woops

I would like to revisit my recommendation of "Men in Trees" the other day. I liked the one episode I watched. The one last night was less interesting. Also, for some reason, I'm just not a big fan of Anne Heche (even if she is from Ohio).

Also, what's the deal with House. I hear people talking about that one all the time. Is it good?

My apartment is hotter than fire

My apartment is very warm. My heat isn't on, but the pipes that carry the hot water to everyone else's radiators run in the wall in the middle of my apartment. (Can you say "design flaw"?) The wall is physically hot to the touch and it's making everything else hot as well. I called the condo association. We'll see if they do anything about it. I would also like to point out that it's going to be 80* the next two days. Do we really need to be paying for heat right now?

I ran this morning. It was a hard run because I have a lot on my mind. Hopefully I can see Amanda tonight and her nieces and nephew will distract me.

Also, I saw this picture and it hit home with me, especially because all of the classes I'm taking right now are about mental health.



This picture was taken from Postsecret which is a fantastic blog. It's only updated once a week though.

Why yes, yes I did

I have no idea why I'm using that as the title. It seemed like the thing to do at the time.

I ran this morning and then I drove to school. I know, I was sad not to take the bus.

Among the "things I know that you don't" was that a professor suggested I apply for a research assistant position at school and I had a job interview for that today. It was a very long interview. I thought it went well. (I had to drive so I could have a change of clothes without having to carry an extra bag all day and arouse suspicion. Suspicion of what, I don't know.)

I'd like to spend a moment talking about television shows. I used part of this afternoon to catch up on several of them.

Heroes
NBC, Monday at 9/8c. Yes, that's right. I live in the central time zone.

This show is slightly science fiction, but has enough character relationships that I'm interested for now. Ok, this show is totally science fiction but it's on NBC and not some small cable network so that confuses me. How did I find this show? It's on right before...

Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip
NBC, Monday 10/9c

Aaron Sorkin. Matthew Perry. Bradley Whitford. 'Nuff Said.

Ugly Betty
ABC, Thursday at 8/7c

Stars the girl who played Carmen in "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants". It seems like a mix of "Two Weeks Notice" and "The Devils Wears Prada" with some cloak and dagger things happening. I'm not so much of a fan, but I may give it one more try.

Grey's Anatomy
ABC, Thursday 9/8c

It's one of those shows that parades around as doctors sleeping with each other but underneath the facade, it has heart. I particularly enjoyed the plot line tonight with the doctor (yeah, ask me his name) and his parents visiting and the mother scaring the crap out of the girlfriend (who is also a doctor). Very nice moment at the end of that.

ER
NBC, Thursday, 10/9c

I have no idea why I watch this show. At this point I only care about two of the characters. John Wells is giving ER a slow death. At some point the cars flipping over, buildings collapsing, helicopters falling from the roof, tanks in the street, crazed gunmen in the building and explosions become routine and annoying. Could you not find a more creative, classier, slightly more believable way to have a character leave the show than dropping a helicopter on them? There are many more guns and explosions on this show than he could plausibly fit into the plot of The West Wing. (Although he tried, even on that show.)

Men in Trees
ABC, Friday 9/8c

Yes, that's right. I'm watching television alone on a Friday night. However, this show gets the award for "show that I've never heard of but I like". I've only seen one episode but I enjoyed it. It's a show about the relationships between all of these people in a dinky little town in Alaska.

But there are also park rangers and lumber jacks.

What you know that I don't know

So obviously I ran today, which I forgot to write earlier. It rained while I was running but stopped just before I got home. Nice. At least it wasn't raining when I went to wait for the bus.

There have been any number of areas in my life when different people in the room know different things and think different things because of it. It's starting to get old.

Example: A friend tried to connect me to a single guy, but when I got to the party I thought she meant a different single guy and so was talking with the wrong guy all day. It took the better part of two weeks to straighten that all out. If anyone had gotten a pie in the face at any time, it could easily have been an episode of I Love Lucy. Plus, in the end, I don't have anything going on with either guy/.

I didn't blog about it very much here, but I assure you, it caused great concern on my part.

This is for Kelly

Really I'm trying to write up an assessment right now. I just wanted to say, Kelly, I found this hilarious incident and I thought of you. (It seems to be a great story since both a teacher and Jesus are in it.)

well

I'd just like to say that it's things like this that further deteriorate the limited social skills most employees bring to the workplace.

the good and the bad

Today was an interesting day. Here's how it went.

• I ran. (Yeah, really, what did you expect?)
• I went to a field advisory committee meeting at the school of social work that I'm really glad to be a part of. I also got to talk to a couple professors who I hadn't talked to in a while which was nice.
• I went to see the old people. I should probably find another way to refer to them.
• I went to the Science Museum. We launched "match stick" rockets. Yes, that is a lot of fire for something so small.
  

• I came home and had a really good conversation that I wasn't expecting to have. No, really, that's all I'm going to say about that one.
• I looked at some really funny blogs. This is what my life could have been if I had chosen School Social Work instead of working with older adults. This is for a couple of people who are connected to the country mentioned. One is Kao who will hopefully be going to Japan to teach English, the other is Amanda who hasn't written a blog post in forever, and who I also miss very much because I haven't seen her in about as long. I am not counting the day of "Which guy do I think Lizzie is talking to" because that was not restful.
  

My life soundtrack

This apparently is my life soundtrack. Taken from Such A Pretty Face, the instructions are to set your music player (iPods for most of you, but any old Mp3 player or Windows Media Player will do) to shuffle. The first song is the opening scene, hit the "next" button and that song is the wake up scene and so on. The first time I did this, I had a playlist and not all of the songs so I decided to do it again will all 2 gigs of music on my Mp3 player. I really didn't like the song I got for "Secret Love" the first time.

This time just a playlist:
Opening scene: Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters - Elton John I love this song.
Wake Up Scence: Tell Her This - Del Amitiri
Average Day: Forever Young
First Date: Goodbye My Lover - James Blunt Oh boy.
Falling In Love: Southside - Moby and Gwen Stefani
Fight Scence: Gallows Pole - Jimmy Page and Robert Plant
Breakup Scence: Grace is Gone - Dave Matthews Band
Back Together: Mother Ocean - Jimmy Buffet
Secret Love: Woman Like a Man - Damien Rice And here is where the wheels fell off the wagon.
Life's Ok: Mushaboom - Feist
Mental Breakdown: Sunday Morning - Maroon5 I think this song and the next one were flipped around.
Driving: Move Along - All American Rejects
Learning A Lesson: Grey Blue Eyes
Deep Thought: Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae If you've never heard of this artist, check out Singingfish and search for some of her music. I think she's great.
Falshback: Waiting on an Angel - Ben Harper
Partying: Hey Hey What Can I Do? - Led Zeppelin
Happy Dance: Cannonball - Damien Rice
Regretting: Maria (Shut Up and Kiss Me) - Willie Nelson and Rob Thomas I make no excuses for having a Willie Nelson song on my Mp3 player.
Long Night Alone: Whiskey Lullabye - Brad Paisley and Allison Kraus
Death Scence: Bad Day - Daniel Powter
Closing Credits: Under Pressure - Queen

This time with all of the music:
Opening Scene: Mushaboom by Feist
Wake Up: Breathe Me by Sia
Average Day: The Psychic by Crash Test Dummies It's terrifying how close to accurate that is.
1st Date: Loves Me Like A Rock by Paul Simon It's ironic that this is about Paul Simon's Mom. All I have to say is, I wonder which one of your moms this is about. (If you don't understand that, I wasn't talking to you.)
Falling in Love: Into the Fire by Sarah McLachlan Yeah, you're not kidding.
Fight Scene: Can't Hurry Love by Phil Collins
Breakup: The Story in Your Eyes by The Moody Blues
Back Together: Cats in the Cradle by Cat Stevens
Secret Love: Counting the Days by Collective Soul
Life's OK: Where Have All the Flowers Gone? by Peter Paul and Mary
Mental Breakdown: In Your Eyes by Ben Harper
Driving: Give Me Up Again by Jonny Lang
Learning a Lesson: Camera One by Josh Joplin
Deep Thought: Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting by Elton John Hee hee/
Flashback: For a Little While by Tim McGraw
Partying: Steal My Kisses From You by Ben Harper
Happy Dance: I'm Gonna Make You Love Me by The Jayhawks Well, that's how I know this is accurate. I love this song.
Regretting: The Devil in the Wishing Well by Five for Fighting
Long Night Alone: The Boy in the Bubble by Paul Simon
Death Scene: Everyday by Dave Matthews Band Funny that the first line of this song is "lift me up lord..."
Closing Credits: Before I Go by John Hiatt

See, the second time is much more accurate than the first.

uhh, who forgot to blog?

I know, I know. I forgot to blog.

It's been a rough day. I'm going to sum it up this way for public consumption. A guy I'd really like to go out with is unavailable. He might be involved with someone but is definitely leaving Minnesota in a month. At the same time a guy who I didn't think I'd hear from and was ok with that at least for today did call (three times) and email me. That's all just way too confusing to deal with.

I ran this morning and totally fell down. I had the amazing good fortune to fall in a place where I didn't run headlong into a tree (which is a real possibility for most of my running route) and managed to fall in the one place on my entire run with a sand pile so I didn't even scrape my leg. I think I pulled a ham string and possibly some muscle in my lower leg. Not seriously, just enough for me to whine about it. Still, me bum hurts.

Funny things

Ok, Boing Boing is one of my favorite places on the web. Here's a great piece that should interest Kelly ok, maybe not and Amanda, Ok, equally probably not.

Also, here's a totally great idea. How fun would this be?

what my work is like

I just want to say that I went to work today. All of the people I work for at this particular job and I want to be clear I'm not talking about the Science Museum has attended this training. I'm just saying...



This is the Dilbert from Sunday 24 September 2006. Want to see more? Here's the Dilbert homepage.

A couple of my favorite pictures

In the interest of having more pictures up, these are some of my favorites from apple picking this year. Incidentally, I have a crisper drawer in my refrigerator full of apples and no idea what to do with them. Anyone with an idea, write me.




Also, here's a fun one of a game we played the other day. Check out the look on my face.

Running

I ran this morning, 3.5 miles as usual.

There are times when I just want to take a day off from running. The thing is, I usually feel much better at work when I've run in the morning. Tomorrow I have to work from 12-7. Ask me how much I can't wait for that. Although I did just look at the Visa bill and it's probably a good thing I'm working.

Killing time

I'm killing time in between class and waiting to talk to another professor.

To answer some of your questions:

Yes, I did run this morning in the rain. It was wet.

Kelly, I got a DVDR about the time that my video tapes were about to overtake my whole shelving system. DVDs are smaller. Also, I knew I needed to get one before fall programs started.

No, I'm not looking forward to taking the bus home in the rain. I want to be back in bed sleeping. Is that wrong?

What else has been going on in my life

I had a presentation in one of my classes. My assignment was to review and summarize an article. Instead, I talked about why the article was wrong. It really was wrong and it just annoyed me. It took all of my strength not to use the phrase "load of crap" while I was speaking. We also played a game to illustrate how physical and mental impairments impact people's ability to work. It went really well which was a relief because I was really nervous. It was hard to get up there and say my opinion instead of summarizing the article which is what a lot of people did. I was really putting myself on the line in a way and that's a big class.

Also, I'm back to running in a t-shirt. I ran 3.5 miles today and still caught the bus. We'll see how I do for tomorrow.

A couple of funny things

I was reading some other blogs today after class.

First blog: Kelly brought up social anxiety and mentioned that I might have something to contribute. I feel your pain, I hate walking in to places alone as well. I haven't considered how that impacts me right now because I'm in places where people know who I am or have at least seen me before. It's making my life easier.

Second blog: I got both of my hospital bills from getting stitches. Three lousy stitches were over $1,200. This is what I should have had Amanda do instead.

Third blog: Since I am an intern and I was one last year as well, this just highlights good use of an intern.

Hi, my name is sleepy

I am soo sleepy. I need to practice a presentation and read for two classes. I wonder how much of that I will accomplish while I'm writing in my blog.

I ran again with the cold legs, 3.5 miles. It's not supposed to get as cold tonight so I should able to run in short sleeves tomorrow.

Lastly, I read this post from Overhead in the Office. I smiled and thought of Kelly.

I think I need more TV shows

Now that I have a DVD burner, I think I need more TV shows in my life. Although, now that Aaron Sorkin in back writing for television, everything is right int he world.

I ran 3.5 miles today. It was very cold. My first day of long sleeve running. One day, I will run in pants. For now though, I prefer to keep my legs as cold as humanly possible.

My new TV show is on tonight

I know, I shouldn't really call it "my new TV show" until I've watched at least once to make sure I like it. Nevertheless, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (flash site, turn down your volume if you're at work) premiers tonight and I'm very excited. I was slowly going through withdraw from The West Wing. I know, most of the people who watched that show are older than me. I'm ahead of my time.

I ran this morning in the cold and the rain. It's funny how my body warms up at about the third mile and the gigantor hill. It's just late enough in the run to not be that helpful. Firefox doesn't like the word "gigantor" it likes "gigantic" and "giganticness" instead. Is it possible to teach Firefox slang? It's just late enough in the run that I need to cool down before I take a shower. Although when winter comes, I think I will be glad to be warm at any point in a run.

Also, Kelly has pictures of apple picking. There are some really good ones this year. They a really large files too. This one is a particular favorite of mine. Thanks Kelly!

I ran farther than I thought I could

Ok, so someone dissed some of the content on this blog. I'm just going to let that go for now. I know that there were no bad intentions.

I ran 6 miles this morning. I know. I was surprised I could run that far too. Just to keep the expectations real, it took me a very very long time to go the whole way. I was happy when I got to the end and wasn't worried about my legs collapsing under me.

We also went apple picking. According to several forecasts it was supposed to be a crappy, rainy, windy day. It was nice and sunny and even kind of warm where we were. Not all of the apples were ripe so we didn't get as many as usual, but I always wind up with too many apples from our apple picking excursions anyways. I am currently lacking the pictures that we took today while apple picking (and I know there are some good ones) but I promised I would post pictures from our very first apple picking experience. Here they are, I love them both.



Someone's getting friendly with Mr. Scarecrow.



It was colder than we were prepared for during our first apple picking trip. This experience taught us to wear warm clothes and go earlier in the year.

A little more about my day

Here's what actually happened today:

I woke up and ran and went to work.
Work with teenagers. That is a good thing. I like them.
Come home. Try unsuccessfully to make a grilled cheese sandwich. Saddened to learn there is no butter in my house. Can that be right?
Try unsuccessfully to make Skyline Chili. I have no explanation for that one.
Talked with someone who invited me over for brunch and then said to me, "this guy is coming who you might like, so you might want to dress cute." What the... My brain is absolutely in overdrive. I'm sure I will show up totally nervous and not cute and act some way other than the way I normally act.
Drive to job number two. The road is closed, there was a detour only that road is also closed and the road I take to get there also has... Get the idea?
Go to job number two. There were no teenagers. It was lonely.
While at job #2, my supervisor comes up to me and says, "How are you on hours? Can you work a few more." My head is saying, "Danger, Will Robinson" and "RUN" at the same time. I said sure.
The first time in six months I was at the aquarium for something other than an overnight, I of course wound up working an overnight that was completely understaffed.

This should also tell you how I'm feeling:

Your Emoticon is Grumpy

Maybe you're having a bad day... or maybe something just upset you. Either way, you're definitely seeing red!

What Emoticon Best Represents You Right Now?

I am soooo sleepy

I wonder how many more times I'll write that this year. Although I was able to wake up a at 6:30 (a whole hour later than normal) today and still run. As always, I ran 3.5 miles. I'm not totally sure about this whole running for the apples thing any more.

I went to one job, now I'm home trying to eat. I put the wrong cheese on my Skyline Chili and it's too salty now. It's not bothering me though. I haven't been truly hungry in a while now. Should I be worried about that?

In a few minutes I have to go to job number two. I need to remember that MN-77 is closed right now and I need to go a different way. Also, I haven't been an aquaguide in about six months so this will be a new experience, or at least one I haven't had in a while. Never a dull moment.

Important information

This post just seemed like important information that some of you, (even those of you who haven't written anything in over a month) would like to have.

I snuck home

I snuck home in the middle of the day. I have to leave soon to go to the doctors and get my stitches taken out. (Glory, hallelujah because they are getting annoying.) I think afterwards, there may be a trip to Chipotle in my future.

I did run this morning, the usual 3.5 miles and still managed to get to the bus on time.

I have to make a poster about my identity or some such nonsense in the very near future. Those of you who know me (and I assume you're the only ones reading this blog most of the time) if you have things, especially pictures, post cards, or other graphic type things that I can use on said poster, please pass them along.

Another random note: Firefox 2 thinks that "snuck" is not a word. Should it be sneaked? Also, Firefox 2 thinks "Chipotle" is not a word. How sad.

Apparently It's My Day Off

I went to bed last night with a caffeine withdraw induced migraine. (Say that five times fast.) When I went to bed I had pretty much decided not to run this morning. So when my alarm went off I was fairly liberal with the snooze. Actually I just reset the alarm for an hour later. Why keep hitting the snooze? About five seconds after I reset the alarm I had pangs of guilty and remorse for not running. We'll see how early I can force myself to wake tomorrow. This whole running and catching the bus thing is hard work.

I'm battling biology

I've had some discomfort for the most of the day due to a regular biological occurrence. I ran the usual 3.5 miles this morning. I am beat. I miss sleep. I have a paper to finish writing and print. Thank goodness it's only 3 pages and it's the first assignment so hopefully I'll get cut a little slack on it. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Boo Stitches

I'm really not a fan of the stitches. (Anyone know how to remove stitches at home? Yes, I'm not a favorite at the doctors office.)

Here are a couple of pictures of the stitches:



Here is a picture for those of you who've said I can't be trusted with a digital camera.





I woke up and ran this morning. 3.5 miles as usual. I wonder if one day I'll go farther than that. I'm also toying with the idea of just not doing a run in October and doing one later on either in January or in the spring. Hmmm.

Response to questions

A couple wonderful people have left comments on my blog. An anonymous user taught me a new technical term. Yes, thank you. That must be it.

Also, Kelly asked me how I felt about being single. This one is going to take a while for me to think about and express. The short answer is I am totally open to being in a relationship or meeting someone at the very least.

A while ago a friend of mine who lives in Boston and I were talking. Sarah has been in a relationship for quite sometime and has been living with her boyfriend for maybe a year. I'm not sure. She made the comment to me that I'm lucky I haven't been in a relationship for the past few years because I've grown a lot on my own. She was saying I was lucky to get to know myself as an adult (and I use that term loosely). She was saying that there have been a lot of new experiences in my life lately and I got to just take my time and have them without being anything to anybody else.

Among other things I was lucky to basically loose my mind in Africa as a single person and not have to go through that experience the very first time while in a relationship. Now that I know what it's like, I'm much better able to tell people what I need and why I'm acting the way I am. I'm also able to see how my stuff impacts how I treat other people when I'm going nuts. Another way I think I've grown is that I understand what a relationship is about a lot better than I used to. I'm not going to say too much more about that.

I think about friends I have who've been in relationships for a long time. Obviously most of my friends are also in their twenties and they've been going through the same thing of going to college and picking careers and finding jobs and making "actual" money and paying bills and so on. But some of these people also seem like their relationships are limiting their ability to grow. They act the same around each other as they did when they were 20 and that was nine years ago. I always think of Sarah's words to me when I think of those relationships. I also think about how I acted in many of my old relationships, what I've been able to pick in the mean time, and what I'd do differently now.


So my conversation with Sarah many moons ago keeps coming back to me and helps me feel prepared for a relationship.

That didn't really answer Kelly's question but it's what I wanted to say.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Obviously I didn't run this weekend because my Dad was in town. Saturday we took a long walk from my house around Lake Nokomis. Sunday I meant to run after he left but I slept most of the day instead. (Woops.) I was really tired and had slept on the couch for several days which made my body hurt in ways it really shouldn't.

This morning I went back to the whole 5:30am routine. (This can't be good for me.) It was really cold until about five seconds after I started running. Then I was nice and warm. I did the usual 3.5 miles. I'm sort of thinking about the Run for the Apples and how I haven't really been running 5 miles lately. Let's be honest. I don't get up early enough to fit a 5 mile run in before work and there's no way I'm waking up any earlier. We'll see if I can get back into the long runs on the weekends groove.

I've made a decision

As I've previously mentioned I've been quite puzzled by the whole DVD-R, DVR, combo quandry. I have come to a decision. I'm buying a DVD-R for now. At some point in my future, I will want a new computer. Instead of blowing $350 or $400 now on a DVD-R/DVR combo now, I'll save it and buy a slightly nicer media center computer which can be a DVD-R, DVR, and computer all in one. I've also discovered some nice freeware for turning a windows computer into a media center and this one for Macs and Linux machines. Sadly, I do not have a new enough uhh.. display card. (Yeah, I totally don't know what it's called, but I know I have a 9100 and I need a 9600 or higher.) If anyone knows something like MediaPortal that will work on my happy little computer, let me know.

This is just wrong

In honor of the weekend, I took a couple Blogthing quizzes. This first one while hilarious, is just wrong. Nevertheless, I want everyone to see it.

Your Bumper Sticker Should Be

Barbie is not a slut - her legs won't open

What Bumper Sticker Should Be On Your Car?

For the second one, I know I have a habit of mentioning the inaccuracy of these quizzes. (I hold the above bumper stick as an example.) However, this one is fairly dead on except one thing.

Your Love Life Secrets Are

Looking back on your life, you will have a few true loves. I'm thinking of their names right now. They're not who I thought they'd be. You're a little scarred from your past relationships, but who isn't? I hold out my last almost relationship as an example. You expect a lot from your lover - you want the full package. You tend to be very picky. I really am. In fights, you are able to walk away and calm down. You are able to weather the storm. I'd say that was true, I also tend not to fight that much. Getting over a break-up doesn't take long. Easy come, easy go. And here we have our major inaccuracy. I can be bitter for a while, sometimes even when I initiate the break up. I'm not sure where the quiz writers got the idea I don't hold a grudge, although I can see how they could make the mistake.

Your Love Life Secrets, Revealed

waking up early

Waking up early is not so much fun, although I find I use the snooze less when I have company here. I woke up at 5:30am (Yeah, that is early. I said it wasn't that much fun) I ran 3.5 miles. Dad and I went out to Maria's for breakfast, then I went to school and he went to golf. After paying $450 for books (I know, that is a lot for books) I rode the bus home, called my insurance people and the U, and made lunch. I'm putting off going through my syllabi and putting assignments on the calendar.

Here is how I feel when I don't get the proper amount of sleep:

Guess who...

After writing my previous post I found a new way to drive myself nuts: I sliced my finger open. That did the trick. I had to call a very good friend to drive me to the hospital and hold my (other) hand very late at night. When I arrived at said hospital, I found out my student health insurance hadn't been activated for the school year which has already begun. And I got a nurse who didn't know that my index finger and my middle finger are not the same thing.

Obviously, from the no post I didn't run yesterday. I did run this morning, 3.5 miles. It's fun watching the sun rise.

Also, I started the new internship and I really like everyone there. They're all super nice. And I started class today and I'm reserving judgment on that for another day.

Here's what's driving me crazy at the moment

I'm looking into buying a DVD-Recorder. What I'd really like is a machine that can record onto a hard drive or a DVD, but they're really expensive. Added to that two things:

1. I'm supposed to be a poor college student and probably shouldn't spend that much money on anything to do with television.

2. I don't have a cable box. My cable goes straight from the wall into my TV, so if I want to record a television show when I'm not home, the DVR can't just talk to the cable box and ask it to switch to the appropriate channel. (Also, I'm really not getting Tivo, because while $300-$350 for the machine seems expensive but do-able, adding a monthly service fee is too much.)

Let's lay aside item one for now. Item 2: I can get a DVDR/HDD combo with it's own episode programming guide, but the ones that do have programming guides seem to be riddled with so many other problems they're really not worth the asking price.

Surpise option 3 is that I can buy a DVD-R that only records to disks. Here's what I want to know. Assuming that I am using some kind of RW disk, can I record a TV show one week, and come back later and record another show to the same disk without erasing the first show? Seriously, anyone?

While we're on the subject, I would like to take this moment to recommend the reviews on CNet. They've been most informative in telling me what features I will and won't need on a machine, most of which I hadn't even thought of.

It's fun to go back and read old posts

It's fun for me to go back and read old posts. This one is one of my favorites because it's one of the few times I've actually written down the dreams (or something like a dream in this case) I've had.

(Incidentally, I wish I had written down all fo the dream I had this morning. Yes, the one with President Bush because it was one of those with eighty different people from different parts of my life where I started off doing one thing and it changes throughout the dream. It's ok, I'm sure it'll come true eventually and then I'll remember it.)

Anyways, the lady who did the Shamanic Journey workshop (that's a PDF by the way) said that every animal has a meaning. On my little shamanic journey I saw a fish, deer, worms, bats, a bear, a snake, and an elephant. I'm not really sure what to believe out of all of this stuff, but there does seem to be a definite theme across several of these animals. As always, I love bats, the elephant was really cool. As a surprise the snake (who was speaking with Amanda's voice) is my top favorite animal from this little experience.

Running at the crack of dawn

My alarm went off this morning at 5:45am. It scared the living crap out of me. It's funny because I was having a dream and in the dream (which also involved President Bush being the grandparent of some neighbors of mine but we won't go in to that right now) someone was just about to ring the doorbell or be buzzed in or something, and then instead of the buzzer it was my alarm which is loud and unpleasant. I ran 3.5 miles and watched the sun come up while I was running. I'm not really sure what's going to happen Thursday and Friday when I have to get up even earlier so I can run and still be able to catch the bus...

Running in great weather

It's really a great day to run. It's actually been a great couple of weeks for running. According to the news, it's 67* right now. (I'm sitting on my patio in my running clothes and it is a bit chilly.) I woke up this morning and ran 6 miles. I figured I needed the long loop today because my internship and school start tomorrow and I'm not sure how much I'm going to get to run once those things get into full gear. (I'm not really sure how much I'll be able blog either, we'll see.)

I just couldn't resist

Ok, so I've seriously tried to cut down on the amount of crap I post here, but this was just too funny.

What Your Bathroom Habits Say About You

You are a very considerate person, but that doesn't mean you let people walk all over you. Your look is put together, classic, and stylish. You always look fashionable without trying.Well, I try. You are a very outgoing person. You are true to yourself, and you never hold back. This one strikes me as slightly less than accurate somehow. In relationships, you are practical and realistic. You have a romantic side, but you only let it out when it's appropriate.

What Do Your Bathroom Habits Say About You?

Among my accomplishments and discoveries for the day

Among my accomplishments and discoveries for the day:

1. I love that Firefox 2's new beta release has a spell checker in it. That should reduce the number of embarrassing typos in both the blog and emails.

2. I taught said new version of Firefox not to overwrite my tabs when it opens my bookmarks and I figured out how to change the size of the cache since I couldn't do either of those things the normal way. I know, it may not sound like much, but I was really excited.

3. I went over to a friend's house who was out of town and closed her windows for her before the monster rainstorm we had.

4. I got a really cool Christmas gift for a friend. (I'll end the suspense, if you're reading my blog, you don't know them.)

5. I had quite a time shopping at the outlets. I got a new dishwasher safe pan, (Ok, so that's not really all that exciting), and 6 things at Jockey and my total was under $30. (Any lady who's done some personal shopping lately knows that's just ridiculous.) I also found an acceptable sling backpack (that means it only has one strap) at the Nike outlet. When the lady rang it up, my total was less than the price tag. I love it when that happens.

6. I think it's fair to say I went on a huge cleaning jag at home.

7. I took out the trash from said cleaning jag. It doesn't sound like much but it's raining and one of my bags was really heavy. I needed both hands to lift it which made for logistical troubles when I tried to simultaneously lift the bag with both hands and open the lid of the dumpster.

See what happens when I'm left alone for the weekend...

Running update

I love the things I smell when I run. No, not the way I smell. Yeesh. The nice thing about running early Saturday morning is that I know the houses in my neighborhood that make bacon and sausage for breakfast, I know the houses that do their laundry early, and I know the one place that leaves their coffee pot on the burner too long.

Oh, and I ran 3.3 miles today. (I decided I needed a bit of a break after yesterdays 7.5 mile mega-run.)

Why I love Firefox

I'm sitting here playing around with Firefox 2.0 beta 2. I think I may have mentioned how bored I am. Anyways, a bunch of stuff I had downloaded to work with Firefox 1.5 doesn't work with the new version. I was looking for extensions to replace what I lost when I found the Tab Killer extension which "disables tabbed browsing features in Firefox completely." My only question is, "why would you want to do that?"

why I shouldn't be alone with my computer on a Friday night...

This is my last Friday night before school starts. Am I out with... well, anyone? No, I'm sitting at home. In my bored state, I tried a few things...

You Are Lilac

You are a very innocent and pure person. Hee hee. Ethics matter to you. You bet they do... Your friends consider you a great listener, and you often play therapist to your friends. Oh boy. You are good at drawing out truths in conversation, however painful they may be. Non judgmental and patient - people feel like they can tell you anything! (I'm saying.)

What Color Purple Are You?

Then, I remembered this really weird thing I did one time about "What Tarot Card are You?" (If you can explain Tarot cards, let me know. WikiPedia is only good for so much...) I tried a bunch of different ones. Should I question the accuracy of these online quizzes since four quizzes gave me four different results?

Number 1:

Which Tarot Card Are You?

You are the Hermit card. The Hermit has chosen a solitary spiritual path. He (or she) shines light on his inner self and, by this means, gains wisdom. The Hermit's home is the natural world and it is by being in tune with that world that he learns the laws of nature and learn how they operate within himself. His path is a lonely one as he lives in silence and has for companionship only his own internal rhythms. But those crossing his path are touched by his light and wisdom. Though often alone, he manages nevertheless to instruct those who meet him and guides those who chose to follow him on a path towards enlightenment. This doesn't really sound like me at all. Well, the thing about the spiritual path, but I don't think I'm alone as much as this poor hermit is. Image from The Aleister Crowley Tarot deck. http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/thoth/ Take this quiz! Number 2: I Am Which tarot card are you? And here's the copied description from said website: Spiritual enlightenment, inner illumination, hidden power. Link between seen and unseen. Balance of positive and negative forces. Receptivity. Unseen guidance. Dude, how did I answer the questions to get this? Number 3: Which Tarot Card are You? You are Strength. You exhibit not only physical strength, but internal as well. You are not flashy, your strength is quiet and reserved. You will persevere through courage, resolve and composure. You are Strength, you will lead others through their darkest hours. Take this quiz! I think this is my favorite one. Sometimes it sounds like me but it also reminds me of one of my parents. Side note to Kelly and Amanda, like how I phrased that to avoid the obvious "your mom" joke? And number 4: You scored as III - The Empress. The Empress is a maternal symbol. She is the mother figure who loves, nurtures and protects. She will protect you, she will always be there when you are in trouble. When you fall over and graze your knee, the Empress will kiss it better. Yet she is not a weak figure. Her compassion is strength. If her children are threatened she will stop at nothing to protect them. If well aspected in a Tarot spread, the Empress can symbolize security, protection and unconditional love. If badly aspected it can represent over-protectiveness, fear of risk taking and refusal to face the real world.

Noteworthy headlines

I was checking out the news on My Yahoo, and read the headline Armed Robber Holds Up Graeter's . If you know me or if you are from the Cincinnati area, you understand that this person is dancing on sacred ground in more ways than one.

I was also checking out my new favorite blog (on the list of blogs maintained by people I don't know) and saw a very funny entry. (All I can say is, who doesn't need "Jesus for Dummies"?) I actually checked the Dummies website. (I don't have to work today, I can spend my time however I choose.) While they don't have that particular book, they do have Christianity for Dummies, The Bible for Dummies, Women in The Bible for Dummies (if you make it through The Bible for Dummies), and Catholicism for Dummies. Maybe those will help.

To return to the subject for a moment read the title, The Bible for Dummies. Does it sound like a book about how "Dummies" should behave in the world or does it sound like a book that explains the concepts of The Bible? I'm just saying...

I can hardly believe

I'm amazed to be sitting here at 11:04am having just run 7.5 miles. (I know, that is a long way) After doing short runs all week so I could go to work on time (ask me why I wanted to do that) I decided that I should just run for a long long time. It did sort of take me forever. It's one of those runs where there's a hill at the end that just saps all my strength.

It was also good practice for trail running. As you'll remember, the Run for the Apples is mostly on a trail. Being a city girl, I'm used to sidewalks and pavement. Running on trails uses a whole other set of muscles that I don't use too often. I know running on concrete is like the worst thing ever but I think my body is more used to that the way my knees and ankles feel running on the grass along side the asphault trail at Lake Nokomis and Minnehaha Parkway. Still, seven miles... seriously.