Some have given a lot more...

Photo: ny156uk

Quote du jour:
Lord, bid war's trumpet cease;
Fold the whole earth in peace.
~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Some are still giving: The Sandbox -- military blog.

Giveaway du jour: Another storage box. Puts giving things up in perspective when you remember it's Veteran's day.
Bloody hell. Yes, I went through a storage box, and yes I found a book I could give away, but it didn't feel like giving. I have to hope that it counts even if it doesn't feel like I'm giving.
The sad part is that I wish today was yesterday. I got four hours of sleep last night; as a result, I drank several cups of coffee today in an attempt to remain vertical. And as a result of that, by the end of the day I was a hyper-caffeinated-bitch-on-wheels. I should really have shown a couple of people the 'benefit of the doubt' that I was so willing to give yesterday. Oi vey.

Exercise du jour: 3rd week of the couch to 5k.
Done! Except I'm starting to wonder about my treadmill. Surely it must be lying to me about the speed I'm going. Any slower and I'd have a negative rate of speed.

Benefit of the doubt

Photo: Kevin Eddy

Quote du jour:

Live out of your imagination, not your history.

- Stephen Covey

Giveaway du jour: Monday's are short days. I'm going to give something intangible. Today I'm going to give someone the benefit of the doubt. Probably a politician, but maybe someone who cuts me off in traffic, or even that dweeb at work who invariably takes the last cup of coffee and doesn't make another pot.
I'm going to give that project manager the benefit of the doubt. He's stuck with the near-impossible task of trying, like Sisyphus, to get his project up to the top of the hill. I give him the benefit of thinking that he wasn't trying to make my day harder just because his is near-impossible; he's trying to get the job done. No malice intended.

Exercise du jour: Getting a little bored with balance ball, kettlebell. Need to find new, different videos. Switching to Rania's Personal Trainer DVD, arms and abs.
Done. Not with a whole lot of enthusiasm... too much caffeine-fueled work... but done.

Just look both ways, okay?

Fact du jour: In Wales, another example of bilingual road signs gone bad. In English, the sign says pedestrians should look right. In Welsh, the sign says they should look left.

p.s. Healthbolt led me to this freaky post about broccoli.

Giveaway du jour: Back to the storage boxes. I'll venture into the garage (if I don't come back, send Mounties) and see if I can make Goodwill's day by giving them two boxes full of stuff.
Done. Now instead of several neatly stacked boxes of stuff, I've got several opened boxes of stuff scattered about the garage -- but the point is that they're not quite so full of stuff. I'm trying to see this as a positive, but the truth is I'm sick of looking at boxes. Argh.

Exercise du jour: 3rd week of the couch to 5k.
Done! Into the 3rd week, and not a gasp, not a wheeze. Has the asthma gone for good?

Taken for granted

Chief Kno-tah, Shute Park Hillsboro Oregon

Fact du jour: travel broadens the mind. Even if you're not the one doing the traveling.

When the Librarian came out in October, she asked what Native American tribes were in the area. That question startled me, because I'd never thought about it before. In Oregon, as in California, Native Americans are usually either integrated into the general population or else they live on small, isolated reservations far from any major city. And their tribes are not very large. It's not like the Southwest, with huge tribes like the Navajo. Casinos are run by Indians, but I don't think those are representative of the native culture. Apparently in Minnesota things are very different.

Giveaway du jour: another opportunity to go through storage boxes and donate things to Goodwill.
Gave away a couple of paperbacks. Hard to work up much enthusiasm over this. Need to get creative or heartfelt or schmaltzy re thinking up things to give.

Exercise du jour: raking, weeding, general gardeningYeah, if it ever stops pouring down the rain in sheets. On the plus side, no need to water the shrubs today. Might try getting out the brush and soap and washing the car. Free rinse.
30 minutes flexibility and abs with Rania's Personal Trainer DVD.
20 minutes raking sodden leaves.

Exploding head syndrome

Pumpkin pi

Fact du jour: Apparently there really is a medical condition known as Exploding Head Syndrome. (And even more amazing, House hasn't diagnosed it in anyone.)

Giveaway du jour: Today I'm going to go through a storage box and give away everything I don't absolutely need. (I have a LOT of stuff in storage boxes.)

Gave away a belt I've been holding onto for... oh, probably 20 years. Doubt I've worn it in the last 10 years. Time to let it go.

Exercise du jour: bell, ball, and balance (balance ball and kettlebell)
Done. Note: I really did not feel like exercising tonight. Couldn't face confessing that to you, yes you over there. *waves*

Vive la difference

Fact du jour: going 90% cold carrot for a month can affect your shape. The other day I put on a pair of jeans and walked around in them for a while before coming to the realization that these were my 'skinny jeans' that I hadn't been able to fit into two months ago. A noticeable difference! Success!

Give away du jour: Tempted as I am to give away all my larger clothes, I will restrict myself to giving away one outsize piece of apparel. For the symbolism of the gesture.
One less sweater in my closet. Even if the weather is getting colder, why keep something I haven't worn in a year?

Exercise du jour: 2nd week of the couch to 5k.
The gold star of success!

Reasonably Smug

Good: Took the lightrail to work yesterday
Better: Which meant that I got some extra exercise, i.e. 50 minutes of brisk walking
Bad: Along the route I saw that several people had already put up Christmas lights. Resist the urge, people! Put up Veteran's Day lights, or Remembrance Day lights, or Thanksgiving lights. Show some restraint already.

Smug Fact du jour: Above is a picture of the line I had to wait in to drop off my ballot yesterday.

Giveaway du jour: Today I will give time. I will listen on the phone while my mother bemoans the fact that the country is going down the sewer because the Wrong Person Won. And I won't play bubbleshooter while she's complaining.
Actually, she wasn't too bad. Though I was shocked to hear about the way people in the neighborhood reacted to her views. Yes, she's a conservative living in a deeply liberal enclave, but she does have the right to her views.
Someone slipped an anonymous note in the mailbox about 'how amused' they were to walk by her house and see her campaign sign in the window. She used to have them on the lawn, but people kept stealing them (though not her liberal neighbor's signs). Clearly, since they were frustrated about not being able to take away her opinion, they decided to share their contempt with her instead. For Heaven's Sake, people, get a life! Let someone have a minority opinion! We don't have to agree with her.

Exercise du jour: Bell, ball, and balance (Kettlebell and balance ball)
Again, left the evilSUV at home and walked/took the lightrail to work. Plus, I worked in a 20 minute brisk walk at lunch, so that give me a total of 60 minutes brisk walking. (Nothing like walking in a light rain on a chilly night to ensure a brisk walk.)

You have the power to change (things, yourself, the system...)

Lincoln memorial

Fact du jour: Voting gives you the chance to change the system.

Giveaway du jour: Today I will go through a storage box and give away anything that I don't absolutely need in my life.
Went through another storage box. Only found one thing (sweater) I could give away, but lots that I could throw away. How on Earth did I end up with six mismatched black pumps?
(Two right, four left, and no I couldn't mix and match. Different heights.)


Exercise du jour: 2nd week of the couch to 5k.

Bonus Exercise: 50 minutes brisk walking

Daylight savings saves daylight /and/ lives

Fact du jour: When we 'fall back' as a result of Daylight Savings Time, the number of heart attacks go down. (Like I needed another excuse to sleep in?)

Giveaway du jour: Today, I'm going for a toughie. I'm going to give away at least one book. (Trust me, this is like asking me to choose which of my children to throw out. But not all the books on the shelf are family; I can weed out a changeling or two if I steel myself to the task.)
Easier than I thought. Once I actually looked, it was easy to see that I would never open that old manual on Fireworks again. One less book on the shelf.

Exercise du jour: bell, ball and balance (balance ball and kettlebell)

Today was a day-long train wreck, work work and work. Barely squeezed in quickie with arm exercises.

The Rake's progress (in my backyard)

Fact du jour:
According to That's Fit, you can burn 290 calories an hour raking, if you have a large tree.

I think I have that covered.

Giveaway du jour: Today I am going to go through a storage box in my garage and give away anything I don't absolutely need to have in my life (and in my garage).

Tricky... not as easy as it looks...

Exercise du jour: week 2 of the couch to 5k.
Thanks to Theresa for the Gold Star.

November: the month of 30-day challenges

Wow... 30 days to spend any way I want. (Except for the time I spend working or sleeping, but who's counting them.)

November is National Blog Posting month. I could post on the blog every day for a month.

Also, of course, there's National Novel Writing Month. I could write a novel in 30 days. [Note: this link might not work today; very heavy traffic on that site right now.]

Or if I wanted to have one day off, there's the 29 Gifts challenge. I could give something away every day for 29 days. (I like that it doesn't always have to be something material. The website suggests you give away a smile, or call a friend and give a kind word. The dog would probably enjoy it if I gave her an extra belly rub or two ten.)

Or I could... rake the leaves...

What, all of them?

I don't see a lot out there in blogland about exercising every day for a month. Understandably, this wouldn't work for people like Xenia, who's boldly going where this non-marathoner fears to tread. Stressing out the major muscle groups like that requires rest days. But if I'm using different muscle groups on alternating days? That should work.

Sigh. Work. Not something I want to think about.

Travels with the Librarian

Photo credit: The Librarian. All rights reserved. So there.

The Librarian arrives, the axe falls


The day she came, someone dropped an axe in my front yard.

I know that some of my neighbors are rather strange, but so far none of them has shown any tendency toward dropping sharp-edged weaponry in front of my house.

This is the actual axe in question.

Until the Librarian showed up for a visit. Coincidence? I wonder...

Some years ago, when I was living in California, a couple of buzzards came and sat on a telephone pole outside my window. In all the years I lived in that neighborhood, I had never seen buzzards in that area, let alone two of them sitting hunched over giving me a beady-eyed look of suspicion. Reminded me of those old Westerns where the hero is lost in the desert with no water, and the vultures are giving him looks as if to say "Hurry it up, would you? I'm missing my favorite TV show waiting here." Ominous, in other words.

After a couple of hours they flew away, but the very next day, I was involved in a massive layoff at my company -- almost 1,000 people, about 1/4 of the company gone in one swell foop.

So while I'm not really superstitious, I still wondered if the Librarian were trying to tell me I was going to Get the Axe.

Not an actual photo of the Librarian

It's much nicer in Indianapolis

We went to Multnomah Falls so the Librarian could exercise her taste for hiking (and so I could exercise my legs).

Photo credit: The Librarian. All rights reserved. So there.

The falls are scenic. It's against human nature not to take a picture or two thousand of them. If someone is there alone, it's also natural to ask a passerby to take their picture standing by the falls. Then the asker starts talking to you; that's another law of nature. The conversation is not always restricted to a mere "thank you"; actual chatting generally ensues.

Sometimes this is a pleasant thing. The Librarian got caught by a woman from West Virginia (she was originally from Pittsburgh, mind you, but she lived in West Virginia, and she was hiking solo while her husband was in a conference in Portland, and she'd done some touristy things with her sister-in-law but she wasn't up for a hike, and it was really great to see the falls before they went home on Monday, though it was a pity her daughter couldn't have come since she loves hiking so much). Informative but also cheerful.

Me, I had a different experience. Found myself being "chatted with" by a middle-aged man who lived in Seattle and couldn't wait to move back to Indianapolis next week. "It's much nicer in Indianapolis," he said, after I took the picture of him holding a McDonald's hamburger and standing next to
the falls.

I smiled, nodded, and moved on down the trail. He followed me, so I ventured a question. "Seattle isn't a nice place to live?"

"No, it's horrible. They hold mass rallies with skateboarders all the time. 3200 skaters going down the hill by my house!" The memory made his voice rise in indignation. "They don't have skateboarders in the Midwest."

"Yes they do," said a man passing by in the opposite direction.

"Hmph!" said my companion. "Not in Indianapolis, they don't." He seemed to find the thought comforting.


Why there were no librarians on the Lewis & Clark expedition

The Librarian told me she wasn't observant, but I didn't believe her. Thought she was being modest. She's very perceptive, picks up on things that I never see until they're pointed out to me. All the same, it's true that she's not always that observant.

We drove west. As we came over the last hill, the horizon was filled with the panoramic view of the wide blue Pacific. "Look!" I said. "There's the ocean!"

And the Librarian said, "Where?"

Cape Perpetua behaves itself

After dallying at Cannon Beach, we idled down the coast to Cape Perpetua. If I'd been better at planning, I would have suggested leaving earlier. According to Google, Cape Perpetua was a three hours' drive southwest, while Cannon Beach was an hour's drive due west. I inferred that it would take two hours to drive down the coast from CB. But I neglected to factor in the difference between driving through the mountains (few towns, mostly freeway speed) and driving down the coast, which is scenic as all get-out, but with a road that winds up, down, side-to-side, and through several small towns. We're talking a long drive.

Which meant that we came to Cape Perpetua at sunset. Got some beautiful pictures

Photo credit: The Librarian. All rights reserved. Nyah.

The top of Perpetua is about 800 feet above the ocean. We drove up to the top and walked around up there, where it's flat. That's what I call a nice hike.

The Librarian, however, had a different definition of the word 'hike.' She decided to hike the trail back down to the base of the mountain. What I found scary about this was the fact that after sunset, the world gets a lot darker. Which is not the ideal situation to tackle a hike down a long twisty path down a pretty steep hill. I drove the car down and waited at the bottom, which left me with plenty of time to visualize her obtaining a twisty ankle.

Photo credit: The Librarian. All rights reserved. I did say "dark", didn't I?

Luckily, the Librarian emerged at the bottom of the hill unscathed. Cape Perpetua behaved itself quite nicely. (As opposed to Mount Hood, which sulked and hid itself the Whole Time the Librarian was visiting.)

You'd think it would be hard to hide a whole mountain...

The long ride home

The Librarian may have missed the ocean, but I managed to miss the turnoff home. Thus we had to drive back up the long way, another hour or so up the coast and then inland. (I know, I could have turned around and tried to find the turnoff, but I was so tired and the night was so dark that I figured with my luck I would miss it again and keep on going until we hit California.)

By 11:30, we had the road to ourselves. The mountains are pretty dark at night, and I was quite tired, so of course I nagged the Librarian. Figured if I kept her awake she would return the favor.

Little did I know what Librarians do when they want to keep you awake.
They tell jokes.
Bad jokes.
Not as in not-funny, as in baaaaad jokes.

(Brace yourself, here comes an example)
Example:
Q: What did the fish say when he swam into the wall?
A: Dam!

The amazing finish

We were almost back at The house when we got held up by a freight train. It was a long train, with lots of very dull railroad cars, and it seemed to stretch on endlessly. In the passenger seat, the Librarian sunk a little further down in her seat. At this rate, I would never be able to wake her up when we got back to the house.

I was pondering this dilemma, when what to my wondering eyes did appear...

"Look!" I nudged the Librarian. "There's Gerard Butler standing atop a railroad car wearing nothing but a smile!"

"Mpmhm," came from the Librarian. She didn't open her eyes, which was a pity, because there was more.

"Hey! There are pink-and-purple striped zebras dancing with him!"

"Yeahmhn," sighed the Librarian. Not even a flicker of the eyelashes.

"You're missing it! There are unicorns dressed up as a mariachi band! They're shaking their maracas!"

"Mhhhhh... G.B. is a man-whore," mumbled the Librarian.

Well really. There's just no pleasing some people.

wistful sigh...

Anger, treadmill, & kettlebells

Got totally pissed off at a highly irritating doctor, and for once did the rational thing. Spent a quick-paced 20 minutes on Orlando Manuel. Still pissed off at the doctor, but it's much better to be hot sweaty and pissed off. Some of the anger must have gotten mutated into kinetic energy along the line.

Also, decided that Charlotte was probably onto a good thing, so I followed her Kettlebell workout. Excellent for working off the angry vibes. Maybe I'll be sore tomorrow, but tonight? Not even a gasp.

Kitty courtesy of flickr.

Headaches, Wordsworth, & Exercise

It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration...
- Wordsworth

It was indeed a beautiful evening. Except I was the one breathless, and not with adoration. Even with a headache coming on, managed 20 minutes with Orlando Manuel.


Had to stop in the middle to use the inhaler, but on the positive side that's the first time all day. Seems like I'm improving. Hopefully

Sadly, the sunset was not my photo. From flickr.

Exercise Update & One Happy Dog

Bloody hell.
This blogging guilt stuff actually works.

I thought: "It's time to update the blog."
Inner Critic responded: "Update with what? You haven't done anything!"
Self defensively: "Well, it's hard. I try to exercise, I get out of breath, I stop."
I.C.: "You give up too easily. Take a break and try again."
Self definite whining tone by now: "But that's hard! Don' wanna!"
I.C.: "Do I have to slap you upside the head?"
Self: sniff, sniff

Actually this went on a greater length, but I figure anyone reading this has already dropped off to sleep.

The point is, I couldn't post anything until I'd exercised. So I went and did 20 minutes on Orlando Manuel.
The good news: I worked up a sweat and didn't gasp once.
The bad news: I'm going at a much slower rate than I had been before I stopped exercising. (I know that it's only to be expected, but it's still disappointing.)

Also, I would like to lodge an Official Complaint.

Autumn is supposed to look like this:


But it feels more like this:

Yesterday was the last day of August. I had to turn on the heater. It's bad enough that winter lasted well into spring, now summer is ending early?

Dog update
I don't think I ever posted an update on the dog since she got sick. I sent her down to California for the winter, and she came back looking marvelous.

Every day, my mother cooked the dog an egg for breakfast and a yam for dinner, gave her dog treats in between, and then called me up fretting because Tanji wasn't touching her dog food. The combination of being away from that pestilential townhouse, getting good fresh food, and most of all having someone around all day worked wonders.

A year ago, when she'd scratched off all the fur she could reach, she looked like this:

Now she looks like this:

















She now has more fur than she did before she got sick. The ruff of fur around her neck is now so thick that I had to let her collar out a notch, and even so I'm thinking I should buy her a larger collar.

Framing Kansas, the Seven Dwarves, and sundry annoyances

Topographical map from Maps.com

Got a beautiful, artistic topographical map of Oregon, so I wanted to get it framed. The woman had to trim a couple inches off the side, but she apparently had difficulties because she couldn't make the state look 'square.' Apparently she'd prefer to only frame maps of Kansas.

Anyway, people were staring at me like I was a complete nut. Framing a map?
One woman asked if I were a teacher doing this for a project.
"No, I like maps."
"Oh." Blank stare.
I tried again. "I like to know the area where I live. For example, that mountain over there," I waved my hand south. "What's its name?"

From the Yamhill County website

She looked at me with gentle pity. "Mount Hood," she said.

Mount Hood is east of Portland. Has been for years. Plus it's about 10,000 feet taller.

"Um, no. If you go south toward Newberg, you climb over a mountain.* Do you know its name?"
Another blank stare. At her side, the saleslady also frowned, deep in thought. Then they both shrugged and went back to framing the thirteen identical pictures of the woman's toddler.

Maybe it is strange, but knowing the names of places makes me feel that I'm not living in a void. Names give a landscape solidity. That's not quite the right word, but they act like anchors to ground you in the world around you.

Seems strange to me that people could live in a valley, drive around it every day, and not feel part of the place. It's a vague backdrop that fades into insignificance compared to important matters, such as what's on television that night.


Becoming 5 of the 7 Dwarves

At last count, I am Bashful, Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, and Wheezy.**
Not Happy, though I did go to see Doc. She said the coughing et al. sounds like asthma, take this, and that, get seven samples of blood drawn and take three more tests at different doctors' office.

I'll say this for her, she's thorough.

One of the tests I have to take is at the office of Dr. Watson, which immediately made me think of how many times this man has had to hear Sherlock Holmes jokes since he got his degree.

It's nice to be able to apply a label to the coughing and shortness of breath, and it's a lot better than some of the possibilities that it could have been, but I'm still miffed. How am I supposed to exercise if I can't breathe good? Hopefully the drugs will help so that I can get out and do things instead of being a couch potato.



*If you drive from Hillsboro to Newberg, you cross over the Chehalem mountains.

**Wikipedia and Walt Disney are in a conspiracy to make people think the 7th dwarf is named 'Sneezy,' but I like my version better. Artistic license.

Decisions, decisions

Tough Choices

Three choices. I can either:

a) Tackle the jungle of weeds in the front yard.

Actually, this looks much nicer than my front yard

b) Sit on the front porch, sip lemonade, and watch the blue angels flying in formation overhead with pink and blue whatsits streaming out of their back ends. (I can almost see my father the ex-pilot shaking his head at my technical terminology.)

I couldn't quite catch them (they move too fast) so this photo is from flickr.

c) Sit indoors and blog about being indecisive.
Should I be indecisive? Or not? I can't tell.

Gotta love the little ones
Two little children, about 4 or 5, across the street taunting each other:
"You're bi-polar!"
"No, you're bi-polar!"
"No, you are!"

I suppose they both could be bi-polar.

Note to self: maybe hold off on introducing myself to their parents.

Resolution of the week
Tomorrow I'm going to use the bicycle instead of the evilSUV. I've found that I can control the effects of the coughing spells with ibuprofen, so it is probably the result of some sort of inflammation issue. (On a coughing day, I start coughing a little bit, then cough some more, then end up coughing quite a lot, until my ribs feel tired and it feels like the area around my lungs is swollen. Yes, maybe I should see the doctor, but it's getting better, so maybe I'll hold off and see if it goes away. I hate trying to describe symptoms that come and go.)

Fireworks, kazoos, and Oregonians

I don't know if I'm going to fit in here.

Case in point: the 4th of July.
In California, it is drummed into you that you light fireworks, even illegal fireworks, on concrete or at least away from as many combustibles as possible.

In Oregon, I watched my neighbors light fireworks that shot up 60 feet (alas, not an exaggeration) ... from their nicely tree covered backyards.


A native tried to explain it to me. "Oh, you know, things happen. But if you set your neighbor's roof on fire, just bring the hose over and tell them you didn't mean to do that."

Oh, well, that's okay then. Good to know these things.

I've got odd neighbors anyway. Not in the same category as some people, but interesting none the less. My neighbors on one side, staunch red state rednecks, told me at great length about the neighbors next to them. Gangbangers, he called them, not once, not twice, about seven times. I kept wanting to quote Inigo from The Princess Bride. "You keep using that word... I do not think it means what you think it means..." But a quick look at the Urban Dictionary assures me that it is indeed a word for gangster. Learned something new.

Also, although this is quite definitely suburbia, one of my neighbors has a rooster in his backyard. That seems really bizarre to me. Probably the zoning laws were drawn up with the same approach as the fireworks. With luck, I will turn into a mellow person by hanging around these people.


And the town is trying to make something of itself. It's trying to become the city with the most Guinness World Records. “Hillsboro currently holds two official Guinness records: In 2006, 1,874 residents donned balloon hats to claim that record. In 2007, 3,459 people put on Groucho Marx glasses.”

If you're in town next weekend, stop by to help make history. They are going to try to set the record for the most number of people gathered in one place at one time... wait for it...
... playing the kazoo.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/argus/index.ssf?/base/news/1211912403278030.xml&co


On the exercise side, I think that this stupid coughing situation is an allergy. Some days I can exercise (cycled to work twice last week, 10 miles each), and other days I'm so worn out that my To Do list is just breathing.

The good news is that the coughing fits are just an allergic response. The bad news is that one of the main triggers is talking to my co-worker. Kinda screwed there.