broken bones

we had a game last night. a local one, which is always nice. but one of our players broke her wrist (and sprained the other one) while trying to go through the catcher. i don't get it really because it was a force play - no tag required - but there was still a collision. it's sad really. we play in a very non-competitive league and then this happens.

anyways, that means that we're down one players while she heals, which will likely take her out for the whole season. i feel for her: having a cast when it's hot out is awful. it's weird how you set up a team and think that you have more than enough players and all of a sudden you're not so sure. you have an injury here and some family troubles there and you're close to needing to call up players.

but such is life. you can plan all you want but i don't think you can ever be fully prepared, with contingency plans for every possible outcome. shit happens.

volunteering day - done

yesterday, my alarm went off at 5AM. there still exists a time that early in the morning. incredible.

i managed to get out of bed at 5:15 and was just about ready when jess rang the doorbell. we made it to our station underneath the bronson bridge on queen elizabeth before 6. we had bagels and muffins and started mixing gatorade.

gatorade is a nice little sports drink, but is very very sticky when you are covered in it. we were a little short-staffed and so very busy when the 13,000 runners came by. the half-marathon is the most popular race with something like 9,000 runners. incredible. and they mostly all came in one huge pack that lasted about an hour. that's a lot of gatorade.

i saw a girl i went to highschool with and my gym teacher who also coached field hockey (i played left-handed, yes, it IS possible with a right-handed stick. i also got very efficient at walking on the sticks. i would show you sometime but i don't have one field hockey stick let alone two). both were running the half.

the day went by much faster than last year.. somehow. it was still 8 hours. we were in the shade thankfully. i've seen the burns other people got.

oh, and did you hear about the big scandal where some elite runners went off course for a while and were disqualified? these runners come in from africa and other places and depend on the prize money to support their families. it's an ugly part of having such a big event run by volunteers, who are often high school students with mandatory community service hours to fill. one article i read even pointed out that the volunteers at the post were students, which i don't think is appropriate. anyone could have made the same mistake. i could go on but i won't. just read the papers or the internet and check it out.

my body is still recovering from the physical activity and my mind is still recovering from the lack of sleep and home time. i'm thinking i might need some time off. soon. but we'll see. i don't get paid if i'm not here.

i won!

so i ran in my second race. this year i did the 10K (last year the 5K, remember?) and was happy with my effort.

i had some goals going into this race, and i know i've written these before but i can't find the post so here they are again:
1) finish the race
2) run the whole thing - no walking
3) i'm sure i had a third goal but i can't remember it

i definitely finished the race and i only stopped once to tie my shoelace. when i went across the finish line 1:03:?? was showing. that's the time since the start start, but it took me some time to get to the start line so when the results come out in the paper monday i'll check my chip time (which is the actual time it took me to complete the race - my guess: an hour even).

here's a picture of me right near the end:



j and i had set up a meeting place (definitely key when there are 7000 runners in your race) so i had no trouble finding him. and then we went home. kind of anticlimatic, but i feel good. i'm sore in all sorts of new places. i even have blisters where i never get blisters.

but i'm on that runner's high (could be the alcohol i've consumed) and am looking forward to my next race. can she do a half-marathon? stay tuned.....

oh, and tomorrow i'm volunteering all day at the marathon, just like last year. i'm looking forward to it, but not to the early start. i'm sure i'll post tomorrow of monday and tell you all about it.

i did it!

last night i went to the gym with tina after work. my goal was to runrunrun (remember?) and that's exactly what i did. i ran 10K in an hour and 3 minutes. i was spent afterwards, but I DID IT!!! and then i stretched for about an hour - ten minutes at the gym and another long while at home.

let me tell you: i am SO proud of myself.

today is my day off meaning i didn't bike into work, i won't be running after work and i won't be feeling bad about it.

when i was in school i would make myself plans for which chapters to read and which lecture notes to study on what days.. i never stuck with it. NEVER. not once. but i made myself a plan for training for this race and i've stuck with it. this week at least.

i also beat j at chess last night. i was way down just fending off his attacks and then i got a pawn to his end and was given a castle (the technical term for that piece) and got his queen. it was all downhill for him after that. finally i check-mated him and he knocked down his king. victory was mine!

i put some more pictures up on flickr (batmans camera) last night. i started in january of 2005 and am working my way forward since i have all of 2006 up there. once i'm done with 2005 i'll go back to 2004. we got our first digital camera early early january of that year so we don't have many pictures from before then.

i'm trying

i'm trying to do many things. i'm very intrigued by the second annual world wide knit in public day happening around the world june 10th. i am going to try and take part. there is already something set up for ottawa. it's a neat idea.

i'm also trying to train for my race saturday. i have tonight left. i'm going to the gym and i'm going to own that treadmill! then saturday morning i'm going to run outside. and just so you know, when i say "morning" i really mean "when i get up" which, most likely, will not be in the AM at all.

i'm trying to get work done while i'm at work. this happens in spurts. seems my attention isn't cut out for solid work. i think the only job i've ever had where i actually worked the whole time i was at work was subway. i worked damn hard at that minimum-wage job. i still don't like the smell of subway.

i'm trying to go out more. out with friends, out with j, over to see my parents.. whatever. i'm trying to do it. but i really like lazing around in my jogging pants watching tv. good thing for me most of the shows i like to watch had their season finales and i have been released from my tv's grasp.

i'm sure there are more things i'm trying to do, but that's all i've got for now.

bad news

my bad news is that we have to cancel our australia trip. we hadn't booked anything so this isn't a costly decision, but a tough one either way. we looked at our money situation and decided that, since we just bought a house and will need money in the next 8 months to cover those costs, that we would have to cut our trip short. if i go all the way to australia i want to see most of the country. or at least more than only one city.

this doesn't mean that we won't be going anywhere or doing anything in the next 8 months, it just means we have to find more bang-for-your-buck kind of things. so really, our lifestyles won't really be effected. we already live like that... mostly.

steeeping

i have to admit i'm in a bit of a funk. i'm not the happiest camper i've ever been and i can't seem to shake it. i would really like to go to bed until this passes, but obviously that's not an option. so i come to work and i'll go to baseball like i always do and hope that i can get through without my mood affecting too many of the people around me. that's the hardest part.

i also feel like i have so many things to do and not enough time to get them done. and i'm not even leaving for anywhere, like m is. this week i'm focusing on my training, if you can call it that. my race is this saturday night and i am so ill-prepared. i would like to think that i would be in better shape if i hadn't gotten sick, but you never know.

so here's my plan, partially for you, my readers, partially to keep myself motivated.
today, tuesday: go to the gym and run run run. wednesday: bike to and from work, no running. thursday: go to the gym after work and run run run. friday: off. no biking and no running. saturday: little run in the morning. race at night. think i can stick to that? here's hoping.

dear flickr, i love you. - batman

i broke down and bought a flickr account. i was sick of only being able to upload 5 pictures a month on my free account. and now i am in love (picture me jumping on the couch tom cruise style shouting "flickr, i LOVE youuuuuuuu!"). in.love.

you can see all my pictures so far - and believe me, there will be more - using the link on the right, batman's camera. i'm just delighted with all the features: the tags, the sets, the groups, the friends... everything.

all pictures can be labelled with things called tags and then you can search my pictures (or anyone else's pictures) using their tags. if you were particularly interested in my cats for example, you could click on the kitties tag and see all the pictures with cats in them.

all pictures can also be assigned to one or multiple sets, which is just a different name for album. these are shown on the right-hand side of the page and make searching for events really quick.

and then, the greatest sharing aspect of flickr is the groups part. you can share your pictures with a group. a group is full of pictures from tons of different flickr people who all share something in common. so far, i only belong to one group, the devon rex group. it's the kind of cats we have. but there are so many different kinds of groups, it's unbelievable. i have so much more investigating to do.

but for now, i will continue to upload my pictures so you should, if you're interested, keep checking back to batman's camera.

another new blogger

i have introduced another new blogger to the internet land - meet bananapants. he's one of j's car friends. he's a crazy one, believe me.

anyways, i finally caught up on prison break and 24 last night. i can't believe prison break is leaving us with that. it was intense. very intense. and 24, well 24 is always intense. it was good, except we had to watch the episodes on the computer and our computer chairs suck! we definitely need a new computer chair. maybe this weekend i will indulge myself (i don't think it would come to this: me thinking that a new chair is indulging... maybe i need to get some icecream and indulge in that.)

i am sososososoSO happy it's friday. i really thought yesterday was friday. this has definitely been a long week for me. the weather has been gray and rainy which never helps, and i've been biking to work wearing myself out and then having late baseball games. honestly, my body isn't used to this anymore.

and shit, my race is in one week and a day. i REALLY have to get running. i didn't bike in today so maybe i'll go to the gym (hi gym, remember me? i used to come in all the time but i haven't been much at all in the past couple of months. what's that? you'll take my money anyways? yeah, that's what i thought) and run. runrunrun. a whole 10 kilometers. who was the idiot who thought a 10K race was a good idea anyways? the longest i've ever run is 8K and that was by mistake while i was training for my 5K last spring. i won't make the the-treadmills-are-actually-in-miles mistake again.

what else? what else? this is a long weekend and i have nothing planned. my grandparents are moving again. they are in holland and are stopping in ottawa to pick up a car before driving and eventually arriving in bc, where they will hopefully rest. it's really too bad for my parents who were looking forward to the year's first long weekend and now they have to put all their plans on hold to cater to my grandparents. all this has really impressed on my parents that they will never do this to either me or my brother, which is the silver lining for me.

and back to weekend plans. i have a vague plan that i'm going to have some people over. this will force me to clean the house, which hasn't happened in too long, and see my friends, which also feels like it hasn't happened in a while. maybe i'll squeeze some knitting and/or scrapbooking in there too. i could only be so lucky.

oh, and i've figured out (thanks j!) how to resize pictures and will be uploading WAY more to my flickr account (see link on right) so check there soon!

our lives on holiday

today is one of those gray days when you really don't want to get out of bed. i actually said "what if we just stayed home today?" out loud this morning. i was still in bed two minutes before we are supposed to leave.

and now i'm just hoping the looming thunderstorm will hold off until i get my sorry ass home. that would be nice.

we were pretty luck last night. our game wasn't rained out, even though it sounds like everywhere but nepean had huge storms. we had a bit of rain but it was okay. i can't say we won and i can't say i played all that well (i didn't get one ball in the field so that doesn't count) but we had fun and our coach-prospect seems really nice. i just have to start hitting the ball and i'll be happy.

i am happy that j has come out to two of my games (i've only played in three so far). this is a much different boy than last season. i like it.

just a little thought: it was weird coming home yesterday to an empty house. s is in kingston with a friend. she's been with us for a month and a half and i've gotten used to having her around. i think her cat was lonely last night without her around.

biking

there is something so completely satisfying about biking into work. i think it has to do with the fact that i am powering myself the distance between my house and my building. the only reason i am moving towards my goal is my legs are constantly going round and round in circles which moves the pedals which move the gears which move my tires and propel me to work or to home.

i fly past cars when they're lined up waiting at an intersection. i fly past the busses picking people up. and i'm doing it all myself. and the only waste i'm producing is some minimal carbon dioxide that i exhale every breath.

i feel like an old pro, sitting here at my desk talking about biking, but then i get up and my oh-so-sore muscles remind me that i am still very new to biking and that i shouldn't get so cocky. every trip i learn something about my body or about my bike. i know that i really want a fender for the back. i know that i really want another long-sleeved shirt so i can wash mine every so often. i know that i really should have another pair of shoes at work.

i also know that i really like biking. i like that i am once less car on the road. i like that i'm not on the bus (though the bus, when it treats me well, usually leaves me with the same sort of i'm-doing-good-for-the-environment-by-using-public-transport feeling). i like that i'm getting exercise. and soon i will like my legs, because you know with all this exercise i should have a sexy pair of legs real soon.

mother's day

like sarah, i would like to tell you some things about my mom for mother's day. she doesn't read this, but, as we all know, this blog is for me.

this isn't a memory of mine, i've only been told about it. my brother and i are 18 months apart and when we were really young (i'm talking young here) my mom was still home with us. my dad would get home from work and we would want to tell him all about our day. i would tell him something and my dad would look at my mom who would translate. then scott would tell him something and my dad would look at my mom. my mom would look at me. i would translate and my dad was still lost so my mom would translate.

my dad always worked for the government so it was up to my mom, who worked locally, to be the one to get us from school if we were sick/broken and do whatever other parental duties were required. i think the best parental duty was to pick us up every wednesday and take us to mcdonalds for lunch. we were spoiled. when dad had to work late mom always made us grilled cheese sandwiches and let us eat in front of the tv.

i was also allowed to try all sorts of activities. like most girls my age, i was put in brownies and ballet. unlike most girls my age i hated these "girl" things and my mom was always very supportive when, instead of learning to sew and cook in brownies, i wanted to play dodgeball and go swimming in beavers. i quit ballet and started football. my mom always told me that there was nothing i could not do, especially those things that are typically "boy" things.

going back even farther, mom used to coach our tee-ball and 5-pitch teams. dad took over when we got older, but mom was there when we first started out. 22 years later i'm still playing (scott played until he left for university). also, mom was always the one who drove us to our ridiculously early practices. she also stayed with me all night in the hospital when i hurt my neck. more than once. and the one who helped me wash my hair when i sprained both my elbows in a nasty hockey hit.

somehow, my parents together, kept me and my brother extremely active and healthy. the kept us entertained and happy. the instilled good morals and values and let us make our own choices and decisions and mistakes. they saw us grow and fall and succeed and fail, but they saw us grow up. they still remain in our lives, as interested as ever.

and so for my mom, my brother and i painted our hands and put our colourful hand prints on a white tee shirt that read "World's Best Mom - Hands Down" and it made me think of being in preschool and painting with pudding, except with much less pudding eating. i also gave her a picture frame with some pictures of me and her and me and both my parents.

greg's wedding

thank you to all those who posted last week about what i should wear to the wedding. and, what you've all been waiting for... i ended up wearing... some navy blue pants and a button-up shirt that, unfortunately, stretched a little over my mammoth boobs (if you know me, you know that i do not have anywhere near mammoth boobs) and i ended up losing a button. oops! sorry s, i will find you another one, but thanks for letting me borrow your shirt and your jacket. i can no longer dress myself.

the wedding was nice. the lone star ranch is very ranch-y. the drive way way not paved and was mega pot-hole-y (not good for a lowered car), the parking lot was muddy, and the hall was a nice barn. not where i would choose (or chose in fact) to have my wedding, but it seemed perfect for theirs.

it was really nice to see my family again. they're all local yet i only see them twice a year (the obvious christmas get together and then an annual cottage party in the summer. sad really.) greg and rebecca both looked happy.

i should point out that they actually got married april 18th in cuba (wish i could have been there!) and this was just the reception since not everyone could make it down south.

now, some observations:
1) my little cousing rebecca is getting older and is super pretty and not-awkward for a 15 year old. she does NOT take after me.
2) bride rebecca is a very nice person and i'm glad that her and greg found each other. they seem perfect together.
3) bride rebecca's mom is the meanest person in the world. she actually told my mom that she was "dirty dancing". my mom took offence and was upset a lot of the night.
4) boom boom with the bridesmaids actually does happen, especially when the wedding is in cuba and drinks are plentiful.
5) my grandmother can be pleasant when her dosage of drugs is doubled.
6) i still think j is the best guy for me and feel very fortunate that we found each other.

anyways, congratulations greg and rebecca!

arachnophobia

i, thankfully, do not have arachnophobia. but some days i think i'm very close.

this morning, i had two close encounters with spiders. the first was there was a spider on the ceiling in the bathroom. not a huge deal. so i head downstairs to check my email. i almost walked into a dangling spider on my way to the computer. i managed to kill that one by knocking it on the floor, but not before my heart was racing at almost walking into it. yuck! so that was the second.. little did i know that the first encounter wasn't done.

i go back into the bathroom and was content to see the spider near the ceiling and the wall and not moving. i look up again and he's making a break for my bathrobe, which i will be putting on after i shower. i couldn't stand for that so i get him with a kleenex, but when i pulled the kleenex away he fell INTO MY BATHROBE!!! the horror!

needless to say i didn't use my bathrobe and spent most of my shower calming myself down.

i never used to be like this, but i also never used to have to deal with so many spiders. i tell you, cracks in the foundation of your house lets all sorts of nasty things in. i can't wait to have a brand spanking new house where the only bugs will be the ones that live on our bodies. at least for the first couple of years.

ouch!

my bum is really hurting from the biking. i went out to get a gel seat last night but they didn't have any and i still had to eat and get ready for my ball game.

getting to arnprior isn't really that difficult, but we managed to go to carleton place and were well on our way to perth before we realized we were on the wrong highway. we were 40kms south of arnprior. it took us an hour and a half to get to the diamond. we missed the first inning of the game.

i didn't play defensively but i batted. i didn't think me going on the diamond for the first time in 8 months after the winter and being sick was a good idea. i probably would have hurt myself.

so i got home and i was absolutely exhausted but i had to eat and i had to do laundry (i'm so exciting) so i did that and went to bed. this morning came way too fast and now here i am, at work, with a sore ass. j talked me into biking again even though i was hurting. i'm just hoping it doesn't rain for the ride home.

tonight is s&b and i'm definitely going, but i'm definitely not staying late. good thing i don't have anything to do this weekend that involves me getting up super early. though it is mother's day on sunday and we have that wedding to go to saturday night and my brother is in town and i have a practice on sunday. it will still be a pretty full weekend.

new blogger!

s has joined the blogging world! check it out: the adventures of sj . her blog will get bigger and better but you get the idea. go on over and say hi. don't be shy.

i finally did it. i biked to work today. now that i'm not feeling nauseous anymore, i'm happy i did it. it'll be nice to not have to pay to get to work anymore. i might invest in one of those gel seats though. holy my bum is sore! (i toned that down for you.) i don't think i've ever biked on super busy streets before and even though i had a bike lane (except in the traffic circle - what the eff?) i still felt kinda small at some points. but i'm alive, just more hungry than i would be normally.

did i mention that my new office looks out over dow's lake? it's so nice to be able to look over and see sunlight and the sparkling water and all the people walking around. and then i wish i was one of those people - outside during the day not working. but then i think that they probably have a crappy-paying night job that they hate. i just have an okay-paying day job that i dislike. i win.

j and i played chess last night. we have one of those fancy glass sets (thank you wedding presents). i lost but it was a good game. rolo only managed to knock over one piece so that's not bad.

advice

i have a wedding to go to this saturday evening. it's casual but it's still a wedding. it's a barbeque held at the lone star ranch.

WHAT SHOULD I WEAR???? answer in the comments. seriously.

back to work nanannanananananannaa

me: back to work nanananannananananannanaaaa
j: back to sleep nanananannananaaananananaaaaa

i'm back at work and j has the day off. ironic.

i have changed positions and am finding myself very lost. i don't know what to do. i have so much to do from my old position and the woman who's in that position now isn't here so i really should be picking up the slack. and then there's lots to do in my new position but i still don't know exactly what that means.

i'll figure it out.

friday night j and i went to matt's place to watch the hockey game with matt and julie. it was nice to be out of the house. they even fed us, which was unexpected but super good. i haven't had a hamburger in months! mmmmmmmm.

saturday was my lazy day. j was gone all day doing car stuff so i slept in and went shopping and didn't play baseball. my team did though. they won and they lost and now it looks like our game tonight may be cancelled. i can't say that would bother me any.

sunday was a weird day. our house was on edge and not really talking to each other and i actually left at one point and slammed the door. i was mad. more frustrated than mad, but it was a weird feeling all the same. i don't normally do anything like that and i can't even say it felt good. but then i settled down and the house sorted itself out and we had great chicken burgers for dinner and watched prime time tv and knit.

knitting news: i organized my stash and took everything off the needles and started a new project - a blue and black blanket of my own design. i'm using 10mm circs so i'm doing it all at once, no sewing for me. it's looking good. my only beef with it is that a single row takes 15-20 minutes. that's a long time to not be able to move / keep the cats away.

i'm off to fight my dizziness and try to get some work done.

pub night extraordinaire

pub night was last night. it went really well. seemed like everyone was having a good time and the team made some money.

i went to bed with a very sore throat and a very grumbly stomach and woke up hardly able to talk.

enough whining? okay.

i have no idea what i'm doing tonight. maybe finding my ball stuff seeing as how we have our first tournament tomorrow. games at 8:30 and 3:30. let me just say that 8:30 is early for a ball game. especially this early in the season. let's just hope that the weather is nice (where nice = not raining and warm enough).

maybe i'll mail off the last 6 of my warming grace squares. that's something. and maybe get j, after his much-needed and much-deserved nap, to put my bike together. i'm hoping to make a trial run to and from work sunday. good thing work isn't far.

the couch is calling!

it's not you, it's me

last night, we bought a house! big news! whoooohoooooo! it's exactly what we want and we're super happy. i'm sure when i see you in person i will talk your ear off so i won't say too much here.

we move in at the end of january, so that gives us time to save and buy stuff and go to australia and for me to maybe get a permanent job... though i do also have news about my job.

i'm getting a raise. starting monday, i will be making significantly more money. i will also be expected to work significantly harder in this new position, but who cares! i'm making more money! and the gap between me and j is reduced. and one day it will be gone. i'm the only one who cares and it's funny, because i totally wouldn't care if i was the one making more money. erg.

i went into work today for three and a half hours, which was enough to wear myself out. i'm home now and soon i will be lying on the couch watching tv, saving up my energy for tonight. my baseball team's pub night is tonight. if you live near me you should come. it will be fun.

in knitting news.. yes, i have knitting news, i made a leg warmer for sandy. just one. i wanted to see if it fit before making another and i'm glad i waited. she hates it. but it was so much fun seeing her with it on (that should probably say "with her trying to get it off"), but rolo was even better. he would jump on three paws! i wish i had the camera with me. i'll just have to put it on them again.

tomorrow's friday. friday friday friday. more posting this weekend i'm sure.

i've been sick

i haven't biked to work yet cause i haven't been back to work. i took yesterday off and didn't have a great day. and this morning i just couldn't do it. but tomorrow is the day. i'll go back tomorrow. and when i get there, i will be greeted by a newly renovated little office and a paycheque. at least i think this week is pay week. i prefer getting paid every week. that way you always know when pay week is - it's every week!

the meeting monday night went well. we found the place okay and were told that we have enough money to do what we want with this house and then the traffic wasn't terrible on the way home. and now we're preapproved for a mortgage. tonight we're going out and buying the house. that's right. we're buying a freaking house! this is HUGE!

and then we have to rush home to see the second half of house. it must be the season finale. i'm a little sad that prison break and 24 are close to being done. holy crap what good shows! i'm going to miss them, but it'll be nice to not be controlled by tv as much. just baseball.

baseball starts up this weekend. we have a "tournament". i put the thingys around the word because we only have two games and the rules are very lax - everybody bats and there are unlimited substitutions. it's really just to get out on the diamond and play games. i haven't been on the field yet and am not even sure where my stuff is. i should go and look into that. i think it's going to be a weird season because we don't really have a coach and everybody is trying to be friends. it's somewhat of a mess.

last trip

i took my last bus ride this morning. j and i have a meeting downtown after work so it made sense for him to leave work a little early and then grab me on his way downtown. me biking didn't make sense. so i start tomorrow. i have all new brake pads and all new biking gear (shorts and a peach shirt). i just have to figure out all my shower stuff and whatever else i'm going to need.

and if i'm feeling well enough i'll be biking tomorrow. otherwise i will spending the whole day on the couch in my jogging pants with my kitties. i have my priorities.

i've finished another 6 squares for warming grace. i will send them off soon, but not before i find out if any of the s&b girls have any to send along with them.

s is a certifiable knitting machine. the girl can now knit and purl and cast on and bind off and even went to the store by herself. she bought wool and kneedles and has started a blanket. amazing!

i'm getting excited. excited for a bunch of things. in a couple of hours we're meetnig with a bank dude about mortgages. if all goes well we will most likely be buying a house this week (eek!). i'm on a team for HOPE finally. i've wanted to play in this tournament for years, but it just never happened. and then there's my race. it's sneaking up pretty fast. there's baseball starting this weekend and our pub night this thursday night. and then greg's wedding reception (he's my cousin. the wedding was last month in cuba) in two weeks. throw mother's day in there and everyone leaving for their trips (m and r to australia, a and s just left for holland and greece) and my brother coming to town. SO MUCH STUFF! ooh, and planning our australia trip.

overwhelmed yet? i am some times.

oh, and did i mention that work might be changing? they've asked me to move into a higher position. i didn't quite say yes or no but i know it's expected of me. now if only higher pay was expected of them. and i should hear about that health canada job this month. my fingers are crossed.

how's that for a random, all-over-the-place post? i'm a little crazy.