Rebellin

Today is my blog’s second birthday. Here is what I had to say back when I entered the world of blogging. This important day is easy for me to remember because it also happens to be my half birthday. Oh, good Lord, I am now 28 and a half. Where has the time gone? I’m getting damn close to 30, and am not liking that!!!

Well, I’ll be skiing today and tomorrow for work… It’s rough to be me!

The biggest storm of the winter is upon us, and just caused a crazy power surge at my office. My monitor went black, made a really loud buzzing noise, and I also felt a shock.

My heart is beating so fast right now. It scared the bejeevies out of me! Too bad it didn’t fry my computer so that I could go home….

Update: The power has now gone out twice since that surge. I sat here in the dark hoping it wouldn’t come back, but those folks at Sierra Pacific are a bit too efficient for my liking…

She caught me off guard. My defenses were down. So now, I somehow find myself signed up for the company softball league.

Ball sports have always been a challenge for me. I’m great in sports that don’t take a ton of hand-eye coordination, such as swimming, running, skiing, biking, etc. But put a ball into the mix and it’s a different story.

I played softball in a few intramural leagues in college. I was usually suckered in by Amber, who was trying to put a team together and needed another girl to complete the co-ed team.

We used to play softball with a bunch of cowboys. I remember Amber and I getting a big kick out of one particular cowboy cheering for a teammate who was running the bases by saying, ‘Unhitch your trailer!’

Amber was completely entertained by my antics as I attempted to play, and would laugh, saying, “You throw like a girl!” After enough of those comments from her and other teammates, I stopped being on those softball leagues, and vowed that I’d never do that to myself again.

But here I am, signed up for my company’s team because they needed another girl. What have I done?! Well, at least I know it will make for good blog material.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is JB standing in front of a black diamond ‘Most Difficult’ trail sign. The man that used to only want to ski groomed runs for a half day is now as much of a skiing addict as I am. He now skis full days on the bumps and through the trees with me. In fact, the man that I used to have to wait for at the bottom of each run is now consistently beating me down every hill now. I’m thrilled!

This picture is of my friends Paul and Laura from Michigan. I used to live in the flat above them in Berkley, MI, and they are truly great friends. We had a blast just hanging out and also hitting the slopes together.

We skied at Northstar on Friday, Sierra on Saturday, and then on Sunday, JB and I skied in a massive snow storm at Mt. Rose. It was a lot of skiing.

On Saturday, JB, Paul and I had a blast discovering trails through the trees at Sierra. It snowed the whole day, so the snow conditions were great. The three of us were doing a bit of off-trail exploring, with Paul leading, and I heard him say, “Woo-hoo, WOAH…. Don’t go this way!!!”

What Paul had thought was a lump of powder actually turned out to be a fallen tree. He stopped on top of the tree, and then had to ski across the tree to get off of it. It was pretty darn funny.

Sunday, after Paul and Laura left, JB and I headed up to Mt. Rose in the middle of a snow storm. It was very foggy on the mountain, so much so that we couldn’t even see the chair lift from the parking lot. The powder was great, though, and for the first time ever, I can actually say that I SKIED the powder instead of freaking out and snow plowing my way through it. And man, was that fun.

Last night, as we were unwinding, JB and I broke out the game of Scrabble that I had given him for Valentine’s Day. You may think that was a lame V-day gift, but I swear he had mentioned several times how he thought we’d be a good match at Scrabble. And we were. He only beat me by 30 points, and it would have been a much closer game if he hadn’t enforced some technicalities…

You see, both of us kind of chuckled at the directions when they said “Agree on which dictionary you are using before you start the game.” We agreed that we’d use JB’s dictionary and began to play.

A while later, he challenged my word of ‘Yo’. Now, according to the Scrabble directions, slang is acceptable as long as it is in the dictionary.

So he went off to get his dictionary, and when I saw it, I knew the thing was ancient. Turns out that JB’s dictionary is older than both of us, as it was published in 1969. I protested vehemently, saying that we needed to use Dictionary.com since it would have current slang listed. He stuck to his guns, saying we had agreed to use his dictionary.

‘Yo’ wasn’t in his dictionary, and despite the fact that it had two listings on Dictionary.com, he made me forfeit my turn. He later challenged my word of ‘Oreo’, which also wasn’t in his dictionary, but had two listings on Dictionary.com. Next time we play, I’m making sure that we use a more acceptable dictionary!!!

Happy Monday to everyone. This will be my first full week of work in three weeks, so it’s sure to be a long one for me!

My friends Paul and Laura arrived last night, but their checked luggage didn’t. All of their ski clothes and equipment are somewhere between here, Detroit and Los Angeles.

The airline offered to cover ski rentals, but they were up a creek when it came to ski clothing. Hence, I presented them with all of the ski clothing I own, and they’re planning to rent equipment on the slopes.

There is nothing like waking up in the morning to one of my best male friends wearing my entire ‘snowboarder chick’ ski outfit. I cringed at the fact that it fit him so well, but he is about my height and is a very fit guy.

His wife, Laura, on the other hand, is tiny. I’m talking 5’2″, size 2 tiny. I didn’t get a chance to see her in my ski pants, but I’m sure it wasn’t pretty. I have visions of her skiing down the slopes clutching the pants so that they don’t fall down. As Mom likes to say, “There isn’t anything small about the women in our family.” But now she has to ammend that, because my sister-in-laws are both pretty petite.

To make matters more complicated, my truck is in the shop because it needs a new fuel pump and fuel filter to the tune of $620 (yes, my bank account is screaming, crying, and bleeding profusley right now). I had planned to let my friends borrow my truck for the day, but since the truck is still in the shop, they had to rent a PT Cruiser for the day. I’m sure it’s killing Paul, my former co-worker from GM, to be driving a Daimler-Chrysler product!

Just in case you thought I wasn’t busy enough, I would like to reveal to you my latest pro bono side project: the Northern Nevada Chapter of the American Marketing Association website.

I am a board member for our local AMA Chapter (not to be confused with the American Medical Association), and it was my responsibility to create a new website for our chapter within the national organization’s structure. I was pretty limited by their structure, but at least all of the necessary content is there.

On to the next project. Some day, I hope to not have side projects hanging over my head during my off time.

This past weekend was so action packed and long (due to President’s Day), that when I sat down to write this, I had to really rack my brain to remember what all I did.

This weekend, I….

• Went to three bars with JB on Friday night, all of which were dead. We then decided to go to a country bar called Pure Country to see the Rick Hays band. I was rather excited by this because JB has had several two stepping lessons in my living room, and I’ve really missed the country scene that I used to frequent in college.

  There was a huge line to get in. I’ve never waited in line to get into a bar in Reno, so I was immediately impressed. I was also excited to see REAL cowboys there, not the rednecks you usually see wandering around town.

  The band was great, and at first I was squealing with delight to have found a good country bar. Then the line dancing started.

  Now, where I’m from, country folk strongly belive that REAL COWBOYS DON’T LINE DANCE. The dance floor was filled with line dancers, and when they started line dancing to George Strait (the ultimate cowboy cardinal sin), I stood there with my mouth gaping open.

  “They’re line dancing to GEORGE!” I said in shock to JB, who had no idea why this bothered me so. He actually enjoyed watching the line dancing.

  We got in a few two step dances, as we maneuvered around all of the stupid line dancers. But all in all, it was a good time. Although JB has mentioned he’s not sure I can get him to go back there. Bummer.

• On Saturday, we took the dogs out for a walk, and made each other a wonderful Valentine’s Dinner. Just as I predicted, we had candlelight, romantic music, wine, and a great steak, courtesy of JB the Grillmaster. For dessert, I served up chocolate fondue with strawberries and cookies and a side of Cook’s champagne (really, what other brand would I buy?!).

  After dinner, we headed out to a bar called the Blue Lamp, which was supposed to be having a huge Valentine’s Day bash with belly dancers. We paid $10 each to get in, and there weren’t any belly dancers. Damn false advertisements! The Blue Lamp is a funky little bar in downtown Reno, but most of the lighting inside is red. I really don’t get why they don’t call it the Red Lamp.

• On Sunday, we had planned to go skiing, but had stayed out a bit too late the night before. Instead, we took the dogs snow shoeing at the Mt. Rose Meadows. JB had bought me some fancy new snow shoes for Valentine’s Day, so that I don’t have any more experiences like this.
• Monday, we were determined to ski at Sierra. It was raining as we left the valley, and when we arrived at Spooner Summit (7,156 feet) it was still raining. We knew that was a really bad sign. And then we hit horrible traffic in South Lake Tahoe, enough to convince us to turn around and ditch the whole skiing idea. We headed back down the scenic route, and stopped in Genoa, the oldest permanent settlement in Nevada. We went to the Genoa Bar, which is the oldest bar in Nevada. Even though it was 10:30 in the morning, we decided to each get a drink and enjoy the atmosphere a bit. There was all kinds of history in that place, including a genuine Wanted poster for the man that killed Abraham Lincoln, and Raquel Welch’s leopard print bra.
• After returning from Genoa, we went on a ‘hike’. We had thought that we’d be at an elevation low enough that we wouldn’t need snow shoes. So we headed out in the pouring rain, without my fancy new snow shoes. We ended up hiking through two feet of snow/slush, and were both completely soaked by the time we finished.

So that’s pretty much how I spent my holiday weekend. I have friends coming into town tomorrow night from Michigan, so the excitement continues….

Women always seem to be the ones getting flowers or candies delivered to them at work, and I started thinking that really wasn’t fair.

But most normal guys could really care less for that frilly, sappy, sentimental stuff. Knowing that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, I ordered up JB a Valentine’s pizza today.

I got his secretary in on the action, and she told me approximately when she thinks he’ll be eating, and has promised to yell ‘put down that sandwich!’ if he starts to eat before his pizza is delivered.

I had this great idea of having them cut the pizza into a heart shape. That didn’t go over well at the pizza place at all.

“I can’t throw the dough into a heart shape.” Said the pizza boy.

“Well, I was actually thinking you could cut it into a heart shape after it has baked.”

“Then it wouldn’t fit into the box,” he said.

I gave up. I don’t understand what is so complicated about putting the darn pizza in the box and then taking a pizza cutter around the edges to cut it into a heart, but I didn’t seem to be making any progress with pizza boy.

I figured it was challenge enough for pizza boy to ask him to put a note on it that said, “Happy Valentine’s Day, from Lynnette.”

I sure hope JB enjoys his surprise lunch. I ordered him up exactly what he likes — a veggie pizza with extra sauce. We’ll see if pizza boy can get this right!

Update: Just got a call from JB, and the whole Valentine pizza delivery went perfect! It was waiting for him on his chair when he returned from the gym. Phew!

I may not have a boyfriend in town to help me when both of my vehicles are having issues, but I do have a big brother that really comes through for me when I’m in a pinch.

Chuck came over last night and determined that the lead to my battery had corrosion on it and it had run all of the juice out of my battery. The battery was so far gone that it wouldn’t even take a charge. He then cleaned the leads, took out the battery, and drove me to WalMart to return it.

I also have to give kudos to WalMart. I showed up with a battery that was dead because I hadn’t cleaned the lead properly when it was installed, and I didn’t even have the receipt. Without any hassle, they gave me a new battery, took my core back and gave me $5 for the core return.

Chuck then drove me home, put the battery in, and voila — I now have two working vehicles again! He also gave me the seal of approval for the tires that I purchased yesterday. (Thankfully, I was able to have them take $7.50 off my tire bill instead of giving me the stupid Free Beef.)

Thanks, bro! You may try my patience with your ‘stunts’ and incessant teasing, but when it really comes down to push or shove, I know that you’ll always be there for me.

Here’s my consolation prize for having to buy two new tires this morning.

I can’t wait to get my free beef. Really. Good thing I’m not a vegetarian.

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I couldn’t help but remember those Valentine’s Days of the past…

• When I was a child, every year, my dad would bring my mother two red roses and one for me. I always cherished those single red roses from my Dad. Mom always made some extra yummy treat for us.
• In elementary school, there was a boy that shared my birthday with me, and he always gave me a special Valentine.
• My first official Valentine’s gift from a boy was in middle school. A boy I had hardly ever talked to gave me a necklace. My family had a blast teasing me about it.
• My second official Valentine’s gift from a boy was in high school. Another guy that I had never talked to gave me a box of chocolates. I was flattered, but he was too shy to even talk to me after giving me the chocolates.
• Then there was the boy in high school that made me a heart in his Plastics class, and it broke immediately.
• I’m never going to forget when Amber got a giant Hershey’s kiss from a guy our Freshman year in high school… She tried to melt in in the microwave and it caught on fire.
• I was really big on sending anonymous Valentine’s cards while I was in high school. I think it was the thrill of the possibility of being found out that fueled this habit.
• One of my first arguements with Amber was over a Love-O-Gram I was selling for some student organization in high school. I was doing a hard-sell on her, and that didn’t go over well.
• I had a guy dump me on Valentine’s Day in college. Yeah, that sucked, and it was pretty heartless (forgive the pun).
• My junior year in college, I hosted a ‘Pity Party’ for all of my single friends. It was a huge party… Back when most of the people I knew were single… It was also one of the most fun Valentine’s Days I can remember.
• Last year, after I said I didn’t want chocolates or flowers for Valentine’s Day, I ended up getting absolutely nothing. I’ve learned my lesson on that one, ladies and gents. I’m keeping my mouth SHUT from now on!

This year, I am excited to spend Valentine’s Day with JB, who is the man of my dreams. We’ve planned to make each other dinner and stay in, which sounds so appealing to me. I’m sure we’ll be eating by candlelight with jazz music playing in the background. As long as he asks me to be his Valentine, I’ll be thrilled.

I wish all of you a Happy Valentine’s Day. Although the holiday has been commercialized, I still feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that I have a Valentine of my own this year.

I’m back from the family vacation to Mammoth Mountain. It was a really incredible time. We all got along, no one was injured, we had fresh snow and bright blue skies to greet us, and one incredible condo with ski in/ski out access.

Three days of skiing in a row has done wonders for both JB and I. Our skiing abilities have improved a lot, and we’re both already talking about hitting the slopes again next weekend. I did a rather impressive face plant while skiing through the trees, but unfortunately, no one was around to witness it. My only proof is the horrible ache in my neck this morning.

Even my two and a half year old nephew, Jack, got in on the action. My brother, Greg, put a harness on him, and Jack then skied out in front of Greg. He doesn’t really pay attention to where he is going, but you can just imagine what this kid will be doing by the time he’s five since he seems to be taking to it so naturally.

We subjected JB to our family game night traditions. We played Hillarium the first night, which is basically like charades, but everyone acts something out at once. According to the brother that went to bed early that night instead of playing the game, we sounded like a bunch of crazy drunks, when we were really pretty darn sober.

That’s about all I have to say… I do feel refreshed after spending three days out in the mountain air. And I am so happy that this weekend will be a three day weekend for me, too!

My legs were a bit sore on Wednesday from weight lifting on Tuesday. But for some reason, I decided to do some interval running on the treadmill to jump start my work out yesterday afternoon.

I hadn’t been running since the beginning of January when I hurt the arch of my foot. And I felt really good yesterday. I was doing sprint intervals on the treadmill, felling strong, and thinking how I really should start running more. I even had thoughts of going back to do more running on the treadmill today.

That was until I got up this morning. Oh… my…. gosh… do my legs hurt. I’m walking around all gimpy today, and I guess I’ll just have to stick to the upper body at the gym today if I want to be able to ski by Saturday.

Lactic acid sucks.

Last night I dreamed that David Letterman asked me out on a date. For some reason, I was in New York, and just happened to be at his mansion. I was all bent out of shape because I knew he recently had a baby, and wasn’t sure how I was going to explain to JB about David Letterman hitting on me.

And I didn’t even watch the Late Show last night.

On a completely separate note, while at the gym last night, I saw a few interesting characters. I was on the spinning stationary bike, strategically placed a few bikes away from a man I’ve now dubbed as ‘Body Odor Man’. Even from two bikes away, I could still get a whiff of him from time to time. But I digress. He is now not THE Body Odor Man, but only one of a few Body Odor Men.

I was happily kicking my own butt on the bike when I felt a woosh of air in front of my face, followed by a horrible body odor stench. That woosh had been caused by a foot of the man mounting the bike in front of me. He seriously missed my nose by a few inches, and I was perplexed how that could have happened, considering my nose is a good five feet off the ground.

This man was in his early to mid-twenties, and was dressed for full-on winter weather inside the gym. I seriously think he was trying to burn more calories by sweating. He had on a stocking cap, a long sleeve shirt, and wind pants. And all of him and his outfit were absolutely soaked by sweat. I lasted about two minutes being on the bike behind him before I had to move. The smell was overwhelming.

But I have to admit that I was entertained by watching this man. I didn’t know what he had been doing BEFORE getting on the bike, but it must have been strenuous. And then he started off on the bike like a bat out of hell. He was spinning and spinning his legs as fast as they could go, causing his entire upper body to convulse as his head to bob up and down.

Then he’d crank up the resistance, and stand up, which caused more, but different upper body convulsions. He really must have been burning a ton of calories, but if he was on the open road on a real bike, I guarantee that he would have crashed.

I later saw him get off the bike and head for a treadmill. He never took off his stocking cap, despite his hair being drenched and sweat running down his face.

And that was when it hit me that I hadn’t done an entry on gym characters in a while. Not since Queen Clueless, who has been mysteriously absent from the gym for at least 6 months.

There are two other women that crack me up. They both come in bundled in their winter coats, grab a newspaper, and plop themselves on bikes (the reclining bikes) next to each other. They then proceed to pedal as slow as those machines would allow, and talk and read the paper.

Now really, why bother?

Last night, I also saw the most mis-matched workout partners ever. I first noticed it when a really beefy body builder type was putting a chain around his waist — a really huge dumbell was attached to the other end of the chain. And right as I saw him putting this chain on, I noticed a really scrawny man next to him cringing as he also watched.

The beefy body builder then proceeded to do dips with this dumbell chained to his waist. When he was done, he then instructed the scrawny nerdy man to do dips. The scrawny guy hopped up there without anything strapped to his waist, and the beefy body builder then got on his knees and helped push the scrawny guy up and down into his dips. It was really something to see.

You know, I have to have something to entertain me while I’m at the gym, and I can always count on a few characters like the ones I mentioned today.