Category Archives: Uncategorized

So just a really quick update here, if you are wondering what in the heck is going on over here I’m in the process of kissing Blogger good-bye and doing the whole self-hosting thing. Not because I think I’m oh so important and deserve a new house of my own in cyberworld without the .blogger doormat but for other reasons that I can explain in more detail later! I only say that so you don’t think I’ve somehow let my ego get out of control…haha.

But I’m a total techie lame-o and have been doing this all on my own so it took me way longer than it should have to get to even this point, but I did it all today. And as you can see there are still plenty of kinks to work out. So if you click on any of the page tabs, you’ll see a  HTML where the pictures should be, I’m sorry, and I’m working on that. You’ll also note that if you were directed here off of my old Blogger account, but tried to click over via the old Blogger page tabs some of them won’t load…again, work in progress. But once you’re at the caitchock.com main site you can then navigate to the page tabs.

(I’m finding that WordPress won’t import Blogger Pages at all, I’ve looked forever but if anyone does know how to do this PLEASE email me or comment…I’d forever be in your debt!)

So PLEASE bear with me here and tomorrow I’ve got plenty of link love to share to all the people/places who helped walk me through it, and TRUST me if I can do it anyone can. Also the catalyst post that gave me the kick in the butt to try this! Did I make it much more difficult than it had to be? Yes. Will you probably be able to follow the dummie directions and accomplish the same task much faster…you can bet your bottom dollar, but I’m not out to break records here.

More tomorrow, but at least for now all of my posts, comments on posts, and pictures there are working so feel free to peruse at will!

PS-and one kicker was that I’ve HAD it with not being able to respond personally to comments because I love them! And I’ll get to the ones from today tomorrow…right now my head hurts and my eyes are blurry…AAAAND I’m hungry. 🙂

So last night I got to visit with one of my all time favorite people from high school!! Okay, I’m not sure about you, but for me high school was not all that stellar. I’m not into the whole clique thing and I’m also the kind of girl who gets along much easier with guys. I’m not into the whole drama-rama scene that can sometimes run rampant among girlfriends/frenemy type situations.

I just would rather say something like it is, if I’ve got a beef then let’s just put it out there and move on. Not the ‘oh I love you to your face/hate you the second you turn around’ kinda thing. Now, that’s not to say there aren’t totally awesome girls that I AM friends with, but just that sometimes avoiding the whole catty backstabbing thing can be tough. I don’t think I’m going to take this ramble any further because I’m pretty sure any other female reading this out there knows exactly what I’m talking about. Why all the hate? Why do many women want to tear the others apart or rip on any other female that seems to be doing well?

(Does my cartoon of a warthog passing noxious gas really relate here at all? Let’s see, well I guess we could say high school was a gas of smellyness?? Eh, I just like the picture, okay! hehe)

So but anyways, high school was a tricky time, but again I’m pretty sure I’m not the only person for whom that holds true. Ummm, all I’m gonna say right now is ‘Freaks and Geeks’ for anyone who happens to have any pull whatsoever, PLEASE resurrect this show. I also want the original cast back, I don’t care that they are way older now. And am I the only loser who could have a crush on Sam Weir? I’ve got issues. Don’t worry though, James Franco is also hot in my book.

Back on track, last night I got to hang out with one of my fav peeps from back in the day, and it was one of those things where I think it’s been about nine years since I’ve seen him (he is a few years older than me) but after about 10 minutes we were able to catch each other back up to speed and it was like no time had passed. Me: “Moved to Oregon, hit by a car, that was crazy…I’m back now, I need to make friends and do stuff…I’m relegating you in charge of my social life.” Him: “College at UCLA, bartended on the side, I blew fire, threw some people out of the bar, moved back up to Sacto, now feel like an old fart and am I wearing a suit?” Loved it.

Also ironic how we were at the same little Starbucks shopping center that everyone frequented back in the day. In fact we were about two stops down from the Baskin Robbins we’d all hit up on Dollar Scoop Night on Tuesdays. (PS-Baskin is not even close to the best ice cream place, sorry Mr. Robbins, but who can turn down dollar scoops? More correctly it was a $3 three scooper for me.) There were of course now plenty of today’s high school aged kids swarming the place, it’s crazy because in my head I know for darn sure I haven’t matured much since then but I’m old anyways.

Now, I had full intentions of actually taking pictures, I even had my camera in my purse, but did I take a single one? No. Man I’m a blogging failure, so I’m sorry. I even changed my hair from the standard single pony in the back? Did you feel the earth quake a bit last night? Alas, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

So today I woke up way too late, but got rolling with my thankfully uninterrupted by the reset 9.2 miler run. Then core and abs. Now, I’m going to ask you kind readers, the TV that is in the gym doesn’t get actual live TV…yes that’s crazy. So I hooked up my DVD player to it and have been running movies and shows. I’m sort of embarrassed to admit the last couple of shows I’ve been watching…it may or may not be the first season of a show starting with H and ending with annah Montana.

I’ve burned through some DVD’s fast…those half hour ‘real time’ shows get cut down to just about 20 min’s sans commercials and go by quickly! So I need suggestions…movies to see, shows that I can get into and watch the episodes back to back while I’m my little hamster on the wheel. So watcha got?

(Smile…the sun is out!! Another random Cait cartoon, but monkeys are cool so, wateves.)

Well, the sun is shining and I think it’s calling my name out there. Oh, and also, last night I swung by Winco after my little friend catch-up/meet-up and saw a guy getting busted for shoplifting. Classy. Also, if you were going to steal from a place, would you pick Winco of all places? It’s almost like you sympathize with the poor dude, if you’re that hard up it’s almost like, “Eh, toss the guy a bone, give him that free can of beans, it’s like, what, 68 cents?”

1) High school…what was your experience? It seems like people either loved it or hated it…where do you fall on the spectrum?

2) I implore you for movie and show recommendations! Um, double points if you actually buy and send them to me. 😉

3) Hypothetically now, if you were ever going to shoplift from a place, where would it be?

A really jacked exercise emporium place with not only the treads and equipment but a plethora of shoes, clothes, and the works.

4) Favorite thing to do in the sun?

I’ve got a clunker on the brain! Well, because I’m dirty poor and need a set of wheel’s I’m on the prowl. That said no clunkers need apply, I will turn you away at the first sight of you. Or the first exhaust fume belch that puts Al Bundy to shame. You see, I’m not willing to fork out the dough for a sweet ride but I want one anyway.

I want a car that matches my legs. Scratch that, I’d like a car that matches my full left leg and then my right leg only from the knee up. For the lower part of the right leg I’d prefer being kankleless.

My car has to be able to run as much as I want it to and to do so in a timely fashion. No stutter starts, unless we’re doing a fartleck that is, and when we get rolling I want to feel like I’m in the zone and the miles are ticking off effortlessly.

I want to be able to cruise faster than as many of the boys as I can. I’d like to also be able to smirk at them as I pass. If I pull up next to two Asians with a little bullhorn contraption on their car telling me it’s go time I want to smoke ’em. (This is not some kind of horrible racist joke, I hate racism, this is a movie reference, so no hate mail please.)

Now, unlike my own self I don’t want a car with gurgly gut syndrome. I don’t want to have to pull over to make a pit-stop in some bushes. I don’t want to feel like I’m clenching the trunk down for dear life trying to avoid an explosion.

My car tends to get super hot and sweaty in any weather above that of a crisp misty morning…some kind of super sweating power. To negate this AC is a must.

My radio, this is where I’m a bit flexible. Of course I need a kick-butt playlist (What constitutes an awesome workout song is left up to my own discretion and don’t judge if a Miley hit works its way in there. It may be followed up by a Nine Inch Nails Tune and for periods Cake’s ‘The Distance’ may be on continuous repeat.) The speakers need to be able to go loud enough to drown out my horrible singing because trust me I’ll be belting it out not caring that I’m off key. I say I’m flexible because there will also be times where I’ll prefer silence, where I can just find pleasure in the turnover the wheels, the ticking off of the miles, and listening to the steady hum of the engine.

A good car can’t only be about the cardio…err, running miles…err, driving miles. It needs some core work, making sure the outside is toned and strong enough to keep on supporting the workload. Getting all nice and shiny.

It’s also gotta be able to rest when it wants to, after a nice shower so it doesn’t leave a sweat stain on the garage floor. Since it works hard it is allowed to rest ‘hard’ and that leads us to the refueling hard.

Now we all should get what we want, ice cream for me and gas for it. Mine sounds tastier but to each their own. That said, this is where me and my car will have to part ways, I’ll spend as much as I want to throw down my gullet but I’m looking for a cheap car and so you’re getting cheapo gas, Mister!

Like I said, I’m dirty poor and need a set of wheel’s, I’m on the prowl. That said no clunkers need apply, I will turn you away at the first sight of you. Or the first exhaust fume belch that puts Al Bundy to shame. You see I’m not willing to fork out the dough for a sweet ride but I want one anyway.

1) Are you a ‘car person’?

Not at all, I don’t know the names of makes and models and I don’t see it as a status symbol. I’d rather spend my money elsewhere, just so long as it gets me from point A to point B.

2) Do you find it funny when cars or other things match the person? Is it true that people turn into their pets?

I hope not, my cat licks himself WAY too much!

3) Do you hate car hunting as much as me?

4) Favorite part of your body and way.

Legs. For what they do for me and for allowing me to run, yes I bag on my kankle, but it’s made me appreciate my legs even more.

The title of this post is a nice farewell to the unibrow that I FINALLY got to pluck! Okay, so in my haphazard, typical fly by the seat of my pants move/pack decision I pretty much just hucked everything into boxes, taped and got er done. Now, as any methodical organized type person will tell you, doing this really doesn’t make finding anything all that easy. Thank you for your input organized person but I will roll my own way.

Now I obviously chucked my tweezers into some obscure box separate from my toothbrush and other bathroom things, how/why, I don’t know. Don’t ask questions. I did this way too many days ago and my tweezers have been lost for oh too long, giving my hairy brows plenty of time to continue their quest to take over my face. Why not just buy a new pair? Justified question…well, you see my tweezers are awesome. They pluck the best, and I like them, okay? But all is water under the bridge, I’m not rocking the uni so I’m happy I found those little buggers that were hiding! FYI they were in the same box as I had some CD’s (who even has these any more?) and some towels. Nice job to me.

On a slightly random tangent here, are there ever times you wish you could just wear a sign? I thought about this during my embarrassment over my brows (another reason I just didn’t care enough to REALLY get a new pair of tweezers was that for the most part it was just me in a sweaty U-Haul…oh and my cat.) when I wished I could ware a sign that said, “I know I’ve got things getting crazy over my eyes, in normal life I keep the hedges spruced up.” so that when I did stop at gas stations and places people would know I’m aware that my eyes are looking crazy and I’m normally a plucker. Then again in some of those gas ‘n sip pit stops maybe with the brows I fit in better.

Same sort of goes when I’m working out sometimes or running. I’d like to wear a sign on the days where I’m really draggin butt, one that reads, “My legs are really pissed off at me for my tempo yesterday so they are paying me back by making my easy pace appear to be a crawl. My booty lock has also been a lasting reminder, but I promise I’m a runner and not a jolly jogger!” Maybe another sign that says, “I see you so obviously looking over my shoulder to see my miles/pace/grade/etc stats on my treadmill and I notice you trying to one-up me, Annoying Dude Who Thinks You’re All Macho.” but in those instances justice is usually swift and the dude gets owned by his treadmill.

Another sign for when you’re doing fartlecks on the bike path, “I’m not a psycho my workout is to go fast for a minute that slow for a minute.” Now other ‘real’ runners will get why you’re going along all fast and then suddenly slow to a crawly-recovery-jog then spontaneously burst into a sprint a minute later. It’s made infinity worse when there is another runner who you then keep passing, get passed by, then passing again for miles…like a sick game of leap frog. You wish that you could get enough distance between you two so that the game would stop but fate has other plans and is getting a kick out of it.

Look how I’ve digressed. I’ve got lots of things swirling in my brain that I want to get down here but wanted to see if anyone has any preferences. In my little hiatus I’ve now gotta fill in some details and holes while still attempting to make this thing semi-entertaining. Here are some post topics I’ve got in mind and what would you like to see first?

*Recap of my U-Haul expedition. Highlights include an unplanned layover in Ashland where I had some good people watching at the local YMCA…also my first run on a treadmill with a personal TV. The bad? The place was seriously lacking in any fanage. Also, my front tire nearly flew off.

*I have finished the whole Yogurtopia story! It turned out pretty long and will go up in a few installments, I’m thinking there are about three posts worth. There are some new characters too. Now, I have one picture already done and ready but have yet to finish more because of the move thing, so I’m not sure if I should just hold off on that until some more graphics are done.

*I could do a post on my working out when on trips, on vacation, at hotels, etc. Some people ditch their workouts, not this chick.

*Does anyone have any interest in a quick upperbody arm weight routine? I have one that hits all the spots that I do after my runs and doesn’t need any more equipment than some dumbbells. I know lots of people combine their cardio/weight workouts which is an awesome way to do it and will keep that heart rate high the whole time, but because my fav thing to do is run I would rather bust out the miles and do a quickie weight thing afterwards. I get my tone, it helps keep me strong, I’m happy.

So I’m still in the throes of unpacking, got a lot of headway done today but going to have to sign off for now! I’m still in quasi-back blogging mode so bear with me…I’m going to get back to all comments as I love your replies, will be doing my best to return the comment love myself, make these posts much more fun/arty to read (PS- to my credit Blogger is deciding to suck at the moment and refuse me the ability to upload any images…what is that about?!), and I’ve got some emails too! Hope the rest of your weekend is going great!

1) Odd things that have a special spot in your heart and not some lame knock-off will do?

My tweezers and my favorite brand of blueberry english muffins are just two examples. 😛

2) Is there a time you wish you could wear a sign?

3) Races peeps, let’s have some bragging on your fine selves! Or, what fun things did you do this weekend?

So did I just drop off the face of the planet? Did a ravenous black hole come and gobble me up? No, and maybe…if one did I hop it would say that I tasted like Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Fruit Loops.

Actually, my big news that I was talking about earlier for me is that I’m moving to Cali! Scratch that, I’m already moved here….hence my disappearance from the cyber-world. You know how I was saying that one of the worst things I could imagine would to be go sans internet for days, well in a sick twist of fate I just brought it upon myself.

Between Comcast ending service in my old apartment and driving one really shaky U-Haul down (side note there is a really long and ridiculously ‘it could only happen to me’ story I’ll share later) on a trip that was supposed to be one day but turned into two, and then still getting situated here…RIGHT NOW are my very first moments back to the online world. Oh, how I’ve missed you internet and why do you make the real world oh so much better?

Also I ended up doing the whole drive thing a few days earlier than I had originally planned on so I’m sorry for not at least giving a heads up. I guess I sorta pulled the crawl out the bathroom window sorta thing should we have been on a date.

That said I’ve got a TON to catch up on and still the fun unpacking thang, but wanted to explain the whole MIA thing. No, I haven’t gone AWOL and making some sort of pilgrimage around the world in a floating bathtub…yet. Actually, that whole bathtub sea adventure has already been done and by a REALLY awesome guy, Tim. I’m proud to say that I’m friends with a friend of his…look at me trying to name drop like that.

So sorry also to have been really lame and not replying to comments or commenting on all my fav peeps blogs. Trust me I’ll be back, you can’t be rid of me that easily….mwahaha!!

Lot’s to chat on today! Well, running-wise it’s been a rather rough couple of days. My last two workouts bit the big one, you know what I’m talking about, just not hitting the times you want. I know we all have them, nature of the beast, but it’s easy to get pretty hard on yourself. I’ve gotten a lot better at this, telling myself it’s not the end of the world (I mean, honestly, Cait, it’s not like you’re even actually training for anything! haha), tomorrow’s another day, there’s always plenty more things to be had. But it still grates on you, ya know? Janae wrote a REALLY great post about dealing with crappy workouts and all those things she’s mentioned are true. So time to be a’mooooving on!

At any rate, got the run done and finished, I felt at least a little better than the disaster of two days ago, and finished with some arm weights and lunges. Checked out Katy’s blog and it looks like I seriously need to go play with one of those TRX Trainers! I’ve seen other people rave about them but have yet to get my hands on one…I’m a tad scared I’ll wind up somehow bound to a pole or instead left hanging midair until someone finds me. Like I said, I’ve got no coordination or skills! hehe. 🙂

The next thing is that today my littlest bro is graduating junior high!! Aww, lookie at him, aint he so cute? I also learned that one of my FAVORITE all time teachers, Mr. Tindall, is retiring. Now, I might have been a little rough on PE earlier, but Mr. Tindall is no ordinary PE teacher and also at the time I wasn’t training on any other sports teams. (Sorry the pic down there is the only one I could find of him, it’s with his wife!) So in honor of Mr. T I wrote up a little tribute to him explaining just what makes him the rocking man that he is! So, sorry that it’s pretty long, and since I’m sad he’s no longer teaching it’ll be in boring, somber black. That also means that if I’m too boring you can just scroll on down baby…but at least give Mr. T a moment of respect and tip your wide brimmed hats to him! (Don’t get that joke? Well then you’ll just have to read my tribute! BAM…lookie there I’m gonna make you read it…jk)

I also wanted to say first that I know lots of teachers out there and want to just say how much of an impact you guys can make. I know we all have those teachers that stand out in our minds and have influenced us for the better. (ummm, I also know how horrible it is to be stuck with a really bad teacher…lol) It’s often a thankless job, and I hear the pay aint all that it should be, but I know there are tons of kick @$$ people out there gettin it done! So without further adieu…let’s bring on Mr. T!!!!

Let’s face it, junior high can really suck sometimes. Alright, alright, don’t get me wrong Olympus Junior High is a GREAT school, the teachers are awesome, the facilities are clean, and you don’t have to walk through metal detectors to get past the front gates. I was lucky to attend such a nice school. But the whole awkward age thing, the pimples things, the wondering why there are only certain lunch tables you are allowed to eat at and then wondering who exactly elected these people deciding the seating arrangements. You’re left wishing you were at that meeting and had had a vote.

Ah, and the mortification at having to dress down in the locker rooms in PE for the first time. So yes, junior high can bite the big one sometimes. When I came to Olympus, my best friend of course was going to Cavitt Junior High, I was fresh off of band camp, my grandma had been the one to take me back-to-school shopping…need I say more?

I made some friends, accepted my lunchtime table seating and did my best to fly under the radar. My parents believed in keeping my siblings and I involved in sports and staying active, but I had no coordination whatsoever. That was okay with my rec soccer coach, he was more than happy to have a forward who was happy enough to run up and down the field without actually getting the ball. That was okay with me so long as I still got the aftergame snacks!

But come 7th grade all of my friends made the competitive team and if I was going to still play rec I’d have been the oldest by far and it’s a little embarrassing being the only person not in grammar school. So soccer was out. Now PE I had mixed feelings about; I absolutely HATED the whole locker room thing, I think I could set the record for the fastest dress and undress time. I enjoyed most of the things we did but couldn’t really show it too much because that just wouldn’t look too cool. So I allowed myself to do just well enough to get an A (I was neurotic about keeping my 4.0 gpa) and indulge in some fun but not overdo it and come off looking like I actually cared.

Now, every Friday Mr. Tindall and Miss Taylor would drag two classes worth of winey adolescents to line up and run two laps around the campus, this worked out to be a mile. To all of us it felt like a marathon and Fridays were dreaded for this reason. Mr. Tindall would send us off and hold a stop watch; he’d read us our halfway splits then clock our finishing time. You had to run certain times to pass and then earn a certain grade. I was anal about my grades so I was deadset on getting an A. I’m not sure what the ranges were exactly, but I think to get an A you had to run under 9 minutes. That was going to be a stretch for me.

At first I hated Fridays too but I was eeking under the 9 minute barrier. Then I started getting faster. Now, Mr. Tindall is not your ordinary PE teacher who dons the pale blue jumpsuit, toots the whistle and makes you do the ropeclimb until you’re crying and bleeding. He has an enthusiasm that is infectious and is genuinely fired up about his job and that rubs off on even the most too-cool-for-school kids. He also wears one kick-butt wide brimmed hat. I’d call it a straw hat, but it’s not exactly that, it’s a nicer one but in that sort of style. I’d like to know if it’s the same straw hat that’s been a mainstay on his head all these years or if he’s had to retire them and get new ones. If it’s the latter I hope there is a proper burial for each and every hat.



But I digress. Mr. Tindall will cheer each and every kid in from the ones who are first to the stragglers that are giving it their all but come in around 12 minutes. He also kindly heckles the ones who are obviously not trying and walking it after 15-plus minutes and not even getting a passing grade. Even those kids love Tindall and joke right back with him. So, being a mid-packer, Tindall would cheer me in.

Then something really strange started happening, I wasn’t a mid-packer after awhile, I started moving up. I broke the 8 minute barrier, then the seven. Miracle upon all miracles I started to be one of the first kids across the line, ahead of boys and sportier girls alike. Tindall started to really get me fired up, I wanted to be the first girl in. That was a tall order being that the overall first person in the class was, in fact, a girl. She was an 8th grader, a year ahead of me, and from what I’d heard ran on the track team.

But both of my parents were runners and, not gonna lie, I wanted something to brag to them about. However, the end of the school year was closing in and time was running out. I never did beat her that year, she graduated, but I’d been the second fastest kid in the class and had to settle with that.

The next year I came back, the year before I too had started running for the track team, which Tindall coached. I swear to you, I tend to zone out during races but one thing I never missed was Tindall in that wide brimmed hat cheering me down the homestretch. I like to think I was able to kick it in just a little harder thanks to him. So that year, he was good-naturedly telling me how I had to rock that PE. I joked back but there a fire in me that had started burning. Somewhere along the line something had clicked with me, I no longer dreaded the Friday mile challenge but anticipated its arrival like an animal going out for the hunt. I had experienced that rush that running gives you, those endorphins, call it what you will, but I was hooked.

That year I was the first girl across the line, the first person across the line. I don’t think even my parents enjoyed this more than Mr. T because it gave him full liberty to really give those boys a hard time. As the year progressed so did my mile times, and soon I was staring down the 6 minute mark. To me that seemed insane, an unobtainable feat, but Tindall started telling me to go for it. The school record was set by my unbeatable harrier from the year before, but it wasn’t under 6 minutes. After enough goading from T and his wide brimmed hat I started to believe that maybe, just maybe, it was possible.

6:06…6:03…6:03…6:03. Week after week Mr. T would take me aside and give me a little pep-talk, we both were sure it was going to be THAT week. He’d read me my split midway and cheer me on; he’d also yell at the kids strolling along to move aside and clear the way. But each week I’d come in at six and change. I started thinking 6:03 would be the bane of my existence.

5:58. Then it happened. Like I said, I tend to zone out during races so I don’t have much to say about that day except this: T in his wide brimmed hat telling me before the race something about how it was good that it was a warmer day because cold weather makes your lungs burn when you breathe really deep, that I promised myself if I broke six minutes I’d buy a pepperoni pizza from cafeteria (this was a big deal because my parents never let us spend money there), and Mr. T’s reaction as I headed home.

It was epic. I don’t know if I’ve heard a louder HU-RAH in my life. His wide brimmed hat probably would have fallen off his head as he leaped into the air if it hadn’t been cinched below his chin. I think he might have even stopped the watch by accident, which he wasn’t supposed to do because he was still timing the rest of the class. There are a few moments that will forever stand out in my mind, and this was one of them.

No, it wasn’t a world record, it wasn’t a national record, it wouldn’t have even won some of those age-grouper races, but Mr. T and I had achieved a goal we’d set. Though, Mr. Tindall and his wide brimmed hat gave me something much more, not just in that day, but in the journey. He’d lit a fire inside of me, one I didn’t know I’d ever had, and even more. He’d led me to a great passion of mine, a desire to set goals and chase them, and to find the best in myself even if it took a heck of a lot of digging. I managed to lower my time a bit more by the end of the year, and since then another person owns that school record, but that 5:58 was still one of the sweetest miles I’ve ever run.

Mr. Tindall also made a generally really tough time more manageable. I’d found a little niche; no I wasn’t the popular girl, I ate at the same lunch table, I was still a dork, but I had an easier time. Not that I’m big on labels, but I was that girl who could run and even though it didn’t make me the coolest it did get me at least a hello and head nod from some of the actual cool kids. I was if not accepted, tolerated.

Thanks Mr. Tindall, and your wide brimmed hat, for making junior high suck a lot less not just for me but for countless others who are struggling to find their own niche too.

Alright guys, to all those also fully embracing summer break congrats and enjoy it…to those poor folks still left with a few more days, well, sorry but you’ll get there soon! Enough from me for now. 🙂

1) Are you training for anything in particular right now?

2) Do you have a favorite teacher that comes to mind?

3) Hats? Where do you stand?

I don’t like anything on my head…I’m weird like that.

Qualifications:

* Know the difference between an easy run, a tempo run, interval workout, and fartleck. Also know what strides, chaffage, and Body Glide are.

* Must enjoy going to the arcade and bowling alley with me. A bonus would be if you were really good at winning me lots of tickets because I’m a sucker for all the cheapo prizes and get unusually excited about them.

* Be really fashion savvy because I’m one hot mess.

* Don’t question my quirks. There will be many, you can laugh but just go along with them.

* Have a private jet because I really want to visit my CA family more.

Job duties:

* Wake up before me and head down to the gym. Reserve the good treadmill that has the best view of the TV. Make sure to grab the remote control. Also, check the TV listings and be ready to report what’s good on.

* Learn how to make all my favorite foods; master all the recipes found at Chocolate Covered Katie. Pay special attention to the cookie dough pancakes, s’mores muffins, and chocolate-fudge cake. (I may not be vegan but I don’t care because my keyboard is covered in drool.)

* You’ll also be sent out frequently for: Pop-Tarts, Chipotle, Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked pints, and blueberry english muffins. To balance it out also pick up my healthier picks: carrots, apples, broccoli, cauliflower, and cottage cheese.

* Start the shower, stand in there until it’s hot enough and it stays that way. I don’t want to suddenly get an arctic blast midway through.

* Make sure the toilet paper rolls over the top.

* Record the episodes I haven’t seen of: Glee, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, Mad Men, Rizzoli and Isles, Wizards of Waverly Place, Family Guy, South Park, and The Soup. Don’t question my taste in TV.

* Watch Seinfeld reruns and ignore me as I recite the lines. Oh, and greet me with ‘Top of the Muffin to YOU!!!’

* Don’t be stingy with exclamation points!!!!!

* Be my body buffer so I’m not the one sitting directly next to the crazy lady on the bus yelling at her invisible friend. Same goes for the creeper lurking in front of my mailbox and the lady with a ton of cacti in her powder blue VW van giving me the stink eye.

* Refill my ice cups. Not the ones used for drinks but the ones I use to ice my foot.

* Make sure my pillow is fluffy. Not the one that I put my head on, because I like that one smushed in. The fluffy pillow goes between my knees because I like to sleep on my side.

* Stay current on replacing my running shoes. Also the latest US magazine, Running Times, Track and Field News, and Shape.

Please apply in person. I want to get a good look at you. 🙂

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In other news, today’s workout was an easy 8 mile and change on the treadmill. Yesterday was the workout from H-E-double hockeystick…not that it was unusually hard or something I shouldn’t have been able to handle but I just had a realllly sucky day. We all have those bad days, and that was the case. It got ugly and that’s all I’m going to say about it. Took it easy today, then did some core and abs work. And let the day begin!! 🙂

1) What are you in need of a personal assistant for?

2) Workouts for today, let’s hear ’em!

Last night was crazy. Well, not in the sense that I was out like all the other normal 20-somethings on a Saturday night like I should be, but it ended up being crazy none the less. Now, it began not just tame but mundane; far too much blog trolling and photos of WAY too many good foods got my stomach yelling at me and I decided I had to make a trek to the grocery store.

Now, I don’t have a car (story for another time, sort of like when one thing goes wrong it sets off a chain of events sort of thing…kinda funny, I’ll share later) but there is an Albertsons about a 1/4 mile from my apartment so it’s an easy walk. It was getting later, but the weather here was super nice and still a wee bit light out after 9 pm.

Got my supplies and was on my way back home; I probably looked like a hobo because I was seriously packing a backpack, another drawstring bag, and then a grocery bag…super hot. I live right off the freeway so as I was approaching the stoplight and getting ready to press the little cross-walk button when I hear a load screech. The kind that a car makes when it is out of control.

I turn to my left, in my mind I’m sure some idiot it taking the freeway exit ramp WAY too fast. It’s a curvy exit, and just as I look over I see a big old car come swerving around the bend. From there there was a huge spark that lit up the sky (it was dark by this point) and the squeal of metal on pavement. The car had taken the turn so sharp it had flipped over, skid through the oncoming traffic lane and then kept on going off the side of the road and into the bushes.

I looked around, I could still see the back of the flipped over car poking out and I reached for my phone. Another car that had just been about to turn right onto that street (had they turned a few seconds earlier they would have been hit) stopped and I hurried over to them.

While I was on the phone with the emergency operator I see a burly guy start to emerge out of the side of the truck. From the second I heard that first squeal I was sure it was going to be a case of a DUI, and when I saw this dazed out dude with a mohawk bumbling out of the mess it only confirmed my suspicion. How this guy was still alive and okay way beyond me, and I was just as floored when I saw his partner come crawling out after him.

This guy was wearing some thin white cotton tee, the ones that come in those three packs on sale at Kmart, and had no shoes on. Not a scratch on him, and he’s rubbing his bald head like he’d forgotten where he put his keys. Both of these dudes are just sort of standing there looking at the mess, I hope some of the situation was starting to sink in. Probably more just scared about the cops showing up.



Well, the cops and ambulances arrive and start taking care of things. It turns out that not only were these guys too intoxicated to be driving but the very same set of cops had JUST been called out on these very same two guys at the bar not 30 minutes ago! The police had called them a cab and warned them not to drive home…the freaking cab had been there and these guys STILL decided to put the lives of others in danger. On a side note, it was still only about 10pm, who in the heck is already this bad this early in the night?!

This hits kind of close to home a few ways; first because two of my friends’ father was killed by a drunk driver, there was also a boy I went to high school with who died because he was driving while he was drunk. The second was because of my own car accident; no it wasn’t because the guy was drunk but being hit by a car is not fun all the same. This time it was lucky in that the only people who will have to pay will be the two idiots who were driving when they shouldn’t have been. The kicker is that they were too drunk to realize at the time how freaking lucky they were to just be alive! I also just kept thinking about if that car had turned one minute sooner, or heck, if I had already started walking into the cross-walk and they had skidded down a little further.

Anyways, don’t really know where I’m going with this, but I was just so disgusted I had to vent. It’s one thing to have fun, drink, let loose…that is totally fine by me and power to you! But there is no excuse to take to the roads if you aren’t in the right state of mind to do so.

Well, I hate to close on a downer, but it’s a pretty serious matter. But I don’t want to come off sounding like some cheesy PSA either! I hope all of you had GREAT weekends and weren’t so lame as me to be going to the flipping store on a Saturday night! haha…that said, the blueberry muffins tasted mighty good! 🙂

1) Have you or anyone you know been affected by a drunk driver?

2) Weekends…let’s hear about them!

Sooo, I think it’s safe to say I’ve become addicted. Constantly pushing the refresh button in case there are new updates. New pictures of people going about their lives, sharing what they ate for lunch, what random thoughts are trolling through their minds. The comment trains growing from others who are more or less just as curious as I am about these people and their lives. Did I mention I have never actually met any of these people?

I’m talking about blogs. I have a growing number of tabs on my internet browser window. I should be doing work but instead I can’t stop myself from running down the line-up in search of new ‘stuff.’ I’m hooked. I’m drooling over recipes, cursing myself for not being as creative as these other folks, laughing at quips, sharing in their excitement, and offering up support or encouragement if they are going through a tough time. It’s crazy that we all can become so emotionally invested in the lives of others we may not really ‘know.’ But on the other hand we certainly FEEL like we know these people, so I’m lacking for the proper term. I guess know in the conventional face-to-face time sense.

And also how freaking fast these ‘friendship relationships’ happen. I didn’t know these people existed not two weeks ago but now I feel like I ‘see’ them on a daily basis. Heck, some people update these suckers on a tri-daily basis (it amazes me how quickly some of these peeps are able to toss up a post…and some entertaining stuff too!).

It got me thinking how crazy this whole internet dohicky has become. The same thing goes with Facebook and Twitter. Twitter, ugh, I’m still trying to get a full handle on that thing. I’m slooowly coming along there. I find it mindblowing how much easier it has become to find people with shared interests and the ability to form these online ‘friendships.’ Not to mention the amount of information that is to be had and shared, many of these people are experts in one kind of field or another. If not with actual degrees than with years of experience. Others have goals and it’s fun to watch them go through the process. I’m still new at the whole blog thing and this is the first time I’ve kind of dived in and now I’m hooked reading all these things.

It also made me think about what it says about us as a whole, how we are generally curious about what others are up to. What others are thinking, what is going through their minds. Humans are complex in that there are far more things going on below the surface than what is portrayed on the outside. It’s kind of like everyone has dual identities, their Clark Kent outside and Superman inside. Often times the people who we see on a daily basis face to face, we may feel slightly embarrassed to be completely open with. But with blogs, it’s almost like the semi-anonymity of it all offers up the perfect platform for people to vent and let it all hang out. Odd how that happens.

People like to share and it’s not always necessarily things all that important. The good, the bad, the inane, the thought provoking, the thrilling, and the comical. All is out there and for whatever reason us readers (myself wholly included!) feel compelled to keep going back for more. Refreshing those tabs. Years ago we might have felt like peeping-toms but today we’re just loyal blog fans. :)

1) What are your favorite blogs or ones that you are hooked on?

Can’t pick just one! I’ll have to start a blogroll. 🙂

2) If you have a blog: do you usually plan your posts in advance or just start writing and see where it goes?

A combo of both. Today I had planned on writing about one thing but wound up with something totally different. I’ll post what I had planned on soon, I promise! 🙂

3) Are you a Blogger Junkie too? haha…jk.

Hello there! Well, today when I got up I felt a little out of sorts. I always have really vivid dreams and I also have this crazy sleep problem where I wake up literally every 90 minutes or so in the night. Usually it’s in the middle of a dream and it takes me a couple minutes to sort of ‘wake up’ and realize I’m not in my dream.

I have woken up doing some pretty random things thinking I was still in my dream. Anyways, the last few nights I’ve been having some pretty bad dreams so I’ve woken up pretty unsettled. Well, I got up today and got in my workout. Just an easy run today and core work, yesterday was a harder one for me.

Well, as I was watching a Full House rerun, (go ahead and judge me, yes I voluntarily tuned into that Tanner family!) it was the one where DJ skips school to get an autograph of her favorite singer. Of course Joey catches her and the tale wraps up with DJ apologizing for lying to everyone, cut to Danny and his daughters hugging in a cheesy embrace. Audio in the, ‘Ahhhh’s.’ Still, watching those shows takes me right back to my little 2nd grade self when I’d ‘stay up late’ to watch the full TGIF line-up.

You remember those, don’t lie! Full House, Step-by-Step, Family Matters (this one I actually wasn’t so huge on, that Steve really just bugged the heck out of me), and I’m blanking on the last one, I think the last half hour slot switched around a bit with them trying out different shows.

So it got me thinking about some of the other things I LOVED as a kid. So here it goes folks. Other shows of course were the Nick staples: Clarissa Explains it All (Melissa Joan Hart before the Sabrina the Teenage Witch days), The Secret World of Alex Mac (who doesn’t love a girl who can spontaneously turn into a pile of goo?!?!), Kennan and Kel (had the biggest crush on Kel…btw I thought he dropped off the face of the planet, but I’ve seen him in a few cameos the latest being a Disney show…again, don’t judge me!), and of course Ren and Stimpy. Happy Happy Joy Joy!!

Movies: Ernest Scared Stupid…I saw this one a million times and always wanted to find Miak. Adventures in Babysitting, The Little Mermaid, Splash (I was obsessed with mermaids and this one being a live action…adored it!), and all the Neverending Stories. “Atreyu!!” hehe.

Okay, hello Squeeze-it’s!!! All time best drink, and they really need to bring those things back. There were also some Hi-C packs that for a time featured Slimer from the Ghost Busters…I was down with that slimeball.



Fun Dippers. Much better than those pixi-stix because this one come with a licking stick that you can eat after. Plus you get the whole variety of flavors thing.

Pop Tarts. This obsession still stands today, I can’t fully explain why these things hold such a rein of power over me, but they do. I think it was because growing up they were reserved for only special occasions.

Lordy, here comes the cereal line-up: Rice Krispy Treats Cereal (the big chunks of treaty clusters, baby!), Chount Chocula, Golden Crisp…much better than the knock-off Smacks, and the mother of all Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Ahh, the good old days. But in getting back to my little Full House episode, I found a few things I’d like to point out. 1) I noticed that in the earlier episodes Uncle Jessie’s last name is Cochran, but then in the later ones he weds Rebecca as Mr. and Mrs. Katsopolis. 2) There was definitely a gay pride windsock hanging in DJ’s room…way to go DJ for taking a stand and showing your support! 3) Joey was walking a young Michelle around on one of those leashes. Maybe that’s what set those Olsens up for future craziness…no one should be forced to wear a leash.

Well, I hope you all are having a great one. Here’s to living like a kiddie!

1) What are some of your favorites from childhood?

2) Favorite breakfast food?

3) Were you ever a leash kid?

Nope. But I guess that didn’t stop me from being a crazy myself, oh well.