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[25 Nov 2002|04:22pm] |
So, I had decided to quit this LiveJournal a while ago, but somehow I never got around to making a formal announcement. Then I saw Mo this weekend, and she said that she'd bookmarked my LJ and that it was bumming her out to always see that depressing last entry at the top, so I thought I'd write something happy to finally kill this sucka off.
I haven't written in my regular journal for a while, either, so there's plenty to catch up on. My leg ended up to be too messed up to run the New York marathon, so I just went to New York anyway and had a little vacation instead. It ended up being totally hectic trying to schedule all my social and cultural committments in the 6 days I was there, so I can't imagine what it would have been like if I'd actually run the race. I probably would have ended up not really seeing anyone or doing anything.
Anyway, I think what I had was a stress fracture, but I never wound up getting it properly diagnosed, because the doctors I saw at student health were totally clueless about sports injuries, and I just decided it wasn't worthwhile. So, I took six weeks completely off from running. I tried to stay in shape by "pool running"--wearing a flotation belt and "running" while suspended in water and it sort of worked, but it was really boring. I've also been surfing a few times, because all my friends seem to have become surfers. I still don't call myself a surfer, though, because I still have yet to actually catch a real wave and stand up on it, and I don't own a board or my own wetsuit. For now, I just like to go out there and goof around.
Because I was just home a few weeks ago, I'm staying here for Thanksgiving. I'll go home at Christmas for a few days, though. That's what I did last year, too, although I'm thinking that maybe next year I'll do it the other way around, since I love Thanksgiving, and I don't really love Christmas. Cooking is more fun than shopping, you know.
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[29 Aug 2002|09:38am] |
I hate this week. First my watch broke, and my new one still hasn't come. Then, on Tuesday, after my run, I realized that a bunch of blood had amassed under one of my previously intact toenails. For some reason, the toe doesn't hurt while I'm running, but while I'm just walking around, it's intensely painful, and I assume that at some point, the toenail will fall off. The adjacent toe is already missing half its nail.
My running has been terrible this week, too. Last night, I had to turn a 10-miler into an 8-miler because of horrible cramps in my legs and feet. I've never had cramps while running before, I don't know where this is coming from. This is supposed to be my first 60-mile week, and I don't know if I'll be able to make it.
Yesterday, I had a meeting with my boss, which meant that I had to face up to the fact that even though I've been busting my ass in lab, my most important project is going nowhere. In fact, it's actually going backwards, since I had to throw out a bunch of my cell cultures which got contaminated with yeast. I'm not happy with myself, my boss is not happy with me, and the pressure is now greater than ever--he told me that this project is the most important project in the whole lab. I'm hopeful that some of the problems I've been having will get fixed now, but this week still sucks.
I want my new watch! I want my foot not to hurt! I want to make some progress on this stupid project!
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[28 Aug 2002|10:05am] |
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The strap on my watch broke on Sunday, so I've been without a watch since then, and it's making me crazy. I actually drove all the way to Target on Sunday afternoon and braved the miserable back-to-school crowds to buy a replacement band for the watch, but then when I got home, I realized that the spring bars on the replacement were defective, and I didn't have time to drive back down there. So, I decided to bite the bullet and order the GPS pedometer watch I've been lusting after (at $100 less than its original price). But it hasn't come in yet, so I'm still watchless. Now everyone keeps expressing shock at how tan I am, since I have a strip of natural-colored skin where my watch used to be. Normally, my tan-ness not really noticeable, since my regular skin tone is so pale that a tan me looks like a pasty anyone else.
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[22 Aug 2002|08:01am] |
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In case you don't know, I've written a couple of entries over at my real journal in the past couple of weeks.
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| I should stop watching the news |
[19 Aug 2002|04:19pm] |
So, all day on the local news, they've been showing this video of Al Qaeda testing chemical weapons on dogs. And as they show it, the newscasters comment how shocking it is that anyone could do this to a defenseless animal.
Um, I think they're kind of missing the point. Al Qaeda isn't developing these weapons so they can kill your dog.
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[13 Aug 2002|11:23am] |
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The internet seems to be all messed up lately. Many of the sites I usually visit have been down in the past couple of days--The Usual Suspects had a huge server crash (taking the JournalCon message board with it), LiveJournal was down yesterday for the first time in a while, and even the New York Times site was messed up last night, or at least the crossword puzzle was (the best part of the paper). I've also been having trouble with my dialup connection (yes, I still have dialup) at home ever since the weekend. Is it sunspots or something?
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[12 Aug 2002|01:59pm] |
I did practically nothing this weekend, I was so exhausted from the week.
I have way too much going on right now. Work. JournalCon. Running. Searching fruitlessly for missing ex-boyfriend (it's a long story). Running is pretty much the only activity in my life right now that I don't worry about constantly.
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[05 Aug 2002|09:55am] |
I've been way too busy to update lately.
First, my parents came to visit, and my studio apartment had three people living in it. Then, last week was the deadline for JournalCon early registration, so I was busy collecting money and stuff. My running schedule is also getting to be more demanding, and I've also been putting in more hours at work. It's too bad, because the past few weeks have been pretty interesting, I just haven't had time to sit down and talk about it.
I was actually sort of hoping that I'd get my act together well enough to write an entry for my sadly abandoned real journal. Eventually, I'll do that, but not this week.
So it's Monday now, and I'm completely exhausted from the weekend. Friday night, I dreamt that Frank Sinatra and I went to go see the AIDS Memorial Quilt together. In the dream, Frank was nice enough, but I had to struggle to keep up a conversation with him, since we don't know each other very well. I did tell him that I have one of his CDs, and he seemed pleased by that.
Saturday morning I had to get up early and run 20 miles. My long runs always seem to be the most interesting--you may recall that during my last 20-miler, I ran past k.d. lang and her girlfriend twice. This time I didn't see any celebrities. I did, however, see a whole bunch of people training for the AIDS marathon. It seems to me that the bulk of runners I see in the park on the weekend are running for one cause or another, and they train in packs of ten or twenty. As a result, they've worked out a system for passing other runners on narrow sidewalks--as you approach them, the people in the front of the pack yell out "runner on your left!" and everyone scooches over to make room for you. It works, but when it happened to me this weekend, it occurred to me for the first time how socially bizarre the whole thing is. You run towards people, they see you and verbally acknowledge your presence to the others in their group, but they never actually look you in the eye or smile or nod or anything. Usually when people pass each other in the street, they do one of two things: they acknowledge each other with a greeting, or they pretend that they don't see each other. When you think about it, the fact that most people you pass in the street pretend not to see you is pretty weird, too, but we're all accustomed to it.
Later, towards the end of that same run, I saw a woman walking her dog wearing a very unusual outfit: she was wearing a purple long-sleeved shirt with a silver vest over it, and then tan cargo shorts over black tights. Her outfit was what made me first take notice of her, but then when I looped back and passed her again, her dog had gotten away from her and was humping another dog. The really funny thing was how ineffectual she was in attempting to dissuade her dog from doing this. She just stood there impotently yelling "Elvis, no! Elvis, off! No! Off! No! Elvis, no!"
Did she really think that would work?
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[29 Jul 2002|12:52pm] |
Hey, Ted--
If you're reading this, call me IMMEDIATELY. I'm worried about you, and your family is worried, too.
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[25 Jul 2002|04:17pm] |
The lab smells like hair dye for some reason, and it's giving me a headache. It's actually been smelling like that a lot around here lately. Last year, they spent $500,000 on a new HVAC system for the lab, and it doesn't work at all. The ventilation is terrible in here, and I breathe noxious chemicals all day long.
Lots of stuff going on. My parents are coming tomorrow, and we're going down to Asilomar for a wedding on Saturday. I have a couple new projects at work. I'm running a lot getting ready for the marathon. I ran 50 miles last week--the most I've ever run in one week. I want to try and run this marathon a lot faster than my last one. I'd be happy to finish in under four hours, but my ultimate fantasy goal is to run it in under 3:40, which is my qualifying time for the Boston Marathon. I don't know that I'd actually want to run Boston, but I'd like to be able to say that I could. It's a pretty ambitious goal for me, though--a 3:40 marathon is 8:24/mile pace, which is almost as fast as my half-marathon P.R. pace. So, that's why I also have the attainable goal of finishing in under four hours (9:10/mile pace).
I'm having a powerful craving for ice cream right now. I've been trying to watch what I eat, though. I'm hoping that if I can lose a few pounds by November, it'll make my marathon goal more attainable (excess weight slows you down).
Anyway, I've also been fretting about JournalCon stuff quite a bit, lately. But it's also kind of fun--sort of like hosting a big party. I also can't help but get a kick out of the fact that I'm officially a CEO. We registered JournalCon 2002 as a corporation with the state of California: I'm the CEO, Beth is the treasurer and Lucy is the secretary. I even have my name on the corporate credit card. Who would have thought it?
And yes, I know, this is not exactly the time to be bragging about being a CEO...
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[24 Jul 2002|10:22am] |
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This bear market and all the thousands of dollars I've been losing will all be worth it to me if it means that GWB loses the 2004 election as a result. I know it's not his fault, but he's gotten plenty of unwarranted credit. I don't mind seeing him get a little unwarranted blame.
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| Oh my God |
[23 Jul 2002|08:19am] |
My microwave just died. I put a frozen bagel in there to defrost for 15 seconds, and it just made a funny little noise and then nothing. It's totally unresponsive.
This is horrible. I just had to make tea in a kettle. I don't know how I'm going to heat up my leftovers for lunch today. I had to just let the bagel sit around for 15 minutes until it was soft enough to pull in half and toast. I don't know how long I can survive without my microwave.
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[22 Jul 2002|03:51pm] |
Jin-Sae and Karen and I went to Jay's party on Saturday night, and there are pictures here. Contrary to what the captions say, I wasn't actually drunk, I only had a couple of beers that night. Although if I had been, that might explain how the weekend went by so fast.
My parents are coming to town on Friday, and I have to clean my apartment and do laundry before then.
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[20 Jul 2002|06:56pm] |
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I ran 20 miles this morning, and ran right past k.d. lang, who was having a romantic stroll around Stow Lake with her girlfriend.
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[18 Jul 2002|02:02pm] |
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How is it that I don't have enough money for new running shoes, and yet all these people who I know who don't have jobs are always eating out in restaurants and going for drinks and buying themselves toys and stuff? I'm guessing that it has something to do with my refusal to carry a balance on my credit card...
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[15 Jul 2002|10:36am] |
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I didn't go into the lab at all this weekend, and the world didn't end. Today is going to be busy, though.
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[14 Jul 2002|08:20pm] |
So, this weekend I went to see "The Road to Perdition" with Andy. It wasn't a movie I would have seen on my own, but it got lots of good reviews, and I liked "American Beauty," so I was game to give it a try (plus, Andy made me dinner beforehand). So, we went, and I thought it was terrible. It was overwrought and melodramatic and predictable, and there were several glaring anachronisms and sweeping violin music underlying it all. Andy didn't share my cynicism, and was, in fact, somewhat horrified by it.
That, plus all the good reviews it's gotten made me think that maybe it's true--maybe I've turned into one of those jaded snobs who eschews mainstream movies altogether. Well, I still enjoy mainstream comedies and action movies, but the last multiplex drama I liked was...um, I guess "The Royal Tenenbaums," which wasn't really so long ago, but it's true that I rarely even bother seeing most of the movies that get those Best Picture nominations at Oscars time.
So, I was worried that I was a completely out-of-touch snob until I happened to mention at Boozecon on Saturday that I'd seen the movie, whereupon Jeremy (Beth's Jeremy) derisively asked me "that's the one with Tom Hanks and a kid, right?" And everyone else at the table rolled their eyes knowingly. I was simultaneously embarrassed and relieved. It's not just me--Tom Hanks and a kid really is a thing of horror.
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[04 Jul 2002|10:35am] |
It's a national holiday, so of course, I'm here in lab working as usual. Lately, I've found myself becoming increasingly bitter about having nothing exciting planned for the summer. The last time I flew anywhere was in February, when I went to a family funeral, and my next planned vacation will be when I go to New York in November to run the marathon. I sure know how to have fun, huh?
Anyway, I doubt I'll be doing anything to acknowledge Independence Day this year. The first couple of years I was out here, I went to watch the fireworks, but it seems like more trouble than it's worth. The celebration is just not good enough to justify the unescapable traffic nightmare getting home. Plus, they don't even have a live band. I was really shocked by this--even in my miniscule hometown, there's a community band which plays Sousa marches before and during the fireworks. In San Francisco, they somehow can't manage this and just play recordings of patriotic songs over the crappy loudspeakers. Also, July evenings in San Francisco are generally cloudy, cold and otherwise unpleasant, although today looks to be pretty sunny so far. Or at least it was when I got here. I don't know about now, since my lab doesn't have a window.
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[02 Jul 2002|04:01pm] |
Sorry it's been so long.
Last week was really busy, and I also just wasn't in the mood to write much. I try to avoid sounding overly whiny, and last week was frustrating in a lot of ways. Basically, I had the overwhelming feeling that I was just spinning my wheels in so many aspects of my life. There's a lot of stuff I feel like I should be able to control, but I can't. But I don't want to talk about it in detail, so you just get to hear the vague whininess.
In good news, though, I got accepted into the New York Marathon, so unless I'm injured, I'll be running it in November. I went to the track and field nationals in Palo Alto the weekend before last and saw my sister and her boyfriend, and got to see Marion Jones and Moe Greene run the 100M. I took half a day off last Thursday and went up to Mount Tam with Jin-Sae and his sister to celebrate his birthday. I also helped him move into his new place on Saturday. Unfortunately, he's not my neighbor anymore. Andy moved into a new place, too, and made me and another friend dinner on Sunday night. He lives on Nob Hill now and has an amazing view of downtown.
Yup, accentuate the positive...
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| Jen Wade fun fact |
[20 Jun 2002|04:49pm] |
This is the George N. Wade bridge on Interstate 81 near Harrisburg, PA. The bridge is named after my great-grandfather. But George N. Wade is also my dad's name, so when my sisters and I were little kids, my family would drive down to Pennsylvania to visit my relatives, and when we drove across the bridge, my dad would tell us that it was his bridge.
Yes, it's a slow day at work. Random google searches fill the time.
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