Archives for "General"
It’s Funny Because It’s True
So True.
I’m surprised Tim didn’t present me with this last night when he got home from class. He was surprised that I wasn’t planted on the couch playing the game (at that point, I hadn’t even cracked the plastic wrap on the case). But, I had just spent 3 hours editing the audio nightmare that was SnarkFu (Skype was being a hoar and J’s audio quality went to crap…had to do a lot of cutting/splicing to make a coherent show) and finally, after I exported the Soundbooth file to mp3 at around 10pm, I decided I would finish up the tagging/uploading tonight after volleyball and get in some FFXIII time before bed.
Two words: So. Gorgeous.
A few more: I LOVE IT.
I usually have a problem with a new battle system in the JRPGs I play. I usually hate it for about the first 5-10 hours until I get the hang of it, but this one I’m loving right off the bat. It took the good parts of the battle system from FFXII and FFX-2 and combined them into Voltron a great battle system. Granted, I only put about 30 minutes into it (right around the time when you get control of Snow), but I’m so looking forward to more!
I just hope Tim doesn’t die of neglect!
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Today’s my last day of work before I take a week off. I have the office remodel, a sports massage on Friday, the Aquabats on Saturday and the Auto Show (with brunch!) on Sunday. Going to be awesome!
It Figures
Final Fantasy XIII, originally uploaded by Gamewis.
It figures. The day the game I’ve been most waiting for in YEARS gets released, it’s one of my busiest days in a while.
I have a work event, a podcast to edit and prepping for the office remodel that I’ll be starting on Thursday (taking a week off to work on it). So if I even get to put that game in and play it tonight, it’ll be a damn miracle.
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Speaking of “Miracle”, some bastard STILL has it rented out on Netflix. Yes, I could buy it, (it’s $10 on Amazon), but that’s not the point!
It’s not like I have time to watch is now anyway.
Steak Obsession
Perfect Steak, originally uploaded by yongfook.
Ever since I ramped up my workout regime, I’ve been craving steak. Like OMGIWANTSOMENOWPLZKTHX.
Today, I have a work lunch at M&S Grill where I already know I’m ordering their steak salad. However, I also want to convince Tim to go to El Toro for their “Tacos de Carne Asada” which is basically carne asada steak in corn tortillas w/tomatillo salsa and pico de gallo. YUM.
Need to get a run in first, but I think we can do both tonight!
*drool*
I Need A Laugh
I’m not sure why I’m so damn surly today. Could be having to sit in a mechanic’s waiting room for 4.5 hours yesterday (I’m not mad about being there, it’s just difficult sitting in a mechanic’s office for that long) or the fact that I’m taking a week off starting next Thursday to do the office redecorating project. Between being sick two days last week and having to take yesterday off* to deal with the car issue that required me to be at the mechanic’s office for 4.5 hours and the fact that I have a metric shitton of work I need to get done BEFORE I go on vacation, I’m a bit spread thin and it’s stressing me out.
Also, add the perpetual “having to make coffee” when the coffee drinkers of the office GET HERE BEFORE ME** every damn day and being pulled in 19 different directions by co-workers today and being pulled away from the metric shitton of work, I’m getting a bit snappy.
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The workout regime has been going well so far. It got to the point last night during my cross training class (after I had run for 2 miles) when I was silently telling myself “those people that went to the Olympics didn’t puss out when doing pushups!” It seemed to help.
I think I’ll have to go to the gym tonight and get another run (or maybe some weights) in because exhausting myself seems to be the only thing to soothe the crabby beast.
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* I’m not crabby about having to take yesterday off to get Tim’s car fixed. It was the most logical choice: I have PTO to use and didn’t have any meetings yesterday, while Tim had to work and go to class and he didn’t have the time to spare.
** I ended up going to Caribou for a coffee because I’ll be damned if I’m going to make coffee today. I also needed to get away from my desk for a moment and work on my calm. SERENITY NOW!
Half Marathon, Part Deux.
running woman, originally uploaded by simplehealthguide.
It’s been 10 days since I decided to start training for a half marathon.
I’ve been running once in that 10 day period.
Why, you ask? Well, a number of factors.
First, I probably overdid my first run. In my zeal to start training, I turned on week 7 of the Podrunner Interval “first day to 5k” for my first training run, which is a 5 minute warm up, 25 minutes non-stop running and a 4 minute cool down. Up until that point, I had been doing (warm up-run-cool down) either 3-15-2 (on days I had my circuit training class) or a 3-20-2 on days I’d run. Since I increased my mileage/run time (and see point #3) so dramatically, I woke up the next day with a sore Achilles tendon in my right leg. To treat it, all the reading up on that said “don’t run”, so I didn’t. I went to circuit training and volleyball, which were deemed to be OK exercises to do, but repetitive, high impact activities (i.e. running) were out.
Secondly, during my rest and recovery period for my Achilles, I caught a cold/flu/scurvy and was sick for 5 days and missed 2 days of work. The only activity I’ve done in the past week is play volleyball, and boy does my body feel it. It’s hard to describe the feeling of being a diligent exerciser that has to not exercise for a while due to injury, etc. My body wants to move!
Thirdly, I bought new running shoes. During the time I was recuperating, I read up on the aches/pains I’ve been getting in my right leg: the foot nerve thing, the Achilles issue, a new knee/hip ache issue. All the signs point to my shoes. Since I started running, I’ve used ASICS Gel-1100 series shoes…until last year when the company changed the last from a neutral shoe to a stability shoe. This makes a difference for me because I’m a under-pronator, meaning my feet have a tendency to roll outward and I need a shoe that has no stability on the instep (i.e. a stability shoe; meant for over-pronators). Because of this, I switched to the Mizuno Wave Rider 12, a neutral shoe. I’ve discovered that not all neutral shoes are created equal, though. I’ve had more problems with my feet (callouses, etc) with the Mizunos that I never had with the ASICS.
Problem is that ASICS doesn’t make a neutral shoe anymore suited to my type of gait (that isn’t $120). So, thanks to Road Runner Sports, I got a pair of the Nike Air Pegasus + 26 after a consultation with a representative at Road Runner. They have a 60-day perfect fit guarantee, so if these also don’t work for me, then I can exchange them for another pair without any trouble. I also realized that I need to get a new pair of Superfeet for my shoes too, as the ones I have have been through 2 pairs of running shoes.
So, tonight I’m going to do a run/walk interval in my new shoes w/o the Superfeet, then pick up a new set at Ye Olde Part Tyme Jobbe when I’m working tomorrow.
Speaking of Ye Olde Part Tyme Jobbe, one of the supervisors* is going to run a mid-summer 10k with me and offered to help me train. This is a two-fold bonus: she’s run 10ks and more before and it’ll not only give me a goal to shoot for that doesn’t seem as daunting as a 1/2 marathon but also help me get over that 5k hump I seem to experience every time I try to push to a longer distance.
So that’s exciting! Let’s just hope my stupid, aging body can adjust to the new regime. Any tips out there to deal with the joint (hip/knee/ankle) soreness that comes with running longer distances, or do I just have to suck it up and deal with it (w/ice and ibuprofen, naturally)? Any foods I should eat/not eat as well?
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* This same supervisor has been egging me on to do a sprint triathlon since she did her first last summer. I can handle the running and the biking, no problem, but the swim training wouldn’t work for me, financially or time-wise. I can swim just fine but I’m not a fan of it. Plus, running a 1/2 marathon is more doable for me than a tri. Someday, maybe.
I Protest!
I imagine this is what is going through Pixel’s head when we give her a bath. Actually, it’s more of what Roxy would say, because Pixel is such a sweetie, but I’ve never decided that risking my life was worth trying to give Rox a bath. That’s just asking for horrible pain and/or death.
Lucky for us, she’s the most fastidiously clean kitten I’ve seen.
Half Marathon? Are You Insane?
On the goading of my cousin J, I’m going to attempt to run a 1/2 marathon in October.
Now long-time readers of the blog will know I’ve had a standing New Year’s Resolution to run in a 10k that year, which never seems to come to fruition.
This time, however, is different. Without going into much detail, a number of factors have arisen that are making me extra motivated to do this. I might sign up for a spring/summer 10k just to wet my proverbial running whistle. My diet is going to evolve into something quite different than it is right now – focusing on optimum fitness and nutrition – and my workout regime is going to become more planned and focused between running, cross-training and strength-training.
I know it sounds drastic, but when faced with proper motivation, I’m unstoppable.
As an added benefit, I’ll finally drop this weight that I’ve been struggling with this past year.
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The change in diet can also be attributed to watching the documentary Food, Inc. two weeks ago. An eye-opener for sure, and it’s changing my purchasing habits as a result.
Go watch it if you haven’t already!
Valentine’s Day
I don’t like getting flowers for Valentine’s Day. One, they’re just too obvious and takes no thought whatsoever; secondly, they’re WAY overpriced.
I love getting thoughtful gifts for Valentine’s Day. Ones that seemed like they were custom made with me in mind; something that I know the giver put some time and thought into and thought of me when they bought/made the gift.
I ended up having to give Tim his Valentine’s Day gift last night as I had the perfect gift/surprise for him – then he out of the blue mentions that he’s going to go pick up JUST THE THING I BOUGHT HIM. So I stalled him by saying “well, let’s go together tonight” and brought home the gift from work and gave it to him. I playfully called him a jerk for ruining the surprise, but from the way his mom talks, he’s always had this gift clairvoyance and would buy things that he was getting as gifts quite often. At least it’s not just me.
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The Olympics start tonight. Going to watch the opening ceremonies for sure (gotta love over the air HD), and I’ll have to see a schedule for the other events to see what I want to catch this time around, aside from my normal figure skating/speed skating regime.
Happy Friday!
Someday…
I don’t know what it is about February (more so than January) that makes me reevaluate my life so much.
Perhaps it’s noticing that it’s staying lighter out each night when I come home from work. Perhaps it’s the long, depressing arm of winter tightening its grasp on me. Perhaps I’ve just been thinking a lot about our future and where we want to be.
I think that plans for moving out of state have been put on the back burner for now (if not put back into the deep freeze); the issues that were driving such decisions we’re discovering aren’t location based, but “other people” based. But hasn’t stopped me from daydreaming about the future…
Someday…
…we’ll take a vacation someplace warm and tropical in the dead of winter here.
…we’ll travel the world like we always wanted.
…we’ll have the things we’ve wanted instead of having to make choices due to circumstances.
…we’ll still be happy.
But, in the short term, we’re finally getting around to doing the office: painting, new (matching!) bookshelves and desks, fitting a new closet system in that room that maximizes storage and re-organizing everything to work better as an office/media room.
Tim’s going to have all his old consoles set up for play at a moment’s notice (wondering if we’ll need a beanbag chair or something as the only chairs in the office are, well, office chairs), will get the new turntable and move all our vinyl upstairs to finally be able to listen to it like we’ve always wanted to, plus acres of more storage in the bookshelves with more hidden storage. An efficiency nerd’s dream!
So, this weekend my parent’s are coming up (polka at the Gasthof!) and I’m taking Friday off to go with Mom to Ikea to pick up all the furniture with their Explorer, then taking a week off in March to do all the installation and decoration. Can’t wait!
I knew someday I’d have a nice home office/computer/media room and someday is nearly here! The rest of the “somedays” will be here soon.
Winter Food
Somedays, it just doesn’t pay to post anything to Twitter because there are too many people out there that feel the need to correct you on WHATEVER you write. Asshats.
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What is it about winter and making one want to eat triple their body weight in food? And it’s all creamy, cheesy, fattening fare that I want: pot pie, beef stew, homemade bread with butter, and on and on.
In the summer, I can eat salads every day and be happy, but take the temp below zero and anything resembling a vegetable just makes me sad.
Add that onto the fact that I can’t wear skirts as often (have to consult a meteorologist and a psychic to see WTF the weather will do that day before I even attempt to) just makes winter suck.
Tim and I are going to celebrate Thanksgiving in February (since he missed out on it this year due to the TMJ), but I’m thinking we need to throw a Winter Sucks party in March. Need a theme, though…but who’s with me?
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