Bad Genes

One of my mom's favorite sayings is 'in my next life'. When we were kids, it was frequently something like, 'in my next life I will have kids who (insert the appropriate perfectly behaved kid behavior here)'. Well, in MY next life, I will learn how to throw things out!  This is a skill I have certainly not mastered in this life. I know, all you clean organized people say 'just throw it out'. It's not so easy, I'm not programmed to do that. What if I need it.........

In preparation of my kitchen remodel, I decided to do a little cupboard cleaning. Let's take a gander at some of the things I found (mind you, these are only the things I  wasn't too embarrassed to photograph)!

WTF!  How many (if any) plastic utensils does one need. 

 The above have not yet made it in the garbage, because you never know when you might need a plastic knife or two.  Of course, it may be a long time before I need 14 plastic knives. They are sitting beside me as I contemplate their future. I know you are saying THROW THEM OUT!

When was the last time I ate regular sugar?

 One of the three of these made it into the garbage. The two unopened boxes are back in the cupboard.

Ack.

 These spices were a present that came with some indian recipes. Some were empty containers (because you know I might need a cute tiny rusty tin container one day). The others are filled with spices that I'm sure some day I will learn how to use.

Once I sprouted things, maybe I will again some day.

You never know when you need a tie thingy or a tiny plastic bag!

 These made it into the trash today!  Phew!!!

I blame my inability to throw out rubber bands, even impractical ones, on my mom!

All this and I haven't made it to the junk drawer yet. Maybe that can be it's own very special blog.

In more cheerful news after a full day of sun worshipping yesterday, today Otto was out bright and early to find the little corner of sun hitting the back yard.  Happy spring!

There is sun out here!

I will run from your camera! (Missed the super cute shot of her and Otto!)

Bad Hair Month

Sometime early March I decided I hated my hair. It was rare that I could get it to look even remotely decent. The left side was usually semi acceptable, but the right side was hell. It has this annoying cowlicky thing that could not be combated. The entire month all I could think about, dream about, fantasize about was a pony tail. As in, please god, let me put my hair in a pony tail!

 So, when I got my hair done a week or so ago, I had this brilliant idea that I would not get it cut, in order to speed up the ttpt (time to pony tail). Unfortunately, this had the consequence of not only giving me bad hair, but giving me really grown out bad hair! I do not look good.


Today in desperation I managed a teeny tiny baby pony tail. In order to illustrate, I thought I'd google baby pony tail. The picture below tells the tale (tail) perfectly (though I carry none of that movie star swagger)!

This is about the size of my baby pony tail. Also displayed is the amount of hair that does not make it into the PT.

In other news, for some reason when you google baby pony tail you also get the two following pictures. One an example of the pony tail I would love to have, but will never manage and is not even remotely a baby pony tail and the second, well, I can't even begin to explain the second.

Only 3.5 weeks, 24.5 days or 588 hours until my next hair cut!

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Turn and face the strange.

Well, I guess fun fact week will not be concluded. Yesterday was busy. I ran out of time and energy! We had a good run though, huh?

Today we'll move on and speak of forced technological change. Say a good bye to the Google Reader. Apologize to Heather. And bring up a topic that may now be keeping me up at night. (Woo, all that in one blog!)

So Google announced this week that it is killing the Google Reader. For those who don't know, the Google Reader is a way to maintain a list of websites one is interested in. For me specifically, it is the home to all the blogs I follow. When I first found out my friends had blogs, I had a ritual in which every day I pulled up each blog to see if there was a new exciting post waiting for me! With some bloggers, Heather for example!!, you could expect this excitement daily. Others (and I won't name names), go months without updating!  This made it hard to want to pull up their blog daily - risking continual disappointment. It also made one likely to forget about their blog, risking missing out when they finally got around to saying something.

Google reader came to the rescue. Enter a blog address in Google reader and every time someone blogs, their new blog will pop up to the top! Issue solved. And, now that I'm following about 30 blogs, it saves space in my more poor brain for other things (ie I don't have to remember all the blogs I want to look up). Phew!

So, now that the reader is disappearing, I (along with 500,000 others according to news articles), moved over to Feedly. Feedly offers a similar service and allowed me to put in my Google login credentials and transfered all my blogs over for me!  Sweet!!  The only issue is getting used to new navigation and a new layout AND some weird something. There was a list of blogs I follow on the right, the top one being my friend Heather. I clicked on something that I thought would allow me to see her blog, instead it swooped her blog right off my lists of blogs I follow. AND when I click the lists of actual blog entries, her latest posts are no where to be found. I keep trying to add her, but Feedly just says I am already following her.

Hmmmm. As the girls on the bachelor say (and they are all 'girls'), I can only hope and pray her blog reappears when there is a new update. Sorry Heather!

And finally, all this stress has introduced a new worry into my life. Google's whims and blogspot. What if Google decided to get rid of their blog site?  (This is a particular worry, as the Reader and Blogspot are very integrated.) What if all my 4.5 years of blogs, some of which are pure brilliance, were gone in a swoop of some Google employees keyboard. That would make me unbelievable sad!  How can I save these?????

FFW, Day 6

On today, this sixth day of fun fact week, actually fun fact friday, the only fun fact I have for you is that I am much too tired to come up with a fun fact of my own! 

Instead, I will leave you with some nonsense currently being sold in a hardware store in Belfair, Washington and (I'm sure) other fine establishments in the more upscale neighborhoods of this country.

Yes, it's anti friction powder for your butt.

And I think no further words are necessary or even appropriate!

Happy FFF!

FFW, Day 5

What's fun about day 5?  Well, what's not so fun is that my yard waste didn't get picked up for the second week in a row. There is a house being built across the street and it seems that even though the garbage truck can navigate the construction traffic, the yard waste truck cannot. And the city has advised me that unless I can guarantee the construction mess won't be there, they won't come pick up my extra stinky yard/food waste. Hmmmm. Somehow, I have to find the head construction guy and convince him that thursday's are off limits for big huge construction trucks taking up the entire street!

Anyhow, moving on, the real fun fact for today is the Crossfit Open!  So, Crossfit tries to pretend it is 'of the people' and has a set of 5 workouts that anyone can compete in. If you do well enough in the open, you move to the regionals. And then the top 20 men and top 20 women in the world (yes, that is only the top 20 in the entire world) move onto the games. I think they have taken fewer and fewer to the final games every year. Anyhow, on the surface it's all egalitarian, but in reality, it's a huge money making scheme! This year they convinced 130,000 athletes to participate (130,000 athletes - 40 of whom will make it!)! They charge each athlete $20. So, right off the bat, that's $2.6 million. Then you have to have your scores validated by your gym - so that's another $20 for the affiliate to join and be eligible to validate. Then each coach has to pay $10 to learn how to judge. Then the regionals are super expensive for both athletes and spectators.

But, the scam aside, I decided to join this year! The workouts are a little kooky, but there is a good handful of people from my gym doing it, so it's actually pretty fun. Tonight I did the second workout. It was as many rounds as possible of 5 push press (75lbs), 10 deadlifts (75kbs - this is an insanely light deadlift. I have never deadlifted this little in my life, even as a warm up) and 15 box jumps. It was pretty much all cardio. I scored 231. I'll let you know on Sunday how that compares to the other old ladies - but I think I was the second fastest lady at my gym. I didn't do very well in the first workout. It involved snatches and I don't snatch. So there!

Anyhow, crossfit games. Fun fact. What could be more fun!!

Oh, one final CF Games note, if any of you is thinking that maybe I could do well enough to make it to regionals (like I did for about a minute), it turns out that there is no regionals for masters. They only take the top 20 in the world. I will NOT be one of those 20. 

FFW, Day 4

AKA Hump Day!  Phew, the week is flying by. How did this happen?

And more importantly, what's the fun fact of the day???

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

By some miracle and completely out of the blue, my manager called a meeting last week and announced we all get an extra week of vacation! The area I work in recently merged with IT and it seems that IT has always gotten a week more than the rest of the company. And now we get to join suit!  Whoop. The funny thing is that I already got a lot of vacation. I accrue so much that I am always in danger of hitting my cap (at a certain point you stop accruing).  And now I'll accrue even more (I now get 5 weeks per year!). 

In honor of the event, I'm taking today off!  

Another fun fact (yes, two for one). Every time I think or see the word vacation spelled out (as above), a certain comercial pops into my brain. It was a comercial on channel 11 (the rerun channel where one would watch old episodes of hogan's heros or the brady bunch). It was one of those commercials for the ubiquitous records compilations from the 70s. Anyhow one of the commercials started out with the line 'v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n in the summer sun'. Now, probably none of you find this interesting, and I don't really either. What I do find fascinating is what is says about the workings of the brain. Let's pretend I watched this commercial in 1978, 35 years ago. That means 35 years later this memory is saved in my brain and pops up every time I see vacation spelled out in individual letters and my brain starts singing the song. And it gets even better, I can tell you that the next song on the commercial was 'never never on a sunday'.  Anyhow, I find that fascinating, but for those who don't. I'll share some pictures of where I'm going/went today on my vacation!

To the beach!!

Daisy and I hit Yosemite!

Ah oui, C'est gaie Paris.

I think maybe this is when I went to the moon! 

And finally, I'm hitting the roller coaster!!

Happy vacation day!

FFW, Day 3!!

So I am interrupting the very final episode of the bachelor, putting Sean's quest for true love on hold BECAUSE (drum roll please), I just got a text from an impatient fan wanting to know today's fun fact! And how can I resist the demands of my fabulous followers! Sorry Sean, your true love will just have to wait another few minutes.

And now, for the fun fact unveiling. Actually, I've been thinking about this for a few hours. Things were a bit touch and go for a while. My afternoon at work sucked and I was wondering how I was supposed to scrape a fun fact out of the day at all. But then it happened.....

I took Otto for a walk. It's grey and blustery and rainy and wintery looking outside. I wasn't expecting much. In fact it was one of those nights where not having a dog feels like a good option. But guess what, just beginning to peak out of the grey is SPRING!  Yes, fun fact of the day, spring is here. Sure it's grey. But it's warm (I only wore one down coat and took my gloves off early into the walk) and there are flowers!  Lots and lots of flowers.

So, any of your hiding inside grouchy about winter, get off your butt and enjoy spring!  (Those of you in Chicago can disregard this public service announcement and stay inside another couple months!)

Here's some proof!

Sweet!

Camellias!

Hello!

Yes, the wind and rain are making a few of these young flowers a little droopy!

But they are ready to fight for spring we should too!

FFW, Day 2

This is, of course, fun fact week!!  And what fun fact are you going to learn about me today? I thought we'd talk home repair.

I have been thinking about redoing my kitchen for some time now. In my mind redoing is 'merely' new cabinets and counter tops. Easy right. Well, yesterday for the first time I sat down and thought out what that entails. Specifically, how many decisions are involved in getting new counter tops and cabinets.

And let me tell you, it is a ridiculous number of decisions. New cabinets - finished wood or painted? old cabinets with new doors? what features do these cabinets need? what types of knobs? what type of counter top? what type of sink? faucet? lights? tile? Good lord the list is endless!

Now, as far as I can tell, every female on this planet loves to spend long hours searching for home repair/decor ideas on the internet then lovingly posting them on Pinterest. This female takes bits and pieces of each look for future home design. They will pick and chose from their plethora of ideas and design the perfect kitchen that is both functional and perfectly matches the style of their always perfectly clean and organized house.

So here's your fun fact. I have zero patience for any of it!  I look at pictures and think, oh, that's cool. But can never even imagine what to chose to get there or how it might look in my house. I don't pick up tips and ideas. I don't want to search every option and bargain hunt. I don't want to toodle through vintage shops finding the perfect knick knack. I want to decide to have a new kitchen and just have it be done!

Sigh, I guess when you have these issues you just hire someone!

My pinterest perusal/kitchen research lasted exactly 3 pictures. Including this one - not because I have room for a "kitchen cabinet vegetable pantry", but because I'm sick of having sweet potatoes spilling off my counter!  Help!!

Fun Fact, Day 1

Okay beautiful readers, life is good!  Not only are you getting a blog two days in a row, but I'm trying a week long blog experiment that promises blogs for the next 7 days straight!!!!!!

I am going to post a fun fact about each day for the next week. And believe me, you won't want to miss any of these, they will be doozies!!

Fun fact #1. I woke up this morning and checked the time and got super excited because I thought I had actually slept until 6.30. But, then I realized that day light savings time had started. Sigh, I actually woke up at 5.30 achieving exactly 7 hours and 30 minutes of sleep, just like EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE. All the sleep articles suggest that 7 - 9 is a good amount of sleep, but seem to lean heavily toward the over 8 side of that coin. What I want to know is HOW THE HECK DOES ONE DO THAT!  Except for the occasional night when I cannot sleep, 7.5 is exactly what my brain determines is appropriate. Every. Single. Night.

Happy Day Light Savings. In honor of the event, a little Otto and Daisy sun cuteness from yesterday.

Riding the Train

Lately, I've gotten tired of bike commuting and have been riding the train more. It's super convenient from my house and fast (well usually), but lately there have been a few concerning issues.

First, there is the fact that train keeps 'experiencing delays'. This usually happens right at rush hour. I think you're supposed to take a bus out of the tunnel and catch the train further south, but the notification service that tells me this arrives via email and as I stand underground waiting for the train, I don't usually get that information until too late. So instead I wait and after 30 minutes or so a train will show up stuffed to the gills. I ride home shoved against all of humanity, or at least the southern half of seattle and all those going to the airport.

And then there are train etiquette issues.

Luggage where my bike should be. Nice square luggage that would fit nicely in a corner and not take over the entire aisle like my bike did!

There is a section on the train for bikes. Well it's for bikes or luggage and the sign specifically states it's first come first served. Well, a couple days ago I get on the train with my bike and a very large man scuttles himself into the space. He saw me and my bike and said, Oh do you want to put your bike here?  I said that would be great, he moves out of the way. As I am about to step with my bike into the space another man gets on the train with some luggage says, actually, I'll just put my luggage here (I kid you not, he says this). He secures his luggage and then looks at me and says did you want to park your bike here? I of course replied. No. I want my bike hanging in the middle of the aisle so that everyone who gets on and off trips on it - asshole. Okay, actually I said. Well I'm okay unless it gets crowded. Which of course it did. Did you notice the part where the sign reads first come first served in the luggage slot and I mentioned I GOT ON THE TRAIN FIRST! Plus, I'm a lady!

Bike in the way and someone's butt.

And you can't really tell from this picture, but my bike was 1/2 way across the aisle so everyone getting on and off tripped over it and I felt terrible. 

Seats?  Yes please, I'll take two!

And then there was this woman. Can you imagine being on a super crowded train, taking up two seats and not even looking up or offering the other seat to someone else!!!! (Mind you I couldn't have sat down because I, of course, had to hold my bike, but I am sure there was someone old and infirm who could have used the seat.)

And finally, the most concerning development of all. 

Water dripping from the ceilings!  This just started this week in the Beacon Hill station. Yes, it has rained a bit this week. But, let's remember that the Beacon Hill station is 160 feet under ground!  This is not a little water accumulating on the roof! All I have to say is that when it goes, I hope I'm not there!

Panorama

It was beautiful tonight as I was walking the dog, so I decided to try out the panorama feature on my new iphone!

Pre panorama!

Panorama

Panorama a little later and a little further along.

A little later still.

Okay, something funky happened to this one, still learning.

This one is actually my favorite. No panorama, just a tree!

BTW, in case you're interested, it is impossible to accurately view photos in amber goggles!  Good thing it's not too late so I'm not messing with my melatonin levels!