Gator Pride

One of my friends (a Mizzou fan I might add - that's the University of Missouri for all you non-Missourians) said a few days ago that all Gators fans think they're better then everyone else. I came home and relayed this to Cody who, after laughing out loud, calming said "That's because we are."

We're heading off to Indy in the morning. Go Gators!

Gators in the Final Four!!!

Okay, I've been horrible about writing lately - blame it on the computer. Our laptop (pretty much the only computer we use since Cody's computer is seriously old) has a messed up hinge so we've been trying to fix that all week. So how did we finally fix this monsterously expensive piece of high-tech equipment? Call an expert? Take it to a shop? Nope - hot glue! We couldn't figure out what was wrong with the hinge, only that it broke a huge chuck of plastic off the screen so we just hot glued it together. Hopefully that will work for now. Anyway, on to much more important topics....

GATORS ARE IN THE FINAL FOUR!! This is no small feat mind you - we've been the bow-out early, team that gets upset by all the Cinderellas for the past few years, even though we've had favorable seeds. Not this year! No more! We're in the Final Four!! Cody and I are pretty much insane about sports. As most people who know us well can testify, we rarely argue or fight, except during FSU/UF football week - then the gloves come off and it's no holds barred. But during football off season, I'm all Gator (especially since FSU has a pretty non-existant basketball program, sans the once every few years win over Duke [mind you, this is after losing ot the Little Sisters of Charity and the Girl Scouts 65-12]). So we pretty much haven't been able to sleep since the tourney started and it's even worse now that the Gators have made it this far. The Final Four (and Championship Game) are in Indy this year, which I hear is only a 3-4 hour drive from here - we're seriously considering driving over to see if we can get tickets or at least watch it there and party afterwards with fellow Gators. We'll see. . . .

On other notes, Cody got new contacts and I found out I have stress fractures in my tibias from shin splints (running casualty). They hurt but I've been told to do physical therapy and take an atrocious amount of anti-inflamatory medication and I should be okay - if I stop running for a while. But I can't do that - yet - until after the half-marathon in a week and a half. So only a bit more running for me until I take a break, recoup and revive, only to start the marathon training for the fall. It's a 18-22 week program so I don't have too much time off.

Well, off to our last German 1 class (only to start German 2 next week) after a great dinner of CBW (Crazy Bowls and Wraps - they're AWESOME!) . . . . .

Website Update

There are updated pictures on the website - St. Patrick's Day this year and some old ones from last year (Cody's Birthday, our runs, Mardi Gras 2005, etc.). Enjoy!

And on and on it goes . . .

Winter, that is. It just won't stop!!! Sorry for two posts in a row about the weather, but I'm just so tired of it. It's cold, dreary, and everything is about as dead can get. I beginning to think I will never see the green again! There are 12 months in the year and four seasons - that would logically mean that each season gets 3 months. Well, winter's three months are offically over! Give it up and turn it over to spring already!!! While I love St. Louis and I love our life here, I told Cody I don't know how many of these winters I can take (and they say this one wasn't that bad). . . .

On other notes, Cody got new contacts today. His left eye got a little worse, but the right stayed the same. Poor kid is blind as a bat. I went to the dentist - no cavities - though that one crazy tooth is still crazy. I also ran a pretty good five miles on the treadmill - 46 minutes and 47 seconds - that's not too shabby (for me) on a treadmill. Well, it's almost ten p.m. and we both got home less then an hour ago and just finished "dinner" (he had left-over chilli with some chips and salsa and I had two bowls of Frosted Shredded Wheats). Time to get ready for bed (my doctor says I don't get enough sleep).

Welcome to Spring . . . now get out the snow shovels

So today is the Vernal Equinox, typically my favorite day of the year. It means finally the days have caught up to the nights and they're just getting longer until the Summer Solstice. So typically, a time to celebrate winter's end and spring's joyous arrival. But not in St. Louis. This morning as I left the house for work it was simultaneously raining, snowing, and sleet/hailing. Tonight we're forecasted to get 2-4 inches of snow and another 1-3 inches tomorrow. Fun, huh? Bring on the shorts and tank tops!

Black Bean and Corn Salsa - and how we plan to make our million

We like salsa, actually we love it (especially Cody). It's the only way I'll ever eat chips (and then only if they're baked), but I love it with pita bread, on chicken, or pretty much any way you can serve it. My favorite is Sam's Choice (Wal-Mart brand) Corn and Black Bean Salsa, while Cody prefers Pace Chunky that he adds tons of hot sauce to. And therein lies the quandry - I like as much healthy stuff as possible and Cody just wants it as hot as possible.

So this weekend he decided to make some homemade salsa. He found a Black Bean and Corn salsa recipe we both could agree on online (though he was disappointed it contained no habenaro peppers) so we decided to give it a shot. Yummy!!! It has black beans, corn (as the name implies), two tomatoes, an onion, red pepper, juice of two limes, fresh cilantro and cumin. He bought some Tostito's with a hint of lime (I was very apprehensive about this at first) and they are awesome with the salsa.

So, we've decided that's how we're going to make our millions (forget this engineering and law thing)! We're going to keep testing out salsa reciepes until we make one of our own we love and then market a healthy version and a hot and spicy version. We'll sell our "local/ homemade/ fresh" salsa at local farmer's markets until the grocery stores will pick it up - then we'll move world wide! Now we just need a catchy name and we'll be off!

Happy Halloween from the USPS

As a lot of people know, I love mailing stuff - for some reason I really enjoy writing out letters, putting stamps on them (along with an enormous amount of stickers), and dropping them in the blue box in hopes that the United States Postal Service will deliver my letter to its proper locale. Turns out this is more hoping then you would imagine. My letters have a tendency not to arrive timely or sometimes not at all. For instance, I sent Cody's mom a thank you card once and it took 11 days to get to Tallahassee. Another time I sent Cody's sister and her family a letter with the correct address including the +4 zip code, only to have it returned as "undeliverable." I then put the "undeliverable" card in an envelope addressed identical to the first and it made it there just fine. The most recent example was a Halloween card I sent my mom.

It all started when Cody's mom had this great idea to make scrapbook-type birthday cards for Cody and I last year. They were the greatest things you could imagine - it was a long accordion fold-up card that she put pictures from different birthdays on in scrapbook style. I still have them sitting out and show them to just about anyone who will look at them. Anyway, as I was organizing some old pictures, I came across some from various old Halloween photos and thought I would put them into one of those mini-scrapbook cards for my mom. So I spent quite some time getting everything together (Cody even helped) and finally made a card that I thought was really special and meaningful. I mailed it off on October 24th and even made sure to take it to the Post Office to ensure I had enough extra postage on it.

Well, Halloween came and went and everyone else got their Halloween cards, except my mom. I filled out a lost mail form at the Post Office and nothing turned up. Months and months went by and it really irked me that of all the mail I send, this one card really meant a lot to me and had some really old pictures on it and this is the piece they lost. I filled out more lost mail forms and again nothing came up. Well, Friday night when Cody and I were out celebrating St. Patrick's Day my mom called. And guess what - of all things, she finally got the card in the mail!! FIVE MONTHS after I mailed it, my Halloween card finally arrived!! She said it was in good shape, didn't look beat up or anything, and was even postmarked 10/24/05. On one hand I can't believe it took them FIVE MONTHS to deliver the card, but on the other, I'm just so very thankful it was finally delivered at all. So, Happy Halloween Mom, from the USPS!

A Great 5.65

Today I planned to go to the gym and work-out on the eliptical machine since I ran yesterday (I'm trying to run a lot, but not too much before the 1/2 marathon since I've had wicked painful shin splints for a few weeks now). But Cody called and felt like running - not just his normal quick one mile speed run, but felt like running an endurance run - around Forest Park - and I just couldn't resist this rarity. The big loop around Forest Park is one of my favorite runs in St. Louis - it's a pretty easy 5.65 miles with some great scenery along the way. I try to run it at least once or twice a week. So today I ran with a partner for only the second time in a year (the first time was with Marissa in the 5 mile St. Pat's race on Saturday) and for the first time with Cody. While Cody and I are both relatively physically active, our abilities do not match up well -he likes fast short runs and I like long slower ones - as you can imagine, this doesn't lend itself to working out together often - or ever, as the case may be.

So we set out to run together. I honestly thought I was going to kick his butt since I'm the endurance champ and he's only got speed, or so I thought. He really impressed me - we ran a pretty quick 5.65 miles and he had energy to sprint the last 1/2 mile! I had such a blast running with him too! First, I figured out I psyche myself out too much when I run distances so I don't run fast enough to hit my peak performance out of fear of not finishing (or having to walk some of it). Cody really had me keeping a good pace the whole run. Second I realized how bored I can get and how fun it was to have someone to chit chat with along the way. Not that I want to always run and chit chat, I enjoy the solidarity of the sport and the time of reflection, but it was a nice change. Of course, since he's used to running less then 10 minutes at a time, Cody thought it was boring to run that long. I've got to think of something to barter with him so I can talk him into running around the park with me once a week or every other week. . . . either that or find someone who wants to run 5.65 miles at a 9:30 pace with me - what do you think, Marissa? :)

On another note, the Tourney started today! As a result, I got nothing done at work as I hit "refresh" on my computer for hours to watch the scores. At the risk of discussing work on a blog (something I avoid like pickled beets), I've just got to tell this story. Our computers are equipped with a program called "Websense" that restricts our use of certain websites. We are allowed 60 minutes of Quota Time per day (which must be used in 10 minute increments) to view these "restricted" pages falling into categories such as "Travel," "Society/Lifestyles," "Entertainment," "Financial Institutions," and of course, "Sports." Of course things like "Weapons," "Pornography" and "Illegal" are totally restricted and you cannot use those even if you wanted to use your Quota Time.

So basically the theory is they don't want you messing around on the computer all day searching for tickets for your next trip, reading about Jessica Simpson's new boyfriend, or balancing your checkbook. . . . you can still do those things, but only on your Quota Time. Aside from the fact that I think this is ridculous as a professional to have Quota Time (after all I still have to bill my required time whether or not I chose to spend an extra two hours at work reading about the Ides of March), I swear we spend more of our time figuring out how to get around these blocks then we would if we just had free access to the sites to begin with. For instance, the Tourney started at 11:30 and the Gator's started play around 2:15 - obviously, I could not sit and hit "refresh" on ESPN Scoreboard for that length of time or I would run out of Quota Time before the Gator's started play. So I spent a great deal of time figuring out if I could find a site that had scores that wouldn't charge me Quota Time. No, I didn't want to sit there for hours on end and simply watch the scores change, but I did want to periodically look up from my work and see what was going on - and I would have run out of Quota Time after only 6 bouts of looking up as long as they were 10 minutes apart. Anyway, we did eventually find a way to watch the scores without using Quota Time, but he moral is I really would have spent less time periodically looking up the scores to see what was going on then I did searching for a way around the dumb blocks. After all, since I have to bill X number of hours a month, I think I should be free to sit on the internet all day as long as those hours get billed. More power to me if I manage to read about Brittany Spear's baby and get the hours billed too.

Ides of March, Part II

So, we were discussing the Ides at work today and low and behold, a colleague, who just happens to have the same and middle name as I do (wonderfully popular name in the 70's I guess), also wrote on her blog about the Ides! Luckily she is much smarter then I am and had much more information then I did. Apparently the significance is that Caesar was killed on this day in 44 B.C., hense the phrase in Caesar (the play), "Beware the Ides of March." Anyway, I stole this link from Melissa's blog for anyone interested in further information on the Ides of March - who knew I'd learn so much in one little day!! Maybe tomorrow I'll learn about the 16th of March!

On another notes:

I ran five miles on the treadmill at the gym today in 46:53 - no it's not incredibly fast, but for a treadmill it's not terrible (I run much faster outside on the ground then I do on a treadmill). Only a little over three more weeks until the half marathon! I have three more long runs of 8, 9, and 10 miles and then April 9th is the big 13.1! My goal this year is to run it in 2 hours, 10 minutes or less. We'll see . . .

I finally broke down today and bought the blazer I've been eyeing up for weeks at Old Navy - I have been wavering on whether or not I liked it enough to buy it but then it went on sale for $25 so I broke down. It should work great as a spring jacket/blazer that I can wear with a ton of stuff. We'll have to see. . . .

Cody and I figured out our brackets for the NCAA tourney today. They're due tomorrow for our respective pools. I have U Conn picked to win it - much to Cody's chagrin, I didn't pick Florida. :) I have a classic 5-12 upset (Texas A&M over Syracuse - no matter how "on fire" everyones says Syracuse is), but otherwise nothing ground shattering. I have Iowa doing well but Villanova loseing to Ohio State - we'll see.

Oh, and I actually cooked dinner tonight - first time in a while. My specialty - frozen veggies, terriaki chicken and brown rice. But thanks to the Girl Scouts of America, we had a special dessert tonight of Thin Mints and Samoas. :) Nothing additional to see here I guess. :)

Happy Ides of March

As yesterday was a reference for all the math people, today's reference is more for the Latin folk (the dead language, not the nationality). I'm not sure what the Ides of March has to do with Latin, but that's where I learned about it so that's what I associate it with. I think it had to do something with the Romans and something they did on March 15th. . . probably some festival or something.

Anyway, today I learned something new about the Ides - I thought Ides pretty much meant 15th, but as my dictionary.com Word of the Day informed me, Ides refers to the 15th day of the month only in March, May, June and October and the 13th in other months. Who would have known? Well, to answer that, actually my brother would have known since I emailed him this tidbit of information and his response was "Cmon, you forgot the rhyme? March, July, October, May: that's when the Ides are on the 15th day." I guess I must have been sleeping in class that day. Maybe he can tell us what the Ides stands for in the first place. :) Thanks Bo!!

Happy Pi Day

For the math geek in all of us, I wish everyone a Happy Pi Day. Today is 3-14, for those who might not get the reference. Someone I used to know in high school (though I can't recall now who exactly it was -probably my brother) memorized Pi out to some obnoxious number of digits. Here's the first nine: 3.14159265. So enjoy your day of Pi.
p.s. This is my 50th post!

And the madness begins

Summer in St. Louis (and possibly the entire northern half of the U.S.) is insane. All this pent up energy from sitting inside all winter, watching TV, and eating and eating and eating, tends to cause one to go insane with activity during the summer months. I am no exception to this madness. As of the first sign of spring, the calendars begin to fill up. All winter, weeks can go by without any festivals, events, get-togethers, parties, or even simple happy hours. . . no one has any desire to go anywhere but work (and I wouldn't call going to work a desire, but more of a necessity) and then home to curl up with a warm blanket, the TV, and of course, food (hence the reason I've gained so much weight this winter). It's just miserable outside - the wind, the snow, and worst is the ice. Trips are made to the grocery store only when there absolutely nothing left in the house to eat and then only after 12 layers of clothing and almost as much griping. Low gas lights go ignored with the hopes that there will be one day of respite in the frigid air in which one can fill their gas tank without getting hypothermia. And then just as you think you can't take another day of the weather, the emails begin: Party, May 13th, Happy Hour, April 27th, Bowling Gathering June 24th, Float Trip July 15th. And the madness has begun. Let's call it another form of March Madness, this one not involving endless combinations and permutations (props to the math geeks who know what that stuff means) of brackets, but visions of springtime and an eventual warm up into summer and the madness to get one's calendar filled with fun social events to defrost the bones and provide happy memories for when next winter hits. I swear this is the only coping mechanism to make it through the winter - fill up the summer calendars with all possible forms of fun so when the winter hits one can just sit back and enjoy the memories . . . under the blanket, in front of the TV, and eating, of course.

Kiss Me. . . .I'm Irish

Maybe I am, maybe I'm not, but either way I love St. Patrick's Day. What a holiday - dress up in green (does anyone ever really look good in St. Pat's green?), drink green beer and just have general good cheer. This St. Pat's (observed in STL), was no exception. First let me explain that while I am well aware St. Patrick's Day is actually on Friday, St. Louis always does their annual celebration the Saturday before St. Pat's so that was this weekend. And what a weekend it was - typically our weather this time of year is highs in the 50s (or 40s) and lows in the 30s and 40s - but we had this crazy front system this weekend providing a brief, though welcome, oasis of warm weather - we actually got into the 70s!!! For a short period I actually forgot I lived in the artic Midwest (okay, so it's not exactly artic, but to my Florida senses it sure feels like it). Anyway, the day started bright and early with the Michelob Ultra St. Patrick's Day 5 Mile Run. Cody doesn't like to run anything over a 5k, but it's a great pretty easy distance for me. I ran with my friend Marissa and while the course was quite hilly and it was actually pretty warm, we ran a good race. . . . no, we didn't win, but we did well. :) I still find it odd that a race, something put on to promote fitness, is sponsored by a BEER - no matter how they spin the darn beer, it's still beer and it's not healthy! Afterwards we walked with the Hurling Club in yet another parade - that's our second parade in two months- that we were in! Again, thanks to Dude for hooking it up (yes, "Dude" is an actual person - and yes, he has a real name, but no one uses it). And what a day to be in a parade - I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day and there were absolutely huge crowds! I'll post pictues on the website as soon as Dude emails me the pictures he took so I can upload them all together. :) Afterwards we met up with a bunch of friends and hung out. . . . more fun was had by all. Now I just have to make it through to week to Friday for another celebration - boy do I love being Irish, or not, but everyone's Irish for St. Pat's Day. :)

Dressed Up Kitty Style

Okay, so this weekend Cody and decided to run some errands on Sunday. Original destinations: Crazy Bowls and Wraps (this great "fast food" place that serves "health food" - I love the teriaki bowl w/ brown rice) and Wal-Mart. But then we negotiated an additional compromise. I would take him to Goodwill (his new favorite store after finding the 3 foot gator a while ago) and he would go to Trader Joe's (a health food store) with me. So we went to Goodwill. . . . and of course we found more crap to buy. My find was two books and Cody found a "stadium blanket" (blanket that folds up for easy carrying), a pet brush mit and the below shown cat dress. It's actually a small dog outfit but it fits great on the cats! Check out the website for additional kitties in dresses photos. Tuppis just ran away when we put it on her and Wiggles just sat on the floor and refused to move. We haven't yet managed to get the dress on Mr. Pickles. :)