Michelle’s House of Horror

No catfish though. Do you think they really jump? That doesn’t seem logical to me.

I’m wrapping up another delightful week on call. (boo, hiss)

Mark and I lit off our fireworks on Friday night. I’m always surprised how much spark-y stuff and loud noises come out of the legal fireworks! We walked to the end of the street afterwards and caught the end of the display the city puts on at Tigard High.

I’ve been reading a lot over the long weekend, since I’m a bit stuck at home (the on call thing) but it’s been good weather for lolling about on a chaise lounge on the patio. I got through “the Historian” which is a novel about some historians searching for Dracula. That was fun, if not particularly profound. Excellent reading for the chaise lounge, and I do love both vampires and travelogues, so I was very happy with the book. Also am just finishing up “the Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls, which has also been a quick read…a little grim for the chaise lounge, but still interesting. It reminds me of “Bastard Out of Carolina” and “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”–young girl raised in a quirky to the point of abuse family makes good.

We went to the farmer’s market this morning and got more produce than we’ll be able to eat. A big pot of vegetable soup helped make a big dent in it though.

No knitting to speak of, really. My wrists have been bothering me again.

I did find an old friend from college on Facebook a few weeks ago. (Hi, Nabil!) I haven’t talked to him since about 1985! He’s been from Oregon to Dubai to Bangladesh to England since then. People do get around, don’t they?

It’s the usual work, gym, Mark bought another bass, I read more books kind of a month.

So, life is blissfully uneventful.

It was time to recertify for my CCNA (Cisco Networking certification, for the non-nerds who may be reading) and of course I’ve been studying a bit here and there for several months for the SND exam which will get me recertified. So, I took the exam several weeks ago..not really thinking I was super prepared but fairly prepared..and was not stunned when I failed by a bit.

However. I came home, and spent the next 2 weeks studying very hard indeed. Most unlike me.

I was very stunned when I took it again last week, and just barely missed passing. This is material I thought I knew very well! I wanted to stick a pin in someone’s eye. Probably my own, since it wasn’t anyone else’s fault I failed. I needed to complete this exam by 6/20 or lose my original cert. I was kicking myself hard in the posterior for waiting so long, and certainly didn’t want to take the whole CCNA exam again!

So I buckled down. Took some days off work.
And got 100% on the damn test this morning.

And there was much rejoicing.
Particularly at work, where my mood has been less than good of late.

Now what will I take next? Firewall specialist? IOS router security specialist?
Hmm…..

This whole fitness thing still seems to be working out (heh) very well. Mark and I are both down 40+ pounds, and still hitting the gym 5-6 nights a week…eating sensibly, blah blah blah. Yeah, it’s boring, but we both feel good and it’s a lot more sustainable to eat what we like in sensible quantities than to do a “diet” and get sick of it and fail. So “yay us” I guess.

So far this year I have run/walked/ellipticalled/biked over 718 miles. I actually rode my real bike in the street for almost 20 miles one day. There were hills.

I just got back from a work trip to the Seattle area for some training on one of our new firewalls. That was much needed, but I was mainly happy because it meant I got to hang out with some friends (hi, Kevin and Georgia!) and my folks.

Hanging out with my mother meant shopping. That was fun. Expensive.

Knitting-wise…hmmm…going to the gym has really hurt my knitting time. I’ve got a Pi Are Squared shawl on the needles right now. In Blue Moon’s Geisha yarn. Geisha is a mohair/silk blend that is really great to knit with. Definitely recommended!

More like 400. Take THAT you silly little goal, you!

I know, I know–I’m soooooo mature

That’s really about all I have to say. It’s a great workout, and someone makes you keep pushing it so you can’t get lazy. Sometimes the music is a bit too electronica for my tastes, but that’s about the only negative. Well, that and my wrists hurt. I know– my wrists always hurt. Now I want to get a real bike. And ride it. Outside. On the street. Maybe I should put air in the tires of my Burningman bike first, and see if I even like riding in the street? I will have to figure out how to get the lock off first. Yep. Forgot the combo.

I propelled myself over 100 miles this month…with one day to spare!
Running/biking/walking and ellipticalling for a total of 103.33 miles.

What’s my new goal going to be? I don’t know–I’m thinking maybe I’ll try for bringing up my average miles per month for the year to 100. I’m at 181.68 miles for the year which is only 90.84 miles per month on average, so I’d need to do 118.32 miles between now and the end of March to make up for my “low miles” in January. That’s reasonable, I think.

I don’t know what I’d have to do in April to top that.

Yeah, well…a bit. When I’m not trying to run/walk/bike/elliptical 100 miles in a month. A girl’s only got so many hours in a day, y’know.

I do have a pair of fingerless gloves on the needles. In a very pretty color (sienna over bronze? I don’t remember!) of Sundara Yarn. And then there’s the scarf I’m knitting out of a particularly pretty shade of Blue Moon’s Silkie called Oregon Red Clover Honey. Knitting only at lunch and weekends a bit is slowing me down considerably.

Mark talked me into taking a spin class tonight. The biking kind, not the sheep kind. I was convinced that it would kill me, and yet I am strangely not dead. Not even particularly suffering. In fact, dare I say? I thought it was fun. There, I said it. Fun. Sweaty, but fun. I will definitely do some more of that. It will help me reach the new fitness goal for the month. Really, I should think of them at the beginning of the month, don’t you think? However. How does this sound–running/walking/ellipticalling or biking 100 miles by 2/29/08. If I count the spin classes conservatively at 8 miles, it’ll be feasible. I think I’ll go for it. After all, I’ve already reached my goal for 4/1 so I need a target.

Who knew I was so numbers driven?

All of our parental units have returned safely from their travels with photos galore.
Mom and Larry’s photos are here on the kodak gallery if you like pictures of Machu Picchu and cute llamas and such.
Jim and Marcy don’t have an online photo repository, but had some nice pictures of their Egypt travels. Camels, pyramids. What’s not to like? If Mark gets a cd, we’ll post some over in the jolin-carleton gallery.

if I met my goal?

Yes, sports fans, that is correct–I have officially walked/run/ellipticalled over 100 miles between January 1st and April 1st. If I am not very much mistaken in my calendaring skills, I even met my goal well ahead of schedule.

That means I’m done until then, right?

hornswoggled if I’m not just about to 100 miles (92.45 to be precise) already, mostly on the elliptical. Remember how I said I wouldn’t do anything crazy like run with my feet actually on the ground? Don’t worry–I didn’t. I did do about 10 miles of running on a treadmill though, but my knee didn’t appreciate it. I may try it again some time, but OMYEFFIN’GAWD it’s BORING on a treadmill! I may have to try running outside.

Mark is taking spinning classes. No, not the fiber kind. The bicycle kind. He wanted me to get up at 0730 on a SUNDAY so he could go. Not going to happen. He’s a maniac on a bike–and looking forward to getting back out on his real bike when the weather is nicer.

All interesting or noteworthy activities have pretty much come to a halt whilst we are eternally at the gymnasium. Knitting is happening, but I have no photos. Blogging, obviously is not happening very regularly. Reading is happening a little.

Oh, except I finally got together with my friend Christine after 8 years. It was so great to talk to her!

The spousal unit bought a new Prius and an obscenely gigantic TV. AND he’s getting cable.
We made room for the car in the garage by donating our motorcycles to the Humane Society. Yes, folks–we have 2 cars in our 2 car garage. It’s true.

Mark’s parents are off galavanting around Egypt. Mine are off to Peru.

I need to do the taxes.

Work is maddening.

That’s about it!

Remember when I said that the gym was sucking up all my free time?

Huh. Yeah. It still is. We’re still going 5-6 times a week. I’ve been putting in a lot of miles on the elliptical machine. It’s like running in the air while moving levers with both hands. I’ve become quite good at it. For “good” read “not awful.” Mark’s taking a spin class.

In fact….

I’ve decided to try to do a bit of a challenge over at runagogo: I am going to move my none-too-svelte physique at least 100 miles by April 1st. There, I said it. Stop laughing. I mean it. In fact, I’ve already done over 25 miles since January 1st. I can get there by running, walking, swimming, biking, crawling, or whatever other method I choose. Like my friend the elliptical trainer.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything crazy like really run. Like with my feet on pavement. Ew

In important knitting news, I did finish socks for Larry in time for Xmas and also a new shawl for myself. No pictures yet, though.