Comments (9)

By kilax, October 31, 2017 12:38 pm

Before I publish each blog post, I reread it several times, in an attempt to catch spelling and grammar errors, and to make sure it’s somewhat coherent (ha) and appropriate. AND to make sure I don’t go overboard with exclamation points.

Because, whoa, I overuse them.

While reviewing, I tend to remove several from each post. I ask “am I really that enthusiastic about that topic?” before leaving one in.

Where I need to get better about reviewing my exclamation point use is blog comments, comment responses here, texting, and emails. I reread work emails several times before sending to make sure if I have one, it’s absolutely appropriate.

But I am not so good with personal emails. And if you’ve ever received any type of correspondence from me, it’s likely been littered with exclamation points. I just want to appear enthusiastic, it seems! I AM EXCITED ABOUT LIFE!!! I am excited to be talking to YOU!!!

You know what Snow’s excited about?! Halloween!

He says “Happy Halloween, and FYI, you can use a pumpkin stem to get to those pesky face itches.”

Comments (16)

By kilax, October 30, 2017 6:36 am

My ten year college class of architecture reunion was this weekend. One classmate spearheaded organizing the entire weekend – there was a gathering with professors Friday night, a visit to campus, tailgating, and a game on Saturday, and brunch on Sunday.

Steven and I attended the Saturday events – which also happened to be my first tailgate and football game ever! And it was homecoming weekend at Iowa State University (ISU)!

We arrived in town late Friday night and we ran in to several classmates at the hotel. I immediately thought to myself “Why didn’t I spend the months leading up to this looking at everyone’s social media profiles so I would remember their names?!” Oops. There were about sixty-five of us in the architecture program, and about thirty coming to the reunion*. That’s a lot to remember! But I did a screenshot of the invitee list so that on Saturday I could peek if I forgot someone’s name – which I did a few times! Shhh. Hee hee.

I did spend time before the event thinking it was odd that I was going back at all. I was friendly with everyone in college, but a bit of a withdrawn loner – I didn’t participate in the extracurricular group events that the entire class was invited to. I had a few friends that I hung out with from time to time, but I mostly kept to myself. I wasn’t shy. I just did my school work and my own thing. Eh.

So it seemed odd to go back after all these years and do the things I didn’t do when I was in school.

And I had so much fun at the reunion that it made me think “I wish I would have been more social when I was in school.” But not so much from a regretful standpoint. More of an “okay, learn your lesson, Kim” standpoint – people can be fun and you don’t have to be so withdrawn all. the. time. Yeah… anyway…

A bus was rented to take us from the hotel (about thirty miles from campus) to the college and to tailgating, and back at the end of the day. Leading up to the day, I was imagining a school bus with traditional seats, but that wasn’t what this was! It was a bus with a bench seats down both sides and across the back, and party lights and speakers. My classmates had a playlist prepped with tunes that were popular from 2002-2007, when we were in school. Ha ha ha. Perfection.

We rode to the College of Design – the campus building where we finished our last two years of school.

We walked in and everyone immediately commented on how it looked, felt, and even smelled the same as it did ten years ago. Ahh, memories of way too much time spent in that building.

We were all curious to see the new underclassman studio addition to the building. When we were in school, our underclassmen (years one through three) studios were in the armory. The space the underclassmen have now is way more posh! And it’s nice that it’s actually connected to the College of Design (we were across the street).

After the tours we tailgated until was game time. Steven’s fraternity brothers were tailgating too, so he got to see them!

As I mentioned, this was my first football game. I had to have Steven explain football to me on the drive the night before so I would know what I was watching (I understand fútbol, not football). But I was mostly able to follow, yay!

We sat with several of my classmates and saw ISU get two touchdowns in the first half. The opposing team got a touchdown right away at the beginning of the second half, and things got tense, but ISU won, which was a big deal because the other team was ranked so high. People stormed the field, which was exciting to see!

A few people had tailgated the entire time we were at that game, and when we got back afterward, they were in very good spirits. Ha ha. We had an entertaining bus ride back to the city.

Then had a very late dinner and called it a night!

Steven and I both had a great time, and are happy we went back. It was fun reconnecting with my classmates, and I’m grateful someone took the time to organize it all. They’re talking about doing it again in five years, and I’ll totally be there!

*When I got back home I looked at the list of people who declined on Facebook, and realized I had completely forgotten about a lot of them! Eek!

Comments Off on Training Week 419

By kilax, October 29, 2017 8:15 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running with Bobbi, and running in the capital of my home state!

Monday | October 23, 2017: 10 m ride + 4.5 m run (incl. 4 hill repeats) + teaching strength class
Indoor Ride Time: 38:21, Pace: 15.6 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great, sweaty
Loc: hood, Temp: 52°/52°, Time: 47:20, Pace: 10:31 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great, loved the cool weather
Strength: plates and Airex pad, Difficulty: medium, Felt: too hot
Tuesday | October 24, 2017: 4 m run (w/Bobbi)
Loc: hood, Temp: 46°/46°, Time: 46:28, Pace: 11:36 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, happy for the distraction
Wednesday | October 25, 2017: rest
Thursday | October 26, 2017: 3 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 56°/56°, Time: 33:26, Pace: 11:08 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: fine, just not in the mood – tired
Friday | October 27, 2017: teaching strength class + 2 m run
Strength: plates and Airex pads, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, happy it wasn’t so hot in the studio
Loc: hood, Temp: 37°/38°, Time: 21:20, Pace: 10:38, Difficulty: easy, Felt: anxious to go on our trip
Saturday | October 28, 2017: 2.6 m run
Loc: downtown Des Moines, Temp: 34°/34°, Time: 29:29, Pace: 11:21 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Sunday | October 29, 2017: rest

Notes:

• Bobbi and I figured out Tuesday early evening is a good time for both our schedules for a run. I hope it’s something we can do a few times a month!
• The cold weather and wind came this week. I wore long sleeves for the first time this season! And gloves! Woo hoo!
• We had a busy week and weekend, and I didn’t plan well to work out much. Gah. Good thing I am not training for anything…
• I was in Iowa for a college class reunion this week and got the chance to run in downtown Des Moines. There is a lot of neat public art along the pedestrian walkway there. And some super cool pedestrian bridges! I hope I get a chance to run it sometime in the daylight (Sunday was NOT that day – I needed my sleep after a full day on Saturday).

Link to Training Week 418

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By kilax, October 27, 2017 6:48 am

No, it’s not “moist.”

It’s “voluntold.”

As in, “Kim, you are being voluntold to do this work that you know nothing about for another team. Good luck!”

Ha. No one ever came out and said it quite like that. But I have been told that I’ve been voluntold for something. Grr.

I want to help out – where I can. I don’t want to be thrown in to something I’m not trained on/don’t know how to do (or want to learn how to do, ha) because another team is short staffed. Sorry.

This hasn’t happened in my detail position (the whole intent of a detail is to learn new things), but happened frequently in my old position. I was a designer, in a service role, but was assigned as project manager on a few projects.

I did the project management work to the best of my ability, but rarely enjoyed it. I was bitter I was told to do it with no training on procedures or systems (no previous training, that is – I had people to reach out to when I had questions). I was annoyed one project was unique and had SO many problems and lasted years – and is still ongoing. I hated that I always had to ask about how to do things then get back to the client. I pretended I knew what was up, but I didn’t. I hated that sinking feeling in my stomach of faking it all. the. time.

I don’t like being voluntold. I suppose I like it when it’s an option. Make me think I have a choice, at least? (Am I being a millennial?!?! Maybe!)

When I was in the design position, and we got a new boss in early 2015, I told her that I couldn’t handle the majority of my workload being things I didn’t know how to do (project management, and other new tasks my team was being assigned). I told her I needed at least a few things to work on that I knew how to do, to boost my confidence and help me get through the other things. She listened, and did what she could, but I still kept getting those “voluntold” things.

Anyway.

All of that ^ was just because I wanted to whine that when I started my detail the only two projects they made me keep were two project management ones. The ones I dislike the most. The ones I never wanted. The ones where I don’t really know what I’m doing.

Every time I have to work on them during my detail I feel so frustrated it’s taking time away from the detail – time from working on and learning about something I actually want to do/learn about.

But… ugh, that’s work. I just wanted to vent!

No related photo, but here’s the view from my desk this week:

Comments (8)

By kilax, October 26, 2017 6:28 am

• (I got a package from my mom’s mom in the mail this weekend. “Ooo, what is this surprise?!” I wondered. Ha, good one, Grandma!

• I keep seeing people use “ride or die” to reference their relationships with their partners, and didn’t get what it meant (I only know it from the Fast & Furious franchise, which I always took literally with the riding being driving). Urban dictionary to the rescue! It means you’ve got someone’s back no matter what, you’ll “ride” anything out with them, and “die” trying. You’re with them until the end. Huh. Anyone using this… in their relationships? Or just in every text you send/receive from your older brother, like me? Ha ha ha.

• Gah, I made the silliest mistake when I was making banana bread this weekend – I was doubling the recipe, but accidentally quadrupled the flour! And didn’t realize it until the end. D’oh. We actually fixed it by adding more stuff to it, including apples, which resulted in a banana/apple bread hybrid! It didn’t cook as evenly as it should have, but tasted great.

• I loathe looking for restaurants. Especially on my phone. I am not a foodie and don’t get joy out of looking for restaurants and reading menus (that are usually only in pdf in a pop-up window). And yeah, it doesn’t help that I am looking for vegan options! Wah wah wah.
• I love reading magazines in print, and prefer it over a screen. I’m sad that my favorite magazine (Running Times) is no longer in publication.  Runner’s World doesn’t do it for me anymore. Every issue seems thinner, and more scattered – like they are trying to duplicate the online experience in print (they actually said that is what they were going for, in an issue from this year). Sigh. I saw this add in Bicycling, encouraging people to stick with print media over online media, because it’s more “authoritative,” can be more “trusted,” and is less cluttered (I thought it was funny they had a hashtag at the bottom though, ha). I still enjoy Bicycling magazine, especially their human interest stories. And I actually learn from it – which is a reflection of me not knowing much about cycling, but rolling my eyes at most “informational” articles in Runner’s World. Anyway. I just wanted to complain. Ha. And say that I hope this industry doesn’t die out completely.

The text says, “The race to post, tweet and chat every minute has made it hard to know what’s real. And it’s making magazine brands matter more than ever. Truth is, their authoritative content is more trusted, inspiring and motivating than any other. Magazine media cuts through the clutter, in print, online, on mobile and video.”

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 152

Comments (16)

By kilax, October 25, 2017 6:39 am

On Monday afternoon, Khali snuck out the door when I was trying to close it. Snow was nearby, and immediately chased her into the woods, because he wanted to play. I was annoyed, but this has happened before and I figured she would be back for dinner.

But she wasn’t. We sat down to eat and left the flood lights on to watch for her, and she eventually showed up! But when we went to open the door for her to come in, Snow chased her off again.

Sigh.

She didn’t come in Monday night. 

It rained all night. I thought for sure she’d be waiting outside in the morning, ready for breakfast and a warm house, but nope, no sight of her.

So what was anger and annoyance the day before turned in to worry. I was busy at work all day, but had an underlying sick to my stomach feeling. It rained all day and we called for her and shook the food container but she didn’t show.

Why was I so worried?! Khali used to live outside, and yes, sometimes a day would go by where we wouldn’t see her. And people have told me they had indoor/outdoor cats that would leave for days/weeks/months then come back!

But that didn’t make me feel better (I can’t imagine waiting around for days, let alone weeks or months, wondering about her). I was thinking about the high speed road we live off of, the coyotes that frequent our street, and other horrible things.

Ugh.

It got dark last night and we still hadn’t seen her.* Steven and I were about to leave to run an errand when we saw Snow act alert then run in to the woods. Khali was back! Hiding in the woods though…

I knew we’d never get her to come inside if Snow was in the mood to play, so we brought Snow inside then waited an hour and a half for Khali to make her way to the door and come in (I tried giving her food and picking her up from the woods, but that was a no go.) And she finally did!

What’s all the fuss?

I was so relieved when she was inside. I wasn’t myself all day, feeling so worried about her. Data was upset too – he was looking for Khali and needed more attention since he wasn’t getting it from their playtime.

I’ve really gotta be more careful when I’m going outside – to make sure she’s not sneaking out. As much as she wants to be an indoor/outdoor cat, she isn’t. Sorry, Khali.

(Why don’t I worry like this about Snow, when he lives outside, nearly 24/7? Because at any moment, you can open a door to the house and he’ll come running – he’s always nearby. Always. Usually staring in the house! Snow never leaves anymore!)

Hey Guys, what’s up?!

*Based on intel from our neighbor, I think Khali spent the day in their dry barn.

Comments (12)

By kilax, October 23, 2017 6:21 am

Although it felt warm out to me this weekend, it must have felt cold to this guy, because we had to evict him from the garage attic three times.

We have movement sensors* on the humane mousetraps* that we use in our attic spaces, and Steven got a notification late Saturday night that there was movement. So we got that guy out and released him.

Then again early Sunday morning.

Then again late Sunday morning. Ha. That time, I walked way farther away from the house to release him.

And he hasn’t been back. Yet.

(Ha ha ha, I wrote that too soon – I drafted this, then told Steven I was going to blog about it, and he showed me all the notifications on his phone – the mouse has been back since 2:00 am today.)

Also on Saturday, while doing yard work, a mother mouse and a bunch of baby mice ran out of the generator while Steven was leaf blowing. She ran all around with her babies attached to her, freaked the hell out. Sigh.

She finally ran up a tree, dropping a few of the babies as she went up!

I collected them all, and put them in a box for her to see. Then when she got in there, I relocated them, too.

I bet they are already back in the generator.

Snow really isn’t doing his job outside, is he?! (It’s funny I say that – because while I would be completely fine with the cats killing mice, I sure as hell won’t do it!)

*As usual, this is not sponsored – we’ve bought all these things ourselves. If you have interest in the systems we’re using, let me know in the comments and I can give details/product links.

Comments (2)

By kilax, October 23, 2017 5:20 am

Highlight of the Week: a super chill Friday.

Monday | October 16, 2017: 4.5 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 50°/55°, Time: 47:02, Pace: 10:27 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Strength: body bars, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Tuesday | October 17, 2017: 4 m run
Loc: VP Woods, Temp: 70°/68°, Time: 42:41, Pace: 10:40 avg, Difficulty: easy-ish, Felt: decent
Wednesday | October 18, 2017: rest
Thursday | October 19, 2017: 4 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 62°/60°, Time: 43:38, Pace: 10:54 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great, loving the cool weather
Friday | October 20, 2017: teaching strength class + 1,008 yd swim + 3 m run + massage
Strength: plates and airex pad, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 22:31, Pace: 2:14 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: happy I went
Loc: VP Woods, Temp: 70°/73°, Time: 33:17, Pace: 11:05 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: hot, hot, hot (but fine)
Saturday | October 21, 2017: teaching strength class + 3 m run
Strength: cardio, core, and boxing, Difficulty: easy, Felt: too hot
Loc: hood, Temp: 69°/70°, Time: 32:45, Pace: 10:54 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay, thirsty!
Sunday | October 22, 2017: 6 m run (incl. 12×1:00) + 10 m ride
Loc: Kilbourne/H, Temp: 66°/67°, Time: 1:06:45, Pace: 11:08 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: hot and miserable until I turned around and faced the wind
Indoor Ride Time: 39:09, Pace: 15.3 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, just sore butt

Notes:

• I woke up Friday and thought for sure I wouldn’t swim after teaching. I feel that way every Friday when I wake up at 3:45 am. Ha. I figured the feeling would go away after class but I still wasn’t sure on the drive home whether my car would take me to the pool or not. It did at the last minute. And I’m happy it did – Fridays are such a nice quiet time at the pool and I would have been annoyed going during open swim on the weekend (when it’s way more hectic at the pool). I gotta keep that in mind when I’m dead tired and thinking about skipping my swim.
• My annual pool pass expires on Saturday. Time to decide if I’ll get another!
• Beyond waking up early on Friday, I had an awesome day – teaching, swimming, napping, running, hammocking, a massage, and dinner with friends. What a wonderfully lazy day. (I work extra hours eight days of the pay period so that I get one day off every two weeks, and it was this past Friday.)
• I didn’t feel as awesome after my massage as normal though – my upper back felt really tight on Saturday. Blah.
• It’s not unusual to have warm and humid weather this late in to October, but it’s really making me not want to run much. <— broken record.
• I must sit really different on the bike inside than outside, because my butt can hardly handle the seat and it’s fine outside (and I don’t think it’s a 100% a conditioning thing, although riding more would help!).

Link to Training Week 417

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By kilax, October 21, 2017 12:35 pm

Last weekend I was driving on the two-lane highway I live off of AND I SAW ANOTHER RUNNER.

WHUT.

I am not the only fool who runs on that road?! It’s not just me?!

I was so excited. I wanted to pull over and run over to them and say “I run on this road too! Isn’t the shoulder horrible?! What’s your name? Where do you live?”

Ha. I obviously didn’t do that, since that would be freaky and weird. And I am not that crazy.

But! Today when I was running, I saw this person again, also on foot! I stopped and said hello, asked where she lives (close to me), and she mentioned what she was training for, with her sister (who also lives close to me). Then we said goodbye.

And immediately I thought “I should have asked her name!” “I should have asked if she ever wants company on her runs!” “I missed my opportunity!”

And then I kept running and thinking about it… I used to run with people a lot more than I do now. I had standing running dates a couple of times a week. I got out of bed early for run dates. I was a morning runner.

I get more sleep now. I run whenever I feel like it. And I don’t run as hard as I do with another person, that’s for damn sure.

I was still thinking about it when we passed each other a second time (!!!). I could ask her name now, I thought. Ask if she’s ever looking for company…

She passed and said “See ya next time!” And I responded with an enthusiastic “yeah!”

So… yeah. Maybe next time.

But it does feel good to know I am not the only crazy running on these roads.

Comments (10)

By kilax, October 20, 2017 8:16 am

If you know me in real life you’ve definitely heard this story. And I swear I’ve shared it here, but I can’t find it, so here it is again!

I saw What Lies Beneath – the ghost movie with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer – with friends when it came out in the summer of 2000. We went to the late showing on a Saturday night.

The movie freaked me the hell out. I was worked up about it afterward, and glad that my friends had picked me up and I didn’t have to drive home alone.

But… I still had to walk in to the house after they dropped me off. Not a big deal, right? Well, my parent’s home (much like our home now) is surrounded by woods with a long driveway. Dark. Quiet. Peaceful during the day… terrifying at night when you’ve just seen a scary movie and your imagination is running wild.

So, even though I was a mature sixteen-year-old (ha), and it was late at night (close to midnight), I decided to call the house and see if my parents were still up, and one of them would meet me outside to walk me in. I was that freaked out!

My mom picks up the phone, and I tell her what’s going on. Sure, she’ll meet me outside to walk me in!

Also, she adds, “It’s a good thing you called, because I was actually about to head outside to wait for you in the dark and jump out and scare you.”

What. The. Eff. MOM!!!!!!

Thank heavens I called! I cannot imagine what would have happened, had she followed through with her original plan! It wasn’t unusual for any of us to hide and scare each other like that, but that really would have been the worst time for it to happen to me.

Ha ha ha.

So my mom walked me in, and I had her come in my bedroom and look outside and make sure there was nothing out there. Then tried to fall asleep.

Until this week, I hadn’t seen that movie since it first came out. I remember how scared I felt that night and never wanted to feel that way again.

But I saw it was on Amazon Prime this week and decided to watch it.

Um… it’s not even that scary. The scary parts are predictable. The effects are cheesy now. So what was my problem the first time I saw it?! Maybe since I was young? And saw it in the theater at night?

So it seems I can handle ghost movies better now. I still do NOT watch torture movies, or most horror though. My imagination is way too vivid and I have nightmares for days.

No related photo for this post… but here’s a photo of Data’s ghost from last October. He claims he sees her inside the house now. Oh, Data.