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RL: 31 March 2006

March 31st, 2006. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.

Time: 31:36
Distance: 2.687 mi
Calories: 445.6

Notes: Was only planning on doing 25 minutes - but decided to push myself. Did more speed work tonight. Skipped “Blue Orchid” and “Welcome To The Terrordome” on the Running playlist.

Grossness has sprung!

March 31st, 2006. Published under General. 1 Comment.

I hate this time of year.

The time of year between winter and spring. I need to come up with a good name for it - I’m going to call it grossness.

During grossness, there is nothing green and there is no snow to disguise the dinginess. The dirty, gray ickyness that permeates everything you see outside.

Also, during grossness, there is an abundance of dirt, dust, mold and spores left over from the winter. All these things irritate me to no end, having allergies and all. The best part? I ran out of my Allegra yesterday and my doctor hasn’t called in the refill order yet.

So today, I wake up with a scratchy/sore throat. Now this can be attributed to the season of grossness or I could finally be succumbing to the Office Scurvy. I hope it’s grossness-related allergies.

But yeah, I just want to sleep until grossness is over.

* * * * *

No Game Night tonight - part because some people couldn’t make it and part because I forgot to set anything up. My plan is to watch movies tonight. I haven’t quite decided what I’m going to watch yet.

Maybe I’ll watch Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 4. Yeah. That might do it.

Procrastination Junction, what’s your function?

March 30th, 2006. Published under General. 1 Comment.

I’m still - yes, still - working on getting my office cleaned up.

My problem is that I have a lot of empty Rubbermaid containers and stuff that isn’t housing anything taking up space in my closet.

What I need to do is go through my closet and re-organize that first, that way the few containers that I’m actually using to store things can fit in there. I should go through the stuff I threw under the steps to see what I can get rid of and what I need to keep. I am hanging onto things for the community garage sale in June, but I’ve pretty much relegated those items to the garage already.

Anyway, the problem is that there’s a lot of little stuff that I need to find a home for and I’m really procrastinating about it. Well, that and there are other distractions…

I think this weekend, I’m going to paint my bedroom and get all the pictures hung up that I want to display. Part of me wants to paint the closet too - but I think if I do, it’ll be white rather than the yellow I’m painting everything else. This will also entail getting actual window treatments rather than the old dust ruffle that’s adorning the window currently. I smell a trip to Ikea! I do have to return a shelf there too. Sunday morning it is!

I also need to address the curtains downstairs. Although they’re up and look fine, if you’re outside looking in, you may as well not have any curtains up at all. So, I’ll probably get some mini-blinds to put up behind the curtains. I also need to put something on the front door window too, but I’m not sure what can be put on there since it’s a metal door and I don’t really want to drill into the door to hang up a curtain. Maybe I’ll get some of that stick-on frosted glass stuff and use that instead.

So yeah. Saturday - working and painting! I really should go to the laundromat to wash the blanket on my bed too - damn cats sleep on it all day and it’s starting to accumulate too much hair on it. Little bastards.

Too bad they don’t make nanotech machines that just pick up loose cat hair, “digest” it and turn the byproducts into home fragrance and water vapor.

Although, with my luck, there’d be a malfunction and I’d come home to the cats with no hair on their bodies. I suppose that would solve the shedding problem. Hmmm. I may have to look into that.

Why didn’t I follow a career in science like I should have? I could’ve solved this problem by now!

RL: 29 March 2006

March 29th, 2006. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.

Time: 40:00
Distance: 3.409 mi
Calories: 577.0

Notes: Was a bit of a struggle because my legs still haven’t fully recovered from kickboxing. It’s amazing what muscles you have.

Tomorrow: rest day.

RL: 28 March 2006

March 29th, 2006. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.

(forgot to post this yesterday!)

Time: 30:00
Distance: 2.55 mi
Calories: 425.7

Notes: Short run today after getting beat up in kickboxing on Monday.

Kickboxing and How Not To Get Your Face Kicked

March 28th, 2006. Published under General. 1 Comment.

I had kickboxing last night. I was supposed to have Bree there to kick me, but she had some mishaps and wasn’t able to make it.

It worked out, because there was another girl there without a sparring partner.

This particular class is supposed to be a “Beginner” class.

Most of the people in there were decidedly NOT beginners. They were also tall and male.

We had circuit training. One sparring partner has the protective gear, the other does the training routine. After a minute, the people doing the training move to the next station.

We had a circuit of kicks last night. My station: back roundhouse kicks. Some of these tall, non-beginner guys kick up around my shoulder.

Do you know how difficult it is to get kicked up near your shoulder, hold a big pad up to protect your body and stay upright? Yeah.

This one guy kicked HARD. Naturally his kick angle was smack in my ribs. Fucking ow.

But it was a good workout. I just don’t want to be nearly kicked in the head anytime soon.

Showing off the new goods!

March 26th, 2006. Published under General. 2 Comments.

I took pictures of the new fridge and dishwasher. I’m sure you’re excited.

Here’s the fridge - Whirlpool Gold, freezer on the bottom and I am so in love with it. Well, as much as one can be in love with an appliance. I dare say I love it more than my washer/dryer. Yeah, that’s big.

(don’t mind the mess)

And here is the new dishwasher. The old one, it turns out had a broken bottom bracket. My sister Marion, upon taking it out, discovered that whomever put the dishwasher in, never hooked up all the electrical hookups. Most notably, the one that controls the heating element.

Well, no wonder it didn’t fucking work. I still hated it because it would not get the dishes clean. So I had used it with a sinkful of soapy water, washed the dishes and ran them through a cycle to rinse and let them drip dry. Um…I wanted a dishwasher to actually wash the dishes.

So, using the ‘ol family discount, it was more than worth it to just buy a new one. Here it is:

(also rockin’ the George Forman grill, yo.)

And just because…here’s a picture of Pixel marking the fridge as hers. Well, because it is hers.

Also, Marion fixed the leaking sink in the bathroom - because she is a plumber - so now the bathroom is DONE. Woo! I’ll post pictures soon.

Winning.

March 24th, 2006. Published under General. 1 Comment.

I read the Dilbert Blog for a good laugh every day from Scott Adams.

Today, Scott had a post of a different nature. You can either read it at the blog, but I’m going to copy it in its entirety here:

Recently there was a tennis tournament in Indian Wells. It’s one of the biggest tournaments not counting the four “Grand Slam” events. Because tennis is an individual sport, there are always great stories within the game. This year’s biggest story was James Blake’s comeback.

If you don’t follow the game, let me give you some background. Blake is the son of an African-American dad and an English mom. He was raised in Connecticut and had to wear a back brace for years when he was a kid. He took up tennis, excelled, and went to Harvard for two years before going pro. He looked promising, along with a number of other young Americans, but not top 10 material. He was most noted for his sex appeal and great personality.

I became a fan after watching him play Lleyton Hewitt a few years ago. After some calls that went against Hewitt, the Aussie singled out an African-American linesperson and complained to the chair umpire. Hewitt used a poor choice of words that led observers to think he was complaining of racial favoritism. Hewitt says he didn’t mean it that way, but nonetheless it became the story. And the media tried hard to get Blake to bite. They wanted him to complain about racism, maybe get a little mad about it. That’s good TV. But Blake didn’t take the bait. He politely pointed out that people say things in the heat of the moment, and whatever Hewitt said was Hewitt’s problem, not his. It seemed to me the perfect response. Sometimes trivializing is the best strategy.

Blake’s ranking bobbed up and down, peaking at 22 in the world. He shaved his dreadlocks and gave up his sex symbol image along with millions in potential endorsements. (I’m guessing his hair was prematurely thinning.) Then in 2004 he had the year from Hell. He ran into a tennis net post and broke his neck. Then he got a shingles virus in his face that paralyzed it on one side. Then his dad died.

There was some doubt that Blake would ever play tennis again. He watched the major tournaments from his couch and wondered about his future. In time, his body recovered, and he felt that he had been given a second chance. He grabbed it by the neck.

I don’t know what kind of training he did, but oh-my-god. I watched him play in person during the first week of the Indian Wells tournament and thought it couldn’t be the same guy. There was ferocity to his strokes. He wasn’t just hitting the ball, he was punishing it. His court speed was breathtaking. His shot selection was brilliant. His backhand, previously a weakness, had become a rocket.

You only needed to listen to the court sounds to know that Blake was heading deep into the tournament. When a tennis racket strikes a ball perfectly, it creates a sound wave that spectators can feel in their entire bodies. If you play tennis yourself, you can practically close your eyes and know who is winning.

Blake blasted through the field of world-class tennis players and found himself in an unlikely semi-final with a Spanish force of nature named Rafael Nadal. Nadal is the #2 player in the world. He hits with brutal topspin. It’s a relentless attack that less than a handful of elite players have been able to withstand in the past year.

Nadal brought his best, but Blake blew past with a combination of game and gamesmanship that surprised almost everyone, not the least Nadal himself.

Now it was time for the championship match against Roger Federer, the best player in the world. Correction – make that the best tennis player who has ever lived. That’s not just my opinion. He already has seven Grand Slam wins. If he stays healthy, many people expect him to hold every important record in tennis.

Against all odds, Blake blazed to a 4-1 first set advantage against the all-time greatest player on earth. It seemed as though nothing could stop him.

And then something happened. The momentum shifted. The rest of the match was all Federer. Blake seemed to fade away, settling for runner-up, but his effort that week was enough to put him in the top ten in the world.

At the trophy ceremony, Blake spoke to the crowd. He said that in 2004, when he was in the hospital with a broken neck, only one tennis player sent him a note to wish him well. It was Roger Federer.

I wanted Blake to win that match, yet somehow, by losing he found perfection.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a story about an athlete who was so humble and so full of grace. Not much else I can say about it that the entry doesn’t already cover.

I don’t even watch tennis!

I’m givin’ her all she’s got, Captain!

March 24th, 2006. Published under General. 1 Comment.

Apparently, my “breaking news story” of the guy who wrote the Hokey Pokey was greeted with either groans or riotous laughter.

Even if it’s an old one - it still made me laugh.

* * * * *

I’m either getting the flu or else my body is falling apart.

I’ve had a backache for about a day and a half now. I thought it had something to do with my increased distance on the treadmill - but now I’m thinking I’m slowly getting the creeping crud that everybody else in the office and on the bus has been hacking and coughing all over the place.

Sometimes, I wish people would keep their fucking germs to themselves.

The other possibility is that I have cramps.

Yes, I know all of you men that happen to read this will now tune out and start humming the theme to Wide World of Sports (or Star Trek: TNG, which ever way you swing). But don’t! It’s really not going to be that bad!

Sometimes I get the lower back pain type of cramps. I also have a spot in the middle of my back that’s notorious for causing me grief every once in a while. Car accident, years ago. When I get tension in my back, it’ll throw the vertebrae off and cause me no end of pain.

So now, the lower back pain worked its way up my back and now threw the vertebrae off.

I’m hoping it’s that and not the flu. Because the flu can suck it.

* * * * *

I’m getting my new fridge and dishwasher tomorrow! It’ll be so awesome to have a fridge that doesn’t smell like ass and a dishwasher that will actually work! Who would’ve thought?

Now I just need to Craigslist the old ones…

What a day.

March 23rd, 2006. Published under General. 2 Comments.

I need to do a number of things tonight. I may get to one of them before I go hold down the couch.

1. Grocery shopping.
2. Running.
3. Clean office.
4. Cleaning the downstairs.

I need groceries because I’m out of most food. I would need to go get take out in order to eat supper tonight. I also need veggies.

I need to run so my ass doesn’t expand.

I need to clean my office, but since it’s been a mess since I moved, one more day won’t make any difference. I think that’ll be a project for Saturday anyway.

I need to clean the downstairs because I’m hosting Game Night tomorrow night and need to make it presentable. I can do the last-minute cleaning frenzy when I get home from work tomorrow night, so it’s not as urgent as one would think.

So groceries it is!

* * * * *

I have to go to the dentist on Monday. Why? Because part of a tooth came off. I don’t know if it was a filling or a tooth gone wrong, but it came off when I was flossing today. My floss has been getting stuck for a couple of weeks now and it had been bugging the crap out of me, so today, when it got stuck - I yanked.

Tooth bits!

Goody.

Well, on the bright side, it doesn’t hurt.

* * * * *

It is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person, which almost went unnoticed last week. Larry LaPrise, the man that wrote “The Hokey Pokey” died peacefully at the age of 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin. They put his left leg in…and then the trouble started.

Ok, that was a bad joke. But it made me laugh on a day that I’m cranky, bloated and my teeth are falling apart. So laugh, dammit!