Here comes Robbie...

My little brother Robbie is one of the smartest 8 year old kids around. He describes himself as being "the kind of guy that is good at math," unlike Jeremiah who he describes as "the kind of guy who is good at sports." It's turned into a bit of a tradition for Robbie to come spend a week with me at school and go to my university's science camp. The above picture is of Robbie and I pigging out on chocolate ice cream last summer when he stayed with me.

The fun thing about having Robbie is that I can totally spoil him. My definition of spoiling is letting him eat junk food, stay up late and watch whatever movie he wants (like spiderman 2). It's wild - let me tell you that.

The problem with Robbie is that he is just too nice. Last year I took him grocery shopping to pick out "all the treats Mom doesn't buy" for his lunch at camp. He politely suggested that perhaps we get some apples or carrots or something. Seriously. Robbie sleeps on my floor. Last ,by the time my alarm went off, he would be waiting dressed and ready to go. When, on the oh-so-rare occasion, I did not get up to my alarm, he would quietly suggest that "maybe it's time to get up and go to camp?" What a guy eh?

Next week is going to be a little crazy for me, it being my last week of work and such, so I am not sure how much time I will have to spoil Robbie. He is going to have to come to x-country practice twice which can't be too fun for an 8 year old. (My mom told me it was okay, he'll just bring his math book along) So, apart from eating apples and carrots, does anyone have any incredibly cool ideas of what to do with an 8 year old?

3-2-1 Action??

So remember that whole 3-2-1 Action post...well here it is. (Yes, we are talking nutrition here) Well, my first step to in this whole be-healthy-grow-hair-be-fit-for-x-country-look-smokin-at-wedding plan was to cut back on the junk food. Easy to say right? So, last night i turned down ice cream cake. DQ ice cream cake at that! How much self-control do you think that took? All of it apparently, because I just ate a huge piece of chocolate. drat.

It's okay because part 2 of the plan is to get more calcium and protein and I have started eating cheese strings. Yeah, yeah, not the best - but they do not require cutting or cooking which is necessary in my kitchen. So 1 point for me and my healthy efforts.

Okay, since I am talking about food and stuff the logical progression is to move onto my killer bod (in the loosest sense on the word) Here is what I don't get. When I am running or working out or doing anything remotely athletic I love my body. This may sound lame, but my body is seriously an athletic machine. It is awesome. Great, right? So why is it then, when I go bathing suit shopping, my body seems so blah and unproportioned? This is my issue of the day because I am going to North Carolina next week and I kind of need a bathing suit.

Unrelated, today is my 7<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">th last day of work which means...I officially graduate in less than 9 months now! Hurray for that!

aiming for 100

Last night I straightened my hair - in attempts to give off the impression that every once in a while I do put some effort into my appearance. After finishing the rather timely task I put my hair in a ponytail because I don't want to give off the impression that I put too much effort into my appearance. It was then I realized that I HAVE NO HAIR!

Okay, I have hair, but about 1/2 the amount you would expect a 23 year old to have. I actually think my hair is falling out. Freaky eh? Or is unattractive a better word?

I googled.

Turns out nutrition can play a big role in hair loss. Figures. I kind of suck at nutrition. I know this for a fact, but in case I forget jeremiah reminds me weekly. Since hair loss has minorly terrified me, I am making brand new efforts to be the queen of health.

Reasons to Eat Healthily:

1. Because Health=Hair (apparently) and I like hair
2. Because it just might make me a faster runner
3. Because I could do just fine without my love handles
4. Because I'd like to live a long, cancer-free life
5. Because I need to learn to control my junk food addiction

Right, so those are the reason for me to be healthy...and now. 3-2-1- ACTION. Perhaps the action post will come tomorrow.

Crime and Suspects

I may have mentioned once or twice that my roommates are dirty and our kitchen is out of control gross. It hasn't improved.

Crime:

• There has been a large moldy stack of dishes sitting in the kitchen sink for at least 5 weeks.
• There are several greasy, dirty pans on the counter.
• There are plates with nastiness on them sitting in the hot eating room - attracting bugs as we speak.
• We all move out in 2 weeks...and the place must be clean.

The Suspects:

• Roommate A: (aka the one I like. SJ) This roommate has resorted to keeping her dishes in her room in a neat stack on her desk. She avoids the kitchen at all costs. She makes breakfast at work. She hasn't cooked since May (i think)
• Roommate B: This is me. I have only been eating granola bars, bagels, fruit, baby carrots and baby tomatoes. All of these do not involve cooking or dishes. A few times a week Jeremiah feeds me real food off his dishes.
• Roommate C: This guy has also been storing his dishes in his bedroom. He also also taken to only eating/cooking at his gf's house. He is not a suspect.
• Roommate D: This guy does not really speak English. He has a wife and kids in China. He cooks a lot - but has also been seen cleaning.
• Roommate E: This guy ripped a hole in our screen door so his illegal pet cat could come in and out. I hate cats. He is rarely here and has been known to dirty pans and not clean them. I am a little afraid of this guy. Weird guy.

Okay, so who is it? Who do we blame? How do we get him to clean up his disgusting mess? Tips and ideas are welcomed.

My New Sidekick

Lately I have been having some laptop woes. Something has gone wrong with my power cord connection which makes charging my laptop very difficult. This is a little worrisome because oh, I have my life stored in that laptop. In order to avoid a catastrophe, I set off to Future Shop.

I hate Future Shop. I know hate is a strong feeling to have towards a store but I feel it. Employees in the computer section always talk down to me - which is annoying because, being an almost engineer, I do know a thing or two about computers. I hate that they work on commission and try to tell people that they need useless things.

Today, I arrived at Future Shop with my laptop in hand and open. (Shutting my laptop triggers the power problems.) Anyway, back and forth I go between employees. Turns out my little problem will take up to 60 days to fix. SIXTY days! Well sorry guys, I just can't part with my laptop for that long. Heck, I can't part with it for 1 day. I need to write my work report, I need make up work hours at home, I need to check my e-mail , I need to consult my wedding planning spreadsheet and yes, I need to read PerezHilton.com. So no, 60 days just won't cut it for me.

I told this to the F.S.dude but he clearly did not get it. No joke, I felt like crying as I tried to explain to him that 60 days is crap. I guess it's not his fault...but still. I guess he felt my pain because he offered me a solution. He told me to buy new laptop, get my old laptop fixed and then return the new laptop. Tricky eh? Actually yes, there is a trick to it. In order to get a new laptop for 60 days I need to purchase it on a Future Shop credit card....

So off I go to the next help desk to get a new credit card. The girl registering me was slow. She also did not have the patience to hear my answer to the question "what is your yearly income?". Instead she said that "it's okay, i'll just put down zero." Uh, sure. She was then slightly blown away when my credit rating came back at the highest level. Take that sweetie. "Oh wow, this is so impressive, this is the best you can be." So I am now the owner of a top notch Future Shop credit card....but oh yeah, I hate that store.

With my brand spankin' new credit card I purchased a pretty sleek new laptop. If I wasn't so annoyed at this whole 60 day situation I might be quite thrilled about owning it. (It is pretty spiffy, and I am guessing Vista is installed because the interface is pretty darn attractive.)

Anyway, now I am in middle of the long process of transferring all my files over to the new laptop. It is a very slow process being all I have is my old 512MB usb key. Slow Slow Slow.

In other news...

Did you know you can now be an "Eco Chic" student? That is right, chapters now sells a variety of earth friendly back to school supplies that save the world and make you cool all at the same time. My favorite thing had to be the recyclable pencil crayons that come in a case made out of Chinese newspapers. Did we not have our own newspapers? Did we really have to import newspaper from China? Anyway, forget Lisa Frank, eco chic is the new must have for trendy tweens.

And lastly,

The most catchy song in the world: hear it HERE! Enjoy!

Babies & Names....

It seems that lately all I have been doing is naming babies...Which is funny because I am definitely not having any of my own for many many years. This is probably because Clink posted about baby names and I spend most of my 7 hour flight delay thinking up baby names for a pregnant girl on my plane. Anyway. I came up with/stole some very good names: Owen, Elliot/Ella and Annabelle. Great names right? Right. Only too bad everyone else thinks so too! In the next 3 years Ella is going to go up 152% in popularity, Owen is going up 69% and Annabelle is going up 52%. What the heck! Can someone please tell me why names that I don't think are all that popular are going to skyrocket?

On the topic of names....

Lis and I used to think Karen was the coolest name in the world. We used to fight over being Karen when we played house. (FYI, Karen is going down 8% in the next three years) Weird eh?

My parents were not the most original namers. Laura was the 23rd most popular name in the 80's, peaking at #9 in the year I was born. And that is why there were six Lauras in my grade 9 music class.

I am not really going anywhere with this post...mainly because I am becoming addicted to this name website. Check it out. Enjoy!

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants

Have you ever read the series "The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants?" As of yesterday, I have. My cousin loaned me the the 3rd and 4th books of the series and I read all night until I finished them both.

If you haven't read them, watch a preview of the movie to get an idea of what they are all about.

I loved the books! Okay, they were not too well written or very deep or anything. My mom would probably not approve of them (but explaining that would require a whole other post) The great thing about these books is that I think any girl can relate in some way or another to one of the main characters.

I relate to Bridget. Okay, you don't need to tell me that I don't have beautiful hair that can leer any man, I already know that. I relate to her in other ways. The neat thing about these girls in the sisterhood is that they are all so different and yet they all kind of complete each other. I know this is sounding all little lame, but they really are awesome books. I cried at least once in each book, and multiple times in the movie. Embarrassing, I know, but I could just relate to so many things that the four friends were going though. I bet you will too, unless you are made of rock or have never had friends before.

Reading the books also makes me think about my friends, and how we all relate to each other. My three essential people and best friends are my witty little sister Lisa, my seemingly polar opposite roommate of four years SJ and the boy I am going to marry, Jeremiah. The three of them are pretty different and yet they, like the sisterhood, each contribute something different in my life. I just wrote out a massive paragraph about my "sisterhood", but I deleted it because I highly doubt anyone actually wants to read about each of MY friends completes me.

Instead, read the books or, if you don't have the time to read the books, watch the movie - it's on YouTube. I promise you will love it.

The X-Chicken

I have chickened out out running UW x-country for four years. That's right, for f-o-u-r years I wanted to run X-Country and every single year I chickened out. Last fall I even got a job in Waterloo specifically so I could train with the team...but no, I never made it out once.

So, after four years of this nonsense, I went to a x-Country practice this morning. I was so nervous, let me tell you. Last night Jeremiah and I even had to go get pasta because I didn't want to be under fueled for practice. This morning I went to the bathroom 5 times before 10:00 - nerves, they really get to me.

So now I bet you are wondering how it went. Answer, not bad. I had fun and it wasn't as grueling as I had worked it up to be. Everyone was nice - and fast. I have a lot of work to do if I want to race well, but I have made the first step and that is what matters.

All this x-country training is really going to switch things up for me. We are just supposed to run a lot. There was no mention of weight lifting and all that other fun stuff I have been working on. The real practices start in September so for the rest of the summer it's just conditioning I guess. I am super excited about the team and I am pumped for the next practice!

One other note: it was so different from high school running. In HS I was one of the fastest runners and there were so many people that were wayyyyy slower. Okay, so maybe the only difference now is that I am one of the slow ones. sigh.

New in the world of sports...

Last night I took a squash lesson from the former UW Squash Team Captain. He was trying to raise money for a school in South America and I was hoping to figure out what all the hype about squash was. Well now I know! Squash is awesome! It is fast - but not too fast, and you really get a good workout in running all over the place. Quite sweaty would be the perfect way to describe how i looked after my 1.5 lesson. I am all set now to buy a racquet, join and ladder and get playing except...

These days I am also very into triathlon training. After my 3rd place victory this weekend, that's right I came third, I am even more pumped to train. (okay, fine, it was a try-a-tri that I did, but I still came third) Now that I have a fancy road bike and access to a pool I really don't see what can stop me from becoming even better other than....

Oh right, I am thinking about running X-Country in the fall. This means I really need to focus more on my speed and less on endurance. I also need to get off the treadmill and get running up hills in the heat. Not a problem, I can train everyday but...

I was planing on taking up rock climbing and becoming the next Tori Allen. Rock climbing is so cool eh? I bet it doesn't even take too long to get good and develop those awesome rock climbers muscles except...

What about karate? I think I may have told one of my friends that I'd take up karate with him in the fall. Because why not right? Oh, I know why not...

Because this fall I was supposed to be smart, do all my homework and graduate with flying colours. Darn. Sometimes school gets in the way of everything. Graduating will be so great. Five year undergrades take far too long.

Harry Potter and the Really Bad Postman part 2

How I feel about about Harry Potter


This is how I feel about the postman