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October 31, 2005
bruegger's halloween run
One day I'll start taking my camera to these runs. It crosses my mind each time, but then I consistently walk out the door without it.
This weekend's run was camera worthy, indeed. The Bruegger's Halloween Run at Beaver Lake in Baldwinsville is a great 5K. And for this run I managed to finagle three whole friends to come with me. THREE. I haven't had three friends together, like, since junior high. I don't even think I've even HAD three friends since then.
HEy! I have THREE FRIENDS!!
Anyway, Beaver Lake is a small nature-y park with soft mulch hiking trails. My girl scout troop goes snow shoeing there in the winter. Running on the spongy (sponge-y?) trails is like having go-go gadget springs in your shoes. Not that it made me any faster, but it certainly felt cushy on my knees and ankles.
The one problem with the trails is that they're narrow. Three people abreast is about all that'll fit--and so it gets complicated when you're trying to pass or be passed. The race organizers have tried a few different start configurations (starting in the parking lot, starting out down the road) and this year they put us all in a wide open field. But the same bottleneck always happens at the trailhead, and the runners pile up and stand waiting for everyone to get moving 30 seconds after the horn goes off.
I think the problem is a function of the race's growth. It's getting too big to support that many runners--maybe they need to cap it. The race is also getting too big for them to do the old style "pull-the-bib-tab" method for ordering finishers. H and I came in together, and I immediately began pushing her through, as the finish people normally do, so there isn't a jam at the finish line. It turns out, though, that since they were pulling tabs there was a confused back up while they lined us up in order just out of the shoot.
It would have been nice to know ahead of time--I would've had my tab ready.
Also, the line for water and bagels was simply wrong. Good races have their tables set up and the racers just walk up and get what they want. If the race sponsors are too stingy to let runners get as much as they want, they need to sponsor events that don't involve very hungry, very thirsty participants who cannot wait in a 15 minute line to get a water bottle. Well, they can wait, but they don't want to.
I should say that the shirts for this race are great, and it's affordable as far as races go (which is probably why they don't do chip timing), and that it's a blast to see a bunch of runners dressed up in Halloween get-ups. And really, you stand in line for a free bagel and then you get a coupon for three more free bagels later, so don't let my complaining fool you. It was fun and we'll for sure run it again.
I'll post our times when they get them up.
Posted by mryonker at 09:22 AM | Comments (3)
October 27, 2005
jon stewart clip
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2652831?htv=12
Posted by mryonker at 01:29 PM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2005
blograce
What do you do when you accidentally blacklist one of your favorite people?
First, you admit it to her that you're the one who accidentally checked her off as spam.
And then you quickly remove her from the list.
And then you post about it before she does, so you're (possibly) further redeemed in her eyes.
Please don't tell BP!!
Posted by mryonker at 09:39 PM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2005
we didn't break our record
I got an email from B today--he broke down this morning and turned on the heat. So, I was curious and I looked into my archives to see when we turned it on last year (love that! blog as keeping track of my own life!!) and as it turns out, we lasted for exactly the same number of days into autumn last year as we did this. This exact day, one year ago.
Again, if we didn't have the little one, we probably could hold out longer. Then again, B is rather, um, UNinsulated as far as bodies go, plus he's a transplanted southern beach boy, and he frankly has no tolerance for the cold. Whatsoever. It makes him cranky.
Me, though. I've grown up under various climactic conditions: midwest, Carribean, southeast. Living in Puerto Rico and then SE Virginia (in the spring fall and summer) was hot, humid, sweaty, etc. And for someone who physiologically always has skin rubbing together SOMEWHERE (me), being sweaty is generally sucky. I love sweaters and jeans and wool socks and turtlenecks and bulky clothes (don't get me started on those no-waisted, nearly-bikini-wax-requiring jeans women are supposed to wear these days). I don't mind the cold as much.
I will miss being able to toss the kids outside to play with little thought to whether they've got shoes on or not.
I will miss running without my glasses fogging up, my nose running, my fingers freezing and having to wear my "geek vest."
But it's cold. There'll be snow, and ice, and wind that will cut through pretty much whatever I wear as I walk the near-mile from my car onto campus.
But I can wear scarves!
Posted by mryonker at 09:46 PM | Comments (1)
October 19, 2005
two reasons
The title is a conscious objection to Nielsen's Top 10 Design Mistakes in Weblog Usability.
I don't have two reasons. I don't have two of anything.
What I do have is a mutli-modal post, wherein I not only use my blog to MIX TOPICS but to MIX THEM IN ONE POST!!
I am:
Wishing I had time to knit something.
Wishing I had $$ for new running shoes and time to use them.
Wondering how on earth I will read what I need to in the time that I have to prepare for exams.
Realizing that it could snow, now, and no one would be that surprised.
Holding small group conferences for three classes, and frantically reading drafts to keep up.
Ignoring the housecleaning. Utterly.
I am:
Laughing, hard, about turning heels while knitting socks. ["No!! I TURNED THE HEEL, DAMMIT! AREN'T YOU PROUD??"]
Experiencing true, forward motion in the march toward exams. Having that motion include hyper-forward motion, in that as the exams shift, my reading lists begin to include books I've actually read before. [YES!]
Planning a trip to the orchard to pick apples and buy pumpkins and make pies with LARD. :)
Holding small group conferences in the lounge with couches and coffee and being able to compliment a student's "flair for narrative."
Spending a morning with little J, reading his books. I say "Duck!" He says "Da-BAH!" I say "Fish!" He says "Gup-BEE!"
And BTW: little J has discovered Mr. Rogers. He's mesmerized on the couch right now watching Mr. R, who's playing with string and cardboard. That man was a genius.
"Everybody's fancy; everybody's fine. Your body's fancy, and so is mine."
Genius.
Posted by mryonker at 11:37 AM | Comments (4)
October 11, 2005
the fastest post ever
the quickest post, to ward off white space:
1. Hannah is teaching Jack to read. He's already through the first three painful chapters of _Dick and Jane_. Don't ask me where that book came from--but he's reading! It's exciting!
2. Gearing up for the crizzazy birthday trek to SE VA to celebrate the gazillion grandkid b-days that take place in October.
3. Changed one exam area to Technology and Pedagogy. Looking for a reader. Anyone interested?
4. Presented at a conference here at SU last weekend--a kind of warm-up for my presentation for a panel I'll be on in Atlanta at SAMLA. It went rather well, I think, and am excited for the trip next month. Still looking for a roommate, by the way. Anyone interested?
5. Josh is still binky-fied and nursing once a night. Hoping that our extended separation in Nov will wean him from at least one of those vices (the one attached to me). I'm also looking forward to UNINTERRUPTED sleep.
6. Bruegger's Bagel 5K at Beaver Lake on Oct. 30. A good run! Anyone interested?
Posted by mryonker at 08:47 PM | Comments (0)
October 03, 2005
monday night mcdonald's bloggin
Some ancient history: When Hannah was a baby, I was still a pretty devoted vegetarian and all-around health nazi. I scoffed at my friends who fed their kids McNuggets and fries. Hannah was nearly three before she had soda, fries, and all the other heinous foods that McDonald’s peddles.
As my family has evolved (or devolved, one could argue), my resolved has weakened. I could blame a partner who was literally raised on Big Macs for my ultimate failure to raise a bunch of organic vegetarian anti-consumers, but I’ll take at least half, if not more, of the responsibility. I remember vividly the day my conviction crumbled completely. It involved a nearly-innocent, biennial visit to the golden arches, wherein my toddler discovered the ball pit.
I sat in a booth with food in front of me, was able to EAT said meal with virtually NO interruption, have a quiet discussion with my husband, all-the-while SIMULTANEOUSLY watching my daughter entertain herself for over an hour.
She left us alone. SHE LEFT US ALONE. She was safe. She was happy. She wasn’t throwing a fit because we weren’t paying her attention. It was a heady discovery for me--that I could have a moment or two of near-relaxation.
Since then, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with good old Ronald. I’ve read _Fast Food Nation_, after which I made my entire family boycott all paper-wrapped heart-attacks for about 6 months. Just recently, we checked out _Super Size Me_ from the local library. Spurlock’s rather heavy-handed bias was apparent to me—but I could see through his incendiary rhetoric (and rather unscientific methodology) to understand the finer grain of his argument (probably because I’d read _FFN_ and had also seen _The Corporation_), and for the most part I agreed that Ronald wasn’t too good for us.
But here I am, sitting in the playplace, as I will every Monday night for this entire school year. H has two dance classes this evening, and it just seems like there is NO other place for the boys and me to go. We could go to the library, but I would have to be chasing the boys around, shushing them and keeping J-baby from emptying all the shelves. To go home while she dances is out of the question; we live 15 miles out of the city. Here we get some food, I sit and read, grade, write, whatever, and the boys can be rowdy.
Of course, since that fateful day they’ve removed all the ball pits from playplaces. The gross stories about people finding hypodermic needles and dirty diapers and all manner of disgusting items in the ball pits probably precipitated their removal. They’ve been replaced by video games and air hockey tables. The boys mostly run the hamster tubes, though, and they leave sweaty and tired.
So the monday night mcdonald's bloggin (mnmb) begins.
Posted by mryonker at 09:59 PM | Comments (2)