I had something witty to discuss today, but I just lost it.

Hmm.

Week 24 of 3 day training is done. 15 miles completed and I'm pretty happy. Found a group on the West side that meets once a week for long walks. I'm completely and utterly pleased with meeting them and getting to walk with them along with my tata training walks (ttw). Snacks, coffee stops and good company and a level of accountability that will get me to a level of conditioning to complete the 3 day in good stead.

Today I was moved to tears when R&L donated again on my behalf to get me to my minimum to participate. Six weeks into fundraising I'm there and I can't believe the support I'm getting. I walked on air today when thinking of how they motivated to do the 3 day and how much love an support they and all my friends are giving me.

Next week, P,C and I will be doing the Whidbey half marathon. No one will be PRing here, but it'll be fun. Any half marathon that has organic chocolate milk, hot dogs and amazing support along the way (gummy bears at mile 12 are crucial) is a happy place for me.

Man, I sound sappy, but I'm completely sincere.

This is a long week for me -- manuscript deadlines, software upgrades, upcoming travel and big goings on here are going to suck up every moment I have. I'll be relieved when its all over.

nm who just couldn't get it together to write you a letter

Dear spring

Please return. We miss you.
The ppatch is plowed and staked for the short season. Rhubarb, broccoli and leeks are all looking good in the year round garden. However hail, fits of rain, leaden skies don't have me leaping for my frog boots and felcos.

This time of year usually has me itching to not come inside until dusk, this evening the dog turned right back in after hearing the lashings of rain and is currently curled up underneath the duvet.

People, it is 8pm.

Spring, return to me.

Nm

dear ernest,

I love you all the time, but I loved you the most in the winter when you decide that 8:00 pm is the appropriate going to bed time. It gave me two hours (give or take) or me time. Now that the days are longer, you have taken to going to bed later and later. While this works well for you, I seem to have lost my me time.

When can I get it back?

smooches,

nm who jumped forward and is not falling back anytime soon

Dear Mayor Nickels,

Nice try.

I don't know about the rest of the chumps in the city, but I know that every paper bag
that I get from the grocery store gets used for composting, garbage and recycling.

Thank you also very much for penalizing those of us who already recycle/compost most of our
waste stream.

nm bagging the canvas in the 98105

Dear editors,

Thank you so much for accepting my book chapter proposal in December 2007. Then May 2008 seemed so far away, here it is, April 1st and I haven't done squat towards my chapter short of discussing that I need to get going.

I know that your job as a book editor is not to micromanage me or hold my hand, but how about some encouraging words that should sent out around March 10th asking how I was doing? That would have been helpful or at least guilt tripping. I anticipate a few sleepless nights between now and April 12th, my own deadline for putting the pedal to the metal so to speak.

At least you were kind enough to provide the authors with a nice template that the publisher likes to use. Thank goodness chapter is so much fun to write -- in my now quite copious spare time learning our beloved model, reviewing geospatial policy and working towards my goal of finding my own way in the world of my group, the one I have been part of for nearly three god damned years.

Well, off we go, to think dream of natural hazards.... and mitigation

Sincerely,

nm lead author chapter 5 - real life applications

The end

It has been a month of nonstop blogging in honor of NaBloPoMo. Sorry I could not get any more exotic than France, bit I tried.

I will be participating next month only because the theme of "the letter" intrigues me.

I will leave you with these questions to ponder--

Why do our animals insist on following us into the bathroom?

Do the flight attendants make coffee with the packet of coffee they use to freshen the lav?

Why does the spinster daughter get called before the bachelor son in times of emergency?

Nm who was an old lady that lived in a shoe

Sunday blahs

I woke up in foul mood which made my 796 minute walk with the dog at 6:30 am a bit more irritating than usual. I have not a clue of what is causing these outbursts of foulness but they have got to stop. Yes I have considered the shooting range but I'm not keen on driving to the burbs on Sunday mornings.

This week I am working on figuring out what is causing such angst -- can't blame the internet, the stockmarket, troop surge and Wynona Judd for this.

Nm caffeine free taking deep cleansing breaths

Night night

In the recent lights out hour I took the best nap I have had in years.

Nice.

the syndrome

For the last few years I have been plagued with I thought was hip pain. Seriously. Bad stuff for
someone so young. Massage, acupuncture, PT, xrays, brain examination has come back with various and sundry types of explanations, but still, this nagging pain and discomfort. Oddly activity helps, being sedentary makes it worse.

The last few months it has really gotten to be a drag. I finally dragged my arse into the orthopedist who poked and prodded me and declared me to be a healthy person without any sort of spine, hip, lumbar issues and was flummoxed as to what was wrong with me, because it wasn't something she could fix. I guess this is good in that all fingers, toes, symmetry kind of way. I mentioned something my massage therapist had said and she check that out. Voila -- he was right - I had the syndrome -- piriformis syndrome. Basically, I have irritation of my sciatic nerve and it runs near my piriformis muscle group and this causes "deep glutteal pain." I cannot write this without cringing.

My ass hurts and it affects my leg and it makes me cranky.

The last few weeks I have been dealing with a godsend of a PT (thanks J!) who is working to help me get over this and been fitted with orthotics in my running shoes. I can't say that I'm excited, "the syndrome" may be with me for a long time, better I suppose than a ACL tear, definitely not as sexy. I don't get crutches and I still spend time in meetings getting really antsy because its just not fun to sit down and feel your leg throb after about 15 minutes.

I'm still on track for my half in a few, my 3 day (pimping here) and to keep things active.

Just next time you see me, don't ask how my ass has been. K?

nm

Is it okay to have a ham and challah sandwich?

hump! day!

Today was really no better work wise than yesterday, but I digress.

I spent part of my alloted luncheon time that I would have spent with Ernest with my parents in their new garden. My father pruned back some perennials and my mom planted some onion starts and chives. We decided that they needed some persian leeks and some sprouting broccoli. These are needs that are easily tended to. I like those the best.

My mom pronounced that they have a new policy chez M, the new PQE rules. For my mom that is no pressure, no questioning and no explanations. My mom figures that the less micromanaging and questioning that people do of her actions, the sooner she'll get back to normal and life will too.

I think as we get older and set in our ways and realize that the love/lust of our lives has just as many ways that are set in stone that much energy is expended on pronouncing our irritation at the unbending of wills or second guessing each other's motives. Maybe I need realize that sometimes things need to be done without this level of analysis and that TH, my colleagues and even my parents may have reasons for their decisions.

An aside, TH could be superTH today. We returned from dinner tonight to hear a bleeping of an alarm in the 'hood. Turns out our neighbor M across the way left a pot on the burner and left the house. We managed to secure a key and turned things off. TH and our other neighbor aired out the house with box fans and are hoping she returns home soon. Another disaster averted because TH decided to check it out instead of shrugging her shoulders and saying that someone else can deal with it.

nm bending to only ernest's will

falling down on the job

Today I attempted to battle linux, software installation and attempting to find a license file for a software product that apparently bundles the software authorizations with the dvds they send users who are evaluating the products.

Two of us banged our heads on the wall trying to figure out why we could not find out where to request licensing information, the answer was buried three levels down in the documentation.

Kiss my grits.

Tomorrow, stay tuned while I kill our data management system due to my inability to read the documentation.

kill -9 nm

tangled webs and whatnot....

Today I reopened an evite for party my neighbor and friend is having to reconfirm the time. Evites are strange, in a way they are nice because you don't have to spend four hours of time at Kinkos trying to get something printed and they can be done fast, but at the same time, they can be awfully impersonal.

Having said that, I opened it, acted on it (rsvped) and then closed it. Today I reopened it because I am an idiot and did not write down the date.

I also then looked at who was coming and who was not coming, as if that should dictate if you are going to a party. It does for many. Low and behold, a decliner was someone who I hung out with in the freaking 4th grade. Is that not weird? What is weirder is that I was talking to TH yesterday about the first real time I had ham, which was at her house for a rare sleepover event. Adding to the mix was that moments earlier I was confirming with another recently reconnected with childhood friend a plan for dinner. All these people are quite intertwined in my life and they are all coming back into my life.

Ham chunks, broiled pineapples, the Osmond family, staying up all night giggling and canopy beds are all past us now, but such memories to have.

Six days until the next plant sale and every plant purchased in 2007 is in the ground.

I know some of you reading this have sprayed coffee on your monitors.

Nm

Lost

Butterfinger eggs are missing from my Easter mix.

Secretly, I am relieved because that means I don't have to eat all of them on Monday.

Seriously.

Other than that all but one plant is in the ground and that is progress.

I'll be so glad when NaPoBloMo is over, I can do with out my own pithy blog entries.

nm hopping down the bunny trail

Nothing is sadder than realizing that father drives like a man wearing a hat

My tax refund this year will not cover a pedicure.

My tax bill last year was larger than my salary.

I guess I'll take what I got.

nm down to the penny and spot on

toodling through provence

They are not all there, but here you go.

the new year

Starts tomorrow, one day after the last Tuesday of the old year without a candle to jump over, an alter that graces the front hall table because I thought I had another day.

I will be attending to this shortly.

I love Nowruz, I love the idea of a spring celebration, I love a new start, especially the house cleaning and removal of last years problems.

For those of you who know what we've been going through, hearing good news last week was the best new years joy anyone could imagine.

Thank you for your prayers and good vibes.

Paris finally

Sadly my trip is ending. Th and I spent the morning in Versailles with Marie Antoinette's sheep and the afternoon with macarons.

Life is good even if the dollar is in the toilet and every one seems to on edge.

Sheep, laduree and a view of the eiffel tower can solve a lot of problems.

Nm
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