Month: July 2008 (page 1 of 7)

Scooter

The SMH stages a race to prove what a lot of us already know: traffic in Sydney SUCKS. It also makes me want to buy a scooter.

The Ideal Body

My wonderful husband sent me a link to this article about the results of a women’s body survey. (Warning: The image at the top might not be safe for work.) The results? While women chose a skinny model as their ideal, men chose a much curvier shape. And the majority of guys also said that they were perfectly happy with their partner’s body, and they only thing they wish is that we would be happier and more confident. Isn’t that great? He’s the best. 🙂

Happy birthday, Snookums.

Me and SnookumsHappy birthday to Snookums, my best friend in the world. I’m sorry I had to miss it. This is the longest time we’ve ever been apart. (I did manage to video chat to him over Skype on the weekend, which was great.) I was secretly a little worried before I left that maybe we were “sublunary” (as per Max‘s awesome comment), but I’m happy to report that we can, in fact, function independently of one another. I haven’t been sad or consumed by loneliness. In fact, I’m proud of how well I’m doing on my own. It’s just that, well, things aren’t as much fun without him around. He’s my favorite person and I miss hanging out with him. Fortunately his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew were able to take him out to dinner to celebrate, so at least he got to mark the occasion properly. I only wish I’d been there to help celebrate! We’re past the halfway mark though… Only 8 days til I get on the plane to fly home. (Photo courtesy of The Other Andrew, who – when I am rich and famous – will be my official photographer since he always makes me look good.)

EARTHQUAKE

HOLY CRAP. We just had an earthquake here! It was my first one ever. I was actually sitting in the company founder’s corner office having a big important meeting. I suddenly felt the room bouncing a bit. It was like being on the end of a diving board. I actually looked up at the ceiling at first, convinced that someone on the floor above us was jumping up and down or moving furniture or something. That’s when I remembered that I was on the fourth floor of a brick building, and brick buildings don’t BOUNCE. The three of us just looked at each other for a second, and I went, “What’s going…?” And Shaun went, “Earthquake! Actually, this one’s going on for a bit. We should probably get in a doorway or something.” My legs felt like jelly. We opened the door to see the rest of the office on their feet, wondering what to do. Somebody suggested we should evacuate. That was all this Hoosier girl needed to hear! I hit the stairs and didn’t stop moving until I was on the street. Lots of people from the building were milling around out there. Most of them were laughing, trading stories of other quakes they’d been in. People were trying to call friends and noticing that they couldn’t get connections. A few minutes later someone said that the building manager told us we didn’t have to leave, so we all headed back up into the office. My legs still feel a bit wobbly. I haven’t felt any aftershocks yet.

But DUDE, what’re the odds? I’m here for one friggin’ week and we have an EARTHQUAKE? I should buy a lottery ticket.

Update: Wow! It made the SMH website. I didn’t feel any of the aftershocks… but then again, I was frantically running down four flights of stairs and worrying about getting squished by a falling bit of masonry.

Money Button

Money Button. Neat! Finally a use for all these damn pennies. (Seriously, America. You need to get rid of these NOW.)

Pocket Espresso to Go

Pocket Espresso to Go. Snookums needs some of those.

Penn’s New Slide

Penn’s New Slide
On Saturday morning, we went for a walk around the neighborhood and spotted a garage sale. They had a sweet plastic kids’ slide for $8… and after some haggling, I bought it for $7. Then I had to lug it three blocks back to the Carbo house. We set it up in the back yard with some foam mats for protection. Penn… LOVED IT.

Scuba Cat!

Scuba Cat! I saw that cat on a Discovery Channel commercial last night and I just about fell over. He looks just like our Dr. Amy Jones!

Chippendale BSDM

Believe it or not, I actually did know that Chippendale boasts some bondage parlours. We actually got invited to a party at one of them by SOMEBODY. Apparently once you get past the fact that it’s a dungeon, it’s supposed to be a really fun time. We’re just not sure it’s our scene. (Link courtesy of Life in Chippendale.)

RunningBlog

This week was a return to my half-marathon preparation in earnest after the shorter recovery workouts last week. On Tuesday and Thursday I ran on the treadmill at the apartment. It was the first time I’d ever used the Nike+ on a treadmill, and I was prepared for it to be pretty inaccurate. Instead to my surprise it agreed pretty closely with the machine itself. Huh. Anyway, today I did my long slow run – 8.5 miles – around my sister’s house in Petaluma. Quite a lot of the run was on walking and bike paths, which made for a pleasant change of pace. I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible since it was turning into a hot and sunny day. I picked up a bottle of water at the halfway point and swigged a mouthful every time I slowed for a walk break (which became increasingly frequent as I progressed). Still, I managed the distance at a 12-minute pace, which is pretty good considering the heat. I feel great right now.

Week 3 distance: 13.4mi (21.48km)
Week 4 distance: 9.7mi (15.6km)
Week 5 distance: 16.45mi (26.3km)

That’s a 22% increase over my last long distance week two weeks ago. I made sure to have a nice cool-down walk at the end of my long one today, and I took the time to stretch in the backyard afterwards. My lower back is still feeling pretty good. My left hamstring and shin were giving me a little trouble today, but nothing too serious. Here’s to staying healthy all the way until October 12!