penn

101 things: month 3

A new month, and a new set of goals to cross off the list. It was a fairly productive month, and I was pretty close to finishing even more goals. I'm trying to get a lot done before I move, as I have a feeling that I won't have a lot of time for goals for the first month or so.

1. Run a 5k race

I ran the Dexter-Ann Arbor 5k on 1 June 2008 at 35:05. It was a hill race, and I didn't train on hills, so my hip flexors were sore for several days afterward. Still, quite exciting!

8. Join a yoga class for at least a month

I did a yoga class at my university. The grad school here sponsors all sorts of cool stuff, and they have a 4 week "intro to yoga" series for $20 (including the mat!). I really enjoyed it, and I also learned that I already know quite a number of yoga moves. I'd like to find a book/video/place to do yoga so that I can keep it up, as yoga is great for working out the stiffness from frisbee, running, and my frequent shin splints.

20. Attend a play AND 87. go on a date with someone I met in real life (not on the internet)

On Saturday night, I went on a date with a guy from one of my spring frisbee teams. We went to see Number the Stars (based on the book) at Michigan State's summer circle theatre. My date took me all around East Lansing and showed me some awesome stuff like the 4-H Children's Garden. We snagged gyros for dinner, watched the play, and then tossed the disc around until the sun went down. The play was alright (Holocaust plays are difficult to do), and I found it really humorous that they cast a black man as a Nazi.

22. Print and frame at least one of my own photographs

It was hanging in the bathroom, so I put it on the floor in the living room to get better light for the picture. It is a picture of the Rapenburg Canal, which is where I went to school in Leiden, the Netherlands.

62. Teach someone how to kayak

when I made this goal, I had no idea that I'd spend the summer teaching kids how to kayak and canoe for my job. In any case, goal accomplished!

76. Visit a friend (that I haven’t visited in that state) who lives in a different state than I do AND 14. Visit 5 of my unvisited lower 48 states 1/5 one

I visited Kentucky this month. I had a wonderful time in Louisville, and the scenery in the rest of the state was wonderful.

Other potential states to visit: Hawaii, Alaska, New Mexico, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, West Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

tally:
1 more in progress for 6 total in progress
7 more completed for 15 total completed

Visiting KY/TN

After getting back from my little road trip, I launched into work and spent a lot of time being really tired and sore. I'm sad to say that I'm out of practice with road tripping; my body did not appreciate 20 hours of sitting in a car, and I spent a lot of time on ibuprofen last week.

The pain of driving notwithstanding, I had a fabulous time on the trip. It was wonderful to see two old friends (Jenn and Nick; Nick is a HS buddy who is currently stationed in TN) and become closer with Dr. Aaron (he's a buddy from Ann Arbor).

I was gratified to see that my friends got along, since Nick came with me to a party thrown in Jenn's honor. Jenn is starting her MSW in the fall, and her friends in Tennessee threw a party to "celebrate the genius of Jenn." The party had a great rule: presents are required, but you may not spend any money. I brought Jenn a little pair of ceramic Dutch shoes that I bought while studying abroad (I have several pairs that I use to decorate the Christmas tree, and I thought she'd like it) and a nifty keychain. At Jenn's party, I met lots of cool Knoxville folks and enjoyed yummy southern barbecue. The next morning, Nick and I indulged in some manufactured Americana by eating at Cracker Barrel.

In Louisville, Aaron and I spent a lot of time exploring the city. He showed me around old town Louisville and the hip Bardstown road neighborhood where he wants to live. We went trail running in the EP Tom Sawyer Park and played frisbee in Cherokee Park (one of the many parks designed by the father of landscape architecture, Olmsted. We ate at Ramsi's Cafe on the World, had delightful pizza at Wick's, and ate somewhere with these delightful little green chili wontons. We had a delightful, fun, nerdy time, and I learned lots of new stuff (a regular occurence when hanging out with smarty-pants Aaron).

As an extra bonus, I knocked an item off my 101 things list:

76. Visit a friend (that I haven’t visited in that state) who lives in a different state than I do

Wherein I showcase my occasional conservative leanings

The Supreme Court has struck down DC's ban on hanguns, and I think this is an excellent move. This is one of a small handful of cases in which I have sided with the more conservative side of the court.

I am definitely a person concerned with gun safety, but I also firmly feel that guns can be one of many valid self defense tools. They shouldn't be a tool everyone chooses to use, but everyone should have that right.

Of course, that right comes with responsibilities. If I were a lawmaker, I'd require a gun license to own a gun, and the license would consist of a class in gun safety (unloading, clearing, cleaning, shooting, etc). I'd also increase penalties for improper use of a gun. But the fact that some people are ignorant and choose to use their guns in an unsafe manner (yes, in this case, maintaining ignorance is a choice) should not preclude responsible gun ownership for protection in the home.

Little Bits

1. Working with small children is tiring. Working 10 hours with small children is even more tiring. Despite this, I still love my job. I get to paddle every day, and the kids are so darn cute.

2. Driving is also tiring. I'm still sore from my 20 hours worth of driving this weekend (6 to Louisville to visit Dr. Aaron and another 4 to Knoxville to visit Jenn and some other friends. Then back to Louisville and back up to Ann Arbor).

3. Because I am so sore and tired, I tried taking a cold bath tonight. This was recommended by friend when I quipped that I didn't have enough ice packs to cover my whole body. The bath felt good when I was in it (after I got over the shock of sitting in really cold water), but my body is still sore. Time to hit more ibuprofen and look forward to sleeping most of the day on Saturday.

4. Totally unrelated: I am annoyed by the recent Dixie disposable plate ads. Let's all use disposable plates every day so that we can enjoy more time with our kids! Whee! I love destroying the earth! (okay, it's not that simple. There's a lot of lifecycle analysis that needs to go on because it takes more energy to produce and clean real plates.) But lots of plates are durable and reusable and end up being nicer for the environment in the long run.

5. I'm going to sleep. It's 11 pm, but that is early for me. Maybe issue #3 is also related to lack of sleep and lots of exercise. I have been working out a lot recently and not sleeping too much.

something just crazy enough to work

After work today, I am hitting the open road! I'll be driving to Louisville to see my friend Dr. Aaron (that's a doctor of engineering, thanks, and not an MD) and then heading to Knoxville to enjoy some quality time with an old friend named Jenn. Jenn and I went to college together for one semester, and we also worked together on the Navajo Nation. In her homeless hippy stage, she also crashed in my dorm room a few times, and we'd spend hours laying on beds/in the grass/on benches/wherever we can and just contemplating the universe.

It's been about 5 years since I've seen her. I've got a three day weekend (Sat, Sun, and Mon), so it's about high time I get down to Knoxville.

Things I love about Ann Arbor

1. This town is still small enough that most of the lights turn flashing red/yellow at midnight. Last night was my first time when the light turned flashing while I was sitting at it. This also happened just as my car clock turned midnight, so I guess the ol' toyota is well-synced with Ann Arbor traffic lights.

2. There's a lot of local restaurants in this town, such as Arbor Brewing Company. I ate at ABC last night. Good place. I ended up eating out a lot more than intended recently due to the fridge situation (see: my last several posts). Another fabulous place is Jerusalem Garden, which is a middle-eastern place that reminds me of all the kebab stands I ate at in Europe. I'm really sad that I just now went there for the first time.

3. It's an easily walkable, hippy, fun town. I walk almost everywhere. Heck, my friends and I walk even when we could drive. We went to ABC from campus (4 or 5 blocks), and we were going out with a professor and his kid. They had some stuff to carry (said kid spent the day in prof's office and needed some distractions), so they took the car. My friend and I still walked over to ABC.

Ann Arbor definitely has been good to me. U of M? That's a mixed bag. But Ann Arbor has definitely been pretty awesome. I'll try not to wax too nostalgic over the next two months (my last two!) here in town.

Finally Done

I turned in my final grades today, and I am now officially done with the University of Michigan. Sort of. That is to say, I am done with everything I need to do, and I am officially graduating in August. But the key part is that I am done!

I pulled a marathon grading session and got 35 lab reports and quizzes and suchlike done in the last few days (while working another job!).

I'm quite tired on the outside, but my inside is doing jubilant cartwheels of happiness. Now, I shall soldier forward and work on wrapping up my summer in Ann Arbor. I've got a lot more to do before I'm able to leave. For posterity's sake, I intend to do the following before leaving Ann Arbor:

-> take a bunch of kitchen stuff, clothes, books, and misc gear to Salvation Army (mostly things I don't use or would like to replace anyway)
-> decide whether or not I'm getting rid of my furniture
-> finish scrapbooking a few separate trips so that I can throw out any stuff I saved that didn't make it into the scrabook (this also involves using up art supplies!
-> keep up with my workouts, including running -- I am hoping to do another 5k before I leave here

It doesn't look so bad when written down here. These tasks feel quite daunting to me. I have a touch over two months left before I need to move out of my apartment. I think this is all doable. For now, tho, I am relishing the relief that comes with finally turning in these grades and washing my hands of the past semester.

PS finally got my new fridge! The doors are backwards. I'm trying to decide if I care enough to actually do something about it. Not sure yet, tho it would be nice to open the door from inside the kitchen.

Ouch?

Is it possible to burn a candle at three ends or more? I so think I am there. In my eagerness, I may have over committed a bit this summer. I've been playing lots of sports, going to social stuff, and working a lot.

Life should be better after Wednesday. Between now and then, I have another 30 minutes or so of grading quizzes (which I spent four or five hours doing this weekend), and I also have 35 lab reports to grade. Then, I will be completely done with the University of Michigan!

Of course, I start working at the Gallup Park day camp tomorrow morning. I'll have somewhere around twenty four little ones (we have 1-3 grade this first week). I just hope I have enough energy to play ultimate frisbee (game on Monday night) and do lots of grading.

Blogging will commence after Wednesday. I have all sorts of stuff to share. For now, I'll point you to my friend April's blog, as I've loved many of her last few posts and really want to blog my own responses to them. Oooh, and go look at the NYTimes article about a family whose architect built ciphers and puzzles into their apartment. Expensive but awesome.

P.S. I have a new fridge. Sort of. It works, but it is 1" too tall for my apartment. Supposedly, we get our real fridge tomorrow. Or something.

Leftimate

Tonight was the best night of ultimate playing that I’ve ever had, and that’s no hyperbole. The day was beautiful and sunny with a high in the mid-high 80s. We had enough breeze to keep us cool but not so much as to throw the disc off track.

The game itself was pretty awesome. I had some good runs and caught the disc quite a number of times. Heck, I even managed to pass the disc forward (the throwing forward is my weak point – I often throw backwards to another player that throws better). My team ended up winning by a handy margin.

After the game, several of us stuck around to have some fun, and my friend Kelly introduced the idea of “leftimate.” In this variant, you must tuck your dominant hand behind your back (the right hand, for most players) and catch and throw the disc exclusively with your left hand. Like I said, I’m not the best handler (the ultimate term for someone who throws the disc) with my right hand, and I was nervous about my left hand.

Turns out that my left hand is pretty darn good. I might have to keep practicing and become an ambidextrous ultimate player.

We also played with two more variations: we played without cleats (and this isn’t cushy grass, so that is a challenge), and we played a modified form of ultimate called hotbox. In hotbox, you play with a small goal inside a larger square. You can only stay in the goal for three seconds, so the game still involves a lot of movement and a fair number of dropped discs (and dropped discs means the other team gets it). So, we had a bunch of righties trying to use their left hands to pass the disc to people that ran through this small goal.

I’m afraid my post just doesn’t do it justice. I didn’t have my camera available, so there’s no record of this awesome night. But suffice to say that it was amazing. It also showed me how far I’ve come as a player: hotbox relies on good throwing and being able to fake out your defender, as the box is so small that speed is fairly insignificant. Last year, I played hotbox a few times with my dominant hand, and I was always a mess. This year, I did quite a bit better.

After the sun set, we dispersed, and my ultimate buddy Mark and I cooked a fabulous impromptu dinner of pasta, chicken, onions, and spinach. It’s the first home cooked meal I’ve had in almost three days.

The only thing that would have made my night better was the delivery of our new fridge (the whole thing is dead). I am assured that the new fridge will be delivered tomorrow. I’ll believe it when I hear the reassuring hum of fresh vegetable storage again.

The heat wave isn't just affecting my water intake

One of my friends and I had lunch today (homemade quesadillas -- spinach, onion, and mushroom -- with organic cheese. yum!), and we got to talking about the biggest problem of being single. Sure, we sometimes miss the companionship, and it isn't fun to scramble for dates to social functions. But the biggest day-to-day annoyance is the fridge.

Yeah, that's right. I have big fridge issues, and I'm not afraid to talk about it. Specifically, I have problems using up things I buy before they go bad. Either I eat the same thing all the time, or I inevitably throw out spoiled food. This holds true for both fruits/veggies and for bottled or jarred items. I recently discovered that both jam and salsa will grow mold; I've never before used either slowly enough to learn this before. My concern with buying food these days is geared much more toward "what is cheaper and/or better quality (ie organic) in a quantity I'm likely to actually use without throwing any away?"

When I had a boyfriend, or even when I shared food with roommates, this wasn't an issue. Heck, last summer, I was cooking a lot with friends, and we significantly reduced the food spoilage issue (mostly because said friends and I would use tons of veggies in our cooking, so my only spoiling threats were obscure sauces that just couldn't be completely used up).

Of course, the universe decided to show me that my single woes were not so bad. Upon coming back from a busy evening of frisbee (a short game stopped by lightning in which only one other person from my team showed up, so we had to borrow lots of players) and pub quiz (in which my team of three people narrowly lost to the team of 6 of our friends we had challenged), I discovered that my food spoiling issue was about to get bigger. Much, much bigger.

I opened the freezer to find that almost all our food was practically thawed. Seriously? My fridge couldn't just up and stop working. It had to go and blow warm air on everything to speed the thawing process.

I've had broken fridges before, but we always managed to pile frozen stuff in the sink, pour ice all over it, and keep it cool enough until we could fix the fridge (typically by defrosting whatever ice was blocking up the works). In this case, almost everything was ruined. I managed to salvage my organic yogurt, organic cheese, organic butter, and organic eggs, and I'm taking a chance with some half thawed beef and chicken (yes, it will be thoroughly cooked). One of my accommodating friends was up late and let me get everything into her fridge/freezer.

Side note: not everything I buy is organic. I put a priority on saving my organic stuff. But my all-natural (and yummy!) ice cream went into the garbage alongside no-longer-frozen fruit, some salmon, some definitely not-organic popsicles, and who knows what else from the freezer.

It's past midnight, and I've still got work to do before I have to actually go to work tomorrow. Right now, I want my kid card back. Seems like that would solve all my food woes.