flying high again

it hasn't happened in quite some time, but that's partially because this is my first time leaving town in three months. 

it's also the first time in a long time that i've had a lengthy layover in an airport with free wi-fi.

yes, dear reader- i'm blogging while on the move.

during my four and a half hour flight from charlotte, nc, to salt lake city, i found myself inspired by both my recent jog through the charlotte-douglas airport and the infant screaming just over my left shoulder.

before i get to my list, i feel the need to share this link. i cannot agree more with the oatmeal regarding the placement of screaming children on planes. (it's not that i don't love children. heck, i plan on having at least a couple of my own one of these days. that said, i do not love little ones screaming within close proximity for over a third of a long flight- especially when i had to get up on the wrong side of dawn to catch said flight and was really looking forward to taking a nap.)

all right.....the list:

five things i always take on airplanes

     1. running shoes (on my feet)

          ....because it is inevitable that, at some point during my travels, i will wind up sprinting across at least two concourses, because:

          1a. a half hour layover seemed doable back when i was trying to save $100 on my plane tickets

          1b. the speed limit along the highway between home and the airport was being enforced a wee bit more strictly than usual

          1c. yet again, i wound up stuck in the security line behind some poor soul who has apparently never flown before and therefore feels the need to put each of their worldly possessions in a separate bin

     2. carry ons

          .....because i'm too cheap to buy my worldly possessions their own seat on the plane and, besides, if i can't fit everything i need for less than a week into two bags, clearly i need to reevaluate my choices in footwear (and, most likely) reading material. 

     3. my ipod

          ....because it can't drown out the screaming child in the next row completely, but maybe i can mask his/her caterwauling with that of the lead singers of random hair bands of the 80s.

     4. one of my sigg water bottles

          .....because most airlines now give you maybe a shot and a half of soda, once you subtract the ice from the cup.

     5. my camera

         .....because if i ever look out from my window seat and see superman on the wing, i am so taking a picture. 

lost in translation

so there i was, minding my own business at the gas station, when the driver one pump over asked me what my shirt meant. had i been wearing my icelandic shirt, i totally would have gotten it. however, this one has a pretty common, easily recognized word on it, so his request threw me off a little.

i translated it for him and, as a bonus, i also mentioned that the back said "adios", meaning "goodbye". 

i finished pumping $30 worth of gas into my car and headed to work, where i related the story to a coworker. said coworker pointed out that the guy probably asked about the shirt in the hopes that i'd turn around and show him what was on the back. 

*

though i generally consider myself to be pretty intelligent, sometimes i'm really quite slow. :~/

*when i asked my coworker to take a photo of the shirt, i didn't expect to wind up with, like, three of the front, and twenty of the back.

in which i run for maximum color, not minimum time

i may be permanently blue.

well, actually, i know from experience that it'll wash/wear off eventually- it always does. 

what you see above is the aftermath of the color me rad 5k, which took place this morning in columbia, sc. 

the blue will come off eventually, just as it did after the color run last march,

and the green and red did after the bubble run last may,

and all of this somehow came off after the neon splash dash last may, as well.

(i'm not saying there wasn't some serious scrubbing involved. in fact, just thinking about it makes me want to haul out the body scrub and a loofah.)

that's the thing about fun runs. they're not really for the sort of person who doesn't like getting a little messy.

fortunately, i've never been that sort of girl. mud? bring it on! colored powder (and possibly colored water, to boot)? sign me up! i'm perfectly willing to get dirty for a good cause, too.

what would be ideal, of course, is if at least one of the above could be followed by this. 

if, for some reason, the color from color me rad is permanent, i guess i'll have to switch my halloween costume this year from "genie" to "smurf". thankfully, i've got a few weeks and a whole lot of body scrub i can use between now and then. 

a hairy situation

due to poor planning on my part, i had to stop at a gas station this morning between leaving work and heading to the canal for my daily run. 

while waiting in line behind a guy who couldn't decide whether or not a cup of the "caffeine blast" coffee would be as powerful as an espresso, the longhaired male cashier (vaguely resembling mike tramp, lead singer of white lion, circa 1988) said, "hello there, beautiful*. i want to take my time with you."**

after i left, i kicked myself for not asking the obvious. (i mean, he wasn't horribly unattractive.)

perhaps next time i'll work up the nerve.......to ask him to recommend a good detangler.



*did i mention i was heading to work out? we're talking about yoga pants, a t shirt, my favorite hoodie, and the five new zits that sprung up last night. i'm not sure whether i should be genuinely flattered, or if i should assume he thought i was an off duty stripper from across the street he thought he could score a free lapdance from with a well-placed compliment. 

**twice....but hey- maybe he'd been gulping down the "caffeine blast" this morning. 

the most wonderful time of the year....no, really.

i know the song says the winter holidays are "the most wonderful time of the year", but i beg to differ.

here in columbia, south carolina, mid-september brings the annual greek festival. how can the combination of gyros, 

(this is the shortest i have ever seen this line.)

greek fries, 

homemade pastries,

(the place was so packed that this was the closest i could get today.)

reasonably priced dinner combos,

vendors, 

and festival souvenirs

(on a gorgeous weekend, no less)

not sway you just a little in favor of the festival?

i've already worked out once today, in an effort to pre-burn the calories i consumed in my fries and gyro. there may have to be another round of each (exercise, gyro/fries) later. after all, the festival only happens once a year. 

in which i learn to keep my mouth shut

all has not been right in setzer's little world lately.

i mean, sure- she still enjoys hanging around on "her" (my!) hammock,

and she's still showing an interest in food

and drink, 

but she's been having some, uh, how to put an indelicate matter delicately? 

.................

.................

well, heck. let me just put it out there. 

she's had issues with both condition and location of her poo lately. 

yeah, good times.

after a week and a half of this crap, i decided it was time to tote her into the vet's office for a little poke and prod. maybe the fact that we were going off of her annual schedule would fool her into thinking we were going somewhere fun- walt disney world, perhaps? 

yeah, no.

we called and made an appointment for this afternoon, about an hour before i had to come to work at the radio station. 

i grabbed her carrier out of storage, bagged up a delightful little stool sample (i'd prepaid for a fecal analysis at her last visit, but a sample was never obtained/brought in, so i was looking forward to cashing it in, now that there seemed to be an actual need for it.), attempted to coax her into the carrier, gave up and stuffed her in, and took her downstairs for a ride in my chariot.

setzer liked the very first car ride, nearly three years ago.

unfortunately, that ride led to pokes, prods, and being stuck in places that are insulting to one's dignity. 

subsequent car rides have been filled with chatter (i have no idea where she learned some of that language!), and once or twice she's made some sort of excretory exclamation, as well. 

by the time we got to the vet's office, her little bag of poo was floating in a sea of pee. (perhaps this was to ensure they would not try to obtain a sample of any sort from her.)

a couple of minutes after we walked in, the vet walked by and commented to the lady at the desk that the new cleaner she'd used on the floors earlier smelled funny. i hadn't quite caught it at first, but when she explained to her coworker why she was grabbing a mop, i felt the need to speak up.

"uhm, it might not be the cleaner you used. my cat felt the need to express her disapproval of our car ride artistically. her medium of choice this afternoon was pee."

(i think the floor was still remopped while we were in seeing the vet.)

after taking her out in the exam room, another reason for the pee became apparent. 

it seems i should've shaken out her carrier. 

since i would probably react similarly upon finding myself in close quarters with a large roach, i guess i can't really blame her for completely emptying her bladder during transport. 

thankfully, this was nothing the folks at the animal hospital hadn't seen before. there was little to no reaction as she came out of her carrier and, curious cat that she is, jumped around on every possible surface with her wet tail and paws. in fact, upon weighing her, i'm pretty sure the vet tech included the phrase "soaking wet" when recording that she weighs just over 9 pounds. 

after weighing, i guess she finally realized that she was, in fact, wet, and proceeded to shake herself, much like a wet dog.

unfortunately, at precisely this moment, i was in the middle of discussing her diet with said vet tech, and my mouth was wide open.

so, to recap, there's pee in her carrier, pee on every possible surface in the exam room, pee on me, and potentially little droplets have entered my mouth. 

so, yeah- that's awesome.

i'll spare you most of the other details, though i must brag about hearing the vet tech and the new vet (setzer's old one seems to have fallen off the face of the earth) discussing how friendly and pretty she was.....you know, perfect- aside from the whole "covered in pee" thing. 

so, with less than half an hour before i had to be present and accounted for at the radio station, we left the vet's office, with a clean carrier, slightly moist kitty, and prescription for a mile stool softener in hand.

unfortunately, by the time i got her unloaded and grabbed my backpack, i didn't have time to change. 

so, that smell? it's not the floor cleaner. i'm afraid it's my new perfume- eau de setzer.

gangway!

i went rollerblading down at the canal on my way home from work today. (i put miles 61-65 on my new wheels.) there were lots of folks walking and running along the same path. normally,  i have no problems when it comes to passing them. 

tonight, however, was different. 

on three occasions, i found myself attempting to pass people who either did not grasp that "coming up on your left" means that someone is about to pass you on your left and would appreciate it if you'd move over, or maybe they thought i could skate on gravel.*

the entire 2 1/2 miles between the dam and my car,

i fantasized about putting courtesy aside and investing in one of those little horns that emits a really loud "AWOOGA" when squeezed. 

i haven't ordered it yet, but i'm not ruling it out, either. 


*no. trust me- i learned this firsthand a couple of years ago.

back on the road...err....sidewalk

it took 30 minutes to talk myself into going for a bike ride (28 to try to talk myself into running, 2 to haul my bike downstairs instead), but i'm pleased i gave in to myself. 

after a month spent with a low back tire, riding with a fully inflated one was a vast improvement. (on the downside, i suppose, i didn't get honked at nearly as much as usual, which backs up my theory that the honkers were just good samaritans trying to alert me to the state of my back tire- much like fellow drivers trying to get the attention of the guy zooming around with his gas cap dangling.)

as an added bonus, it seems the fine folks at "uncle bob's storage" finally trimmed back the bush that threatened to clothesline me each time i rode by. in a show of appreciation, i have cancelled plans to cut the bush myself and then leave the trimmings on their front step.