Friday, September 23, 2011

6 reasons to hate me, and 6 to tolerate me, and one neutral.

Dear Diary,

 
13.  My fall clothes are unfathomably baggy.  When I put on belts, the waists pucker up like a paper bag.  I absolutely have to take them to the tailor.  It's ridiculous.

 
This is what an agorophobic 19-mile run
looks like.
12.  I'm having some slight twinges of agoraphobia lately. I did a 19-mile long run last week without ever being more than 2.5 miles from my house.  Beat That.

 
11.  My vacation days were approved for the trip to Seattle.  I only have a couple vacation days, the rest I'm comping by working a couple saturdays.  I found some walking tours on the Frommers web site that look like fun.  (and, there's always the original Starbucks, the holy grail of caffein addicts everywhere.I also found a podcast audio tour of the Japanese Gardens.

This will be a relaxed vaca with just me and the Sweet Baboo, with that 50k in the middle of it.


  
10. The water's too cold to swim there.  I haven't been open water swimming in ages, and I miss it. 

 
9. My mother in law is coming soon for a week.  Have I mentioned my MIL and what a peach she is?  You hear all sorts of horror stories about MILs, that they meddle, they're bossy, etc.  Not mine.  She's restful and relaxed, and just goes with the flow. 

 
8. Seaman Jon, who is no longer a seaman but just Jon, returns home in November. He has been in jail for the past ten months.  I won't go into any more detail than that.  But at least I can stop worrying, and hopefully, he will get on with his life and head in a positive direction. 

 
7.  It's fall here.  The heat wave is over.  The mornings are crisp and cold.  The afternoons are warm and breezy.

 
6.  My oldest son turns 27 soon.  Twenty.  Seven.  I also noticed that I'm meeting parents that were born the year I graduated from high school.  Yeeikes.

 
5.  Sweet Baboo uses his Starbucks card.  A LOT. It gives him discounts, after all, over using any other form of payment for his quad-venti-nonfat-halzelnut-100-degree-latte.  He uses it so much that twice a month he gets a coupon for a free drink, any drink, which he then gives to me.  So at any given time, I have coupons for free drinks sitting in the side pocket in my car, and I can pull over and get my double-tall-nonfat-salted-carmel-100-degree-mocha.  For free. 

 
4.  I'm trying the 2-week Special K challenge. I know, crash diets are ridiculous.  I'm just doing it to make up for the two weeks of crappy eating the month before.   Of course today I'm carb loading for the Bear Chase 50K on Sunday.  Or something.

 
3.  While in Seattle, we're hoping to be able to make it up to Grouse Mountain (thanks, Becks!) for a hike to the top (the Grouse Grind) and to do something called "ziplining" around the top.
 
2.  I'll be ditching WW after this next week, once I've copied over all my favorite WW recipes.  I wrote them a letter telling me why.  They sent a fairly non-commital response. (Are you sure you checked the Frequently Asked Questions?)  yes, I'm sure.
  • a) I bought four old WW cookbooks with the old points values in them online, at Amazon. 
  • b) I downloaded three apps.  iTrackBites - so far, so good; and GoMealsHD.  I have to use the second to calculate the calories, fat, and fiber in my meals, and then I use the calculator in iTrackBites and record it.  They don't say "points," because that would be a trademart violation, so they call them "bites".  I am also loking at iWatchr. 
  • c) I will have the AllrecipesPro app, which I adore.  I'll be loading in recipes from the cookbooks into that, because it also calculates calories, fat, and fiber as well as allows you to do menu planning, in which it dumps all the ingredients for the meals you plan to make into a shopping list.

 
1.  I'm also having some problems with depression lately.  It comes and goes.  Thankfully, I can run.  When I run, it goes away.  So does a Chinese super buffet.  But that's another story.

 
...

8 comments:

  1. I'm new to your blog and I love it! Keep up that running, it will help clear that depression!

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  2. The original Starbucks isn't much different then the other thousands that you'll see around the country. The signs on the outside are the main difference. The espresso still tastes burnt to me compared to many other small good coffee shops (Vivace, Victrola, Zoka & Vita to name a few). If you like Starbucks, the best one I've found is in University Village.

    People do swim in the lakes around here on warm days (like today, 77F) and if the weather is warm, Green Lake is a great place for this as well as walking around (it's a 3 mile loop on a nice path) but it gets a bit busy on the weekends. Great part of Seattle with it's proximity to good resturants and shops.

    If you're looking for the quintessential picture of Seattle, there are two good spots to try: Kerry Park in Seattle proper, and the top of the hill in West Seattle overlooking Alki beach. Also there's the standard "Public Market" photo at Pike Place Market.

    The walking tours look good. Pike Place Market is neat to walk through, especially if they Fish Mongers are throwing fish at the time. The Washington Park Arboretum is a nice place to walk around as well.

    I hope your visit goes well and good luck in the race.

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  3. Long-time lurker, first time commenter :)

    If you're driving from Seattle to Vancouver, I suggest stopping in Bellingham. Some of the best coffee I've ever had (Black Drop) and plenty of restaurants right on the water, over-looking the San Juan Islands (Anthony's, Hearthfire). Way cheaper than Vancouver or Seattle as well. B'ham is about halfway between SEA and VAN. Enjoy the trip!

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  4. Seconding Bellingham and the Grouse Grind! I'm a native Vancouverite and went to college in Bellingham. I highly recommend a potato burrito at Casa Que Pasa if you do stop in B'ham, or Colophon Cafe in the Fairhaven district. It's a great town. Heck, all 3 cities are awesome.

    I hear you on the new WW. I'm doing it and am losing, but it's much slower than on the old WW. I'm ok with it, but I know a lot of other people who don't like it either. I hate the whole one-glass-of-wine is 4 points deal.

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  5. Seattle to Vancouver is a bit of a trip but SO worth it. (ok a bit biased I live in Vancouver). And do the Grind and do the Baden-Powell or part of it. And then enter the lottery to do the Knee Knacker 50K run on the North Shore of Vancouver. And get sushi. So cheap. So good. I suggest the Sushi Bar on 4th at Burrard. My favourite "fast food" joint in Vancouver. It's a hole in the wall but great. Vancouver is AMAZING. And today (Saturday) is FABULOUS.

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  6. I'm not sure I should be telling you this, but I'll do it anyway: A MUST when visiting Seattle is a trip to my personal Holy Grail of doughnut shops, the doughnut shop to end all doughnut shops, blah, blah, blah: Top Pot Hand-forged Doughnuts. Get the Feather Boa and the Lemon Bulls Eye and then run back to your hotel. You will be sooooooooo happy.

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  7. Man...I remember when my clothes were baggy. And now they're tight. But yeah, I don't hate you...I'm annoyed with myself. Time to regain a little discipline. Right after the private HIM in two weeks.

    A good MIL is a treasure.

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  8. **hugs on the depression88

    xo


    Miz.

    ReplyDelete

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