2010 in review

I don't know if you guys remember but my resolution for 2010 was to live my life more like Lady Gaga.

How did I do? Well, Lady Gaga is known mainly for two things:

1) Catchy, danceable smash hits.

2) Not wearing pants.

How I did:

1) Catchy, danceable smash hits.

Unfortunately, I had zero platinum songs, unlike Lady Gaga and her googolplex platinum odes to thinking about other people during sex and poisoning diner patrons with Beyonce.

2) Not wearing pants.

I began 2010 owning 12 pairs of pants. As of December 31, 2010, I own 4 pairs of pants. That is a 66.67% reduction in pant ownership. I have one pair of regular jeans, one pair of skinny jeans, one pair of purple skinny jeans, and one pair of yoga pants. I can assure you that I wear pants less often than I did in 2009. I wear skirts and dresses and leggings and shorts. While I have yet to start wearing meat dresses or lobster hats or cloven shoes, I think that I can declare that I accomplished my 2010 New Year's resolution of being more like Lady Gaga.

Any suggestions for what I should resolve for 2011? Already used: pretend to be a robot more often (2008) and live my life more like a rapper (2009).

EXTREME TEMPERATURES!

As of 8 pm last night, when I got home from the gym, we still didn't have power. This would have been a nice time to have my super awesome head lamp, but it went missing after some lovely people visited me in South Lake Taco. (They claim not to have it, but I'm not sure that I believe them.) Since I didn't have my head lamp, I made do with my mini-maglite. (I became pretty proficient at doing things while holding my mini-mag under my chin.)

As of 10 pm, when I was ready to go to bed, we still had no power, and it was about 19 degrees out. So, as any rational person would do in this situation (no, not go stay with someone who had power), I layered. I wore fleece lined wool socks, long under wear bottoms, a tank top, a long underwear top, a hoodie, and a fleece-lined hat. I even had some ski socks for my hands in case they got cold. Between my outfit and my flannel sheets, huge down comforter, and two fleece blankets, I was quite comfortable.

The power finally came on about 2 this morning, but, unfortunately, the pipes in our kitchen had frozen. I cranked the heat (which still hadn't come back on) opened the cupboard, left for work, and hoped for the best. Eventually my roommate came home and cranked the heat even more.

When I got home from the gym (spinning....urgh) it was about 90 degrees in the apartment. As I stand in the kitchen typing this, I am wearing a tank top and my smallest gym shorts. And I'm still a little warm.

Brrrrrrr

I am at the office. I didn't have to come in today because of the snow.

But I did, because at the office, there is power and heat and internet, and at my house there is none of the above.

It's snowing really hard, but I don't want to go home, in case there is no power.

Brrrr.

It only took me 45 minutes to shovel my car out this morning.

Running at 6500 feet

I thought I had adjusted to the high altitude. I've been here a month and a half. I can drink 1 beer without getting tipsy. I can do my normal spin bike work out no problem.

But today I tried to go for a run.

Yikes.

This is what the internet says about high altitude running: "Appreciate the fact that exertion at high altitude is more difficult than at sea level. This is so because of the reduced partial pressure of oxygen as elevation rises. The decrease in oxygen pressure impairs the oxygenation of blood flowing through your lungs, ultimately resulting in a corresponding diminished oxygen supply to working muscles. Studies by the Federation of Sport at Altitude have shown that the lack of oxygen at elevations above 10,000 feet translates to 25-40% less muscle power.

My training plan today told me to run for 14 minutes. "Ha!" I scoffed. "I can do that easily, despite having run exactly one time since the end of September." Though I am slow, even if I haven't been running much, I can usually bust out 25 or 30 minutes of running.

Today, not true. I did, however, make it 14 minutes.

Then I did some easy spinning on the bike for about 20 minutes and arms and abs.

In other news, it is snowing here. Hard. And it is supposed to get very cold. Maybe I'll have a snow day at work tomorrow.

I need a goal

There is a lot of snow here. Snow snow snow. The weather makes me want to sit around in yoga pants and eat night cheese.

So I joined a gym. The gym was started by a famous body builder, and is full of pictures of overly tanned, scarily muscled Mr. and Ms. Olympias (including the Governator). Inspiring.

But I also need a goal. Or two. An one that is more specific than "be a more bad ass downhill mountain biker."

Like this lady.

So my SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, umm....let me look up the rest....oh, yeah...realistic, and timely) goal is to do a triathlon.

In the past, I have done 1.66667 triathlons (the 0.66667 triathlon happened when I got a flat, and was forced to abandon the bike leg). Both were the spectacularly awesome Tri It Out Triathlon put on by two of my favorite people, Michelle and E-Thomps.

Tri it out! Tri it out!

However, this year, I want to tri (get it?) something different. So I think that I'm going to do the

TBF Racing XTERRA Real Mountain Bike Triathlon in Folsom California in March.

So I was looking at a handy free triathlon training plan, and noticed that March is soon! So I jumped into week 3 of the sixteen week plan. Well see how this goes.

Training Goal: 29 minutes bike, 14 minute swim

Actual: 45 minutes bike, 0 minutes swim, lifted: legs and back

More puppy pics!

Newest Roommate!

I live in a beautiful place.

South Lake Tahoe

The view from the little park near my house.

Stateline, with the casinos in Nevada and the California base of Heavenly.

But really, I've lived in beautiful places for a long time. The kind of places that people pay to go on vacation there.

Seattle

From visitseattle.org:

"Seattle invites you to explore two cities in one. Here you’ll find a vibrant, sophisticated metropolis surrounded by pristine natural beauty and abundant recreation. Seattle is metronatural.

Downtown Seattle is easily walkable and waiting to be explored. Shopping, dining, arts and visitor attractions are within steps of hotels and inns. The city is surrounded by pristine waterways, two mountain ranges and three national parks. To the west lies the only temperate rain forest in the continental U.S. To the east, a world-class wine region.

Whether metro or natural, you can pack a lot into your Seattle itinerary."

Sidenote: "Metronatural"? Really Seattle? That's what you came up with?

Metronatural: Mt. Rainier from the West Seattle Bridge.

Watching the boats from Alki Beach

Santa Barbara:

From santabarbara.com "Welcome to the American Riviera. Where life itself is a fine art.*"

*Not great, but better than "metronatural".

A hike in the mountains behind Santa Barbara.

The beach near UCSB's campus.

Bellingham

From bellingham.org, "Come see why Bellingham Whatcom County is a refreshing change."

The slogan is kind of boring, but, hey, at least it's not "metronatural**".

Mt. Baker in August

Romantic sunset at Boulevard Park.

** Seriously. "Metronatural". I am now a little embarrassed to have lived there.

I bought a car!

I have a job, a place to live, and a car!

OMG a SUV

I'm going to look at a car tomorrow! Wish me luck.

It's like I don't even care about the environment.

For serious, though, I wish I didn't have to buy a car. I wish that I could be car free again. But South Lake Tahoe is not a walk-friendly city. Especially in the winter. Businesses aren't required to shovel their sidewalks so the only place to walk is on the shoulder of the highway. There are exactly 2 bus routes that run every half hour and are almost always late.

Keep Tahoe Blue? Maybe Tahoe would stay more blue if everyone didn't have to drive everywhere.

At least I'll be able to ride my bike when spring arrives (in mid-June).

A real job

Tomorrow, for the first time since July of 2008, I will be going into an office for a real, full-time job.

Ack!

Now that I have a real business job, I look like a real business lady. This is the first picture that came up when I googled "business lady".

That is not what I look like. I would never wear black panty hose.

The end of summer

I had a weird "fall" this year. I'm going from fall weather in Seattle to summer in Santa Barbara and then directly to winter in South Lake Taco.

As I'm leaving for SLT (not to be confused with the SLUT)...gulp...tomorrow, I thought that I should get in some summer weather enjoyment while I still could.

So I went for a little bike ride. I rode up this mountain road that is totally awesome for riding, steep, nicely paved, and hardly any vehicle traffic. I used to ride it all the time on my road bike, but this was the first time I did it on my mountain bike.

I was a little worried that it would be really hard compared to my road bike, but it wasn't bad at all. I even passed someone on a road bike going up. That made me feel like such a bad ass. They'd probably ridden up and down like 12 times, but whatever. I still felt like a bad ass.

Here is a picture I took from the top of the first big part of the hill. That's how high I usually go. I'm not crazy.

The road. Look how nice the pavement is.

Today, I enjoyed the sun by doing yoga in the patch of sun that comes in the window of Dan's living room. Speaking of Dan, here is a picture of him in his Halloween costume. Unfortunately, you can't see his unicorn tail. It was pink and purple yarn and I made it myself.

Moving Update!

So I still haven't found a place to live. Or a car. But I did buy a second pair of boots.

Moving

In 8 days, I am moving from Santa Barbara where the weather looks like this:

to start a new job in South Lake Tahoe where the weather looks like this:

Have I found a place to live? No. Have I bought an acceptable snow car? No. Have I bought some really cute boots? Absolutely:

This is not a nice post

Have you ever been so mad at a person that you want to write them a letter about how much you hate them? And though you have every reason to write about actual terrible things that they did, you are so incredibly, horribly mad at them that you only want to ridiculously hyperbolic insults because those are the only things that come close to adequately describing the rage you feel?

For example, while "You are a terrible communicator, and I feel like you are always talking down to me," is true, what you want to say is "You smell so bad that even your grandmother hates you!"

I once wrote a letter (never sent) to a boy that said, (among other things, because the actual letter was seven pages long) "I hope your apartment building gets hit by a meteor and (roommates' names redacted) have to eat you to survive*. Also, your hair looks like pubes.**"

*Not actually true but correctly representing the rage I was, at the time, feeling.

**Kind of true, but mean.

This is what my feelings are feeling right now:

Dear Horrible Person:

I hate you. You are literally Hitler. Also, you are fat.

You suck,

Me

Oil spill!

Dolphin dreams

My dad and I were swimming around in an enormous salt water pool. We were having a grand old time, just swimming around, when a weirdo dolphin swam up to us! it was swimming strangely, kind of flopping around like the one flippered penguin Morgan and I saw in New Zealand. My dad and I decided we should help it out. We realized that this poor dolphin had something stuck in its dolphin teeth! (Why this caused the dolphin to swim badly, I have no idea, but it made sense in dream land.) Once we got the chunk of fish out of its dolphin teeth, I realized that this was no ordinary dolphin! This creature was actually Kelly Walden who had somehow been magically transformed into a dolphin! Once I realized that, I knew I had to transform her back. So I did. Somehow. It's unclear. (I definitely did not use Oculus Reparo or Expelliarmus though because those spells are not very useful.) Anyway, I transformed Kelly back into a human, and you know what? The unobservant clown hadn't even noticed that she'd been turned into a dolphin! So my dad and I laughed and laughed and laughed at her.

The sunshine state

So as much as I absolutely love Seattle, I have pretty much failed at finding a job here. So I am (at least temporarily) moving back to Santa Barbara.


I will definitely miss this...


But I am looking forward to more of this...

Everyone come visit me!

Ha ha ha ha ha forever.

Sweatiest Person Alive

Today I went to my first ever Bikram Yoga class. If you don't know already, Bikram Yoga is pretty much like regular yoga, except it is in a room kept at a temperature approximately the same as that circle of hell in the Inferno where all the false Popes are stuck in a well, or whatever it was that happened in the Inferno (I only have vague recollections of this book because my professor for the class I read it in was distractingly similar to Dustin Hoffman's version of Captain Hook in the early 90's masterpiece, Hook.). Anyway, the room is 105 degrees, (Farenheidt. Duh.) and you do yoga for 105 minutes. It's supposed to be very good for you, relax your muscles, realease toxins, etc. etc. I made it through my first class, and I only had to lay down to avoid passing out for 12 of those 105 minutes! The instructor even said I did a great job for my first time! Though I'm not sure that I trust the opinion of a man who works out in Victoria's Secret boyshort panties. Anyway, it was great, and I can't wait to go back, mostly so I don't waste the $20 trial membership I already paid for. I just have to figure out how I can wear less clothes than a tank top and a pair of yoga capris.

Quote from Drew

"How do you feel about vegans...he's not that cute...and he doesn't drink...and he's missing a front tooth."

It's almost fall!

As much as I love summer, fall is definitely my favorite season. But here are some pictures and stories about my end of summer fun!

A kiteboarder enjoys the extremely windy Lake Tahoe.

I went to California for work one last time (hopefully! I had a job interview on Monday for an awesome job in Seattle that I really hope to get!). We got a lot of stuff done, and they extended my part time gig until December, so I have that to fall back on, if I don't get another job. Then I went to Lake Tahoe for fun. I went biking at a resort for the first time, and, while it was a ton of fun, it was really really hard, too. I got blisters, then my blisters got blisters, then my blister blisters became an open wound, and, finally, my open wound got a blister. Lovely! I convinced Dan to go camping, so we stayed in a beautiful spot in the Tahoe National Recreation Area. There were no showers, so we washed with biodegradable hippie soap in the Truckee River. It was chilly. The campground was apparently the go-to spot for dirt bike and atv riders, so we were surrounded by large groups in $200k motor homes. Oh well.

I made sure to sample the local brews. Fifty-Fifty Brewing Company, Truckee, California

We also (inadvertently) ate at two restaurants that had been featured on the Food Network. The first was a burger place called Burger Me, that had been on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. I wasn't all that impressed. My homemade veggie patty was super boring and pretty tasteless. I have made better black bean patties myself! The second was The Squeeze Inn which I think was on Throwdown with Bobby Flay or something. They claim to have the best omelettes on the planet. I did not get an omelette, but I did taste someone else's and it was delicous.

Gasworks Park in Seattle

Dan came to visit the northwest. We did some Seattle-y things like the Ballard Locks and Gasworks Park and Pho and lots and lots of coffee shops.

Dan was not sold on coffee shops. So I bought him a cookie.

We then had an unofficial (no book discussion) book club meeting. There were jello shots and big mamas and free flan and sombreros and the beaver and dollar well drinks and Glo and fancy dancing. Then there were cheese fries and gatorade and coffee.

Birthday twins Ren and Jodi celebrate their birthday, a bit late.

I also went biking at Galbraith. The two mile hike and bike to the top was not the most fun I've had in my life and neither was the first 2/3 of the first trail that I could barely climb down with my bike, let alone ride. However, the rest was tons of fun, but makes me really want a full suspension bike. We also drove up to the Mt. Baker ski area, where Dan really wanted to build a mountain bike park until he looked around and noticed all of the snow. In August.

Sasquatch!

Oh Gardens!

I have a blog post up at ECOSS about my failed container garden! Go visit!

http://ecossblog.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/diaries-of-an-ecoss-intern-container-gardening-101/

My new favorite things

I love Poladroid! A free program that turns your pictures into polaroids. It's so much fun.

The Space Needle from the Hamilton Viewpoint at dusk.

Someone paragliding at Elings Park in Santa Barbara.

Iced tea with fruit! I have been drinking approximately 45 glasses a day.
Step 1: Brew some black tea, stronger than you would normally drink it.
Step 2: Fill a glass with frozen fruit (I like strawberries, peaches, and mangoes).
Step 3: Pour tea over frozen fruit. Cool.
Step 4: Drink up, then eat the fruit.
Step 5: Repeat.

Tea with fruit next to dead herbs.

My mountain bike finally came! It's bright green and yellow with pink grips and I love it!

My favorite birthday present. Thanks Dan!

One of my favorite people ever came to visit. Emily was in town for a wedding. She is so very popular that I only got to see her one night, but we had a great time. We drank some $5 martinis, caught up, and played bingo.

Facebook wives reunited!

I figured out the macro setting on my camera. I disturbed this spider's home when I finally got rid of the evidence of our failed container garden.

Sorry spider! Keep eating mosquitoes.

Summer Update

1.) I am still job hunting. I have applied for, on the low end, approximately 15 billion jobs. Out of all of these jobs, I did get a temporary unpaid internship. Woo! Actually, I am really enjoying it because I got to design my own project, which I will hopefully be able to use when I apply to PhD programs. I'm studying food access in an underserved community in south Seattle for ECOSS, an awesome environmental non-profit in the South Park neighborhood. I occasionally blog for them here. Go read it. My other job (the paid one!) is beginning to wrap up. While I'll miss the money and the intellectual thrill, I will not miss looking at the websites of nanotechnology
companies for hours and hours every day.


2.) My roommate got a dog. Her name is Harper Lee. She is adorable, even if she does whine when I am trying to sleep inappropriately late and she ate my favorite sunglasses. Her major life skills: being adorable to strangers, flopping, pulling the stuffing out of stuffed toys, eating peanut butter, wanting to eat land-otters (cats), sitting, snarfeling peoples' hair, and having allergies. Kelly and I also started a mini-container garden. Then we ignored it for like 2 months and everything died. Oh, well, we did get to make a couple of drinks with the mint.

3.) I just got back from the Third Annual Better Lover's Camping Trip. This year we went to Lake Wenatchee State Park. The weekend was filled with Date, Do, or Dump, the Alphabet Game, wizard staffs, and campfires. There was no actual book club book discussion because BLMVP and book chooser E-Thomps wasn't able to make it. Also, none of us had finished it. While the weather was not great, E-Schu and I decided to go swimming anyway. This is me running into the lake with the dogs. Don't be fooled by the sun; it was windy and cold. Michelle even came up from Portland and surprised us. She found us singing kareoke in a bar because, "It looked like the kind of place you guys would go to." I suffered minor facial lacerations and my beloved Chacos fell apart. The soles just peeled right off! Thank goodness for REI and its life time warranty. Free new Chacos!

4.) I graduated from Grad School! Luckily, I graduated into a wonderful job market, and I was immediately innudated with high paying job offers. Ha ha! Just kidding. Whatever. I don't have to start paying my loans until....October. In celebration, I went to Mammoth Lakes, California to enjoy the scenery, visit Yosemite, and do some mountain biking. Unfortunately, there was too much snow to do a whole lot of biking (they were still skiing in the bike park!) but I did manage to do a little. I only had to ride through one or two snow drifts. Yosemite was absolutely beautiful, but I wished we'd stuck to the less crowded east side of the park. Nothing like enjoying nature's wonders with 2,000 or so strangers. We did see a bear though. Everything is better when you see a bear. Unless it eats you. My favorite things about Mammoth Lakes were the Base Camp Cafe, eating 2 pounds of strawberries per day, the Mammoth Brewing Company ($7 growlers full of beer!), and the geology. Here are some pictures from the trip:

Seattle Summer

This is the kind of weekend wherein I am so, so glad I moved from Southern California to Seattle. We were going to have an awesome BBQ and then watch fireworks. However, the rain threw a little wrench in our plans.

Instead, we BBQed, ate inside and watched four movies (including both Sister Acts!). It did clear up enough to walk to the lookout and watch fireworks. Unfortunately, after about 7 minutes of fireworks, the smoke was so thick that the fireworks were basically invisible.

However, it did clear up today, so I walked down to Alki to do some work in a coffee shop with a beach view. I googled about 4 things, but, honestly I've mostly been making a playlist of bluegrassy songs.