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Tuesday, November 30, 2004

who woulda thought I'd ever let somebody get to me /
who woulda thought I'd ever give a damn

I am so annoyed. Last week, realizing that the trip was less than a month away, I bought a ticket home for Christmas for $208, almost $100 cheaper than anything else. To get that price, I fly from Houston to Charlotte via Chicago. Ugh. I was already regretting the purchase and wishing I'd just spent the extra $100 to fly direct, when today, exactly three weeks before I go home, US Air drops their price on the Houston-Charlotte route. If I'd waited one week longer, I could buy a ticket today for a direct flight for $163. Damn damn DAMN the airlines and their bizarre ticket pricing policies. I will be cursing them through freaking O'Hare and all the way home.

I was at work a bit later than usual last night trying to get some work done on a white paper we have to deliver to Goddard tomorrow. In going back to the sims to verify what our co-op ran back in September, I realized that she hadn't run the numbers that she thought she was running. Her work was useful, but not what I thought it was. So I had to set up a couple more sims and get them going quickly. Not a huge problem, just a surprise. I should learn to check things more carefully, and not leave documentation to the last minute.

Tyler Hamilton, an elite cyclist, was fired by his team after his positive tests for blood doping in August and September. Sigh. Sad. Of course it doesn't bode well for any of the other cyclists either, and I'm sure Lance Armstrong will see a few more accusations thrown his way. I don't know if Lance is truly clean or not, but I hope so.

The Houston weather is doing its crazy flip-flop thing again. Last night when I went to bed, it was 74 outside and 80 inside, and I actually turned on the a/c to cool down my apartment. The air conditioning. On November 29. Then of course this morning I woke up, looked at my thermometer (which yes, I am obsessed with), and it was 48 degrees outside. And very windy. And sadly overcast. Hmm. I was telling Carter the other day that I don't seem to like cold weather as much as I used to -- a consequence of living in Houston and rarely experiencing the chilly stuff, I suppose. Gavin said they had 17 inches of snow in Casper while they were there for Thanksgiving. I've never seen that much snow in my entire life!

Monday, November 29, 2004

I'm sad to see the

I'm sad to see the Thanksgiving weekend end. It was a lovely break and I did lots of fun things like seeing movies, eating out, and crashing my elbow into the hard concrete sidewalk.

Yep.

Yesterday I went for a long run. I'd planned everything, bought a Fuelbelt to carry water, gone to bed early Saturday night, gotten up at 7, eaten cereal, and given it time to digest. I'd even laid out my route -- a 14.5 mile huge loop that ensured I didn't have to repeat any scenery. At 8:00, I started out. At 8:30, I was in front of the main JSC gate when I noticed there was a sign that had fallen over the sidewalk. I didn't want to run into the grass because it's still all mushy and muddy, so I thought I'd just hop over the sign. So I hopped, right as a car was driving past, and the next thing I knew I was flying through the air, thinking "oh god oh god I hope I don't seriously injure anything!!"

And the car didn't even stop to see if I was ok! Hmph. I was fine overall, but I'd taken a few square inches of skin off my elbow and it was bleeding somewhat profusely. Lovely. It's lucky I was wearing red shorts and could wipe my elbow on them occasionally and thus avoid looking blood-stained and psychotic. Since everything except my elbow appeared to be ok, I decided to continue with the run. Two and a half hours later I finally got home, where I was tut-tutted by the apartment complex maintenance man, who drove up behind me on his golf cart to ask what happened to my arm and then told me to "be careful, miss!"

I always hear about clumsy runners falling down, but never expected it to happen to me. So today my elbow is all bandaged and oozing, and the whole thing is actually sort of funny when you think about it. In trying to avoid muddy shoes, I ended up with a bloody elbow.

With my elbow all taken care of, I went ahead with the rest of my Sunday plans -- seeing Finding Neverland followed by dinner at Mely's. The movie was excellent, I really liked it.

Saturday, November 27, 2004

"Questions taken from an interview

"Questions taken from an interview with Mark Morris in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, altered accordingly, idea copped from the ever fabulous Lance Arthur." ...And then copped here from Heather Champ.

Best household chore
Fixing something. Replacing a light bulb, or silencing a squeaky hinge, or anything that requires a screwdriver. Worst household chore is cleaning the bathroom. I love a clean bathroom, but hate actually cleaning it.

Fantasy career
Journalist, photographer, web and graphic designer, all rolled into one.

Favorite place to shop
I don't know what the proper classification is, but anything like The Paper Skyscraper in Charlotte. A store that has paper goods, stationary, household decorative stuff, a few goofy random toys, greeting cards, some books, some art/office supplies... Random collection of neat and pretty things. Also, SuperTarget. Love love love SuperTarget.

Superstitions
Can't say I really have any. Lots of little traditions, things I do at certain times or on certain days, but I wouldn't call them superstitions.

Morning routine
Hit snooze for anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour, brush my teeth, get dressed, pack a lunch, sometimes eat a bowl of cereal while watching either Sportscenter (during baseball season) or the morning news. I take my showers at night so my morning routine is pretty quick, and since I only live 10 minutes from work, I can be at my desk within half an hour of waking up.

Evening routine
Monday nights sometimes means rock climbing, Thursday nights is softball. Friday and Sunday nights are soccer for nine months of the year. If sports get rained out or I just have the evening free, my routine is pretty set. Check the mail on the way in. My shoes come off as soon as I'm inside my apartment and, if I'm exercising, I do that immediately before I get too comfortable on the couch! Once I know I'm in for the rest of the night, I change into anything comfy, usually some variation on a tank top and pajama pants. I check email and mess around on the computer for a little while, then fix dinner. I usually have the TV on between 7 and 10; sometimes I'm watching it, sometimes it's on the background while I read a magazine, clean, or mess around on the computer some more. Shower. Floss. Brush teeth, take out contacts. Probably read for a bit, then bed.

Favorite memento
God, I have so many. My favorite, though, is the intangible one -- my photo collection. Photos from parties, travels, games, and other activities.

Favorite place in the house
Sitting on the living room floor, back against the couch or one of my big fuzzy pillows. I don't know why, but I like sitting there.

Best thing about being you
Currently? Having the money and independence to travel.

What's your reputation
Not entirely sure. Sarcastic, athletic, and occasionally moody?

Favorite movie
Changes a lot. Currently, Love Actually.

Book to recommend
The Sex Lives of Cannibals, by Maarten Troost. It's about the experiences of a guy living on a small atoll in the Pacific for two years, and it's absolutely hilarious.

Your welcome mat
Outside, a standard knotted rope mat provided by the apartment complex. Inside, a woven blue mat with fringe.

Little big toy
My month-old Canon 10D. I adore it.

Last meal request
Sweet potatoes, a really good steak, bruschetta or tomato mozzarella salad, cherry coke, and a slice of Cheesecake Factory cheesecake.

Technology item you can't live without
Digital camera. A close second is email.

Idea of the perfect party
Dinner party with close friends. Italian food and garlic bread. Really good wine. Cheesecake and chocolate for dessert. Big table with candles and a fire in the fireplace. Like out of the movies.

Topic you wouldn't bring up at a party
Religion and politics. I know those are "standard" but hey, there's a reason. People feel too strongly and get too upset about 'em.

Fictional character you most identify with
Absolutely no idea. Wow. No idea.

Favorite decorating technique
Paint. Color can totally change the feel of a room. After paint, hanging pictures on the wall. Photos, not paintings.

Thing in your house you're fussiest about
Hmm. I tend to be fussy about all my material things -- furniture, electronics, etc -- so nothing strikes me as bigger than another. As far as around the apartment, having the blinds open, maybe? (During the daytime, not at night.) I must have them open, or I just feel icky. I even open blinds in other people's homes.

Procrastination technique
Messing around on the computer or watching stupid TV.

Guilty pleasure
Eating chocolate chips out of the bag. Also, sneaking pictures of people when they're not suspecting it, i.e. when they're asleep. It seems creepy to some people, but I like asleep people because they always look so calm.

What's by your bedside
Alarm clock, chapstick, glass of water, candle holder, TV remote, a pile of books and a couple framed photos.

Pets
A blue beta fish name Vtot. It's pronounced "vee-tote." Don't ask.

Recent purchase
DVDs. 3 for $25 at Blockbuster!

Always in the fridge
Diet Coke, Minute Maid lemonade, yogurt.

Nagging injury
I dislocated my left knee in 2000 and it still aches from time to time. Not enough to cause me major problems, but enough to be annoying when it decides to act up.

Collections
Pins from every baseball stadium I visit, and ticket stubs.

Fitness routine
Prior to January 2002, I didn't do much at all despite being unsatisfied with my weight. All of a sudden though, I decided on a whim to enter a local 5K and wham -- the running thing finally stuck. I managed to keep with it regularly for a couple months, and as my fitness improved I finally felt comfortable taking on all sorts of other athletic pursuits that I hadn't done since I was much younger. These days, I run, bike, swim, play softball and soccer, and rock climb. Soccer's probably my favorite of those, but these days I'm also doing a hell of a lot of running as I prepare for my first marathon in January. If I lived somewhere with hills, hiking would definitely be added to the list of regular activities.

Recurring nightmare
Don't have one these days, but when I was younger, I had a recurring nightmare about being stuck in a haunted bowling alley. Yes, a haunted bowling alley.

Idea of a perfect day
Some grandiose outdoor hiking, mountain climbing extravaganza with stunning vistas, OR: In bed by midnight the night before, and sleep until around 9:00. Have breakfast and a cup of coffee while reading the paper. Go for a run, or a swim, or a bike ride with a friend. Long, lazy lunch at Mediterraneo's under the rainbow umbrellas outside (the weather would be 75 degrees and sunny). Read or chat with friends on my balcony. Take some photos. Get a pedicure. Do my favorite errand -- getting the car washed. Dinner at any of the cool little restaurants in Rice Village or Montrose, followed by a good independent flick at the River Oaks theater. Dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. Bed.

Friday, November 26, 2004

let the world change you...and you can change the world

My weekend plans are going swimmingly so far. I did run the Turkey Trot, I did stuff myself with food yesterday at Jo's, I'm currently at work for at least a few hours, am making plans for lunch, and have already seen one of the movies on my list. Woohoo!

I had a very strange dream last night where I was exploring some ancient ruins with Buzz, Carter, and Adam Duritz. And Adam Duritz and I were newlyweds. Very weird. But the ruins were cool, and required lots of scrambling around on rocks, which was very fun.

Jo's mother fixed a fabulous assortment of food yesterday for Thanksgiving lunch. Despite the plans not coming together until the last minute, there was a nice small group of us still around to share Thanksgiving -- Jo and her parents, Josh, Melanie and Carlos, Nick, and me. Oh my god, it was so good. Mrs. Aiken really went all out, fixing just about every Thanksgiving dish you can think of because she wanted everyone to have something that they usually have at home. It was so sweet of her. Afterward we sat around in our turkey comas, chatted, and watched Elf. I was sent home with not one but two plates of leftovers, so dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow are taken care of. Yummy.

On Wednesday night I went to River Oaks with Cari and Ignacio for a showing of Diarios de motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries). It's a Spanish-language movie based on the diaries of Alberto Granado and Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (later known as Che Guevara, of Cuban Revolution fame) written during a cross-continent road trip they took in the early 1950s. They began in Argentina, drove through Patagonia into Chile, up the continent into Peru, worked at a leper colony (Che was a medical student; Alberto a biochemist), and finished the trip in Venezuela.

I'd been wanting to see the movie for weeks, and I wasn't disappointed. It was well-written, well-acted, and generally fantastic. Highly recommended.

I know the United States is a big melting pot, and that's not a bad thing. Yet at the same time I feel like Americans have no strong, identifiable cultural traits precisely because we are a country of so many different backgrounds, ethnicities, and traditions. I've been thinking a lot about different parts of the world lately, and seeing that movie on Wednesday only deepened my newfound interest in Latin America. I can't explain it, but Mexico, Central, and South America are so much more intriguing to me than any other part of the globe. Since going to Peru, I've been constantly thinking of all the places there I want to go visit. I want to see more of Peru, and Argentina, and Chile, and Mexico. I want to learn enough Spanish to be at least conversational with people when I go there. The culture and traditions are fascinating.

Thursday, November 25, 2004

and I want to thank you

Rich and I ran the Turkey Trot this morning, so we now have license to eat whatever we want. My stomach is already rumbling despite having a bowl of cereal before I left for the race. Rich did the 5K and I did the 10K, which was added this year. I'm happy that area races are starting to add 10Ks to the slate, because I think it's a better distance for me. I took Advil in an attempt to keep my legs from hurting, and it worked -- I felt fantastic.

I started out slow because there were a lot of people and it was slow-going trying to pick my way through the walkers, but at the 5K turnaround more than half the pack turned, and the road really cleared out for me and the other 10K people. I ran the second half of the race a lot faster than the first, and finished in 1:06:08 -- 10:40 miles! Woohoo! Last year I did the 5K and it was my first ever 5K under 30 minutes. I probably couldn't have repeated that today, but ah well. I'm feeling good anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out in Internet-land! :)

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

I want to live in the center of a circle / I want to live on the side of a square

I went running last night. It was overcast and looked like it was about to start thunderstorming at any moment, but it never did. It was, however, really humid in that "rain is definitely coming" sort of way. I did 9.4 miles and felt utterly exhausted at the end, so I spent the rest of the night lounging around. The rain did eventually come in a spectacular lightning storm around 10:30.

Bridget Jones's Diary (the first one) was on TV, so I ended up watching that. I remember reviewing the movie for the Technique when it came out in 2001, and recalled that I really didn't like it much. Last night was only the second time I've ever seen it, and I enjoyed it a lot more. Perhaps that's because I'm now comparing it to the sequel...which, despite some great Colin Firth moments, was worse than the first.

Anyway.

My plans for the Thanksgiving weekend are as follows:

• Run the Turkey Trot 10K tomorrow morning with Rich
• Stuff myself with food at Jo's
• Work a few hours on Friday
• Have lunch with Jo, since we will be the only two people here
• See Motorcycle Diaries, Finding Neverland, and A Very Long Engagement even if I have to go to the theater alone
• Watch the GT-UGA football game on Saturday (nationally televised, hooray!)
• Spend an absurd amount of time in my pajamas

Excitement abounds.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

there's a girl on the car in the parking lot /
says man you should try to take a shot /
can't you see my walls are crumbling?

U2's new album came out today and I've already downloaded it (hooray for iTunes). I don't often get excited about an album release, but I love U2. They're the only band that I listened to in middle school that I still like today. Talk about longevity.

The gray weather continues here. Last night I was at work until 6; I'm trying to build up a few extra hours so I can only work 5 or so on Friday. I don't think anyone else will be here, so it will be really quiet. Jo will be at work, but over in the directorate (i.e. the big boss's) office, so no opportunities for mischief there, sadly. I did talk Rich into running the Turkey Trot with me on Thursday morning though, so at least I won't be doing that alone.

Nick lent me the Love Actually DVD, so I watched that last night. I'd only seen it once in the theater when it came out a year ago, and I'd forgotten how endearing the movie is. I mean, there's nothing hugely spectacular about it, but I dunno, I like it. I'd forgotten that the movie begins and ends with scenes at the airport of people reuniting, which is something I loved to watch even before the movie came out. I've just always loved people-watching at the airport.

Anyway. That was a completely non-eloquent way of expressing something that makes a lot more sense in my head. Nick is giving me a massage right now. "Wow, you actually put that in word-for-word," he says, since he told me to write that. Yeah, we haven't gotten much done so far this morning. It feels like the holiday has already started.

I bought my plane ticket home for Christmas this morning from Hotwire, since at $208 the ticket was almost $100 cheaper than anything else I could find. Of course you don't find out the airline or schedule until after you purchase the ticket, and so now I get to fly from Houston to Charlotte via...Chicago O'Hare. Um. Ok. Whatever.

On a blog-related note, I've been asked by two different people recently whether the little subject line ditties are something I make up, or something else. Unfortunately, I'm not that creative, people. They're song lyrics. If you don't know what the song is but want to, you can leave a comment and ask. Though today's should be pretty obvious.

Monday, November 22, 2004

try to remind myself that I was happy here /
before I knew that I could get on a plane and fly away

This weekend was weird. Maybe it was the gray and drizzly weather, maybe it was because last week at work was odd with my training class and everything, maybe it's because I'm just a weird person, but I just felt off. Defeated. Sad. Down. Whatever. Especially yesterday, when I stayed in bed until 3:00. I got up for a bowl of cereal, and when my dad called, but other than that I just lounged in bed, reading. It was lovely, but didn't make me feel any less blah.

I finally dragged myself out of my pajamas for a three mile run. I'd been planning to do a long run yesterday, but just couldn't summon the motivation. I'm glad I was able to force a short run though, and at a pretty decent pace as it turned out -- under 11:00 per mile for the second run in a row. I'll run tomorrow night, do the Turkey Trot 10K on Thursday, and do a 14-15 miler next weekend. The 30K is the weekend after that.

What else? Well, Friday night I played soccer on a field that was more like a swamp, and got eaten alive by mosquitos. The games I was supposed to ref on Saturday morning got cancelled due to the ongoing monsoon, so I slept in before hitting the grocery store, making my sweet potatoes, going to see Bridget Jones 2 with Jen (Colin Firth, sigh), coming home to finish off the potatoes with some marshmellows, and going to the Thanksgiving dinner at Brienne's. Everything was very yummy, even if the social situation was as self-segregated as a middle school dance. Weird. Yesterday was loafing, a run, dinner at Mely's, and a movie.

Today is still gray and rainy, and I still feel blah.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

"Drip...drip...drip" says the still-unfixed leak

"Drip...drip...drip" says the still-unfixed leak in my roof, as the rain continues.

I am supposed to go for a long run today, but I'm not feeling up for it and my heart just ain't in it. The rain is just a convenient excuse. It's gonna be one of those days.

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Brienne and Sara are having

Brienne and Sara are having their annual pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving tonight, where we all get together and have Thanksgiving dinner before most people leave town to celebrate the actual holiday with their family. I'm bringing sweet potatoes, of course, because they are and have always been my favorite Thanksgiving food.

Today, I discovered that my home state of North Carolina provides 40% of the country's sweet potatoes.

How appropriate. Yum yum!

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Type each single letter of

Type each single letter of the alphabet in the address bar of your browser and list something that the auto-complete function pulls up.

A is for Absolute Soccer ref uniforms.
B is for Backpacker Magazine.
C is for Chromasia.
D is for Daily Snap.
E is for Ebay.
F is for Flickr.
G is for Geocaching.
H is for Heather Champ.
I is for ING New York City Marathon.
J is for James Glenn Foundation's list of Houston area road races.
K is for Karen Thibodeaux Sports Photography.
L is for Lance Armstrong.
M is for Macromedia.
N is for NASA Youth Soccer.
O is for On The Run.
P is for photo.saroy.net.
Q is for NY Times article query.
R is for REI.
S is for Sara Lovering.
T is for Ten Years of my Life.
U is for US Soccer.
V is for verba.chromogenic.net.
W is for the weather.
X is for ...nothing.
Y is for Yuri's Night Houston.
Z is for Zackvision, the source of this game.

Friday, November 19, 2004

I'll hold your hand / if you hold mine / when it all comes down

It's my last day of Photoshop class. Look, I made Pauld into a Polaroid!

He's so cute. It's really a shame he never emailed back.

Anyway. I went on a run last night since 1) I needed to run and 2) softball was cancelled due to the monsoon earlier in the week. I did two laps out at the Gilruth. The first lap wasn't so good -- legs hurting, etc, etc. The second lap was much better. There was an older guy about 30-40 feet in front of me who seemed to be going at a reasonable pace, so I decided to try to stay just behind him. I did that for about a mile and a half, and then picked up the pace enough to pass him and finish the lap a minute or so ahead of him. I was really crusing along at the end, and ended up averaging 10:59 (under 11:00!!) per mile for the whole 5.8 mile run. That made my evening.

This afternoon I start training for a new task I have at work -- being the NSE (NASA Subsystem Engineer?) for contingency aborts. I am a little apprehensive, as I'm getting the impression from the guy at USA that he is not at all excited about having to train me. He's been fairly incommunicado via email, and already hasn't been giving me the information I ask for, i.e. where his desk is! I don't work in his building, rarely go over there, and don't know my way around the maze of cubicles at 600 Gemini. The first time I asked where I should meet him (and suggested he give me detailed directions), he didn't answer the question at all. The second time, he answered by saying that he sits right next to where Angela sits. Um, ok. I know Angela, but again, have no clue where she sits. So I wrote back again and said, I don't know where she sits, can you clue me in? And he writes back again and says "You have a badge, right? Just come upstairs."

What the hell?? I haven't been over to the building much, but I've been there once or twice, which was enough to show me that "upstairs" is a maze of cubicles. What am I supposed to do -- just wander around until I see his name on a cubicle? (Oh, and since I've never met him, I don't know what he looks like.) I hope the entire training process isn't going to be as much of a struggle as finding out where his desk is has been.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Blogthings - You Are From Mars

You Are From Mars

You're energetic, althletic, and totally hyperactive. You love playing sports and being in the middle of all of the action. You're independent, corageous, and brave. Unafraid to do things your way. Mars can be reckless, quick tempered, and a little too spontaneous. So think before you act - and resist your natural urges to dominate others.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

January's just around the corner / I know that you'll be back by then

I have been drinking way too much Starbucks this week. That's what happens when I'm in training classes. But the pumpkin spice latte and the peppermint mocha are so yummy! At least I get them without whipped cream -- that makes them sort of less unhealthy, right?

Ok, without further adieu, I'm finally ready to mention the new website I've been working on -- photo.saroy.net. I'd been thinking about starting a photoblog for a while, mainly because 1) I like photos and love looking at other people's photoblogs and 2) I thought I could take better pictures than some of them. ;) Getting the new camera a month ago finally spurred me to work on it. So there it is. The plan is to post a new photo every day, of whatever I happen to feel like posting, or whatever I've been taking pictures of lately.

I may still add a few things to the site, but for now, it's pretty much complete. I should also say that I'm a little sensitive about it, so if you think it's stupid, I'd rather not know.

Softball is, of course, rained out for tonight after the deluge of the past couple days, so I have another free evening. This week has been full of free evenings, and I love it. Tonight I can watch The O.C., woohoo! ;)

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

I don't mind spending every day / out on your corner in the pouring rain

So I'm sitting on the couch just now watching the end of the final game of the World Cup qualifying semis for the US men's team, when...

"Drip...drip...drip...drip...drip...drip..."

My roof is leaking! As in, seriously leaking. As in, huge trash can under the leak instead of small bowl. As in, the leak is above the fluorescent light fixture in the kitchen so the water leaked into the light fixture and pooled on the plastic cover until the plastic cover couldn't hold the weight anymore and the water began pouring out onto my stove. That kind of leak.

So I called the apartment complex overnight phone answering people (complicated, anyone?) and told them to let the maintenance guys know ASAP tomorrow morning. They're gonna have fun fixing it, and I mean that in the completely sarcastic sense of the word. I have no idea where the leak actually is, because it's behind the light fixture. I managed to take down the wooden frame and the plastic cover, but the light fixture itself (which is ~2x2 feet square) is made of metal and has four fluorescent bulbs and is still firmly attached to the ceiling. The water's just working it was around the edges.

This is when I'm glad I live in an apartment instead of a house. Someone else will fix it for me! For "free!"

The US tied Jamaica 1-1. On to the qualifying finals, then to Germany in 2006!

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

no I would not sleep in this bed of lies / so toss me out and turn in

I came back to Photoshop class today after it went ok yesterday afternoon (I learned a few things they glazed over in the beginner class), and today is looking up as well. The guy brought a book he had at home for me to work from! Woohoo. The book is for an older version of Photoshop and the sample images aren't around anymore, so I'm using Google to find images similar to those the exercises in the book show.

Ooh -- in searching for a similar image, I found the webpage for the book! (The guy told me it didn't exist anymore.) It has all the original sample images! Rock on!

The guy teaching this class has a cool job. He's my age, studied fine arts in college, and now works for Pat Rawlings doing 3D animation. I want his job!

I went for a run last night, and it was quite possibly the worst run of my entire life. My legs were heavy, they were sore, they burned. It was not pretty, but I forced myself though three miles (had hoped for six) in a run/walk combination to "get the lead out" from Sunday's big 25K. I'll try again tonight, if the rain lets up. This morning it was pouring and the water level in the bayou was high. Rain, rain, rain. It's been overcast since Saturday and is basically supposed to thunderstorm on and off till next Tuesday.

My poor jammed finger is still all puffy. I'm ready to be able to make a fist again, darn it.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

up on the shore they work all day / out in the sun they slave away

I'm in another training class that lasts the rest of the week, but already I'm realizing that I may not be staying. We're currently waiting for a few more people to show, but the instructor just handed out the textbook and I glanced through it. Hmm. It's the same textbook we used for the Photoshop - Beginner class, and this is supposed to be Photoshop - Intermediate. Now, there are a few chapters at the end that we didn't get to in the first class, but those couple chapters ain't gonna take four days.

I really hope this isn't a repeat of the last class.

Yesterday my boss surprised me by saying that there's a new task in our group, and wondering if I'm interested. Of course I said yes. I don't really know what the job involves -- it's being a "subsystem engineer" for a particular part of the shuttle's flight, the return-to-launch-site abort -- but I would be an idiot to turn down the opportunity to do something even slightly new. I basically have no footprint stuff to do right now, and since I'm only allowed to charge ~10 hours per week to Mars stuff, I'm bored out of my skull. This will give me something new, and something to train for. I'm deathly afraid that it will end up being more sim work (I already know I'm going to have to learn two, possibly three new software tools), but at the moment it's better than nothing.

Last night Becca and I finally got to meet the "famous" Will, Cari's friend from ISU. He was in town for a job interview, and got an offer, so we all hope he takes it and moves here so we can stop stalking him through his blog and can instead stalk him in person. ;)

Ok, the guy just started the class and SIGH, the other three people have never taken a Photoshop class, and the guy really does intend on starting from the beginning of the textbook. This is supposed to be an intermediate class, and it's going to be exactly the same as the beginning class. This is such a pet peeve of mine, because it's wasting my time and JSC's money. JSC Training needs a serious overhaul.

Monday, November 15, 2004

Create your own superhero!

Create your own superhero!

Monday, November 15, 2004

uno, dos, tres, catorce / hello, hello (hola!)

Why does the new U2 song start out "1, 2, 3, 14" anyway? Catchy, but weird.

What a weekend -- I feel (and in some ways, look) like someone used me as a punching bag. My right ring finger is still swollen and bruised after jamming it during Saturday's goalkeeper practice with Matt and Josh, my left index finger is sore after being bent backward during the game last night, the goose egg on my ankle has turned a lovely shade of purple, my kicking foot is bruised from one too many goal kicks taken between Saturday's practice and last night's game, and my quads and gluts are tight and sore, sore, sore from the 25K yesterday.

Oh, and my arms are sore from who knows what.

My stint as goalkeeper went about as well as I could've expected. We lost the game 3-0. One of the goals was completely legitimate; it was a one-on-one situation, me versus a good striker. In that situation, a good forward always wins, and she did, popping the ball into the back corner of the net. The other two goals were miffs on my part. Oh well. They scored all three in the first half, but I played much better in the second half and didn't let anything past me.

The 25K went better than expected, which is a major relief. I finished in 2:54:07 for an average pace of 11:14 per mile. Even more encouraging was the fact that I ran miles 3-12 at a flat 11:00 pace. I took the first couple miles slower, and once I passed the half marathon mark and started setting a new personal distance record with every step, it was as if my legs suddenly went "hey...what are you doing??...we've never gone this far before...whoa, whoa, whoa!...we're not sure we like this!..." So my last few miles were slower as well, and by the last mile I'd fallen to 12:00 pace.

But overall I'm happy with the outcome. My goal pace for the full marathon is 11:00 miles (which would be a 4:48 marathon), and with 2 months still to train, it just might happen. The weather was perfect for running, in my opinion anyway -- overcast and about 55 degrees. A little too windy, but oh well.

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Reffing this morning was really

Reffing this morning was really fun. I did three games, one boys and two girls, all U-8. I was surprised by the skill level -- a few of the little kids were actually pretty good with the ball. There's still a tendency to play magnet ball (everyone follow the ball in one big clump), but not too bad. I made a few mistakes as ref, but overall I think it went well. It helped to have an assessor there -- he watched me do the first game, and we talked afterward about what I did right and wrong. He left at that point, and I was on my own for the next two games.

After the kids' games, Matt and Josh met me at the fields to help me get a bit of practice at playing goalkeeper before I have to play there tomorrow night. It turns out that playing keeper is harder than I thought, especially when Matt and Josh are firing balls at you at top speed. Sheesh! Tomorrow night may be a disaster. I could usually catch the slower ones, but when they really ripped it, it was all I could do to merely overcome the instinct to duck, much less actually catch the ball without it rebounding. After a while, Josh ripped a good one and I jammed my right ring finger trying to catch it. Ow ow ow OOOWWWWW. It hasn't turned any funny colors yet, but the knuckle's swollen to almost twice the size it should be.

I practiced punting as well, without wearing my shin guards with their lovely ankle padding, so I gave myself a nice goose egg on my ankle.

So now I have a jammed finger, a goose egg on the top of my ankle, and probably some other bruises that haven't appeared yet -- just in time for tomorrow's 25K in the marathon warmup series. Ugh! I do too much, I know. I'm starting to have doubts about doing the marathon, but will withhold judgment until I see how tomorrow goes.

Friday, November 12, 2004

remember / I will still be here / as long as you hold me / in your memory

I just had the most vivid "God I miss that" moment, and it's all Carter's fault for posting one of Alex's emails. I don't know how he could skip football season when every week you get to hang out with these crazy awesome people:

All,
The headcount I have based on your [half-assed] responses is approx. 22. Here is the breakdown:
Alex +1 (Beer+Cokes+Liquor=Good Times)
Chris (Smart ass comments from the peanut gallery. Are you coming or not?!)
Brad +3 (Publix veggie tray+Beer+Lots of school spirit)
Michael (7 Layer Dip+Chips+No ticket+Disturbing stories about kissing his...we won't go there)
Iffy (Iffy; as in questionable)
CatBryan (Ham Roll-ups[For the love of God, no mayo!]+Oatmeal cookies)
Liz (Boiled Peanuts+Chocolate chip cookies)
Cyndi (Mystery dish, hopefully not made out of fried chicken and/or beer)
Angie +2 (Chick-fil-a party tray+An as of yet to be determined desert)
Erik +a couple, maybe (Additional beer, maybe)
Kathryn (Side dish of her choosing)
Brian +1 (The lasagne I graciously offered in week 1+Bread)

I'm always lamenting leaving California, it's true that I miss Stanford terribly. But living in Harris during my fourth year at Georgia Tech was my best year of college. Rooming with Courtney, sharing a suite with Leila, having Alex and Josh across the hall, Iffy dropping by at random times, all the other guys on the long hall...

I could go on and on about all the crazy things we did that year, but instead I'll just say that living with great people makes life fun.

I had a nice day off yesterday. Slept in, went swimming with Becca and Buzz, messed around on the computer for a while, attempted a run. My legs hurt so much that I stopped after only two miles; I really need to figure out what's going on there and fix it before my training suffers any more. Dinner at Mely's and a soccer ref's meeting put me in a good mood, so I celebrated with Starbucks and watching celebrity poker (not my choice, but surprisingly gripping).

Coming up this weekend: soccer tonight, reffing tomorrow, 25K Sunday morning, and soccer Sunday night. I'm playing keeper, which I haven't played since that one time when I was 8. Anyone want to go kick balls at me sometime tomorrow so I can get some practice?

Thursday, November 11, 2004

It's 11:30 and I've only

It's 11:30 and I've only been up for a half hour. I love government holidays!

I was just surfing some of my favorite "blogs by people I don't know" and had a flashback moment. Dooce posted an entry about a Dr. Seuss book she's been reading to her baby, and as I read her entry, I realized she was speaking of Go Dog! Go!, one of my favorite books when I was little. The dogs, all moving fast, end up in a giant party at the top of a tree! So cool!

I loved that book.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

I'm just a girl / with good intentions / I don't cry / to get attention / most of the time

Last night I spoke to the area's soccer referee assignor (who also happens to own Mediterraneo, one of my favorite Clear Lake restaurants), and within two minutes of talking I'd already been assigned to ref three Under-8 games on Saturday morning. Talk about being thrown right into the fire! When I expressed a bit of hesitation because I've never reffed before, he told me to come to the local referees meeting tomorrow night and he'll go over the basics and introduce me to a veteran who will ref the games with me on Saturday.

So tomorrow I need to head to Friendswood to the soccer store and get a ref shirt and stuff. I'm a bit nervous -- not because of the kids, but because of the parents -- but it should be fun.

Nick finally got his new car today, a Toyota Prius that he ordered back in April. I was admittedly skeptical of the whole hybrid car idea, but he gave us the demonstration on coke break this afternoon, and it is really cool. It's got a power button instead of turning a key, a park button instead of a gear shift, GPS, the ability to pipe a cell phone through the car speakers and microphone, and a touch screen that controls basically everything. I drove it around the parking lot and was fascinated by watching the screen to find out whether it was running on battery or engine power. Yeah, so I should probably not get a Prius or I'd wreck it while watching the pretty screen.

Anyway. It's almost time to go home for the day, and oh! Tomorrow is a holiday! Hooray for Veteran's Day and hooray for the perks of being a government employee. I'm going to sleep late, go swimming, and veg out. I'll work a half day on Friday, then ahh, the weekend.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Sorry Everybody I could surf

Sorry Everybody

I could surf the gallery all day.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

I know, I won't cry / cause there is somebody somebody somebody waitin' for me / out in the rain

Time for more links. I should really write my blog entry before I browse my favorite news sites, eh?

There's an interesting article in the NY Times today about a guy who plays the pan flute. I think the article appealed to me because it made me remember Peru (ah, Peru) and the first bit describes how the guy took the journalist to a hardware store and twenty minutes later had built a pan flute out of PVC pipe. That is so cool.

There's also an article about supernovas that contains one of the best photo/illustration captions I've seen in a long time: "A three-billion-degree bubble of thermonuclear hell mushrooms upward through a star in the milliseconds of a supernova explosion. Sweeping around the star?s surface, the bubble could collide with itself, setting off a fatal detonation." Bubble of thermonuclear hell. (Noo-clee-ar, not noo-cue-ler.) That's awesome.

I love the Times. When I was at Stanford, Breakers had a subscription and I got to enjoy a good article or two every day when I ate lunch...at least when there weren't any Swedes, or Tibor, around to amuse myself with. I miss that.

I miss all of that. Chris is so lucky to be out there for a year. I can't wait to go see him for a weekend; it's hard to believe that by the time I go back for a visit, it will have been almost three years since I left California. Why I never made it out there to visit Jen is a big mystery. I guess I told myself I was using all my vacation (and money) on other trips. That was dumb. I'm always going to miss that place.

In the meantime, I'll keep trying to make peace with Houston. Now that the cool weather has arrived, I'm reminded of what I always forget from May till September -- I don't mind Houston that much when it's nice outside! I went for a run last night, 5k, and it wasn't too bad. Some pain in my legs again for the first mile and a half, but again, it disappeared after I got warmed up.

I'm thinking of switching blogging systems. I've been messing around with Movable Type for something else I'm working on, and it is so cool. Takes a bit of time and effort to understand how to use it effectively, but MT lends itself to tons of options that Blogger doesn't yet have.

And thus ends a very boring entry. Apologies all 'round.

Monday, November 08, 2004

who would have thought I'd ever let somebody get to me /
who would have thought I'd ever give a damn

GOOD: The Incredibles. We saw a late showing on Friday night, and it was fantastic. Great animation, great story, great characters, great jokes. Fantastic movie, highly recommended.

BAD: Before the movie, we'd planned to try the new Thai restaurant, but it was tiny and the wait was an hour long. Instead, we had to eat at Freebird's. Burritos aren't bad, but I was really in the mood for Thai.

GOOD: Jude Law. Yum.

BAD: Jude Law's new movie, Alfie, which we saw on Saturday night. Boring and pointless, with so much inner monologue that even Jude Law (yum) couldn't save it.

GOOD: Roger Clemens seems poised to win another Cy Young (his 7th) when they announce the award tomorrow.

BAD: "[Lance] Berkman suffered [a torn ACL] while running during the flag football game he played in late last week at Second Baptist Church. Berkman, who was not a member of a league, was simply filling in. "Someone just called up and said, 'We don't have a quarterback,'" Berkman said. Now the Astros may not have a right fielder, or at least the right fielder they want."

GOOD: I had a completely lazy weekend. I saw two movies, watched far too much TV, messed around on the computer for hours (working on a new project, tease tease), and played two soccer games. It only took two games with my new women's team to get promoted to sweeper, where I played last night. I love sweeper. Though next week I may end up playing goalie...

BAD: My coed team lost on Saturday in part because I played bad defense on a play against a girl who managed to score a goal.

GOOD: NBC aired a one-hour summary of the New York City Marathon yesterday, so I got to watch Paula Radcliffe redeem herself after having to drop out in Athens by winning the women's race, and Meb Keflezighi finish second in the men's race, the top finish for an American in a decade.

BAD: I couldn't run at their speed for even one mile. They are superhuman, I swear.

GOOD: Despite my incredible slowness, I can run pretty far. I did 11.3 miles on Friday night before dinner and the movie, which gives me a little more confidence for the 25K this weekend. Houston Marathon, here I come.

BAD: My throat hurts today, which is never a good sign. These long distance runs aren't going to hurt my muscles, they're just going to keep me constantly ill.

Friday, November 05, 2004

gotta meet the plane so I can get my monkey /
teach him to be cool but a little bit funky

Blogger has been really acting weird the past couple days. It seems to be ok now, so hopefully they've fixed the bug.

Not much to say. Last night I watched the season premiere of The O.C. (geez, love that stupid show) and played softball. Because of all the rain earlier in the week, Field 2, our normal field, was too wet. Instead, we played on Field 3, which wouldn't be a problem, except that it's a bigger field. The infield is bigger by about 5 feet along each baseline, and the outfield is about 40 feet deeper. The guys didn't have to reign in their swings as much, which led to two in-the-park home runs....for the other team. Sucked. After a great first inning (I had 2 RBIs!), we ended up losing 10-7. Ah well.

Tonight I'm doing a long training run, then meeting the gang for Thai food and a late showing of The Incredibles. Tomorrow I already have plans to see Jude Law, I mean Alfie, with Cari. I also have soccer tomorrow morning and Sunday night. Pretty much your standard weekend, eh?

Thursday, November 04, 2004

someday I'll fly / someday I'll soar

So I went to a meeting this morning where Rich and Gavin were explaining their past 18 months of work to the new chief of Mission Operations. The new guy is young and handsome. Is it wrong of me to use those two things as basis for liking him, without even knowing what he'll do as head of the directorate??

Because I totally am.

Oh well.

I had the best run in a while last night. I was going to do two Gilruth laps (5.8 miles), but with the weather finally having cooled off, I felt so good that I even added an extra mile and a half. I ran 7.3 in all, and felt great almost the entire time. My shins were hurting for the first mile and a half, but that is "normal" for me. If I run through the pain, it always goes away by mile 2. I think it's a little bit of a factor of jumping back into long distance running a bit too fast after basically not running all summer.

(Dad, no more lectures about the dangers of long distance running. I'm ok.)

I have decided, however, that next summer I should try to run at least a little more than I did this year. I ran more in summer 2003 than I did this year, and that's probably why last fall's training for the half marathon didn't get off to nearly as unpleasant a start as this year's training for the whole 26.2. By not running at all during the summer this year, I think I lost some of my ability to deal with the heat. I un-acclimated.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

I don't want you to feel sorry for me / you never gave us a chance to be

The networks are reporting that Kerry called Bush to concede. It's nice that the election was decided within 24 hours, but disappointing that Kerry lost. I'm actually more disappointed than I thought I'd be; I guess I cared about politics this year after all. Ew.

So I think my iPod is dying. It's acting weirder and weirder. Today all the buttons froze up and wouldn't respond to anything, not even a reset. I finally thought to hook it up to the computer, which seemed to set it straight and all the buttons started responding again. Considering the fact that it's only a year old, the weirdness leaves me a bit disillusioned with Apple; despite the numerous things I'd heard about iPods beginning to die around the 1-year mark, I hoped mine might defy the odds. The warranty expired a couple weeks ago, so I suppose I should have known it was coming.

In any case, it's working again, for now.

Becca, Jen, Lisa, Paul and I headed downtown through the drizzle last night to have dinner at Cafe Adobe (which our co-op had been raving about) and see A Chorus Line at the Hobby Center. Dinner was excellent, if a bit rushed because traffic sucked getting there. The show was a little disappointing though. I just didn't get into the story, and felt the whole thing moved really slowly. I hesitate to say it, but I was bored at times, and I'm not usually bored during musicals. Oh well. Singin' in the Rain is coming up and should be better.

Now I've just got to make it through another Wednesday.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

VOTE TODAY! You should vote.

VOTE TODAY!

You should vote. Yes, you. If you don't vote, you're an idiot. Ok, not really, but just vote, ok?

It's been a rainy 24 hours, but cool weather is finally (!!) working its way into Houston. I went for a run last night and it was actually pleasant. Cool breeze, no oppressive sun, no sweat in my eyes. Imagine that.

Monday, November 01, 2004

guess I'll circle / while I'm waiting / for my fuse to dry

I had another relaxing, calming weekend. A girl could get used to this. But with the holidays coming, I know it won't last. I feel like I need my weekends to be quiet and filled with nothing, two straight days of decompressing, in order to gear up for yet another week at work. It's just not right.

I played soccer Friday and last night. I'll leave it up to you to guess the outcome of the games. On Saturday night we went on a Haunted Tour of Galveston, which was entertaining, but left a little to be desired. I wanted to hear more actual history (that city is full of it) and more unexplained happenings and fewer hokey ghost stories and made-up science about why we can't see ghosts (but cameras can) and how electricity was generated in the late 1800s. At one point someone commented on the lemony smell that was filling the bus and as the tour leader started talking about how ghosts can manifest themselves in smells as well as orbs and ectoplasm, Matt and Stephanie sat giggling in their seat because the smell was from their home-brewed bug repellant.

(Yes, home-brewed bug repellant.)

We did visit a neat old hotel (though it's been renovated, rendering it less spooky) and an elaborate old cemetary, so that was neat. Unfortunately, the restaurant we'd planned on going to for dinner closed at 9:30, so we ended up at Denny's. It feels like I've been to the Denny's in Galveston a zillion times; somehow we always just end up there. Very odd, because let's face it, Denny's is not that good.

And today begins another long week. I can't believe it's already November; you wouldn't know it from the weather. I went running on Saturday morning around 10:30 and think I suffered mild heat exhaustion -- it was almost 90, with the sun beating down on me. Today, however, it's raining and the weathermen are promising that the long-awaited "first cold front of fall" is coming. I hope they're right.