How fast is "fast?"

This right here is fast. Imagine running this fast not for 1 mile, not for 5 miles, but for a whole freaking marathon.

I am fairly certain I am unable to achieve (let alone maintain) that pace for more than 20 feet! Holy crap. Amazing that a human being can be that fluid, that efficient... that FAST.

(and he doesn't even WIN all the time...)

Crazy.

10:41 AM: I'm so sore. I feel like I was hit by a cement truck. Wow. Piloxing really kicked my ass. I think I will try it again next Wedensday! One thing I will work on, in addition to my coordination and ballet moves, is my Piloxing outfit. I wore a Zoot top and some Pearl Izumi shorts with an IronMan visor yesterday, and I looked like I stumbled into the class by accident while on a run. Next week I'll do some sport capris and a "lucy" type top. Look a little more yoga-ish, and less sporty. Skip the visor. Plus, the sight of my bare, pasty cyclist legs was a bit unsettling.

I did make a friend, though... a little Polish girl that reminds me of my pal Agnes. She looked to be about 24, skinny as a rail, bleached blond hair with little tinsel strands intermingled throughout. She was extremely friendly and actually spoke to me, so I felt a little less awkward in my whacked out outfit. She also told me I didn't do "too bad". I will see her again next Wednesday and maybe I will get her name and try out my Polish vocabulary on her.

Wieworka!  Ubekatcja! Yapko!

(That would be squirrel, bathroom and apple)

Oh look, my year in status words. Not as good as the previous "YEAR IN STATUS UPDATES"... but interesting nevertheless. It appears as though "IS" is the most used word...

10:12 AM: 19 years ago today I started my career (I call it that now, since it's lasted 19 years... it sometimes feels like just a "job" though...) with my current employer. There have been ups and downs and ins and outs, just like any long term relationship. Sometimes I just don't know when to quit, I suppose.

Next year will be the big 2-OH, and I'll get another week of vacation, some additional pension benefits, and a small (and when I say small, I'm not kidding) bonus check. It's better than nothing. Also better than manual labor, ditch digging, working in a slaughterhouse or doing some other disgusting physically demanding task, day in and day out.

They keep paying me so I keep showing up.

(Or maybe it works the other way around?)

Regardless, I'm grateful to have a paying job and I'm grateful they are going to assist us in getting out from underneath our house in this oppressed real estate market. Not much else I can say. I don't have a glamorous gig, but it's stable and it pays enough for me to live like I want. So... there it is.

In other news: Our "Holiday" cards are going out today. If you are on the list, you will likely receive it after Christmas. Do recall that it's a HOLIDAY card, so it's considered valid up to and through New Years Day. Keep that in mind as you open it on December 28th or so.

1:36 PM: I think I am going to try PILOXING tonight after work. What is Piloxing you ask?



Clearly, it would be a hip hop/ballet/dance/boxing/pilates hybrid. I wonder how I will look in my triathlon outfit when I give it a go tonight? Maybe I'll just stay toward the back of the class and hope no one trips over me.

This is what I got Rachael for Christmas: (Don't worry, I've already given it to her, so I'm not blowing a surprise, here...)

And FWIW, there's a backstory that is interesting to us... but will likely bore you, my dear reader. Here it is anyway...

When Rachael and I were 15 years old... turning 16... we bought BEST FRIEND charms for our birthdays. Hers is 8/1 and mine is 8/15. We exchanged these charms in the middle of the two dates... probably something like 8/7. We had them all throughout the rest of high school and college. She had the "BE-FRI" part and I had the "ST-ENDS" part. When we turned 40, we wanted to exchange them again, just switching out the sides... so I'd have BE-FRI and she'd have ST-ENDS.

Well as it turns out, she was able to locate her half of the charm, and I, much to my dismay, was not able to locate mine. (I have not given up hope, I'm still looking... I know it's out there... I have not sold it, thrown it away, melted it down, or done anything to it!) She still gave me her half, attached to a bracelet. I, in turn, gave her nothing.

Until now.

I went to a jewelry store and had them research the charms we had (they were from the 1980's and they were cheap, from one of those catalog houses... but they were real gold) and the jewelry store ordered me a new set. They weren't able to match what we had exactly, but it's pretty close. And not too bad. Now I have 2 Best Friends charms on 1 bracelet. And she finally has a side. And we have a story.

2:07 PM: I finally FINALLY was able to get out and get a manicure today. YeeHaw!

Christmas, here I come!

The Morning Moment makes it's return!!! I have had nothing but issues trying to get the actual text to copy and paste, so I have taken a screen shot of the actual eMail, cropped it, adjusted it for size, and have posted it here. Please, gaze upon the fruits of my labor:

10:25 AM: I forgot my phone at home.

Cats were fighting hard core from the moment they opened their hate-filled little eyelids this morning. Fur flying. Screaming, clawing, hissing, etc etc. It's getting old.

We bought yet another Feliway diffuser. Now we have 3. Pretty soon we will be bathing the cats in Feliway. Despite the liberal diffusion of feline cheek phermones, Orbit peed on a DVD, and it dripped down Chris' desk and onto the carpet. And yesterday, Orbit peed on the bed. So it's been sort of insane and urine intensive the past couple of days. 

I didn't have time to vacuum up all of the fur tufts (but we did wash the comforter and clean the carpet) so it doesn't smell like pee anymore, but there are little chunks of fur all over the second floor and going down the stairs. It's... disconcerting.

I'm not sure what to do. They are all here to stay, so they need to get on a program and start getting along. It's been about 60 days...