Comfy Chaos

Weekly stats for 7/13/08-7/19/08:

• distance:  11.72 miles
• duration:  2h 38m 01s
• total average pace:  13:31
• total average speed:  4.47 mph 
• average pace run/walk:  12:20
• calories burned: 1,263
• things I’ve learned:  trying to become a morning person is harder than I thought
• song I’ve heard the most on my iPod:  Respectable Street by XTC

When I was a kid, I had a bit of a temper.  If my Barbie dolls wouldn’t do what I wanted, I’d often rip off their heads and throw them across the room.  One time, I even threw headless Barbie through a window and had to explain how I broke the window at my friend’s house.  I apparently had quite an arm in my early elementary school years.

Apparently, my munchkin takes after me, although without the temper.  She just does it for fun.  

Like a lot of kids her age, my munchkin is a very prolific artist.  Like many parents, I sometimes have a hard time figuring out what she actually made.  Imagine my surprise when she came home from camp with this lovely piece of art, just beaming.

Munchkin:  Mommy, isn’t this cool?

Me:  Yes, sweetie, I like what you’ve done with the little squares.

Munchkin:  Mommy, do you know what it is?

Me (not wanting to blurt out “penis!?”:  It’s your art, why don’t you tell me?

Munchkin:  Mommy…it’s an alien…with chicken pox!

So now you know, when you come over and grab a beer from the fridge, that’s an alien with chicken pox.

I was looking forward to getting up on the treadmill again this morning.  That was, of course, before I stayed up way too late last night watching Law & Order - you know, the good ones with Chris Noth.  I was totally in dreamland when the alarm went off and I turned over to hit the snooze button - and somehow pulled a muscle in my back.  That freakin’ hurts.  Were the running gods trying to tell me something?  

Weekly stats for 7/6/08-7/12/08:

• distance:  7.22 miles
• duration:  1h 43m 04s
• total average pace:  14:16
• total average speed:  4.23 mph 
• average pace run/walk:  12:36
• calories burned: 710
• things I’ve learned:  going out of town mucks with my training plans, at least while California is on fire
• song I’ve heard the most on my iPod:  Runaway by Bon Jovi (oh, the crap I’m gonna get now…)

Most of the Rockacitas all have to deal with the other “woman”.  Funny thing is, luckily for us, it’s not a woman at all.  It’s usually work…or sports…or computers…or video games.  

I never knew I was a level 70…and I’ve got to find that expansion pack!

Ever have one of those days where you’re about to do something and you hesitate…but not long enough to actually stop yourself from doing something totally stupid?  Welcome to my day, folks.

It started simply enough.  My calendar was driving me crazy because of all these duplicate calendar proposals.  I decided to fix it.  I started to make a back-up copy, you know - just in case - and it was taking too long so I thought I’d restart that before my staff meeting today.  I made the fix and all was well.  However, I neglected two things - first…to double check some preferences after doing a software update and to make that damn back-up.  I got pulled into a quick meeting at the last minute, came back and my calendar was…empty.  Blank.  My entire life was gone.  I stared in disbelief.

The joy of total freedom was short-lived…about 10 seconds.  Then panic set in.  Between help from one of my good friends (who happens to be our IT consultant) and an emergency work visit from my hubby, my life is almost back - 12 hours later.  I’ve been lax about running my back-ups at home, but luckily did one about a week and a half ago.  So, I spent the day doing all sorts of geeky computer things that I never really wanted to learn.  All in all, I’ve got about a week’s worth of calendar work to reconstruct and I should be able to do that easily enough and I was able to salvage all my emails.

Next time, back-up first, fix second.  Next time, skip the panic fast food binge (yick) and go straight to the beer.  Another beer?  Why thanks, I think I will!

I love music, yet somehow it always ends up taking a back seat to other things.  I played piano for years when I was younger.  I was actually very good, too - there was talk about some well-known music schools.  Then my teacher retired and the new one kind of sucked, so I sold my piano and bought a ‘67 Mustang.  I should have kept the piano.

In college, I worked at the radio station, was on-air several times a week and hosted the local music show.  Now THAT was a fun gig…live shows, interviews, hanging out at clubs, spinning every now and then and meeting all sorts of cool people, including several that I’m still friends with after all these years.

After we had the munchkin, we stopped going to see live shows.  It’s our fault - we never really got a babysitter until recently.  Up until this past weekend, outside of a few neighborhood music in the park type things, I’d only seen two live music shows and they were both…The Wiggles.  

My munchkin’s taste in music is progressing nicely.  She does a great rockin’ version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star that I’ve got on video somewhere.  Some days she wants to be a rock star.  Other days, she’s obsessed with Christmas music - today, specifically the Chipmunks Christmas music.  At least she has a good appreciation for the Beatles and KISS and a good amount of classic rock.  Plus, she can shake her thang to some good dance tunes, too.

This past weekend, we took her to see Greg Camp.  Outside of the fact that it was a great show, we had a blast and I got a chance to hang out with a couple of my oldest and dearest friends, it was a good reminder of how much I love music and how I need to spend more time with it.  We already have our next show on the calendar.  Let’s see how the munchkin likes Flogging Molly!

My hubby’s birthday was a few months ago. When I asked my munchkin what she wanted to get daddy for his birthday, her response was constantly, “a big jar of pickles”.  I tried to talk her into other things to no avail.  So…on a trip to Costco, we bought the big gallon jar of pickles (likely the same jar made famous in the Wal-Mart story).  

The best part was the day my hubby opened the package.  He kept trying to guess what it was.  I looked at him and told him there was no way he’d ever guess.  I was right.  He gave me this WTF look and we both cracked up.  The munchkin was simply beaming at her gift choice.  

So for months now, we’ve had this big jar of pickles on the kitchen counter.  My munchkin keeps asking when we’re going to open it.  I’m guessing it will be the same time we try to get rid of…errrrr…share the rest of the Otter Pops.

Weekly stats for 6/29/08-7/5/08:

• distance:  10.87 miles
• duration:  2h 33m 48s
• total average pace:  14:00
• total average speed:  4.35 mph 
• average pace run/walk:  12:21
• calories burned: 1,000
• things I’ve learned:  now that I calculate my run/walk pace more accurately, I’m faster than I thought, but still pokey
• song I’ve heard the most on my iPod:  Click Click Boom by Saliva