Archives for June 2004

The cats and I sleep better together during the day. When I sleep nights on my weekend, I’m up at 5am to feed them, separately. Again at 5:30 to pick up the bowls and un-separate them. And then solidly awake to their morning yowls until about 8am, when they finally settle down and want to sleep again.

But during the day, I hit the bed at about 8am, and they’re right there with me. Digit used to sleep by my head exclusively, since he HATED Adah for years, but now that he tolerates her, he’ll sleep like this.

Heh. Adah is a stretched-out cat. She’s naturally trusting, and assumes this pose without thinking. Digit, however, would rather die than see this photo. Him? Stretched out like that? No. He’s too tough for that.

Went to yoga for the first time in a long time last night before work. And ohmygod, it kicked my ass. I swear, I sweated more doing yoga last night than I do on a three mile run. And it ain’t even bikram. It was a new studio, and the teacher, a wonderful new-age-skinny kind of man with a deep voice read us poetry during the rest time at the end. I got into my first handstand ever. Of course, that’s only because in the pairing up of partners, I looked to my right and left a little late and I was odd girl out. So I got to work with the teacher. It is weird, folks, to meet a man, chat a little, and then put your hands on the floor between his feet, lean into his knees and have him balance you at the waist while you kick yourself up. Weird. But really super cool, too.

And now I gotta get going, ‘cause I’m meeting Christy at the pool to run. It’s a lovely afternoon, and having her with me will prevent me from dying of boredom. Perhaps. I hope.

I love Rosenblum! Soooo excited….

If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s at Cari’s place, permalink HERE. It ain’t knitting books, folks. It’s fabulous. Print it out.

Okay. Let me tell you this:

ROSENBLUM CELLARS ROCKS!

They’ve agreed to be our corporate sponsor for Team 911, and they’ve donated a generous chunk of change (what are the niceties here? Do I say the amount? Let me just say that it’s enough that I’ll be advertising their excellent wines by wearing their tee shirts for the next six months while I’m running around the Bay Area). I talked to Kathy Rosenblum herself, and she couldn’t have been nicer. I tell you. Experience comes in handy sometimes. I’ve been drinking their wine ever since I became aware that they were an actual LOCAL winery, right on the island of Alameda, and now they’re doing this amazing thing for the AIDS Marathon and Team 911.

I’m a little giddy. When I get home from work in the mornings, I always turn my ringer off to sleep. She had left me a message while I was sleeping, and while I try never to check my messages when I wake up until AFTER I’ve done my writing, I saw on the caller ID that the Rosenblum had called, and I couldn’t resist. I checked. And she said right on the message that she would like to be our sponsor.

Now tell me. Aren’t you proud of me that I STILL went out into the garden and did my (addled) writing first before calling her back? That was so hard, but I know that when I first wake up I sound like an idiot on the phone anyway, so it wasn’t actually that great a sacrifice. It was very hard to keep my mind on the novel, though. I kept wanted the main character to pop a bottle of red. Even though it was ten in the morning, her time.

ROSENBLUM! Hooray! Would you like a drink?

Oh, I did my water running yesterday. I think it’s officially known as “aqua-jogging” but that sounds lame, doesn’t it? Water running has a slightly better ring to it. And I’m here to tell you, it is The Most Boring Form of Exercise In The Whole Wide World. Bar none. I told that to both lifeguards, but they didn’t really seem to care. It was lovely for the first five minutes. I strapped that flotation belt on, leapt into the cool water, enjoyed the sun on my face, and just ran through the water. Just like you’re running! It’s easy! Five minutes later I couldn’t imagine how I would occupy my mind for the next thirty-five. I was even grateful when a huge group of children arrived and jumped into the lanes next to me. At least they were distraction, even though they tend to spit. I drove from the pool to Longs, where I bought a ten dollar AM/FM headphone radio. It only picks up AM, apparently, but that’ll be enough. I’ll keep this up this week, and in the future I’ll use it as cross-training.

I can sure feel it working, though. I could hardly stand when I got out of the pool, my muscles were so tired, but it felt great. And my shin splints didn’t hurt at all. I think I’ll be good to go on Sunday when I get out with my pace group again…..

I’m just so excited I can’t stand it. Yay Rosenblum!

I saw a double feature last night, Saved and The Day After Tomorrow. Goodness. What a juxtaposition THAT was. People I love who live in/near New York City, don’t see TDATomorrow. Actually, no one should go see it. The wolves killed me. Puhleease.

I know that it has a good message – the world can’t keep using up its resources without great repercussion, and I loved it when United States had to flee to Mexico and Mexico closed its borders until the US forgave its debt (fabulous), but honestly, a movie like that is not the way to Wake America Up. How about just raising every utility/petrol product to its actual cost? That would do it. We would wear only wool and walk to where we needed to go.

I know. I’m SO late to the complaining-about-this-movie party. Forgive me.

But am I early in touting the wonders of the movie Saved? Dude, I loved it. I know some churches are trying to get it removed from theatres, but come on. That only served to get me to the show that much faster.

I have this theory that kids of high-school age have to have a passionate outlet for all those feelings. They turn to sex, drugs, theatre, music, or religion. I was a religion gal – Pentecostal, arms in the air, the whole thing. Then when I was eighteen, I admitted that I wasn’t straight, and knew that the god of my church would cast me right out onto the pavement with a thump. I didn’t think (and still don’t think) God made me like this only turn his face away from me, so I left, taking what I knew of my God with me, and leaving the vicious god to bluster and blow with them. And the movie, light and fluffy as it is, shows exactly that progression. And it was cute! And funny! If you’re deeply religious, it will probably offend you. If you’re deeply spiritual, on the other hand, it won’t mean anything to you. If you’re like me, though, you’ll laugh and remember and be glad you’re a grown-up.

I got a lot of a second sock, done, too, especially in The Day After Tomorrow, when the knitting got furious as I stared at the screen in disbelief. The effects were pretty cool, though.

Dang, I’m SO not a movie-reviewed. That’s our Em, not me.

I’ve got a cat (Digit) kneading me and two loads of laundry going. Soon I’m off to the pool (didn’t get there yesterday) to try pool running. Wish me luck.

And courtesy of Greta:

Running Rhino Venice Photo Album.

I kid you not. How DOES she find these things?

All righty then. I’ve just spent two hours clearing out my email boxes and catching up with things that needed to be caught up. I hate doing that. At heart, I’m really a lazy person. I’m not GOOD at being lazy, but I wish I were. There’s nothing like that message “There are no message in your inbox.” Sigh. Happiness. It’s like a countertop with nothing but a toaster. Or a kitchen table with nothing but a lamp (we’ll see how long that lasts).

While we’re sighing with happiness, I have to give a quick shout out to MJ in Nantucket, our wonderful host of two days, the woman who greeted us with hugs and the keys to her car. She just sent me wind chimes. Like I wasn’t already feeling guiltily spoiled, I just hung them in the garden, where they’re in exact tune with my first pair. Only they’re sweeter, because they were sent with love. Double sigh. This will be a short post, because I have a date with my swing in the garden.

I am a wee disgruntled today, though, because my shin splints are gettin’ on my nerves. Or on my muscles, as it were. I’ve got the classic posterior tibial (mumble something mumble) tendonitis, and the physical therapist I saw says it’s normal for a first time runner, and I just need some rest. I don’t WANT rest. (I’ve been doing everything right, though, rest, ice three times a day, elevation, ibuprofen.)

I ran four miles with my pace group yesterday in the City, and it was truly wonderful. I had a ball. It hurt some to run, but not really badly, and it just felt great to move like that. Four miles! That’s farther than I’ve ever run in my whole life. I was high off it for hours.

It hurt a lot more later, though, and I’m not going to do my maintenance runs this week while I heal up. I have, however, been reading about “pool running” and I’m going to do that tomorrow and Thursday. Being an alum, I’ve got access to the pool at Mills and I’m well prepared (and well practiced) to look stupid running in the deep end and not moving anywhere. I think I need a flotation belt, and I’ll find one of those today. They say plenty of marathoners train this way – no weight placed on the downstrike, like in running, but all the same muscles used (and the cool water keeps the swelling down). And then I’ll run again next Sunday in the pace group and see if I’ve healed enough to go back to maintenance runs…..

Oh, and might I add?
$2520.

A-freaking-mazing. I may be recovering from running, but I’m not recovering from your generosity.

Thank you. Again. Day-uhm.