HP 6 in T minus 26!

I've been dying to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. This movie is l-o-n-g overdue (I'm still bitter over its delayed release, but I'm sure all bitterness will dissolve once I am at the theater tomorrow night at midnight!).

16 and Pregnant

What is it with me and pregnancy shows? This MTV show is a good one, though. Every episode features a different teen and follows her in the months leading up to the birth of the baby and then for a little while after the baby's birth. So far, most of the girls on the show have decided to keep their babies.

Fashion Faux Pas

I went to Target today right after work. About thirty minutes into my shopping trip, when I was trying on a bathing suit in the dressing room, I suddenly realized that I was wearing the Target uniform: I had on khaki capris and a red T-shirt. I felt so self-conscious after that I could barely focus on my shopping. The worst part is, I know I've laughed at people (in my head) several times before when I've noticed unsuspecting Target customers dressed in red and khaki. I guess it was karma today.

For all you cat lovers out there...

Here's an interesting article from Scientific American.

"Whereas other once wild animals were domesticated for their milk, meat, wool or servile labor, cats contribute virtually nothing in the way of sustenance or work to human endeavor. How, then, did they become commonplace fixtures in our homes?"

I ask Hector the same question every day...

Car repair$

Dropped off my car today to get some repairs done...it's going to cost $635. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they don't find anything else wrong with it!

Run with the Cops

On Saturday I am doing a 5K called "Run with the Cops...Not from them!" Cute, isn't it? I'm looking forward to this race because it should be a pretty flat, fast course (well, the jury's still out on the "fast" part, but I think we're OK on the "flat"). This will be my third race this year, and I'm registered for another one at the end of July-- an 8K (about 5 miles). I had a burst of over-ambition the day I signed up for it, so we'll see how that one goes when the time comes...

Gotta go-- Hector is curled up against me making my body temperature about ten degrees warmer than is comfortable. That boy is too darn furry! (And yes, I am aware that this whole thing would sound really creepy if you weren't aware that Hector is a cat...)

Harper's Island

If you are not watching this show, you should be. Not because it's exceptionally brilliant or anything, but because it's a veritable board game come alive: think Clue and those How to Host a Murder Mystery boxed games. The winning combination of chintzy murder mystery motifs and archetypal suspects plays out on a TV screen like a well-paced novel of the same genre-- and that is enough to keep me addicted to this semi-low-budget-yet-all-too-intriguing production of murder, betrayal, and basic cable-oriented sex.

Plus, it's set on a fictitious island located off the coast of Seattle, where it mysteriously never seems to rain...that might be the real mystery behind the goings-on of Harper's Island.

Eeeeep! (That's me squealing with excitement)

Heat Wave!

85 degrees today! Yikes! Seattleites have come out of hiding and are swarming Green Lake. Hector is doing his best to stay cool despite his (adorably) ridiculous fluffiness. And I'm fighting this unprecedented heat wave by eating ice cream sandwiches and popsicles-- and loving every minute of it.

Sunburned

My shoulders are sunburned and it hurts to play my violin and wear my purse on my shoulder. :(

What happened to normal popsicles?

Earlier today I was at the grocery store, navigating my way through the throngs of old people during my mid-morning market run. The past few nights I've had a hankering for popsicles, so I went to the frozen food aisle looking for a regular box of cherry, grape, and orange popsicles. To my surprise and frustration, I couldn't find any normal frozen treats. There were 10-calorie popsicles, "all natural" popsicles, and other weird diet and organic-sounding crap. All I wanted were regular fruit-flavored popsicles. What the F happened to them?? I don't care about the number of calories they have or whether they are naturally flavored or not-- in fact, I'd even go so far as to say that I prefer a popsicle that has a higher calorie count than a Tic-Tac and is artificially flavored. Obviously, I'm not eating popsicles because I think they're healthy and take the place of fruits and vegetables. Just like I don't eat Snackwells cookies or Weight Watchers brand anything (if I want a cookie, I'm going to eat a chocolatey, fatty, deliciously fulfilling cookie-- well, OK, I'd probably eat more than just one, but that's beside the point). I just wanted a freakin' frozen, flavored stick of ice! Eventually I found one of those cheaper brands of popsicles that comes in a plastic bag and doesn't sounds like it's a dietary supplement. I'm still bummed I couldn't find my normal, non-health fad popsicles, though. Maybe I need to check out another grocery store besides Safeway...or maybe I should invest in those plastic make-your-own popsicle kits.

I didn't know I was pregnant

And no, I'm not talking about myself (thank God!). It's a TV show on TLC that chronicles bizarre cases of women who didn't know they were pregnant until they delivered a baby. The most interesting thing is that these aren't cases dealing with trashy, overweight teenagers who end up throwing their babies in garbage cans. Typically they are women who have some type of condition where they don't menstruate or do so infrequently (apologies to my male readers, but that's how reproduction works) and are either initially overweight so they don't notice the pregnancy weight gain or are super petite and barely gain any weight. But anyway, it's a good show. It's probably sort of strange that I watch it with my boyfriend...

Obsession & Withdrawal

I am obsessed with True Blood. Both the TV show and the books that the show is based on. I watched the first season on TV when I got HBO for free for six months because Comcast screwed up and tried to make amends (which I guess they did, in a way, since I probably wouldn't have gotten hooked on True Blood if it wasn't for my free HBO). Anyway, I have been going through withdrawal for the past six months that the show has been on hiatus, so I've been reading the books in the meantime. And I love them. I'm also excited because I found out that Amazon has a new section in their book department called "Paranormal Romance." You can't get much more escapist (and much hotter) than Paranormal Romance.

Only a little over a month 'til season two of True Blood!

GRRRRRR!!!

I just spent an hour filling out an online application, and then I accidentally clicked out of it. I want to scream so loud right now!

Words of truth?

I heard this on Millionaire Matchmaker today: "Men...they practice with blonds, they marry brunettes."

Can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing...

M's Home Opener

In a little over an hour, I will be at Safeco Field...


I can't wait to see Griffey!!!!

Just to give you a taste...

...of how cold our winter has been this year:

Finally, for just the third time sine 1891 there has been over an inch of snow in each of the winter months -- December, January, February and March. The only other times that has happened was in 1970-71 and 1895-96. (komotv.com)

and...

As we close the book on March, it will go down as the coldest March since 1976, and 7th coldest since records were kept at Sea-Tac Airport (1945). The average temperature was 41.7 degrees -- a full 4.5 degrees below normal. (1976 was 41.2). (komotv.com)

It was almost a "snow-go"

When I woke up last Sunday morning on the day of my race, I expected it to be pouring down rain-- what I did not expect was for it to be snowing. Yes, that's right: big, white flakes falling from the sky. As soon as the race began, the snow changed to rain, but it was FREEZING. Once I started running it wasn't so bad, but right before and after the race was pure torture-- I actually almost started crying afterwards when I was dripping wet and realized that my fingers felt like they had frostbite. Apparently it was the worst weather in the 25-year history of the St. Patrick's Day Dash, but what do you expect from a bizarre winter where Seattle has recorded record inches of snow? In many ways, though, the weather was the least of my troubles. This race happens to be the largest St. Patrick's Day race in the nation (apparently Seattle is really into its Irish heritage-- go figure), and there were 15,100 people running it. It was by far the most congested race I've ever run, and I spent most of my time trying to weave in and out of people. Needless to say I didn't break any records or set any PR's (not that I expected to, anyway, given my dearth of running in the past nine months or so), since the ridiculousness of how over-crowded the roads were made this race nearly impossible to run.

But it was still fun, as all races are, and now I'm excited for what I hope is actual spring weather during the next race that I run (maybe the end of April and/or mid-May).

Countdown to St. Patrick's Day Dash

Well, tomorrow is race day, and I have to wake up bright and early at 7am to head downtown to run the St. Patrick's Day Dash. My "cramming" for this race has gone better than expected: I ran the exact race distance (3.75 miles) twice this week, and was able to do it in a (what I thought was) respectable time. So I'm happy about that. Here's what I'm not happy about: tomorrow it's supposed to be windy and rainy with a high of 44 and an 80% chance of rain. In other words, a pretty unideal running environment: cold, wet, and early in the morning-- not my favorite, I must admit. And despite the fact that people might assume that I should be used to racing in the rain, given that I am in Seattle, after all, I have yet to actually run an official race in crappy weather. Believe it or not, of the 12 races I have run over the past nearly four years, not one of them has been rainy. So there, all you Seattle weather pessimists. It isn't always rainy here. But today it has been, and tomorrow it probably will be, too. Maybe I will run faster to get it over with sooner!

Who laid a big one?

I either have an extremely sensitive sense of smell, or I am legitimately unlucky when it comes to foul odors. Here's my latest incident: the other day I stepped into the elevator of my apartment building and was immediately accosted with an overwhelming smell of farts. Had I known beforehand that someone had dropped a bomb in the elevator (or maybe a few, judging by the intensity of the odor), I would have taken the stairs. But no. I was trapped as I descended three floors to the parking garage, locked in a flatulent chamber of toxic gas. Farting in a confined space is just plain cruel.