25 posts tagged “weekend retrospective”
I haven't blogged in a couple of days and I feel like it's been forever. I'm so used to writing in this thing.
This weekend was fun. I went home for Father's Day. I got home later on Friday than expected because apparently there were a bunch of events going on here that I was unaware of. I was stuck in the City traffic for an hour and a half, and it took me an hour and a half longer to get home. My dad got his Father's Day gift early. My mom and I got my dad some Reno 911! dvds, which he liked a lot.
My dad got me an early birthday gift and convinced me to open it early (okay, so there wasn't very much convincing on his part). It is a flatscreen, 19-inch LCD TV! AND it's 1080p! My parents still spoil me. The color is really great on it. Now I can play my XBox and not have to squint at what's going on. My parents were making fun of me because they left my gift on my desk, and I was so tired on Friday that I just kind of dropped my bag off in my room without looking around it. Then my dad came in and as a joke pointed to his small fridge that he stores there during the summer and said, "I got you a fridge!" I faked a look of joy and happiness (I thought it was a weird gift since I already have a fridge, but I wanted to be grateful), and my parents made fun of my apparently convincing acting skills. (But I really like my new TV. I wasn't faking that).
This weekend I saw the National Treasure: Book of Secrets, and Semi-Pro. I liked both but I thought the first National Treasure was much better (and slightly more plausible, if that makes any sense at all), and Semi-Pro doesn't hit classic status like Talladega Nights. Other than that, I just relaxed and did errands, like getting synthetic oil put in my truck. It took forever, and Pat and I went through the whole Master of Puppets album before we were finished. The last time I had synthetic oil put into my car was with the first Pearl back in January, and then I got into the wreck three weeks later. So here's to hoping that this round lasts a LOT longer than the first.
This weekend my family and I were in the HEB parking lot, and this woman literally about ran us over when she was backing up. Her windows were open, and we were all pretty nice considering what had about happened. Instead of being contrite for almost, you know, mowing us down with her vehicle, as we were walking away, the woman sarcastically yelled out, "Thanks for your comments, have a nice day!" My dad was laughing and hollered, "We didn't even say anything!" (Patrick later said that he had called her stupid, but I don't remember hearing him say that). But she kept on talking trash and simultaneously backing up without looking. My dad turned around and yelled, "You better pay attention to what you're doing, you're about to hit someone." Sure enough, she was this close to backing into another vehicle. We all had a pretty good laugh about her.
Work has been keeping me busy. I like it.
The run today was good but still quite warm. We did Fartlek intervals, 15 x 200's with a 50-m recovery. I did the Fartleks at a comfortable pace, and I took water breaks in between. I could feel my head pounding a little, which means I didn't drink enough water during the day. It's better to stop and replenish your water and energy instead of trying to look badass and getting sick later.
Lindy dancing lesson tomorrow. Yay!
I'm having company this weekend :) At least I have a working fridge!
My friend Meg officially is on her way to Alaska. I'm going to miss her, she was a good pal to me.
Changes are in the works. Look out, world.
Already the middle of May. Seriously, 2008. Slow the fuck down.
Today one of my friends texted me to say how bored he was at work and how he didn't want to do anything. Man, I felt the same way. I had a "case of the Mondays" this morning, but then work picked up this afternoon and I was busy again. I texted him back on how jealous I was of the stupid college kids and their summer breaks. Enjoy it while you can, assholes. I have to say that even though vacation time is severely shortened out here in the "real world," I'd much rather have the 8-5 days, guilt-free evenings, and no tests :)
Today I was working on a problem at work, and I figured out how to do it fairly quickly (I'm not trying to be a show-off, because the problem was pretty easy). But even though I knew I had the right process, I couldn't make intuitive sense of it. So I doubted myself and spent awhile trying out other solutions. Nothing. I put the problem away and went to run an errand at the TCEQ office. I came back, looked at the problem, and figured out in a minute where I'd wrong: my original math was right, just my justification for it was off. I was frustrated at how easy the problem actually was, and I how I'd made it so much harder by overthinking it. Two lessons: I shouldn't doubt myself when I know the math is right, and I should just put the problem away next time and let my subconscious work it out.
The run today was good. 5 sets of 400/200s. The 200s kick my ass. I like running as fast as I can for the first, but it gets harder with each successive one. The weather was cool, so that was nice, at least. (Well, the weather was probably around 70 degrees. Living in Texas for 14 years has warped what my sense of cold weather is.)
This weekend I went home for Mother's Day, of course. How can I spend Mother's Day without seeing my mama? I got my mom some lotion from Victoria Beckham's line. My mom loves Victoria Beckham so it was an ideal gift. (My mom is really bad with remembering names, so sometimes she'll call her "Rebecca Buchman." Hee.) It was nice to be home, and I had a good time with my family. My mom always makes me a nice Italian sauce, and my dad will usually make some sort of barbeque dish, and I take the leftovers from that too. See, I don't even live at home anymore, and I still manage to eat all the food. Ha!
This weekend I went to see Iron Man with Pat. The theater was so packed (at 11:45 am on Saturday!) that we had to sit in the 2nd to front row. (Obadiah Stane's head looked extra huge from that view, let me tell you.)
I really liked this movie. It had a great plot, really good acting (except for Gwyneth Paltrow's apparent inability to act in front of a green screen, but she was tolerable in other scenes), the sarcastic humor that I like, minimal romance that would otherwise suck the life out of an action flick, and good eye candy for me (seriously, this movie makes you see RDJ in a new light). I like the character's name too ;)
Um so I have three days to finish my two stories before the writing contest's submission date. Hey, it's just like college!
Wow, I have written entirely too much for one post. Time for me to call it a night :)
This weekend was so much fun. Meg and Matt came into town. I haven't seen Meg since December, so I was really excited for her visit. We went to Arts Festival, which was actually really disappointing. There was some good art there, but so expensive! I'd naively brought $40 with me to splurge on a piece of good art. Yeah, um, most of the art there was $300 and up. There were even a couple of sculptures that were $10,000. (I stayed far away from those). But we had fun walking around downtown all day doing touristy things and we ate downtown at night ;)
Yesterday evening, I put my culinary skillz to work. I made a recipe from my Rachael Ray cookbook-Wild Mushroom Turkey Patties. So good! I made my own gravy for it too. I also made ragu' but it didn't come out as good as it did the last time I made it. Plus, hot sauce from the pan hit my arm and now I have a burn there. Sexy! Finally, I made a Chocolate Pecan pie. It was great. So I still have meals for this week AND dessert. Win-win.
Work today went well. This morning was one of those time-warp mornings. I spent it working on a memo, and by the time I turned it in, I felt like I'd done little to the memo. Ugh, Mondays! But this afternoon was productive. I had to go to another meeting, at some new location on the other side of town. I didn't get lost, woot! Well, to clarify: I didn't get lost getting to the general location, but the reps at the meeting we were going to gave the project manager and me bad directions on how to find the building. I don't think that counts :) Another place to add to my grid. I'm so glad that mileage is reimbursed because it was a 50-mile round trip!
The run today was awesome. I love my running groups. A bunch of great, positive people who share a common love: running! Today's run started with two 700 m sprints at 5K pace, with a 100 m recovery for each. Then four 300 m sprints at goal mile pace with a 100 m recovery for each. Those 300s kicked my ass...it actually hurt to breathe after I was done with each lap. But I had a strong last lap and I felt good enough to run a couple more slow laps. I have insider information that the next workout is going to be insane so I'm going to rest up for it. :) I'm getting addicted to running again. I love feeling stronger with each run, and, of course, the runner's high.
Time for me to go and relax before tomorrow.
This weekend was a good one for me to catch up on my errands and chores. It was nice and relaxing. Today was deliciously cloudy and cozy. I went to the gym and got a good run in (albeit on the treadmill...ugh). I made my mom's ragu'. I was craving it, I suppose because of the weather. My mother has the best ragu' recipe ever. It's not loaded with spices like all the American ones. It didn't quite come out like hers, but it was a start. I also made chocolate chip cookie pizza, which I have to admit is AWESOME. I think I'll make a batch to take home with me. I have no idea how I'll eat this current batch, it's huge.
I admit I haven't been doing a lot of city exploration in the past month or so, other than when I had to drive somewhere for training or work. I'm thinking it's time to start again. I've learned that there's no rushing things though. This place is too big for me to conquer in one weekend. I finally went to the library this weekend though :) I realized that I hadn't read a book in nearly two months, which is the longest I've gone without reading a book since I've learned how to (...or maybe first semester of college. I can't remember). I checked out a bunch of good books. I'm reading The Glass Castle right now, and it's craaaazy but good.
l watched the first half of Gone With the Wind this evening, since it was so cozy. It's one of my favorite movies, and I don't think I've ever seen it all the way through (I think I always missed the first ten or fifteen minutes). I was completely obsessed with it when I was thirteen. It's kind of funny, I have no idea why. Maybe thirteen is the perfect age to get swept up in an epic romance. I read the book and everything. The book is really good but I think the movie is better, just because I love seeing the story on screen. Plus, the movie is a pretty faithful adaptation, with a few exceptions. Rhett is more open with his feelings with Scarlett in the movie than in the book. Plus, in the book Scarlett has two other kids with her first two husbands, and they get annoying after awhile. Scarlett's character is pretty much the same in both the book and movie. I don't care how unlikeable she is supposed to be, she is a conniving, bitchy whore and I love her and how fearless she is. The acting is so good in this movie too, I can't imagine anyone other than Vivien Leigh as Scarlett.
I'll have to save the second half for tomorrow. It's already 9:45! I'd better relax before work tomorrow.
The Oscars are on, but this is probably the first time in ten years that I'm not watching it. I'm taping it (well...DVR-ing it.) I haven't seen any of the movies and can't say I'm really rooting for anyone to win. I really want to watch them solely for Jon Stewart. He hosted back in 2006 and I thought he did a fantastic job, but the Hollywood crowd didn't like him because he made fun of them all.
I saw Juno tonight. I'd heard of a lot of anti-Juno backlash, but other than the really shitty indie music and sometimes grating dialogue, it was good. I liked it.
This weekend wasn't too bad, I guess. I hung out with some friends yesterday, and that was a lot of fun. We went out to eat lunch and went to this kind of upscale shopping center to walk off the buffet we'd pigged out on. I got really excited because the center had places like Burberry and Betsey Johnson, brands I'd read about but never had actually seen in person. It's not like I could ever afford anything they have, but it's fun to look. I squealed when I saw Burberry and went inside. There were three well-dressed assistants standing around watching everybody. Almost none of the merchandise had price tags on them, which to me is bad news. I found these really adorable shoes that looked sort of like these, except without the strap:
But guess how much they were: almost $500! Needless to say, I did NOT walk about with a brand-new pair of shoes. My friends joked that the reason we weren't kicked out of the store to begin with was the way I was all dressed up (I was wearing a shirt I'd gotten at Kohl's on sale for $7, fancy-looking sunglasses I'd gotten at Walmart for $10, and some dark wide-legged jeans. It's not how much you spend on clothes, but the way it looks on you when you put together an outfit.)
Afterwards we went to Cold Stone, and headed over to Walmart to buy a frisbee. We played frisbee in the little area next to the store (detention basin, I guess?) It was a lot of fun. I hadn't played frisbee in a long time but I was making some catches, at least. It was really windy so it was hard to throw it well. We would run up a little hill before throwing the frisbee, so it was unintentionally a good workout.
Today I spent doing random things, like working out, paying some bills, and decorating my apartment with some pictures I'd gotten at Hobby Lobby. I need to stop shopping for pictures at Hobby Lobby, because soon my apartment will reek of it.
The weekend was a little stressful too...I'm not going to go into it. It's nothing dramatic, luckily-no accidents, injuries, etc. Just a disagreement blown way out of proportion. I've decided that there's a point where you have to make yourself happy with the choices that you (and you alone) make, and that it's not worth justifying these choices to anyone else. I feel like, so far, I've done a pretty good job with my choices, and that's all that should matter.
I think I shall watch what I have DVR-ed of the Oscars so far. At least I can fast forward through commercials and all the boring awards for makeup and costumes.
I think I'm going to cut my hair. I'm tired of its length. Everyone thinks I should keep it long but I disagree. I'm so ~rebellious~
I'm tired.
This weekend I was able to drive home and see my family, since I'm only several hours away. I had a really good time, as usual. My dog was really happy to see me and ran all over the house when I came home. I went to a soccer game and on a run with my dad, and my mom and I went shopping (more on that in a minute).
My mom is officially in love with Pearl Jr. She liked Pearl alright but she is generally not a fan of trucks. However, Pearl Jr. is different. When I was loading up the truck today, I found my mom sitting in the front seat. LOL. When I made it back up to the city and gave her a call to let her know that the trip went okay, she asked, "How is my truck doing?" I wouldn't put a carjacking past her.
Pearl Jr. is a pretty cobalt blue (or "Dallas Cowboy Blue," as I call it.) I won't post any pictures or anything though. I'm a little superstitious now. Ideally, Pearl Jr. is going to stick around longer than SEVEN MONTHS.
So. Shopping. I hadn't gone on a serious clothes shopping trip in awhile. You know, it just wasn't a priority. HOWEVER, I got paid this Friday, and my mom wanted to go shopping. So that seemed like the perfect opportunity to splurge. We headed to Kohl's this morning and spent two hours shopping. I went by the shoe aisle, which is always a bad idea, especially when you are shopping with my mother. My mother is a bad influence. But the damage has been done. Check it:
I have the red version of these heels. These shoes were only seven dollars. SEVEN. DOLLARS.
Then I bought these puppies.
Aren't these adorable? I can wear these with my long jeans skirt at work for a more casual outfit, and use these as my weekend heels. They are so comfy and cute.
I blame my mother for the following purchase:
My mother loves Vera Wang. She keeps on telling me that my dress for my currently nonexistent wedding is going to be Vera Wang, and I'm like, "Yeah, who's buying it?" I thought I had filled my quota of shoes for one day, but my mother convinced me to try them on. And they're seriously the most comfortable pair of heels I've tried on.
So after today, I think I'm done with shopping for a long time now. I'm going to go relax and read a little before bedtime. I'm a little tired from driving so I think it'll be an early bedtime for me!
Tomorrow it will have been four weeks since I've been here. Four weeks! Well, I can't say that it's been boring. I am enjoying my job but there is definitely a gap between college life and "the real world" that I didn't quite expect. I found out in these past weeks that I am still fairly naive in many ways. You know the story about the country mouse who visits the city? I feel like that. A lot. But I suppose it's all "character building." Too bad I seem intent on learning things the hard way.
So Friday was...interesting. I had to take a baseline assessment at a clinic to make sure I could wear a respirator if I have to do environmental sampling on hazardous sites. There was a mix-up in my directions so I got lost for about a good hour. It didn't help that the traffic was terrible. My goodness. It definitely made me think fondly of the ten-minute "traffic jams" at home. Luckily, I live close to work and I don't have to put up with that kind of commute every day, because that would suck. The clinic was pretty much on the campus where my brother used to go to school at, so that was kind of cool. I recognized some places where we used to pick him up and it kind of made me wish that Patrick still went to school here, because that would be fun. Finally, after a snafu in the parking garage (don't ask), I found myself at the appointment.
It went fairly quickly. I had to take a drug and alcohol test, get chest x-rays, an EKG, etc. One of the tests I wasn't too fond of was the pulmonary function test. You have to breathe as hard as you can into a tube, and keep on blowing until the nurse tells you to stop. By then, you feel like you have no breath left in your lungs, but you have to keep on blowing into the tube anyway. You have to do this a total of three times. My lungs were literally hurting in the end, but apparently I have normal lung capacity.
This weekend was pretty good. I went out Friday with one of my coworkers, Jennifer, and her friends. (We are known in the office as "The Jens.") We ate Chinese and it wasn't too bad. I'm terrible because I still love fast, cheap Chinese food (there is a Panda Express only like a mile from me and I still have not eaten there yet. SACRILEGE.) Then she took me on a tour of the city. She showed me some areas downtown and a ritzy neighborhood where some of the more famous folk in the city reside. It was fun and I really appreciated her taking the time out to show me all the fun places here.
Yesterday I went shopping for the first time in a month, since I'd gotten paid last week. I bought a picture or two for the apartment. I'm trying to decorate slowly but now things look more homey. I need to get more pictures because there are cases where there is a picture hanging on one side of a wall and not the other, and it drives me crazy because I need to have things symmetrical. OCD? Maybe. Today was good too. I have OSHA HAZWOPER training all week so I had to find where that's going to be. Getting there was fine but finding the fucking building took forever. I hate finding things. Afterward I did HEB shopping and went to work out.
I think Pearl Jr. is going to be another Silverado. I feel comfortable driving those. I don't want a huge truck, because I can't drive those well. My dad suggested an F-150. I used to drive my dad's '97 F-150 (which is now Patrick's), but the newer models are way too big for me. Pearl was just the right size for a truck, so I think I'd like to have something similar.
I've been listening to a lot of Elton John lately. I go through periods in my life where I play one artist almost exclusively for awhile, and it's strangely comforting. Last year around this time, I listened to the Red Hot Chili Peppers almost non-stop. And now it's Elton John. I love his songs and they always make me feel calm and relaxed.
Speaking of calm and relaxed-I haven't had caffeine in two weeks! After the initial detox period, I don't even miss it. I bought caffeine-free Dr Pepper today. It doesn't have quite the same kick as normal Dr Pepper does but I guess I will get used to it
I need to work tomorrow so I'm going to relax before heading to sleep. I already feel kind of tired, and it's only 10. I'm turning into an old lady. I can't even sleep past 8:30 anymore.
This was a great weekend. I got some stuff accomplished and it felt good.
Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting in my room and getting cabin fever. I decided to head for a run on a whim. A couple of years ago, when I was training for the marathon, I went running at least 3 or 4 times a week. But now I only run once or twice a week, which is unacceptable. When I was little, I loved running so much that if I couldn't go, I would sit at my window with tears in my eyes, feeling trapped (that makes me sound like a really spoiled child, doesn't it? I promise I was polite and well-mannered). But as I got older, every so often I just get so bored with it. It saddens me when this happens, because running has been a part of my life for so long. There is something so adventurous about heading out on a route, running where you choose, and being able to tell yourself, "I ran 5 miles today." I want to love running as much as I did when I was 8.
So I headed outside with my trusty ipod and just ran. I ran for a full hour and 2 minutes, and it was amazing. When I was finished, I had a wonderful runner's high that I hadn't felt in awhile. It's what I needed. That run is what it took to motivate me to be the runner I used to be, and not to give up during my last month of school. I think I'm going to use this journal to record my running times. Any other experiences will probably just be a default private entry-I don't think anyone wants to read, "I cut my run short because I got bored," or, "I felt bloated and gassy on this run." I would also like to try and improve my speed-I was always a much better distance runner than a short-distance one.
I spent a relaxing evening at home. I Halo 3'ed it. (Yeah, I am really nerdy, but guys dig chicks who are gamers. Not that I play for that reason, but it's an added bonus, shall we say.) For awhile I was making 2nd place to my brother, which is an accomplishment. I don't suck as badly as I used to, and it's great. But then my dad started beating me more. I played for a couple of hours, until a power outage struck my home town, and all the people I was playing with got kicked off.
In the parking lot, around midnight, I heard loud music and people cheering. About ten people were dancing in a truck bed to "Jump On It." It strongly reminded me of this:
I literally live 20 feet away from the parking lots, and usually drunk people on the weekend annoy me (the "WOOOOOOOOOOs" and cars honking out the school song at 3 am get old really, really fast), but these people got props for creativity and for making me laugh.
And of course, Fall Back. I love that hour. I went to bed at 2 (BUT IT WAS REALLY 1), and woke up at 10 (BUT REALLY 9). Too bad we can't fall back, like, every other month.
Today I went into work, and now I have to get back to school work because I can't believe I wrote so much. Props if you read all this crap. I really want to order food, and I'm thiiiiinking pizza, but I'm not sure yet. Hasta la vista.
and all I got was this lousy pencil:
I also got to keep a copy of the reference book...which is good, because I think I will be taking this test again in April. F.E. = mindfuck. I don't know peeps. There was too much guesswork. But I did it, and it's over with, and I had a giddy feeling you won't believe once it was over.
It was early morning when I headed over to the exam room. The testing proctors kept us waiting until exactly 7:15, so we all huddled outside, tired and cold. The morning was so pretty, though, that I couldn't be bitter. When we finally were allowed to come in, I went upstairs to check in. The proctor told me my name had been blackened on her list, and to step out of the line until she could see why. This happened to another girl too. The other girl was freaking out, and another proctor was hyperventilating-"STAY CALM GIRLS. THIS IS NOT YOUR FAULT. YOU WILL BE FINE, YOU WILL TAKE THE TEST. JUST RELAX." I was definitely relaxed. Seriously, if you know me in real life, this shit happens to me all the time-I'm always the exception to something. It turned out that had the proctor kept on looking on the list, she would have seen our names. Thanks.
I guess I was so calm because I knew that no matter what, I would raise hell to take this test. I've had to do it before, when I was taking my GRE. The proctor demanded to know if I was an American citizen "because of my last name" and wasn't going to let me take the test unless I produced a Visa or passport. Yeah. I remember trying really, really hard not to lose my temper. "You're not letting me take this test just based off my last name?" I demanded. "Let's go talk to my supervisor," she said. Needless to say, I was allowed to take that test.
I realized today that November is the last full month I'll be here. I can't believe it. I've been here for five years, and it's gone by so fast. I think everyone knows how much I dislike the town I live in, but I love my school. It's going to be strange leaving such a significant chapter of my life behind. That sounds old, right? Okay, I'll shut up now.
I had an epiphany today. It was awesome.
My dad got his birthday present yesterday. It was the first season of Saturday Night Live. I figured he would like it because he's always said that the 70s were the SNL glory years.
Best quote ever:
Mom: Why on earth did J.K. Rowling make Dumbledore gay? Wait, which one is Dumbledore again?
The weekends are going by so quickly. I suppose I should not complain, since these quick weekends are going to get me to graduation faster (seriously...less than 2 months left.) I studied a little for the FE (which is this Saturday...I am dreading it, mainly because I haven't studied for it like I should have. Let's hope a review of the material will suffice!) I was so tired on Saturday night that I went to bed at TEN and woke up at NINE the next morning. I don't know if it was my run on Saturday that exhausted me or what, but getting all that sleep is wonderful. Some friends came into town, and I went out for dessert with them at T.G.I. Friday's (our server strongly reminded me of this.) Then I played more Halo 3. Mmmmhmmm.
I got my Management test back...I did much better than I thought I would, especially considering how much time I put into studying for it. I love it when I'm positively rewarded for my laziness.
Today was deliciously cloudly and cold...I wish it could have been like that this weekend. I am so much more productive when I'm in my room and it's cloudy. If it's sunny, forget it-I have to be outside.
Today I felt like a bit like my old self, like when I was 17 or 18. I don't know what it was-the cloudy weather, the fact that my tomboy self took over and just let my hair to curl naturally instead of bothering to straighten it, or that I walked to class at 50 mph listening to my classic rock music and trying to pass up all the other pedestrians in the process. Not that I want to be my old self all the time-I like being a little more experienced, less naive, and much less angsty. But still.
This article is freaky but really interesting. I bought Silent Spring this summer, and it was really interesting to read how these wonder chemicals ended up being something so to human health and the environment. We talked about this topic in my Risk Assessment course last semester. I really wonder if environmental factors contributed to my brother's birth defect (he was born with a cleft lip and palate) rather than genetics. One of my professors was mentioning that even surfactants like Teflon may have negative environmental effects. Well, it's just another reason why I don't touch Splenda, and why I'm trying to eat more natural foods. Splenda is a chlorinated compound! And of course the manufacturers are stating that it isn't lipophilic or bioaccumulative, but I think I will stick to real sugar for now.
I guess I should work more on my professional report. Nah, I'm going to go curl up and study for the FE on my bed. It's cold in my room.
