Palmolive Eco

To kick off my environmentally- & budget-friendly blogging, I'm going to give a little review of a product I'm currently using: Palmolive Eco. As with many things in my life, I came upon this version of Palmolive by accident; I usually buy my detergent at the Dollar General, but on this particular evening I was already at the supermarket and thought that buying detergent from them once in a while won't bankrupt me. So, I looked for the cheapest name-brand gel that was available, and this was it.

We rinse our dishes before loading them in the dishwasher, so I haven't had the problems with food stuck on the dishes that people in Spokane, where phosphate-free detergent is the only choice available, are having. But, we do have hard water, so some of my utensils have looked like this:

I've seen a little bit of the white film on a couple other things, but it is particularly noticeable on my black utensils. It may also be the texture of the utensils; they are smooth, but not glossy.

Just by way of comparison:

The cup on the left came out of the same load of dishes that the above-pictured measuring cup & spoon. It is glossy, so the white film doesn't seem to stick. The cup on the right is from the same set as the one in the previous picture, but I haven't used it in a couple of weeks, so it has not yet been washed in the Palmolive Eco.

I happened to have a few things that needed to be hand washed sitting in the sink, so I popped in the measuring cup and the spoon. After washing (with Palmolive hand washing soap), this is how they came out:

Still some while film, but not nearly as much as before.

My verdict? Well, phosphate-free is coming, whether you are ready for it or not; in the summer of 2010, quite a few states are banning detergents with phosphates from sale. This blog will tell you more about which states as well as giving some hope; the detergent makers are still trying to perfect their formula and get our dishes cleaner.

Will I use Palmolive Eco again? Probably not any time soon. Even at a promotional price, it is still more expensive than buying Cascade at the dollar store, so this may be a one-off thing. But I am willing to try other phosphate-free options in the course of the next couple of years; Texas isn't among the states mandating it by next summer, but that doesn't mean we'll never be moving, or that Texas won't join in eventually.

And, of course, there is always the hand washing option; it is friendlier to the dishes, and uses less water & electricity. Really, the only thing it takes is time, but perhaps I'm ready to "budget" a few minutes every evening for the savings we would see in our water, electric, and shopping bills; hand detergent is also cheaper than the dishwasher variety, and it lasts longer.

Shopping trip

Okay, after a series of long posts, I'm going to give you a short one-- just a little account of my bicycle-enabled shopping trip today.

First of all, why are all the drivers glaring at me? I'm really not in their way. Maybe it is because my bike can go places their cars can't.

Had a brief encounter with a car full of idiot 20-somethings. I thought at first that they might be idiot teens, but no, they certainly had the look of older, rather than younger, idiots. Good to know people can be idiots for as many decades as they like.

At the risk of sounding insensitive, my bike has enough tics and quirks to be in the psych ward. I forgot my chain, but anyone stealing that thing deserves what they get.

A trip to Hobby Lobby makes everything better. Hobby Lobby is like chocolate without the calories.

The limit on how many times you can drop ear buds on the floor and still expect them to work is three. Once you get to four, they quit.

And finally, in case you were wondering, a brand-new laptop bag can, in fact, be sucked into the gap between the wheel and the bike frame. So, before I owned the thing for five minutes, I had already inflicted damage upon it. At least I'll grab the correct bag in security at the airport.

Retreat!

We had a women's retreat on Friday evening (okay, more like a women's evening than retreat. Whatever.), which I all but forgot about in all the excitement on Saturday. I won't bother with the blow-by-blow recap, because I know it's just not that interesting to read about an event you weren't at. If you really, really want to know, I'm happy to oblige.

The event title was "Daughters of Eve," with the theme being stewardship. First round was stewardship of the earth; second round was stewardship of our bodies. Both of these are topics in which I am particuarly interested, as regular readers have probably already learned.

So I did giggle a bit at the environmental portion of the evening; I come from a family that was into conservation long before conservation was cool. It goes with the low-income territory. Things that people now find remarkable ("Hey, we can use this butter tub for leftovers!" "Don't throw out that bag; it can be re-used." "Put those vegetable peelings into the compost bin.") are things that my grandparents, and probably all their friends, did in the '50s. Who knew that the rest of society would catch up?

I guess this is Earth week, based on the number of websites and TV stations that are all greened up. Which works out nicely, because I've been contemplating an earth-friendly blog series of my own. Mostly for my own amusement, of course, but also in case anyone is wondering about such things as phosphate-free dishwasher detergent. Stay tuned.

Anyway, this post was supposed to be about the retreat. It was a great evening, with fellowship and laughter as well as good messages from all. And to think that womens' events used to be boring! They have gotten much more fun in recent years. Or maybe I've gotten more fun.

I was KIDDING!

So, in my previous post, I mentioned going on a 40-year wilderness trek in search of Moses, and that we might need search & rescue.

I was not being serious. But I think I was the one who jinxed us. Sorry guys!

Here then, split into a few posts for easier reading, is the blow-by-blowout account of our trip, written pretty much as it happened:

So our trip to Monahans started off as expected; we headed out at about 8:45, the kids were reviewing for the competition, adults reading or chatting, and our intrepid bus driver (Chad) was, well, intrepidly driving. We stopped off in Seminole for a break, then continued on.

Just a few miles outside of Andrews (at around 10 AM), we heard a bang!, which we wrote off as being a rock. Ha! If only. Barely a mile later, the bus took on a very alarming shimmy, so Chad got us off the road and stopped as quickly as he could (and safely, it should be pointed out). He & the other men up front hopped off in short order to investigate, rapidly followed by me, and pretty much all the boys on the bus.

Our front tire was gone. Except it wasn’t, because it had wrapped itself around—okay, I’m not into cars. It was wrapped around whatever that metal thing is. And said metal thing was bent. So, the men swung into action getting the bus jacked up, investigating, realising we didn’t have a spare tire, taking the bent metal thing off, and all the other stuff men do on occasions like this. The kids, meanwhile, thought this was the best event ever and were running around, playing with sticks, kicking up dirt, collecting bits of tire, and otherwise making their mothers crazy.

It was up to me to phone the other bus and get them to come back, because they had been far enough in front to not notice that we had stopped (the other two vehicles in the caravan did stop). Actually, it wasn’t entirely up to me, because about three people tried to get the other driver via calls & text, but since the other driver was, you know, driving, he didn’t notice. I tried a different tact, though: I called his wife. She got them turned around and headed back our way.

We loaded up all the kids on the other bus, all women from our bus (minus me!) in the Surburban, and waved good-bye. (I also sent my camera on with a girl who promised to take very good care of it. Who knows what kind of pictures we will get!) Meanwhile, another couple took off in their pickup to get the bent thing fixed, and another tire, and whatever. I’m really not a car person, so I don’t know what they were doing.

While they were gone, we stood around getting sunburnt and talking about sports. And discussing how “get the spare tire from the trailer” ought to be on the pre-trip checklist for church trips.

Tire came back, was reattached to the bus, and off we went. We’re on our way to a dealership in Odessa that has a wheel of some sort (ours, it turns out, is now cracked). It is 1 PM, and the competiton should be starting in Monahans right now.

What next?

Two hours, one long stop at a Ford dealership, and a one and one-half pizzas gratefully accepted from the car dealer (motivated to some extent, I think, by his desire to see some repeat business from at least one of these men), and we’re headed out of Odessa en route to Monahans. Also, a few phone calls have been fielded from mothers eager to share the news of their children’s accomplishments with fathers who stayed behind to see the church bus put back together properly.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arrived safely at 3:45ish. Greeted graciously by the ladies of 3rd & Dwight, who provided good sandwiches, kool-ade & cookies that are almost as good as my Grandma’s. Much discussion ensued between the adults—early- and late- arrivals—about the necessity for clearer directions on the pre-trip inspection sheet in regards to the location of the spare tire for the buses (in the trailer that we didn’t bring with us). General fat-chewing and laughter of reunion between friends who last saw each other three hours ago.

The end

I've mentioned in Bible bowl posts from the past that our kids are always so well-behaved and fun to be around on this trip, and despite not being with them for four-ish hours of the trip, I have to say they came through for us again. More on that later.

We arrived at Monahans in time for the final round, which we did not see, since we were in the foyer yakking. Then was some singing time for the kids while the kind people at Monahans tallied the scores, prepared packets for the coaches, and probably had a strong cup of coffee. Okay, maybe they didn't do that, but I certainly would have! This competition is my favourite by far, and it is due to the hard work that the church in Monahans puts into making sure everything runs smoothly. And despite all that hard work, they still have enough energy on Saturday to be gracious and friendly hosts all day long, and tolerate 100+ children running round their building like banshees (we did try to discourage the indoor running!)

Anyway! Our pal Morgan was doing the songleading, and he did a fantastic job. Before he went in, I strongly requested as many action songs as possible to get the kids tired! He agreed, but it didn't work. Oh, well, thanks anyway, Morgan.

So South Plains brought home some trophies for individuals and teams. I'm telling you, these kids work HARD. They all do. I was a high school Bible bowler, and I thought that I studied early and late, but the SP elementary kids have me beat. I am totally impressed by their hard work, and the effort the teachers put in. All that work is paid off, not in bringing home hardware to add to our collection, but in seeing the kids learn the Bible. Even the kids that seem like they are paying the least attention have a tendency to delight us when put to it, and answer questions correctly when they might have been expected to miss. These are some great kids.

Aaaaand... the ride home

So, long day (8 AM - 11 PM), fun, long periods of sitting still, excitement & emotions from winning awards, eating at a fun restaurant-- it all adds up to this: These kids are not falling asleep any time soon.

We ate dinner in Odessa (My apologies to Texas Roadhouse for starting a mini-riot at our table. My apologies to future Bible bowlers if you aren't allowed back to Texas Roadhouse. My apologies to parents for getting your daughters all riled up. If anyone else would like an apology, let me know.), then headed for Lubbock.

Let me put it this way: Our bus was LOUD. Riled up, indeed. They swapped stories, they played Truth or Dare (until I ordered them to stop; it was getting a bit out of hand), they sang, they poked each other, they bounced out of their seats until Chad asked me to enforce the wearing of seat belts. But finally, after a final load-up of sugar in Seminole, the noise level dropped down, and the kids (and I!) fell asleep. I think one of them stayed awake, but she wasn't making any noise, so I didn't notice.

Lest you think I am-- or was-- upset with the kids in any way, I assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. I have a hard time being on my best behaviour for 15 hours (as those who are regularly around me will probably tell you), and I'm nearly 31 years old. How much harder is it for 9- to 12-year-olds? All that pent-up energy; we probably needed to drive to the nearest running track and let them work off some steam for 20 minutes before heading home. (Hey, we were late anyway; why not?)

So, tire drama notwithstanding, the trip was great. I bet I sleep good tonight.

Monahans, maybe

After promising (three years in a row now!) that we were done with Bible bowl forever, we are once again going on a Bible bowl trip. Tomorrow, we are taking a 40-year trek into the desert to see if we can find Moses.

Or, maybe the trip to Monahans only seems like a 40-year trek. It's three hours away, but the scenery leaves much to be desired. However, once we get there, the church is so friendly and they do host a great competition.

If you don't hear from me for three days, send out search & rescue.

You're going to buy bottled water anyway, right?

So if you are purchasing bottled water between now & August 31st, please consider buying Volvic. Why, you ask?

According to the label, "For every litre of Volvic that you purchase from April 1 to August 31, Volvic will make a donation to UNICEF to provide a minimum of 10 litres of clean water to children in Africa." Sounds like a good use of my bottled-water purchasing money to me.

For more information, go here. Volvic will be making a minimum donation of $250,000 this year, but I think we can make that number go higher, don't you?

Freedom not shared.

I am not a champion of many causes. When it comes to me vs. the rest of the world, I mostly just want the people I care about to love Jesus, and while you're at it, why don't you give healthy living a chance. That's it.

But I read this article about an Iranian blogger who died in prison, and felt compelled to write about it. To champion this man's cause in my own small way. To at least acknowledge that a human life has been uselessly lost.

He was just a blogger, writing about life. He had a small audience. But from time to time his frustration with the government got the better of him, and he wrote about it. So he was arrested, tried and imprisoned for "insulting" the government in his blog.

We've always had free speech, so I sometimes forget that there are those who do not. Ditto on freedom of religion & freedom of the press. And when one hears continual stories of death and devestation around the world, it is far too easy to become calloused and unfeeling towards those who suffer.

But he was just a blogger. Like me. Trying to educate the world about daily life in his country. I would read his blog, but it's been shut down. But there are other Iranians who blog, other people in oppressed countries who are reaching out to the world just to let us know about their lives. They are human, just as I am. They are communicators, just as I strive to be.

That's why I want to read their blogs.

Part three: And what happened before.

So Lent was a struggle for me this year. I managed to keep a grand total of none of my resolutions for the whole six weeks. What was the problem, I wonder?

Perhaps I have done it so many times it feels rote and I’ve lost interest. Perhaps it was the lack of prior planning (I started thinking about what I would do for Lent on Shrove Tuesday; that’s a bit late). Perhaps it was because I was doing it by myself this year; I usually have a friend or two who is in on the journey with me. Perhaps I’ve made Lent some mystical, magical thing and the day-to-day reality was too much for me.

Or maybe it was because I’ve disconnected Lent from the context in which it is celebrated. I may be hindering my own efforts because I’m not in a high church and therefore don’t really get all the special days that fall within this six weeks. Perhaps taking Lent out of the church calendar and celebrating it on my own makes about as much sense as wearing my earbuds without plugging them into my iPod.

Maybe I should call a do-over. Maybe I should evaluate why I do Lent every year. Maybe next year I should skip Lent, just to see what it is like. And maybe in a year’s time all this wondering will seem as silly as when I re-read the things I wrote in high school and giggle at my 16-year-old perception of the world. Perhaps my 30-year-old view of Lent isn’t quite ready for real world testing.

But for all my failures and shortcomings these past six weeks, I have felt myself more aware of the Lord, more open to his work in my life, more eager to fellowship with his people. So I do not feel that I have wasted my time.

And that’s my final word on Easter. Until next year.

Part two: But maybe it shouldn't be.

As previously mentioned, I do not attend a high church. So the events of Easter are a bit of a mystery to me.

I went to an Ash Wednesday service this year for the first time. I’ve been celebrating Lent since I was 12. I’ve attended a Tenebrae service and a sunrise service. I’ve participated in an Easter-weekend fast. But all of these things, when taken separately and out of their normal context as a part of church life, are merely events. Cool things to do and talk about for a bit with friends, before deciding what to do with my Sunday afternoon.

By not acknowledging the church calendar, I think I, and those around me, have shortchanged ourselves just a bit. We don’t take this season any more seriously than any other. We don’t spend the six weeks leading up to this one Sunday preparing heart, mind and body for the celebration that is to come. We don’t take this time to ponder just how much the cost to Jesus was. (Those should be activities that we take part in all the time, not just during Lent.) But I wonder if a period to specifically refocus on Jesus and spend six weeks—six weeks!—considering him would be good for all of us. I know it has been a blessing for me.

I think it is probably time for Christians of all types to stop trying to disassociate ourselves from what every other Christian group is doing, and start looking at what we could learn from one another. It may be that the church across the street has ideas that would only lead to growth in my love for Jesus.

Part 1: Easter is like any given Sunday

Easter is a holiday of paradoxes. On this day—this whole week, really—we find a time for seriousness and celebration, for joy and for solemnity. For reflection, and for merrymaking.

Those around us who do not believe in, or do not care about, Jesus’ sacrifice for us, see this weekend as a time to load up on candy, or perhaps enjoy a day off work. They shake their heads in wonder about how Easter moves around every year. They may buy a new outfit for spring or dust off the white shoes for summer. And they probably wonder why churches make such a fuss over one little Sunday out of the year.

In all fairness, some Christians wonder that, too. I do not belong to a high church. We acknowledge Easter by having an egg hunt for the children, and the little ones get a special Resurrection lesson. Otherwise, it’s worship as usual. :)

And to some extent, worship as usual is a good thing! I don’t look at this one season as the time to especially focus on Jesus’ redeeming work, because that is an ongoing process all the time. We should celebrate Jesus every Sunday. There is no need to skimp on our praise and adoration the other 51 weeks of the year. For the Christian, one’s whole life is a celebration, a (perhaps) decades-long tribute to the One who died so that we may live. There is no need to save up all that joy and adoration for one Sunday a year.

So, for my Easter Sunday, I sang songs of praise with joy in my heart. I reflected on what Jesus did as I participated in the Lord’s Supper. I watched others worship and thought about how blessed I am to have such a church family.

You know. Worship as usual.

Another 10K!

I ran my favourite distance today- 10K. I LOVE 10Ks.

Usually.

I also love to be warm. I'd rather be too hot than too cold, except when running, when I'd like to be a touch cool at the beginning so that I'm nice and warm once I get going. But, the temps were in the low 40s this morning, and the wind was blowing somewhere around 20 mph. And I was wearing shorts.

The race director made a joke at the beginning about this not being a day for PRs, we all laughed, and I totally agreed-- and not just because of the weather. I haven't done much in the way of speedwork the past couple of months; in fact, I've slacked off on all my running the past couple of weeks. So, I was out for the fun of it. My PR was 1:03:17, and I was just hoping to get under 1:10:00 today.

(BTW: It took me until mile 4 to get warm. And by then I was nearly done.)

Chad ran the 2-mile race today, so he was waiting for me just before the 6-mile mark and ran in with me. He told me that I was still under one hour. I thought he was exaggerating. I could see the 6-mile marker, so I started forwarding my iPod to the song I like to finish to (Scotland the Brave), since it is a few minutes long. I had to hit "next" several times before I got to it, so I thought I had loaded too many songs on my iPod.

We rounded a couple of corners before getting to the finish, and I saw the clock-- it said 1:02:30. I said, "Oh my gosh, you are KIDDING me!" before kicking it in and sprinting to the finish line as hard as I could go.

Result: New PR-- 1:02:54. Wow. The running club president said, "Imagine what you could do in good weather!"

Oh, I'm imagining, all right. We have another 10K in two months' time. This PR will not stand for long.

A plague upon Facebook!

So I finally allowed myself to be talked into joining Facebook.

And I'm all zooming along, thinking how kind it is of Facebook to suggest people I may know to add to my friends, when up pops this message about how I am engaging in annoying and/or abusive behaviour.

What is really a bummer about that is this: I had finally gotten to the people I actually went on to Facebook to connect with in the first place. And now I've been stopped. Dang!

I'm craving tea & toast

However, we have 1) no bread and 2) no margarine. I'm not sure if you've spotted the problem here.

In fact, we don't have much food in our kitchen at all; our refrigerator looks like we've had a pre-Thanksgiving clean-out. I guess we decided that this was not the week we were going to spend money on groceries. Or something.

I have oatmeal & tea & a splash of milk (seriously, that's all the milk we have) for my pre-race breakfast tomorrow, though, so it's all good.

I have 1 follower!

And I suppose that means I have a following. Brilliant!

If I manage to drum up another follower, then I will claim to have minions. Mwah hah hah!

Coming this weekend: It's the End of Lent, and What Have You (I) Done?

Just when I think they are out of ideas...

I was about to write off my favourite TV shows-- NCIS and Criminal Minds-- because they both had a sluggish start to this season. But boy, have things picked up lately. They've got me hooked all over again.

Anyway... today was National Start! Walking Day. No, I don't know why there is an exclamation point in the middle of the phrase. I didn't write it. But I celebrated by cycling 4 miles more than usual.

Anyone else celebrating?

Dona Nobis Pacem

So it struck me the other day that I don't hear many prayers for peace.

It's not like I was around for them, of course, but what I hear and read from all the wars of the 20th century is that God's people were continually praying for peace. But upon reflection, all the prayers for peace that I've heard in the last few years were from old people. In other words, people who have been there and done that before.

For this war, though, I've heard lots of praying for our soldiers, lots of praying for our leaders (both good ideas, mind you!), but not much just for peace.

So now I'm praying for peace. I only wish it had occurred to me a few years sooner. Feel free to join in.

And for your viewing enjoyment, the cast of M*A*S*H does just that:

Both kinds of eco-

I am trying desperately to write shorter posts, because I have been assured by many that no one likes to read long blog posts. Apparently the fact that I enjoy typing long posts is irrelevant.

So, in what I hope is the first of many attempts to be both economically and ecologically friendly, I've decided to stop buying paper towels. We have plenty of old shirts that are no longer suited for wearing or giving away. So, they have all been relegated to the "rag bag" (although it's not a bag) to be used for all our cleaning needs.

Right now I'm trying to see if it is possible in my own life to live within a low budget while being a good steward of the planet, all while owning as little stuff as possible. I'll keep you posted.

How did Paul know the man was from Macedonia?

I think he was wearing the Macedonia soccer jersey, myself. Which also helps clarify another point our Bible class teacher wondered about: We never see the man again in Acts 16 because he was at an away match.

Applying to University is Super-fun!

If your ideas of "fun" include mind-numbing boredom, multiple attempts to remember long-forgotten things, and poking one's own eyes out with a blunt stick. All in the name of education.

I Love Michael J. Fox

And I have done, ever since I was a toddler and he was a 20-something teenager on Family Ties. It was a sad day for me when I was about 9 or something and heard that he was not only happily married, but also much too old for me.

Anyway, so I'm watching him on Letterman. And it makes me sad that Parkinson disease is wreaking such havoc on him. However, I do appreciate his willingness to use his own position to help those likewise afflicted who don't have a household name.

And I'm running along to my local library with all due haste to check out Always Looking Up.

Unfooled!

I managed to get through the whole of April Fool's Day with only one joke being attempted on me-- and fortunately, I caught on before I started tearing out my hair. (The joke involved a road trip with a bunch of 4th-6th grade students. Yikes!)

I didn't bother trying to hand any out, though... I must have run out of creativity. I passed along one of my brother's favourites-- Vaseline on the doorknobs-- to a coworker, who intended to try it on her children.

My brother always thought April 1 was the day he could do whatever he wanted to the rest of the family and get away with it. Silly brother-- he could do that any day of the year. :)

Did I say Super?

Make that Uber-comfortable. These are the Best. Shoes. Ever.

Mizuno, you can make them puke-green with booger-coloured accents for all I care, just keep up the good work.

The Sunday News

We don't take the paper. Not even on Sundays.

But there are people who sell the Saturday & Sunday papers at intersections all over town every Sunday morning. And my usual thing is to buy one if I get stopped by a red light on my way to church.

Today was one of those days. I love the smell of a newspaper, and the feel of it-- there is something a bit nostalgic & old-fashioned about reading the Sunday paper in this era of instant Internet news.

And I often find a comic to clip for our refrigerator.

Everyone needs a challenge, I guess

So it's been a bit of a challenging week over here at Cheekyness. To begin with, my work week was one of those that makes one think that taking in ironing for a living has got to be better than being stuck in corporate America. Thank you, Lord, for the weekend.

We had a race this morning that was supposed to be my 3rd half-marathon in five months. However, last weekend I had to acknowledge what my body has been trying to tell me for weeks-- I was physically & mentally tired of half-marathon training. After all, I started the training for the first one in July, for goodness' sake, so I've been at this for 8 months. My legs were not happy and I mentally wasn't into it, either. So, Monday morning I sent an email to the race organisers to ask to switch to the 10K.

I love 10Ks. I have now raced 10 different distances: 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 miles, 5, 10, 12 & 15Ks, and the half-marathon. 10 K is my favourite distance by far. It feels like just the perfect test of my speed (such as it is) and endurance (ditto). Plus, it is a good distance to set goals for; currently, my goal is to run a sub-hour 10K. I have to take three minutes off of my PR to do it, which means paying attention to the speedwork.
Speedwork! The speedwork for the 10K is fun, too! I do a lot of 800-meter intervals, with a faster time to shoot for each session, and it is So. Much. Fun! My only grief about these intervals is that I can only do them once every three or four weeks.

Anyway, all week I've been looking forward to having a go at my favourite distance, while wearing my new gear. (The shoes were great, by the way. If you are in the market for new running shoes, try on a pair of Mizuno Wave Rider 12s and see if you like them.) Then, someone finally broke the news to me that we were supposed to get a cold snap just in time for the weekend. Okay, so the whole country, pretty much, got the same cold snap. That doesn't make me any happier about it. But, I decided to grin (or at least not frown), bundle up, and bear it.

This morning, we got in the car to go & had a dead battery. Grrrr! I was just about to give up on our race altogether, when Chad apprehended a neighbour who was innocently going to leave and asked him to give us a jump. So, we got going-- 45 minutes later than intended. The race started at 9, we left the house at 8:03, and it's a 1 hour, 20 minute drive to Lamesa (according to Google Maps, anyhow). Let's not discuss by how much we violated the speed limit between here and there, but we arrived in time to join the race already in progress. :) They had just barely gotten started, so we figure we had less than a 5-minute gap between us and the pack. Even for being a few minutes late, we still had a reasonably good finish. And Chad got an age group medal!

So, a good race helps to even out a cruddy week. A bit. Here's hoping next week is better.

Things I keep meaning to share...

... but I kept forgetting to charge up my camera batteries. Oops! However, on Sunday I was (optimistically!) putting away the cold-weather clothes, and it was a "do it now" kind of thing. So, here we have it, the 66-Mile Club t-shirt that I worked for throughout 2008:

I admit it is not as cool as the 2007 shirt, which was blue with white lettering and had "66 Mile Club" on the sleeve, but this one is at least somewhat better, because it belongs to me! :) I do love the Route 66 logo.

And here is the Austin finisher shirt:

I love the runner in the middle. Also, I feel like I add several degrees of cool to myself when I put this shirt on. (Most of my friends feel that I add several degress of crazy. Close enough.) You may notice that natural-coloured seems to be in vogue with running people this year. Austin, in particular, was anxious for us to notice just how eco-friendly they are, so most of their stuff was natural-coloured with green on it. Meh.

Speaking of Austin and green things:

The finisher's medal! The ribbon is really pretty, I think, and the green buildings on the medal are coloured plastic or something; anyway, when you hold it up to the light, the light shines right through. Chad hadn't noticed this until he saw me holding his up a couple of days ago.

I had some trouble getting a pic of the medal lying on the bed, so this is what I did when I finally got annoyed:
Try not to notice the crow's feet. (I'm much too young for that kind of wrinkles.)

And some more new stuff... the new short-sleeved running shirt (in my favourite colour) :

The new long-sleeved running shirt (in my sister's favourite colour) :

And, the new running shoes:
Do not be fooled by the photo; those bits on my shoes that look red are, in fact, pink. Really, really pink. But these were the most comfortable and best-fitting shoes I found in the store, so it's just a bummer that they have so much of my least favourite colour. But, I decided that I couldn't buy running shoes based on the colour; there are more important things to consider in shoes. I'm just hoping that my aversion to pink will make me run faster in an attempt to get away. :)

(Just skip this paragraph if you aren't that interested in running shoes.) These are Mizuno Wave Rider 12s, which is the latest version of the series. They were Editor's Choice by Runner's World magazine, and as such were on my list of shoes to look for when I went to the store. And, as already mentioned, they are super-comfortable and fit beautifully; no sliding around or anything. These are also gender-engineered shoes, meaning that there are significant differences between the men's and women's versions. Good news for women (hey, that's me!), since that means they aren't just a smaller version of men's shoes, but they are designed with a woman's body in mind. #11 in the series were blue (I tried them on, too, but #12 won me over), so I'm hoping that the good people over at Mizuno will see the light when making #13 and go back to blue. Or at least just lose the pink. I'm running my first race in these shoes this weekend; so more news on how they do later.

It was just good luck that I got so much new stuff these past couple of weeks; I had a gift card from work to a local sports store as a prize from our Biggest Loser contest (yay!), and then I won the most recent Bible verse contest (double yay!), so I went and bought waaaay more stuff than I normally would. Plus, the new tops (which are nice wicking shirts, by the way) were on sale. Booyah!

Hee Hee Hee.

Now I readily admit that ReverendFun is cheesy more often than it is outright funny. But as a runner, this one delights me to no end. Of course, I am wondering: Where is Adam's bib number? Is he planning to be a bandit in the human race?

(Also, I don't think Adam was pasty-white and blonde. But nothing is perfect.)

The Most Important Holiday of the Year

Not to overstate my case or anything, but Wow! do I love this season!

You can have my birthday, take away Valentine's day, and recall all holidays that allow postal and bank workers to stay home while the rest of us work. I'll even give you the first day of all the other seasons. But do not-- DO NOT-- mess with the first day of spring. It's sacred.

I admit that for the life of me I cannot understand how the entire world gets a 12-hour day, all on the same day, twice a year. Seriously, I don't get it. (I am happy in my ignorance, though, so please don't try to explain. Science is not my subject, and you'll just be throwing your pearls before swine, as it were.) But it happens, and by gum, bring on the celebration.

I refrained from buying balloons and making a cake to express my delight (although Chad did ask for a cake!). And thus far, I've spent most of my spring sitting inside (something I intend to remedy shortly). But my joy at my favourite time of year FINALLY making an appearance is not to be mistaken. (Even my coworkers noticed that I was unusually happy yesterday. Don't worry, I won't make it a habit.)

And, since this week seemed to be chock-full of holidays, let me add one more for your reading pleasure: March 19 was the two-year anniversary of my lacing up my running shoes once again. Well, my shoes anyway. I didn't buy proper running shoes for about 6 months. I have been an on-again/off-again runner for most of my life (started when I was 12!), but I have never kept it up steadily for two years. And I only plan to stop when I die.

O' the Green

What's not to like about a day during which you can add, "o' the green" to pretty much anything you say, and people will nod as though you just said something intelligible?

Anyway! I just listened to a quite hilarious song called "St. Patrick Didn't Drink," and if you'd like to get in on the teetotalling action, skip yourself on over to Celtic Music Podcast to hear more. Seriously. I was riding down the street on my bike when this song came up, so I spent the last half-mile of my bike ride laughing.

I quite like St. Patrick's day (although in my mind this very green holiday is overshadowed by the one coming at the end of the week: The First Day of Spring. More on that later.), though I am perennially curious as to why, of all the countries of the world, we in the US celebrate Ireland's patron saint. I have concluded that it is because we collectively will grab hold of any excuse to drink.

I was particularly amused by President Obama's statement that Ireland has had as much a contribution to the US culture as any other country (or something like that). I thought, Yeah. Not like that little place just to the east of Ireland-- what's it called?-- oh yeah, England.

I may mock, but I do not dispute the love for Ireland that exists in the US. And if we start celebrating St. George's day with the same sort of reckless abandon, I will probably join in the protest march. So, continue with your wearin' (and eatin' and drinkin') o' the green. And I will, too.

Shouting, Jumping, and Whispering

Just to be clear: Jason did all the jumping.

I took the morning off to go hear Jason speak at Camp Adventure. This is about the only time of year that I turn up around aimland, because, well, I am doing other things. If aim ever hosts a 10K, they may see me more than once a year. But, I haven't heard Jason speak in something like four or five years, so I took the morning off.

He had us shout a cheer at each other. He made sure that I will never watch TV again. He was as challenging and thought-provoking as he always is. He used an illustration of someone working out for three hours and following it up by eating an entire large pizza (at which point, I turned to Chad and whispered, "Hey! That's exactly what I did yesterday!"). And afterwards, when I JUST wanted to say hello, he was mobbed by people, at least a couple of whom wanted to take his picture.

I asked for his autograph. He said no.

Ooh, a new gadget!

I asked our pal Dougle for a review of the Kindle app on the iPhone. I asked because I've thought about purchasing both of them sometime in the next couple of years, and was delighted at the prospect of getting them both in the same purchase. I asked because I had just finished reading his review of a book (or non-review, since he said it wasn't really a review), and wanted to know more about the service he used to read it. I asked with some degree of tongue-in-cheek, not expecting he would actually post a review.

But by golly, that's what I got. Thanks, Dougle!

Also, for those keeping score at home, this is my 400th post. A toast to cheekyness! Actually, just go have some toast.

Disturbing?

So we watched Criminal Minds on Wednesday night. Now, I like this show (okay, I like the cast; the subject matter of the show isn't my favourite), but whenever the adverts promise a "disturbing" episode, I tend to steer clear. A show about serial killers is disturbing enough without the writers handing us an extra sprinkle of creepy, thanks.

**Spoiler alert: Stop reading if you haven't gotten back to your DVR to watch yet.**
Wednesday night was finally an Emily episode, which I've been waiting for. But the "bad guy" turned out to be a priest who was conducting unauthorised exorcisms, which killed three people. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe in exorcism. I certainly don't believe in killing people in an attempt to "cast out Satan". I do believe this may have been the least creepy, least disturbing episode of Criminal Minds that I've ever seen.

I suppose it's because I have been hearing "church" words all my life that nothing seen on Wednesday night surprised me. Or maybe I've watched enough Buffy and Angel that it's no longer a big deal. Or perhaps my lack of belief in such things insulates me. (On the other hand, I have no problem believing in serial killers.)

In my circle of acquaintances, there are some Christians who tell me to never say anything negative because "Satan can capture that and use it against you". There are those who believe they have to "cleanse" their house in case there are demons lurking. There are some who probably think the priest on Wednesday's episode had the right idea (apart from that whole killing-people thing). But the Lord clearly says that Jesus defeated Satan, disarmed his forces. Satan is a conquered enemy, who can no more use my words against me than I can play in the NBA. I hate for people to give Satan that much credit; they allow him to disrupt their lives just by being afraid of what he will do to them.

Watch out for the devil's schemes, certainly. Guard yourself against temptation. Don't think that by your own will or godliness that you can single-handily defeat Satan. But don't go around cowering in fear-- Jesus has already defeated Satan for us! The work is done!

And that's why I was sad about Wednesday's episode, but not disturbed.

Once Lent is over,

just to keep in the spirit of things, I may try this.

Numbers. Lots and lots of Numbers.

So, it just happens in this second week of Lent (or third, if you look at it that way), I've had Numbers and Deuteronomy on the iPod. And in the course of listening, I've heard a lot of how seriously the Lord takes vow-making. And when you talk about the Creator of the universe taking something seriously, that's about as serious as you can get.

How timely that I should hear the Lord's view on vow-taking a week after I made a couple of hurried Lenten resolutions. And what a sharp contrast to my own view of "resolutions": If someone takes us out to dinner or invites us to a birthday party, those are acceptable exceptions to a Lenten fast. Or, having a large mug of caffeinated tea, with milk, the day of a half-marathon. And perhaps a celebratory frozen custard afterwards. (Okay, I won't really do that, because I'll be too tired and really not into eating anything that rich.) But God says, A vow is a vow and if you choose to bind yourself, you're bound by your words!

So, I'm working on it. I want to be more intent and less haphazard. If I'm going to continue my practise of Lent (and I do intend to do so!), I want to spend more time planning, more time praying and more seriousness of purpose before Ash Wednesday. For this year, I am considering myself bound by what I've determined to do, even though the next four weeks seem long indeed as I think of all the Cadbury eggs and chicken sandwiches I could be eating. (Not at the same time, mind you.) Even my middle school self knew this was but a small sacrifice, and my adult self is doing her best to follow Jesus in all ways.

And when I think of all that Jesus sacrificed, from the moment he put on flesh, through the sleepless nights and the demanding crowds, facing all manner of hostility, doubt and pride in his followers as well as his enemies, up to the moment when he laid his life down-- suddenly it is easy to forgo a few luxuries in an attempt to follow him more closely.

Because I willingly bound myself to following him.

I innocently visit my own blog

And the next thing I know, I've spent nearly two hours reading other peoples'. I know you're all chomping at the bit to hear what I have to say next, too.

So, Timbra brought up an interesting point, that I had intended to address but forgot. So, now I'm back to it. I am not Catholic. I do not attend a High church. So, my Lenten celebrations have been pretty much on my own for almost 20 years. Here's the rest of the backstory:

I started celebrating Lent when I was in middle school, because I had a lot of Catholic friends. It went something like this.
I: Want a Hershey bar?
Friend: No, thanks. It's Lent.
I: No, it's chocolate.
F: No, Lent. The time before Easter when you give up something.
I: Huh?
F: I decided to give up chocolate this year.
I: Huh?
F: (Gives the middle-school explanation of how we give stuff up to be more like Jesus, who was beaten half to death then crucified the rest of the way, only we don't go to those extremes, we just give up stuff we like. Like chocolate, for instance. (Sorry-- I'm not trying to be completely irreverent, but I was in MIDDLE SCHOOL.))
I: So, to get ready for Easter, you voluntarily suffer like Jesus? Just not as much?
F: Yeah.
I: Cool. I already paid for the Hershey bar, though, so I'll join you after I eat it.

And that's how I got started practising Lent.

In the intervening 18 years (oh, that is disgusting to type), I have run across a variety of reactions to my practise of Lent, including horror (parents), curiosity (some friends), excitement (Catholic friends), rudeness (some acquaintances) and indifference (everyone else). Chad, fortunately, falls into the "curiosity" category; we had been married something like six weeks when I said, "Oh, by the way, I celebrate Lent. It starts next week. I'll fix pancakes for us on Shrove Tuesday." He said, by way of maintaining family tradition, "Huh?"

For some reason, even though our office is packed full of Catholics, I seem to have been appointed the department guardian of all Lenten knowledge; that is, when someone in our department has a question about Lent, she asks me. And this year, they seem more interested than ever. We'll see how this turns out.

One week down

Okay, so it's one and one-half weeks down. Whatever.

I was going to just post "never mind about that whole Lenten journey thing!", but thought better of it. Truth to tell, there is not much journeying worth telling anyone about yet. Not even Chad, who gets to hear the most boring and minute details of my life.

Anyway! I'm training for another half-marathon, otherwise I would have done the traditional fast. (Next year, I'm going to cut my running down during Lent and go for it.) Since I can't do that, I have instead opted for a variation thereof: I am abstaining from all animal products, but eating my usual six meals a day. (I eat like a hobbit; what can I say?) In addition, I am abstaining from sweets, but that has become such a normal part of my Lenten experience that I hardly feel that it counts any longer. Besides that, I am still eating fibre bars, so I do have some degree of "sweet" in my diet.

I used to be a vegetarian before I got married, but I thought it was unfair to my husband to make him go veg as well (it was not at all for conscience reasons that I went veg myself). Now, I'm doing my best to relearn, very quickly, all that stuff I knew about vegetarian living. With the added bonus that it's actually vegan living I'm after. And, this time around I'm a runner with actual goals in mind, so I have to pay a lot more attention to my protein intake. So, I'm having to put some thought and effort into what I am eating. This does serve the purpose of bringing my thoughts back to God, and I've found it's a lot easier to do something for someone else than it is to just do it for one's self.

This week has been crazy-hectic. We keep our lifestyle quiet and un-busy for a number of reasons, but sometimes our culture's busyness sneaks in our door and ambushes us. Therefore, it's been harder for me to focus on the reasons for fasting, let alone work in extra prayer or Bible reading time (I know, it's my own fault!).

However, there have been some side effects: It seems that making a change in one area of my life does affect the others. Even though I haven't made any conscious decisions regarding my speech, I noticed that I was choosing my words with more care this week. I don't know where that came from, but it is a habit I'd like to pursue.

So, I have a long way to go. Easter is still five weeks away. I enter this new week (and seemingly, this new time zone), with more purpose and intent than I had last week.

Ah! Fixed it.

Now, when GMT does the jump to summer time, I'll have to fix it back.

Daylight, un-saved

My clock in the sidebar didn't update for daylight saving time. I'm not sure what to do about that.

Dust to dust

So, I went to an Ash Wednesday service on Wednesday morning on my way to work.

I've actually never done this before; when I was still in school (and was anxious to skip a couple of classes like all my friends), my parents said "NO!" quite emphatically when I asked if I could go. I could have gone in Scotland, I suppose, but there's quite a Protestant-Catholic divide in Britain that I really can't get, having not grown up there, so I thought I'd better not even try to get into that. Then, there's that whole thing about me going to South Plains on Wednesday evenings. So, that left me, this year, looking for an early-morning Ash Wednesday service.

I googled and found a church that is between my apartment and my office offering a 7 AM service, but I ran across another church in between here and there, and since it was getting close to 7 by that time, I just stopped off at the first church I ran across, basically.

So, I heard the homily about fasting, got some ashes on my forehead, watched some people take communion, and then slipped out because it was time for me to go. Unfortunately, I did a fair amount of sweating between the church and the office (I was on my bike), so by the time I arrived I had an ashy smudge across my forehead, and when I tried to get the sweat off, the ashes came off, too.

Next year, I'll choose a less-sweaty option for getting to work.

Time to start working on the gift.

Okay, I've waited three days on the off chance that someone related to me would wander on here... I'm waiting no longer.

My brother is getting married!! Yipee!!

I'm just a little bit happy about this; I don't know if you spotted that. :) My brother is such a kind young man (you know, the complete opposite of me), but it has taken him a while to find Miss Right. I'm so glad that he has.

Seems... fishy

So, I think I'll be sharing my Lenten journey with the blog world (at least, the three who read my blog) this year. I'm already behind, since Ash Wednesday was three days ago; I'll post about that tomorrow.

Expect some cheek-- I can't write without it, after all-- but I will try to keep it reasonably serious.

No, I am not going to be eating fish on Fridays. Firstly, because fish is expensive; secondly, because IMO, fish is still meat.

I had no idea I could do this for a LIVING!

Turns out, the career path of nagging is now wide open and available to those with the desire and skill. I know we've all been waiting for the moment when our society reached this point! Now, the unmotivated soul can pay to have some on his/her case all the time. Brilliant!

Acutally, I want to know what sort of training is required to become a nagger. Does it require a batchelor's degree? Do I have to write a thesis first? Is there a university near me that offers courses in nagging? (I already know the answer to that one-- no, there isn't.)

I need a label for my posts along the lines of "Really Extra-Snarky".

I'll have what she's having.

Nanci Pelosi must have the most worked-out thighs for middle-aged women in America, considering how many times she's been up and down during this speech. The last time, she got up so fast I thought a) Her legs are spring-loaded or b) Someone put a joybuzzer on her seat and she finally sat on it just right.

Whatever strength training she is doing to get those legs ready for a presidential address, I want in on it.

Save the daylight!

On second thought, I can wait for spring if I can just have that extra hour of daylight in the evening. (Yeah, I hate changing for daylight saving time, but since I'm stuck with it, I may as well embrace it.)

Also, since I'm watching President Obama speak, I think there are some advantages to having a father of young children in office. I'd love to see him put Congress in timeout. He got that teacher-y, parent-y look on his face while saying "Thank you! Thank You!" Yeah, I remember that tone of voice-- it means, Sit down and be quiet NOW.

Also? That's a nice tie he's wearing.

I wait patiently...

"Patiently" is probably stretching the truth to the breaking point.

So, I acknowledge that I live in an area that does not see much in the way of cold weather, where spring comes early, and summer lingers for a long time.

Having said that, roll on spring.

In my own defence, spring may come early here, but it doesn't stick around for long. One day, usually around mid-April, we'll be having lovely spring weather; the next day, summer crashes down upon us. We get the hot temps long before the official first day of summer.

So, I like it when spring comes a bit early. I'm always ready for it once the first of March rolls round; this winter, the weather has been teasing us by alternating warm(er) days with cold days. Hence the reason I am feeling the spring fever earlier than usual.

So, as the freezing mornings leave and the trees turn green, I will be dancing with joy. Until then, I'll be as patient as I can.

Through the finish chute

So I crossed the line (according to the race photos, I was smiling-- I don't remember that at all), collected my medal, accepted the water bottle someone kindly shoved into my hand, and went along with the herd to collect my finisher t-shirt. (As soon as we wash them, we'll post a picture.) Then we made our way to the food (hallelujah!) booth. There was a crazy-long line at this table, and I decided whatever they were handing out, I didn't want it that badly, so I went around them... only to realise it was the food they were after. There were chips (yuck!) at the beginning, so I grabbed a banana and another water bottle somewhere around the middle, where there was no line at all. Yeah, I was a jerk who jumped the queue-- but I honestly didn't do it on purpose.

I shuffled out of the chute and started looking around for our gang (they had already headed back to the hotel, so all my looking was in vain). I wandered up a street, which was also uphill, and went quite a ways up it before I realised that I had NO REASON WHATSOEVER for going uphill! So, I turned and went back down again, then wandered back toward the finish line. I had to go around the medical tent barricade, but got to the line just in time to hear Chad's name. SO, I turned round and hurried back to the finish chute as quickly as possible, to meet him there.

We tried to go back to the hotel, but because we were a bit (!) disoriented, we went the wrong direction at first, so we had to ask directions from a race volunteer who got us going the correct way. And on the way back, we passed the highly recommended Amy's Ice Cream, but my stomach wasn't up to ice cream, or for that matter, anything at all, so we kept going. So, I still haven't had Amy's, even though my entire Bunko group raved about it. Guess I'll have to go back next year.

We made it back to the hotel, I sent a text message to our good pals Randy & Rebecca, who promptly texted back. During church! I called them an hour later to ask why they were texting during church! :) Turns out Randy was not wild about the idea, but Rebecca talked him into it. Hee! Good to know I am spreading my bad influence abroad.

13.1 is the longest number

At least, it is for me.

So, I cried when the race started. I cried when I finished. I cried when Chad finished. Big surprise-- but I'm getting reasonably good at running and crying at the same time.

There was a spectator dressed as a banana. There were LOTS of spectators wearing sombreros-- some of whom seemed a bit startled when a runner behind me answered them in Spanish. One spectator handed out gum. Another had a box of Kleenex (that guy was my favourite spectator). One guy apparently kept travelling along the course (Chad said he saw him more than once), high-fiving, hand-shaking, and shouting general encouragement.

And the signs... they were great. If I ever go to cheer at a marathon, I'm going to pick a bunch of names at random to put on a sign, just for fun. Besides many people having their own personal cheer sections, there was a wide selection of fun signs for everyone. Some of my favourites: "A marathon is just a 10K-- with a 20-mile warm up," "Run like you stole something," "Will you marry me?" (yeah, I forgot the girl's name), a guy with a sign that said "Stop!" until he unfolded it and it said "Don't Stop!" (complete with him shouting at us not to stop). I really liked the series addressed to "Riff Raff", posted on various telephone poles. I don't remember them all, but the last one was at mile 10 and said, "Drop the hammer now". So I said to myself, "Dang! I forgot my hammer." Yeah. There is no hammer-dropping possible when I can barely move.

As we came up on the final hill (after mile 12!! Geez!), we all had a really good look at it-- so much so that I said aloud, "Oh, holy crap!" The woman next to me said, "Yeah, I think so, too." Turns out it wasn't so bad-- at least, not as bad as the hills at the last half-marathon.

So, before I got to the finish, the marathon leaders came flying by. It was totally worth it to run slow to get to see that.

Anyway, the last km was marked off at 200 metre intervals, which was brilliant. So I poured on what was left of my energy (and muscles), and as a really nice reward, the nice announcers were reading off the names of the finishers. So, they said my name right before I crossed the line. Brilliant.

Before the race...

Saturday night, we went to the hotel's business centre to check the weather, only to find a group of people (who, we found out later, were just a couple rooms down from us) there for the same reason. So, we hung around after promising not to look over anyone's shoulder to find out what weather.com had to say. During the course of our friendly conversation, one of the women said, "Are you from Lubbock?" I was a bit freaked out, wondering what on earth made her know that... we hadn't mentioned Lubbock, and it certainly wasn't our accents that gave us away. I think "freaked out" showed up on my face, because she clarified by saying, "I saw that your shirt says 'West Texas Running Club.'" Ah. Mystery solved. Yes, I was wearing my super-cool new t-shirt.

So I got up at 5 AM Sunday, being the one and only member of the gang of six who wanted to have breakfast before the race. Of course, my husband joined me for breakfast, because he's a nice guy. Also, he was hoping for better breakfast than he usually gets at home.

After our Saturday check of the weather, we were expecting it to be chilly out. All the other sensible pre-race eaters were discussing the temps and rain (apparently there was a light sprinkle), and the general consensus was that it was good weather for running. Which, when translated, means: "Susan, you're going to be freezing cold." Yes, I like it to be about 10 - 15 degrees warmer than everyone else does. And I only like rain if the temperature is over 80. Yikes.

We went back upstairs, got the rest of our stuff, I decided against wearing my joggies: I had to take my shoes off to get them on or off, so there was no way I was going to take them off during the race, which was my plan A. So, I still have them, instead of them being donated to a local Austin charity.

Anyway, once the rest of the gang was ready to go, we headed out of the hotel and up the street to the start line. After a couple of pre-race photos, we split up to our respective spots: I lined up with the 4:45 pace group (marathon pace, that is; the two courses were together for the first 10 miles), Chad headed to the back, and I really don't know where everyone else was, except that they were in front of me somewhere. I introduced myself to the two pacers; that was as close as I got to them for the rest of the race.

Much shuffling, chatting, and grumbling about the delay ensued among the pack of 14000. A man in front of me had enough Gu for three marathons strapped to his back. There were t-shirts for just about every running charity in existence around me. A few rows ahead, a man with longish white hair was wearing a "50 States Marathon Club" shirt. Cool.

Austin, there I go...

Some pictures from the trip (race report to follow--eventually):

So, this is the fountain in front of Palmer Events Centre (I think that's what it is called), where the race expo was. If you look at the sign in the background, it has the marathon expo details on it.

The Story of Texas; a museum of Texas history. Keely has tried to tell me about the six flags, but being as I didn't grow up here, all I know is these are probably the six flags that Texas has been under.

This is just a florist. I liked the building.

I think this is an office building. They light it up at night; it's pretty cool to look at.

And, I liked this planter, too.

I don't know why the fire hydrants in Austin are silver. But they are.

Now, if you don't notice the sign to let you know the signs have changed, then you're on your own.

World's friendliest graffitti.

This bookstore is probably the outspoken college student's idea of heaven; there is a sign out front about sharing ideas and that sort of fun stuff. If we'd had more time, I totally would have gone in and poked around a bit.

The (apparently) famous bell tower.

You know, when you're feeling a bit stressed, you can just go to the chilling station.

And... a trash can that makes me laugh. I'm not sure what happens when you put trash in, because I didn't have any on me to test the action-packed (although, as ever, punctuation-free) trash can.

Austin, here I come...

So, my time for the past three or so weeks has been something like this:

Work.
Run.
Sleep.
Repeat.

This is why the half marathon is the longest distance that I currently care to do; I run too slowly to even think of training for a full marathon. There aren't enough hours in a day for me to run enough to train for that kind of distance and still, you know, live my life.

Anyway! We leave for Austin on Friday morning, I have no idea what we'll be doing Friday afternoon or Saturday (although I hope "rest" is high on Ruth's agenda-- whatever-- that word is not in her vocabulary!), and Sunday is the race. The biggest race we've run in to date was the 5K we ran in Indiana last May. There were something like 4000 runners in that race (plus another 3000 in the half marathon-- but I never saw them), and a sizeable, albeit sporatic, crowd to cheer us on. The Austin Marathon has 6000 people in the full, and 8000 in the half-- so quite a jump in field size. Plus, we all start together, so we're talking 14000 people all hanging out together in the streets of Austin. And apparently, there will be spectators, bands, and other fun stuff along the course, so it's not like we'll lack for motivation there. Yay! This is going to be fun. (You know, tired, sore, sweaty fun.)

Prince Caspian: Peter hasn't learned much.

Okay, despite all appearances, I really, really liked this movie.

I watched The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in complete amazement. They almost got it 100% like the book. My only real complaints were 1) the race across the breaking ice on the river (what was that all about?), and 2) the kids just didn't get it. When Peter, at the beginning of the major battle against the White Witch and her forces, ordered Edmund to get the girls and go back to England, I shook my head. My thought was, "Narnia is about to be ruled by some really stupid children." How many times did Peter have to hear the prophecy about the four thrones before thinking, "Oh, so I shouldn't send my siblings back home! That would totally screw things up!" But really, they got it so right, I don't think they could have gotten it righter. Hollywood has screwed up my best-loved books so many times, that the first Narnia movie was a tremendously nice surprise.

Prince Caspian: Not so much.

Someone told me when it first came out that it was "not as good" as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. If she meant that it didn't follow the book as well, I am in total agreement. I decided within the first 10 minutes of the movie that whoever wrote the script had not actually read the book. So, in a change from my usual position, I decided to forget the book and just enjoy the movie.

But before moving on, I would like to revisit the "these kids don't get it" angle to say: Peter is still an idiot. Someone who reigned as the High King for something like 15 years, and has only been back to his regular life for a year, should be able to make better choices, or at least not act quite so stupid. It's too bad he will not be in any more movies; they could at least have given him a chance to redeem himself.

Also in the "they screwed up my book" realm: I always wanted Lucy & Caspian to get together. Obviously, it never happened, but it was beyond strange to me that Susan & Caspian had that love interest thing going on-- I was thinking, "Wait! Wait! Wrong sister!" Alas. Okay, that one is not so much screwing up my book as screwing up what I would change about the story. :)

Anyway... now switching from the book to the movie. It was fantastic. From a plot point of view, I thought it was a thousand times better than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The scenery was amazing, again; the battles were very well-done; the transitions from England to Narnia and back again were brilliant. My only real quibble (and it is a small one) is that Peter & Edmund should have been wearing shorts. Boys (even 16-ish-year-olds) in 1940s England didn't wear long trousers; that was a coming-of-age kind of thing, much the same as girls putting their hair up once they reached 18. When I expressed this aloud, Chad was all, "Huh?", so I guess it's just boring bookish types like myself that would have caught such a period anomaly.

So, we will certainly be adding this one to our DVD library. And I look forward to my children one day asking me if the scriptwriter ever read the book.

What's on TV?

So, since we've received our converter box coupons, and the government can't seem to decide whether or not to stick to the Febuary deadline for DTV, we went ahead and bought our new box. Which allowed us to watch Skate for the Heart on three different channels yesterday! Hooray for digital television!

Seriously, I hope that once we're all digitalized and whatnot that the networks will use their extra channels to give a couple of different shows, instead of repeating the same thing that's already on the main channel. Please!!

So, I was at someone's house yesterday, and Fox news was on. (I realise that I'm about to make fun of Fox, but CNN is just as bad, so pretend that I'm talking about them, if you like.) First of all, are women still allowed to be reporters if they aren't young and blonde? I didn't see any other kind during the two hours that the TV and I were in the same room.

Here's the good part: There was a headline that asked, "What happened to bipartisanship?" What do you mean, what happened? It's probably still hanging out in fantasyland with Santa and the Tooth Fairy, you know, where it's always been. You should try looking there.

Also, I couldn't hear the story, but when they were talking about the 2010 census there were a lot of shots of young, blonde census takers (Did I miss something? Is every woman in the U.S. now under 40 and blonde? Does this have something to do with the DTV switch?) making notes on their Blackberrys while staring intently at houses. If I saw someone standing at my gate, staring at my front door, with Blackberry whirring, I'd call the police. I hope that's not the plan for the census next year. :)

So, this is probably why I don't have cable. I can't keep up with the channels we do have.

Most expensive 30 seconds ever!

I watched the Super Bowl commercials the good way-- on the internet, the next day, with no annoying football to sit through. So, here are my conclusions:

1. If I laughed my bum off, I wouldn't have it reattached.
2. If I had known the Budweiser Clydesdales had Scottish accents... well, I still wouldn't use their product.
3. I wish Danica Patrick would find a new sponsor.

My favourite? The Bridgestone Potato Heads.

My favourite ever? I always liked the Bud Bowl (it weirds me out that the under-25 crowd can't remember the Bud Bowl), but my favourite ever was probably the year with the "Nuthin' but net" series between Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, culminating in the Super Bowl version. (Off the goalpost, off Leslie Visser's head, nuthin' but net.)

Hello, Wall-E!

Yes, I know, the rest of the world saw this movie back last summer. I'm slow, okay?

Anyway, I've heard from various sources (movie critic sources, that is) that Wall-E should be a contender for Best Picture. Not best animated picture; Best Picture. As in, "Take that, Benjamin Button!" Best Picture. But, alas, since the (lousy) Academy came up with the animated feature category, Beauty and the Beast will probably forever remain as the only animated film ever nominated for Best Picture. Anyway, I have seen a grand total of zero of the movies up for Best Picture, but I agree with all the critics; Wall-E was robbed.

Firstly, it's hard not to like a movie that starts with the songs of Hello, Dolly! Chad had already watched the movie without me once, so I felt no guilt about singing along to "Put On Your Sunday Clothes." Chad objected anyway; he seemed to think I was distracting myself. I didn't care. That cute little robot loves Hello, Dolly!; I love Hello, Dolly! I was totally sold from the first frame. :) And then when we got back to the robot lair and saw a clip from the film, they were still singing and dancing in front of the railway station-- only to skip (rather quickly) to Cornelius singing to Irene in the park about how he fell in love with her in a moment. Brilliant.

Okay, so this post is actually about Wall-E. There were too many moments to love-- him following Eve around, building a duplicate Eve, giving her a Rubik's cube, protecting her from the storm--then accidentally waking up John & Mary, setting loose the defective robots, leaving a trail of dirt for M-O to clean up (how much do you love that little robot?)--the captain learning all about Earth, Mary's "Get ready to have some kids!", and Eve frantically trying to save Wall-E. Seriously, this may well be the first DVD I ever purchase.

Apparently there are some complaints about the social commentary-- some say it is too heavy-handed, others say Pixar wasn't blunt enough. But really, that's not Pixar's job, is it? It is a love story, and if they want to make some money off our rubbish-lined highways and expanding waistlines while producing a brilliant movie, I will not be among the complainers. Plus, my answer to both sides of the argument is Hellooooo! Take a look around you! Do we really need the movie makers to point out the obvious?

So, I loved the movie. Long may Pixar reign.

Have you ever...

So, I stole this little post from someone else. Bold are things I've done; italicised are things I'd like to do; red are "Never, I hope" or "Never again"; the rest are not my thing. Yet. :)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (the high school band counts, right?)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (Seriously. Never. Again.)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (A very kind friend asked when I'd be running Boston--just hours after I limped across the line at my first half-marathon. Maybe when I'm 80, and they let me in out of sympathy.)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (Some of my ancestors. The really close ones.)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (Sort of... it's a work in progress. Very slow progress.)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (If you're not truly satisfied with what the Lord has given you, then it doesn't matter how much you make; you'll never be "truly" satisfied.)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Aaaaaaaa!)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving (Not enough money on the planet!!)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (I think this would cause the broken bones!)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

The T-shirt!

So I've had about 12 hours to think over this blog post. First things first: I am still alive and blogging. Unfortunately, most of the blogs over the past two weeks have happened in my head. But they were good ones! :)

There are now about four shirts that I have ever owned that have brought me delight to just receive them. The first one, undoubtedly, was my very first drama t-shirt my freshman year of high school, when we did Oliver. I don't know what happened to that shirt, but it was long gone by the time I graduated. Shame, too; I loved it. I was really in the drama club (I thought) once I owned that shirt.

Number two was probably my aim t-shirt. Same reasoning, really; after a few years of planning, dreaming, convincing parents, convincing a home congregation, and raising support, I had arrived. The glamour wore off after a while, and I gave that shirt away. I still have the one they gave me as an aim assistant; I use it as a running shirt. Hee!

Number three: My Scotland top, purchased in 2000. They've changed the top a couple of times since then, but I still own-- and wear-- the one the team was wearing at the one match I saw in person.

And now, we come to shirt #4, and the whole point of the post. Back in November, I raved about having met all three of my running goals in 2008 with a month to spare. We finally had the running club year-end party last night, and I now have hanging in my closet the visual proof that I am in the 66 mile club! I put it on as soon as we got home, so I could be all dressed up to watch Wall-E (more on that later). Since I miraculously didn't spill anything on it during the two hours I had it on, I'll also be wearing it to church tomorrow. And to work at least one day this week. And to any other place I can possibly think of. I worked hard for that t-shirt; much harder than for any of the other three. (Yes, please don't get out the aim-embossed tar and feathers, but running is waaaay harder than anything I did while I was in aim.)

So, there you have it! You would also have a picture, but Chad is still sleeping and I don't want to disturb him. So, stay tuned.

Goodbye, 2008

Yes, I realise it seems a little bit late to be bidding adieu to a year that concluded 10 (nearly) days ago. However, since I didn't work the first four days of the year, it has taken me most of the week to finish up all the end-of-year crap that plagues every office. However, I am finished and now I am ready to close the books, quite literally, on 2008.

Also at work... my deskmate of three years retired last month, and I "inherited" the lion's share of her workload. This is not as unfair as it sounds (and feels, some days!), because our work overlapped in a few areas anyway, and we could both do each other's jobs at need, so now I've just absorbed her stuff that fits with what I already do. Anyway, one of the jobs that is now mine is that of ordering and keeping track of office supplies. This week, my coworkers had any misconceptions they may have had of me being kind and gracious well and truly put to rest! My predecessor would order things whenever someone asked, meaning some weeks we got two or three orders, other weeks we got none. Not me-- I sent out an email saying I will place orders ONCE a week, and any orders I don't have by Wednesday morning will have to wait to the following week. My office manager agreed, so I am in the clear. :)

And finally... I broke down and ordered a new iPod to replace the dead one that's been sitting around my house since September. Tomorrow, it gets its first test at our first race of the year; it is already loaded up and ready.