Tuesday, September 30, 2008

PRECIPITATION!?!?

Summary of the following post, for those who prefer to skim:

I am in love with rain
I hate the weather here


In all the time I have spent here in San Diego during the past 3 years, I can count the number of rain showers on one hand. Yesterday morning added one more to the count. I left the house into a steady rain on my bike and was ecstatic. On the water, it down-poured for a few lovely minutes in spotty patches throughout the lake. I suggested we stay right underneath the big black cloud rather than follow the buoy line, but the cloud wasn't exactly keeping our L2 pace (even at a sluggish 5:20) so we quickly out-paced it. I missed the rain dearly for the rest of the day, especially since that's all anyone could talk about all afternoon. (Precipitation is like, less common than shark attacks or ravaging wildfires.) Today we're back to 85 and sunny, which I have apparently come to consider absolutely dismal.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

McGinty Mountain


We hiked up McGinty Mountain in Jamul today. Jamul is a little town inland from San Diego and very hot and desert-y. From the top of the mountain, we could see all the mountains and valleys that are east of the city, as well as the San Diego skyline. My hiking book says on a clear day you can see the glint of the ocean on the horizon, but today it was a bit hazy.


You can see where the fires a year ago burned everything, even the metal signs... there was virtually nothing but brush the whole way up. My book even talked about beautiful 50-foot oak trees! Alas.

Me and Katie Hagler heading up the trail


Emily Mickle, me, and Katie Hagler. Clearly I missed the "posing" memo

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Puppy!!


My housemates got a puppy! Her name is Ginger; she is an 11-week old beagle, and if you ask me, the cutest little ball of fur to ever walk the earth. Of course, I always wanted a dog growing up and I never had one. UNTIL NOW!!

Monday, September 22, 2008

There is only one thing that scares me more than bears...

And that is needles.

Case in point: this morning, having blood drawn (for the first time in all my 20 years.)

Blacked out when she stuck me with the needle... woke up later laying on a table with 3 people standing over me and someone holding my feet up. And I'm still light-headed.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Friday, September 19, 2008

Becoming an Endurance Machine

What I've been doing:

Surfing
Chin-ups
Riding my bike to the beach and back
Running up mountains
Paddling
Sleeping. A LOT.


We are getting somewhere.


!!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Home improvement projects, first-times, and cross training adventures

This weekend definitely cheered me up from my autumn/homesick blues.

On Saturday night, I went to a Maroon 5 and Counting Crows concert which actually turned out to be only Maroon 5. (The Counting Crows were apparently sick.) This was truly a bummer, as they absolutely make the Emily's Favorite Bands list. But I still loved the concert, and now I want to be a rock star.

In other news...

Ella, my landlord's 6-year-old daughter who lives here on the weekends, was promised a puppy if she could prove that she was "responsible." I guess she has done a good job, because the deal was that if the yard was cleaned up today, she would be allowed to get the puppy next weekend. But "yard cleanup" really entailed "bug-hunting" while the rest of us pulled weeds and cleared brush. In case you weren't aware, when you are a 6-year-old garden helper, every stray ant is cause for extreme alarm. More fascinating bugs, such as grasshoppers or spiders, must be shown to all adults present, and then smushed 3 times (just in case) and cleaned up by someone else. But we made it through the day; the puppy is coming next Friday.

The second home improvement project of the weekend was Maggie's rental property, at which she had a painting party all day today. A bunch of us from the training center went over there and her mom fed us delicious food as we sanded and painted most of the interior of the house. I only arrived at the tail-end of things, because I was busy smashing bugs and puppy-proofing the backyard.

The perfect end to the weekend was surfing under a full moon. We went to Imperial Beach after we'd finished painting. I have never been surfing before. In fact, my only experience with ocean waves was boogie boarding at Bondi Beach in Sydney Australia three years ago. A total ocean newbie, it was so miserable that I swore I'd never get in the ocean again. But gradually I've been working up to it and today I finally took a board out and did it!! 3 hours of sweet surfing. The waves were pretty small, according to the others, but they were plenty big enough for me to learn. I can't WAIT to go again!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Where is the chill and my beloved blustery mornings?

I am aching for autumn. There is no getting around it.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

My orange ipod is a miracle ipod

It really is a great day.

Last month, I put my beloved orange ipod through the wash. Clearly, it was ruined, but I didn't have the heart to throw it away so I bought a new green one and saved the orange one in its case. This morning, I found it and I turned it on....

And it worked!! The green light goes on! It plays music!! How can this be?