On my way to a nice weekend

One quick stop at work ... well, not that quick but I get to take off right after my afternoon meeting and I am hoping we can catch the 3 o'clock ferry to Bremerton.  That way we'll be there in time to relax and watch the sun set before we head to the restaurant.  This morning it took me four trips to get the car loaded with dog and dog supplies, food and other cooking essentials for my dinner on Saturday, including the slow cooker and baking pan for the peach cobbler, and then a bag for me.  It is so easy to pack for a weekend, especially if you're traveling by car because you can take everything!  Not so when you're going for two weeks.  I keep refining my packing plans.  I am going to do a thorough job of making sure that everything coordinates and can pull double duty so that I can go light.  I have figured out the footwear dilemma and I'm going to be able to do it with 3 pairs - a dressy heel, a pair of short boots that can go outside the pants/leggings or inside, and my Coach clogs which are perfect for the plane ride and also can go with my jeans or leggings.  The tops are going to be more difficult.  No hurry.  I've got time.

Yesterday was such a busy day that I couldn't even go for my run, and believe me, I needed it!  It was just too hectic and I had to choose work.  But it was gorgeous again so I did allow myself a little walk outside in the sunshine.  And it was quite warm when I got home.  Warm enough to walk Tink in short sleeves.  It is starting to get cool at night.

It's going to be a busy morning and then .... away we go.  I am not going to think about work all weekend!  Oh!  And I've got to check my Fantasy Football line up too.  I am last but at least I don't have the most points against me.  And I could win this weekend.  I could!

Technical difficulties

I have no idea what is going on with my computer this morning.  I have been messing with my browser for twenty minutes, trying to get it to load pages.  Finally I attempted to delete it so that I could reinstall it and that wasn't even an option because the system kept trying to tell me to close the program before I delete it.  I don't need this kind of aggravation. 

Happily, I found out yesterday that I'm not the only one of this anatomy team who has been so crazy distracted and stressed that they've taken a wrong bus.  Her outcome was a little more dramatic than mine.  After putting her bicycle on the bus rack and getting on the bus, exhausted as we all are, she found herself dropped off in Kirkland.  There was no bus option where she was left off to her place so had to bike 1 1/2 hours.  In the growing dark with no headlamp.  Yikes

Yesterday was busy busy busy and I was happy happy happy!  I am counting down for my adventure in Europe and now another piece has been set into place - I've got my hotel in London all set and it's just too awesome!  Right in the middle of everything - I'm going to be turning in circles every time I step out, trying to choose which way to turn.  It's all too wonderful (I think that's a song lyric, but true).

I brought Tink to work yesterday so that I could stay and socialize with the students and it turned out to be quite nice.  Tink got two walks during the day in beautiful weather and I got to have pizza for dinner.  I didn't stay long since I wanted to stop by the store to get supplies to make dinner for Saturday.  I was so tired though.  I didn't sit down until nearly 8 and made myself stay up until 9:30.  No knitting, just relaxing.  I should have a great run today and maybe tonight I can knit while I do laundry and get stuff together for the weekend.

Now it's time for grades.

Red eyes

I wasn't the only one with irritated eyes yesterday.  Another person in the office had bloodshot eyes - they looked like mine felt.  Only hers didn't hurt!  She works in an entirely different part of the department than I do so I don't think it has anything to do with the air here.  Mine are fine this morning so ... yay me.

Work is absolutely crazy.  The students are nuts because today is their exam.  Yesterday I had a super great run - the weather was stunning - and got cooled off, had some lunch and then got the radiology faculty set up for small group sessions.  Only one guy had just purchased the latest and greatest laptop from the Apple store and it's so new that no one here has a VGA adapter that would fit it!  Five minutes before the first session is due to start we find this out, because he was late!  So I left them to sort out incorporating the group without an instructor and I got my new mac, got an adapter for it and downloaded the special software, not without considerable trouble.  By the time I was done with that the instructor had about 10 minutes before the next group was due and I was melting as if I'd just run another 2 1/2 miles!  Stress?  Not much.  I guess I shouldn't complain because I only get stressed out about 2 months out of the year and I am sure that there are plenty of people who would trade me places.  When I'm stressed I crave sugar and I must confess, yesterday I heard the siren song of a Seth's cookie.  It won.  And it was yummmmmmmmmmmy!

And then I was just a slug yesterday evening.  No knitting.  A couple of walks and a little dinner and some quality iPad time.  Monika gave me some Chinese herb sleep aids to try before I travel, since Melatonin doesn't really work that well and I don't want to take Benadryl on the plane since it's so drying.  Well, that seemed to work great, although I had a couple of glasses of wine with dinner.  I need to try it when I haven't had anything to drink.  Tonight might be the night because I will probably be still hyped up from today.

Tinkie is with me today - sleeping in the car in the parking garage.  I have to attend a social hour starting at 5:30 and I can't leave her alone that long.  She seems to like being in the car.  I will go out before lunch and give her a nice little walk in the sunshine, and then before the party.  I wish I could sneak her into my office, but then I'd have to keep the door closed and that is NOT an option.

Animated lenses

Every once in a while it feels like my contact lenses are alive.  And not in a good way.  This morning I popped the left one in and it almost jumped out of my eye on its own.  It burned something fierce!  I rinsed and rinsed and tried to insert it a couple more times but no matter which way I turned it there was no way.  I can't understand how something got onto it, but that's how it felt.  Maybe there was something in my eye to start but once the eye starts going red it is no use trying to force it. 

I made a few points on  Monday Night Football but I am dead last in my fantasy league. I'm going to have to make a few moves today.  Hopefully grab a couple of good players.  And somehow I ended up with two defenses.  It takes a lot of time and concentration to have a good fantasy team.  I can't justify all that time right now.  I have too many other things I'm ignoring. 

Case in point -- I had hours of leisure last night and I only did two rows on my cardigan.  I was SO tired.  I watched the second half of the game with one eye, took Tink for a pre-bedtime stroll and threw in the towel about nine.  I was planning on reading myself to sleep and that's what happened.  I couldn't keep my eyes open.  I must have been asleep before 10.  I needed it and I feel great today.  It's not raining and I should be able to have a good run at lunchtime. 

I sure hope we get good weather for the weekend.  My buddies and I are going to spend a couple nights with our friend John who has a super awesome "cabin" on Hood Canal.  He's finally retired up there now that his last child is in college.  I've always loved that place but haven't spent the night for years.  Tink will just love it -- the beach right out the front and a cat on the premises.  Kate and I will share a room with two small beds.  I hope she won't mind Tink sleeping in the room with us.  I just thought of that .... she is somewhat allergic but I think it's only to the saliva.  Anyway -- there are a few more long days to get through.

How easily we forget

When I took Tink out for her morning walk it was raining!  As in "I wish I had my umbrella" raining.  We did a quick one and when I got upstairs I changed into my raincoat and grabbed my umbrella before I headed out the door.  I am very happy that I don't ride my bike to work because I hated riding in the rain the most.  And it was dark when my alarm went off this morning!  So dark that I thought the radio coming on was a mistake.  It was not.

The weekend was nice actually.  Sunny on Saturday and blustery but not bad on Sunday, at least where I was.  The wind blew quite hard and for a while on Sunday we lost the cable.  Thankfully it was after the majority of games had finished and before the evening game started so we just listened to music until it came back on.  The Huskies played a wonderful game on Saturday and won.  And the Seahawks won as well, but I didn't see much of that game since I was watching the Red Zone, which is all of the games.  I just love it.  Unfortunately my fantasy team .... ugh.  Just embarrassingly bad.  Terrible.  I have one more guy tonight but I don't hold out much hope for winning my match up.  And I am indeed last.  But there's next week.  Even Tom Brady had four interceptions. 

I really didn't do much knitting this weekend, for some reason.  Tink and I had some nice long walks, she got bathed and I had Monika and Andre for dinner last night. I cooked an autumnal dinner.  The first.   I should have worked on something while watching all that football but the game was just too exciting on Saturday and I didn't want to make any more mistakes.  I would like to get the body finished this week ... well, maybe that's too optimistic.  Perhaps I should just shoot for one of the sides to be finished.  That's more realistic.

Lots and lots of work to do this week.  And the weekend to look forward to --  my friend's cabin on Hood Canal and maybe even some mushroom hunting!

Hello gorgeous!

What an incredible morning!  It is, as I said, the first day of fall, but oh my goodness, it is SO  nice outside.  It is supposed to be nearly 80 today and tomorrow but Sunday it may drop 20 degrees and rain.  This morning though you can almost hear the angels singing.

I had a pretty decent run yesterday but I had decided to wear a pair of super high heels to work and even though I took the time to stretch well before I headed out I still felt a twinge in my knee and ankle - opposite sides.  Not much, but enough to keep me awake.  I'll have a nice walk today at lunchtime rather than run and I should be in tip top shape again on Monday.  Plus, I'm wearing ballet flats today. 

I went to bed to play with my iPad at the normal time, and turned out my light around 10 or 10:30.  But I couldn't sleep.  I got up to take Naproxen for my knee and tried again.  I couldn't drop off.  At midnight I did a little work emailing, got up and had a couple of bites of yogurt, thinking maybe I was just too hungry and a bit of milk product might put me over the edge.  No go.  1 am and I'm still awake!  This is extremely rare since I've been on my own again but finally I figured it out.  Yesterday afternoon there was some dark chocolate in the break room.  I don't normally care for dark chocolate but I was hungry for something sweet so I had 3 squares ... 3 little squares.  But it must have had enough caffeine to keep me awake.  I feel just fine this morning, thankfully.

After some serious daydreaming and thought I think I know what I would like to do on my London days.  I want to do touristy things I didn't have the time to do last visit.  I want to have afternoon tea someplace elegant.  I want to do some walking tours -- I found a web site with a good many walking tours I can print out.  I'd like to visit some museums and galleries and maybe go to Windsor Castle.  I hear that's spectacular but I don't know how far it is from London.  Certainly there are plenty of things to keep me busy, no matter the weather.  I am counting the weeks.  I don't have to worry about what to do in Luxembourg and Paris.  It will be what NOT to do there.

Do you know how close I got to starting a new project yesterday?  Am I crazy??  I had a new pattern printed out, the yarn picked out and I was going to wind the yarn before dinner.  Thankfully I came to my senses.  I must finish TWO projects before I start another. 

Good football tomorrow - Huskies and USC.  Saturday will be errands and chores and Sunday Monika and Andre are coming over to watch football and have dinner to celebrate Monika's birthday ... which is today.  Happy birthday Monika!!

Say goodbye to summer

To be sure that we are not missing the changing of the seasons, today is cloudy and sprinkling.  It's not cold, and it is rather muggy.  I don't suppose there will be many more changes to run in shorts, and not today for sure.  I am just hoping it won't be pouring rain at lunchtime.

Booking my flight to Lux ended up to be a bigger chore than I had originally anticipated.  I started out doing it here yesterday afternoon, but I don't have my passport information on me and while I thought I had a copy of it in PDF format, I couldn't locate it.  Therefore, when I got home and after I got my dog walking and other little things done and dinner cooking, I sat down at the desk and set about getting the ticket.  I knew exactly which flight so I was quickly at the payment page.  I entered the credit card information and clicked 'send' and it returned an error message that the information was incorrect.  And even before I could register the fact that I had neglected to change the default expiration date of the credit card my phone began to ring!  That fast!  American Express was right on it.  I re-entered the correct information without taking the call, but it wouldn't accept it so I assumed I needed to clear it with American Express that the card wasn't being used fraudulently.  I called the number and went through the entire anti-fraud automated rigmarole.  This was not a fast process, by the way.  It was finally done and I entered the information again.  And the "Please wait while we process your information" screen sat and sat and sat and whirred.  In the meantime I did a quick job for work, checked on my dinner .... drummed my fingers and finally after about 10 minutes the screen appeared with the same error message.  Gah!!  So I telephone American Express again and got a live person and she apologized.  I assured her I was quite impressed with the speed in which they started inquiring about fraud and it was no problem as far as I was concerned.  I had to refresh the web page of the airline and start all over, basically.  It finally worked.  Yay me.

And that was the extent of the excitement last night.  I had dinner, walked Tink ... in the dark, by the way ...  There was nothing I wanted to watch on TV, so it was early to bed and I read and played with my iPad.  There's *always* something to do with my iPad.  Movies and TV and podcasts and music and games and books and magazines .... on and on and on.  Too much stuff, but I must say I can always find something to amuse myself with.  This is going to be great to travel with.  Usually I have a book or two with me on a long trip, not to mention some magazines.  That gets heavy.  It's all on the iPad now.

Sleepwalking to work

A few weeks ago I got a notice in the mail that work would begin soon at nights on the express lanes of the freeway, adding lights and other things.  I can't remember exactly when it is due to start, but I remember thinking that by that time it should be cold enough to sleep with the window mostly closed so I most likely wouldn't be bothered by it.  But it seemed very noisy last night -- maybe I was just thinking about it or perhaps there was something going on at the medical center parking lot.  Whatever the reason I didn't sleep soundly and I woke up at 2am from noise outside my window.  Then I was sunk.  I couldn't shut out the noise, normal or not.  I took another Benadryl, figuring since it was 2 I'd have plenty of time to sleep off the effects.   I did okay, although I was a little late getting up, but I managed to catch a bus at 7:40, which gets me here at an acceptable time.  I catch two buses.  The first is either a 16 or 316 and the second a 48.  I have an app on my iPhone that tells me when the next bus will arrive at a particular stop and at each of those stops, both coming and going, I have programmed in just the buses I catch, not all buses that stop there.  This morning, in a daze listening to my audio book and still groggy,  instead of getting onto a 48 at my second stop I got onto the 316.  Thankfully I realized my mistake in time to get off at a stop where I could walk to catch the 48.  I am a menace to myself.

A little time was spent yesterday afternoon working out the details of getting around while I'm in Europe.  I never think about flying when I'm there, but usually just take the trains to get around.  But it's not very convenient to get from London to Luxembourg by train.  You can take a fast train to Brussels, but then it's the slow, normal train to Luxembourg from there, making it a four hour journey.  Or, you can fly there in about 1 1/2 hours.  And the price round trip is just about the same.  It's a no brainer.  So today I'm going to book my flight, after a chat with Emma about schedule.  We'll take the train to Paris to and from Luxembourg and she's going to take care of booking that.  Everything is falling into place!  And this time I am going to pack light.  Seriously.  I practiced when I went to Las Vegas.  I don't want a big bag to have to lug around to and from the airport and train stations and through the train stations.  If I am organized and plan on doing laundry a couple of times I should be okay with one bag.  I just have to make sure that I pack only what I will wear and nothing bulky.  The hard part is gong to be the shoes.  I really want to get by with 3 pairs - boots, dressy shoes, and something in between.  I am guessing I'm going to have to go with a fourth pair.  Well, plenty of time left to figure it out.

I wasn't up late last night.  It was a busy day at work and I had a very satisfying run.  All I wanted to do was cook some dinner and catch up on a little TV, knit a bit or maybe read.  I did a little of all three and was astonished at how quickly the evening went by.  I brought my cardigan to noon knitting today.  I am going to have to put it aside soon to finish up the Cloisonne Jacket before the weather turns.  It's going to be nearly 80 today.  Love the Indian summer!

The trouble with being a smarty pants

There I was, working away on my cardigan, watching Monday Night Football. I was just starting the detail on the right front and after doing the tricky bit I realized that this was an English book and the instructions are written just a little bit differently. A yarn over is written as yarn in front and I hadn't remembered that, so I picked out the 26 stitches and got it right. Sailing along and I got to the end of the row and made another realization -- I had made a mistake in the ribbing on the button band. Remember, I had decided that I wasn't going to knit this in pieces since there was no reason at all NOT to knit the fronts, back and bands at the same time. I noticed that the mistake (which had to have happened when I was watching that Husky game on Saturday) was on the button side of the sweater so no matter -- I can put a button there and it won't be noticeable. Ah. And *then* I had an OMG moment. All my tricky little business, so smug I was. But I had forgotten that I had to make buttonholes on the right band and I had not been making buttonholes. Well, I'm not taking it out and starting over, that's for sure. I'll have to make loops for the buttons or change it to frogs or some other type of thing -- hooks or something. What a goof.

I didn't run or even walk yesterday at lunchtime. I was feeling very stuffy and so I went home a little early and Tink got a couple of nice walks in the sunshine. I feel better today but still stuffed up. I want to run because it's sunny today and it could be raining later this week. We have a guy in the department who is a running trainer and I talked to him in the hall last week, asking him for advice on how to increase my speed. We must have spent 10 or 15 minutes chatting and do you know what his advice is, basically? You want to run faster? Practice moving your feet faster. No kidding. That was it. Nothing special. Just run downhill a lot so you get used to moving your feet faster. Really? That's all there is to it? Gee, thanks. I guess you get what you pay for.

Summer's last gasps

it was cloudy and even raining most of the weekend, but I woke up to lovely blue skies today and it is supposed to be nice and in the 70s all the rest of the week.  Beautiful!  I'm feeling a little stuffy this morning though.  I don't think I'll be running but maybe just take a nice walk instead.  I hope this doesn't turn into a cold. If it does I will blame Andy for coming to work sick!

Saturday Tink and I had a nice long walk in the mist, then I ran a couple of quick errands ... which could have been quicker had I not had to go back to get my wallet ... and then I settled in to watch the Huskies get absolutely creamed by Nebraska.  I must say though, they got a couple of truly bad calls that really turned the game around.  They were doing very well until then.  Even the announcers were surprised at the blatantly bad decisions the refs were making.  I haven't read the sports section yet but I imagine it will be discussed.

Yesterday I spent most of the afternoon knitting and watching football.  My fantasy team lost the matchup but only because three of my players were injured and had limited playing time!  Three!!  None of the injuries were bad so I am hoping I won't have to go shopping for replacements.  I am not very good at that.  While I was watching I got the pocket linings knitted into the cardigan fronts.  I must say, the directions were poorly written.  It took me a while to figure out that I wasn't supposed to slip the 26 stitches for the opening onto holders but was instead supposed to knit them ONTO holders.  That way the yarn is on the correct side of the piece when you start knitting the body again.  Also, the instructions don't say anything about what you're supposed to do with the tops of the pockets other than make a crochet border.  But how do you do that when they're on holders?  I don't know if I'm supposed to bind them off and then make the edging or somehow do it right onto the live stitches.  I've got a ways to go before I have to figure that one out, but it's going to be difficult.

I went out yesterday evening to a CD release party at the Hard Rock Cafe downtown.  It's a new venue and I really like it, although there are not nearly enough seats in the upstairs where the bands play.  It was crowded and we were standing next to this idiot who kept laughing after everything he said.  You know the type -- they can't say anything without adding a little chuckle.  That is, of course, because they are so incredibly insecure.  If they add a little laugh to everything they say then if they should inadvertently cause offense they can excuse it by saying they were just kidding.  It drives me crazy because it's so obvious!  Don't they  know everybody knows the ruse.  They might as well just wear a big sign around their neck saying "I'm an insecure idiot". 

Oh please don't let me be coming down with a cold!!!!

In the words of the Temptations ....

"Get ready, 'cause here I come!"  Woohoo!  I got the last duck in a row yesterday, so to speak, so this afternoon I'm going to buy my ticket.  Excited?  Oh ... not much.

I had an annoying morning yesterday and was happy to have to leave early for my appointment.  It was sprinkling a little bit as I was driving downtown.  It never really rained, but is was misting most of the afternoon and evening.  Tink and I got a couple of good walks in and I sat down and just started working on the Cloche, deciding I would give myself a quiet hour before I cooked dinner to work on the hat, when my phone rang and it was my sister.  I talked her home and by that time all I could do was finish the one row I had started and then I had to get cooking.  I was very hungry.  I managed a couple more rows on the cardigan - only 2 1/2 more inches until something interesting happens - but threw in the towel and went to bed early to read and play with my iPad.  I wanted to go to sleep early but that didn't happen again.  I can sleep in tomorrow and I most likely will.

I'm feeling a little antsy.  I don't know why.  This afternoon I can run and maybe that'll take the edge off.  I have lots to do this weekend - football and cleaning mostly.  The weather isn't going to be very good.  Maybe I'll take myself to dinner on Saturday.  I think that's going to be my most antsy time -  just a feeling.  I can start researching things to do in London.  This time around I want to visit some galleries and museums since all I did last time was the Abbey.  Well, I didn't have that much time there actually.  This time around I will have plenty of time.  I've got a yarn shop already in my list.  That will keep me busy.  Suggestions welcome, of course.

Still gloomy

While I saw spots of blue yesterday afternoon, it never really cleared up yesterday and looks like it's going to be that way through the weekend.  We may even get rain.  I wish I could run today but I've got a meeting downtown and I don't want to be all post-run icky looking for it.  Tomorrow I'll have a nice run after the rest.

I was sucked into my iPad last night and didn't get any knitting done.  I want to finish up that cute little cloche hat this weekend because I think I'll be using it in the next few weeks.  What I need is a couple of quiet hours because I have to count while doing the short rows and I can't do that while watching football.  Maybe after the Husky game on Saturday I can do that.  They are playing Nebraska at 12:30.  That's going to be a good game.

I haven't had to use my sleep mask this past week either.  It was quite dark when my alarm went off this morning.  Might as well get used to that, I know.  I was thinking yesterday about how I don't even miss commuting by bike anymore.  I did it for nearly 20 years straight, which is amazing to think, and it only took me six months to be over it.  When I think of the hassle of having to pack clothes every day and change a million times a day, especially on running days.  It is so nice to get up and get dressed in nice clothes and know I'll be looking nice all day -- or until I go out and run.  But in the winter that's not as much of an issue as it is in the summer when it's hot.  Oh I get warm in the winter, but I don't melt.  It was nice to take that bike ride this summer and I only wish I had been able to do a few more.  I guess I could do a ride by myself, but that's not as much fun.  If I had a basket to take Tink with me, that would be fun.  I have seen people take their dogs in little trailers behind them.  That's a bit over the top, even for me.

Wake up!

I slept like a log last night.  I don't think I moved once I fell asleep.  I didn't stay up too late, but then I started reading when I got into bed and you know how that goes.  I love having my Vanity Fair subscription on my iPad.  It's so handy.   But when the alarm went off I hit the snooze button .... four times!  I don't remember the first two times so I was a bit surprised at the time when I finally picked my iPhone off the dock.   Thank goodness there's nothing much going on this morning.  Just a little meeting at 9, so I'm okay.  Groggy though.

I brought my cardigan to noon knitting today.  Now that I am doing back and both fronts and bands it's slow going, although there is some detail on the fronts that will make it interesting, plus I'll be putting in the pocket linings which I haven't ever done before.  I'm looking forward to that. 

The sun has been scarce these past few days and I miss it!  We had such a nice long sunny stretch there that I forgot how gloomy it can be around here.  Although I don't see outside from my office I do enjoy getting a glimpse of the blue sky when I walk out for hot water or whatnot.  Maybe I should find some interesting posters for my icky office walls.  I could decorate the shelf brackets with fairy lights maybe.  I had the shelves themselves removed but the administrator didn't want to remove the brackets because that would mean having to repair and paint the wall.   Most days I don't even notice them but sometimes they stand out.  Today is one of those days. 

Now I just want to WAKE UP!!!

Not last!

Okay!  Week one of fantasy finished and although I lost my matchup by 4 points I am 7th overall.  I am just kicking myself though -- I had Green Bay's defense and if I had played them I would have won my matchup and been 6th.  Ah well .. live and learn.  Just as long as I'm not last.

I'm giving myself a little break for a couple of days after the race so no running yesterday or today or tomorrow.  I'll be back at it on Thursday so I can start getting ready for the Dawg Dash on October 23rd.  Now that the really warm weather is behind us, my lunchtime runs will be more comfortable.  It's hard to run in the heat.  The course for the Dawg Dash is a little more challenging than the Green Lake course because there is elevation and 3 or 4 different types of terrain.  As long as it's not raining and blowing it'll be a great race.  It was my first and I remember that I loved it.

It is that time of the year when my left arm and hand start hurting -- football knitting injury.  It is the purling that does it, especially with a small needle.  I am finished up with the ribbing on the cardigan I'm working on and so it should be a bit easier on me.  The ribbing was really interesting and I think it would make a striking scarf, especially if worked in a larger needle size - this ribbing was done on a 5.  It's a variation on the seed stitch but two stitches of each kind.  So k2, p2, k2, and whatever you end with that's what you start with on the way back.  It's reversible and very classic looking.  I might get some cashmere from Little Knits and double it up and make a scarf.  It would be a nice gift.

I found a great deal on air fare yesterday - it has gone down since I first started looking.  I have just another couple of things to get settled and then I can buy my ticket.  I'm excited now but just wait for another few weeks.  I won't be able to keep still!  Thank goodness I'm busy busy busy at work.

A successful run

I got up super early on Sunday so that I would have plenty of time to wake up and eat and walk the dog before I had to head out for the race.  I caught the bus at about 7:15 and found four other women on there also riding to the race.  It was so warm, even at 7 am, that I didn't even have to bring a jacket, which was a good thing because they didn't have a place to check anything!  I had to do the race holding my keys and iPhone.  I was a good girl and followed the rule of no headphones but there were plenty of others who were wearing them.  This was quite a sight - no men in the race.  It was for women only.  There were men there, of course, but mostly it was a huge sea of every conceivable type of woman.  No dogs and no strollers - which is a rule I think should be followed at every race.  I had a couple of songs in my head to run to and I figured I would use my Nike app to keep track of my pace.  I got ready and started it when I crossed the start line.  Unfortunately I got less than half a kilometer before I realized one of my shoelaces had come undone!  I toyed with the idea of leaving it but thought better of that and steered myself to the inner portion of the track and stopped to tie it.  What I didn't realize was I touched the screen of the iPhone and accidentally paused the app.  By the time I figured that out I had no idea at all how much further I had run and it was very frustrating because I was trying to keep a certain pace for a certain amount of time and then speed up.  From that point on -- about a mile into the race I think -- I just ran and pretty  much decided that it wasn't going to be any kind of record breaking run so I should just enjoy myself.  I gave a little push when I got into sight of the finish line but honestly, I could (and should) have run harder.  And the final mistake -- I thought the starting mat was the finish mat and slowed down before I crossed the finish line!!  I probably lost 30 seconds between that boneheaded move and tying my shoelaces.  All that notwithstanding, I ended up winning 2nd place in my division!!  I have never even broken the top 50% so I was thrilled.  And kicking myself because with just a little more effort I could have gotten first.  Ah well, next time.  I am still beaming.  I won a little prize so I stayed for the award ceremony.  

My plan for the day was to go home, walk Tink and then go have a nice lunch outside and start dreaming in earnest about my upcoming trip.  But it was blazing hot by the time I got home.  I took her for an abbreviated walk, having had to walk all the way home from the lake after the run because of the goofy Sunday bus schedule, and then showered and did a brief bit of cleaning and then headed out for lunch.  But it was just way too hot to sit outside, plus all the football games were on, so I went inside where it was cool and had a celebratory lunch at the bar with the rest of the football nuts.  I headed home at halftime to watch a bit more and basically that was my evening -- football and knitting.  But oh, was it ever hot!  I had to have the fan blowing right on me the entire evening.  My dinner consisted of a fruit smoothy and about 3 bites of a sandwich.  Too hot to eat.  It has cooled off somewhat today and I think we're done with the very hot weather, at least for the rest of this week.  And that's fine.

My fantasy team has four players in the game this evening and I am counting on them to put me over the top.  I have Tom Brady for my QB.  They're playing Miami tonight so I am hoping for a lot of points out of him.  I do NOT want to be last this year.  How many times do I have to say that?  This year it will be entirely my fault too, because I drafted these guys.  I may have to make some adjustments but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Finally! Pictures from Las Vegas

I finally got a couple of pictures yesterday from the birthday in Las Vegas.  Unfortunately nobody thought to bring a camera so a couple of people took a couple from their camera phones.  Here I am with my beautiful sister.  This looks pretty good for a picture taken with a camera from a phone.  The lighting in the other one above isn't as good, but it's still a nice memory.  Plenty of champagne and cake - can't go wrong there.  We had such a good time, I can't wait to go back!

Last night was the first regular season NFL game and it was a great game!  I didn't get to see the first half, but the second half was exciting.  I had the New Orleans defense for my fantasy team last night.  They only got me 4 points.  New Orleans lost.  I have high hopes for this weekend though!  If I win my first matchup I will be SO happy!!

I almost got the sleeves finished while I was watching the game last night but I got such a sinus headache that I couldn't stand it and had to go to bed after the game.  I read for a while, which might seem an odd occupation for one suffering from a sinus headache, but I couldn't just lay there.  I was tired enough from the night before that I finally fell asleep and actually had a great night.

It's big day today -- first exam for the medical students.  I get to pick up my timing chip and race bib tonight for the race Sunday.  My run yesterday wasn't great but it was okay.  I'm still pretty optimistic about the race this Sunday.  I should do fine.  And thankfully it's early in the morning so it won't be too hot!

My unconscious hands

I definitely know what was going on a week or so ago when my alarm wasn't going off.  I suspected I was turning it off rather than hitting the snooze and now I know for certain that's what I did because I did it this morning.  I had a little trouble getting to sleep last night, even though I was exhausted, and so when the alarm went off at 6 I turned it off.  There is a small but attentive part of my conscious mind that realized that so I did wake up in plenty of time to get the early bus.  But the bus system is unreliable and I usually like to get here 1/2 hour earlier on anatomy quiz days.  I made it and everything worked out okay but it was close.  Not comfortable.

Thank goodness it's a running day today and I can get out there early like I did on Tuesday.  The weather is holding and it's going to be a perfect day for the race on Sunday.  I am just a little disappointed that I had to turn down an invitation to an end of summer party for Saturday night, but I just can't do it before a race, especially one that starts at 8 am.  Not if I want to do well, which I do.

I didn't get any knitting done last night.  In fact, I had so much other stuff to take care of after work that I didn't even get to sit down to dinner until nearly 8 o'clock.  This first week is a killer.  I am hoping that I can finish up that little hat this weekend, maybe Saturday.  Sunday is for football and daydreaming.  Oh!  First NFL game is on tonight and I've got a fantasy player in it.  I think my matchup looks pretty strong.  I would llllove to start this year out with a win!  Fingers crossed!!

I know just what I'm going to do Sunday

I ran yesterday for the first time since my back tweaked ... a week I guess.  I did okay, considering.  It was the first day of class and crazy busy but I managed to carve out an hour between 10:30 and 11:30 when it was still relatively cool outside.  I used my new iTunes running mix that is set for 10 1/2 minute miles.   I think perhaps for someone with longer legs .... however, it did keep me on a pretty good pace and I had a solid run.  I am going to lower my expectations a bit for this coming Sunday though.  I may have a super run, I may just have an okay run.  It has put my a little behind not being able to work out or run last week but I'm not going to get crazy about it.  I'll sign up for the run in October - the Dawg Dash - which was the first 5K I ever ran ... what was it?  ... about 5 years ago I guess.  Since the stadium will be closed for renovations this is the last time we will be able to run on the old track, so it's going to be a big deal.  Anyway, I'm not going to kill myself this week trying to get ready for the race.  I'm not going to do two a day workouts, like I was doing last week, and take the chance of tweaking my back out again.  I ran yesterday, I'll run again tomorrow and rest up Friday and Saturday and hope for a decent time on Sunday.  I'll be getting up early because the race starts at 8 am.  Luckily it's at Green Lake so I can take the bus there.  And then when it's all over and I get home and take Tink for her walk I'm going to clean up and take myself out to a nice lunch and then ... then I am going to start planning in earnest for my upcoming vacation.  I'm just going to sit outside and have a lovely meal, enjoy the sunshine and the great feeling I have when I'm done with a race and give into it.  I can't wait!

And there's plenty plenty PLENTY of work between now and then.  Thank goodness I haven't been bothered by nightmares or insomnia as I have in the past couple of years at this time.  Last night I could barely read past 9:30, and that's without any wine with dinner.  I was out like a light and slept the night through.  The rest of this week is just packed full.  Next week will be a little easier.

I brought my new cloche hat .... the start of it I should say, in today to show the knitting ladies and I have my sleeves to work on for the Eloise.  I meant to bring the finished Kaleidoscope in but forgot it.  Last weekend really put me back into the knitting mood for some reason.  Maybe it's the football on TV.  It's hot outside, but feels like knitting time when I hear the games.  Funny.  Well, logical but .....you know.

Thank goodness for the long weekend

because we hit it pretty hard on the first day of class.  I don't want to jinx it, but it has gone amazingly well so far.  For the first time I had all of the students take the first quiz on line with no paper copies needed.  That is huge.

I had a pretty  nice long weekend too.  The football was good - the Seahawks one their last preseason game and the Huskies won their first game, although non-conference.  The weather was spectacular the entire weekend.  Tink and I got up every morning and took a super long walk to the lake.  I got my chores done before the heat of the day got the better of me and then knit to my heart's content.  I finished the Kaleidoscope cardigan.  I got it blocked on Saturday and yesterday I bought buttons for it.  It's quite vivid, I know, but it will serve its purpose and be really cute in the right situation. You can't tell from the picture but I got just the right buttons.  Also, it does look like it's wonky on the bottom, that it doesn't match up, but it does.  It was just stretched funny on the dummy.

I also started a new hat.  I just couldn't help myself. It's SO cute!  Here's a picture from the pattern.  It's called Cloche Divine and here's a picture from the pattern.  It's kind of hard to see but the construction is very clever.

My back is feeling great today so I am going to run and hope that I can get my wind and stamina back up by Sunday.  The weather is going to be hot - in the 80s - all week and on Sunday, race day, it's supposed to be near 90!!  Thankfully the race is early in the morning.

Friday at last!

Yesterday was SUCH a busy day I didn't have time to take a breath until after 6.  My working at home day on Wednesday was crucial and thankfully I woke up yesterday feeling nearly normal.  It was orientation day for both the medical and the dental students so I was running all day and it would have been horrible if my back had been as bad as it was on Tuesday.  Today I am about 75%.  Unfortunately I won't be able to run but I guess that's not the end of the world.  I'll have next week to get back into it and sometimes after a long rest time I am faster so that's how I'm going to spin it.

We have a long weekend - Labor Day weekend - coming up and the weather is supposed to be fine and hot.  That will be good for the Bumbershoot goers.  That won't be me, although this year actually there are some acts I wouldn't mind seeing.  But it's not something I'd go to alone.  I don't seem to have much trouble filling my weekends, even my long ones.  Tonight is the last pre-season game for the Seahawks and tomorrow is the first Husky football game of the season.  And there's cleaning to do, since I had a maintenance guy come to fix my toilet and of course he left dirty footprints on the already stained carpet.  I truly do have to try to be a bit more social.  I know it's not good for me to constantly spend so much time alone.  I think it'll get depressing when it starts being dark longer.

My friend Emma took a look at the web site for the hotel in Paris and decided it was fine with her, so she's going to book it!  Little by little the pieces are falling in place.  Pretty soon I will get serious about buying my plane ticket.  I am getting more excited each day! 

I did some good work on the sleeves for the new cardigan.  Maybe I'll take some pictures this weekend.  I love the color of the yarn!  It is a weird blend of milk fiber and wool.  It's very soft and no, it doesn't smell like milk.  This weekend I need to block the Kaleidoscope Cardigan and buy buttons for it.  Maybe I'll finish up the Cloisonne Jacket.  Is that too optimistic?  We shall see.