Things Found in My Purse

• Duct tape
• Scotch tape
• Electrical cables
  
• Roll-on anti-perspirant (from Days Inn)
• Batteries
• Padlock
• Sunglasses
• Advil
• Red pen
• Tire pressure gauge
• Exacto knife
• Picture of a baby
• Post-it notes
  

Cheap Decorating Idea

Jeremy and I are fairly settled in the apartment but one wall remained to be decorated. We were feeling adventurous and decided to buy some wall decals online. They were pretty cheap and claimed to be completely removable, leaving no residue or damage.

They arrived yesterday and I LOVE them! They are easy to use, really don't leave any marks on the wall, and within an hour the living room looked much cooler. The trees were in honor of Jeremy's work with phylogenies and the birds echo a bird/nature theme we have going elsewhere.

Here are a few pictures:

BEFORE

AFTER

From Mischa, With Love Pt. 2

We were awakened in the middle of the night by Mischa's barfing. Unfortunately, when we got up this morning, we were not able to locate his creation.

I'll keep you posted on the whereabouts.

Consequently, Mischa has earned some new letters after his name. Mischa, S.V.U. (Stealth Vomiting Unit)

From Mischa, With Love

Our apartment is great and we enjoy living here. Our only complaint is the street noise when the windows are open. The passing cars I can handle, but the INSANELY loud stereos are hard to deal with. Country, rap, 80s, 90s, disco - you name it, and drivers blast it. I am not vindictive, generally speaking, but there is something so rude about loud stereos I just can't resist fantasizing about retaliation.

I have decided to post a warning, and begin enforcing my own noise ordinance. Trunk rattlers will now risk being on the receiving end of a catapult filled with feline waste. Being on the second floor, I can get some speed going and fling a steaming bag of poo right into the open windows. Perhaps I will attach a note? (Pardon my French.) "Please keep your crap to yourself and I'll do the same." :)

This would make a good watercolor painting

Yesterday was postdoc appreciation day, so I posed as a postdoc and went with Jeremy to a lovely wine and cheese reception near campus. I have discovered that the secret to posing as a biologist is to ask other people "What system do you work on?" Also, wear Chacos.

En route to campus I saw a sign that read:

Lost Blue Parakeet
Answers to the Name Ellen or Randy
Please Call If Found

I found this funny. Lost pets make me sad, but a parakeet named Ellen OR Randy makes me giggle.

And then, speaking of giggling, I came across protestors who had organized a rally in response to the proposed 33% hike in college tuition. (This was not the funny part.) There were five news trucks filming. However, in the midst of the protest circle was a huge sign that said something about Solidarity in or with Malaysia. I'm not sure if this protest within the protest was related to or just parasitizing the initial march. I feel as though I should have something prepared for the future in case I have an opportunity for good media coverage!

In the background of this scene was (or course) a shirtless man hula-hooping and a young woman with a bow and quiver full of arrows.

New Observations

1. Womankind has reached a new low: I saw a girl wearing a shirt reading "Breakfast Included". (Perhaps she did not understand what this implies? Maybe English was not her first language??)

2. We have a neighborhood medical marijuana lounge.

That's all for now.

How I know I'm not in Alabama, Indiana, or Texas

1. While strolling through the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival, we saw a young man in his early 20s wearing an enormous fake mustache and a neon green trucker hat.

2. There was a "Clean Needle Exchange" truck parked on our street yesterday.

3. I saw a man wearing saddle shoes, purple tube socks, capri pants, a woman's blouse, and a Naval officer's hat walking into Office Max.

4. There is a city-sponsored FOOD WASTE recycling program. ?? (Where does it go? I didn't think you could compost juice boxes or meat?)

5. I can buy a t-shirt with a hammer and sickle from street vendors.

6. There is a car parked across from our house with a bumper sticker that reads, "Don't Burn Out, Burn On".

7. The Pacific Ocean and the mountains are each within 10 minutes of our apartment.

8. We live in a "Nuclear Free Zone" according to the signs.

9. We don't have air conditioning and don't really need it.

10. Gas is $3.20/gallon!

Pray Before You Scratch

Jeremy and I traveled to a wedding in Iowa not too long ago. In addition to ourselves, Jeremy's parents, sister and brother-in-law made the trip. While stopped at an Exxon station on the way out of town we picked up scratch-off lottery tickets. Huddled together around the door to the minivan, we all scratched in search of small fortunes.

While we were immersed in this task, a woman with a shirt reading BRANSON walked up to us and inquired rather kindly, "Are y'all having a morning prayer meeting?"

Aha! So THAT'S where we went wrong! You've got to pray BEFORE you scratch!

We are an honest bunch, so we admitted that no, we were only engaged in a morning gambling meeting.

At least we did it as a family though, right?

Busy Spring!

Well, I've been on hiatus from blogging because life has seemed far too chaotic. My apologies!

Anyone who knows us (or is a facebook friend) has probably seen that Jeremy successfully defended his PhD, and we are moving to Berkeley, CA. Jeremy will do a two-year postdoc. We are thrilled about this opportunity, and as is usually the case when moving to a new city, I began checking out the church communities in the area. When everything else seems new and scary, I know we always have a home at the Church.

I was reading this week's Cal Newman Center bulletin, and read a quote that really resonated with me. I hope it does for you, too.

"I have the greatest admiration for atheists, because by definition they have rejected a false 'God.' The true God, if you have the privilege of knowing Him, you cannot reject....There are no lapsed Catholics, no lapsed Christians, but there are very many, far too many, who thought they were Catholics, or Christians, but did not have the good fortune to be taught the truth about God. They looked at their hideous image and said that if it was true, they refused to believe." -Sr. Wendy Beckett

Faith education coupled with faith in action is so critical. I'm interested in doing a Master's in theology, and if I ever get the chance, I think a thesis would revolve around this insight that Sr. Wendy has so eloquently shared.

Grammys

I would like to say that I just saw some woman win the Grammy for best new artist. She was chomping on her gum all the way from her seat up to the stage to accept her award. SO TACKY! If I was her mother, I'd smack her.

Marathon 2009

Hooray!

The Disney Marathon was a success. Never one to shy away from long stretches of painful and ill-advised activity, I finished the race. Much to my surprise, things went more smoothly than expected. I was not fighting off any sort of infection this year, nor did I barf during the run. My IT band gave me no trouble, and though my pes tendonitis seems to have migrated from my knee to the middle of my calf, it didn't bother me until we got back to Austin.

Having family cheer me on again was wonderful! I was apprehensive about running by myself this year, but I saw Jeremy, my parents, and a few familiar Disney characters so often I always had something to look forward to. I was actually stunned how quickly the marathon was over. I never thought I'd say, "it went by so quickly!" but it did.

The support Disney provides runners was unbelievable. Compared to last year, I think there were a lot more water/powerade/food/medical stations along the course. There were even volunteers available to massage your legs with Biofreeze (still not sure what that is, but I had a stranger massage me with it) mid-race! I could run confidently knowing that I was never more than a few minutes from a port-o-let or a water stop. This is a big deal. (Tip to future Disney runners: Take advantage of nicely equipped theme-park restrooms!) It is a bit jarring to see so many people peeing in the bushes and on trees in Walt Disney World, especially when there are all sorts of port-o-potties, but oh well.

I really like the starting line arrangement for the marathon. All runners are assigned a corral based on their estimated finishing time. Since my time exceeded 5 hours last year, I had to begin in Corral D, which is the first corral of the "slow" runner course. This was AWESOME. It meant I could cross the start line within 20 seconds of the official race start time. (Note: You run about 1/3 of the race pre-dawn.) All of the faster runners start running on an entirely different course, thus lessening start line congestion.

Running by myself meant that once the race began, I had no one to point out that I was running way too fast. (We deliberately avoid spending time in the parks pre-race because it is SO MUCH COOLER to visit the parks first as a part of the race. This can also encourage you to run full speed AT the parks, if you get as excited as I do about being in WDW.) Because I was at the very front of the slow people course, I had a (very unfounded) sense that I was "winning". This fed my competitive nature, and I continued to run faster and faster. As I ran towards Epcot's famous sphere, I really felt awesome because I was in the lead pack and people were cheering like crazy! When the slow and fast courses finally converged around mile 3, I was startled to see that I was running ahead of the 4:00 pace group. Did I mention that it took me more than 5:00 to finish last year's race??! Needless to say, I slowed down a bit after that.

Running into the Magic Kingdom is pretty cool because you run through a couple tunnels of fans (my wonderful hubby was at mile 8 cheering). Just as I began to tire after passing mile 10, I turned a corner onto Main Street in the Magic Kingdom, and began running towards Cinderella's castle. It is a little overwhelming because there are so many people lining the street cheering. You eventually run thru the castle and out of the MK which begins a boring stretch. Thankfully, I did get to see Jeremy around mile 13. When I saw him I yelled, "I need a kiss!" Not realizing my scream was directed to someone specific,the man running to my left was visibly alarmed.

The Disney Magical Trash/Sewage Center is really the only highlight on this stretch until you reach Animal Kingdom which you smell long before it comes into view.

Animal Kingdom was a nice place to run thru because it is pretty shady, a little bit downhill, and there are drummers in a couple of places. In all honestly, I don't remember much about Animal Kingdom, or MGM because you run thru these parks for miles 16-18 and 22-24 respectively.

Throughout the race people will cheer you on by name because your first name is printed on your number. That is pretty helpful, actually, because I'm not sure I'd remember my name by the end if it wasn't pre-printed and pinned to my clothes.

By far the WORST stretch of the race is between miles 19 - 22, since you are running on the highway, have some uphill action, begin to feel the day's sun, and have to watch faster runners pass you since you go out and back around a corner. Fortunately, my wonderful Mom and Dad were waiting for me on top of an overpass. It was awesome! I was feeling pretty yucky, so it was just the boost I needed.

Not long after this, I actually saw a bus driver (who drove a marching band to the race to play for the runners) mock an older man who had slowed to an exhausted walk at mile 21. She said, "whoa! not so fast!" and had I not just run for four hours and remembered to bring my lead pipe, would have responded generously on his behalf.

Once you leave MGM (or Hollywood Studios) you are golden. The rest of the run mostly lined with fans and is through the Board Walk resort & Epcot's World Showcase. The last part of the race was really hard for me because there are SO MANY PEOPLE cheering for you. It is breathtaking. There is a gospel choir and mile 26, and adrenaline carries you the rest of the way.

I finished the race as they played "Sweet Home Alabama"; they actually announced my full name and hometown as I locked in a time of 4:36:14. :)

I'm so excited!

We are packing our bags for our trip to Florida this coming weekend. Highlights will include seeing my parents, hanging with one of my best good friends from ELEMENTARY school, running the marathon thru Disneyworld, and quite excitingly (is that a word?), meeting the brand new baby of some of our closest friends from college (who are also to blame for our marriage).

Someone slap me!!! I can hardly stand it!!!!