Just another manic Monday...

Happy Halloween!

I took a day off from work to get a few things done. Among other things, I got a nice 2-hour nap in!

I took a motorcycle riding course this weekend and I was hoping to go out and buy a helmet today... maybe a pair of gloves, but I didn't get around to it. Of course, I'll need a bike too!

I DID get a little bit done on my thesis today. I also watched "Sideways" which I now have to return to Blockbuster. Finally, I made it to the downtown library to listen to some music for the next play I'm working on. I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, but I have a lot of stuff to listen to.

That date I had the other night was good, but I thought I was getting the big blow off afterwards. No return calls or e-mails. I finally decided to back off. I'm glad I did. She eventually wrote that she wasn't ignoring me, just overwhelmed with work and falling asleep early and such. We had a good talk on the phone last night. It doesn't look like we're going to find time to see each other until after this-coming weekend, but that's all right. She's interested and I'm busy. This gives me something to look forward to.


Next weekend: New York City! I'm going with co-workers to see a couple of shows, do some shopping, see an old friend. 'should be fun.

I'll let you know.

I'm late! I'm late! ...

...for a very important date!

Well, I WAS late... a little. And the importance of the date has yet to be determined, but it was nice and, presumably, there will be another. I hope so anyway.

I'll let you know.

My stars!

Okay, so I'm not writing my thesis. I don't mean that I'm resolved to NOT write it. It's just that I haven't written anything in days.

HOWEVER, I am going "home" this weekend and I'm taking a printout of what I've got so far with me. I'm going to work on it on paper. ...and I'm going to take the STAR Approach.

S - Situation
T - Task
A - Action
R - Results

• The "situation" is the history of the project which led to my application being needed.


• The "task" is then the definition of my project.


• The "action" will be the strategy of going about it AS WELL AS the obstacles to doing it.


• The "results" will be a summary of usage as determined by database records.

The largest and most-complicated section will be the Action/Obstacles and it is this section which has caused me to procrastinate so much. The answer, then, is to break that section down as well.

Well, we'll see what this weekend brings.

I'll let you know.

Today, I Am a Runner!

It started out with a 5K two summers ago. On Thanksgiving, I ran a 10K in a light snow. In January, I began training for a marathon. On top of the training, I did a 15K and a 1/2 marathon. I subscribed to (and read) Runner's World magazine. I did the marathon and made my personal goal. I have since run another 1/2 marathon and, most recently, have found a marked 5 mile path near my house which, while the weather was nice, I hit as often as I could.

Through all of this, however, I never considered myself a runner.

We have been having a little cold weather lately. Not great for running outdoors. Plus, it's getting darker earlier. I have been back to the gym for Spinning classes and to use the treadmill which I find tedious now (even though, when training for the marathon, I was able to run 10 miles on those things!).

I decided to step outside at work today and get a breath of fresh air. I noticed it had warmed up unexpectedly. It occurred to me that I could do my 5 mile course today. I even got excited at the prospect. On the drive home, I saw a few people running and thought to myself "huh... taking advantage of the nice weather like I'm about to do!" And that's when it hit me. I'm a Runner! A REAL Runner! I saw the window of opportunity to get a nice outdoor run in and I gleefully jumped at it!

Some people probably saw today as an opportunity to shoot 9 holes or ride their motorcycle or maybe wash their car. That's what those people are in to. I saw it as my chance to run because I AM A RUNNER!

Now, I suppose if I was a SUPER Runner, the cold weather wouldn't have stopped me in the first place! Perhaps I'll look into winter running.

I'll let you know.

Have you seen this!?! [all links open in new window]

Improv Everywhere
I just have to say, I've been to this site before and chuckled over it, but I just went there again and read their July "mission". What balls this crew has and what a great story! The feel-good "prank" of the year!

Don't want to open a new window? This link gets you there, here.

Nice blow job!

Just read this in a Match profile: "I'm not looking for 'Mr. Perfect' but someone to complement me as I do him."

'couldn't resist. Sorry!





P.S., Yes I AM aware of the difference between complement and compliment!

Notice the topic that receives the least attention...

Updates on my list of TTD (things to do):

Exercise: I've only gotten one of my Spinning classes in for this week (yesterday). I wanted to go on Tuesday as well, but that kind of fell through. I'm shooting for my second on Saturday morning. Last night's Spinning instructor was good. She doesn't spin so well herself (she gets off her bike a lot during the class), but she forces us to go harder to make up for it! It was a good workout.

Master's Project: I read through an article on XHTML for the BlackBerry (related to my project). A little helpful. What would be even more helpful would be if I started WRITING!

"Love life": Well, I had dinner with my ex- last night. She gave me back a video tape of mine I've been asking for, but it was otherwise an uninteresting dinner. I just had nothing to say to her. At least I got my tape back. ...and the leftovers, which made a pretty good lunch today! So that's her legacy. Leftovers. Okay, in fairness, I have some fond memories. I wish they weren't so clouded by how crappy (crappily?) she treated me at the end. Oh well, water under the bridge, eh? T-minus-2-days to sushi!

Another message to the ladies posting on Match: Close your mouth! There's something so phony to me about a POSED, open-mouthed smile. Well, all right, I guess others might like it. Let them blog about it.

Sound: 'finally finished forcing my way through the Shakespeare and now it's back to the show I'm starting the season with. I got a little inspired last night. The first act takes place in France and they mention the sea, but I can't tell if it's the North Sea or the Mediterranean Sea. I guess I could infer North Sea since it's an English play and the characters probably didn't go too far into France for Act I. 'still looking for textual clues though. There's an orchestra playing at the top of the act and I can totally envision the feeling I want to produce with that music. A trip to the multi-media section of the library is in order! Perhaps I can schedule it in for Saturday. I'll be sure to have a handle on all the music I'd like for Act I by then.

I wanted to do 5 miles tonight, but I ended up staying at work until 11:30 PM. Maybe tomorrow.

I'll let you know.

Tonight. Tonight. Tonight.

Well, I've made progress, however minimal, in many of the areas I've been wanting to pay attention.


On the weight control front, I've begun journaling all that I eat again. When I first started doing that (Jan 1, 2004), it had an enormous impact. 18 months later, I was still doing it, but I was pretty much eating anything I wanted and just writing it down. It had lost its ability to keep me from pigging out too much. I officially stopped doing it half-way through August 27, 2005.


In the short time that has passed since then, the DOING of it has regained its power. I started again on October 1. Snacking has gone way down. Now, if I snack at all, it's very controlled. If I eat gummy spiders (my most recent gummy acquisition!), I'll eat two now and maybe two later and that's it. Previously, I WOULD count them, but I'd have 10 and if I wasn't satisfied, I'd make it an even 20.

I'm thinking that the food journaling might be something that I do every other month. Hopefully a month of doing it will give me the momentum I need to get through the next month and, after that, the power of the journaling will be stronger when I start again.

Ah yes, and I made a conscious effort to up my water-intake today as well. It meant going to the bathroom a lot, but each time I went just made me feel like "Yes! I'm drinking a lot of water!"

Exercise: I've been doing 5 miles on this out-and-back route I've found right near my house. I do this 2 or 3 times a week. My pace is consistently at 9 minutes per (on average), but I'd like to see that improve. I'm trying to work in two Spinning classes this week as well. Now, when am I going to get to the strength exercises?


Love life: Was this on my list of things to concentrate on!?! After a few days of resentment, I am completely "over" my ex. This could make for good "couch" material, but it probably comes mostly down to: she's not settled down yet and I'm sort of fixed where I am for now. My goals are localized and hers were broad and she's probably not going to stick around here for long anyway (a few years max).

So, back on Match, then, I'm searching and searching. It seemed there were a lot of possibilities for me out there BEFORE breaking up with my ex-. I e-mailed a few, but mostly they haven't been active in 'over 3 weeks,' so I don't know if they even got it or are still available, etc.

Of the other women, I have discovered some patterns in profiles and, given how many people there are in my area listed on Match, I have developed a few criteria that will cause me to 'Remove from searches' someone's profile right away...

• If they desire a house full of kids, they're gone. I like my one kid. I could see myself with another. That's got to be it.


• If they're looking for their 'knight in shining armor,' they're gone. Too much responsibility.


• If the faiths they list in the 'About my Date' section are all the Catholic ones, even if they've added 'Spiritual but not religious,' I nix 'em. Hello? Why not write 'Any' if you really don't care?


• I've been knocking out almost everyone from south across the river (too far away, I'm thinking) Gotta draw the line somewhere.


• I am suspicious of anyone who is seeking matches over some really large age range. I see it as a sign of desperation. You can be desperate, but don't flaunt it!


• 
  I will (for the MOST part) only look at profiles of people that have pictures. You show me yours, I'll show you mine.

...and by the way, all you women out there: everyone knows you just read the Da Vinci Code. Find another way to stand out! [P.S., go ahead and tell me what all the guys write! I can take it! :)]

So I recently updated my own profile. I changed my 'About Me' section to some really off-the-cuff, dry comedy. More conversational, with a bit of a "whatever" attitude. Stuff like "I just canceled HBO and immediately wished I hadn't."


I've been getting some e-mails and winks since then and there was one from a woman whose profile sounded really great, but who I pegged as too far away (North, not South across the river). Well, she wrote first and I wrote back and we continued on... probably several e-mails in one day when I finally suggested a phone call.

So last night I made the call and we talked for almost an hour and a half. She was great. We laughed a lot and she's totally easy to get along with. We're going out for sushi on Sunday. I am looking forward to meeting her.


Sound design: it's taking me a lot longer to get through this Shakespeare play I've been looking at, but I'm almost done. I've done a little each day and I've got very little left to take notes on. Then I will turn my attention back to the first play of this season that I'm doing. Now that the date where I really need to be going on that is nearing, I'm getting pretty revved up about the work!


Master's Project: I forced myself to sit down and work on it for an hour the other night. It went very well. I have tried to do it again, but just couldn't get to it. I have several links I want to follow and read on the Internet, but every time I sit down at my computer, I'm surfing blogs and reading articles and checking out some cool sites, etc. Then I go upstairs and look at my list of things I want to do and realize I haven't followed a single link for my thesis and I just feel too tired to read, etc. Ugh.

Tonight. Tonight. Tonight. My new mantra. 'hopefully I'll make good on this.

I'll let you know.