.