March 2006 Archives

I like the occasional quiz, but I hate the big ugly table. Oh well.

"You are very well traveled in the Midwestern United States." Don't I know it. Is that a good thing?

(via fun)

It doesn't matter how "zippy" your browser might be if your internet connection just sucks. I suppose I ought not to complain, since I'm getting the cable internet for free at the moment, but in two months I'm going to have to start paying for it, and it ain't worth the discounted rate of $30/month.

Anybody know off the top of their head if the wireless router would make that much of a difference? The one I have now is a 1 MBps dealio and is almost four years old. I was thinking of getting a new one.

I saw Shohreh Aghdashloo on last week's episodes of both e.r. and Will and Grace.

It was a little trippy because on e.r. she was playing a distraught mother whose daughter died (honor killing at the hands of her own brother). Totally dramatic role. On Will and Grace she was playing Grace's new assistant who does all this outrageous stuff and then follows it with some sort of "Is it because I'm Middle Eastern?" line. Totally comedic (though not that funny).

If you've seen her before, you probably saw her in House of Sand and Fog (or in the publicity for same; wasn't it Oscar-nominated?). I like her a lot.

"Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. Make all your friends feel there is something special in them. Look on the sunny side of everything. Think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best. Be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. Give everyone you meet a smile. Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others. Be too big for worry and to noble for anger."

~Christian D. Larsen (also recognized as The Optimist Creed)

For some reason, I feel like this should be a festive event. Like it should be "Reader! Poll! Monday!" But I'm not feeling very festive today.

1. How many languages can you speak, at least at a conversational level? One. If you count being able to converse at perhaps a kindergarten level, then two. Spanish being the second language.
2. Do you believe that bad things happen in threes? Not really. But I will partake in the "People die in threes, wonder who's next?" conversation.
3. If you could take away the pain (physical or emotional) of any one person, who would you choose and why? Really, I'd selfishly like for my own emotional discomfort to be taken care of. But instead I'll extend the relief to the wife of a co-worker who committed suicide over the weekend.
4. What is something most people don't know about you? You know, I don't know that there is anything that most people don't know. If anyone that does know me would like to offer a suggestion, I'd be interested to hear it.
5. If you had the opportunity to learn the salaries of everyone you encountered, would you want to know? Hell yeah.
6. What is one album or song that you think everyone should listen to? Guster's Demons. Bestest. Guster. Song. Ever. (In fact, here: have a listen.)
7. Do you like to go grocery shopping? Not really, but I don't hate it.
8. For a $1,000 donation to your favorite charity, would you be willing to walk around all day in public with a giant brown stain on the seat of your pants? Yes. And you sure better believe I'd tape a sign to my back with a big ol' arrow that says "It's for charity."
9. What are your thoughts on artificial sweeteners? I know in theory that they're bad for me, but I don't mind 'em as long as they don't taste weird.
10. Ask me something. I'm sad today. Anything you're sad about?

I went up north this weekend with some of the ladies I went to Mexico with. Louise has a cabin in Wisconsin, about 90 miles north from where we live in the TC. (Strangely, most of us happen to live pretty close to each other.)

And by "cabin" I mean "pretty damn nice house on a lake with a fair bit of property."

I was at my friend Renae's today. Her mom and assorted family members are visiting, and whenever they do, they cook a big ol' soul food dinner for whomever Renae can get to come over. Which is a lot of people. I mean, hey, there's soul food involved. I brought home a plate full of chicken and sweet potatoes. Mmmm... sweet potatoes.... :9

Not the point of this post, however.

Renae mentioned that she was recently talking to another woman from my Previous Employer (which is Renae's current employer). This woman was part of the recruiting team that hired me to intern and then to return full time. I love her to death. She's a totally cool lady. She now works in Diversity recruiting (yes, my PE has a whole department devoted to diversity). Seems that they're having so much trouble with retention and turnover that they're combing through their lists of people who have left that they would consider rehiring, and she asked Renae specifically about me.

I don't actually have much of anything to show for it, but I'm getting so much done right now.

I keep going back to this, and every time I just chuckle.

I doubt I'll ever be switching to Firefox, but one feature that Firefox has that I really really wish Camino had is that session saver where it remembers all your open tabs. I think Safari does that too, if you add on Saft or something. I say this because I tried to open Just One More Tab and it crashed the browser and now I'm going through the alphabet, typing in one letter at a time in the address bar, trying to recall what all I had open those fifteen or twenty tabs.

I have spring fever like nobody's business. The last time I said so, we got a foot of snow. So I probably shouldn't be saying anything.

I'm ready for a new look around here, but I a) can't hardly even be bothered to upgrade to MT 3.2 (not that that's even necessarily related), b) have no sense of creativity or flair for graphic design, c) have a "thing" and won't hire a designer or even just go with someone else's drop-in template, and d) really should be spending my time on other things. So I might change some colors. Which I could easily spend hours on.

I have a confession to make. I don't (usually) tag my flickr photos. Which is, like, three-quarters of the point of using flickr.

I have eaten so much food this weekend (others have been cooking for me) that it's been 7 hours since the last time I ate and I am not even close to hungry (though I did have one mug of chai and I'm about to have another). This is highly unusual. I am always hungry because I'm too lazy and inept and broke to adequately feed myself. I have enough money for groceries, but not the ability or wherewithal to do anything fabulous with them. I don't have enough money to eat out all the time. I might have enough to justify one of those make-and-take places, because that would come out of both the grocery and the eating out budget. But then I'd have to actually go and do that.

I think about doing a podcast and posting videos all the time. I just don't have the content to support those activities.

I'm really digging Transmission. I'm not getting things to download any faster (which is more a function of my internet access and configuration and router and stuff), but it doesn't eat up so much CPU power and totally slow my non-internet computing down like Azureus did. Plus Azureus had so many features that I didn't need or know how to use. Transmission is nice and simple and prettier to look at.

So. Wrong. So wrong! Monument to pro-life my ass.

(via the newly pregnant Tiffany!)

Everyone's heard by now that the state of South Dakota has decided to ban abortions. Hopefully everyone has also heard by now that Cecilia Fire Thunder, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, has vowed to build a Planned Parenthood clinic on her tribe's reservation.

If you're interested in supporting this effort, here's where you can mail your donation:

Oglala Sioux Tribe
ATTN: President Fire Thunder
P. O. Box 2070
Pine Ridge, SD 57770

OR: and this may be preferred, due to mail volume:

ATTN: PRESIDENT FIRE THUNDER
PO BOX 990
Martin, SD 57751

Enclose a letter voicing your support and explaining the purpose of the donation. Bear in mind, the Pine Ridge Res is not exactly dripping with disposeable income, so do consider donating funds directly to the tribe as well as specifically for this effort....

Make checks out to OST Planned Parenthood Cecelia Fire Thunder. This will ensure that the funds get routed properly.

For email contact, you can contact the president at:

firethunder_president AT NOSPAM yahoo DOT com
cc:vbush AT NOSPAM oglala DOT org

That is Ms. Fire Thunder's personal email address; I have received permission to post it here. For the sake of record keeping, do cc: the listed address on all correspondence; that's her official secretary.

(via Dee)

UPDATE: A bit of a reality check from someone who used to work at Planned Parenthood and contacted PP of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. You can still donate to the cause, either to the tribe or to PP. Please do click through and read up.

I think I've neglected to mention this at all, so let me catch y'all up.

If you'll remember a year ago I applied for an Associate Validation Engineer position with my company. That basically went nowhere. I was told that our parent company had instituted a hiring freeze and I didn't hear much more beyond that. I periodically talked to vice presidents and directors and engineers and whoever I thought could get me some information, point me in the right direction, or put in a good word for me. I got promoted within my department last summer, and I've been doing my team leader thing for six months now.

Three weeks ago I went down to HR and asked what was going on with hiring in engineering. I get told that they had just gone down to That School That's Inferior To Mine That They Hire All Their Engineers From for campus recruiting. Also, they had just talked to the hiring director for engineering and he had mentioned that he wanted to meet with me. Apparently every couple of months when they meet to discuss these things my name comes up.

So two weeks ago I met with him for the first time. I hadn't actually met him before. I've met, like, everyone else. But not him. So I chit chatted with him about what I'm interested in, a little bit about my background before coming here and at this company. Real basic stuff. He's a very nice guy. Turns out he also used to work at my Previous Employer.

The next day I checked back in with HR and they say that they have four soon-to-be-new grads scheduled to interview and they want me to get on the schedule as well. So this past Monday I went through my day o' interviews.

I'm supposed to run today, but I really don't feel like it, so I'm not. Except that it's a pleasant (!) 37° out right now. (According to the weather bug. I haven't actually been outside.)

I'm so disgusted with myself. I'll do some situps and pushups to make up for it.

It's Monday again? Sheesh.

1. What's the next holiday/event you're really looking forward to celebrating? My birthday. The Boyz are coming to visit! *happy dance*
2. If you had to choose, what would be your favorite gadget? My iBook. Or do we mean something smaller? Maybe my iPod.
3. What magazines do you subscribe to? I don't, but if somebody were to gift me with a subscription, I'd like Utne, please.
4. How often do you floss your teeth? I was totally in the habit for a while, and then I slacked off again. I maybe do a three-day stint about once a month.
5. When is the last time you sent/received flowers? I bought Fly Girl a red daisy sometime last summer.
6. What is your favorite breakfast? The #2 at Uptown Diner. French toast, eggs (scrambled with cheddar), and bacon. With coffee. So you get both the sweet and the protein breakfast.
7. Are you a lip balm addict? Addict? No. But I do really really like to have some on me at all times. I don't usually have more than one or two sticks at a time.
8. If forced to choose, would you rather have an active sex life without the possibility of ever having an orgasm, or have fantastic orgasms but be forced to remain celibate? OMG, you cruel cruel woman. I think I'd rather have the orgasms. But... I don't really know. As a lesbian, it'd be much easier to have a happy emotional relationship with no sex (no sex together, anyway) than it would be as a hetero woman. I'm just going to be grateful that I do not actually have to make this decision.
9. What would you do right now with $50? Pay my therapist. Or buy some jeans.
10. Ask me something. Spring is coming. Planning on running any races anytime soon?

It turned out to be a beautiful day today for the St. Patrick's Day 5k & 10k. At 10:00 this morning it was about 30°. I was skeptical with all the snow we got this week, but the roads were clear, the sun was out, and it warmed up nicely. I figured we'd be on the bike path, but the street around Lake Calhoun was actually blocked off, which was nice.

I ran with Alena, who kept my ass moving. I would have probably slowed down quite a bit on the second lap had I run it by myself. We kicked it a little at the end and I ended up with a finishing time of 58:03 (my official time is 58:07, but I started back a little ways in the pack; 58:03 is what I saw when I crossed the finish line). That's a 9:21 pace. Waaaay faster than I thought I could run it. I was expecting about a 10:00 pace if I was lucky, accounting for race adrenaline and all that.

They moved the starting line at the last minute, so there was quite a bit of confusion amongst race-goers as to where to be. They said something about the course certification, but didn't they know that far enough in advance to let everyone know? Nothing was very well marked. If I had driven, it would have been less of a big deal, but Fly Girl dropped me off. I hitched a ride part way and then walked some.

The red Running Room tent ended up being about a quarter of the way around the lake from where they said it would be. Which was okay in the beginning, since the weather was nice and I wasn't running too late. But at the end it meant that I was on the complete opposite side of the lake from where I live, so I was lucky enough to hitch another ride instead of having to walk the whole way or wait very long for FG to pick me up.

So it was good! I'm glad I did it. I'm glad Alena was there. And now I have my first official 10k finishing time.

Here's a habit that I would strongly encourage everyone to develop (if you haven't already).

When you have to sneeze, don't sneeze into your hand. Turn your head and sneeze into your arm. It's what they teach doctors to do.

Elbow, shoulder, it doesn't matter. Just not your hand, which you then continue to use to touch everything around you. I know that everyone thinks that they don't spray that much when they sneeze, but you do. You totally do. Or maybe you don't, but you should err on the side of caution.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

I'm timed myself doing pushups and situps today.

I did 20 pushups in 2 minutes for a score of 64. The first 12 went fine. Then I stopped for a break. And the last 7 were ugly. I discarded a couple for bad form.

I did 48 situps in 2 minutes for a score of 63. Not bad for my first try, but I know I can do better on those.

And I did my last 2-mile run in 18:34, for a score of 76. I can do a little better on this, too, but I don't anticipate doing a whole helluva lot better.

Which makes for a grand total of 203. Not passing yet, but better than I thought I'd be able to do. Looks like I have the most opportunity for improvement in the pushups, followed by the situps, and then in the run.

Reports Chaz:

The Big Three credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — have decided that there should be only one system for determining credit scores, and are rolling out something called VantageScore.

Under VS, all three bureaus will use the same methodology to determine a person's credit score. Scores will range from 501 to 990 and are not strictly comparable to present-day FICO and similar scores. And each range will be assigned an alpha grade: 900s will get an A, 500s an F.

The fact that all three agencies agree on this makes me suspicious. I wonder if this means the cost of actually getting your VantageScore will be triple the cost of getting your FICO score from any one agency.

P.S. It's come time again for you to have access to your free annual credit reports (but not scores). At least it's that time for me here in Minnesota.

A Villanova basketball player literally got his eyeball poked out in a game last week.

EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!

Ew.

Should you find yourself with your eyeball hanging out of its socket, assuming you haven't torn any muscle or nerve tissue, the treatment is simple.

Doctors apply some topical painkillers, hold back your lashes, and poke your eyeball into its socket by pressing on the white part with gloved fingers. (In some cases, they'll use a simple tool like a bent paperclip to shoehorn it back into place.)

Emphasis mine.

EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!

Ew.

(via Neil)

As decreed by Sherri.

1. Do you have plans for St. Patrick's Day? Some guys from work were talking about going out after work on Friday night, probably to BW3. That may or may not still be happening. I went ahead and signed up for the 10k, so I'll be doing that on Sunday morning.
2. When is the last time you consumed alcohol? When I was in Mexico, a few weeks ago. I lied. It was last Friday. Went to happy hour with my friend Renae and had a pint, and then had another pint at Bryant-Lake Bowl at Coleman Lindberg's CD release party. OMG, when was the last time I went to happy hour? I can't even remember. It was so nice to be out amongst the people. Except for the traffic.
3. Have you ever been arrested? Nope.
4. Do you have a bad habit you'd be willing to pay $250/month to break if it were guaranteed to work? Nope.
5. Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right-handed.
6. Do you use a letter opener when you open your mail? Nope. If there were one handy, I'd use it, but I've not felt compelled to obtain one.
7. Would you rather receive daily shoulder rubs or daily foot rubs? Shoulder rubs. I can rub my own feet (even though it's not the same).
8. Would you rather rappel down the side of the tallest building on earth, or walk cross a 6-inch wide beam suspended across the Grand Canyon? I'd rappel.
9. What time did you wake up this morning? I think I first woke up about 7-ish. I tossed and turned a bit, and finally really got up at 9.
10. Ask me something. If I said, "Drop and give me 50!" could you still do it?

On Monday.

I've decided to see if I can pass the Army Physical Fitness Test (PFT). Saw it at FitFool, who got it here.

Here are the standards charts. To pass any one section - # of situps in 2 minutes, # of pushups in 2 minutes, and a 2-mile run - you need to score a minimum of 60 points. To pass the PFT, you have to score 240 points overall. So you can compensate in one area for another.

For females age 27-31 (that would be me), I need a minimum of 45 situps, 17 pushups, and a 20:30 in the 2-mile run. That would be to pass each individual section. I need to do better than that to pass the PFT overall.

I had been doing a variety of crunches and some real basic free weight stuff with my arms, with the occasional set of girl pushups. The PFT requires you to do full situps and boy pushups. Last week I started doing full situps just to see how it would go and it was easier than I thought it would be.

So far I can only knock out about 12 consecutive boy pushups (if my arms are well-rested), but I've been doing them a couple times a day. I may alternate with more reps of girl pushups. I think my arms look stronger than they actually are. Or maybe it's not my arms so much as my chest and back and shoulders aren't that strong. Anyway, more pushups.

The 2-mile run is not a problem. In fact, I ran an 18:34 last week. I haven't officially timed myself on the situps and pushups. I'm going to try to do that this week.

Given that we got dumped on with snow today (scratchafrickin' Minnesota), my enthusiasm for this weekend's St. Patrick's Day 10k is in the toilet. The jury's still out on that one. I have until Wednesday to sign up at the reduced rate and get the free (with your race entry fee) toque. We'll see.

...I walk to the laundromat a block away.

If you love Grey's Anatomy, you'll also love Grey Matter, the show's writers' blog. Hilarious! And informative.

(Also, the GA podcast.)

These are the ones that make me laugh out loud.

• Movies That Won't Be Shown on the Lifetime Network A Child Accounted For and in No Danger
• Milton Bradley's Secret Invasion Orders for the Attack on Boston Harbor
• Things I Thought About Telling My Husband I Was Thinking About When He Asked What I Was Thinking About While I Was Actually Thinking About Having Babies
• Advice You'll Never Get From OnStar "You're not going to take Market, are you?"
• Affirmations Google Should Consider Putting on Its Search Button Other Than "I'm Feeling Lucky." "I Deserve to Google and Be Googled"
• New Year's Resolutions
• If Poets Named Breakfast Cereals "Bran and Plump Raisins, Pregnant With Earthy Promise"
• "Love" Songs Replaced With Danny Glover
• Geometric Relationships More Realistic Than the Love Triangle "The where-did-you-get-this-number rhombus"
• Things You Can Do If You Love Jesus Other Than Honk
• Last Night's Top Five Alphabet-Soup Spoonfuls
• Activities That Might Prove More Practical Than Cleaning My Gas Mask Once a Month as the Army Suggests
• A Gay Cowboy's Top 10 Movies of 2005
• Possible Titles for an Actual A&E Network Documentary on a Murder Case in Battle Creek, Michigan They're Grrrrrrrrrrrrrief-Stricken!
• Victoria's Secret
• Things That Are Beyond the Pale "The truck the pale fell out of"
• Other Signs Held Up by Olympic Moguls Skier Toby Dawson's Mom Besides "GOOD LUCK, TOBY DAWSON!" "DO YOU NEED MONEY? DON'T EVER BE EMBARRASSED TO ASK, TOBY DAWSON!"

And my favorite of this bunch, because I burst into laughter just reading the name of the list....

A group of folks in San Francisco, calling themselves The Compact, have pledged:

1) to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- a step, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact; 2) to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er); 3) to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)

And so, the rules for the 12-month campaign are to:

• First principle - don't buy new products of any kind (from stores, web sites, etc.)
• Second principle - borrow or buy used.
• A few exceptions - using the "fair and reasonable person" standard -- i.e., you'll know in your heart when you're rationalizing a violation:
• food, drink, and necessary medicine (no elective treatments like Viagra or Botox)
• necessary cleaning products, but not equipment (don't go out and buy the Dyson Animal, for example).
• socks and underwear (utilitarian--non-couture or ornamental)
• pajamas for the children

Coincidentally, I just heard a radio promo for an afternoon show I didn't get to hear with a woman who spent a year spending no unnecessary money. And of course she wrote a book about it. Except I didn't get her name or the name of the book.

I applaud the desire to reduce one's impact on the environment, and I applaud Compact's effort to call attention to our rampant consumerism. But, having been pretty broke for most of the last few years, I can't quite get on board with the idea of depriving myself of stuff I want. Especially when most of the time the stuff I want (but admittedly probably don't need) is pretty basic. Sometimes it just makes me feel better and that peace of mind is way better than being stressed over being broke.

Although these folks probably aren't broke and, in fact, are probably saving themselves a lot of money. I guess I equate having extra money with spending it on shit I don't need. Like fries. Or new Target socks and underwear.

(via House 8)

I'm not quite musically-inclined enough to get all of it, but I know enough to be able to chuckle. From The Louie Report.

A C, an E-flat, and a G go into a bar. The bartender says: "Sorry, but we don't serve minors." So, the E-flat leaves, and the C and the G have an open fifth between them. After a few drinks, the fifth is diminished: the G is out flat. An F comes in and tries to augment the situation, but is not sharp enough.

A D comes into the bar and heads straight for the bathroom saying, "Excuse me. I’ll just be a second."

An A comes into the bar, but the bartender is not convinced that this relative of C is not a minor.

Then the bartender notices a B-flat hiding at the end of the bar and exclaims: "Get out now! You're the seventh minor I’ve found in this bar tonight."

The E-flat, not easily deflated, comes back to the bar the next night in a 3-piece suit with nicely shined shoes. The bartender (who used to have a nice corporate job until his company downsized) says: "You're looking sharp tonight, come on in! This could be a major development." This proves to be the case, as the E-flat takes off the suit, and everything else, and stands there au naturel.

Eventually, the C sobers up, and realizes in horror that he's under a rest. The C is brought to trial, is found guilty of contributing to the diminution of a minor, and is sentenced to 10 years of DS without Coda at an upscale correctional facility. On appeal, however, the C is found innocent of any wrongdoing, even accidental, and that all accusations to the contrary are bassless.

The bartender decides, however, that since he's only had tenor so patrons, the soprano out in the bathroom, and everything has become alto much treble, he needs a rest — and closes the bar.

To which Chaz responds, "Presumably the whole staff was let go." Ba DUM bum!

I know she's a famous sci-fi/fantasy author, and I may have heard her name in passing before, but I first really learned about Octavia Butler when they interviewed her a month ago on the Addicted to Race podcast.

And then I saw at Feministe that she had died.

I'm not so much into sci-fi/fantasy, but having heard her talk about how her stories are metaphors for race relations, I'd be interested in picking up some of her books.

Like Lauren, I thought it was some crazy right-wing nutjob.

Stickers saying "Heterosexuals Only" were placed on bus benches and public drinking fountains in downtown Boise and at the Statehouse Monday morning.

A group of gay and lesbian activists, who spoke to KBCI-Local 2 News on condition of anonymity, put up the 150 stickers to protest the legislature’s passage of a proposed constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage in Idaho, which voters will face in November.

...The group says it used the "Heterosexuals Only" stickers to symbolize "Whites Only" and "Colored Only" stickers from past discrimination in the history of the American civil rights movement.

...The group also said it selected Monday March 6 because it was the anniversary of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march during the civil rights struggle.

How sweet would it be if something like that were organized on a national scale?

I'm tickled that this Day by Day strip was posted while I was similarly scorching sunning myself in Mexico.

(click to embiggen)

Not just on Monday. On Monday morning!

1. If you watched the Oscars last night, what did you think of Jon Stewart? I liked him.
2. What was the highlight of your weekend? I had a nice run on Saturday afternoon.
3. Do you regularly buy lottery tickets? Nope.
4. What was the last thing you did that really gave you a sense of accomplishment? Go to Mexico.
5. Do you consider yourself a good speller? Yes.
6. If forced to choose, would you rather drink a quart of a stranger's urine or be completely covered in a stranger's poop for an hour? I'll drink the pee.
7. If you could spy, undetected, on another person for a 24 hour period, who would you choose to spy on? I plead the fifth. Okay, maybe the president.
8. What's the greatest thing about living in your town/city? The lakes and trails in the summertime.
9. Is your stove/oven electric or gas? Gas.
10. Ask me something. Are you ready for spring yet? Because I sure as fuck am.

The blogging of the pictures will commence once the uploading is complete. The impatient can click around in my Flickr. (That sounds dirty.)

So March hits and immediately we're saddled with two weeks of just-above-freezing weather, in which it slushes and sleets and might be sunny and is generally wet all the time. I decided to take my long run yesterday, on account of it being fairly nice out, and it's a good thing I did, because the forecasted "wintry mix" came this morning.

Two weeks until the St. Patrick's Day 10k (which I still haven't actually registered for), and I'm just betting after a couple weeks of 40-ish weather we'll get a huge snowstorm and the temperature will drop the morning of the race. But I want the toque that comes with my race entry fee.

I am now officially a fan of the elliptical machine. On days when I have to do long-ish crosstraining, I split my time between the stationary bike (can't decide if I prefer recumbent or upright) and the elliptical. There's one woman whom I see regularly at the Y and she gets on the elliptical and flies and will go for a good hour and a half! I know she was on it when I came in today, and she was still on it when I finished up my hour of cardio. She crazy.

I know my 10k time is going to be dismally slow. I keep reminding myself that it's still the very beginning of the season and of course I'm not going to be as in shape as I was last fall for the 10-miler.

I keep telling myself I need to get some more long-sleeve shirts. I can't keep wearing the same two for a week at a time. They get pretty funky.

Clearly I have nothing exciting to report.

Our shift just did this training thing at work about a new inventory system we're implementing. Granted, it's a little tricky and there are a number of steps and we'll have to do some things differently. But the basic concept is not hard.

You could tell by the questions that people asked that they just did not get the point. At all. Everyone has their own little part they need to know. But I, as a team leader, have to learn all of their parts. Which tells me that I damn sure better know what I'm doing because there are going to be a lot of mistakes.

I complain a lot about Lazy Overachiever acting like (and proclaiming to the guys that work under her that) she's God's Gift. But when I step back and think about the kinds of things I think about how well I perform and how things run when I'm around, I think I must sound a lot like her.

Except that I am that good. She's not so much. And people like me.

She came back last week (while I was gone) from three months of short term disability leave. Already people are pissed. My line is down right now, so I've been hanging out on her turf (which I took care of while she was gone). I may be imagining it or creating things in my head, but already I feel like there's tension. So I just try to stay out of her way. Which means I've been doing a whole lot of nothing. Which is fine with me. More than makes up for the crazy busy-ness of the last couple of months, in which I took on far more responsibility than she's ever had to or been asked to take on.

I had to tell LO (hey, she was eavesdropping) that I had heard that we performed so well and so much better than the other shifts over the last month (while she wasn't here) that we may possibly get some little token of recognition for it. I don't know if that will pan out, but it's nice to know and I had the pleasure of telling her all about it. Heh.