Death Valley looms! BUWAHAHAHA! Thursday 13.

Dear Diary


13.  Dead Legs.  I'm feeling better.  But not sure I'm all the way back for two back-to-back marathons this weekend.  So, it's time to decide. I can run my ass off and try to beat the cutoff, by running faster than I ever have in my life for 23 miles the day after another marathon, or I can dress up as Mrs. Elvis, renew our vows, and then relax and settle into the half marathon.  I've decided on the latter.  I know I keep flipping back and forth, but I can feel that my legs aren't all the way back.  And I want to have fun.


12. Beauty Day.  The day before the Las Vegas Marathon, I'm doing the Death Valley Trail Marathon.  GORGEOUS.  There is a 6 hours cutoff, so sorry, no pictures.  I won't have time to meander.


11.  New Plans. I'm now registered for my first double-double in 2011.  So far, my 2011 season looks like this:

• January: Ghost Town 38.5, which is going to be its last year.  My goal is to knock 1 hour off last year's time.
• February: Rocky Racoon 50-miler.  My goal is to knock 4 hours off last year's time.  (I was emailed by the race director and told that I was, indeed, in the race.)
• April 30/May 1: Country Music Marathon/Cincinatti Flying Pig Marathon DOUBLE.
• May 7/May 8: Wisconsin Marathon/Kamazoo Marathon DOUBLE
• June: Big Horn 50-miler?? I hope...I hope...  

So this means I'll have five new states in my marathon or longer collection!  Yay!


10.  Old Plans.  I'll be finishing my MSW coursework in April.  Then I start my internship in August.  That's when my race year effectively comes to a grinding halt, while I finish that.  

9. Short Cuts.  Last year I bought Sweet Baboo this book: 

Now, there were two important reasons why I bought Himself this book.  First, I thought he'd enjoy it. Second, and perhaps most important, I wanted to know what was in it and I'm too lazy to read it. Himself doesn't just read books so much as he absorbs them.  I then have a readily available resource, e.g., Himself, who can then tell me what's in it.

So far, I've discovered my ideal body fat percentage is 22%, at a weight of 137. And that animal protein has more bioavailability than vegetable protein.  This is an odd feeling for me, after nearly a decade of being a strict vegetarian.  Several friends have suggested that I saved a lot of lives during that time, so I've 'paid my dues'.

Anyway.  I had already started incorporating lean chicken and fish into my diet over the past six months or so, and I credit this, along with running, for my weight loss.  I drink scads of skim milk and sugar-free Nestle's Chocolate Quick.

which brings me to....

8. Weight Watchers. WTF, Weight Watchers?  I had it down.  I could estimate points based on caloric content.  Now you've changed your public domain formula to one that's secret.  The good news is, it now takes into account fat, fiber, AND protein.  Good for WW.  I'm interested in knowing if this will work as well for me as the old Weight Watchers.  

7. Indoor Running.  Progress continues to clearing out the 3rd bedroom, previously (and optimistically) referred to as "the study."  In fact, it was not a study, it was full of my shit that I hoarded instead of tossing.
Self, it's time to move on.  I'm no longer a teacher with kids who lives in a 2-story 2300 square foot house.  I'm now a mental health specialist who lives in a 1500-square-foot ranch.  I mean, seriously: Binders, page protectors,   compasses, protractors.  Who needs all this?  I gave away stuff, sent some stuff to Goodwill, and shredded other stuff.  The ultimate goal is to get the treadmill in there, maybe a cycling trainer setup.  This may well take me until spring.

6. Days off.  On December 14th, I'll have been at my job for one year.  That will be one of the two days that I'm allowed to wear jeans.  That will be my only reward.  Due to a freeze at the corporate level, I'm not eligible for a raise until December 2011.

5. Well, to hell with that. So last month I got a mailing for a corporation that handles mental health stuff for jails and prisons.  When I first sent in my resume, I didn't get a response, so after 2 weeks, I called, and I guess they had listed the wrong email address on the mailing - the woman I spoke to said she hadn't gotten a single email  or resume from anyone for my county.  Well, she has mine, now.


4. Ebooks. Amazon now has an app you can download for free to read Kindle books on your PC.  AWWWESOME.  Did I mention that one of my textbooks for next semester is on Kindle?  No?  Awesome.  Oh, okay.  Maybe I'm just being a techhie geek.

3. Job Stuff.  So like, interesting stuff happens in my office.  I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW AWESOME AND INTERESTING MY WORK IS.

Seriously.  I can't tell you. Dammit.  Do you know how hard that is for me?  I love to write my experiences.  But these ones, I can't tell.  Stupid Ethics.

2. But. I can tell you that RatBastard, the IT guy, is insufferable.  He's, like, watching me and shit. Yesterday he practically pounced on me for having a flashdrive in my computer, until I pointed out that the drive was assigned to me by the company.  Dude is seriously getting on my bad side.  He's not even all that good at what he does.  We have a printer that keeps malfunctioning, and he's futzing around talking about templates and stuff.  It hasn't even occurred to him that there's a driver issue.  I'm not going to tell him.  Screw him.  (Yes, I am that petty).

Also, I saw him earlier this week, and I was laughing about  Dilbert cartoon that was on my Dilbert calendar  YESILOVEDILBERTSOJUSTSHUTUP and he asked what was so funny, and I said, "do you have a sense of humor?  Can you laugh at yourself?" and he said, 'Sure'.

--> For the record, I now know that everybody thinks they have a sense of humor.  And nobody enjoys being the butt of a joke.

But anyway.  So I showed him this cartoon:

and of course, he immediately got all serious and said, 

"where, that depends on what you mean by usability"

Seriously.  He said that.  He got all serious and concrete about a DILBERT cartoon.  

Hence, hereforth, he is not longer ratbastard.  He is now MORDAC, THE PREVENTER OF INFORMATION SERVICES.

1. NERVOUS.  I'm kinda nervous about this weekend.  I had such a hard time coming back from Javalina. I won't be able to  be online until Saturday night because apparently, there's little cell phone or internet service in Death Valley.  OH, I LOVE THAT I'M DOING AN EVENT IN DEATH VALLEY, IT SOUNDS SO BAD-ASS!

But. The best part is...

is...

THIS (link)

Oh, YEAH, baby. I'll earn 50+ WW points doing the trail marathon. Guess how I'll spend it?

...