Longhorn Football - Rice

UT played Rice this weekend, and we were fortunate to get to go to this game. This game was not one of the games that I was allotted in our family ticket lottery, so when the family decided to have different plans, Chad and I gladly took the tickets.

One of the things that we really like at the game is watching the people on the sideline. We sit in section 3 at about the 10 yard line, so in front of us we can see security, press, former players, and other random people. One of the men in uniform has caught our eye at every game because of his unique look. I think he looks like a cop you would see in the movies. Chad and I have decided that he looks like a cross between Michael Rappaport and the cop in the Terminator movies. What do you think?

Weekend Report - Saturday Sept 22

Saturday morning started with Chad getting up at 5:00am for his long run. They were to run 13-14 miles. I, on the other hand, got to sleep late and do my easier workout of run-walking. 8:21 was the time on the clock when I finally got up and out. I decided to run-walk a 3.5 mile hilly loop near Chad's house instead of going to the gym. On the flat parts of Jollyville road and on the final downhill of Floral Park, I did an easy jog. The rest of the time was spent powerwalking. The loop was not pain free today, but I tried to keep my hip as minimally irritated as possible. In the end, I probably ran 1.5-2 miles and walked 1.5-2 miles.

Chad and I polished off another couple of Heroes episodes (3 to go) and sent him to go work on a job that he had going on. We met up to eat dinner at Galaxy Cafe on West Lynn, followed by the UT vs Rice game.

Weekend Report - Friday Sept 21

Friday night I went over to Chad's house for an evening of watching Heroes. Kerbey Lane North was the choice for dinner...I had eggs, fruit, and home fries, while Chad had pumpkin pancakes. We went over to REI for Chad to get some new insoles for his running shoes and found that they had the new winter flavors of Clif Bar. Chad got the one that replaced the Caramel Apple Cobbler flavor...Pear Apple Strudel. I think he has yet to do the taste test, but look out for a review on the new flavor. My favorite seasonal flavor is Iced Gingerbread.

We spent the remainder of the evening watching Heroes episodes. I think we might have watched 4 of them. Our goal for the weekend was to finish season 1 before Monday's premiere. We needed to finish the last 9 out of 23. 4 down, 5 to go.

Clean Desk

I finally cleaned off my desk! I have been working amidst piles of paper and other misplaced items that needed to be put away. It has been making me feel rather cluttered.

Voila! An organized, clean space...

Quiz - Take it!

I took this quiz and was so excited that it came back UT!!!! I knew I was a Longhorn!

You're the University of Texas!

You claim to be bigger and better than your peers, and you're
definitely bigger. A whole lot bigger. Your size is intimidating to some and
a sign of weakness to others. But you often disregard others' opinions, as
evidenced by your flaunting of that shade of orange. You regularly
watch that funky PBS music show, "Austin City Limits". In situations of
extreme peer pressure, you've been known to discuss the matter of whether
horses can fly.


Take the University Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Progress Day 2

This morning I went for a walk. I thought it would be good to get the blood flowing in the legs, and I did not want to drive to the gym in the morning rush hour. Honestly, I expected for my butt pain to come back today because I was so pleased with yesterday's PT progress.

Today I was able to walk for 15-20 minutes with a minimal amount of pain. Then my power song, Hysteria, came on, so I decided to start running. Running felt great...no pain at all. I managed to run through 2 songs (8 minutes) before I decided to call it a day on the running. I don't want to overdo the running and cause a setback.

Some Real Progress

Last night and today marked the first real progress in my therapy on my hip. I know I talked about running a couple of weeks ago, but that was with a small amount of pain. I have not really had pain in my hip for a couple of days now, and that is the ultimate goal - sitting, walking and running without pain.

I decided to give running another chance last night at the gym. I was prepared to stop at any point if pain occurred. Lucky for me I did 5 complete laps (.5 mile at 24 hour fitness) with absolutely no pain. I focused extra hard to catch any little tweak or weakness, but I still felt good for 5 continuous laps. Determined not to jinx it, I quit after .5 mile.

This morning I had another PT appoinment with Troy...I actually bent forward and came up without any pain, something that I have not done in over a month. It was amazing to feel nothing! I completed all of my exercises and left feeling really proud. I am determined to beat this thing!

Other info - I ran into my friend Lisa L. at the gym, and it was nice to talk to her. She is training to run the Las Vegas Marathon for fun and then pick up the training to run Boston 2008.

I also ran into Mamie as I was leaving my PT appointment. I was devastated to hear that she has had to withdraw from Chicago because of an injury. She was going in to see Dr. Spears today.

ACL - Celebrity Sighting

Oh...I forgot to mention that Chad spotted a celebrity at ACL. He picked Aimee Teegarden out of the crowd on Sunday. Aimee plays the coach's daughter, Julie Taylor, on the TV show Friday Night Lights, which is currently back to filming in Austin.

She also happened to ask the question with the now-famous response of Miss Teen South Carolina.

It was cool to see her, and props to Chad for recognizing her. I guess the Emmy snub for Friday Night Lights worked to our benefit or else she would have been in LA last night.

ACL 2007 - Part 3 - Sunday

There is really not much to say about Sunday. There seemed to be way more people there, so we were having trouble deciding where to go to stay out of the middle of all of the chaos.

- When we arrived we were at the Regina Spektor show. We weren't really feeling that groove, so we walked around. The Amos Lee show sounded okay, but there were just a ton of people everywhere.

- We settled again at the Austin Ventures stage and waited for Billy Joe Shaver. Chad really liked him. I thought he was trying to torture me with 'that kind' of country music. We chilled in the shade for about 35 minutes of Billy Joe Shaver and then I made Chad leave. Sorry Chad!

- Wilco - we weren't close enough to really appreciate the show.

- Ghostland Observatory - I was pretty excited to see them based on what I had heard, but as it turns out, the lead singer only really sings one or two notes. I was bored really fast. It was just a beat and a bunch of lasers and some screaming. I hate to say that, but ugh!

- We walked past the Eli Young Band, and they had a good(but extremely loud) sound.

- We ended up at The Decemberists show, which reminded us of the Barenaked Ladies. They were kind of dorky and folksy, but it was fun to watch for a while before Bob Dylan.

- Bob Dylan - There were way too many people there who stayed to see him. That combined with the fact that the volume on the speakers did not seem to be loud enough made for a poor combination. Tons of people packed in for the first couple of songs, but then there was a mass exodus of fans leaving after about 15 minutes.

It was difficult to hear the band, Bob Dylan is difficult to understand anyway, and the video screens were not showing any close-ups of the band. It was just one shot of the whole stage, so those of us who were not in the first 50 yards of the crowd were not going to have an easy time 'seeing' the show or the artist himself. I was kind of let down by the screens.

The music sounded nice (if hard to hear), but by the 4th song, we were fine leaving. I kind of felt like we were betraying a legend, but they really should have set up that show differently. Oh well, at least they got the Muse show right :).

Did I learn anything new on Sunday? - not really, except that there were much better flags identifying people in the crowd. We saw:

• Australia
• Texas
• Jamaica
• the Corona Nation
• 'Come and Take it' from the Battle of Gonzales (cannon)
• US - Stars and Stripes
• 'Come and Take it' with a Shiner beer bottle
• Whataburger flag
• Clemson Tiger flag
• Israeli flag

ACL 2007 - Part 2 - Saturday with video

Saturday was a different experience for us. Chad had run 24 miles in the morning, we had chilled out in front of the TV watching Heroes and Longhorn football, and neither of us were anxious to go out in the heat until later in the evening. If the weather had been a little cooler, this was the day that I would have been out all day watching act after act.

At halftime of the football game, we figured it would be a good time to leave, and it turned out to be a great evening. Here's the scoop -

- We got there right before the 5:30 show, so we caught the end of the Blue October show as we were planting our chairs on the hill by the Blue Room stage. They sounded pretty good.

- Andrew Bird - Probably the most pleasant surprise of the whole festival. We really dug him. He whistles as one of the many 'instruments' that he plays, and the sound was pretty mesmerizing. Sitting on the hillside, chillin' to his music, doin' some people watching was really fun.

- We headed over for a snack and to catch Kelly Willis. I didn't really care if we were missing Damien Rice or Arctic Monkeys, it was great to get a strawberry-coconut snowcone and relax in the shade. It also didn't hurt that I like Kelly Willis's voice and knew several of the songs that she played. I think Chad enjoyed this show, too, because of the shade and because he knew the song that her husband wrote and that George Strait took to #1...Wrapped.

- Indigo Girls - I have heard them play a couple of times in Austin and it is always a good show. The show on Saturday was a sampling of lots of different songs from their albums over the years. I knew several songs and it was fun to sing along. Mostly, we enjoyed getting to sit down and have a good view. We were also in a great position for the last show of the night...Muse.

- Muse was the band that I was the most excited to see in the whole festival. After The White Stripes canceled, I was a little disappointed that Muse was bumped into their late time slot against Arcade Fire. I wanted to see both, but for me, Muse was the obvious choice if I had to pick between the two. They absolutely did not disappoint. The show was really entertaining both with the video and the music. Muse was the band that I think made the best use of the screens and the lighting for their show. They didn't just rely on the ACL cameras to project their show on the screens, they brought their own video and graphic effects to go with the shots of them live on the stage.

I absolutely loved the show! They played everything that I wanted to hear, plus some things I had not heard (I should have definitely bought their complete albums long ago instead of downloading a few songs here and there from iTunes.) Here they are playing Hysteria, my power song on my iPod running mix.

Here is a clip of part of 'Time is Running Out'.

Things I learned on Saturday (Yes, I can be shallow, but it was great people-watching on Saturday.) -

• Everybody sweats, but some clothing shows sweat marks more than others.
• It really is okay to be in the back. You might just have a better time.
• Snow cones attract bees.
• The majority of us are really unattractive.
• America might be having an underwear problem...why do guys have to have theirs peeking out the top of their cargo shorts? Why can't girls get the thong right?...yes, I can see your blue thong underneath that dress because the material is too thin.
• White tube tops and gigantic breasts do not belong on the same woman. Yes, really.
• There are lots of people whose gender is difficult to identify by their appearance.

ACL 2007 - Part 1 - Friday with video

We went to ACL this weekend. I guess this year was the 6th or 7th year that they have had the festival in Austin, but I have not had the chance to go. I knew it would be a big mob scene. I knew it would be hot. I did not care. This weekend was about finally experiencing ACL, knowing that I did not ever have to come back and do it again.

Friday afternoon we headed down after Chad was done with work. He took off a little early so that we could get into the park by 4:30. Our schedule for the evening was as follows:

- Joss Stone - great voice, entertaining between songs, we liked this one the best on Friday.

- bathroom - caught the start of MIA show - seemed to be pretty entertaining and it was funny to be in the porto-potty while it was shaking to the beat of the music

- dinner - I had a Solar Falafel pita and Chad had Saba mahi mahi tacos.

- Spoon - They were just okay. I was a little disappointed with the show. It seemed like everyone was into them because they are local guys, but frankly, they were a little too mellow for me. I wish we had gone to Queens of the Stone Age. Here is a little bit of Spoon.

- Gotan Project - Their sound was pretty cool at the start. Their sound was french/argentinian dance music. I liked the large set and the number of different instruments on stage. After a while, the music kind of put Chad and I in a trance, so we moved to a different stage.

- Reverend Horton Heat - we caught just a minute or so of his show as we were walking past. He was pretty groovy.

- Kaiser Chiefs - We heard the end of this set as we were finding our spot for the Killers show. They definitely had a great groove going on and the crowd was really into the show. They probably were a better choice to start at than the Gotan Project.

- The Killers - I was expecting so much more. They were somewhat entertaining because they have so many big hits, but there was just so much time between songs that it was torture for me. I really like a show to flow from one song to the next, so the Killers show did not do it for me. I was glad that they played several songs that I knew at the beginning of their set because we did not feel bad about taking off early. We saw most of the show, I think. Here is a little bit of The Killers.

Friday's lessons learned -

• If your cooler is going to leak, be sure to double bag the ice.
• Facing away from the sun is much cooler than looking into it.
• We really like the Austin Ventures stage near the food booths. Great sound. Great view.
• In a crowd, it really must be helpful to have a 'flag' on a pole so that your friends can find you.
• In a pinch, a magenta bra and orange panties will easily double as a flag to attract your friends.
• Falafel is a popular menu choice amongst the festival crowd.
• It is better to be further back and able to see the screen rather than closer and only have the view of butts and heads.
• Austin is hot until about 6:45pm.

Crosstraining - my new front porch

Tonight's crosstraining involved giving my front entryway a boost in the appearance department. I don't have any 'before' pictures, but nothing that you see plant-wise in the following pictures existed before this evening, not even the mulch.

I live in a condo complex that is supposed to maintain the grounds, including the flower beds. However, in the past 2 years, the only changes that have occured in front of my door are the gradual death of 4 shrubs, each progressively further away from my door, and the removal of any sort of mulch or topsoil from the flower beds. I was not interested in planting expensive bushes to have them die, so I found a few inexpensive shrubs that I have seen in other people's beds. Hopefully that means they will survive in mine.

I also know that I will not be living here 6 months from now, so I decided to plant the rest of my flowers in a nice planter that I can take with me when I move in with Chad.

Here is the final result...ooooh....aaahhhh.....

Men are from Mars...Women are from Venus

(For the record, Chad knows that I am posting about this.)

It used to be that when Chad would shower at my house, I would discover that his towel was left on the floor. The first time it happened, I just thought he forgot to hang it up. The next 2 or 3 times, I started to think that he was communicating the same way that you would to the maid in a hotel...if the towel is on the floor, then please replace it with a clean one.

So, I asked him if this was indeed the case that he wanted a fresh towel with each shower, because it was causing me an extra load of laundry. It is not a problem with me to provide my darling with a fresh towel each time...I just wanted to know if that was what he wanted. The world is trying to become more 'green' after all, and the guy doesn't require fresh towels at his own house.


Chad said that he didn't realize he was leaving his towels on the ground, and since that conversation he has been hanging his wet towels on one of the 2 racks in the bathroom

The towel rack below cracked me up, so I had to take a photo to document it. You other Martha Stewart types will love it, too. I love how the towel on the right is Chad's towel. :) Hey, at least the towel is off of the floor, huh?

My Movie Review - Fracture

We saw Fracture on Friday night. It stars Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. We know from the beginning that Hopkins' character shoots his wife, and Gosling's character is the prosecutor that has taken the case. Throughout the whole movie we know that Hopkins' character is brilliant and just might get away with it. You wonder the whole time if Gosling's character is going to figure out what it is going to take to put him away.

It is full of good acting, and the plot is interesting enough. The problem?

I figured out the twist long before I was supposed to. I got really excited at the time, and blurted it out because I didn't think it that would be the major part of the movie. Turns out that I was right about the twist and the ending was anticlimactic.

Should you see it? Yes, it is an excellent rental. Scale of 1 to 10? I'd give it a solid 6...had I not figured out the twist, maybe a 7.5.

Longhorn Football - TCU

Saturday evening was the UT vs TCU game. Chad and I had fabulous luck with our parking space once again and managed to snag a spot right on the drag at 5:15. We make a great parking team...I am good at spotting them and he is good at parallel parking his truck.

So, for 2 weeks in a row now we have parked west of campus and have enjoyed our walk through campus to the stadium. Chad did not go to UT, so I have been telling him about the buildings as we walk past them. Last week we walked down inner campus drive and got the view of the tower from the south mall. We walked past the business school and Gregory Gym and ended up on 21st street. This week we entered campus at 24th street near the Union, and were able to walk on inner campus drive on the north side of the tower. I showed him one of my favorite spots, the turtle pond. There were tons of turtles out.

The game was a blast, as usual. We were worried during the first half, of course, but I just tried to keep entertained by focusing on my favorite players...Jermichael Finley, Nate Jones, and Brandon Foster. They all had a good game.

At halftime, we went to see my parents in their section to get a better view of the halftime show. I was in the Longhorn Band, so I always enjoy watching the halftime entertainment. I was a little pissed, however, because it seems like we always end up seeing the 'script Texas' show (which is very boring to me and was performed last week) or we are there for the show that is performed to the student side, which was this week. It wasn't too exciting. I just hope they have a good show ready for KState.

We had fun during the 2nd half as the Longhorns gained the lead. Our new thing is taking pictures of ourselves. Chad makes these goofy faces and we end up having to take several to get one that is decent. Here is proof...

Sadie vs. Elliptical Trainer - Episode 8

Episode 8 - Cheating or Progress?

I went to the gym Saturday morning at 7:00am. I knew the toddPod was low on power, so I started on the elliptical for as long as I could. Todd died after about 7 minutes. Ugh! I did not want to spend a long time in one place today, so I decided to finish 10 minutes on the elliptical and use it as a warmup to weights.

My weight routine today was a little different than normal. I had workout ADD, I guess. I started with the seated leg press and moved to the abductor/adductor machines. At that point I got inspired to follow the '30 minute workout' advertised by 24 hour fitness. You follow a set of blue and yellow machines doing approximately 15 'challenging' reps on each machine in a progression down the line. It sort of gives you a full body weight workout in a short time period. You do the progression of machines twice, so it is like doing 2 sets on each machine, but without a lot of rest between them. Usually these blue and yellow machines are occupied by 50+ year old folks. I have never seen anyone my age on them.

After my two passes through the line, I decide it is time for more cardio and some ab work. I have been trying to run a little every time I go to the gym, but I have not been able to do more than 3 minutes without feeling little twinges of pain. This morning felt a little different.

I decided to use the little track at the gym, and began by running 1 lap (1/10 mile). It felt okay, so I did 30 situps and tried another lap. Lap 2 felt okay, so I did 30 more situps and tried a third. During lap 3, I decided that my hip/sacrum was not feeling as bad as normal, and on the typical 1 to 10 pain scale was about a 1 or 2. My goal at that point was to run as many laps as possible with 30 reps of abs between each lap. At any point my hip felt above a pain level 2, I was prepared to quit.

I actually felt better as the laps progressed, and I am pleased to report that I accomplished running a mile at the gym. That also means I did just over 300 situps(or situp equivalents) to work on my future 6-pack.

Upon returning home, I decided to try to run on the road. At this point I knew that any extra pounding on my hips might set me back in my recovery. I just didn't care...I ran 2 miles with very minimal discomfort. This is WAY more than I have done in the last month. Way more.

I feel good about it. I don't feel sore after the fact. I am still continuing to think that I am on the way out of the woods on my injury.

Sadie vs. Elliptical Trainer - Episode 7

Episode 7 - Miniworkout

Today I took my lunch break to go to the gym. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical - set at 8 resistance the whole time - followed by a little bit of ab work, leg press, and abductor/adductors.
In all, it took about 45 minutes. Oh, and I did try to run a little. I did 3 minutes on the treadmill before I decided to not risk it hurting more. I felt a tiny bit of pain, but it was better than normal.

I am looking forward to the day where I do not feel my hip/glute. I would like to be able to walk, sit, and bend without feeling it even a little. I don't think it will happen anytime soon, but whatever. That is what I am looking forward to.

Blogging cat - I am a dork!

So, I have decided to spare everyone any future kitty pictures and video (unless I can't resist). Beans has decided to have his own blog, and I'm sure Miko will have one, too. You can find Beans's new blog here. I'm sure it will be updated with kitty stuff pretty regularly.

Very dorky, sorry.

Canceled!

I officially canceled my registration for St. George this year.

I am sad. Injury sucks, but I guess I am fortunate that in over 8 years of running this is the first injury that has kept me from running a race.

The upside to canceling early is that I will have guaranteed entry next year if I want to run it next year.

Chillin' in the office

Oh to have the life of a cat! Well, my cats have a pretty great life. They spend their days lounging on the bench in my office (which is eye level to a window if they want to look outside, or when the weather is nice will be open for them). Ben spends much of his day between napping and 'kneading' the black blanket that he shares with Miko. Miko lets me pet her between catnaps. Here is evidence of this taken just moments ago.