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February 27, 2008
The earth moved
Before last night I've never experienced an earthquake. I was woken at 1am by the earth shaking and moving and my bedside table making general rattling noises. It lasted about 10 seconds and then it went quiet. And I thought that I had dreamt it all.
I went back to sleep and this morning switched on the tele to find that the biggest earthquake in 25 years in the UK has hit. I KNEW I DIDN'T DREAM!
TOMORROW WE GO TO LA!
Posted by karinm at 1:26 PM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2008
LA Marathon
LA Marathon
Sunday is approaching fast now... and tonight I had to do something I've never done before... iron letters onto a shirt.... At least I didn't burn the shirt! (or melt it, heaven forbid!)
Still running my fundraising page and looking forward to enjoying some warmer weather over in LA :)
Posted by karinm at 8:49 PM | Comments (0)
Addicted
I think I'm addicted to twittering
Posted by karinm at 7:22 PM | Comments (0)
Mint Breakfast
I woke up ... to find that there is no milk in the house ... no bread ... no butter ... no breakfast! So for breakfast I'm having a mug of mint Aero hot chocolate. Not the most nutritious of breakfasts, but it seems to be the only thing in the house to have this morning other than a leg of lamb... and if I had a few hours to roast it, I probably would.
In a week's time it'll be Monday, I'll probably be hurting a tad after Sunday's marathon and Andy will expect me to head out and about with him... I'm looking forward to this trip! (As mentioned in so many other posts).
Now... I wonder if I can get up in time to stop and get something more substantial than this mug of chocolate...
Posted by karinm at 8:10 AM | Comments (1)
February 24, 2008
Four days until LA
There are four days left. And we'll be in LA :) I'm so excited, I cannot possibly tell you how much! Andy is just as excited, I'm just hoping my red nose will disappear before then. It won't do to arrive there looking like I should be in bed!
Hope everyone had a great weekend... I'm ready to get into bed and sleep one night closer to our trip...
Posted by karinm at 8:30 PM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2008
1 week to go and I'm sniffly... again
Well, the first part maybe not so. I woke up with a sniffly nose. And now it is a red, sniffly nose. Refer to the picture on the left to see where tissues have now given me a nice shine...
The second part was fun. A lot of it :) I bought a new car (I only pick it up on the 7th of March)! I'll post pictures of that when that happens.
Sooo, last night I was having fun with my camera and whoops... realised I could take short videos with it... with reasonable sound ... so I started playing... and now my little point-and-shoot might accompany me out on runs/rides ... don't think it'll enjoy the pool so much though. Thankfully it is dinky enough for me to carry in my fuel belt... even if it won't accompany me on any marathon runs :) It should still be a lot of fun during training.
The first person to suffer from this new discovery, was of course Andy. Below you'll find him having fun with the whole experience. I don't dare post the Hulk Hogan stance he took though, so this'll have to do for now.... it'll be hidden behind the <more> link for those with low bandwidths.
PS. Excuse the silliness. It is required at times.
Posted by karinm at 8:06 PM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2008
The Scream You Hear is Me
I'm in pain. And the chemist and stores won't sell me any more painkillers, so I'm back to the doctors this afternoon for that all important prescription that he needs to give me in order for me to not scream my head off every 10 minutes. Why is it that the closer the injury is to the head, the more it seems to hurt?
I only work half-day today - then its off for a nice 2 and a half day weekend! We're off to Andy's parents this weekend ... which reminds me that I need to pack a few things and leave a few other things... I clean forgot about that.
Time to go get ready for the working day. I'm already in holiday mode!
Posted by karinm at 8:33 AM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2008
Everything comes down to...
This reminded me of Jeff and some of the pictures that's appeared on his blog over the past year.... so I thought I'd share
Posted by karinm at 9:08 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2008
Frozen Laundry
Yesterday morning I woke up to some lovely, frozen laundry. I didn't realise it until I phoned my mom and wandered downstairs to find a book to look something up. All the clothes were covered in white pieces of ice. ALL of them. Including my swimsuit, some socks, jeans, and a few shirts. The socks were most willing to play along.
Sadly, I didn't take them down because after speaking to my mom I had to head off to the doctors and in the afternoon, instead of doing the right thing and freezing my fingers, I went to work and did some productive work.
By the time I got back home, the clothes were still frozen... and at that stage Andy had already started bringing them in... yes... lazy.
This morning I glanced out the window and saw that once again everything was white and a thick layer of fog (you can JUST spot it on this pic) like yesterday is still hanging over our lands. Which means we're in for a rather fun day as the ice don't melt unless the fog lifts.
Thankfully the temperature is already higher out there today than it was the whole of yesterday. Yesterday we never reached above zero... yet another reason why everything was still covered in white when we went to bed last night. This is probably a good sign for my run tonight.
Only one week until we fly to LA!
Posted by karinm at 7:57 AM | Comments (1)
February 19, 2008
It is impossible to break your own neck on purpose...
Quote of the Day:
ARH!! I found it!
--vyacheslavkozlovfan
Huh? Ok... I just clicked 'Insert QuoteOfTheDay' and this is what it came up with. Yeah. Another nice feature gone to bits because of bad monitoring :)
I had hoped for something a bit inpsirational, but seeing as that is now not going to happen, I might as well settle for it today. I'm heading off to work in 3 minutes after a long morning seeing doctors and finding out that I have managed to make a tear in a muscle in my neck. My NECK.
They also gave me some nice explanation as to why this has affected my speech (slurring words and the like), why I have have super headaches through out the day (but only on the right hand side of my head) and why, for the next 4 weeks I shall have enough pain to last me for this year. Well, guess that's my quota then, so I'll have a good year :)
I don't really know HOW I managed to incur this injury, guess that'll be a whole different process.
Posted by karinm at 1:11 PM | Comments (2)
February 12, 2008
I forgot my socks...
I went to the pool this morning... which in itself might be a mighty miracle. I got in the 'medium pace' lane and swam and swam and swam until it was 8am and I had to get out and get ready for work. The pool only opens at 7 and it takes about 10 minutes to get from the front door, through the locker rooms and into the pool. It could be quicker, but I had layers on to protect me against the -2 degree weather outside.
Today there were no funny people in the pool. Just a lot of men with too small costumes (they're old and therefor could possibly be forgiven) and a lot of women who swim breaststroke and deem themselves to be 'medium paced' because they don't feel like swimming in the slow lane. I have no problem with them, because generally it makes me feel pretty darn good about passing so many people per lap.
As soon as I got out the pool and had my shower and were busy getting dressed I realised that I had made a mistake that I cannot live with. I didn't pack socks. My extreme measure I took was to put my boots on without any, drive to the store, buy a pair of socks (thankfully the store is only 400m from the gym) and then proceeded to pull off my boots, put on my socks and sigh a sigh of relief.
I cannot wear boots without socks. Running shoes? No problem. But boots? No way. It makes me feel weird, not to mention worry about the stench that will ultimately reach noses when I get the urge to kick off my boots and walk around barefoot. I have to have socks.
And now the day starts with a bang, because there is a lot of work to do and very little time to do it in :)
Posted by karinm at 9:41 AM | Comments (0)
February 11, 2008
The Husband Ran
I woke up this morning when the front door closed. I sat up and realised that Andy had gone for a run. At 6am. My husband had gone for a run. I still can't get over it.
He did 2 miles and came into the house out of breath... according to him it was really cold outside. So he decided to attempt killing himself over the first mile and relax the second mile. He was very amusing as he came into the house with puppy dog eyes because he wanted me to feel sorry for him after he ran in the cold.
And so another week starts... I'm not exactly sure how work is going to be this week. Hopefully not nearly as horrible as last week because I could not possibly survive another week like that.
And now... I get to watch a few Tom & Jerry cartoons before I go to work :)
Posted by karinm at 7:54 AM | Comments (2)
February 10, 2008
No Hot Water Shower!
Right. Didn't do the 30K because I can hardly breathe as I sit normally. Running 30K in extremely cold weather wasn't going to do me any good. But 2 miles in 3 layers worked for me. So this afternoon I ran 2 miles... and stopped... and Andy volunteered to take a shower first... and promptly used up all the hot water (our boiler is timed, so water only gets heated between certain hours)... and didn't mention it to me... and now I am COLD! Shivering! Wrapped in so many blankets that you would think I was about to die from hypothermia.
As you can imagine, we had a good laugh about it... but he laughed harder than me and probably at me with my chattering teeth rather than with me as I tried to chuckle between chatters.
He better bake me some M&J brownies to make up for it!
Posted by karinm at 6:06 PM | Comments (0)
February 9, 2008
2 Miles
2 Miles was all I did today. But it was 2 miles more than I did yesterday... or the day before... or the day before. And therefor, it is a small victory in itself.
Now I'll attempt the 30K tomorrow and see how it goes. I figure that at the worst, I'll start and not finish. And at the best, finish and feel like things could not get better :)
Posted by karinm at 5:33 PM | Comments (0)
February 8, 2008
The Week is Over
The week is over, and I have to say, that was hell. Although on Monday it shall continue, for now I'll just be happy that I can relax and lie back and not have to worry about anything this coming weekend.
Except maybe this horrible cough that has manifested itself in my chest and is causing Andy some relative discomfort because I dared to show him what I cough up. A lot of sleep is required.
Posted by karinm at 7:45 PM | Comments (0)
February 7, 2008
Bleg.
Disclaimer: I am in a bad mood and there is a lot of bitching below
Yesterday wasn't a far better day and by the time I got home, my body ached, my head felt fuzzy and I was in a generally crappy mood which didn't really predict good things for the night. I crawled into bed quite literally and fell asleep and this morning woke up with what will be known as the flu-that-killed-me. I could hardly breathe, my nose had all kinds of green coming out of it, as did my coughs, my body ached more, my lungs tried to attack me from the inside and was nearly successful in having me pass out from a lack of oxygen when a very well-timed cough made its way up and kicked that engine into action.
Of course this wasn't at all what I wanted and rather grumpy, I made my way to the office to get some work done. Only to find that someone had stolen the room that we had booked to get work done in. And I was furious. Honestly. How does that work? But I calmed down, managed to get a few things done before I could make my way into said room and then started working on my daily dose of required miracles that seems to be the norm for me these days.
I need to explain. There are certain products that I have NO knowledge whatsoever of. But somewhere in someone's mind, they realised that I generally pick things up quickly and since then I've used skills I don't have on products that I've never seen or heard of before and somehow managed to keep my head on. Until today.
Today I just lost it and pity the person that walked across my path unnecessarily today. I barely held it together for the project manager and co-developer and consultants. And even they were on thin ice. After having to work myself into the ground the past week I was in no happy mood. And the flu didn't help either. Don't get me wrong, I knew I was in a bad mood, but unlike other days, I wasn't bothered about hiding or suppressing it.
I'm not sure I'm going to make that 30K this weekend. That depends on the chest cough disappearing. Which is one of the reasons for my foul mood.
I've been planning to run that race for the past 10 weeks and now that it is finally here, I am in one deep hole. And this time, I'm not entirely sure it is my fault either. Other times I could say that I had gone into the severely cold weather or that I had forgotten to do this or that. This time the only reason why I can think of is that I have been working 12 - 14 hour days day after day after day and my immune system has taken a beating for it. So yes, I'm mad at the fact that I had to work harder than normally this week.
I don't even think the sleep I got was enough, but oh well, that's past now.
And that is my rant for the day. Hopefully I'll get into a better mood by tonight and write an updated version, but right now, I wouldn't count on it.
Posted by karinm at 1:42 PM | Comments (1)
February 6, 2008
still working hard
Occasionally I wonder whether working is worth it :)
Another long day behind me, I'm going to bed.
Posted by karinm at 8:42 PM | Comments (0)
February 5, 2008
Already Hectic this Morning
I was very much asleep for most of last night, especially after only getting home at 21:30 and falling into bed shortly after. I couldn't wake up this morning either, despite a fresh cup of coffee next to my bed, the rain falling outside and the clock showing that it was already well past 7 o' clock.
When I got to work, there was a parcel from Herbalife awaiting me and inside was wonderful peanut butter protein bars that are supposed to be used during my training/after my training, but instead had to play the role of breakfast. Well, one of the bars had to play that roll. Then I had some peach tea and all was well with the world except where my head still didn't want to wake up and I was staring at the screen for a good while longer than I should've before I started work.
But I did start work and after a good amount of time I even managed to feel some form of human again. My head felt less fuzzy. My body felt a tad jet-lagged. Nothing a little amount of exercise can't fix, I'm sure.
I'm not exactly sure why work has suddenly become so busy or so urgent, but at some stage I have to say 'stop' and take some time out for myself. As Jeff said, my body is more important than my job :) And I'll have a mini-cave-in if I don't at some stage relax a tad.
Right now I'm just waiting for everything to come together and then I'll start working harder than I have for the morning. This is going to be one mightily long day again by the looks of it.
Posted by karinm at 12:02 PM | Comments (0)
February 4, 2008
Starting to see Double
Starting to see Double
This is what I saw today. Keyboards, keyboards and... keyboards. I arrived at work at 7:30 this morning and left at 21:30. Yes. 14 Hours.
So forgive me if I go fall into bed now until the morning comes and I can wake up and go for a run that I so much crave.
Because at 9 I have to be at work again and chances are I am going to have to stay there again until 9 tomorrow evening if things do not get done very efficiently in a very short period of time.
Posted by karinm at 10:14 PM | Comments (0)
February 3, 2008
Try the left leg... fall over
I don't have much to say. I managed to somehow hurt a muscle ... again. And because I don't want to nag, I'll just not say a thing.
Posted by karinm at 2:27 PM | Comments (0)
February 2, 2008
White Morning
The Carpet
We woke up to a rather white morning... everything is gone now, but hopefully more will fall overnight :)
Posted by karinm at 5:00 PM | Comments (0)
February 1, 2008
Urgh.
Well, sometimes when the wheels come off, they come off properly. Its going to be a long week ahead... more on this when the crisis is over.
Posted by karinm at 7:41 PM | Comments (0)