the interview thing

Moi has interviewed me. She's provided some customized questions just for me to answer. And I took forever to get back to her which means that the point, by now, is somewhere lost in space.

Nonetheless, here it is (thanks Moi!).

1) Was there a particular moment in time when you realized that you were for sure addicted to your sport and, if so, describe that moment.

It might have been after I finished my first triathlon and felt totally high, and then there was this vacuum in my life: Ok, I did a triathlon, now what? And that's when I figured out that I could do another one. It just kept growing from there. We started out real tentative, me and triathlon, but it got good pretty fast.

2) Describe your dream triathlon/race. Where is it? What season? Conditions? And, which three people – living or dead – make the journey with you?

My dream tri is probably doing Ironman Switzerland -- mainly because I loooove Switzerland (but not so much the swiss). I love the alps, I love the chocolate, I love the lakes, it's one of my favourite places in the world next to Colorado (and there's no Ironman in Colorado). I also entertain fantasies of going for a bike ride across italy, one of those 30 to 50 miles a day where the nice people tramp your luggage around for you, and you get to stop in little villas and eat like a pig on pasta. You ride narrow backroads and get passed by Ferraris. You know this fantasy, I'm sure....

Weather and conditions? Warm, no warmer than 70's, no wind, no rain. That's Europe in the spring, baby!

Which 3 people? I feel forced to say spouse and kiddos - but this is no ordinary journey. In this fantasy, they don't get bored waiting for me to do my race. they come with me! Either they go shopping whilst I do an IM, or they bike with me across Italy. In my fantasy there is no whining or complaining, there is only love and cheerfulness.

(that's why it's a fantasy)

In the more realistic version of my fantasy, I take people who actually like to race or ride - like my favourite racing buddies - Margaret, Debi, Dave, Mark. Because in reality, taking my family on a journey like that is more like torture for some of them.

Other dream races include Leadville (because it's Colorado, and because it's crazy hard), and the Venice Marathon. I love Venice - a marathon would just be a cool excuse to go back.

3) If you could wake up tomorrow and be a superhero for a day, who would you be and what would you use your powers to accomplish?

Hm. Superhero is a big word - I'm going to go out on a political limb here- I have to say I've been really disturbed by wars, in general, that are being fought all over the world. Nobody talks much about the collateral damage that happens along with the political non-outcomes: the permanently broken families, the broken men who come home, the maimed and wounded children - and adults. These actions are damaging a generation of people, and anyone who is not involved are generally, accepting of this - perhaps it's a case of it's not happening to me, I don't need to worry. Or maybe I can't do anything about it, so I won't (I tend to fall into that category myself).

Still, I find it disturbing, and too easy to forget how long it will take our country, their countries, all of that to truly heal. Superheros should be super. If I could actually do something about this, I would.

Ergo, my pseudo-superhero is PeaceLady, and she causes world peace. In her very presence, people apologize to each other and get over their stupid selves, drop the anger, drop the resentment, and move on -- with integrity - and want to help everyone be their very best selves. PeaceLady goes and visits the middle east in the morning, thus ending thousands of years of pointless bitching and sniping. She goes to Africa for an afternoon and ends thousands of years of random violence and selfish acts. And she does this by making everyone hold hands and sing Kumbaya.

(I know, Peacelady sounds a whole lot like Oprah)

(Moi is not a fan of Oprah)

4) Describe the last thing your children did that made you cry – with joy.

I think watching my children swim in the pool fills me with that crying joy thing. They love it, and they're so guile-less. Twin A just recently was in her thanksgiving play at school, she was a pilgrim. When she got out there and said her lines I swallowed a tear. She was absurdly adorable in her pilgrim costume, she was entirely a miniature pilgrim. Twin B, however, makes me swallow tears regularly with her ridiculous smartitude. She corrected me with the ages of the Obama Girls without missing a beat, just recently - and she was right.

At six.

My kids are scary smart.

5) You can only buy two things for spring/summer 2009 – an article of clothing and an accessory (jewelry, shoes, or bag). What are they and why?

A really good dress (like this one or this one) and a good pair of shoes -- because I can wear the CRAP out of those, baby! A good dress in a nice cut is chic for like, Evar, and very versatile. I'd also have to find a pair of comfortable heels in a colour that makes me giggle (my current favourite heels are turquoise). I'm really itching for a sassy pair of heels in red, or pink.

Probably pink. But I kinda like these. And these - though the spouse hates the gladiator sandal as a rule (but then, I don't always dress for him).

I love shopping fantasies. Meanwhile, someone please let me know where I can find Herve Leger and Alexander McQueen on sale, K?



If you want, I'll pass on the meme and interview you - leave me a note in the comments and I will send you 5 questions just for you - which you must respond to in your blog.

I know. It sounds like so much fun!

P.S. blogger formatting sucks a$$. Bite me, Blogger.

five things...and snowshoeing

oh good lord.

i've been tagged again.

this is OK, I suppose, since I seem to be going through brief periods of bloggus interruptus, in which I am miserably uninspired. At least, not inspired enough to write on this blog, at this time.

geekgirl tagged me as follows
RULES: list 5 things you're "addicted" to, then bestow the honor on five of your favorite bloggers.

Five "Addictions" - I caveat this by saying they are in no particular order, and I refuse to talk about my crack addiction in a public venue.

1. Training - I hesitate to stick all my addictive love on just running, or just biking, and I'm definitely not fully in love with the swimming since it's my big limiter. I'll just say I'm really hooked on training, my training plan, going out, doing my thing, accomplishing a plan for a day. Totally hooked. It makes me happy!

2. Coffee - It seems obvious that I would like coffee, so I'll just put it out there and admit that me and coffee? we're like this. We are tight. I heart coffee. Good, strong coffee - not that crap that tastes like ground up stir-sticks. I like mine Americano, sometimes straight into the vein. Real dark coffee smells like ashtray to me. Maybe I smoked for that long that I still have the association long after I kicked the smoking, but a really good coffee still smells like an ashtray, and oddly, I don't find it unpleasant.

3. Mountains - I have a healthy respect for mountainous terrain that stems from a bad detour I once took as a teenager, but nothing makes me feel more peaceful and happy than a trip to the mountains. Running in the mountains is just a special gift.

4. Movies - I'm a self-described movie slut, which means I'll see pretty much anything, anytime, anywhere. I'm not picky. Well, OK. I'm not too picky. I'll see chick movies, violent films, film noir, foreign, domestic, arty, indie, thinking films, and a lot of mindless drivel. I just enjoy checking out for two hours.

5. Music - My mother once worried aloud that as a teenager, I was so addicted to music she worried that I'd, er, wear it out? maybe get tired of it? overload? something. I was really into my music thing, and I spent a lot of time plugged into my walkman, which at the time was an issue of concern. While I don't tune out like that now, I do know that most of the time, the right music will only enhance how I'm feeling. It makes a happy thing happier. And, uh, while I'm not super picky on the music thing either, I have no deep love for country or western. I had a friend once tell me that after bearing children my music taste would change and I would learn to love Country and/or Western. That was not true for me.

...tag, you're it!

I'll come back later to write about the Sandia Snowshoe Race, which I did last Saturday.





OK, it's later.

also, it's my blog and I can write whatever I want.

I dragged Mark and Debi along to my annual pilgrimage to the Sandia Snowshoe Race last Saturday. Just like last year, it was my first time in snowshoes for the season. Just like last year, this is my warm-up training for the Quad. And just like last year, it felt unreasonably difficult to do a 5K in snowshoes. This year, the course was covered in thick, broken up layers of icy snow, which felt a bit like snowshoeing on rock in places.

Oh great. More rocks.

This time, however, I paid attention to the suckiness, and I thought briefly, I need to pay attention to this, since I feel seriously out of shape or something because this is just...hard! I was walking where the inclines were runnable - and even walking at a fast pace felt taxing. In snowshoes.

oh yeah, the snowshoes. huh. Do you think that's adding to the difficulty level of this thing?

Halfway through the race, one of the course directors told me that I was about 6th in the women. Until that point, I could have cared less - but suddenly, knowing I was in the single digits, I got invested in the race and looked around to see if there were other women around me.

There weren't.

I was shocked to find that 6th in the women this year earned me 1st in my age group. Oddly, they divided the age groups in a way I wasn't used to, and I fell squarely in the middle of the 35-44 women. Usually that's a pretty competitive group, though I think for snowshoeing, maybe it's not.

When I got back to the computer and downloaded the Garmin data, it all made sense - my heartrate was sky high for the whole race. Average 160 - which is high, considering I finished in 52:54. Yeah - almost an hour for a 5K race. On snowshoes. Maybe it's just harder than I give it credit for.

I think my time's a touch faster than last year, though the conditions were not apples to apples comparable. Last year was more like packed snow, and sunny. This year was foggy - we were running in the clouds.

Mo got 1st in the women, superstud snowshoe runner that she is. Debi did her first snowshoe race and finished not far behind me, and had a great race. Bones got chicked. I thought he did great, and his agegroup was really well represented - he had an outstanding performance for his first time out in shoes, and a great 2nd snowshoe race, with no wardrobe failures.

Mostly, I had a great time out on the mountain with my friends. It really doesn't get better than that. I'm glad I have friends who are willing to accompany me on my crazy mission to do this thing.

Five

And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three.

Five is right out.

[from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, prior to lobbing the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch]

Five is, however, the number of interesting things that I shall post about me today, as tagged by um, three? Not five. But to make it interesting, I'll do 5 things on fives...Hey! That is interesting already - since that would make me the OCD Blogger!

*ahem*

1) Five is the place that I came in for the Jingle Bell run. Fifth in my age group, though I was running with my mother, who came in 2nd in her age group. Well done, mama! OK, maybe that's not interesting - but it is in keeping with the theme.

2) Five is the number of hats I juggle on a daily basis: wife, mother, triathlete, employee, and person - though not necessarily in that order of importance. I have been known to say that many people only get to know one dimension to my personality - I think this is because I am hardly ever standing still long enough to really tell a whole story about myself.

3) Five is the age of my twins - the gorgeous wonders who take up one fifth of my hats - but not less than all of my heart. I think my heart is big enough to share with my people and my husband and my friends. I have yet to be proven wrong.

4) Five is the random phone number I am known to give out. Anytime I am in the company of someone who asks, "what's the number?" I'll usually say, without hesitation, "555-5555." I got that habit from my old boss Matt, about 500 years ago when I worked in the printing industry. It used to crack me up everytime he said it.

5) Five is the time of the morning I have been getting up for the last two weeks to go swim with the fast fishies - Master's Swim. OK, it's just before 5, but still. It's difficult to describe how very weird it is for me to get up that early - it's dark, it's too quiet. But I have been doing it. Me. The night person. And the amazing thing is, I'm still sharp all day after swimming with the masters and working a full day. Weird. I never thought I'd see a day where I'd get up that early on purpose. Except now, after 17 hours of awakeness, my brain is fully discharged, and I must sleep.

Bleah. I tag anybody who wants to be tagged - seems like I'm the last one I know to get this meme...unless Moi has not been taggded, in which case, tagging is solely in her court and she is IT!

Now excuse me while I go find my pillow...

the new kid

We have, in our house, two cats we affectionately call "big puss" and "wee puss." They have other names, but we call them by their convenient, Scottish nicknames (since they came from Scotland). Besides, it's my blog, I'll call them what I want. K?

Big Puss came from the Dog and Cat Home, in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is a pure black "moggie" (as they call them in the UK) - which means she is a mutt. She has the thickest coat of any cat I've ever met. She started out life as a stray, and that's about all I know about her (they were suspicious of giving a cat to an American, but whatever). When she endeared herself to me by headbutting me and purring and kneading the floor at the Dog and Cat Home, I knew we would get along just fine. She went on to win over Beloved in a similar fashion (who'd never had a pet in his life), and we had a happy single-cat home for about a year.

I worried that Big Puss was bored all alone in the flat by herself. And I have a thing for Siamese cats. So I searched out a local breeder. This breeder was an hour away in Stirling, and when we came to visit, I fell in love with the Dam and Sire. Giant bruisers they were - lovely cats with enormous bat ears and long faces and sweet personalities. It was love at first sight, I tell you.

And so we came home with Wee Puss, a chocolate tortie point Siamese.

Wee Puss is a highly strung pedigreed Siamese. As a registered pedigreed animal, I know that she comes from a long line of highly strung Siamese. True to the breed, she is both a delight and a handful. She talks loudly, and she follows me everywhere. She is mama's cat. She sleeps on me, and only me. She will cuss me out from the other side of the house. She vomits often (as female Siamese are prone to do). Beloved can make her complain just by looking at her in the right way. She is bred to be what we call the "furry snake" type Siamese, she is long and skinny with a very narrow face. Because she's bulimic, long legged, unfeasibly skinny, highly stressed, etc., we have been known to refer to her as La Supermodel.

After a long adjustment period, and a move overseas, our two cat family was eventually happy.

Then we had human babies. The furry babies didn't think much of the human babies, but they got over it. Cats are adaptable, but they hate change. Everyone was happy.

Why is she writing about cats? I thought this chick was all about triathlon?

Meet "New Puss." No, he's not a triathlete. He doesn't even come from a triathlon home, though his story is very interesting.

Vegan Run Amok, my bestest best friend from childhood, is involved with an animal rescue group in El Paso. When she called last Monday with a story and a favour to ask (can you keep a cat for a few days?) I didn't know what I was in for. But I'm always willing to help a friend.

She must have known from our early days that I am a sucker.

New Puss was apparently adopted to someone in El Paso over a year ago, but turned up in Albuquerque last week with no real explanation. He was found wandering around a building in town, his tags still on his collar. The Finders phoned the animal rescue group (whose phone number was on the tags), and she phoned me - since I'm here and all.

The Finders were desperate to offload him as soon as they could. This worked out fine for me, since it was a day off training.

(You're lucky, Jen, if I'd had a swim that night, he'd be homeless!)

I asked the Finders why they couldn't keep him. Though I would only be keeping him for a few days, I needed to know - were there behaviour problems that I needed to deal with? Was he an un-neutered male? Did he have health issues?

Well, they said, he's needy. Yes, he's needy. And he kneads all the time. And he needs constant attention. And he winds between your legs.

Gosh, that sounds like a really tough cat.

So they brought him over and I set him up with a temporary home in our bathroom. The finders were happy to see that this was a cat-friendly household, with other cats and kids. I wasn't too concerned, he's only staying for a few days, right?

So I let him out of the box into the bathroom, and immediately discover that he's an extremely mellow creature (well they did warn me that he was a real handful). I pick him up and put him on my lap. He stays, he purrs. Some cats, especially strays, want nothing to do with you, but not this one. He is a lover. He loves attention. And he's clearly a Siamese, I would call him a smoke-point or blue-point. I'd say he's the applehead or traditional variety Siamese - rounder head, british shorthair type body.

We left him in the bathroom to get some quiet time, and went on our evening way. Occasionally I stepped into the bathroom to say hello. I brought the girls in to meet him.

They gave him a name.

Oh stop, he's only staying for a few days. Besides, he's a stray. We don't know what diseases he has.

Beloved goes in to meet him later. His exact words: "this is the mellowest cat ever."

Not you too!

So I ask Vegan if maybe we can take this New Puss on an extended test drive, to see if, you know, he's OK and all (Of course, she says. Take all the time you need).

I take New Puss to the vet and get him tested for FeLV and HIV, expecting the worst. After all, he's been AWOL for over a year, who knows what he's picked up.

Of course, he's fine. He has missing teeth, says the vet. I'm not surprised by this, he had a checkered history with questionable nutrition.

Over the weekend we started allowing the introductions to the Existing Pusses. It's been a fairly low-stress affair, overall. Big Puss and New Puss are two sides of the same coin - possibly their shared history as strays gives them similar personalities (they can be about a foot away from each other now without hissing).

Wee puss is not having any of it (but she is like this anyway; she mostly hides at the best of times, little stressbag that she is).

New puss comes with one problem - and it's a big one: he's a Very Messy Eater. Something about him (the broken teeth? life as a former stray?) makes him a frantic eater - he dives into his dish with his paws, spreading catfood everywhere. I noticed it when we first met - that he digs into his food enthusiastically. And he eats like he is making up for lost time.

In an attempt to help him out, I've taken to giving the cats a separate mealtime in a room with a closed door. And plenty of time to eat what they want.

Tonight I sat with him while he ate and worked on this Food Scattering habit. With the door closed, he was much calmer. He seems to sense that we are benevolent. I gently chided him when he would dig with his paws, and praised him when he ate with his face.

We still have some work to do, but he is already doing much better.

Anybody else out there have a messy cat? It seems we are keeping this guy, but I'd like to not have to clean up cat food every hour. I tried the rubber mat with a lip thing. Left to his own devices, he scatters beyond that.

This is going to take some time.

Sigh.

But he is lovely, isn't he?

taggeded

Geekgirl has tagged me. Me me me.

jobs I've had
bus-girl
food runner
soda jerk
receptionist
word processor
student intern runner person
environmental scientist
environmental consultant
dishwasher

movies I can watch over and over
blade runner
the big lebowski
fight club

my guilty pleasures
licorice
big cherry. have you even had a big cherry? do you know what I'm talking about? ohhhhh....biiiig..cherry....
french fries
biscuits and gravy
long rides followed by naps
french musicals
surfing the interwebs
lolcats

places i have lived
albany, ny
page, az
aztec, nm
albuquerque, nm
aberdeen, scotland
musselburgh, scotland
baku, azerbaijan

tv shows i enjoy
the daily show
man vs. wild
drawn together
mythbusters
rome

places i have been on vacation
california
florida
montreal, canada
new hampshire
vermont
massachusetts
mississippi
new orleans, la
ensenada, mexico
hawaii
las vegas, nv
colorado
new mexico
arizona
ohio
scotland
england
ireland
the nederlands
france
switzerland
italy
germany
the orkneys

favourite foods
game (e.g.: duck, pheasant, elk, venison, etc. I know. I know. I'm so NOT a vegematarian)
club soda and lime
licorice

websites i visit daily
outlawstriathlon.com
various and sundry bloggages (see blogroll for details)
tribe.net
slate.com
macrocats.com

body parts i have injured
arm (broken)
pinky (broken)
ankle (broken)
itb (sometimes pissed off)
hip (occasionally unhappy)
shoulder (occasionally unhappy)

awards i have won
2nd place spelling bee champ - i was young.
piano awards, french horn awards, etc. etc. you get lots of stuff if you stay in band a long time
3rd place, tri raider sprint 2006

nicknames i have been called
gi jane
toker jane
janie-poo
jane-ums
pj
*edit* jrat (thx bon)


(writing it down is not nearly as exciting as having lived it, I assure you.)

i should like to compose my own list of interesting things to tag people with...heh heh...like,

favourite sweary words I can almost use around my children
feck
skelp
jessie
durdburnit
sweet jeebus
mother heifer

nicknames for my children
my people
los pikachus
the hummingbird
the jack russell terriers
agents of chaos (AOC)
warm rock and flopstress
ellarina
ellamalooooooo
sassamaloooooooo
boo/booboo
moo/moomoo
lu / lulu
poo/ no, that's gross
minxie
pipsqueak

scottish terms of endearment
missus woman
petal
hen
pet
boab

cats who vomit on me in the night
you there, furry. yes you. don't you look away.

yes, I could indeed have fun with this.

lessee...

I tag
Moi
vegan run amok
21st century mom
greyhound
mishele

feel free to use any and/or all of the above suggested content placeholders - but these are done to death. I urge you to make your own