holiday hike

For the 4th of July, Josh and I went for a hike at Humpback Rocks in the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's a short hike but steep, and then the views are amazing.





We also had a pistachio shell sighting!



After the hike we had lunch at the Blue Mountain Brewery. We sat outside with views of the hops farm and mountains, and it was pretty great.

Rain spoiled our fireworks-watching plans so we just watched the show from the Capitol on TV. Overall it was still a good holiday.

Weekend(s) Update

Let me tell you (briefly) what the haps have been. Last Saturday (er, the one almost a week and a half ago) my parents flew into Richmond. Sunday we celebrated Grandma's birthday and Sunday night Dad and I enjoyed brews and live tunes at Legends Brewery. Monday Dad went with me downtown and wandered around while I did some research for work. My parents stayed in Richmond all week while I came back to Charlottesville, but then I took off of work Friday to get ready for Grandpa's recital. He had a professional pianist come to the house Friday night and give a salon concert, so we got all dressed up and had the event catered and everything. It was very nice. The next day Dad, Josh, Jay, Sunni, and myself all went tubing on the James River, and Saturday night was a sort of "girls night out" with my mom and aunt.

So there you go, two fun weekends with family (including my parents!).

(This post is short because I'm writing from work [after hours] while I figure out how to get the internet to work at my apartment again, after a big thunderstorm Sunday. Just FYI.)

I want one of these

Last night I got together with some ladies from work for dinner and a movie. The movie was Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and we planned the rest of the meal around a Spanish theme to match the movie. We started with ceviche (not really Spanish, but from places where they speak Spanish...), then some manchego cheese and bread, and our main course was gazpacho. But between the cheese and the gazpacho came chorizo, cooked in a Portuguese pig!

One of the co-worker ladies is from Portugal, so she brought her pig. You put alcohol in the bottom, light it on fire, and it cooks the chorizo. It was delicious.



Ole!

Timo 5k

Yesterday I ran in a 5k race. Other than the Montalto Challenge, I haven't raced a 5k before (only 3.1 miles), but a coworker helps run the Timo 5k, and all the proceeds benefit the rescue squad where Josh volunteers. He and his roommate ran, too. It was hot and the course was cross-country with grass and hills and dirt and stuff. So pretty tough for a 5k. But we all did very well!


I won 3rd place for women overall (prize = technical shirt from local running store), and 2nd place for women in my age group (prize = red ribbon). Josh's roommate also won 2nd place in his age division.


Afterwards the three of us celebrated with lunch and a beer.

summer fun

Last week/weekend was fun. My Richmond family (plus Ryan, who flew out from Arizona) had a rental house at Lake Anna, so I went and joined them Wednesday after work and stayed until Friday. There was lots of hanging out, swimming in the lake (even after dark), playing games, eating, and even a little kayaking.

Friday we headed to Richmond so the fun could continue over the weekend. We had pho Friday night and celebrated Sunni's birthday, and we went swimming in the James River on Saturday. More fun stuff happened Sunday.

I'm enjoying my summer so far. It's pretty nice getting to hang out and relax and not do homework.

geocaching adventure

For Memorial Day Josh and I wanted to do something exciting outdoors, but weren't quite up for a long hike (the original plan), so instead we broke out his new handheld GPS and went geocaching right here in Charlottesville. We printed off the coordinates for seven caches at a local park, and headed out...



We found the first one! As you can see, it was a micro cache.


Josh is recording our find.


We ran into a creek next to the river at one point and had to find our way around. This part of the park was wooded and felt like we could have been miles away in the mountains.


The GPS is kind of fun because you know what direction to go, but you don't necessarily know where the trails are. Sometimes the GPS seems confused though, and you have to wander around in clearings until it figures itself out.


We couldn't find two of them, and we bipassed one when there were people around (apparently you're supposed to be secretive about geocaching and not let "muggles" see you). But we found four, so that's exciting. Here is Josh finding another one in a tree.


People trade out little toys and other random stuff. We added this to the cache.


At a different cache, we traded a finger puppet for this sweet eraser.


All the walking and searching for two hours, plus the 90 degree heat, meant a break by the river was necessary. Here you can see my first temporary tattoo of the summer.


We also ate snacks.


Overall we had a lot of fun being outside and finding "secret" caches. It was also nice to be reminded that the river and wooded parks are so close by. It was a successful first try at geocaching, and I'm sure we'll do it again.

montalto challenge take 2

So last Saturday was the Montalto Challenge, the all-uphill 5k that Josh and I did last year. We did it again, and we both improved!

This year I got word that a particular fourteen-year-old boy had the goal of beating me up the mountain. It's pretty nerve racking knowing you have to actually race an individual up a mountain, rather than simply run up with a friendly group and hope you do better than last year. Anyway, he was ahead of me for the first mile and a half, I passed him and was ahead for just a little while, and he was in front of me (but close and always in sight) the rest of the way up. Unfortunately the mountain part is just so awful that I couldn't care anymore, and the kid beat me. Sigh.

But I beat my time from last year by a minute, so I'm happy about that.

Here's the starting line. (Per usual, Josh took these photos.)


Here I am getting ready to start, wearing perhaps the most awesome running shirt ever. This is the shirt Josh made me for my birthday. (Also note the looong legs on the kid behind me in red...)


Did you want to see a closeup?


Here's how it looks down on the trail part.


And here's how it looks going up Montalto. Almost everyone has to stop and walk a little. (Also note that Josh must have stopped to turn around and take this. He's a hard core runner slash race photographer.)


See how high we're getting?


Josh got a couple of shots of me nearing the finish line, but I was dying, having just run up a mountain, and am not willing to share the unflattering pictures. Sorry.

Aah, the obligatory flared-nostrils-because-I'm-trying-to-catch-my-breath photo.


You can see Monticello just to the right of my arm.


Josh did great. He beat last year's time by 4:20, AND he came in second in his age group! Here he is with the other winners (he's over on the right end.)

EMT

Josh spent six months last year taking an EMT class, and now he's a real-life EMT. He started volunteering one day a week at a local rescue squad a couple months ago. Here he is sporting the stethoscope my grandpa gave him. Thumbs up for helping to save lives!

quick update

Quickly, here's what's been going on:

My birthday was almost two weeks ago. I had to work and go to class that day, but they had dessert for me at work and then the Friday night following my birthday Josh and I went to a German restaurant with another couple and we all gorged ourselves on delicious food. Josh also gave me this really awesome shirt he painted that you will have to wait another couple of weeks to see. Get excited.

This past weekend Josh and I went to his grandparents' house over by the bay. We were there less than 24 hours, but we ate good food, enjoyed good company, and even kayaked on a little pond.

Saturday night we joined my family in Richmond for a sushi dinner, and then Sunday was Easter. I went to church with the grandparents and Sunni, dyed eggs with Sunni, and we all ate at my aunt's house, which included hanging out on the porch because warm weather is back!

My semester is coming to a close quickly, and that means a huge final paper is coming up quickly, too....Luckily I just got a new computer (my old one was from 2006 and the guy at Best Buy told me that was like being 75 years old in computer years) so now I won't have to "warm up" my laptop every time I need to use it, and it won't take a billion years to look at anything on the internet. I might even blog more often now that using my computer doesn't make me want to pull my toe nails out, but let's not hold our breath.

exciting Mondays

Occasionally for work I get to go do research away from the office. Last Monday was special because I got to do that at the Library of Congress in D.C. for the first time. My class met there later in the evening, so I went up early and spent the whole day there. Well, really I got into D.C. (after the 2+ hour drive to the metro station and the 45 minute ride into the city) around 10:30 and stopped by the National Archives to copy some things from microfilm, then I walked down and across the Mall to the Library of Congress. I ate my lunch on the grounds of the Capitol. After working and class I even got to hang out a little and have dinner with fellow students. That was exciting since I commute to school and I never get to hang out with other students, which makes me sad. Of course taking the time to hang out meant I got home at 1am, but it was worth it.

Yesterday I also did some research away from the office. This time I spent the day at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. I mostly copied things off of microfilm, which isn't too exciting, but I did get to grab a delicious lunch and eat on the grounds of the state capitol next to a statue of Stonewall Jackson, among the dogwood trees and tulips. It's the little things.

connecting with history

As you know, I like history. I like it so much I'm making it a career and working toward a second graduate degree in it. But just because I like it doesn't mean I always feel especially "connected" to it. Maybe that's part of its appeal--it's like a different world. Like fiction, only more awesome (and sometimes more tragic or unbelievable) because it's not fiction.

Often in my history classes someone speaks up in class with a personal story that is (or at least they think it is) connected to whatever we're reading that week. For example, when reading a book on suburbanization and consumer culture one guy shared that he grew up in the city the book centered on during the 1960s, and remembered learning to drive in the giant suburban mall's parking lot. When reading about mining in the West, a girl from Montana said her family got there back in the day specifically because they went to mine copper.

I've read a couple of books about New Mexico this past year, and they are always exciting because I'm from New Mexico. But honestly, I don't feel very connected to striking Mexican-American miners in southern New Mexico in the 1950s, or to the Pueblo Indians and their Spanish conquerors in the seventeenth century. (Unless you count the that fact that I attended De Vargas Junior High, and our mascots were the Conquistadors.)

But this last week I felt a real connection. We read a book about the manipulation and control of rivers in the American West, and it dawned on me that irrigation and water control had a very large role to play in my family going to and staying in New Mexico. My great grandfather moved his family to Albuquerque during the Depression (or maybe just before?) to work as a dragline operator digging irrigation ditches. And his son, my granddad, was a civil engineer who worked in New Mexico for the Bureau of Reclamation, the Department of Agriculture, and finally in the State Engineer's Office managing water resources. Irrigating the arid West has played a pretty fundamental role in the development of the region (and the country), for better or worse, and my family took part. I'm connected.

Charlottesville Ten Miler

Yesterday I ran in the Charlottesville Ten Miler, and it was great! It was 37 degrees, but it wasn't so bad once I started running. My goal, which I wasn't so sure I would make, was to finish in 1:30. But I made it in 1:26:10! Josh had his bike and his camera, so he pedaled all over the place to take pictures and cheer me on, and you can thank him for these.


The hard core guys getting ready to start.


Me, cold, headed to the start.


It begins! There were over 2,200 runners.


So far so good.


Looking intense.


Coming into the finish line.


Got my medal and headed for waaaater.


Apparently I still had the energy to jump.


What a guy.

Brrr

Forecast for temperature at race time on Saturday morning: low- to mid-30s.

Ugh.

still running

So next weekend I'm running in a 10 mile race. I really liked training for and running the half marathon last year, and this year I chose this race instead since I don't have as much time to train anymore (plus the 10-miler is a lot cheaper). I've only been running three days a week, with medium runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays and a longer run on the weekend. Today I ran my last long run before the race, 8 miles. I haven't been getting a whole lot faster than last year, but I also haven't taken the time and effort to actually work at getting faster. But that's okay. For now.

As soon as the 10-miler is over I will begin training for the same uphill 5k I did last year. Josh decided he would do it with me again, so we are going to work at the gym on things that will make us good at running straight up for a mile. It'll be hard core.

Arizonan litter

Look what Ryan found!

Thursday night show

Thursday night Josh Ritter (my favorite) came to town. I wasn't sure I'd have time to see him, what with reading to do and the gym to visit and cookies to make for Retirement Day, but Josh (not Ritter) had actually showed some enthusiasm the night before about the show and I couldn't turn that down, since Josh (not Ritter) doesn't really like Josh (Ritter). So we went.

Josh (not Ritter) was feeling pretty sick with a cold, and we probably shouldn't have bothered going out, but he pulled through. After being fortified with pizza at Christian's on the downtown mall, we made it to the show at 10 just as Josh (Ritter) took the stage. It turns out the show was part of the same tour Josh (not Ritter) and I saw last summer in Richmond. But it was still good. Because Josh Ritter is always good. In my opinion.

Josh (not Ritter) said the vibrations of the bass helped clear his chest, and I say the music also cheered him up, and overall we had a very fun time.

on the road

Sheesh, I haven't posted in a month. Anyway, let me tell you about how I'm always driving all over the state of Virginia.

I live in Charlottesville (in central Virginia), I go to school once or twice a week in Fairfax (100 miles northeast), and I frequently visit Richmond (70 miles east) on the weekends. Recently Josh and I have also traveled to other places on weekends. One weekend in January we visited friends in Fredericksburg (65 miles northeast). A couple weeks later we had lunch with his grandfather in Fishersville (30 miles west). The weekend after that we visited his other grandparents in Roanoke (120 miles southwest) and then went straight across to Richmond to watch the Superbowl (or play board games during the Superbowl...) and celebrate Josh's birthday. Last weekend we had to go back to Roanoke so Josh could get his new Roanokian (?) car, and this past weekend we were back in Richmond to celebrate more birthdays.

When I lived in New Mexico it's true that I went plenty of places, but for the most part I just traveled between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. When I lived in Washington I went a few places, but I mostly stayed between Tacoma and Seattle. When I lived in North Carolina I mostly stayed in Raleigh, but traveled north to Richmond a lot.

I guess my point is, I like getting to know more of a state. I'm going multiple places, in multiple directions, for multiple reasons. I'm on interstates sometimes, but also frequently on two-lane highways. I see the countryside, I cross mountains, and I visit big cities. Its kind of nice.

Virus Buster

Over Christmas Josh let me borrow his Nintendo DS to play during my long layovers on the way to and from New Mexico. The game Brain Age 2 happens to have another game within in, meant for "relaxing" and not for trying to exercise your prefrontal cortex. The game is called Virus Buster, and is sort of like Tetris because pieces fall from the top and you have to line up four of the same color to get them to disappear (and some of the pieces already planted that you want to disappear are mean-faced viruses, hence the name).

I am addicted to this game, and could easily pass a four hour layover playing. The problem with the whole thing is that I also spent many hours (and many in the wee hours) playing while I was at home for the holidays, and I continue to play too much now that I'm back. In fact, yesterday Josh was going to come pick me up at a predetermined time and I planned to go for a run and get ready in the two hours leading up to his arrival. Only I wasted one of those hours playing the stupid game, and then had to run 4.5 miles, shower, and get ready all in one single hour. One hour! I believe that was the shortest shower I've ever taken in my life.

The whole thing was pretty out of hand if you ask me, and that's why I thrust the game at Josh as soon as he arrived to pick me up yesterday, and told him he needed to take it back. Apparently when it comes to Virus Buster, I just can't control myself.

Pie Day (Observed)

Yesterday was National Pie Day, so today at work we have nine homemade pies to celebrate. By 10:30 I'd already tried six of them...



I made a peanut butter and chocolate pie, the only one without a pastry crust.

drowned bugs

In case you were wondering, we are still infested with stink bugs at work. As you might imagine due to my Halloween costume and all those pictures I took a couple months ago, I have a sort of love-hate relationship with them. But sometimes they really drive me nuts.

Yesterday I decided to knuckle down, buckle down. A co-worker had a little plastic dish that she suggested we fill with soapy water and use to drown them. So I took the small tub of water and went around the office rounding them up. About sixty of them, in fact. Then I flushed 'em.

Of course that wasn't nearly all of them and they are still around the office today, but at least it made me feel a little better.

back at it

It's 2011, and Josh and I are kicking off the year with new gym memberships. The place we've joined is pretty hard core. How hard core? you ask. So hard core that we flip giant tires and swing sledge hammers. Pretty crazy. Of course there's all the other normal stuff, too. I might have to get myself a pair of those fingerless gloves, because Josh has this silly idea that I should be able to do pullups, but those hurt my hands. (And the rest of my arms.) I also need to keep up with my running, because I probably want to do the Monument Avenue 10k and the Montalto Challenge again. Oh, and of course there's a new semester of PhD school coming up, so I will have a packed schedule. Exciting stuff.

Holiday Recap

Christmas happened. It was pretty good. We had family and friends over to our house in Santa Fe.

Monday my family went bowling. I won one of our three games, and scored over 100 twice!

Tuesday I went with Dad to Albuquerque to shop for a new suitcase. After that we saw The King's Speech. It is very very good. You should all go see it.

Thursday we all had lunch downtown with my grandparents, then visited a special exhibit at the history museum that included lots of old maps and letters from Spain about early New Mexico and other Spanish-owned territories.

The first several days I was here were not very cold. But then temps dropped a whole bunch and it snowed and it's been well below freezing the last few days.

Friday, New Year's Eve, my family rode the New Mexico Rail Runner to Albuqerque. That is the (relatively new) commuter train that runs between Santa Fe and Belen. The best part? The doors "beep beep" at you when they are going to close, just like the road runner on Looney Tunes!




After the train ride we saw True Grit. Also a great movie you should go see. (And it was filmed in New Mexico.)

That night I went out with Ryan and his friend to hear the friend's brother's band at Second Street Brewery. That was pretty fun, but we didn't stay out late (well, I didn't stay out late, Ryan went out again after dropping me off) and I enjoyed a glass of Champagne with my parents at midnight.

Tomorrow we're going out for a nice lunch at Ryan's old hotel, and Monday I head back to Virginia.

It's been a good trip.

fuzzy but festive

It's Christmas Eve and I'm in Santa Fe, so you know what that means... my family had posole and tamales for dinner, then walked Canyon Road. Merry Christmas everyone!

not much heat, but lots of atmosphere

Last night Josh and his roommate decided to surprise their other roommate with a new fireplace, just in time for the holidays. Looks pretty awesome, I say.

Christmas festivities

Last week I attended two work parties and joined Josh for his work party (which was at a bowling alley and therefore automatically beat mine). Then I finished all of my Christmas shopping this weekend. It's pretty exciting to know that I don't have to run around frantically shopping when I get to Santa Fe later this week. Tomorrow I'm going to bake cookies after work, and Tuesday night Josh and I will have dinner and exchange our gifts. Then Wednesday I'm headed west!

woohoo!

I just submitted my last assignment, and I am now done with school work for the semester. (Well, I still have to go to class on Monday, but I just have to sit and listen.) It is officially winter break! Winter break with a full-time job of course, but now I don't have to do homework or feel guilty for not working on my homework. I think I will try to read a few history books over these several weeks to help flesh out some of what I learned in my course on recent U.S. history, and I want to organize my notes a little more so I can use them when it comes time to study for comps (way down the road), but I won't stress over that stuff until after Christmas.

We're getting festive in the office.

time flies

Sheesh, it's been three weeks since I posted here. Time flies when you're, uh, plugging right along.

I have two papers due next week, and then I'm more-or-less done with my first semester of school. It's gone pretty well. I'm hoping my little Corolla will last until at least the summer of 2012, but all this driving to Fairfax might shorten my desired time frame.

I spent last weekend in Richmond with family for Thanksgiving. My mom flew out, so it was nice to hang out with her. It was also nice of her to go to the outlet mall in Williamsburg with me on Black Friday (afternoon).

Some day I want to go to New York for Thanksgiving and see all the parade floats in real life.

I can't believe it's already December. It's cold outside. And dark. I don't think I will put up my little Christmas tree this year, since I'll spend the holiday in Santa Fe, but I'm going to hang up the chili lights Josh's grandma gave me last year.

I'm contemplating trying to fit some mosaicing in between the end of school and Christmas, but I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet and time is flying, so that might be wishful thinking.

random bits to share

I just learned that the brontosaurus and triceratops didn't really exist. (Well, I guess I was late on not knowing about the brontosaurus, and the verdict on the triceratops might still be out.) Crazy.

On October 31st a bunch of New York City librarians and library supporters dressed up like zombies and marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to protest budget cuts. They had signs like "Better Undead Than Unread" and "No Libraries No Brains." How awesome is that?

I also just learned about the Random Acts of Culture project, and *may* have teared up while watching this video.