Swim Meets, Finally A Teenager & Other Recent Happenings

So Thursday I went to swim and the pool was set up in 50 meter laps instead of the usual set up. Since the A&M swim team is in Austin this week at the UT Swim Center for the Big 12 Championships, the A&M Swim Center is hosting a high school swim meet. I was a little nervous at first, more like excited fear than scared fear. I wasn't sure if I could make it down and back. But once I started I realized not only was I able to, but I liked it a lot. I think I will need 50 meter laps if I want to increase my endurance and the benefits from the sport. This means I'll have to find a 50 meter pool in Austin once I graduate. I wonder how much that's going to cost. Well, it's all for a good cause, my health!

At a stroke clinic I went to a few weeks ago I found out the usual set up in the pool is actually 25 yards not 25 meters, so now I have to refigure what I've been swimming. 25 yards equals 22.86 meters. I thought the usual set up was 25 meters which is 27.35 yards. It would be so much easier if they left the pool at 50 meters. Yesterday I swam 1200 meters which is 0.75 of a mile. I can't wait to get to one mile exactly. That would be 1610 meters. I was hoping to add an additional day a week of swimming, but I don't know if I can get to Big Stacy Pool at 6:00 a.m. I've heard it's packed for lap swimming. And I'm sure the lap swimmers there are in way better shape than I am. I really don't like circling with 4 other fast swimmers. This may push me to a gym membership. Like I said, got to find a 50 meter indoor pool.

Roger did a really cool photo shoot Thursday also. I am hoping he'll blog about it. You think this will make him feel pressured to do it? :) He got to photograph a surgery, in the operating room. He had to scrub in and everything. I'll let him give you the details, but I think it's way cool! How often do you get to do that. He's really had some great opportunities there despite all the pains.

Roger pointed out to me that my new vehicle has made it on Consumer Reports' best models for 2008. I watched the video for my car, Hyundai Santa Fe, and I agree with everything said. I love my car! And I've almost put 5000 miles on it. And you know what's the greatest part about that? I still don't have to have the oil changed for 2000 more miles. Isn't that awesome?! It only needs an oil change every 7000 miles. Unbelievable. Today is my mom's birthday. Yes, February 29th is her birthday which means she is actually 14. She's finally a teenager! I hope she has a great birthday today. I'm flying to Denver this morning to spend time with my friend Janine. I can't wait! One last cold weather trip for my sweaters, wool jacket and winter boots.

Today Was A First

Roger and I laid down last night after midnight. I knew it was after midnight and it was technically the next day, but it did not dawn on me that it was already my birthday. So as we were snuggling down to sleep, Roger said to me, "I want to be the first person to tell you happy birthday." Oh, he's so sweet. The next thing I know, it's really bright, obviously it's the next morning and I hear a loud, "Good morning!" Roger is walking towards me with a big tray in his hands and a huge smile on his face. He brought me breakfast in bed. I was like, "Huh, what?" I'm a pretty good sleeper when he's home so I had no idea what was going on. That boy got up earlier than me, turned my alarm off, moved our phones far away so no texts or reminders would wake me up. He shut the door to our room and tried to be as quiet as possible. And he pulled it off. I can't believe he did it. I have never had breakfast in bed before so I really had no idea what to do. It was kind of strange. Before he left the room, I thought this is going to be strange sitting here eating all by myself. So I told him I wished he could eat with me. So he ran to the kitchen and cooked his breakfast and joined me. And he was done before I was half way done with my breakfast. Which if you know Roger any bit, that's fast for him. He said he tried very hard not to be perfect and cut corners to be faster. He usually takes forever to do most tasks because everything has to be perfect, the toast to the right browning, the butter at room temperature to it can spread, the jelly spread at the counter before he comes to sit down, his coffee just perfectly mixed with Splenda and creamer by that time my food is cold waiting for him or I'm done eating. So I was quite impressed. He had only gotten up about 30-45 minutes before he brought the food to me. Of course he told me don't look in the kitchen. Don't worry, I didn't. He also gave me a beautiful birthday card on the tray. I love it and can't believe he found it at HEB, our local grocery store. What a great way to start my birthday. Roger always tries to make my birthday special. He's so sweet. I wonder what the rest of the day has in store. Of course, I'll let you know later.

Turned In Research Paper & Last Day of Class

Well, I just turned in my research paper, again. It's kind of funny now, but of course I was freaking out inside at the time. I submitted my research paper this morning at home. I had gone over it several times to check for, well, everything! I uploaded it to turnitin.com and as I was about to hit the submit button I prayed a little prayer. Actually I prayed a big prayer. I was so nervous about hitting the submit button, but I did anyway. I finished getting ready to leave for campus and thought about something. I ran to the office and grabbed one of the library books I used for a secondary source. I opened my final paper on the computer and found one of the references I used from that book then I checked the end note. My hunch was right. I put the wrong book title and author for it. Yes, my first thought was, "Crap!" I went straight to turnitin.com to see if I could resubmit my paper, but of course, I couldn't. I got the pop-up error stating until the earlier submission is deleted by your instructor resubmission is impossible! So I emailed my professor explaining what I wanted to do and what I needed her to do. I finished eating breakfast and checked my email again before I left. Nothing. I knew she would be in the office today but wasn't sure what time. She has a young child and sometimes gets in later than planned. I had already saved the document to my thumb drive so I would have it with me where ever I happened to be when I was able to upload it. I also emailed it to myself at my school email and my personal email, just in case. So I drove to B-CS and went straight to the library to check my email. The first email listed was from her stating she deleted my first submission. Thank the Lord! I checked it one more time and submitted it. Yes, I said another prayer. Talk about relief. I'm still a little gitty inside but I know this will go away soon enough.

Today is my last day of class. I am really happy about that. I actually only have one class today, anthropology. My history professor gave us the day off to work on our papers. She's wonderful like that. Obviously I needed it. Sometimes I just put my head in my hands and shake it at myself. The rest of this week is work, catching up on reading for anthropology and outlining all the reading for the final next Wednesday. Then Friday I'm picking up my mom on the way to my sister's in Huntington for my niece's 5th birthday party this weekend. My dad will drive up Saturday for the party and my mom will ride back with him. I'm also going to try to test drive a vehicle or two this weekend with my sister and probably some of her kids in tow. Roger & I are trying to figure out what vehicle to buy when he gets home for good, hopefully in January or February. We'll need two vehicles when he returns since I'll have one semester of school left. I'm thinking a compact SUV and Roger wants us to also check out cross-overs. I figured out I don't want a car as I thought I did before. I've been driving our truck for the past four and a half years and have gotten used to the power and being higher off the ground. I've driven a couple of friends' cars in DC the last few times I was there and it drove me crazy. I do not like being that low. I also like the power in our truck but prefer fuel economy. So we've been reading Consumer Reports for recommendations and checking the government crash test ratings. It can be overwhelming. But I've been praying for the Lord to help us make the best decision and I have complete faith He will. If you know anything about Roger's purchasing habits and my research habits, I'm pretty sure the Lord has equipped us with the ability to make a good decision.

It's weird. I've been looking forward to this day the whole semester. But so far it's not the fireworks and champagne popping kind of day I thought it would be. Maybe after this class is over or next week after the final. I kept thinking I should do something to celebrate like indulge in a kolache for breakfast. I know, pretty lame. But I'll control myself and celebrate with birthday cake this weekend. Off to read...

Big Three-Two, Thank GOD!

Today is my thirty-second birthday. I feel blessed to be able to celebrate the passing of another year. I didn’t do a whole lot of celebrating though. In fact, I think today was the lowest key birthday I have ever had.

I started the day off late. I just couldn’t get out of bed. It wasn’t that I could hear my bones creaking or anything, I just didn’t want to get up. I woke up in the middle of the night around 4:30am and saw that it was lightly snowing. I went back to bed, but when my alarm went off I could hear the sound of cars driving through sloppy wet streets. The snow had turned to rain. So, I just wasn’t eager to get out of bed. Finally, I did. Both Holly and I got a late start. By the time I left for work, it was snowing steadily and I descended down into the metro for the long ride to work.

The ride itself was uneventful, but when I got to the last station on my commute, where the shuttle bus takes over, I had to wait… and wait… in the cold… and in the snow. Luckily, there was an overhang that provided me some shelter from the elements. The bus took so long to come that my Team Lead even called to see if I was still alive. I called back and assured him I was.

Finally, the bus came – and after waiting a few more minutes for more passengers from later trains, we were off. I had a feeling it was going to be a short day – the weather just seemed to be getting worse. Sleet and freezing rain were in the forecast – the worst kind of weather any big city can expect. I didn’t even wear my uniform because I figured it would be a waste of time to get into it and then back out again.

When I arrived at work, I took care of a few things and fit in a quick lunch with my friend Julia. She even bought me lunch – that was so nice of her. I treated myself to some fried chicken and a Dr. Pepper. This was a real treat, because Holly and I have been trying to eat healthier food these days. And fried chicken and sugar laden soda aren’t exactly on the menu!

I got back to work and managed to get a few more things done when the word came out that the Federal Government was closing up shop at 2:00pm (except for essential personnel – which I am not.) We got notice at about 1:40pm and I only had a few minutes to finish what I was doing before gathering my things to head out. It was important for me to head out ASAP because 5,000 people leaving a building at the same time and hundreds more leaving the base, and maybe half of them also using the metro, meant only one thing – MEGA traffic.

I made my way outside and onto a shuttle bus that only had standing room in the back – but we were told that we could not stand. So, off the bus I came and waited in the cold, and in the sleet, for another bus. Finally, one came, and I made sure I was getting a seat, which I did. The bus was packed and every seat was taken. There were hordes of people waiting for shuttle buses, so this driver said people could stand (wha?!?) The bus pulled away from the shelters, around the parking lot, out of the gate and onto the road… we were on our way! Or so we thought. Now we could see the disaster that lay before us… traffic – not even moving – brake lights as far as the eye can see. So we sat, and sat. Five minutes went by… then ten. Some people decided to walk the mile to the metro station in the sleet – they got off of the bus. I wasn’t going to risk walking in the icy cold with an unsteady right leg. So, I waited. The bus moved in feet – one at a time. It was unbearable. More people got off the bus. I convinced myself that I wasn’t in a hurry. But after waiting for half an hour and moving only – I’m not kidding here – only fifty feet or so – I began to grow impatient. The line of cars to the north gate was clearly over a mile long. The line to the south gate was meeting up with the line to the north gate! The south gate was over a mile away.

I then remembered that when I first started working there, I used to take the metro bus to and from work sometimes. The nearest bus stop to the metro rail was just outside the main gate, but the gate was under construction. I asked a few people if the gate was open to pedestrian traffic and they said it was. I whipped out my Windows Mobile Smartphone and went to the metro mobile website. I tapped in my starting point and the station as the ending point. Bingo! The W4 bus would be at a stop in fifteen minutes. I gathered my belongings, asked the bus driver to let me off, told the others on the bus of my plan and asked if anyone wanted to join me, but nobody did (boy was that a mistake for them.) I walked ten minutes over some pretty slippery stuff but made it to the stop with time to spare. The bus came early and I was at the station waiting for a train in five minutes. While waiting, I saw some very wet and cold people that got off of my shuttle bus earlier and walked the whole way. I felt sorry for them because they walked, but it’s not my fault that I am such a technically advanced problem solver, is it? Ha!

Anyway, I was home in thirty minutes. I just wish I had just walked to the bus stop to begin with. I wonder how long it took the shuttle bus to round the corner and make the mile long bumper to bumper trek to the station. My guess is that it took another hour.

Holly and I just came back from a nice birthday dinner at a seafood restaurant called Market Inn in DC. They’ve been in the same place since 1959. They had a piano player that has been performing there for over 27 years! The food was good, but slightly overpriced for the quality. Their broiled lump crab cake was pretty good though. But I don’t think I’d ever go there again. After dinner, we came home and now we’re going to bed. Like I said, it was an uneventful day. I actually think I spent most of it commuting! We are expecting more freezing rain tonight – in fact, I can hear sleet hitting the window as I type this. It is 25 degrees F right now and the temp is not expected to rise above freezing until Thursday, so tomorrow should be a nasty day. I’m personally hoping for a day off or at least a delayed opening.

By the way, I did have a big birthday party bash on Saturday. I hope to have pics from that up soon. Stay warm, wherever you are.