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Misc. updates….

/ micahdl / 1 Comment

I feel like summer is getting really busy again. Just like last year. Only this time, I have a lot more school to contend with.

I’m really bad and prioritizing, as has been evidenced in many many ways in the last several weeks.

It’s like I make a plan for one thing, but forget about everything else in the mean time.

I have NINETEEN hours a week set aside for studying. It’s totally ridiculous. But I can’t just NOT study.

The other issue is that I like camping…and that REALLY cuts into my study time. Mostly because I require the internet for all of my school work. I have a lot of reading to do too which will happen on the drives to/from campsites and on random downtimes during the weekend, but the reality is that school is a HUGE priority for me right now. It has to be. I just want to be done. More than I could possibly describe. If I really push myself, I can be done by December 2010…I’m going to try one semester of 12 credits and if that’s just too much, I’ll push graduation back to Spring 2011 lest I go insane (and drive Todd to the brink in the meantime)…

If you know me at all, you know that I put myself on ridiculous schedules for life. I have to X by this time and Y by this time. It’s madness and I’ve been fighting with myself over this for YEARS. I’m coming more and more to terms with “things will happen when they happen” and to just accept that. I want to be done with school, but I don’t want to be miserable in the process. Better to take it slow if necessary than go completely mad in the process.

I’m just so close I can taste it now. That’s what’s killing me.

In other news, we’re probably heading to Puerto Rico next spring. It’ll be beautiful that time of year and it’s pretty inexpensive, all things considered. And I’ll be able to use my mad Spanish skillz…hahaha! I’m very out of practice…I’ll freshen up before we go, that’s for sure!

Mostly I’ve just had so much on my mind lately that I can’t really function properly. Bleh. I cleaned the house like a crazy person while Todd was camping this last weekend. It felt so good to get all of that done. There are just a few things out on the counters right now that need to be handled, but at least it’s not the charlie-foxtrot it was not so many days ago. I can’t believe how messy I can allow the house to become!

On the housing front, we’re still looking and still have some time, but we’ll need to give notice to our apartments by September 1, so hopefully we’ll find our dream house in short order. There are TONS to look at still…we just have a few requirements and unfortunately the beautiful homes with perfect kitchens tend to be in suburbia and not within walking distance of ANYTHING. And all the houses in walking distance of bars and restaurants are either too expensive or too crappy. So we’re still lookin’…

Does it really matter??

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GAFFNEY: America’s first Muslim president? – Washington Times

I’m not sure if this should be a big deal or not….I lean toward “not”.
Does it matter if our president is Catholic or Evangelical or Muslim or Mormon or Buddhist or anything else?

Personally, I think that being an American and being a Christian (or any other faith) are mutually exclusive. We don’t live in a theocracy, so religion and politics can be separate (to some degree…let’s not get into the same old fight we’ve all been having since the dawn of time)…

I’ve thought for well over a decade that it’s high time we stop focusing on the President’s religion and start focusing on whether or not he’s doing his job.

I’m just sayin’…

It all had to come out sooner or later…

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Last night got the best of me, to say the least.
Here’s the breakdown of my breakdown:

1. Had to cancel a date with girl friends in order to prep for a bridal shower I was throwing for a woman I’ve never met on Tuesday (today).
2. Stopped by Bed Bath & Beyond on my way home only to discover that their “Beyond” is a load of sh*t as they do not carry flower vases (something I needed for the shower).
3. For the last 2 days, my (brand new, sorta pricy) car has been doing this thing where it revs to somewhere between 2000 – 3000rpm unnecessarily any time I step on the brakes. I call my dad to see if he has any clue why it’s doing that (since he used to drive a Subie) and he says that it’s probably that the throttle isn’t closing and that it’s very unsafe for me to be driving the car. Well f**k. So glad I just dropped a ton of moo-lah on a new car that was supposed to be a hell of a lot safer than the old car.
4. I find out from Todd, via my dad, that the bridal shower is actually last night, not tonight, as I am trying to put together a “crafty” bit for the party. I call my mom and immediately ask “Why did you tell me the party was tomorrow night if it’s actually tonight?” She thought she told me, which she so obviously did not. So much for finishing several projects for the party…and looking nice. Sigh.

I had my breakdown somewhere between numbers three and four, crying hysterically at Todd and threatening to hang the next person that tells me I’m irrational about cars and that I expect them to do too much. Not actually. I expect them to work. That’s all. I would like to drive ONE FRIGGIN’ CAR that doesn’t have the clutch pedal fall off while I’m rounding Stadium Curve at 65mph in the winter or have the gear shifting cable detach from the gear box while I’m coming down a hill with (now) very little ability to turn onto a side street or have the head gasket crack in SIX places while I’m driving because no sensor light came on to tell me that anything was wrong (despite the fact that I was filling the coolant resevoir twice a DAY) or discover that something electronic re: the throttle is probably whacked out.

Yes, all of those things have happened to me.

It became rather evident last night that I am not allowed to have nice things because regardless of how well I take care of them, they go to complete shit at some point very early on. It’s a wonder that my fancy pink laptop hasn’t crapped out for no reason.

I understand that cars have issues and you have to fix them. I just don’t understand why these major mechanical issues happen on EVERY CAR I OWN. I take very good care of my cars. Regular oil changes, regular tire rotation, regular air filter maintenance, regular car washes (just to be nice to my cars)…I do everything by the book and yet I still end up dealing with something so far out of left field. I’m not even hard on my cars. I’m getting 2.7more mpg than the previous owner (who can be somewhat hard on her cars). I don’t brake excessively. I don’t grind the gears. I don’t rev the engine (of my own accord). I don’t ride the clutch.

So can someone explain to me why the car manufacturers of the world seem to have it in for me?

Skepticism takes hold…

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We’ve been church hopping for a little while now. We haven’t found one that’s exactly right, which is frustrating. There are several reasons that we’ve been looking around, which I don’t really want to get into on here, for many reasons (we can chat later if you’re that interested). Our basic requirements are that I can feel connected through the music and Todd can feel challenged through the sermon. You’d think it would be easy. Sadly, not.

When we were living in the Highlands, we were going to church occasionally at Pathways, which K&P introduced us to. We enjoyed the lead pastor and (most of) the associate pastors. But then the music gal left and that was disheartening for me. She was a breath of fresh air and her style was SO remarkably different from what I was used to that, while it was shocking, it was new and exciting and …. refreshing. I was sad when she left. Very sad. Then we moved back to suburbia and Pathways simply became too far of a drive to be reasonable.

Back to square one.

We tried another Covenant church, but went to maybe the wrong service (wrong, as in, time-of-day). Still…meh.

We went to the church we got married in and rather enjoyed that, but again…it’s a bit far away to go every single week. However, it might be worth checking out again. It’s Episcopalian, but with a bit of flair (and electronics).

We tried another non-denominational church and started to feel really comfortable there until just last week. I love it because of the music (for obvious reasons) and Todd appreciates the life-application portions of the sermon.

But last week….oh hoo-dee-hoo! What a disappointing sermon. Facts all messed up. Ethnocentrism at its finest. I mean, yowza.

So my question is this: Do we have to settle on a church? Are we too picky? What should we really be looking for? Should we give the “old church” another chance, despite how we’ve been hurt and disappointed in the past?

I’m totally lost right now.

Damn you, May!

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How did May leak over into June?!?

Every time I turn around, this month, I feel like once something is straightened out, another thing gets all jacked up.

Case #1
I finally figured out with my CLAS advisor at school what I’m still required to take and what’s completed and how much longer I really have. I’m right on track and he’s let me know exactly where I stand through Fall 2009. I’ll graduate Fall 2010, which makes me very happy. He eased my concerns about graduation substantially so I’m all clear there. BUT……….
I get an email this morning from financial aid saying that I owe nearly $3000! How is this possible when I filled out that God-forsaken FAFSA back in March/April? Oh, don’t fret. The reminder email I got in March re: the FAFSA didn’t say that it was specifically for Fall 2009-Spring 2010 and that I have to fill out ANOTHER form to get financial aid for Summer 2009. Oh so helpful. Fortunately, I was able to get that filled out and turned in today and should have an award package in the next week or so. On a side note: my confusion continues as I have not received a check for the unused portion of my Spring 2009 loans. Whatever…for now.

Case #2
Everything at work got handled prior to the end of May, which is nothing short of a miracle given the insanity and nature of our work that month. Many phone calls and emails and meetings later, everything got taken care of, bound up and billed. Phew! Break out the champagne! EXCEPT THAT….
Now there’s all kinds of accounting craziness! I seriously cannot get any information that I need in an appropriate manner. WTF?!? I mean, honestly. If I tell someone something and they agree to those terms, that’s what stands, right?? You can’t just arbitrarily change the terms after you’ve already agreed to what we talked about two days ago…AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

My team should get, at the very least, a paid long-ass weekend once May is over. Unfortunately, I am not in charge of PTO…sadly. But we are going out for lunch tomorrow, which will be a welcome relief, honestly.

Slowing down is nice

/ micahdl / 1 Comment
Finally, coming to the office doesn’t strike fear into my very core. Yay for MAY BEING OVER!!! We made it, even if we came out the other side a little bit bruised. Ah well. The silver lining, I suppose, is that I learned a lot…especially about anger management. I seem to learn that a bit more every May, which is really funny to me.

Last weekend, we all went camping for the first time this season up in Pike National Forest. Decker’s is one of my favorite places to camp…I have a ton of great memories from camping there with my youth group in high school…it is, after all, where I first discovered that a serving size of Twizzlers is 3 pieces…woot woot! And it has since become a staple camping food for me.

Todd and I also just bought a TON of new camping gear which we were able to use for the first time ever! I’ve never had quality gear before so it was nice to break that out and discover how incredibly easy it was to set up our new tent! I got Todd a Marmot sleeping bag which, hilariously, has a “stash pocket” hidden on the inside (tee hee!)…it’s actually even labeled as such, which just makes me laugh. My sleeping bag is pretty grey and periwinkle so I love it…and it’s rated to 20F which makes it super duper warm although I froze my little bum off Saturday night because our sleeping pads didn’t get to us on time so we were sleeping directly on the ground. Goo!

Yesterday, I bought us a messkit with service for four, just like the one my parents had when I was a kid…I love it! Can’t wait to use it for the first time…yay yay yay! Camping is quickly becoming one of my favorite things to do because a) it’s cheap and b) it’s wicked fun and kooky.

I’m in the middle of working out some kinks in my college education. UCD has some crappy dual advising system where I have to talk to one person about my major requirements and another person about my core requirements. I’m speaking with the latter today to be sure that the non-English courses I’m taking the next two semesters will satisfy several remaining requirements. I’m VERY nervous that I’m about to have to push back my graduation another semester, which might kill me. I’m on the verge of giving up, frankly. But the amount of money I’ve spent keeps me going at this point.

Also, this morning started off perfectly, including Todd making all the fixin’s for amazing breakfast burritos…yum! It was like a Saturday morning. The only thing that could have made it better was it actually being a Saturday morning :o)

Just in case…

/ micahdl / 1 Comment

This morning, I went a little bat crazy around the house after Todd had left for work. With 25 minutes remaining until I had to leave for work, I was left with some pretty serious time to do something around the house.

Generally speaking, I hate clutter. That doesn’t mean that I maintain a state of organization (unless you count organized chaos…I always know where just about everything is, even if it’s in some random pile on the floor), but I do hate clutter. I’d like to live a very minimalized life (like K&P appear to live…their apartment is nice and clean every time I’m there), but it just doesn’t happen on a regular basis.

So this morning, and with a hopefully-pending move looming in September, I went a little nuts on the house. Shredded a ton of bills and other misc. items, packed away the balance on Christmas crap (don’t judge), got a box ready to take down to the garage, purged my vases collection (Todd is a master at sending me just the right flowers, but the subsequent vase collection is overwhelming), attacked the desk cabinetry with a vengeance and still managed to be in the car one minute prior to departure time. Holy crap.

Suki seems to get nervous when I spend too long working in the guest room. So she watches me like a hawk. I always remind her that she’s coming with us wherever we go and that our next move will have a big yard for her to play in. Leo couldn’t really care less.

At any rate, I did some serious purging this morning and fully intend to do more when we get home from camping on Sunday.

Holler!

Oh and if you know anyone that might be interested in buying my old car, please pass along my information.

You will not soon forget this.

/ micahdl / 1 Comment

So sayeth my knees to my brain after running the Bolder Boulder.


This will serve as my “update” from last weekend, now that I’m finally finding the time to do that!

I love long weekends and tend to “live ’em up” as best I can without killing myself…and boy, did we do that last weekend!

Friday night was date night (as it always is) so we went to Gordon Biersch for dinner and indulged in the best hamburger known to man, margaritas for me and beers for Todd. Then we went and saw Wolverine which was good as far as that’s concerned (and Hugh Jackman is nothing to balk at….homina-homina!), but the story line had some spots that made absolutely no sense to me. But at face value, a good action-y superhero movie…I’m glad we finally got to see it!

Saturday was mostly me just hanging around after going for an early morning run with Todd in preparation for the BB. I’ll give it to Tony….running in A.M. is probably my favorite time to do that! We run a route that takes us through some of the best parts of Arvada (yes, they do exist) and it was just so peaceful that morning! By the time Todd got home from Writers Group, I was itching to go to the mall and FINALLY do my Build-A-Bear that Todd got me for Christmas! I got a cute little grey kitten and dressed him in Batman jammies…his name is Bonecrusher. Some of you will know why that’s his name :o) Then it was off to Kelly’s for movie/dinner theme night. This is one of my favorite things that happens in the summertime, honestly. We pick a movie and find some kind of corresponding dinner and all get together for a grand ol’ time. This time, it was Breakfast At Tiffany’s and breakfast foods…yum! Karla made the evenin’gs best offering – her mom’s famous morning casserole. I had two servings and threatened to eat everyone else’s helpings…it was that good. Way to go, Karla!

Sunday was a fun day in Boulder, after church, with M, P & H…M and I got henna tattoos (which are frankly way more effort than I think they’re worth. We’re getting jewelry next year), Todd got an eccentric writer’s hat, P got a free chiropractic adjustment and H got…a bottle.

H in Todd’s (other) hat, loving life


Monday was THE BIG DAY!! Up and at ’em by 5:30am and at the start line by 7:30am (after a brief pit stop at an apartment complex’s clubhouse to use their bathrooms rather than Port-a-Potty’s)…I was rocking out to the random music being played at the start, while eating a banana and sucking down water.
L & R met the three of us at the start and opted to run with us rather than start in their own heat (about 15mins prior to ours) so that was fun! I’m still in a bit of shock that I ran the entire thing and did it in 66:43!! It was incredibly exciting! I’ve never had runner’s high and still haven’t had it, but I came very close when I got to the end and said, out loud, “Yeah. I could totally do that again, very soon!” We stayed around for a little while longer, watching people run in to the stadium while enjoying Michelob ultra (in a can…classy), hot dogs and various edible swag contained in our post-consumer recycled lunch sacks from Celestial Seasonings…YAY!

After a quick shower and nap, it was off to celebrate L&R’s new house in Wash Park, which is quite lovely!

Now it’s back to the grind…and has been that for nearly a week.

Who wants to go running???

Now that things are slowing down…

/ micahdl / 4 Comments
I can actually make an attempt to catch up on life. SUPER!

Not that much has really been going on in the last few weeks. I’ve been über-stressed because of work. It’s the nature of the beast really. Seasonal stuff is absolute madness. I can’t keep numbers straight, I have found it hard to sleep and thus stay awake, and I can do little more than watch trash television while trying to distract myself from eating trash food.

Fortunately, school has ended for the semester and the madness of work is starting to calm down just enough that I don’t wish for a bullet to meet my head every day. So that’s good news!

I’m already ready for another break though. We’re going to Seattle for my sister’s graduation in June and we’re very very excited about that. Four days away from Denver will be a relief and being able to celebrate one of the biggest accomplishments in my sisters life, thus far, will be extraordinary! She’s worked so hard the last two years on her graduate degree…she’s gone through a lot and too much and it’s all finally coming to a head. She’ll be DONE! It’s very exciting, to say the least!

After that, we have to wait until August for our next big adventure when we hop a ship to Alaska. It’s too far away to think about right now, so I digress.

Todd and I are (quite literally) running our asses off lately in preparation for the Bolder Boulder. I shaved 2mins off my time the other night and Todd shaved another minute off last night. I intend to do the same tonight. All I know is that I MUST be able to sprint the last 1/4 mile of the race, through the stadium. So that’s the goal for tonight’s workout (even if I have to do it inside because of all the damn fog and cold)…70mins of running with at least 1min of sprinting at the end. And that had better cover 6.2miles…or else.

In other, highly unanticipated, very random news: Todd and I are considering buying our first house. With the first-time home buyer’s credit of $8000, it’s insane not to look. We just need to chat with some lenders, realtors and our parents (for the advice factor) and see what we come up with. It would be nice to have our own place, but that does come with it’s own set of (occasionally very expensive) issues. I’d love for the pups to have their own yard, for one. I’d also like to come “home” to my wonderful husband and our two adorable pups and not have to fight for parking spaces or be annoyed by rude smokers in the breezeways or trashy teenagers at the pool. There are pros and cons to each situation, I know. It’s just something we’re tossing around.