ABC's of Elaine

I've seen this pop up on a number of blogs I read, so I thought I'd do it too.

A. Age: 28

B. Bed size: King

C. Chore you hate: I don't really hate chores, but I'd have to say cleaning the bathroom

D. Dogs: Egg Roll (chihuahua/corgi mix) and Red (sheltie/golden mix)

E. Essential start to your day: brushing my teeth

F. Favorite color: black

G. Gold or silver: a few years ago I'd day silver with hesitation, but I wear both now

H. Height: 5'4"

I. Instruments: a faint remembrance of clarinet

J. Job title: Systems Engineer aka rocket scientist

K. Kids: one step son and the furbabies

L. Live: Columbus. OH

M. Mom’s name: Yim Ying or Lisa

N. Nicknames: Lui, Lainer, Laney

O. Overnight hospital stays: none, but I did stay over night with the hubster when he went to the ER once

P. Pet peeve: too many to list

Q. Quote from a movie: "There's no crying in baseba'll"

R. Right or left handed: Right

S. Siblings: 2 brothers, younger and older

T. Time you wake up: between 6 and 6:30 AM on weekdays; who knows on weekends

U. Underwear: whatever free underwear I get from Victoria's Secret, and some of their PINK collection

V. Vegetables you dislike: bell peppers

W. What makes you run late: deciding what to wear

X. X-Rays you’ve had: both knees and of course, my teeth

Y. Yummy food you make: prime rib, beef tenderloin

Z. Zoo- favorite animal: polar bears

Eek

I haven't gone on a run in two weeks.  Eep =(  I was just getting used to running 5+ miles, now I'll have to start all over again.  Looking at my calendar, I'm not going to have time to fit a run in for another 2 weeks.  That'll be a whole month without running.

You know what?  I'm going to try to fit one in this Sunday after mentoring.  I shouldn't be running that much, and I really need to get one in.  I haven't even tried out my new shoes yet!

Burning a hole in my pocket

I have a $15 gift code and $20 sitting in my paypal account.  What do I need/want from ebay?

Is it over yet?

I feel like lacrosse season should be coming to an end soon, but the sad truth of it is that the real high school season gets into full swing starting next week!  Why am I so tired of lacrosse already?  College games, both NCAA and club.  Honestly, I haven't even had too many, but with the increased travel and game times, it's just taking its toll on me.  I'm at the halfway point for this week.  I have a high school game tonight which will be pretty intense (I think), and a college club play day on Saturday with 3 games and I'll be mentoring new officials on Sunday for most of the day.

Just looking at my calendar makes me tired.  Glancing at next week, I'm completely booked.  This is the first season where I've done college and high school, and I pretty much accepted everything offered to me.  I'll use this year to gauge how much I should do for next season.

My poor husband, I never see him anymore.  For example, the last two nights I've come home late.  All I do is eat, hop in the shower, and plop myself in bed to watch TV.  He's a sweetie and he watches with me, but I fall asleep before the show is even over!

How many more weeks until the end of the season?

Home Owning Guide for Dummies Part 2

This is almost a two parter, but not really.  This lesson just happens to deal with the furnace.  The more I think of it, it's a three parter.

Part 1:

When making the transition from apartment to house, take note that in some places the gas and electricity are handled by TWO different companies.  The hubster and I found out the hard way.  By hard way, I mean, our heat got turned off in January due to non-payment.  That was a big WTF moment.  It was further complicated by the fact that I was on travel for work and I had to make the calls because the condo was in my name.  Setting up utilities is not fun.

Lesson learned: So if we ever move, we'll know to contact both the electricity and gas company to set up service.

Part 2:

Air filters, not just for your car.  Again, our heat shut off in the middle of winter.  We tried and tried to get the furnace to turn on.  We knew the gas wasn't turned off again.  I make damn sure to pay that bill every month.  It's cold in Ohio in the winter.  What the hell could it be?  We just happen to be friendly with an HVAC guy and he walked us through the fix.  Apparently, you need to change the air filter that sits right next to the furnace.  You know what?  Who the hell knew that houses even had air filters?  Not me?  Have you ever changed the air filter in an apartment?  No, I didn't think so.  I've never seen my dad change an air filter in the house, much less see him carrying one.  We were lucky that we knew our friend or else we would have spent a pretty penny on having one come out.  The fix was pretty simple, so at least we'll know what to do next time we forget to change the filter.  I don't I'll ever forget that since I think the furnace went down after we had been living at the condo for at least a year and I'm sure I can remember to change the filter once a year.

The recommended time is like once a month, but I change it once every three maybe.  I go up and check the filter and compare it to past filters.  Yes, there is a pile of filters in my furnace room (even the original offender).  I use those to gauge when to change.  I also keep them because the actual size of the filter area is about half the size of the filter, so I reuse them too, but the hubster didn't come up with this solution until after we had gone through 2 packs of filters.

Lesson learned: Change your air filters!

Part 3:

In the middle of last winter, we finally invested in a programmable thermostat.  It's been a blessing and a marriage saver (the hubster hates being cold - I like to save money (aka I'm cheap)).  So I've grown accustomed to not waking up and freezing my ass off trying to get ready for work.  The temperature at night is set to 58 degrees and kicks back up to 68 around 6:00 am.  So at night, we still sleep with a space heater on our bedroom.  Before the programmable thermostat, the rest of the house was freezing.  It's so nice to wake up and walk into the bathroom without wanting to jump back in to bed.  There are other reasons to jump back in to bed - mainly to go back to sleep - but being cold is not one of them.

Anyway, I woke up this morning to a cold bathroom.  WTF?!?!  You know the first thoughts that jumped into my head?  If you guessed, did I pay the gas bill? (see part 1) or did I change the air filter? (see part 2), then you are correct.  I walk the dogs and feed them, then head upstairs to see what's going on.  The furnace is off, but the filter is fine.  I go back downstairs to see if the gas is still on.  Stove turns on fine.  I'm getting upset because I do not want to pay for an HVAC guy to come out and fix the damn thing.  What do I do next?  I storm into the bedroom, wake the hubster up and say the furnace is not on.  He sleepily and nonchalantly says it must have popped a fuse.  Could it be that simple?  I go to the garage, flip the switch, come back inside, and head upstairs.  Success!  The fire is re-lit in the furnace and all is well with the world.

Lesson learned: Check the fuse!

So what is the overarching lesson to be learned here?  Among other things, we are ill prepared for home ownership.  Seriously, why doesn't anyone tell us these things?  Like the garage light bulb I wrote about here. It didn't kill us to learn these things on our own, but just a hassle.  They seem like such silly lessons that perhaps our parents should have endowed this knowledge upon us.  Or maybe type up some like checklist of things to do when things go wrong.  I feel so inadequate and unprepared.  Just like finances, but that's another story/vent for another day.

Dog picture of the day

If paw beards are on the bottom of your paws, what do you call fur on the top?

Whatever they are, Red has them.

Ugly Red

Ok, Red isn't really ugly. She's very cute, but I call her the ugly dog whenever she scrapes up her nose, and her beautiful black nose is marred by this red/pink/white spot. The reason she scrapes up her nose is that she has really bad separation anxiety. The first time she muffed up her nose she scraped it on her travel kennel and ripped a giant hole in it. A few times she scrapes it up when she's trying to hide a bone in a couch or futon that has no cracks. Well, she did it again this morning. She freaked out this morning or something and scraped up her nose so bad. The sheet that wraps around her pillow was covered in blood. There was so much blood that when it dried, the sheet was stiff.

So now I have an ugly Red for at least a month. The hubster thinks I'm mean for calling her ugly, but she doesn't know what I'm saying. I'm sure she can infer from my tone that I'm mocking her and her nose. Is it a leap to say that my dog can infer?

Training and Diet

I finally lost the weight I had gained from going to California for 2 days!  It only took 2 weeks.  I'm not surprised at how long it took to lose the weight, but how much I gained after two days.  I had even worked out when I was there.

I think the weight fluctuation is partially due to what I wrote in this post where I could not for the life of me satiate my hunger without wanting to vomit.  I don't think I can continue/re-start my half marathon training without making some changes in my work out.  I don't think it's wise to go on runs when on the verge of being hungry or only taking a few sips of water after each work out, then waiting an hour before eating dinner.  I know I should not be doing this, but I still do.  It's stupid that I have to this kind of wake up call to actually realize I should knock it off.

I'm going to start researching some good habits.  A few coworkers have suggested those energy gels to supplement my running.  I did buy what is essentially a fanny pack for a water bottle for when my runs go longer than an 75 minutes.  I hope that helps, but it's really going to be hard to eat something before running.  I've always had troubles with cramps when eating before doing any kind of exercise especially when I was younger.

@#$@#$

I'm so mad at myself right now.  I had to pay my first late fee on a credit card =(  It's so stupid and totally my own fault.  There goes my perfect credit history.

I applied for a Chase Southwest credit card a while ago because you would get 2 round trip flights for basically the annual fee of $59, then I was going to cancel the card.  Anyway, I put down in my monthly budget to pay this off, but I haven't checked that spreadsheet in a while.  And of course, I forgot.  Missed it by one day.  So I paid off the card this morning, but I'm still super mad at myself.  I added a reminder in my Google Calendar (which I should have done in the first place!).  Not like it matters, I don't plan on actually using the card since I put everything on my American Express card.  So I've never carried a balance or had to pay late fees or interest, I wonder what my next statement will look like.  Will there be interest?  Does it compound daily?  More things to worry about great!

It's been two hours and I'm still grumbling in my cube about this...

Sucker Punch

More like you're a sucker if you paid to watch this movie.  The hubster HAD to watch this movie.  It's a good thing he paid for it because I would have been livid to pay for this trash.  This is by far by leaps and bounds the WORST movie I have ever seen.  Think of the worst movie you've every seen and multiply it's suckitude by a million.  I can understand why the hubster wanted to see it.  Scantily clad young women with swords and guns.  The appeal is there, but jesus, not even that could help save this movie.  There was no plot, the fight scenes were terrible, the acting was terrible.

Stop reading if you don't want any spoilers (HA - I think spoilers would make the movie better!)

So the premise of the movie is that the main character, Baby Doll, is some great dancer and while she's gyrating and moaning away, the other pretty girls go steal things to help them escape.  The problem is there is no dancing!  I actually think adding in some dancing would have made the movie better.  Instead, they zoom in on Baby Doll and she starts to sway and swing her arms and then she closes her eyes and WHAM, you're in some war zone where all the bad action sequences are.  Maybe it's because I'm a woman and would like to see dancing even it would be the equivalent of a lap dance.

Spoiler over!

I can't believe I'm writing a whole post of this stupid movie.  So I'm done.  Bottom line: save your money, save your time, don't watch the movie.

Me and My Niece

March-abration!

The hubster's birthday is in March.... so is his sister's, son's and father's.  Every March, we all get together for one big celebration.  Usually, it's a lunch, but this year, it was a little different.  Instead of us going down to Cincinnati, the hubster's mom, sister, brother in law, and niece came up for lunch at Red Robin.  It was great to see everyone and we had a fun time.  Afterwards, we came back to our place to talk and play with baby Piper!

I had to leave early for a lacrosse meeting, but a fun time was had by all and we knocked out three birthdays in one day.

Problems Already!

I had my first high school game of the season yesterday and I thought it went well.  I called the game consistently and tight.  It was a very close, physical, and intense game.  The score kept switching back and forth between teams.  Final score was 19-18 with 8 cards!

The real reason I've been up since 7:30 on a Sunday is because there is some confusion over whether a double yellow was given to a player.  I received an email last night about this and I went back to look at my card and didn't see any.  However, when I took a closer look, the "1" in my "18" looked much fainter than my other numbers.  Causing me to doubt whether the "1" was from a previous game that didn't get thoroughly erased or if was really written down.  Hopefully, my partner can confirm for me.  I'm just feeling frustrated and upset over my oversight of this.  I truly believed that it was an 18 for the entire duration of the game.  With the card count climbing, I was cognizant of the who was receiving them.

I'm still waiting for my partner's information about the cards and then maybe get the coaches involved.  It just sucks to be in this position, and this is going to stick with me for a while.  I'm imagining this will take at least a week to get over and shrug it off.

<3 end of season sale

I picked up a Helly Hansen jacket at the Snow Trails ski shop for 50% off right before the season ended two weeks ago and I got a new pair of snowboard pants today at Aspen Ski and Board.  I really like the color combination.  I already got to use the new jacket since the weather has gotten colder again, but I can't wait to use the new pants next year.

Craigslist Win

I've tried to sell things on Craigslist before and haven't had much luck.  We've been thinking about getting rid of our elliptical for some time now, but never acted on it.  We bought it at Costco when we first moved into the condo.  We used it for a while, but after it started to make some grating noises and having it checked out didn't fix it, it because a very large paperweight and dust collector.  Since there has been a resurgence to turn the Florida room into something more than a box storage room, I've been trying to spend free time in clearing it out and that included the elliptical.

I'd been bugging the hubster for about a month to list the damn thing on Craigslist and he finally got around to it on his Spring Break.  It was a great ad and within 15 minutes we had several interested parties.  Overall, he got about 8 interested emails.  We sold to the second interested party because they had a truck and were ready to get it.  This thing is a beast.  It's almost 6 ft tall and weighs a ton.  I know because I had to haul the stupid thing from the living room to the garage.  The hubster did the Florida room to the living leg of the hauling.

We're very pleased with our Craigslist experience.  I'm sure we probably priced it low because of all the quick responses, but we paid $600 for it and sold it for $350.  We're not sweating it.  I actually wanted to list it for lower when we first started talking about listing it.  Yay for Craigslist, maybe it's time to buy my new googles...

Bad Luck

After OSU's loss to Kentucky last night in the third round of the NCAA basketball tournament, I really think I am bad luck for any college I have an affiliation with.  Fortunately for UCSD, I've never watched any of their games on TV.  That's probably because we didn't have a football team.  When I got to UCLA, I watched my first UCLA football game on TV.  It was terrible.  College football doesn't seem to require any skill or defense for that matter.  They lost.  I don't think I watched anymore that year.

When I moved out to Ohio, I watched a little more just because my office culture is surrounded by college sports, mostly OSU.  I'd catch the random UCLA game (basketball and football) and they always lost!  I then started to watch OSU games and lo and behold, they would lose too.   It's like I hear all this great stuff about OSU sports and how good they are and how high they are ranked, and then they lose.  Maybe it's because I only watch when they are good and then they are bound to fail.

I watched when they went to the Fiesta Bowl - loss!; when they made it to the finals for basketball - loss!  I watched one regular season game this past year and it was a pretty big loss!  Which brings us to last night.  I tried to stay away.  I know my record.  I caught the score at halftime- tied!  I switched back to DVRed NCIS.  I switched back to watch the last 3 minutes and they lose by 2.  Maybe it's not me.  They were tied at the half and do the last three minutes really determine the outcome of the game.  I think not.  Maybe OSU just chokes in clutch games.

Who knows?  Will I watch more college sports?  Probably when a big game is coming up to stay relevant at work or if there is nothing else on to watch.  It's interesting that my effect isn't as strong when it comes to professional sports teams.  I did see the Blue Jackets win in overtime this year.  Maybe because I went with Caroline and she is their teams good luck charm.  Her good luck far outweighed my bad luck.  It did go into overtime...

Busy

With the high school season starting this weekend, I'm going to be very busy for the next few months.  I was looking at my calendar, and it's so full!  I tried to book a hair appointment (I'm in desperate need to redo my highlights and get a cut) and I had to make my appointment for a month from now.  I've got so many lacrosse games which is a good thing.  It's the first year where I've taken on such a heavy load and some are college games which require more travelling which means leaving work earlier.  For example, next week, I've got Urbana and Tiffin back to back and a high school game.  That means I'll have two days to make up the time I'll be leaving early.  Most likely that'll be working 10 hours on Monday, coming in early, and staying late Friday.  I haven't turned back any games, so this will be a test to see how much I can really handle for next year.  It's gonna be tough.

I love Red!

I woke up from a nap to this:

Dog pictures of the day

Yay for Annual Raises

I got mine today.Yay.  That is all.

Grilling Time

I bought this Cuisinart propane grill a few months ago on super sale from Kohls.

I've been wanting to use it for the past 3 weeks since we've been getting sporadic days of warm weather.  Sunday would have been perfect, but we had visitors and I didn't have enough time to set it up.  The weather is predicted to get cold again, so who knows when I'll be able to use it.  At least I have all the necessary equipment to use it when the weather turns nice again.

I love this commercial

Snowboards Galore

We received a package in the mail today.  It was Logan's snowboard.  Yes, it's the end of the season, but we couldn't pass up a board and bindings for $50.  It's a little big for him, but he'll grow in to it.  We scored at
Dick's too.  We got him boots (a little big) and Burton bindings for $50.  They had an extra 50% off on clearance items.  I know boots are supposed to be the most important part, but I figure he's a kid and won't really know.  It's a pretty sweet set up and it looks great!  Now the Florida room is a full on snowboard room, just got to clear out the elliptical and some other furniture.  Can't wait until next season and we can go out as a family.

I love my dogs because... Part I

1. Egg Roll always waits for me to get into bed before scurrying around the bed and up the dog stairs.
2. Red always sits on the edge of the bed and watches me get ready for bed every night.
3. Red has paw beards.
4. Red always has a smile for you.
5. Egg Roll always has a snuggle for you.
6. Red grumbles when she sleeps.
7. Red takes 10 minutes to get comfortable on the futon, then gets up 30 seconds later to follow me into the bedroom.
8. Egg Roll makes ewok noises when she does her downward facing dog.
9. Red is Swedish and Egg Roll is Mexican
10. Red sleeps in the most random places
11. Egg Roll sits in my lap when the hubster and I fight because she knows it calms me down.
12. Egg Roll only allows you to carry her one way.  This way also results in you carrying her like a servant would carry its owner.
13. Red only poops when she is off balance.

"Blame it on the Alc-alc-alcohol"

I had two drinks last night with dinner.  I really needed some kind of release after the day I had at work.  I was on the warpath with all the seething and hating I was doing.  Two drinks is A LOT for me.  I was drunk!  On a week night!

I find that over the past two months that I've been having an adult beverage more frequently (and by frequently, I mean like one a week).  I used to only have a drink maybe one every other month.  I think part of the reason for the increase in libations is hanging out with my lacrosse reffing buddies.  They do like to drink after games and meetings and stuff.  Since I've moved up the ranks, I get to go out with them too.  So I've taking a liking, and I use that in the loosest sense of the word, to beer.

I don't think it's a bad thing and I'm not concerned at all about the increase.  Just an observation that it came to a head last night with a drunken Elaine.  I was being loud and obnoxious on the car ride home and I think the hubster was entertained.

Sunday Funday

The hubster's cousin and his girlfriend came up to visit us and to help the hubster out with changing the suspension on his car.  It was a little unexpected because we were only expecting him, but I didn't mind entertaining his girlfriend.  Since it was unplanned, I had to come up with some things to do while they worked in the garage.  I really hadn't planned to do anything except laundry and cleaning the house.  I had luckily already gone to Roadrunner Sports for my shoes.  I decided we'd go to Easton to shop.  I ended up buying a shirt and skirt at Banana Republic, but I think I'm just going to return them.  She ended up getting a cute pair of sunglasses.  We also went to Harbor Freight to pick up the hubster's birthday present: a tool cabinet thingy.  Turns out my car is not meant for hauling those things around.  I had to call the hubster and have him and his cousin come to the store to bring back the third and biggest box.

We played the Kinect for a bit and we put together the tool cabinet, but since the big piece was bent all weird on the bottom, we ended up not completing it because the hubster is going to exchange it for one that is not bent.  Afterwards, I made dinner and watched TV (Law and Order!!!) for the rest of the night.

Over the course of the day, I realized how old I really was.  We were talking and I had no idea how old this girl was and found out she's 18!!!  I am 10 years older than her?!?!  That probably explained why the conversation didn't exactly flow between us.  We had nothing in common and really didn't have a lot to talk about.  I think I was a good host and hope she didn't have a boring time.

Blargh

What a great way to start out the week!  I forgot to set my alarm last night and didn't wake up until 8:30 am when the hubster's phone started ringing.  I wasn't too worried about oversleeping since my work is pretty lax about schedule and hours.  However, I forgot that I had gotten invited to a somewhat important meeting and completely missed and forgot it!  Oh well, can't do anything about it now.

The day just got progressively worse as I worked on this proposal.  Everyone and everything was pissing me off and I was just sitting there seething.  I went on a walk for a break in the afternoon and my co-worker told me I looked really pissed off which I was.  He said I looked better then, but I just got on the phone with the hubster to whine and complain and vent about how poorly my day was going and how I hated everyone I work with (which is not true, it just felt very true at that moment).

So here I sit at work for another hour and half because I slept in and need to leave early tomorrow to do a game at Kenyon.  I hope my week gets better.

Snow Goggles

With the snowboarding season at an end, I've been obsessing about getting some new snow pants and goggles, and hopefully for a steal at the end of the season.  Currently, I'm tracking down goggles.  I've bounced all over the place from Spy to Oakley to Anon.  I've got so many auctions being watched on ebay.  I think I've finally settled on custom Oakley Elevate with G30 lenses.  Too bad that one, they are custom, and two, they are not going to be cheap.  *sigh*  I guess I'll have to settle for another pair or shell out the dough.  Decisions, decisions...

New Shoes!

I've been meaning to buy some new running shoes.  I've had my old pair for a year, and I thought I'd want a new pair for the half marathon.  My older brother had gotten me a a gift card for Roadrunner Sports.  I went in this morning and did their Shoe Dog analysis.  Apparently, I put too much weight on my heels, my toes roll out when I run, and I have semi-flexible ankles.  I need stability shoes.  I ended up buying Mizunos, some custom insoles, and super comfy socks.  I really like these shoes and hope this helps me run my half marathon.  Here they are: 

Mizuno Wave Rider 14

Dog picture of the day

The girls vegging out with me in bed.

Towels and Red

Red has this uncanny ability to sense when a wet towel has been placed or fallen onto the floor.  She makes a bee line to the towel to investigate and then proceeds to rub her entire body onto the towel.  It's like the scent of Garnier Nuctris shampoo and Oil of Olay Body Wash is just disgusting to her and she has to disguise those scents with her own wonderful fragrance.  It's so funny to watch her.  Just another reason to love my dogs.

Nice Hair!

The meeting I went to California for only lasted 3.5 hours.  We plowed through the material and ended at 12:30 pm.  My two co-workers and I hoped into one of our rental cars and went to Walt's Wharf in Seal Beach for lunch.  My co-worker, John, parked the car and as I got out of the car, this random lady walks by me and says "You have really nice hair", and then, as John comes to the passenger side of the car, she says "Your WIFE has really nice hair".

Haha!  WTF?  It just doesn't make any sense.  Also, our third person was climbing out of the car and he's an older gentleman.  I later told John that I guess Al had to be his dad.  It was also a shock because I don't really have nice hair.  I mean I don't have the "good Asian hair".  Anyway, it was a compliment, so I'll take it!

Dog picture of the day

This is what happens when I'm away. Someone thinks they can just take over my side of the bed and my pillow! Someone is gonna get a rude awakening when I get home.

Just Perfect

I got into my first real car accident yesterday on the way to the hotel from LAX. I say first real accident because I was involved in an accident the day after I moved into my apartment at UCLA.  I was the third car in a four car rear ending incident.  So there was no damage sustained to my car since the car behind bore the brunt of the impact.

I'm traveling down the 405 at around 3:00 pm in the afternoon.  Things are fine.  I'm on schedule to get to the hotel, change, and meet a college friend for dinner.  Not quite.  The car in front of me brakes, I brake, the guy behind me did not get the memo in time.  I hear tires squealing, I smell rubber burning, I instinctively brace for impact, and then get hit.  *sigh* PERFECT!  I pull off to the side of the road and the guy's pretty cool.  He's never been in an accident before either.  I say I'm calling the cops because this is a rental car and there is no way I'm going to be held liable for this shit.  I call 911 and they bring out some CHP officers.  He takes my info and gives me a little card and sends me on my way.

I finally arrive at my hotel (Hilton Waterfront Huntington Beach - it's a beautiful hotel) and to add insult to injury, my room is not ready.  EVEN BETTER!  I take the time to call Avis and report my accident.  They tell me to fill out the incident report card in the car.  There isn't one!  After the useless call to Avis, I head over to the bar and have a much needed drink.  Yes, I had a drink alone in a hotel bar.  I'm definitely traveling on business.  An hour later (30 minutes after the regular check in time), I get a call that my room is finally ready.  I get upstairs to my room and just sit there and finally relax.  What a day!

Body Confusion

I'm in Huntington Beach, CA this week for work.  It's a quick trip for one meeting.  The meeting started at 9:00 am today and was done by 12:30 pm.  After the meeting, we (myself and some coworkers) went out to lunch and then I was dropped at the hotel since they were traveling on to Utah (without me *cry*).  So after I let my lunch digest and a quick run to REI to pick up some black rain pants for reffing, I ventured out for a run along the Huntington Beach.  I was aiming for 6 miles for my pre-half-marathon training, but ended up running 7.5 miles!  A personal record!  Yay, too bad I'll need almost another 6 to finish the race.  Anyway, I was exhausted afterwards.  I stopped at the hotel gift shop with the intention of picking up some chocolate milk.  They had yoohoo (which is not even made from milk) and Muscle Milk (which I found out is also not made from milk).  I bought the Muscle Milk and it was gross.  Anyway after a shower, I was shaky and hungry, but I didn't crave anything.  I tried to eat a protein bar, but putting it in my mouth just made me want to hurl.

So I ventured back to the gift shop  because I was waiting for my friend to get off work so we could get dinner together.  I end up spending $10 on... wait for it... an orange, a naked juice, and a peach yogurt.  TEN FREAKING DOLLARS.  Good thing I'm getting reimbursed for all of this.  All of this goes down just fine.  I get a text from my friend, he's working later than he thought and to go ahead and eat without him.  *sad face*  I decide to go to In N Out.  I get there and get my usual order.  I'm starting to shake again.  And guess what happens?  The Unthinkable.  I almost throw up when I eat my cheeseburger animal style. I only finish half my burger and most of my fries.  It's like "hello, body?!?!  I know you're hungry, why do you resist this yummy food?"

So here I sit in my hotel room, not completely full, but not wanting to actually eat anything.  I think this is my body's way of telling to stop running so dang far.

My Big Toe Hurts

I played in a scrimmage today down in Cincinnati.  I wore my old sneakers that I've had since 2004.  I think my feet shrunk or something because after the game, my big toe hurt a lot.  I think it's because my feet slide in my shoes, and when I start and stop running, my big toe slams into the front of my shoe.

It's never hurt this bad before and I have nail polish on my toes now.  I'm sure if I took it off there would be a big bruise under my toe nail.  Well, there's already one there I think from snowboarding.  I sure punish my feet.

Packing

Pop Quiz: You're going on a 3 day, 2 night trip to Huntington Beach, CA.  How many belts do you need?

Answer: 4, and 4 brown belts at that.  I need to learn to edit...

Odd dreams

I dreamt that I was folding clothes out of the dryer and they were still wet/damp. I got very upset.

Facebook

I've had a handful of people change their names on Facebook on me.  If it's someone that I actually keep in touch with, it's not that hard to figure out who they are, but if they are acquaintances or high school friends, it really bugs me.  It will just bother and annoy me until I can figure out who they are.  If it's someone I don't know well at all, looking at their FB pages doesn't help at all because I don't recognize other people who post on their wall for clues and their picture doesn't help either!

Reasons I'd Make a Bad Parent: #2-4

You might be wondering what #1 is.  Well that's hidden in an old post, and of course, these are numbered in the order that they dawn on me and not ranked by the worst reasons to least worst.

#1: My love would be based on achievements and merit - not unconditional

So what are the others?

#2 - I have no patience.
#3 - Everything must be done my way.
#4 - I can't stand it when people (i.e. kids) don't listen to me.

All these popped into my head while trying to teach the step son how to snowboard.  Yes, he's a kid, and he's gonna do things his way, but I'm not gonna waste my time teaching something to someone who has no interest in learning how to do something right instead of the easy fast way.  He would ride the lift with me, completely ignore or not apply the instructions I gave him to get off the lift (which I think is by far the hardest part of snowboarding), and then he crashes into me and makes ME fall.  He then takes off down the hill and when I finally catch up to him and give him tips, he off down the hill again without listening to me!  I feel like if he were my kid like raised 100% under my care, things would different.  I would be THAT mom who would yell out things like "If you don't do it my way, then we're going home" or "If you can't do it right, then we're going home".

Snow Trails

The hubster and I took the step son snowboarding today.  Apparently, the season ends pretty early in Ohio.  I can't blame them since it was 60 degrees today!  Mad River Mountain had already closed up for the year last weekend, so Snow Trails was our only option.  The beginner area of Snow Trails is much better than Mad River Mountain, but their more advanced runs were not as good as Mad River.  Overall, it was a great experience for the family.  The hubster opted out of snowboarding since his neck and wrist are still bothering him from the last time we went.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the only thing wrong was that it was too warm!  The snow was turning into slush and quick.  Now that I love snowboarding I wish it would stay cold and would snow more!

I was also able to take advantage of their end of season sale at their ski shop.  I bought a Helly Hansen jacket (which I've been obsessing about) for $137.  I didn't find any pants I liked or goggles.  They also had Girl Scouts camped out at the entrance and I ended up with 2 boxes of Girl Scout cookies.  I think $3.50 is the cheapest I've seen them.  I swear I've paid $5 a box in San Diego.  We had a fun time together, but I'm glad the hubster was able to stay with the step son for most of the day.  I found yet another reason why I would make a bad mother, but that's for another post

Heartless

This is a coveted spot in our house. It's a perfect view of the street and it's the arm part of the couch so it's a little elevated than the rest of the couch. Anyway, Egg Roll was sitting there and I just witnessed Red sit her big fat butt in Egg Roll and then push her off the arm of the couch! What a bitch! Poor Egg Roll!

Random

I was reading this blog and the blogger is a mother.  She was very emphatic about the point that she knows what's best for her baby and that letting her sleep in the same bad as her and her husband was ok, and it works for them.  That's fine and all, but all I could think about was how crazy she sounded (and I probably took it to the extreme end of the spectrum).  Like in those Law and Order: SVU episode where the mom didn't vaccinate her kids for measles and her kid gave another kid measles and the other kid died!  She knew what was best for her kids, but she inadvertently killed another kid.  It put me off reading this person's blog.  I'm surprised I had such a strong reaction to her statement.  It's not like a disagreed with her decision about sleeping arrangements for her kid, but just how strongly she believed she knew what was best for her kid.

I need a life away from the internet...

Babies

I have no desire to have kids and be a mother.  Did you hear that?  Listen real hard.  That was the sound of a very disappointed Chinese mother.

Anyway, the above statement is true 99.99% of the time.  When is that other 0.01% of the time?  It's when I read this blog.  She is by far the cutest baby/kid.  If, and that's a big IF, I have a baby, I want it to be just like hers, and if it's not, I might have to put it up for adoption.  I don't think I have a snowball's chance in hell to have a baby like that.  I blame the hubster; why did he have to be white?

Disconnected

I forgot my phone at home today.  This is the first time I've been iphone-less since I got it.  How will I get through the day at work without my phone? *sad face*

Legs like Jello

I planned to run outside yesterday after work, but it looked like rain, so I went to the gym instead.  I got to the gym and I got talked into a "free" personal trainer session.  It was definitely a good work out and my legs were like jello afterwards.  I didn't really appreciate the sales pitch afterwards, but like they say, "There is no such thing as a free lunch".  I was really considering it, but at $180 a month for one session a week.  That's too rich for my blood.  After the sales pitch, I decided I still wanted to run, and boy, was it tough.  Definitely jello legs.  I made it through my normal three miles and then did some physical therapy exercises since my knee pains are coming back after my longer runs and after long hours of reffing.  I woke up this morning barely able to stand.  I guess that's a good thing.

Snacking Machine

That's what I am today.  In addition to my normal consumption, I had a baggie full of tortilla chips, half a bagel with Kroger brand nutella, strawberries, almonds, and a See's Candy Cafe latte crisp.  And on top of that, I have no motivation to go to the gym.  Maybe if it's 40 degrees by the time I get home, I'll run outside today.  I don't think I can handle anything else.  Oh yeah, the back of my knee is killing me from Saturday and I have these phantom elbow pains and my wrist still hurts from the last time I went snowboarding.  I don't think playing games on my iphone is helping the wrist situation.  I think the way I hold my phone to play is the actually the worst position for my wrist to be in since it's injured.  Blargh!

Dog picture of the day

Egg Roll's second favorite spot in the house. Notice how she sits on the hubster. He's not even holding her.

WTF?!?!?

Is the exclamation I let out Sunday morning.  I hate Ohio weather.  I was out reffing all day Saturday.  It was raining all day and the temperature was 51 degrees.  Sunday morning, I get out of bed to walk the dogs and look out the window and there is snow on the ground!  It just doesn't seem right to go from rainy and 50 to snowy and 30 in one night.

First Week of Lacrosse... Done!

I had my first NCAA lacrosse game last week.  It was ridiculously cold, and it did not start off too well.  I finally bought a reversible striped jacket (My one purchase for the season - I got it on super sale for $25 compared to $60).  I used it for the first time on Wednesday and I hated it.  It's too big and I can't find my flag.  The cold weather did not help at all.  I couldn't feel my fingers or my toes.  I ended up having to wear gloves and all these changes results in a terrible first half.  I ended up not wearing the jacket for the second half and things went a lot better.  I made better calls, didn't fumble for my flag, and got my head into the game.

This past Saturday I had a college club play day, and that also went much better than Wednesday.  It rained constantly from the moment I got there until I left.  I had 4 games and was cold and wet by the end of the day.  The back of my right knee started bothering me at the beginning of my last game and hurt like a bitch on Sunday.  I'm definitely going to have to see my doctor again for this.  I know it's going to be an issue when I run my half marathon.  I think I did really well on Saturday.  I was making big calls, stepping up, and taking the lead when paired with lesser experienced officials.  I'm glad I'm getting this practice in before the high school season starts.  I've got some scrimmages over the next two weeks, but I'm ready for them.

All in all, not bad for the first week of the season.  I earned a pretty nice paycheck for the two days, so I can't really complain.  Now to reconcile that I definitely won't have time to get to the gym for the next two months.

What a con artist!

Red can go from sad to glad faster than Egg Roll can snatch a sandwich off the hubster's desk.

Here she is this morning. These were taken moments apart.

Sad

Glad

Clean desk

This is the cleanest my desk has been since I got it. I think a lot of it has to do with finally putting up my cork board. It's been sitting on my desk since December and all the accompanying crap needed to hang it was just everywhere. There's not even a lot pinned up there. Seeing a neat desk is just relaxing. I think it's because clutter stresses me out.

Dog picture of the day

This is what pure relaxation looks like.

Dog picture of the day

Egg Roll always picks the best places to sleep.

Brrrrr

I wish it would get warmer here.  I had my first game of the season last night at Tiffin University, and it was ridiculously cold at the game.  I could barely feel my fingers and it took the whole car ride home to defrost.  I shouldn't complain too much since I got paid $$ for one game.  I guess getting my district rating was worth it.

It was cold and windy this morning and I just wanted to crawl back into bed, but couldn't because of the car pool!

I hate ...

being hungry.  Why do I let myself be hungry?  I'm hungry right now, and I just opened up my drawer at work and surveyed my options: Fiber One Chocolate and Oats bar, Kashi Go Lean Crunch Chocolate Caramel Bar, NutriGrain Raspberry bar, half a bagel, almonds, chocolate covered almonds (for someone who doesn't like chocolate a lot, I sure do have a lot of chocolate in my drawer).  I think it's because I started counting calories.  I don't know why I bother.  It all ends the same way.  I'll be real good about recording things and then I will get mad when the calories get really high for the little amount of food I eat.  Then I start to cheat and not record things or lower the portion size.  Then I'll stop altogether and just eat.  So I'm at the beginning of the viscous cycle.  I'm gonna be grumpy by the time I get home.  Good thing the hubster has class tonight.  The plan is to go home, go grocery shopping, then take the spin class at the gym.  That means I'll have gone until 8:00 without eating and I'm already hungry now at 5:00.  I don't see myself being successful tonight.

What I have to look forward to...

I saw this on my friend's blog.

Source

Conjunction Junction, What's Your Function?

No, this won't be about conjunctions, but it will be about grammar, specifically commas.  I don't usually proofread what I post, but I should.  Sometimes, I go back and read some of my posts and it's just embarrassing to see all the grammatical mistakes made.  Usually, it's a missing comma or an iphone "autocorrect" mistake.

After making several presentations, reading a few white papers, and writing some for work, I began to think that I overuse commas.  The biggest case of comma disagreement between work writing and my writing is the use of commas in a list.  For example, "I went to the grocery store to buy apples, bananas, milk, and cereal."  I've noticed that the last comma after milk is almost never there.  (Is that bad grammar - almost never?)  Anyway, I was taught that a comma should be there, but I begin to question myself.  I always put a comma before "and" whenever and is used to connect to two complete sentences that could stand on their own without the "and".  I know that one is right, but I don't see it used in work papers.  Then again, it is engineering.  I don't think grammar is at the top of the priority list, but I still think bad grammar is unprofessional.

Anyway, the bottom line is I think I use too many commas, but when I re-read my posts, all I want to do is add in more commas.

Exhausted

I fell asleep at 10:30 pm last night.  I was so tired, more so than I thought.  I've been carpooling to work for the past week, and the carpool leaves a little bit earlier than I usually do.  Add that to the extra drive to meet at whoever's house it is that is driving and I'm getting up a good 30 minutes earlier than normal.  So yesterday was a carpool day and a long day at work.  I also decided to go the gym last night.  I ran my usual 3 miles and did some weights, but I think I really pushed myself during the run.  I felt like I was the slowest person on the track (aside from the walkers).  Everyone was passing me, and I am usually not being passed.  So I was running a quicker pace than normal or at least it felt like it.  By the time I got home, showered, and got out the door to go to dinner, I was so tired and hungry.  The exhaustion set in right after dinner.  I was shaking and could barely keep my eyes open.  I got home, got into bed, and turned on the TV.  "Being Human" and "Castle" were on last night, so I asked the hubster which one he wanted to watch with me.  He said neither because he wanted to play Xbox with his cousin later on in the evening.  Instead he watched No Reservations with me.  It was more like watched the first 15 minutes with me and watched me fall asleep promptly thereafter.  I guess I was really that tired.