Archive for April, 2006
04.23.06
Posted in Mawwage at 7:29 pm by Adriene
(The following conversation occurred at approximately 11:30 this morning in the Holland kitchen)
Jeff: Uh, Adriene?
Me: Yeah?
Jeff: Are you going to go to the grocery store today?
Me: Probably. Why?
Jeff: Take a look at the contents of the fridge.
I looked in the fridge, and what I saw would make the ordinary person think a bachelor lived at our house, instead of a couple who’s been married nearly five and a half years:
- jar of dill pickles
- half a jar of salsa
- half a jar of tomato sauce
- four bottles of Harp
- half a 12-pack of Diet Cherry Coke
- three cans of Budweiser Select (left over from when my parents visited last weekend. They’re all Jeff’s. I won’t touch them.)
- three bottles of salad dressing
- half a bag of baby carrots
- a tub of margarine
Yep. That was it.
Our lives have been pretty hectic over the past two weeks - I hadn’t really had a full grocery shopping trip since we got back from New Orleans two weeks ago. I hadn’t cooked a proper meal since then, either (save for Easter, but Mom helped with that one). Most nights, we just ate out or ate sandwiches or something.
So, needless to say, I had wifely guilt this morning once the state of our kitchen was brought to my attention. Usually moments like this jar me into the Domestic Goddess mindset, and I’ll make some elaborate dinner to prove that I haven’t turned into a total slacker. And it’s usually not good on the Holland budget, either, because I wind up spending $500 at the grocery store (yes, this is an exaggeration. You may pick yourself up off the floor now).
We now have a full pantry and fridge. And I made teriyaki beef kabobs, baked potatoes, and salad for dinner. And I feel much less like a bachelor.
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04.22.06
Posted in Better Me at 11:05 am by Adriene
I ran my first 5K ever today.
A few weeks ago, Jeff decided he was going to do the Pi Mile at Georgia Tech (yes, we’re geeks. The race is named such because it’s approximately 3.14 miles). He hinted that he thought I should do it, but as usual, I grunted something about only running when big hairy things are chasing me, and kind of blew him off. But, then again, I had been running during the week fairly regularly, so why not? Finally, Jeff enlisted Amy to help, and she finally gave me the nudge to go ahead and register.
Anyway, the race started at 8am, but for some reason, we got it in our heads that we needed to be on campus by 7:00, since that’s when registration started (nevermind that you’ve got a full hour to register between when registration opened and the actual start of the race). So, we left La Casa de Holland around 6:15, and got down to campus at around 6:45. Funny how fast you can drive in Atlanta with no traffic!
To kill some time, Jeff and I wandered around the Student Center at Tech. I hate to say it, but I’ve already become one of those people who shows up on campus and says “Whoa, that wasn’t there when I was here.” I thought that didn’t happen til you hit 40. But anyway, I digress.
The skies were a bit menacing at the start. It had poured here all night prior to the race, but was supposed to clear up sometime this morning. I was hoping it would be earlier this morning rather than later. Unfortunately, it was drizzling at the start. Not too bad, though, I can handle it, I thought.
So, the gun goes off. Sam and Jeff were up toward the middle of the pack, with Amy and me in the back, since a) Amy had the stroller carrying Brianna with her, and b) I’m slow as hell. The first part of the race was darn near deceptive. You start out going downhill. I was like “HEY! This is AWESOME! I’m doing GREAT!”
Then reality hit, and you started running up the hill in front of SAC (or whatever they’re calling it these days - they’ve re-named everything on Tech’s campus. In any case, it’s the big building on West Campus where they had the swimming and diving during the 1996 Olympics). Oy. My body immediately told me I had taken the first part WAY too fast. I had to slow down dramatically. Luckily, if you go UP that hill, you have to go down at some point.
At the bottom of the hill, we were close to the end of mile 1. As we passed the chick who was calling out our times (I’m betting you she was born in 1985. Jeez.), she yelled “11:53!” at me. Huh? I haven’t broken 15 in any of my practice runs! Oh God. I’m in trouble.
About this time, the clouds decided to open up and it started POURING. Great. I’ve totally screwed myself in the first mile, and now it’s raining, I thought. Ain’t this just peachy? But, I decided that well, I’ve already gotten this far, don’t start with that negative attitude crap now.
So, I toughed it out as I ran between the CS building and the CE building. I rounded the corner near where the Textiles building used to be (yet another thing they’ve torn down since I left Tech), and climbed the hill between the Architecture building and Beta. This portion of the course was rather flat, so I decided to give myself a break and walk for a little bit. No need wearing myself out too badly. From there, we went around Peters parking deck (AKA - Pete’s Pool - the bottom level ALWAYS floods) and crossed behind Bobby Dodd Stadium. We were close to the end mile 2.
I passed the guy who was calling out our times at the mile 2 mark, and he yelled “28:54!” at me. Yep. I was losing steam. Oh well, I’m still on a decent pace, I thought. Luckily, I had a break where it was downhill for a portion along North Avenue, so I took advantage of that to make up some time. I decided to rest myself until I hit the final turn, because I wanted to run hard on the last part.
As I rounded the turn from Tech Parkway to Ferst Drive, I picked it up. YAY! It’s downhill. So, I booked it. BAD idea. 
The final quarter-mile stretch was uphill. Oh well, why not? I kept it up. My legs were burning (funnily enough, I think my cardio outpaces my leg strength now. That’s exactly opposite from a couple of months ago).
I didn’t want to look at the clock. I knew it had to be at 50+ minutes at this point. Oh well, I thought. At least I’ll beat an hour. Grudgingly, I looked up when I had about a tenth of a mile left.
What? That can’t be right. As much as I dropped off between my first and second miles, I had to be a lot slower on the third. However, I guess I was faster than I thought, because as I crossed the line, 43:38 was on the clock.
Wow. I beat my training pace by a LOT. I was just hoping I would finish in under an hour. If I finished under 45 minutes, I’d be ecstatic. I did it! Jeff was at the finish line with Sam and Amy (who crossed about a minute ahead of me) cheering me on. I felt pretty good, being VERY wet aside. 
So yeah, that was my first 5K.
Jeff and Me After the Race.
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04.21.06
Posted in General at 11:31 pm by Adriene
(…find me a find, catch me a catch…)
No, not me. But Jeff has been working his connections lately to help out a friend’s daughter who was in need of a prom date. Teenagers being the fickle things that they are, this poor girl got cut out of her group going to prom this year (”We’re sorry, we just don’t have room for you,” blah, blah, blah. Makes me want to hit someone). That pretty much incensed me, so, Jeff, being the awesome guy that he is, decided that it was our mission to find this girl a nice college man to go to prom with (and therefore blow her so-called “friends” out of the water). He called upon the young men of Theta Xi to step up, and one volunteered. (Let me tell you, if I was seven years younger and not married to Jeff, I’d want to go out with this guy. He’s a Harry Potter freak and a fellow U2 fan!)
Anyway, we spent the evening on a double-date of sorts letting the kids get to know each other before the big night tomorrow night. It was great - nothing awkward at all, and the kids seem to get along fine. I’m going to love seeing pictures - hopefully her mom will bring some to church on Sunday so I can check them out.
Tomorrow’s the big race - hopefully the really bad storms we’ve got here right now will pass through before then (I will NOT look forward to running in the rain. Bleh). Registration starts at 7:00am, so I guess Jeff and I need to leave the house by 6:30 or so. That’s EARLY for a Saturday for me. Oh well. Guess I better quit posting here and get my rear in bed. Wish me luck tomorrow!
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04.20.06
Posted in General at 7:04 pm by Adriene
I survived the bowling outing. It actually was a lot of fun. My team somehow managed to wind up with absolutely no one from Credit on it, so no awkward moments. So, Stephanie, Derek, Adam, and I had a great time ragging on each other and bowling not too badly (the comment made by Adam that I should start bowling from about three lanes over after my third gutterball aside). I got two strikes and three spares, and bowled a 96 and 104 (I know, that’s not that great, but hey, for me, it’s something). And I never finished last (that’s something, let me tell you).
Doesn’t look like my run is going to happen this afternoon. 
I got home to somewhat menacing skies, and between the time I walked in the door, went upstairs, and changed, the sky was BLACK. Oh well. Gotta love those Class-3 Atlanta Kill Storms that spring up out of nowhere during the spring and summer. I was really hoping I could get that in today, too, so I could rest tomorrow before the race on Saturday. Oh well. Guess I run tomorrow.
Finally, the long-anticipated follow-up with my doctor is tomorrow. I’m hoping she’s pleasantly surprised at my progress. As of this morning, I’m at 22 pounds down, so that beats the goal she set me by 2. I don’t think I’m going to hit 25 by then, but we’ll see. I’ve been surprised before. Anyway, if you’ve got a few minutes tomorrow around 10:30am EDT, say a little prayer for me, wouldya? I’m slightly nervous.
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04.19.06
Posted in General at 9:30 pm by Adriene
Work has been rather busy for me lately. My boss’ boss’ boss (say that three times fast) has implemented this new job-rotation project, meaning that one of my teammates (Adam) is moving over to Credit for a few months, and in return, a guy from Credit (Marcus) is moving over to Trading Control to work with us.
Anyway, work’s been pretty hectic the past few days, between Adam transitioning a lot of his work to me, and Mary and me training Marcus on the ins and outs of the Trading Control department. Luckily, it seems he’s catching on quickly, so it won’t be that hard.
Anyway, it was decided that we should have an outing to give Adam a last hurrah in the group for a while, as well as welcoming Marcus into the fold. So, I have to go bowling with my co-workers tomorrow during lunch. I am beyond thrilled (sarcasm intended).
Work outings are always rather awkward. I’m not worried about my own department, since I get along with them very well and we’re almost like a family. However, since it’s a joint outing with the other department (and we’ve been told that we’re going to be split up so we can mix with the other group), I anticipate some rather forced conversations and lots of shoe-gazing. Although you work with these people day in and day out, if you’re like me, you don’t really hang out with them much outside work. So, since you’re forced to be social with them, it can often be rather uncomfortable.
So, anyway, that’s what’s on the agenda for me tomorrow. Pray I don’t inadvertently insult someone.
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