9/21/07

Today:

• The forecast was for rain today, but it was sunny and clear this morning. And chilly! I actually wore my long sleeved shirt that has stripes like rainbow sherbet to stay warm. (Yes, I'm still craving rainbow sherbet. Even though it's cool. And it's been over a month.)
  
• It's funny when people say "D'oh!" like Homer Simpson, but in real life situations. It's kind of lame, but amazing, that has become a cultural lexicon.
• Went to Ruby's for lunch. It was kind of a special event! I misbehaved and had a banana chocolate milkshake - kid's size, though.
• After work I came home, took a nap, and we headed to Old World for Oktoberfest. Every time I go by there I think of a visit my parents made a couple of years ago, and they loved having breakfast there. We got to see some friends that we don't usually get to see, and I saw some people who work where I used to work in Long Beach. It was a great time, with lots of beer, silly dancing, and cup towers as high as 11 stacked. We didn't leave until a little after midnight. It was pouring rain (rare in southern California!), and we parked at the mall across the street. The drive home was sort of dangerous because of the rain and we saw two cars that had gone off the side of the road. But, home safe, and went right to bed.
  

Midwest

Today's cooled off weather, and the print my friend bought of trees in the snow, kind of got me thinking about moving closer to our families again. I never realized that I actually do miss the season changes, even though they're a pain. I don't miss the going out in the muck and snow and ice.

We talked about it a little when we were in Alaska; we both liked having family time that we don't really get living so far away. But we couldn't immediately think of a city that we'd both appreciate. It's very much a different lifestyle, too. Whenever I visit my parents, things seem to move at a different pace. My mom even tells me, not long after I get there, to "slow down!" It would be great to be closer to our families, and a lot easier to be big fish in a little pond than little fish in an ocean. We could buy a house, in a nice neighborhood, or even in a downtown area (which I would love!), and get good jobs with our educations and experience.

The problem is, where do you go? Seeing our parents more would be great, but at the same time, I think we'd lose some of the independence we've had living in LA. A lot of companies are leaving southern California, but they're not exactly swarming to St. Louis either.

Nike

Oh, Nike Run Hit Remix, what a mess you are.

First, we just got the results of the race. They weren't posted on the actual Nike site; I ended up finding them through a helpful Yelp post. In addition to that, the starting mats malfunctioned, so we got these lovely notes at the bottom of the results pages:

Thank you for participating in this year's Nike Run Hit Remix. There was an electromagnetic interference to the chip time starting mats and the data was not collected at the start of the race. The race start was at 9:00am and the start time for all runners is determined by this time. If you remember the time on the clock on the start structure you can deduct that from your start time for your personal time. We did receive the data from the 2.5 mile timing location and the finish line timing location and that information is online.

We apologize for this inconvenience and are currently working with Tri-California who has managed the timing chip process for the past 2 years to rectify the situation. Tri-California has never had an issue with timing in the past and we don't anticipate this should ever happen again.

Argh! I don't remember what time I had when I crossed the start line - it was probably about 40 seconds. Which is cool, because that means I actually ran in a little over 53 minutes. But, now, we'll never know for sure! :-( Of course, no one anticipates it ever happening in the first place; I'm sure it will happen again.

My results:
Final Time: 54:36
Split: 27:41
Overall Rank: 2908 (I'm slow)
Pace: 10:55

I know, it's nothing to brag about. But I am proud that I can do it!

The second snafu was the race numbers. Instead of the big paper numbers, they required you to wear these very nice red Nike shirts. They're like the expensive shirts from sporting goods stores, but with your number printed directly on them as though they were music track times. A cute idea, except for A) it's hard to find anyone and B) the professional photographers couldn't identify anyone! Andy had some nice shots, but there was not a single shot of me (aside from the ones we took before and after). That's OK with me; I don't look good while I'm running and I don't plan on spending $20 for a 5x7 print. But what a mess!

Hopefully people will Google this and get some feedback for next year!

9/20/07

Today:

• Uneventful day at work. Got some things done, but for now I'm back to the only accountant that doesn't have much to do at month-end.
• Skipped yoga class for Charo Chicken. And now I'm wishing I'd gone to yoga. It's such a great way to relieve the day.
• Called home, and confessed that my mom's birthday gift is indeed on it's way but very late thanks to Harry and David. My dad is having a scooter consultation tomorrow.
  
• Made a Target run. I really wanted to buy Thermasilk shampoo and conditioner, since I'm almost out, but I haven't seen it in stores in ages. And here's why! If I'd looked this up before I went, I'd have bought it. Whoops. I also wanted some oats for oatmeal raisin cookies, but they failed me on the oats. Oh well ... at least they didn't treat me like a criminal.
  
• I drove home an unusual way because I wanted to check out a consignment store between here and work. I really want to overhaul my wardrobe, but I'm hesitant to get rid of any of my clothes - I'm a pack rat. But, if I could get $2 out of a shirt, I wouldn't feel so bad giving it away.
  
• Came home and ran hard for 35 minutes. It started off not too well, but then I got into that zone where all of your muscles are warm, the cramps are gone (maybe that's just me), and you feel like you could run so fast forever. Yes, I definitely get runner's high.
  
• Yay! I got a new Facebook friend! That site has become one of my "must check every day," and I hardly log in to Myspace any more, unless I get a notice someone has posted. But that got me to thinking (and this hasn't happened recently), what if I don't want to be friends with the person who wants to be friends with me? I ignore people I don't know, but what do you do if you just don't like the person? I think I'd feel bad and accept them anyway.
  
• Called my grandmother, cleared up a weird miscommunication, and promised to work on that photo greeting card. Tonight. Shutterfly has a very nice greeting card service, but I completely forgot to use the coupon code. We also had a weird conversation about photos, until I realized that my grandmother doesn't realize we only have digital copies of all of our pictures, aside from a few I've got in frames around. So I'm sending her some prints, but maybe another day.
  

Class

So, I wanted to accelerate the program, because I'm starting my third year of graduate school and I'm ready for it to be over!!! This means that I'd have to do two semesters of three classes to graduate one measly semester early, and none of the work that I did at my previous school will transfer. This semester and next I'll be taking 3 classes, but next semester will be a bit different, because one of the classes will be my international trip.

This semester I have:

Project Management: I hear good things about 95% of the offered classes, and this one was of course recommended by a professor for those who "wanted more depth" than the cursory first year classes. It was actually my add-on third choice - the other class I was considering ended up looking like a lot more work, in LA (which is far from work), and this one at least fit in to my potential specialization. Believe it or not, I want my cake and to eat it too - if I'm taking this many classes, it had better be interesting! So far it is, but there's a lot of busy work. I'm told this will get better, both by students and by the professor who admitted the class is front-loaded.

Database Management: I planned my whole schedule around this class. I almost regret going to business school over a computer science degree.
I talked to the professor about the class at a general advising session, and it sounded like just the right class I needed for experience and to get my next rotation. Turns out there are no exams, which is good, because that takes the pressure off knowing weird little details because they might be on the test. But the semester project is going to be a lot of work. Luckily I have people in my group that I like!

Leadership and Self-Management: I am not kidding. I'm really taking this class. Widely referred to as the "yoga class," the professor changed before the semester started, so I don't think it's quite what it was. But, I really like the professor - he's laid back, interesting, and admitted on the first day that the class won't be a lot of outside work. Music to my ears! There is a 10-15 page semester paper instead of exams, but writing up that much has gotten easier. On top of that, we have about one book to read every week (the last of which came
yesterday: reimbursement time!), which gets a little tough.

Altogether, three interesting classes that ended up being a lot more work than I expected. My friend at work told me that the second year, even with three classes, will be better than the first year. And another classmate told me he wished he'd taken three classes during his international trip semester, because just the two were kind of lightweight. At the beginning of the semester I was really panicking, remembering last year and the stress and always feeling crappy, and having a lot of homework. But there are only 11 weeks to go (not 52), and it will only get easier, and I'll be taking classes of my own choice rather than repeats of my undergrad degree. The drop date was last Friday, so here we go!

9/18-19/07

9/18/07:

• Bleh. Haven't felt too good lately. But, it'll pass.
• Tried the Beefy Cheesy Melt at Taco Bell. I saw a commercial for it when I was watching the USC-Nebraska game, but our TV reception hid that it's also stuffed with rice and sour cream. Bleh. Plus I blew it with another diet Pepsi. I'd say, a waste of 580 calories.

9/19/07:

• The Cure's "Just Like Heaven" and Guns n Roses's "Sweet Child of Mine" are positive ways to spend traffic time.
  
• Drinking tea is really starting to grow on me. I bought a Stash sampler of black teas, and they're pretty strong but very good. For future reference, Tazo tea bags only make one strong cup, but all the others I've tried seem to last all day.
  
• It's been cooler outside lately, but this morning it was gloomy and sprinkling too. Yay for fall! Although, I wore my new BCBG striped dress, and it's going to be a little chilly for that. All because I want to wear more dresses, so I can justify buying this from the Gap:

9/17/07

Yesterday:

• I did homework. For the vast majority of the day. It's going to get worse before it gets better, but only 12 weeks to go!
• For one of my assignments, I had to take personality tests from the Authentic Happiness website. I was really excited about reading the book - I thought it would help me control stress, and have advice on living a happier lifestyle. I'm halfway through, and it's more about the author blowing hot air than about figuring out how to be happy. The online tests were interesting though. It turns out I'm a perpetual optimist, and that I believe any setbacks are temporary. Even though I cry and moan all the time about school, I know it's temporary, and I'm working hard to make it go by faster. But, I also found out I don't show enough gratitude. So I'm going to try and work on that more.
• Andy spent all day researching flights for our Christmas trip. I can't wait! I love seeing our families, and I wish we could more. This year, though, will be the first year I don't spend Christmas day with my parents. I'm a little sad, but we added a couple of days to my original (and totally made-up-on-the-spot) plan, so we'll see them and hopefully some of my extended family, as they usually visit after Christmas. He also made me a really fantastic dinner!!
• I don't have a nano and don't want a new iPod, but I really want the Nike+iPod thingy. Without the shoes. I really like my own shoes. So basically I want the system without the iPod or shoes...

Today:

• Got up early to get to the store for yet another birthday. I really ought to do that more often, because leaving early (or, in actuality, on time) means less traffic. But I still got to work a little late because, after depositing my $3.50 dividend check, buying tea and cookies, and getting a coffee, I had to fight through the high school traffic across the street.

• I had soda twice this weekend - a little cup on Friday, and a diet Pepsi with my pizza on Saturday. I don't feel bad about it, though, because I did go 4 days without after all! I even had one tonight before class. I think salty foods make me crave it.

• I don't understand people at work sometimes. I know I'm a pretty hard worker, and I like working and having things to do and getting things done. But how do you just not show up? Or show up, and not do anything all day? Even on my "lazy" days, I still end up getting little things done. Every morning I wake up with a mental plan of what I'm going start, do, or finish that day. And I work really hard to do it, because I like to get things done as soon as possible (and everyone else seems to appreciate it too. But this morning I woke up, still in a great mood from the weekend, went to work... and everything fell apart. Not a good way to start the week.

• I went to my friend's 25th birthday lunch. I know I just turned 25, but why does that somehow make me feel old??

• My grandmother called me at lunch to tell me that her photo book came with a promotional code for a free greeting card, and she'd like to send one to my mom. My first thought, sadly, was, "They put an extra page in my wonderful gift for an advertisement???" But, of course, I'm happy to order it. She read off the code to me, and it was about the same length as a Microsoft registration number. Hm. On top of that, I'm assuming it's for a picture card. Which will take a while to print and mail, and my mom's birthday is Saturday. PLUS, what picture would I use??

• Perused the Emmys fashions. I didn't know they were Sunday, but they've had the banners up around school for a couple of weeks. Yes, I go to school right next to the Shrine Auditorium. Anyway, I clicked through, and didn't know most of the people. There were so many anonymous, ethereally thin girls that they all looked the same. Even their faces had the same structure.