Philadelphia Marathon

On 20 November 2011, I ran the Philadelphia Marathon.  I died just a little and questioned my sanity a lot. This wasn't my first one but it might as well have been because of the time that had passed since my first marathon (March 2010).  I had been plagued with injuries (another first) that included a bad ankle sprain, a collapsed arch, and pain on the top of my feet.  However, my stubbornness prevailed and I finished the marathon without walking.  My time, while not as good as I knew it could have been, was a PR (personal record).  Beggars can't be choosers so I'll take it.  If anything, it's made me more determined to run another and to keep PR'ing.  I'm already planning the races I'll run in 2012 in the hopes that I'll continue 2011's tradition of nothing but PR's.

Thanks to Cait for a respectable running photo!  

Jim Henson exhibit

This past Friday I drove up to Queens to visit the Museum of the Moving Image.  The museum currently has a few exhibits that I had wanted to see, mainly the Jim Henson exhibit and the Behind the Screen collection.  I've been a huge fan of Jim Henson and the muppets for as long as I can remember- Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, the Muppets, etc.  I also some other really neat stuff but didn't try to take pictures until I got to the Henson exhibit.  I was too enthralled to even remember to take pictures on my cell phone that does not have a flash.  Here's a few that I did take: 

Rowlf

Miss Piggy gets married

Such a great quote by Henson

Fraggle Rock

Yoda

The body double of the chick from the Exorcist (scene when the chick turns her head around)

Single girl living in a lonely world

Granted, I've got a few years to go before I'm this age but she hits everything on the mark:

Sometimes, Its Not You

Philly rocknroll half marathon

Just a few observations from this race.

1. There were a ton of buttchecks, tattoos on said buttchecks, and people talking on cellphones.

2. I really enjoyed the race up until mile 9. Then I died.  Up til then I was able to keep my 9 min/mile pace exactly.  Then I got slower, things got harder (thats what she said).  Part of the issue I think is the fact that I had sprained my ankle the previous Monday.  I RICE'd the crap outta it and didn't run at all.  Which made me extremely testy with everyone- sorry! At the expo Saturday I was able to have an expert tape my ankle for me using KT Tape which is the stuff the Olympic athletes used so I felt legit.  The stuff definitely helped.  But forgetting to eat breakfast did not.  I still managed to PR but not as good as I wanted with my final time being 2:03:05.

3. Even with all of that, I think that I'm still on track with my projected times of 1:30 for the Army 10 Miler and 4:00 for the Philadelphia marathon.  Granted, as long as I PR I should be happy but I know that there's always room for improvement.

And another term bites the dust

So I just finished up my fourth term here at Drexel.  One more to go- totally in the home stretch & not ready for it at all.  If I was smarter, I would have slowed things down some.  Oh well. Hindsight's a bitch.  Anyways, I just got my final grades for the summer term - A-, A-, & A+.  Unfortunately the A+ is the only one that doesn't affect my GPA at all. :( However, I did realize that I tend to do much better in the classes that I actually enjoy.  The A+ was in the content representation class in which I developed a thesauri & indexed images.  So much neater than learning how to manage or develop a collection.  In the spring, the same thing happened, with my cataloging class. So much more interesting.  Actually, if I think about it, I could trace this pattern back to high school.  I've always done much better in classes where I'm more motivated because I enjoy the subject area or because I know I'm going to have a very inspiring teacher.  As students start back, it makes me wonder if I'm the only one that learns in this manner in a constructed learning environment.  

12 Miles

So the other day I was asked how I run. As in, how I keep moving.  And well today, as I ran 12 VERY SLOOOOW miles, I pondered.  My answer? I'm stubborn.  Like disgustingly stubborn.  Some people might call it determination or perservance but it's not.  I know myself better than that.  Also, I enjoy practicing my chugging skills by practicing chugging water.  I also don't run with an ipod or watch or anything.  I know my distance and I move.  I know that I won't be the first one but I also won't be the last person.  And c'mon, lets be serious.  The people watching at these things is fantastic.  Even today, on my run during an overcast Sunday morning when normal people are either sleeping off their mistakes from last night or at mass repenting for their bad decisions, I saw some great things.  Not knowing what I'm going to see next makes me want to move that foot. But really, it comes down to wanting the bragging rights and knowing what my body is capable of.  I might not like the way my body particularly looks at times but knowing what it can do- it's an amazing feeling.

Pick-up lines

Since moving to Philly last year, I have encountered some of the best/most original pick-up lines.  The two best are as follows:

Setting: A small diner turned bar in winter. 
Scenario: This guy is chatting up my friend so his friends start talking to me. One of them asks if I'm French because of my eyebrows. His thought was that my eyebrows looked so good I must not be American. 
Still working my way through this one.

Setting: A crowded bar usually full of undergrads during the summer. 
Scenario: I'm hanging out with a just a good guy friend of mine, stupidly matching him beer for beer.  This very intoxicated kid comes up to me and starts talking, saying something along the lines of: you should dump your boyfriend and come hang with me because I love you.
Three things (at least) wrong with that particular sentence: 1. I don't have a boyfriend, I have a friend that happens to be male that I'm hanging out with 2. Why would I want to hang out with a hammered college kid that I don't know and is trying to stand up straight by himself? and 3. I definitely don't love you.

I wish I had had my notebook with me so I could have written what these guys said verbatim.

Overview of June

I think this past June was the busiest month ever for me.  I had something on my calendar every day.  It was annoying because I had no downtime, something I need otherwise I'm not pleasant to be around.  I had finals, a librarian conference, 2 trips to NYC, more classes, work, interviews, doctor appointments, social outings to make friends, etc all going on.

Some pictures from my second NYC trip:

Lego lion in the New York Public Library

 Grand Central Terminal

Statue in front of 30 Rock

 Guggenheim

In Greenwich

SLA - special libraries association conference

So earlier this week was the special libraries association conference in Philadelphia. While I enjoyed the experience and feel that I learned alot about the various types of special libraries and the people, I found the entire process exhausting. It would start up at 8am and go on throughout the day, ending with happy hours and parties. It's a hard life being in the special library field. However, I do think that I learned alot about the field and successfully networked my bum off and get some good job search tips.

One of the nights, the happy hour was at a bowling alley. I had no idea that there were bowling alleys in the city only because that can be considered a "redneck" thing to do. I was even more surprised to find out that I'm competitive outside of playing games with my family. I found it disheartening to find out that I was the only person that took the game seriously. By that I mean I was the only one that cared whose turn it was and how we were doing. But at the same time, I got to met with people that are in my program that I had not met before, so that was neat.

Overall, I feel that the SLA conference helped me worked on my "small talk" skills with strangers- which might negate everything my mother taught me when I was younger.

Whisky

Well I thought it went down smooth. Yet

Hell thought otherwise

It came back up

Saturating me in liquid

Killing me by smell alone

Yet, I was satisfied.

Today's poem

From a old recent photo:

Four girls.

Same smile.

Each a daughter

a mother

a grandmother

a great-grandmother.

Unable to look directly into the camera

smiles beam

Proud.

Milestones

Disclaimer: I'm on my second drink of the night. I made them myself so they're pretty strong.

The other day I turned 25. I spent the day reflecting on where I am and where I thought I was going to be. To be honest, I'm not at all where I thought I would be. In school to be a librarian in Philadelphia? There are three things wrong with that previous sentence: school, librarian, and Philadelphia.

I figured I'd be in NYC or Seattle or Chicago either doing something within the publishing industry or a neat non-profit or making money off my writing. All longshots but 25 sounded so old I figured they were possible. Sadly, I was wrong on all accounts. I still feel like a teenager but not doing as much stupid shit. Though I have gained a decent amt of weight around my midsection to negate that previous statement.

So I decided my goal of being 25 was to try and write a poem (no matter how awful) every day and to work on speaking in large groups whether formal or informal.

Today's Poem:

Mortality is a funny thing.

Here one day

Gone the next

POOF

Like magic

But without the laugher

(bear with me, they're gonna suck for a long while)

Ovarian Cancer 5k Walk/Run

My family and will be participating in the Ovarian Cancer 5k Walk/Run this coming Saturday, 15 May in Reston. It would mean a lot to me if you could either join the run or donate to show your support.

More information can be found here: http://www.tiny9.com/u/Team_Toto_homepage

Thank you

Broad Street 10 Miler

I ran the Broad St. 10 Miler run yesterday. You literally run 10 miles down one street. Overall, I have to say that it was pretty awesome. Of course I'm prejudiced b/c I PR'ed (set my personal record) in the 10 mile distance. But the crowd cheering the runners on- throughout the entire race, I don't remember a quiet spot at all- was amazing. As was all of the volunteers out there not only handing out water and gatorade (hatorade) cups but the police force blocking the streets as well. Considering how many runners there were- 30,000 I was told, it was organized well. Picking up my packet, from the time I left my car and walked a ramp up 4/5 flights or stairs to the time I was back in my car was 20 minutes. That's pretty awesome. I also think I really enjoyed the race b/c of the ease of transportation. In the past, I've had to wake up an extra hour early just to find parking. I was out of bed 2 hrs before the race and had no issues with transportation- though the ride back was smelly b/c of all of the sweaty runners. This race made me excited for the Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon and the full marathon I signed up for- both in Philadelphia in the fall.

pa vs va

I find myself enjoying Philly more and more, especially as I've been hanging out in this area more. On my drive back from VA tonight for Easter, I figured that I have spent at least more than half of my weekends since I moved away from Philly. I'd like to rectify that but then thought of my May schedule. Part of the issue is that so many of my friends aren't in Philly and I end up coming back for family stuff or appointments and end up staying for a weekend as opposed to a day to stay in touch. It makes me wonder what would have happened if I had moved further away from school.

public service annoucement

As a few of you know, my grandmother is really sick. I haven't said much about it to anyone because I can't without crying and I'm not a pretty crier. With that being said, she's been sick since last spring so if in that time I've been short/bitchy/a mean drunk/what have you, this is most likely why. I've never been very good about talking about myself/feelings/or whats going on so I figured that this would be the least painful way for me to share without having to hear people's "I'm sorries". Well no shit sherlock, no one wants this to happen. But it so I'm dealing, one day at a time. So, at this time I ask that you continue not to want to kill me and for your understanding as I deal in my own bitchy/mean/short way which is sure to get worse. And please, for the love of God, don't ask me how I feel unless you actually want to listen.

thank you.

Cupid's Undie Run

This past weekend I took place in the second annual Cupid's Undie Run (cupidsundierun.com) in DC. My friend and I did it last year and had a blast. I hope that this has become our annual run together. (Picture of us before stripping down).

It's short, less than 2 miles around the Capitol, and a TON of fun. Because the organizers were more prepared for a crowd, it was better organized. There was also more media. Not quite sure how I feel about knowing that there might be pictures of me in a sports bra and undies floating around the internet. However, it's for a good cause and I wasn't drunk. This year because the weather was much warmer and the roads were actually closed, we were able to stop and take pics in front of the Capitol. Our friends came out to watch and made us a sign. It was the first time that someone made me a sign. What a great way to end a fun run. All in all, definitely a great experience and can't wait for next year.

PA SEPTA VS DC METRO: A RANT

So I've been good about walking most places during the day in city so that I can learn my surroundings better. However, since walking in the dark by myself isn't my thing and it gets dark earlier now, I find myself taking the SEPTA/train/EL/ whatever the hell you want to call it.

It sucks.

It makes the DC Metro- something people have long complained about- look like a freaking class act.

I have wasted so many dollars in the past week or so in my attempt to get to the station to get tokens. The local machine is always out of coins. There is no automated system using a credit card to add money to your card. That was issue number one.

Issue number two. Not all of the stops are publicized. For example, the 13th & Market St. stop. Good luck figuring out how to get in there. I could also just be blind. But I definitely have yet to see a sign signaling that stop.

JMU vs Drexel

So other day I met with the graduate student career services coordinator. What a mouthful. Anyways, at the end of our discussion, he asked me which I preferred, JMU or Drexel. And I had to tell him JMU. While hands down it was the best four years of my life, I really learned alot about myself during my time there. Without going to JMU, I don't know if I would have made it to Drexel/Philadelphia. What some people might call courage, I call sheer stupidity. To anyone who knows me or has heard of my stories, you know what I mean. There were a lot of things that I did at JMU that I wouldn't get away with in Philadelphia. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not but I've definitely gotten lucky. I also don't know if I would have been able to move to a place where I know virtually no one. I could go on about how my time at JMU helped to shaped me but in the end, no one really cares. Bottom line is that I needed JMU. At the same time, I love living in the city. From Harrisonburg I got the same town-feel and enjoyed being able to walk places. Here, I've been able to take that one step further and walk almost everywhere. I believe that my time at both schools will compliment each each and I can't wait to see where I end up.

school update

Oh Nerd-dom.

So I met with my advisor the other week to hash out somethings I thought about over Christmas break. So essentially we (I) decided that I would have a concentration in only digital libraries so that I could take all of the other classes I want to take. You know collection management, cataloging, metadata, etc. That kind of fun stuff. So while that's a huge relief, I'm still stressed out about finding a job. As people have kindly pointed out to me, I do have a about a year until I'm done with school. Yet based on the economy and common sense, I'm still worried. This time around I've got rent and loans to worry about. I also worry that I've been too lucky in having a job since I graduated from JMU until I moved. Karma can definitely be a bitch to me.

I don't think that I'm a fan of this quarter in particular. All of my classes are online. At first I was really excited because I thought that meant more free time. No. Instead it means I'm essentially teaching myself these classes. Kinda sucks. And it doesn't help that one of my professors lives on the other side of the state so I can't drop by during office hours. Yet at the same time, I find myself able to do more things, like volunteering for multiple organizations, during the day than I might be able to do normally, knowing that I had to go to class that night. The grass is always greener on the other side.