March 2004 Archives

Whoever came up with giving consumers the ability to track their packages over the internet is a genius. I've been checking the status of orders all week, and warned my apartment complex this morning that I will be getting a heck of a lot of stuff in the next few days. Last week, I got numbers and fliers in two boxes from Runner's World. Then yesterday it was age group awards for the race. Today my new computer is arriving (according to the website it's out for delivery!), and Friday I'll get seven boxes of Yuri's Night pint glasses (144 in all, some for race awards, some to sell). And I've gotten to track every single package. :) Tracking stuff is so addictive!

I am getting both really excited and really anxious about the 5K on Saturday. Part of me is thinking: "Wow! This race is really going to happen! COOL!" The other part is thinking: "Wow! This race is really going to happen! DON'T SCREW UP!" I don't think we're forgetting anything huge, so we should be set. I picked up the t-shirts yesterday, and they look fantastic. We're stuffing packets either tonight or tomorrow, marking miles tonight or tomorrow, doing early packet pickup on Friday at On The Run, buying food on Friday, checking out the park one last time on Friday...yeah, I need to be in three places at once. ;) But we're going to have a race! So cool. I'm really proud that it has all come together.

Last night after driving to Alvin and back and running other assorted run errands, I managed to take the night off and relax at home. American Idol was entertaining enough, though I have to say I'm not totally sold on any of them. John was horrid last night, Fantasia bugs me, Latoya had an off night, I liked Amy and Jasmine and George, and the rest were so-so. It'll be interesting to see who ends up winning.

Bad news. On Sunday night, I had to turn the air conditioning on.

I feel like I've failed myself. Last year I made it until May 1 without having to crank the a/c, but this year I crumbled early. Of course yesterday a cold front came through, so the a/c went back off as quickly as it came on, but alas, I am defeated. Sunday night was just too warm, and too muggy. Feeling sticky in my 80 degree, Houston humidity soaked apartment was just no fun.

The stars have been really great the past few nights, or actually, the planets have been really great. I took a look at them Friday night while talking to Dad, and checked them out again last night as I walked the trails in Challenger Park (which, thankfully, are no worse for the wear after yesterday's light rain). I haven't managed to spot Mercury because of clouds on the horizon, which is disappointing because I don't think I've ever actually seen Mercury! But Venus, Mars, the moon, Saturn, and Jupiter are all lined up and shining like diamonds.

Those of you who might be interested should take a look tonight. Mercury is almost due west, very low on the horizon and only visible just after sunset--it sets quickly. Venus is very bright, halfway up in the western sky. Mars is dimmer, but definitely reddish, a bit higher up than Venus. The moon is overhead, as is Saturn, but Saturn is a bit faint. With binoculars though, you might be able to make out a faintly oblong shape, from the rings. Jupiter is very bright in the east-southeastern sky. (For reference on finding Saturn, tonight the moon will be almost halfway between it and Jupiter.)

On Friday night, while I was sitting next to my garage looking at Jupiter with binoculars trying to see the moons, my neighbor came home. She gave me a funny look as she got out of her car, so I said "I'm looking at the planets." She was sounded a bit interested, so I pointed out Venus and Mars and Saturn and Jupiter (Mercury, dratted thing, was behind clouds) and her voice took on an awed tone. "Wow! They look just like stars! I didn't know that!" she said. I almost laughed, but managed to hold it in while I told her, yes, but that they're often brighter than the brightest star, and that they start to look different through binoculars.

When I was little, I used to lie on the tennis courts behind our house with Dad, bundled up against the winter cold as we looked at the stars. When I was in 3rd grade, my science project was about the constellations. Summer vacations at the farm provided great dark skies for stargazing. When I was in high school, I got up early one morning to join Dad in looking for the tethered satellite that broke free from the space shuttle, and to look at comet Hyakutake. Now I help shoot other things up there, and bring stuff down safely.

My neighbor surprised me. When you've spent your whole life looking up, it's easy to forget that not everyone does.

FINAL FOUR!! Georgia Tech is going to San Antonio! Woohoo, go Jackets!! Makes me wish I were still at Tech so I could really share in the excitement; Katie left me a voicemail yesterday sounding ecstatic. :) Despite my crappy picks, I am actually winning the March Madness pool I'm in with the same guys I play fantasy baseball with. My picks sucked through the early rounds, but I did successfully pick three of the Final Four (Tech, Duke, and Oklahoma State) so I'm ahead by a point! Too bad there's only pride at stake, instead of money.

It was a good weekend, but too short as usual. Friday night I hung out at Becca's to play Cranium, watch the Tech game, and put a nice ending on my 26th birthday. I do love my birthday. It's never about the presents, though you'd think it was from the amount I hint at it being my bday. I just love being told "happy birthday," as it always makes me smile. I even sang the birthday song to myself on Friday morning. Every year I stretch the occasion out as long as I can; I just feel like it's impossible not to be happy on your birthday! This year it lasted five days: from Wednesday night's dinner at Lupe's through yesterday. Ah. I am old. But at least I have a good time getting older.

Saturday morning I played soccer with my coed team, and we won! Woohoo! The final score was 1-0, but we really dominated the other team more than that score indicates. They were not happy that we were beating them either; they got more and more obviously frustrated as the game wore on, until they were yelling at each other as the ball pinballed up and down the tiny Gilruth field. It was nice for our team to get a win; we have really improved a lot. I hope I can say the same for my women's team when our spring season starts next week!

After soccer I took a trip to the batting cages with Jason, where I made good contact with the ball (why can't I do that during games??) and ripped a nice blister on my thumb. Ow. I need to wear a glove if I'm gonna swing more than about 30 pitches. From there it was home for a brief bit, then off to the Aeros game, where it was bobblehead night. I have to say, I am really impressed with the bobbleheads we got--they aren't dinky flimsy plastic things, no...they are nice ceramic heavy-duty bobbleheads! I brought mine to work, where Aeros right wing Dan Cavanaugh now sits on my desk and agrees with everything I say.

I just went to find his bio to make that link, and in reading it I realized he's younger than me. 24 years old and he already has his own bobblehead. Nice.

Maybe they should make a series of rocket scientist bobbleheads. I think I could sell a couple of me. I'd buy one. :)

Anyway. I finished the weekend with a very busy Sunday. I got up early to go for a bike ride. My destination was Pine Gully Park over in Seabrook, the plan being that I was going to find Debbie's geocache with my new GPS handheld (yes, I am a gadget freak). It was really windy, which slowed me down a bit, and the park was a little farther away than I thought--6.5 miles as the crow flies, but more than 11 as the Sarah bikes! By the time I got there, I knew I'd be cutting it close to get back to my apartment by 11:00, when people were coming over to carpool to lunch, so I decided not to search for the cache and instead turned right around to ride home. I ended up going 24 miles in all, and made it home 20 minutes before 11, just in time to shower.

From there, Jen, Becca, Jason, Debbie and I headed over to the Galleria for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, which was yummy even though our waiter was really slow. From there we headed a couple miles down the road to REI, where, armed with my yearly dividend, 20% off coupon, and birthday gift certificate from my awesome parents, I bought a backpack and a tent. I already have a backpack, but it's for traveling, not hiking/camping. And I already have a tent, but it's huge and heavy and also not for backcountry hiking/camping. So....now I have great new stuff, and am dying to go break it in! You can click on the links to see exactly what I bought. At 4650 cubic inches, the backpack is a little larger than I had planned on getting, and I won't need all that space for our relatively short Colorado trip...but with a 20% off coupon, it was very affordable, and I can compress the space I don't need for a short trip but still have the space if/when I do a longer trip.

You know, sometimes I hesitate to go to REI, because they often charge a bit more for equipment you can find cheaper online...but I keep finding myself going back because they are so helpful. We were there for an hour and a half trying on backpacks, and the salesman was great. He stayed with us the whole time, answered all our questions and even gave me score updates on the Tech game! He was just awesome. I feel like I should write the store a letter praising his customer service.

After REI, Jason and Debbie and I went tromping around in the woods and found two geocaches, then it was finally home for tired ol' me. I vacuumed finally, admired my new gear, and watched Mona Lisa Smile. It was ok, but I had expected more. Back to the video store it goes.

Wooo! At the hockey game.

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Jo gave me a flower and now I'm famous!

In the jeep on the way back from lunch, complete with silly hat.

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I entered the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta again this year, thanks to my great friend James, who sent me the form on Sunday. Hooray! (See comment from yesterday's post.)

Good morning people! It is a great day! I am wearing a new shirt, and I smell like lotion, and I had Starbucks on my way to work. AND I have a new VCR. My friends are awesome.

Last night I finally got to just hang out at home, instead of running off to a play or a sport or a dinner or a class. It was nice. Well, I did have softball at 6, where we all apparently had butterfingers for the night, but I was home in time to watch the Apprentice and cook some dinner.

The string of women getting the axe on Apprentice continues to amaze me. The women worked well enough together to win, but even since they were split up, it's just cat-fight central. Four men fired, followed by seven women. I didn't mind seeing Katrina go last night, as she had become sort of whiny ("no one listens to my ideas about belly dancers, waaaaah"), and despite her protests, she did seem to use her sexuality in lieu of actual talent ("awww, Bob, come on Bobbbbb, you know you want to give me what I want, smile, wink wink"). Amy looked shocked to have lost, and didn't do that well in the boardroom...of course, she'd never been in there before, so she probably wasn't totally sure what to expect. Anyway, only five left now. Kwame's only around because he's managed to stay under the radar by not doing anything too stupid, Troy relies too much on his aw-shucks, I'm-an-Idaho-country-boy schtick, and Nick is a bit abrasive; I'm picking Bill or Amy to win.

This is shaping up to be a fun weekend. Georgia Tech is playing tonight hoping to make it to the Elite Eight, tomorrow I'm play soccer, hitting the batting cages, and going to a hockey game, and Sunday we're doing a group outing to the Cheesecake Factory and REI. I plan to gorge on cheesecake, then buy a tent that I've had my eye on since before Christmas, and a backpack. How exciting!

5K update: Ron called last night to say he has 11 entries in his mailbox, which takes us up to 71 people! Wow! We'll definitely get more than 100, which is aweseom! This morning I picked up two packages from Runner's World--race numbers as well as ad fliers and, randomly, little packets of Advil to put in all the race packets. The lady in the apartment office was like "oh, this is heavy" and I said "oh good, it should be stuff for the 5K I'm organizing for next weekend!" She thought that was really cool and asked me all sorts of questions about it. Made me feel cool.

I have been listening to James Taylor for a few days now. I adore him. Other people I know listen to John Mayer or Counting Crows when they want comfort music, but I choose James Taylor.

Last night was yet another busy busy weeknight. I have been inundated with 5K planning tasks this week, so I guess it's good that I haven't really had much real work to do other than watch my sims run!... Anyway, after work I headed to Bike Barn with Debbie for a basic maintenance class. It was pretty cool, though I wish it had been more hands-on. Still, I learned how to adjust a lot of the mechanisms that I've been pretty scared to mess with in the past, and I learned the importance of regular cleaning and lubing of the chain and other parts. I need to start taking better care of my bike! In two weeks I'm going back for the roadside maintenance class, and that should cover everything else I need--the guy said it's hands-on and we learn how to change the tire tubes, etc. That should be good.

After the class I headed to Lupe's for a big group dinner in honor of Ami's birthday (the 30th) and her leaving town, my birthday, Nacho's birthday (the 21st)... yeah, it was just one big dinner party where we cheered everyone who came in one way or another. :) The food was good, the company was good, and yet again, I realize that I have really great friends.

We currently have 54 people signed up for the 5K, and Laurie is going to add another 20 by making her lacrosse team run it as training! I'm pumped. I think we'll get 100 or more, which will make me really happy.

There's an article on the BBC news site today about robot competitions. I was skimming, slightly interested, until I came across the following line, which totally cracked me up: "The competitions seemed to break down along cultural lines. The Japanese robots reigned supreme when it came to sumo-wrestling, while the European teams showed off their skills on the football pitch. As for the American machines, they specialised in demolishing the living hell out of each other in one-on-one robot combat."

It reminds me of a story my Dad read somewhere about a fireworks competition, and how the Europeans all made pretty fireworks displays that were eye-catching and aesthetically-pleasing and made everyone ooh and ahh. Then the Americans just shot up as much light and sound as humanly possible to overwhelm the crowd with explosions. Ah, America.

Last night Jen, Jason, Debbie and I went downtown to see Brigadoon at the Hobby Center. It was an ok musical, and one of the tenors (not the lead, but another major part) was so incredible that I couldn't help but wonder why he's stuck doing shows in Houston and isn't starring on Broadway somewhere. But I've started to realize that, as uncultured as this sounds, I like the more modern musicals better than the "classic" shows of the 40s, 50s and 60s. I'll take Rent, Phantom, Aida, and Les Mis over Brigadoon, South Pacific, and The Music Man anyway. Not that the oldies aren't good, just that I prefer the newer ones. That probably makes me not a "true" musical fan or something.

I came home sleepy, but as I walked in the door my mind had unfortunately turned to thoughts of work. I have not in a happy place in a few aspects of my life for the past few weeks/months, and I don't really want to go into detail in writing. I have been thinking a lot about a few things, and have yet to come to any conclusions, so my racing thoughts left me tossing and turning in bed for almost an hour. I finally fell asleep sometime after 12:30, and have been foggy all day today. I am a really big wuss when it comes to approaching my superiors, preferring to think that if I perform well, they'll recognize it, and somehow read my mind about where I want my job to go. I know that's not true, and so I'm debating on how to proceed from here. I know I'll get to the bottom of things, but I'm not sure when or how. Suffice it to say that...I'm working it.

After lunch I went over to Challenger Park to meet with the park manager to finalize things for the 5K on the 3rd. We rode around the loop on a little ATV so I could point out our worrisome spots (that are still mucky despite having gone a week and a half without rain). It was amusing, the two of us on a little truck with me in my pinstriped works pants and boots and him in his coveralls and trucker hat. But things look good, and I'm excited that the race is almost here. It's looking like we may get close to 100 people which would be awesome!

WOW. I just got an email from Bike Barn, and they're having a demo program as part of the MS150 where you can ride nice bikes for free on either Saturday or Sunday of the ride. I immediately went to their website and spur-of-the-moment chose the Trek 5200, a $2,500 (!) bike, to ride on Saturday. I always second guess myself when I have to make quick decisions, but Gavin, George and Matt recommended I try the fancy bike on the first day, which, while longer, has fewer hills and will involve a not-yet-sore derriere.

C'est tout pour aujourd'hui.

Jo posted pictures from Friday night's outing to Mi Luna and Amy's. I stole some of them and put them here as well.

The moon last night was beautiful. As I drove out of my apartment complex on my way to the rock gym, the tiny crescent caught my eye and I had to stop and take a picture. Of course my camera (the real one, not the phone one) doesn't do it justice, and so I didn't bother posting it. But it was really pretty. Just past new moon, a very slight crescent, with the rest of the moon lit up by earthshine. Very cool.

I was just looking at the photo I posted via my phone yesterday, and it makes me look like I have a retarded crooked front tooth. Weird. Must be the light. My front teeth are perfectly fine, except for being a little chipped for the past 10 or so years. But that can be blamed on my brother Brian.

I was really tired last night, and so I didn't climb anything too hard, and was even slipping on routes that are usually easier for me. Ah well. It was just Jason and me, and he seemed a bit tired too, so we probably chatted as much as we actually climbed. At Waffle House afterwards we ended up talking politics; well, actually, I think I ended up not shutting up, and thus it was me talking while he listened. Jason and I disagree on a lot of issues (he's conservative, I'm not as much so), but I still enjoy talking politics with him. I also ended up talking about Bush and Iraq with Gavin yesterday in a nice normal conversation. This leads me to believe that it's not that I can't or don't like to discuss the issues, as I've said many times before...it's just that I prefer to do it with people who remain very calm and rational even if you disagree with them. Who knew?

Dude. The rocks at the Opportunity landing site on Mars were apparently not merely altered by water, they were likely formed by water. That is so cool.

Messing around with camera phones. George got a new one that is so cool!

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Late update today, but not for any real reason. I basically got nothing done this morning because I couldn't upgrade to the software I needed. It's my own fault. A month ago, a sysadmin sent out an email telling us we needed to upgrade to Exceed 9 (software I use to remotely connect to the lab I do all my sim processing on). I hate upgrades because something always seems to go wrong, so I didn't upgrade at the time. Well, Friday afternoon they deleted the old version of the software from the server, so not only could I not use the old version, but I couldn't upgrade to the new version (because it needed the old version). UGH. This is why computers suck.

So he put the old version back on the server long enough this morning to allow me to upgrade right after lunch. And now I can be productive. Instead, I'm updating this. ;)

I need a new computer. Why? Well, my almost five year old computer at home is starting to show signs of aging; yep, it's slowing down. Photoshop already takes forever to load each time I use it, which I had decided I could just suffer through. But then this weekend I installed the 30-day trial of Flash MX 2004 and the damn thing (the computer, not the software) is using all it's got to simply get the software up and running before 60 seconds is up. Seriously. And then every time I click a different tool, there's a 2 second lag while the system tries to figure out what to do next. It's gonna drive me crazy. So I need something new.

The thing is, I don't really need anything in a new computer other than the ability to handle today's software. I don't need any fancy stuff because 1) I already have what I need and 2) since I'm not in school anymore, I really don't use my computer at home for anything more than web-surfing, email, financial stuff, photos and photo editing, and now messing around with Flash/graphics stuff. So I need a bare bones computer that'll do that for me without paying too much. If anyone out there has suggestions, I welcome them.

Other than that, it was a nice weekend. Friday night Jo organized a group to go to Mi Luna for tapas and sangria. Both were delicious, and our only complaint was that the restaurant was really loud and it was impossible to talk to anyone at the other end of the table. Still, the food was awesome and the sangria was tasty, if a bit weak (six people went through three pitchers of it without anyone showing the effects).

Saturday morning I completely forgot that I was supposed to play soccer, but Saturday night's belated St. Patrick's Day party at Edgar and Betsy's was entertaining as always, and complete with green beer. I posted some of the many pictures the two of them took here. I hadn't been to a true "party" in a while, so it was fun.

Yesterday morning Gavin and Debbie and I went over to Challenger Park for the final race course measurement, and I spent the rest of the afternoon watching basketball and messing around. Georgia Tech squeaked into the Sweet 16, thankfully! With Gonzaga and Kentucky out, Tech only has to worry about getting past Nevada (shouldn't be a huge problem) and Kansas (could be tougher) to be in the Final Four. That would be really cool. Though my "being reasonable" pick to win it all now is probably Duke...

For those of you coming to this site from my old blog, welcome. It seems somehow self-involved or at least self-indulgent to have my own web domain, but I like it anyway. A couple new things to point out now that I'm on my own server:

• As you may notice, I can post pictures straight to this site from my cell phone. Neat, eh?
  
• You can add comments about any of my blog entries by clicking the "Comments" link beneath each one. So now you can tell me to quit hurting myself, or that I need to watch less TV, or that I'm whining too much.
  
• The "Gallery" link on the side is a bit misleading. It's only one little link, but it takes you to a whole collection of albums of pictures! Yay pictures!
  

Today so far has been sort of crazy, but in a fun way. I slept in until 11:00, got up, turned on my cell phone, and literally five minutes later Kent called. I haven't talked to him in forever, so it was really great to chat for an hour about life, trips, and careers. While on the phone with him, Becca IMed with the idea of Mediterraneo's for lunch, which I can never pass up, so when I got off to the phone with Kent, I changed clothes and headed over there to meet Becca, Nick, and Tiffany. On my way, James called, so I chatted with him until we sat down to order.

From lunch I had to run by work to get tickets that Debbie needs tomorrow; I'd forgotten and left them on my desk. While driving on site, Carter called, which began the most hectic phone conversation I may have ever had. While talking on the phone to him, I had to hang up to go up the elevator, hang up again to go down the elevator, and pause to click over twice more while Nick called with the idea of hanging out by the pool for a while (it is a gorgeous day here). Becca, Tiffany and Nick all ended up at my apartment, where Becca talked to Carter while I changed into my swimsuit, then I finally got to finish talking to Carter while lounging in the sun in my swimsuit. Ahh. The water was still very cold, so I didn't get in, but the sunshine was nice.

I should have just told Carter I'd call him back tomorrow, but I feel like I talk to people so rarely that I should make the most of the times when they call.

And now I have a few hours before I head off to a belated St. Patty's Day party.

Me at Amy's.

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Jo and Tiffany at Amy's Ice Cream.

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If you...

1. ...owned a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve?
Italian/lots of pasta, probably. That, or a French Fry stand. Those are the only two genres of food that I never seem to be out of the mood for.

2. ...owned a small store, what kind of merchandise would you sell?
Oh my gosh, I have so many different ideas here. I'd love to own any of the following: a running store (shoes, clothes, etc), a coffee shop, a book store, a restaurant, a shoe store for women with big feet, IKEA, an art supply store, a small design firm... the list goes on. I think it would be incredibly rewarding to be a successful small-business owner, and one day if I get up the guts, hopefully I will be.

3. ...wrote a book, what genre would it be?
A collection of short non-fiction stories or essays. I write better in blog/email-friendly blurbs than I do in long passages.

4. ...ran a school, what would you teach?
Art/design. Realistically I'm probably not qualified, but that's what I'd love to teach. I did crafts one summer for the church bible camp, and it was tons of fun.

5. ...recorded an album, what kind of music would be on it?
A totally eclectic mix of everything from rock to pop to jazz to classical/instrumental. I'm not much of a songwriter, really; I'd get more enjoyment and less stress out of compiling an album of my favorite 12 or 15 songs of all time (which, for the record, would still be a really strange mix of stuff).

Some weeknights go by in a blink, and I get to work the next morning feeling like I never left. Other weeknights seem to stretch in time and last twice as long as they actually do. Last night was one of those. I got so much accomplished after leaving work! I drove home just before 5 and hopped on my bike for a good hour-long 15-mile ride. After that I had time for some web-surfing, then fixed a yummy pasta dinner and watched Friends, Will & Grace, and the beginning of The Apprentice. Oh, and put together a quick Yuri's Night poster. Then we had a softball game at 9, which we won, and I got a hit (hooray!) and even an RBI (double hooray!). That's two weeks in a row that I've gotten a hit now. Maybe I am improving... I get so frustrated with myself when I don't hit.

My neck is still a little sore after biking. I need to adjust the handlebars one more notch in an effort to avoid that.

No big plans for the weekend. We were supposed to go out for tapas tonight at Mi Luna, but due to extenuating circumstances I'm not sure if that's still on or not. Tomorrow at some point I've got to go over to Challenger Park for a final 5k course measurement, and tomorrow night is the St. Patty's day party at Betsy and Edgar's place. Sunday I'm hoping to go on a long (at least 30 miles) bike ride.

Sadly, this is the last day of my Flash class. My debris footprint tutorial is looking great though, and is quite entertaining. The most recent version is here if you are interested. There are only four scenes so far, but believe me, the best is yet to come. ;)

This week has just been great. Great weather, great class, great stuff to do. Ah, this is why I love March and the beginning of spring. I know, it's not technically spring for another few days, but Houston has different seasons than the rest of the country, believe me. Here, it's already spring. (Of course, here, it never really was winter. Just straight from fall to spring.)

To make matters even better, this morning I got a FedEx package. They'd tried to deliver it yesterday, but I wasn't home, so they left it in the office. I assumed it was race numbers for the Yuri's Night race, which I've been expecting. But it was even better. I opened the envelope to find the most beautiful thing I think I have ever seen: pages and pages and pages of baseball tickets! 81 of them, in fact, 3 per game for 27 games. Yeah!! The arrival of the Astros season tickets that Jason, Chris and I bought reminded me that the beginning of the season is less than three weeks away. I can hardly wait!

One of the cool things about working at NASA is that there are always interesting people coming to visit us, because they think we are cool. (Whether we are cool is a matter of debate, but that's another story.) Yesterday James Cameron was at JSC. Yes, James Cameron, director of Terminator, Terminator 2, The Abyss, Aliens, and Titanic--talk about an impressive resume! Anyway, he was here to screen about an hour of footage he took last year during dives to multiple hydrothermal vent sites in both the Atlantic and Pacific; we're talking primordial stuff spewing out of the earth thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean. Since he already had funding to do the dives to make a 3D IMAX movie, he invited NASA and some other scientists and grad students to come along for the fun. A couple people I know got to go along, and were featured prominently in the footage that we saw that will actually be in the film, so that was cool--I now know some IMAX movie stars!

The rest of the footage he screened was science reel stuff that he'd picked out specifically for the JSC presentation, and it was absolutely incredible. Thousands of blind shrimp crawling all over each other trying to get nutrients out of the vent, mussel colonies, crabs, tube worms, weird-looking fish, and even some wispy anemone/amoeba things that no one's seen before. In some spots, the vents have formed the huge gravity-defying chimney structures that rise tens of meters from the ocean floor without toppling under their own weight. In another place, this really weird mushroom-shaped structure has formed, with the heated hydrothermal vent stuff spilling up around the edges.

It was so cool. I need a job where I can do cool stuff like that. Of course, I think I would have gotten a bit frightened/claustrophobic to go down into the dark in a bubble that's supposed to protect me from thousands of pounds of pressure...but still. It looked so cool.

And I love it when directors like James Cameron get excited about science stuff (or actors like Tom Hanks get excited about the space program). They really help get the message out to the masses.

Anyway. Point being, Cameron's casual lecture was incredibly interesting.

As of today we have 37 people signed up for the Yuri's Night 5K. Yeah!! The registrations are starting to come more frequently now that the event is getting closer. I'm hoping for at least 60, which I think is totally going to happen. I'm so excited.

Good morning lads and lassies, and a Happy St. Patrick's Day to you. (And a happy birthday to Betsy.) I'm wearing my green shirt so I don't get pinched!

Already this morning in Flash class, I have made a word explode, and drawn a satellite orbiting the earth. The latter is the first step in my first major Flash creation, suggested by Gavin: a tutorial to enlighten people on how we predict debris footprints. It is going to be so cool. I'll post it when I'm done, hopefully by the end of Friday, or at least by the beginning of next week.

I love saying that I'm in Flash class. It sounds borderline sketchy.

I was just reading Carter's blog, and he deleted ICQ from his computer last night, not remembering that there are all sorts of conversations stored in the program, from mundane "ready to leave for class?" messages to deep shouldn't-have-been-had-via-computer-but-were conversations. He deleted his own stuff, of course, but the mere thought sent a shiver down my spine.

I've stared at the ICQ folder many times since my hard drive went down over a year ago and I had to decide what to save and what to toss before it stopped working entirely. I tossed a lot of crap, but I couldn't bear to erase ICQ. I haven't read the conversations in years, and as I pointed to someone this morning, it would probably take me a whole day (and a lot of emotional trauma) to do so...but I can't bear the thought of erasing them entirely. I'm a pack rat in more ways than just hanging on to material stuff. I'm a pack rat for words too.

The rest of this week is going to be so great. Happy sigh. I love this Flash class, it is so cool. I should get some guts, quit my job, and go back to school to be a graphic designer or something.

Debbie locked her keys in her new Vue at the carwash.

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He took one of me, so I took one of him. Yay George.

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Here's a picture of me that George took while playing with my phone. He just ordered a new camera phone and is quite excited about it.

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I am in the middle of an absolutely fantastic day. Why? Well...

1) The weather. Weather has the ability to affect my mood more than almost anything else, and today it is GORGEOUS outside. It is sunny, 70 degrees, Carolina blue sky, little bit of a breeze. As far as weather goes, today is my perfect day.

2) Love. Matt and Stephanie got engaged!! (Yes, as previously mentioned.) He proposed over the weekend while skiing in Colorado with Becca, Gavin, and Jen. He actually proposed in front of Becca, which is very amusing, and then poor Stephanie, who was caught totally off-guard and was shaking, had to ski down a mountain! That's Matt for you. But I am so excited for them. The wedding will be this fall or next spring in Kansas City (they're both from there), and as I said to Matt, "I've always wanted to go to Kansas City!...well, not really, but I'll make an exception for this." ;)

3) Fun software. For the rest of the week, I'm taking a class on how to use Flash MX (the software used to make a lot of the cool animations, movies, and interfaces on the web). I am so excited, as it's something I've been wanting to learn for a while. I tried teaching myself, but lost patience, and for the past year have been trying to get into the work-sponsored training class under slightly sketchy reasoning. I am the webmaster for our group, so that's how I justify taking the class, even though our website doesn't really need Flash per say... Anyway, I finally got in the class, on my 4th or 5th attempt! This morning I animated a bouncing ball, a flower growing out of the ground, and a red circle turning into a purple reindeer. Yes. By the end of the week, I plan on having little cartoons of everyone in our group. ;)

4) Graphic design. My version of our division logo was passed around to the branch chiefs and group leads at the staff meeting this morning, and as one group lead related to me: "Very cool, and you got a lot of compliments like 'ahhh, this is much better than the other ones', etc." Woohoo! People like my logo! The current version (there may still be a few tweaks) is here for those interested. I didn't come up with all the elements that needed to be included, but I did the layout and did all the graphics work. Parts of it are a bit fuzzy, but I'm gonna try to clean it up in the next few days.

5) Pampering. With any luck, Jo and I are going for pedicures tonight after work. Pedicures have become one of my most favorite things in the world. And again I apologize to Becca for ever making fun of her for getting them.

If my afternoon continues to go as swimmingly as the morning has, I will be a happy, happy girl.

Matt and Stephanie got engaged while they were skiing this weekend!! I'm so excited!!!

And on a totally unrelated note, this is my current favorite thing ever. It was hilarious on Oscar night, and it is hilarious now; I adore Jack Black and Will Ferrell. Props to Nick for finding the clip for me.

I am so tired today. I guess that's what happens when you get up at 6 a.m., ride 40 miles on your bike, then go out to lunch, wander the mall, come home, and have to draft a baseball team until 11:30 at night. Whew!

The 40-miler yesterday was quite an experience. It was 1) the farthest I've ridden since the bike ride across North Carolina I did the summer after 9th grade, 2) the first time I've ridden in the rain, and 3) the first time I've ever ridden in any sort of bike tour/race thingy. I also learned that I should possibly invest in 1) a waterproof windbreaker/shell and 2) some sort of shoes to wear while biking that don't soak up water like tennis shoes (and all their cushioning) do.

When the race started, it was overcast, but by the time we got over the Kemah bridge (about 10 miles into the ride) the rain had started. At first it was a light drizzle, but it grew to a steady rain. At first I was annoyed. "This sucks," I thought to myself as my cotton t-shirt got soaked, and my tennis shoes became boats, and mud splattered all over my back from my back tire, and mud splattered all over my front from the back tires of the bikers ahead of me.

But as the ride went on, the rain abated a bit (though it never stopped entirely), and it stopped bothering me. There comes a point where I think your body just becomes saturated with water, and you don't notice how wet you are anymore! By mile 25, I was laughing at the absurdity of it all. Here we were, literally hundreds of bikers in the rain, covered in mud, just chugging along, legs pumping. All the people who drove past us must have thought we were insane. :)

In the end, I did have a good time, and I was pleasantly surprised at how I felt. I averaged 16 miles an hour for a total time of exactly 2.5 hours, and was still feeling strong at the end. I feel like I could have done the 60 mile ride without major issue; my legs were still feeling good. My butt and back and neck were starting to feel sore, but nothing too horrible. It went well enough that I'm considering signing up for another MS150 warm-up ride, a 60-miler, in a couple weeks over in Katy.

Anyway, I crossed the finish line, scarfed down a banana and an orange and a Coke, then went home, gave my bike a good wipe down to get all the water and dirt off it (it's one of the more expensive things I own; I should probably treat it well, eh?), walked in the front door to my apartment, and basically stripped right there. Just inside the front door is one of the only places in my apartment that isn't carpeted, and I'm not kidding when I say you should have seen how covered-in-mud I was. My white socks and white t-shirt were brown. I didn't want to get it all over the carpet, so I just took everything off and left it in a big wet pile at the front door until I had showered and cleaned up and was ready to put it all in the washing machine. I was really a mess; I should have taken a picture.

This morning I climbed on my bike just for a moment to see how I felt sitting on the seat again, since the MS150 will involve riding a hundred miles, then doing another 70 the next day. Yeah. My butt didn't like being on a bike seat this morning. Hmm.

Anyway. As for my other major Sunday activity...

I am feeling very blah about the fantasy baseball team I drafted last night, but as George pointed out this morning, I'm always unsatisfied with my team after the draft. For those interested:

C - Jason Kendall
1B - Richie Sexson
2B - Bret Boone
3B - Bill Mueller
SS - Rafael Furcal
OF - Gary Sheffield
OF - Torii Hunter
OF - Richard Hidalgo
OF - Trot Nixon
OF - Reggie Sanders
OF - Jay Payton
OF - Carl Everett
OF - Cliff Floyd
3B - Eric Hinske

SP - Curt Schilling
SP - Kevin Brown
SP - Greg Maddux
SP - Mark Redman
SP - Livan Hernandez
RP - Octavio Dotel
RP - Trevor Hoffman
RP - Francisco Cordero
RP - Shawn Chacon
SP - Ted Lilly

Baseball season is a mere three weeks away, and faithful readers of this blog know what that means...it's time to create my fantasy team! I'll be playing in two fantasy leagues again this year, the "all-star" league and the "NL only" league. The All-Star league has 10 teams (up from eight last year) of 25 players each, and we draft from all of major league baseball. The NL only league has 9 teams (down from ten last year) of 40 players each, and we draft only from the National League. The NL league is the bigger challenge, and since we only alter our lineups once per week, it often gets overlooked in favor of my All-Star team, which is easier to draft and can be altered on a daily basis.

The draft for our All-Star league begins in 15 minutes. I haven't done much research this year, but I've done well in the past, finishing 3rd, 3rd or 4th (can't remember), and 2nd in the three years since Randy started the league. Hope I can put together a good team for 2004!

I bought a new seat for my bike, just in time for tomorrow's 40-miler. My butt, I'm sure, will thank me.

1. What was the last song you heard?
"Home Life" by John Mayer, on my iPod in the car on the way home.

2. What were the last two movies you saw?
"Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" (I know, shut up) and "Lost in Translation." Oh wait, I watched "Three Amigos" last weekend, but that was on DVD, obviously.

3. What were the last three things you purchased? Lunch today, dinner last night, and lunch yesterday. Did I mention I need to go to the grocery store? Yeah. The last three non-food things were gas for my car, league fees for the next season of the women's soccer league, and a day pass for the rock gym last Monday.

4. What four things do you need to do this weekend? Go to the grocery store (see above). Put my new bike seat on my bike before Sunday's 40-mile ride. Pick up my race packet for that ride. Get an oil change.

5. Who are the last five people you talked to? From most recent to least recent (but all were today): Nick, Ray, George, Rich, and Jo. The last five people I talked to who don't work in the same office as me: Katie, Fred, Betsy, Edgar, and Sean, all at softball last night.

On Wednesday night as Jason, Jo and I drove downtown for Rent, we were chatting in the car and for some reason Howard Hughes came up. And I was relating how, for unknown reasons, I always confuse Howard Hughes with Hugh Hefner. I know, I know. One is dead, the other is alive. One built the Spruce Goose, the other created Playboy. But they are/were both filthy rich, and I think it's the "hugh" part of each name that does it. Anyway, when those two came up we also started confusing ourselves about Herbert Hoover and Hubert Humphrey, so today Jo posted mini-bios of each man. Just to clear up the confusion.

Thank you Jo. It had to be done.

Today in the Chronicle there is a neat story about a third grader from Katy who is a presidential history buff, has been on the Tonight Show three times for his knowledge, and recently interviewed John Kerry. He wants to run for president in 2032, when he's 35. Funny.

Work may be interesting today. That's what happens when someone way above your head gets the mistaken idea that what you've been doing for the past year is wrong. Sigh. So today I get to show that our group is right, and that people in Florida were just incredibly lucky. This is my job. Nothing to do, then suddenly I am called upon to put out a rapidly expanding fire. Whoosh.

For the past two days, before today's fire, I've been working on an art project--redesigning the division logo. It's such a piddly little job, and yet I am so excited to get to do it. If/when my design gets approved, I'll have to post it here so you can see. It's hokey and dorky and very un-sleek as far as logos in general, but it's good for NASA.

I saw Rent last night for the fourth time. (Four? Let's see, New York, Greenville, Birmingham...and Houston. Yeah, four.) Unfortunately, this was probably the worst rendition I've seen. I didn't like Roger because he was too whiny, not enough rock-and-roll, had distracting hair, and kept hitting flat notes. I didn't like Mimi because she couldn't carry "Out Tonight" which is supposed to be her big moment. Mark, Maureen, Angel and Benny were all merely ok. And the theater was not doing a great job with the sound mixing--a lot of the songs would have been unintelligible if I hadn't already known the lyrics. Now, granted, I've seen the show and listened to the soundtrack enough times that I definitely have biases and opinions on what each character should be like...but if this had been my first time seeing the show, I might have left wondering what all the fuss is about.

I did like Collins, and Joanne, and there were a couple shining moments--"La Vie Boheme" was entertaining, and "Take Me or Leave Me" was notable. But half the time I felt like I was watching a high school performance rather than a professional-caliber show. And I don't mean "high school" in a positive, McIntosh-quality way, for the Greens that may be reading. ;)

Anyway. Today I'm listening to the original cast recording on my iPod. Ahhh.

We have softball tonight, and of course I didn't make it to the batting cages this week, so my hitting will likely absolutely suck again. Sigh.

It feels like a Friday, with Becca and Matt already gone for their ski trip, and Gavin and Jen joining them this afternoon. It'll just be me, George and Rich taking over the office tomorrow...

It's beautiful outside. Maybe I will mysteriously become sick today.

We have 23 people signed up for our 5K, which is exactly halfway to the break-even point. This makes me quite happy, as I think getting 23 more people in the next three and a half weeks is utterly and completely doable.

I ended up staying at work last night later than I'd planned, but still managed to get my bike to the store before they closed at 7. I thought I'd have to leave it overnight, but it turns out that the safety inspection only took 5 minutes. The guy looked it over and pronounced it safe to ride in the MS150 (not that I was expecting any differently). And I asked the stupid question of how to adjust it so my neck doesn't get sore on long rides. He tweaked the handlebars to put more weight on my back. Ah, so simple. I always feel like such an idiot when I go to the bike store for a minor adjustment; I guess I feel like if I'm going to have an $850 bike, I should know how to take care of it! To remedy the situation, I've signed up for two classes at Bike Barn--one about roadside repair, and one about general bike maintenance. By next month, I won't feel so stupid. :)

I watched American Idol last night, after missing the past couple weeks. Is it me, or is the talent pool rapidly shrinking?? I wasn't really all that impressed by any of the eight wild cards last night. I think only about six of the people who end up in the final twelve will have deserved to be there. Not like I could sing any better, but hey. Most of the people this season have just not been that impressive!

Tonight I'm going to see Rent with Jason, Jo, and two people who work with Debbie. Becca and others went last night, and Becca said she couldn't tell what they were singing in the first act, and Jen apparently thought they were off-key. We'll see what I think of it tonight. Not being able to hear the words won't be a problem for me since I already know what they are, but if the singers are off-key, that's gonna been really annoying (not to mention unprofessional). In any case, yay, I get to go see Rent!

Hooray, it's another chemical warehouse fire! Firefighters were gaining control until an explosion renewed the whole blaze. Ah, Houston, the city of space exploration, the rodeo, hot weather, and spreading toxic chemical fumes to the masses. What's not to love?

I had my birthday check-up at the clinic this morning. My birthday's at the end of the month, and the clinic here gives every civil servant a free check-up each year just before their bday. I got to give a vial of blood, get my height and weight checked, blood pressure and temperature taken, and all that good stuff. It was fun. I love the doctor. Seriously, I do, and that's probably weird, but I think all the little tests and things that they do are so cool. I can't wait to see my blood results. The best thing is that they compare our blood numbers not to an average person, but to an average astronaut. Thus I get to hear things like, "Well you're a little bit outside of our range for this, but you're still ok for a mere mortal."

Oh, fine, no, they don't say that. But it would be funny if they did.

Sigh. I have just been in a bad mood for too long now. I need to snap out of it. People are on my nerves.

Except for Irwin. He donated to my MS150 ride and wins the honor of being the person who pushed me over $400, which was the minimum I was required to raise. Yay Irwin! Thanks to all of you who have donated, and if you haven't but still want to, the link is at the bottom of this page. All the money goes to the National Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, so it's a good cause...and tax-deductable! See? No reason not to do it. ;)

Climbing last night was ok, it was just me and Jason and Fred. The crowd that shows up has thinned...Jason and I are the only ones who've been going regularly since Christmas, but ah well. I tried a red route I thought I had no chance of making headway on, and got almost halfway up the wall, so that was encouraging. Also did a few other routes...the yellow one with the skull hold, another red, and the infamous yellow (which I didn't try till late, and had more trouble than usual on). Did some bouldering as well. I must've been working hard, because I was pooped when I got home, and my hands were raw.

Tonight I plan to do absolutely nothing. Well, I do have to take my bike to the store for a MS150 safety inspection since I want to get it done before the 40-mile ride I registered for this Sunday. But other than that...nothing, I say!

Poor Nick!! I went over to Becca's last night after soccer to have salmon (mmm), only to find the poor boy bandaged and drugged. He dislocated his shoulder for the third time. :(

Other than finding Nick all laid up, it was a great weekend. The nasty weather of last week finally cleared, and it was absolutely beautiful outside, sunny and in the upper 70s. March is definitely my favorite month in Houston.

Friday night I went over to Becca's to watch "The Apprentice" that she'd TiVoed for me since I missed it on Thursday. Omorosa got fired! Yeah! She was really annoying, it was about time. Though to her credit, this week she actually did a decent job, I mean, she was the only one that got any of the freaky art sold...she needed to be fired, but it's ironic that she was fired in the week that she actually did ok. After the show, Gavin, Jen, Becca and I played a game of Settlers that I won by sneak attack when I went from 7 points to 10 in one turn by building a city and taking largest army (in addition to my other two cities and longest road).

Saturday morning, Buzz, Ron, Gavin, Jess, Mitzi and I headed downtown to run in the Bayou City Classic 10K as a centipede. Becca also ran the race, her first 10K ever (hooray Becca!). It was great fun, and we won an award for being the loudest centipede. The only lesson learned was that it's hard to run with green makeup on if you are me, and sweat like a man. I couldn't wipe my face, so the sweat ran into my eyes, so I had to dab my eyes, which left me with racoon-like circles of non-green skin around my eyes. It was sort of funny. The pictures are posted here.

We came home from the race, Buzz and I washed off as much green makeup as we could, and then we all went to Cafe Express to celebrate Fred's birthday (which was actually last Tuesday). There were at least 20 people there--who knew Fred was so popular!? ;)

I spent Saturday afternoon lazing around my apartment. I was sleepy from getting up so early for the race, but I generally hate taking naps because they only make me feel worse when I wake up. So I watched TV, and messed around until 8:00, when I went back over to Becca's for more Settlers (we didn't get our fix with just one game the night before). Chris joined us so we had a five-person game. I don't remember who won...I think Jen took one game, and Becca the other, but I'm not sure.

Yesterday I went for a 15-mile bike ride and decided that I'm definitely going to have to get a more comfortable seat before I do the MS150! When I got home, the day was so lovely that I decided to go for a swim, so I went over to the pool...but unfortunately the water was still frigid. So I just sat in the sun and read instead. I had a soccer game last night, where we (and I) played like absolute crap (even worse than usual), and yet ironically, we won. Though the other team was two men down, so it would have been pathetic if we hadn't emerged victorious...

From there, I went over to Becca's again to enjoy some salmon for dinner. I have probably saved a ton in groceries over the past year simply by getting to mooch off the Becca/Kennda/Cari/Nick household when they cook a big dinner. Ah, life is good.

We ran the Bayou City Classic 10K this morning and it was awesome! Buzz and I were aliens, with Gavin, Ron, Jess and Mitzi as the NASA scientists chasing us. We finished in about 1:08:00, were the third centipede across the line, and won a prize for being the loudest centipede! The prize? A plaque, with a foot-long plastic gross-looking centipede on top of it. Awesome. :)

Here we are before the race:

And here we are afterward with our prize:

I'll post a few more pictures later.

What was...

1. ...your first grade teacher's name?
Mrs. Gambino. She was cool. Actually, now that I think about it, I think I started the year with Mrs. Garbark. But she left for some reason, and Mrs. Gambino came in to replace her.

2. ...your favorite Saturday morning cartoon?
Hmm. The one I remember waiting for is Looney Tunes. It came on at 11.

3. ...the name of your very first best friend?
Thomas. We met before we could walk. When we started talking, he called me Sarah, but I couldn't say "Thomas" so I called him Daddus. Our friendship faded when we started school, and he went to a different school than me. These days, last I heard, he's living in Colorado or something with a wife and small kid.

4. ...your favorite breakfast cereal?
Honey Nut Cheerios. My mom would mix half Honey Nut with half plain Cheerios, but occasionally there were days when I'd sneak a full bowl of all Honey Nut. She never bought us the sugary stuff, but occasionally I'd get to have the stuff at a friend's house. My favorite "bad" cereal was Lucky Charms. They're magically delicious!

5. ...your favorite thing to do after school?
Well, we were only allowed a half hour of TV, so I usually tried to make it count. I remembering saving it for She-Ra and He-Man a lot. Once the half hour was over, I usually read books or played outside.

One of the random online diaries I read every so often is this one. She's into music in a big way, and lately has been talking a lot about some guy named Matt Nathanson. We seem to have similar musical tastes (she loves U2, Guster, etc), and the other night I was browsing the iTunes store, so on a whim I downloaded Matt Nathanson's album. I've been listening to it for the past couple days. And it's great!

Anyway. We had a softball game last night, and I can't hit for crap. It is so frustrating. I stand way back from the plate and choke up on the bat, and yet I still can't seem to get the barrel on the ball. It's always closer to the handle, and the ball flies like 15 feet. I seriously need to go to the batting cages, and ideally I'd find someone to come watch me and critique my stance. Jen says she thinks I lean way over when I swing, and that's why I'm having problems. If that's the case, I need to work on standing up straight as I swing. I did get to play first base though last night, and that was a lot of fun. I'd love to play first full-time (outfield is so intimidating), but I think Katie has first all sewn up. (She couldn't play last night because she did something weird to her neck.)

Got my hair(s) cut yesterday. She highlighted the top in another step towards my natural hair color (after a year of dark brown hair, blond highlights look really light to me, but c'est la vie), gave the layers a trim, and styled it to look all flirty and curly and cute again. And then of course I had to go put it up in a ponytail for softball. Ah well.

Perhaps I am just not destined for flirty, curly, cute hair.

The weekend is going to be fairly busy, again. Tomorrow morning, Buzz, Ron, Gavin, Jess, Mitzi and I are running as a centipede (six people connected together) in the Bayou City Classic 10K. Buzz and I are dressing up as aliens on the loose and looking to phone home, with the other four dressing up as the scientists chasing us. It should be a lot of fun, and we're hoping to win a costume prize. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures and post them. Oh, and afterward we get to go to Fred's birthday lunch still sweaty and in costume. ;) Sunday I'm helping out with Houston Georgia Tech Club scholarship interviews and hopefully playing soccer (if the rains stays away).

P.S. There was an interesting story in the New York Times today about how many Division I college women's basketball programs have men's practice squads...basically, the women practice against men in order to hone their skills. The idea was pretty interesting, and seems to be a win-win situation for those involved. The male players are great, and could probably play ball at a Division II or III university. They get to play basketball, and have a stake in the women's teams, and as the article says, "Universally, the male practice players become ambassadors for the women's game..."I tell guys all the time that these girls are better than any other guy in the school who isn't on the men's basketball team."" And the women benefit from playing against tougher practice opponents. Neat.

So Bush has kicked off his re-election campaign, Kerry has all but locked up the Democratic nomination, and now the country gets to witness eight months of campaigning. Sigh.

I've always said that I hate politics, but maybe it's not the concept as much as it is the implementation. The workings of the government are pretty interesting, but I can't stand the bickering it takes to get to the point where you can actually do something. Every four years, for months in a row, I feel inundated with candidate after candidate pandering for my vote. I'd be so incredibly happy if campaigning were limited to just the month of October. One month is about the extent of my patience for politicians and their rhetoric.

This afternoon I get to go get my hair cut in the same "upscale" Rice Village shopping center where a woman was shot yesterday. Fun.

Last night I wasn't going to work out, because I was feeling very blah. George and Ginger came over to check out my bike (the hybrid one I bought out in California; George may buy it from me, then I can go get a mountain bike!), then I fixed some dinner, then I watched TV. At 9, Newlyweds came on (so sue me, I love that show) and after five minutes of watching at Jessica Simpson and her skinny, skinny self prance around the screen, I had guilted myself into my running clothes. I still didn't want to run, so I compromised by doing a half hour on the elliptical machine. The exercise room was empty, so I got to continue to watch silly Newlyweds while huffing and puffing and ellipticalling. Afterwards, I decided to try a pull-up or two, since upper body strength is what's holding me back most at the rock gym. I'm a solid 5.9 climber, but don't know that I'll get to 5.10 without bigger biceps! Anyway, man. My arms are still sore from climbing on Monday. That'll teach me to take three weeks off.

Today I'm in search of four white lab coats for our 10K centipede this weekend. They are harder to find than you think!!

I took the morning off to hang out with Leila and have lunch with her before she headed back to Austin. The rodeo last night was a lot of fun. To summarize, I'll just re-post something I put on gtcrows last night:

"First of all, the show started with an invocation that was downright creepy. This booming God voice came over the PA system and Leila thought it was from some sci-fi movie, you know, like a bad guy named Zoltor or something. Creepy. The rodeo started, and the calf scramble was very funny.

And thus is the story of John Mayer at the rodeo. You should all go read the road journal on johnmayer.com, which has already been updated despite the fact that the show just ended two hours ago."

So yeah, the rodeo was a lot of fun, and it was nice to see Leila. There really is nothing quite like the spectacle that is the Houston rodeo. Horses, cowboys, cattle, fireworks, pick-up trucks, southern accents...with a video tribute to NASA thrown in. And John Mayer's site has a priceless picture of him in front of the rodeo looking confused. Yeeeeeeeeeeee ha!

Dude. If you have an hour and a half on the schedule to present your material, don't bring 74 slides, talk really s l o w l y, and go an hour over your given time, thus derailing the presentation of the person who has to go after you, who has to leave before you're even finished because you've used up your time and theirs. That is my rant for the day.

The 2.5 hour presentation I sat through this morning (about Mars sample return) was actually very interesting, and I learned a lot. But I had to struggle to keep my brain following the slow delivery, and was disappointed to not get to hear the presentation that was supposed to come afterward. C'est la vie.

Buzz, Jason and I went climbing last night for the first time in three weeks. Oh, my arms. I had a good night, but today I can tell that I took too long of a break. My fingers have that tingly tight feeling. :)

In other news...they found evidence of past liquid water on Mars. Hurrah! Speaking of Mars, I get to present neural network abort determination stuff (formerly co-op Kara's project, now mine) to the JPL guy this afternoon. Hurrah! The Houston Rodeo begins today, with Leila arriving from Austin in a few hours to go with me to watch John Mayer kick things off tonight after the cattle roping and bull riding. Hurrah! Apparently there are pig races at 6:30. Now that sounds entertaining...

It's only 9:30 and I'm already annoyed. But I'm not going to complain about work today.

Instead, I'll be happy, because it's March, and March is one of my two favorite months (the other being October). It's gray outside today, but it's also close the 70 degrees, which is lovely.

It was a quick weekend, and I am sleepy this morning. Saturday Buzz and I ran the Rodeo Run downtown, a 10K. We were both still a little under the weather, so it wasn't our best race, to say the least. I did set a new PR in the 10K (1:03:12), but that's not really saying much because my last official 10K was in July, and I'm in better shape now having done two half marathons. I had been hoping to do 10 minute miles and finish in 1:02:00, but I just didn't feel very good. It'd been two full weeks since I'd done any running (since I've been trying to shake this cold), and I could really feel it. My legs were heavy.

As if feeling bad weren't enough, I started out too fast, running a 9:30 first mile, and then got progressively slower each mile. I am really bad at judging my pace, and it really bit me in the butt on Saturday. The race was painful. Poor Buzz was doing even worse. While all my congestion is way back in my head, which made me uncomfortable but not downright crappy, her congestion was making it difficult to breathe. She finished a minute and a half behind me, which is definitely a rare occurrance. She was not a happy camper, because last weekend she'd run a 10K in under 57 minutes.

Still, a little exercise was better than nothing. :)

Saturday night a bunch of us went to this little theater that plays independent movies and stuff to see "Touching the Void," a movie/documentary about two climbers who did a first ascent of the face of a mountain in Peru in 1985. On the way down, Joe Simpson fell and severely broke his leg. His climbing partner, Simon Yates, tried to get him down the mountain, until they ended up in a bad situation with Joe hanging off an overhang, and Simon trying to hold him up. Not knowing what had happened at the other end of the line and starting to be pulled off the mountain himself, Simon had no other choice than to cut the rope. Joe fell about 150 feet into a crevasse, and Simon descended the mountain, thinking Joe was dead. Miraculously, Joe survived, fighting his broken leg, hunger, and severe dehydration to drag himself out of the crevasse, across a glacier, through a boulder field, and back to camp just before Simon and the other guy at camp were about to leave.

It's an amazing story, and the film is really intense, to the point of being both fascinating and hard to watch. It makes you wonder what you would do if you ever found yourself in a situation like that. The kicker is that Simon faced tons of criticism for cutting the rope on his partner when the pair got back home to the UK, but Joe has always defended him. I mean, what choice did he have? It was either one man died, or both men. If Joe hadn't survived, no one would have faulted Simon, and the mere fact that Joe did survive was practically a miracle.

Anyway. Interesting drama/documentary. Both men are still alive (they were only in their mid-twenties when they did the climb), and both provided commentary throughout the movie. I read in an article that they are still friends, though not as close as they once were, and they don't climb together anymore.

Yesterday I slept late, then did some shopping with Ron and Buzz for costume supplies for our centipede for Saturday's Bayou City Classic 10K (six people joined together in costume). Last night I had a soccer game in the drizzle and mud (fun, fun), then went to Becca's for the second half of the Oscars.

Soccer continues to be interesting. I have become a sort of mediator for our team. The team we played last night has a forward who's big and physical and wears a knee brace. Our team has a hothead "coach" who plays physically, but doesn't like it when people dish the physical-ness back at her. Every time our coach ends up sparring with knee brace woman, they end up talking back to each other and getting all upset. Now, I actually think the problem is more with our hothead than with knee brace woman, because I've been up against knee brace woman many times and never had a problem. She plays physically, but so do I, and hey, it's soccer, there's going to be some pushing for position and for the ball. Last night while the ball was at the other end of the field, knee brace woman asked me if our hothead was always like that. I told her my only advice was to just try to ignore hothead. Then I have to turn around and tell hothead that knee brace woman is a jerk, and she has to just try and ignore her.

Sigh. I'm telling each person to ignore the other just so we don't freaking come to blows on the soccer field. It's absurd. And our team is still hit or miss. We follow a brilliant play with an idiot play. And I'm failing as a defensive coordinator or something. As sweeper, I'm always trying to watch the play developing and direct my fullbacks and stopper to where they need to be. We need to mark players on defense, and so I try to do so, but it never fails--when I mark a player, the ball inevitably goes to another forward who isn't being marked well by our team. When I don't mark and instead try to follow the ball, there's too many people open. My defense and I can't seem to find a happy medium.

And thus was my busy weekend.