Grrr. The Snook’s latest home brew just set off the fire alarm. We didn’t even know the damn thing worked. It took us five minutes of yelling at each other and whacking at it with broom handles to get it to stop. Stupid high ceilings…
Month: April 2003
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I was telling a friend about my running program this past weekend and she suggested I consider entering the City to Surf this year. It’s a 14K course starting in the city and ending in Bondi Beach. Thousands of people do it, but a lot of them just walk. I’m thinking about it. It’s ambitious, to be sure, but I definitely wouldn’t expect to run the whole thing. It might just be good to have as a training goal so I don’t get complacent with my 5K runs. What do you guys think? It’s not til August so I’ve got a while…
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One Eighty
The Snook and I went into our local Flight Centre today to price flights home for a 10-day visit in July. We walked out half an hour later planning a one-month round-the-world trip instead. As the Snook put it, if we’re going to be spending $2000 each anyway, why not go the extra $500 and make it a proper holiday? I was trying to be all grown-up and economical but then he mentioned the magic word… Italy. With visions of the Arno in my head, I rapidly agreed. Looks like the Snook-Howard World Tour will be leaving here in late June bound for Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Frankfurt, and Rome. Anybody got a floor we can crash on in one of those cities? -
Trivia Update: Victory! We completely dominated last night’s pub trivia competition, winning by eight points. Of course, we also had about double the usual number of people, but even discounting the answers they gave us, the core group would’ve probably still pulled off the win. My personal highlight was winning a jug of beer for correctly identifying James Van Der Beek in a “Who am I?” type question. (Embarrassingly, the Quiz Master hadn’t even gotten to Dawson’s Creek yet when submitted my answer. I knew it based on a description of the actor’s football injury and his first movie role in Angus.) I also knew that BJ Hunnicut was played by Mike Farrell on “MASH”. (Thanks, Dad.) Okay, here’s the question of the week for all you play-at-home types: “Name the NINE cities in the world that have hosted the Summer Olympics that were NOT the capital cities of their country.”
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My First Sweater
My First Sweater
It’s done! It’s slightly wonky and the fit is weird in places, but it’s wearable. (I think I’ll be able to block out some of the weirdness when I wash it. I should’ve done that first, but I was too excited to wear it.) The pattern is called “Sweet” and it’s from The Knitter’s Bible by Kate Buller. The wool is Jo Sharp DK 100% wool in “Plum”. The ruffle looks hard but – other than having to cast on 500 stitches – it was suprisingly easy to knit. The actual hardest part was sewing everything together at the end. I suck at that. The seams are a little bulky and non-symmetrical, which accounts for most of the fitting problems. I’m definitely going to knit my next sweater in the round so I don’t have to worry about that stuff. But it’s kinda cute, right?(Edited to add: Yeah, ignore my glazed expression in the photo. It was 7:30 am and I’d overslept, so I’m a bit out of it.)
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The official site for this year’s Nike Women’s Classic Run is up, so I now have a date to work towards: June 15. That’s seven and a half weeks away. They’ve changed the location this year though. We’re doing it out at the Olympic Park. Hmmm, I wonder if that means there won’t be as many hills. (There’s no course map yet, so I can’t check.) Hills are my nemesis.
In other training news (Coach), I decided to work the fartlek training some more last weekend. I jogged for five minutes to warm-up, then started alternating four minutes of hard running (well, hard for me, anyway) with one minute of walking. To my amazement, I finished the 5K in 36:30. That’s a new personal best, I think. Hell, it’s five minutes faster than I did it a week ago! I couldn’t believe it. And that’s with the treadmill on a slight incline, too! I guess part of the problem with the treadmill is that I know exactly what my pace is, so I tend to set it there and not push myself. With the fartlek though, I just concentrated on running as hard as I could for the four minutes.
Okay, so the fartlek raised my overall pace. Does that mean should use this technique during the race? Or is it just for training purposes? Because I gotta say, breaking the distance up into small chunks is mentally a lot easier for me right now. Whaddaya think, Coach(es)?
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Monday night the Snook and I went to see Nowhere in Africa, winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. It’s about a family of German Jews who flee to Kenya during the second World War. I wouldn’t really categorize it as a Holocast movie though. It was about a family way out of their element and how each member adapts to his surroundings. The story is great and the scenery is amazing. I cried at the end when Owuor left with Rummler. Ebert also gave it a glowing review. I highly recommend it, if you can find it playing anywhere near you. -
Dreamlog
Ugh, this one was awful, folks. I dreamed that the Snook had to propose to his ex-girlfriend in front of all our friends and family. (I can’t remember the reason, but in the dream it sadly made perfect sense.) He gave her this big giant square-cut diamond ring and she answered “Maybe”. Afterwards he didn’t understand why I was so upset and humiliated. I woke up in tears. After the usual post-nightmare snuggling and comforting, the real Snookums cracked me up with: “You’re not allowed to watch The Bachelor before bed anymore.” Indeed.
(Disturbing sidenote: The ex-girlfriend in my dream was played by Kristen! I must have some severe repressed bridal envy goin’ on.)
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Girls only: This Glitter thread just blew my mind. Sea sponges!
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From the “New Staff” section of this morning’s edition of Unnamed-Printer-Company’s newsletter:
KRISTINE HOWARD has joined the E-Business Team in the role of Web Content/Site Administration. Kris’s favourite hobby is her newly learned skill of knitting. Kris is a self-confessed computer geek and enjoys messing around with computers, writing code, and working on her own Internet sites.
I think that’s a pretty accurate profile, except for the missing sentence about my pub trivia prowess. (Damn space constraints.) And no, I don’t think you need to see the accompanying mug shot. *shudder*
