~ wherever I go ~

...A much belated update post.

There was a time when I blogged regularly, and was witty and awesome. Over time, this (the regularity) has changed and sometimes I wonder why I maintain this site. The focus of my posts has also changed beyond observations of my world to personal adventures and creative endeavors. I continue to have the goal to post regularly, but consistently fail in that goal. This past month would be an example of that failure.

Around about a month ago, there was a night when I did not sleep well. The next night, I also did not sleep well. For many nights thereafter, the anxiety that I had about not sleeping kept me up all night. During a four week period, I received between zero and three hours of sleep each night. I felt exhausted and was completely obsessed with sleep. I tried a variety of sleep aids, from prescription sleeping pills, to over-the-counter sleep aids, herbal remedies, alcohol, meditation and deep breathing, yoga, etc. I saw medical professionals and checked out every single book on sleep disorders from the library. And every time I mentioned my insomnia to someone, they would say something not helpful, such as recommending camomile tea, as though I had not already tried the most obvious and readily-available sleep aids.

This past week, I had a mental breakdown at work and took a few days off to try and get myself back together. I was aware that it was the anxiety about my insomnia that was the source of my insomnia, but how to break that anxiety eluded me. I felt frustrated because all of the advice from medical professionals and typical notions of "sleep hygiene" failed to address my anxiety; and no matter how diligently I followed this advice, it was still the utter dread of another sleepless night that kept me awake. So I took some personal time. And somewhere, on some internet forum for insomniacs, I came upon a recommendation for a book about insomnia that supposedly addressed the anxiety about insomnia. The book is Say Good Night to Insomnia by Gregg Jacobs, PhD and it has a cognitive restructuring focus about sleep. If you read through the reviews, which I did several times, there are many indicating that the person was able to sleep much better right away. My personal experience is the same. I got the book on Wednesday and that night was the first night in weeks that I did not use any sort of artificial sleep aid, and while I did not sleep the full night, I slept about four hours and it was good sleep. Prior to this, it had been about three nights in which I had not fallen asleep at all. The next night, I slept about six hours. The next, eight hours. And last night, eight hours again and I am no longer spending all of my waking moments obsessing about sleep. The goal of the book is to make insomniacs normal sleepers and I cannot go on enough about how helpful it was in getting rid of the anxiety that I had built up about insomnia.

Anyway, I did not mean for this post to be a product endorsement, but I wanted to explain what has been up with my lack of posting, and to articulate my utter relief and excitement that I am sleeping again. In addition, I might mention my disgust for the medical establishment and my over $400 worth of medical bills that I have to pay for useless medical advice and ineffective sleeping pills; whereas this book was about $12.

As a sidebar, I'd also like to mention my experience with Ambien. In reading some user reviews of the drug, it is clear that many people consider it to be an effective sleep aide. As I have since learned from both some scholarly literature and my own personal experience, its effectiveness may be deceiving because it is an amnesiac, which means that people might think that they slept while in reality they might just not remember being awake. In my own example, I think this might be what happened. So, as prelim information, my bed is lined up with the "head" of the bed against the wall facing East and the "foot" of the bed facing West. Typically, I sleep with my head at the "foot" of the bed facing West. So, after I took some Ambien, I went to bed normally, with my head at the "foot" of the bed. When I awoke in the morning, my body had flipped and my head was at the "head" of the bed and I had several books next to my pillow. I kind of remember reading in bed, but not really, rather I have a weird foggy memory of holding a book. I also have a weird feeling that I spent most of the night being awake and frustrated, but I have no memory of this. The positive was that I did sleep because I did "wake up" in the morning, however I had no memories of dreams and my confidence that I slept was undermined by the fact that I woke up in a completely different position on the bed than normal and that I had all of these books next to me. In addition, that day I felt particularly exhausted.

One positive experience from my insomnia was that I've started doing yoga and I love the way that it makes my body feel. While I am a flexible individual, what with years of gymnastics and various dance classes when I was a kid ingraining in me the importance of stretching, I find yoga quite challenging. But physical challenges are good and I particularly like the balance and coordination challenges afforded by yoga.

Anyhoo, I hope to post regularly about adventures and my creative endeavors again.

On Friday, for example, Josh and I went on an awesome night mountain bike ride up Rocky Canyon Road. For most of the climb, we didn't need to use our headlights because the moon was almost full and lit up the road very well. It also cast eerie shadows of the trees and canyon wall along the road. I had a lot of fun on the descent; the road was nicely tacky and smooth, I hardly had to use my breaks, and I had a wonderful feeling of flying down the road.

Today, I'm going to start planning my vegetable garden and compost system.

Posted by jennifer at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ new year stuff ~

Being of the mind that every day is a new day to live better than the previous, I do not normally go in for new year's resolutions. This year, however, will have a few notable milestones and turning points that justify a chronicling of my hopes and goals. In particular, at the end of spring/early summer, I will be both graduating with my masters degree and turning 30 years of age. Both of these events mean a lot to me personally and professionally.

Cycling

My primary personal goal involves putting in a lot of miles on the bike. With school soon no longer being an impediment to being able to ride my bike everyday, not only do I want to ride my bike everyday, but I want to ride it over longer and longer distances everyday. I feel a strong desire to embark on long bike adventures, including the multi-day/week variety. Additionally, I will continue to improve my technical skills, downhill speed, and I hope to complete at least one race.

Sometime around my birthday, Josh and I are going to go on a two week bike excursion. And I've recently been inspired to pair it with a brewery tour. The tentative idea being to drive down through Utah, stopping possibly at Park City and maybe hitting Arches, and then doing a tour of Western Colorado, camping for cheap on BLM lands, spending a day or two at each location, mountain biking the days away, and somewhere in between enjoying some quality beer. This plan is by no means certain, another strong inclination I have is to head north into Alberta. Furthermore, the plan seems to rest on my feeling inspired and excited, and I continue to search for exciting resources on the internet. My two primary sources for Colorado/Utah excitement include the Beer Drinker's Guide to Colorado and Mountain Biking Mayhem which has a lot of neat info about the trails in CO and UT (including fun videos!).

Food

Working full time and going to graduate school is a great opportunity to forget how to cook and to develop a love of processed foods. By the end of last semester, I was eating microwavable burritos every single day. The combination of my stomach virus and eating nothing but greasy food in Arkansas served as a reminder for me that there are better ways to eat.

Since my return from Arkansas, I have been cooking and loving it. Last night, for example, Josh and I made beef gorditas (a recipe from my my new cookbook) and they were delicious and satisfying. Over the weekend, I made an exciting chickpea stew. Tonight, I will make a curried sweet potato and chicken dish. No more microwavable burritos.

Furthermore, I am going to have a real garden this year. I've got a compost pile (sorta) going and a mulch system in place, and lots of enthusiasm. I also hope to buy more from the farmer's market.

Knitting

Over the past few years, I have developed a more meticulous attention to detail. I still tend to knit by the seat of my pants, but it is a little more structured and planned. A huge knitting goal for me is to implement a more rigorous approach to planning out my projects, which would facilitate my then being able to translate them into patterns. Last year, I succeeded in accomplishing my goal of writing up a real pattern - - I don't know if I'll ever make it public - - and it was a significant learning experience for me, instilling in me the understanding that a rigorous planning process would make pattern-writing A LOT easier. Lesson learned.

A second knitting goal is to expand my skills and learn new ways of knitting. I am pleased to have recently incorporated doubleknitting and seamless set-in sleeves into my knitting repertoire; my hope is to continue to expand it.

A third knitting goal is to knit exclusively from my yarn stash.

Here's a mosaic of my 2009 finished knitting projects.

I have a sense that my mosaic for 2010 will contain considerably less stockinette, more stranded knitting, more obscenely complex cables, fewer sweaters and more mittens.

Posted by jennifer at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ joy of cooking, my ass ~

This evening, Josh and I discussed how cooking can really be such a waste of time. And how we should give up trying anymore and just go for some microwavable burritos.

BACKSTORY

This past Saturday, I spent most of the day in anticipation of a holiday potluck among friends. For the potluck bit, I cuddled up with my library of cookbooks and selected an item that sounded delicious and appropriate for a holiday potluck. Specifically, I chose an apple onion cheese gratin from one of my Moosewood cookbooks.

So, I actually do like to cook. But I like to cook my own way, which normally involves only a cursory attention to the recipe. Interestingly, my methodology for cooking mirrors that of my knitting - - using the recipe/pattern as a guide and then making it my own. As with knitting, this manner of cooking can occasionally not work out.

Josh also likes to cook and he was excited about a recipe that he had selected from my edition of the Joy of Cooking: ginger molasses cookies. The methodology that Josh employs in his style of cooking, however, is the opposite of mine and is a small source of contention and mockery between the two of us. Namely, he rigidly follows the recipes.

Despite our incompatible cooking styles, we manage to get along fine in other aspects of life.

ANYWAY, a few hours before the potluck, Josh and I went to the grocery store to gather items for our respective recipes. It was during the drive home that the evening took a turn for the worse... As I navigated the car through our neighborhood, I became aware of a grumbly in my tummy. After a session in the restroom, I found that the grumblies were increasing and making my existence very uncomfortable. I managed to slice up the apples just fine, but became severely nauseous while slicing the onions. Josh offered to grate the cheese so that I could lie down for a while. A while came and went and I was in no condition to attend a potluck, let alone position my person in any way other than remaining perfectly still on my bed. Josh went to the potluck as one. Neither myself nor his ginger molasses cookies were "up" for a potluck, the latter lacked a necessary ingredient.

It turned out that I had a contagious 24 hour stomach virus-thing. I spent all evening on Saturday, and until about 7pm on Sunday feeling MISERABLE. On Monday, Josh came home from work with the exact same symptoms that I had experienced.

THE PLOT THICKENS... or does it?

As of this writing, it is Tuesday and the sliced apples and onions, diced walnuts and grated cheese have been sitting in the refrigerator since Saturday when I gave up on life. Now that I can look at food without wanting to vomit, I've decided to finalize my dish.

Part of my frustration with "cooking" and "recipes" is that I am a novice. After work today, I whipped out all of the ingredients and the recipe and got to work on preparing what I hoped would be a delicious meal. In reading the recipe, there was an elusive set of instructions about "scalding milk" and continually whisking it with butter and flower until it thickened. Whatever. Sure, I don't have a clue how to "scald milk" nor do I understand its benefits in the cooking process, but I determined that was an unnecessary component to the recipe, so I merely added milk, flour, and butter to a pan and whisked away. Whisk, whisk, whisk. I continued to whisk for what seemed like HOURS with no discernible thickening before exclaiming to Josh, "What a waste of time!"

We then discussed how I would not be a good candidate for a cooking show.

Whisk, whisk, whisk.

Eventually, the sauce did thicken. And instead of following the recipe about drizzling the sauce over all of the ingredients once they were in the baking dish, I determined the better method was to first add brown sugar and then mix it all together before adding to the baking dish.

CONCLUSION

Apples, onions, walnuts, gruyere cheese, milk, flour, butter, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and my secret ingredient brown sugar. But really, wouldn't microwavable burritos have been better?

Posted by jennifer at 6:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ catch up ~

This morning, despite not feeling my 100% due to a couple of tequila shots the previous night, I got up earlyish and went on a mountain bike ride with Elizabeth. This week, she got set up with clipless pedals and has developed a good quality enthusiasm for becoming a mountain biker. In discussions, we agreed that she needs to develop her legs so as to successfully bike up the mountains. To that end, I decided to take on the role of 'drill sergeant'. This morning we rode up Bogus and did a portion of Corrals. During the ride, I instructed her to put more back into it - - I determined the pace at which we would ride and encouraged her to keep up with me - - and on a couple of occasions on Bogus, I made her shift into a higher gear than what she was inclined to ride and had her exert additional effort. Once we got to the trailhead, she exclaimed that she couldn't believe that she got up there so fast and that now when she goes out she knows that she can ride harder and faster than she's been riding. I felt like a very accomplished drill sergeant. When we got to the spot on Corrals where we decided to turn around, we had a bit of a discussion about crashing - - as I've had a lot of experience in this area, I consider myself an expert on the subject and shared some of my wisdom:

• Most crashes occur when the rider does something stupid; therefore, one should ride skillfully and mindfully.
• When one is afraid of crashing, the chances of doing something stupid and crashing increase exponentially. As such, one should be relaxed, confident, and having fun.
• Most crashes result in only minor physical injuries, but a significant injury to one's confidence may develop.

Elizabeth recently crashed twice in the Military Reserve and was feeling a little nervous about the downhill on this ride. With some coaching, we agreed that she shouldn't be afraid of crashing and she then proceeded to bomb down the hill. At times, she was riding so fast that I had to exert some effort to keep up with her. On the fast section, we topped out at about 20mph and it was evident that Elizabeth was having a blast. I, too, was having a blast.

Last weekend, Josh and I did an awesome mountain bike ride at Bogus. We rode Deer Point, Elk Meadows, Mores Mountain, up some steep trail with switchbacks, and along the Face Trail. The Face was incredibly fun and it really made going up that steep trail worth the exertion. I had such a blast.

In other news, Josh and I have also decided to make war on the goatheads. On Saturday, we went to the Military Reserve and filled up eight large trash bags with goadhead plants. We worked up on the road leading from the dog park to the top of the one hill, at the border of where the goatheads are starting to encroach onto the trails. Once we realized the extent of the problem (and the futility of working in the fall, after the plants have littered the ground with a mind boggling number of goatheads), we decided to focus our efforts on plants that were still green, and still harboring goatheads.

Many of the plants were HUGE. I never before realized the extent of the goathead problem. They cover the hillsides and I would hate for them to get up into the trails. There are several groups that go out and pull goatheads. We're thinking we might join up. The real work to do will be in the springtime, though.

Posted by jennifer at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ joy riding ~

Regarding yesterday's post, I forgot to mention the outcome of my sleep-facilitating action steps: that for a week and a half, I have been sleeping like a rock. In fact, I can't recall a time when I slept so well. Being back on track with sleeping, I've resumed my morning gym routine this week and it's going better than ever.

Here's a much procrastinated post about a few fun-filled activities.

Part I: Tour de Fat 2009

The other weekend ago was the annual Fat Tire Festival. The event transpired as it typically does: meet friends in silly costumes for a morning bicycle parade through the city streets, go have lunch, return to the festivities for beer, fun, and lots and lots of laughing. I managed to avoid the incredible sunburn of year's past and also made less of a fool of myself (this was the first year that I opted out of drunken silly contest participation).

My "costume" this year featured an unmatching colorful outfit, with a cape and knee highs. Below is the best photo, snapped by Eric. The cape was totally radical, awesome, and amazing. Riding my bicycle along, the cape would flutter and flap behind me. It also served as a good dance-party accessory and shielded me from the sun. Also pictured are Josh, Keith, and David.

Speaking of costumes and Eric, he dressed as Tobias from Arrested Development when he was trying out for Blue Man Group. It was fantastic because he didn't dress as a member of Blue Man Group, nor did he dress as Tobias, but as Tobias trying out for Blue Man Group. Hee!

There were some awesome costumes this year. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries so I took few photos. I did manage to capture a few of the gang of superheros. Our group rode next to theirs for most of the parade. The superman guy on the trike had a boombox in the rear basket, playing Michael Jackson hits. They were also really nice - - at one point, I had exclaimed that I wanted to join the superhero group, Josh responded that I technically wasn't a superhero, even though I had an awesome cape, and the guy dressed up as Wolverine said that they are accepting of all kinds of superheros. It made my day!

After the parade, we went to Donnie Macs in the Linen District for lunch. I had a hot dog and sweet potato fries. Then we returned to the park and spent the next many hours drinking cold beer, playing around on the funky bicycles, and dancing. This event occurred during the last days of my massive insomnia, so I felt delirious for most of the day - - particularly because of the colorful costumes, the beer, and the heat. Around 4:00 (when the event ends), several of us cooled off in the river. Josh and I rode home, drunk and barefoot. It was a fun day.

Part II: Outdoor Adventures

During my insomnia phase, I did not feel comfortable operating my mountain bike. Several weekends ago, Josh and I went out to the Owyhees for an adventure, but it was unsuccessful because I was so exhausted. We did ride far enough to check out a neat rock formation and also rode past a Unabomber-type compound, which made us nervous. Though, I haven't been on a successful ride since Orchard Trail about a month ago. WHICH IS SO WEIRD AND LAME. This Friday, I'm planning on riding with a group of people and I am really excited about it.

I have, however, been on a lot of good hikes. The most recent was this weekend, when Josh and I hiked Mores Mountain up at Bogus. Before that was Corralls with Amy and her pooch, and before that, somewhere with Elizabeth. Hiking with friends is nice because it's more of a social occasion, which was benefitial to me this past month.

These photos are from Mores Mountain. It was so beautiful up there - - my photos of the stunning views and scenery were unremarkable, but I thought these macro shots were okay.

In other news, I've finally gone bananas with the weeding of our little patio space. It is a big undertaking but I decided that the weeds are never going to pull themselves. The result is that there is now adequate room for the flowers that I planted this spring to bloom, and all of my blooming flowers make me happy. I'm excited for next spring - - I've developed a plan for half of the space to be a flower garden, the other half for veggies.

Tomorrow you can expect a knitting update if I can brainstorm sufficient content.

Posted by jennifer at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ hanging well ~

Per the obvious, I have not been much in the mood for bloogging.

The main reason for this was that I was not so well for a while. Ever since I was eleven, I have struggled with the depression. When I was a teenager, counselors convinced me that it was "just a phase" and "just part of being a teenager" and that I would eventually grow out of it. Now that I am 29, I have concluded that my counselors were full of poo-poo and shouldn't be allowed to counsel people with depression, because it's not just a phase.

Some weeks ago, Josh gave me a stern talking to the day after I had gone off about how there was no point to anything. Without realizing it, I had sunk to a low place and was wallowing in the despair of being. I took the stern talking to to heart and I'm trying to be better about not letting myself wallow in my own despair.

First of all, I needed to get some sleep. This low point coincided with a period of severe insomnia. For about two weeks, I got on average two hours of sleep a night, and it was not good sleep. My body became so exhausted that my muscles BURNED. Like depression, insomnia is also something that I need to constantly manage. I implemented a number of strategies to improve sleep, most of which involve a more rigorous sleep-friendly bedtime routine as well as just treating myself better. For example, I had a considerable amount of tension and cramping in my muscles all over my body, that I decided to throw down some dollars for an hour long full body massage. It was glorious.

As for the depression specifically, I decided to begin taking a multi-vitamin along with a low dosage of St. John's Wort. I am aware that SJW is not regulated in the US and that there are some risks involved, but a consistent theme in the reputable research is that it is lower cost, has fewer side effects, and can be just as effective for treating moderate depression as prescription anti-depressants. So I decided to give it a try. I am on week three of my trial and I am no longer wallowing in my own despair. Whether this is due to the SJW, the fact that I am sleeping, treating myself better, trying to maintain a more positive outlook, etc., etc., I will never know, but I hypothesize that this combination is beneficial to my wellbeing.

My other sleep-friendly actions include increasing my nightly dosage of melatonin, drinking a glass of milk before bed, and not drinking alcohol within two hours of bedtime. The alcohol before bed thing, I have concluded (based on my own experience) is detrimental to a good night's sleep. Yeah sure, it might help one get to sleep, but then I always wake up really early in the morning and can't fall back asleep. In addition, I downloaded the iRelax application for my iPod Touch and rigged a speaker system next to my bed and have the relaxing sounds of running water playing all night. This app is kinda funny - - the river sounds, to me, sound like running water from a faucet and not a river, which is still relaxing (and surprisingly, it doesn't make me feel like I have to pee all night). The main benefit is a constant sound and I like the running water sound a lot - - before I had a fan running all night, but the running water is nice. Another trick - - some time ago, someone gave me an eye mask thing filled with lavender and a friend recently said that the lavender aroma can also help with the sleep. And seriously, having this thing over my eyes is relaxing and feels nice.

Anyway, I've got loads of photos from various fun to share so I'll have a more typical post in the next few days.

Posted by jennifer at 9:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ a grand notion ~

Last night, I had a dream that my mother died. I woke up nervous and upset, temporarily calmed myself by noting that it was just a dream, but then remembered that it wasn't.

I've often thought that my quality of life would be improved by better sleep - - not only because of the better sleep factor, but also with the omission of the middle-of-the-night panicky nervousy worrying about things out of my control. My mind saves its major panicky nervousy worrying for 3 o'clock in the morning, at which point it becomes impossible to go back to sleep. As a result, it is not uncommon for me to receive too little sleep.

I finally went to see the new Star Trek movie over the weekend. I waited until it was at the dollar theater because I can't pay full price for a movie. As I've indicated a number of times, I am a fan of the ST. That I waited three months before seeing the film is a testament to my convictions about the price of movies. It was hard, believe me, waiting those three months.

Anyway, my reaction to the film was different than that of others that I know of - - I enjoyed it a lot, but frankly, I felt that the number of gratuitous action sequences took away from the science fiction. That was disappointing. And don't misunderstand me, I love action movies. I also recently watched the latest installment of the Fast and the Furious and found it decently kick ass. I only wish there could've been a few more explosive car race scenes. You know... like, if during that one kick ass car race scene, the protagonist could have flipped on his nitro and somehow propelled his car over the five lane freeway while at the same doing a Superman Seat Grab over a blazing gas explosion on a dirt bike. Like, you know, totally kick ass but doesn't make any sense. I love it! But then again, F&F is an action movie. As a viewer, I expect gratuitous action scenes. When it comes to scifi, however, I have a low tolerance for gratuitous anything.

Which is my problem. And it might behoove me to restrain my critical and analytical thoughts during a film that I hope to enjoy. For instance, during that one scene where Kirk had abandoned his escape pod to wander the icy wasteland of Delta Vega, instead of wondering if it's standard procedure to equipe escape pods with winter jackets, I should have just gone with the flow and enjoyed the film. And instead of then wondering, if it's standard procedure to equipe escape pods with winter jackets, why Kirk was not wearing gloves as he was navigating through the freezing tundra. Because if it were me, my hands would be so freezing that I would turn around and return to the escape pod and wait to be rescued, thank you very much. AND THEN, as I was all getting my panties in a huff because Kirk wasn't wearing gloves, that gratuitous action sequence with those weird creatures began and ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT WAS HOW KIRK'S HANDS MUST BE FREEZING!

Seriously people, the internets are abuzz over the romantic relationship in the film, but I have not noticed anyone anywhere upset over the contradiction that would be Starfleet equipping their escape pods with winter jackets but not gloves. FRANKLY, I think that the people putting the film together were so preoccupied with the gratuitous action sequence that they totally forgot to give Kirk some gloves. Therein lies the danger of gratuitiousness - - the possibility that a supposedly "minor detail" will be overlooked, rendering the scene to make absolutely no sense. Gloves Starfleet, gloves!!! HA-RUMPH!

In other news, over the weekend I bought a pair of MBTs on clearance at Sierra Trading Post. They are the ugliest and silliest shoes I've ever owned, but they are my new walking shoes and they are comfy and fun to walk in. I can't attest to their benefits at this moment - - I did a lot of weeding in my garden the last several days and my back is vert achy - - but I can attest to their being a very comfy walking shoe.

Posted by jennifer at 5:08 PM | Permalink

~ tour of trials ~

For the last six months, I have been up to something very interesting. Disturbing, disgusting, but down right fascinating... in a morbid sort of way. Initially, when I was assigned a six month service, I had my reservations. But I found it surprisingly rewarding and I would love to do it again some day.

In other news, I'm such a sucker. Webs is having a yarn sale and the other day I innocently began perusing their listings. You know how that goes. One second I'm removed from the experience, being only moderately interested, feeling confident in my abundant stash at home. And the next second I'm all "OMG, look at that beautiful wooly goodness! I must have!!!" And so, with a few simple clicks, it became mine. Below are my color choices. Aren't they lovely? Yes. Yes, they are. Nom, nom.

In other kinda knitting news, I'm really bummed that school is scheduled to start in a few weeks. I was really getting used to this not-being-in-school thing, and liking it. But, more importantly than school, I've been working on a knitting design project and was hoping to get the bulk of it completed before the semester started. Alas, this is one of those improvising-designing projects that has undergone many frogging sessions. After each frogging, I've said to myself, "Ah well, third/fourth/fifth time's the charm!" Problem is, while each frogging has allowed me to further perfect the design, it has also extinguished some of the fire in my belly.

On a different sort of life-opportunity note, sometimes I have to wonder what the universe is throwing at me. That service that I mentioned up in the first paragragh, for example, has given me pause to consider a variety of career paths totally different than what I am currently pursuing. As I am generally someone who is always concoting different hairbrained career opportunities for myself, and then continuing to exist at my boring desk job, it should be no surprise that I would do this. As a result of my recent service, I gave thought to joining law enforcement - - a moment in my life which has caused several people to laugh uncontrollably. Be that as it may, the universe is definitely trying to steer me towards a life of crime fighting - - just last week, one of my classes in school was cancelled because of the recession and the only other class that I was able to get into is being taught by the county sheriff. If that's not the universe telling me to become a super hero, than I don't know what would be.

Speaking of super heros, next weekend is the Tour de Fat and you'll never guess what my costume will be! I'll give you a hint - - an awesome cape is involved.

Posted by jennifer at 8:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ sometimes ~

I've been in a really good mood these days. There has been the perfect mix of exercise and relaxation, hanging out with friends and alone time.

This afternoon, I took myself out on a bike ride and did a Trail 5, Fat Tire, Sidewinder loop. It was a good ride - - though, way too hot. I checked the temperature before going out, and it read at a mere 95 degrees. Considering it's been over 100 for a week and that we've been breaking heat records, I thought that 95 seemed cool in comparison and perfect for a ride. As I was grunting up Trail 5, however, that 95 degrees seemed much hotter and I had several moments where I thought I was going to pass out. I had two big water bottles full of water that I used to pour all over myself, but the heat was almost unbearable. The sun felt like it was beating down and reflecting off of the sand on the trail, making it doubly piercing. There are a few trails in the foothills which I have found to be more oven-like in the summer; trails that capture and reflect the heat more -- and I think Trail 5 is one of these. There were several times I thought about turning around, and possibly just doing a Shanes loop or something, but I had set out with the intention to do this particular ride and I didn't want to give up over a little heat. So I kept at it.

The aggravating part is that this is actually a fairly short ride, with some decent climbing and a couple steep pitches, coming in at 11 miles. But with the heat, it was much harder. Once I got to the top of Trail 5, I found some shade under a brambleweed bush and tried to cool off for a bit. It doesn't show in the photo, because of the shade, but my face was almost as red as my jersey. Though, you can kinda see the veins popping out on my temple.

Once I hit Fat Tire, I was home free and felt so good about myself for persevering through the heat. I was kinda wobbly on the descent because my muscles were quivering from the mild case of heat exhaustion. But it was still fun.

I did not see another person on the trails while I was out, probably because it was so hot. This made the ride seem like more of an adventure - - as though I was farther away from civilization. While I was sitting under the brambleweed bush, I stared out over the familiar hills trying to see if there was anyone else on the trails. It was weird being all alone out there, in a neat way.

On another note, does anyone know what the plant is in the below photo??? I believe it may be the source of a horrible itchy welty rash I've suffered from for a few weeks.

Here's a peak at something I'm designing, a stranded jacket. As you can see, increases are worked into the color pattern that build upon the existing motif. The process of developing the colorwork was fun, given that I enjoy tinkering around in spreadsheets.

Posted by jennifer at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ training and experience ~

I finished this sweater the morning before catching the plane to San Francisco. It's a seamless garter stitch kimono-style sweater with the climbing vines motif from the Interweave winter 2008 pattern. The vines were interesting and fun to knit. It was a surprise for me to learn that the vines are achieved by increases and decreases rather than cables.

I knit the body in one piece up to the arms, at which point I cast on stitches for the length of the arms and continued working it in one piece. I also worked short rows along the outer edge of the arms so that they could fold over nicely. I worked the front 'longer' than the back and folded the fronts of the arms over to the back and finished it off with a three needle bind off.

The yarn is a cotton/wool blend from a recycled thrift store sweater. I thought that the cotton in the yarn would yield a summer-appropriate garment. The sweater is a bit more cropped than I normally would go for, a result of not having enough yarn to make it longer (always a challenge when recycling thrift store sweaters), but it works as a summer warmer. I was also impressed to find in my button stash a red butten to match the yarn - - if memory serves, I found the button somewhere along the sidewalk and I picked it up because I thought I might one day have a use for a big red button. One person's road-side trash is another's treasure, eh.

Posted by jennifer at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ new steam ~

After a number of more miserable days at my employ, I took some time this week to reframe my situation. For instance, situations that make us miserable may actually be a tool for us to more fully appreciate those situations and persons who give us joy and make us feel good.

Yesterday after work, I took myself out to the yarn shop in Eagle to treat myself to some new yarn. All day I had been looking forward to this, and then I was a kid in the candy store once there. They have such beautiful yarn, and I admired all of the lovely fibers and striking colors.

Even though I have two projects going, I've decided to start on a complicated fair isle project. I've sketched out and taken measurements for an asymmetrical jacket and I'm working to put together my own colorwork charts. In the above photo, that is Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn and Colinette Jitterbug Sock Yarn. The colors didn't come out in the photo at all, they are much more vibrant. I've been admiring the Jitterbug yarn for a while, it comes in magnificant colors and has a nice hand-dyed look. As for the Noro, the two skeins do actually match and the color is more true in the top skein.

Later that evening, Josh and I went on a small mountain bike ride. It was very enjoyable. I have been loving how not-hot the weather has been. Yes, a tad on the thunderstormy side, but not hot.

On Wednesday, Josh and I had pizza and beer with Elizabeth and Edvin. That was the day when I had a particularly miserable time at work, and the beer tasted heavenly. After several pints, we played smashmitten in the park and hiked to the top of the hills. It was a very enjoyable evening that made me completely forget the miserable day at work.

Over the weekend, I finally got my garden started. This is my little plot of ground which I managed to uproot most of the weeds. I check on my garden about every hour when I'm home, wondering when the vegetables are going to appear. There are a few wee little seedlings coming up, but nothing ready to put in my salad.

In other news, I wrote a knitting pattern. I've debated for a long time whether this is something that I want to get into - - but as I was contemplating my work-related misery, considered that writing patterns could be satisfying in so far as I would be the master of my own labor. I realize there could be some downers in this effort, but what the hell.

This is a simple shawl worked in garter stitch with stripes made from rows of yarn overs. Its purpose was to practice writing out instructions, not necessarily to contribute to the vast quantity of garter stitch shawl patterns already available. I have enough yarn for another shawl and would donate it to anyone who would like to be a test knitter. Either email me or submit a comment if you're interested. Click here to download file.

Posted by jennifer at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

~ an update ~

I have been aware that time is passing and I have yet to update my weblog. This is mainly the result of having nothing very interesting to write about as well as having a lot to do in real life. Here is a bit of an update.

...ON MY CAR

So, when the tow truck driver came to haul away my car a few weeks ago, he made an offhand comment about how I'd never see it again. Later, I had a conversation with the insurance company about how if the cost of repairs were more than the value of the car, they would send me a check for the latter... thereby leaving me with having to spend howevermuchmoney to get another vehicle, which I was not happy about. Luckily, because I have put so few miles on the car in the ten years I've owned it, its value was estimated at $6,000 and the damage was $5,000. While the car was being fixed, I declined the insurance's offer for a rental car and had the opportunity to discover that our local public transportation system doesn't suck as much as I thought. The one time that I had to transport myself to somewhere that was not within walking or biking distance, I took the bus and it was great. The car has been fixed for a week and the only driving I've done has been to get it home from the body shop.

...ON MY SCHOOL

So, the end of the semester is 'nigh and I am suffering the consequences of procrastination. A few weeks ago, I was discussing my procrastination habit with a guy in class who said to me, "You know Jennifer, procrastination is like masturbation. It feels good at first, but in the end you're just screwing yourself." Wise words. At any rate, I haven't been having any weekend adventures for a while because (other than the fact that the weather blows) I've had to finally buckle down and write some papers. I'm currently procrastinating on a paper that is due next Wednesday, at which time I will be done for the semester. And let it be known, I am really looking forward to not having any procrastination to do.

...ON MY NEW HOME

So, today Josh and I signed the lease for our new apartment. For me, this seems really wild and crazy. And exciting. Though, I won't be moving in until after next Wednesday because I have way too much procrastinating to do, and I don't want to be distracted. But I will mention that I was pleasantly surprised to be given a covered, off-street parking space at my new home. This could possibly revolutionize my non-driving existance. Not only will I have to worry less about people slashing my tires (happened twice at current residence) but the probability of drunk drivers hitting my vehicle and then driving away (also, has happened twice) is almost impossible. Simply given how little I drive, it has been RIDICULOUS how much time I've had to spend getting my car repaired for damage that it sustained while it was parked on the side of the road. Hurray for covered off-street parking! More deets on the new home and the moving in with Josh later...

Posted by jennifer at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ 2008 Fun Times Review ~

2008 was a fun year. These photos spur particular memories for me. They include holidays in Arkansas, Seattle, and Montana. Snow adventures of sledding, skiing, and snowshoeing. Bike adventures of the road and mountain variety, primarily in the Owyhees. Events with friends, including hiking, bbqs, and anything involving beer.

Posted by jennifer at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ snowshoeing at grimes creek ~

On Saturday, I went snowshoeing with Josh, Leah, and David. I've never been snowshoeing before and found the experience very enjoyable - - albeit a little more physically demanding than I had expected.

As irony would have it, we all awoke that morning to find a big snow storm in the works (the weather has a knack for complicating and making more difficult outdoor activities). Several of us were concerned that the storm would somehow inhibit our fun, but it served to only challenge the driving. We had planned to go to a groomed snowshoeing trail north of Idaho City, but driving that far was simply not feasible. We pulled off at Grimes Creek and found a snowshoe trail that had been previously forged.

After a while, the pre-forged trail ended and we found ourselves forging our own trail. This is where the physically-demanding part began. The snow was about knee-deep using the snowshoes, and the resistance that the snow afforded both when plunging one's foot down and when heaving one's foot back up was substantial. We each took turns 'pulling the front' - - and after a couple of minutes of being at the front (or, however long it took before the person became completely exhausted) each would step aside, let the next in line take the lead, and go to the back of the line, where the snow would be nice and packed from the three people ahead. By the time that one had to 'pull the lead' again, one would be sufficiently recovered. Below is a photo of David 'pulling' after a fall in the snow.

Falling was somewhat frequent. Leah and David were particularly clumsy, especially when one of them would tackle the other (as evinced in the below photo). They also had trouble with clumped bundles of snow being hurled at each other.

Josh found himself unable to get up after falling, a number of times. Though, I felt little sympathy, as he repeatedly shook snow-covered tree branches which were directly above my head.

After snowshoeing, we got beers and dinner at the Hilltop Cafe.

More photos on my snowshoeing photoset

Posted by jennifer at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ i can haz mac'puter ~

Well, I did it. I finished my final paper of the semester and am delighted. It's difficult to stomach the notion that I am not scheduled to be completed with the program until the winter of 2010, as that seems like 100 years from now. On the other hand, I keep saying that now seems to be an excellent time to go to school (what with the economy) and my program is very interesting and makes use of my relatively useless undergraduate degree. And this semester was particularly stimulating and helped me further refine my career and educational interests, instead of being all wishy-washy like I normally am. I honestly believe that I working towards someday having a job that makes use of my talents and interests!

I might mention that I am particularly excited to be done with this semester only because the last couple weeks have been frustrating. Not only did I have a computer incident at a really inconvenient time (see below) but very recently I discovered a significant error in my reading comprehension skills regarding the required paper length of this final paper. Despite having read the requirements for the final paper fourteen million times, I managed to misinterpret the very clear and obvious Arabic numerals representing the page length, such that I had completed the paper a few days ago, 10 pages too short. Coming up with an additional 10 pages for an essentially completed paper is kind of a bummer. Luckily, as I keep mentioning, brevity is not my strong point, and it wasn't that difficult for me to write on and on about all this stuff. ...I'm sure the professor will appreciate this and give me an A+. The end.

In other news, as I mentioned in my previous post, I recently economically stimulated a non-knitting related industry. An earlier draft of this post contained a diatribe about my thoughts on the economy, but I've decided to reduce the amount of unwarranted arrogance from this post and stick to the matter at hand.

Two weeks ago, I was hanging out one evening working on multiple final papers for school, when my computer crashed. Totally, system files all corrupted, crashed. This is the same laptop on which, around about a year ago, I spilled an entire beer. I see these two events as being causally unrelated, however, the emotional distress and inconvenience is interrelated. One, I really dislike broken shit. While the laptop may have plenty of operation in it yet, it ought to be noted that it is over six years old and its functionality is on the wane. Also, the two and only times in which the laptop became truely non-functional, were times in which I was experiencing high stress and really needed to use a computer (ie, the end of the school semester). That this has historically happened during the most stressful and inconvenient of times exacerbated my feeling totally pissed and fed up with my computer. As such, the crashing of my computer compelled me to more seriously consider a new computer, something which has on my mind for a while.

And so I did.

I might mention that even after last year's incident, I still don't have a backup system. Learning lessons, I fail. As of this writing, my files are not recovered. Which makes me irritated with myself, primarily because music bought through iTunes does not transfer to a new computer. The rest I don't care so much about, but the music...sniff.

Ultimately, I decided to buy one of the new iMacs. I feel a twinge of guilt for splurging but I really really love it. I won't detail out my entire decision making process, I'm sure you've all thought about computers and have considered the pros and cons of the different varieties. And that while you try to balance things like performance, price, features, durability, and do a cross-product comparison, there's so much to be said for simply being excited about a product.

So anyway, this was my holiday/end of the semester present to myself. My next present to myself is going to be an external hard drive. And then maybe I'll re-buy some of my favorite music. Aren't holidays wonderful!

see more crazy cat pics

Posted by jennifer at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

~ mark my words ~

This weekend, I gathered up some of my best mates and we all hiked Corralls. I knew that it was supposed to be on the chilly side of things, but was a little surprised when it started snowing on us. It was very pretty. None of us had dressed for snow, however, and we all became wet and freezing. We hiked for two hours, long enough for some of us to feel the need for a comforting beer to warm the soul. Which we then procured at a local brewery, along with some yummy food items.

Over the weekend, I also managed to bind off my scarf/shawl thing. Many of you will be shocked to find out that I actually blocked it. I must not be feeling well, because as you all know, I am normally way too lazy to block my knitted pieces. But let me tell you, blocking sure did wonders for finishing up this particular piece. shocking.

In other thrilling knews, I have cast on for 'Vivian' which I wrote you all about. I really must not be feeling well, and my aberrant behavior does not end with blocking...on my Vivian, I actually checked my guage. I ask you, what is up with me??? Whatever it is, progress on Vivian is coming along nicely. I've thought about taking a progress photo to show it off, but haven't. It's knitting up pretty quickly in the Pastaza. I sense that my version will be quite a bit different than the pattern intent - - the yarn is much heavier, which lends itself to my vision of a jacket than mere jumper, and the yarn is much fuzzier which will yield an entirely different look. But, I am confident that the finished piece will turn out fantastic.

Posted by jennifer at 1:33 PM | Permalink

~ thrilled and dismayed ~

In all honesty, this past election has proven bittersweet for me. On the one hand, I am thrilled! So excited and happy! Much has already been written from those who are delighted at the results of the Presidential election, and I would like to echo that and say "ditto." DI-TTO!. It is clear that we have gotten ourselves into a world of poo-poo, my political heart has been broken over and over, but I am joyful to report that I am confident in President-Elect Obama. Not necessarily confident that he will be able to fix everything and make it better, but confident that he is a fit, capable, qualified, and inspiring leader for my country. I would also like to report that I am thrilled that Idaho has elected its first Democratic Congressperson in 16 years. This is significant for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it came out of Idaho's most conservative congressional district. I admit that I was a bundle of nerves watching the Minnick (D) - Sali (R) race. It would be something of an understatement to describe Sali (who, I should mention for those unaware, was the incumbant) as a pigheaded, arrogant, idiot-crazy, horrible jerk. In fact, I believe while Sali was serving in our State Legislature, the Speaker of the House was quoted by the media describing him as such. As I exist on the FAR FAR FAR liberal side of the political spectrum, it is not unusual for me to be disappointed in the politics of Idaho. And 'disappointed' doesn't quite capture my feelings of disgust and horror on the matter. The Minnick-Sali race made me feel so nervous and I had been following it very closely. I began to feel a solid glimmer of hope last week when Daily Kos called the race a 'toss up'. But in all my anxiety, there were the local and regional leftist political blogs that kept me from losing my mind. Of note, a big thanks to the Mountain Goat Report for their regular musings on CD1 and offerings of Sali-gems. I was going to pull some of my favorites to share with you, but oh, there are so many! There's the one where he opposed Hindu prayer in the Senate because Athiest hospitals aren't on par with Christian hospitals (hahahahaha! - - oh Bill, you make my day!). Then the one where he tried to argue that children without health insurance isn't a big deal (eesh!, but hah!...you're killing me, Bill!). It's really scary that this arrogant idiot-fuck was elected to the State Legislature multiple times and then went on to serve in Congress (and during his productive time there, introducted a piece of legislation to ban gravity...FTW, Bill give me a break), but it should be a testament to my total lack of faith in the electorate's critical thinking skills that I was seriously worried that the arrogant idiot-fuck would be re-elected. And the scary thing is that he lost by a very narrow margin. But instead of allowing myself to be scared of all the crazy in my state, I'm going to reflect and feel hopeful at the growing number of people here who have critical thinking skills, and who employ them when making decisions. Yay, critical thinking skills!!!

On the other hand, I am pretty dismayed, disappointed, and disgusted by the number of discriminatory propositions that passed throughout the country. I find it interesting that while the country celebrates the election of the first African American to the Presidency, that so many people feel they have the right to deny equality to so many and to tell people who they can and cannot love. These hateful and bigoted attitudes have cast a big shadow over what might have been a reason to celebrate, and I am absolutely DISGUSTED. Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes and I would like to extend a big FUCK YOU to those who supported the discriminatory and hateful policies. Since these passed, I've been giving more thought to how much I despise religion and I am so SICK AND TIRED of policies that are based on some people's religious values dictating how other people conduct the most personal aspects of their personal lives. I am absolutely flabbergasted that so many people cannot accept the fact that all people are not the same. Some people are gay, get over it.

Posted by jennifer at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

~ fall harvest ~

It's fall harvest time and on Saturday, I went to Emmett to pick apples with Josh, Elizabeth, and Edvin. Elizabeth had done some research on the local orchards and had decided that we would all go to the orchard she thought had the prettiest website - - unfortunately, we couldn't find the orchard with the prettiest website and we drove up and down the road trying to decide which orchard to visit. Without a pretty website, it was a difficult decision. Eventually, we decided to visit the orchard that had the most other visitors and that had an available potty - - two excellent decision-making criteria.

I have never before gone apple picking and I was unsure as to what I should expect. Being somewhat vertically disadvantaged, I had assumed I would be balancing myself on my tippy-toes or relinquishing quality apples to taller persons. Neither were correct. Instead, I was given a pole-thing with a metal-dealie at the top, which I would use to collect apples from the tree tops. Below I am demonstrating my skill with this tool.

And see, the fruits of my labor.

As evidenced by the wind in my hair and my huge poofy coat, you would be correct if you inferred that it was windy and chilly. Brrr! In fact, the previous evening Boise received 1.2 inches of snow, reportedly the earliest snow on record - - to the chagrin of everyone. Fie, La Nina, fie!

Now, you may be somewhat shocked to learn that Josh and I engaged in a bit of silly goofing-off at the orchard. While Elizabeth was extremely serious about her apple-picking (she collected 25 pounds of apples) and Edvin was carrying all 25 pounds of her apples, Josh and I were practicing our ninja fighting skillz. In the below photo, please note the awesome harness-bucket thing around Josh's torso. Initially, I was peeved that he got to carry it, but when I realized that it was intended to carry apples (possibly 25 pounds worth) I wanted nothing to do with it.

Josh and I collected 8 pounds of apples, pretty much more apples than we know what to do with. Don't get me wrong, I like apples and I eat them occasionally, but we participated in this event primarily for the goofing off and secondarily for the socializing with Elizabeth and Edvin. Speaking of whom, here is Elizabeth with her 25 pounds of apples - - note that the bag is too heavy for her to lift.

On Sunday, Josh and I went on a glorious evening hike. We are both upset at the sudden turn towards winter weather, but we are determined to enjoy the foothills as long as we can. The hike was very enjoyable. Josh spent a good amount of time watching out for cougars, as they have been spotted in them thar hills recently. He also examined numerous animal footprints to determine if they were from a cougar. While I am not a wildlife specialist, I surmised that a cougar would not attack two full grown adult human beings when there was likely plenty of other food options available. I did, however, suggest that we take up some big sticks just in case. I also opted to growl into rustling bushes to scare away predators. Anyhoo, it was absolutely lovely and I took about a million photos. Here are just a few.

Posted by jennifer at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

~ blue Missoula ~

As the subject of politics can sometimes elicit excitement and alter behavior, I went on a road trip over the weekend to Missoula Montana with Josh and Eric. The origins of the trip go back a few weeks when we were staying up past our bed times discussing the impending presidential election. Liberals in Idaho frequenlty confront reality when wanting to 'get involved' with politics beyond the local level. It's unfortunate that anytime I might consider volunteering for the state democratic party about, oh say, the presidential elections, I am detered because it seems like an incredible waste of time. During the political discussion of a few weeks ago, Eric mentioned that the Idaho Obama Campaign is encouraging potential volunteers to head to Montana because it has more democratic leanings than Idaho.

And so early last Thursday morning, we loaded up three adults, their crap, and their mountain bikes into my fuel-efficient vehicle and drove to Missoula. The drive was long, but it wasn't horrendous by any stretch of the imagination. We arrived in Missoula at about 4:00 pm and made our way to Eric's brother's house, where we would be staying. If you recall, Thursday was the night of the Vice Presidential Debate, so we declined a family dinner engagement and went to downtown Missoula to watch the debate over some beers. There was a bit of a snafu in the communication between Eric and the Obama Campaign dude, in which the latter had informed the former that there was to be a debate watching party, when that information was untrue. We made our way to the Union Club, thinking we were going to be watching the debate with other bleeding heart liberals, but other bleeding heart liberals we did not find. Instead, we got some grub from the bar kitchen (I had a chilli hot dog with fries, if you are curious) and watched the debate. The bar ended up getting really packed with other debate-viewers, so we were far from lonesome. Afterwards, we wandered around downtown.

The next morning, we rose and went back downtown for breakfast. Upon the suggestion of a local, we went to a very small place on Higgins. The goodness of the breakfast was slightly overshadowed by the crowdedness of the place (as Eric had to sit alone in the corner for some time due to lack of available seating). Afterwards, we wandered around that part of town, venturing into a few shops, including a bike shop and some kind of strange novelty shop. We also explored Eric's old neighborhood, including a walk by his old house. The males also got their swing on. After extensive wandering, we went to a coffee shop where I had lunch of a roasted red pepper sandwich and barley salad. I also took the opportunity to visit a yarn shop that was reported by various internet folks as being the best yarn shop in Missoula. Once I walked into the shop, however, I was to feel slightly uncomfortable as the shop owner was discussing her ill health and impending death with a friend. I was unsure what the most polite behavior would be in this instance, so I just kind of walked the circumference of the shop quietly and slipped out.

Then we went over to Rattlesnake recreation area and went on a fun mountain bike ride. I must say, the mountains outside of Missoula make the Boise foothills pale in comparison. Eric led us on a ride that took us way up the mountains and afforded us a lovely view.

The downhill was great fun, punctuated by a herd of wild turkey sighting. We ended up doing two loops. The first took us up the mountains at a fairly steep grade and wound us along the side of the mountains. The second was up some of the roads at a more moderate grade and down some singletrack with switchbacks. Both times we ended the loops with a fun jaunt through what I called Sherwood Forrest, a section that had truly sweet winding singletrack in which the autumn colors were striking on the adjacent trees.

The ride was a lot of fun and left me wanting to take a longer trip to Missoula to have more riding in its mountains. Afterwards, we picked up a large quantity of pizza for Eric's family, as a token of appreciation for letting us invade their home. We had every intention of hitting the bars that evening, but found ourselves watching "Empire Strikes Back" instead. I have to say, watching a Star Wars film with commentary by a five and four year old is a quality experience.

The next day, we went to a bakery downtown for breakfast and coffee. Afterwards, we went to the Obama campaign headquarters and spent half an hour in an asinine training, as though canvassing is rocket science. We got our clipboards and went to a neighborhood near the University to do our political duty. Eric went by himself and Josh and I teamed up. I thought the volunteer coordinator was full of doo-doo when he estimated it would take us 3.5 hours, but he proved to be right on the money with his estimate. Josh and I were able to get several people registered to vote and got quite a few absentee ballot requests completed. We also had a good conversation with a Republican leaning Obama as well as a few Independents. Therefore, if Montana goes blue this election, it will be ALL because of us. We rule.

By the time we were done canvassing, at around 2:30, we were all starvin' marvin. Eric directed us to a drive-in where we procured some delicious drive-in food. Of course, I couldn't allow us to have a normal / boring drive-in experience. I had to go an drop Eric's burger down the front of my person and onto the car floor. The server person was nice enough to get him another free of charge. Then, as I was exiting the car, I managed to drop the entire tray that was loosely affixed to the window and which was supporting multiple uncovered containers of ketchup, all over the ground. The resulting ketchup splatter caused me to have a large quantity of ketchup all over my clothing, compounding the preexisting ketchup and mustard stains that I aquired when I dropped Eric's burger onto my person. Anyway, I was just keeping it interesting for everyone.

The next adventure was to Blue Sky Brewery for some free beer. If you've ever been to a local brewery, you can imagine how that adventure went. We all had to try on every single Brewery hat, had to play with all of the beer openners, had to put the beer cozies on our heads, and in general defied our maturity level. Afterwards, we returned to Eric's brother's house for some R&R. That evening, Eric went to a family BBQ and Josh and I had a date in downtown Missoula. We went to a sushi place, where we enjoyed some fairly good sushi, and then wandered all around, having various silly moments. We explored the river area, having a great deal of fun running on some grassy mounds and eventually went to a bar for some wine. We returned to the homestead where Eric recounted the shenanigans of the family BBQ.

The next morning, which would have been Sunday, we had a hearty breakfast with the family, which included pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausage made from a deer that Eric's brother shot and killed. We then loaded our persons, our crap, and our bikes into the car and set off for Boise. The drive back took longer as a result of more lengthy stops, including a lunch stop at Kooskia.

Photos for this are available here

Posted by jennifer at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

~ bruised apple ~

I finished my first pair of mittens this weekend. They are the "Yellow Harvest" mittens from the Fall 2008 Vogue Knitting. The yarn is Noro Silk Garden (the same yarn from a scarf I knat a few months ago, which I ended up not liking very much...so I harvested the yarn to knit up my "Noro Harvest" mittens). As far as a pattern for first-mittens goes, this is a good one - - well written with several nice details that are fun to work. Morning temperatures have recently dipped into the chilly zone for my walk to work, and so I have had the opportunity to wear these mittens both yesterday and today and have found them lovely.

In mountain biking news, I have been getting in a lot of riding now that the weather is cooling off. Last Friday, Josh and I rode a most awesome foothills 'loop' - - up Bogus Basin, up Corralls, up Scott's , down Scott's, down Trail 4, and down Crestline/Kestrel. The ride was somewhat monumental for me, signifying that I am overcoming my fears about steep drop-offs. I don't believe I wrote about this, but last year when I had the bike with the grabby breaks that exacerbated many of my fears about steepness, heights, and drop-offs, Josh and I went on a ride on Scott's Trail and I experienced something of a total panic attack about the drop-off along a steeper part of the trail. As this year is a different year, with a different bike, and a different attitude, I have been feeling very accomplished at overcoming my fears and anxieties - - which is particularly significant because so much of mountain biking is about mental attitude. I've been riding trails which I had become rather wimpy about, and challenging myself on much more technical terrain, discovering that most of the time, things just LOOK hard, and that when I relax and pedal/roll over something, I find that it is much easier than expected. So anyway, Scott's trail was the final test to myself that I am totally OVER the crashes and negative mental attitudes that got me down last year. To clarify, there's nothing about Scott's that is really hard (it's a nice intermediate trail) but a few sections of trail had qualities that would freak me out. Anyway, so on Friday when we were doing our awesome loop, I was mentally preparing myself to ride down Scott's. I kept giving myself all kinds of encouragement, reminding myself that I've ridden much more difficult trails, and that this was nothing, NOTHING to get a panic attack about. And as I was descending, I told myself to focus on the trail, relax, breath...and I kept thinking that the scary sections of the trail must be around the next turn, so I stayed relaxed, breathed, and focused on the trail in front of me. I was still expecting the scary section of the trail to be around the next turn when I realized that I had made it to the bottom. HUH? The trail on which I had experienced a panic attack, I had now ridden without a single hesitation. I am serious when I argue that mountain biking is primarily about mental attitude, and secondarily about fitness. After descending Scott's, there was still a LOT of downhill left, and I had a blast bonzaiing down the mountains.

On Saturday, we returned to the Owyhees and tried to ride from 'our parking space' to Succor Creek. The previous weekend when we went out there, we encountered a couple on an ATV picking up litter, and had a conversation about how some of the roads we were riding would take a person out to Succor Creek. And so this weekend, we tried to do just that. Of course, I had gotten all complacent in the cooler temperatures and convinced Josh that it would be okay if we left in the afternoon, rather than bright and early in the morning. BAD MOVE. Aside from being a bit on the hot side, I found the roads a tad sandier than I prefer. It was still very ridable, just took a bit more effort to plow through. Before I would feel comfortable giving it an official review, however, I think I need to ride it again. I realize that my being kinda too hot was detrimental to my fully appreciating the ride - - also, I now realize that I did not consume many calories during the lengthy ride, and so I possibly lacked energy that I might have had if I had been more responsible with my caloric intake.

So, it takes about an hour to drive out to 'our parking spot' in the Owyhees. Since joining the modern era with the acquisition of my iPod, I have placed all of my compact discs into a compact disc book-holder-deal, which I have placed in my car (for, you know, road trips). Despite the plethora of music available during this particular road trip, Josh and I opted to listen to the Flight of the Conchords cd THREE TIMES IN A ROW. Needless to say, we have since had the catchy tunes stuck in our heads. In fact, I am pretty much in a constant state of mentally huming the tunes to myself, both awake and asleep, and it is kind of annoying.

Posted by jennifer at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ inattentive schoolperson ~

School starts today. I've been a good schoolperson by knocking off a chunk of the reading in advance. I'm looking forward to this semester's classes - - and so far the reading's been good. One problem...no wait... two problems...er...three.

Problem One: Way back in June, when I went bananas at a local yarn shop during the mini-vacation to Seattle, I bought a bunch of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed, with no specific pattern. I had been planning on improvising my own design, which has been undergoing various revisions within the confines of my mind, but I got distracted with other projects and this precious yarn has been collecting dust. As you all know, one of the most exciting parts of knitting is the dreaming stage, when you consult your stash, consider a multitude of patterns, peruse online yarn stores, compare yarns and guages, and Ravel somewhat obsessively. Well, I seem to exist in this 'dreaming stage' constantly and even though I've got projects in the works, I derive great joy from the infinite knitting possibilities.

Recently, I've gone back to this Jo Sharp yarn, which exists as tweedy awesomeness, and I've devoted some attention to attaching a pattern to it. I had pretty much resolved on the Rambling Rose cardigan from Interweave Knits, but then I noticed that something I've been lusting after on Ravelry has made its way into a pdf pattern download. If that is not a sign from God, than I don't know what would be.

And so, problem number one, is Baby Cables and Big Ones Too which will be knat in two colors of tweed, with the contrasting color comprising the garter stitch yoke and lower half of the arms. Part of what makes me drool all over this design is its similarity to the Cobblestone, but with feminine shaping and...sigh...diminishing cables.

Problem Two: I'm sure you have all been axiously awaiting my cast on for those Druid Mittens I mentioned two posts ago. Well, step one, acquire the pattern. My excitement for mittens has taken an expected-for-me turn - - that 'dreaming stage' I articulated above....yeah. Mittens.

Now, let's take a step back and discuss one of my life-long loves: fashion. By 'fashion,' I do not necessarily refer to trendy or high-end, but rather my own particular take which usually includes a good dose of fug, lots of contrasts (or, as some people call it, failure to match), and stuff that is interesting. Sometimes there is trendy, and rarely is there high-end (but only for financial reasons). As you can imagine, knitting has been integrated with my fashion tastes, and together they have 'fueled the fire' of that dreaming stage I keep mentioning.

In my mind, I have seen the glory of pairing modern knitted items (such as that diminishing cables pullover above) and traditional knitted accessories. For some time, I have been a great admirer of the traditional knitting and have only recently discovered what I expect to be my outlet. Mittens. And so, Selbuvotter (I highly recommend checking out the projects) and Latvian Mittens (again, check out the projects) will soon enable me to fulfill a great fashion dream. One of the reasons why mittens excite me is the notion that I will not go to jail and be executed if I fail to make matching mitts. In the past, I have considered my failure to maintain attention on a project, and have wondered if I would be able to make two of something (ie, a matching pair). But seriously, who's going to shoot me if I am spotted wearing a Latvian mitten with a Norweigan mitten? I didn't think so.

In other news, and possibly Problem Three, the temperature is cooling off. Which means more opportunities for me to have fun in the outside! This summer, when it was over 95 degrees, I opted to stay indoors...which proved to be much of the time. I have previously described my person's poor temperature regulation, and I have decided to 'live with' this condition rather than fight it. Anyhootily, last night it was in the low 70s, and I went on a fun mountain bike ride with the Josh. We didn't have much time before the sun set, but we meandered around some fun trails for about 45 minutes, which is sufficient for both cardiovascular health and mental health.

Posted by jennifer at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ Tour de Fat 2008 ~

As summer comes to a close and the window into fall begins to open, there is one final celebration which represents the Holy Trinity of Fun (bikes, beer, ballyhoo), the annual Tour de Fat.

This year's fun began at 9:45 when the group met at Ann Morrison Park. In previous years, "the group" has gone bananas with costuming - - this year, however, we failed to costume. Although, Josh and I donned some big straw hats which were loads of crazy fun. Hats! At 10:00 the bike parade commenced, with an estimated 2,000 pedalers, and the group jockeyed for position. Throughout the parade, the group failed to stay together. There were just so many people on so many bikes, I have concluded, that it was near to impossible for the group to remain intact. Not to worry, however, this is precisely why God invented cell phones.

The parade is one's chance to see all of the many many wonderful costumes - - more wonderful even, than big straw hats! Unfortunately, I failed you, my dear readers, as I was unable to photograph the truly awe-inspiring costumes. There was a fantastic dragon, Mr. and Mrs. Potatoheads, garden gnomes, Jesus, etc., etc. I will go ahead and mention the guy with whom I attended public school from elementary thru high school who constructed a two-high bike and rode it through the parade with impressive balance and agility. The parade is about an hour in length and concludes with a critical mass through downtown which is very exciting with all of the bike bells ringing and the bystanders cheering (for bikes & ballyhoo!) and the total absence of automobiles. It is, in fact, a promotion of the bicycle-pedaling lifestyle.

After the parade, the group went for lunch. And after lunch, we returned to the park, where we acquired wristbands and tokens to exchange for beer. I'd like to take this moment to articulate my excitement for the Greenness of this particular festival, as the organizers seek for it to have a relatively low carbon impact on the environment. Which is awesome. The beer cups are corn and 100% compostable, and there were recycling and composting stations set up throughout the venue. Anyway.

Before the first beer was drunk, several of us decided to stand in line to partake in the wonky bike riding which is an incredible amount of fun, especially if you've consumed a few brewskies. Though, some of the bikes I attempted the impossible and was defeated, even after multiple try-and-try-agains. Everyone took turns riding the wonky bikes, some of us went at it several times.

As it was hot that day - - and after several hours of drinking lots of beer and overexerting ourselves with sillyness in the direct rays of the sun, the group was rather consumed by the heat. We trotted to the nearby river and employed the cold water to our advantage. After that, the group parted ways for much-needed naps. There must be something about being really really silly, smiling and laughing until you hurt, and being both hyper-active and somewhat intoxicated in the sun and around bikes for an extended amount of time that is exhausting. Several individuals had attempted to make some sort of plan with me that evening, but I declined in advance, saying "Oh, that's the day of the Tour de Fat." And when they respond, confused, "But it gets over at 4:00" I have to explain that a person is quite incapable of doing anything of consequence after engaging in the Holy Trinity of Fun. Though, that evening, the group reconvened for a viewing of Ironman at the dollar theater.

More photos are available on my flickr photoset. Also, I would like to direct external parties to David's photos which are substantially better than mine.

Posted by jennifer at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ late sleeping ~

It's always really hard to get up on time on Monday. I'm sure you can all relate, but the prospect of getting out of bed so that I can spend the whole day at work is not very appealing. It's too bad that work can't begin with some awesome activity to facilitate the getting-out-of-bed. Weekends are totally different. This past Sunday, I had my alarm set for 7:00 a.m., and instead of hitting the snooze button over and over like I do on Mondays, I jumped out of bed and excitedly got ready for a bike ride. I hit the pedals by 7:45 and proceeded to do my Floating Feather Loop which is about 32 miles.

Incidentally, my Floating Feather Loop is one of my 'in town' favorites. It covers mostly flat roads, and I could see how someone might find it boring, but I enjoy spinning my legs and riding at a faster pace. Also, I find great joy in my cyclecomputer. I play different games with myself during a ride, for example, where I'll get going at a certain speed and try to maintain the speed for a certain distance, or I'll slow down and see how fast I can speed back up. I've also been working on my downhill skillz, and it's fun to climb one of the foothill neighborhood roads and then speed down. After which, I like to see what my top speed was. Anyway...

School will be starting soon. I'm taking two classes that I am rather excited about - - public land policy and state and local policy. The first, public lands, it should be evident that I am all about the public lands. And state & local, I've become more interested in local policy in recent years. Also, I have heard excellent things about the profs for these classes, which should be a nice refreshing change. I've started working through the readings and I do wish that we could skip the basic theory and dive into the topic. I realize that not everyone in the program has a political science BA, but still, we always spend the first few classes on basic theory refresher and I wish that (a) we didn't have to repeat curriculum, and (b) that basic theory be a prerequisite that if people don't get, they learn about on their own time.

In knitting knews, I have finished my Inishfern, which you may or may not recall my writing about previously. I don't have photos yet, but hopefully soon. This weekend, I had a bit of a button-fiasco - - my original plan for fastening the cardigan together was to employe hook & eye's, but quickly discovered that one should not use 'hooks' with a knitted fabric, especially one knitted at a looser guage. After throwing the hook & eye idea out the window, I had to consider buttons, and thus, buttonholes. Even though I claim to be of the anti-planning persuasion, I admit the utility of planning certain things in advance...for example, buttonholes. As I had not planned for buttonholes and the knitting on my Inishfern was complete, my options were to rip out the edging and rework with buttonholes or fashion buttonholes onto the already knitted edging. I opted for the lattter. By using my crochet hook and the rudimentary crochet skillz I learned from "the crochet edging" of my Nantucket Jacket, I clumsily crocheted some buttonholes for Inishfern. Amazingly, it worked out. Though, I have such little understanding of crochet that I don't even know what I'm looking at when I see it - - I always think to myself "Oh, that looks weird...it must be crochet" - - and so I am certain that my crochet buttonholes are really really bad crochet, but I have no idea. They are functional as buttonholes and they are rather invisible (handy, considering the bad crochet), so it works.

I also ripped out my garden scarf because the center cable panel was coming out particularly disjointed-looking and I hated it. Nothing worse than disjointed cables. I rewrote the cable chart to align with my sensibilities and began anew. I also added two more cable panels to the sides, as I decided that I wanted a wide scarf. These additional cable panels are of the celtic-style cabling, of which I am very fond. Also, bobbles! The yarn for this project I am not sure about. It is Ella Rae Bamboo Silk which I procured almost 50% off at a big yarn sale last weekend - - and just during the knitting process I am noticing a tendency for it to shed. Aside from that, it is quite glorious.

Posted by jennifer at 8:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ drawing the line ~

Last night, I watched the film Trekkies, something of a documentary about Star Trek conventions and fanatics. While I may have, at various points in my past, indicated that I was a 'trekkie' - - after viewing the film, I would like to formally recind that self-description. Some of you may be aware that there is currently a Star Trek convention taking place right at this very moment in Las Vegas - - some of you also may be aware that I was giving careful consideration to going, and that I had contacted the two people I know who may possibly have 'trekkie' sympathies to see if anyone would like to go to the convention with me. After all, I was feeling a bit odd about going to a Star Trek convention by myself - - which is why I also gave careful consideration to meeting someone's sister (who I have never met) in Las Vegas. This solo-vacation that I was thinking about taking would have been intended to coincide with visiting Star Trek: The Experience before it closes forever.

Interestingly, several weeks ago, I bumped into an acquaintance who asked me if I would dog-sit for her during this week in August. It was with joy that I was able to honestly say that I didn't think I would be available because I was planning on attending a Star Trek convention during the exact time of her vacation. Has that ever before been used as an excuse to get out of doing something???....after watching Trekkies, I believe it has.

Anyway, I've been deliberating whether to go to the convention over and over in my head, and my inability to make a decision on the matter proved to make the decision for me...as the convention is currently in progress and I am not there. But, after seeing that film last night, I feel as though it enabled me to vicariously experience the convention without having to actually go and spend the moolah. And, I feel satiated with my vicarious convention experience.

If you haven't seen the film, it provides a glimpse into the convention experience and follows several really odd crazy Star Trek fans. For me, it was embarrassing and painful to watch. There was the lady who insists that she is a real Star Trek Commander and doesn't acknowledge anything said to her unless people call her "Commander" and she doesn't go anywhere without her toy communicator, phaser, and tricorder. Then there's the lady who was disturbingly obsessed with Brent Spiner, and every moment of the film with her made me feel really uncomfortable. Oh, and the crazy libertarian commando female who's obsession with Star Trek came out of an obsession with Conan the Barbarian and homemade armor. The dentist and is family who surround their professional dental practice in all things Star Trek and who have become so accustomed to wearing their Star Trek uniforms all of the time (they even force their children to wear the uniforms) that they seem to have no clue why that is odd. The other guy who wears his Star Trek uniform at all times and who, if he had the money, would get plastic surgery to have pointed Vulcan ears, because he feels much more like a Vulcan than a human. The guy whose house is completely filled with Star Trek items and whose life goal is to build a shelf to display his glory. The guy who spends all of his free time trying to build the various gadgets from Star Trek and goes to Radio Shak to talk to the 'experts' about what components would work well for a Romulan cloaking device. ...Of course, my favorite was the male teenager whose obsession with Star Trek is simply behind explanation. And this is not to mention the sheer quantity of money that the fans spend on their obsession - - there was a scene of an auction and someone bought a Klingon forehead piece for $1,400, which I thought was utter craziness. These people, none of them appeared to be at all affluent, yet they seemed to be spending their entire livelihood on Star Trek junk. Not that I am anyone to judge, but SERIOUSLY...

So, after viewing the film, I have decided that I am undoubtedly not a trekkie in any shape or form. I enjoy watching the program, but the fanaticism...yeah, no. In conclusion, I would like to say that I greatly enjoyed Wil Wheaton's account of some convention details. I will enjoy from afar, very very afar.

Posted by jennifer at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

~ rashes and lots of fun ~

I had a mostly perfect weekend. Here's a detailed synopsis of the mostly perfection...

On Friday, right after I got off work, Josh and Jennifer did some hill climbs on our road bikes. We rode up to the Crestline Ridge area and I got to practice going fast in my drop bars. I also saw my Dad's motorcycle up there and I spent a bit of time wondering where the Dad was, but I now believe that it was my uncle who had taken the motorcycle, as I have seen him wandering around up there on previous occasions. At any rate, it was a decent 'quickie' bike ride.

We had just enough time to shower and get our booties on over to a birthday party. Per my usual, I didn't bother to confirm the location of the party before leaving, and so I took advantage of my cellular phone to contact Elizabeth about where I ought to have been going. I hypothesize that Joshua really loves this aspect of my personality. What is nice is the non-judgementalness that I receive from Elizabeth when I contact her because I was irresponsible - - Elizabeth herself had not actually looked at the location of the party and had to get online and look it up - - so we both benefitted from my irresponsibleness. Anyway, I had a really good time at the party. Josh and I brought ingredients for calimotxos, and I took the opportunity to sit back and enjoy several. There was homemade guacamole and salsa available, and so I actually hung out right next to the food table for the duration of the party. Fortunately, most everyone that I was interested in talking to were also interested in standing adjacent to the food table. It worked out quite well - - the talking and the eating. Later, they brought out entree-style food items - - such as grilled fish and enchilladas with mole sauce (Laura and Tom made the mole and it was very yummy). Beyond the mole, I'm not entirely certain of who made what, but it was all delicious. I spent some time over by the grill area in awe of the cooking action - - they had two or three grills fired up and were doing all kinds of exciting things with dutch ovens. The experience really made me want a backyard of my very own.

On Saturday, I got up early to plan out the cable action on one of my current knitting projects. For some time, I've been wanting to make a modernly fashionable fisherman guernsey-style of sweater. I've taken a cotton/angora blend of yarn that I harvested from a $2.50 thrift store sweater and am fashioning it into something that I am calling "Inishfern" - - a nod to Alice Starmore. Though, I am hesitant to associate my Inishfern with the term guernsey or with Starmore, for fear of offending the traditionalists. I plan for Inishfern to be the polar opposite of traditional. The construction is Barbara Walker's top down raglan cardigan and I'm just at about the bustal region. I'm very pleased with how this project is coming along.

In another knitting digression, yesterday I harvested an XXXL sized thrift store sweater for a lovely cotton/wool blend of yarn. It is a fantastic red color and is the same weight as the cotton/angora for Inishfern, so I'm plotting a two-color ribbing with this new yarn. /end knitting digressions.

Back to Saturday morning...

Josh and I took advantage of the morning coolness to venture out on a road ride. We did the "Jennifer Loop" - - which is also known as the "Floating Feather Loop" - - a pleasant 32 miles. The ride's goal was to work on cadence. Josh and I would take turns leading - - during the higher cadence intervals, depending on the road's grade, I was leading us at 19-24 mph which I felt good about. We both consumed about four Gu's throughout the ride and I never felt overheated (thank you, windchill factor!) - - though, at one point when we were stopped at a traffic light, I was aware the it was pretty hot. I ended the ride feeling very healthy and physically fit. It was a great ride.

That afternoon, we wandered downtown and spectatored at the Twilight Criterium. There is a new course this year and I found it more pleasant for spectators than the previous course. We found a nice grassy knoll upon which to relax. We saw a bit of the kids race, which is always super entertaining. Then we saw the "4s and 5s" race - - several of Josh's coworkers and ex-coworkers were in this race and it was interesting watching them.

After that race, we took a bit of a siesta and splashed around in the pool where Josh lives. I have since developed a horrible rash either from an allergic reaction to the chlorine or to a fungus on the pool lounging chair. Either way, the vast majority of my person itches so badly that I want to scratch it off and I'm not finding my anti-itch cream very soothing. I am also treating a mild case of athlete's foot which is adding to the overal itchiness of my present.

After the siesta, we returned downtown to watch the men's pro race. I had wanted to see the women's pro race, but time did not allow for this. By the time that we returned, there were a lot of other spectators and we found a variety of locations from which to spectate. The final location was atop a parking garage which offered a good view of an exciting turn in the course as well as the finish line. Personally, I found the beginning of the race more interesting than the end - - as there was a three-person breakaway right at the beginning which was able to 'lap' the peloton in about five laps. In this breakaway, there were two Toyota-United racers, and the rest of that team got to the front of the peloton to slow it down (possibly facilitating the breakaway's 'lapping' of the peloton). After the race, we went to Gernika for some wine and beer.

My Sunday was also nice. Well, sorta nice. It was god-aweful hot and I spent the majority of the day feeling overheated and sluggish. Sundays are also my 'errand-days' so I spent most of the day on errands. But I rather enjoy doing errands - - makes me feel like a grown-up. One of my errands included going to a hardware store to buy some clamps. Now, finding what I am looking for at a hardware store is not my forte, and I was unable to locate a customer service representative, so I spent a good amount of time wandering around. Once I found the clamp section, I stood in front of them, pondering my MANY options, for some time. In case you are wondering, I needed a clamp for my new knitting yarn swift, as the clamp it was manufactured with is insufficent for my clamping requirements. I located an affordable clamp, purchased two just in case, and have since been successful at using my swift with a greatly improved camp system.

Posted by jennifer at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ off topic ~

I overslept this morning. This, after (re)commiting to a morning workout routine involving squats. Resolving to perform squats in the morning, every morning, after not doing a single squat since you were in capoiera five years ago, can be a somewhat traumatizing experience. Even if you think that your legs are strong and fit and in-shape, squats will make them really hurt and will make you have great difficulty walking with ease. So, this morning when my alarm woke me for my morning workout, I opted for the snooze button. I overslept significantly, prepared some scrambled eggs, and hobbled to the coffee shop.

Incidentally, I make fantastic scrambled eggs.

In the way of food preparation, I've been making some delicious items. Last week, I made this pinapple-mustard glaze which was WONDERFUL. Initially, I made it for a seared ahi tuna steak, but found that I made a sufficient amount of glaze to continue to use with multiple food items. Josh had the opportunity to enjoy it with some free range chicken. I still have about two cups worth that I'm plotting to use somehow this week. This weekend, I made a mushroom-apple curry over basmati rice, which was a tastey summer meal. Josh enjoyed multiple servings. For dessert, I made a peach pie, which I continue to enjoy at the end of the day, over an episode of Voyager.

In knitting knews, I've become greatly irritated by the price of natural fiber yarn. I will spare you the titillating details behind this, but would like to direct your attention to my new plot (which is new to me, not new to the world) of recycling used sweaters from thrift stores for the yarn. Over the weekend, I purchased three sweaters of various natural fibers for about $3 each at a thrift store. I have been perusing a number of online tutorials, such as this one to guide me in this process. And I am about to begin. Several tutorials mentioned washing the yarn AFTER it is unravelled, but I greatly loathe the chemically-perfume they spritz over thrift store sweaters, so I chose to wash the sweaters first. They are currently drying and I estimate that tonight or tomorrow I will be able to begin taking them apart. Which is very exciting. As a result of my tendency to go totally bananas at the oddest intervals, I even purchased a yarn winder and swift (which was something of an investment) because, even though I've never done this before, I've decided that recycling used sweaters for yarn is something that I will be doing for the duration of my existence, so I'm really SAVING money by investing in expensive tools. See how that works? Anyway, it should be arriving in the mail today. Which is exciting. And because of my love of online shopping, I couldn't stop there! While I was at the whole 'yarn winder and swift purchasing', I decided to throw in a copy of Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top which I figure I must have if I am to call myself a knitter.

So, I've got loads of stories to share about all of the fun I've been having. Bike rides, a pool party, hiking...but I'm not feeling it right at this very moment. Sorry to disappoint, maybe later.

Posted by jennifer at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ summer thunder ~

Been battling a bronchial infection for a little over a week and, boy, am I tired of coughing and not having maximum lung capacity! Boo, bronchitis, boo. Sickness, for me, always seems to come with a bout of angst and depression, which I do not particularly enjoy. I'm also beginning to feel badly for the female with whom I share a wall, as I have been launching into rather violent coughing fits throughout the night - - and, as a result of a previous tenant who had babies in that apartment (who would scream and cry ALL NIGHT LONG - - the babies, not the tenant), I am well aware of how thin our shared wall is.

But I've got good news for you! Grades have come out, and I do not have to retake my horrific budgeting class. Woo! I loathed, despised, and absolutely hated that class so much that I had become rather anxious that I would have to retake it. Which was a totally dumb thing to worry about, after all, I tend to be a rather exemplary student...still. I surmise that I would have dropped out of the program rather than retake budgeting, were it to come down to it.

In other news, you are probably all aware of how 'behind the times' I am when it comes to popular culture. A general rule of thumb is that if something has come and gone, and people have totally forgotten about it, I will then 'discover' and get excited about it. On this, I could point to a number of examples, but I am confident in your mental abilities to have comprehended that which I have articulated, and so I will cease with my overly-verbose preface and will commence with the 'meat' of the matter.

A television program known as Star Trek: Enterprise which was cancelled five years ago "for poor ratings" has just made it onto my "What Jennifer Thinks Is Awesome NOW" list. Indeed, I watched my very first episode last week and, seriously people, this program is cutting edge entertainment. At first, I had a difficult time with the Scott Bakula aspect, but he's really grown on me. Also, the program has this rather motivational theme song about having faith in oneself and how you're not going to let anyone hold you back anymore, while showing visuals of humans first going into space, the landing on the moon, etc., and it gets me all choked up and teary-eyed. In addition, during the first episode, there was this completely random scene where two of the characters took off the majority of their clothing and smeared cream all over each other's bodies. I have since learned that this scene, which I felt had no relevance to the episode, is a regular feature of the program. And so I ask you, "Am I opposed to attractive people with little clothing smearing cream all over each other?" Certainly not. Of course, the primary entertainment value of the program is not the gratuitous teaser scenes, but rather the adventurous space-exploring stories.

This past weekend was a federal holiday which I celebrated by not going to work. Yay, holidays. It was VERY nice to have a three day weekend. I have been working way too much lately. Last week was almost a 60 hour work week for me and I was really exhausted from it. As I reflect back upon the weekend, there is not one particular activity that jumps out at me. I know that I did stuff, I know that I enjoyed myself, but I primarily remember the not-working aspect of the weekend. Since I am not someone who finds an incredible amount of fulfillment from working, I do not like it when I work more than I live. Of course, back to the bronchial infection and the angst and depression that have followed, I had to restrain myself a little when I began to envision quitting my job and moving to the Bahamas.

Posted by jennifer at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

~ hot weekend ~

Temperatures soared into the 90's this HOT weekend. I am now making the transition to always carrying sunscreen with me and am developing my annual summertime flip-flip calluses.

For all of you fashion-conscious, Josh has started wearing fantastic lavendar v-neck t-shirts in soft cotton. I think that he looks great in lavendar. The color goes well with his skin tone and hair, and it's a great color going into the summertime months.

In the way of mountain biking...On Friday, I was able to get off work a bit early and we went on a mounain bike ride in the hot heat. My face became very red and my head felt like it was cooking on the inside. As a result, it was decided that now's the time to start up the morning bike rides to avoid the heat.

Thus, on Sunday we met up at 8:30 and rode Hard Guy. Hard Guy is one of those higher trails which I have never seen that many other people enjoy. I think in all of the times I have ridden it, I have never seen more than five other people on the trail during a ride. On Sunday, I was floored by how many other bikers there were. For one, there appeared to be a big group ride of dudes grunting up the trail. But there were also just loads of other mountain bikers. And a few dudes on singlespeeds, which I thought was crazy. Anyhoo, it was great that we headed out on our ride so early, because we were able to beat the heat. I wish that I knew what the elevation was that we climbed. At the top, there was a significant temperature decrease as well as snow. Considering that I have not been doing all that much riding, I am not exactly in Hard Guy shape and I was exerting an extraordinary amount of energy trying to grunt to the top and I had to take more breaks than I normally do. In fact, for the rest of the day, I felt pretty exhausted and beat up from the ride. That said, boy, did I have the most amazing fun on the bonzai downhill! I would like to take a few minutes to go on and on about how much fun I had on the downhill, but there are no words to describe even the rush in my gut that I feel just remembering the fun.

After the ride, we enjoyed a morning coffee experience and I partook of some extensive knitting, without a care in the world. I am on the last stages of two knitting projects that I am very excited about. Photos coming soon!

Later in the afternoon, Josh and I went to the Botanical Gardens out by the Old Penitentary where they were having some "Museum Fair" which was free to the public (always nice!) and had exhibits from all of the different museums. These photos on this post are from that experience at the Gardens. It was a lovely afternoon. The flowers were so pretty and fragrant and I felt very relaxed. We also took a few minutes to explore the Old Prison a bit. More photos are on my flickr deal, as usual. After we left the Gardens, we went for dinner and some beers (ahh!...nothing is better than a cold beer on a hot day!) and then played smashmitten in one of my neighborhood parks.

On Saturday, I spent the day getting my life back together. I've been so busy lately, as I've mentioned on more than one occasion, that my life has fallen into complete disarray. It really took me the entire day to put everything back together - - just so much to do!

Posted by jennifer at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ spaetzle ~

Oh, how glorious that it is Wednesday! Last night was officially my last class for the semester. I've been hauling all kinds of bottom trying to finish up my final project, which culminated in a presentation last night. As you all know, I absolutely love public speaking. Me, getting up in front of people, explaining my budget trend analysis of a public agency, talk about a fun time! Yea... Those of you who are not in school, you probably enjoy that aspect of your existence. Those of us who are, what suckers!

This is where I've been spending a lot of time recently. On my computer screen is the concluding slide to my PowerPoint. It reads, "Confidence...in the trend line presupposes confidence in the data." For some time, I have bombarded many of the humans in my life with tales of frustration in my data collection process. Indeed, for two of the years I was analyzing, the data was incomplete and inconsistent. Unfortunately, I did not articulate my data collection frustration to all of the humans in my life, otherwise I could have unearthed the reason and the solution much sooner. On Monday, the day before my project was due, I chose to tell my boss these frustrations, and I discovered that she used to have a connection to the public agency. It was then that I learned of the crazy misuse of public funds scandal that happened during the time frame with inaccurate data. gar! I can't begin to say how many hours I wasted trying to make sense of the budget documents from this era, when there is no sense to be made of them. At any rate, my project is done, my presentation is done (and it went very well, in fact), and I am free to enjoy life again.

Sometime after 9pm last night when I arrived home from class, I cracked open a yummy beer and went bananas making "Wolfgang's Beef Goulash." For some time, as a result of school, I have been neglecting aspects of my personal life. Food is one of them, and boy, do I love me the food! As anyone who has sampled my cooking knows, I am not exactly a gourmet. Josh deserves accolades, not only for his stomach of steel but for his good manners in saying, "Yum" whenever I force him to eat something I made. I must say, I really enjoy the process of cooking even if the end result is questionable...and now that I am reminded, let us take a little stroll down memory lane...

...When my sister and I were kids, one play activity that we regularly engaged at our Grandma's house was 'play cooking.' Doing this, we made a huge mess in the kitchen, pulling out pots and pans and cooking up some horrendous concoction of spices. Thinking back, I have a difficult time understanding why we were allowed to do this. This tradition of improvised cooking remains with me today, as I continue to defy the limits placed on me by recipes.

This is what Josh has to look forward to next. On the right, my first attempt at spaetzle, cute little dumpling-type thingies. Amazingly, I followed the recipe... almost. I had a bit of difficulty following the process to transform the spaetzle goo into dumpling things. I made a ginormous mess, splattered spaetzle goo everywhere, and it was a big freak-show. Out of desperation, I whipped out the potato masher and made do with that. On the right, the goulash with no modifications! At 11:00, the concoction was done and I sat down to enjoy my diner. Yu-MMY!

This is my sad, neglected yarn and knitting projects stash. I am so excited to delve back into this, full force! I've got several projects I'm working on, and several that I've a hankering to begin. I must say, Raverly is distracting me to no end. Recently, I discovered a network to buy and sell out of print books and magazines. I guess it's no different than ebay, but still. What glory! A few days ago, I negotiated my purchase (for $5.00) of an out of print issue of Interweave Knits that I have been lusting after for some time. I am really excited about this.

In mountain biking news, I continue to be an accomplisher! Over the weekend, Josh and I rode the Corrals loop. There were a couple of parts to the loop that I had developed some kind of horrible fear last year when I was crashing all the time. It's crazy how fear can completely distort reality. There's one section coming down Trail 4 where it's particularly choppy and sandy. Even though I've never had a problem riding it, the fear I had built up about crashing caused me to feel irrationally terrified of certain sections of trail, and this one choppy section of Trail 4 I had built up in my mind as being a total death trap. So, riding this loop and coming down Trail 4, I just had to do so that I can eliminate all of the bad feelings that I developed last year. Successfully riding Trail 4 without being terrified was the last mental hurdle in the process. So, on the ride this weekend, as I started my descent down Trail 4, I kept telling myself, "You can do this, you can do this" and taking deep breaths. I was expecting for my knees to get all wobbly on the scary part. But as I started riding the choppy section, the knees never got wobbly. And there was nothing, NOTHING scary about it. I had a great ride.

Posted by jennifer at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Spring Walking ~

This past weekend was quite lovely. On Friday, I had the opportunity to get off work early, and so I forced Joshua to go on a mountain bike ride with me. The purpose of the ride was simply to "mix it up" and ride on whatever trails we fancied. Josh led us through some of the lower Reserve area trails that we don't ride very often, up the switchback trail to Bucks, and up Shane's "backwards." We also rode up Three Bears a bit. I led the way down, taking us on a trail that I've only been on once - - a trail which had a very steep grunt uphill that allowed me to demonstrate to Josh the quick transition from hike-a-bike to jumping-back-on-the-bike that I employed during my race a month ago. After the downhill, we rode a loop of Buck's. I had an incredibly wonderful time on that particular ride. It felt so good and was so much fun.

On Saturday, we did another bike ride. Josh led us through some of the trails off Camel's Back that I've never been on before. On these, I was very proud of myself for not getting freaked out by the drop off right next to my tires. I've decided that this year, I'm going to work dilligently to not be afraid of the drop offs. I've also decided to challenge myself to ride things that I might feel inclined to hesitate on. So, in that vein, I proposed that Josh and I ride this one section of trail off of Red Sands that I tried over and over and over to ride last year, but was way too freaked out by how steeply it plummets down. Also, the downhill bit begins with a tight downward sweeping turn to the right, with the trail sloping off to the left, which combined with the steepness, makes it understandable why a person might prefer to not ride down it. The trail, however, is not all that dissimilar to a section of the Barking Spider course which I recently conquered, and so I decided that I was going to ride it. Not hesitate, unclip, and fall over to the side once I approach the downhill and see how steep it is, but ride it. As we were grunting up Red Sands before that section of trail, I was reminding myself of how terrified I was of the steep bit on Barking Spider, and how now that I've ridden it, it's no big deal - - and is lots of fun. As I came around the tight downhill swooping turn, I resisted all my urges to unclip from my pedals and bail, I kept my hands on my handlebars, and just rode it. And it was great! I rode it pretty slowly, but I had to move my butt way off the end of the saddle to to back of the bike, to keep my weight off the front of the bike. Josh exclaimed more than once that it was the steepest thing I've ever ridden, and I felt like quite the accomplisher. After that, we rode Freeway and came down Hulls. I had a blast. Then we went for beers.

Yesterday, I had to get up at 4:00 a.m. to drive to Twin Falls for work. blech. Normally, it takes 2.5 hours to drive there, but as it was so early in the morning, there was absolutely no traffic and I made it in an hour 45. So, I was very early to my thing. My thing lasted all day and I worked hard for my money. Then I drove back to Boise. The traffic was horrendous and it took me 2.5 hours. By the time that I arrived at my apartment, I was totally exhausted. I fell directly onto my bed with my shoes and my jacket still on, and just laid there for an hour. Then I got up, around 8pm and walked myself downtown for a bite to eat. Once I left my apartment, I was awe-struck by how beautiful the light was on the spring-time tree blossoms. I walked one blocks and decided that it was absolutely necessary for me to turn around to get my camera. In the few minutes that it took me to walk the block to my apartment and get my camera, the light had already become less glorious. I was able to snap these lovely photos of the tree blossoms, but by the time that I had returned, the perfect light had gone behind the buildings, and I had missed them when they were at their peak gloriousness. ...sigh. I took myself to a nearby restaurant where I enjoyed a bowl of amazing clam chowder and a salad, and sat there for a time reading my book. It was very enjoyable and relaxing. Then I walked around by the river for about an hour before returning home.

Posted by jennifer at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ planning a trip ~

Not to be a negative nelly, but it's easy to lose the motivation for blogging when I get no love for my amazing posts. Honestly, people, where's the love?!?

What's news in my world?

Some of you may know about Josh's major dental procedure last week. Poor guy, hasn't been feeling well (for various reasons) for almost a month, and he tops it off with teeth extractions and a root canal. *shudder* At any rate, we've been watching a lot of movies lately. Last week we saw Forbidden Kingdom which I would not recommend, mainly because of the awkward teenager cast to play the awkward teenager. blech. Then we saw Jumper at the dollar theater which was decently entertaining but I would not necessarily give a thumbs up.

In the way of school, praise the little baby jesus that this semester's almost over. I've been spending some time at the library working on a final project which I couldn't care less about. This entire semester has been a complete waste of time and I could be bitter about the BS that I've subjected myself to, but instead I've decided to abandon all feeling on the matter and just get through it.

Since you all have expressed such an abundance of interest in my knitting projects, my update there is that I'm almost finished with another project. I've been a busy bee working on something that I'm hoping to get a lot of use from this summer. I'd tell you all what it is, but I think I'll keep you on pins and needles of anticipation before unveiling my amazing creation.

In the way of cycling activities, they have been taking place mostly at the gym instead of outside. The weather has not been cooperating in the way that I would like it, so poop on that! This weekend, I did go on a lovely mountain bike ride and enjoyed the wind in my face and my heart racing. I found myself musing once again at how much I like my new bike, and what a perfect fit for me it is. I've been looking at the schedules for upcoming mountain bike races pretty regularly, trying to decide which one to enter next.

As you all know, my birthday is coming up in about a month and I've decided to take myself on a trip to celebrate. What's mildly amusing is that, because plane ticket prices are a little on the expensive end these days, I've been doing an extensive search of ticket prices to various cities in the region. Yesterday, during my daily internet browsing, I discovered that Dooce will give a reading of her book in Salt Lake City on my birthday! And for a moment, I actually considered going down there for the reading and to get a signed copy of the book. Obviously, I discarded that thought almost before I had it - - after all, toasting one's birthday should involve celebratory libations, which is facilitated by being somewhere that does not have odd liquor laws. As of this writing, I'm pretty close to confirming my plane ticket and hotel. The purpose of the trip is not so much a 'vacation' but rather to live it up and have a crap ton of fun. I'm hoping to spend my trip walking around, having good coffee, shopping, hiking, going to musical concerts, dipping my toes in the ocean, and eating seafood.

Posted by jennifer at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

~ iron loaf ~

One of the many virtues of the internet is its facilitation for an individual (someone with absolutely no medical training or expertise) to engage in self-diagnosis of one illness or another. Such was the case this weekend, when I diagnosed myself with anemia, though it's possible that I simply was pooped after my bike race. At any rate, I had been feeling fine and good until about last Thursday when I suddenly, and rather inexplicably, bonked. It was so bad that I actually had to take off Friday afternoon from work - - my symptoms included total loss of appetite (which for me means that something must be REALLY wrong) and extreme fatigue and lethargy (not just, "oh, I don't have a lot of energy," but "oh lord, just sitting here doing nothing is so taxing that I think I may have to fall onto the floor because it's not possible for me to hold up my own weight"). It pretty much ruined my entire weekend because even though the sun was shining and I was spending the time relaxing and doing things that would normally give me a lot of joy (ie, having coffee and treats with Josh, watching a movie, and knitting), there was no joy in mudville because all of these activities involved me sitting in an upright position, and I didn't have the strength for sitting.

At sometime during Saturday afternoon, I diagnosed myself with anemia and determined that the best treatment regimen would be to eat a lot of red meat. For dinner, I had a large portion of grass fed organic beef and it seemed to be exactly what the "doctor" ordered (at least, despite having no appetite, I was able to wolf it down).

My main difficulty with meat, however, is that I don't know much about how to cook it. Growing up, my exposure to meat was enough to make me give up eating it altogether. Not only did I not approve of the American Meat Industry, but it was always prepared in a manner that either tasted flavorless or really grossed me out. Since being adult enough to prepare my own meals, I have relied heavily on the Moosewood style of vegetarian cooking. Yum! In the past few years, however, I have slowly rediscovered my carnivorous side - - not only for nutrition but also for taste, and have begun pumping my dollars into the local organic ranchers. The only problem with becoming a carnivore (or rather, an omnivore) after years of vegetarianism is that my plethora of vegetarian cookbooks offer no insight into the preparation of meat. Hence, there have been disappointments.

On Saturday, the process of wolfing down a large quantity of red meat took place at Josh's residence while watching an action film. When I arrived, Josh and Eric were enjoying Iron Chef, which I proceeded to enjoy with them while the food was cooking. And, like so many before me, I found it inspiring. And so, I decided right then and there that it was high time for me to develop some meat-preparation skillz. The timing was ripe, as I happened to have a gift card to the ginormous book store, to which I took my person on Sunday to select my very first non-vegetarian cookbook. I spent over an hour on Sunday spilling over cookbooks and I finally chose this one because it contained recipes for meat, meat, poultry, seafood, and more meat. And, it has lots of photos! I've always wanted to be a good person and feel satisfied by all of my veggie cookbooks that are completely devoid of photos, but at the end of the day, I'm a visual person and photos of amazing looking dishes inspire me to make those dishes.

I don't know if this hunk-o-meat looks appetizing to anyone, but it resembles the photo remarkably well! I'm calling it "Iron Loaf" - - not only because it's an Iron Chef recipe, but also because it's full of iron (which is essential for someone like me, suffering from anemia!). I made two modifications to the recipe: (1) utilized buffalo instead of beef, and (2) subsituted brie for one of the cheeses that I was unable to find at any of the three stores that I went to. Yet, this is unlike any meatloaf I have ever before sampled. It contains the following ingredients: buffalo, pork, eggs, bread crumbs, rosemary, salt, pepper, spinach, carrots, brie, romano, and prosciutto. It is delicious! And, as I can attest right at this very moment, it reheats very well.

Incidentally, I woke up this morning with my anemia completely cured! I was able to get up on time, I feel awake and energized - - I feel absolutely wonderful, in fact. Someone had actually suggested that, rather than suffering from anemia, I was suffering from post-bike race bonk. This person, a runner racer, said that the post-race bonk usually hits six days after the race. Whatever it was, it's gone and my Iron Loaf leftovers are great.

Posted by jennifer at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ I can't believe it's March! ~

At present, the most notworthy piece of information that I feel compelled to share with the internet is the fact that last Friday, February 29th, arguably in the winter, I went on the first mountain bike ride of the year. The trails were sufficiently dry and firm and I had a SPLENDID time. I anticipate that this is going to be a GLORIOUS year for cycling! Of note, is that I sucessfully rode a technical obstacle of the trail which I have never before been able to ride. Go me. I was very proud of that accomplishment. In addition, I have decided to establish for myself the goal of completing at least one mountain biking race this year.

In other biking news, this past weekend was the Boise Bike Swap and I was able to sell an old carbon fiber Trek that has been taking up a lot of space in my studio apartment. After all, three bikes in a studio apartment is much more reasonable than FOUR. My new new mountain bike, you know, this one, (as opposed to this one which sent me to the Emergency Room) also received a nice upgrade with Josh's Chris King wheel set, which has SIGNIFICANTLY reduced the weight of the bike. Unfortunately, as I got the bike rather late in the season last year, it's shamefully clean and spotless, virtually devoid of mud. I'm hoping to get it all nice and dirty soon, and am hoping that it will continue to be dirty for much of the year, no matter how many times I hose it off.

In the way of knitting, I am severely frustrated because I did an extremely crappy job of blocking my Neaty cardigan. And so, even though it came off the needles looking spectacular, I now can't stand it. At present, it is drying on my floor after my second attempt at blocking...hopefully I will be able to reverse the disaster that it became. This process has awakened a desire within me to utilize profane language. Sheesh! Gar! Nuts!

Last night, after spending a number of hours writing a paper, I decided I needed a break and Josh and I went off to Bittercreek to enjoy some beers, share a hummus plate, and play several rounds of Boggle. Josh was winning for the majority of the time, but then I attained several high-scoring words, which placed us 'neck and neck' for points. In the final, tie-breaking round, I achieved victory! and then went home and went to bed. The end.

Posted by jennifer at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ and one more thing ~

Somehow, way back in March, my employment status had been reduced two levels without my or my supervisors' notice. This resulted in me paying about $40 more in health benefits every month since. When I finally realized that this had happened, it took another month before it was fixed in the human resources' system. So, my paycheck last week had an extra $230 on it, which was quite lovely. Rather than investing the money in my savings account, I decided to blow it on a shopping trip (see below post, re: purse). In all honesty, I haven't been shopping in some time, and because I have been extraordinarily responsible with my pennies and dimes these days, I decided that I deserved a treat. I purchased a purse (which I so succintly describe every detail of the experience below), a few shirts, AND! some wonderful cycling gear.

I've had another pair of cycling shorts on my list of things to buy for some time. My current favorite shorts are beginning to get a bit worn out, by which I mean that they are becoming see-through, which isn't so awesome on skin-tight spandex shorts. I've got some other shorts, but the chamoise aren't as good and my female areas get cranky in them. Also, I've had a dream for a new lightweight jersey for some time. The other day, I was having beers at Lucky 13 where all of the cyclists go for beer after their rides, and I saw a female who had a fantastic looking tank top-style jersey on, and I decided that I wanted one just like hers. So, yesterday I spent a great deal of time trying on every article of women's cycling clothing at the bike shop and finally decided on these:

The SheBeest Sultry Summer Tank in black. The jersey was a big decision. It was between the SheBeest and the Specialized Women's Dolce Tank. I found that the material on the Specialized was so wonderful and absolutely perfect, but the jersey had a ridiculously small pocket which would not have worked for me because I have to carry around all kinds of crap with me on rides. Also, when I first tried on the SheBeest jersey in orange, I was so weirded out by how visible the incorporated bra system was and decided that it would not be appropriate to wear in public. But the SheBeest one had a good pocket in the back and it fit better than the Specialized. This proved to be quite the dilemma until I located a SheBeast jersey in black, and in that color the bra system was not at all visible.

For the shorts, I went into the bike shop with the intention to get another pair of my favorite shorts, the Specialized Comp Shorts. This was a nice intention, except for that it failed to take into account the fact that the shop did not have my size in stock. I considered purchasing the lower-end version of the shorts, but in my experience I have found that going lower end on something that is supposed to protect the health and safety of one's female area is not something that one should do. As you may imagine, I was completely obsessed with this and I tried on almost every single pair of shorts available. Finally, after alot of hard thinking and consultation with a sales person, I decided to go with a pair of Adidas adiStar shorts. Browsing the Adidas website trying to find the exact pair of shorts I purchased was a horrid experience, so we'll have to make do with that Amazon link that has a drawing of the shorts instead of a photo. Anyway, the shorts are grey, which I feel is rather unusual, and they match well with the back jersey which has a grey curve/stripe. And the chamoise seems like it might be even better than the one in my favorite pair, so very awesome.

Last night, I took both Josh and my new outfit on a bike ride and it was a splendid experience. I am still only doing flat and mild rides because of the knee, but I'm back to riding at close-to-normal speeds. We did an hour last night and I had a wonderful time. I would have liked to go for longer, but we didn't manage to start the ride until 8:20 and there was barely an hour's worth of light by that time.

Isn't that interesting?!

Posted by jennifer at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ September 2nd - 4th !!! a long weekend ~

Josh and I have taken up smoking. Or, we might as well, considering the air quality. I have avoided going outside to do such things like mountain biking, which inclines me to inhale and exhale heavily. I am prone to inactivity depression so I've decided to screw my lungs and go outside to have some fun. On Saturday, Josh and I drove up to Bogus to do some mountain biking. We thought that we might be able to get above the smoke, but the air seemed much more toxic. The trail we found was a lot of fun. It started out with a series of tight switchbacks and then turned into a woodland rollercoastery fast riding experience. After a time, we caught up with Ridge Road and rode up and up. It was a this point when I was paricularly aware of the fact that I might as well have been smoking, the air was burning my lungs so. After riding up and up, we connected with the Mores Mountain Trail, which is a trail that I rode fairly early in my mountain biking career with Josh and Eric. It was beautiful. We snapped a few photographs of the experience, but I look ugly in them, so I will not be posting those photos onto the internet.

That evening, we went to the Stagecoach Theater to see a play called "Pizza Man". The theater is located in the Hillcrest Shopping Mall, which is one of those malls that had some action during the late '80's and early '90's but now everything has closed, and it's full of vacant shops and dust. The Hillcrest mall used to be home to a certain dollar theater that, upon getting my driver's liscense, my sister and I saw many dollar movies at. The mall is also home to one "Mike's Diner" which is a piece of Jennifer history: having gone there since I was very young, regularly with my grandma and sister. Mike's is the only vestige of the olden days that is still in existence. Before the play, Josh and I went to Mike's (which I haven't been to for about ten years), for dinner. Talk about a blast from the past. The place has not changed one bit.

The play was entertaining. It was somewhat sick and twisted, as it was a "comedy about rape" but there were some redeeming qualities. What I was most entertained by, however, were the inadvertent features of the production. For example, one of the actors had a particularly cute face and she was always making the cutest entertaining expressions. I could have sat there for an hour being totally entertained by her cuteness. Also, at some point, one of the actors had a humorous wardrobe malfunction that none of the actors noticed which looked quite silly. Additionally, it was interesting when the male in the play made his entrance and he was some guy I went to high school with. The play was about how he was going to be raped by these two distraught females, and it was strange for me to see this person I knew as a totally nerdy dorky shy guy in high school, being taken advantage of on stage.

On Sunday, I persuaded Josh to take me on the "Dump Loop." The Dump Loop has been this mysterious road biking loop which I have wanted to ride ever since I first got my road bike, but Josh has made a big point of instilling in me the fear of God with regard to this ride that I have felt sheepish about trying it. Yet again, I was reminded of Josh's proclivity towards exaggeration when he convinces me of the insurmountability of a particular bike ride. The loop was great. Josh and I rode with great speed out Hill Road and connected with the turnoff to "the Dump". We rode up and over the overpass dealie, down through Hidden Springs, and around Dry Creek Road. Part of what is supposed to be so incredibly difficult about this ride is a climb called "The Wall". There is a female at work who is a passionate cyclist and one day she was telling me about "The Dump Loop" and she said that the first time she rode "the Wall" that she almost cried. This female appears to be no faint-of-heart cyclist, so I gathered that this really is a challenging hill. As we approached "the Wall", Josh was providing me with all kinds of tips, such as keeping my speed up to avoid tipping over (it is apparently "that" steep). I literally gasped when we came around the bend and I beheld "the Wall" in front of me. Imagine, if you will, a wall roughly 100 feet high with the length around 800 feet. It was by no means a long climb, but the steepness was crazy. As we approached, I got into my climbing zone and focused my eyes on the road right in front of me. I refused to look far enough ahead of me so that I could tell how steep the road was or how much farther I had to ride to get over it, as those tend to be self-defeating activities on challenging climbs. I was breathing very hard and was well into the red zone. Then I realized that I had made it to the top and didn't feel that it was all that bad. I then proceeded to brag about how it wasn't all THAT hard and how everyone has been exaggerating their descriptions of the wall.

That evening, we had drinks and shared a plate of food at Bittercreek. Josh was an active listener while I decribed my strategy towards magazines in depth. Later, he said that I was beautiful and I responded that we are human. It was one of those silly moments in which we were talking about totally different things.

Today, the plan is to enjoy some Labor Day sales and ride our road bikes up Bogus.

Posted by jennifer at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ On Matching...or, At 26, I Still Cannot Dress Myself ~

An excuse that I find myself articulating on a rather frequent basis points to the fact that I do not own a full length mirror. Indeed, I own but one mirror and it is barely large enough to encompass my face. On most days, I play this self-deceit game in which I balance myself on the edge of my bathtub in an effort to glimpse a reflection of my appearance in my small mirror mounted to the wall adjacent the bathtub. The other method that I utilize to evaluate my appearance before entering into the public sphere is to look downwards. Combined, these two methods fail to allow me to understand my appearance in the way that others perceive it. Frequently, I find myself looking into the large mirror in the bathroom at work, wondering what was in possession of my reason when I dressed myself. Last week, for example, the morning before a Board meeting, I realized that I was wearing a silk floral patterned skirt with a horizontally striped cotton pollo shirt. The outfit was similar, but not at all the same as this outfit which I posted onto the internet as myself having worn. At least in that latter outfit, the material for the floral patterned skirt is the same sort of cottonish material as the diagonally striped cottonish shirt. In a sense, I was matching in the way of fabric texture, though not the pattern of the fabric. In the former outfit, however, the fabric texture clashed, the fabric pattern clashed, the colors clashed, and even the degree of formal / informal clashed.

Which brings me to my friend Amy who would probably prefer that I not discuss her tendency to match at all times, but I am far too busy to consider such things as her feelings. So Amy, in stark contrast to myself, has a knack for color coordinated outfits. Several times a week, we find ourselves standing side-by-side at the coffee bar or water cooler, and this reveals very prominently our divergent matchingness. Over things such as coffee and wine, we have discussed the concept of matching. I have indicated a desire to improve upon my matching, thereby matching more. Amy has indicated a desire to alter her matchingness, and match less.

I have started small. In the way of my professional outfits, I have endeavored to roughly correlate the color of my shoes with that of my jacket. From all that I understand about matching, this creates a balanced effect that is pleasing to the eye. At some point in my misunderstanding of coordinated outfits, when I was very young and wee, a fellow classmate disclosed her secret to matching: socks must always be the same color of one's shirt. I found this matching objective unachievable because I was one of those children with silly-patterned socks (for example, pink zebras on a green background). Therefore I have abandoned this piece of advice. Presently, I am unsure about the wisdom of the sock / shirt linkage, and I defer to the expertise of Amy. Part of my hesitance about matching my socks with my shirt centers around the fact that when I do wear socks, I usually wear them in a manner that they cannot be seen, either in the form of super low ankle socks hidden behind my shoes or underneath the legs of my pants.

I feel that I have lived my entire life under the premise that if I own cool clothes, the outfit will come. By and large, this has been true for my personal life, but has proved inappropriate for my professional life. Which is something of a shame, if you consider the drawbacks to having two entirely separate wardrobes and you live in a small apartment with nary a closet space.

Posted by jennifer at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (1)

~ The Heat is On ~

It must be two hundred degrees. The heat kept me awake last night, gave me heat exhaustion this weekend, and is preventing me from doing that which I want to do. On Saturday, I had had plans to go on a road ride with my new friend with whom I share a given name, but she seemed to think that it was too hot to ride. So I went alone. I was about seven miles out when I realized that my front tire was not adequately pressurized. I was unable to determine the cause of the lack of pressure, so I pumped it up and continued to ride. A few miles later, I realized it was low again. I rode until I located a shady area to sit and change tubes. This process was tiring for me, as I barely have the strength in my arms to utilize my portable bike pump to inflate a tube to 80psi. But I completed the task and continued my loop. By the time that I had hit the halfway point, at which I turn back, I was surprisingly worn out and ready to be done. Which was handy, because I had a good fifteen miles to ride home. I was miserable. It was so hot that I felt that I would collapse and I drank all of my two water bottles well before I was done. But I made it home after what seemed like a forever amount of time and survived.

Anyway, I've been spending a ridiculous amount of time all by my lonesome. For my birthday, I bought myself two knitting books which have been providing me with inspiration for the act of knitting. I am over halfway through with a pair of appendage warmers that I am knitting in a cheap Red Heart variegated yarn. With them, I intend to warm my arms in a fugly sort of wooly way. And by "wooly", I mean "acrylic".

Last night, I spent a good hour and a half reading celebrity magazines at my own personal library. I flipped through about four magazines, fascinated. By the end of my intellectual experience, however, I determined that it wasn't the best use of my time. I surmised this based on the fact that in each of the magazines, I found the exact same photographs and gossip of celebrities. Which means that each time that I cracked open a magazine, hoping for new information, it was merely the same old same old. Pity. Granted, the focus in some of the "articles" was different..for example, in one magazine, I read a detailed comparison and contrast of celebrity tanning techniques. And in another, I perused an article about attractive bikini beach posture. You know, cutting edge information that I need to know.

Posted by jennifer at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Mind on Marriage ~

Despite the Vision that I have for my blog, I have decided to spend some time articulating summaries of conversations and thoughts that I've been having about marriage for the past few weeks. The individuals with whom (or about) I have had discussions, and those discussions in and of themselves, span a variation that provides interesting blog fodder outside of my own commentary. ...

I have never been on of "those people" who has ever wanted to get married. I haven't always been particularly opposed to marriage, but never once have I dreamed of walking down the aisle or living happily ever after. My apathy towards marriage may have roots in the fact that I wasn't raised with a glorified perspective on marriage. My parents were married at City Hall with two witnesses and, as far as my knowledge goes, had no pomp and ceremony, not even the snapping of a photograph. I have spent the majority of my life not giving the concept of marriage much thought. And never in my entire life, when I envisioned my future, did that "future" contain a wedding ring, not even as an afterthought.

So then there's me being thrown into the concept that I am an adult. And while I have embraced all of my adultish responsibilities with joy and pride, I still choke on my cereal when my peers announce their engagement. My initial reaction being, "But you're so young...you've got the rest of your life ahead of you." That's me...noncommittal. As I was discussing with Exhibit B, I guess there is some logic to marriage if you have no intention of dumping your partner and you want to get some nifty financial discounts...you know, playing the system. But my gut still rejects the idea of being legally bound to another person.

Which brings me to my lengthy discussion yesterday with Exhibit C who detailed all of the ways in which she was completely screwed over in her divorce. Unknown to her until the divorce, her ex-husband had over $44,000 in credit card debt (the monthly interest alone was over $1,200) and because they were married, she was responsible for that debt, which she paid off by liquidating her retirement funds. She reminded me of the necessity to always take care of oneself...numero uno. Which is obvious, but under the guise of a relationship, it is possible to loose sight of that.

So, money. It seems to be an important ingredient in marriage and also factors into all relationships outside of marriage. Exhibit B wanting to get married to save money, Exhibit C losing all of her money because she was married. And me...even though I have no legal ties with my boyfriend, Exhibit E, I regularly have anxiety when I worry about his financial woes. But as he indicated, it really isn't my business. Several months ago, my Unnamed Friend Amy provided me with some wisdom that I would like to share: "Money seems to be one of the things that couples tend to argue about the most." Let us pause to reflect in the sagacity of that thought...

So, money. Aside from the wanting to have a nuclear family thing, the wanting to visit your partner in the hospital thing, and stuff of that nature, marriage seems to be very much a financial arrangement between two people and the State. With it there are financial perks and responsibilities. Even if a couple has seperate bank accounts, the financial link is present. I know couples who launch into horrible arguments about whether to buy organic tomatoes versus their cheaper non-organic counterpart. If that kind of argument can arise from such a "small" matter, what's going to happen when something big comes up?

This is not to say that I don't tear up every time that I attend a friend's wedding or that I don't think it would be nice to "have someone to come home to". The fact of the matter is that my Unnamed Boyfriend's point about the need for independence is right. Presently, I feel it is essential to maintain my own identity with the advent of what has become known as "Joshifer." Are you aware, for example, that when we receive invitations to parties, that those invitations frequently inventory us as one unit? While it is true that we spend a good amount of time together, that we are connected in more ways than one (most publicly evidenced with the tandem bicycle), and that we are users of the term "we", I feel that if there was some piece of paper that legally bound us my claustrophobia would rear its ugly head.

Then there are all of my happily married friends who, aside from their nice piece of jewelry and their use of the term "spouse", haven't warped into these married monsters who try to kill each other for the insurance money. This forces me to wonder why I'm having such a cow about this.

Last night I stayed up late filling out the forms to begin investing for my retirement. While I have never had dreams of my wedding day, I have certainly always envisioned a future ending with a nice retirement. Until that time when I make more money, my 403(b) is going to short me about $65 a month. This is $65 which might otherwise go towards "Joshifer" fun, but considering the importance of numero uno and how my parents instilled in me the importance of financial responsibility, I felt good and independent getting this done.

Posted by jennifer at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

~ Friday Night Paparazzi ~

With the acquisition of my camera, I have become a pesky paparazzi. The other day, I was snapping photos of my dog Chancy, despite his pleas, as evidenced by his low-positioned ears, to stop. I haven't had much spare time to devote to blathering about my adventures. It seems that I prefer to spend my time having the adventures rather than writing about them. Below are some brief descriptions of things that I have done which involved the taking of pictures. Please find the corresponding flickr sets linked to the photos. Besides these three items, which are really not all that fascinating, I have been reading a lot of old science fiction short stories, have refound my desire to knit (currently, am knitting a pair of schwanky arm warmers), and have been doing a lot of wandering around enjoying being alive.

Several weekends ago, I went miniature golfing with Sara, Kelly, and Josh. It was on one of those weekends, actually a Monday, which was a holiday and all of the establishments which I normally hang out at were closed. Rather than sitting around being bored off my rocker, I joined the mini golfing fun. Hoot hoot! We went out to Boondocks which I had never been to before, and probably will never again. It was pretty much what I had expected, all these years of driving by the place adjacent to the freeway....tons and tons of suburban families with way too many children running amuck. Near the end of our first round of 18-holes, we skipped the 18th hole and had a second round for free. Just us sticking it to the man, you know. On our illegitimate round of 18 holes, we were accosted by a man who takes the sport of miniature golfing way too seriously, who commanded us to putt-putt at a faster rate. Since I am such a spong and absorb everything around me, this affected me greatly and pretty much ruined my ability to have fun. I spent the duration of the minigolfing experience fantasizing about actually verballizing my retort to his assholishness.

Then there was the night of my birthday, a few weeks ago, when I gathered with some friends, a sibling, and our lovers for an exchange of tasteful greeting cards and alcoholic beverages. You know that the evening was quality based upon the lengthy conversation about Star Trek: the Next Generation that we all participated in with an excess of passion. It's funny when you think that you're a crazed trekkie and then you discover a friend and sibling who beats your trekkienitude 10:1. People were buying me drinks left and right and I got drunketty-drunk. Ahh...duck farts.

Last night, I went to see the film Nacho Libre at a locally owned theater. I left before it was over due to the eighteen pre-teen boys sitting directly behind me having all kinds of conversations while kicking the back of my seat. Because of them, I was unable to even begin to imerse myself into the film, however, I was able to determine that the film was not the greatest cup of tea. I mean, I laughed at the very first fart joke, but the four others I didn't find so funny. Then there was the smearing poo across a character's face that kinda grossed me out. Then there was the fact that an hour and a half into the film, I was still wondering when the plot was going to develop. Afterwards, Josh and I decided to wander around town and play paparazzi. We wandered into some shops, walked down by the river, pretended to be celebrities who didn't want their photos taken, and then rode the elevator to the top of a parking garage to watch the sun set. Afterwards, we went to the Neurolux and intoxicated ourselves with friends Laura, Alisha, Devlyn, and Kyle. I sat with the ladies and we discussed pregnancy and single motherhood, while Josh sat with his partner in male gender and had all kinds of philosophical discussions.

Posted by jennifer at 10:10 AM | Permalink

~ Fifteenth Monthiversary ~

At some point on Friday, while I was at my place of employment, I was proofing an email to verify that it contained none of the snarking attitudes that I was articulating in my head, when the coworkers I share a corner with became excited about the presence of someone in our corner. Given that I inhabit the far corner of our modest corner, my back was to the excitment and I had no clue what was happening behind me. Then I heard something about "pumping our tires" and I turned around to see what was up. It was Josh! At my place of employment! With a bike pump??? The very social coworker seemed to be monopolizing his time (something about making jokes about pumping our tires) and it took me a while to even have an opportunity to inquire about his presence. He wanted to have lunch! With me! And he was going to fix the flat on the tandem so that we could ride it to a park!!! I then escorted him through the building and we toured a conference that was going on and picked up some pens and breath mints the vendors were giving away. It was exciting. Later, when I noticed that it was about time to meet the little whipper-snapper, I discovered a text-message that he had left for me saying "Happy Fifteenth Monthiversary!" I said, "Oh" in a meek voice and my coworker asked what was wrong. "I forgot" I said and she said that she found Josh very cute.

We rode the bike over to Pioneer Square and ate Josh's homemade-by-a-store sandwiches. We sat near the waterwheel, ate, chatted, and engaged in general forms of p.d.a.

When I got off work, Josh and I utilized our gift certificate to the Boise Consumer Co-Op which my friend Devlyn gave to us for Boxing Day. For $25.48 we purchased a breast of chicken breaded with shitaki mushrooms, blue cheese, crackers, spinach dip, and a bottle of taste wine, only $0.48 of which we spent out-of-pocket. It was so delightful that we decided that we should send Devlyn a thank-you note...four months post-receipt. We then inserted our consumer co-op items into our picnic backpack, also a gift from Devlyn, and took off on the tandem.

We rode out to Sandy Pointe Beach (and by "Sandy Point Beach" I mean the nicer beach just south of Sandy Pointe that I don't know the name of) and it was a lovely ride. I caused myself to get a sore throat by blabbing non-stop in a loud voice so that Josh could hear everything that I was saying while dry air was rushing against the back of my throat. Among many of the exciting things we saw on our ride, was a large herd of deer grazing on the alfalfa fields. When we got to "Sandy Pointe Beach", we spread out consumer co-op items on a picnic table and experienced flavors.

Then we tossed the football around for a time and watched the raging waters of the Boise River. Josh also fed some squirrels, because you know they don't get enough food and are just starving. On the ride back, I made it my responsibility to be a photographer for the duration of my time on the rear of the tandem. I had not directed Josh's attention to this, and at some point while I was sitting on the bike, peddling but not holding on at all or watching where we were going (which never happens anyway, since I can't actually see past Josh's back), we started going down a hill relatively fast (relative to our previous pace) and I latched onto my digital camera as though my life depended on it and then proceeded to inform Josh that sometimes I am doing other than paying 100% attention to what I am doing. Most of my photos from this photography experience were kinda blurry which has led me to deduce that taking photographs on the back of a tandem bicycle is the most high quality photography experience one might have.

Posted by jennifer at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)