Two days away from crossing another month off the list. Yippee!
I had a good weekend. I ran the RSOP Spring into Shape 5k and finished with a time of 28:01. A new personnel best and I couldn’t have been more excited about it. I was so excited I wanted to run another 5K this weekend – unfortunately when I hit the track yesterday I quickly figured out that I rebound like a 30 year old, so I will need a little bit longer before my next race. So maybe if the weather holds out I will get my yard work done and if its crappy I can finishing cleaning my cupboards since I only made it through half when I worked on them 2 weeks ago.
Other than the running and the cleaning, not much else is going on here. With the minor exception that our new tent arrived today :) I can’t wait until I get a chance to try it out. For those of you keep track at home this is tent number 3. We have an ultra light two person tent for when we hit the trail and do some backpacking (or when I need a large outdoor kennel to cage the doggy in), we also have a lighter weight 6 person tent that we use in the BWCA, and now I have my roomy 4 person car camping tent – complete with screen room/vestibule. Yes it may be a lot of tents, but for people who love to spend their time in the outdoors – you need to have the right tent for the right occasion :)
I must admit that while I’m getting closer and closer to the starting the final count down to Hubby coming home, I am starting to feel an increase in anxiousness – both good and bad. I can’t wait for him to get home – to the point where I’m starting to read all the family support literature about what to expect when your soldier comes home. And while I understand what they are doing is trying to help set expectations that’s it’s not going to be all rainbows and kittens and shooting stars 24 hours a day, it’s tough to swallow the idea that while I’ve missed him and want to shower him with hugs and kisses that he may just want to find a quiet corner by himself and find his own way to adjust back into his Duluth life. But I imagine that as he tries to adjust to Duluth life – the pets and I will have to adjust to him as well and while I dream that I will have no problem sharing all our stuff again – I know the middle child in me wants to keep all her toys to herself. But I also know we’ll work through any homecoming issues together.
125 days to go.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Day 265
That’s a big number. 265. 100 more days and it will be 1 year.
It really does seem like it’s just flying by now. I can’t wait for Aaron to get home so we can take our life off of pause and starting living it again. But I still have to wait, so I try not to get to excited that Hubby’s homecoming is getting closer and closer.
One week until my first 5K of the year. I feel pretty good about it. We had good weather last week and I got to do a fair amount of running after work. Yesterday was beautiful. I think it was above 70 here. I made the mistake of going outside at lunch time. When I came back from lunch I had made up my mind to use some vacation time for the afternoon – way to nice of a day to spoil it in front of a computer screen. So I went home and picked up sticks in my backyard and got a quarter of it raked - by then my neighbor had gotten off of work (he went outside at lunch time and had come to the same conclusion as I did). And rather than continue yard work, we retreated to our usual Friday after work hangout and enjoyed a few beers. More friends joined us and we spent the evening on the back porch at the Sunset. It was an awesome Friday.
Today wasn’t so nice. I think we had 45 degrees. But I guess it was ok. I went and got cleaning supplies so I can start my spring cleaning tomorrow :( I hate cleaning. I should really just hire somebody to clean for me. But I would have to clean first so that I was embarrassed by the amount of dust I have – which would defeat the purpose of hiring someone to clean. Suppose I should get my beauty rest so I can be well prepared for cleaning.
135 days to go.
It really does seem like it’s just flying by now. I can’t wait for Aaron to get home so we can take our life off of pause and starting living it again. But I still have to wait, so I try not to get to excited that Hubby’s homecoming is getting closer and closer.
One week until my first 5K of the year. I feel pretty good about it. We had good weather last week and I got to do a fair amount of running after work. Yesterday was beautiful. I think it was above 70 here. I made the mistake of going outside at lunch time. When I came back from lunch I had made up my mind to use some vacation time for the afternoon – way to nice of a day to spoil it in front of a computer screen. So I went home and picked up sticks in my backyard and got a quarter of it raked - by then my neighbor had gotten off of work (he went outside at lunch time and had come to the same conclusion as I did). And rather than continue yard work, we retreated to our usual Friday after work hangout and enjoyed a few beers. More friends joined us and we spent the evening on the back porch at the Sunset. It was an awesome Friday.
Today wasn’t so nice. I think we had 45 degrees. But I guess it was ok. I went and got cleaning supplies so I can start my spring cleaning tomorrow :( I hate cleaning. I should really just hire somebody to clean for me. But I would have to clean first so that I was embarrassed by the amount of dust I have – which would defeat the purpose of hiring someone to clean. Suppose I should get my beauty rest so I can be well prepared for cleaning.
135 days to go.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Day 253
We still have snow on the ground, and warm days now mean maybe 10 degrees above freezing (if we’re lucky). But never the less, spring is starting to peak through. Yesterday Bagley and I took a long walk through the neighborhood. We noticed the trees are starting to bud out, the squirrels are out and about, birds are all over the place singing, and the mangy deer are starting to appear to munch on rotten apples and steal from low hanging bird feeders.
I am totally ready for spring. I want green grass and flowers and trees with pale green leaves and baby birds and bunnies. My trip to Palm Springs does not seem to have alleviated my spring fever, in fact I think it is worse than ever. I just want to get outside and play – but there is still ice and snow :( It makes it really tough to hit the streets to continue training for 5Ks. Right now I run the track at lunch time and walk the dog in the evening. I need the experience with hills to improve my time. My next 5K is in 19 days - starting to get excited, and hoping to improve my time a little bit too.
Hubby is still doing well. Spring also makes me miss him. It’s usually this time of year we start dusting off the backpacking gear and planning our first Split Rock Loop trip. Nothing like backpacking at the end of April. The trail sucks, its cold, its damp – but we keep doing it– and we love it. I think this year might be my first solo on the loop. I’m a little scared about that idea, considering the problems we had last year – but I’m up for the challenge.
I reserved our BWCA permit last week too. That trip is a long way off though – I have wait until September. Sigh.
147 days to go.
I am totally ready for spring. I want green grass and flowers and trees with pale green leaves and baby birds and bunnies. My trip to Palm Springs does not seem to have alleviated my spring fever, in fact I think it is worse than ever. I just want to get outside and play – but there is still ice and snow :( It makes it really tough to hit the streets to continue training for 5Ks. Right now I run the track at lunch time and walk the dog in the evening. I need the experience with hills to improve my time. My next 5K is in 19 days - starting to get excited, and hoping to improve my time a little bit too.
Hubby is still doing well. Spring also makes me miss him. It’s usually this time of year we start dusting off the backpacking gear and planning our first Split Rock Loop trip. Nothing like backpacking at the end of April. The trail sucks, its cold, its damp – but we keep doing it– and we love it. I think this year might be my first solo on the loop. I’m a little scared about that idea, considering the problems we had last year – but I’m up for the challenge.
I reserved our BWCA permit last week too. That trip is a long way off though – I have wait until September. Sigh.
147 days to go.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Day 250
Actually this is written day 248, but I didn’t feel like paying $8 for internet access in the MSP airport since I will be home relatively soon – then I got distracted by sleeping and getting caught up on things.
First off – sorry for not posting. But in all actuality, me not posting means things are good. The urge to write erupts out of feelings of boredom, anger, sadness, angst, worry, fear… More or less, the desire to write for me often is a way to express bad feelings. Work has kept me busy, not happy, but busy – which is ok. Hopefully my project will reach an end point soon and I can go back to a normal work environment – I say hopefully, but I know it’s not likely. I’ll finish up the project I am working on and politely tell the people around me I will keep working but not to the devotion level that I have been. I feel like I have put in one too many nights without my key stakeholders be gracious or understanding (or even caring) - I’ll finish off my commitment at this level, but I’m going to reshape expectations and start enjoying my spring evenings (once spring decides to come to Duluth).
Hubby is doing well. We haven’t had the chance to talk like we used to, but we still email and chat when we can. We’re both looking forward to the day when we can be together again.
Now on to my exciting weekend. I’m on my way home from the annual soft ware conference that I’ve now attended for the 5th year. I spent the last four days in Palm Springs, CA. Nice place to visit and I hope I get the chance to go back, but it’s certainly not a place I want to live. Way too many golf courses and old people and heat. That and I have a tough time reconciling the amount of water they consume from northern CA and the Colorado river in order to keep their green grass and golf courses in the middle of the desert – especially when that means that real agriculture suffers so that some retiree can play 18 holes on a PGA course.
I’ve been up since 4AM. Yesterday was a busy day and I didn’t get a chance to pack until after our meal and casino night – so I didn’t make it to bed until well after midnight. While I realize that Delta and NWA are still working on merging their services together – I am a frustrated customer. My flights to Palm Springs were both still NWA and everything was perfect and on time and happy. My return flight has not gone so smoothly. My flight from Palm Springs left pretty close to on time – I felt bad for the 3 guys they kicked off the flight right before take off. Apparently it had just started snowing in Salt Lake and they wanted to load the plan with more fuel just in case we needed to land else where so we had to get rid of some weight. So I guess this caused us to land in Salt Lake 10 minutes late – and I rushed from one end of the airport to the other to catch my connector – I got there a good 7 min before the scheduled take off, but there was no ticketing agent at the booth and I didn’t know if I should get on. In retro spec I should have just walked down the jet way and tried to get on. But I didn’t and by the time the ticketing agent came back to the desk she told me they had just pushed off :(
SO then came the rebooking. She was bitchy and was no help and sent me off down to the rebooking center. The lady there did her best to help me. She got me standby on the next flight to MSP and told me I was on standby for the 4PM flight to DLH. Fortunately for me, other planes were late getting to Salt Lake and I got a seat on the plan to MSP. However when I got to MSP, I learned I wasn’t on the 4PM flight to DLH. I was nowhere on the list to DLH and the flight was overbooked and they were kicking people off the flight. That ticket agent was one of the old NWA partner flights and she couldn’t help me since my originating flight this morning was Delta and they can’t see into each other’s systems. At this point I was getting pissed – it hadn’t helped that I was hungry and I stopped to grab a sandwich on my way to catch the DLH flight and the idiot at the counter keyed it in as no onions instead of no ranch (yes I know this is dumb, but I was I was working hard to be nice and understanding as my day got screwed up and I got a @#!$ for a server who cared more about the sexcapades of his coworker than paying attention to the customer) So yeah, by the time I called the NWA phone number to try and get a flight from MSP to DLH I was pretty pissed. The lady was nice and I already knew the next flight wasn’t until 11PM – so here I sit waiting for my flight.
But my mood is not all foul. After I got rebooked, I headed to the main terminal to the one place in MSP I do like to sit back and have a beer and burger while I wait. The conversation was good. I spent a good hour plus talking to a fellow traveler. He was on his way back to Boston. And the conversation went all over the place - we talked sports, travel, 9-11, jobs – I was thoroughly entertained by him and as he left he gave me a business card in case I felt like changing careers anytime in the future :)
150 days to go.
First off – sorry for not posting. But in all actuality, me not posting means things are good. The urge to write erupts out of feelings of boredom, anger, sadness, angst, worry, fear… More or less, the desire to write for me often is a way to express bad feelings. Work has kept me busy, not happy, but busy – which is ok. Hopefully my project will reach an end point soon and I can go back to a normal work environment – I say hopefully, but I know it’s not likely. I’ll finish up the project I am working on and politely tell the people around me I will keep working but not to the devotion level that I have been. I feel like I have put in one too many nights without my key stakeholders be gracious or understanding (or even caring) - I’ll finish off my commitment at this level, but I’m going to reshape expectations and start enjoying my spring evenings (once spring decides to come to Duluth).
Hubby is doing well. We haven’t had the chance to talk like we used to, but we still email and chat when we can. We’re both looking forward to the day when we can be together again.
Now on to my exciting weekend. I’m on my way home from the annual soft ware conference that I’ve now attended for the 5th year. I spent the last four days in Palm Springs, CA. Nice place to visit and I hope I get the chance to go back, but it’s certainly not a place I want to live. Way too many golf courses and old people and heat. That and I have a tough time reconciling the amount of water they consume from northern CA and the Colorado river in order to keep their green grass and golf courses in the middle of the desert – especially when that means that real agriculture suffers so that some retiree can play 18 holes on a PGA course.
I’ve been up since 4AM. Yesterday was a busy day and I didn’t get a chance to pack until after our meal and casino night – so I didn’t make it to bed until well after midnight. While I realize that Delta and NWA are still working on merging their services together – I am a frustrated customer. My flights to Palm Springs were both still NWA and everything was perfect and on time and happy. My return flight has not gone so smoothly. My flight from Palm Springs left pretty close to on time – I felt bad for the 3 guys they kicked off the flight right before take off. Apparently it had just started snowing in Salt Lake and they wanted to load the plan with more fuel just in case we needed to land else where so we had to get rid of some weight. So I guess this caused us to land in Salt Lake 10 minutes late – and I rushed from one end of the airport to the other to catch my connector – I got there a good 7 min before the scheduled take off, but there was no ticketing agent at the booth and I didn’t know if I should get on. In retro spec I should have just walked down the jet way and tried to get on. But I didn’t and by the time the ticketing agent came back to the desk she told me they had just pushed off :(
SO then came the rebooking. She was bitchy and was no help and sent me off down to the rebooking center. The lady there did her best to help me. She got me standby on the next flight to MSP and told me I was on standby for the 4PM flight to DLH. Fortunately for me, other planes were late getting to Salt Lake and I got a seat on the plan to MSP. However when I got to MSP, I learned I wasn’t on the 4PM flight to DLH. I was nowhere on the list to DLH and the flight was overbooked and they were kicking people off the flight. That ticket agent was one of the old NWA partner flights and she couldn’t help me since my originating flight this morning was Delta and they can’t see into each other’s systems. At this point I was getting pissed – it hadn’t helped that I was hungry and I stopped to grab a sandwich on my way to catch the DLH flight and the idiot at the counter keyed it in as no onions instead of no ranch (yes I know this is dumb, but I was I was working hard to be nice and understanding as my day got screwed up and I got a @#!$ for a server who cared more about the sexcapades of his coworker than paying attention to the customer) So yeah, by the time I called the NWA phone number to try and get a flight from MSP to DLH I was pretty pissed. The lady was nice and I already knew the next flight wasn’t until 11PM – so here I sit waiting for my flight.
But my mood is not all foul. After I got rebooked, I headed to the main terminal to the one place in MSP I do like to sit back and have a beer and burger while I wait. The conversation was good. I spent a good hour plus talking to a fellow traveler. He was on his way back to Boston. And the conversation went all over the place - we talked sports, travel, 9-11, jobs – I was thoroughly entertained by him and as he left he gave me a business card in case I felt like changing careers anytime in the future :)
150 days to go.
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