Reason #27489 My Sister Is Awesome

As if you needed any more proof.

Seriously.

Check out this crazy-ass new fish a couple underwater researcher-people just found. H. Psychedelica hops along the ocean floor and gets buffeted around like some sort of drunken ping pong ball. It has crazy stripes, creepy blue eyes, and a perpetual frown. The article describes the fish in further detail.

Well, I sent this link to my sister earlier today and this was her response:

According to the article...

“Adults of H. psychedelica are fist-sized with gelatinous bodies covered with thick folds of skin that protect them from sharp-edged corals.”

So maybe I’m this way to protect myself from sharp-edged corals?

Hee.

Oh, goodness I love her.

Life Lesson - Courtesy: Friends

Thanks for the explanation, Pheebs.

"Ninety percent of a woman's pheromones come out the top of her head! That's why women are shorter. So that men will fall in love when they hug them."

Damn tall genes.

Still Decding On A Name

Probably going to go with The Firebolt. (because I'm just. that. nerdy.)

Fancy, right? And it's so freaking FAST!

I went to one of the bike shops yesterday afternoon and got all custom fit for a bike. They measured my inseam (with a t-bar kind of thing, I think to avoid the whole "up one side and move it over, up the other side and move it back, and then they do the rear" situation), feet, torso, arms, femur, shoulders, and flexibility. They take all that information and plug it into this program and it spits out the size of bike you are best suited for. Apparently I have shorter legs (relative to my torso - not in general because pants are never EVER long enough), a long torso, and arms that are a bit long compared to my torso (which I knew). In other words, I think I probably should have a career in the circus.

After they measured every inch of me (as I stood there in bike shorts, no less. Shudder.), they got me all set up with a bike and let me take it for a spin around the parking lot. Wooooooooo! It's so fast! Completely different from any bike I've ever ridden. I think this cycling thing might be fun.

Tri-ing Something New

I might be a little bit crazy.

Ever since I crossed the marathon finish line last fall (ok, maybe it was a couple weeks later), I've been thinking about my next challenge. I wanted to try something a little different and I wanted to continue with Team in Training, so I decided on the Deuces Wild Triathlon on May 30th. My group meets every Tuesday and Thursday for swim practices, and Saturdays and Sundays for group running and cycling. And Wednesdays and Fridays I have workouts to do on my own. WHEW!

Last night was my first swim practice. Now, I took lessons when I was little and I've played around in pools and lakes and oceans since then, but I've never done any sort of swimming that requires technique. I was really nervous before practice - like, who am I kidding? I'm no competitive swimmer. But you know what? It was fun! HARD, but fun. Our coach is great - he's tough, but really nice.

And then tonight I did my first (stationary) cycling workout on the dreaded sit-up-straight, non-recumbent bike. 40 minutes at a minimum 87rpms with four spinups to 105rpms for 30 seconds. My arse went totally and completely numb about 5 minutes in. And I had to walk down two flights of stairs right after I finished and experienced some serious jelly-quads. I managed not to fall.

So, you know, good times! Of course, I'm raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society again. This time around, I'm donating five graphite portrait projects as part of my fundraising. If you want to know more, go here.

Go Team!

How Did He Know?

Get out of my head, Carl!

I Have Actual Magical Powers

but I think they might be of the Dark persuasion.

I like to go to the movies. Sometimes I get there early. Sometimes I get there late. Sometimes I'm right on time. I go to new releases. I go to dollar theater fare. I see comedies and action and suspense and kids movies. And, nearly every time, no matter what the situation, I somehow end up sitting next to the person who insists on providing their own running commentary. I could chalk this up to just plain bad luck (which, if history teaches us anything, it probably is), but I'm going to go with magic. It's just cooler.

Tonight, I learned that the gentleman who sat down behind me really enjoys Siena, Italy and likes to describe what is going on during the scene as it happens AND predict what is going to happen next, and does not deem it necessary to lower his voice when discussing all these things during a movie.

Confession:

I am a Trader Joe's Lurker.

I love going to Trader Joe's. They have lots of really good, healthy food at reasonable prices. They also have a lot of really weird food. And one of my favorite things to do there is casually observe what other people buy. I like peeking in the cart of a mom there with her kids and seeing what she deems suitable sustenance for her wee ones. I like surreptitiously observing the athletic, healthy looking people and seeing what sorts of foods they stock up on. I like seeing which people buy the intensely organic stuff - like hormone-free gluten-free low-sodium vegan tofu veggie burgers (I just made that up. It could be real, though.) - and trying to determine if their hair is any shinier than mine is, normal hamburger consumer that I am. I like that my half gallon of milk has a label on it that says "Our cows just say Noooooooo" (because the milk is rBST free).

And they have these things called Gingeroos, which they bill as "chewy cookies with Crystallized Australian Ginger." Mmmm. They are delicious.