2013 Year in Review

The last few years I've done one of these posts summarizing things I talked about on the blog over the past year. This year I had a big break in blogging, and some important things happened that I didn't mention, so I thought I'd mix it up a little and do a "best and worst" post for you.

Best New Song I Discovered: Broken Heart by Dr. Dog



Best New Purchase: My Samsung Galaxy SIII. So long, iPhone!

Worst thing that happened: I got divorced. This is probably a surprise to some of you, but it happened. It sucked, and there was a lot of depression during that time. Hence the sporadic blogging.

Best thing that happened: I got to go back to Australia and see all my old friends and make some new ones. Very healing for my heart.

Best new dog: Tilly.

Best old dog: Fievel.

Those two are also the worst new and old dogs.

Most fun project: The GISHWHES photo I took for my friend. It made me laugh and she loved it. So that's a win, even if she didn't win the scavenger hunt.

You are what you eat!

Least fun project: cleaning up the garage. Not surprising I didn't blog about that one.

Best garden/house related success: my rocking garden!

Worst garden/house related item: Lake Fode formed in the backyard.

Of course, this is an ice skating rink now.

Best new venture: the winter permaculture course I signed up for on a whim.

Learning about Cindi and Curt's mud and straw greenhouse

Biggest adventure: hiking Kesugi Ridge.

Yay Denali!

Most favorite thing I used to do that I still love: Book club

Habit I got out of: reading regularly. The reading plan totally fell off track. I have been struggling to keep up with book club, even though I like it. Also, baking bread falls into this category too.

Thing I never got around to but wished I had: making a batch of beer on my own (a first goal for 2014)!

Most ironic turn of events: I came in last in one of my fantasy football leagues, and won the championship in the other. As my friend Simon pointed out, this makes me "just average".

So, 2014 is a calendar full of blank pages, and I have no idea what it will bring. I'd like to make some more friends, and spend more time with the ones I have. I want to go new places, but enjoy the beautiful place I live, too. I want to find some great new music, and rock out to my old faves as well. Based on what happened in 2013, I am both scared and hopeful for the new year. And so I'll conclude with a quote from my favorite movie, The Shawshank Redemption:

I find I'm so excited that I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at a start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.

Cultivating a Lifestyle

In the spring of 2012, I took an Introduction to Permaculture Class in Australia and really enjoyed it. Ever since then, I've been excited to apply the principles to my own yard and life, but a little overwhelmed on where to start and what resources I have here in Alaska. I've often thought that I would like to take the full design course, which gives you a Design Certificate (you can use the certification as a credential when designing for others), but haven't had the chance yet, partially because it's a two week course and I'd have to take leave. Then this year, a cold-climate specific course opened up in Palmer, on one weekend a month, which is perfect! My first class was this weekend.

What is permaculture, some of you may be asking? I'm glad you asked! Permaculture is the design of a living system that works together harmoniously and abundantly for its components -- plants, animals, humans, and soil. (We had to come up with an "elevator speech" for one of our activities). It's a garden, but it's also incorporating aspects of your home, organics, sustainability, community, integration, self reliance, and no waste!

I'm sorry to say that I don't have any pictures from the weekend, but that should give you a clue that I was really busy and having a good time. We learned a lot, made sheet mulch ("lasagne" mulch), planted a cover crop (a.k.a. "green" manure), did soil tests, observed our environment, and started a major project to present to the Matanuska Experimental Farm sometime in February.

Part of the reason I joined this class is to meet new people who share my interest in organic gardening -- creating a group I can rely on for advice and resources and hopefully make some new friends! I enjoyed meeting everyone, and it was so nice to talk to people about the things I'm interested in (raising chickens, buying fruit trees, composting, etc) without feeling like a weirdo.

So, this was just the first weekend. What now? Well, I need to start some google docs for our project and share them (I'm actually really excited about this!). I want to get a journal and start spending more time observing my yard and my garden. I need to do some compost work, and lay down some sheet mulch for a native plant garden I want to grow next year. And, I need to keep in touch with my classmates so I can develop the community I'm looking for! A lot of work, but I'm definitely excited for the upcoming months.

2013 Reading Plan

Well, we are halfway through January, so the new year has fully begun, but Ethan and I have not yet had our goal making session. I have a lot of things I want to do, but right now they are kind of amorphously floating around in my brain. So I'll give you an update on my 2012/2013 reading plans.

Last year, I came up with the idea to read a book on my To Be Read list from a different genre every month. I randomly picked 12 genres, and here's what I came up with, including what I read:

1. science fiction -- The Time Machine and I Am Legend
2. biography -- My Life in France (Julia Child)
3. book written in the past year -- Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted
4. scientific non-fiction -- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
5. historical fiction -- The Night Birds
6. humor -- I'm A Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years
7. political/satire -- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
8. classic -- The Good Earth
9. thriller -- The Anatomy of Deception
10. fantasy -- Royal Assassin
11. young adult
12. travel

As you might have noticed, I ran out of steam and didn't finish the last two books. This is partially because I joined a book club, so I've been reading a book every month for that. I don't mind that the book club took over though, because I get more things out of it than I got from a self-assigned reading list. A second goal was to read 30 books in 2012 -- this I succeeded, reading 32 books!

This year, I'd like to read 3 books a month. 36 books sounds like a lot, but as you can tell, I read a lot and I read very quickly. I think 36 is an acheivable goal. And if not, oh well, who cares? It's still just for fun.

I'm not going to do such a structured plan as I had last year, but I still have a goal for this year: I want to read a book written by an author from every continent, excluding Antarctica (duh). For this plan, I've "defined" the continents as the traditional 7: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. I also tentatively have a plan to try to cook a meal from the country the book is set in during the month I read it. We'll see how I do with that part. I would like to expand my cooking repertoire, and that is one way to do it.

I'll update you through the year on how my reading goes! I hope to read some interesting books to share, and make some cool meals too! It will be like traveling without the expense. Or at least, that's what I'm telling myself.

2012: Year in Review

January: I posted about my book reading goals for the year and complained about how hot Sydney was. Oh, the irony!

February:  We went to Japan, where we skied, visited many cultural sites, stayed in a Japanese guest house, and pretended we were ninjas. I continued my reading plans.

March: I didn't post anything in March, I think because I was too busy applying for jobs!

April: Ethan and I took our last major trip in Australia to Uluru (Ayer's Rock). We saw a dingo, but no babies were stolen.

May:   I announced that we were returning to the States, but I didn't yet have a job. I pondered the future of the blog. I also posted my spider stories from Australia. I do not miss the giant creepy crawlies one bit!

June:  We returned to the U.S. I was surprised to find that Alaska hadn't changed much. By this time, I'd gotten my new job at the National Weather Service Alaska Regional Headquarters.

July:  We visited our good friends Heidi and Dan and lived "off the grid" for about a week. I missed having running water a lot. I also lost my camera cord.

August:  I visited my family in Florida and Virginia. I saw an armadillo and manatees. We started looking for houses, and I started my new job. Signs of fall started appearing in the end of August. And I got a new phone, so pictures started appearing again. Ethan and I went hiking with our friend Robin.

September: We visited Chicago over Labor Day weekend, where I stuffed myself silly and saw my favorite paintings in the art museum. I read a really terrible book and laughed about it. We got termination dust on the mountains.I started my watercolor class and shared my first paintings with you. I updated you on my reading list. And we finally got our stuff!

October:  We started playing board games with our friend Robin. I saw the Aurora for the first time since I'd been back and managed to actually get a picture of it. I shared my continued artistic attempts. I posted about Hurricane Sandy.

November:  another month with no posts, because we were too busy moving into our new house!

December: We had an earthquake, which merited a post about the '64 Alaska quake.

Honestly, this year was pretty stressful for us, both good and bad stress. I was trying to be positive the whole time, so I didn't post about a lot of things. I'll summarize what all happened:

We moved internationally
I changed jobs -- with much uncertainty, as one job was ending and I didn't have another lined up for quite a while
Ethan's mother remarried rather unexpectedly
We bought a house, but in the meantime we lived in a "temporary" situation for 5 months
We bought a new car
My sister had a healthy baby girl, although she had health concerns as she reached the end of pregnancy
Ethan's sister in law had a kidney removed due to a cancerous tumor, with positive results

Anyway, that's why I've been pretty sporadic posting this year. At one point, I was attempting to post once a week, which went well until we moved into our new house and my priorities changed quite a bit. I'm hoping that now that we're settled in, I can get into more of a routine again. And, I'm also hoping that 2013 is a much calmer year!

I wish you all a happy and healthy 2013!

Reading List Update

 As you may or may not recall, I have a reading plan this year in which I assigned each month a different genre, and then I read a book from my To Be Read List from that genre during that month. This is what I've read so far:

1. science fiction -- The Time Machine and I Am Legend
2. biography -- My Life in France (Julia Child)
3. book written in the past year -- Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted
4. scientific non-fiction -- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
5. historical fiction -- The Night Birds
6. humor -- I'm A Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years
7. political/satire -- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
8. classic -- The Good Earth (still reading)
9. thriller
10. fantasy
11. young adult
12. travel

As you may have noticed, I'm still on the August book and we are almost finished with September, so I'm about a month behind. This is due to a lot of reasons, including the fact that I've joined a book club and need to read for that as well. Plus, I've read a lot of books not on this list. In fact, I've read 21 books so far this year, so it's not like I'm not reading, I'm just not achieving my book list goals. Anyway, I like the idea that I'll be reading a thriller in October. What a great month for it!

Even though I'm on track to read fewer books than I did last year, I feel like I'm reading a lot. Plus, I've read a wide variety of books this year, including some categories I never used to choose (biographies, in particular). I'll wait to summarize my reading list experience in December, when I decide what I'll do for next year, but so far, I'm liking my silly little goal.

Learn Something New Each Day

This fall, I enrolled in a watercolor class, in the interest of expanding my creativity. I don't often feel like I'm creative at work, and at home, I don't have one particular hobby, so I've been kind of searching for something that I can practice and enjoy.

Originally, I wanted to take a drawing class, but that conflicted with something else I wanted to do, so I signed up for Watercolor 1, thinking I would give it a try. It was a fortuitous change, because I'm really enjoying it. I like learning about color theory, and everything is new to me. The first week I came home and did a color study which impressed everyone (except, perhaps, my teacher):

Then I made a second one, to which Ethan responded "Hmm!"

By my third color study, Ethan's comments had been reduced to "Mmm."

For my second class, I learned some techniques, and actually produced a scenery painting:

I'm not going to pretend I'm going to be the next artistic genius around here. I'm not even going to pretend I'll ever be good enough to display my paintings at home. After all, I created this one by explicitly following my instructor. That's okay, my paintings are really for me (I hesitated to put them here, but pictures are more popular than words). But I'm learning some techniques that hopefully I can apply to future paintings, and I'm really enjoying myself. So I've already achieved my goal!

Permaculture Musings

I mentioned in my annual Beginning of the Year post that one of the things I wanted to do this year was take a permaculture course. There have been a few opportunities to get involved with some permaculture activities in the community garden, but I wasn’t able to attend any before we left the area. Regardless, I still want to get into a course, although it looks like it will probably be next year at this point.

I’ve been checking out the Milkwood Permaculture site recently; I found them via the Permaculture Research Institute, which is also interesting but preachier. Milkwood is a bit more my speed. I thought this current blog post on urban permaculture design had some really cool ideas.

There are some permaculture design courses coming up in Sydney and I’m going to try to attend one. I’m going to shoot for the introduction to permaculture class in March (the December one is full). What I would really like to do is attend the two week course for a permaculture design certificate in January. Unfortunately, it’s pretty expensive, but more importantly, I don’t really have the leave to do this and our planned Australia/Japan trips. Plus, I’m still a real newbie to these ideas – I haven’t even managed to plan a proper garden yet – so spending a lot of money on a course seems like it’s putting the cart before the horse. Gardening (and permaculture) rely on growth and development, which require time, meaning of course, that I must have patience. I’ve always been very short on that quality, so this is a good exercise in personal growth.

In the meantime, I’m trying to decide what I want to do in the garden/yard at our new house. We will only be living here a short time, so I don’t want to spend too much, and I don’t want to do too much that’s permanent at the risk of irritating the landlord and spending a lot of time and energy on things that are just going to be sprayed with herbicide in 8 months’ time. I still have some time and room to grow a few things though, so I hope to get to the garden store soon to plant a few veggies to enjoy this summer.

Goal Making Session

Every year, Ethan and I get together and make goals for the next year, the next 5 years, and the next 10.  Normally we do this with Ethan's mom, but of course this year, we couldn't do that.  So on Tuesday, we headed out for a breakfast and goal making.

We weren't sure where to head for breakfast, since breakfast restaurants are not as easy to find here as they are in the U.S.  However, a couple of folks had recommended Pancakes on the Rocks, so we thought we would give that a try.  Pancakes on the Rocks turned out to be awesome -- delicious, and not too expensive.  IHOP, I am sorry to say, is a sad sack compared to this place.  We had savory lunch crepes stuffed with chicken and mushrooms, and potatoes and ham, respectively, and then we had chocolate pancakes with strawberries for dessert.  Yum!

Then we made our goals.  I'll share my goals for 2011.  I kept them pretty achievable this year, since last year's goals pretty much went out the window with our move to Australia.  So here they are:

1.  Find a project at work
2.  Get a plot in the community garden
3.  Join a CSA/Organic buyers group
4.  Attend a permaculture class
5.  Take a vacation outside of the country -- New Zealand ski vacation?
6.  Go snorkelling at Clovelly beach
7.  Volunteer/make charitable contributions
8.  Expand summer wardrobe by thrift-store shopping
9.  Plan several awesome Aussie trips

My goals seem a little boring and vague, but like I said, I'm trying to keep them achievable.  I'm also trying to keep to things I think are important -- like saving money (thrift store), and pursuing a sustainable lifestyle (gardening and permaculture).

After our goal making session, we spontaneously stopped by an Annie Liebovitz exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art.  It was pretty busy, but fun to see the photographs.  More importantly, this goes with an unspoken resolution I have:  to get out there and enjoy more of the big city life in Sydney.  We're only here for 18 more months, so we need to enjoy it while we can!

Birthday Revue!

So, my birthday turned out pretty good after all, even though I had to work. First of all, my fantasy football team managed to eke out a tie, even though they were 62 points down before the Colts game. Thank you Peyton Manning. Your thank you card should be arriving any day now.

Second, I got some really awesome gifts. Especially from my husband, who apparently knows me really well. Who'da thunk? He got me two books -- one on sustainable urban living, and one on sustainable/organic gardening. They are both pretty cool. I currently have an organic gardening book, but it's mostly about plants and pest remedies. The new one is about garden planning and techniques, with specific chapters on which plants grow together as "helper" plants, etc. It talks about making a wetland in your garden to process your graywater, and growing fruit trees on wires to maximize production in a small space. One of my favorite parts just shows the garden designs. I have been wondering how to have a productive garden without making it look like a farm. This shows you how to make an attractive and productive garden.

Enough about the book. Ethan also got me Season 1 of The Flight of the Conchords, which is a really funny show about a Kiwi band who comes to New York to get their start. If you want to see a weird but (in our opinion) funny movie that is very similar and stars one of the same actors, watch Eagle vs. Shark. We both have a peculiar sense of humor and this show just really hits it. So I'm excited to watch it with him.

The only bad thing about these presents is that right now, I need to be reading books for class. So I will have to wait until I get my freaking paper done to delve into them. But I am already excited for next year.

Yay for good birthdays!

Literal Bits and Bites

Well, it looks like I'm making a blog post about every 2 weeks. Better than nothing, I guess.

I found out the other day that Anchorage is having an Alaska Local Food Film Festival, and I'm pretty interested to go. It's the first week in October, and it will be showing Food Inc, The Garden, Eating Alaska, Fresh, and End of the Line (brief synopses to follow). All of the movies sound interesting to me. Of course, one thing about these kinds of festivals is that they tend to be preaching to the choir. The Dorito chomping, McDonald's frequenting crowd is not likely to go to something like that.

Food, Inc. -- documentary showing how the food industry has changed over the past 50 years. Shows where our food is coming from and what we're paying for in the supermarket
The Garden -- film about a community garden in Los Angeles. A low-income community took over an abandoned lot and turned it into a very successful community garden. Then city officials found out that this wasn't authorized and tried to take the garden away.
Eating Alaska -- a vegetarian moves to Alaska and marries a commercial fisherman and hunter. The film examines the dependency on meat in AK and subsistence hunting and fishing.
Fresh -- similar to Food, Inc. this movie talks about the negative parts of the food industry. However, I think (not having seen the movie) it also discusses how to change the food industry by voting with our dollars, etc.
End of the Line -- looks at the commercial fishing industry and the overfishing and polluting of our oceans. Talks about how to make the fishing industry more sustainable.

(I should clarify that I have not watched any of these movies, and these synopses are what I gather from watching the trailers online.)

These movies will be shown at the Bear's Tooth, our local eat-in movie theater. The theater is also going to serve specials made with locally grown produce. Yum!

I have not been as successful with local eating as I would have liked this summer. My garden was also very lame. But every little effort counts, and I'm going to keep up the effort. One thing I really want to do this year is buy a local fresh turkey for Thanksgiving. I found a farm in Palmer that sells them, but you have to order now. The problem, and this is a common problem with eating locally and eating organic, is that the turkeys are expensive: $4.30/lb (to put it in perspective, a frozen chicken from Fred Meyer would cost $1.29/lb if it were on sale). I really want to do this, and I am hoping I can convince Ethan. For one thing, I am wondering what a fresh, non-steroidal turkey, non-Butterball would taste like! But it does exemplify an important concern in the local/fresh market: how can you convince people to eat healthy foods that are better for the environment if they can't afford it? I mean, we can afford to pay $4.30/lb for turkey. But a lot of people don't have that luxury. So their choice is Hamburger Helper made with ground beef from steroid-grown, abused cows (all purchased at Walmart), or go hungry.

What's the answer? I don't know.

Raise the Roof

I just had an excellent racing experience. My friend E convinced me to run the Run for Women with her work crew. So I signed up last week. It's a five mile run, which I knew I would be able to do since I've been training for the 1/2 marathon. A five miler is a "short" run at this point in my training.

Anyway, my goal was 50:00. It was cold and a little rainy this morning, and my ankle was bothering me because I really really need new shoes, but I started out at a good pace -- and kept it. I wasn't exactly sure how I was doing, because I didn't know the distances (it took me 4 miles to figure out they had a water station every mile. Duh). But, I figured I was doing okay. I got to the final 1/4 mile around the track, and I could see by my watch I was at 48:00. So I picked up the pace. I rounded the final corner, and the time on the clock said 49:50. I thought "there is NO WAY I'm going to let myself get one second over 50:00" and I sprinted to the end. I mean, I was busting my ass. 49:54, 49:55......

49:57, baby. Official time. Awwww yeah. I rocked the house!

It's good to achieve your goal -- and even better when you have to work at least a little hard to do it.

A pound of flesh

So, not much news on the home front. On Tuesday, I biked the Bird to Gird trail, which as you may recall, was one of my goals this summer. In the past, I've been a little intimidated by it because 1) it's 13 miles one way and 2) there is always one bitch of a wind blowing down the Turnagain Arm. I picked Tuesday to ride because it was a gorgeous day, I had plenty of time, and I didn't think the wind would be that bad. Well, the wind definitely could have been worse, but it wasn't exactly calm. My ride down was about 1 hr, and the ride back was 1 hr 15 minutes due to the headwind. But did I mention it was gorgeous? Holy cow, the scenery was great! And 25 miles was not too difficult at all, although I was slightly sore afterward and decided not to ride my bike in to work yesterday. So I really enjoyed it -- enough that I want to do it again and am considering dragging Ethan out there while he's home.

I did take some pictures, but I don't have them available, because I have to develop the film. Which brings me to the second thing I've wanted to write about: I am considering getting a digital camera. But I have been major issues with this possible purchase. I really want to get a nice, entry-level SLR, with interchangeble lenses; basically to replace my film camera. Unfortunately, that's going to run me about $400 or higher. So I think I'm going to have to go for the kind where you can't change the lenses, which will probably run me about $250. I'll go to Costco one of these days and check out the prices. Hopefully I can get a camera that will allow me some manual control but doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Part of the thing is, we have some friends who are always buying shit. And not just stuff (although they certainly do that; I went over to their house after Christmas and the wife had a 5 foot tall stack of Christmas stuff she had gotten on sale. Who needs that much Christmas stuff? It's not like they didn't already have too many decorations.) but expensive, top-of-the-line stuff that they don't need or use. For instance, she has a mountain bike that was like $1000 or some crap and she never rides it! I mean seriously, that bike has like 10 miles on it. I know $1000 isn't top of the line for a bike, but for a bike you never use, that's a little much. I felt guilty when I spent $250 on my bike 4 years ago, and I've probably put 200 miles on it this season alone! Back to the camera thing -- anyway, they have a Canon Rebel XT, which is super nice, but her husband didn't even know what an aperture was when he bought it! And you know what they take pictures of? Their dogs. The jeep. Argh! So if I spend a bunch of money, I kind of feel like maybe they (and our consumerist society) are convincing me to do something I shouldn't. It's like I'm being drawn to the dark side. I don't really need a $600 camera, after all.

But I sure do want one.

Uh, I dunno, you decide

Well, my weekend was pretty good. Not too exciting, but moderately fun. Saturday night I went to see Knocked Up, which was pretty funny. I really liked the characterizations of the father and his friends, I guess because I have known people just like that. Then yesterday, I went to my friend's barbecue. I had told her that it might be rainy, but on Saturday, the weather looked all right. So I said "Oh I think it will be showery, but you know, not too bad." Famous last words (you would think I would learn about this stuff, but I never do). I woke up Sunday morning to a torrential downpour. Whoops. So we did what Alaskans do best in this type of situation: put on our raincoats, and had the barbecue in the rain. She had rented a shelter, so it wasn't like we were actually out standing in it. And the kids all got a kick out of playing in the mud. So all in all, it actually went pretty well.

In other news, I have signed up for a graduate course. Breathe, breathe, okay, don't panic, you can do this, it's a lot of money but you can do this.... I have mixed emotions about all this, which is why I've only signed up for one class and haven't applied for the degree yet. If I complete the program, I'll have an MS in Science Management -- in other words, a Project Management degree for science-types like me. I think that will help me get promoted sometime in the far, far off future. But like I said, it's a lot of money. And frankly, the classes look a little boring. I would rather be taking Japanese, but the classes conflict.

So that brings me to another dilemma: I actually signed up for Japanese 102 this summer (again!). But if I'm not going to be able to take 201 in the fall, is it worth an extra $600 for the class? I just don't know. Everyone keeps suggesting I get the Rosetta stone. Well, I hate to say it, but I'm just not self-motivated enough to do a class without a teacher. I need a schedule, with tests, and money that I paid for it so I don't just blow it off to go drink beer.

I guess all this graduate degree stuff is just raising some big questions in my mind. Do I want to stay in my current career field? Will I ever get better bosses? Will I ever start to care again? What would I do if I quit? What if I do quit and I can't get a good job with good benefits? How could I support my family without job-sponsored healthcare, if that happens? Do I really want to give up on the meteorology dream, even though it hasn't panned out the way I would hope?

Argh. This being an adult stuff sucks.

Raining on my own picnic

First things first....I said in my last post that I wasn't going to watch t.v. for the rest of the summer. Well, I think that very night I turned the t.v. on. So that goal was unrealistic. The good news is that I have been watching a lot less t.v. Instead, I have gone out with my friends, gone for bike rides, tended to the garden, and even got out and played my clarinet. The house is still a mess, but hey, I'm having a good time, so I don't really give a crap.

Secondly (which is not a real word, btw)...my uncle has a blog! Holy cow! I thought about providing him with the link here, but I don't think I will because sometimes I complain about my family on here. Mostly my sister, but still. I need some safe place to vent.

And finally, because I can, I'm going to complain. I actually have some more important things I'm stressing about, but I kind of want to keep them private. Instead, you guys are going to get to hear about the office picnic that I am planning. I am on the morale committee, who is supposed to advise our boss, Mr. NoSpine, about how to build morale in the office. Well, apparently Mr. NoSpine thinks that "advise" means "do everything". So I've been the one (not) calling the meetings, and now I picked the day, the food, the time, the location and am doing all the work for this picnic (which btw was the one idea that Mr. NoSpine came up with). There were two people supposedly helping me with this thing -- one is on mid-shifts and stuck his poor wife with the shopping, the other one bailed once I actually gave him a task to do. Yay for office support.

Anyway, this thing is tomorrow. Fortunately the weather looks good (I think having good weather for an event planned/attended by a group of meteorologists is actually illegal, but the authorities seem to be smiling on us for some reason). But I am worried that there won't be enough turnout, that the food will suck, that will run out of food, etc. etc. But then I realized, there are two possible outcomes: 1) the picnic goes well and everyone is happy or 2) the picnic totally sucks and they never ever ask me to plan anything again. I win either way!

Ambitious, much?

Well, I meant to post this at the beginning of June, but I was too busy posting about other fun things. Anyway, here are my goals for this summer:

1. Bike to work 15 times. I've biked in 4 so far -- 11 to go.
2. go backpacking/camping 3 times
3. go kayaking2 times
   
4. bike the Bird to Gird trail
5. hike the entire Winner Creek trail and bike back to the start
6. hike the Virgin Falls trail -- whoops, already did this just yesterday. But maybe I'll take Ethan there as the waterfall was really cool.
7. go fishing 2 times
   

Numbers 2 and 3 might be a little ambitious, as they require actual weekends, and people to go with. Well, I could go by myself, but I just don't want to. The fishing should be easy due to aforementioned local, easily accesible lakes and my lack of fear of doing it by myself (which is also my lack of fear of bears at the local lakes, as opposed to bears on the hiking trails).

In other news, GCI has a new ad campaign on t.v. with this guy with a fake Mexican accent (think Nacho Libre). I can't get the song out of my head. Hanging with the GCI Yellow pages, Know me, Use me, Love me. I think this is a sign that I've been watching waaaaay too much t.v., especially considering the fact that this is summer and everything is reruns except for National Bingo Night (stupidest idea for a shower ever). So new goal: t.v. is off. For the summer. That's a hard one for me. I love t.v.! But my life will be better without it.

Proof positive

Just in case you had any doubts ;) , here are some pictures to prove I finished the triathlon:

Here I am running across the finish line:


And here, I'm getting my timing chip cut off my ankle:


Here's a picture of my two coworkers and me after the race. From left to right, Kristine, me, Lisa:

I am now a triathlete

I DID IT!!! I DID IT!!!! I finished my triathlon!!!!

Go me! :)

So, first of all, I was waaaay more worried about the shorts issue than I should have been, because it was 70 degrees out and my legs were not cold at all. I had forgotten that I had a pair of normal shorts that I could wear. They are made of that quick-dry stuff, have an elastic waist, and are longer than my running shorts but not too bulky. I wore those and they worked out fine. They rode up a little bit on the run, but my running shorts do too.

Circle swim also went well. I guess it's a lot easier when you aren't in the pool with a freaking porpoise, like I was when I practiced last week. My lane partners were nice, and weren't passing me at every single turnaround.

Problems: eating a Clif bar on the bike was a major hassle. I don't like Gu (a gel that athletes use to power up), but there's a reason to use it. I didn't want to eat in transition, so I got on my bike and started riding. Well, I couldn't open the damn Clif bar. It was hermetically sealed or something. So I'm trying to open it with my teeth while riding, then choking it down, then trying to get my water bottle and wash down the Clif bar before I really do choke, all while nearly knocking one lady off the course as I'm passing her, and nearly getting run over by someone who's passing me. Point of the story: Gu is good.

Second problem: something -- sunblock, hairspray, sweat, I don't know what -- ran into my eyes both at the beginning of my bike ride and about half way through the run. I was tearing up so badly I couldn't see. I actually ran with my eyes closed for a little bit. So next year I'm going to skip the hairspray, and get that sport sunblock that doesn't run.

Also, WTF was up with the wind? It was in my face both on the ride out and the way back. Sucky.

The bike ride was difficult for me. I was disappointed; I was hoping to take 30 minutes but it took me 45. Also, see wind issue, above.

The run went well. I recovered from the bike a lot more quickly than I expected to. I only felt like I was dragging for the first half mile or so. It took me 43:00 to run 4.1 miles, but considering that I stopped for water, stopped to mess with my shoelaces, and had just ridden 10 miles on the bike, that's pretty dang good. I average 10 min/mile usually anyway.

The weather was awesome. We could not have had a better day. Not a cloud in the sky, and it was so warm, I actually just wore my windbreaker over my bathing suit and was not cold or hot. It was so great. And the ride and run in the sunshine, on the roads through the woods, next to the stream, was definitely the highlight of the race.

Anyway, while I was doing the triathlon (particularly the bike part), I was thinking "Stupid triathlon! I'm never doing this again!" But afterwards, I felt pretty dang good. I did have a good time overall, I got a really cool t-shirt, and I am so proud of myself for completing it! While I'm not interested in getting all hard core or doing one where I have to swim in open water, I might actually do this one again next year. We'll see.

Tri-ing not to get too frustrated

Last night, I biked to the pool, swam, and then biked home in my swimsuit. This was supposed to give me sort of a trial run for the swim/bike transition in my triathlon, which is on SUNDAY! Holy Crap!!!

Anyway, I learned several things:

1. I am totally going to have to figure out the logistics of the transitions. Up until now, I didn't think it was that huge a deal, but last night I realized that I am going to have to plan what I need for each portion, and set it up beforehand in an easy manner, or else I'll be totally confused and stressed out.
2. Circle swim? Sucks. Especially if you are a crappy swimmer, like I am. For those of you who don't know, circle swim means that instead of swimming back and forth on one side of the lane, like you would with two people, you swim as if you're on a race track -- with the ropes on your right side both going down and back. The main thing is that I'm not able to do flip turns, so I would get to the wall and wait and see if the other people were coming so I could let them pass. Also, with that many people in the pool, there's a surprising amount of wave action, which I am not fond of.
3. Riding your bike in your swim suit? Also sucks. My ass was so wet, even though I used a towel to dry off. I am not sure what to do about the shorts aspect of it, either. I wore my running shorts last night and realized that my legs were pretty dang cold on the bike. But I am not buying a $60 pair of triathlon shorts for something that I'm not sure I'm ever going to do again. Pants will be a huge pain in the ass to drag on over my wet legs, and they'll get hot when I run. I would like to wear my bike shorts because they are a bit longer, but I'm afraid that running in them would not be fun (they have padding inside them, which might make it like running in a big diaper). Plus pulling the bike shorts on over my wet legs might also be a problem. So I do not know what to do. I have one more day of swiming (Thursday), so maybe I'll try to wear the bike shorts that day, and then try to do a short run in them on Friday and see if it works out.
   

Overall, I am just not sure that I really enjoy this triathlon stuff. The swim to bike thing is a logistical nightmare, and I'm not sure it's worth the effort. Of course, the race will be so much more fun than training, so we'll see how I feel about it after the race. Anyway, the point of doing this race was to try it out and see if I like it, and to finish a triathlon. So if I do end up deciding it's too much trouble, I never have to do one again, but I can say I've done one at least.

Broken Record

I cannot stop daydreaming about buying the fourplex. Today I was thinking about how we'll have to have a big open house. It has a small deck and I am looking forward to sitting out there in the summer, enjoying the evening sun. The kitty could even sit out there with me! It will be great.

I was considering asking Ethan about starting the paperwork for buying the fourplex from his Dad when he comes to visit in July, but I think that would be a crazy amount of work. Plus, I want him to come home to a home he's familiar with in October, and I really don't want to move in the winter. So I guess we won't move until next spring. In the meantime, I'll just relish in all the things I love about our current place -- my running favorite routes, the quiet neighborhood, the way the sun shines in the windows in the summer, and the beautiful flowers in the front garden. Our home has a lot of wonderful memories! We got engaged and married while we lived there. So moving will make me sad too.

But I can't wait to have my own house to decorate and make beautiful!

Driving myself crazy

Because I am a masochist, I have been looking at houses online. I am a masochist because 1) it's not like I'm going to buy our very first house while my husband is gone and 2) I promised him we would buy and run his father's fourplex when we get back. But because the fourplex is not exactly my dream home, sometimes I get online and check out houses, and I found the cutest little house, in our price range, in a great neighborhood. (edited to add: Dammit, I tried to link so you could see, but it didn't work. It had bright colored paint on the walls, a small but very nicely appointed kitchen with real tile, and laminate flooring throughout the rest of the house. Plus a large backyard with lots of trees!)

Oh well. You know, it's probably in one of those neighborhoods with a housing covenant anyway (yeah, yeah I know, everyone loves housing covenants. But not me, as I strongly suspect that I am the type of person they're trying to keep out).

Anyway, we don't plan to live in AK for too much longer, so there's no point in buying a dream home if we're going to leave in a couple of years. Plus, we'll get to figure out how to run a rental property, which is Ethan's long-term career goal. And Ethan and his father keep telling me it's really nice. I'm looking forward to moving into our very own place even if we do have to share it with 3 other people. Most importantly, I'm really looking forward to getting a dog!