Confession Time

As most of you know, I did the online dating thing this past summer. The purpose was to keep me "entertained" during the summer, when I wasn't too busy with classes. If something happened, great. If not, it wasn't a big deal. Well, the experience wasn't all that exciting. The only person I actually "met" from there (or even took it beyond talking on the online website) was the guy I knew before I got married. I haven't seen him since the alcohol enhanced meeting. So really no activity came from that.

But, since I seemed to have 3 extra minutes a week (after work, school and now the marathon training), I started thinking about giving it another shot. When I got the letter offering me three months for the price of one, I took them up on it.

And then it hit me. I signed up for this during the holiday season! So not cool. My membership expires a couple of days before Valentine's day. Completely uncool! I'm not a Ms Lonely Hearts and I certainly don't want to meet a Mr. Lonely Heart so I'm thinking I'm just wasting another three months membership. Oh well.

Anyway, there was one match that looked promising - at first. He's a firefighter. His profile looked really good. And then I looked at his pictures. Now, normally I'd be all over someone who judged a person based on their pictures (or lack thereof) but this was different - hear me out.

There were six photos total. Only one was of Mr. Firefighter. The other five were of his kids (one was in there twice so really only four other different pictures). First one was of his son and daughter together - it was sweet. Next two were of his son alone. Last one was of his son too. He was standing by an ice chest of sorts - and he was proudly holding a deer's head, with another one visible in the ice chest.

Now, I'm not a vegetarian but I never knowingly eat deer meat. I'm not judging those that do, it's just not for me. I'm also not judging those that hunt, but again, it's not for me. And, honestly, I think I would have been okay with him being a hunter, who eats deer meat, if we'd met, but it was shocking to see that picture with his profile.

I wanted to be open-minded though, so I didn't automatically close the match - I wanted to think on it a while. Then, I got a "communication" from the guy, asking me to share my pictures (I did finally post one but it's not open for all to see automatically). Hmmm, so he wants to see my picture before he does any further communication, does he? That suggests he's going to judge me on my picture maybe? Well, if that's the case and he was going to judge me on my picture, I decided it was okay to judge him on the one he posted - of the dead deer head.

Match closed.

Happy Turkey Day

For those that got an email from me with the pictures mysteriously missing - here they are. Happy Thanksgiving. ~L

Runner's Knee

Last Saturday I did Day Three of week three of the Couch to 5K program. I was running (no pun intended) behind on what day I did day three on so I didn't skip any days before I did Day One of week four - on Sunday.


So, when my knees started aching right after the run, I thought that was the reason. They still hurt on Monday - my right knee in particular - and I still didn't think a lot about it. But I sent an instant message to SCG at work and told him about it. I totally expected a smart ass response from him so was kind of surprised when he seemed all concerned and started asking me all sorts of questions about what kind of shoes I had and telling me I might need a pronated shoe. He mentioned a runner's repair manual book that he had and said he was going to look up my symptoms and let me know what he found out. I thought his concern was very sweet but I was seriously wishing I hadn't said anything by the time the whole instant messaging was over with because I honestly thought the pain was a direct result of running two days in a row.

Okay, so Tuesday my knees were feeling a lot better and I went out for another run. I took Brewsky with me (my dog, not an alcoholic beverage :) ). (Harley had been the dog I'd run with on Sunday - Max was Saturday.) We were doing good with the five minute brisk walk - and then we were told to run. I took about two steps at a run and knew it wasn't happening. But I tried anyway. I probably ran for less than twenty seconds when I decided that the best thing I could do was go back home and call it a day, which I hated doing.

The next two days my knees (right one in particular) hurt bad enough that I was seriously considering emailing the marathon coordinator and taking her up on her offer to refund my money (long story but apparently they will make an exception to their "no refunds, no exceptions" rule - I'll leave it at that). But I wanted to give it a little longer. Friday I didn't run. No real excuse but I'll just say I was tired and it was cold.

Then came yesterday. I had lunch with SCG and his wife (Mrs. SCG). He'd brought his runner's repair manual book with him and started asking questions about the pain I'd been experiencing. I told him where it had started and where it had moved to. He flips right to a page and says, "I think you have runner's knee." Uh, okay. He starts reading the symptoms, which involve swelling of the knee. "There's been no swelling," I tell him. "Hurts on the inner side of the leg," he goes on. "No, it's hurt on the outer side of the leg," I reply. He reads a few more symptoms that don't apply and closes the book with purpose, declaring - again - that I have runner's knee. I just gave him a smile that said "good boy, now shut up" and continued a conversation with his wife. We finished lunch and before we left he tells me how I need to "treat" my "runner's knee". I thank him for the tips and we part company.

So, last night, I decide to try running again. My knees feel pretty good and I don't want to get behind on the program if I don't have to. But, I'm fully prepared to come back home if I can't handle it. It was Max's turn again so I clipped on the leash and headed out the door (after at least ten minutes of fighting Harley and Brewsky to keep them INSIDE the door).

We weren't two houses down when I realized that I'd forgotten to put on Max's Halti - same as I had last Saturday. I think I may have discovered the problem. Don't think it had anything to do with running two days in a row and everything to do with being drug around the neighborhood.



I was fine last night, today I can feel it. The Halti - don't leave home without it!

Another reason not to cook

Being single and not having kids to feed, I don't have to cook very often - and I don't. But, over the last few months I have put on quite a bit of weight (20 - 25 pounds!) and I've been trying (unsuccessfully) to take it back off. I keep buying fruits and vegetables and making the cabbage soup but well, it doesn't work if you don't then eat the food and stick to the diet, but I digress.

I think it was Monday of this week (because I think it was Dancing with the Stars that I was watching) that I was making yet another batch of cabbage soup. I had pulled out my trusty cutting board with three "legs" (who the heck knows what happened to the fourth leg!) to chop the ingredients on. But, since it only has three legs, I stuffed a paper towel under the board where the fourth leg would be so that it wouldn't be unstable while I chopped things up on it. I'd placed it on the stove for some unknown reason. Anyway, after I'd chopped everything up and put the ingredients (including water) in the pot, I wiped down the stove top with the paper towel before I put it on to "cook".

I'd decided that I wasn't going to follow the cabbage soup diet completely but rather try to follow Weight Watchers, incorporating the soup. So, this is why I decided to also hard boil some eggs while I was cooking the soup (my morning snack at work). I put in five eggs added water, turned on another burner and went into the living room to watch DWTS (I think). The plan was to go back and check on things during the first commercial and if the eggs had started boiling, to set the timer.

Well, I get into the living room and start wondering if I'd turned on the right burner under the eggs. See, since I don't cook often - or much variety when I do - I rarely use more than one burner at a time. And when I do, I usually use one of the back burners - which I hadn't for the eggs. Even though this doubt was in the back of mind (whether I'd turned on the right burner), I was still going to wait until the first commercial to check things out. Only, I couldn't stand it. I had to go check it out. And it was a good thing I did! Not only had I turned on the wrong burner (I had turned on one of the back burners that I would've normally used), the paper towel I'd used to support the cutting board and then used to wipe down the stove top was on the burner I'd turned on. (I would have sworn I threw it away!)

Thankfully I don't have a stove top that works with actual flames or I would have been in serious trouble. However, the paper towel had that look a fire in your fireplace gets. You know, the one that if you give it one good blow it catches fire and you're good to go. Yeah, that one.

I freaked out a little bit because I knew I couldn't just pick up the paper towel (or at least I didn't think I should). But you know what? Tongs are really good for that kind of thing so I grabbed my tongs and flung the thisclosetobeingonfire paper towel into the soaking doggy bowl in the sink. Since I don't make a habit of intentionally setting fires, I'm not sure if the smoke that followed (and filled my kitchen) was because of the almost fire or the putting out of the almost fire. Either way my house smelled like smoke for two days.

In any event, the crisis was averted but created a perfect excuse to not cook and order take-out instead. :)

Running in the rain

I wasn't going to post about my experience running last night because I mentioned it over on Fat Chicks Running but well...

I didn't run Sunday because I just had other things I wanted/needed to do (like read a book - The Fidelity Files lived up to its trailer, in case you were wondering :) ). So, that meant I really had to run last night - even though it was raining.

It didn't seem to be raining that hard when I left with Max but I didn't get far before I decided that I couldn't really run with a wet dog so I took him back home and took back off. I was probably at the furtherest point from my house - and running - when I heard a horn honk. My first thought was to run through the names of people I know in the neighborhood and wonder which one of them had discovered me running through the neighborhood. You see, I'm pretty sure my running isn't a pretty sight and I don't mind so much being seen by people I don't know but I don't want to be "caught" running by people I do know. So I was dreading looking over to see which one of my "friends/neighbors" was seeing the sight.

Turns out it wasn't anyone I knew at all. It was just some random man who saw my running - my training running, if you will - and thought I was attempting to run home because it was raining, instead of training in spite of the rain. He said (and followed it up with the ASL sign), "It's raining!" Then he asked me how far I was going, as if I had been dropped from the sky on a survival mission to find something, as opposed to being in my own neighborhood, no further than two miles from any point in the subdivision, and offered me a ride. I said thanks, I was training and he said oh and drove off.

Really, it was a nice gesture but I have to wonder what he was thinking. I mean, I had my mp3 player, running shoes and my standard running outfit - my yoga pants (what? they have "give"!) and t-shirt (which was soaking wet and clinging to me). Hmmm, okay, I'm refusing to think he had ulterior motives. It was just a nice gesture.

Anyway, in other running news. SCG was in the office yesterday and sent me an email that said something like "Hey! I'm in the office today in an all day meeting. I'll give you a shout later - I want to hear about your training." I read the email as a co-worker stood in the doorway. The conversation went something like this.

Me: Training? Have I gone to a training lately.

Co-Worker: Did you go to a training?

Me: I don't know, I'm drawing a blank but my friend said he wants to hear about it.

CW: (with same perplexed look on her face I think I probably have) What kind of training?

Me: I have no idea. I don't know what he's talking about.

Then it dawns on me...he wants to know how the marathon training is going. Some days I'm slower than others - and it was a Monday. (I never heard from him, by the way.)

Week Two - Day Two

I'm kind of behind on my schedule for week two. I ran on Sunday, as planned but I wasn't scheduled to run again until Tuesday. So Monday I worked late and came home Tuesday and got sucked into watching the election returns until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore (it hadn't been decided yet but it was all but a done deal at that point, as far as I could tell - and it turned out the way it looked to turn out).

Last night I had class so I wasn't able to run yesterday either. So today was my first opportunity since Sunday night to run.

I took Harley with me this time. He didn't have the "OMG a crazy lady is running after me" look in his eyes tonight and he actually did more running beside me, which was good. I felt pretty good out there. I ran the first 90 seconds with no problem (although, don't get me wrong, I was glad to hear "you can walk now"). And I wasn't all that upset when she said it was time to run again. It hardly seemed like it could be 90 seconds again when she said it was time to walk again.

I wasn't quite ready to run again when it was time for the next 90 seconds but I did it anyway. I was actually thinking I would make it all the way through the full six runs this time but at the fourth run, I decided that would be the last - again. Even though I was doing pretty good at that point - better than I have to date.

So, I came home, changed clothes and logged on to blog about it, when I felt something scratching my neck. At this point I was at full rest mode (the energy fades quickly) so I kind of brushed at it. Turns out, my pajama shirt is on backwards. Maybe if I get another burst of energy this evening, I'll turn it around...

Vote

It seems like everyone I know has had a blog post about voting lately. And despite my recent blog post where I said I was a follower, that's not why I'm posting this entry. I'm posting this because I think it's important that people exercise their right to vote.

Tomorrow is election day in probably the most important election there has ever been. Most certainly the most important in my lifetime so far.

I don't know many people who didn't already vote early but, for me, there's something about election day - I didn't want to vote early. I've been pretty firm in who I intended to vote for for a while now but I still wanted to wait. In the last presidential election I was not happy with the candidates on the ballot - at all. I had discussed it with a friend of mine and told her that I was torn on whether to vote for Daffy or Donald - Duck. And the sad thing was, I was serious. I was that disgusted with the candidates. But, as I stood there in the booth, debating on whether or not I really wanted to write in one of the Duck's names, I thought about what she said to me - "if you're going to go vote, make it count." So, standing there, I made a decision and voted for the one I thought was the better of the two candidates.

This time, I'm not ambivalent about my vote. I know who I'm going to vote for tomorrow and I don't have any reservations about it. The chances that my candidate will win my state are not great but that doesn't mean I shouldn't vote because every vote counts.

So, if you haven't already done so, be sure and vote tomorrow for the candidate you think will do the best job for you and this country - whoever that might be.

My name is Lucy and I approve this message.

Confessions of a Book Ho

My name is Lucy and I'm a book ho. It's been three hours and ten minutes since my last book purchase.

Hi Lucy.

Since the first of the year I haven't had nearly enough time to read for pleasure. It's mostly because I went back to school and then changed jobs - twice (in two months). Then the hurricane and everything else going on, it's been really hard to justify spending my free time on pleasure reading because I feel so behind on everything else. Never mind that I have 70+ books that I brought home from San Francisco. Or that I have purchased several books since then. OR that I LOVE to read.

But today I decided to screw responsibility and read. I think it was in large part due to the book trailer I saw today. Amanda Ashby had it posted over on her blog and, like her, I've never been overly impressed by book trailers but this one was an exception. I promptly called my local bookstore to see if 1) they were open (you'd be surprised at how many businesses are still closed because of the hurricane) and 2) if they had it in stock. Sadly they didn't so I was forced to order the book on amazon. And the thing about Amazon is that, if you buy so much in books, your shipping is free. Yes, I know they're getting you to buy more with that program but, being the book ho that I am, I overlook that. So now I have to wait. *sigh*

But, here is the trailer that got me to shirk responsibility and read. The Fidelity Files by Jessica Brody.