Fishy?

The holidays were great. We're exhausted from running around like crazy. We had a nice time with our families, though, so it was worth it. We managed to get the (increasingly crispy) tree taken down last night, and we're looking forward to getting our home back to normal.

On an unrelated note, my brake pads need replacing. And I need an oil change. I'm trying to find a place that won't scam me, which is super annoying. I went to a website for a local place and found the following coupons, which seem great at first glance:

until you look at the fine print. You can only use the coupon if you present it prior to any estimates. What? So, basically the price will vary depending on if you use the coupon. Heath said they told him that it was because the give the discount "anyway" even if you don't have the coupon. So that's totally dumb and weird. I'm not sure if I'll go there, but I don't have a ton of options and I'm afraid the dealership will rip me off. Ugh what to do?!?!?

Love/Hate

Last night, Heath and I were watching the news, and the reporters were trying to get comments from Rod Blagojevich. He was trying to go for a run (apparently he's quite an avid runner), and at some point said something along the lines of running being healthy, helping you clear your head, and ...

"...hopefully putting love in your heart."

I turned to Heath "Does running put love in your heart?"

"No, it makes me hate things."

(It's true. It makes him hate things. It makes me hate things, too, sometimes.)
(But he still goes out and does it because he knows its good for him.)

Oh the Muppets

Heath and I watched The Muppet Christmas Carol (awesome-ness with Michael Caine great as Scrooge) last weekend, and I was reminded of how adorable they are! Today BoingBoing featured some great videos that are now up on YouTube. I'm sure there is even more muppet goodness out there, but these two were easy for me to grab right from the BoingBoing site. Enjoy!

Beeker's rendition of Ode to Joy



Gonzo & his Chicken Orchestra's version of The Blue Danube Waltz

a thick icy coating

so yesterday was downright balmy. but windy. then rainy. and today is FREEZING. so last night's rain + today's frigid temps = an icy coating on EVERYTHING. including my car. my car doors were frozen shut one day last week (grrrr), and i knew they would be again today. so i brought my cup of warmish water to pour along the top of the door. (how i long for a garage!) hooray! it worked and i was able to get the car started while i chipped away at the 1/4 - 1/2 inch of ice on my windshield. there has to be a better way...

so this morning when i got to work safe and sound (thank goodness - there were a number of accidents and close calls on the way), i saw this blog post on the simple dollar with frugal ways to beat (or at least deal with) the snow and ice. i'm definitely going to get a squirt bottle and do the alcohol + water + soap spray for my windshield. it will surely save me lots of time and labor on these icy mornings.

now, if only there were a way to warp heath work so he didn't have to walk and stand in these temperatures waiting for the train! definitely check out the post -- it has some really good (and cheap) ideas!

missent

not what you want to see on an important package shortly before Christmas! here's hoping it gets here safe and sound!

too weird

last night on the way home from school, i saw a car with some crazy damage on the side of it and was thinking it would be cool to snap a picture. then my mind wandered and i started to think about how if you had a fake eye, wouldn't it be handy to have a camera built into it so you could just snap a picture of whatever whenever! am i weird?

now this afternoon comes, and i find this article!

there is a filmmaker who lost his eye and is seeking to have a webcam installed instead of a glass eye! creepy but cool, and how weird that i just thought of something like this last night!

"argh"

how did using quotes for emphasis become such a common error? i see it far too often, so this made me smile. (from fail blog.)

Mail Goggles

most of the people that read this blog (all 4 or so of you) probably would never need this feature, but i thought it was super clever and wanted to share it. gmail offers a tool through google labs called mail goggles. while the description doesn't come right out and say it, this tool is to keep you from making the email equivalent to a drunk dial.

if you attempt to send an email between certain hours of the night (e.g., midnight to 4 am - you can set the times), the system will make you answer three math problems correctly before allowing you to send the message. the general idea is that if you aren't mentally adept enough to answer the math problems (perhaps due to consuming more than a little alcohol), there is a reasonable chance that the email would be one you may regret in the morning.

how clever is that!?

i'm a hybrid car!

Fun stuff!

34.5 miles per gallon

Created by The Car Connection

Big Spenders

is anybody here really really truly surprised? ugh.

AIG has used up about 3/4 of it's $123B bailout loan.

come for the cycling humor...

...stay for the poignant medical drama and love story.

i began reading the fat cyclist blog quite some time ago. i don't remember how i found it, but i stumbled across it somehow. it was hilarious. the author, fatty (elden), does a great job of writing up his cycling adventures and poking fun at the dorkiness of bike riders of all kinds. even heath, with his minimal familiarity with cycling and its mini culture, has found a number of his posts entertaining.

a great proportion of his posts are humorous, but there is a subset that focuses on the events surrounding his wife's battle with cancer. it's touching and heartbreaking and so raw and real to read about the challenges and fears and joys and ways of coping as they go through this illness. the family's strength is amazing. fatty's experiences are real and vivid. he admits that he needs escape from the situation sometimes, which he gets through mountain biking, he admits the guilt he feels, he admits his fears and celebrates small victories. his wife, susan, was in remission when i started reading the blog. she has since had a relapse, and things are not looking good. they have recently had a pretty significant scare, which is what prompted me to post this. last night's post was so touching, it brought tears to my eyes. definitely worth checking out if you have a few minutes.

needed a laugh/pick me up

feeling a bit clobbered at work today, so i needed a laugh. checked my google reader and found this on boing boing, which did the trick. hooray for rss!

also found this site with 25 cool pumpkin carvings via digg.

which reminded me of this link i sent to heath yesterday. i have NEVER seen such amazing pumpkin carving in my life. it's hard to believe that's wha they are -- look at that detail! he even includes a tutorial, so now YOU can be awesome at carving pumpkins, too!


i'm feeling better now.

worthwhile article

great article. it's a bit long, but really well written. i'm partial to it because it involves triathletes. i remember seeing the articles on the tri forums when a man in san diego was killed in a shark attack. this article tells his story and the interesting stories of people close to him.

blast from the past

piece on the most influential early educational computer games.

if you're feeling nostalgic, click here.

call me queen kelly

because now i have a crown. ugh. finally got the temporary one replaced with the porcelain one. this visit (cementing of the actual crown) was not fun. but it was not nearly as unpleasant as the crown buildup visit. double ugh!

i have totally capitalized on my dental benefits. booyah!

model-actress

so i was clicking through the news on cnn.com this morning and saw the breaking headline about hugh hefner losing one of his "girls next door." apparently, one of his three live in girlfriends, holly madison (age 28 - he's 82), has decided to break off their "relationship" (quotes are mine).

Hefner was surprised to hear Madison discussing their breakup, but acknowledged he knew a split was imminent after he told Madison that they would never wed or have children.

holly. please.

what does it say about my generation that a woman of this age is THAT out of touch with reality? i used to think that these girls were just money and attention grubbing and that everybody involved was on the same page with that and thought it was a just dandy agreement. this is evidently not the case for holly. it's pretty sad, really. she was really thinking they would get married and have kids. when she shared a bed with him and his TWO OTHER GIRLFRIENDS. oh, and it's HUGH HEFNER. wow.

eBags Gripe

so here's the deal. i signed up for one of those "do surveys to earn money" deals a while back. i recently got an email notifying me that some of my $90 that i had earned was going to expire so i'd better redeem it. rather than paying you cash, you have a number of gift card/coupon/discount offers to choose from. needing a new "nice" bag for school (i.e., north face backpack isn't quite stylish enough for me to bring to class too much longer), i figured i would go with the $75.00 ebags.com voucher. only after i selected this option did i notice the caveat - $75 off a $200 purchase. doh! so, i poked around the website and found some things that got me to $200 (harder than it sounds even with a $100 business case in the mix). i thought - hey bonus - everything is an extra 20% off. So, thinking that it would be approx $200 - $75, plus shipping, i figure my total will be somewhere in the $140 range. right?

wrong. apparently the $75 can't be combined with the 20% discount, so it was still going to cost me close to $200. Ugh! Not sure how to proceed. I suppose the best solution is to not do anything, but i hate giving up my $75, especially when i do need a new bag. maybe i could take a few items out of my shopping cart and see what happens. grr. i hate stupid fine print stuff like that. i could've gotten subscriptions to Maxim AND Computer shopper AND Shape AND a free year of the Blockbuster improved membership. Who knows that the fine print on those is, though!

update your links!

we had some issues with our wedding blog, so it now has a new address -- http://heathandkelly.blogspot.com (as opposed to what it was before: kellyandheath.blogspot.com).

sorry for any inconvenience!

entrepreneur

a key to starting an effective home based business is coming up with the idea. what can you do from your home? what can you sell or provide? when in doubt, do lots of things.

one stop shopping for babysitting, pitbulls, and grapefruit.

the real problem

heath sent me an article this afternoon that has to do with the whole controversy surrounding vp candidate sarah palin's pregnant teenage daughter. the author makes some interesting points in the article, but the one that resonates most with me is the following (emphasis added):

This is not a Republican issue or Democratic problem. We need to put aside the partisan B.S. and confront unplanned pregnancies. Let's do all we can to keep our kids from either having pre-marital sex or unprotected sex.

Then we won't have to deal with them choosing to have an abortion or not, or, as the Palins noted in their statement, seeing our children "grow up faster than we had ever planned" and having to confront "the difficulties of raising a child."

this is consistent with opinions I've had regarding abortion for a long long time. i have to say i'm pro-choice, but the reasoning behind it is not based on some women's rights-hippie-liberal yay kill babies position. it's based on my careful reflections on the issue.

i don't think abortion should be made illegal. that being said, i think abortions are an awful awful thing and want nobody to ever have to even consider one. i firmly believe that if they are made illegal, desperate women (and girls) will turn to the "black market" abortion options that will undoubtedly emerge. there, they will be exposed to even greater risks than those already associated with the procedure, such as lack of sterile facilities, untrained practitioners, etc. the problem of abortion is not due to abortion being legal - it is due to unwanted pregnancies. if we can address that problem, the abortion issue will resolve itself.

abortions are not the problem, they are the symptom, and simply eliminating the symptom does not cure the disease. i'm pleased that somebody else (with a louder voice than me) has stated this perspective as well.

i know my pro-choice perspective puts off some more conservative folks, but please remember that pro-choice does not mean pro-baby killing. it simply means that i do not believe that legislating against this unfortunate procedure would be an effective way of eliminating the problem. in fact, i think it would make things worse.

big news

heath and i got engaged over the weekend! i started a "wedding etc" centric blog for us so that we both have a place to put entries and comments as we plan the big day. we're very excited and already a teensy bit overwhelmed with all the decisions that we need to make. we agreed to both take a deep breath and give ourselves a month to relax before really diving in. be sure to check the new blog for updates! new link off to the left as well.

great article

i've been reading "the simple dollar" through my rss feeder for a while now, and they have great articles about finances, etc.

this article today was very good. i haven't had the time to read through it entirely, but it's about luck, life events and their impacts, and perspective. definitely worth a read. i'm bookmarking it to finish later on.

arm and hammer baking soda change...?

check out this article from the consumerist. it contains a response from the arm and hammer folks about why, all of a sudden, they say you have to change the box of baking soda in the fridge or freezer once a month instead of once every three months, as had previously been encouraged.

muy interesante...

cake wrecks

i've been reading this blog for about a week now, and i'd be remiss if i didn't share.

cake wrecks shares some of the most awful, hilarious, creepy, gross, sad cakes ever made. now, they aren't so cruel as to make fun of amateurs trying something fun and not doing a very good job of it -- they only show stuff from professional bakeries/cakeries. and it's amazing some of the stuff that comes through. most of the pictures featured are either; 1 - bad design ideas (e.g., pregnant lady bikini torso) or 2 - awful execution of basics (e.g., spelling, grammar, following directions). a quick dose of funny, highly recommended.

an sample:

america's hardest drinking cities

here's the list

Forbes' 15 Hardest Drinking Cities

• 1. Austin, TX
• 2. Milwaukee, WI
• 3. San Francisco, CA
• 4. Providence, R.I.
• 5. Chicago, IL
• 8. (tie) Seattle, WA, Cleveland, OH, St. Louis, MO
• 9. Boston, MA
• 10. Cincinnati, OH
• 11. Pittsburgh,PA
• 12. Virginia Beach, VA
• 13. Portland, OR
• 14. Jacksonville, FL
• 15. Detroit, MI

joke

Did you hear about the dyslexic devil worshipper?

He sold his soul to Santa.

funny interview stories

i came across this list of things people have done in interviews and thought it was pretty funny. some of them seem too bizarre to be true.

• The recruiter asks: What is your greatest weakness? The MBA responds: Kryptonite.
• The recuiter from a tobacco company asks: Do you mind if I smoke? The MBA responds: Yes, I mind. I am allergic to cigarette smoke
• Candidate said he was so well-qualified [that] if he didn't get the job, it would prove that the company's management was incompetent.
• Stretched out on the floor to fill out the job application.
• Brought her large dog to the interview.
• Chewed bubble gum and constantly blew bubbles.
• Candidate kept giggling through serious interview.
• She wore a Walkman and said she could listen to me and the music at the same time.
• Balding candidate abruptly excused himself. Returned to office a few minutes later, wearing a hairpiece.
• Applicant challenged interviewer to arm wrestle.
• Asked to see interviewer's resume to see if the personnel executive was qualified to judge the candidate.
• Announced she hadn't had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and french fries in the interviewer's office.
• Without saying a word, candidate stood up and walked out during the middle of the interview.
• Man wore jogging suit to interview for position as financial vice president.
• Said if he were hired, he would demonstrate his loyalty by having the corporate logo tattooed on his forearm.
• Interrupted to phone his therapist for advice on answering specific interview questions.
• Wouldn't get out of the chair until I would hire him. I had to call the police.
• When I asked him about his hobbies, he stood up and started tap dancing around my office.
• Had a little pinball game and challenged me to play with him.
• Bounced up and down on my carpet and told me I must be highly thought of by the company because I was given such a thick carpet.
• Took a brush out of my purse, brushed his hair and left.
• Pulled out a Polaroid camera and snapped a flash picture of me. Said he collected photos of everyone who interviewed him.
• Candidate asked me if I would put on a suit jacket to insure that the offer was formal.
• Said he wasn't interested because the position paid too much.
• While I was on a long-distance phone call, the applicant took out a copy of Penthouse, and looked through the photos only, stopping longest at the centerfold.
• During the interview, an alarm clock went off from the candidate's brief case. He took it out, shut it off, apologized and said he had to leave for another interview.
• A telephone call came in for the job applicant. It was from his wife. His side of the conversation went like this: "Which company? When do I start? What's the salary?" I said, "I assume you're not interested in conducting the interview any further." He promptly responded, "I am as long as you'll pay me more." I didn't hire him, but later found out there was no other job offer. It was a scam to get a higher offer.
• An applicant came in wearing only one shoe. She explained that the other shoe was stolen off her foot in the bus.
• His attache [case] opened when he picked it up and the contents spilled, revealing ladies' undergarments and assorted makeup and perfume.
• He came to the interview with a moped and left it in the reception area. He didn't want it to get stolen, and stated that he would require indoor parking for the moped.
• He took off his right shoe and sock, removed a medicated foot powder and dusted it on the foot and in the shoe. While he was putting back the shoe and sock, he mentioned that he had to use the powder four times a day, and this was the time.
• Candidate said he really didn't want to get a job, but the employment office needed proof that he was looking for one.
• He whistled when the interviewer was talking.
• Asked who the lovely babe was, pointing to the picture on my desk. When I said it was my wife, he asked if she was home now and wanted my phone number. I called security.
• She threw-up on my desk, and immediately started asking questions about the job, like nothing had happened.
• Pointing to a black case he carried into my office, he said that If he was not hired, the bomb would go off. Disbelieving, I began to state why he would never be hired and that I was going to call the police. He then reached down to the case, flipped a switch and ran. No one was injured, but I did need to get a new desk. (purported to have appeared in The Wall Street Journal 1989)

dark knight philosophy

do not click the link unless you want some partial spoilers for the movie (particularly within the comments after the article)!

i thought this blog entry was an interesting discourse on one of the primary moral dilemma/"social experiements" the joker invented in the dark knight movie.

and if you have not yet seen the movie. Run, do not walk, to the theater and check it out. it's waaaay to hot to do anything else right now, and this is probably the best comic book/super hero movie that's been made. if nothing else, go to get completely and utterly creeped out and amazed by heath ledger's performance. absolutely mindblowing.

oh and enjoy the chicago scenery - we sure did!

committed

i finally did it. i worked up the nerve, checked the box, signed my form, and faxed it over to kellogg to let them know i'll be attending in the fall. i'm a little (a lot) nervous, but am pretty excited (also a lot), and feel better now that i've gone through with actually sending the decision off.

i found out today that i got into depaul as well, which is great, but i just can't pass up the opportunity to go to kellogg. both are good schools, but i've got a number of reasons that i'm going the direction that i am. i'm going to get a great education and get to meet and work with great people.

it'll be a tough 2.5-ish years, but i'm sure it will be totally worth it in the end. i'll try to keep up the posting even though i'll be super busy!

wordle

try it. i did it on my tri blog as well. (click for bigger image.)

what a weekend

heath and i were super busy last weekend.

friday night, we headed up toward ravinia to see john hiatt. my friend lives near there, so we were able to park in her driveway. as we chatted a bit, it started pouring. she offered to let us in for a bit, to wait out the rain (outdoor concert and all), where her daughter offered us a lovely tour of their house. the rain did not want to quit, so we got invited for dinner - homemade risotto and margaritas. so delicious! after dinner, it cleared up a bit, so we wandered over to the show. it was damp and drizzled a bit more, but it was a lot of fun and john hiatt is SO good live! heath even bought me a cute little ravinia teddy bear.

saturday we woke up to rain so we pretty much did rainy day stuff - cleaning, organizing, lounging. once it cleared up a bit, we headed over to heath's friend's house to pick them up for our kayaking adventure. no rain, but we did get plenty wet under the big hose across the river. the fireworks were cool, but it was really tiring (6ish miles!), especially since none of us had ever kayaked before! we stayed at their house for a bit afterwards and got some pizza - even dominoes tasted good - that's how hungry we were. then it started to really pour and we took off.

we slept in sunday since we didn't get home until about 2am. that messes up your day. then we wandered down to watch the evanston northwestern healthcare grand prix of cycling. really. really. cool. it's a criterium, which is a very exciting, technical type of race to watch. those people have to be concentrating like mad the WHOLE time. we, unfortunately, saw a number of crashes. the worst were the two people (a girl during the women's cat 3 & 4 race, and a guy during the men's pro's) that had to be taken out in ambulances. they were both conscious but their heads were bleeding. yikes. the most dramatic crash was at the finishing sprint of the men's cat 3 race. some guys toward the front crashed somehow about 20 feet from the finish line. because of the speed and the tight pack, like 12 guys went down. bike parts and water bottles were flying everywhere. one guy stood up after crashing and got hit by another cyclist. nobody was too seriously hurt, but it was insane to see that crazy of a crash that close up - we were standing on the side right by the finish line so i saw the whole thing. a few trashed bikes, too. *weep*

the race is a pretty big deal and the guy that won the men's pros is a two time olympic champion. the announcer was great, but wasn't who i thought he was (confused myself with the whole belgian thing... i'll need to go see breaking away now). the guy that won the "sprint" jersey, was crazy good - he was very exciting to watch because he would pull these moves off and leap out in front at the last second somehow -- totally mind blowing. going and watching races like that make me both scared to death to try and curious to see if i could do it. one of the scariest things was when we were standing at one corner of the course and heath was taking pics as the guys came around the turn. if any of those guys missed the turn, they would have come straight into us - it was pretty freaky. that was the corner that both the people that went to the hospital crashed on. we weren't standing there when they crashed, but tight turns at high speeds are scary scary stuff. these guys were going somewhere around 30 mph, getting up to 35 on the sprint straightaways. to put that in perspective, in my races, i'm usually about 18 mph. the girls averaged between 20 and 25. maybe someday i'll be that fast. well, if i decide to go train.

that was fast

i had my interview @ kellogg last week wednesday, which is when i turned in my application. i got a call from the admissions director this afternoon to let me know i was admitted! how great is that? i figured i was a pretty strong candidate, but you never know, particularly with a prestigious school like this. so, it was really uplifting to find out i did get in - and to find out so quickly! i only had to wait a week! it's a great school, historically in the top three in the country for part time mba programs. whoo hoo! i'm excited to get my offer packet in the mail in the next couple of days and begin the financial aid process so that i can move toward making the next round of decisions.

oh and...

when i do start grad school, i'm considering getting one of these bad boys:

it is an electronic clipboard thing. you insert a regular notepad and then turn it on. when you write with the special pen, it records electronically what you've written down, and then you can use a usb port to put it on your computer and edit it up. handy, no? stores something crazy like 144 pages of info.

it would be great for me - i'm terrible at taking notes on a laptop and this would allow me to draw pictures and everything then upload them to my computer to be saved. it appears to be quite easy to use and captures the notes well. the portfolio for it would be cool, too. i think the use i would get out of it for $180 for the set would be well worth it.

edit: totally forgot the link: DigiMemo

update

yep, it's been a while since i posted. been super busy again, but doing well overall. looks like my last post was from the beginning of june. since then, i've done a triathlon, a 5k, and am gearing up for my next race in just over a week.

i've also been super busy at work with a pretty cool project. heath and i have been in and out of town visiting family etc. we also took a week long trip to chippewa flowage in wisconsin to do some fishing and relaxing. it was something we both really needed and we had a lot of fun.

the annual girls' was last weekend, but it was a slight variation on the usual. pam and teri couldn't make it, so my mom, sister, and aunt ginger came down to chicago to spend the weekend. i met up with them for dinner friday night at the cheesecake factory and a little bit of shopping at old orchard mall. saturday we went down to millenium park and navy pier. we did the skyline boat tour and rode the big ferris wheel. grabbed some lunch and did a little souvenir shopping before heading back north. saturday night was capped off with an awesome concert at ravinia - lyle lovett. now, before you think that's weird, you gotta give his music a chance. we had some wine and snacks and hung out on the lawn for the whole 3 hrs. lots of fun. sunday we hit trader joe's and then they got on the road. that afternoon, heath and i hopped over to the movies to see wall-e. super cute, highly recommended.

i'm in the midst of waiting to hear back from the two mba programs to which i applied. i had an interview with one school last week and had the opportunity to observe a class there last night. the commute wasn't bad and the students were very nice. the class was interesting and overall it was a good experience. i feel like i'm a fairly competitive applicant, so i'm hoping i get accepted to both schools so that i have some options to select from. i am, however, wondering if i didn't do myself a disservice by failing to look into the other "big" school in the area... i think it is no big deal, as either of the schools i have applied to would provide a great education and experience. there must be a good reason (subconscious?) that i didn't pursue that third one, so i'm not going to worry about it. i'll keep everybody posted regarding whether i get in and what decision i make.

i'm also taking a swim clinic that meets for an hour for 6 weeks on monday nights. the first session was last monday and i think that i'll gain a lot from the instruction. at the very least, it will guarantee that i'm in the pool for an hour every monday!

tonight heath and i are going to north avenue beach to play some beach volleyball. one of heath's friends needed somebody to fill in this week, so he asked us. (well, technically, he asked heath, but said i was invited, too). i'm excited because it's been so long since i've played.

tomorrow night, we're going back to ravinia for john hiatt. should be really fun. hopefully it isn't too hot and sticky. then saturday, i think we are going on some kayak thing where we kayak down the chicago river out to navy pier to watch the fireworks and then kayak back. it's about 6 miles, so hopefully we're up for it! sounds really cool, though! sunday morning, i hope i'm not too tired to get up and watch the criterium (bike race) that is being held in evanston. they're pretty fun to watch. we can walk down and probably sit outside and eat somewhere to watch it!

overall, super super busy, but having a lot of fun.

horrible cycling accident

in mexico, near the texas border, a drunk driver fell asleep at the wheel and ran into a cycling race head one, killing one person and injuring 10. absolutely tragic. here is the story. here is the picture.

even though this instance was not a deliberate act, it got me thinking about how much people seem to hate cyclists on the road. i've had people at work comment that they just want to run them (and runners) off the road, and go on and on about how they don't belong on the road in the first place.

sheesh people, it's not like they're clogging the expressways. yeah, some of them are giving cyclists a bad name by riding two or more across rather than single file or by riding erratically, and that ticks me off, too. on the other hand, that's how anything is -- we all know that there are plenty of bad drivers out there, too. i just don't get what the big problem is. maybe because i am (sort of) a cyclist, i can appreciate why they are out there and it doesn't bother me when i have to slow down a little to go around them.

i read on my triathlon forums all the time about people getting stuff yelled at them, thrown at them, cars buzzing them so close they hit the cyclists in the arms/shoulders with their side mirrors, even one guy that got shot with a bb gun by a passenger in a car driving by. get a life, people. cyclists are NOT that in your way. they're exercising, and with the gas prices going up and up more and more people will be cycling to work to save money. i'm trying to figure out a route myself! with construction, it will probably not take me that much longer to get to work via bike and i'll save gas and be kinder to the environment at the same time!

so, rant over. be nice to cyclists. but if you see them riding two across on a narrow trafficy road or doing other reprehensible cyclist behaviors, feel free to roll down your window and suggest they fix what they are doing. no need to throw a rock to get your point across, though.

and don't drink and drive...

cd's

i haven't bought many cd's lately, but i'm really craving the new coldplay one and the new r.e.m. one. super good stuff off both of them from what i can tell so far.

galena triathlon report

i know it's been almost a week, but i finally wrote up my race report from galena.

the summary: beautiful course, wonderfully organized race, gorgeous weather, cold lake, hilly and windy bike, hilly run, hills, hills, hills, hills, hills, omg the HILLS. but i made it thru and felt pretty good about my performance, especially given my lack of training (particularly for the swim). plus, we had a nice weekend in a cute town and at a cute b&b while we were there. :)

my detailed race report is here.

overall time: 2:20:58
swim: 13:03
bike: 1:18:17
run: 42:55

another girl from around chicago talks about her dreadful experience on her blog here.

and provides pictures of some of the bike course here.

already looking forward to the next one in the quad cities on june 14!

edit: and here is an image of the first hill at the beginning of the run. doesn't do it justice...

holy crap

the pool is finally open! guess i'm going for a swim tonight! FINALLY!

pool still closed

still. i just got off the phone with them again. what do you know? they told me for the third week in a row that it "should open sometime this week." i complained and now she said that the operations manager has indicated that he will make some kind of "customer service gesture" to the people that use the pool. whatever that means. the best gesture, in my humble opinion, would be to OPEN THE POOL. seriously. i have a race in less than two weeks and i've not been able to swim in at least 5 weeks. i'm starting to freak out.

seriously

i need a new doctor since we got new insurance when our company got acquired. no problem, right? hah! 138 docs of that specialty within 5 miles of my address, and it still took 20 minutes of calling and searching to find one that was taking new patients with appointments before june! yeesh! found one in the mall. that should be fine, right?

seriously. they're in the mall. but it's a nice mall. like super nice. the doc is across from the starbucks and crate and barrel. is that weird?

genius

only $13! yummy yum yum!



via outblush

okay, i'm no expert...

but...

apparently a group of scientists have found several brand new species of animals in brazil...which is actually pretty cool. amazing that they are managing to continually find new creatures on this planet that seems to be getting smaller by the day!

that being said, take a look at one of the newbies - a "legless lizard"...



now, i read the article, but must be missing something. is anybody going to speak up and go - um, hey - we've found legless lizards before.. they're called SNAKES. the article's authors admit that it looks like a snake, but nowhere do they explain how this is NOT a snake. what makes it a lizard and not a snake? there is probably some very good reason, which a very smart lizard-ologist could explain to me. on the surface, however, this is pretty humorous... i think i might just set out to discover a new species...

wait... there's one! look!

i discovered a new animal! it's a gigantic, furry, warm blooded, super friendly and adorable lizard! yay me!


science guys, if you'll be so kind to leave a comment, i'll contact you to let you know where to send my generous animal discovering check. :)

priorities

hilarious classified ad on a forum at slowtwitch (known for uber-bike snobbery)...

link.

and...

...what is with this weather?

please please come back, spring!

two good quotes...

randomly....

Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels.
- Faith Whittlesey

America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair.
- Arnold Toynbee

pool still closed

still. found out that people were getting rashes, so they had to drain it, scrub it, and are now waiting for the inspectors to sign off. ewww.

michael mcdermott @ the SPACE in evanston

last night, one of heath's friends called us up to let us know that he and his girlfriend were on their way to evanston to see michael mcdermott at the space and to ask if we wanted to join them. after dinner at the firehouse grill, we went over to the new venue called the space (the society for preservation of art and culture in evanston - clever, right?). the location contains a restaurant/lounge, as well as a multi use room (performances, art shows, etc.), and recording space. it's about 3-4 blocks from our apartment and just opened in february. we had been meaning to check it out, as it was new, always packed, and looked like it had a really cool atmosphere. we were extremely impressed with the place last night. the music was fantastic (michael's performance was incredible, and we got to sit at a little bistro table about 15 ft away from the stage), the room that he played in was amazing with great atmosphere, and, although we didn't eat last night, we've since heard the food is very good, particularly their wood-fired pizzas. unfortunately, i don't have any pictures, but we're excited that such a fun place opened up so close to us!

la fitness in evanston disappoints

less than four weeks until the first triathlon of the season and the pool has been closed at my gym for at least the last three weeks. every time i ask when it might be opening, they have no idea. this is really really frustrating. i guess i'll just have to hop on the rowing machine a few more times this week and hope that i remember how to swim on may 17.

describe today in one word

kablooey

economic stimulus checks

has everybody decided how they're going to spend theirs? i'm torn between applying the money to some debt (boring), saving the money for general purpose, saving the money specifically for a new laptop for when i likely start grad school in the fall (also sorta boring), or buying something semi-frivolous (new digital camera?). any suggestions, ideas, or plans of your own?

the irs website has information on the rebates, including a calculator to see how much you'll get (really only deviates from $600 single/$1200 married for people who make over $75K or didn't file taxes or something) based on your 2007 tax return.

it also has a schedule of when the payments are expected to go out. they're basing it off the last 2 digits of your social security number. seems random, but as good a way as any to me. it will also depend on if you filed your taxes requesting direct deposit or a paper check. mine's scheduled for may 9, which is fine by me. time to start spending it in my head!

walk score

the walk score website was linked on freakonomics today. it only takes a second, and is worth checking out. i plugged in a few addresses to see how walkable a few familiar places are. the website calculates how far you live from destinations you'll likely need (grocery store, restaurants, movie theatre, schools, libraries, and so on), and give you a score from 0-100. the idea is that it's good for your health and for the environment to live in a place with a higher walk score. the site even encourages realtors to post the walk score on their listings.

my current address is a 77, which according to their website is "very walkable," meaning that it's possible to get by without owning a car. i think this is quite true. heath and i can easily walk to the grocery store, movies, restaurants, the lakefront, bars, etc, and when the weather is good, we do. in 12 inches of snow, however, we usually end up driving.

i also got the score for the house i grew up in, and it was a lowly 9! that's considered "driving only," which means that there are virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. ouch! but not surprising if you've ever been out there. however, there's definitely something to be said for the solitude and quiet of living in a "driving only" area that counters at least a portion of the convenience of being able to walk to the coffee shop. the house heath grew up in got a 20, which is better than 9, but still considered "driving only." gibson's and that bright blue thrift store must've really bumped the score up! ;)

current home

my childhood home

amazing

been awhile, i know. things have been crazy busy at work and otherwise, but i'm hanging in there. i got an email from my uncle dan last week and finally got around to checking out the links he sent. i was so blown away by this that i thought i'd post and share. too often you see diva-types or other annoyances on talent shows, so this was utterly refreshing.

instapaper

okay, i've been super duper busy. i can barely find time to even SCAN by google reader feeds, let alone actually read the entries of interest. but lo and behold a miracle! after you register (basically enter your email address), instapaper (free!) allows you to add a little button to your bookmarks toolbar. you just click the button when you are on a page you want to read later, and it saves it to your instapaper. you log back into instapaper and read the articles like your own custom newspaper. i love the little bit of it i've seen and it seems to work quickly and easily. this way, if i see something i want to read but am too busy at work, i can save it to instapaper and read it when i get home or whenever i have time. this way i don't have to clog up my bookmarks, which is what i've been doing up until now (not a good approach).

mmm

i could SO go for a cadbury creme egg right now...

retail therapy

i'm having a rough day. just cannot seem to get it going. i'm STILL fighting this cold, which is frustrating beyond words. it's starting to make it hard to be motivated to work and is just leaving me feeling uncomfortable all the time. and ugly and fat and all low self-esteemy. ugh. if it doesn't go away soon, i'll see a doctor about it. maybe he/she can recommend some sort of wonder drug.

i went for a swim yesterday (1000 yards) and felt pretty good doing it. i thought that the half hour dip in disinfectant might help knock away some of the cold germs. i don't feel as bad today as i did yesterday, but i'm still not 100%. i may ride my bike at home tonight during lost. i'm not really feeling all that up to exercising lately, but i have a 5 mile race at the end of march that i have to get ready for.

i was feeling so like crap that i went shopping at lunch in hopes of cheering me up. i bought a hairbrush. whoohoo. not exactly exciting, but it was something i needed and i got one with ceramic on it (which is supposed to be good for some reason?) that matches my cool tiger stripe blow dryer. so that was fun.

anyway, just need to make it another 2 hours or so before heading home. i'm about due for some more sinus medicine. please please please go away cold!

citrus

somebody here is eating an orange and it smells SO GOOD. it reminds me of when heath and i were just in florida visiting his grandma. (i need to post more about it and post some pics soon!) she has grapefruit and orange trees in her yard and they had more fruit on them than a person could possibly eat in a year. it was so great! in the morning, i walked outside and grabbed an orange off the tree and ate it. it was so fresh and juicy. yum! heath's grandma picks them and juices them, then freezes the juice since there's no way anyone can eat all that. i wish i were back there now, pigging out on fresh oranges... much better than the cold ick here. i usually don't mind winter all that much, but all this snow is starting to wear on me. i should use some citrusy lotions or something to help cope...

score!

i went to barnes and noble today at lunch. mindy and ron had gotten me a book for christmas that i already owned. i returned it last week, but didn't have time to shop around (note: i also found out that beginning in march, b&n will not accept returns more than 2 weeks past the date of purchase, even with receipt... going to make it hard to buy gifts there from now on). today i was able to browse for a bit. nothing was really catching my eye. i found a triathlon magazine that looked good, but still needed to spend about $6. i was getting discouraged, but then i saw it. a table with a sign that read: "limited time: games sale. everything with green dot sticker = $1." yeah. $1. and it wasn't total crap either. i got the shrek version of monopoly, a family guy version of uno, some game that involves a martini shaker, some chicago cubs dominoes in a cute tin lunchpail type box, and another game that i don't even remember what it is, but it looked like it might be interesting. insane sale. total luck. whoo-hoo, that made sitting in my cube on this gray monday with a looming winter storm warning tolerable. ;)

stolen

from dooce.

cute stuff.

insanity

today i have been participating in something so absurd: the purchase of chicago cubs home game tickets. the demand is so high for these tickets that they have elaborate systems put in place with wristbands, a random number drawing, online waiting rooms, and various ticket limit rules. since 10am, i've been in an online waiting room, as has heath, hoping against hope to get to drop gobs of money on baseball tickets. by the time i finally got in at about 2:10pm, about seven games had completely sold out. i managed to grab some bleacher (read: hot commodity) seats for a weekend game in may. i lucked out and got back in at about 2:45pm and grabbed some tickets to a weeknight brewers game in september (hoping that it is the heat of the pennant race). heath still has yet to get in at all. as of this post, there are 16 games sold out. the first to go were the cross-town classic tickets (heath and i were at one of those games last year and it was miserable - cubs lost, i was sick, and it was rainy and freezing) and opening day. next were the cardinals games. now, it seems more random, but weekend games always go first.

it's insanity, really. which is why, when i bought whitecaps tickets last may about a week before the game and got seats right (and i mean RIGHT) behind homeplate for a fraction of a fraction of what cubs tickets cost, i was visibly giddy. small town baseball is soooo fun! but wrigley field is one of a kind! GO CUBS!

excellent sermon

there was a guest pastor at our church (first united methodist church of evanston) last sunday (2/17), and his sermon, "finding the real thing" was one of the best sermons i can remember hearing. so, i wanted to share it here. if you have some spare time, i highly recommend giving it a listen, as it is certainly worthwhile. the church podcasts the services here -- how cool is that?! you can download the mp3 directly or subscribe to the podcast through itunes. i haven't listened yet to see how the sound quality is, but hopefully it's good.

tax refund = races

i already got my tax refund! i already spent my tax refund! it went to a good purpose, though: my race entry fees for the year. (i have an expensive hobby...)

so here is my race calendar so far.

• Shamrock Shuffle March 30 in Chicago, IL: 8k run = 5 miles
• Galena Triathlon May 17 in Galena, IL: Sprint Triathlon: 660 yd swim, 16.8 mile bike, 4.3 mile run - hilly!
• Quad Cities Triathlon June 14 in Davenport, IA: Sprint Triathlon: 600yd swim, 15 mile bike, 5k/3.1mile run
• Tri-ing For Children's Triathlon July 27 at Kettle Moraine State Park, WI: Olympic Distance Triathlon: 1.5k swim, 40k bike (approx 25 miles), 10k run (6.2 miles)
• Accenture Chicago Triathlon August 24 in Chicago, IL: The biggest triathlon in the world!: Olympic Distance Triathlon (same distances as the WI race above)
  

i might also do the following races, depending on scheduling, etc:

• Race to Wrigley April 13 in Chicago, IL (5k run that ends inside Wrigley Field - Fun!)
• Run for the Zoo June 1 (?) in Chicago, IL (10k run that goes through Lincoln Park Zoo and along the Lakeshore)
• Lifetime Fitness Triathlon July 12 in Minneapolis, MN (Olympic Distance Triathlon)
• Muddy Buddy August 3 in Elgin, IL (Fun race that Heath did last year - we might do it together this year)

i finally made it back to the gym today after a week of being sick with a horrible cold. i struggled on the treadmill, but expect to be back on track shortly. this will be the most triathlons i've done in a season, so i'm really excited to see how much i can improve over my previous races!

in case it wasn't already a luxury enough...

if fast forwarding through commercials using your tivo remote is too much work - having to watch for the commercials to end and the show begin, then being fast enough on the play button to not miss any program (whew! who can manage that?!), you can hack a button on your remote to jump the program 30 seconds forward (which happens to be the length of the majority of commercials). so, you can just hit this button a few times to get through the commercials. how to is here. i might try it tonight and see if it works. supposedly there are some updates that have happened that disabled it. worth a try though!

updates coming...but first

currently wishing i had: a pashmina

yes, one of those blanket-y scarf-y things that were uber popular a few years back. i think they've come around to being not entirely unfashionable anymore (after the backlash following their overpopularity). last weekend, i saw one in the airport and thought, hey that would be nice to have on the plane, but decided to not spend the $10. duh. last night, one would have been the perfect solution for a short sleeved dress on a cold night with no warp/appropriate sweater/anything to keep me warm in sight. now today at work, i'm chilly and am realizing that once again, a pashmina would offer an extra layer of warmth, without looking utterly frumpy, and maybe even looking a bit stylish. i'd probably lean toward a baby blue color, since that would go with a lot of what i have. pink would be another maybe. now, pashmina refers to the specific material, but has come to mean the item itself. i should've spent the $10 at the airport!

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new dress code = new wardrobe

yesterday afternoon, we got an email from human resources informing us that our office is now permitted to go “casual” monday through friday. prior to this, we were business casual most of the week, but allowed to dress down only on fridays. the main reason for this is that most of the head honchos were relocated to the “chicago” office, so they aren’t around as much and neither are clients. it’s pretty rare to have a full week casual dress code in the business world, but i have mixed feelings about it for various reasons. From a career perspective, I want to try to set myself apart by looking more professional, etc. i’ve decided i can still do that by being sure to look put together even when wearing jeans, not wearing jeans every day, and looking particularly put together when visiting the corporate office. another reason, and a fairly practical one at that, is that now that i work in an office full time, my wardrobe has shifted from the jeans dominant college and grad school wardrobe to one with a higher ratio of dressy to casual clothes. i only have two pairs of jeans that really fit me well, so what on earth am i to wear to work every day? i was planning on going and buying more slacks and dressier pieces, but now i’m not sure that’s a good idea. i should still get some more quality dressy pieces, but now i won’t need to wear them everyday. the more relaxed dress code is actually going to help me out because now i can focus on quality rather than quantity with the dressy pieces. i had been getting overwhelmed thinking about all the dressy stuff i needed, but now that i don’t have to wear it every day, i’m off the hook.

 

however, back to the “only two pairs of jeans” issue… ann taylor loft is having an amazing sale through this weekend. like, seriously amazing. seriously. last night before meeting up with heath at bravo for a very nice birthday dinner, i shopped at the loft in the glen town center. i got some cute corduroys, a denim blazer thing, a velvety tank for underneath, and new sunglasses. today, at lunch, i went over to the loft near my work (yes, these stores are all over the place out here), and picked up a few more things (few = giant bag full). the list includes, a new winter jacket (camel colored, which i’ve always wanted, and kind of a trendy cut – it will definitely get worn – don’t worry heath), two pairs of dressy jeans (a nice compromise that can be worn to work, and still look sophisticated), a pair of khakis, a pair of black flats with some little jewels on them, a headband, and three shirts. so between last night and today, i got 4 pairs of pants, 2 jackets, 4 tops, shoes, and accessories – all for around $150 – which was the original price of the coat alone! just so happens, a check in that amount came my way as birthday money. i had asked for it so i could buy some new clothes for work and ta-da! i got a week’s worth! thanks, mom!

fraud and inconvenience

so, i just discovered a likely fraudulent charge to my debit card. i called and they can’t dispute it until it posts, so i’ll have to call back when that happens. in the meantime, they closed my card and will be sending me a new one. until it gets here, i’m stuck, though, because i use my debit card for everything. EVERYTHING. i think I’ll actually have to go write myself a check to get money out of my account for the next week. so so sad. what a hassle! fraud-doers are jerks!

365

it's kind of nice having a january birthday. january is a fresh start in a lot of ways, and so i'm able to really take stock of the last year and think about what i want to change/improve/accomplish in the coming year. kind of like resolutions, but they seem to stick better. at least last year they did. i tend to really not get very excited about my birthday, but when i sit down and think critically about the goals i set for myself last year and what i managed to accomplish, i'm really quite satisfied with how the past year went. some things are small and some things are more significant, but they all count for something!

probably one of the biggest things was completing the half ironman. on my birthday last year, i signed up for the steelhead 70.3 triathlon. not only did i commit to doing a race of overwhelming distance, i also pledged to raise $2300 to fight leukemia and lymphoma. the fundraising went very well, with a ton of help from friends and family. i met my goal early, which was great. the race itself was amazing. i had a hard time keeping on the training, but somehow still managed to finish. and feel pretty good when it was all said and done. it says a lot about mind over matter and all that and i feel great about being brave enough to step up to the starting line in the first place, and also for having the resolve to stick with it and finish the race. i have a tendency to get in my own head and beat myself up a bit, but i didn't do that at all in the race (well, okay, except for the first 10 minutes of the swim).

the same day i signed up for the race, i pledged to NOT cut my hair until after the race. i wanted to see if i could get it long and tolerate it. i had a habit of getting it just past chin length, then hitting an ugmo phase and cutting it shorter again. not this time, once i got past the race in august, it was long enough to pull back and wasn't bothering me. now i love it long, and am even getting better about not yanking it back into a ponytail all the time.

i also pledged to be more adventurous and not hold back from trying things because i was afraid or anything like that. i don't think people would typically think that i'm like that, i can recount things that i missed out on because i didn't just go for it. last year, i threw my nagging "you shouldn't probably do that" voice out the window and went to ireland with my friend to just cycle around the countryside, carrying everything on our bikes along the way. i would never in a million years ever thought that i'd be over there, let alone doing that. prior to that trip, a vacation to ireland seemed like one of those fantasy things that you say you'll do but never really will. it was a great trip, and i'm so glad i went.

last year, i was very frustrated with my job. i was bored and couldn't see where i was headed in that position, so i was very unhappy there. with heath's help, i updated my resume, got some confidence about my abilities, and started applying. quite quickly, i landed a job at a small IT/healthcare company in a northern suburb. i've really flourished here and am working with and for amazing people. i believe in the mission of the company and in importance of the work i'm doing. i feel rewarded, challenged, and appreciated. it's the perfect job for me for where i am in my career, and they are supportive as i consider pursuing my mba in the fall.

i was also sick of being in the wrong sort of relationship, and wanted to really try to meet somebody that i could imagine having a future with. so i went the semi-stigmatized route and used that supposedly very scientific online matchmaking service, you know the one i mean. after a few so-so dates, i managed to meet heath. we started dating and found that we had so much in common, very substantial things and also very random, but comforting things. so, i managed to get myself into a much more "real" relationship than i've been part of in a very long time. he even knows me so well, that the flowers he sent for my birthday are prettier than i could've picked out for myself. thanks hon! (note that the picture doesn't do them justice - they're much more vibrant orangey and red than they appear here. the fluorescent lights and my camera phone are certainly limiting.)

chicago spire

last march, heath posted a brief writeup about the fordham spire going up in chicago. it's a very interesting looking building, as you can see from the image below and from the cool video they have up on their website. well, today i saw a post that the 1200 residences are now for sale. ready for this? starting at $750,000 for the 534 square foot studios. yes, starting. i'm afraid to even seek out info on how much a livable space would cost. yikes!

sale!

bath and body works has a pretty good sale right now. i'm working through the vast majority of my lotions, body washes, etc. and am doing a pretty good job, but i like to have a bottle of shampoo and conditioner on deck for when i run out and it was on sale like 70% off, so how could i refuse?

i also got a little body wash for my gym bag so that i can try to kill the bromine smell after i swim (they don't use chlorine in the pool) and not have everybody at work know i swam that morning. now i'll smell like bromine and japanese cherry blossom simultaneously. sweet.

on another note... BRRRRRR. keep warm all!

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not sure about this quote

"In order to have the body you want you have to hate the body you have."

i'm not sure where this quote originated, but i found it on some triathlon forums. any thoughts on this? i don't agree with it. hate is an awfully strong word. i guess i think i can work toward the body i want and still be relatively satisfied with where i'm at currently. i can understand the concept: that unless you feel strongly about making a change, you will have a harder time sticking with it and attaining your goals. however, i think it's unhealthy to HAVE to have that mentality to change. i think that would be a terrible way to go through life - to be unable to change something unless you hate it. i can look at myself and see things that i'd like to change, but i don't need to hate those things about myself. i should eat better, but i don't HATE how i eat currently. i could be fitter, but i don't HATE how i feel or how i look. it seems like i would spend a lot of time being unhappy if i require hatred for self-improvement.

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hillary nutcracker

okay, democrat or republican or anywhere in between... you gotta admit this is pretty funny.

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