Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Becca came in this weekend for the all important BEARS GAME!! The weekend started Friday, so that Becca could get her Leona's Fix (Hey, they don't have Leona's in the QCA.) Then we decided to keep it mellow...by going bowling.

Check out that form!

I think I bowled my best game ever! (And by best I mean, I suck! Look at that split!!)

Saturday was spent around town, and ended with Becca's first trip to the redone Soldier Field.

Here's a bit of the game:Yes, I did think it was necessary to paint my face (with glitter) for the game.

I'm not going to make any comments about the game...you all saw it, Bears won 31-28. What I do take major issue with is the fact that they stopped serving beer 5 minutes in to the third quarter. WTF?!?! If you weren't in the rediculously slow lines at half time, you were basiclly screwed! I got in line with 30 seconds left in the second quarter and I wasn't served until right at the cut off. I got the last beers before the alcohol cut off. There were some very angry Bears fans in the line behind me.

Aside from that annoyance, it was an excellent weekend--GO BEARS!!

Me vs. August

I'm starting to think that the end of August doesn't like me. I'm tired of bad news, miscommunications, crabby people and people just sucking in general.

There was some issues at school that were annoying. I had a AWFUL blood test--(So bad that I not only vomited, but I also passed out--and the results weren't good either.). And on the drive home today, some crabby old man was on my ass honking and swearing at me (yes, I do see the irony). The mail guy keeps delivering my Sports Illustrated and Time Outs (as well as other magazines) late. My stalker had reappeared (I had hoped to be stalker free in '07). My Trib hasn't been at my house before 9:30 am in weeks.... It's not just this August, either...I can think back several years of sucky Augusts.

I can't decide if I need to better my karma or if I should just hide under the bed.

At least my Bears and Cubbies are doing well...(Somebody, knock on wood...August doesn't like me, remember?)

Interesting Sobriety Test

I was just puttering around online and I discovered this article. A German taxi company is sponsoring a video game that’s attached to a urinal. Based on the control of the urine stream, a car is driven on the video screen. If you crash the car, you’re obviously “too pissed to drive” and a number is given for a cab company.

Questions/comments I have about the game:

--How does one go in reverse?
--In my experience, men have a tendency to miss when they’re stone sober…how are you going to judge sobriety based on aim?
--Is there a female version? How would that work? Chicks don’t stand up to pee.
--This definitely gives a whole new meaning to “Joy Stick”.
--What happens if you don’t have enough urine to play the game?
--What if the TVs get changed to Sports Center?
--Are there other games besides a racing game to choose from…maybe Whak-a-Mole? (pun completely intended).
--Can you race others using the restroom at the same time?
--How do you accelerate or shift?
-- If this was installed in a place like ESPN Zone or Dave and Buster’s would it give you prize tickets?
--Can you save your high scores?
--Does the old adage “If you shake it more than twice then it’s considered playing with yourself” still apply?
--How does the bar enforce the call to the cab company?
--Could you have a designated pee-er?
--Does the slogan of “Let your toilet become interactive” bother anyone else?!?!? I don’t think I want my toilet to be too interactive.

I guess this is a good idea…but I’d hate to feel left out because all my friends were playing video games in the bathroom. I wonder how long before something like this crosses the pond.

I swear I'm a grown-up!!!

I stopped by my old school to visit Linda, my former co-art teacher and pick up some donated supplies for my classroom. And we got to talking and I offered her some fresh veggies from about my garden. She had a lunch meeting to go to, so I said I’d bring them to her later that after noon.

When I brought them over, she was working in the bookstore. I waited in line so that I could pass them to her and one of the new teachers that were helping her asked me if I wanted to buy a PE uniform or needed to purchase any supply cards.

Are you kidding me? I’m sooooo not a high school student. Maybe I look young, but I didn’t think I’d be mistaken for a kid! I guess I’d rather look young for my age, than older—but I swear I’m a grown up!!

Does this count as a chapter for the Frog Chronicles?

This evening, my doorbell rang. Now, I don't usually answer the door if I'm not expecting anyone, but I do check to see who is hanging out on my front porch. I checked through the incessant ringing and knocking and there were three teen-aged boys (late high school age) on my front steps. After about 5 minutes of non-stop knocking, I opened the door with my trusty golf club (thank you, Big John!) to see what they wanted.

They were soliciting window estimates in the neighborhood. I just stared...seriously? That's worth being that annoying? Anywho, I declined their offer for an estimate. One of the boys thanked me for my time, told me to have a good evening and then said "You have really great legs."

Wha?? Did I actually hear that? I asked "What did you just say?" He turned back, stuttered something incoherent and ran down the steps. His buddies were laughing at him.

How is this good business practice? How icky is it being checked out by 17 year olds?

EW! I should have taken a swing with the golf club.

Kick Ass

Aw, Barb!! I'm not sure if I kicked ass, but I sure as hell tried!!!

Thank you, so much!

(Just so you know, I’ve been singing “Cuz’ that’s what Brian Boytano’d do!” since I got my mail…)

13.1 Reasons to Smile

I did it!!! First ½ Marathon!! (insert happy dance here Woo-Hoo!!)

This morning was the Chicago Distance Classic and while there’s a strong possibility it’s due to a runner’s high, I never thought I’d run 13.1 miles and have this big of a smile on my face!! (Still doing the happy dance)

It wasn’t all smooth sailing; I did hit a few speed bumps. The first slight problem was around mile six…my iPod ran out of juice. After I quit swearing, I started singing to myself in my head. (Did you know “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and the “Alphabet Song” have the same tune? My profound discovery around mile 7). The second came between miles nine and ten...my lungs decided that they had had enough. If I didn’t slow down to walk they were going to revolt with an asthma attack. While my legs wanted to keep going, I decided that a nice little walk break was in order. The last problem didn’t present itself until much later in the day…the sun wasn’t up at 4:30 when I woke up, but sunblock would have been a really smart choice (not that my sports bra burn line isn’t sexy). Two out of three of those bumps are fixable… Memo to me: 1) Charge iPod, 2) Slather on the SPF.

It was a great race! Thank you to everyone who sent their advice and well wishes for this race…as well as telling me that I’d do all right (Chris), and not die (Barb), or even that I’m crazy (Mom). I’m a little sad I have to wait until January before I run another 1/2 marathon. But until then I have a big honkin’ penguin medal, a little bit of bragging rights, and an excuse to keep doing the happy dance!


PS---Happy Birthday to Meghan!!!

Freezing Ice Bucket-O-Fun

I did something to the arch of my foot. I’m not really sure what I did, but I noticed yesterday that it was quite tender to the touch. I tried rubbing it a little before my run this morning, but I had to cut the run short. I even tried stretching it a little more this evening. No good.

Due to my years of being an athlete, working as a student trainer and the well known fact that I’m accident prone; I’ve spent my fair share of time in the training room. Therefore, I have a basic knowledge of first aid for sports injuries. 99% of the time the correct answer for an injury is ice. I’m sure most of you from Luther can probably still hear Mr. Miller, in his Eeyore-esque voice, saying “Ice it”.

The ice pack wasn’t cutting it. I couldn’t find my standard peas in the freezer (I hope my parents didn’t eat those while they were here visiting—ew!). Frozen peas are the best for molding to the shape of the injury and refreezing quickly (just don’t eat them after all the freezing and unfreezing!). So I did what I had to do…I filled a bucket with ice and water to soak my poor foot.

Clearly it’s been a while since I’ve needed this remedy because the second my foot took the plunge--HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!! I forgot how much that sucks!! Seriously, there was a day when I would ask the trainers to add more ice to the whirl pool because the temperature had gotten up to 55 degrees. I’d be perfectly content sitting on the edge of the whirl pool, wearing a sweatshirt and shorts, drawing the alphabet with my toes. This first soaking in a long time caused quite the string of obscenities. Fortunately, once I calmed down, I remembered that the soaking does get better…no matter how cold the water your feet will eventually go numb.

Hopefully this will work the kinks out of my poor arch…until then pay no attention to the Tourette's style screaming coming from my house.

**This post was written while my feet were in the freezing ice bucket-o-fun.

When mattresses attack!

Due to my race on Sunday I’ve been a bundle of nerves! I’m certain that I’ve been driving every one I know (especially Barb), crazy. As a result I’ve been trying to harness this nervous energy by cleaning out every nook, cranny, and closet in my house. I’m sure it would serve me better to just clean my house, but I’m not going to question this motivation. I already have several boxes for Am-vets when the come by next week.

Anywho, today I’ve been working on laundry including my sheets. I realized that I’ve neglected to flip my new mattress since I’ve gotten it last month (oops!). It’s a lovely comfy mattress that is a joy to sleep on…however it’s not so much the joy to flip. The damn thing is heavy!! I struggled to flip it up on its side when I realized that Seamus had wandered into the room and was sniffing under the bed. Not wanting Seamus to get smooshed in the process I tried to shoo him away with my foot. In doing so, I lost my balance and the mattress came crashing down creating a Bethie sandwich between itself and the box springs.

Yeah, it was super fun trying to wiggle out from under that. Thank goodness this was not a situation where I'd need to call Meg to get me unstuck from something. (Come on, you know you all were thinking it!)

I’m currently taking applications for an assistant mattress flipper. No experience necessary, but brut strength and a better sense of balence than I is required.

For the Love of the Game…

It finally happened. Barry Bonds tied Hank Aaron’s all time home run record. It’s probably a happy day for some baseball fans, however I can’t help feeling a little sad.

Maybe I’m just an old soul, but it seems the good old days are gone. At this point you’d have to have been unfrozen from a glacier to not realize that steroid use is rampant in MLB, and probably most other sports for that matter. While, even in the middle of my rant, I can admit that that hitting 755 homeruns is an amazing feat, how much more awesome would it be if this record wasn’t accompanied by an asterisk for juicing. (And yes, I know Bonds denies these allegations.)

Furthermore, Bonds has stated that he’s only going to play in home games so he can break the record at home. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? (Can you tell I’m fired up?) What happened to team work? What happened to playing a sport for the shear love of the game? When did professional athletes become bigger princesses than the ones at Disney World? This is beyond aggravating!! Is he that useless of a left fielder that his sole purpose to hit homeruns? For a man who’s making 20 million a year, I think he should get his ass out on the field and play. In addition, if I was playing a professional sport, I think it would be even more fulfilling to break a record in someone else’s field…like if a Cub broke a record in St. Louis for example.

I guess I should be used to baseball breaking my heart, after all—I am a life long Cubs fan.

Sigh, it’s a good thing football season is starting up…