Go Fish!

As I mentioned before I set up my fish tank on Thursday. Amanda actually got me the tank for Christmas. But I was sadly unable to set it up for a while due to recurring issues with bed bugs. (The filter has to be unplugged and the tank covered during any bed bug spray.)




As you can see, it's a small tank (read: beginner). Amanda taught me that one inch of fish needs a whole gallon of water to live in. So I chose two small guppies (both boys, I'm in favor of family planning here) to live in the tank.


It was a bit of an adventure to get them relocated. First the PetCo bag sprung a leak. Then I realized I don't own a fish net. (How to get them from the bag into the tank without dumping water from Tank A into Tank B?) I did a little internet research, and a fast operation to keep the bag from leaking all over the living room. And the fish were relocated after about 20 minutes of living half in a pitcher and half in the bag.

I haven't named them yet but I have a couple of ideas. I'm considering auctioning off naming rights to my fish as part of my marathon fund raising efforts. The only rules are it has to be a name (and the meaning of the name) that I can say to my mentee and to my parents without blushing.

Here's my ideas:
Winter and Sprinter
Yuppy and Puppy the Guppies
Max and Albert
Merle and Earl
Hawkeye and Buckeye

Any votes? Any write-ins?

Amanda got me a fish tank, I got some sun

I ran today. It was kind of nice to not be cold when I stopped running. Although I tried not to relish it too much because it won't be long and I'll be hot, even when I'm not running. I'm assuming that's where I got most of the sun on my little red face.

Then Amanda took me out fish shopping. I got a cool fish tank, some nice rocks and a fake plant for the fish to hide. The tank is settling in for a day or two before I go to purchase the fish. For fish people my tank is small some I'm going to get two boy guppies. No girl guppies. The tank can only hold two fish. (Amanda, I did take pictures but it's too late to upload them now. It's too late for you to look at them too.)

After we bought fish things, Amanda took me over to DQ for an ice cream and more sitting in the sun. It was actually really nice and relaxing. And the ice cream was good too.

In the evening I went to meet what have now been dubbed "the running mates". I met the people with whom I'll be training and fund raising for Bolder Options. It looks like it will be a fun group. I told Amanda it's weird to do things with people my own age. People who talk about Facebook. None of my colleagues even know what that is. Almost all the people I work with have kids my age. It's like I don't know how to be a 27 year old anymore. (That's right. Don't hate me.)

And then Amanda talked me into running a half marathon in May. (I still don't know what I was thinking on that one.) I'll keep you updated on the running and the fund raising.

Oh, the joys of random holidays

Last week I worked 3 days. This week: same thing. (Don't hate me.) It's Passover and we take time off for that.

When I walked in the office yesterday, two of my co-workers meant well and it led to an hilarious conversation:
Co-worker 1: Happy Easter
Liz: Thanks, but I don't celebrate Easter
Co-worker 1: Why not?
Liz: I'm not Christian?
Co-worker 1: What are you?
Liz: I don't know, nothing I guess.
Co-worker 1: You have to be something.
Co-worker 2: You could almost be Jewish.
Well ok, thanks for welcoming me into the club.

Running is going well so far this week. I'm trying to do all my running on weekdays so I can take Saturday off. I'm planning on running the Oy Vey 5k (no, seriously) on Sunday and I want a day to rest before I do.

Tomorrow or Thursday I'm hoping for another nice long run around Lake Harriet (my newest favorite lake in Minneapolis). I ran 5 miles this morning. Last night I did 4 miles on the elliptical at under 10:00 miles the entire time. (Seriously, that's insane.)

It's saturday and I feel like ish, and this post is not about politics

It's not totally unexpected that I feel this way. And no, it's not related to alcohol. But that's an idea for next time. As I was poking around on the web today, I found this headline, and the artwork here is important. For the non-Minnesotan readers, that's the governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty.



Possible GOP Contender? I'm not even going to descend into politics here. I just don't want a presidential candidate from my state when I work in the capital city, live in the biggest city in the state, and my condo is only a few miles from the airport. I just don't want to deal with the logistics.

Liz Trains for a Marathon: No one knows what week it is anymore

I've lost count of the weeks of training. I got off my weeks schedule here in March anyways. But I'm slowly getting it back together. Today, in honor of my 4 day weekend, I ran 8.5 miles. Yeah me. Now, the real test will be how far I run in the next couple of days. But at this point, I only need one run that far a week so it's fine.

After I ran I went back to sleep for a couple hours. (Like I was going to do anything else after running that far.) Once I woke up, I ate a little food. I was surprisingly not hungry until just now when I ate what had to be four meals in one. It's ok, I did run a really far this morning.

After I had a little snack, I went over to soak in the hot tub at the Y. It's almost worth paying the membership just for the hot tub. I'm also going to have to remember that for this summer when I want to run outside but I need to get in my eight visits per month so I get the discount.

I went grocery shopping. (Kelly, I'm assuming a 5lb bag of potatoes is enough for whomever shows up on Sunday.) I got bacon. I got other stuff too but obviously, I'm most excited about the bacon.

Tomorrow, Amanda and I are going to get fish for my fish tank after we eat at Maria's. (After I run around a lake and earn my two corn pancakes.)

Gotta love these headlines

It seems as though there's not much to report in my life. Most of my life has been taken up with work which has been busier than normal while we prepare for two three day weeks in a row. It's Passover. (You know you want to work at a Jewish agency too. Don't be jealous.) I'm still running which is having it's ups (accidentally running to Lake Harriet last week) and downs (not running today because I was tired, how lame is that?). Although, when I was running on that path and came up this little tiny hill and saw Lake Harriet at the last minute, I never felt more like a runner. I never felt happier either.

In the mean time, the headlines as of late (and some of the actual stories) are just too good:

• Chia-Obama no longer sold at Walgreens. You'd think it's from The Onion, especially with the part about the "Happy Chia Obama" and "Determined Chia Obama". But no. It's a real story.


• How did America's most famous (and maligned) Mom pay for the medical procedures that led to the birth of octuplets? By working a ton of overtime as a psychiatric technician. Oh, the ironies abound.


• This article just pissed me off because they don't know what they're talking about. And I just wanted you all to know that it's wrong. Where did it go wrong? FTA (emphasis mine):

  The term “OCD” has recently displaced “anal” in contemporary slang as a way of describing people who are more than usually meticulous, pernickety or pedantic – the sort of people who are never satisfied unless things are just right. If this reflected a greater understanding of obsessive compulsive disorder, it might be no bad thing. In fact, it has simply increased the degree of misunderstanding by confusing two different conditions with almost the same name. “Anal” people do not usually have OCD at all; they simply have an obsessive compulsive personality type, meaning they’re a bit fussy. People with OCD, in contrast, are suffering from a serious anxiety disorder that greatly impinges on their lives.

  Here's the thing. There is actually a diagnosable disorder called "Obsessive Personality Disorder" and you don't have it just by being anal. This article is not clear and that annoys me. I just wanted you to know.


• A couple of articles I find interesting (and possibly no one else will). First, It's impossible to buy a stick shift anymore. So sad. Even at my young age, it was like a rite to learn how to drive a stick. And, Who the heck still doesn't have a Facebook account?. I feel your pain.


• There's possible new diagnostic testing for both Alzheimer's Disease (would you really want to know ahead of time?) and Schizophrenia. Ok seriously, I thought the mask was right side out at first. Back to the Alzheimer's thing, it actually is important to know as early as possible because the Alzheimer's meds work better the earlier they are given in the course of the disease.


• For some reason, people think everyone on welfare is on drugs and they are going to test that theory. It's not true by the way. Stop being mad at people for having less than you do.


• And speaking of drugs, decriminalization of drugs is something I've been a fan of for a long time. It takes the money and the danger out of the business. And it's worked in Portugal for several years.

Saturday Linkfest

Well, I'm a little tired from my run yesterday. I made it all the way to Lake Harriet, and about half way around it. I actually wasn't super tired but was facing another kind of distress that made me stop. By the way, the water is turned off in all the buildings at Lake Harriet. Sucks.

Today I walked around Lake Nokomis. Not sure if the water's off but the lake is thawed. Lake Harriet still has a fairly huge ice cap on it. I'm still pretty sore from yesterday. I can only imagine how this is going to feel after a marathon.

In the mean time, here's some great things to know more about:

• This past week has been filled with some great and surprising headlines out of Washington. First, they expanded the AmeriCorps program and gave the first increase in the education award in, well, ever. And now they're lifting some travel restrictions to Cuba. That was out of the blue. But very cool.


• Since the bedbugs, I've been wanting to re-do my closet. How cool would this be?.


• This made me think of Amanda and Kelly who either own or covet one of these things. It also made me think of work which has promised to be more laptop friendly in the near future.


• And this one it totally for Amanda: Watch Surgery on YouTube. Just don't tell me anything about the amputation one ok.

A whole post for Amanda's comment yesterday..

So yesterday, I provided this link and some commentary on it. Actually it was probably earlier this week and not yesterday, but stick with the point. Then Amanda read my blog post and commented.

And I was thinking about her comment. (Because I do care.) I still don't like the way the article is written, specifically the stuff about mental illness and chemical abuse. Here's my thoughts:

• The ER employee in question from Amanda's comment is a surgical technician and anyone requiring surgical care costs a lot of money.


• Since surgery is expensive, it requires fewer visits to rack up a $1,000,000 bill. Although it is still quite impressive.


• The article said 9 patients made 2,678 visits to the ER, and the average ER visit is $1000.


• $3,000,000 divided by 2,678 is $1,120


• The average cost for these people was only slightly higher than the average cost per visit of the general population so we can assume they aren't having too many surgeries.


• 2,678 divided by nine is approximately 298 visits per person.


• 298 visits in six years is roughly one visit per week. What the hell? Were they ever admitted or did they just go home and come back?


• If there's any other way to get medical care other than an Emergency Room, it's almost always my choice. I'm assuming that's true of the general population who like to wait 20 minutes for the doctor in a quiet waiting room rather than 2 hours in an ER with a puking kid and a drunk guy.
  


• Since the people in this study are accessing medical care in the ER every week, it's reasonable to ask if there is anywhere else for the to access such care.

So, I go back to my original point. Minnesota ranks 10th in the country in doctors per capita. Texas ranks 42nd. (Yes I'm a nerd. Check here.) It would be interesting to see how many visits the top nine ER users in Minnesota have made and what their costs were. Maybe we could help Texas. Or maybe every state has 9 people who go to the ER all the time and we shouldn't focus on them when looking at how to make services more cost effective. Maybe we should start with a group that's easier to serve, like people who go to the ER frequently but would go to a clinic if they had one.

A brief linkfest before bed

• Most of you know my fondness for bacon but No. Just.. no.
• Congress finally realized that the AmeriCorps education award needed to raised and that the whole program should be expanded. Thanks to both congress and President Obama for that one because it's a great program. (I should know, I did it twice.) Also really cool that the ed award can go to kids or grand kids. I think it's a great idea.
• One more sure sign of the apocalypse. Is this like when Napster changed?
• At first, when I read this headline I was horrified, and then I thought, "oh, yeah, I could see that". But I don't think the way the article talks about mental illness or chemical addiction is too helpful. It'd also be interesting to know what they plan on doing about it and if other urban areas have similar problems. Minneapolis and St Paul have so many other clinics that this kind of usage seems unlikely out of too many people.
• Best "April Fool's" site I've ever seen. The joke would be if it's real.
• Most of us have seen that, "if the earth were only 100 people..." video from a while ago. Here's the update. The thing about the internet and computers totally does not surprise me. I wonder what the percentage is in the US for computer owners. ::Looks around:: Anyone?
• And, finally, Yet another reason to be proud of Minneapolis (and St. Paul).

Maybe I should be a teacher like Kelly

Reasons:
1. My mentee woke me up (on my day off) so I could take her to school. It was also her birthday. Happy sweet sixteen!

2. This website. I want to be a teacher just so I can get exams like that to grade. Seriously, if the site is blocked at work, go home and look at it. Somewhere you can laugh out loud. A lot.

my day in pictures

It turns out, I worked too much last week and my boss told me not to come in tomorrow. Sweet. In honor of that, I spent some time tonight trying to improve my score on this word game on Facebook. (Who knew I was this competitive?)

I got two high scores on the game:


A poet huh?


Later on, I was on the web and saw the cutest picture ever (original here). Awwww.

A brief link fest with oddly colored butter

First off, I did run today. Five miles of sprinting was hard this morning for some reason. Actually, the first 2.5 miles was hard. Work, well I worked basically a full day extra last week and my boss told me I had to take it this week. So work has been kind of busy. But it was good today.

And now

• Do you know a kid who has ADD? (Besides me!) Well, let them fidget. They're doing it because it helps. I chew gum instead of moving the rest of my body for this very reason.


• For the bloggers out there, 10 html tags I'd like to see used in your next post. I don't know why I saved this bookmark to show you really. I must have thought some of the tags were neat. I always used "strike" instead of "ins" and "del" to cross things out. Maybe that was it.


• And finally, 11 things you should never do to food except for mash potatoes which can come from naturally purple or blue potatoes and are fine. But seriously, pink? Ewww.
  

Running is going...

Well, it's not today or yesterday. But I'm realizing exactly how much stress from my job impacts my wanting to run at all. And I think that will make me run a whole lot more.

Today, I came home and took a nap after work.

Work was ok today actually. I had sort of a flurry of work to do at the end of the day, but it was a good thing that happened that made me have to do all that work so it was worth it.

Tomorrow, I plan on running. Someone, please check on me and give me crap if I don't. And if applicable, remind me that you gave a generous amount of money to Bolder Options so that I could run even more and I should show my gratitude by keeping up my end of the bargain.

Now, I think I'm going to have something resembling dinner (although not quite that in depth) and then go to bed for real.

Hey Liz! How are y.... is that a waterfall coming from under your kitchen sink?

Why yes, yes it is a waterfall coming from under my kitchen sink. The good news is that the waterfall only falls when the water is on. So far. Also, one of my neighbors is a handy man. I just gave him the key to my unit. I'm hopeful he'll fix it tomorrow while I'm at work.

I was just thinking, "gosh, it'll be so nice to be done with bed bugs" and then I realized that it never ends. All of you who own houses or condos understand this concept. Your house knows when you've just fixed something and you want to be done for a while. And that's when it breaks something else.

Actually, I've been pretty fortunate in the stuff not working category. Amanda helped me fix one sink. (Really she did it and I just watched.) I just don't have the energy for this one. Also, there were the light switches that I replaced myself, at least one of them. And there was all the painting (pictured here and here plus a bonus video of Amanda "helping").

God, condo, don't get any ideas for anything else. I'll give you a nice new closet and then we are done for a while.

In other news, I ran this morning. I didn't quite make it seven miles but I made it over six, signaling that stress reduction has worked on at least some level. I also went to my very first Seder. Thanks to my boss for inviting me. I learned a lot. And not what I thought I would learn about.

Now, I will go to bed and picture a fully functional kitchen for the the next day.

Running and stress: Also not a good mix

I had a really rough day yesterday. You can go here to see how I feel about personality disorders.

Yesterday involved a medical transport hold. And another hospitalization. And I realized I've been watching way too much ER lately.

After work my mentee and I hung out and wrote her resume. Then she played around on her MySpace page. (I seriously do not understand...) I almost fell asleep. (Did I mention I did all these hospitalization things on about 4 hours of sleep?)

Today, I tried running, but I wasn't really feeling it. The walk I took instead was quite relaxing. I'll try the running thing tomorrow. Right now I just realized I have to go grocery shopping.

Liz, it's 11:40pm. How come you're writing and not, you know, asleep?

Well, it's been quite a day. There's no better way to start the day than how I did it. I woke up and ran (yeah me) and then did something really fun at work. And it all went down hill from there. Let's just say I ran into more than one person with a personality disorder today. (For more information about personality disorders, check out the links here and here.)

At the end of the day I went over to Bolder Options to raise money for them. My fundraising goal is $4,000. In exchange for that, they will teach me to run a marathon. Plus they will be able to continue to mentor many teens in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

At this time I'd like to thank the following people for allowing me to call them and ask for support (even though most of you don't read this blog)

Amanda
Kelly
Mom and Dad
Mike and Linda
Aunt Barb and Uncle Tom
Uncle Dave
Erin and Matt
Mark and Irmghard
Aunt Terri
Aunt Joan and Uncle Joe
Marge
Alyssa
Chris
Bonnie
Liz
Sarah (dude, answer your phone)
Sona
Jenny and Doug
Aunt Elaine
Jenny's Parents (Monica and .... it's not that bad, I always call them Mom and Dad)

I feel like there are more people who should be included on this list. But I can't get to my paper list right now to check. Why not? Because my apartment is somewhat packed up so my unit can get sprayed as a protection against bed bugs yet again. (Remember the first time my unit got sprayed?. What about the second time?. Yeah, I remember them both too.)

Only tomorrow, in addition to my unit getting sprayed, the unit above mine is getting heat treated. The temperature in that unit will be raised to 140* or so and kept there for several hours. No word on what that's going to do to the stuff in my unit but I've taken the pictures off the wall and put them on the floor (what? heat rises), same with the photos and electronics. Also, I'll be taking the laptop to work tomorrow. I wish we had wireless there. It would make my joy complete.

Supposedly someone else is going to "prepare" my unit, but I took that to mean, "we'll move stuff away from the walls for you" so I still did a whole bunch to get ready for them.

Tomorrow I'm working for 12 hours. (Not my idea.) But at least I'll be out of here while they're spraying and heating and spraying and heating.

This week has actually been a little interesting because I'm having a lot of long days. Monday night I went to a Shiva (a definition for the Gentiles), tonight and Thursday night I'm volunteering at Bolder Options and tomorrow I'm working forever. Friday I think I'm only going to work a few hours. Then I'm going to help a teenager write a resume. It should be fun, she has a lot of neat stuff to put on it. Then I'm going to sleep forever. After I unpack.

An updated on this word game

Earlier last week, Amanda and Kelly got me addicted to introduced me to this word game on Facebook that I've obviously been playing frequently. If you've never played before, or don't have Facebook, at the end of each round, it compares your apparent vocabulary level with that of different professions.

A little while ago, I reached the verbal ability of a lawyer. I thought the caption over the girls head was hilarious and eerily familiar. That's exactly how I felt about becoming an attorney.


Today, I reached the verbal ability of a journalist. Which is cool because my Aunt Terri is a journalist. (Although, I can't tell if she's really serious about keeping up a blog.) This one's for you Aunt Terri.

An unexpected side effect of all the packing and unpacking

As a result of all this packing and unpacking, I cannot find my ibuprofen. Who looses that?

How are things going in the land of bugs? I think my apartment has to get sprayed again. On Wednesday. Have they officially told me yet? No, but I ran into a neighbor. There are still bugs in two units that I know of and possibly a third unit.

How goes the land of the runners? I'm starting to raise money for Bolder Options tonight. As part of their annual call-a-thon. (I'm not sure that's what it's really called.) So, if you read this blog, expect a call from me asking you to donate to Bolder Options to help me run a marathon to support at risk youth. It'll be tonight, Tuesday or Thursday.

I thought of one more place to look for drugs. I'll be off now.

Baseball is meant to be played... indoors

I just saw a Twins commercial saying, "reserve your seat in the sun". Ha. You wish it's going to be in the sun. It's March. The low today was -9*. (I guess you can figure out how I voted on the levy.) You know the average temperature in April is in the 40*s right?

In other news:

• I was reading about 24 diseases that are freaky and generally don't make my blood pressure drop. Amanda, I thought of you.



• Do you live in a big city? With lots of new Americans? See where they all came from before they were Americans.



• One of my favorite time killers websites is turning one year old.



• And, Which TV feuds have entertained you over the years? My vote is for Jon Stewart and Crossfire, although it was pretty entertaining to watch Jon Stewart rail on the guy from CNBC too.

A linkfest post

Last night Amanda and Kelly fed me way too much food and alcohol went out to dinner with me during the beginnings of Blizzard March '09. (My car didn't have any ice to scrape off by the way.)

Somewhere during the evening of debauchery, Amanda and Kelly starting comparing notes on Netbooks. I think if I were still in school, I'd want one too. Since I'm not in school the little buggers make no sense to me. But I pointed out the rumor that Apple will release a netbook this year. Amanda and Kelly discussed the merits of such a product and were reticent, but I just want to point out, it will probably have a touch screen.

::Steps up onto soap box::
Also, for some reason Minneapolis is all of the sudden indignant about prostitution and Johns. I can identify with the story of the girl walking to the, well, for me it was always the bus stop. I've also spent a lot of time on a restorative justice panel that hears cases of men who were arrested for solicitation.

That said, when Mayor Rybak is looking for stuff to cut from the city budget, I suggest cutting the website where people can go look up Johns by picture. (Who cares?) Second, quit prosecuting everyone. Restorative justice is the better option because it takes up way fewer resources and has a lower recidivism rate than traditional prosecution. Plus, in the program I serve, Johns have to come and volunteer in the neighborhood that was "victimized" by their crime. That helps a neighborhood much more than putting someone in jail or making them pay a fine and sending them to probation.

It's prostitution. It's Lake Street. Put the money you would have spent prosecuting these men from the suburbs and actually invest in Lake Street. It's a better use of the money and will help Minneapolis more in the long run.
::Steps down from soap box now::

I just had a really weird dream

And I'm only half awake right now, so this might be a little like those "blogging while drunk" posts. Anyways, at first I was in an operating room while these other doctors were helping an old white guy. For some reason a guy shot the white guy while he was sitting up in his hospital bed. But the shooter didn't mean to hit him. Then the shooter started shooting at whoever he did mean to hit. And the doctors did all this surgery on the old guy. I definitely wanted him to live and didn't like that he was shot.

Then suddenly, I was the one who had to have an operation. It was something about my heart but they had to go through my back. There were two doctors. The young doctor was really cute and I definitely had a crush on him. Anyways, it was emergency surgery, so they just started getting me ready and then they had to lay me there while the anesthesia took effect. Which is not my usual experience with anesthesia which knocks me out in seconds. I admonished them to "poke hard" to make sure I was asleep.

While they were waiting for me to fall asleep, I kicked some girl off the head of my bed so I could lay down. Then the doctors asked me who I wanted as an anesthesiologist. They both wanted someone different and I yelled at them for even asking right then. But then I worried that they didn't get who they wanted and they might not do as good of a job. And then I started worrying about having surgery. You'd think it would have happened sooner. And then I remembered what Amanda said about catheters in surgery so I started imagining that being put in, Oh good, I have to pee anyway, and then I started remembering all these stories about people who hear the surgeon when they're asleep, and hear what they're saying. And then I started thinking about sleeping, and how I'd just wake up in a minute and not know what happened and there would be wonderful drugs. And then I started thinking about trusting god during all the time in between.

And then my alarm went off. And now I don't know how people ever get on the table for surgery.

In support of runing, and I feel like a cowboy

A while ago at my job, we started serving people under a whole new funding stream to us. New to us as well as the funders themselves. I kept telling my supervisor that learning this new funding stream and continuing to serve our clients was going to be like an adventure. I told her it would be like cowboys riding through the desert, avoiding bullets and little cacti and holding on to our hats.

Today, I learned to file an answer to a complaint and summons. And that cowboy feeling is back. It's kind of exciting but I'll be glad when it's over.

I ran 5 miles today. Well, I did 5 miles of sprints but I count that as the full five miles. So, one day down this week and four to go. I think I just have to go back a few weeks on my marathon schedule and do shorter distances. I just have to accept that if I'm running inside, 5 miles is probably my limit and that's ok.

A marathon update

Training for a marathon is much harder than I thought. Running long distances is not my problem. The issue seems to be running five days a week. I'm not sure how much the problem is living in Minnesota where it's icy right now, and how much I just let that be an excuse.

It's possible my marathon goals have changed slightly. On Thursday I made it to a meeting at Bolder Options. Those of you who see me regularly know I want to train for a marathon with other people since I've never done it before. I'd thought about the American Cancer Society since they have a team running in the Twin Cities Marathon every year. But then I found out about the destination marathon Bolder Options does every year. Since I know them, I decided I'd rather work on their behalf. (For those of you who don't know, I was a mentor for them. My mentee and I graduated the year-long program last Thursday. Go us!)

Someone said that if you have a rather lofty fund raising goal and a goal of training for the marathon, the marathon training becomes the easier of the two. Good, I'm ready for something to make this easier.

Here's the change in my plans: Instead of running the Twin Cities Marathon, I am now training to run a marathon in Amsterdam and raise money for Bolder Options. So, if you're reading this blog, I'll be asking you to make a contribution to Bolder Options. Thanks in advance.

What else happened this week? I decided to actually go out for once: Last night Amanda took me out dancing (not just me, a whole bunch of people). My favorite part of the evening involved the phrase, "THIS IS NOT A HALLWAY". We were actually sober by that point. There really wasn't a whole lot of alcohol involved last night. My other favorite part of the evening involved someone trying to get me to smoke, "oh just once" as they inhaled, coughed repeatedly and made a face comparable to the bitter beer face, and then took another drag and did it again. And after two drags, couldn't take anymore.

Today, I've been laying on the couch. All day. I'm considering getting off the couch. But it never seems like the thing to do.

Running and audiobooks: Not a good mix

I like running. I like listening to audiobooks (still often referred to as "books on tape"). I thought, "hey, I have to run about a bazillion hours this morning, I'll listen to a book instead of music". No. Just, no. Apparently, it doesn't work like that. My brain got tired of paying attention to running and paying close enough attention to follow the story somewhere in my fourth mile. So I ran sprints and walked to finish up my time.

About 20 minutes before I was done (I know because I was watching the clock at this point), a guy started talking to me. (Calm down, I'm pretty sure he's married.) He noticed I'd been on the track for over an hour. (Hey, thanks for noticing.) So I walked with him the last little while. I'd seen him at the gym before. He said he likes to lift weights and doesn't like to run very far because it makes him too skinny. (Insert your own rude remark here.) He turned out to be a computer tech from India (insert your own stereotype here). We talked about India and how crowded everything is, especially compared to Minnesota. He said it didn't bother him when the gym was crowded (thank you, New Year's Resolution joiners for being done by the way) at the start of the year because it felt more like home. There's a new way to look at things.

Yesterday, well most days last week I did not run. I did get to the gym one of the days to do the elliptical. That was when I realized the New Year's Resolution folks had stopped clogging up the gym so much.

Looking at the running I did in Florida compared to the very next week here, I finally realized how hard it is to train in Minnesota in the winter. It really impacts my running, mostly the distances I would run, more than I realized. I miss those eight mile runs. That was a good way to wake up. Hopefully we'll be done with this snow and crap soon and I'll be able to run outside to my hearts content.

Pictures from Vacation

I feel like some of my blog entries need an explanation, specifically, Drink and blog part 1 and the follow up: even more alcohol than the first time. Every time I read those, they get more hysterical. It's a good thing I have this blog because option B was drink and dial, and I know you're all thrilled to be spared.

Setting the scene: Let's be clear. I left a fairly crappy situation in Minnesota to go on vacation. (Here's the photo evidence.) Amanda came over to help me pack and helped me pack before I left. Then she agreed to provide shelter for the night since I had to pack all my bedding for the treatment. She was really sweet and got indignant for me about all the work I had to do. (It was a nice reaction. I just didn't have the energy for it by that time, so I was grateful to have the support.)


When I got to Florida I nearly died and spent some quality time on the couch recuperating. Once I felt better, it was my job to de-gecko the lanai. I was the only one who wasn't afraid of them. Did you know they can jump? This one was kind of cute and quite photogenic.


So by the time the next few days rolled around, I was ready for a whole lot of sun shine and doing nothing. Mercifully my wish was granted and included a swimming pool and a sweet place to run. So, I spent a lot of time around the pool with my family.



The alcohol consumption: I'd like to thank my aunties for finding $125 in change at someone's house to finance all this wine. My favorite was the Mescato selection. (Did you know they sell wine at Target in some places?) I bought 3 bottles of wine to restock just before I left. (Did you know that Target will also wrap the wine bottles in newsprint so they don't clank in the bag? Classy.)






The end result: Well, obviously I had my camera with me by the pool (next to the alcohol), but I was threatened within an inch of my life by several individuals if any of the evidence ever wound up on Zoogle or the loob toob, and obviously I had too good a time to ever mess up my chances for next year by posting pictures.

Feet...

While I was on vacation, I took a bunch of pictures of my feet wherever I was. Apparently, one of my relatives (who shall remain nameless for now) thought this was an ill advised use of my time. I tried to assure this person that this is a creative thing and can produce some interesting results and that I'd been doing it for some time. I think my family was not convinced. Nonetheless, I really have taken a bunch of pictures, and now seemed like a great time to look back at them. (Plus, those of us in Minnesota don't have to look at Florida pictures while we're in a snow emergency.)

From my kitchen: (Look, the floor wasn't even done yet.)

From Chicago, the Art Museum I believe:

From the State Fair:



From Africa:




From my most recent vacation (documented here, here and here among others):

Congratulations, you've just run... your longest ever

No, I really did today. I don't even need to connect my iPod to the Nike+ website to know this for sure.

Today I ran 95 or so minutes, which is at least eight miles. Although I was on quite a runner's high for a while, so I'm hopeful I went even farther than that. Then, seriously about about minute 97, I saw my two aunties starting out on their morning walk. So I joined them for a three mile walk. Towards then end of it I had to ask them to slow down. I was seriously tired.

I skipped breakfast in favor of water and a shower. Then we went out for a late lunch at a place called Red Robin where I had a bacon cheeseburger and yummy french fries.

We went shoppign at an outlet mall in the afternoon. I was denied my Starbucks on several occaisions (and wound up with some nasty Chinese and weird tasting Diet Pepsi instead). But I did buy some cute work clothes and some other items I needed pretty badly.

We're all hanging out for the evening. Aunt Joanie had to go to Tampa to collect Uncle Joe from the airport. I'm sitting here burning CDs for my aunties and typing in my blog. Actually, I'm so tired it's quite qelcome to have a relaxing night.

There was no dringiing today...

There was also no running. Try to guess why. That last post is even more hilarious when I see all the typos.

Today we walked the dog and then took a long walk ourselves. After that we went shopping and then out to dinner. Tonight I was techno girl. My aunties all wanted copies of the others iTunes libraries and I'm the only one who knows how to get around the DRM. I just want to tale a moment and put in a plug for Skreemr which is a great free mp3 search engine. And then I dont have to deal with stupid DRM. Plus it's free

Tomorrow ok hoping to take another nice long run. We'll see what else happens
After that.

seriously, still drunk

Now the unties have created a site called Zoogle and loob tube. I'm way too drunk to post videos right now. But it's freaking hilarious.

I've only had 3 glasses of wine but like nothing to eat today. Did I mention I ran 8 miles today? Did I also mention I haven't eaten today? that ould be why 3 glasses of wine made me totally freaking stupid. Are we not impressed that I'm typing in html code while this buzzed? thtmeans I've really learned it right?

for some reason, I remember trying to have a conversation with Kelly last night while equally buzzed. What did I say?

My aunts think I'm putting them on youtube right now and they're threatening me with alligators... sleeping with alligators... are there snakes? It's ok. I'm the only one who can work the pool heat pump. They can't toss me out. They're not done with me yet. Plus I have another aunt and uncle down here who love me.

I think they're already on facebook. Maybe I shouldn't write too much more. (Shit, I can't spell that word, I tried a few different variations until I got the wrote homnyogram "right" "write" "rite")

Oooh, now they've forgotten about me. Maybe I am sober enough to post this to youtube.... No, the camera cord is tooo far way. Although, they do seem pretty drunk. They're threatning me now...

Oh, god, blogging while drunk is freaking awesome...

God, I just want you to know, first of all, when I hear you speak it's with Ed Asner's voice, I hope that's ok, but I think it is, that when I was laying on the couch dying on Sunday, I felt myself getting better and there was this tinglling, buzzing sensation. And I think people get drunk because being buzzed is quite a similar senation. Although it's not quite the same. I can feel you more when I'm buzzing and sober. Sorry, I'll try to remember that more. But this feels really good too. I haven't heard people laugh this much in quite a while. Thanks for letting me have this too.

Still enjoying the sunshine

Hey everyone. I'm still down here soaking up the Florida sun. I actually ran about eight miles this morning, which is what I was supposed to have run on Sunday when I was laying on the couch dying. It's really beautiful down here. My aunt and uncle have a place in a private resort community. I've decided it's how I'd like to spend my retirement. It's how Id like to spend all my winters even before I retire really. Well have to see if I can find a way to manage that.
I think this afternoon is happy hour at the beach club. Look at this time about three years ago on my blogv
to see why that's dangerous. Tomorrow is shopping. I'm rooting for Chipotle to cross my trail some time today too.

Yet another edition of blogging while drunk

So, my aunties are crazy. They're all watching American Idol, a show to which I haven't yet become addicted.

I think the dog just farted. It wasn't me and it smells strong. No one else is in the room. Maybe it was the alligators.

Anyways, they were all drinking wine. A lot of wine. And they kept pouring more in my glass. We were playing this game called ImaginIff which is always more fun with family or people you know really well.

For some reason I walked the dog in the dark without shoes. We didn't go too far. But I wouldn't pick up the poop. Uncle Joanie (wow! really drunk), Aunt Joanie said she'd get it tomorrow.

This is waaaay better than drunk dialing because now everyone gets to share. I love vacation.

Blogger needs a mobile page because I can't type anything in the text box. Sorry.

Oh. Apparently I can in the HTML view. Florida is great so far. Besides almost dying yesterday I mean. Tonight I learned about skype and decided it's definitely something I need to learnore about. If only so I can talk with my family more.y technical expertise is also coming handy. I taught my aunt about facebook while talking with an old friend from high school. And I'm trying to solve an iPod mystery. Maybe someone who ears this will know. My cousins have all bought their
Moms iPods and preloaded them with music and videos. But in doing so, the iPods are now all registered toy cousins and the aunties can't even change the playlists. Is it possible to keep all the content on the iPod but change who it's registered under? (Eric, do you still read because you would know this. )

Liz is running in the sun...

Yesterday, my first day in Florida, was a rough one. I got really sick thanks to an *ahem* female concern. I felt better later in the day and enjoyed the evening with my aunties.

This morning I woke up early and ran. Owing to feeling crappy yesterday, I thought I'd only run 30 minutes but I did manage to run all four miles that I'm supposed to run tomorrow. I'm catching up since I didn't run that much last week.

Florida is great. Hope Minnesota is nice too.

What's up with the bed bugs?

Sucks dude.

They're not back. How do I know that? Because I had to pack up almost my whole condo anyways. And I didn't see any. This time wasn't quite as bad because I didn't have to unpack the entertainment center. But everything else got packed up. In plastic bags. Amanda earned her friend points and stopped my OCD from being so bad all at once.

It is really hard to have other people touching your stuff. Even when they're your best friend.

Here's what's going on:

There are live bed bugs in the condo building, although for the moment they are politely remaining out of my unit. That said, the entire building must now be treated. Three times. And then we have monthly inspections for another 9 months to check for bugs. So we have to pray that all 18 of us who live here can get our acts together to get this done. Three times.

All my clothes have to be kept in sealed bags until they're done spraying. Not just this time. Until they're done with all three times. (Because let's be honest, I'm not unpacking and repacking two more times.) So I'll be living out of a ziplock bag until sometime in May. There are no words for my joy. Although Amanda agreed that this is the perfect opportunity to get rid of my piece of crap dresser ahem dresser that is a fine example of Swedish craftsmanship out of a box. Not sure what I'll replace it with but that this point a ziplock bag is almost preferable.

Right now I'm at Amanda's. We've both got our laptops out and we're ignoring each other. I'm converting movie files to play on my iPod so I have some entertainment while I travel. Amanda... maybe I should check if she's on facebook.



What does it take to get ready for bedbugs? Here's some of the instructions I had to follow: (From what they sent me.)

A. Empty all dressers, nightstands, or other furniture in bedrooms. Place items removed in sealed plastic bags. The bottoms of the drawers and the dresser will be treated for bed bugs. (Too bad I didn't just toss the dresser now. They'll have to waste their chemicals on it.)

B. Strip all beds of sheets, blankets, pillows, and mattress covers and place these items in plastic bags until they can be washed in hot water, dry cleaned, or placed in a commercial drier for one hour. ... The mattress, box springs, and bed frames will be steam treated to kill all life stages of the bed bugs and will be treated with an insecticide and insect growth regulator. Do not reuse bedding items until they are completely dry. Mercifully, my mattress has already been treated and is now sealed. I did re-wash and re-dry the bedding.

C. Remove EVERYTHING from floors and shelves of all closets and place items in plastic bags (sealed) until they can be laundered or placed in a commercial dryer for one hour. Items hanging in the closets may remain there during the treatment. Remember the last time this happened and they took all my clothes? Yeah, so do I. They're not doing that now. Clothes take up a lot of space when they're not in the dresser or closet. That's not counting coats, towels, sheets, napkins, place mats...

...

F. If living room or other rooms are used for sleeping purposes or if bed bugs have been found in living areas the above instructions must be followed for these rooms. Upholstered furniture such as sofas, sofa sleepers, and chairs will be steam treated and insecticide treated. Yeah, my living room looks like the shelves threw up all over the table and counter. They have to be able to get back behind my entertainment center.


UPON COMPLETION OF TREATMENT:
...

3. Clean all food contact services (counter tops, dining room table, etc). Mmmmm. Pesticides. Yum.

4. Clothing, bedding, draperies & curtains and other cloth articles should be washed in hot water, steam cleaned, dry cleaned, or placed in a commercial drier for a minimum of one hour to kill bed bugs. Well luckily all of my clothes have been treated for bed bugs. My drapes too...

5. All washed items should be kept in unused tightly sealed bags or other plastic sealable containers until ADAM’S has performed a follow up visit and found zero bed bugs. Do not replace items in dresser drawers. Please utilize the storage bags or similar containers during this treatment phase, which may take several weeks. Yeah, you thought I was being melodramatic when I said I'd be living out of a ziplock bag...

6. Unwashed items must be kept in tightly sealed plastic bags. Actually, I'll be living out of several ziplock bags.
...

And, my personal favorite: The treatment of bed bugs generally requires additional treatments that will be scheduled on a regular basis (every three weeks or so) until the inspection does not reveal the presence of bed bugs. During subsequent inspections and treatments the preparation procedures must be followed to ensure success.

I'm becoming more entertained with facebook

As I start to realize exactly how many people I knew in high school that I don't talk to anymore, I'm becoming more entertained with facebook. Amanda, I agree, this could become addictive.

By the way, did you know this is a real thing? Look, I found it here too. Wild.

Taxes were way less exciting than they could have been

Is it wrong that I feel like I always do things too early to get the tax benefit? It's true.

Spending my Americorps Education Award: Two years in a row my federal refund was enough to cover what I owed in state taxes because the thing is taxable. This year, there's a question on our state return that asks if we were penalized for the Ed Award and adjusts the state gross income accordingly. Minnesota, you rarely upset me, but this is one of those times.

First time home buyer: Yeah, I purchased my home about two months too early to qualify. Somehow since I bought my home before April 1st (oh, the irony of that date), I'm immune to the whole economic fiasco that we're encountering right now. (Mr. President, you're new. But seriously, did you just throw a dart at the calendar to pick that day?)

I do get refunds from both the state and feds this year, although not as much as some had lead me to believe I'd receive, what with the student loans and the mortgage and all. That'll be nice. Especially since I've felt like I've been low on funds lately.

More on the facebook adventure

Ok, so I registered and uploaded a picture. I'm sorry, I'm really not giving facebook access to my email account, even for a short time. I will now await the love.

I'm on facebook

What do I do now?

A fairly productive weekend in disgusise

This weekend has actually been fairly productive, despite me laying on my couch pretty much all day yesterday. I feel like I might have had a small fever. On Friday something I ate tried to kill me so this might have been a residual. I also got a migraine. So last night I did what any rational being would have: I drank the last of the alcohol that was in my house (two to three drinks worth, calm down) and went to sleep. When I got up I was mostly fine.

I definitely did not want to run but I decided a stroll around the lake would be lovely so I walked at the end of the day.

I also did laundry, (which took care of cleaning my room too), straightened the living room, and cleaned the kitchen. Then I made cashew curry although I disagree with the part of the recipe where the garlic and onions aren't sweated and the veggies aren't cooked before hand. (Brown veggies taste better.) So I diverged slightly from the recipe. That's what I'll have for lunch for the next little while at work.

Now, I'm sitting here making spaghetti. Mmmm. Tomato sauce. Yum.

Can someone tell me what Twitter is and why it's useful...

Anyone? ::Looks Around:: No? Ok. I keep hearing about Twitter, it doesn't seem like it applies to my life. Much like Facebook. Sorry.

Week nine is going much better the second time. I ran an undetermined distance today but I think it was pretty close to the seven miles I was aiming for. I took a little side trip over to Lake Hiawatha and I don't have that path measured out as well. Plus, when I got over there, the water fountain didn't work. So I stopped paying attention to where I was running because of my thirst.

I haven't done a whole lot this week, mostly trying to get myself into a running schedule. Today I ran after work (which ended at 1pm today) because I knew it would be warmer then. I'm feeling more successful about running lately and also like running in the more morning is more realistic. I feel like I have a better way of thinking about it now than I've had recently.

**Author's note: Kelly, I swear I didn't read your blog before I wrote today, although, obviously I've read it now. I will take this matter under advisement. Thank you.**

Week 9 Redux

My second crack at week 9 is going only slightly better than the original. I ran 7 miles on Sunday and 5 miles today (which leaves a two 3 mile runs and a 4 mile run by Saturday). In other news the weather is awesome and I want nothing more than to spend all my time outside.

This week I was remembering with longing a time when I ran 5-6 times a week, always at the crack of dawn. I just got up. Even when I was on my period I'd run which is something I rarely do now. I kept thinking, "what's wrong with me that I can't get up anymore?" and "how come I just want to sleep all the time". I then googled "for people who can't get out of bed in the morning" which led me to this gem.

My 5am coach does suck. My 6am, 7am, 8am and 8:45am coaches aren't so good either.

Back, once upon a time when I ran 5 days a week, I was in grad school working and working like twelve jobs. I had to get up and run because there were no other options and it was the only thing I did the whole day that was only for me. So I channeled what I did back then to get up. I tried it this morning and it worked. I think I'll try it again tomorrow. And then go run. Outside. In the warmth.

Sorry little blog, I swear I didn't forget you..

Well, it's been a while since I've written anything. Why? I don't know. How have I been? I haven't been bad but I haven't been really good either. I don't know...

It's been hard to run this week. I've decided it's ok to dread going to the Y after work in January and February. It's really a billion times more crowded than usual. And it's been too cold to run anywhere else. I don't know if that's had anything to do with my mood. I really only exercised a couple times this week. (I wonder if I made my 8 times to the gym this month....). Otherwise I've been doing a lot of sleeping, feeling tired, and sitting around.

There've been a couple notable exceptions to this routine.

Last weekend my mentee wanted to go to the Mall of America with her friend so I took them. Yeah, we don't shop in the same stores. So I went in a store called "Rainbow" and did nothing except try not to feel old. It's such a role reversal from my typical day working with people who have grand kids my age.

This week there was one day when I ran six miles. I think I'm just going to declare a do-over on week 9 and try it again next week.

Today I went out with Amanda after work. We found the new Saigon. It's still on University not too far from the old spot. There's more street parking which is good becuase the lot is decidedly smaller. Then we went to Roseville Mall where I hadn't been since before the bridge fell down, literally. Amanda got some new clothes. I mostly watched. We had an interesting conversation about ear rings, my favorite piece of jewlry which Amanda mostly ignores.

I am super excited because both days this weekend look like potentially awesome running weather. Tomorrow in particular when the high is supposed to reach freezing or close to it. Apparently, it's not going to last long. Oh well, a weekend of running is still a weekend of running.

A Self Fulfilling Prophecy

To all of you "New Year's Resolution" and "I need to get back to the gym" people: I applaud your effort but there's too many of you and something has to give... I sort of really don't look forward to going to the gym because it's full of people. At 9:00 at night. Seriously? I'd like to think that's part of why it's hard for me to get exercising right now but I'm not sure...

This is an easy week for the marathon training. I was supposed to run 3 miles on Sunday but I walked. I wasn't *ahem* feeling well enough to run. Today I did 3 miles of hard work on the treadmill and then walked the last mile. I need to run 3 miles tomorrow and Saturday.

Liz Trains for a Marathon Week 7: A Happy Post

I amazed even myself by running today. I ran 5 miles of sprints and walked a mile at the end, which I'm counting as six miles. This may have been silly, but some time ago I decided that my limit to running on the indoor track was 5 miles. That's an arbitrary number to be sure. At the time it was as far as I'd ever ran on the track. It also takes about an hour which is also as long as my attention can be focused without going totally bonkers on that track. So, I ran my five miles, and then did some stretches as I walked the final mile. I'm looking at the training schedule and there's a few weeks where four of the five runs are longer than five miles. I'll either have to suck it up and run longer inside or pray for suitable outdoor running weather.

After running, I went to the new and improved Seward Co-Op. Apparently everyone else had that idea too. I think it's bigger than the Wedge. I wonder if it's the biggest co-op grocery store in the country. For a while the Wedge held that distinction. It's really nice inside and well done. Among other things they have a butcher now and a bakery. A bakery full of yum that is.

Then I stopped by Chipotle for a little lunch/dinner. This is what I did yesterday too. I now remember how hungry I was all that summer I worked at the science museum. I'd run 5 or 6 miles in the morning and then go to work. I ate Chipotle every day and was at least as skinny as I am now. Gosh it was great. Loosing weight is another thing I think about as part of this process. Certainly being on a liquid diet for three days in October gave me a bit of a jump start on the whole weight loss deal, but I'm wondering how skinny I'll be by the time this is all done. I'm also wondering what I'll have to do to stay that skinny.

While you're pondering those questions, here's some stuff to look at:

• It's possible that once again, the Minnesota Department of Health found the cause of the Salmonella before everyone else. Way to go us. Last time it was something about jalapenos as I recall.


• Looking back to my hometown, they've decided to do away with the phone book unless you "opt in" to getting one. I thought not having a phone book was an awesome idea until (I'm not making this up) this one night. A storm hit Minneapolis and knocked the power out. Among other things, it also turned off the sewer pumping station near my house. The water in the sewers started to back up and flood our courtyard. (Not a totally uncommon occurrence.) I live on the first floor you see, so the water was getting perilously close to my door (and my living room furniture) and I needed to call the sewer department to have them turn the pumping station back on. "No problem" I thought, "I'll just Google their nu....... Well, that's not going to work". (Remember the power was out?) Luckily I did have the phone book so I could hunt down this vitally important number. Although, now that I know that number, you can have the rest of the phone book. Save the trees for something else.


• I was just talking to a friend about Borderline Personality Disorder. I've only read the first page of this article (I got distracted by... oh, look, a butterfly) but so far it's very close to my experience and written in an almost nonjudgmental way.


• And finally, Bacon, it's what's for dessert. It's a fairly well written article except for the utter fail where they describe the "bacon covered chocolate" on sale at the 2008 Minnesota State Fair. As you can see, it's actually the other way around. But I'm just happy to be in the article at all. There's an idea for this year's fair.

Liz Trains for a Marathon: A New Reality

As I ran (6.5 miles, winding around a lake a few times) today, I was faced with a few... discoveries of reality:

• It's cold here: Yes, I'm sorry we're like twenty days into the winter and already I want the place to warm up a bit. (Attention Universe: That's not my way of asking for global warming.) If there was some way we could speed time up towards my trip to Florida and slow time down while I'm there, that would be acceptable.


• I haven't run 5 days a week yet: I only ran three days this week. I ran all the miles I was supposed to, but not all the days. It's easy to slap 3 miles onto whatever other run I'm doing at the moment. But there are going to be weeks where every run is 9 or 10 miles and there's no cheating on those weeks.


• I sleep like a bear in the winter: I've changed my arrival time at work to 10am. (You may now eat your heart out.) Even so, I haven't exercised in the morning, well, every day except Tuesday this week. I think it's related to my diet, not enough carbs for running six miles in the morning. I'm not quite sure yet.


• Every time I miss a run I feel like a failure: I was thinking (in all the free time I had running around the lake several times) that training for a marathon has made me feel like a failure sometimes when it should be doing just the opposite. Usually I feel like I can barely keep up with the training schedule (probably because my body wants to be asleep), and I feel like I'm missing runs, wondering if I'm going to actually do tomorrow's runs, and feeling bad about the whole thing. It's probably not the right outlook. I've run more this December and January than I did all of last winter. And I've run outside this December and January more than all the other year I've lived in Minnesota together probably. It's a real accomplishment. I just need to re-focus my attention on everything I have done.

Liz Trains for a Marathon Week 6

I ran what I'm saying is about 6 miles today. I kind of lost track at the end because I went back and forth around the lake in odd ways. But it was fun. Running on snow (and yes, I do mean "on") exercises muscles in my legs that seem to lie dormant much of the rest of the year. I seem to have found a warm combination of clothing and have discovered the importance of having fleece cover my face. I really only meant to run 3 or 4 miles today, but I decided that the effort I put into dressing for the cold was worth staying out a while longer.

Also, I found this web gem from my (possibly) future senator. It struck me as important, given my current place of employment. By the way, it seems to be a common thing that the Jewish Community is reluctant to own Volkswagons, but that's just my observation.

2008 year in Review

Since I don't send you all Christmas cards, I try to do a "year in review" post where I can sum up my activities for the year. It's really a pleasure (and sometimes fairly traumatic as well) to go back and read all of my old posts. What did 2008 hold for me?

January: The beginning of last year found me starting to remodel my kitchen and having one wall torn out in my bedroom for a while too. If you've never lived through a remodel, the experience is a little like this.

February: While the kitchen remodel was still obviously going on in February, the most exciting thing that happened was me becoming a mentor, which I still am actually. I'm glad it stuck. My mentee and I were talking about how sick I was the first day we met. This post almost does it justice. A better way of explaining it might be that I went to bed around 8:00pm that night. What was the kitchen remodel like in February? It was as exciting as at any other time and can best be summed up by "and you just left him there?" I still maintain that was the right decision. And of course, I actually bought the house in February too.

March: As the spring came, the kitchen started to look complete but that was a lie too owing to a fairly serious clog in my plumbing that took a few weeks (no, really, weeks) to figure out. On an exciting and happy note, Mark and Irmghard got married and I got a trip home out of the deal.

April: In April, the kitchen and living room really took shape because they were finally painted. That was about when I felt like the condo was mine and I wasn't living in some other guys house any more. Also, April was my month of not eating out. It was really successful and probably started me on the path to better cooking. I'm thinking about doing it again for a month this year. It was a good experience.

May: In May I started having some interesting internet experiences and apparently ethical decisions too. I also raced for the cure, visited with my parents, and did 29 days of giving.

June: Happy Birthday Lizzie. And congratulations to Jenny and Doug on finally getting married. I'm really happy for you both. I also had one of two really bad sicknesses this year in June. I loved it when the doctor looked at me and said, "well, if we don't fix this, your brain will get infected." Well, that's not good. And Bonnie told me she'd be my match maker. I don't think that was a totally serious offer, but it wasn't totally in jest. Either way, I had a really good time writing that.

July: The summer was fairly uneventful for me. I was saving my vacation time for South Africa. I did have an exciting home improvement accomplishment though.

August: At the end of the summer, I did manage to make it down to Chicago to see Mom and some of her side of the family. But, as any Minnesotan knows, the most important thing to happen in August is the state fair. Every time I see those pictures I think, Chocolate covered bacon? Seriously?

September: In the beginning of the fall, I ran my first 10K which Eric. But what I really remember is that month came in like a lamb, and went out with a roar. Sucks.

October: Really, the bulk of October also felt like it was spent dealing with bed bugs. But wouldn't you rather read about the time I was in New York? Johannesburg? Cape Town? And then when I came back I got so sick I thought I was going to die. But not a bug from Africa, just some regular American stomach virus.

November: Sometime this fall, I also decided to run the marathon in 2009 and began my training. Training has been an up and down process. It's been a little discouraging at some points, with all the snow and the cold making me want to hibernate. But it's also been exciting and I can feel myself getting stronger. I also wrote my 1,000th blog post. And one of the most memorable and powerful moments of my life as an American came in November.

December: One of the most encouraging times in Marathon training came in early December. Just another reason to live the iPod. And of course, I got drunk for Christmas went home for Christmas and visited with friends and family alike.

2009 started out with what is sure to become one of my favorite traditions. Is it wrong I want to go do it again already?

Liz Trains for a Marathon Week 5: An High Act of Friendship

Tuesday, I did go to the gym and did the elliptical for over 3 miles, which I've decided to count as running, especially in the winter. There's only so much I can do on that track. I do love having the track there though.

Today, we are also counting an activity as a 3 mile run. What was the activity? A supreme act of friendship. Last year, I read about this thing where they cut a hole in the ice on one of the lakes and let people jump in as sort of a new years day tradition. I wanted to do it. Kelly and Amanda's reaction (I'm paraphrasing here) was "no, you dipstick, are you crazy?" I quickly decided I was crazy and spent a perfectly pleasant 2008 not jumping in any freezing cold water.

So I was mildly surprised when Amanda left me a message saying she wanted to jump in the lake this year and would I go with her. Remember the part where I got over it last year? I said yes because I didn't have an actual reason not to. Although as the day got closer I started thinking, "seriously?" The rules for participating say you have to hold hands with at least one other person when you jump, so neither her nor I could back out and let the other person down.



The reason it counts as a 3 mile run is that we were in what can only be described as a mob for a good 90 minutes waiting in line to go jump. They (wisely) keep the divers inside and let them out in groups of 30 or so, and there were around 500 people there (guessing based on last year). Amanda and I, being least experienced, had to jump last, so we waited for a long time.

What was the dive like? Well, we got up to this hole that was 8'x30', with a rope tied about 8' out. The rules say we had to go under that rope (so as to get totally immersed in the lake). But once under the rope, the Shoreview volunteer firefighters stick a pole in the water and if a diver grabs onto the poll, they'll pull the diver the rest of the way so they can climb out. We're watching all this while standing outside in 20* weather in our bathing suits.



Amanda and I were both thinking, "it's 30 feet, seriously, we'll swim". And then I hit the water. We had a plan to go in the water and under the rope in one. So as soon as I was coming up for air I let go of Amanda's hand. That's when my brain stopped. I couldn't think, couldn't move, was only aware of utter cold. Like nothing I've ever felt before. I reached out for the stick and thought "take me home boys".


My contacts kept freezing to my eyelashes and my eyes kept freezing shut which was distracting. And it didn't really start to hurt until I was looking at this metal ladder with icicles on it that I had to climb up to get out. I have never felt a pain like that in my life. But it was short lived. As soon as I got my towel on, I felt much better. I think next year I'm going with a big robe or blanket.