Monday Monday – The Proud Mama edition

Posted on March 17, 2008 by 21cm

Every day is a proud Mama day but today is an especially proud day.

Humbly Bumbly has done something magnificent. She has been accepted into the 2 top graduate programs in her chosen field. As though this isn’t marvelous enough, her background makes it even more so.

In high school she was the Queen of the literary arts and she was very involved in drama (not THAT kind – the kind where you learn about plays and playwrites and you perform). She worked on the newspaper, took AP English and she took creative writing. She graduated significantly more educated in literature and grammar than her Mom.

In college she decided that science was where it’s at and studied biology, physics, chemistry and ecology to major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. After graduating she got a well paying job in a water testing lab which did great things for her checking account but did nothing to make her happy. She fretted about her choices and wondered, as do we all, “what will I do with my life”. She pondered her interests and her skills and her education and decided that she could marry her 2 backgrounds by becoming an architect. She looked into that and realized that she wasn’t so interested in the engineering side of things but that landscape architecture would be the perfect marriage of a love of things beautiful and artistic and a background in science.

I was really impressed when she came up with that solution and even more so when she showed me the work she developed for her portfolio. It turns out that my daughter has considerable artistic skills. I knew she had some but really, I had no idea how talented she is because she didn’t take art classes in high school. I helped her work on her essays a bit for her application (making her cry in the process – way to go, Mom!) and ultimately she came up with a very strong portfolio that reflected her interests, her intellect and her talent. And it worked – she’s got choices!

Her husband has also been accepted to the top school in his chosen profession as well as another that must be near the top. Humbly is a smart woman who married well. Now they have a hard choice to make because they could go to school in the same geographic area but she isn’t crazy about the program there or they could go to school in cities that are 500 miles apart and will cost quite a bit more. Not easy choices but as things go, having to make a choice like that is a nice problem to have.

Small son turns 22 tomorrow. He’s in college and doing well. I’m proud of him, too.

My little Pookie is flying to Sweden on Saturday to take a trip she paid for all by herself. In fact, she has money in the bank AND a fully paid for ticket. She is also in college and doing well and I’m very proud of her, too.

I don’t usually take any credit for my kids but today I’m just going to say ‘ Way to go, Mom! You are 3 for 3!

Posted in Family | 10 Comments

Lazy Person in Search of Monster Slayer

Posted on March 14, 2008 by 21cm

The monster is sloth.

I need someone to do this:

Training for the week:

Sunday – Nothing
Monday – Nothing
Tuesday – Swim 2000 yards, run 2.25 miles in 19 mins (woot!)
Wednedsay – Ride in trainer 30 mins
Thursday – nothing
Friday – help! It’s not too late to sort of salvage the week but it’s getting close – very close! ACK!

Posted in training | 6 Comments

By The Sea, By The Sea, By the Beautiful Sea

Posted on March 12, 2008 by 21cm

My weekend in southern California was super fun.

I got in Friday night and DN2 (Pookie, Daughter Number 2) picked me up at the airport and off we went to a Mexican food place she’s been telling me about for the last year and half. When she talked about it I was sure she was telling me about Cody Hahn which I thought was one of those comical restaurant names like Carols Goldstien or Shamus Gonzales. I was wrong. We went to this place

A woman who was there asked how it is pronounced and suffice it to say that Cody Hahn is somewhat lacking but there’s no good way to write it. What’s more important than the name was the meal – a ginormous plate of nachos. When we both declared ourselves stuffed DN2 took her water and poured it all over what was left on the plate. I was both stunned and impressed. If you need help to quit stuffing your face do try it – it was 100% effective.

Back to the on-campus apartment we headed, stopping first to meet her friends who were puppy sitting. A picture of the pup is forthcoming but alas, I don’t have it yet. Petting a puppy was EXACTLY what I needed. That and a strawberry creamcheese empanada from a Paula Dean recipie. Yum!

After a night of sleep that reminded me of how hard sleep can be to come by on a college campus I got up, ran 6 miles, showered, had a protein shake and then DN2 and I headed for a day at the San Diego Zoo where we walked our feet down to nubbins. I made a movie of our day that is at the end of this post.

Then it was off to Long Beach to see my prodigal Son and have dinner at McKennas By the Bay. It was lovely to see where he lived and have a really nice meal.

Saturday night, completely spent from traipsing around the zoo and then driving a couple hundred miles I slept like the dead. No amount of collegiate ruckus could penetrate my slumber and apparenlty I dreamt of running because DN2 told me I sort of snored only what she described as a snore sounded like I was inhaling through my nose and making whoofing exhales through my mouth.

As much as I loved all of that I think Sunday was my favorite day. We got up a little later and headed to the La Jolla shore for brunch. First we stopped by Children’s Beach where the children have been displaced by a colony of seals.

We watched them for quite some time before heading up to the Brockton Villa Restaurant for some Coast Toast. If there is something more sublime than a beautiful sunny day on the veranda enjoying the deliciousness of Coast Toast I’m not sure what it is in this moment. My mind is suffused in a maple syrup sunshine pool of bliss. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm………..



We were very happy

After brunch we stood overlooking the water and watched the world’s most amazing body surfer. With the aid of fins and webbed gloves this guy was able to ride right on top of the waves from way out until he had to duck under to keep from getting tossed on the rocks. I included a couple of shots of him the video.

Our final tour was of the Birch Aquarium but at that point my camera was out of battery from all the video I shot so I have no pictures.
Many thanks to DN2, Pookie for showing me such a great weekend.

Here is my video memento of the trip. I took all of these with my humble little Casio camera so please pardon its inability to maintain focus on the close-ups.

Posted in Family, Fun in a tub | 8 Comments

Monday Monday – The DST edition

Posted on March 10, 2008 by 21cm

Are you as pooped as I am today? Holy Guacamole – I’m just trashed.

Thank you all for the kind words about my doggie. I still feel horrible about it and I keep listening for her toenails click clacking across the floor but you are all correct – it had to be done and I did it out of love and now I just have to wait for the bad feelings to pass.

I had a fabulous weekend in San Diego and I want to tell you all about it but honestly, I’m too tired. I will leave you with this little slide show and the promise of more to come (I know… but really – I’M TIRED!)

Posted in Fun in a tub | 10 Comments

Au revoir mon chien

Posted on March 6, 2008 by 21cm

I got my dog as a puppy 14 years ago because my kids wanted a puppy. They were little kids back then. The puppy was a lab mix – the other part was either sheep dog or bearded collie. She was fluffly and cute and not so bright but very loyal. We named her Sienna because when she was a puppy she was dark brown like that crayon – burnt sienna.

For the last year her back end has been failing her to one degree or another. She’s had good days and not so good days and lately she’s had days where she gets stuck on the floor and can’t get up. She fell down the stairs a couple times. She looked a little sad.

I agonized over what to do about it and then I quit worrying about it and decided that I would just know when it was time. Yesterday I decided it was time and today I took her in. She was having a good day and that made it worse, as though anything can make terminating your dog’s life after she has been your faithful friend for 14 years – a font of unconditional love, any worse than it is. I could accidentally step on her, force her to submit to grooming, leave her home for hours, not take her for a walk for days and still – she loved me. I hope she knows I was loving her back by letting her go when she could still walk a little bit – before she had to suffer the terror of just not being able to get up.

I’m not the only one around here who will miss her.

Posted in Tribute | 26 Comments

Monday Monday – the 7 Things Edition

Posted on March 3, 2008 by 21cm

First up is training – I had a pretty good week last week but this week is the first week of my official HIM training ala Matt LIeto’s plan posted on Trifuel. This plan packs a LOT of hours. I have made some modifications to fit my training opportunities but by and large I’m hoping to hit the times specified in each discipline. This is a HUGE step up for me. Wish me luck!

Now on to fulfilling my obligation as someone who got tagged by Kona Shelly. Thankfully I don’t have to repeat the rules because I don’t really know what they are. As usual I’m wingiing it.

1). I have a ‘thing’ about my name. It has 3 syllables and I generally insist people use all 3 of them. So it’s Pamela, not Pam. I just find the name ‘Pam’ to be too abrupt and I never really liked it (but it’s okay if you are a Pam and you do). I like Pamela fine, though. Also – I find it totally irritating when people think I’m a bitch for wanting them to use my whole name. No one gets made when a Christopher doesn’t want to be called Chris.

2). I am a helpy helperton I am a decorated former member of the PTA. I spent about a year volunteering at 826 Valencia when I was unemployed. I am a Court Appointed Special Advocate. I am the Director of PR/Communications for my race club.

3). I am baffled every time I see Will Farrell on screen in his tidy whities. What is up with that? He’s fat and hairy and yet he just loves to go on camera like that.

4). When I swim I have to finish up with a multiple of 100. If I’ve done 2050 or 2150 I feel compulsive about doing another 50 to round it up. Sometimes I count wrong and don’t realize it until after I’m in the shower. No – I’m not THAT compulsive. I let it go.

5). I am addicted to Jeopardy. I watch it every night that I am home at 7. I have my good categories (science) and my really bad categories (European history). I’m so-so with word based categories.

6). I have mad skilz with procrastination.

7). I’m late for work again which sadly is not so unusual.

Have a great week and you’re all tagged!

Posted in Monday Monday | 13 Comments

Time Has Come Today

Posted on February 29, 2008 by 21cm

Actually, thanks to work time has gone. I have no time to blog! *sniffle*. Not that my life is oh so exciting – but still. Maybe the real problem is that I spend all day actually working on a computer and my interest in playing on one after work hours has diminished by quite a bit. But I’m reading blogs and I’m thinking of you and I’m going to write a post about my ‘word’, the discovery of which has done good things for my life..

I’m training! Here’s what the week has looked like so far:
Sunday – garage ride. We did some uber hard Coach Troy climbing DVD and got our friend’s garage floor quite damp. It was fun

Monday – off. I love Monday for being my day off.

Tues – AM Swim; PM Track workout. Owie – I kind of hurt my hammy

Wed – I rode in the trainer in the AM. This was a first! First time riding in the trainer before work, anyhow and I’m pleased to say I won’t need to do much more of that. Ran Wednesday PM

Thurs – Swim. We did 10 x 100 on the fastest possible send off. I held a 2:10 which was good for me. I made the mistake of discussing intervals in the locker room only to discover that a few lanes down they were going on the 1:15 but that’s okay! They are them and I am me and 2:10 x 10 was good so yeah!

Today – off. Hammy is still a little sore and I plan on doing quite a bit of riding and running and swimming this weekend.

Here’s the best news of all – THE DAYS ARE GETTING LONGER!! There is sun from 6 to 6, even a little before and a little after. This makes me very, very happy.

So that’s it – my post is totally boring and I’m dashing it off at 8:30 AM when I should be finishing getting ready for work. The job is pretty dull but I have money in my checking account and I didn’t have to rob my savings account or my line of credit to get it there AND my mortgage and health insurance are already paid. YES!! Sun and Money – what could be better than that? (okay fine – I can think of 1 other thing but alas – not happening).

Posted in Politics, training | 9 Comments

Monday Monday – the Let’s Hope Tina is Next edition

Posted on February 24, 2008 by 21cm

I wish I could embed this video but NBC doesn’t roll that way.

This is Tina Fey’s guest appearance on SNLs Weekend Update. It is her view on the election – and it is mine.

Watch until the end – it’s worth it.

That goes double for you people from Ohio and Texas.

thanks to Nytro for showing me how to embed an SNL clip. There will be more – consider yourself warned

Posted in Politics | Leave a comment

Monday Monday – the Let’s Hope Tina is Next edition

Posted on February 24, 2008 by 21cm

I wish I could embed this video but NBC doesn’t roll that way.

This is Tina Fey’s guest appearance on SNLs Weekend Update. It is her view on the election – and it is mine.

Watch until the end – it’s worth it.

That goes double for you people from Ohio and Texas.

thanks to Nytro for showing me how to embed an SNL clip. There will be more – consider yourself warned

Posted in Politics | 5 Comments

Keep Voting

Posted on February 21, 2008 by 21cm

The EvoTri process requires voting 3 times. I hadn’t realized that and I’m thinking not all of you realize it, either.

Commodore made the first cut but you need to do it again.

Send an email to vote@evotri.com with Commodore – Round 2 in the subject sometime before Saturday

It’s that easy.

And then, when Commodore makes the 2nd round there will be a 3rd round and we’ll all vote for him again and he will win!

Thank you Hilary for the correction!

Posted in Accolades | 3 Comments