Christmas 4

We just finished up Christmas 4.
Though my aunt and uncle have two kittens and one giant puppy, the giant puppy went to the kennel and the kitties were locked in the basement. The house was fumigated and my allergies were crystal clear.  We watched "A League of Their Own", stupid youtube videos, and the magical fireplace movie channel. (Everyone who has cable has this channel, though I've never tried it out myself.)
This year was a lucky year, because we got to see everyone a few months ago at the wedding and then again at Christmas. I missed my family!

Christmas 3 was with my brother and sister at my mom's house.  We got a few movies, an ISU blanket, ISU Tshirts and some lotion.

Christmas 2 was in Dubuque, IA. It was lovely, too. We had a board game exchange--I went WAY over the gift limit hoping that two of the cousin sets on that side would get the game. Nope. It went to my cousin's girlfriend. She doesn't care about the game and probably won't be dating him next year, so I was mad that I wasted the extra money and secretly wished she'd give it to the other cousins that I really wanted to have the present. Morale of the story: If you want to buy a specific present, give it to that person. Do not hope (futilely) that the right person will get your present.

 Christmas 2 was lovely, of course. I missed my grandma a lot and we all kept thinking she was there. Phantom Grandma. But I remembered the nice parts of my grandmother, which is all you can do when someone you love passes away.  We stayed at a hotel this year because every single house was full (this has never happened before.) That part was awesome--and we had a drink  at the hotel bar where Country Karaoke was the primary theme. Natch.  The finale was when one person sang "Lucille." So, of course I had to chime in. The drinks might have helped me there.  I went for a fast run on the treadmill and weighed myself at an all-time record high.  Desperate and urgent time for a change. (again again again again). My cousin from California was back and I hadn't seen him since he was 3--he's now 9.  His dad (mom's brother) married a Filipino and thus also went to Philippines in 2004. We talked about Colonialism, the spread of Catholicism and America's destruction prior to the Japanese arrival.  Since we also went to the same tourist attractions, we had a lot to talk about. Intramurous, Tagatay.   

Which brings me back to Christmas 1--Dan's family last weekend. I've already blogged about that, so the blog is now over.

Blessed year

I had a blessed year. Philippines, new house, and now, at the end of 2012, a new job. Relief. I'm moving over to the dark side.  A few people have called me a traitor. I'll be on a locked floor right by the real desk/street traders doing Employee Stock Option Exercises (and a bunch of other stuff). Lots of new stuff to learn soon.

Christmas back in Iowa was lovely. Dan's family is funny and witty and I think this time, for the first time, we really felt like family. Jeff gave me a hug for the first time EVER and I realized that even if we're all damaged in some way, even though so few of us are really related at this point, it doesn't matter.  

Then Auntie gave everyone $20.00

I'm not sure what to give kids that live in Rural Iowa for Christmas. There's no Target. There's no store where they can return something if they don't like it. I feel like they need so many things that even buying one unuseful present is a waste.
So this year, Auntie Rikki is giving everyone $20.00. Hope they like it.

The time has come for me to apply for new jobs internally again. I had an interview today and have a different interview tomorrow. Third position interview to come soon, I hope.  We will hope this round is successful with a promotion. I'm not entirely sure I want to leave my position right now, honestly. I like my boss and I like what I do, but my boss was promoted and I might soon be working with a mean boss instead. I want to get out before that happens. :)

*sigh*

First time for repeating yourself

This weekend I was in a mosh pit. While it surprised an old friend, it wasn't my first or second or even third time doing so. Maybe it was my 4th. Sadly it was short lived as I fell quite hard on my left knee.  Big bruise photo to follow soon, of course.  I can still walk and everything, but it was swollen and painful enough today that running wasn't an option at all.

I can't express how lovely this weekend was. I had the holidazzle parade on Friday night where we collected $$ before the parade for the Emergency Food Pantry. Squeezed in a few minutes at the bar with Kaili, Dave and Brian.  Mexican dinner to follow with Kari, Dave, Megan, Mike and Dan.  Then I crashed at home instead of going to Stephanie's party while I waited for Dan's show to end. Saturday we continued demolition of the planter, went out with Mark, Mark, Liz, Sarah and Bith.  Then we went to the Pantera tribute show, moshed, met up with Beckah, Smallz, Schlomer and more of their friends. Stayed up until 4 AM, went back for more drinks at the VFW and then came home, slept and played games with Kassi.

I know no one cares who I was with or where I was, but it was lovely to be with so many old college friends.  I'm glad we moved away and found new stuff, but it's also really good to be back with people who know you and remember every stupid story from 5-6 years ago and catch up on people's lives.

No, I didn't do the laundry or much cleaning. I didn't do the Christmas shopping that I'd expected. But we know I wasn't going to

Running group

I think this is our 4th or 5th Wednesday of running group.  <3 running.
We are definitely running in the dark and the separate lanes are gone now. The bikers and runners just share the only plowed lane now, but it still works until I get yaktrax or they plow the other lane. I think they keep it snow covered for the cross-country skiers. Anyway, I brought my new headlamp and my new facemask and ran,  successfully. Of course, now I'm tired b/c it's 815 PM and I still have to clean before the party. Whoosh.

My mouse is a spaz

I've dropped my laptop so many times that this last one has irrevocably sent my mouse into automove. I know that's not a word. It's like my computer is possessed. Luckily, it can be repaired, but still--quite annoying. 

Today I shoveled my first snow in MInnesota. We have the world's smallest driveway, specially chosen because shoveling snow sucks. Today I walked to a movie and finally went to the indie cinema here. It was lovely & Dan and I celebrated it with Indian food. "As spicy as you can make it." It was spicy, but didn't come near enough to killing me as I thought it would.

So we came home and I finally put the office together after 3 months of being in the house. Dan put our DVD rack together. I put away tons of blankets and papers and random junk from the past. Soon we'll start demolishing the indoor planter system the prior prior owners built and build our own wet bar.

Bartles had his trivia party, with a good turn-out. My category was world leaders, so I'll leave with the world leader trivia question:

Well, I would leave you with them, but my mouse won't let me copy/paste.
The answers are:
Stalin
Boutros Boutros Gahli
Congo
Nicolae Carpathia
Thunderbirds.

Now you guess the question!

5K Reindeer Run

Last year, I attended the 5k Reindeer run with some of my coworkers at Lake Harriet. That's where I first met Tim, who was also assigned to the Philippines with us. I'd driven in from Burnsville and cursed the snow, which was making my drive pretty slippery and nasty. Additionally, I cursed waking up early and felt bad for Dan, because he was so sick.

I parked far away last time, because it was crowded, and when I got to the race, I realized I didn't look like the rest of the group. For one, I was missing a Christmas costume, for 2, my outfit made it clear that I wasn't a runner well-prepared for Minnesota's December race. No one else was wearing their winter coat. They all had pretty under-armour for that!   But the starting gates went off, and then I ran and ran and ran. I was quite miserable last year, overheating, changing my coat, and running my slowest 5K time ever.  Did I mention the path was covered with 6 inches of loosely packed snow? Felt like we were running on sand.  I felt too guilty after leaving Dan home sick that I went back to be with him and skipped the post-run breakfast.

But this year, I was prepared. Dan wasn't sick, either, and he joined me. We wore all of our new out-door running stuff in Minnesota. We got there over an hour early, so we went home and then came back. We had no snow on the ground at all and our drive was only 10 minutes. While still parking far from the race, we got there in just the right amount of time to run and crossed the gates at 2:25 into the race, still in the thick of the pack.

I started running really fast from the beginning. I wanted to get under 36 minutes, which I knew was possible from my training. But I couldn't walk much to do it and I definitely couldn't let something like tying my shoes again slow me down. So I wanted to run as fast as I could. It was a hard race. I walked a LOT more than I was expecting. I felt like crying at the second hill and when I was only 1.5 miles in, I felt terrible. It almost felt like mile 24 of the marathon!  I paused to walk even more and watched some people pass me. Dan was gone and I really wanted my ipod again or something to distract me, so I played Amanda Palmer's music.

And then.....The Marine Corp came bolting up behind us. They were running in good speed and it reminded me of a line from a book that sometimes becomes my running mantra (A Welsh unit came marching by in good order.--It's just describing the march to the sea from WWII and everyone is exhausted. They see this unit march by them in good order and they're somehow renewed). So I picked up my speed a bit with the Marine Corp, and kept going until the finish line. I felt miserable, but a little better.

After a veer to the left, the race clock was in view. I saw it say 34:33. I smiled. I ran faster to the finish line and got in at 35:02. Oh, yeah, and I started at 2:25 as mentioned earlier, making my time under 33 minutes. 33 was about as fast as I thought I could ever do it, and last night, I was dreaming of it.

I know this isn't a fast time for a lot of people, but it was fast for me. I'm fat and out of shape. I've always been slow! I plan to pick up my speed a lot this winer. I might even start biking to work.  I can't wait to do it in 25 -28 minute next year!