Life According to Annabelle

Penguin Princess

2011-02-06T11:45:00.000-06:00

My sister sends me care packages a lot. It was about time I returned the favor. So I made her a penguin princess bag!

She has recently developed a fascination with penguins, and has always loved the color purple. And she's always been a bit of a bag lady, which is okay because I am too. Also in the care package were a Valentine's Day Pez dispenser, a fat quarter of Christmas fabric, and a fat quarter of Rosie the Riveter fabric. I forgot to take pictures of it all before I sent it off. Sorry about that.

This piece was stitched directly on a pre-made black canvas bag using 14 count waste canvas. Finished size is only like 2" square. Waste canvas is made with a very loose weave such that you can pull the strands out of the work after its complete. I also designed the pattern for this one from a clip art image pulled off the web. Let's just say I learned a lot in this process.

Stitching on a pre-made bag is hard! I had to work it upside down with my hands inside the bag. It made for very slow going.
Canvas is really hard on the fingers. It's such a dense sturdy fabric, pushing the needle through the material was not very comfortable.
Waste canvas doesn't pull apart as easy as they say. Only a couple of the threads pulled out like it was supposed to. I had to trim the rest with itty-bitty scissors around the edges of the piece.
Use small sized graph paper when creating a design from a piece of clip art. I used 1/4" graph paper, and even with the clip art blown up real large, the pattern did not transfer well to the graph paper.
Cross stitch design software is a pain in the butt. Its designed to start from an image, then automatically translate it onto a graph and allow you to adjust the colors, lines, scale, etc. The software I originally used was really picky and picked up every variation in color pixel by pixel. It became so tedious, I scrapped it and went to the graph paper.

So it was a pain in the butt to make, but she loves it. That makes it all worth it.

Nifty Needlecase

2011-01-30T15:19:00.000-06:00

After getting myself into the last few projects, needles and embroidery scissors ended up in many places. I lost a few and got poked by others. It was a definite indication that I needed a needlecase.

A needlecase is just that - a case for needles. It is in a book format with felt for pages. Needles you're not using get put in the felt for safe keeping. Some have pockets on the inside for bigger items like needle threaders or scissors. The front cover is usually a stitched piece that is fairly small.

I picked a design from Quick to Stitch: Cross Stitch Cards by Sue Cook. It was supposed to be one that you could finish in a day, but it took me much longer than that. It was seriously detailed for such a little piece. I used 18 count Fiddler's Aida from Charles Craft in Lite Oatmeal. Finished size is about 2 1/2" square.

I put the case together using instructions from Meari's Musings. The back and inner cover fabric is from a fat quarter purchased at Hancock Fabrics in addition to the 1/4" ribbon. Felt came from Hobby Lobby. Quilt batting and thread were swiped from Mom. (Thanks Mom!) Total finished size is about 5" square when shut.

Actually putting it together took longer than expected. Mainly because I had to relearn how to use a sewing machine. This one is a Singer Featherweight that Mom let me borrow, then later said I could buy off her. (Squeee!! Thanks Mom!!) This model stopped being produced after 1952. It's an antique and it's beautiful. When they say "featherweight" they really mean twelve pounds. Considering it's all metal inside and out, that's not too shabby.

Once I got the hang of it, it went pretty fast. I am quite proud of the little book. Now I just have to train the guy to put my scissors in the pocket if he finds them laying around when he decides to clean.

Flaky Friends

2011-01-28T06:19:00.000-06:00

I saw this free pattern from Michael's and immediately thought of one of my girlfriends. The text says "Some of my best friends are flakes." Yeah, that's us.If she sees this post, let's hope she forgets about it by the time Christmas comes around. I will leave the final finished project a surprise just in case.

It's stitched on 18 count Aida in Delft Blue Pale with regular DMC floss. Finished stitched size is just under 4" x 6". The backstitch for the words is done with two threads to make them stand out a little more. It took me about a week to complete it.

In other news, I matted and framed the big Rose of Sharon piece! I was too cheap to get it professionally framed, and it looks like a DIYODS-er (do-it-your-own-damn-self). I got all of the pieces individually: glass from Lowe's ($11), matte from Hobby Lobby ($5), frame from Hobby Lobby ($15). My guy helped me cut out the matte. (Note to self: Lowe's doesn't sand the edges of the glass pieces they cut. Put band aids on the grocery list.)

It's a cheap framing job, but maybe later on I can get it done right. Right now I still need mounting hardware to hang it. I don't think I'll try to do one this size again just because of the difficulty finishing it with a frame. It would have been a lot easier to find something in 18" x 24" or 16" x 20" sizes.

I also received a care package from my sister. I love it when she does that! Included this time was a "rug mug" to put my coffee/drink/snack on at work. Check out her post on how she made them! Totally in love with them and more in love with her. The "life is good" coffee mug was a Christmas present and is my new favorite. The other side of the mug says "Do what you like/Like what you do." The scones were the breakfast I provided for my team that day. The upper left corner is the Keys to My Heart project I completed. The upper right is a picture of me and my sister from her basic training graduation. Aren't we cute?

Scones for Me, Scones for You!

2011-01-26T07:15:00.000-06:00

My group of coworkers in the office has a routine of bringing in breakfast once a week. Responsibility of providing the food rotates among team members. Recently it fell to me. My coworkers are not very adventurous eaters. Normal provisions are either breakfast tacos or bagels. I must be the only person in San Antonio that gets tired of breakfast tacos. Most of my culinary tastes are not shared with my coworkers, so I have to be careful of what I decide to bring in.

Scones seemed a good midway point. They are really close to biscuits, so it wasn't a big stretch for most people. The recipe I used came from Professional Baking by Wayne Glissen, my pastry textbook. We made half a batch of plain scones, a quarter batch of raisin scones, and a quarter batch of cranberry scones.

The tricks to making great biscuits also are the ones to make great scones. In particular, there are two main tips. First, don't overwork the dough. Too much kneading will make biscuits hard like hockey pucks. I could tell that our set of raisin scones were kneaded a little too much. They were much flatter than the other ones and not as flaky.

Next, BUTTER. Butter is actually important in quick breads like biscuits and scones. The steam generated from the butter melting is a major portion of the leavening activity. When you mix the butter in to the flour, leave it in small pieces about pea size. This will make sure you have little pockets of buttery goodness and aromatic steam when you break open a piece. For these scones, we used both Crisco and butter.

We used 2"-3" square cookie cutters to cut our dough. It made the scones small enough for people not to feel guilty for having one of each. And then seconds. The egg wash we used to create the shiny crust on top was made from eggs, milk, and a touch of granulated sugar. On some of the plain ones we added some granulated sugar as well.

They definitely needed something to help wash them down, which could have been fixed by using all butter. They did not contain a lot of sugar, so people with a sweet tooth added honey or jam. Everyone else just swigged their morning coffee.

Overall, the scones got rave reviews. I bet they will be talking about these for quite some time.

Keys to My Heart

2011-01-25T20:12:00.000-06:00

Again, I have a weird urge to surround myself with hearts for Valentine's Day. Specifically, I wanted to have a crafty thing to have on my desk at the office and make me smile. This is a free pattern found on Rainbow Gallery's free pattern list. It is an Erica Michaels design from 2002, but I really liked the design.

It calls for some specific thread, so I decided to check out a local cross stitch store to see if they had the alternative brands of floss. When I showed the pattern with the materials list to the ladies there, they commented, "Wow! That's such an old pattern!" Way to criticize your customer's choices. They did tell me that the listed threads are now out of production. Either way, I think I will be buying thread online now, thankyouverymuch.

It's stitched on 18 count Linen in Light Oatmeal. I picked out similar colors from normal DMC floss. This was the first time I put any embellishments on a piece. The charm was actually the most difficult thing to find. It took me about 9 hours to complete. Stitched size is 2 1/2" x 4" and it is in a 5" x 7" frame with a gold 4"x6" oval matte.

Fun with Foam

2011-01-25T12:31:00.000-06:00

I've been in and out of craft stores over the holidays and in the recent weeks. I have seen a lot of little foam projects made by Creatology. They're mostly holiday themed and geared to children ages 6 and older. There are a lot of ornaments and picture frames as well as larger models. I've been really wanting to do stuff for Valentine's Day in the past couple weeks, so I picked up one of the larger kits to play with. I got this particular kit at Michael's Craft Store, but I have seen foam kits even at places like Target.

I picked a Valentine's Day Bird's Tree House. If a six year old was doing this project, I really don't think it would end up like the picture on the box at all. Some of the pieces were made to be interlocking, but they didn't fit together well. I did require assistance to keep some pieces in place while the glue dried. The instructions call for Elmer's glue, but I ended up switching to Krazy Glue with the brush applicator about halfway through. This kit came with stick-on glitter accents which added most of the character of the house. Some of the stickers were really tiny and hard to wield, especially the little white dots on the front of the house.

Overall, I still think it's really cute. The model was a bit of a pain in the butt, so I probably won't be doing another one. The smaller kits could be used to make little holiday gifts for classmates or coworkers. At seven dollars for the kit, it was definitely cheap entertainment. Seeing my guy put sparkly hearts on the foam was well worth it. My excuse was that it was training for when he has a daughter, but I think my bribe was what finally got him to help.

Youngster Ava

2011-01-12T20:07:00.000-06:00

Next project in my current cross stitch craze comes from the Smirk Attitudes A to Z book. I picked up the book because the designs reminded me of several of the women in my life. They may end up as presents somewhere down the line if the obsession keeps up. Another bonus, the patterns are not very complicated, which is something I needed after the previous project. It made this one really quick to complete.

I adapted the "Youngster" pattern for a birthday gift for my neice. It was completed on 18 count white aida cloth. I replaced the font and text at the bottom for her name. I also swapped specified thread colors for similar ones available in my stash. I matted it in a 5x7 black frame. The matte is printed paper from a packet of 5" x 7" scrapbooking papers in Valentine's prints found in the Target dollar bin. Side note: I do love that dollar bin.

The next project will be lids for canned goodies to use as gifts upcoming holidays for friends & family. I ran the idea by my man and he almost immediately started rifling through our cookbooks for canning recipes. Reason #394 why he's a keeper.

Rose of Sharon

2011-01-12T17:43:00.000-06:00

I come from a long line of crafty women. Not only in wily ways, but in creative with many different kinds of sewing. My mom currently quilts, but has tatted, knitted, crochets, embroidered, and sewn more Halloween costumes than I care to mention. My twin currently quilts, but has knitted and crocheted. She now has a blog about her current feats of creativity and dexterity.

My personal preference has been mostly cross stitch, a type of needle work. Recently I've gotten into clay painting and acrylic painting at the retail shops around town though I still feel at home with cross stitch. In cleaning out my closets over New Year's, I found this stuck in the bottom of a box I haven't opened in years. I figured it was about damn time to finish the damn thing.

This project comprised several firsts for me: first of this size, first on linen, first of this complexity, first on 32 count fabric. It took me over ten years to finish it! The pattern is called "Rose of Sharon" from Mirabilia. It is stitched on 32 ct natural linen (2 over 2). Stitched area size is 13"w x 24"h. I am working on getting the right matte and frame for it. Full size will end up being 20"w x 30"h. I know there are some errors in it, so right now I can only look at it from ten feet away. At that distance, the colors really blend together and give it a lot of dimension.

Finishing it after so long has filled me with a sense of accomplishment that I have not felt for a long time. The last I can remember was when I finished a half marathon with my sister in 2008. It also has the bonus effect of having something physical to show for my effort.

Neener-neener-neener!

With that surge of pride, I have turned almost obsessive about the next project and the next. There will definitely be more to come!

Hello October!

2010-10-02T13:12:00.000-05:00

September sucked slightly less than August. I was sick in some form or fashion for the majority of it, but I made some personal progress that makes me optimistic for October and the rest of the year. This is much improved over the dread I had before.

The rest of the year is gonna be good. I can just feel it.

I get to see my sister soon.
My projects in my classes are gonna be fun.
Curiously enough, I am really excited for Halloween. I have an intense craving to carve pumpkins. I have no idea what my costume should be.
NaNoWriMo site relaunched, and I am really getting eager to write again! Here's my author profile on the site.
It's the holidays! What's not to like!

And now for other news and goal updates!

With my recent sickness and onset of the busy season for both work and school, I have decided to bow out of training for the Rock and Roll San Antonio Half Marathon. I should have learned last year that training is just one thing too many on top of my other commitments.

I read a bunch of stuff. Mockingjay, Good Omens, and 13 Little Blue Envelopes were in the first part of the month. Since then I've read a lot more: an additional nine makes the running tally 45. Maybe this would be a good time to back off on the reading so that I can work on some other projects!

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. The first of The Infernal Devices series, prequel to The Mortal Instruments series. Shadowhunters gone steampunk! Nice start to a new series. I could see where twists were going to be, so it wasn't as much of a on-the-edge-of-your-chair read for me.
The Laughing Corpse by Laurell Hamilton. Second in the Anita Blake series, this one was more zombies, less vampires. I really like the Anita Blake character a lot, but don't know if I can continue to read the series. I might gag myself to death if I read anything else about vampire love. It did contain some interesting asides about women working in male-dominated fields that make me think.
Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce. A reread of a great YA duet.
Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund. Sequel to Rampant and another setup-for-the-third book. Lots of information for plot and world building, but not really interesting on its own.
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. A TON of teenage drama and angst. Loved the included lyrics. Made me think about teenage sex as portrayed in YA books. To do it or not to do it? To show it or not to show it? Probably a difficult decision for each author for each book, and probably also a difficult pitch to publishers.

I haven't made a lot of progress on paying off my debt this month, but I'm still at 80% there with only 75% of the year complete. With vacations and holidays coming up, we'll see how that goes. I was able to refinance my mortgage so reduce the APR by 1.5% and monthly payment by $100. Also, switching ISPs saves me another $25 a month. So hopefully that will help a bit.

Rebellion, Apocolypse, and Hostels

2010-09-10T18:59:00.000-05:00

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is the much awaited final book of the Hunger Games trilogy. The rebellion takes hold in the Districts and finally takes on the Capitol. I liked it, and liked how everything was wrapped up in the end. It seemed like there was less character development in this one since Katniss spends a lot of the book being disoriented. My perception might have been caused by keeping myself slightly detached from the book because that some of the imagery felt too close. I knew I wouldn't be able to deal with Katniss's emotions as well as my own at that point. Good book, though my favorite of the three is Hunger Games.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) and Terry Pratchett was an incredibly awesome read. Two of some of the best contemporary SF authors combining forces in this hysterical account of what might happen if you put the Apocalypse into the hands of human free will. It was a really great read complete with really great moments of pointing and laughing at real life. This is a must-read for any current fans of either of the authors. If I got a chance for either of them to sign a book, I would make sure to bring this one. (I have the white cover.) After I drop it in the bathtub, of course.

Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson (@maureenjohnson) was my first time reading anything of hers. She is fantastic to follow on Twitter, so I figured that I just had to read something of hers. This follows seventeen year old Ginny as she wanders around Europe at the direction of letters given to her by her aunt. This book touched on so many places in Europe that I really want to visit and only one that I have actually been to (London). From the little jokes I understood from the London events, I know I'm missing a lot more of the jokes in the other places. This futher solidifies my desire to do a very similar tour of my own. I wonder if I would be able to leave technology behind me. I wonder if MJ would be able to!! On another note, does anyone know if there is any fan art of the tattoo Mari gives Ginny? Would love to see a representation of it. I couldn't picture it well in my head.

Good Grief, August!

2010-09-02T07:00:00.001-05:00

Yikes, August was rocky. It was supposed to be a chill month. With school out of session, my schedule was supposed to open up. For some reason I think I got less done than possible. A couple good things happened and a couple of bad.

I got a haircut! This length suits me so much better, though I'm still working out how to secure it when at the gym or lab. I was able to donate ten inches to Locks for Love for my second time. It's so cool to be able to do that.

I was more social in August than when school was in session. I was able to catch up with some friends and see some movies: Despicable Me, The Good Guys, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Scott Pilgrim was the best movie I've seen in a long while. If you haven't yet, go see it!

I started running again! I had a summer hiatus due to a way too hectic schedule. I gained about ten pounds after my Professional Dining Class, so now I feel like I'm at a disadvantage going into half marathon training. I'm now working out after my classes and that makes for some very late nights. After completing 50 miles this month, I am at 241 miles year to date. Finally crossed the 200 mile marker!

I started writing again! Not a lot, but this month included almost 9000 words, which is more than May, June and July word counts combined. And August included the first new fiction in a long while. A good chunk is a new short story which is now ready for submission. In a good way.

Gwen was sick. She's my first dog, so now that she's getting older (she's eight)it makes me scared whenever she gets sick. She's okay now, but she had to have blood drawn and x-rays and everything. Poor thing.

I'm going through another episode of depression. My third. I am trying a lot of different things, but so far it hasn't been great and I'm still not as functional as I need to be. That was a major reason why I picked up Undoing Depression, but I still think I need medication and therapy. I am also going to try some different supplements, pending doctor's okay. Sigh.

I have hope for September, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is rocky too.

Undoing Depression by Richard O'Connor

2010-09-01T18:29:00.000-05:00

Depression causes brain damage, claims Richard O'Connor, author of Undoing Depression: What Therapy Doesn't Teach You and Medication Can't Give You. Studies have shown that not only the brain produce less “happy” chemicals, but that it looses the ability to detect the presence of the “happy” chemicals. I'm paraphrasing significantly, but that's the bad news.

The good news is that many of the habits comprise the depressive's behaviors are learned through repetition and can be unlearned. Most of it revolves around paying attention to emotions and thoughts in order to gain control over them instead of being controlled by them. This is difficult for most depressives because those emotions and thoughts have been blocked or ignored. It is a defense mechanism for the depressive who is not ready to deal with them, but too often it goes on for a significant amount of time. Even when ignored or blocked, the emotions can still cause mood swings. Then the depressive says the mood “came out of the blue,” though he or she was just not aware of what the trigger was.

O'Connor argues that medication and therapy are still effective treatment options, but they have limitations. Studies on either have only proven that medication or therapy reduces the number of symptoms that together made a Major Depression Disorder (MDD) diagnosis over a three month period. There have not been any studies on the long term effectiveness of medication, but most people diagnosed with MDD stay on medication for “maintenance.”

A diagnosis of MDD is compared to that of heart disease. Once you have it, you have to change your lifestyle to reduce the risk of a recurrence. Most heart patients will get instructions on what needs to be adjusted in order to continue life after heart disease. People diagnosed with depression are not given that type of information. It just doesn't exist. O'Connor lays out some exercises that are meant to better equip the depressive for dealing with emotions and thoughts, and by extension, stress. A quarter of the American population is suffering from MDD at any given time, but still a stigma exists against the disorder. It is perceived as a character defect rather than a disease. Like heart disease, it is something you have to live with every day. Some days are more of a struggle than others. It has been most difficult to explain how daily life is affected to people who have not experienced it. That has been where I feel the stigma the most. And, for those in the opposite position, saying “Just Be Happy” is not encouraging.

After reading this book, I wrote a short story, “She's Always Right,” roughly themed on depression. I have gotten it to a point where I can submit it to an upcoming competition. I want to thank my readers and editors for their help and advice: JD, Beth, Brittany, JT, and Amanda. It wouldn't be in its current form without you.

Mongolian BBQ - Dessert Course

2010-08-26T07:24:00.000-05:00

Mongolian barbeque restaurants are becoming more and more popular for their endless possibilities of flavor and texture profiles.

Patrons select ingredients from a raw bar and hand them to employees to stir fry on a large griddle. Many establishments offer several meat selections usually including chicken, pork, beef, tofu, and a token seafood item. Noodles are also popular and range from lo mein to yakisoba. There are lots of vegetables that include go-to stir fry veggies - bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, baby corn - but also offer some more adventurous items - bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, and cabbage.

Sauce bars are where the really creative stuff happens. Most places recommend using 5-6 ladles of any combination of sauces for a single bowl of ingredients. Venues have in-house versions of classic sauces - teriyaki, Thai peanut, and sweet and sour, to name a few - but also have unique offerings all their own. Add some basic broths and oils, and you have a million different options for your sauce! (Actually, HuHot has closer to 24 factorial, or 6.20448402 × 10²³, if I remember my formulas correctly.)

The options are unlimited! You will wish your stomach was unlimited when faced when going through the buffet! Mongolian barbeque restaurants in the San Antonio area are limited to HuHot and a few recent openings of Genghis Grill. Hands down the best Mongolian barbeque place I've been to was Fire+Ice in Boston.

With so many choices, it's easy to let your eyes get bigger than your stomach. Most of the time you won't have room for dessert. The offered dessert menu doesn't impress with items like an Attila the Hun themed cheesecake. You're going to want to save room for this stir fry dessert! It's simple, fresh, and a very light way to end a normally heavy meal.

Grilled Pineapple and Coconut
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut (Look for it at the toppings end of the bar!)
- 1 cup pineapple chunks

Sauces, one ladle of each:
- teriyaki sauce
- sweet and sour sauce
- lime juice
- sesame oil

Extra toppings
- more shredded coconut
- minced raw peanuts

Combine all ingredients and sauces in a bowl. Let the guys grill it up for you. Top the grilled pineapples and coconut with some peanuts for crunch and more coconut for an extra kick. You're going to want to pass this around the table, if your dining partners have any room left!

Recent Reads: Twenties Girl and Beastly

2010-08-25T22:23:00.000-05:00

Sophie Kinsella is the writer of the popular book Confessions of a Shopaholic, another book I really loved. Twenties Girl follows Lara as she is haunted by her great aunt Sadie who convinces her to find a necklace of high personal value. In the process, Lara discovers much more about her deceased relative and about herself than she originally bargained for.

In Twenties Girl, Kinsella uses the same tone of a twenty-something woman that I really identified with in Shopaholic. It made the book real and personable for me. I'm pretty sure I'm the target demographic, so maybe it won't work as well for others.

It was a really good read - some fluff that I knocked out in a weekend. I wasn't expecting the warm fuzzies after finishing it. All the twenties gadgets and products used by women of the era to accomplish the unique style were quite intriguing. Once Lara got over her complaining, her drive was quite admirable.

I would recommend this book to any woman who likes contemporary adult fiction. Try reading it while indulging in a bubble bath!

Beastly by Alex Flinn is a modern retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast tale, set in New York City and told from the Beast's perspective. This young adult novel is another fast and easy read.

The plot is a given, so the book shows the Beast's metamorphosis as he deals with his infliction. The Beast acquires the library that impresses the girl during his grieving process. He spends hours a day reading in or watching passersby from the top floor of an isolated abode. Some of the titles that are mentioned feel more like name dropping than actual allusions - The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Jane Eyre, The Count of Monte Cristo, etcetera, ad nauseum. Roses become an obsession for the Beast to the point that he builds his own greenhouse so that he can have fresh flowers even in the winter. Overall, a good read, but it immediately went into my "to donate" pile.

This retelling is being picked up for a film to release in March of next year. It is set up for a new teen heart-throb to take center stage, Alex Pettyfer. In my opinion, Alex is much better looking and deserves the idealizing to come more than Robert Pattinson. Mary-Kate Olsen stars as the witch, her first feature film since 2004. Neil Patrick Harris also has a starring role as a blind live-in tutor. The movie is on my radar and while I don't think I'll be knocking down the doors of a theater with screaming pre-teens, I will probably sneak into a late show.

Fleet Feet Sunrise 10K Race Report

2010-08-21T19:09:00.000-05:00

Race: Fleet Feet Sunrise 10K

Distance: 10K

Goal Time: 1:17:30-1:28:30

Actual Time: 1:26:32 (13:55 min/mi)

This was my second time to do this particular event, and their third time hosting it. I had a couple goals for this particular run: to get in my hill intervals for the week and try out running with my backpack-style hydration pack.

The run part was hard. For some reason, running outside during this time of year does not feel great. There's still the ridiculous heat of the summer around, but with some spare humidity thrown in just for fun. The temperature at the start was 80 degrees with about 80% humidity. The course goes through Alamo Heights, which is one of the hilliest parts of San Antonio. I bring your attention to the elevation map below. The overall difference in elevation is only like 50 meters, but the inclines are pretty steep and quite repetitive. They definitely began to hurt in the last couple miles. I ended up doing a bit of run/walking due to the hills. I will definitely need to be hitting up some more hill intervals before the half-marathon.

I am what they call a "sweaty runner." I end up caked with salt, head to toe, after my long runs. Add the humidity to that and I sweat even more. So I tend to imbibe quite a bit of fluids on my runs, more than is held in the dinky little eight ounce bottles that come in the belt-style hydration packs. For me, the belt style packs tended to require a lot of fidgeting since they tended to ride up and not stay on my hips as intended. Getting the little bottles in and out of the holders was a bit of a pain too. But the backpack-style pack was awesome. There were several others who used Camelbaks at this event, though mine was much bigger the ones I saw. It strapped down pretty tight so that there wasn't much sloshing around. I didn't have to fiddle with it near as much as I did with the belt. I could carry a whole lot more fluid too. The best part was having the fluids on demand, especially during those hills where I really needed it. I think that allowed me to knock almost a minute off last year's time (1:27:24). I think this will do me well for the half-marathon so I don't have to drink the gross Lemon-Lime Cytomax. I still have yet to master catching my breath while sucking on the tube, but I still have a few weeks to work on that.

Mission accomplished for this race. I did have some issues earlier this week and didn't get to the gym as often as I should have. There are still twelve weeks until the event, so I think I'm in decent shape. Next week starts the fall semester of classes, so here's hoping that I can manage work, school, training, and my sanity.

Race Photos, bib 253: Start, Finish, Finish
Official Results

My Reading List Has Been Pirated!

2010-08-13T16:30:00.000-05:00

My reading list has been pirated by none other than the cunning Brittany (@BLandgrebe). She so sneakily planted sleeper agents on my bookshelf that came out and attacked me during a lull in my reading. I can hear her evil laugh now. Perhaps we have similar tastes in fiction, but my pirated reading list has actually benefited me. I probably wouldn't have picked up either of these books on my own, but now will probably sing their praises to anyone who asks.

Lois Lowry's The Giver was cleverly disguised as a Christmas present. It took me six months to pick it up and now I can't believe I didn't read it sooner. It wasn't a grade school reading list item for me like it was for a lot of others I know. I don't think I would have understood it much when I was younger. I'm not sure if I really understand it now. It's the first utopia/dystopia I've read in a long time. It did start some trains of thought like: differences between people should be recognized and celebrated; the appropriateness of a governing body's interference into the lives of individuals; the benefit of unsheltered experience and pain. It was a really quick read and very well written. It's definitely going to remain on my shelf for a long time to come.

The next book, also cleverly disguised as a gift, came later in the spring: Rampant by Diana Peterfreund. When I first received it my reaction was closer to, "Killer unicorns? Um, sure." Then after finally opening the book and immediately getting into it my reaction was more, "Dude! Killer unicorns!!!" It followed what I call "The Harry Potter Format" wherein a tween/teen discovers a hidden talent, gets sent to a special school to develop said talent, then uses the talent to save the world. In this case, a bunch of teenage virgin girls get sent to a convent in Rome to learn how to hunt unicorns. My favorite part was probably the incorporation of Roman mythology and history into the back story. It got a bit angsty with the pack of hormonal teenage girls at each others throats, but the story line was riveting. There were some threads that were left unresolved, but there are more books planned in the series, the next of which comes out in September.

The piracy is expected to continue with Shiver by Maggie Steivater, currently on my to-be-read shelf.

In other unrelated news, does anyone know how to ninja-proof a house?

I Missed the McNay Museum

2010-08-11T21:58:00.000-05:00

For the life of me I still can't figure out why it took me so long to go back to visit the McNay Museum (@mcnayart). I haven't been since they opened their new wing in 2008. It's a fantastic new space that really brings the museum up to date with an incredible amount of room for more collections. I was also extremely pleased to find out that admission is free for current students. (Another bonus for attending night classes.)

The Mathews Glass Art exhibit was very neat - art deco glass vases and bowls and things that were absolutely exquisite. The Janet Lohr exhibit had a Dia de los Muertos feel to it, but it was interesting to see how the final product was created. And really intriguing was the Gary Lang Dividing Time installation. It is a projection of moving lines, a real-time version of some of his other works. It was like seeing each piece being layered on top of each other as the piece evolves. Of course, the newly acquired Picasso paintings were a must see. I absolutely loved the current exhibit they have going on now called "Neither Model Nor Muse: Women as Artists." It showed exclusively female artists in several different mediums, even including one done by Ms. McNay herself!

In the new wing they have a sculpture exhibit that you can actually tweet to @mcnayinfo a certain number and get a piece of trivia about the particular piece! I totally nerded out with that. I love learning those little things, and this is a genius way to update the old school cassette tape audio tours. Granted, they still have a call-in system for some of the other pieces in the other galleries, but I despise talking on the phone, so this was much better suited to me. The delay on the return message was a little long, but the info was neat enough that I actually went back to the previous pieces. It also was a kind of electronic notice to not rush through the exhibit too quickly- to take my time to enjoy it and really look at what I'm seeing. I feel like I appreciated the pieces more when I knew more about them, so for me it greatly added to my enjoyment of the exhibit. I only wish it were expanded to more of the galleries!

I loved the new wing and the Twittering. It felt like the museum got a great update that can make it more accessible to an increasingly techie population. The only Going to art museums always makes me wish I knew more about art history and theory. Perhaps then I can understand the artistry more than just feeling moved by beautiful things in a small space.

Sunday News Edition

2010-08-08T10:04:00.000-05:00

I have a few pieces of news, none of which merit their own blog post. So here's the digest version of everything.

I just passed 200 miles run in 2010! The goal for the year is 500, so I'm behind. But for taking a six week break, I think I'm still in an okay position. It'll take me about 15 miles per week for the rest of the year to meet the goal, which is still very doable. It's even more doable when you factor in my training plan for the 2010 Rock'N'Roll San Antonio Half Marathon. The 15-week plan ranges between 16 and 28 mile weeks.

First week of the 2010 RnRSA plan I believe I must call a success. I ran most of the plan, even after the hiatus. Only running 12 miles of the 16 makes me feel a bit disappointed, but it's the most miles per week I've completed since April. Coming out the other end with no injuries has to be counted as an accomplishment. Here's to next week! May it be filled with 17 miles including a quality speed interval day.

My eyes are paid off! My expensive self-splurge this year was on LASIK surgery, which has been pretty awesome. Sometimes when my eyes are dry, I can't help the feeling of wanting to take out my contacts. However, I have gotten over the habit of groping my bedside table for my glasses in the morning. I think I'll appreciate this more in the years to come. But for now, I will appreciate that I have no bills for it! So I've taken care of 80% of my pay-down-debt goal with only 60% of the year gone by.

I'm behind in my movie watching. Here's the rundown of ones I've seen recently. Loved the A-Team. In my opinion, a better series remake than Get Smart or StarTrek. Karate Kid was okay, but my favorite part was the credits for the photography and the Justin Bieber/Jaden Smith song. Inception was freaking awesome, as everyone should know by now. The Sorcerer's Apprentice was cute, but not as good as I was hoping. Despicable Me was very funny, but the trailers were misleading. The dude laughed a lot more than I did.

I had to abandon the re-read of a book I loved in high school: The Spellsong Sorceress by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Twenty pages in and it had all of the writing sins now shunned in recently published books. The ones that irked me the most were his paragraphs of laundry-list descriptions and flip-flopping verb tenses. Pairing that with the high fantasy genre, it just felt snooty. Alas, there goes a fond memory of a childhood read.

Douglas Adams' sequel to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, was another excellent book. This particular book had more commentary than narrative, and the time-travel aspect got a bit confusing, but I still very much enjoyed it. His writing style is fantastic, putting character-driven narrative next to laugh-out-loud, snarky, satirical social commentary. I don't know of any other writer who has achieved both or done it with such a light heart. My favorite part is the mathematical proof of why there the universe has a population of zero. Oh, "and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination."

I think it's been a good week, though not very productive.

Twin Sisters

2010-08-07T15:18:00.000-05:00

No, this isn't a blog about me and my twin, but another set of twin sisters who started a restaurant in San Antonio. Twin Sisters Bakery and Cafe is a local favorite for "healthy" sandwiches and soups, and fresh baked goods. I went to the Alamo Heights location and it was a really relaxed, cute place with very personable staff. Everything on their menu was so tempting!

That day they offered Jalapeno Lemonade which was much more awesome than it sounds. It added just a hint of the jalapeno flavor, but not too much of the spice. It tasted a bit like they used the leftover juice from pickled jalapenos and dumped it into the lemonade batch. Either way, it was really, really awesome.

The Greek Salad was familiar to most other venues. The dressing on it was heavy on the olive oil with some thyme and olive tapenade. But the soup was a cold Cucumber Avocado Soup and it was fantastic. It had some flecks of red onion and cilantro throughout, but was fresh, bright, smooth, and tangy. All around wonderful. Perfect for the increasingly warm summer San Antonio days. The Turkey and Cheese sandwich was also very excellent mainly due to the in-house made bread it was on. It was a very soft wheat that actually added to the flavor of the sandwich. With the soup and sandwich came a cornbread muffin that was grainy and not too sweet. Loving that adding excess sugar was not in that particular recipe.

Twin Sisters is probably more well known for their baked goods. The Sweet Potato Muffin was quite yummy, similar in taste and consistency to zucchini bread. The Lemon Bars were particularly excellent. There wasn't a delineation between the filling and the crust. One just kind of morphed into another.

If you're a local in SATX and haven't been to Twin Sisters yet, GO! I lived in this city way too long before visiting this establishment. If you're in town visiting, then there's a downtown location open for lunch just for you!

Clay Casa

2010-08-03T07:00:00.001-05:00

I had an artistic urge recently and I decided to make myself a new clay coffee mug. There's only one clay painting place in town, Clay Casa in the Embassy Oaks area behind 281 and Bitters. It had the obligatory cute funky artist type people working there. The selection of pieces was decent, but my previous experience at Clay Dreams in Boston had a bunch more. I was intrigued by the dog-tag like pieces made for necklaces, but they were out.

I decided on two travel coffee mugs, one for me and one for the dude. They're a solid color background with a free-handed pattern on the top and monogram letters. His was blue with black diamonds; mine was yellow with a dark green Celtic braid. It took me a couple very relaxing hours at the shop to complete the painting. It was the perfect things for me to do that day. Something out of the house, relaxing, and creative.

I went back a week later and they were good to go. His turned out darker than I was expecting, but he liked it well enough. I am really proud of myself on the braid design on my mug. It turned out really great!I can't wait to bring it in to show off at work. Added bonus: if you do another piece when you pick up a previous piece, the studio fee is waived! I picked a vase that I did in the same scheme as the candlestick I did in Boston that I'll use as a pencil holder on my desk at home. I still want to do the dog-tag pieces later on. I'm just hoping they're there the next time I stop in.

Samurai Sushi Review and Local Fave Rolls

2010-08-02T17:19:00.000-05:00

I really love sushi, but it seems everyone in San Antonio has a particular go-to place for it. I finally went to one that I know some people swear by: Samurai Sushi at Babcock and Wurzbach.

It's a really unique atmosphere. The decor was more of a family diner than the Japanese minimalist that you normally see at sushi places.

I normally opt for rolls over sashimi and house special rolls over classics. I ordered Edamame, the Ultra Tuna roll, and the Baked Lobster roll with a Kirin Ichiban to wash everything down. The Ultra Tuna roll was your basic Spicy Tuna roll with an additional piece of tuna on top. The Baked lobster roll was the basic California roll with a piece of lobster on top, covered in a sweet chili sauce and baked. The tuna roll was pretty good, but not fantastic. The lobster pieces were slightly overdone such that they were on the rubbery side, but the chili sauce was very yummy. I ended dinner with a tempura ice cream, which was too big for just me, but quite tasty. It was plain old vanilla ice cream, but the tempura had been sweetened.

Samurai Sushi was okay, but not great. It was less stuck up than another local sushi chain and a smidgeon cheaper, but I'm not sure if the food is worth going back for.

Of the San Antonio Sushi places I frequent, these are my go-to rolls:

Kona Grill's Picasso Roll - a California roll topped with yellowtail, jalepeno, and chili sauce. It's not on the menu, so you'll have to ask for it!
Sushi Zushi's My Spurs Roll - yellowtail, serrano, tomato and cilantro. Light, fresh, and spicy, hits the spot on a hot summer day.
Godai Sushi's Z-Roll - yellowtail and green onion roll topped with spicy tempura crumbles.
Love the crunchies, so unique and fun!

DOUGH Pizzeria Napoletana

2010-07-25T14:32:00.000-05:00

Hands down my new favorite pizza joint. What's not to love about hand-tossed dough, exquisite toppings, fresh made desserts? They even have a mozzarella bar!

DOUGH Pizzeria Napoletana is new to the Castle Heights area at Blanco and 410. They specialize in certified Neopolitan style pizzas which means they follow very strict rules as to what ingredients to use and how the pizza is made. But not only do they have fantastic pizzas, but their appetizers and desserts are also fantastic.

The day's appetizer special when I went was pancetta wrapped asparagus topped with a poached egg and shaved white truffle. It was positively amazing. The pizzas are are big enough for two or three people, so share with some friends. We added Sopressata salami to the Fontina pizza, which was Fontina cheese, oak-roasted mushrooms, caramelized onion, and Parmigiano Reggiano. We ate all of it, including the crumbs. The Italian sodas are perfect to wash it down on a hot summer day, or you can select from a very nice wine list.

This place definitely isn't for someone who is a picky eater or for someone who loves the super-cheap super-large super-greasy pizzas from the closest chain. The pricing is up to twenty dollars for a pizzas, plus other toppings up to three dollars each, which is expected for top-notch sometimes imported ingredients. They make whatever they can in house from cheese to desserts and get all the ingredients they can locally.

Follow @DoughPizzeria on Twitter for everything from announcements of daily specials and upcoming events to internet gems.

Breakfast Just Got Better

2010-07-24T20:44:00.001-05:00

I've ventured out to a couple new breakfast restaurants that have been awesome. Egg and I is a national chain, but Sugarbakers is unique to San Antonio.

Finally! Something different for breakfast instead of heavy pancakes, greasy meats, and super sized omelets. Granted, Eggs Benedict aren't the healthiest breakfast out there, but it's not something on the menu at most places. I have been to a few of the San Antonio locations and the quality is consistent across the board. The Crabcake Benedict is something a little different, but order it without tomato. The measly slice doesn't add much and makes it hard to eat. I think my favorite thing so far is the Breakfast Sundae, which is a yogurt and fruit parfait with a side of toast and a poached egg. Their signature side that comes with everything are "ranch potatoes" - plain ranch style potato bits tossed with ranch-dressing-packet seasoning. To me, they don't taste like much and I prefer a side of fruit instead. There's still a lot of things on the menu that I'd like to try - omelets, scrambles. And that's only on the breakfast side of the menu! There are tons of sandwiches and salads served for lunch as well. This may be my new go-to breakfast place.

You really don't want to go healthy if you head to Sugarbakers off Basse Rd behind the Quarry Market. You'll miss out on their specialties! It's a local find that bakes everything on their menu right in their kitchen. Breakfast varies from omelets to french toast to quiche. The Caramel Apple French Toast is phenomenal. The Florentine Scrambler is good for someone who doesn't want a sugar overload in the morning. The biscuits are also fantastic. I plan to head back there to stock up with armloads of their baked goods. The cookies they had on display looked so tempting, but I was too full!

Holly Black Double Header

2010-07-18T17:26:00.000-05:00

I've been following Holly Black (@hollyblack) on Twitter for a while, but hadn't actually read any of her books! I figured this should be remedied sooner rather than later.

"When Cassel Sharpe discovers that his older brothers have used him to carry out their criminal schemes and then stolen his memories, he figures out a way to turn their evil machinations against them." - Copyright Summary

White Cat was a great read. I was surprised by the turn of events all the way to the end. The magic system created for this world is unique, particularly in the toll it takes on those able to use it, called curse workers. . Using magic causes a "blowback" to the caster so that using magic to kill someone means something of the caster dies as well. I loved how Black weaved different explanations for historical or political events: presidential assassinations, mob machinations, and legislation. The wrap-up at the end of the novel was so bittersweet, it was almost heartbreaking. I had one question that wasn't answered to my satisfaction, but I expect that it will turn out to be an unexpected twist sometime later in the series.

"Sixteen-year-old Kaye, who has been visited by fairies since childhood, discovers that she herself is a magical faerie creature with a special destiny." - Copyright Summary

In Tithe, Black weaves a faerie world into modern New Jersey. It focused a lot on the evil side of faerie tales, feeding off tales of stealing human babies and causing deaths in the name of avoiding boredom. This is another faerie world full of very angsty teens and very slow faerie politics. I didn't get into this one as much as I was expecting to. I didn't particularly care for any of the characters and got annoyed by all the teen emotions flying around. For me, there was a deus ex machina moment at the end when the two faerie courts meet and Kaye figures it out all the sudden. I would probably only recommend this to anyone who is a hardcore Wicked Lovely fan since it has a very similar feel.

I am definitely going to pick up another Curse Workers book if Black comes up with a sequel, but probably won't touch the two follow-up faerie books. I do highly recommend following Black on Twitter though!

Hill Country Goodness

2010-07-17T14:58:00.002-05:00

Needing a short getaway and fun-in-the-sun activities, I packed up the car and the dude and headed out to Fredericksburg last month. Probably one of the best trips I've taken in a long while.

We stayed at a Starstruck Cottage which was super cute and absolutely perfect for our purposes. It was about a block off the main street, but still really convenient to everything. The two-person jacuzzi was exactly what I needed to rest and relax, but I found it somewhat difficult to use for getting-clean purposes.

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but Texas is big. Really big. Filled with little towns. Among them is Luckenbach. This marked my first visit to this particular little town. I learned how to pitch washers, but unfortunately still lost to the dude. I didn't care for the opening band, but Doug Moreland was very cool. They have (mostly fried) munchies available, but the jalepeno poppers were the best.

The next day we packed up early and headed out to Enchanted Rock. I haven't been since high school, and it was much cooler than I remember it being. We hiked up the easy side and climbed down the hard side. I sustained only minor injuries. (I wouldn't be me unless I hurt myself somehow!) We picnicked near the primitive areas and then took the long way back to the car. It was an awesome workout. Climbing down between all the boulders was challenging, but so much fun. It made me feel strong and outdoorsy.

We tried out a bunch of gear while at Enchanted Rock. We took our lunch with us in an REI backpack cooler, which worked out really well. We used one compartment for our food and another for towels, knives. We had some extra room, which we used to hold trash we picked up while on our hike. The food stayed cold even though we were out in ninety degree weather. We also grabbed a hydration pack that I was so pleased with. It is meant for biking, so has a lot of pouches to put bike gear in, but it held our bandages and sunscreen as well as two liters of water. It also kept chilled while we were out and about. I'm itching to try it on a run, but alas that hasn't happened yet. I also wore my Vibram FiveFingers Sprint on the hike. I got laughed at for using my “monkey toes” when climbing down the rocks, but I was really pleased with them. I am a huge Vibram fan and sing their blessings every time someone asks me what's up with my shoes.

While in Fredericksburg, we went to a couple restaurants that I hadn't been to before. We had dinner at Hondo's on Main Street. I ordered the nachos, which were decent as far as nachos go. The dude got chicken fried steak which came with a phenomenal poblano cream sauce. They also serve some very wicked margaritas, so watch out for those. On the way out of town we ate at Sunset Grill which honored a coupon from the B&B. It was a great find, recently reviewed in Texas Monthly. We had a little bit of everything from their breakfast menu and were incredibly satisfied.

All in all, a great trip!

Where Did 2010 Go?

2010-07-03T14:58:00.000-05:00

Okay, so April, May, and June went really really fast. 2010 is now halfway over and time is going by faster than ever.

I am very surprised that I'm actually on target for my reading goal this year: 27 books read out of 50. I'm also already met the 10% nonfiction goal, already have read 6. I'm discovering "adult paranormal romance" is my preferred genre to read.
Of the total debt amount I hope to pay off this year, I'm already about 75% through it. I'm almost done paying off the LASIK surgery from April, then it's back to hacking away at my second mortgage. If I keep on track, I should be ahead of the goal by the end of the year. Take that silly interest rates!
My writing has been blog only in the last few months. I have finally resigned to leaving my 2009 NaNoWriMo novel unfinished. I've completely lost momentum on it and have no love for it anymore. I have decided to work on the planning for my 2010 NaNoWriMo novel in the upcoming months instead. Scenes from that have been jumping in and out of my thoughts more recently. It might be time to get those out of my head and onto paper.
I am absolutely loving my culinary class this summer. My chef actually went with my plating design for the dessert for the Scholarship Donors dinner this past week and chose me to be the student wine steward for the evening too. Class is a lot of work and makes the week feel really long, I am enjoying every moment.
I have not been running a whole lot in the last couple of months, but so far I've run 191 miles in 2010. I don't think I'm going to make it to do the half marathon this fall. I love the weight training that I've been doing, but I'm still trying to find a balance between work, school, gym, and the rest of life. I did manage to get two 10K PRs in April.
Life in other ways has been good. I've gone to some great restaurants, seen some great places in Texas, and done things that I haven't done in years. And I've been having a blast.

All in all, life has been good. I hope it keeps it up!

Inked

2010-06-27T22:17:00.000-05:00

This weekend hosted the sixth annual Alamo City Tattoo Show, where I spent the majority of my weekend. It had more than eighty booths, some of which where merchandise and supplies, but most were of out of town tattoo artists. Most of those were from Texas. My original goal for attending this event was to review portfolios and interview local artists to get some work done sometime in the future. I drug Courtney, Andrea, Brittany, and Amanda to attend with me. And with them supplying second opinions and support, I surpassed my original goal and got inked.

I had a unique request for the concept of my tattoo. At least, it seemed unique to me. I wanted a visible secret, something that you wouldn't notice unless you looked for it. I already had the design picked out too: a dual Celtic trinity knot. In the pagan Celtic mythology, the trinity knot was a kind of homage to the female deity. It represented the three stages a woman goes through in her life: the virgin, the mother, and the crone. After the Christian invasion of the area, the trinity know was adopted by the Church as another symbol of the Holy Trinity.

The artist who finally did my piece was Erica Long from Majestic Tattoos in Pasadena, Texas. She was able to match an ink color to my skin tone. When it heals, you'll only be able to see my tattoo if you're looking for it. This is my first tattoo, and I'm not gonna lie, it hurt, as evidenced by the expressiveness of my face during the process. It only took thirty minutes or so to complete the piece, as much time as it took to set up.

Andrea was inspired by the design I chose and got the same for her, again in her skin tone color. She said getting it on her wrist was more painful than either of her other tattoos. But it didn't hurt near as much as Courtney's, whose stretched down her side from rib cage to hip bone and took five hours to do. Her tree piece is beautiful and she showed so much strength in the process of getting it.

There was a lot of skin showing at the convention center this weekend. Male, female; tall, short; skinny, not-so-skinny. The fabulous thing about the popularization of tattooing in recent years: appreciation of the human body in all its forms, acceptance of individuality, and a higher prevalence of healthy self image. The Miss Tattoo contestants had pin-up hair and makeup styles which, to me, juxtaposed classic beauty themes with the more modern expressions. Though the large woman walking around in a thong to display her leg and butt tattoos was a little too much for me, I appreciate the obvious display of her comfort in her own skin.

After a couple of long days out in Live Oak, I count the time well spent. I wonder though, if anyone else noticed that they forgot to print the hand stamps in mirror image.

May Book Review Mash-Up

2010-06-19T14:54:00.001-05:00

Okay, so I'm still catching up on blogging. Sorry for such a hiatus!

Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison. This is the newest of the Rachel Morgan series where Rachel is targeted by several groups who have determined her unique background is a threat to the status quo. Really, Jenks is the star of this book. He's my favorite in the series, though I identify a lot with Rachel. I think this is starting so solidify my favorite genre to read as paranormal romance. Again, Harrison kept me riveted until the end and I'm looking forward to the next iteration of the series.

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell Hamilton. The Anita Blake series has been pretty popular over the last few years, so I decided to try it. I gave it a good shot, but I'm still really tired of vampires. Anita Blake is reanimator by trade, meaning she raises people from the dead as zombies, to let them complete the unfinished business left when they died. But when a bachelorette party forces her to work for vampires she has to investigate a series of vampire murders in order to save her friend. Hamilton focuses on the fear aspect of the vampire phenomenon, preferring disassociation from them rather than joining them. Hamilton did a good job with the mystery and investigation, something that I'm never good at. I never figure it out until all the cards are shown at the end. I enjoyed this particular book, but I probably won't read the rest of the series.

The Scent of Shadows by Vicki Pettersson. I found Pettersson in the Unbound anthology I reviewed a couple posts ago. It is so unique that the characters are zodiac based comic book heroes. This was the first book of the series that follows Joanna Archer as she discovers her part in this world. Pettersson creates a very strong female main character who I totally identified with. She also delves into the strength in beauty itself, particularly in Barbie-type women that hit on some prejudices I know I have had in the past. It was a very well done book and I plan on reading more in the series.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. This is the sequel to Hunger Games where Katniss has to deal with the political and emotional fallout from her victory in the Hunger Games. I didn't get into this book as much as I did the first one. It was much slower, spanning a lot more time than the original. It really felt like it was a lot of prep work and drama to set up the next book where the revolution really will take place. I didn't really care as much about the characters or the drama. I might read the next one just to find out what happens but I'm not on the edge of my seat for it like I was after the Hunger Games.

Female Body Breakthrough by Rachel Cosgrove. This I actually picked up at my sister's suggestion. It's actually by the wife of the guy who wrote the workouts for New Rules of Lifting for Women. There were two unique things about Cosgrove's plan. The first was actually planning your workouts around your menstruation cycle so that you don't attempt to do your hardest workouts during the week you feel the worst. She recommended to use a PMS week as the week to change your routine, but not expect to peak at all that week. The other was the most vague nutrition plan I've ever seen in a fitness/health book. It only really offered the now-standard advice: lots of water, no processed food, and a lot of fruits and vegetables. It has no numbers based planning of metabolic rates, how much you burn in a workout, etc. I've done three workouts on this plan so far, lining it up with when my company kicks off its internal weight loss challenge. Here's wishing me luck!

Orlando Trip Recap

2010-06-01T19:48:00.000-05:00

Okay, I know this is several weeks belated, but I had a blast in Orlando and wanted to share some pics. There are more on Facebook, but these are just a few to go along with my favorite memories of the trip.

Universal Studios is definitely a more adult oriented place. Walking around the park with a cold beer is definitely encouraged. The height requirements on most of the rides means that almost everything is geared toward older kids. I did a lot of meandering on this trip since I had a lot of days to spend at the parks. You could definitely do the circuit on these parks in two days based on the crowds when I went. Take the time to enjoy being an adult at Universal Studios, then go be a kid at Disney.

A huge shout out goes to Mark J. who served as my local tour guide and drinking buddy for the duration of my trip. I had a blast running around the town with you, Mark! Another shout out goes to the best bar, Finnegan's, and the best bartender, Dan.

Best food was definitely Mythos in Islands of Adventure. I got the Risotto of the Day and it was amazing. It was Spinach and Oxtail Risotto with Beef Medallions and Asparagus. It was really amazing. So flavorful and hearty. I wanted to eat it all, but I just couldn't get any more inside of me.

My favorite area of either park was Seuss Landing. I absolutely loved the Cat in the Hat ride, which is very Winnie-the-Poo-esque for Disney fans. My sister and I have an inside joke about being Thing 1 and Thing 2, so that was probably a huge factor on why I liked it so much.

The best ride by far was Simpson's. It replaced Back to the Future, which gave me a headache the first time around. It was a fun ride, even though I'm usually not a fan of the 3D with moving cars. I remember getting a wicked headache from my head slamming against the side of the Back to the Future car when I rode it last. I laughed so hard in this one. It's one that doesn't get old when you ride it over and over because there are little things you pick up on each time. I rode it three times. Honorable mention on best ride goes to Men In Black. I'm sure if I got a score more than 50,000 it'd be higher up on my favorite list.

The best roller coaster was Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket. You get to pick the music that plays during the ride. I picked Kanye West's "Stronger" and it definitely added to the experience. I didn't get a chance to ride it and compare to other songs. The coaster itself was really cool, but the pick-your-own-soundtrack was definitely ingenious. Honorable mention for best coaster goes to The Mummy, a dark air-conditioned roller coaster, similar to Space Mountain. Very well done.

I missed the opening of the Harry Potter area by a month and only saw the teasers of the tops of buildings from afar. I was able to get to see the map of what will be where and it looks like it will be a lot of fun for Harry Potter fans. But since the employees have since been let into the area, it should be okay to share the map with all of you!

Restaurant Adventures in SATX

2010-05-17T18:21:00.002-05:00

I apologize for the recent post hiatus. Life's been busy! But I do have stories to tell! I have made it out to several new-to-me restaurants the last couple of weeks.

First was Blue Star Brewery. This place has been on my list of places to go for a while. My Basic Prep class met for dinner as an end of semester celebration. After only seeing my classmates in our required uniform, it was interesting to see everyone in street clothes. While there, I got a tasting flight of all their beers made in house. The Pale Bock and English IPA were okay, but I'm not really a fan of the hoppiness of pale ales. The one I didn't like at all was the King William Barley Wine that was reminiscent of my stinky running shoes. But then, another friend loved it, so to each their own. The had a cask-conditioned stout that was okay, but again not my cup of tea. There were three I really liked: a stout that smelled like chocolate and was very drinkable; a pale bock that was like a light Mexican beer; and an excellent amber that was my favorite of the lot. The brewery also had pretty good munchies, a step up from normal bar food.

Cappycino's and Cappy's are locally owned restaurants in Alamo Heights right around the corner from Central Market. I have a friend that works there, so I got great treatment while I was there.
Cappycino's is more of a burgers-pizza-coffee shop kind of place. I got a seat at the bar that overlooked the kichen so I could chat with my friend. I got the Mediterranean Grilled Cheese Sandwich - fontina cheese, tomatoes, basil, and olive oil. Absolutely fantastic. And the honey vinaigrette on my side salad was quite excellent too. Top it off with a lovely decaf latte and biscotti, and I'm hooked. Absolutely going back there again.

I got personal delivery of Cappy's. Mind you, this is not a standard service, I've just got the hook up. I got a crusted halibut on some vegetable fettucine with a butter sauce. It was incredible. I also had some bites of the Catch of the Day, but I didn't remember what the fish was. It was a grilled steak like tuna, but sweeter and not as heavy. the chef's special vegetables that day were a mixed vegetable medley that included yellow beets. I also had some wilted spinach. It's so easy to have bad wilted spinach, but this was some of the best I've had. I am really impressed with the menu and creativity in the dishes I've tried. I can't speak for the dining experience there, but after a quick walk in, I am intrigued and want to eat there for real.

For Mother's Day, Mom requested to go to Los Barrios, recommended to her by some of her coworkers. It was also the subject of an episode of Bobby Flay's Throwdown about puffy tacos. I didn't actually have the puffy tacos, since they're not my favorite Mexican fare. I had Pollo a la Salsa with a poblano sauce, which was really pretty good, but fairly heavy. Mom had enchiladas. The salsa had the heavy flavor of tomato sauce and had a good kick to it. Pretty good, but not my favorite. On the table they also had a kind of chimichurri that was really mild but had great flavor, mostly of cilantro lime and garlic.

I loved finding these new San Antonio only places after going to a lot of chains in the past couple of years.

April Book Mash-Up

2010-05-05T15:30:00.000-05:00

Again, April was way hectic. I get some reading done, so here are the mini-reviews for those books.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This was recommended by Amanda and Brittany. I devoured this one almost nonstop, or as nonstop as I can get with my current schedule. It reminded me a lot of Lord of the Flies since it involved kids in the wilderness having to deal with very adult issues. But any other similarities or differences may be lost on me since I hated the book in high school and didn't even finish it. It also reminded me a lot of the huge amount of reality competition shows that currently make up the TV schedules. It had a beautiful ending, one that could forever let the reader wonder what happens next or be a launching into a sequel.

The Runner's Rule Book by Mark Remy. This was an awesome read. It timed it really well, as this is what I used to kill the hour and a half I was at the Austin Cap10K starting line waiting to go. Remy is one of the daily bloggers on RunnersWorld.com and one that I try to read every day. His humor is perfectly suited to these short quips. It was a really quick read and it made me want to go out and run, but to make sure I took the time to enjoy it when I did.

Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr. This is the fourth book of the Wicked Lovely series. This book features Ani, a half-faery, half-human of the Dark Court and Devlin of the High Court. It featured characters previously introduced in Ink Exchange and Fragile Eternity. It was really interesting to go back and reread Ink Exchange and see the seeds Marr planted in the earlier books that came to fruition in the later books. It speaks of master of the plan for the Wicked Lovely world, almost like Harry Potter, but a much smaller scale. The only thing that bothered me was the more omniscient point of view. I was used to Marr's style switching between a couple characters alternating at chapter delineations. But this was further away from the characters and switched mid chapter. It was harder to follow. I'm starting to get over this series. If it had an indefinite end, I'd probably quit reading at this point. As there is just one more planned, Darkest Mercy, I will probably finish out the series.

Making the Cut by Jillian Michaels. So I was contemplating changing up my workout routine. I get the spam email from JillianMichaels.com, one of which advertising this book. This is the first book of hers that I picked up. I haven't followed Biggest Loser in order to know her methodology. I was disappointed that this book didn't include more of the explanation behind the plan. It didn't allow for the reader to apply the lessons for themselves, particularly in the diet plans. This book is meant for people who want to get "ripped" in thirty days. Its style was close to a "shut up and do what I say because I know what I'm talking about." The particular exercises she uses are very specific to her, ones I've never heard of before. I'm sure that this book will give results to those that stick to the plan. But this isn't the plan for me. I am not going to follow blindly.

Unbound. This was an anthology of short stories: Ley Line Drifter by Kim Harrison. Harrison is author of the Hollows series which I loved and plowed through all of the books available last fall. This short story stars one of the major characters, a pixy named Jenks as he takes an investigation on without his employer, Rachel Morgan. He is his usual comedic self, complete with his hilarious swearing that I catch myself saying in my head. It was a great short read and complements the rest of the Hollows world well. Reckoning by Jeaniene Frost. I wasn't familiar with this author. It's about a vampire, Bones, who hunts down two ghouls who are committing gruesome murders in NOLA during Mardi Gras. Eh, wasn't very impressed. Dark Matters by Vicki Pettersson. Also an author I've never heard of before. I absolutely loved the idea behind this world. Superheroes and supervillians exist in isolation and work to keep humans unaware of their existence. Comic books actually are the documentation of politics and current events in their world. The characters in this were great, and I definitely want to read more from here. The Dead, the Damned, and the Forgotten by Jocelyn Drake. This story made me suddenly VERY over vampire stories. I really didn't get into it very much and found it too like all the other vampire worlds out there. Two Lives by Melissa Marr. Marr is another of the headliners on this anthology that made me buy the book. This story is about a young glaestig (a particular species of fairies) named Eavan who is trying to prevent a drug dealer from enslaving young women. This story had no ties whatsoever to the Wicked Lovely stories. It was a good story, but again I'm getting a little tired of Marr. Overall, it was a good quick read and I'm glad it introduced me to Jocelyn Drake, but otherwise not fantastic.

I am still working my way through Wicked, but I am finding I enjoy reading on my nook or iPhone. It's really portable and convenient. The books that I have in hard copy are gathering dust on my shelves, but the eBooks I go through really quickly.

April Movie Mash-Up

2010-04-25T19:37:00.000-05:00

Because I'm behind and feeling lazy today, I'm doing a combo review of three movies I've seen recently. None of which really merit their own review anyway.

Kick Ass wasn't what I was hoping for. I hope it was a comedic slant on the superhero theme, but it ended up being perhaps a kid's version of The Watchmen. It was much more violent than I thought it was going to be, the majority of the violence coming from the little girl. The story of the average guy and the one with Big Daddy/Hit Girl didn't really meld too well. Not great. Oh, and don't take your kids to see this one.

The Backup Plan was probably one of the worst chick flicks I've seen in a really long time. Okay, maybe not worst, but least likely to actually happen. I believed Jennifer Lopez's character and her back story, but I came out of the theater almost pissed off at how unrealistic the dude was. He pursues her more ardently than any guy I've ever met, almost to the point of being a stalker. When he finds out she's pregnant, he doesn't bail like a normal guy would, which perhaps is modern day heroism, but it's also highly unlikely.

The Losers was probably the best of the bunch. It was kind of a relief to see new faces in a movie, aside from Zoe Saldana (StarTrek, Avatar). I liked that they brought back the comic book graphics element to the titles and in little pieces throughout the film. I also liked Chris Evans and Oscar Jaenada. They had a Jay and Silent Bob feel to their characters. For a guy movie, it was okay.

I'm ready for the good summer movies to come out now.

LASIK or Bust

2010-04-22T20:53:00.000-05:00

This post will be my story as I recover from LASIK surgery. I’ll update it as I go through the next month since my vision is supposed to improve over that time. I hope anyone who has gone through the surgery can relate and my experience can help anyone wanting to have it!

Day 1 – Surgery Day. The excitement is tempered with nervousness. I have a hard time imagining what it will be like. Will it be like HD versus Digital? Instead of seeing trees will I be able to see leaves on trees?

My sister picks me up and we chat about classes on the way to the doctor’s office. Ava plays with the magazines that have been set out in the lobby. Soon I am taken to the exam room and the prep work starts. I am getting quiet, but Ava breaks the silence as she gets into a mood that cannot be soothed by Baby Einstein. I am finally taken into the operating room. One wall is glass so that those in the waiting room can see. A flat screen TV shows images of the actual surgery to those waiting.

I lay down and the nurses get me in position. The doctor comes in and they start by cutting the flap on each eye. It is the most painful part of the procedure, but it is more uncomfortable than painful. The put what my sister described as a torture device on my eye and pushed on it until all I could see was black. Then in thirty eight seconds the laser has made its cut. I twist my long sleeves in my hand while it works, and then again as they do the same to the other eye.

Then comes the actual vision correction with a different laser. They tell me to look at the blinking red dot, which really looks like a red pulsing blob. Or a Lite Brite starburst made from only red pins. Or a kaleidoscope. Then comes forty three seconds of clicking like a ratchet. There is a burning smell, like smoldering ashes. I try not to relate that smell to burning human flesh. I am afraid that I am looking the wrong way and may mess up the procedure, making the four grand I spent on five minutes ineffectual.

Faster than expected it is all over and the doctor clears me to go. The first things I see in my greased-over vision are the shadows of my sister and niece and I know all is right with the world. I close my eyes on the way home like the doctor says. I go to bed wearing my oh-so-sexy safety glasses that will be my bedmate for the next week. It burns and I cry as Ambien takes me into dreamland.

Day 2. I am almost afraid to turn on the light. Already some of the greasiness and fogginess has abated. On the way to the follow up appointment, I notice that the headlights and street lights are haloed, like they said they would be. It looks and feels like I have had my contacts in to long. They say I have 20/20 vision already and that it will get better from here. I have drops to take really frequently as my eyes heal. I am still having trouble wrapping my head around it. And my life is now changed.

Fiesta 10K Race Report

2010-04-18T19:46:00.000-05:00

Race: Fiesta Mission 10K

Distance: 10K

Goal Time: 1:15-1:20

Actual Time: 1:15:35 (12:10 min/mi) Personal Record!

Fiesta kicked off this week in San Antonio. I think it's related to the Battle of the Flowers, but nowadays, it is a city-wide ten days of partying. I have never done the more popular events like Oyster Bake or Night in Old San Antonio. Last year I did the Fiesta Fandango, a 2.6 mile fun run that preceded the Fandango parade downtown. This year I decided to forgo the ridiculous heat of that and went to the 10K instead.

There were patchy thunderstorms on my way to the race which held out long enough for me to finish and then pour during the post-race party. The run was at Mission County Park, the usual location for races put together by the San Antonio Road Runners. The park follows the river that flows between the stops on the Mission Trail. If you go far enough, the trail runs right next to Mission Espada, my favorite. It's been raining the last half of this week, so the river is pretty full and the grass is really green. Usually the water is pretty low, and the area isn't really well cared for, so the river smells like rancid broccoli. We lucked out and only the area near the turnaround smelled like overcooked spinach. The trail itself is an easy stretch of gently rolling hills. Much easier technically than the Cap10K course, but tt was a lot more humid than last weekend.

I'm coming up on my LASIK surgery and I'm in the period of time before the surgery where I can't wear contacts. So this was my first and last race with my glasses. They didn't do me much good. They fogged up in the first half mile. I hooked them in the collar of my shirt and raced the rest with blurry vision. I tried to imagine what it would be like to not have to have glasses or contacts to see. I won't have to imagine for long.

Adding to the difficulty of the humidity, I forgot my headphones at home. Normally I hardly pay attention to the music that is playing, but it's helpful for times when I need to push myself. A lot of my inner monologue during the race was coaching myself to keep up the pace. I put a lot of stress on myself to PR again this weekend. Between that and the weather conditions, I did not have nearly as much fun as I did in Austin. But I did PR again! Another minute off my PR time, shedding 7 minutes over last year's PR of 1:22. Most likely that will be my fastest 10K time as we get into the summer races where it's really too hot for me to keep a pace like that.

I hope to take a few weeks off of racing to finish out the semester at school, have my vacation in Orlando, and regroup my training plan. It was a good race, and I did well, but I need a time out from race weekends.

Official Results
Race Photos
Scotty's Report

Date Night

2010-04-17T14:50:00.001-05:00

The Fosters are a normal American married couple. Their kids wreak havoc every morning as the family gets ready to go to school and unsatisfying jobs. Phil and Claire try to keep the romance alive by a ritual date night, but it just adds to the monotonous day-in-day-out routines they follow. Then, one date night Phil makes an attempt to change a routine by taking Claire to a new restaurant. They take the reservation of a no-show and end up in a whirlwind set of events that makes a date night they will never forget.

Date Night is honestly one of the best adult movies I have seen in a really long time. I don't even know what to compare it to because it is so unlike any movie I've seen. I really hope that it earns some Best Comedy of the Year awards, but it has earned them.

Tina Fey and Steve Carell are at their best. They have great chemistry together and fantastic delivery. If you go see the movie, make sure to stay all the way through the credits to watch some hilarious outtakes. They use adult humor, mainly lots of sexual references, but in an adult manner. Not the kind of adult humor portrayed in a childish way like some of Will Ferrell's movies (Old School comes to mind). William Fitchtner, Ray Liotta, James Franco and Mila Kunis round out the rest of the cast. And of course, Mark Wahlberg's muscles had several cameos.

Forgive me a brief rant. I'm getting really tired of "stupid" humor movies. Just like the "rugged" look encourages average guys to sport the "mountain man" look, "stupid" humor encourages the twenty- and thirty-something men to have absolutely idiotic jokes. You will now be returned to your regularly scheduled blog.

I loved that this movie addressed an issue that is common for couples in long term relationships. Getting into a routine is an inevitable step for adult couples. But then the routine becomes the defining part of daily life. Breaking out of it becomes very difficult, especially as the routine starts to span years. The movie shows a unique adventure that most couples probably won't ever experience, but the point is the same. Sometimes all it takes to change a routine is getting a little more dressed up than usual, trying a different restaurant. Just taking a chance.

It's a great movie, an excellent date movie, and one that will be going on my shelf as soon as it's available.

Clash of the Titans

2010-04-15T18:35:00.000-05:00

I grew up with the original Clash of the Titans. This, along with the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, were the awesomely bad clay-mation fantasy flicks that we watched over and over during my formative years. From the first time I saw the trailer for the remake, I knew what it was before they even showed the title. I wanted to see it even then. Throw in the hunky Sam Worthington, and I am definitely down. (On a side note, I first saw Sam in a great film called Bootmen. Anyone else seen that?)

Overall, the story follows the general gist of what I remember from the original. But where they definitely veered from the original was making is a man versus gods battle and I think the story is poorer for it. In the Greek stories, rebelling against the gods was just not done. In what I know of the mythology, there is no question that the gods exist, that they play a role in human lives, and that some lucky few are favored. Disbelief in deity or refusal of deity is something that is prevalent in today's society. I understand why they changed that part of the story to make it easier for current audiences to relate to the story, but I don't agree with it.

Other details that bothered me: that Cassiopeia says Andromeda is more beautiful than the gods, but Io is more beautiful than Andromeda by far; Cassiopeia was supposed to offer up Andromeda for sacrifice without issue, because Cassiopeia is vain beyond belief; Perseus' patronage by Zeus and Io, when I thought he was supposed to be sponsored by Athena.

It was awesome that they gave a nod to the original by pulling out a little clockwork owl out of a trunk of weapons. I kept hoping to see it somewhere in the rest of the film, but it didn't make a reprise. Pegasus was an amazing animal, even without the CG wings. He was perfect. Ralph Fiennes did an awesome job as Hades. He is such a good bad guy for such a good looking man.

I also want to personally thank Lindy Hemming for her costume design. I absolutely love that period Greek costumes mean short skirts for men. It provided such great eye candy throughout the movie. Gemma Arterton as Io was also exquisitely dressed.

This was a well done epic movie, though not quite on par with Troy or Avatar. I still plan to add it to my collection, on the shelf right next to the original.

Whirlwind Weekend and Race Report

2010-04-11T18:37:00.000-05:00

This weekend included the most driving I've done in a long time. But I successfully both went to the Poteet Strawberry Festival and the Ausin-American Statesman Capitol 10K.

Poteet is actually a lot closer than I had thought it was. I decided to hit up the festival before heading out to the Cap10K expo. I got there right when it opened up, and was able to walk around the whole thing really quickly. I got some strawberries in a "walkabout cup" as I walked by some of the vendors. They were the best I've ever had - juicy and not super sweet. I also picked up the recommended strawberry shortcake and a slice of strawberry bread. The whipping cream and cake kind of destroyed the taste of the strawberries. The strawberry bread was offerred by the local band boosters. It tasted a lot like zucchini bread, with some pinkish swirls throughout. The cake and bread were okay, but not nearly as good as the strawberries in their raw form. I only wish I was headed back home so I could buy up a case. I wish I could have stayed longer to see more of the rodeo and food events.

I met up with my high school friend Chris for dinner at Iron Cactus. Chris and I caught up on a couple years of events and hopes. He has mastered the talent of understated sarcasm that makes his storytelling so great to listen to. We split the Tuna Ceviche for an appetizer and I had Lobster Tacos for dinner. Since they're known for their tequila selection, we also had a couple of margaritas each. The tequila of choice was Republic Repasado. It was so worth it. I highly recommend it to anyone in its vicinity. (They have other stuff on the menu other than seafood, if you're not into it.) They have a sister restaurant on the Riverwalk, so I will definitely be attempting to get down there as soon as I can.

Race: Austin-American Statesman Capitol 10K

Distance: 10K

Goal Time: 1:24 to 1:30
Personal Record: 1:21:42

Actual Time: 1:16:46 (12:22 min/mi) NEW PR!

The Cap10K is promoted as the largest 10K in Texas. They weren't lying. I got up ridiculously early to make sure I got a parking spot near the finish. I'm glad I did. I got to the start line around 7am, after procuring coffee and food. he start line looked like this when I got there. I killed time by warming up, stretching, and reading Wicked Lovely on my B&N eReader on my iPhone. It's so convenient to have a GPS, phone, mp3 player, camera, internet, and book all wrapped up into a little sleek package.

It looked like this at 8am. The weather forecast said cloudy with 10% chance of precipitation. It began drizzling around 8:15 and didn't stop until I was driving home. The drizzling made it a little cooler and is an acceptable consolation prize for high humidity. The race started late, like they always do, but at least not by much. My start was about three minutes after gun time.

My Polar heart rate monitor wasn't picking up either my heart rate or my footpod (for pace), so I had no idea how fast I was going or how close I was to my max HR. I was going by just how I felt. I recorded my mile splits and was surprised every time. I wasn't going too hard. I walked through hills and water stations. I just kind of kept going. In the first half I thought that somewhere down the course I would have some issue that would slow me down, but it seemed like everything was aligning just right. I was working hard, but feeling great doing it.

I was super excited when closing in on the finish I knew that I was going to get a PR. At that point, I could tell I was beginning to overheat, so I just kind of cruised to the end. It was around mile 5.5 or so that I came up on this guy - the Music Man - who was providing running commentary. Literally. He had a record player and a microphone and was talking to the crowd around him. He was hilarious. I hung out for a little bit near him and he helped me keep smiling like an idiot all the way to the finish line.

The finish line was a mess. With getting a PR, I wish I had someone waiting for me that I could celebrate with. I have decided that this is a requirement for all prospective significant others - willingness either to run events with me or wait at the finish. But it worked out well for me today since I don't think I could have found someone in that cluster or human madness. I managed to procure a banana and a bottle of water. I passed at least one person that had three bottles of Vitamin Water, two bananas, and two or three bags of chips. People like that are the reason why I bring my own food to eat after most races. As a slowpoke, I usually don't get refreshments by the time I get to the finish. I waited in a ridiculous line for a free massage. I think I deserved it, don't you?

It was a great weekend all around. On the way home I got the same feeling I get after I finish my cooking classes. A vibrancy, a high, that I can only relate to feeling like I want to make out with someone, or go jump in puddles. Something, anything, just to get more living into a few more seconds.

And now I'm back and will all too soon return to the regularly scheduled grind.

Battlestar Galactica

2010-04-09T14:24:00.000-05:00

The Twelve Colonies have been destroyed by Cylons- man made machines. The only humans who survived were the ones in transit between the colonies and not on one of the planets. Yet Cylons have a trick up their sleeve - they now look human instead of like machined robots. Now the fifty thousand survivors have to find a way to escape extinction in the middle of deep space.

Apologies to anyone reading this that is planning to watch it - there will be spoilers.

I don't watch a whole lot of TV. I only saw Battlestar Galactica after each season was available on DVD. I finally finished watching the last season. The fourth season definitely wasn't the best. I think my favorite was the first one. I had looked forward to seeing the last season for so long, I think that may have increased my disappointment a bit.

I loved all the allusions to the zodiac and Greek myths. It would have been cool to have more of the Greek stories intertwined with some of the back story or world building. But what they did have did allow me to geek out a bit.

I didn't like Gaius Baltar. I didn't like his character at all, but I think that was the intention of the writers. I really didn't believe him as a religious leader. I only barely believed him as a political leader, but it was less of a stretch. Gaius' storyline just went off the deep end in seasons three and four.

My favorite character of the bunch is Kara Thrace. It's disappointing that Katee Sackhoff hasn't been in much else. I really like her. I loved the turmoil she struggles through. She handles some things well and others poorly. Some days she loves her job, other days she just gets by. I also love her physique - both beautiful and powerful. She's kind of my inspiration for the physique I want.

The last few episodes were very odd. I finally felt the complaints that many people had about Lord of the Rings Return of the King. that there were too many endings. I didn't feel that way about LOTR, but all the unnecessary flashbacks were grueling. And then it kept going. The way all the lines were settled felt sloppy and rushed. I feel for the writers since they probably had to tie everything up faster than they were expecting to. It was like the writing/producing/directing team knew did a poor job of bridging the gap between where they were and where the ending was.

So the ending was just plain weird. I got really wrapped up in the first couple of seasons. I absolutely recommend those, but I think the show is better without the fourth season. More complete, even. I admit it's a really nerdy show, but the way it combined military, mythology, and science fiction was really well done.

At this point, I have no plans to watch Caprica, the prequel spinoff on the SciFi channel.

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

2010-04-08T20:45:00.000-05:00

Born to Run is a nonfiction story about a few elite ultrarunners and a tribe of Mexican natives called Talahumara. The narrator takes you on a journey of discovery of the engineering of the human body, the evolution of the running industry, and ultrarunning.

The Tarahumara, named the "Running People" in their own language, live in the intense environment of the most remote regions of the Sierra Madres. They are an isolated culture, one where the economy runs exclusively on the trading of acts of kindness and corn beer. They are the most peaceful people on earth, even when duelling drug cartels prey on travelers in the area. The Running People are also the worlds fastest ultrarunners, but you'll never see them.

Ultrarunning refers to distances longer than a marthon, usually found in distances of 50 kilometers, 50 miles, 100 kilometers, or 100 miles. Not only is the distance itself grueling, but the events are usually held in the most difficult of climates, like the extreme heat of Death Valley, or at high altitude, extremely mountainous regions, or on an all-terrain trail.   Hallucination, severe dehydration, and severe injury are not uncommon.

After reading this book, I wish I was hardcore enough to do that. It's hard enough for me to wrap my head around a ten mile run, much less a marathon or more.

It was interesting to see the narrative images of some of the modern ultrarunners like Scott Jurek and Barefoot Ted.   The group of elites that went on this trip to race with the Tarahumara in their homeland call themselves "Mas Locos" after the event. You would have to be crazy in order to run 50 miles in that environment. But they are all very unique individuals and the author shows their personality quirks delightfully.

There is a great deal of science in this book that is very interesting to prove two points: that the modern running show actually causes more problems than it prevents, and why the human is better suited to endurance running than any other animal. Anthropologists and biological locomotion experts looked at animals like rabbits, deer, and cheetahs who can only breathe once per stride. Humans are not limited in their breathing patterns to their running cadence, but most stick to a 2 steps to 1 breath cycle. They also spent some time on how standing upright is actually a benefit over being a quadruped. Humans can cool down quicker through the evaporation of sweat on our hairless skin rather than being dependent on losing heat through our mouths like dogs.   It was quite an interesting look at human evolution.

The book goes on to claim that the modern running shoe is to blame for modern running injuries. More people are suffering running injuries, but we have the most advanced running shoes ever. Or at least the most expensive. They are designed to insulate the feet from rough terrain, reduce natural motion, and decrease impact to your legs. The theory is that by doing all that, they prevent the brain from receiving information from the feet. This results in poor running form, which is the cause of all the common running problems: runner's knee, planar fascilitis, pulled tendons, etc. I use motion control shoes, but it's because the theory is that the greater amount of sole will lessen the impact caused by my weight. It's a standard rule for overweight runners. The only issue I complain of is from intermittent lower back pain which usually works itself out with stretching.

The sources listed in this book are only part of a larger set of information that is fueling a barefoot running movement among the running community. I normally walk around in rather supportless flats most of the time. I actually went to try on a pair of Vibram Five Fingers, one of the go-to names of the movement. I originally thought that I wouldn't be able to wear them because I have webbed toes. The first knuckle of my second and third toes are joined. (I never knew anyone else other than my family who had this, but I discovered today that two of my coworkers have the same thing! Weird coincidence!) My first impression is that I had the intense desire to wiggle my toes all the time. And go dancing. It's interesting that you don't break in the shoes to your feet, you break in your feet to the shoes. My toes feel a little sore from being spread apart for so many hours, but I'm looking forward to trying to get used to them in time to be able to wear them for a day during my Orlando trip.

This book did a great job of making a narrative out of ultrarunning events, anthropology, and sociology. It makes me want to run twenty miles barefoot when I've never done anything like it. The Mas Locos have some great photos from their run in the Sierra Madres. Be sure to check them out! (This one of Jenn Shelton is my favorite of the bunch. She was the wild child. Can you tell?)

March's Lion and Lamb

2010-04-03T19:30:00.000-05:00

March for me came in like a lamb and out like a lion, with life getting crazier the last half of the month. It includes some big changes for me, and the intense desire for more. I think I'm more myself and closer to being on the right track, but who knows at this point.

Read 4 books - Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, Stardust by Neil Gaiman, and Angel Time by Anne Rice. This puts me at 11 books so far for the year and 25% non-fiction. I don't think I'm going to make it to 50, but I'm okay with that.
Paid down more debt. I'm now focusing on my second mortgage, and the interest rate on it pisses me off every day. According to mint.com, my net worth is now more than my retirement savings. This makes me happy because it means that right now I have a positive net worth. Sure, it's only a thousand bucks or so, and it's only projected worth of my assets, but still, it makes me happy.
Wrote 13045 words in March, the largest monthly tally yet. I blew past the goal of 12000 words, but wrote a whole bunch on the blog rather than on finishing the NaNo novel. I'm okay with that because I did a whole bunch of stuff in the latter half of the month that I wanted to share in this space.
Made a healthy-ish blueberry coffee cake during my week to bring noms to work. The guys really liked it, which always helps. I even overheard a teammate bragging about it to someone visiting in the area later.
Ran my fastest year-to-date 5K in 37:44. Convinced a posse of friends and family to walk a 5K. Passed 1000 miles on Nike Plus. I want to be more consistent in my miles per week and in my nutrition habits. For April I want to close the gap on my target year to date total miles.
Saw some new places in San Antonio, which I'm counting for my artsy endeavors for this month. The brunch at Alamo Drafthouse was pretty cool too.
Had some great time with the family when Beth came down. Above was a great family photo with my sisters and my niece and nephew. They're so stinking cute.

I made some big decisions in March. Growing up is definitely difficult. This is the first time I've had to make a hard decision because it's the right thing to do. It was hard. Even now when I struggle to go back to the easy way, I know it was the right thing and stick to my decision.

I have had an intense desire the last half of the month to have a drastic change. Ideas entertained include a tattoo, chopping off my hair, moving to a condo in Alamo Heights, and getting LASIK surgery. The tattoo is something I definitely want, but need to go to the local tattoo convention in June to see first hand what I really want. My long hair is too convenient to put back when I cook or run, and I want to keep it that way. A condo is the next step for me if things go according to plan, but there's still too much still to do on the house before it's ready to rent out.

So that leaves LASIK. I've known I've wanted to do it for a while, but planned on saving it as a treat for when I payed off all my debt. I've gotten consultations and have discussed it with some people, and I think it's going to be a go for sometime in April. I'm really looking forward to it. It feels like a quick decision, but I think it's the change I need for this part of my life. If anyone has feedback on LASIK they or a friend have had, leave it in the comments below!

San Antonio Really Is Cool

2010-04-02T17:42:00.000-05:00

Often enough I tend to think that San Antonio is deficient in culture and activities that other large Texas cities have in spades. But as I venture outside of the little sphere of my daily commute, I find that the city really is interesting. Last weekend was a great example.

The Pearl Brewery was an icon of the city until its operations closed in 2001. Since then, it has been bought out and is now in the process of turning into a place of interest for both locals and tourists. The most well known institution to set up shop in the complex is the Culinary Institute of America-San Antonio. I didn't get a chance to see it, but it definitely has created a hub-bub of conversations. The Riverwalk and river tours have expanded so reach all the way from the River Walk to the Pearl Brewery. The newly landscaped river on the back side of the brewery is very pretty. Right now there is even more construction going on as lofts are being built out in and around the original brewery. Run Wild Sports has sponsored several of the local races I've done. For those with small kids, the Twig bookstore has a wonderful storyteller. I think my twin sister enjoyed the storyteller more than my niece or nephew.

Now, every Saturday the complex sports a farmers market that is gaining popularity. There were a couple dozen vendors when we were there, and maybe a hundred or so people milling about. Local produce is common, but there were at least two bakeries, one lavender farm, a lamb vendor, and a bison vendor. I was incredibly intrigued by the latter two, which I will have to come up with an excuse as to why I should get some of their wares. There are different cooking demonstrations by local chefs each week as well live music. Many people brought their dogs on the morning we went. I spent quite a bit of time making sure my nephew didn't get too close to the unfriendly ones. I didn't get to spend as much time there as I would have liked, but fully intend to go back on my own soon.

Another cool event I first heard of by noticing one of those over-the-street banners: the San Antonio Highland Games. Later on, I heard them talking about it on a morning local talk radio spot. It was held in the Helotes Festival Grounds, which is home to one of the most popular Fiesta events. The main reason for this is to provide competitive event for professional "heavy athletics." I didn't understand the rules of the single event that we saw, but it would have been cool to see some of the other events. I found it interesting that a kilt and stockings are required attire for competitors. (For Chris W. - I saw quite a few Utili-kilts!) We missed the dog events, but saw a troop of Irish dancers and several groups playing Celtic music. I don't do Guinness, but I did have a couple pints of Belhaven which isn't as dark as Guinness, but is a very deep brown and has a woody taste. I really want to see more of the athletic events, so I will probably try to go to this event next year. Coolest thing - it took Mom three or so hours to remember the surname of our Scottish ancestors, but we have a crest!

Race Report: GYRIG 5K

2010-03-30T21:41:00.001-05:00

Race: Get Your Rear In Gear 5K

Distance: 5K

Goal Time: None

Actual Time: 1:10:??

This 5K was really just a chance to do something active with the family while my sister was visiting. In our family, Beth and I lead the health kick, but it has rubbed off on Theresa as she works off her baby weight and to Mom as she works to keep her diabetes in check. I succeeded in bribing Beth to do this event as a chance to meet Scotty in person. Mom was relieved when I told her that Brackenridge Park is flat and shady - quite the opposite from her previous 5K experience. Theresa came along for the ride with the kids in tow. I was really glad that Amanda decided to come out too! She kidnapped Brittany and bribed her with brunch to round out our posse at the event.

It was cool and breezy on race day. The course was perfect - shady and picturesque. We took a short break about halfway, but we had to stop a couple of times to put the wheel back on Theresa's wagon for the kids. We just chatted and made faces at the kids the whole way and crossed the finish around 1:10:00. As walkers, we weren't officially timed, but I'm proud of it considering we started at the very back and had the few stops. Brittany didn't start out believing me that it wouldn't be too bad. Just get her chatting and the time just flies by! I hope she's a convert and that she and Amanda and I will do another walk together in the future (hint hint!).

It was a great way to start the day. Afterward came brunch with everyone at the nearest IHOP, then our family split off for more playing in the park. It was a beautiful way to spend the a gorgeous San Antonio spring day.

I'll end with a shout out to Cotton "Pa" Hobson, my brother-in-law's grandfather who died of colon cancer a few years ago. Beth dedicated her walk to him.

Other race reports:
Scotty's Race Report
Running Raider
Amanda's report
Official Photographs

Check back later for more pictures! (I'll upload them soon, I promise!)

The Gerard Butler Double Feature Weekend

2010-03-30T07:01:00.000-05:00

This weekend was incredibly busy, going to and fro to different family events to entertain my visiting sister. Gerard Butler is one of our favorite actors so it was a no-brainer that these movies were on our radar. We made it to two movies, both with Gerard Butler as one of the key cast members: Bounty Hunter at Alamo Drafthouse was our "twin date," and How to Train Your Dragon was something we watched with our mom.

Bounty Hunter follows a reporter chasing a story who fails to appear at her court date. Her ex-husband, a bounty hunter, takes the job of bringing her back to jail for skipping bail.

I was hoping that this movie would be the next Mr. and Mrs. Smith - no pun or social commentary intended. It wasn't. I think it could have been with more work on the script or better storyboards or photography. It ended up just being a cute movie instead of a great movie. I had a blast watching this with my sister, but overall it's forgettable. However I highly recommend Breckenridge's Agave Wheat seasonal- a very refreshing hefeweisen.

Again, I was put off by Gerard Butler's "I haven't shaved in two weeks" look. Perhaps that was applicable to this particular character, but to me it just looks messy and lazy. It still does the trick for my sister, so there's still at least some demand for it somewhere.

How to Train Your Dragon follows Hiccup, a teenage viking that is the laughingstock of his town because he is too puny to fight dragons, the town's main occupation. He uses his ingenuity with mechanics to catch the dreaded nightfury and prove himself to the clan in a way he never intended.

Dreamworks did a great job with this movie. Everything came together well: characters were unique individuals, the animation really established the culture and environment, and the story was really moving. (No, I didn't cry.) I'm definitely going to buy this when it comes out.

The cast on this were all relatively up-and-coming younger actors as the viking teenagers- America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, and Jay Baruchel. I'm really looking forward to seeing what they will do next. Gerard Butler does a great job as the town chief and Hiccup's father.

We saw this movie at Santikos Silverado. I was reminded again why I prefer the Drafthouse, even besides the food and beverage service. Perhaps the mistake was ours by seeing a PG movie on a Sunday afternoon. There were kids screaming in the theater every thirty minutes or so. It completely ruined a poignant scene. The 18-and-up-all-shows rule at Drafthouse has sheltered me for a long while.

If you're going to see a Gerard Butler move, go see How to Train Your Dragon, or rent Timeline or 300. I imagine Bounty Hunter will go down on the list of movies that no one will remember.

Angel Time by Anne Rice

2010-03-25T20:19:00.000-05:00

I finally finished Angel Time by Anne Rice. This book is the first in her new Songs of the Seraphim series, focusing on the intervention of angels into the human world. Angel Time follows Toby O'Dare, a professional assassin who is offered a chance at redemption. It is a Christian historical novel that looks into Jewish-Christian relations in Europe in the Middle Ages.

This is my first time to read Anne Rice, Christian fiction, or a historical novel. I'm thinking that it's just not my thing which is why I really contemplating abandoning it. The book is written from mostly Toby's point of view, with a short stint from the angel Malchiah's point of view. The whole middle was mostly listening to other characters relate previous events. I was only intrigued by the first few and final few chapters where the main character was actually doing something. Maybe I'm too used to fantasy books where the main character is actively slaying dragons or some such.

For me, this book was a snooze-fest. I really wanted to like Anne Rice, but Angel Time just didn't do it for me.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

2010-03-24T07:45:00.000-05:00

I don't remember how I came across Stardust, but I know I was attracted first to the movie, then to the book. I am notorious for picking up random "B" movies from the local movie rental establishment, especially bad sci-fi/fantasy. I don't even remember this movie coming out in theaters in 2007. Either way, it was a random pick off the wall for a movie rental sometime last year. I immediately loved it.

In the tranquil fields and meadows of long-ago England, there is a small hamlet that has stood on a jut of granite for 600 years. Just to the east stands a high stone wall, for which the village is named. Here, in the hamlet of Wall, young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. And here, one crisp October eve, Tristran makes his love a promise -- an impetuous vow that will send him through the only breach in the wall, across the pasture... and into the most exhilarating adventure of his life. - from neilgaiman.com.

The movie was great. Great story with adventure, excitement, and a melt-your-heart love story. Great cast including Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, I adore Claire Danes, and I think that's what attracted me to this movie first. (I absolutely adored Stage Beauty.) The male lead Charlie Cox also did a great job. As soon as I saw the DVD in the previewed pile for less than ten bucks (my requirements for adding movies to my already ridiculous collection), it was mine.

After that, I discovered Neil Gaiman as an author. I read Neverwhere last fall, which I picked up because the cover cited Stardust. It is only now that I managed to finish Stardust the novel, and it is even better than the movie.

The ending is different than that of the movie, which I understand why the movie people changed it for a more dramatic culminating point. I loved the sword fight scene at the end of the movie, but the real ending has so much more finesse. It's so subtle, you don't even see it coming, but it doesn't hit you like a slap in the face, more like a brand-new pillow cased in Egyptian cotton. It lets you know that all is right with the world, there are unseen forces pulling strings behind the scenes, but the good guys get rewarded in the end.

His style is different than what I remembered about Neverwhere. In this book, his voice is fairly whimsical, mainly accomplished through asides about miscellaneous creatures in the land of Faerie. He uses third omniscient to jump between characters, and it is amazing how much you can tell about a person without having to know their thoughts. As a novice writer, after reading this I realize much I rely on being able to know the character's thoughts in order to advance a story.

I highly recommend the movie, but even more so the book. Your life will be enriched by it.

Race Report: Run Wild for Brainpower

2010-03-23T17:07:00.000-05:00

Race: Run Wild for Brainpower 5K

Distance: 5K

Goal Time: 36-38 minutes

Actual Time: 37:44 (12:10 min/mi)

Alamo Series Tally: 1 of 1

This is my second March 5K benefiting University of the Incarnate Word’s Track and Field team. They advertised the course as flat and fast around the UIW campus. This was my first time to run this event, but it was well organized and fast indeed.

This is the first of 2010’s Alamo Series, which is a collection of nine local races leading up to the November Rock’N’Roll Marathon/Half Marathon. If you finish seven or more races, you get some pretty nice swag –embroidered clothing with the Alamo Series logo. I finished 6 last year, missing the first two events. I’m going to try to do the longer of the available distances at these races. The longest events are a 20 miler in September and a 25K (15.5 miles) in October.

I really had some motivation issues race morning. First it was twenty degrees colder than I was expecting – in the 30s when I woke up, rising into the 40s during the race, with a wicked cold wind. Then I didn’t want to make breakfast. I got to the race start with my stomach growling and mumbling something about coffee. I wanted to ditch the race, go home and curl up under the covers. I had to call my personal cheerleader/life coach (my sister) who yelled at me for even thinking about getting fast food breakfast and guilted me into staying for the short time it would take me to finish the short race. Then they delayed race start, which meant I would definitely not be done and cleaned up in time for my editing group.

Once I got rid of the stress of trying to do too much in a day, I relaxed a bit. The race itself was nice. I should have worn my trail shoes for the bits of off-roading along the course, but my regular shoes did fine. Again, my HR monitor was out of batteries so I just ran how I felt. I kind of zoned out and hardly looked at my watch. The campus was pretty, red brink with white stone accents that made me miss the architecture of Texas Tech a little bit.

I really wanted a 36 minute time, but I’m happy with my 37:44, my fastest 5K yet in 2010. Granted, this was much less difficult than the recent trail runs and not nearly as hilly as the AHHS run. According to the stats I keep, I did a lot better in the field than in my February runs. I was in the 95^th and 90^th percentile in my age group for the Eisenhower 10K and the Salado 8mi, respectively. I was 82^nd percentile at the AHHS 5K, and 55^th percentile yesterday. (Yes, I know I’m a nerd about numbers. At least I’m not yet as obsessed with number of miles per week.) My time is pretty average for me, so I’m curious to see if this was an anomaly or if I have in fact improved compared to others in my age group.

Scotty’s Race Review

All Results

Going Solo

2010-03-19T07:00:00.001-05:00

So I’ve had to rework some of my previous plans for a vacation in Orlando. I “won” a five night stay at a timeshare with free tickets to Universal Orlando and Islands of Adventure. I’m making the most out ouf in and turning it into my first ever solo adventure/vacation!

I figure that it’s as safe as the rest of the country; being a single woman in Orlando would be similar to being a single woman in San Antonio. If anyone knows of specific places in Orlando to avoid or be wary of, please let me know! (I can't avoid the timeshare, part of the contract. Yeah I was dumb to do that.)

I’m going to try to be spontaneous for this trip. It’s something I’m notoriously bad at. I’m sure those who don’t know me in person can tell by my blog how much of a planner I am. So the rough plan is to go to the theme parks until I’ve seen everything I want to or it gets too crowded. I want to see fireworks, ride some roller coasters, have one evening out.

I have been to Universal Orlando before when Texas Tech played for the Tangerine Bowl in 2002. The roller coasters there were awesome. I’m looking forward to being able make full use of the “single rider” lines. I know I want to do the Dueling Dragons ride again. It looks like the park has done a lot of expansion and renovations since then, including the unveiling of the World of Harry Potter this spring. Any other recommendations of what to do or skip?

I am going to look up different things to do in Orlando on the chance that I get bored with the theme parks. Seeing a Blue Man Group performance is on my life's to-do list. The CityWalk area sounds like just a big string of bars, but maybe there'll be a decent concert at one of the venues. Then if I put in a volunteer day, I'll see if the Walt Disney World tickets have run out yet.

Any other recommendations of things to check into if the theme parks are ridiculously crowded? Are the aquarium or botanical gardens any good? Any unusual museums or historic sites? Where should I get seafood or sushi?

Help me make my solo adventure a success! I’m depending on you!

She’s Out of My League

2010-03-18T17:30:00.002-05:00

I really had no previous intention of seeing She's Out of My League. I went to this movie as a way to get out of my house this past weekend. It was the only thing showing at that particular time. It wasn’t as much of a waste of time as I thought it would be.

Kirk meets a beautiful woman scored by his friends as a ten whereas his score is a five. As they start dating, the difference in their scores is clearly evident. As their relationship turns more serious, they either have to go their separate ways or find a way to bridge the gap.

Again, I went to the Drafthouse to watch this since it was around dinner time when I went to see it. I must sound like a broken record. But it’s my favorite! I had my usual pizza/salad combo with Woodchuck Amber cider to wash it down.

This movie started off being a guy’s movie but ended more like a chick-flick. This would probably make a really good compromise on date night if you’re looking to go see something with your significant other.

Kirk had really good bromance chemistry with both his friend Stainer and his brother. I assume that is how guys really do interact together. But I’m a girl, so I’ll never really know, and I’m okay with that. The lead actress was okay; her character was a bit too perfect for me to care much about her. I really liked her friend Patty though.

On the radio earlier in the week my morning show was talking about more “average” guys being shown on screen: more Topher Grace, Seth Rogen and John C. Reilly than Taylor Lautner, Jake Gyllenhal, and Brad Pitt. (I also like the trend of distinguished older gents like Liam Neeson, Dennis Quaid, and Chris Cooper.) This movie was full of average guys, and they did really well.

On the other hand, all the women in the movie were definitely in the above-average category. They were all on the top end of the attractiveness spectrum. I think movies have gone a long way in casting more average people, but it’s still far behind with females. Hopefully movies like Precious will help move in that direction.

In case you think I see a lot of movies already, there are a ton of upcoming ones that are already on my radar. And these are the ones just through this summer!

How to Train Your Dragon

Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Toy Story 3

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

2010-03-18T05:19:00.000-05:00

I went into Leviathan knowing only that Amanda really likes Scott Westerfeld and that it was steampunk, facts reiterated any time either Westerfeld or steampunk came up in conversation and Amanda was within earshot. I was not at all disappointed. I should understand by know that she has very good taste. Leviathan was a quick read and very entertaining along the way.

Aleksander of Austria is on the run after his parents are murdered. Deryn disguises herself as a boy (“Dylan”) to get into Britain’s Air Service. As the Great War spreads across continental Europe, both Alek and Dylan have to face unforeseen challenges and make new alliances in order to survive.

This is a really well done book. The conflicts build almost naturally. The characters think and act like real people. The world is complete. The words are clear and concise; not too little to make it believable, not too much to make it boring. I have a feeling that this is the case with all of Westerfeld’s works, as it feels so natural. It’s a style of writing I can definitely see myself aspiring to. I’ll need to get Amanda’s recommendation of what of his to read next. (Hint, hint.)

I was amazed as to the amount of thought that must have gone into the physics and engineering of this world. The major forces in the world are divided into “Clankers” and “Darwinists.” Clankers get the name from their machine-based military. Darwinists use animal-based genetically engineered life forms as their weapons of mass destruction. The physical details of the action scenes made it real to me.

It was also interesting is that Westerfeld tweaked details of actual history in order to get this alternate universe. Why does that remind me of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure?

Mad Tea Party

2010-03-16T18:30:00.000-05:00

So this weekend I got to go to Alamo Drafthouse's Mad Tea Party! This was one of their special events complete with a special three-course menu.

The party included a showing of Alice In Wonderland. Both of the Drafthouse venues in town had this special, but I opted for the non-3D version of the film. I'm not a huge fan of watching films in 3D. I have enough problems with astigmatism without movies playing with my depth perception.

I love the pre-show entertainment that Drafthouse has. Did you know that Disney's Alice in Wonderland was its third feature length film? And how could the introduction to this movie be complete without a clip from Edward Scissorhands? They got in a tribute to Tim Burton with Nightmare Before Christmas. I was most surprised by the inclusion of some clips from an old TV version of Alice in Wonderland. We had this on VHS recorded from when it originally aired when I was growing up. The recollection of Through the Looking Glass is solely from that version. I would love to watch it again, but haven't been able to find it anywhere.

First course was a Shrimp Ceviche in cucmber cups with champagne. This was my favorite course. They were the perfect little bite-size noshes. The cucumber cups were star-shaped. I wished the theater had more light in it so I could tell how they cut the cucumber into that shape. But alas, it shall remain a mystery. The ceviche had a good spice in it; it tasted like sour cream, cayenne, and paprika. I am definitely a champagne fan. I didn't used to be, but now I like having champagne to celebrate the everyday. The Wycliff was a brut, which I prefer. It had only a little bit of sweetness, with a bit of an apple taste. I doubled up and got a small bottle of Korbel Brut to sip through the rest of the film.

The second course was a Eggs Benedict with honey-cured ham on sourdough with Kendall Jackson Chardonnay. The poached eggs were good, and the ham was tasty, but my sourdough was all sorts of soggy. I absolutely despise soggy bread. It's one of the few textures I can't deal with. The green onion butter that came on top was okay, but not fantastic. I was impressed by the KJ Chardonnay. I normally veer away from both "brand name" wines and chardonnay. I don't particularly like sweet wines, and most of the chardonnays I've had are too sweet for me. This one had more of a citrus flavor and paired nicely with what I ate of the Eggs Benedict.

The third course was an apple tea cake with Earl Grey tea. I love hot tea. I've mostly had green tea lately, so it was nice to have a black tea for a change. The Earl Grey was nice, though I normally like it stronger. I probably have let it steep for longer. You needed the tea to eat the tea cake. It was muffin-shaped, but a bit on the dry side. It was like an under-sweetened individual-sized apple coffee cake. Okay, but not great.

The movie however was a great remake of the classic tale that most people know but hardly ever have read. My version of Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland had oodles of footnotes. The book shows why using contemporary slang and obscure politics are not a good idea. It sounds like nonsense now, but every one of the nonsense words had solid definition. I liked how they kept some of the great details from the book though: for example, the chess board, the pots flying around in the kitchen, and the queen screaming for her tarts. hey gave the story more a direct conflict - the White Queen versus the Red Queen. It made it a bit more accessible to modern audiences.

The cast was perfect. Johnny Depp, of course, who really excels at the oddball characters. I liked his "mad" spells a whole lot. His elocution of the Jabberwocky soliloquy was perfect. Again, loved Anne Hathaway. The White Queen's floaty-arm movements cracked me up. I recognized Alan Rickman's voice as the caterpillar immediately. Mia Wasikowska was lovely as Alice. She looks so much like a young Gweneth Paltrow, another of my fave actresses.

Wonderland is obviously one of those places where you have to have a vast variety of colors. So many movies use the absence of color as a statement, but here I think the intense and varied presence of color was an equally powerful thing. It's used more often in fantastical movies, like in Peter Pan, but why isn't it used in more modern settings? As I look around my desk right now I am see (my lack of a cohesive interior decorating scheme and ) lots of varied hues and shades of color.

Just a random thought to leave you "curiouser and curiouser."

Remember Me

2010-03-13T08:20:00.000-06:00

Remember Me is the story of 21-year-old Tyler Hawkins who is approaching the same age at which his older brother killed himself. His roommate Aidan convinces him to date Ally Craig, the daughter of a police officer who arrested Tyler and Aidan during a night out. Earlier traumas to the Hawkins and Craig families still test their relationships years later. As love develops between Tyler and Ally, there is a hope for healing that may finally put their families back together.

The choice for this movie was based on the requirement that I go to a socially accepted venue where I could sit alone in the dark, drink, and cry. So I saw Remember Me at the Alamo Drafthouse. I'm not a Robert Pattinson fan. He looks like a drug addict. It was the only chick flick playing at the theater. Most of the theater was filled with groups of three or four girls and a sprinkling of couples. After the movie I saw a few girls who looked like they barely surpassed the PG-13 distinction.

I got pizza and beer. I really wanted a margarita, but it feels wrong to order one at a beer-based place. I got Smithwick's Irish Ale, a dark beer with a reddish hue, with a roasted flavor. I haven't had it in a really long time, and the heartiness of it was perfect for the purpose.

My bet is that this movie wins awards. The writing of this movie was fantastic. There were some really great lines that I wish I remembered better to quote them. The ensemble was also really good, particularly: Aidan, the roommate (Tate Ellington); Caroline, the little sister(Ruby Jerins), Tyler's father (Pierce Brosnan), and Ally's father (Chris Cooper).

As much as I hate to admit it, Pattinson does a fantastic job. They were clearly playing off his popularity in casting him in this movie, confirmed by the cheers in the theater when the Eclipse trailer came on. He's probably in 90% of this film. They costumed him as a grungy, smoking, college-aged guy, complete with the "I haven't shaved in a week" stubble. (I'm getting really tired of that trend, by the way. Well, really average guys using it as an excuse to not shave ever.) They didn't try to make him look attractive in this movie. But he photographs really well- his features make it easy to play with lighting.

My bet is that there are nominations for Best Supporting Actor/Actress and Writing. It's too early in the year to tell if there will be nominations for Best Actor, Best Director, or Best Film.

Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead

2010-03-12T17:37:00.000-06:00

For Amanda’s birthday, Brittany and I took her out to dinner and to see a stage performance of Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead. I oh-so-cunningly got to pay for the theater tickets and dessert, much to Amanda’s chagrin. It definitely was a birthday of WIN! Check out her recollection of the evening here!

We went to Paesano’s in the Quarry where Amanda got a Seared Tuna, Brittany got the Lobster Linguine, and I got Coriander-Crusted Salmon and we shared the Grand Marnier Souffle. The bread selection was more varied than the Paesano’s on 1604 since they have a bakery on location in the Quarry. The Grand Marnier soufflé was very nice - not super sweet, but sufficiently indulgent. All of the dishes were fantastic, per usual.

The play was at the Sterling Houston Theater in the Blue Star Arts complex downtown. It was my first time to this theater and my second time to the Blue Star district at all. I definitely want to go back again, perhaps to try out the Blue Star Brewery or Casbeers. The theater itself was small, probably seating no more than a hundred people on small risers facing a floor stage. We got seats on the second row stage right side. We were really close to the stage and they were great seats.

I remember seeing the original Tom Stoppard movie (on VHS) in high school after we studied Hamlet. My mom, as a statistics teacher, likes to quote the opening coin-flipping scene in some of her lessons. But other than that, I barely remembered the content of Hamlet, much less Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead.

The San Antonio Shakespeare Company put on a really well done performance. The actors did a really great job and the staging was great. The title pair confuse their names, so I will refer to Guildenstern as the talkative one and Rosencrantz as the oblivious one. My favorite performance was Guildenstern’s, and I got to shake his hand after the show. It was hard to follow along with the Guil’s logic, but that’s kind of the point. He talks himself in circles. I was still really impressed by Rosencrantz. I loved the small mannerisms Ros used instead of words to portray the character. Alfred, the token transvestite, was also a great addition to the cast. I was originally put off by Hamlet, thought his “insanity” was overdone, especially with the crazy-eyes he used. After reading Hamlet, now I think it was a good choice. We went from laughing with and at the cast at the beginning to at the edge of our seats at the end. I felt attached to the characters, so their death made me tear up a little. Truly a great performance.

Afterward I did manage to get through Hamlet. Hamlet really is a player, in both the actor and a**hole sense of the word, though it is explained as his way of dealing with his father’s death. The only person he’s even honest around is Horatio. To everyone else he presents a different face. Hamlet is funniest when he’s with Polonius, Ophelia’s father. He wordsmiths circles around Polonius using completely sound logic that sounds insane. He sends Ophelia long letters but is a jerk to her face, part of what drives her to instability and suicide. Ros and Guil get called in by the King and Queen to try to find out what’s bothering Hamlet. Hamlet finds out and becomes insincere and evasive with Ros and Guil in an effort to thwart the King’s desires.

Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead flips Hamlet so that the minor characters become major and vice versa. The action follows Ros and Guil as they get called to Denmark to help the King and Queen to discover why Hamlet is acting so weird. They do everything they are asked to do, but still end up dead at the end.

I only read an analytical summary of the play rather than reading the original, but it was really eye opening. Death is a huge theme in the play, in particular the inability to accurately portray death onstage. Guil ends up deciding that death is failing to reappear, so at the end Ros and Guil disappear off the stage instead of dying onstage like the players. Fate versus chance is also a major theme, first shown in the unlikely coin toss at the beginning. Is it chance that Ros gets over a hundred “heads” in a row, or is it fate?

Tom Stoppard did a fantastic job with Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead and the end result is a play I wouldn’t mind analyzing in detail. I think I would do well to never have to read Hamlet again. I’ll be looking at San Antonio Shakespeare Company to see what else they put on in the future. And I’ll definitely try to get down to the Blue Star Arts district soon. This just proves that San Antonio really is arts-friendly, you just have to know where to find it!

Race Report: AHHS Run/Walk with the Band

2010-03-08T15:04:00.001-06:00

Race: Alamo Heights High School Run/Walk to the Beat 5K/10K
Distance: 5K
Goal Time: 38-40 minutes
Actual Time: 39:09 (12:38 min/mi)

This race was definitely a blast from the past. I signed up for this run in particular so I could support a local high school band program. This was apparently the twenty-something-th year they've had this event, which makes sense due to the higher per capita running stores around Alamo Heights than in the rest of the city.

I timed my arrival to be cutting it kind of close. I was getting tired of arriving at events forty five minutes to an hour before the event. I got to this one at about thirty minutes to start. It was enough to pick up my packet, gear up, and make the parade over to the start line.

You heard right- PARADE! The AHHS drumline (three snares, one quints, three bass drums, two cymbals), lead the pack through the neighborhood to the start line. I decided to walk in step with them. They weren't playing very tight and they had some tempo issues. But since it's a few months out of marching season, I assume they were just out of practice. I'm pretty certain my high school drumline wouldn't have done much better. Walking over to drum cadence put me in a nostalgic mood.

I met up with a forum-friend on the Runner's World Beginner's forums. Scotty is a cute man who wears a bright "I Beat Cancer Never Give Up" singlet at all the events he does. His first comment to me was, "You're taller than you look in your picture." I get that a lot. I was fortunate to be added to his gallery of Great Legs after meeting up with him at the starting line. See his race report here!

The start caught me by surprise. The drumline suddenly burst out with a fast cadence that I liked for the first ten seconds I heard it. After that, there were two small groups of band students playing along the course. The first was a trumpet quartet that played a StarWars theme as I passed. The next was a brass group that played Rocky which was appropriate for the big hill right after where they were camped out.

The course itself was fairly hilly, but more low rolling hills and an overall positive grade then a whole lot of steep inclines. Apparently the 10K course was much worse, including the HILL from HELL. I was glad that my poor planning and execution earlier in the week meant that running the 10K would be a very bad idea.

Again, I went out way to fast to start. It's probably due to not having any mid-week runs as the reminder of what my pace should be. That faster pace feels really awesome though. It feels natural, like my body is taking over function from my brain. "Don't worry about it. I got this." My heart just can't keep up. I need routine back in my training routine. Maybe I'm on the verge of a training breakthrough. Maybe 12 (or 10!) minute miles are only a couple months out of my grasp.

This weekend's race reinforced the desire to be more consistent and prescribed with my training. If I can just wake up and knock out a 39 minute 5K, what can I do at something I train for? Maybe I need a more tangible end goal. My next race is in two weeks, and it's another 5K, this time at Incarnate Word. It's the first race in this year's Alamo Series. Ooh! I feel challenged already!

International Women's Day

2010-03-07T19:55:00.002-06:00

I love being a woman. People would probably consider me feminist. I think I raged on it a lot more in high school, but haven't done a whole lot of thinking about it recently. I feel a little obligated to represent women in a lot of what I do on a daily basis. I work in a male-dominated field, and am currently one of two women on a team of sixteen. My culinary classes are also male dominated, in both students and faculty.

Tomorrow, March 8th, is International Women's Day (IWD). I heard about it from one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter, Padmasree Warrior, who is Cisco's CTO (and one of the top 5 women to follow). According to Wikipedia, the holiday started in former Soviet countries as a kind of blend of Valentine's Day and Mother's day in 1909. The United Nations declared 1975 International Women's Year and has sponsored International Women's Day ever since. 2010's theme as designated by the UN is "Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all."

For the rest of this blog, I will be sharing articles on women's issues. They're listed below by topic. If you have an article that you want to share, let me know and I'll add it to this list (with credit, of course)!

Women Displaced by Armed Conflict
"Women displaced by armed conflict – often living alone with their children – are frequently exposed to sexual violence, discrimination and intimidation." International Committee of the Red Cross

Gender Equality
"One of the first lessons that girls often learn in elementary school is that boys are better at math." Scientific American.
"70 per cent of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty worldwide are female." Red Cross
"Men are from Earth, and So are Women." Anarchist Writers

Women in the Workforce
"Manuela Maier was branded a bad mother. ... Her crime? Signing up her 9-year-old son when the local primary school first offered lunch and afternoon classes last autumn — and returning to work." New York Times
"Why do Indian women keep quitting their careers for marriage?" Priya Ramani
View a Live Feed of Women in Particle Physics CERN
Pledge for Ada Lovelace Day FindingAda.com
Kathryn Bigelow is the first woman to win a Best Director Oscar with The Hurt Locker.
Tips for a Top Career - Padmasree Warrior

Reproductive Freedom & Health
"Today, more than half a million women living in poverty will die from pregnancy-related causes and the vast majority of these deaths are preventable." CARE USA
A review of Monique and the Mango Rains includes discussion of the midwife profession and genital mutilation in Mali. Amanda Gignac, The Zen Leaf

Other
Proven Steps to Advance Women Around the World New York Times
Womanity Girl Geekdom

Waking Up Is Hard To Do

2010-03-04T19:45:00.000-06:00

So the start of March kicks off a tweaked schedule for me. So far it’s not working out so well.

The plan was to switch up my workout time from lunchtime to early in the morning, which means waking up earlier than I already do. Monday’s cold turkey attempt to wake up one hour earlier than normal was brilliantly unsuccessful. Tuesday’s attempt to wake up half an hour earlier than normal was an improvement over Monday – only one snooze used. The attempts the rest of this week back up the alarm until I get to the wake up time I need. That’s been more successful, but in the meantime I still haven’t been to the gym this week.

For the last couple months it’s been a real struggle to get myself out of bed. My brain will be awake, but my body rebels against movement. It feels like it takes a force of nature to get me to move. Does anyone else get like that? Like it's almost an insurmountable obstacle to get yourself out of bed? It makes me feel like I have lost control of myself, an idea that scares me.

The point of being hyper-involved in lots of disparate activities is to keep me distracted from the day-to-day dull ebb and flow of being a twenty-something. Maybe I’m too involved and I need the rest to recover from everything I’m doing. Maybe I have too many aspirations and can’t accomplish everything concurrently. Then why an I even more lazy if I don’t have “too much” going on. I need the stress in order to be productive at anything, but recently it seems like the gap between enough stress to be productive and enough stress to be incapacitated is too small to find a life in the middle.

I want so much out of life and I don’t want to give up on anything I currently have going on. It would feel like I’m letting myself down. So then is it a question of how much do I want it? What am I willing to give up in order to accomplish my goals? Am I willing to give up the extra hour of sleep every day? I know it’s a girl thing to have every thing I’m doing so intimately tied to everything else so that if I don’t have success in all of my goals, then it feels like I’m a failure. Worse still is the idea that I didn’t do enough.

I see so many working moms who are successful at work, get dinner on the table, support the kids' after school activities, leave time for their spouse, and achieve amazing physical feats all at the same time. I know one such person who reports that they go to bed around midnight and wake up at four. If I only had four hours of sleep I would not be lovely to be around. Right now I need seven to eight hours of sleep and a Grande Americano before talking to anyone civilly. How do they make it work? Some say it's something you acquire through parenthood and takes years of practice to be able to juggle so much. How do you ever get used to that little sleep? If that's something I want in the long run, shouldn't I practice some of the juggling now? What does it mean if I can't seem to keep all the balls in the air?

“Enough” is one of my least favorite words, right below “should.”

The Demonica Series by Larissa Ione

2010-03-02T20:27:00.000-06:00

Okay. I admit it. I read romance.

This was probably the first series I knowingly read that can be classified under the romance genre. Larissa Ione's Demonica Series (Pleasure Unbound, Desire Unchained, Passion Unleashed, Ecstasy Unveiled) in particular is also paranormal, so it lines up with the fact that I normally gravitate toward fantasy fiction. I struggled with if I should review this in such a public forum, but then the lovely Amanda reminded me that romance is a very popular genre and widely read. Backing up her insight is the fact that the most recent in the series, Ecstasy Unveiled, was on the USA Today and NY Times best seller lists for the three weeks following its release at the end of January. (I couldn't find it on the lists for week of 2/25: USA Today, NY Times.) This was my favorite cover of the four.

The series follows a set of brothers who are Seminus demons. This particular breed of demon strives to procreate through incredible charm, "f- me pheromones," and individualized talents meant to ensure impregnation. Each book of the four follows one of the brothers in his struggles to find a mate to stave of the insanity that follows a stage of development that occurs at the 100 year old mark. They have to balance keeping their close brotherly bond, saving the world, and getting their respective girl.

Each book bounces around between several points of view for some of the key players in Ione's world, though stays primarily with one particular brother and his mate. I loved that all of the women portrayed in the series are fiesty and incredibly capable. They were strong women that held their own ground, even in the presence of "f- me pheromones." All the brothers have their particular hangups, but they all appear to fall in love with the heroines really quickly. I'm assuming this is a device that is normal for romance writing since I don't have another reference for comparison. It just felt quicker than the fantasy I usually read.

The "good parts" were incredibly graphic and occurred every few pages, but suited my tastes just fine. I don't have any formulated thoughts on what such scenes should or shouldn't be or include. So for my taste, I can enjoy the artistic fade out as well as the nitty gritty sweat fests. I don't think I could read this type of book exclusively, but maybe every once in a while for a quickie (pun intended). The story line between the "good parts" in the first two books was somewhat forgettable. in the third and fourth books, I breezed right through the "good parts" to continue on with the story. It might be that I read the series out of order (2, 3, 1, 4) but it felt like Ione just got better at putting all the different story threads together. Seeing Ione develop the story and her talent over the course of the series helped me see the difference between an okay story and a enthralling one which I hope to help me in my writing.

Tattoos comprised a major theme central to the definition of the Seminus breed. It makes me think about getting a tattoo again. Torture and BDSM were also common themes. I took it as something you would expect demons in romance novels to do. There had to be a "bad" influence there somewhere, right?

Reason #2 to love my nook: Don't have to worry about the embarrasing covers when reading in public! So I'm still a little embarrassed by the romance covers and wouldn't want to read one of the paperbacks on a subway or anything.

I also just realized that Kim Harrison's Hollows series (that I loved) also counts as a paranormal romance by virtue of the fact that it has some genre awards. The "good parts" in the Hollows are much less graphic than the ones in Demonica, and Hollows has usually only one scene to that effect. So maybe I need to read more in this category in order to figure out what is normal and what isn't for the genre. I might even take my Naiads story and try my hand at writing some romance. If my main character is a water nymph, then it goes without saying, right?

So I renounce my previous thoughts that romance is something less than other genres. Now I need to go apologize to my mom for making fun of her for reading romance.

February Wrap-Up

2010-03-01T21:33:00.000-06:00

The year is flying by so quickly! Already another month gone. I have a warm fuzzy feeling about February, but I think that's because it ended better than it started.

Read 4 books: He's Just not that Into You, and three of the four books in Larissa Ione's Daemonica Series. I muscled through three-quarters of Love in the Time of Cholera, but I definitely was trudging along. I think Amanda has the right idea and it should be abandoned. My perfectionist nature doesn't want to let it go unfinished, but I really don't want to go back to it. I just finished the fourth book of Ione's series, so a review of that will go up soon.
Made lots of progress on the debt home front. Car is paid off and now attacking the second mortgage. Still fortunate to have gotten a raise with the current economy. I need to be more cognizant of how I spend my money. So I'll be watching that closer in the upcoming months.
Wrote more words this month! Another 12k to the total. I was trying to make it to 15k and finish the NaNo Novel, but that didn't happen. I think 12k is a good goal number. 10k was too doable, and 15k is a little further of a stretch than I had thought. Again, I did a fair share of the words on the blog, still around 55%. I'm so close to the ending of the NaNo novel that it's irritating.
Raced well! The first trail run was a success, though I'm still hurting from the second trail run. I have learned my lesson: be much more discerning when signing up for another trail run. Looking back at my training log, I was less consistent this month. A couple weeks were good; a couple weeks had nothing. My schedule is getting tweaked a bit starting in March, so I'm hoping that will help.
I upped my artsy quotient this month with a concert at Luna and seeing Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead with the girls. I'm now re-reading Hamlet because I'm not sure how I feel about an actor's take on their character and want to formulate my own opinion before I comment on it. Look for the review soon!
Cooking skills were definitely worked this month. Valentine's Day dinner was a blast. Homemade doughnuts went over well at work! Loved making salads in class; mine turned out awesome. I killed at making the sauces in class. I am not doing a very good job of feeding myself. I tended to eat more fast food than real food. That goes along with my spending comments above. My sister has given me a new mantra to help with this goal: "Cut that s**t out!"
Had a little breakdown in the middle of the month, but got through it. I think it helped me grow some and realize some things. I'm a hyper-planner and a dreamer, so I'm dreaming of life a few years from now. It's not really conducive to living in the moment.

Again, a month well lived. I realize now how much I actually did in February- and how much fun I had at the movies, runs, write-ins, girl chats, everything. The time between drags and stalls, but looking back, those bright lights are going to be the things I remember.

I know there are still more bright lights to come this year.

Race Report: Paesano's Salado Creek 8M/5K

2010-02-28T19:53:00.000-06:00

Race: Paesano's Salado Creek 8Mile/5K
Distance: 8 miles
Goal Time: Around 2 hours
Actual Time: 2:14:31 (16:18 min/mi)

This is the second of two trail races that comprised my February races. Man, this one hurt. For this race report, I'll give the play-by-play of what was going through my head as I was running.

Pre-race: It's colder than I was expecting it to be. Last checked, temperature was 42 Fahrenheit. This is good news, it'll help later on. An Air Force dude has a really awesome tat on his shoulder of a coat of arms. I resist the urge to ask him about it.
Mile 0: Went out way too fast. I think my first mile was at 10 minute pace, which is well outside my ability at this point. But it felt so good to run at that pace. It was hard to get myself to slow down to my normal pace. I paid for that too-fast first mile for the rest of the race.
Mile 1: The race director started the 5K participants after the 8 mile runners. The front runners for the 5K passed me in my first mile. The trail we were on was barely a foot wide at that point, so when I tried to step aside to let them pass, I had to either hug a tree or get clawed by the nearby shrubberies. Later I discover a small twig stuck in my hair.
Mile 1.5: The terrain is really difficult to navigate. It's really unlike the Eisenhower Park, where the rocky areas looked like dried up creek beds: flat and worn but fairly smooth and even. I wish I was a geologist so I could identify what kind of rock it is; I want to guess limestone since it's so light in color and native to the area. Salado Creek is much different. It's more heavily wooded, and most of the ground is dirt with rocks interspersed. Rocks that are grayish, jagged, and loose. Some of it looks like shale, but some of it doesn't. I almost roll my ankle a few times with missteps. I am probably going to end up walking most of this course.

Mile 2: A tree crosses the path. It's like a foot in diameter laying horizontally at waist height. Had to stop to climb over the tree like a fence. How did the front runners handle this?
Mile 3: Part of the 8 mile course loops back on top of itself and the 8 mile front runners lap me. But at least there's an aid station with Gatorade.
Mile 4: Why can't we run on the perfectly nice paved sidewalk-like path over there? But no, I have to dodge trees and rock-shrapnel instead. So glad to hit the turnaround. Normally, red flags are a bad thing; now they signal I'm on the way home. And finally the sun isn't interfering with my vision of the course.
Mile 5: I lose the two ladies who leap-frogged with me the last couple of miles. They plow ahead, I'm stuck walking behind. This park isn't hilly like Eisenhower where there was one steep hill and a few long low grade hills. These hills you could practically jump from crest to crest, if you wanted to risk impaling your foot on one of the rocks. The almost constant up and down is really doing a number on my heart rate. I don't think I'm as prepared for this race as I was for the Eisenhower one.
Mile 5.5: Get to the aid station again. Take some Gatorade and Gu. A little bit later, my body tells me I should have done that sooner. I get a little rush of energy.
Mile 6: Downhill stretch. Not literally. Still lots of hills. I power-walk most of the time with little spurts of a slow shuffle. BF says he's on the way to meet me. I love having someone at the finish line waiting for me. And not only because they can make sure to snag me some of the munchies.
Mile 7: Is it over yet? And why the heck do I have to climb this eight food pile of wood chips when there's a perfectly fine, flat route around it? This course isn't technical - it's treacherous!
Mile 7.5: Shuffling on the grass shoulder of 1604's access road. It's starting to warm up. I don't know how the front runners do this. Running on this with a crowd of people would be dangerous. You wouldn't be able to see what was coming up.
Mile 8: Dunzo! Finally! 2:14:31. OMG my legs hurt. BF gives me red Gatorade, which I chug. Where's the food?

This pair of races did give me a good insight into what trail running is like. But I don't think I'll be doing another trail run for a while. I'd run in Eisenhower Park again, but I don't think I'll make a repeat at Salado Creek.

Next Saturday - supporting high school band geeks at the Alamo Heights High School Run to the Beak 5K. Some speed runs in the plan for this week, also a weights session.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-27T12:00:00.000-06:00

So for date night, the BF wanted to surprise me by taking me to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians. He was super sweet in keeping it a secret until I had to break it to him that I'd already seen it. So the only other one showing that I wanted to see was Valentine's Day. I don't like dragging him to the chick flicks, but it was the only thing at the Drafthouse Park North that we haven't seen.

Valentine's Day shows a series of couples on Valentine's day and how they all react and deal with the day. Some hate it, some thrive on it, but it's meaningful to everyone. It was reminiscent of Love Actually where there are ties between story lines.

This movie had more big names in it than any I've seen recently. I adore Anne Hathaway, and loved her character. I'm normally not a fan of Ashton Kutcher, but when he's actually acting, he's decent. I just wish he did that more often. The story line for Julia Roberts' character was my favorite and made me tear up at the end. The Taylor Lautner/Taylor Swift line was irritating. Hector Elizondo and Shirley MacLaine were very cute. I was impressed by Emma Roberts and will be looking to see her in upcoming movies.

The movie was cute, but forgettable. It wasn't overly mushy, but wasn't compelling in any way either. I think it was an attempt to make an impact like Love Actually did, but just didn't get there. I'm sorry the BF had to be dragged through it.

Happy National Tortilla Chip Day!

2010-02-25T20:17:00.000-06:00

I hope you all enjoyed your National Tortilla Chip Day celebrations! Mine was a blast!

As always, National Tortilla Chip Day is on February 24th. The exact origin of the holiday is unknown. Skeptics of the holiday still cite rumors that a tortilla chip manufacturer created the holiday as a marketing ploy, but they lack originality and are just riding the coattails of similar arguments for Christmas, Penguin Awareness Day, and Valentine's Day.

My National Tortilla Chip Day celebration was made complete by the companionship of the always lovely Brittany (@lights_aurora on Twitter). We shared insights on Latin guitar music, middle-aged Latina women, and shirts with built-in-bras.

The venue of choice for our night was Luna, a local club that I frequent infrequently. I absolutely love this venue. It may not look like much from the outside, but once you step inside, you are instantly transported to a very cool lounge where you are instantly cooler. I love the red tables and chairs, the red curtains, and the blown-up jazz album covers as the wall art. They had remodeled since the last time I've been there, and I loved how accessible the stage and performers felt. If you go, look for all the monkeys they have around the bar!

Speaking of performers, Border Palace have a standing gig on Wednesday nights. They were the group I heard when I went to Luna last and have been meaning to go back to hear them again since. It's a shame it's taken me this long to go to hear them play. Their music is amazing. They're just two brothers with guitars, but they use the complete range of the guitar as an instrument. Their music got me into classical and latin guitar music, which has become some of my go-to music for writing, bubble baths, and mellowing out at work. From their sets this week, I loved "Aqua" from their first CD and their rendition of "Oye Como Va."

I wasn't a huge fan of the girl who came in to play between their sets. There was something about her voice that didn't quite jive for me. The only song of hers I liked was a cover of a Bob Dylan song, and I'm pretty sure that it's just because the original song was that good.

Oh, and we got free tortilla chips and salsa while at Luna.

No More Car Loan!

2010-02-23T19:36:00.001-06:00

No more car loan! La La La!

I am super excited. I love my car and now it's really mine! Not the bank's!

So most people won't talk about their finances, but this is something that I think people can benefit from seeing how possible it is to get out of debt, and how rewarding it is!

I've been working hard the last few years to get out of debt. I'm loosely following Dave Ramsey's program. I say loosely because I still do a fair amount of luxury spending, like the TV/DVD I bought for my kitchen last month and the new vacuum cleaner in December. I also use credit cards for my daily expenses instead of cash.

I am currently still on Baby Step #2- "The Debt Snowball," but so far I've paid off over $10,000 in credit card debt. It's kind of embarrassing to admit I had that much debt in the first place, but it was a product of a time in my life that I needed to grow out of. Paying off the credit card debt made it possible for me to not be so dependent to my salary. I am now putting 35% of my salary toward paying off debt.

I am a huge fan of not having car payments. I hadn't had a car payment for a couple years, but last summer when my car's A/C went out, the car wasn't worth the cost to get it fixed. So, I got a brand new car, a cute little Scion xD that makes me feel cooler just driving it. I was able to throw 15-20% of my salary to my new car each month. Now I've paid it off in ten months- four years ahead of the loan schedule! It was mostly possible because I received a very nice bonus this year, but I've been consistently hacking away at it since I got the car.

I still have my second mortgage (29.5% of current salary) and my student loan (39.9%) to go. I'm lucky that my cooking classes count towards letting me defer the student loan payments so I can chunk the little extra at the second mortgage. The interest rate on the second mortgage just irks me when I see the balance creep up every day. The current plan is to pay off the second mortgage by June 2011 and the student loan by December 2012. As I focus on the second mortgage, I'll be allocating a third of my income to it. It's still a long road to go, but I've hit a major way point in getting there.

When all of this is over, I'll be able to live on a little more than half of my current salary. It means being able to max out retirement contributions. It means being able to travel. It means I am no longer chained to an IT salary. It means that there are many other possibilities. Now THAT is freeing.

From Paris With Love

2010-02-22T19:57:00.000-06:00

James Reece is an assistant to the US Ambassador in France, but moonlights as a low-level CIA operative. Reece dreams of a chance to prove himself capable of being a real agent. His opportunity to get out of the switching license plates when he is assigned as Charlie Wax's partner. Wax's methods don't follow the rules to the letter, but as they uncover a terrorist attack on the city, Reece gets the chance of a lifetime.

I was quite impressed with From Paris With Love. This was definitely one for the Travolta fans. The writers managed to get in a quote from Pulp Fiction!

John Travolta keeps getting better with age. He does an excellent job being the bad-ass. At the Alamo Drafthouse, the previews for this movie were all trailers for old Travolta movies. Did you know he was in Carrie?

Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is very easy on the eyes. Is it sad that I loved Bend It Like Beckham? This is the first time I've seen him in an action movie since I didn't see Mission Impossible III, but I am quite impressed. I might even watch Mission Impossible III to see how he does there.

The story was good, and reeled me in from the beginning. My only complaint was that they moved so quickly in following the leads that traced back to the terrorists that I lost how they were all connected. I really didn't expect the twist and gasped audibly, but the BF said he knew it all along. He always says that.

The humor was great. I really enjoyed the running gag at the beginning of the film which got me shushed when I laughed at the wrong places. (If you go to see it, watch for the vase.)

The action was good. There's a good amount of explosions for people who like that kind of thing (read: boys). The chase scene on the rooftops was very different from rooftop scenes I've seen before. It wasn't too violent except for the two closeups of close range gunshots to the head.

I enjoyed it, and this will probably be added to the BF's selection of movies.

Race Report: Eisenhower 10K Challenge

2010-02-21T21:19:00.001-06:00

Race: Eisenhower 10K Challenge
Distance: 10K
Goal Time: 1:20-1:30
Actual Time: 1:24:47

This was the first of two trail running events. The next one is the Salado Creek 8M next Sunday. I wanted to do events that were longer than 5K to help me get to my eventual goal of running a marathon. So when I was looking for February events, this was the only one that was a reasonable distance for me at this stage. I have been nervous about it for the last week or so because of the event's description on the race website: "This race is recommended for trail experts and for those that are trying to get used to running on trails." Something good for both experts and novices? Is that possible?

This was my first venture out to Eisenhower Park. After a little blip with my iPhone GPS, it was relatively easy to find. The entrance to the park is right before the entrance to Camp Bullis. It had a nice pavilion and picnic facilities next to the parking lot. The restrooms reminded me of family road trips long past (nothing quite like metal toilets). But overall, very impressed with the park.

It was around 62 degrees at race start. It was cloudy and misty, which made it between dry and humid. The clouds kept the temperatures from rising too fast, so it was very nice for the whole of the race. I lost the pack very early into the race, which isn't unusual. I ran solo for most of the run with a few patches of waving as the faster runners passed me up. Twice.

The course switched between paved trails, paths covered in wood chips, and rocky off-road type terrain. The wood chips felt like running on a natural fiber track, soft and squishy. It was a welcome relief after a hard hill. Both the rocks and the paved trails were slippery, so I'm really glad I got the new trail running shoes. (Added bonus: They're pink!) The surroundings were very similar to what we have on my family's ranch, so if felt really familiar. The rocky parts reminded me of hiking during our vacations out there. Our ranch just has a lot fewer trees!

The paths had lots of turns such that you couldn't really see where it was going twenty feet in front of you. Footing was challenging in many areas, but it kept my mind in the moment. On the whole, it felt like there were more uphills than downhills. My legs were definitely feeling it about halfway through. This picture on the right looks less daunting in photo than it did in person. That was probably the worst of the hills.

There was a few places where it looked like they had put in speed bumps on the trail. Massive foot-high speed bumps. I think they were put in to keep the trails from washing out when it rained, but somehow the idea of putting in speed bumps to help runners manage their speeds was amusing. There were a set on a steep downhill in the last mile of the race. I leaped off the speed bumps, hanging in the air before landing on the wood chips. It felt equivalent to the car chase scenes in San Francisco.

I had a blast. I'm pretty sure I was smiling through most of the race. I walked when I needed to, but I still ended up with a time I am really happy with. It's only three minutes slower than my 10K personal record. That means on my next 10K road race, I should do really well! So far my quads, calves, and glutes feel worn out, but more like they've been well used rather than abused. Tomorrow might be a different story.

There were a bunch of photographers on the course, so if some decent pictures come out of it, I'll post them.

Edit: Decent picture of me at the finish line. You can tell it was a good course since I'm still smiling at the end!

Bring on the 8M race next weekend!

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

2010-02-20T21:00:00.000-06:00

Percy Jackson discovers he's the offspring of Poseidon. The immortals gods believe Percy has stolen Zeus' thunderbolt. Percy and his friends must find the real thief before war breaks out between the gods.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief has been on my "want to see" list for a while. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to convince the BF to see it with me. Then my silly friends ended up going to see it on a Tuesday! So I had to go see it by myself on my unusually free Wednesday afternoon. I was the only person in the theater. Literally. But it was nice to have the time alone.

I read a byline review somewhere that this is "a story that Harry Potter fans will love." It does follow a very similar formula: boy finds out his unique heritage; boy goes to school to train his new talents; and boy breaks the rules to solve a mystery and save the world. I really appreciated the use of the existing myths to build the story. It makes me want to go reread the myths.

It was a good movie and only little things irked me. I didn't really believe Annabeth's change from super-bitch to friend/sidekick. I just didn't like her, which is unfortunate because I could really dig a character like that. I was bothered when Athena was shown at Zeus' right side in Olympus. As jealous and possessive as Hera was, she wouldn't have given up that position. Really petty things that are probably addressed in the real story.

I liked Chiron, but it was more from recognizing the mythological character I studied in depth when read John Updike's The Centaur in high school. Chiron is the story behind the constellation and my zodiac sign Sagittarius, so I'm a little biased. I'm interested to see if they pull more of Chiron's stories into the rest of the Percy Jackson series.

I haven't read any of the books, but I was very tempted when I passed by the display at Barnes & Noble recently. I really enjoyed the Greek myths when I was in school. I think I would probably really enjoy the series, so they may be going into my To Be Read pile.

500 Days of Summer

2010-02-17T10:23:00.000-06:00

I wanted to see 500 Days of Summer after seeing it in the previews on a handful of other movies I've rented recently. I picked it up from the bargain bin of my local Hollywood Video that is closing, and I'm glad to add it to my collection.

Anything with Zooey Deschanel in it is automatically on my "must watch" list. I don't think I've seen anything with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in it since 10 Things I Hate About You. Quick IMDB search shows that he was the main voice in Treasure Planet. (Note to self: watch that again...)

I watched this at the gym on the treadmill to try to trick my brain to keep running until the movie was over, hoping to get in 6 to 8 miles for my long run this past weekend. My brain successfully fooled, I got in 7.5 miles while this was running. I know I was smiling through most of the film. The others in the gym must have thought I was nuts.

This movie is best summed up by the narrator:

"This is a story of boy meets girl. The boy, Tom Hansen of Margate, New Jersey, grew up believing that he'd never truly be happy until the day he met the one. This belief stemmed from early exposure to sad British pop music and a total mis-reading of the movie 'The Graduate'. The girl, Summer Finn of Shinnecock, Michigan, did not share this belief. Since the disintegration of her parent's marriage she'd only love two things. The first was her long dark hair. The second was how easily she could cut it off and not feel a thing. .... This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story."

Usually when the narrator says that, I don't really believe them. Somehow everything turns out lovely and heart-melting in the end. They're telling the truth on this one. It's not a love story. But I loved it.

The progression of the relationship is shown out of sequence, so it is hard to tell when the little signs of the relationship not working really begin. It was really creative and a unique spin on this type of film. I kind of wish I could see an chronological version, if only to try to see if I could tell an individual moment when it stopped working.

I enjoyed the soundtrack, though I am not very versed in British Invasion lore. Oddly enough, the Smiths "There is a Light That Never Goes Out" from the preview came on while writing this post. There's a random dance break that I think is related to the British pop influence, but don't know for sure. That was my laugh out loud moment. Zooey Deschanel sings again in this movie. I usually don't like sopranos, but I really like her voice. Something about it is not quite professional, still a little scratchy. I can't quite put my finger on it, but again, can't get enough of it.

This is definitely going to become a favorite in my arsenal of random movies to watch while cooking. I will steal one of the parting lines of the narrator, one that feels like a lot of the days lived recently. "Most days of the year are unremarkable. They begin and they end with no lasting memory made in between. Most days have no impact on the course of a life."

You may now continue with your daily grind.

The Wolfman

2010-02-16T21:28:00.000-06:00

Lawrence Talbot returns to his ancestral home to discover the cause of his brother's death. His brother was only one of many in a string of very gruesome deaths. During his investigation, he uncovers strange truths that bring his search too close to home.

I hadn't seen any of the previews for Wolfman before I went. Maybe that was for the best because even without it, the story was predictable and slow. I did appreciate a few aspects of the film.

Anthony Hopkins does a fantastic job, as usual, playing the reclusive and impulsive father. I like Emily Blunt more every time see her.
It was refreshing not to see another modern day werewolf story. I'm a bit over it already. I don't know why I like Victorian England. Most of the passions that drive me or that have helped make me into what I am right now would not jive in that environment.
I liked that they took the classic spin on the wolfman by making him just a really hairy man with fangs rather than something that looks more like the upright Egyptian jackal representations.

Other than that, it's a ho-hum movie. If you want to know, I'll tell you the ending so that you can save your economic stimulating funds for something else.

V-Day 2010

2010-02-14T17:40:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day to you!

I celebrated my third Valentine's Day with the BF yesterday. We do a low-key date at home, so that we don't have to mess with the hassle and expense of going out to eat. We had another Mollydooker wine, this time Two Left Feet. It was a really nice wine and worth the extra penny we spent on it. So far I'm a huge fan of their whole line. We decided to do some recipes out of Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook, which BF got for Christmas.

First was some Blue and Yellow Cornbread Muffins. My iPhone really doesn't do the color justice. They looked really good, but ended up tasting kinda dry. Maybe that's the last time the BF gets put in charge of baking. We must have done something wrong though, because we couldn't get enough of them when we ate at Mesa Grill Las Vegas. They're a must if you ever go there.

BF was also in charge of grilling the steaks: Black Pepper Crusted Filet Mignon with Ancho Red Pepper Sauce and Goat Cheese. We really lucked out at Central Market because the filet mignons were on sale. And they looked excellent, even raw! I was in charge of the sauce, which also turned out excellent. It had a really complex flavor, though perhaps a little too heavy on the tomato. The goat cheese went on top and then got all gooey and delicious under the broiler. Overall, it was a really good meal. Even though mine was a little overdone, the meat was still tender and delicious. It gave me an excuse to have a bit extra of the sauce, so all was well.

For dessert, BF insisted on cheesecake, where I insisted on dip-your-own strawberries. So we both got our way. I got my strawberries and BF stole some of the dipping chocolate to top his cheesecake. I must admit, I demolished the whole plate. The strawberries were really juicy, much better than I would have thought possible for off-season strawberries.

For our date night entertainment, we watched the recorded season finale of Worst Cooks in America, one of my new favorite shows. Most of the people just want to learn how to cook just so they can better provide for their families. It is such a humble desire, but so heartening to see how passionate they are about being able to give something back to the people they care about.

After that, we watched Couple's Retreat. I have liked Vince Vaughn since I saw him in A Cool Dry Place, though I try to ignore the fact that he was in Old School and Dodgeball It was awesome to see Jean Reno as the guru-guy considering his previous roles like in Ronin and The Da Vinci Code. It wasn't the same humor as Old School, thank the movie-making-powers-that-be. It was very adult humor, with really great writing, and some overall great insights about couples. The movie was way better than what I was expecting it to be.

It was a very nice, very low-key Valentines Day for us. Very similar to our normal days, but just done up a notch.

Oh, and if anyone still wants to see Valentine's Day, let me know.

Orange-Champagne Salad

2010-02-11T08:37:00.000-06:00

Last night in my cooking class our assignment was to make a salad to go with our salad dressing we made in the previous class.

Mine kicked @$$!

I'm super proud of it. It was really pretty. It tasted awesome. We had to lay the plates out for group critique, and one of the other girls in the class said that I inspired her. She wanted to eat my salad before she ate her own. It made my day. Quite possibly my week.

I have eaten a lot of salads. I got tired of them really quickly, so now I look for unique ones. So this assignment was right for me. (If you're tired of salads, try some of the ones at California Pizza Kitchen!)

This one is made of shredded lettuce as the base, with orange sections, yellow bell pepper, red onion, and cilantro. I'm calling the dressing Orange-Champagne Viniagrette. It's made from champagne vinegar, olive oil, orange marmalade, garlic, salt, and pepper. It was tangy with a sweet finish. I really enjoyed it. And I'm a salad dressing snob. (Also from eating way too many salads.)

My salad had some critique points about it. Normally you should put diced items in salad so people don't have to chase them around the plate. It was too large, as it's spilling over into the rim. I shredded the lettuce with a knife, which will bruise it if prepared a while before serving.

I don't know what grade I got on it, but it doesn't really matter. I challenged myself. I had fun doing it. And I inspired someone else. That's all I really want to do in life.

He's Just Not That Into You

2010-02-07T21:22:00.000-06:00

This book has been recommended to me by both my sisters. Sometimes my sisters are much smarter than me. But since I've seen the Sex and the City episode that was the launchpad for the concept, as well as watched the movie that came out last year, I thought I knew what it was talking about. Because my smarter sister told me to, I read the book.

This was the first book I read on my nook. It worked really well in the gym. I read most of it while completing my long run this morning. Not having to hold the pages down while running was nice. Being able to increase the text size was very cool. Usually I had to pick which book had the bigger font and most space between lines of text. Loving it.

The major topics from the book were shown really well in the film adaptation: guys who don't make the first move, guys who don't call, guys who don't want to jump you, guys who cheat, etc. The film writers did a good job showing how those scenarios would look in real life. Ginnifer Goodwin is just so darn cute. She and Justin Long did a great job with their roles.

But you were really hoping for insight on how the magical understanding gained from this book helped me to quit settling for guys who weren't good enough for me.

If I had read this book in 2004 when it came out, I think it would have changed a lot of the really stupid things I did as a single lady then through 2008. I threw myself at a lot of guys who just weren't into me and I took it really hard every time. At the time, I probably could have benefited from the information, but I don't know if I could have really used it effectively. I heard the immortal phrases, "Wow you're really awesome. Why are you still single?" and "That guy isn't good enough for you," and their variations way too much for comfort. I was also very confused as to what kind of guy would actually be good enough for me. "Good enough" was one of my hated phrases at the time.

Now though, I'm in a different place. It's too personal to relate to in this forum, but some of the topics hit too close to home. And that kind of sucks, because I have the same wants and fears as the book's target demographic. Who am I kidding... I AM the target demographic.

Overall, the book was well done. They did a good job targeting the feel and pace of the book to Sex and the City viewers. It had the same quirky story examples, humor to soften emotional subjects, and a healthy dose of sex.

I really hope I'm the exception and not the rule....

Day of FAIL, Night of WIN!

2010-02-04T23:20:00.001-06:00

In case you didn't already know, my life is very glamorous. Here's the play by play on a semi-typical night.

7pm - Day of FAIL! Plans in place to transform into Night of WIN! Champagne chilling (Editor's note: Martini & Rossi Asti, my current fave). Cleaning counterspace for making doughnuts.

730pm - Started doughnuts and drinking champagne. My Life in Ruins is on, and laughter should be coming shortly.

758pm - First laugh of the evening. The creepy innkeeper hits on what's-her-face (Editor's note: Nia Vardalos) to try to convince her to sleep with him in order to pay for postage.

830pm - Realized I got Italian bread instead of pizza crust. Oh well. Mmm bread! What's-her-face (Editor's note: Nia Vardalos) looks pretty hot in this movie.

9pm - There is beauty in a good long marriage. Beauty I would like to see first hand.

908pm- Movie ends. But there's still wine, bread's coming out of the oven, and the doughnuts aren't even frosted yet! Putting in Post Grad.

933pm - Doughnuts are done! Complete with Valentine's day Sprinkles! I laugh at the Nestle warning label: Do not consume raw cookie dough.

941pm - Damn... this dude is hot. (Editor's Note: Said dude is Zach Gilford.) Like Channing Tatum hot. The scale is going to hate me in the morning. Michael Keaton is hilarious. Oh man -that's the guy from Love Actually. Hottie alert. (Editor's note: Said hottie is Rodrigo Santoro.) Tonight has been awesome. Making doughnuts was really found.
950 pm- Maybe this movie is funnier than I thought.
10:02 - Now out of champagne. Yeah, definitely funnier than expected. They are burying a dead cat in a pizza box... to the tune of "Memory" ... from Cats.

10:09 Oh yeah, that feels good. PJs are WAY past due. So glad that this guy (Editor's Note: this guy = Love Actually hottie) ends up half naked in all the movies I've seen him in. Michael Keaton is HILARIOUS. First LOL tonight.

10:22 - Good anthem song (Editor's note: "One Day" by Jack Savoretti). Wow she (Editor's note: Alexis Bledel) has REALLY blue eyes. Like my sister's.

10:52 - Smiling like a moron. What a glorious feeling. I miss it.

Well, there you have it folks. Don't you wish you could be me?

Restaurant Review: Paesano's 1604

2010-02-02T06:47:00.000-06:00

Paesano's is a San Antonio staple. The Paesano's Restaurant Group has recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the original restaurant. The location on 1604 opened up around the same time I came to San Antonio in 2005. I've been to the 1604 location once for a work lunch and the Riverwalk location once for a dinner with Scott's family last year. For Scott's birthday, Paesano's 1604 was our restaurant choice for our celebration.

We were seated in the enclosed portion of the patio. It was an unexpectedly cold night, but even next to the exterior gate-like doors that open to the rest of the patio it was very nice. I didn't have a good view of the rest of the interior, but I did like the light fixtures in our area, and the large marble tile was very nice. If it was a nice night, like most spring and fall evenings, the patio would be a very nice place for dinner.

We started with a bottle recommended by the waiter, Mollydooker Boxer Shiraz. It was more expensive than we were originally looking at, but it was an excellent bottle of wine. It was spicy and fruity, just wet enough to be a refreshing accompaniment to the rest of the dinner and had a really smooth finish. Instead of using sulphites as a preservative, the Mollydooker line uses nitrogen gas instead. So they recommend to do what they call the "Mollydooker Shake" in order to distribute the gas before serving as an alternative to decanting. This wine is definitely worth a repeat. The manager said that it was difficult to come by, so we'll probably need to do some searching for it.

We started with the Mascarpone Garlic Bread. At first, it looks and smells more like Parmesan, which they most likely used to get a bit of a crust on it. But when you get into the middle of the bread, it has the creaminess I expected from mascarpone cheese. Probably the cheapest thing on the menu, but it was excellent.

We both ordered entrees off the specials menu. Scott had a Baked Tortellini that was very well done. The tortellini almost tasted like it was made from homemade pasta, but I couldn't quite tell. The tomato-cheese sauce that came with the tortellini looked kind of clumpy. Overall it was good, but not quite memorable.

I had the Roasted Sea Bass. I almost always go to fish when Scott and I don't split an entree since he doesn't touch the stuff. He really missed out on this one. The sea bass was cooked perfectly and it almost melted in my mouth with the tomato ragout sauce that came with it. The peas that came with it were also cooked perfectly. The Spanish style rice wasn't as sticky as I expected it to be. I think they used a different grain of rice that kept the grains separate and chewy. An excellent dish.

It's a little out of our price range for the everyday meal, but could be very doable with split portions. It was a great place for a nice night out and we had a good time. There's a reason why this restaurant has made it for 40 years, and I expect that they will still be serving dishes like these for another 40 years.

January Wrap-Up

2010-02-01T06:38:00.000-06:00

So I have some pretty lofty goals for 2010. Only one month in, how am I doing?

Read 3 books: Terrier; Women, Work, and the Art of Savoir Faire; Chalice. In progress on two others: Love in the Time of Cholera, Angel Time. Means I'm slightly behind on my book-a-week goal, but it's probably a "stretch" goal anyway.
Splurged on a TV/DVD combo for the kitchen so I can have something to watch when I'm cooking. Otherwise I'm well on my way toward paying off my car. My tax refund is in, and in the next few weeks I should be getting my company's bonus. I'm hoping that will take care the rest of the balance, but I'll have to wait to see. Keeping my fingers crossed for a good performance review. I'm nervous!
Wrote 10,134 words in January! My blog accounted for 57% of the total, so for February, I'm going to try to write more on my novel than I do on my blog. But so far I've been consistent at writing every few days, and that's a good sign!
Raced well. I've decided on a couple of trail runs to do as my February runs. The last couple of weeks had a good schedule of workouts and combination of running and lifting weights.
Attended a Symphony concert. Was inspired. I definitely should do that more often.
Challenged my cooking skills! My mom asked for one of Paula Deen's Gooey Butter Cakes for her birthday, pictured above. It was easier to make than I was expecting, but it was very well received at her party. My niece Ava bounced very happily when she got some. I also was responsible for bringing breakfast for my team at work earlier this month. I brought in smoked salmon on wheat pancakes and fruit with cream cheese frosting on sugar crackers. The guys at work cleaned me out of the fruit things because most of them got queasy at the thought of salmon.

The year has gone well so far. This month was filled with more good days than bad, several inspiring moments, and increasing amounts of hope for the future. I know they can't all be this good, but I shall revel in the small accomplishments. January has been a month well lived.

When In Rome

2010-01-31T19:45:00.000-06:00

In When In Rome, Beth is unlucky in love. On a quick trip to Rome for her little sister's wedding, she steals coins from the local fountain of love. Back in New York, her suitors aggressively pursue her, including Nick, the best man from her sister's wedding. By stealing the coins, she has taken the coin's owner's wish for love into her own hands and now has too much to handle! Of the five very unique suitors, Beth finds herself starting to fall for Nick. She discovers that one of the coins is a poker chip that matches Nick's set. She resolves to return the coins to the men and rid herself of these men, including the one man that she may actually love more than her job.

This was a better movie than I was expecting it to be. It was incredibly funny and, judging from the unanimous bursts of laughter, everyone in the theater enjoyed it. Kristen Bell is a really good comedic actress. I was worried going into it that it may be more of the disgusting shock-value humor of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but it had none of the same jokes. I think it is in her facial expressions and sense of timing. But those same facial expressions made you hurt for her later in the movie. She did a great job.

The on-screen chemistry between her and Josh Duhamel worked really well. The only disturbing thing was the serious gap in their heights. Either she's freakishly short, or he's freakishly tall, because even with her in heels there was more than a foot difference.

The supporting cast was really good as well: Angelica Houston, Danny Devito, Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite), Will Arnett, to name a few. I didn't particularly care for Dax Shepard's character. Jon Heder did a fantastic job, as he always did. Brittany and I had to do a fist-pound when he showed up on screen. Danny Devito was super cute.

I was kind of annoyed that Angelica Houston's character was another overbearing "dragon lady" type of business woman. I am beginning to become disgusted with that stereotype.

I really liked the song during the opening credits: "Kickin' With You" by Jason Mraz, who I think is a fantastic musician and lyricist. The rest of the soundtrack is pretty good. I've downloaded about half of it already. "Ave Maria" was one that I skipped. It is one of the cliche wedding songs that makes my eyes roll every time I hear it in a wedding scene.

Overall, a great girl's night movie, spent with some of my favorite girls. And one I'll probably add to my collection when it goes to DVD.

Cowboy Breakfast

2010-01-29T14:24:00.001-06:00

The San Antonio Rodeo is kicking off this week, beginning with the 32nd Annual Cowboy Breakfast. The event holds the Guinness World Records for Largest Free Breakfast and Largest Coffee Event. Only in San Antonio will thousands of people brave cold and rain for free tacos.

St. Phillip's College Culinary Arts program receives a $20,000 scholarship from the event. In return, our Chef-Professors encourage volunteering to help prepare the food. Since my day job doesn't involve wearing a hairnet, I took the opportunity to get more experience in food service.

Long post guys, courtesy of lots of pictures from my iPhone, mySA, and WOAI.

My day at the Cowboy Breakfast started at 2am at one of the grills used to warm up some of the 150,000 tortillas. I worked with a family of a father, three daughters (Mariah, Erica, and Mandy, left to right), and one boyfriend (Jeremy) there. The girls were really cute and had a great relationship with each other. They reminded me of me and my sisters, which started my day off on a really good note.

We received logo bandanas for volunteering and Jeremy took the opportunity to transform to "The Tortilla Bandido."

Unfortunately, about two hours into it, Erica got really bad burns on her hands after a stack of tortillas fell on her. This job is dangerous, folks! So they all left to take her to the hospital. I love the way they all banded together to see to her safety and I know I would have done the same thing. I don't know how she's doing, but I hope for the best.

When the family left, the grill was taken over by culinary students. On my half of the grill was Genado, who was awesome to work with. Really efficient and had a good humor. The other half was very disorganzied and had a bunch of people who obviously didn't care about being there and it showed in their work ethic. I'm glad none of them are in my classes right now.

Intermittently, the sky would open up and we would have a downpour for a little while. There was a leak in the tent in a place perfect to drip on my shoulder. It didn't take much to start a river underneath our feet. When we happened to drop a tortilla, it almost immediately floated away to somewhere else in the tent.

One of the guys at that end of the grill was interviewed by a couple different reporters and I might have ended up on WOAI this morning. I'm the face in the very top left corner in this WOAI picture. Does this count towards my two seconds of fame?

After that, my Chef pulled me off tortillas to work the filling for the chorizo and egg tacos. There were a few other guys at that grill that were hilarious. One was making up his own theme song. They were really fun to work with. But, I am ashamed to say, the old cowboys working the grill next to us showed us up. They worked like they had been doing this for thirty years. Who knows, they probably have.

There were a couple guys there that were very interesting characters. The first was Herb who sported an eye patch handsomely. He was kind of our supervisor at the tortilla station. He reminded me a lot of some of my uncles. Then there was Dickie who was responsible for keeping the fire going and providing all the grills with hot coals. I love this picture of him from mySA.com. The best part is the reflection of the bonfire in his glasses. Both he and Herb had the weathered leather-looking skin that comes from years of long days working outside. They were perfect caricatures of a classic cowboy, but still uniquely themselves.

I had a blast. I a lot of expectations and hopes for the event, but I wasn't disappointed. I haven't done much volunteer work like this since college, and I'm really glad I did. A lot of the guys took breaks to chow down tacos, but I kept going. Even after being there for five hours on my feet I was pumped. It might have something to do with the two Red Bulls I had, but I think the adrenaline of it all was the real reason. Even now, reliving it, I feel like jumping around or dancing. Or doing it all over again.

I love being in my chef's coat. Similar to putting on a uniform or costume, it changes my persona. I love how easily I can direct people and how most people respond positively to my direction. Even a week into my kitchen class, the other students look to me for instruction, and I'm a newbie just like them! It's a leadership style works better in this format than it does at my day job. My classes and experiences like this are great outlets for me, and I gain so much from them.

This was a great way to start the day.

January Race Report

2010-01-25T22:14:00.002-06:00

Race: Judson High School ROTC Resolution Run
Distance: 5K
Goal Time: 40-42 minutes
Actual Time: 37:50

This past weekend I squeezed in a 5k in the midst of an already very hectic weekend. I'm really glad I did.

The race itself was atypical of the ones I normally do. It was a fundraiser for the Judson High School ROTC put on by their boosters. This probably was one of the first times that this group had ever done a 5k. I'm not sure the people running it had ever been to or participated in a 5k before. They had few enough people preregistered that they were calling out names to pick up numbers. That was awkward. They had no chip timing, which wasn't a big deal since the event was promoted as a fun run. There were no refreshments other than water, which is fine for a 5k course, but I was really glad I thought to pack some before I left home that morning.

Included in this event was supposed to be a guidon challenge for the JROTC groups. Except I didn't see any flags, or groups who were running in sync. There definitely were a greater percentage of high school kids there than I am normally used to. I didn't stay to hear the results, so I don't know who won that. I just know I didn't win. Anything. But that's not unusual.

When they were giving race instructions, the guy on the mic said that this was the "flattest, fastest course in the world!" I think the only reason that's the case because I live in one of the flattest cities in the world.

There were two very cool seniors (as in senior citizens) that I chatted with at the beginning. One was a old black man whose pace was barely more than a shuffle, but he was really good spirited and friendly. He fell to the back of the pack almost immediately after the start. I waved to him at a switchback in the course and he was still smiling. The other was a grandmother with a super cute outfit (in the fluorescent green) . We chatted for a little bit at the before the race started. She left me in the dust at the start line.

I wish I got a picture of it, but a little girl and boy had homemade "Go Mom Go!" posters. They were super cute. What wasn't super cute was different mom telling her two kids that they couldn't be passed as I came up behind them. We leap-frogged for a little bit, but then I won. Take that!

I felt really good during the race. I was worried with all the warm weather that it would be gross, but it cooled down overnight and there was a nice cool breeze that morning. I did a pretty good job pacing myself and ended up with a pretty even effort throughout with enough left to pass one more person before the finish. And I didn't have to peel myself off the pavement afterwards!

I'm really happy with my time. I blew through what I was expecting, and that makes me look forward to the next few weeks of training. It means I'm in a better position than I thought I was and that the year-end goal of a full marathon isn't going to be as hard as I had imagined. It's still going to be really freaking hard, especially since I usually do better on 5Ks than I do on longer races. I used the time on this race to predict my full marathon finish time, and it comes in well under what I'm shooting for, so at least that's a good sign.

Don't know what February's run is going to be at this point, but I'm looking forward to it!

Official Race Results

San Antonio Symphony Presents John Williams

2010-01-24T21:01:00.000-06:00

Since I've graduated college, I have changed my involvement in the arts to one of being a patron, since that is something those particular industries need. I made another resolution for 2010 to remedy this: to do one artsy-fartsy thing each month. For January, it happily coincided with my decision to take Mom to a San Antonio Symphony Pops presentation of John Williams music for her birthday.

I was reminded of how much I enjoy the symphony.

The concert was preceded by dinner at Rosario's, which was the first time Mom has been there. It's in the King William district and on the main route for the First Friday art exhibits. I had the Pollo con Mole though I opted for the sauce on the side. It comes "smothered" by default, but the smaller amount was very enjoyable.

The venue was different than the previous concerts I attended, this time at the Municipal Auditorium. It was a beautiful facility in an art deco style and one of San Antonio's historic sites. It appeared to seat more people than the Majestic Theater where I've been before. Most of the floor seats were occupied. There were a lot of school age kids there, which is a definite difference from the what I perceived to be the normal crowd. Added bonus: more knee room than the cheap seats at the Majestic.

The concert was very good. I knew almost every one of the tunes, which made the concert fly by. I think my boyfriend was embarrased by Mom and me bobbing our heads in time with the music. They played a lot of the memorable themes from Star Wars, Jaws, E.T., Superman and Harry Potter. Everybody knows those, right? They also played the theme from NBC news, which was much more beautiful in its full form than the sound bytes that you normally get.

Two songs from my high school band career stand out in my mind as incredibly fun to play. They were both John Williams tunes and they both made the program: Cowboys and 1941. Both of these were written before Star Wars and his catapult into legend. I remembered how much it physically hurt to play those tunes during rehearsal and I felt bad for the horns and trumpets who had to play a whole two hours of similarly ranged music.

There were two solo pieces. The first on the program was "Viktor's Theme" from The Terminal which featured a clarinet solo. It was an amazing piece. The principal clarinet did a fantastic job with it. It makes me want to watch the film again so I can listen for the theme applied in context. The second was the theme from Schindler's List. The piece is both moving and haunting, but I did not love the concertmaster's performance. There's something about fast vibrato that irritates me whenever I hear it and I especially don't think it worked for this piece.

This was my first Pops concert, so I wasn't expecting their "special effects." They had characters in costume acting onstage intermittently throughout the concert. It seemed really hokey and detracted from the experience. But they weren't for me. They were for the little kid sitting next to us who pretended to be the conductor and then totally geeked out when Darth Vader took over the podium for the Imperial March from Star Wars. And for him, it rocked.

Again, I was inspired by a symphony concert. Listening to classical music always fills me with all the best hopes for myself and my future, with my shooting star dreams. And best of all, it gives me a whiff of courage to continue towards those things, no matter where I've made it on my journey thus far.

I highly encourage anyone to attend an arts event in their city if they haven't in a while. Our cities are filled with creative and talented people who need an audience. I know I'm going to go back for more as soon as I can.

Leap Year

2010-01-21T20:23:00.001-06:00

Anna comes up with a plan to propose to her long time boyfriend on Leap Day as prescribed by an old Irish tradition. On her way to meed up with the boyfriend in Dublin weather forces her to take a detour through the Irish countryside. She enlists the help of an innkeeper in order get to Dublin in time. But the trip makes her question if that is what she really wants.

So I called in a lot of what the boyfriend refers to as DKP when I forced him to take me to see Leap Year. Basically all my deposits for doing nice girlfriend things have been withdrawn.

If you watch the trailer, you know what is coming. It's your typical chick flick. Very predictable plot, very typical characters, and very pretty people to carry it. The Irish accent from Matthew Goode wasn't great, but considering he's British, it's not bad. He's very easy on the eyes, so it's not hard to forgive him. The very cute Amy Adams helped the boyfriend make it through the movie. I'm totally jealous of her wardrobe, but I definitely would have chunked the heels after just one day of travel.

There are a lot of vista shots of the Irish countryside, which were very great. I don't think I appreciated them enough while watching. I was distracted by a feeling of deja vu. In Chasing Liberty, Matthew Goode follows Mandy Moore on random country roads, and he's doing the same in this movie.

Overall, it's not the best movie I've ever seen, but it was a decent night out. And I liked Chasing Liberty better.

Congrats to Meryl Streep for winning the Best Actress Golden Globe for Julie and Julia. Absolutely loved the movie and she was fantastic in it. Her performance made me want to read a biography of Julia Child. Very much deserved!

I Heart My iPhone

2010-01-18T09:44:00.001-06:00

I only got an iPhone late last fall. I definitely was late on the uptake, but since I am definitely an addict. I now can look cool when everybody in a group stops talking and commences playing with iPhone apps. And I don't have to "borrow" an iPhone from someone else to get my fix.

These are my go-to applications that I use multiple times a day.

Twitterific - Mainly just an app to have a connection into Twitter. First one I've tried, but so far it has made me a fan of Twitter where I didn't think I would be originally.
Mint.com - Huge fan of mint.com, and this as a mobile version. The website it much easier to use than the app, so I just use this to check in on account balances.
Sudoku - The numbers game is my favorite way to pass time waiting for whatever. I like playing at different difficulties depending on my mood. I use the free app by genina.com.
Water Your Body - As a runner, I know I need to stay hydrated. And I'm notoriously bad for going days without drinking anywhere near enough water. This app has so far helped me stay on top of how much I'm drinking, including the trending so that I know if I've had too many days in a row where I haven't had enough.
Weight Watchers - Like the app better than the website! But there are a few things that I wish it would do better. Overall, it's a much easier way to keep track of what I eat.
iFitness - Got this as an app to use in the gym when I'm doing New Rules of Lifting Routines. So far I like the trending and the automatic calculation of one-rep maximum weight.
Grocery Gadget - My boyfriend and I use this as our grocery list. You can sync up multiple iPhones or use the website. I add the items, he checks it against what we already have, and he is in charge of checking off items at the store as I run around picking things up. His only complaint is when I pick up things that aren't on the list.
Nike+ - As mentioned in my post below, it's a great way to geek out on my running stats. I especially like that the iPhone 3GS version has the ability to calibrate each run instead of having to do a one-time setup on the iPod Nano. I'm glad that my distances and paces are finally accurate.

Here are other applications I like, but don't necessarily use them every day.

IMDb - To nerd out at the movies. I also use it to see what's coming out.
Fandango - Easiest way to check showtimes in the area at my favorite theaters.
Barnes and Noble eReader - Automatically syncs up with the nook as to what page you read last.
Shazam - Great way to "discover" the good songs on the radio and get them with iTunes later.
Pandora - When I don't know what I really want to listen to, or want to find more songs in the same genre. I listened to the Christmas station for about three weeks straight during the holidays.

Spring Training

2010-01-17T10:54:00.002-06:00

This week started my spring training. Right now I'm not training for anything specific other than general stress relief and overall fitness. My work and school schedule made it really difficult last year to do much more.

I've been running for a little over two years now, but I'm still a solid back-of-the-pack runner. I haven't improved much. I still run around 12:45 min/mi for 5ks and 14ish min/mi for 10 miles or half marathons. I started with a lot of run/walking and now can run nonstop for over an hour. The little gains are what improving as a back-of-the-pack runner is all about.

And making my Nike+ Mini do the electric slide. Isn't she cute?! Nike+ is a great way to have fun while geeking out on stats. I'm trying to make it past 1000 miles this year. Any iPod or iPhone runners should use this app! And let me know your Nike+ ID so that I can finally have friends on there!

One of my favorite workouts came from a Runner's World article. I run a majority of the time on treadmills and I live in a relatively flat city. So the Indoor Hills workout (#3) is my go-to hill interval workout. I think this workout is what got me to improve my fitness enough to get a 4 minute PR (personal record) and be able to tackle New Hampshire hills. My previous PR was 3:17:09 at the 2008 Rock'N'Roll San Antonio. I then got a 3:13:10 when I ran the 2009 CHaD Half Marathon with Beth in New Hampshire. Actually, I was pacing her most of the way and could have probably gone faster, but it definitely was one of the best running experiences I've ever had. New Hampshire is a really beautiful place to run!

"Hill training is almost as effective in building aerobic power as track interval training," says [Chris] Phelan. "And it's far more effective in building strength."

The hill workout could easily be modified for other machines, I think, but I've never tried it. I go pretty slow and the workout kicks my butt every time, but I feel like I have accomplished something afterward. It was really rewarding to be able to speed up the workout over the course of a few months. Before the CHaD Half Marathon I think I got it up to 4.5mph, but this week I couldn't even make it through the workout at 4.0 mph.

Even with the difficult run, I felt awesome after I was finished. Sweaty and tired, but awesome. And I felt the same after yesterday's long (5 mile) run. I seem to forget when I have a busy day or week or month how much my body likes to be worked.

My body also loves to lift weights. I was filling out hours in my final semester at Texas Tech and took a weight lifting class. I looked the best of my life at that point. I have two weight lifting days in my spring training plan which will be following the New Rules of Lifting for Women workouts. I started this program before, but ended up so sore after the workouts that I could barely move the next day. So far this past week has been rewarding without the awkward post-workout movement.

I think I'm going to try to run a full marathon at the Rock'N'Roll Las Vegas at the beginning of December. I've heard great things about the race and it's a location I can convince my entourage to follow me to. And it's Vegas, Baby! I hope everything I'm trying to cram into 2010 cooperates and I can finally do a full marathon!