Woo-Hoo! Wednesday

While I’m enjoying a boost of positive thinking, I’m gonna share my recent success with you

I look just like this. Except whiter. And girlier. And sweatier.

I just ran 5.38 miles.

Oh, yes I did.

And I did this after spending some time on the weights, working on my back.  Although, a LOT more gently than my previous time with Karl.

(Hi Karl!  I still love you!  Be gentle with me tomorrow.. kthxbai)

I was in training for a 10K race on Thanksgiving morning, but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to do it now.  At this point, I could handle the distance.  But my pride often gets the best of me.

You see, I used to be a real runner.  I used to do 70+ miles a week and ran cross country at the state level.  Even a few years ago I would do 6-8 miles most days before work, and maybe a few miles after I got home from the office.  I entered a lot of 3-6 mile races and if I didn’t win, I would at least finish in the top 3.  And now?  Um, not so much.  I’m just reluctant to run in a race where not only am I not going to place, but will probably struggle to finish well.  Pride can be a real buzz-kill sometimes.

So, I’m trying an experiment where I focus on my little victories where I am. right. now.

Like 5.38 miles.

And a 5K in the middle of that in under 30 minutes.  Hey, it’s a start, right?

Back in the swing…

Last week I shared a little about my struggles at work here.

And while things aren’t perfect, (after all, it is work!), they’ve certainly improved.  I feel like I’ve gotten back into my groove for the most part.  I have some new projects to work on, and some definite goals.

I still get side-tracked by “fires” that need to be put out.  And I still get overwhelmed by the amount of work that lands on my to-do list.  But at least I’m more cheerful about the situation.  But, man!  It was a rough couple of days.

I also want to thank all of you who sent kind words and advice my way – either via comment or email.  It really helped knowing that people were reaching through the internets to show some kindness.  I wasn’t sure if anyone (besides me and my coworkers) who would give a rip.

I just hope this positive swing in the right direction lasts for some time!

If you’re gonna fail…

Fail BIG.  That’s how I roll.

So, I went off the NaBloPoMo wagon this year.  And only halfway through.  I realized at 11pm on Saturday when I was out with friends that I hadn’t yet posted that day.  I tried to do one from my phone, but couldn’t get the interface to work quite right.

And I knew I wouldn’t make it home in time to do a real one.

So – I knew I was going to fail.  And, in that spirit, I also took Sunday off.  (In my defense, I spent most of Sunday with a horrific headache that made looking at anything painful)

I almost didn’t even want to do today.  How sad is that?  I’m letting some self-imposed expectation defeat me?

Nuts to that!  I’m just gonna pick myself up and give it another try.  I have to look at what I’ve accomplished and not focus on what I didn’t.  Right?

So, while I was not posting, here’s what I did these last few days.

I read this:

I actually believed this was a true story for a while. It's not. But it's still a dang good read.

I had a great breakfast with some friends on a cold rainy morning.  What better way to spend a Saturday morning??

I watched this:

This is a true story - sadly. And in case you weren't sure if this movie will break your heart or not.... It will.

And I was emotionally wrecked for a while.  It is actually still haunting me in many ways.  I think I cried 4 times during the movie, and once the day after.  It’s that good.  I had to wait for the perfect time to watch it.  And a cold, dreary, Saturday afternoon wrapped in a cozy hoodie, with warm soup = perfect!

(I also watched some college football)

I went out to watch this guy play at a fancy-schmancy restaurant where I had a marvelous chocolate martini:

He doesn't have a CD out yet in mass production. But check out his myspace music page.

Click on his image above to get to his myspace page.  Also check out one of his music videos here:

I spent too much time on this:

and I hung out with some amazing 9th grade girls.  I’m always honored that they choose to share their lives with me.  I’ve been with some of these girls since 6th grade and I love watching them grow into amazing young women.

I hope to be fully back on the wagon again now.   And I’m ready to give this another go!

Friday Photo: Libby

I spent most of the last two weeks house & dog sitting for good friends of mine. 

It’s been a few years since I’ve owned a dog, so it was a nice treat for me to get to love on one for a short while.

 

And, really, who can resist this beautiful face?

Are you almost done in there?

This is Libby (aka: Libbers, do-do, puppy, sweet-pea) patiently waiting for me to finish getting ready in the morning.  She has her head on her favorite torn apart loved teddy bear and is ready to play!

Happy Friday!  Have a great weekend and don’t forget to check out who else is playing along in Candie Carrie’s Friday Photo Finish Fiesta!

My Hot Date tonight…

Because I can’t wait until I make it to Mrs G’s Women’s Colony.

And because I decided that I need more spontaneity in my life.

I have made plans for a hot date tonight at 12:01.

Maybe you’ve heard of him:

Oh, yeah.

Don’t wait up for me!

Something’s missing…

And that something would be my camera. 

Forever in our hearts - and online photo storage.

Actually, it’s not missing.  It’s broken.  Which is not as bad, I guess.  At least I was able to pull out the SD card and upload all of my photos on to my computer.

I blame my lack of practice in relay baton-passing.  Kind of like the US 400 meter teams.  There was a bad hand-off while driving in Kenya and my poor camera suffered fatal injuries in the fall.  RIP polaroid.  You will be missed.

It’s been more of a struggle than I thought it would be – and that’s mostly due to the blogging.  I have all these stories in my head and they just don’t seem to work right without the photos.  I mean, without photos that I have taken.  That make sense to me.  That are part of the story.  You know?

I’ve been suffering from blog-envy lately because of this.  I see the progress of Jennifer’s pink hair.  Aubrey’s child napping, Wep’s weekend hikes.  And don’t even get me started on Melanie’s gorgeous shots of her kids and her cooking.

And what do I have?

Random shots that I can find on Photobucket.  Or old photos that I have taken. Or my phone?  All viable options to be sure.  But sub-par, really.

So I think I’ll take the opportunity in the upcoming weeks to dig into the archives and tell some great stories that I never got around to earlier.  I hope not to bore you too much!

And I’ll be doing my research later to pick out a new camera.  I can at least enjoy an excuse to upgrade!

Any suggestions for a good, basic camera with some good zoom options, maybe even upgradable?  For under a couple hundred dollars?

Just another dumb joke

I’ve had a pretty busy couple of days and thought I’d give myself a bit of a “day off” for NaBloPoMo.

I’d like to present to you my favorite dumb jokes that was somehow hilarious in Kenya.

Q: What’s green and has wheels?

A: Grass.  I lied about the wheels.

Thanks, Kim for my new favorite bad joke

Sacrificing the gift

The VP of my company sent us an email today challenging us to finish the year strong.  He punctuated his challenge with the following quote from one of my heroes – Steve Prefontaine:

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.

One really motivated, driven man.

Boy, have I been sacrificing lately!  I feel like I’ve been sleepwalking through the last few weeks.  My schedule has been too full (surprise, surprise!).  And I’ve been distracted both at work and with friends and family.

I’m not sure what is the exact cause of this lack of focus.  Most likely there are several.  I’m suffering most at work.  I am struggling with a slight attitude problem there.  I don’t think it’s overt and noticeable to others (yet) but I’m definitely feeling it on the inside.  There’s just no…. drive.  Ever since I was passed over for promotion again – I have felt a minor apathy.

It’s gotten better in the last day or so.  I was able to accomplish a lot today and and started hacking away at my to-do list.  I was even able to lay some ground work for future projects.  But it still feels like an uphill battle.

So my question to you is:  What do you do to dig yourself out of the dumps at work?

Any tips and/or suggestions are appreciated!

A grand entrance

I just want to give quick shout out to some of my friends who are busy serving the people of Rajamundry, India.

Especially Sarah.  This is her first big trip outside of the US and her first international mission trip as well.  But apparently, the girl knows how to make an entrance over there just as she does here.  I was looking at the team blog today and saw this photo.:

This is part of the welcoming ceremony at CEM. Sarah's the babe in the front.

She is one of my fabulous DSW ladies and will be missed for the next week.  I could tell you more about what they are doing on their visit, but I’ll let her tell the story better.  Please read this post to get a rookie’s perspective on the mission.

And keep checking out their blog over the next week – they have a lot going on at the CEM compound!

Not-so-happy valley

It was a cold, gloomy day in Michigan today.  It made for a looooong day of Spartan football.

But at least we had a decisive win against Purdue to keep us happy!

Things were not the same in State College, PA.  Penn State is a close second for me in college football.  And I’ve been pulling for Joe Pa and his boys in their pursuit of a national championship this year.

This man is my favorite coach. Ever.

I came home from East Lansing on a post-victory high, and was busy getting ready for a dinner party tonight when I got a text that would change my mood.  All my friend Brad wrote was: Turn on ABC.  Now.

And I did.

And…… ouch.   The Nittany Lions were down by 23-24 to Iowa.  With just one second left in overtime.

Just like that – it felt like the season was over.  And I could be focused on the fact that they made a great run  of it.  They only have one loss now.  But it just seemed to knock the wind out of me.   I could relate to all the sad faces in Beaver Stadium.

I left a sympathy voicemail for a friend who would be feeling the loss so much more strongly than I.

ugh.

Sorry Papa Joe.  Sorry Nittany Lions.  Sorry to all the fans in Happy Valley.  (and a few in Lapeer County, MI).

But it’s still a season to be darn proud of!

And MSU had a great win!

**note: This was actually posted at 11:48pm on Saturday night, and not on Sunday.  So I DID (barely) meet the NaBloPoMo requirements!!.