January 31, 2008
~ brian's brains ~
Snow, snow, everywhere snow. Interestingly, Boise's annual precipitation is roughly 12 inches, yet this winter we've seen what seems like FEET UPON FEET of snow. Normally, we don't get much snow down here in the valley. Every morning there's fresh snow that I need to walk through...I mean, slip and slide through on my walk to work. It's frustrating because I'm not equipped to deal with this. Over the weekend I pulled out my old boots, thinking they'd be better to walk through the icy streets with. And yea, the slipping and the sliding is reduced - however, they must need to be resoled or something, because when I arrive to work my feet are always moist. I am not a fan of moist feet. In addition, the snow has caused me a good amount of anxiety recently. At the beginning of this week, I was scheduled to be working in a mountainous town several hundred miles to the North. On Sunday morning when I checked the weather forecast, in a big and bright red bolded box at the top of the screen were the words "WARNING: SEVERE WINTER WEATHER ALERT" and in the accompanying explanation were the words and phrases "icy roads," "strong winds," and "making travel treacherous and impossible." I then looked at the road conditions across the state and noted that the highway to my destination was marked with a clear hazardous designation. I then decided that I was not willing to risk my life for my job. Below is a visual representation of my decision-making process...
In other thrilling news, I went bananas in a random cleaning effort last night. I had been slow to do much after getting home from work. Somehow, I omitted my afternoon snack, and so I was experiencing a massive low-blood sugar attack when I got home. I stood in front of my refrigerator for some time contemplating various food options. What I really wanted was a ginormous bowl of cereal. Yet I felt compelled to utilize some vegetables and make whatever I thought would be a "real dinner." As I drank some juice to satiate my blood sugar, I spent a lot of time pureeing loads of garlic, and cutting up red peppers, yellow squash, broccoli, and onion. I also made up some really crappy pasta with sauce. When I finally sat down to eat, I had no interest in the food I had made. My mind was still on the ginormous bowl of cereal. So I picked at the veggies for a while and had a few forkfulls of pasta before abandoning the plate in favor of cereal. I then spent an hour in front of my computer watching a thrilling science fiction program about aliens and space travel. After the program was over, I contemplated everything that I needed to do that evening. And proceeded to give myself a guilt trip about doing these things. Instead of doing anything that I was supposed to do, I went into my kitchen, moved my refrigerator into the middle of the room and proceeded to scour every nook and cranny behind where the fridge had been. The kitchen in my apartment is kinda goofy. It's apparent that the original architect never intended for a kitchen to exist where one now does and that sometime during the last 100 years someone threw in a second rate fridge into a random space where it was within reach of an electrical outlet. As a result, an opportunity exists for some truly disgusting and horrifying dirtiness to thrive underneath and behind the fridge. I have absolutely no idea if anyone's ever cleaned back there before, but it didn't seem so. I actually have no idea if cleaning behind and under fridges and other kitchen appliances is a normal process, but it certainly wasn't something that people did in my household when I was growing up - - mainly because of the way that the kitchen was designed. Anyway, it was quite the ordeal, if only for the fact that moving the fridge (which must weigh 4,000 pounds) was a bit of an adventure. Afterwards, I decided to take myself to the gym and listen to some tunes. I don't know if anyone is interested, but I have noticed a significant difference in my abdominal region as a result of my fake pilates exercises. After the gym, I cuddled up with some sudoku before going to bed.
January 30, 2008
~ original citrus ~
Greetings Earthlings ~
On this day, I woke up to the usual beeping of my cellular telephone (aka, my alarm clock) and engaged in my usual behavior of pressing the snooze button many many too many times. For several weeks, I have been afflicted with the disease known as "can't get out of bed." This morning, I dragged myself out of bed at the exact time that I should have been leaving for work. Poo on me.
So, here's what's new with me. I am taking a titillating and absolutely riveting class called "The Public Budgeting Process" and seriously, it is much too exciting, interesting, and stimulating for me. PLEASE, dull it down just a bit, I beg you God!!! It may surprise you, what with how I am constantly going on and on about my enthusiasm for the budgeting process, that I am, in fact, not at all interested in the subject matter of this class. And to clarify, this class is NOT on the POLITICS of budgeting. That would be interesting. This class is on the PROCESS of budgeting. Speaking of pressing the snooze button...I found myself nodding off for a second there. Last night in class, my class friend and I were especially enthused with the material. We were examining some graphs, and I made a number of poignant insights such as, "Wow, 1945 was a big year" and my class friend observed that the graph reminded her of a mountain range, what with all of the ups and downs. I am actually hoping to get a lot of learning out of this class, in spite of what I have just now typed.
In other news, last Friday I participated in some night skiing with Josh and Elizabeth. We arrived at the nordic lodge just as the sun was setting and it was truly awe inspiring skiing along the "Nordic Highway" at night. One moment of funnynitude was when we began or descent along the downhill section, which was not lighted (and so, was totally pitch black dark), and Elizabeth had failed to get out of the tracks and was unable to slow herself down. I still remember how she was screaming as she sped past both Josh and I. On the one hand, I was concerned with her safety, but on the other hand, I found it rather humorous...does that make me a shitty person? On our way back, we all randomly decided to take "the other trail" back, which none of us have ever skied on before. Considering that we are all very very very novice skiers, this was something of a bold move for us. In order to get to this trail, we first had to go up a somewhat steep hill. As novices, we had no one available to instruct us on proper hill-climbing techniques, and it was quite the ridiculous situation. We struggled and struggled and fell a number of times as we inched our way up. Good thing that we were all in delightable spirits, otherwise it might have been a bit frustrating. This other trail, once we got there, ended up being a lovely rolling hills kind of thing, which proved to be exceptional fun. Everyone fell down many times and we were all squealing in delight. Another very funny moment happened right as we were approaching the nordic lodge from the rear. There was a short but steep downhill thing to go down. As I am an incredible novice, I was feeling as though I had no control over myself as I was going down this steep thing. I noted that there was a family approaching the intersection of the steep trail and I SCREAMED "WATCH OUT!" as though I was seriously about to come crashing into them. I was, however, not going at all fast and was, however, not anywhere near to the intersection and there was, in fact, plenty of time for the family to casually and calmly cross the intersection before I would be anywhere near to the bottom of the hill. So after screaming at the family, I noted the utter ridiculousness of my panic, and went into a laughing fit which compromised the stability of my skiing efforts and further undermined my ability to get to the bottom of the hill. I surmise that the family found me rather odd.
Another bit of news that I feel compelled to share, is that I've been quite excited about politics these days. Given the state of my country's politics these past eight years, I am absolutely EXSTATIC at the thought of having SOMEONE ELSE as my head of state. Anyone, even a MORMON REPUBLICAN, would be a better president. And though I just threw up a little in my mouth at having just typed those words, I am very happy that we have presidential term limits in this country. Yay. At present, there is word that a very awesome Democratic hopeful will be coming to little ol' red Idaho to rally some supporters. I could just PEE myself! In addition, I have every intention of skipping my thrilling budgeting class to participate in the Super Tuesday Democratic Caucus.
January 24, 2008
~ hops ~
I spent the evening with my parents yesterday. Dad and I drank 'red beer' - - which is a mixture of beer and tomato juice. Apparently, he was reminded of this concoction while riding the ski lift with another dude. I found it rather tastey, surprisingly. We also watched A Caribbean Mystery in which Miss Marple solves a triple murder while using knitting as a decoy for her sleuthing skillz. I found myself wondering if I prefer the Miss Marple mysteries or the Poirot mysteries. It's a toss up. Miss Marple is great because she pretends to be this cute little old lady who knits and is overly polite, but then she sneaks around, and spies, and is all around devious. Poirot, on the other hand, has a funny moustache and wears a hair net when he sleeps. I also wondered about the many faces of Sherlock Holmes and whether I prefer Sherlock played by Jeremy Brett or Lieutenant Commander Data (link removed). Jeremy Brett has the obvious sex appeal while Data is more amusing. ...Hard questions that I concern myself with.
January 21, 2008
~ gracious glee ~
Firstly, in the way of my love of the internet, I would like to share some poignant celebrity news that has been entertaining me for some time - - and which, I have forgotten to mention to those of you who might actually care. Celebrity ridiculousness is entertaining, for me, in being witness to how a story of utter ridiculousness unfolds into more ridiculousness than I could have ever imagined. For instance, take the case of Ryan Adams. This is glorious in its ridiculousness.
Secondly, I've been meaning to mention something about my own wild wailings. A few weekends ago, some friends were in town and the whole troupe found themselves alongside a number of alcoholic beverages and a karaoke machine. It wasn't quite the disaster that it could have been until I was attempting to sing my third song, was having some technical difficulties with the microphone, and threw a shit-fit at a drunk guy who thought it was acceptable behavior to interfere with my song. I've got photos, mainly of us playing darts earlier in the evening. And I'll post them whenever I get around to it.
Thirdly, this weekend, I finally picked up my mountain pass. Yesterday, I went nordic skiing with Elizabeth and Amy and had a brilliant time! It was so beautiful and sunny, and the snow was fantastic, I had such fun. I even brought my ipod so that I could rock out to some tunes while I was kick-and-glide -ing. During the fun, I resolved to trot on down to the ski shop and purchase myself a nodic ski package. The package, however, is a bit more money than I am willing to throw down at this moment, so I suppose that I will continue to rent as I go (the equipment, that is). I felt that we were rather fortunate on the drive up because we just barely missed being stuck in a jam after an accident that was, literally, two cars behind us. It was weird, for the entire drive up, I had been wondering why there were only two other cars going up (usually, there's a long line of traffic going up the mountain). I have a few photos from skiing as well and will post them whenever I get around to it.
Fourthly, last week I began a thorough clean up of my photos on my computer. During this process, I noted many many photos of myself with shorter hair in which I felt that I looked much better than with long hair. A few days later, during a conversation with Josh about my long silky locks, I decided to get my hair cut. On Friday after work, I marched myself to a hair cutting salon and asked if they could cut my hair that very moment. They said "no" and so I went home and cut my hair myself. Except for a few errant hairs and a bit of unevenness (hey! it's totally stylish!), I think I did a pretty good job. Photos to be posted when I get around to it.
Fifthly, I had the opportunity to practice my mingling skills this weekend at a retirement party for my old boss. It was the sort of event to which significant others were invited, but, after giving it some thought, I granted Josh permission to decide for himself if he wanted to attend. Surprisingly, he declined. For me, it was nice not having to worry about whether he was having a good time or not. To my dismay, I was forced to participate in a group performance of YMCA by the Village People, in front of everyone. It was horrid. It was horrid because another group performed the same song, horrid because no one in my group knew the words to the song, and horrid that I had to participate in something so lame and dumb. Interestingly, everyone on my team put the same total lack of effort into their costumes as I did. I went as a cowboy, which meant that I wore a big hat. That, the big hat, was my effort. The hat was so large, in fact, that during the performance, it kept falling in front of my face. I found that added an element of humor into my own performance, which I harnessed and performed the majority of the song with the hat hanging over my face. There are photos of this event and they will NOT be posted, ever.
Finally, speaking of the little love nugget, today is the third year anniversary of the exploits of Josh and Jennifer. I have, sitting on my desk, a couple of roses. ...sigh.
January 18, 2008
~ words are made from letters ~
Last night, Josh and I stayed up past our bedtimes playing Boggle at the bar over some glasses of cabernet (...we really do romance right, you know). There was a really dunk dude dancing to the music and some college attendees playing billiards behind us. Boggle, for us, got rather exciting once we had enough vowels to allow us to form brilliant five letter words. Josh was the first to impress with "LABIA" and I followed suit with "FECES." I also got "SONAR." The process of having fun would have been a bit more efficient and streamlined if I had remembered to bring the dictionary...as we frequently must debate the validity and spelling of each other's words. Josh, of course, is familiar will a number of obscure tools, equipment, and machinery that I contend are not words...and am proved wrong with a consultation with Webster. I, on the other hand, am generally a better speller.
In the past, speaking for myself, I have gotten rather wasted during our playing of the games over adult beverages. Earlier this week, I was going through my photos folders on my computer, and noted a great number of photos from our Scrabble tournaments, in which it was evident that the wine was flowing in abundance.
January 16, 2008
~ I've lost the humor ~
I know that you are all consistently impressed by my technical expertise. It should come as no surprise to you, then, to learn of how I heroically fixed my broken mouse this morning by violently banging it on my desk a few times. Indeed, considering that I am a bit on the clumsy side, I have found that my new ergonomic position at work has augmented the possibilities for my clumsiness. Hence, the broken mouse.
In other thrilling news, my love of all things internet has been rekindled with Ravelry, a space in which I can calmly and collectively obsess about knitting. Speaking of knitting, I am re-knitting the arms for that damn Nantucket Jacket again. That project and I, we have something of co-dependent relationship happening.
Then there's the weather. It's finally gotten a bit on the chilly side here in the Valley, hovering around freezing temperatures. My apartment, on the other hand, continues to be much too warm. Which I find rather ironic.
I've also been eating lots of garlic. And leafy greans. And pork with wasabi and sesame seeds. This may sound well and good, but yesterday I also ate three-quarters of an entire large bag of chips at work. It was not so much the fact that my snack constituted roughly 105% of my daily intake of sodium that made me feel ill, it was the horridly nauseous feeling churing in my gut that made me feel ill. Belch.
And, I'm continuing being a runner, with my last run at the gym (see above, re: cold weather). I've been thinking that I should be giving some credit for this 'running' development to my new running shoes which are, hands down, the best tennis runners I've ever owned.
Finally, I'd like to use this opportunity to lament about the boredom I've felt recently. This time of year always seems boring and my seasonal depression resulting from boredom has finally kicked in. There, I've whined.
January 14, 2008
~ greedy ~
In what is a rather amazing development, I am now a runner.! In my previous attempts at running, I have faced a number of barriers centering around boredom and discomfort that have marred my ability to become a successful runner. As I mentioned in my previous, and if I don't say so myself, 'amazing' blog post, my new ipod has transformed the manner in which I listen to music. Particularly, it has enabled me to enjoy running. As of this writing, I have gone on a grand total of FIVE runs with my ipod and, each time, I have become so absorbed in my rocking music that I have utterly lost myself in the act of running. Time after time, I step outside with my tennis runners and some winter exercise clothing, my ipod clipped to my pants, and I run and run, until I feel done with running, and I assume that I've only been running for 20 minutes (after all, the time went by so fast and I did not feel at all bored), but a glance at the clock reveals that I have been running for 40-45 minutes. And it is crazy because, for me, running has been an impossible form of exercise.
In addition to running, and I know that you are all interested in my physical fitness regimen, I have also taken up some very mild and beginner pilates exercises as recommended to me by a friend who is a pilates instructor. With my occupation involving considerable sitting down all day, every day, I find that I often have lots of back pain. I was recently forced to complete an ergonomic assessment and, in addition to adjusting the way that I am positioned in front of my computer, I am inspired to be proactive and find other methods to help me feel better. My friend, the pilates instructor, is convinced that I have a weak core and back and has been bugging me for some time about this. You know...I feel that I am a fit individual, but apparently my physical fitness activities don't do a lot for the core and back regions. So, I am now on week two, and am feeling very good.
In other news, Josh and I have yet to go snowboarding this year. We've been pretty pathetic, actually. Last night we admitted that neither of us feel up to the 40 minute drive and that we've been feeling overly sensitive to the cold. In other words, big weiners. We haven't even picked up our season passes!
January 7, 2008
~ greetings, earthlings ~
I had my annual eye appointment early this morning, to which I had to drive in the blizzard and the icy roads. I've pondered changing my eye doctor to someone within walking or biking distance, as all my other health and medical practitioners are near-by...but my options are limited by my health insurance plan. It seemed kind of messed up, this morning, as I was navigating back to the downtown area, in the blizzard and icy roads, with my eyes dialated and numb. And speaking of the eye doctor, I really can't stand that one part in the exam where they check the eye pressure and point the rod with the blue light into my eyes. I hate that. And they always put extra numbing drops into my eyes, claiming that I won't be able to feel anything, but what they need are blinding drops because my hatred of that exam stems from the fact that I have to have my face planted on what appears to be a medieval torture device and am forced to watch as a rod with a blue light creeps towards my eye balls. ...shudder!
Part of why I haven't changed optometrists is because the contact specialist that I see is wonderful! Today, she was giving me grief about how I haven't updated the lenses in my glasses since 2002 because I mostly wear contacts... and I'm not sure if any of you have recently tried to get some new lenses, but it is exepensive even with insurance. Josh can personally attest to the price as he recently located a new and very amazing pair of spectacles - - luckily, he has one of those health savings accounts. I do not and my plan will only pay $70 a year towards either contact lenses or eye glass lenses. And anyone who is as blind as Josh or myself can assert that $70 will not even cover the cost of a single eye glass lens. Which explains why I haven't been overly enthused about updating my eye glass lenses, especially since I would need to buy a year's worth of contact lenses AND two eye glass lenses. So anyway, my contact lens specialist, sensing my lack of enthusiasm for spending several wads of cash dollars, gave me an entire year's worth of contact lenses for free. Which is always neat.
In other exciting news, I am quite thrilled about the democratic political competition that is occuring. Last week, I experienced a significant amount of elation and hope when I noted the results of the Iowa caucus. I plan on locating a television capable of receiving transmissions of the New Hampshire caucus, and planting myself in front of it, along with some tastey malted beverages, all evening tomorrow.
In less exciting news, I know that I am known far and wide as being always on the cutting edge, but it may shock many of you to learn that this is not true. Indeed, a prime example is the archaic method with which I have continued to listen to music despite considerable advances in technology. I am referring, you may have guessed, to compact discs. Yes, as the rest of the world has changed with the times, I have acted like an old fart and have dwelled in the old ways of listening to music. But no more! About a month ago, I took a trip up North, and the person with whom I went and I engaged in exercise at a gym facility. She watched as I attempted to balance five compact discs and my compact disc player on a spin bike, dropping everything all over the floor about twenty times, and apparently noted an obvious solution that would improve my quality of life. Perhaps not to you, but it was quite a big surprise when I received a mysterious piece of equipment as a holiday present known as the "ipod shuffle." I am now a master of digital music and I can tell you that it has REVOLUTIONIZED the way that I listen to music. I can see, now, why these sorts of gadgets have become popular! In fact, I am feeling like a complete moron for not advancing into the modern era a long time ago. What reinforces my feeling of moronicnitude is the fact that even my almost 63-year old father converted to an mp3 player a long time ago. I have been less cutting edge, apparently, than moden day senior citizens. sheesh.
January 2, 2008
~ Arkansas ~
Spent the last week in northwest Arkansas visiting Josh's family. We had the opportunity to visit a number of the little towns around the area and do a bit of exploring. I was a bit surprised by how hilly and lush (by winter standards) Arkansas is. It would have probably been better for my impression of Arkansas to visit during the summer when the lushness would be more vibrant, but I don't think I could handle what sounds like a very active insect infestation. The trip, for me, would have been better if I had not come down with a flu virus two days into the trip. I am not a good sick person and found myself battling the crankiness.
Highlights of the trip included walking through the cute neighborhoods, finding two good coffee shops (one with good soup, the other with good coffee), visiting a wonderful knitting shop, and having some good people moments. In particular, I had the opportunity to don some real leather biker gear and go on a motorcycle ride through some hills into Missouri with Josh's father. The best day was when the family caravanned to Eureka Springs and spent the day walking around the cute town in the Ozarks. The sun came out that day and the light was simply glorious. Josh and I hiked up to the top of one of the hills into a strange rural Arkansas Ozark neighborhood and had a great time exploring. That evening, the remaining members of the family went to the Crescent Hotel which is apparently haunted by ghosts - - and had plenty of fun.
For photos, here's the link to my Arkansas photo album. I have omitted the hundreds of photos of people opening presents.
As fate would have it, Josh and I continued to have travel snafu after travel snafu. On the way to Arkansas, Josh and I made it to our destination...our luggage did not. As there are not a whole lot of flights to rural Arkansas, it took some time before it arrived. On the way to back to Boise, our already incredibly long travel day was lengthened because the Atlanta airport was completely shut down due to fog, so we had to be diverted to Dallas, and so the sitting around in the airport was augmented considerably. I spent all day yesterday recovering from the flight. We could have gone to Europe in the time that it took us to fly halfway across the country. Anyway, it's nice to be home.
