Me And My Gang

The 10K is on Saturday and I thought I'd post proof of the fact that I actually followed through on my goal. I somehow managed to survive the group training and even graduate to the intermediate group! Not to mention I've made it out of bed by 7AM every Saturday for the past 10 weeks. I wonder if my life will return to normal after all of this is over... or was this my cocoon transformation?

My 1st year book is done!

Who knew snow days existed after high school?

After abusively pushing the refresh button the the VCU Inclement Weather Alert page this morning, I realized that I haven't had a snow day since senior year of high school. That makes it FOUR years since I've experienced the anticipation, joy, and excitement that comes with a school cancellation due to the weather. At UVA, they like to tell you that Thomas Jefferson himself didn't believe in snow days. So UVA students are essentially as dependable as the mailman. We made it to class despite rain, sleet, or snow. In fact, I had the pleasure of venturing to a final exam in an ice storm and taking the entire test in the dark. But apparently, as a grad student, snow days are making a comeback- VCU you've restored my youthful spirit to its former glory.

Kinko's, I'm sorry I doubted you.

Today I learned why FedEx Kinko's is worth the price you pay. Unfortunately, I came upon this discovery too late to aid my cause. With internship book deadlines looming on Monday, this weekend was the final stage of the process: printing. After all the work that went into creating my book, this step seemed like the easy part. In fact so easy that it really only consisted of two steps:

1. Save book as PDF on thumb drive
2. Take thumb drive to Kinko's to print and bind

Leave it to me to mess up a simple two step process. I made it all the way to Kinko's to have them tell me that it would cost me $56 to print 2 copies. Well, I didn't stick around long enough to hear the final total once you added in the binding. I was out the door with the idea that I was young and resourceful. My determination sent adrenaline through my body as I went on a search for paper and print cartridges.

Of course when I got back to home base to examine the goods, I realized I purchased the wrong paper. Proceeding on despite this setback, I ventured into the joyous process of double sided printing manually. What I learned is that my printer is a feisty little beast. Each page was unpredictable. Would there be ink splatters? Would it get stuck? Was it upside down?

Friday night turned into "Printer and a Movie" as I sat patiently by my printer's side, anxiously awaiting its output... with The Wedding Planner playing softly in the background to balance out the negative energy in the room. When all was said and done around 2AM, I decided that $56 was a bargain.

"Who are you supposed to be, Drew Barrymore's sister?"

Yesterday afternoon I came to the conclusion that I must have some sort of weirdly generic face. Over the past few years, I have been told at least 10 times that "I look like someone familiar." Sometimes my looks garner celebrity status, sometimes its the more vague feeling of "I swear I know you from somewhere." I figure I should start keeping a list of my celebrity look-a-likes because the great thing is no one ever tells me I look like the same person twice. So far I've gotten: Keri Russell, Debra Messing, Alexis Bledel, and a few others that I didn't even recognize the names of... obviously they were B-list.

Anyway, my favorite encounter took place yesterday... at the meat counter at Kroger. As I'm ordering my wood smoked turkey, the guy behind the counter says to me, "So who are you supposed to be, Drew Barrymore's sister?"

I miss you TJ.

At the Y-M-C-A!

As I begin my second semester of graduate school, I came to the realization that I have no hobbies... unless you count watching endless seasons TV shows on DVD. Anyway, since the Turkey Trot 5K was so successful *cough cough*, I decided to go with the lifetime sport of running. I've always been horrible at running, but I found the perfect solution to this problem: sign up for a training course with lots of other people who are horrible at running.

Yes, the YMCA actually has a 10K training course and after attending the orientation session, I think I'm in for 10 weeks of pure entertainment. Everyone else at the meeting seemed to be 40+ and mostly there to lose weight. In fact, no one besides myself seemed even the slightest bit concerned about the running aspect of the course. One lady even found it necessary to share with us her weight and was inquiring in front of the whole group what she should be eating and how many calories she could expect to burn.
Our instructor/"coach" then told her a story about how he ran 3 marathons within 2 weeks and actually ended up gaining 7 pounds. She didn't like that.

Anyway, our first group run is Saturday at 8:30AM. Can't wait to see what I'm up against...