By special request

I had a special request for more pictures from Kelly and Eric's wedding:

The day before the wedding the three of us went to get manicures and pedicures. My manicure lasted about four days before it started to chip, and about seven before I just had to be done with it. My toenails on the other hand, are still going strong with the nail polish. My conclusion: Pedicure - totally worth it. Manicure - not so much.




We had the rehearsal dinner at Bucca di Beppo which serves basically enough food for the whole city to a table of four. It was great food. I also felt like I did a good job of keeping my portions reasonable. I only had one plateful and seconds of alfredo. Trust me, that's really good for this place. There was also a big chocolate cake. I had to turn my face to hide my momentary disappointment after I was lead to believe there would be tiramisu. (Sidenote: Firefox thinks "tiramisu" isn't a word. I guess it's really not in English. Firefox doesn't like "alfredo" either.)



Why aren't the guys wearing the boutonneers during the ceremony? We were keeping them nice for the pictures after. It's a good thing too, because I don't think Eric's arrangement could've withstood that kiss at the end.

At the reception we had lots of fun with scrabble tiles. That mess is not mine, I was just the photographer.

I felt like I needed a picture of my hair before kickball. It didn't actually take that long. It was nice to have somebody doing my hair too, it kept me nice and relaxed.


First wedding I've been to with kick ball. This picture was taken right before I went to bat. The remarkable thing about that bat? I heard one of the guys say, "that girls got a foot". Again, I accuse Amanda of being wildly competitive, but I have a problem too because I thought that was pretty cool. I did play soccer for ten years. Hopefully I've retained something.

Kelly, obviously not playing in that beautiful dress. She was watching my awesome kick.

And a sure sign that anyone over 65 has left, Kelly goes casual as well.

Brought to you by the saturday 8

First, an update on my progress at Amanda's map game: I got 50 out of 51 correct any my average error was one mile. Stupid Kansas.

Now, the Saturday 8:

when was the last time:
1. a restaurant was out of the food you wanted? I'm sure it was a dessert somewhere. All that's coming to mind is when Amanda and I wanted Mango sticky rice, but that was around two years ago. Somebody must have run out of my favorite food after that...

2. you were dumped/divorced by a significant other/spouse? I was the dumper about a year ago. Since I was the dumpeee, I think high school. I've been turned down for dates more recently than that though. (Been said yes to as well.)

3. you were denied a promotion? When was the last time I stayed at a job long enough to get promoted? I haven't been denied a promotion I've actually requested.

4. you didn't get the job you applied for? Not long ago at all. See the "Liz Gets Herself a Job" series on this blog.

5. a friend cancelled a lunch date (or other meeting) on you? There were about five misunderstandings in a row that resulted in me running the Milk Run alone this year. I was worried about it, but wound up having a real nice time.

6. someone took credit for something YOU did? Like I would allow that happen.

7. an appliance (or something in your home) broke? We are not putting that out there in the universe.

8. you were denied something credit-related? (loan, credit card, a rental, etc.) Denied. Ha.

Wow, I feel good

I went to the gym today, after not quite knowing how to get the appropriate exercise. I wanted to run, but then I knew there was a race at Lake Nokomis. And then I wanted to go to the gym, but that place is crazy on Saturday morning. The solution? I went grocery shopping first and then to the gym after it emptied out. I feel much better after not exercising too many days in a row. I still plan on getting up tomorrow morning to run before apple picking. We'll see.

Other things I plan to do today:
1. Join the credit union. I need to do this so I'm not forced to get a mortgage from Wells Fargo. I've had the experience, I'm not a fan.
2. Measure out my kitchen and start drawing sketches of what I want in there. My biggest fear: I'm going to fall in love, want to get married, and then have to move the second after the kitchen is remodeled. Seriously, that thought has been haunting me for a while now. Maybe it's the OCD.
3. Clean the place. It's actually in really good shape but we are meeting here tomorrow for apple picking. I can make it a little nicer. At least the hallway looks great.
That's pretty much it.

While putting those things off, I did find some neat stuff on the web. Ironic that I find things that are safe for work on the weekends, and the guy who can undress in under seven seconds when everyone is at their office.
1. 23 Simple Health Tips For Bloggers is about how to get exercise at your desk, and to remind you to walk away from time to time. There's no way that picture isn't photoshopped. The guy has no belly button.
2. Apparently "spreading your toes" is a thing in yoga. Even I, who love flip flops and wear them until there's snow on the ground, could never wear these shoes. ::Makes "Ewwwww" face::
3. Sidewalk drawings with real potential, totally safe for work. It's just really neat street art. Maybe that's what I should have done in the hallway.
4. Vegetable art: proof that cooking is really an art project with food. Although I think the googlie eyes are just cheating.
5. Why bottled water is killing the environment. I love that aquafina is just tap water. It makes me feel superior for drinking actual tap water all this time.
6. Another great thing Japan has given the world: Transparent frogs so that no squeamish ninth grader ever needs to dissect the little guys again.

I can't wait for the weekend

Well, it's the weekend. It's supposed to be ridiculously nice on Sunday for apple picking. I'm looking forward to the weekend and then two three-day work weeks in a row. Yes, yes I do love me job. I'm planning on painting my room next week. At this point I'm a little afraid that the color we picked will make my room look like a robin's egg. After watching what I'm sure is too many episodes of Clean House, I feel like it's ok to have darker colors in the bedroom. I also think it's a very bright bedroom, possible the best lit room in my house, and it would be appropriate for that to get a bit darker. I'm not sure yet. I keep thinking "oh what about red" but I really don't think red is a good bedroom color.

What have I seen on the web today while I was contemplating room colors? Some good stuff:
1. What is your thinking style? I am an Interpersonal thinker which is a real shock given my profession.
2. The Good Food Fight is a fun sight. Sound enabled website for those of you browsing where there are other people. (Read: For Kelly, who might be browsing at work.)
3. How to get undressed in seven seconds. Not safe for work, don't even try. Well, obviously this came from Japan. Amanda, can you translate?
4. An air conditioning service with a great name. I linked to the Digg page because really the comments can be just as good as the pictures sometimes.
5. I'm glad to see some recognition that animated movies targeted at kids are not necessarily kid friendly. A little happy to see Lion King on the list, I think the one where they break out of the zoo should have been on there too.
6. And a photo essay of North Korea.

Oh, my poor achin legs

I went to the gym this morning, a mere ten hours after I was there last night. Wow was I sore. Actually my knee has been bugging me the past few days. It all started Sunday. I shouldn't have been painting like that one day after running a 5k. My knee, at certain times in my life, clicks when I bend it. I can't stand it. It's not pain so much as it freaks me out that my knee is clicking. Still I worked hard and lifted weights. Tomorrow I think I'll run again.

I also went a to a volunteer training tonight. It was nice but sort of stuff I already knew. It was about restorative justice. I've have actually a degree in criminal justice, so it was familiar. I am now trained to facilitate restorative justice panels for the community group. How exciting.

And I talked with Amanda and Kelly. I hadn't actually spoken to Kelly since the wedding. (I missed you too.)

What'd I see on the web today? Some great stuff actually:
1. Obscure Units of Measure. There will be a quiz later. "Score" and "hand" I knew. My favorite new measure is alcohol related. It's amusing to me because it's a ridiculous amount of alcohol, not because it's a potty word.
2. The next place I get my hair done will be at one of these places. Not.
3. An article with a great headline from someone who is undoubtedly full of spite. In other news related to NBC and iTunes not getting along, both Fox and CBS are offering premiers of their popular shows for Free download on iTunes.
4. My next car?

Ten on Tuesday

Ten Things I Do When I Have Nothing Else To Do:
1. Go through my RSS feeds. There's new stuff on digg all the time.
2. Play Euchre or Bridge on Yahoo Games.
3. Read. Mostly Harry Potter lately.
4. Go for a walk.
5. Call friends. I don't do this one very much. Maybe you'd like me to call you more?
6. Sort through my pictures on iPhoto or perhaps take new ones.
7. Clean. Yeah, ok.
8. Eat. I mean seriously...
9. Nap. I don't get to do that one nearly as much as I'd like.
10. Shop. Possibly even more dangerous than number 8.

Oh sleep, I remember that

I should remember sleep. I slept like 10 hours last night. Woops. I was ready for sleep around 8:00, finally gave in around 10:00. Woke up: just before 8:00 this morning. Technically my alarm went off at 5:30am too, but we all know that didn't happen.

I was inspired by the blubber run to be able to run faster than I do now. Seriously. I give Amanda crap about always wanting to win at Jenga but I'm just as bad... So I went back to the Couch Potato Running Plan that I used in 2006 (mentioned here and here among others) and used the same general principle. Instead of walking and running, I ran at a normal to slow pace for the "walk" times and ran at a faster than normal pace for the "run" times. I did that for 20 minutes, and then continued to run until I had run four miles. I seemed to work ok. I'll keep trying it. We'll see if I get faster. I ran those four miles in just under 11:00 miles. Exciting.

I was thinking about running a long way tomorrow morning, but it's still raining. I don't want to get that wet.

What else have I done today? Looked around at wonderful things for you to see of course.
1. Interested in God? You must have a PC. I'm not sure I believe it.
2. One of my best friends lives in Seattle. Chris, is this really true?
3. The Lemon Screw Squeezer. Mind... gutter.
4. Another great thing about Japan? Shock absorbing gel. Maybe we should put this at construction sites around steel workers. Pssst, Amanda. What are they saying?
5. 10 of the funniest sites on the internet. Kelly, how many of these did you already know existed? My personal favorite: Engrish.com.
6. And a great article about modern day sailors and pirates.
Why does this article interest me? I've been through the straits of Malacca on a ship. It was fairly exciting. It was only then I learned there is a brig on our ship. To keep the pirates away, all the crew would take shifts at night keeping watch all around the ship. Their weapons? Fire hoses. No joke. We made it through that water safely but that was the earliest we ever left port before our scheduled time and absolutely the fastest I saw that ship move the whole three months I lived on it. The next day we were going about five knots to make up for our hasty departure from Singapore.

What Did I Do Today?

Not run a 5K, that's for sure. Dad and I went to Maria's for breakfast (yum) and then we went to the co-op for groceries. We went to Circuit City (I know, it's not my favorite place either) to get Mom a birthday present. We stopped by Office Depot for graph paper and Michael's for paint brushes. Michael's is having a custom framing sale so I might take my painting in to get it framed (finally). Then we came back and worked on my entry way. And we worked. We had lunch and watched a little golf. And we worked. With little paint brushes, painting the edges. And we worked. And now it's done. I vacuumed and cleaned up the painting supplies and took a shower and it's done. We'll put the plates back on the wall tonight over the light switches and hang some paintings and then it's really done. Hooray.

I also played around with the blog layout a little more. I organized the links a little better and hopefully made the text a bit easier to read. Dad is watching football and I feel like I can't really write a lot when the TV is going. But it's been a fun day. A nice day to hang out with Dad. He's going home tomorrow. I was going to give him his birthday presents tonight. I just realized I don't have a cake for him. I wonder if I can come up with something else. I'll look around while he takes a shower.

While not writing, I found some great things to look at:
1. An insane squirrel obstacle course. I'm amused someone took that much time to find a way to feed a squirrel.
2. The greatest way to get rid of pigeons ever. I can totally see someone spending the time to make this.
3. An IQ test that's supposed to be very accurate. It also takes like 40 minutes or something. I haven't done the whole thing. I feel like the television would distract me. And then the OCD about getting a great score, and not being able to because of the TV, and then things would just go down hill from there.
4. Interesting when gas stations start making statements.

Recent Changes to the Blog

For some reason, the columns were no longer working with my current template. I have no explanation, but I needed a new template so my blog would look right. That seemed like it was going to take too much time to figure out, so I went Pink for October a little early this year. I'm not sure if this is exactly the same (ugly) template I had last year, but it'll do. My favorite thing about the template I used was that the columns were super wide.

Other additions: I've tried to keep the links relatively the same. I still have the link to Raceberry JaM and the Gmap Pedometer because that's the only way I can find those two sites. For two of my dearest friends, I've added a link to "Can You Name All 50 US Presidents?" and what I refer to as "Amanda's Map Game", it's "the 50 states game" in the column on the right. I've also listed some of the blogs I mention on a regular basis. Anyone else have a fun site I should list?

By the way, I'm not sure this color is really pink, but I did use the correct HTML code to get "pink". Maybe it's that whole "macs don't always display colors properly" issue again.

Randomness and other things you should know about:

First, from Randomness

1. what's your favorite color? I'm liking the purple and the maroon right now. Not together. I have a cute light purple cami I just bought, and one of my favorite shirts, as well as the beer run shirt from today are maroon.
2. how many languages do you speak? At different times in my life I could speak Chichewa, Spanish and English and read Latin.
3. who is your best friend? I'm lucky to have a lot of friends. At this particular moment, everyone who asked me to do anything while I was in grad school and heard "no, I have a paper/test/project/group presentation I need to work on", and didn't get discouraged or let their feelings be hurt that I never got to do nice things with them, I don't know what to say. I feel like the tables are turned now. I hope I can be as good to you as you were to me.
4. are you married? Nope.
5. what's your favorite song? "Healing Hands" by Elton John has the highest play count of any song in iTunes, which is saying something because I haven't even owned that song too long. I also like "This Night Won't Last Forever" by Sawyer Brown for some moods, and "Crazy Love" originally by Van Morrison.
6. what is your greatest fear? Heights. I am terribly afraid of heights. Also, eating raw tomatoes. I was going to put something else, but I've had lots of time to think about things, and have come to my senses. Heights are for sure the scariest because I start to loose control of my body.
7. who is your hero? I'm lucky to have lots of people to teach me. I think Mom is pretty cool. I'd say Kelly and Amanda here, but they're too busy hitting "comments" and leaving a "your mom" joke to be reading this part.

Now, the "things you should see" part:
1. There's no way that this thing is a real animal. (Safe for work.) Ewww.
2. I typically regard billboards as a waste of good space, but these billboards may be the exception that proves the rule.
3. There's no way this picture wasn't staged. It's hilarious nonetheless. (Safe for Kelly's work for sure. The rest of you, probably so as well.)

Today was a long day

First, the Blubber Run. I had a really good time running in this event. I ran with Eric who has ridiculously long legs and goes really fast. We ran a 32:08, my fastest 5K time ever. Thanks Eric! This isn't like a normal race, people wear all kinds of costumes and things. There were several Elvis look-alike types, a beer keg, human traffic cones, lumber jacks, vikings, girls in blubber suits (which were surprisingly cool) superheroes, and a people dressed as a bride and groom. I told Eric that with the bride and groom and the grilling out it would be just like last weekend. There were also these people wearing cross country skis. I saw them at the starting line, never did see them again. I wonder how long it took them.

Eric told me last year there was beer stop halfway through the race (no, seriously) but this year they decided to have both of the free beers come at the end of the race. Needless to say, we did not wait in that line. Instead we went to Matt's, home of the Juicy Lucy. It was also fun to have Dad come and see me run. Mom and Dad came to all my soccer games and swim meets when I was a kid, so it's fun when they can still come. It seems like all is right with the world when that happens. Plus, they should get to see what I'm talking about when I mention running races.

After the run and lunch, we came home and vegged out. It was then that I discovered something (and I don't understand what) happened to my blog display. I blame the blogger outage. It all worked fine before that. Ten points to the first person to tell me what's going on. I don't know if I want to fix it or just make it pink again like I did last October. That was so ugly. Anyone got a prettier template I can use? Then there was napping and a not so good meal at Turtle bread. It was fine for me, seemed like not so much for Dad.

We went to the Twin's game and so were unable to take Kelly up on her kind offer for dinner. The Twin's game was exciting. Two things that should go on Overheard in Minneapolis that I personally heard:
9 year old boy: It doesn't hurt to get hit by pitches because when you're older you have more body fat so there's more cushion.

Then, later, same two kids:
7 year old boy: Beer makes you cough.
9 year old boy: How do you know? Have you had it?
7 year old boy: Yes. ::Panicked:: No. I mean no.

Those two kids were pure gold. Sadly, I had to move because an unusually large gentleman came and sat in the seat next to me. It was not his seat. I heard him say so. Ok, people come in different sizes. This is fine. Wait. Nope. The unusually large gentleman also smelled very bad. It took about two seconds for me to find a different seat, where I stayed the rest of the game and was very happy. Even though the Twins lost.

Then Dad and I went to Uptown to go to Chiang Mai Thai, which still had a 20 minute wait at 9:30pm so we went to a Vietnamese place around the corner instead. Now, here I am and I'm beat.

Fun things I saw on the internet

One of the Digg stories was a list of videos of pranks to play on roommates. Here's a few:
1. This girls reaction is about as good as Amanda's would be.
2. Breakfast surprise. It's great when a guy has this reaction. Kelly, NSFW, or listen with your headphones.
3. My personal favorite. Ditto on the NSFW thing. I'm surprised no one did this to any of the annoying roommates when you lived on Asburry. Oh, that was such a long time ago.

In honor of Kelly, and also myself a bit, Curly hair tangles less than straight hair. Finally, something to get excited about.

And finally, for all of us, something I've been saying for a while now. I actually learned this from someone who read Diet for A Small Planet which is in it's 20th anniversary edition, so really the knowledge has been there for most of my life.

Oh oh the weights

What did I do today? To observe Rosh Hashanah, my office is closed today. So, I got up and bought an AeroBed. Why? The camping air mattress just wasn't cutting it anymore. And I'm going to sleep on it for four nights because Dad's here, and he's older than me so he gets the good bed. Then I got a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks. I don't recommend them. It was good but way to sweet for me.

I cleaned up which didn't take that long. My apartment is in amazingly good shape. I credit the ridiculous amount of time I spend watching "Clean House" as an inspiration to keep my own space clear. Someone remind me to turn on the dishwasher tonight.

I went to the gym which was long overdue. I didn't do anything Tuesday or Wednesday. I ran 10:23 miles on the eliptical. I never run that fast on anything, good to know it's still there. Then I lifted weights. My body can still feel the weights I lifted.

I got home and cleaned up a bit more. I even got groceries so the cupboards wouldn't be bear. And then I vacuumed, something that was long overdue. Right I was done vacuuming, Dad got here. With chocolate pie. He didn't eat his piece. He's already asleep. It's killing me not to go eat it now. We'll see.

The plan is that tomorrow I need to go birthday shopping for Mom and Dad. I have to figure out how to get pictures to Target for them to make enlargements. Then I have to find Mom and nice "Boom box" style CD player, preferably with a tape player. I can go to Target. Can't really bring myself to go to Best Buy or Circuit City. Anyone have any other suggestions? Hopefully Target will have something nice. I'm going to go to Ikea (possibly) to get frames, and get the pictures from Target while Dad is playing golf.

Saturday is the Blubber Run. It's an inconvenient time to have to run a 5k. I hope it goes well. It should be fun either way.

Silly

I find it ridiculous that this website is call "Live Simple". I don't get it.

I just get slower all the time

I just get slower and slower when I run. It's so frustrating. Today I ran 3.6 miles in my slowest time ever, of 11:52. Can that be right? I noticed the earlier I run, the slower my times are. The fastest time I ran was at 5:30pm. (What was I doing running at that time anyways?) I'm getting kind of nervous for the 5K this week. There will be some pressure to perform for sure.

I found a couple of things today that specifically reminded me of Amanda. Here they are:
1. The ultimate guide to being successful in college has some good tips. Here are my thoughts:
Sleep: I can attest to that one. Your body really can function on four or five hours of sleep, as long as it's roughly the same four or five hours every night. Bonus points if you can spend all day Sunday making up for lost sleep. That's been a past time of mine from time to time.
Calendar: Check.
Notes: I strongly recommend not taking a laptop, especially not for Chemistry. The general reason is that those with laptops can get ahem distracted. The chemistry specific reason is that laptops can't capture the equations and pictures you need nearly as easily as a notebook and a pen. (I think I'm preaching to the choir on this one.)
Goals: I know the long-term goal is set. My favorite short-term goal was, again, to have Sunday free to sleep without guilt.
Studying: I should take lessons from you and Kelly on this one. I do agree with the classical music suggestion. I broadened to jazz and some soundtracks without words as well.
Socializing: Those nights I met you and Kelly at Dunn Brothers were a wonderful relief while I was in school. It felt like I was a normal person for an hour or two. I'll come meet you whenever you want.
2. I seriously hope this comment was not overheard in your class!
3. For when you get bored and need some random entertainment and trust me, you will.
4. Ten benefits of power napping and how to do it. Anyone, anyone here power nap? When I'm out, I'm really out.

Through the ages

I have a photo album in iPhoto of all the pictures of Amanda and Kelly and I. Years ago we developed the "hold the camera out in front of your face" method of taking pictures. We've dabbled with timers on digital cameras but always returned to the tried a true method. These were fun to look at again. Bonus points to the first person who can explain why Kelly is almost always in the middle.

Is this the summer of 2003?

Apple picking in 2004. We didn't get a picture of all three of us in 2003?

Taste of Minneosta, 2005. I didn't go in 2004. There was the whole Africa-Florida-Pennsylvania drama.

Must be 2006. Amanda, when did you move?

Kelly and my birthday celebration, 2006.

Apple picking, 2006. I love that picture because I'd been running for a while by that time and I felt really skinny then. Seeing that picture just reminds me.

The bachelorette party.

And we know where this one was taken.

Meh

I went out tonight with a guy. Whom I asked out. But just out to dinner. I had a really nice time. Why do I feel so disappointed? What was I expecting? I really did enjoy myself. We went to Punch Neopolitan in the Highland Neighborhood (for those of you who know St. Paul). We talked forever. The waiter kept coming by to take our order and we kept forgetting to look at the menu. Finally I just ordered a Pizza Margherita because I know I like it. And the pizza and the salad was really good. And we had a nice time.

Here's the history of this night. This guy volunteered at the Science Museum with the team I worked with. As those kids are finishing up and summer is starting, Chris was done volunteering for us, and I was done working at el museo. So he said that we should keep in touch. No one knows why I didn't notice a guy my own age actually volunteering for something and put a little more energy there earlier, but I'm stupid and I was in grad school. In the middle of the summer this is looking pretty interesting so I shot him an email and suggested going out. No reply. So I just imagined that's the end of that and I got over the disappointment.

A few nights ago I was talking to one of my only really good friends who is a guy. And he pointed out that suggesting getting together is just not enough for some guys. Some guys and more than a few girls I think require firm plans to accept. Otherwise they just don't get it. This friend suggested I write back with a more direct approach. The email I sent said, "Do you want to go out to dinner on Sunday night?" Which obviously worked out.

There were a lot of questions. Is this a date? Is this just a guy I could be friends with? What the hell is happening? So I dressed date-casual, meaning I wore carpis and a cute top, but he's seen me dressed at least that nicely before for work, so I could blow it off if he came in some scrubby t-shirt or something. I also straightened my hair.

The verdict: I don't think it was a date. He did buy me dinner. There was not any real flirting. I had a really nice time. What does the future hold? I'm adopting a wait and see attitude. It could turn out we're a match made in heaven. It could also turn out that he's a got a rich computer programming friend. I'm just sayin...

Congratulations Kelly and Eric!

Enjoy my favorite pictures from your wedding day!

PS - Kelly, sorry about the one of you and Eric, the red eye did funny things to you there. I still think it's a nice picture.

Why I'm the Slowest Person on the Planet (and I can't stand it)

I ran outside this morning, apparently something I should never ever do. I ran my usual route, thinking I was trying hard. No. I was still running like 11:40 miles. Seriously. Who's bummed? I'm not sure if it's the heat or the fact that the run ends with two very large hills that I try to save a bit for. I've run this route slower, although not much slower really. I'm thinking I'll run at the Y tomorrow morning and see if that improves my times at all. Maybe it is just the hills that are slowing me down.

By the way, got my phone bill. I pay for both my parents cell phones. It's the one thing that makes me feel like an adult and a contributing member of the family. There were like $5.00 of service charges, not a lot, but I did notice. All on Dad's phone. Two were 411 calls and one was a call to Jamaica that lasted less than 60 seconds. No, really. Jamaica.

People People Everywhere and When Did It Get So Hot?

After last night's success with the bus, it seemed like the best option for my outing to the great Minnesota get-together today. The bus schedule is awfully tight on Sundays. Like the bus I needed to transfer to was pulling up at the same time the bus I was on was pulling up. I about knocked over a few people in my hastened departure from the bus. Luckily, people understand things like that and have some patience with it. After a fairly easy bus ride (on three buses) to the fair, I realized it was both crowded and even hotter than I had anticipated. Good thing I was emotionally prepared.

People, people, everywhere. I wonder how many of them there were. Seemed like the whole state.



Much to Amanda's surprise (and kind of my own) I agreed to ride the "space needle". It's a terrifyingly named elevator that lazily raises and rotates, gets to the top and then descends and rotates in a "my grandpa used to take me on this ride" kind of way. It's still really high, but I chose not to focus on that. You can see exactly how many people were at the fair. You can also see where they parked. If you're careful you might catch a glimpse of Minneapolis.





We went to the Health building. I got myself screened for diabetes since there's a history of it in my family and I haven't been to a doctor in about eight million years. My non-fasting blood sugar was 101, which is almost perfect. Yay me! Amanda got her hearing checked. Before they could run the test, they had to find part of the equipment.

No, seriously.


Normal, my foot!



Amanda didn't like that mirror because it swallowed her feet. I think she's lucky, I have twice the normal number of feet now. Thanks. If you're not from around here, you wouldn't understand what this food is. Trust me; I've lived five years and I still don't get it.



And now, for the animals. Oh look, a horse for Amanda to play with.


Let's bring on the fowl. This was the blue ribbon ballet chicken.


Is it wrong that this chicken reminds me of that lady from the view?



That's how my hair looks in the morning too. And no one knows why there are chickens and turkeys with no feathers on their neck.



Or why Amanda thinks it's a good idea to let a duck play with her bag. Yes, I did say "let".

When we walked away, she grabbed the handle and said, "it's wet" in a distressed manner. I was not sympathetic. Amused, yes. This picture just doesn't do justice to how big these cows really are. Simply amazing. I'm wondering if they're the ones who get rBGH.

Oink.


Perhaps the best part of the day was when Amanda assured me that I would never have to go on any of these rides to be her friend.

It was a really fun day. I had to explain to both my parents "what do you do at the fair"? We don't have fairs like that in Ohio. Or at least, not that people actually attend. The bus ride back was equally tight, although less life threatening to the passengers around me when I tried to meet the connecting bus. When I was standing on a corner in St Paul waiting for the 21 (for more information on the 21, see Kelly's blog and this post in particular) the sign on the bank told me it was 92*. I had only expected mid 80's. No wonder I was so hot. I'm amazed at all the people I saw wearing jeans. They had to be about dead. I wonder how many people get heat stroke at the fair each year. Do they keep statistics on that type of thing?

The Bachelorette Party

The rules for Kelly's bachelorette party (ten points to anyone who can correctly spell that word, Firefox doesn't even know it) were simple:
1. No strippers, male or female.
2. No drinking and driving.
3. No police involvement of any kind.

I think we did well for ourselves. Instead of a normal gift, Amanda and I got Kelly this great tiara. Honestly, we had to pick the blue one. The other ones were just pretty enough that someone would have thought Kelly was serious. Then, we got on the bus to go to uptown.



I was there too. At our favorite place in uptown, Bar Abilene, there was good food, good desert and even better drinks. Thanks also to Kate, our serve for not bringing me a third margarita.


We went to a different bar and played pool. Kelly will tell you that she has much more talent than Amanda and I, and that she "schooled us". While I don't deny the talent thing, Kelly will leave out the part where she sunk the 8-ball on her third or fourth shot, so she lost too.


We all safely took the bus home. Kelly, like a good sport was still wearing the tiara, although I would have excused her if she chose to take it off on the bus ride home.


And here we all are.

I ran yesterday, we'll see about today

I ran yesterday morning before work. 5.6 miles. No, seriously. I ran these miles in 11:27 or so. I think I ran some of them faster, and the last one, with a monster hill, at a much slower pace. Now I'm spending some time cleaning up the joint. Originally a wild bachelorette party had been planned, and then life happened to one or two of us. Now we're meeting here, going to a great restaurant and having good food and even better margaritas. I'm excited.

After I finish organizing my house, I'm planning on going to the Y and lift weights. My butt is still sore from the workout I did on Thursday, but it felt so good it seems like I should do it again. I'll also let you know how the organizing goes.

That's no so bad

I was feeling pretty bad about how slow I just ran (see the post from like five minutes ago) until I realized that at this time in 2006 that's how slow I ran a 5K, and now I can sustain that pace for much longer than 3.2 miles, and if I'm only running 3.2 miles, I can go faster.

I'm feeling a little nervous because my dad is coming up and he's going to see me run a 5K in a couple of weeks. I am putting a lot of pressure on myself to do better than I did in the milk run, but also feeling like I'm not going to improve from three weeks ago nearly as much as I did from one year ago. We'll see.

Miss me?

I meant to run this morning. But then I forgot to set my alarm so I ran tonight. I ran 4.8 miles in the slow as hell times 56:30 or 11:45 miles. Apparently, I haven't run like this in a while. I also think I haven't run at night in a while. Who turned the sun on?

I'm doing so so with the whole "getting up early" thing. Monday morning I was still sleeping off a migraine. Tuesday was wildly successful. This morning, again, forgot the alarm. I'm optimistic about tomorrow though. If I get up early and go to the Y (because there's about zero chance I'll want to run tomorrow) then I can be at work early which has the added benefit of I get to leave work early.

I'm thinking I need a new hobby or something. Maybe I should play my guitar again. Because I get home from work and I don't have a whole lot to do. Right now I'm re-reading Harry Potter And the Order of the Phoenix. I've wanted to re-read it ever since I saw the movie. I'm glad I did it in that order though, otherwise all the little discrepancies would have driven me up a wall. I've also thought about taking up drawing. If I get really ambitious I could paint my bedroom. It really does need to be done soon, before the heat gets turned on.

I always think each home improvement project is going to be simpler than the last. I hold up the hallway, which may or may not have been an improvement over the bathroom as an example. I sort of fear the bedroom anyways because I have a lot of stuff in there and I don't exactly know where to move it. That almost has to be a one day job, where I wake up, move everything, eat, paint a coat, eat, paint the next coat, eat, and then move everything back. Although all the the difficulties in each project were not things I foresaw. I'm a little scared to think what could go wrong in there.

Milk Run 2007

I ran in the Milk Run this morning. I took off about 3:00 from last year's time. I ran about a 33:15, I'll know for sure when the put the results up tonight. That's about a 10:30 mile.

I started out a little faster than I normally run. I think last year I started off too slow. And then the race route climbs. And climbs. And climbs beyond what is really normal for any race, especially in a place as flat as the twin cities. Mercifully the two mile mark is about the same place as the top of the climb. The last mile is basically down hill. I was really pleased when I got to the two mile mark at 22:00. That's two 11:00 miles, which is really fast considering who little I'd trained and the terrain. I was relieved when I could turn on the gas a bit for the down hill part. I was relieved I had anything left.

My original goal had been to finish in 32:00 which would have been perfect 10:00 miles. After remembering how bad I got about doing any exercise, I was really happy with how the day turned out. I'm still thinking about the Bolder Dash. Not sure whether to focus on improving the 5k time or to try a 10K. I'll have to figure out how late I can register and decide then.

I walked around the fair for a little while after the race. Over-stimulation may be the key word. Crowd may be another good word. I really liked walking around the fair when it first opened. I think that's the best time to go probably. Even the bathrooms are still fine that early in the morning. No one is cranky because it's too early to be either hot or tired. I toured the Eco-building, always a favorite, and went into the green friendly remodeling spaces. It was neat to see that I do have some decent options for green materials when I remodel my condo. Although I wasn't wild about the cork floor. They had granite and bamboo counter-tops that were really cool. Do they make flooring out of granite as well? I got a card for a place that's really close to where I live. I'll try to go over one night and check it out. I think I need to at least scope it out before I bring my Dad over. I need to be prepared for any possible criticisms he will have. Can't walk in blind so to speak.

And then I had Chipotle for lunch. Partly because I was hungry but also because I have very little food in my house and I have zero desire to go grocery shopping on a Sunday with everyone else (who didn't go to the fair today). I have some edamame. Mmmmm, yum!

This is my 701st post!

Congratulations!

I found this picture of a sign on a Flickr group.

The moment I saw the sign, I thought, "I know that sign. I've been there too". After a short interlude where I updated the drivers on my computer so the scanner would function properly, I have digital proof.

Unconscious Mutterings

I haven't done this in a while, so I thought it would be fun.
1. Uneven :: pavement, cement
2. Wonder :: Natalie Merchant
3. Spider :: man, tobey maguire
4. Emma :: emma thompson, wasn't that a book by jane austen?
5. Swing:: low sweet chariot, coming....
6. Orbit :: outer space
7. Flirt :: that would be fun
8. Donation :: charity, people who go to church give more
9. Veil :: Harry Potter when Sirius Black dies
10. Atmosphere :: earth, ocean