January(2005)

Hello everyone!

OK, I have selected my favorite people - I'll wait while you all breathe a sigh of relief that you made the cut. :)  Some of you I know very well, others I've met in the last year or two, but I don't want to lose touch with you all despite our respective locations, so I thought I'd try this and see if it works. I'm going to send out an email update once a month (ish) with stuff going on in my life.

I would LOVE it if you all would do the same. That way we can all keep in touch! However, I know that some times when we all get really busy, so there are no rules:
- If you're too busy for a month or two, you shall not stress.- If you don't want to participate, you shall not stress.- If you don't want to be on the recipient list, you will tell me and I will remove you and I will still like you... just a little less.

The one rule I guess I would implement is that we agree not to forward emails to other people without the sender's permission. OK, on with it!

I'm putting in some headers to give a sort of template to follow - if you choose to participate by sending your updates, feel free to add/remove headers.

Things I learned this month:

1. I know when exactly my dogs have pooped and peed within the past two-three days.  Istill, however, do not know with certainty when Turtle might need to drop a bomb.  Today, weare stuck at home during my first ice storm caused by freezing rain.  I, of course, spentthe day napping after realizing there's not much to do in our 212 sq. ft. apt (ok, maybeit's bigger than that, but it feels that big).  Damian wakes me up and says Turtle has to goout.  I get up immediately, gather poop bags, get the leashes on, get my coat and hat andmittens on, and dutifully head out with the dogs.  Unfortunately, I must have been slowbecause right after she exits the apartment, she squats down.  I yell "No!" and then Idecide we must run. So the three of us sprint down the hallway, down the stairs, around thecorner where she squats again - I yell "No!" and yank her to the outside.  Out there, ifthey pull at all, I'm flat on my face.  Anyway, she made it outside but there were two largedogs awaiting us, so the "urge" faded momentarily.  I try to control them so I don't injuremyself.  I get them across the street and we have success.  The other thing I learned isthat, in an ice storm, all the blades of grass freeze.  Not mostly freeze like in Coloradoand the grass is just crunchy when you walk it - literally a frozen sea of blades that do not make for good poop scooping surfaces.

2. NEVER pick your house color from those little square samples they show you.  I hate ourhouse color.  We even went to the interior designer the other day and got the originalsample. I look it and think, "Oh! This is nice!  I love it! Surely they messed up?" We drivefrantically to our house since the light was fading.  Not only was the color right, but it'san EXACT match!  So now we have a brown house instead of a taupe one.  Oh well - clearlythere are much worse things in life.

3. I LOVE Portland, but there are a few things that annoy me and because it's me, I mustnote the annoyances. Two of my top annoyances:

- You cannot pump your own gas.  So when you pull up to a busy station, you just have to sitat the pump until the attendant comes and takes your credit card and then gases up your car.It makes absolutely no sense at all because it's not like they saved money by doing this -it's still pay-at-the-pump equipment installed.  It's completely enraging.

- No "4 Way Stop" indicators.  You pull up to stop signs and then have to search around todetermine if the other way has a stop sign.  In Colorado, if it's a 4-way stop, there's alittle indicator on the sign.

Major Activities for the month:- Continued daily workouts. I didn't work out today due to the ice storm, but we've beenvery good about going everyday. I am in a much better mood when we work out - amazingdifference.- Daily food journaling in Fit Day. Rachele and Vic know this because I read their entriesreligiously, just like Yahoo's Most Emailed.- Continued weekly visits to our new house.  On the last visit, they had our granitecounters, cabinents, knobs, and backsplash up.  They were starting with the tiling aroundthe house, but only had the spaces in, not the grout (same with the backsplash).  I'mgetting so excited now.  I can't wait to move in.- Invited both sides of our family for xmas 2005. Within 24 hours, D's dad replied askingfor dates of arrival and departure.  He's very on top of the planning and organization ofthese things.  When we arrived for Christmas last year, he sat the whole family around thetable and explained the house rules (in a funny way, not a "oh my god I can't believe I haveto sit through this way", but he was serious about the rules).

Movies I saw this month:- "In Good Company" - a bit cheesey, but we both loved it anyway.  Topher Grace is a greatactor!- "Hotel Rwanda" - very sad, but I thought it was also a great movie.- "Sideways" - great movie overall.  Not sure why they were all obsessed with wine, though.- "A Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" - very funny and quirky. NOt as good at- "The Aviator" - very, very good.- "Ocean's Twelve" - not horrible, but not as good as the first one and not what I wouldcall a great movie.