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Monday, January 31, 2005

love is in the air

It never ceases to amuse me when I'm romantically linked to one of my guy friends.

My office is composed of 7 rooms, with about twice that many desks. There are 12 of us in the area -- 10 people in my group, a contractor manager, and his administrative assistant, Tracy. At the 5K on Saturday, Rich and I ran into the contractor manager who had also done the race.

Today he told Tracy that he'd seen us, and that there was apparently some inter-office dating going on between Rich and "that girl who sits on the other side of the wall from you."

I am amused.

Monday, January 31, 2005

oh I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener / that's what I'd like to be

For those who maintain that the Stanford mascot (a tree) is silly, I give you this picture, taken by Chris. After that, there can be no doubt that yes, the tree is incredibly silly.

Anyway. I had another nice weekend, dampened only by the gray skies and the threat of soggy weather. I saw Million Dollar Baby on Friday night with Melanie, Nick, Curt and Sara. Becca, Jen, Gavin, Cari and Lisa joined us for dinner afterwards. It's hard to describe the movie without giving away what happens, and to know the entire plot in advance would definitely take away some of the film's impact. I'll just say that it is well-written, well-acted, and powerful. It is realistic to the point of making the viewer uncomfortable, and while that sounds like a negative, in this case it works. When I went to bed on Friday night, I was still thinking about it. So, it was excellent, and I now understand why it's been nominated for so many awards. I haven't seen all the nomined flicks, but Hilary Swank is definitely deserving of her Best Actress nomination, and maybe a win.

Rich and I ran the Mardi Gras Beach Run 5K on Saturday morning in Galveston, but it turned out to more more like 4.5K. It was the first time I'd run since the marathon, and Rich is slowly getting back into it (the 4.5 miles he ran with me at the marathon is the farthest he's gone in a while), so we were taking it pretty slow. We passed mile 1 in a little over 11:00, and then passed mile 2 under 19:00. Wha...?!? Yeah, we'd sped up, but we did not reel off a sub-8:00 mile. We finished in 29:34 for my second fastest "5K" ever. 29:34 would be an average of 9:32/mile, and we were definitely not running that fast. So, mile 1 was correct in relation to the start line, and mile 2 was correct in relation to the finish line. But the turnaround point, located between miles 1 and 2, was obviously miscalculated, or mismarked.

While leaving the race, I happened to look down a side street and to my surprise, saw the Wienermobile!!! "Ohmygod, STOP THE CAR!" I shouted at Rich. Once he recovered from the shock, he circled the block so that I could get my picture taken with the Wienermobile. Sadly, the drivers were nowhere to be seen, so I couldn't ask to see inside or anything. But it was awesome. No one else seems to be nearly as excited about my seeing the Wienermobile except for my mom, who, when I called home and described it as "seeing a flash of orange and yellow, guess what it was" immediately answered "the Wienermobile!", and my sister, who also shares my amusement and remembers fondly the time we were at my grandmother's and laughed so hard we almost suffocated after seeing a Wienermobile commercial on TV.

My family rocks.

Saturday afternoon, Rich, Nacho, Katie, Fred, Becca and I headed to the Grand Chapiteau in the parking lot at Reliant Stadium to see Cirque du Soleil. Their Varekai show is in town, and it was amazing, as usual. The was the show that had its development chronicled in a Bravo series that I watched a few years ago, so it was neat to see the acts that I remember seeing on TV. Cirque du Soleil continuously amazes me with the incredible physical things people can do. The performers make things that I know must be horribly difficult look so easy, and so smooth and fluid. After the show, we had a great dinner at Star Pizza. Mmm.

Yesterday I had to spend a couple hours in the afternoon working on my paper, because the extended abstract is due today. The paper is for the AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Controls conference to be held in August in San Francisco, so I really hope that 1) the paper gets accepted and 2) I can get the travel money to go and present it.

Last night my women's team played our final soccer game of the season (the next season starts in March, so we don't have too long of a break). We lost the game, and I didn't have a great night, but oh well. Afterwards, we all went out and had Mexican food to celebrate the season. I had a great time. When my old women's team dissolved, I was afraid that I wouldn't find another team, or one that I could contribute as much to, but it ended up being a blessing in disguise. I love my new team. Sure, we still lose a lot, but we win every once in a while, and they are so much more fun to play with.

Sunday, January 30, 2005

I turned down a trip

I turned down a trip to the Sketchers outlet with Melanie because I'm working on a paper. I feel like I'm back in college.

It could be worse, though. I could be stuck inside by an ice storm, left with nothing to do but watch the entire first season of One Tree Hill and accidentally paint my butt by sitting on a paint can lid. If that sounds like your thing, you'll have to go elsewhere.

Friday, January 28, 2005

TiVo is awesome. I love

TiVo is awesome. I love it. I paused the TV last night just because I could. Ha HA!

I'm running a 5K tomorrow morning with Rich. It's good that he convinced me to sign up for it (yes, he convinced me, I can't remember the last time someone asked me to do a run, instead of me bugging them), because I need the motivation to get back out there. I haven't been a couch potato since the marathon, but I also haven't been running. Not even once. And this is bad, bad bad bad, because one of my goals for this year is to not lose all my running endurance over the summer like I did last year. See, I didn't want to run in the oppressive heat, which sounded like a good idea at the time but turned out to be a decision that I greatly regretted when I was first starting marathon training.

Anyway. I need to keep running at least a couple times a week. Though I do need to up my bike riding in preparation for the MS150 in April.

Carter and I were talking last night about publishing blogs. He wants his blog in book form, and I think it might be neat to have a copy of mine as well, but...come on, it's a blog, no one else would want a copy. Who wants to read a book of what I did every day, except me? I think there are probably plenty of places out there in internet-land that would allow me to publish my blog, but the cost is probably prohibitive unless you want to mass-produce the thing. Anyway. Interesting to think about.

Carter used My Publisher to make a great photo album for his parents. He had major problems actually getting the book to him, but I don't think it was My Publisher's fault; more of a problem in that Carter's mail delivery is weird, and he is cursed when dealing with the USPS. I've been thinking I should put together a "best of" book of Peru photos. Sit it on my coffee table and daydream about the Andes.

Thursday, January 27, 2005

I was just watching I

I was just watching I Love The 90's Part Deux: 1999 and they were talking about Lance Armstrong's first Tour de France victory, and joking about how the French must feel, having an American win.

VH1 commentator: "They're France. What are they gonna do? There's not much they can do at this point, other than hurl baguettes at him."

That mental image totally cracked me up.

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Jo asked me for help

Jo asked me for help with a cover letter. The first sentence she gave me was this one:

• Diagnosed culture and developed an action plan for change by initiating a NASA-specific program to asses culture.

"Jo?" I said. "You do realize that your first sentence says asses, right?"

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Apollo 1 ~ January

Apollo 1 ~ January 27, 1968
Challenger ~ January 28, 1986
Columbia ~ February 1, 2003

"This Thursday, NASA observes a Day of Remembrance honoring those members of the NASA Family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery. In their memory, NASA flags at Headquarters and every Center fly at half-staff...

At NASA, we recognize the risks inherent in what we do on a day-to-day basis. It is our highest priority to ensure the safety of all of our employees, and when tragedy occurs, every one of us feels it deeply. Since the earliest days of the Agency, none of our greatest triumphs have been achieved without great struggle and sacrifice. But it is our responsibility to ensure that those sacrifices were not made in vain.

Not a single day goes by in which we do not think of our valiant colleagues lost in this great quest that we pursue. I remain extremely proud of the NASA Family's efforts to honor their colleagues' remarkable legacy through an unwavering commitment to enhance mission safety and to keep pioneering the space frontier.

Thus it is that today we mark this solemn occasion with great hope for the future. A living memorial to our colleagues' legacy will be our continued focus on the Vision for Space Exploration, which will take human explorers back to the Moon and then on to other worlds beyond our own.

In 2004, President Bush observed, "Exploration is not an option we choose. It is a desire written in the human heart. We are that part of creation which seeks to understand all creation. We find the best among us, send them forth into unmapped darkness and pray they will return. They go in peace for all mankind, and all mankind is in their debt."

We know that we can never repay the debt we owe all of our fallen colleagues, but with those hopeful words in our heart, we can honor their legacy each and every day."

We just went outside to watch the brief memorial, which ended with T-38s flying the missing man formation. The plane that pulled up quickly disappeared into the cloudy, rainy sky.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Those who know me should

Those who know me should realize by now that I love technology. Though I always try to fight it when it first arrives, I end up embracing it. A timeline:

November 1999: I write an editorial about the evils of ICQ. I write this article...while I use the damn chat program on an hourly basis.

December 2000: After declaring loudly and on multiple occasions that I would never get a cell phone and don't understand how they're all that useful...I buy a cell phone. And it basically hasn't left my side since. And I'm not even a phone person.

October 2001: I convince myself that because of my small dorm room and small desk, I must have a flat panel monitor. (Though to be fair, the monitor I had previously was from 1996 and about 14 inches.) Somebody told me that flat panel monitors only last a couple years, but mine is still going strong.

May 2002: I buy a digital camera. I don't know why I was so behind the curve on this one, really. The digital camera is perhaps my favorite technological device developed, well, in my lifetime thus far.

September 2002: I sell my digital camera to buy a better digital camera.

January 2003: I get rid of my cell phone to get a better cell phone. One with a camera. Everything is better with a camera.

January 2004: I sell my DVD player to buy a Playstation 2, which works as a DVD player and lets me play Dance Dance Revolution. Bonus.

February 2004: I sell my old cell phone to get a better cell phone. One with a better camera.

March 2004: I buy a GPS handheld receiver. So I can go on high-tech treasure hunts and get stung by bees. I have a great sense of direction, but hey, you can never be too sure.

April 2004: I buy a new desktop, just so it can run my software faster.

October 2004: I buy a far better digital camera, but this time I don't even bother to get rid of the old one. Two cameras are better than one, right?

March 2004: Becca and Nick's liberal use of their TiVo to (gasp!) pause live television during the Academy Awards results in me yelling a lot, and generally not being able to handle live TV being paused. The horror.

December 2004: I buy my dad image-stabilized binoculars for Christmas. I now want image-stabilized binoculars, because come on, have you seen how cool they are?

January 2005: I buy a TiVo. Later that day, I surf eBay for a new cell phone with an even better camera.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

I'm tired. Seriously tired. And

I'm tired. Seriously tired. And it's all because I'm stupid.

See, I started this photoblog. Then I started surfing photoblogs.org, and now have a favorites folder of at least 40 sites that I like to look at each night. Then I got an email from a local photo guy inviting me to join his Texas Photo Forum. And now I'm thinking of starting a site similar to these two. All that, and I'm not even that great a photographer. Funny.

Anyway, what it all means is that I'm finding myself on the computer at home surfing the web and doing website tweaks for multiple hours each night. And my sleep suffers. (Saying that is going to drive my dad crazy.) Something's gotta give.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

You Are a Peacemaker

You Are a Peacemaker Soul

You strive to please others and compromise anyway you can. War or conflict bothers you, and you would do anything to keep the peace. You are a good mediator and a true negotiator. Sometimes you do too much, trying so hard to make people happy. While you keep the peace, you tend to be secretly judgmental. You lose respect for people who don't like to both give and take. On the flip side, you've got a graet sense of humor and wit. You're always dimplomatic and able to give good advice. Souls you are most compatible with: Warrior Soul, Hunter Soul and Visionary Soul

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

I wasn't going to do

I wasn't going to do this, but I've seen too many other people actually getting free iPods. I'm willing to try it. To get a free 40GB iPod Photo, I need 10 people to follow this link:

http://www.freephotoiPods.com/?r=14429074

and sign up for one of the offers. Yes, the point is to get you to sign up for stuff you don't want, but if you're smart you can avoid it. I suggest signing up for the Complete Home trial (it will cost you $1, then you stay a member for at least 7 days, cancel within 30 days with no penalty, and get a $20 Lowe's gift card) or Netmarket (similar deal, $1 to start, stay for at least 7 days, then cancel within 30 and you won't get charged any more).

If you're concerned about potential spam from whatever email address you give them, let me know and I can set you up an email address on my server and I'll deal with the spam for you! What a deal, eh?

So. We'll see if this works or not. And if I manage to get a free iPod Photo, I'll let you play with it. ;)

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

All three forms I needed

All three forms I needed to do my taxes came in the mail yesterday, so I did my return last night. I was hoping for a bit of a refund, but it wasn't meant to be. I owe $96. Yuck.

The other day I got an email from Friendster saying I had a new person requesting to be my friend. Turns out it was Laura, a friend from high school that I haven't spoken to in years. Through her profile, I also found another high school friend who is apparently a jazz flutist in southern California now. This was most interesting to me because "back in the day" we were always battling it out for the higher chair in band. Our band was fortunate enough to have some pretty good flutists; Becky and I were usually fighting to settle 3rd and 4th chair because 1st and 2nd were taken by Nancy and Laura. By senior year though, if I remember correctly, Becky (or I guess she goes by Rebecca now) was getting more serious and took over 2nd chair while I stuck with 3rd and Laura went to 4th. Becky went on to Illinois to study music, while I headed to Tech and gave up any hope of ever having a music career. There was a time I thought about being a music major, but I don't think it would have been the right thing for me.

Anyway. Maybe this Friendster thing is useful after all...

Thinking of old high school friends sent me to Google, where I searched for a few people I remember and would be interested in hearing from. It's was a mostly fruitless process, which made me realize how large the gap still is between those who are "online" and those who aren't except for occasional email. Search for my name and you'll get 366 results. Nine of the ten on the first page are me. 8/10 on the second page. 9/10 on the third page. 7/10 on the fourth page. Et cetera.

It's true that I 1) have a fairly unique name and 2) have not changed my name (i.e. gotten married), which makes it a lot easier than it is to find someone like, say, my friends Andrew Holmes (common name) or Cayce Denton (has her husband's name now) on the web. (I still keep in touch with them though, so it's ok.) But the point is that I am an extremely easy person to find, should any of my old high school friends think of me. They, on the other hand, are much harder to track down. I'm tempted to attribute this difference to the fact that I became an engineer and therefore use computers on a daily basis, while none of my other high school friends followed a career path quite as technical.

Then of course there are the people who find me, like Elizabeth, or Eli, who was a friend in middle school that I lost track of when we went to separate high schools. Eli, if you're reading this, know that I've been meaning to email you for more than a year, seriously, but I am just that lazy!!

Anyway. Just thinking.

Monday, January 24, 2005

My entire weekend was a

My entire weekend was a refreshing reminder that there are parts of Houston that I really enjoy. Living down in the suburbs, I forget that the older parts of the city are much more unique, and have personality. Clear Lake is so...cookie cutter, and somehow washed out; the summer sun and hot weather combined with the strip malls and asphalt and scrubby trees make the entire place feel tired and burnt. But the older areas of town that I drove through on Saturday and Sunday, the areas around Rice and Memorial Park and Tanglewood, are so quaint and quiet and tree-lined and pretty. I felt like I left the Houston I've become used to and found the Houston that made people come here in the first place. It was nice.

Monday, January 24, 2005

Slightly weird: last Monday while

Slightly weird: last Monday while playing Trivial Pursuit 90s Edition, we had a debate over whether Johnny Carson was alive or not. None of use could remember for certain, but we finally decided that he was. And now he's not. Call it a Trivial Pursuit premonition. Spooky.

I had a very, very busy weekend and am paying for it today with sleepy eyes and a sore throat. But it was great. Let's begin...

I stayed home on Friday night as has become a habit lately. I don't mind going out, but I also like to relax and unwind from the week. I worked on some web stuff (redesign of this page that will hopefully happen within the next couple weeks) and watched some TV. Alas, I did not do any cleaning and my apartment is suffering for it.

Saturday I woke up early for swimming with Buzz. She had already done 5 laps by the time I got there and ended up doing 20 total, so I squeezed in 21 while she did her final 15. A year ago, I could've done at least 30 laps in the time it took her to do those 15. She has really improved -- it's awesome.

After satisfying a Chik-Fil-A craving for lunch, and feeling aimless and not sure what to do with the rest of my day, I headed out with the intent of going to RunSport to pick up my mug from the marathon warm-up series. It seemed silly to drive all the way up into town just to get a mug and come back home, so I decided to just see where the day would take me. I didn't have any plans for that night, but was thinking of crashing Jo's hula performance after all. (She takes lessons at a dance studio in town, and the studio was doing an informal show that night. I hadn't RSVPed because I'm an ambivalent RSVPer.) After picking up my mug I decided to see what REI had on sale. Got a couple shirts and a couple pairs of socks, as well as some little climbing people magnets that I put on my bookshelf at work. This is what happens when I go to stores without a specific shopping list -- I end up buying random stuff. Just wait till you see what happened next.

From REI, since I was already way over on that side of town, I decided to hit my version of heaven on Earth: IKEA. I hadn't been since they opened a new, larger store and of course I wasn't disappointed. I went for a shelf and I left with:

• A small rug.
• Two magazine filing racks.
• Two blue paper storage boxes.
• Two pieces of bamboo.
• Two "knick-knack" shelves.
• Two paper lanterns.
• Two light fixtures to go with the lanterns.
• Oh yeah -- the large shelf that was the idea behind the trip in the first place.

I do love that place. Because I am weird and the idea seemed like fun and I "take a lot of pictures" according to Becca, I documented my trip to heaven with my camera phone, which is available for your viewing pleasure HERE.

Before hitting IKEA, however, I had decided that I wanted to go to Jo's hula performance that night after all. I called Nick to find out the plan, and Ansley was sick and not using her ticket, so I could have it for cheaper than buying one at the door. Perfect, except they weren't meeting for dinner until 6:00, and it was only 5:00. No time to go back to Clear Lake, so I drove downtown to Tranquility Park and took some photos of the park and the neat statue outside the Hobby Center while the sun went down. I met the hula-going gang for dinner at a great restaurant right on Main Street next to the light rail line.

From dinner we headed to Jo's performance. We had to sit through a lot of belly dancing (which I enjoyed, though many others didn't) but got to see Jo perform three different hulas. She was great! I should get her to teach me some. There was also a tap dancer there who was very good; he teaches a hip hop class on Saturdays as well, so I'll have to go with Jo sometime. Pictures from the performance are HERE. If you, like Becca, feel like I took too many, then 1) get over it and 2) use the slideshow feature, as it allows for quicker viewing. A quick trip to Amy's Ice Cream after the show capped off a great Saturday.

Yesterday was again busy -- I spent the afternoon interviewing high school seniors for the President's Scholarship at Georgia Tech. This was the second year I've been able to help out, and it was a lot of fun. I saw six students in all, and a couple of them were just thoroughly impressive. I'm lucky I got the scholarship when I did; I get the feeling it's a lot more competitive this days, and I have serious doubts I could snag one if I had to apply today. Seriously impressive teenagers.

I ended the weekend with a soccer game last night, which we WON. Yeah! We won!

Sunday, January 23, 2005

My dad eats some of

My dad eats some of the weirdest concoctions ever seen, usually involving multiple canned vegetables. I make fun of him for it constantly.

I came home tonight from soccer and didn't want to cook. It was late, and I have no food. (Being averse to going to the grocery store, as I am, has the side effect of me never really having any food. I must fix this. All the eating out I've done lately is making me gain weight. Boooooo.)

Anyway -- I get home, no food, hmm, what to eat? I look in the pantry, look around on the counter, and finally end up with a can of black beans, a can of sweet peas, and a couple tortillas. Black beans and peas get mixed together and nuked, and eaten in a tortilla. As I finished my "dinner" I suddenly thought about Dad.

From him I inherited thick hair, my oddly curved ring toes (or whatever you call the toe next to your pinky toe), a goofy sense of humor and, apparently, the ability to make an entire meal from a can and a tortilla.

Thanks Dad.

Friday, January 21, 2005

APOD's photo for today is,

APOD's photo for today is, again, amazing. The Opportunity rover, which is still going strong on the surface of Mars despite the fact that its designed lifespan ended months ago, has doubled back and to find its own heat shield.

And on Titan, out there orbiting Saturn, scientists have determined from Huygens probe data that the surface is covered with ice ridges and seas of liquid natural gas. The entire moon is flammable! However, "There's no source of oxygen available, which is a good thing or Titan would have exploded a long time ago," said Toby Owen in a CNN article.

The space program is freaking amazing.

I got a few of the "official" race photos from the marathon and posted them in the race gallery. I don't know why I continue to post unflattering pictures of me running, but ah well.

This week has flown past. I've been a bit more inspired about my work lately, which has resulted in me putting in a few extra hours here and there. I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to determining whether this neural net abort determination stuff has any chance of being included on a mission.

I'm looking forward to a quiet Friday night and an early bedtime in an attempt to shake the touch of a cold I currently have. I really want to see The Aviator, but don't want to go out tonight. I'll probably rent something instead.

Roger Clemens is set to sign a new one-year contract with the Astros, for a record sum of >$17.5 million. It will be nice to have him back for another season, but in the meantime, Jason and I have decided not to renew our season tickets...at least for this year. With Chris out in California for the year, we'd have to move seats (to worse seats) and would obviously only be buying two seats, which is not as desirable as three for multiple reasons. There's also the fact that Jason stands to be unavailable for at least a copule weeks during the summer if the shuttle launches as scheduled, because he'll be working the flights.

So we decided to forego season tickets this year and take our chances. The major disadvantage of not getting season tickets is that come postseason, if the 'Stros are in, we won't be guaranteed tickets and will have to fend for ourselves. I anticipate getting season tickets again when Chris is back in 2006.

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Cool -- someone created a

Cool -- someone created a Houston Running Blog. It would inspire me to go out for a jog tonight...if I didn't feel all stuffy and stiff. I'm fighting off the beginnings of the post-marathon cold that I hoped wouldn't come. After getting so sick after the Austin Half last year, I was very careful to get good rest on Monday and Tuesday. But for the past two days I've had that achy feeling. Here's hoping it doesn't become a full-blown cold.

Matt send out a good article yesterday on the new federal Dietary Guidelines:

"Americans need is to be told outright: Stop drinking so much Coke. People don't think in terms of ingredients. Most consumers don't even buy ingredients anymore because they don't cook. We think in terms of packaged-food brand names and fast-food menu items. Imagine dietary guidelines that said: Stop eating Big Macs, Doritos and Oreos. Those are recommendations most Americans could understand, but not ones we are likely to hear. Until people are told the entire truth, instead of meaningless messages such as "eat less," the nation's health will continue to suffer."

...but I like Coke...

Anyway. I don't have a whole lot to say at the moment, so I'll cut it short.

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Oh my. JibJab, the makers

Oh my. JibJab, the makers of the hilarious "This Land is Your Land" Bush/Kerry video, are back with "Second Term." Not as good as This Land, but still funny.

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

I love stats, so I

I love stats, so I investigated some more from my marathon.

The webpage has updated their times a bit and my chip time now reads 4:58:48 (as opposed to the 4:58:14 it said earlier). My watch read 4:58:49 and I'd just assumed that the chip would be more accurate and that I'd started my watch a bit early and stopped it a bit late. Turns out my watch is right, which I'm happy about. It would suck if my watch lost 30 seconds per 5 hours.

Anyway. My overall pace was 11:23 per mile but I went back and looked at my split times, curious to see how consistently I ran. I found a few interesting things. While I thought my most difficult miles were ~21-24, my times show that I was moving slowest from ~19-23. My fastest portion wasn't the beginning, but instead was second "quarter" of the race, from the 10k to half marathon marks.

0-5k       | 0-3.1 mi       | 34:51   | 11:14/mile
5-10k      | 3.1 - 6.2 mi   | 34:53   | 11:15/mile
10k-HALF   | 6.2 - 13.1 mi  | 1:16:13 | 11:03/mile
HALF-30k   | 13.1 - 18.6 mi | 1:02:57 | 11:27/mile
30-37k     | 18.6 - 23 mi   | 52:44   | 12:09/mile
37k-FINISH | 23 - 26.2 mi   | 37:10   | 11:25/mile
TOTAL      | 26.2 mi        | 4:58:48 | 11:23/mile

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Often, the blogs posted under

Often, the blogs posted under the "noteworthy" heading on the Blogger main page are crappy, in my opinion. But Ward-O-Matic caught my eye today, especially this entry about character animation in The Polar Express. Interesting to see what a big difference tiny changes can make when making an animated movie.

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

I signed up yesterday to

I signed up yesterday to ride the MS150 from Houston to Austin again. I need to raise at least $400 to participate, and have added a link to the right side of this page that you can visit if you'd like to donate. The majority of the money goes to the National MS Society, so it's a good cause.

Marathon recovery continues for me here in H-town. My legs were feeling almost normal again last night, with little of the soreness remaining even when going down stairs. But this morning I woke up feeling very stiff. Not sore, just stiff. I need a massage.

Cari took a video of me running past them and Rich joining me just before mile 22. You can watch it here. (It's about 10MB, so keep that in mind if you decide to watch.)

Here are a few more pictures (all of them I've collected so far can be seen in the gallery).

Hamming it up (with Apache watching attentively) at mile 11:

Leaving Becca, Cari, and mile 11 behind as I jog past Rice:

Passing Edgar and Betsy at mile 20:

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Today's APOD (Astronomy Picture of

Today's APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) is awesome. Eight kilometers above Titan. Wow.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

A couple pictures from Sunday

A couple pictures from Sunday at ~21.5 miles, courtesy of Becca...

Buzz:

Ron (having a bad day):

Me! (feeling tired):

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Your Dominant Intelligence is

Your Dominant Intelligence is Spatial Intelligence

You've got a good sense of space and how the world around you looks. You can close your eyes and "see" images. You have innate artistic talent. An eye for color and shapes, you're also a natural designer. Since you think in pictures, visual aids and demonstartions help you learn best. You would make a good navigator, sculptor, visual artist, inventor, architect, interior designer, or engineer.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

The Chronicle posted an interesting

The Chronicle posted an interesting article today about possible legal and ethical issues surrounding Scott Boras's negotiating tactics:

"There are now at least two reported incidents of Boras' allegedly deceiving the baseball teams with whom he has negotiated. Boras apparently told the Texas Rangers in 2000 that he had obtained an offer for star shortstop Alex Rodriguez for at least $200 million, but according to Atlanta Braves General Manager John Schuerholz, the highest offer at the time was the Braves' $150 million...

In the last few weeks, Boras repeatedly told media outlets, and apparently the Astros, that he had five Beltran offers for at least $100 million. In fact, the Chronicle, ESPN and others have confirmed that only the Astros and Mets ever bid as much, and the Mets at the point of Boras' first utterance of this claim had apparently not even made their initial offer...

If these reports are accurate, Boras arguably acted unethically in both instances. An attorney, Boras is subject to the ethical rules governing lawyers, even though his work involves negotiating deals, not appearing in court. The Texas Rules of Disciplinary Conduct, Rule 4.01 titled 'Truthfulness to Others' states, in part, 'In the course of representing a client, a lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement of material fact to a third person.'"

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Try this fun state placement

Try this fun state placement quiz. It's trickier than you'd think, because you don't get any of the other state outlines to work from, and you get penalized if you don't get the state exactly (within about 10 miles) on the correct spot. Of course the coastal and border states are easiest and the "stuff in the middle" is more challenging. I got 40 of 50 (80%) exactly right, with an average error of 20 miles for the other 10 states. That's the best score I've seen so far, so I challenge you to beat it. The only state I just completely missed was Nebraska; I tried to put it on Kansas. Sorry, Kansas.

Monday, January 17, 2005

My post-race personal summary made

My post-race personal summary made the Chronicle online as well.

Sunday, January 16, 2005

I DID IT!!! I ran

I DID IT!!! I ran a marathon!! And finished in 4:58:48 just under my goal time of five hours!!

My legs, feet and knees are killing me right now, but I am SO PUMPED that I ran a marathon! Huge thanks to Becca, Cari, Nick, Phil, Jon, Edgar and Betsy for coming out to cheer for me at various points along the route. Even bigger thanks to Rich for getting me through miles 22-26 fast enough to squeak in with a sub-5:00 time.

Some stats (since I love stats) that you can also look at yourself by going here and putting in my name or bib number (#2415): I was 5.5 minutes behind the "official" gun time, meaning it took me 5.5 minutes to get to the starting line. I was 4295th overall, 1299th among females, and 220th in my 25-29 age group. I averaged 11:23 per mile, though I know I was averaging more like 11:15 through at least the halfway mark, so I definitely slowed down at the end.

The weather was just about perfect -- low 40s at the start and probably 60 by the end. It was clear and sunny, and I actually got a bit of sunburn, but if it'd been overcast I probably would have been cold.

I had planned to tag along with the 5:00 pace group, but that plan fell by the wayside as soon as the race began. I started out faster than 5:00 pace (11:27 miles), and figured that they'd catch me along the way and I'd join up with them then. I felt great for the first 12 miles as we ran through a couple old neighborhoods and into the Rice Village/Museum District area. I was wearing a sign on my chest that said "GO SARAH" and as a result, I had tons of people cheering me on. It was great. I couldn't help but smile every time I heard a stranger call out my name.

I saw Phil and Jon around 9.5 miles and Phil amused both me and the runners around me with his antics. Becca and Cari were waiting with the dogs just before the 11-mile marker and I thought Apache was about to jump out of her skin trying to follow me. I walked for just a minute or so to talk to them, then started up again. My legs started to get a little sore right around the half-marathon mark, where I saw Edgar and Betsy. I didn't even know they were coming, so that was an awesome surprise!

As I crossed the timing mat at 13.1 and checked my watch to see about 2:25, I wondered who had won the race. Turns out it was David Cheruiyot from Kenya in 2:14:52. He was done before I was even halfway! WOW.

Miles 13-19 got tougher, but I was still feeling ok and walking only through the water stations that were spaced about every 1.5 miles. This part of the race went past the Galleria and down a lovely tree-lined street with big fancy houses to look at. Around mile 15, I started counting down to mile 22, when I knew Rich would be jumping in to run with me.

Somewhere between mile 19 and 20 was the coolest part of the race -- President Bush (the first one) was standing along the side of the road shaking hands! As I approached, some guy said "hey, President Bush is up there" and I thought "yeah right." But suddenly I saw police car lights and looked up, and it really was Bush Sr! (I think he lives in that area of town, or maybe has an office there.) I darted over to the side of the road, shook his hand, thanked him for being there, and he read my sign and said "Go Sarah!" President Bush cheered for me at the marathon! How cool is that!

That gave me a burst of energy that lasted until I got into Memorial Park. Just past mile 20 I saw Edgar and Betsy again, but I was really starting to tire at that point. Miles 21-24 were probably the worst of the race for me. I took a couple quick walking stints through the park and around 21.5 miles I finally reached Rich. Becca, Cari and Nick were also there (Apache again dragged Becca down the road trying to follow me) cheering and gave me a much-needed boost. Rich hopped in and started jogging with me. He was really excited and kept saying how cool it was that all the people were calling my name, and how awesome it was that I was running a marathon. I'm really glad he was there to run with me.

We got through miles 22-25 mostly running, with maybe 4 or 5 brief walk breaks. (I saw Phil and Jon again around mile 23, with Phil screaming "you're a champion, a champion!!") These miles went down Allen Parkway which goes up and down through a few underpasses, and the uphills, though slight, were where I had to walk. At this point, I was fairly certain that I could finish under under 5:00, but only if I kept running as much as possible. My last walk break was at mile 25 with about 14 minutes left to go to the 5-hour mark. I told Rich not to let me walk anymore unless I said it was absolutely necessary, and in my head I repeated over and over "don't walk, don't walk, don't walk, don't walk..."

I was right on the edge of my body involuntarily stopping and forcing me to walk. Fortunately, around 25.5 we turned the final corner and I could see the finish line up in the distance. There was just no way I was going to let myself walk when I could see the end. Rich peeled off just after the 26-mile marker and I put my head down and just drove to the finish. I could hear people calling my name and cheering for me, but I couldn't do anything but stare at the big "FINISH" sign. As I crossed it, I had a huge smile on my face. One of the volunteers saw me, smiled herself, and said "congratulations!" All I could say was "I DID IT!!!"

I did it. :)

Oh, and I sent my reason for running to the Houston Chronicle and they posted it online.

Saturday, January 15, 2005

It's here. The big day.

It's here. The big day. The day I've been training for for four months.

I'm about to head over to Ron and Buzz's for dinner. From there, we'll head downtown to our hotel room. Tomorrow morning, very early, we'll get up and head to the start line. At 7:00 a.m., I'll start running my first marathon. I should cross the finish line just before 12:00.

Wish me luck!

Friday, January 14, 2005

This is an exciting day

This is an exciting day in space. NASA and ESA cooperated to land the Huygens probe on Titan this morning after decades of work and seven years of gliding through space as part of the Cassini mission. Where's Titan, you ask? Oh, just one of the moons of Saturn. A million miles away. And people just landed a probe there, one that parachuted down through the atmosphere, landed on something solid, and continued to transmit from the surface of Titan. Pretty damn cool.

And in other interesting space news, Jen's employer, Blue Origin, has finally gone public with their plans "to build a suborbital space facility on a sprawling ranch under the wide open skies of West Texas." Exciting.

Last night I went to my former division chief's retirement party. The room was absolutely packed with probably 300, if not 400, people there to thank Ron for his 37 years of service to NASA. As I looked around the room, I was amazed by the magnitude of the people there; many of the people in the older crowd there were the pioneers of mission operations, especially flight dynamics and trajectory design, as they're done today. Those of you who don't follow the space program wouldn't recognize the names or understand exactly what I'm trying to say... But seeing some of the people there, and knowing what they've done (because I've read about them in books -- they're important enough to have been discussed at length in books!) was truly humbling.

I can't help but wonder if my generation will be viewed that way when we start to retire sometime around 2040. Will we have accomplished the magnitude of things that the Apollo generation has? Will anyone be able to say about us the things we say about them? We all have so many different dreams and ambitions, and frustrations with the current state of things, that it's hard to imagine that most of us will even still be here in 2040. And yet after watching all the presentations at the retirement party last night, I feel a bit inspired. Maybe we do need to stay at NASA. Maybe we need to become the new generation of "steely eyed missile men" and make sure that NASA goes somewhere and does something great. I don't know if NASA can ever recapture the Apollo era, and doubt that it would be the right thing even if it could. But maybe we could create our own version, with something new.

I don't know. I'm just rambling, really. I guess I just want to point out that while I may complain a lot about my job, there is a reason why I haven't left yet:

I still think space is damn cool. And I still have hope.

Thursday, January 13, 2005

The Houston Chronicle's "Advice for

The Houston Chronicle's "Advice for Marathon Spectators":

Unless you happen to be standing next to the 26-mile marker, try not to yell "You're almost there!" Runners ? regardless of pace ? know exactly where they are. And, unless they're passing the 26-mile marker, they're acutely aware that they are, in fact, not almost there.

Don't ask, "How do you feel?" because this forces your runner to answer, and the chances are good he feels like he's been trampled by a herd of buffalo and doesn't particularly want to talk about it. Better is, "You're looking great!" (Lie if necessary.)

Thursday, January 13, 2005

T minus three days --

T minus three days -- the marathon is this Sunday. I'm starting to get just a tad nervous. I am very confident that I will finish the race because I've done all the necessary preparation, but I still have a few butterflies.

Those interested in tracking my progress can sign up at the Houston Marathon site; updates will be sent to your email account or cell phone every time I cross a split point. I'm not sure exactly where splits will be taken, but if it's like last year they'll probably be something like 5K (3.1 miles), 10K (6.2), half marathon (13.1), 30K (18.6), 40K (24.8) and finish line (26.2).

There are 4:45 (10:52/mile) and 5:00 (11:27/mile) pace teams that I plan to keep an eye on during the race. I'm going to sign up with the 5:00 team at the expo on Saturday and start the race with them. I'll run with them for as long as I feel like, maybe just the first 10-15K, maybe the whole race. Rich is running the 5K and is then going to meet me somewhere around mile 23-24 to run (shuffle?) the last bit (except crossing the finish line) with me. Those tracking me at home can expect me to pass the halfway point around 9:30 central time and reach the finish right around 12:00 central.

I wanted to do a final training run today, just a brief three miles. The retirement party for my division chief is tonight though, so I got up early this morning and ran before work. Despite all my running, I've never actually done that before except for my first fall here in 2002 when I took the fitness class. It was nice to start the day with a good run, and nice to be out while it was cool (though because of a front that blew through and woke me up at 1 a.m. last night, it will probably be cool all day). I watched people leaving their apartments to go to work, and watched the kids climb onto the school bus. It was a nice change of scenery.

As long as I've gotten a decent night's sleep, I run better in the mornings anyway. While I often feel like I'm more alert in the evenings, I think I actually have more energy, at least the physical energy needed to get my legs moving, in the mornings. Maybe I'll try to run in the mornings more often. There's also the benefit of getting my daily exercise done and out of the way, leaving my nights blissfully free. I can work all day and make evening plans without the need to do a run hanging over my head.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Oh -- at Carter's request,

Oh -- at Carter's request, I posted some photos from Christmas, the Tire Bowl, and New Years in the Photo Gallery.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

"New dietary guidelines coming out

"New dietary guidelines coming out Wednesday are expected to place more emphasis on counting calories and exercising daily, along with swapping whole grains for refined ones and eating a lot more vegetables and fruits."

Um, no offense to anyone at the Department of Health, but DUH.

My mom lost thirty pounds a few years ago by taking an hour-long walk every day and cutting back on dessert. Someone she worked with asked her how she lost all the weight, adding, "and don't tell me it was diet and exercise!" But it was. People are funny.

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

I haven't written anything about

I haven't written anything about Carlos Beltran since he allowed his deadline for signing with the Astros to pass at 11:00 on Saturday night, but since he's now been officially introduced as the newest member of the New York Mets (gag, hack, cough) I suppose I can comment.

As the days and weeks since October slipped by with no news about Beltran, I grew more and more certain that he wasn't coming back. As I checked the news continually on Saturday night, each hour that passed without news of a signing made me sadder. So when I finally saw that the deadline had indeed passed without an agreement, I wasn't surprised. I'm disappointed that he won't be coming back to Houston. I'm disappointed that he couldn't see how much this city wanted him to stay, how much the team wanted him to stay. The Astros offered him a larger contract than they have ever offered any player in their 32-year history. The Astros basically put the offseason on hold until Saturday, waiting to see what Beltran would do, waiting to see where he would go, waiting while $@#!ing Scott Boras playing the same game he plays every offseason with every high-dollar free agent. Yet agents act on behalf of the player, and I can't even blame Boras, as much as I'd like to.

I could blame the Astros, and say that they didn't try hard enough to bring him back, to convince him that Houston was where he wanted to be. But I don't think it was their fault. Tim Purpua, the Astros GM, said they ran out of time. Drayton McLane, the owner, said it was a lack of face time that doomed negotiations. But you know what? If Carlos Beltran wanted to return to the Astros, he would have. He didn't leave for lack of money, for lack of fan support, for lack of an organization that desperately wanted him in the center of their outfield and the heart of their batting order.

If he had really wanted to be here, he would be here.

The more I think about negotiations proceeded (or at least how they appeared to proceed according to the news reports), the more I think that Carlos never wanted to come back to Houston. He said he did. He said he liked the city, and the people, and the team. But I think it was all talk. I don't think he ever had any intention of coming back here.

And that makes me sad too.

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Last year when Carter and

Last year when Carter and I visited Christina in Chicago and went to all those baseball games, we spent a bit of time before the Cubs game wandering around outside Wrigley Field. Yes, I am an Astros fan and a Braves fan, and not a Cubs fan, but I have a lot of respect for the Cubs and their fans and their stadium. Because of that, I wanted to buy a Cubs t-shirt. But not just any t-shirt. No, I was very specific in what I wanted.

We went from t-shirt stand to store and back to t-shirt stand, all up and down the streets around the stadium. I wanted a navy blue shirt with a logo in the middle. A small logo, not one that would overwhelm the shirt. And it couldn't be just any logo -- it had to be the old-school round one, the Cubs "C" with the cubby bear on it. Yes, with the bear. This one, not this one.

We looked at every t-shirt stand we passed as we circled the stadium, and ducked into every shop, and didn't find what I wanted. Carter started to get a bit annoyed, I think. "How do you know what you want if you've never seen it? How do you know it even exists?" he asked. But I knew that if I looked long enough, I would find it. And of course I did. (If I hadn't, why would I be telling this story?) It was probably the 20th t-shirt stand we'd walked past, but I found the t-shirt I'd been wanting the whole time. I plunked down my $20 and that was that.

Eight months later, I'm having the same experience with, of all things, furniture. Furniture! Geez.

I'm in need of shelving or some sort of medium-sized drawer/filing unit. I've been needing something for a while now. If it's a shelf or multiple shelves, it needs to go on the wall without being obtrusive; if it's a drawer/filing unit, it needs to sit on top of my desk without being too big or ugly. Additionally, it should either match my current Ikea medium brown desk or be different enough to be quaint, eccentric, and charming. I have a mental picture of what I want, but don't know where to go to find it. I've checked Ikea's website, but I think they have a lot more available at the store so I'll have to try there. I may also check Office Depot. I don't want to spend a lot of money because a) something expensive probably wouldn't match the cheap (but effective!) Ikea laminate "wood" that I currently have and b) I don't want to spend a lot of money.

Any suggestions?

Monday, January 10, 2005

Growing up, I was one

Growing up, I was one of those people that never cursed. My high school friends used to tease me for my darns, shoots, and dang its, and for having such a clean mouth. Sometime between high school and leaving college, I acquired a slightly fouler mouth. Now, I definitely do not have one of those mouths where every other word is a four-letter one, but I let a swear word slip in on a fairly regular basis. (Especially when driving -- have you seen the insane drivers in this city?) Still, I maintain some sense of decency, and I watch what I say when I'm in the company of friends' parents, children, bosses, elders, etc. Keep that in mind as I present the following story...

Yesterday I went bike riding with Nacho. It was my first ride with the new clipless pedals and shoes that I got for Christmas. Now, they are called "clipless" pedals, but you actually do clip into them. There is a piece of plastic on the ball of the shoe that fits into the pedal, and you unclip your shoe by twisting your heel outward. I practiced a bit on Saturday just to get the hang of clipping in and clipping out, and thought I had it down. But about 20 miles into our 30 mile ride -- after successfully clipping in and out multiple times, I might add -- I slowed too much before trying to get my foot out. The motion of unclipping my foot combined with my slow speed threw me off balance, and I fell over to the left side with my right foot still in the pedal, right in the middle of the turn lane. Fortunately, there wasn't a car around, but I felt pretty dumb.

We continued down the road until Nacho turned into Bay Area Park. There was an ice cream truck, so he decided that we should get some ice cream. As I slowed down, I was thinking "get foot out, get foot out, don't fall again." Somehow the first fall didn't successfully ingrain the message in my head, and as I teetered toward the ice cream truck, I felt myself starting to fall over again, to the right this time. (Now my scratched pedals match at least.) As I was falling, I thought "oh no, I'm going to do it again, crap" But what came out of my mouth as I hit the ground, landing painfully on the exact same elbow in the exact same place that was just finally starting to heal from my running fall of more than a month ago, was "F---!!" I didn't realize what I was saying until too late, and I looked up to see a crowd of children staring at me as they waited in line at the ice cream truck.

I felt really awful.

Nacho said they probably didn't hear what I said because they were all watching me fall. Maybe.

Monday, January 10, 2005

"Near sea level on Puget

"Near sea level on Puget Sound, where millions of bipedal worker ants toil away their daylight hours, many of those lucky enough to have a window cubicle stare wistfully to the southeast. They know the drizzle will eventually ease, the gray pall will lift, and they'll shout jubilantly, "The Mountain is out!" All will stop to stare at the brooding hulk just 50 miles inland, and they'll remember why they love it here. Worker productivity will plummet until the clouds draw the curtain again, and sad eyes return to flickering computers."
--from A Hiker in Wonderland, Backpacker Magazine

My coworker Chris sent me a link to an article about Rainier. He's going to come on our camping/hiking trip this year (destination: Seattle/Rainier/Olympic NP) and though the trip won't be until late July or even late August, he obviously already has camping on the brain.

Monday, January 10, 2005

Rich took care of my

Rich took care of my beta fish, Vtot, while I was home for Christmas. He brought little Vtot to work last week so I could take him home, and I decided to leave Vtot at work for a few days. It turned out to be really fun having a fish at work, so on Friday after lunch I went next door to Petco and bought another beta fish. His name is Vern and he will live at work (I took Vtot back home). Over the weekend, Jo got a goldfish that now sits on the bookcase behind her desk, and Becca and Cari both got beta fish. I am such a fish trend-setter!

My new fish, Vern, however, is retarded. He won't eat. Perhaps he has become self-conscious because I keep calling him ugly. He has pretty purple fins, but a nasty white/orange/brown body. I picked him because ugly fish need homes too. But dude. Fish has gotta eat.

Sunday, January 09, 2005

Jen has posted a neat

Jen has posted a neat little video showing three and a half minutes of the trip to Peru. You can see where we had breakfast the first day, about fifteen minutes up the trail, then where Becca and Jen spent the night after deciding not to continue, then the train ride to Machu Picchu, a little bit of the river in Aguas Calientes, and of course, Machu Picchu itself.

Saturday, January 08, 2005

"Peru now occupies the same

"Peru now occupies the same place in the popular imagination as Tibet used to have in the latter days of Empire, before the communist invasion made it more a place of pity than of mystery -- a Shangri-La where the imagination is licensed to allow all manner of utopias and adventure."
--from The White Rock: An Exploration of the Inca Heartland, by Hugh Thomson

"This is not a story of heroic feats, or merely the narrative of a cynic; at least I do not mean it to be. It is a glimpse of two lives running parallel for a time, with similar hopes and convergent dreams. In nine months of a man's life he can think a lot of things, from the loftiest meditations on philosophy to the most desperate longing for a bowl of soup -- in total accord with the state of his stomach. And if, at the same time, he's somewhat of an adventurer, he might live through episodes of interest to other people and his haphazard record might read something like these notes."
--from The Motorcycle Diaries, by Ernesto (Che) Guevara

Those are the first sentences from each of the two books I've just bought, books that I'm sure will only further my newfound interest in South America. (Note to Becca -- we are so going to visit Emily in Ecuador this year.) Which should I read first??

Friday, January 07, 2005

I rarely get anywhere exactly

I rarely get anywhere exactly on time; I'm always about five minutes late. (I prefer to think of it not as late, but just a tad behind.) This annoys my friend Jason, who is the most punctual person I know by far. So I predict that no matter what he thinks of today's entry, he will be slightly bothered, even if unconsciously so, that it comes a week late. A week, over the span of a year, probably equates to about five minutes, right?

With that said I can now, on January 7th, present my New Years Resolutions in peace. Some are big, some are small, but here they are:

1. Website stuff. This needs sub-bullets.
   1. Redesign this site. I've never completely liked the current design, and now I want to have a screenshot of my photoblog posts here, and maybe move the Flickr stream to the photoblog?
   2. Migrate this site to Movable Type.
   3. Incorporate my Diaryland archives (March 2004 back to July 2001), my Countdown 100 Days entries (spring semester 2001), and the hand-coded diary entries I was doing before I knew what a "blog" was and before Blogger had even been born (December 2000 all the way back to sometime in 1998). The latter two groups still exist on my computer but aren't online anywhere at the moment, which seems a shame.
   4. Finally get around to helping Chris with a design for Cheri's site. Something that looks really slick, but that he can easily maintain and update.
   
   
2. Gather enough material (re: create a portfolio) so that by the end of 2005 I can assemble a decent application for one of these graduate programs, or something similar. Submit the application, and see what happens. I'm not sure I want to go back to school, and I have doubts that I can even get accepted, but I'd like to try.

3. Back up my digital photos. Somehow. Because I would feel like poo and cry if I lost my photos. External harddrive probably?

4. Make sure that my sister has the best wedding of her life. Ok, granted, I hope that she will only have one wedding in her life, but still. It needs to be good.

5. Improve my photography skills. Yes, I know this is pretty generic and fuzzy and hard to really assess. Too bad for me.

6. Keep running, biking, swimming, playing soccer, playing softball, etc. Enter my now "standard" races -- the Speedo and Danskin triathlons, the Rodeo Run and Bayou City Classic 10Ks, and the MS150. Get 150+ people to do the Yuri's Night 5K. This really isn't much of a resolution, because I'll do it all regardless. See how sporty I have become? Mwa ha ha.

7. Update my blog earlier in the day so that Becca doesn't send me emails (from her desk that, for at least another week, is still five feet away from mine) that say: "UPDATE YOUR BLOG. Now make fun of me for e-mailing you rather than saying this outloud."
   

Ok, so maybe not that last one.

Thursday, January 06, 2005

From Becca's current entry, with

From Becca's current entry, with slight additions, describing yesterday's Giant Gumball Eating Dare That Matt Actually Accepted for Only Two Dollars. I was lax in downloading the pictures last night, but I promise to share them in full glory tomorrow.

Sarah: [cleaning desk] Hey, look, here's a giant gumball I've had on my desk for at least a year. [gumball is yellow and about 2 inches in diameter]
George: [raised eyebrow] Why do you have that?
Sarah: Well, I saw it and it's huge and I had to have it.
George: [sniffs nose] Yuck.
Sarah: Eat it, I dare you!
George: No way.
Sarah: Aw George, you're so boring.
Becca: I bet you could get Matt to eat it. Just offer him two dollars.
Sarah: [calling into other office] Hey Matt!! I'll give you two dollars to eat this gumball. I dare you...
Matt: [shrugs] Sure.

And antics ensue as he tries to eat a stale gumball that was larger than his mouth. He ended up getting three dollars and a breath mint.

Thursday, January 06, 2005

At lunch on Tuesday, I

At lunch on Tuesday, I asked someone how their holiday break went. They responded with something along the lines of: "It was nice, but after a few days I was ready for it to be over. None of my friends live at home anymore, so it was just me and my parents. I can only take so much time with them before they start to drive me crazy."

His comment made me realize what a great relationship I have with my parents. I suppose I'm lucky in that sense. They are awesome, and we get along fabulously. I spent the majority of the holiday break with either Mom or Dad or both, and never once wished that my vacation would end. Dad and I talked about the news, Mom and I shopped endlessly, we all went out to eat... Sure, we have our arguments (my Dad and I yelled at each other for 5 minutes last week when he started lecturing me on, of all things, how to correctly log out of a website), but I love them and love spending time with them, especially now that the times we see each other are so few and far between.

<HoustonWeatherComplaint>
Last night I went for a run in 70+ degree weather. A few hours later it was 55, and by this morning it was a chilly 44. Within a day and a half, it's supposed to be back in the 70s. And permanently gray.
</HoustonWeatherComplaint>

Thursday, January 06, 2005

The Blog of the Year,

The Blog of the Year, or the Year of the Blog?

"The Internet is going to make gigs like this obsolete, once enough people realize that some guy in his basement is capable of turning out commentary as insightful as a tenured eminence who was handed a column 30 years ago and has spent the last 10 coasting on a scoop from the Reagan years. It takes dynamite to get some writers out of the paper."

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

I'm still working on getting

I'm still working on getting all the pics into my gallery, but in the meantime, I proudly present the very quick-and-dirty "Christmas with My Family" montage... (click any photo for a larger version)

   

I arrived home on the chilly evening of December 24. Mom was so happy to see me that she stuck her head in the wreath. Once inside, I discovered that all of my cool light-up and sound-producing space ornaments have been relegated to a small fake tree in the kitchen in an attempt to keep the lights on the big tree from going out. Booooooooo.

The big tree was still very pretty though.

Katie immediately settled in on the couch to watch the second half of the GT bowl game and of course I joined her. Tech may have gone to a crappy bowl game, but we certainly kicked Syracuse's booty. HA!

         

Christmas came with presents galore. Grandmother was visiting as always. David got a cool DDay poster that Katie brought back from Europe and Mom had it framed as a gift. I happily unwrapped a Night Sky Monopoly game. Then David and I went outside to test his new GPS and it was really freaking cold but I was too lazy to go get my jacket, so I wrapped myself in the blanket Katie gave me.

         

On the 26th we drove up to Chapel Hill for lunch with my Aunt Nancy and cousin Casey. While there, David avoided the camera, Katie tried to make Brian wear a pink crown from his Christmas cracker, and Mom happily wore her yellow crown. Brian later looked pensive watching the Panthers on TV.

   

On the 30th, Mom and Dad and I went to the UNC-Boston College bowl game at Bank of America stadium. Mom and I posed nicely, then Dad and I posed with thumbs down as Boston College collected its bowl trophy in the background.

The End.

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

A Blog Entry In Bullet

A Blog Entry In Bullet Form

• Technology "Neat Thing" of the Day: Houston Marathon tracking.
  You can go here, put in my name, and get email or text messaged updates on my progress when I run the Houston Marathon on January 16. Be prepared to be getting updates for about 5 hours, because that's how long it'll take me to run 26.2!

• Horrible Singer of the Day: Ashlee Simpson.
  Her performance at halftime of the Orange Bowl last night was awful. I hadn't been watching the show but had the TV on the background, and her song actually got me up out of my desk chair and over to the television to gape at h