One (or One Hundred) Day(s) At a Time

I love the feeling I get when I am anticipating something.  At first I hated admitting that because, reading between the lines I thought it really said "I am always waiting for something better."  But I don't think that's true.  I genuinely enjoy the little shiver of excitement that runs up my spine and makes my shoulders quiver and hearing my voice get an octave higher and my speech adopt a hurried cadence when I talk about all the things I am looking forward to. 

There is no better way to build anticipation than a solid, reliable countdown.  Lately, there has been so much going on, I have had several things to be excited about at once (this is lovely).  I was struggling, however, with knowing how excited I could/should be in general and, in turn, how excited I could/should be about a single event.  So I invented the Master Countdown! It. Is. Awesome.*

2 days until I join Mom on her very first 5K run (which will go fabulous, so stop worrying, Mom)

2 days until Minneapolis Outdoor Farmers Markets open (and I think St. Paul too!) I love farmers markets.  I love the fresh produce, I can't wait to buy big beautiful boquets of flowers for 5 dollars, I long for a delicious cup of coffee and a full bag of potatoes with bits of the earth still clinging to their rounded edges. 

3 days to getting keys to independence my new apartment.

9 days until I move into my new place (and then get to go on a Surly Brewery Tour!)

15 days until the only dentist I will ever like gets her degree.  It has been fun to be a friend and roommate to her while she has worked so diligently at a dream she first had when she was no more than 8 years old.

17 days until my longest time friend finishes her law degree.  This will (hopefully) be a sweet sweet finish to a very arduous but well-fought journey for this girl.  She deserves to be so very proud of herself.

19 days until the Twin Cities American Red Cross Heroes Award.  I love almost everything about the Red Cross: blood donation, disaster relief, lifesaving skills education.  All of it.  Also, getting to work there for 6 months was incredible.  So, anytime I can support them, I will.  All the sweeter that last year my very own dad won the Community Hero award.

22 days until this guy that I am kind of dating head over heels for finishes his law degree. Thankfully this will not be the end of discussions on the CISG.**  Phew!

29 days until I make a willing trip to visit the state of Iowa?! I know...

39 days until my 3rd running of the Buffalo Triathlon.  Year 1 I was panicked/frightened.  Year 2 I was unprepared and overwhelmed in life in general.  Year 3? So ready, baby.

59 days until Mom, Kim, and I see Guys and Dolls at the Ordway for Mother's Day/Kim's birthday.  PS: I think the seats we got are awesome.  And thus the daughter/kid sister that picked them is probably also awesome... just sayin'.

88 days until I officially hit the quarter-century mark.  So far, my 25th year has been challenging/beautiful/busy/expensive.

94 days until a great college friend's wedding to a beautiful young woman.  What I can't figure out is why, if he lives in Medford, Oregon, he is getting married in Dickinson, North Dakota.  It makes no sense to me.

157 days until I die trying to run a marathon.  I am running (?) the 30th annual Twin Cities Marathon.  You should come cheer me on.  I would plan on cheering someplace between the Start and Mile 10... I don't know if I will make it any further than that.


*And of course, it is outdated by tomorrow. 
**Convention of International Sale of Goods.  Or maybe the Convention on the Contracts of International Sale of Goods? Well, no... that would be the CCISG or the hipper C2ISG (or even 2CISG).

By the Numbers: Completing My Masters Degree

6: percent of the US population with a Masters Degree.

0.00000000322: percent of the US population that is me.

19: Years I have spent in formal school.

19: Years I have spent in public schools (woo!).

6: Years I have spent in higher education.

12: Number of times I have moved residences in 6 years of higher ed. This number makes me terribly excited to plant some honest roots in the near future.  Transient living is for the birds.

2: Years spent in graduate school. 

54: Credits completed in graduate school.

4,652: Number of complete and total meltdowns in graduate school-- complete with wailing, uncontrollable tears, hyperventilation, assuming the fetal position, throwing of papers and/or flash drives, red-wine self-medication, and desperate phone calls to my mother.  

9: Number of months spent securing IRB approvals, analyzing data, writing, graphing, editing, re-writing, re-graphing, emailing, revising, and presenting my Masters project.

43: Pages in my final project.

38: Slides in my defense presentation.

45: Minutes in my defense presentation.

5: Minutes spent by my committee 'deliberating.'

0: Number of revisions to make to my project before final submission to the School of Public Health.

17: Number of people I mass-texted this message to on Tuesday, October 19, 2010: PASSED.

0: Experiences like finally earning your Masters of Public Health. 

I definitely put the MPH in triumph this time.

By The Numbers, Worst Blogger Ever Edition

Um, I have no excuses for the way in which I have dropped off the face of the blogging planet.  I bet all my old followers are gone; even my parents.  Awesome.  Well, I will catch you up on the last month with everyone's favorite format: By the Numbers!

2: The number of triathlons I have now completed in my lifetime.  #3 (hopefully) happens Aug. 1, 2010 in Duluth, MN.

8: The number of ladies that traveled to the City of Lakes for a fabulous bachelorette party for a very dear college friend*. 

543:  The miles driven (round trip) to be in said college friend's beautiful  wedding.  It is truly a wonderful blessing and honor to be invited to be a member of anyone's wedding party and celebrate their love.  Plus, a free dance party in a fancy dress is ALWAYS on this mugwump's agenda. 

2,763: The number of words cut from my Masters Project to make it a manuscript.  Publishing? Maybe.  Maybe not. But it's a good experience nonetheless. 

10(ish): The number of weeks I have been in my internship at the City of Minneapolis.  Also, the number of weeks I have LOVED my job at the City of Minneapolis.

7:1: The odds I will place a $2 bet on a losing horse at the races. 

19: The number of days left on our lease in Uptown.  The move is bittersweet.  Excited to be moving in with my sister and brother-in-law, but terribly heartbroken to leave the fabulous women I have been living with for the last 14 months.  Although, as one roommate put it, a physical move at this point in our lives is simply a tangible manifestation of the real moves we are all making: moving towards careers and independence.  Forward motion is always positive, even if it occasionally results in the physical departure from things and people we have held very dear. 

1: The number of golden birthdays we each get. 

12: The number of days until my one and only golden birthday.

Bajillion: The amount of fun (on a scale of 1-10) I plan on having that day.**

* So weird to call people "college friends," as if I were really that far from the time I spent in college. 
** Good, clean, safe fun. 

Ragnar: By the Numbers

This past Friday/Saturday I ran as a member of the Made in the 80's relay team for the Ragnar Great River Relay. What a rush! I can't even really describe how amazing it was in type, so if you want to hear the stories you may just have to call and/or take me out for a drink sometime and I can tell you about men in pink spandex, car alarms, hills, Ragnar 911, sunset and sunrise running, and some of the tiny towns we were in. But, as an overview at least, I present with with Ragnar Great River Relay, By the Numbers, 2009. Enjoy!

12: Number of people on my team.

1: Of my teammates that was male (Thanks, Steve!).

195: Miles to run between Winona, MN, and Minneapolis, MN following the river on the Wisconsin side and crossing over into Stillwater.

33: Hours to complete the race.

2: Hours of uninterrupted sleep I got in those 33 hours.

13.9: My total mileage for the weekend.

4: Loaves of bread Van 2 (my van) consumed.

3: Pairs of socks I muddied and bloodied.

There isn't a whole lot more to say, or maybe I am still just too tired to say it. Plus, it's kind of complicated and confusing I guess. Perhaps, later I will post a "frequently asked questions" entry about it. But I think I need to nap again. Oy, the muscles, they are hurtin'.

By The Numbers: Uptown Saturday Night Style

The modern mugwump rarely has it in her to "do the town" two nights in a weekend. Last night I celebrated the Minneapolis Pride Weekend by attending the Bryant Lake Bowl burlesque show, "Dykes Do Drag."* Thus, tonight lends itself to drinking things that are 100% water by volume and enjoying the sun porch since it is FINALLY cool enough to do so.

The sun porch may be one of my absolute favorite things about our apartment, and that is a hard choice because this place is super cute. I (along with 2 less Mugwump, but equally modern roommates) live about 5 or 6 blocks from Hennepin and Lake, a very "lively" part of Minneapolis, particularly on the weekend. This makes our neighborhood also a pretty lively place on those evenings, and living right on the corner of a semi-busy road, we get a lot of interesting traffic here. Thus, tonight's "By the Numbers" is brought to you by a summer night in Uptown.

30: The feet you are supposed to be parked from the fire hydrant across the street.

6: The number of cars that attempted to park in that space before realizing the GIANT RED SCULPTURE in my neighbors yard is, indeed, a fire hydrant. Sorry.

12: The approximate number of feet the Mini Cooper is parked from the fire hydrant.

35: The cost of a Minneapolis in-city parking ticket. Just saying.

15 (give or take): The approximate number of drunken frat boys in the yard across the street.

7: The approximate number of sort of slutty girls in the same yard. This ratio has led the evening to be filled with machismo and some sort of awkward mating dance I would like to call "If I act like a total ass, maybe she will fall in love with me. Or at least take me home." Kind of gross.

5: The number of party buses that have driven past the corner.

6: The number of lost girls in the group in which I overheard "Well, Jesus, Kelly! I don't actually know how to get to Uptown." Um, you're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy. You're in Uptown. Welcome, you just brought the average IQ in my neighborhood down 10 points, which was probably difficult to do given the frat boy to sort-of-slut ratio discussed earlier.

23: The number of times a guy across the street said "Yo, Dog!" or "No way, Dog!" I thought for sure Simon Cowell was there too, seeing as this had to be some lost episode of Uptown Idol.

8: The number of people walking their dogs, seeming so calmly out of place for a Saturday night.

2: The number of cars that attempted to turn the wrong way down our one-way street. Whoopsies.

1: Person didn't know Michael Jackson has died. I felt like Charlie from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory and I had found the golden ticket, as I am fairly certain this might be the only person on the planet that did not already know this news. The "WHAT?! So, what, did his face finally fall off or what?" comment, however, was priceless and appreciated from the second floor apartment. Thank you.

3: The number of limos that drove by. Classy.

1: The number of stretch Hummers that drove by. Not classy, with a Sasquatch-sized carbon footprint, lordy.

4: The number of times I saw someone run the stop sign.

3: Number of times some creepy guy blaring old time jazz has driven by.

Absolute 0: The number of parking spots available on this block. Or the next one. Or the one after that.

1: Number of modern mugwumps enjoying a bowl of fruit whilst doing a little bit of homework and a little bit of art on a beautifully breezy Saturday night from the second floor sun porch, watching the world stroll on by, ready to cuddle up in the City of Lakes. Lovely, simply lovely.



* I wanted to blog about Pride Weekend and equal rights, but decided it was too political of a topic for here. Obviously, I attended a Pride Weekend event, so you can probably guess where I stand on the political spectrum on this one, but my opinions are just too strong on this issue to discuss it in-depth here. All in all, I was happy to be able to do something to show my support for the gay community.

Today's Episode Brought to You by the Number 16

I really hate doing the marathon updates like I did last time where you get stuck reading a narrative about what I find fascinating in my own life, even though I know it isn't actually fascinating. So, today I thought I would try a "By The Numbers." I was first introduced to the idea by the Star Tribune, who summarizes some of their biggest stories with a By The Numbers on the front page of the paper.

Six. The number of Mexican-themed meals I have consumed in the last seven days.

Nine. The number of hours worked at "The 'Bou."

Twenty-seven. The number of laps I swam Wednesday morning.

Five. The number of loads of laundry that still need to be completed tonight. Yikes.

Five and a half. The average number of hours of sleep per night this week. Thanks a lot, Midterms. . .

Three. The estimated number of POTS of coffee (10 cups per pot) I consumed this week. This may explain the previous entry.

Twenty-eight. The length of time (in minutes) that it is supposed to take an 'express' load of laundry to wash.

Forty-two. The actual length of time (in minutes) of an 'express' load. (There is nothing express about being tardy, Maytag, nothing.)

Six hundred, twenty-three. The number of times I thought about chocolate cake this week. I assure you, this is not exaggerated.

Six. The number of classes attended this week.

Four. Number of classes enjoyed this week.

One. Number of days until I leave for California.

Eight. The current setting on the electric blanket.

Seventeen. The number of minutes that could have gone to something productive (like 5 loads of laundry) that instead went to this update.