I'll just tell them I have nothing to say

I look at my blog every morning as I do my morning blog browse, and I think to my self, self, you should update your blog. I don't think I have anything of interest to say, but I feel some sort of blogligation to keep it fresh and current and interesting and if I can't do any of those things to just put SOMETHING down on the page.

So what's been going on? Well, I've been working overtime teaching some courses at the pool. I decided to not do my usual mad fit of overtime teaching in July and August, so instead I have done some moderate overtime in May/June, and squirreled away enough dough to pay my tuition and buy textbooks in the fall without going into the hole. Now that I've accomplished that, I shall spend the rest of the summer relaxing. I'm planning on teaching one course in the fall which should cover me for January tuition, and so long as I can keep going like that and not accumulate any new debt, I'm cool with that.

I'm off to Halifax on Saturday for a visit with the Grandma and meeting my sister, Emily, to hang out and bond and shit like that. After nearly a week in Halifax I go to Toronto, meet up with my long lost Peter Pie (it's been 7 years!), hang out with Harmony, and then go to Brampton to see Paul at Nationals.

So that's all. That's what's up.

Team Krochak back in action

Rocky Mountain Trialthon 2006 003
Originally uploaded by katieet.

Paul's race season is ramping up, and last weekend was week one of racing every weekend for the next four weeks building up for Nationals and a World Cup race.

We left Friday morning only 45 min behind schedule, and began the long drive from Vancouver to Kimberley. The drive was long and uneventful, we managed to get it done in just over 9 hours stopping only for gas and pee breaks along the way. We saw five deer, one goat, two coyotes and one bear. The place Paul booked us to stay in was waaaaay nicer than the dump we stayed in two years ago. It was big enough for six people, but we had it to ourselves.

Saturday we met up with the other athletes in the group Paul trains with; Michael, Shane and Jay, and their coach, Brian. The guys headed out to ride the bike course and Brian and I followed in his vehicle, chatting about what an obsessive nut Paul is and such stuff. Following the bike the guys all threw on their wetsuits and tested out the cold water at Wasa Lake. The rest of Saturday was spent relaxing, eating, attending a pre race meeting, and watching the hockey game. It's been a while since I've traveled to a race with Paul, so it was really nice to feel again like I play an important role in the process. I know what meals to make, what gear needs to be ready, when to just be quiet, and when to be helpful.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to prep for the race and pack the car up. We headed down to the race start, which was already bustling with age grouper tri geeks taking themselves oh-so seriously, and getting their transition spots just right. After Paul changed his transition spot about eight times, we set up his gear and I stood by to be useful.

After a quick pre race pep talk by Brian, the gun went off, and a great race ensued. Paul lead the swim, was first out of the water, first out of transition on the bike, and had an amazing bike holding the lead the whole way. His new Time Trial set up on the bike was working well for him, Brian was pleased with how strong he looked, and Paul was happy with his new gear. The run went well, but not quite as well as we would have liked, Paul was passed by the course record holder, Kelly Guest, and so ended up finishing second overall. Both Paul and Kelly finished under the previous course record, and finished only 14 seconds apart. It was a good race, Paul said he felt good but not great, which is a good thing because that means his peak is yet to come. He also said it was really nice to have me there again, and it really felt like we were a team. He always says he knows how much work I put into his triathlon career, and when he wins a race he really feels like 'we' won, not just him.

The next four weekends he'll race in Oliver, Philadelphia, Brampton, and Edmonton. Brampton is Nationals, and that's where he'd like to be peaking.

Sunday after the race we drove from Kimberely to Penticton (about six hours) and stayed there for one night on a family friend's ranch. We had a great meal, and left on Monday with a cooler full of free beef for Paul. Monday drove from Penticton back to Vancouver, and other than a lame speeding ticket just leaving Princeton, the drive was good.

If you click on the picture above it'll take you to my flickr page and you can see more race pics. Unfortunately, I'm still getting to know flickr and I screwed up my storage space and maxed out my free storage for this month. More pictures to come next month now that I've figured out the bugs.

thanks, but no thanks

My mother is a wonderful person who has always been supportive of my vegetarianism. My mother is also a family doctor and so is concerned about her vegetarian daughters getting adequate iron, protein, b 12, etc. Now, I'm not a terribly picky eater. I don't eat any meat, and to me meat includes any animal, poultry, fish, seafood, I don't like mushrooms, and I don't like things that have raw eggs in them. Otherwise I'll eat pretty much anything. Whenever there is a family dinner the main dish is usually meat. I love side dishes and am perfectly happy to just eat them, the potatoes, the veggies, the yorkshire pudding . . . yummm . . . and not have any special vegetarian entree prepared for me. My mother, however, insists on making me something special every time I eat over there. Usually it's a lentil or bean based dish, and I'll usually scarf it down and if I don't Paul will finish it. Usually it's delicious.

Usually it isn't vegetarian haggis.

Enter the sister living abroad. Emily, when she comes home for the holidays usually brings an armload of tasty treats only available in England. Yummy vegetarian friendly Christmas puddings and the like from Marks and Spencer, gigantic chocolate bars, and this year past, a tin of vegetarian haggis. The haggis sat in the cupboard for, oh, five months or so untouched, and I peered at it curiously a few times, but my curiosity never got the point of actually opening the tin. Last weekend Buddy invited us over for dinner (via my dad) and we sat down for a meal of roast beef, veggies, and all the fixings. My mother placed the usual little dish of something special down beside me, and I peered at it, not entirely sure what it is. When I asked her, Mom replied that there was lentils and beans and other things in it, but I could tell she was holding something back. I peered a little further and asked again what it was, and she said, 'um, it came from a tin.' and I immediately knew that it was the haggis. Although there was no actual meat in the tin, and I am a big fan of all kinds of fake meats, other than one small spoonful, I just couldn't bring myself to eat it.

I mean, haggis? Come on.

Sorry Em.

crappy week, great news

This has been one of the most frustrating weeks I can remember at work. I don't want to vent too much since I know there are people who are on my staff who read this blog, and I don't want to be as unprofessional as certain people have been. Suffice to say, I am a lifeguard, not a filter technician, and the fact that I have been abandoned at work to deal with the most major filtration problems I have seen in the four years I have been there is the biggest bunch of bullshit ever. I've clocked a ton of overtime, said many bad words in front of my staff and plant ops, and swim coaches, learned that I have never been hugged by the 'most huggy guy on staff' (though he rectified that misdoing today with a surprise and suprisingly pleasant hug in the staff room), and nearly been reduced to tears of frustration in the middle of an international swim meet.

And then on Friday afternoon, at the end of my day, in the middle of a vent, I received the following text message from my dad:

"Latest PSA test good 5 years cancer free today"

And that made it all worth while.

you got gigantic box

Earlier this morning I was talking to a friend online who is getting married in August in a venue she has not seen. She lives out of town, so she won't get to see the venue until the wedding. I went to see it last night to sort out some decorating and flower ideas, and figure out what will work best. Anyhoo, there we were chit chatting away and I said to her, 'I think you have huge balls for agreeing to a venue with out even seeing it', and the conversation continued.

I thought nothing of it until later in my day, on my lunch hour run (okay, my 9:30am run, but that IS my lunch hour) when I was trying to keep my mind busy as to not focus on the mind numbing pain I was causing myself, I contemplated this phrase of 'huge balls'. Since the balls in question clearly refer to testicles, are we inferring that courage is a masculine trait? Is there an alternative phrase for women?

Here are a few I've tried out. You can vote on which one you like best.

1) you got gigantic box

2) I'm really impressed by your labia

3) you have huge ovaries (since I think ovaries are the opposite of testicles, biologically speaking)