December 2006 Archives
After my last race, I decided I was going to take December off from running. I'm not going to run another race until at least March, so it wouldn't kill me to not run for a while.
I was mildly annoyed and pleasantly surprised to find that after about two weeks, definitely after three weeks, I was twitchy and restless and felt like crap. Like a total slug. Which I was being a total slug. I didn't expect it to suck so much.
I was sort of holding out, trying to enforce my month off. And then I gave in. I ran one weekend. Ran with a friend one night and despite his claims of being slow and having smokers' lungs, he definitely wore me out. Ran once on another weekend. For a grand total of three runs in two weeks.
I had thought about getting out there a number of times, but I didn't really know where to go or how far or what I could handle or how fast or slow to go. Not that I didn't know this already, but the last few weeks have made it perfectly clear that I need to be on a plan, on a schedule, on a program.
I talked to Fly Girl yesterday, to wish her a happy 30th birthday. She was on her way to go shopping. I was teasing her because she's been known to shop to fill a void, and she heads to the same places every time: DSW, Herberger's, the Eddie Bauer Outlet.
A few hours later I found myself in the car on my way to the Knollwood Shopping Center to hit the TJ Maxx/Old Navy/DSW trifecta. So clearly I had no right to talk.
So, I've gotten all this positive feedback at work. Employee of the Quarter. A fantastic review and rating. Numerous comments here and there. Which is all fine and dandy, but as of the giving of the review, raises hadn't been approved yet. I've been dying to see if the numbers match up. The talk is nice, but show the me the money, ya know?
And they do. Woo, boy, do they. About as good as it gets, I think. I didn't think I could do much better than I did last year, but I sho nuff did.
I'm enjoying it while it lasts, because I'll never get this kind of rating or raise again.
I managed to update the Chatter section over there in the sidebar to include comments from both the main blog and the link blog.
I'm pretty sure that comments on the linkblog are triggering an index page rebuild so that you can see the up-to-date comment listing and count on the links. *shrug*
I have no idea why it separates the comments by entry like that. Nor do I know how it's counting how many comments to include. I think the main page "days=7" overrides the "lastn=10" I gave the comments.
In case you were wondering.
Curbly is crack for the DIY-er. I'm not even a DIY-er and man, what a time suck that's been. Bonus: It was founded by a couple guys from the TC.
There's no "official" meaning for the word Curbly. It's a take on the phrase "curb appeal", and we think of it as being an adjective for describing a cool house, an awesome room, or an incredible design idea.
Usage:
"Wow, that house on the corner is curbly."
"Hey, do you know a place where I can get a curbly picture frame for this Marimekko print?"
"You [know], your living room was a lot curblier before you covered the windows with tinted plastic wrap."
1. James Brown
2. Gerald Ford
3. ???
It just dawned on me that after this four-day weekend, I work three days (probably/hopefully more like two), and then I got another four-day (or five-day) weekend. That's a lot of time off. I'm almost glad I am working these next couple of days. If I were going somewhere, it'd be different, but that's a long damn time to be at home with not a whole lot to do and not a whole lot of extra cash lying around. Once the place is clean, what's left? I'm gonna brew some beer and make some beef stew. And catch up on tv.
Why did I not start watching The Office sooner? I watched last week's episode with the christmas parties. Hilarious. Laugh-out-loud hilarious, and I was watching by myself ('cause you're less likely to laugh out loud when you're by yourself, see).
Episodes of South of Nowhere are slow to trickle in, so I'm being patient there.
I'm going to give My Boys a whirl. Girlyish girl wearing a ponytail and a tank top who likes sports. Hello! Downloaded the first 8 eps and the last four are playing on TBS tonight and tomorrow. My weird basic satellite gives me TBS, so I'll catch those the old school way: on the VCR. I think you can still watch some of the eps online, but my woeful lack of RAM makes my browsers hate anything having to do with Flash (at least I think the RAM's the reason), so that's a no go for me.
I'm set to download the first two seasons of Weeds. A) I've heard it's funny. B) Mary-Louise Parker.
I had put 30 Rock on probation, mostly because I can't stand Tracy Morgan. But Liz Lemon and her bi-curious shoes have won me back over.
Season 4 of The L Word starts Jan 7! w00t!
I'm trying to convince myself that a little mindless entertainment is good for me. Don't spoil it.
I received four Xmas text messages today.
For you: Sufjan Stevens - Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming (via Tom @ MBDC)
Also, as previously reported at MBTC, a house in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis hooked up the xmas music/light show after seeing it on the internet last year. Drive by E 32nd St and 41st Ave S and tune your radio to 97.9FM. I parked across the street and shot this. I would have liked to get a better angle, but there were lots of cars parked, and I had to stay in the car to get the music. Part 1 is rap. Part 2 is the more traditional Nutcracker Suite.
Click To Play
Click To Play
The closest I've come to journaling over the last couple years is having a super-secret password-protected blog.
How 21st century, no?
And as with journaling on paper in the years prior to that, I really only sit down to write when things go really really wrong. Yesterday I did the digital equivalent of burning it. Deleted it. Poof. Gone.
There were actually a few non-negative entries in there, but they don't do me a whole lot of good now. Some people can go back to their past writings and think about how far they've come. How much they've grown. With the really old stuff from my college days I can do that a little bit. But mostly all it does is take me right back to how I felt at that time.
So. Gone.
It wasn't an accurate representation of the whole picture, anyway. I've got all that in my head, for better or for worse. I don't need to keep it on a server somewhere for posterity.
I almost didn't even read through it. But I did. I hadn't even looked at it in so long, I wasn't sure what all I had put in there. Ironically, reading about the happy moments was harder than reading about the sad ones. I don't need that shit anymore.
It's very quiet in my apartment right now. I could swear that my upstairs neighbor is playing some sort of old school Nintendo game.
The Sound of Music is on in 10 minutes. Let the games begin!
Justin Timberlake was the Saturday Night Live host this past weekend. There were some sketches that I was all, "This is hilarious and I should blog about them." But you can't ever do them justice, ya know? Well, thank gawd for YouTube. Watch 'em for yourself:
The Homelessville sketch where he's dressed up like a cup of soup.
And I didn't see this one, but then there's the Omeleville sketch. Heh! I used to love the coloring placemats at Big Boy.
And then the new old skool video which I will not tell you the name of because it'll give it away. [Updated with more fun uncensored version.]
Just watch. Seriously. Hilarious.
- I've read this over and over and over again. [Oops, technical difficulty over at Caterwauling. And wouldn't you know I just un-saved it from Bloglines. It was a great story about a woman who works at the airport.]
- That whole thing about asparagus making your pee smell? Totally not a joke. Wow. I was all, "What is that?" (I don't eat a whole lot of asparagus, you see.)
- Encore! (the smaller group from choir) provided the pre-matinee entertainment at the Guthrie Theater yesterday. At the frickin' Guthrie! Awesome.
- For some reason, reading this makes me really really want to make this my next/first marathon. (Which apparently means that I've had sufficient time to forget how I felt at the end of the last half.)
- The Michigan Every Three Weekly is back after, like a year or two off! With it's own domain. "Hockey Team Contracts Yost Infection" -- Bwahaha!
- I just got to watch the Amazing Race finale.
- I had accidentally heard that Tyler/James won before I watched it, so I spent the whole hour rooting for 'Bama to come in second. Which they didn't, but I think I'm more excited about their being third than I have been about any of the teams that have won.
- Amazing Race All Stars? Terrible idea.
- The Alamo, the Tony Rosenthal sculpture at Astor Place in NYC where the Racers picked up their last clue, was installed in 1967. A similar structure, Endover, went up in Regents' Plaza on the campus of The University of Michigan in 1968, a gift from the class of 1965. And it spins. Rosenthal is a U of M alumnus.
- I don't get how this is really possible, but the reception for CBS is much improved since I moved my tv to the other side of the living room. Which shouldn't make a difference because there are no rabbit ears involved. It's still plugged into the wall. Maybe it's because I'm using a different coax cable.
I had a bit of a revelation the other day. Conveniently, I remembered it long enough to share it with my therapist.
The gist of it is thus:
A year ago I thought that a happy relationship could make everything else that sucked (and everything else did totally suck) not matter so much.
Now, that relationship is gone, but everything else sucks less. Okay, fine, for the most part, things are pretty good. Job sitch has turned around 180°. Choir has been fulfilling in a way that I could not have imagined. Running is cool. Metroblogging is cool. Living by myself for the first time ever is cool. I am happier than I have been in a long time.
Of course I'd like to have a happy relationship, but a relationship does not make you happy. It can make you happier, but it does not make you happy. And it does not make that other stuff matter that much less or go away. Balance. Balance is what you need.
But that's not all. Oh, no, I'm on a roll. Moment of Self-Awareness #1B:
I've been sour on Xmas for a while. The fuzzy glow of my mom's crazy orchestration dimmed a while ago. I've got this nagging loner tendency, and it makes me want to do things like spend the holiday by myself on purpose.
The second I had somebody I really wanted to be with, my whole perspective on Xmas changed. I wanted to celebrate. I wanted to put up the (2-foot) tree and the lights and have the dinner and go on the sleigh ride and make snow angels and all of that. I wanted the fuzzy glow back.
Needless to say, no fuzzy glow this year. This year, I have no idea what I'm doing for Xmas. Frankly, I'm having a hard enough time thinking beyond what needs to happen at work to worry about what to do with my four-day weekend which is... next weekend already (holy shit!). I know I'll be working that week between holidays, even though I'm "on vacation" because there's work that needs to be done. (I'm bitter, long story.)
I'm not going home. Last year was the first year I wasn't in Michigan for Xmas (that's hard to read). This year will be the second. I don't have any plans. It's not convenient or affordable for me anyway. Fly Girl warned me that spending Xmas by yourself sucks and that I should go home. But I really don't want to go home just because I don't have anything else to do. I want to want to go home, and I don't. So I'm not.
I crack myself up sometimes. And I was so much more entertaining back then.
I stole this off of myspace. Shutup!
If you had to pay for your sins, and the going rate was as stated, how much would you have to pay to pay for all your wrong doings??
Smoked pot -- $10
Did acid -- $5
Ever had sex at church -- $25
Woke up in the morning and did not know the person who was next to you -- $40
Had sex with someone on MySpace -- $25
Had sex for money -- $100
Ever had sex with a Puerto Rican -- $20
Vandalized something -- $20
Had sex on your parents' bed -- $10
Beat up someone -- $20
Been jumped -- $10
Crossed dressed -- $10
Given money to stripper -- $25
Been in love with a stripper -- $20
Kissed some one who's name you didn't know -- $0.10
Hit on some one of the same sex while at work -- $15
Ever drive drunk -- $20
Ever got drunk at work, or went to work while still drunk -- $50
Used toys while having sex -- $30
Got drunk, passed and don't remember the night before -- $20
Went skinny dipping -- $5
Had sex in a pool -- $20
Kissed someone of the same sex -- $10
Had sex with someone of the same sex -- $20
Cheated on your significant other -- $10
Masturbated -- $10
Cheated on your significant other with their relative or close friend -- $20
Done oral -- $5
Got oral -- $5
Done / got oral in a car while it was moving -- $25
Stole something -- $10
Had sex with someone in jail -- $25
Made a nasty home video -- $15
Had a threesome -- $50
Had sex in the wild -- $20
Been in the same room while someone was having sex -- $25
Stole something worth over more than a hundred dollars -- $20
Had sex with someone 10 years older -- $20
Had sex with someone under 21 and you are over 27 -- $25
Been in love with two people or more at the same time -- $50
Said you love someone but didn't mean it -- $25
Went streaking -- $5
Went streaking in broad daylight -- $15
Been arrested -- $5
Spent time in jail -- $15
Peed in the pool -- $0.50
Played spin the bottle -- $5
Done something you regret -- $20
Had sex with your best friend -- $20
Had sex with someone you work with at work -- $25
Had anal sex -- $80
Lied to your mate -- $5
Lied to your mate about the sex being good -- $25
Okay, kids. How much?
New toy! New toy! Secret Santa was kind. :)
Roomdawg hooked me up with some beans when I was in Seattle, so I've been drinking Starbucks Pike Place blend.
Which means I've been drinking fully caffeinated coffee all morning. *twitch* I don't want or need it. It's just fun to make it.
I don't know how new of a feature this is, but Amazon has RSS feeds for wishlists now. Sweet!
People who can't write.
This is probably a repeat. But it's bothering me again. I'll never be a fabulous author as far as books, magazines, newspapers, whatnot go. But I can bust out a technical document.
You would think your run of the mill chemistry lab nerd would be able to to do that. Such is not always the case. I can review for content, but I'm not going to waste my time editing your shit because your grammar sucks. You know the FDA is going to read this, right?
Sheesh.
Most of the Metroblogging cities have been participating in this network-wide theme about 7 gifts your city has given to the world. There's a complete-ish list of the cities and gifts, or try the Technorati tags. [1] [2] [3] I think you ought to check out your city's MB site if you have one. Really, the lists are pretty sweet.
Plus, I did all the Twin Cities ones m'self.
#7: The Great Gatsby
#6: The Minneapolis Sound (Prince, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, etc.)
#5: Rollerblading and Water Skiing
#4: Bob Dylan
#3: Peanuts (the cartoon)
#2: Post-it Notes and Scotch Tape
#1: Mall of America
That took a damn long time. I think they came out decent. I didn't quite have it in me to give them a more personal touch. The Bob Dylan one was hard because, well, I'm not a Bob Dylan fan in the least.
My favorites from other cities are...
So, our company holiday party was yesterday. In some hotel ballroom out in a suburb. Lame. Boring. The last couple years had a casino theme which thankfully wasn't repeated this year. This year we had improv comedy. Not bad, but not as funny when you have to keep it PG-13.
Anyway.
On Thursday, we were standing around at work talking about who was going to go to the party. Bosslady and this other guy have been dating for, like, forever. But they keep it very on the DL at work. Even though I think most people probably know. So he asks me if I want to ride with them to the party, and I was all, "Sure." Until a couple of minutes later I realized that he only asked me to go with them as camouflage. I told him I wouldn't be his "relationship beard."
All day Friday he couldn't come up with an apology. Bosslady called on Saturday and I agreed to go. I wasn't mad, but... WTF? You know? I told him I only agreed to go because Bosslady asked nicely. He knows what he did. I'm gonna keep milking it, though.
I think he still doesn't know what a beard is.
I heard that George Michael song on the radio the other day.
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
The very next day, you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special
I hate that song.
