RIC Track and Field day

Today was so much fun. We walked over to he track with 20 physically disabled kids and there were all these different "bikes" except I was informed that these are not bikes because they don't have gears or a chain. The guy was like "who wants to run?" and all the kids were like "ME!!" It was a little scary for the kids because they have to have there legs tied together and underneath them and then their hands are tied with leather into fists (this is because they punch the wheel to move it and that's how they move.) The chairs are really tippy so the first step was to help them to find how far they could bend back without tipping backwards. I talked to one of the guys that was fitting the kids in the bike and he said he did the Detroit marathon. I was like "I did the half marathon this last year" and we were talking about the race and he said he was getting so excited because he thought he was going to win it and then at the end he got passed and got second- I was like -that's exactly what happened to me! We both got second that day- just different divisions (wheelchair and non wheelchair).

I headed to Ann Arbor in the evening.

RIC Camp Scuba day

Today was a long day of being in the water with kids with physical disabilities. I was assigned to a 7 year old girl. The organization Dive Heart came and let all the kids put on the scuba gear and tanks on and go scuba diving in the pool (with our help)! It was really neat and the kids loved it. Unfortunately about half of the kids parents had not remembered to sign their wavers so they were unable to try scuba diving. They had a swim lesson and played water games. It was fun to be able to help my girl's body keep up with her mind. Like any child she had elaborate plans of what she wanted to do and where she wanted to go. The kids had a great time and were a lot of fun!

Baruch atah Adonai Elochenu!

Tonight I went to my first Passover Seder. It was at my friend Alona's house with 3 other Jewish families (I was the only one who didn't speak Hebrew : ). I do not know what "Baruch atah Adonai Elochenu" but by the end of the night I had it memorized. I am guessing it means something like "Praise God" in Hebrew. I should probably look it up. There were lots of rituals- like dipping herbs in salt water. Also, Alona's mom is Ashkenazi & her dad is Sephardic. So some of the dishes were different in the different tradition. There is this spread that goes on the matzah (cracker) and it is really good. It's called charoset- it reminded me of a sweet peanut butter. It's supposed to recall the mortar with which the Israelites used to lay bricks when they were slaves in Egypt (every thing we ate had some sort of symbolism like this). I did not feel sac religion at all for attending this meal- it was an awesome learning experience and I know the old testament just a little better now!

Beer tasting party

My friend Beth's husband is into beer making and just finished a new batch. She had a bunch of people over to try the beer. Everyone was supposed to bring a 6 pack and what they liked to eat with that beer. I brought French fries : ) They actually were quite a hit. I don't really have a favorite beer so I brought fat tire. There were some great cooks there- one guy made homemade sausage! I asked him- so what's next? and he said in all seriousness "homemade mozzarella." I was quite impressed. I met another girl who had just gotten back from her honeymoon in Portland. We had a really good time. It was an awesome group of people. There were only a couple people at the party who HADN'T done a full ironman! crazy.

New home owners!

Today I went and saw Holly and D's new home! It's soo0 nice! I am so happy for them. They are the cutest new home owners ever. D was happily fixing the locks and patching the walls and Holly was dancing on the nice hard wood floor. I had a really good time. Holly and I only painted about a half of a room and then decided it was getting dark so we should go for a run. After our run we went out for Indian food in Oak Park. Holly and D bought my dinner for helping (which was really nice of them and I really don't think I deserved it because I had a blast and I didn't do much work). I got this dish and pulled out this circle about the size of a golf ball. I asked our waitor what it was and he said "a pickled gooseberry." I took a big bit and it was so salty! That was the biggest gooseberry I have ever seen!

getting into a rhythm

This week I got into a great rhythm and felt just very productive and energetic (I had been feeling alittle fed up with the whole job hunt thing so this was nice). Every day I met my friend Katie at (9:30 to study until noon). Then I would go home and have lunch and then look for jobs and do some errands until 5:30 then I would run with some people and hang out for awhile until around 7. This was the routine plus or minus meeting with some people about jobs and a few fun things. It was a great little routine. Next week will be different since I am volunteering at a Sports Camp for kids with prosthetics. Ya excited about that! And then I get to see Jeff! I am just so excited about life for some reason! I guess that's good. Later.

Shamrock Shuffle- third place

Today was the Shamrock Shuffle. It was a cold and windy day but it was fun. For myself, I was a little disapointed because I ran 10 seconds slower than last year and the conditions were better than last year. oh well. It was fun and we won 1,500 for our 3rd place finish. I am just so excited to get in better shape and see what I can do this season. After the race I went out for Chicago Pizza with Dan, Tad, Tyler, and Tad's Dad (Calvin folks). It was fun to catch up

<--Shamrock Start. Largest field in the history of the race 36,000 runners.

Crossing the finish line (24th female)

Happy third place team

Dinner with Haugs and Arkus

Tonight I took the train to the burbs to have dinner with Kristin and Emily. We had a great time catching up. We had soft taco's and ice cream. Emily has been having some numbness in her hands so she is trying a gluten free diet. They both had some funny teaching stores to tell me. It was also fun to talk to Kristin about George because Kristin and I both come from small families and Jeff and George both come from big families. oh and we also talked about Calah- because we miss her and are jealous that Mel is visiting her right now!

Shuffle Expo

Oh man! I am so excited. First off it was 67 and sunny today! Secondly, I went to the Shamrock Shuffle expo along with 30,000 other runners! I love the energy at these events. Everyone is just so excited especially because the Shamrock Shuffle marks the start to the racing season (and we haven't raced for 4 months!). Anyway, the Shuffle is also really exciting for me because it means picking up new gear. Our uniforms this year are lime green (very bright). I like the jacket (grey with only a little lime green). Anyway, walking out with a bag of gear and three boxes of shoes seemed to provoke comments. One guys said "you must really like running." Another person said "Are you stocking up for the next 5 years" I said no- the next 6 months and he looked at me like I was crazy : ).

Has your brain ever turned itself off?

Today was busy busy busy. I had an interview in the Chicago Suburbs from 9-4 but I had class from 6-9 so I knew I wasn't going to have time to come home and change before class. So I packed some clothes and left my apartment at 6:20 and dropped my clothes off in the lockers at the gym downtown ( I have used this gym more for storing than for actually exercising : ). You don't think about the problem of storing things until you don't have a car to leave things in. Anyway, I took the 7:20 train which was an express train. It was crazy. I felt like I was teleported. I arrived at 7:50 in this little town. I almost felt like I was having some culture shock. My interview wasn't until 9 so I figured I would try to find a starbucks to wait in. umm...I finally discovered a place before starbucks has : )!! I ventured down "main street". Kind of cute. About a block of little stores with cute fronts. It was finally time for the interview......time lapse (don't feel like that is blog material). When I got out of my interview I felt so brain dead. I was also extremely hot in a black suit and it ended up in the 60's so I stopped by this ice cream parlor to get double scoop of Peach ice cream (I definitely deserved a treat : ). I arrived back in Chicago (not express train) at 5:20. I made my way to my locker to change my close before class and I could not remember my locker combination! I have used this lock for over a year. I wanted to cry from utter exhaustion. It's not good if your brain decides it has done enough thinking for the day (especially on your way to class)! After about 10 minutes I decided to try the not thinking approach. I left the building and walked right back in (people must have thought I was crazy). I went to the locker and closed my eyes and just twisted it back and forth- YA! It opened. Ya for muscle memory! : ) haha. now to class (first with a stop to get a Venti latte).

Indoor Nats

The next morning we all went for a run around Purdue and the celery bog. It was a blast. When we got back we made pancakes and eggs (we went through 2 whole boxes of pancake mix! : ). We then headed to the meet. The meet was fun. Calvin had the national champion in the 400 meters and the runners up in the shot. We went back to Lynn's and ordered pizza. People were being goofy- there was swing dancing, 4 person push-ups, poetry reading...you name it.....I guess that watching a track meet was too much sitting around for us : )

I headed back to Chicago that evening. So good to see old friends.

to Purdue to watch indoor nationals

I got back from Florida at 3AM and left for Purdue at noon. I got a ride with Dirkse and his sisters. Anne, Nate, and Tim also drove to Lynn's from GR. Lynn made us all dinner of Turkey, mashed potatos, corn spoon bread, and homemade rolls. She is a great host. She even made ice cream cake from scratch (she made the ice cream from scratch). Later many more arrived from GR (Lizz, Tuuk, Gretchen, Krista, Nicole..to name a few).

Florida

I am really behind on my posts because of traveling so I might elaborate later but here is the summary- I spend Monday-Thursday night in Naples with my Grandparents O and Parents. I had a great time. I went on some neat runs, we went shopping for my Grandparents birthday, I walked on the beach, we went out to dinner at a Persian restaurant, we went to the dinner theater, and most of all just caught up. It was a nice relaxing vacation and it was great to see some of my family!

I'm headed to Florida!

Friday I talked to my parents and they reminded me that they will be in Florida visiting my Grandparent's (O) the following week. When I got off the phone I thought "hey why am I not going?" So I spent way to long finding a good deal on a ticket : ) The ticket was with USA 3000. I had not heard of this airline and there was no online check in. I called and they said to get to the airport 2 hours ahead in order to confirm your seat. I left with plenty of time but when I got to the airport I couldn't find the airline. I asked someone and they said to go to the international terminal. oh boy. So I had to take this tram out to terminal 5 - at this time I was worried because it was 1.5 hours before my flight and they told me I had to get there 2 hours early! eek! However, it ended up my flight was 2 hours delayed so it was all good. There were alot of elderly people going through security in front of me. They let me go ahead because it was taking them awhile to get their shoes off. I was thinking I was being very efficient with my slip on shoes when a heard a honk and saw this airport vehicle pass me with the people that were in line with me through security! The one guy waved and said "traveling in style!" haha.

good plan gone wrong

Today my friend Alona met me at my place and the plan was to run a mile towards where my friend Heather lives and meet her at the McDonald's there. Then Holly would leave her house and run on the path going south and we would run north and run into her about mid run. However, we waited and waited at McDonald's and no Heather. We finally decided we better go down to the path or we would miss Holly. We ran into Holly and later in the run we ran into Heather! ya! Except we were so excited to all meet up that we weren't paying attention to watching the path to well and Holly had a really bad wipe out. It looked so painful. She got cleaned up but probably won't be able to run for awhile : ( Well- it was quite the eventful morning!

bummed to the max

Yesterday was the Chase Corporate Challenge Championship in South Africa (that I was supposed to run in but couldn’t because I was laid off). Looking at the pictures made me tear up. It looked like so much fun! They had flags from all the countries hanging over the start and it just looked so exciting. It looked like such a unique and cultural experience running with people all from all over the world. It would have been so much fun! I just can’t stop thinking that there are 4 people in South Africa right now because of me and that’s just not fair. That's so childish- I know that I should be able to let this go but I just am so jealous. Oh well- nothing I can do about it. I probably should have resisted looking at the slide show. I hope I get other cool unique opportunities in the future. (here is a picture of my good friend Kelly Edward's brother- I was excited to see a picture of him)

some exciting prospects on the job front

That's all I am going to say for now....don't want to get my hopes up : )