Month: March 2009

Today was TOO long.  We got up before 5:30, left the house by 6:30, so we could get downtown in time to have some breakfast before the conference started at 8:30.  We got there with time to spare, which was nice.  I hate being late.  But the rest of the day took FOREVER.  And I couldn’t even leave once it was over for the day.  John had to get to class, so I waited for Wendy to finish up.  We didn’t leave until around 6:15 or 6:30.  And traffic was awful, so it was 8 o’clock before I got home.  Thankfully, Christina was able to swing by after she got off work to let the dogs out, so I didn’t come home to any disasters.  Thanks, Christina!

I’m just so very tired, and poor John is even worse shape.  I don’t know how he’ll manage to stay awake during class tonight.  Tomorrow will start the same, but hopefully we won’t go as late.

My eyes are not staying open (and I really don’t want to relive my day as I look for something to write about.  It wasn’t that much fun.), so I’m going to bed.  I’ll let the dogs come upstairs with me.  I always let them come up on nights John is away.  They love it.  Then John gets home, they go rushing downstairs to greet him, and they don’t really notice that he doesn’t let them back up.  (They’re not very bright.  But they are adorable.)

I finished Gentlemen and Players last night.  No, night before last.  It was the first time in a long time that I just stayed up in bed reading until I was done.  I was too close to the end to put it down.  I enjoyed it, and I will definitely be looking for more books by Joanne Harris.  Actually, I recommended this one to Joe and Megan yesterday.  (And they told me I should read Caleb Carr’s The Alienist.  I’ve gotta remember that.)  Thanks, Jess!  I’ll bring it back to you next weekend.  So last night I started my book club book, The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama.  It’s one of those serene novels, where some stuff happens, but it’s all at a slight remove.  I liked it, but I didn’t love it.  (I finished it about an hour ago.  Not a very long book.)  Now it’s time for me to return to the Otherland series.

John and Dan (Short, from RI) have been in the garage since around 11 this morning.  Other than lunch (late, around 3 – I made burgers), I haven’t really seen them.  There’s been a lot of noise, and lately, a lot of engine revving, so I think things are going well.  🙂

Tomorrow and Tuesday are going to be very long days.  We’re both going to the spring conference for work in DC, and we have to be there by about eight.  John has class tomorrow night, so I’ll be coming home with our boss, whenever she’s ready to leave.  I have no idea how late she tends to stay at these things.  But at least it’ll be a short work week.  Two days at the conference, Wednesday at work, and then we leave Thursday morning to head for Charlottesville for the wedding.  Yay wedding!

Yesterday was a good day.  We slept in a little bit, did a little shopping (John has a new suit, but no new running shoes.  Surprise – no one carries size 14, 4E running shoes.), and then headed to Falls Church for the race.  We parked in a cul de sac around the corner from the trail (the race was on the W&OD trail), in front of this really cool Tudor house.  I love Tudor houses.  So does John.  Neat house.  Anyway, it was overcast and a little chilly as we walked to the building next to the trail where we could get our numbers.  My number for this race?  42.  Woo!

This race had timing chips, or whatever you call them, so we had to tie those to our shoes.  I think they only use them for finish times.  If you start anywhere but in the front of the pack, your time isn’t really going to be accurate.  When they started the race, a guy at the official start line counted seconds so we knew when we crossed.  My official start time (which doesn’t figure into my official finish time, which annoys me a bit) was 18 or 19 seconds after the starting gun.  Actually, that works for me ’cause it means my actual official finish time was below 30 minutes, if you subtract 19 seconds.

There was another woman with a weird pace in this race.  She was wearing pink and black (pink hat, black pants, pink shirt, black jacket), nicely coordinated.  She started out just ahead of me in the pack, but then she stopped to walk.  So I passed her.  A few minutes later, she passed me at a jog again.  Then she walked and I passed her.  That’s really annoying.  I passed her sometime after the first mile, and I didn’t see her again until the race was over, so I ended up beating her, but I don’t like leap-frogging with people who walk.  It means their jogging pace is way faster than mine.  Speaking of people who walk, I’m half-convinced this one guy was actually triplets.  I passed him once (he was walking), and then a few minutes later, I passed him again (he was walking).  I never saw him jog past to me to get ahead.  Then it happened a third time, and I really started to think there was more than one of him.  How did I not see him get ahead of me?  Very weird.  But the weirdest person was the guy I saw near the back of the pack (the race was out 2.5K and back along the same path, so after I turned around at the halfway mark I went by everyone who was behind me), running in khaki cargo pants, a button down, and a jacket, carrying a little umbrella (folded up).  Not exactly what i would choose to go for a run in.

Oh!  Before I hit the halfway point, I saw the front-runner coming back towards the finish.  He was tall, thin, black, fast, and all I could think was, “Kenyan?  Could he be Kenyan?  What’s he doing in our rinky-dink race?”  And then I immediately thought, “Yeah, sure, just ’cause he’s black, fast, and clearly a REAL runner, he must be from Kenya?  What is wrong with you?”  And just ’cause I turned out to be right (he is Kenyan, and he won the race in 15:51) doesn’t my assumption any better.  But I still don’t know what brought him to this particular race.

I googled him.  He’s in town to run marathons and half-marathons and win prize money.  Seems to be how he makes a living, which is just really cool.  John mentioned this morning that 15:51 isn’t really all that fast for a 5K (not for medium distance runners), but it makes sense now that I know the guy is a marathoner.  Endurance, not so much speed.  Of course, he’s still twice as fast as me, so what do I know.

Best part?  It RAINED the whole time.  Actually, it wasn’t that bad.  It was something more than a mist, but without actual raindrops.  It was nice and cool just when we were heating up, but we did end up mostly soaked.  The course was mostly flat, except when we went over Rte 7.  But the bridge over 7 was wooden, and I think the change in texture was enough of a distraction so that I didn’t really notice the hill.  I’m glad I did it.  It was hard, and I was concentrating on keeping my legs moving (“No walking, no walking, keep breathing, it doesn’t hurt that bad, no walking, no walking…”), but it felt really good to finish.  I saw the line coming up and I stretched my legs out and passed another four people in the last tenth of a mile…and then I stumbled to a stop and tried to untie my left shoe with fumbling fingers and wobbly legs so I could give them my timing tag/chip thing.  But it felt good.  Our next race is in a month in Alexandria.

I’ll be ready.

John and I ran out first 5K of year today in Falls Church.  We did better that we expected, but we probably won’t see official times until tomorrow.  By my stopwatch, I finished in 29:45 (which makes me happy).  After the race, we called Joe and Megan (since we were nearby) and stopped by their house.  I had a book to drop off, and we spent the rest of the afternoon and part of the evening with them and their boys.  Always a good time.

Also, we watched this week’s Lost tonight, so Mindy and Erik, I’ll call you tomorrow to discuss.  I’ll also have more details about the race tomorrow.

Today was a good day, I think.  Busy at work, but the good kind of busy.  We’re home with no more responsibilities.  We ordered Italian for dinner (should be here soon) and we’ll either watch Lost or maybe a movie.  Tomorrow we have a couple of errands to run and then a race.  And Sunday, Dan is coming up to help John work on his Camaro.   I will probably read.  I almost have to read.  I love it.  🙂  My next book club meeting is Tuesday night, and I haven’t started the book.  It’s not very long, and if I have all day Sunday, I’m sure I can finish it by Tuesday, but I don’t want to put Gentlemen and Players down to do it.  So I’m going to try to finish that one by Saturday night.  Which means I can’t waste time here tonight.

Damn.  That was dinner.  I mean, you know, good.  But it means I don’t have time to read first.

I was considering not posting tonight, since I really have nothing to say, but I decided that I can’t deliberately skip a day.  Forgetting is one thing.  The downside is that I’m done now.  This is it, and it’s not really worth it.  I might have to reconsider my policy on posting when I can’t even babble for a couple of paragraphs (like yesterday).  I’m tired, and I’m going to bed.

Really.  I have very little to say today.  I wonder if it’s better to just skip posting on days like this.  Is forcing myself to write something, anything, better than not posting at all?  Even if what gets posted is boring, wandering, inane – ah.  Yes, if I keep the name of my website in mind, posting something is better than posting nothing.  Still, inanity with a purpose is better than random inanity (I’m starting to doubt that’s a real word), so unless I come up with something soon, I’ll be keeping this short.  Unlike that sentence.  But very like the sentence after it.  And I’m back to the purposeless inanity (insanity?  not yet) that I never really left behind.

Um…John and I will be running our first 5K of the year this Saturday.  It’s in Falls Church at 4pm.  I’m not expecting to do well.  I know I’ll be able to run the whole thing (no walking for me!) since 3 miles has been my minimum workout for a while now, but my times with the dogs have been awful.  And I’m pretty sure it’s not the dogs’ fault.  We might see Joe, though.  A while back he said he was going to register for this race, but I don’t know if he did.

Well, that was uninspired.  Oh, speaking of uninspired (and Joe for that matter, since he’s such a huge fan), the guest on last night’s Daily Show (which we watched tonight) was Bruce Springsteen.  The interview was not typical for Jon Stewart.  He gushed.  There was no mocking, no gentle joking.  Mostly drool.  I just can’t bring myself to care about Bruce Springsteen.  I don’t think he’s bad, I mean, I get what he’s about.  I just don’t get it.  But he does look much better promoting this album than the last one.  His hair is shorter, cleaner, and it makes him look younger.  Less craggy.  I won’t critique his music, but I have eyes.  I’ll stick to what I know and critique his appearance.  🙂

I need a break from early mornings.  Getting up around 6:30 to go for a run is one thing.  Getting to work by 7:45 (yesterday) or by 7am (today) is another.  I am SO tired, and I didn’t sleep well last night.  I had dreams about losing control (one while driving a car, and another while trying to walk four or five dogs at the same time).

John just turned on The Colbert Report (last night’s episode), and apparently (according to Colbert and TVWeek), the Sci Fi channel is changing its name to “Syfy” because somehow this will make it sound less “geeky”. Give me a break.  They should embrace their geekiness!  Also, Syfy looks like it should be pronounced “siffy”.

I don’t have a whole lot else to contribute tonight.  I didn’t watch Obama on TV.  I’ll watch it tomorrow.  Oh, I saw this awesome video today.  It might be faked, but it’s cool anyway.  Very fun to watch.

I can’t believe I skipped three days.  And I can’t even use vacation as an excuse.

I am officially shopped out.  I met Jess at Tysons early Saturday so we could find shoes for her and a dress for me to wear to her wedding.  I get tired of trying on clothes pretty quickly, so it was good that I found the dress in the second store.  Third, really, but I didn’t try anything on in Macy’s.  Too disorganized.  I don’t have the patience for that.  But I love the dress I found.  Of course, then we had to find shoes.  Nordstrom has a shoe department on every floor (three floors at Tysons), and we found that the shoes get cheaper as you head downstairs.  A shoe salesman on the top floor tried to show me $500 Jimmy Choos!  We practically ran for the lower floors.  Anyway, we had lunch and then continued with the shoe shopping.  Jess found a pair (gold, strappy, sparkly – gorgeous) at Bloomingdale’s, but she was going to try them on when she got home to make sure they’d look good with her dress.  Verdict?  I don’t know yet.  It was fun.  We must have walked the length of the mall at least four times.  And we started the day by browsing through Levenger’s, of course.  🙂  Oh, and Jess brought me a book, ’cause she’s cool like that.  We traded, since I remembered to bring her copy of A Three Dog Life.  She brought me Gentlemen and Players, which I am now reading.

Sunday I went to the mall again (different mall) ’cause I realized I needed another suit.  I went to Lord & Taylor and discovered that I love Anne Klein (brand, not person).  🙂  Anne Klein very definitely thinks I’m a size 8.  Tahari thinks I’m a 10.  Plus, Anne Klein makes one-button suits, which are my favorite.  So now I have a black one, too.  But seriously, that’s all the clothes shopping I can take in one weekend.

Shopping was not the only thing that exhausted me these last few days, though.  Saturday night we went into DC to meet Ryan Evans and his girlfriend, Laura.  We haven’t seen Ryan and Laura since Brian’s wedding two and a half years ago.  Laura was in town for a conference, so when Ryan came up for the weekend, we made sure we were free to see them.  I like them.  We camped out at the District Chop House for about four hours (until they closed and kicked us out at midnight), and then hung out in the lobby of their hotel until about 1:30.  We got home around 2:15.  We had a really good time, but god that was late.  I’m old.  Oh!  We saw Helen Thomas at the hotel!  There was some kind of formal event just ending when we got back from dinner (a little after midnight).  There were a ton of people coming off the elevator and going through the lobby.  The men were all in white tie and the women were all in formal gowns.

Ah.  Mystery solved.  It was the annual Gridiron Club dinner.  And that explains the motorcade, the line of black SUVs parked outside, and the secret service in the lobby.  Senators and presidents attend and sometimes speak at this thing, although apparently Obama did not go to this one.  Anyway, shortly before John and I left, the four of us were standing in the lobby.  I was facing the elevators, and I looked around Ryan, elbowed John, and whispered (loudly, I’m sure), “Isn’t that Helen Thomas?”  It so totally was.  And that was totally cool.

I’ve started my spring and summer grocery shopping.  All that really means is that I go to Wegman’s and buy stuff to grill.  🙂  But it also means I eat healthy stuff!  Last night we grilled steak kabobs.  Tonight, I grilled salmon, mushrooms, asparagus, and two pineapple slices.  Add a little teriyaki sauce, a little soy sauce…delicious.  And good for me.  And I’ll probably do the same for both of us tomorrow night, since I got more salmon.  Maybe broccoli, since John’s not crazy about asparagus unless it’s wrapped in bacon.  🙂  John is taking his Theory of Algorithms midterm tonight.  He studied all weekend (while I was shopping) and all last week, and I think he spent most of today trying to get time to move faster so he could get the test over with.

Oh, so I started Gentlemen and Players today because I finished the third Mistborn book last night.  It really surprised me.  I mean, I got to the end, found something out about a plot point that truly surprised me, and then realized that the author had been telling me that little secret through the ENTIRE book.  Looking back, it’s so clear, but I really didn’t get it at all until Sanderson (author) was ready to tell me.  I’m impressed.

I think I should write more thank-you notes.  You know, as a general rule.  It’s a nice thing to do and people like getting them.  I should also call/email more of my relatives.  And if I’m going to get into a list of all the things I don’t do that I should, we’ll be here all night, so I’m stopping there.

Of course, there’s one other thing everyone should do simply because you get a reaction.  Go in a Starbucks (or some other place where you have to walk by a bunch of people to get to the restroom).  Wear one outfit on your way in and change clothes in the bathroom so when you come out, you’re wearing something completely different.  And I mean completely.  You’ll probably get a couple of double-takes.  It’s kinda funny.

And another thing – if you’re jogging or walking or walking your dog or whatever and someone else jogs by you and nods/says good morning/waves, acknowledge that person!  She’s just being friendly.  Being ignored doesn’t feel good.

How about this one: when you’re driving and someone lets you ahead of them, especially in traffic, wave!  It’s not hard.  They were being nice to you!

Okay, that’s enough.  Today was a VERY long day (but successful!), and tomorrow starts very early.  I’m going to go get a better night’s sleep than I had last night.

It’s too early to tell yet if this one is going to be good.  The first part of the pilot episode was AWFUL.  The second half was much better.  Oh, I’m talking about Castle.  It’s yet another cop show, and John thinks it’s trying to play off the success of The Mentalist.  It’s also similar to Lie to Me, in the sense that all three shows are (mostly) crime-driven, with the cops bringing on a non-law enforcement specialist to help them solve that week’s crime.  Anyway, the second episode of Castle was pretty good.  Nathan Fillion is in it, and he’s pretty cute.  He’s what made the first half of the pilot so awful, though.  They really over did the skirt-chaser aspect of his character’s personality.  It was much more understated in the second episode.  I’ve only seen him in Waitress, which I loved, and I think he was in Firefly, but I’ve never seen that show.  We’ll give this one another couple of episodes before we decide to keep it or quit.

I went a little link-happy today.  Makes my post more colorful. 🙂  I have to go help John study.  No, really!  He said he wanted to run part of some proof by me (the math part).  I’m good for some of that.

This is going to be short because I’m reading one of those books I just can’t put down.  I mean, I generally really like the books I read (because in most cases I’ll stop reading a book if I’m not enjoying it – life is too short to read books you don’t enjoy if you don’t have to), but I love it when I can’t wait to get back to one. Even if that book doesn’t make it to my list of favorites, it’s still a wonderful feeling.  I get involved.

John started his midterm prep today.  From now until Monday night, all of his free time will be devoted to studying.  This is for his scary Theory of Algorithms class.  I don’t even like to spell algorithms.  I keep looking for another vowel.  So John is up in his office, trying to concentrate, and I will do my best not to get in his way.  I think that’s the only way I can help.

So I was waltzing around my kitchen tonight (what else can you do when The Rascals’ “How Can I Be Sure?” comes on and you have a broom in your hands?) when I realized…I hope none of my neighbors are looking in my windows this evening.  I may have embarrassed myself.  I was sweeping the house, since Charles (the roomba) is having issues), and the dogs were alternating between between staring at me quizzically and trying to keep up with the dancing.  They need practice.

I went to the used bookstore near the office today looking for the next Otherland book.  I figured why buy it new if I can find it used?  It was going to be a quick trip; if they didn’t have the book I was looking for, I was going to leave.  And I was successful!  I found my book!  And three others.  (I’ll be reading Tad Williams for a while.)  Of course, I got distracted by the last Mistborn book, which was written by the guy who is writing the last Wheel of Time book (since Robert Jordan died before he could write it – John jinxed him).  And on top of that distraction, I’m doing something I never do.  I’m reading TWO books at once.  When I’m not reading Hero of Ages (cheesy title, I know), I’m reading The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life, a book Jess let me borrow.  I’d probably just read that straight through, except that it keeps inspiring me to read.  And for some reason, it doesn’t count as the book to read.  I’m not sure that makes sense now that I’ve written it out.  Maybe it does.

This has been a very lonely, very gloomy Sunday.  It’s been overcast, not just cloudy, but dark all day, and I haven’t really enjoyed it.  John left to hang out with a friend from high school before I was even fully awake this morning, so I slept in alone.  Got up, had breakfast, watched TV he doesn’t like to watch, and finally got dressed.  I ran my one errand (grocery shopping), but that only took about 20 minutes.  I ran the dishwasher and did the laundry.  I finished my book (the Tad Williams book that was tiding me over until I could get the next Otherland book – also Tad Williams), but I didn’t even really enjoy that.  I mean, I liked the book, but I was in a gloomy mood.  Finally, John called to say he was on his way home.  And I’m a teensy bit happier about my day.  Also, he’s going to pick up that wonderful pizza with the artichoke hearts and spinach for dinner.  🙂

I’ve been watching Dollhouse, the new Joss Whedon show.  It’s been on for maybe five weeks or so.  I like it, but I think it’s going to get cancelled.  I don’t think the ratings are very high.  The premise is interesting, and the episodes are just different enough week to week to keep it from being too repetitive, but Eliza Dushku is just not very good.  She basically plays a different person week to week, and she’s not quite believable sometimes.  Often.  But I like the premise enough that I’ll keep watching.  And the theme music gets stuck in my head.

Today must have been Let Your Dog Escape From Your Yard day.  I didn’t get the memo.  I took the dogs with me on my run this morning, and we met a giant fluffy white dog as we ran by the back of the high school.  Very pretty dog, wearing a harness.  It had tags, but it wouldn’t let me get close enough to read them.  And when I tugged the dogs back onto the sidewalk so we could continue our jog, it didn’t follow us.  There was no owner in sight, no one shouting this dog’s name or anything.  I hope it finds its way home.  Later, in our third mile, a dog (yellow lab mix of some sort) burst out of the tree line by the elementary school and practically skidded into Roxy.  She didn’t follow us when we got back on track, either, and at least I could see the townhouses she came from.  I’m pretty confident she made it back home.  But there was no one running out the door looking for her, either.  How do you not notice that your dog is out?

It’s late and my head is pounding, so this is all I’m writing tonight.  Tomorrow, I’ll write about Castle and whatever else happened today.

Paul Rudd is a funny guy.  We just watched his interview on The Daily Show.

Honestly, I don’t have anything to say tonight.  I know I say that every other day, but I’m not quite sure what to do about it.  I’m tired and I’m cold and I just really want to read.  And sleep.  This weekend is going to be somewhat busy (hopefully I’ll be shopping at some point), and it looks like one of John’s friends from high school will be in town next weekend.  I just want to be able to sleep in on Saturday.  Getting up was really hard this morning (now that it’s dark again at 6:30), and I don’t expect it to be any easier tomorrow.

Wow.  Stop whining.  I’m done.  🙂  Happy Birthday, Min!

I’m not the one who’s trying too hard.  (According to Jeff and John, I don’t try hard enough at work to hide my dislike of a couple of people.  I’ll work on that.)  No, I was at the grocery store today and when I got to the check-out, I met the most annoying cashier ever.  It was his first day (he made sure I knew that), and he wouldn’t shut up.  He commented on every item I bought.  Sometimes he just announced the item (“Bread!”).  I bought a bag of sugar and he burst into song.  “Sugar (ba da ba ba ba bum), ah, honey, honey.”  A couple of things and it might have been amusing, but he really did say (or sing) something about EVERYthing I bought.  (“Ooh, flour.  Conditioner!  Hey, toilet paper!”)  I’m sure he was just nervous or something (or maybe he’s always annoying), but I was getting ready to throw something at him.  Maybe my 5 lb bag of sugar.  And lest you think I’m exaggerating, I was not the only one annoyed.  I shared a look with the woman behind me.

Then I came home and made banana bread.

Today was a very long day.  We got to work early so we could leave early, but we weren’t able to get home until around 7:30.  Christina saved the dogs for us by letting them out after she left work.  Thanks, Christina!  I’m sure the dogs were grateful, and surprisingly, they didn’t steal anything off the counter in the time they were left alone (after Christina left and before we got home).  Of course, they probably spent most of that time upstairs on our bed, since I forgot to put the baby gate in front of the stairs this morning.   Our evening’s adventure was promising, actually, and even if nothing comes of it, it’ll at least get us moving.  I am SO tired.  Tomorrow is another early day, and for John it’ll be even longer.  Tomorrow is the day his class got moved from mid-afternoon to early evening because his professor is a jerk with no regard for his students.  He’s not even supposed to be holding class this week because it’s Spring Break, and on top of having class, he changed the time three days ago and expects his students to be there.  Anyway, John won’t get home until 9 or 10 tomorrow night, after having to be at work before 8am.  Poor guy.  I’m sleepy, so that’s enough for tonight.

The guy at security in the Pensacola airport totally made fun of my pink laptop!  I took it out of the bag and put it in the bin to go through the x-ray machine, and he looked at me, raised an eyebrow, and said, “Raspberry?  Really?”  I was like, “Yeah.  What’s your point?  I’ll never grab someone’s laptop thinking it’s mine, will I?”  He agreed that I had a point, and I tried not to give him any dirty looks.  Also, I didn’t give him quite that much attitude, but that was the gist of the exchange.  🙂  I love my pink laptop!

Everyone needs to live closer (to me, anyway).  I’m not endorsing Mom’s dream of a family compound, but I would like to be within a couple of hours of everyone.

I think they just delayed my flight for an hour (out of Pensacola).  It was a little hard to understand the announcement, though.

Later: Yeah, we left Pensacola about an hour late.  Not a big deal for me, though.  I had two hours in Atlanta to waste, so cutting it back to one hour was just fine.  Got some food, read a little, got on the plane.  Anyway, you know how I was babbling the other day about how much I like to travel?  Well, that’s still true, but the trip home has a very different feel to it than the trip out.  Going home always seems to take a little too long.  It’s harder to enjoy traveling when you’re wishing you were already there.  I’m not saying this exactly right, but you probably know what I mean.  Because of course I always want to get to wherever I was going faster, too, but since it’s the beginning of the trip, I can enjoy the excitement of getting there.  Getting home is a little less exciting (the travel part) and a little more tedious.  On the other hand, it’s a beautiful day out the window on the left side of the plane, wherever it is we are right now.  Probably over southern Virginia or northern Tennessee, judging by the time.

Hey, I watched Body of Lies with Mom and Dad last night.  Not a very good movie.  If you’re thinking about seeing it, don’t waste your time unless you’re a big fan of Leonardo DiCaprio (meaning you need to see every movie he makes).  The acting was fine, but the story was disjointed.  The plot wasn’t very clear, and the ending was not satisfying.  Mom gave up on it with maybe 40 minutes to go (also, it’s WAY too long to have such a disappointing ending – more than two hours of my time is forever gone), but then, as Corey said, she’s a quitter.  🙂  Dad and I stuck it out.

I’m home and very happy to be back with John.  🙂  Yay home.