Kick in the pants

It's been a few days since I've posted so I figure I should write something. It's going to be short because it's dinner time and I'm hungry. Brian and I eat out every Saturday night so we need to be going.

Things have been pretty low key here in Gainesville since returning from our Christmas adventure in Maryland. The city is quiet and campus is like a ghost town while the students are away. Brian has been working and I have been trying with mixed results to find a workout groove again. For the past few weeks, I've not been loving running - swimming and biking, no problem, but running - yuck! There are a few reasons, but I'm going to put it all under the umbrella of runner's burnout. It's been really hard for me to motivate to do a running workout that didn't involve other people, and even then the run often sucked. Sometimes I really feel like I need someone to come and give me a kick in the pants. Since I didn't have any takers for that offer, I figured it was time to give myself a kick - so to speak. Today I decided I really needed to suck it up and do my long run as scheduled by my coach. It was 90% humidity and the idea of 1:45 hrs on the concrete was not helping my motivation so I headed to the gym to use the treadmill. I figured I hadn't been on it in a while so maybe it wouldn't be such mental torture. With the 2nd half of the Texas basketball game as my companion and the occasional text message from Joey, I managed the 1:45 just fine-10.5 miles total. I feel good and more importantly, I feel motivated again. Maybe the week off from running was just what I needed.

Christmas Cheer

This is just a quick post to share some photos from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I thought those of you that are working tomorrow - I'm so sorry about that - might want some entertainment, and I figured the three of you that read my blog that weren't present for the mayhem that is a McDonold Family Christmas want to see some pics. Brian and I are traveling back to the warmth of Florida tomorrow so maybe a longer post is coming - or maybe not.

Happy Song

I have to start off this post by saying that the Holidays make me sentimental and this is definitely a bit on the mushy side. You have been warned!

I was out for an easy 3-mile run today. It was a bit on the chilly side - the thermometer said 35 but I think it may have been closer to 40. Regardless, it was much colder than I am used to or prefer. I said a silent prayer to the geniuses that have developed all the varieties of cold weather technical fabric. More on that in another post. So I'm running along listening to my ipod and a particular song comes on that I happen to enjoy. It's a mushy, happy song in that 80's pop rock style - think Katrina and the Waves "Walkin' on Sunshine" and you'll be in the right ballpark. The name of the song is "You're a Friend of Mine" and it's a duet by Jackson Brown and Clarence Clemons (of E Street Band Fame). No, I'm not kidding. It's about lasting friendship and it's sappy and sentimental and yet it resonates with me on a certain level. I've included the lyrics and a YouTube video. Be warned - if you don't like the saxophone and you have an aversion to the 80's then stay far away from this video.

You're a Friend of Mine

Striking out?
Well count me in
I'm gonna stand right by your side through thick or thin
Ain't no doubt
Gonna win
A walk through hell ain't bad compared to where we've been

Oh, you can depend on me
Over and over... over and over
Know that I intend to be
The one who always makes you laugh until you cry
And you can call on me until the day you die

Years may come and go
Here's one thing I know
All my life
You're a friend of mine

That argument
I can't forget
We fought so hard I don't think I've recovered yet
The girls we knew
Who thought you were cool
I never introduced my favorite ones to you

Oh, you can depend on me
Over and over... over and over
Know that I intend to be
The one who always makes you laugh until you cry
And you can call on me until the day you die

Years may come and go
Here's one thing I know
All my life
You're a friend of mine

Travelin' Blues

Today Brian and I made our annual holiday trek to Maryland to spend Christmas with my family. Christmas with my family is always super fun - really anything with my family is always a good time - so we don't mind making the trip, but today was a rather trying travel day. It was by no means the worst holiday travel experience we've ever had, but it wasn't the best either. Mostly I just wasn't expecting things to be as chaotic as the were.

We flew out of Orlando, which is a 1.5 - 2 hour drive - I allowed for 2 hours, since it's the holidays AND Friday, and I scheduled us to leave so that we would be at the airport 2 hours before our flight. The point to adding in all the extra travel time wasn't because I thought things were going to be crazy, but because I didn't want us to feel rushed and stressed out. Well, it was a bit crazy. Traffic was heavy, the airport was insane, I was hungry so I was getting grouchy. It seemed like no one had planned for it to be that busy - like all the airport and airline employees forgot it was Christmas. Everyone was being pleasant, though, which was nice. If people had started getting ugly, I might have come unhinged. Between the line at the Southwest counter and the line at security, we barely had enough time to get some sandwiches that weren't McDonald's and get to our gate. We arrived at our gate just as our flight was beginning to board. The flight took off with no problems, our luggage made it to Baltimore, and my brother picked us up at the airport. I ate on the plane and felt much better, and Brian still thinks being married to me is a good thing. We are here with family and everything is good again. Like I said, not the worst travel experience, but not the best.

What Really Matters

I have the Google Desktop Sidebar on my computer and one of the features is a slideshow. At first I though it was just loading random images, but then I would notice one of my photos would pop up. It turns out that it will pull images from your computer. I set up a folder with photos I like and now when I am working I get to enjoy a nice slideshow.

It's the holiday season which means shopping, and I have been doing more than my fair share. Those of you that know me, know that I LOVE giving presents to the people I love so I don't mind the shopping. I do most of my shopping online so it's not much of a hassle and I don't actually have to get dressed to do it. As I was shopping on my computer accompanied by the faces of those I am shopping for via my slideshow, I thought I'd take a moment to pause and share with everyone what is really important to me. See the slideshow below. Happy Holidays!

I realized as I was trying to find pictures of everyone that I am lacking in photos of certain people, and I am especially lacking in large group shots. If you have an pics you want to share with me, feel free to email.

Slow Down!

I was sitting in the short but rather intense traffic that is rush hour in Gainesville listening to my favorite radio station 100.5 The Buzz - for those of you that were fans of 99.1 WHFS back in the day, this station is for you. The station streams online so check it out if you like. Anyway, they played Christmas in Las Vegas by Richard Cheese followed by Slow Down by Reel Big Fish. As I was grooving to the song, it took me a moment to realize that this was a NEW Reel Big Fish song. Very cool! I also realized that this was a rather positive song with some pretty feel good lyrics - a bit of a departure for Reel Big Fish. They tend to have a sarcastic edge to their songs even when the music sounds upbeat. I'm sure it's not too hard to imagine the gist of the song based on it's title - you got it, it's all about slowing down, relaxing , chilling out. I thought it was a particularly appropriate topic given the time of year and how absolutely crazed and stressed out people can get around holiday time, so I though I'd share. There wasn't much on YouTube since the album is so new, but I managed to find something so take a deep breath, let it out, and enjoy a few minutes of fun music. Oh, and feel free to dance - I have been!

For those of you that are Reel Big Fish fans, the name of the new album is Monkeys for Nothing and Chimps for Free. Too funny! You can listen to songs on their website or myspace page.

Too Cute!!!

This is the picture I got in my birthday/Christmas card from my sister. Awesome! She commented that it was likely that all family pictures for the next few years were going to be from Halloween, since it was too hard to get everyone together in one place long enough to take a holiday family pic. Happy Halloween, Merry Christmas - it all works!

Art, Math, Science? - all of the above

Last night I was doing some Christmas shopping. I was looking at some different toy websites and saw something that reminded me of the spirograph I had as a child. I loved that toy! I still enjoy toys especially puzzles, legos, toy cars, and coloring books, and Christmas time makes me a little nostalgic for some of my childhood toys. Think what you will about that, but I personally think the world would be better off if more adults played liked kids on occasion. Anyway, I was curious if some version of the spirograph was still made so I did a Google search. Lots of websites having to do with fractals came up, and the science geek in me took over. I found this website, Mandelbrot Explorer, that allows you to zoom in and out on the Mandelbrot set. The image above is one that I "created".

Now what exactly is the Mandelbrot set, you might be wondering? Here is a basic definition I found on a website. "The Mandelbrot set named after Benoit Mandelbrot, is a fractal. Fractals are objects that display self-similarity at various scales. Magnifying a fractal reveals small-scale details similar to the large-scale characteristics. Although the Mandelbrot set is self-similar at magnified scales, the small scale details are not identical to the whole. In fact, the Mandelbrot set is infinitely complex. Yet the process of generating it is based on an extremely simple equation involving complex numbers." The website also gives a basic explanation of how the image is generated. Wikipedia also has good info.

I'm sure a few of you have noticed that the above image bears a striking resemblance to some sea shells - particularly the nautilus and the fossil ammonites. All natural objects, living or not, exhibit fractal geometry at some level, and this observation is part of the math known as Chaos Theory. I'm going to stop there - I believe that's enough education for one day, and Chaos Theory kind of makes my head hurt. If you want to have some fun, go to the Mandelbrot Explorer and play around. Be careful, though, it is definitely a timesuck.

By the way, I never did find out about the spirograph. I am definitely too easily distracted!

Holiday Time Already?

It's been a week since Thanksgiving and I am in serious holiday denial. Seriously where did the time go? It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride this year - an introspection that I'll save for another post - but I really can't believe that another year has come and gone. Now before anyone thinks I'm getting all Scroogey - I love the holidays, I'm just completely unprepared for them. I got a request from my Secret Santa for gift ideas and I drew a complete blank. That is really unusual for me. I know some of it comes from living in Florida - it's very odd for me to think about Christmas when it's 80 degrees out. Not that I'm complaining about the warm weather - I'm just saying warm weather and holidays don't make a connection in my brain. When we were in Austin, we had the Trail of Lights in Zilker Park so even if we were wearing shorts and sandals, we had a holiday light display to put us in the mood. I told Brian we need to go find some light display this weekend.

This past Friday, we went to Brian's department's holiday party. This was the first year they had a party. The department chair decided that there was enough faculty and staff to warrant a party. Wohoo! We had fun! Lots of yummy food, beer and wine, good music, and excellent company. Here's a pic of me and Brian at the party.