I've been lazy with the blog lately. I started my second semester of school last week, and I'm not at all into a routine yet. I haven't figured out yet when to do my homework and readings, when to have down time, when to do house work, when to walk the dogs. Well. The last one is taking care of itself, actually; with Roger leaving around 6:45 in the morning, Rye has decided that's when he needs to get up, too. So every morning when Roger's about to leave, Rye gets up to say goodbye to him, and then he stands right next to me and barks his little head off until I get out of bed. Really not an ideal situation. He is such a stubborn little fart. So I usually get up a little before 7:00 and dilly dally for about 15 minutes before the sun comes up, and then the dogs and I get in a run so I don't feel too terribly bad about leaving them alone all day. Then I shower and go to class, and usually get home around 4:00, it seems. Today I went grocery shopping and did the dishes, tomorrow I'm taking Huck to the vet for a check up, Friday I'm meeting someone for a run in the afternoon, so that means I'll try to get the dogs to the dog park in the morning so I don't have dog mom guilt.
I think I like my classes this semester, but it's a bit early to tell. This semester is extremely different from the last one in terms of subject material; last semester was very "experiment" heavy, in that I was mostly reading research articles all the time. This semester seems like it will involve a lot more problem sets and less reading. In case anyone's interested, here's what I'm taking: phonology (where we learn about analyzing the sound systems of languages), quantitative methods in linguistics (where we learn lots of statistics and how to analyze data), historical linguistics (how languages can change over time), cognitive linguistics (how the brain stores language... supposedly... I'm skeptical about this class), and I'm sitting in on experimental phonetics, where we get to play with high tech lab equipment to do things like measure pitch and air flow while people are talking. I'm particularly excited about the last one, since I don't actually have to worry about doing the work for a grade - I just get to play!
Other developments in my life... my new running shoes came in today!! I'm going to go pick them up on Friday or Saturday and take them for a test run. I am so excited. I also seem to have found some potential running partners. Ok, here's a funny story. So I posted an ad to Craigslist looking for a marathon training partner. The first girl who emailed me back was talking about how she's working on her second bachelor's degree now and used to be a personal trainer. I'm thinking, all right, awesome. Somewhat serious about both school and running - my kind of chick, right? So we have this email exchange wherein it becomes clear to me that she honestly believes astronomy and astrology to be the same thing. It's not that she mixed up the words - that would be far more forgivable - no, she just started a second bachelor's in astronomy this semester because she thought it was astrology. Something along the lines of "I'm more interested in the spiritual aspects of astronomy, not all that physics and chemistry stuff." Yikes. Now, part of me says I should stop being so judgmental and give her another chance. But if I run with her once, it'll be harder to get rid of her in the future. And marathon training involves spending hours with someone. What am I, a person who clearly values science and science education very highly, going to have to talk about with someone who signed up for astronomy classes to like, predict what house is in Virgo this month or whatever?
Then girl #2 emails me, and she's from Orange County. First strike against her. She wants to train to run her first marathon with her dad and sister in May, and she's "starting from zero". Umm, you do know how long a marathon is, right? I would not recommend going from 0 to 26.2 in, uh, 12 weeks. The selfish part of me wants to try running with this girl anyway, but the concerned fellow runner part of me wants to forbid this girl from attempting this, since she's probably going to do some serious damage to her body if she actually goes through with it.
Anyway. I did find one person, this guy named Kevin who's originally from Michigan. I responded to his ad after being disappointed at my only two responses, and he's perfectly nice. He got a few other responses, too, so I might end up finding someone through the grapevine eventually.
I'm sorry if I bore everyone who reads this with my running talk.
I think we're going to join the City Car Share. The Bay Area has these cars (and trucks and vans) stationed all over the place, and when you sign up for this program, they send you a card that unlocks them. You go online and reserve one for whenever you want it, they send a signal to your card to allow it to unlock the car you signed up for, then record when you return the car, and you get charged $5/hour plus 40 cents/mile. Not bad at all. That way we can run errands more easily and maybe get out and explore a little bit, since it is very unclear whether there is a new car in our future any time soon. And lots of people apparently sign up for the car share while they wait to get a new car, and then end up so happy with the car share they forget about buying their own. Oh, the price includes all gas, maintenance, and insurance, and you can sign it out for 24 hours at a time at a flat rate of $40, if you want. The only drawback is we can't take the dogs in it... so we'll probably get a car eventually, but this will definitely do in the meantime.
I'm suddenly very tired of typing, so I'm going to get ready for bed now. I'll try to update again soon!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Pictures and Running
As promised, here is my picture post! This first one is of Jimmy actually playing poker during the tournament. He was "surprised and impressed" that I watched him play for so long. But of course I did! It was fun and interesting and definitely not something I'll have the opportunity to do very often.
The next one is the view from one of Jimmy's friend's room. Freaking amazing.
This is one of the beach. I didn't actually swim in the ocean, but I did walk in the sand for a while, and it was downright beautiful. The water was so turquoise, the sand so creamy.
The next one is a tank full of jellyfish. Random, I know, but one of the coolest things about this resort was that they have this awesome network of aquariums, with walkways going under, around, above, and through them, so the animals swim all around you. I thought this was a cool shot, even though it doesn't really capture the coolness of all the aquariums (aquaria?).
And finally, just because this picture is hilarious, here are my doggies earlier today. We went for a great run this morning, and then Rye discovered a new way to sleep in the sun; we call him the sun dial dog, because he literally scoots around the extra bedroom on the floor all day, following the path of the sun. If you catch him before about 10:00 am, the sunlight is still on the wall, not the floor, so he can't sleep in it yet. He used to just back up against the wall and wait for it to hit the floor, but since I've gotten home from my trip, I stacked my suitcase against the wall and, well, see for yourself:
I love it that Huck has this look on his face like, "Do you see this? You have got to be kidding me."
In other news, I was doubly inspired yesterday. While walking the dogs, these three girls ran by me, and my first reaction was a pang of jealousy; why do they have someone to run with and I don't? My second reaction was, "Wait, isn't the pollution level pretty high today?" And it was - yesterday it was in the high 90's, I believe, which is the yellow "sensitive individuals should consider limiting outdoor exertion" level. Usually when it gets in the high yellow zone, I don't run, since my chest used to get pretty tight on those days. But these girls were running in it just fine, apparently.
So the upshot of that brief encounter is 1) I went running today, even though the pollution index was like 105, and I was totally and completely fine. This is somewhat good and somewhat bad. On the one hand, it's great that I've adjusted my sensitivity to the pollution, since it apparently doesn't affect me like it did at first, and now I can run when the levels are higher. On the other hand... seriously? I'm used to having 2.5 micrometer particles gunking up my lungs now? That's depressing.
And 2) I got on this website called exercisefriends.com and started looking for a running partner. I found this girl who posted an "ad" a few years ago looking for a fellow 20-something female to train for the San Francisco Marathon with her, and I sent her an email to see if she's still living in Berkeley, still interested in training for SF '09, and if she might want to grab a cup of coffee to make sure neither of us are 45 year old creepy stalker dudes before we set up a running date. I'm really hoping I hear back from her soon!
Ok, that's all for now.
The next one is the view from one of Jimmy's friend's room. Freaking amazing.
This is one of the beach. I didn't actually swim in the ocean, but I did walk in the sand for a while, and it was downright beautiful. The water was so turquoise, the sand so creamy.
The next one is a tank full of jellyfish. Random, I know, but one of the coolest things about this resort was that they have this awesome network of aquariums, with walkways going under, around, above, and through them, so the animals swim all around you. I thought this was a cool shot, even though it doesn't really capture the coolness of all the aquariums (aquaria?).
And finally, just because this picture is hilarious, here are my doggies earlier today. We went for a great run this morning, and then Rye discovered a new way to sleep in the sun; we call him the sun dial dog, because he literally scoots around the extra bedroom on the floor all day, following the path of the sun. If you catch him before about 10:00 am, the sunlight is still on the wall, not the floor, so he can't sleep in it yet. He used to just back up against the wall and wait for it to hit the floor, but since I've gotten home from my trip, I stacked my suitcase against the wall and, well, see for yourself:
I love it that Huck has this look on his face like, "Do you see this? You have got to be kidding me."
In other news, I was doubly inspired yesterday. While walking the dogs, these three girls ran by me, and my first reaction was a pang of jealousy; why do they have someone to run with and I don't? My second reaction was, "Wait, isn't the pollution level pretty high today?" And it was - yesterday it was in the high 90's, I believe, which is the yellow "sensitive individuals should consider limiting outdoor exertion" level. Usually when it gets in the high yellow zone, I don't run, since my chest used to get pretty tight on those days. But these girls were running in it just fine, apparently.
So the upshot of that brief encounter is 1) I went running today, even though the pollution index was like 105, and I was totally and completely fine. This is somewhat good and somewhat bad. On the one hand, it's great that I've adjusted my sensitivity to the pollution, since it apparently doesn't affect me like it did at first, and now I can run when the levels are higher. On the other hand... seriously? I'm used to having 2.5 micrometer particles gunking up my lungs now? That's depressing.
And 2) I got on this website called exercisefriends.com and started looking for a running partner. I found this girl who posted an "ad" a few years ago looking for a fellow 20-something female to train for the San Francisco Marathon with her, and I sent her an email to see if she's still living in Berkeley, still interested in training for SF '09, and if she might want to grab a cup of coffee to make sure neither of us are 45 year old creepy stalker dudes before we set up a running date. I'm really hoping I hear back from her soon!
Ok, that's all for now.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Only one more week of long days left,
and then they start streaming by like water through a sieve again. This has been a wonderful break. My first semester of school went by so quickly, reminding me again of the fickle nature of Time; when you're waiting for something that's a few weeks or months away (as I was before moving and starting grad school), time passes so slowly. But when you're stuck in the moment (as I generally am when I have coursework to think about), time can easily pass you by. I can't believe we've been here for five months already!
I was ready for a break, though. I had a very busy semester, and while I've gotten a lot better about not stressing out when I have an interminable list of things to do, you can only keep it up for so long. So I was very relieved when it was time for a break, and I've been having a lovely time doing absolutely nothing. The great thing about a semester break, though, is that it's usually long enough that I'm ready to go back to school by the end of it. Like, ok, that was nice, but I'm ready to feel productive again...
So I'm starting to feel that way now, and that's lucky for me, because I start class on Tuesday. Part of that feeling is undoubtedly due to the fact that Roger's working now (more on that in a bit), which leaves me with very long days of walking the dogs, reading, and running little errands when I feel like leaving the house.
The Bahamas was (were?) great! Jimmy didn't win the tournament or anything, but we both had a really good time, I think. He was very happy to see his friends, I had a good time meeting them all, and it was really nice being able to spend some time with him - in such a gorgeous setting, no less! I'll post some pictures soon, maybe later today, even.
Roger loves his job. He has so much to do, and he loves being so productive and taking on such an important role in his company. He's already accomplished so much, and he's only been there a week and a half! He's got the payroll and the pensions in order, he's been working on the budget and ordering supplies, and apparently his boss referred to him as the company's controller in an email, which further supports Roger's theory that he's already looking at a promotion in the (relatively) near future. He's gone a lot now, especially since the commute is 75 minutes one way, but that's only temporary; his main task starting in about March will be to find a new office for the company in downtown San Francisco, and once they get moved in (in July or August), his commute will only be 30-45 minutes. In the meantime, I think we're both okay with him being gone a lot. And I don't mean that in the mean way it sounds! I'm starting class soon, he's thrilled to have stuff to do and really enjoying working, he's really fun to be around when he's home because he's in a great mood, and now that we'll have money, we can actually do stuff on the weekends, and I'll be able to do stuff with my friends during the week. He really likes his coworkers, too - one guy is actually from Downs, IL, which is pretty crazy, if you think about it, and there are a few other guys he seems to be getting along with well, too. They've been out to lunch a few times already, and I think once we get our house more in order, we can invite them over here.
Payday is Friday, and we've been conferring on what we should buy first. The first order of business will be repairing our fence. Yesterday morning, I let the dogs outside and made my coffee. I was going to drink it out on the deck because the weather has been fantastic the past few days, but it was eerily quiet when I walked outside. Well, to my horror, I soon realized the gate to our fence had finally given way, and the dogs were nowhere to be found. Freaking out, I set down my coffee and went running down the sidewalk in my pajamas and sock feet, whistling and yelling at the top of my lungs. When I quit screaming my head off for a second, I realized I could hear them barking and wreaking havoc just one street over, so I whistled and yelled louder, and pretty soon the two rascals go streaking down the sidewalk across the street. I yell "HEY!!!" so loud that they actually stop and look at me, followed by a very "wow, she really means it" rendition of "GET OVER HERE". So they come running back across the street right up to me with these elated looks on their faces of "man, that was AWESOME". I was so angry and relieved at the same time, but of course all I could hope for them to understand was that they were good dogs for coming home when I called them, so I loved on them a lot and gave them lots of treats for coming home.
But holy cow, that was freaking scary. So since payday is Friday, as I mentioned before, the first order of business is to have the fence completely repaired and improved so that that never happens again and we can put them back there confidently, knowing there will be no impromptu jaunts around the neighborhood. Hmm. I hope they didn't like, kill any cats while they were out. I hadn't thought of that until now.
So I emailed the landlords today to see if they'll be willing to help pay for it, and I've been looking around online for contractors to do the work. I found this place that specializes in deck repair, and there were some gorgeous before-and-after shots of decks, and that got me thinking - if we're paying to have the fence repaired, and we're hoping to start cleaning up the property anyway, maybe we should take the opportunity to have them stain the fence and deck while they're at it? Just an idea, but it would go a long way toward making the backyard look nice, which is the eventual goal.
We've been talking about other stuff to take care of, too, of course. I think we're going to swap our bedroom and the extra bedroom and finally get a desk for Roger so he doesn't have to sit at an ironing board in the living room, although it does kind of make me laugh. (You do whatcha gotta do, y'know?) Also, that reminds me: Roger's company gave him a "new, kick-ass laptop" on his first day, which is obviously great, and apparently they're getting rid of their old laptops, so I might get one of those for really cheap, which would be beyond excellent. I need a new one for this semester, so that's also near the top of the list of purchases.
I feel like I'm yammering on and on, but I guess that's sort of the point of a blog...
Anyway, we're both very very very excited and will be going out to dinner this weekend to celebrate the start of our real adult life, where we can like, actually do things. I couldn't be happier, and the year is certainly off to a wonderful start.
I'll try to post some pictures soon. Much love to all of you, and I hope your 2009 is off and running with a bang, too!
I was ready for a break, though. I had a very busy semester, and while I've gotten a lot better about not stressing out when I have an interminable list of things to do, you can only keep it up for so long. So I was very relieved when it was time for a break, and I've been having a lovely time doing absolutely nothing. The great thing about a semester break, though, is that it's usually long enough that I'm ready to go back to school by the end of it. Like, ok, that was nice, but I'm ready to feel productive again...
So I'm starting to feel that way now, and that's lucky for me, because I start class on Tuesday. Part of that feeling is undoubtedly due to the fact that Roger's working now (more on that in a bit), which leaves me with very long days of walking the dogs, reading, and running little errands when I feel like leaving the house.
The Bahamas was (were?) great! Jimmy didn't win the tournament or anything, but we both had a really good time, I think. He was very happy to see his friends, I had a good time meeting them all, and it was really nice being able to spend some time with him - in such a gorgeous setting, no less! I'll post some pictures soon, maybe later today, even.
Roger loves his job. He has so much to do, and he loves being so productive and taking on such an important role in his company. He's already accomplished so much, and he's only been there a week and a half! He's got the payroll and the pensions in order, he's been working on the budget and ordering supplies, and apparently his boss referred to him as the company's controller in an email, which further supports Roger's theory that he's already looking at a promotion in the (relatively) near future. He's gone a lot now, especially since the commute is 75 minutes one way, but that's only temporary; his main task starting in about March will be to find a new office for the company in downtown San Francisco, and once they get moved in (in July or August), his commute will only be 30-45 minutes. In the meantime, I think we're both okay with him being gone a lot. And I don't mean that in the mean way it sounds! I'm starting class soon, he's thrilled to have stuff to do and really enjoying working, he's really fun to be around when he's home because he's in a great mood, and now that we'll have money, we can actually do stuff on the weekends, and I'll be able to do stuff with my friends during the week. He really likes his coworkers, too - one guy is actually from Downs, IL, which is pretty crazy, if you think about it, and there are a few other guys he seems to be getting along with well, too. They've been out to lunch a few times already, and I think once we get our house more in order, we can invite them over here.
Payday is Friday, and we've been conferring on what we should buy first. The first order of business will be repairing our fence. Yesterday morning, I let the dogs outside and made my coffee. I was going to drink it out on the deck because the weather has been fantastic the past few days, but it was eerily quiet when I walked outside. Well, to my horror, I soon realized the gate to our fence had finally given way, and the dogs were nowhere to be found. Freaking out, I set down my coffee and went running down the sidewalk in my pajamas and sock feet, whistling and yelling at the top of my lungs. When I quit screaming my head off for a second, I realized I could hear them barking and wreaking havoc just one street over, so I whistled and yelled louder, and pretty soon the two rascals go streaking down the sidewalk across the street. I yell "HEY!!!" so loud that they actually stop and look at me, followed by a very "wow, she really means it" rendition of "GET OVER HERE". So they come running back across the street right up to me with these elated looks on their faces of "man, that was AWESOME". I was so angry and relieved at the same time, but of course all I could hope for them to understand was that they were good dogs for coming home when I called them, so I loved on them a lot and gave them lots of treats for coming home.
But holy cow, that was freaking scary. So since payday is Friday, as I mentioned before, the first order of business is to have the fence completely repaired and improved so that that never happens again and we can put them back there confidently, knowing there will be no impromptu jaunts around the neighborhood. Hmm. I hope they didn't like, kill any cats while they were out. I hadn't thought of that until now.
So I emailed the landlords today to see if they'll be willing to help pay for it, and I've been looking around online for contractors to do the work. I found this place that specializes in deck repair, and there were some gorgeous before-and-after shots of decks, and that got me thinking - if we're paying to have the fence repaired, and we're hoping to start cleaning up the property anyway, maybe we should take the opportunity to have them stain the fence and deck while they're at it? Just an idea, but it would go a long way toward making the backyard look nice, which is the eventual goal.
We've been talking about other stuff to take care of, too, of course. I think we're going to swap our bedroom and the extra bedroom and finally get a desk for Roger so he doesn't have to sit at an ironing board in the living room, although it does kind of make me laugh. (You do whatcha gotta do, y'know?) Also, that reminds me: Roger's company gave him a "new, kick-ass laptop" on his first day, which is obviously great, and apparently they're getting rid of their old laptops, so I might get one of those for really cheap, which would be beyond excellent. I need a new one for this semester, so that's also near the top of the list of purchases.
I feel like I'm yammering on and on, but I guess that's sort of the point of a blog...
Anyway, we're both very very very excited and will be going out to dinner this weekend to celebrate the start of our real adult life, where we can like, actually do things. I couldn't be happier, and the year is certainly off to a wonderful start.
I'll try to post some pictures soon. Much love to all of you, and I hope your 2009 is off and running with a bang, too!
Friday, January 2, 2009
From Runner's World Online Today
"Everyone get a run in yesterday?That pretty much says it all. Enjoy your run, everyone!I did. And it was the most amazing run of my life.
No, nothing outwardly amazing happened—I wasn't moving very fast, didn't find a hundred dollar bill on a deserted street, wasn't running the full Boston Marathon course... My wife hadn't paid an elite to join me. The weather wasn't even that great.
It wasn't so remarkable inwardly, either. While I ran, my mind toggled through the usual laundry list of thoughts: bills to pay, projects to start (or finish), anxieties to face. Laundry. I didn't feel especially strong. I wasn't enjoying that effortless, fluid stride that sometimes comes like a gift.
I was just out there, putting in an easy 4 1/2 miles around the neighborhood on New Year's Day.
Only later, upon reflection, did it hit me: My run today was amazing not in spite of its mundane nature, but because of it.
In other words, my run today was great because it was my run. Today.
I'm one of the lucky few (and we are few, as a slice of the population) who is in on this wonderful, little secret: Running makes you feel good. It's good for you, in so many ways. And I'm doing it. I've been doing it so long, in fact, I've managed somehow to forget how incredible it is, that on any given day I can decide to go out and run, then do it. And come back feeling clearer, brighter, stronger, more relaxed.
It occurs to me that too often we take for granted these countless, everyday jaunts. The "in between" miles. We've been conditioned to see only milestone runs or marquee events as noteworthy or celebratory—running a PR, qualifying for Boston, doing a destination marathon or a relay like Hood to Coast.
All of those things are great, don't get me wrong. But as far as I'm concerned, in running as in life, true happiness lies in finding joy in seemingly smaller, more quotidian stuff. I'm not big into New Year's resolutions, but this year I just might have to adopt one: Remind myself every single day how lucky I am to be a runner.
Happy New Year, guys. Here's to many happy and healthy miles in 2009."
I'm also lucky enough to be headed off to a week in the Bahamas today, courtesy of the little bro, who's playing a big poker tournament there. I may be slightly incommunicado for the next few days, but I should be reachable by email, at least.
Happy New Year!
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