Popcorn

Is it weird to be taking photos of the wall in the bar bathroom? Probably. But I do enjoy reading the messages during the break in Thursday Night Popcorn Tavern Trivia.

Here comes Santa Claus

Some people in our neighborhood put their Halloween decorations away and brought their Christmas decorations out on the same day.  A co-worker of mine surmised that this was because they wanted to get all the lighting completed before it was too cold outside.

I would prefer that Christmas would hold off until at least after Thanksgiving.  I would really prefer that it not be visible until December 1st.  This year, the two are so close together that I must give in and allow for all of the Christmas trees and lights and wreaths to happen right about now.  If only stores didn't play the same carols over and over and over again...

Photo: Robert Wachtman (my grandfather's brother)

Today is the day

Last night began the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, commemorating the re-dedication of the temple in the 2nd century BCE.

Today Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, a family- and food-centered holiday commemorating the supposed sharing of meal between early settlers and the native population of North America.

This morning was also supposed to see the appearance of the comet ISON slingshot around the sun.  Unfortunately, it burned up before it came around and showed itself to earth.

Three countries of the world celebrate their independence from colonial rule today - Albania from Turkey, Panama from Spain, and Mauritania from France.

Pope Gregory III died today, but Jon Stewart was born.

I ate dinner with family, did work, played with the dog, and watched curling on television.

And that's today.

Turkey on the run

Three days til the turkey and gravy flows freely!  And yet I've seen so many places that make "thanksgiving" sandwiches year round with turkey and cranberry sauce.  I think they're on to something.

Exterminate, exterminate!

We got sucked into the Dr. Who phenomenon, although don't tell us what happened in the big switchover this weekend; we just finished the first (reboot) season.

How do we feel about Tardis sounds for my cell phone ring?

We interrupt

Perhaps you have seen too many dog pictures here.  Here's one of a cat.  This is Banjo.  He was my roommate's cat in grad school.  Sam says he was alright for a cat, except for when he got mad at you and peed on your clothes.

Millie often acts like a cat when she is happy to see you.  She will rub on your legs and try to trip you as you walk in the door.  But she's not a cat, and will not fit in the windowsill to nap.

Not the day I had planned

We were going to brew today.  Instead, I spent all day sick on the couch.  Goodbye, Saturday.

Lists are fun

Things on my work desk this evening:

CPU
Monitor
Speakers
Japanese Literature textbook (in Japanese)
Four volumes of Japanese Language Exam Study Guides
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (in Latin)
The Tea Ceremony by Seno Tanaka
Exhibition guide to "The World of the Beauty of the Gods" (in Japanese)
Tea mug with Throat Coat tea bag
Pottery mug filled with colored pens
Calendar
Wire-bound notebook
Post-it notes
Cell phone
Cell phone charger
Tissues
Desk drawer knob (screw might be hanging around somewhere)
Japanese furoshiki cloth for covering computer at night
Microfiber glasses-cleaning cloth
Mousepad
Mouse
Keyboard

Anniversary of my birth

The fun thing about Nablopomo is that it falls on the month of my birth.  This means that I actually have posts from each of my last eight birthdays.  Want to travel through time with me?  Read each post for November 10th.  You'll definitely be able to tell what I was up to that year.  In 2005, when this picture was taken, I was in Japan celebrating with my friends Jungmin and Mayo.

This year, my choir had a concert.  It went pretty well, and I enjoyed singing most of the music.  After the concert, Sam took me out to dinner where I remembered that bison is not beef (which I am not eating), and decided to give this locally raised meat a try again after several years without.  I couldn't finish a quarter of the burger.  I guess I don't really like red meat of any kind any more.  It's too...meaty.

Special days

Awhile back I became very interested in the genealogy of my family, so I jumped on Geni.com along with a bunch of other family members.  Our combined efforts led to a pretty extensive tree, although not quite as extensive as Sam's which goes back to the second ship after the Mayflower.

The nice (and sometimes annoying) thing about Geni is that it sends out birthday reminders for your whole living family tree.  And this is how I know that there are two birthdays today and three on Sunday in my family.  Yay for November!

And to think that it took me until I joined Geni to learn that I shared my birthday with two other relatives...

winter running series, complete

Today was the Valentine Heart Throb 5k Race, the last of the Winter Running Series races.  It was a great race for me, and a pretty decent one for Sam as well.  The temperature was about 29 degrees, but the 12 mph winds made for a little cooler feeling and a slightly more difficult first mile.  Here's our results.

Sam (22:05)
26/222 overall, 23/71 men, 2/16 age group
Sam improved his time over last race, but wasn't as fast as his December race.  Despite this, he placed again.  That's three ribbons for Sam in three races.

Laura (24:14)
49/222 overall, 12/121 women, 5/48 age group
I improved my time again by another minute and a half, but once again did not place in my age group.  I really think that women ages 30 to 39 are the most competitive.

At the end of the series, times from each of the three races are added together and the top total finishers are awarded prizes as well.  Neither Sam nor I placed in the top three, but we did both place in the top ten.

Sam (total 1:06:25)
10/82 overall, 10th male finisher

Laura (total 1:18:17)
28/82 overall, 6th female finisher

I started this series with two goals.  The first was reasonable - to improve my time each race.  The second was a little unreasonable - to beat Sam.  I absolutely accomplished my first goal, and with greater success than I had hoped.  I went from running 9:07 min/mile in the first race to 7:47 min/mile in the last race.  I can only say I accomplished the second goal if I stretch and say I finished higher overall in the women's series than Sam did in the men's series.

I am very encouraged by my progress in these races and am going to start looking for another in March and April so that I can continue the improvement trend.  I won't be bold enough yet to put an exact goal time out there, but will just continue to work toward finishing each race faster than the last.

way back

The second race in the YMCA Winter Running Series is coming up this Saturday.  I have been running approximately every other day in an attempt to improve my time and generally get back into running shape.

It is a long-term goal of mine to once again run a 5k as fast as I did when I was my fastest - at the Jill Behrman Run for the Endzone 5k at Indiana University in 2006.  On that day, I ran the race in 21:26 and had my fastest mile time ever.

My short-term goal is much more attainable - simply to run faster and more comfortably than in my previous race.  I have been been alternating indoor and outdoor runs over the last month.  Treadmills keep me going faster, but result in more aching feet and knees.  Sidewalks with ice slow me down, but at least I have Millie to keep me entertained and to occasionally pull me along.  I'm hoping that a combination of both will serve me well this weekend.

Sam helped my find my time for the 2006 race using the wayback machine.  Now that he knows it, he is determined to beat it.  Unfortunately for me, he's the sort of person who can refrain from training for months at a time and still improve.  It's evil, I know, but I am sort of hoping for bad weather so that I, with my outdoor training, can drop my time without him breaking my PR.  We'll see how it all plays out.

day 19: lists

I like lists.  I like to make lots of lists.  Today I made three lists for my upcoming holiday travel preparations.

On days that I work at the co-op, my lists are generally written on receipt paper, but when at home, I write lists of the back of old envelopes.  In a time where everything is electronic, I still love the feel of writing on paper.  This is why I continue to covet notebooks, despite the fact that I rarely use them.  The potential for list-writing is there.

I especially like the satisfaction of crossing something off a list, particularly if it is done with marker.  That is how I cross things off of lists relating to work.  There is nothing like crossing off a work project with a permanent marker.  It lends a certain finality to the whole thing.

write blogpost

day 17: surprise!

Today I did a reverse workout.  That is, I went to a surprise birthday party and ate way too much food and cake.  I am thinking of it as a warm-up to Thanksgiving.

the hackberry squirrel

This squirrel lives in my hackberry tree
and comes down often to visit me.

He sits on my stoop for hours a day,
cracking walnuts and nibbling away.

He leaves the shells, he leaves the rinds.
He leaves dark walnut stains behind.

Millie will sniff around while I sweep,
but the squirrel's already in his tree, asleep.

biking in december

For reasons that involve a car accident and a longtime desire to live car-less, we are currently without a vehicle.    So when we needed a few things that could only be gotten north of town, we had two options: bus or bike.  Yesterday we made an adventure of it and biked up to the mall area for some shopping.

We took the bike path through the marsh on the way up, and it was traffic-free, but very hilly.  It took us forty minutes from home to Target, where we had to buy a new bike lock because both of us had forgotten ours at home.

After a few hours, a few stores, and a lost mitten, we rode back south.  This time we took the sidewalk along the highway.  It was noisy and littered with obstacles, but all the hills were gradual.  It took us fifteen minutes to get home.

All told, we biked 13.3 miles in a little over an hour in 30 degree weather midst the gift-returning/after-Christmas-sale mall traffic, and we only forgot one item.  It was a pretty successful day in my book.

my life

Indexed knows me well.

goodbye neverland

2011 has been the year that I officially grew up.

1. Got married.

2. Turned 30.

3. Bought a house.

Yep. I think I qualify now.

flu-less season

I got a flu shot today. This is perhaps the fourth flu shot I have gotten in my life.

My initial thought about flu shots was that "I am healthy and young and my body can deal with winter flu just fine." Also, I did not want to pay for it.

However, one of my host parents in Japan was a doctor, and one day he brought home flu shots for the family. I couldn't really refuse, so I got the shot for the first time. Did I get the flu that year? I don't know. I can never tell whether it's the flu or a cold or something else.

Later, when I got health insurance, I was informed that I could get a free flu shot every year if I so chose. I considered it, and thought, "Well, why not?" And so now I get the free shot provided to me.

Again, can I tell that I have held off the flu better with the shot than without? Not really, but I guess it can't hurt.

aging

Now that I'm thirty, I am old enough to:

* play in Master's Ultimate.

* own a house.

* feel complimented when I'm asked for my ID.

* not be lumped with the twenty-somethings-just-out-of-college crowd.

I'm sure there are more, but I'm old now and need to get to bed early.