Great Christmas

I enjoyed two great Christmases: first with Chris's family and second with my parents. Chris and I went down to his parents' place for Christmas Eve and Day. We watched some Christmas movies and lots of Wii was played :)

Then we went to my parents Friday afternoon where I gave my parents and Chris their stockings. I have to get the photos that were taken of them from Chris yet, so I'll post a picture later. The only one I truly had done was the one for my mom (and I actually finished it Saturday). One of my projects for January will be to finish those.

Another project that I'm going to undertake is making a quilt wall hanging. I had gotten oriental fabric a few years ago now, and it was supposed to be a project for my mom and me to do, but we never got around to it although we have been plotting it out in our minds all of this time. I just got a sewing machine for Christmas, so I decided to undertake the challenge. We'll see how we do, but I'm really excited to design it and try out the new machine. Yes I know, another crafty thing.

Christmas card

I didn't send out Christmas cards this year. I intended to do it early December, but then I started putting in overtime at work and fell behind on other stuff. So don't be surprised when you don't get one in the mail!

So this year, for those who read my blog (and I'm guessing that's a pretty small audience), I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Holidays!

Stockings stockings stockings

All of the knitting I've done lately has been stockings. I finally got through the band on Chris's stocking (which is mostly secret in the sense that Chris doesn't know what is on his stocking and which colors I am using). I've camped out in our bedroom for a few hours and pushed through the really slow part.

I'm very excited to be about halfway done with it. Then I need to finish Pokey's and then comes the really long process of tucking in all the threads. There are so many thread ends that I'm starting to worry that I won't get them done by Christmas. The good thing is even if I don't get all of the threads tucked in, we can still use them for Christmas, and I can finish them in the first couple months of 2009. And I thought I'd be able to knit myself one this year! haha

I will post pictures of them when I feel like it :)

Great video re: Prop 8

Chris has a great video about Prop 8 on his website.

It is extremely disappointing to me to see how easily intolerance sneaks in. Get rid of Prop 8!

A Muppet Christmas Carol

A Muppet Christmas Carol is by far my favorite Christmas movie. The mices are the bestest! Even after watching it a million and a half times, it's still funny and adorable.

I was surprised again this year when a key song When Love is Gone wasn't there. I completely forgot that I have to watch the full screen version (the widescreen version does not include the song). I love singing along to it (much to the dismay of others I'm sure). So it's everyone's job to remind me next year: watch the full screen!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

During this day of cleaning/gift ordering/semi-failed bread-making/knitting (I'll stop now), I also decorated for Christmas! I put up the small tree with all my ornaments and put out a few other decorations. There appears to be a theme in most all of my favorite Christmas decorations: mice! No surprise to anyone.

Speaking of mice, I am dying to watch A Muppet Christmas Carol, on of my all-time favorite movies. My parents got it for me on DVD last Christmas, and I think I watched it between three and four times when we got home :) I'm waiting to watch it with Chris though because then it will really feel like Christmas. I did listen to the soundtrack though (couldn't resist).

I'm working on Chris's stocking, which I'm still doing in secret. That has limited the amount of time I can spend on it though because if I want to work on it when he's home, I have to shut myself in the bedroom which kind of sucks. But it will be a good surprise and I really hope he likes it!

I got a breadmaker (I forgot to thank you for that Connie!). I tried it out this morning, and since I didn't have dry milk like the basic white bread recipe called for, I tried regular milk and hoped for the best. The loaf didn't rise like it should have (I'm pretty sure all of the ingredients were at room temperature) and it tasted a bit salty, so I'll give it another go in a few days. The smell of baking bread is the best!

Feeling guilty

It's been a stressful week - longer days at work followed by a lot of running around in the evenings. I've had fun most evenings (like going to Connie and Steve's and climbing), but I've been feeling really run down. I've taken on more work and am putting in overtime. Oh woe is me, right? I'll figure it out, but for now, I'm stressed.

Tomorrow is Cookie Day in the Mitchell household, an annual tradition in which Chris and his family bake a crap-ton of cookies as gifts for various friends and family. I'm feeling guilty because I chose not to go down with Chris and Kim; I instead decided that I needed to stay home and have some time by myself.

So to the whole Mitchell family, I'm sorry I am skipping out.

I did something new today

I set a pie on fire.

You read that right. I was putting the finishing touches on a crunchy pumpkin pie which required broiling, and I placed the pie too close to the top of the oven. It caught fire which was quite a sight. Mom, you'll get a picture soon.

The reason I made the pie in the first place was because I was making a thank-you dinner for Connie and Steve (and Maggie!) for helping me when I got LASIK surgery. It was not my intention to present them with something burnt, but it happens. Luckily, only the topping was destroyed and we scrapped it off and enjoyed the pumpkin pie underneath.

Lesson learned.

Gobble gobble

Thanksgiving weekend is a wonderful time of the year. I've been looking forward to this for some time - four day weekends are great! I more excited to head home tomorrow! Pokey, here I come! Oh yeah, and it will be nice to see my parents too :)

I got it!!!!

Having the cold over the weekend has forced me to sit on the couch, and what better way to pass the time than knit! I'm extremely excited because after three frustratingly wrong tries, I finally got the bottom portion of the Christmas stockings right!

I was starting to get worried that I was going to continue to f*%k up that bottom portion. After every try, Chris lovingly said that people wouldn't be looking at the bottom part because the top part was so great. That wasn't good enough for me though. I will not give the people I love a crappy stocking!

It was especially frustrating because I know how to make socks! The reason I messed it up so many times was because the sheer size of these stockings made me think that I needed to do more decreasing than was necessary. In the end, I found that I only had to decrease for five rows for the gusset and that was enough to make my 92-stitch-CO stockings look right.

I have to say that this process is extremely rewarding because I got to design the whole stocking myself. I even expanded my horizons and used a round heel instead of the v heel. Crazy stuff.

After I finish off my dad's stocking, I have to fix the bottom portion of my mom's, then off to knit up Chris's stocking in secret (hopefully we can both resist the temptation of spoiling the surprise). I can't wait to put up pictures of these, but that won't happen until after Christmas :)

Ready for it to be over

Before I was a little bit nervous with the co-worker leaving, but now I'm ready for them to be gone. I'm not trying to sound mean, but it gets a bit frustrating when each of us spend at least two to three hours each day learning from this person, as she teaches us about stuff like where old archives are.

I realize that everyone's time is always stretched, especially where I work, but we couldn't have gone over this sort of thing like around the time all of us started? Maybe I'm being ridiculous, but it's frustrating. But she's just that way: you have to ask all the questions, even if you don't know what questions to ask.

Besides that, I had to go home early today because I've got a nasty cold. The plague is spreading everywhere, and the fact that I've been more stressed out than usual probably didn't help my immune system. I must say that I'm getting less stressed as I become more comfortable with the information for the long-term financial planning, and I'm becoming more confident that I'm not going to completely mess up the five-year plan (don't kid yourself - I was finding myself getting a slight headache each time someone mentioned the five-year financial direction before). Confidence (melded with lots of research and time) worked wonders to stop those headaches.

Eek in a week

One of my coworkers is leaving. She's the one that was my boss when I was an intern. She is the holder of much knowledge, and she is leaving right before we have to start creating the Council Adopted budget book...with a new system...

It will be a very good move for her because all of us could tell she wasn't happy where she was. And all that negativity was getting quite old - it made it difficult to work with her at times. But it will be interesting to see how we do over the next couple of months.

Apparently we're going to try to fill the position sometime in December (if we can find anyone!). So don't mind me if I get a little more crazy than usual around the holidays...

Migraines: Help Wanted

As many of you know, I get migraines. I have been keeping a journal of all of my migraines since the end of June this year in order to figure out some common links or triggers so that I can figure out how to treat them. I have already talked to my doctor this year about the migraines and he prescribed Midrin, which made me even more nauseous than the migraines do. I've found that my body cannot handle much caffeine, which has caused me to stop trying Excedrin.

Overall I have found that the drugs that I have tried don't really work because the migraine will usually come on in the afternoon one day and carry on until the afternoon or evening of the following day. I get so nauseous that I can't do much of anything besides lay in a darken room and wait for it to pass. I'm lucky in that I don't have any changes to my vision and sounds don't really bother me, but any kind of light is blinding and I tend to have a heightened sense of smell.

I've been researching more on the Internet about the condition itself and I've found that nobody really knows too terribly much at this point. I found out that I shouldn't be a woman because there is a higher percentage of adult women that get migraines and it's linked with periods. Awesome.

I'm wondering if any of you have had migraines and have found that certain treatments work for you, and I'm hoping that you will share. Do any of you know of good resources that I should look into for more information? Thanks in advance!

I started biking to work again last week without any pain in my IT band. I'm glad I took a break from biking and basically everything else so that it could heal. I figure that it took about a month. I missed out on a long of great biking, but I'm working on making up for that now.

I got the first stocking done, but I need to fix the foot and toe. I expected to make some mistakes since I'm making up the pattern as I go, so this next stocking will go much smoother. I still can't believe how big these are. You wanted big stockings, right Mom?

I got through all of season 4 of Grey's Anatomy, so now I have to go back to watching just movies. Darn. Chris set up a TiVo for us, and it will take me a bit to get used to having it. We don't tend to watch regular TV, so it's weird to actually watch shows on TV rather than on the Internet. It is a good addition.

I've been researching more ways of reducing the amount of waste we produce. I've been looking into starting a compost bin right outside our door. I've asked my dad if he has any spare metal garbage cans, like the one that the bear got to (that way I don't have to drill as many holes - Mom, can you make sure that Dad reads his email? hee hee).

Back to cleaning...

Evenings of knitting

Shocker: I'm knitting a lot lately (more than usual). As I mentioned before, I'm working on Christmas stockings for my family and last week I started my first one. Of course it's taking more time than originally anticipated which is mainly due to all of the color changes and the fact that I'm making these fairly large. I sized everything out before I even cast on, but I'm still kind of surprised at how big it looks now.

The first stocking I'm working on is turning out great! Even though I was really excited about how the stockings looked on paper, they are turning out even better than what I planned. It's going to take many, many hours to finish these so it's actually not such a bad thing that my IT band has been bugging me (it's getting better, mainly because I've been resting it a lot).

I've also been watching Grey's Anatomy Season Four from Netflix which has made the time just fly by while knitting. I have been measuring the progress in my knitting by the length of one show. Ridiculous, but fun.

Haven't been busy doing much...

...besides getting migraines and complaining about my IT band.

The fun thing has been planning out Christmas stocking for my family. I got all the yarn and planned out all of the patterns (I did all the charts in Excel) and I'm really hoping that I'll be able to complete them before Christmas for obvious reasons. Yes, it's an ambitious goal, and I'm going to try my best to complete them.

Right now, I'm working to finish a pair of socks that I started knitting for Chris this summer. I got a third into the second sock and put them aside since it was still warm out. But then Chris asked me a week ago where those socks were...hee hee. So that's first priority, then starting the stockings.

Fall is finally here!!!!

Have I mentioned how much I love fall? The cool weather, the colors of the trees, the cool weather, being able to comfortably wear sweaters again because of the cool weather. It's a beautiful time of the year!

I started riding my bike to work again and now I'm able to ride on a parkway almost the entire way in instead of wondering if I'm going to make it to the Stone Arch Bridge. The price of the parkway is that half of it is in kind of rough shape and it runs along the river meaning that it's got quite big hills. I've been able to conquer all of the hills without stopping or walking my bike, so I'm quite happy with myself.

The only problem with me at this point is my IT band. A couple of weeks ago, before the weather became as perfect as it is now, I decided that after not doing much activity for the past couple of months, I would try running...outside. I figured that it had to go better than before since the main reason I thought it didn't work in the past was because I was under the false belief that I had asthma, which I don't have.

Anyway, I tried running outside...for two days straight. Nothing like easing myself into it! After doing that, my right knee started to hurt. I asked Kimmi about it and she said that it was likely my Iliotibial Band since the pain presents itself in the knee, but is actually more likely a problem with the whole band that runs up the thigh to the hip. She suggested I do certain stretches and use a foam roller to loosen it. That has been helping (and hurts a lot when I find the tightness in my hip) and I've been icing it over the past couple of days and wearing a compression sock which all helps, but it's still bothering me.

Other than that, I've been addicted to Sex in the City. I'm watching the last season part II and I find myself getting emotional at times. Dammit - why do I get so emotionally involved with fictional characters??? Oh, and I really want a dog. Not going to happen for a while, but I want a dog. And my eyes are doing great. Still find myself reaching for my glasses at times.

First shot at swimming

Since the new athletic center opened up at Macalester, Chris has gone swimming there a couple of times and he has asked if I wanted to join as well. I haven't been there yet, but I'm guessing that the facility is similar to the one that Scholastica finished my senior year and that was pretty darn nice. So I now have a membership. One of the activities I want to do is swimming, but I don't know how to do it properly (the swimming lessons as a kid only had me do this once).

So what am I talking about? I'm talking about being able to swim like triathletes do, like the swimmers in the Olymics do (but much slower and less powerful). I want good technique that will give me a good workout. I asked Kim a.k.a. Ironman if she would teach me. Today she taught me some basics. I feel like I made some good progress though in that Kim taught me some good drills to practice technique.

I shockingly found out that I can't handle having my nose underwater without pinching it closed. I've had this problem for a while. To remedy this, I am going to get one of those nerdy nose clips. Hopefully the nose clip will help me feel more comfortable and not like I'm going to suck in a ton of water and maybe then I will feel comfortable enough to try breathing out underwater.

Michelle, Guidance Counselor

I was contacted last week by a current student from St. Scholastica about my career as a financial analyst. He is very interested in working in the public sector and wanted to know more about what I do. It was very fun to talk to him and tell him about my job and about the key skills you need and about the various projects I work on, and about my educational path and what courses really helped me. It was great to here how enthusiastic he was about the things I was saying and it made me feel good to put him at ease a bit about not having to know everything when you come into the job; you learn as you go.

It amazing how easy it is to talk about a job you really like. I love the variety in the work that I do. Even though I may complain about it from time to time, I really do like my job and I'm so glad that everything worked out the way it did (meaning I'm grateful I got the internship and later the job!).

Carl

Our friends James and Autumn are heading out of town for vacation for a week and they asked me if I would watch their mouse Carl. Anyone who knows me knows I love mice, so you can all imagine how excited I was! They dropped him off last night and since he's active all night, he was running around all over the place. So cute! You'll be hearing more about him as the week progresses :)

Out of summer hibernation

I finally biked to work today after the too-hot-for-me days of summer, but then it turned out to be a pretty warm day for me on the way home. Weather really is unpredictable.

My body feels like mush, and that's exactly how it should feel based on how I've been treating it. I'm looking forward to cooler weather and I'm looking forward to trying some swimming with Chris soonish. It felt good to ride today even though I was struggling some this afternoon.

I really need to start doing physical cardio activity on a regular basis because I know that I'll feel better and look less mushy. It's going to be a challenge to break my non-active routine and let the brisk air of fall wake me from my summer hibernation. Wow - that sounded really lame and it's going to stay that way.

Being sick sucks

For the past week, I've had a cold that just won't go away. Chris pointed out to me that it was likely due to the Prednisone that I was taking. Apparently that drug destroys the body's immune system, but it's awesome for getting rid of inflammation. So I've been sick since Monday, and I keep thinking I'm getting better, but it just won't go away.

This weekend has been all about laying around, napping and trying to get better. I'm glad the weather has been crummy because it's been great for lounging under a blanket!

I'm free!

So after Lasik, my left eye decided that it was going to have some inflammation underneath the flap that the surgeon made. The surgeon didn't like it too much so he had me come in every couple of days. Annoying but necessary!

He has me taking Prednizone (found out that it is in fact difficult to sleep while taking it) and using a drop in that eye every hour that I was awake.

Right at the time that I had had about enough of having to leave work around 3 several times a week, the doc gave me the clear bill of eye health! I was so excited yesterday when he told me that!

So that means that I won't have to go in for a month for a final checkup. So I get to continue to enjoy my 20/20 vision by myself :)

Kimmi is an Ironman!

She completed her Ironman in Madison in 15:21:56! Congratulations Kim!!!! Wear your jacket with pride :)

20/20+

The LASIK was a success! I have 20/20+ vision!

The procedure itself was very quick. I was greatful for the woman that placed her hand on mine - very soothing. And everyone was extremely supportive through the whole procedure. There was only one part when it hurt a little, but not bad.

I kind of wish I didn't take the Valium because the morning, the combination of the Valium wearing off completely and the fact that I didn't eat enough yesterday made me sick to my stomach and only now am I able to keep everything down. This is definitely something unique to me though - most normal people don't have these kinds of problems.

My eyes only hurt for about 30 minutes after the surgery (that's when the numbing drops wore off) and sleeping helped immensely. When I woke up after about three hours of sleep, the pain was gone. Yesterday my vision was foggy, but when I got up this morning, it was completely clear. It's incredible!

I have a little bit of inflammation underneath the flap in my left eye, so the doctor gave me some stronger anti-inflammatory drops and is going to have me come in again Monday. He said that it's a fairly common problem.

I can see!!!!!

No glasses soon

My surgery is at noon today - wish me luck! I'm hoping that my vision will be improved enough to the point that I won't need glasses. Even if I had to get a really light prescription to wear every once in a while, I would be thrilled.

If the surgery's successful, I'm going to celebrate by getting myself a really nice pair of wrap-around sunglasses with changeable lenses, not that I've thought about it or anything :)

Rage

Last night, Chris and I went to the Rage Against the Machine concert at the Target Center. Chris has been a long-time fan and was thrilled when he found out they were coming here. I've only recently been truly introduced to their music and it's pretty good stuff (I'm guessing not too many people that read this blog would appreciate it).

It was incredible to see all of the riot cops both outside and inside the building. They were really expecting some crazy shit to go down. The concert really was incredible. Everyone got really into the music and had a great time (some more than others of course). Rage put on a great show with a ton of energy. I'm really glad that my ears stopped ringing by the time I woke up this morning though :)

While we were heading home last night, there was apparently a group of people that marched and around 100 got arrested. Before everyone left, the band tried to make sure that people would leave the concert peacefully and really most everyone did. Even those that got arrested, it doesn't sound like much happened. It was a great show.

Apparently I'm a lover, not a fighter

I fully realized today that I don't want to be involved in any activities surrounding the RNC. Chris has been photographing various events related to the RNC including some of the raids that took place over the weekend and several of the protests near the Capital today. He gave me the opportunity to go with him, and I said no.

I realized today that I don't even want to observe the protesters and the police response. I don't want to be there when the shit goes down. All of it scares me. I kind of freaked out at Chris because one of the media guys that he was going around with today accidentally got hit with pepper spray. I got upset because Chris almost got hit with pepper spray. Since when did I become an over-protective mother?

Instead of viewing in person, I read about several of the things that happened today. Even though many of the protesters had good messages and were not breaking any laws, there were a few others that spoiled that message. What does a broken window or a slashed tire say? Does it say that the U.S. should stop the war in the Middle East, or does it say that there's a bunch of people acting like rebelious teenagers simply trying to get attention?

What I know is that even though I didn't have the courage to go to the Capital to observe, I know where I stand. The conclusion I take from this is that those people don't know how to articulate their anger and frustration and instead use destruction of property as a means to vent that anger. I wonder if it's working...

It's been a good day

I had a great day today. I first went to tour the Minnesota Visiting Nurse Agency in Minneapolis. I had been trying to find a non-profit whose mission I agreed with and that would accept hand-knit items, and I have definitely found it. The MVNA provides health care and health education to people throughout the metro area, and are focused on pediatrics and gereatrics. I was surprised to find out that they are the ones carrying out a program the City of Minneapolis is committed to involving the care and education for teen mothers preceeding the birth and two years afterwards. You will likely be hearing more about MVNA since I am going to be knitting and crocheting things for them in the future.

After that, I headed over to Northwest Eye Clinic to find out if I'm a candidate for LASIK surgery, and it turns out I am!!!! I'm actually going to have it done on Thursday next week and my aunts have graciously agreed to drive me there and pick me up, and my aunt and uncle have graciously allowed me to stay overnight at their place. I am so excited!!!! I realize that it may not get me to 20/20 vision, but I have high hopes. I have talked to many people who have had the procedure done and each one of them has been extremely happy with the results and don't regret it at all. It also helps that I trust the doctor performing the procedure since he was the one that diagnosed my contact exhaustion a couple of years ago when no one else could.

By this time next week, I will be walking around WITHOUT GLASSES!!!!!!

What's my next goal?

Has anyone else had the experience of just getting out of school and wondering what the hell their next step in life would be? This is something I've never experienced before: I'm not working towards a specific goal with a specific timeline. It has always been graduate. Then when I graduated and got a job, I'm asking myself, now what?

It's a weird feeling. I've made several short-term goals like paying my parents back for the money they lent me to go to Peru (thanks again!) and now saving for LASIK (assuming I'm a candidate), but those are both financial goals. I think after LASIK (again, if it happens), I'm going to start saving for a down payment. I really want to get a dog, but I can't justify having one in our apartment since we don't have a backyard with grass for it to play in. Oh, and there's the part in our lease that says no pets (even those half of the tenants have pets).

I have my hobbies, but I'm not really working towards anything in particular besides wanting to make myself a sweater eventually and to learn how to knit Fair Isle. I really don't have any major career plans at this point because in my department, there are really only three positions: financial analyst, budget coordinator, and budget director. There's a major time commitment increase between financial analyst and budget coordinator, not to mention the increased stress. I want to continue to enjoy my free time.

I'm officially a girl without a plan, mostly.

LASIK in my future?

I'm going to be going to a pre-appointment on Thursday morning to determine whether or not I'm a candidate for LASIK. If I am, I am going to get it done as soon as possible! I would really like to get it done before I start biking to work again when the temps get cooler. I would also love it because I would no longer have to wear glasses when I climb, when I swim, when I bike.

I admit that the potenital side effect of blindness is a bit scary, but I've talked to so many people of so many different ages that completely loved it that I feel pretty good about it. I'll let you all know what the doc says after Thursday's appointment!

Weekend Wrap-up

After barely scraping by at work (I felt like Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday should have been Friday, and guessing what: only one of those days was Friday), all I wanted to do was nothing this weekend. Well, we didn't do nothing, but it was a very good weekend.

Yesterday we hung out at the apartment doing paperwork (Chris) and knitting (me) and went to dinner with Chris's parents, Kim and Kim's friend Becca. It was a nice day. Then today, we went to the Minnesota Zoo. We wanted to see the bears! It was a very cool exhibit. I hadn't been to the Zoo for a very long time, so it was fun to see everything.

My favorite exhibit was the prairie dogs - yes, the prairie dogs. They were extremely amusing to watch and so damn cute. I know that farmers hate them, but I certainly don't! Chris will have some pictures up eventually of them. Very social animals, that's for sure.

In the meantime, you should check out his blog to see some random pictures of Pokey. And then check out some pictures that I took of our boating adventure. Granted, some of these pictures were not taken by me, but all of the ones of Chris and John were. Damn I'm good! haha

How do people with families do it?

After three days of mega overtime (like the 12 hours I put in yesterday alone) in preparation of the budget document, I felt complete burnout by 5:30 today. When I get the feeling like I'm going to kill someone, I usually decide that it's better to take a break than to involve the police. I got to the point where there was a distinct possibility that I was going to snap at co-workers over little things that don't matter.

I caught the 5:30 bus home, and was lucky enough to catch Chris before he headed down to his parents to take care of the dogs. All I really needed after feeling anxious and stressed was a hug from Chris, and I felt so much better!

I still had a lot of nervous energy though. And when I have that kind of nervous energy, all I can think of to do is organize. Seriously. Earlier in the week, I completely went through all of my old records and reorganized and got rid of things I didn't need anymore. A couple of nights ago, I decided to clean out a three-drawer storage unit for my knitting supplies. Tonight, I reorganized my book shelf. I'm unstoppable!

I really don't understand how people like my boss can work for 50-60 hours (guessitmate) per week and have two small children. I asked her about it one day and she said she frequently has to neglect her family. After just three days, I am very much looking forward to going back to having less immediate tasks and less responsibility. Maybe I'll change my mind about this after a few years, but I happen to love only having to work 40 hours. There's free time! I almost forgot what that was when I was in school...

Anyway, I'm hanging in there. Hopefully all of this will be over on Tuesday, fingers crossed.

Budget Season

While I used to complain about things being too slow at work, now I'm going to complain (but not really) that things are going too fast. All of us in the budget division are putting in lots of overtime this week, and we'll likely be working at least part of the weekend.

This budget season has been very different from others since we have the new budgeting system that we're trying to get used to and are trying to get information out of. It will (and has) made things easier already, but it has also caused us to be about 1 1/2 -2 weeks behind schedule and we apparently want to send the book to the publisher on Monday. Eek!

I will definitely make it through the week though, but there's no guarantees that I won't be complaining about parts of it, namely about the coordinator of all of this having major mood swings that makes one not want to ask any questions or get any clarifications. Makes for a very hostile work environment, that's for sure.

Wish me luck and don't feel bad if I don't call for a while Mom and Dad! We will talk soon!

The Dark Knight

One of the best movies ever! Chris, John, and I went to see this gem of a movie last night at the Imax theater at the zoo. The movie itself was incredible, and seeing it on that huge screen with the great sound, was awesome!!!!

I was blown away by all of the components: the writing, the cinematography, by the actors' performance. This is a movie that actually made me scared of what some people will do, how far some people will go to throw the world into complete chaos. The movie explored some incredible morals dilemmas and was psychologically stimulating throughout.

Great movie! Go see it! If you have an opportunity to see it in an Imax theater, even better!

Busy and busier

I experienced the calm before the storm at work: it's been quite a while since I've actually been busy, and now, things are starting to get crazy. There's a particular co-worker who refuses to admit that not everyone comes in at 9am and not everyone is willing to stay until 6 or 7pm. She insisted on sitting down with me for an hour tonight after I'd already been working straight through since 7:30am. Grr....

But it's the budget season, and things are bound to get a little crazy. I just hope that I don't wind up on the fourth or fifth floor of City Hall because I've killed someone. That might be a little harsh; I do, however, have a feeling that I will have fleeting feelings of pure hatred of people or of computer programs before these few weeks are over.

On to better news, we spent a relaxing weekend at my parents' house. While they may have thought we were bored, they could not have been more wrong! It was wonderful! Plus I got to give my mom her 30-some-year-old afghan! Here's a picture to show off it's awesomeness:


Mind you, the "afghan" completely covers a queen size bed. Yep, we made that. Good teamwork Mom!

The Lion, the Witch, and the War Hero

That's the name of the preview we saw at the Brave New Workshop (you may remember that we went to a Christmas show last year). This show was all about politics - the first half was pretty funny, but the second half wasn't so much. Still a fun night overall. Thanks to Autumn for the tickets!

In other news, my body cannot handle heat and/or humidity! I become EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED when I tried going on a bike ride this morning with Chris when it was very cloudy outside and it felt like there was a breeze and everything! But my body said no, you may not ride in this type of weather - if you try, I will make you feel weird and extremely sluggish. I'm starting to get frustrated with not riding to work because I can't handle the heat. I try to keep telling myself that if I don't enjoy it (which I wouldn't) then there's nothing wrong with not biking. But instead of listening to myself, I guess I'd rather be frustrated and get pissed about it. Yeah, it makes tons of sense.

I'm not sure if I wrote about it, but on our vacation when we were out in Leavenworth, the temps were probably upper 80s, but it felt like 90s with the bright afternoon sun, and we were scoping out where we were going to climb the next day. We parked the car and talked about climbing up to find the place. First, Chris said we should walk down to see the river. It was probably only 100 feet (I'm bad at judging distances), but I starting feeling really disoriented, like I didn't care about going down to the river or about much else to be honest. I can't accurately describe it, but it's a similar feeling to the one I get when I try to do any physical exercise in the summer.

Needless to say, I am very much looking forward to the fall and winter! That's right, I said I'm looking forward to the winter! I've been telling Chris that we should get a summer place in Alaska.

Pics from vacation

Here's a sample of pictures from our trip:

Chris looking at the paragliders that are about to take off of the slope.


The start of our hike around Mount St. Helens.

This is the kind of weather we encountered for the majority of our day.

This is the view of the mountain we got as we started back towards the car a few hours later.

This the slab that we climbed on the whole day we were out at Leavenworth. The hike up to this was a bit crazy. We were likely about 700-800 feet above where our car was.

He can't resist stopping to smile for the camera :)

This is the river flowing through the bottom of the valley.

Coming to a close

We only have about nine more hours in the Pacific Northwest before flying back home. I have to say that even though I've been having a really good time out here, I am looking forward to being home.

Yesterday while Chris was at his meeting, Brent and I hung out around the Pike Place Market. That is the market that houses that crazy fish stand where the guys throw the fish back and forth to one another while they're wrapping up someone's order. There's always a crowd around them. After Chris got back, we headed out to a Thai restaurant that apparently Brent has taken Chris a few times. With stomachs full, we went back to Brent's for a while and packed up for an overnight trip.

We met Adam and Ildiko and camped overnight at Camano Island, which is about an hour north of Seattle. It was a very interesting night including people at different camp sites shouting at one another and a couple of kids trying to cut down a big pine tree (all of which I slept through). Unfortunately Chris woke up with the beginnings of a horrible migraine that pretty much put him out of commission. While he tried to relax in the tent, the rest of us walked down to the beach and watched the dogs play fetch.

Adam and Ildiko have two dogs: Jackson (a border collie/lab mix) and Omar (a Kelpie). Jackson absolutely loves the water - once he gets in, he doesn't want to come back out. Omar is a little bit more leery of the water given a not-so-pleasant experience when he was a bit younger. So the way they played fetch was that Adam threw a stick out in the water and Jackson would swim for it and bring it back to about five feet from shore where Omar would be waiting for the handoff. Omar then brought it back to Adam. It was so funny to watch!

Now we're back at Brent's place where we'll hang out until our flight which takes off at 12:25am (ouch). I'm really hoping that I can figure out a way to sleep on the plane. I have a feeling that we'll be sleeping a lot tomorrow!

Camping...well, kind of

Adam, Ildiko, Chris, and I (and the dogs!) headed to Leavenworth, a crazy German village-themed town near the place where we planned to climb. We went to this one campsite (KOA) which was not what I was expecting at all; I thought we would be lucky to have an outhouse, but everything was paved, there was a swimming pool and hot tub, and the main office was a place where you could buy pretty much any foodstuff you might want. Definitely not what I was thinking of doing. But it was fun to swim when it was hot.

So after being in the car for about five hours or so in hot weather, we got to the campsite with the hopes of climbing, but it was not to be. I ended up getting a migraine from (I think) a combo of the heat and not eating lunch until 3. I was miserable. Eating helped though. After we checked in, we headed down to where the trail to the climbing site started. We hoped to get a sense of how long the trail was to the site. By the time we got there, I truly could not handle the heat and luckily, the boys offered to go check out the trail while Ildiko and I drove some teenagers back to their car after a long hike. After we dropped them off, we all headed back to the campsite for a swim in the pool.

The next morning, after a late start and the rest of my migraine later, we headed up to the trail. The sun was glaring and I thought it would be another horrible day. But everything turned out for the best. The hike up to the site was very scary to me because it was very step and there was a lot of loose dirt.

We got up to the site without incident (luckily) and the wind picked up, making it not very hot at all. We ended up being able to climb two routes each on a big granite slab. It was bit difficult to trust my holds at times because there weren't really hand holds at times, but the texture of the rock made for some great climbing. Chris got some good shots (so I hear), so hopefully he'll be able to get those up soonish. I'll post some pictures when we get back.

Now we're back in Seattle. We're planning on meeting up with Adam and Ildiko tomorrow afternoon to spend some time near the coast. This has been a great vacation so far, so thanks for planning everything Chris!

Off to camp

Today we went climbing at Frenches Dome - great rock and beautiful views. I completed a 5.10b, and considering I haven't climbed one of those in the gym for a very long time and because the route was a lot longer than any in the gym, I'm pretty proud of it.

Tomorrow we're heading out to camp and climb some more. We were supposed to head out tonight when we got back, but we were all pretty tired (translation: we were lazy). For some reason the thought of being in a car for four more hours after traveling one already and being wiped out didn't sound appealing to us.

We'll be back in Seattle Thursday night, so I'll post about our climbing trip then!

St. Helens: I hear it's beautiful

We headed up for a long hike today at Mount St. Helens. When we looked at the temps last night, it said cloud cover and high of 70. When we got to the observatory, we noticed that it was downright chilly and there was a thick blanket of fog concealing the mountain. The new forecast was a high of 55. Even though we never did get a clear view of the mountain, it was a great hike and there was plenty of other scenery. Besides, we bought postcards at the gift shop so we know what it looks like on a clear day.

The greatest part of the entire trip came when we got home and I discovered I had sunburned a line on the middle of my forehead because I was wearing a bandanna. It looks so ridiculous and honestly, I'm perfectly embarrassed about it. Good thing I have long bangs!

When we get home next Sunday, I'll post some pictures. And Mom, I got you a present :)

By the way, Chris posted about our short time in Seattle and our trip down to Portland.

Hello Seattle!

We landed last night at about 11pm (1am Central). I found out that I definitely cannot sleep sitting up in an airplane seat. I have such a hard time sleeping on my back (so much of a hard time that I rarely do). So after basically tossing and turning for the duration of the flight, I thought I would be absolutely exhausted, but after Chris's friend Brent picked us up at the airport, we ended up staying up until about 1.

After staying up really late, my body decided to return the favor of treating it horribly: I woke up at 6:30 and couldn't fall back asleep. Chris had the same problem (but he had a migraine too), so we both got up and started reading. I got started on the baby blanket I mentioned in a previous post. I'm afraid that I might be done with it over the course of a few days. But no worries: there are plenty of knitting shops in Portland and we're going to be camping next week for a couple of days.

We just got done having breakfast at a pancake place. I had cherry crepes - amazing!!!!! We'll be taking a train down to Portland tomorrow morning, which I'm super excited about because I have a feeling we'll be able to see some great scenery! Happy 4th!

VACATION!!!!!

We're flying out tonight to Seattle! Then it's off to Portland (and maybe Canada?) for relaxing, hiking, climbing, and camping. But mostly relaxing.

I've brought along a couple of books and the baby blanket I talked about earlier to work on (in the hopes that they won't confiscate crochet hooks as easily as they might knitting needles). I am soooooo excited!

I will try to post while I'm out there, but know that I will definitely be posting all about it (including lots of pictures) when I get back.

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

Time is flying by

Even though it doesn't seem like I've done very many things this past week, the time has been flying by. I've been working on my mom's afghan (which is progressing even faster than I anticipated) and I've been trying to read through my stack of magazines that have been piling up for about four months. The magazines are piling up because when I'm reading a good book, I tend to focus on the book rather than other reading.

Right now, I'm in the middle of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. It is an amazing book, telling the history of the U.S. from the perspective of those people whose story is less told. An example is telling the story of slavery from the perspective of the Africans who were torn from their homes. European settlers to America couldn't tame the Native Americans, so shipping people across the Atlantic and throwing them in a completely different world seemed like the best idea to them.

It is books like this one that makes me think back to my high school education and how in history class, we heard about the great things that the European settlers did without dwelling on the terrible things. History class seemed like it was trying to envoke pride in us for our country rather than telling of the country's complicated past. This is not true of all high schools I'm sure, but I only had a few teachers who truly challenged us to think outside the box. My experience did set me up to discover the other side of the story on my own though and in my own time.

In addition to reading, I am starting to get very excited for our trip to the Pacific Northwest! We are flying out the night of July 3. I have never been that far West - it will be beautiful! I am already trying to think about what I want to take along with me (meaning books and knitting/crocheting because those are the things that I really need to plan). I am afraid to take along knitting needles because I've heard that security sometimes takes them away. So, I've been trying to find a smaller crochet project to work on. In looking through the two crochet books that I have and my varied yarn selection, I think I'm going to make a baby blanket for no one in particular. It will be stereotypical boyish colors, so if any of you are having a baby boy soon, I'm getting started on your gift early!

I'm looking foward to getting away from work for a while. It has been slow and honestly kind of boring lately. The pace will pick up in a couple of weeks, but at the moment, it's painfully slow. So goes.

Sew those blocks!

I accomplished my goal for the weekend already: I got all of the yarn tails sewn in the blocks and laid the blocks out to figure out the best way to integrate the old yarn with the new. The reason I had to lay it out is because the brown yarn I'm using is a darker brown than what my mom used, and the green is a brighter green compared to the olive shade my mom used. I wanted to make sure I laid out the squares in such a way that it didn't make those differences stand out.

After putting all of the squares in neat piles, I began the next process: sewing all of the blocks together. This is going to take some time. I first am sewing nine square long strips that I will then join together. I'm looking forward to being done with this process already because I definitely prefer crocheting to sewing (the same with knitting). I'm sure that most knitters feel the same way. So what I'm really saying is that I hope you appreciate this throw Mom!

In all honesty, I'm quite happy that Mom had this project sitting in the closet because it was a great motivator to learn how to crochet, and to make something spectacular on my first go. It is time I put up a picture of the project so that all of you can marvel at the '70s-ness of it (girl not included):

Squares complete (well almost)

I got all of the squares crocheted. Now I have to fasten off all then ends, and then start sewing them together. This will definitely be interesting. All I can say is that this is going to be one big throw! I will start posting pictures when I get some squares sewn together.

One more day of training, and then it's back to the real world on Monday (boo). I am hoping to do a lot of sitting outside and working on the throw this weekend.

Training and Crocheting

This week I'm in training for our new budgeting software. It's directly south of MOA which makes for fairly easy access. I'm driving all this week - bad I know.

The training has allowed me to work on my mom's afghan - the small squares are easy to transport and work on during breaks. Plus, the pattern for these are very simple, so I don't have to worry about carrying along the instructions. I bought all of the yarn I think I need on Monday. I tried my best to match the yarn colors, but, not surprisingly, the colors aren't perfect (close enough though). The only color that seemed to match almost perfectly was the orange. Good thing too since most of the border is orange!

I only have 12 more squares to do, which will go quickly. I'm excited to lay everything out this weekend so I can figure out how to best blend the different colors. Before that, I need to tie off all those yarn tails, then comes sewing all of those squares together. This is certainly a big (and enjoyable) project!

Attack of the Happy Hooker

I finally broke into the world of crochet. I inherited an afghan my mom started a few decades ago giving her the hope that it would be finished in time for her to enjoy it and for the colors to be fashionable again. Until this point, I had several knitting projects that I wanted to work on, and the crochet hook felt too foreign. But now that I've knitted most of the things that I've wanted and am thinking about knitting clothes (meaning new yarn), I decided it's time to use some the yarn I purchased specifically for crochet projects.

I crocheted my first swatch tonight. After several false starts, I finally mastered the single. Perhaps tomorrow I will try some other stitches. I have to admit that it took a long time to feel comfortable with the yarn on my left hand. Such a different technique!

I hope to start work on my mom's afghan as soon as I figure out the necessary stitches. Maybe I'm setting myself up for too much pressure (that's a hint not to ask how it's going Mom...hee hee). Wish me luck!

Buying new bricks SUCK

The cord to my AC adapter for my laptop has been messed up for some time. I put off getting a new one because I really didn't want to deal with it. Finally I broke down and did something stupid: I bought one off eBay because it was a lot less expensive than buying it directly from Toshiba.

Guess what: the brick (Chris's and everyone else's terminology for an AC adapter for a laptop) is already messed up. One of the cords is loose, forcing me and Chris to do the same thing as before which was constantly wiggling the cord until we saw the orange light. So I said f#$% it and decided to buy the one directly from Toshiba after wasting how much on the other one. Did I learn a lesson? I think so.

I'm going to be pretty upset if this laptop dies in the next year...

Summer haircut

After attempting to cut my hair myself, I decided to go into The Hair Terrace. It's a place in Blaine where a woman has a small room off the side of her house that she does hair out of. Barb is an absolutely incredible hairdresser and I highly recommend her to anyone that is willing to drive there. I went in tonight only knowing that I wanted my hair shorter, and she did the rest:

Krazy Kittens

This is a great movie my mom took of the kittens (needless to say I laughed my ass off):

Memorial Day Weekend

It was an extremely relaxing weekend. Chris and I headed up to my parents' place and spent the bulk of our time out on the porch. Perfect. Saturday was the most productive with us going on a bike ride out of Walker and then going back home and working on terracing around the garden. I also managed to burn my arms - nothing else, just those.

The rest of the weekend was really about reading, knitting, and taking some pictures. Oh yeah, I forgot napping! Great stuff. Of course my mom made all sorts of food, which was delicious (so good you never want to stop eating!). It was good to see my parents and fun to see Pokey. We got to see the aftermath of the kittens and see some pictures. They certainly did look like a handful!

I'll post some pictures soon.

Warmer weather = cold?

For the past few days, I have had a cold/severe allergies which managed to make me have an absolutely miserable day at work on Friday and made me essentially couch-ridden for Saturday. What perfect timing huh? I missed out on some longer bike rides with Chris over that time, but I did have a chance to do a lot of knitting and some reading. I pretty much finished that Christmas stocking and I'm now working on a yoga mat bag. I always wanted one, but I couldn't justify paying $20 or more for one. This way I get to practice a lace pattern and I get a homemade bag. I'm happy about both.

This morning, my voice is noticeably funky since everything that was previously in my sinuses has moved down to my throat. My morning was spent coughing out a lung between reading and knitting outside. Since I am feeling better, I went for an hour-long walk down Summit, and I'm thinking about trying a bike ride in about an hour or so. It's such beautiful weather right now!

Knitting Podcasts

I've been listening to various podcasts for a while now - the ones I listen to most often are This American Life and Radio Lab. I have now found myself listening to some knitting podcasts. Yes, knitting podcasts. While searching through a list of crafty podcasts, I came across Knit Picks, which is a company-sponsored podcast and the woman who hosts it talks about a variety of topics such as all about the various kinds of fibers, good books to look at if you want to knit a sweater, etc. I've been inspired to learn more about the different fibers from that one.

Right now I am working on knitting a small Christmas stocking in hopes of making a larger one soonish. I wanted to see how this pattern turned out before I start making my own modifications to it. I also have to decide what kind of yarn I want to use to make my mom a bunch of handmade Christmas stockings...something to discuss when I come up there?? I have to consult Pokey too to ask her opinion about what colors she wants. hee hee

Is it really May 9th already?

We're doing another bike ride tomorrow morning, but this one is going to be 30 miles (much more manageable!). It's put on by the MS Society and we are going to start in Maplewood and the primary trail will be the Greenway. The route isn't entirely clear to me since they didn't provide a route map beforehand, but it will go south from Maplewood to north St. Paul and loop around, I believe.

Since the weather isn't going to be that great, we decided on the 30 mile route. There was an option to do a 60 mile route, but not only was I not sure about it in decent weather, I'm definitely not wanting to do anything longer than 30 in crummy weather.

I got to bike to work a lot last week since the weather was so nice. I rented a locker and have access to a shower, so I've been leaving the apartment earlier and showering when I get into downtown. I know that I like showing up to work feeling very clean, but I'm not sure if enough to justify renting a locker and everything (not like it's expensive, but it's still something). I have another month-and-a-half to decide if I want to continue renting it. I may find that I like it even more once summer hits.

Work is getting more and more busy. We have new budget software that's going live on Tuesday which is making everyone's workload a little crazy. Although I wasn't really heavily involved in the data uploads, I spent the last two days completely revising all of the training materials that we are going to start using next week. The funniest thing about it is that I haven't had formal training on the system, so I feel like I really don't know anything about it and I'm going to be training people starting next week! haha

It's a fairly intuitive system though which I think is a major improvement from the current budgeting system. It looks very similar to an Excel spreadsheet, which I think will put people at ease immediately. Anyway, with the bike ride tomorrow morning and plans for pretty much all day Sunday, I'm hoping I can find a lot of time to just read and relax, to clear my mind before the true craziness hits in the next couple of weeks.

What I've been up to

This week, I haven't done much of anything besides knit and watch movies from Netflix (ones that Chris was not interested in watching). I've been taking a break from biking because I want to :)

I'm working on knitting the Nintendo throw still. I ran out of black yarn last night, so I have to make a run to Michaels tonight (and do a little bit of grocery shopping since I haven't gone the whole time Chris has been gone...hee hee...I've been seeing how long I can go without grocery shopping and without doing laundry). Anyway, the knitting part of the throw is very close to being completed. The part that will likely take just as long is tucking in and tying off all of the yarn that is hanging from where I changed colors. Given the pattern, that happened A LOT. But it is looking really cool and once I get a picture up, everyone is going to want their own.

I also made a bonnet and booties for one of my old coworker's baby. Of course I forgot to take a picture of them, but they were really cute! The bonnet was a pattern I hadn't tried before and I am definitely going to keep using it. Maybe one of these times I'll remember to take a picture! It's kind of fun making the small stuff because it doesn't take too terribly much time and they are really cute! That doesn't mean that I necessarily want a baby of my own to fill those clothes out! Not ready for that Mom! :)

I'm in for a weekend of laundry and working on work stuff. I'm apparently going to start my communication of potentially contentious material Monday morning at 8:30am (didn't find that out until today (Friday) at 3:00pm). So I'm going to polish up some materials for handouts and keep hoping that they aren't going to tear me a new one. I'm also going to work on some other projects, including reading a report from the late 1990s about the public infrastructure of Minneapolis. That is already turning out to be quite interesting.

Reflections

Now that I've had a few more hours to think about how things went yesterday, I'm feeling a lot better about ducking out of the ride early. I have been pushing myself to ride at the same speed Chris can, which is not smart since Chris does not have problems with asthma like I do. Add allergies and I'm in bad shape.

By doing these sorts of activities, I'm learning a lot about myself. I've learned that no matter what gradient it is, any incline is a hill for me. Yesterday I struggled through many rolling hills, many of which kept going and going and going.....I wasn't mentally prepared for rolling hills. Most people I talked to about the ride told me that it was long, but it wasn't difficult. Clearly none of them have problems with asthma! I have to do more research about topography on my own rather than relying on the words of people who are in shape.

Being on a structured ride was great for the fact that you didn't have to carry tons of food and you always knew where the next indoor bathroom would be. It was inspiring to see all of the other riders too, although I envisioned myself lassoing a towrope on to each one that passed me (there were a lot of people who passed me).

I'm taking it easy today. Mentally unwinding. The one regret I have is putting climbing on the back burner. I don't think I've gone for a couple of weeks! I really miss climbing with Chris, who now is ready to climb again, but is on his way to Texas for a conference and a visit with friends. Soon I will be back on the rock...

...After

Well, the ride didn't go as well as I hoped, but I'm glad I attempted it! I got to about 38 miles I think, but I'm going to tell everyone 40 :) Unfortunately my asthma kicked in hardcore and I decided that I had to stop.

The weather was pretty good for me, except for the fact that we were riding into the wind for the majority of the portion of the ride I did. Most people would say that it was pretty chilly outside (it was about 38 degrees when we started at quarter after seven); I thought it was nice.

The terrain was basically a bunch of rolling hills which my asthma found difficult to handle. I kept struggling through it for a while, and I found the rest stops quite lovely because it was a good opportunity to get some food and give my toes a chance to un-numb. The reason my toes were numb was more because I wasn't pedaling correctly, not because of the cool weather.

In a way, I was disappointed that I didn't get farther than I did, but I'm just not in good enough shape yet. Maybe towards the end of the season, I'll be able to complete a longer ride. I have to admit that I much prefer shorter rides, especially riding to work. I'm still going to do longer rides though (long as in about 30-40 miles I think). Like I said before, I'm glad that I attempted the ride, and actually the longest ride I did last season was 41 miles, so I think I did pretty good overall.

Before...

Tomorrow is the 100-mile Lakeville Ironman ride. I am nervous about it because the ride is long and I'm not sure if my body can withstand 100 miles in one day. But then again it may not have to if the weather is really crummy (meaning rain or snow). If that's the case, we're going to do one of the shorter routes.

I hope it holds off raining or snowing because I would like to have the opportunity to attempt 100. I know my lungs aren't necessarily ready for it; that's what worries me the most. I can't think of this as a casual ride like Chris since cardio activities do not come naturally or easily to me. My mild asthma gets in the way. Inhalers haven't worked for me - they make me shaky but don't help me breathe.

The only thing that I've found that helps me is if I get in really good shape. When I was in college and was working out all the time (basically running and taking a cardio kickboxing class), my lungs got in better shape. But I was always indoors. The minute I step outside and tried to run, my allergies worked with my asthma to put the kibosh on that.

I enjoy riding and I will always have to just deal with my allergies affecting my asthma which ultimately affects my breathing. It gets really frustrating though, especially because I don't want to move to a different climate. So basically this all comes back to my choices which makes it frustrating.

Anyway, I'm going to keep riding. I plan to bike to work a lot this spring/summer/fall. In addition to the bike locker I'm renting, I am also renting a locker with a shower. I am going to leave the apartment earlier in the morning, thereby hopefully missing out on hot weather, and shower when I get downtown. I'm going to try it for a couple of months to see if I like it.

Wish me luck tomorrow, and wish for decent weather!

Road bike riding

This weekend was my first trip outdoors with my road bike, and it was great! Even though road bikes are typically terrible at absorbing shocks, my bike is pretty decent, partly because of that funny looking shock under the seat. It was weird for a bit being on such a small wheel, but I got used to it. I haven't tried out my cleats outside yet because I need to practice getting out of the pedal some more that happens.

I commuted to work yesterday with my road bike. It was the greatest thing ever to not have the bag on my back! And the road bike seems so much more effortless (there was plenty of effort, don't worry). After two long rides over the weekend, my legs were pretty darn tired yesterday. It truly was absolutely beautiful weather though. Perfect for biking and just being outdoors!

Outdoor commute

Today was the first day of the season that I rode my bike into work. I was nervous (even though there was no reason to be). I worried that I had forgotten how to ride amongst cars or that my body wouldn't be able to handle or something else. But everything went fine. My lungs weren't especially happy on the hills, but I expected that since I'm not in very good shape at the moment.

I rode my mountain bike since the streets haven't been swept yet, so I'm itching to try out that new road bike on the actual road! What I did get to try out today was the bike locker I'm renting. I have decided that that was one of the best investments I could have made. It's in a great location (in the parking ramp kitty-corner from City Hall and is a pretty much direct shot from the Stone Arch Bridge where I come into downtown on) and it means that I can leave my bike together and leave any biking gear there, such as my helmet, gloves, etc.

I'm excited to continue enjoying the weather this weekend by doing some more biking - hopefully it won't be raining all day!

"I have to go lie down"

As some of you may have read on Chris's blog, he's all of a sudden become holier. When he was about to go into the shower the morning after getting ice cream scooped and sewn back up, he asked that I help him take the band-aids off of his back. I start peeling off the top one, and given that I haven't seen stitches for a LONG time, it was weird seeing them on his back. Seeing those made me feel extremely bad for Chris for having to go through it. The second band-aid came off, and then the third.

I became suspicious when the third band-aid was a deep red color, but I thought it might have been because of the fact that a needle had passed through his skin several times. I was wrong. Staring back at me, at eye level, was a small "divot" (as Chris called them) which was a pit of oozy-looking blood, and the stitches were lying about haphazardly.

"It's not supposed to be like that," I said to Chris, with the horror creeping in on my expression. He tried to see it in the mirror as my vision became dark and fuzzy. "I have to go lie down," I said, just barely stumbling out of the bathroom. My life was full of green faces, sweat, and dark, fuzzy vision for the next five minutes or so. All I could think about (besides keeping last night's dinner in my stomach) was how horrible I felt for Chris because not only did he have to deal with my impression of the Green Giant stumbling and falling over, he had to deal with the fact that he would have to go in to get stitched up again.

Then he said something that made me cringe: "You know you're going to have to put another band-aid over that." SHIT. That's all that came to mind. SHIT. I tried so hard to pull myself together and go back in there to face it, but my eyes and the rest of my body decided I couldn't handle it. Luckily, Chris found a way to cover the pit in his back up, and I recovered shortly thereafter.

The funniest thing about this story was that I have seen way worse things. I have seen a guy after a drunken accident on a motorcycle with the bone sticking through his calf, and I wanted to get closer! I've seen bone popping through the forearm of a kid at a high school basketball game. But apparently these experiences could not prepare me for the site of Chris's pit. Go figure. I have to say that I laughed the rest of the day about it, and I couldn't wait to tell my dad.

Excitement is building

Tonight I went to a informational meeting about the Ironman bike ride that's happening on April 27. Chris and I have decided that we are going to attempt the 100-mile route (but that might change depending on the weather). I'm really excited to get outside and try out my new road bike! I've put a couple of hours in on the trainer (and as you know if you read the post previous to this, the first time didn't work out so well).

I'm excited for spring in general, but I really need to get outside and get a feel for the road bike. I might change seats again because I really like the seat I bought for the mountain bike. I also have to figure out some other aspects to ensure that I'm not going to be putting unnecessary strain on any part of my body. More than anything I need to put in some "butt time" as the speaker was telling us tonight. Sitting on those seats for a long period of time is not the most comfortable situation, but getting your rear used to being on a seat again after having the winter essentially off helps.

I can't wait for spring and for when the street cleaners come through to wash away all of the grit on the road. By the way Mother Nature, it would be great if it stopped snowing.

Dehydration nation

One thing I never want to do again is get myself dehydrated. How did I accomplish this you might ask? By being silly and not drinking enough. It was that simple.

Let me back up. Chris went down to his parents' last Thursday and was staying through the weekend, so Kim and I were going to drive down on Saturday morning. My foolishness started Friday night after climbing. I climbed really hard, and I should have eaten enough to replenish when I got home, but I clearly did not. I just wasn't that hungry.

Saturday morning came, and I had my regular breakfast of cereal and snacked on some toast mid-morning. I did a little bit of strength training, and drank about a glass of water. Not enough, but I didn't realize that until later. Anyway, Chris encouraged me to bring down my bike so I could put some time in on the trainer (we're planning to do the Ironman bike ride in April 27). When we got down to his parents, we had vegetable soup for lunch, and a few hours afterwards, I decided to get on the trainer.

I only drank a glass of water during my hour workout, and the way I was sweating, I likely needed at least twice that much. And since I was already likely dehydrated before I even started biking, it was a recipe for a bad night (and subsequently a bad next day) ahead.

About a half hour after finishing up, it was about time to eat dinner, and I got an extremely bad migraine, one that made me so nauseous that I couldn't eat. I had to go lay down for a while. Chris brought me in some soup, bread and lots of water, and kept checking up on me. After a few hours rest, I still had a bad headache, but was feeling better.

After a night's sleep, I got up and ate some oatmeal and toast and washed it all down with a tall glass of water. My migraine persisted though, and it's still bugging me now. I had to leave his parents' place before noon because I was not getting any better. I've been sucking down water and Gatorade all day, and sticking to bland foods (my stomach got messed up too), and the migraine is still hanging out. Grr...what do I have to do to make you go away!!!

By the way, migraines suck. Don't get them.

Climbing awesomeness and green-thumbiness

With Chris down at his parents' place, I climbed with Garbe. We both ended up having a really good climbing night. I got pretty close to finishing the crack clean (but I ended up slipping out once). Then I climbed a 5.10c, which took me quite a while to get up because instead of making slow deliberate movements, I ended up trying to make dynamic ones and I kept falling off. But in the end, I made it.

Garbe, the street-shoe wearing climber, went right up some crazy routes. I think that kid would be unstoppable if he got climbing shoes.

Besides climbing, my green thumb has been busy. haha I re-potted the big pot of plants Chris's parents got me for my birthday. I suspected they would be getting root-bound because of all the blooming, and I was right. It was my first experiment with re-potting any plants, so we'll see if they survive. The good thing is is that they are all bulbs, easy to completely cut down and start over with.

Presentation Success!

Today was the day that the projects I've been working on for over ten months were presented to Council. I was extremely nervous (even though I did not present) because I've never had anything I've worked so long on go in front of a group such as the City Council. The work I did will affect the City's five-year financial direction including affecting each of the funds I worked on.

Luckily I had good news to tell, which the Council members were thrilled about. They were very excited to hear that the funds were doing better than originally anticipated and that we had such long-term detailed plans. Hard work can certainly pay off!

It was a good experience for me, and I'm glad that the plans were so well received. I was, however, hoping that there would be some difficult questions asked, but I've gotten a difficult questions throughout the process and from the departments we met with. All in all, I think it was a good first major project, one that will continue for quite a while since these plans will be updated annually. Congrats to me!

My newest pride and joy

With spring right around the corner (or the spring that is upon us, depending on the day), I started looking around for a road bike. I had been planning to get one for some time, and now seemed like as good a time as any. I started my search at Erik's off 494. The clerk showed me some good ones, but a little out of my price range. I next tried the Boehm's just down from us, but they are going through a remodel and I was told it would be too difficult for them to bring bikes up from the basement where they're currently being held.

So after talking to Kim through Chris, it was recommended that we try out the Erik's in Roseville. Before climbing tonight, we headed up there. The staff was very helpful, even though without knowing it, I walked in 15 minutes before they closed (they insisted on helping me though saying it was no problem). I ended up finding one that was similar to the ones I tried out at the other Erik's, only less expensive (because it's the Sirrus Base model, whereas the others were the Sirrus Comp and the Sirrus Sport).

I am extremely excited about getting a longer ride that a trip around the parking lot. We're planning on doing the Ironman bike ride on April 27 (we're planning on doing the 100-mile ride if the weather's ok). This bike will definitely be better to take on long rides. Here's a picture:


I can't believe how much lighter it is than my mountain bike. I've also ordered a rack for the back so that I won't have to have my bag slung across my back anymore; I'll be able to carry all my stuff in the bag that goes on the rack! I got clips so I'll just have to get shoes soon to go with it. I got the pedals like Chris has where it's the clip on one side and a platform on the other.

I love its sleek black color. A kind of funny back story to this is that at the first Erik's we went to, the clerk started by showing me a white bike with pink shit all over it, and then he showed me one with butterflies on it. Eventually we told him that I'm not into all the girly colors and designs.

Best birthday week ever!

As many of you already know, I have turned the ripe 'ole age of 24 last Tuesday (and for those of you who didn't know, I turned 24 last Tuesday). I must say that my family and extended family (here I'm thinking about Chris's family) made me feel extremely special :) Thank you to all of you!
Although I mixed up the traditional birthday meal, it was a very tasty change - and my amazing aunt and uncle got strawberry shortcake for me, so I got half of it :) I'm looking forward to going home and getting the whole meal (wink wink Mom).

In other news, if you're looking for some funny stuff, check out this website:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/

So many laughs, so little time.

Failure

Last night, while lying in bed, I starting thinking about the thing that I've been thinking about for a few weeks: I should cancel my gym membership. I simply haven't gone much. I have little desire to, plain and simple. It's not that I don't want to work out period, it's more that I haven't found something that works for me.

When I signed up for the membership at the beginning of this year, I was thinking back to when first moved to Champlin and used to go about 5-6 times per week. The main motivator there was that (1) I had someone to go with that enjoyed the same classes and (2) I didn't have much else to occupy my time. Now I find it difficult to want to drive anywhere besides errands, and the time makes me not want to go at all.

What I really want to do is start biking again, but the temperatures haven't gotten to where I would like them to be, and I certainly don't want to bring a nasty dirty bike back into the living room. It feels like I'm in a slump. I love going climbing and I like the little bit of walking that I do get when catching the bus (which is really only a few blocks) or walking to the bakery.

I know what I need to do: I need to come up with a way to start off small, to get myself going, motivated, and getting myself used to a routine. Right now, I think I should try getting myself in the routine of going on walks around the neighborhood. Of course saying something and doing something are two different things. I need to find something that works for me, and I need to stop feeling like I've failed because ultimately I'll be saving money and I'll stop thinking of reasons why I don't want to drive all the way to the gym.

Wo-blam!

All of a sudden, I've been getting socked with projects at work, some are simple but time-consuming, others are difficult and time-consuming. I've been having a very difficult time lately with getting control of my stress. Mentally, I can tell myself to breath, take things one step at a time blah blah blah, but my body is won't listen. I'm working on it though, and I think that by the time I retire, I will have better strategies for dealing with work-related stress :)

This week is a big week for me because of departmental meetings about the project I've been working on since I started as an intern. It's a good chance for me to practice speaking in front of people (who are primarily department heads) and it has been extremely interesting hearing their feedback on my work. Many of them simply do not know enough detailed history to really give me definitive feedback, but it is interesting to hear what sorts of questions they have. It has also been an opportunity for me to see how much I don't yet understand about the politics of the budget. The reason I say that is because my boss has fielded a number of questions to which great care has to be undertaken to answer them.

The whole purpose of these meetings were to educate affected departments, to get their support, and to keep the lines of communication open. I think we accomplished those things so far. Also it has been an opportunity for all of us to begin formulating how we are going to present the final draft to Council on the 17th. I still haven't decided if I want to participate in that presentation (I would most likely be presenting with the CFO of the City - tough act to follow!) On the one hand, I realize it would be a great time to practice my public speaking skills (on live television mind you), but on the other, I think that I may not be ready to take that plunge just yet. Even without cameras I tend to blush heavily and get a bad case of dry mouth. I did quite well presenting to department heads; I might leave it at that for now.

In other news, Chris and I are looking forward to heading up to our friends' cabin this weekend. It will be a good chance to relax and have some fun.

Oh! And in other more exciting news, I climbed a 5.10d/c clean when we were at the climbing gym Monday. That's the most difficult climb I've gotten clean yet! There's another really fun one that I worked on a while ago - I really want someone to get a picture of me doing one of the moves (I can't really describe it, but I think it would look cool).

Bye bye virus

I am finally feeling better after ten days of sickness and missing three days of work. It's about time! I'm excited to potentially get Dairy Queen today (it opened up for the season recently). I'm also excited to be able to walk around and get out of the apartment without feeling like I'm going to die (yes, that was an exaggeration, but from time to time, that's what it felt like). What should I do first???

In knitting news, I started the NES afghan, and it doesn't look like much yet, but it soon will. I think Chris is excited for it. This is the beginning of me using different colors within my projects. Maybe someday I'll work up to knitting things like this:Projects like that would be very time-consuming, but the end result is pretty incredible I think. For now, I'll stick to easier projects. I think I'm going to go for a walk - finally enjoy the crisp winter air after being cooped up for so long! Woohoo!

Mr. Bear

The one good thing about being sick is that I've been getting a lot of knitting done. Here's my latest:

I made him for some friends who had a baby quite a few months a ago, and Chris and I were out of town when they had their baby shower. It was fun making him.

I still have a nasty cold that I can't seem to get rid of, so that sucks. But in the meantime, I'm going to do some more knitting and reading.

Bleh-iness

I have been feeling crappy since last Wednesday - I think I've caught the plague (just kidding Mom!). It's basically a cold/flu with no stomach problems. It keeps dragging on though, which is completely annoying. Chris and I had a really nice weekend though. Since we both felt bleh, we mostly hung out at the apartment, watched the first season of My Name is Earl (which is great), and got our books and movies situated (see Chris's post and pics about the recent addition to our apartment here.) I also got my taxes done, and started knitting a teddy bear.

At work, I made some great progress with the project I've been mentioning/bitching about for how many months. It's a lot closer to being done, which is great. In all honesty, I should be working on it now (but who wants to do work at quarter to 9 at night???). Yep, that's right, the reason I'm posting at all is because I'm avoiding work. I thought I was done with school and the school schedule! Ha - boy was I wrong.

Ok, off to work I guess (dammit!)...

Long Weekend Ahead!

Even though it's Friday evening, I still have work (as in work work) to do before we head up to my parents' for the long weekend. This week has been both long and extremely busy - I need the upcoming time to regroup and de-stress a little. I really like my job, but it's also easy to get frustrated by other people's time-management skills and my inability to figure out a way to account for that. And here I thought I was getting better at knowing what approaches work for different people. I'm debating whether I should go to some of the management trainings, even though I'm definitely not manager, but such a large portion of my job is working with others to get information they have that I need.

The most frustrating is when I need help from one of the higher ups and that help cannot be given because of their time constraints and being generally over-worked because of the new financial system. I always have the best of intentions, but it doesn't always work out. Another thing that I have to work on is, in addition to being accepting of missed personal deadlines, I have to not let it stress me on a subliminal level. I tend to think that situations aren't getting to me, or time pressure that I feel was unnecessary isn't stressing me out, but it is.

I have often had the experience that the previously mentioned higher-up will have a project they want me to work on and will tell me a little bit about it at some point, but won't give me any further information until a day or so before it's due. Today is a perfect example. There is a comparison the CFO wants, and today was the day that I was told to do it. The comparison is going to be used in a meeting with other department heads on Tuesday morning at 9am. Monday is a holiday, meaning I have to get this thing done today, or work on it over the weekend.

Luckily, after putting nine hours into it during the work day, I got it to a point that all I need to do know is do some mindless plugging in of information now (which is perfect to do to music). So I made the decision to take a break and bring the work home with me. It's so much better to work in cozy pajamas with good music in the background :)

After a long and somewhat stressful day, Chris surprised me with a subscription to Climbing magazine, which I'm super excited about :) I had been thinking about getting a subscription for a while, but never got around to it. I can't wait to read it this weekend!

Mittens!

I finally finished my mittens (I got the bulk of them done a couple of weeks ago, but since I hate tucking the strings in, I didn't officially finish them until now).

Here's the pic:


The yarn was really fun (lots of colors). Mittens are fun and surprisingly easy to make.

My next project? I got a request from my aunt for a pair of slipper socks, and I'm thinking about knitting a teddy bear for some friends (we never got them a gift when their baby was born). Then I think I'm going to make another afghan, but this time, it's going to be of an NES controller. Check out the picture of this here. Both Chris and I thought it was so cool because we are nerds.