Quack, Quack

Thursday Tidbits

• Currently working on some pasta and meatballs.  Actually put some effort into dinner... I think that deserves applause of some kind.  I probably should have gone grocery shopping this evening.  I went for a two mile run with Brink instead.  We don't run together very often any more and I love every second when we do!

• I'm trying to pick up my miles some.  I'm still nursing a sore knee/IT band issue.  I haven't had any shooting pain but I can tell something isn't quite normal down there.  I did some foam rolling when I got home but need to make it a point to work on it each night.

• I brought in a few empty boxes from the garage so that I can start packing.  Squee!  Still crossing my fingers but hopefully we'll be moving by May!  I have no idea where to even start packing.  The boxes I brought it seem so terribly small.  I'm going to need some bigger boxes if I'm going to make better use of my time.

• I spent some time reading up on "How to move houses with a cat."  Seven years ago when I moved into my current home, I moved Milo here from my parents house.  We just brought him over and let him have the whole house to roam.  Then he had some pancreatic attack.  It was probably stress induced.  Everything I read this morning suggested cats freak out and don't drink enough water and that leads to bigger problems.  So...trying to best prepare for how to move the guy without pancreas issues - because cat diarrhea and giving Milo pills are the most horrible, least enjoyable things on the planet.  And considering I had to observe my first autopsy yesterday, that is saying something!

No computer, no problem

The half of a day without my computer has only reinforced how much I use it. My desk is bare. It's kind of creepy. But I still manage to get my Internet fix by using my phone thanks to unlimited data and a WiFi connection.

Last week after completing my Level III class I went to a firearms safety class put on by brother who is a certified firearms instructor. Friday night was all lecture. Last night we finished the class with four hours at the range.







It was a lot of fun! I've always sucked at shooting a hand-gun for the most part so with the awesome instruction, I managed to get a pretty good grouping by the end of the night! It was fun to watch my brother do his thing as an instructor - he knows his stuff and it's obvious he's passionate about teaching firearms stuff.

I finally have a whole day off that doesn't include overtime or a class of any kind. Sleeping-in didn't really happen. I've cleaned some but for the most part I'm just being lazy. I'm watching the temperature to see if it's going to get as high as Yahoo says it will. I need to get a long run in but I'm having a mental battle over it and just don't feel like it.

I haven't felt like running a lot lately. It's been a bad three to four weeks of slacking. I have completely fallen of whatever wagon I was on. The scale is up, sleeping is crappy, stress has my complexion looking like a teenager's, and nothing is getting checked off my to-do list.

Sleeping In

I used to love sleeping in.  When I worked my previous shift I could sleep until 10:30 or 11:00 on my days off.  Now that I'm forced into being an early bird, I can't sleep past 8 on my days off to save my life.  The sun rising earlier doesn't help me - Milo and Brinkley both think it's time to get it up when the sun comes up.  Unfortunately they do not know the difference between a work day and a non-work day and they've adjusted to my schedule better than I have.

Maybe  I can get a nap in later today to make up for the lack of sleeping-in.

Disconnected

My computer is on the fritz, which has greatly diminished the amount of time I've spent on the Internet. I'll be dropping off my computer later today to (hopefully) get fixed. Maybe I'll be back to some normalcy tomorrow. Craziness.

Oy, with the equations already

I was feeling pretty good after leaving class on Friday. After today's class, I feel like the dumbest, slowest person on the planet.

We have a new instructor this week - my way of processing info does NOT agree with his way of teaching, if it can be called that.

It's going to be a rough week.

Finally Friday!!!!

My day in a nutshell...


Only thing missing from the pics is hanging out on my parents' camouflage furniture and eating Sonic for dinner.

I'm glad it's finally the weekend. My math filled brain needs a rest.

Remember that time I ran a half marathon??

I do.  I remember how much time I had to spend running during training.  I remember the protein shakes and the ice baths.  I remember working extra hours to pay for my hotel and my plane ticket.  But most of all, I remember the humidity kicking my butt by the half way mark on race day.  I remember watching the heels of my friend's feet for miles.  I remember thinking, "how come I trained so fricking hard for this and I'm the one struggling?"  I remember feeling like I was going to fall over once I actually stopped running.  I remember holding my medal for the first time and thinking it was heavier than I expected.  

I remember thinking how much all of the hard work training was worth it, even if it was a lackluster run on race day.  I remember loving the race course so much that I convinced myself I really would be crazy enough some day to try to run the full marathon in Disney World.  I remember signing up for my next half marathon thinking it would be easy to maintain my fitness for a few months and do it all over again.

Yup, I remember when I ran a half marathon.

Practice

How fast was the car going when it hit the pedestrian??


And when it started to skid??

Runnin' of the Green 7k

My March race is complete!  Bryn and I conquered the Runnin' of the Green 7k this morning in Denver.  It was super cold when we first arrived downtown.  Our starting coral was in the sun though so we survived the 10 minute wait before the race start.


Bryn and I weren't over the moon at the thought of having to run four miles this morning.  We've both been slacking some so we were not looking forward to very hilly course.  And guess what?? It turned out to be a pretty great run.  We stayed strong going up the hills with "knees, knees, knees" as a mantra in our heads.


Even though it was freezing outside the sunshine helped a lot.  I had just enough juice at the finish line to make a strong finish after topping the last hill.  My final time was 50:02.  Missed it by two seconds!! Drat!  Ah well.

Another race done!  And I'm going to use it as a great start to my next round of half marathon training.  With the time change giving me more daylight after work I now have no excuses for skipping runs!!

Humility and Awe

At the beginning of 2013, I put forth a small list of things to accomplish or focus on in 2013.  One of those things was living with humility and awe.  I mentioned then that I would explain at some point... well, here it is.  Roughly.

####

Not too long ago I discovered I was a unitarian universalist.  In my deepest, darkest hours, I looked for answers...what I found was religion.  I found that I wasn't alone in my thoughts or beliefs. I found inspiration and guidance.

Over the past few months, I've found my new center.  I'm not sure how to explain just how life changing it has been for me.  I've listened to sermons for hours on end.   And with almost every one, something strikes my soul.  I've been moved to become a better person and to thoroughly enjoy my life and all of the beauty in it.

One particular sermon by Rev. Marlin Lavanhar of All Souls Church - Tulsa is one that I've listened to almost two dozen times now.  The sermon is titled Universalism.  In it, he describes the core of Universalism.  At one point, he uses the metaphor from another Unitarian minister, Forrest Church, to describe the religion.

The short version... There is one source, one light, one God.  One Destiny.  In other words, "One God.  All are saved."

The long version... (Typing while listening to podcast; excuse errors)

Imagine the world as if it were an enormous cathedral.  One of those ancient cathedrals in which there are enumerable smaller chapels and transepts and alters and shrines all throughout it.  And each section of the cathedral has its own unique stained glass window.  And each section has its own group of worshipers that stand before that stained glass window.  Some of the chapels are large, with millions of people facing their window.  And others are tiny with just a few people.  But each set of windows is illuminated by the same sun.
... 

The windows in the cathedral of the world are representing the many religions that exist here on earth.  Each a reflection of the one universal light, the one God, one source, one power that illuminates us all.  All people.  Everywhere.  The different rooms in the cathedral, each with their distinct stained glass windows represent the many religions.  All of them being lit by the same source but each religion is but a refraction and a reflection of the one true light.  That means that no one can see the source directly.  No one can see God directly or fully.  God or ultimate truth is always veiled. 

... 

Each religion is an attempt to describe and understand and express the one universal source, the one mysterious source, of our existence.  It is to say that there is only one God, albeit known by many, many names. 

... 

There has to be a way to test the validity of any set of beliefs in the cathedral of the world.  And the test is not based on what people say they believe.  It's based on their lives and their actions. 

... 

Some religious leaders who tell their followers that only their window transmits the one true light and all others are wrong and false and imposters and fakes.  In some cases these leaders even instruct their followers to go around and throwing rocks in other people's windows.  Obviously violence and disrespect and any kind of demeaning actions violate the rules of the cathedral of the world. 

... 

Dr. Church tells us that what's required to be a good citizen of the cathedral of the world requires living with two things, humility and awe.  Humility and awe. 

Awe at the incredible light and mystery that created and illuminates this world.  And humility.  Humility in recognizing that whatever our perspective is on this light, on this source, on this God, that no one sees it directly or fully.  No one.  No human being.  And therefore, we can respect, appreciate, listen, and hear other people's perspectives as long as no one is throwing rocks through other people's windows. 

Now if life and death are the doors at which we enter and exit the cathedral... then humility and awe are the pillars that keep the roof on the cathedral.

Humility and Awe.  This world is an absolutely amazing and beautiful thing.  I believe to live with humility and awe is to cherish every moment of this life, to seek beauty in the complexity of nature, and to always reflect upon the smallness of one's own existence in the world.

Rev. Marlin Lavanhar absolutely blows my mind.  I highly recommend listening to anything of his or the associate minister at All Souls, Tamara Lebak.  It is unbelievably refreshing to know that they and so many others stand on the side love and promote acceptance for all.

Humility and awe.  It's now a motto of sorts.  I look for beauty.  I give thanks.  I reflect on my life and place in this world.  And I give reverence each day to my God for my life - past, present, and future.

Juggling

Juggling (verb) - cope with by adroitly balancing.

Key word there being adroitly.  Most days I do my best.  I always manage to stay busy but lately it seems like I have way too many balls in the air for me to be juggling anything with any bit of adroitness.

Some things have definitely suffered from my inability to juggle adroitly in the past six weeks.  The thing that has suffered the most has been my consistency in working out and eating healthy.  I noticed this past week just how little I seem to care each day and how much of a downward spiral it is when I start the negative thinking.  I'm terrified to step on the scale.  I know I've done some damage lately.  If I feel like a slug, I don't need to reinforce that feeling by weighing myself.

Wedding planning is slowing moving along.  My mom and I managed to check a few things off the list last weekend but there are still a lot of little things to get in order.  I guess as long as I keep plugging along slowly, I'll still get to where I'm going.

House shopping is frustrating more than anything else.  This town in which I live is ridiculously overpopulated and expensive.  It's pathetic how little you get for your money.  And what's worse is that there are so many suckers out there willing to pay the prices they do for so little.  We're sort of re-evaluating what we want and what we need before we go looking at houses again.

I've got training coming up the next two weeks at work.  Nothing like a little trigonometry, calculus, and physics to set you back in the world and make you humble! HA!  I'm looking forward to the class.  It's usually a lot of work but also very rewarding.  It's crazy to think I can be given a scale drawing of an accident and nothing else and be able to calculate how fast both cars were going and determine if a car stopped at the light or at a stop sign.  Or at what point the driver perceived the danger and if the whole accident could have been avoided.  Fun stuff.

I was issued some of my CSI gear this week.  Training for that happens after my Accident Reconstruction class.  One thing is for certain - my car, my locker, and my bags need reorganized.  Yet another thing to add to the To Do list.  Work shenanigans - I love it!! Who would have thought I would have ended up doing what I do??  Pure craziness!

Ok, time to get off my arse and chip away at something ...

Flake Report

Or maybe that should be flakeless report...

No snow yet.  Supposedly we are to get a blizzard overnight.  It reminds me of 2003.  Yup, 2003.  I was in Arizona with my friend Christy for Colorado Rockies spring training and Spring Break.  My mom made us come back earlier because a snow storm was coming.  We were kind of grumpy at the thought of ending our trip early and joked that we had better see snow when we woke up the morning after arriving home in the dark.  

I did wake up to snow.  LOTS of snow.  I was snowed in with my parents and I worked on a puzzle while watching the U.S. invade Iraq on the television.  I can't believe that was TEN years ago!!  TEN!  I was so young and naive.  Snow ruined everything.  And I thought it was "cool" to watch our military go raging into a country under the cloak of night.  That wouldn't be the case now.

Does that mean I'm older and wiser??  Definitely older; I can only hope, wiser.

I've heard various things about just how much snow we are supposed to receive.  8 inches.  12 inches.  More.  Less.  Who knows.  I'm supposed to be going to Denver tomorrow because it's race weekend.  I'll wait until tomorrow mid-day to make my travel decisions.  

Crossing my fingers it's not as worse as the weather folks are predicting.

The things I see...

So it begins...

Not sure if I'll be dreaming about numbers just yet but I wouldn't be surprised.