Calling for volunteers

Not for a trip to hell as the cartoon might imply but rather to "hot" yoga. This Christmas Ian gave me a gift of 15 sessions at my favorite yoga studio and I am looking for volunteers to go with me in the first month or two until I get back into the routine of going.

I love yoga and I am really looking forward to getting back to it but right now I am pretty out of shape and I fear that I will get lazy and stop going. I am planning on going three times per week and ideally, I would be looking at either a Tuesday or Thursday night (7pm - 8:30pm) and then on Saturday and Sunday mornings (either the 8am or the 10am classes). In return for going with me, I would treat you to a beverage afterwards and the beautiful thing is that there are a ton of great bars and restaurants right by the yoga studio. Right across the parking lot is the Egg & I restaurant - great for brunch on the weekends, and within a block is the Herkimer, the VFW, and the BLB.

And trust me, you'll be thirsty afterwards. This is Bikram Yoga so it is 90 minutes of hard work in a room set at 105 degrees and 60+% humidity.

You can find more information at the website: http://www.bikramyogamn.com/

Purple

I have no photo but let me just assure you that what was just a pink/red bruise on Sunday is a lovely purple and yellow today. Very attractive.

Happily it doesn't hurt too much anymore so for all of you who worried that I might have broken a rib, it seems that wasn't the case.

Ow.

So this piece of 2x4 flew off of this table saw and hit me in the ribs. If you have never had a 2x4 hit you, let me just tell you...it hurts like bloody hell...and it is really scary.

I didn't want to expose any more of myself but here is half of the bruise--the rest angles up. Ouch, that is all I have to say.

I was working on my laundry room storage project and was cutting lumber for that and I think I was getting tired and careless. I decided the gods were trying to tell me that maybe I had done enough on the basement for a day. Here's my thing though, while the board only hit me in the ribs, my entire torso hurts and I've been exhausted ever since. I think maybe I tensed up at being struck and then crashed after the initial adrenalin rush.

I am lucky that it hit me flat rather than with the pointy end.

Happy Birthday to Me!

With the exception of the missing parking card, it's been a good day so far!

Margaret was the first person to call and sing happy birthday to me, then the Chad-Tara-Noah-Ellie-Caleb clan called with a rousing rendition, then Ken and Mary Jo...I'm still waiting on Greg but the day is young.

Ian was the perfect husband--made coffee and breakfast and brought it up to me as I was getting ready, tidied up the house, assisted in Schnuffy's drug regimen, and then went out and cleaned the egg mess off my car (I forgot to mention that the wretched houligans had also egged my car). He's so sweet!

AAAarrghh!

For the love of God! They broke into my car again...and Ian's...and again, I have to admit that to call it breaking in is a bit overly dramatic because it appears I left both cars unlocked (what can I say, I am slow and I did not learn my lesson the last time).

So I noticed it yesterday morning as I was leaving for work and I was pretty annoyed. I drove Ian's car yesterday and realized that they took the Garmin which really annoyed me (they didn't take the Garmin charger which is probably going to annoy somebody - ha!), and then as I drove my car to work this morning it dawned on my that they took the little card I need to get into my parking garage at work.

I just don't get these guys...last time they took the owner's manual for my car and I still cannot figure out why they would have any interest in that. This time they take my parking card...what, do the little hoodlums go to school at the U and want to park in the 19th Avenue Ramp?

The police came to the house last night to fill out a report and it was a little embarrassing to admit that I didn't really know when the "break in" happened. Ian was out of town for the entire holiday weekend and I hadn't left the house from Thursday at about 6:30am until Monday morning when I left for work. They probably were thinking that I was some crazy hermit lady.

While we were talking with the police, one of our neighbors walked by and asked if we were missing some CDs, because he had noticed a pile of them on the corner across the street. Sure enough, they were ours. So it seems that the little thugs stole our CDs but then upon closer inspection decided that our taste in music was so bad that they would just ditch them. Nice.

Last Night Ian & I Became Collateral Damage in an Epic Struggle Between the Icelanders and the Marines

The two groups were determined to demonstrate their supremacy in joy, celebration and hospitality at the wedding and reception for Erla Osk Petursdottir and Andrew Wissler, and we only barely survived the event.

Crimininy!! I hadn't realized that either of us had that much to drink but when they shut down the dance floor at 1:15am, it dawned on us that perhaps we had over imbibed. Of course, the moment I stepped on the dance floor should have, in itself, been proof that I had gone beyond my usual limit since only drunkenness would overcome my usual shyness of dancing in front of people. Still, we failed to heed this infallible sign and we proceeded to dance (and drink) for the next 2-3 hours.

At 1:15am, we decided--or rather, I decided, since Mr Barker was in worse shape than I, that we would secure a room and stay downtown. Next thing we know, it's 10:00am and we are going to be hardpressed to make it to Meredith's 21-Birthday-Brunch. The drive home was nearly my undoing as my stomach lurched and head threatened to explode with every seam of the concrete on the highway.

After a quick call to Chad to explain our sorry situation, I crawled in bed and didn't get up until a few of our fellow revelers rang the doorbell at about 1:30pm and after a brief chat and giving them keys to the car so they could retrieve their things which they had left there the afternoon before, I crawled back in bed until about 4pm. While I feel better now, things are not what I would call "good".

Let this be a cautionary tale to Meredith on her 21st Birthday! Be careful how much you drink at weddings between Icelanders and Marines!

It was a fantastic wedding, though. The bride was beautiful, the groom handsome, the families so welcoming, and good friends were everywhere! It was wonderful.

The Nobel Peace Prize is a Joke

Enough said.

Half a pack of cinnamon Dentyne, a handful of change, the owner's manual for a Dodge Caliber, and a 6-yr old iPod Shuffle that barely works...

My car was broken into today, although to be honest "broken into" is not the correct phrase since I probably left the car unlocked, as I am want to do. Bottom line...my car was messed with last night/this morning. I went out to my car this morning to leave for work and there were three CDs on the ground outside my car--which I thought was odd--and when I got in the car, there was stuff strewn about.

I'm thinking it was probably just kids but seriously, even if they are not honest-to-goodness criminals, my car must be a complete disappointment. The above-noted items, the ones missing from my car, are probably the items of greatest value. Although, I admit that I am a bit confused by their taking the owner's manual. It was in a little case, but it's not like it was a special little case, it was the one that came with the car.

They will probably be very disappointed in the iPod. It was the first version of the Shuffle and since I tuck it into the waistband of my running shorts, I think perhaps it has been exposed to a bit too much sweat over the years, and it regularly goes on the fritz and deletes all but one and a half songs--and almost invariably it is my least favorite one and a half songs.

Oh well. Maybe this will teach me to lock my car in the future.

Are You Ready For Some Football!

The new TCF Stadium at the University of Minnesota is open for business.


Yesterday, we had a staff appreciation day/stadium open house and we all got to crawl around the place. It really is pretty cool and seeing it does make me want to go to a game even though I don't think I have ever been to a Gopher football game before--not as a student and not since.

I feel particularly bonded to the team this year because one of my favorite students, Nick Stommes, is on the team and I was excited to see his official locker.

A Week of Doing Nothing

Ian and I are sitting here in the Wilmington, NC airport heading home from our very relaxing week on Topsail Island where we did just about nothing.

We met up with a bunch of Macalester alums to hang out at a rented beachhouse on Topsail Island---there were about 13-14 of us at any given time although people came and went throughout the week depending upon their work/vacation schedules.

The most stressful decision to be made on any given day was which swimsuit to wear and if we would hang out on the deck overlooking the beach, sit down on the beach and read, or get in the beautifully warm and clear water. We had a game involving tossing golfballs attached to a rope, onto a rack where each rung had different points. I was very bad at it--as I am bad at most things that involve tossing/throwing with any degree of accuracy. Ian, on the other hand, was quite good at it.

What I did turn out to be good at was boogie-boarding(sp?). By the last day I finally got the hang of it and was able to catch waves to ride all the way into shore, and it was fantastic! Too bad I couldn't have figured it out earlier.

We had a great time. It was an interesting mix of personalities and they were all great company. I had never taken a vacation where I didn't feel the need to do anything and, while I don't feel a need to do it often, it was definitely relaxing. At the beginning of the week, we were thinking that we would probably borrow one of the cars and take a little day trip to explore the Outer Banks to our north but the week just sort of flowed by and we never really felt motivated enough to bother.

I must say that 13-14 people--at least half of them being young men in their mid-20s eat a lot! It seems that everyday someone would go to the grocery store to stock up on massive amounts of groceries and within 24 hours we would be down to just about nothing. One day Ian and I decided to cook for the group and we chose spaghetti and meatballs because we figured that would be about the easiest but still it is a lot of work to feed that many.

From here we fly to Atlanta, then Chicago where we pick up Ian's car, which is there because he had been working in Rockford, IL for the 2 weeks prior to our trip, and then we drive to Minneapolis and we should get in at about midnight. Poor Ian hasn't been home since July 7th and that was only for a couple days since just before that we were in Montana.

Caleb Turns 4

For his fourth birthday, Caleb, my ultra-cute, cultra-cool nephew, decided he wanted to go to a Twins game so the family converged on the Metrodome on Friday. In attendance were Margaret and Meredith, Greg, Me, and then Chad, Tara, Noah, Ellie, and the birthday boy Caleb.

Seriously, it is ridiculous how cute this kid is. And not only that, he has the sweetest personality! All three of the kids are cute and they draw a lot of attention because they are cute, incredibly well behaved, and funny, but Caleb is special. I was watching the strangers around us watching him and they were all sort of smiling and mesmerized. I don't know what it is about him but nobody seems to be immune. Caleb is a big Joe Mauer fan and everytime Joey was at bat or got a hit, Caleb would raise his arms and do this gesture...what is that called? I don't know...



We had a lot of fun. The Twins won. The kids were in a great mood and very entertaining and the adults all behaved themselves. Ken and Mary Jo missed the festivities since they were on their big Alaskan adventure...or supposedly they were on their big Alaskan adventure. As it turns out, they only made it to Regina Canada before a number of small events convinced them to head back and reschedule the Alaska trip for another time.















Why is it that hotdogs taste so much better at a baseball game? Dome dog and beer...does it get any better than that?

Very Funny!

I don't remember what was so terribly funny, but clearly something was. Margaret, Ian, and I went kayaking on the St. Croix yesterday afternoon and it was a beautiful day for it. The water was a little low but we only got caught up on the rocks once and other than that it was pretty decent.

I wish I could remember what was so funny...


We saw a couple eagles--or maybe the same one over and over--during the afternoon. There were also a ton of turtles out sunning themselves, and Ian and Margaret saw a couple deer.

And here are a couple photos from our drive home from Montana. We stopped at the Theodore Roosevelt National Something-or-Another in North Dakota for a little break and it was beautiful. I love the Badlands. I think this is the greenest I have ever seen them.

Smith River, Montana - 2009!

We have just returned from our second annual float down the Smith River in Montana. I must admit that I was a little concerned that it would not be as fun this year as it was last year. You know how it is when you try something new for the first time and it is fantastic and then you try to repeat it but the next time around if falls flat...well, this was not like that. The Smith River was just as fantastic the second year as the first and a great time was had by all!

While the core of the group was the same--Tom and Devin, Ray and Jake, Doug, and Ozzie, we had some new faces this year and a slightly bigger group than last year. In the front row, starting with the guy sitting on the red raft, its: Ray, Jake, Ryan Palmer, Devin Palmer, Me. In the back, it's: Doug Bermingham, Ian, Tom Palmer, Mike Samuelson, Robert Samuelson, Danny.

We stopped at a different campsite each night and they were very basic sites--a firepit, clearings for tents, and then off in the distance, a latrine. The latrines tended to be away from the group and out-of-sight from the site but very exposed and just a toilet over a pit. They were pretty gross but the nice thing was that they were often in very picturesque locations. The photo above is the path to the latrine which is just around the corner to the right.
Here is the eagle that kept an eagle-eye on us while we ate one evening. We saw a couple eagles throughout the five days.
Ian, kayaking in our rented, inflatable kayak. They worked pretty well but since it was open and designed more like a canoe, you couldn't get any leverage from your feet or knees so you had to rely on upper body strength for everything. Plus it was a self-bailer so poor Mr. Barker was sitting in about an inch of water the entire time.

I used the smaller Dragonfly inflatable kayak which was designed much more like a standard kayak and nice and dry inside (until I nearly capsized it when I wasn't paying proper attention).

There are a lot worse ways one could spend 5 days...here I am lounging on the raft, re-reading my Sookie Stakehouse book, and soaking up the 80 degree, sunny weather.

Buuuurrrrp. Buuuurrrp.

I do very slow, rather pathetic burpees. At this rate, when I get to Day 75 and have to do 75 burpees, I'll have to start at the crack of dawn if I hope to finish by bedtime.

Of course, I did just do them in a skirt which makes it a bit tricker.

Endless Rain and Dreariness

As you all know, I have a certain fascination with The Plague/The Great Mortality/The Pestilence/Call-it-What-You-Will, and this seemingly endless run of bad weather (four days?) reminds me of the reports of bad weather surrounding the first outbreak of the plague in England in 1348.

For centuries, England had enjoyed quite mild weather. The climate was warm and bright enough to allow for vineyards and the country was able to support a wide variety of crops. Living was relatively easy and the population grew. Then the temperatures started to drop--an average of only a degree or so but enough to shorten the growing season and dramatically alter the success and bounty of the crops. 1346 and 1347 proved to be particularly cold and wet but nothing compared to 1348.

In the summer of 1348 it started to rain on Midsummers Day, approximately June 24th, and then it proceeded to rain everyday until Christmas. Interestingly, the first case of the plague in England was reported on June 25th--which, in such a superstitious time must have caused a great deal of speculation regarding its significance; however, I don't recall ever reading anything about that specifically. It was a pretty grim year for poor old England.

I am not suggesting that four days of Minnesota grey skies compares to six months of rain, disease, famine and misery, but I am mighty tired of the chilly dreariness.

Burp...

Today is Day One of the burpee challenge at work. I did my one burpee, although is wasn't very graceful.

This is NOT what I looked like....merely what I am aspiring to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M

I am beginning to regret my role as Russell Protector

That stupid bunny seems to have a death wish. Schnuffy only spends 30 minutes outside a day--wouldn't you think Russell could go hide someplace during that time? Nooooo....Russell likes to frolic right in the middle of the yard. Russell, like Hazel, is going to be pushing daisies if he doesn't wise up soon.

Speaking of daisies...I have a veritable forest of daisies in the backyard and they are lovely!

Russell-The-Rabbit is Alive!

I hadn't seen Russell for days and I was afraid that Schnuffy or some other form of evil had found him but he was out last night hopping around and eating my flowers. Schnuffy did try to attack him but I was able to intervene, and Schnuffy was once again incarcerated in the laundry room.

Mighty Marathoners

Yesterday, Meredith and Margaret ran the Minneapolis marathon in under 5 hours--congratulations!

My contribution to this was that I was at their house at 5:50am to give them a ride to the starting line downtown. While they spent the next 5 hours running around Minneapolis, I went to the bakery, the grocery store, the coffee shop, had breakfast in the garden, went to Target, went to Greg's new place to hang curtains, came home and cut back my massive lilac bush since the blossoms are gone now, took a little nap in the yard, took a shower, buried Hazel, and enjoyed a nice visit from Kiwi.

Greg's place is looking really nice! We have to hem a couple of the drape panels and steam out the wrinkles, and hang a few things on the walls but it's taking shape and looking pretty impressive.

Mr. Barker's been in Alaska since Wednesday and it is awfully quiet with him away. He returns on Friday and I can hardly wait!

The Face of Evil

How can one tiny little cat be so demented?