Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve bothered updating this thing. It’s easy (for me) to forget the ole LJ when so much of my day to day happenings are posted on facebook.

( Anyways... )

While I was getting an eye exam last Tuesday, my brother calls me at the last minute and leaves me a voicemail asking if I'll give a toast at his wedding. Hanna's sister is doing one so it seemed only fitting that I'd do one, too. Of course, I agreed and after much fretting I wrote this, pool side, hours before the wedding (and yes, I ad libbed some stuff, especially at the very end):


Welcome everyone tonight to celebrate the union of Hanna and Adam. I am Angel, older and only sister of the groom and I am honored to speak tonight at such a beautiful event.

Adam and I are only one year and some months apart but when I was a little girl that year and 4 months was a huge deal. Any opportunity I had I made sure to take the time to put him in his place. Maybe in my own way I was preparing for his wedding day!

Once when Adam was still in diapers, I opened our front door,ran out in the yard and called to him to join me. He was in a walker so when he hit the front steps, he fell flat on his face. Needless to say, I thought this was hilarious but my mom? Not so much. I think it shows he can take a lot of abuse still not harbor any resentment towards the person doling it out.

As we grew older we become pretty good friends. By the time we reached high school our social circles overlapped and you could usually find us at the same parties. Being here today has been a great reunion for me, seeing so many familiar faces in person, sometimes for the first time in years. I may call him my brother but that is a convenient shorthand for a relationship that means much more to me than that.

It is a sad fact of modern life that we are all frequently separated from those we love. I wish I could see him more often and hope for more happy events like these to create further opportunities to build memories that will last a lifetime.

It is unfortunate that I have not gotten to know Hanna better through their time together so far. I hope in the future the distance -physical or otherwise- does not get in the way of all of us seeing who truly matters.

Tonight I urge everyone to have a good time and celebrate love, friendship and family for after that, what do you have?

(and here is where I mentioned some stuff about loving my brother and I start crying and I hope some other people were, too)

The National Zoo has some totally awesome pictures up on their website. I totally want to bring these guys home and love on them like crazy! The camera are triggered by heat so cold blooded creatures won't be captures on here (unless they happen to be eating something warm booded?).

From the Flickr photostream: Like the previous one, this photo of a red brocket deer with a fawn provides information about the timing of breeding and birthing events as well as parental behavior.

National Zoo scientists set up camera traps in a remote section of the Amazon rain forest to gather data about the variety of species that inhabit it. Learn more about the project here: nationalzoo.si.edu/ConservationAndScience/MAB/research/ar...

Uploaded by Smithsonian's National Zoo on 28 May 09, 1.36PM GMT+2.

Uuuuuuugh, I'd left my lunch in the car this morning so I had to walk outside to get it and experience the beautiful weather. I prefer not to know about it when I'm work because I just get distracted. Like now. I did bring my bike and gear so I can ride home and I'm pretty amped about it. Originally I intended to ride home yesterday but didn't sleep well Sunday night (stupid lack of AC) and didn't have all my shit together. It's just as well since we got out early due to a network outage so I would've been riding my bike during the hottest part of the day.

lonecellotheory and I did ride our bikes to the Red, Hot and Blue on Wilso Blvd since I had an intense BBQ craving. It's 3.5 miles there (7 round trip) and I'm glad we did that. The ride there was pretty warm but the way back was really nice. The nice breeze from last night seems to have stuck around and as a bonus, I believe it'll be to my back as I ride home (woot!).

Austin City Limits announced their line up this morning. I already knew about the major headliners but it was good to see some other bands on the list that I really want to see. Curerntly I'm looking into the feasiblity of going because it's been a few years and I miss Austin. We'll see, we'll see.

So that's basically what's new with me. Been picking up some extra hours at REI but I'm thinking it'll scale back again some after the Anniversary Sale coming up. I had my review and it was okay - could've been better if I'd sold more memberships but it's really tough selling memberships in clothing. Most of my contract with customers is "Do you this in a different size/color?" and that's the extent. I got high marks in customer care/product knowledge blah blah which I think is important. So I think me and REI brass differ on our priorities. Whatevs!

Today is pretty much the last sedentary day for the next month as I have a NEW "Get Fit Quick Plan" (herein referred to as the "GFQP").

I've been pretty half-assed about losing weight/getting toned this Spring. For awhile in Feb I was fairly active between snowboarding, walking to the metro and training for the 100k (sniff, sniff) and lost a couple pounds. Then I started adding the C25K training and bike rides with Susan and started eating like a PIG. I could NOT get enough.

Aside from the bike rides, I've been pretty lazy about exercise and stuff and earlier in the week I was disgusted by how my arms look and just everything so I've decided I need to "grab hold" of my "fitness goals" (like all the management/corporate speak? And acronyms for things? All I do is work and it's starting to creep into my everyday vocabulary).

First off, aside from the insane sugar cravings, my diet is overall not *horrible*. I've decided I need to cut out the sweets, or rather, the random snacking on sweets. I was doing SO good for awhile and just sort of fell into the habit of eating whatever, whenever. No more!

I've also decided I have to stop with the Sbux habit. Usually 3 or so times a week I'll stop in and get some kind of "skinny" latte (vanilla, carmel machiato, whatever) with madeline cookies. These two things alone are something like 500 calories for a meal that is deprived of any nutritional value. So, I'm stopping with that.

Other than, I'm planning to add exercise. A whole freaking ton of it. I'm also pretty sure I'll start up with the hot yoga again. My ultimate goal is to lose 10 lbs by mid-June. It's a fairly aggressive goal but I think it's doable if I start, like, now. That's a month and a half so basically a pound and a half a week.

Once I reach that goal I'll scale back considerably so I'll actually have, like, free time again and stuff. It'll be awesome.

---

Lots of stuff this weekend to look forward to. Tonight will probably be low key - I am craving thai and since I haven't been to Thai X-ing yet, I'm thinking of maybe getting some carry out. Tomorrow I'm trying to spend as much time outside on my bike as I can stand after my haircut. Oh, and hitting up a housewarming in the evening. Sunday will be spent working :(((( but I'm going to try fit in a short mtn bike ride after work.

Next week will be crazy... I still need to figure out what I want to do. But I'm resolved - I need to do this. If I don't have some crazy goal to reach then nothing will happen.

This week has been the Week From Hell. My boss is out for a family emergency (her son, like, tore up his knee or something horrible in gym class and had to get surgery this week) and there are a million initiatives and other work-shit going on and I have to pretend like I know what she's been doing. I think I'm doing a good job of acting like I have some kind of authority, but, seriously?

+ We've got temporary HR help on loan from another area and since I'm not sure what all we wanted her to do, I had her file today. I felt bad since it's so mind numbingly awful (one of the reasons I let it pile up) but I don't want to order to do something without finding out WHAT we are doing. Blah. I bet she's wishing she hadn't volunteered to do this. Ha ha. Her name is Katie and I just realized this morning that it's been years since I've met someone named Katie. I'm serious!!

- *SOBS* BEAUTY ISLAND IS CLOSING!!! I mean, where else am I going to buy expired hair dye and $2 earrings? What's going in its place? A goddamn CVS! The last thing this city needs is another den of ineptitude and rude service that is a DC CVS. Whatever, one less reason for me to walk over to Columbia Road.

+ My Keen bike/commuter shoes finally posted to my bank account which means they should be + shipping by the end of the week. I'm so excited!! I got my new pedals last week (still need to put them on my bike) so this will round out my latest purchases (ok, aside from the mtn bike tires I ordered which were backordered forever). In mtn bike news, REI peeps have organized a weekly mtn bike ride in the evenings at Wakefield and I definitely plan to check it out. It's at 9:45 pm so I'd totally have time to go home, take a nap and head out!

- I'm bummed I have to miss some events this Saturday because I was scheduled to work and didn't have enough time to request off (actually, I technically had enough time BUT REI changed the rules on me! Grrrr). Anyway, if by some miracle I can get someone to take my 6-930 shift (yeah, right!), I'll be missing from Kim's birthday party and Scott and Melanie's wedding shower. *tear*

+However, I'm pretty excited to attend my first vendor visit! The Marmot rep is stopping by at 6 on Sunday so I can get paid to sit around and listen to them talk about their tents and outdoor gear and stuff. Plus they give you an opportunity to get first dibs on some of the new tech so I'm really curious to see what's coming along.

+Oh, and I forgot that tomorrow night I'm going to my first Nats game at the new stadium courtesy of some connects lonecellotheory has through work. I wouldn't be this excited if it weren't for the box seats behind home plate.

+I also have more money than I thought because when I was doing some balancing earlier in the week I didn't notice that my rent check had already cleared. I'd deducted it twice and it was driving me nuts because I thought I was in the po' house. Turns out I'm just bad at the maths.

Spring has sprung as have I - with the warmer weather I've been out riding my bike on the weekends in addition to doing some C25K training runs in the evenings on the treadmill.

The problem? I am NON STOP hungry!

Those who know me know I am not a member of the Clean Plate Club (as an aside, I never realized the origins of the Clean Plate Club! Ha!). Lately I've been packing it away. For instance, on Saturday morning I woke up RAVENOUSLY hungry and we originally decided we'd go to Bourbon for brunch. Well, we were there a bit too early so they weren't open so we trotted across the street to New Orleans's Cafe. Once there, I opted for the Eggs New Orleans: poached eggs on fried oyster, covered with crabmeat and topped with hollandaise sauce. Oh, and that came with a buttery muffin and a home fries on the side. Once I inhaling that, I wasn't done. I had it in my mind that I needed to eat some beignets, too, for dessert so we split an order. 1 1/2 beignets and a plate of food later, I was finally feeling full. Luckily this lasted me until my dinner break around 6pm but, yeah. Non stop eating!

Yesterday wasn't too bad until the evening. I had some leftover Indian (the first leftovers I've had in forever) and once I finished that, I was still feeling hungry. Instead I opted to go on a training run but only made it halfway through because I was dead tired. Like, I was jogging and all I could think about was laying down on the couch and napping. Napping was not an option at 8:30pm, especially since I had just taken a 1.5 hour nap earlier in the afternoon. I wound up finishing the program early, going to Harris Teeter where I'd planned to do some grocery shopping anyway, and on an impulse bought Mint Double Stuf Oreo cookies. *groans* Soooo good but one serving = two cookies and NOT one row like I was hoping.

Seriously, this sucks. Yeah, I'm getting more physically active again but this eating has got to stop. It's not like I'm training for an Ironman. I don't think I've gained weight but since I'm trying to lose some, I'd have to work out like 3 hours a day to make up for all these extra calories I'm consuming.

I'm wondering if part of the issue is that I've been eating salads pretty frequently for lunch so maybe I'm trying to make up for some kind of deficiency, perceived or otherwise? I know I'm also a little dehydrated so I'm trying to up my water intake in an effort to battle my huge appetite.

I also need to cut back on my morning coffee intake since I've heard of studies that show coffee can cause carbohydrate cravings? Gaaaaaaah. Why is this so hard!?

I normally wouldn't care so much but I'm trying to look hot and skinny for my brother's wedding in July bahahahaha

Since id_is_stupid has her new-to-her Cinelli bike on the road, we've gone on a couple bike rides over the past few weeks. I've missed riding my bike but it kinda got old riding all by myself. Couple this with working at REI and I can't wait to not only take some more "road" rides, I'm really looking forward to getting back out there on my mountain bike.

Some current bike obsessions:


Knog Love/Hate Glove

I've got some Knog lights which some of you might know better as the lights we use on our disco ball during parties. They are really great lights and I'm sort of majorly in love with these gloves. <3


Keen Springwater Shoe

I love the idea I could have a pair of recreational riding shoes that would also be comfortable walking around in. Plus they're fairly narrow (they ARE cycling shoes) so they don't look as bulky as Keen shoes typically do. I'll admit, after picking up my current pair of Keen shoes on clearance for 8 bucks I'm sort of hooked. I still don't think I could bring myself to wear the sandals but I'm digging their shoes.


Twin Six Scarlet Skulls Jersey

OOOOMG, do I love this jersey or what? We've got some at the Outdoor Machine and I LOVE that this company makes jerseys for the ladies that ISN'T pink. LOVE! They've got this sort of retro thing going on that I'm all over. It's too bad we don't have a prodeal (that I can find) with them.


Giro Athlon helmet

I need a new helmet. I kinda like this. I'm still in the market, though.


Panaracer XC Pro Tire

I also DIRELY need new mountain bike tires. I've got these on backorder right now. The blue sidewall is gonna look so hot with my black, orange and white frame. ;)



I am so bored at work. Please, someone, save me (and my wallet) from myself!!

Looks like the Ma and Pa Preble will be rolling into town on 7/7/09 and then we'll all be leaving for the Big Geek Wedding on 7/8/09.

**I still don't know exactly what's going on but I kinda had to start making plans now based on the fact everyone in my office is planning vacations for July.

Even though I don't know if people even check their LJs anymore, I still update from time to time. (note: I check mine every day unless I'm out of town).

Anyway, a couple things:

There are a couple shows coming up I wouldn't mind checking out

At the 'Cat...

• 5/22 St Vincent
  Not sure if I'm in love with them but I like her voice and tix are only $15 at the club. Might be worth checking out.
  
• 6/6 Denali
  I feel like if they play a show locally then I'm mandated to go.
  

At 930...

• 4/4 Mates of State w/ Black Kids
  Tix are still available and it's only $20. I am thinking of possible going out of town that weekend, though, but it looks pretty likely I'll be in town.
  
• 4/26 Presidents of the USA
  I can't help it! I think this'll be a fun show! I think it's also only $20 dollars but I already closed the 930 site and don't feel like checking.
  

What else is new? Well, I started my Couch to 5k program again. It's basically interval training, alternating between running and walking, and I downloaded an app for my iPhone that tells me when to run and when to walk because I kept confusing myself last time on how long I've run vs how long I've walked. (did I just run for a minute or a minute and a half? Did I just walk for 2 minutes?). This does all the mental stuff for me so all I have to do is grind along.

I also resumed my 100 Push Up challenge or more speficially, figured out my baseline again. When I first started this thing I could barely eek out 6 and even though I've taken a break of something like 3 months I could still do 10 so that's where I am starting. I think we'll be doing our first set tonight. It's so retarded that we both fell of the 100 Pushup Wagon because it takes such a ridiculously small amount of time to do your sets.

Now that I have a new computer, I'm planning to finish my online class and soon. I don't think the remaining modules will take too long once I get through the Dreamweaver/CSS class. :-P

I'm also panning to get back into mountain biking again. I need to get a lot of stuff done to my bike, though, so I need to get on that.

That's really about it, I guess.

God, I've been a real hermit this Winter. It's funny how time can just sort of escape you sometimes. I also feel like I was sick all the time so sometimes the most attractive option after a long work day was going home and taking a nap and padding around the apartment.

ANYWAY! That's changing! Because I miss you all (well, mostly >:-) ) and I can feel my mood lifting a little now that daylight savings time is back in effect. The past few winters have left me feeling kinda "meh" about everything and I think a lot of it has to do with the effect of sitting in a windowless office. That may be changing as they are looking to consolidate my floor with some others. We'll see what happens.

There are a ton of other work changes afoot but nothing that'll negatively impact me. Or at least, nothing that should. I don't necessarily wish to be cryptic but until I know what's going for sure I don't want to put the cart before the horse, sorta. But I will say this: they are looking to split my group/business off into another company owned by the war machine. This would be a good for a bunch of reasons but as it pretains to me, it's the benefits that got me stoked. The medical options would be much better and pretty much the same cost as now and the tuition reimbursement would be much better, as in, I wouldn't have to be indebted to the company for a year after they pay for school. This dovetails nicely with my desire to go back to school so even if I could do one semester part time and then leave or something, every little bit helps!

I also got a new computer - it was just time. The trusty iBook served me well and got me through school and a lot of my web design class but it's bogged down by the new demands I'm making on it recently. Plus the CD drive crapped out (DVD works great, though!), I poppped off the enter key a million years ago and lost it and never bothered to get a new one and there is wax melted into the speaker holes on the left side (totally my bad). So until Apple releases their newest laptop, I'll be happy to plug along on my new Macbook.



Oh, if anyone's interested, me and lonecellotheory are planning to hit the slopes tomorrow. Exactly which mountain and what time is TBD.

I posted some pix from our trip out West - check 'em out!

Found on omg_too_soon

Last night I was craving Thai and at the recommendation of Ian's coworker, we hit up a hole in the wall in Jackson proper called Teton Thai. While not the most creatively named in comparison to such establishments as "Thai Me Up" or "Bon Appe Thai!", this place was quality. Although I haven't eaten there yet, this place seemed pretty similar to Thai Xing DC. All dishes are made to order and are AMAZING. I had a yellow curry with potatoes and chicken and ordered at a "2" for spicy. It hit the spot.

This morning we checked out the complimentary breakfast downstairs that had everything we would want. We sat down by a window and watched people queuing up for the Tram. The Tram takes you to the very top of Rendezvous Mountain which hosts a variety of crazy trails. We were pretty sure we'd stay on the easier trails on the mountain to get our feet under us.

We picked up our boards from where we'd dropped them off to get waxed, put on our gear and walked out the door. I'm not sure what the temperature was at this point but it was pretty damn cold. The cold was offset by what a beautiful day it was - a classic bluebird with not a cloud anywhere. The peaks around us shot up into the cerulean sky.

We took the beginner lift up and head down one of the green trails which was appropriately marked. My new board is FAST, too fast for beginner slopes so we decided to head over to the Apres Vous lift which would take us to an elevation of 8000 feet or so before dumping us off at the top. I say "dump" because you literally are jumping off the lift getting off it. We lucked out and never shared the lift with anyone else but I'd hate to be on a full chair with three other people.

At the top it was MUCH warmer but I thought maybe I had just warmed up sufficiently or something. After our first run down some fast double blues (equivalent to some black diamond trails out East) and coming back to the top again, I overheard someone mention we had a temperature inversion going on which means the upper areas of the mountain are warmer than the base. It was so true - at the top it was really comfy and in fact, I wound up shedding a layer around noon. As you came down the mountain there was a point when it feel MUCH cooler - biting cold.

Here's the thing - I'm not sure if it was due to all the powder or what, but all the ungroomed blue trails I tried were a mogully mess and a little too difficult for me. Since I don't know this mountain at all (neither does Ian, for that matter), we didn't spend any time on an black diamonds because we were afraid we'd get killed. We did accidentally take one REALLY short black diamond and it was a mogul field but to be honest I didn't really notice a difference between that and some of the double blue diamonds we did.

We took a break around 11:30 to get something to drink and to re-visit the grooming map and the trail map. We decided to take the gondola up to the mid-mountain area between Apres Vous and Rendezvous Mountains. I'm glad we did because the groomers there had softened up and there was some nice powdery areas to be had. At the top they were offering a chance to go paragliding and we watched a tandem flight launch down the run. They just ran enough to get the sail up behind them and they were away! I'd love to do it but I don't love the price tag - $225. I'm not sure if I'd have another chance anyway between our lessons tomorrow and then trying to get as much riding as possible on Monday.

We spent the rest of the day playing around on the groomers and if I hadn't already decided to take a lesson I think I would have. I had a lot of fun just kinda bombing down the mountain (let me reiterate - my new board is FAST and super stable) but I really want to hone my other skills. We also might get some snow Monday so I want to take full advantage of any powder that may accumulate.

After hitting the slopes we head in around 2 so we'd have a chance to eat and then hit the hotel's hot tub when it opened at 3pm. We opted to go to the Mangy Moose which, as Ian put it, was sort of like Hooter's in atmosphere and dress code. It's definitely a testosterone-y place but I'd been reading about these HUGE plate of nachos they have and those did not disappoint. We then made our way back to the hotel a short walk away and then hit up the hot tub. It was H-O-T and after we got out we were really lightheaded. I almost thought I would pass out. Once we got back to our room I DID pass out but luckily it was for a nap.

I'm totally having an awesome time. I'm just anxious to unlock the code for riding the more advanced terrain here. Thankfully I enjoy a good challenge!

We opted spending the night in the airport. After spending 45 minutes or so on hold, we discovered if we wanted a hotel room for the night it'd be $80. Since we were nearing 11pm at that point and since our scheduled departure was for 7am, we said "Fuck it" and picked up some narrow fleece blankets and some snacks from the airline people.

( and so the story begins.... )