A Cup of Coffee

I was going to preface this blog by stating that you might not quite get it if you don't drink coffee. And by "drink" I don't mean stop by Starbucks every blue moon and get a sugar-ladened, blended, milkshake tasting drink and call it coffee. I'm talking about die hards. People who probably prioritize their morning cup of joe right underneath oxygen. Or maybe above it. But when I thought about it a little longer I realized that this blog isn't really about coffee at all, even though it has a starring roll. I think it's about being a good neighbor, so to speak, and helping people when you can.

On Sunday I was rushing out my door on the way to church. Well… I was supposed to be on my way to church but I remembered that I promised I would drop off a bag at my training partners house before I went, so my rush was more about realizing I was going to be cutting it close for an on-time arrival at Church--which I happen to be a real stickler about. I pulled into her complex and hopped out of the car with the keys still in the ignition and was about to bound up the stairs when a lady called out to me from her balcony.

Lady: Can I ask you a favor?
Me: Sure.
Lady: Do you happen to have any coffee?
Me: I'm sorry, I don't.
Lady: Oh ok. Well thanks anyway.
Me: I really am so sorry. Believe me, I know how important coffee is. Is there any other way I can help you?
Lady: No. Thank you though.

I dropped off the bag and sped out of the parking lot and down the street. A few blocks later, I saw it. A place where I could buy the lady some coffee. I realized that isn't what she expected. She must've thought I lived in the complex and there would be a strong possibility that I had coffee inside my apartment. And she must've been out. And maybe she didn't have a car… or maybe she had a newborn baby sleeping inside and couldn't leave… or maybe she ran out of money for necessities like coffee until her next paycheck…I have no idea. All I know is that she asked me for coffee and so I stopped. I got the coffee, returned to the complex, woke up some other lady because I couldn't remember what apartment she had been in, and finally found my kindred spirit--the lady who needed her coffee in the morning.

She was far too thankful, incredibly gracious, and even had tears in her eyes. "Even though it may sound silly," she said, "it's things like this that remind you that there are incredibly kind people in the world." And I think that's when I realized it wasn't about coffee. What I did was absolutely no big deal. It took 2 minutes and cost me 2 bucks. But sometimes the result of what you do and how it affects others is far greater than what you actually did. I'm sure she was grateful for the coffee, but I think it mattered also that someone just cared enough to help. Period. I hope I can be that kind of person more often and even if you're late for church, I think God gives you a pass those times.

My New Ride

I opted not to drive across country when I moved to Florida. I didn't really have the time to waste, it was an expensive journey, and I hate driving, so basically it just didn't make much sense. For the past couple of weeks I've had a rental car but that was definitely a short-term solution because the rates were simply atrocious. Since Daytona Beach is a small, quiet town and I don't have much use for transportation besides going to the track for training, a good option seemed to be a scooter. You see them on the road all over the place out here, and if you get one that doesn't go fast you don't even need a special license, you just need to be 16 years old and they will let you right on the road. Supposedly it's just like riding a bike, and I knew how to ride a bike at one point in my life so I figured I was good since riding a bike is supposed to be one of those things you never forget. Turns out I was probably never that good of a bike rider because the first time I got on a scooter and tried to turn onto a quiet side street I ended up on the sidewalk and onto someones front yard. Oops.

I've been practicing the last couple of days and have finally mastered the art of turning, so now I feel confident venturing out of my neighborhood and not waiting until there isn't a single car in sight. I still plan on taking the back streets everywhere I go, but it really does seem quite simple once you get the hang of it. What also is simple after you get the hang of it is unlocking the fuel cap. Unfortunately for me though, I didn't practice this skill in the privacy of my own garage and so when I arrived at the gas station to fill up my brand new scooter, and stuck the key in, I was met with an unmoving cap and a key that seemed stuck. I tried to play it off and work on it secretly, but after what seemed to be 47 minutes and becoming drenched in sweat because of my anxiety, I finally mustered up the nerve to ask the shirtless biker filling up his Harley next to me. I admitted that I was new to the whole biker world and couldn't figure out how to remove my fuel cap. So, he graciously came and did it for me, then put it back on and made me do it while he supervised. Turns out if you line up the arrows and it pops right off. Easy Peasy. Fortunately for me, I did not die from my embarrassment, and $3 dollars later my tank was full.

So, this will be me putting around. If you see me, don't drive too close and maybe get off the sidewalk.

Ouch!!

I have a hard time sleeping soundly, especially when I've crossed 37 time zones and my body doesn't know AM from PM any longer. I virtually miss a whole days sleep on my way to Europe, I'm supposed to stay up all day once I get there to try and acclimate myself even though I feel like the walking dead and my eyelids close for 3.7 seconds each blink, and when I do finally make it to bedtime more tired than is humanly possible and expect myself to sleep for at least 17 hours straight, I'll wake up 3 hours later with absolutely no intention of dozing back to sleep. It's an awful feeling because you know your body needs the rest, but you have absolutely no idea how to give it what it craves.

For me, I've found that my only hope is trying to drug myself. For a few nights post travel, I take ambien in hopes of finding my Z's. The sissy stuff...melatonin, Tylenol pm, counting sheep, warm milk...won't do anything except give me false hope. Ambien will surely knock me out, and if I'm lucky I will stay that way uninterrupted for the next 8 hours or so.

Last night started off beautifully. Unfortunately, in my effort to properly hydrate myself after my long travel, my body's need to relieve itself took over the strong effects of my drugs. So I woke up. Kind of. I probably would have never recalled my middle of the night interruption had I not woken up this morning with an intense pain on my forehead and a huge lump to accompany it. "what in the world?!... I thought. But then it vaguely came back to me... I had got up to use the restroom and I had ran into a wall. Being in a new environment in pitch black darkness, one might think that I progressed cautiously with my hands in front feeling the way. But no. My forehead surely found the corner of the wall first, and it was brutal. It must have hurt at the time but I guess I made the decision to not acknowledge it so that I could hurry back to sleep and not waste my drugs. It worked. Now my head just really hurts...

Always a Competitor

Yesterday I went to a Baby Shower. And yes, I'm typically the girl that enjoys baby showers as much as I do grocery shopping--a necessary evil that sometimes just has to be done whether you feel like it or not. But every once in a while--like when Trader Joes is handing out free samples and I run by and grab 3 and feel like I got a whole snack for free--I enjoy myself more than I thought I would. My friend Bianca's shower would fall in that category. It was gorgeous, the food was amazing, I had a great time hanging with my friends, and they actually got creative with the games and livened it up a bit. This totally made up for the amount of times I had to oohhh and ahhhh over a set of bibs or clap over a bag of diapers.

They did stick to one old faithful baby shower game though. You know the one…when you walk in you're handed something--a safety pin, a necklace, etc. --and every time someone says the word "baby" you get to take theirs and by the end of the party whoever has confiscated the most WINS. As soon as I was handed my beads, the first words out of my mouth were "ugh. I hate BABY shower games. I always lose at these stupid things." And just like that, a mere 5 SECONDS after the game had begun, I had lost my beads. Or so I thought…

Because they were still in the process of handing out beads, it was determined I could keep mine and the game would officially begin after everyone had theirs. Awesome. So about 5 minutes later I catch someone else saying the forbidden word and score my first pair of additional beads. And that right there, ladies and gentleman, is where the tide turned. This was now a competition and I had decided I wanted to win it. So, for the next 3 hours I carefully thought out every sentence before it came out of my mouth, eavesdropped on conversations I wasn't a part of, and plotted my way to victory. There was not one moment of that party where I wasn't aware of the competition I was involved in. Why? Because I like winning. Because I love competition. And because once I set my mind to something, there really isn't anything that can deter me.

If at this point in the story you think I may be exaggerating just a tad, I will just add this one, last detail. As Bianca was opening her first gift, I was sitting there with a smile plastered on my face, listening closely. She pulls the gift from the wrapping, shrieks with excitement, has a tear that is just beginning to roll down her cheek, and before she is even finished exclaiming what it was, I have jumped up and accosted her. It was a BABY________. To tell you the truth, I don't even remember what the gift was, because I had stopped listening. Yes, I ruined the first gift, of her first shower, for her first baby. :/

But I won. (hopefully she forgives me.)

In case you are wondering, I won a Starbucks gift card. Icing on top of the cake.

Encounters

In between the torrential downpours of Friday and the gloomy wetness of Sunday, we were blessed with a glorious sunny Saturday in San Diego. It was your typical perfect day for this time of year when you live in an area such as this and I was determined to enjoy it with a trip to Balboa Park and have some good old fashioned solitary time with my nose in a book. This is my idea of the perfect afternoon. I live just three blocks away so I was making my way up the hill when I came across a man in a wheelchair. As I got closer I saw him fishing something out of his pocket and when he called out to me he was waving a dollar bill.

"Excuse me miss, would you mind pushing me up the hill? I'll give you a dollar?"

Mark was in a wheelchair because he had broken both of his legs and they were sticking out straight in front of him in two casts. From the looks of it, it also seemed as if he spent the majority of his time on the streets. I assured Mark that I didn't need the dollar because he was actually helping me out. I hadn't done a workout for the day, and some good resistance training seemed like a pretty awesome workout to me. It was a win, win. He laughed loudly at this, but continued to offer his dollar as a thank you.

By the time we reached the top of the hill Mark began to talk. And talk. And talk some more. We covered everything from the precious time he spent with his Dad fishing, to his time in the war, to how he volunteers at the Veteran's Center talking with soldiers dealing with PTSD, to his buddy Jim, to his tattoos and what they all mean (as well as up close views once he wiggled his shirt off), to Fort Bragg, to his childhood, and everything in between. Sometimes he laughed loudly and other times he'd cry unexpectedly, but more than anything he just kept talking.

Not all of it made sense but I don't necessarily blame that on Mark's inability to always form coherent thoughts, as much as I think it was him trying to get it all out. His stories. His life. Him. In the middle of the conversation he stopped and said, "you know what I like the most? You just standing here talking to me. Us just being able to talk. Nobody really does that." But before I could respond he was telling me another story.

I am not the chit chat with strangers type. Anybody that knows me will tell you that. I hate small talk and I avoid awkward conversations as much as possible. But there I was an hour later still listening to the same stories be re-told because I realized it made someone else happy to be able to share his stories with me. When it was time for me to finally get going I asked if there was anything he would like me to remember to pray about for him and all he said was, "No, I'm ok. Just pray for the soldiers coming home."

This has nothing to do with anything except that sometimes the encounters that don't seem like anything seem to leave the biggest impression and teach you the most valuable lessons. Of course I prayed for Mark, but I also prayed that I could learn to be more like him in a lot of ways.

Team iPhone

I've been loyal since 2006. And in that time period I've always maintained that it was the smarter choice… the choice that made the most sense--all things considered. I compete on six different continents and I need to be connected as much as I can. Traveling as we do, it is imperative that we have a way to communicate that isn't going to break the bank. So I was always Team Blackberry. I had BBM… I had access to my emails for a mere $20 extra per month… I could type easier on a keyboard… And that's about it. But like I said, I'm loyal. So as all my civilian friends made the switch and bragged about how cool their Iphone was, I reminded them that I had blackberry messenger.

But it just so happened that my Blackberry began to show signs of death at the same time I started seeing commercials for the new iPhone. It was time to get real with myself. Did I really want to sign my life away for two more years with a phone just because it had a keyboard? I mean, I love apple products. I have a Mac and an iPad and they bring me a whole lot of joy. I knew I would love the iPhone as well, but it would mean breaking up with my team and switching allegiances. What would my Blackberry friends think of me?

Turns out I might have lost some friends but I gained a very important new one. Her name is Siri and she is my own personal assistant that comes with my new phone. I also now have the best camera I've ever had and the ability to shoot HD video. How cool is that? Cooler than a keyboard, let me tell you. So yes, I am team iPhone now. I realize nobody will talk to me while I'm overseas and I will be scrambling constantly trying to find a wifi signal so I can use my phone and not sell my kidney to do it, but it is worth it. My phone is finally cool. If any of my old teammates are considering it, I would highly suggest you do. There is strength in numbers.

The Search

My life is in a bit of a funk right now. Sometimes I feel like at the ripe old age of 31 I should have it a little more together and not feel so behind the curve. But I don't. It's frustrating to feel like you know exactly what you want and purposefully be looking for it-- with your list of perfect features, your non-negotiables, and what you just know in your heart will make you happy and content--but you can never seem to find it. More than anything I want to feel settled. I don't want to feel like I compromise too much simply because it feels like I'm running out of time and the ticking clock keeps getting louder and louder.

If you are curious, here is a short list of things I think are important to me…

*Appearance: I don't need jaw dropping, but I would like to be impressed.

*Personality: I'm a little unique and quirky, so I kind of think I need the same.

*Location: Not too close, but not too far away so it's inconvenient.

*Size: Of course that's relative.

*Respect what I do: I will be here for 9 months, and then I'm going to be gone for what I hope to be the most important summer of my life. Flexibility is the name of the game.



As with most things in life, I guess I'll just know when it's right. But in my heart I'm hoping for the fairytale…that butterfly feeling you get immediately deep in your gut when you just know that the search is finally over.

Seriously though... I really hate apartment hunting.

:)

Unintentional Planking

It's all over social media as the newest and latest fad. I haven't tried it yet because at this age, keeping up with fads can be tiresome work. If you aren't even up to my coolness level, and don't have any idea about what I'm taking about, here is the description…

From Wikipedia:
The lying down game (also known as planking,[1] or face downs) is an activity, popular in various parts of the world, consisting of lying face down in an unusual or incongruous location. The hands must touch the sides of the body, and having a photograph of the participant taken and posted on the Internet is an integral part of the game.[2] Players compete to find the most unusual and original location in which to play.[2] The location should also be as public as possible, and as many people as possible should be involved.

I also scoured the internet for you so you can have a visual of it as well.
-Wes at the Olympic Training Center.

-Sanya planking in Switzerland

-Dwight Howard planking at home

-Gilbert Arenas planking in the weight room.


What bums me out is that the other day I found myself in an extremely unusual planking position by accident, and nobody was around to snap a picture of it. Actually… I take that back. People were around, but they pretended they didn't see me, and because of their decision to ignore me, I will not get my opportunity to be an internet sensation.

I'm in Germany for the month, using the training facilities at Leverkusen. The other day I was in the weight room to get a lift in. I happen to have a very weak grip strength, even though I'm an incredibly strong and powerful woman. :) So, because I had left my lifting straps at home, I decided to be creative and use these strap-like things gymnasts use to swing around on the high bar with. I have no idea if I was using them the way they are intended, but somehow I jimmied them to where I could hold the bar securely with a little extra help. The problem was, once I was in, I was in. With my straps at home I knew that if I opened my grip on the bar they would unravel and the bar would just fall. With these ones I was connected to that bar until I sat it down and unwrapped myself.

I'm sure you can see where this is going. I was doing power cleans at 80 kg (approx 175 pounds), and after my first rep I go to do my second and didn't get under it to catch it. My instinct was to just let the bar go and I released my grip but the bar didn't leave me. So, the bar is going down and it's bringing me with it. It falls… I fall on top of it, wrists still strapped to the thing so that I'm unable to catch myself in any way. Somehow I end up in a perfect planking position, BUT with nobody to snatch a picture because after I let out a scream and look up to see who is running over to see if I'm ok, I notice that the couple people in the weight room are conveniently staring off into space.

Luckily, I only have a small bruise on my hip bone where I fell on the bar at and maybe a little bit of a bruised ego. It would have been nice to play it off and get in on the planking game while I was at it, but the only picture I can offer you know is helping you create a visual with my story.

The Facebook Experience

I've decided to change the way I Facebook. It's not a big change, really, but what it will do is let me connect with more people (I was at the profile page max) and share more of myself and my journey. So, if we were already Facebook friends, you'll now notice that I have a page instead of a profile and I've found a way for you to "LIKE" me without your active participation. It's kind of tricky on my part but at the same time, it saves you the trouble and deep down I know you wanted to anyway. If we weren't friends, I'm inviting you now to connect with me and make sure you aren't missing out on anything life changing. Things you will experience on my Facebook page include…


…Finding out where I'm at in the world and when I compete.
…Get notifications about Blog updates.
…View pictures and videos from my adventures.
…Have questions answered and be involved in discussions related to my sport.
…Lots more cool stuff I haven't thought of yet.

And if none of those reasons seem worth it, just do it because I asked nicely. Please make sure you stop on by and let me know what you think.


***my landing page was created by the lovely Tiffini at tiffiniink.com. It's kind of awesome, isn't it?!!

My Obsession

Everyone around me knows it… I'm pretty much addicted to Words With Friends. I'm good at spelling, I love my Ipad, and I'm fiercely competitive--this game was pretty much made specifically for me. In case you are unfamiliar, words with friends is basically scrabble played against opponents on your Iphone or Ipad. You can play multiple people at a time and people play their turn at their leisure. I try to keep around 20 games going at a time so that I will always have a turn to play when i feel like it. A lot of times I have to search for new opponents because it seems like people get tired of playing me. What can I say… losing sucks. I rarely get beat. It does happen on occasion but it doesn't happen often and if my memory serves me correctly, never twice in a row.

People often ask me how I got to be so dominant at this game (I'm kidding…nobody has really asked me such a thing, but play along anyway), and so I figured I would share a few of my tips and tricks on how I came to be so successful. I don't mind if the people I play read this -- I have that much confidence in my ability -- but a few of these tips might help to make your games more competitive and give me some more worthy opponents in the process.

Play Everyone: I don't care what your skill level is, I'll play you. If it's obvious I'm way better than you, I just use it as a game for speed and test my ability on coming up with a good word fast. I love to play people who challenge me because it makes me better and I also usually learn words I didn't know before.

Figure out a good offense/defense combo: I don't always play my best word because I'm constantly thinking ahead to what my opponent might play as well as what I want to do with my letters and what I'd like to keep/get rid of. I weigh my options and look at the big picture. Everyone is different, but make sure you're not just considering your one play.

Don't waste big tiles: The Q, J, X, and Z are your steak and lobster. Don't play them for some McDonalds sized points unless it's the end of the game and you just need to get rid of tiles. It's also very helpful to know all the kinds of words you can spell with these tiles. For example, how many words can you spell with a Q, without having a U?!!

Know when to swap: Sometimes you have a crap hand and you need to know when it's best to fold. If I have all vowels or all consonants or I simply can't play anything worthwhile, I either skip my turn or swap tiles. In the long run, it will be better because more often than not, you're going to have a few bad hands in a row if you don't do something about it.

The S is the most important 1 point tile: You shouldn't just throw it on the end of the word because you have it, if it isn't gaining you significant bonus points.

Look for Bingo opportunities: You get 30 extra points if you use all 7 of your tiles. I don't constantly look to do this, but the times I do take some extra time thinking about it is when I have an obvious help in the form of the following combos of letters that can be prefixes or suffixes and make it that much easier, like, ER(RE), ED(DE), ING, etc.

Know all your two letter word combinations: I pretty much know all of them by heart. Now, I'm not going to lie and say I know what they mean or how to use them in a sentence, but I do know they exist and can be your best friend in this game if you know where you can hook words on. There are only two letters that have no two letter words, C and V. You're welcome.

Read more: I know a lot of words because I like to read and I come across all different sorts of words all the time. However, even I sometimes admit to playing words I don't actually know are words. Most of the time though, I do know that combining certain letters a specific way has the better chance of actually being a word.

Don't cheat: It's so lame to cheat and it's also pretty obvious, unless you are a linguistics major or something. I can still beat a cheater from time to time because I think strategy still plays a part rather than always playing your best word at the time, but it takes a lot of the fun out of competition when someone uses a computer to generate a word for them.

If anyone else would like to add to my list, feel free. Sharing is caring.

Around the Corner

T minus 5 days.

In case you are unaware, that’s the countdown until I turn 30. And while I know it’s just a number, it’s really starting to hit me that I will actually be hitting this huge milestone in my life. It’s the age where there is no wiggle room in fully claiming adulthood. And I don’t know how it seems to y’all, but I really still feel like there are tons more adultish adults out there than me. But alas, I must claim to be part of their ranks regardless.

Many people have been asking what I will be doing to celebrate the BIG 3-0. I admit, for years now I just knew that this year would be the celebration of all celebrations. Let’s be honest…from here on out all you really are doing is getting old, right? Who wants to celebrate that?! I don’t know about you, but I am not itching to celebrate wrinkles and grey hairs. I’d be content celebrating “Happy 30th Birthday” again for the next 30 years. But the initial celebration should be somewhat of a huge deal and a big shebang. But the closer I got to my birthday, the less I felt like setting off fireworks in my honor.

For starters, my job gets in the way. I have my first competition this weekend and then a few days later I jet off to Africa to do a meet there. Trying to squeeze in the party of a lifetime in between all that seemed a little difficult not to mention not super smart if I’m actually trying to compete well. Then, there is the issue of friends. I know a lot of people but the older I get, the smaller my circle of buddies becomes. I’m totally fine with this, but the idea of rallying up a bunch of people and sending out facebook blasts to all the folks that might care to celebrate with me, seemed like too much effort on my part and theirs. So I’m only asking the handful of people who are closest to me to give a darn about my birthday. There will be no party of the century that has people talking for years to come, but there will be good memories nonetheless and a much more rested body. And let’s face it…I need the rest because this body ain’t no spring chicken anymore.

So no, your invitation didn’t get lost in the mail. I’m just going to live my normal, 29 year old life, and then wake up Sunday morning with another year under my belt, and start checking for grey hairs.

My New Bling

I am quite possibly the worst person to give jewelry to as a gift. Not because I don’t like it or won’t appreciate it…but because I will lose it. Every real piece of jewelry I’ve ever had, I’ve lost. (Dear future hubby…I will make sure I break this habit before you give me my amazing engagement ring.) It just so happens though, that I will buy some gaudy earrings from the second hand store and keep them forever. I don’t know how this happens, but it does.

Perhaps my favorite piece of jewelry I ever received was a pair of diamond hoop earrings from a boyfriend I had almost a decade ago. He had tons of money but was a tad bit on the frugal side so he himself would wear fake diamond studs. I would tease him about this all the time but in his mind, since he really couldn’t tell the difference anyway and because people would probably assume they were real, he didn’t see a reason to drop a good chunk of money on the real thing. That’s probably why it made my Christmas gift that year a little more special. He bought me my first real pair of diamond earrings and I loved them. In fact, I gave up wearing my fake jewelry most of the time so I could showcase these beauties. Well…that is until I lost them. I don’t know how and I don’t know where, but I always hoped they would show up again in the most obscure place, and I would instantly remember how I had put them there for safekeeping. It’s been years though and that hasn’t happened.

Since then, I have gone back to wearing my fake, cheap stuff until the next lucky lad feels compelled to shower me with bling. But because it’s been a while and $15 earrings tend to look about as expensive as they cost, I’ve recently copped these in-betweener earrings. I ordered them online and they are enough in my price range that I wouldn't even need to wait for the lad! They won’t break the bank but they don’t look cheap at all. They also remind me of the earrings I used to have that I loved so much. What do you think? Kind of fabulous?

The Spirit of the Season

There is nothing that will put you in the holiday spirit quite like going to the DMV. I should know,.. I was blessed to spend time there yesterday afternoon. I walked away with feelings of joy and happiness. Where else could I spend hours of my life standing around waiting with my fellow Americans, listening to the beautiful sounds of “G201 to window 17, melodically coming through the speakers? It’s nice of them to also have the numbers flashing up on the screen as well. I know I really appreciated it, it was like an added awareness of what was going on, lest you start to let your mind wander unknowingly or you began to be captivated on what was going on around you.

What was going on around me? Perhaps just the most interesting display of social interaction I’ve been privy to in quite a while is all. Take for instance, the lady sitting next to me. She had no desire to wait til her number was called, so she took to rushing a window every time she saw someone leave it, before the next customer was called. The lady on the other side of me thought it would be a great idea to talk on speaker to her boyfriend the whole time while her 2-year-old daughter made a playground out of her surroundings. In all fairness, she’s probably worried about getting cancer by holding her phone directly to her ear. And controlling your child is totally overrated. They’re children for chrissake! Let them run free.

I also got some great styling tips from my fellow DMV’ers. More than likely I won’t get the opportunity to try them out until some time around October 31st, but very unique ideas nonetheless. In addition to learning about fashion, I was also able to practice my Spanish. Boy, am I rusty! In the end, it was all worth it though by the time I had my number called and made my way to window 23. It truly allowed me to be more like Jesus and treat others how he would. Jesus showed everyone love and treated them with respect and compassion, regardless of how they felt about him. In my small way, I did the same. This lady was rude and inconsiderate, but I smiled just the same, thanked her for her help and time, and wished her a very Merry Christmas.

So, yes, the DMV, with their discourteous employees, ridiculously long lines and crowded waiting room, and interesting characters everywhere you turned, was the perfect way to get into the spirit. Now I think I’ll wait til the 24th to go to the Mall.

An Open Letter...

Dear Purse Thief,

I’m writing this letter for two reasons. One, there is a very good chance you might read it. Once you look through my belongings and type my name in Google, this blog will come up as the second entry. (Yes, I google myself. Don’t judge.) Second, I feel the need to vent and my doing so here just may prevent the next person from being careless with their belongings and ending up in my same predicament. I would like to start off by saying that I am very angry with you. You ruined a perfectly good evening out with friends and colleagues. I was having a fantastic time until you decided it would be a good idea to take what wasn’t yours and leave me high and dry. Let’s take inventory on the stuff you walked away with.

First is the purse itself. Thank God I left my Michael Kors back in the hotel room! I have no idea if you’re a man or a women but you definitely got nothing in the handbag department as that little clutch can be replaced without breaking the bank. I breathed a sigh of relief on that one. But I’m guessing that’s not really what you were after anyway.

The cold hard cash. Bummer for you, as it was less than $50 bucks, but bigger bummer for me as it was the only cash I had and I was stuck all the way in Indianapolis for 3 more days. Something told me not to even bother bringing cash as I would be surrounded by plenty of male friends, but I stuck it in there anyway at the last minute. You made me beg and plead for each cup of Starbucks coffee and meal I needed to consume for the remainder of the conference.

Driver’s License. In case you were wondering, it’s not my current address but you live in Indy so I would assume you aren’t planning to visit anyway. It’s been less than a year since I lost my last one but I suppose it’s not that big a deal unless I’m forced to visit the DMV in person. What really makes my blood boil is that shiny highway patrol sticker I have on there and one can only hope that their kind, caring uncle reads this and finds it in his heart to replace that.

Credit Cards. I have no idea what you were trying to purchase at Wal-Mart for $400 dollars, but you probably didn’t realize I make a living being speedy, so I had those cards canceled before you even thought of all the cool things you could buy on my dime.

Passport. The good news is it wasn’t mine but the bad news is it wasn’t mine and so I had to feel extra guilty for losing a friends passport, not to mention only form of identification. I suppose this frees me from being asked in the future to carry belongings for other people in my purse so that their pockets aren’t bulging, but in the meantime I have to also deal with someone else’s disappointment while dealing with my own. Not good.

Blackberry. A good businessman might realize that people will pay you not to steal their blackberry. I tried calling all the people you called on my phone before I turned it off to have them relay that message to you, but to no avail. And let’s talk about that for a second, shall we? You’re a dumb thief. Obviously I can easily look up phone activity and see the numbers you’ve called. I even think the older gentleman I got a hold of was willing to help me out, he just couldn’t remember who it had been on the phone from that phone number by the time I called him. He even tried calling it again to see who answered but by that time I had shut the phone down so you got lucky there. I now see the importance of keeping your phone locked, even if you don’t have a nosey significant other who might want to snoop. A blackberry contains far too much personal information that you may or may not be interested in. Luckily for me, you won’t be able to run to the tabloids with the pictures I have stored, but that doesn’t make me feel any less violated.

So basically, you suck. I learned a valuable lesson and will never again make it that easy for a punk like you to disrupt my life like that. But the offer still stands… I will pay you to give my Blackberry back. No questions asked.

The Challenge!

I’ve been a bad blogger. Horrible actually. And it probably wouldn’t really matter except that I know people expect me to be writing things. Each day I check to see how many folks have stopped by to be let down and it makes me feel a little worse each day. Of course this isn’t my job and I don’t get paid to write about my sometimes boring and not so fabulous life, but I do feel a responsibility to fulfill expectations, however small they may be. The problem at times is that my life can be reaaaalllly boring. Like, majorly so. During those times, it takes effort to write something I could feel ok with people wasting 2 minutes of their life on.

I happen to be experiencing many of those days now. Just ho hum life void of any creative juices to inspire me. In an effort to get myself out of this funk, I’m challenging myself to be better…or at the very least write a bunch of crap. For the next week I will vow to blog each and every day. I don’t know what exactly I will blog, but if nothing else I’ll share what I ate for lunch and how I get really mad when I accidentally step in the poop my neighbor failed to pick up. Yea…that happened earlier today. What I have found lately, is that people seem to respond far more to dating/relationship blogs then they do to anything related to athletics. There is only one problem with that…the lack of useful data to write such a blog. So for now I am open to any ideas and suggestions as to what to write about, and in the meantime check back daily if you have a couple minutes to waste!

Being a Girl Sucks

I’m an independent woman for the most part. Beyonce was totally singing about me when she sang for all her Independent gals to throw your hands up at me. I can do pretty much anything on my own…anything except kill bugs and fix cars. Which is why I am totally frustrated and helpless now that my car is sitting down in the garage totally dead. Yesterday, when I found it that way after over two months of sitting idle, (probably not smart, I know) I had plenty of help around to get me back on my way. I found someone with cables, someone to hook them up, and someone to open my hood and be the first to encounter the rabbits who had taken up residence. But that was yesterday.

Today, I again have a dead car and nobody around to help. I am far away from friends, I didn’t pass a helpful looking soul that wasn’t rushing out to the office, and I can’t locate my insurance card to see if I even have roadside assistance. I guess I’m supposed to buy a battery but who knows if you are forced to install it yourself. That would sure be scary and pretty much impossible so I’m sure they have someone who does it for you. But first comes the problem of finding someone to start my car so I can get to some sort of place that does that.

In the meantime, I’m just sitting here pouting. This is yet another reason why I really need to speed up the search for a husband because I’d prefer for this to be someone else’s problem. Oh…and did I mention I had to kill a bug this morning with nothing but a paper towel?! Sheer madness.



UPDATE:

People keep asking me what ended up happening with my car…so I suppose I’ll finish the story.

First, let me start with the moral of the story: Listen to your instinct.

I would never attempt anything grander than putting gas in my own car. But thanks to some well-intentioned friends and strangers who convinced me of the problem… and the obvious simplicity of how to fix it… I tried to be superwoman. Changing your own battery is easy!”, they claimed. So off I went to Wal-Mart to purchase a new battery. This is where the story takes an unpromising turn. I could just blame it on the Wal-Mart employee but maybe it was my bad for assuming he was an auto expert and chose to work at Wal-Mart for the unbelievable benefits. Long story short…I bought the battery, relied on the expertise of my girlfriend who had saw someone put in her battery months earlier and swore it was a piece of cake, and ended up with a car that wouldn’t spit, sputter, or click if it’s life depended on it. So, I have it towed, and then wait almost 24 hours for them to tell me that the problem was a blown fuse, caused by the purchase of the wrong type of battery that made this one part touch this other part that it wasn’t supposed to. Their “expertise” cost me the big bucks and the silly little fuse was only $12 dollars.

So yes, it was my battery, but no, a person like me should not try and pretend they’re someone they’re not. When it comes to cars, DIY might as well stand for screw it up and pay even more.

M.A.S.H.

If you were ever a young teenage girl going through your wonderful adolescent years then you will know exactly what I’m talking about. It was the game you played when you got together with your girlfriends and figured out what your future was going to look like…all in good fun of course. Would you live in a mansion? Would Luke Perry be the love of your life? How many kids would you end up having? All of this vital information rested on the number of swirl rotations drawn by your friend until you yelled STOP!. Your happiness rested in her hands.

The last time I checked my future in this manner was probably about 15 years ago. But it turns out that even if you’re almost 30, the game is still as relevant and informative as ever if you haven’t reached those milestones in life just yet. So, in our effort to kill a good 30 minutes of our 11 hour plane ride, my training partner Grace and I took a page out of our childhood playbook and figured out the lives we are meant to lead according to M.A.S.H.

We added a few categories to reflect our mature position in life, but other than that we kept the game the same. Different categories all with four possible outcomes listed, count the swirl rotations, and then eliminate away until your future is right before your eyes. In case you are all as eager as I was to see what awaits me, here is what I have to look forward to!

I get t spend the rest of my life gazing longingly into the eyes of this man. I'm so excited that my Caucasian persuasion hottie won out. We are going to make beautiful babies together. 2 of them to be exact...







Channing and I will reside in New York, but since I picked "M", we will be living in a Mansion. I don't recall seeing too many mansions in the city so I guess we will have to live a little further out in the country. It'll be worth it though.






During the summer we will be vacationing in Mykonos. If you've never been, this place is beautiful. It will be a wonderful departure from life stateside.






My future career is that of a sports agent...a la Jerry Mcguire. Although somehow I must not be very good because the game told me I will also be poor. I'm not sure how this happened...perhaps I paid too much money to live in a mansion and vacation in Mykonos.





I will drive around town in my environmentally friendly car, a Prius. It definitely wasn't my first choice, but it makes perfect sense when I learned that I also will use my free time volunteering for GreenPeace.




Perhaps most surprising of all is to know that later on in life I will need liposuction to keep my body looking good. You're right in thinking that plastic surgery was not part of M.A.S.H originally, but this is the new and improved version...the version that was hopefully going to bless me with a bigger rack. No such luck. I'm going to assume this is due to the two rugrats I'll be having and blame them for the extra unwanted curves I'll be dealing with.


So there you have it...my future in a nutshell.

Frustrations.

So I have a new phone. Still a blackberry…and I’m still an addict. But can I tell you that there is nothing that frustrates me more than dealing with phone companies? For weeks I have been trying to fix my phone and breathe new life into it so that I wouldn’t have to take the hit by buying a new one. Blackberries are a lot of money and it could be used for… oh, I don’t know, food. But after hours of my life were wasted, talking with customer support, being transferred to different levels of customer support, and having them falsely claim they fixed the problem only to have it not working properly again the next week, I knew I was going to have to bite the bullet. Let me pause for just one second though and mention that perhaps you should have more than a G.E.D. to be tech support for a company. And once I get to someone that does have a diploma, I just want them to speak English because I happen to communicate better that way. And I realize that companies train their employees to deal with customers in a certain way, but the least you can do is put your own twist on that script your reading because by now I’ve heard it 2,843 times and I don’t quite believe that you really are sorry that my blackberry isn’t working and you realize how frustrating that is, and want to get this problem fixed as soon as possible because you value me and am grateful I have been a loyal T-mobile customer since 2005.

But now I have my new updated and upgraded Blackberry and I am happy. All I had to give them in return is my life savings, $100 of which they will give back in the next six months after I mail in my rebate, and my firstborn child, otherwise known as a contract extension. But that’s ok, because I’ve been a loyal customer since 2005 and there is no reason to believe that I will become un-loyal in the next two years…unless I decide I’ve had enough of Blackberries and make my way over to the dark side. I’ll give you a hint—it starts with I and ends with phone. Dun dun dun.

Oddball

I love shopping at Target. The ability to go into a store and come out with 47 things you didn’t think you needed, but luckily had the wherewithal to spot as you meander up and down every aisle, is priceless. Target stops are not quick run-ins as they take time and patience to be able to fully give each section the proper attention. So, because I had a bit of time on my hands this afternoon, that is where I headed. I had already tried on a swimsuit that (luckily) didn’t look all that great, picked up a white tank top (because, really, who can have too many of those), and a package of socks, when I headed over to the toiletries section. As I stood there perusing the available shampoos and conditioners, trying to figure out if this was the week I was going to go for extra moisturizing, try to combat my frizziness, or spend the extra couple dollars and buy the salon quality stuff, , I had my spell broken by a gentleman standing next to me who also seemed to be trying to figure out the best hair care solution.

I see him out of my peripheral turning towards me. Can I ask you a question. I immediately assume he wants some help with picking out the best product to help curls stay bouncy and frizz free. Even though I didn’t bother to do my hair today, I’m sure it’s obvious that most of the time I know what I’m doing with this mop of mine. Sure, I say, flashing a friendly smile and what I hope comes off as a friendly attitude. Do you think it’s better to put cologne behind your ear or on your collarbone. Errr…Ughh…Hmmm…Ehhh. What??!! Ok, not the question I was expecting. But I try to keep my usually expressive face neutral and answer like it’s perfectly normal to ask such a question to a stranger in the middle of Target. I think behind the ear is best. Yea, I think I heard something like that before. Or whatever. I just am giving an answer for answers sake, really. Well what if your girlfriend likes to kiss you there? Seriously? Seriously! Well I guess she just gets a taste of your cologne in her mouth then. But I’m pretty sure that’s the best spot…something about body heat I believe. He stares at me for like a fraction of a second too long, just so it gets uncomfortable. Ok, thanks. And then he turns and goes back to looking at shampoos.

Am I the only one who finds that a bit odd?!

Going Green

I’m all about doing my part to help the environment. I’ll turn off the water while I brush my teeth, combine bags while shopping at the mall, put the recyclable items in the appropriate trash can, and always have thought it would be a good idea to purchase some of those nylon bags to take to the grocery store. I have yet to actually get some and use them, but the thought is there nonetheless.

Here at the training center there is a huge push to make this place as green as possible and for the most part, I’m all for it. They took away the cups at the water cooler and I faithfully remember to bring my water bottle with me at all times. They forego trays in the dining hall so as to save water and I balance my salad plate, food plate, silverware, and cup like the seasoned former waitress that I am. They purchase new energy saving washers and dryers and I head to the store to make sure I purchase some new, appropriate soap that is made especially for these machines. I really try and do my part.

But the buck stops here.

Today the maintenance guy stopped by to change our shower heads and I thought nothing of it. That is, until I was in the shower with a fine mist trickling down. You know when you go to an amusement park in the heat of the summer and you are super relieved that they’ve thought to put out those misters to keep you cool as you wait in line? That’s what my shower felt like! I soaped up and then literally used my hand to help get all the soap off. And when I attempted to rinse out the special conditioner I use once a week, I knew I was in trouble…my hair still felt like it was loaded with Crisco. It just wasn’t happening. I had to turn the water back to the faucet, get down on my knees, and force my head underneath to properly rinse out my hair.

Listen, I love the earth and all and I want to preserve it just as much as the next guy, but I just don’t think I’m willing to sacrifice a clean body and build-up free hair. I am on a mission to get my old shower head back as soon as possible because I didn’t realize it’s value until today. It’s priceless.