So yeah, I’ve sucked at blogging since… well pretty much since I started grad school. I’ve had a lot of thoughts in my head for but no time to actually write them down. In a futile attempt to catch up, here’s October in a nutshell.
The month started with – what else? – a school weekend. Which also included the wedding of one of my new school friends! Here are most of the women in the program with the beautiful bride:
At one point this month, I had a complete college flashback – more than just my usual snacking and procrastination. You could even call it a meltdown instead of just a flashback. I was working on an assignment where I had to create a data model in fourth normalization. If you don’t know what that means – hey, I’m right there with you! I could follow the examples in the book but I couldn’t make the leap to actually create and apply the concepts on my own. I felt incredibly anxious and frustrated, but– just like college – because I was working on the assignment so late (9:00 Thursday night, due at noon on Friday), I couldn’t even reach out for help. In college, I would have bagged the whole thing and gone to Scouter’s fraternity party. This time, while I admit to pouring a glass of wine, I sucked it up and did the best I could to have something to turn in. So I guess I have matured a little over the last (ahem) 20 years.
Did you guys ever watch the Waltons when you were growing up? Remember the two old ladies who were constantly having sips of their “medicine” and were completely in the bag the whole time? That’s what I’m turning into.
Anyway… my program requires a significant amount of team assignments. We had one team for modules 1 & 2, a new team for module 3, and we’ll be assigned to another new team for module 4 in January. I’ve been very lucky so far. My first team named ourselves “Team Rocks” and we did just that. There were three guys and me and we brought very different skills and perspectives to the table. My team this time is “Team Pink” (which reminds me of TriGirls!). The program director thought it would be cool to have an all female team, and that’s us. The women on my team are absolutely fantastic although I will say the difference between my guy and girl teams is that the women want to spend a lot more time together. This is a highly technical module and we’ve been hurt by not having a geek on the team, but we joke that we trade geek services for diva services. And the divas have team meetings at wine shops, so you’ve gotta love that.
So as you can probably tell, school has been absorbing a disproportionate amount of my time. I’m really looking forward to a break in December.
Sadly, exercise has fallen by the wayside, especially this month. I took two weeks off after my bike wreck (with the exception of one bike ride in the middle when the fabulous TG40 took me out for a spin to get me back in the saddle – I couldn’t keep up with her, as usual, but it was awesome!). My palms still really hurt from the impact but I’ve made some modifications to my weight routine so that I can do that again. I’ve been fairly consistent with weights twice a week but I can’t figure out how to consistently run or bike. And I can’t get myself to step up to weights three times a week.
Richard, TG40 and I rode last weekend and it was awesome! Otherwise, I’m just eating, drinking and getting fat. I caught a really ugly view of the back of my legs this week and recoiled in horror. Jennifer pointed out that running is the best thing for your thighs. Sigh.
I’m promising myself a light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps a late season Oly in 2009 and maybe, just maybe, stepping up to a half IM in 2010? That sounds like a long way away but I know it really isn’t.
Fun things of late include scheduling some recurring lunches with several sets of girlfriends so we can catch back up. I’ve been getting a rash of shit for constantly missing bunko, book club, girls’ weekends, etc etc. It’s nice to be missed. And I’ll be back!
My college roommate Jill and her family came to visit over the holiday weekend in early October and we all went to the mountains. There were some hilarious email exchanges between Jill and Scouter prior about city people not hiking. She offered to drive us to the trail and then meet us on the deck with cocktails afterwards. In actuality, the dads and the kids did some great hikes while she and I went to the spa and hung out on the deck. We also spent a lot of time looking at villas in Tuscany for our trip this spring. And as usual, we had a lot lot lot of cocktails, from coffee martinis to pomegranate margaritas to wine. Not surprisingly, we also had my famous (in my own mind) hangover cure protein shakes every morning.
Here are some pictures from the weekend. The trees looked more fall-like in person! 
We spend another weekend in the mountains with just our family and did an awesome hike. It was very challenging with breathtaking views. Here’s the trail we had just walked. Note the red paint on trees and rocks – those are the trail markings:
Here’s Scouter the mountain man:
My favorite party, the Comfort Zone Camp fall bash, was in October. I had a blast dancing with my girls to the Right On! band but sadly this is the only photo I managed to get. The party is at a horse farm and here's the barn:
And not to be political but here’s a photo from another highlight of the month:
Alright, so that’s October. What I remember of it anyway. No promises to be much better before I graduate in May, but I’ll do what I can….
Cheers!
.
The month started with – what else? – a school weekend. Which also included the wedding of one of my new school friends! Here are most of the women in the program with the beautiful bride:
About school. I’m in module 3 of 4 and this one is very difficult for me. The first two modules were short and fairly easy because I had more experience in those areas. This one requires me to do a lot of extra research. I like it though because I want to come out on the other end with this knowledge.
At one point this month, I had a complete college flashback – more than just my usual snacking and procrastination. You could even call it a meltdown instead of just a flashback. I was working on an assignment where I had to create a data model in fourth normalization. If you don’t know what that means – hey, I’m right there with you! I could follow the examples in the book but I couldn’t make the leap to actually create and apply the concepts on my own. I felt incredibly anxious and frustrated, but– just like college – because I was working on the assignment so late (9:00 Thursday night, due at noon on Friday), I couldn’t even reach out for help. In college, I would have bagged the whole thing and gone to Scouter’s fraternity party. This time, while I admit to pouring a glass of wine, I sucked it up and did the best I could to have something to turn in. So I guess I have matured a little over the last (ahem) 20 years.
Did you guys ever watch the Waltons when you were growing up? Remember the two old ladies who were constantly having sips of their “medicine” and were completely in the bag the whole time? That’s what I’m turning into.
Anyway… my program requires a significant amount of team assignments. We had one team for modules 1 & 2, a new team for module 3, and we’ll be assigned to another new team for module 4 in January. I’ve been very lucky so far. My first team named ourselves “Team Rocks” and we did just that. There were three guys and me and we brought very different skills and perspectives to the table. My team this time is “Team Pink” (which reminds me of TriGirls!). The program director thought it would be cool to have an all female team, and that’s us. The women on my team are absolutely fantastic although I will say the difference between my guy and girl teams is that the women want to spend a lot more time together. This is a highly technical module and we’ve been hurt by not having a geek on the team, but we joke that we trade geek services for diva services. And the divas have team meetings at wine shops, so you’ve gotta love that.
So as you can probably tell, school has been absorbing a disproportionate amount of my time. I’m really looking forward to a break in December.
Sadly, exercise has fallen by the wayside, especially this month. I took two weeks off after my bike wreck (with the exception of one bike ride in the middle when the fabulous TG40 took me out for a spin to get me back in the saddle – I couldn’t keep up with her, as usual, but it was awesome!). My palms still really hurt from the impact but I’ve made some modifications to my weight routine so that I can do that again. I’ve been fairly consistent with weights twice a week but I can’t figure out how to consistently run or bike. And I can’t get myself to step up to weights three times a week.
Richard, TG40 and I rode last weekend and it was awesome! Otherwise, I’m just eating, drinking and getting fat. I caught a really ugly view of the back of my legs this week and recoiled in horror. Jennifer pointed out that running is the best thing for your thighs. Sigh.
I’m promising myself a light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps a late season Oly in 2009 and maybe, just maybe, stepping up to a half IM in 2010? That sounds like a long way away but I know it really isn’t.
Fun things of late include scheduling some recurring lunches with several sets of girlfriends so we can catch back up. I’ve been getting a rash of shit for constantly missing bunko, book club, girls’ weekends, etc etc. It’s nice to be missed. And I’ll be back!
My college roommate Jill and her family came to visit over the holiday weekend in early October and we all went to the mountains. There were some hilarious email exchanges between Jill and Scouter prior about city people not hiking. She offered to drive us to the trail and then meet us on the deck with cocktails afterwards. In actuality, the dads and the kids did some great hikes while she and I went to the spa and hung out on the deck. We also spent a lot of time looking at villas in Tuscany for our trip this spring. And as usual, we had a lot lot lot of cocktails, from coffee martinis to pomegranate margaritas to wine. Not surprisingly, we also had my famous (in my own mind) hangover cure protein shakes every morning.
Here are some pictures from the weekend. The trees looked more fall-like in person!
We spend another weekend in the mountains with just our family and did an awesome hike. It was very challenging with breathtaking views. Here’s the trail we had just walked. Note the red paint on trees and rocks – those are the trail markings:
Here's our nature siting of the month.... I think I prefer the bear!
And here's a shot of the view:
Here’s Scouter the mountain man:
My favorite party, the Comfort Zone Camp fall bash, was in October. I had a blast dancing with my girls to the Right On! band but sadly this is the only photo I managed to get. The party is at a horse farm and here's the barn:
And not to be political but here’s a photo from another highlight of the month:
Alright, so that’s October. What I remember of it anyway. No promises to be much better before I graduate in May, but I’ll do what I can….
Cheers!
.
1 comment:
Looking forward to more entries when school ends! Keep 'em coming as you can. Always good to keep up with you in some way. JenniferS
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