Knitting, Botany, Mycology, Nature, Adventure, and Life... in no particular order.
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How to Fail at Going for a Run
How to fail at going for a run (in my case while training for a 1/2 marathon)
- Get up psyched to run
- Plot out the perfect running course including a new fun route, new scenery and a new distance you can’t wait to achieve
- Get your gear on and go!
- Run at an easy pace to not tire yourself out on the new route and longer distance, no need to be too tired with a mile to go
- Get to just past mile 2, the Mt. Auburn Cemetery, and realize the next 2 miles of your route, though the shade and hills of the cemetery roads, is not allowed. Curse to yourself but carry on because THIS is your route and the cemetery seems quiet.
- Go a little bit further and start to question whether you are still on the right route. Also, walk. Not because you are tired (because that is ok), not because you are sore (because that is ok), not to catch your breath (also ok) but because there are too many people around for you to feel comfortable breaking clearly posted rules.
- Go a bit further, realize you are totally on the wrong set of paths because the Mt. Auburn Cemetery is HUGE with more trails than you had on your original map and that there are too many people out for you to feel comfortable running.
- Walk back to the entrance as directly as you can, muttering and cursing yourself under your breath for ruining your long training run because you only have a bout 5 weeks to work up to 13 miles.
- Jog home the same way you came, continuing to mutter and curse.
On the plus side, I did still go for a jog and can do a longer run tomorrow. Also, it let me realize I didn’t have enough of a food and liquid base to really actually do a full long run.
So remember, No Jogging, No Picnicking, No Biking, No Rollerblading or any other thing that could be viewed as disrespectful in the Mt. Auburn Cemetery. Also, bring a map.
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Busy Bee
So in addition to doing some running life has been pretty busy.
There was a post-apocalyptic party
And there were 2 different ultimate tournaments. The most recent was a 2-day that resulted in a total of 6 games and over 9 hours of frisbee.
Here’s some evidence from our first day of games. We were still pretty energetic then and there is evidence I actually learned to throw forehand decently.
Things have quieted down a bit. Soon I will give actual updates on running and knitting and such. For now I better get some more rest.
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life gives you lemons
Well, actually life game me 1 lemon. A lemon from my fantastic organic dwarf Meyer Lemon Tree my sister gave me for my birthday last year. My first lemon is finally ripe and I am super excited to do something with it over the weekend! (No, not take it on a date, at least I don’t think so.)
Fanfare please! (do do do dooo)
As my sister said, now I can make the world’s smallest glass of lemonade. Any other suggestions out there for my first little lemon?
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Time Addict
So I love wearing watches. I find them comfortable, convenient and aesthetically pleasing. The first watch I really remember wearing was a Swatch watch with a pink edge and an neat pattern in the face and on the original strap. (Holey crap I found it!) I wore it for many, many years. One of the times I needed to get a new strap I stored it somewhere in my room for safe keeping, and then by the time I got a new strap, it was lost like buried treasure. (I am pretty sure one day I or my parents will come across that watch.)
Then in high school, because I was on the track team, I got a simple black Timex watch with a multiple lap memory and split function. It was super easy to use, very reliable, and the buttons were easy to press but did not get pressed accidentally. That became my daily watch for about 8 years or so, of course with strap and battery changes over the years. (Older modal, similar to this, but older model was better!)
After college, in my first good job (the same one I am in now), I treated myself to a really nice watch. A Victorinox thin officer’s watch with brushed metal and a navy face (here-ish). I wanted something that would be very accurate, that would make me feel more grown up, and that I could wear to nice places (because generally a grimy, beat up, black timex watch is not considered appropriate with a nice dress).
Eventually my Timex kicked it at the beach. Too much salt water I guess. I had to replace it, because I still use a digital for timing runs and sports. (And the one I have now is not near as good and I will probably need to replace it after negligible use in 3 years. Also I do need lap capability after all.)
Here’s the thing, that’s probably an account of my watch wearing history over the past 19 years at least. So, slowly I have become extremely used to wearing a watch, and I feel incomplete when I don’t wear one. (Occasionally lazy weekend day exception.) I have also become very aware of time (some say obsessively) in my daily life. I use my watch to gauge my walking speed from place to place in case I am dawdling, or in case I have time to dawdle. I use it to check the date when I am signing paperwork at work. I use it to see if it is almost time for lunch, a meeting, to make coffee, etc at work because I am often away from my desk and I do not carry my phone with me at work. (No reception in most places anyways.)
So, when I forgot to wear my watch to work yesterday I seriously considered for a brief minute turning around and going home to get it! (I also tried to see if my sweet, darling, handsome and considerate fella had any errands that would bring him my way. Nope!) I complained over twitter a bit, but mostly jokingly. It was very disconcerting and uncomfortable to be without a watch. I really like being punctual, especially when cookies or people waiting are on the line. Maybe my friends are right, maybe I am too obsessed with time. Certainly I can cope and figure out timing when I don’t have a watch. However why take a chance when there are potentially cookies on the line?!
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V Day
Happy Saint Valentine’s Day!
Wait, who’s Saint Valentine… well, according to the all-knowing Wikipedia, the holiday was founded in 496 AD and was in reference to more than one martyr named Valentine. (Apparently we can blame good old Geoff Chaucer for making it about romantic love, maybe.) We are perhaps celebrating the Valentine of Rome and the Valentine of Terni. Ultimately though, it is not known what Valentinus’s acts were and romance did not enter into the equation till the 14th century, and in 1969 the feast day was removed from the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints. Apparently most of the thoughts linking Valentine’s to love with the story about the priest marrying people against the law, which is part of the Legenda Aurea.
Ok, so what does all that mean today. Well to me it means a lot of nothing, especially with the over-commercialization and the pressure to spend money. I think remembering to tell people you love them is good, and making Valentine’s cards as a kid was fun (or for co-workers in past years). To me it also makes me angry that the commercialization also makes many people feel like it is wrong that they are single. Wanting to be in a relationship is wonderful, but feeling like you are supposed to be on one is not. Sometimes it is great to be single!
So, on to V-Day! Happy V-Day! Thanks to playwright Even Ensler and her work The Vagina Monologues (which you can also get the book and read) the there is an additional meaning. It is the celebration of being a woman. It is a recognition of our biology and sexuality. It is about our fears and societal pressures. And it has turned into a movement to stop violence against women and girls. If you have a chance to go see a performance (they are performed on many college campuses as well as other places) do go and see it. Be prepared to feel shocked, embarrassed, uncomfortable, proud, and angry. Possibly even to feel like now you want to try to make a difference in the world.
That too is love you know.
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Olympic Dream
I never thought I would get to take part in the winter olympics, but it turns out 2010 is my year. I am going to officially participate in the Knitting Olympics that were founded by the Yarn Harlot. See this year’s announcement (and over 600 comments) here.
What are the Knitting Olympics? What types of events am I planning on competing in? Am I just plain nuts?
Well, you can go and read about the knitting olympics at length, as well as about the version done on Ravelry, the Ravelympics. I was interested a little, but it was really the Yarn Harlot who inspired me. The Knitting Olympics are when, during the Winter Olympics you, during the course of the games, you canst on and complete a whole project that you find difficult or challenging in some way. Be it a large project, a complicated project, new techniques, etc. More skilled knitletes are taking on things like full stranded Norwegian style sweaters and Alice Starmore cabled sweaters. On Ravelry events are names things like “Cable Cross-Country,” “Nordic Colorwork Combined,” and “Sweaterboard Cross.” But basically there are event types for anything you might want to do, and it also doesn’t need to be conceptualized in such a formal way. Some people even take on multiple projects/events… like knitting 2 sweaters!
What kind of olympian do I want to be? That took some thought. Since the Olympics start 6pm PST on the 12th and finish just before midnight PST on the 28th (almost 3am for me!) it is a compact length of time, and I am not too fast a knitter. Part of my decision was around what I have in my stash, part about patterns I have been meaning to knit, and part about choosing something challenging. It came down to socks vs. mittens. I have yet to finish a pair of adult socks, but I also have been planning on knitting the Jared Flood Druid Mittens for over a year. Both would be challenging, both give me an easy halfway mark to get to, both would be a real achievement. My event: the cabled mittens!
This I think answers the third question: I am totally nuts. (However so are hundreds, if not thousands of other knitters.) Then again, if you think about it, so are olympic athletes. think about it.
So, now I have until Friday to finish the Citron shawl I have been working on (15 rows to go! over 200 stitches per row…) so I can wear it to NYC. And I need to work in some other “training” for the Olympics. Some stretching, some rest, and the little bit of pre-olympic limbering up (read gauge-swatching so I know what size needles to use). Also, unlike an actual olympic athlete, I can drink either tea or beer while participating in my event. (Unless there are actual olympic events you can do this in…)
Also, it just so happens, that I love to watch the olympics and have had the schedule on my desktop for a few weeks now. I mean with things like luge, bobsled, the biathlon, downhill, halfpipe, hockey, speed skating, and curling who wouldn’t be excited?! I mean, my guy might not be thrilled by the amount of time I will want to watch things that are not video game related, but he’s very understanding and we’re finally going to set up the other tv, so it should be ok.
So, 9pm this Friday it all begins. The opening ceremony: The lighting of the torch OR The cast on! Who wants in?!
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New Year?
Technically, thanks to our man JC (Julius Cesar), January begins the new calendar year. We’ve entered the future here in 2010. While picking any arbitrary date to start fresh is perfectly ok, I think I am going to start the new year in the spring. So no big changes from me till then, and even then, very likely, no big changes.
In the mean time I have managed to make very slow progress on my Citron shawl. The pattern is a joy, the yarn is a joy, the color… you get the picture. I just haven’t been very speedy. Actually, because it is so simple in some ways I tend to pay less attention and then realize I have messed something up and have to go back! Gah! Soon (as in after participating in the 2010 MIT mystery hunt, since there is no way to knit and solve mind-crushingly difficult puzzles) I will make a renewed effort! I want to have the shawl complete, maybe by the end of February to wear to NYC, and I really need to pick up speed on the afghan again!
The rest of my time has been absorbed by holidays, friends, TV series on DVD, sleeping, Professor Layton and the Curious Village (just recently, and very addictively), and Glee! Have you not seen Glee? Oh the horror! You’ve only missed the first half of the season, which resumes in the spring. Go Catch Up! and thank me later.
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Self-Inflicted Knitting Torture
I was being so good for the Christmas holiday! I packed light and was off! My handsome fella and I did the Christmas Day run-around to see everyone. We say his Dad & crew, his Mom and family, and eventually my parents as well. He went back to spend more time with his family and I then stayed with mine.
The next morning I headed down to LI to do Christmas with the Mom’s-side clan. Sweet, a 4 hour-ish car ride to work on the lovely cabled afghan. And as we were getting everything in the car that’s when it hit me, I didn’t have the notebook with the pattern in it. Nooooooo
Turns out that the combination of weening myself down to one project, having had the notebook with another project I wanted to do some charting for, and hurried Christmas morning packing left me with a bag of knitting and no way to execute it. (There was no way I was going to wing it, not after managing the last fix when I made a mistake!)
So can you believe it is now the 28th of December and I have not knit at all starting the 24th (at least). Gadzooks! Then again, I think we all know what I will spend some time doing today!
(Hint: cabled afghan, maybe the pirate hat, winding yarn and swatching for Citron, and maybe working on the chart for the hat for a buddy of mine)
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Nude No More Christmas
It’s been a little hard getting ready for the holidays. I’ve been excited and ready (which is pretty unusual) but getting all the pieces together takes a lot of work! Now I feel like I have reached a turning point, which in the next couple days the man and I will push one step farther. That’s right, ORNAMENTS!
For now I am happy the tree has lights, because it sat naked in the living room for just over a week!
Next step might be cookies. Oh cookies
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Woah There
A lot has happened since the Celtics game and I just haven’t been able to mentally catch up.
We had a lovely Thanksgiving and managed to see all the respective immediate families. Dinner was with mine and my sister managed to cook us a terrific meal. She really knows how to cook, and with Mom and I helping out I would say there couldn’t have been a better meal. (Also I really love my family so spending time with them is always great.) I, of course, baked a pumpkin pie and everyone still loves me till next year.
Then, the following day, I had my 10 year reunion! Good Grief! We had a nice group come over first and then we took the T downtown to Felt where we grabbed dinner before heading upstairs to the party. There are a lot of things I could say here. I could wax poetic, make then vs. now lists, or even go on in detail about tons of people you aren’t likely to know. The sort version: it was super fun, it was great to talk to all different people and catch up, found out a bunch of people are in the area and we plan to hang out (boardgames will probably be part of that), and in the end I got to have some of my favorite people in the world in the same room as me again. I might have gotten teary, but it was probably the lighting.
Saturday I missed the fellas’ annual alumni high school ultimate game, but went out to brunch with an old friend and his lovely lady. After that though I caught up with all the rascals and adventures were had involving Blue-Ray players, Chinese food, and board games.
Somehow it is now the 2nd week in December. I have been knitting up a storm and having tea and cookies at night. Later I’ll share more on that and hopefully get the lights on the tree (YEAH TREE!) and post some pictures. At least now I don’t constantly feel like I am trying to show up time so I can catch up with all my thoughts. (Keep your slow comments to yourselves… especially you Dad!)
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Feeling Famous
So back when my handsome fella was living in Philly I used to frequent a magnificent yarn shop called Loop. Oh the selections! Oh the fair prices! Oh the great light, sofas, and great staff! (We visited in August, and we’ll visit again!)
So it turns out on their blog they like to post photos of projects people have knit with yarn from the store. They have a great flickr page. So I sent a few photos, and Craig asked if he could post them (to what I assumed would be the flickr page). Sure I said, and meant. Lo and behold, they wrote a blog post with my pictures!
Wow! Totally psycehd! Thanks Loop!
Later, more on that cable trouble with the afghan… with pictures!
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I Am My Own Superhero
A while back I decided to signup to run an all women’s half marathon. At the time I figured that since I was already training to run a 5K and I was interested in training to run longer distances that it would be the perfect opportunity to push myself.
Training for the 5K went well, as did the race back in late September. From there I planned on having just over a month from being ready for a 3 mile race to a 13 mile race. I figured that 5 weeks would let me get up from running 4 to at 10 miles at a good clip and would be able to then do the whole thing if I paced myself. Especially since all I wanted to do was finish.
Isn’t it interesting how things hardly ever go quite as planned?
Between the end of September and yesterday I managed to get 2 different bugs. The first one left me just utterly exhausted for several days. The shortly after that got better I got a terrible cold that kept me home on the couch or coughing for some time. So while I ran several more times in the end of September (for ultimate), I ran not at all in October until our last ultimate tournament on Halloween.
If you’re trying to figure out the numbers here folks, it means I did 1 day of running in the month before my first half marathon and previously had only been running up to 4 miles. As you can imagine, yesterday was interesting.
So what happened yesterday? I completed my first ever half marathon. That’s right, 13.1 miles from start to end. Not only that, it is the longest distance I have ever run. (And for full disclosure, I did not run the whole race. There was walking, especially up some beastly hills and towards the end. However no full mile between mile markers was walked at any time.) The race was in lovely coastal York, ME on yesterday’s beautiful, warm, sunny, and slightly breezy day. I miraculously finished the whole thing in under 3 hours! I did it in 2 hours and 55 minutes (and 58 seconds). At times I felt very much like giving up and just laying in a stranger’s yard until my guy came and found me, but I did not. (Miles 10-13 were especially hard, and 11 & 12 were torture.) Nor did I cry. Nor did I get mad at myself. (Nor did I figure out how to drink a cup of water while running without getting all of it up my nose. Stopping for water was the way to go!) Heck, I even enjoyed myself for most of it! And while I maybe did not pace as well as I could have, and perhaps could have run a little more here and there, I crossed the finish line running (albeit very very slowly)!
So yesterday in the car on the way home I said to my handsome fella that I felt simultaneously like a superhero and the lamest person alive. I felt like a superhero because I did it and lame because I always feels bad when I finish so far behind everyone else that there is no pack, or sign of a pack, or hardly anyone at all. Today, after I figured out my average pace was a 13.18 mile I was convinced of my own superhero status. Who cares if I came in towards the very end of the pack. Heck, who cares if I had come in last, I did it! (and boy oh boy do I have the aching body to prove it!)
Next time, however, I will definitely train. (Note how I already know there will be a next time. Nicole was right.)
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Anniversary!
Well, now that today’s workday is over I have officially been at my job for 6 years! It seems like 3 Nov 2003 was an awfully long time ago, and I guess it was. Looking back it is hard to comprehend all I have done, learned, affected, and continue to work on.
Some things I have had the opportunity to do in the past 6 years:
- Take a 3 week course in Miami on Biodiversity of Tropical Plants
- Participate in workshops on: Southeast Asian plant family identification, identifying diatoms, identifying lichens
- Go to Eagle Hill in Maine to take courses for professional development on Slime Molds (Myxomycetes), Bryophytes (twice!), and Hypogeous Fungi (truffles and stuff)
- Refresh my Latin and learn some German
- Take a mycology course
- Listen to countless fantastic speakers
- Go to a large Botany conference in Chicago
- Become a member of the IPM-WG and go to the working group meeting 2 times
- Work with wonderful, intelligent, compassionate and friendly people
- Learn a lot about databases and how to test them
- Give tours to all different people of all different ages
- Help with research projects
I can’t even begin to estimate how many specimen I have filed, and I could probably get estimates on the number of things I have sent on loan or databased but I think I would rather not know. I’ve corresponded with people all over the world and I’ve helped people translate English into Latin for publications. I have found things thought to be lost, and I have probably “lost” some other things. I’ve made my own field collections with my own collecting permit (and still need to finish the identifications!), I’ve gone on walks, and I even attended several forays (for bryophytes and for fungi). I have made many friends in many places who study many things.
I have not finished everything the previous person had not finished. I have not managed to knock the ever-growing piles of things to do down to a tiny pile, I have not finished every project I have started, but I also have not been miserable. Not once! Stressed and overwhelmed at times, but still happy with my job. I have watched at least 9 co-workers move on to other jobs, graduate studies, and places… not including graduate students and post-docs whom have also left.
And after these 6 great years I wonder what I will do in year 7. Will this be my final year? Is it time to move on to graduate school or some other place? Will I accomplish something great, take on some amazing project, complete some of the things I have been trying to finish for almost as long as I have been here?! I have no idea, and THAT is pretty exciting.
So here’s to you, job I love and that I have gown and changed with! Thank you for the past 6 great years and uncountable opportunities! Tonight I’ll raise a beer, some knitting needles, and perhaps even a field guide to you… and I’ll be back in the morning to see what is in store next!
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Big trouble in cable city
So I’m working on knitting a present for a couple of friends of mine who got married. (Technically I have the whole first year so who cares if I cast on after the wedding!) It’s a mod of a complicated Starmore sweater into a lovely afghan. A few cables, a bit of simple lace, and viola!
So the thing about cables is that though they are simple in theory, there are some problems that can arrise, especially if one is lazy and does not actually use someting to underline their working row on all the charts.
Here is the panel in question:
Can you see the problem? How about now?
So this is what it is supposed to look like:
and this is what I have:
and if you look back to the first picture you might notice I have knit quite a bit since then. A whole additional repeat from where that mistake is. About 23 rows. 23 ROWS! And now I see that I have 3 options:
- Leave it, say that hand knit things have mistakes, and never look back!
- Drop back just those 5 stitches and see if I can figure out how to fix it and reknit everything along the way with just the cable needle, crochet hook, and my wits.
- Frog back 23 rows and fix the mistake and then reknit 23 rows.
As I see it 1 is straight out. I refuse to succumb to my own stupidity and laziness at forgetting a cable cross. Number 2 is terrifying and yet if it works is the least amount of work. I just haven’t yet figured out how exactly it would work, though I can usually figure out how to grab stitches as knits and purls, not usually 5 in a row with cables. The final option will work if the second option fails. (So long as I don’t drop other things along the way. I am suddenly considering lifelines for every pattern repeat.) However the idea of reknitting that many rows is inconceivable very hard. The backside rows speed along, but the front-side rows, when I am in a good rhythm and everything is moving perfectly probably take me no less than 10 minutes, which means if I was only doing front rows perfectly then it would take me about 2 hours of perfect knitting to redo all that work.
I think morning is a better time to tackle this, perhaps even afternoon after coffee and a lot of thinking. I may even have to phone a friend for some help, if only moral support! (Chocolate and wine may be on hand for the post results in case of both good or bad. Or beer, beer alyways helps… right? Maybe I should have one of those now.)
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Saturday is…
Chocolate for Breakfast Day!
That’s right, back in probably late August I decided that Saturday should be chocolate for breakfast day. It started on a particulary difficult Saturday where I felt I needed a boost, and then I decided that EVERY Saturday should start this way.
I’ve stuck to it! (out of enjoyment and not obligation) It’s not necessarily that my entire breakfast is chocolate. Perhaps a mocha (hot or iced), a scone with some chocolate, pancakes with some chocolate, and usually this is accompanied by non-chocolate themed food. (Though not always! Mmmm chocolate croissant and mocha!) Sometimes I go out to achieve this, sometimes it is as home. Sometimes it is true breakfast, and sometimes it is more of a second breakfast. Either way, there is chocolate and it makes Saturday great. Even my handsome man agrees!
So, give it a try! Saturday is Chocolate for Breakfast Day!
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