What's the dealio...

Another three day weekend over. It went by very fast.

It was surprisingly productive, and filled with good deals:

-I got a new phone. Switched from Apple to Android. I refuse to be a slave to a brand, and I saved money.

-I switched from Charter to U-Verse for my cable and internet. Saving over $65/month for the exact same services.

-We had our first Family Day of 2013. Fun, food, frolic.

-I ran 5 miles with my half-marathon training group. Fantastic people, good weather. This will be challenging, but I am down for it. Got nothing to lose by poundage.

So far, 2013 is shaping up to be a very good year. Heads and tails above "the year of which we will never speak."

Flip the script

My former grieving, cloudy, semi-pessimistic, early-2012 self would've said I'm having a day and evening of long-ass meetings.

Drag.

My reformed grab-the-moment, not-gonna-let-it-bother-me, life-is-too-damn-short, late-2012/early-2013 self says that I was fortunate to meet with some very brilliant minds today to discuss how what we do on a daily basis will have positive outcomes for the health and safety of millions of people.

Rad!

Flip the script, people. Living with joy and positivity is a helluva lot better than bitching loudly and longly about people and things that are beyond your control. Wasted effort!!

You cannot control much of what happens to you on a daily basis. It is what it is.

BUT...you can control how you react to it. You've got that power, use it.

Sure, we all have our challenges, our sorrows, our suck situations.  We can either let them take us down, or we can ALLOW them to give us strength and fuel our success.

And hey, it's okay to rant once in awhile. Letting off steam is GOOD!

But reframe, reset and remove the negativity afterwards. Don't give in. Remember, it takes a heckuva lot more effort to be angry than it does to be happy.

Okay. That's my pep talk for today.

Hope you're flipping the script. If not, give it a try and see how badass you feel!

Okay, best get back to work...keeping millions safe and healthy, y'all! ;-)

Brunch and floating bananas

Spent the better part of Sunday at Sqwires catching up with friends. When we get together we can easily spend 4-5 hours talking about everything under the sun and moon.

Out of the blue they said they were overdue for a little time off. They wanted to know about my cabin excursion over the holidays.

Aside from the hot tub incident, they said it sounded perfect.

So we're planning a getaway in either late Feb or early March.

Cannot wait. I should be ready for some time off of training by then.

Maybe it will be warm enought to launch the big banana for some paddling.

Runsicle

When I got home from work it was still daylight out, so I decided to get a quick run in while the sun was still peeking out. I hate treadmills, and they hate me. I'm uncoordinated so any time I get on one I say a prayer.

Anyway, growing up in North Dakota we used to run outside for gym, whatever the weather. Snow on the ground? Run. Snowing? Run. 5 degrees below zero? Bundle up and run.

But we were also young, and unable (unwilling?) to comprehend how damn cold that was. And we were fairly fearless, and just did as we were told. Survived. No harm done.

Now I'm an old fuddie, and 24 degrees is effin cold. I wore my Sugoi thermal tights, mockneck and half-zip, wool socks, a fleece ear warmer and a thermal skullcap, and two pairs of thermal gloves.

The only places on my body that were uncomfortably cold were my face and my left thumb.

Wha?

My face was mostly uncovered, that's on me. Balaclava next time.

But my thumb? I called my mom to see if I'd ever had frostbite or something close to it growing up. I don't remember, she didn't either but it seems that I may have, due to the sensitivity of my thumb.

That's never happened before.

Guess I gotta break out the ski gloves, 'cause I'm not forkin over dinero for a third pair of gloves.

Weirdness.

Either way, I got a solid three miles in. Bam.

Movie Review: Thirty Dark Zero

Saw the movie.

It was really good. Not great, but really good.

Perhaps it was all the hype about being the best movie of the year/ever made that made my expectations so high. The trailers were very powerful also.

But although the subject matter was very heavy, the movie felt somewhat light, like it was missing some connectedness...that is, until the end.

The Navy Seal team got into their super-stealth helicopters to fly into Afghanistan to the compound that supposedly housed Bin Laden. Apparently it was filmed in the same amount of time the mission took, so we were viewing it in "real time."

This is when the tension really started. This was the part that made the movie good for me.

It was nerve-wracking. There wasn't a sound in the theater. Everyone was quiet, fixated on what was taking place on the screen. This was it - what were we going to get to see? How does this all play out?

And then, just as the Navy Seals were closing in on Bin Laden, the sound in our theater quit working.

At the pivotal climax of this super-hyped film, we had no audio.

It was such a monumental letdown. The removal of the audio, accompanied by the feral rage pitched by the audience, took me completely out of the moment.

The tension was gone.

After what felt like forever, the sound came back on. It was probably  about 25 seconds, but these were crucial seconds.

Anyway, there were good performances by the main actors. Jessica Chastain was captivating. She's just a pleasure to watch. Glad she won the Golden Globe.

The scenes with the torture were not pleasant to watch. The behind-the-scenes as the agents are looking for anything that would lead them to Bin Laden were entertaining, and individualy were great. But when they were all put together, it sometimes felt disjointed and forced.

SPOILER:

The first minute of the movie is audio only. It's of a 911 call from someone in one of the Twin Towers, speaking with a 911 operator.

It was incredibly chilling and sad and devastating to hear, because of what was said and how it went and what happened at the end of the call. It was so hard to hear. However, I thought it was the perfect way to start this movie. It reminded you why this story needed to be told.

It's definitely a movie you should see in the theater.

Dog days...and nights

Oliver Scootch McFadyen

 

Sweetest face ever, right?

Ever since I brought him home from the Humane Society, Oliver has been a late-night eater.

If I hand feed him, he will eat in the evening before bed. Sometimes.

Since he's a midnight snacker, I keep a nightlight on cuz he is not the most coordinated dog...guess he takes after his momma.

What I've noticed of late is that I'm just not sleeping well. I wake up often, and have a difficult time getting to sleep.

I'm thinking it could be the light.

So I'm making an executive decision and will be retiring the nightlight for awhile to see if this helps me.

Oliver will just have to dine by moonlight.

Hope he doesn't trip over his paws getting to his crunchies.

Dodging Metaphorical Bullets

I've managed to avoid the following things in my life, and I feel damn lucky for it:

1. 50 Shades of Gray. I'd rather nap. And have.

2. Cats. I have a severe allergy. Dogs are my pet of choice. Neat how some things work out for the best.

3. Eating live crawfish. I may live in MO, but I do not hail from MO, so this is easier to avoid were I a native.

4. Being carjacked/mugged. Difficult to do in STL. 

5. The non-important parts of Canada. I believe I've seen the best bits.

6. Jellyfish. Spent some time on the West Coast, in the ocean. They live there.

7. The movie Avatar. This means I have 161 minutes more than 25.7 million people had before they watched it. HA!

8. Marrying the wrong man. (I did marry the right one, at the wrong time...)
9. An obsession with Scandanavian modern furniture.

10. Broken bones. I've had many sprains, but no breaks. Surprising, considering how uncoordinated and adventurous I am. Never a good combo.

11. Buffalo stampede. I grew up in ND, and we had a few field trips to national parks where buffalo roam, so yeah, the opportunity was there.
12. Scientology. No explanation needed.

13. Spam. I'm a Vienna Sausage kinda gal.

14. Hearing an entire Rush song. Bleeding ears, bleeding ears...

15. Losing at indian leg wrestling more than winning. It's a common pasttime when you're snowed in. Lots of practice.

16. Being serenaded with Christmas carols by a talented Jewish accordion player posing as my boyfriend. Wait, that did happen....shoooooot.

17. Being last chair flute in band. I was always in the top two...with the exception of 7th grade. The year from hell. The photo above is me in 7th grade. 99 problems and band was one of 'em.

18. A girl fight my junior year of high school. I won first chair piccolo, and the bruiser who lost and was now second chair said she'd get me after school. The prestige of first chair always comes with danger....

19. Being sprayed by a skunk. Having been to camp and living on the prairie gets you very close to this.

20. Total heartbreak. Some close calls, but I'm still alive, don't hate men and believe in love, so I'm pretty sure the best is yet to come.