Happy Monday, everybody! This weekend was marked by some fun new experiences. At the end of the day on Friday my workplace bid adieu to one of our designers by having a happy hour drink with him on the company’s dime. Gotta love that – especially because it means my job security just increased a fair amount. That’s a feeling i’ve been waiting for for years.*
Saturday we celebrated my friend Calee‘s move back to Ames from Des Moines by hitting the town with her. We got barbecue at Uncle Wendel’s and then went to see the Des Moines Derby Dames‘ roller-derby bout. We lost to the Old Capital City Roller Girls, but it was a fun experience despite the fact that i had to sit on a concrete floor in my short skirt. Hopefully next time they’ll do it in a venue with more seating.
After that we headed to The Lift where i had a grand total of 3.25 drinks and ended up drunk enough to say quite a few silly things, but unfortunately not so wasted that i couldn’t remember them. That Bradie was trying to kill me. I don’t really want to talk about it except to say that i’m sorry if i offended anyone but i had a good time. 
Yesterday evening we went over to my grandpa’s house where my mother had been seeing barred owls in the trees for the past few nights. At first we didn’t see them, but Mom was sure they were around because of the commotion from the smaller birds. Sure enough, we spotted one just as we were about to leave. There are four of them hanging around; two adults and two nearly-full-sized babies. We watched all four fly from branch to branch, saw them get pecked by the smaller birds, made noises at the juveniles who made noises back at us and bobbed their heads, and saw one adult feed her babies a small animal.
As it was getting dark, one of the younger owls perched on a post right in the backyard. I got about five paces away from it to try to take photos. It didn’t really work out because of the darkness, but it was amazing to just watch her calmly examine the ground for mice and occasionally swivel her head around to look at us.
This is how i wish my photos had turned out.
It’s been hot and humid here the past couple of days, and that will probably continue for the rest of the week. I’ve been working out several times a week in preparation for dress shopping, but i’m not sure how i’m going to run outside now. I don’t do hot & muggy.
*EDIT: Oh man, i forgot to write about our awesome waitress on Friday night! We went to a place called Paradise Pizza in WDM that we’d never been to, and we had a waitress who was probably just starting out. And had probably never been to a restaurant before. She brought us our beers with straws in them, and brought the check out to us before asking how the meal was or if we wanted any dessert. She wandered around looking bored when she wasn’t helping us. It was an all-around hilarious thing to see. 
Here’s an update on my running. I’ve been progressing, if slowly. I’m up to 2.25 miles at a go now, no walking.
My speed varied on this run because i was trying to go faster. There’s one big gradual hill on our route, so that prevents me from going as fast as i could on even ground. I keep trying to tell myself that distance is the objective right now, not speed, but i just end up striving for both and sometimes tiring myself out way too quickly. Nathan continues to be my bodyguard and cheerleader on my runs.
Something like what my feet look like
I was hoping to post my own actual x-ray here, but the medical records department hasn’t gotten back to me yet. I went to a podiatrist on Tuesday, and they took x-rays of my feet and told me what i pretty much already knew: that the only solution to my bunion problem is surgery. The pain went away as soon as i’d made my appointment, however, so i don’t plan to have surgery until it becomes a chronic issue.
I’ve started back up with running and i’ve been set back a little for not running in three weeks, which is only a little disappointing since the weather has been cold and crappy in that time anyway. Now, hopefully, spring is here to stay and i’ll be taking some real strides in getting back up to running three+ miles at a go.
In other news: VEISHEA is this weekend – let’s hope it’s not as rainy and cold as it was last year. The painting class is almost over and i have a long way to go on my last painting. I’m not loving it quite as much as i’d hoped i would.
I’m more than halfway through The God Delusion and i absolutely loved the first three chapters. The fourth chapter is the central argument of the book, and it goes something like this: If you believe that the complexity of the things found in nature implies that there had to have been an intelligent designer, then you must also ask ‘who designed that designer,’ because such a designer would necessarily have to have been an even more complex entity. I think it makes perfect sense, but the whole idea of God is metaphysical, magical – it has nothing to do with reason, and that’s exactly why – unfortunately – it can’t really be argued with.
I think there are plenty of great arguments for Atheism, and all of them are thoroughly covered in the book, i’m just not sure why Dawkins chose this one as his cornerstone. I’m reading currently about why morality and ‘goodness’ are inherent in human understanding and not reliant upon religious convictions, and that’s one point i really wish more religious people could understand. That, along with why the atheistic life is just as meaningful and worth living as one dictated by religion.
Sorry about this post going completely from one topic to another. These are just the things that have been rolling around in my head lately, i guess.
I’ve been uploading my run data first to nikeplus.com and then to runnerplus.com because i heard that Runner+ was more accurate and detailed, and i wanted to compare. I wouldn’t say it’s more detailed, but i guess it’s slightly more accurate. Here’s a comparison of the exact same run – yesterday’s – graphed on both sites:
The graphs are completely different. Here’s what i actually did: jog 90 seconds, walk 90 seconds, jog 3 minutes, walk three minutes, jog 90 seconds, walk 2 minutes, jog 3 minutes. I’m sure that’s hard to follow, but there should be three low-lying bars on the graph representing the three times i walked. Nike+ only shows two.
So i guess Runner+ wins for accuracy, although it still looks wonky to me. I also appreciate the fact that Runner+ is not a flash-based site. I HATE flash-based sites, and i’m glad to say that Nike+ is the only one i have to use on a regular basis. I think it’s also possible to do challenges on Runner+. It’s not as pretty, and you can’t make a little mini of yourself like you can on Nike+, but still i’m starting to think it may be the more preferable site to use.
A few months ago i became the proud owner of a brand new iPod Touch 32gb, partly because i’d exceeded the capacity of my 20gb iPod classic, and partly just because the Touch is effing sweet and i had to have it. One of the coolest things about it is the built-in Nike + receiver, which, coupled with a little sensor that i attach to my running shoe, helps me track my performance as i begin running again this spring. Well, it tries to, anyway.
Above is a graph which tracks my third run of the season. When i connect my iPod to my computer, the information about my run is transferred to the computer and then to the Nike plus website, where i see this little graph. It’s pretty much useless, considering that the green line is drawn on an un-labeled graph with axes that don’t even make a lot of sense – “distance” and “faster.” It does, however, tell me how far i went, and when i roll over those little dots along the line it tells me what my pace was at that point. At that last dot i was going at about 8min/mile, for instance. That’s pretty sweet, but as you can see i’m not able to maintain that pace for very long yet.
Last year i followed a schedule that i found on a wikiHow article about how to start running. It listed a different workout to do each week, three times a week, and i gradually worked up to running three miles without stopping. Then i quit for the cold season, and was disappointed to realize when i first ran again this season that i’m pretty much back at square one for endurance. Thus, i’m back at the beginning of that wikiHow schedule. Actually i started out at week two, alternating 90 seconds of running with 90 seconds of walking. This week i’ll begin the “week 3″ schedule, alternating 90-second and 3-minute run/walks for a total of four.
The run i’ve posted here is pretty pathetic, but hopefully i’ll be progressing pretty quickly and you’ll all get to watch it and cheer me on. My goal is to run a 25 minute 5k within about three months.