Drama in Seattle

Phew, I'm exhausted. This week was trauma and drama in Seattle. The Alaska Way Viaduct was closed all week.  I believe most of my readers are Seattle natives, whether or not you currently live in Seattle, but a very quick recap for any who are not so lucky.  The AWV was built in the early 50s and since then has happily carried cars from North to South/South to North along the water with a BEAUTIFUL view (well at least the upper deck folks get a beautiful view).  Anywhoo, AWV blissfulness soured a bit with the after the 2001 earthquake when there was damage and people began to worry about 'the big one'. (People were probably worried before, but this was the first I heard of it.) Drivers now had to fear death if the earthquake hit mid trip. A bunch of downtown Seattle folks happily jumped on the bandwagon with a 'why do we have this monstrosity blocking our view  of the water' argument and 10 years and lots of pre trauma drama later, we are starting our new tunnel project. (Lots of pre trauma drama including a new mayor who ran primarily on a 'the tunnel sucks' platform!)    

The AWV was not a part of my life prior to moving to Beacon Hill. But, but since moving I have fallen madly in love.

1. the view northbound is insane
2. it gets one to Ballard with much less dodging and scooting around side streets than I5
3. it's consistent. (I5 is very tempermental, sometime it will allow you to arrive in a timely manner, sometimes the traffic is a nightmare.)

So, with the impending closure, all of us South end folks were feeling a little gloom and doom in a 'the Apocalypse is coming' kind of a way. And we weren't disappointed. All week long we were oppressed by the drone of traffic helicopters looking for every traffic hiccup.  The first day traffic wasn't so bad, as I think everyone decided not to drive. Then as the week progressed, traffic got worse and worse.  By Friday there were 14 mile backups on I5 and trips into the city from close suburbs were estimate at 110 minutes or so. I know this, because after 4 days of waking up early and heading to 7am crossfit, I decided to sleep in and go to evening crossfit. So I got to spend an hour in traffic listening to traffic reports. I guess closing a highway carrying 110,000 cars per day is an issue.

Anyhow, they tore down half of it and opened up this strange detoured version of it that is guaranteed to slow things down and confuse people (I drove on it today and first couldn't find my entrance then missed my exit even though I saw the signs and was looking closely).

Many people seem to be nostalgic.  I don't have an sadness, as it is uglier than ugly, but I'll miss the dreamy lightning fast (exaggeration) convenience. Goodbye viaduct.          

Sore!

OUCH!

Halfway through the workout, I knew I was in trouble. I was feeling that intense muscular fatigue that you know will only get worse. As I left the gym and felt my legs spasm and collapse slightly on the TWO steps out of the gym, my brain sighed in resignation. I tried to avert it.  Yesterday (the day after) I  worked out  but took it easy, in the hopes of flushing out my muscles and avoiding the inevitable. But it's, here, the day after the day after and I can't move.

For those of you who don't exercise, a metaphor. It's like getting a cold. That first day you have a sore throat and you're a little tired, you don't feel too bad, but you know you're going to get sick. You can't do anything to stop it and you know there will be days of suffering. Intense muscle fatigue is like that. With Crossfit, I have various muscle aches and pains throughout the week. Fatigue moves around my body as the week progresses and we do different exercises. But usually it's just dull aches. This movement limiting soreness is a different beast.

At various times in my athletic career I have decided to run stairs. Running stairs is great when your body is adjusted, but when you first start it's hell. It always feels okay that first day, while you're doing it, but you know, two days later you won't be able to sit or stand or walk up and down stairs. You'll want to use the handicap stall in the bathroom so you can lower yourself with your arms not your legs.  Even if you try to take it easy that first day, you can't stop the inevitable, there will be a couple days when regular day to day movement becomes impossible! That's where I am now.

So today, I'd love to do some yard work. Vacuum. Walk the dog without looking like Frankenstein. Hell, I'd even like to get in and out of the car. Instead, all I can think about is lying flat on my back completely still. I suppose I should look at the bright side, think of how strong I'll be - tomorrow (or the next day)!

Is this my life?

I'm getting one of these!

The other day I got home around 8pm or so.  It had been a day spent crossfiting, working, riding bike too and from work, running errands, A.R.T. appointment, and finally dog walking. Phew. that meant that pretty much I started my day at 5.20 got up fixed lunch and breakfast, walked the dog, rode my bike to crossfit, completed crossfit, worked 8 hours, rode my bike home, grabbed car and dog and ran to my ART appointment (physical therapy but better), walked dog, went to grocery store, and headed home 8ish.

Here's what happened next in my dreams: I walk in the door and find scents of a delicious dinner simmer on the stove, ready to be dished onto my plate while I relax and some gorgeous male massages my feet and whispers sweet nothings about how wonderful I am.

Here's what really happened: I walked in the door already knowing the dog had rolled into something so insanely foul smelling that a bath was an immediate necessity. As I walked into the kitchen, trying to figure out what food could get quickly into my stomach before I dealt with the dog, I stepped on cat poop. Yes, my cat had pooped on the floor in the doorway of the kitchen. Meanwhile, both the cat and the dog were whining/meowing because they were starving. So, clean up cat poop, wash dog, clean entire bathroom because that is what is required after dog washing, do a load of laundry (again necessitated by a dog wash), feed dog and cat. Feed myself.

By this time, of course, it is about 10 and I am past my bedtime because I HAVE to get 8 hours of sleep and I have to wake up the next day at 5.20 so that I can wash/rinse/repeat.

And I don't even have kids!  If kids were stacked into the picture. Think how much more complicated all this would be.

Hmmm, there might be more to solving this dilemma than a dog washing machine?

Last Garden Update of 2011, I promise!

I actually grew this!

I know, I know, most of you read 'garden update' and our eyes get heavy. But I had a request, so what am I supposed to do?  For you non garden peeps, I promise another blog soon. I have multiple topics written on my bamboo 'white' board so I won't forget.  And if those of you non garden folks are patient, you may be rewarded with a joke or two and at the end of this blog with some extra cute Daisy and Otto photos!

Overall, I'm going to rate Garden Project 2011 a success!  There were some challenges:

Peppers - So tiny they aren't even worth discussing.
Broccoli rabe - nothing, but it's quite possible I was not patient enough with these. They bolted and I pulled the damn things.  That was in the early days. Do you remember those very sad days of summer 2011. There was NO sunshine and everything was NOT growing and I was getting frustrated. Perhaps they just needed time and space and not to be yanked from the ground.
Beets - They flowered pretty quickly and ended up being very fibrous and not very good.


But, let's not dwell on sadness and tragedy, let's jump to the good news.

Onions - I grew some kind of onion from seed and I haven't tried those yet (they are small and were slow), BUT the walla walla sweet starts I got from PCC have been insane! I think I only have about two left and will be very sad to see them go. Though, maybe my co-workers won't mind, as I tend to eat copious amounts in my daily lunch salad and may be fragrant post lunch.    
Basil - Mmm delicious salad addition
Lemon Cucumbers - They were awesome and cute.  Though stressful because there were just too damn many of them!  And how many lemon cucumbers can one person eat?

The remnants of lemon cucumber (with a basil leaf thrown in), cute!

Broccoli - nothing to say but awesome! Oh, wait, I just remembered the aphid crisis, it was rather brief an did not effect the overall crop! Though I did spend lots of time murdering aphids.
Purslane - Ah purslane. It finally grew, but unlike the succulent lemony stuff at the farmer's market, mine was completely bland and tasteless!
Kale - kale was my super star. I ate (and am still eating) lots of my kale. There was an aphid thing for a bit (the aphids moved from the broccoli to the kale), but overall a success.
And finally, Squash!  I am finally eating my squash; delicata and spaghetti. OMG, so good. Even the animals eat them. (BTW, special shout out to Tracy and MB, the spaghetti squash was purchased with a gift certificate from them!!!!)
 

I know, my meals all look the same, but kale, broccoli and spaghetti squash fresh from the garden, how could you not eat that every day, all day!   

File under, completely gratuitous. As promised, this was Daisy and Otto hanging on the porch in the sun yesterday. Even cuter than a lemon cucumber!

So that's the garden story. Until next spring when I get to bore you all again.  
 

     

Keeping Up (or not)

As all my regular readers will no doubt remember, almost a year ago when I got the new Iphone 4, great amounts of stress were undergone when I had to upgrade the operating system on my computer - http://rcarlsini.blogspot.com/2010/10/yes.html. Since then my computer has been slow and I promised myself that next spring I can upgrade and get a new computer.

Then on Friday I get a call - out of the blue - from my internet company and a nice electronic lady tells me that my modem is really old (that would be 6 years old, since that is when I moved and got hooked up) and that it's probably effecting my service and internet speeds. Oh my. Things I have never ever thought about or considered. Maybe my modem is making my computer slow, not my computer?

So for the last hour I have spent my valuable time pouring over Amazon reviews of two modems from the same company (one a slightly newer version than the other). Mind you these two modems are virtually exactly the same, both are considerably newer and more advanced than my current modem, and I haven't given any thought to any modem ever before in my life. And suddenly I'm reading reviews to try to decide which of two virtually identical modems I should buy.  Goodness!

Anyhow, after way too much time, I decided and a new modem is on it's way promising me lightning quick computing speed. Hopefully, not so lightning quick that I will decide a new computer is not necessary.  

But me being me, now I start to worry. What about my wireless device?  Is that now too slow?  Too old?  What else needs upgrading?

#muchtoworryabout

(By the way, update to last week's post, homemade coconut milk yogurt is the best thing EVER!