up and down

The summer semester will be over in less than 12 hours since I've opted out of class summer session II. I kind of love summer school, because the classes are a little lower maintenance...the final project for this class is a poster presentation (I am clearly not that artistically inclined and much prefer powerpoint...). Quite a bit less work than the 20 pagers I typically write. Maybe I should have taken more classes from the counseling department...Regardless, I'm pretty excited about my 8 school-free weeks. Maybe I can tackle my inbox at work now...

In the down...
About 2 weeks ago I stepped off a curb and twisted my foot again. Its still swollen. I am getting worried. Its not a trick of lighting that there's visible veins on my left foot and not on my right... I'm getting tired of the elliptical, but every time I try to run, the swelling gets worse.

the big C

One of my oldest friend's mom was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer today. She was treated a few years ago for breast cancer, but now it has spread to her liver. Scary. Very scary.

My mom had late stage II breast cancer in October 2001. Almost 8 years now. She had a single mastectomy, then there was a few months of chemo, then a summer of radiation. I was away for all of it, at college, except the first chemo. I was home for Christmas, and the grilled cheese I made in the microwave made her sick from the smell. A big selfish part of me is kind of glad I was gone so I didn't have to cope with the realities every day, and also so I didn't have to explain my lack of emotion. I don't do emotional well. I "prefer" to bottle up my "upset-ness" and instead lash out at inconsequential things, like trash cans left on the curb, undone laundry, or late trains.

MR's Mom is joining my mom (both in spirit, my mom isn't walking 60 miles) as my Women of Honor for the 3-day Walk this fall. Which reminds me, I need to get on fundraising...I'm at 25% of my $2300 goal. There's a donate button to the right... :)

run forrest run

as was shouted to me by some middleschooler this evening. Sigh.

Bailey and I had a difficult two miler today. We're making an effort to switch to a Gentle Leader, but he HATES it. Problem is, he pulls like crazy on a normal lead. He has mostly given up on trying to pull it off of his nose and now just lays there. I pick him up and put him on his feet, we go 5 steps, and plop. Ugh.
I think tomorrow morning I need to bring treats.

Needless to say, I switched to the regular lead for our two-mile jog....but appearently Wednesday is Stubborn Day. We made a few pit stops to watch birds and other dogs!

modes of marriage

How can you not love this (click to view fully)? Thanks Comedy Central.

proof of fear

for the future of the world.

email from student today, in "reply" to a message I sent:

Mom
Here is all the background info...
if you could print out the necessary pages, that'd be good!
"Clearly Not Independent Student/Daughter"


This student is 20. I managed to remove blunt references to "your mom can't do all of it for you" from my reply and kept it a little more "you" focused. Which was probably passive aggressive, but whatever...

arghhhh

I finally located some motivation. Headed out for a run after work, planning on doing 3, picking up the puppy for 2 more, popping by the dog park for 20 min, lifting, then going to intermediate doggy class.

And then I stepped funny on the edge of grass/sidewalk. Audible pop. Walked the mile home. Let the dog out. Spent 30 minutes obsessing over swelling, trying to remember what the break did (pain & time wise) 11 months ago, and mentally planning what I would do about work if I ended up on crutches again.

4 hours later, I'm still mobile, so I have pretty good confidence I just sprained some little ligament like I did in January. Apparently I really weakened something when I broke that 5th metatarsal. Its still sore to walk on though, so while we did go to the dog park & puppy class, I missed that other 2 miles and the lifting. Maybe tomorrow. Heck, maybe Saturday, since if it doesn't feel 90% better by tomorrow, I'm not driving 3+ hrs each way for the 7s tournament.

Sigh....

It was a good run too, 2 miles under 9 minutes despite the humidity. Another 0.25 mi. Then a hobble home. Sigh.

motivation problem

I cannot seem to get myself to the gym or with my running shoes on. My goal for this week is just 13 miles (2,5,7) as per my training plan (which I recalc'd on Runners' World's Smart Coach for my 10k time and current milage of 10-15 mi/week, so its less than I was sort of planning) and lifting twice. That isn't much.

now if only I could get myself out of bed.

tonight, 5 miles, will happen.

how bad is the recession, really?

If people can spend money on stuff like this?



At least the Snuggie was functional and not obviously hard to use (see shaking of TP off stick...)

the big problems in my life

really aren't all that big. I know I'm lucky that this is my major dilemma in life.

I have a big scheduling problem.

Part A: I am taking two classes this fall. I've done this for a couple of semesters now in my quest to be the fastest (or among them) part time doctoral student in GSE history, and its stressful for the latter half of the semester. Fall = rugby is in the first half, so not that bad...except I'm taking ProSem, which essentially requires a draft of the first three chapters of my dissertation to be written (well, of A dissertation, but in light of my timeline desires, I'd like it to be a USEFUL major project).

Part B: One class is late afternoons Tuesday, ending at 6:30. This means I can't go home to get my car (an hour trip each way) between work and practice. Manageable (somehow) though.

Part C: I really like working with the college team. They practice Monday and Thursday. This is a problem, as Princess Charming, the head coach, doesn't work nearby anymore and is hard pressed to make their practices. And my team practices Tues & Thurs.

Part D: Our game schedules overlap 5 times (of a 8 game or so season). Not tragic, Princess Charming can go to the DU games while I go play...

Part E: My club team has games in Orlando, Boston, undertermined playoff location, and if we go all the way, San Francisco...that's a lot of plane tickets/long drives. $$$ + time (see part A).

Part F: Can I really commit to train to play at a level where a) I would get some playing time for the games in Part E and b) can I even compete? Am I athletic enough to consider this? Do I even want to? Sigh. Part of me says a big YES especially as this is likely to be my last competitive D1 season, since I'd like to be pregnant or in the process of getting so for Fall 2010...
Does that desire outweight my desire to work with the college team? After the heartwarming experience with the select side last weekend (more later perhaps), I'm not sure. I also feel guilty, as club president, for not being sure if I want to commit to more than Developmental (read: B-Side) games at home...

creeped out

I got an email at work today from a total stranger. Not weird, except it wasn't work related. More like

I saw your photo on the {university} website and you have a pretty smile.

T

{state}

I thought it might be a guy T I went to college with, but he lives in TX (thanks Facebook) and probably knows basic grammar (the actual email was a couple of lines and had some errors). After googleing myself to make sure no super identifying info is out there (eg, my address), I searched this guy's email address (an AOL one!) in Facebook and came back with a guy I've never heard of who has 58 friends and is from the state he stated. CREEPY.

I kind of want to get an alarm system now.

imported

I imported my old blog to here...this one isn't shared on Facebook/etc for a variety of reasons but I flipped through my old posts and some were amusing. Happy browsing from forever ago.

same sex wedding in magazine?!?

See this from Two Chicks Nest

How can you not VOTE for Matthew and Jeffery? Do it. Now.

fitness D

ok, we're moving up

Miles: 10/15
Weights: 1/2
Pushups: 1/3
HIIT: 0/3

On the upside, I did a 10k to establish a baseline for the training for the September half. 15 week + SmartCoach = getting back to a sub-2 hr half. (not that my 10k time is promising for that, but I'll make it happen).

weekend nerves

This weekend I'm seeing my parents for the first time in a couple of months. I haven't told them about the whole melanoma thing yet. Seem silly? Yes. Am I nervous? Yes. Why? Because they'll be mad I didn't tell them two months ago. So why didn't I tell them yet/when it was going on/etc?

Because I did not need my mole to be the collapse of the Roman Empire, and decided it would be less stressful to tell them after everything was done and I was cured (or, worst case, when I had to get more done, but that didn't happen). Then it didn't seem right to say on the phone. Now though, in light of our impending trip to the boat, the time has come. I know its not really a huge deal, but there's just no good way to say "surprise, I had melanoma" and its not the kind of thing you put in a card. Sigh. Can't I just avoid it and pretend they won't notice the 4 inch scar on my shoulder blade?

babies everywhere

two people in my office are pregnant. Actually, that's not true. One is pregnant, and one has an expecting wife. And the new guy (who supposedly started but I haven't actually seen yet) also has an expecting wife so I hear...all due by August. Several of our friends have babies. Some two since they've been married. All of these folks have gotten married since we started dating. In 2006. Oye. (Sadly, none of these babies live near us.) A couple of others are TTC, and there's lots of impending babies on the internets I keep up with.

We were planning on getting started around now, but with the living situation, we need to put it off a year at least. Till I move or will be moving. It would be crazy to be home alone and pregnant (or with a newborn) several nights a week, right? right? (sometimes I think it might be doable, provided I'm not taking classes, but the logistics of train + daycare are pretty...daunting)