too many layers!!

there is a beer hiding in here

After layering up I waddled my way to meet my half marathon training group.  My upper body felt a bit ridiculous but I was determined to stay warm.  Despite some whining my goal really is to be able to run outside in the winter.  Some people take it too far (cough John Rodney Bryan etc cough) but I'll be happy to be a cold weather runner and not a blizzard runner.  It was the group's first run so we did the intros and heard more about the upcoming runs.  We have 12 weeks until raceday and after looking at the plan I'm quite sure I won't be ready.  If I think I can run/walk the half in 3 hours or less I will go for it, until then I am not going to think about will I or won't I, I'm going to train like I will.  As we went aruond the room introducing ourselves I wanted to die.. oh hai, I'm so and so and I've done 4 marathons and 3 halfs, oh hai my name is whatever and I've done 32 half marathons, oh hai my name is blah blah and I've done Boston every year since I was born..  and then there was..

Hi, My name is Adena, I did a 5km once BUT it was at the end of a sprint triathlon, I'll just be going now.  I told them I would be their sweep and asked them to be kind when they lapped me.

The course was for 6kms with a few hill repeats mixed in for fun, yay.  Of course I was at the back of the pack but I was surprised at how well I did.  I ran for 11 minutes in a row without walking which I haven't done before.  My old smoker lungs were burning by then so I went to a run/walk, I have to say the burn felt good, like finally after all this time my lungs were starting to kick some of the crap out of them.  Anne (who has run Boston) kept me company for the first 3kms and then Sonja took over doing hill repeats with me.  She's injured and has such long legs that she can practically walk while I run.  It was really really nice of her to take the time with me.  I even did 4 hill repeats, 2 extra, before heading back, my ankle was starting to talk to me.  Final wrap up, I was warm and could have ditched a layer, but I'm not sure which one, probably the arm warmers and t-shirt but that is my favourite layer. 

The Barefoot Science inserts/insoles are working really well so far.  At first it kind of felt like the Princess and the Pea but my feet are definitely adjusting quickly.  The directions say that I should wait for the level 1 insert to become comfortable and then move up. I think I'll be moving up soon.   

We got our running programs last night and since I know some of our group workouts coming up I'm going to make a shell of my training plan for the next 12 weeks in excel later today (over a glass of wine).  Saturday will be our long endurance rides, Sundays are long runs.  Defininitely Monday and/or Wed with Sonja and Mike for spin, a few runs on my own plus I need to throw a few swims in there.. will be nice to have it all laid out and on the fridge where I can cross out my workouts as I do them.  The half marathon goal is daunting but really motivating. 

I am working from home today and as I was getting my coffee cream out of the fridge this morning it occured to me since so many of you wanted to see what was in my drawers (not my underoos) I thought I would take a picture of my fridge, off the cuff, no taking out bad stuff, just let it all hang out.  I have way too many condiments on the door and will be throwing most of them out on garbage, I generally only use about 5 of them week to week. 

What's in YOUR fridge?  Take a picture and post it on your blog or make a list and leave it in a comment here.  I love to know what's in peoples fridges.   

that's all I got..

oops, I lied.. go head over to Jason and Matt's blogs today.  They are having a sweet potatoe challenge and I can't decide!!!

layer cake...

I friggin wish!! I am all layered up and ready to go for my run. This is my first 'run' in crappy weather and it's make or break. Tonight will determine if I run very fast to the Y to get a membership to complete my winter training on a treadmill or not. , on top of 'I sick at running' I have walked outside or gone for short jogs but this run is with the half marathon running group and the run will be longer than I would normally do on my own.  I know you can say SIU all you want but I don't like being out in the cold, my past experiences have not been successful from a 'holy crap this is cold' perspective.  There are worse things than running on a treadmill and running on a treadmill is better than not running at all.

SOOOOOO
I have on my Enell running bra (the BEST bra in the universe for running with these girls)
Layer 1:
I have on my arm warmers which are super cool, like extra cool, I LOVE them and want to wear them everyday.
I have on my short sleeve Punk Rock running t-shirt cause I won it from EMZ and I feel like a superhero when I wear it.
I have on my Lulu Lemon running pants, well let's face it I do everything but cycle in these so I should not call them running pants.  All purpose pants?  All rounders? (no one will get that)

Layer 2:
I have on a long sleeve Sugoi running shirt, it's cosy and toasty (now)

Layer 3: 
I have a thicker long sleeve top, who makes it?  Dunno but I bought it at the running store under advisement.

Layer 4:
Will be my running jacket. 

Notice a problem?  I need some kind of extra layer for my legs but I don't have one so I'll have to SIU tonight. I am also wearing a scarf thingy and my runderwear and running socks (anklets, need to buy long socks), my roadID cause if I freeze to death I'll want them to know who to call.  I have running gloves and a Mizuno headband. Are we betting?  How long before I freeze to death?  Wish me luck.  

Run then home to work more.. :-(  crappy crappy end to my day at the office and then more work before bed.  

that's all I got... 

**edited to add that I have another pair of running pants I could wear over top of my lulu lemon ones but then I'd really look like the Michelin Man.  I am not sure I could even run in this entire get up.. 

so I was...

Wondering how much it's going to cost me to replace the speedometer in my car, the latest estimate is over $500. I will take it in this week/next week, I am tired of using my Garmin as a speedometer.

Interested to see, when the snow cleared, that the sidewalk where I fell may have actually been my problem, not just walking. The photo doesn't do it justice, but covered in slush it's no wonder my ankle rolled or at the very least it's a better excuse anyway.

Going to tell you that I ate PERFECTLY yesterday but a handful of cheetos took my victory, damn you delicious devious cheetos..

Rearranging my day to stop by my accountant's office on the way home from work. I'm still running on fiscal responsibility from the weekend.

Emailing back and forth with my financial girl, she's Jenny from the bank (haha, get it Jenny from the… nevermind) and she invited me over to play guitar hero. Hahahaha

Happy to be back training, 10km walk, coupla trainer rides done. Half marathon training starts tomorrow, yikes!

Happier still that my ankle is holding up.

Worried that I won't be able to keep up with the half mary training.

Feeling way behind on twitter and reading blogs.

Relieved to see my chiropractor last night, I can now see in my blindspot while driving.

Hoping I win the lottery, just a coupla million would suffice.

Recommending you watch Shameless,  I watched it 'on demand' over the weekend and I'm demanding MORE episodes. Incidentally Episodes is pretty funny too.

Laughing at the string of explatives I am hearing after someone presses 'send' on an email and it's received by the intended recipient.

Thinking that explatives said with an accent aren't scary, they are pretty funny.

Sharing the Vinturi love with my dad and stepmom. I bet they love it too.

Writing a letter to a friend. It's not done yet but will be one day this week, I'm late!!!

Wondering if you want to see what's in my drawers? My desk drawers, it's my healthy stash of goodies.

that's all I got...

**edited to add It's about time...

breakfast bang....

Whew what a weekend! Ok so it was sprinkled with alot of sleep and alot of nothing but I feel really accomplished, go figure.  Yesterday morning I went to see my financial girl at the bank.  I wanted to open a savings account and she is great and we always have a good laugh and get loads done.  At the end of the appt I ended up not only with a savings account but adding a large chunk to my annual RRSP contribution, bought a cheque set for my business and sore cheeks from laughing. Jenny is good people, if you are in Burlington go see her, she's with CIBC.  She makes me want to be fiscally responsible and makes things seem much less scary.

I have been fighting something for a few days, out of the blue I'd get a headache and my nose would plug up or be runny but after a good night's sleep it would go away.  Saturday night had alot of headache and feeling crappy but that did not stop me from putting together the 'breakfast bang'.  I have a friend at work, I'll blog about her in detail on another day.  She has lost 40? 50? 60? lbs, looks amazing and she did it the right way.  She works out, she's a runner (yes I'm trying to get her to come to the half with me in October cause she'd definitely kick my ass)... anyway she sets a fantastic example at the office, salad everyday for lunch, she's famous for her salads and they LOOK more delicious than a plateful of fries so I'm going to take a page out of Allison's book.  Last night cause I'm such a cool chick I spent an hour putting together the "breakfast bang" kicker for morning oatmeal.  She adds 1tbsp each of bran, wheatgerm and flaxmeal so I put that into tiny snack bags, 30 of em.  I tried to make it fun by doing it while drinking a glass of red.  The red I have is redneck (read cheap) but I have the Vinturi now so it tasted good. 

Today I met my friend Amanda and we went for a walk. Amanda has agreed to do the October half with me, she's not a runner but was looking for a goal, GO AMANDA. Last week I was thinking about the half marathon and thought aside from my regular running/cycling training (still can't swim) that I would add in a SUPER long walk on Sundays.  Nothing overly strenuous but something to get me out walking for however long I think the half marathon will take, at this point I'm thinking 3 hours.  I thought it might mentally prepare me a bit  better.  Shock of all shocks when I was on Beth's blog and she wrote about this same thing, I feel kinda validated.  Anyway Amanda and I met today around noon for our first walk and decided to test out 2 hours.  I was feeling better from the stuffy nose/headache point of view and my ankle was feeling good.  I got my shoes all set up with the insoles (level 1) and off we went.  We did 10km in 2 hours (that included a 10 minute bio/water break in the middle).  By the end my ankle was toast and the insoles were clearly bothering me.  Not 'bothering me in an 'oh my god these thing suck kinda way' but just a 'these are new and I have to get used to them' way.  

Came home, had an epic 2 hour nap, seriously I'm turning 81 next year.  I made an awesome dinner of buffalo chicken and blue cheese sausage sautéed with peppers, onions and finished in the oven with diced tomatoes and served with quinoa and of course a glass (of 2) of red.  

Spin class for me tomorrow, I hope the centre is open because I am not in the mood to do an hour on the trainer on my own.   





That's all I got...

school nights

Say Uncle, 19?? Mike is bottom right

I don't drink on school nights.  I don't go to school, you know what I mean right?   I hate hangovers and having them on a work day is the worst.  I will make the odd exception though and so when my awesome friend Mike was in town on Monday and he hung out at my place of course we had a couple of drinks (bottles of wine, yup THREE of them, oh god my head).  How could I pass up the chance to spend Valentines Day with one of my favourite boys in the world?



I have known him for many many years, I met him when he was just a punk kid in a rock band.  He moved to California more than 20 years ago but we have kept in touch.

Today he's got a full time job, he doesn't play music anymore, that makes me sad but he does do comedy.  One day I'm going to go see his act cause I know how funny he is off stage. 

Say Uncle 2009 Mike is on the left

He was back again last night.  He was the one that told me about the Vinturi and so we decided to test it out.  Of course we had to try it out on 3 more bottles of wine.  OH MY G*D that thing rocks!!  

He is a bad influence all around and once again I found myself on Amazon.ca pressing the 'buy' button.  I am going to hide my iPad when he's back in town.

His being over at the last minute meant no trainer ride for me, I didn't want to spill red wine on my white bike so I'm starting back this weekend, come hell or high water.   and now that Mike is leaving town I can go back to not drinking on school nights.

That's all I got...

In a completely unrelated piece of news, Beth at SUAR and is having a giveaway for something about ButtShield.. go there, go there and follow her, she needs followers, all 66 of you, GO now!!

ther.a.py

My mailbox has been a flurry of fun activity over the last few weeks. I've also been enjoying a bit too much retail therapy but that's going to come to an end very soon, my poor poor wallet. I recently arrived home to find some fun stuff in my mailbox and waiting for me on my front porch. I received my new cookbook from Georgie which I had been waiting for, LOVE IT. I am going to cook one new recipe a week and further to my pending vegetarian status I will do 2 days a week completely veg, Mondays and one other day but I'm not sure which. Not vegan because hello CHEEEEEEEESE but since I'm still trying to lose weight even cheese will be kept to a dull roar. ANYHEW.. Got the new cookbook. 

funky.. those inserts look like pez

I got my new Barefoot Science insoles. Back when I posted that my toes and the balls of my feet go numb when I am riding or running a few people thought I might have something but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it. Anyway TWO people said the same thing and my twitter pal Greg sent me an informative email and mentioned that I might want to try some insoles made by Barefoot Science.  Since his wine recommendations have always been winners I decided he is very very smart and I will listen to him. Seriously, he IS very knowledgeable about this stuff and it's worth a shot. I finally ordered them and was excited that they were waiting for me on my front porch, super speedy delivery!  With the sprained ankle situation I haven't been able to try them out yet but this weekend will be the first test. They sure look funky. I will be doing a post about them after a few runs.

this is going to be interesting

I got some AIRMAIL!! Airmail is so much fun. Over the summer my dad and stepmom stayed at my house for a week with some of her relatives from England, Ann and Jeff (maybe it's Geoff). We had a great week, I loved having them around and I think they enjoyed it, less so when I got home after wiping out at the race simulation, they hate that I cycle. The 'Brits' were adorable and very very nice and I loved listening to their accents. Anne taught me how to make a real cup of tea and we talked a lot about food. She mailed me a few cookbooks, one for cookies and one for tarts and pies. I won't be making anything out of these yet but I am perusing them. I will have to send her something back but I'm not sure what yet. 

starting at level 1

Last night my Vinturi arrived from Amazon. Considering I ordered it at 9pm on Monday night this is exceptional customer service. I am happy to report that I restrained myself and will wait until Friday to try it out. I will!

Tonight is a trainer ride for me. While I am riding I will list off all my bike parts cause I know what they are.  I am dying to take stuff apart now.. but I won't.

Go check out the Penguin for a cool giveaway!!  And follow her, follow her twice.

That's all I got...

so I was

Vinturi

Thinking I should not be near a computer while drinking, recently after a few glasses of wine I bought the Vinturi and music from itunes, thank you iPad. 

Interested to see if the Vinturi I bought actually works, my friend said it will change my wine experience entirely. 

Going to say thank you to the person that left the Anonymous comment on a very old entry this week.  I appreciate you taking the time to make such a nice comment.



Considering going vegetarian for 30 days. I was vegetarian from the time I was 20 (something) until my mid-30's, when I moved in with BBQman. There are loads more options out there now not to mention all those websites with recipes. (coughJasoncough)

Wondering why 'copycat' is such a popular search term, my blog gets the most hits for my 'copycat' post via google and only from Europe. I don't get it at all.

Happy to spend time with an old (old old old) friend this week, drinking wine and crank calling our other old old old friend to sing to her. I did not sing, I was too busy laughing.

Missing MS 2007 and all the cool features and don't even get me started on how much I miss OneNote.

Reading blogs on my ipad via Flipboard but I can't comment easily that way so back to Safari it is.

Listening to the music that I bought on Monday.

Excited that this weekend is a long weekend here in Ontario. It's family day and while I don't have my own family I am happy to take a day to stay in bed. 

Making some recipes from Fuel Up this weekend.  I also saw this recipe and think I'll make that one too.  Maybe stuffed shells with sun dried tomatoes and spinach from the cookbook. Sun dried tomatoes are so retro.

Excited to try out my new Barefoot Science insoles on this week's run. If the weather does not cooperate and it's too cold out I give up and will be getting my "Y" membership back to run on the treadmill. 

Looking for a bag or purse to carry my iPad around in, my lulu bag isn't cutting it.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

remember late night sunsets..

that's all I got...

Bike school wrap up

stripped

Yesterday was day 2 of bike school. I had a good time day 1 and we left class talking animatedly about how much more comfortable we were in general blah blah blah.. Then came day 2. I was disappointed when on day 2 Jay asked the class if we should work on the road bikes or continue with the mountain bikes. Of course I wanted to work on a road bike because I have one but majority won out, that and we already had the mountain bikes set up. Sadly this means that I can break down a mountain bike but I couldn't tell you how to even unhinge the brakes on my bike. Then again I'll never do brake work on my bike so I think I can live with it but it would have been nice to try it.

Let me give you and idea of my day, here are a few of my tweets:
Brake work sucks
Epic brake work fail, I want to go home to bed now
Installing brake cables is better than installing brakes, I hate brakes
I would not ride a bike that I have worked on, day 2 is horribly confusing

So in case you missed it, brake work SUCKS. We stripped the bike down from brakes to derailleurs and the chain. In a change from the day before, removing this equipment was easier than trying to put the stuff back on. We started with the brake pads and no matter how hard I tried I could not get them to sit still once I had placed them so I could tighten the bolts and then use the torque wrench. I did feel uber cool using the torque wrench by the way. I tried and tried and tried and every single time I went to tighten the bolt the freaking thing shifted. I was feeling even worse because my friend had completed hers so she tried to help out on my side but had an equally bad time of it. On closer inspection the pad on her side it was also cockeyed. The more frustrating part is that they weren't that much off but when you are talking brake pads and wheel rims even 2mm is bad. 

We moved onto the brake cables which you can see from my tweets was much much easier. Then to the derailleurs. This is where once again I confused my right from my left because we are talking gears and low and high and high and low up and up and down and righty tighty and lefty loosy not to mention the tension, oh the tension. This part confused me. I understood the high/low "concept" on the derailleurs but got lost trying to make the adjustments. Thankfully Jay came by to walk us through completing this task after I loudly admitted defeat.. Ok, I may have screamed 'oh my god what the hell have we done!!!'.. Ok I didn't.. You really thought I did though didn't you, it would have been completely believable right. Anyway it turns out it wasn't nearly as off as we had thought and we were able to finish our task. Before we knew it we had spent and entire day, 7 full hours stripping the bike down and putting it back together. 

The bike school wrap up.

The course was great, 2 days and I’m way more comfortable about my bike in general. I was feeling as if it were a very fragile thing and while you need to be careful when pulling stuff off and putting it back on I won't be afraid to take the chain off and change the back tire, or muck around with the cassette (sp?) or any of those things. If something goes wrong while I am riding I will be able to diagnose things, or some things anyway and I will be comfortable that I know enough to continue riding or call for help, I am well aware of my limitations. I also now know what most of those tools that John got me are for. THAT was was totally fun, coming home to check it out and saying 'oh THAT is what that's for'. 

The book they give you had loads of good information and while I didn't read every page and we didn't use it a lot in the course there is helpful information in there. I even know how to look for and read torque specs, woot. I think just like saying 'torque'. Jay was a fantastic teacher, very patient and extremely knowledgeable. The set up of the class was excellent as well, there was theory and a demonstration and then we would practice hands on our bikes in groups of two. It often felt a bit overwhelming during the demo part but when we did the work ourselves it was easier than expected. Rick (the less tall dude) was helpful during execution, coming by to check on us and give us a hard time. He is going to India to do a ride there for a month!! If you have any interest in taking a course I would highly recommend this one. They also offer other courses, there is a pro course and a course where you build your own bike from the ground up. I actually thought that might be cool UNTIL we started doing brakework and I decided forget that. I'd also need to learn more about my right and left before trying that out. 

If my dream job was to be a bike mechanic my dreams would have died this weekend but thankfully I only dreamed I'd know what torque means so no loss.

Today is Valentines Day and as luck would have it I get to see my awesome,  funny and extra handsome very good friend Mike tonight so Happy Valentines Day to you AND to me!!

#bikeschool in photos, captions and inappropriate tweets

Had a great day at bike school today with Winterborne Bike Institute.  I learned alot and was not injured at any point during the day.  My friend Dana (who refuses to be linked)  was not so lucky, she ended up on the wrong end of a wrench and no torque.   

We arrived early for class and were greeted by our instructors Jay (the tall dude) and Rick (the less tall dude). Rick had more than his fair share of fun checking on us and giving us a hard time.. 

We looked around the class, there were 10 seats, 6 workbenches which were fully loaded and 12 students.  

There were bikes and bike stuff everywhere!   Probably because we were at #bikeschool! 

We were about to find out that we were going to be working on the Trek bikes up there.  But first we had to get them down.

We inspected our workstation and had to identify each tool on it. Making up names for them was a bit more fun than their actual names and we even identified all the missing tools, is that anal?

We disassembled the front end, meaning we took apart the headset, took the wheel and fork off and stood back to admire our handiwork. At this point I tweeted 'starting disassembly, haha this is the easy part'.  I couldn't have been more wrong.

 My hands got greasy, I hate greasy hands.

A wheel-less bike.  Then to put it all back together.

The following tweet may have gone out during the reassembly:

Instructor:  Did you grease and tighten the screws?  
Me: yes, they are 'girl tight'.  That sounded dirty..

Nice to meet you!!!

After putting it together we had to ensure there were no knocks so we did 'the Brazilian'.  This picture demonstrates the Brazilian, it's not the instructors on all fours getting waxed (you all have dirty minds)..  if you want to know more about 'the Brazilian', take the course.

We took a break and I went to the bathroom where I learned much special 'cycling' advice like this. I could have stayed in there all day long reading.  The walls were covered.

When I saw this, I thought of PedalmanTO, of course it was after I was finished and had washed my hands.

After lunch there was the back of the bike to take apart.  We removed the crankarms but did not screw up the threads and wreck the arms.. we DID not do that.. they may have thought we did, tried to prove it but in the end we were right.

We took out the bottom bracket, took off the chain by breaking it (woohoo, I am good at that shit), removed the back wheel and then proceeded to take the thing apart.

Dana (who still refuses to be linked) was wrangling the chainwhip and a wrench and some good balance.  Who knew that thing came off.. crazy!!

Far too much grease, grease remover, a reassembled back end (that sounds dirty too)and  we were finished for day 1.  I am happy to report I am less afraid of bikes, grease and chains. We are looking forward to tomorrow's class.

My question, if we already took apart the whole the bike, what's left?
oh shit, the derailleurs (sp?), I can't even spell it, nevermind working on it.

One final bathroom break and we were outta there.

That's all I got.

PS - they don't teach you how to change a tire here.. Found THAT out in the first 5 minutes, AFTER I paid my course fee. NICE.  Ian!!!

sorry for all the white space between pics and texts, I'm too tired to try to fix it..

In praise of younger brothers

see, cutest child ever

My little brother is 6 years younger than me, my god he's not even 40 yet, how is that fair!!. He was the cutest child in the history of the world and I loved him SO much. Growing up we went through the usual brother sister struggles and in our teen years and into our 20's we didn't get along so well. Then at some point, I don't even remember what year it was or how old I was or where I was living, he asked if I would help him out, he asked to move in with me. Now for him to ask that, he had to be in dire straights and I knew that and at the end of the day, no matter what happened in our past he is my brother and I love him. So he came to stay for a while.

cutest E V A R

In that time we got to know each other outside of the labels put on us by our family and ourselves. We got to know each other as friends and gained respect for each other in ways we never thought possible. I finally understood why he did some of the things he did, well not all but a lot, and I think it was the same for him. I also discovered he was a very cool dude. He's an amazing musician and can really sing. I can play piano (when I practice) but I only sing when I want to torture people (or his girlfriend feeds me A LOT of booze and makes me play American Idol with her). He is funny as hell and probably one of the best 4 cooks I know. The others are my mom, my sister and my stepmother, now wouldn't that would be an interesting head to head competition.

cool in the 90's

We were beyond silly. We'd sing each other Finnish sauna songs that we learned as kids,laughed at old stories from our youth and we started playing Go Fish in French. "Escque tu have any trois mon frere?" I know, not funny to you but we were crying from laughing mostly because neither of us know how to speak French. I reminded him constantly not to piss me off cause sleeping on the balcony would be very cold.  That's right I don’t have a balcony!! Growing up in the same house meant we were exposed to the same music, we both have extremely varied taste in music, we love it all. We both love beer and red wine. I was actually very sad when he left. 

Over the years we have remained close, well I think we are still close even though I don't see that much of him, certainly not as often as I'd like. We've had our ups and downs but no matter what I'll always be there for him, we can always play Go Fish in French little bro. 

In the last little while he has jumped on the working out bandwagon and is kicking some major ass. I can't convince him to do a tri with me (yet) or a half marathon (maybe?) but he is looking like one bad ass muthatrucker. (see I'm trying to be polite). 

20 minutes ago, yikes

He is also very protective of me..

very

I wouldn't mess with him..

or me..

That's all I got..

So I was..

grateful for all the supportive comments from my crank.kee post yesterday.  I'm so lucky to have so many amazing people in my life that are supportive and make me laugh and kick my ass (coughMattycough) and also those that will bring me wine at the drop of a hat.. I'd say they are my favourite but that's not true, I'd love all of you even more if you'd bring me wine too.  haha! just kidding.  I'm not sure if there is anything more important than having good people around you.

hyperventilating when I registered for the Mississauga half marathon on May 15.  What's his name, that's Missssissssawwwga.  You should also wink after you say it and point your 'gun fingers'.

hyperventilating more when I registered for the Scotiabank Waterfront half marathon on Oct 16. What's his name, that's wwwaaaaattttee... oh nevermind

getting a brown paper bag while reading the confirmation emails I got from both.  I realize there was a lot of hyperventilating going on but these are my first ones (half marathons that is) and I hate running and not only do I hate running but I suck at it so there is good reason for the hyper and the ventilating yes?

excited about some things happening at the office but I can't go into detail here.  I have my fingers and my toes crossed.

interested to see if this 'preset' publish works.  I'm typing this on Tuesday.  (it didn't)

looking forward to bike certification this weekend and to see Max and Dana AND to have some yummy food and wine.

hoping I don't injure myself or anyone else during #bikeschool.  (haha, see what I did there) 

relieved to see my chiro and have my back adjusted, the chairs at work are killing me.

surprised to find out from him that I should still be elevating and icing my ankle, I did not know this.

nervous to buy the 'wobble board' he recommended which is supposed to strengthen my ankles but we all know me.  Who's betting hospital visit?

loving my new magicJack.  I really hope it's compatible with MAC.  It would kind of suck when I get my MAC computer if it didn't work and I didn't have a phone anymore, a phone I pre-paid for 5 years of service.  It was a sale, you know I can't say no to a sale.  If you want the number, shoot me a note.

swiped this from Mandy's blog, sue me

requesting that you vote for Bailey.
Vote for him everyday. He's a handsome feller and I bet he's pretty cosy and warm on these cold days and he sits all nice for a treat.  So go on, do it for me, go vote for him (everyday until he wins please)  

annoyed at blogger for screwing up my page up there although it could just be me.

That's all I got...

crank.kee

Mia always cheers me up

Oh wow, I've had enough of this.  One step forward and two steps back, literally.  The ankle was getting better since I aggravated it last Wednesday.  I did short walk/jog (15 minutes mostly walking) on the weekend to gauge how it was and while it was (and is) still sore it didn't 'hurt'.  Yesterday I got home from work and it felt sorer than usual but I got on the trainer, thought I'd try 15 minutes.  I didn't even get into my bike gear (gasp no helmet!!!) and after about 2 minutes I noticed it looked awfully swollen.. off the trainer, sit on the couch, both feet up on the table to compare and sure enough, balloon.. ok not a big balloon but WTF?  I have twisted my ankle many times before and it's never taken more than  few days of resting it for it to be back to normal. What gives?

So thus started the OMG I'm crank.kee phase of the day, this lasted into the evening and continues this morning.  It's less swollen today but it hurts.. ARGH!  Last night in an effort to cheer myself up I went to the websites for both the Mississauga half and the Scotia bank half (I love the name of that one, the 'waterfront' marathon), I thought if I signed up I'd feel better.

but I didn't register.
I chickened out.

What if my ankle never gets better? 
Just give it up now...
13.1 miles, 21km, is FAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR
The Mississauga half is 95 days away, you don't have enough time..
blah blah blah blah wah wah wah

I brought my credit cards to work today and hope that I'll be in a frame of mind to just sign up, I mean WHO CARES if I'm slow, I could walk the bloody thing and finishing would still be an accomplishment and I'm sure I wouldn't end up walking it all anyway but my whine is getting the better of me.

So there you have it.. I hate feeling like this, I'm tired of the crank.kee.  I'm tired of my ankle hurting.  I'm tired of everything frustrating the hell out of me this week and I do mean EVERYTHING.  I'm tired of hearing myself complain so I'll STOP.

On the upside, I have fresh hot Tim Hortons coffee right here, I took my vitamins today, you all will make me laugh today etc..

Nothing lasts forever, not even feeling whiny and crank.kee.

That's all I got...

This blog has no title, just words and a tune

What the hell does defenestrate mean??  EMZ wrote it in her last post.  I gave up and googled it.  For those of us, or just me if that's the case, that didn't know, it means to throw (a person or thing) out of a window.  I can be helpful right.  I know a few people I'd like to defenestrate at the moment.

I have sat in a chair and NOT moved for enough days in a row that my ankle is FINALLY feeling better and I'm so SICK of sitting in a chair (on a couch) and not moving that I actually WANT to work out and sweat, ALOT.  So tomorrow, walk/run and Monday I'm signed up for spin class, I need some Mike ass kicking action my friends.  

 Today I met some amazing ladies for lunch.  We haven't got together in a long time and it was good to see their faces and hear them laugh.   We met for Dim Sum cause the ladies love them some Dim Sum. Sadly I'm not a good Dim Sum date because I don't like seafood or anything that I might consider to be 'odd' but I am happy to report that despite the odds, I did not starve and even had some yummy stuff. With it being Chinese New Year the place was packed and around noon they had a couple of dragons come around and an adorable older gentleman wishing every one a Happy New Year.   

One of the girls that was there, Candace, is quite the cook, I mean QUITE the cook!  She has a blog and posts here occasionally and I gave her loads of lip service about that today at lunch.  She posted a picture of her yorkshire puddings on facebook, see the pic above.  I swiped that off her facebook and can't figure out why it's teeny tiny but trust me, those yorkies are MUCH bigger than they appear here.  This sparked a facebook photo comment debate on who makes the best ones and of course I threw my hat in there cause I make some pretty good ones if I do say so myself. 

Not much else going on around the casa, I did get some nice "Canada" gear at Zellers today, was hoping for a better sale price on the hoodie but I have been looking at it for months now, it was time to make the buy.

I'm a bit grumpy, I've been immobile for two weeks and haven't had a drop of alcohol in almost 4 weeks.  UGH

Oh I did make a few race decisions and have my credit card at the ready for registration.  I'm definitely doing the Mississauga half in late May and I'm going to do the Scotia half (in Toronto) in late Sept, early Oct.  I think it will be great to compare times, I'm hoping to see some gains in my speed as the season progresses.   

 That's all I got...

so I was.. wishing you a happy snow day!!!

starting to shovel

Wondering where the rest of the snow is. Not that I'm complaining, but it's not nearly as bad as they predicted.  They said SNOWMAGEDDON this is Canada, I was expecting so much more.



Waiting patiently(?) for my ankle to get better… no excuses this weekend, pool time it is! Swim + water run.

Wondering if you ever pretend your keyboard is a piano and type to the music? Me neither..

Considering vacation plans for the summer. I want to descend on some family in America, consider yourselves warned!

Looking for a corresponding sprint tri, it would be fun to go visit family AND race.. Well fun for me, not them so maybe not.

Impressed to find out that my iPad calendar automatically syncs with my google calendar. How did it know who I am?  Is that scary?

neighbour stuck

Annoyed with autocorrect on my iPhone, so I turned it off. Now I'm annoyed at all the typos I make.

Thinking that the days are getting longer, I love this trend.

Hoping for another loss on the scale this week.

Listening to Joshua Radin and Amos Lee this week.



Enjoying some tea, it's called "Read my lips", the advert said it's better than sex. I can confim this is NOT true, it is NOT better than sex.

Excited that my bike maintenance course is coming up in 2 weeks. Soon I'll be certified!!!

Checking to see if I qualify for an upgrade to my phone yet, this iPhone is nearly dead.

Happy for a quick visit with my old boss yesterday, he makes me laugh. Next time there will be drinks involved.

Looking forward to Feb 12 because that is the day Salad King re-opens. Salad King is my all time favourite Thai restaurant. Cashew chicken with 5 chilies or the Panang curry with 7 chilies? decisions decisions.  I may eat there everyday for a month just to catch up.

That's all I got...