Tag Archives: personal

April 18, 2011 · 6:30 AM

Whirlwind

Song Lyric of the Day:

They watchin I know this / I’m rockin I’m rolling / I’m holding, I know it / You know it

Flo Rida / “Club Can’t Handle Me“

This weekend was another whirlwind filled with visits with friends, errands, and chores (ah, the life of a grownup/parent/homeowner). Friday night was my off night from working out, and lord did I need that night to just veg. The work week kicked my ass (job security!), and on top of that all my free time, lunch breaks, and evenings were used for errands and meetings. The best thing that happened the whole week was when Coraline sat up for a few seconds Friday night. She didn’t sit up for long, but she sat up, right there on Rich’s office floor. Crawling will be just around the corner now, we’re sure.

Saturday we slept wayyy too late. I won’t say exactly how late but it was after what normal people call lunchtime. We got out the door pretty quickly considering, and ran lots of errands in a very short amount of time. I even managed to squeeze in my regularly scheduled workout once we got home. Then that night it was off to our friends Fran and Don’s house to see them and their daughter, Elaine, and son-in-law, Dale. Coraline had a brief crying jag early on, but it turned out she was just hungry. Once she was fed, she was good. Besides, she loves her Grammy Fran and Grandpa Don, who’ve babysat her a few times already. And she warmed up very quickly to Dale and Elaine, who are expecting their own sweet little girl this summer; Coraline looks forward — as do Rich and I — to meeting the baby currently called Clementine. Of course, later Coraline vomited a copious amount of milk and carrots all over my lap, completely soaking my pants. It sucked, but I was relieved she hadn’t barfed on our hosts. That would’ve been downright rude.

Yesterday we got up at a decent hour and set about doing laundry, mowing the lawn, organizing the garage, cleaning around the house, and generally being good little domestics. We ended the day with a visit from our friends Julie and Keith, for whom Rich recently did a commissioned pastel piece. Which, if you’re a friend of his on Facebook, you saw the progress of; it’s a really beautiful piece, and I’m happy it’s going to a good home. Coraline warmed quickly to Julie and Keith, same as with Elaine and Dale the night before. I’m really enjoying this pre-shy phase of hers. I can only hope when she starts to experience some shyness it’s not too bad (I know, I know).

I’m looking forward to this week since it’s not going to be nearly as busy as last week. Hopefully that’ll translate to nice, quiet evenings spent with my two favorite people.

Coraline with her poppa

Poppa mugs while holding Coraline

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April 14, 2011 · 1:00 PM

Bring the Pain

Song Lyric of the Day:

Oh, oh, evacuate the dancefloor / Oh, oh, I’m infected by the sound / Oh, oh, stop, this beat is killing me / Hey Mr. DJ let the music take me underground

Cascada / “Evacuate the Dancefloor“

Rich and I have fallen off the fitness wagon. Hard. Why? The holidays plus laziness are a heady, hard-to-resist cocktail. Add in having a baby with whom we’d rather spend time than not, and there you have it. So now we’re both acting as our mutual support systems and working to get back into exercising regularly and starting to slowly eat better again. (This is where not eating deep-fried food during Lent is helping me. Although it really sucks.)

Honestly, it all really boils down to laziness and a lack of motivation. Why is that? Because we have a home gym. As in right inside our very own house. As in right downstairs from the living room and kitchen. Complete with a treadmill perfectly situated with a view of our big TV. We can’t use bad weather or the late hour as an excuse to not drive to the gym since it’s IN OUR HOUSE. See? Lazzzzzzzzzzzy. We’re now trying to make it somewhat of a family affair: Coraline has her own Exersaucer down there in which she can jump around while Mommy and Poppa exercise. And laugh at our efforts.

It’s essentially a full gym, complete with a Sole treadmill and Powertec tower, a rack full of dumbbells, and a variety of weight plates for the barbells (and a half-deflated balance ball). Every item in our home gym is courtesy of Rich’s research and, more often than not, his personal funds.

Home Gym
Where the magic happens

My beloved five-pound dumbbells are AWOL. I blame the move from the A-frame.

Barbells

Our free weights

I’m not a fan of the barbell weightlifting, but I will start doing that again soon with Rich’s supervision. So far I’ve started doing cardio, crunches (my abs are pissed at me), leg lifts, arm curls, tricep overhead extensions, calf raises, lateral pulldowns, leg curls, and leg extensions. Surprisingly, I’m not as sore as I expected. My abs are the worst, which is sad since I used to be able to do crunches without batting an eye. Gotta work back up to that again. My arms aren’t sweating the weights since I’ve been lugging around my almost-17-pound daughter on a regular basis. I’ve got the Mommy biceps going on.

Barbell weights

Our barbell weights

Another motivator for me to work out? New music. Or at least new to me. I finally got around to buying “Stronger” by Kanye West since I think that’ll be a great addition to my new workout playlist.

And after a wee bit of detective work, I found out who sings that song I love so much in the XBox Kinect commercial: Cascada. The song’s called “Evacuate the Dancefloor,” and I’ve already bought it in iTunes. It’s a lot of fun to listen to and I know it’ll be great — and a lot of fun — for when I’m booking it on the treadmill.

Anyone have any other recommendations for my new workout playlist? You can check out some of the songs on my old playlist to get an idea of what I like. Basically fun and fast. You know, good ol’ workout music.

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January 7, 2006 · 8:06 PM

Still Catching Up on Sleep

Song Lyric of the Day:

I’m tired

Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp / “I’m Tired”

10:09PM.
Rich and I got back from New York City Thursday afternoon. I’ve been semi-comatose since then. I’ll write soon about all the museums we visited; the bitter cold; my complete lack of a sense of direction; and an Off-Broadway play and our encounters with its cast later. For now, I’m enjoying being a couch potato more than I have in a very, very long time. Amen.

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November 4, 2004 · 7:15 AM

Getting "Lost" in the Mourning After

Song Lyric of the Day:

People listen attentively / I mean about future calamity / I used to think the idea was obsolete / Until I heard the old man stamping his feet.

Squirrel Nut Zippers / “Hell”

The election has come and gone, and I am still stunned that Kerry did not win. How could America have re-elected Bush? Seriously, how could everyone overlook what a mess our country is in, and still re-elect him? I understand the argument that he knows what’s going on, whereas Kerry would be coming in to this huge mess, but I still wanted to see Kerry get the chance to try and fix things. As an American citizen and as a woman, I am scared about what havoc Bush will wreak over the next 4 years. Canada has never sounded so appealing. Regardless, whatever my feelings are about the outcome of the presidential election, I refuse to let it put a damper on my trip to Las Vegas tomorrow.

Watching Lost last night helped me and Rich escape from reality for one wonderfully involving hour. This show is one of the major high points of the new TV season. Like anything Joss Whedon creates, I would watch anything J.J. Abrams creates. Rich and I have been hooked on Alias since it began, and Abrams did not disappoint with Lost. Who else could turn the concept of plane crash survivors who end up on a mysterious island on its ear? Last night’s episode, “The Moth,” gave us the back story on Charlie, a heroin-addicted former rock star. That’s the brilliance of this show — we’re not just seeing how these survivors are dealing with being on this island, but every week, layers are peeled back to reveal a different character’s back story. Seven episodes in, we know that Jack never lived up to his parents’ expectations, his father’s in particular. Kate was in a U.S. Marshal’s custody for reasons still unknown. Sun knows how to speak English but won’t let on to her husband, whom she’d been planning to leave. Locke was paralyzed and can now walk. Rich and I can’t wait to see what other revelations lie in store. I have to make a point to program the VCR to record next Wednesday’s episode, as I won’t be back from Las Vegas until late that night.

One more day and I’ll be out West, in the land of neon. I can’t wait! Other than a couple of shows, I don’t have any concrete plans for what to do while I’m there. My friend Brent and I will probably wing it, which will be fine with me. As long as I get some gambling time. I’ve got to win the hubby a new car and have enough left over to buy him a nice poker set. Or so I hope.

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November 1, 2004 · 11:22 AM

Take Me to Your Leader

Song Lyric of the Day:

Believing in nothing / Makes life so boring / So let’s pray for something / To feel good in the morning

Garbage / “Parade”

Well, it’s finally here. Election eve is upon us. I will be voting first thing tomorrow morning, to make my voice heard and hopefully help usher in a new president. For once, I think the press has it right — this definitely the biggest election in recent memory. Certainly in my lifetime.

I’ve been a news junkie since I was little. I have my mother to thank for that, since ABC News was always, and I mean always, on during dinner. So it’s only natural that I check major news websites repeatedly throughout the day. In checking them again on my lunch break, I was not surprised by the current reports that the presidential race is deadlocked — look at how polarizing the candidates are, not to mention the issues they represent.

On the one hand, we have our incumbent president, who seems to think that all that matters is convincing the country that he is a good Christian, merely doing what the Lord tells him to do. That seems to mean it’s okay to lie to the world in order to justify going to war, destroying our education system, limiting women’s rights, and so on.

On the other hand, we have John Kerry, who I truly believe is not only painfully aware of the problems in our country, but is determined to fix them. A president’s faith does not really matter to me — that shouldn’t be his sole selling point. While it’s all well and good if he wears his faith on his sleeve, I’m more concerned with what he’s going to do for our country than with what he believes. And personally, I believe John Kerry can do a better job at this point than Bush has the last four years.

To counter the seriousness and mudslinging that will continue at least through tomorrow night, I might indulge in some silliness tonight and watch Saturday Night Live’s Presidential Bash on NBC. If you can’t beat ‘em, laugh at ‘em. Tomorrow night I’ll probably tune in to Comedy Central’s Indecision 2004 coverage. I’ll take the Daily Show news crew over the broadcast stalwarts any day.

What direction will our country be headed in tomorrow night? We’ll know soon enough. Either way, I can only hope things will get better, for all of us.

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October 28, 2004 · 1:24 PM

Epiphany

Song Lyric of the Day:

 

I’ve / Become so numb / I can’t feel you there / Become so tired / So much more aware / I’m becoming this / All I want to do / Is be more like me / And be less like you

Linkin Park / “Numb”

Last month I celebrated a milestone birthday. The epiphany that has been gestating for a few months crystallized. I am no longer satisfied just working for a living. I want a career that challenges me, fulfills me, and interests me. For almost a year I had that as a Technical Writer at my company’s corporate office in Virginia Beach. I was given the opportunity to learn different graphics programs, including Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat, and ClearEdge. I not only enjoyed learning these programs, I enjoyed using what I learned to finalize technical manuals for delivery to our client. Not only did I have a fun job that I loved, I worked closely with three great people with whom I am still good friends.

Now I work in our Hampton office. I am still a Technical Writer, but I do not actually get to write anything. Or edit anything, for that matter. I certainly don’t work with any graphics programs. Transferring to this office was not something I wanted to do, but had to do. In government contracting, there are no guarantees. You go where the contracts take you. In my case, that’s a 52-mile round trip drive every day.

If I could go back in time, I’d find my college advisor and beat the sh!t out of him for encouraging me to pursue my English degree in Technical Writing. If I could have seen into the future and known this kind of professional malaise and ennui was what my degree would get me, I would have studied something else.

Granted, I am not living in an area known as a hotbed of magazine or book publishing. Moving to New York City or Chicago to pursue that is out of the question at this time. So I make do with this.

What would I go back and study instead of Technical Writing?

Forensics, maybe. I’ve been interested in forensics since high school, long before The New Detectives and CSI became a part of our pop culture.

Drama, maybe. In the past year I have acted in a couple of locally filmed TV shows filmed at New Dominion Pictures in Suffolk. Turns out that pretending to be a Medical Examiner’s Clerk and a Bad Guy’s Girlfriend is infinitely more interesting than being in a cube all day.

Maybe I’d just do what I’d wanted to do in the first place and major in Creative Writing. Again, a pox on my advisor for advising me to switch to Technical Writing. “No one will hire you if they see ‘B.A. in Creative Writing’ listed on your resume,” he said. Sigh.

Some people feel a calling to help others and become teachers, cops, nurses, doctors. Others want to serve our judicial system and become lawyers or judges. Still others find work to suit their mechanical skills and abilities.

Me, I can tell you who directed, wrote, starred in, and produced a movie or TV show. More often than not, I can even tell you what year it was released or aired.

What am I supposed to do with that? Other than play lots of trivia games and visit IMDB.com a lot.

That is my big dilemma: what to be when I grow up.

Hopefully, I’ll figure that out soon enough.

Fear not. I will not use this blog solely to whine about my lot in my professional life.

I have plenty of other stuff to talk about. Really.

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