Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Squares

I just found 6 mystery squares in my apartment! I think they came via my roommate who still works at my old job and I have a coworker there whipping them up like crazy! She's donated 14 crocheted squares!

My current count is:
Crocheted: 28
Knitted: 30

I can probably make one twin sized afghan if I combined them. Otherwise I'm about halfway on both. Admittedly, I've been slacking on making them too. I need to pick up my hook and needles!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

want vs. need

We live in such a disposable society that we often forget what's really important for our survival: food, water, shelter and clean air. So we eat Twinkies, drink bottled water, build McMansions and drive cars that pollute our air.

I really want an Ipod Shuffle. I know I don't need one, but hot damn they're cute and I get so bored running! I also don't have the 70 some dollars to spend on one. So give me the strength to resist...or wait until someone gets me one for Christmas.

dammit, and now I want a Twinkie.

Monday, October 29, 2007

harder better faster stronger

So I went to Greenlake this afternoon after much procrastination. I clocked with my car the extra .2 miles I would need to make the tour de Greenlake 3 full miles. I did 3 miles in 31 minutes including my stop for a drink of water and perpendicular walk to let the water settle.

But then you know what happened? I kept running. I did 4.2 miles and RAN 4 of those miles! RAN! That doesn't include warm up and cool down either! HOLY CRAP! All in all 4.6 miles in about 50 minutes.

I almost cried when I crossed the 3 mile mark and again when I hit the four mile mark. In fact, when I hit the four mile marker (GL has quarter mile markers I just noticed today) I jumped on it, startling the woman behind me. HAHA!

That's right Jenny, I'm coming for you! ; )

Friday, October 26, 2007

time for a new plan

I started a new weight plan today and decided to up my cardio too. I know when I run I have a hard time surpassing my goals so today I decided to go past the usual 30-some minutes to make sure I got 3 miles in plus some cool down. Yes, today I went 45 minutes and over 4 miles. I'm hoping this will help me actually run the three miles without always having to walk. I'm pretty sure it's all in my head and that I CAN run 3 miles but I just get so bored....

Anyway, I'm lying on my floor exhausted and I don't know if between the extended run and the new weights if I"m going to be able to do my Sat. run but I"ll try.
I'm not sure how it got there...and it's doing better than the sprout I planted in a pot. It even has flowers. If only I had as much persistence as this plant does.....

Saturday, October 13, 2007

I did it!

I just ran around Greenlake! I stopped once to talk to some friends for literally a minute and then got to the other side of the lake and got a drink of water and walked the opposite way for like two minutes so I didn't jiggle and slosh around.

They say Greenlake is 2.9 miles and I did my best to run in the middle of the path because I'm not sure where they take that measurement. I also ran past my starting point and then back to my car so I could feel good about saying that I ran 3 miles. OUTSIDE even! With hills and weather (was that sun blinding today or what?!) 3 miles and 35 minutes not including warm up and cool down. And I think I could've gone longer! I'm good at achieving my goals, but not at surpassing them.

I'm so excited!

*edit* It's 2.8 miles around Greenlake. I also thought that when they said the outer path was 3.2 miles that they meant the outside of the regular path but I just did the math to figure out that no, the 13.5' path is not wide enough to make that much of a difference. That's right, I sat here and literally did the math, I can even show my work! Still, since I ran past my starting point and then back to my car I think I was pretty close to that 3 mile mark and next time I'll go even farther.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Get a grip!

Another awesome friend came with me to buy tires today! He walked in, spouted off some numbers and now I have shiny new tires that smell like grape. I got 80,000 miles off my factory tires and hopefully I'll get that much off of these new tires especially since now I know how often to rotate them! (far more often than once in 5.5 years!)

Enviro conscious professors

Two of my professors have declared they'd much rather do things online than collect hard copies because they'd rather not waste paper. It was difficult not to shout out for joy!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Good Friends or How to Meet Boys

On my way to class today I noticed that my car tire was ripping apart. Yeah, I drove on it anyway. I was supposed to go dancing tonight after class but I figured maybe I shouldn't drive on it anymore than I had to so I called my friend to cancel. What'd he do? Turned around and came to campus and changed my tire for me. Then followed me to the gas station to make sure I had air in all my tires, followed me to my house to drop off my car and drove me to the show. I couldn't be any more thankful!!

While I was waiting for him to arrive I dug out my spare and jack and hung out in the parking lot. Several cute boys stopped to make sure I was ok and ask if I needed help!! I had no idea that was all I needed to do to meet boys!

Also, the show was one of the most fun nights I've had in a while. Really good friends, laughing, chatting...way fun. : )

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

one question

who is teaching these kids to behave? A visitor to a classroom should NOT have to work this hard nor should they have to be criticized for not getting all the information in when they were spending all their time managing someone else's class.

My future classroom will be in so much trouble if they ever behave the way these kids behaved today.

seriously.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

running outdoors

Good idea: going for a jog on a nice autumn evening. Bad idea: going for a run on a nice autumn evening directly after eating three pilsbury cinamon rolls and drinking a pepsi.

20 minutes got me 1.91 miles which unfortunately included two walked blocks and my block and a half cool down. At the gym, on the treadmill, 30 minutes including my walk breaks gets me about 3 miles. So funny that it can make such a difference...

Next time I'll rethink the order of my treats and exercise.

Ballard looks so flat in a car....

Friday, October 05, 2007

wooo hoooo!

Feeling better, I went to the gym today. Today was my Friday run and I was able to run for twenty minutes straight! Then I walked for three and ran for four more minutes! That means I'm running about 2.5 miles. That's so close to 5k! But it's on a treadmill...so soon I'll have to try my hand at Greenlake where there are weather and hills.

Also, I rode my bike to the gym even though I'm done tallying for the season. I dread having to drive and park in the rain. I may have to determine if it's worth it to buy rain gear to wear for five minutes, change out of, get sweaty at the gym and then put back on to wear home. That just doesn't sound worth it to me. Then it's going to be cold and dark and unsafe. sigh.

Monday, October 01, 2007

Sept. Tally/ Six Months

Well, the rain has set in. When I started this I didn't even realize that there would be exactly six months of bike riding weather. Seattle's great like that.

Here are my results

Sept.
Lbs. CO2 Saved: 21.2
Miles Biked: 12.8

Six months
Lbs. CO2 Saved: 128.7
Miles Biked: 79.1

My goal shifted to try and save my weight in CO2. I won't say if I made that goal or not, but I think that should be a challenge for next year. If we each did even that much, that adds up!