Happy Halloween

I'm going as Michael Phelps. How about you?

I'm Big Boned!

Last night I was walking down the street with a friend when two guys tried to hand us flyers for seminars on getting rid of belly fat. "No thanks," I said. "I don't have any belly fat."

My friend said that if we take the flyers then the guys get to go home. I told her that I'm didn't want to take flyers that they offer to women implying that we have guts to lose. Do they offer it to all women? Or just those who look like they need it?

I imagine the seminar goes something like this: they invite all us fat women in, offer us cookies but then don't let us have any! And that's the first step to losing belly fat. (No really, it is.)

So that was fine and good for a laugh, but today I went to the chiropractor and he told me, while pressing on my hips (the saddlebag area, if you will) that I had really nice padded bike pants. EXCEPT MY PANTS AREN'T PADDED. Yikes.

I'm reading Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters, and seriously, no wonder everyone has an eating disorder.

For real now, I'll start my diet tomorrow. I earned my Buzz cupcake tonight.

I Just Like Ice

Hey, organization in my building, quit bogarting the 7th floor kitchen. I respect the fact that you have to have (all-too) frequent meetings in the board room about, whatever, "inform[ing] and educat[ing] policy makers and the broader policy community about events and trends in those societies which are strategically or tactically important to the United States and which frequently restrict access to such information."

But I wish you'd respect the fact that I only like to drink water at a specific temperature (and, ahem, I think you mean "that are strategically" and "that frequently"). I don't want to go all the way downstairs (6 floors) when I could just go up one. The ice is better on 7 anyway. It's smaller, and I can eat it when I run out of water instead of just going to get more water. Just sayin'.

Seriously, every time I tried to sneak into the kitchen today to get some ice, there was a break and everyone came pouring out of the Jamestown Foundation meeting, blocking my access to the ice maker. So I drank cool water all day and didn't get to chew any ice. It was devastating.

Update: The organization asked that I take their name out of my blog, so I did. Who knew search engines worked so well? But I still want ice!

Haha!

I thought this was hilarious. I laughed out loud at it, and I didn't even know who Brian Urlacher was. I usually hate all these man toiletry commercials because they use misogyny to show that hygiene isn't gay.


I know it still reinforces traditional notions of masculinity, but he says "honor du-el" and wipes his eyes under his glasses and throws that cap. Hehe. Who's laughing now? Me.

How Did I Decide to Start Running Marathons?

I don't know.

Wes asked me today, and I'm really not sure. I think I like doing them because they make me feel special. Outside of my running group, I don't know too many marathoners, and of the other marathoners I do know, I'm faster than almost all of them. Plus I really like my running friends, so it's fun to hang out with them and work toward a common goal.

As far as a marathon, well, it just became the logical next step. I ran a 10-miler, then I ran a half marathon, and I had such a great time that I had to go for the full. It's only recently that I've come to appreciate how different 10-milers and half marathons are from the full marathon distance.

Of course I also have a wicket sweet tooth, so marathons help with that. I've heard some people lose weight while doing them, but I wouldn't know anything about that.

The diet starts tomorrow though, so for my next marathon I'll be totally jacked and possibly a few pounds lighter to increase my aerodynamicity.

PR It Is

So, marathons are hard. 3:45:33. Wait, what's my weight doing on there??

Update: My original link stopped working. This one doesn't have my weight on it (though I'm not embarrassed--130), but it does have incorrect 5k splits for me and some pictures. Enjoy!

Update 2: The splits are correct now. So close!

Wish Me Luck!

It's finally almost marathon day! I'll be running around all day today getting ready, then all morning tomorrow actually doing the marathon. My goal is anything under 3:40:59, which would get me into Boston. Anything under 3:48:14 would be a PR. (And anything under 3:42 beats my old roommate, but that's not really a goal, more of a fun fact.)

I'll post results tomorrow if my body decides it has 26.2 miles left in it :) In the meantime, read up on the Post's coverage.

Spelling Is Anti-American

Just add it to the ever-growing list. Today I went to see Obama out in not real Virginia (not to be confused with Communist Country, where I live).

On our way in there were a few protestors, including one guy on a sweet red, white and blue motorcycle and a big sign that read "American's for McCain." So I said, "You've misspelled that. There's no apostrophe in Americans" like the good little editor that I am. He shot back something about his last name and then said he never learned to spell.

Now, he might have been joking, but he really didn't sound like it. He sounded like some smug Republican--I'm sorry a smug Real American- accusing me of elitism. And obviously spelling and grammar are things that only elitists care about.

And of course, about 15 minutes later, I realized what I should have said to him:
"That's nothing to be proud of. No wonder they keep sending your jobs overseas."

The Secret Life of Bees

I may have caused a bit of trouble at work. One of my colleagues, a woman of color, told me that she saw The Secret Life of Bees last weekend and that an older white woman spent the entire movie crying on her shoulder. I told her that the woman just wanted to know if she made honey with her sisters too. We all had a good laugh, but my co-worker went back and wrote a blog about it.

After a good start to the blog, describing the strong, prominent black actresses in the film, my co-worker started talking about how awful it was to have this woman single her out because she kind of (not really) looks like the women in the movie.

And let's get one thing straight: she's absolutely right. But now it's my job to make some racial theory palatable to the wealthy, older white women who are the members of my organization. (Our staff is very diverse, but I think it will still be hard to get this by them.) Samhita on Feministing talks about it in a post today, reminding me why this blog is important and that it should go up, and not necessarily in white-washed (pun intended) language.

I personally can't wait to tell these women that, despite their best intentions, some of their sentiments and "diversity" programs are, well, racist. (Though one member did tell me that, and I quote, "diversity means different things to different people." But she was using that to justify leaving authors of color off a reading list in favor of rich white women, so it looks like we have our work cut out for us.)

Of course the safe blog is likening the difficulty the Jennifer Hudson character has with voting to what's going on today, but this is definitely the more interesting of the two. We'll see what we can do. Might be time to break out the Patricia Hill Collins...

Wait, I DIDN'T KNOW PHC LIVED HERE!!!!! I kind of love her. Wait, did I know that? It's on the back of her books. Nevermind.

How would you phrase the blog?

Why Is this a Question?

I have the chance to go see Obama tomorrow in Leesburg. My friend is leaving work early and says she'll give anyone a ride. Is it crazy that I haven't agreed to go? The more I think about it, the more I think the answer to that is YES.

Would you go?

Why Running Is Awesome

The marathon is only a few days away. But at this point I'm really just looking forward to Monday morning. (I've told a few too many people I'm going for the BQ to not be completely terrified, so I try not to think too much about it.)

Monday morning, on the other hand, I have my first appointment with a guy who specializes in something called active release technique, which I'm pretty sure is going to change my life. I've had pain in my left leg for, ahem, more than a year now, and this guy knows what's wrong and how to fix it. I'm excited about that, though at this point the numbness that keeps me from sitting in my chair has become like an old friend, and I'm kind of going to miss it.

But I've also recently started suffering from pretty debilitating headaches that start in my neck, so I'm not going to miss those.

To make sure that I get my money's worth out of this guy, however, I made a list of problems that I've had this training season. So without further ado, here is my list of pain or, as I like to think of it, my list of things that make running so great:

Numbness, pain in my upper left hamstring and glute that makes it difficult to sit
Tightness and pain in my "haunches"
Occasional back pain that takes my breath away/prevents me from moving
IT band pain (both legs)
Calf tightness (both legs)
Left ankle and foot pain
Stiff neck that results in intense headaches

I think that about does it. I know it sounds like a lot, but hey, that which doesn't kill me and all that. Plus, I'm able to keep running through it all, so I'd say I'm still doing pretty good.

Wish me luck! (for Sunday and Monday)

Cleaning My Damn House

That's what I've been doing all day. So much so that my legs are exhausted, as I've been standing up since like 1pm. Wes and I are entertaining this weekend (aren't we every weekend, haha), so it's time for me to put away all those piles of things to put away later.

So far, I've pretty well managed to avoid an unequal gender division of labor, where I do all the work while Wes sits around and you know, does man things like watch tv or drink beer. I have a secret weapon--I'm lazy. Like crazy lazy. And I hate cleaning. And I have a really high tolerance for clutter. Not filth, clutter. So I'll wipe up stuff like the sinks, but I'm pretty laid back about the rest. And, because I'm totally lazy, I have absolutely no qualms about asking Wes to help me.

I've read articles about training or nagging men into helping you (Linda Hirschman has some extreme ideas in Get to Work--hey, where is my copy of that?), but usually I just ask Wes or complain about having to do it and he does it. Even though I'm by far the messier one. So at the risk of jinxing myself, cleaning my house is not as bad as it could be. Though I hear it could get worse (and here I'm trying to link to a Feministing post whose permalink isn't working, but it says that co-habitating men do more housework than married men. Reason #8,567 why I'm not getting married... Reason #8,568 is that Wes announced today that he likes the name Felon for a child, Felony for a girl.)

Anyway, I also did this today! Hooray for Halloween!

This Is My Dress, BTW

Peggy asked for a picture, though I did put one up on Facebook. But hey, I, too, believe in spreading the wealth around.

Lilly Ledbetter, FTW!

Obama just brought up our girl! Clip tomorrow if I can get one.

Think McCain won't turn back women's rights or that W didn't? You're wrong.

BlogHer Shout Outs

I learned a lot about giving "link love" at BlogHerDC yesterday, so in that spirit, I would like to link to everyone who gave me their business card yesterday. (I really thought I'd be able to remember everyone else's blogs without writing them down, but I was sorely mistaken.)

So what's up to
Kate, who has the best blog name I've seen, at Winning Friends With Salad
Monica from Urban Charm Chat
Olive, who also has an awesome blog name, at Surely You Nest
and Linda at Monkey Business Kids and Baby Bunching

I'm unfortunately not able to link to Kellie from AllThingsNanny.com, because I can't find her page. But I hope she keeps fighting the good fight to help nannies get some agency out there. (haha, nanny agency)

I'm also not linking to this woman who had a real stick up her ass about the fact that I was standing next to three of my colleagues during our ice breaker game. She told me, with attitude, that we really should move around because some people were there to network, and we were really inconveniencing her. Well guess what, lady, I didn't come to the conference to meet a-holes, so I guess both of us were inconvenienced. I'm not sure why someone who writes a blog targeted at organizations was so bent out of shape about meeting four people from an organization, but hey. In fairness, she couldn't move herself because both of her feet were chained to the floor, so maybe I'm being unfair.

Anyway, someday, maybe after the marathon and NaNoWriMo (more on that later) I'll be able to vamp up my blog. But don't worry, I'm writing down my ideas.

Welcome to the Real World!

I just want to take a minute to embarrass my sister and let everyone know that she got a job!

So congratulations, Katie. Welcome to the grind. I spent the first few months of my job trying to come up with an alternative to the monetary system so we wouldn't need money and, more importantly, I therefore wouldn't have to go to work everyday. I'm still working on it, but I'm glad you can now join me in my theorizing.

BlogHer, I Don't Even Know Her

Har har.

Today I attended the BlogHer D.C. conference in Bethesda. I got lots of new ideas about how to shake up and improve this blog, and I'm looking forward to getting started on them ... tomorrow. I was all about doing it tonight, but Jac came over, and we drank a bottle of wine and went out to dinner. So now I'm inspired and a little too full.

(Tomorrow I'm also going to stop eating and drinking so much. All I need is to gain weight before the marathon.)

Problem Solved

What to do for the first anniversary of Wes's 29th birthday?

Rufus Wainwright with special guest Martha Wainwright
Saturday, February 14, 2009, 8pm
Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center

Done and done.

It Runs in the Family

Check out my newly added blog roll blog, Music for Misanthropes. My brother and sister combine forces to write a DC/NY music blog. So far they just make fun of each other. It's awesome. It might be funny to people who don't know them, too. If you've ever found yourself thinking, boy, I wish Liz wrote more nonsensical rants and made more inside jokes, you'll probably love Music for Misanthropes.

If nothing else you'll love their banner and that picture of Michael with wing hair.

Crisis Averted

My dress arrived on Wednesday. Phew! Of course, it's a little big at the top, but Wes's mom is a master (mistress?) seamstress, so I'm hoping I can leave it with her post-wedding and get back a custom-tailored frock.

But I don't really have shoes that match this dress. So I bought silver heels at Filene's. Except I can't really wear heels. I can't decide if I want to wreck my legs for the sake of hottness and essentially throw away the $50 I spent on the shoes by wearing them instead of just wearing my flats and returning the heels on Monday.

If it wasn't two weeks from the marathon and the economy wasn't melting down around us, I'd probably risk it.

Oh, Is This the Right Meeting?

Tonight I attended my first meeting of a writer's group I recently joined. I really enjoyed it. The people seem supportive, and the stories were really good. My big (and only) contribution was telling the group that someone stealing a candy bar from a grocery store wouldn't get arrested.

When I was in college I took a creative writing course. When we had prompts, I wrote some decent short stories, but I struggle with writer's block when it comes to completely original stuff. We had to write two stories for review, and I wrote mine as thinly veiled recounts of my own experiences.

Most of my feedback said that there was some good writing, but then went on to comment on the obvious mental illness of the protagonist. I mean, yeah, so, maybe my "character" "threatened" "her" sister with a "screwdriver." But does that mean she's mentally ill? Maybe the sister was really on her case and didn't respond to other forms of communication? There's really no way to know.

Anyway, that class led me to believe that I wasn't so good at fiction. So I started "blogging" instead of thinly disguising my neuroses--and now I'm an artist, not a psychopath.

And I'm Modest, Too

Cheryl and I made the news! We ran the High Trek Adventure race on Sept. 20, coming in second (and beating my friend Kathryn, hehe). We also wrote an article for RunWashington.com, so hopefully that goes up soon as well. In the meantime, enjoy my 2 minutes in the sun. (These are really starting to add up...)

Here's a pic.

P.S. My dress = not here.

Curses!

My dress still isn't here! I'm starting to get a little worried, because I leave for NC soon. I guess with UPS ground, it should get here by tomorrow, but since when does UPS take that long? And did they even send it UPS? Please, God, don't tell me they ship DHL...

My protein powder got here on Friday. (No, I still haven't opened it. I try not to think too much about it, especially at times like these, when I have a zucchini cake in the oven. Mmmmmm zucchini cake.)

Wes's bizarre shoes are here, though. I didn't even know he ordered them; the box just showed up to taunt me with its bold, Urban Outfitters (clearly not WHBM) logo.

Actually, the shoes kind of look like they have teeth, so it's like they're mocking me too!

Woops-a-Doodle

10 posts for September? That's sad. Pitiful, really. I mean, I feel like I had some good excuses, and some not good excuses, but 10 is not a lot for a month that has 30 days.

So my apologies to the six people who check this everyday. I have a vague idea who most of you are (Sitemeter is always watching), and I'm sorry I let you down. To make it up to you, I'm going to do 10 posts RIGHT NOW.

Just kidding, I'm going to dinner now. But three in one night, not bad. Just read them slowly.

I Didn't Know About This!

A Michael Phelps parade in Maryland?! (Interrobang!)

If I had known of it, I would have added it to my list of things to do today--and it might have actually gotten done, unlike about 90 percent of that list. (What did get done? A 22-mile run, and I cleaned half my bike. Cleaning your bike totally sucks, by the way. I'm not in a rush to do the other half.)

It Never Gets Old

So, the other day my boss pointed out that we can, literally, see into the offices of the Washington Post. Not just see them across a narrow maritime border (like I can see D.C. from the Mount Vernon Trail) but actually inside, where some dude sits at a computer and sometimes files things. (I figure there's no way he's a reporter. Reporters aren't good at filing.)

Anyway, I think we all know we're I'm going. Guess what I'm qualified to do!! Personally, I hope I get to be the editor of Date Lab.