This is our front closet door. Andy made this countdown and 9 is the number of class periods I have left in my program.

There are 6 weeks left.

38 days.

New meem for you:

Remember how excited I was about the 100 push up challenge? Yeeeeah. I sort of fell off the training program. It turns out one probably can't actually go from 0 to 100 push ups in six weeks. Bummer.

At the same time, school has been really busy, and the sun sets really early now, so I can't really go out and run. That, and about a week or two after I ran the half marathon (with no problems at all!) I hurt my knee and couldn't run more than a mile or two without it hurting. Sigh.

That being said, my knee is better, and it's not like I stopped with the push ups altogether. As I was resting between sets, I thought, "maybe I should be doing some sit ups while I'm at it? I don't want to wear a corset under my dress... " To be fair, the reason I started to do the push up program was because I thought it would be cool to do 100 push ups; shortly after I learned about this horrible problem that I didn't even know I should be worried about. (FYI - it's nearly gone. I didn't notice it there, and I only recently noticed its disappearance.)

So Friday consisted of:

• Treadmill: 15 minutes at 6 miles per hour
• Stairmaster: 8 minutes (I was tired - and on a really high level)
• Push ups: sets of 10/10/8/8/20 (yes, 20 in a row)
• Teaser: sets of 10 in between push up sets
• Expert boxing on Wii
  

This year I went to the Women's Conference. Each year I forget about it, kind of hear that it was really great after the fact, and think about getting around to going one day. But this year I was sent, and I went despite having a midterm the next day.

I wasn't sure what to expect. A bunch of women in a conference? 14,000 to be exact? That's a lot of estrogen. Between that and the election, I expected a lot of protesting, political pushing, and man-hating.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I met a friend of mine and we carpooled to the convention center at 6:30 in the morning. But traffic really wasn't bad going in or out. You first go in and they give you a giant bag full of stuff - to be filled with more free stuff as you go through the exhibit hall. And the exhibitors literally force free stuff on you! A lot of it is sample-sized, but there were an awful lot of full-sized products given out (Dancing with the Stars for Wii, reuseable grocery bags, light bulbs) and coupons (some of which I used, and some samples I plan on buying).

The first session was everyone, all in one arena, for the first speakers. The most memorable was Arnold Schwarzenegger, Warren Buffett, and Chris Matthews - they didn't really talk about the economy, but all three talked about how important women are (especially in their homes!) and all three were quite funny. Christine Amanpour spoke, but she was just a little too political-soapbox-y - we went back to the exhibit hall.

One bummer of the day were the breakout sessions. They tended to fill up quickly, so you almost had to leave the general sessions early to get in to the popular ones. I wanted to see Madeline Albright, but that was full almost instantly. Instead I went to the session on entrepreneurship. I'll just say this: Heidi Klum really is perfect in real life. Even her wrinkles are perfect. She is also very upbeat.

Over lunch Maria Shriver spoke, and she really is an amazing speaker. She was so personable, and it was so easy to relate to her, that regardless of politics I have to say I like her a lot. There was not a dry eye in the arena and I was really in to it until she read a poem that she and her mother wrote while her mother was in the hospital. Um, what?? Condoleeza Rice, Indra Nooyi, and Campbell Brown also had a little discussion that was entertaining but Indra Nooyi really stole the show. And then I saw Campbell Brown on the TVs at school that play CNN constantly! Of course the best part: thinking about the logistics of 14,000 boxed lunches that were very, very good. Mmm... logistics.

In the afternoon, most of the sessions were full. But I wanted to see Michael J. Fox anyway, and he was great. Very funny, and very sweet - of course it was probably more interesting to me for a variety of personal reasons.

Afterward, though, was kind of a snafu. The conference hours were extended this year, and while they served a boxed lunch there was nothing to do about dinner! Sure, you could have left, or gone to one of the concession stands that were open throughout the convention center, but somehow this didn't seem quite right. Anyway, it didn't really matter. Safeway and Pepsi had exhibitor booths right across from each other, and had plenty of snacks!

The evening session was very exciting. I'm still not sure what a Minerva is, but the awards winners were great. My favorite, and probably the most popular, was Betty Chinn - you should read her story. I wasn't really looking forward to Bono speaking because I don't really agree with his politics either - but he was so charming! I learned a lot about his organizations. The night ended with a concert by Bonnie Raitt, but by 7 pm who had the energy left to dance?

Next year I think I am going to try and volunteer, since I won't be in school and likely bored out of my mind by then. Even if your workplace doesn't send you, and even though it's hard to get tickets, and it's a little bit pricey if you're on a budget, you should try to go at least once.

The Women's Conference

A couple of weeks ago I saw three movies in the theater in the span of one week. Thank you discount work tickets!!


I really wanted to see this. We went to the very last showing at our local theater at about 10:30 pm (which I am otherwise not keen on because of the neighborhood). The reviews weren't good, but you know how that can be - and anyway, the trailer was so funny! I could not have been more disappointed (or disturbed). There were only one or two really funny parts. For the record, I don't remember if I liked Fargo. I only remember they fed someone through a wood chipper.

I did not want to see this. I just wanted to go out with everyone and escape some school stress. Maybe I'm just getting too old for this kind of movie - although no one I went with seemed to think the same. There was more eye-rolling than laughing, and the only thing I really liked was that it kind of reminded me of Illinois and the Amish town south of school. I mean, honestly? Do 18-year-olds act like this? I sure didn't, and no one I know did.



Out of all three I liked this one the best. It was a little scary at some points, but otherwise very exciting. They really put a lot in to the visual aspects. But it sure does snow a lot in New York! Anyway, this isn't really my kind of movie, but maybe my expectations were really low given the other two. By the way - is this a comic book? Is Max Payne a superhero? I thought I saw something about a video game somewhere, but it sure did have that comic-book-on-screen kind of look.

I need these.

Last week I needed shoes for my Halloween costume, and more importantly, a pair of brown shoes for general work-wear. I basically have a pair of shoes in heels, flats, and boots in either black or brown and just wear them in rotation (how exciting, I know).

So I went to Payless with a friend of mine since I just wanted something cheap - shoes just don't seem to last very long for me. OK, it's probably because I wear them in to the ground. Anyway. They have so many cute shoes right now, and I've been looking for so long! I ended up with a few pairs, but these are the real winners:


That's right. Green shoes. These were the ones I got because they just went so well with my costume, but they've worked out in more ways than just that. They have a really ... um ... sturdy? heel, just a little padded for the balls of your feet, and oddly enough, they match with everything I'd normally wear my brown shoes.

Payless is always hit-and-miss with me. Sometimes I find shoes that I like that are just horrible; uncomfortable, ugly, and not worth it. And then sometimes there are these. So go buy green shoes!

This is all I have to say about the election:

Yikes. It's like watching a USC football game. Not very exciting when the other side is getting hosed.

Let's all hope for the best.

Me: "Ooh, can I have a sucker?" (Cause a sucker sounded better than Joint Juice)
Jack FM Girl: "Sure, if you'll take a picture with us!"
Me: "OK ... wait, is this going to show up all over the internet?"
Jack FM Girl: "Oh ... well ... yeah, we'll probably put the pictures up next week ... "
Me: "COOL!"


Nope, I have no issues with silly costume pictures on the internet.

Oh, and my time for this year's pumpkin run was 31:14.