Gym Update
I’ve been having some pretty serious cramping the last couple times I’ve run or biked. It’s generally my right leg, down on the outside above the ankle. I’m really not sure if it’s the calf muscle, a tendon, or my shin; all I know is as soon as I stop moving the whole damn thing seizes up and I can’t walk. I’ve been stretching it throughout my workouts and icing it as soon as I get home – which offers some immediate relief – but it just keeps happening. I think it might be a nutrient deficiency. I saw my doctor this morning and she said the main causes of such cramping are lack of calcium, magnesium, water, and salt. I’m fairly certain I get enough of the first three, but that last one stumped me. I can’t even remember the last time I put salt on my food. I guess that’s pretty typical on Atkins, since you’re not eating the french fries and salty junk food that other people are. I’m going back in two weeks for a follow-up and a blood pressure check, but I’m hoping for some relief in the meantime. Do you runners think it could be the salt? What’s the best way to get more of it in my diet without resorting to dumping it all over my otherwise yummy food? Should I just suck it up and start shelling out for Gatorade whenever I work out?

Earlier this week…
Me: Snookums, I have a dream. A dream of a T-shirt I shall make for the Rugby Final this Saturday.
Snookums: What’s going to be on it?
Me: A wallaby pooing on the Queen’s head!
Snookums: Well, technically she’s our Queen too.
Me: Crap. I forgot.
Snookums: How about an English rose instead?
Me: Brilliant!

Merry Christmas!
I know it’s a bit early, but I couldn’t resist. Check out these Roald Dahl Christmas Cards I made today. Cute, huh?

CouchCam is going to look a little different this weekend… as the Snook and I have set up the projector in preparation for tomorrow night’s game. The whole living room has been flopped 180-degrees so we can project onto the wall. Pretty sweet, huh? You might even catch us watching a movie! 🙂

Friday Five:
I haven’t done one of these in a while!

1. List five things you’d like to accomplish by the end of the year.
Finish these damn Harry Potter scarves. Lose seven more kilos. Get the Snook’s and my Australian tax stuff all done. Start working on a new quilt. Find a new job.

2. List five people you’ve lost contact with that you’d like to hear from again.
I am shockingly bad at keeping in touch with people. I’d love to hear from Tara D, Andrew, Lizzy, Mark, and Stevo, all of whom were good college friends that I speak to far too seldom.

3. List five things you’d like to learn how to do.
Crochet. Take decent photographs. Speak Korean. Develop table-less CSS-only websites. Instinctively turn on the right stove burner instead of always reaching for the wrong one, like I do now.

4. List five things you’d do if you won the lottery (no limit).
Pay off student loans. Buy a car. Buy a house in Sydney. Buy another house in Indiana. Fly all of our friends and family somewhere exotic and get married.

5. List five things you do that help you relax.
Knit. Read in a hot bath. Get a massage from Snookums. Work out at the gym. Veg out on the couch.

iPods passing in the night…
I was riding the bus to work this morning, zoned out in my usual zombie-like way, when I noticed the guy sitting next to me staring at my iPod. Mortified, I quickly hit fast-forward lest he snicker at my choice of Avril Lavigne as wake-up music. A few minutes later I caught him staring again. “Okay,” I thought, “time for a little evangelism.” So I hit pause, made eye contact, and asked if he wanted to try it out. He grinned, fumbled in his bag, and pulled out one of his own. His was one of the new flashy 20GB models and he was curious about my clunky two-year-old 5GB version. So we swapped stories and passed them back and forth, marvelling over the weight and design and comparing notes. He’d had a 10GB version but traded up as soon as the bigger ones became available. I said I’d thought about it, but I really couldn’t justify it as mine still works perfectly. He was surprised that I still get eight hours of battery life, given that he’d already burnt through one battery already. We both use our iPods with Macs. He tends to listen to albums, while I generally just leave it on random. Our fellow bus travelers stared as we spoke with the embarrassing enthusiasm of two people in love with a piece of electronics. Before too long was time to part. I waved goodbye as we both put our headphones back on. I never even learned his name…

Related note: I realized afterwards that the reason I hadn’t noticed his iPod immediately was that – like me – he wasn’t using the default white earbuds. I have a pair of clip-on headphones I use because the buds are too large for my little ears and after a while they start to hurt. Lately I’ve found myself thinking more and more that I should use them anyway, as they’re the easiest way to identify a fellow devotee. I see them everywhere in the city now. It’s completely shallow, but I want people to know I have one too! So congratulations, Apple; your branding efforts are definitely working.

The BBC lists 50 Places to See Before You Die. I’ve seen seven of them: Florida, Sydney, New York, Venice, Paris, Rome, and Singapore. Pretty cool.

Many thanks to my cousin Jenny for sending me photos of Marshall Field’s 2003 “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” Christmas windows. I like the designs of some of the characters – the Oompa-Loompas in space helmets, especially – but overall I think I’m more a fan of the Shindelman illustrations for this particular book. Some of the windows look oddly bare to me too. (They couldn’t throw a couple two-dimensional squirrel cutouts in the Nut Room?) Thanks again, Jenny!

I can’t resist. This is from today’s Herald:

A man walks into a bar with a dachshund. The dog is wearing a England rugby jersey and is festooned with England pom-poms. The bartender says, “Hey! No pets allowed! You’ll have to leave.” The guy begs, “I’m desperate! We’re both big fans, the TV’s broken at home, and this is the only place where we can see the game.” The bartender relents and lets them stay and watch the game. The Poms receive the kick-off, march down field, get stopped at the 22, and Wilkinson kicks a penalty goal. The dog jumps on the bar and walks up and down giving high-fives to everyone. The bartender exclaims, “Wow, that is the most amazing thing I’ve seen! What does the dog do if they score a try?” The owner replies, “I don’t know, I’ve only had him for three years.”

Suggestions needed! I’ve been thinking of coming up with a proper name and logo for my burgeoning little craft business. You know, something I can print up on tags and stuff. It should be fairly general, as it could end up on everything from knitted things to jewelry to record bowls. Any ideas? If you suggest the one I end up using, I’ll send you something!