My Name Was On The Radio

This morning while in the car with my dad on our way to work we heard this question:

What is the most northern state in the country?

My dad said, and I agreed with, Alaska (I think it's one of those questions where you think they're trying to trick you... Maine... or Washington... (I looked at a map and it looks like Washington has a corner that goes higher than Maine) and then when you hear the answer you feel kind of dumb).

It was for a pair of Air Supply tickets. My parents had gone the last time Air Supply was here and have been talking about going again.

I got my phone out and told my dad he should call.

He was sure that someone else would have gotten the answer already but I pointed out that when I won Beatlemania tickets a couple of weeks ago (for knowing that "definitely" was one of the most misspelled words - I had heard them say it on the radio the day before they asked that question - don't worry, I have pictures and video to add to my blog later) we could hear them giving out tickets to more than one person.

I dialed. Got ready to hand him the phone. But he told me to do the talking.

She answered asking if I had an answer and I said, "Alaska." She got my information and told me I'd have tickets to Air Supply to pick up at the station.

Turns out, they only had one winner this time.

They gave my name as the winner (I'm so glad they didn't playback my phone call).

A joint effort by me and my dad.

a more recent picture of them.

doesn't the one in the pink kind of look like the lead singer of Rascal Flatts?

If I Could, I Would...

... gather up the scent of blossoms and keep it with me always
... take pictures of beautiful sunsets and clouds and mountains with my eyes and share them
... spend all day up in the mountains listening to the birds and running water
... capture each moment spent with my nieces and nephews and treasure them always
... blow bubbles from on top of a cliff and watch them float down to the world
... keep armfuls of fresh flowers to bury my face in whenever I wanted to
... have perfect patience and understanding
... savor each flavor and experience that comes with living

in short - If I could, I would.

Fraidy *Cat*?

Dingo hates thunder.

A few weeks ago I came home and was called to the basement by Caitlin because Dingo had been hanging around her since she was the only one home and he needed protection.

She said he was looking for a place to hide but the best he could find was right next to the bed.

Shortly after I came downstairs he found a better place to hide.

yes, he placed himself there. ...and he seemed to be comfortable.
from then on, until the thunder stopped, he was my close shadow.

Outrunning the Rain

Friday I missed my daily walk with Dingo. Saturday morning he kept following me around trying to herd me toward the door (he is part cattle dog...). I promised him that we would go later in the day. And yes, I'm pretty sure he understood me. I also promised him that we would go for a longer walk than normal to make up for missing the day before.

One gorgeous scene from walking (featuring the clouds holding the rain that we were trying to outrun)

The dingo (just because I think he's cute)

We didn't outrun anything.
Not at all.

Sometimes...

...words aren't meant to be published.

They just need to be written.

And that's enough.

Finished

I finished The Long Walk last night. Kind of late last night. But I was so close to the end, I just couldn't wait another day.

As expected, I did cry again, but not as much as I had earlier.

It's an incredible story.

Again -

Read it.

Brilliant in Theory

While walking on the mountain on Wednesday I was thinking about how much I like being outside and also about how much I like to read and how sad it is that I couldn't do both at once.

Inspiration struck!

Audio books.

Sure that there were free ones online, I started searching. I came up with a few good possibilities, and settled on this one.

I downloaded Robinson Crusoe, loaded it onto my mp3 player, and away I went.

...


The reader has such a hard voice to pay attention to and it's difficult to make sense of what's happening. He makes it sound like the end of a sentence and then you find out it's not the end of the sentence by his next words. Example:

It reads: "She said she knew it would not be easy."

He reads: "She said she knew it. Would not be easy."

It's really frustrating.

I downloaded Emma too.

Maybe I'll try that for a bit and hope the reader is more exciting.

It bothered me enough to look into volunteering myself. I may not be the best reader, but I can tell when a sentence ends.

However, something I'm sincerely concerned about: For those of you who know my voice, tell me if it's the kind of voice that would get annoying and hard to listen to after a while. Please. I won't be offended (but please be gentle), and I don't want to give someone else the desire to poke their eyes out.

I Walked Up A Mountain - Again

MUST Read

I'm 70 pages away from being done. I can't put it down (except that I sometimes have to. if I didn't have to, I would have finished it the day I picked it up.)

It didn't take me long to feel involved with the characters. I've already had a couple of good cries over what's happening to them - even when I'm not reading it, but just thinking about it will sometimes make me tear up.

Read it.

I Walked Up A Mountain

After recently being inspired by reading this post in my friend's blog (it's an older post, but I had just discovered her blog), I kind of followed suit. I went on a hike yesterday. Kind of a spontaneous one. It wasn't long and it wasn't far from home (I walked through a neighborhood behind my house and found the trail head), but I did it. With my dog. And I loved it.

He enjoyed it too.

At one point I was worried about his being able to get down a steep climb on his own and couldn't decide if I should take him off the leash, or leave him on so I could try to catch him if he slipped. There were no cliffs around so I figured a fall wouldn't be too disastrous if it occurred, and I let him off the leash. No sooner done than he was already at the bottom.

He's quite the hiker.

And this was his first time.

We're going again.

Maybe tonight.

The Moment You Might Have Been Waiting For

Mud Run Pictures!!!
You're excited I can tell.

the group of people working their way to...

... the first water obstacle!

here's Bethany taking her turn

one of the five men team-running as Magnum PI

I think the runners interrupted these marines running drills
while I was taking this picture, Bethany heard a guy running past say, "hey, the real studs are over here!" sadly, I didn't get a picture of him.

the first hill...

a rear view of team double dare

we had been walking when this guy offered to take a picture. we decided it'd look better if we ran. I don't think I'm very convincing...

marines in camo in the bushes

Bethany pegged this guy at the beginning as the one to beat. here she is beating him.

one of the beautiful views we had.

in the first water/mud pit with the first wall coming up behind me
(Bethany lifted herself up over all of them. I asked for help from the marines.)

crossing the reservoir.

the wicked witch of the west
(Dorothy, the tin man, the lion, and the scarecrow - behind her - were all running too)

the nasty mud hill (devil hill)

going up devil hill.

at the top looking down
(notice the guy spraying a firehose at people and down the hill - the hill was super-slick, if you're planning on running it, here's a tip - walk up the water that's running down. it's easier to get traction there.)

the final mud pit
(we had to crawl under the flags)

at the end. I knew I had mud on my face but I didn't realize it was so concentrated...

Falling Apart

I went to see my physical therapist this morning. I went over the things that were hurting (left hip - a recurring problem, left knee, and right ankle), and mentioned that my hip and ankle have been bad since about January and my knee since... March(?). I confessed that because I had the marathon in my near future I decided to just wait until that and the mud run a few short weeks later before coming in to see him.

Rather than being immature and ignoring him when he would have told me not to run, I was immature and just avoided the situation entirely.

He laughed.

Then got to work.

I knew my SI joint was the problem (same problem that kept me from running the St. George Marathon last October) but for me knee and ankle, I wasn't so sure, though I had tentatively self-diagnosed tendinitis in my knee. He told me I had patella tendinitis and an IT band problem.

Great.

After getting electrical stimulation treatment on all three areas and a massage for my SI joint (which felt absolutely heavenly - her hands were perfect!), the doctor came back in and started stretches to help me loosen up.

I think I know why he kept my back to him the whole time - he didn't want to see the look of agony on my face during some of the stretches.

Hopefully it will only get better.

How Appropriate

I just came across this while searching for something entirely different. It seems to fit in with my last post.

Reading ADD?

I feel like I have reading ADD. I'll start a book, and before I'm done with it, I'll start another one... or two... sometimes even three or more.

These are the books between which I am currently trying to divide my attention (The Long Walk is currently taking most of my time):

And these are the books that I want to add to my attention:

ps - the mud run was awesome and I really want to do it again this October... we'll see. more details (and maybe pictures) to come.

Marathon Images

Yes, I shamelessly pilfered pictures that I didn't pay for. I figure having "proof" sprawled across each one is punishment enough.

In the top one you get a glimpse of what part of 17,000 runners looks like
In the left one I'm taking one of many walking breaks (although it got to the point where I felt like I was taking running breaks from walking)
In the center one I'm about to cross the finish line... 7 hours after I started (although the top of the 7 is cut off, I don't think I could convince anyone to believe it only took me 1 hour...)
In the right one I'm walking with Suzanne, my partner for most of the 26.2 miles

Just thought I'd share.

Looks Like Fun, No?

I'm So. Cal. bound this weekend. I'll be running in the Camp Pendleton Mud Run again.

I loved it last time, and I'm sure I'll love it again.

However, I'm grateful that after this one, there's no other run that I am currently signed up for and committed to run. I'll be taking a bit of a break and volunteering at this one in July. (still looking for more helpers, so if you're around on the 4th and interested in helping out, let me know!)

Here's the description given on the website: This is the World Famous Mud Run! The Mud Run is a challenging 10K run with hills, tire obstacles, river crossings, two 5-foot walls with mud on both sides, tunnel crawl, slippery hill climb, and the final 30-foot mud pit. Along the course there will be 6 water points with personnel staged at each. This is the most fun you can have running a 10K! View the course map at www.camppendletonraces.com. Race individually military or civilian, within your age division, or as a member of a 5-person team. Choose the Open category with no restrictions on attire and footwear, or the Boots and Utilities category, which requires regulation military boots and camouflage utility trousers.

I Just Don't See It

Just yesterday I got told (again) that I kind of look like Claire Danes.

I don't see it. I just don't see it.
(the saddest thing about it is that I think she's kind of funny-looking)

Funny thing is that my oldest sister has been told the same thing and every time I visit her we get told how much we look alike.

Do You Know What It's Called

when you open your bedroom window and the scent of honeysuckle floats in?

(said honeysuckle plant in foreground and said window in background)

heaven.

The Joy of Old Movies (and youtube)

They just don't make movies like this anymore.





And of course we can't skip the title song...


he makes it look like so much fun.

of course, if I could move like that I'd probably have a blast too.

Not an old movie, but another great scene:



And then there's this one -
apparently she's not a dancer...



I must say she fakes it pretty amazingly well.
(and he's simply incredible)
She is, however, a singer and sings this song for the movie:



The end.

For now.

youtube can be slightly addicting.

True Story

Last night I was singing "Many a New Day" from Oklahoma!. It's the song Laurey sings to make herself feel better that Curly leaves with that lady with the really annoying laugh. I wasn't going through a similar situation, I had just watched the clip on youtube (during last night's video-spree) and had the song stuck in my head. As I got to the end, I sang, "Many a red sun will set..." and just like in the movie, I heard a laugh that was kind of high-pitched coming from outside (my bedroom window was open) and then I finished with "Many a blue moon will shine - Before I do!"

I don't know if it was just some sort of perfect cosmic timing, or if someone could hear me and thought to contribute to my evening, but either way, I loved it.

Oh My Goodness - A Breakthrough!

Remember when I wrote this? I do. Remember how frustrated I got with him on Friday?

Oh.

Nevermind.

I didn't write about that.

I was extremely frustrated with him on Friday.

Maybe ready to strangle him even.

But don't worry, I didn't.

Anyway, today, shortly after he came in he walked over to my desk and I said, "I need you to not play music when other music is playing."

And that was that.

He did ask about it a bit and even said, "But your music is boring sometimes." I told him he could survive for a few hours a day. Then I mentioned how I'm not always playing music and when no one's playing music it's fine for him to put his on.

He was fine with it.

And, I reminded him that classical music makes you smarter.

It's like a bonus.

Our little exchange kind of reminded me of this.

Probably Way Too Many Videos

Did you know this man can sing?


Here you go:



How about him?
(it's okay, you can take a minute to appreciate how attractive he is)

Another Gift:




Of course, you'd probably recognize him better if you saw this:



The video that led me to looking up all these others:



And here's kind of a bonus. Recognize Curly?
(pretend that when I asked that, his name wasn't right on the video, okay?)



Kinda fun:



Oh yeah, I like this song too:



And I think that's it.

For now.

My... Baby?

Here's the dingo:
Sometimes I wonder if he's more like a child than a dog. I've had to get up in the middle of the night with him every night this week to let him out and/or give him food or water.

Just now my mom told me that there's a thunderstorm going on at home. Dingo hates thunder. She said he's been "dogging" her steps and was currently hiding under her desk and sticking his head out occasionally for reassurance.

Poor little pup.

*for the record, I know that real babies are more work than the dingo. and the similarities, however many (or few) there may be, are mild.*

Go Tony, Go Tony, Go Tony!!!

My sister Bethany started doing Power 90 about 50 days ago. On Monday she emailed me saying that she was halfway through and that I should start immediately since it was doing great things for her. I went home, and started.

I've only done three days of it, but I'm definitely feeling it. It's awesome.

I even got Caitlin to start it with me.

We're going to be so buff. ( :

But not too buff.

And I'll also probably start reading some of this.

Do You Know These Men?

How about now?

And now?

Do you know these men?

Now?

And now?

Don't feel bad. I wouldn't have known any of them either. And if you did know who they were, then you may have enjoyed being where I was Saturday night more than I enjoyed being there. Don't get me wrong, I definitely enjoyed it, I just wasn't very familiar with who they were.

A few of their songs did sound familiar (more so with REO than Styx), and it was somewhat entertaining to see all the drunk people and be worried that beer might be spilled on you as the people sitting next to you kept getting up and down to get beer refills again... and again... and... you get the idea. That happened until one of them did spill beer on a guy sitting in front of him. That guy went and complained and they got moved. Down to the grass (we were at Rio Tinto Stadium). With all the drunk people. That's where they should be.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. At the very end of the concert Styx came back on and sang a song that REO and Styx had written together. There were 8 guitars on stage playing. It was pretty sweet.

I'm glad I have friends who get to do cool things for their job and invite me along. (:

Don't you just love this video?


It reminds me of how much I love this one:

Which I think is absolutely brilliant for having been made years after it was "supposed" to have been made.