Sometimes I wanna.....

Listen to something mellow.



sometimes I don't



And always want to hear something new to me

something new

I'm not sure how well the shopping/heel/boot posts go over so experimenting with Pinterest for those sort of things.  It's quite interesting and I'm having a bit of fun experimenting with it.  So far my page is kind of sparse but I'm sure that will change once I get the hang of things.  I really do love exploring other people's pins and boards.

But while I am on the subject of shopping, I thought I would share a few of my favorite places to "window" shop and occasionally buy from :-).  In the interest of  full disclosure, yes, I will get signup points or credits if you do sign up for them but there's absolutely no obligation to do so.

Ruelala  I do end up buying quite a bit from here, the $9.95 shipping can be a bit off-putting but they have a policy where if you buy something once, your shipping is free for the next 30 days on any other orders. Cool!

MYHABIT I will have to send an email invite since they don't have a dedicated url for the members, so just let me know if you want one. Love how it's laid out and there's free shipping on everything in the US, yay.

Haute Look  I've been a member here almost since they started, excellent customer service and you can score some major bargains.  I got my DV Dolce Vita Julian boots here last winter for under $100

Gilt More of a high-end, window-shopping site for me. Gorgeously laid out and I've certainly found some lust-worthy objects to ogle.

Ideeli haven't purchased from here yet but there has been times I would have if my size hadn't sold out so quickly

Century 21 now if only they would get some department stores closer to my area

Beyond the Rack I've only ordered 2 items from here and had to return one (didn't fit) but easy to deal with and again some great deals to be found

Groupon  You've gotta do groupon! They offer 1/2 price gift certificates to Old Navy quite often as well as all the awesome local deals.

livingsocial  same as above, right now they're offering 1/2 off novica gc. Great local stuff too

Sole Society  Bit different than the other sites in that if you do sign up, you need to review your selections before the 5th of the month and decline them otherwise you will get charged.  It's very fun though--fill out the survey to see what they think your style will be.  I like that occasionally you can get some real leather shoes (as opposed to faux) and it's reasonably priced

How I help pay for my online shopping

Ebates  I have been a member of ebates since 2005 and quite simply, they rock. Easy-peasy to use and they will have discount codes listed quite often to go along with their rebates.  They now offer a paypal option instead of the paper check.

Mypoints  ugh. looks like I have to send a direct email invite for this one too.  Legit program that I've been using since 1999, I've redeemed points for Gap, home depot, wal-mart gift cards and right now they're offering amazon gift certificates.

Hopefully I haven't ran too many readers off with this post, lol.

'tis Tuesday

Apparently, I'm going from zero blog posts to flooding everyone with them.

Today's plan was to kick off the day with meeting friends at 5am to run but seeing as insomnia raised its ugly head past couple of nights and I was still awake at 3am that plan got scuppered.  Instead I loaded up Elsie and drove out to a nearby wildlife management area to get a short easy run in just after sunrise.  Problem was Elsie remembered all the gunshots from Sunday and was still freaked out, she wouldn't even run off leash.  As long as I kept the leash on her she did ok but if I took her off she would just sit down and refuse to move.  Go figure, leash as security blanket, who would have thought that?  Since it was warmer than usual (64F with 91% humidity) our run/walk was even slower than usual......at least up until there were gunshots again when we were 2.7 miles in then Elsie tried to take off at a full-out run towards the pickup--when she did this Sunday off leash, I was sprinting after her and hit a 5.48 pace and still couldn't catch up.  I ended up using the distance back as an obedience training session with trying to get her to heel, stopping every few feet and making her sit until I released her verbally that it was ok to move.  This is something I definitely need to work with her more on because while 80% of the time she obeys commands, that other 20% she's effectively deaf to everything but what she wants.

Currently listening to the "Old Tyme Religion" album from Hugo.  If you haven't heard his version of "99 Problems" do so, asap.  My favorite song is "Bread and Butter" though.

Monday Mumbles

Yes, the upcoming event widget list actually has something in it......shocking eh?  The Sylamore 25k trail race I actually signed up for back in December when I got an urgent group text from my friend Brenda telling everyone if they were gonna sign up they better do it because registration was closing early. As in by midnight that night.  I'm thinking they got slammed with last-minute sign-ups, lol.

While renewing my memberships in the running club and the state RRCA I also decided to go ahead and sign up for the first 2 races in the grand prix series.  Now I am in no way race ready but figured since I was home I might as well participate and get out to see friends I haven't seen in what seems like forever.  Yeah, yeah, mostly my fault but I've been sort of a recluse with all my family and job related stresses this past year.  Granted the job related stress is gone seeing as I'm not working (by choice) at this time.  I am looking into some of the A+ and microsoft training bootcamps so if anyone has any advice, ie "this place is good, it's totally worth the $$$$, or stay far away from such and such business", please send it my way (thanks!!!).

Elsie and I paid a visit to the veterinarian this afternoon where me and the nurse were going over what all I needed to finish up getting the pet passport done.  After much scratching of our heads and trying to decipher the government mumbo-jumbo, I think we're done with everything except for what has to be done right before any travel actually takes place.  What has helped the most has been the information that I got from the Pet Travel Store where I purchased the pet passport paperwork, highly recommend them.  Anyways, from what we've determined the blood test is no longer required nor is the vet-applied flea and tick treatment right before travel (Elsie gets dabbed with advantix every month regardless) and the tapeworm dose is still "being discussed" (more government bs).

I managed a full hour on the trainer this morning, started out with 30 minutes of an easy spin, keeping the cadence over 80 and next thing I know I was at 35 minutes and still feeling good with only my left foot kinda aching.  Bumped up the intensity slightly and got in 17 miles altogether, yay!

2011 Races & Events Completed

Bit sparse this year

2/27/2011   Malta 1/2 Marathon, Malta 2:10:44

3/26/2011   Spring Fling 5k, Cabot, AR 24:06

4/02/2011   Capital City Classic 10k, Little Rock, AR 51:16

7/16/2011   Full mOOn Run-Midnight 25k, Lake Sylvia, AR 3:16:19

10/8/2011   FSM 5k, Cabot, AR

10/30/2011 Marine Corps Marathon, Washington DC 4:54:40

Tonight's earworm

Kind of a nod to my boot fetish, lol

following the theme in my head

What a year it's been

Something I need to do more of

Normally I would do a recap of the previous year's workout mileage but really it's a bit late for that considering January is almost half-way over with.  And my numbers?  Let's just say that they've been less than inspiring or impressive.  Did manage to get a couple things from my bucket list done (Marine Corps Marathon! Travel off the continent!).  2011 has been a year of transitions, some interesting, some a little heart-breaking, and a lot of self-exploration in coming to terms with ME.  I have now officially lived by myself for over a year, well almost by myself, there is the furball love of my life named Elsie :-).  

Don't think the hedgehog is enjoying being mauled

There are quite a few things I want to blog about later on but they all deserve their own posts and I want to do them justice but right now I'm just not in much of a writing mood.  However, I've had quite a few people note my silence, not just here on the blog but also on twitter and facebook and I have been struggling a bit with whether or not to mention this but it doesn't seem right to not say anything at all about it.  My mother passed away on January 2nd.  My sis and I had been estranged from her for a number of years, so much so that we weren't even mentioned in the obituary. While my mourning for her was actually done and over with quite a while back, it does feel weird to know that we no longer have parents with us here no matter what the circumstances were regarding our relationships.  

On a somewhat related note (sorry, didn't intend for this to be a downer of a post), please, if you smoke, quit already and take better care of yourself. I don't really like to lecture (much) but considering that I've lost both my parents who were in their mid 60's in less than a year's time (both heavy smokers and sedentary) I kinda think I have somewhat of a right to do so.  And with that I wish everyone peace, love, joy for 2012 :-).  Get out and live your life!

Sunday Trails

.A Sunday tradition that some of my friends have is to get together and run trails with the dogs. It's a more laid-back day, no major focus on time or distance, walk breaks are encouraged. The only mandatory thing is to try and keep the dogs from finding, eating, and/or rolling in gross stuff :-).  I think this is my favorite run of the week because it's usually so incredibly stress-free.

Here are a few pics from yesterday that I managed to capture with my phone, mind you, these are on the easy sections where I didn't have to concentrate on footing or even breathing, lol.

Following the pack, 4 girls, 5 dogs

Running books

Working on decluttering here and I have a few running books laying about so thought I would do a giveaway.  These have all been read and thumbed through multiple times and I have a bad habit of dog-earing pages & reading while eating so they are by no means in new condition.  But if anyone wants one or more of these leave me a comment here saying which one (gonna limit it to 2 per person, though) and email me an address & I will get it in the post next week.  Email addy should be accessible via my profile but here it is if you're as lazy as I am :D  gabsatrucker AT gmail dot com

"Run Fast" Hal Higdon
"Daniels' Running Formula" Jack Daniels, PhD
"Born to Run" Christopher McDougall
"I Run, Therefore I Am--Nuts" Bob Schwartz
"The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women" Dawn Dais
"Run Right Now" Joe Henderson
"Ultramarathon Man" Dean Karnazes
"Masters Running" Hal Higdon
"Marathoning for Mortals" John Bingham and Coach Jenny Hadfield
"Fast Track" Suzy Favor Hamilton and Jose Antonio

First 2 books have been claimed :-).  MacDaddy, I have them ready to send out.

2 more books are being sent out tomorrow, go check out Keath's blog, pretty cool stuff!!

Gone layabout and playing in the kitchen

Yep, still being a layabout :-). Trying to recover mentally and physically, some disturbing long-term symptoms from the stress I've noticed has been a lack of energy which is probably mostly a lack of iron.  My fingernails are also the softest they've ever been in my life, totally ragged from where I'm constantly bending and breaking them right now.  The quickest solution is usually buy a course of vitamins and supplements or at the very least, a good multi-vitamin.  And I did just that...........which very quickly reminded me of why I don't take them in the first place, to be polite about it, let's just say that I couldn't get very far from a bathroom for the majority of the day yesterday.  UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

So after determining that I really don't want to deal with intestinal distress for however long it takes me to adjust to the vitamins in pill form I used the ever useful google search to find what foods would be the best to boost up my iron and calcium levels..........which led me to KALE.  Yep, the green that's used as garnish and backdrop in most restaurant buffets (anyone work at Shoney's and remember having to "shock" the kale at night after closing?).  Most of y'all already know about it's super food reputation and I kinda was but after doing that search, oh wow, I didn't realize how much of a nutritional impact it has.  My thing was not wanting to eat it in salads because it can be slightly bitter thus the smoothie concoctions have begun!!!!!!!

Certainly doesn't look appetizing, eh?  But take a cup of torn up kale leaves, throw in most of a fresh orange, small handful of blueberries, bit of orange juice, and a drizzle of honey and it's very tasty.  I can still taste the kale but in this form it's more of a green, kinda clean taste, if that makes any sense.  I've also added milk instead of the oj, tossed in some tofu, used frozen pineapple, mango, and strawberries in lieu of the blueberries (for those times when I don't want a purple, frothy mustache, lol).  I also want to try a cucumber/tomato/kale mixture at some point. Just started with the kale smoothies this week but hoping the 2x a day addition will start showing results soon.

Other foodie stuff I've done lately is whipping up batches of butternut squash-red pepper, cold avocado, and sweet potato-chorizo soups.  The first and last I made in batches large enough to freeze for quick meals. Highly recommend Ken's Recipes blog from where I got the butternut squash soup recipe, the chocolate cake  is simply the best I've ever tried. I also have done some experimenting with a couple of British-inspired recipes.  Yes, it's safe to say the calorie-counting is on hiatus.  I would have shared these with friends but my cooking mood hit while I was recovering from a cold and didn't want to take any chances with contaminating anyone :-/.

jalapeno scones with mozzarella cheese

steak and ale pie

Ciao Lola

Don't you hate when you can't think of a blog post title?  And has it really been almost a month since I last posted? Wow, time is flying by.

So a bit of catching up is due, quite a few are already aware of this but yes I quit my job last month. This trucker is on a bit of a hiatus, at least through the holidays.  As of right now, I'm unsure of if I will return to it or not but things had built up to a point where if I didn't get out from behind the wheel I was going to end up wrecking due to the extreme stress levels and I wanted to leave before I ruined my clean driving record.  The final straw for me was being switched from the Tennessee route to a Rochester, NY route without so much as a "Do you mind?" message or phone call and this was after being reassured the week prior that yes, even though there was some loads being shifted around I would remain on the Tennessee run.  It's not that I mind going to Rochester, the plant up there is actually a quicker in & out than what I'd been on, it's the fact that there was no respect, courtesy, or communication in letting me know there was a change being made.  Combine that with the paycut, a truck that's falling apart around me, the EOBR which meant even less time at home, and the constant layovers and my final straw was broken.

An example of the lack of communication within this company--I gave my notice via qualcomm message so there would be a record of it and that way there could be no recriminations and no "Well, she never said she was quitting" comments. I get a message back in return asking why, I list everything I've laid out in the blog over the past few months, and I get back "Is there anything I could have done differently?".  Sigh............this is a brand-new guy, I'm not gonna tear into him for things he had nothing to do with except for the lack of communication bit.  Which seems to have gone right over his head because the day after I cleaned out my truck, I receive a phone call at 8pm from night dispatch asking if I was ready to roll. Ummmm, say what?  I replied no, I was NOT ready to roll because I'd given my notice the week before and had turned in my keys. I can hear keys being punched and finally an "Are you sure?" lol!!!!!!!!!!! Best moment ever was being able to say "yes, that would be an I'm not ready to roll" in reply, still makes me giggle thinking about it.

So there you go, I'm unemployed albeit voluntarily and I do have quite a bit to do around here that I've just been putting off all year.  Throw that in with the task of editing some of TWBrit's writing (hey, he's an author now, about time!) and I'm staying fairly busy.  He actually wrote a nice blogpost or 2 about me lately (I think the dental infections are getting to his brain) including this one when I made the decision to quit.

Ciao Lola

The long-promised Avebury Henge post

A few posts back I mentioned skipping Stonehenge (except for taking pics outside the fence) and visiting the Avebury henges (check out the wiki) and then promised photos.  I'm betting y'all are thinking I forgot, eh?  Nope, just have to be in the mood for blogging pics because it is so time intensive.

A few miles outside Avebury you start noticing stones.......surrounded by cows!!!

Yes, I was totally geeking out when I started spying them, totally amazed me how extensive this is and can't imagine the scope of work it took to re-create after people and nature took their toll.

Since there's no entry fee, I highly recommend a stop at The Henge Shop for souvenirs, I ended up spending far more because I didn't feel extorted, lol.  Oh, apparently there's a National Trust official shop there too. 

There's my gate thing again 

 Doesn't look too terribly steep

Might wanna reconsider that previous thought

 Stones, near and far

Is that not just gorgeous?  

 

Sheep grazing=sheep piles, yep I stepped in one

Yes, there are people who come here to worship with whatever their particular beliefs may be

Didn't realize it at the time but there was another path that you could follow around this section of stones, I missed out on quite a few more

Again my photography "skills" in no way captured the scope and "feel" here but if you visit the UK I do urge you to make this one of your stops.  I love the ability to get out and move amongst the stones, even being able to touch them without someone glaring at you and saying "No, that is not allowed!".  Just be prepared to do some walking to fully experience it :-)

Plaster a smile on

I seem to find myself in a position where I'm not only frustrated with my job, I absolutely detest it.  And that's not a good place to be in if you drive a truck. All the issues that have been going on all year are not getting any better, they're worsening......there's going to be yet another dispatcher change next week and a slight swap in the loads I'm hauling, mostly the same places but parts for one of the other big 3 auto companies.  Shouldn't be a big issue, right?  Yet each change in dispatcher drives home the fact that they don't want the drivers to have a life outside of work and yes, even resent it if you seem to be doing something in that life that's more than what they bother to do with theirs.

This week has been extremely frustrating in that I was sent out to relay a load on Tuesday that involved having to spend the night on a company drop yard in Memphis that's a pain in the ass to get to and has absolutely no facilities.......why did I have to spend the night there? Because of our Big Brotheresque, intrusive EOBR's (electronic on-board recorder). If I drive somewhere to get food or shower it's no longer my personal time, it's considered work time.  I also discovered last night that the eobr is not including on duty-not driving time in the countdown for how many hours you have available to work.......that's an incredibly fucked-up issue and I'm going to have at least 2 days where I've gone over my hours because I didn't realize that.  Yes, it's partially (mostly) user error on my part for not catching it sooner but then again that's extremely flawed.  So now within the next month I'm going to get my ass chewed on by our safety/log department and just have to plaster a smile on and take it.  That load by the way never materialized and I had to bobtail to the Nashville area to find an empty and wait to reload the NEXT day, which then canceled also so had to drive another 1.5 hours south to load that afternoon.

Oh yeah, while I'm on roll with the bitching here, my climate control system in this truck is still screwing up.  The bunk now only blows HOT air no matter what setting you have it on.  The cab is still intermittent on what system is gonna work in what way but I've given up on trying to get this thing repaired properly.......speaking of repairs, last several trailers I've picked up in Tennessee have had major work required which means I can only make it to our Little Rock yard then be there until the next morning because the repairs are running past my 14 hours.  Not a huge deal because I can spend the night at home but it does mean that I can't deliver in Laredo until 10-12 hours later than normal but it pisses the dispatchers off to no end.  Sorry, but I'm pushing it with driving the trailer that far for repairs and we're not talking minor issues here.

I also seem to be suffering some major post-marathon endorphin drop blues.......quite a bit actually.  Yesterday was so bad that I spent the good part of the day crying while bemoaning how much I despise what I'm doing at the moment.  Yes, it's up to me to change things and yes, it's time to adopt the stiff upper lip attitude and get on with it but this is my little part of the web to vent and talk about what's going on with me so I'm taking full advantage of it.  Ok, I think I'm done ranting, lol.  Wait, one more thing, it looks like I'm stuck in Laredo for the weekend as of right now.  Now I'm finished!

I did it, I really did finish the MCM!!!!!!!!!!!

So, the Marine Corps Marathon.  My second marathon and really the only one I've got on my list for that distance of must do races.  Not only did I manage to make it to the start line--well after the gun sounded by the way due to the long porta-potty lines, lol--I even managed to finish. Very happy here considering that both were in quite some doubt.  Now that I've done two I think I can safely say that I really DON'T like that distance. This will more than likely be the last marathon I ever do. Yeah, almost sacrilegious to admit amongst my group of friends both virtual and real-life, but there it is.

Thoughts on the race.......crowded, awe-inspiring, crowded, tough, crowded, gorgeous, crowded.  A recurring theme, eh? And one that's repeated on nearly every blog and race report that I've read so far.  It was crazy crowded and packed for nearly the entire distance for me.  Constant side to side movement, trying to avoid throw-away gloves, sweats, and trash bags, not really being able to find a consistent pace for the first half of the race.  A guy tripped on some  debris left by other runners before we even got to the start line.  Can you imagine having to finish 26.2 miles with bloodied knees before you even got to the start mat?

I loved viewing all the monuments and sites, viewing the spectator signs, and reading some of the t-shirt backs of other runners had me tearing up.  For quite a few this was a very personal odyssey running in memory of friends and family. Quite simply, I can't come up with the words to express the upwelling of emotions from Sunday.

Ok, back to the "me" of this recap.  My only goal was to finish and be able to walk afterwards...the walking was a bit questionable though, lol. First 11 miles went without any undue pain and an unexpected  bump into one of my friends gave me and everyone else around us a much needed boost--that's Carol, she lights up everything and everyone around her!!  Started tiring around the 12 and decided to take a pee break figuring the lines would give me a chance to rest up and stretch my legs.  It did but almost took too long, don't recall any of the porta-potty lines throughout the course NOT having long lines.

A visit with a very good friend who came out to support and cheer me on around mile 17 or 19(???, can't really recall the exact mile) also gave me another boost but then came that endless bitch of a bridge........there was my wall, and everyone else's from what I was seeing around me.  Take the horrible surface, the inescapable wind, the constant incline and it was just soul-sucking.  Viewed the aftermath of another fall while on that bridge, not a pretty sight and I think the guy was kind of out of it. A couple of people next to me asked if he was ok and he snapped at them fairly hard.

Anyways, we finally get off that bridge and curve around to start meeting a sea of people coming back at you and it seems like the turnaround point is just some tease that's never ever going to happen.  It's here around mile 22-23 that I think I'm not going to make it because things start going blurry and dark on me.  Ooops.  Walk break till things crisp up, run on auto-pilot until it starts happening again, then walk again.  This went on until the finish line, very scary and I seriously thought I was gonna pass out more than once.  Fortunately I hadn't gone so far that I wasn't catching the warning signs in time to start walking before I fell out.  Damn blood sugar issues :-(.  My main thing I wanted to accomplish (other than finishing) was to not walk up the final push up the hill to the monument but I had one of the blurry/darkening episodes 1/2 way up, sigh........

But I finished!!!!!!!!!!!!! In under 5 hours chip time even (4:54:40, gun time was 5:12:38). Which is amazing considering my lack of training and the last minute foot issue. There was only one really long run of just under 20 miles and while it can be done on that little, I don't recommend it at all.

If you managed to slog through reading all this, I'm impressed.  There will be an update to the post later with pics but I'm writing on my netbook and the photos are on my other laptop.

Some excitement please? No mas, gracias

oh. my. word. What a couple of crazy weeks it has been.......looking back over it today while sitting in Memphis waiting on a (late!) relay it almost seems surreal.  I've already posted about my foot being hurt, as a result of a picture on facebook on Saturday, a recommendation from a friend to call another friend who just happens to be a foot surgeon (and an athlete) I was able to get it looked over first thing the next Monday morning. Diagnosis: Metatarsalgia, aka a bruised Tailor's bunion--much much MUCH better than the stress fracture that Dr. Bruce initially feared when he saw the swelling from the fb pic. So x-rayed, prodded, padded, and wrapped up I was sent out with a "listen to your body about running the marathon"--told ya he was an athlete :D.  The foam pad and 2nd skin gels had my foot feeling better almost immediately, hard to believe I was in tears 2 days before and couldn't put any pressure on that foot at all.

Swelling on Friday night

All wrapped up Monday

Next little hiccup came on Wednesday while I was making parking and rental car reservations, a phone call from a 1-800 number I didn't recognize. Normally I ignore them but since I was in the midst of travel plans actually decided to answer it. OMG........it was my credit card company telling me that there had been a charge of $948 originating out of Barcelona for someone trying to purchase jeans. Major heart palpitation time!!!!!!!!!! Quick review of my purchases, an explanation of I REALLY needed my cc for the weekend trip, and how I wouldn't be home to pick up the expedited one and they agreed to send it to my hotel in DC. Whew. I'm incredibly impressed with how quickly they acted and the amazing customer support I received.

Now comes Thursday, started with a visit to my amazing, non-scissor happy stylist Stacey to get my hair colored, trimmed, and straightened. Looked fantastic by the way, just the right pick-me-up I needed to get through my nerves about that afternoon's mammogram and whether or not I was going to be able to run on Sunday. She was also able to give me an outside perspective on my upcoming plans, as in my only responsibility is Elsie, I'm not getting any younger and what the hell is preventing me from doing something crazy-fun adventurous. Yeah, she rocks :-).

Blurry pic complete with cheesy grin :D

Oh, yeah. The MAMMOGRAM.  That word looms over most women in their 40s..........why does it strike fear in so many of us?  Mine turned out to be a little more exciting than most though.  Walked into the hospital (after a stop at the wrong building) only to be faced with a couple of calm but nervous looking people, who smile and say "Ma'am, we don't mean to alarm you but we're going to have to ask you to step into one of our offices back here for your own safety".  Ummm, ok?  On the way to the office, the woman gave me a quick explanation that there was a possible shooter in the hospital and they were escorting people to safe places until it was cleared up.  Not sure exactly how long we were sequestered in the office but we all just sat and chatted and texted to those who needed to know that we might be a little late, lol.  Very impressed with how the staff handled everything and the overall calmness although there was certainly some shakiness and nerves displayed after.  The guy who went took my information explained that they had just had training on this very scenario the week prior so everyone knew exactly what to do.  The mammogram? Turned out to be anti-climatic, no boob squishing required because a new digital machine had also been installed the previous week.