Gone till November
April 17th, 2012 § 3 Comments
Last Thursday I hopped on a plane down to Atlanta to wish my sister safe travels on her way to Afghanistan.
My dad
Uncle Mark
and bro-in-law Joe
picked me up from the airport Thursday night and we were off to Fort Benning where we met up with my sister, who is a badass ARMY NURSE! Unfortunately, she found out on Thursday that she would be flying out Friday morning at 8am as opposed to Saturday, which only gave us about 12 hours with her. Bummer. But at least they were a good 12 hours.
We woke up at 3:45 Friday morning to drive into the base, where I helped her finish packing…
…and put together her gun holster…
…and then we all carried her bags down to the loading dock…
…where she dropped off her bag and picked up her gun. After a breakfast of powdered eggs and some good solid waiting around for orders, we wished her bon voyage…
…and watched as everyone got into formation and loaded onto the buses.
Then, we had 3 full days together in Georgia. This meant relaxation
good food
and family time.
Molly sent us an email this morning, she made it safely to Afghanistan. She’ll be back a few days after Thanksgiving.
Go thank a soldier today.
Elmo?
October 11th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
For anyone who grew up with Sesame Street (or anyone who watched their kids grow up with Sesame Street), this might make you tear up.
“I knew that Elmo should represent love.”
~Kevin Clash
Dent the Universe
October 5th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I want to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise, why else even be here?
~Steve Jobs, 1955-2011
Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.
September 27th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
NASA Satellite image, April 2004
Just a month and a half after her first attempt, 62-year-old Diana Nyad tried again to complete a cage-less swim from Havana to Florida, only to be stopped 40 hours and 92 miles in (just 11 miles short of the 103 mile goal) by Man ‘o War and Box Jellyfish stings. She says she’s learned to respect the ocean and won’t try again. I have trouble believing her.
A few pics here. Pretty gnarly.
Time to be Fearless…or insane
August 8th, 2011 § 1 Comment
Photo via CNN
If you’re bored today, check out Diana Nyad‘s progress as she attempts the 103-mile swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage (they have a kind of electrical shark-guarding field that surrounds her during the swim, but apparently it doesn’t work for certain types of shark, so she also has a team of “shark divers” to distract any sharks that go after her. Uhh…) She jumped in at 7:45pm ET yesterday, the swim is expected to take about 60 hours. She’s 61.
Track her progress on the swim here.
Update: She didn’t make it. After 29 hours she voluntarily quit, and exited the water vomiting (uhh…good call on calling it quits). Props to her for going for it.
Move
April 14th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
There is no difference between a pessimist who says, “It’s all over, don’t bother trying to do anything, forget about voting, it won’t make a difference,” and an optimist who says “Relax, everything is going to turn out fine.” Either way the results are the same. Nothing gets done.
~Yvon Chouinard, CEO and founder of Patagonia
First we inspire them, then we perspire them
January 24th, 2011 § 1 Comment
I hate exercise, but I like the results.
~Jack LaLanne, 1914-2011
Let us begin
January 20th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
So let us begin anew –
Remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us. …
Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce. …
All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days; nor in the life of this Administration; nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
~John F Kennedy, Inaugural Address
January 20, 1961
Just don’t read his Harvard application essay.
30 Days of Thankfulness
October 27th, 2010 § 1 Comment
“I feel a very unusual sensation – if it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude.”
~Benjamin Disraeli
I serendipitously stumbled upon a random blog post this morning which I didn’t particularly love (it is hard to admire anyone who admits to paying $70 for a felt tree), but I found it appropriate given the time of year and serendipitous because I was thinking along these lines just this morning.
Many friends (including myself) have experienced some major life changes in the past few months: getting married, breaking up and finding themselves single for the first time in almost a decade, having babies, losing old jobs, getting new jobs, re-evaluating current jobs, moving far away to strange places, and, of course, turning 30. And while change is good, it is can be disruptive and not necessarily in line with your grand life plan. And for me, too often (way too often) I let small defeats and frustration get the best of me.
So, in the spirit of the upcoming holidays, being exactly 30 days out from Thanksgiving, and entering my 30th year of life, I am going to embrace the aforementioned blogger’s suggestion and follow in her footsteps (though I will be using pieces of paper and a jar). I know this isn’t a totally novel concept, but making an effort to really be aware of everything we do have and stop obsessing about the things that we don’t…every day…just for a month…it can’t hurt.
“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”
~Thornton Wilder
Update: I feel like a real jerk. I just realized that the woman who wrote the tree of thankfulness post on which this post is based has two kids, two dogs, and a brain tumor. I retract my previous statement about not respecting her, she can spend $70 on whatever she wants to.
Thing of thanks for day #1: I have a healthy brain.
Cook, Pray, Run
October 9th, 2010 § 2 Comments
Being new in town and unemployed, where the one person I do know well is attempting to survive the first year of med school, while living in a small apartment with very little furniture (our living room is 2 chairs), no internet, no TV, and few working appliances…I need to get out, find ways to maximize my enjoyment during this rare period of time off.
And so, in the spirit of productivity and enjoying my (hopefully) short-lived freedom, my days have been (and will continue to be) devoted to three central activities:
- Cook: I am not a good cook. But I am going to be. I have been trying to make sure Paul has dinner every night when he gets home (because, well, I am a lady that lunches, and that is what we do). For both his and my own sake, I am committing myself to improving my technique…through practice. I am cooking a different meal (that requires more than throwing bread and cheese or something frozen in the toaster oven) at least 5 nights a week.
- Pray: for a job.
- Run: I have that half marathon in December. Instead of just trying to finish it (which was my original goal, considering I didn’t exercise at all for over 3 months), I have decided I am going to try to PR it…which may not be as impressive as it sounds, considering the only other half-marathons I’ve ran were 1.) with a friend who walked part of it, and 2.) the day after Halloween in San Francisco.
And coaching (but that messes up my title, and it’s a job, so I left that out.) Not a bad way to spend your day. Anyone who’s around is welcome to join in the trifecta.
