Out and about

David dug the car out yesterday and put the chains on, so we were able to return our videos. He had to go into work today so this morning he dropped me off at my doc appt. Now I am at a coffeeshop waiting for my eye doc appt.
Gotta get this years vision benefits! I've got to get home after this and work on my dissertation. Only about half the buses are running with all this snow on the ground. Hope our plane can get out tomorrow!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

snow photos

Here are a few photos taken during our recent snows.

David, Sam and I went for a walk after the first snow. The sidewalks and roads were pretty clear so we didn't have any problems. This is not the case after the second snow, though.


This is after the second snow. I know this looks pretty wimpy to some of you who are used to much more, but the fact that the snow didn't melt on the concrete and blacktop surfaces really made Seattle grind to a halt.

Another one... Sam loves to roll in the snow!


Pretty white rooftops after the snow.

snow day

Yesterday the weather people promised that we would get a big snowfall. All the seattle public schools closed in anticipation of this snow. And, as of 10:30 last night there was no snow in the city of Seattle. So, all those kids got the day off and no snow.

I guess we are making up for it today. Everything is coated in snow outside and it just keeps coming down. It has been snowing all morning. I'm working from home, as is David. I don't think many people have ventured out. The newscasters are telling people to just stay home. It is so funny how this city shuts down with a couple of inches of snow. I guess we do have some big hills and we also don't normally get snow so we aren't really prepared in terms of snowplows etc. I'm enjoying the snow. It is so pretty.

It isn't a wet snow either---it is very light and fluffy. While that means snowballs aren't exactly easy to make, it would definitely make for some great skiing in the mountains. I think that one of the local ski places is supposed to open tomorrow.

I'm loving the snow!

confession

I have a confession to make.

I recently got a new phone. It is a smart phone. Not just that, it is a Blackberry.

I know, I know! In some ways I can't believe I decided on a blackberry, but I really liked the capabilities, and the way it works, so I went for it. Plus it is pink :-)

David and I decided that we really wanted to be able to look things up on the go, and that since we are almost always together, it would make sense for just one of us to get the phone with internet service. And it will be very helpful for me when I am traveling for work, so we decided to pay for the extra data plan so that my phone has internet.

So, if anyone else is on a Blackberry, apparently we can text message for free through Blackberry Messenger--we just have to set each other up with a profile or something. Let me know if you have a Crackberry too!

moving time!

Mom and Grandma are moving to Peter's this weekend. I know they have already moved some stuff and will continue to move other things too. Moving is hard. I think it gets harder as you get older. Not just because you accumulate more stuff, although almost no one is immune to that problem, but also because you can't do as much of it yourself. ....hey, wait. maybe it gets easier as you get older BECAUSE you can't do as much of it yourself. Hmmmm...hiring movers sure makes things easier. But you still have to pack...and then you are back to the problem of having too much stuff.

thanksgiving pics

Here is David and Matt. We were trying to take pictures with the night setting on the camera, but you have to hold the camera really still/not move it at all to get a good picture. This is the best one we got of David and Matt with the city in the background. For those of you who might remember, this place is where David and I took our wedding photos.

In front of the market. It was pretty busy down there the day after thanksgiving.

This is what Thanksgiving dinner looked like at the Litzler house this year.

And finally, this is the little patch in our backyard that we were working on in late fall. I don't think I ever posted any pictures of it. I think we are going to move some plants around..it isn't quite how we want it yet.

thanksgiving

We had a great thanksgiving here. David's brother came up to visit and we played downtown, went over to Bainbridge Island, and had a lot of great meals. Truthfully, it was REALLY nice not to have to travel for this holiday. Sometimes it just gets to be too much traveling every single holiday.

I'm not really looking forward to work this week...It is just going to be hard after having so many days off in a row to get back into the swing of things. But I've got lots to do so I better starting swinging fast!

ohio

Being back in Ohio is weird. Not as weird as it would be if I were in Cincinnati, but still. I sort of feel like I could run into someone I know out of the blue. Even though I'm totally old, and wouldn't know any of the students here (most likely), it is possible that some of the women I'm interviewing came from cincy and maybe even went to McAuley. Not that it would be a super tight connection, but I do feel some sort of possible connection.

I haven't had skyline chili yet. I did get a hamburger at Frisch's---it was very disappointing. I remembered the burgers and being quite yummy but this was just a regular fast food burger but with tarter sauce stuff. No need to go back there again.

garden

Here are a few photos of the pumpkins from the garden and our maple tree which is brilliantly red right now.
We had 13 pumpkins grow. Two are still on the vine--these 11 were on vines that were getting kind of mushy so we took them off and will hopefully use the pumpkins for baking and cooking.

Here are a few I could carry in our glass recycling bin.

Here are the two still on the vine. The one up top is actually suspended in the fencing. It is probably 3-4 inches off the ground.

Here is a view of the pumpkin that is suspended in the fencing. One side grew a lot more than the other side.

A view of our beautiful maple (and Sam).
The maple from a different angle.

life safety?

I'm at UC Irvine for a meeting. Yesterday we were on campus for the meeting. One of the times I went into the bathroom I noticed something which I thought was funny.

You know those paper toilet seat covers some restrooms have? Sometimes they are called sani-seat or something along those lines.

Well, this brand name was "Life Safety". Don't you think that is a little over-dramatic for a toilet seat cover? I mean really- is the toilet seat cover going to save my life?

It made me laugh and I had to share.

stomach 'flu'

I am not sure what I caught, but I was sick all last night with what the doctor called gastroenteritis, which is commonly known as the stomach flu. I haven't been sick like that for a long long time. I'm feeling better today, which is good b/c I am in the airport waiting for a plane to take me to Southern California. My stomach still hurts, but I've eaten some rice and toast and so far I haven't had another episode. Even though I want to watch election coverage tonight I may have to sacrifice and go to bed early so that I can get better quicker.

and

I Voted! (absentee, so technically I voted 2 weeks ago)

wisconsin

Last week end I was in Wisconsin for work and fun. I worked in Milwaukee and I had fun in Madison. Below are a few photos I took from my trip.

Here is the Milwaukee art museum with the 'wings' up. I was lucky to see them up. I went the night before to see the outside and saw it as below.

MAM the evening before my focus groups.

Here I am in Madison. We were waiting for the bus on State street by the UW. We were munching on some spicy cheesy bread we got from the farmer's market. It was yummy!

The capitol building in Madison. The farmer's market goes all the way around the capitol. It is big!

Melissa and Emily in this photo....this was great fun. I'm so glad I got to see Madison and hang out with the newlyweds.

tough time right now

Lots of my family are having a tough time right now. Tomorrow is the day Grandpa died just one year ago, and my Dad and Suzanne just lost Suzanne's mother in a fight with cancer. And my Aunt and Uncle and cousin just lost their dog, Belle.

Even without these sad things, Halloween has been sort of a bummer this year, and these things make it even more of a bummer.

I wish everyone well and I hope that you all grieve however it is you need to grieve. I'll be grieving too.

Tonight I'll make a toast:
Here's to the wonderful lives that these loved ones played in my life, and the life of my family and friends. May we always remember those smiling fun moments with our loved ones.

fire

My university has an alert system where they send you email or text message (or both) if there is an emergency type situation on campus. This got started after we had a fatal shooting here last year of a staff member.

So today I'm walking to a meeting and my phone buzzes, so I picked it up to check it and I had received a text message. It said that a man had lit himself on fire in the main square area of campus. It said that the area was secure and emergency personnel had taken the man to the hospital. I checked on our campus webpage a few hours later and it turns out that he died from the severe burns over much of his body.

This sort of thing just really makes me wonder what was going on in this guy's life. He wasn't a student here, but apparently he was a former employee. I hope that his family can get through this hard time. I can only imagine what they must be feeling.

I also hope that all the students and staff who witnessed this do what they need to do to cope with it. The university has offered many counseling services to those who need it.

travel

I'm in the Columbus airport headed to Milwaukee to go to Madison. I realized that while I'm traveling a lot right now, and I don't check bags, I'm still not ready to start getting to the airport with a few minutes to spare. I'd much rather be there a bit early and not get my blood pressure up. I just had a close scare here in Columbus and was worried that wouldn't let me check in (it was about 50 minutes before flight time. Luckily- I was fine and I have even had time to write this blog and talk to emily real quick.

On my flight from Seattle to Columbus I changed planes at O'Hare. The guy sitting next to me from Seattle to chicago got very agitated and cranky to everyone around him when we were late and he was likely going to miss his plane. In particular, he was cranky to the people around us when he tried to squeeze up the aisle to get off the plane faster. I was sitting there, also probably missing my plane, but I thought- there is no reason to be such an a**hole to the people around you. There is nothing they can do. So, when I got off the plane figuring that I had missed my connection, and I saw that my connection was a bit delayed, I smiled and then ran to the other side of O'hare to make the flight. Guess what. Mr. Cranky was on my second flight too. Luckily he wasn't sitting by me because I don't think I could have stood it. Oh- he is also a heavy breather. I don't like heavy breathers. (I know that makes me judgemental).

Anyway- lessons learned--they will serve me well in the next few weeks.

piece of history

David and I have decided that we want a piece of history. To that end, we bought a few Obama posters that we plan to hang on our walls. They all have very good messages and are things that we really believe in. These are the ones we have ordered. We have only received the "progress" poster so far.

connecticut

Yea for the Connecticut Supreme Court! On Friday, it ruled that gay couples have the right to get married.

Three states down, 47 to go!

In the article linked above, it had more good news: the governor thinks it is unlikely this will get overturned:

"The Supreme Court has spoken," said Gov. Jodi Rell, a Republican who opposes same-sex marriage. "I do not believe their voice reflects the majority of the people of Connecticut. However, I am also firmly convinced that attempts to reverse this decision -- either legislatively or by amending the state Constitution -- will not meet with success."

travel-shmavel

I've got A LOT of travel coming up. All work related, although I'll get to see Em and Mel on one trip and I'll get to see Mikie, Dave, Carter and Ella on another trip.

In fact during the month of November, I will only be "in the office" 6 days. All the other days I will be traveling. However, I have planned it so that I only have to be gone 1 weekend day- so David and I can still get our time together in.

excitement

I have to say, I am more excited for the Vice Presidential debate tonight than I was for the Presidential debate last week. I am just really interested in how it is going to turn out--both candidates have obstacles they have to overcome to have a good debate, so we'll see who clears more of those obstacles.

12 year old boys

Yesterday as I was sorting my recycling by our back fence, 2 young 12-13 year old boys walked through the alley. This is what I heard...

1: Who do you think is going to win the election?

2: Obama for sure

1: Why do you think so?

2: Nobody likes Palin.


Shows you the general tone of the environment in which this boy lives--He doesn't know anyone who likes Palin. Very interesting.--comment on both my neighborhood and also on the political knowledge of 12 year old boys. Of all the things they could have been talking about, they were talking about the upcoming election on their way to the basketball court to play ball. Nice to see.

canoeing photos

debate

I haven't looked at the news all day today, but I am assuming the presidential debate is still on...I really am looking forward to it. I think the debates this year are going to get record attendence numbers on TV, and I am thinking we might set some records for voting too.

The political process is so exciting.

canoe

A boy and a girl in a little canoe, with the sun shinin' all around....

David and I took out his canoe yesterday. The weather was pretty good, although it did start spitting for awhile- but we could hardly feel it. Canoeing is hard work- I was a lot warmer than I thought I would be. I actually had to take off a layer. The canoe is a tank. I don't know if I already said this, but seriously- we could have taken out some of the wimpier aluminum canoes ;-).

It was fun, and I'm sure we will do it again soon. We do plan to try and bring sam with us at some point, but we need to get him a doggie PFD first. I am a little worried about him jumping over the side to chase after birds/ducks, but I guess we will just have to try it close to shore on the first time in case he does jump so we can swim him back to shore. There is no way we could pull him up into the canoe with out swamping it, at least I don't think so. Maybe David knows better with his years of canoeing experience.

h & m

Seriously, I never thought I would be this excited about the opening of a clothing store! Seattle has opened 3 H&M stores in the area in the last 2 months. The downtown store opened today and people started lining up at midnight to be first in line (and to get a chance to get a gift card worth $500 or $50 or $10).

An H & M opened last friday in University Village which is just hop skip and a jump away from my office. And it has been open for a week now. And I hadn't been yet! So, today, I convinced a co-worker to go with me to lunch at U village and browse around H & M. It was sort of overwhelming and I didn't buy anything. There were lines at the dressing rooms and since it was my lunch hour I didn't have time to try on anything. I am a little worried that all their pants are going to fit women who look like boys (no hips). They have some really cute stuff and super good prices- so I know I'll be buying something soon. I need to go in the AM when there isn't a line for the dressing room and I can try on lots of different types of pants.

**sidenote- a pant rant: Aren't most women pear shaped? I am pear shaped. I don't know the percentages, but I thought there were more pear shaped women than apple shaped women. Why don't companies make pants for women with curves?????? This is a continual frustration for me, and I refuse to buy pants and have them tailored to take the waist in so they will fit.**

facebook

Oh my gosh. It has been almost a week and half since I posted here. I think I have forgotten about it since I've been looking at facebook recently. And one of my friends said my blog was an inspiration- ha! ya right?!

I've got lots of travel coming up this year. So far, I know that I have 9 trips that will need to be done before the end of the school year. I'm also going to get to do some consulting this fall and be paid a consulting fee for my time. Should be exciting.

and part of that consulting means I'll get to go see em and mel in Madison b/c I have to be in Milwaukee. YEA! can't wait to get the dates nailed down.

5 short years

Tomorrow will be 5 short years that David and I have been married. I know-it totally snuck up on me too! It really doesn't feel like five years, but we certainly have done a lot during that time. We've owned two homes, adopted a dog, lost her to cancer and then adopted another dog (let's just forget about the 2 little dog mistake). We have remodeled 2 bathrooms, 1 kitchen, replaced hardwood floors, replaced plumbing once, shoveled a lot of dirt, planted lots of trees, and generally worked pretty hard. So in honor, we are going to do some fun relaxing this weekend. When the weekend is over I'll definitely write about what we did.

Happy Anniversary Sweetie- I love you [.........................this............... much.....................].
(me holding my arms out as big as I can get them).

last of the season

This weekend, I went on a little bit of a grocery spree because I feel like the summer fruits are going to be gone soon and if I don't get them now, I might not get them at all this year. So...I went to the store and I bought:

1 heirloom tomato (this was good)
1 white peach (this was so-so)
a pint of fresh figs (these were really good)
and I got a huge container of basil for like 4.99 --so we've had pesto twice this week. The basil I planted didn't grow :-(

zucchini king

'nuff said.

pilates

Lately, I've been taking some semi-private pilates lessons with someone from my work. Usually it is just me and her, but sometimes another person we don't know joins the semi-private group.

I just went yesterday, and the instructor would say something like, "and now the tree"- and just look at me like I was supposed to know exactly what the tree is. This was my 8th session and I certainly don't have all the movements down with their names yet. But this is obviously something she expects me to know. So, I guess I'm going to have to start studying the positions and names. I didn't realize that I'd have to get this into it.

I have to do 7 more semi-private or private sessions before I can start taking the drop-in classes which are half the price of the semi-private sessions. And I guess in the classes they will expect me to know which names go with what position, so I better get studying.

I would be happy to know the names etc, but still...Like I have nothing else to do!

new windshield

Awhile back we got a chip in our windshield which then turned into a crack, and then turned into a few cracks. Needless to say, it is time to get it replaced. You'd be surprised at the cost difference for a windshield replacement depending on who you ask. About a $100 difference between the highest and lowest estimates. That is a big difference. Makes you wonder about why the cheap guy is so cheap....

more tri pix

My friend D's husband took some photos at the triathlon- here are a few more...

danskin 2008

I did it again this year- the Danskin sprint triathlon in Seattle! 800 meter swim, 12 mile bike and 3.2 mile run
I'll walk you through it below...

I got a new shirt this year- so it was easy for David to find me. This is the obligatory muscle photo. David had me do it again at the end of the race- you'll be able to tell the difference in terms of the energy I had when you see the photo at the bottom below.

Anxiously awaiting my turn. My co-worker D also did the triathlon.

Here I am waiting for my wave to get the go-ahead. The water was surprisingly nice. I mean, don't get me wrong, I was cold when I got in, but once I got moving it didn't seem cold at all. Good thing, because I still haven't bought a wetsuit.

I was cracking up at David here- he just kept on moving 200 feet forward and snapping a new photo of me.

Done with the swim and on my way to T1 (transition 1)...I think I had stopped running here and was just taking it easy. The swim this year was longer than last year (it was 500 m last year) and this year it was 800 meters-- I predominately swam freestyle, but occasionally when I was knocked by someone's foot or couldn't get around them, I reverted to breast-stroke. But it seemed like it sapped so much more of my energy to do breast-stroke so I tried to do freestyle as much as I could. I definitely felt more comfortable on the swim this year!

Running with my bike to the bike start.

I'm coming back from the bike here-almost finished with this leg!

I think I saved a lot of time on the bike. I was passing people most of the time, although people certainly passed me. I'm not cool enough yet to have aero-bars on my bike, so instead I used the lower part of my handles to get a little more aero.

I am beginning the run here. Decided to get a drink right off the bat. I had water at every aid station. I probably walked half and ran half of the distance. Toward the end I was running more because I thought I might be able to beat my time from last year (that certainly is a motivator!). ps- I did beat my time!

Check out the 2 second video above that David shot of me as I was rounding the last curve and had about 100 yards left to go. I'd say I look pretty good for being on the homestretch.

I'm finished! I did it!

This is hardly a muscle shot. I don't think I could have actually flexed even if I wanted to...I was pretty darn tired--but you can tell I'm happy!

Total time: 1:49:32

Last year's total time: 1:56:36

busy weekend

This weekend is the Danskin sprint triathlon in which I will be 'competing'. I say 'competing' because even more so than last year, I will really only be doing the race to finish it. It is supposed to be hot here today and tomorrow (95 degrees or so), and then supposed to cool down by sunday for the race (80 degrees). I'm hoping these two days of heat help warm up the lake water b/c I didn't get or rent a wetsuit for this.

white bread

As written on MSN's health and fitness page:

One 15 ounce bag of pretzels contains the carb calorie equivalent of 24 slices of white bread.

that is just about enough to make me never want to eat pretzels again... I need to know how big 15 ounces is...Is that the big bag?

passed

I'm giving it away with my title, but today I passed my general exam. In my department the general exam is basically a defense of your dissertation proposal. I defended this morning starting at 9:30 am and found out at 11 am that I had passed. They made me step out of the room for their deliberations. They gave me lots of great feedback and I'm looking forward to working on the next steps.

It was very constructive, and I almost wished it could have been longer, given how nice it was to talk about the issues surrounding my project.

So- I am officially a doctoral candidate!

Hooray for me!

iron(wo)man

Finally! photos of Jodi the ultimate triathlete! See below for my narration.



This was the evening before the Ironman. They all had to ship their bikes to the site, so they had to put them back together and they had just gone for a little ride to make sure the bike fit right etc. This is Jodi fixing her bike/adjusting a setting.


Dad and Jodi the night before. They was after Jodi was adjusting her bike. Suzanne, Dad and I made a big pasta dinner for the triathletes this night and some of us had some wine from St. Francis winery.



Here is Jodi coming out of the water. She was the third person from her wave to come out of the water after the 2.4 mile swim. She rocked!

Here she is starting to take off her wetsuit (while she is running!)

Here is Jodi dropping off her swim bag to me. The swim transition was in a different place than the bike transition, so she gave us her swim stuff.


We saw her on her first loop of the bike course. She was going so fast I only got a shot of her from behind. But she looks pretty kick ass from behind, all down on her aerobars!

Here is jodi finishing the bike ride. She looked pretty good coming off the bike and her main complaint was that she needed to cool down before she started the marathon. So, she found some ice and put it in her shirt.


Here she is crossing the timing chip point.


This is Jodi finishing her first lap of the 3 laps she had to do for the marathon. She is handing over her totally soaked socks because they were giving her a big blister on the bottom of her feet. Instead she got a blister/rubber her heel raw from her shoes.


Here she is on the second lap--she looks great!


And this was right after she finished. It was awesome. She was in such better shape than most people who were coming through.

And here she is in the Med 'tent' getting her heels bandaged up. Look at how great she looks. She is practically glowing. The chicken soup helped restore some salt--but she couldn't finish it so she gave it to me- it was yummy!

I'm so proud of her--She accomplished something that very few people have accomplished. Hail to Jodi the Ironman!