The Nike Women's Marathon

I'm registered to run the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco on October 19, 2008. This will be my fourth marathon, and it has tons of hype surrounding it. Here are some of the perks:

• a It's a women only marathon. 20,000 women running together... Girl Power!
• a The race expo the day before features massages, pedicures, and fun lady things.
• a The finishers medal is a necklace designed by Tiffany.
• a Said necklace is handed to you at the finish line by a fireman in a tuxedo.
• a The views along the course are fantastic.
• a The snacks along the race and at the end consist of champagne, strawberries, fine chocolate...

So I'm excited about it. But I'm struggling for motivation. I don't have a running partner or group here in Washington. Yesterday I even posted on Craigslist trying to find SOMEONE to run with me! Today I bought new running shoes. I'm back to the Saucony shoes. I briefly cheated on them and went to Brooks. But I see the error of my ways, and am hoping Saucony will forgive and forget (and keep my feet cool, dry, and blister-free).

I'm hoping one of the teachers at Komachin will be a runner. That still puts me over a month away from meeting him or her, but I'll get there.

Until then, I've got playlists to compile on my iPod, new shoes to break in, and hours and hours of books on MP3 to listen to. Not to mention all the time I'll spend imagining what my Tiffany necklace will look like.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

I just finished reading Milan Kundera's novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Paige suggested the book, and I trust her literary judgment, so...

Kundera's style reminds me a lot of John Irving, who is one of my favorite authors. Where they differ is Kundera's philosophy sprinkled liberally throughout the book. It made the reading more challenging and more interesting. The original two printings were Czech, and it wasn't translated to English until 1999, four years after the original. The translation coupled with the German explanations reminded me a great deal of living in Germany, and thinking through what the German phrases might have meant literally and figuratively in English. It's challenging, but it lets the reader ponder more than one possible explanation.

Anyway, the title refers to the idea that since we only live once, we usually don't make a very substantial mark on the world or on history. If we had a chance to live twice or more and remember our past decisions, then our lives would have more gravity. It's true with all decisions, I think. We chose a mate, a career, to have kids or not, all based on the information we have on hand, which is normally not much. The book could also be called "Hindsight is 20/20" You do the best you can with what you have and then live to work out the consequences to your best advantage.

Though this was not one of my favorite books, I really enjoyed it, and feel better equipped for life for having read it. This is fiction that can make a difference.

Perfect: A Novel

One of my old high school friends, Beth Lahni-Boswell, has a fantastic blog that ignited my urge to have my own blog. She also teaches English, and has reviewed a number of Young Adult literature books on her site.

I found Perfect: A Novel by Natasha Friend on Beth's blog and was curious enough to read it.
If you understand that the book is written from the 8th grade girl with an eating disorder's perspective, you'll get a lot more out of it.

I'm glad I read it, and will put add it to my classroom library today. Also, I ordered Friend's next book, Lush today on Half.com. Thanks for the tip, Beth.

More Motivated Still

Did anyone catch last night's ABC special about Randy Pausch? I know I sound like a broken record, but there is something about this man's attitude that I so admire. How is it possible to know death is imminent and keep such an upbeat persona?

His wife, too, just showed phenomenal strength. Her message was one that said "Anything can be tolerated and accepted, even though we don't like it. And we can handle more than we give ourselves credit for." In the light of two deployments, I agree with her. But I always had the hope that Bob would return, and that there would be a happy ending.

There was not a happy ending for Randy Pausch. He died on July 25th. I felt silly for feeling so badly for a family that I didn't know and bemoaning the loss of a life of a man I'd never met. But apparently many people are feeling that same way.

I think the message here, folks, is:

Love, really love the people in your life, and appreciate them each and every day.

Live with gusto. Life is too short for negativity.

Hug your dog.

I added that last one myself, but I somehow think Randy would agree.

Boot Camp

On nights I work at the restaurant, I can't fall asleep immediately when I get home. So I read or watch DVR'ed Oprah shows, you get the jist. Last night, I was watching HGTV, and it went off the air at 1:00 a.m., and the Barry's Boot Camp Infomercial came on.

Id' like to preface by saying I've never ordered anything from an infomercial before, but this one seems like a pretty good deal. The idea is that in a 21 minute exercise session, you complete each exercise for one minute at 100% effort. So you max out that muscle group, take a rest for 30 seconds, and then go on to the next exercise. As they kept saying in the video, "It hurts, but you can do ANYTHING for one minute! (Bright white smiles, and gleaming bodies)."

It comes with the ball (mine is a normal looking ab ball, but is in bad shape, so I needed a new one anyway), the "Barry's patented resistance bands," and the various DVD's.

The whole package should be here by the end of the week, and we'll see.

I will follow it closely for one month and record the results. I don't feel I need to lose weight, but I think this in conjunction with running will certainly provide more muscle definition than I have at the moment.

I'm not sure I'll love being yelled at by Barry. But then again... maybe I will!

Stripping and Hooking

Those of you with your minds in the gutter will be disappointed to find out the title referred to a new hobby of mine involving wool. Wait, that still doesn't clear things up, does it?

When Bob and I drove across the country to move to Washington, we stopped in Colorado Springs to visit one of my dearest friends, Robin Ruzicka, who is staying with her parents while her husband is in Korea for a year. Robin's mom, Bobbie, teaches me a new craft almost every time I visit.

This time, she taught me rug hooking. It's a wonderfully fun process where you start with yards of wool, shred those into tiny little wool strips, and use this sort of dental tool to work into a design on monk's cloth. The picture above is my first project.

It's something I'd like to keep doing, but it's super expensive. Wool is around $40 a yard...
I'm thinking of doing the unit patch from each of Bob's units. I should get started on those now instead of 15 years down the road when I've got to play catch up.

Hook on, friends.

Goodbye

My mom called today to tell me my dad died. The most awful thing about this situation is that we don't know how he died, or where. Hopefully we will know these things soon. We do know the date he died, October 26, 2007.

I haven't seen my dad in years, and the last time I did see him, in 2003, he was less than lucid. So it's a strange set of emotions I'm feeling regarding his death. Though I did not have a relationship in my adult years, we were very close during my childhood. I loved my dad, and I'm sure he loved Daniel and I. I'm grieving more deeply than I would have thought I would.

>

However and wherever my dad died, I'm sure he was not honored properly. So I'd like to acknowledge the life he lived right here. Dad, I'm sorry to eulogize you eight months after you've passed away, but it should be known that:

• You had the best sense of humor I've ever encountered. The thing I remember best about you is your laughter. I can still hear it. And you laughed at our stupid, kid jokes just like they were brilliantly funny.
  
  
• You had this idea that I would be the youngest ham radio operator in the country. So we sat for hours in the attic learning morse code. I could barely read, much less spell, but I could piece together words on my own little morse code sending machine. Dit, dot, dot, dit...
  
  
• You played the piano and the guitar beautifully, without ever having a lesson. Sometimes when I'm having trouble sleeping, I think back to those nights when we had just got our piano. You would play late into the night as the rest of the household fell into a deep slumber. I'd try to stay awake to listen, but it never worked. I wish I had a recording of those hours. And I wish you would have taught me what you were doing so I could play just like you on the guitar and the piano.
  
  
• You played the Heart and Soul duet with me at my last piano recital. I was so nervous that I would screw up and embarrass us both. But you just nudged my knee with yours when I started to speed up the tempo. I was never so proud to be your daughter as I was that day.
  
  
• You had a way of saying "I don't see why not..." when you could easily have said "No."
• You would talk on the phone for hours with me. We would play this game where you would ask me what each of the comic strips were about on Sundays, and I would tell you. Every time, you acted like I had the best memory on earth and that you were amazingly impressed.
  
  

Dad, I'm sorry life turned out the way it did for you. And it pains me no end to think you might have died alone. But please know that Daniel and I loved you more than you can imagine. And we still do. Your life was important to us, and it continues through us. Goodbye for now...

Bibliophile Fun

One of my most favorite things in the world is roaming through bookstores looking for hidden treasures, checking for new books by my favorite authors, and just absorbing the smell of literature. That probably makes me a huge dork, but who cares? And the satisfying ache in my arms when I walk to the car with a big bag of fresh books, it's Divine!




But. My mom turned me on to a website called Half.com (http://www.half.com/) . You can buy just about any book on earth on this site, and it costs almost nothing. I don't usually pay more than $5.00 a book. In fact, I usually buy books that are about $1.50, and they're in great shape! Even new books will only run you about $8.00. AND the shipping fee is media rate, so it's $3.25.



I think for building a classroom library, it's definitely the way to go. I don't want to pay full price just to have my books destroyed in lockers. Am I right, teachers?

My newest favorite book site was introduced to me by my friend Meagan Flynn. It's called Goodreads.com, and it's just too much fun (http://www.goodreads.com/) . Just like on Netflix, where you rate the movies you've watched from 1-5 stars, you do the same thing with books that you've read on Good Reads. The most fun part I think is comparing the way you rated a certain book with the way your friends did. Frankly, I'm really surprised by how differently some of my closest friends feel about my most favorite books! Ah, to each his or her own. If you check it out, be sure to link me as one of your friends. (Cornelius_liz@hotmail.com) Nosy as I am, I want, no, NEED to know what others are reading! It's an illness.

Plus, when it's time to read something new, I check out which books earned five stars, and then I order it on Half.com. Everybody wins!

Sooo Tired... Abort Cleanse!

Wow, I cannot even describe how much the Cleanse did NOT work! Well, maybe I am really clean on the inside, but things are not going well. They're so bad, in fact, that I am calling this project off about a week early.

To recap, I decided to forgo alcohol, processed sugar, and meat. The problem, I think, was with the sugar. Who knew there was sugar in absolutely everything! Pasta, bread, crackers, and of course things like jams and jellies. So I found that I ate fruits and vegetables, made my own muffins with honey (but those were not great) and my own salad dressings. And all of that was fine. It was. The problem was that to get the right amount of calories per day, I'd have to eat ALL DAY LONG! I'd get to the end of the day and found that I'd only eaten less than 1,000 calories.

Needless to say, without fuel there is no energy. I've been dragging since the beginning of this little project. In fact, I was so tired I didn't have the energy to make any more healthy food from scratch. It really was a vicious cycle.

Okay, so I am dreadfully fatigued, and my skin doesn't glow (which I thought it might). The only good thing I can see is that I dropped a couple of pounds. But who wouldn't when eating like a person on a starvation diet? -Not good. I've been so worn down that I haven't been able to run! Clearly something was not right.

All this started with Oprah, and bully for her that she loved the cleanse so much. The only thing I can figure is that the cleanse is probably doable when you have a creative chef willing to make your food for you.

As for me, I am returning to my prior eating habits. Upon closer examination, I think I was doing it the right way anyway. We eat organic poultry and produce. We don't eat junk food very often, and a glass of red wine is good for the heart.

Now, where are the doughnuts?

The Last Lecture

This little book was more motivating and inspiring than anything I've read in a very long time. Randy Pausch is probably the most famous man dying of pancreatic cancer in the world right now. This book was published after his stirring Last Lecture was made at Carnegie Mellon University.

The premise behind the lecture and the book was holding onto and achieving childhood dreams. Pausch is facing the ultimate unfairness in life: dying before the age of 60, mid wildly successful career, with three children under the age of six and a beautiful wife. Yet his attitude is one of energy and optimism . He was passionate about his WHOLE life, not just his last six months.

Pausch uses the Eore/Tigger comparison analogy. Which would you rather emulate? I LOVE that. I am completely motivated to make the time I have count. And who really knows how many years or months or days we have on this earth? And not all of us have the luxury of a heads up. We've all heard the question, "If you knew you only had one month or year, or however long, what would you do with your remaining time?" The Last Lecture is a fantastic reminder to make each day meaningful, to do the right thing, and to reach for the stars.

The actual "last lecture" can be seen at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted

I wish the title were true and I DID eat everything I wanted. BUT, I'm half way through my makeshift "cleanse," so no, this is about the book.

I just finished reading Elizabeth Berg's newest book called The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted and Other Small Acts of Liberation. The book is a collection of short stories written from the female perspective. The women in the stories are anywhere from 11 to 85 years old, but the average lady is in her late 50's.

The common thread in all the ladies seemed to be weight. They were all trying to lose at least 20 pounds, and it was usually more like 40. Throughout the book the most delicious food was described in excruciating detail. My cleanse didn't seem so hard until I read this little tome.

This book was enjoyable, but not Berg's best work. I think she was probably dieting when she wrote this and used the white pages as catharsis. It's practically dripping with sugar, cholesterol, and self-hate.

The Golden Compass

I just finished reading Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. Help me out here, people who have read this: Did anyone catch the "out to kill God theme?" I sure didn't. I bought the trilogy when I was living in Alabama, and more than a few people nodded sagely and advised me not to read these books because the protagonist, Lyra, tries to destroy God.

Of course I thought, It's fiction. Who cares? Then the movie came out, and I heard the religious references were cut out almost completely. Then the movie came to our house via the magic of Netflix, and I was forced to read the book before the movie spoiled the story line for me.

Long story short, I think Lyra's beef might be with stringent, overwhelming, over-organized religion. Not God. I'll have to read book two, and I suspect get to the very end of three before I know for sure. These trilogies get you every time!

It was okay, but I am not in a huge hurry to read the next book in the series. I'm sure I'll get to it when the next movie comes out. Take your time, Hollywood.

Going Old School

I will be teaching 7 & 8th grade English/ Language Arts at Komachin Middle School in the fall. But that is still seven weeks away. Since we moved here I've suffered from serious boredom and have kicked around the idea of either working as a barista at one of the many little coffee shops around (though NOT at the one where the baristas only wear electrical tape?!) or waiting tables.

And lately I've found myself working many hours on unpaid committees, and I thought: what if I were busy for these hours AND got paid? Hence: I applied and was hired to work at The Rock restaurant in Lacey. It's super laid back with great pizzas. The best part is the music. All classic rock. I'm a happy camper talking to people, flitting from table to table, all the while singing AC/DC or old Doors under my breath.

My first night was Monday. I thought I might be the oldest person, but I'm one of the youngest. Huh. Only the bussers are younger than me. And they think we went to high school together. Oh these babies... they're deluded. Anyhoo, I found that I still enjoy waiting a table or two. I actually switched a shift with this girl so I could stay an extra hour. I'm sure knowing that our livelihood doesn't depend on this (like it did in college) and that I'll only do this for six weeks or so helps. It's like a little hobby.

It's fun for now. Can I get you a refill?

First Book Group Meeting

I can't not be in a book group. My friend Paige (in picture above) and I kept our ears open for a book group, but to no avail. So we decided to start our own and include our husbands. Why haven't we thought of this before, friends from Ft. Knox? The men really do bring a new perspective. Quite interesting, really. The first meeting of the Tisserand Cornelius book group was at our house last night.

So the first book we read was A.J. Jacobs' non-fiction book: The Year of Living Biblically. A. J. Jacobs is this man who is Jewish by birth, but was really raised with no religion to speak of. But when he becomes a father, he begins to wonder if he has missed a pivotal part of life by not having some religion to cling to, and sets out on a year of Biblical proportions. Literally.

Jacobs undertakes this project where he will follow the Bible as literally as possible for one year. In that year he meets with a board of Rabis and pastors to have his religious queries answered. He goes to the Creation Museum in Hebron, Kentucky, visits Jerusalem, and even checks out the hype involved with snake handling.

In addition to adhering to the Ten Commandments, he follows all the lesser known rules in the Old Testament about not cutting his hair, dressing all in white, and is careful not to mix the fibers in his clothes as the Bible mandates. Did I mention he and his family live in Manhattan?

Jacobs is an editor at Esquire Magazine and has a refreshing wit about him. For all of Jacobs' humour, he took this project very seriously, and the result is an informative, interesting read.

We've got our next book picked (Into The Land of Bones), and are on the prowl for more women AND men to join our group. More to come...

Busted!

No more wondering why my lettuce didn't come up in straight rows! The first picture is all the evidence I need that the little fence does NOT, in fact, keep Chester out of the garden. Chester is our almost-five year old beagle, and he seems to think the garden is his domain. Wrong!

I couldn't help have a garden, really. My mom's side of the family has gardened since the moment they stepped on American soil. Probably long before then, too. Of course they had to garden to feed those big families! When you have eight kids, it seems like the best solution.

I still think it's a great solution. Have you seen the price on organic produce? It's absurd! It costs an arm and a leg to eat healthfully, and I'm working to beat the system by growing my own organic lettuce, peas, beans, red cabbage, strawberries, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and a host of herbs. I'll beat you yet, Safeway!

Bob calls my little project a World War II garden. I guess he's right. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Now if I can just keep Chester out of there...

Wuthering Heights

I finished reading Wuthering Heights yesterday. Dear God, how tragic! How dark! How perfectly crafted! I read it because I thought I should read it. After all, I AM an English teacher, am I not?

It seems it took quite a long time to read this book (nearly two weeks?) but a vast number of the sentences were so cleverly written, that I found myself re-reading entire passages and pages. I probably really read the book twice, for that reason.

In any case, no matter your opinion on the book, it makes an EXCELLENT argument in Nurture's defense in the classic debate Nature vs. Nurture. Heathcliff is poison embodied and tarnishes, if not ruins outright, every person with whom he comes in contact. Oh, how I hated him! Look, he's even affected me!

This book has been called the most tragic love story of all time. Hmmm... assuming love and hate are kissing cousins, I would say that is true. The primary motivator in the book, I think, is hate. But hate is only possible when there was once love.

So call it a love story, a hate story; call it whatever you like, it's excellent.

Trying Something New

I'll admit it: I was intrigued by Oprah's 21 day cleanse. Maybe even tempted to try it. Who doesn't love a good three weeks of self deprivation in the name of science and health? Then I started looking at the nitty gritty aspects I would give up. It looks something like this:

1. No Processed Sugar. Hmmm, I MIGHT be able to do this for three weeks.
2. No Caffeine. I live in Washington, where abstaining from coffee is a jailable offense. Still, I think I could probably do it.
3. No Alcohol. Not a big deal to give up a weekly glass of vino.
4. No Meat. No problem.
5. No Animal Products. Huh, there might be a problem. Do you live on soy?
6. No Gluten. I had to look this one up. It really means no pasta, bread, bagel, etc.

There are probably other no-no's, but this is as far as I got. I'm still going to try my own cleanse which will consist of numbers 1,3, and 4. Yesterday was day one. Oops, I accidentally ate ice cream. Correction, today is day one. If this goes well, maybe I'll cut out caffeine next week.

Until then, here's to health and deprivation!

Fourth of July in Bavaria (almost)

Bob and I went out of town for the Fourth of July to Leavenworth, Washington, with our friends Paige and Clint and Julie and Gary. Leavenworth is uber German, and looks a lot like Munich. Naturally we felt the familiar heart pangs for the Mutterland and soothed our longing with wurst, sourkraut, schnitzel, and of course: beer.

It was a great trip filled with hiking, fishing, shopping, and oddly enough: rolling down the hill on the town square. (See slide show in the right bar). It should be noted that we were sober as nuns the night of the rolling. It's funny what a little youthful enthusiasm will make you do. It may be even more dangerous than liquid bread!

Next time, we'll visit little Bavaria for some skiing and gluhwein. Prost!

Crazy Running

June was the end of my unofficial running season. I ran the Capital City Half Marathon on May 18 and then later in the week flew to Colorado to run the Bolder Boulder 10K with my friend, Robin Ruzicka. Both races were successful in my book.

Back to back races made me focus on the nagging details "real" runners (elite, I mean) have to consider. You know, things like what to eat, how to stretch, long runs, speed runs, and something called fartleks, which I still don't really understand how to do properly. Concentrating this much on running made me think that there should be a shoe endorsement for the average runner. Maybe even the mediocre, mid-pack runner. The thing is, I don't want it to be Keds. So the question is how to convince Saucony that I am the face of their everyday, girl-next-door runner...

The fall racing season starts in September. I'm nervous already!