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).