Bizarro World

For some unfathomable reason, I've really been enjoying my job lately. Strange.

RFTC: NYC

As the Summer winds down, I have found myself running out of steam with my running. I'm bored, sick of heat, sick of my routine, discouraged by lack of progress, feeling the need to rebel, etc. So, I haven't run as much in the past couple of weeks as I'm supposed to. Still, I signed up for the Race for the Cure (5K) race because it's a great event and I had told Luminita that I would do it. This race, like the Circle of Friends race we participated in, in June is one of those special running events where you can't help but be inspired. They are also both great events for runners and walkers of all abilities because women come out of the woodwork to participate, so there are all shapes, sizes, ethnicities and ages hoofing it through the course.

Anyway, Luminita and I met up at the Kew Gardens train station at the ungodly hour of 7:30 on Sunday morning. We made our way into Manhattan and up to the Upper Westside where we hoped to hook up with Harriet. It was a beautiful, beautiful day in NYC, so it was a pleasure to just mill around and soak up the atmosphere and catch onto to some of the race excitement as all the various groups started to gear up. We unfortunately never ran into Harriet, so we decided to make our way to the starting line as the time for the race start drew near. I was disappointed because Harriet is great at pacing a nice, steady & slow pace and I had hoped to count on her, especially as Luminita had decided that she wanted to try running. I knew that Harriet would be able to pace us steady enough for us all to finish comfortably. Luminita is in good shape, but is not a runner, so I wanted to make sure she had a good experience and I am not the best pacer in the World. Anyway, no Harriet, so we lined up without her. Once we were on our way I paced us at a very slow, conversational run. Really a jog. I figured, 'let's run the first mile and then we'll see.' I wanted Lum to be able to say she that had run a mile, at least. So it was comfortable, and the course not too bad. Up Central Park West. Into the Park, down a hill and then up one of the Westside hills that wasn't too bad since we hadn't run the rolling hills that come before it (usually it is the last in a series of rolling hills down the West Drive of the Park). We hit the 1 mile point somewhere in the sweeping downhill following this. I suggested that we keep running since we were on a downhill and Lum agreed. We finished the down hill and started a short uphill to a turn across the 72nd Street Traverse. I mentioned to Lum that we could take a walk break if she wanted, but she said that, no, she was fine, let's keep going (drat! I thought to myself that I could use a walk break, but okay let's keep going then). Across the 72nd Street Traverse, up the hill past the Bethesda Fountain, then a turn South on the East Park Drive and up another hill. I knew that the rest of the race course involved a series of rolling hills, so I tried to pace accordingly, keeping steady on the uphills and recovering on the downhills enough so that we would be ready for the next uphill, while also dealing with "cardic creep" as the cumulative effect of the race effort began to wear on us. I reined myself in on every uphill as I have a tendency to speed up on the hills and then tried to allow gravity to do most of the work on the downhills. We reached the 2nd Mile marker and I asked Lum if she needed a walk-break now and she said, no, she was fine (shit! I thought to myself, I really could use one! Not. Going. To. Give. In.) So we keep going, through all little rolling hills and around the South end of the Park, and we then started the last uphill up the West Drive and past Tavern on the Green and up on to the Finish (just past the NYC Marathon finish line). This was really hard now, the hill on this finish always, always, always kills me. We stayed steady and strong and finished side-by-side. Incredible. Luminita has never really run any distance before and she managed to run 3.1 miles without walking one single step. Hell, I managed to run 3.1 miles without walking one single step. I can't remember when the last time was that I was able to do this. Probably years ago. I'm also proud that I was able to set a reasonable pace that got us through the race. Once we finished, we stuck around the finish line for a while enjoying the beautiful day in the Park and basking in our accomplishment, while also looking for Harriet. We never did find her here either, so we decided finally to make our way home.

So, it was a great day and a great event and a perfect way to cap off the Summer. I was very happy to be able to share the race with Luminita as this is just the sort of event that is greatly enhanced by participating with others. I now need to ramp my running program back up. I can run 3 miles without walking after all, I need to start building on that. Heh.

Latest Guilty Pleasure

On the FX Network: Nip/Tuck, OMG, I am obsessed. I've even started catching up with last season by renting the DvDs from Netflix. It's a very, very naughty show. Heh.

Shoes

So, I went to Macy's on a little fact-finding excursion, searching for what Fall/Winter shoes I'm going to buy when I'm ready (having destroyed last Winter's boots after wearing them everyday for two years). And I saw lots and lots of options, an overwhelming number of options, so I'll have some serious decision-making to do when the time comes. Anyway, can someone please explain the concept of mules or sling-back shoes for Fall/Winter wear? They were all over the place, really cute, fall colors and materials, but backless shoes for a NYC Winter? Are you meant to wear them with stocking/socks or just bare? I don't get it.

Remiss

So, I've been extremely remiss and have neglected my blog. I just really haven't felt all that much like writing, to be perfectly honest. Nothing much has been going on with me and, well, I've actually been kinda depressed and somewhat anxiety-ridden. Nothing new has occurred to bring all these feelings about, I think they're all pretty much always there, depression, anxiety, insecurity, (let's face it, self-loathing) but usually remain mostly in the background. Every once in a while it all rears it's ugly head and I respond by retreating for a while until I can gain control again. It's kind of like having the flu, you just want to wallow in misery for a bit and not deal with the World until the worst is over. I think having all that time off with no plans at all last week helped kick-start everything. Too much time on my hands to think, think, think and berate myself for everything I've ever done wrong in my life and for everything which isn't working. It gets pretty ugly, believe me. Anyway, I feel a lot better now. I just think this is a cycle I have to work through every once in a while, get it out of my system and then move on. Sometimes I think I'm a bit too introspective for my own good. Anyway, onward and upward to better things. I apologize if anyone has been watching this space for anything new. Hopefully there will be stupid things I encounter in the World to blog about soon. Thinking of wandering over to Macy's on my lunch hour in fact. I'm bound to run into plenty of stupid or annoying stuff over there.

Seen this morning on the sidewalk by my apartment building: man jogging along in pajama bottoms, undershirt tank-top, and black, hard-sole men's dress shoes. There was a woman getting into her car nearby while he jogged by and I was standing there with Lola and we both just stopped what we were doing to gape at him. Once he finally passed (he was jogging very slowly) I turned to the woman and said, "you sure do see all kinds in this neighborhood." She just shook her head and laughed.

ARGH!

I have been so fucking swamped at work that I haven't had time to breathe. So. Stressed. Out. And if I have to look at this web report thing I'm working on one more time today, I swear I'm going to scream, I really will. Thank DOG the RNC is descending on this very building in a matter of hours. It has basically forced me to schedule a week's worth of vacation time. I think I really need it right now.

Kewl beans!

I am in such a hormonally bad mood today. Weepy and depressed and I just know it's all PMS. But that doesn't really make me feel any better about it. Bleah. Made myself run on the treadmill tonight (by the time I did a much-needed laundry, it was too late to go up to the park) because I knew that it would make me feel better, and it did. At least for a little while. I really HATE feeling like this! It's so frustrating! And it also seems to get worse with age. (Any men out there just loved reading about this, I'm sure)

Drama on a Sunday Morning

So, yesterday morning I was standing on the sidewalk outside of my apartment building back gate with my neighbor, Jerry, and our two dogs (Lola and Jake). This guy in a van pulls up across the street and starts blowing his horn (so obnoxious! But particularly so at 8:30 AM on a Sunday morning). This was the conversation that ensued:

Jerry: "Hey, why do you gotta blow your horn like that?!"
Me : "Yeah, you know, this is a neighborhood, these are all people's homes."
Jerry: "Are you too lazy to park your car and get out and ring the bell?"
Me : "It's illegal you know."
Scary Russian Lady at the Window: "Oh, you SHUT UP! It none of your business! I LIVE here!"
Me : "So do we. Does that give you the right to disturb dozens of your neighbors?"
SRL : "SHUT UP! You no clean up after your dog!" *
*Nothing pisses me off more than some telling me that I don't pick up after my dog.
Me : "Of course I do, why do you think I carry these baggies around?" (I hold up wad of baggies) "I suggest you keep your mouth shut when you don't know what you're talking about lady."
SRL : Screeching something unintelligible out the window.
Me : "Oh, just take yourself and your housecoat back into your apartment."
Man in the Van: "I'm so sorry, it won't happen again."

heh.

People Are Stupid, Part 22

One of the reponsibilities of my job here is to support and maintain the company Sales, Ordering and Commission databases. This involves debugging problems, programming enhancements and "fixing" data, among other things such as reporting, etc. Anyway, very often I'm dealing with administrators and clerks, number-crunchers and so on who are entering the data. Anyway, I received a call from one of the commissions clerks about a bunch of data that ended up in our commissions database in error. Basically, this stuff gets loaded manually by the clerks, they create a file, they use an application to check the file to make sure everything is correct, to change anything that needs to be changed, delete anything they don't want to send over and then they finally move the file over to the database. So how did all of this "bad" data end up in there? I asked her if she checked the file, was all this stuff in her file before load? Well, yes it was, she saw it there. But she chose to move it over anyway, knowing that 90% of it was wrong. So, not only do I not have the scenario captured to try and debug the problem and figure out what went wrong, but I had to spend the better part of my morning picking through the database cleaning up this mess. Grrrrrrrr! Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Running

Yes, I've actually been running and taking spinning classes, I've just been a little remiss about blogging about it all. I didn't really realize that people were actually reading my workout log, so I didn't think this stuff would be missed. Well, the weather has been pretty crummy around here for weeks and so most of my runs have been conducted on a treadmill, which is really not all that interesting to write about. It's not even all that interesting to actually go and do, to be honest. Anyway, the weather had cleared briefly this evening. Had been pouring rain this morning and most of the day, but had stopped by the time I got home tonight, so I grabbed the pug and made for the park. Lola really hasn't had much exercise and I wasn't feeling all that ambitious for the hills tonight, since I've been running mostly on flat surfaces for about two weeks now, so I figured we'd take it easy. It was a lot cooler too tonight, although still very humid.

Anyway, we did the usual. Ran in on the Park Drive and and then around on the outer Bridle Path Loop. It went pretty well, I didn't push it too hard, so we both really enjoyed the run. My right shin that has been plaguing me seemed to hold up really well, so I was happy about that. During the course of the run, we ran into a few different people with dogs, so Lola had some social time, since I was in no kind of a hurry. When we finished the loop I saw a guy with a measuring wheel coming out of the loop from the other side, so I asked him how long it is. He told me that the loop is basically 2 miles, but that with all the undulations (the path does a good amount of meandering) that it should actually count for about 3. I then asked him about the Park Drive up to the entrance to the Bridle Path and he said that this is about a 3rd of a mile, which is actually about what I figured. So running the loop plus the Park Drive to and from takes me almost to 3 miles. I supposed I could tack on a little extra mileage by running a little bit of an out and back farther along the Park Drive before and/or after the loop entrance, but I'm not actually going to worry about it now. Anyway, this guy apparently coaches a local girls' highschool track team and seemed to know what he was talking about. Friendly guy, I've seen him there before with his girls. Anyway, good to have a definitive idea of the distance I've been doing.

So, the run went generally well. Would have been better without Lola, of course, but then again, I enjoyed her company and she got some much needed exercise and social time too. Oh, and once I got home, I was milling around the kitchen putting dinner together, when I swear I heard rain. Looked outside and, sure enough, it was pouring rain again. Glad I was able to squeeze a short run in during the small window in between storms.

Social Pariah

Apparently I've become somewhat of a social pariah. I found out that there was a party/gathering on Saturday night of some friends that I wasn't invited to. Gee, thanks a lot.

You know that you've been watching too much TV...

...when you imagine the What Not to Wear cameras following and filming you every time you leave your office or home. At least I know I haven't been interviewed for a "market research on fashion" on the street. Yet. Of course, if they ever did try something like this, I would most likely blow them off right there, no self-respecting NYCer stops and talks to a camera on the street.

Rant of the Day: People who insist on hogging the printer by printing out reams of report and then do not check the printer to see if there is still paper! Why must I run around the floor looking for paper so that your damn 1000s of pages can continue to print??? I'm only trying to print out a 1-page email! GAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

I hate people.

Why I Hate Summer So Much

It's hot again today. We had a break from the soul-sucking heat & humidity for a couple of days but now it's back. Not quite as horrible yet as it was a mere few days ago, but it's gathering strength. I'm the idiot who has to stand on the train platform drinking hot coffee in the morning. But I finished my cup long in advance of the train arrival. Get on the train and seat myself across from a very cool-looking, put-together woman wearing big sunglasses. I sit there and can feel my face perspiring. A lot. The more I think about it, the more I perspire. I surreptitiously try to blot my face with a napkin, but my discomfort grows (yes, the train was air-conditioned). I squirm in my seat imagining the woman across from me watching me with disgust. I mentally curse Summer over and over in my head and pray for the quick journey into Penn Station while my sunglasses fog up, my face become more moist, trickles of sweat creep down between my shoulder blades. I really hate summer in NYC.

Open Season on Women in DC and Rome. Reinforcing my eagerness to personally shun the Catholic church at the earliest age possible (18).

Gross

Woman standing on the train platform this morning, smoking a cigarette while chomping away on some gum. They grow them classy in Queens.

Annoyed

I wanted to run on the treadmill tonight, but each time I've gone down there, someone has been in there hogging the damn gym -- ARGH! Bastards. Maybe I'll just got to bed, dammit.

Breaking News

I won $1 in the lottery last night -- woo!