Tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Not only am I going to write about running, but that title is also a nod to the Boss and his performance tonight at half time. Anyways, onto the real entry.

This morning I ran the InStep 5K for Childhood Cancer (or something like that) with my friend Claire and Mike. I mostly did it because Claire is training for a half marathon and needs to get some other races in before hand. Plus, I figure I need the motivation to help me not die during the Shamrock Shuffle in March. I enjoy races, but I would never go as far to say that I actually enjoy running. I don't know that I've ever experienced the so called "runner's high." Scratch that, maybe I did once. There was a time during the summer before maybe junior year of high school when I was doing one of our summer work outs for cross country conditioning and I ran for what seemed like forever. To this day it probably sticks out in my memory as the best run of my life. I no longer remember how far I ran nor how long, but I definitely ended up down near East Avenue and not particularly sure how I got there or how to get to a less sketchy stretch of road. Anyways, that is neither here nor there and not part of my point at all.

I was reading an article in Rolling Stone the other night about Bruce Springsteen and the song Born to Run popped into my head. The song got me thinking about my running "career," and I laughed to myself because I certainly was not born to run. I'm not build to be a runner, but I keep putting myself through the torture of it. A sprained ankle during freshman year cross country left me with a bad ankle and tendinitis in my heal. An injury senior year left me with a bad knee that has never fully recovered. Over the course of running on and off in college I've got myself a second bad knee. I've recently developed a hip problem, and my physical therapist pointed out that my right hip is considerably weaker than the left. Wonderful. Oh, and did I mention I'm asthmatic? So add all those variables up, and your answer is not a runner. The smart thing to do would be to find an alternative style of exercise, but for some reason I always come back to running. While I'm running, I generally just want to kill myself. I keep going (clearly I'm not post-humanously writing this) but generally just because I don't want the people around me to think I'm pathetic at the gym. Plus, I beat myself up about not doing well.

However, there was a time when I loved to run. In grade school my favorite days of gym class were when we did relay races. Races on the playground were another favorite activity of mine. I loved it. Tag was my sort of game because you were running around. And then of course, I was that kid in 7th grade who actually told our basketball coach I really thought he should be making us run. Who tells their coach they should be running? Only a crazy child. Then, again I so badly wanted our team not to suck. Too bad that dream never came true. Oh well.

On an unrelated noted: Marquette beat Georgetown last night and is now 8-0 in the Big East. This is their best start in something like 30 years....you know what was 30 years ago? I'm not even going to tell you in fear of jinxing the team.

Sort of like killing them with kindness

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
— Herm Albright, 1876-1944, writer for the Saturday Evening Post

Today at work this magazine came across my desk called FPO (For Publications Only). I'm not sure why I got it, but it seems like a pretty cool magazine. Anyways, the quote above was at the top of one of the stories and it just made me stop and laugh. This is so ridiculously true. I've often taken the kill them with your kindness, a lesson I'm pretty sure I learned from my mom. It works like a charm too. When people don't like you or are generally just sort of jerks, I've found that they really don't know how to react when you are nice to them or in some situations go out of your way to be nice to them.

Shape up, or ship out!

The gym I go to is having a 30 day shape up challenge. For every 30 minute workout you complete you get to move your piece up one space on the game board, but you can't move more that two spaces a day. I haven't actually created a game piece because I can't figure out where to make one, and since it is a 24 hour gym, there is rarely an employee around to ask. If you complete the challenge, you are entered into a drawing and can win a vacation among other prizes. I'm not entirely interested in winning anything, but being held accountable helps me stay motivated. Basically, I'm guilting myself into shape. Here's the problem. The challenge started on the 26th, which is still within a month of New Year's resolution season. Consequently, the gym has been packed the past two days. Sure, I haven't shown my face there all month until now, but I miss the days of the fall and early winter when there was hardly anyone there. Yesterday I showed up shortly after 6 and end up using the lower bike. I really didn't enjoy it. I did that for about 20 minutes and then after standing around for a little bit was able to get on an elliptical. Ever since my knees have been able to handle running on a treadmill again, I've come to really dislike ellipticals. So, that only last about 1o minutes. At least I got my 3o minutes in. Today, Erin and I left work early because she was feeling sick. Perfect I thought; I'll be home before 5 and can beat everyone there! Wrongo! I got home, changed, ate a quick snack and was at the gym by 4:45. I didn't even go in because it was so packed. However, I returned around 8:45 and it was like the days of old. I was able to peacefully get my workout in and actually felt very good about my run. After running I decided to give the bike a try because I was trying to fill in 2 work out spaces worth tonight. I only did that for 5 minutes. Exercise bikes are horrible. I couldn't get the seat really where I needed it, and was just uncomfortable the whole time. I made up the extra time doing my physical therapy exercises.

Being home before 5 p.m. is a wonderful lifestyle, and I am now substantially jealous of the rest of the general population who has this luxury. Tonight I made a real dinner (I used two pots and a pan) and ate it calmly because I wasn't so hungry I wanted to chew my arm off before my meal was even ready. After that I went downstairs to give my neighbor some of their mail that had been put in my mailbox and talked to him for maybe 20 minutes. Then, I did some dishes and cleaned my kitchen up a little, read part of a magazine, fooled around on the Internet and finally went and worked out. I look forward to the day when this can just be a regular day for me and not so monumental.

Oh, and happy bubble wrap appreciation day! I hope you celebrated in an appropriate manner.

Shower woes

The shower in my bathroom has a door on it instead of a shower curtain. I've come to despise this door. It's not a shower stall; it's a bathtub. While the door does serve its purpose of keeping the shower water inside the tub/shower area and off my bathroom floor, it poses a number of other problems. Let me tell you about those problems.

First up, it makes a seemingly easy job of cleaning a shower about ten times more difficult than it really should be. In order to clean the back end of the tub and shower I need to climb in there. Enter sub problem No. 1. My shower head/tub faucet drips. My landlord claims it's such a little amount of water that it's fine because they'd have to remove an outside wall to fix it or something. I'm not sure I buy this, but he's paying for the water, not me so whatever. Back to my original point though. So when I have to climb in it's always all wet because even though I may not have taken a shower for 12 hours, water is constantly dripping.

Next on the list is related to this same cleaning problem. All along the track of the doors is mildewy and moldy. I try to combat the mold every time I clean my bathroom, but it sort of grosses me out and I usually have a limited supply of paper towels. This is just gross. I'm thinking about asking my landlord if we can take the doors off and put a curtain rod up in its place.

The third problem is less disgusting. If I ever wanted to actually take a bath, I couldn't really. Well I could, but the though of being closed in like that really makes me uncomfortable so I choose not to. I rarely have the desire to take a bath, so this isn't a huge deal. However, it would be nice to have the option in the event that I ever do want to take one.

In unrelated news: I've got a case for Encyclopedia Brown. While doing some laundry Sunday some how the wash tub my washing machine empties into got clogged by a pillow case, slightly flooding the basement, messing up the wash cycle and leaving me entirely perplexed. Where did the pillow case come from? Did I drop it in there and not realize it before hitting start? Did it get sucked up through the drainage tube? I have no idea. The second attempt at laundry was successful and nothing was flooded or backed up.

We are Marquette!

I feel like instead of "In downtown Milwaukee..." this video should start "On the fringe of the ghetto..."

Either way, this video sort of gives me chills. As of yesterday, Marquette is 6-0 in the Big East and 17-2 on the season. They are ranked No. 11 on the AP poll and No. 10 on the ESPN/USA Toady poll. Unfortunately, they are just starting to face the tough teams of the Big East. Some friends and I went to the game yesterday for National Marquette Day. They played DePaul, the worst team in the conference. It was fun, but a boring game. You could tell Marquette was barely trying and was just sort of sloppy. Tomorrow they take on Notre Dame. They better win or I might throw myself over the Hoan Bridge. I'm going to be sort of conflicted as the game is on during trivia. Luckily the Ale House most likely will be playing it.

Coffee Etiquette

This morning when I got into the office I took my coat off, turned my computer on and immediately went to put my lunch in the fridge but more importantly to get a cup of coffee. There was some guy filling up. So to utilize my time in the best way possible, I put some creamer and sugar into my cup while I wait for him to finish up. Important side note: he's one of those people who uses a travel mug all day long, which are too big to fit under the pot to fill so you have to use a paper cup to fill it. Annoying and unnecessary if you ask me. These people also usually leave their paper cups behind on the counter. Anyways, so he finishes up and I walk over, put my Friends of the LaGrange Library mug under the pot and much to my disgust discover that there is no coffee left! Not only did he watch me prepare my cup for coffee and not tell me there was none left, which in and of itself is rude, he didn't have the common decency to make more. I would be annoyed if I found the pot empty, but it's even worse to leave it that way while I'm standing next to you! At least have the common sense to mention that it's all gone. So instead I dumped out the cream and sugar, got some hot chocolate from the machine because the coffee in machine is even worse than the stuff in the pot and made some coffee for the next poor soul who shuffles into the kitchen.

It's true...

Katie and I found this to be a hilarious advertisement. The guys didn't. What's up with that?

Everybody poops

When your dad is a gastroenterologist, conversations about bowel movements, diarrhea and gas are fairly commonplace — even at the dinner table. For instance, we all know the first thing one family member who shall remain nameless does each morning is poo. The whole day is a wash if that doesn't happen. Others need a little coffee to get things moving, if you will. I know what foods have a high fiber content if that's what you need. Did you know that three bean burritos from Taco Bell will roughly fulfill your daily requirement for fiber? I did. Poo is what we do.

It came to my attention the other day that not everyone is as comfortable with discussing this aspect of life. While in Ireland it came out that one member of the group hadn't yet one day. I no longer remember why it even came up, but immediately this problem became a recurring theme of the week. If we were sitting down for lunch or dinner looking over the menu, someone was sure to point out a high fiber option. The other day another friend and I were out for dinner and a discussion about colonoscopies started. Apparently his family members over the age of 50 had a some what detailed conversation about their last tests at the dinner table recently. As he told the story he explained how embarrassed by it he was. Seemed like no big deal to me. After all, regular screenings are important for the early detection of colon cancer. Come on people.

What's the big deal everybody does it? There's even a children's book telling us that it's OK!

Side note: I wowed my classmates in fifth grade by being able to spell gastroenterologist. That was probably the only time my spelling skills have been something to brag about.

Make that a PBR with a round of Scrabble

Tonight my friend Tom and I met up for dinner. After a quick stop in a music store so I could check for something I'd been hoping would be there, we headed over to the Palomino, one of our favorite watering holes for a bite to eat and a drink. We walked in and the place was pretty bare, much to our surprise. On election night you couldn't find a seat in a bar anywhere you went and tonight we had our choice. Did we want a booth? How about a seat at the bar? How about a table? It was just the regular Tuesday crowd, so we scooted into a booth and got our food. After spending a good portion of the evening trying to figure out what weirdo movie they were playing, the bartender switched all the TVs to inauguration coverage and our waitress came over to ask if we'd like some champagne, there would be a free toast at 8. We looked at each other, shrugged and said sure what the hell. Around 8, the bartender made a toast and we all enjoyed our free bubbly. My theory is it was just left over from New Year's and tonight there was at least a good excuse to try and get rid of it. Either way it was a free drink.

After the toast, we headed over to another bar down the street for one more drink before heading home. We grabbed the seats at the end of the bar so we could "be those two people at the end of the bar" as Tom put it. Shortly after, we decided to move to a table in the back so we could play Scrabble. After digging the game out the pile, moving the candle and settling in, we discover that we don't have any letter pieces. Dejected, we gather our things and move back to the bar. But wait! The bartender has the pieces behind the bar. Huzzah! Needless to say, I won. It was the perfect complement to my $1 can of PBR.

Cold, windy, rainy: Ireland in January

I am back safely in America after spending a week in Ireland. All everyone every says about Ireland is how it is so green. While I do agree it is a very green country, I'm not going to lie it's a lot like Wisconsin. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated the beautiful landscapes but I wasn't awe struck like people make it sound like you should be. Oh well.

By far the highlight of the trip for me was probably being part of the select group that got to do the whiskey tasting after the tour at Jameson. It was a highlight because 1. not everyone got to participate and 2. I actually really enjoyed the Jameson, which for anyone of you that know me really well you know just how shocking that is. My new favorite drink is a Jameson highball (Jameson and ginger ale). Move over gin and tonic there's a new go to drink in town.

The day we had planned to go the the Cliffs of Moher was single handedly the coldest, windiest and rainest of the week. We braved the conditions and still made the trip. Some of us braved the weather better than others and got to experience a little bit more. After the Cliffs we made a stop at this little cemetery, where I proceded to slip and fall in the mud. I then spent the rest of the day with one leg covered in mud. It was gross, but it was really pretty entertaining. Since there was nothing I could really do about it, I did my best not to complain too much about it and just go on having a good time.

If I ever were to go back, I think I'd like to spend more time in Dublin. It seemed like a fun city. Or maybe I'm just a city person and all that time in the country was just wearing on me. It's a toss up.

Traveling with friends, and in this case a friend and mere acquaintances, is interesting. I've always been very weary of vacationing with friends. This is mostly because I know myself and I know how easily irritable I am. Too much time with anyone is never good for me. So going into this trip I was definitely nervous. For the most part it turned out to be just fine. The friend part of the equation was no problem at all. The acquaintances was another story, but no friendships were ruined for me so that means for the most part it was a success. It's just so much easier when the people driving you nuts are family members because if you slip up and say something totally jerky at the end of the day they will still love you and will still have a good time with you.

Irish eyes are smiling

Tomorrow I head out on vacation. Where to? Why Ireland! I'm going with a good friend from college and two of her friends who live in Tennessee, where she has since moved. I'm pretty excited for the trip. I've been wanting to go back to somewhere in Europe since I got back from my work trip to Germany a little over a year ago. And this time, no work!! It's just straight fun.

Many people have asked me, why Ireland in January. Well, simply it is fairly inexpensive to go in January. We had originally wanted to be there over New Years/my birthday, but that was about double the cost. A co-worker asked me, "Why Ireland?" yesterday. I struggled to not respond with, "Why not?" He then went on to explain that most people who visit Ireland are going to research family ties and such. So I said, well my friend and I are both Irish so ya know. It was weird. How about because Ireland seems like a nice place to visit and everyone I've ever known who has been there can't shut up about how fantastic it is?

Don't worry I'll have a few Guinness for you! Slanche!

Everything happens for a reason

Sometimes things don't really work out the way you had hoped, but in the end they have their way of turning out for the best.

Super vague? Yes. Details to come eventually.

Resolutions

This year I actually came up with a few resolutions and I think they are things that are totally doable if I just stay focused. Plus, they will help me in varies areas of life, so that's a plus.

1. Stick to a budget better/save money to replace the savings I spent on Ireland

2. E-mail or call Beth once a week like I used to. After seeing Beth and Bill for New Years, I realized that I have really slipped up in keeping in contact with them over the last year or so. Life with your best friends so far away is rough. Perhaps add to this list of people to keep in touch with. But, let's just take baby steps. I don't want to freak people out who never used to get e-mails from me.

3. Keep running/working out. The holidays and getting sick and hurt sort of threw this new aspect of my life awry, but I'm serious about getting back in the habit. The Sampson Romp & Stomp in January and the Shamrock Shuffle in March hopefully should be motivation enough...then there are those 10 more pounds that would be nice to lose.

4. Read and write more. Reading and writing are two of my favorite things to do, yet I rarely actually do it. So if I stick with this resolution, at the very least you should be seeing more frequent updates. They might be about random stuff, but it's better than nothing. I also have a bookshelf full of books just waiting to be read. My mom gave me this really neat book that has a trivia entry for every day of the year, so at the very least I'll be reading that each day.

All the best in 2009!

I'll I want for Christmas is a snow blower

Once again, Milwaukee was hit with a fierce winter storm dropping a foot of snow on the city. When I went outside yesterday morning, I couldn't open the door all the way because the snow was so deep.


After digging myself out of the doorway, I continued on my way with my shoveling adventure.I cleared out the area by the backdoor and decided I do the front before the back so people could get through and the mailman could get to the house. Enter obstacle number two. The snow was too high that I couldn't open the gate all the way. I was able to squeeze myself through a barely open gate.



The area between my house and the neighbor's house was hit with some incredible drifting. The snow was even higher in these spots. Just passed the trellis, there was a glimmer of hope. The sidewalk was completely clear. Could it be true? Could some friendly neighbor cleared the snow from the front of my house? After digging my way through the side yard, my hopes were shattered. The two feet of cleared sidewalk were just the result of the drifting. As I was shoveling the sidewalk out front, I was leaning on my shovel taking a break. Right at this moment, a Jeep drove by and the driver laughed. What are you kidding me? Next it was on to the backyard.

I worked in the back for probably half an hour and then needed a break since it was clear all the people with snow blowers weren't about to offer their assistance. After my break I came back out and was working for probably another hour. My neighbor Jeff finally came out to work on his part of the ally. Him and his wife decided we needed to get a plow through the all. So two hours and $200 (divided among seven neighbors) later, our ally was clear. The plow guy even did my parking slab, which was fantastic. The dye in my boots seeped and my feet are still tinted brown after two showers. My entire body hurts, even my fingers. Now I can just rest up until the next four to seven inches falls tonight. Oh winter in Wisconsin.

I swore I would never live in Wisconsin...but now I'm sort of glad I do.

"Gov. Blagojevich has taken us to a new low. This conduct would make [Abraham] Lincoln roll over in his grave."

~ U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald

It is a sad sad day for the state of Illinois. I can't even begin to wrap my mind around how someone could 1. think what Gov. Rod Blagojevich did was a good idea and 2. that they could get away with it. That's just totally ridiculous and disappointing.

I am normally very proud to be from Illinois. In fact, when traveling when people ask me where I'm from, I struggle to answer. I normally say, I live in Milwaukee but I'm from Chicago/Illinois. While I love the city of Milwaukee, it still pains me to say I'm from here. However, today's events have me almost embarrassed to say I'm from Illinois. Sure there are plenty of jokes about how Chicago and Illinois government are corrupt (heck, I even make some of them myself), but this takes things to a whole new low.

I just hope on the news for the next month they don't pronounce the 's'! Good luck, Illinois. I'd like to be able to return proud one day.

Turkey Trot trot trot across the lot lot lot, feeling fine fine fine until...

about a mile and a half into the 8k. Yeah yeah, I know it's supposed to actually go "until Thanksgiving time."

On Thanksgiving morning I woke up before the sun was out and headed to the city with Mike and Rob. Caught up in the excitement of Mike's marathon accomplishments back in October, I agreed to run the Turkey Trot, an 8K race through Lincoln Park. Two weeks before the big day I got a horrible cold that lingered right up until race day. I had been on a pretty good running regiment (and by pretty good I mean for a couple weeks I had started running again every other day...not bad for someone who hasn't tried to run seriously in at least 3 years), but the cold hit me fast and hit me hard and I was out of commission. Needless to say, by the time race day came I wasn't exactly looking forward to running 4.8 miles. I knew for sure I could run 2.5, but the second half of the race I was nervous about.

The combination of the cold weather, my poor training and my poor health resulted in a fairly miserable 63 minutes. I'm happy to say I finished, and like we said walking over to the starting area finishing is a PR since I had never run an 8K before this. I probably only ran half of the race, but you would have thought I ran a marathon. My hip basically stopped working, old knee pains were back and I basically couldn't move. The running in the cold morning air cleared up the congestion at least.

On a positive note, as I was approaching the finish line, maybe 100m to go, people were lining the street. As you made the turn into the home stretch there were two guys there cheering people on. As soon as I heard the familiar "finish strong" from my cross country and track days, I kicked it into gear. Some how the pain in my hip didn't matter. I know I wasn't sprinting by any means, but I was going to finish strong if it killed me. I'd like to think that back when I ran in high school even though I was never all that good, I gave it my all. I didn't leave anything on the course. I sort of feel that's how this race went for me too. I wasn't breaking any records and was slightly disappointed in myself, but I put my heart in it and gave it all I could. I still won't say that I like running, but I do like racing.

Shamrock Shuffle training started today. Hopefully I can turn my disappointment into motivation and keep up the training and finish the next race in closer to 55 minutes. Someone remind me in March what I said my goal was.

Plowing: A novel concept?

No. No it is not a novel concept; however, Fort Atkinson, Wis. apparently has not fully grasped the concept just yet. This will be my fourth winter driving to Fort Atkinson, and once again as I pulled off of Hwy 26 into town this morning I was greeted by some of the most poorly plowed streets I've ever seen. Last winter, I sort of gave the town a break. The area was dumped with something like 100 inches of snow. Towns left and right were running out of salt. Poorly cared for roads were a just a side effect of a horrible winter. However, last night the area got maybe 7 inches of snow, maybe. I just don't understand what it is exactly the Department of Public Works does in that town. I understand that plowing costs money and all that garbage, but the main streets aren't even plowed well. It will baffle me for as long as I work in that town.

Update to last night: We did not get 10 inches of snow. Five is more accurate, maybe even being a bit generous. I woke up by 5:15 a.m. to shovel. Sometimes I surprise even myself!

December 1 is synonymous with snowstorm

Well, tomorrow is December 1, which means snow of course. So far there has been no accumulation in the city, but I've gotten word that there is nearly 6 inches out near work already. The last two winters the first big snow has come on December 1 and they have been big. Temps are expected to drop over night, so I'm sure I'll be waking up to a blanket of snow that I will have to shovel before I leave for work. On the news they said that areas within a mile of the lake (that's me!) are only expected to get 2 to 4 inches. Check back tomorrow and we'll see if that was true.

I salted out front tonight; hopefully that helps.

Not in 'My Milwaukee'

There's this website floating around out there called ThisIsMyMilwaukee.com. It certainly is not my Milwaukee, mostly because everything in the video is New York. The video is pretty entertaining though. In the spirit of this video, here is what makes up My Milwaukee.

My Milwaukee is...
Lake Michigan
The Palomino
The Milwaukee Art Museum
Trivia at the Milwaukee Ale House
The Pabst Theater
Cafe Lulu
Fish Fries
Local beers
An unbelievable cheese selection at the store (seriously, you guys don't know what you're missing)
Festivals
Miller Valley
Fried cheese curds
Mr. Shoe
Brady St.
Bay View
Cathedral Square
The 3rd Ward

That's good for now.

Salty enough to complement a margarita just wonderfully

In a salty mood because of a bad day at work? Try these remedies.

1. Hear a hilarious joke from a good friend who knew it was just the sort of joke you'd appreciate.
2. An hour-plus car drive home during which you rant about why you are so salty. You can pretty much count on getting it all off you chest within 20 minutes. The rest of the car ride can be spent on superficial things, such as how much weight people in the office have gained and how both of you are thinner than when you started. Sometimes you just need to be shallow.
3. Go for a run. I always run farther and longer when I have a lot of pent up frustration. Today was a perfect example. If things keep going this way, I'll be ready for the Turkey Trot in no time! (I hope they don't keep up though.)
4. Have a nice heart to heart with your big brother...even if you don't even mention anything about your crappy day.
5. Have a totally ridiculous conversation with your best friend.
6. Clean up your kitchen,

I hardly even remember why I was salty now. Well, that's not true I still remember very clearly why, but now it's not getting me down. I've "put it behind me," as some might say.