Space shuttles, scotch tastings, 33:29, TCKITWv9.0

The title is actually the highlights from the week. Let's get this recap started shall we?

The front part of the week was all out lame. It was go to work, come home on Monday, Tues and Wed. Work is kind of up in the air right now - since the "go back to the old project" idea got shot down, it's been kind of weird at work. I was so geared up for making the switch, getting my mind back into my old role, quickly bringing myself up to speed for P2, that all of a sudden, I feel like I've got nothing to do (which isn't true). Just weird.

On Thursday, the Blonde One called me at work and mentioned he made "ghost pepper rice" for lunch and it was almost too hot for him to eat. Then he said we could eat the leftovers for dinner or go to the bar. I was like BAR. As I get older, I have a harder time eating really spicy food. As Blondie gets older, he can eat napalm and not have a problem. So when he said the rice was almost too hot for him, I knew I couldn't eat it. So off to the bar.

We met up with our bar friends for about an hour before they had to take off, but had a great evening at the bar. They had run out of Miller Lite (my standard drink) but had Bud Light Platinum. For those who haven't tried it, BLP has a 6.0 ABV which is really high for a light beer. I bought a 6 pack of this a few weeks ago, and downed it after a few beers at Pony Bar without realizing it was 6.0 ABV. And went to bed at like 5 pm that night.

Friday I got to work and was surfing the web, when I realized they were about a minute from flying the Space Shuttle Enterprise over the Hudson (Intrepid). I called Blondie and hollered at him to get out onto our patio and watch for the shuttle. He called back about 20 mins later - he had gotten to see the shuttle fly by! I think that is so exciting, and I'm seething with jealousy about it all. Stupid UES job location.

Then on Friday night, Blondie and I and my BFF from work headed down to Tribeca for the evening. My work BFF (WBFF from now on) has a girlfriend that I've heard about for awhile. So we were going to meet her for the first time. We went to Tribeca to this place called the Brandy Library for the meet up. Meeting the girlfriend was nice because it turns out she used to work with us and they just kept it under wraps at the office. So I already knew her. It was so funny b/c she walked in after us and I was all like "OMG! How are you?!?!?" and she plopped down next to WBFF. And it took me a minute but then it clicked - "ohhhhh I get it. You're the girlfriend!"

Anyhow, she's majorly into scotch, and I like scotch (and whiskey and bourbon) but I'm definitely not a connoisseur. I had a glass of bourbon to start and Blondie got a Singapore Sling. Then between the 4 of us, we had 18 tastings of various bourbon, scotch, etc. The bar was amazing. It's Brandy Library and it's set up like a library - leather seats, etc. The walls of the place are lined in bookshelves, and are filled with bottles. You give your order to your waiter, and then the waiter actually goes to the shelves and pulls out what they need to make your order. They don't give the order to a bartender, they do it themselves. There is a bar, and that bartender makes orders only for people who sit at the bar. Also, one of their appetizers were deviled eggs. Blondie was in heaven b/c of that. I was in heaven b/c it was brown liquor!

After drinks, at around 9:30 pm, we headed out of Brandy Library on the hunt for BBQ. We wandered around Tribeca for awhile - Tribeca film festival is going on right now so it was cool to see everything set up for it. But then made it to BBQ. The BBQ place was awesome. I had ribs and Blondie had fried chicken. We split sides with everyone. And then we headed back outside. It was freezing cold and we eagerly threw ourselves into a cab and came home.

Yesterday I had that weird kind of hangover. Where I wasn't nauseous or headachy, but I was exhausted. Blondie got up to go to the gym around 10:30 am, and I decided to go with him instead of doing a workout video in the house. On the elevator down, I was all "I'm just going to walk on the treadmill for 30 mins. I'm just going to lazy pedal a bike for 30 mins". The gym was pretty dead when we walked in, so I got onto a Precor and was putzing around with my headset, and then decided "fuck it, I'm just going to try and run today".

AND BUSTED IT OUT. I have no idea where that came from. My run. But I did 3 miles in 33:29!!! I'm almost back down to my ideal running speed. I'm so flipping excited about it. I'm starting to like running again, and I think it's because I know I'm not going any further than 3 miles right now. And also, I'm not training so if I want to go slow as shit, nobody cares. My run felt really good - it was hard, and I was exerting myself for certain, but my breathing felt on pace with my legs. So while I was breathing hard, it was controlled hard breathing.

Afterwards, Blondie and I showered up and then talked ourselves out of actually going to the grocery store. Instead we ordered in groceries to be delivered today, and then ordered sandwiches for lunch. We got up around 3 pm and headed out to meet our bar friends for many drinks. Blondie is going to work with 1 of my bar friends on his project, so they discussed the project for a couple of hours while my other bar friend and I got drunk.

And then we rolled home last night to get the exciting news that TCKITWv9.0 was born yesterday afternoon! Another niece, making it 8 nieces, 1 nephew between Blondie's siblings and my sibling. She had to come early as there was something they were concerned about with her, but she's here and she's ok. Blondie is excited - he's headed back to the Land of Cheese in 6 weeks, so he gets to meet her and TCKITWv8.0 for the first time.

Today I'm waiting for groceries. And then I'm going to workout, pick up a prescription, pick up cat treats, get a pedicure, and then meet up with Blondie and my bar friends at Pony Bar for the afternoon. It's a nice day today so we might hit up our biergarden also.

Workouts were good this week:
Monday - Insanity Cardio Recovery disc
Tuesday - 30 Day Shred Level 1 disc, Bob's Bootcamp Level 1 disc
Wednesday - 3 mile run in 35:49
Thursday - P90X Legs&Back disc
Friday - rest
Saturday - 3 mile run in 33:29!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday - ??? Maybe P90X Kenpo or Insanity Max Cardio

--K

Recovery Week

Last Monday was a full-on recovery day. I laid in bed all day with ice on my ankle, and periodically had Blondie bring me some food. That night, we decided to head out to dinner so that I could see how walking felt. We slowly (I'm talking 15 minutes to go 1 block) made our way up to one of our local bars, and got a bite to eat along with a beer. And then slowly made our way back. It felt okay. I was moving very very slowly, but I'm glad I got some movement in as opposed to being a slug all day.

Monday night, I got called for work - even though I took the day off. They are upgrading one of our systems, and had scheduled a mini release (without telling anyone from my division). So when it went bad, I got called. As soon as I heard the issue, I knew it was a showstopper, but still had to call some people in to hear the problem so nobody would be shocked on Tuesday. That was 45 minutes of no fun.

Tuesday was the final launch of my project. I took a cab into work, which I would've had to do anyway b/c steps weren't something I was about to try. I got into work at 5:45 am, and was just gearing up to dial into the 6 am call when my boss came by. Apparently, the release got rescheduled until 8 am, and since I wasn't at work, I missed the reschedule. She missed b/c she gets a ton of email each day. We chatted for a bit, before heading out to grab breakfast around 7 am. The call went suprisingly well - and I cheered around 10 am as that's IT. FINITO. I took off at 2 pm as I was very tired and my ankle was still giving me problems. I tackled the subyway stairs - got lapped by a guy with a cane (no joke). It took me 5 minutes to get down 20 steps. Step 1 foot. Breathe for a sec. Bring 2nd foot very slowly to meet first foot. Try to put first foot down without bending leg. Breathe for a sec. Repeat x 20. Blondie met me at our poison bar that afternoon - I needed to celebrate the release/project being done. We had many frosties to celebrate before heading over to our regular bar to end the night. Both of us were toasty, and Blondie made me some pizza for dinner, which I had to "get rid of" before I even went to bed that night. Go us.

Thursday was a pain in the butt for various reasons. I won't go into work details, but let me say, sometimes working for the type of company I work for in the city I work in can be a ginormous ball of suck. Still though, I'm grateful to have a job. Very grateful. So I sucked it up, but the day started off weird, and didn't show any signs of improvement. My boss finally came by around 4:30 and we left early to get ready for a going-away party for a good friend of ours. I was out until 8:30 pm ish helping my friend celebrate, and then cabbed home that night. 2 cabs in 1 week! That never happens.

And Friday was blah. Got told about an issue on Friday morning, so filed all appropriate "oh halp!" tickets I needed to. Tried to ping my boss who was tied up in a meeting with no idea how long it would go, so left to take a lunch with my friends. Got back an hour later, and the place was in uproar about the issue. I calmed everyone down, filled everyone in on the details, and then locked myself in my office until it was time to go home. But it was nice then, as when I was walking up to my building that night, I noticed Blondie hanging over our balcony drinking a beer. So Blondie and I shared many drinks on our balcony that night, got caught up on our week, and then went to bed early.

 Saturday we both did a workout - my first since the half marathon. Then we went and got some mexican food. Our little restaurant is so good, but this time, there was a couple with 2 kids they couldn't control so we ate fast and bolted. We decided to hit up another bar we don't normally go to on the way home - they have massive windows at the front that roll up, so we snagged a seat there and started people watching and having a beer. Then some guy brought his kid in, and the kid just wasn't having any of it (this kid must've only been about 12-14 months old). First off, the guy kept talking to the kid like he was a dog ("Who's a good boy? That's my good boy!"), and then he made the kid take off his cap, and the kid just went beserk. So then he pulled the kid out of the bar, right in front of the windows Blondie and I were in front of and let him have his tantrum there. We decided our luck was over, and just left.

That night my bar friends called, and they were out at the local biergarten, so we headed over there for several pitchers of beer and apps, before hitting up our regular bar to watch part of the Rangers game (no kids in either place. Blondie and Yours Truly - FTW!  As a note - I don't mind kids AT ALL.  My brother, and my siblings-in-law have kids and I truly adore the shit out of them.  It just felt weird on Saturday as our neighborhood - especially our avenue - is not the traditional family neighborhood in NYC.  But pinky swear - I'm not anti-kid by any means.  And also, asshole, don't treat your kid like he's a dog.) Afterwards, a trip to Dunkin and CVS for junk before heading home to watch some eps of Breaking Bad.

Sunday, it was pouring down rain, so we met up with our bar friends again at Pony Bar - there was a group of 6 of us, drinking beers, eating awesome food, and just enjoying the weather from inside. It made me realize I have "family" in NYC and it made me truly grateful for yesterday. I was very sore from my workout on Saturday so decided to skip working out on Sunday and just recover (again). Plans for this week including NOTHING. I need some downtime, some good workouts, and some great sleep. Blondie is in agreement.

--K

The 4th 1/2

So my planned sick day last Monday didn't happen - I called in, but then had to work on a left-over issue with a coworker. So we were on the phone about 30 minutes on Monday morning, and I realized that the issue was going to take all day to resolve so I headed on into work anyway. I felt better once I got about 3 cups of coffee in me, but man, I was exhausted. All day Monday was spent getting the issue resolved, and I was so happy when the day finally ended.

We didn't do much on Mon or Tues nights. Then on Wed, I was hurrying down the steps into the subway after work to get home, and pulled the same calf muscle I had pulled a few weeks ago. I limped the entire way home, and then Blondie suggested a bar night - I agreed as I wasn't going to try and work out on Thurs, and also, WTF. When did I get old? When did my body start falling apart on me? So we headed over to our local bar and had a few drinks with everyone. We ended up doing a junk-food night for dinner that night, so after the bar, we headed up to the store and bought a ton of junk-food.

On Friday I got the news that my boss' boss officially shot down me going back to my old program. She was pretty "not happy" about it all - them approaching me, me saying yes, and just nipped it all in the bud. I'm relieved to be honest, glad I didn't say no but also glad someone else did. Friday night, I joined Blondie on our patio for more beers while relaxing the night away.

Saturday it was up and at 'em early - Blondie and I took the train down to Chelsea area, and got the race packets for Sunday. Afterwards we tooled around Chelsea for a bit, before heading back and getting lunch in our hood. We cleaned the apartment on Saturday afternoon, and then headed back to Penn Station to pick up my PA friend on Saturday night. It was bedtime early because...

I ran my 4th 1/2 marathon on Sunday. And by run, I mean "I'm going to run for a bit. Now I'm going to stop and walk for a long bit". My PA friend and I did the More Magazine/Fitness Half Marathon - it was all done in Central Park which was very cool. The race was 2.5 loops of the park, so I got to see a bunch of stuff I hadn't seen before, the most noticeable being "Cat Hill". Cat Hill is this hill on the east side of the park which has a statue of a cougar getting ready to pounce on one of the rocks to the side. If you aren't paying attention and catch it out of the corner of your eye, it almost looks lifelike.

So the race recap - SUCK BALLS. My leg felt okay when we started and I got over a mile into the race thinking "all right, feeling good". My breathing was good, my legs felt strong. And then we hit the hills - Central Park is rolling hills, and that's what the entire race was. Toss into that only training on the treadmill for the last 4 weeks, and not really doing a lot of hill training, and bam. I died. The worst part was as you were doing these hills, realizing you had to do them all again because of the 2.5 loops of the park. OMG. By mile 9, I was ready to DNF myself. My leg, which had felt great when I started, was in full on agony. My feet were killing me. I was coated (and I mean COATED) in sweat. But I managed to pull through, and finish. My time was 3:03 (28 minutes more than last year's half).

The half was notable for one reason - it killed any dreams I had about being a distance runner. I'll stick to my 5K distances, and that's it.

After the race, my friend and I cabbed it back to the apartment and got showered, before heading out for beers and lunch. We put her into a cab after lunch so that she could get to Penn Station and back home, and Blondie and I escaped onto our patio for more beers. My bar friends called late afternoon to come celebrate, so we joined them at another bar for more beers, before finally heading home late last night.

I feel okay today - it takes me awhile to get moving, but once I do, I'm moving okay. However, my ankle (the one I sprained at the beginning of February) is puffed up like you wouldn't believe, so I am going to call in today. It doesn't hurt but it's about 4 times the size of my normal ankle, so I'm going to elevate and ice it today.

This week will hopefully go fast. Tomorrow is my final launch of P1 of my program, so after tomorrow, it's over. A friend from work quit and her going away party is on Thurs. And then it's the weekend, and I'm going to relax and do nada.

Workouts were good last week:
Monday - Cardio Recovery disc
Tuesday - 1 hour on treadmill; 2 min walk, 2 min hill run x 30 mins; 2 min walk, 2 min fast run x 30 mins.
Wed - Core Cardio and Balance
Thurs/Fri - off days, my calf was a wreck both days
Saturday - P90X stretching disc
Sunday - 13.1 mile run/walk

--K

Happy Chocolate Bunny Day

It was, once again, a very slow/low-key week. I don't know what's going on right now - but I'm loaded up with snot (again) and moving at the speed of molasses. The weather has been nice, so we've got that going for us. But my allergies have been going nuts. I sneeze my face off all day long. And it wears me out.

So I still don't have news on the work front. It's all still up in the air. As expected, my boss didn't like that they want me around for another 2 years. It's not my role anymore, and to ask me to commit to it for that long really did not go over well. But even for short-term, they don't have an answer about whether I'm approved to go back yet or not. And honestly, the longer they take to make a decision, the more I'm tempted to tell them no.

Other than that, I like my new role. So far, it's less stress. Learning the role isn't going to be fun, but at least it won't be massive pressure like my old role was (give me a new person in the business role, a new role for myself, and a hard launch date - and then not understand why things aren't going smoothly?) I like my new boss a lot. She's going to be a hard ass, but she's also really good at what she does.

I went out to lunch on Tuesday with a coworker, which I always like. For some reason, even if we're only gone for 45 minutes, it makes the day feel so much faster. If I stay out on my own for 45 minutes for lunch, it doesn't make a bit of difference. But when I go with coworkers, it's like the day is done before it starts.

On Wednesday, I did "family lunch" with my bestie from work. His dad was a chef and had made collard greens and chicken, and Blondie had made biryani and I had those left overs. So we split our lunch and ate at my desk. It was so good. Blondie's biryani was mind-blowingly hot, and the collard greens were a good complement to cool everything down.

On Thursday, I got my raise for the year. I don't want to rag on my company, but holy crap. It was atrocious. It made me angry. I've launched 2 massive projects for the company in the past 6 months (to stress - MASSIVE), and this is how much they think of me. I locked myself in my office until I got calmed down, and then tore out of there. Blondie met me for many drinks at the bar so I could blow off some steam.

But Friday was better - most of the office was out, and my new boss sent us all home around 4 pm. It was a gorgeous day also, so I met Blondie at our local german restaurant to sit on their back patio. We split a ton of beers, and were joined by our bar friend about halfway through the evening. When we were done at the restaurant, we headed over to our bar and partied the rest of the night there.

Saturday we took it easy, but ended up doing some grocery shopping before picking up some 6ers and relaxing the rest of the day away. And Sunday became Sunday Funday in the most major sense. We headed out to Pony Bar at noon and ran into the celebrity we met there last year. She remembered us (without us saying anything to her), and we spent all afternoon laughing and drinking. Our bar friends joined us, and they all hit it off - the celebrity got a Tony nomination for her role in a Sondheim musical, and my bar friend is a huge musical person, so they spent the afternoon singing to each other. Just a ton of fun.

Today my allergies have flared up, so I'm taking the day off. I can't stop sneezing. It's kind of lame to call in with allergies, but without a work from home policy, that's all I can do. I'm going to head back to bed soon, and pop some cold meds, and hopefully feel better.

Workouts were good this past week:
Monday - Cardio Recovery disc
Tuesday - 1 hour on treadmill - 30 minutes at 2 min walk, 2 min uphill run; 30 minutes at 2 min walk, 2 min fast run.
Wednesday - Core Cardio and Balance disc
Thursday - Max Cardio disc
Friday - rest day
Saturday - P90X plyometrics disc, Cardio Abs disc, P90X Shoulders & Arms disc, P90X stretching disc (yes, 3.25 hours of workout)
Sunday - 1 hour on treadmill - solid running. First time just flat out running for an hour in a long time. Sadly, when I do my Tuesday workouts, I go further than I did on Sunday, but I did run for an hour.

--K

Treadmill 0, Kerri 2

Okay, okay, okay. I'll start with this - I pulled my head out of my ass last Monday after my "woe is me" post. Or rather, I tried to pull my head out of my ass. After I published my post, I was lying there still in bed, still starving and angry. And then I thought "OMG, Fuck this. Get your ass up and do a workout". So I did. Blondie was nice enough to wait for me to do a 30 minute workout, before we ordered dinner.

The workout was sorely needed, as I felt a million times better when I was done. Still in full-on "hate mode", but not nearly what it was before I worked out. For dinner, we ordered in Argentinean food (roasted chicken, red beans, rice) and then crashing out to end our evening.

Tuesday and Wednesday were uneventful. On Tuesday, we headed over to our bar for dinner and a few drinks. We kept it very low-key, just met up with our bartender and bar friends and got caught up. We split a sampler platter (if you can fry it, it goes on the platter) and we each had 2 beers before the day caught up with me and I insisted we go home (I had gotten up at 5:15 am so I was beat).

Thursday and Friday became "special days". First up, on Thursday I gave my new boss my official "I will go back and do my old role for the team" speech. That's right - assuming everything goes through in the SF office, I'm back in my old role through August. It was a hard decision to make, but I have to know was I a shitty PM or were the circumstances surrounding this project shitty? I hope it was the circumstances, as I don't think they would ask me to come back if I had been shitty at what I do. But who knows.

Then on Thursday afternoon, we took 2 hours to celebrate our VP's birthday. We had a little party and some cake, and just got to hang out and chill. It was a nice break to a Thursday - and it made the day go really fast.

Friday, Blondie came over and met me and 2 of my work friends (1 was the biryani guy) for some spicy Indian food for lunch. We hit up a curry place by us that the star of Man V Food went to for spicy curry - none of us got the spicy curry but the food was good, and getting to see Blondie during the day was nice.

And then on Friday afternoon, the program mgr for my old project called (the one I'm going to go back and help on). He told me that they needed me to commit to the project not through August, but through the entire program. So if this thing goes 2 more years, I'm the PM for 2 more years (or until I quit). I okay'd it (ugh), but now it's back to my boss for her to decide fully. This is ridic.

To sound like a narcissist, and probably to jinx everything - here is what is going on in my head. Utter relief that they liked me enough to go to my boss and ask for me back, utter relief that I couldn't had been as shitty at that role as I felt like (otherwise, they would be ecstatic that I was gone), and utter relief that not only do they want me back through the August release but that they think highly enough of me to commit to me through the remainder of the program. And then sheer terror that I'm jumping back into this program, sheer terror that the tech lead left last weekend for 6 weeks of vacation, sheer terror that I haven't been a part of anything that has gone on so far for August, and sheer terror that my boss is going to be angry that I said yes to this.

So there you go. Utter relief combining with sheer terror. Woot.

Friday night was spent taking it easy as I was supposed to have a 9 mile run on Saturday. But then Saturday happened. I headed out into the rain (why is it always sunny Sunday-Friday, and then raining on Saturdays?) to start my 9 mile run. To backtrack a little, on Wednesday while working out, I did something to the calf on my right leg. I thought it was a charley horse but I couldn't get it stretched out so had been hobbled a little by this. Anyway, I started out for my run, and my leg was very stiff and tight - and by .2 miles into the run, I knew I couldn't do the run. I was in severe pain, limping, and didn't want to make anything worse by doing 8.8 more miles. I headed/limped back to our apartment and just went to the gym. I did some Precor followed by a very slow walk on the treadmill going up a steep hill.

After the gym, we headed out to do our grocery shopping for the week - it was nice b/c the weather was crappy so the stores were almost dead. Then on Saturday afternoon, still raining, Blondie and I decided margaritas sounded good, so we had our local liquor store deliver us some tequila and margarita mix. We got caught up on our DVRs while having a few margaritas.

Sunday I woke up and my leg felt better, so I headed down to the treadmill, and BAM. I conquered that bitch. After the fantastic run, Blondie and I headed out to Pony Bar for lunch and a few beers. We split the oyster and bacon sandwich, and a roast beef sandwich, and I ended up having a stout which was the tastiest stout I've ever had (also 9.0% ABV). Afterwards, we stopped at our local bodega and got a few 6'ers which we drank while watching TV all afternoon.

Blondie made us biryani for dinner last night, and then the beers caught up with me and I went to bed at like 7:30 pm. I think. Blondie stayed up for awhile, but when I woke up at 1 am, I made him go to bed then.

Workouts were good this past week:
Monday - pulled head out of my ass and did Cardio Recovery disc.
Tuesday - 1 hour on treadmill - 2 minutes walk, 2 minutes hill running x 30 mins; 2 minutes walk, 2 minutes fast running x 30 mins
Wednesday - Core Cardio and Balance Insanity disc (and pulled calf muscle)
Thursday - 3 miles on treadmill, in 37:12 (Treadmill 0, Kerri 1) - ran it all - first full out run in 6 weeks and it felt good
Friday - rest day
Saturday - 35 minutes Precor, 10 minutes slow walking up a 6.0 incline while holding 5 lb handweights (should've been 9 miles)
Sunday - 3 miles on treadmill in 34:39 (WOOO - I'm back! I'm giddy about this time and chalk it up to the hour I'm doing weekly on the treadmill with hills and fast running - also, Thurs and Sunday runs were the first time in about a year that I've not actively hated every step I took while running)
Today - Cardio Recovery disc.

Dinners were good for us this week also:
Monday - Argentinean food
Tuesday - our bar
Wednesday - Pio (peruvian)
Thursday - scrambled eggs with a potato, chorizo, and a ton of veg
Friday - spaghetti
Saturday - grilled chicken sandwiches for lunch, spicy rice and chicken for dinner
Sunday - bar for lunch, chicken biryani for dinner.

Things coming up for me - less than 2 weeks until my half marathon in Central Park. This is going to suck. I'm going to guess that I'm at 3 hours again for this half. Not. Looking. Forward. To. It.

Mr Pooh shows up in 40 days to party with me and Blondie for Blondie's birthday! We're looking into several things to do while he's in town, but will spend a large portion of our time at the bar.

New Orleans in 6 weeks for Slick's bachelor party - a weekend of drinking in the streets, and getting to see one of my favorite people of all time.

Blondie is off to Wisc for 1.5 weeks in June, and then we are off to KY for 5 days in July.

And finally, tonight - KY in the final game of the NCAA tournament.

--K