Saturday, February 26, 2011

Shake, Shake, Shake

February is the month that always speeds by. It is shorter by a few days than most, but there is something about that short transition we have from "winter" (as we call it) in Southern California that quickly turns to spring. Admittedly, the temperature difference is maybe 5 or 10 degrees and the amount of rain may or may not be the same, but we like to pretend as if we have seasons.

The movement from February to March for me means that St. Patrick's Day is coming and for that, we celebrate with...Shamrock Shakes!!! Remember my obsession two years ago with getting one, only to be denied two different times for various reasons? (I blogged about it, see if you remember the entry here). Last year, I completely missed out because I guess I just didn't go to Mickey D's. I seem to recall trying at the end of March, only to be told that they were out for the season.

2011 brought a gentle reminder from a friend last week during a conversation, when she reminded me about my obsession and asked me if the Shamrock Shake was in season yet. I made a mental note to put March 1st on my calendar so I could indulge in the deliciousness, and then went along my merry way.

This morning I had a plethora of things to do early before I left the house and then an early start time in the office, so instead of my usual fakey sausage and a banana, I opted to get an oatmeal and iced coffee from the Golden Arches on my way down Malibu Canyon.

Imagine my delight when I pulled around the drive through to see the banner proclaiming the good news...my beloved shake is already here! Talk about a little dose of serendipity at 6 o'clock in the morning!

I love the fact that no one even batted an eye when I placed my order, they even offered me whipped cream for the shake (I declined, empty calories, you know!). Yep, spring is officially here in my book, even if that means we are going to have rain and even some snow at the 1000' level. I've got my shamrock to keep me happy!

Friday, February 25, 2011

In My Grill

Two months of stalking have at last paid off!

The food truck phenomenon is alive and well in Los Angeles, with just about any gastronomical delight you can imagine being prepared and sold out of a truck, strategically parked on some street corner. In addition to having some darn good food, the simple fact that these trucks fly in the face of conventional marketing practices amazes me.

There are a few sections in town (such as the Miracle Mile, across from LACMA) where you can count on a row of food trucks lined up beginning at about 11 am, but these are not the hot, everybody wants some, find out where it is NOW kind of trucks. I have been in search of...The Grilled Cheese Truck.

I first heard of this delectable delight from a friend on Facebook who happened upon it. Once I saw that such a thing existed, I looked it up, "friended" it and started to watch for the location updates every single week to see where it would show up. There were a couple of close-but-no-grilled-cheese incidents when the truck was in range by about 15 miles, but I held out, knowing that my day would come.

Thursday, February 25, 2010 proved to be the day. Not only was the truck planned to be within 6 or 7 miles of the office, but it was parking at the Frosted Cupcakery, ANOTHER place that I love because of the delicious hi-top cupcakes. Clearly meant to be, I blocked the time on my calendar and invited another GCT admirer to come with me.

At the same time I blocked the time for the Grilled Cheese run, a last-minute appointment landed on my calendar, smack dab in the middle of my planned grilled cheese goodness...NOOOOOOOOOO! Undeterred and intent upon nothing coming between me and my future delicious lunch, I coordinated 4 different people for 3 different meetings all to occur in my car en-route, in-line or returning from the outing. Not the most traditional setting for a meeting, but productive AND it got me to my eventual goal...lunch nirvana!

I am here to tell you that my stalking days are not over. The sandwich options are fantastic and they allow customization, so this will be a regular stop whenever possible. I personally am voting for a regular gig and pairing with the fine people at the Frosted Cupcakery...this makes my stomach and my taste buds very, very happy!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Goggle Eyes

I opted for a quick "splash and dash" workout yesterday, which means that I went to the YMCA for 30 minutes of swimming in the pool, then jumped onto a treadmill for 30-minutes of running. Not to be confused with the "Y-Tri" which adds a stint on the stationary bike into the mix, this is the signal that triathlon season is fast approaching and I don't want to fall behind in my readiness.

I had great plans to be at the Y at 6 am when they opened. Some cute dogs and husband distracted me as they followed be around with hopeful eyes, looking for a bite of cheese and conversation (David did not get any cheese). I also did not pack the night before, so I was trotting around the house, throwing items into my duffel bag so that I could shower and leave directly for work after the workout was complete.

Because this is the first pool workout in quite some time, I was a bit out of sorts and did not have my usual routine in place, so I was very dismayed when I was in the locker room to realize that I left both my goggles and earplugs in my other duffel bag with no back-ups anywhere to be found.

I was already running late and had carved the time out to do my workout, so I forged ahead, swimming for 30-minutes straight in a very chlorinated pool. I attempted to keep my eyes closed, but after 3 or 4 collisions with the floating lane chains, I had to just suck it up and dry out my eyes.

I showed up to work almost 2 hours after I had originally planned, looking rather red and glassy-eyed. I met Holly for lunch later in the day and she was curious as to what I had been doing to have such suspicious looking eyes. I explained my goggle dilemma and while I know she believes me, she still had to tell me the thing that everyone was thinking but no one had said, "You look stoned."

I trust that she knows this only from a distance and not first hand!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Pampered Schnoogs

Holly and I attended a Pampered Chef event on Sunday. Ebe has recently joined the ranks of the PC Consultants and in getting ready to take her show on the road, she hosted two parties with friends and family to get into the swing of things. This was the 2nd event, the first was about a week ago and was naturally wildly successful.

After church, we trotted on over to find Elizabeth already set up and ready for us, plus the bonus Miss Sadie (Ebe's cat who loves to stare) out and about, looking for attention. Our group grew by two more and we spent the next couple of hours eating and checking out Elizabeth's wares, along with being her test group for recipes and the general presentation style.

Good eats were not in short supply, and at some point in time everyone got in on the cooking action, including the Schnoogs who doubled as recipe reader AND garlic presser.

I was the official taster. I am proud to report that I excelled at my job!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Dream House

I have been entering twice per day, every day for the HGTV Dream House Giveaway sweepstakes for at least a month. The last day to enter was on Friday, and I fully expected to get a phone call on Saturday, congratulating the family and I on our new home in Stowe, Vermont.

Oddly, the phone call has not yet come, so I checked in on the website to see if the HGTV peeps have put out an APB for me, letting me know that it is time to pack the moving truck and make my way east. Those tricksters! The winner reveal and move-in is going to be featured in a special on March 19th.

I have things on my calendar, the HGTV team needs to give me a call and coordinate this soon if they want to have me do their special for them when I move in!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Focus

I spent two evenings this week listening to focus groups of lapsed users of the fancy yogurt place. I am always fascinated by consumers and what makes them tick...especially when they aren't too clear on what they buy or why.

I watched Murphy Brown back in the day and one of my favorite episodes involved the cast sitting behind the 2-way glass in a viewing room for some network focus groups, listening to viewers criticize their performance. Murphy, in her aggressive, bold fashion has enough of the commentary and goes crashing into the panel room, yelling and swinging at the open-mouthed panelists, shocked to have her coming after them.

There were a couple of consumers in each of the 4 groups that had me rolling my eyes. While we are certainly expensive, fancy yogurt, some of the snotty comments seemed pretty unnecessary and were hard to not take personally, especially when accusing the brand of being over exposed in one statement, followed almost immediately by a statement that they would come more often if we built a store closer to their home or work.

Crashing through that door would be pretty fun.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Conehead

The cost of owning a large pack part 2...Penny serves as exhibit B.

During one of Charlie's visits to the vet, it was time to have Penny in for a routine check-up when some funny lumps were spotted on her belly. The vet was pretty concerned that there could be issue with one or two of them, so surgery was scheduled for Monday of this week.

Penny came through the process well and now has a Frankenstein-looking set of stitches on her belly to show for it. We are still waiting on the final word on one of the lumps (the other two were fatty deposits), so stay tuned for that news.

Entertaining is Penny in the cone of shame. She is a MENACE! That dog has absolutely no sense of the space around her or anyone else, which means that she bangs and bumps into anything in her path. At first, we all felt so sorry for her, as to see the sad little face in the cone just breaks your heart. The first 15 times or so that she nearly knocked me over, I still felt compassion for our poor little pup in the cone. After having her clip me AND drag the cone all along the wall in the hallway, I found myself quickly losing patience for the annoying dog in the plastic shield.

David was in the same camp and called me on Wednesday to tell me that he couldn't take it anymore, so he took the collar off. Having Penny and the collar and all of the other dogs in the truck was creating chaos, and David thought that Charlie was going to snap and have a nervous breakdown. Even calm and collected Scooby was about over Penny and her bumping ways.

She must realize what a menace she was in that collar, because she hasn't picked or poked at her stitches even once. She was probably tired of having all of us glare at her!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Pup in Boots

The Newton dogs have been visiting the vet lately - a lot, and in some cases for some seemingly random things that end up costing a pretty penny.

Mr. Charles here is exhibit A. About a month ago, he took off to chase after some unsuspecting prey on the Los Robles trail and when he returned 20 minutes or so later it was near dark and he was limping a bit. David gave him the business for taking off, then the once over to see if he could figure out why he was limping and then they came home.

The next couple of days Charles was just a little off and he was spending a lot of time tending to his foot. David again tried to figure out what was wrong and then Charlie snapped at him...clearly something was wrong and he was in pain, so off to the vet they went.

Turns out that Charlie ripped his nail and it is going to take something like 2 months to heal. We have been back every week to change the bandage after the initial same-day surgery was done and it is a slow process to recovery. The vet suggested that we kennel Charlie all day and limit his time on his foot to just a few minutes a day.

I think that Charlie would as soon have his leg amputated rather than be sequestered all day. David bought the little booties to protect the bandage and keep it dry, and we seem to be doing OK now.

Not sure that Charlie is super excited about his one-boot fashion statement, but this is the price that a dog has to pay for running amuck in the Santa Monica Mountains. That and about $600 in vet bills!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Love Knows no Holiday

Monday was of course Valentine's Day and while it is indeed the day to celebrate the one(s) you love, I must confess to being a bit inundated with work for the two weeks leading up and then of course the day of. We had a big promotion at work that was ideated in the 2nd week of January (right before I left for vacation) and through a herculean effort on the part of everyone in the organization, we pulled it off and executed it in the stores.

I have lived in the workspace where a holiday completely consumes once before - the cinnamon roll place killed any element of free time that I might have thought about using between Thanksgiving and Christmas. While it is energizing to be a part of something that makes our customers happy, it doesn't leave a lot of free time to celebrate with one's own family, so by my admission, I really didn't do anything for David or Holly this Valentine's Day.

Sure, I sent Holly one of the packages that we were making and included a gift card (which I will almost guarantee she has already used), but that doesn't rank up there with the cool things of years past, like the Wii of Valentine's 2010 (or was it 2009??). David gave me a very funny card and while I did make a nice dinner (as I do most nights) and got a little teary eyed as I told him how much I appreciate him and our family, no gift-giving or card-signing happened on my end.

Luckily, we have a good track record for him to know that I love him!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Lunch Date

The Schnoogs and I had a good tradition for the first 3 semesters of her college career - we met for dinner mid-week to have a nice meal and stay current on the happenings of our lives. We started to Yelp! our way through the greater LA Valley area, finding some fun, unique restaurants and staying connected.

This semester, Schnoogums is taking an impressive 19 units and as such, her schedule is not very open or flexible for dinner. In fact, the only opening she has is Tue or Wed between 1 and 5...not optimal hours for me to leave work and drive the 20 miles or so (the hard way, I might add) from Beverly Hills to Northridge. We skipped the first 2 weeks, but decided that we missed our tradition and each other, so Schnoogs offered herself up to come meet me for lunch.

With a little bit of directions from Mom, MapQuest and the GPS tracker, young Schnoogums made it right on time to enjoy a tour of the office then a quick walk up to one of the neighborhood restaurants (we had sushi). It was very nice to get back into our routine, and of course that kid cracks me up with her energy and exuberance.

We came back into the office to find things a little crazy and in deadline looming mode as we were fulfilling a bunch of orders from our Valentine's Day promotion. Poor kid, she never had a chance, I had her taping and labeling boxes like there was no tomorrow until she finally told me that her car was in a 2-hour parking space and she had to go. I tried to get her to just move it and come back, but there weren't any open places (so she said!).

With a quick hug, we said goodbye and she left me in the throes of the packing and shipping frenzy. I wonder if Holly thinks that sushi was worth it?

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Undecillion

I learned about a new number this week, it is called an undecillion. It represents a trillion, trillion, trillion, or 36 zeros. I was going to write that out, but have decided that while a cute pictorial reference, it really will just take up a lot of space, space that I can fill with interesting, thought provoking comments.

Perhaps not. At any rate, this is a short blog today because I have an undecillion things to do.

It's a lot, I am telling you!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Passing on the Right

Mondays tend to be pretty full for me, and often I find myself running from activity to activity without a lot of free time in between. Yesterday was no exception and although I planned carefully for it, I had a hard time leaving at the 4 pm target I had to hit if I had any hopes of making my Emmaus Accountability group meeting near home at 5:30 pm.

Prior to my departure, I texted the ladies to tell them that I would be about 20-minutes late and then I set off for the big commute. It was predictably rough, but things were pretty much as expected until I looped around to the 23...traditionally the shortest and easiest stretch of my drive home. The restaurant we were meeting in is only about 4 exits away from home, so I thought that I had it all sewn up.

Not so much. I forgot (mostly because I am rarely in my own neighborhood at 5:45 pm) how backed up things get on this freeway, so this last stretch of traffic was killing me. I was in the right lane, creeping slowly along and just feeling over the whole commute.

The first exit past my house is a nice long on-ramp and no one was on it. It seemed like such a waste of open road, so I opted to utilize it. You know, doing my part to help ease the traffic burden in the exit lane (it is true, Ebe, I know better than this!). As I merged back in and claimed my 15 or so car advantage, there it was, the most dreaded thing in the rear view mirror...THE LIGHTS.

The answer was easy when the officer (who was apparently 4 or 5 cars behind me but I didn't see in the dusk of sunset) asked me if I had any idea why I was pulled over...YEP! I wanted to tell her that I wasn't actually clear on what the EXACT violation might be, but I decided that being a smart-alec was not in my best interest. I took my ticket like the polite little lawbreaker that I am.

For those of you playing along at home, the official violation is "unsafe passing on the right". Pricey, not priceless, is what I predict that one to be!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Surfin'

Yesterday was the Surf City 1/2, an event held every Superbowl Sunday and one that I have participated in for either the 1/2 marathon or 5K for the last 6 years or so. I was on my own for this event, as my troop of peeps were not feeling it for another 13.1 miles after the Carlsbad event two weeks ago (and a Safari Park 1/2 planned for mid-March too), so off I went for a solo run with 20,000 of my closest running friends.

It was not too long before I met Cyndi and Sue, two ladies from Utah who make me look like a very quiet and shy person when it comes to talking abilities. These two could TALK and talk they did, from the moment we met when they asked me to take a picture until we said goodbye and parted ways at the end of the run. Within the first 5 miles Cyndi had declared me her new BFF for Facebook and invited me to stay with her to run the Ogden 1/2 in October.

I learned something interesting about interval running - there is something to it and I like it! We had been talking for so long that once we finally got across the starting line, it seemed rude to run off without them, so I followed along on their 2 minutes run, 1 minute walk plan. At first I was pretty skeptical about finishing in a reasonable time, but lo and behold, we crossed the finish line in 2:44...not a world record by any stretch, but given that 1/3 of the time was spent walking (albeit quickly), I say cool!

It would appear that this method allows for just enough rest time to keep the energy level higher and sustainable across the duration of the race. You admittedly are a slave to the beeper/timer that regulates the whole thing, but once you get into the zone, it is all good. My best time on a 1/2 is 2:31, and given we had to walk through a couple of run cycles in the last mile because Sue was having some issues with her calf, I can see where this is going to help me shave some time off my future events.

Suddenly, I feel very fast. I might actually be able to finish at the same time as the winner of the full marathon instead of 10 minutes later!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Cheesy

Eric and I met for lunch last week to celebrate Little Britty (she is 22 and her name is Brittany, but much like Holly always being referred to as Schnoogs, you just can't step away from a good childhood nickname) and her looming departure. She has been accepted to the Peace Corps and will be leaving for Kazakhstan on March 9th (look for future blogs and education around this country!)

Little Britty shares my eating style of no animals with knees, so I knew that she would enjoy one of my local faves, Cube Cafe and Marketplace. I was first introduced by a real LA local a couple of years ago and have used it as the go-to restaurant just about any time someone is in the vicinity of my office and wants a good meal.

The cheese is always amazing, and the menu changes to enjoy the fresh and in-season items at the local Farmer's Market. I have not yet been there where anyone in my party was anything less than enthused about their order and the portions are just about right so that you can enjoy a sampler of cheese before your meal. Little Britty of course loved it and we had a great visit talking about all of the things that she will be doing while in Kazakhstan.

27 months is a long time to be gone from home, I wonder how well a care package of cheese would travel!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Local Living

I had a rare opportunity to live like a local. Tomorrow is the Surf City 1/2 Marathon, which will take me to Huntington Beach and points south for the day, but in a fine bit of scheduling magic, I was able to pick my packet up on Friday (while on my way to Mission Viejo), leaving today free to putter around and not have to trek all the way to Huntington just to get my race bib, shirt and timing chip. I will also get to have dinner tonight with David and Holly and sleep in my own bed, all in exchange for waking up tomorrow at 4 am to be on my way.

The early wake-up isn't such a big deal and I must confess that I have rather enjoyed my day thus far just doing errands. A tough trail run with the MIMs this morning, social time at home with David and Holly before they left for work, a visit to Future Track to get some new insoles for my shoes (an awkward bit of rubbing is occurring with the new shoes on the bottom of my left foot, a nightmare for any thought of running distance), then over to Sharkey's for lunch and a nice spell of time outside by the fountain.

I even walked across the street to the bank and the fancy yogurt place for a little treat and I STILL have plenty of time to to the other errands today, like food shop and other exciting things.

It is amazing how much free time I have when I am not driving all across the greater part of Southern California!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Streaker!

I was introduced to the concept of streak running a couple of years ago, after hearing on the radio a woman describe the process that she and her son followed for 2 years. It is a fascinating concept to me and admittedly, I can get obsessed enough about something to sign up for this kind of a deal.

Streak running is "to run at least one continuous mile each calendar day under one's own body power." This definition comes directly from the United States Running Streak Association, Inc. (yep, they even have their own website!), which a person can't even think about joining until the certify that they have run every day for at least one year! Incidentally, the longest streak on the registry is a whopping 42.5 years and there are 91 people on the list who have been running continuously for 20 years or more. That is some serious mileage!

I intended to do this streak running thing when I first heard about it back in 2009...on the 2nd day I got some crazy flu (a rarity) and that was the end of that. I talked to someone at Future Track who was on her 32nd day of streaking and LOVING it. She (Kelly, a newly signed-up MIM, hooray!) told me that the 1-mile option is what you use when you are tight on time, and she found that once she committed to this, she only ran 1-mile 2 or 3 times.

I do have the new shoes and I have been incorporating runs into more creative times in my schedule. I've got a 4-day trend going as of today...I might be admitting right now that I am a streaker!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Review Time - Significant or Successful?

It's review time at the swirly place, and as I went through the process of both my self and then supervisor review, I started to think about the discipline of assessing what we do each year, which then made me think about the whole significant vs. successful posting that I did last month.

As far as reviews go, things are fine, what's not to love? Actually, I will admit that by taking the whole successful filter off and putting on the significant lens instead, I got some great perspective around what I do, how I do it and most importantly, how I can do it better at work AND in life.

Character Counts is a phrase that my friend Eric used with me when we were talking about how we strive to be significant and that really resonated...character IS significant and is something that can't be manipulated to make someone seem successful.

These little reflections and reviews are a good thing, I wonder if I should have David & Schnoogs fill out a performance evaluation on me!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Speedy's Got Some New Shoes

A firm rule of runners in the running world is...don't mess with the shoes. Find a brand/style/pair you like and stick with them. Don't wear them to lounge around or do your errands in; they are the pristine tool of the trade and should be taken seriously.

It is no secret that I am not a fast or serious runner, but over the years I have evolved into a committed and consistent runner. I have also always worn the same brand of shoes - Nike - because my foot is fairly narrow and I have found that they fit me well, plus of course they pair nicely with the BEST technology invention in the world...the Nike+ system. I remember wearing Nike all the way back when I ran with my Dad (circa 1980) and have just always stuck with them, despite mocking from my fellow MIMs and running enthusiasts, all of whom have told me that there are better running shoes out there.

I was at Future Track (an awesome local shop if you are in the Ventura/Western End of the SF Valley area) last night for a meeting of the Ragnar Relay hopefuls. My current shoes are coming up on 2 years, and I am ready for a new pair, so I told Gloria (our coach extraordinaire and Future Track Manager) that it was time to set me up. She has all of my purchasing history in their system, so I didn't pay much attention to the process while I waited for the shoes to materialize.

Tricky Gloria brought the shoes to me out of the box, so as I grabbed the first one to try on, I didn't notice it...at first. This was a Saucony...hey! Gloria gave me her sly smile and said, "I really think you should try these, they will fit your foot well and I think that you will like them." She is the coach and runs something like a 7:30 mile (long distance, not just sprints), as well as she has been watching me lope around for the last 3 years, so clearly she knows what she is talking about.

I will admit, the new shoes are comfortable. But wait...my Nike+ battery! Already covered with a shoe sensor pocket that can be Velcroed to the top of the shoe. Change.....is....so....hard, BUT...I did it. I switched it up.

The turtle has got some new shoes. Let's see what kind of stats I post after tonight's run!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Hope

Hope has long been a part of my vernacular, but in the past 4 months, it has become at nearly the center of most things. I am working on an upcoming Walk to Emmaus with the word HOPE serving as an integral part of the message.

As I interact with more and more people around the word HOPE, I realize that it is truly an important word and attitude in our society, as it resonates for many on a variety of different levels. I have started paying attention to how often I hear the word, how people use it and how people respond to it. It is interesting (in my humble opinion) to see how some people react to the word; in some cases it is almost negative, as it seems to imply for some that there is not a lot of oomph in terms of action behind the belief.

There are a couple of people that I interact with at work that have an almost adverse reaction when the word HOPE is used. I like to watch the reaction when this happens, because it gives me some insight to what makes different people tick and how they handle adversity or anything outside of the "normal" range of expectations. For the most part, the anti-hope people are pretty clinical, live a little more in the black and white and are easy to slide over to the negative side of things. The HOPE peeps tend to be more in the cup is half full camp and can see through adversity with more options or alternatives.

I have not devoted any period of time to really analyzing this and all of my observations are anecdotal, but there does seem common threads in the HOPE vs. no HOPE individuals.

I hope that we can all get to a place where we believe that there is always a positive outcome!