December 2005 Archives

Ellen Degeneres was featured in an ad for American Express that had a single word (maybe two) and a blank line that had "her" answers on them. (The jury's still out on if they are actually hers.) You can review it here, just scroll through the images on the bottom until you see her brushing her teeth. Apparently, they've asked the same questions to different famous people, so feel free to view them all.

I quizzed Kris on her answers, and she did the same to me. Here are my responses:

Childhood ambition: Lego Master Builder

Fondest Memory: There are many, but I narrowed them down to anytime I've thought to myself "This is good." One example is being at the top of a small hill in Denali National Park.

Soundtrack: U2

Retreat: My bike

Wildest Dream: Not only to win the lottery, but to think that it won't affect me all that much.

Proudest Moment: Crossing the Ironman Wisconsin Finish Line

Biggest Challenge: Overcoming my brother's death.

Alarm Clock: The same since I was twelve. And it still works perfectly.

Perfect Day: Any day that I was in St. Lucia on our Honeymoon.

First Job: Paperboy

Indulgence: The computer/internet

Last Purchase: A velvet-like jacket from the Gap

Favorite Movie: The Shawshank Redemption

Inspiration: I'm currently struggling with this one. It was getting across the Ironman finish line. Part of me thinks that my next "thing" has to be bigger and better. But that's going to be hard to top. I wish it were easy to be inspired to save money for a house.

What about you?

Not only is it difficult to wake up this week between Christmas and New Years, but the sun is wreaking havoc on my system. While there's more daylight hours after the Winter Solstice, it isn't gaining in the morning. In fact, the sun rose (locally) at 7:26 AM the morning of the solstice. Since then, it's risen later every day and will continue to do so until the tenth of January, when it will finally rise at 7:28 AM, one minute earlier than the previous fifteen days.

The sun will rise earlier each day until the same phenomenon occurs around the Summer Solstice. The earliest sunrise occurs a full week ahead of the solstice, while the sunset is still getting later until the 21st of June.

Until this summer when I was regularly up with the sun, I wasn't as affected by the sun during the winter. (Maybe I was, but I didn't know it.) Now, I can barely make it out of bed to go work out. I can't imagine what it's like to be above the Tropic of Cancer, where there's little to no sun right now. Ugh. Where are you Mr. Sun?

(Find out your sunrise/sunset times.)

We were shook at 12:20 to the sound of an explosion. We couldn't locate the direction of the source due to the tall buildings that surround our apartment. Within five minutes, sirens directed up to the Dane County Parking ramp, located two blocks west of our place. We followed them to the scene, along with some others wondering what happened. All concurred that there was an explosion, some relating stories of pictures shaking on walls. The emergency crews were not in a hurry, but diligent in their duties. The only rumor we heard as to the source was that a car exploded and a man staggered out of the ramp claiming that it was his.

Approximately one month ago, a pipe bomb was discovered at the same structure by a worker. It was diffused and police had no leads.

As we started to leave, so did the plethora of rescue vehicles. I took the above shot as we started to walk away.

Update 12/25: Turns out it was a bomb. The previous bomb scares were not bombs, just resembled bombs.

My brother started us off with a Netflix gift certificiate last year for Christmas. Since then, we've become full fledged members and everything has worked out great. Riding my bike indoors all last winter would've been very boring had it not been for the plethera of movies. Kris enjoyed getting the foreign and Colin Firth movies. (I still don't understand how that man is considered attractive.) Anyways...I got the list of movies we watched, added what we rated each one, and provided a one-line review.

"SKiPS 200s" That was it. Nothing more, nothing less. A 200 each of swim, kick, pull and a final swim. Those words meant, and still mean, only one thing. It meant the last practice of our high school season; the end of taper and the last day before your shave and taper meet. It didn't matter whether you were going to the JV invite or to State. You were done. Months and months of sets, turns and meets were over. SKiPS 200s marked the end of a lot of work. That set remains the most revered amongst all others.

I started of my workout with a SKiPS 200s last night. (I added some more sets for a nice 1,950 yard workout.) The thrill of an upcoming meet is back. I'm enjoying being able to compete. (If not with the young kids, at least I can compete against myself.) Last year, I set a standard in the 500 free at 5:48. This year, I plan on bettering that time, and if I do, I hope to continue to drop time in coming years.

I can feel a bit of a nervous, excited energy today. Until last year, I was nervous that everyone was laughing at my gut. Now the pre-race jitters are welcome. It will help to keep me focused. Ya know? There might be something to this whole training and competing thing.

The plow scraping the pavement this morning woke me. Snow was forecast, but if the plows were already out before 6, that meant we got too much for me to get to the pool. Almost instantly, my body tried to convince me not to go.

"Come on...It's one day...The snows too deep. You'll never get there."

Now the alarm was going off. Disarming it, I looked out the window to check on the snow. Clear pavement. Damn, those trucks are good. The mind took over and told what the body to do:

"Hey, we've got an Alumni Swim meet in a week. You can't sleep! Let's skip the snooze and get ready so we have enough time to brush the snow off the car."

Finding the motivation has been difficult in this infant second season. The mornings are dark. The days are short. The weather is cold. All contribute to indoor, monotonous, tedious training sessions. Part of the challenge of the race is not the race itself, but all the effort that goes into getting to the starting line.