Bringing the Drama

last Friday night was finally the night of the Greek Fest 5k that I’ve been waiting for since at least April. the closer it got the more i found out about the festival; the gyros, the baklava sundaes, etc. i was STOKED about the food. I’d never had baklava, but I have seen my friend Alton make it on his show Good Eats.

i found my friends before the race, and we waited out the 1 mile run. the 5k was going to be at 7:20 pm. the race starts and the gaggle of people is kind of jog/walking really slow, so i broke out onto the other side of the neutral ground (median). i got back onto the right side of the street once i got some open space. the course was down and back along the bayou, which was nice cause they had recently repaved the road so it was nice and smooth. the race started and i was a little over a mile in when the guy who was in first raced past on the other side. I have no idea if he was Kenyan, but he could have been.

the only thing that bothered me about the race was the end. they had men go on one side and women go on the other. i was sprinting the last part of the race and passed a whole bunch of people. then the problem, they had one person handing out these slips to write your time down on, and the lady doing so in the men’s line was really slow about it. most likely they just didn’t have enough people doing it. so there was about 10 feet to go from the finish line to the stopped people. i was running all out to finish and then had to come to a screeching halt. It was a little dangerous.

After the finish line fiasco, I happened upon my friend Melanie’s husband Chris and we stood to watch people finish. We also talked about commuting and running. Kind of made me wish I lived in NOLA, but it’s too expensive for me. After venturing over to the festival, we made our way to the free beer for runners. By the time I made it to the beer truck, Chris had disappeared. I got my beer though, and remembered Corey (the keeper of my car key) said he’d be over by the place they were selling beer. There were probably 4 of those places, but I walked around and luckily he spotted me on his way back to the spot. I thought the festival was closing at 9 pm (which it did on Sunday), and it was 8:22, so I rushed back to my car (parked 5 blocks away) to get money for the gyros and baklava sundae I had been pining for all week. I got back and stood in a really long gyro line. Why did they only have one place to get gyros? I was in line next to these girls who were taunting people in the calamari line because they were disgusted by it. I hope they were just drunk and not stupid, but I think it may have been a little bit of both. By the time I got to the front of the line I decided I wasn’t just getting one gyro, so I bought two.

I was able to get in the sundae line by 8:55 and the line moved pretty quick so I got my sundae by 8:58. I went back to where my friends were and devoured the first gyro. I was very hungry. Nothing closed at 9 pm though, so I had pretty much been worrying for nothing. The gyro was fantastic, as was the baklava sundae. the sundae was definitely delicious enough to live up to the hype. It was a great night hanging out with friends and eating amazing food. i wish there was stuff like that more often.

(side note: after talking about the baklava sundaes, i have been challenged to make some for the first Saints preseason game in August. i accepted the challenge.)

i had a pretty crappy day at work yesterday. Nothing really bad like having to deal with KCOG or anything, but just having stuff to do, and you need some help with it, but no one has the time to help you. I hate those kind of days. I had been emailed a spreadsheet, but in order to work it, I needed help with it. Being able to use the spreadsheet would solve the issue of putting together a presentation for some analysis I have been working on. It was pretty much the last link for what I was going to do. I couldn’t get any help though, because other people who did know were also working on presentations. ARGH. I did the best I could with what I had and called it a day. I was hoping for a better day today, and it was much better. I was able to get the presentation done, even got a sparsely populated report done that I wasn’t sure about. I got an email about a part I’m trying to design with White Shoes, but the email didn’t really need to go to me. Linked from the email though was a report in the format of something I was doing, and it was already finished. I was able to see what a finished version looked like, and was able to get two reports done today. They looked so much better than before. I was pretty excited about them at the end of today. They’re still pretty green as far as information, but at least now they look presentable.

On my way home I heard on the radio about a truck driver who decided this afternoon during rush hour to jacknife his truck on the Twin Span. There are two other routes to get home, and I was taking the one less traveled. On the radio though, the DJ suggests them to which I told him to shut his mouth. There’s no need to direct more people to the backup route before I take it. Traveling the backup route today though I saw where they are filming The Expendables. So basically there’s a giant blockbuster movie filming near my work. It is very cool.

On my way home today, I stopped by the store to pick up a few things. I loaded everything in the refrigerator and then got changed to go run. I heard the fridge make some noise, but it wasn’t anything that scary. It wasn’t like the clicking sound I heard last time. I still was a little worried because when I opened the doors, it didn’t seem cool enough. I didn’t hear the compressor kick on or anything, and I heard water draining (!!!). I took off the grill part and checked the coils. They were pretty filthy, and the water draining was going into the drain pan. Still though, nothing was happening with the compressor. I grabbed the shop vac and cleaned off the coils as best I could. I googled for some answers in case I was going to have to FIX THE FRIDGE MYSELF AGAIN but didn’t find anything. A few minutes after I had vacuumed the coils, the compressor kicked on and everything went back to normal. I was so relieved. I had just bought all that fresh food, and two of the last sixers of Abita Strawberry. Think of the beer!

Of course, by the time fridge resolved itself, it was 8:30. So I’ll go run tomorrow, which is okay because I’m running in the Greek Fest run on Friday. I’m kind of excited about that btw, and hopeful for some cold beer and a gyro post race.

Today’s fun fact for the day was connecting my job and the movie Top Gun. This morning I saw a video on CNN that was a sort of interview with the current Shuttle commander (they blasted off earlier this afternoon). He talked about how as a Navy pilot, he was chosen as one of the pilots to help out filming Top Gun. Not only that, but he was also the pilot who ‘communicated’ with the MiG at the beginning of the movie. You know the scene, where Maverick and Goose were inverted helping promote East vs West relations (here it is dubbed in I think Italian). That guy who’s finger keeps Cougar from being shot down is currently rocketing towards the Hubble Space Telescope as the shuttle commander. Awesome. He’s also got a badass first name. Right on.

the past two days i’ve had three separate “you went to the dark side, killed a bunch of Jedi, and your wife still died” moments. last night was a new episode of HIMYM (my favorite show). i saw on the preview that the yellow umbrella was going to be included in the show, so i was excited to see what would be the result of the yellow umbrella. when i saw what was included, i literally cried “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!”, then i texted the same message.

then today, i get a message from Brandi about ACL Fest, which both of us were figuring out if it would be possible to go to. i had seen last week that the 3 day passes usually sell out after a month or so. knowing this i figured we had a couple of weeks to figure out finances, etc. but today, Brandi tells me that the 3 day passes are SOLD OUT! NOOOOOOOOOOO! in record time THIS YEAR! of course, right?

then after we bantered back and forth about how the one day passes for $85 were just crazy, she drops the news that Mute Math is now listed as playing. NOOOOOOOO!

in spite of so much NO today and last night, i took my final in my grad school class, so it is over. i’m not sure if i’ve passed yet, i’m just glad to have it finished.

today was kind of crazy. i had a crazy dream last night, so when i woke up i wrote down the highlights. i have two dreams written down, neither of which make any sense to the previous days or related to eating anything the day before. at least last night’s did not involve petty theft and evading law enforcement like the last one did. i got to work a bit earlier than normal and was going to be able to leave at 5:15. i’ve kind of been on a wild goose chase at work to chase down a status on something that really hasn’t changed, but the managers want to know a new and fresh answer. all that drama seemed to be calmed this afternoon when at 4:45 i get a call from my analysis lead that he needs some data from me from stuff i had last worked on 3 months ago and he needs it for early tomorrow morning. by the time i had figured out exactly what i was supposed to do, the people i normally ask for help were gone, including my analysis lead. fortunately one of the analysis guys was there and he was able to help me out by listening me talk out my rationale and helped me get what i needed to do straightened out. after a little trial and error, i walked out at 7:45, 2.5 hours after i was supposed to leave.

on my way home i thought i’d stop at the Quizno’s near my house thinking they stayed open till 9. i called my sister to see if she could call for me. she called me back and said they normally stay open till 9 but tonight was different and they were closing early. i told her in so many words that they had nothing more important to be doing than to feed me after i worked 2.5 hours OT. foiled by Quizno’s closing early, i went to Subway who were staying open till 9 and got a $5 foot long. i quickly devoured the sandwich, caught the very end of the Celtics/Bulls game, and ended the evening by catching a DMB concert on tv. (it’s from a dvd i have but still….)

Today was the big Crescent City Classic. Like usual, I parked in Lakeview and walked over to the park to catch the shuttle. One thing I noticed today was how different everything looked from 2006 when almost every house was vacant, and now almost every house is back to normal. I walked up to see the shuttle bus pulling away for the 2nd year in a row, but also for the 2nd year in a row a bus showed up after 7:30. Last year I pretty much did the race anonymously, because no one I knew was on the bus or at the company tent after the race. This year though I knew a few people, including my friend Mike and his wife, Meredith.

We made it down to the Quarter to start the race and I noticed who I was determined to beat. I had a list when the race started, beat the guy dressed as the fleur-di-lis, the guy dressed as the bear, the soldiers carrying packs, and the runaway prisoners. The soldiers were for real, but we’re not sure what they had in their packs. Anyway, so the race starts (I’m in this picture somewhere I think) and again walkers had sneaked up to the front and are walking 4 and 5 wide. I hate that, it’s like people that just coast in the far left lane because they can and have no care for anyone else. I didn’t curse or anything, so I felt proud of myself for that. Really though, the 10 year olds pulling a cooler of root beer need to start further back. When we ran past the murder scene, nobody said anything, I wonder if people knew. I DID!

I think the magic distance for people who think they can run is about 2 miles. Once we hit 2 miles a lot of people started walking. Going down Esplanade was nice because it was so shady. I didn’t see the people giving out hot dogs this year but apparently there were mimosas along the route. I missed those! I got in sight of the finish line and was going to sprint as far as I could. As I’m starting to sprint, Troy from the youth group comes up behind me and pats me on the back and says “good race!” I then said “You better run faster cause it’ll be embarrassing when I beat you!” Then he completely left me and became a dot rather quickly. I crossed the finish line in 60:30. not bad for not having run longer than 4 miles since November and really not running regularly in the past couple of months. I might have broken an hour if it weren’t for the slow first mile or so because of the walkers/slow people.

The after party thing was kind of cool. I got some free G (that’s what they’re calling Gatorade now) and my shirt. I was trying to find the company tent and I saw a guy who looked like Sean Payton. I wasn’t sure though, but then as I walked away I realized it was. Too bad, I could have told him i beat him too! None of those people I mentioned earlier passed me, another goal accomplished. The company tent ended up being behind the Abita truck, so I got a couple of free beers since there was no line. That’s a good reward for finishing early, easy access to beer. I got it mainly cause it was free and I was standing there, but it tasted SO GOOD! I think I may have changed my stance on post race beer. Shortly after I got my beer, lines formed. Score one for me.

The company tent was cool, and I stayed longer than I did last year. I guess having people to talk to changes things up. I ate more food this year too, so I definitely got my $10 worth. I walked back to my car and made it home in time to catch the 2nd half of a soccer game. Awesome.

last night i spent the evening doing hw. i had gotten the main problem done on monday night, but still had a 2nd problem to do for tuesday. at lunch i went to work on the problem only to find out the professor didn’t really go over the process to figure out the problem in class, and i’d need my book…..which was at home. i faxed off the one problem and planned to fax the 2nd the early this morning. i got home and cracked open my book for the first time, maybe all semester and found the section he referenced. i figured out the problem after about an hour, so the hw was done.

after a quick run to the store, i settled in to watch the Hornets/Kings game, and saw as they had this ridiculously long ceremony at halftime to honor Vlade Divac. (i know, right, Vlade Divac?) they really did it up, complete with a video and children bringing the banner down from the stands to really dramatic music. i used to love watching those Kings teams, too bad they never could get past the Lakers. oh, and the Hornets won on a last second shot, which i didn’t see, but have now seen 5 times already.

i still have that test i need to take tomorrow, but fortunately the prof went over what would be on it in one of the class videos i watched, and i THINK it won’t be as bad as i feared. i may still reschedule tonight’s plans for next week though so i can study. i mean, yeah, it’d be nice to go tonight, but it’d also be nice to get reimbursed for my class too (which may not happen if i bomb the test). stupid priorities.

in my email this morning i got this birthday card. today’s starting off on the right foot! (i think she got my email from when i submitted an app for free tickets to the show last fall, but then i got a bunch of calls from a telemarketer….et tu kelly?)

last year i spent birthday week in Europe, then in Charleston. this year i’m not going to be anywhere but home and work. however, i have some plans lined up to do some cool things. last night started the week off with a fantastic Hornets home win. today at work wasn’t all that great, but lately it’s been the same old stuff. i’m doing some work, but i’m still inexperienced (IMO) at it, so it’s frustrating at times. today was not without it’s moments though. BO Guy came up on his way to someone else’s desk this afternoon and told me to “cheer up”. then asked me if anyone has told me that before. i wasn’t sure if he was joking, and i couldn’t tell by the look on his face either, so i just said “not lately.” weird.

i slept late AGAIN this morning. i’ve been having issues waking up before 6:30 lately. this morning though i hadn’t gone to bed until after 1 last night cause i was so amped from the game then i decided i would watch part of the replay when it came on ESPN starting at 1 am. dumb move. i am getting no less than 6 hours of sleep a night, no matter when i go to bed, which is nice, but also makes me stay late at work. anyway, i left work late and skipped the gym so i could get grad school hw done. yeah, part of birthday week is grad school hw due Tuesday and i have a test on Thursday. so i got this big problem done (took me 3 pages) and can make up the other one tomorrow. i’m going to hopefully watch the video pertaining to the problem before i go to bed.

the week other than the class stuff is going to be awesome. the bulldog on wednesday, rebirth on saturday, maybe even the new fast and the furious movie on friday. hopefully the class stuff won’t make me alter any plans, esp the bulldog. i need some new pint glasses and punches on my keychain.

it rained here, pretty much all day. work wasn’t that great. BO Guy drama, realizing i was doing something the hard way only to realize later i could have been using a short cut, etc. plus, i took the following picture one year ago today. yeah.

actually, it wasn’t that bad. i went to the gym after work, even though it was raining and i wanted to just go home and worked out for the first time in at least two weeks. it was tough, but i didn’t see CGG or anything. i made it home in time to watch the basketball games and ended the evening buying some usb powered siren lights from woot. word.

last night on my way home from dinner with SS peeps at Sweet Peppers (totally overrated IMO), i stopped off at the grocery store to get some produce. i had borrowed a cloth shopping bag from a friend since i did not have my own. i really need to start keeping them in the car. i was only getting 4 things, so putting them all in the shopping bag wouldn’t be a big deal. it wasn’t the store’s official bag, but i figured it would not be an issue. i get up to the register and put the bag on top of my stuff saying “could you use this bag please?” the girl who was probably 21 or 22 looks confused. she thought i was buying the bag, but i said no, then she thought i wanted her to put the cloth bag into a plastic bag, i said no. i just wanted her to put my stuff into the cloth bag. she then scans three things and puts them in a plastic bag, but i was doing the check card thing and didn’t notice until she had already done it. then i say “you could use that bag you know?” she says “oh, i thought it was an apron! i’m sorry baby”. i don’t mind the ‘baby’ usage when it’s from an older lady, but not from a girl who’s younger than me. also, WHY would i be bringing an apron to the grocery store? i had bought a sixer of Abita Strawberry so she asked “i’m going to need to see your ID baby”. she goes to put the cloth bag in a plastic bag again, and i said “no, it’s a shopping bag. you can put stuff in it.” then she says “oh, okay, i’m really sorry baby, it’s late”. (it was about 8:20). she ended up putting my stuff in the cloth bag and i left without getting any plastic bags, but she ended up taking the plastic bag she had put my stuff in and throwing it away, so i’m not sure if i helped save the Earth, but at least i didn’t have to take it home with me.

i had hw due in my class this week, and i thought since the last hw assignment was due on a Thursday that this week’s would be too. i printed off the assignment yesterday and saw it was due yesterday. oops. for the first time this semester, the hw was relatively painless, so i was able to fax it before i left work yesterday. with the hw out of the way, i was able to go to dinner last night, and i’ll be able to go to the Hornets game tonight. another oversight was thinking the Hornets road trip started already, so i didn’t know there was a home game until yesterday. i’m usually more on top of things. at least it’s Wednesday already.