Love Doves

It's sunset on the 2700 block of Fremont Avenue in Minneapolis.  After a long day of doing whatever birds do in the dead of winter, these two love doves (well, love pigeons) come back to our neighbor's gutter every night.  They sit wing to wing in this little alcove, protected from the wind, and gaze southwest at the setting sun.  We see them there nearly every night, and occasionally I am even up early enough to brew coffee in their loving presence.  

I adore them.  I really do.

The Post in Which She Last Complains About Feeling Fat and Out of Shape

I promise, after this I will not make you wade through my meaningless complaints of feeling chubby, rotund, fat, out-of-shape, blubbery, lard-like, or any of the other ways I describe my post-semester-from-hell body.  This is the last of it-- from now on, only positives.

See this picture?  There are many worthwhile things of note going on here.

1. I was in the midst of Ragnar, the most phenomenal display of athletic stupidity I have yet to embrace. 
2. I am about to start a sunset run and, as all good emergency preparedness guru wannabes, I am fully prepared with a reflective vest, headlamp, and what you can't see is the blinking red light that could pass for a radioactive bunny tail affixed to my little bunny butt.  
3. I am also fully prepared with my RoadID (the yellow wristband).  I would highly highly recommend one of these for all athletes, bike commuters, or outdoor enthusiasts.  After a very very close call with a car on a busy Minneapolis street during a midday run last year, in which I was not carrying identification and had not informed anyone of my whereabouts, I do not ever run without one.  Today I joined the YWCA and have actually chosen to wear it there as well.  The beauty of the "interactive" model is that responders can call a number on my ID and enter my specific code and get important information about my age, any medical conditions, where I prefer to be treated, etc.  It takes some of the guess work out of that critical hour if a serious injury were to occur (knock on wood).  
4. Those shades are simultaneously ridiculous and awesome.  Ridicusome, if you will.
5. Most importantly however, notice the toned, tanned legs and arms.  The less than bulgy tummy is under that sweet vest, but trust me, it's there.  I want that back!  No double chin, no armpit pudge rolling over my bra bands*, no feeling like this: 

And so I joined the YWCA, got an awesome student rate and committed myself to a healthier, toned, more athletic second half of winter.  Became one with the treadmill, despite a serious love-hate relationship, and sweated out the last 5 months of unhealthy stress and poor eating.  There are only nineteen weeks until the Buffalo Triathlon, and I vowed to do better this year than last year (even though I am SO PROUD of my performance last year) and right now, I don't think I could survive 2 hours straight of cardiovascular activity.  

No more Marshmallow Me.  Eat my dust, Michelin Man.

*I bet this is much more personal information about my anatomy than you thought.  Ha! I love surprising you guys. 

Please Don't Misuse the Word "Looting"

I do not usually sound off on current events here because I assume my readers are as globally, politically, and socially aware as they want to be. Clearly, at the very least you all have access to the internet and could easily spend days sifting through news sources if you so choose.  So typically, I let you do just that and leave this space for the things you cannot find elsewhere in cyberspace, like my breakfast menu.  However, given the recent coverage of the devastating aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, an issue has arisen that I just cannot shake.

Please do not misuse the word "looting" and please consider news reports that use that word with a grain of salt.


Loot (verb): 1a. the plunder or sack in a war, b. to rob especially on a large scale and usually by violence or corruption; 2. to seize and carry away by force especially in war


Entering an abandoned store in search of basic provisions, such as food or medical supplies, is not looting.  Finding personal or household items that seem to have no owner and using them for yourself and your family when there is absolutely nothing standing around you is not looting.  Displays of fear and emotion while waiting in line to receive limited aid supplies is not looting.

News reports recently stated that there was 'widespread looting of rice.'  Even if these individuals were prepared to pay for the rice (which will be likely cooked in extremely contaminated water and provide substandard nutrition), what are they supposed to do?  Form a line and wait for the cashier to return to a store with no walls, no door?  Leave money on the counter?  Perhaps write the owner an I.O.U. to find amidst the rubble of an absolutely destroyed livelihood?

Looting, in times of disaster, refers to the violent seizure of items that are not basic provisions of survival.  In the United States, we saw this after Hurricane Katrina, in which electronic goods were stolen at an alarming rate from damaged and abandoned department stores.  This certainly is occurring in Haiti as well, I am not meaning to say that all reports of looting are incorrect.  However, using the word to describe individuals who are feeding and clothing their families, seeking supplies to build temporary shelters, or utilizing whatever is available to provide medical care is not the plundering of goods that the term "looting" implies.

I am making a very real request that you use the word very carefully in the discussions you will likely have about Haiti in the coming weeks.  Asking network news to change their reporting practices would be foolish-- I understand my own sphere of influence.  So again, please be aware of the use of the word looting, and if you have the courage, please speak up to others who use the term incorrectly.  The Haitians are in the midst of a level of Hell most of us will never realize and the last thing they deserve is to be criminalized and demonized by an external community of people who, for the most part, have never had to fight so hard to live.

9.4% of US Adults Hold a Masters Degree

You know why the percentage of US adults holding a Masters degree is so low?  It's a rough life.  Super rough, in fact.  Just listen to the morning I had, on the first day of classes for the semester no less.  

8:00 am: Alarm goes off.  Snooze.

8:05 am: Ditto.

8:10 am: Ditto.

8:15 am: Ditto.

8:17 am: Roll out of bed, check email.  Nothing important.  Lay back in bed.

8:40 am: Decide to make breakfast.  And not a wimpy Wheaties breakfast, either.  On the menu: fried eggs, toast, fresh mango and freshly brewed Guatemalan Peace Coffee.

8:58 am: Say "Good Morning" to Matt, Meredith, Al, and Ann at the Today Show and watch shamelessly, enjoying perfectly cooked eggs.  The mango is especially sweet today.  Mmmm!

9:30 am: Take longest, hottest shower known to man.  Scrub behind ears-- it is the first day, after all.

9:55 am: Check class schedule, print final document for class.

9:58- present am: Surf Facebook, update Google Calendar, blog, read NY Times online and curse them for entertaining the thought of charging online readers a subscription fee, watch a viral video sent via Facebook Chat, sip coffee, check bus schedule, think about getting dressed.

It's probably fair to say that only 9.4% of us can truly handle mornings like this.  I mean, it's not for everyone.

Disclaimer:  I am very well aware that this is about to change.  You could leave rude comments about how I am a selfish, unaware young adult and don't know what it really means to work.  Which may not be wholly false, but then I expect I will see you at 4 am finishing papers and cramming for exams.  Let me have my day, please.  It has been such a beautiful morning and at 10:39 am, I love that I am still not wearing any pants.  

Anatomy of a Lake Run: Winter Edition

In the summer, I had this awesome thing called a "part-time job" which pretty much left me with a "full-time do whatever you want."  Living in the City of Lakes and less than a half mile from beautiful Lake of the Isles, I took full advantage of my time and spent a lot of it running in circles, soaking up the sun's warm and tanning rays, loving every pound of my foot against the paved trails.  In the early spring I used to think it was absolutely brutal to take 2 full weeks off from running and this summer it became so much a part of my routine that taking two days off had me feeling out of shape and all wound up.  Stretches of rain that lasted more than 72 hours put me into a tailspin and wishing to run laps around the living room or up and down the stairs.  Not only did I need running for my physical health, I needed it for my mental health.  I tend to crave a good run at emotional extremes (I think I have discussed this before), because I get a lot of energy from my emotions, whether they are positive or negative.  Terribly excited? Go for a run.  Super pissed off? Go for a run.  It's how I deal, and it works well for me.

Insert two months off from running from brutally cold temperatures and a total bulldozer of a semester.  In this time I certainly experienced a lapse in ideal physical health* and had my moments in which even I thought my own mental health was reaching a breaking point.  A run or two (or 25) would probably have been really positive, but it was cold and I kept feeling like I could not possibly find an hour in my day to dedicate to physical activity without it negatively impacting another sphere of life.

Today was the big day in which I made my official return to regular running.

I WILL NEVER TAKE TWO MONTHS OFF EVER AGAIN.


Never.  Never never never again.

Unlike the last Anatomy of a Lake Run post, I don't need to go through this one minute by minute, since my thoughts were pretty much a constant loop of:

"Whew, this isn't so bad.  I'm a runner, I'm a runner, I am a runner!"
"Okay, I am just going to run to the end of this song, then take a little break.  I just got back to this after all."
"When the %#@! does this song end?!"
"Everything hurts.  Everything hurts.  Everything hurts."
"I am not a runner.  I don't want to be a runner.  This $#!% sucks. Who does this? I hate this."

I remixed** 2.6 miles, and I refuse to share my time with you.  I refuse to share it with myself.  In fact, I already forgot it.  So there.  Let's just say, I deserve to be stripped of my title of "athlete" in any sense of the word.  Bru-tal.

Every story has a silver lining:  My custom shoes look absolutely stunning against the snowy backdrop of the lake and the new running shirt and jacket from Mom and Dad made me the best dressed runner/remixer/round-is-a-shaper out there today.  So, you know, yay for looking good even when you feel crummy.

*This lapse in physical health may or may not have been exacerbated by my stellar semester one eating habits in which I occasionally made a meal out of a bag of Doritos, had no problem eating half a bag of Tootsie Rolls during one paper writing session, and frequently drank my weight in coffee.

**Remix (verb): to not entire run, but not entirely walk a workout route.  Used often by Mugwumps because it sounds cooler, admittedly even a little more badass, than saying "I was wheezing so severely and my legs were so cramped up I could not completely finish a lame and unimpressive 2.6 mile run and had to stop and walk-- on more than one occasion."

This is a Nutshell. Inside are Some Details About Winter Break.

This is a series of lists about winter break.  It is in list format for the following reasons:

• I was wide awake when I decided to blog and by the time I picked a topic I was exhausted.  It's 2 am.  Complete sentences are unlikely, and those that do slide through will undoubtedly include poor grammar, spelling, or the use of vocabulary that I don't really understand.  
• It's a nutshell, it's not supposed to be long.
• I like to list stuff.  It looks neat and orderly.  And I like that too.

Why Winter Break 2009/2010 was Unique:

• It is my very last Winter Break as a student ever.  Whoa.
• It started on December 23, which is all too close to Christmas.  This year, that meant that 80% of the gifts I purchased came from a single store, were purchased less than 2 hours from the time I turned in my last assignment, and were successful despite being poorly thought out.  Thanks for understanding, family!
• It included homework.  A lot of it. 
• As opposed to most breaks of the past, which started to feel long and drawn out, this one is almost over and I could still use one more week to recover from last semester.  
• My social calendar was the perfect balanced of booked/please don't make me put on real pants today.  Usually I feel like break is either too hectic trying to fit everyone in to your free time for lunches, brunches, and happy hours (oh my) or feels like the rest of the planet forgot you.  This year, there was a perfect ratio of social events, get-togethers and what-nots to the days in which I did not shower, get dressed, leave my home or eat a balanced meal.  

Despite being a little different than the Winter Breaks of years past, it was still pretty awesome to have 27 days of limited responsibility.  In those 27 days I did the following:

• Ate myself silly on such delicious food items as cheesy potatoes, egg nog, and frosted sugar cookies.
• Christmas Eve at my Grandma's with a large gathering of extended family.
• Relaxing, wonderful Christmas morning with Mom, Dad, Kim and Erik.  There's no group of people I would rather open 6 pairs of socks with (thanks guys!).*
• Went on a "Girl's Night" with my mom and sister to the Beauty and the Beast at the Ordway.  
• Saw my high school ladies.  It is sometimes hard to believe that we have maintained such a close friendship after being geographically separated and doing very different things with our lives.  At the same time, they challenge me and inspire me and spending even one evening with them is renewing and refreshing.  
• Played with Mom and Dad's new puppy, Sonny.  Luckily I got to spend my days with him before he got too mischievous.  Our favorite sequence of events: go outside for a little jog up and down the driveway, play with the squeaky elephant for a solid hour in the living room, and then pass out in my chair.  8 hours of this sequence on loop for two days made for one tired, worn out, slightly frazzled Mugwump.
• Phenomenal New Years.  While our New Years celebration was pretty typical for young adults (get dressed up, attend a house party) it was one of the best I have had.  I could not have imagined spending it with a better group of friends, I was thrilled that all of the roommates were home and together, and the horde of people in our living room/kitchen in the morning was a true testament to the perfection that is Shivan's Famous Hangover French Toast.  We will be telling NYE 2010 stories for years to come!
• CHE Brunch.  This is best described as a bunch of young women who get together, praise good cooking and complain.  It is here that we discovered that we have a tendency to gossip like old bitties, and we love it just the same.  
• Odds'n'ends (things worth note but maybe not deserving of their own bullet): epic movie days with Kerri, a little retail therapy, lunches, happy hours, laundry day, textbook reading, a tiny bit of painting.  

Okay, so define "nutshell."  I didn't say pistachio or peanut. . . this was like, a Brazil nut's worth of information.**  Coming soon for your reading pleasure, more entries about grad school! Yay!  I promise to try not to make them all complaining.  

* I got other stuff besides socks, but my last minute email pleading for socks was quite the Christmas story this year.

** The Brazil Nut is the world's largest of the nut family.  Word of advice, be very careful and a bit more specific when Googling "world's largest nut."  I had to clear my browser and search history as a result of this hasty mistake.  

The Requisite New Year Post in Which All Old Things are Redocumented and New Things Dreamed Up

Every blogger does it.  And I shall ride the blogging wave by detailing what happened in 2009 and what is coming in 2010.  Think of it as Modern Mugwump Cliff's Notes if you haven't been reading that closely for the last 12 months.

2009 was the year I:
Started a blog, got a job (and quit the same job), made some art, started (and later quit) a 365 day photo project, vacationed in the hippiest and most fantastic place I have been to in recent history, tested physical boundaries by running my first Buffalo Triathlon and the 200 mile Great River Ragnar Relay, tested mental boundaries with summer classes, semester projects, and the most grueling semester I have survived to date, found out more about myself in three mile intervals around Minneapolis lakes than I thought possible for one summer, turned 23, went to theater/music events twice at the lovely Guthrie, visited the Walker on dozens of occasions, loved every minute of the Uptown Art Fair (also twice), asked the Minneapolis Fire Department to steal my bike only so an actual thug could steal it two weeks later, was in my college roommate's wedding, asked to be in my college best friend's wedding next summer, bought an awesome new-to-me bike, landed a gig as a wedding photographer, bought custom Nike running shoes, landed an internship I loved for an organization I support, made my best Halloween costume to date, surprised myself and a handful of professors with my ability to work under pressure, still suffered a few academia-induced meltdowns, said goodbye to a beloved pet for the second year in a row, made some friends, made some laughs, moved to a new apartment in Uptown I adore (with excellent roommates), and tried to squeeze the marrow out of each day that floated past-- with mixed results but an overall feeling of success.

What will 2010 hold?  There are a few things I know for almost sure:
Graduate, get a big-kid job, run the Buffalo Triathlon, run the Muddy Buddy race with Kim, continue to make art, continue to consider the three mile loop around Lake of the Isles "mine," turn 24 on my golden birthday!*, face challenges I can probably not even dream of but I feel confident that I can overcome.

Hopes for 2010:
I don't really know, actually.  I hope that I can be injury-free and successful in my races, that school provides me enough challenge to know that I have earned the degree but not so much that I run fleeing from the University, that my relationships with family and friends stay strong, that something I do (large or small) makes someone happier or relieved for even a moment, that I continue to surprise myself by trying new things and taking calculated, but exhilarating risks.

Resolutions?  Meh, not really, but if I think about "starting over" in the New Year, there are a few things I would like to try, like: better organization and time management, better/more meaningful communication with friends, and learning to cook awesome food (think more Asian inspired dishes, learning to cook fresh fish, and maybe even an attempt at sushi).  I guess I would like to expand my "life learning" in general after 18 solid years of dedicating myself almost solely to academic learning.  We'll see what happens.

Happy New Year to all of you-- thank you for logging in for the last year!  I enjoy this blogging project a lot more than I thought I would, so you can probably count on me sticking around for at least another year.  And maybe I will even post another picture or two.  Maybe-- a little Mugwump Cliff's (Notes) Hanger.**

*About 6 months of shopping time left.  Pool your resources, I want an espresso maker and/or my own island/vineyard/mountain range/other ridiculously extravagant geographical feature.  Or a giraffe.  Or an airplane ticket somewhere awesome.  Or not awesome but with awesome people?  Ah, nevermind, surprise me.

** I hope you got that joke, but it's okay if you didn't.  I debated for a solid 6 minutes about its inclusion.  The jury is still out.