Survivor Mud Run 2014

Last Saturday, I got to introduce a friend to the joys of mud runs.  David, a friend from ultimate Frisbee (and the friend who plays under water hockey), joined me for the Survivor Mud Run down at Lake Elsinore.

This is actually one of my favorite mud runs because they always make the mud so thick and gooey.  Plus there’s the inflatable slide down into the lake at one point.  Both of those things still held true.  The obstacles were pretty much standard.  And I really, really need to learn to do monkey bars.

While we were dropping off our bags, one of the new friends I’d made at the Gladiator Rock ‘n’ Run back in June spotted us.  He did the run with us a second time, so there were actually three of us going through the course.

Even better, David seemed to enjoy himself, although I think the next one he wants to do is one close to home.  But he is talking about a next time, so that’s good.

Unfortunately, they put the changing tents way far away from the bag check.  And it looks like the lines for the bag check was super long, at least when we got there.  Fortunately, there was a separate drop off line, which was super short.

As always when I go down there, it was a long day.  But it was also a fun day.

Word Association for September 24th

I missed last week, but let's get this week's word association done.

1. Equality :: is not something to be grasped (and I can't remember what that quote is from)
2. Strappy :: Strong
3. Kitten :: Cute
4. Program :: School
5. Inventory :: Reduction
6. Choice :: Election
7. Scuba :: Dive
8. Purchase :: Price
9. Promotion :: Sale
10. Organization :: Event

Trying Something New

Wow, I neglected this blog again.  Seems to be happening every other week right now, doesn’t it?  That’s especially too bad since I actually had something new to talk about last week.

One friend I’ve made through ultimate Frisbee here in town mentioned at the start of the summer that he plays underwater hockey.  With pool fees, it’s expensive, at least when you aren’t making any money, so I thought I’d put it off until I got a job.  Then I promptly forgot about it until Tuesday when I was looking for something to do other than run.  Yes, I love to run in the heat, but even I had to agree that 106 was a little too hot for a run.

So, at the last minute, after tracking down information, I showed up at the pool.

The last minute thing didn’t exactly make me popular, but David, my friend, helped me get some equipment, and I plunged into the pool.

Turns out the group was getting ready for a tournament this coming weekend, and there were more people out than normal.  Which explains why it was incredibly crowded.  I basically spent the next hour swimming back and forth.  I dove down some, but never contributed anything.  For one thing, I had a hard time swimming to the bottom of the pool.  I just float too easily.  For another, there was that whole really crowded thing.

After about half an hour, my mask started to leak, too, meaning I was getting water up my nose.  That wasn’t fun.

So would I do it again?  I really don’t know.  The sport sounds fun, but the reality just didn’t seem to work for me.  If I do, I will definitely try to show up earlier than I did this last time.  That is one thing I can absolutely control.

Survived My First Month End

I don’t remember if I’d mentioned it before or not, but my new job closes in 9 business days.  That put the close for the first month on Friday.  And it turns out that days 8 and 9 are crazy busy.

Up until that point, I was doing pretty well, or at least I thought I was.  There was nothing too bad happening, and I was on top of things.

Then I got hit by the tidal wave.  All my centers took a look at their preliminary statements and started requesting changes.  It was a crazy 24 hours when I had to get all that stuff researched and journaled as needed.

In fact, by noon on Friday, I was feeling very overwhelmed.  However, my boss told me that afternoon that I was doing about as well as most new people they brought in.  Obviously, I was hoping for above average, but I will certainly take it.

Now the trick is to figure out how I will improve so that next month they’ll see the changes.  Because I really want to keep this job.  The commute is awesome, the pay is good, and the people are nice.

A Day at the Beach

Saturday was a nice, fun, relaxing day.

It all started because of getting together with friends for brunch.  The original group was supposed to be bigger, but it wound up just being Sue Ann Jaffarian, an author I love, and Heide.  Instead of our normal trip to Disneyland (part of the group who was missing is the reason we meet down there), we met up at a restaurant in Santa Monica.  We were a few miles from the beach, but it was still cooler than at home.  We had a grand time eating and just talking.  In fact, we were there almost four hours.

But I couldn’t be all that way down there and not go to the ocean.  I managed to find a parking spot a few blocks away and went down and enjoyed the beach.  I started out heading a little south and looking at the stores in Venice right on the beach.  Then I headed back up north and went out on the Santa Monica Pier.  I hadn’t been out there for a couple of years.  Granted, there isn’t a whole lot of excitement there, but I enjoyed it.

And yes, I jumped in the ocean twice while I was walking out there as well.  The water was a little chilly, but it always is, and I enjoyed it.

All told, it was a very pleasant day.

Word Association for September 4th

I missed last week's word association, so let's be sure I get this week's in.

1. Brownie :: Chocolate!
2. Randomly :: Exclaim
3. Congratulations!  :: New job
4. Curls :: Biceps
5. Lipstick :: Red
6. Memory :: Happy
7. Tea :: Drink
8. Bulletin :: Church
9. Fragrance :: Pretty
10. Pace :: Run

You Can’t Fool Me

There is no way that was a long weekend.  I feel like it was just Saturday, and then I was back to work.  Imagine how I would have felt if it were a normal weekend.

Maybe if we review why it was so busy.

Saturday morning, I went out and bought a new laptop!  And a printer!  I haven’t had a printer at home for years.  I’ve been limping by with the library, but I’m going to like having a printer at home again.  Of course, that was a lot of money.  I’m really banking on this new job working out between the clothes I’ve bought and the new computer.  Of course, that did then take up time transferring over files and the like.  My old computer was from December of 2006, and I was running Office 2003 on it, so it’s nice having the latest software and the same stuff I’m using at work.  Heck, if I need to figure something out, now I can spend some time at home playing with it.

Saturday, my second new roommate moved in as well.  That really didn’t take much of my time other than helping him actually move boxes into the condo when he arrived.  He seems really nice, and since the other roommate and he are already friends, they’re getting along great.  They are both nice guys, and I think this is going to be a fun year with them as roommates.

Sunday was church and ultimate Frisbee, aka the usual.  I had to go buy an external CD drive on my way home from church; turns out many computer these days don’t come standard with them and yet I had software to install from my printer.  Spent some time playing around with that, but otherwise I pretty much lazed around between church and ultimate.

Monday, I buckled down and did all those things I intended to do earlier in the weekend.  Three reviews to write?  Wrote them all on Monday.  Reading?  Did that on Monday.  I got half of a book read – I was hoping to be close to finishing it by the end of the weekend.  And the movie I was going to watch?  That didn’t happen either.  I did go out to lunch with my roommates, which was nice.  And I spent a couple of hours hoping to play ultimate, but that fell through.  Heck, if I’d stayed home and read….

And here it is Tuesday and back at work.  So far, this crazy close seems to be rather slow.  I have a feeling the process will speed up toward the end of this week and most of next week, but I guess I’ll find out as it progresses.