Fog

Dense fog... We were driving really slow so I took a picture

Pic 2

I-5 northbound is shutdown in this picture...

Off road adventure

Runaway truck hits nine vehicles on 5 Freeway at Grapevine

I decided to drive back to the bay area today and had a very rough drive home. First, I got stuck in LA traffic, then got stuck behind this:

A runaway truck transporting hazardous materials struck at least nine vehicles along Interstate 5 near Fort Tejon this afternoon, resulting in at least 12 injuries and temporarily shutting down the northbound lanes of the freeway. The freeway reopened just before 4 p.m.

They closed I-5 north at 1pm and I arrived at 2pm. I was stuck in some major traffic and decided to use the median to turn around and try a road that was on my GPS.

I got to off-road across the hilly median and then drive on some dirt roads. Then I was routed over some mountains and through some snow banked roads. After a 55-mile detour, I made it back to I-5.

The official detour was 120-miles, so my shortcut and off-road adventure saved me a good hour.

Once back on I-5 I encountered dense fog on much of the route and some light rain. I'm home finally and am tired. I think I may fall asleep before midnight!

Vacation?

This vacation is exhausting. I have helped dethatch the lawn at my parents' house, repaired a TV, cooked Christmas dinner, baby-sat my niece... I'm exhausted!

I still have a list of things to do, but for now the focus is on my cute and very active niece.

I hope you are all enjoying your holidays!

Wii Christmas

We are celebrating Christmas tomorrow, so today was a relatively quiet day at my parents' house.

We played lots of Wii and ate Chinese food. I visited with a friend from elementary school and then ate more Chinese food.

This picture is of my WiiFit Mii... I'm the tall (and fat) one in the middle. Sigh. It doesn't account for muscle, at least that's what I tell myself.

From left to right are Miis for my dad, mom, me, my cousin, and my sister-in-law. Not sure why my dad and cousin's Miis are sleeping...

Public Service Message

These signs were lit up with the message "Don't text while driving Jan 1st"...

What do you think they will say about my taking pictures and blogging while driving?

I am bored

I'm all done with work... And am very bored now. I decorated my bottle
this morning. Yes, I am THAT bored!

Where is Everyone?

Where is everyone today? I got to work and the parking lot was almost completely empty. It was just my car and one other. And I didn't get in all that early today... Before lunch, a couple of people had trickled in, but still, it was empty.

Apparently everyone has decided to take the extra days off for the holiday. I've completed about 20 minutes of work so far today and I'm pretty much done. I think my hours this week will be 9-3 with at least a 2-hour lunch break.

Maybe 9:30-2:30...

The Holidays

The holidays are in full force now. Lots of parties, gatherings and
Christmas movies... Charlie Brown, A Christmas Story, and Miracle on
32nd Street are among my favorites.

I just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a Happy Holiday! I hope
this holiday season brings you peace in this crazy world.

Annoyed, Part II

Well, since inquiring minds asked, I shall tell why I was so annoyed yesterday. I was in the process of refinancing my house (rates are good, so look into it), but I did some calculations and the mortgage broker I've been working with got the numbers totally wrong. WTF? And that started my annoyance at the general incompetence of certain people which rolled into work also. Sigh.

Today, I am over it. At least I am so far. I'm ready to be on holiday break, but that doesn't start until middle of next week...

Annoyed

I am completely annoyed today and I can't get past it. I couldn't focus during yoga today because I was so annoyed which managed to annoy me even more. Maybe it is time to go home and take a nap. Or go for a run and get it out of my system... sigh. I hate feeling like this!

Christmas is next week?

I finally realized Christmas was closing in. As usual, I wasn't prepared and I didn't buy gifts early like I say I am going to every year! I started my search on the internet which yielded gifts for my niece. Of course, she is the easiest and most fun to buy for because she's only 2.5 years old.

Yesterday, I decided to head to the mall to look around and hoped I'd be inspired for gifts for the rest of my family. I found a few things, but not much. So, it was back to the internet for me. I spent a few hours today searching for gifts (why didn't I do this while I was on "strike"??) and found a few more gifts. And after my last conference call, I went around and found a few more gifts.

When I got home, I realized I was done shopping. FINISHED!!! And with a week to spare! That's got to be some sort of record for me. I'm even ahead of the game and picked up some gifts for January birthdays!

Now I just need everything I ordered to arrive in time and then I'll wrap it all.

SNOW!!!

There has been a very cold storm passing through the Bay Area recently, which is pretty unusual this early in winter. On my morning commute today, I saw snow on the tops of the local hills! I took this very bad picture (while driving) to show you because seeing the snow actually made me very happy. I couldn't get a picture of Mt. Hamilton which is covered with snow because I only had my iPhone camera and it's not the best...

Injured

I am injured and I have no idea what I did to make my hip hurt. Yes, it *could* have been the marathon last weekend, but I didn't have any pain until yesterday.

I'm starting to think that sitting around is hazardous to my health!

Strike is over

I have decided today will be the last day of my work stoppage (a.k.a. strike).  This is for two reasons.  

 

One reason is that I have nothing else to search, read, or do on the internet and am completely bored...  I have been for a few weeks now and even added a daily crossword puzzle to my activities.  

 

And the main reason is because we are having layoffs and I feel awful sitting around when people are getting informed that they will lose their jobs in the first few months of next year.

 

I can't say the "strike" made any difference...  I'm not even sure anyone noticed I was "on strike" or cared that I haven't completed any real work recently.  But I know that I hate not giving 120% at work every day, so this strike is over.

Layoffs... Again

Well, thanks to the global economic slowdown, we are once again having another "re-organization" which is basically a different word for "layoff".  We all knew this was coming, but it sucks because it's just before the holidays.  They are letting people know this week and next, but the action won't be official until the middle of January. 

 

I'll keep you posted and let you know when I'll be moving in with my parents if I get laid off.  =)

Cold

It is so cold at my desk that I went to Target at lunch today and invested $13 in a space heater.  It is now under my desk and keeping me toasty.  I'm much happier.  Hopefully I don't blow the circuit by having too many things hooked into my one electrical outlet!  That would suck, but then maybe I could go home.

Marathon #23

I ran my 23rd marathon yesterday. I have been running marathons for 10 years now. I would have never imagined 10 years ago that I'd still be running marathons! Here is my write-up of the weekend.

On Saturday morning, I made my way to Sacramento with Ken, Angela, Meredith, and Jodi. We headed to check-in at the hotel and then to the expo to pick up our things. Since this was my 9th time through the expo at CIM, I was well versed on where everything was and we were back at the hotel in no time. We rested a bit and then headed to dinner at Il Fornaio. Tyler and Davina joined us for our carbo loading party. Once back at the hotel, we organized all of our race things, set our alarms and tried to go to sleep at a decent time.

Race morning started at 4:45 AM for those of us running the full. I got dressed and layered on lots of warm clothes because it was only in the 30s outside. By 5:30, we left the hotel and went to get on the bus. The bus line was the longest I have ever seen it. By the time we made it through the bus line and to the start, we only had 13 minutes until the starting gun would go off. It was a bit frantic, but good not to sit around in the cold. I literally had 5 seconds of quiet before the race started.

The first few miles were uneventful. I noticed that I didn't have much "fuel" in my gas tank to push up the hills or run faster. I took it easy and figured having a fever earlier in the week must have drained my energy. The weather stayed cold and thanks to the fog, it seemed to get colder as the day went on. At mile 10, I decided I wasn't eating enough calories and had to change my nutrition plan on the fly. By mile 16, I was feeling better and knew I was going to finish eventually. I just wasn't sure when "eventually" was.

I kept to my steady pace and didn't let the pace teams freak me out. The Cliff bar pace teams always seem to go out too fast and slow down to a crawl at the end to make their times, so I stayed away. I enjoyed the spectators and volunteers. I've run this race so many times that I recognize many of them. And I ran into AnnaMarie and John, coaches from my earliest seasons with TNT! AnnaMarie was in the exact same spot cheering me on as she was 10 years ago when I ran CIM for the first time.

I finished the race in ~5:20. I wasn't worried about time, so I was happy to finish before they closed down the course. It was a bit slower than I had wanted, but all-in-all, it was a good race.

Marathon #23 is COMPLETE!

Marathon

I'll try to write more tomorrow, but just wanted to post that I finished CIM today. It was slow, but went well overall!

Why I shouldn't bake late at night

I was tired last night, but wanted to make some cookies to take to work today. Plus, I wanted to play with my new mixer.

I read the recipe (I rarely follow recipes, but thought I would this time) and decided it sounded easy enough to make before I needed to go to sleep. It was pretty late because I had conference calls until 8PM and had to go to the store to get some ingredients.

I started and did everything exactly to the recipe (I thought), but when I mixed it, it was very dry. Crumbly and not at all like cookie dough should be. I also had one extra egg. I read and re-read the recipe and could not figure out where the egg was supposed to be added. I decided to add some water to salvage the dough and baked the first batch of cookies. They turned out pretty well but I'm going to try it again with the egg next time.

This morning, I looked at the recipe again with fresh eyes and figured out where I went wrong. I read, "Add the egg yolk, ..." when it really read, "Add egg, yolk, ...". Darn little comma!

CIM

It's that time of the year again. California International Marathon time.

Here is how I remember each of my CIM races (or non-races):

1999 - Well trained and I made the 5:30 cut-off time!!! Marathon PR

2000 - Broke 5 hours for the first time in a race, Marathon PR

2001 - Trained well, Marathon PR

2002 - Marathon PR! (still stands)

2003 - Sick - Did not start

2004 - Ran stealth under someone else's bib

2005 - DNF

2006 - Finished in decent shape

2007 - Ran it even though I had surgery 3 weeks before

2008 - Who knows! We'll see!

Wii Fit

I love my new Wii Fit! I left it at my parents' house so they could enjoy it, but I am a fan. It combines the fun of a video game with movement. My favorite are the hula hoop game, the marble balance game, and the running. Who knew jogging in place would be so tiring?

Costco is supposed to get shipments of Wii's and Wii Fits soon, so if you are looking for one, stop by the information desk and ask what day they arrive (and get there early!).

Quiet

It's been quiet for me the past few days. I've had a low-grade fever
and sore throat since Saturday. Finally feeling better today, so I'll
be headed back to the office tomorrow.